Blink issue 56 february21 2015 by Partha Pratim Sharma-Portfolio

HUFF AND PUFF As the citizens of Delhi choke in its toxic air, the city must learn a few basic lessons from the past p2 saturday, february 21, 2015

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How a gramophone needle maker in the Nilgiris became the haberdasher to the world p10

Made in India

THE MOST DANGEROUS JOB Mohammad Jibran Nasir takes on the Taliban in Pakistan p4

AUTHOR & AUSTRINGER Helen Macdonald weaves a story of grief around the nuances of falconry p18

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On his own Through theturf smog, darkly Australian hockeymost greattoxic Jamie playingtoatbreathe. home and away, and on his current With the world’s air,Dwyer Delhi on struggles Although its challenges are many, goalposts in India a Punjab Warrior going forward, theascity must learn a few basic lessons from the past

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nly in Australia can you have a nickname ‘foetus’ and still ashe summer like of 1857 is well-etched in pire to greatness. Ask Jamie Dwyer. the Indian psyche as the summer of “The name kind ofagainst caughtthe onBritberevolt, of a mutiny cause I wasish. only 13 when was playing for the Earlier thatI year, however, there under-17 team,initiative and I was then,” was a smaller thatreally bearssmall recollection says 36, of five-time world hockey — forDwyer, it speaks an unfinished agendaplayer of the of the year and a privileged of the making of the modern Indianmember nation-state. ‘Best of the Best’ at of thethe Australian Institute of Through an Act government passed Sport (AIS) —1857, joining the ranksGas of Company, cricketer in February the Oriental Ricky Ponting,asTodd Woodbridge, the tennis incorporated a joint-stock company in Endoubles great, and Mark the country’s gland, was permitted toViduka, set up operations to best-known export. supply gas football to the city of Calcutta for street Playing Five for the Punjab Warriors now,Act Dwyer lighting. years later, a similar was and his team have come agonisinglynearly close toa passed for Bombay. Interestingly, lifting (HIL) cup in third ofthe theHockey clausesIndia of theLeague said Acts pertained the firstrisks two seasons they reached to the of water—pollution andthe thesemicare final in the contest into 2013 and that the gasinaugural companies needed take to lost preout theOne finals lastclause year atreferred the penalty shooventinthis. other to the postout stage. was quite difficult, sibility of a“The gas first leak,year polluting the air. Soon especially since we were staying after, in 1862, a more elaborate Actwell wasoutside passed, Jalandhar from the Surjit Hockey Stadium, this time [away addressing smoke nuisance in their home ground in the first season] and in Calcutta directly. A similar Act followed a year later in Bombay. Around the turn of the last century, aesthetic dimensions of the smoke issue came to the fore — in the promise, for instance, that the use of hydroelectric power by the mills of Bombay would make it one of the most beautiful cities of the Empire by getting rid of coalinduced smoke. Guidelines (much like now) did not remain confined to the industrial sector alone, and laws were passed to regulate traditional trades and industries that were po-

tentially polluting and harmful. Little is heard of these Acts and regulations now, but they can offer a better perspective on our current dilemmas regarding urbanism, industrial advancement and environmental pollution.

leaving those cities to grapple with only one or two situations that may be urgent at any given point. Poverty-related pollution, for instance, does not have the same traction that consumption and energy use-related concerns have in Paris or Seoul. But in our urban Unholy triad context, they must be addressed together, Three features are characteristic of this ever- even if by different means. evolving and dynamic relationship between Second, for long we’ve been conditioned to economic growth and pollution in urban In- think of pollution as an end-phenomenon, to dia. First, several generations of issues and be tackled by end-of-the-pipe technologies. practices that may be considered polluting This was not always the case. In an earlier era, find a synchronous presence in in the first decades of the 20th our cities — we struggle as much century, in India as in other parts with pollution from the use of of the world, there were atbiomass in domestic settings as tempts to see the pollutants and We’ve been we do with pollution resulting waste in terms of inefficient use conditioned to think from slaughterhouses, or modof resources. It is plausible to arof pollution as an ern transport and industry. This gue that there was little about end-phenomenon, to the ‘environment’ in this mode forces us to consider together be tackled by end-ofsuch that mayofotherwise thinking, focused alEye onissues the ball Skipper the Punjab Warriors, Jamie Dwyer (left) vino johnof; and (above) in being action against Sardar the-pipe technologies akhilesh kumar Singh of the Delhi Waveriders, this month be distinguished — as, at forMohali in- earlier most entirely on economic effistance, green and brown agenciency and resource use. Equally, general, had to travelmatters a lot. That knewwas them. If you didn’t das; poverty-related andtook a toll on ing; everyonethere little about theplay unus,” says Dwyer, weand meet yousocial didn’t know thedistribuhockey those related to when growth de-him in Delhi hockey though, equal and spatial before a training “This actually,” says Dwyer. velopment; local,session. regional andyear has been greats. A lot like tionhere of environmental ills. But it going well,crises but the always Inoffer 2004,a way Dwyer began playing for use HC of Bloeglobal pretty concerns; dealtsemis with are at the mu- did of linking the initial retough, let’sand see.”others that call for sophisti- mendaal in the Dutch league, and became a nicipalso level sources and technology for production and hockey fans across Eucated, technical knowledge that may be household subsequentname use offor other technologies to deal From Perth to Punjab “My which club won every year while I was available only at the national or global scale. rope. with that was left after productive use. AThis child prodigy, Dwyer seems to have been there, and I metissues my wife the Netherlands. So simultaneity, in turn, makes our cities Reconnecting of in resource use, efficiendestined for athe career sports. every year I just kept goingstand, back more till I quite unlike citiesinofinternational Europe, America or yeah, cy, waste and pollution — which Growing at Rockhampton in Queensland, Warriors in India,” saysoffer Dwyer. East Asia,up where such issues have been solved, joined or less,the separated today — would an alterwith a total population of 73,000-odd people, he is a shining example of the efficiency of the Professional goals Australian sporting system at large. “When I Playing a game that has witnessed a sea of was 15, I was offered an opportunity to go to change over the last decade, Dwyer has had to university on a cricket scholarship, but I didn’t adapt to the changing styles. But having want to take it up. I wanted to go played across continents has to the Olympic Games,” says made him stronger. “The new Dwyer, adding, “In any case, rules make the game so much hockey was more my kind of faster. There are more substituDwyer scored the game. It has a faster pace, and tions as well. Earlier, you played winning goal in the while I really enjoy cricket, hockthe full 70 minutes in a match, 2004 Athens ey just suited my style better.” but now you can come on and off Olympics, breaking Dwyer pursued his hockey cathe bench,” says Dwyer, adding, Australia’s 48-year reer under the aegis of the AIS, “HIL though has really set a gold drought in which was established in 1981 to grand stage for hockey. It’s defihockey train and nurture the country’s nitely the best hockey league in best athletes. “I think the structhe world now.” ture of the Aussie system is quite In his three years with the Wargood. There is a gradual incline riors, Dwyer has been instrumento reach the top with stepping stones all along tal in shaping the team’s game. “You see, the the way, which helps,” says Dwyer. “It gives ev- European and Indian styles are a bit different. eryone in Australia a chance to pick up a sport In Europe, it’s more about protecting the ball, they like, and if they have potential, they can while in India it’s about skill and running fast maybe play for their country one day.” with the ball. Australia though is a mix of One of the greatest exponents of AIS, Dwyer both. We like to be entertaining, score a lot of has often led Australia to hockey glory. In 250 goals. But on the other hand, we don’t want to international games, Dwyer has scored more turn the ball over so easily as well,” he says. than 170 goals and has won more than 14 gold Dwyer, who has achieved pretty much all medals for Australia at the Olympics, the that a pro-player can in hockey, is now waiting Hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth for a chance at gold at the Rio Summer OlymGames, among others. Dwyer had also scored pics, 2016 — he intends it to be his swan song. the winning goal in the 2004 Athens Olym“For me though, it has never been about bepics, which broke Australia’s 48-year gold ing the world’s best, but more about being the drought in Olympic hockey. best that I can be. I can honestly say, when I In a nation as cricket-obsessed as India, rec- walk away from hockey,” says Dwyer, “I can ognition was harder to come by for Dwyer, look back and feel proud that I have played the compared to his contemporaries in cricket. best hockey that I could have.” “All our heroes while growing up were cricket arasu players Dean Jones, Allan Border, PontDanger ahead In Delhi, the average Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 — — extremely small particles that getRicky absorbed by thesibi lungs — is thrice the national standard vv krishnan

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know native to the current obsession with relocation or expulsion of polluting activities from our cities. Third, such a re-linking of economy and environment cannot be a return to history in any simple manner; we need to consider their promise and their limitations. If one were to look at major ways in which urban environments have been shaped over the previous centuries, these would broadly be classified into two: strategies of spatial relocation and those of technological modernisation. For much of the 20th century, the idea has been to use these strategies to separate the city of work from the city of residence. At different times in history, the scale of such relocations and the ambitions regarding the possibilities of technical changes have varied. Clearly, relocating tanners in the Capital in the 1870s was neither on the same scale nor had the same statutory legal backing that is enjoyed by the industrial relocation recently ordered by the Supreme Court in keeping with the Master Plan of Delhi. Neither did the pipes and drains of the 19th century carry the urban footprint of Delhi far into the hills of Uttarakhand, as they do today. These differences over time are important, and suggest something about the political/economic contexts of their times. Watch our step Coping with these long-term challenges would require that we look deeper than immediate short-term solutions. This is not to deny that individuals and communities need to make use of such protective technology as is most instantly available — for a decade and more now, it has not been unusual to see traffic cops covering their mouths with masks. More recently, air purifiers have entered the market in the same way as they have proliferated in Beijing, which suffers perhaps from even more acute pollution. Parallel to this has been the flourishing industry of water purifiers, with the industry ‘maturing’ to provide for every class of household, from the richest to the poorest; and in the case of the latter, often at a relatively high price. However, something more than these household solutions is required, as pollution rarely respects spatial boundaries, and a sanitised household promises little guarantee of a safe and healthy environment in general. What’s in crisis now is the core assumption of the modernist spatial-technical strategy — there’s little space left ‘outside’ to consign unwanted things and practices for any length of time, not to mention the ever-proliferating risks of synthetic chemicals, vehicular pollution and climate change, and of industrial wastewater returning to our dining tables through the vegetables we consume. To address these, we need to move beyond higherpowered chimneys, purifiers or spatial zoning, and instead cultivate a different sensibility regarding space and technology, make our arrangements more provisional and our interventions more reflexive or, to use an increasingly influential strain of philosophical and legal reasoning, become more precautionary. Alongside, we need to shift the burden of proving ‘no harm’ on to those who cause pollution in the first place. This has been the approach pioneered by the Supreme Court to deal with vehicular pollution in Delhi, and we would do well to consider other challenges through a similar logic. It is also important that such thinking, spelled out largely in the context of legal cases, finds echo in other discourses, influencing public policies and civic action that seek to create more liveable cities.

infographic: partha pratim sharma

awadhendra sharan is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

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AGENDA

We are not a nation of Taliban apologists A young Pakistani lawyer’s brave attempts to counter extremism within Pakistan

sambuddha mitra mustaﬁ

t was December 17, 2014. Mohammad Jibran Nasir, a young lawyer, was restless in Islamabad, haunted by the memory of the 145 children massacred in Peshawar’s Army Public School the day before. And that’s when Nasir took the biggest risk of his life. The 27-year-old went to the Capital’s Lal Masjid, notorious for indoctrinating and training hundreds of young jihadists. There he lit a flying lantern in memory of the slain children, daring to show his contempt to the hardline cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, who had refused to condemn the massacre. When Nasir returned home and posted the pictures on Facebook, with the hashtag #NeverForgetPakistan, the response was overwhelming. The next time Nasir went to Lal Masjid, scores of people accompanied him to offer funeral prayers for the slain children. They were stopped by the police from entering the mosque: and that is when the vigil turned into a protest and then into a much larger civilian movement against terrorism in Pakistan. Now the #NeverForgetPakistan protests have spread to over 25 cities in the country and across the world, from Karachi and Lahore to New York, Berlin and Perth. Civil society members staged a 31-hour sit-in near the CM House in Islamabad and ended it with the government accepting the protesters’ demand to publicly ban activities of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). Nasir, meanwhile, has received death threats from the Taliban and an FIR was registered against him by the ASWJ. He was arrested on February 5, but freed a day later. Pakistan has lost thousands of lives in terrorist violence over the last decade, with some of the most high-profile targets being liberal Pakistanis like Benazir Bhutto and Salman Tatypical day in Raia, village and in south seer, who had challenged theaTaliban othGoa, usually moves with the laner religious conservatives. guidtalks sultriness of aneed saxophone soHere Nasir about the to redefine lo... farof from Instagram pictures the boundaries civilthe activism in Pakistan. of the Goa of the beaches and beers, Baga pubs Excerpts from interview: and monstrous mechanised crabs on a Republic Dayan float. Being anti-Taliban activist in Pakistan must early, thanks to some beMornings one of thehere moststart dangerous jobs in the very persuasive birds, you andtoafter world. What prompted takeyou’ve it up? convinced it’s a whistling Where yourself we are right now as aMalabar nation, thrush at war teasing out ofthat bed lives at 6am, it’s not easyour to with anyou enemy deep inside spot your ‘alarm’ in the foliage. The home, younatural don’t opt for jobs depending on hide-and-seek till take you up arethewide how dangerouscontinues they are. You job awake and have probably upon a realising how necessary it is.stumbled At this point, one red-whiskered bulbul, the a starling or highlighta blue flycannot stress enough need for catcher instead. As you stir your coffee, ing a counter-extremism narrative withinand Pathe mist lifts itselfIslam. from the sal and coconut kistan and within trees the has garden, can hear church Ourinfaith beenyou hijacked, ourthe country is bells for the morning mass. beingtill hijacked, because we as a people chose next sound rouse you is the35 poder’s to The sit quietly at the to side for more than years (vendor) squeeze-horn as he perpetuate. makes his way and let Zia-ul-Haq’s policies It’s through lanestoon his bicycle. He not that the the narrow realisation reclaim this lost carries a basket of the pao Peshawar (freshly baked country space hit me after attack. I have bread) piled on high kankons (banglebeen working thiswith narrative for over three shaped bread), chewy poies andtragedy khatre years now, but Isoft guess the Peshawar paos (scissor bread,and a hint at how the doughto is shook the nation added momentum snipped before baking). When you hear anthis cause.

Holy of holies Built in 1565, Our Lady of Snows Church at Raia is the oldest church in Salcette, where the ﬁrst ever Indian Disarming the terrorist Mohammad Jibran Nasir leads a demonstration against the Taliban in Islamabad, in a language dictionary bid to ‘Reclaim Pakistan’ afp/farooq naeem was compiled by the priests sharon fernandes

A village by the river

Has the government provided you or your National and Provincial Assembly back in colleagues security? 2013, and stood for the exact same issues that I Various state institutions got in touch with us am advocating today. My manifesto was titled regarding the threats and mentioned their ‘Co-Existence’ and that concept, for me, is our concerns. Some officials even unilaterally of- solution. Though I believe in the power of polifered security. However, no security was pro- tics, I do not see myself joining any of the exvided, and we didn’t follow up on requests. isting political parties of Pakistan. I expect the same security for me that I expect for the Sikhs in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, for In many ways this battle is for the hearts and the Christians and Ahmadis in Punjab, for the minds of Pakistani youth. Do you think the Hindus in Sindh, for the Shias extremists are winning that other tintinnabulation, you’ll and Zikris in Balochistan andknow it’s the distended mid-section battle now?teeming with the midpoder selling fishof forthe thepopulanustiyachi koddi (fish dle-aged — praying to keepdid their away for any section Never before thesons Pakistani curry). His big ice-box, which and the girlsforward away from tion that is targeted for its reli- has long re- from alcoholyouth step likethe it ‘bad has movement is the placed the baskets woven from palmOur fronds, is boys’. The pews the against rear find whoI gious persuasions. doneatnow thethose Taliban. common man’s packed with the basics — bangdas want to avoid disapproving gazepolitical of relaOur movement is the com- (mackerels), amthenot talking about movement. We are talle muddashiWe (ladyftives, and furtive eyehere. con-I mon(sardines), man’s movement. are parties andmake their members redefining the ish), some the crabsboundaries and prawns. tact with their WhatsApp friends. redefining of am talking about common boundaries of civil The poders have seen and houses In these backbenches, civil activism in Pakistan we young men and women. We the got activism in Pakistan around phones buzz silently, and to hope want tothem do it shift withshape as fewfrom rean overwhelming response the Mornings here start small hutments to multi-storied floats that the priest would delivsources as possible, so it can res#ArrestAbdulAziz Challenge onearly thanks to some bungalows, majestic er a short sermon. older they folk onate with watched the masses in line, where peopleThe proved very persuasive birds villas crumble to to theinstil ground looknot forward notices their read Pakistan. We want the are afraidtoofthe showing and hotels rise on paddy fields. out atsaying the end of name the service, a belief in every child, man and face, their and deThis isin the land that thatthey is still perfect ‘news wrap’and of all thesupimwoman Pakistan too can fight this manding action against Taliban their holding on terrorism. to its past, living war against porter Abdulportant Aziz. events in the village. with it day in day out, even if with a few addiAs thethan sun ambles through weekday sky More that, when I got the direct threat tions of modular water heaters in Raia,the youTaliban can spotand the people young ‘soccer Will you continuekitchens, in the civilsolar society space or from got tomoms’ know and church groups. by oncrowd their moveFacebook into the political space? Raia has a rich with abouttheir it, westraightened had a biggerhair, and zip stronger history dates back to thedue Kadambas and scooties to dropwhich off their kidstestament at schoolsthat in Pakistanthat is facing terrorism to perverse in our protests, is only the Vijayanagara is also one offrom the town and then go to marketthrive for supplies. politics, and the empires. solution Ithas to come the tide is turning. Thethe terrorists on our first regions of the SalcetteWe district be evanninesourselves every day,of their within political quarters. need to a sane and Dressed fear. We to arethe ridding thatevenings fear. We gelised by the Portuguese way back in the too are spent taking their wards for music or comprehensive counter-terrorism policy, are disarming the terrorists. We are not a na1560s. is unsurprising then,politicians that most sitting of this football lessons.apologists With “Godfrey’s dad being whichItcan only come from tion of Taliban and we will not on let verdant hilly village’s cultural timetable re- the world cruiseliner” and uncle making in our Parliament. label us as “Ashberg’s one. volves around church. I have alwaysthe been a political activist and be- money in Saudi” or “Daisy’s husband working sambuddha founder of who For the Sunday mass, grandmothers London”, mitra it’s themustafi womenisofthethe village lieved in the power of the Constitutionbearand in The Political Indian some_buddha ing occupy the frontelections rows andfor lead a bring up the kidst and take care of the elderly. our rosaries Parliament. I contested the

When you step into sleepy, verdant Raia, it’s a bit like entering Goa through a different door

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Leading ladies Roopa Ganguly and Locket Chatterjee inadvertently entered politics because of Mamata Banerjee, today they have joined the BJP in its battle against her

