Blink issue 48 decembe27 2014

REASON FOR CHEER Adi Godrej is optimistic about growth prospects and profit margins in the coming year p2

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thulasi kakkat

The holiday season is synonymous with alcohol.

In this special issue, we explore the whiff of rebellion and freedom that every tipple offers, Kerala’s love-hate relationship with liquor, and the drink’s darker hues p5

Talking bottles

WITH MY LITTLE EYE A fashion designer trains his camera on the action behind and on the ramp p20

SQUARE ROOT OF EVIL Following the Fibonacci sequence of revenge would render the world blind p22

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THE COMPASS CHRONICLES

Home and away The square root of evil

With positive growth trends and falling crude prices, Adi Godrej is optimistic about 2015 When the science of numbers tells a story of revenge

rohit gupta

Making it abroad Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej’s New Year resolutions include more overseas acquisitions bloomberg/

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n 1881, the oldest extant manuscript in Indian mathematics was discovered 50 miles from Peshawar in the village of Bakhshali. We speculate that this copy was created between 700-1200CE, even though some of the ideas could be as old as 200BCE. The author declares, “This has been written by the son of Chajaka, a brâhmana and king of mathematicians, for the sake of Hasika, son of Vasistha, in order that it may be used by his descendants.”

The above testimonial provides the enlightened view of a culture in which mathematics is highly respected, compelling us to examine its relationship with society. The invention of zero in India made possible the positional (or ‘place value’) number system, a huge event in world history. In such a system, the same digit in a different position, like one in 100 or 110000001, means different quantities. Subsequent thinkers tried to place this discovery in a social context; a good example of which is the Yoga Sûtra 3:13 of Patañjali (5th century): “Just as a line in the hundreds place means a hundred, in the tens place ten, and one in the ones place, so one and the same woman is called mother, daughter, and sister by different people.”

The Bakhshali manuscript contains an early method to compute square roots. Much earlier, in Greece around 600BCE the pursuit of a square’s diagonal length may have led the cult of Pythagoras to encounter the square root of two, which is an irrational number. Legend has it that irrational numbers went against their religious beliefs, leading to outrage and murder. The inability to comprehend mathematical ideas leads to confusion, and a great confusion often leads to catastrophe. round 1897, with a formidable At the start of since the first millennium CE, the for its locks in the centuscience ofreputation Greek antiquity was squeezed ry gonepolitical by, the 117-year-old Godrej through various tumults that foltoday synonymous lowed the group rise ofisByzantine and Islam, with conGood Knight, Cinthol, Ezee and and Hit. interstantly reshaping Europe Asia.ItsArabic ests have expanded India to and Africa, Eutranslations of the beyond Greek classics, their rope scientific and Latin America andplayed acrossa pivotal sectors own temperament ranging fromthat consumer goods andworld electronrole in saving knowledge.

Most reliics to contain chemicals, realform estate andother software solugions some or the of mathtions. BLink spoke with ematical mysticism; butthenogroup otherchairman, religion Adi Godrej, for his recap theIslam. year gone embodies geometry moreof than Sinceby, it the challenges theyimages faced,tothe factors that couldn’t use human depict celestial workedIslam in their favour and those didn’t. forces, began to visualise thethat crystalline Outlining his time group’s global growth and acfabric of space itself.

As Greek knowledge quisition plans,the he sieve spellsofout the reasons passed through Islamic thought,beit hindtransformed. his optimism for the year ahead, despite was sluggish consumer demand.

Edited excerpts: The writings of Plato, in particular, were interpreted widely in the Arab world by a secret How has the new government changed things society called Ikhwãn al-safã, or The Brethren forPurity.

India Inc? of Written in Basra (Iraq) in the 10th The overall mood in India has from beenaquite upcentury CE, this rasa’il (epistle) scientifbeat with the newcompiled growth-oriented ic encyclopaedia by themgovernstates ment intention coming into power.

GDP growth trends their clearly: “Know, oh brother… are looking positive, with growth rates being that the study of sensible geometry leads to better sub-5 per cent in the skill in than all thethe practical arts, while theprevious study of year. The easing of Wholesale PriceinIndex and intelligible geometry leads to skill the intelConsumer Index augurs wellisfor the lectual artsPrice because this science one ofIndithe an economy.

The decline crudetooilthe and other gates through which weinmove knowlcommodity prices, of too, should helpthat in reducedge of the essence the soul, and is the ing our current account deficit. Though indusroot of all knowledge...” trial hashave beenbeen sluggish thus far, Theproduction Brethren may very secretive the ongoing economic reforms and focused because their outlook was very radical for that campaigns ‘Make in India’ should hopeage, or even like revolutionary and futuristic.

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fully aid the recovery of the manufacturing How are your international businesses doing? sector. The Indian stock market too has re- Godrej has bet big on emerging markets, but sponded well to the new government and the some of them are now battling currency recent reforms. It is encouraging to see move- depreciation? ment on the Goods and Services Act in Parlia- Overall, our overseas business is growing mentwere lastthey? week.AnIfArabic the Government is 12th ablecentury to moderately.

Most developing countries have Who manuscript from CE shows the Brethren of Purity wikicommons bring the Act into force by April 2016, it would been slightly affected by the overall global ecbe very good for the economy. onomic slowdown. But I would say that dedefine a perfect man as — “of East Persian de- the spite the uncertainties in global macro divide-and-conquer strategy.”

How wasof2014 for the Godrej group in rivation, Arabic faith, Iraqi in education, Heenvironment, our international Pingala’s treatise also containsbusinesses an idea particular, and India Inc general? brew in astuteness, a in disciple of Christ in known have been doing fairly by the success as Matra Meru well, (The led Mountain of CaDespite the slow as change in monk, consumer senticonduct, as pious a Syrian a Greek in dence), of new product distribution exwhich is launches taught toand us as Pascal’s trianment, our businesses have in done reasonably gle. natural sciences, an Indian the interpretapansion.

Wediagonals continue of to strengthen posiCertain this triangleour sum to wellofthis year. and, Our above consumer tion mysteries all, a Sufi or a mys- the numbers tion leader for89, urban 1, 1, 2,as3,market 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 144, goods tic in business his wholesignificantly spiritual household insecticide and air 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181… outperformed outlook.”

Therereported is a lot ofcategomyscare in the Indonesian market, better known as the Fibonacci sery growth rates across categotery surrounding who the Ikhfor instance.

Ourascends Latin American quence, which rather Our Latin American ries al-safã in India.

Ourwere innovations wãn really because businesses also would. shown a rapidly like ahave mountain businesses have are focused they wroteon creating their valuetexts sharp improvement If each person in in themargins world No other religion shown geometry a sharp for-money products, which can anonymously. backed by better business perwere to demand an eye for an eye, embodies improvement in increase both penetration and A similar situation exists with formance.

Africa ison a the keyground market the pile of eyeballs more than Islam margins consumption thisconfused country.

Patañjali, who isinoften for us and we continue to be marwould increase in this sequence.

Our real estate Godrej with Panini andbusiness, Pingala, the auketmerely leadersthe in our hair extensions In 49th mass extracProperties also had aShastra, good year. thor of Chhanda a business tion, the there. pile’s count would exThe second quarter was mathematical theoryof of FY14 rhythm The recent devaluation of curceed the population of the world, thepoetry. third consecutive quarter in the root of and in the next in While Islam sought rencyround… in the developing world afthe entire world which salesin crossed one million sqft.sought it would knowledge geometry, the Indians fects our company turn blind. to a certain extent, because companies in theProfessor group —of Godrej in Other language and grammar. maththen the rupeeisgrowth tends lower than (This column dedicated to to thebe children who Agrovet Jayant and Nature’s Basket“A—remarkable have also susematics Shah writes, ex- died the in growth in theattack currency of thatoncountry. the terrorist in Peshawar Decemtained ofa the good growth momentum.

We are ber ample mathematical spirit of Pingala’s But,16,typically, 2014.) in many of these countries, if continuing focus on cost control andofoperwork is his computation of the powers two. the currency devalues, like it has recently in gupta for explores the history of science as ational efficiency programmes improve rohit He provides an efficient recursivetoalgorithm Argentina, example, and in Indonesia, t@fadesingh our margins across all businesses. based on what computer scientists now call Compasswallah then the local prices tend to rise because a lot

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Rupiah dreams Godrej hopes to consolidate its position as a market leader for urban household insecticide and air care in the Indonesian market bloomberg/dimas ardian

of the local pricing depends on some imported items. Therefore, it evens out over a period of time. Overall, we expect good progress.

Will you go slower on future investments in emerging markets?

The three-by-three strategy for our consumer goods business has worked well for us. We are focused on three business categories (personal care, hair care and home care) in three geographies (Asia, Africa and Latin America). Close to 47 per cent of our revenues now comes from our international businesses, as compared to 15 per cent in 2009-10. This is one of the most significant changes for us as a company. Today, over two-thirds of our team members are based outside India and our products are available in more than 60 countries across the world. Going forward, we will continue to look for acquisitions in developing countries such as Africa and South America in the homeand personal-care businesses. A few months back we increased our stake in African haircare firm Darling Group Holdings, in Ghana, to 100 per cent. Going forward, we will be increasing our stake in the group in other African countries as well. We have also added new countries to the Darling Holdings’ operations which include Uganda, Tanzania and Angola.

We also believe there is high potential in SAARC countries such as Bangladesh, where we have operations in both consumer goods and agrovet (agri-based and poultry-based products) businesses.

How will you tackle the slowing consumer demand in India?

I agree that consumer demand has remained largely subdued so far. Demand in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 was very low, making this one of the slowest years of growth for the Indian FMCG industry in over a decade. Even rural demand, which was holding up well relative to urban demand, was hit due to erratic monsoons this year. As spending habits take time to change, companies have not seen an immediate pick-up in sales even with the economy improving, but hopefully this should change over the coming quarters. We have started to see some signs of improvement. Both October

and November have been significantly better countries such as Germany, which would have than the previous months. So I expect that the had the power to pull the Euro zone out of crigrowth in the FMCG sector in the second half sis, appear to be exhausted. Even though counof this financial year will be much better than tries such as Greece, Spain and Ireland are in the first half. The cooling commodity showing some signs of improvement, prices should help firms pass on until the large, core countries the benefits to the consumpick up speed, Euro zone reers in the coming covery would be elusive. months. For example, The silver lining has our consumer goods been the American business is planeconomy, which is fining to pass on the nally beginning to benefit of softer feel like it is pickinput prices to ing up pace. Job consumers in the growth figures form of consumer look promising. promotions. We The big worry for are also planning American economy to reach out to a would be its demowider audience by graphics, which is expanding distribunot as attractive as that tion network by about of the emerging markets 10 per cent. Our top priorilike India or Indonesia. ty is to stimulate consumer demand. We will be betting on new In India, the Index of Industrial sales initiatives and innovative Production has declined and WPI products to drive volumes in the is negative. Are we going back to I expect that China’s next two quarters. the 1990s? growth in the coming These metrics should be viewed years will remain Your outlook on slowdown in in conjunction with the broader below 7 per cent China, the continuing slowdown economic outlook. Even though in Europe and the US recovery in the recent GDP growth figures the year ahead? have not been as encouraging as Some of the uncertainties in the expected, this financial year is global macro-environment have been a bit likely to close at 5.5 per cent growth, which, alworrying. Back in January this year, the IMF though not spectacular, would be a reasonahad projected world growth to be close to 3.7 ble improvement over the sub-5 per cent per cent, which has now been revised down- growth witnessed over the last two years. In wards to 3.3 per cent in the latest report. The fact, it has been recently estimated that India growth trends in China will play a key role in will overtake China to become the fastest the global economic outlook. China has till growing major economy in 2016-18. High pricdate had a large impact on global growth. The es in recent times have weakened the buying recent statistics on the Chinese economy power of consumers, so reducing inflation show a downward trend. But the government certainly bodes well for the Indian economy. has come up with some policies to revive Also, current account deficit is likely to be congrowth. So we will have to see the impact of tained, given the reduction in crude and other the same, but I expect that China’s growth in commodity prices. Of course, a lot more needs the coming years will remain below 7 per cent. to be done to stimulate growth even further.

Euro-economy has been in trouble for a long time now, but what is worrying is that core rashmi pratap

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I SPY

Behind the seams A man with broken shoes UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

An alumnus of Ahmedabad’s National Institute of Design, fashion designer Nachiket Barve and his Instagram feed turnman thesay colour of lifeselling in Mumbai What does a privileged to awheel poor man belts and wallets on the crowded sidewalks of Delhi?

7.45am Morning cuddle with Sir Theodore Goldenridge

8am Tending to the cactus garden

9.30am En route to an event

11.15am The guest of honour’s view

12pm What lies beneath

12.45pm Full steam ahead at the factory

Skid rows The care we impart to our feet is the true measure of how we care for ourselves, and how much we can afford to kamal narang

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Omair Ahmad is an author. His last book was on Bhutan

enjoy walking. This can be a trial in Delhi, where there are few sidewalks, and those that exist seem to be used as one vast urinal. Walking on the road in the snarl of 1.30pm Research for the new collection in thewithtraffic, with honking, aggressive drivers library at the studio in their metal-covered egos is no pleasure either; a gauntlet for the battered but desperate pedestrians of the city. We are who we are, though, and I cannot do without walking, nor can I do so only in the little parks set aside for the purpose. The roads of a city are where the public is to be found, and it is hard to segregate yourself away from life, even if the life is not all that pleasant to endure. It is the role of a writer to observe, to live, and to write about the life seen and felt. To hide away is to blunt the very faculties that are needed to make writing possible.

Nevertheless, strolling along the byways of Delhi requires some form of protection, and for me that lies in my music. A pair of decent earphones allows me a little pleasure to offset 2.38pm Going through the racks samples forme a some of the nuisances, but alsoofinsulates the upcoming little from theseason vitriol that is often the reward that pedestrians in Delhi receive for their efforts. Of course, it leaves me vulnerable to being run over by an angry driver, but more difficult is the fact that when that insulation is stripped away, the encounter with the brutal reality of a life lived on Indian roads is that much harsher.

It was a good day. I had been invited by my publisher to celebrate 20 years of the publication of A Suitable Boy that evening, and I was looking forward to it. Although that is not my favourite Vikram Seth book — his delightful travelogue From Heaven Lake: Travels through

Sinkiang and Tibet occupies that space — I have text, is it even possible to say such things? I admired his work. It was also an achievement looked down at his feet, because I could not of some sort for me to have earned such an in- look upon that face, could not meet his eyes, vitation after my own work. I was planning on or listen to his constant appeals, and I saw his getting a few copies of Seth’s books signed for cracked shoes.

2.10pm Setting up for a bridal couture meeting my cousins. And then a man said something Maybe it is my own middle-class, semi-feuon the street. dal background in which lowering the gaze is I popped out an earphone and apologised the first thing you are taught. Maybe it is my for not hearing him. interest in human rights work in which I have “Would you like to buy a wallet?” he asked, read long testimonies of people being gesturing to the bag that he had tortured, and the sole of the huslung on his shoulder. man foot is considered a choice I said no. I already had a wallet. area of work for torturers. I don’t I did not need another. know precisely why, but I tend to Maybe it is my own “A belt, maybe?” he asked. notice feet and footwear. A third middle-class, semiAgain, I said no. of the bones of our body are lofeudal background in cated there. The care we impart “Are you sure?” he asked, in an which lowering the increasingly desperate voice. to our feet is the true measure of gaze is the first thing Of course, I was sure. I have how we care for ourselves, and you are taught four belts, two formal ones and how much we can afford to. His two informal ones, and that’s at shoes were cheap, and broken; least two more than I need, alcracked at the point where the though I did not say that to him. toes meet the feet. They were the What does a privileged man say shoes of a poor man trying to do to a poor man selling belts and wallets on the something better. A man who had walked and crowded sidewalks of Delhi? walked, selling his wares, until the leather “It is my child’s school fees,” he said, his face gave way. twisting slightly. “I have to deposit it tomorI bought a belt. I gifted it later to a guard row. I need to make the sales today.” who worked next door. And that evening I do not know how many of us have been in among the great and the good, I thought that place where we are forced to confront the about my privileges, what I had ‘earned’ and desperation of our fellow citizens, and maybe what had simply been luck, how little I know assess whether the desperation is real or not. I of the people who walk, day in and day out, in guess I could have told him that his child’s the streets of my city, and how little I can judge school fees was no business of mine. I could simply by looking at their broken shoes. have alleged that he was only begging using t@OmairTAhmad this story. But in what world, and in which con-

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PRESENT IMPERFECT

The acid burn of rebellion It was Chennai in the mid-’90s, and just being able to buy a bottle of bad vodka and drink it without being busted by a parent or a professor seemed like a victory

Dark temptations We were, otherwise, good girls, but having a drink made us feel like we were ready to take on whatever the adult world was going to throw at us k ramesh babu

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Veena Venugopal is editor BLink and author of The Mother-in-Law

remember everything about my first drink — it was the sickly orange of diluted Gold Spot, it smelled like sweat it seemed to me, but it tasted exactly how I imagined it would — the acid burn of rebellion. I was 18 and in my first year of college. We had been talking about it for many days — my friends and I — and finally one afternoon we gathered ourselves, each one not wanting to be the loser who wimped out, yet all of us feeling that this was a bad idea that was likely to go so wrong. We set off from college and landed at Nungambakkam High Road. Someone knew a restaurant where you were allowed to bring your own bottle of booze. Pearl, it was called, and I remember the name like it is carved on a milestone. There was much arguing on the way to the restaurant about who would manage the task of actually buying the bottle at a wine store. It fell to me, alas, because I was the only one in that group whose parents did not live in the city. There were a few men staring and straggling outside the wine shop. I was nervous and the word Romanov was stuck in my throat. But as I pointed and waited, I saw by my side a thin woman in a dirty sari and with the dusty skin of a construction worker. She had with her two pouches of the state-controlled, colourless stuff. She snipped one, drained it in one long gulp, popped a banana in her mouth and did the same with the next — all in one smooth motion. I was too impressed to be shocked.

At Pearl, dark and dingy with an overbearing smell of air-conditioned mustiness, there was much anticipation and nervous laughter.

The drinks were poured, unevenly. And drunk just as anxiously. There was that warmth gliding down your throat and the disappointment that you didn’t ‘feel’ any different. And then there was another drink, and maybe another.

