Blink issue 73 june20 2015

21ST CENTURY YOGA The definitive field guide to new-age yoga brings you bendy parents, laughing aunties and a governor in the warrior pose p2 saturday, june 20, 2015

MAGGI AS METAPHOR The two-minute noodle was a rite of passage for a nation embracing global modernity p4

This year has seen big-budget Bollywood productions flop, while smaller movies with better scripts and smart lines are filling theatres p10

The new scene stealer

partha pratim sharma

THROUGH A WORLD DARKLY Mike Masilamani’s new book for children tells of the horrors of the war in Sri Lanka p16

POT LUCK Once you are a khichdi convert you can never ignore its humble comforts p19

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Giving the slip Bubbles of mucus are what the clever parrotfish cocoons itself in against nocturnal parasites

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he animal kingdom abounds in behavioural peculiarities. Honeybees, as Karl von Frisch famously discovered, dance to communicate to each other the direction and distance of food from their hive. The male wood spider, a tenth the size of the female, will ply her with ‘nuptial gifts’ (of dead insects, nicely wrapped in silk) so that he is not eaten while trying to mate with her. Then there are tap-dancing birds of paradise and sex-changing fish.

Of course, all these were adaptations for good reason — and ultimately contributed to the survival of that species. But the phylogenetic tree is full of such oddities, and the parrotfish is a perfect example of an animal that has found a smart but amusing way to get around a common problem.

The free-swimming larvae of gnathiidae (or isopod crustaceans) are a common parasite on coral reefs, feeding on the blood of many reef fish. They burrow into fish gills and skin and can cause serious infection and disease if not removed. Cleaner wrasses are a family of small, ribbon-like fish that have benefited from this parasitic association. They are able to digest these crustaceans, and fish regularly seek them out at cleaning stations manned by one or two cleaner wrasses, usually located conspicuously on the top of big coral boulders. But cleaners only provide their services during the day. What happens at night, when fish are sleeping, and the threat from parasitic crustaceans looms large?

Reef fish do a variety of things to ward off gnathiidae at night. Some, like wrasses, bury themselves in sand. Gobies have toxic skin cells on certain body areas to ward off parasit-

es. Some fish sleep in areas away from the reef tanks of unprotected fish, happily feeding and a few may even use nocturnal cleaner or- away on their flesh. This confirmed that the ganisms. However, the survival costs associat- cocoons were indeed acting as a sort of force ed with these strategies would be high — both field against parasitic attack, keeping fish safe in terms of the energy required to contin- inside a blanket of their mucus. uously seek out cleaners at night, for instance, The mechanisms used by mucous cocoons and the risk associated with swimming to prevent gnathiid attack are probably a comaround and being exposed to night-time pred- bination of several things. The mucus could ators as a result. Which is why the parrotfish’s mask smells from the fish that parasites use to solution seems especially elegant: mucous co- locate them with. They also act as a physical coons. Every night, many parrotfish blow bub- barrier against attack, repelling the gnathiibles of mucus around dae that do reach its surface. Anthemselves and spend the night other study done on mucus inside it. For a long time since across the animal kingdom the discovery of this phenomfound that mucus is itself loaded enon in the 1950s, it was thought with microbe-killing viruses that Most of them will that they were doing this to have evolved in a unique symalso eat their cocoon avoid being eaten by larger anibiotic partnership with animals. the next day as mals, like eels. But a study done It could be that the mucus of parmorning snack recently on the bullethead parrotfish cocoons is also full of virotfish on the Great Barrier Reef ruses that have evolved over time has found that these cocoons are to fight off gnathiidae. actually working against gnathiCocoon-producing reef fish idae, acting as a kind of mosquito net against are the only animals known to secrete a strucnight-time pests. ture that not only protects the whole fish but The researchers manipulated mucous co- also allows it to perform the function of sleep coons of several bullethead parrotfish (Chlo- — a combination of features that hasn’t been rurus sordidus) in a controlled laboratory observed in another animal before. Most of experiment, removing some cocoons from them will also eat their cocoon the next day as sleeping parrotfish and leaving others intact. morning snack, a behaviour I observed on an They then introduced an equal number of early dive. Not only do these fish sleep in capgnathiid crustaceans into their separate sules of their own mucus, they also minimise tanks, and left them in there for the rest of the the energy lost in production by consuming it night. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they found the next day. Peculiar? The parrotfish is too that parrotfish without cocoons got attacked clever to care. almost nine times more than ones with cocoons. The fullest, most satisfied gnathiidae shreya yadav is a research affiliate with the Nature were also the ones that had been inside the Conservation Foundation, Mysore

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Krish Raghav is a comic book artist, policy analyst and podcaster. He shares his hometown with Dhalsim from Street Fighter, but cannot shoot ďŹ reballs from his face t@krishraghav

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Tastemaker of change You. And your phone WINDOW OR AISLE

Maggi was the promise of modernity when India was raring to break free of traditions; it The lateststereotypical killer app forgender gettingroles the best deals around the world upended andhotel fulfilled certain ‘modern’ ideas

rishi piparaiya

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Speed dial At a time when trunk calls were giving way to STD PCOs, Maggi embodied functionalism and utilitarianism bloomberg/dhiraj singh

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t seems no amount of monosodium glure or youlead onecan of come those between who primarily tamate Maggi researches and books hotelsIndia onand its committed lovers, of which line? If The so you will noodle probably has legions. instant hasapprebeen that experience is notlab as withdrawnciate from thethe shelves after recent streamlined and transparent onehope would reports, but many Maggi loversasstill it’s hope. me, you probably flitpass. from one porall justLike a bad dream, and it will talMaggi to another, yoursnack. travel After dates and was inputting no ordinary omsorting for hotels by location and price. You elette, bread and biscuit, it was perhaps the shortlist a few preferred hotels and then only foreign food the whole of India tookcomto so heartily. Many say it got popular because it was easy to make and versatile. It indeed was, but the rise of Maggi in India was powered mainly by the post-liberalisation cultural economy. Maggi became an index of a globalising, modernising India. It supplied a pannational icon the country needed two decades ago when its liberalising economy began bringing hordes of people from rural areas to cities, lifting them above regional identities and local habits.

Maggi tiptoed into middle-class kitchens, hardly making the noise a foreign interloper was supposed to. It took little time to overcome what little resistance there was and became a family member. The noodles and tastemaker never faced the rumours that dog most foreign food in a largely vegetarian middle class. It’s name exuded familiarity — Maggi could be an affable matriarch, a genial domestic help or a naughty kid sister. For many, it even sounded like a wide-eyed NRI cousin intent on learning about the home culture.

But Maggi was deceptively domestic.

Though it was self-effacing — it could adapt to endless desi improvisations and had no qualms sitting with pyaaz and aam ka achaar — it was a powerful agent of change. In the great Indian melting pot growling with a totalising zeal, the British bread had to orientalise into a pakora, and biscuit had to pass through a severe identity crisis (it was fully accepted

when it lost its trademark crispness and turn- ’90s. It appealed to our growing fascination pare rates across portals. may offer a the as theyofare, had moved up ed limp as Indians gleefullySome dipped it into hot withprices, speeddynamic — a key feature modernity which great on the hotel but the terms chai).rate Maggi toopreferred was quite adaptable but it suddenly promisedand to significantly. make lives easier by making and be entirely favoura“I had seen a rate of $220 a few weeks ago was conditions more than may food:not it was the promise of them faster. ble.

Other sites it’s calls no longer available and modernity whenmay Indiaoffer was some raringinclusions to break but Atunfortunately that time, trunk were giving way to such astraditions. breakfast or are and nowIndia $280.was Can you do something free of It airport did nottransfers meet thebut fatethe of rates STD PCOs beginning to see new rate will be higher.

Youlimp alsobiscuit probably go diI requested on the phone. the bread pakora or the because it please,” car models.

Maggi the alsolady embodied other She key rectly the website the hotel to check if hemmed and hawed a little but, sure enough, was a to clever arbiter of between tradition and features of modernity — functionalism and they have any offeradditions — sometimes not only matched theitrate but the alsostaple gave modernity.

It packages accepted on local and she utilitarianism.

That’s why became you possibly dosteadfastly find a dealretaining but invariably it me a complimentary upgrade. changes while its own of the post-liberalisation modern Indian subcomes with itstaste. own restrictions.

Which brings me to the next — even if character and ject.

Byhint transcending Lately, I have hit upon this amazing app that they don’t have the authority to give youethnic a betregional and potentially lets you get the best possible deal ter rate than what youdiversity, are getting online, New apron-wearers it came the on hotel rooms.

It’s called ‘You. out of the most hotel managers can usually While Maggi brought the woman closest to our idea of Maggi tiptoed into And youritphone’. throw in a lot of freebies.

This kitchen, put the man — albeit briefly — into national food. middle-class This is how itfemale works.domain.

I identifyThat was the works particularly well for weeka traditionally Another secret of kitchens, hardly the to stay at, I The entry of end stays business hotels.

Evfirsthotel socialI would changelike it engineered. immense making the noise a atMaggi’s jot downinto thethe best rate marked that’s the Irise ery once in popularity a while I will a the man kitchen of pull out wascallits then my interloper foreign available online,the and I make a luxury hotel and let them know the individual, post-liberalisation glob- and call special taste.

It was phone the was supposed to list of all the possible that I am looking to getofaway for alised subject.

Maggi inclusions gave him a chance the taste desire. hotelto — no toll-free that are being offered by roles. the hothe weekend.

Andmany then I modern pull out experiment with gender Like numbers, direct tel,Itacross one orthe more the list of inclusions that they also marked risewebsites. of the Indian single. commodities, it line to the hotel, IPrivate then pull mymore phonepeople and optedpreferably can potentially offer and start nejobsout grew, for seemed, its goal was to call the hotel — no toll-free num“Can I get freeback breakhigher education in metros and marriages not to fill yougotiating. up but have you come for the manager bers, direct line to the of hotel, What a couples’ were delayed for reasons career. Maggi be- more. Maggifast? sold not foodabout but hunger, a porpreferably to the manager, and Ian individual table hungermassage at the spa?

But hey, IAnd am came a fellow traveller for such you could carry anywhere. start negotiating. alone — can I get two who lived in a metro, away from the clan, and that was the staying time when driven by foreign inI didn’t know this but massages instead?for Wi-fi, I trust, was open toreally experimentation. vestment India was hungering growth. theThis staffindividual at many hotels a fair of will be included.

Umm, be checking brokehas free of amount traditional Maggi’s downfall wasI’ll fated and the out lab on releeway in the rates andattendant freebies that they can Sunday… wethe make it a 5pm checkout food routines and its social codes. ports werecan only trigger.

When people rathhave throw in for polite guests.

And er than questioning noon.” And so on.

He would eatprospective, whenever he liked.

Liberated started the myths of modernity — this especially true standalone hotels speed, Your efficiency worst-caseand is that they will noticons budge, fromisa food culture thatfor previously organised growth — the of that aren’t part big now hospitality chains.

So in which case younaturally just go back your travel his daily life, he of could eat Maggi during modernity would take to a beating.

The you callatthem and transparently the who best portal andof book the way youpopularised have always lunch his desk; a far cry from share the man discourse the poisoned food by rate that youa are gettingsteel online — to “Look, But well, many times you could get a would bring four-deck tiffin officeI done. the global environment movement is fuelled would really toeating stay atand your property but better rate or complimentary or and spend anlike hour sharing it with by the discontents of modernity.upgrades Indians too could you do something awesome And from there is no harm colleagues amid banter. better on the rate?” other will soon startperks. moving fast food in to And you know what, they just might. Not just putting in that little bit was of effort, Allof it healthy choices.

Maggi a partisofthere? the rite India, thisspeed works internationally as well. requires is You. And your Need for passage for a nation thatphone! started embracing I recently called a luxury in IndoMaggi was the veryup promise of resort modernity.

Its global modernity two decades ago. nesia — I hadoffer been monitoring their room ‘two-minute’ caught on not because Indi- rishi piparaiya is the author of Aisle Be Damned rishi@aislebedamned.com dharminder kumar is a Delhi-based journalist rates butlooking hadn’t to booked andback unfortunately ans were save time in the early

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Save the day Raghuram Rajan’s reform measures in the finance ministry are likely to face less vehemence from the Opposition than Jaitley’s ramesh sharma

AGENDA

Role calls How Narendra Modi can use the Sushma Swaraj scandal to rejig his cabinet and put the economy back on track

sambuddha mitra mustafi

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arendra Modi, like most high achievers, has a stellar track record in turning adversity into opportunity. The best example of that is how he turned around his image after the monumental governance failure of the 2002 riots, painting himself as a victim of a liberal witch hunt. Now, facing his first potential scandal as prime minister, Modi needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat. Good thing for him, the rabbit might just be waiting to be pulled out.

If Narendra Modi does not sack Sushma Swaraj over the Lalit Modi saga, he will lose enormous political capital. Having won on the back of an anti-corruption, anti-Congress wave, he will find it difficult to justify Swaraj’s continued presence in the cabinet. The Opposition will keep gunning for him, possibly stall work in Parliament over the issue and paralyse the government much like what the BJP did when it was on the other side of the floor.

If Modi wants to put governance and the economy back on track, which is in his best interests, then he has to ask the foreign minister to leave ‘till an investigation is completed’.

That will give him an opportunity to rejig his cabinet — and that’s when he can pull the rabbit out of the hat by putting Arun Jaitley in the foreign ministry and bringing in Raghuram Rajan as finance minister.

Lutyens insider By most accounts Jaitley has been a disappointment as finance minister, but he remains Modi’s closest confidante and headlines manager. Cynics even claim that he is behind the recent headlines against Swaraj, with whom he has shared an uneasy relationship for long. Notwithstanding his disappointing stint at North Block, Jaitley will have to be given a ministry of suitable importance as a face-saver. And what can be better for the suave lawyer than the foreign ministry?

As finance minister, Jaitley has often looked like a fish out of water. His rambling, stopstart interim budget speech last July set the

tone for a mediocre performance over one ministry is the biggest conflict of interest for year. Economist Swaminathan Aiyar called it a the Indian economy.

‘Chidambaram budget with saffron lipstick’.

The bold reforms and vision that were expect- Battering ram ed of a Modi budget were missing even in the In the rarefied Lutyens world, the Sushma first full budget this February.

Swaraj-Lalit Modi conflict of interest case is as The reason Jaitley was made finance minis- common as red beacon cars. Unfortunately for ter — leapfrogging candidates like Arun Shou- Swaraj, her emails were leaked and one news rie with better domain expertise — was that channel in particular went to town demandJaitley was seen as somebody who could rally ing her resignation. But the larger problem is bipartisan consensus around key reforms and the manner in which big business connects to help the passage of controversial bills. But big politics in an over-regulated environment. that theory has not worked. In fact, since he Unfortunately, none of the conversations durled the BJP’s opposition to reforms such as the ing the present scandal have focused on that.

GST Bill during the UPA regime, having Jaitley If Modi is serious about his goal of signifias finance minister firmly recantly improving the ease of doduces the government’s moral ing business in India, then he authority to get these bills must first take on the enpassed considerably. trenched interests in Lutyens — By most accounts And there have been comtop bureaucrats, judges and polJaitley has been a pletely avoidable slip-ups: the iticians — who perpetuate the disappointment as Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) crony system. And to break this finance minister, demand spooked foreign invesnexus, he needs a battering ram but he remains Modi’s tors and went completely from outside the Lutyens circlosest confidante against the Modi government’s cuit: someone like Rajan. and headlines claim that it will stay away from Apart from his domain expermanager the ‘tax terrorism’ of UPA. The tise and the outsiders’ perspecnew income tax return form, tive, Rajan will bring immense which seeks to know details of moral heft to the finance minisexpenditure on foreign travel, try. The Opposition, particularly for example, was another big faux pas, which the Congress, which appointed him Reserve again pointed at an adversarial tax regime and Bank of India governor, will find it difficult to unnecessary regulation. challenge Rajan’s reform measures with the If the Modi government was elected to get same vehemence they do Jaitley’s. rid of Lutyens Delhi’s champagne socialist For Modi and the BJP to deliver on the skyhangover, then the insider Arun Jaitley is clear- high pre-election promises, bold reforms are ly the wrong person to administer that reme- needed. The Swaraj scandal is the perfect opdy. Lutyens derives its power from an portunity for Modi to move the underperenvironment of over-regulation that fosters forming Jaitley out to the foreign ministry cronyism and rent-seeking, cripples fearless and put the economy back on track. That can innovation and scuppers big ideas. Jaitley is only help his government and the people of too much a part of that rent-seeking Lutyens this country. There is certainly no conflict of class (just check out his record at the helm of interest there. the Delhi cricket association) to truly break sambuddha mitra mustafi is the founder of this stifling system.

To put it in one line, Jaitley in the finance The Political Indian tsome_buddha

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being a fly on the wall. Of course, Rakesh describes what he sees and hears, and does so with both precision and poetry. But what makes his pen-portraits of encounters with people so appealing is that he is always present in them: a quiet, sometimes surprised, occasionally irritable interlocutor.

The muscular old boatman who rows him across the Bhopal lake, for instance, only gradually acquires a personality — and Rakesh describes the process with charming transparency: “We had been addressing him as ‘Boatman’. At the end of his recitation of Ghalib I asked him his name. “My name is Abdul Jabbar Pathan,” he replied, emphasising the surname Pathan.” When Rakesh says to Abdul Jabbar, “I would not have expected somebody your age to enjoy romantic poetry,” he is being candid about his own youthful tactlessness. Later, when Abdul Jabbar says he has “sworn off carnal desires”, and asks if they have the time to listen to “something different”, Rakesh again lets us in on his eyeroll: “I thought we were in for Sufi preaching”, before telling us how wrong he was.

While it does not consciously seek to locate itself in time, To the Farthest Rock is charged with a post-independence melancholy. There Churning the market Milk Mantra sources, processes and markets milk and dairy products, mainly in Odisha Not going to waste Banyan Green Fuels raised ₹1 crore is with support from Intellecap Impact Investment the teenager travelling ticketless, who deand other eastern parts of the country courtesy: aavishkaar Network to procure equipment that process crop residuescribes to replace hiscoal life’s Partition upheavals with not a glimmer of complaint. The many unemployed young men Rakesh meets in Kerala are perhaps the strongest indicator of the national mood: an English-speaking, Sanskrit-reciting beggar; the jobless ‘debating society’ that gathers at Tellicherry’s railway station.