Blaze of saffron Roopa Ganguly (left) and Locket Chatterjee proudly wave the lotus at their initiation into the BJP pti

he past fortnight has not been easy for the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There was little time to lick the wounds of a 67-3 rout in distant Delhi. With a bypoll scheduled in the state’s Krishnaganj assembly seat and Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency on February 13, the party needed to put its best foot (or at least its best face) forward. For that, it literally seemed to have hitched its wagon to a star or two. Earlier last week, Roopa Ganguly was seen campaigning on Bongaon’s roads for the BJP, while fellow actor Locket Chatterjee rode through Krishnaganj in an open jeep, wearing blazing saffron. Colour apart, these familiar personalities helped give the state unit much-needed visibility. Though their party has now lost both bypoll battles to Mamata Banerjee’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), Ganguly claims that her visit to these parts has motivated her. “In Bongaon, at least a hundred people told me that they were beaten and made to stay home. They were denied their basic voting rights. The electorate is scared, but sections of society have begun speaking out. I’m certain that when assembly elections come around in 2016, the BJP will enjoy huge support.” Locket Chatterjee sounds equally optimistic: “It was impossible to think then [in the assembly elections of 2011] that the BJP will make the inroads that it has. Just look at the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections! I’d compare Bengal to a drifter who floats aimlessly on an open sea. I think the BJP is our one real island of opportunity.” Ganguly began her political career when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley handed her a BJP flag on January 7 this year, but Chatterjee’s induction into the party on February 6 wasn’t quite her first initiation. In February 2013, the actor had entered the TMC family after Didi treated her to dosa and coffee in the Writer’s Building canteen. The star of popular Bengali films, such as Bye Bye Bangkok and

Streetlight, was also made a member of the out of work for the past three and a half years,” State Commission for Women. A year later, rues Chatterjee. Often mocked for their lack of Chatterjee seems disillusioned and a touch political acumen, celebrities sometimes carry embittered. “As a member of the women’s with them a heavy burden of expectation. commission, I regularly saw untoward inci- Ganguly and Chatterjee seem to differ on the dents being reported on a near-daily basis. benefits of fame. For Chatterjee, an enterEven when I tried to take a step, I wasn’t al- tained audience often translates into a trustlowed to. Protest was impossible because ing electorate. Ganguly, however, doesn’t there was no one to take one’s protest to. I reg- quite condone the idea of ‘celebrities’ becomistered my dissent when I resigned from the ing politicians. “Just being a celebrity cannot party and the commission.” Mamata Banerjee, be motivation enough. If a politician takes a says Chatterjee, was almost always inaccessi- year to succeed, it would take me four. I would ble. “I tried hard to tell her my grievances, but I need to prove myself more. Only grey matter never got a satisfactory reply.” helps you win the final test.” Political ideology apart, there is much that Known to many in the country for her porbinds Ganguly and Chattertrayal of Draupadi in the 1988 teljee. They are both household evision adaptation of the names in Kolkata. They are Mahabharat, Ganguly demonboth in their 40s (Ganguly is strated a more radical candour in 48; Chatterjee is 41), and it was I’d compare Bengal to a later years. In 2009, she appeared drifter who floats Banerjee who inadvertently on the TV show Sach ka Saamna aimlessly on an open propelled them into politics. and fielded questions about her sea. I think the BJP is “I got into politics because of estranged husband and extraour one real island of her,” says Ganguly, “because of marital affairs. When asked if opportunity, says her whims, her behaviour and such honesty was antithetical to Locket Chatterjee her cheap populism.” She earlier stereotypes of politicians, blames the 34-year-long comthe actor said, “Twenty years ago, munist rule for “the rotten things might have been difficult. state of our education and priToday’s generation is more aware mary healthcare systems,” and they are well past that stage but their follies, she says, hardly compare to of moral prudery.” those of the TMC. “This party has corrupted For these progressive entrants into the BJP, the moral fabric of Bengal. The Saradha chit the question of conservatism can sometimes fund scam is unacceptable.” Chatterjee adds seem more fundamental. How do they, for inthat the Saradha scam has even vitiated the stance, react to BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj’s fourmood in Tollywood, Kolkata’s film industry. children diktat to women? “We live in a mod“Today people can be heard casually saying — ‘I ern world and no one can defend such a hope you haven’t taken any Saradha money’. statement. This kind of orthodoxy cannot be There is fear and a deep mistrust, which is alto- in step with development. Nor can commugether new.” nalism,” insists Chatterjee. The BJP surely benGanguly and Chatterjee agree that ever efits when stars, well-versed with its script since Banerjee came to power in 2011, the Ben- already, deliver the party line so deftly. And gal film industry has witnessed a sharp in- with a batting of the eyelashes. crease in political favouritism. “People not affiliated with the TMC have seen themselves shreevatsa nevatia

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Feral and free Author Helen Macdonald begins to see like the hawk during the course of the book ap/jonathan hayward

ON THE SHELF

What is it to be a hawk? Treat everyone well

Healthy numbers Narayana Health has revolutionised cardiac care in India through economies of scale — the cost per surgery reduces as more surgeries are done, and bulk buying helps procure medicines and equipment at lower prices afp/manjunath kiran

The ways the wild enables and enriches our emotional, linguistic and cognitive mindscape

anita roy

is for Hawk — a Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction and Costa Award-winning book — is a narrative braid made up of three interwoven strands. It is simultaneously a memoir of one woman’s struggle with grief after the death of her father; a riveting account of falconry through her acquiring and training a young, female goshawk; and a book about the tortured life of THmore White, author of The Once n Karnataka, than 70,000 farmers and Future the children’s based on have King, received free heartclassic surgeries over the Arthurian the past legend. decade. As many as five lakh As farmers a child, underwent Helen Macdonald was obsessed other surgeries withwith birds of prey. picture paints is of a out incurring theThe lakhs thatshe these complex bookish girl, passionate treatments normally cost.and introverted, as much in around love with the technical language of In and Hassan and Bijapur, patients hawking, own arcane poetry, asfor with no longer with have its to travel to Maharashtra dithe birds themselves. this love unalysis. Instead, they goShe to acarried centre in Hassan set abated adulthood, and whenon intier 2007, her up by ainto hospital chain focusing II and father the press photographer Alisdair Mactier III—cities. On offer are paediatric, general donald died suddenly of services a heart attack, surgery—and other medical too. her immediate response wasKoramangala to order a goshawk. And in Bengaluru’s area, a Hawks (as I now know) cannot be domestigroup of radiologists are examining the X-ray cated. Theypatient are captured the wild and of a cancer in farawayinCuttack, Odisha. trained: each hawk down are thefinalising generations In another room, doctors the must be trained scratch and, left to its treatment for a from patient in Ranchi. Without own devices, reverts its natural, feral state. stepping out of their to small towns, the patients Reading a book the of subject, young are receiving theonkind cancerthe care that schoolmaster TH times Whitemore was captivated: would cost seven in the US or“The UK. word ‘feral’ has a kindproviders of magical he Indian healthcare arepotency,” innovating explained in length one of and his letters, two to cover the breadth“allied of thetocounother words,sweating ‘ferocious’their and ‘free’.” decides try. From assetsHe(medical to train a goshawk, on assembly the task equipment and otherembarking facilities) to armed only with a are fewapplying ancient and outdated line surgeries, they management books on the subject. The subsequent battle of principles to make healthcare more accessible wills between man and bird is documented in and affordable. hisThe book, named afterfor histhemselves: bird, Gos. From results speak Indiathe is passages by Macdonald, it is a gruelone of theexcerpted most cost-effective destinations for ling read, in which White subdues this wild the treatment of cancer, cardiac ailments and creature or attempts to — with same a host of — other diseases. People fromthe rural arkind of sadistic crueltyweaker that he sections himself had eas and economically can exafperienced a boy in an as English public school. ford theseastreatments health institutions In his introduction to the a contemporary edisubsidise them using full rates they tion, nature writer and activist Stephen Bodio charge the affluent section as well as financial calls it “afrom book about excruciatingly bad falsupport trusts. conry [and] book about its “There arethe twobest industries in thefalconry, world that feel, emotions, ever written.” don’titshave a priceand tagits onflavour their product — am-

From sweating assets to assembly line surgeries, hospitals are applying management principles to make healthcare accessible and affordable

H is for Hawk Helen Macdonald Jonathan Cape Memoir ₹1,300

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White himself agreed — at least with the for- words for happiness, for freedom, for liking, mer assessment: “It is all rubbish. It is just nor were there any words for the opposites. He what a very young, romantic, inefficient austr- felt like a dumb man trying to shout ‘Fire!’” inger might write. The twelve real living falIt’s a similar conundrum to that posed in coners will hate it and despise it in their guts.” philosopher Thomas Nagel’s famous 1974 paAs to the latter, Bodio may now have to con- per ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ How does it feel cur that the ‘best book about falconry’ is Mac- to be an animal? What is it like inside a bird’s donald’s own. Not only is she a brilliant nature head? How do human’s think at all? What is writer, Macdonald’s command of language is this thing called ‘consciousness’? I sort of like ferociously exacting. SeeingThe Mabel, gosh- the“We munition and healthcare. priceher depends idea thatcreated this isaknown, in excellence cognitive scihave centre of (in awk, for the first time,explains she struggles to capture on who is buying,” Dr Devi Prasad ence and philosophical circles as, simply, ‘the Bengaluru) where we have highly-trained onthe feeling of shock awe: of “[the hawk Hard Shetty, the founder andand chairman Narayana Problem’. So much easier think of anicologists and radiologists. We to don’t need exseemed like] a conjuring A reptile. A fall- mals Health (earlier Narayana trick. Hrudayalaya). as being, basically, bit like us’. Which pert physicians in every ‘a place, as that would en angel. A griffon from the pages of an illumi- leads me costs. to wonder whattelemedicine is the opposite of ‘anincrease Through and virnated bestiary. Something bright and distant, thropomorphism’? Remedy in numbers it even possible? tual tuner board, theIsspecialists can discuss relike gold falling through water.” He has revolutionised cardiac surgeries in In- ports Reading descriptions of Maas wellMacdonald’s as the treatment for a patient in chronicles her own spiral—into depresdiaShe through economies of scale the cost per bel, trying to understand her quintessential Hubli or Nasik,” says Dr Ajaikumar. sion withreduces the same raw honessurgery as more surgeries are done. of Vaatsalya‘hawkishness’, Health, on theI was otherreminded hand, marty Nearly she 12 per brings her surgeries in In- ried affordability cent ofto all heart Mark Haddon’s explanation of with quality healthcare by descriptions dia take placeofatthe his emotionalhospital. “By working with confining to Claude phrase, ‘Les smallerLévi-Strauss’s cities with no-frills servicly process of tamingand pharmaceu- es. Founderanimaux us,gruelling they (medical equipment bons à Naik penser’. and CEOsont Dr Ashwin saysHadthe her hawk. As Helenstraightaway accustoms Macdonald’s meaning don ticals companies) argues what the and anthrohigh initialthat investments opis clear — H is for Mabel human society, sheInget 10-12toper cent share of the pologist meant not ‘Animals erational costs was involved had kept herself becomes morethe hawkdian market. Imagine num- Hawk the way A is for are good tofrom think with’areas. but ‘Anihim away urban like, her own ber shunning of people andspecies other Apple: it’s as simple, mals“Vaatsalya, are good tobeing think’:a “Good to start-up, There are two like a hawk resources theybating would from have toitsde- as fundamental, as think with. to think. It’s the lacked theGood financial resources industries that in the perch, by figure terror otherand ploy togripped reach this difference between a spannercould and our bigger counterparts world that don’t have frustration. wise,” says Dr Shetty, who started a hand.” command,” he says. It leased faa price tag on their of her father NHThe as adeath 225-bed hospital inren2001. In titling herIIbook like a child’s cilities in tier and III cities, rathproduct — ders almost literaTodayMacdonald it boasts 7,500 beds in 29 primer, meaning is er thanMacdonald’s owning them, and offers ammunition and lly deranged — as though her hospitals across 17 cities. clear — H isbut for clean Hawk,facilities. the way ANo is Spartan healthcare internal are reordered, wrenched from for Apple: it’scentralised “As weorgans buy more products, we as simple, air-conditioning as fundamental or as their People have anormal higherpositions. bargaining pow- in the street that. A worldflat-panel without hawks is like language TVs maybe, but certainfeel alien entities. She begins er,” like he says. The savings from to see like a without a letter — a terrible impoverishment, ly well-ventilated rooms. hawk — literally, rather thanare metaphorically. that leaves us Dr bulk buying at lower prices unable to express important Naik banks on capacity utilIt’s not on that she hones distant objects, things: passed to patients in in theon form of affordable around our burning isation running to improve profitability. This anthills, he does but that she her surroundings like a unable surgeries and scans medicines. to raise the alarm. Animals and birds — by offering a range of services — paediatrics, wild thing, startled byfounder-chairman sudden noises, alarmed HCG Oncology’s and or, perhaps more accurately, ‘the and wild’general in gengynaecology, general surgery by these lumbering two-legged un- eral CEO Dr BS Ajaikumar relies on creatures, the hub-and— enables enriches our medicine, whichand together tackle 70emotional, per cent of able understand concepts ‘pushchair’, spoketobusiness model — thelike hospital’s four linguistic and cognitive and healthcare needs — to attractmindscape, a larger number ‘baby’ orMumbai, ‘car’. hubs in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and books like Macdonald’s are adiabetes potent reminder of patients. Orthopaedics, manageThe boyhave Wartspecialised in White’s The Once and Chennai doctors andFuture high- in ourand increasingly animal-empty that ment nephrology are offeredworld as add-on King, struggles with similar conundrum, end equipment like acyclotrons and PET-CT without the non-human, we become less than services based on local demand for them. when under wizardhave Merlin, he is trans- human scanners; thethe ‘spokes’ less-specialised ourselves. Dr Shetty too swears by capacity utilisation. formed creatures — first fish, then “If you are willing to work for 12-14 hours a day, doctors,into whoother use two-way audio-video interacroy is a writer andgets director of Youngbetter Zubaanand hawk, ant, goose, badger. an ant, Warttheir dis- anita tion with the hubs to As complement your infrastructure utilised anita@anitaroy.net covers a ‘helpless feeling’ that “there were no consultations. costs will go down,” he says. So NH’s blood

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Radiating out HCG Oncology relies on telemedicine to take affordable and quality cancer-care to smaller cities and towns afp/ sam

panthaky

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Large hearted Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, founder and chairman of Narayana Health afp/manjunath kiran

Line of sight Dr S Aravind, director — projects, Aravind Eye Care

come. We don’t compromise on treatment and give the best to ensure the disease does not come back,” says HCG’s Dr Ajaikumar. NH and HCG have received international accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI) for their standards, training and processes. This prestigious tag, in turn, keeps doctor turnover rates under check. “We have academic institutions that conduct super-speciality training programmes. At any time, we have more than 25 residents in cardiac surgery alone and they are only paid stipends. We have a huge workforce keen to work, and you don’t pay market salary to these passionate workers. So your salary burden goes down and you also build a succession plan,” explains Dr Shetty. Vaatsalya’s strategy to stem attrition is to hire local doctors who cannot afford to start their own practice. “Most doctors have a revenue-share agreement, which fetches them an income comparable to a city practice. We also provide independence to doctors and recruit support staff to assist them,” says Dr Naik. As Dr Shetty says, the healthcare sector is extremely sensitive to numbers. “As you do more operations, tests and examinations, you get better and your results get better.” Indian medical service providers have, by all accounts, uncovered a panacea to expensive and inaccessible healthcare services. rashmi pratap

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dipankar

saturday, february 21,21, 2015 saturday, february 2015

YOUTH PROTEST SUPPRESSION OF HOTTIES! Is Hindi literature back New leaf A reader browses through an exclusive Hindi bookstore in Hyderabad g krishnaswamy

SHOVON CHOWDHURY is chief Truthdigger and author of The Competent Authority

in fashion?