The waiters looked at us with immense curios- ing, mixing conundrums. There was the worry ity and extreme distaste. It was Chennai in the of whether you’d be able to walk when you get mid-’90s, and just being able to buy a bottle of up. Whether your friends would be? Whether bad vodka and drink it without being busted we were speaking too loud and laughing loudby a parent or a professor seemed like a victory er? And each time the door of Pearl opened, in itself. That day ended with a rickshaw ride, there was the collective pause of suspended which made many, many puke stops. I breaths. But most of all, there was the problem wouldn’t say it was the best day ever, but it was of linking the dark afternoon to the rest of our pretty much up there. lives. We were, otherwise, good girls, but just No one in college drank. Well, some did, but the act of going to Pearl and having a drink they were notorious for other things as well. In made us feel like we were ready to take on hostel, where there were virtualwhatever the adult world was goly no secrets, drinking stories ing to throw at us. It was such a were always whispered gossip. terrible sin to commit — at that No one ever admitted to it. This, time and in that place — that it It was such a terrible when even lesbianism was not a was deliciously irresistible. sin to commit — at big deal. (At least, the watered A year after I finished college, I that time and in that down, college-hostel version of moved to Mumbai for my MBA, place — that it was what went around was dismiswhere drinking decisions, like deliciously irresistible most things about the city, were sed with a shrug.) But there was something about drinking that stripped of romance or rebelmade it different. Maybe it lion, and were entirely a matter wasn’t something ‘girls’ did. Or of economics. Where was it perhaps it was how high the risks were — what cheaper? How long would it take to get there? if you were seen, what if you were in a state, In Mumbai, no one stares at you or what you’re what if you couldn’t walk back, what if the drinking. Nobody bats an eyelid if they see you news reached your parents? The hallways of lined up outside a wine shop. And even if you college were filled with ghastly stories of some buy a box of beer and carry it on your head, no girl or the other, busted mid-drink by a family one thinks they should find out who you are member, and forced into a quick marriage to and tell your parents about it. In a city popan ugly man from a landed family in rural ulated by such callous indifference, drinking Andhra Pradesh. doesn’t make you any cooler. It doesn’t mark We went to Pearl several times after that. you out or scream your rebellion. And while a And because of these stories, it was always cold beer on a humid, sweaty day might feel rather thrilling. There were so many things to like a sip of heaven, it simply doesn’t make you consider, several precautions to take. To be of feel like you’ve accomplished anything of subreasonably adult drinking age and not being stance. For those of us spoiled by judgemental allowed to drink, seemed then like a travesty. Chennai, having a drink will never again be There was the horror of buying it — in broad the exhilarating prospect it once was. daylight — when anybody’s car could be going t@veenavenugopal past the wine shop. Then the whole measur-

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Here to there Author Aatish Taseer uses Sanskrit to broaden this book’s cultural perspective prashant nakwe

A society novel The drawing room set of Delhi explore the definitive events of our recent past in their drawing room way

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ome novels cultivate an air of playful from an Orientalist’s high regard for the an- major figures, looming large both in literary deception about them and can hood- cient language — he is able to perceive, “under history and in Taseer’s novel — Salman Rushwink the readers into believing what’s a thick encroachment of slum and shanty” of die and VS Naipaul. The latter is quoted at on the surface is all there is. The Way modern India, “a far grander city” belonging length, and even makes a brief appearance in Take a long, hard look A whopping 23 per cent of Kerala’s economy depends liquor and yet the state’s recent policies of puritanism; man grooms himself in front of a pages bar on Marine Kochi kk mustafah Things Were, Aatishon Taseer’s ambitious explorato thereek Sanskritic past.here, Anda Skanda, according these in theDrive garbinof a Naipaulian alter tion of language, identity and politics — the to his aunt, “is his father reborn”, which is ego called Vijaipal. The anxieties expressed by confluence of the three — wears every disguise both his privilege and his curse. Like Toby, Naipaul in his India books are very similar to of the “big novel”. The narrative spans some Skanda too is a gifted student of Sanskrit. But those expressed by Taseer’s novel. Namely, three generations and takes well over 550 pag- his feelings towards his father, and his father’s that this country lacks a historical sense exThe Way es to conclude. The novel also appoints three worldview, are conflicted, not least because cept when it manifests in a revivalist, sectarThings Were of the most definitive events in Indian postco- Skanda — along with his mother and sister — ian and meaningless form.

Aatish Taseer lonial history as its chronological markers — was long ago abandoned by Toby. The novel For the most part, The Way Things Were is Picador Fiction the Emergency of 1975; the Sikh pogrom of starts with Toby’s death and composed of dialogue — reams ₹699 1984; and the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992. Skanda’s journey to India with and reams of it. It comes to a And finally, it’s that most complex of languag- his father’s remains, the journey point where one begins to wish es, Sanskrit — “a language of the super elite,” home marking a son’s attempts Taseer shared Nabokov’s disdain according to one character — that forms the to understand, and come to for words falling within quotaFor the most part, core of this novel, lending thematic unity to terms with, the past of his em- The Way Things Were tion marks (the maestro once the stories told here. bittered and broken family. compared dialogue to “automatis composed of So the use of words like ‘panoramic’, ‘thrillWe are told that the word for ic typewriting”). dialogue — reams surrounding alcohol is a mud and garbage because the state wants to ture. works the on same in Kerala ing’ or thelcohol inevitable ‘epic’ theway novel’s jack- history in Sanskrit, itihasa, literaBesides, Taseer’s ear evidently and reams of itThe rhetoric cliché inenough Kerala, for mostly humiliate youtofor committing as anywhere else — makes you pleaset copy surely seems justified, if off-putting, at lly translates “the way thingsthe ‘immoral’ ubiquitous moral isn’t well-tuned realCatholic churchwhich (which antly tipsy or, if The overindulged, act of buying by the state. Forget touted by theistic first. But looking at it closely, Way Things were”, whichalcohol... speaks ofsold a more dialogue, isincidenall the licensed wine distilleries the that it makes a whopping 600 drunk and stupid.a But in Kerala, Were comes across as really big book with nuanced, informal — look at theper cent profit tally owns 23more difficult to pull offfor when ‘ritual’ wineto ofportray 15.5 per acent v/v there’sconcerns, one difference. hypocrisy per bottle.

Or that much of the alcohol pro- production of small whichThere’s is just more the way things word “things” — and personal you’re trying multialcohol)society. and generally by anyone moted the State Beverages Corporation of lingual around be alcohol than intoalmost any other should whenhere it comes literature.

This view ofby the past, which is exactly what weisget Thus we get, on who one wishes hand, to adopt a holier-than-thou stance, such aslike the dubious quality, not Interestingly, dangerously sub-stanplacesoinmuch India.

For instance, or in isn’t a social novel as agentlemen society novel, The Way Things ifWere.

Sanskrit, characters making cartoonish utterances so-called or Gandhians.

VM Sudheewomen dothenot public with dard its or etymological spurious. I speak following lifebuy andalcohol times offrom “the adrawing rootsfrom spreading to vari- “Colonial-shalonial” “Hebrew-shebrew”, ran, saying Keralahighfalutin Pradesh Congress my modest a con- this book’s and on the other, shop, because though you enjoy yourare drink, it ous room set” of Delhi, whose members seen Westernexperience languages,asbroadens bosh like Committee (KPCC) president and is not ‘respectable’ to be or seen buying it.parties, In Ker- cultural sumer. Besides, alcohol compulsively attending organising perspective ratherhas thanarestricting it. “Don’t give me this involved inside-academia whose foolnon-drinking ofrole. ala, where sunlight is glorious, most bars are paramount regardless of the personal or political crises The interconnectedness the world is nev- cant”. Often, AK it’s Antony the sameprotégé, person speaking in a brush toboth tar your hardy desperation for an image As more a brush to tar your enemy pitch dark,them. because it ispages not ‘nice’ to beofseen besetting Barely after one the er evident than when we studyAs languagthe registers. enemy with, alcohol makeover led tothis thebook current lidrinkingcharacters — darknessofprovides anonymity. with, is only second to sex in novel central the book, Skanda, has es (anditthe two Sanskritists in this never The experience of reading is not is only second to sex quor crisis, have Kerala a weirdour place, gettingto cognates).

This double standard reveals itself in anothgiven his father a Hindu cremation — tire of —drawing attention unlike walking intopolicy a dinner partymust and overin Kerala himselfconversing been taken aback byoththe er bizarre manner. the state an However, weirder every day. this approach to the study “…watched as the Alcohol flames, brings overcoming their to extend hearing the guests with each success of his pedestrian sloganannualreluctance, revenue of ₹9,500 — a significant initial coaxed crore the flesh off his fa- of history is not without its flaws. The narrator er. Their chatter is likeable, dull, enlightening raising prohibition. hearecent prohibitionist ex- parallels. A and dispiriting, 23 perbody” cent of—the — from a turnover ther’s we economy read the following: “Skanda draws number of silly historical all infor quick phases. But there of the United Demothesocial situation within the ofinvited ₹11,000tocrore.

But hypocrisy demands that Sikh cursion is a party.

The price one pays for venman who helps his co-religionists affect- comes a time inBut every gathering when cratic Front (UDF) ruling UDF is so alcoholout be in sold from surroundings akin to a ed turing a city such as this!” by the Delhi riotsgovernment is absurdly compared to one switchesCongress-led off mentally, still pretending to was another instance of thispoint, unhinged mind- follow shameful, in corruption, and pigsty.

State-run outlets theThings (approxiThe other focal point of force The Way Were Oscar Schindler.

At another the coinage themired conversation, while infighting the eyes helpdeception, that what should have been a set. It was soisimprudent suicidal that in lessly mately) fivefather, per cent consume is Skanda’s TobyMalayalis (born to who the Raja of Ka- ‘Dreyfusian’ used out of and context. try to locate the bar. a fewthe weeks, there’s shamefaced alcohol — or and the ‘sinners’ — to queue up under lasuryaketu a Scottish mother).

Toby is a just When gossip gets aliterary in TheturnWay damp squib by the KPCC president exploded gill is aweapon. freelance writer based inplayed Delhi a Meabout — a messy todoes, a miserable misadvenlike a nuclear The media the burning sun and filth, Things renowned scholar of pouring Sanskrit rain who insuffers Were, as it end often it centres on two vineet

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phistophelian role, raising the decibel of the liquor policy discussion to hysteria because it saw a market opportunity in the puritan, sanctimonious social segments. Moral police and right-wingers of every description had a free run. Panicking politicians scampered for cover and began to talk like prohibitionists even as they were in the middle of fixing deals with the liquor lobby. The knives were out. Suddenly, it became an unspeakable crime to utter even a word in favour of liquor. It was a masterpiece of Malayali hypocrisy, with politics and media in tow.

CM Oommen Chandy saw his chair slipping away and went in for a kill that left everyone gasping. He upped the ante on Sudheeran in a way that sent even the prohibitionists reeling, coming up with a policy that would close 99 per cent of the bars and restrict alcohol sales to the sarkari outlets, which too were to be eliminated in a phased manner. Even the fact that he was cutting at the heart of Kerala’s fiscal lifeline — the tourism industry — did not deter him from pushing the state onto a ruinous economic rollercoaster to save his chair.

He also closed his eyes to the very real and deadly scenario of Kerala becoming a gargantuan hub of illicit liquor and drugs.

It was almost a replay of the disastrous arrack ban in 1996, by the then CM AK Antony, which set off the avalanche of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) into Kerala. Not only did it not stop anyone from drinking but it also took away from the average man and the poor, the option to limit his outgo on alcohol, raising his cost per drink from around ₹6-8 to ₹60-80. Today, it is the IMFL empire that Antony established that Sudheeran — Antony’s

Open state secrets Members of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association stage a protest in front of a state-owned outlet in Kochi vipin chandran; and (below) Chief Minister Oommen Chandy flanked by KPCC President VM Sudheeran on the right and Home Minister Ramesh Chenniththala

crore rupee empire of beer and wine in Kerala, while holding on to its monopoly on hard liquor sold from its own outlets. If the government’s avowed aim in closing bars was to wean people off alcohol, the new policy will do exactly the opposite. The subtle propagation of beer and wine as ‘mild’ or ‘harmless’ alhe new liquor policy, a thoughtless quick- cohol will bring new customers into the bars, fix for immediate face-saving, is fraught especially the young. Many regular drinkers with new dangers. The 418 bars — out of 731 — will switch to the ‘mild’ alcohol, inevitably in which were closed will now become beer and larger quantities for better effect, resulting in wine parlours. Unless the court decides other- higher expenditure. The drastic saturation of wise, the state will also convert the remaining the market with beer and wine could trigger 300-odd bars the same way, creating a multi- health imponderables that political opportunism doesn’t either understand or want to take into account. The government is cleverly opening up a massive new market of tens of thousands of crores in beer and wine in Kerala — a state where both were hardly consumed, especially wine. Given the proficiency of politicians, it cannot be as accidental as it looks. A crisis seems to have been converted into a masterpiece of opportunity. It is a charade that closely resembles Antony’s arrack ban in 1996, which created the IMFL wave in Kerala. And, given the familiar ethics of the business and political interests that rule the liToday, it is the IMFL quor trade, beer and wine quality empire that Antony is likely to plunge, while prices established that head north.

Sudheeran is trying to But look at the happiness quodemolish with tient. Oommen Chandy and his Antony’s blessings ministry are still in place; the bar lobby is somewhat content; liquor manufacturers are in seventh heaven, because, as if by magic, a gigantic market for beer and wine has opened up; excise officials, police, political wheeler-dealers et al are hiccupping with laughter since it’s business as usual. And that poor oaf, the drinking Malayali, thinks he’s had a victory, though he doesn’t know what he is in for.

In the end, there are two glum faces: Sudheeran, who stands beaten but might pursue more sensational and lethal paths of confrontation depending on his mentor’s needs; and KM Mani, Kerala Congress (M) supremo and finance minister, who faces prosecution for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹1 crore from bar owners. (Even I am ashamed to reveal the paltry figure of ₹1 crore. But in a way, it shows how modest Malayalis still are.) Mani will make good his escape like many others before him, but it seems Malayalis will never escape the recurrent cataclysms their politicians unleash upon them.

nominee to the KPCC presidential chair — is trying to demolish with Antony’s blessings.

And thereby hangs a tale of infighting in the Congress, which is too long and sordid to go into here. However, it is useful to note that Antony is currently unemployed.

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CUB READS

Brave new world

“Vodka is bad for your ovaries” ELSEWHERE

Twenty women writers take huge mouthfuls of life in this powerful anthology

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hat will ournips futurein Kochi Small-town andMasterChef Ranchi,cook-offs where liquor and girls do not mix. Or so they say mother-of-all

Eat the Sky Drink the Ocean Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar and Anita Roy (Edited) Fiction Young Zubaan ₹295

No waiting room A daily ritual at the state-run BEVCO outlets s mahinsha

be like? What will it ensues and what happens next is a be like for women? ‘tiny wrinkle in time’.

Will there be real The tales are dark yet marked food to eat, air to breathe, trees to with a sense of hope. Girls and womtouch? Will there be men in our en practicing “magic” are still world? After two horrific incidents branded as witches, paraded naked, that occurred in December 2012, flogged and left to die just as they which shook India and Australia, 20 are today in the states of Chhattiswriters and artists from the two garh and Jharkhand. Newborn girls countries have come together in the are killed much like in Haryana. But anthology Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean in Samhita Arni’s ‘Cast Out’, these to find answers to some of these witches and girls find new life questions. The title suggests impos- among their own, hidden by Demon ete bounces up the driveway in high spirits. “I’m sibilities, dreams and ambitions, to Clouds, aboard a ship called ‘Pearl’, CURED!” he says when I ask him what the news is. He “embrace the idea of not just eating on the Floating Island in the middle no longer has Hepatitis C. “It’s the new drugs,” he pie but taking big, hungry mouth- of the ocean. says, when we’re sitting in Dunkin’ Donuts, drinking fuls of life.” To make you “fat with My favourite tale in the collection, coffee. “They don’t work for everyone, but they worked for knowing”. This collection of stories, Alyssa Brugman’s ‘Weft’ tells the poime.” I asked him how long he’d been sick. “Eight years,” he written by women writers and illus- gnant story of a young woman and said. “Lots of people don’t make it. But I did.” trators, re-imagines our world with- the price she (and we) pays for beauHe’s so happy he’s radiating light. “I wasn’t ready to die, out men, resources, or the daily ty. Botox be damned, will it become you know?” It was an uphill struggle — I know because I saw struggles of being women. They tell fashionable to sell even your kidney some of it. There were days when his skin looked like it betales of a not-too-distant future that for a head of new hair? Margo Lanalonged on a withered apple and he seemed as fragile as a is dystopian yet hopeful. gan’s ‘Cat Calls’ tells the story of dried autumn leaf. Yet he smokes! He has to do it surreptiIn Priya Kuriyan and Kate Consta- young girls for whom going to tiously because the building is Smoker Unfriendly and Reble’s graphic short stoschool is a daily invitabecca upstairs is a vigilante about the least whiff of tobacco. ry ‘Swallow the Moon’, tion for men to leer, I have seen him, some mornings, toiling up the shallow women are the future. jeer and tease. Not unrise from the parking lot, the thin coil of white smoke emergThe tale follows young like the girls of Kailashing from under the cowl of his hooded jacket looking like a women who walk The tales are dark yet pati Junior College in lifeline. Keeping him tethered to through glades of forBanda district of Uttar this world. marked with a sense ests, climb hills, dive Pradesh — abutted by Of course, I know that smoking is of hope he queue of unshorn legs and muninto oceans, discover guestdangerous accommodation by drinking after a particularly not one, but two gov- raucous ladies night at the her anpaying unhealthy, habit. I’m dus of varying lengths ends inernment-licensed a bar — a bottle of the remnants of the atnot ‘home’.

Her venue choice to take a potent li-water. a smoker in partofbecause I have But the thought knot at a BEVCO shop somewherequor in shops world ‘before’ and is ‘Pantaloons’, or more the This —was also the nightcrossed when Philip had swig whose asthma, in part because I neveraccurately, had my mind: Kochi. The quiet order of the daily emerge with the secret Eastern stubbed cigarette barefoot — “I sticks could to have lives outside thea premcash toMall. spare on cigarettes when I cancer a the state-owned undisto life andritual living.atConstable’s tale is aliquor Using that old the bag, of pouring sworn I hadRemimy shoes on” — and her friend had isesoutlet, tell tales of harassment. was young.

Still.trick I’m in sympathetic homeless man turbed, by by flies the occasional strange one, madeexcept luminous Ku-and niscent vodkawho intocan’t half-empty mixed enough of Anurag Kashyap’s recentdrinks to dance on broken colourless towards those or won’tbottles of sot… When, suddenly, two girls in their riyan’s excellent illustrations.

AryaThere’s and her spend many winnot every night is a wild night. Cer- Sprite, short film early That Dayglass.

AfterBut Everyday, give up. a friends homeless man, 20sgives appear of nowhere.

Anita Roy us out a delightful lit- They not-so-soft drinks and tainlytrue not across in Kochi, where those who shun the try thiswalk is a straight story that rings forevenings instance,glugging who hangs out near the counter, 10,000 eyes boring into four-star bars, because “you can’t really chill eating tle story into‘Cooking Time’, with pairs plot of space Maggi. heavyblue or habitual and time. my gym.

He’sNot gotafierce eyes, a drinker, their backs as they buy bottlesNot of all beer andin the elements borrowed from MasterChef Arya says she’d rather have fresh juice than althere”, invariably in the purple tales anthology are wind up tattered thatch haze of grey-blond hair and is medium-dishevwhiskey across the future, metal grating. the man and Doctor Who. Set in the onbut most pomegranate of thePadmanabGlow, a dive bar where strange men may aboutIfgirls, in Manjula elled.

