PAIRING IN PRIVATE Sultanpur National Park closes down to let its assorted birds — parakeets, flamingos, ducks, doves, pigeons and weaver birds — mate in peace p4 saturday, june 27, 2015
With over 200 reporters, Shahjahanpur could be the Fleet Street of Uttar Pradesh. Surprisingly, it’s not television or newspapers that are leading the charge, but social media journalism p9
Jagendra Singh Facebook Reporter Burned alive - June 2015
partha pratim sharma
Local News Network
SECRET CORNER Author Mamang Dai on not finding enough reasons to leave Itanagar p17
DARK FLAVOURS Bengal’s black rice, long gone from the kitchen, makes a delicious comeback p20
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Foretaste of grass In the warm-up to Unequal footing (Clockwise from top) An RTI filed by a former student showed that a majority of the students and faculty at IIT-Madras, in Wimbledon, Roger Circle defeated Chennai, belonged to forward castes m karunakaran; a placard-carrying SFI activist in Delhi protests against the ban on Ambedkar Periyar Study Federer at IIT-Madras pti; police stand watch outside the institute during an agitation by members of the Opposition DMK party lisbun kumar Andreas Seppi to claim the Gerry Weber Open title in Halle, Germany ap/martin
Joint entrance? Roger that
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The recent controversy at IIT-Madras exposed, once again, the bumpy caste dynamics in premier Given hiseducational ability to hitinstitutes an ace just when he is in a tight spot, Federer seems more than likely to lift the Wimbledon trophy
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ince 2004, there have been 64 suicides at the 16 Indian Institutes of Technolo“If you can meet Triumph Di-least gy (IIT). Whilewith certainly notand all, at saster, andoftreat twohave imposters a few thesethose deaths been attrijusttothe same…” —discrimination. Rudyard Kipling buted caste-based Earlier this year, the IITs and Indian Instihe line from were Kipling’s poem If, intutes of Management advised scribed canteens above thefor entrance to have separate vege- to the Centre Court, sums up tarian andWimbledon non-vegetarian students. the spirit the championship, inIIT-Delhi went a stepof ahead and disaldeed all sport. lowedof non-vegetarian food on the At the All Lawn Tennis and Croquet campus for England a brief period. Club nearinLondon, players It is(AELTC), known that 2006, the IIT-Ma-consider participation in the annual dras administration offeredtournament support itself an a win herememis the crownto achievement, the Youth forwhile Equality (YFE) ing in the world of tennis. Only bersglory protesting the introduction of 27a Grand Slam champion can round this off with victories at the other majors — the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open — within a calendar year. An elusive feat, so far managed by only five in the history of the sport: Don Budge (1938), Maureen Connolly (1953), Rod Laver (1962 and 1969), Margaret Smith Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988). Laver had achieved the distinction both as an amateur and as a professional. The four Grand Slam championships have become tougher over the years because the differences in their surfaces (slow, mediumfast and fast) call for different skills; in the distant past, in contrast, grass was the most common surface in many countries. The growing emphasis on the game’s entertainment value, in the form of prolonged rallies, has necessitated a slowing down of all surfaces in recent years. The clay courts at French Open are considered the slowest and the grass at Wimbledon the fastest. While clay courts encourage baseline play, serve-and-volley is favoured on grass. John
per cent reservation for Other Backward Class- petitioners in a PIL challenging the governes (OBCs). The late PV Indiresan, a former di- ment’s decision to implement the reservarector of Boris IIT-Madras, wasPete oneSampras of the used chief of tions thatthe year. McEnroe, Becker and which Queen’s Club in London (AEGON According to a survey conducted at IIT-Bomto win on short points of three or four shots. Championships) and Halle, Germany (Gerry bay in Championships) 2013, 56 per centattract of the afirst-year However, many experts and players contend Weber majoritystuof dents belonging a ‘reserved’ category that the Wimbledon courts are not as fast as the leading playerstoand, in turn, offer a cluefelt to thatlikely discrimination did exist in the institute. they once were. Maria Sharapova has said: the winner at Wimbledon. On May 22 this IIT-Madras derecog“When I look back to when I won here in 2004, Andy Murray wonyear, in London and Roger Fenised inthe Ambedkar Periyar it was much faster than it is now.” From the na- derer Halle. Seeing their recentStudy game,Circle they (APSC) its campusto after receiving a commuture of the grass to the weight of the ball, are myonfavourites win at Wimbledon. niqué from the Ministry Resources there is speculation that things have been Watching Federer at HalleofinHuman the final against Development whichthat in turn hadmasacttweaked to slow down the game, although Andreas Seppi,(MHRD), it was evident the old ed on an anonymous complaint. head grounds man Eddie Seater was back in form. Jimmy ConThe cited reason: organising meetings ward denies it. In recent years, nors once said: “In an eraand of issuing pamphlets “spread game telecasts carry inserts of specialists,that you’re either hatred a clay against the present dispensation and its polithe number of shots in a rally, court specialist, a grass court species”. It is another Central Vigisomething that I had never seen cialist,matter or a that hardthe court specialIt was evident that lance (CVC)Roger had Federer.” specifically before in more than 50 years of ist… or you’re the old master wasCommission instructed all Iinstitutions to never actabilon following the Grand Slams. am always amazed by his back in form anonymous letters. Until last year, the transition ity to hit an ace just when he is in After several twists and turns, the group from clay at Roland Garros to a tight spot. Seppi missed three was re-recognised June in 7. the first set, ingrass at Wimbledon happened break on points with just two weeks in between. cluding two set points, which FeNot thedefended status quowith two successive aces. That left players with too little time to prepare derer “Even when wetoformed a year ago, they (IIT-M for a different surface and too few back-to- Murray swept a record-equalling fourth tiadministration) the idea. back victories: only six players, in fact, had this tle at the Queen’s didn’t Club bylike defeating KevinThey Anwanted usNovak to remove the names Ambedkar distinction — Rene Lacoste (1925), Fred Perry derson. Djokovic, theof defending and Periyar,” says Akhil Bharathan, 23, a foun(1935), Budge Patty (1950), Bjorn Borg (1978, champion, seems to have slowed down. On der-member of APSC, his Mas1979 and 1980), Rafael Nadal (2008/ 2010) and the women’s side I canwho bet is onpursuing Serena Williams ter’s in development studies. Roger Federer (2010). earning the title. She won both the Australian “While it was clear thatthis they took action Nadal once said that because of the short in- Open and the French Open year, following based the letter fromyear. MHRD, manageterval between the two Grand Slams, he could her USonOpen win last Thethe defending ment later said it wasisbecause we had violated not resist the tendency to slide on grass at champion Kvitova reportedly grappling the guidelines for independent student bodWimbledon, after having done that on clay at with health problems. Other potential contenies…such (but)as what about other groups such as Roland Garros over several days, leading to er- ders Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic the Li Vivekananda Study to Circle Vande rors. Taking note of these issues, Wimbledon and Na do not seem have or thethe strength Mataram group? don’t the rules apply to has delayed the commencement by a week that Serena amplyWhy displayed in her recent outthemHer also?” the Vivekananda from this year. ings. servesIncidentally, are as devastating as ever. Study Circle has its own page on the IIT-M webDuring the intervening three-week period, seshan is an economic consultant tennis fan a provision that has now and been promised there are six warm-up tournaments on grass, asite,
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Joining forces Protestors in Delhi and (bottom) Bengaluru express solidarity with members of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle in IIT-Madras after it was de-recognised recently sandeep saxena/ k murali kumar
to APSC as well. The Dean of Students, Sivakumar M Srinivasan had reportedly asked APSC members to remove the names of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar and Dravidian leader Periyar EV Ramasamy from the organisation’s title. He also asked them to desist from any activities that “would go against the grain of the institution”. As the issue played out on television screens and was debated in newsrooms, the IIT management seemed to realise that it had bitten off more than it could chew. APSC study circles rapidly mushroomed in other IITs and institutions across the country. Finally, in an attempt to douse the controversy before the new academic year began, the management re-recognised the group. Milind Brahme, associate professor at the humanities and social sciences department, who was guiding the group earlier, was officially recognised as its faculty advisor. “I’m thinking of calling the students back together and decide on the kind of programmes and activities they would like to take forward in the new academic year,” says Brahme. “The issues they raise are matters that should be discussed openly. Caste in India is an issue you cannot ignore even 67 years after Independence. It works in different ways and it’s important to bring it out in the open, be willing to deconstruct ourselves.” “We have resolved the issue satisfactorily. I don’t think there should be any future problems,” says Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT-M. Casting questions Under a Right to Information (RTI) petition filed by former IIT-M student Arun Sudarsan, it was found that from 2008 to 2015, out of 2,483 PhD students, only 142 were from the scheduled castes and nine from scheduled tribes. Of the remainder, 1,592 belonged to the general category (forward castes) and 740 to the OBC. In the MS programmes,
those affiliated with the APSC, the re-recognition is a battle won, although what will follow remains unclear. “We see the re-recognition as the result of protests by students and progressive forces across the country. We plan to continue our work, conduct more lectures and other events along the same lines as we used to,” says Bharathan. He adds, “How exactly it Akhil Bharathan, a founder-member will play out for us individual students associof Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle ated with APSC, I’m not really sure… we’ll have to wait and see.” only 32 students out of 1,655 belonged to SC Voices from the Right, too, contend that the and ST groups. issue was blown out of proportion. Aravindan Sudarsan had also asked for the caste and Neelakandan, consulting editor of Swarajya community break-up among faculty mem- magazine, a self-proclaimed votary of a liberbers and here too, unsurprisingly, the forward al, centre-right point of view, argues that the castes dominate. Of the 536 faculty members, APSC controversy was more hype than sub86.57 per cent belongs to the general category. stance. “It is a fabricated incident; there was Only 13 members of the faculty belong to the no action taken against free speech,” he says. “Naming the group Ambedkar-Periyar is as SC or ST communities. “I filed the RTI out of curiosity. My 1,500-odd bad as calling a group Gandhi-Godse. There friends on Facebook discuss many issues and should be a debate to tell people they don’t have a right to use this name. reservation inevitably comes How can they associate Ambedup,” says Sudarsan, who has also kar, a conservative, liberal demoworked as a project assistant at crat, who was also a fierce IIT after completing his five-year When most of the nationalist, with EV Ramasamy, course in economics. “Most peofaculty is also upper an anti-Indian, Dravidian leader? ple tend to have a narrow view. caste, the students There’s discrimination in their They see reservation as a threat need a protective name itself.” to meritocracy. So I wanted to body to feel safe Viduthalai Rajendran, general get my hands on some concrete secretary of the Dravidar Viduthdata, and hence filed the RTIs,” alai Kazhagam, sees the incident he says. as yet another attempt to instil Sudarsan believes the APSC controversy could have been handled better an upper-caste monopoly. “Without reservaby the institute. “In IITs, when it comes to stu- tions, students from SC/ST and OBC communident affairs, I have noticed that things are ties cannot even get a foot in the door. When done quite informally. That’s why there was most of the faculty is also upper caste, the stuconfusion about the guidelines. While I won’t dents need a protective body to feel safe,” he say there’s systemic discrimination, there is a says. “How can an IIT graduate be only technibias towards upper-caste values. The only way cally skilled, without any kind of social underforward is to have open debates on these is- standing? It’s not wrong to raise these sues. Unfortunately, APSC doesn’t have pop- questions. We’re not saying our viewpoint is ular support on campus. Most students, I the only right one, all we’re saying is that there think, tend to see this controversy as a dent to should be room for every school of thought.” the institution’s image.” Meanwhile, for students at IIT-M, especially sibi arasu is a Chennai-based journalist
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Sex in the sanctuary Parrots get lovey-dovey, cranes hop, skip and jump, the flamingos march to their own beat, and the alpha female painted snipe is on the prowl. The monsoon is here, the gates are shut and the mating season has begun
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he Sultanpur National Park, a bird sanctuary near Delhi hosting over 250 species, has been closed down for the monsoons, to give birds some ‘privacy’ during the breeding season, according to the authorities. So exactly what do birds get up to at this time of the year? We take a look at a cross-section of species and their love lives. Reader discretion is advised.
