Blink issue 50 january10 2015

NAME AND SHAME Delhi Police’s decision to publish a list of sex offenders is likely to do more harm than good, say social scientists and activists p3 saturday, january 10, 2015

Adivasis pray at Andreas Murmu’s grave in Pakhrigudi village, Kokrajhar district vivek singh

“Can two kinds of rhinos live in one Kaziranga?”

Caught in the cycle of ethnic strife in Assam, once again, three lakh uprooted adivasis and Bodos cower in relief camps p9

No winners in Bodoland

DISHONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY? Insurance companies battle tech-savvy, dangerous fraudsters p4

EAT LIKE A GLOCAL A cookbook ladles out the rich and varied food history of the Chettiars p20

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nal of Anatomical Society read: “Meherji’s outstanding achievements and principled life CREATURE FEATURE have helped to (sic) put the Parsi name firmly on the map of Madras.”

Other notable Parsi Chennaiites include social worker Mary Clubwala Jhadav (who founded the Madras School of Social Work in 1952); cinematographers Adi Irani (Alam Ara, SS Vasan’s Kamadhenu and Bala Nagamma) and Mehli Irani; Minoo K Belgamwala, one of the founders of Madras Motor Sports Club; builder JH Tarapore; civil engineer Hormusji Nowroji (who the historian Sriram V calls the “father of water supply in Chennai”); Soli Dababbler starling can induce ave you ever noticed how you slow- process that begins with the drongos latching foraging rulwala, who or opened Chennai’s firstthese modern drop whatever are eating and ly stop paying attention to a re- on to groups of socially foraging birds. These birds arttogallery; and manythey more. for we cover.

The then swoop peated sound, like a noisy fan or social foragers depend upon each other to re- quickly“Ifly think have alldrongos prospered and, as far as I up the insect that the the clockwork clanging of a ham- main wary of potential predators — individu- in and amgobble concerned, I have imbibed allsocial I can.forI speak ager and had Ipainstakingly collected mer from a nearby construction site? Getting als who spot a predator deploy a a little Tamil love the Southern culture was aboutwho to eat.

Using used to a recurring sensation is known as hab- shrill alarm call to alert their foand food.and Many people come fromits Mumbraintoinstead of brute force, the get ituation, and habituation can undoubtedly be raging group to the presence of bai are eager leave this city, but some fork-tailed drongo feeds a blessing. Who would choose not to ignore an enemy. Foraging birds that comfortable and choose to stay,” says with Mistry.

VIsually similar to its minimal and can ob- of the relentless dhik-chik from a stranger’s head- listen for the alarm calls of both According to her,exertion, the first official account Indian counterpart, tain almost quarterisofofits food phones, for example? But things get compli- their own species and other speParsis setting base in aChennai Heerjibhai fork-tailed drongo is such trickery. cated if the sound you want to ignore is a cies therefore need not conManeckjithrough Kharas arriving from Coorg with five found across large where habituation en-19th sound you can benefit from. This predicament stantly be on the lookout, and other ParsisSoand twodoes priests in the early parts of Africa ter the The trouble with in is capitalised on by the fork-tailed drongo. can focus most of their attencentury. The Eastpicture?

India Company was strong Closely related and visually very similar to tion on feeding. But failing to drongo’s strategy that the then the fledgling city of Madras.isThe Parsis the roots foragers’ alarm the black drongo that is common in India, the heed an alarm call could certainchose to mimicking put down their in the Royapufork-tailed drongo is found across large parts ly spell death. ram area.call too often when a predator present caninlead foragers to of Africa. These birds often feed alone, doing The fork-tailed drongo inserts itself neatly isn’t actually It was much later, 1910,the that the Clubwala ignoring The foragers become all the hard work of finding and catching in- into this life-and-death dynamic to serve its startfamily builtthe thecall. local Parsi fire temple — the sects by themselves. But sometimes fork- own lazy purposes. Fork-tailed drongos have habituated a sound thatNadu, earlierKerala signalled first andtoonly in Tamil and the but now only indicates that their hardtailed drongos forage more cleverly, using a discovered that imitating the alarm call of a danger former French colony of Puducherry. won insect about to bemember stolen. (This Today,isonly a single of thesituaClubwationlaought toisremind you of one of Aesop’s Fa-Mani family left in Chennai.

Karachi-born bles.Clubwala I’ll let youmarried recall which one.)

As ainresult, into the family 1947 and the moved foragerstostop fleeing when hear athe Chennai with her they husband, direcalarm-call theinbenefit of fleeing from and tor at because EID Parry, the 1960s.

Her sons a potential predatorare is now outweighed by86-yearthe grandchildren in the US, and the costold of losing to an lives byfood herself in ainterloper. sprawling Needless bungalow in to say, the drongos are ready with counterSanthome, in south Chennai.

Asathe Parsi famstrategy they simply switchthe to mimicking ilies —flourished through decades, they the alarm call moved of another Shiftingtobegradually out species. of Royapuram other tween over 50she different localities, says. alarm calls prevents the foragers from getting habituated to a sin- for The close-knit community congregates gle false alarm call, and ensures the New drongos’ monthly get-togethers, the Parsi Year and continued to misappropriated meals. Hall duringaccess Jamshedi Navroz at the Clubwala The nextfork-tailed to the firedrongos temple. aren’t all evil, however.The They alert sociallike foragers to real Parsis in the Chennai, elsewhere in the threats as thus bearing something country, arewell, concerned about their fast-declinrisk on their behalf. Whether or not ingof anumbers.

Clubwala endorses, tongue you of services is Jifirmly inthink cheek,this theexchange Government-supported I think which you’ll explicitly agree thatasks forkyo Parsifair, campaign, Parsis tailed babies. drongos“We are an to make more areexample nearly aofgone nature at itsacraftiest. species,” she says with laugh. “I think the ads are fun. All these people should wake up and ambika kamath studies do something!” organismic evolutionary Mistry’s children too and have moved away at Harvard from Chennai tobiology pursue their University careers. “We n North Chennai’s populous and noisy cafés are like any other local tea-stall, with on- don’t have enough youngsters who can socialRoyapuram area, the tranquil 104-year- ly a customary portrait of Zoroaster, the foun- ise and, hopefully, get married within the old Jal Phiroj Clubwala Dar-e-Meher Fire der of Zoroastrianism, to community,” she points out.

Temple appears an anomaly. A man in distinguish them.

The Parsis and Iranis of Chentrousers, a half-sleeved shirt and a baseball Parsis and Iranis both follow nai are determined to support cap arrives on his scooter and introduces him- Zoroastrianism, but are differentheir predominantly ageing In Chennai, though self as Bomi Vazifdar, the Zoroastrian temple’s tiated based on when they micommunity. “It is our duty, as a owned by Iranis, the priest. “Not many people come to the temple,” grated to India — the former fled community, to see that they live cafés are like any he says. “Earlier, Royapuram was the base for Iran circa 8-10th century, while with dignity. The Madras Parsi other local tea-stall, the city’s Parsis.” the latter arrived in the 19th cen- with only a customary Zarthosti Anjuman has a guesAs you drive down the arterial Anna Salai, or tury. The community has whitthouse and we provide them portrait of Zoroaster Mount Road, the contributions of Parsis — as tled down to 69,000 members with medical help, subsidised the earliest Zoroastrian settlers in India are across India, largely in Gujarat rent and so on,” Mistry says. known — jump out at you: Dhun building, Ta- and Mumbai, and only about The priest Vazifdar acknowlrapore Tower, Casino Theatre, and the long- 250 remain in Chennai. edges that whether it is his gone Elphinstone and Wellington theatres.

Zarin Mistry, a Chennai-born Parsi and Sec- daughter’s school fee or his wife’s medical exEqually prominent are the several small Irani retary of the Madras Parsi Association, says, penses, the Trust and the community are alcafés on this stretch.

“Language is a huge barrier here, but people ways at hand to support him.

A quick afternoon chai at one these cafés do come on transfers and some have businessAfter more than 200 years in the city, time proves they are nothing like their counter- es here. My father, Dr MM Cooper, moved from may be running out for Chennai’s Parsi comparts in places like Mumbai, which are cher- Lahore to Chennai in 1934.” As head of the munity, but their immense legacy lives on in ished for their spacious interiors, wooden Anatomy department of Madras Medical Col- the many sterling institutions they have bechairs, marble-top tables, chandeliers, and a lege, Dr Cooper was a key figure in the city’s queathed to their adopted home. thompson sharp-eyed Parsi owner behind the cash coun- medical fraternityalexand Parsi community. ter. In Chennai, though owned by Iranis, the When he died in 2002, an obituary in the Jour- mahima a jain

Fork-tailed drongo

Using its brain instead of brute force, it feeds with minimal exertion, and can obtain almost a quarter of its food through trickery

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Chennai and its R old Parsi flame Its legacies far outnumber this fast-dwindling community with two centuries of ties to the city

Fine imprints (Clockwise from top) The art deco Casino theatre in Chennai was built in 1941 by JH Irani, an ice factory owner, and designed by his engineer-son, Firoz n sridharan; Zarin Mistry is the secretary of the Madras Parsi Association; Karachi-born Mani Clubwala has lived in the city since the 1960s, although her offspring have moved away bijoy ghosh

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Blacklisted for good?

Delhi Police’s online list of sex offenders may not be all it’s cut out to be

The road ahead...

Is dark and deep, if we depend on such lists alone to reduce the number of sex offences in the Capital shiv kumar pushpakar

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he 27-year-old executive on her way home from Gurgaon was not the first victim of Uber cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav. Convicted at least six times for offences, including rape, Yadav has been in and out of jail over the last decade.

Three of the accused in Mumbai’s Shakti Mills gang-rape were repeat offenders too. As was one of the defendants in the Delhi gang-rape on December 16, 2012.

In June 2013, Delhi Police put out a list. One that was meant to ‘out’ those with a history of sexual assault. The original list had 664 names and detailed those arrested for rape or similar charges since 1983. With over 1,300 entries (now updated from the year 1993), the list has been growing. But in the 18 months since it went online, has it reduced the number of sexual offences in the Capital?

Not helping the cause “No, it hasn’t,” claims Ruchi Sinha, a criminologist at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. “Research has shown that crimes don’t reduce by evolving a prescriptive, descriptive list. The problem is that there’s no such thing as a ‘sex-offender profile’. So although the label of ‘sex offender’ might seem to suggest that individuals who commit these crimes are all alike, that is not the case,” she says.

In the US and the UK, where such lists are two-decades old, more than 7.5 lakh and 40,000 people respectively are registered on the databases. While in the former most lists are public, in the UK, information is strictly given on a need-to-know basis.

“In large parts of India, honour and shame are primarily attached to the victim, not the offender. Where Khap Panchayats order the gang-rape of women for an affair with a man of another caste without the consent of the community, there is little that the list can do by way of shaming,” says Harsimran Kalra of the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, Delhi, adding, “Research by American

scholars, such as Amanda Agan and JJ Prescott, Beyond jail reveals that unrestricted publication of these The voices decrying such ‘proactive’, ‘transparlists does not reduce the incidence of crime ent’ measures are those of social scientists, acand, in fact, are counter-productive.” The rea- tivists and other stakeholders who have been sons are manifold. Once labelled, the offender following the trajectory of both the accused has little left “to prevent recidivism”, says Kal- and the victims in recent years. Chief psychiara. Besides, these lists often interfere with new trist at the Institute of Human Behaviour and investigations, discouraging the police from Allied Sciences, Delhi, Nimesh Desai says, “It looking for new suspects. And then, there’s might seem like a good idea in theory but it the issue of vigilante justice. Following the De- must be matched by social attitude.” He draws cember 16 incident, mobs attacked the fam- attention to the fact that while there have ilies of the accused. been some attempts, especially Instead of adding another by the Delhi High Court, few estask on the to-do list of an overtablish the link between the worked and understaffed police criminal justice system and menWhere Khap force, say experts, the energy tal health solutions. spent on such lists can be put to Panchayats order the Serving a term in jail doesn’t better use by collecting scientif- gang-rape of women, preclude gender violence. Surwhat can a list do by ic evidence, establishing more prisingly, studies on the situaway of public fast-track courts, and enforcing tion post-incarceration are few shaming? equality between the sexes. and far between. Delhi-based

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Following orders Delhi Police, however, continue to regard it as a step forward — at least, officially. “We think it’ll be useful to the public. That’s why it’s there,” says spokesperson DCP Rajan Bhagat. Off the record though, others within the force question the efficacy of an open list.

A senior police officer, who has investigated many high-profile rape cases, confesses that it may have done more damage than good.

Even the police’s claim — that they created the list at the bidding of the then home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, following the recommendations made by the Justice Verma Commission — is contested by Shwetashree Majumdar. A legislator who worked with the Commission, she claims their counsel was to create a roster of candidates with criminal records seeking to be elected to public office, not of sex offenders. “The ultimate purpose of a sex offenders’ list is public shaming. It’s surely not a lack of shaming that’s leading to such crimes,” she says.

Swanchetan Society for Mental Health conducted research related to sex offenders lodged in Tihar jail between 1999 and 2004, and it’s one of the few such reports available. Swanchetan found that out of 242 sex offenders, around 140 admitted to committing a sex offence earlier. “In the Uber case, for example, Yadav was a delinquent and surely had something psychologically wrong. We have incarcerated him, but what about additional interventions?” asks Vrinda Grover, women’s rights activist and lawyer, adding, “We pluck some things from the West and after the noise dies down, they disappear.”

Kavita Krishnan, secretary, All India Progressive Women’s Association, points to other administrative issues: “The idea that putting strangers’ faces on such a list will keep us safe makes no sense to me. The vagaries of our system are such who ends up on the list and who doesn’t can be arbitrary too.”

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shutterstock

Fit for a king At Laxmi House in Athangudi, one of the many Chettiar mansions in the region all photos

rohit chawla

Blowing the cover Elbow-deep in history

Today’s insurance fraudster is tech-savvy and murderous even. How prepared are the insurance companies against them?

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hen a life insurance company began receiving a huge number of claims from Maharashtra’s Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon regions, it was more than a little surprised. So many people dying in succession in the same places seemed unusual enough for it culinary style toheir hire[Chettiars] an externalpreferred investigating company. tendscame to mirror their wanderings What to lightnot wasonly a fake death certificate but also their traditional occupations: tradracket involving several doctors and hospitals andareas, money-lenders.

Dolloped clockwise iners these as well as individuals masqueonto freshly cut banana leaf plates, the disparate elements rading as doctors to provide the insurers false of a Chettiar meal appear to an inbuilt system, a gustainformation onhave policyholders. tory economy. Exchanges of cool and hot are taken into acPolicies were fraudulently procured in the count and thus a clearofsoup mild enoughpeople, to nourish a baby names terminally-ill including will be followed by suffering a curry whose expands on palmany fromheat tuberculosis, HIVthe or canate. In the procession of flavours,who a quail roasted to in papery cer, and alcoholics were dead or poor crispness is followed by okra of soothing, glutinous texhealth. Many of these unwitting ‘policyholture. Sharply ders’ spiced chicken to gives way to the piquancy of belonged lower-income groups and curry cookedneither in sour they tamarind.

Flavours are were neatlyaware and innor their families of stinctively checked balanced.

They borrow from the lifeand insurance policies existing in each their other liberally... seldom it been appreciated names.

Thehas racket — adequately which involved paying

the premiums and claiming the insurance of the fraudsters and laid a trap for him. On beamount on the death of the ‘insured’ — was ing caught, the man disclosed that three local subsequently busted, but not before there was doctors were among those involved in the insurance scam. All the accused soon found substantial loss to the insurer.

In 2012, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance re- themselves behind bars. ceived a claim for ₹55,000 from Up north in Noida in the naa policyholder who was hospitional capital region, a tele-callhow often, stowed away on the global ship of trade in ing centre was in the business of talised for jaundice.

Perplexed goods, a parallel exchange impersonating Max Life Insurby thewas unusually high sumin customs and ideas.

Clannish close-knit remainedget as they ance officials, collecting money claimed for and a disease like the jaun-Chettiars Fraudsters a established far-flung outposts; notissued so much assi- and issuing fake policies. Many dice, the company tried to get inthey did policy in the milatewith themselves as absorb they of us. fell prey to this con agency until touch the customer only what to nameconsidered of their target Mrs [Meenakshi] Meyyappan [of Theand Bangala] herself discover that the address providMax Life undertook an investigathen kill themwas to raised colonial On Ceylon, where her claim fatherthe wasinsurance the mayor tion and enlisted the help of the ed wasin incorrect. investigatof the island’sthe capital; transplanted ing further, pathology test at marriage to leafy and police to shut down the frauduculturedand Madras, sheand brought reports medicine hospi- as part of her dowry the lent call-centre. blended culinary of atodining table where convertalisation bills toocustoms were found sation be carried in English, Tamil, French, Hindi Surge in numbers be fake.might Together with theon police, Dutch.” aorcompany-appointed investigator uncovered As things stand, insurance frauds are rapidly five similar claims from the same area. outstripping the profitability of insurers. A Excerpted from theto foreword of The Bangala

by The New Yorkby Indiaforensic Center of Studies pegs study After talking about 300 locals, theTable compaguy trebay Times’ ny managed to get the mobile number of one insurance frauds in India at about $6.25 bil-

A cookbook that documents recipes from a heritage property in Karaikudi, teases out flavours of life in the wealthy, well-travelled Chettiar community

The Bangala Table Sumeet Nair, Meenakshi Meyyappan with Jill Donenfeld Photography by Rohit Chawla ₹1,699

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Sanjiv Dwivedi, Head, Investigation and Loss Mitigation, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

Prashant Tripathy, Senior Director and Chief Financial Officer at Max Life Insurance

lion annually, or around 9 per cent of the in- amount is inflated if the insured has a health dustry’s revenues. card. Or, an outpatient treatment is converted “Inherent fraud risks have always existed. to an inpatient case. Forgery in diagnostic reHowever, frauds pertaining to spurious call- ports is another common modus operandi,” ing and claims have substantially increased he adds. over the last two to three years,” says Prashant Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has an inTripathy, senior director and chief financial of- house team of 50 employees, apart from the ficer at Max Life Insurance. medical and forensic investigators it works According to industry estimates, fraudu- with, to combat frauds. These investigators lent claims eat up nearly 10 per cent of the have experience working with police and deoverall claims paid out. And, more significant- fence forces. The company also deploys softly, only one per cent is ever detected while the ware analytics to identify suspects. remaining fraudsters walk off with the money. With criminals becoming more tech-savvy Bouquet of insurance scams and inventive, nabbing them is proving near- The methods used to defraud insurance comimpossible. Insurers are now hiring former of- panies commonly range from taking policies ficials from the CBI, army and police to bolster in the name of deceased persons to surrendertheir fraud-detection capabilities. ing policies without the knowledge of the pol“Previously, the nature of frauds was differ- icyholder and embezzlement of customers’ ent — committed by individuals, usually in- premium payments in cash. Additionally, volving forgery and manipulation of there is spurious calling in the name of the indocuments. Today, they are committed by ex- surance regulator IRDA, or as an insurance pert masterminds, singly or in groups with company selling policies or offering false benprofessional assistance over wide networks… efits like policy bonus for a payment.

It has become more challenging to obtain eviCertain regions in the country appear more dence and to crack cases,” says BS Powdwal, fraud-prone — northern and southern Mahahead of fraud prevention at Bajaj Allianz Life rashtra, and parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Insurance Company.