cutout of Deepika Padukone lies she’s done for us!” Another soring everything. All doers of AIB. For this offence, they could trampled on the ground, an in- young man brandishes his this we somehow diges- face up to three years in jail. I am puzzled by nocent victim of the recent lathi- fists and shouts in the directed. But now they have ex- the case of Sonakshi Sinha, who was also charge. I feel a sharp pang of pain tion of the thana, tears ceeded all limits. If laughing, but has not been charged. I lend Deepika and Alia are in my handkerchief to the weeping young as I look at it. I have no time for sentiment. streaming down his face. The young men are re-grouping to charge “Take Ranveer if you want, jail, how will they do man and go into the thana, where the conshooting? If they cannot stables are still struggling with the water again. The police are trying to manoeuvre but leave our Alia alone!” the water cannon, but their bellies are get- He bends down to pick up a stone. do shooting, what will be- cannon. The SHO watches them approvingting in the way. Since there is no water sup- “You seem a little agitated,” I say. “Natcome of us? How many films of So- ly. He seems like a cheerful fellow. “Why did nakshi is it humanly possible to watch?” you not file an FIR against Sonakshi?” I ask. ply, this is unlikely to work, but I don’t have urally, I am agitated,” he says, paus1987, the year after turned 40, the heart to tell them. There is much emo- ingn only to throw his she projectile. It Pame- see more Thisofunfortunate has aris- “That case was different,” says,who “shewas is Penmy work. I situation did not understand suggested this to Navedhe Akbar, la Manasi gotskull her big when Dhara- why — traditional. She laughed much lesseditor tion in the air. A slightly injured young man bounces off the of abreak constable, enhe after Mumbai Police FIRsand more hadthe space for one storyissued per issue guin’s Indian Language Publications myug published her story is weeping bitterly. “Just because she who appears to be unharmed. “Our ‘Jagtu’. it’s not against Bhatt and Deepika covered with her hand. Be-entirelike heactors wouldAlia have published several of andfrom 2006her tillmouth 2009, he agreed, but not Dharmyug the most respect- my stories Padukone for ‘laughing without if you have the guts, why don’t want you go laughed at a comedy show, now the police college suckswas andperhaps our job prospects in successive issues. Then why, if he sides, ly. “More and more Hindi readers to read Hindi weekly the hands time, published by The liked mypermit’ live show tell Shatrughan Sinha that wantbut to part want to arrest her,” he says, shoulders shak- edare poor. If weofhold with a girl, story, didduring he notapublish it?” con- andwhat the English readers areyou reading, India Group, a major ing uncontrollably. “After everything that Times theyofarrest us. The and censor boardplatform is cen- for by theabout notorious evil-but arrest his blame daughter?” No one ducted really talked it openly of the lies in the fact that people don’t Hindi short fiction writers. This was where new writers got no validation from the indus- know how to market books in Hindi.” The you noticed and got noticed. Once this hap- try if they did not join one or the other group. same people who sell English dailies and Dear Offended pened, the world ofPatriot, Hindi literature opened If you didn’t push yourself, you lost out. In books were being asked to sell to the Hindi First, let me congratulate for of selecup for Manasi, who then wrote ayou string crit- that sense, things haven’t changed much in 30 readership. “This could never work — the Hintingacclaimed a topic thatstories, others published have ignored. As Inically in all the years but in the ’70s and ’80s, pushing your di readership is totally different, you have to dia marches towards is big Hindi magazines of theself-reliance, ’80s and ’90s,itsuch own work was still considered have an understanding of the that foreigners making new asshameful Saptahik Hindustan, Sarika,are India Today Hindi, improper. It was only in 1985 market, you need a different inroads into Personally, I Kahaniyan and, strategic of course,areas. Dharmyug. But this that Manasi finally got her first team.” Akbar’s sentiments are fablamehad the not police. journey beenDuring easy. a recent visit to story, Rishton ki Karvat, publishmiliar to many of us who have Rishikesh, I noticed thatI Tibetans have tak“For a number of years, wrote short stories ed with a small local publishing seen favourite magazines and deNo one really talked enjust overkept thethem clothing Germans and withsector, me, until a friendhave con- house, Sarvapriya. partments shut down due to misabout it openly, but cornered bakery and and Russians vinced me tothe send themsector to papers magaIn 2014, though, Pamela Macued marketing and company new writers got no dominate the drug supply chain.found In manfor selfies. All users free nthused by rising not demandvalidation and camera zines for publication.” This, Manasi out, nasi is known as a translator, policies. Butwill it’sreceive not easy to marfrom the agement terms, this isthan known as leveraging 1.2, as soon as“The we identiBilla writer. Gates’ mania for cleanliness, was far more difficult she’d imagined. so much as Somewhere ket Hindi books. Hindi readindustry upgrades if they didto Broom corethe competence. OnlyofMother fy the 1.1.” to paying little,” says With great success Hindi Ganges writingand and along theMicrosoft line, the Corporation magazines hasnotaner is used join one orerrors the in Broom the yoga sector remain Indian hands.in that werenounced “Such blatantManasi, support from USprice compathat it will be setting up magazines, something elseinwas brewing the vehicle and home “you can’t a book at other group Naturally, concerned, inquia state-of-the-art broom manufacturing fa- nies leaves AAP completely said aso you the world ofI was Hindi literaturesoinI made the ’70s and for new Hindi writing started par with anexposed,” English book riesSuccessful as to how this happened. According to the have BJP. “Unlike AAP, we cility in down India.and “The segment has spokesperson for ’80s. writers, some of the biggest shutting thebroom opportudon’t the same marketing Ally Subramaniam was born in the southlocal sources, are simple. Indian seen exponential growth,”fewer. said an official. are blatantly supported names in the Russian industry,methods were divided into nities to publish became budgets.”by The Hindicompareader who west Sundarbans, but was blown away by a They shave leather jack-of Even “We are aware of thebooks, challenge Swachh cliques, and their if youheads, wereput noton part of any Penguin-Yatra the from local nies. Regardingpays ₹50 orBharat less forAbhiyan, pulp fiction — cyclone and washed up on the shore near ets, stand onitawas street cornertoand startinsellwere initially concerned. But now— we manufacturers, but we did not do well. A webought, these groups, difficult break and imprint that began in 2005, read and recycled in a day can perChennai. He was adopted by a poor ing drugs. The police are too scared to say will achieve market have developed a cunning plan. Keepget published. Matters became more difficult loss of readership to television soaps was a big haps pay double for a ‘literary’ book but you Brahmin family from Tirupur. He can anything. are also toowent scared mind wouldprice like of an dominance by prowhen some They of these writers ontotoask be- reason, but one important factor was the can’ting askin him for that ₹350,the thePM average answer all your questions. Just send them them for money, a result of which profitof changing project a modern outlook, the viding greater come editors of theas best literary magazines readercusherself: people from small Englishto book today. to askallysubramaniam@gmail.com margins are verycontrolling high. This results a viSwachhof symbol be apeople tomeracross value. north BroomIndia came to bigger cities the time, thereby whose in writing towns A combination factorswill lednow several ciousfind cycle of Russian ear Ally, vacuum VIPsHindi 1.1 study will come withand a met people who were like Manasi, who would a voice. Severalinfiltration, writers whoattractdid not to or work werecleaner. writingSome original ing more Russians the lost business, How come the Russians have belong variety of messaghave objected,Shesaying to any group, liketo Manasi, out in reading inerror English. These people wanted to fiction, to turn to translations. has recentdepriving others were of opportunity. Regard-in know taken over the drug trade in In- the that it is too heavy, but es, one terabyte of free bargain. “There several rejections what their friends were reading and dis- ly translated The Monogram Murders, the most ing what we can about this, the best opdia, and what can we do? wemystery, have apart clarified storage — and ability to the beginning,” shedo says, with a smile, adding, cussing thisthe English-speaking semi-urban recent Agatha Christie from The tionsometimes would be to start learning Russian.why. population Regards, that their followers function across multiple plat“and I would not understand of north-Indian towns, who grew ABC Murders and Sparkling Cyanide for HarperYours affectionately, Ally. Offended Patriot, Bandra can hold it for them.” this is forms. Broom 1.1 Pro whose will have a built-in I remember this one time, a very famous edi- up reading in Hindi, parents still read Collins’s Hindi division — surprisingly, tor sent my story back, saying he liked it and in Hindi, was more comfortable reading in the first time Christie has been translated into The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll andanewsy. All views arebut personal. Really that I was ‘born storyteller’ he needed topersonal Hindit@shovonc and wanted more translations. When I Hindi.

The rise of online publishing and social media may inadvertently be beneﬁcial for Hindi authors and its readers

ASK ALLY

MICROSOFT TO ENTER BROOM Q SEGMENT!

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THE CRITICAL ISSUE

Ours to choose Are the leaders of the day making the right noises when it comes to diversity and feminism

Unlikely hero Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the RSS, has declared that giving birth is a woman’s personal choice ap/altaf qadri

Urvashi Butalia is an editor, and publisher and director of Zubaan

t took a little over 200 days and a lost election for the Prime Minister to speak out. During this time many incidents had taken place: communal violence, vandalisation of churches, discussions on whether our Preamble should state our secularity, so-called ‘ghar wapsis’ and conversions, love jihad threats, attempted bans on kissing in public, diktats that those found canoodling on Valentine’s Day (presumably, any other day was okay) would be picked up and married off (as if marriage is a punishment posting (which it probably is for many people) and much more. I have to admit that I was a little surprised at this. The Prime Minister is an intelligent man, he’s also a very politically savvy man. Look at the way he sussed out the Indian voter and organised his election campaign. He’s also a man who knows the difference between being a Party man and being a leader and a statesman. But for the longest time, he chose to remain silent. And then, a Johnny-come-lately party, with a leader accused of being anarchic and unrealistic, stumped him by pulling the rug out from beneath his feet, leaving just a toehold — and that too barely. And that’s when he decided to speak. He was not alone in this — indeed he had support from an unlikely person, the leader of the RSS, and on an unlikely subject: the bodies of women. Mohan Bhagwat’s declaration that Indian mothers are not (baby-producing) factories and that giving birth is a personal decision is

an encouraging sign — especially after other sexualities? Will communal violence end? Will Hindu Right leaders, Ashok Singhal and Sakshi places of worship not be vandalised? In that Maharaj among them, have pronounced the case, we might actually put some substance inneed for Hindu women to bear four, ﬁve and to the achche din claim. more children to ensure that the Hindu popSo also with Bhagwatji: if the choice to have ulation of this country is not wiped out. children or not is indeed a vyaktigat (personal) Indeed Sakshi Maharaj even went so far as to decision, then it stands to reason that the outline the roles these four children could choice of abortion is also a similar one. And play: one in the army, one in the company of once you recognise that women can and must saintly men (these would be the two male chil- make vyaktigat decisions, then of course dren then) and two at home there’s a whole gamut that fol(these would be the women, I’m lows: the choice to marry or not, guessing). Bhagwat absolved to have sex or not, to have control himself of the responsibility for over your body, to work or not, to the statements made by his ‘colconsent to sex or not. And the Will we see more leagues’, saying he can’t stop choice to be seen as independent diversity, more anyone from speaking, adding, beings — not bahus, not betis. A women, more Dalits, signiﬁcantly, that people should slogan coined for the governpeople of alternative think carefully before saying ment’s Beti Bachao campaign sexualities? such things. will also need rethinking: They should indeed. I wonder Ho shikshit bahu aur beti / toh how carefully both the Prime bane viksit kul aur kutumb (Let our Minister and the RSS chief have daughters be educated / then the thought about the statements they have now family and clan will be complete.) made: the PM has said that his will be a governFor the longest time we’ve been burdened ment that will give equal respect to all reli- with these roles, and with the responsibility of gions — there’s a tacit acknowledgment here carrying the kul and the kutumb on our backs. that the government has so far not done this Now, with the support of the PM and Bhagwat (the future tense is a dead giveaway). But that (especially the latter, who’s come out so it will do so now. strongly in support of women), we might acDoes this mean we will now see many more tually be on the road to progress. Dare we say, political leaders of faiths other than Hin- Achche Din Zindabad? duism? Will we see more diversity, more wom blink@thehindu.co.in en, more Dalits, people of alternative

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Tap in time Chitresh Das and tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith perform in Chennai in 2013 k ananthan; during a performance in Coimbatore in 2005 k ananthan

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Haberdasher to the world How a British subsidiary became an Indian company and went on to export its products to just about every country in the world

MANJH KHAMAJ

The Calcutta mastaan Kathak legend Pandit Chitresh Das, who passed away recently, brought grace, vigour and a no-nonsense attitude to his performances

ew Hindustani musicians trouble subeditors when they die. My last coarunabha deb lumn was an obituary of sarod player Zarin Sharma, whose death was hardly reported in the media. It would have been naïve to expect otherwise, so I thought it better to write about her than about how our media engages with Hindustani musicians. This time though, there is reason to sound shrill. Pandit Chitresh Das, Kathak legend, passed away on January 4. But if you google his name and hit the ‘news’ tab, you will not find a single report about his death in an Indian publication. I was embarrassed (though I don’t know on whose behalf) when I saw that The New York Times (NYT) had carried a compreofinthe One-stop shop Needle Industries India’s only retail outlet,hensive the Ponyobituary Craft Store, themaster. Nilgiris And NYT had reason to. Das was the bestknown face of Kathak in the West; he was no n ambassador 1949, long before ‘Make in Pandit India’ Rabeless an for Kathak than came was a catchphrase, vi Shankar for the sitar.Needle He firstIndustries, went to thea company from Studley in theatUK, US through a teaching fellowship thechose Unitoof invest and manufacture in India. versity Maryland in 1970. In 1979, after a few Oddly, it did so after Independence, when years at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San the country barelya two years old, and Rafael, where was he created Kathak curriculum, most Englishmen madeChhandam their way back to he started his ownhad school, School OldKathak. Blighty.He set up the Chitresh Das Dance of The company set35up its he plant Company in 1980.decided Over theto next years, in7,000ft above sea level, in near Oostitutionalised Kathak inthe anNilgiris, unprecedented ty. This had nothing to do with the British promanner. Today, his school has several branchclivity to the head cooler climes hill es across USfor andthe Canada with moreofthan stations. Rather, was a decision dictated by 500 students (a itformidable number, given the product wanted gramothat it’s not init India andtoit make: teachesthe only Kathphone ak). Heneedle. also ran two schools in Kolkata and “Gramophone needles areup made of unplatMumbai. Apart from setting the school and ed steel but need good finishthe so integration they can sit the company, he aengineered in the groove a 78performing rpm disc and play music. of Kathak intoofthe arts fabric of For West, that, especially it is important a dry atmothe in theto UShave and Canada. sphere — even a little rust kills the product. In Though I dealt with his teacher-visionary the Nilgiris, humidity is was verybest lowexpressed for nine avatar first, Das’ brilliance months year,” explains Theo Devagnaon stage.of Nothe other word but ‘electric’ comes to nam, managing director Needle Industries mind when I think of hisofperformances. The India Pvt Ltd, the company is known today. musicians on as the side on the dais would start British had a stroke of luck in findtheThe first piecefirm (usually a divine invocation)

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and the audience would stare at the empty shouted out to a photographer. “Please, please stage for a minute or so. And then you could take a good photo,” he said in Bengali, “one of hear the faint sound of anklets from some- these costs $40 in the States.” where backstage and a few seconds later (I As a performer, he combined elements of have to confess I have goose bumps as I write the Lucknow and the Jaipur schools of Kathak. this), like blinding light, he would enter the The mix of the two styles informed his recitals stage dancing, holding a thali of flowers and with grace and vigour in equal measure. His incense, his divine offering at the start of the footwork was unmatched. There were morecital. After the first piece, he would speak to ments — like those in Ustad Zakir Hussain’s the audience, introducing each piece as he music — when it was impossible to comprewent along. His interactions were legendary. hend how such speed and clarity could coexHe was a charmer as well, but there was some- ist. But he was uncomfortable with all the thing loutish about his charm, which made attention that his footwork and virtuosity rehim even more likeable. ceived. Once, he said to an audiHe had a popular piece in ence, “This chap told me that which he conveyed the movefrom here to here (he indicated ments of a train through his the region between his knee and Like all visionaries, ghungroos. Once, just when he ankle), there is nobody like Chihis understanding of was about to start the ‘train’ tresh Das. I said, ‘What about the his art went beyond ing thethere Nilgiris One of its directors JSC Eagan, also piece, was property. an interruption has ad touting the rest of an me?’” He went onbrewery to perhis own classical had athe friend who was tea planter and was as a regimental from audience. I wasa around supplier and brewer. abhinaya“Our Pale form an unforgettable training alerted tothat an estate with an idle 10 or 12 at time, so I don’t re- brewery, the Ale and Stoutbased in bottles can be obtained Radha-Krishna piece. from Rose & Crown. member too well, but a woman Messrs. SpencerLike & Co., Ootacamund, Cooall Ltd. visionaries, his under(quite a renowned dancer hernoor and Madras, or atof the brewery,” notes. standing his art wentitbeyond Brewing history self) made some comments The Rose &hisCrown, along with four other own classical training. His According to the Madras District Gazetteers of collaboration about the train piece being gimmicky and not breweries in the south, came toJason be owned by with tap dancer Samuels 1908, authored by W Francis, & Crown Smith, traditional Kathak. (Such the an Rose interruption United Breweries in the 20th‘Indian century.Jazz Acwhich the duoearly called was established 1895 by one could only occur in Kolkata.) Das lost his cool. Suites’, was ascording to as anentertaining. entry on theHe comenriching alMuni Huchanna. “He solddown it inthat I am sure so danced with The woman got a dressing pany’s website: “United the flamenco dancer Antonio 1900will to never Mr C forget. Akilanda she AndAiyar… then Das refused to Hidalgo Paz on Breweries Limited was founded the show ‘Yatra: Journey from and it is now the property of athe audience India to Spain’. perform the train. Some in on Many Marchpeople 15, 1915,have in Madras, spoken by of limited company holds thetold Needle pleaded with Das, and while others the womLeishman. manufacthe similarity between tap andUBL Kathak, and Industries set Thomas contracts for thought the supply of the an what they of her. Finally, up Dasits not and sold only beer for Kathak (because of bulk the complex plantflamenco on the andtured troopsagreed at Wellington, Trichinoonly to perform the piece premises but also of footwork), troops in Das bothtothe World aWars. It it took imagine seamthe Rose but poly and elsewhere,” adds. demonstrated step byitstep that he fused tradi- brewery was and a classic case ofperformances role reversal less cohesion, design & Crown In itsbols time, the Rose & Crown tional and patterns in suchisa manner that around it. These — India being introduced to this collaborations, if carried forsaid to have slaked the thirst of they cohered to form the rhythmic move- ward by his students, ‘exotic’ brew in turnform becomwilland probably the Boer prisoners thesaying that he most important ments of a train.captured He wouldby keep ing part its major of hisexporter.” global legacy. British during the as Boer War of mastaan; the thought of himself a Calcutta A few decades later, thehim same Personally, though, I will remember by 1899-1902, of whom werewas interned at his ‘don’t messsome with me’ sentiment there for thing would concerts, happen with needles. Calcutta as much for the banter Trichinopoly. all to see that day. as for the brilliance. The 1916 edition of how the Nilgiri Guide After and DiBut he also knew to disarm. a The post-Independence era deb is a lawyer and a music writer rectory,the a “handbook of general show, organisers gave him a information rajnigandha arunabha When India won independence, prohibition, shubhodeb@hotmail.com upon the Das Nilgiris forit visitors andhis residents” by garland. wore around neck and first imposed in parts of the Madras province