He doesn’t ask forcohol money, I’vedays. seen“But himsince smoking. at the window is surprised, doesn’t show it Irfan Newtri pills have become substi- hehan’s costs ₹100 and a nipand of vodka ₹90, I don’t or may offer to buy you a drink, but will juice ‘Cool’, young is anot SpitRidHe just sits cross-legged on the sidewalk roaring mutter— not even from whensarson they hand exact change tutes for everything ka out always hold injustices out,” she says. promptly pull up theythe canvarious make bureaucratic er on Saturn9, the tiny, dark moon of a chair before ing about that have renor exceed thecrumble. limit of 4.5 litresthe perringed person. saag to warm apple Can Theka errands, though, are ingood on theirand promises. dered him homeless. One day, when I was planet. The youngest crossing the street, a Malayalam murmur picks Most in the you imagineSoon, a world where food is the evitably run by the boys in class, Unlike bestup.

SpitRider team,most Irfan girls andheboys called out to me, “Stop! There’s a car coming!”

Ever since, the girlsgood? in ‘Western know ofher no longerassume finger-lickin’ The wear’ notwithstanding access — there age, who drink to get I’ve drunk, is a don’t descendant the astronaut smiled and waved at him. He waves back. Doesn’t smile. the local tongue. But none speaks loudly as Philip at least wine and savours her bourbonsThe andother day he asked me if I couldare clan so from the home planet, sending spare himthree a cigarette.

I liquor Surely, the girls who to attract their attention — what if lumps they doof precious shops near the institute, single malts, and shuns the “girmolten mineral said I didn’t smoke. Then he asked me if I could do him a fa- the closbuy liquor are the know Malayalam; and surely,‘Flying girls Spit’ who back buy to ly” est of which barelythe 300m from gins vodkas. A practice Earth as aand muchvour and buy him a pack from Cumberland Farms,isacross girls who talk back their own liquor are the girlsneeded who talk back.of energy. itslegs gates.

“But how hard can it that stands her in goodroad. stead, source He might “I can’t walk much,” he said, “my are weak.

I’ll give Even the drunk, who finds the have gutter before be?” asks Arya, withone a confidence her put father moves inhe spacewhen that can In- — often risking you the money.” And he held out four damp and dirty finds his door, mumbles disapprovingly. as headyI said, as her ire ofbut herinmother —dollar offersbills. It was two days before Christmas. terstellar’s crew to the shame, “It’sage, okay,nattering For Rose Philip*, four months into her first about“They the time hera lot a drink in the comfort of them for you.” He didn’t bataway love, young Irfan has to learn.

I’ll buy an eyelid. knowwhen she job with the Kochi bureau of Smitten a national bought or hariya in plastic glasstheirteaching drawingasroom. Thatwhat he draws line at store,” bydaily, his virtual kind the I like in that helocal said‘hooch’ and he named a brand this is a familiar drill. So predictable is thehe se-learns es from tribal women outside (where else, fetching a glass a peg at family sistant Leila, to waltz, go toor pouring I’dher never heard of. quence of events in fact, that lastand month, but)when ‘Pantaloons’. fermented of course. school be ‘cool’.get-togethers is a different matter, Sure enough, in the store I said I’dMade like aof pack for the rice, she when she went to buy alcohol forWhat a friend who and boys were not says it tasted or buttermilk, and if men homeless man across the street, they like said,chhach “Oh, Andy?

Sure. ince her rebellion a glass was throwing her bridesmaids a party, Philip ‘human’? hardly gave heragain. a buzz.Andy Yet itthanked wasn’t half as vile even considered In first Iso- taste of This is his in brand.”

I crossed the street was also ‘in-house’ — she was once 17, when her was surprised when the auto-driver whoand Prabha herChristmas,” roommate’sI said. boyfriend belle Carmody Mallya’s me and again triedas to the pay. feni “Merry But carted with him myback drove them home from the liquor shop flewtherecousin from Goa, she claims. is now hoping ‘The Runners’, is no brought place forback a Jack theDaniel’s thought crossed mind: cancer sticks to a Arya homeless from Dubai drink at Orto off the handle. Unlike the other men, he didn’t better hersame hariya experience with a sip of men.

Shunned and enslaved, men—inPhilip would man!rather Was that kind? cruel?

“The to you, lady,” mutin Is Kochi.

22-year-old Priyanmince words, chiding them this severely forare setsweet-smelling, pungent a drink made world bornhome unfree. thereSomething, tered Andy. His mouth bent in the shadow of a mahua, smile. “The Arya world wouldafnever do. same to you.” ting a bad example and sullying commuwith flowers, before she leaves for Mumbai the the possibility of ankaequal Growing upisin Noida, her parents knew next Spring. By which time, back at the BEVCO nity’s name. Nothing she and herEat friends ter all? the Sky, Drink the Ocean drinking in college at Delhi Universi- , author hadn’t heard before (“At least remarkable he spared usfor thenot Arya in Kochi, a man counter just was the themes MANJULA PADMANABHAN and artist, tellsat ofthe her parallel life or in in the queue ty, butittheir disapproval (or approval?) al- may usual Vodka-is-bad-for-your-ovaries rant”).

Butthe world have offered to buy ‘the girls in Western it explores and foretells, marginalien.blogspot.in Elsewhere, US, in was this fortnightly series ways tacit.

Now a student of film and wear’, a drink or two at Glow.

Philip, who went to college inbut Bengaluru, for the says collaboration between television production at the Xavier Institute of he did bring to mind another, very different (*Name changed on request) authors across cultures and nations. man. An auto-driver who, back in the garden Communication in sleepy, provincial Ranchi, priyanka kotamraju offered to book buy his retching passengers — Arya is careful still not to alarm the owners of soity banerjee ‘Swallow thecity, Moon’ from the

Care for a smoke?

All for the love of a cigarette

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Wrapped in twine and bamboo leaves Accounting for the liquid assets of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills — from a glass of milky sunshine to the clear-as-water potion with a piece of charcoal in the bottle

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two-hour drive southwest out of Shillong takes us to a village named after my favourite fruit, Sohïong. A black, fleshy cherry transformed by my mother every summer into juice, jam and wine. We’ve left the sprawl of town far behind, and the countryside is pleasingly open. The landscape, softly rolling past us, was once covered in Sohïong trees, I’m told, but the hills now lie sadly barren. Unfortunate as this is, we haven’t trekked all the way here for fruity delights. Our poison of choice is something else entirely, and brewed in a small tin shack that looks like an abandoned cowshed.

“Are you sure this is safe?” I ask timorously.

“Best in the world,” my companions reply, not quite answering my question.

We park along the only road in the village and head to a jadoh stall (possibly the only one in the village), rickety but clean, and supplied with a few wooden benches and tables. A plate of meat swiftly falls between us — soft, succulent pieces of country chicken cooked in a simple ginger-onion paste. Our waiter places a curious bamboo tumbler before me, it holds a gently fizzing, lightly bubbly liquid the colour of milky sunshine. Rice beer or kiad um (water liquor), so called because of its low alcohol content. I’ve tasted lao pani in Assam, also made with the same ingredients, but this is slightly sweeter, more tart.

While we sip our drinks, I’m also treated to a lesson on the history of brewing in the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills (long before they were clubbed into Assam and then carved into Meghalaya in 1972). Legend has it that the Welsh Christian missionary Thomas Jones, who invented the Khasi script, had taught the Khasis how to brew kiad (there is, in that, a rare, pleasing symmetry). It was the

In-house brew While foreign alcohol floods Meghalaya’s markets, local brewers in the Northeast are forced to work in the shadows ritu raj konwar

mid-1800s, and minor cuts and wounds were bags), and with no official supervision, mostly accountable for many lost lives, simply for adulterated beyond recognition. lack of antiseptic medication. Jones’ ‘remedy’, When my bamboo tumbler empties, I’m the locals soon discovered, also tasted pretty given a glass of clear-as-water liquid. A light darn good. It warmed them up on cold winter sniff, and my nostrils burn. “That’s 70 per cent nights, and made them inexplicably happy. pure alcohol,” I’m warned, “the good stuff. Just The magic potion was deemed powerful and make sure you don’t drink and smoke at the potent enough to be interwoven into social same time.” rituals and customs. During the traditional Diluted with water, it glides down my naming ceremony, for instance, the elders throat, leaving a warm, bittery trail in its share a cup of kiad um; a few drops are also giv- wake. A piece of charcoal sits at the bottom of en to the baby to eh rngiew, for him/her to the bottle — “To preserve its alcohol content”. grow in strength. Khasi manThe kiad is triple-distilled, maktras, a string of words or ktien, ing it immaculately pure, and at believed to perform certain about ₹100 a bottle, immaculatetasks — bring rain, stem a bleedly cheap. Variations include kiad ing wound, fetch water, dislodge Kiad is triple-distilled, tangsnem, drunk, they say, by a fishbone stuck in the throat — grave cremators and nongshohmaking it cannot be uttered without kiad nohs (kidnapper/killers) to fill immaculately um to suet bad shor or to scatter. them with bravado before their pure, and at about Yet with vast numbers of gruesome tasks. I drink slowly ₹100 a bottle, Christian conversions in the rebut struggle to finish. The liquor immaculately cheap gion, a deep-seated puritanism is fiercely strong, rushing also set in. Converts were enstraight to my head. couraged to view indigenous Weeks later, one of my drinkculture as ‘barbaric’ and backing companions sends across a wardly heathen. If this led to a drastic decline present — a gigantic bottle of beetchi, fermentin the promotion and practice of indigenous ed rice beer brewed only in the Garo Hills. It’s art, particularly music, it also prompted the the colour of dull honey, and packed with a government to ban the production and sell- wonderful smoky, sweet flavour. Deceptively ing of local liquor. light and utterly delicious.

“Which is why,” one of my companions exInarguably, I’d found my favourite. plains, “we’re sitting here.”

Until the day I can walk into a shop and purWhile foreign alcohol floods Meghalaya’s chase this freely over the counter, it comes surmarkets, welcomed as a mark — as with other reptitiously to my doorstep, wrapped in twine branded things — of progress and develop- and bamboo leaves. It’s time, I say, to raise a ment, local brewers are forced to work in the glass for the local to be celebrated and shadows and deal with the humiliation and unchained. inconvenience of frequent police raids. In many places, kiad is sold illegally (in plastic janice pariat is the author of Seahorse

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Handmade in India Indie pubs are brewing a ₹300-crore market for craft beer made the traditional way

Larger than life There are some stars to whom we are so committed that the harshest review in the world couldn’t dissuade us from watching their work manjunath kiran

FILM FATALE

Should I watch this film?

A list of the questions most frequently asked to critics by readers and viewers

Traditional buzz Microbreweries are an integral part of Bengaluru’s pubbing scene today gp sampath kumar; (right) Ishan Grover, master brewer at the Manhattan and Open Tap microbreweries in Gurgaon v sudershan

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hould I watch this film? Not only is this the question most frequently asked of critics, it’s also the toughest to answer. Because people expect to hear a “yes” or “no”, whereas the logical reply is this: “That depends on your taste in cinema. f it’s Namma Beeru, Aam Aadmi Ale or If your interests andyou’d tastes match mine, Santa Ale that rather bring in the answer is X.Year If not, thethan answer Y. Ithe would sugNew with anyisof bottled gest though that you read my review because beer brands, then you are in the select, so things that matter to me may not butmany growing, company of craft-beer enthusibother you and vice asts in cities such as versa.”

Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Delsee, it’sMumbai. not the job of critics to tell pohi,You Pune and tential viewers whether notmicro-breweries to watch a film, For over seven years or now, though an individual may chooseacross to do and brewpubs havecritic mushroomed so if she or hegathering wishes. The critic’s primary job, these cities, a dedicated following however, is to beers. give people considered, wellfor their craft Breweda in the traditional informed assessment of a film put it in non-mechanised way, craft beer and is considered perspective keeping in mind socio-politias much a thirst quencher as athe work of art. cal“Once and cultural context in which it take has been some customers told me to back made (Is itand misogynistic? it sucking up to the beer serve themIsthe latest batch. the government? do justice to the book When I told themDoes this itwas the latest, they reon which it’sitbased?), that particular team’s fused saying was three weeks old and they body of the work andmade otherthat factors. wanted beer morning,” says IshI explain to those who the anWhen Grover, a masterthis brewer — one of ahave handful patience to listen, thecharge next question invariably in the country — in at Manhattan and is this:Tap, with contradictory reviews, Open twosoofmany the 18 microbreweries in Gurhow I decide which to watch? gaon.doWith an MSc in films brewing and distilling That’s easy. ThereUniversity are some stars and direcfrom Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh, tors to whom we are so committed that the Scotland, he started working at the Lemp harshest in the world couldn’t disBrewpub review in Gurgaon.

“While more and more suade fromstopped watching their work.

Forbeer the peopleushave drinking bottled general mass of filmsour though, and started drinking brews,aitdiscerning is a tough consumer of source reviewshops could perhaps follow a business. We from Canada, yeast number of critics a length of time, find from France... so over we have to plan months one orto two whose views to match theirs ahead ensure our beerstend are always in stock.” and then heed those critiques. the years, I’ve gathered a list of other NoOver glycerine, please FAQs critics.

Here they are: “Mostdirected bottled at beer manufacturers add a lot of glycerine to ensure the beer doesn’t spoil.

Can I take for that it? all you taste is the Some addmy so kids much, Iglycerine,” love parents whoNaveen are responsible to says Mittal ofenough Gateway make thisCo, inquiry.

My friend Ravi says should Brewing Mumbai.

“I realised this Iwas not introduce a parental guide to onme. my blog for conthe only option available I started recerned dads like him. The onlybrew reason searching how to make my own andwhy real-I

have not yet done so is that like the previous boost from positive reviews. Big mainstream question, there is no simple answer to this films with major stars and massive marketing one. It depends on what you are willing to ex- are less likely to be affected, and yet reviews pose your children to. Some people don’t want obviously contribute to the buzz surrounding their children to see even a brief kiss, others a film, and if negative reviews combine with are about long smooches, others poor isedanxious more than a million people doyet it around audience feedback, a huge film’s eas like Indira Nagar andeven Koramangala, and draw the line at explicit sex.and Me?misses, I worryI finally about collections the world.

After many hits could possibly after the first that’s why we started ours suffer at JP Nagar. violence andwith prejudice. set up GBC my partners in 2011 and it’s day or weekend, as producers may tell you in been good so far.” One of the early independ- their more honest moments. Likewise, if a Ale culture Will it be a hit? ent brewers in India, Mittal has helped pop- team that gets in negative reviews Most of thetraditionally microbreweries India are locatIularise don’t know. film may get a great response the A concept through his site were to suddenly earn positive comments, ed either in Bengaluru or Gurgaon, with a from everyone who He seesdid it, face but they indianbeergeek.com. sev- could be this too could Without handfulgenerate in Delhi, curiosity.

Mumbai, Pune and small in number because it was eral legal hassles before he released at ex- doubt, Salman even KhanChandigarh. was catapulted to a differAt these placam time when were staying away ent league altogether could set up GBC,families but today — from having regulars his own es, international from the theatres. companyBox-office suppliessuccess is a combina- committed fan following to Indian attracting such as Palethe Ale,in-a tion sokegs many craftof beer tofactors 22 out- beyond our personal terest of those who weren’t traditionally his variation of hefeweizen opinions about a film’s quality. lets across Mumbai. fans — when orWanted wheat and beer,Dabangg are the “In Mumbai, there is unexpectedly received good But recrowd favourites.

Who about your review? a lotcares of additional views from the at least some critics brewpubs each This comes red one tape to only get from angry who had nothave previously shown a their own spefans if you’ve dissed through.

It took us their favoufondness forcials his work. too. Toit in BenIt’s not the job of rite star’s film. six months to naviAnyway, don’t take word galuru has my a beer for critics to tell potential gate through all this for this. Ask Rohit every Shetty, seasondirector — Aam viewers whether or Is this your set review or your and finally up our of blockbusters as Chennai Admisuch Ale during the not to watch a film personal opinion? in microbrewery Express andmango Singham.

WhenNamI inseason, IDombivili, do not understand this one. Of from where terviewedma him for my book, The Beeru, a ragi-jaggery course it is my personal opinion. we supply to places Adventures an Intrepid FilmYear/ Critbeerof for the New A fellow told me he across thecritic city,”once he says. ic, Shetty spent a considerable harvest season and so on. watches films with thecity’ public Down south in ‘pub Ben- rather than at part of the conversation cursing and Like That Only is thecritics speciality press previews so that he can decide galuru, Rolf Marren found his his review telling me how littleand we know about what the at GBC is described as quinbased reactions. This approach audience wants. callingoninaudience the microbrewery He alsoBombay. insisted that critics tessentially completely thetopoint that our reac- should publishSince business andmisses went on set up reviews on Monday, of Howzatt, the instead country’s tions to films are governed backBrewsky together with fourby our M of acommercial film’s release.

If you think microbrewery umbai on hasthe a Fridayfirst grounds, exposure we’ve had to the friends. “Ithe had nothing to do there is a major between critsetdisconnect up shop seven yearswhat ago, craft lot arts of additional and Besides, one person a tape withso theon. restaurant or beer busi-who adoresred ics say and what like, it ashould beeraudiences has brewed forthen itself ₹300film whistle and dance ness.may I’m hoot, actually a designer by in a hall, an- not make a difference to you, I said. saycrore market, served by“I’m around other may smile herself. Responses ing, ho sakta 45 profession.

But I quietly always to wanted haibreweries. ek crore kaWith business aap log the price of may differof from neighbourhood to neigh- kha jaate ho. Ho to be part something like this, sakta hairemaining na? (It’s possible craft beer stablethat for bourhood. hardfriends to tell what and when It’s a few were purpose a re- you jeopardise worth of the business. thea crore last few years, cheersIsn’t are view serves if youI joined cannotin,” even stand“Bengaby it, it starting Brewsky, he says. allpossible?)” the more resounding. As Mittal says, “We since not your viewpoint. luru isit’s a city with own a great pub culture and it’s have Yes been it is. deprived for too long, it’s time for only natural that microbreweries are now be- the good days to come along.”

Do reviews make collections? coming a big partaofdifference the scene.toWe also wanted anna mm vetticad is the author of The Adventures anarasu Intrepid Film Critic t@annavetticad sibi Yes. Most peopleout agree that small filmship getara of to take Brewsky of the traditionally

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Living under the shadow The clock watchers An art show which history andonthe everyday in close with each other The daughter of anbrings alcoholic father leading a double life conversation and finding forgiveness “The National Gallery of Modern Art is a The letters, an accompanying plaque exspace that the three of us grew up around and plains, are correspondence from a KD Vyas, a it is interesting to come back here as hosts of character likened to an author in the piece an exhibit,” says Narula. The group took 18 that refers to the eight episodes of the Mamonths to put the show together. habharat. While the video clips show contem“The space was very important and we porary city life, their allusion to the epic is chose the Jaipur Hall for its labyrinth-like apparent in each piece. quality to create the fabric of the exhibition.