Rajasthan, Assam, Orissa, Karnataka and AndThis is echoed by the ICICI Prudential Life In- hra Pradesh. surance Company executive director Sandeep When a fraudster strikes, apart from the loss Batra, who says, “Rapid advancements in tech- to the insurer, customers too end up paying a nology are challenging the boundaries of price in the form of higher premiums to make fraud-risk management.” good the insurer’s loss. According to a 2011 Shreyas Mehta (name changed), an investi- study by Ernst and Young, frauds lead to a gator with a private life insurance company, three per cent rise in the premiums charged says there has been an alarming from policyholders. rise in the number of murderThe advent of tech-savvy scams for-insurance-gains. “Fraudsters is forcing insurance companies get a policy issued in the name to invest in preventive data anaCustomers too pay a of their target and then kill lytics. HDFC ERGO relies on adprice in the form of them to make large claims from vanced data analytics to detect higher premiums to insurers. The sum assured is fraudulent patterns. “Claim hanmake good the high and taken from multiple dlers refer all suspicious claims insurer’s losses life-insurers.” for investigation,” says Kumar.

These are well-planned Some of the advanced data crimes, he says, with hired killanalytics currently used by iners on the job. “Relatives of the surers include predictive modellife insured, local governing bodies, hospitals, ling of claims by actuaries and statisticians, pathology labs are closely involved in such text mining from police reports and identificases,” he adds. He is credited with cracking cation of anomalies in a large group of similar the Nandurbar and Dhule cases. cases. Predictive modelling guesses the probability of an outcome given a set amount of inMission fraud detection put data, while text mining turns text into Powdwal says there are gangs operating numbers or meaningful indices, which can across the country, scouting for terminally-ill then be incorporated into other analyses such people, in whose names they buy policies and police data, witness statements and so on. create a nominee.

“Fraud-risk propensity models are develIn response, insurers such as Bajaj Allianz, oped and implemented to conduct field verifiMax Life and ICICI Prudential have set up dedi- cation of smartly selected policy applications, cated fraud investigation units with legal and which carry a higher risk,” says Tripathy of medical experts on board. In December 2012, Max Life Insurance, which has been investing HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company cre- 25 per cent more each year in its fraud moniated a specialised unit to detect, investigate toring activities. and report frauds.

ICICI Prudential’s Batra says his company is “We are also developing a network of retired using fraud analytics, forensics, social media police officials in key states. Our team is pro- and CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau Ltd) vided training at the Department of Forensic checks to upgrade fraud-detection processes.

Sciences in Ahmedabad. The department members are also periodically trained by ex- A shared fight perts,” says the company’s executive director Recognising the scale of the problem, the inMukesh Kumar. surance regulator is setting up a common ICICI Prudential has a specialised risk con- fraud prevention centre and database, which trol department to check frauds, says Batra. To is expected to start work by the end of this make employees aware of the modus operan- year. Insurance companies can share informadi of fraudsters, they are provided training tion and detect fraudulent multiple claims. through accredited professional courses.

Additionally, insurance companies are Within the insurance business, the sectors sending in quarterly reports on fraudulent more prone to frauds are motor, health, travel, claims detected. Industry forums like the Life marine and fidelity in that order. Sanjiv Dwive- Insurance Council and General Insurance di, head, Investigation and Loss Mitigation, Ba- Council are proving handy platforms for injaj Allianz General Insurance, blames it on formation sharing and detection of crime pat“the slow legal system, difficulty in verifying terns. The quest is on for the best possible documents, absence of adequate control, and insurance against criminal minds. lack of fear among fraudsters”. “In health insurance cases, typically, the entire billing deepa nair and rashmi pratap

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Sandeep Batra, Executive Director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company

BS Powdwal, Vice-President Operations and Head, Fraud Prevention Unit, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company

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Past tense, present This day that age continuous PRESENT IMPERFECT

ELSEWHERE

If MitraThere were to update this collection of master essays, plastic surgeons 7000 years ago, but a day then were 40-engine planes and he’d only washave justto astweak hecticaasfew it isnames now and dates

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ear Dainandini, What a terribly stressful day it’s been. I’ve spent all year getting more than a little annoyed with my deer head — the eyes were lovely and the fur’s alright, but the snout was a little too broad. I asked the Muni several times if it made my nose look too wide, but he was so busy working on the Pythagoras theorem for the last five years, he would barely look up before mumbling: “You look fine.” I sort of knew I looked fine, Dainandini, but I couldn’t help shake the feeling that I wanted something more than y departure date is upon me. Instead of taking the just fine. I’d been thinking of replacing the Legacy of inertia Bengal is the proverbial hamster on a wheel arunangsu roy chowdhury shortest route to Boston’s Logan Airport I have head. A friend suggested elephant, which was planned a detour via my sister’s home in Syracuse, an elegant option at one point, but nowadays shok Mitra has never been a uncharacteristic courage. Defending NY. That’s like going to Mumbai’s Santa Cruz airport you can’t throw a stone without hitting a dozconformist. His stint as Left-leaning revolutionaries, he equavia Ahmedabad or Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport via Udaipur — en kids with elephant heads. My friend Menachief economic adviser to tes their contentious spirit with patrimore than four times the distance from where I need to be! But ka says avian heads are all the rage now. I saw a the Indira Gandhi govern- otism, “the will to give up the lure of that’s the only way I’ll get to see my sister before leaving for India. couple of images etched on some banyan leavment from 1970 to 1972 did not inter- comfortable existence for the sake of My pack-down procedure is always intense. Living alone es — they call them leafies apparently — and defere with his criticism of the then PM. an ideal”. Irony, satire and sarcasm means having no one to blame for all the things that get forgotcided, vapid as Menaka can be, this was indeed Finance minister of West Bengal from bind together most essays made availten or overlooked. My greatest terror is that I’ll leave the electric a good suggestion. Because I made all the deci1977 to 1986, Mitra is said to have quit able in Diary. Mitra once compares stove on or one of the taps running or a window open. In the final sions at appropriate non-rahu kalam timeslots, due to differences with Jyoti Basu and delegates of the Congress to Al Cahalf-hour I always find myself looking around, wondering what within three weeks, we managed to locate a his policies. Decades later, the econo- pone’s Chicago mob. He later spends extremely vital thing I have left behind. An international journey suitable swan head. The surgery was schedmist’s rectitude needs no further ex- the better part of another piece calcuis especially fraught. There’s all the travel gear that’s got to be easuled for 2pm today. But boy did my good rahu Calcutta Diary amination, but a reprint of Calcutta lating the “opportunity cost” of Indira ily accessible — the correct ticket, a valid passport, house-keys for Ashok Mitra kalam karma end untimely or what.

Diary does help prove his iconoclastic Gandhi’s decision to skirt traffic on both homes, phone, travel chargers, credit cards and oh, gels and Authors Upfront First of all, the Sushruta Centre called and Non-fiction credentials again. A collection of 46 Howrah Bridge and cross the Hooghly liquids in a see-through plastic bag! Antihistamines. BP medidemanded I pay half the money in advance. I ₹345 pieces, mostly published in the Eco- on a motor launch. The communist, cine. Hand sanitiser… the list is endless. was counting on the copyright of the Pythagonomic and Political Weekly during the though, also reserves some scorn for Muriel has very kindly consented to drop me off at the bus terras theorem to pay for the surgery, but the Mufirst half of the ’70s, the columnist’s his own kind. He castigates the “high minal at 7.30am. Warm farewells! Then the Peter Pan Bus sweeps ni was insisting he was “blocked”. He couldn’t Diary demonstrates a careful empathy caste, high-breed Hindu” leadership me off at eight. I send texts to home in Delhi and home in Syrasay how long it would take to finish the theofor Calcutta’s people and a scathing of Bengal’s Left parties and juxtaposes cuse: I’m on my way. There’s WiFi on board and I can check for rem. To be honest, Dainandini, I think the Mucontempt for its ruling class. As Mitra economists with Brahmins of ancient messages and play an online version of Scrabble with Sister Syrani is on the verge of some kind of a confesses, “The author cuse. In Boston, there’s a wait and a society. For Mitra, his felcareer-related nervous breakdown. Although of the pieces is a prischange of buses. At 12:30, I’m on the lows were simply India’s you can’t really blame him, not after what hap- even. I immediately set about getting the kids carrying now. I am telling you Dainandini, I oner of Calcutta: this Greyhound Bus that’ll go all the way new “obfuscators”. pened in his previous project. He spent 25 and myself ready. We were taking a 40-engine could feel them instantly cooling off towards may be as much his to Syracuse, taking the northern Even though poverty Irony, satireNot andonly did plane. The younger kids were to spend the day me. Values years coming up with algebra. have gone down the toilet, these My greatest terror pride as his tragedy.” route. The weather news on my MP3 and unrest can be consarcasm bind together the Vice President Muni come in at year 24 and attending a Vedic mathematics workshop.

Thethedays it’s only about how much gold your cows is that I’ll leave Plagued by destituradio is grim: Buffalo, NY, the next sidered its primary conthe narratives take credit for the whole thing, once every- teenagers were sulking, but electric I promised Anyway, at the end of the day, I’m just stovetoon produce. tion, unemployment stop from Syracuse, is under eight cerns, the belligerent thing was done, the Chief Muni Officer decid- drop them off at the Zara sale or in one of the taps glad the surgery went well. I love and the shadow of a feet of snow. All in one day! essays in Diary do more ed he’s gifting algebra to the Arabs. It took him Pluto, which unlike the ones we running or how slender my neck is now. All Naxal revolution, the But I arrive on schedule at 7.30pm, than detail political and six full months of meditating on one leg to let have around here, is rarely the way home, I couldn’t help a window open Bengal that Mitra dewith only a light sprinkling of snowpecuniary plight. With go of the frustration and disappointment he’d crowded. And it was all going vebut preen and pout and click scribes becomes a cruel backdrop for pieces dedicated to literature, cinema flakes in my hair. Then I’m in my sisbuilt up. Thankfully, he was benched and not ry well, when I looked at the suntons of leafies. The younger kids The teenagers were the stories he narrates. The protago- and music, Mitra brings to the culturter’s warm and welcoming home for sacked. I spent a whole year working with him dial, realised it was 10am and our are still getting used to the new sulking, but I nists he picks are those made invisible al landscape of ’70s Bengal a focus four happy days. The price of this hapin one hot yoga session after another and final- Uber elephant was yet to arrive. head, but the teenagers send promised to drop by their commonness. Share-cropper that is informed by both economic ripiness? Leaving on the 6.30am bus for ly got him into a frame of mind where he was We checked his progress notes on palm saying “awsm!” So them offdrops at theme Zara Indra Lohar is beaten black and blue gour and social history. The state’s fasBoston! My sister off and I have one final pat down — ready to think of another project. through the call-in service at the I’m glad. sale in Pluto, which because he challenges his landlord in cination with poetry has withstood yes, bus ticket, air ticket, passport, cash. It turns out that we were Anyway (as a senior editor will write in the hot-air balloon, and they told us When Muni came home, he unlike the ones we court. In a series of events that “could the onslaught of four decades, and its right to get to the terminal at quarter to six: Thanksgiving is two future), back to me! I had to hastily put togeth- it was on its way here, when it barely looked at me before slamhave around here, is put Kafka into shade”, Kamal Bose has film industry still fights Hindi imdays away and the nation’s families are on the move. There’s a er the money for the surgery. Luckily, my two spotted a longer trip on the sysming the door of his study shut. I rarely crowded a number of false cases lodged ports for space in much the same long, snaking queue to board the bus. If I miss this one, I won’t cows were around. So I set the sundial proper- tem and re-routed itself. It was was determined my swan head against him and isn’t allowed to leave manner Mitra had described. His luget to Logan Airport in time for the Air France flight exactly 12 ly and fed them once every 90 minutes. As you insane. I had to send my boy to should make him as happy as it prison. Sadananda Roy Chowdhury’s cid articles never pretend to be clairhours later. know, Dainandini, the bacteria inside the stand on the main road by the makes me. I walked in with some two young sons are both killed in po- voyant but, in the end, it is their All’s well, however, and I board the bus. Two transfers later I’m cow’s stomach turns everything it eats into temple and flag a random rhinotulsi tea and gave him a quiet lice custody. “Corpses,” Mitra writes in pertinence that’s disquieting. If Mitra at the airport at three o’clock. There’s early check-in, hurrah! I gold. Still it was short notice and the cows we- rickshaw going around. We then dropped the backrub. The Pythagoras theorem too is lost, a 1974 article, “are incapable of issu- were to update Diary, he’d only have can go through at once. The moment I have released my two ren’t making as much gold as I needed. Just kids at class and just before landing in Pluto, he sobbed; they gave it off to the Greeks! Two ing rejoinders.” Chronicling a society to tweak a few names and dates. The small suitcases I relax; whatever happens now, it’s not my responthen, my teenage boy came and told me he there was some problem with three of the 40 times unlucky. Anyway, he said, there was no through the perspective of its most essence of his disparagement and crisibility. Twenty-six hours, Amsterdam airport and seven movies could start a kickstarter campaign. I don’t engines. With all the news going around now- future in science. He was going to change cabereaved and marginalised isn’t only tique could remain intact. In a Kolkalater, the second great bird in whose belly I’ve been cradled, beknow what the details are, but it meant all the adays of planes getting lost between planets, it reers and write a book instead. One that is ceran evocative stratagem for the author. ta that is still marked by inequity, gins its long sloping descent. A bounce. A jerk. And we’re down. cows in the jurisdiction donated their week’s was super scary. Luckily, we managed to land tain to remain Bharat’s for thousands and Far from being formulaic, these narra- apathy and political hypocrisy, the ocIt’s 1am. My first year in Elsewhere is over. Hello, Delhi. It’s good to gold to me. It was only at five this morning and then I got a lift on another plane. thousands of years. He isn’t sure what exactly tives are always representative of a be- togenarian will find it tragic to note be back. that I washed the last of the gold of bovine diAt the Sushruta Centre, of course, every- the book will be about, but he has a title for it. leaguered whole — “There are, one that his words continue to ring true — gestive juices and counted it up. There was thing had changed and they sucked me into Kama Sutra.

MANJULA PADMANABHAN, author and artist’s stories of life in Elsewhere, US, dares to say, hundreds of thousands “Nothing adds up in Calcutta. Neither enough! Phew. the racket of getting all kinds of unnecessary will appear in a new form in 2015; marginalien.blogspot.in of Indra Lohars.” revolution nor revisionism.” t@veenavenugopal After all that, there was no time for a nap tests done. I told them, this is all the gold I am Veena Venugopal is editor BLink and Mitra’s response to the times he author of The Mother-in-Law lived in was certainly informed by an shreevatsa nevatia

All my bags are packed

And I am ready to go; for new adventures await

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BAWDY LINE

The backstory The abomination of the porcine should perhaps be seen through the light-gathering lens of literature; particularly, one very long early 20th-century French novel

Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular surgeon and writer

ambarish satwik

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hese things only has He forbidden you: carrion, blood and the flesh of swine.’ (The Quran 2,168) The iterative and anomalous case against the pig in Islam is wholly derived from Judaism. And since it is meant to be the final and unalterable word of God, the only meat taboo in Islam goes unexplained — not made intelligible by a line of patter on cloven hooves and ruminants. Even so, the loathing doesn’t stop at the swine’s flesh — it isn’t just dietary; Islam (and Judaism) abominates against the very organism and the being of the pig, its attributes, its pneuma.

The God of the Jews, in Leviticus (11:1), prescribes an anatomical and physiological formula for animals that are good to eat.

‘Whatever parts the hoof and chews the cud among animals, you may eat.’

As a postscript, Leviticus delivers a homily on the pig. That it fulfils only one half of the formula: it has cloven hooves, but it cheweth not the cud. It isn’t a ruminant, therefore, is unworthy of being a comestible. Importantly, there isn’t any paperwork put out on the pig’s sense of personal hygiene. Not a word about wallowing in its own excrement or eating dung or the parasites in the flesh, etc.

Taxonomically, herbivorous mammals can be of two kinds: those that cheweth the cud and those that don’t. So what exactly is chewing the cud? It is the act of rumination that allows cattle, sheep and goats to digest their nosh, which is mostly grass, hay, bushes, leaves and stubble — herbage that cannot be consumed by humans and non-ruminants, even after boiling, due to its high cellulose content.

Because it needs a four-compartment stomach to digest, where the cud can ferment from microbial activity and is regurgitated back to the mouth and then sent back down after a bit of chewing to the in-house yeasts for softening and degradation. That’s how the cud becomes the digesta.

Pigs are omnivores. They are monogastric and can eat anything that humans can and fatten up just as easily. Their preferred diet is actually roots, nuts and grain.

So why the interdict against the pig? It is, amongst mammals the most efficient converter of fodder into flesh. A piglet gains a pound for every three to five pounds it eats. The ruminant calf on the other hand needs to eat 10 pounds to gain one. The whole point of pig is, or should be, to fatten up for the sake of human alimentation. Wherefore the revulsion?

The answer is not in the public health theory of that 12th-century Andalusian rabbi and physician Maimonides, who built his thesis around the pig’s alleged coprophilia. Coprophilia isn’t the pig’s primary tendency. It eats dung when nothing better presents itself. Its wallowing in faeces and urine is due to failed husbandry, when its human keepers can’t provide it with clean mud holes (as would’ve happened in the Levant in the Bronze Age, due to scarcity of water). The pig lacks sweat glands in its skin so it needs a thin, sloppy slurry to

roll in to prevent a heat stroke. eral hospital in Maharashtra, and I must admit Let it be said that all of Christendom, thank- that the swine’s flesh is the measure against fully, found its release from the food laws of which all others have been found wanting. For Leviticus in three acts. First in Mark 7:18-19, me the surgical madeleine was provided by where the late JC Himself declares all food the first ever whiff of pork belly in the frying clean. Then, in Mathew 15:11: ‘not that which pan. What wafted was a species of smell that goes into the mouth makes a man unclean, can come only from the singeing of the triglybut that which comes out of the mouth’. And cerides (and myofibrils) of a grain-fed animal. finally, in the Act of Apostles, Chapter 10: Saint It was the deep caramel salty smell of electroPeter has a vision of a sheet full of animals low- cauterised human fat and muscle that is the ered from the heavens, and a godly vox com- habitué of the operating room. So common to mands him to kill and eat, but Peter is a bit the olfaction of the surgeon that it is no longer nervous because there are unclean animals on interesting. the sheet. The Broadcast repeats itself twice The pig is our surrogate mammal; which is (just in case someone is taking notes) and why it was invoked for the blood libel. In Pathen, in a huff, makes known the internal pua New Guinea, where cannibalism was a processing: ‘What God hath cleansed, that call handed-down way of life, human flesh was alnot thou common’. ways known as Long Pig. Armin Meiwes, the One might find a lead to the German cannibal, currently servpig question in the subsequent ing a life sentence for killing a Christian explanation for the man and eating more than 20 Jewish interdict — since these kilos of him, has famously deImportantly, there deicidal people denied themscribed in his first televised inisn’t any paperwork selves this meat, they were conterview in 2007 how the meat put out on the pig’s stantly seeking the closest tasted exactly like pork and how sense of personal replacement, the flesh and blood he prepared an elaborate meal of hygiene of Christian children. That was human steak in a green pepper the language and the premise of sauce with croquettes and Brusthe blood libel against the Jews. sels sprouts.