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saturday, february 21, 2015

Centre of action An injection moulding unit at Needle Industries India’s plant in the Nilgiris

by C Rajagopalachari after he became its Premier in 1937, was reintroduced. And the Rose & Crown was forced to shut shop. It was in these circumstances that the Needle Industries team found it. “When they came out here in 1948 to view the property, they made an 8mm movie of the premises, in colour. I have that film,” says Devagnanam, 59. Even today, remnants of the plant’s origins keep popping up. “We find bottles of beer dating back to the brewery from time to time,” says Devagnanam, carefully taking out a couple of them from a cabinet. He also has two giant wooden casks on display outside his office. In 1949, the company leased the premises and commenced operations. Soon after, it bought the property. Thus began the saga that would see the needo to you what the dle factoryanina photograph the blue mountains become texture a canvas, the rough lick haberdasher to theof world. of paint, does to an art lover? Can an image — no matter how iridesBecoming Indian cent, how or deep its depth of field — In 1949 andshallow long after, however, Needle Indusdrawwas outstill theathird dimension? tries foreign subsidiary.What In theabout 1960s,a book? Hanging wall, does it hold Newey Brothers,onaa gallery haberdasher, bought a out the of subsidiary. plenty, of tactility between stake inpromise the British crisp, Is it art? pattern What is art? Seenunturned today, thepages? shareholding at the Dayanita Singh’s new project, of time was very interesting: legal ‘Museum documents Chance’, andNeedle answers several such quesshow thatasks in 1963 Industries of Studley tions, even asper thecent bookof— the or, more owned 67.96 Indianaccurately, unit, folbooks with 44 different covers andcent. backcovers lowed by Newey Bros with 32 per TA Deeach — become/s “an object”, exhibit. vagnanam (the current MD’san late father) was familiar with Singh work also theThose managing director andand theher only Indian know of her with love 0.04 of bookmaking. A rare art shareholder, per cent, or six shares. In 1973, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) made it mandatory for foreign firms to Indianise their assets, with at least 60 per cent local equity participation. The company’s Indian shareholding had risen to 40 per cent by 1971, but it was still below the minimum. At the time, say the legal papers, Glasgow-based Coats Patons Ltd, had taken over Needle Industries of Studley and controlled the entire foreign shareholding. With a deadline looming for transfer of ownership to Indian shareholders, a tussle for control ensued between Devagnanam Sr and Coats. “The Articles of Association of this company clearly stated that if an existing shareholder was willing to buy the shares at a fair value, there was no way you could sell to somebody else. Coats was not prepared to accept this,” explains Devagnanam. Coats wanted to disinvest in favour of its nominee in India, he says. “They wanted to retain control of the company. They knew well that once we became independent, we would compete with

their subsidiary in the UK, which was our par- nam. “The product is inferior, but by using the ent (from Studley).” Pony brand in the local market, they’re able to In April-May 1977, the Indian shareholders get double the price of the other brands.” got majority ownership through a rights issue The company’s turnover is modest at ₹124 after a board meeting that the foreign share- crore, but it has been profitable. It has a comholders could not attend — they got to know fortable debt level, with only ₹17 crore outabout it too late. The battle then spilled over standing, which credit rater ICRA has certified into the courts. Eventually, in 1981, the Su- stable. In a February 2014 note, the agency preme Court ruled in favour of the Devagna- reaffirmed its rating commending Needle Innams, but ordered them to compensate the dustries’ healthy accruals, comfortable liquidforeign shareholders. ity, and “steady demand for the company’s And so, a quarter century into the compa- products across economic cycles”. ny’s existence, Devagnanam Sr, who had been Indeed, Devagnanam says that Needle Inmanaging Needle Industries India all along, dustries weathered the global economic ended up owning 60 per cent of the company, downturn without too much difficulty, barwith his family. ring some hiccups when the rupee appreciatToday, the British parent, Needle Industries, ed and commodity prices shot up. “When is no longer in existence. The Indian company there’s a recession, the industry does marginthat she continues champion, despite and ally counters Walter Keller in is a global leader intohaberdashery products. better.with Therepublishers is more repair of garments,” because of the impact of digitisation Zurich Steidl on awho street inforth LonAnd Coats is its biggest client in theonUSvisual and he says.and TheGerhard late George Taylor, put and other media. But elegant as a well-made the dontheory were not byhemlines design either. her continental Europe. that dropAttributing during an ecobook may be, it took the artist years before she nomic successdownturn, entirely to “recognising may well agree. and being could finally push the envelope far enough to open tothe chance” would be naïve course, yet Worldwide demand With global economy stillof shaky, metal put the book firmly andare squarely in focus. it shows a certain courage to alGramophone needles still very much a prices falling (steel is one to ofdisengage, the company’s “When I sawIndustries a picture,India’s it seemed beautiful low the variables in her agency part of Needle business. But main raw materials) andwork the greater rupee holding in itself. But I always missedhas theexpanded story, the inse- steady and admiration an artist Beover the years, the company at 60-plusaslevels, it’sand fairchronicler. to expect the quence. I always felt like the gallery or curator exporter sides, forto someone to manufacturing a wide range of products. do well.known for her portraiture had plucked out aneedles note…”and says accessories Singh, who has Hand-knitting are and documentation of families and upperwith this exhibition andfor book (though hardly ‘staged’), its mainstay, accounting 30- finally found class living rooms E-commerce venture thatper “missing symphony”. Devoid of letters such a spotlight on chance, on the accidents of 35 cent of the turnover. In 2012, the company waded into (ISBN number needles hidden inside), to be even more uncommon. Hand-sewing contrib-the covers in fate, appears the e-commerce waters. There is teals,25blues, burntwhile reds and greys frame black“I don’t even remember taking thisinpicute per cent, surgical a large needle-craft market InIn 1973, FERA made it and-white images of disparate worlds, people, ture,” says Singh, standing next to“But a coversuture needles bring in 15 per dia, says Devagnanam. there mandatory for time and space collected girlcraft on astores, terrace,aswho also feacent of its revenue. Theover restthree decades. print of a young are no in the West. foreign companies to That they don’t offersafety the viewers 1999 ‘I am as I am’. Shotbeat comes from pins, pins, a linear, co- tured in her It is a series difficult market to reach Indianise their assets gent narrative to borrow the Anandmayee Ashram in sewing machine needlesfrom, and cause it consists ofMa individuals,” that they allow them to read Varanasi, knitting and sewing accessories, he says. where her father once their own story, lend the exhibconsidered enrolling among others. In a bid to capture Singh a pieceand of itsIndia theiris its own meaning, her sisters, it’sNeedle a black-and-white biggest market,only acthis market, Industries don’t even serve to underscore the fluidity image by the warmth of counting for 30 per cent of the turnover.I The India set up the Ponycoloured Craft Store portal. Devagremember taking says the of experience, thetoinfluence a winter afternoon. Ongood a contact rest is from export just aboutofevery country nanam response has been and coming togethsheetthe (and even today, disthe individual. world over,A barring a few in Africa this andpicture expects to close financial yearfrom witha ₹75 er, if you tance), girl inand white West Asia.will, of providence and lakh in revenue. Thethe orders theappeared unit valfree will. standing near edge of Production takes place entirely in the Nilgi- ues are small to butbethe company getsthe thousands and no both one rolls ris.Yet “Wenothing make products for our brand, Po- of orders. the roof — static, unmoving. It the and dice as far as labels,” Singh herself, was an an arresting image, an ny, private says Devagnanam. Bhavana Stephen, avid knitter andnot longwho by flipping the books at random, creates unusual one. Yet when Jonathan di“Everything is retail packed, ready for the time customer from Coonoor, is allWatkin, praise for a newshelf.” puzzle, a new ‘Museum of Chance’ each the rector of Birmingham’s Ikonwith Gallery, stumstore products. “I learnt to knit Pony,” she time. serendipity two pho- says. bled upon it, they he said, “What is it about TheWhether companyit’s hasthe just over 1,000 of employees. “Earlier, were not selling a lotthis of tographs of senior bleached whitemanager kurtas hanging picture?” As the prints got bigger and Saravanan, works at one on of their high-end stuff in India because thebigger, quanpegsunits, appearing to each or lines upit became increasingly evident justofhow exthe says a next majority on other, the shopfloor be- tities sought were too small. So, a lot us kniton lines of indigenous clothes at aBadaga dhobi community. ghat sitting ters traordinary was.aThe ‘passive’ long to the used to the getphotograph together, place bulk order cheekare by jowl with the image a naked Lajja and girl in theit.” foreground was off of thethree ground, “They hard-working. But if of there is a festivsplit Now, the mother just cuorGouri, goddessinofthe fertility, this arbitrary riously afloat in the air with her legs ramrod al or athe marriage community, many ders online. disruption standard performance in straight seemingly feat. An “uldon’t show of up,the and we haveistoa rework our proElated—bya its success, impossible the company is now fiitself, a celebration of chance. timate picture ofsell chance”. A picture that isothbeduction schedule,” he says with a grin. nalising plans to its products through Amazon.in. Pushed to the floor an organiser while er yond dimensions, beyond debates on art and The company’s Ponybybrand has become e-commerce sites, such as Whether hemlines rise orin fall, gramocovering a Zakir for a college photography. Now captured 44 the books — on something of anHussain icon inconcert the haberdashery needle in the Nilgiris is clearly in assignment — an incident eventually the front, backmaker and, poignantly, somewhere world. And, inevitably, has that led the Chineseled to phone with the times. to a six-year-long the middle. make counterfeits.photographic “One of our association customers tune with the percussionist — Singh known unfrom Chennai went to China andhas found a manlasrado soity banerjee expected felicity life andsays work. Her en- allan ufacturer using early our in brand,” Devagna-

Celebration of chance

Elegant as a book may be, it took photographer-bookmaker Dayanita Singh three decades to put it ﬁrmly and squarely at the centre

In suspension (above) ‘Museum of Chance’ on display at Max Mueller Bhawan, Mumbai, last month; and (below) ‘I am as I am’ shot at the Anandmayee Ma Ashram in Varanasi dayanita singh

Man in the eye Theo Devagnanam MD, Needle Industries India

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saturday, february 21, 2015

Here comes the… Neta. The Indian wedding and election campaigns in the country are similar rather than different

hen Arvind Kejriwal recently likened the AAP and his newly minted Delhi cabinet to ‘Shivji ki baraat’, his reference to the world of weddings had me smiling. It now makes it much easier for me to convince you, dear reader, that the work I have been doing for the past year — photographing election campaigns across India — isn’t that different or challenging from my regular job as a wedding photographer. When you think about it, Indian weddings and Indian election campaigns hold striking similarities. Take any text on Indian weddings and substitute the words ‘wedding’ for ‘election’ and ‘candidate’ for ‘bride’ or ‘groom’, and the narrative will still hold true. They both reek of machismo and chauvinism. Vulgar displays of wealth are another common denominator. Everyone must look

happy, whether they are feeling it or not. Alcohol ﬂows freely. These are incredibly loud, colourful pageants that spill out on to our streets, maidans, markets and parks. We love them, but we also love to hate them. Through my pictures, I want to make you laugh. I take special delight in mocking the ridiculous demands the Indian electoral process makes both on its netas and the unsuspecting masses. Humour, after all, is the best antidote to disappointment — as the Indian public knows all too well. Having ﬁnished with the Delhi campaign, where I tailed leaders and crowds, I have now packed my bags for Bihar, where more pageantry surely awaits. nitya rao is an independent documentary photographer based in Boston, US. She is currently documenting election campaigns across India

Sea of support A bird’s eyeview of a Narendra Modi rally in Bengaluru in April 2014

Friends in arms Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Supriya Sule on campaign in Bhor taluk, Baramati, Maharashtra

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saturday, february 21, 2015

Man in the mirror A scene from Arun Jaitleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BJP election campaign office in Amritsar, April 2014

The poll point Shashi Tharoor with his supporters on his election campaign in Thiruvananthapuram, March 2014

Swayamvar calling Supporters wait to greet BJP candidate Varun Gandhi in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, May 2014

Blooming popularity BJP supporters greet their leader DP Yadav at the Varanasi airport, April 2014

n her

Smelling victory AAP candidate Gul Panag takes a tea break during her campaign in Chandigarh, April 2014

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Tap in time Chitresh Das and tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith perform in Chennai in 2013 k ananthan; during a performance in Coimbatore in 2005 k ananthan

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Haberdasher to the world How a British subsidiary became an Indian company and went on to export its products to just about every country in the world

MANJH KHAMAJ

The Calcutta mastaan Kathak legend Pandit Chitresh Das, who passed away recently, brought grace, vigour and a no-nonsense attitude to his performances

ew Hindustani musicians trouble subeditors when they die. My last coarunabha deb lumn was an obituary of sarod player Zarin Sharma, whose death was hardly reported in the media. It would have been naïve to expect otherwise, so I thought it better to write about her than about how our media engages with Hindustani musicians. This time though, there is reason to sound shrill. Pandit Chitresh Das, Kathak legend, passed away on January 4. But if you google his name and hit the ‘news’ tab, you will not find a single report about his death in an Indian publication. I was embarrassed (though I don’t know on whose behalf) when I saw that The New York Times (NYT) had carried a compreofinthe One-stop shop Needle Industries India’s only retail outlet,hensive the Ponyobituary Craft Store, themaster. Nilgiris And NYT had reason to. Das was the bestknown face of Kathak in the West; he was no n ambassador 1949, long before ‘Make in Pandit India’ Rabeless an for Kathak than came was a catchphrase, vi Shankar for the sitar.Needle He firstIndustries, went to thea company from Studley in theatUK, US through a teaching fellowship thechose Unitoof invest and manufacture in India. versity Maryland in 1970. In 1979, after a few Oddly, it did so after Independence, when years at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San the country barelyatwo years old, and Rafael, where was he created Kathak curriculum, most Englishmen madeChhandam their way back to he started his ownhad school, School OldKathak. Blighty.He set up the Chitresh Das Dance of The company set35up its he plant Company in 1980.decided Over theto next years, in7,000ft above sea level, in near Oostitutionalised Kathak inthe anNilgiris, unprecedented ty. This had nothing to do with the British promanner. Today, his school has several branchclivity to the head coolerwith climes hill es across USfor andthe Canada moreofthan stations. Rather, was a decision dictated by 500 students (aitformidable number, given the product it India wanted gramothat it’s not in andtoit make: teachesthe only Kathphone ak). Heneedle. also ran two schools in Kolkata and “Gramophone needles areup made of unplatMumbai. Apart from setting the school and ed steel but need good finishthe so they can sit the company, he aengineered integration in the groove a 78performing rpm disc and play music. of Kathak intoofthe arts fabric of For West, that, it is important a dry atmothe especially in theto UShave and Canada. sphere — even a little rusthis kills the product. In Though I dealt with teacher-visionary the Nilgiris, humidity is was verybest lowexpressed for nine avatar first, Das’ brilliance months year,” explains Theo Devagnaon stage.of Nothe other word but ‘electric’ comes to nam, managing director Needle Industries mind when I think of hisofperformances. The India Pvt Ltd, the company is known today. musicians onas the side on the dais would start British had a stroke of luck in findtheThe first piecefirm (usually a divine invocation)

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and the audience would stare at the empty shouted out to a photographer. “Please, please stage for a minute or so. And then you could take a good photo,” he said in Bengali, “one of hear the faint sound of anklets from some- these costs $40 in the States.” where backstage and a few seconds later (I As a performer, he combined elements of have to confess I have goose bumps as I write the Lucknow and the Jaipur schools of Kathak. this), like blinding light, he would enter the The mix of the two styles informed his recitals stage dancing, holding a thali of flowers and with grace and vigour in equal measure. His incense, his divine offering at the start of the footwork was unmatched. There were morecital. After the first piece, he would speak to ments — like those in Ustad Zakir Hussain’s the audience, introducing each piece as he music — when it was impossible to comprewent along. His interactions were legendary. hend how such speed and clarity could coexHe was a charmer as well, but there was some- ist. But he was uncomfortable with all the thing loutish about his charm, which made attention that his footwork and virtuosity rehim even more likeable. ceived. Once, he said to an audiHe had a popular piece in ence, “This chap told me that which he conveyed the movefrom here to here (he indicated ments of a train through his the region between his knee and Like all visionaries, ghungroos. Once, just when he ankle), there is nobody like Chihis understanding of was about to start the ‘train’ tresh Das. I said, ‘What about the his art went beyond ing thethere Nilgiris One of its directors JSC Eagan, also piece, was property. an interruption has ad touting the rest ofan me?’” He went onbrewery to perhis own classical had athe friend who was tea planter and was as a regimental from audience. I wasa around supplier and brewer. abhinaya“Our Pale form an unforgettable training alerted tothat an estate with an idle 10 or 12 at time, so I don’t re- brewery, the Ale and Stoutbased in bottles can be obtained Radha-Krishna piece. from Rose & Crown. member too well, but a woman Messrs. SpencerLike & Co., Ootacamund, Cooall Ltd. visionaries, his under(quite a renowned dancer hernoor and Madras, or atof thehis brewery,” notes. standing art wentitbeyond Brewing history self) made some comments The Rose &hisCrown, along with four other own classical training. His According to the Madras District Gazetteers of collaboration about the train piece being gimmicky and not breweries in the south, came toJason be owned by with tap dancer Samuels 1908, authored by W Francis, & Crown Smith, traditional Kathak. (Such the an Rose interruption United Breweries in the 20th‘Indian century.Jazz Acwhich the duoearly called was established 1895 by one could only occur in in Kolkata.) Das lost his cool. Suites’, was ascording to as anentertaining. entry on the He comenriching alMuni Huchanna. “He solddown it inthat I am sure so danced with The woman got a dressing pany’s website: “United the flamenco dancer Antonio 1900will to never Mr C forget. Akilanda she AndAiyar… then Das refused to Hidalgo Paz on Breweries Limited was founded the show ‘Yatra: Journey from and it is now the property perform the train. Some of in athe audience India to Spain’. on Many Marchpeople 15, 1915,have in Madras, spoken by of limited company holds thetold Needle pleaded with Das, and while others the womLeishman. manufacthe similarity between tap andUBL Kathak, and Industries set Thomas contracts for thought the supply of the an what they of her. Finally, up Dasitsnot and sold only beer for Kathak (because ofbulk the complex plantflamenco on the andtured troopsagreed at Wellington, Trichinoonly to perform the piecepremises but also of the troops in Das bothtothe World aWars. It footwork), it took imagine seamRose but poly and elsewhere,” adds. demonstrated step byitstep that he fused tradi- brewery was and a classic case ofperformances role reversal less cohesion, design & Crown In itsbols time, the Rose & Crown tional and patterns in suchisa manner that around it. These — India being introduced to this collaborations, if carried forsaid to have slaked the thirst of they cohered to form the rhythmic move- ward by his students, ‘exotic’ brew in turnform becomwilland probably the Boer prisoners thesaying that he most important ments of a train.captured He wouldby keep ing part its major of hisexporter.” global legacy. British during the as Boer War of mastaan; the thought of himself a Calcutta A few decades later, thehim same Personally, though, I will remember by 1899-1902, of whom werewas interned at his ‘don’t messsome with me’ sentiment there for thing would concerts, happen with needles. Calcutta as much for the banter Trichinopoly. all to see that day. as for the brilliance. The edition of how the Nilgiri Guide After and Di-a The post-Independence era But 1916 he also knew to disarm. deb is a lawyer and a music writer rectory,the a “handbook of general show, organisers gave him a information rajnigandha arunabha When India won independence, prohibition, shubhodeb@hotmail.com upon the Nilgiris for it visitors andhis residents” by garland. Das wore around neck and first imposed in parts of the Madras province