In another room, an array of photographs The articulation of the structure and de- lead us into a different time and space, one sign of the show was paramount,” adds where photographs are described but never Sengupta. Time appears to be the under- seen. “These excerpts are from actual letters pinning element of the exhibition, written by soldiers during the 1914 War, about which brings history and the everyday a woman who helped them escape. These were in close conversation with each other. very moving narratives since we believe in It also juxtaposes the swampy-marshy honourable traitors,” says Sengupta, of the Delhi suburb with the electric cable German woman who saved Indian soldiers. towers and growing “It is interesting that these solhigh-rises; a dormant diers were from the hinterland of volcano in Mumbai that Punjab, UP and Haryana, yet they feeds the hearth of a tea spoke so sensitively of the womstall; a factory in Poland en around them,” says Bagchi. “It The piece may be offset by a monuchanges the way you see that contemplates the ment in distant Vietnam. time and how women were hours that are stolen One is confronted with a viewed. We realise that it is not a from the workforce bewildering array of newlinear progression and that permedia works. In one section, 18 haps there was more respect for TV monitors hang from the ceilwomen then,” he adds. ing, displaying official sounding Elsewhere in the exhibition, references such as ‘Letter of Verification and light blubs are arranged to spell the word ‘ReAuthentication’ and ‘Letter found in the Dead voltage’, but with only ‘Revolt’ lighting up at Letter Office’. Humorous and poetic video first. This installation is a prelude to the twoclips play on a loop. Among stills of a city sky- channel video piece The Capital of Accumulaline and various animals appearing on a con- tion. It talks about Rosa Luxemburg, a revolutraption that resembles an old radio, the most tionary, the light bulb factory andshutterstock/littlesam the creation striking is of a man performing a card trick in of artificial light, which allowed mankind to t was at the age of 23 that my father start- which knew I was going through.

I always hiswhat thumbprint appears magically onhad extend cial concerns. understood that ifsunset.

I had to work- and Iplay-hours beyond ed consuming alcohol regularly. Based onetoofwear a different face for the to outside world While the cards.

He later proceeds sever his have a happier I had to forgive my father. it is a tributelife, to labour and modernity, it on what I have heard from his friends thumb and aand different face at home.

My father would is also the reference to Eklavya in the MaAlcoholism, was athat disease of the mind. a critiqueI learnt, of a system continues to and my mother, it was the pressures of habharat alwaysbecomes say — “What happens in the house, extend apparent.

Alcohol takeshours over afrom person like the working 8 tomuch 12, 14 and evendevwork that made him first succumb to drink. stays in the house.” He was embarrassed by his 16 hours. il and the addiction isn’t entirely their fault. I His work in the shipping industry forced him alcoholism. For the world, he was a fun-loving “The was living awaycontemplates at the time and piece also howmy thebrother huto stay awake through the night around Kolka- person who liked singing, dancing and having man called day tototell howand sickthe mypresfather bodyone responds theme world ta’s Kidderpore docks. Alcohol proved to be a a good time. But for the family to live in socie- sure was.

Soon by after, I feltchanging I’d finallyinto forgiven him. created night day and stimulant and, not long after, it became a hab- ty and portray the picture of a happy family the hours While I think I’ve moved on, my brother, that are stolen from the workforce,” it. It started with him having two or three pegs unit, we had to wear our masks convincingly. observes who isSengupta. five years younger, has had a much harof whiskey atalking the end of eachthe day.labyrinth By the end, through For my family, matters only got more diffi- The deradjoining time. During father’s lastobjects, days, my roommy is full of stuffed even a full bottle enough.

When IJaitry to cult when my father was diagnosed with cir- such thatwasn’t once was the officious brother was the flamingo, intermediary between as a reindeer, beetles, a tigerhim recollect scenes childhood, purfrom Hall my of the NationalI see Gal-my rhosis in 2009. He was all of 49 and was forced andand the world, be it doctors, relatives ortomy a telescope.

While they make references father coming from work, freshening to opt for an early retirement. After affecting forgotten leryhome of Modern Art (NGMA), mother.or As retired a result,constellations, my brother is now more a large up is and sitting downdown with the a drink. a few his liver, the disease reached his Delhi, a bit like falling rabbitInhole spiritual. completely clock in the centre keeps We timewere and alocates ithours, be in a stupor myaspar- kidney. The best doctors and in Alice in he’d Wonderland.

Thingsand areI’d nothear quite family, but heishas self in relation tonon-vegetarian the cosmos, equipped as it ents bicker.

I was familiarand with these altercathey seem and get ‘curiouser curiouser’ as hospitals in Kolkata, Delhi, turned vegetarian. with a GPS tracking device.

Finally, allHe of says this isthat then.Entering Only after certain age did I Chennai and Bangalore couldn’t onetions goesby along. theaexhibition hall, has seen enoughof suffering watched over byhe the two guardians the Re- to to realise how difficult life had reverse the inevitable and he onecome brushes past vinyl curtainseveryday printed with let anywho person, or thing serve Bank of India, keep animal the fortunes I soon understood gotten my family. words likefor ‘Thinking’, ‘Snoring’ and ‘Looking’ died earlier this year. His last suffer again. within the city. that if I had to have a Not only did myThen father’s alcoholism that jump out at you. you stumble intoaffect a months were made harder by He are livespieces his days racked with in the show happier life,Admittedly I had to there our Well, finances, it also an adverse room. it looks likehad a room but iseffect part- on the encephalopathy that had set did everything he could thatfather could haveguilt. beenHebetter appreciated if forgive my our socialand life.part-artistic Being an alcoholic, he tended photograph construction — a to in. With toxins reaching his to try and ensure that do my not father they were viewed separately, as they socialise like him. they brain, he would sometimes misspace wherewith pastothers and present are Together seemingly That didn’t happen. quite fit in with survived. the theme.

A few of the works He found more reasons drink. It was only for a take the puja room for the washconjoined and time has to collapsed. does feelmeaning relief, but rely heavily on the textadmittedly to convey the few ‘solo’ months, but once fell into This work is my the father creation of three art-the room and think that the kitchen that just exacerbates his guilt behind the work. of abusive Influenced them, was the balcony. The frequency of such inci- For istscompany — Monica Narula,men.

Jeebesh Bagchibyand eventhe more. viewer who might ask in puzzlehe would turn violent— when there wasn’t dents only increased with time. I had little rea- ment,My Shuddhabrata Sengupta who call thembrother andthe I have each other talk to, ‘What is this?’, artists have onetostock enough home. MyThey mother was un- son to hate my father after he had quit response. selves Raqsalcohol Media at Collective. describe but with of stigma that is attached “Itthe is akind question we encourage our to to stand to him. Though I wasas only theable show, titledup‘Untimely Calendar’, a 15 drinking in 2009, but it was difficult to let go viewers alcoholism in India, is hard to find support to ponder, for it it is something we often at the time, I felt compelled intervene. ‘working laboratory of ideas’. to Founded in I’d of the anger that had built up over the years. I encounter groups. Itinislife,” inevitable that you’ll feel says Sengupta.

“Weanger have tostand his way andgroup say, “Ifcreates you want raise often didn’t want to speak to him and when I grown 1992, theinDelhi-based art,tocuwards the person who is dragging comfortable with being bewilderedyou your hand on edits anyone, you’ll to go did, I’d easily snap. rates exhibitions, books andhave ‘stages hell, butour you viewers need to to know andthrough we encourage takethat outit is through me first.”

Seeing his daughter assert events’.

Known for their quirky, intellectual, I was eventually led to the literature of Alco- time just the alcohol which the water. from the rigours ofhas lifemuddied to find intellecherself manner would make himemrecoil holics Anonymous by one of my employers. I tualThe poetic andinatthis times, humorous art, they person underneath is escaped still loveable.

If you questions that may have them.” instantly, these are horrid me- found a support group for the children of alco- (The ploy a rangebut of media — admittedly from photography, treatshow the alcoholism as a problem not the runs till February 15, 2015, atand NGMA) mories to live with. video installations, sound pieces, print and ...stand holics, others narrated experiences I human being, you might sleep better at night. andwhere stare The Raqs Media Collective trio; Livingworks undertothe shadow and of alcoholism text-based animation sculpture.can (top) ‘Escapement’ could instantly identify with — that sense of re- georgina maddox is a Delhi-based art writer force you to live a double life. No one in school sponsibility, the fear of losing control, finan- as told to shreevatsa nevatia

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In-house selection Toddy has a powerful smell and taste, and you can feel the heat as it travels to the pit of your stomach

A coconut high A day at a toddy bar reveals not just drunk men

T Nature’s basket Toddy, which has up to four per cent alcohol content, must be drunk fresh, otherwise it becomes vinegar

Tree to table Biju has worked as a toddy tapper for the last 22 years, and earns ₹10,000 plus per month

ourists swear by Kerala. They fall into raptures describing its “immodest greens” (for one must quote The God of Small Things), the freshest of seafood, the gentle backwaters, and the “swaying coconut trees” (the coconut trees must sway). But Kerala Tourism has another suggestion on its website. Why not visit its toddy shops? And that is what we did. On the outskirts of Kochi, we found ourselves at the Nettoor kallushap (or toddy bar). Located just off the highway, plastic tables and chairs sit by the backwaters, down which hyacinth and boats soundlessly glide. While Kerala Tourism warns, “The consumption of alcohol by women does not go down well with the largely male-dominated society of Kerala, and so women stay away from these places,” these places must be visited. Not for their canisters of toddy, which carries a gentle whiff of stale vomit. But for the food. The kallushap’s peak hours are not late evenings, as one might imagine. But Sundays after Church. After all, how can a benediction be complete for a Malayali, without a tipple?

The handwritten menu boasts duck, beef curry and fry, crabs, prawns, liver, chicken organs, mussels, clams, anchovies, pork, even rabbit. But Ashokan, our garrulous waiter that afternoon, tells us rabbit is unavailable. We ‘make do’ with the seafood. He has been working at the Nettoor kallushap for close to 20 years and feels that the talk of the ban on bars might get people more interested in the local alcohol shops, such as this one, which will not be affected. More than prohibition, however, he worries about the lack of waiters. Two recently ran away. One to become a photographer, he says, eyeing our colleague with the camera.

He returns a few minutes later carrying a glass of toddy, and plates of roasted crab, sautéed prawns, sautéed mussels, tapioca and fish curry. And bits of neatly torn newspaper. “This is naadan (local) style,” he says, nearly apologetic about his indigenous napkins. We sip, we crack open the crab, we dip tapioca cubes into the all-fire-and-heat fish curry, we watch a boatman dock his boat, eavesdrop on drunken dreams, lick our fingers and think what a wonderful world it is.

PS — Our bill came to ₹306.

Photos by thulasi kakkat, text nandini nair

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Combo meal Kappa, or tapioca, with ďŹ sh curry is a favourite at the toddy shop

Not just drink The array of food items makes the toddy shop more than a watering hole

Smart kitchen Cooked on wood and coal, the ďŹ sh curries are infused with a lovely smokiness

Ale is well The main course on the menu includes tapioca, appam and puttu, while the side dishes are plentiful

Care for a dive? Watch men and boats as you snack and sip

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Handmade in India Indie pubs are brewing a ₹300-crore market for craft beer made the traditional way

Larger than life There are some stars to whom we are so committed that the harshest review in the world couldn’t dissuade us from watching their work manjunath kiran

FILM FATALE

Should I watch this film?

A list of the questions most frequently asked to critics by readers and viewers

Traditional buzz Microbreweries are an integral part of Bengaluru’s pubbing scene today gp sampath kumar; (right) Ishan Grover, master brewer at the Manhattan and Open Tap microbreweries in Gurgaon v sudershan

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hould I watch this film? Not only is this the question most frequently asked of critics, it’s also the toughest to answer. Because people expect to hear a “yes” or “no”, whereas the logical reply is this: “That depends on your in cinema. f it’s Namma Beeru, Aamtaste Aadmi Ale or If your interests and tastes match mine, Santa Ale that you’d rather bring in the answer is X.Year If not, thethan answer Y. Ithe would sugNew with anyisof bottled gest though that you read review beer brands, then youmy are in thebecause select, so things that matter to me may not butmany growing, company of craft-beer enthusibother you and vice asts in cities such as versa.”

Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Delsee, it’sMumbai. not the job of critics to tell pohi,You Pune and tential viewers whether or notmicro-breweries to watch a film, For over seven years now, though an individual may chooseacross to do and brewpubs havecritic mushroomed so if she or hegathering wishes. The critic’s primary job, these cities, a dedicated following however, is tobeers. give people considered, wellfor their craft Breweda in the traditional informed assessment of a beer film and put it in non-mechanised way, craft is considered perspective keeping in mind socio-politias much a thirst quencher as athe work of art. cal“Once and cultural context in which it take has been some customers told me to back made (Is itand misogynistic? it sucking up to the beer serve themIsthe latest batch. the government? do justice to the book When I told themDoes this itwas the latest, they reon which it’sitbased?), that particular team’s fused saying was three weeks old and they body of the work and otherthat factors. wanted beer made morning,” says IshI explain to those the anWhen Grover, a masterthis brewer — onewho of ahave handful patience to listen, thecharge next question invariably in the country — in at Manhattan and is this:Tap, with contradictory reviews, Open twoso ofmany the 18 microbreweries in Gurhow I decide which films to watch? gaon.do With an MSc in brewing and distilling That’s easy. ThereUniversity are some stars and direcfrom Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh, tors to whom we are so committed that the Scotland, he started working at the Lemp harshest review in the world couldn’t disBrewpub in Gurgaon.

“While more and more suade from watching their work.

Forbeer the peopleushave stopped drinking bottled general mass of filmsour though, and started drinking brews, aitdiscerning is a tough consumer of source reviewshops could perhaps follow business. We from Canada, yeasta number of critics a length of time, find from France... so over we have to plan months one orto two whose to match theirs ahead ensure ourviews beerstend are always in stock.” and then heed those critiques. the years, I’ve gathered a list of other NoOver glycerine, please FAQs at critics.

Here they are: “Mostdirected bottled beer manufacturers add a lot of glycerine to ensure the beer doesn’t spoil.

Can I take for that it? all you taste is the Some addmy so kids much, Iglycerine,” love parents whoNaveen are responsible to says Mittal ofenough Gateway make thisCo, inquiry.

My friend Ravi says should Brewing Mumbai.

“I realised this Iwas not introduce a parental guideto onme. my blog for conthe only option available I started recerned dads like him. The onlybrew reason searching how to make my own andwhy real-I

have not yet done so is that like the previous boost from positive reviews. Big mainstream question, there is no simple answer to this films with major stars and massive marketing one. It depends on what you are willing to ex- are less likely to be affected, and yet reviews pose your children to. Some people don’t want obviously contribute to the buzz surrounding their children to see even a brief kiss, others a film, and if negative reviews combine with are about long smooches, others poor isedanxious more than a million people doyet it around audience feedback, a huge film’s eas like Indira Nagar and even Koramangala, and draw the line at explicit sex.and Me? I worryI finally about collections the world.

After many hits misses, could possibly after the first that’s why we started ours suffer at JP Nagar. violence andwith prejudice. set up GBC my partners in 2011 and it’s day or weekend, as producers may tell you in been good so far.” One of the early independ- their more honest moments. Likewise, if a Ale culture Will it be a hit? ent brewers in India, Mittal has helped pop- team that gets in negative reviews Most of thetraditionally microbreweries India are locatIularise don’t know. film may get a great his response the A concept through site were to suddenly earn or positive comments, ed either in Bengaluru Gurgaon, with a from everyone who He seesdid it, face but they indianbeergeek.com. sev- could be this too handful could generate Without in Delhi, curiosity.

Mumbai, Pune and small in number because it was eral legal hassles before he released at ex- doubt, Salmaneven KhanChandigarh. was catapulted to a differAt these placam time when were staying away ent league altogether could set up GBC,families but today — from having regulars his own es, international from the theatres. companyBox-office suppliessuccess is a combina- committed fan following to Indian attracting such as Palethe Ale,in-a tion sokegs many craft of beer to factors 22 out- beyond our personal terest of those who weren’t traditionally his variation of hefeweizen opinions about a film’s quality. lets across Mumbai. fans — when orWanted wheat and beer,Dabangg are the “In Mumbai, there is unexpectedly received good But recrowd favourites.

Who about your review? a lotcares of additional views from the at least some critics brewpubs each This comes red one tape to only get from angry who had nothave previously shown their own spe-a fans if you’ve dissed through.

It took us their favoufondness forcials his work. too. Toit in BenIt’s not the job of rite star’s film. six months to naviAnyway, don’t take word galuru has my a beer for critics to tell potential gate through all this for this. Ask Rohit every Shetty, seasondirector — Aam viewers whether or Is this your set review or your and finally up our of blockbusters as Chennai Admisuch Ale during the not to watch a film personal opinion? in microbrewery Express and Singham.

WhenNamI inmango season, IDombivili, do not understand this one. Of from where terviewedma him for amy book, The Beeru, ragi-jaggery course it is my personal opinion. we supply to places Adventures an Intrepid FilmYear/ Critbeerof for the New A fellow told me he across thecritic city,”once he says. ic, Shetty spent a considerable harvest season and so on. watches films with the public Down south in ‘pub city’ Ben- rather than at part of the conversation cursing and Like That Only is thecritics speciality press previews so that he can decide galuru, Rolf Marren found his his review telling me how littleand we know about what the at GBC is described as quinbased reactions. This approach audience wants. callingoninaudience the microbrewery He alsoBombay. insisted that critics tessentially completely thetopoint business andmisses went on set upthat our reac- should publishSince reviews on Monday, of Howzatt, the instead country’s tions to films are governed backBrewsky together with fourby our M on the of acommercial film’s release.

If you think microbrewery umbai has a Fridayfirst grounds, exposure had to the friends. “Ithe had nothingwe’ve to do there is a major between critsetdisconnect up shop seven years what ago, craft lot arts of additional and Besides, or one person a tape withso theon. restaurant beer busi-who adores ics say and what like, beeraudiences has brewed forthen itselfit ashould ₹300red film whistle and dance ness.may I’m hoot, actually a designer by in a hall, an- not make a difference to you, I said. saycrore market, served by“I’m around other may smile to herself. Responses ing, ho sakta 45 profession.

But I quietly always wanted haibreweries. ek crore kaWith business aap log the price of may differof from neighbourhood to neigh- kha jaate ho. Ho to be part something like this, sakta hairemaining na? (It’s possible craft beer stablethat for bourhood. hardfriends to tell what and when It’s a few were purpose a re- you jeopardise worth of the business. thea crore last few years, cheersIsn’t are view serves if you cannotin,” even stand by it, it starting Brewsky, I joined he says.

“Bengaallpossible?)” the more resounding. As Mittal says, “We since not your viewpoint. luru isit’s a city with own a great pub culture and it’s have Yesbeen it is. deprived for too long, it’s time for only natural that microbreweries are now be- the good days to come along.”

Do reviews make collections? coming a big partaofdifference the scene.to We also wanted anna mm vetticad is the author of The Adventures anarasu Intrepid Film Critic t@annavetticad sibi Yes. Most peopleout agree that small filmship getar-a of to take Brewsky of the traditionally

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saturday, december 27, 2014

Living under the shadow The clock watchers An art show which history andonthe everyday in close with each other The daughter of anbrings alcoholic father leading a double life conversation and finding forgiveness “The National Gallery of Modern Art is a The letters, an accompanying plaque exspace that the three of us grew up around and plains, are correspondence from a KD Vyas, a it is interesting to come back here as hosts of character likened to an author in the piece an exhibit,” says Narula. The group took 18 that refers to the eight episodes of the Mamonths to put the show together. habharat. While the video clips show contem“The space was very important and we porary city life, their allusion to the epic is chose the Jaipur Hall for its labyrinth-like apparent in each piece. quality to create the fabric of the exhibition.