Ducks the Ravagers These guys are low-down mean and nasty and probably have developed their attitude towards gang and marital rape after observing us. (Most ducks are migratory but there are a handful of resident species.) What happens is truly appalling. Several hoodlum drakes will pile on top of the poor ducky in the water, squabbling, fighting and hammering her, sometimes even drowning her. Watch them at it and you think, boy, they really are only good for roasting to a crisp and dousing with orange sauce. But of course, as we’ve been repeatedly told, ‘boys will be boys’.
Parakeets the Great Romantics Their love-life, which commences in January, can best be described in Shakespearean terms: (Scene: Telephone wire, tree branch or balcony railings) Totabhai Romeo: (Perches next to Mithoo- Till Death Do Us Part Sarus Cranes Dark and delicious The rice is the perfect accompaniment to fish or meat-heavy shutterstock ben Juliet. Gives herdishes sidelong looks and shuf- These tall, grey, red-headed cranes are revered fles up close) May I roll mine eyes at thee and for their lifelong fidelity to each other, not a ogle thy beauteous breast and whisper sweet practice popular with most other species (innothings in thy delicate ear and cosy thus clos- cluding our own). It is said that if one partner er to thee than ever? dies, the other will starve itself to death in Mithooben Juliet (simpering): By all means, grief. But all is not what it seems and, my god! my love, I will not tell Mama! But pray, why have you seen their courtship! They’ll throw dost thou speakest thus, with thy beak full? their heads back, face the heavens, and trumTotabhai Romeo: ‘Tis full of love — and pap — pet their love to the world! They’ll pick up sweet berries masticated just for thee! But their skirts and hop, skip and jump high like na’er as sweet as thy rolling eye and loving Marilyn Monroe trying to control her skirt. countenance! But hark! I must look at thee Talk about PDA! The trouble is that it’s highly from thy other side to see if yon psittacula infectious and they can easily tempt you to do from there is greener! (Flutters around her the same on yoga day… especially if you beand perches on her other side) Forsooth! Thou long to the moral police or lunatic fringe. Not art hotter than red chilli peppers in the blis- a good idea if you are wearing baggy shorts. potential of ‘heritage crop’.me swoon! restored and social and familial bonds reroving cynics and naysayers wrong, market tering sun from here and maketh Biswa Bangla, the West Bengal Gov- (Shuffles I encountered theafirst I relished theof black rice and listened to right upblack to herrice andfor raises claw,time as if paired. The Can-Can March the Candyfloss guideoftranslating ernment’s recently set-up high-end several ago in but a pretty Cambodian vil- my offeringyears a bouquet, is holding nothing.) Battalion Flamingos the moving speech of few hours outside Phnom Penh. roses Dark the villagers, and somehow the sweet, comretail chain for Bengal products, is do- lage, Alas! aWhat became of those wine-dark When I first saw this performance, many years preparation — like soothing a rather good job. Brand Bengal at the and it tasted fer- forting that glutinous, I filched for thee like froma very yon sweet, olive-eyed ago, I couldn’t believe mysome eyesexotic, and should payasam) rice I was in the country to ing swish stores covers premium items from fab- mented damsel at thepudding. Moti Bagh flyover traffic lights? have payesh felt very(kheer, honoured instead—of became rolling a rural microfinance associated with healing anda ric to food. But for me, the enterprise deserves review Did darkest dementia strike me down, or in an with laughter. There, on Sultanpur jheel was regeneration. kudos for placing on its shelves something I programme designed proanguished moment did to I consume them, I re- battalion of greater flamingoes (with one sergroup savings amongst In flamingo Cambodia, blackmidst) rice have wanted for a very long time: local black mote member not! Oh, woe is me! geant-major ‘lesser’ in their charmed me. Buttall, it was closer rice. Over the last few years I’ve been scouring some of its Juliet: poorest Mithooben No people. matter! Stop talking standing up very straight and marching a few years later, in communities high-end gourmet shops as well as village These so muchwere and kiss me forsoothin like they do un- stiffly turning their heads in high perfect I encountered blackpast riceme,home thewanton horrorsParis! mist-clad hillsides ofdekh! Shilhaats on road trips out of Kolkata in search of which der thememories bridges ofof yon unison — ‘Eyesthe right! Eyes left! Seedha for the first time several long,me, that the grain made beblack rice. This dark rice — also known as pur- of (They the Pol Pot regime still cast French kiss passionately — butyears the ago They did a smart about aturn in amarched past noxious liever of thing me. missing My second ple rice because it acquires a strong purple their curtain mightshadow. come down before that) came The only was Cambodianand village, a back. encounter tint when cooked — is delicious. Moreover, it’s The shimmering emerald Colonel Bogey March. with the rice was at few hours the outside thewear house of courageous antifields surrounding super-food loaded with fibre and antiox- paddy The Kabutarasutra by Doves the and Pigeons Now,and flamingos these short pink tutus Phnom Penh. Dark villages I visited were by activist Hasina idants, fights harmful cholesterol and may stilt-hut This erotic manual was written ancient it tasted and have ballerina legs; dark boomerglutinous, likeendless a trafficking once the terrible killing After an exhilarating even prevent certain types of cancer. rock doves for males onlyfields: (which isvery whysweet, the fermented ang bills and Kharbih. this gloriously snooty way of today threat and of aislongbut long day,(rather we regrouped at In ancient China, it was the forbidden rice Even species is sothe popular), followed devotedlooking down at the world like a camrice pudding beautiful home, a for commoners because every precious har- buried is horrily by allmine rockexploding doves today. The bottom-line is: el). And when aher battalion startsfamily marching they traditional slant-roofed woodvested grain belonged exclusively to the no- fyingly To crush the possido it — real. wherever, whenever, however. Touch perhaps bring to mind a militarised version of bles. My research showed that Bengal has a bility of itrebellion, Pol toPot’s en cottage, situated on a steep down — can be next a dhaba, a play- Swan Lake. Anyhow, stifling my laughter I saand winding single carriagehadanother used fear and intimilong history of cultivating it too. Yet, some- forces ground, dove, in the forecourt of luted them smartly as they marched because, to turn family members against Soft, melodious stayed with us where down the line, the forbidden rice of Chi- dation Rashtrapati Bhavan during the guard of each hon- way well,road. they were sort of also rain murmuring a little evening, and it was turning in na had become the forgotten rice here. So, of other, utterly destroying the social of all our ceremony, it doesn’t matter! Flufffabric yourself malevolently under their breathchilly. — andBut to be communities. In village cosy interiors of thecommando cottage, helped by a course, I was delighted to discover its availa- these up andonce starttight-knit pirouetting and let it be known to the taken down by 50-odd ballerinas bottle of Old Monk, wescurry were bility at Biswa Bangla. And even happier to after village, heard same thing: the group one and all I(in thatthe gurgling baritone) that fast-emptying would be infra dig in extremis. But I did comfortable. was not about financial health of warm read articles in the local press that indicate savings you’re god’s gift just to every female regardless home and to check up on what the heck they were community, but testimony trust being upHasina gotitbusy in they the kitchen and sooneach the the state government has woken up to the the species and she must fall at yourtofeet. to. Well, seems were checking
In the black
A ‘heritage crop’ brought back to the shelves from the dead, Bengal’s variety of black rice lends itself beautifully to a medley of Eastern flavours
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other out with a view to selecting their life near water) and frenetic building activity partners. Both boy and girl flamingos look commences as the famous vase-like nests take much the same and take part equally in this shape woven out of grass. The charmers now march, where they presumably assess each await the young ladies… And all hell breaks other for posture, marching ability, snootin- loose when they arrive. Like hustlers, the boys ess, plumage and other things that make a flutter around, shrieking loudly, ‘4BHK! Penflamingo’s heart beat faster. Imagine what thouse! Central air-conditioning! Jacuzzi! they’re murmuring while giving one another Golf course view! Blah-blah-blah!’ The ladies the beady eye: are cool chicks and will proceed on inspec‘That chick, who the heck does she think she tion. Badly finished residences, with no washis, flouncing like that in such a short skirt; ma- ing machine or microwave get the boot and ma would throw a hissy fit! What a floozy!’ the charmer has a nervous breakdown. But if a ‘That ass, who the heck does lady finds a place she likes, she’ll he think he is… Charles De settle on the special love seat Gaulle? Freaking banana-bill! (which looks like a chinstrap) beHey I heard that, did you call me side the builder and all will be It is said that if one a floozy? Wait till I tell bhaiyya — well. Or so you think. When she’s partner dies, the he’ll sort you out! What a jerk!’ safe and snug on his eggs, the other tall grey red‘Banana bill? Is that what you two-timer starts building anothheaded crane will said? I heard you too!’ er residence for a mistress. Not starve itself to death ‘Good! Banana-bill, bananaone, but maybe two or three, dein grief bill, banana-bill! Get used to it!’ pending on his skill and stamina ‘Oooh babe! When you say thaand charm, of course. The good t…it turns me on!’ wife and mistresses have no ‘Ooh, when you look at me like knowledge of the perfidy. Aren’t that, it makes me feel like I’m the only flamin- soap operas made of such things? But thankgo in the world!’ fully, there is some redress. Flamingos do tend to pair for life and both parents take care of the chicks. Alas, the chicks Amazons Ahoy! Painted Snipe are (any flamingo mom and dad would agree) The painted snipe is a striking water-bird clad excessively independent and jump out of in olive green, chestnut, black and white and their mud cone nests as soon as they can and wears white spectacles and ‘rucksack’ straps form hellion gangs with other brats. Alas, I over her shoulders. Yes, her shoulders, bedon’t know whether any actual pairing-off cause it’s Madame P Snipe who wears the took place at Sultanpur that summer, but the pants in this family. She’ll slap up other ladies birds certainly didn’t nest-build or breed to win her pale wuss of a husband, and then there, which is supposed to happen immedi- make him build a nest, hatch her eggs and ately after the Can-can Marching Dance. take care of the brood. In the meanwhile she’s off to make fresh conquests — no sit-on-theBaya beware! Weavers the Crooks, Conmen eggs mom this one. and Charmers Inc Now you know why they don’t want you to Weaverbirds are masterful architects and see what’s going on! builders, but that’s not all… A flock of bachelor weavers arrives at a suitable site (usually ranjit lal is an author and environmentalist