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saturday, february 21, 2015

Centre of action An injection moulding unit at Needle Industries India’s plant in the Nilgiris

by C Rajagopalachari after he became its Premier in 1937, was reintroduced. And the Rose & Crown was forced to shut shop. It was in these circumstances that the Needle Industries team found it. “When they came out here in 1948 to view the property, they made an 8mm movie of the premises, in colour. I have that film,” says Devagnanam, 59. Even today, remnants of the plant’s origins keep popping up. “We find bottles of beer dating back to the brewery from time to time,” says Devagnanam, carefully taking out a couple of them from a cabinet. He also has two giant wooden casks on display outside his office. In 1949, the company leased the premises and commenced operations. Soon after, it bought the property. Thus began the saga that would see the needo to you what the dle factoryanina photograph the blue mountains become texture a canvas, the rough lick haberdasher to theofworld. of paint, does to an art lover? Can an image — no matter how iridesBecoming Indian cent, how or deep its depth of field — In 1949 andshallow long after, however, Needle Indusdrawwas outstill theathird dimension? about tries foreign subsidiary.What In the 1960s,a book? Hanging onaa gallery wall, does it holda Newey Brothers, haberdasher, bought out the of plenty, of tactility between stake inpromise the British subsidiary. crisp, Is it art? What is art? Seenunturned today, thepages? shareholding pattern at the Dayanita Singh’s new project, of time was very interesting: legal ‘Museum documents Chance’, andNeedle answers several such quesshow thatasks in 1963 Industries of Studley tions, even asper the cent bookof— the or, more accurately, owned 67.96 Indian unit, folbooks with 44 different covers andcent. backcovers lowed by Newey Bros with 32 per TA Deeach — become/s “an object”, exhibit. vagnanam (the current MD’san late father) was familiardirector with Singh work also theThose managing andand theher only Indian know of her with love 0.04 of bookmaking. A rare art shareholder, per cent, or six shares. In 1973, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) made it mandatory for foreign firms to Indianise their assets, with at least 60 per cent local equity participation. The company’s Indian shareholding had risen to 40 per cent by 1971, but it was still below the minimum. At the time, say the legal papers, Glasgow-based Coats Patons Ltd, had taken over Needle Industries of Studley and controlled the entire foreign shareholding. With a deadline looming for transfer of ownership to Indian shareholders, a tussle for control ensued between Devagnanam Sr and Coats. “The Articles of Association of this company clearly stated that if an existing shareholder was willing to buy the shares at a fair value, there was no way you could sell to somebody else. Coats was not prepared to accept this,” explains Devagnanam. Coats wanted to disinvest in favour of its nominee in India, he says. “They wanted to retain control of the company. They knew well that once we became independent, we would compete with

their subsidiary in the UK, which was our par- nam. “The product is inferior, but by using the ent (from Studley).” Pony brand in the local market, they’re able to In April-May 1977, the Indian shareholders get double the price of the other brands.” got majority ownership through a rights issue The company’s turnover is modest at ₹124 after a board meeting that the foreign share- crore, but it has been profitable. It has a comholders could not attend — they got to know fortable debt level, with only ₹17 crore outabout it too late. The battle then spilled over standing, which credit rater ICRA has certified into the courts. Eventually, in 1981, the Su- stable. In a February 2014 note, the agency preme Court ruled in favour of the Devagna- reaffirmed its rating commending Needle Innams, but ordered them to compensate the dustries’ healthy accruals, comfortable liquidforeign shareholders. ity, and “steady demand for the company’s And so, a quarter century into the compa- products across economic cycles”. ny’s existence, Devagnanam Sr, who had been Indeed, Devagnanam says that Needle Inmanaging Needle Industries India all along, dustries weathered the global economic ended up owning 60 per cent of the company, downturn without too much difficulty, barwith his family. ring some hiccups when the rupee appreciatToday, the British parent, Needle Industries, ed and commodity prices shot up. “When is no longer in existence. The Indian company there’s a recession, the industry does marginthat she continues champion, despite and ally counters Walter Keller in is a global leader intohaberdashery products. better.with Therepublishers is more repair of garments,” because of the impact of digitisation visual Zurich Steidl on awho street inforth LonAnd Coats is its biggest client in theonUS and he says.and TheGerhard late George Taylor, put and other media. But elegant as a well-made the dontheory were not byhemlines design either. her continental Europe. that dropAttributing during an ecobook may be, it took the artist years before she nomic successdownturn, entirely to “recognising may well agree. and being could finally push the envelope far enough to open to the chance” would be naïve course, yet Worldwide demand With global economy stillof shaky, metal put the book firmly andare squarely in focus. it shows a certain courage to alGramophone needles still very much a prices falling (steel is oneto ofdisengage, the company’s “When I sawIndustries a picture, India’s it seemed beautiful low the variables in her agency part of Needle business. But main raw materials) andwork the greater rupee holding in itself. But I always missedhas the expanded story, the inse- steady and admiration an artist Beover the years, the company at 60-plusaslevels, it’sand fairchronicler. to expect the quence. I always felt like the gallery or curator exporter sides, forto someone to manufacturing a wide range of products. do well.known for her portraiture had plucked out aneedles note…” and says accessories Singh, who has Hand-knitting are and documentation of families and upperwith this exhibition and for book (though hardly ‘staged’), its mainstay, accounting 30- finally found class living rooms E-commerce venture thatper “missing symphony”. Devoid of letters such a spotlight on chance, on the accidents of 35 cent of the turnover. In 2012, the company waded into (ISBN number needles hidden inside), to be even more uncommon. Hand-sewing contrib-the covers in fate, appears the e-commerce waters. There is teals,25blues, burntwhile reds and greys frame black“I don’t even remember taking thisinpicute per cent, surgical a large needle-craft market InIn 1973, FERA made it and-white images of disparate worlds, people, ture,” says Singh, standing next to“But a coversuture needles bring in 15 per dia, says Devagnanam. there mandatory for time and space collected on astores, terrace,aswho also feacent of its revenue. Theover restthree decades. print of a young are girl no craft in the West. foreign companies to That they don’t offersafety the viewers ‘I am as I am’. Shotbeat comes from pins, pins, a linear, co- tured in her 1999 It is a series difficult market to reach Indianise their assets gent narrative to borrow the Anandmayee Ashram in sewing machine needlesfrom, and cause it consists ofMaindividuals,” that theyand allow them to read Varanasi, knitting sewing accessories, he says. where her father once their own story, lend the exhibconsidered enrolling among others. In a bid to capture Singh a pieceand of itsIndia theiris its own meaning, only her sisters, it’sNeedle a black-and-white biggest market, acthis market, Industries serve to underscore the fluidity image coloured by the warmth of counting for 30 per cent of the turnover.I don’t The even India set up the Pony Craft Store portal. Devagremember taking says the of experience, thetoinfluence ofevery country nanam a winter afternoon. On good a contact rest is from export just about response has been and coming togethsheetthe (and even today, disthe individual. world over,A barring a few in Africa this andpicture expects to close financial yearfrom witha ₹75 er, if you tance), girl inand white West Asia.will, of providence and lakh in revenue. Thethe orders theappeared unit valfree will. standing near edge of Production takes place entirely in the Nilgi- ues are smallto butbethe company getsthe thousands nothing and no one ris.Yet “We make products bothrolls for our brand, Po- of orders. the roof — static, unmoving. It the dice far as labels,” Singh herself, was an an arresting image, not an ny, and as private says Devagnanam. Bhavana Stephen, avid knitter and longwho by flipping the books at random, creates unusual one. Yet when Jonathan di“Everything is retail packed, ready for the time customer from Coonoor, is allWatkin, praise for a newshelf.” puzzle, a new ‘Museum of Chance’ each the rector of Birmingham’s Ikonwith Gallery, stumstore products. “I learnt to knit Pony,” she time. serendipity two pho- says. bled upon it, he “What is it about TheWhether companyit’s hasthe just over 1,000 of employees. “Earlier, theysaid, were not selling a lotthis of tographs of senior bleached whitemanager kurtas hanging picture?” As the prints got bigger and Saravanan, works at one on of their high-end stuff in India because thebigger, quanpegsunits, appearing to each or lines upit became increasingly evident justofhow exthe says anext majority on other, the shopfloor be- tities sought were too small. So, a lot us kniton lines of clothes at aBadaga dhobi ghat sitting ters traordinary was.aThe ‘passive’ long to the indigenous community. used tothe getphotograph together, place bulk order cheek are by jowl with the image a naked Lajja and girl in theit.” foreground was off of thethree ground, “They hard-working. But if of there is a festivsplit Now, the mother just cuorGouri, goddessinofthe fertility, this arbitrary riously afloat in the air with her legs ramrod al or athe marriage community, many ders online. disruption standard performance in straight seemingly feat. An “uldon’t show of up,the and we haveistoa rework our proElated—bya its success, impossible the company is now fiitself, a celebration of chance. timate picture ofsell chance”. A picture that isothbeduction schedule,” he says with a grin. nalising plans to its products through Amazon.in. Pushed to the floor an organiser while er yond dimensions, beyond debates on art and The company’s Ponybybrand has become e-commerce sites, such as Whether hemlines rise orinfall, gramocovering a Zakir for a college photography. Now captured 44 the books — on something of anHussain icon inconcert the haberdashery needle in the Nilgiris is clearly in assignment — an incident eventually the front, backmaker and, poignantly, somewhere world. And, inevitably, hasthat led the Chineseled to phone with the times. to a six-year-long the middle. make counterfeits.photographic “One of our association customers tune with the percussionist — Singh has known unfrom Chennai went to China and found a manlasrado soity banerjee expected felicity life andsays work. Her en- allan ufacturer using early our in brand,” Devagna-

Celebration of chance

Elegant as a book may be, it took photographer-bookmaker Dayanita Singh three decades to put it ﬁrmly and squarely at the centre

In suspension (above) ‘Museum of Chance’ on display at Max Mueller Bhawan, Mumbai, last month; and (below) ‘I am as I am’ shot at the Anandmayee Ma Ashram in Varanasi dayanita singh

Man in the eye Theo Devagnanam MD, Needle Industries India

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YOUTH PROTEST SUPPRESSION OF HOTTIES! Is Hindi literature back New leaf A reader browses through an exclusive Hindi bookstore in Hyderabad g krishnaswamy

SHOVON CHOWDHURY is chief Truthdigger and author of The Competent Authority

in fashion?

cutout of Deepika Padukone lies she’s done for us!” Another soring everything. All doers of AIB. For this offence, they could trampled on the ground, an in- young man brandishes his this we somehow diges- face up to three years in jail. I am puzzled by nocent victim of the recent lathi- fists and shouts in the directed. But now they have ex- the case of Sonakshi Sinha, who was also charge. I feel a sharp pang of pain tion of the thana, tears ceeded all limits. If laughing, but has not been charged. I lend Deepika and Alia are in my handkerchief to the weeping young as I look at it. I have no time for sentiment. streaming down his face. The young men are re-grouping to charge “Take Ranveer if you want, jail, how will they do man and go into the thana, where the conshooting? If they cannot stables are still struggling with the water again. The police are trying to manoeuvre but leave our Alia alone!” the water cannon, but their bellies are get- He bends down to pick up a stone. do shooting, what will be- cannon. The SHO watches them approvingting in the way. Since there is no water sup- “You seem a little agitated,” I say. “Natcome of us? How many films of So- ly. He seems like a cheerful fellow. “Why did nakshi is it humanly possible to watch?” you not file an FIR against Sonakshi?” I ask. ply, this is unlikely to work, but I don’t have urally, I am agitated,” he says, paus1987, the year after turned 40, the heart to tell them. There is much emo- ingn only to throw his she projectile. It Pame- see more Thisofunfortunate has aris- “That case was different,” says,who “shewas is Penmy work. I situation did not understand suggested this to Navedhe Akbar, la Manasi gotskull her big when Dhara- why —enheafter traditional. She laughed much lesseditor tion in the air. A slightly injured young man bounces off the of abreak constable, Mumbai FIRsand more hadthe space for onePolice storyissued per issue guin’s Indian Language Publications myug published her story is weeping bitterly. “Just because she who appears to be unharmed. “Our ‘Jagtu’. it’s not against Bhatt and Deepika covered with her hand. Be-entirelike heactors wouldAlia have published several of andfrom 2006her till mouth 2009, he agreed, but not Dharmyug most respect- my stories Padukone for ‘laughing without if you and havemore the guts, why don’t want you go laughed at a comedy show, now the police college suckswas andperhaps our job the prospects in successive issues. Then why, if he sides, ly. “More Hindi readers to read Hindi weekly the time, by The liked my permit’ live show tell Shatrughan Sinha that wantbut to part want to arrest her,” he says, shoulders shak- edare poor. If weofhold handspublished with a girl, story, didduring he not apublish it?” con- andwhat the English readers areyou reading, India Group, a major platform ing uncontrollably. “After everything that Times theyofarrest us. Theand censor board is cen- for by the notorious evil-but arrest his blame daughter?” No one ducted really talked about it openly of the lies in the fact that people don’t Hindi short fiction writers. This was where new writers got no validation from the indus- know how to market books in Hindi.” The you noticed and got noticed. Once this hap- try if they did not join one or the other group. same people who sell English dailies and Dear Offended pened, the world ofPatriot, Hindi literature opened If you didn’t push yourself, you lost out. In books were being asked to sell to the Hindi First, let me congratulate for of selecup for Manasi, who then wrote ayou string crit- that sense, things haven’t changed much in 30 readership. “This could never work — the Hintingacclaimed a topic thatstories, others published have ignored. As Inically in all the years but in the ’70s and ’80s, pushing your di readership is totally different, you have to marches towards is bigdia Hindi magazines of theself-reliance, ’80s and ’90s,itsuch own work was still considered have an understanding of the that foreigners making new asshameful Saptahik Hindustan, Sarika,are India Today Hindi, improper. It was only in 1985 market, you need a different inroads into strategic Personally, I Kahaniyan and, of course,areas. Dharmyug. But this that Manasi finally got her first team.” Akbar’s sentiments are fablamehad thenot police. journey beenDuring easy. a recent visit to story, Rishton ki Karvat, publishmiliar to many of us who have Rishikesh, I noticed thatI Tibetans have tak“For a number of years, wrote short stories ed with a small local publishing seen favourite magazines and deNo one really talked enjust over thethem clothing Germans and kept withsector, me, until a friendhave con- house, Sarvapriya. partments shut down due to misabout it openly, but cornered bakery andand Russians vinced me tothe send themsector to papers magaIn 2014, though, Pamela Macued marketing and company new writers got no dominate the drug supply chain.found In manfor selfies. All users free nthused by rising not demand and camera zines for publication.” This, Manasi out, nasi is known as a translator, policies. Butwill it’sreceive not easy to marvalidation from the agement terms, this isthan known as leveraging 1.2, as soon as“The we identiBill Gates’ Somewhere mania for cleanliness, was far more difficult she’d imagined. so much as a writer. ket Hindi books. Hindi readindustry upgrades if they didto Broom corethe competence. OnlyofMother fy the 1.1.” to paying little,” says With great success Hindi Ganges writingand and along theMicrosoft line, the Corporation magazines hasnotaner is used join one orerrors the in Broom the yoga sector remain Indian hands. “Such blatantManasi, support from USprice compathat it will be setting up magazines, something elseinwas brewing in that werenounced the vehicle and home “you can’t a book at other group Naturally, concerned, inquia state-of-the-art broom manufacturing fa- nies leaves AAP completely said aso you the world ofI was Hindi literaturesoinI made the ’70s and for new Hindi writing started par with anexposed,” English book riesSuccessful as to how this happened. According to thehave BJP. “Unlike AAP, we cility in down India.and “The segment has spokesperson for ’80s. writers, some of the biggest shutting thebroom opportudon’t the same marketing Ally Subramaniam was born in the southlocal sources, are simple. Indian seen exponential growth,”fewer. said an official. are blatantly supported names in the Russian industry,methods were divided into nities to publish became budgets.”by The Hindicompareader who west Sundarbans, but was blown away by a cliques, They shave leather jack-of Even “We are aware of thebooks, challenge Swachh and their if youheads, wereput noton part of any Penguin-Yatra the from local nies. Regardingpays ₹50 orBharat less forAbhiyan, pulp fiction — cyclone and washed up on the shore near ets, groups, stand onitawas street cornertoand start were initially concerned. But now— we manufacturers, but we did not do well. A webought, these difficult break inselland imprint that began in 2005, read and recycled in a day can perChennai. He was adopted by a poor ing drugs. The police are too scared to say will achieve market have developed a cunning plan. Keepget published. Matters became more difficult loss of readership to television soaps was a big haps pay double for a ‘literary’ book but you Brahmin family from Tirupur. He can anything. are writers also toowent scared mind that the wouldprice like of an dominance by prowhen some They of these ontotoask be- reason, but one important factor was the can’ting askin him for ₹350, thePM average answer all your questions. Just send them them for money, a result of which profit project a modern outlook, the viding greater come editors of theas best literary magazines of changing readercusherself: people from small Englishto book today. to askallysubramaniam@gmail.com margins are verycontrolling high. This results a viSwachhofsymbol be people a tomeracross value. north BroomIndia came to bigger cities the time, thereby whose in writing towns A combination factorswill led now several ciousfind cycle of Russian ear Ally, vacuum VIPsHindi 1.1 study will come withand a met people who were like Manasi, who would a voice. Severalinfiltration, writers whoattractdid not to or work werecleaner. writingSome original ing more Russians the lost business, How come the Russians have belong variety of messaghave objected,Shesaying to any group, liketo Manasi, out in reading inerror English. These people wanted to fiction, to turn to translations. has recentdepriving others were of opportunity. Regardtaken over the drug trade in In- the that it is too heavy, but es, one terabyte of free bargain. “There several rejections in know what their friends were reading and dis- ly translated The Monogram Murders, the most ing what we can about this, the best opdia, and what can we do? wemystery, have apart clarified storage —and ability to the beginning,” shedo says, with a smile, adding, cussing thisthe English-speaking semi-urban recent Agatha Christie from The tionsometimes would be to start learning Russian.why. population Regards, that their followers function across multiple plat“and I would not understand of north-Indian towns, who grew ABC Murders and Sparkling Cyanide for HarperYours affectionately, Ally. Offended Patriot, Bandra can hold it for them.” this is forms. Broom 1.1 Prowhose will have a built-in I remember this one time, a very famous edi- up reading in Hindi, parents still read Collins’s Hindi division — surprisingly, tor sent my story back, saying he liked it and in Hindi, was more comfortable reading in the first time Christie has been translated into The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll andanewsy. All views arebut personal. Really that I was ‘born storyteller’ he needed topersonal Hindit@shovonc and wanted more translations. When I Hindi.

The rise of online publishing and social media may inadvertently be beneﬁcial for Hindi authors and its readers

ASK ALLY

MICROSOFT TO ENTER BROOM Q SEGMENT!