In another room, an array of photographs The articulation of the structure and de- lead us into a different time and space, one sign of the show was paramount,” adds where photographs are described but never Sengupta. Time appears to be the under- seen. “These excerpts are from actual letters pinning element of the exhibition, written by soldiers during the 1914 War, about which brings history and the everyday a woman who helped them escape. These were in close conversation with each other. very moving narratives since we believe in It also juxtaposes the swampy-marshy honourable traitors,” says Sengupta, of the Delhi suburb with the electric cable German woman who saved Indian soldiers. towers and growing “It is interesting that these solhigh-rises; a dormant diers were from the hinterland of volcano in Mumbai that Punjab, UP and Haryana, yet they feeds the hearth of a tea spoke so sensitively of the womstall; a factory in Poland en around them,” says Bagchi. “It The piece may be offset by a monuchanges the way you see that contemplates the ment in distant Vietnam. time and how women were hours that are stolen One is confronted with a viewed. We realise that it is not a from the workforce bewildering array of newlinear progression and that permedia works. In one section, 18 haps there was more respect for TV monitors hang from the ceilwomen then,” he adds. ing, displaying official sounding Elsewhere in the exhibition, references such as ‘Letter of Verification and light blubs are arranged to spell the word ‘ReAuthentication’ and ‘Letter found in the Dead voltage’, but with only ‘Revolt’ lighting up at Letter Office’. Humorous and poetic video first. This installation is a prelude to the twoclips play on a loop. Among stills of a city sky- channel video piece The Capital of Accumulaline and various animals appearing on a con- tion. It talks about Rosa Luxemburg, a revolutraption that resembles an old radio, the most tionary, the light bulb factory andshutterstock/littlesam the creation striking is of a man performing a card trick in of artificial light, which allowed mankind to t was at the age of 23 that my father start-which knew I was going through.

I always hiswhat thumbprint appears magically onhad extend cial concerns. understood that ifsunset.

I had to work- and Iplay-hours beyond ed consuming alcohol regularly. Based onetoofwear a different face for the to outside world While the cards.

He later proceeds sever his have a happier I had to forgive my father. it is a tributelife, to labour and modernity, it on what I have heard from his friends thumb and and a different face at to home.

My in father would is also the reference Eklavya the MaAlcoholism, was athat disease of the mind. a critiqueI learnt, of a system continues to and my mother, it was the pressures of habharat alwaysbecomes say — “What happens in the house, extend apparent.

Alcohol takeshours over afrom person like even the devworking 8 tomuch 12, 14 and work that made him first succumb to drink. stays in the house.” He was embarrassed by his 16 hours. il and the addiction isn’t entirely their fault. I His work in the shipping industry forced him alcoholism. For the world, he was a fun-loving “The was piece living also awaycontemplates at the time and howmy thebrother huto stay awake through the night around Kolka- person who liked singing, dancing and having man called day tototell howand sickthe my father bodyone responds theme world presta’s Kidderpore docks. Alcohol proved to be a a good time. But for the family to live in socie- sure was.

Soon by after, I feltchanging I’d finallyinto forgiven him. created night day and stimulant and, not long after, it became a hab- ty and portray the picture of a happy family the hours While I think I’ve moved my brother, that are stolen from theon, workforce,” it. It started with him having two or three pegs unit, we had to wear our masks convincingly. observes who isSengupta. five years younger, has had a much harof whiskey atalking the end of eachthe day.labyrinth By the end, through For my family, matters only got more diffi- The deradjoining time. During father’s lastobjects, days, my roommy is full of stuffed even a full bottle enough.

When IJaitry to cult when my father was diagnosed with cir- such that wasn’t once was the officious brother was the flamingo, intermediary between as a reindeer, beetles, a tigerhim recollect scenes childhood, see my rhosis in 2009. He was all of 49 and was forced andand purfrom Hall my of the NationalI Galthe world, be they it doctors, relatives or a telescope.

While make references tomy father coming from work, freshening to opt for an early retirement. After affecting forgotten leryhome of Modern Art (NGMA), mother.or As retired a result,constellations, my brother is anow more large up is and sitting downdown with the a drink. a few his liver, the disease reached his Delhi, a bit like falling rabbitInhole spiritual. completely clock in the centre keeps We timewere and alocates ithours, be in a stupor myaspar- kidney. The best doctors and in Alice in he’d Wonderland.

Thingsand areI’d nothear quite family, but self in relation tonon-vegetarian the cosmos, equipped as itheishas ents bicker.

I was familiarand with these altercathey seem and get ‘curiouser curiouser’ as hospitals in Kolkata, Delhi, turned vegetarian. with a GPS tracking device.

Finally, allHe of says this isthat then.Entering Only after certain age did I Chennai and Bangalore couldn’t onetions goesby along. the aexhibition hall, has seen enoughofsuffering watched over byhe the two guardians the Re- to to realise how difficult life had reverse the inevitable and he onecome brushes past vinyl curtainseveryday printed with let any person, or thing serve Bank of India, who keep animal the fortunes I soon understood gotten my family. words likefor ‘Thinking’, ‘Snoring’ and ‘Looking’ died earlier this year. His last suffer again. within the city. that if I had to have a Not only did myThen father’s alcoholism that jump out at you. you stumble intoaffect a months were made harder by Heare livespieces his days racked with in the show happier life,Admittedly I had to there our Well, finances, it also an adverse room. it looks likehad a room but iseffect part- on the encephalopathy that had set did everything he could could haveguilt. beenHebetter appreciated if forgive that my father our socialand life.part-artistic Being an alcoholic, he tended photograph construction — a to in. With toxins reaching his to try and ensure that do mynot father they were viewed separately, as they socialise like him. they brain, he would sometimes misspace wherewith past others and present are Together seemingly That didn’t happen. quite fit in with survived. the theme.

A few of the works He found more reasons drink. It was only for a take the puja room for the washconjoined and time has to collapsed. does feelmeaning relief, but rely heavily on the textadmittedly to convey the few ‘solo’ months, but once fell into This work is my the father creation of three art-the room and think that the kitchen behind the work.that just exacerbates his guilt of abusive Influenced them, was the balcony. The frequency of such inci- For istscompany — Monica Narula,men.

Jeebesh Bagchibyand even more. the viewer who might ask in puzzlehe would turn violent— when there wasn’t dents only increased with time. I had little rea- ment,My Shuddhabrata Sengupta who call thembrother andthe I have each other talk to, ‘What is this?’, artists have onetostock enough home. MyThey mother was un- son to hate my father after he had quit response. selves Raqsalcohol Media at Collective. describe but with of stigma that is attached “Itthe is akind question we encourage our to to stand to him. Though I wasas only theable show, titledup‘Untimely Calendar’, a 15 drinking in 2009, but it was difficult to let go viewers alcoholism in India, it something is hard to find support to ponder, for it is we often at the time, I felt compelled intervene. ‘working laboratory of ideas’. to Founded in I’d of the anger that had built up over the years. I encounter groups. It inevitable that you’ll feel inislife,” says Sengupta.

“Weanger have tostand his way andgroup say, “Ifcreates you want raise often didn’t want to speak to him and when I grown 1992, the in Delhi-based art,tocuwards the person who is dragging comfortable with being bewilderedyou your hand on edits anyone, you’ll to go did, I’d easily snap. rates exhibitions, books andhave ‘stages hell, butour youviewers need to to know andthrough we encourage takethat outit is through me first.”

Seeing his daughter assert events’.

Known for their quirky, intellectual, I was eventually led to the literature of Alco- time just the alcohol which the water. from the rigours of has lifemuddied to find intellecherself manner would make himemrecoil holics Anonymous by one of my employers. I tualThe poetic andinatthis times, humorous art, they person that underneath is escaped still loveable.

If you questions may have them.” instantly, these are admittedly horrid me- found a support group for the children of alco- (The ploy a rangebut of media — from photography, treatshow the alcoholism as a problem not the runs till February 15, 2015, atand NGMA) mories to live with. video installations, sound pieces, print and ...stand holics, others narrated experiences I human being, you might sleep better at night. andwhere stare The Raqs Media Collective trio; Livingworks undertothe shadow and of alcoholism text-based animation sculpture.can (top) ‘Escapement’ could instantly identify with — that sense of re- georgina maddox is a Delhi-based art writer force you to live a double life. No one in school sponsibility, the fear of losing control, finan- as told to shreevatsa nevatia

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CUB READS

Brave new world

“Vodka is bad for your ovaries” ELSEWHERE

Twenty women writers take huge mouthfuls of life in this powerful anthology

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hat will ournips futurein Kochi Small-town andMasterChef Ranchi,cook-offs where liquor and girls do not mix. Or so they say mother-of-all

Eat the Sky Drink the Ocean Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar and Anita Roy (Edited) Fiction Young Zubaan ₹295

No waiting room A daily ritual at the state-run BEVCO outlets s mahinsha

be like? What will it ensues and what happens next is a be like for women? ‘tiny wrinkle in time’.

Will there be real The tales are dark yet marked food to eat, air to breathe, trees to with a sense of hope. Girls and womtouch? Will there be men in our en practicing “magic” are still world? After two horrific incidents branded as witches, paraded naked, that occurred in December 2012, flogged and left to die just as they which shook India and Australia, 20 are today in the states of Chhattiswriters and artists from the two garh and Jharkhand. Newborn girls countries have come together in the are killed much like in Haryana. But anthology Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean in Samhita Arni’s ‘Cast Out’, these to find answers to some of these witches and girls find new life questions. The title suggests impos- among their own, hidden by Demon ete bounces up the driveway in high spirits. “I’m sibilities, dreams and ambitions, to Clouds, aboard a ship called ‘Pearl’, CURED!” he says when I ask him what the news is. He “embrace the idea of not just eating on the Floating Island in the middle no longer has Hepatitis C. “It’s the new drugs,” he pie but taking big, hungry mouth- of the ocean. says, when we’re sitting in Dunkin’ Donuts, drinking fuls of life.” To make you “fat with My favourite tale in the collection, coffee. “They don’t work for everyone, but they worked for knowing”. This collection of stories, Alyssa Brugman’s ‘Weft’ tells the poime.” I asked him how long he’d been sick. “Eight years,” he written by women writers and illus- gnant story of a young woman and said. “Lots of people don’t make it. But I did.” trators, re-imagines our world with- the price she (and we) pays for beauHe’s so happy he’s radiating light. “I wasn’t ready to die, out men, resources, or the daily ty. Botox be damned, will it become you know?” It was an uphill struggle — I know because I saw struggles of being women. They tell fashionable to sell even your kidney some of it. There were days when his skin looked like it betales of a not-too-distant future that for a head of new hair? Margo Lanalonged on a withered apple and he seemed as fragile as a is dystopian yet hopeful. gan’s ‘Cat Calls’ tells the story of dried autumn leaf. Yet he smokes! He has to do it surreptiIn Priya Kuriyan and Kate Consta- young girls for whom going to tiously because the building is Smoker Unfriendly and Reble’s graphic short stoschool is a daily invitabecca upstairs is a vigilante about the least whiff of tobacco. ry ‘Swallow the Moon’, tion for men to leer, I have seen him, some mornings, toiling up the shallow women are the future. jeer and tease. Not unrise from the parking lot, the thin coil of white smoke emergThe tale follows young like the girls of Kailashing from under the cowl of his hooded jacket looking like a women who walk The tales are dark yet pati Junior College in lifeline. Keeping him tethered to through glades of forBanda district of Uttar this world. marked with a sense ests, climb hills, dive Pradesh — abutted by Of course, I know that smoking is of hope he queue of unshorn legs and muninto oceans, discover guest accommodation by drinking after a particularly not one, but two gov- raucous ladies night at the her an paying unhealthy, dangerous habit. I’m dus of varying lengths ends inernment-licensed a bar — a bottle of the remnants of the atnot ‘home’.

Her venue choice to take a potent li- water. a smoker in partofbecause I have But the thought knot at a BEVCO shop somewherequor in shops world ‘before’ and is ‘Pantaloons’, or more the This —was also the night when my Philip had swig whose asthma, in part because I neveraccurately, had crossed mind: Kochi. The quiet order of the daily emerge with the secret Eastern stubbed cigarette barefoot — “Isticks could to have lives outside thea premcash toMall. spare on cigarettes when I cancer a the state-owned undisto life andritual living.atConstable’s tale is aliquor Using that old the bag, of pouring sworn I hadRemimy shoes on” — and her friend isesoutlet, tell tales of harassment. was young.

Still.trick I’m in sympathetic homeless manhad turbed, by by flies the occasional strange one, madeexcept luminous Ku-andniscent vodkawho intocan’t half-empty mixed enough of Anurag Kashyap’s recent drinks to dance on broken colourless towards those or won’tbottles of sot… When, suddenly, two girls in their riyan’s excellent illustrations.

AryaThere’s and her spend many winnot every night is a wild night. Cer- Sprite, short film early That Dayglass.

AfterBut Everyday, give up. a friends homeless man, 20sgives appear of nowhere.

Anita Roy us aout delightful lit- They not-so-soft drinks and tainlytrue not across in Kochi, where those who shun the try thiswalk is a straight story that rings forevenings instance,glugging who hangs out near the counter, 10,000 eyes boring into four-star bars, because “you can’t really chill eating tle story into‘Cooking Time’, with pairs plot of space Maggi. heavyblue or habitual and time. my gym.

He’sNot gotafierce eyes, a drinker, their backs as they buy bottlesNot of all beer and elements borrowed from MasterChef Arya says she’d have fresh juice than althere”, invariably in the purple tales in the anthology are wind up tattered thatch haze of grey-blond hair andrather is medium-dishevwhiskey across the future, metal grating. the man and Doctor Who. Set in the onbut most pomegranate of thePadmanabGlow, a dive bar where strange men may aboutIfgirls, in Manjula elled.

He doesn’t ask forcohol money, I’vedays. seen“But himsince smoking. at the window is surprised, doesn’t show it Irfan Newtri pills have become substi- hehan’s costs ₹100 and a nipand of vodka ₹90, I don’t or may offer to buy you a drink, but will juice ‘Cool’, young is anot SpitRidHe just sits cross-legged on the sidewalk roaring mutter— not even from whensarson they hand exact change tutes for everything ka out always hold injustices out,” she says. promptly pull of up a chair before theythe canvarious make bureaucratic er on Saturn9, the tiny, dark moon ing about that have renor exceed thecrumble. limit of 4.5 perringed person. saag to warm apple Canlitresthe Theka errands, though, are ingood on their promises. dered him homeless. One day, when I was planet. The youngest and crossing the street, a Malayalam murmur picks Most in the you imagineSoon, a world where food is the evitably run by the boys in class, Unlike bestup.

SpitRider team,most Irfan girls and heboys called out to me, “Stop! There’s a car coming!”

Ever since, the girlsgood? in ‘Western know ofher no longerassume finger-lickin’ The wear’ notwithstanding access — there age, who drink to get I’ve drunk, is a don’t descendant the astronaut smiled and waved at him. He waves back. Doesn’t smile. the local tongue. But none speaks loudly as Philip at least wine and savours her bourbonsThe andother day he asked me if I couldare clan so from the home planet, sending spare him three a cigarette.

I liquor Surely, the girls who to attract their attention — molten what if lumps they doof precious shops near the institute, single malts, and shuns the “girmineral said I didn’t smoke. Then he asked me if I could do him a fa- the closbuy liquor are the know Malayalam; and surely,‘Flying girls Spit’ who back buy to Earth est of which barelythe 300m from ly” gins vodkas. A practice as aand muchvour and buy him a pack from Cumberland Farms,isacross girls who talk back their own liquor are the girlsneeded who talk back.of energy. itslegs gates.

“But how hard can it that stands her in goodroad. stead, source He might “I can’t walk much,” he said, “my are weak.

I’ll give Even the drunk, who finds thehave gutter before be?” asks and Arya,dirty withone a confidence her put father risking moves inhe spacewhen that can In- — often you the money.” And he held out four damp finds his door, mumbles disapprovingly. as heady as her ire ofbut herinmother —dollar offersbills. It was two days before Christmas. terstellar’s crew to the shame, I said, “It’s age, okay,nattering For Rose Philip*, four months into her first about“They the time hera lot a drink in the comfort of them for you.” He didn’t bataway love, young Irfan has to learn.

I’ll buy an eyelid. knowwhen she job with the Kochi bureau of Smitten a national bought or hariya in plastic glasstheirteaching drawingasroom. Thatwhat he draws line at store,” bydaily, his virtual kind the I like in that helocal said‘hooch’ and he named a brand this is a familiar drill. So predictable is thehe se-learns es from tribal women outside (where else, fetching a glass a peg at family sistant Leila, to waltz, go toor pouring I’dher never heard of. quence of events in fact, that lastand month, but)when ‘Pantaloons’. fermented of course. school be ‘cool’.get-togethers is a different matter, Sure enough, in the store I said I’dMade like aof pack for the rice, she when she went to buy alcohol forWhat a friend who and boys were not says it tasted like chhach or buttermilk, and if men homeless man across the street, they said, “Oh, Andy?

Sure. ince her rebellion in a glass was throwing her bridesmaids a party, Philip ‘human’? hardly heragain. a buzz.Andy Yet itthanked wasn’t half as vile even considered In first Iso- taste ofThis is his brand.”

I crossed thegave street was also ‘in-house’ — she was once 17, when her was surprised when the auto-driver whoand Prabha herChristmas,” roommate’sI said. boyfriend belle Carmody Mallya’s me and again triedas to the pay. feni “Merry But carted him myback drove them home from the liquor shop flew from Goa, she claims. is now hoping ‘The Runners’, therecousin is no brought place forback a Jack theDaniel’s thoughtwith crossed mind: cancer sticks to a Arya homeless from Dubai drink at Orto off the handle. Unlike the other men, he didn’t better hersame hariya experience with a sip of men.

Shunned and enslaved, men—inPhilip would man!rather Was that kind? cruel?

“The to you, lady,” mutin Is Kochi.

22-year-old Priyanmince words, chiding them this severely forare setsweet-smelling, pungent a drink made world bornhome unfree. thereSomething, tered Andy. His mouth bent in the shadow of a mahua, smile. “The Aryaworld wouldafnever do. same to you.” ting a bad example and sullying the commuwith flowers, before she leaves for Mumbai the possibility of ankaequal Growing upisin Noida, her parents knew next Spring. By which time, back at the BEVCO nity’s name. Nothing she and herEat friends ter all? the Sky, Drink the Ocean was themes drinking in college at Delhi Universi- , author hadn’t heard before (“At least remarkable he spared usfor thenot Arya in Kochi, a man counter just the MANJULA PADMANABHAN and artist, tellsat of the her parallel life or in in the queue ty, butittheir disapproval (or approval?) wasfortnightly al- may usual Vodka-is-bad-for-your-ovaries rant”).

But have offered to buy ‘the girls in Western it explores and the world foretells, marginalien.blogspot.in Elsewhere, US, in this series ways tacit.

Now a student of film and wear’, a drink or two at Glow.

Philip, who went to college inbut Bengaluru, for the says collaboration between television production at the Xavier Institute of he did bring to mind another, very different (*Name changed on request) authors across cultures and nations. man. An auto-driver who, back in the garden Communication in sleepy, provincial Ranchi, priyanka kotamraju offered to book buy his retching passengers — Arya is careful still not to alarm the owners of soity banerjee ‘Swallow thecity, Moon’ from the

Care for a smoke?