But even those who have jobs seem to have all the time in the world. Perhaps this is what the world was like in the 1950s, or perhaps it would still be like this if we were to only try getting on a train without a hotel booking or a return ticket. From the middle-class Karvakar, who persuades him to stay a night in Vasco, in Staying afloat The black-and-white sketches by Trinankur Banerjee add an attractive new layer of his house, to the labourer Govindan who leavimagery to the farthest rock es his work to show Rakesh a coffee plantation, locals seem to go out of their way to spend time with him. Perhaps because Rakesh seems genuinely interested in their lives — from the young man who has decided not to marry “to avoid changes in his and his mothhe aim was to lend a helping hand to vestments. Family businesses, foundations, er’s peaceful routine”, to the travelling salesentrepreneurs promoting financial venture capitalists and even private equity man whose work keeps him away from his inclusion in India. The year was firms are making a beeline for social enter- wife and child, the less he asks of people, the 2004 and Rajiv Lall, Vishal Mehta prises. “The overall ecosystem in India has de- more they confide in him. But he also capand Venky Natarajan were trying to raise their veloped well in the last decade. In terms of tures, with quiet poignancy, the experience of first fund. They first approached high net- ideas, investment, action on ground, and even linguistic alienness. enterprise Engineering worth individuals (HNIs), but met with no the low- and middle-income population Sunrise The mention of Vortex language brings me to what manufactures low-cost, solar-powered ATMs for rural luck. Back then, most HNIs were willing to put (which require these services), the only com- is perhaps the most attractive thing about this aavishkaar areas courtesy: the age of 27, quit investhis re- way money in teither charity or having commercial Rakesh holds out against the says temptation parable country would be China,” Anurag book: the writing.

I have not read the Hindi Hindi ments butcently-acquired never mixed theposition two. The as next best to hold forth. is a definite Agrawal, CEO ofThere Intellecap, a socialauthorial advisory original, but in Satti Khanna’s excellent renteacher at banks, the Bishop Cotton school bet was multilateral and in 2005-06 the voice here: observant, sensitive, and open to dering, firm working in developing markets in Asia ment officer and feels executive director of the language crisp even when the Shimla,managed Mohan Rakesh decided experience. But trio’s LokinCapital to his refusal to marshal author- thought and Africa.

Aavishkaar Management Services. are is Venture meditative.

The descriptions to travel.

Here is how hemillion describes it: “I had ity — either journalistic raise its first fund of $22 or writerly is what Lok Capital’s Mehta— has ob- crystal-clear, The secondnever phase,indulgent explains Mehta, involved with imagery. long wanted to travel by coastal roads along makes this served for social enterprises. an unusual trav- growth in applying the microcredit a consistent basicitserWhen theremodel is an to image, is theThe sea.country Sometimes I had time, had just four or sometimes elogue. It is not Rakesh thethat number of isn’t social entrepre- vices for low-income groups.

Thatrose included memorable.

“Waves from money, but seldom both together. re- figuring five impact investors willing to Then interested in neurs places,as orwell history, or as investors in the low-cost education and healthcare, models for the water like sharks.”

Or when WeIwere signed frombusinesses my teaching job and time fund social — producart; itcan is ratherlast thatdecade. he is more in- the first the agriculture During sector anda environment, and describing spontaneous haroutand if aaventure It is cennot that To the little money became available.

I set out the terested, ing goods and services for underin people. phase, the early years of this soRakesh on. “In thismonica second phase, more entreprecompetition on a befor sustainable whilealways, Farthest Rock isn’t interested in seacoast immediately.” served regions or the middleto There is no ‘point’ to this book tury, it was all about discovering neurs were willing to take risks and test the steamer from Goa to Mangadoing good for Mohan Rakesh places, or social It was December 1952.With To the low-income population. itsFarthest Rock, except as thewhether travel the diary of a phenomenon of so-or history, model (of think contest we are lore,enterprises). he writes: I “The Translated by society art; is rather he phase Satti Khanna translated from Rakesh’s first fund, Lok Capital had Aakhiri joined Chattan Tak, young writer.cial It goes where hewas de- real enterprises oritnot, stillthat in that it isquality unclear how shiftedwhere from the of playHarperCollins is more interested, details his three-month journey along India’s cides to go, and this unique league of investors. much ofincluded it un- establish- many sectors will he says.

That adopt this,” heof adds. ing to the volume ovation.” ₹299 western coast, starting withMore a train ride from folds as everyday Fast forward to 2015: ing anconversations impact investmentalways, mod- in people The black-and-white sketches Delhi endinghave in Kanyakumari. between strangers, than to 30Bombay, impact and investors trains, in out if you Slowly spreading el. “We on were figuring by light Trinankur Banerjee add an Rakesh went on to become major Hindi writ- boats, cumulatively pumped $1.6abillion into more in hotels, or just walking while doing Acumen Indiaattractive could make a venture sustainable Country Director Mahadenew layerAjit of imagery. er — his are the Delhi-set than 300best-known enterprises works and funds across finan- around village.and It has in phase of ex- van agrees that good forasociety, thatlittle was the while the initial investSatti Khanna’s ‘PS’slew — a of wondernovel Andhere Bandh Kamre, and the plays Adhe cial inclusion, agribusiness, healthcare, edu- common with the judgmental autending microcredit.” ments have been the MFI space, there is now ful infeature of HarperCollins’ Adhure, ka Ekenergy, Din andaccording Lehron ke Rajhans, cation Ashadh and clean to the dacity of a similar over travelogue written a translations Not surprisingly, 50 per cent of allbyimalso a focus on like healthcare and edu— sectors insightfully locates Rakesh in all regarded as 20th-century classics. At the young Impact Investors Council.

Indian man pact investments soat farthe hasstart beenofinhis thewriting micro- the cation.

Butliterary the process has been slow. another Hindi context, and adds time he made this journey, though, he had career: Mishra’s Butter Chicken in Lud- visual financePankaj sector, with the top 15 MFIs accounting Nityanand Agrawal, MD among and CEO of Banyan layer: photographs, which I was published one book of stories: Insan ke hiana.

Do-goodersonly do profit Thecent sympathetic, observational tone delighted for 87 per of all investments in the sector.

Green Fuels it firsthand.

When he Ashk. starttoknows discover one of Rakesh with Khandahar.

With high-profile professionals chucking lu- put“MFI me is more in mind of model.

Upendranath Ashk’s It a cookie-cutter For investors, edmade working carbon origination in for a on perfect end credit to a book of companBut reading book, oneenterprises does not often crative jobs tothis start social and 1940 short story also setbecause in a train the MFI space is a‘Furlough’, low-hanging fruit of ionable 2005, heconversations. was unable to raise any funds. feel one is reading 27-year-old.

If anyHNIsthat turning bullish on athe sector, India has compartment, a decade or so before the scale it offers.

That makes it easyRakesh. to repli“Investors and people interested in cutting is a writer in Delhi thing, is anasadmirable maturity in the rapidlythere emerged the nucleus of impact in- cate There no pretence here ofP,neutrality, of trisha andisgrow,” says Pradeep chief investcarbongupta emissions are and verycritic few.based Barring the ce-

Fund of goodwill

High-profile professionals are chucking fancy jobs to start social enterprises and high-networth investors are bullish on businesses producing goods and services for lowincome groups. India is rapidly emerging as the nucleus of impact investments

Travelling light

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An impeccable translation of the Hindi writer Mohan Rakesh’s travelogue Aakhiri Chattan Tak brings 1950s India vividly to life

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Plant power Banyan Green Fuels supplies biomass fuel to cement companies around Kalaburagi, Karnataka

Anurag Agrawal, CEO of Intellecap

Villages do IT RuralShores, backed by Lok Capital, takes BPO jobs and training to the hinterland

ment industry, which is mandated by the govAcumen’s Mahadevan prefers not to look at ernment to reduce carbon footprint, most profitable exits as the motive behind impact people are not motivated to participate in the investment. “Our philosophy is to provide soprocess. They don’t want to invest in supply cial entrepreneurs with patient capital. It chain for alternative fuels. So we need people takes time, and length (of investment) is very who are looking at impact investment,” says important,” he says.

Agrawal. He tried hard to convince banks and His fund has invested in start-ups like solar other commercial lending institutions. energy company d.light and WaterHealth In“They need collaterals, hypothecation and ternational (taking safe and affordable water so on. And most venture capital funds want to solutions to the underserved). Both compainvest in telecom, IT, real estate, e-commerce nies have become prominent players, with and quick-to-grow businesses,” he adds. Not their models replicated in other countries. surprisingly, environment, sanitation, educa“Unlike most funds, our investment aims tion and healthcare failed to grab attention. not for the returns alone but the setting up of Finally, in 2012, Agrawal managed to raise ₹1 organisations that will eventually serve the crore with support from Intellecap Impact In- poor in the six sectors we are in,” he says. Acuvestment Network (I3N), an angel network fo- men’s focus areas are agriculture, education, cusing on social enterprises. “We have energy, healthcare, housing and water. procured equipment for crop residue processing to replace coal. We are supGreat Indian bazaar plying this biomass fuel to A likely reason for fewer exits is cement companies around Gulthe relative nascence of the secbarga (Kalaburagi) in Karnatator, he says. “Our capital cycle is ka,” says the Banyan Fuels chief. seven to 10 years and we are nearOur investment aims The company is expanding caing an end of that cycle. Now we not for returns alone pacity and has turned profitcan exit in some years after these but the setting up of able, showing that social enterprises are stable.” organisations that enterprises too can succeed if Pradeep points out that social will eventually serve funded on time. enterprises have to get the executhe poor in the six tion and business model right as sectors we are in Patience pays dividend they mostly cater to remote or inOn the flip side, however, social terior regions and a different catenterprises seem a little slow in egory of clientele. “Once you get giving exit opportunities to init right, then you keep scaling up. vestors. According to an I3N report in 2014, so Finding the right button is important, and it far there have been only 15 exits at a premium. may take time,” he says by way of explaining Of these, 10 were in the MFI space while the the slow growth of some social enterprises. rest involved livelihood, agri-business and While the growth may have been slow, it is clean energy. Individual investors, however, steady for sure. The National Association of Soclaim a different set of numbers. “We have cial Enterprises (NASE) was set up in April 2012 made 19 exits, of which 13 have been profit- as a networking platform for policymakers, inable. The others have not been as good, but it vestors and academia. Under NASE, founders has been a good learning,” says Aavishkaar’s of social enterprises meet twice a month to Pradeep. The gross return at 2.9 times is fairly share experiences and gain insights. competitive, he adds.

And that’s time well spent. After all, with 40 Mehta says Lok Capital has made nearly 25 per cent of Indians in the low-income categoinvestments and seven exits so far. “I don’t ry, worth $450 billion in demand, it is a huge think I would say that exits have been low market, says Intellecap’s Agrawal. “People are compared to the private equity model in the also looking at alternative markets, and not last 10 years. It is a new space and requires everyone is going after the rich guy in Mummore time.” As for profitability of exits, “in the bai,” he adds. financial inclusion space, these are fairly rashmi pratap handsome profits,” he adds.

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Pradeep P, chief investment officer and executive director of Aavishkaar Venture Management Services

Nityanand Agrawal, MD and CEO of Banyan Green Fuels

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saturday, june 20,20, 2015 saturday, june 2015

PRESENT IMPERFECT

Om one, Om two, Om three, look elsewhere With the shiny lycra and rippling abs, yoga had become a thing of beauty; it is high time it CUB READS to the preserve of the inept and ungainly returned

A8out a 8oy and a cat

A first-rate book that deals with the dark side of war through numbers; and a detective who smells something fishy

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umbers don’t lie. They reveal more than they important observers in times of war. Anne Frank’s The Dihide. Numbers are “polite and well man- ary of a Young Girl is not only a poignant coming-of-age nered”, they don’t overpower you with emo- tale, but it is also a tragic account of a Jewish person hidtions. Take the case of the Sri Lankan civil war ing from Nazi persecution. In Aamir Bashir’s film Harud, — it raged on for 26 years, resulting in one lakh casual- young Rafiq constantly wonders about the omnipresties and nearly one lakh Internally Displaced Persons ence of the army in his life in Kashmir. The Boy in Masila(IDPs). The economic costs of the war? The island-na- mani’s tale is also a haunting voice of his generation. It tion’s military spending climbed from 1.3 per cent of the is telling that the author originally wrote the story forStrike a pose Baba GDP in 1983 to 3.5 by 2008. The number of military per- his children, Kethaki and Mandeep. Curious and con-Ramdev and sonnel increased 10 times, from 22,000 to 2,13,000. The fused, the Boy wades through life under war, whose mo-Manohar Lal effects of the war have been estimated at annual average tive remains unclear to him. As his Island trudgesKhattar, chief minister ofTh3 Haryana, 8OY WHO of nine per cent of the GDP. Numbers spell out the hor- towards peace, a realisation dawns on the Boy: The num-at a yoga camp in 1N NUM83R5 5P3AK5 rors of war too. bers never add up in a war, no matter which side isPanchkulaMike this week Masilamani But that’s not our story, not entirely. Mike Masilama- counting. But in the Island of Short Memories, an uglyakhilesh kumar Art: Matthew Frame Tara Books ni’s debut novel, Th3 8oy who 5p3ak5 1n num83r5 (that is old tree is flowering again, with a “bittersweet and long₹950 not a typo), is a darkly comic tale about will confess I am thrilled by the yogathe dik-war Iseen It universe is blooming with was anforgotten interloperscent”. in this of the at-questions. ba Ramdev on television, except for the day through eyesthat of awe young Thetold Boy that grows the tat.the Now havelad. been allup in tractive.

When the instructor told us to when he showed us that a salwar kameez and shadow of the Civil of Lies, his Small Village Indians mustWar either do fleeing suryanamaskars Case Files PI Pojo and perfectly a 12-inch long beard don’t go together. So breathe The deeply into ourofchakras, hat do you get when me you tightcombineimagine the greymy cells of Fat Hopes, finding a temporary the Innocent or jump into the sea (or washome it go toatPakisproportioned diaphragms around surprise when I first saw the picPoirot, the energy Holmes, and Deceived Persons land to where ev- it took allofI Hercule tan?

The threats pile(IDPs) up socamp. fast, itInisahard ened, had to hold my breath soofI Sherlock tures of Information and Broadcasting minischeek oftears.

Frederick Algernon Trotteville akaPrakash Fatty andJavadekar. Wearing a striped eryone speaksI am in colour “yellow andembrace loud” — thewouldn’t boy the keep track), finally — ready to fully burst into ter snooping of Harriet the Spy?I A super-detective, knows onlyancient the language of numbers.

He digs our wise, heritage.

I tried yoga oncehis nose By thethe time the nextskills session rolled around, T-shirt and track pants, in the first photo, Javaobviously.

Well, you Ialso when he thinks, andwas he is thinking.

He makes and the experience soalways traumatic, I would was slightly better prepared. wokeget upPrivate earlier, Investigator dekar wasPojo sitting on a yoga mat laid out on a aka coffee, Prataptook Pande.

What youmy need about PI friends with the Constantly Cow. “Dried have happily jumped into a Complaining shark-filled sea. drank more some caredo with ap- to know lawn. It did nothing to me. In the second, he loves pancakes puzzles. movedon the ground, arms akimbo, his fish After 980 Rupees!

Amoo! Sugar 300 Rupees! many months of almost setting Chilli my powdpearancePojo? andHe picked the best and clothes thatHe has wasjust sprawled toflaws. the prestigious, school eralarm, 100 Rupees,” cow incessantly whines almostthe waking up and almost leaving camouflaged my many But preparedHogwarts-like as I legs a blur so that the track pants looked like a Heathcote International.

He has few about the rising prices, “from the grip of on a was for all the meditative my house, when I found myself at six beauty around me, I mermaid’s tail, and his face contorted in one but carries secret dossiers on the the war”. In his world, teashops havedoor beento the could barely get any friends, Wednesday morning opening the yoga done. of those ugly grimaces which I replaced checkpoints. top-rated’ The vocabulary ‘highly by recommended yoga of studio “Raise your hands entire above school the — juniors, seniors, teachers suppose appear you’re trying The CaseifFiles Told lightly it is still a andinstrucgardeners. He has a trusty backpack of P.I. Pojofun to photogboisterous colours has given a sin- I’d head,” I would hear the in Gurgaon, my first worryway wastowhether to make yoga look withering account of Killing of to put it sima lifelong gle — Impossible.

Impossible biteword off someone’s head because there to wasn’t tor say, “and with yourand eyes firm- (okay, 13 years) experience in raphers. ItThe was, well, Mr Heathcote The combined body the “wholesale” speak, question Told of lightly time to ingest or theplay. amount coffeeand that is ly closed, stretch updetection and then(his mom and dad make detecply, not sexy at all.

Then came the Meghna Singhee fat in the room was business of war even humorously, it is still able a withering ac- the forward and all the tive mandatory before I am to tolerate wayshows!). down He has oodles of curiosity but images ofPuffin Manohar Lal Khattar less than that in a can no sidekick. count of the business war. I walk- until your palms are presence of“wholesale” another living being.of When on the His case file is full, but his payand Baba₹199 Ramdev. They seem to of skimmed milk mentslike area due — bags of bananas, chips Th3in8oy who 5p3ak5 1n Num83r5, which ed though, what annoyed me was how at- floor.” At this, my mind be resting on slightly raised baked was seveneveryone years in the tractive was.making, started out greedy dog in a bakeryand would go, goodies. If you are in trouble, haunches, their tongues hanghead to “goodhis makeshift office. Visiting hours: as a Ishort and then grew of intoaunties, a play. Now, a su- look had story expected a bunch withit is“wow, at straight her waist,” ing out. With my limited experito 4.30pm. perbly 92-page novel.

Early in theand book, Masitheir illustrated dupattas tied around their waists ness, his2pm biceps are literally ripence, I am not sure what asana it When precious school catround Mr Heathcote lamani issuestoa keep warning tobellies his readers, at any point in “that struggling their from “If flopping pling,” bellythe button is a perfectly is, but —it really is nothing like the upward dog I’d thea symbol of everything Heathcote stands for — mystethe following storyOn you to feel dizzy, outthe of breath, over their knees. theare contrary, this was innie, like mischievous, itinerant full stop”. conjured up. By the time we are done with the riously dies, Pojotheir smells something This of wasthe a Yoga Day celebrations tomorlight-headed, of The the growing suspicion abode of thedisoriented, lithe and theand lean. combined When others were doing breathing exer- fishy. telecast And the game is afoot. flaunts a substantial that you lost,room it’s probably body fatare in the was less true.” than that in a can cise, all Imurder. could manage was to not starePojo for too row, which I am certain will have many images arsenal of detection fromone, acquiring sidekicks and novel is milk. set inEveryone a terrifying world, painted ofThe skimmed had tied up their in vivid long at one person’s stomach.—“Om Om of septuagenarian RSS members in khaki walls to eavesdropping and breaking in. The yellows andinreds, and echoing with uncomfortable shiny hair the perfectly messy ponytail, they two, Omclimbing three, look elsewhere,” I barely manshorts attempting the pawan muktasan, I’ll be journeyintakes him every vast questions no onesports wantsbras to answer.