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A place of darkness Hadal’s strength is Surendran’s poetry parading as prose, and its weakness — a plot stingy on complexities
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Turn on chat, therapist H is available oney Jaspreet Kumar’s arching libido is matched only by his veritable lack of charm and the void within. Midway through Hadal, CP Surendran’s third novel, the author nails the problem with his chief character — “Half the problems that people had were because, just like him, they were oversexed and under******.” The espionage in Hadal spirals out of Kumar’s unruly mind, one pulped by swigs of cough syrup. Hadal’s strength is Surendran’s poetry parading as prose. Its weakness is his plot. The novel never lets you forget that the author is also a poet. He ack chooses words carefully, lovingly, yet in 2004, when Chaula Patel was with such ease, that they sit in counselling unfamiliar providing psychological spaces without qualm throw up to IT and BPO and employees in lines Pune,that she surprise. had Miriam, Maldivian on morethe cases than shewoman could hanwhom Kumar loses hiscarrying moorings, sits work-realone in dle. From youngsters home alated colonial the Foreigner’s Registrastressbuilding, and vice versa, to small-town boys tion Thiruvananthapuram, awaiting viand Cell girlsindealing with heartbreaks and odd sa extension. was and working hours “The in thesilence big cities, thesunlit number of perfect likecallers a desert,” writes Surendran, distressed far outstripped the hoursthe in poet. is at home in his milieu Thiruvaa day. He Together with her friend and — fellow psynanthapuram and Ebrahim, Delhi, andshe recreates with chologist Niloufer struggled to the same theUntil, frothy andcame the calreach outskill to all. inbeaches 2007, they up culating minds in Kerala’s capital as old Delwith a handy solution, onlinecounselling.in — hi’s dark space alleys where and people darker can secrets. an online pour The out throbbing “velvetany violence” of Kerala’s landtheir grievances time of the day or night, scape is not missed oncould the author. Buttohethem also and the counsellors respond imbues the narrative with images that will more speedily. draw a newcomer’s eye. So in the small shopsa Miles away in Bengaluru, Ankita Puri took lining the telemedicine, roads are “soda with blue cue from herbottles former area of marbles in their necks andHealthEminds bright yellow — lemwork in the US, to launch an ons balanced on their online marketplace formouths.” psychological counselThewhich novel,she however, doeswith not live up to Mathe ling, co-founded Dr Sunita promise was it tootogether good a heshwari.of its Sheprose. has Or brought promise to live up to? Hadal is inspired by a psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotheratrue one that had a generation of Mapists,story, life coaches, parenting and relationship layalis to a soap espionage, experts,hooked nutritionists andopera otherof counsellors defence andletting honey trap in the 1990s. It on one secrets platform, people choose the falsely scientists and serviceimplicated they need. senior Visitorsspace log on to the web-
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brought much disgrace to two Maldivian tractiveness. The day his mother died, young women. Surendran pitches the story in the Kumar had run endlessly on the shore, not present. Norway has deported the Menons for knowing what else to do. When he comes reprimanding their 12-year-old, who pisses in back, she is already “soot and ashes well on the school bus. The tsunami wave had their way to becoming diamonds.” Surendran “brought white fish leaping all over the roads loses that vulnerable boy there and never in Male” and in return took away Miriam’s fa- finds him again. Aloofness characterises Surether, mother and sister. ndran’s Miriam despite her baggage of loss Miriam arrives in Thiruvananthapuram to and unhappiness. Ram Mohan, Kumar’s boss, drift away from an insipid marriage and to witness and partner to his misdeeds, is real, write a novel. Kumar, a police officer and a liv- burdened by ambiguous sorrow. Anita, his ing monument to the potent wife, is on a subversive war with naming skills of the Malayali him. He texts her about arriving and the Punjabi, is shunted to late from Thiruvananthapuram crore, online psychological site, choose their counsellor, fix an appoint- pegged at ₹1,400 Thiruvananthapuram for acand instantly regrets it. Anita, he ment, discuss their problems holds out great promise. cepting bribe. Miriam wants Ku-through knows, will make sure he is welHe video choosescounselling words chat to and pay online. oflovingly, yet comed to emptiness. And she mar extend her visaWithin and hesix months carefully, launching, the website handling Lookthat ma, no stigma needs that age-old favourisinalready redoes. Surendran’s small characwith such ease, “Owing to the social people don’tand dis200 cases a monthtouches and hasbase 45 specialists turn. As Miriam ters havestigma, promising stories they siton in unfamiliar cuss depression and relationship issues in an board.Paul TheRoy, number of casesscienis nearlyspaces doubling with a playboy possibilities. But they remain without qualm every month. open forum, that and refrain fromThe seeking help detist whom she first met in Mal— minor. Kerala chief and throw up lines spite being aware of the In such The rising number of cases bythat web-surprise dives, Kumar goes on received a minister, theproblems. wily Thomas Law-a sites like HealthEminds and and onlinecounsellin- scenario, an online platform ideal for rampage. Unrequited lust rence Pappan, is is a study of amaskkind. ing identity seeking help,” g.in corroborates jealousy send himmental down ahealth hazy Pappan laughsand carefully, so as not says Puri. his hair-do, a meticustatistics. to WHO, Inpath; he According smells espionage in to disturb dia had 10 million Patel would agree. When she adultery and places people Miriamwith and lous arrangement of strands cucounselling practice depression in 2012. An AssoRoy at its centre. rated by his started wife, ill her or well, every morning. Owing to social cham report released in Aprilfor words, his She combs hair nearly three decades ago, and she Surendran’s love is reserved from around his head stigma, people days mop without anymiddle. clients says tools, over 42 perthe cent of private play than characters he builds with places them went in a neat in the hesitate to openly people questioned hergive casector words. employees in India suf-‘Hadal’ means These snippetand those So Hadal limps. visions of real-life quirks discuss depression fersdepths from anxiety or depression reer choice. the of an ocean beyond 6,000 metres. Hadal its pleasing parts. Nobody was willing due author, to demanding schedules, admit they had mental health The though, does not invest much enHadal pickstoup a feverish pace towards the highinstress levelsthe worries issues. Today, has ergy plumbing depthsover of his characters. climax. The narrative cracksthe up situation to be a Bollychanged forwith the violent better. interro“People and performance-linked perquiKumar remains the run-of-the-mill officer wood pot-boiler, topped are getting more are at sites. Ato study by themisdemeanour National Institute of Menprone mindless despite his gation scenes. The tech-savvy author is inand a hurry to ease seal tal Health and With Neurosciences (NIMHANS) when interacting Online heady backstory. an activist Malayali fa- the parts. And heonline. opts the lazy counselling way out — is also popular because people found that 36 perPunjabi cent of techies Bangalore ther and feminist mother,inwho is com- bumping off one, sendingeven another on looking self-disshowed signs of disorder as covery for personal consultation are not apically finished offpsychiatric midway her victory even speech and putting the third in getting coma. The pointments sheasadds. the government itself areports that oneKumar in five frenzy after climbing down coconut tree, leaveson thetime,” reader, it does Kumar, bleIndians suffers mental problems. was this shortage of specialists that could have beenfrom much morehealth than the cough- aryItand worn-out. With one doctor for everystalked three lakh syrup gulping protagonist, by amental fear of prompted Delhi-based Dr SK Sharma to anima online counselling in 1994 under his health coconuts patients and in aIndia an industry falling senseand of physical unat- plaunch
Beating the queues and the stigma, people in need of psychotherapy are logging on to the many online counselling services in India
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medical initiative Ethos Healthcare. “People used to come from other cities for counselling; some even came from other countries. They were spending a lot of time and money. Besides, there were problems in the follow-up treatment. We then decided to use technology to reach out to people,” he says. Handholding in small towns HealthEminds gets many enquiries from small towns and remote places, with people reaching out not just for themselves but also their family and friends. “The ease of access and the promise of anonymity in the online
Easy in mind Online counselling services allow patients to interact with therapists over video chat and pay for it online courtesy healtheminds
The unique mode of service offered by online counsellors necessitates a different kind of revenue model. Patel’s onlinecounselling.in charges a fixed sum from the companies using its services. For individuals, the charges are on hourly basis. Ethos
mindscanner/shutterstock
medium are driving this trend. A lot of people hesitate to consult local practitioners, as they may be known to them. Moreover, appointments are difficult to get,” Puri says. “It is also not easy to find qualified and trained counsellors in places that are far from the major cities,” says Sharma. Sneha Singh, a college student in Nagpur, knows this all too well. Her mother Gita, a homemaker, was taking depression medication prescribed by the local psychiatrist. “It led to side-effects like loss of appetite, nausea and tiredness. Due to this my mother was reluctant to continue using the medicine.” Looking for answers online, she came across HealthEminds and shared her mother’s story. The counsellor recommended regular counselling sessions. “After hesitating initially, my mother agreed and soon got used to video chatting. The counsellor also suggested exercises to overcome her negative thoughts. Today, she has come out of her depression,” Singh says. Young and troubled While people of all ages seek psychological counselling, young professionals in their late 20s and 30s are found in larger numbers. “They have problems with relationships, as lack of time is often an issue and they are unable to address their own emotions. At the workplace, the issues revolve around lack of confidence, deadline pressures, loss of motivation and so on,” says Patel. Another major segment seeking counselling services today is made up of cancer patients, survivors and their families. From diagnosis to treatment, patients find it hard to deal with the side-effects and the inability to lead a normal life. Pune-based Prashanti Cancer Care Mission is readying to launch online counselling for them. “Twelve counsellors have been trained so far,” says Patel, who is associated with the initiative.