All for the love of a cigarette

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Wrapped in twine and bamboo leaves Accounting for the liquid assets of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills — from a glass of milky sunshine to the clear-as-water potion with a piece of charcoal in the bottle

Lend me your ears Jawaharlal Nehru shares his worldly wisdom on big picture issues in these letters the hindu archive

Listen up, pupils

In-house brew While foreign alcohol floods Meghalaya’s markets, local brewers in the Northeast are forced to work in the shadows ritu raj konwar

A collection of letters from Prime Minister Nehru to the chief ministers of his time that reads like the ruminations of a teacher

A T Letters for a Nation From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers, 1947-1963 Madhav Khosla (Edited) Allen Lane; Penguin Non-fiction, History ₹599

two-hour drive southwest out of Shillong takes us to a village named he very title of this book is indicative after my fruit, has Sohïong.

A of how thefavourite Delhi ‘darbar’ viewed black, fleshy cherry by the Nehrus.

Nehru’stransformed letters to his my mother every summer into juice, jam and chief ministers?!

Many chief miniswine. left the sprawl of town far behind, ters ofWe’ve the time were tall political leaders in and is pleasingly open. theirthe owncountryside right. They respected Nehru, but The it is landscape, rolling past us, one was once covdifficult tosoftly imagine that any of them ered in Sohïong trees, I’m told, butminister’. the hills thought of himself as ‘Nehru’s chief now lie sadly barren.

Unfortunate aslarge this is,prowe Rather, they were elected heads of haven’t trekked all the wayahere for fruity devincial governments with lifetime of politilights.

Our poison of choice is something else cal experience. entirely, and brewed a small shack eduthat What most of themin lacked wastin Nehru’s looks an abandoned cowshed. cation,like erudition and felicity of expression in you sure this is safe?” timorously. the“Are English language.

All thisI ask comes through in thewritings, world,” my companions reply, all“Best of Nehru’s including these letters not quite answering written over 16 years.my question.

We park road in the India, it along is said,the is only administered byvillage three and head to a jadoh stall (possibly governmental functionaries — PM,the CMonly andone DM in the village), rickety butcalled clean,the and supplied (district magistrate, also district colwith wooden benches and tables. A plate lectora few in some states).

Communication beof meataswiftly falls us — soft, succutween CM and a between DM is almost daily and lent pieces country chickenproblem-solving, cooked in a simfocused onofdevelopmental ple ginger-onion paste. Our waiter places project implementation, district politics anda curious bamboo tumbler holds such like.

I am not awarebefore of anyme, CMitwho hasa gently fizzing, lightly bubbly liquid the colour devoted any time at all to writing lengthy and of milky sunshine.

Rice beer oritkiad (water thoughtful letters to DMs. But, is a um symbol of liquor), so called of its low alcohol the federal naturebecause of the Indian governance content.

I’vePMs tasted laodeal pani in CMs Assam, also system that do not with on such made the same ingredients, but this is a dailywith basis.

Their interaction is formal and slightly tart.to write letters. episodic.sweeter, Hence, more the urge While we sipthis ourcollection drinks, I’mof also treated What does letters telltousa lesson on the history ofmany brewing in thedo Khasi, about Nehru?

For one, of them not Jaintia and Garoof Hills (long they were read like letters a PM to abefore CM. Rather, they clubbed intoruminations Assam andofthen carved read like the a teacher, theinto auMeghalaya in 1972).

Legend that the thor of Glimpses of World Historyhas anditThe DiscovWelsh Christian missionary Jones,a ery of India.

Perhaps the editorThomas has chosen who invented the Khasi script, had taught the subset that focuses on big-picture issues like Khasis how to brew kiad (there is, in that, nation building, development, planning, landa rare, symmetry). was the reformpleasing and food supply, defenceIt and foreign

mid-1800s, and minor cuts and wounds were bags), and with no official supervision, mostly accountable lostthere lives, for adulterated policy, etc. Butfor themany fact that aresimply so few letbeyond recognition. come through more than in the letters in lack of antiseptic medication.

Jones’ challeng‘remedy’, which ters dealing with the developmental When bamboo tumbler empties, I’m he my agonises about the quality of educathe locals soon discovered,economy also tasted pretty es facing a post-colonial and the given a glass of clear-as-water liquid.

A light tion, communal tension and India’s response darn good. Itofwarmed them up on administracold winter sniff, nitty-gritty state and district my nostrils burn.

“That’s 70 per cent to theand Chinese invasion in 1962.

Nehru admits nights, and them inexplicably tion tells us made that Nehru, born with ahappy. silver pure alcohol,” “the good that India wasI’m notwarned, doing enough to stuff. investJust in The magic potion lived was deemed powerful and make spoon and having a charmed life, despite sureand youmaintain don’t drink smoke at the education theand quality inherited potent enough be interwoven into being very muchtoa part of the rough andsocial tum- same time.” from the late British era. Free India was not dorituals andfreedom customs.

During the traditional ble of the movement, rarely focused ingDiluted water, the it glides downstanmy enoughwith to maintain educational naming for would instance, elders on issuesceremony, that ‘his’ CMs havethe been pre- throat, leaving a warm, trail in its dards that colonial Britain bittery had ensured. share a cup of kiad a fewhe drops are also giv- wake. occupied with.

Theum; closest comes to grapA piece of charcoal sits at the bottom of Equally distraught is Nehru about Hinduen to with the baby to eh rngiew, him/her to the pling such issues is in his for letters on food bottle — “To preserve alcohol content”.

Muslim relations, and his its commitment to secgrow Khasi manpolicy in andstrength. land reform.

The kiad is triple-distilled, ular values shines through these letters makwrittras, words or ktien, Thea string editor ofhas divided the ing and at ten it toimmaculately CMs, many ofpure, whom may believed to sections perform— The certain book into six Citiabout ₹100shared a bottle, immaculatenot have Nehru’s views tasks — bring rain, stem bleedzen and the Nation, The aInstituly cheap.

Variations include kiad and values. ing wound, fetch water, National dislodge Kiad is triple-distilled, tangsnem, tions of Democracy, drunk, they say, by For all his education, experiAs wemaking move from aPlanning fishboneand stuck in the throat — Development, War cremators andshrewdness nongshohence and political it the grave letters of the late cannot be uttered without kiad and Peace, India and the World, nohs fill (after (kidnapper/killers) all, he won the primetominimmaculately 1940s to early um suet bad shor or toof scatter. andtoEulogies.

In most these them with before istership of bravado India away from their such pure, andthe at about ’60s, weasee a less Yet with numbers of letters, Nehruvast is either being the gruesome I drink slowly formidabletasks. contenders as Netaji, ₹100 bottle, more cheap candid but Christian conversions in the re- guarded, Teacher, lecturing to his pupils struggle to finish.

The liquor Sardar Patel, Rajagopalachari immaculately and, indeed, a more gion, a deep-seated puritanism or sharing his thoughts with is fiercelyothers strong, rushing and many and retained it distraught Nehru also Converts them,set or in. he is doing a were good enrestraight to my head. for 16 years), Nehru feels comcouraged to of view indigenous porter’s job educating the Weeks later, one of lesson my drinkpletely cheated by the Chiculture as what ‘barbaric’ and backCMs about is happening in ing companions na taught him. sends across a wardly heathen. If this led to a drastic decline present — a gigantic the world. bottle of beetchi, fermentHe was far too much in awe of in That the promotion and practicetoof indigenous ed rice beer brewed Nehru’s commitment in theits Garo Hills. It’s China, only trusting leadership art, particularly music,national it also prompted the the socialism, secularism, development colour dull honey, packed with more than of necessary, not and realising that theya government to ban the production andthese sell- wonderful and world peace should come through smoky, flavour.

Deceptively never trusted him sweet as much.

The ‘stab in the ing of local liquor. letters would be stating the obvious. The ques- light utterly back’and from Chinadelicious. undid Nehru, and may well “Which is why,” one of my ex- have tion is, does his honesty alsocompanions come through Inarguably, my favourite. hastenedI’d hisfound end. In a letter dated Februplains, sitting here.” them or“we’re does he remain shy and secretive, not aryUntil the day can walk a shop and 2, 1963 he Iwrites, “Itinto is possible to purlive While up foreign alcohol Meghalaya’s opening his heart to hisfloods political peers? chase this freely the counter, comes surpeacefully with over the Soviet Union.itBut it does markets, welcomed as aletters mark of — the as with other reptitiously As we move from the late 1940s tobe mypossible doorstep, in twine not appear to towrapped do that with Chibranded progress andsurely, developand early things ’50s to —theoflate ’50s and, the and leaves.too It’slate. time, I say, to raise a na.” Abamboo lesson learnt ment, localwe brewers are forced tomore-candid work in the glass for the local to be celebrated and early ’60s, see a less-guarded, sanjaya baru is the author of The Accidental Prime shadows anda more-distraught deal with the humiliation and unchained. and, indeed, Nehru sharing inconvenience of ‘his’ frequent his concerns with CMs. police raids. In Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan pariat is the author of Seahorse Singh, 2014 many places,does kiadthis is sold illegally plastic janice Nowhere honesty and (in frankness

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Here to there Author Aatish Taseer uses Sanskrit to broaden this book’s cultural perspective prashant nakwe

A society novel The drawing room set of Delhi explore the definitive events of our recent past in their drawing room way

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ome novels cultivate an air of playful from an Orientalist’s high regard for the an- major figures, looming large both in literary deception about them and can hood- cient language — he is able to perceive, “under history and in Taseer’s novel — Salman Rushwink the readers into believing what’s a thick encroachment of slum and shanty” of die and VS Naipaul. The latter is quoted at on the surface is all there is. The Way modern India, “a far grander city” belonging length, and even makes a brief appearance in Take a long, hard look A whopping 23 per cent of Kerala’s economy depends liquor and yet the state’s recent policies of puritanism; man grooms himself in front of a pages bar on Marine Kochi kk mustafah Things Were, AatishonTaseer’s ambitious explorato thereek Sanskritic past.here, Anda Skanda, according these in theDrive garbinof a Naipaulian alter tion of language, identity and politics — the to his aunt, “is his father reborn”, which is ego called Vijaipal. The anxieties expressed by confluence of the three — wears every disguise both his privilege and his curse. Like Toby, Naipaul in his India books are very similar to of the “big novel”. The narrative spans some Skanda too is a gifted student of Sanskrit. But those expressed by Taseer’s novel. Namely, three generations and takes well over 550 pag- his feelings towards his father, and his father’s that this country lacks a historical sense exThe Way es to conclude. The novel also appoints three worldview, are conflicted, not least because cept when it manifests in a revivalist, sectarThings Were of the most definitive events in Indian postco- Skanda — along with his mother and sister — ian and meaningless form.

Aatish Taseer lonial history as its chronological markers — was long ago abandoned by Toby. The novel For the most part, The Way Things Were is Picador Fiction the Emergency of 1975; the Sikh pogrom of starts with Toby’s death and composed of dialogue — reams ₹699 1984; and the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992. Skanda’s journey to India with and reams of it. It comes to a And finally, it’s that most complex of languag- his father’s remains, the journey point where one begins to wish es, Sanskrit — “a language of the super elite,” home marking a son’s attempts Taseer shared Nabokov’s disdain according to one character — that forms the to understand, and come to for words falling within quotaFor the most part, core of this novel, lending thematic unity to terms with, the past of his em- The Way Things Were tion marks (the maestro once the stories told here. bittered and broken family. compared dialogue to “automatis composed of So the use of words like ‘panoramic’, ‘thrillWe are told that the word for ic typewriting”). dialogue — reams surrounding alcohol is a mud and garbage because the state wants to ture. works the on same in Kerala ing’ or thelcohol inevitable ‘epic’ theway novel’s jack- history in Sanskrit, itihasa, literaBesides, Taseer’s ear evidently and reams of itThe rhetoric cliché inenough Kerala, for mostly humiliate youtofor committing as anywhere else — makes you pleaset copy surely seems justified, if off-putting, at lly translates “the way thingsthe ‘immoral’ ubiquitous moral isn’t well-tuned realCatholic churchwhich (whichisincidenantly tipsy or, if The overindulged, act of buying sold by the state. Forget touted by theistic first. But looking at it closely, Way Things were”, whichalcohol... speaks of a more dialogue, all the licensed wine distilleries the that it makes a whopping 600 drunk and in Kerala, Were comes across as stupid. really a But big book with nuanced, informal — look at theper cent profit tally owns 23more difficult to pull offfor when ‘ritual’ wineto of portray 15.5 per acent v/v there’sconcerns, one difference. hypocrisy per bottle.

Or that much of the alcohol pro- production of small whichThere’s is just more the way things word “things” — and personal you’re trying multialcohol)society. and generally by anyone moted the State Beverages Corporation of lingual around be alcohol than intoalmost any other should whenhere it comes literature.

This view ofby the past, which is exactly what weisget Thus we get, onwho onewishes hand, to adopt a holier-than-thou stance, such aslike the dubious quality, not Interestingly, dangerously sub-stanplacesoinmuch India.

For instance, or in isn’t a social novel as agentlemen society novel, The Way Things ifWere.

Sanskrit, characters making cartoonish utterances so-called Gandhians.

VM Sudheewomen dothenot public with dard its or etymological spurious. I speak following lifebuy andalcohol times offrom “the adrawing rootsfrom spreading to vari- “Colonial-shalonial” or “Hebrew-shebrew”, ran, saying Keralahighfalutin Pradesh Congress my modest a con- this book’s and on the other, shop, because though you enjoy your are drink, it ous room set” of Delhi, whose members seen Westernexperience languages,asbroadens bosh like Committee (KPCC) president and is not ‘respectable’ to be or seen buying it.parties, In Ker- cultural sumer. Besides, alcohol compulsively attending organising perspective ratherhas thana restricting it. “Don’t give me this involved inside-academia foolnon-drinking ofrole. ala, where sunlight is glorious, most bars are paramount regardless of the personal or political crises The interconnectedness the world is nev- cant”. Often, AK it’s Antony the sameprotégé, person whose speaking in a brush toboth tar your hardy desperation for an image As more a brush to tar your enemy pitch dark,them. because it ispages not ‘nice’ besetting Barely after to onebeofseen the er evident than when we studyAs languagthe registers. enemy with, alcohol makeover led tothis thebook current lidrinkingcharacters — darknessofprovides anonymity. with, it the is only second to sex in novel central the book, Skanda, has es (and two Sanskritists in this never The experience of reading is not is only second to sex quor crisis, must have Kerala a weirdour place, getting to cognates).

This double standard reveals itself in anothgiven his father a Hindu cremation — tire of —drawing attention unlike walking intopolicy a dinner party and overin Kerala himselfconversing been taken aback byoththe er bizarre manner. the state an However, weirder every day. this approach to the study “…watched as the Alcohol flames, brings overcoming their to extend hearing the guests with each success of his pedestrian sloganannualreluctance, revenue of ₹9,500 — a significant initial coaxed crore the flesh off his fa- of history is not without its flaws. The narrator er. Their chatter is likeable, dull, enlightening raising prohibition. hearecent prohibitionist ex- parallels. A and dispiriting, 23 per body” cent of—the — from a turnover ther’s we economy read the following: “Skanda draws number of silly historical all infor quick phases. But there of the United Demothesocial situation within the ofinvited ₹11,000tocrore.

ButThe hypocrisy demands is a party. price one pays for that ven- Sikhcursion man who helps his co-religionists affect- comes a time inBut every gathering when cratic Front (UDF) ruling UDF is so alcoholout be in sold from surroundings akin to a ed turing a city such as this!” by the Delhi riotsgovernment is absurdly compared to one switchesCongress-led off mentally, still pretending to was another instance of thispoint, unhinged mind- follow shameful, in corruption, and pigsty.

State-run outletsof force theThings (approxiThe other focal point The Way Were Oscar Schindler.

At another the coinage themired conversation, while infighting the eyes helpdeception, that what should have been a set. It was soisimprudent suicidal that in lessly mately) fivefather, per cent Malayalis consume is Skanda’s Toby (born to who the Raja of Ka- ‘Dreyfusian’ used out ofand context. try to locate the bar. a fewthe weeks, there’s shamefaced alcohol — or and the ‘sinners’ — to queue up under lasuryaketu a Scottish mother).

Toby is a just When gossip gets aliterary in TheturnWay damp squib by the KPCC president exploded gill is aweapon. freelance writer based inplayed Delhi a Meabout — a messy todoes, a miserable misadvenlike a nuclear The media the burningscholar sun and filth, Things renowned of pouring Sanskrit rain who insuffers Were, as itend often it centres on two vineet

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What brought on the government’s recent prohibitionist excursion in Kerala and a shamefaced turnabout within weeks

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phistophelian role, raising the decibel A BUTTERFLY BREEZE FROM MP of the liquor policy discussion to hysteria because it saw a market opportunity in the puritan, sanctimonious social segments. Moral police and right-wingers of every description had a free run. Panicking politicians scampered for cover and began to talk like prohibitionists even as they were in the middle of fixing deals with the liquor lobby. The knives were out. Suddenly, it became an unspeakable crime to utter even a word in favour of liquor. It was a masterpiece of Malayali hypocrisy, with politics and media in tow.

CM Oommen Chandy saw his chair slipping awaytand went kill — that left for everyone is the endin of for theayear a time reflecgasping. upped the ante We, on Sudheeran in a tionHe and projection. on the other way that sent even the prohibitionists hand, are midway through our reeling, season: coming with a policy that would close 99 thisup runs from the end of the monsoon to per cent of theof bars and restrict sales the beginning summer.

But it alcohol is also an apwhich too were to be to the sarkari propriate timeoutlets, for such deliberations.

Since eliminated in is a phased manner.

Evenof thegood fact the year end traditionally a time that heitwas cutting at the ofthe Kerala’s fischeer, would be nice to heart record positive cal lifelineand — the tourism industry — did not thoughts happenings in 2014. But I have deter himI from pushing thecheerful state onto a ruinto admit struggle to find topics in ous economic rollercoaster to save his chair. the field of travel or environment.

HeTourism also closed his eyes to the very in India has dropped overreal the and last deadly scenario of Kerala a gargantwo years.

ASI records arebecoming a good indication, tuan hub of illicit liquor and drugs. and the major ASI monuments showed a large It was almost of last the disastrous arpercentage dropainreplay visitors year, and this rack 1996,The by the then of CMpeople AK Antony, year, ban eveninmore. number visitwhich set off theinavalanche of Indian made ing monuments Delhi is down by 30 per foreign liquor Kerala. only dida cent, and even(IMFL) the Tajinto Mahal has Not registered it from drinking but it tour also 20not perstop centanyone drop. Informally, Khajuraho took away and fromhotels the average operators talk of man up toand a 50the perpoor, cent the option to limit histhe outgo on alcohol, drop.

Unfortunately, media prefer raisbad ing from news around ₹6-8 to newshis to cost good,per so drink worldwide of India is ₹60-80.

Today, it is theat IMFL empire that Antoparticularly negative present.