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Enter Social Media Anu Singh Choudhary is not yet 40 and she created ISSUE a mini sensation by selling over THEhas CRITICAL 1,500 copies of her book Neela Scarf even before the launch. No editors nor their cliques can keep writers down in the digital era. Choudhary used online media to publicise her work, leading to hundreds of copies of her short story collection, which came out in August 2014, being pre-booked on Flipkart. Strikingly, Choudhary and Manasi’s career graphs are almost inversed. Seven years ago, having twins meant Choudhary had to cut back on work and could only do occasional translations from home. “When I started translating, a friend told me that I was training myself to write,” she says, “I didn’t understand it at first but a few translations down the line, the language came back to me. I used to read in Hindi at my home in Ranchi but I had forgotten it. Working with the language again was a tipping point for my writing.” Encouraged by the friend, she began to think that if she could translate so many words, surely she could write a few original. Translation is a doubleedged sword — in catering to the semi-urban reader’s need for reading English fiction translated into a language she is comfortable in, it can remove her need to read original fiction in that language. This way, you lose more and more readers of original writing in Hindi. Choudhary wants to fight against that. “There is almost a new movement,” she says, “there are several people like me, of my age, who want to bring back Hindi literature.” She talks about ‘Facebook writers’ but not in a derogatory way — for Hindi literature, social media has worked wonders. For a language for which people find few publishers, platforms such as Facebook and blogs have become the way to reach a new readership. “Some of the writers who share original fiction in a post or a blog have a huge following,” Choudhary explains, “I thought if I sell 200 books, I’d be happy that I made 200 people read original Hindi fiction, buthero I wasMohan shocked to see theofresponse — declared it’s all that giving birth is a woman’s personal choice ap/altaf qadri Unlikely Bhagwat, chief the RSS, has word of mouth.” At ₹100 a book, Neela Scarf would not have a marketing budget in the

Ours to choose

Are the leaders of the day making the right noises when it comes to diversity and feminism

Urvashi Butalia is an editor, and pubDifferent markets Pamela Manasi believes Hindi and English books can’t be priced the same, as Hindi lisher and director of Zubaan books have smaller marketing budgets

A renaissance Anu Singh Choudhary says, “There are several people like me, of my age, who want to bring

back Hindi literature an encouraging sign — ”especially after other sexualities? Will communal violence end? Will Hindu Right leaders, Ashok Singhal and Sakshi places of worship not be vandalised? In that Maharaj among them, have pronounced the case, we might actually put some substance inPamela Manasi was writing, needworld for Hindu women to bear four, fivebut andsocial I amdin serious; to the“No, achche claim.we need a sensation who can hasto changed dynamics moremedia children ensure the thatcost the and Hindu pop- of Somake reading in Hindi popular also with Bhagwatji: if the choice again.” to have One marketing forever.is not wiped out. ulation of this country might evenisimagine same (personal) Chetan Bhagat children or not indeed athe vyaktigat And it hasMaharaj changedeven the went reader. new Indeed Sakshi soThe far as to Hinwriting in Hindi. I amto about to suggest this to decision, then it stands reason that the di reader is someone who reads incould both Enoutline the roles these four children her, don’t,is also because I shudder at the choice of but abortion a similar one. And and shecompany cares (or of thinks play:glish one in theHindi, army,because one in the Perhaps the truth lies oncethought. you recognise that women cansomewhere and must beit’smen cool(these to care) about language, and her saintly would be the two male chilAkbar’s pragmatic views Choudmaketween vyaktigat decisions, then of and course wanttwo my children drenroots. then)“I and at hometo read in Hindi,” hary’s extreme — perhaps ‘wave’ there’soptimism a whole gamut thatthe folsays Choudhary, “I want I’m to keep (these would be the women, more liketoa marry ripple or created lows:isthe choice not, by the language alive.absolved I think there guessing). Bhagwat writers her, which might to have sex orlike not, to have control is a of new of writersfor whose himself thebreed responsibility a lasting impact. over cause your body, to work or not, to mission is made to notbylet the statements hisHindi ‘col- die Will we see more Just finished writing consent to before sex or Inot. And the out.” saying The newhe writing Hindi is diversity, leagues’, can’tinstop this a 20-something lit-lovtopiece, be seen as independent All wemore need is a choice set from in ourspeaking, world, soadding, the Englishwomen, anyone ing friend, who reviews (English) beings — not bahus, not betis. A moreBhagat Dalits, to Chetan reader can identify it morepeople significantly, that peoplewith should books for afordaily, slogan coined the updated govern- her of reading alternative make in Hindi the Hindi thinkand carefully beforereader sayingfinds Facebook status asking people to Beti Bachao campaign sexualities? popular again ment’s current, something such something things. recommend something to read. will also need rethinking: more cosmopolitan to engage They should indeed. I wonder first comment, I kid/ you HoThe shikshit bahu aur beti toh not, “Newboth Hindi English how with. carefully theand Prime you read (Let in our Hindi?” banewas viksit“Do kul aur kutumb writing India behave clubbed Minister andin the RSS can chief When be I educated jumped in to enquire daughters / then the together new young Indian writing thought aboutasthe statements they have now— I’m which bookwill this had in mind, he refamily and clan beperson complete.) but itbeen needs a good grasp not is great yet, but I’m say- Forplied: made: thesaying PM hasitsaid thatwriting, his will be a govern“Raag Darbari, the longest time we’ve burdened Hindi. with it myself, it’swill a wave hopefully it won’t menting that giveand equal respect to all die reli-out”.with on these roles,I’m andstruggling with the responsibility of but whatthe a kul book!” My kutumb Bengalion friend who had a translator from English tohere Hindi, is gions —Akbar, there’s a tacit acknowledgment carrying and the our backs. for support the recommendation not beneless government hopeful of ahas revival anytime soon. that the so far not done this“This Now,asked with the of the PM andmay Bhagwat thislatter, but several the so thread new trend tois read in Hindi is not deeper than(especially a fit fromthe (the future tense a dead giveaway). But that who’sothers comeonout wereinintrigued enough to look it up. acMaybe reverse snobbery,” he says, “but it’s it willkind do soofnow. strongly support of women), we might what Choudhary says afgood it works”. Does thisif mean we will now see many more tuallythere’s be on something the road toin progress. Dare we say, ter Din all. Zindabad? Maybe reading in Hindi is becoming With the vow writeother more and political leaders of to faiths thanmore Hin-origiAchche nalWill Hindi however, Choudhary is con- cool again. Who knows, maybe we’ll even get duism? wefiction, see more diversity, more wom Bhagat. blink@thehindu.co.in and, to my shock, away without a Chetan en, vinced more otherwise Dalits, people of apparent alternative says, “All we need is a Chetan Bhagat.” Another one? I ask with apparent horror. kalyani prasher is a Delhi-based freelance writer

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Feral and free Author Helen Macdonald begins to see like the hawk during the course of the book ap/jonathan hayward

ON THE SHELF

What is it to be a hawk? Treat everyone well

The ways the wild enables and enriches our emotional, linguistic and cognitive mindscape

anita roy

is for Hawk — a Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction and Costa Award-winning book — is a narrative braid made up of three interwoven strands. It is simultaneously a memoir of one woman’s struggle with grief after the death of her father; a riveting account of falconry through her acquiring and training a young, female goshawk; and a book about the tortured life of THmore White, author of The Once n Karnataka, than 70,000 farmers and Future the children’s based on have King, received free heartclassic surgeries over the Arthurian the past legend. decade. As many as five lakh As farmers a child, underwent Helen Macdonald was obsessed other surgeries withwith birds of prey. picture paints is of a out incurring theThe lakhs thatshe these complex bookish girl, passionate treatments normally cost.and introverted, as much in around love with the technical language of In and Hassan and Bijapur, patients hawking, own arcane poetry, asfor with no longer with have its to travel to Maharashtra dithe birds themselves. this love unalysis. Instead, they goShe to acarried centre in Hassan set abated adulthood, and whenon intier 2007, her up by ainto hospital chain focusing II and father the press photographer Alisdair Mactier III —cities. On offer are paediatric, general donald died suddenly of services a heart attack, surgery—and other medical too. her immediate response wasKoramangala to order a goshawk. And in Bengaluru’s area, a Hawks (as I now know) cannot be the domestigroup of radiologists are examining X-ray cated. Theypatient are captured the wild and of a cancer in farawayinCuttack, Odisha. trained: each hawk downare thefinalising generations In another room, doctors the must be trained scratch and, left to its treatment for a from patient in Ranchi. Without own devices, reverts to its natural, feral state. stepping out of their small towns, the patients Reading a book the ofsubject, are receiving theon kind cancerthe careyoung that schoolmaster TH times Whitemore was captivated: would cost seven in the US or “The UK. word ‘feral’ has a kind of magical he Indian healthcare providers arepotency,” innovating explained in length one of and his letters, two to cover the breadth“allied of thetocounother words,sweating ‘ferocious’their and ‘free’.” decides try. From assetsHe(medical to train a goshawk, onassembly the task equipment and otherembarking facilities) to armed only with a are fewapplying ancient and outdated line surgeries, they management books on the subject. The subsequent battle of principles to make healthcare more accessible wills between man and bird is documented in and affordable. hisThe book, named afterfor histhemselves: bird, Gos. From results speak Indiathe is passages by Macdonald, it is a gruelone of theexcerpted most cost-effective destinations for ling read, in which White subdues this wild the treatment of cancer, cardiac ailments and creature — or attempts to — with same a host of other diseases. People fromthe rural arkind of sadistic crueltyweaker that he sections himself had eas and economically can exafperienced a boy in anas English public school. ford theseastreatments health institutions In his introduction a contemporary edisubsidise them usingto the full rates they tion, nature writer and activist Stephen Bodio charge the affluent section as well as financial calls it “afrom book about excruciatingly bad falsupport trusts. conry [and] book about its “There arethe twobest industries in thefalconry, world that feel, emotions, ever written.” don’titshave a priceand tag its onflavour their product — am-

From sweating assets to assembly line surgeries, hospitals are applying management principles to make healthcare accessible and affordable

H is for Hawk Helen Macdonald Jonathan Cape Memoir ₹1,300

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White himself agreed — at least with the for- words for happiness, for freedom, for liking, mer assessment: “It is all rubbish. It is just nor were there any words for the opposites. He what a very young, romantic, inefficient austr- felt like a dumb man trying to shout ‘Fire!’” inger might write. The twelve real living falIt’s a similar conundrum to that posed in coners will hate it and despise it in their guts.” philosopher Thomas Nagel’s famous 1974 paAs to the latter, Bodio may now have to con- per ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ How does it feel cur that the ‘best book about falconry’ is Mac- to be an animal? What is it like inside a bird’s donald’s own. Not only is she a brilliant nature head? How do human’s think at all? What is writer, Macdonald’s command of language is this thing called ‘consciousness’? I sort of like ferociously exacting. Seeing Mabel, gosh- the“We munition and healthcare. The priceher depends idea thatcreated this isaknown, in excellence cognitive scihave centre of (in awk, for the first time,explains she struggles to capture on who is buying,” Dr Devi Prasad ence and philosophical circles as, simply, ‘the Bengaluru) where we have highly-trained onthe feeling of shock awe: of “[the hawk Hard Shetty, the founder and and chairman Narayana Problem’. So much easier think of anicologists and radiologists. We to don’t need exseemed like] a conjuring trick. A reptile. A fall- mals Health (earlier Narayana Hrudayalaya). as being, basically, bit like us’. Which pert physicians in every ‘a place, as that would en angel. A griffon from the pages of an illumi- leads me costs. to wonder whattelemedicine is the opposite of ‘anincrease Through and virnated bestiary. Something bright and distant, thropomorphism’? Remedy in numbers it even possible? tual tuner board, theIsspecialists can discuss relike gold falling through water.” He has revolutionised cardiac surgeries in In- ports Reading descriptions of Maas wellMacdonald’s as the treatment for a patient in chronicles her own spiral—into depresdiaShe through economies of scale the cost per bel, trying to understand her quintessential Hubli or Nasik,” says Dr Ajaikumar. sion with the same raw honessurgery reduces as more surgeries are done. of Vaatsalya‘hawkishness’, Health, on theI was otherreminded hand, marty Nearly she 12 per brings her surgeries in In- ried affordability cent ofto all heart Mark Haddon’s explanation of with quality healthcare by descriptions dia take placeof atthe his emotionalhospital. “By working with confining to Claude phrase, ‘Les smallerLévi-Strauss’s cities with no-frills servicly process of taming us,gruelling they (medical equipment and pharmaceu- es. Founderanimaux bons à Naik penser’. and CEOsont Dr Ashwin saysHadthe her hawk. As Helenstraightaway accustoms Macdonald’s meaning don ticals companies) argues what the and anthrohigh initialthat investments opis clear — H is for Mabel human society, sheInget 10-12toper cent share of the pologist meant not had ‘Animals erational costs was involved kept herself becomes morethe hawkdian market. Imagine num- Hawk the way A is for are good tofrom think with’areas. but ‘Anihim away urban like, her own ber shunning of people andspecies other Apple: it’s as simple, mals“Vaatsalya, are good to think’: to being a “Good start-up, There are two like a hawk fromtoits resources theybating would have de- as fundamental, as think with. to think. It’s the lacked theGood financial resources industries that in the perch, by figure terror otherand ploy togripped reach this difference between a spannercould and our bigger counterparts world that don’t have frustration. wise,” says Dr Shetty, who started a hand.” command,” he says. It leased faa price tag on their of her father NHThe as adeath 225-bed hospital inren2001. In titling herIIbook like a child’s cilities in tier and III cities, rathproduct — ders almost literaTodayMacdonald it boasts 7,500 beds in 29 primer, meaning is er thanMacdonald’s owning them, and offers ammunition and lly deranged — as though her hospitals across 17 cities. clear — H isbut for clean Hawk,facilities. the way ANo is Spartan healthcare internal are reordered, wrenched from for Apple: it’s “As weorgans buy more products, we as simple,air-conditioning as fundamental or as centralised their People have anormal higherpositions. bargaining pow- in the street that. A worldflat-panel without hawks is like language TVs maybe, but certainfeel alien The entities. She begins er,” like he says. savings from to see like a without a letter — a terrible impoverishment, ly well-ventilated rooms. hawk — literally, rather thanare metaphorically. that leaves us Dr bulk buying at lower prices unable to express important Naik banks on capacity utilIt’s noton that she hones in on distant objects, things: passed to patients in the form of affordable around our burning isation running to improve profitability. This anthills, he does but that she scans her surroundings like a unable surgeries and medicines. to raise the alarm. Animals and birds — by offering a range of services — paediatrics, wild thing, startled byfounder-chairman sudden noises, alarmed HCG Oncology’s and or, perhaps more accurately, ‘theand wild’general in gengynaecology, general surgery by lumbering two-legged un- eral CEOthese Dr BS Ajaikumar relies on creatures, the hub-and— enables enriches our medicine, whichand together tackle 70emotional, per cent of able understand concepts ‘pushchair’, spoketobusiness model — thelike hospital’s four linguistic and cognitive and healthcare needs — to attractmindscape, a larger number ‘baby’ orMumbai, ‘car’. hubs in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and books like Macdonald’s are adiabetes potent reminder of patients. Orthopaedics, manageThe boyhave Wartspecialised in White’s The Once and Chennai doctors andFuture high- in ourand increasingly animal-empty that ment nephrology are offeredworld as add-on King, struggles with similar conundrum, end equipment like acyclotrons and PET-CT without the non-human, we become less than services based on local demand for them. when under wizardhave Merlin, he is trans- human scanners; thethe ‘spokes’ less-specialised ourselves. Dr Shetty too swears by capacity utilisation. formed creatures — first fish, then “If you are willing to work for 12-14 hours a day, doctors,into whoother use two-way audio-video interacroy is a writer andgets director of Youngbetter Zubaanand hawk, ant, goose, badger. an ant, Warttheir dis- anita tion with the hubs to As complement your infrastructure utilised anita@anitaroy.net covers a ‘helpless feeling’ that “there were no consultations. costs will go down,” he says. So NH’s blood

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Radiating out HCG Oncology relies on telemedicine to take affordable and quality cancer-care to smaller Long Island cities Iced and Teatowns afp/ sam panthaky Glass: Very Tall 15ml orange vodka 15ml gin 15ml white rum 15ml tequila 15ml clear orange liqueur 1 wedge of lime – squeezed Cola to top Fresh mint sprigs and half slice of orange to garnish

bank, laser unit, test labs and other facilities work with governments and NGOs, says Dr run almost round-the-clock instead of 9 to 5. Shetty. He conceptualised Karnataka’s rural As does Aravind Eye Care with its assembly- health insurance scheme, Yashaswini, in 2002. line eye surgeries. “We have two operating ta- By contributing ₹5 per month (now ₹12), peobles and one surgeon in the centre,” explains ple in rural areas can access healthcare faciliDr S Aravind, director — projects. Even as the ties at affordable rates. The government acts 1 Fill glass with ice. surgeon completes one surgery, the support as a re-insurer, to fill shortages if any. 2 Pour in all ingredients staff ready the second patient. This surgery is HCG has appointed medico-social workers and stir. taken care of, the surgeon sterilises his hands to assess the subsidy needed by an individual, 3 Place the mint sprigs and turns to the first table all over again. Not besides setting up a foundation to raise monand orange on top. surprisingly, Aravind eye hospitals perform ey for free or subsidised care. 4 Stick in two straws. over 3.8 lakhSWEAT surgeries a year. As more people from all crossSPIRITUAL 5 Draw deep. With its infrastructure and staff sections of society seek medical utilised to the fullest, the hospiservices, the rising volumes will tal is able to lower its fees. help lower costs. HCG’s doctors Most doctors have a see about 45,000 new patients revenue-share Subsidy as cure-all annually and provide radiation agreement, which Additionally, it offers subsidised treatment to 2,500 every day. NH fetches them an and free services to the poor. It performs about 150 major surincome comparable has created two types of hospigeries every day. This ensures to a city practice tals — low-cost, no-frills clinics; that while bypass surgery in the and air-conditioned facilities US costs between $60,000 and Line of sight Dr S Aravind, director — projects, that offer privacy as well as ex$100,000 on average, NH can Aravind Eye Care tensive choices of treatment. break even at $1,400. Needy patients are charged ₹750 for cataVaatsalya charges ₹1,100 for each dialysis come. We don’t compromise on treatment et mesurgery, begin by saying is as session, ract removal which canthat cost this between stiff-upper-lip managers and eager-to-serve compared with ₹2,000 at most other and give like the best ensure thebeing diseasepretty does Life’s that totoo. From personal as itelsewhere. gets. Pure, unadulterat- hospitals. ₹6,000 and ₹10,000 underlings, or peered into the dark, births noisy not Similarly, normally delivered come back,” says HCG’s Dr Ajaikumar. straightforward it has become increasingly edknow me. Picking have attract “People what from they everything want and Iwhat ones with uncertainty, I compared wondered complicated. a billdefinite for ₹10,000 to ₹12,000, NH and HCG It’s haveareceived international acconstant pause, look in on a journey thathospital... began — with they can dabbled pay. We let them select the whatnearly I would become.inSheesh, I thought! ₹50,000 urban areas. creditation the choices. Joint Commission around andfrom make Why on Interearth what feels are likethe — eons ago. I have to admit, it outcomes same. There is no differenToday’s banker, does far Importantly, thehowever, affordability doesmore. not national (JCI) fortotheir standards, training and should we have do that? Let’s look at opporhas beensays fun.Dr Sharing it simply makes it more come tiation,” Aravind. Apart at from give and he manag- processes. thethe costusual of quality. “Wetake, are specialised prestigious tag, in turn, keeps tunities as This a way of expanding our portfolio. joyous. A glass inoptimally, hand willitmost definitely To utilise assets is important to in es people. And their money. Advises, invests, high-technology and high-quality out- doctor turnover rates under check.Shaking up Of having fun finding ourselves. make it better. shapes their financial future. He knows that our “We have academic institutions that little conmundane existence doing every It’s funny how the strangest thoughts come each of his clients thinks differently. Some duct training programmes. thing super-speciality we want to, however ridiculous it might to you while contemplating a simple exercise. worry about security. Some believe in now and At time, we have thanAlong 25 residents be.any Sure, I began withmore the bar. the wayinI I was asked to put together a mixology work- instant karma. Still others want cardiac surgery alonetoand they are speak, only paid learned write, teach, enshop as an icebreaker for a group of bankers to invest one step at a time, slow stipends. Wegage have and a huge workforce to even go backkeen to the and I was wondering what I could say that and steady. So he must look at a work, and youkitchen, don’t pay market salary these splashing in mytofavouwould get their attention, make them curious multitude of options to pick and passionate workers. So to your salary rite liquids elevate theburden experiIn a bank and a bar, and, in turn, participate with enthusiasm. And choose correctly, in tune with goes down and alsocut build succession ence.you I even up a acurtain from the people we met that’s when it struck me. When one thinks their needs. A mixed basket. plan,” explains Dr Shetty. a skirt once and a Swiss milkwere reasonably about it, bars are not really that different from Now consider the bartender. Vaatsalya’smaid’s strategy to stem attrition is to dress for my three-yearaffable, yet slow and banks. A bank — as we once knew it — was a Today, he too understands that hire local doctors who cannot afford starta old daughter’s fancy dresstofrom ponderous small, often dingy place where we deposited every person who walks in has a their own practice. have a Irevenightie“Most — justdoctors like that. God, was our earnings, withdrew cash and, occasional- unique personality, tastes and nue-share agreement, fetches them inan proud. It which made my life more ly, put some into a fixed deposit, or used a lock- flavour profile. That he needs to income comparable to and a city practice. We also teresting, me who I am. er. A bar too was a dark, smoggy place you dig a little deeper, ask the right provide independence to doctors and recruit Rather like Long Island Iced walked into, asked for a drink, drank, some- questions, take a little risk, to be able to find a support staffbit to of assist Dr Naik. Tea — a little a lotthem,” of stuffsays to finally make times hung around for music, or to play pool drink that suits his customer best. It could be one, As Dr Shetty says, the healthcare sectordrink. is exreasonably balanced and happy or a game of darts. the right pint of perfectly cold beer; a glass of tremely sensitive to numbers. “As you do more Sure it could whack you as well, but then, such In both cases, the people we connected with zesty wine; a rich, mouth-filling whisky or an operations, tests and examinations, you get is life… were reasonably affable, yet slow and ponder- uplifting cocktail. If he has made his customer better andbankers’ your results get was better.” P.S. The workshop a riot,Indian espeous. I remember walking alongside my dad happy, he has invested in his trust, while con- medical providers have, byparched all accially afterservice the first cocktail wet their while he conducted his business in the bank stantly smiling, twirling and stirring. And that counts, throats.uncovered Happiness!a panacea to expensive and with quiet precision, smiling at all the little is the beginning of recurring income and a lot inaccessible healthcare services. cubicles along the way. Years later, as I peeked of joy. A lifetime spent doing just that has al- shatbhi basu is a mixologist, author, television host Large hearted Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, founder chairman of Narayana Healthbeyond afp/manjunath kiran obvious. rashmi and head pratap of Stir, a bartending academy in Mumbai into shiny, predictable five-star bars withand their lowed me to look what’s