The Island wore colourful under stretchy topsof Short aged oneensuing anulom-viloom peace.

Byto the timecorner ableoftothe view the exercise with ice-cold dispasschool, into the charming townmornof Panchgani and trouble even with the western world and Memories andteacher’s the Small Village of Fat Hopes are notitdisand, on the instruction, when everywas shavasan, a veritable reel of early sion. The to a godman’s holybe ashram.

Wasinthere a murder? Is India holding on to yoga the tant an imagined land; they are close oneplaces closedintheir eyes and ‘focused inwards’ forto home ing pornography would playing my even English-speaking Mrtight Heathcote alive? ina Sri Lankaalland Jaffna.

Soldiers the All minute, I could doThe wasLittle gape Tin around and aremind. abs and stretchy lycra. It was last few decades was that they managed to This novel packed with plucky kids, surly fighters of LTTE, lookout for new recruits.

Ketbe amazed at on thethe ungooped mascara in the Thetorture.

I lasted twoisweeks before I decided makegardeners it look awesome. If the unattractive atIn Pratap Pande,yoga, we it was only behind closed tleperfect Camplids is the country’s army, ruthlessly runningthat thethe and fluttering mildly around me. With fees absent-minded I’d paid was notteachers. worth this, and Pojo tempted getifa Ifine detective with penchant mysterwar camps.out Thefrom Reducing Roll Callbraid, at the camps myand hairthe sticking last night’s that even could manage toacontort myfor solving doors. It’s high time we reined it back into the ies.some Not like a discerning Feluda but a more refinedofTeniismy a bitter as are the White and Tricky face truth, set in the vicious scowlVan of Widows the underbody into of those poses, my mind cerpreserve the inept and the unsightly. da.not Only wishfor the bookSowas 50 pages Traders, who turn deprivation into opportunity. caffeinated and what is indubitably a muffin tainly was wired yoga.

I gave up. shorter. t@veenavenugopal Wespilling tend to forget thatwaist children the most vultop above the bandare of often my tights, Cut to the present. I had never watched Banerable in conflict. But they are also some of the most priyanka kotamraju

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Veena Venugopal is editor BLink and authortara of The Mother-in-Law source: books

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UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

Freedom to love The moment I understood my obligations to my friend, I understood the fight for gay rights like never before

stas enso/shutterstock

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

ometimes you become aware of your blindness only by chance, especially when the blindness is related to your privilege of being ‘normal.’ As a heterosexual male in a society dominated by heterosexual males, and whose rules are defined as such, I have had to devote very little thought to issues of physical attraction, except wonder why I was so bad at the games of courtship and affection. I was aware of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, but only at a theoretical and academic level. The one story I had done on the issue was linked to the Hindi film Dostana, and it referenced only how gay men became best friends to straight women.

Then, one day, while at dinner with old friends, I was told that one of them was gay. In all the years I had known him, he had never mentioned it, but now he had met somebody.

They liked each other, and he wanted to introduce this person to us, and us to him. He wanted to sit with the object of his affection among friends, have dinner, tell bad jokes, and laugh at life’s little inanities. He no longer wished to hide this intimate part of his life from us — his friends. My first and immediate reaction was guilt. Maybe there are more appropriate responses, but mine was to scan my memory for all that I had said in his presence. It had never crossed my mind that anyone in my close circle of friends was gay, and in the many years we had sat and talked, joked and exchanged stories, I must have said something that

would have been offensive. treated you as a friend, with respect.

Our vocabulary is so full of insults to those At the end of the day how you deal with a who are not ‘mainstream.’ We throw around friend is a question of honour, of values, of terms like ‘pansy’ to mean weak or ineffectual, how you too would like to be treated by your we talk of ‘limp-wristed responses,’ or use in- friend in return. sults like gaandu, all of which are, in one way I know that I would like my friend to stand or another, a form of stating up for me. I know that if things that anybody who displays any were unfair, I would like my friend seemingly ‘gay traits’ is to be to try and correct that. I know that I despised or dismissed. In all would want my friend, whatever the years that we had sat and My friend deserved to the differences in our class, backjoked, when the pressures of live his life as fully as I ground, positions, to treat me as an did mine political correctness did not equal. And in this list of things I untie me down, I must have said derstood my obligations to my something offensive. I could friend in ways that I had never benot remember. These terms fore understood the fight for gay are a big part of our daily rights. I understood that my friend speech, my daily speech, and I could not re- deserved to live his life as fully as I did mine, member, and that shamed me more. I could and that he should not have to think twice benot undo the insulting behaviour of my past, fore spending time with his friends, and with but I vowed nothing of that sort would leave the person he loved, that he should have the my lips again, either in his presence or any freedom to choose who to love, and who not other person’s. to, and that those who would deny him the Maybe it was in that moment, sharpened to rights allowed to me must be resisted, and if I crystal clear accuracy by my guilt, that I under- did not fight for these things for him, I did not stood instinctively what the LGBT movement have the right to call him my friend. is about. All that I have read about biology, leAnd, to be honest, I was also just a little regality and anthropology do not illuminate the lieved. One of our mutual friends, who I would question of how a friend responds to such a one day ask to marry me, had always been very situation, of what it means to try and remem- impressed with this friend, and I had been just ber unintended insults, to be humiliated by a bit intimidated. the thought of how you have behaved towards someone you thought of as a friend, and who tOmairTAhmad

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Script is hero So far, 2015 in Bollywood has been defined by the doom of big-budget productions and the rise of smaller films with big hearts, brave stories and very smart writing

Number game At 50, and four years senior to Daniel Craig, Monica Bellucci is the oldest Bond heroine andrew medichini/ap

FILM FATALE

Too old to be seen with?

Age remains a dirty word for women in commercial cinema worldwide, despite occasional flashes of liberalism anna mm vetticad

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n an ideal world, being a Bond ‘girl’ would not be seen as a fillip to the filmography of an established, talented actress.

This is not an ideal world though. Today’s reality is that mass-targeted cinema is still largely focused on male characters and while age is not a disadvantage for major male stars, even the fittest of fine actresses are sidelined much earlier in their lives than men.

In this scenario, the next James Bond film Spectre and Dil Dhadakne Do (DDD) merit a discussion. Hollywood sprung a surprise on us just months back with the announcement that Monica Bellucci will play Bond’s romantic interest in Spectre. At 50, Bellucci is the oldest actress toilmmaker get that role, according to Western Navdeep Singh’s thriller media reports, andsupposed she is eventofour years NH10 was reach us older three than heryears co-star Craig, ago.Daniel But that waswhich not towould be. It not be news-worthy information but for was 10 days away from going on the fact that a premium is placed onPinto female youth floors — at the time with Freida and not in glamourSharma industries Anushka — worldwide. when the producers Herethe in India, it was should not have made news pulled plug. It especially confusing for that Bollywood AnilSharma Kapoor was playing a the film’s writerstar Sudip as those who grey-haired, 50-plusclaimed father of read his screenplay to grown-up love it. Butchiljust dren in DDD.toBut it did,it.because senior not enough produce “Everyone keptmale sayactors tend to play much ing it isina India fantastic script andcharacters has to get made. younger real age.I didn’t While know Kapoor deThat was than moretheir frustrating. what serves hePeople is getting evolving beelse tothe do kudos with it. hadfor serious issues yond that,violence it’s telling thatfilm. naryAlso, a whimper has with the in the it was diffibeen about athe castingproject. of a much cult toraised put together non-hero Womyounger Shefali his wife. to pull off, en-centric filmsShah areasdifficult Because one Teamthat DDDisseems to be a progresespecially certified adult at the sive lot,level. it is more important thantoever ask: script But Navdeep stuck histoguns. was actress Kapoor’s ageorfound This no film had toofdisturb you, else itsuitable was no for that role? use,” says Sudip. The well-intentioned suggestAllow me to gettobriefly literal matheions by financiers place an itemand number in matical to illustrate my point.

Shah 42 and the midst of a Haryanvi village to istake the Kapoor according various online edge off is the58, honour killingstowere particularly sources.

In the bothersome forfilm, him.they are parents to a girl and played by 32-year-old Priyanka ChoForboy Sharat Katariya, the writer-director of pra 29-year-old If Shah was Dumand Laga ke HaishaRanveer (DLKH), Singh. the wait was even really mother screen, she would have longer.their It took himoff barely a month to write been 10 at herlove daughter’s and 13 when this charming story of birth an overweight girl her was born. andson a lanky boy inBiologically Haridwar, you but know seven that’s years

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a stretch, legally of course this would mean In interviews I’ve done with them over the kids born out of wedlock or in a child mar- years, both Kamal Haasan and Salman Khan riage. You could have dismissed these calcula- insisted they are merely giving in to audience tions as fussy and silly if it weren’t for the fact demands by acting with younger heroines. that the screenplay writer is clearly not oblivi- But how can you claim viewers have made a ous to this matter and makes a subtle effort to choice, when you almost never give them that justify the casting by pointedly assigning the choice? And if the audience does indeed make following ages to the four principal charac- a regressive choice, could you at least have the ters: Dad 52, Mum 48, kids mid-20s. courage to claim helplessness rather than enWhen reports earlier emerged that 48-year- dorse their illiberal view? old Madhuri Dixit-Nene and 51-year-old Sridevi Unlike several Hollywood heavyweights, InBreaking the formula (Clockwise from left) Sharat Katariya had to wait had turned down Shah’s role,seven the years media was dian rarelyManu beenReturns critical of this to make Dum Lagaactresses ke Haisha;have Tanu Weds is that critical of them. The two “got phenomenon, partly because not every womrare queasy” sequel thatand surpasses the original; NH10 found no producers for three Shah “has taken up the chalyears because of its woman-centric plotan is convinced of the need for lenge”, said a report in a leading gender justice, but mostly befar 2015 has been deto find someone to realise potential. When expected successes. national daily. A dear film its critic cause it So is risky for them to queshe didisget down tothat making doomthe of big-budget friend of the view “Mad-it, much had fined by the tion status quoBollywood in their changed.

To have his male protagonist run an Team productions and the rise of these smaller huri was being un-adventurous” respective male-dominated inBecause DDD hearts, (which smart writing brave audioher cassette shopBut in 2015 obviously defied with decision. no one are, let’sand admit it, seems tofilms be a with bigdustries logic.asked So heeding his creative Mastories.

It’s only June and we’ve seen some inhas if any Bollywood di-producer even worse than Hollywood). progressive lot, it is scripts inNot DLKH, NH10, Badlapur,feminists Court, Pineesh Sharma’s suggestion, he turned it into a spired rector would have dared to offer that gentleman more important than ku and Tanu Weds Manu Returns film role set inof thePriyanka early ’90s.and During the Ranhave it easy.

It has been four years ever to ask: was no this period Katariya (TWMR).

That’s more thanthen we veer’s father of to wait, John Abraham since Prithviraj Sukumaran, actress of Kapoor’s in an all interview of 2014, which subhad other writing (who is the same assignments age as Shah), age found suitable for 29,got gave to Asianet like Bheja Fry and Titliisthat rathercalled dismal Akshay Kumar (who lesskept than injected whichus heto bravely onstohis that role? rytelling.

Thoseinwho need a He also an ahim yearafloat. younger thandirected Dixit-Nene) colleagues the MalayaMore than talent, you senior inconspicuous filmwho called reminder of how low it and had or the three Khans all 10 hitML 50 lam film industry, Mohanlal need patience to sunk, think Jackson Love.year.

As for DLKH, there were ofthis to Action “start playing survive. You have to Mammooty, where Sonakshi Sinha’s fers to turn for it into a telefilm, Longevity female stars is age”.

Fans of bothcharacstars, keep playing. You just their but a like Navdeep Singh, tohe ter constantly peeks down her not favour being granted them,have but every gender chauvinists and status-quo-ists are still to stick around — Ajay Devgn’s pants bedidn’t sell The moral ofworld the is guilty major filmout. industry in the on Katariya skewering himco-actor for the comments.

Sharat she believes brings her story, says though Katariya, is toare believe this front, some worse than others.

Speaking upcause is always a lonelyitbusiness at goodmore luck. men and women in Inyour andare wait tillactresses given first. It is time India,script not only older That said,worldwide there’s no for telling if someone elsebydoes too. “More limited roles producers and writers, but ol- slammed film industries turnthanheroes talent,want you need patience successes coming but close der to romance heroines young ing age into a these dirty word for actresses a to survive.

Youtheir havedaughters. to keep playing. day badge on the of heels of each good enough to be It’s as ifOne actresshonour forother men.isNo, it istiming not a or biga you’ll a are loose andbeing you’llseen hit aorsix.

You deal sign of theaindustry placing its bets superies theirget age notball worth worth that 50-year-old woman willon romance or content.

“This year looks because the just have towith. stick around.” being seen Bond.

And no, Madhuri wasweird not being “un-adonly films that seem toDDD; be working the Fortunately for both Katariya Sudip, the venturous” In his last three films, Tamil and legend Rajiniby rejecting she was are simply wait paid The years that Sonakshi lapsed between small what ones. any Butsensible these things change week to kanth has off. starred opposite Sinha, doing male star of her statuweek. the scripting and filming dilute the relwho is 36 years his junior,didn’t Anushka Shetty (31 re andTomorrow age wouldyou’ll do. have the next big sumevanceyounger), of their stories. films were years DeepikaBoth Padukone (age slow gap: mer blockbuster and everybody will say ‘mamm vetticad is theLet’s author The Adventures sala movies are back. doofanother one of starters the Aishwarya box office but up pace 35 years)atand Rai picked Bachchan (age anna an Intrepid FilmSudip.

Critic t@annavetticad these’,” warns But he admits that the through word of mouth, and turned into un- of gap: 23 years).

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Getting even with god and men

also an associate director. This is acknowledgement that the film is as much his as it is director Aanand L Rai’s. In fact, Rai has directed all three of his scripts, Tanu Weds Manu, Raanjhanaa and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. “The best part is that he (Rai) lets me write the genre that I want to work on. I started with Tanu, after that I felt like working on a tragedy, so I wrote Raanjhana. Normally directors come up with a story or a genre. They’ll say, ‘I feel like making an action film.’ But what if I don’t feel like writing one. With Rai, he makes only what I write,” he explains.

After a “terrible, terrible” experience early on in his career, Sudip realised the best way to ensure creative freedom is to work with a director who shares his aesthetic. He found that in Navdeep Singh a few years ago. They were both out of jobs but brimming with ideas. Together they wrote a couple of scripts, none of which got made.

Now that NH10 has finally released, and to good results, the other scripts will soon take off as well. After DLKH, Katariya has struck the much-coveted three-film deal with Yash Raj Studios. But he’s had his share of misfortunes.

“In one film I wrote I was credited as a screenplay writer when I had just written the dialogues. Trust me, Full house The audience has shown its appreciation by packing cinema halls (reuters / danish siddiqui) showing films with smart scripts written by nobody would want credit Himanshu Sharma; Juhi Chaturvedi (shashi ashiwal) and Sudip Sharma (paul noronha) for that film. There have also been many times where I’ve watched a film and felt, critical acclaim and box-office ratings do help and she must have gone to ‘This is not what I wrote’. You writers like him push the envelope.

Spain, and that shows in our have to be brave. It happens iniwork,” he says. tially because you don’t know people No one to everyone Second, these films had stories that well,” he says.

Merry-making The The running joke on the sets of DLKH was that that were simple, true to life In the end, it can take just one men dominate the the joy of making a film that no one was going and rooted. “Suddenly in the Salman Khan release on Eid, festivities and take to watch was that they could make exactly B-towns and Tier II cities which will greatsmash pains tobox be inoffice what they wanted. “It was set in a poor man’s there is a huge influx of deepa it’ll bhasthibe like records,dragand world, it had an overweight actress, and our money. They can also afnothing ever changed. Remale see, protagonist’s Khurrana) to my utter (Ayushmann delight, that the tree un- ford a ₹250they ticket but they peatedly learn that toys, havthe boons prayed for, for dreams unful- where a village fair comesweup.

Plastic last few hadthousands not worked.ofThere waspeople noth- are derfilms which tribal asking for their stories, Over time, the fes- knick-knacks and eats ing the his filled and wishes unheeded. linesuperstar the stallsjiggle as tattoo ing glamorous about it,”tosays “Now have congregated rainKatariya. abuses is the things they can to relate to,” an outlet for their artists settle in their belt seats. or flexCrude his muscles is tival has grown become images of we joke that we made film for no one but Himanshu frangipani.

The the delicate white flower says. more remunerative thaninto inanger against employers — often wealthy cof- hearts, tigers, even Ambedkar are cut somehow everybody up‘deva-kanagile’ watching it,” feeKatariya rimmed with yellow ended is called and says, vesting in aare credible plantersagrees, — and others who have bothered chappal soles and PoP. These dippedscriptin ink he adds, with ainsmile.

The same can said of “An (god’s flower) Kannada, a name asbe gorgeous honest reflection of how writer. a them.

The participants take great care in the and pressed on to the“We skin,are aftertaking which₹250 the tatthe other hitsitself. too. The tree decked with flow- the as the flower worlddress works is afestival. breathHandbags of from thean audience andcrude what way they for the read- tooist goesticket to work using incredibly Piku is essentially a fresh Juhi Chaturvedi’s ersWriter is a heartening sight, especially after being air. Films mostly dramatic do we with it?

We make ily become hatsare and an onion sack is turned tool to poke through thedodesign, rubbing colstays the fes- our and antiseptic series of conversations a cantankersubjected to a spate ofbetween the choicest abuses. or over the top. thiswho (DLKH) projects not in films, into a dress.

TheBut men, dominate turmeric the and end.they Tatin antake over-the-top situaous Bengali man aboutorbowSome friends andand I arehis at daughter ‘Kunde Habba’ ‘Be- real us nothing. tival even activities, great pains toosgive are cheap, startingAn at A-lister ₹50, or have always el in hisabuse case, festival the lackofofthe it. tion. dumovements Habba,’ theor, annual like letter Salman managed to to be Simple in drag. films Their hardened ₹10 per forhas a name.