Security for ny established Sudheeran — Antony’s women has beenthat an issue in the international press for over a year. This seemed a major concern for potential travellers, according to the European agents we met last summer. Of course, the amount of detail required and the cost of visas are also an oft-cited complaint; and the PM’s publicity-seeking blitz for toilets and against drugs do not help. Who wants to pay so much to come to a country of drug-addicted, open-defecating rapists?

The facts, however, tell a somewhat different story. America and many of the European and Scandinavian countries have much worse rape statistics than India, both in occurrence

Illusion and reality It’s a time for reflection and projection, to take stock of the good and the bad in the fields of travel and environment

joanna van gruisen

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Open state secrets Members of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association stage a protest in front of a state-owned outlet in Kochi vipin chandran; and (below) Chief Minister Oommen Chandy flanked by KPCC President VM Sudheeran on the right and Home Minister Ramesh Chenniththala

crore rupee empire of beer and wine in Kerala, while holding on to its monopoly on hard liquor sold from its own outlets. If the government’s avowed aim in closing bars was to wean people off alcohol, the new policy will do exactly the opposite. The subtle propagation of beer and wine as ‘mild’ or ‘harmless’ alhe new liquor policy, a thoughtless quick- cohol will bring new customers into the bars, fix for immediate face-saving, is fraught especially the young. Many regular drinkers with new dangers. The 418 bars — out of 731 — will switch to the ‘mild’ alcohol, inevitably in which were closed will now become beer and larger quantities for better effect, resulting in wine parlours. Unless the court decides other- higher expenditure. The drastic saturation of Somethe gladstate tidings Panna, the introduced tiger population grownwith to over 20 inand five wine years rcould sreenivasa murthy wise, willAtalso convert the remaining the has market beer trigger 300-odd bars the same way, creating a multi- health imponderables that political oppordoesn’t Ieither or about want to and conviction rates. As a Brit, I was horrified tunism One positive mightunderstand have written is into account. government cleverly to learn that on average approximately 85,000 take the small increase The in the number ofistigers in up aOur massive new market of tens of women in the UK are raped every year. This is opening the country. neighbouring Panna Tiger crores inback beer and in Kerala over 230 every day (one every six minutes), thousands Reserve hasofbounced afterwine losing all its a statepopulation; where bothover were consumed, and conviction rates appear to be only one per — natural thehardly last five years the Given the of policent. It is said that in India one woman is especially introducedwine. population hasproficiency grown to over 20 cannot beallasthis accidental as and it looks.

A raped every 20 minutes — even allowing for ticians, animals.itHowever, time, cost effort seems have been converted the large number that go unreported, this is crisis is about to beto drowned by the Ken-Betwainto rivera of opportunity. is under a charade well below the UK figure and the conviction masterpiece link project, slated to be the It first IRL. resembles arrack banwill in rate, although dropping, is presently 24 per that Smallclosely enough already, Antony’s the planned dam 1996, which created thecut IMFL cent. Sweden, France, Germany, Canada and flood 100sqkm of the National Park and off wave of in Kerala. given thefor fathe US also join India as the top 10 worst coun- another 100sqkm forest —And, a deathknell ethics of the business tries in this regard. I am not implying that we the tigers, asmiliar the remaining area will notand be interests thatpopulation. rule the lishould be complacent here — not at all. This is large enoughpolitical to support a viable Today, it is the IMFL trade, beer and claims wine quality rather to show up the irrational reaction of Yet the Waterquor Resources Minister there empire that Antony is likely to environment plunge, while due prices those from these countries rejecting India as a will be “no loss to the to established that head holiday destination on such thesenorth. projects”. I wonder to Sudheeran is trying to But look at the happiness quogrounds. It is all in the image. which or what environment she demolish with tient.

Oommen Chandy and his We are in an age of facades, a is referring to? Or do politicians Antony’s blessings ministry are stilltheir in place; bar PR century — where image sustart believing ownthe rhetoOne of my favourites lobby is somewhat content; lipersedes facts, chimeras prevail ric as well? is Jadab Payeng, who quor are inlittle sevover reality. Few care to look beButmanufacturers there are, happily, has single-handedly enth heaven, because, as ifand by yond — this is as true in the field joys that do give inspiration been planting a forest magic, a gigantic market beerThey and come wine of environment as it is of travel. hope for betterfor times. on Majuli island has opened up; excise officials, police, political Our PM uses fine words at the clifrom individuals and communiwheeler-dealers are hiccupping with mate talks in Lima, Peru, but ties, et andalI believe that the worse laughter since it’s business as usual.

And they that along with the other countries everything gets, the more poor oaf, thewill drinking he’s fails to come to any meaningful spring Malayali, up. One ofthinks my favouthough he doesn’t he agreement. Meanwhile, back home his gov- had ritesaisvictory, the story of Jadab Payeng,know whowhat has sinin for. ernment continues along its path of weaken- is gle-handedly been planting a forest to reduce In theon end, thereisland are two glum faces: Suding the wildlife, forest and environmental erosion Majuli in the Brahmaputra stands butthe might legal safeguards — as if development is possi- heeran, since thewho ’70s.

Thenbeaten there are tea pursue estates sensational lethal paths of confronble without ecological security. They push more documented in aand recent Greenpeace report depending on his grown mentor’s and ahead with crazy ecosystem-ruining schemes tation that provide organically teaneeds; and prove Kerala Congress (M) supremo and filike the river-linking project (IRL), hiding be- KM thatMani, we do not need to drink contaminated minister, whoinduction faces prosecution for alhind claims of proper impact assessments nance beverages, and the of the fearless accepting a bribe of ₹1into crore from bar and project appraisals. Where available, these legedly Durga Shakti women rangers the Special (Even I am ashamed to reveal the palare continuously shown to be shoddy docu- owners.

Tiger Protection Force at Pench and Tadoba. figure of ₹1 crore. in are a way, it shows ments with manipulated figures. But do we try There are many more. But These people with Malayalis will care? Mention development, jobs, prosperity how vision,modest who swim againststill the are.) tide toMani improve good his escape like many others before in the same breath as river-linking, people will make our world. seems Malayalis willday, never escape connect the two and clamour for it. Politicians him, Mybut NewitYear wish?

That one soon, they cataclysms theirwho politicians looking for votes will support the “demand” — the will recurrent outnumber both those create unthe upon them. few will look beyond the smoke and mirrors leash false illusions and those who believe them. and see the disaster lurking beyond. The illuzacharia is a bilingual authorphotographer, and essayist based joanna van gruisen is a wildlife sions turn into reality. Our interests become paul in Thiruvananthapuram conservationist, and hotelier based near Panna, MP more and more short-term.

nominee to the KPCC presidential chair — is trying to demolish with Antony’s blessings.

And thereby hangs a tale of infighting in the Congress, which is too long and sordid to go into here. However, it is useful to note that Antony is currently unemployed.

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Behind the seams A man with broken shoes UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

An alumnus of Ahmedabad’s National Institute of Design, fashion designer Nachiket Barve and his Instagram feed turnman thesay colour of lifeselling in Mumbai What does a privileged to a wheel poor man belts and wallets on the crowded sidewalks of Delhi?

7.45am Morning cuddle with Sir Theodore Goldenridge

8am Tending to the cactus garden

9.30am En route to an event

11.15am The guest of honour’s view

12pm What lies beneath

12.45pm Full steam ahead at the factory

Skid rows The care we impart to our feet is the true measure of how we care for ourselves, and how much we can afford to kamal narang

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Omair Ahmad is an author. His last book was on Bhutan

enjoy walking. This can be a trial in Delhi, where there are few sidewalks, and those that exist seem to be used as one vast urinal. Walking on the road in the snarl of 1.30pm Research for the new collection in thewithtraffic, with honking, aggressive drivers library at the studio in their metal-covered egos is no pleasure either; a gauntlet for the battered but desperate pedestrians of the city. We are who we are, though, and I cannot do without walking, nor can I do so only in the little parks set aside for the purpose. The roads of a city are where the public is to be found, and it is hard to segregate yourself away from life, even if the life is not all that pleasant to endure. It is the role of a writer to observe, to live, and to write about the life seen and felt. To hide away is to blunt the very faculties that are needed to make writing possible.

Nevertheless, strolling along the byways of Delhi requires some form of protection, and for me that lies in my music. A pair of decent earphones allows me a little pleasure to offset 2.38pm Going through the racks samples for some of the nuisances, but alsoofinsulates me a the upcoming little from theseason vitriol that is often the reward that pedestrians in Delhi receive for their efforts. Of course, it leaves me vulnerable to being run over by an angry driver, but more difficult is the fact that when that insulation is stripped away, the encounter with the brutal reality of a life lived on Indian roads is that much harsher.

It was a good day. I had been invited by my publisher to celebrate 20 years of the publication of A Suitable Boy that evening, and I was looking forward to it. Although that is not my favourite Vikram Seth book — his delightful travelogue From Heaven Lake: Travels through

Sinkiang and Tibet occupies that space — I have text, is it even possible to say such things? I admired his work. It was also an achievement looked down at his feet, because I could not of some sort for me to have earned such an in- look upon that face, could not meet his eyes, vitation after my own work. I was planning on or listen to his constant appeals, and I saw his getting a few copies of Seth’s books signed for cracked shoes.

2.10pm Setting up for a bridal couture meeting my cousins. And then a man said something Maybe it is my own middle-class, semi-feuon the street. dal background in which lowering the gaze is I popped out an earphone and apologised the first thing you are taught. Maybe it is my for not hearing him. interest in human rights work in which I have “Would you like to buy a wallet?” he asked, read long testimonies of people being gesturing to the bag that he had tortured, and the sole of the huslung on his shoulder. man foot is considered a choice I said no. I already had a wallet. area of work for torturers. I don’t I did not need another. know precisely why, but I tend to Maybe it is my own “A belt, maybe?” he asked. notice feet and footwear. A third middle-class, semiAgain, I said no. of the bones of our body are lofeudal background in cated there. The care we impart “Are you sure?” he asked, in an which lowering the increasingly desperate voice. to our feet is the true measure of gaze is the first thing Of course, I was sure. I have how we care for ourselves, and you are taught four belts, two formal ones and how much we can afford to. His two informal ones, and that’s at shoes were cheap, and broken; least two more than I need, alcracked at the point where the though I did not say that to him. toes meet the feet. They were the What does a privileged man say shoes of a poor man trying to do to a poor man selling belts and wallets on the something better. A man who had walked and crowded sidewalks of Delhi? walked, selling his wares, until the leather “It is my child’s school fees,” he said, his face gave way. twisting slightly. “I have to deposit it tomorI bought a belt. I gifted it later to a guard row. I need to make the sales today.” who worked next door. And that evening I do not know how many of us have been in among the great and the good, I thought that place where we are forced to confront the about my privileges, what I had ‘earned’ and desperation of our fellow citizens, and maybe what had simply been luck, how little I know assess whether the desperation is real or not. I of the people who walk, day in and day out, in guess I could have told him that his child’s the streets of my city, and how little I can judge school fees was no business of mine. I could simply by looking at their broken shoes. have alleged that he was only begging using t@OmairTAhmad this story. But in what world, and in which con-

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PRESENT IMPERFECT

The acid burn of rebellion It was Chennai in the mid-’90s, and just being able to buy a bottle of bad vodka and drink it without being busted by a parent or a professor seemed like a victory 2.50pm Light and shadow

2.55pm A spot of colour... Boxes made for a collaboration

3.15pm A salad I made for a working lunch Dark temptations We were, otherwise, good girls, but having a drink made us feel like we were ready to take on whatever the adult world was going to throw at us k ramesh babu

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remember everything about my first drink — it was the sickly orange of diluted Gold Spot, it smelled like sweat it seemed to me, but it tasted exactly how I imagined it would — the acid burn of rebellion. I was 18 and in my first year of college. We had been talking about it for many days — my friends and I — and finally one afternoon we 3.30pm Some of the books the to gathered ourselves, each collected one notover wanting belast thedecade loser who wimped out, yet all of us feeling that this was a bad idea that was likely to go so wrong. We set off from college and landed at Nungambakkam High Road. Someone knew a restaurant where you were allowed to bring your own bottle of booze. Pearl, it was called, and I remember the name like it is carved on a milestone. There was much arguing on the way to the restaurant about who would manage the task of actually buying the bottle at a wine store. It fell to me, alas, because I was the only one in that group whose parents did not live in the city. There were a few men staring and straggling outside the wine shop. I was nervous and the word Romanov was stuck in my throat. But as I pointed and waited, I saw by my side a thin woman in a dirty sari and with the dusty skin of a con10.15pmworker.

A quick drink backstage struction She had with her two pouches of the state-controlled, colourless stuff. She snipped one, drained it in one long gulp, popped a banana in her mouth and did the same with the next — all in one smooth motion. I was too impressed to be shocked.

At Pearl, dark and dingy with an overbearing smell of air-conditioned mustiness, there was much anticipation and nervous laughter.

The drinks were poured, unevenly. And drunk just as anxiously. There was that warmth gliding down your throat and the disappointment that you didn’t ‘feel’ any different. And then there was another drink, and maybe another.

The waiters looked at us with immense curios- ing, mixing conundrums. There was the worry ity and extreme distaste. It was Chennai in the of whether you’d be able to walk when you get mid-’90s, and just being able to buy a bottle of up. Whether your friends would be? Whether bad vodka and drink it without being busted we were speaking too loud and laughing loudby a parent or a professor seemed like a victory er? And each time the door of Pearl opened, in itself. That day ended with a rickshaw ride, there was the collective pause of suspended which made many, many puke stops. I breaths. But most of all, there was the problem wouldn’t say it was the best day ever, but it was of linking the dark afternoon to the rest of our Back on stage... thisgirls, time tobut judge a pretty much up there. lives. We 8.30pm were, otherwise, good just Needle, thread and supervision Arorahaving Khan, among others No 4.00pm one in college drank. Well, some did, but the act ofpageant goingwith to Malaika Pearl and a drink they were notorious for other things as well. In made us feel like we were ready to take on hostel, where there were virtualwhatever the adult world was goly no secrets, drinking stories ing to throw at us. It was such a were always whispered gossip. terrible sin to commit — at that No one ever admitted to it. This, time and in that place — that it It was such a terrible when even lesbianism was not a was deliciously irresistible. sin to commit — at big deal. (At least, the watered A year after I finished college, I that time and in that down, college-hostel version of moved to Mumbai for my MBA, place — that it was what went around was dismiswhere drinking decisions, like deliciously irresistible most things about the city, were sed with a shrug.) But there was something about drinking that stripped of romance or rebelmade it different. Maybe it lion, and were entirely a matter wasn’t something ‘girls’ did. Or of economics. Where was it perhaps it was how high the risks were — what cheaper? How long would it take to get there? if you were seen, what if you were in a state, In Mumbai, no one stares at you or what you’re what if you couldn’t walk back, what if the drinking. Nobody bats an eyelid if they see you news reached your parents? The hallways of lined up outside a wine shop. And even if you Suey to the day 10.45pm Dinner withghastly the wife stories of some buy a box10.55pm college were filled with of beer Khow and carry it end on your head, no girl or the other, busted mid-drink by a family one thinks they should find out who you are member, and forced into a quick marriage to and tell your parents about it. In a city popan ugly man from a landed family in rural ulated by such callous indifference, drinking Andhra Pradesh. doesn’t make you any cooler. It doesn’t mark We went to Pearl several times after that. you out or scream your rebellion. And while a And because of these stories, it was always cold beer on a humid, sweaty day might feel rather thrilling. There were so many things to like a sip of heaven, it simply doesn’t make you consider, several precautions to take. To be of feel like you’ve accomplished anything of subreasonably adult drinking age and not being stance. For those of us spoiled by judgemental allowed to drink, seemed then like a travesty. Chennai, having a drink will never again be There was the horror of buying it — in broad the exhilarating prospect it once was. daylight — when anybody’s car could be going t@veenavenugopal past the wine shop. Then the whole measur-

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THE COMPASS CHRONICLES

Home and away The square root of evil

With positive growth trends and falling crude prices, Adi Godrej is optimistic about 2015 When the science of numbers tells a story of revenge

rohit gupta

Making it abroad Godrej group chairman Adi Godrej’s New Year resolutions include more overseas acquisitions bloomberg/

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n 1881, the oldest extant manuscript in Indian mathematics was discovered 50 miles from Peshawar in the village of Bakhshali. We speculate that this copy was created between 700-1200CE, even though some of the ideas could be as old as 200BCE. The author declares, “This has been written by the son of Chajaka, a brâhmana and king of mathematicians, for the sake of Hasika, son of Vasistha, in order that it may be used by his descendants.”

The above testimonial provides the enlightened view of a culture in which mathematics is highly respected, compelling us to examine its relationship with society. The invention of zero in India made possible the positional (or ‘place value’) number system, a huge event in world history. In such a system, the same digit in a different position, like one in 100 or 110000001, means different quantities. Subsequent thinkers tried to place this discovery in a social context; a good example of which is the Yoga Sûtra 3:13 of Patañjali (5th century): “Just as a line in the hundreds place means a hundred, in the tens place ten, and one in the ones place, so one and the same woman is called mother, daughter, and sister by different people.”

The Bakhshali manuscript contains an early method to compute square roots. Much earlier, in Greece around 600BCE the pursuit of a square’s diagonal length may have led the cult of Pythagoras to encounter the square root of two, which is an irrational number. Legend has it that irrational numbers went against their religious beliefs, leading to outrage and murder. The inability to comprehend mathematical ideas leads to confusion, and a great confusion often leads to catastrophe. round 1897, with a formidable At the start of since the first millennium CE, the for its locks in the centuscience ofreputation Greek antiquity was squeezed ry gone political by, the 117-year-old Godrej through various tumults that foltoday synonymous lowed thegroup rise ofisByzantine and Islam, with conGood Knight, Cinthol, Ezee and Hit. interstantly reshaping Europe Asia.ItsArabic ests have expanded India to Africa, Eutranslations of the beyond Greek classics, and their rope scientific and Latintemperament America andplayed acrossa sectors own pivotal ranging fromthat consumer goods andworld electronrole in saving knowledge.

Most reliics to chemicals, realform estate software solugions contain some orand the other of mathtions. BLink spoke with theno group ematical mysticism; but otherchairman, religion Adi Godrej,geometry for his recap the Islam. year gone embodies moreofthan Sinceby, it the challenges theyimages faced, to the factors that couldn’t use human depict celestial workedIslam in their favour and those didn’t. forces, began to visualise thethat crystalline Outlining his group’s global growth and acfabric of space time itself.

As Greek knowledge quisition plans, the he sieve spellsofout the reasons passed through Islamic thought,beit hindtransformed. his optimism for the year ahead, despite was sluggish consumer demand.

Edited excerpts: The writings of Plato, in particular, were interpreted widely in the Arab world by a secret How hascalled the new government changed things society Ikhwãn al-safã, or The Brethren forPurity.

India Inc? of Written in Basra (Iraq) in the 10th The overall mood in India has from been aquite upcentury CE, this rasa’il (epistle) scientifbeat with the newcompiled growth-oriented ic encyclopaedia by themgovernstates ment intention coming into power.