And this anti-Semitic lore was alThe authors of Leviticus were lowed to disseminate, much later, through Po- trying to suppress the most forbidden madeland and Ukraine, areas that were to become leine for their tribe: flesh that might exude the the killings fields of the Holocaust. involuntary memory of early Neolithic huThe abomination of the porcine that can’t man sacrifice and even cannibalism. The probe explained by the vulgate of religions hibition of swine is the prohibition of should perhaps be seen through the light- analogous blood and flesh, one that might be gathering lens of literature; particularly, one of the same satisfying savouriness, perhaps, as very long early 20th-century French novel. The our own. For that reason the summoning of author, M Proust, a Jewish homosexual and anatomical and physiological difference, of snob, can be charged with making the made- cloven hooves and the four-compartment leine the most celebrated object in all French stomach. literature. In À la recherché du temps perdu (ReAs an addendum, I’ll say that I’m going to remembrance of Things Past), the little madeleine quest this rather fetching young woman that I dipped in a cup of tea recalls a forgotten fla- know to film herself eating Pork Sorpotel. She vour and causes the protagonist to relive his slobbers over it in a manner that is liable to entire childhood. bring into being sub-genres in the realm of fetThere is also such a thing as the surgical ma- ish porn. But that’s a story for another day. deleine. I came to the flesh of the swine late in asatwik@gmail.com life, as a young surgical resident in a small gen-

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If ‘protest’ is the wrong term, can you tell us your response to KMB? Graffiti or street art is generally subversive in nature and may not fit into the organised structure of state-sponsored establishments like KMB, which work on certain ‘gallery standards’. Guesswho’s works are aimed at the general public, who are uninformed and untrained in contemporary art. The most recent works of Guesswho are an attempt to look at the differences in perspectives of the so-called established art and a free medium of expression like graffiti — on a lighter note. he Securities and Exchange Board of Rajya Sabha can’t sack the government. It is the old one being introduced again. is the contemporary importance of to India (SEBI), the regulator of Indian the conscience-keeper (which is why it com- What When an Ordinance is presented as a Bill street art?into an Act, it would meet minimal capital markets, is now a household prises “elders”) and is to act as a check and bal- be passed Unlike otherfrom art forms, contemporary name. Anyone who has a mutual ance on the brute majority that government interference MPs, since by then thevisual Ordiart is still perceived as complex a vast fund investment or even an investment in a may enjoy in the Lok Sabha. At the state level, nance would have already ruledby our livesmafor jority of people.then People tend to stay away from bond would have heard of SEBI, a regulator there’s a choice; they need not constitute a leg- long.

It would take enormous intellecart galleries theypolitical appear unapproachable to vested by law with enormous powers. islative council akin to the Rajya Sabha. tual capacityasand will to undo its efthem.InStreet art, in contrast, is more approachThere is one unique feature of this all-powArticle 123 of the Constitution enables the fect. the recent SEBI Act amendments, the able. You don’t an in artthe degree to be a erful regulator — right from the time the law central government to make law in the form Ordinance was aneed weapon war between street artist. Parliamentarians Anybody can givewho it a try.

Atpart the constituting SEBI was made, almost every sin- of an Ordinance when either were same time, itofcan be used as a powerful gle legislative intervention governing SEBI House of Parliament is not in thealso Standing Committee and medium of expression. was done by a Presidential Ordinance, fol- session. The government needs the Ministry of Finance, the execlowed up with an Act passed by Parliament. In- to be satisfied that circumstancutive arm of government pushWhat prevents According toing you,for what the differences creasingly, this feature is not unique to SEBI. It es necessitate immediate legistheareamendments.

The Parliamentbetween from public murals and graffiti? is becoming substantially, the story of law- lative action. A law made in the then Finance Minister would being convened for (read The public can’t making in India. form of an Ordinance has the writeIndian to themen) Speaker ofpee theon Loka longer durations muralso but probably they it on graffiti.

When lawyers argue, and judges interpret same effect as an Act made by Sabha to getcan thetry Standing Comthat “the time at itswe often Though usetothe words graffiti, street “legislative intent” and the “mind of Parlia- Parliament. When Parliament mittee move on its report, and disposal” art is not and publicwhen murals for almost which ment”, everyone in the courtroom knows that reconvenes, the Ordinance is reit would haveany no art effect, he limited? is on public would streets, they aren’t interchangethe intent and the will they talk about are not quired to be placed in each promulgate the Ordiable and have very yet different those of the individuals who are Members of House as a draft Bill to be passed nance again.meanings. Hardcore graffiti writers street art is too easy Parliament. The most complex of legislation into an Act of Parliament. Six One think can critique the governfor the viewerment or glib. would terrorprobacan get piloted by the government through weeks from the time Parliament forGuesswho “constitutional bly fall into the street category.

Parliament in a jiffy, by adopting the Ordi- reassembles, the Ordinance ism” by art using Ordinances, but nance model. The trend also raises the larger would lapse. Of course, if both Houses of Par- equally one would need to damn MPs, who deHow do you feel about the comparisons question of whether the Parliament as an in- liament disapprove of it before that, the Ordi- spite being public servants, not only shun with Banksy? stitution is serving the Constitution as intend- nance would lapse. work but actively disrupt the functioning of People are always looking for comparisons. ed by the founding fathers. Here is how: This was intended to be an exception to the Parliament.

The attitude of both the executive Banksy is probably thethe only name in street art The Constitution empowers the Parliament rule. Today, it is threatening to become the government and of legislature has bethat many haveon heard The funny is that and state legislatures to make laws on sub- rule. The formula is simple: First, promulgate come assaults theof. spirit of thepart Constitueven Banksy oftenabout compared with jects listed within their jurisdiction. Of the an Ordinance. Do not worry if it lapses. De- tion.

This is himself not so is much having a artists like Blek Le Rat, andfloor Blek’sofwork in turn two Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha is di- spite the Supreme Court’s admonition of the political majority on the a House of shares similarities with another French artist, rectly elected by the people, and Rajya Sabha is practice, Ordinances are promulgated repeat- Parliament, but about the sheer lack of leaderJef Aerosol.

If you think about it, essentially all elected by those who have been elected by the edly. In recent amendments to the SEBI Act, ship and political statesmanship on the part artmembers is derivative andHouses they influence each other. people. The Rajya Sabha is a constant, while the same Ordinance was promulgated the of of the and those occupythe Lok Sabha has to be entirely re-elected. The third time, with the addition of one new provi- ing the Chair in them. similarities dodisciplinyou see government of the day holds office so long as sion, which would enable an argument that What It has been ages and sincedifferences an MP faced between and Banksy’s? it enjoys the confidence of the Lok Sabha. The the Ordinance should not be considered as ary actionyour for work disrupting Parliament — they It isall silly to draw comparisons with a well legend are sitting ducks with their conduct relike Banksy.

He hasThe a great sense of over humour corded on camera. attitude spills into and his works have aCommittees, universal appeal, wherethe Parliamentary which are as, in Guesswho’s to case, most of the subjects mini-Parliaments which Bills are referred are of just as local relevance even with the identiroutinely a matter of course.

The page on fiable imageries.

People outside Kerala may Parliamentary Committees on the official not connect with the images website of the Parliament of India completely. says this: Some todone makeby a comparison withinBanksy “Thetend work the Parliament modprobably Guesswho (also)but used faern timesbecause is not only varied inhas nature, conmous works of Banksy, like his at ‘Pulp Fiction’ or siderable in volume.

The time its disposal is the ‘Kiss’,Itand interprets it with limited. cannot, therefore, givelocal closesubjects. considBut thentothere are other artist’s Ravi eration all the legislative and work otherlike matters Varma’s Shakunthala Monalisa that are that come up before it.orAthe good deal of its busie have grown so accustomed lebrity in his/her own right. In an email ness also re-imagined. is, therefore, transacted by what are to walls in our cities that we interview, the hand behind these pieces of called the Parliamentary Committees.” would yourParliament dream canvas be? barely notice them any long- quirky and cheeky cultural commentary, re- What What prevents from being conNever for really had durations any such dreams, to be honer. Newly painted or con- veals a bit of themselves. The anonymous vened longer so that “the time at est.disposal” But yes, have fancied trying stantly chaffing, they tell us familiar stories artist’s signature reads: “As long as there are its is notoccasionally limited? What is the volsomething on the walls museums advertising billboards, there ume of order or disrepair. In Kerala, of “varied work” forofitour to be too busyand to art schools. the constant damp often conwill be graffiti too. Even “give close consideration to all the legislative verts them into petri dishes of though there could be a differ- and other matters that come up before it”?

Give us a clue aboutall yourself.

If we are moss. Of late, however, the ence in opinion about which is Parliament is after the supreme law-makI have occasionally walking down a road in Kochi, how will we legal and which is not, there walls of Kochi are demanding ing authority in the State — nothing is beyond fancied trying know if you have just passed by? should not (sic) be no contest attention. On a wall near the its reach within the framework of the Constisomething on the It is pretty simple. best way to identify an Parade Ground in Fort Kochi, tution.

Unless MPsThe cease and desist from terwalls of our museums as to which is more true.” artist is to look for the paint residue in her/his Colonel Sanders (of KFC) in a rorising it, and unless the leaders of the and art schools nails. Since use spray paint, mundu prepares dosas on a taYou started your work during Houses takeGuesswho their roledoesn’t a lot more seriously, the nails would rather aclean.

Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) wa. Right near the fishing nets, they would leavebebehind nation that makes 2012 as a form of protest about progress despite its Parliament rather than beBob Marley and friends make Any plans music. In another corner Mr the art that was included and cause of it.of revealing your identity?

When the artist is insignificant, this question not included as part of the festival.

Bean masquerades as a namboodiri priest. is also irrelevant.

No one quite knows how or when these [I] never said it was any kind of protest, it was somasekhar sundaresan is a lawyer who believes works appeared. But Guesswho, the signa- more like a reaction, or rather a response. that telling it like it is, is neither unparliamentary nor a NANDINI ture at the bottom of the works, is today a ce- There’s a difference. breach of NAIR Parliament’s privilege

Constitutional terrorists?

One can critique the government for “arbitrarily” using Ordinances, but equally one would need to damn MPs, who actively disrupt the functioning of Parliament

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Playing with fire Congress workers burn effigies in Noida, protesting against the recent land ordinance issued by the NDA Government pti Treasure Hunt (clockwise from top) Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson make for a merry musical trio; Muttu and Vikraman of Mayavi comics take on a Tarantinoesque garb; Monalisa in Ravi Varma finery; Mr Bean as a Kerala landlord or priest thulasi kakkat

See you anon

Street artist Guesswho on why his/her fingernails are clean and the importance of drawing on walls

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The dispossessed Fleeing their homes in the wake of a deadly militant attack, members of the Bodo community are housed in a camp for the internally displaced in Kokrajhar district, Assam vivek singh

Bloodthirsty in Bodoland At the dawn of the New Year, nearly three lakh Assamese were violently uprooted from home and now languish in relief camps in an unending cycle of ethnic strife that has bloodied the state for years now

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ave you seen a tea leaf that grows higher than the bush?

It gets plucked! This is exactly what the ‘Bodos’ are doing to us,” says Manik Murmu, a teacher and social worker at the Kachugaon relief camp for displaced adivasi; the attacks on the adivasis have been blamed on militants from the National Democratic Front for Bodoland-Songbijit fac-

tion (NDFB-S), deemed a terrorist organisation by the Centre. The Kachugaon Boys High School and all the open space around it have makeshift shelters built with whatever people could find — sheets of thin plastic, bedsheets, blankets and, for the lucky few, strong plastic tarpaulin. The people here fled their villages in Kokrajhar district of Assam after militants gunned down 76 and drove thousands from

their homes. State administration records say there are 12,000 people in the camp, but the camp in-charge, Philimon Mardi, puts the figure at 37,804 people displaced from 48 villages. Those who stayed back to guard the villages are counted amongst the displaced.

Around Christmas and New Year’s day, even as the rest of the world celebrated, over two lakh Assamese were forced into camps for the

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internally displaced by the violence back MANJH home.

AnKHAMAJ Asian Centre for Human Rights report said over three lakh were dislodged from their homes, terming it the largest instance of conflict-induced displacement in 2014. Families grabbed any belongings they could carry, including some livestock, so the humans in the camps are scattered among pigs, poultry, dogs and cows.

Inside the school building, a thin blanket spread over straw and a few small bags piled against the wall mark the spot occupied by 22year-old Sumitra Karmakar, who fled Karikor village with her husband and four-month-old passed on IDecemdaughter.arin “MySharma certificates areaway my life, picked 20, Iat themy agedaughter of 68. Expectedly, them up ber before took and ran,” was underreported in the she says. her Her death eyes gleam with pride as she eamedia.

But itbag wastoheartening to see gerly opens a plastic show her certifitwo Scroll.in to her: an articatespieces and on even examdedicated hall tickets from her cle and and an audio interview of santoor playera school college days. She is pursuing Ulhas Bapat disciple of at Sharma) conducted Bachelor of (a Arts degree Jamduar College, by Shubha and Aneesh Pradhan.

Shar10km awayMudgal at Sarabil, but has fallen behind by ma was antooutstanding sarod player. Apart a year due the birth of her child. from skill family as a classical musician, life Tell-tale terror Som Hasda, in Pakhrigudi village, shows the bullet he narrowly escaped from vivek singh Herher young will soon have toher move merits forunder two tarpaulins, other reaoutside commemoration and join the people sons: she was remains one of the few women expobut Karmakar unperturbed.

“The stunents the sarod and she was a phenomenon dents of will have their exams soon; they need to Som Hasda’s village, Pakhrigudi, in Kokraj- tree in his backyard and left a gaping hole in it. in studios Mumbai. Both har district (about 15km from the Bhutan bor- “I ran to the bed of a dried stream next to my usethe thisrecording place to study,” she of reasons. were rare achievements; had she belonged to der), was among the four spots the militants field and sat cowering in fear,” he says. He the ilk of PR-firm-hiring musicians, attacked on the evening of December 23. A heard the attackers laughing and calling to The present killing fields we probably heard a lota sovermore thin, winding road leads from The would NDFB-S have insurgents are demanding each other to leave the spot about her boldness as aBodos, woman musician.

She the village into the jungle half-aeign Bodoland for the a tribal commuquickly. When Hasda returned to was, a rather low-key persona; in- kilometre away. The low hills of nity however, indigenous to the Assam plains.inThis his tiny hut he found his son terviews, sheinalways addressed themarginalissue of Bhutan are behind the trees. largest tribe Assam has long been dead on the floor, the vegetables gender to in herthe musical choices, ised by in therelation majority state. In 2003, but the “About 50 men armed with ashe was cutting scattered around He heard the never it up as in thetodefining of sault rifles walked out of the junCentreplayed partially gave the Bodofeature demand him. Hasda’s wife Maryla Murmu attackers laughing her identity. for amusical separate homeland — the Bodoland Terri- gle and into our village,” Hasda before calling to each was sprawled nearby, her insides AfterArea listening to the interview with Bapat, torial Districts (BTAD) comprising fourI recalls. The sun sets early in hanging out. other to leave strayed YouTube heard Sharma’s districtsinto north of theand Brahmaputra river. renThe these parts and it was already dition Raga I was struck Bodos of make upChandranandan. about 30 per cent of the pop- dark at 5.30pm. Hasda’s 17-yearOrigins of a rift by her control over the of ulation here, while theweight rest include Bengali old son, Stephen, was preparing The Bodos and adivasis in this reher strokes and thebrought uncannyin by the British to dinner, while his neighbour AnMuslims, adivasis gion eke out a simple and tough accuracy with which she work in tea gardens and logging operations, dreas Murmu was cutting paper flower deco- existence, sharing the shrinking resources hit theRajbongshis notes. The forKoch and other smaller groups. rations for Christmas. The men fired their from the forests. Both communities sell the mer is a function of is the only militant Bodo guns on the unarmed villagers. As Hasda ran wood they cut from the jungles for a living.

Currently, the NDFB-S her right hand, organisation engaged in violence and killings. in fear, a bullet aimed at him pierced a papaya Any violence disrupts life for both commuthe latter of her left. Few sarod players display equal facility with both hands.

The need to attain the ‘right-left balance’ is drilled into every sarod student, but Good as it gets Sharan Rani (above) the hindu archives and Zarin Sharma are among it eludes most. On the finest sarod players cbs/swar shree stereo this (somewhat technical) count alone, Sharma deserves a place amongst the greatest. would be churlish to dwell on In an orchestral setup, minor imperfections The weight of her right-hand the supposed ‘lightness’ of a wom- are magnified. And, of course, they come with strokes is particularly significant because that an’s strokes on the sarod. the embarrassment of being corrected by the quality (or the lack of it) is often cited as a reaEarlier, I described Sharma’s accuracy as director/conductor in front of other musison for women not taking up, or not succeed- ‘uncanny’. I chose the word with care. The sa- cians at every recording session. Many classiing on, the sarod. Perhaps on account of its rod is a fretless instrument. cal musicians admit, in private, provenance from the Afghan rabab, which is Years of practice are often not that they don’t play on tracks beoften referred to as a war instrument, the sa- enough for an artiste to hit the cause they can’t handle the presrod is perceived as the most robust in the clas- notes consistently with perfect sures of the studio. Sharma was sical instrumental category. Before the accuracy. There are imperfec- The need to attain the one of the few musicians who introduction of the gayaki style on the sarod — tions even in published recordwas equally proficient in the stu‘right-left balance’ is pioneered by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan — its play- ings of the greatest maestros. dio and on stage. Significantly, drilled into every ing style was dominated by patterns that re- But it is hard to spot one in Sharshe never allowed the content of sarod student, but it quired powerful right-hand proficiency. The ma’s recordings. She probably one sphere to influence another. eludes most need for ‘powerful’ strokes is an exaggerated owes this to her extended stint Her classical renditions bear no virtue and the implication that masculine as a sessions musician in Mumwhiff of her ‘lighter’ studio style. strength is an imperative towards this end is bai. She played on the tracks of She only borrowed her studio misconceived. It is unfortunate that most several songs and was one of the skills. And for that, she emerged women sarod players still have to battle this few women instrumentalists working in the as one of the most perfect sarod exponents of perception. Sharan Rani (1929–2008), the best- recording industry. An Indian classical musi- her time. known woman sarod player, was as great an cian usually operates in solitude — most perexponent of the instrument as her male con- formances are solos — but in a studio, she/he is arunabha deb is a Kolkata-based music writer and lawyer shubhodeb@hotmail.com Lives in limbo Listening Bodos displaced by violence remain trapped in camps for years, as militants roam free in their abandoned villages vivek singh temporaries. to her, or to Sharma, it forced to play witheven other musicians.

A fine balance

Zarin Sharma earned no obituary in leading newspapers, but she was one of the few women exponents of the sarod and a phenomenon in the recording studios of Mumbai

arunabha deb

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Drama, much like life

perfect platform for communicating any message, because the audience can see and experience it live.”

Each monologue is inspired by a true incident. In the first, a young, independent woman describes what her life is like after being gang-raped by five men on a bus — that even three years after the horrific crime, people continue to look at her as a victim and not a survivor. Up next is an account of a victim of domestic violence who is too afraid to speak up; fearful and helpless, she continues to hide her wounds from the world. The last monologue touches on honour killings and describes the dire consequences faced by a young girl who dared to fall in love. “I wanted the audience to connect with the emotions of the characters rather than identify with the stories, because scenarios and stories might be different but emotions are universal. It was about connecting with the anger felt by the rape victim, the helplessness of the victim of domestic abuse, and the shred of hope felt by the honour killing victim in a time of despair,” says Das. Around the same time as She, there surfaced in Delhi a second play dealing with homosexuality. Writer-director Neel Chaudhuri’s Still and Still Moving recreated an extraordinary love affair between a writer in his 40s and a young college student. “I wanted to write a love story that was characterised by the proximity and distance between two people, and the bridges and fractures in that distance. And when I started writing the story of two A hard day’s night At the Kachugaon relief camp for displaced adivasis, thin plastic sheets offer a flimsy refuge from a vortex of violence vivek singh The 19-year-old men, specific issues relating to playwright targets their sexuality came up naturalpeople who have by the nities. Fearing for their lives, they rush into implements take months to make or buy. wronged militants this attack, ly. Also, I wasinwriting it at and the become to the The tension between the adivasis and Bodosnumb camps at schools near the military outposts community leaders bothCourt sidesJudgehave time of from the High topic by watching were and police stations, where they remain first started in 1996, after three Bodo girls helpeditmaintain by making joint visits mentpeace on 377, the quickening of TV on atoloop Bodos trapped for years at a stretch while the mili- raped and killed in Satyapur village. Theon camps andthe keeping open. and pulsethe of dialogue queer politics tants roam free in the villages as they continue blamed adivasis for the deaths and more than gay pride,” says Chaudhuri.