Ankita Puri, co-founder and CEO of HealthEminds
ethics and guidelines to adhere to our quality standards. Online counselling is an unregulated space and people with barely three months of training become counsellors. But lack of expertise can be damaging,” Puri says. Her website has counsellors with not less than four years of experience. Wary of the many pitfalls, Sharma has refrained from hiring a team. He handles cases, both domestic and international, on his own. “Counselling is a delicate job. If not done correctly, it can prove counter-productive. Till now I have managed on my own and will continue to do so for the next few years,” he says. Puri, on the other hand, is ready for a big bang expansion. From 45, she hopes to increase the number of counsellors to 250 over the coming year. And she is in talks to raise funds. “Investors are beginning to show interest in the sector,” she says. From sharingdard.com and Your Candid Friend to onlinecounselling4u.com, the online counselling space in India has many players lending a patient ear. And all of them are gunning for venture funding. Online counselling is an unregulated No more tête-à-têtes? space... lack of Despite all the enthusiastic reexpertise can be sponse, it is still moot whether damaging online counselling can totally
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charges the same for personal, phone or online counselling, and the fee depends on each session’s duration. Puri’s HealthEminds takes a commission per session, but she declines to reveal the figure. The charges on her website vary from ₹500 to ₹1,500 per 45-minute session, depending on the experts chosen. Pooling expertise Interestingly, several of these experts are based outside India, offering consultations from places such as Malaysia, the US or Canada. All of them have a licence to practise in India. “Each of our experts is screened, interviewed multiple times, and trained on
replace one-on-one interaction. “In a face-to-face conversation, we get a lot more clues about the intensity of emotions besides other non-verbal clues. With email and online counselling, not everyone is able to put across their thoughts accurately,” says Patel. Puri agrees that in the case of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, an online treatment will have its limitations. But she receives few such cases. The majority of her clients are those grappling with depression or cancer-related anxieties and who, in fact, find it difficult to step outside the home for help. “For them, online is helpful,” she says. Sharma is confident that online and offline services can coexist as different people have different needs and mindset. “Some people need to meet personally. Some are not techcomfortable. For some others, communication is more complete with eye contact, facial expression etc. They feel better only with a personal meeting,” he says. While the online vs. offline debate has no clear answers, it’s undoubtedly win-win for the help-seeker, who now can confide on her own terms.
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Stranger than fiction This and that, here and there, a novel that deals with werewolves in Calcutta at an all-too-meta level this plea. A half-werewolf gives a history professor two scrolls to transcribe, confessing that he is only the translator of these texts. The version we read has purportedly passed through many filters, some of which aren’t entirely human. Werewolf fiction couldn’t get any more meta. Alok’s transcriptions force us to leap back in time. Suddenly, and a little jarringly, we find Nowhere to go A UN report released on June 20 — World Refugee Day — says the number of uprooted people is today at its highest since the end of World War II mohd rasfan, afp/ thomas reuters ourselves inmukoya, 17th-century Mughal India. Three European shape-shifters — Fenrir, Gévaudan and Makedon — arrive in Shah Jahan’s kingSTATES OF MATTER dom when the Taj Mahal is all but half-built. Guided by what he construes to be love, Fenrir breaks the golden rule of the shape-shifter handbook. He rapes and impregnates a human woman called Cyrah. The transgression violently ruptures the sense of fraternity that binds him to his fellow brutes. Wanting answers and a better fate, Cyrah sets out on a search for her assailant with Gévaudan. While Fenrir’s confessions are marked by an annoying verbosity, Cyrah’s scroll proves more engrossing, even if overtly cinematic at times. In these rather long sections of the book, Das usorld Refugee Day on June 20 Mid-June, British Defence Secretary Michaeles the epistolaryUN device tediously explain al councils, HightoCommissioner for Humay have been just one of Fallon made a highly publicised helicopterthe mythology characters. man Rightsthat Zeidsurrounds Ra’ad Al his Hussein deplored sukumar muralidharan those rituals conjured up by landing on the deck of a warship patrollingUnlike who is given a rightful to the Alok, ‘demonisation of migrants’ andpart the ‘growthe United Nations to keep the Mediterranean, ostensibly to interceptplaying in bigotry’ this alternative history of theStrategies world, of in dealing with them. one among its many bureaucracies in busi- and turn back the boats carrying people fromthe military reader isdeterrence spoon-fedwere detailcondemned that only ento failness. But this year’s observance brought gloo- the Libyan coast to the European mainland.cumbers his or her engagement with the novure. Europe simply had to reckon with the remy news. All those headlines about countless Europe had little capacity to take on board theel. Atality more times one, Devourers to that justthan as millions from seems their shores thousands setting off in despair across harsh refugee flood, he said, and its response wouldsuffer from a curse the historic. The Mughal had done in theofpast, people would ‘brave terdeserts, raging seas and forbidding moun- be to first crack down on the traffickers bring-era becomes anto excuse Dasfor to give his bookand rible peril seek for safety themselves tains, it turned out, actually stacked up. In its ing human cargos across. This manner ofthe their proportions of an epic legend. It is this children’. report released that day, the UN refugee agen- criminal conduct would be firmly quashed.grandeur intent thatfrom turns overwhelming. Justof one remove the floundering intercy conveyed a grim but unsurprising finding, Once containment was achieved the more se- Cyrah’s troubled notwithstandnational responsejourneys to a spiralling tragedy is a flesh, stories, partners — fessed that ood, the number of thesexual uprooted — refugees, shape-shifter. In one of Devourers’ most theing,deeper rious business would begin, of mitigating the most prominent critique of rape in becrisis of globalisation. The term thisseekers is a listand of just some things that —memorable asylum the internally displaced scenes, Izrail and Alokacross visit a choppy few Devourers factors propelling thousands comes currency from the in rapist Fen-cencame global the himself. last-quarter are commonly devoured. is today at its highest since theExpectedly, end of Worldpandals Durgasearch Puja. Izrail pointsand to the seas during in desperate of security suste-rir tells “I see khrissal (human) tury Cyrah, as the inescapable destiny of allmen people. Indra Das’ The Devourers comes idolsnance. War II. of theWhile 10-armed deity and that her de- takeBut acknowledging theof complexities their allconjuncture the time, with no regard thewomen current speaks of the inpackedThe with many instances of such exhausfigures made for bleak reading. In 2014,moninvolved, foe. He the insists these werewas human highthat British official categor-for whether they want it or not ... Women cre- exiquities of development having acquired tive the consumption. outset, the premise number of At thethe displaced went up by 13.9representations ical that the of taskshape-shifters would not in-like him. ate. Men inflict plosive violenceform. upon you, envious Globalisation was a seems beguilingly simple. A half-werewolf million, a four-fold increase over the previous“Wevolve could‘boots be anything, make ourselves on the ground’ — the in the and fearful.” Dascharter doesn’tof offer absolution thisflow rights for the free sniffs outThough the loneliness that a history year. statistics areshrouds yet to be tallied, theworld’s touched the infinite. We easily. There is savage termimage. of art We representing active violence, patricide and,crevof capital to every nook and professor andofthen him his sto-endweremilitary first half 2015decides broughttonotell respite. At the the infinite,” he says. Iz-the redeployments — in ifice that comeuppance of weren’t world economy. Human With a better price on ry. While lycanthropy relative of 2014, the totaland number of immortalithe displacedrail,gions who through most of the where of human distress enough, there’s matricideconcern, too. rights were a subsidiary offer from the ty place well beyond the confines stoodIzrail at 59.5 million, of which close tooftwo-book sticks to the originated. ascribed role refugee flows Inif Devourers, sexualitytoisbeconone at all, typically accomAustralian treasury, genteel society, young professor Alok is al- dis-of a storyteller, thirds werethe categorised as ‘internally once On anotherdoesn’t of the frontlines of stantly unsettled. modated throughHermaphacknowledgthe human Accessible to smugglers most so asplaced’ much and an outsider. by‘refugees’. his par- Abarethe most of Shunned the rest as hisglobal fangs.refugee His menace crisis,isAustraroditic shape-shifters wrestle ing every ethnic particularity. were happy return Calcuttans, the to Park entssmall afterfraction, a failedjust engagement, his exile, over three per cent, was atlargely wayAbbott liancommunicated Prime Ministerby Tony eachAsother ground and determstoofthe trade collapsed, their cargo toOly, the Street watering hole however, comparatively somewhat ab- of suggestion. some is stage of the quest(and for asylum. he and was showingWhen a different order of mate. Apartcountries from being veloping had rivetto reach of origin the 24x7place Sharma dhaba surdly)Half more of earthly. the refugees are children. And look-Aloksmarts, part atplacing New Market, he a few strategic fiing, theinto novel’s in exploitthe deep theirclimax reserves, are all rendered eerie by The mentions ofanother huntingangle, and huingfrequent at the problem from one indisappears carcassestoinoutbid nancialamidst inducements Sunderbans also sexual. ing naturalisresources onFew an acthe preternatural manevery prey122infect Izrail and Alok’s first expersons inhabiting the planet todaya meat Alok goes refugees to thewarehouse. best offer desperate Indian novels scale have succeeded celerating to sustain presence of a selfchanges with tension that is immediately lives in the astate of trauma and uncertainty in-buycould brownies. make to the entrepreneurs inrapidly portraying gay sex with this in crumbling positions confessed shape-shifter The Devourers reminiscent works by pastnot Gothic masters duced byofdisplacement, knowing where These little misery. touches apart, in human With a better price on offer the world unhurried Rather between than economy. ease. Solidarities Indra Das suchthey as Bram Stoker and HP Surprisbelong or how to Lovecraft. sustain life from onewhat makes a comfrom theDevourers Australian treasury, the human elites within negate boundaries,ofDevourers the framework the nationPenguin ingly, there aren’t day to the next.many contemporary or In- pelling read is were its airhappy of uncersmugglers to return their cargo to state eroded, admirably creates a third fuelling ethnic warfare. Fiction ₹499 dian titles that can serve as a yardstick forcrossing Das’ tainty. Media images of desperate people Alok isofseduced the theAsplace origin.byQuestioned about his space of where man/woman, hu-conThe implosion South Sudan and the speculative fiction. His first book seems to in-at afantasies the Mediterranean after aggregating being described by that a mysterious methods, Abbott admitted ‘creative strat-man/non-human, cotinuing tensionsApollonian/Dionysian in the horn of Africa exemplihabit a genre all byfrom its novel couldn’t point in Libya, whereself. the It sea journey tostranger, recall egies’ we hadcan’t beenhelp usedbut and thenthe fellprofesback on aexist. notfailure about this ‘or’ that; it is all about fyIt’s the of older antidotes of peace havethe been easy to do,mainland but the author has adeptEuropean is relatively short,sor’strusted initial doubts. What if of thisAustralian was a practical old principle politics:thisthrough ‘and’ thatseparation. instead. The consequence has ly transported thethe werewolf from London and jokethat have flooded airwaves. Equally traumatic being played byan one of his peeved stutapping into underlying vein of racist Itbeen doesn’t long to nation guess that we’re able an take entire new emerging on the Parishas of the 20th to ethnic present-day Kolka-flee-dents? been thecentury plight of Rohingyas What if this merely anHe elaborate xenophobia is a was fail-safe plan. would notto read because had kindly map:this theaccount global nation ofAlok the disempowered ta. The is curiously ingeffect persecution and unsettling. a virtual declaration ofsetup? Izrailthe himself doesn’t discuss methods used,promise since themuch key goalbeenand spared by his half-werewolf friend. the displaced, which signals to theThe world There to be a careful that deter- ofcertitude. theirseems non-personhood by logic the government He tells “Romance,offantasy, of turning backAlok, the boatloads distressedJoker, a resilient from that there cansurvivor no longer be another any delaymyin admines Das’ choice Accessible to de-horror, Myanmar, whichof thesetting. great hope for global realism, fable,Neither history, was lies, thethology, people had moralistic been achieved. had the explained Alok’sofeventual condidressing programme disempowerment most Calcuttans, the Park watering hole mocracy, citizen AungStreet San Suu Kyi, has donetruth. It’s all there for you. Pick and choose, mythattionthat Australian opposition willing to grasp brilliantly — “Whathas doesn’t kill you makes globalisation represented for large Oly, little the 24x7 Sharma dhaba and even the ubiq- friend.” to contest. Amusingly, frustrated de- vin-you numbers nettle since the astrategy wasAlok one once of long stranger.”of people. uitousImages Cafe Coffee Day are all rendered of desperation on one eerie side aremands Izrail, “Don’t get metatooncross-partisan me.” For tageofand credible claims sukumarnevatia muralidharan is an independent writer by the preternatural a self-consharpened by thepresence sublime offarce of the re-most part, Izrail and Das both seem deaf to shreevatsa authorship. sponse from the masters of the global order. As alarm bells began sounding across glob- and researcher based in Gurgaon and Shimla