You’ve lived the film Meanwhile, times of and HrishiThere no dramatic plot twists or elaborate tribal are people of Kodagu in Karnataka.

Held on worked, reach everydancing last man in a muscles from gleamthe with sweat around for so long in your the tree Ta- kesh andsport Basu bras Chattersongs, and the love story is left the fourth Thursday of May inopen-ended.

Devarapura vilthickcontinues. nation like ours. who We silver Mukherjee paint. They Devotees They abuse theiritgod head that only havejust the rare nu Weds Returns has It is with a formula.” lage nearManu Gonikoppal, 200-odd kmdistinction from Ben- jee. take himsacrifice and put him in stuffed rags and miniskirts promised to the for his old mistake —the makes sense for of taking a not-so-great film and making a far balanced precariously around galuru, this is one day when the tribal people with several no story.shocked If nothgodsa film throw for not bestowing the good of the film for chickens Sudipanger gives Two superior sequel out of it.

In NH10, is awaists. team Make-up, most oflet out their grudges and vent their ing, we need do justice to belted into thetocrowd, those boons you they to beprayed involved inwhohiscatch expertise,” us a roadgod tripand across the badlands of Haryana another ingredient against fellow men in some of the There’s says ten, is gaudy.

A major little boy in an in them get to keep for, it for dreams — physically which morphs into a horror film.

Thedialects. ugly re- the success of all athese writers. filthiest words in Kannada and other Himanshu. underwear pins white flowerEach them.

My friends are miffed at unfulfilled and wishes Juhi Chaturvedi alities of the caste system, apathy and them found like-minded Kodagu or, in travel agentpolice parlance, Coorg is of Yet, for any. these brave voices near his has crotch.

Save for their colnot catching The drums get unheeded women don’t ordinarily fallhoninto laborators who respect theirincraft home tobeing somehacked two dozen tribes.

Some are in and cinema, there’s much to size, there is little difference louder louder, reaching a crethe bracket of entertaining cinema. feltinto the and due.

Thisand counts ey gatherers-turned-mahouts, a few“Iare look forward to. They getthe give way them boys, their young men scendo, until all the are drums film would get critical acclaim but so as privilege in this an industry of unhunting.

But the majority works inwas the not coffee ting to atell stories thud. they oldamen look on day. merge into dullthe relentless sure about success. verdant I thought it derpaid undervalued screenestates that box-office dot the district’s landwantget to —‘possessed’ even thoseand thatrun apMusic isand a vital part of the celeWomen would onedays of those films that people would saysmineral Shoojit water Sircar bottles — who pear scape. be Their are spent in rigorous physi- writers. non-mainstream on and paper — and can exbrations.Chaturvedi Fertiliser tins, in circles (only to sit back check messages Vicky Donor and Piku appreciate yearsthe later on DVDin ordulled when itstupor came directed both her scripts cal labour and evenings creative control over the final filled with stones and large blue storage bins ercise on their phones a few minutes later)product. and the is the only filmmaker she knows who’d on TV,” heby says. induced cheap country liquor. For them, — mostraunchier encouraging is that the audience become drums for the day.

Upcycling andwelre- What’s dance gets as the alcohol kicks in. likethe sperm donation and conthen, what worked?

Hi-a come theSo‘Kunde Habba’ is theirTwo onethings, chance,says once lapped work, so clearly cyclingsubjects are clearly norm, even if they may has Afteralso prayers, theyup willtheir go back to their haadis Tanu Weds Manu stipation without thinking she’s nuts.

He also there’s manshu writer year, to Sharma, abuse and rantof away the insults a positivefor shift theirand tastes too. more Howhave never heard of these new-age terms. or settlements a in feast many First, was honesty in these involved Returns. her in the filming and editing procheaped on themthere by others. those controlling the purse strings still Out in Gonikoppal town, during a break for ever, rounds of drink. scripts.

The need to put out ofwhat “You’ve livedstrong, the film for sobitter, long in Legend haswriters it that Ayyappa, the god the ess. on theabused, ‘safe’ side.

“Welike need start use look-a tea that is too almost weyour are dally Heartily we feel wetocould comes organically andthe notforest rehash that it only makes sense for theand good of ing tribals, took a groupto of them into for head at films with more seriousness.

We look at bombarded by men in dresses, skirts tight drink too. But instead, the oddly catchy tune what has Deep already at the office.

A the film for you to be and involved in ittheir physically,” hunting. in worked the jungle, he box came across commodities.

But we need lookup at tops, rattling bottles beating drums. them of theas abuses sticks in our head.

Weto make good way to do that, heBhagavathi, says, is to stick mi- she says.

She adds knows the beautiful goddess fellto inalove experience andfurther story point of There appears to bethat no she method, yetofawriters catchy films wordsfrom to goan along and drive into the lieu you closely understand.

“I’ve always ad- who areensues. spurned directors they’ve and eloped with her, leaving the hapless tribal Theforgatekeepers rhythm Thebygoing rate toonce get them to view. district, elsewhere. need to now warm to mired Akhtar’s workatbecause she’s true the script. peopleZoya stranded.

Angry this betrayal, the churned leave youout alone is ₹10. The men barge into what the audience wants,” says Sudip.

Weds Manuand, Returns, Himanshu has deepa bhasthi is a freelance journalist based in to her people world. In my summer vacations In Tanu tribal reserve this day to abuseI must their shops, collect money towards afternoon, creditedatnotthe onlytemple as the screenwriter but mohini have visited places like Meerut or Saharanpur Bengaluruchaudhuri god for his old mistake — for not bestowing been congregate at Devarapura,

At ‘Kunde Habba’, the tribal people of Kodagu get their chance to cuss and rant away the insults heaped on them by others

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Creature comfort A langur rests on the temple tower against a twilight sky

Count your blessings Eager parents and grandparents at the prayer hall

Little steps Footwear of children at the temple entrance

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Start with a clean slate A temple town in Telangana is where thousands of children gather every June to write their first letter of the alphabet

Top view The legend of the Saraswati idol at the temple is linked to Vyasa, the author of Mahabharata

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asar in Telangana’s Adilabad district could have been like any other small town found across the region. Situated close to the western bank of the Godavari as the river snakes along the Telangana-Maharashtra border, Basar’s claim to fame is a temple located at the foot of a small hill strewn with huge boulders. The Gnana Saraswati Temple is one of the few shrines in the country dedicated to the goddess of learning.

The idol is believed to be made of sand and the

To the letter Busy with rice, chalk and slate

face is smeared with haldi. Every June, thousands arrive with their children for the ritual of Aksharabhyasam — writing the first letter of the alphabet on slate and in a mound of rice.

From the T-shirt-clad techie to the old farmer in a turban and dhoti — people from every background come here to seek blessings for their children gearing up for school life. pankaj sekhsaria is a Hyderabad-based writerphotographer

Attention please A tired child at the end of the ceremony

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Script is hero So far, 2015 in Bollywood has been defined by the doom of big-budget productions and the rise of smaller films with big hearts, brave stories and very smart writing

Number game At 50, and four years senior to Daniel Craig, Monica Bellucci is the oldest Bond heroine andrew medichini/ap

FILM FATALE

Too old to be seen with?

Age remains a dirty word for women in commercial cinema worldwide, despite occasional flashes of liberalism anna mm vetticad

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n an ideal world, being a Bond ‘girl’ would not be seen as a fillip to the filmography of an established, talented actress.

This is not an ideal world though. Today’s reality is that mass-targeted cinema is still largely focused on male characters and while age is not a disadvantage for major male stars, even the fittest of fine actresses are sidelined much earlier in their lives than men.

In this scenario, the next James Bond film Spectre and Dil Dhadakne Do (DDD) merit a discussion. Hollywood sprung a surprise on us just months back with the announcement that Monica Bellucci will play Bond’s romantic interest in Spectre. At 50, Bellucci is the oldest actress to get that role, according to Western ilmmaker Navdeep Singh’s thriller media reports, andsupposed she is eventofour years older NH10 was reach us three than heryears co-star Craig, ago.Daniel But that waswhich not towould be. It not be news-worthy information but for was 10 days away from going on the fact that a premium is placed onPinto female youth floors — at the time with Freida and not in glamourSharma industries Anushka — worldwide. when the producers Herethe in India, it was should not have made news pulled plug. It especially confusing for that Bollywood AnilSharma Kapoor was playing the film’s writerstar Sudip as those whoa grey-haired, 50-plusclaimed father of read his screenplay to grown-up love it. Butchiljust dren in DDD.toBut it did,it.because senior not enough produce “Everyone keptmale sayactors India tend to play much ing it isina fantastic script andcharacters has to get made. younger real age.I didn’t While know Kapoor deThat was than moretheir frustrating. what serves hePeople is getting evolving beelse tothe do kudos with it. hadfor serious issues yond that, it’s telling thatfilm. naryAlso, a whimper has with the violence in the it was diffibeen about athe castingproject. of a much cult toraised put together non-hero Womyounger Shefali his wife. to pull off, en-centric filmsShah areasdifficult Because one Teamthat DDDisseems to be a progresespecially certified adult at the sive lot,level. it is more important thantoever ask: script But Navdeep stuck histoguns. was actress Kapoor’s ageorfound This no film had toofdisturb you, else itsuitable was no for that role? use,” says Sudip. The well-intentioned suggestAllow me to gettobriefly literal matheions by financiers place an itemand number in matical to illustrate my point.

Shah 42 and the midst of a Haryanvi village to istake the Kapoor is 58, according various online edge off the honour killingstowere particularly sources.

In the bothersome forfilm, him.they are parents to a girl and played by 32-year-old Priyanka ChoForboy Sharat Katariya, the writer-director of pra 29-year-old Singh.

If Shah was Dumand Laga ke HaishaRanveer (DLKH), the wait was even really mother screen, she would have longer.their It took himoff barely a month to write been 10 at herlove daughter’s and 13 when this charming story of birth an overweight girl her was born. andson a lanky boy inBiologically Haridwar, you but know seven that’s years

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a stretch, legally of course this would mean In interviews I’ve done with them over the kids born out of wedlock or in a child mar- years, both Kamal Haasan and Salman Khan riage. You could have dismissed these calcula- insisted they are merely giving in to audience tions as fussy and silly if it weren’t for the fact demands by acting with younger heroines. that the screenplay writer is clearly not oblivi- But how can you claim viewers have made a ous to this matter and makes a subtle effort to choice, when you almost never give them that justify the casting by pointedly assigning the choice? And if the audience does indeed make following ages to the four principal charac- a regressive choice, could you at least have the ters: Dad 52, Mum 48, kids mid-20s. courage to claim helplessness rather than enWhen reports earlier emerged that 48-year- dorse their illiberal view? old Madhuri Dixit-Nene and 51-year-old Sridevi Unlike several Hollywood heavyweights, InBreaking the formula (Clockwise from left) Sharat Katariya had to wait had turned down Shah’s role, the media was dian rarelyManu beenReturns critical of this seven years to make Dum Lagaactresses ke Haisha;have Tanu Weds is that critical of them. The two “got queasy” phenomenon, partly because not every womrare sequel thatand surpasses the original; NH10 found no producers for three Shah “has taken up the chalyears because of its woman-centric plotan is convinced of the need for lenge”, said a report in a leading gender justice, but mostly befar 2015 has been deto find someone realise potential. When expected successes. national daily. A to dear film its critic cause it So is risky for them to queshe didisget down tothat making doomthe of big-budget friend of the view “Mad-it, much had fined by the tion status quoBollywood in their changed.

To have his male protagonist run an Team productions and the rise of these smaller huri was being un-adventurous” respective male-dominated inBecause DDD hearts, (which smart writing brave audioher cassette shopBut in 2015 obviously defied with decision. no one are, let’sand admit it, seems tofilms be a with bigdustries logic.asked So heeding his creative Mastories.

It’s only June and we’ve seen some inhas if any Bollywood di-producer even worse than Hollywood). progressive lot, it is scripts inNot DLKH, NH10, Badlapur,feminists Court, Pineesh Sharma’s suggestion, he turned it into a spired rector would have dared to offer that gentleman more important than ku and Tanu Weds Manu Returns film role set inof thePriyanka early ’90s.and During the Ranhave it easy.

It has been four years ever to ask: was no this period Katariya (TWMR).

That’s more thanthen we veer’s father of to wait, John Abraham since Prithviraj Sukumaran, actress of Kapoor’s in an all interview of 2014, which subhad other writing (who is the same assignments age as Shah), age found suitable for 29,got gave to Asianet like Bheja Fry and Titliisthat rathercalled dismal Akshay Kumar (who lesskept than injected whichus heto bravely onstohis that role? rytelling.

Those inwho need a him He also an a yearafloat. younger thandirected Dixit-Nene) colleagues the MalayaMore than talent, you senior inconspicuous filmwho called reminder of how low it and had or the three Khans all 10 hitML 50 lam film industry, Mohanlal need patience to sunk, think Jackson Love.

As for DLKH, there were ofthis year. to Action “start playing survive. You have to Mammooty, where Sonakshi fers to turn for it into a telefilm, Longevity female stars is age”.

Fans Sinha’s of bothcharacstars, keep playing. You just their but Navdeep Singh, tohe ter constantly peeks down her not alike favour being granted them,have but every gender chauvinists and status-quo-ists are still to stick around — Ajay Devgn’s pants bedidn’t The moral of world the is guilty major sell filmout. industry in the on Katariya skewering himco-actor for the comments.

Sharat she believes brings her story, says though Katariya,some is toare believe this front, worse than others.

Speaking upcause is always a lonelyitbusiness at goodmore luck. men and women in Inyour andare wait tillactresses given first. It is time India,script not only older That said,worldwide there’s no for telling if someone elsebydoes too. “More limited roles producers and writers, but ol- slammed film industries turnthan talent,want you need patience successes coming but closea der heroes to romance heroines young ing age into a these dirty word for actresses to survive.

Youtheir havedaughters. to keep playing. day on the of heels of each good timing enough to be It’s as ifOne actressbadge honour forother men.isNo, it is not a or biga you’ll get a are loose andbeing you’llseen hit aorsix.

You sign theaindustry placing its bets superies their age notball worth worth deal of that 50-year-old woman willon romance or content.

“This year looks because the just have towith. stick around.” being seen Bond.

And no, Madhuri wasweird not being “un-adfilms that seem toDDD; be working the Fortunately for both Katariya Sudip, the only In his last three films, Tamil and legend Rajiniventurous” by rejecting she was are simply wait The years that Sonakshi lapsed between Butsensible these things change week to kanthpaid hasoff. starred opposite Sinha, small doing ones. what any male star of her statuthe and filming dilute the relwhoscripting is 36 years his junior,didn’t Anushka Shetty (31 week. re andTomorrow age wouldyou’ll do. have the next big sumevance of their stories. films were years younger), DeepikaBoth Padukone (age slow gap: mer blockbuster and everybody will say ‘maannamovies mm vetticad is theLet’s author The Adventures are back. doofanother one of starters the Aishwarya box office but up pace 35 years)atand Rai picked Bachchan (age sala of an Intrepid FilmSudip.

Critic t@annavetticad warns But he admits that the through word of mouth, and turned into un- these’,” gap: 23 years).

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Getting even with god and men

also an associate director. This is acknowledgement that the film is as much his as it is director Aanand L Rai’s. In fact, Rai has directed all three of his scripts, Tanu Weds Manu, Raanjhanaa and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. “The best part is that he (Rai) lets me write the genre that I want to work on. I started with Tanu, after that I felt like working on a tragedy, so I wrote Raanjhana. Normally directors come up with a story or a genre. They’ll say, ‘I feel like making an action film.’ But what if I don’t feel like writing one. With Rai, he makes only what I write,” he explains.

After a “terrible, terrible” experience early on in his career, Sudip realised the best way to ensure creative freedom is to work with a director who shares his aesthetic. He found that in Navdeep Singh a few years ago. They were both out of jobs but brimming with ideas. Together they wrote a couple of scripts, none of which got made.

Now that NH10 has finally released, and to good results, the other scripts will soon take off as well. After DLKH, Katariya has struck the much-coveted three-film deal with Yash Raj Studios. But he’s had his share of misfortunes.

“In one film I wrote I was credited as a screenplay writer when I had just written the dialogues. Trust me, Full house The audience has shown its appreciation by packing cinema halls (reuters / danish siddiqui) showing films with smart scripts written by nobody would want credit Himanshu Sharma; Juhi Chaturvedi (shashi ashiwal) and Sudip Sharma (paul noronha) for that film. There have also been many times where I’ve watched a film and felt, critical acclaim and box-office ratings do help and she must have gone to ‘This is not what I wrote’. You writers like him push the envelope.

Spain, and that shows in our have to be brave. It happens iniwork,” he says. tially because you don’t know people No one to everyone Second, these films had stories that well,” he says.

Merry-making The The running joke on the sets of DLKH was that that were simple, true to life In the end, it can take just one men dominate the the joy of making a film that no one was going and rooted. “Suddenly in the Salman Khan release on Eid, festivities and take to watch was that they could make exactly B-towns and Tier II cities which will greatsmash pains tobox be inoffice what they wanted. “It was set in a poor man’s there is a huge influx of deepa bhasthi records, it’ll be like dragand world, it had an overweight actress, and our money. They can also afnothing ever changed. Remale see, protagonist’s Khurrana) to my utter (Ayushmann delight, that the tree un- ford a ₹250they ticket but they peatedly learn thattoys, havthe boons prayed for, for dreams unful- where a village fair comeswe up.

Plastic last few hadthousands not worked.ofThere waspeople noth- are derfilms which tribal asking for their stories, Over time, the fes- knick-knacks and eats ing the his filled and wishes unheeded. linesuperstar the stalls jiggle as tattoo ing glamorous about it,”tosays “Now have congregated rainKatariya. abuses is the things canto relate to,” an outlet for their artists settle in their belt seats. or flex his muscles is tival hasthey grown become Crude images of we joke that we made film for no one but Himanshu frangipani.

The the delicate white flower says. more remunerative thaninto inanger against employers — often wealthy cof- hearts, tigers, even Ambedkar are cut somehow everybody ended watching it,” feeKatariya rimmed with yellow is calledup‘deva-kanagile’ and says, vesting in aare credible plantersagrees, — and others who have bothered chappal soles and PoP. These dippedscriptin ink he adds, with ainsmile.