200 were killed in the violence that followed. An insecure loveReferring to the Delhi High fighting the government.

Nagendro Basumatary, a 77-year-old Bodo The seeds of distrust were sown, and another Encapsulating howjudgement the Bodos regarding feel insecure, Court Secvillager from Silpur No 1 village, has seen his incident in 1998 sparked off violence that helpless and tion outnumbered in their ancestral 377 of the Indian Penal Code, house burnt down twice — in 1996 and 1998. A killed over 300, both adivasis and Bodos. lands, Bodo author and intercourse playwright against Ashok which criminalises ‘carnal little red satchel hanging on his side holds all Daimary “can two kinds of rhinoslater live by in the ordersays, of nature’, and its reversal the belongings he could leave home with — A ruthless mission one Kaziranga?

Ironically, has lived the Supreme Court, he says,Daimary “The verdict (and land documents, identity cards and letters. “I Militant groups like the NDFB-S have in the with adivasis his life, has close friends in the law itself)allisofludicrous, one of many outhave a very small house, with one door and a past trained their guns on adivatheideas community and holds no dated, bigoted we inherited from the window, just enough for me and my wife. If sis. In 2014, the breakaway facgrudges against them. But British. However, I think that despite whathe is my children come to visit, they cannot even tion NDFB-S killed more than 150 secure way life an immense wants setbacktofor LGBT the rights inof India, stay over,” he says, “but I built that little home in separate incidents, including and of the has Bodobecome tribe, the awareness of future queer politics with my own hands, and even when hungry I adivasis, Bengali Muslims and which hecritical loves even more.discusmore acute and more in public For every militant am happy there.”

Hindi-speaking people. They at- killed, there are drivertoKashi is in a 45-yearsion.

We must Our continue engage this dethree Each time the homes are abandoned, they tacked them in buses, homes Pradesh,activism, but has out in old thefrom openUttar — through more readybate to take are looted and life needs to be rebuilt all over and fields, and also ambushed lived in Kokrajhar all his life.muDesocial is and corporate policy, storytelling, his place... force again. Given the tribals’ meagre resources, and shot down Additional Suscribing the Bodos’ love for their sic, literature.” not the answer even small tools like axes, spades and farming perintendent of Police Gulzar he recalls a time Presented homeland,

by The Tadpole Repertory, Still Hussain in Sonitpur District. when they even attackedPartho people and Still Moving is a layered narrative. is “In the past year, 42 men from whoand defecated theirfrom fields. twice Adil’s age the twoincome ditoh Partho hegiche, the group have been eliminated “Hegiche verse backgrounds — while hasmutechi lived in shat here, but why did you piss Difficult love Still and Still Moving explores the gap in generations, and indistrict expectations kartikey in Kokrajhar alone, butshiva they are a well- kyano?”

Gurgaon(You for years, Adil is a newcomer discovmythe land?)

In Besides the recent Lok Sabhainelecorganised, motivated and highly disciplined on ering Capital. the difference age, the Bodo vote was between three lot. For every man killed, there are three more tions, Adil has lost his father andsplit Partho has a son.

“It a consolidation of the n one stage, three women recited ready the case of the Delhi on candidates to take hisbrutal place;gang-rape we have toinfind a lastis primarilywhile the story of difficult love — ofnonthe vote gave the Parliament seatand to the nonDecember 16,as 2012, those convicted have force been Bodo three sagas of pain, suffering and ing solution, killing these men using sharing and negotiation of space circumSaraniya.

Anticipating two sentenced to death but havesays not been survival, while on another, two is clearly not the answer,” Sunilhanged.

Kumar, Bodo stance,Heera the gap in generations, and inthis, expectabeforesubjects, the results were are declared, The accused cabofdriver inKokrajhar. the Uber rape case weeks men shed their inhibitions to fall Superintendent Police, tions. These I believe, centralthe to killed 32 Bengali Muslim men,relationwomen been discovered have committed rapes NDFB-S in love. Had American playwright Arthur Mill- has The December 2014tokillings are “extremistour understanding of any emotional 36 hours in Baksa,orabout er watched either or both the plays that debut- based earlier;violence he remains judicial custody. and, in barring a few stray Then inci- and ship children — familial,over romantic, homosexual hetefrom Kokrajhar. there’sthe the common controversial decision of attacked the Cen- 180km ed in Delhi recently, he would have perhaps dents, public has not rosexual.

How do the two men negotiate their Everyoneand we love? spokeIt’s to not — from traders, tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to close the attraction reiterated his own words — “The theatre is so each other like in the past,” he added. really aboutshopwhat the street(or to doesn’t). the peoendlessly fascinating because it’s so acciden- Badaun ruling out murder rape, keepers A visitcase by by Union Home Ministerand Rajnath happensand butthe whyman andon how it does in the camps — seems certain wavers that the and dismissing it asof “suicide”; the image ofRijithe ple tal. It’s so much like life.”

Singh and Minister State (Home) Kiren At varying points the relationship — killings will to notsexual, end anytime soon. This White Noise Productions, in association ju twothe teenaged cousins hanging dead from a ethnic very next day and a strong statement from the paternal, to confrontationbeginning, waitstories for the elections to tree in Uttar the Pradesh remains inCenour is with CurtainCall Productions and Events, in- condemning attacks showedseared that the al.just It isthe untidy.

Most love are too neat,” Bodoland Territorial Council in April 2015, collective consciousness. troduced the Capital to She — a compilation of tral government was serious about reining in the explains Chaudhuri. theplays Assam elections inStill 2016, they playwright, 19-year-old Debontika Das, and three monologues about the hard-hitting re- theThe banned militant group. This was followed With likestate She and Still and Moving, ominously. says of Army her debut work, “Both Pallav and I felt it warn alities faced by women today. Directed by Pal- by the Chief’s visit to Guwahati and forthe stage is clearly set for modern dramas that lav Chander, the play touches upon familiar ward was time fortoa strong through a new seek to provoke the audience towards debate areas review message the troop deployment and vivek singh are an medium, because peopleoperations have become numb incidents from the recent past that have been and counter-insurgency of the In- saurabh or, at the yadav very least, introspection. played out by the media in an endless loop but dian to thearmy. topic by watching the same stories on independent writer-photographer duo based out of arunima mazumdar is areportage Delhi-based journalist working on long-term projects over feel andthat overthe again.

The stage the Delhi, which justice orsingh closure remain elusive. In television Bearing the brunt The gaping hole left in a papaya tree byfor a militant’s bullet vivek Many Bodos adivasis have is been

Two debut plays in the Capital set the stage for hardhitting reality and provoke the audience towards debate or, at the very least, introspection

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Humble offering Members of the Tablighi Jamaat at prayer

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Picture perfect At a studio in Nizamuddin, a family gets a portrait shot. While the Tablighis don’t approve of photography, the Sufis appear to have no such qualms

Kebabs calling Evening draws another kind of ‘faithful’ to a local eatery in the area

Battle scars A Shiite who has just performed penance, marking the day of ashura, is the centre of attention

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Beyond faith A woman in trance at the shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya

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In black and white Tablighis from Mongolia shop in the area. People from all over the world come to the Jamaat and attend the courses offered here

Two worlds The shrine of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya acts as a foil to the international centre of the Tablighi Jamaat movement in the Capital

C Holy selfie A woman takes a selfie at Nizamuddin Auliya’s shrine

ameras are forbidden at the international headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat, an offshoot of the Deobandi movement, in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, where I happened to shoot a few photographs.

Caught unawares at first by the curse of a young boy — of dying an unholy death for trying to capture another soul in my ‘black box’ — I spent two hours in vain, trying to persuade them to allow me to photograph the windowless building. A heated exchange eventually put me back on the street, forbidden from entering the premises again. I spent the rest of my time across the road at the Nizami restaurant, seeking comfort in nihari, roti and milk tea.

With 10 million followers in over 200 countries, the Jamaat was founded in India by Muhammad Ilays Al-Kandhlawi in 1926 in this very neighbourhood. A locality that gets its name from the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, whose 13th-century tomb — a short walk from the Jamaat’s markaz or headquarter — draws people of every faith. Thursday evenings, in particular, are immersed in music, with the divine strains of qawwali, a tradition that traces its origins to Auliya’s disciple Amir Khusro, renting the air.

shome basu is a Delhi-based freelance photographer

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internally displaced by the violence back MANJH home.

An KHAMAJ Asian Centre for Human Rights report said over three lakh were dislodged from their homes, terming it the largest instance of conflict-induced displacement in 2014. Families grabbed any belongings they could carry, including some livestock, so the humans in the camps are scattered among pigs, poultry, dogs and cows.

Inside the school building, a thin blanket spread over straw and a few small bags piled against the wall mark the spot occupied by 22year-old Sumitra Karmakar, who fled Karikor village with her husband and four-month-old passed onIDecemdaughter.arin “MySharma certificates areaway my life, picked 20, Iat themy agedaughter of 68. Expectedly, them up ber before took and ran,” was underreported in the she says. her Her death eyes gleam with pride as she eamedia.

But itbag wastoheartening to see gerly opens a plastic show her certifitwo Scroll.in to her: an articatespieces and on even examdedicated hall tickets from her cle and and an audio interview of santoor playera school college days. She is pursuing Ulhas Bapat disciple of at Sharma) conducted Bachelor of (a Arts degree Jamduar College, by Shubha and Aneesh Pradhan.

Shar10km awayMudgal at Sarabil, but has fallen behind by ma was sarod player. Apart a year dueantooutstanding the birth of her child. from skill family as a classical musician, life Tell-tale terror Som Hasda, in Pakhrigudi village, shows the bullet he narrowly escaped from vivek singh Herher young will soon have toher move merits forunder two tarpaulins, other reaoutside commemoration and join the people sons: she was remains one of the few women expobut Karmakar unperturbed.

“The stunents the sarod and she was a phenomenon dents of will have their exams soon; they need to Som Hasda’s village, Pakhrigudi, in Kokraj- tree in his backyard and left a gaping hole in it. in studios Mumbai. Both har district (about 15km from the Bhutan bor- “I ran to the bed of a dried stream next to my usethe thisrecording place to study,” she of reasons. were rare achievements; had she belonged to der), was among the four spots the militants field and sat cowering in fear,” he says. He the present ilk of PR-firm-hiring musicians, attacked on the evening of December 23. A heard the attackers laughing and calling to The killing fields we probably heard a lota sovermore thin, winding road leads from The would NDFB-S have insurgents are demanding each other to leave the spot about her boldness as aBodos, woman musician.

She the village into the jungle half-aeign Bodoland for the a tribal commuquickly. When Hasda returned to was, a rather low-key in- kilometre away. The low hills of nity however, indigenous to the Assampersona; plains. inThis his tiny hut he found his son terviews, sheinalways addressed themarginalissue of Bhutan are behind the trees. largest tribe Assam has long been dead on the floor, the vegetables gender to in herthe musical choices, ised by in therelation majority state. In 2003, but the “About 50 men armed with ashe was cutting scattered around He heard the never it up as in thetodefining of sault rifles walked out of the junCentreplayed partially gave the Bodofeature demand him. Hasda’s wife Maryla Murmu attackers laughing her for amusical separateidentity. homeland — the Bodoland Terri- gle and into our village,” Hasda before calling to each was sprawled nearby, her insides AfterArea listening to the interview with Bapat, torial Districts (BTAD) comprising fourI recalls. The sun sets early in hanging out. other to leave strayed YouTube heard Sharma’s districtsinto north of theand Brahmaputra river. renThe these parts and it was already dition of Raga I was struck Bodos make upChandranandan. about 30 per cent of the pop- dark at 5.30pm. Hasda’s 17-yearOrigins of a rift by her control over the of ulation here, while theweight rest include Bengali old son, Stephen, was preparing The Bodos and adivasis in this reher strokes and thebrought uncannyin by the British to dinner, while his neighbour AnMuslims, adivasis gion eke out a simple and tough accuracy with which she work in tea gardens and logging operations, dreas Murmu was cutting paper flower deco- existence, sharing the shrinking resources hit theRajbongshis notes. The forKoch and other smaller groups. rations for Christmas. The men fired their from the forests. Both communities sell the mer is a function of is the only militant Bodo guns on the unarmed villagers. As Hasda ran wood they cut from the jungles for a living.

Currently, the NDFB-S her right hand, organisation engaged in violence and killings. in fear, a bullet aimed at him pierced a papaya Any violence disrupts life for both commuthe latter of her left. Few sarod players display equal facility with both hands.

The need to attain the ‘right-left balance’ is drilled into every sarod student, but Good as it gets Sharan Rani (above) the hindu archives and Zarin Sharma are among it eludes most. On the finest sarod players cbs/swar shree stereo this (somewhat technical) count alone, Sharma deserves a place amongst the greatest. would be churlish to dwell on In an orchestral setup, minor imperfections The weight of her right-hand the supposed ‘lightness’ of a wom- are magnified. And, of course, they come with strokes is particularly significant because that an’s strokes on the sarod. the embarrassment of being corrected by the quality (or the lack of it) is often cited as a reaEarlier, I described Sharma’s accuracy as director/conductor in front of other musison for women not taking up, or not succeed- ‘uncanny’. I chose the word with care. The sa- cians at every recording session. Many classiing on, the sarod. Perhaps on account of its rod is a fretless instrument. cal musicians admit, in private, provenance from the Afghan rabab, which is Years of practice are often not that they don’t play on tracks beoften referred to as a war instrument, the sa- enough for an artiste to hit the cause they can’t handle the presrod is perceived as the most robust in the clas- notes consistently with perfect sures of the studio. Sharma was sical instrumental category. Before the accuracy. There are imperfec- The need to attain the one of the few musicians who introduction of the gayaki style on the sarod — tions even in published recordwas equally proficient in the stu‘right-left balance’ is pioneered by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan — its play- ings of the greatest maestros. dio and on stage. Significantly, drilled into every ing style was dominated by patterns that re- But it is hard to spot one in Sharshe never allowed the content of sarod student, but it quired powerful right-hand proficiency. The ma’s recordings. She probably one sphere to influence another. eludes most need for ‘powerful’ strokes is an exaggerated owes this to her extended stint Her classical renditions bear no virtue and the implication that masculine as a sessions musician in Mumwhiff of her ‘lighter’ studio style. strength is an imperative towards this end is bai. She played on the tracks of She only borrowed her studio misconceived. It is unfortunate that most several songs and was one of the skills. And for that, she emerged women sarod players still have to battle this few women instrumentalists working in the as one of the most perfect sarod exponents of perception. Sharan Rani (1929–2008), the best- recording industry. An Indian classical musi- her time. known woman sarod player, was as great an cian usually operates in solitude — most perexponent of the instrument as her male con- formances are solos — but in a studio, she/he is arunabha deb is a Kolkata-based music writer and shubhodeb@hotmail.com lawyer villages Lives in limbo Bodos displaced by violence remain trapped in camps for years, as militants roam free in their abandoned vivek singh temporaries.

Listening to her, or to Sharma, it forced to play witheven other musicians.

A fine balance

Zarin Sharma earned no obituary in leading newspapers, but she was one of the few women exponents of the sarod and a phenomenon in the recording studios of Mumbai

arunabha deb

Z

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Q R

ND-X _ A

BL

cover watch

saturday, january 10, 2015

Drama, much like life

perfect platform for communicating any message, because the audience can see and experience it live.”

Each monologue is inspired by a true incident. In the first, a young, independent woman describes what her life is like after being gang-raped by five men on a bus — that even three years after the horrific crime, people continue to look at her as a victim and not a survivor. Up next is an account of a victim of domestic violence who is too afraid to speak up; fearful and helpless, she continues to hide her wounds from the world. The last monologue touches on honour killings and describes the dire consequences faced by a young girl who dared to fall in love. “I wanted the audience to connect with the emotions of the characters rather than identify with the stories, because scenarios and stories might be different but emotions are universal. It was about connecting with the anger felt by the rape victim, the helplessness of the victim of domestic abuse, and the shred of hope felt by the honour killing victim in a time of despair,” says Das. Around the same time as She, there surfaced in Delhi a second play dealing with homosexuality. Writer-director Neel Chaudhuri’s Still and Still Moving recreated an extraordinary love affair between a writer in his 40s and a young college student. “I wanted to write a love story that was characterised by the proximity and distance between two people, and the bridges and fractures in that distance. And when I started writing the story of two A hard day’s night At the Kachugaon relief camp for displaced adivasis, thin plastic sheets offer a flimsy refuge from a vortex of violence vivek singh The 19-year-old men, specific issues relating to playwright targets their sexuality came up naturalpeople who have by ly. nities. Fearing for their lives, they rush into implements take months to make or buy. wronged theAlso, militants this attack, I wasinwriting it at and the become to the The tension between the adivasis and Bodosnumb camps at schools near the military outposts community leaders bothCourt sidesJudgehave time of from the High topic by watching were and police stations, where they remain first started in 1996, after three Bodo girls helpeditmaintain by making joint visits mentpeace on 377, the quickening of TV on atoloop Bodos trapped for years at a stretch while the mili- raped and killed in Satyapur village. Theon camps andthe keeping open. and pulsethe of dialogue queer politics tants roam free in the villages as they continue blamed adivasis for the deaths and more than gay pride,” says Chaudhuri.

200 were killed in the violence that followed. An insecure loveReferring to the Delhi High fighting the government.

Nagendro Basumatary, a 77-year-old Bodo The seeds of distrust were sown, and another Encapsulating howjudgement the Bodos regarding feel insecure, Court Secvillager from Silpur No 1 village, has seen his incident in 1998 sparked off violence that helpless and tion outnumbered in their ancestral 377 of the Indian Penal Code, house burnt down twice — in 1996 and 1998. A killed over 300, both adivasis and Bodos. lands, Bodo author and intercourse playwright against Ashok which criminalises ‘carnal little red satchel hanging on his side holds all Daimary “can two kinds of rhinoslater live by in the ordersays, of nature’, and its reversal the belongings he could leave home with — A ruthless mission one Kaziranga?

Ironically, has lived the Supreme Court, he says,Daimary “The verdict (and land documents, identity cards and letters. “I Militant groups like the NDFB-S have in the with adivasis his life, has close friends in the law itself)allisof ludicrous, one of many outhave a very small house, with one door and a past trained their guns on adivatheideas community and holds no dated, bigoted we inherited from the window, just enough for me and my wife. If sis. In 2014, the breakaway facgrudges against them. what But he British. However, I think that despite is my children come to visit, they cannot even tion NDFB-S killed more than 150 secure way life an immense wants setbacktofor LGBT the rights in of India, stay over,” he says, “but I built that little home in separate incidents, including and of the has Bodo tribe, the awareness of future queer politics become with my own hands, and even when hungry I adivasis, Bengali Muslims and which hecritical loves even more.discusmore acute and more in public For every militant am happy there.”

Hindi-speaking people. They at- killed, there are Our driver is in a 45-yearsion.three We must continue toKashi engage this deEach time the homes are abandoned, they tacked them in buses, homes Pradesh,activism, but has out in old the from openUttar — through more readybate to take are looted and life needs to be rebuilt all over and fields, and also ambushed lived in Kokrajhar all his life.muDesocial is and corporate policy, storytelling, his place... force again. Given the tribals’ meagre resources, and shot down Additional Suscribing the Bodos’ love for their sic, literature.” not the answer even small tools like axes, spades and farming perintendent of Police Gulzar he recalls a time Presented homeland,

by The Tadpole Repertory, Still Hussain in Sonitpur District. when they even attacked people and Still Moving is a layered narrative.