Bank onQ the bar

When one thinks about it, bars are not that different from banks... And life is rather like Long Island Iced Tea — a little bit of a lot of stuff to make one, reasonably balanced, happy drink

shatbhi basu

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AGENDA

We are not a nation of Taliban apologists A young Pakistani lawyer’s brave attempts to counter extremism within Pakistan

sambuddha mitra mustaﬁ

t was December 17, 2014. Mohammad Jibran Nasir, a young lawyer, was restless in Islamabad, haunted by the memory of the 145 children massacred in Peshawar’s Army Public School the day before. And that’s when Nasir took the biggest risk of his life. The 27-year-old went to the Capital’s Lal Masjid, notorious for indoctrinating and training hundreds of young jihadists. There he lit a flying lantern in memory of the slain children, daring to show his contempt to the hardline cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, who had refused to condemn the massacre. When Nasir returned home and posted the pictures on Facebook, with the hashtag #NeverForgetPakistan, the response was overwhelming. The next time Nasir went to Lal Masjid, scores of people accompanied him to offer funeral prayers for the slain children. They were stopped by the police from entering the mosque: and that is when the vigil turned into a protest and then into a much larger civilian movement against terrorism in Pakistan. Now the #NeverForgetPakistan protests have spread to over 25 cities in the country and across the world, from Karachi and Lahore to New York, Berlin and Perth. Civil society members staged a 31-hour sit-in near the CM House in Islamabad and ended it with the government accepting the protesters’ demand to publicly ban activities of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). Nasir, meanwhile, has received death threats from the Taliban and an FIR was registered against him by the ASWJ. He was arrested on February 5, but freed a day later. Pakistan has lost thousands of lives in terrorist violence over the last decade, with some of the most high-profile targets being liberal Pakistanis like Benazir Bhutto and Salman Tatypical day in Raia, village and in south seer, who had challenged theaTaliban othGoa, usually moves with the laner religious conservatives. guid sultriness of need a saxophone soHere Nasir talks about the to redefine lo... farof from Instagram pictures the boundaries civilthe activism in Pakistan. of the Goa of the beaches and beers, Baga pubs Excerpts from interview: and monstrous mechanised crabs on a Republic Dayan float. Being anti-Taliban activist in Pakistan must early, thanks to some beMornings one of the here moststart dangerous jobs in the very persuasive birds, you andtoafter world. What prompted take you’ve it up? convinced yourself it’s a whistling Where we are right now as aMalabar nation, thrush at war teasing out ofthat bed lives at 6am, it’s inside not easyour to with anyou enemy deep spot your ‘alarm’ in the foliage. The home, younatural don’t opt for jobs depending on hide-and-seek till take you up arethewide how dangerouscontinues they are. You job awake and have probably upon realising how necessary it is.stumbled At this point, onea red-whiskered bulbul, the a starling or highlighta blue flycannot stress enough need for catcher instead. As you stir your coffee, ing a counter-extremism narrative withinand Pathe mist lifts itselfIslam. from the sal and coconut kistan and within trees the has garden, can hear church Ourinfaith beenyou hijacked, ourthe country is bells till for the morning mass. being hijacked, because we as a people chose next sound rouse you is the35poder’s to The sit quietly at the to side for more than years (vendor) squeeze-horn as he perpetuate. makes his way and let Zia-ul-Haq’s policies It’s through lanes his bicycle. He not that the the narrow realisation toon reclaim this lost carrieshit a basket of the pao Peshawar (freshly baked country space me after attack. I have bread)working piled on high kankons (banglebeen thiswith narrative for over three shaped bread), chewy poies andtragedy khatre years now, but Isoft guess the Peshawar paos (scissor bread,and a hint at how the doughto is shook the nation added momentum snipped before baking). When you hear anthis cause.

A village by the river

Has the government provided you or your National and Provincial Assembly back in colleagues security? 2013, and stood for the exact same issues that I Various state institutions got in touch with us am advocating today. My manifesto was titled regarding the threats and mentioned their ‘Co-Existence’ and that concept, for me, is our concerns. Some officials even unilaterally of- solution. Though I believe in the power of polifered security. However, no security was pro- tics, I do not see myself joining any of the exvided, and we didn’t follow up on requests. isting political parties of Pakistan. I expect the same security for me that I expect for the Sikhs in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, for In many ways this battle is for the hearts and the Christians and Ahmadis in Punjab, for the minds of Pakistani youth. Do you think the Hindus in Sindh, for the Shias extremists are winning that otherZikris tintinnabulation, you’ll and in Balochistan andknow it’s the distended mid-section battle now?teeming with the midpoder selling fishofforthe thepopulanustiyachi koddi (fish dle-aged — praying to keepdid their away for any section Never before thesons Pakistani curry). big ice-box, which and the girlsforward away from tion thatHis is targeted for its reli- has long re- from alcoholyouth step likethe it ‘bad has movement is the placedpersuasions. the baskets woven from palmOur fronds, is boys’. The pews the against rear find whoI gious doneatnow thethose Taliban. common man’s packed with the basics — bangdas want to avoid disapproving gazepolitical of relaOur movement is the com- (mackerels), amthe not talking about movement. We are talle (sardines), muddashiWe (ladyftives, and furtive eyehere. con-I mon man’s movement. are parties andmake their members redefining the ish), some the crabsboundaries and prawns. tact with their WhatsApp friends. redefining of am talking about common boundaries of civil The activism poders have seen and houses In these backbenches, the civil in Pakistan we young men and women. We got activism in Pakistan around phones buzz silently, and to hope want to them do it shift withshape as fewfrom rean overwhelming response the Mornings here start small hutments to multi-storied floats that the priest would delivsources as possible, so it can res#ArrestAbdulAziz Challenge onearly thanks to some bungalows, majestic er a short olderthey folk onate with watched the masses in line, wheresermon. peopleThe proved very persuasive birds villas crumble to to theinstil ground looknot forward notices their read Pakistan. We want the are afraidtoofthe showing and hotels rise on paddy fields. out at the end of name the service, belief in every child, man and face, saying their and de-a This is land that thatthey is still perfect ‘news wrap’and of all thesupimwoman in the Pakistan too can fight this manding action against Taliban their holding onterrorism. to its past, living war against porter Abdulportant Aziz. events in the village. with it day in day out, even if with a few addiAs thethan sun ambles through weekday sky More that, when I got the direct threat tionsyou of modular water heaters in Raia, youTaliban can spot thepeople young ‘soccer Will continue kitchens, in the civilsolar society space or from the and got tomoms’ know and Facebook church space? groups. Raia has a rich about with their zip by oncrowd their move into the political it, westraightened had a biggerhair, and stronger history that dates back to thedue Kadambas and in scooties to dropwhich off their kidstestament at schools in Pakistan is facing terrorism to perverse our protests, is only that the Vijayanagara is also one of the the town and then go to marketthrive for supplies. politics, and the empires. solution It has to come from tide is turning. Thethe terrorists on our first regions of the SalcetteWe district be evanDressed to the ninesourselves every day,oftheir within political quarters. need atosane and fear. We are ridding thatevenings fear. We gelised by the Portuguese way back in the are too disarming are spent taking their wards for not music or comprehensive counter-terrorism policy, the terrorists. We are a na1560s. Itcan is unsurprising then, that mostsitting of this tion football lessons.apologists With “Godfrey’s dad being which only come from politicians of Taliban and we will not on let verdant hilly village’s cultural timetable re- the world cruiseliner” and uncle making in our Parliament. label us as “Ashberg’s one. volves around church. I have alwaysthe been a political activist and be- money in Saudi” or “Daisy’s husband working thethe founder of who For the Sunday mass, grandmothers in London”, mitra it’s themustafi womenisof village lieved in the power of the Constitutionbearand sambuddha Political Indian some_buddha ing rosaries occupy the frontelections rows andfor lead bring up the kidst and take care of the elderly. our Parliament. I contested thea The

When you step into sleepy, verdant Raia, it’s a bit like entering Goa through a different door

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Leading ladies

The other constant here, where there is no dearth of novenas or feasts to be celebrated, is the religious calendar. Travels plans are chalked around the feast days of the patron saints of the village kopels (chapels). The traditions of worship are an amalgamation of rituals old and new, with the conversion to Christianity by Portuguese colonisation. And one of the biggest highlights is the concept of the transformation of the Earth Goddess to the Devi to ‘Saibin Mai’ or Mother Mary. This devotion spikes from September to November, when a statue of Mary from the kopel is carried in a procession to each house in the locality and placed at the ornate altar for a night. The next day she is taken to the next household. The Ladainha is another celebration that lasts nine days at the kopel followed by the feast of the patron of the chapel. Many of these rituals are guided by agricultural cycles — like ﬁrst sheaves of paddy are carried to the church in a procession — and many of these feast days are followed by both the Hindu and catholic communities.

Roopa Ganguly and Locket Chatterjee inadvertently entered politics because of Mamata Banerjee, today they have joined the BJP in its battle against her

Waves of change The village is the perfect example of how Goa has always imbibed change yet held on to its past, notwithstanding the many rulers — from the Mauryas, Chalukyas, Kadambas and Devagiri Yadavas to the Vijayanagara dynasty, Bahamani Muslims, Bijapur Sultanate and the Portuguese. The mother tongue, Konkani, has been the cultural glue that has kept all the communities here living harmoniously through centuries. But while the community stays strong together, there are annoying mutations that shake the ecosystem of the village. The litany of these woes includes petty panchayat polihe past has not collection been easy tics, the lack of afortnight proper garbage for the West Bengal unit of the system (and consequently, litter on Bhathe ratiya Janata Party (BJP). was streets), no major industries apart There from toutime to lickthe theyoung wounds of a rism and little mining, forcing to leave 67-3the routcities, in distant Delhi. With a bypoll schedcomunifor and the fear of losing uled in the state’s Krishnaganj assembly seat and Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency on February 13, the party needed to put its best foot (or at least its best face) forward. For that, it literally seemed to have hitched its wagon to a star or two. Earlier last week, Roopa Ganguly was seen campaigning on Bongaon’s roads for the BJP, while fellow actor Locket Chatterjee rode through Krishnaganj in an open jeep, wearing blazing saffron. Colour apart, these familiar personalities helped give the state unit much-needed visibility. Though their party has now lost both bypoll battles to Mamata Banerjee’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), Ganguly claims that her visit to these parts has motivated her. “In Bongaon, at least a hundred people told me that they were beaten and made to stay home. They were denied their basic voting rights. The electorate is scared, but sections of society have begun speaking out. I’m certain that when assembly elections come around in 2016, the BJP will enjoy huge support.” Locket Chatterjee sounds equally optimistic: “It was impossible to think then [in the assembly elections of 2011] that the BJP will make the inroads that it has. Just look at the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections! I’d compare Bengal to a drifter who floats aimlessly on an open sea. I think the BJP is our one real island of opportunity.” Ganguly began her political career when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley handed her a BJP flag on January 7 this year, but Chatterjee’s induction into the party on February 6 wasn’t quite her first initiation. In February 2013, the actor had entered the TMC family after Didi treated her to dosa and coffee in the Writer’s Building canteen. The star of popular Bengali films, such as Bye Bye Bangkok and

God’s green earth The Nossa Senhora de Bom parto, one of the Blaze of saffron many kopels in Raia sharon fernandes

Roopa Ganguly (left) and Locket Chatterjee proudly wave the lotus at their initiation into the BJP pti

Travel log

dade or community land to the many land sharks who wish to build what Goa seems to Get there never have enough of — hotels. By for train, closest stopa ishalf years,” On a walk down youa see the once Streetlight, was alsoRaia, made member of resthe out of work thethe past three and plendent villas in neoclassical andA neo-Gothic State Commission for Women. year later, rues Chatterjee. Often mocked foraway. their lack of Madgaon station, 10km styles of architecture with largeand ornamental Chatterjee seems disillusioned a touch political Dabolim acumen, airport celebrities sometimes is 30km away. carry balcoes with them a heavy burden of expectation. windows and“As stucco mouldings; thewomen’s embittered. a member of the (covered porches) at the of incithe Ganguly Eat commission, I regularly sawentrance untoward and Chatterjee seem to differ on the Fernando’s Nostalgia, aanwellsala on (living room), where house, the huge dents being reported a near-daily basis. benefits Chef of fame. For Chatterjee, enterknown eatery, serves authentic once as take a large family laughed Even music when Iflowed tried to a step, I wasn’t al- tained audience often translates into a trustGoan fare in a sprawling house, and sang are gone; the grand pad- ing electorate. lowed to.together, Protest was impossible because Ganguly, however, doesn’t with beautiful vintage utensils and locked Portuguese villasone’s nowprotest only to. boast there was no one to take I reg-a quite condone the idea of ‘celebrities’ becomartwork,“Just a garden, huge bar cannot and watchman standing guard to the from treasure istered my dissent when I resigned the ing politicians. being a celebrity a live band on weekends. trove furniture, crockery and art ofBanerjee, the orig- be motivation party of and the commission.” Mamata enough. If a politician takes a Anotheritwell-kept secret in Raiainal inhabitants of always the village. The year to succeed, says wealthy Chatterjee, was almost inaccessiwould take me four. I would bhailles (outsiders) new areto the ble. “Iowners tried hard tell her my grievances, but—I need to prove more. Only Racholmyself is Esperenza’s. Thisgrey is amatter tiny mostly from Delhi or Rajasthan. never got a satisfactory reply.” helps yourestaurant win the final withtest.” only two tables, It is the marketplace, a small square Political ideology apart, therevillage is much that Knownand to many the country bar. for her a tiny in ‘help-yourself’ Butporof sortsGanguly under a and hugeChattermango tree, that offers binds of Draupadi in the 1988 telthe trayal big draw is the food made with shade andare comfort to the old timers discussjee. They both household adaptation of the the evision catch of the day from the ing howinlovely life used be and how everynames Kolkata. Theytoare Ganguly demonZuariMahabharat, river. thing hastheir become too marogis(expensive). This both in 40s (Ganguly strated a more radical For a light bite, there are candour plenty ofin I’d compare spot for selling in dec- Bengal to aplaces, 48; Chatterjee is wares 41), andhasn’t it waschanged latersuch years. In 2009, she appeared as Nicolau Bakery, drifter who floats ades. The ladies in bright dresses sell vegetaBanerjee who inadvertently on the TV show Sach ka Saamna Lourdes Cafe and Snow’s Bakery, bles from their these areaimlessly tasty. Theyon an open propelled themfields. into “Bai, politics. and fielded questions about her sell delicious puff pastries I think the BJP is which are grown our own red mud. chemicals” “I got into in politics because of No sea. estranged husband and extrastuffed with piquant sausage or our one real island of — goes sales“because pitch. The her,” saystheir Ganguly, of fisherwomen marital affairs. When asked if fillings, chicken and sausage opportunity, says beefsuch tempt you with a wet rock slab before them her whims, her behaviour and honesty was antithetical to rolls, and freshly made of butter Locket Chatterjee heaped with fish still red behind the gill. The her cheap populism.” She earlier stereotypes politicians, biscuits and tarts. potter’s stall34-year-long of pans, candlesticks and piggy blames the comthe actor said, “Twenty years ago, banks as a Goan kitchen munistdoes rulebrisk for business “the rotten tip things might have been difficult. still the earthenand potprifor ‘taste’ and a costateprefers of our education generation more aware The Today’s best feni in Goa is isbrewed by conut with a wooden stick to ladle out mary shell healthcare systems,” and they are well past that stage the priests at Raia. At the SVD the but curries. their follies, she says, hardly compare to of moral prudery.” seminary, ensconced in acres of As the day TMC. winds“This down, the has children who those of the party corrupted For these progressive entrants into the BJP, cashew trees, the priests oversee are a football in the The playground the kicking moral fabric of Bengal. Saradha stop chit the question of conservatism can sometimes the making of the potent liquor. In mid-play cross themselves when adds the seem more fundamental. How do they, for infund scamand is unacceptable.” Chatterjee summer, is fourchurch soundscam for the or evening that thebells Saradha hasAngelus even vitiated the stance, react to BJPthe MPcashew Sakshi apple Maharaj’s pressed for its juice in wooden prayer. TheTollywood, birds return to the trees, street- children diktat to women? “We live in a modmood in Kolkata’s filmthe industry. barrels The such first a lamps throw can littlebepuddles of light on the “Today people heard casually saying — ‘I ern world and churned no one by canhand. defend press calledofneero, a nonsnaking mud lanes, scent with a statement. hope youred haven’t takenthe anytangy Saradha money’. Thisiskind orthodoxy cannot be alcoholic, refreshingNor juice. The rest promise of feni the cashew There is fear and arises deepfrom mistrust, which istrees alto- in step with development. can commuof the juice — the second and and thenew.” monkeys huddle together to watch nalism,” insists Chatterjee. The BJP surely bengether third presswell-versed — is kept with to ferment in from the darkening canopiesagree a landscape and efits when Ganguly and Chatterjee that ever stars, its script clay pots, which even asince quiet calm came that, to as power time marches on, is already, deliver Banerjee in 2011, the Benthesome partyofline so are deftly. And storedofunderground, bound be shattered. gal filmtoindustry has witnessed a sharp in- with a batting the eyelashes.to mature crease in political favouritism. “People not into heady, cloudy urrak and finally nevatia sharon is a Goa-based writer affiliatedfernandes with the TMC have seen themselves shreevatsa crystal clear feni.