The same can said of “An (god’s flower) Kannada, a name as be gorgeous honest reflection of how writer. them.

The participants take great care in the and pressed on to the “We skin,are aftertaking which ₹250 the tat-a the other hitsitself. too. The tree decked with flow- the as the flower world works is afestival. breathHandbags of from thean audience andcrude what way they dress for the read- tooist goesticket to work using incredibly Piku is essentially Juhi Chaturvedi’s ersWriter is a heartening sight, especially after beinga fresh air. Films mostly dramatic do we with it?

We make ily become hatsare and an onion sack is turned tool to poke through thedodesign, rubbing colstays the fes- our and antiseptic series of conversations a cantankersubjected to a spate ofbetween the choicest abuses. or over the top. thiswho (DLKH) projects not in films, into a dress.

TheBut men, dominate turmeric the and end.they Tatin antake over-the-top situaous Bengali aboutorbowSome friendsman andand I arehis at daughter ‘Kunde Habba’ ‘Be- real us nothing.

A-lister tival even activities, great pains toosgive are cheap, startingAn at ₹50, or Simple have always el in hisabuse case, festival the lackofofthe it. tion. dumovements Habba,’ theor, annual likeletter Salman managed to to be in drag. films Their hardened ₹10 per forhas a name.

You’ve lived the film Meanwhile, from the times HrishiThere are no dramatic twists or elaborate tribal people of Kodaguplot in Karnataka.

Held on worked, reach everydancing last man in a muscles gleam with sweatofand around for so long in your the tree Ta- kesh andsport Basu bras Chattersongs, and Thursday the love story is left the fourth of May in open-ended.

Devarapura vilthickcontinues. nation like ours.who We silver Mukherjee paint. They Devotees They abuse theiritgod head that only havejust the rare nu Returns has It iswith a formula.” lageWeds nearManu Gonikoppal, 200-odd kmdistinction from Ben- jee. take himsacrifice and put him in stuffed rags and miniskirts promised to the for his old mistake —the makes sense for of taking a not-so-great film and making a far balanced precariously around galuru, this is one day when the tribal people with several no story.shocked If nothgodsa film throw for not bestowing the good of the film for chickens Sudipanger gives Two superior sequel out of it.

In NH10, is awaists. team Make-up, most oflet out their grudges and vent their ing, we need do justice to belted into thetocrowd, those boons youthey to beprayed involved inwhohis us a roadgod tripand across the badlands of Haryana another ingredient against fellow men in some of the There’s says ten, is gaudy.

A major little boy in an in catch expertise,” them get to keep for, for dreams — it physically which into a horror film.

Thedialects. ugly re- the success of all athese writers. filthiestmorphs words in Kannada and other Himanshu. underwear pins white flowerEach them.

My friends are miffed at unfulfilled and wishes Juhi Chaturvedi alities of the caste system, apathy and them found like-minded Kodagu or, in travel agentpolice parlance, Coorg is of Yet, forany. these brave voices near his has crotch.

Save for their colnot catching The drums get unheeded women don’t ordinarily fallhoninto laborators who respect theirincraft home tobeing somehacked two dozen tribes.

Some are in and cinema, there’s much to size, there is little difference louder louder, reaching a crethe bracket of entertaining cinema. feltinto the and give them due.

Thisand counts ey gatherers-turned-mahouts, a few“Iare look forward to. They getthe way boys, their young men scendo, until all the are drums film would get critical acclaim but so as privilege in this an industry of unhunting.

But the majority works inwas the not coffee ting to atell storiesthud. they oldamen look on day. merge into dullthe relentless sure about success. verdant I thought it derpaid undervalued screenestates that box-office dot the district’s landwantget to —‘possessed’ even thoseand thatrun apMusic isand a vital part of the celeWomen would be onedays of those films that people would saysmineral Shoojit water Sircar bottles — who in scape. Their are spent in rigorous physi- writers. pear non-mainstream on and paper — and can exbrations.Chaturvedi Fertiliser tins, circles (only to sit back check messages Vicky Donor and bins Piku on appreciate yearsthe later on DVDin ordulled when itstupor came directed both her scripts cal labour and evenings ercise creative control over the later) final product. filled with stones and large blue storage their phones a few minutes and the is the only filmmaker she knows who’d on TV,” heby says. induced cheap country liquor. For them, — What’sgets mostraunchier encouraging is that the audience become drums for the day.

Upcycling andwelre- dance as the alcohol kicks in. likethe sperm donation and may con- After then, what worked?

Hi-a come theSo‘Kunde Habba’ is theirTwo onethings, chance,says once has also lapped work, so clearly cyclingsubjects are clearly norm, even if they prayers, theyup willtheir go back to their haadis Tanu Weds Manu stipation without thinking she’s nuts.

He also or manshu writer year, to Sharma, abuse and rantof away the insults there’s a positivefor shift theirand tastes too. more Howhave never heard of these new-age terms. settlements a in feast many First, was honesty in these involved Returns. her in the filming and editing procheaped on themthere by others. ever, those controlling the purse strings still Out in Gonikoppal town, during a break for rounds of drink. scripts.

The need to the put god out ofwhat “You’ve livedstrong, the film for sobitter, long in Legend haswriters it that Ayyappa, the ess. on theabused, ‘safe’ side.

“Welike need start use look-a tea that is too almost weyour are dally Heartily we feel wetocould comes organically andthe notforest rehash that it by only makes sense for theand good of drink tribals, took a groupto of them into for head ing at films with more seriousness.

We look at bombarded men in dresses, skirts tight too. But instead, the oddly catchy tune what has Deep already at the A the film for you to be and involved in ittheir physically,” hunting. in worked the jungle, he box cameoffice. across them commodities.

But head. we need lookup at tops, rattling bottles beating drums. of theas abuses sticks in our Weto make good way to do that, heBhagavathi, says, is to stick mi- she says.

She adds knows the beautiful goddess fellto inalove films from experience andfurther story point of There appears to bethat no she method, yetofawriters catchy words to goan along and drive into the lieu you closely understand.

“I’ve always ad- who areensues. spurned directors they’ve and eloped with her, leaving the hapless tribal view. Theforgatekeepers rhythm Theby going rate toonce get them to district, elsewhere. need to now warm to mired Akhtar’s work she’s true the script. peopleZoya stranded.

Angry atbecause this betrayal, the churned leave youout alone is ₹10. The men barge into what the audience wants,” says Sudip.

Weds Manuand, Returns, Himanshu has deepa bhasthi is a freelance journalist based in to her people world. In my summer vacations In Tanu tribal reserve this day to abuseI must their shops, collect money towards afternoon, creditedatnot only as the screenwriter but mohini have visited places like Meerut or Saharanpur Bengaluruchaudhuri god for his old mistake — for not bestowing been congregate the temple at Devarapura,

At ‘Kunde Habba’, the tribal people of Kodagu get their chance to cuss and rant away the insults heaped on them by others

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PRESENT IMPERFECT

Om one, Om two, Om three, look elsewhere With the shiny lycra and rippling abs, yoga had become a thing of beauty; it is high time it CUB READS to the preserve of the inept and ungainly returned

A8out a 8oy and a cat

A first-rate book that deals with the dark side of war through numbers; and a detective who smells something fishy

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umbers don’t lie. They reveal more than they important observers in times of war. Anne Frank’s The Dihide. Numbers are “polite and well man- ary of a Young Girl is not only a poignant coming-of-age nered”, they don’t overpower you with emo- tale, but it is also a tragic account of a Jewish person hidtions. Take the case of the Sri Lankan civil war ing from Nazi persecution. In Aamir Bashir’s film Harud, — it raged on for 26 years, resulting in one lakh casual- young Rafiq constantly wonders about the omnipresties and nearly one lakh Internally Displaced Persons ence of the army in his life in Kashmir. The Boy in Masila(IDPs). The economic costs of the war? The island-na- mani’s tale is also a haunting voice of his generation. It tion’s military spending climbed from 1.3 per cent of the is telling that the author originally wrote the story forStrike a pose Baba GDP in 1983 to 3.5 by 2008. The number of military per- his children, Kethaki and Mandeep. Curious and con-Ramdev and sonnel increased 10 times, from 22,000 to 2,13,000. The fused, the Boy wades through life under war, whose mo-Manohar Lal effects of the war have been estimated at annual average tive remains unclear to him. As his Island trudgesKhattar, chief minister of Haryana, Th3 8OY WHO of nine per cent of the GDP. Numbers spell out the hor- towards peace, a realisation dawns on the Boy: The num-at a yoga camp in 1N NUM83R5 5P3AK5 rors of war too. bers never add up in a war, no matter which side isPanchkulaMike this week Masilamani But that’s not our story, not entirely. Mike Masilama- counting. But in the Island of Short Memories, an uglyakhilesh kumar Art: Matthew Frame Tara Books ni’s debut novel, Th3 8oy who 5p3ak5 1n num83r5 (that is old tree is flowering again, with a “bittersweet and long₹950 not a typo), is a darkly comic tale about will confess I am thrilled by the yogathe dik-war Iseen It universe is blooming withat-questions. was anforgotten interloperscent”. in this of the ba Ramdev on television, except for the day through eyesthat of awe young Thetold Boy grows the tat.the Now havelad. been that allup intractive.

When the instructor told us to when he showed us that a salwar kameez and shadow of the Civil of Lies, his Small Village Indians mustWar either do fleeing suryanamaskars Case Files PI Pojo and perfectly a 12-inch long beard don’t go together. So breathe The deeply into ourofchakras, hat do you get when me you tightcombineimagine the greymy cells of Fat Hopes, finding a temporary the Innocent or jump into the sea (or washome it go toatPakisproportioned diaphragms around surprise when I first saw the picPoirot, the energy Holmes, and Deceived Persons land to where ev- it took allofIHercule tan?

The threats pile(IDPs) up socamp. fast, itInisahard ened, had to hold my breath soofI Sherlock tures of Information and Broadcasting minischeek oftears.

Frederick Algernon Trottevilleter akaPrakash Fatty andJavadekar. Wearing a striped eryone speaksI am in colour “yellow andembrace loud” — thewouldn’t boy the keep track), finally—ready to fully burst into snooping of Harriet the Spy?I A super-detective, knows only ancient the language of numbers.

He digs our wise, heritage.

I tried yoga oncehis nose By thethe time the nextskills session rolled around, T-shirt and track pants, in the first photo, Javaobviously.

Well, you Ialso when he thinks, and was he is thinking.

He makes and the experience soalways traumatic, I would was slightly better prepared. wokeget upPrivate earlier, Investigator dekar wasPojo sitting on a yoga mat laid out on a aka coffee, Pratap took Pande.

What youmy need PI friends with the Constantly Cow. “Dried have happily jumped into a Complaining shark-filled sea. drank more some caredowith ap- to know lawn. about It did nothing to me. In the second, he loves pancakes puzzles. movedon the ground, arms akimbo, his fish After 980 Rupees!

Amoo! Sugar 300 Rupees! many months of almost settingChilli my powdpearancePojo? andHe picked the best and clothes thatHe has wasjust sprawled toflaws. the prestigious, school eralarm, 100 Rupees,” cow incessantly whines almostthe waking up and almost leaving camouflaged my many But preparedHogwarts-like as I legs a blur so that the track pants looked like a Heathcote International.

He has few about the rising prices, “from the grip of on a was for all the meditative my house, when I found myself at six beauty around me, I mermaid’s tail, and his face contorted in one but carries secret dossiers on the the war”. In his world, teashops havedoor beento the could barely get any friends, Wednesday morning opening the yoga done. of those ugly grimaces which I replaced checkpoints. top-rated’ The vocabulary ‘highly by recommended yoga of studio “Raise your hands entire above school the — juniors, seniors, teachers suppose appear you’re trying The CaseifFiles Told lightly it is still a andinstrucgardeners. He has a trusty backpack of P.I. Pojofun to photogboisterous colours has given a sin- I’d head,” I would hear the in Gurgaon, my first worryway wastowhether to make yoga look withering account of Killing of to put it sima lifelong gle — Impossible.

Impossible biteword off someone’s head because thereto wasn’t tor say, “and with yourand eyes firm- (okay, 13 years) experience in raphers. ItThe was, well, Mr Heathcote The combined body the “wholesale” speak, Told of lightly and time question to ingest or theplay. amount coffee that is ly closed, stretch updetection and then(his mom and dad make detecply, not sexy at all.

Then came the Meghna Singhee fat in the room was business of war even humorously, it isI am still able a withering ac- the forward and all the tive mandatory before to tolerate wayshows!). down He has oodles of curiosity but images ofPuffin Manohar Lal Khattar less than that in a can no sidekick. count of the business war. I walk- until your palms are presence of“wholesale” another living being.of When on the His case file is full, but his payand Baba₹199 Ramdev. They seem to of skimmed milk mentslike areadue — bags of bananas, chips Th3in8oy who 5p3ak5 1n Num83r5, which ed though, what annoyed me was how at- floor.” At this, my mind be resting on slightly raised baked was seveneveryone years in the tractive was.making, started out greedy dog in a bakeryand would go, goodies. If you are in trouble, haunches, their tongues hanghead to “goodhis makeshift office. Visiting hours: as a Ishort and then grew into a play. Now, a su- look had story expected a bunch of aunties, withit is“wow, at straight her waist,” ing out. With my limited experito 4.30pm. perbly 92-page novel.

Earlywaists in theand book, Masitheir illustrated dupattas tied around their ness, his2pm biceps are literally ripence, I am not sure what asana it When precious school catround Mr Heathcote lamani issuestoa warning tobellies his readers, at any point in “that struggling keep their from “If flopping pling,” bellythe button is a perfectly is, but —itreally is nothing like the upward dog I’d theasymbol of everything Heathcote stands for — mystethe following storyOn you to feel dizzy, outthe of breath, over their knees. theare contrary, this was innie, like mischievous, itinerant full stop”. conjured up. By the time we are done with the riously dies, Pojotheir smells something This of wasthe a Yoga Day celebrations tomorlight-headed, of The the growing suspicion abode of thedisoriented, lithe and theand lean. combined When others were doing breathing exer- fishy. telecast And thewas game is afoot. flaunts a substantial that you it’s probably body fatare in lost, the room was less true.” than that in a can cise, all Imurder. could manage to not starePojo for too row, which I am certain will have many images arsenal of detection fromone, acquiring sidekicks and The novel is milk. set inEveryone a terrifying world, painted of skimmed had tied up their in vivid long at one person’s stomach.— “Om Om of septuagenarian RSS members in khaki walls to eavesdropping and breaking in. The yellows andinreds, and echoing with uncomfortable shiny hair the perfectly messy ponytail, they two, Omclimbing three, look elsewhere,” I barely manshorts attempting the pawan muktasan, I’ll be journeyin takes him every vast questions no onesports wantsbras to answer.

The Island wore colourful under stretchy topsof Short aged oneensuing anulom-viloom peace.

Byto the timecorner ableoftothe view the exercise with ice-cold dispasschool, into the charming townmornof Panchgani even with the western world and Memories andteacher’s the Smallinstruction, Village of Fat Hopes are notitdisand, on the when everywas shavasan, a veritable reel of early sion. and The trouble to a godman’s holybe ashram.

Wasinthere a murder? Is India holding on to yoga the tant an imagined land; they are close oneplaces closedintheir eyes and ‘focused inwards’ forto home ing pornography would playing my even English-speaking Mrtight Heathcote alive? ina Sri Lankaall and Jaffna.

Soldiers the All minute, I could doThe wasLittle gape Tin around and aremind. abs and stretchy lycra. It was last few decades was that they managed to This novel packed with plucky kids, surly gardeners fighters of LTTE, lookout for new recruits.

Ketbe amazed at on thethe ungooped mascara in the Thetorture.

I lasted twoisweeks before I decided make it look awesome. If the unattractive atIn Pratap Pande,yoga, we it was only behind closed tleperfect Camplids is the country’s army, ruthlessly runningthat thetheand fluttering mildly around me. With feesabsent-minded I’d paid was notteachers. worth this, and Pojo tempted getifa Ifine detective with penchant mysterwar camps.out Thefrom Reducing Roll Callbraid, at the camps myand hairthe sticking last night’s that even could manage toa contort myfor solving doors. It’s high time we reined it back into the ies.some Not like a discerning Feluda but a more refinedof Teniismy a bitter the White and Tricky face truth, set in as theare vicious scowlVan of Widows the underbody into of those poses, my mind cerpreserve the inept and the unsightly. da.not Only wishfor theyoga. bookSowas 50 pages Traders, who turn deprivation into opportunity. caffeinated and what is indubitably a muffin tainly was wired I gave up. shorter. t@veenavenugopal Wespilling tend to forget thatwaist children the most vultop above the bandare ofoften my tights, Cut to the present. I had never watched Banerable in conflict. But they are also some of the most priyanka kotamraju

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READER’S DIE JEST

Three in one Freedom to love UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

Different romances but all with hormonal heroes and texting heroines

The moment I understood my obligations to my friend, I understood the fight for gay rights like never before

denis cristo/shutterstock

arunava sinha

You’re the Password to My Life Sudeep Nagarkar Random House ₹175

Marry Me, Stranger Novoneel Chakraborty Random House ₹175

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n her New York law firm, the brilliant dies while Rivannah is a bucket case because However, Riddhima has a secret cupid stratyoung intern Lavanya is having prob- someone is out to get her. Is it her boyfriend egy: she forces Rohan to have his medicine evlems with her boss, whom she is desper- Ekansh? Is it her admirer-from-college-now- ery day till he realises that she loves him. In stas enso/shutterstock ately trying to impress. Professionally, of turned-colleague Prateek? Is it the author, the meantime Kavya has gone and had an accicourse. Not ‘impress’ the way the young men who realises what a boring character he has dent and been blinded — because Hindi cinein this mash-up want to impress the young created and wants to kill her off? ma — so all the women in our mash-up novel ometimes you become of your women.

Frustrated by his aware hostility, she natuwould have beeneven offensive.

It might be Shourya, who has always treated a friend, with respect. areyou sick,aseither in mind or body, while all the blindness by or chance, rally takes to only cocaine heroinespecially — something Our vocabulary is so of insults those loved Lavanya, butfull hooked up to with Deepti, At men the end of theconfused day how twits you deal with a off are either or bouncing when the blindness is related to your that involves needles, anyway — and becomes who whom are nothe ‘mainstream.’

We throw around is now stalking.