Partho is “In the past year, 42 men from whoand defecated theirfrom fields. twice Adil’s age the twoincome ditoh Partho hegiche, the group have been eliminated “Hegiche verse backgrounds — while hasmutechi lived in shat here, why did you piss Difficult love Still and Still Moving explores the gap in generations, and in district expectations kartikey in Kokrajhar alone, butshiva they are a well- kyano?”

Gurgaon(You for years, Adil isbut a newcomer discovmythe land?)

In Besides the recent Lok Sabhainelecorganised, motivated and highly disciplined on ering Capital. the difference age, the Bodo vote was between three lot. For every man killed, there are three more tions, Adil has lost his father andsplit Partho has a son.

“It a consolidation of the n one stage, three women recited ready the case of the Delhi on candidates to take hisbrutal place;gang-rape we have toinfind a lastis primarilywhile the story of difficult love — ofnonthe vote gave the Parliament seatand to the nonDecember 16, as 2012, those convicted have force been Bodo three sagas of pain, suffering and ing solution, killing these men using sharing and negotiation of space circumSaraniya.

Anticipating two sentenced to death but havesays not been survival, while on another, two is clearly not the answer,” Sunilhanged.

Kumar, Bodo stance,Heera the gap in generations, and inthis, expectabeforesubjects, the results were are declared, The accused cabofdriver inKokrajhar. the Uber rape case weeks men shed their inhibitions to fall Superintendent Police, tions. These I believe, centralthe to killed 32 Bengali Muslim men,relationwomen been discovered tokillings have committed rapes NDFB-S in love. Had American playwright Arthur Mill- has The December 2014 are “extremistour understanding of any emotional children 36 hours in Baksa,orabout er watched either or both the plays that debut- based earlier;violence he remains judicial custody. and, in barring a few stray Then inci- and ship — familial,over romantic, homosexual hetefrom Kokrajhar. there’s the the common controversial decision of attacked the Cen- 180km ed in Delhi recently, he would have perhaps dents, public has not rosexual.

How do the two men negotiate their Everyoneand we love? spokeIt’s to not — from traders, tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to close the attraction reiterated his own words — “The theatre is so each other like in the past,” he added. really about shopwhat the street(or todoesn’t). the peoendlessly fascinating because it’s so acciden- Badaun ruling out murder rape, keepers A visitcase by by Union Home Ministerand Rajnath happensand but the whyman and on how it does in the points camps the — seems certain wavers that the and dismissing it as of “suicide”; the image ofRijithe ple tal. It’s so much like life.”

Singh and Minister State (Home) Kiren At varying relationship — killings will to not end anytime soon. This White Noise Productions, in association ju twothe teenaged cousins hanging dead from a ethnic very next day and a strong statement from the paternal, sexual, to confrontationbeginning, wait for the elections to tree in Uttar the Pradesh remains inCenour is with CurtainCall Productions and Events, in- condemning attacks showedseared that the al.just It isthe untidy.

Most love stories are too neat,” Bodoland Territorial Council in April 2015, collective consciousness. troduced the Capital to She — a compilation of tral government was serious about reining in the explains Chaudhuri. theplays Assam elections inStill 2016, they playwright, 19-year-old Debontika Das, and three monologues about the hard-hitting re- theThe banned militant group. This was followed With likestate She and Still and Moving, ominously. saysthe of Army her debut work, “Both Pallav and I felt it warn alities faced by women today. Directed by Pal- by Chief’s visit to Guwahati and forthe stage is clearly set for modern dramas that lav Chander, the play touches upon familiar ward was time forto a strong through a new seek to provoke the audience towards debate areas reviewmessage the troop deployment and vivek singh are an medium, because peopleoperations have become numb incidents from the recent past that have been and counter-insurgency of the In- saurabh or, at the yadav very least, introspection. played out by the media in an endless loop but dian to thearmy. topic by watching the same stories on independent writer-photographer duo based out of arunima mazumdar is areportage Delhi-based journalist working on long-term projects over feel andthat overthe again.

The stage the Delhi, which justice orsingh closure remain elusive. In television Bearing the brunt The gaping hole left in a papaya tree byfor a militant’s bullet vivek Many Bodos adivasis haveis been

Two debut plays in the Capital set the stage for hardhitting reality and provoke the audience towards debate or, at the very least, introspection

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If ‘protest’ is the wrong term, can you tell us your response to KMB? Graffiti or street art is generally subversive in nature and may not fit into the organised structure of state-sponsored establishments like KMB, which work on certain ‘gallery standards’. Guesswho’s works are aimed at the general public, who are uninformed and untrained in contemporary art. The most recent works of Guesswho are an attempt to look at the differences in perspectives of the so-called established art and a free medium of expression like graffiti — on a lighter note. he Securities and Exchange Board of Rajya Sabha can’t sack the government. It is the old one being introduced again. is the contemporary importance India (SEBI), the regulator of Indian the conscience-keeper (which is why it com- What When an Ordinance is presented as a of Bill to art?into an Act, it would meet minimal capital markets, is now a household prises “elders”) and is to act as a check and bal- street be passed otherfrom art forms, contemporary name. Anyone who has a mutual ance on the brute majority that government Unlike interference MPs, since by then thevisual Ordiis still perceived as complex a vast fund investment or even an investment in a may enjoy in the Lok Sabha. At the state level, art nance would have already ruledby our livesmafor People tend to stay away from bond would have heard of SEBI, a regulator there’s a choice; they need not constitute a leg- jority long. of It people. would then take enormous intellecart theypolitical appear unapproachable to vested by law with enormous powers. islative council akin to the Rajya Sabha. tualgalleries capacityasand will to undo its efart, in contrast, is more approachThere is one unique feature of this all-powArticle 123 of the Constitution enables the them. fect. InStreet the recent SEBI Act amendments, the You don’t an in artthe degree to be a erful regulator — right from the time the law central government to make law in the form able.

Ordinance was aneed weapon war between street artist. Parliamentarians Anybody can givewho it a try.

Atpart the constituting SEBI was made, almost every sin- of an Ordinance when either were same time, itofcan be used as a powerful gle legislative intervention governing SEBI House of Parliament is not in thealso Standing Committee and medium of expression. was done by a Presidential Ordinance, fol- session. The government needs the Ministry of Finance, the execlowed up with an Act passed by Parliament. In- to be satisfied that circumstancutive arm of government pushWhat prevents According toing you,for what the differences creasingly, this feature is not unique to SEBI. It es necessitate immediate legistheareamendments.

The Parliamentbetween from public murals and graffiti? is becoming substantially, the story of law- lative action. A law made in the then Finance Minister would being convened for (read The public can’tofpee making in India. form of an Ordinance has the writeIndian to themen) Speaker theon Loka longer durations muralso but probably they it on graffiti.

When lawyers argue, and judges interpret same effect as an Act made by Sabha to getcan thetry Standing Comthat “the time at itswe often Though usetothe words graffiti, street “legislative intent” and the “mind of Parlia- Parliament. When Parliament mittee move on its report, and disposal”art is not and publicwhen murals for almost which ment”, everyone in the courtroom knows that reconvenes, the Ordinance is reit would haveany no art effect, he limited? is on public would streets, they aren’t interchangethe intent and the will they talk about are not quired to be placed in each promulgate the Ordiable and havenance very yet different those of the individuals who are Members of House as a draft Bill to be passed again.meanings. Hardcore graffiti writers street artthe is too easy Parliament. The most complex of legislation into an Act of Parliament. Six One think can critique governfor the viewerment or glib. would probacan get piloted by the government through weeks from the time Parliament forGuesswho “constitutional terrorbly fall into the street category.

Parliament in a jiffy, by adopting the Ordi- reassembles, the Ordinance ism” by art using Ordinances, but nance model. The trend also raises the larger would lapse. Of course, if both Houses of Par- equally one would need to damn MPs, who deyou feel about the comparisons question of whether the Parliament as an in- liament disapprove of it before that, the Ordi- How spite do being public servants, not only shun with stitution is serving the Constitution as intend- nance would lapse. workBanksy? but actively disrupt the functioning of are always looking for comparisons. ed by the founding fathers. Here is how: This was intended to be an exception to the People Parliament.

The attitude of both the executive is probably thethe onlylegislature name in street art The Constitution empowers the Parliament rule. Today, it is threatening to become the Banksy government and of has behaveon heard The funny is that and state legislatures to make laws on sub- rule. The formula is simple: First, promulgate that comemany assaults theof. spirit of thepart Constituoftenabout compared witha jects listed within their jurisdiction. Of the an Ordinance. Do not worry if it lapses. De- even tion. Banksy This is himself not so ismuch having like Blek Le Rat, andfloor Blek’sofwork in turn two Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha is di- spite the Supreme Court’s admonition of the artists political majority on the a House of similarities withthe another French artist, rectly elected by the people, and Rajya Sabha is practice, Ordinances are promulgated repeat- shares Parliament, but about sheer lack of leaderAerosol.

If you think about it, essentially all elected by those who have been elected by the edly. In recent amendments to the SEBI Act, Jef ship and political statesmanship on the part is derivative andHouses they influence each other. people. The Rajya Sabha is a constant, while the same Ordinance was promulgated the art of members of the and those occupythe Lok Sabha has to be entirely re-elected. The third time, with the addition of one new provi- ing the Chair in them. similarities differences dodisciplinyou see government of the day holds office so long as sion, which would enable an argument that What It has been agesand since an MP faced and Banksy’s? it enjoys the confidence of the Lok Sabha. The the Ordinance should not be considered as between ary actionyour for work disrupting Parliament — they It silly to draw comparisons with a well legend areisall sitting ducks with their conduct relike Banksy.

He hasThe a great sense of over humour corded on camera. attitude spills into and works have aCommittees, universal appeal, wherethe his Parliamentary which are as, in Guesswho’s to case, mostBills of the mini-Parliaments which are subjects referred are of just as local relevance even with the identiroutinely a matter of course.

The page on fiable imageries.Committees People outside Kerala may Parliamentary on the official not connect with the images website of the Parliament of India completely. says this: Some to done makeby a comparison within Banksy “Thetend work the Parliament modprobably Guesswho (also)but used faern timesbecause is not only varied inhas nature, conmous works of Banksy, like his at ‘Pulp Fiction’ or siderable in volume.

The time its disposal is the ‘Kiss’,Itand interprets it with limited. cannot, therefore, givelocal closesubjects. considBut thentothere arelegislative other artist’s Ravi eration all the and work otherlike matters Varma’s Shakunthala Monalisa are that come up before it.orAthe good deal of that its busie have grown so accustomed lebrity in his/her own right. In an email also nessre-imagined. is, therefore, transacted by what are to walls in our cities that we interview, the hand behind these pieces of called the Parliamentary Committees.” would yourParliament dream canvas be? barely notice them any long- quirky and cheeky cultural commentary, re- What What prevents from being conreally had durations any such dreams, to be honer. Newly painted or con- veals a bit of themselves. The anonymous Never vened for longer so that “the time at But yes, have fancied trying stantly chaffing, they tell us familiar stories artist’s signature reads: “As long as there are est. its disposal” is notoccasionally limited? What is the volon the walls museums advertising billboards, there something of order or disrepair. In Kerala, ume of “varied work” forofitour to be too busyand to schools. the constant damp often conwill be graffiti too. Even art “give close consideration to all the legislative verts them into petri dishes of though there could be a differ- and other matters that come up before it”? us a clue aboutall yourself.

If we are moss. Of late, however, the ence in opinion about which is Give Parliament is after the supreme law-makI have occasionally walking down a road in Kochi, how will we legal and which is not, there walls of Kochi are demanding ing authority in the State — nothing is beyond fancied trying know if you have just passed by? should not (sic) be no contest attention. On a wall near the its reach within the framework of the Constisomething on the It is pretty simple. best way to identify an Parade Ground in Fort Kochi, tution.

Unless MPsThe cease and desist from terwalls of our museums as to which is more true.” artist is to look for the paint residue in her/his Colonel Sanders (of KFC) in a rorising it, and unless the leaders of the and art schools nails.

Since spray paint, mundu prepares dosas on a taYou started your work during Houses takeGuesswho their roledoesn’t a lot use more seriously, the would rather aclean.

Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) wa. Right near the fishing nets, theynails would leavebebehind nation that makes 2012 as a form of protest about progress despite its Parliament rather than beBob Marley and friends make Any music. In another corner Mr the art that was included and causeplans of it.of revealing your identity?

When the artist is insignificant, this question not included as part of the festival.

Bean masquerades as a namboodiri priest. also irrelevant.

No one quite knows how or when these [I] never said it was any kind of protest, it was is somasekhar sundaresan is a lawyer who believes works appeared. But Guesswho, the signa- more like a reaction, or rather a response. that telling it like it is, is neither unparliamentary nor a NANDINI ture at the bottom of the works, is today a ce- There’s a difference. breach of NAIR Parliament’s privilege

Constitutional terrorists?

One can critique the government for “arbitrarily” using Ordinances, but equally one would need to damn MPs, who actively disrupt the functioning of Parliament

somasekhar sundaresan

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Playing with fire Congress workers burn effigies in Noida, protesting against the recent land ordinance issued by the NDA Government pti Treasure Hunt (clockwise from top) Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson make for a merry musical trio; Muttu and Vikraman of Mayavi comics take on a Tarantinoesque garb; Monalisa in Ravi Varma finery; Mr Bean as a Kerala landlord or priest thulasi kakkat

See you anon

Street artist Guesswho on why his/her fingernails are clean and the importance of drawing on walls

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READER’S DIE JEST

Moriarty rises?

To solve the felony of American speech in an English novel, or so it would seem

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sergey goryachev/shutterstock

y dear Holmes, It will fill you with disquiet to be informed that you are conspicuous by your physical absence — although you are invoked frequently — in the work of fiction titled Moriarty, a title which, I daresay, warns us that the centre of gravity has shifted. I am not sure if that is entirely an unwelcome move, for I have often felt Moriarty that you were something of a caricature, and Anthony Horowitz more fortunate than perspicacious in resolvHachette Fiction ing the mysteries that you became renowned ₹599 for unravelling.

Be that as it may, I do not know if the decision of the estate of your creator to entrust the responsibility of continuing the chronicles of your adventures to one Anthony Horowitz filled you with dismay, but it has been some time since the first work, The House of Silk, was published, and I am certain your reservations have by now been buried under your Stradivarius.

Since I have reason to believe that you will not peruse the volume in question, it has fallen upon me to apprise you of its contents. It begins shortly after your immaculately staged death at the Reichenbach Falls, where a man who reveals himself as Frederick Chase has arrived from America in pursuit of his quarry, one Clarence Devereux, also from America where, it appears, crime is altogether more violent in nature. They even stoop to kidnapping children, Holmes, the brutes.

In any event, Chase (be so good as to applaud my restraint at not constructing a dreadful example of paronomasia with his The dispossessed Fleeing their homes in the wake of a deadly militant attack, members of the Bodo community name) is convinced that Devereux and Moriar- are housed in a camp for the internally displaced in Kokrajhar district, Assam vivek singh ty were planning an assignation with a view to create a transatlantic corporation of criminal activity before the latter’s death came in the way. Chase contrives to accidentally meet Detective Inspector Athelney Jones, who, it is evi- genteel character of crime under the King.

Yard. It is at this juncture that Chase puts an dent, models himself on you, Holmes.

Fortunately, Lavelle, his female companion end to our misery and reveals himself as… me.

I am sure you remember Jones, the bum- Hen and the household staff are all found As you will have surmised, if you have been bling Scotland Yard policeman who arrested gruesomely murdered in the most spectacu- able to lift yourself out of your habitual coBartholomew Sholto’s entire family. Like you, lar manner the next morning. As you would caine-induced stupor, my objective was to mahe is a compulsive interpreter of clues, but de- have said, Holmes, the game is afoot. A series noeuvre myself into a position where I could prived of the strokes of luck that led you to of conveniently placed clues lead our intrepid bring the entire machinery of Scotland Yard to hazard accurate guesses. It is easy enough for investigators on a trail ending at the legation locate and then arrest Devereux, who is, after an arch criminal to have the measure of a man of the United States of America in London, all, my adversary in the battle to control the such as him. with a handful of other murders strewn along world — and I mean the world — of crime. With The two of them travel back to England in a the way to liven up the proceedings. the help of the deluded Jones, for whom I had bid to apprehend Devereux, with the sagaAs an aside, I consider it my no need once Devereux was in cious Jones convinced that he can surpass you. duty to inform you that one of my hands, it was not difficult to They resort to a most atrocious stratagem of Mr Horowitz’s subsequent accomplish. impersonation, where Chase pretends to be works of fiction involves chroniAdmittedly, I am not the storyI am not the Moriarty (with the hope that the ‘news’ of the cling the adventures of the nototeller that your beloved Watson storyteller that your professor’s death has not yet travelled back to rious espionage agent James is. My narration was not as innobeloved Watson is the island), and is nearly killed for his troubles Bond, in much the same manner cent or playful as his, but this is by a corpulent and ruthless boy named Perry as he chronicles yours. I suspect the underworld of real criminals, whom you may — or, as is more likely, many his mind was already in the vornot cardboard figures playing at might not — remember as one of the Baker tex of that particular narrative, crime. I must, of course, in passStreet irregulars. for the second half of this novel, which you ing acknowledge my debt to Dr James ShepI confess to utter bewilderment already, for have so wisely decided not to cast your beady pard, from whom I have borrowed a certain there is as yet no evident crime — unless the eyes on, is in fact a breathless succession of im- ploy in telling this tale. You see, Holmes, that is foisting of what passes for American speech probable but bloodcurdling encounters with what singles out the British criminal from his ave counts you seen a teaisleaf that tion (NDFB-S), a terroristcriminal, organisation homes.

State administration records on an English novel as what referred a meat market,deemed an agoraphobic and their American peers — we are honourable mensay on growsas, higher than the bush? by the Centre.

The so Kachugaon Boys areof12,000 people in the camp, but the to in the New World I am given to undera narrator who leaves many hints thatHigh he is there this side the ocean. gets plucked!