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On his own Through theturf smog, darkly Australian hockeymost greattoxic Jamie on playingtoatbreathe. home and away, and on his current With the world’s air,Dwyer Delhi struggles Although its challenges are many, goalposts in India a Punjab Warrior going forward, theascity must learn a few basic lessons from the past

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nly in Australia can you have a like1857 ‘foetus’ and still ashenickname summer of is well-etched in pire to greatness. Ask Jamie Dwyer. the Indian psyche as the summer of “The name kind ofagainst caughtthe onBritberevolt, of a mutiny cause I was only 13 when was playing the ish. Earlier thatIyear, however,for there under-17 team, and I was then,” was a smaller initiative thatreally bearssmall recollection says 36,offive-time world hockey — forDwyer, it speaks an unfinished agendaplayer of the of the year and a privileged of the making of the modern Indian member nation-state. ‘Best of the Best’ atof thethe Australian Institute of Through an Act government passed Sport (AIS) —1857, joining the ranks ofCompany, cricketer in February the Oriental Gas Ricky Ponting,asTodd Woodbridge, the tennis incorporated a joint-stock company in Endoubles great, and Mark the country’s gland, was permitted to Viduka, set up operations to best-known football export. supply gas to the city of Calcutta for street PlayingFive for the Punjab now, Dwyer lighting. years later,Warriors a similar Act was and his for teamBombay. have come agonisinglynearly close toa passed Interestingly, lifting (HIL) cup in third ofthe theHockey clausesIndia of theLeague said Acts pertained the firstrisks two of seasons they reached to the water—pollution andthe thesemicare final in the contest into2013 lost that the gasinaugural companies needed takeand to preout theOne finals lastclause year atreferred the penalty ventin this. other to theshoopostout stage. was quite difficult, sibility of a“The gas first leak, year polluting the air. Soon especially since we were staying after, in 1862, a more elaborate Actwell was outside passed, Jalandhar [away from the Surjit Hockey Stadium, this time addressing smoke nuisance in their home ground in the first season] and in Calcutta directly. A similar Act followed a year later in Bombay. Around the turn of the last century, aesthetic dimensions of the smoke issue came to the fore — in the promise, for instance, that the use of hydroelectric power by the mills of Bombay would make it one of the most beautiful cities of the Empire by getting rid of coalinduced smoke. Guidelines (much like now) did not remain confined to the industrial sector alone, and laws were passed to regulate traditional trades and industries that were po-

leaving those cities to grapple with only one or two situations that may be urgent at any given point. Poverty-related pollution, for instance, does not have the same traction that consumption and energy use-related concerns have in Paris or Seoul. But in our urban Unholy triad context, they must be addressed together, Three features are characteristic of this ever- even if by different means. evolving and dynamic relationship between Second, for long we’ve been conditioned to economic growth and pollution in urban In- think of pollution as an end-phenomenon, to dia. First, several generations of issues and be tackled by end-of-the-pipe technologies. practices that may be considered polluting This was not always the case. In an earlier era, find a synchronous presence in in the first decades of the 20th our cities — we struggle as much century, in India as in other parts with pollution from the use of of the world, there were atbiomass in domestic settings as tempts to see the pollutants and We’ve been we do with pollution resulting waste in terms of inefficient use conditioned to think from slaughterhouses, or modof resources. It is plausible to arof pollution as an ern transport and industry. This gue that there was little about end-phenomenon, to the ‘environment’ in this mode forces us to consider together be tackled by end-of- of; and suchonissues that mayofotherwise thinking, focused alEye the ball Skipper the Punjab Warriors, Jamie Dwyer (left) vino john (above) inbeing action against Sardar the-pipe technologies akhilesh kumar Singh of the Delhi Waveriders, at Mohali this month be distinguished — as, for in- earlier most entirely on economic effistance, green and brown agenciency and resource use. Equally, general, had to travel a lot. That knewwas them. If you didn’t das; poverty-related matters and took a toll on ing; everyonethere little about the play unus,” Dwyer, when we meet you didn’t thedistribuhockey thosesays related to growth and de- him in Delhi hockey though, equal social andknow spatial before a training actually,” says Dwyer. velopment; local,session. regional“This andyear has been greats. A lot like tionhere of environmental ills. But it going well,crises but dealt the semis always 2004, Dwyer began playing foruse HC of Bloeglobal pretty concerns; with are at the mu- didInoffer a way of linking the initial retough, let’sand see.” in the Dutch league, and became nicipal so level others that call for sophisti- mendaal sources and technology for production anda hockey fans across Eucated, technical knowledge that may be household subsequentname use offor other technologies to deal From Perth to Punjab “Mywhich club won every year while I use. was available only at the national or global scale. rope. with that was left after productive A child prodigy, Dwyer seems to have been there, and I metissues my wife in the Netherlands. So This simultaneity, in turn, makes our cities Reconnecting of resource use, efficiendestined for athe career sports. every I just kept going backmore till I quite unlike citiesinofinternational Europe, America or yeah, cy, waste andyear pollution — which stand, Growing at Rockhampton in Queensland, Warriors in India,” says Dwyer. East Asia, up where such issues have been solved, joined or less, the separated today — would offer an alterwith a total population of 73,000-odd people, he is a shining example of the efficiency of the Professional goals Australian sporting system at large. “When I Playing a game that has witnessed a sea of was 15, I was offered an opportunity to go to change over the last decade, Dwyer has had to university on a cricket scholarship, but I didn’t adapt to the changing styles. But having want to take it up. I wanted to go played across continents has to the Olympic Games,” says made him stronger. “The new Dwyer, adding, “In any case, rules make the game so much hockey was more my kind of faster. There are more substituDwyer scored the game. It has a faster pace, and tions as well. Earlier, you played winning goal in the while I really enjoy cricket, hockthe full 70 minutes in a match, 2004 Athens ey just suited my style better.” but now you can come on and off Olympics, breaking Dwyer pursued his hockey cathe bench,” says Dwyer, adding, Australia’s 48-year reer under the aegis of the AIS, “HIL though has really set a gold drought in which was established in 1981 to grand stage for hockey. It’s defihockey train and nurture the country’s nitely the best hockey league in best athletes. “I think the structhe world now.” ture of the Aussie system is quite In his three years with the Wargood. There is a gradual incline riors, Dwyer has been instrumento reach the top with stepping stones all along tal in shaping the team’s game. “You see, the the way, which helps,” says Dwyer. “It gives ev- European and Indian styles are a bit different. eryone in Australia a chance to pick up a sport In Europe, it’s more about protecting the ball, they like, and if they have potential, they can while in India it’s about skill and running fast maybe play for their country one day.” with the ball. Australia though is a mix of One of the greatest exponents of AIS, Dwyer both. We like to be entertaining, score a lot of has often led Australia to hockey glory. In 250 goals. But on the other hand, we don’t want to international games, Dwyer has scored more turn the ball over so easily as well,” he says. than 170 goals and has won more than 14 gold Dwyer, who has achieved pretty much all medals for Australia at the Olympics, the that a pro-player can in hockey, is now waiting Hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth for a chance at gold at the Rio Summer OlymGames, among others. Dwyer had also scored pics, 2016 — he intends it to be his swan song. the winning goal in the 2004 Athens Olym“For me though, it has never been about bepics, which broke Australia’s 48-year gold ing the world’s best, but more about being the drought in Olympic hockey. best that I can be. I can honestly say, when I In a nation as cricket-obsessed as India, rec- walk away from hockey,” says Dwyer, “I can ognition was harder to come by for Dwyer, look back and feel proud that I have played the compared to his contemporaries in cricket. best hockey that I could have.” “All our heroes while growing up were cricket arasu players — Dean Jones, Allan Border, PontDanger ahead In Delhi, the average Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 — extremely small particles that getRicky absorbed by thesibi lungs — is thrice the national standard vv krishnan

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saturday, february 21,21, 2015 saturday, february 2015

Meow Meow burglars Thieves in Mumbai give cat burglary a new meaning

Cricketing gold

fter a series of similar thefts, the Mumbai Police was heard purring loudly against the ‘habitual’ offenders. Consumption of mephedrone, popularly referred to by its street names meow meow, m-cat and drone has seen a massive hike in the last year or so in the maximum city. One of the fallouts of this is that the drug has become a major ingredient in thefts across the western suburbs of Mumbai. Last year alone, the police registered nearly 25 cases related to the consumption of meow meow. While some of them are cases against drug dealers, the other cases are of thieves who were found under the inﬂuence of the drug when committing the crime. Mephedrone having no mention in Indian law is only making the police’s job harder. So while the police are running around ﬁguring out what to do with this new menace, meow meow dealers are happily ‘purring’ their way to the bank.

What would you give for an India win — love, money or gold?

ast Sunday, while every Indian cricket fan was rejoicing at yet another World Cup win against Pakistan, a Chennai-based engineer’s joy was short-lived. He ﬁnished watching the match only to ﬁnd that not only had his son’s mobile phone been stolen from right under their noses, but also 15 sovereigns of gold. According to a local daily, the family realised that their safe, which was in another room, had been cracked open long after the last ball was bowled. Perhaps the thieves are now celebrating, tweeting even: #WeWon’tGiveItBack.

Getting high on grass has a million-year-old legacy

Everyone has a few skeletons in their cupboard. Look what they found inside Neil Armstrong’s

A big, fat cheque Can fining parents reduce obesity in children? hen Carol Armstrong, widow of the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, was cleaning out his closet, little did she expect to find dusty scientific payload from Apollo 11. Mrs Armstrong promptly called the people she thought would know about such things. Soon, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum set about recognising what was what. A year later, most of the objects have been rightly identified, and researchers are still trying to figure out what the remaining few might have been used for on the mission. Of the many treasures revealed so far, the most exciting is the 16mm data acquisition camera, which not only recorded Neil Armstrong’s first few steps on the moon, but also his now eternal statement — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

infographic: partha pratim sharma

Watch our step Coping with these long-term challenges would require that we look deeper than immediate short-term solutions. This is not to deny that individuals and communities need to make use of such protective technology as is most instantly available — for a decade and more now, it has not been unusual to see traffic cops covering their mouths with masks. More recently, air purifiers have entered the market in the same way as they have proliferated in Beijing, which suffers perhaps from any million years before cocaine, even more acute pollution. Parallel to this LSD has any of the other artificial narcotics been and the flourishing industry of water puriwere invented, the organic way was around fiers, with the industry ‘maturing’ to provide and thriving. have found difor every classResearchers of household, from thethat richest nosaurs munched a fungus, whichofis to the poorest; andaway in theoncase of the latter, aten hallucinogenic caused psychedelic reat a relativelyand high price.aHowever, someaction. This than hypothesis was reached by Joerg thing more these household solutions is Wunderlich, a Germanrarely palaeontologist, who required, as pollution respects spatial found an ergot preserved inside a boundaries, and afungus sanitised household promhunk of amber in Myanmar. fungus ises little guarantee of a safe The and ergot healthy enviis the precursor to LSD and the original ‘day ronment in general. tripper’, dinosaur What’sifinyou crisiswill. nowCoprolites is the coreor assumption poop also confirmed that the dinos fed on of thehas modernist spatial-technical strategy — several plantsspace — not the least ofto which wasunerthere’s little left ‘outside’ consign got fungus. Thisand only makes us if the wanted things practices forwonder any length of dinos in the skythe with diamonds? time, saw not lucy to mention ever-proliferating risks of synthetic chemicals, vehicular pollution and climate change, and of industrial wastewater returning to our dining tables through the vegetables we consume. To address these, we need to move beyond higherpowered chimneys, purifiers or spatial zoning, and instead cultivate a different sensibility regarding space and technology, make our arrangements more provisional and our interventions more reflexive or, to use an increasingly influential strain of philosophical and legal reasoning, become more precautionary. Alongside, we need to shift the burden of proving ‘no harm’ on to those who cause pollution in the first place. This has been the approach pioneered by the Supreme Court to deal with vehicular pollution in Delhi, and we would do well to consider other challenges through a similar logic. It is also important that such thinking, spelled out largely in the context of legal cases, finds echo in other discourses, influencing public policies and civic action that seek to create more liveable cities.

High old story

Out of the closet

native to the current obsession with relocation or expulsion of polluting activities from our cities. Third, such a re-linking of economy and environment cannot be a return to history in any simple manner; we need to consider their promise and their limitations. If one were to look at major ways in which urban environments have been shaped over the previous centuries, these would broadly be classiﬁed into two: strategies of spatial relocation and those of technological modernisation. For much of the 20th century, the idea has been to use these strategies to separate the city of work from the city of residence. At different times in history, the scale of such relocations and the ambitions regarding the possibilities of technical changes have varied. Clearly, relocating tanners in the Capital in the 1870s was neither on the same scale nor had the same statutory legal backing that is enjoyed by the industrial relocation recently ordered by the Supreme Court in keeping with the Master Plan of Delhi. Neither did the pipes and drains of the 19th century carry the urban footprint of Delhi far into the hills of Uttarakhand, as they do today. These differences over time are important, and suggest something about the political/economic contexts of their times.

ast week in Puerto Rico, legislators proposed a controversial bill that aims to punish parents of obese children. The legislation will allow schools to identify students who are obese and the state to recommend diet and exercise programmes for weight loss. Following this, parents who fail to follow the recommendations will be slapped with a ﬁne of up to $800. The child obesity rate in the country is relatively high — 30 per cent, compared to 18 per cent in the US — and lawmakers believe that holding parents accountable is “necessary for society”. Traditionally, countries targeting obesity tax fatty and sugary foods. But looks like this island-nation won’t spare the rod and spoil the parents.

awadhendra sharan is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

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saturday, february 21, 2015

in-faq by joy bhattacharjya Magazines

n this day, 90 years ago, Harold Ross and Jane Grant started a humour magazine that they announced ‘was not edited for the lady in Dubuque’. Nine decades on, The New Yorker continues to amaze and delight. In homage, this week’s quiz is about the world of magazines.

here,there & elsewhere

Beach boys

ins and I are at the beach. The sun’s out and I’m wearing a full-sleeved kaftan because I’m allergic to direct sunlight. But he, despite being blonde and pale-skinned, is completely immune. He’s wearing a pair of plain blue swimming trunks that he’s threatening to remove. He wants to show off his batik loin-cloth. “I made it myself at a handicrafts mela in Auroville!” he says. It’s a Sunday and, despite the freezing water, there are moderate crowds of sun-worshippers out on the sand. “It will be sooo fashionable. All the girls will be running after me.” No, they will not, I tell him. In America, a guy can be arrested for indecent exposure. He points to six girls strolling by. They’re wearing perhaps three square inches of cloth each. “In India, they would be arrested for causing a public nuisance,” says Bins. We’re conditioned to enjoy the sight of semi-naked young girls, I say. They represent youth, fertility and continuance. And by the way, no one feels threatened by them aside from you. A middle-aged man goes by, holding a metal detector. It’s got a long pole with a ﬂat disk at the end of it. A single wheel helps him move it along the sand, leaving a curving trail. He is wearing a t-shirt and shorts but his arms and legs are covered in a lacy

cornerstone

purple rash of tattoos. A knot of little boys follow after him. “Look at that fellow!” says Bins. “What’s he looking for?” Dreams of hidden treasure, I say. Good fortune. Lost keys. Just then a somewhat senior lady lumbers by, wearing little more than a pair of straps and her sunglasses. “See this museum exhibit,” snorts Bins. Bulging pouches of dimpled ﬂesh quiver with every step. “She’s outraging my modesty.” You’re hopelessly out of date, I tell him. In today’s world, women of all shapes and sizes are welcome to display themselves. “But not men?” exclaims Bins, hooking his thumbs under the

waistband of his swimming trunks once more. “That’s unfair! That’s reverse discrimination!” Yes, I say, and if you take your pants off, I’ll call the police myself. “Sissy,” he says, but unhooks his thumbs. A bunch of young men who have been cavorting in the water, emerge right in front of us. Some of them are wearing full body suits against the cold but others are in tiny briefs. Their stomachs are taut, their limbs superbly sculpted. They are like living statues, in pink marble and milk chocolate. “Budgie-smugglers,” says Bins, frowning now. Huh? “That’s what Australians call those stupid elastic jeddies,” he explains. They look as if the wearer has stuffed a budgerigar into his trunks. “Disgusting. Leaves nothing to the imagination.” I am grinning broadly now. Some of them seem to be smuggling whole pigeons, I remark. “Tcheh. They’re probably falsies.” What?? “Hah. You don’t even know that men can wear falsies too. Anyway, you should stop staring like this. You’ll make those boys feel uncomfortable.” I’m just enjoying the view, I say, still grinning. manjula padmanabhan, author and artist, writes of her ﬁctional life in Elsewhere, US, in this weekly column

Which magazine was founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University — its name is actually a medieval form of the name of the Cam river. Former contributors include Ted Hughes, AA Milne and Sylvia Plath.

Connect the writings of Confucius, a European emperor, a US Civil War site and three varieties of trees with an extremely wellknown international magazine.

One from The New Yorker. Their cartoons are just as well known as their prose. Which ﬁve-word catchphrase originated from the caption of a 1941 Peter Arno cartoon showing an engineer walking away from a crashed plane?

Which American magazine is popularly associated with a jinx that affects people appearing on its covers, starting with a certain Eddie Mathews in 1954, who broke his hand within a few weeks of his maiden appearance?

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Which Asian airline has an in-ﬂight magazine named after an asymmetrical dagger with a distinct blade pattern? Most top football clubs have their own fan magazines or ‘fanzines’. If Chelsea has The Blue and the White and United We Stand is for Manchester United fans, which club’s bestknown fanzine is called Gunﬂash?

In 1986, the Anandabazar Patrika group of publications pulled off a coup of sorts when it convinced actress and director Aparna Sen to edit its new Bengali fortnightly, Sananda. Who did the Pioneer Book Company convince a year later to head its new women’s magazine, Meri Saheli, which helped it become the largest selling Hindi magazine in the country?

In 1978, which 22-year-old was appointed editor of Bombay magazine, making him the youngest ever Indian editor of a mainstream publication?

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Which magazine’s ﬁrst cover, in November 1967, featured a picture of an actor playing a soldier in the ﬁlm How I Won the War?

She appeared on the cover of a famous magazine in June 1985, but never saw the actual magazine till shortly before making the cover of the magazine again in April 2002. Identify the person and the magazine. ANSWERS

1. Granta 2. The Economist. Analects, Charlemagne, Lexington and Buttonwood, Baobab and Banyan are all popular opinion columns in the magazine 3. Back to the drawing board 4. The Sports Illustrated. Of course, Michael Jordan, who appeared 49 times on its cover, did not seem to be affected by the jinx. The magazine actually put a black cat on its cover when it discussed the history of the jinx in 2002 5. Singapore Airlines; the SilverKris 6. Arsenal. Other great names are A Load of Bull, Wolverhampton Wanderer’s fanzine, named after record goalscorer, Steve Bull, and War of the Monster Trucks, for Sheffield Wednesday fans 7. Actress Hema Malini 8. Vir Sanghvi 9. Rolling Stone. The actor was John Lennon, in his ﬁrst and only non-musical appearance 10. Sharbat Gul, better known as the ‘Afghan Girl’, one of National Geographic’s most famous covers ever. Photographer Steve McCurry tracked her down 17 years later

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

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