Globalisation of misery
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One in every 122 people on the planet today is displaced, a result of the iniquities of development the world over
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Idol talk Shahjahanpur’s Hanuman statue is the online icon of the town, thanks to its photos on countless Facebook pages and websites amit saxena
News@Shahjahanpur K
A newspaper agency for ₹5,000 is often what it takes to become a reporter in a town where journalism is largely a racket. With the arrival of news pages on social media, independent reporters like Jagendra Singh, who was burned alive this month, are scripting a new story
hutar in Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh goes about its daily routine unperturbed. The hometown of journalist Jagendra Singh, whose gruesome murder on June 1 shook the nation, is not the centre of the storm you’d expect it to be. In Mohalla Kot, under a sprawling peepal tree, barely a dozen people sit with Singh’s family on a dharna to demand a CBI probe into his death. In his dying declaration, Singh alleged that policemen had set him on fire at the behest of state minister Ram Murti Verma, whose scams he exposed in his popular Facebook page Shahjahanpur Samachar. Death, a reporter friend of Singh says, could easily be the price of journalism at Shahjahanpur. He lists names of those who have disappeared or were murdered — at least five in the last 10 years. Dozens were seriously wounded or beaten up. A few months ago, a journalist’s throat was slit right outside his office. A TV journalist was beaten up by policemen this
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Hitting the right notes Face-off (From left to right) File photos of Jagendra Singh, the Shahjahanpur-based journalist who was allegedly burnt alive on June 1; Ram Murti Verma, the UP minister accused of the murder; and the grieving sister and wife of Singh at Khutar, Singh’s hometown in Shahjahanpur district special arrangement
Composer and producer Donn Bhat has never let conventional grammar come in the way of his unique week in nearby Tilhar. electronic music Singh’s friend reels off the names of a bewildering number of journalists and their papers or channels, making the district of Shahjahanpur sound like the Fleet Street of Uttar Prahard his for music composer and prodesh.t’sFrom account, it appears that ducer Donn Bhat to more fit histhan music a Shahjahanpur is home 200into joursingle bracket. Ask him define his nalists. But there are fewer than to 10 at the dharsound he starts itscould various na under theand peepal tree, counting where they do flavours his fingertips. His years a guitawith as on many as possible. Whereas are the rist with New Delhi group Street oriscreaming, shouting press Orange hordes of Shahjaented him to rock music, and the later he began hanpur when they are needed most? dabbling in electronica. influences “They must be at theirThe shops,” says a don’t local end there. “Most He has with a Baul journalist. of collaborated them are petty shopkeepsinger, sarangibeyond player matriculaSuhail Yuers whoDelhi-based have not studied suf Khan with singer Shilpa tion. Andand youmost can recently well imagine the kind of Rao, to namethat a few.would Whenemploy you addthem all these newspapers as direverse elements, what get iswho Bhat’s band —a porters.” He tells of ayou hawker became Passenger distributorRevelator. of a Lucknow-based newspaper as When catch up withbureau Bhat inchief. Mumbai, he well as itswe Shahjahanpur “He has is preparing to leaveclass for the UK’scannot prestigious not studied beyond VIII and even Glastonbury Festival, for what is likely his bigcorrectly write his name in English.” gest (on June 26) so far. muIt’sperformance easy to become a journalist inThe Shahjasic festival, which hasithosted Kanye hanpur. This is how works:the Youlikes are of a school West and and The Who, will be spread acrosstown. neardropout a shopkeeper in a small ly 100 stadiums. “We will be performing at You the You want to associate with a newspaper. Toad Hall. We aroundItnine songs,” he pay ₹5,000 towill buyplay its agency. means you will says. Apart his own performance, Bhatjob is pick up, say,from 50 copies every day. An agent’s excited about attending the other shows as an does not require any educational qualificaaudience. “I’vedeal never been able to attend Glastion. But the has an attractive clause in tonbury The get tickets are sold in fine printbefore. — you also to send newsout to the eight flat,”makes he exclaims. paper.minutes And that you a ‘journalist’. Edited from become the interview “Many ofexcerpts these people journalists to escape the law. They have some case or the othAt agethem did you learning music?helps. er what against andstart being a journalist Since when have you been playing The rich businessmen even start their own professionally? I still don’t do it professionally! This is something I do for myself. I work in advertising. I create jingles and background scores for films and documentaries. That’s why I shifted to Mumbai from Delhi a few years ago. I started playing with a band at 16, when I joined college. But I started learning the guitar in class VI. I had teachers just for a couple of months. I’m mainly self-taught.
I
Who were your early influences in music? Initially I was just playing a lot of hard rock. I was listening to Joe Satriani, Dream Theatre, Guns N’ Roses. Later I started listening to others like Leonard Cohen and Jeff Beck. After that I slowly got into electronic music. So now I take all those influences and create my own kind of music.
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When did you start discovering electronic music? In my second year of college, I was a guitarist for Orange Street. That’s when I got my first software called Reason. It was a revelation. I thought, ‘Wow, you can sit in your room and make a song on your own’. I didn’t mind spending 200 hours in front of a screen making a song. A lot of musicians find that very boring, but I find it very exciting. My first track was called Wait for You. It was with Imran Khan, Voices of concern Congress members in Lucknow demand a CBI probe murderclassical of Singh ptifor Orange who used tointo singtheIndian
begun exploring the internet. In 2011, local youth Salman Akhtar hit the headlines for finding an American match on Facebook. Dana Gravell of the US came to live with him at Shahjahanpur for six months. Akhtar often borrowed money from friends to surf in a cyber-cafe. In those days, a Facebook news page would have been a hit for novelty, if nothing else. But Singh had a lot more to offer. He was brimming with ideas that found little favour at the newspapers he worked with. He was Agents of change? both quick and sharp, with a yen for the sensaPrem Shankar, the acting president of the lo- tional; Facebook suited him the most. At Khucal Working Journalists Union, says it’s the tar, after getting a diploma from an ITI he had Big moment On June 26,trouble Donn Bhat Passenger Revelator performed at at theaprestigious Festival journalists who court in+most cases. tried his hand flour mill,Glastonbury a sweet shop and khanna a general store. He was a good writer and that alongrarely with sarangi maestro Suhailby Yusuf Khan namit “You run into danger merely doing your job. If you keep hounding someone un- helped him shift to Shahjahanpur. After he necessarily, or with recording an ulteriorit motive, only mixed turnedwith independent, hisI stories were bought Street. I remember in my room a Baul song. also have some outthen athey comemike. after you,” says Shankar, a Sah- and-out by several newspapers in Lucknow and that with tattered rock songs. But simply put, my music ara TV correspondent, who sits with a few oth- is kept afloat. livehim electronic. er TV reporters in of a dark den atin the past — You’ve been a part two bands the end a narrow lane.Street. The How Bluntassociation weapon with DelhiFriday theof13th and Orange Tell us about your high-ceilinged has peeling story different is it toroom compose music by yourself at based sarangiYadav playerremembers Suhail YusufSingh’s Khan, with walls and no venonbethe mafia that had grabbed aplaster, digital damp workstation? whom you will performing at Glastonbury. tilation. with names of where TV But the been land making of a widow in together a neighIt is not Mikes a traditional format there aredo you Suhail and I have music how write channels areand piled in a corner. village. Many four people everybody has a duty to playwhen foryou more thanbouring four years now. We werenewspaplaying news It’s a distant world glithad done stories the guitar, drums, etc. from This isthe a solitary process. I even together a lotpers when I was in Delhi andbut we unhaven’t zy TV up studios. When voltage police acted only after Singh regrew playing in a the band and I still completed feel that derstand each other’s music very well. He’s alschool? is low and the fan turnsfrom lazy, the ported it on jam his Facebook page.I the energy that comes different peoplesaysready in London, so we’ll together once Shankar you can standardtogether operatingisprocedure is “Hethere. did not use words such as ‘alplaying great. But get either dictate it to to turn off the fan, take off your lege’ ‘accuse’. He did most not beat with technology, the making of Weorhave performed of the newsdesk on the shirt and hang it on the backrest about the we bush likeplanned newspaper music has also changed. I’ve the songs have for phone or filch from of thedoing chair.itStill, thisfor den is rereporters. said it straight, been like this a while the gig, soHe it is nothing new.and It’s somewhere spectable that most it hittohard.” Yadav, too whomuch was now and Iconsidering find it liberating. I do good not rehearse I didn’t mind other journalists haveelse no spending 200 hours in because Singh’s close associate, saysnervthe not have to rely onhere anyone then you have that fixed address. must be anodyne language of news writto make music. “There Say, I want to inous energy on stage. front of a screen nearly 100 asmall and sound, big publiing had no use on Facebook. His corporate sarangi I’ll making a song. A lot cationsoutand more in own news page handles andDonn conleave that bit. than I may200 notjournalists Whyhas didseveral you pick the name of musicians find that Shahjahanpur district. Mosttoofdo them are ‘agennects with more 15,000 people, nearly know exactly what I want Bhatthan + Passenger Revelator for as very boring cy journalists’,” many as Singh’s with it so we mayShankar jam up says. for that yourpage. band? But how At Khutar, aI like neighbour of Singh politicsection later. do you write news when you this song called says the Passenhaven’t completed school? Shankar says ians and theger district officials are ‘revelation’ now more Also, Ieven can give a song enough by Iggy Pop, and you can dictate it to the newsdesk on afraid of Facebook than newspapers. time to either breathe. Sometimes is a word I use a lot. Also,SomeI like phone,a or filch from somewhere. Rohit Yadav, one annoyed Singh’s unafraid reporting when new song happens, I’ll just have two travelling. So Iwith put the two words together and Shahwho runs news page, evenrhymed put up hoardings townittoisportray lines for it.another But thenFacebook I’ll develop it, go away for they well. As foracross my name, actualhascome posted a warning the ly him as an extortionist. He probably ajahanpur few days,Khabar, and then back to it andfor think Anant. But everybody called mereasoned Donny ‘news thieves’: “I of request theI want. news thieves not when that only hoarding could match Singh’s about what kind rhythm I wasayoung. to steal stories from my Facebook page and Facebook posts. “Facebook is available on moWhen I moved to Mumbai, a family numerpublish it inyou your newspapers. Otherwise I will ologist bile phones, which everyone around. If How would describe your genre of music? told my mom that thecarries ‘Y’ in my name is highlight the theft byIpasting the clippings of evil. thereSoisIsomething sensational, people show it That’s a tough one. think I’ve tried many cut it off from Donny and one ‘T’ from the news Writecome your own stories. This is Bhatt. to one When another and the news spreadsI like wildtimes but here. I’ve finally up with this — danI released my album, thought, the firstfolk, and electronic-meets-rock. last warning!” fire.man, In thethis close-knit society of aring small ceable, I have the ‘Ok name has a good to town, it. So Yadav started his Facebook page in 2012, Facebook works faster than newspapers,” says mandolin, synthesiser and elements froma let’s keep it!’ year after Singh began first news in Singh’s neighbour Shyam Prakash, a clerk at EDM (electronic dance the music), but itpage is not chaudhuri town. IThis was around time the town had mohini the local Kakori Saheed Inter College. ShahjaEDM. have poetry bythe a saint in the 1400s small newspapers, as protection for their illegal mining, encroachment on government land, or other wrongdoings,” the journalist explains. “They can also be proxies of politicians. In any case, being a journalist in a small town brings you easy money and gets you access to the thana, which can get you more easy money when you connive with corrupt cops to snare the wrongdoers who will pay anything to escape.”