So while Shourya friend a question of honour, of values, of theiswalls with their hormones. being ‘normal.’ a heteHIVprivilege positive of after all these years.AsOK, months.termshelps like ‘pansy’ mean Lavanyatotick off weak itemsoronineffectual, her bucket list how you too would and like Lavanya to be treated by their your love But Shourya declare rosexual in athen society dominated hete-home Asmale Lavanya flies back to herby Delhi we talk of ‘limp-wristed responses,’ oroff usetoinin Delhi, he may well be dashing Mumfriend return. forineach other, which would have been oh so rosexual andshe whose rules defined as she to amales, mother cares forare and a father sults bai liketogaandu, all ofembroidered which are, innotes one way send creepy and text I know would like friend noblethat hadIShourya notmy been, giveto orstand take a few such,hates, I have unknown had to devote veryRivannah, little thought to her, another or another, a form of stating messages to Rivannah.

Of course, he has to intelligence up forpoints, me. I aknow if things cretin.that But Virat’s creator to issues of physical young woman attraction, in her firstexcept job inwonder India’s NYC, that anybody any it comes to compos- has had take helpwho fromdisplays Virat when were unfair,ofI would likekills my him friend enough him and in the why Iaka wasMumbai, so bad at the gamesher of courtship is giving boyfriendand a handseemingly ‘gay long traits’messages, is to be and because Virat German ing those toBakery try andexplosion correct that. know thatof I ref— aItechnique affection. aware of with the lesbian, gay,on bisexjob inI was a local train a sly smile her face despised or dismissed.

Inlove all texts it all gets very erencing can only write idiotic would wanttragedies my friend, real-life thatwhatever a number of ual and transgender communities, only at with while she is being stalked bybut someone the years that we and had satRivannah and My friend deserved to the writers confusing differences in ourthese class, days, back-with are using a theoretical academic level. one story marthe sameand mobile number asThe hers, saying, joked, when wants to the givepressures a foot-job of to thelive his life as fully as I ground, positions, to treat meactual as an viccallous disregard for the did mine I hadry done the issue was linked to the Hindi political me,on stranger. correctness didlife. not mystery man in her equal.

And this list of things I untims ofin those events. film Dostana, and itinreferenced only how gay tie me down, Meanwhile, nearby Pune, Virat is composI mustEkansh have said Meanwhile, is twoderstood my obligations to my Rivannah (can a good Bengali men ing became friends to straight women. to roandbest sending long text messages something could her timing offensive.

Rivannah,I wants ways that I had never begirlin ever be named Rivannah?)

So all the women in friend Then, oneMahek day, while at dinner with old mance (or Mehak, depending on the not to remember.

These be just like Zoya,terms who still understood fight because for gay the for herthe stalker, our mash-up novel forewaits friends, I was told that one of them wasdoing gay. Ininnoproofreader’s preferences) while are aloves big Rohan part ofbutour asksdaily him to I understood that my friend story is to be continued, Mehak are sick, either in rights. all the years hadthings known him, had never cent andI fun with hishe best friend Kavya, speech, daily speech, and Ibecould not findmyanother girlfriend deserved his lifethe as fully I did mine, (ok, salsa as with a Khalsa mindre-or body, whileto livedances mentioned it, but now he had met somebody. thus offering a role model to millions of member, more. all I could causeand shethat is allshamed noble ofme heart. he should not have to is think be-with not really) and besttwice friends the menand arethat either They young liked each other, and hefor wanted to introIndian women making both his not undo insulting behaviour past, fore That’sthe because Ekansh wantsof myconfused spending time with friends, andand withwhatKavya, andhis Zoya/Lavanya twits or duce best this person to us, and us to him. want- of girl friend and girlfriend theHe password but Ito vowed of that sort leave off havenothing both Rivannah andwould thethe person that the he should have the that shisname idiot all prove bouncing wallshe loved, ed tohis sit with life. the object of his affection among my lips either his presence or any the again, other girl he’sindating, but to choose to love, and who notcharplot who is more important than with their freedom hormones friends,All have bad jokes, and laugh to thisdinner, time, ittell does not occur to Shourya otherhe’s person’s. no Virat, and he cannot to, and that those would deny him originalthe acter,who motivation, nuance, at life’s little inanities. no longer wished to take drugs, if onlyHe to cure his imbecility for liv- Maybe it wasmaintain in that moment, sharpened to rights allowed to possibly this fine be resisted, if I to ityme ormust depth when itand comes hide this intimate part of his lifeas from — his crystal ing in the same apartment his us ex-girlfriend clear accuracy by my guilt, that I under- did not fight forpenning balance. these things foryou him,‘pen’ I did anot — yes, novel, friends.

My first reaction Deepti and and his immediate ex-best friend Avik, was who are stood instinctively the LGBT So Rivannahwhat ditches him movement have the right to call himwrite my friend. you don’t it — romances. guilt.now Maybe there Not are only moreshould appropriate re- have an item.

Shourya is about. that I havewho’s read about biology, and All finds Danny, a hot bod andleconve- And, There. to be honest, I waspunched also just into a little Three books onere-storysponses, butthem minetowas tothe scannovel, my memory for also taken end he should galityniently and anthropology not illuminate the her located fordotrysts in bed. But lieved.

One of our friends, who I would line.

The onlymutual other thing that counts?

Marry all that I had saidsome in his It had have given topresence.

Rohan, who hasnever been told question of how a friend responds to such a and stranger is still relentlessly stalking her, one day ask to marry me, had alwaysisbeen very ship your BFF. Because “friendship the only crossed myMuslim mind that anyoneZoya in my close by his girlfriend that theycircannot situation, what perhaps it means it’s to try and rememwho of knows, Riddhima and not impressed with this friend, and I had been just that doesn’t sink”.

Whatever floats your boat. cle ofsee friends was gay, and inbecause the many yearssocieeach other anymore neither ber unintended insults, toteaches be humiliated by a bit intimidated.

Shourya. Riddhima Rohan French, (This monthly column helps you talk about a we had sat her andparents talked, will joked and it. exchanged the thought ty nor accept how you behaved towards and of of course the have language is not the only book without having to read it.) tOmairTAhmad stories, But I must have said something thatother Zoya is really Lavanya from the someone thought of as atofriend, thingyou French she wants teach and him,who but he’s novel because she too is HIV positive. Lavanya friendzoned her, so she might be creeping out arunava sinha translates classic and contemporary Bengali fiction and non-fiction into English t@arunava creates a bucket list of things to do before she Rivannah on the side.

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After All this Time

Singh Omair Ahmad is an Nikita author.

His last

book was on Bhutan

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being a fly on the wall. Of course, Rakesh describes what he sees and hears, and does so with both precision and poetry. But what makes his pen-portraits of encounters with people so appealing is that he is always present in them: a quiet, sometimes surprised, occasionally irritable interlocutor.

The muscular old boatman who rows him across the Bhopal lake, for instance, only gradually acquires a personality — and Rakesh describes the process with charming transparency: “We had been addressing him as ‘Boatman’. At the end of his recitation of Ghalib I asked him his name. “My name is Abdul Jabbar Pathan,” he replied, emphasising the surname Pathan.” When Rakesh says to Abdul Jabbar, “I would not have expected somebody your age to enjoy romantic poetry,” he is being candid about his own youthful tactlessness. Later, when Abdul Jabbar says he has “sworn off carnal desires”, and asks if they have the time to listen to “something different”, Rakesh again lets us in on his eyeroll: “I thought we were in for Sufi preaching”, before telling us how wrong he was.

While it does not consciously seek to locate itself in time, To the Farthest Rock is charged with a post-independence melancholy. There Churning the market Milk Mantra sources, processes and markets milk and dairy products, mainly in Odisha Not going to waste Banyan Green Fuels raised ₹1 crore is with support from Intellecap Impact Investment the teenager travelling ticketless, who deand other eastern parts of the country courtesy: aavishkaar Network to procure equipment that process crop residuescribes to replace hiscoal life’s Partition upheavals with not a glimmer of complaint. The many unemployed young men Rakesh meets in Kerala are perhaps the strongest indicator of the national mood: an English-speaking, Sanskrit-reciting beggar; the jobless ‘debating society’ that gathers at Tellicherry’s railway station.

But even those who have jobs seem to have all the time in the world. Perhaps this is what the world was like in the 1950s, or perhaps it would still be like this if we were to only try getting on a train without a hotel booking or a return ticket. From the middle-class Karvakar, who persuades him to stay a night in Vasco, in Staying afloat The black-and-white sketches by Trinankur Banerjee add an attractive new layer of his house, to the labourer Govindan who leavimagery to the farthest rock es his work to show Rakesh a coffee plantation, locals seem to go out of their way to spend time with him. Perhaps because Rakesh seems genuinely interested in their lives — from the young man who has decided not to marry “to avoid changes in his and his mothhe aim was to lend a helping hand to vestments. Family businesses, foundations, er’s peaceful routine”, to the travelling salesentrepreneurs promoting financial venture capitalists and even private equity man whose work keeps him away from his inclusion in India. The year was firms are making a beeline for social enter- wife and child, the less he asks of people, the 2004 and Rajiv Lall, Vishal Mehta prises. “The overall ecosystem in India has de- more they confide in him. But he also capand Venky Natarajan were trying to raise their veloped well in the last decade. In terms of tures, with quiet poignancy, the experience of first fund. They first approached high net- ideas, investment, action on ground, and even linguistic alienness. enterprise Engineering worth individuals (HNIs), but met with no the low- and middle-income population Sunrise The mention of Vortex language brings me to what manufactures low-cost, solar-powered ATMs for rural luck. Back then, most HNIs were willing to put (which require these services), the only com- is perhaps the most attractive thing about this aavishkaar areas courtesy: t the age of 27, quit investhis re- way money in either charity or having commercial Rakesh holds out against the says temptation parable country would be China,” Anurag book: the writing.

I have not read the Hindi as Hindi ments butcently-acquired never mixed theposition two. The next best to hold forth. is a definite Agrawal, CEO ofThere Intellecap, a socialauthorial advisory original, but in Satti Khanna’s excellent renteacher at banks, the Bishop Cotton school bet was multilateral and in 2005-06 the voice here: observant, sensitive, and open to dering, firm working in developing markets in Asia ment officer and feels executive director of the language crisp even when the Shimla,managed Mohan Rakesh decided experience. But trio’s Lok inCapital to refusal to marshal author- thought andhis Africa.

Aavishkaar Management Services. are is Venture meditative.

The descriptions to travel.

Here is how hemillion describes it: “I had ity — either journalistic raise its first fund of $22 or writerly is what Lok Capital’s Mehta— has ob- crystal-clear, The secondnever phase,indulgent explains Mehta, involved with imagery. long wanted to travel by coastal roads along makes this served for social enterprises. an unusual trav- growth in applying the microcredit a consistent basicitserWhen theremodel is an to image, is theThe sea.

Sometimes I had country had just fourtime, or sometimes elogue. It is not Rakesh thethat number of isn’t social entrepre- vices for low-income groups.

Thatrose included memorable.

“Waves from money, but seldom together. re- figuring five impact investorsboth willing to Then interested in neurs places,asorwell history, or as investors in the low-cost education and healthcare, models for the water like sharks.”

Or when WeIwere signed frombusinesses my teaching job and time fund social — producart; itcan is rather thatdecade. he is more in- the first the agriculture last During sector anda environment, and describing spontaneous haroutand if aaventure It is cennot that To the little money became available.

I set out the terested, ing goods and services for underin people. phase, the early years of this soRakesh on. “In thismonica second phase, more entreprecompetition on a befor sustainable whilealways, Farthest Rock isn’t interested in willing seacoast immediately.” served regions or the middleto There is no ‘point’ to this book tury, it was all about discovering neurs were to take risks and test the steamer from Goa to Mangadoing good for Mohan Rakesh places, or social It was December 1952.With To the low-income population. itsFarthest Rock, except as the travel the diary of a whether phenomenon of so-or history, model (of think contest we are lore,enterprises). he writes: I “The Translated by society art; is rather he phase Satti Khanna translated from Rakesh’s Aakhiri Chattan Tak, young writer.cial first fund, Lok Capital had joined It goes where hewas de- real enterprises oritnot, stillthat in that it isquality unclear how shiftedwhere from the of playHarperCollins is more interested, details his three-month journey along India’s cides to go, and this unique league of investors. much ofincluded it un- establish- many sectors will he says.

That adopt this,” heof adds. ing to the volume ovation.” ₹299 western coast, starting withMore a train ride from folds as everyday Fast forward to 2015: ing anconversations impact investmentalways, mod- in people The black-and-white sketches Delhi endinghave in Kanyakumari. between strangers, than to 30Bombay, impact and investors trains, in out if you Slowly spreading el. “We on were figuring by light Trinankur Banerjee add an Rakesh went on to become major Hindi writ- boats, cumulatively pumped $1.6abillion into more in hotels, or just walking while doing Acumen Indiaattractive could make a venture sustainable Country Director Mahadenew layerAjit of imagery. er — his are the Delhi-set than 300best-known enterprises works and funds across finan- around village.and It has in phase of ex- van agrees thatSatti good forasociety, that little was the while the initial investKhanna’s ‘PS’slew — a of wondernovel Andhere Bandh Kamre, and the plays Adhe cial inclusion, agribusiness, healthcare, edu- common with the judgmental autending microcredit.” ments have been the MFI space, there is now ful infeature of HarperCollins’ Adhure, Ashadh ka Ekenergy, Din andaccording Lehron ke Rajhans, cation and clean to the dacity of a similarover travelogue written Not surprisingly, 50 per cent of allbyim-a translations also a focus on like healthcare and edu— sectors insightfully locates Rakesh in all regarded as 20th-century classics. At the young Impact Investors Council.

Indian man pact investments soat farthe hasstart beenofinhis thewriting micro- the cation.

Butliterary the process has been slow. another Hindi context, and adds time he made this journey, though, he had career: Mishra’s Butter Chicken in Lud- visual financePankaj sector, with the top 15 MFIs accounting Nityanand Agrawal, MD among and CEOwhich of Banyan layer: photographs, I was published one book of stories: Insan ke hiana.

Do-goodersonly do profit Thecent sympathetic, observational tone delighted for 87 per of all investments in the sector.

Green Fuels it firsthand.

When he Ashk. starttoknows discover one of Rakesh with Khandahar.

With high-profile professionals chucking lu- put meismore in mind of model.

Upendranath Ashk’s It “MFI a cookie-cutter For investors, edmade working carbon origination in for a on perfect endcredit to a book of companBut reading book, oneenterprises does not often crative jobs tothis start social and 1940 short story also setbecause in a train the MFI space is a‘Furlough’, low-hanging fruit of ionable 2005, heconversations. was unable to raise any funds. feel one is reading 27-year-old.

If anyHNIsthat turning bullish on athe sector, India has compartment, a decade or so before the scale it offers.

That makes it easyRakesh. to repli“Investors and people interested in cutting is a writer in Delhi thing, is anasadmirable maturity in the rapidlythere emerged the nucleus of impact in- cate There no pretence here ofP, neutrality, of trisha andisgrow,” says Pradeep chief investcarbongupta emissions are and verycritic few.based Barring the ce-

Fund of goodwill

High-profile professionals are chucking fancy jobs to start social enterprises and high-networth investors are bullish on businesses producing goods and services for lowincome groups. India is rapidly emerging as the nucleus of impact investments

Travelling light

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An impeccable translation of the Hindi writer Mohan Rakesh’s travelogue Aakhiri Chattan Tak brings 1950s India vividly to life

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In Ain-i-Akbari, Abul Fazl provided a basic khichdi recipe. It has historical rather than practical value: 5 sez rice 5 sez split dal 5 sez ghee 1/3 sez salt

Healthier, perhaps, is this recipe of a mixed vegetable khichdi made Gujarati-style: 1/2 cup moong dal 1/2 cup rice 1/2 cup green beans chopped into 1-inch pieces 1/2 cup green peas 1 small potato cut into cubes 1/2 cup carrots chopped 2 tsp butter/ghee 1 medium size onion, chopped Salt

For masala: 2 small green chillies 1 small bunch chopped cilantro 2 cloves 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1/4 tsp turmeric

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Plant power Banyan Green Fuels supplies biomass fuel to cement companies around Kalaburagi, Karnataka

1 Wash the rice and moong dal in running water and soak in two cups of water and keep aside.

2 In a big pan, heat the butter/ghee then toss in the masala and fry for a minute.

3 Add the rice and dal along with the water. Stir in Villages do IT RuralShores, backed by Lok Capital, takes BPOand jobssalt. and training to the the hinterland vegetables Increase heat to medium high.

4 Let the khichdi boil for three minutes, then reduce the heat, cover the pan and keep for 8-10 minutes until cooked. ment industry, which is mandated by the govAcumen’s Mahadevan prefers not to look at ernment to reduce carbon footprint, most profitable exits as the motive behind impact people are not motivated to participate in the investment.

“Our philosophy is the to provide soA British journalist covering Ajmer fesprocess. They don’t want to invest in supply cial with up patient capital.

It tival entrepreneurs in the 1800s served a startling story chain for alternative fuels. So we need people takes length (of copper investment) very abouttime, ‘twoand tremendous pots’isfilled who are looking at impact investment,” says important,” he says. with rice, sugar and dried fruit. So desirable Agrawal. He tried hard to convince banks and were Histhe fund has invested in start-ups like solar contents that men ‘well wrapped up other commercial lending institutions. energy company WaterHealth Inwith clothes andd.light stuffedand with cotton were “They need collaterals, hypothecation and ternational safe the andboiling affordable water seen leaping(taking down into pot’ to get so on. And most venture capital funds want to solutions underserved). Both compatheir sharetoofthe khichdi! invest in telecom, IT, real estate, e-commerce nies have become prominent with Essentially, khichdi is a happyplayers, hotchpotch and quick-to-grow businesses,” he adds. Not their replicated in other mademodels with rice and lentils.

Everycountries. kitchen and surprisingly, environment, sanitation, educa- corner “Unlike most funds,has ouritsinvestment of the country own recipe.aims The tion and healthcare failed to grab attention. not for the returns alone but the up of version made by the Bengalis is setting a rich party Finally, in 2012, Agrawal managed to raise ₹1 organisations thata meat will eventually servehilsa. the dish served with curry or fried crore with support from Intellecap Impact In- poor in the bhath six sectors we are in,” he says. AcuThe bisibele of Karnataka is scrumptiousvestment Network (I3N), an angel network fo- men’s focusJodhpuri areas are agriculture, education, ly peppery. khichdi is made from gatcusing on social enterprises. “We have energy, housing and water. ta. Evenhealthcare, the British overcame their initial procured equipment for crop residue process- resistance and cobbled together kedgeree — a ing to replace coal. We are supGreat Indian bazaar breakfast dish that replaced the pulses with plying this biomass fuel to likely reason for fewer is fish and egg.AThe Kutchis believe that aexits khichcement around stuffed companies burritos and fauxGulcheese fondue. di a day keepsthe nascence of the sectherelative doctor away.