This is of exactly all the to open space around it have in-charge, stand, a felony. ItThere are a number easy School not whoand he claims be that one is tempted to camp Yours truly, Philimon Mardi, puts the figthe of ‘Bodos’ are doing to makeshift shelters builtfor with people at 37,804 people displaced from 48 villagclues that our what disciple Holmes and his cry for mercy and ask thewhatever denouement to ureMoriarty us,” says Manik Murmu, teacher and themsocial could find — sheets of thin plastic, bedsheets, es.(This Thosemonthly who stayed back to guard the villages American Watson — theya even model be expedited. column helps you talk about a worker the Kachugaon relief—camp and, for the lucky few, strong plastic are selves asatsuch, my dear fellow followfor todisar- blankets Sure enough, following the proverbial bookcounted withoutamongst having to the readdisplaced. it.) placed attacksbyonone theScotty adivasis have tarpaulin. people hereisfled their villages Around Christmas and New Year’s day, even rive at aadivasi; house the occupied Lavelle, twists and The turns, Devereux apprehended by been on militants frommobsters the National district of Assam after militants the rest of the worldclassic celebrated, over two arunava sinha translates and contemporary one ofblamed the group of American who in theKokrajhar intrepid investigators and bundled into a as Democratic Front for downto76beand drove thousands from lakh forced camps for the BengaliAssamese fiction and were non-fiction intointo English t@arunava have taken the boat toBodoland-Songbijit England to destroy facthe gunned Black Maria transported to Scotland

Bloodthirsty in Bodoland Q R

At the dawn of the New Year, nearly three lakh Assamese were violently uprooted from home and now languish in relief camps in an unending cycle of ethnic strife that has bloodied the state for years now

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Past tense, present This day that age continuous PRESENT IMPERFECT

ELSEWHERE

If MitraThere were to update this collection of master essays, plastic surgeons 7000 years ago, but a day then were 40-engine planes and he’d only washave justto astweak hecticaasfew it isnames now and dates

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ear Dainandini, What a terribly stressful day it’s been. I’ve spent all year getting more than a little annoyed with my deer head — the eyes were lovely and the fur’s alright, but the snout was a little too broad. I asked the Muni several times if it made my nose look too wide, but he was so busy working on the Pythagoras theorem for the last five years, he would barely look up before mumbling: “You look fine.” I sort of knew I looked fine, Dainandini, but I couldn’t help shake the feeling that I wanted something more than y departure date is upon me. Instead of taking the just fine. I’d been thinking of replacing the Legacy of inertia Bengal is the proverbial hamster on a wheel arunangsu roy chowdhury shortest route to Boston’s Logan Airport I have head. A friend suggested elephant, which was planned a detour via my sister’s home in Syracuse, an elegant option at one point, but nowadays shok Mitra has never been a uncharacteristic courage. Defending NY. That’s like going to Mumbai’s Santa Cruz airport you can’t throw a stone without hitting a dozconformist. His stint as Left-leaning revolutionaries, he equavia Ahmedabad or Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport via Udaipur — en kids with elephant heads. My friend Menachief economic adviser to tes their contentious spirit with patrimore than four times the distance from where I need to be! But ka says avian heads are all the rage now. I saw a the Indira Gandhi govern- otism, “the will to give up the lure of that’s the only way I’ll get to see my sister before leaving for India. couple of images etched on some banyan leavment from 1970 to 1972 did not inter- comfortable existence for the sake of My pack-down procedure is always intense. Living alone es — they call them leafies apparently — and defere with his criticism of the then PM. an ideal”. Irony, satire and sarcasm means having no one to blame for all the things that get forgotcided, vapid as Menaka can be, this was indeed Finance minister of West Bengal from bind together most essays made availten or overlooked. My greatest terror is that I’ll leave the electric a good suggestion. Because I made all the deci1977 to 1986, Mitra is said to have quit able in Diary. Mitra once compares stove on or one of the taps running or a window open. In the final sions at appropriate non-rahu kalam timeslots, due to differences with Jyoti Basu and delegates of the Congress to Al Cahalf-hour I always find myself looking around, wondering what within three weeks, we managed to locate a his policies. Decades later, the econo- pone’s Chicago mob. He later spends extremely vital thing I have left behind. An international journey suitable swan head. The surgery was schedmist’s rectitude needs no further ex- the better part of another piece calcuis especially fraught. There’s all the travel gear that’s got to be easuled for 2pm today. But boy did my good rahu Calcutta Diary amination, but a reprint of Calcutta lating the “opportunity cost” of Indira ily accessible — the correct ticket, a valid passport, house-keys for Ashok Mitra kalam karma end untimely or what.

Diary does help prove his iconoclastic Gandhi’s decision to skirt traffic on both homes, phone, travel chargers, credit cards and oh, gels and Authors Upfront First of all, the Sushruta Centre called and Non-fiction credentials again. A collection of 46 Howrah Bridge and cross the Hooghly liquids in a see-through plastic bag! Antihistamines. BP medidemanded I pay half the money in advance. I ₹345 pieces, mostly published in the Eco- on a motor launch. The communist, cine. Hand sanitiser… the list is endless. was counting on the copyright of the Pythagonomic and Political Weekly during the though, also reserves some scorn for Muriel has very kindly consented to drop me off at the bus terras theorem to pay for the surgery, but the Mufirst half of the ’70s, the columnist’s his own kind. He castigates the “high minal at 7.30am. Warm farewells! Then the Peter Pan Bus sweeps ni was insisting he was “blocked”. He couldn’t Diary demonstrates a careful empathy caste, high-breed Hindu” leadership me off at eight. I send texts to home in Delhi and home in Syrasay how long it would take to finish the theofor Calcutta’s people and a scathing of Bengal’s Left parties and juxtaposes cuse: I’m on my way. There’s WiFi on board and I can check for rem. To be honest, Dainandini, I think the Mucontempt for its ruling class. As Mitra economists with Brahmins of ancient messages and play an online version of Scrabble with Sister Syrani is on the verge of some kind of a confesses, “The author cuse. In Boston, there’s a wait and a society. For Mitra, his felcareer-related nervous breakdown. Although of the pieces is a prischange of buses. At 12:30, I’m on the lows were simply India’s you can’t really blame him, not after what hap- even. I immediately set about getting the kids carrying now. I am telling you Dainandini, I oner of Calcutta: this Greyhound Bus that’ll go all the way new “obfuscators”. pened in his previous project. He spent 25 and myself ready. We were taking a 40-engine could feel them instantly cooling off towards may be as much his to Syracuse, taking the northern Even though poverty Irony, satireNot andonly did plane. The younger kids were to spend the day me. Values years coming up with algebra. have gone down the toilet, these My greatest terror pride as his tragedy.” route. The weather news on my MP3 and unrest can be consarcasm bind together the Vice President Muni come in at year 24 and attending a Vedic mathematics workshop.

Thethedays it’s only about how much gold your cows is that I’ll leave Plagued by destituradio is grim: Buffalo, NY, the next sidered its primary conthe narratives take credit for the whole thing, once every- teenagers were sulking, but electric I promised Anyway, at the end of the day, I’m just stovetoon produce. tion, unemployment stop from Syracuse, is under eight cerns, the belligerent thing was done, the Chief Muni Officer decid- drop them off at the Zara sale or in one of the taps glad the surgery went well. I love and the shadow of a feet of snow. All in one day! essays in Diary do more ed he’s gifting algebra to the Arabs. It took him Pluto, which unlike the ones we running or how slender my neck is now. All Naxal revolution, the But I arrive on schedule at 7.30pm, than detail political and six full months of meditating on one leg to let have around here, is rarelya window open the way home, I couldn’t help Bengal that Mitra dewith only a light sprinkling of snowpecuniary plight. With go of the frustration and disappointment he’d crowded. And it was all going vebut preen and pout and click scribes becomes a cruel backdrop for pieces dedicated to literature, cinema flakes in my hair. Then I’m in my sisbuilt up. Thankfully, he was benched and not ry well, when I looked at the suntons of leafies. The younger kids The teenagers were the stories he narrates. The protago- and music, Mitra brings to the culturter’s warm and welcoming home for sacked. I spent a whole year working with him dial, realised it was 10am and our are still getting used to the new sulking, but I nists he picks are those made invisible al landscape of ’70s Bengal a focus four happy days. The price of this hapin one hot yoga session after another and final- Uber elephant was yet to arrive. head, but the teenagers send promised to drop by their commonness. Share-cropper that is informed by both economic ripiness? Leaving on the 6.30am bus for ly got him into a frame of mind where he was We checked his progress notes on palm saying “awsm!” So them offdrops at theme Zara Indra Lohar is beaten black and blue gour and social history. The state’s fasBoston! My sister off and I have one final pat down — ready to think of another project. through the call-in service at the I’m glad. sale in Pluto, which because he challenges his landlord in cination with poetry has withstood yes, bus ticket, air ticket, passport, cash. It turns out that we were Anyway (as a senior editor will write in the hot-air balloon, and they told us When Muni came home, he unlike the ones we court. In a series of events that “could the onslaught of four decades, and its right to get to the terminal at quarter to six: Thanksgiving is two future), back to me! I had to hastily put togeth- it was on its way here, when it barely looked at me before slamhave around here, is put Kafka into shade”, Kamal Bose has film industry still fights Hindi imdays away and the nation’s families are on the move. There’s a er the money for the surgery. Luckily, my two spotted a longer trip on the sysming the door of his study shut. I rarely crowded a number of false cases lodged ports for space in much the same long, snaking queue to board the bus. If I miss this one, I won’t cows were around. So I set the sundial proper- tem and re-routed itself. It was was determined my swan head against him and isn’t allowed to leave manner Mitra had described. His luget to Logan Airport in time for the Air France flight exactly 12 ly and fed them once every 90 minutes. As you insane. I had to send my boy to should make him as happy as it prison. Sadananda Roy Chowdhury’s cid articles never pretend to be clairhours later. know, Dainandini, the bacteria inside the stand on the main road by the makes me. I walked in with some two young sons are both killed in po- voyant but, in the end, it is their All’s well, however, and I board the bus. Two transfers later I’m cow’s stomach turns everything it eats into temple and flag a random rhinotulsi tea and gave him a quiet lice custody. “Corpses,” Mitra writes in pertinence that’s disquieting. If Mitra at the airport at three o’clock. There’s early check-in, hurrah! I gold. Still it was short notice and the cows we- rickshaw going around. We then dropped the backrub. The Pythagoras theorem too is lost, a 1974 article, “are incapable of issu- were to update Diary, he’d only have can go through at once. The moment I have released my two ren’t making as much gold as I needed. Just kids at class and just before landing in Pluto, he sobbed; they gave it off to the Greeks! Two ing rejoinders.” Chronicling a society to tweak a few names and dates. The small suitcases I relax; whatever happens now, it’s not my responthen, my teenage boy came and told me he there was some problem with three of the 40 times unlucky. Anyway, he said, there was no through the perspective of its most essence of his disparagement and crisibility. Twenty-six hours, Amsterdam airport and seven movies could start a kickstarter campaign. I don’t engines. With all the news going around now- future in science. He was going to change cabereaved and marginalised isn’t only tique could remain intact. In a Kolkalater, the second great bird in whose belly I’ve been cradled, beknow what the details are, but it meant all the adays of planes getting lost between planets, it reers and write a book instead. One that is ceran evocative stratagem for the author. ta that is still marked by inequity, gins its long sloping descent. A bounce. A jerk. And we’re down. cows in the jurisdiction donated their week’s was super scary. Luckily, we managed to land tain to remain Bharat’s for thousands and Far from being formulaic, these narra- apathy and political hypocrisy, the ocIt’s 1am. My first year in Elsewhere is over. Hello, Delhi. It’s good to gold to me. It was only at five this morning and then I got a lift on another plane. thousands of years. He isn’t sure what exactly tives are always representative of a be- togenarian will find it tragic to note be back. that I washed the last of the gold of bovine diAt the Sushruta Centre, of course, every- the book will be about, but he has a title for it. leaguered whole — “There are, one that his words continue to ring true — gestive juices and counted it up. There was thing had changed and they sucked me into Kama Sutra.

MANJULA PADMANABHAN, author and artist’s stories of life in Elsewhere, US, dares to say, hundreds of thousands “Nothing adds up in Calcutta. Neither enough! Phew. the racket of getting all kinds of unnecessary will appear in a new form in 2015; marginalien.blogspot.in of Indra Lohars.” revolution nor revisionism.” t@veenavenugopal After all that, there was no time for a nap tests done. I told them, this is all the gold I am Veena Venugopal is editor BLink and Mitra’s response to the times he author of The Mother-in-Law lived in was certainly informed by an shreevatsa nevatia

All my bags are packed

And I am ready to go; for new adventures await

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Mood of the Mwnt The backstory BAWDY LINE

The Welsh coast and its imagined faeries are at their charming best when the skies darken

The abomination of the porcine should perhaps be seen through the light-gathering lens of literature; particularly, one very long early 20th-century French novel

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hese things only has He forbidden you: carrion, blood and the flesh of swine.’ (The Quran 2,168) The iterative and anomalous case against the pig in Islam is wholly derived from Judaism. And since it is meant to be the final and unalterable word of God, the only meat taboo in Islam goes unexplained — not made intelligible by a line of patter on cloven hooves and ruminants. Even so, the loathing doesn’t stop at the swine’s flesh — it isn’t just dietary; Islam (and Judaism) abominates against the very organism and the being of the pig, its attributes, its pneuma.

The God of the Jews, in Leviticus (11:1), prescribes an anatomical and physiological formula for animals that are good to eat.

‘Whatever parts the hoof and chews the cud among animals, you may eat.’

As a postscript, Leviticus delivers a homily roll in to prevent a heat stroke. eral hospital in Maharashtra, and I must admit on the pig. That it fulfils only one half of the Let it be said that all of Christendom, thank- that the swine’s flesh is the measure against formula: it has cloven hooves, but it cheweth fully, found its release from the food laws of which all others have been found wanting. For not the cud. It isn’t a ruminant, therefore, is Leviticus in three acts. First in Mark 7:18-19, me the surgical madeleine was provided by met Perfect Timing forImportantly, the first time in unworthy of being a comestible. hub Welsh history, culture language where theoflate JC Himself declaresand all food the first ever whiff of pork belly in the frying Travel when we put drove thick there isn’tWales, any paperwork outout onof the pig’sgreen willin also have an15:11: event space, stylish resclean.and Then, Mathew ‘not thatawhich pan. What wafted was alog species of smell that (and still) forests to itsabeautiful coast in sense of personal hygiene.

Not word about rooms for people to unclean, stay. goes taurant into theand mouth makes a man can come only from the singeing of the triglyGet there on the very night that wallowingCounty in its Ceredigion own excrement or eating right atout the of Ceredigion but thatLocated which comes ofborder the mouth’.

And cerides (and myofibrils) a grain-fed animal.

The closest of airport is Manchester, Gonzalo came crashing into it at dungHurricane or the parasites in the flesh, etc. and which has the finally, inPembrokeshire, the Act of Apostles, Chapter 10:best SaintcoastIt was the deep caramel salty smell of electroand your best bet is to hire a car at 110kmph. Of course we hadmammals carefully chosen a alhas Taxonomically, herbivorous can Peter scenery and top full beaches of Wales, Cardia vision of the a sheet of animals lowcauterised human fat and that is the the airport andmuscle drive to Ceredigion closestthose to thethat harbour for those perfect be ofhotel two kinds: cheweth the cud where the and Ceredigion Coastal ered gan fromisthe heavens, a godly vox com- Path habitué of the operating room. So common to in Mid Wales. Keep a week in hand viewsthat that don’t. were now obscured by is evil lashes of and those So what exactly chewbegins — the popular 100km mands him to kill and eat, but Peterlong-distance is a bit the olfaction of the surgeon that it is no longer to explore Ceredigion and rain andItominously wind.

Allalrather ing the cud? is the act ofwhirling rumination that trailbecause that runs along stunning Welsh nervous there arethe unclean animals oncoast. interesting.

Pembrokeshire’s stunning coast, and Especially ontheir a driving lows exciting. cattle, sheep and when goats we to were digest NearbyThe is another lovely place,itself St Dogmaels, the sheet.

Broadcast repeats twice or The pig is our surrogate mammal; which is make sure you do a coastal walk. visions of our risingleavup from nosh,holiday, which isand mostly grass, hay,car bushes, it is calledisby the locals, a village (just StinDogs caseassomeone taking notes) and by why it was invoked for the blood libel. In Pathe ground— in rapid circular motions came to es and stubble herbage that cannot be conwhich has aknown row ofthe colourful beach then,the in sea, a huff, makes internal pua New Guinea, Stay where cannibalism was a mind.

Under these circumstances, I even did what sumed by humans and non-ruminants, houses,‘What the very picture of wealth processing: God hath cleansed, that and call elehanded-downThe wayHarbourmaster of life, humanisflesh was edgy ala great brave person would do — rushed to the after any boiling, due to its high cellulose content. gance.

On the beach here, you may find more not thou common’. ways known hotel as Long Pig.anArmin the about hour’sMeiwes, drive from baritand ordered three rounds of Penderyn’s One Because needs a four-compartment stomach dogs running people, though once might find about a leadthan to the German servMwnt, in cannibal, the town currently of Aberaeron peatywhere malt. the cud can ferment from mi- pig question to digest, again that to do with the name and inhas thelittle subsequent ing a life sentence for killing a (harbour-master.com). the bar, the hammering crobial At activity andIisdiscover regurgitated back to the that more to do with thefor retired Christian explanation the population’s love man and eating more than 20 Eat nature was subjecting us to was mouth and then sent back down afterGonzalo’s a bit of dyforinterdict canines. — since these Jewish kilos of him, has famously deImportantly, there The restaurant Harbourmaster ing cry.

By morning, would calm again deicidal — chewing to the in-house all yeasts forbesoftening people denied themscribed in his at first televised in- is isn’t any paperwork fantastic.

Also try how The Ferry Inn, a ll the loveliness in the world though, canwe wouldn’tThat’s be slapped around by the wind and degradation. how the cud becomes selves this meat, they were conterview in 2007 the meat put out on the pig’s beautiful pub and in St not match the what Iclosest see next. Mwnt Beach in after all. Oh well, there goes the adventurestantly I the digesta. seeking tasted exactly likerestaurant pork and how sense of personal Dogmaels, with fantastic views Ceredigion voted one of ‘Europe’s had up in myThey head.are monogastric replacement, Pigs arebuilt omnivores. thehas fleshbeen and blood he prepared an elaborate meal of hygiene (ferry-inn.com) top 10 loveliest hidden in Daily Mail, and can eat anything that humans can and fat- of Christian children.

That beaches’ was human steak in a green pepper itheasily. someTheir 5,000preferred citizens, Cardigan and for once youpremise tend toofbelieve the paper. ten up just as diet is ac-is the the language and the sauce with croquettes and Brustip With alibel Green Coastthe Award, tually roots,second nuts andlargest grain. town in Ceredigion, the blood against Jews.given to the more sels sprouts.

The Mwnt beach is safe for gives you anagainst idea ofthe howpig? small all the secluded beacheslore in was the UK, So which why the interdict It is, And this anti-Semitic al- Mwnt is a steep The authors of Leviticus were swimming but there’s no lifeguard, towns in the county are.efficient The name Cardigan hill that rises above Cardigan amongst mammals the most convertlowed to disseminate, muchthe later, throughBay, Po- the trying to suppress the most forbidden madeso be alert. The plus point is that it nothing to do with winter protected bythat the were mountains that surer of has fodder into flesh.

A piglet gains a wear, poundI was land beach and Ukraine, areas to become leine for their tribe: flesh that might exude the so secluded that Neolithic you can treat quite disappointed to learn, but rounds it on three sides. From for every three to five pounds it eats.

The rumi- the killings fields of the Holocaust. involuntary is memory of early hu- it ahem, private beach. merely an anglicised version myofvantage point that on the hill, I’m nant iscalf on the other hand needsofto eat 10 The abomination the porcine can’t man sacrificelike andyour, evenahem cannibalism.

The prothetocounty’s All point disap-of pig is, be explained by greeted by a sight might never pounds gain one.name.

The whole the vulgate of Ireligions hibition of swine is the prohibition of pointment ends up at for the the name forget: closeted, hidden been watching these scenes since the 6th or should be, to fatten sake of hu- should perhaps be seen almost through the lightanalogous blood and flesh, one that might be cenSomehow, the church — the Wherefore pretty little mountains,one a little The church, standing in the middleasof noman though alimentation. thetown revulsion? gathering lens of between literature;the particularly, of thetury. same satisfying savouriness, perhaps, lends a ghostly touch by the Teifi its charstrip of silvery You can where, a fine example of ‘chapels ofofease’ Thesits answer is not in river, the public health theo- very long early 20th-century Frenchbeach. novel. The our own.

Foristhat reason the summoning to Mwnt rather than high-street Andalusian dotted with that were built in the medieval times for up homosexual the hill for and an even ry of ming that 12th-century rabbi and author, M Proust, climb a Jewish anatomical and physiological difference, of peoa godly one small Maimonides, boutiques, making for his a thesis snob, can be charged ple hooves who could access a bigger parish eashigher of the and the physician who built withview making thebay madecloven andnot the four-compartment rather fairytale arrangement. ily. Somehow, its silent white presence lends a coast, orobject climb right around the pig’s alleged coprophilia. Copro- leine the most celebrated in all down Frenchto the stomach. moment I expect tinytendency. people It eats literature. In À la recherché touch toI’llthe rather a godwater. I decided do both. philiaAny isn’t the pig’s primary du tempstoperdu (Re- As I As ghostly an addendum, saysetting that I’m goingthan to retrot nothing out withbetter their tiny shop-itself. Its membrance of Things climbed higher, the wind grew one.