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Roll call B Ajay Sharma exhibits simulations of his photo-lab alongside mono-prints of missing children; (inset) Natalia Ludmila has made a series of cyanotypes on monkeys
personal way, it reveals a mystery that is unique and leads you down a new creative path,” says Ludmila, who lives and works in New Mexico. Searching for the differences and similarities between Indian and Mexican culture, Ludmila created her own ethnographic archive of images, which play as a slideshow at the exhibition. “The way the outside world looks at India has changed — from the exotic to the contemporary. The archive of images measures some of that change,” says Ludmila, who also created a series of cyanotypes on monkeys in Rishikesh. TiFine print Local journalists estimate that Shahjahanpur district has nearly 100 periodicals big and small, and local as well as those published from Bareilly, Lucknow andthey tled ‘Jal’, other nearby towns; (centre) a hoarding accusing Singh of extortion amit saxena comment on the degradahanpur is known as shaheedon ki nagri (city of tion of our natmartyrs) — the hometown of revolutionary ural freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulenvironment. lah Khan, Roshan Singh and Premkishan “In an age when Khanna. Today, you could as easily call it patraimages can be crekaron ki nagri (city of journalists). After ated using old techSingh’s success on social media, many locals niques like cyanotypes have taken to it. as well as the click of a cell “Already, there was a scramble for the power phone, it is the intention and reaand pelf that being a journalist brings. Now son behind an image that makes Facebook he hasdark maderoom, the job for such in easier a conventional it art.” people. You can quickly post something, and photo studio, is a bit of a romantic Fernando de la Torre’s work is when the space. affected reads it and offers a Forparty the photographer, it is at about embracing the exotic, deal, you can asaquickly take it down,” anonce secret sanctuary and asays laborawhether it is the cyanotypes on other neighbour. tory, where he dips a piece of paper into a dethe holy men, idols festooned veloper tub and patiently waits for his image with flowers or seductive digital The story within to magically appear. The defining moment is images of circus performers, in A veteran journalist explains why marks so many when the first trace of the image its particular, the fire-eaters. people masquerading journalists operate presence on paper. Theasdigital age has done “Memory is an important part extortion Part Shahjahanpur lies in away withrackets. much of theofromance of photograof human civilisation, which is the area of dense shrubs, once phy.Katri Photographers like Raghu Raiwhich and Dayanwhy one must go back to the baharboured Robin Hood-type banditsreasons) and reita Singh work in digital (for practical sics both technically as well as Kattas, the not forenbels. and analogue (forcountry-made the love of the guns medium) subject-wise. Not only have I extirely to operate, their weapons of mats. safe Others like Maxwere Vadukul do not veil perimented with cyanotypes, a in Shahjahanpur, within a few choice. “Now these journalists blogsonce and Action zone Prem Shankar of Sahara TV operates from a damp, old roommethod their disdain for the digital.wield Vadukul used together way back the he jokes. Facebook pages just as kattas,” said, “Digital photography is like speed dat- other TV reporters amit saxena 1800s, but I have also tried to which Soitwas Singhsowielding a katta ing, happens quickly that there is veryultilitseek out those parts of India that mately in his hand? A few journal- help. Singh took a photo. When the vehicle left with the global as much by as time,” it galvanises tle timebackfired for romance.” are untouched says the istsThe claim that he was honest but had lately without paying any heed to the woman, he groups and communities. Inmoved Shahjahanpur, ongoing exhibition at Delhi’s Vadehra 36-year-old who to India become a proxy in the battles of local politicpeoplebut together it offers Art Gallery — Al Revelar, meaning ‘to reveal’ — took another photo. He uploaded both the im- more than bringing as a diplomat has since been ians — minister Verma and his opponent, the ages with a crisp caption. Action followed the already close-knit a new and pauses on the romantic moments photogradrawn to community its cultural wealth. ex-MLA Devendra Pal. Close friend Amit Tyagi within minutes,” Tyagi recalls. accessible platform to we enact struggles and phy offers. Three artist-photographers — Nata“I hope canits take this project maintains Singh was upright till the de end. power plays. to Vernacular India lia Ludmila,that B Ajay Sharma and Fernando la Mexico, social since media there isinmuch A columnist carpetVerma dealer,and with an MBA has own world where many Torre, assistedand by Nancy curator Ju- Social exposé thatitswe share culturally andJait and LLM degrees, Tyagi met on Facegendra have launched lolia Villaseñor, got together toSingh workshop and The fragmentation of politics in will be Singhs good to exchange ideas book. a Shahjahanpur boy who had Uttar Pradesh and the rise in cal fights unknown to the rethinkTyagi, the near-forgotten processes in phoand imagery,” says del la Torre. moved to greener pastures,was re-established his business activity after the ecoEnglish-speaking people bigtography. The exhibition put up after While this exhibition is ainmustHis stories made an ties with on thethe town through Singh’s page. This nomic growth that began in ger working idea for a month and a half. visitcities. for photography and history impact within hours, Aman Paassociation to thephotography setting up ofthrough In many ways, social media is Al Revelar led explores its early made journalism at- cyanotype of holy men buffs, the endeavour to rediscovExotic2000s vignette Fernando De la Torre’s if not minutes another Facebook page, when trouble tractive in Shahjahanpur. Polisand, bringing the powerless closer to various techniques. Photographs developed er and make relevant old methbrewed parts of (cyan-blue Shahjahanpur aftersilver the ticians find in it a potent tool to the in small towns, throughincyanotype print), ods powerful of photography is an riots Muzaffarnagar last year. where salts in and gum bi-chromate are a part of it. settle scores with rivals and ongoingthe one.ruling elite never “Whenever I visited Shahjahanpur Ja- businesses faced the like masses. Although “Making photographs the old way, nofrom doubt, time,” he says. “It was an interget protection from Groups Goa Center for he Albalpur in chemistry Madhya Pradesh, I wouldBut finditSingh the powerful, the semi-literinvolved and science. also illegal esting process to create negativactivities. Even an independent jour- may collude with ternative Photography (CAP) are Making photographs working from a new place.or It was natural for a nalist is anot signjust of how had the element of chance happy accident,” es outhas of aexisting images anda journalist in ate agency journalist wide scope. “Today, keepingtoo alive old social printthe old way involved blunt person like him to endartist up quarrelling individualsbut in towns and vilsays Sharma, a Delhi-based who hails Shahjahanpur then print them,” he observes. has ways to make money. He media empowers ing techniques also alternachemistry and with says.of Singh notorious for making themfrom everyone,” Jharkhand.Tyagi “Because that became elementacof can Apart from the technicalities, confront wealthy farmers who cultivate lages. Earliertive methods of image science. But it also tive on all Facebook the anti-corruption after coming to pin-hole power, chance, images Iwhen have created using the hy- forestland the poignancy of the of on the sly, images take pictures of those selves scarce production, such as the had the element of movement was spreading over the country. haveand no escape. Theyobscura. have to po (emulsion of sodiumallthiosulfate), salt who missing is accentuated stealchildren electricity for their tubewells, or act politicians now camera the camera chance or happy “And got such a good response if it’s routine chatterand on Faceprint that’s and why gumhebi-chromate methods are as by atheir quality someheofgets access to face people, even toutfading for local cops—once So too are workshops resiaccident thana. else, he can extort money book. Recently, from people. His stories made an impactbut withan elderly buttonholed a mono-prints. They can be reproduced no the them areIf nothing negatives, others dencies like man ALTlab and exhibipettytracings government official who has gregarious MLA in hours, if not He had such a large from from like the Shahjahanpur two images will minutes. be the same.” vague asepia that only tions Saltprint area and absent without leave a week,” says an- on his Facebook network of informers that most account:like “Son, father Simulations of his photo-lab arenewspapers positioned gone hint at the identity of thefor missymposiums the your ‘Wanted Sejournalist. “And if he agrees to be used used to be myries.’ picked up stories from his page,” says Tyagi. of other friend. You talk to to so keep manyalterpeoalongside an installation of mono-prints sing child. “The struggle a politician, he can Ludmila even get regular pay- ple Another quality“The that endeared Singhchilto byThirty-four-year-old here, why not send a message me says too missing children. images of missing approached native photography is an ongoing to one,” With social media, all you is a free once many people was histechniques dedication of to stories on ment.” in a while?” The reply: “WillCAP. do, chacha.” dren and forgotten photograthe concept by re-discovering theneed connection PA Madhavan, a founder of Goa account, notand evenphotography. a newspaper agency. the the helpless. “Once,in anmy injured phy poor cameand together harmoniously mind online between painting “When kumaris isa Delhi-based a Delhi-basedartjournalist media are does not connect woman layboth neardeal a police vehicle asking for oldSocial georgina maddox writer since they with the idea of loss and techniques discovered in a the newlocal and dharminder
Bringing back the bygone Three artists go back to old photography techniques and discover new narratives
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Dad Ashish with seven-year-old Safa. From Mumbai, Ashish wants his daughter to be an academic
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Four-and-a-half-year-old Navya gamely poses with dad Sumit in Jind, Haryana
lia ter A ugh a d d u an ryana Ren a her isar, H t o M in H e s po
Sunil Jaglan, sarpanch of Bibipur village in Haryana and the architect of the contest, with his family and friends
Parents Arun and Anshu with their 19-year-old daughter Arushi in Jaipur. They want her to become an IAS officer
Say cheese!