The Biharis are barga in Karnata(Please(Kalaburagi) note that I keep impressive company. so fond of thetor, hethat says.they “Our capital is dish even havecycle a ditty: ka,” says the Banyan Fuels chief. often Emperors Akbar and Jehangir sevenyaar to 10 years and we are nearKhichdi Ourchose investment aims ke chaar The company isrich expanding ca- at the khichdi over the Mughal fare ing an end of that cycle. Now we papad, ghee, achaar nottable.) for returnsDahi, alone pacity has turned profit- Indian After and all, khichdi is the ultimate comcan exit in some after these Some khichdis are madeyears with cracked but the setting up of able, showing fort food.

The stuff that you eatsocial when it’s grey and wheat. are stable.” with corn and sabudana. The irorganisations thatOthersenterprises enterprises too cannose succeed if stormy, when your is running andeventually your resistible out thatSnacks social version points made at Swati will serve bakedPradeep funded time. when you’ve bingedthe throat ison tickling, on poor one in—the enterprises to get the executhat Mumbaihave restaurant — arrives sixlandmark butter chicken too many. It’s as gharelu as weatare tionaand business as theintable with creamy layer model of dahiright on top. sectors Patience payson dividend those bahus TV. But can sudthey cater to remote or up inWhilemostly Khichdi Samrat serves On theturn flip all side, however, social denly fancy and fusion. terior regions versions and a different catinnumerable including enterprises seem slowyou in If you look harda little enough, egory clientele. you get cheeseofkhichdi, dry“Once fruit khichdi giving exit mushroom opportunities to incan find khichdi it right, then you keep scaling up. and spl Vrindavan khichdi.

As long ago as the vestors.

According to anand I3N lobreport in 2014, so Finding the right with makhani ice-cream buttonunfair is important, and it It seems that the khich14th century, the far havewith beenChettinad only 15 exits sterthere khichdi ma-at a premium. may take time,” says di I he grew upbyonway wasofaexplaining grim conMoroccan traveller Of these, 10 also werequinoa in thekhichdi MFI space while the the slow growth sala.

There’s of some social to enterprises. coction designed scar me for Ibn Battuta drooled rest involved millet livelihood, and and barnyard risottoagri-business out While the growth may have beenfor slow, it is life. It seemed created people over this one-pot dish clean Individual investors, however, steady for sure. there. energy.

Not to forget sushi khichThe National Association Sorecovering from cholera ofand claim different set ofrice, numbers.

“We have cial Enterprises di rollsawith mushroom car(NASE)lobotomies. was set up inClearly, April 2012 tastebud the made exits, of which 13 have been profit- as a networking rot and19cucumber stuffing. platform for policymakers, inkhichdi makers of my childhood able. others have not been TheThe traditional khichdi, how-as good, but it vestors and academia.

Under NASE, founders didn’t consult Ain-i-Akbari or has a good learning,” says Aavishkaar’s ever,been is a mixture of rice and pulse — and as of social twice a month even Tarlaenterprises Dalal! So it meet was only years later, astoa Pradeep. gross return at 2.9the times is fairly share long agoThe as the 14th century, Moroccan experiences and gain insights. student in LA, that I gave khichdi a second competitive, he adds.drooled over this one-pot chance. traveller Ibn Battuta And that’s time well spent. Afterdish. all, with 40 We needed a 20-minute So my Mehta Lok Capital has made dish.

Thesays Europeans dismissed the nearly dish as25a per centroomie of Indians in the low-income Bengali tossed scraps of veggiescategointo a investments anddoll”. sevenInexits far. “Idoctor don’t ry, “mess of rice and 1673, asoBritish worthcooker, $450 billion demand, it is a huge pressure alongin with some wormy daal, think wouldFryer say that exits“The have been low market, namedI John scoffed, diet of this Agrawal.

“People rice, a fatsays blobIntellecap’s of butter and the few spices are we compared to the private model in the Sort of People admits notequity of great variety or also looking alternative had on hand.at Three whistlesmarkets, later, weand werenot in last years.

It is a new space and requires Cost,10their delightfullest Food being only a everyone is going after the rich guy in Mumkhichdi heaven. more time.”

As for profitability of exits, “inRice the bai,” he adds. sort of Cutcherry, a sort of Pulse and financial inclusion are fairly mixed together andspace, boiledthese in Butter with shabnam minwalla is a journalist and author of rashmi pratap of Dorabji Street The Six Spellmakers handsome he adds. which theyprofits,” grow fat.”

STREET, EAT, REPEAT

Mixed feelings

Anurag Agrawal, CEO of Intellecap

Khichdi, the most comforting example of hotchpotch in the Indian kitchen, has many avatars

shabnam minwalla

I

remember the precise moment at which I became a khichdi convert.

It was at a razzle-dazzle Gujarati wedding — one of those events that feature tinkly fountains, rainbow-hued mocktails and cascades of flowers. The dinner plates were the size of hula hoops. And the menu traversed the world in 800sqm.

There was Thai, Chinese and Khao Suey.

There was a barbecue counter, a Mexican counter and an Italian counter. A dramatic display of salads and an elaborate West Asian Pradeep chief investment spread. AP, grilled panini officer stall, aand crêpe stall, a executive director of Aavishkaar Venture pav bhaji stall and a dosawala.

In short, anyManagement Services thing that a fan of the broccoli-and-babycorn school of Gujarati cooking could desire.

I was trying to decide whether to storm the live Italian counter or wrestle my way to a bowl of veg khao suey when a revolutionary thought struck. I headed to a quiet table at a far corner. Here were no hordes of hungry guests bellowing, “Mushroom daalo.” No chefs doing fancy things with knives and pans.

In fact, nobody other than a group of chattering grannies. And two silver serving bowls featuring the true speciality of the evening — a lovely, slushy khichdi and a pale, sweet-spicy Gujarati kadhi.

This is a combination that the Gujaratis do better than anybody else. As I tucked into the soothing, ghee-laced it seemed strange Nityanand Agrawal, MDmush, and CEO of Banyan Green Fuels that anybody should bother with the rajma-

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Tastemaker of change You. And your phone WINDOW OR AISLE

Maggi was the promise of modernity when India was raring to break free of traditions; it The lateststereotypical killer app forgender gettingroles the best deals around the world upended andhotel fulfilled certain ‘modern’ ideas

rishi piparaiya

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Speed dial At a time when trunk calls were giving way to STD PCOs, Maggi embodied functionalism and utilitarianism bloomberg/dhiraj singh

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t seems no amount of monosodium glure or you onecan of come thosebetween who primarily tamate lead Maggi researches and books hotelsIndia onand its committed lovers, of which line? If The so you will noodle probably has legions. instant hasapprebeen experience is notlab as withdrawnciate fromthat thethe shelves after recent streamlined and transparent one would reports, but many Maggi loversasstill hope it’s hope. me, you probably flitpass. from one porall justLike a bad dream, and it will talMaggi to another, yoursnack. travel After dates omand was inputting no ordinary sortingbread for hotels by location and price. You elette, and biscuit, it was perhaps the shortlist a few preferred hotels and then only foreign food the whole of India took comto so heartily. Many say it got popular because it was easy to make and versatile. It indeed was, but the rise of Maggi in India was powered mainly by the post-liberalisation cultural economy. Maggi became an index of a globalising, modernising India. It supplied a pannational icon the country needed two decades ago when its liberalising economy began bringing hordes of people from rural areas to cities, lifting them above regional identities and local habits.

Maggi tiptoed into middle-class kitchens, hardly making the noise a foreign interloper was supposed to. It took little time to overcome what little resistance there was and became a family member. The noodles and tastemaker never faced the rumours that dog most foreign food in a largely vegetarian middle class. It’s name exuded familiarity — Maggi could be an affable matriarch, a genial domestic help or a naughty kid sister. For many, it even sounded like a wide-eyed NRI cousin intent on learning about the home culture.

But Maggi was deceptively domestic.

Though it was self-effacing — it could adapt to endless desi improvisations and had no qualms sitting with pyaaz and aam ka achaar — it was a powerful agent of change. In the great Indian melting pot growling with a totalising zeal, the British bread had to orientalise into a pakora, and biscuit had to pass through a severe identity crisis (it was fully accepted

when it lost its trademark crispness and turn- ’90s. It appealed to our growing fascination pare rates across portals. may offer the prices, as theyofare, had moved up ed limp as Indians gleefullySome dipped it into hota with speeddynamic — a key feature modernity which great rate on the hotel but the but terms suddenly and chai).

Maggi toopreferred was quite adaptable it promised to significantly. make lives easier by making and conditions be entirely favoura“I had seen a rate of $220 a few weeks ago was more than may food:not it was the promise of them faster. ble. Other sites it’s calls no longer available and modernity whenmay Indiaoffer was some raringinclusions to break but Atunfortunately that time, trunk were giving way to suchofastraditions. breakfast or ratesPCOs are and nowIndia $280.was Can you do something free It airport did not transfers meet thebut fatethe of STD beginning to see new ratebread will be higher.

Youlimp alsobiscuit probably go diplease,” I requested on the phone. the pakora or the because it car models.

Maggi the alsolady embodied other She key rectlya to the website the hotel to check if features hemmedof and hawed a little but, sure enough, was clever arbiter of between tradition and modernity — functionalism and they have any offeradditions — sometimes she not only matched theitrate but the alsostaple gave modernity.

It packages accepted on local and utilitarianism.

That’s why became you possibly dosteadfastly find a dealretaining but invariably it of methe a complimentary upgrade. changes while its own post-liberalisation modern Indian subcomes with itstaste. own restrictions.

Which brings me to the next — even if character and ject.

By hint transcending Lately, I have hit upon this amazing app that they don’t have the authority to give youethnic a betregional and potentially lets you get the best possible deal ter rate than what youdiversity, are getting online, New apron-wearers it came the on hotel rooms.

It’s called ‘You. out of the most hotel managers can usually While Maggi brought the woman closest to our idea of Maggi tiptoed into And youritphone’. throw in a lot of freebies.

This kitchen, put the man — albeit briefly — into national food. middle-class This is how itfemale works.domain.

I identifyThat was the works particularly well secret for weeka traditionally Another of kitchens, hardly the hotel would like to stay at, I The entry of end stays business hotels.

Evfirst socialI change it engineered. immense making the noise a atMaggi’s jot man downinto thethebest rate marked that’s the rise ery once inpopularity a while I will the kitchen of pull out wascallitsa I then my interloper foreign available online, I make a luxury hotel and let them the individual, theand post-liberalisation glob- and call special taste.

Itknow was phone the was supposed to list of all the possible that I am looking to getofaway for alised subject.

Maggi inclusions gave him a chance the taste desire. hotelto — no toll-free that are being offered by roles. the hothe weekend.

Andmany then I modern pull out experiment with gender Like numbers, direct tel,Itacross one orthe more the list of inclusions that they also marked risewebsites. of the Indian single. commodities, it line to the hotel, I then pull mymore phone and optedpreferably can potentially offer and start nePrivate jobs out grew, people for seemed, its goal was to call the hotel — no toll-free num“Can I get free breakhigher education in metros and marriages not to fill yougotiating. up but have you come back for the manager bers, delayed direct line to the of hotel, What a couples’ were for reasons career. Maggi be- more. Maggi fast? sold not foodabout but hunger, a porpreferably to the manager, and Ian individual table hungermassage at the spa?

But hey, IAnd am came a fellow traveller for such you could carry anywhere. start lived negotiating. alone — can I get two who in a metro, away from the clan, and that was the staying time when driven by foreign inI didn’t know this but massages instead?for Wi-fi, I trust, was open toreally experimentation. vestment India was hungering growth. theThis staffindividual at many hotels a fair amount of will be included.

Umm, be checking brokehas free of traditional Maggi’s downfall wasI’ll fated and the out lab on releeway in the rates andattendant freebies that they can ports Sunday… wethe make it a 5pm checkout food routines and its social codes. werecan only trigger.

When people rathhave throw in for polite guests.

And started er than questioning noon.” And so on.

He would eatprospective, whenever he liked.

Liberated the myths of modernity — this isa food especially true standalone hotels speed, Your efficiency worst-caseand is that they will noticons budge, from culture thatfor previously organised growth — the of thatdaily aren’t part of bignow hospitality chains.

So modernity in which case younaturally just go back your travel his life, he could eat Maggi during would take to a beating.

The you call and transparently the who best discourse portal and the way you have always lunch atthem his desk; a far cry from share the man of book the poisoned food popularised by rate that youa are gettingsteel online — to “Look, done.

But well, many times you could get a would bring four-deck tiffin officeI the global environment movement is fuelled would really toeating stay atand your property but by better rate or complimentary or and spend anlike hour sharing it with the discontents of modernity.upgrades Indians too could you do something othersoon awesome Andfrom there is no harm in colleagues amid banter. better on the rate?” will startperks. moving fast food to And you know what, they just might. Not just healthy putting choices. in that little bitwas of effort, Allof it Maggi a partisofthere? the rite India,for thisspeed works internationally as well. requires for is You. And your Need passage a nation thatphone! started embracing I recently called a luxury in IndoMaggi was the veryup promise of resort modernity.

Its global modernity two decades ago. nesia — I had been monitoring their room ‘two-minute’ offer caught on not because Indi- rishi piparaiya is the author of Aisle Be Damned rishi@aislebedamned.com kumar is a Delhi-based journalist rateswere butlooking hadn’t to booked andback unfortunately ans save time in the early dharminder

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Travel log Get there

Fly Air France (www.airfrance.com) directly to Paris from Mumbai or Delhi.

Stay

Josephine is a boutique hotel with a quirky cabaret theme, and located close to the shopping and entertainment districts (http:// en.hotel-josephine.com) Explore

Cinema-themed walks are conducted regularly by Juliette Dubois; contact info@cinebalade.com; cost per person €12-14. To plan your Paris trip, Save the day visit Atout France (http:// Raghuram Rajan’s in.rendezvousenfrance.com) reform measures in

the finance ministry are likely tothe facenew less Watch Paris Merveilles, vehemence from the show at Lido. Opposition than Jaitley’s ramesh sharma

Tip

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We’ll always have Paris Role calls AGENDA

A cinema walk reveals the deep bond between the City of Lights and the silver screen How Narendra Modi can use the Sushma Swaraj scandal to rejig his cabinet and put the uddenly a train economy back onappeared. track Women — much like the film’s protagonist, who trav- policing, Paris has always been popular with

sambuddha mitra mustafi

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cried out in terror. Men threw themselves to one side to avoid arendra Modi, being run over.” like most high achievers, has a stellar track record This is not a sensational newspaper report in turning adversity into opportuof a train accident; this is the reaction to the nity. The best screening example by of the thatLuis first ever motion picture how he turned as around his image after the mière Brothers, described by an astute obmonumental thepanic.

2002 server.

He goesgovernance on to end failure with “Itofwas riots,triumph.” painting himself as a victim of a liberal And witch Now, facingofhis firstScribe. potential I amhunt. told this in front Hotel This scandal prime minister, Modi needs to pull was onceasthe Grand Café, where this momena rabbit out—of10his hat.in Good thing for the tous event films the course of him, 20 minrabbit just be to be28, pulled utes — might took place onwaiting December 1895.out.

In a If to Narendra ModiHotel doesScribe not sack nod its heritage, has aSushma restauSwaraj overCafé theLumière.

Lalit Modi saga, he will lose rant called enormous political Having won onrelathe Clearly, Paris has capital. a long and enduring back of with an cinema, anti-corruption, anti-Congress tionship and on this walk, I hope wave, he will find to explore a bit of it it.difficult to justify Swaraj’s continued in the cabinet.

The OppoThe walkpresence starts with a peek into one of the sition willfrom keep Woody gunning for him, possibly stall locations Allen’s Midnight in Paris work in Parliament overkey thescenes issue in and para(2011).

Allen has set some Polidor, thefashionable government much like what the BJP alyse once bistro and hangout of artdid when it was on the other of theIfloor. ists and writers.

Walking intoside Polidor, get a If Modi put governance and the feeling thatwants I have to stepped into the early 1900s economy back on track, which is in his best interests, then he has to ask the foreign minister to leave ‘till an investigation is completed’.

That will give him an opportunity to rejig his cabinet — and that’s when he can pull the rabbit out of the hat by putting Arun Jaitley in the foreign ministry and bringing in Raghuram Rajan as finance minister.

Lutyens insider By most accounts Jaitley has been a disappointment as finance minister, but he remains Modi’s closest confidante and headlines manager. Cynics even claim that he is behind the recent headlines against Swaraj, with whom he has shared an uneasy relationship for long. Notwithstanding his disappointing stint at North Block, Jaitley will have to be given a ministry of suitable importance as a face-saver. And what can be better for the suave lawyer than the foreign ministry?

As finance minister, Jaitley has often looked like a fish out of water. His rambling, stopBig is beautiful On an average, three films are shot in Parisstart everyinterim day paris tourist officespeech last July set the budget

els back in time to the ’20s, an era when litera- Hollywood; since 1900, nearly 800 of its films ry greats like Ernest Hemingway, F Scott have been set here. And can Bollywood be far tone for aand mediocre performance one behind?

Fitzgerald Gertrude Stein lived inover the city. ministry Sangam is the biggest of ever interest for (1964),conflict the first Indian year. Economist Swaminathan Aiyar called Midnight in Paris is Allen’s third movie set in it Pa-a movie the Indian to beeconomy. filmed abroad, had a few songs set ‘Chidambaram budget with saffron lipstick’. ris and his love song to the city, possibly his fa- in Paris, followed soon by An Evening in Paris The boldonly reforms vourite after and Newvision York. that were expect- (1967), Battering ramalmost entirely here. Someone shot edWe of aare Modi budget to were missing the pipes impatient know abouteven the in more In theuprarefied Lutyensonworld, Sushma with a remark Queenthe (2014), with first full budget February. popular movies this set in Paris and so head off to its Swaraj-Lalit Modi interest case is as clever shots of conflict the EiffelofTower as an omniThe reason Jaitley was made another neighbourhood.