In fact, Mwntyoung is where one would dungtowhen presents Past), the little madeleine questlythis rather fetching woman that I exping bags carrying To add to stronger and quietly Gonzalo to meet faeries exciting wallowing in faeces andmagical urine is potions. due to failed dipped in a cup of Itea recallsthanked a forgotten fla- for knowpect to film herself eatingand Porkother Sorpotel.

She and this picture is ahuman 12th-century us alone.

From the top my his current generally creatures from thetoother husbandry, when its keepersNorman can’t pro-castle vour leaving and causes the protagonist to of relive slobbers over itavoidable in a manner that is liable under restoration, with(asruinous parts I climb down thein dale world, I could see Cardigan Bay endlessly vide it with clean mud holes would’ve hap-from entire childhood. bringworld. into being sub-genres thewithout realm ofany fet-such where, a fallen old tree excitement, however, andanother leave Mwnt stretching towards Ireland, a sheet maof blue. pened in thebehind Levant in the Bronze Age,branch, due to you There is also such a thing as the surgical ish porn.

But that’s a story for day. with a canofglimpse you are in Down below, blue met the brown scarcity water).the TheTeifi pig and lacksimagine sweat glands deleine.

I came to the flesh of the swine lateofinMwnt promise to return. Perhaps next time my tim asatwik@gmail.com century.

Once it is slurry fully restored beach and,surgical strangely, turned sandgeninto sil- ing will be better. in itsquite skin another so it needs a thin, sloppy to life, as a young resident inthe a small and open, Cardigan Castle will become a ma- ver. Across the hillside, a forgotten white jor attraction in Mid Wales, as it will be the church, nothing more than a small hut, has kalyani prasher is a Delhi-based freelance writer

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Not so blue Barely an hour from Mwnt, the coastal town of Aberaeron was also in the grip of Hurricane Gonzalo kalyani prasher

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Ambarish Satwik is a Delhi-based vascular surgeon and writer

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Fit for a king At Laxmi House in Athangudi, one of the many Chettiar mansions in the region all photos

rohit chawla

Blowing the cover Elbow-deep in history

Today’s insurance fraudster is tech-savvy and murderous even. How prepared are the insurance companies against them?

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hen a life insurance company began receiving a huge number of claims from Maharashtra’s Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon regions, it was more than a little surprised. So many people dying in succession in the same places seemed unusual enough for it culinary style toheir hire[Chettiars] an externalpreferred investigating company. tends to mirror their wanderings What came to lightnot wasonly a fake death certificate but also their traditional occupations: tradracket involving several doctors and hospitals andareas, money-lenders.

Dolloped clockwise iners these as well as individuals masqueonto freshly cut banana leaf plates, the disparate elements rading as doctors to provide the insurers false of a Chettiar meal appear to an inbuilt system, a gustainformation onhave policyholders. tory economy. Exchanges of cool and hot are taken into acPolicies were fraudulently procured in the count and thus a clearofsoup mild enoughpeople, to nourish a baby names terminally-ill including will be followed by suffering a curry whose expands HIV on the palmany from heat tuberculosis, or canate. In the procession of flavours,who a quail roasted to in papery cer, and alcoholics were dead or poor crispness is followed by okra of soothing, glutinous texhealth. Many of these unwitting ‘policyholture. Sharplyders’ spiced chicken to gives way to the piquancy of belonged lower-income groups and curry cookedneither in sour they tamarind.

Flavours are were neatlyaware and innor their families of stinctively checked balanced.

They borrow from each the lifeand insurance policies existing in their other liberally... seldom it been appreciated names.

Thehas racket — adequately which involved paying

the premiums and claiming the insurance of the fraudsters and laid a trap for him. On beamount on the death of the ‘insured’ — was ing caught, the man disclosed that three local subsequently busted, but not before there was doctors were among those involved in the insurance scam. All the accused soon found substantial loss to the insurer.

In 2012, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance re- themselves behind bars. ceived a claim for ₹55,000 from Up north in Noida in the naa policyholder who was hospitional capital region, a tele-callhow often, stowed away on the global ship of trade in ing centre was in the business of talised for jaundice.

Perplexed goods, a parallel exchange impersonating Max Life Insurby thewas unusually high sumin customs and ideas.

Clannish close-knit the Chettiars remainedget as they ance officials, collecting money claimed for and a disease like jaunFraudsters a established far-flung outposts; notissued so much assi- and issuing fake policies. Many dice, the company tried to get inthey did policy in the milatewith themselves as absorb what they of us. fell prey to this con agency until touch the customer only to nameconsidered of their target Mrs [Meenakshi] Meyyappan [of Theand Bangala] herself discover that the address providMax Life undertook an investigathen kill themwas to raised colonial On Ceylon, where herclaim fatherthe wasinsurance the mayor tion and enlisted the help of the ed wasin incorrect. investigatof the island’sthe capital; transplanted ing further, pathology test at marriage to leafy and police to shut down the frauducultured Madras, sheand brought reports and medicine hospi- as part of her dowry the lent call-centre. blended culinary of atodining table where convertalisation bills too customs were found sation be carried in English, Tamil, French, Hindi Surge in numbers be fake.might Together with theon police, Dutch.” aorcompany-appointed investigator uncovered As things stand, insurance frauds are rapidly five similar claims from the same area. outstripping the profitability of insurers. A Excerpted from thetoforeword of The Bangala

by The New Yorkby Indiaforensic Center of Studies pegs study After talking about 300 locals, theTable compaguy trebay Times’ ny managed to get the mobile number of one insurance frauds in India at about $6.25 bil-

A cookbook that documents recipes from a heritage property in Karaikudi, teases out flavours of life in the wealthy, well-travelled Chettiar community

The Bangala Table Sumeet Nair, Meenakshi Meyyappan with Jill Donenfeld Photography by Rohit Chawla ₹1,699

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lion annually, or around 9 per cent of the in- amount is inflated if the insured has a health Kavanarisi dustry’s revenues. card. Or, an outpatient treatment is converted “Inherent fraud risks have always existed. A sweet, to an inpatient case. Forgery diagnostic sticky breakfast dish, it’s in made of black reHowever, frauds pertaining to spurious call- riceports is another modus operandi,” A traditional Chettiar dish, originally broughtcommon back by the Chettiars ing and claims have substantially increased from hetheir adds.travels to Southeast Asia in the 19th this version, however, uses the mild yet flavourful It has beenGeneral grown inInsurance parts of India over the last two to three years,” says Prashant century.

Bajaj Allianz has for an ingoondu milagai instead of years now.

Tripathy, senior director and chief financial of- 50-odd house team of 50 employees, apart from the more fiery red chillies. ficer at Max Life Insurance. medical and forensic investigators it works (about 200gm) black rice According to industry estimates, fraudu- 1 cup with, to combat frauds. These investigators 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2tbsp (about 125gm) sugar 1/3 cup vegetable oil lent claims eat up nearly 10 per cent of the have experience working with police and de1/4tsp cardamom powder 20 dried red chillies, mild, overall claims paid out. And, more significant- 3/4 fence forces.

The grated company also deploys softcup (about 70gm) coconut preferably goondu milagai, ly, only one per cent is ever detected while the ware analytics to identify suspects.

1/4 cup ghee seeded and broken in two remaining fraudsters walk off with the monOne 1 1/2 inch piece rice in cups of water ey. With criminals becoming more tech-savvy 1 Soak Bouquet of 2insurance scamsovernight. The cinnamon should expand to to about 2 cups.

Drain. comand inventive, nabbing them is proving near- riceThe methods used defraud insurance 11 large (about 30gm) cloves a largecommonly saucepan/pressure cooker overpolicies of garlic, peeled and sliced in impossible. Insurers are now hiring former of- 2 Inpanies range from taking heat, add 4 cups watertoand the thirds, lengthwise ficials from the CBI, army and police to bolster medium in thehigh name of deceased persons surrenderdrained rice.

Cover and cook for 20 medium (about 110gm) their fraud-detection capabilities. ing policies without the knowledge of the pol30 minutes.

Let it cool shallots, peeled whole “Previously, the nature of frauds was differ- approximately icyholder and embezzlement of before customers’ Sanjiv Dwivedi, Head, Investigation and Loss opening the cooker.

1/2 medium (about 50gm) Mitigation, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance ent — committed by individuals, usually in- premium payments in cash. Additionally, onion, peeled and finely theis sugar, cardamom powder, coconut volving forgery and manipulation of 3 Add there spurious calling in the name of the inchopped andsurance ghee toregulator the cooked rice. or Mixaswell to documents.

Today, they are committed by exIRDA, an insurance 1/2tsp turmeric powder and selling serve. policies or offering false benpert masterminds, singly or in groups with combine company 1 1/2 medium (about 150gm) professional assistance over wide networks… efits like policy bonus for a payment. tomatoes, sliced in half and then quartered It has become more challenging to obtain eviCertain regions in the country appear more 500gm boneless mutton, chopped in 1-inch cubes, including littleto bitcrack of liver, if possible denceaand cases,” says BS Powdwal, fraud-prone — northern and southern Maha1tsp salt, or to taste head of fraud prevention at Bajaj Allianz Life rashtra, and parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Insurance Company.

Rajasthan, Assam, Orissa, Karnataka and And1 Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed kadhai or wok over high heat. When hot but This is echoed by the ICICI Prudential Life In- hra Pradesh. not smoking, add the red chillies, stirring to release their fragrance. surance Company executive director Sandeep When a fraudster strikes, apart from the loss 2 Break the cinnamon into a few pieces and add toBatra, the kadhai; follow withadvancements sliced who says, “Rapid in tech- to the insurer, customers too end up paying a garlic. Stir to ensure that it does not burn. nology are challenging the boundaries of price in the form of higher premiums to make 3 Slide in the shallots, onion and turmeric and stir fraud-risk to combine.

The kadhai should be management.” good the insurer’s loss. According to a 2011 smoking hot.

Shreyas Mehta (name changed), an investi- study by Ernst and Young, frauds lead to a 4 Add the tomatoes and stir. Let the mixture cookgator for 3 with minutes beforelife adding the a private insurance company, three per cent rise in the premiums charged mutton and salt. Stir occasionally for about 4 minutes. says there has been an alarming from policyholders.

5 Add 1 cup of water, bring to a boil and then reduce to the a simmer.

Cover and rise in number of murderThe advent of tech-savvy scams simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until meat is fork-tender.

If more water is “Fraudsters needed to for-insurance-gains. is forcing insurance companies continue the cooking process, add as required andget braise until meat cooked.

Or, if a policy issuedis in the name to invest in preventive data anaCustomers too pay a using a pressure cooker, seal lid and cook for 15 minutes until theand firstthen whistle, of theiror target kill lytics. HDFC ERGO relies on adPrashant Tripathy, Director and Chief price in the form of and then let simmerSenior for another 15 minutes.

Remove lid once cooled. them to make large claims from vanced data analytics to detect Financial Officer at Max Life Insurance higher premiums to 6 Braise until water has mostly evaporated and mutton has darkened substantially insurers.

The sum assured is fraudulent patterns. “Claim hanmake good the and is beautifully coated with the sauce. high and taken from multiple dlers refer all suspicious claims insurer’s losses life-insurers.” for investigation,” says Kumar.

These are well-planned Some of the advanced data crimes, he says, with hired killanalytics currently used by iners on the job. “Relatives of the surers include predictive modellife insured, local governing bodies, hospitals, ling of claims by actuaries and statisticians, pathology labs are closely involved in such text mining from police reports and identificases,” he adds. He is credited with cracking cation of anomalies in a large group of similar the Nandurbar and Dhule cases. cases. Predictive modelling guesses the probability of an outcome given a set amount of inMission fraud detection put data, while text mining turns text into Powdwal says there are gangs operating numbers meaningful indices, umeet Nair knows his audience well. while theortraditional recipes usingwhich peppercan across the country, scouting for terminally-ill then be incorporated into other analyses such With over 400 cookbooks weighing from the family’s own plantations, or people, in whose names they buy policies and police data, witness statements and so on. down his shelves, he is his own mild, yet fragrant goondu milagai chillies create a nominee.

“Fraud-risk propensity models are develaudience. A fact that informs The grown in the area, are the foundation of In response, insurers such as Bajaj Allianz, oped and implemented to conduct field verifiBangala Table: Flavors and Recipes from the book, it also has unusual inclusions Max Life and ICICI Prudential have set up dedi- cation of smartly selected policy applications, Chettinad, a book he co-authored with such as chow chow (chayote) kootu or of cated fraud investigation units with legal and which carry a higher risk,” says Tripathy “Achi” Meenakshi Meyyappan, well. Irked brussel sprouts poriyal.

A reflection medical experts on board. In December 2012, Max Life Insurance, which has been investing inSandeep the pastBatra, by oversights in otherwise Executive Director, ICICI the each tastesyear of the property’s HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company cre- 25evidently per centof more in its fraud moniPrudential Life Insurance Company well-produced books, Nair knows that well-travelled ated a specialised unit to detect, investigate toring activities.owners and the Chettiar correct measurements and clarity — community at large.Batra says his company is and report frauds.

ICICI Prudential’s what is a ‘medium’ shallot, how large is a “Afterfraud all, cuisines areforensics, not static,” saysmedia “We are also developing a network of retired using analytics, social ‘large’ tomato — are the most important Nair,CIBIL who (Credit found mixies and stone police officials in key states. Our team is pro- and Information Bureau Ltd) ingredients of a cookbook. Yet, in a grinders whirring fraud-detection in the kitchens of the vided training at the Department of Forensic checks to upgrade processes. kitchen — such as the one at The Sciences in Ahmedabad. The department region’s famed mansions. Mansions members are also periodically trained by ex- Awhere sharedwet fightpastes and podis ground on Bangala, a heritage hotel in Karaikudi — perts,” says the company’s executive director Recognising the scale the problem, the inwhich relies on recipes handed down well-worn mortar andofpestles were once Mukesh Kumar. surance regulator is setting up a common over generations by matriarchs and the norm.

ICICI Prudential has a specialised risk con- fraud prevention centre database, which retainers, the measure of a good cook is The damage done to a and cuisine by trol department to check frauds, says Batra. To ispopular, expected to start work by the end in his or her hands. often poorer renditions of it of —this make employees aware of the modus operanyear.

Insurance companies can share informaNair, a Punjabi by descent, who fell in think Chettinad chicken or chicken tikka di of fraudsters, they are provided training tion and in detect fraudulent multiple claims. love with the food at The Bangala masala the UK — can only be undone, through accredited professional courses.

Additionally, companies before he could roll his first banana leaf says the author,insurance by documenting more are Within the insurance business, the sectors sending in quarterly reports on fraudulent off the table, went back to the property regional food as we find them today. But more prone to frauds are motor, health, travel, claims detected. Industry forums like the Life over a dozen times in the last three is Nair, better known for his stint in the marine and fidelity in that order. Sanjiv Dwive- Insurance Council and General Insurance years. Interrupting the cooks at every fashion industry, up to the task of di, head, Investigation and Loss Mitigation, Ba- Council are proving handy platforms for instage of cooking, tearing away producing another 296-page tome? “I’m jaj Allianz General Insurance, blames it on formation sharing and detection of crime patingredients from their fingers to not sure!” “the slow legal system, difficulty in verifying terns.

The quest is on for the best possible measure, he discovered a culinary Butlerdocuments, cuisine Menuabsence for the Governor of Madras, Sir Archibald of adequate control, and insurance against criminal minds.

BS Powdwal, Vice-President Operations and soity banerjee wormhole he didn’t know existed. But Nye, who The Bangala in December lackhad ofvisited fear among fraudsters”.

“In1936 health inHead, Fraud Prevention Unit, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company surance cases, typically, the entire billing deepa nair and rashmi pratap

Uppu Kari or Chettinad Mutton Fry

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A conversation with author Sumeet Nair, who fell through a culinary wormhole

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nal of Anatomical Society read: “Meherji’s outstanding achievements and principled life CREATURE FEATURE have helped to (sic) put the Parsi name firmly on the map of Madras.”

Other notable Parsi Chennaiites include social worker Mary Clubwala Jhadav (who founded the Madras School of Social Work in 1952); cinematographers Adi Irani (Alam Ara, SS Vasan’s Kamadhenu and Bala Nagamma) and Mehli Irani; Minoo K Belgamwala, one of the founders of Madras Motor Sports Club; builder JH Tarapore; civil engineer Hormusji Nowroji (who the historian Sriram V calls the “father of water supply in Chennai”); Soli Dababbler starling can induce ave you ever noticed how you slow- process that begins with the drongos latching foraging rulwala, who or opened Chennai’s firstthese modern drop and whatever ly stop paying attention to a re- on to groups of socially foraging birds. These birds artto gallery; many they more.are eating and forwe cover. then peated sound, like a noisy fan or social foragers depend upon each other to re- quickly “I fly think haveThe all drongos prospered and,swoop as far as I up the insect that the the clockwork clanging of a ham- main wary of potential predators — individu- in and amgobble concerned, I have imbibed allsocial I can. forI speak agerand hadIpainstakingly collected mer from a nearby construction site? Getting als who spot a predator deploy a a little Tamil love the Southern culture was about to come eat. Using used to a recurring sensation is known as hab- shrill alarm call to alert their foand food.and Many people who from its Mumbraintoinstead of brute force, the get ituation, and habituation can undoubtedly be raging group to the presence of bai are eager leave this city, but some fork-tailed drongo feeds with a blessing. Who would choose not to ignore an enemy. Foraging birds that comfortable and choose to stay,” says Mistry.

VIsually similar to its minimal and can ob- of the relentless dhik-chik from a stranger’s head- listen for the alarm calls of both According to her,exertion, the first official account Indian counterpart, tain base almost a quarterisofofits food phones, for example? But things get compli- their own species and other speParsis setting in Chennai Heerjibhai fork-tailed drongo is such trickery. cated if the sound you want to ignore is a cies therefore need not conManeckjithrough Kharas arriving from Coorg with five found across large where habituation en-19th sound you can benefit from. This predicament stantly be on the lookout, and other ParsisSo and two does priests in the early parts of Africa ter East the picture?

The trouble with in is capitalised on by the fork-tailed drongo. can focus most of their attencentury. The India Company was strong Closely related and visually very similar to tion on feeding. But failing to drongo’s that the then the fledgling city ofstrategy Madras.isThe Parsis mimicking the roots foragers’ the black drongo that is common in India, the heed an alarm call could certainchose to put down their in thealarm Royapufork-tailed drongo is found across large parts ly spell death. ram area.call too often when a predator present can to of Africa. These birds often feed alone, doing The fork-tailed drongo inserts itself neatly isn’t actually It was much later, inlead 1910,the thatforagers the Clubwala ignoring foragers become all the hard work of finding and catching in- into this life-and-death dynamic to serve its startfamily builtthe thecall. localThe Parsi fire temple — the sects by themselves. But sometimes fork- own lazy purposes. Fork-tailed drongos have habituated a sound thatNadu, earlier signalled first andtoonly in Tamil Kerala and the but French now only indicates that their hardtailed drongos forage more cleverly, using a discovered that imitating the alarm call of a danger former colony of Puducherry. won insect about to bemember stolen. (This Today,isonly a single of thesituaClubwationlaought you of one of Aesop’s Fafamilytoisremind left in Chennai.

Karachi-born Mani bles.Clubwala I’ll let you recall which one.)

As ainresult, married into the family 1947 and the moved foragerstostop fleeing when hear athe Chennai with her they husband, direcalarm-call because theinbenefit of fleeing fromand tor at EID Parry, the 1960s.

Her sons a potential predatorare is now outweighed by86-yearthe grandchildren in the US, and the costold of lives losing to in anainterloper.