old earsix-y igarh h t i d ed w la, Chan mm oha anchku M j Ta a at P Sany
i hush ter K h g u da with rish ana a H er ary Fath ajjar, H in Jh
Fathers, mothers and their daughters pose for Beti Badhao Selfie Banao
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hen it comes to sex ratio, Haryana ranks a lowly 31 among the 29 states and seven Union Territories. According to the 2011 Census, Haryana’s sex ratio is 877 females to 1,000 males, well below the national average of 940. There are no official figures, but each year an estimated 37,000 girls in the state are killed before they are born — that is, more than four girls every hour. With only 2.2 per cent of the total children in India, Haryana registers a high four per cent of total female foeticides. Early this year, the BJP government launched the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme with much fanfare. The campaign was flagged off from Haryana, which has 12 of the 100 worst districts for sex ratio. Besides girl child welfare, prevention of female foeticide and women’s empowerment, the BBBP’s pri-
mary focus is on improving the child sex ratio (CSR). Since 1961, the CSR numbers have been on a decline in most states. As the BBBP is implemented in 100 gendercritical districts across India, Bibipur village in Jind district, Haryana, is quietly staging a revolution of sorts. On June 9, the village, which has officially renamed itself Bibipur — The Women’s World, announced the Beti Badhao Selfie Banao contest. In a state where the custom of purdah is still observed, the simple selfie of father/ mother and daughter is in itself a powerful statement. Entries poured in from near and far — UP, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and so on. Among the 794 entries received, three were chosen on June 19 for a cash prize of ₹2,100. All they had to do was pick up their mobiles, adjust their cameras and say cheese.
, Jind ce in e i n d his n an Pava ana Hary
r nde Vire an h in C
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Father Rajeev Asthana with daughters Tanisha (20) and Archisha (15) and nieces Aarushi (15) and Aparajita (8) in Gurgaon ak aun irls R g o w his t na with , Harya n i h d Jin Sac Dad Salita in d n a
Father Kuldeep and 13-year-old Princy smile and pose in Jind, Haryana
Dharmendra with one-year-old Prici in Bibipur — The Women’s World
iles k sm Pala lfie. d l ar-o ner se amily n f-ye -hal for a wi in the f a d n ld r i a a h r Fou dad Am ly girl c n h o t i e w is th She ght i of e
old nth-mo aon 1 1 his Gurg in with der haivya n e t Ru hter S g dau
Two-year-old Ekta, sister Ritika, 6, and dad Surender in Bibipur
Eight-year-old Ambika and four-year-old Tanya smile with their dad Aman in Charkhi Dadri in Haryana
A family of 12, they have four girls. Seen here is six-year-old Sanchita with her favourite chacha, Dheeraj, in Kurukshetra, Haryana
Bhoop Singh and his two daughters take a winning selfie in Jind. Tanya is 13 and Sara, 10
Father Randhir with 24-year-old daughter Preeti, who works at a bank in Punjab
a Ishit -old r a e ht-y h eig r wit h ar ndig
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Hitting the right notes Face-off (From left to right) File photos of Jagendra Singh, the Shahjahanpur-based journalist who was allegedly burnt alive on June 1; Ram Murti Verma, the UP minister accused of the murder; and the grieving sister and wife of Singh at Khutar, Singh’s hometown in Shahjahanpur district special arrangement
Composer and producer Donn Bhat has never let conventional grammar come in the way of his unique week in nearby Tilhar. electronic music Singh’s friend reels off the names of a bewildering number of journalists and their papers or channels, making the district of Shahjahanpur sound like the Fleet Street of Uttar Prahard his for music composer and that prodesh.t’sFrom account, it appears ducer Donn Bhat to more fit histhan music Shahjahanpur is home 200into jour-a single bracket. Ask him his nalists. But there are fewer than to 10 atdefine the dharsound he starts counting itscould various na under theand peepal tree, where they do flavours his fingertips. His years a guitawith as on many as possible. Whereas are the rist with New Delhi group Street oriscreaming, shouting press Orange hordes of Shahjaented to rock music, and the later he began hanpurhim when they are needed most? dabbling in electronica. influences “They must be at theirThe shops,” says a don’t local end there. “Most He has with a Baul journalist. of collaborated them are petty shopkeepsinger, sarangibeyond player matriculaSuhail Yuers whoDelhi-based have not studied suf with singer Shilpa tion.Khan Andand youmost can recently well imagine the kind of Rao, to namethat a few.would Whenemploy you addthem all these dinewspapers as reverse elements, what get iswho Bhat’s band —a porters.” He tells of ayou hawker became Passenger distributorRevelator. of a Lucknow-based newspaper as When catch up withbureau Bhat inchief. Mumbai, he well as itswe Shahjahanpur “He has is to leaveclass for VIII the and UK’scannot prestigious notpreparing studied beyond even Glastonbury Festival, for in what is likely his bigcorrectly write his name English.” gest (on June 26) so far. muIt’sperformance easy to become a journalist inThe Shahjasic festival, which hasithosted Kanye hanpur. This is how works:the Youlikes are of a school West andand The Who, will be spread acrosstown. neardropout a shopkeeper in a small ly 100 stadiums. “We will be performing atYou the You want to associate with a newspaper. Toad Hall. We around songs,” he pay ₹5,000 towill buyplay its agency. It nine means you will says. Apart his own performance, Bhatjob is pick up, say,from 50 copies every day. An agent’s excited about attending the other shows as an does not require any educational qualificaaudience. “I’vedeal never able to attend Glastion. But the hasbeen an attractive clause in tonbury The get tickets are news sold out in fine printbefore. — you also to send to the eight flat,”makes he exclaims. paper.minutes And that you a ‘journalist’. Edited from become the interview “Many of excerpts these people journalists to escape the law. They have some case or the othAt what agethem did you learning music?helps. er against andstart being a journalist Since when have you been playing The rich businessmen even start their own professionally? I still don’t do it professionally! This is something I do for myself. I work in advertising. I create jingles and background scores for films and documentaries. That’s why I shifted to Mumbai from Delhi a few years ago. I started playing with a band at 16, when I joined college. But I started learning the guitar in class VI. I had teachers just for a couple of months. I’m mainly self-taught.
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Who were your early influences in music? Initially I was just playing a lot of hard rock. I was listening to Joe Satriani, Dream Theatre, Guns N’ Roses. Later I started listening to others like Leonard Cohen and Jeff Beck. After that I slowly got into electronic music. So now I take all those influences and create my own kind of music.
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When did you start discovering electronic music? In my second year of college, I was a guitarist for Orange Street. That’s when I got my first software called Reason. It was a revelation. I thought, ‘Wow, you can sit in your room and make a song on your own’. I didn’t mind spending 200 hours in front of a screen making a song. A lot of musicians find that very boring, but I find it very exciting. My first track was called Wait for You. It was with Imran Khan, Voices of concern Congress members in Lucknow demand a CBI probe theIndian murderclassical of Singh ptifor Orange who used tointo sing
begun exploring the internet. In 2011, local youth Salman Akhtar hit the headlines for finding an American match on Facebook. Dana Gravell of the US came to live with him at Shahjahanpur for six months. Akhtar often borrowed money from friends to surf in a cyber-cafe. In those days, a Facebook news page would have been a hit for novelty, if nothing else. But Singh had a lot more to offer. He was brimming with ideas that found little favour at the newspapers he worked with. He was Agents of change? both quick and sharp, with a yen for the sensaPrem Shankar, the acting president of the lo- tional; Facebook suited him the most. At Khucal Working Journalists Union, says it’s the tar, after getting a diploma from an ITI he had Big moment On June 26,trouble Donn Bhat Passenger Revelator performed atat thea prestigious Festival journalists who court in+most cases. tried his hand flour mill,Glastonbury a sweet shop and namit khanna a general store. He was a good writer and that alongrarely with sarangi maestro Suhailby Yusuf Khan doing “You run into danger merely your job. If you keep hounding someone un- helped him shift to Shahjahanpur. After he necessarily, or with recording an ulteriorit motive, only mixed turnedwith independent, hisIstories were bought Street. I remember in my room a Baul song. also have some outthen athey comemike. after you,” says Shankar, a Sah- and-out by several newspapers Lucknow andmusic that with tattered rock songs. But in simply put, my ara TV correspondent, who sits with a few oth- is kept afloat. livehim electronic. er TV reporters in of a dark den atin the past — You’ve been a part two bands the end a narrow lane.Street. The How weapon with DelhiFriday theof13th and Orange Tell us about Blunt your association high-ceilinged has peeling story different is it toroom compose music by yourself at based sarangiYadav playerremembers Suhail YusufSingh’s Khan, with walls and no venonbethe mafia that had grabbed aplaster, digital damp workstation? whom you will performing at Glastonbury. tilation. with names of where TV But the land a widow in together a neighIt is not Mikes a traditional format there aredo you Suhail and I have been of making music how write channels areand piled in a corner. village. Many four people everybody has a duty to playwhen foryou more thanbouring four years now. We werenewspaplaying news It’s a distant world glithad done stories the guitar, drums, etc. from This isthe a solitary process. I even together a lotpers when I was in Delhi andbut we unhaven’t zy TV up studios. When voltage police acted only after Singh grew playing in athe band and I still completed feel that school? derstand each other’s music very well. He’s realis low and the fan turnsfrom lazy, the ported on jam his Facebook page.I the energy that comes different peoplesaysready in London, so it we’ll together once Shankar you can standardtogether operatingisprocedure is “Hethere. did not use words such as ‘alplaying great. But get either dictate it to to turn off the fan,the take off your lege’ ‘accuse’. He did not with technology, making of Weorhave performed mostbeat of the newsdesk on the shirt and hang it on the backrest about the we bush likeplanned newspaper music has also changed. I’ve the songs have for phone or filch from of thedoing chair.itStill, thisfor den is rereporters. said it straight, been like this a while the gig, soHe it is nothing new.and It’s somewhere spectable that most it hittohard.” Yadav, too whomuch was now and Iconsidering find it liberating. I do good not rehearse I didn’t mind other journalists here haveelse no spending 200 hours in because Singh’s close associate, saysnervthe not have to rely on anyone then you have that fixed address. must be anodyne language of news writto make music. “There Say, I want to inous energy on stage. front of a screen nearly 100 asmall and sound, big publiing had no use on Facebook. His corporate sarangi I’ll making a song. A lot cationsout and more in own handles andDonn conleave that bit. than I may200 notjournalists Whyhas didseveral you pick the name of musicians find news that page Shahjahanpur district. Mosttoofdo them are ‘agennects with more 15,000 people, nearly know exactly what I want Bhatthan + Passenger Revelator for as very boring cy journalists’,” Shankar many as Singh’s with it so we may jam upsays. for that yourpage. band? But how At Khutar, aI like neighbour of Singh politicsection later. do you write news when you this song calledsays the Passenhaven’t completed school? Shankar says ians and theger district officials are ‘revelation’ now more Also, Ieven can give a song enough by Iggy Pop, and you can dictate it to the newsdesk on afraid of Facebook than newspapers. time toeither breathe. Sometimes is a word I use a lot. Also,SomeI like phone,aor filch from somewhere. Rohit Yadav, one annoyed Singh’s unafraid reporting when new song happens, I’ll just have two travelling. So Iwith put the two words together and Shahwho runs news page, even rhymed put up hoardings townittoisportray lines for it.another But thenFacebook I’ll develop it, go away for they well. As foracross my name, actualhascome posted a warning the ly himAnant. as an extortionist. He probably reasoned ajahanpur few days,Khabar, and then back to it andfor think But everybody called me Donny ‘news thieves’: “I request theI news that only hoarding could match Singh’s about what kind of rhythm want.thieves not when I wasayoung. to steal stories from my Facebook page and Facebook is available on moWhen I posts. moved“Facebook to Mumbai, a family numerpublish it inyou your newspapers. Otherwise I will ologist bile phones, which everyone around. If How would describe your genre of music? told my mom that thecarries ‘Y’ in my name is highlight the theft byIpasting the clippings of evil. thereSoisIsomething sensational, people show it That’s a tough one. think I’ve tried many cut it off from Donny and one ‘T’ from the news Writecome your own stories. This is Bhatt. to one another and the news spreadsI like wildtimes buthere. I’ve finally up with this — danWhen I released my album, thought, the firstfolk, and last warning!” fire.man, In thethis close-knit society of aring small ceable, electronic-meets-rock. I have the ‘Ok name has a good totown, it. So Yadav started his Facebook page in 2012, Facebook works faster than newspapers,” says mandolin, synthesiser and elements froma let’s keep it!’ year after Singh began first news in Singh’s neighbour Shyam Prakash, a clerk at EDM (electronic dance the music), but itpage is not chaudhuri town. IThis was around time the town had mohini the local Kakori Saheed Inter College. ShahjaEDM. have poetry bythe a saint in the 1400s small newspapers, as protection for their illegal mining, encroachment on government land, or other wrongdoings,” the journalist explains. “They can also be proxies of politicians. In any case, being a journalist in a small town brings you easy money and gets you access to the thana, which can get you more easy money when you connive with corrupt cops to snare the wrongdoers who will pay anything to escape.”