Along finance the way,minisguide present commonfeature as red beacon cars. Unfortunately for of the city. ter — leapfrogging candidates like Arun Shou- Swaraj, Juliette Dubois points out filmi landmarks herisemails were at leaked and one Dubois obviously sea when wenews talk rie with better expertise wasRegithat about like the Pont desdomain Arts (Amelie) and — Hotel channel in particular to town Bollywood — whywent not start thatdemandtour, the Jaitley seenIdentity). as somebody who could rally group na (Thewas Bourne ing herdemands resignation.

Butwe theget larger is — and backproblem to talking bipartisan consensus around key reforms Our destination is Place Vendome, the and ele- about the manner in which big business connects to how Paris is strewn with film locations. help Parisian the passage of controversial bills. like But Not gant square lined by jewellers big politics an over-regulated environment. entirelyin surprising, given that, on average, that theory has not and worked. fact,&since he three Cartier, Boucheron Van In Cleef Arpels.

Unfortunately, nonein ofthe thecity conversations films are shot every day. durled the BJP’s opposition to reforms However, the star in our eyes such as the ing the presentThere scandal focused on that. arehave all the usual suspects GST Bill during theseen UPA regime, here is Hotel Ritz, in innu-having Jaitley If Modi is serious about his goal (The of signifilike Champs Elysees Devil as finance minister firmly remerable films, including three cantlyPrada), improving of doWears Arc the de ease Triomphe duces theAudrey government’s moral starring Hepburn (no ing business in India, then (An he (Casablanca), Montmartre Midnight in Paris is authority getherthese bills fewer than to six of films were must first the Kiss, enAmerican in take Paris, on French Allen’s third movie passed shot inconsiderably.

Paris). Standing here at trenched interests Lutyens — Moulin Rouge), all ofinthem locaBy in most accounts set Paris and his AndVendome there have Place on abeen grey, comrainy top bureaucrats, judges and poltions for plots with strong Paris Jaitley been a love songhas to the city, pletely avoidable slip-ups: day, we watch Bonjour Paris, athe deiticians — who perpetuate connections.

Then there is the disappointment as possibly his favourite Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) lightful song from Funny Face crony system.

And to break this Louvre (The Da Vinci Code), about finance only afterminister, New York demand spooked inves(1957) that takes usforeign through the but he remains Modi’s which nexus,I he needs battering ram learn an ainteresting stotors with andFred went completely city Astaire and Aufrom outside the cirry.

It is not easy to getLutyens permission closest confidante against the Modi Our government’s drey Hepburn. eyes are cuit: someone like Rajan. to shoot at the Louvre; it took an and headlines claim that it will stayiPad awayasfrom glued to Dubois’s she Apart fromby hisnone domain intervention lessexperthan manager the ‘tax terrorism’ of UPA. The struggles with an umbrella that threatens to the French President tise and—the outsiders’ Jacques Chiracperspec— to get new income tax return form, break free. tive,The Rajan will bring immense the green signal. museum acquiesced to which know details ofnot any other filming for sixmoral Why seeks Paris, to I ask Dubois, why heftontocondition the finance minisnights, that the expenditure on foreign charming European city,travel, say, Rome or Lon- set be dismantled try. The Opposition, every morning. particularly for example, was another big faux don?

That’s when I learn about the pas, Hayswhich Code theThe Congress, whichfor appointed himhalf Reserve trivia makes more than the againHollywood pointed at had an adversarial taxits regime and pleasure that imposed on filmmakBank of India governor, it difficult to of this walk. will For find instance, Moulin unnecessary regulation. ers in 1930 (lasting till 1968). It stipulated that Rouge challenge Rajan’s measuresParis withepic, the (2001), thatreform quintessential the should Modi government was elected to get noIffilm ‘lower the moral standards of was sameshot vehemence they doin Jaitley’s. almost entirely a studio in Austrarid ofwho Lutyens champagne socialist those see it’.Delhi’s Major film studios were gov- lia,For Modi the BJP to deliver on the with cityand shots digitally produced.

Andskyfor hangover, the insidercode Arun that Jaitleyrequired is clear- The erned by then a production highDevil pre-election promises, bold reforms are Wears Prada, Meryl Streep didn’t travly thepictures wrong person to administerand that‘moral’ reme- el their to be ‘wholesome’ needed.

The Swaraj scandal is the perfect opto Paris. dy. Lutyens its studios power called from ‘coran portunity and encouragederives what the to moveatthe underperWe end for the Modi tour, fittingly, Hotel Scribe, environment over-regulation thatthe fosters rect thinking’.ofAccording to Dubois, cen- spending forming Jaitley out to the foreignas ministry a few minutes in silence homage cronyism and fearless sorship was, forrent-seeking, some strangecripples reason, far more to andthe putworld’s the economy back on track.

That can first filmmakers.

Later, I read innovation scuppers big ideas. is that lenient withand films based outside theJaitley US. She only one helpofhis andremarked, the people of thegovernment Lumières had “The too much a part of that rent-seeking Lutyens believes that for many Americans at that time, cinema this country. is certainly is an There invention withoutnoa conflict future.” of If class offered (just check outofhis record at theprompthelm of only Paris a kind fantasy escape, interest there. he knew. the filmmakers Delhi cricket to trulyaround break ing to association) script their movies sambuddharamadurai mitra mustafi is the founder of charukesi is a Bengaluru-based thisCity stifling system. the of Lights.

The Political Indian tsome_buddha writer-photographer To putwithout it in one Jaitley of in such the finance Even theline, influence moral freelance

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Giving the slip Bubbles of mucus are what the clever parrotfish cocoons itself in against nocturnal parasites

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he animal kingdom abounds in behavioural peculiarities. Honeybees, as Karl von Frisch famously discovered, dance to communicate to each other the direction and distance of food from their hive. The male wood spider, a tenth the size of the female, will ply her with ‘nuptial gifts’ (of dead insects, nicely wrapped in silk) so that he is not eaten while trying to mate with her. Then there are tap-dancing birds of paradise and sex-changing fish.

Of course, all these were adaptations for good reason — and ultimately contributed to the survival of that species. But the phylogenetic tree is full of such oddities, and the parrotfish is a perfect example of an animal that has found a smart but amusing way to get around a common problem.

The free-swimming larvae of gnathiidae (or isopod crustaceans) are a common parasite on coral reefs, feeding on the blood of many reef fish. They burrow into fish gills and skin and can cause serious infection and disease if not removed. Cleaner wrasses are a family of small, ribbon-like fish that have benefited from this parasitic association. They are able to digest these crustaceans, and fish regularly seek them out at cleaning stations manned by one or two cleaner wrasses, usually located conspicuously on the top of big coral boulders. But cleaners only provide their services during the day. What happens at night, when fish are sleeping, and the threat from parasitic crustaceans looms large?

Reef fish do a variety of things to ward off gnathiidae at night. Some, like wrasses, bury themselves in sand. Gobies have toxic skin cells on certain body areas to ward off parasit-

es. Some fish sleep in areas away from the reef tanks of unprotected fish, happily feeding and a few may even use nocturnal cleaner or- away on their flesh. This confirmed that the ganisms. However, the survival costs associat- cocoons were indeed acting as a sort of force ed with these strategies would be high — both field against parasitic attack, keeping fish safe in terms of the energy required to contin- inside a blanket of their mucus. uously seek out cleaners at night, for instance, The mechanisms used by mucous cocoons and the risk associated with swimming to prevent gnathiid attack are probably a comaround and being exposed to night-time pred- bination of several things. The mucus could ators as a result. Which is why the parrotfish’s mask smells from the fish that parasites use to solution seems especially elegant: mucous co- locate them with. They also act as a physical coons. Every night, many parrotfish blow bub- barrier against attack, repelling the gnathiibles of mucus around dae that do reach its surface. Anthemselves and spend the night other study done on mucus inside it. For a long time since across the animal kingdom the discovery of this phenomfound that mucus is itself loaded enon in the 1950s, it was thought with microbe-killing viruses that Most of them will that they were doing this to have evolved in a unique symalso eat their cocoon avoid being eaten by larger anibiotic partnership with animals. the next day as mals, like eels. But a study done It could be that the mucus of parmorning snack recently on the bullethead parrotfish cocoons is also full of virotfish on the Great Barrier Reef ruses that have evolved over time has found that these cocoons are to fight off gnathiidae. actually working against gnathiCocoon-producing reef fish idae, acting as a kind of mosquito net against are the only animals known to secrete a strucnight-time pests. ture that not only protects the whole fish but The researchers manipulated mucous co- also allows it to perform the function of sleep coons of several bullethead parrotfish (Chlo- — a combination of features that hasn’t been rurus sordidus) in a controlled laboratory observed in another animal before. Most of experiment, removing some cocoons from them will also eat their cocoon the next day as sleeping parrotfish and leaving others intact. morning snack, a behaviour I observed on an They then introduced an equal number of early dive. Not only do these fish sleep in capgnathiid crustaceans into their separate sules of their own mucus, they also minimise tanks, and left them in there for the rest of the the energy lost in production by consuming it night. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they found the next day. Peculiar? The parrotfish is too that parrotfish without cocoons got attacked clever to care. almost nine times more than ones with cocoons. The fullest, most satisfied gnathiidae shreya yadav is a research affiliate with the Nature were also the ones that had been inside the Conservation Foundation, Mysore

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scan know

saturday, june 20,20, 2015 saturday, june 2015

For your eyes only I Damaging Mamata Banerjee’s reputation, one spectacle at a time

t is no Oakley, Bentley or the PM’s pet Bvlgari. But simple spectacles, the kind you need after a bout of Japanese encephalitis. Sabitri Mitra, West Bengal minister, shrunk the treasury by a lakh for a pair of new spectacles and repairing two old ones — broken leg, misshapen frame, loose screw etc.

The refugee relief and rehabil-

itation minister’s attempt to rehabilitate what may be a floundering spectacle shop did not amuse the Opposition. Last heard, big boss Mamati di was taking deep breaths and waiting for Sabitri. The hassled minister has scurried to the treasury with ₹99,880. But no word on the miscellaneous medicines bill of ₹10,198.

Hedge cut

Dude, what did you do to my hair?

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hat comes in squares? Ice cubes and origami paper, novellas and handkerchiefs. In short, nothing ‘natural’. But ‘natural’ has always been overrated. In Japan and Taiwan the new grooming trend is to cut the fur of dogs into ovals and squares. It is reported that one fine day someone woke up in Taiwan with the idea — ‘why not make a dog look like a hedge’? Unfortunately for the pooches, this suggestion of topiary was taken seriously.

While photos of the pruned and trimmed dogs are going viral, their expressions only read — I am a dog, not a bush.

A for Arsenic

Recreating Agatha Christie’s poisonous recipes

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n Agatha Christie’s Cards on the Table, wicked Mr Shaitana famously says, “poison is a woman’s weapon.” We can’t say if that holds true generally, but it certainly was the crime-fiction author’s favourite device. Consider this: 80 victims of death by poison in 83 novels. Emily Inglethorp in Mysterious Affairs of Styles found strychnine in her soup and Amyas Crale in Five Little Pigs gulped down hemlock with his beer. Christie’s repertoire extended to cunning use of chemicals too. Mary Gerrard in Sad Cypress died of morphine in her sandwich and Barbara Franklin fell to the two-faced Calabar bean mixed in her coffee. Christie knows her poisons, so what? Come this September, at the Agatha Christie Festival, French author Annie Martinetti will recreate some of the author’s delectable poisonous recipes, starting with Delicious Death. Yay! But beware, enthusiasts, this is not a how-to-getaway-with-murder manual.

More than a penny for your pee Getting paid for openly defecating

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coin for every pee and poop — that’s how Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation plans to shame those who do it in the open.

Come Monday and teams of officials and volunteers will keep a vigil on 59 ‘nuisance spots’ identified by the civic body. These spots are close to railway tracks, open spaces near slums and waste dumps. The idea is to catch them red-handed (for want of a better word, really) and ‘embarrass’ by giving them a rupee. Children get a toffee instead. The idea has found both admirers and sceptics — the latter feel the move will incentivise rather than prevent open defecation.

The right tilak Should it be U or Y? Tirupati debates

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t the country’s richest temple in Tirupati, a bitter feud is brewing. Move aside sweaty, huddled masses, queuing up for days to have darshan. Lord Venkateshwara’s make-up is not right. The temple’s priests, who belong to different Vaishnavite sects, are quibbling over the shape of the tilak on the deity.

Should it be a U or Y? Since the Supreme Court ruled that both types of tilaks would be used on a 15-day rotation basis every month, the two warring sects have kept a hawk eye on each other. In June, the dates apparently got mixed up, resulting in the ‘wrong’ tilak and suspension of the priest. They say clothes don’t make the man, but make-up sure does make the Lord.

Krish Raghav is a comic book artist, policy analyst and podcaster. He shares his hometown with Dhalsim from Street Fighter, but cannot shoot fireballs from his face t@krishraghav

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saturday, june 20, 2015

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in-faq by joy bhattacharjya Tennis

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oday is the 226th anniversary of a pivotal event in French history — The Tennis Court Oath taken by members of the third estate. With Wimbledon too just a week away, it’s the perfect time for a tennis quiz.

here,there & elsewhere

Laddoo lady

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uriel and I are out on our weekly grocery shopping junket. On the way home in her car, I tell her all about Jiggs the Herbivore and his bathroom encounter with Kookie the Kodiak Bear last week. We’re still chuckling as she turns into the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. “Uh-oh!” she says. “Looks like you have a visitor...” Sure enough: there’s another car parked in the driveway. And Jiggs is struggling up the front steps with a suitcase the size of Sri Lanka.

I leap out of Muriel’s car, hauling grocery bags in both hands. Entering the hallway I see Bins and Jiggs at my open front door gazing at me like benevolent landlords at the entrance to their estate. “BINS!” I say, using my All Capitals voice, “WHAT’S GOING ON?” He responds with “Ah! There you are! Did you remember the artichokes?”

“NEVER MIND THE ARTICHOKES!” I say, wishing I could build up the energy to scream or swear. Alas, that’s not how my vocal chords are arranged. Whenever I try to yell, I only succeed in sounding like a hysterical mouse. “I THOUGHT WE HAD AN UNDERSTANDING?” Then I turn to Jiggs. In a softer tone but still in All Caps I say, “PLEASE DON’T FORCE ME TO BE RUDE BUT I’M SORRY

cornerstone

YOU JUST CAN’T STAY WITH US!” Jiggs is so embarrassed he’s practically wetting himself. “Umm ... err ...” he mumbles, “I think I will just get some laddoos now ” Bins is waving his hands about up in the pose of a conductor telling the trombones to ease off. “Now, now,” he says. “The calamity is under control. Really. He is not staying with us ” Jiggs, who can no longer bear the tension, ducks his head and heads for the door. That leaves me with smoke pouring from my ears and a week’s worth of groceries still hanging from my hands. “HIS SUITCASE,” I say.

“IT’S ALREADY INSIDE, ISN’T IT?” “Yes, but only his suitcase ” says Bins.

“The rest of him will be outside.” I ask Bins if he knows how crazy that sounds.

Bins says, “He’ll live in his car! Only his suitcase will stay inside” Groaning aloud, I shove him aside, step through the door and trip on the suitcase, which fills the narrow corridor.

Five grocery bags fly out of my hands and burst open. Eggs smash, milk spills, tomatoes splat and artichokes go bouncing in all directions.

I am just wondering whether it’s possible to slash my wrists using a jagged eggshell when I hear a familiar female voice in the distance. “Oo!” it says. “These are GOOD! What d’you call them?” It’s DingDong, miraculously returned from the void. “Laddoos,” says Jiggs. “They are pure vegetarian sweets from India.” DingDong opens the door to her apartment. “Mmmm!” she purrs, “they’re great. Say, d’you know anything about fixing shelves?” Her door clicks shut. Bins helps me to my feet. He’s looking wistfully over his shoulder. “You think he’ll be safe with her?” he wants to know. “Safer than with me,” I say as I pick carrots off the floor. manjula padmanabhan, author and artist, writes of her life in the fictional town of Elsewhere, US, in this weekly column

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Six people have completed a singles tennis Grand Slam in the seniors. Who is so far the only one to have achieved a junior Grand Slam?

When Hawk-Eye was introduced in Wimbledon in 2007, which mythological creature did it replace?

Evgenia Kulikovskaya is a former professional tennis player from Russia. Her highest singles ranking was 91. She won four WTA doubles titles and managed a ranking in the top 50. Despite her average ranking, why was she a draw among tennis fans?

4

This player qualified for the US Open seniors tournament for the first time as a 19-year-old in 1953 and for the last time in 1981, at 47. Identify this player who was at the centre of a controversy in 1975.

5

Leonardo Lavalle was a tennis star from Mexico whose first career highlight was winning the Wimbledon boys’ junior singles title. What overshadowed his victory?

6

In 2004, Roger Federer won three Grand Slam titles — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Who was the last player before Federer in the men’s game to win three Grand Slam titles in a single year?

7

In 1973, the US Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to award equal prize money to men and women. Who were the winners that year, both taking home $25,000?

8 9

Which tennis star of the ’80s was nicknamed ‘Le Mozart Noir’ — The Black Mozart for his silky smooth style of play?

In 1981, a certain Edward James was told something and it went on to be the title of a book that topped the New York Times Bestsellers charts 21 years later. What was he told?

10

India has reached the finals of the Davis Cup tournaments in 1966, 1974 and 1987.

In 1966, they lost to Australia in the challenge format and in 1987 they were overwhelmed by the Swedes. What happened in 1974?

Answers

1. Stefan Edberg, who completed it in 1983 2. Cyclops, the automated line calling system first introduced at Wimbledon in 1980 was soon adopted by the other major tournaments. Cyclops was named after the one-eyed giants Ulysses encountered during his travels 3. Evgenia was probably the last truly ambidextrous player in world tennis. She played with two forehands and no backhand, switching her racket hand depending on where the ball was headed 4. Dr Richard Raskind, who played in the men’s draw till 1960 and then made a comeback in the women’s draw as Renee Richards in 1977 after a sex change operation. She applied to play in 1975, was denied and went on to win a case against the USTA 5. Lavalle won in 1985 and the men’s champion that year, Boris Becker, was younger than him 6. Mats Wilander in 1988; he missed out on Wimbledon 7. John Newcombe and Margaret Court 8. Yannick Noah; the French nickname should have been a big hint 9. ‘You Cannot Be Serious,’ John McEnroe told the line umpire, James. It became the title of McEnroe’s autobiography 10. India refused to play South Africa in protest of their apartheid policies and the tie was awarded to South Africa

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

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