GDP growth trends their clearly: “Know, oh brother… are looking positive, with growth rates being that the study of sensible geometry leads to better the sub-5 per cent in the skill inthan all the practical arts, while theprevious study of year. The easing of Wholesale PriceinIndex and intelligible geometry leads to skill the intelConsumer Index augurs wellisfor theofIndilectual artsPrice because this science one the an economy.

The decline crudetooilthe andknowlother gates through which weinmove commodity prices, too, should helpthat in reducedge of the essence of the soul, and is the ing our current account deficit. Though indusroot of all knowledge...” trial has have beenbeen sluggish thus far, Theproduction Brethren may very secretive the ongoing reforms and focused because their economic outlook was very radical for that campaigns ‘Make in India’ should hopeage, or even like revolutionary and futuristic.

They

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fully aid the recovery of the manufacturing How are your international businesses doing? sector. The Indian stock market too has re- Godrej has bet big on emerging markets, but sponded well to the new government and the some of them are now battling currency recent reforms. It is encouraging to see move- depreciation? ment on the Goods and Services Act in Parlia- Overall, our overseas business is growing mentwere last they? week.An If Arabic the Government is able to moderately. developing countries have Who manuscript from 12th century CE shows the Most Brethren of Purity wikicommons bring the Act into force by April 2016, it would been slightly affected by the overall global ecbe very good for the economy. onomic slowdown. But I would say that dedefine a perfect man as — “of East Persian de- the spitedivide-and-conquer the uncertainties in global macro strategy.”

How wasof 2014 for the Godrej in rivation, Arabic faith, Iraqi group in education, He- environment, our international Pingala’s treatise also containsbusinesses an idea particular, and India Inc general? brew in astuteness, a in disciple of Christ in known have been by the success as doing Matra fairly Meruwell, (Theled Mountain of CaDespite the slow as change in monk, consumer senticonduct, as pious a Syrian a Greek in dence), of new product distribution exwhich islaunches taught toand us as Pascal’s trianment, our businesses have in done natural sciences, an Indian the reasonably interpreta- gle. pansion.

Wediagonals continue to posiCertain of strengthen this triangleour sum to well ofthis year. Our consumer tion mysteries and, above all, a Sufi or a mys- the numberstion for89, urban 1, 1, 2,as3,market 5, 8, 13, leader 21, 34, 55, 144, goodsin business significantly tic his whole spiritual household insecticide and air 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181… outperformed categooutlook.”

Therereported is a lot of myscare inknown the Indonesian market, better as the Fibonacci sery growth rates across categotery surrounding who the Ikhfor instance.

Our ascends Latin American quence, which rather Our Latin American ries in India.

Ourwere innovations wãn al-safã really because businesses also shown rapidly like ahave mountain would. a businesses have are focused they wroteon creating their valuetexts sharp improvement in margins If each person in the world No other religion shown ageometry sharp for-money products, which can anonymously. backed by better were to demand an business eye for an pereye, embodies improvement in increase both penetration and A similar situation exists with formance.

Africa ison a key market the pile of eyeballs the ground more than Islam margins consumption inoften this confused country.

Patañjali, who is for us and we continue be marwould increase in this to sequence.

Our real estate Godrej with Panini andbusiness, Pingala, the auketmerely leadersthe in our hair extensions In 49th mass extracProperties also had aShastra, good year. thor of Chhanda a business tion, the there. pile’s count would exThe second quarter was mathematical theoryofofFY14 rhythm The recent devaluation curceed the population of the of world, thepoetry. third consecutive quarter in the root of and in the next in While Islam sought rencyround… in the developing world afthe entire world which sales in crossed one million sqft. sought it would knowledge geometry, the Indians fects our company turn blind. to a certain extent, because companies in theProfessor group —ofGodrej in Other language and grammar. math- then thecolumn rupee is growth tends lower than (This dedicated to to thebechildren who Agrovet Jayant and Nature’s Basket“A—remarkable have also susematics Shah writes, ex- died the growth in theattack currency of thatoncountry. in the terrorist in Peshawar Decemtained of a the good growth momentum.

We are ber ample mathematical spirit of Pingala’s But,16,typically, 2014.) in many of these countries, if continuing focus on cost andofoperwork is his computation of control the powers two. the currency devalues, like it has recently in guptafor explores the history of science as ational efficiency programmes improve rohit He provides an efficient recursivetoalgorithm Argentina, example, and in Indonesia, our margins across all businesses. based on what computer scientists now call Compasswallah then the localt@fadesingh prices tend to rise because a lot

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saturday, december 27,27, 2014 saturday, december 2014

Rupiah dreams Godrej hopes to consolidate its position as a market leader for urban household insecticide and air care in the Indonesian market bloomberg/dimas ardian

Murder most foul Politics is a strange animal

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he idea was to kill two birds with one stone. To catch the early bird.

To kill an ill bird that fouls its own nest… You get the drift. But the poor crane that was murdered in Kannur last week — after the letters RSS mysteriously appeared on its wings — was apparently apolitical. Caught in the middle of the rising tensions between the local CPM and BJP cadre, the bird that was imprinted in saffron was declared a martyr by some. A special branch has since been put in charge of the murder investigations. A national daily also quoted a police source, who said: “Killing animals and birds to set (sic) scores is routine here, and this reminds me of the brutal killing of the snakes and monkeys in Parassinikkadavu Snake Park in 1993, following the rivalry between the CPM and MV Raghavan [a veteran Communist leader].” In the week that followed, another crane marked with the initials DYFI, or Democratic Youth Federation of India, has been spotted in the fatal firmament. All bets are off on whether this feathered ‘comrade’ will join its friend in the blue beyond.

Sandra the orang-utan gets freedom after 20 years, but she’s not in a hurry

Grumpy Claus is coming to town Giving gifts, but not spreading cheer

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is not the season to be jolly, claim several office-goers in the National Capital Region. Forced to play secret Santas by overzealous colleagues or HR personnel, they have been hurry-scurrying all week to buy gifts for people at work.

That they spend the better part of the year exchanging barbs, not gifts, with the same co-workers is a different matter, of course. For now though — ‘in the spirit of the season’ — they must play Santa and not the Grinch. With little to cheer about — other than humdrum pens, diaries and key chains in their stockings — they can’t wait to get back to business as usual.

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of the local pricing depends on some imported items. Therefore, it evens out over a period of time. Overall, we expect good progress.

Will you go slower on future investments in emerging markets?

The three-by-three strategy for our consumer goods business has worked well for us. We are focused on three business categories (personal care, hair care and home care) in three geographies (Asia, Africa and Latin America). Close to 47 per cent of our revenues now comes from our international businesses, as compared to 15 per cent in 2009-10. This is one of the most significant changes for us as a company. Today, over two-thirds of our team members are based outside India and our products are available in more than 60 countries across the world. Going forward, we will continue to look for acquisitions in developing countries such as Africa and South America in the homeand personal-care businesses. A few months back we increased our stake in African haircare firm Darling Group Holdings, in Ghana, to 100 per cent. Going forward, we will be increasing our stake in the group in other African countries as well. We have also added new countries to the Darling Holdings’ operations ast week’s New York magazine carried a blockbuster on Uganda, Tanzania and Angola. whichstory include a high school senior named Mohammed Islam who believe had We also there is high potential in made a “high eight figure” fortune — $72 million SAARC to be precise, countries such as Bangladesh, where according to reporter Jessica Pressler. For the glowing article, we have operations in both consumer goods Pressler met “Mo” at a posh restaurant, where he was andpolishagrovet (agri-based and poultry-based ing off caviar and apple juice. “Mo”, the magazine claimed, products) businesses. was one of the reasons to love the great city of New York, where boy geniuses can rake in the moolah on the stock How will you tackle the slowing consumer market. Sadly, it turns out that the story is a hoax.demand There in India? is no $72 million, and there is no genius. Baby- I agree that consumer demand has remained faced Mo’s greatest achievement, perhaps, is largely subdued so far. Demand in the second the presidentship of the finance club at his quarter of fiscal 2015 was very low, making this school! After his confession to the Observer, one of the slowest years of growth for the IndiMo has cancelled his CNBC appearance — an FMCG industry in over a decade. Even rural yes, he was going to be on TV to ruin your demand, which was holding up well relative holiday, kids — and hired a crisis PR firm. As to urban demand, was hit due to erratic monfor the magazine’s fact-checking prowess, soons this year. As spending habits take time the Observer remarks, “Even if the kid had to change, companies have not seen an immestarted with $100,000, he’d have to average diate pick-up in sales even with the economy a compounded return of 796 per cent over improving, but hopefully this should change three years. C’mon man.” over the coming quarters. We have started to see some signs of improvement. Both October

Fact-check please

Boy millionaire is a hoax, but New York magazine is the dunce

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Born free

his is a first. And it’s making headlines. An Argentine court has ruled that Sandra the orang-utan is entitled to basic human rights and upheld her right to be freed from a zoo, after spending two decades in captivity in Buenos Aires. However, Sandra, 29, remained unfazed. As reporters queued upasfor pictures, she munched and November have been significantly better countries such Germany, which would have on a melon, the rind around her head than the previous months. So I expect that the had thewrapping power to pull the Euro zone out of crito pose cameras.

Zoo officialsEven are though puzzledcounat growth in the FMCG sector in the second half sis,for appear to be exhausted. the court’s decision — Sandra has been captiv-are of this financial year will be much better than tries such as Greece, Spain and in Ireland ity all her life, moving fromsigns zoosof in improvement, Germany to in the first half. The cooling commodity showing some Argentina. The officials say she is shy by countries nature prices should help firms pass on until the large, core and enjoys a solitary pick life. However, shyness the benefits to the consumup speed,her Euro zone rewas interpreted as a sign covery of depression ers in the coming wouldbybeanimal elusive. rights activists, who filedThe the silver petition.

Mean-has months. For example, lining while, in New York, a similarbeen petition come our consumer goods thehasAmerican up to recognise a privately-owned chimpanzee business is planeconomy, which as is fia “person” with thoughts, feelings andbeginning rights. But to ning to pass on the nally that don’t impress me much, says Sandra. benefit of softer feel like it is pickinput prices to ing up pace. Job consumers in the growth figures form of consumer look promising. promotions. We The big worry for are also planning American economy to reach out to a would be its demowider audience by graphics, which is expanding distribunot as attractive as that tion network by about of the emerging markets 10 per cent. Our top priorilike India or Indonesia. ty is to stimulate consumer demand. We will be betting on new In India, the Index of Industrial sales initiatives and innovative Production has declined and WPI products to drive volumes in the is negative. Are we going back to I expect that China’s next two quarters. the 1990s? growth in the coming These metrics should be viewed years will remain Your outlook on slowdown in in conjunction with the broader below 7 per cent China, the continuing slowdown economic outlook. Even though in Europe and the US recovery in the recent GDP growth figures the year ahead? have not been as encouraging as Some of the uncertainties in the expected, this financial year is global macro-environment have been a bit likely to close at 5.5 per cent growth, which, alworrying. Back in January this year, the IMF though not spectacular, would be a reasonahad projected world growth to be close to 3.7 ble improvement over the sub-5 per cent is Fatmagul’s Fault?

Sul- In months thedownland of the per cent, which hasor now been now, revised growthWhat witnessed over the last and two Elyears. haveestimated caught the audiAmerica, wards to 3.3 per cent“telenovela”, in the latestLatin report.

The has fact, it tan. has The beensoaps recently that India captivated ro- overtake ences’ fancy traditional, growth trends inbeen China will play aby keythe roletorrid in will Chinafortobeing become the fastest manceoutlook. of Sehrazat andhas Onur with more romance, less sex.High While the global economic China tillof Turkgrowing major economy in 2016-18. pricish soap and One Latin times America’s erotic the dramas date had a large impact onopera globalThousand growth. The es in recent haveown weakened buying TheChinese romanceeconomy drama has tak“narco-telenovelas” — druginflation trafrecent statisticsNights. on the power and of consumers, so reducing entrend.

Chilean by storm, netficking dramas — fade in popularity, show a downward Buttelevision the government certainly bodes well for the Indian economy. ting some the largest audience in years. peopleaccount seem to prefer the classic has come up with policies to revive Also, current deficit is likely to be conUsed to to exporting its ownofhugely of reduction Turkish dramas.

Love growth. So we will have see the impact tained,scripts given the in crude andtriother successful — think angles, suffering heroes, and really the same, but I expect that telenovelas China’s growth in Ugly commodity prices.

Of course, a lot more needs bad baddies.

We hope Ekta Kapoor is — the region started the coming yearsBetty will remain belowhas 7 per cent. to imto be done to stimulate growth even further. port Turkish soaps by dozen, like taking note.

Euro-economy has been in trouble forthe a long time now, but what is worrying is that core rashmi pratap

Q Turkish invasion R

Tortured romances replace crime sagas on prime time in Latin America

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cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya Journeys

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n this day, Charles Darwin started his voyage on the Beagle, which changed the world of modern science. This week’s quiz is all about journeys.

1

In the wonderful Wizard of Oz, what was the name of the path Dorothy and her four friends took to the Emerald City? Hint, Elton John and Eminem.

2

“Dean and I were embarked on a journey through post-Whitman America to FIND that America and to FIND the inherent goodness in American man. It was really a story about two Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God. And we found him.” Identify this work.

3

Douglas Corrigan was one of the builders of Charles Lindbergh’s ‘Spirit of St Louis’ and a skilled pilot. However, he will always be remembered for a solo journey that he undertook in 1938, and the nickname he earned as a result. Where did he fly?

4

The North American Aerospace Defense Command was set up to track enemy planes and missiles and is one of America’s most secret and high-tech facilities. However, once every year, it allows visitors to log into its website and track a certain journey. They receive more than 19 million hits on their site tracking whose journey?

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the new york times crossword-0720

self-evident truths

Martin Waldseemuller produced a world map in 1507 in which he named a particular area based on the accounts of a man who was associated with both Columbus and Alonso De Ojeda, but was never regarded a great explorer himself. Which area did Waldseemuller name?

6

While the rath yatra as a political weapon is now primarily associated with LK Advani, the first Indian politician to undertake one did so eight years before Advani’s journey to Ayodhya, and swept the polls that followed. Name the leader and the state.

7

Whose journeys in the 14th century were recorded in a work whose title translates as ‘A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling’, more often simply referred to as Rihla or Journey?

8

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, written in 2006, retraces the journey that the author took and wrote about in a very famous travelogue in 1975. Name the original work and the author.

9

The newspaper advertisement put out for the expedition read as follows: ‘Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long periods of complete darkness, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.’ The author was flooded with applicants.

His name, and where was he planning to go?

10

The Char Dham (‘four abodes’) is considered one of the most popular pilgrimage circuits in the Himalayas. The circuit comprises four sites, two of which are Kedarnath and Badrinath. Which are the other two?

Answers

1. The Yellow Brick Road 2. On the Road, Jack Kerouac 3. Corrigan was supposed to be returning from New York to California, but actually flew east and landed at Dublin 26 hours later, supposedly because of a compass error. He became famous as ‘Wrong Way Corrigan’.

4. Santa Claus going across the globe delivering his presents every Christmas.

5. The Americas, named after Amerigo Vespucci, who wrote those accounts.

6. NT Rama Rao, with his Chaitanya Ratham, a modified Chevrolet van.

7. Ibn Battuta, the famous Moroccan explorer 8. The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux 9. Ernest Shackleton, South Pole 10. Yamunotri and Gangotri

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joy bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup t@joybhattacharj

Note: The circled letters, when read clockwise, will reveal a quote from Gertrude Stein.

ACROSS 1 Fighting group 6 Understood 9 Scientific truth 12 Lives 18 Opposite of wind up 20 Bobby on the ice 21 Memphis-to-Nashville dir.

22 Like yesterday 23 Classic excuse for some misdemeanors 26 Intimidating words 27 Prefix with -graphic 28 Mercury, but not Earth 29 Workman’s aid 30 Heavy work 32 Carrier to Tokyo 33 World’s largest particle physics lab, in Switzerland 34 Many a drive-thru installation 35 Declaration from Popeye 38 ___ Anne’s (popular pretzel purveyor) 41 Smugglers’ worries 42 ___ mortal 43 Doubt-dispelling words from Lady Macbeth

48 Follower of lop 49 Follower of lop 50 Formerly, once 51 Spectrum 53 “Aleaiacta ___” (“The die is cast”) 54 Mutt’s mutter?

57 “When You’re Good to ___” (“Chicago” song) 60 Aside, e.g.

63 Encyclopedic 65 Frequent features of John Constable landscapes 68 Atypical 70 Bearing in mind 72 Famous Yogiism 76 Traditional Gaelic singer 77 Falafel holder 78 Food often with pentagonal cross sections 79 “All ___” 80 Holy ___ 82 Makes loop-the-loops?

84 Chicken ___ diable 86 Spanish “that” 87 One summing things up 89 They may come with covenants 92 Property areas 94 Match game?

97 Words dismissive of detractors

102 Send, in a way 103 Urge to attack 104 Top choice 105 Expression of resignation 109 Baseball stat.

110 “Did gyre and gimble in the ___”: “Jabberwocky” 114 Take it easy 115 Cast 116 Sushi topper, maybe 117 Hardly highbrow reading 118 Material blocked by parental controls 119 Fantasy title character whose name is one letter different from the creature he rides 121 “We will tolerate this no more!”

125 Least plausible 126 Certain wardrobe malfunction 127 Filler of la mer 128 Mess up 129 Covers with goo 130 Austin Powers, e.g.

131 Record stat 132 Guide DOWN 1 Like some measures 2 Cell part 3 Whirlpool product

4 Strike a chord 5 “Gross!”

6 Source of great profit 7 Mercury or Earth 8 District in Rome 9 Sheldon’s apartment-mate on “The Big Bang Theory” 10 “___ questions?”

11 Emmy-winning drama four years in a row, with “The” 12 Some memory triggers 13 Stereotypical beatnik accessory 14 Hard water 15 Pushed back 16 Capture 17 Fuming 19 Bonding molecule 24 Kind of ticket 25 Howl 31 “My, my!”

36 Card game with a “Chairman” 37 Ape 39 Letters of certification?

40 Ending for how or who, for Shakespeare 43 One that’s a bore?

44 Fights 45 Where prints may be picked up

46 Movement 47 Send in troops, say 48 Some wrestlers 52 Bonkers 55 Went back over 56 Rapper ___ Rida 58 Juinpreceder 59 1968 live folk album 61 “Tender Is the Night” locale, with “the” 62 Mideast legislature 64 Determines the concentration of a dissolved substance 66 Team V.I.P. 67 Ocho – dos 69 Certain ruminant 71 “Summer Nights” musical 73Colorful, pebble-like candies 74 Bit of trip planning: Abbr.

75 Roth ___ 81 Take up again, as a case 83 Yearbook sect.

85 Small power sources 88 Ones that warn before they attack

90 Former employer for Vladimir Putin, for short 91 Sunny room 93 Reams 94 Takes a turn 95 Strict 96 Work for a folder 98 What you might be in France?

99 Degree of disorder in a system 100 Pop stars?

101 Bit of wisdom 103 Pushes aside 106 “___ Baby Are You?” (1920 show tune) 107 Debt note 108 Rocker Bob 111 Beguile 112 Corn chip since 1966 113 Clear sky 120 Pip 122 Barely beat 123 Chance, poetically 124 Refusals

By Tom McCoy / Edited by Will Shortz

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