Needless in byfood herself sprawling bungalow to say, the drongos are Chennai. ready with counterSanthome, in south Asathe Parsi famstrategy they simply switchthe to mimicking ilies — flourished through decades, they the gradually alarm callmoved of another species.

Shiftingtobeout of Royapuram other tween over 50she different localities, says. alarm calls prevents the foragers from getting habituated to a sin- for The close-knit community congregates gle false alarm call, and ensures theNew drongos’ monthly get-togethers, the Parsi Year and continued to misappropriated meals. Hall during access Jamshedi Navroz at the Clubwala The nextfork-tailed to the firedrongos temple. aren’t all evil, however.

They alert the sociallike foragers to real The Parsis in Chennai, elsewhere in the threats are as well, thus bearing something country, concerned about their fast-declina risk on their behalf. Whether not ingof numbers.

Clubwala endorses,or tongue you of services is Jifirmly in think cheek,this theexchange Government-supported I think which you’ll explicitly agree that forkyo Parsifair, campaign, asks Parsis tailedbabies. drongos“We are are an example to make more nearly aof gone at itsa craftiest. species,” shenature says with laugh. “I think the ads are fun. All these people should wake up and do something!”ambika kamath studies organismic evolutionary Mistry’s children too and have moved away at Harvard from Chennai tobiology pursue their University careers. “We n North Chennai’s populous and noisy cafés are like any other local tea-stall, with on- don’t have enough youngsters who can socialRoyapuram area, the tranquil 104-year- ly a customary portrait of Zoroaster, the foun- ise and, hopefully, get married within the old Jal Phiroj Clubwala Dar-e-Meher Fire der of Zoroastrianism, to community,” she points out.

Temple appears an anomaly. A man in distinguish them.

The Parsis and Iranis of Chentrousers, a half-sleeved shirt and a baseball Parsis and Iranis both follow nai are determined to support cap arrives on his scooter and introduces him- Zoroastrianism, but are differentheir predominantly ageing In Chennai, though self as Bomi Vazifdar, the Zoroastrian temple’s tiated based on when they micommunity. “It is our duty, as a owned by Iranis, the priest. “Not many people come to the temple,” grated to India — the former fled community, to see that they live cafés are like any he says. “Earlier, Royapuram was the base for Iran circa 8-10th century, while with dignity. The Madras Parsi other local tea-stall, the city’s Parsis.” the latter arrived in the 19th cen- with only a customary Zarthosti Anjuman has a guesAs you drive down the arterial Anna Salai, or tury. The community has whitthouse and we provide them portrait of Zoroaster Mount Road, the contributions of Parsis — as tled down to 69,000 members with medical help, subsidised the earliest Zoroastrian settlers in India are across India, largely in Gujarat rent and so on,” Mistry says. known — jump out at you: Dhun building, Ta- and Mumbai, and only about The priest Vazifdar acknowlrapore Tower, Casino Theatre, and the long- 250 remain in Chennai. edges that whether it is his gone Elphinstone and Wellington theatres.

Zarin Mistry, a Chennai-born Parsi and Sec- daughter’s school fee or his wife’s medical exEqually prominent are the several small Irani retary of the Madras Parsi Association, says, penses, the Trust and the community are alcafés on this stretch.

“Language is a huge barrier here, but people ways at hand to support him.

A quick afternoon chai at one these cafés do come on transfers and some have businessAfter more than 200 years in the city, time proves they are nothing like their counter- es here. My father, Dr MM Cooper, moved from may be running out for Chennai’s Parsi comparts in places like Mumbai, which are cher- Lahore to Chennai in 1934.” As head of the munity, but their immense legacy lives on in ished for their spacious interiors, wooden Anatomy department of Madras Medical Col- the many sterling institutions they have bechairs, marble-top tables, chandeliers, and a lege, Dr Cooper was a key figure in the city’s queathed to their adopted home. thompson sharp-eyed Parsi owner behind the cash coun- medical fraternity alex and Parsi community. ter. In Chennai, though owned by Iranis, the When he died in 2002, an obituary in the Jour- mahima a jain

Fork-tailed drongo

Using its brain instead of brute force, it feeds with minimal exertion, and can obtain almost a quarter of its food through trickery

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Chennai and its R old Parsi flame Its legacies far outnumber this fast-dwindling community with two centuries of ties to the city

Fine imprints (Clockwise from top) The art deco Casino theatre in Chennai was built in 1941 by JH Irani, an ice factory owner, and designed by his engineer-son, Firoz n sridharan; Zarin Mistry is the secretary of the Madras Parsi Association; Karachi-born Mani Clubwala has lived in the city since the 1960s, although her offspring have moved away bijoy ghosh

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Locked in

Blacklisted for good?

A car saves itself in suburban Delhi

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he year seems to have started on a bad note for petty criminals. In the same week when a burglar in a British home was caught in the hot tub enjoying a bath, a car thief in Delhi unwittingly locked himself in the car he intended to ‘steal’.

Praveen Tyagi had parked his 10-month-old SUV outside his residence last week. In the morning, walkers noticed someone trapped inside the car. Tyagi rushed down with the keys to find that the man had attempted to hot-wire his vehicle. The thief had allegedly disabled the car’s gear and steering lock and cut its wiring. “But the suspect seems to have cut the wrong wire, which automated the anti-theft feature, locking the car instantly,” a cop told a local daily.

However, the quick thinking thief had a defence prepared. He started behaving like a madman. Unluckily for him, the cops were not impressed.

Delhi Police’s online list of sex offenders may not be all it’s cut out to be

Mr Murakami’s happy place The Japanese author is now on hand to solve your everyday problems

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aving trouble living in a big city? Feeling lonely and alienated? Worry no more, Uncle MurakaThemi road is ahead... here to hear all about your Is dark and deep,and if wedole out advice. With problems depend such lists the on Nobel eluding him once more alone to reduce the thisofyear, number sex bestselling author Haruki Murakami has taken to penning adoffences in the Capital shiv kumar vicepushpakar columns. The website, named “Murakami-san no tokoro” (Mr Murakami’s place) but not live yet, will solicit problems and answer queries on anything under the sun — cats, jazz, running, anything at all. The publicity-shy author has previously fielded questions from readers on the website Murakami’s House of the Rising Sun, including queries on whether squids have legs or arms. If his reply — “try presenting the squid with 10 gloves and 10 socks and see which it prefers” — is anything to go by, Mr Murakami’s place should be a happy hangout for the troubled, the lonely and the weird.

Raising super cows

The last of the red knots A marathon flyer becomes the first avian species to be buckled down by climate change

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n a first of a highly dismal nature, the mid-sized Rufa red knot became the first ever bird to be listed as an endangered species with climate change as the ‘primary cause’.

These birds cover tremendous distances every year, from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina to the Canadian Arctic and back again. They have seen their numbers plummet from more than 60,000 in the ’90s to 12,000 now. Apart from their favourite snack on their long-haul journey, the eggs of horseshoe crabs, turning scarce due to human activity, the rapidly melting Arctic (where they mate) and rising sea-levels have driven the species to the endangered list. he 27-year-old executive on her What’s worse, the Rufa red knot might justway be the scholars, first of many speciesAgan and JJ Prescott, Beyond jail suchavian as Amanda homevictim fromtoGurgaon was not climate. the reveals that are falling rapidly changing With the talks at thatclimate unrestricted publication of these The voices decrying such ‘proactive’, ‘transparfirsttovictim of Uber cab driver Shivand lists Peru proving be an utter disappointment, very does little not hopereduce pinnedthe onincidence of crime ent’ measures are those of social scientists, acKumar Yadav.

Convicted at least the upcoming meet in Paris, even many ofsix nature’s survivors find and,greatest in fact, are counter-productive.”

The rea- tivists and other stakeholders who have been times for offences, including themselves on the losing side. rape, Yadav has sons are manifold. Once labelled, the offender following the trajectory of both the accused been in and out of jail over the last decade. has little left “to prevent recidivism”, says Kal- and the victims in recent years. Chief psychiaThree of the accused in Mumbai’s Shakti Mills ra. Besides, these lists often interfere with new trist at the Institute of Human Behaviour and gang-rape were repeat offenders too. As was investigations, discouraging the police from Allied Sciences, Delhi, Nimesh Desai says, “It one of the defendants in the Delhi gang-rape looking for new suspects. And then, there’s might seem like a good idea in theory but it on December 16, 2012. the issue of vigilante justice. Following the De- must be matched by social attitude.” He draws In June 2013, Delhi Police put out a list. One cember 16 incident, mobs attacked the fam- attention to the fact that while there have that was meant to ‘out’ those with a history of ilies of the accused. been some attempts, especially sexual assault. The original list had 664 names Instead of adding another by the Delhi High Court, few esand detailed those arrested for rape or similar task on the to-do list of an overtablish the link between the charges since 1983. With over 1,300 entries worked and understaffed police criminal justice system and menWhere Khap (now updated from the year 1993), the list has force, say experts, the energy tal health solutions. been growing. But in the 18 months since it spent on such lists can be put to Panchayats order the Serving a term in jail doesn’t went online, has it reduced the number of sex- better use by collecting scientif- gang-rape of women, preclude gender violence. Surwhat can a list do by ual offences in the Capital? ic evidence, establishing more prisingly, studies on the situaway of public fast-track courts, and enforcing tion post-incarceration are few shaming?

Not helping the cause equality between the sexes. and far between. Delhi-based

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“No, it hasn’t,” claims Ruchi Sinha, a criminologist at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. “Research has shown that crimes don’t reduce by evolving a prescriptive, descriptive list. The problem is that there’s no such thing as a ‘sex-offender profile’. So although the label of ‘sex offender’ might seem to suggest that individuals who commit these crimes are all alike, that is not the case,” she says. henwhere UK farmer Derek In the US and the UK, such lists are Gowthanimported 13 two-decades old, more 7.5 lakh and cattle are inregistered 2009, iton 40,000 people Heck respectively causedinquite a stir. The the databases. While the former most“sulists per UK, cows” descended from are public, in the information is strictly beasts associated given on a need-to-know basis. with Nazi Germany are known for “In large parts of India, honour and shame their extremely aggressive are primarily attached to the victim, not the While he order successoffender. Wherebehaviour.

Khap Panchayats the fully bred theaffair herdwith and ahad gang-rape of women for an man more thanthe 20 consent roamingofhis of another caste without the fields, Gow that has cut thedo community, there is little thedown list can size assays the Harsimran creatures proved by way of shaming,” Kalra of tooofdangerous toand handle. the Jindal School Government Public “They would try to anyPolicy, Delhi, adding, “Research by kill American

Farmer finds them too tough to handle, opts for peace instead

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A record ascent

Swanchetan Society for Mental Following orders Health conducted research relatDelhi Police, however, continue ed to sex offenders lodged in Tito regard it as a step forward — at least, official- har jail between 1999 and 2004, and it’s one of ly. “We think it’ll be useful to the public. That’s the few such reports available. Swanchetan why it’s there,” says spokesperson DCP Rajan found that out of 242 sex offenders, around Bhagat. Off the record though, others within 140 admitted to committing a sex offence earanyUber ideas, no,for we’re not talking the force question the efficacy of an open efore list. you lier.get “In the case, example, Yadav was a about delinquent marijuana, and ganja or any contraA senior police officer, who has investigated surely had other something psychoone,” hehigh-profile told newspapers.

To confessesband in mind.

The latest addition or should him, many rape cases, thatyou it had logically wrong.

We have incarcerated get them offdone the more farm,damage they than good. we say additions — 2,122 to be additional precise — tointerventions?” the rapidmay have but what about had Even to usethe “a young and very— that they ly ascending Gujaratis, those women’s who scampered police’s claim created asks Vrindaare Grover, rights up activist athletic man”. BrothJunagadh last week. the listyoung at the bidding of the then homeMount minis-Girnar andinlawyer, adding, “We pluck some things erster Heinz and Lutz Shinde, Heck had The 920m high incidentally Sushil Kumar following the recomfrom themountain, West and which after the noise diesisdown, raised the “super cows” tallest they in the state, was ascended by over two mendations made by inthe Justice the Verma disappear.” the ’20s, hoping— to thousand people from the areasecretary, in an attempt to get Commission is recreate contested by Shwetashree Kavita Krishnan, All India Progresthe aurochs Afrom Tuetonic intothe The Guinness Book ofAssociation, World Records.

Majumdar. legislator who worked with sive Women’s points to other admythology.

While Nazi Thetoevent was flaggedissues: off by “The the state’s agriculCommission, she the claims their counsel was ministrative idea that putting leaders dreamed of let- with criminal ture minister, Babu Bokhiriya, and was createhad a roster of candidates re- strangers’ faces on such a listattended will keepby us safe ting theseeking animalstoroam free to publica office, representative Guinness well. cords be elected makesofno sense toas me.

The vagaries of our syssonot they could be hunted, Only willare tellsuch if the tallest in the state of who of sex offenders.

“The ultimate purpose of time tem who endspeak up on list and Gow however haslist sold them shaming. It’s Gujarat been well and truly conquered in the a sex offenders’ is public sure- hasdoesn’t can be arbitrary too.” offlyto ana abattoir.

Peace has of the Guinness’ book-keepers. not lack of shaming that’s leading eyes to such sibi arasu now returned. crimes,” she says.

The Gujarati bhai and ben are getting high, together!

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cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya School times

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his week’s quiz is all about schools, real and fictional

A prominent British soldier proposed the establishment of a series of military-style boarding schools in India for the children of British soldiers. Four of them were established, two of which were at Mount Abu, and Ghora Gali in present-day Pakistan. Name the location of the other two schools, far better known than the first two, and the soldier after whom they were all named.

2

Tom Brown’s School Days is a classic 19thcentury work set in Rugby school. Which author wrote a series of popular books in the 20th century based on the primary villain in Thomas Hughes’ novel?

3

If Tom Brown was at Rugby, which acclaimed book and later film was set in the fictional Brookfield Grammar School, and followed a specific teacher’s 43-year tenure in the school?

4

Still on fictional schools. In the 1930s, Graham Greene helped place which classic book with publisher Hamish Hamilton that told the story of a group of schoolboys at the Albert Mission School.

5

The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary has a large presence in Indian education. Its institutions are named after the shrine in Marche, Italy, where their founder Mary Ward used to pray. By what name are they more commonly known?

the new york times crossword-0803

what’s my line?

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What connects mathematician Simon Singh, filmmaker Chetan Anand and author Vikram Seth? The list is definitely not exhaustive!

On the same lines, what connects James Bond, detective Lord Peter Wimsey, Bertie Wooster and the pirate Captain Hook in Peter Pan?

8

From the 1920s to 1947 it was the Shaftesbury Children’s home. From 1947 to 1969 it was Goldings School. Since then there have been a variety of schools from the London boroughs of Merton, Sutton and Kingston. What service do the students of these schools provide in England in the summer?

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Which couple set up the first modern women’s school in India at Bhide Wadai in Pune in 1848?

Charlie Sheen, Rob Lowe and Sean Penn were friends at Santa Monica High School, California, in the early ’80s. They had a fourth school friend, who is probably even better known in the entertainment world. Name him.

Answers 1. Lovedale and Sanawar. These are the four Lawrence Schools in the subcontinent, named after Sir Henry Lawrence.

2. George Macdonald Fraser. The Flashman series, based on Harry Flashman, the school bully in the original work.

3. James Hilton’s Goodbye Mr Chips, featuring Mr Chipping. Probably based on Hilton’s own experiences at the Leys School, Cambridge.

4. Swami and Friends, RK Narayan’s classic. Greene also suggested the title be changed from Swami and Tate to Swami and Friends 5. The Sisters of Loreto; the schools are the Loreto Convents.

6. They all taught at The Doon School, Dehradun 7. They were all fictional characters who studied at Eton. Bond was sent from Eton after ‘some trouble with a housemaid’.

8. Ball boys and girls for Wimbledon 9. Savitri and her husband Jyotirao Phule 10. Robert Downey Jr, supposedly the quietest of the lot at school.

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

ACROSS 1 Sandwiches with toothpicks 5 Corner key 9 Refuse 14 Alternative to texted 18 European capital, to natives 19 Discipline 20 Jimmy ___, “They’ll Do It Every Time” cartoonist 21 “Le Roi d’Ys” composer 22 Telephone line 25 “___ Eyes” (1975 Eagles hit) 26 “Let ___” 27 Dash 28 Union gain?

29 Gut feeling?

30 Cruise line 33 Like one’s favorite radio stations, typically 34 Perfect, e.g.

35 Sarcastic retort 36 Played out 37 San ___, Calif.

40 “Double” or “triple” feat 41 Special somethings 43 Late actor Wallach 44 Vinyl-roofed car 48 Butler’s quarters?

49 Tickle Me Elmo maker 51 Like

52 Story line 56 First two words of “Dixie,” often 57 Longtime baseball union exec Donald 59 Loudmouth’s talk 60 Romance novelist Roberts 61 ___ de Champlain, founder of Quebec 63 Like the Marx Brothers 65 Pinched 69 Interprets 70 Car featured in the “Transformers” movies 72 Country with the most all-time medals in Olympic baseball 73 Pathet ___ (old revolutionary group) 75 Fit of fever 76 Capt.’s prediction 77 Finish line 82 Draft pick 83 Astronaut Slayton 85 Email virus, power outage, etc.

86 Formal confession 87 Iraq War danger, for short 88 Maze feature 90 Shake off 92 Names hidden in Al Hirschfeld drawings

94 Gown accessory 95 Politician’s goal 96 Hunt in “Mission: Impossible” 99 Small pellets of noodle dough in Jewish cuisine 101 Fault line 106 Foreign princes 107 Hogan contemporary 108 Road shoulder 109 Stove cover 110 Old Venetian V.I.P. 111 Laugh line 114 “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” singer/ songwriter 115 Bayer brand 116 Picture problem 117 Some spinners, informally 118 Chris who played Mr. Big on “Sex and the City” 119 Lets go of 120 Gallic greeting 121 Spanish 3 + 3 DOWN 1 Stock 2 Slow 3 Target, as a football receiver 4 Approximately 5 Cartier units

6 Throat soother 7 Name meaning “born again” 8 Trail 9 French connection?

10 Exemplar of indecision 11 How an angry dog should be kept 12 Zipped 13 Endorsing 14 Help line 15 Date line 16 A-list 17 Robert who played filmdom’s Mr. Chips 18 Trident-shaped letters 23 House ___ 24 Weeper of myth 29 Only non-Southern state won by the G.O.P. in ’64 31 College in Atherton, Calif.

32 Confusion 33 Some charity events 36 Famous Amos 37 Embarrassed 38 Put off 39 Power line 40 Org. with the Sullivan Award for character, leadership and sportsmanship 41 Baud measurement

42 I.R.S. form with a line for “Casualty and Theft Losses” 45 “___ calls?”

46 Birthplace of Pres. Polk 47 Drew 48 Starch source 50 Canola, soybean and peanut 53 Former center of Los Angeles 54 Affirmative action 55 Listen here 58 Coastline feature 62 Start of an apology 64 PC component 66 Mug 67 Alley org.

68 F.D.R.’s Scottie 71 “There’s always next time!”

74 Initials, in a way 78 Bang-up 79 Almost stop with the head facing the wind, as a ship 80 Blooming business?

81 1967 war locale 84 Subway line 89 Executes 90 Bagel toppers 91 Good to have around 93 Pitched right over the plate 95 Work on the docks 96 Hottie 97 Ring leader?

98 Something to get over 99 Had for a meal 100 Discontinued gas brand 101 Signed 102 Govt. security 103 “Me, too!”

104 Law man 105 Fall setting 107 Closing act?

111 Part of a winning combination 112 Ring org.

113 Discophile’s collection

By Randolph Ross / Edited by Will Shortz

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