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Roll call B Ajay Sharma exhibits simulations of his photo-lab alongside mono-prints of missing children; (inset) Natalia Ludmila has made a series of cyanotypes on monkeys
personal way, it reveals a mystery that is unique and leads you down a new creative path,” says Ludmila, who lives and works in New Mexico. Searching for the differences and similarities between Indian and Mexican culture, Ludmila created her own ethnographic archive of images, which play as a slideshow at the exhibition. “The way the outside world looks at India has changed — from the exotic to the contemporary. The archive of images measures some of that change,” says Ludmila, who also created a series of cyanotypes on monkeys in Rishikesh. TiFine print Local journalists estimate that Shahjahanpur district has nearly 100 periodicals big and small, and local as well as those published from Bareilly, Lucknow andthey tled ‘Jal’, other nearby towns; (centre) a hoarding accusing Singh of extortion amit saxena comment on the degradahanpur is known as shaheedon ki nagri (city of tion of our natmartyrs) — the hometown of revolutionary ural freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulenvironment. lah Khan, Roshan Singh and Premkishan “In an age when Khanna. Today, you could as easily call it patraimages can be crekaron ki nagri (city of journalists). After ated using old techSingh’s success on social media, many locals niques like cyanotypes have taken to it. as well as the click of a cell “Already, there was a scramble for the power phone, it is the intention and reaand pelf that being a journalist brings. Now son behind an image that makes Facebook he hasdark made the job for such room, in aeasier conventional it art.” people. You can quickly something, and photo studio, ispost a bit of a romantic Fernando de la Torre’s work is when the space. affected reads it and offers Forparty the photographer, it is ata about embracing the exotic, deal, you can asaquickly take it down,” anonce secret sanctuary and asays laborawhether it is the cyanotypes on other neighbour. tory, where he dips a piece of paper into a dethe holy men, idols festooned veloper tub and patiently waits for his image with flowers or seductive digital The story within to magically appear. The defining moment is images of circus performers, in A veteran journalist explains why marks so many when the first trace of the image its particular, the fire-eaters. people masquerading journalists operate presence on paper. Theasdigital age has done “Memory is an important part extortion Part Shahjahanpur lies in away withrackets. much of theofromance of photograof human civilisation, which is the area of dense shrubs, once phy. Katri Photographers like Raghu Raiwhich and Dayanwhy one must go back to the baharboured Robin Hood-type banditsreasons) and reita Singh work in digital (for practical sics both technically as well as Kattas, the guns not forenbels. and analogue (forcountry-made the love of the medium) subject-wise. Not only have I extirely to operate, their do weapons of mats. safe Others like Maxwere Vadukul not veil perimented with cyanotypes, a in Shahjahanpur, within a few choice. “Now these journalists blogsonce and Action zone Prem Shankar of Sahara TV operates from a damp, old roommethod their disdain for the digital.wield Vadukul used together way back the he jokes. Facebook pages just as kattas,” said, “Digital photography is like speed dat- other TV reporters amit saxena 1800s, but I have also tried to which Soitwas Singhsowielding a katta ing, happens quickly that there is veryultilitseek out those parts of India that mately in his hand? A few journal- help. Singh took a photo. When the vehicle left with the global as much by astime,” it galvanises tle timebackfired for romance.” are untouched says the istsThe claim that he was honest but had lately without paying any heed to the woman, he groups and 36-year-old communities. Shahjahanpur, ongoing exhibition at Delhi’s Vadehra whoInmoved to India become a proxy in the battles of local politicpeoplebut together it offers Art Gallery — Al Revelar, meaning ‘to reveal’ — took another photo. He uploaded both the im- more than bringing as a diplomat has since been ians — minister Verma and his opponent, the ages with a crisp caption. Action followed the already close-knit community a new and pauses on the romantic moments photogradrawn to its cultural wealth. ex-MLA Devendra Pal. Close friend Amit Tyagi within minutes,” Tyagi recalls. accessible platform to we enact struggles and phy offers. Three artist-photographers — Nata“I hope canits take this project maintains Singh was upright till the de end. power plays. to Vernacular mediaisinmuch India lia Ludmila,that B Ajay Sharma and Fernando la Mexico, social since there A columnist carpetVerma dealer,and with an MBA has own world where many Torre, assistedand by Nancy curator Ju- Social exposé thatitswe share culturally and Jait and LLM degrees, Tyagi met on Facegendra have launched lolia Villaseñor, got together to Singh workshop and The fragmentation of politics in will be Singhs good to exchange ideas book. a Shahjahanpur boy who had Uttar Pradesh and the rise in cal fights unknown to the rethinkTyagi, the near-forgotten processes in phoand imagery,” says del la Torre. moved to greener pastures,was re-established his business activity after the ecoEnglish-speaking people bigtography. The exhibition put up after While this exhibition is ainmustHis stories made an ties with on thethe town through Singh’s This nomic growth that began in ger working idea for a month andpage. a half. visitcities. for photography and history impact within hours, Aman Paassociation led to thephotography setting up ofthrough In many ways, social media is Al Revelar explores its early made journalism at- cyanotype of holy men buffs, the endeavour to rediscovExotic2000s vignette Fernando De la Torre’s if not minutes another Facebook page, when trouble tractive in Shahjahanpur. Polisand, bringing the powerless closer to various techniques. Photographs developed er and make relevant old methbrewed parts of (cyan-blue Shahjahanpur aftersilver the ticians find in it a potent tool to the in small towns, through incyanotype print), ods powerful of photography is an riots Muzaffarnagar last year. where salts in and gum bi-chromate are a part of it. settle scores with rivals and ongoingthe one.ruling elite never “Whenever I visited Shahjahanpur Ja- businesses faced the like masses. Although he “Making photographs the old way, nofrom doubt, time,” he says. was an interget “It protection from Groups Goa Center for Albalpur in chemistry Madhya Pradesh, I wouldBut finditSingh the powerful, the semi-literinvolved and science. also illegal esting process to create negativactivities. Even an independent jour- may collude with ternative Photography (CAP) are Making photographs working from a new place.or It was natural for a nalist is anot signjust of how had the element of chance happy accident,” es outhas of aexisting images anda journalist in ate agency journalist wide scope. “Today, keepingtoo alive old social printthe old way involved blunt person like him to endartist up quarrelling individualsbut in towns and vilsays Sharma, a Delhi-based who hails Shahjahanpur then print them,” observes. has he ways to make money. He media empowers ing techniques also alternachemistry and with says.of Singh notorious for making themfrom everyone,” Jharkhand.Tyagi “Because that became elementacof can Apartconfront from the technicalities, wealthy farmers who cultivate lages. Earliertive methods of image science. But it also tive on all Facebook the anti-corruption after coming to pin-hole power, chance, images Iwhen have created using the hy- forestland the poignancy of the of on the sly, images take pictures of those selves scarce production, such as the had the element of movement was spreading over the country. haveand no escape. Theyobscura. have to po (emulsion of sodiumallthiosulfate), salt who missing is accentuated stealchildren electricity for their tubewells, or act politicians now camera the camera chance or happy “And got such a good response if it’s routine chatterand on Faceprint that’s and why gumhebi-chromate methods are as by atheir quality somehe ofgets access to face people, even toutfading for local cops—once So too are workshops resiaccident thana. else, he can extort money book. Recently, from people. His stories made an impact withan elderly buttonholed mono-prints. They can be reproduced but no the them areIf nothing negatives, others dencies like man ALTlab and exhibi-a pettytracings government official who has gregarious MLA in if not He had such a large from from like the Shahjahanpur twohours, images will minutes. be the same.” vague asepia that only tions Saltprint area and absent without of leave a week,” says an- on his Facebook network of informers that most account:like “Son, father Simulations of his photo-lab arenewspapers positioned gone hint at the identity thefor missymposiums the your ‘Wanted Sejournalist. “And if he agrees to be used used to be myries.’ picked up stories from his page,” says Tyagi. of other friend. talk to to so keep manyalterpeoalongside an installation of mono-prints sing child. “TheYou struggle a politician, he can Ludmila even get regular pay- ple Another quality“The that endeared Singhchilto byThirty-four-year-old here, why not send a message mesays too missing children. images of missing approached native photography is an ongoing to one,” With by social media, all you is a free once many people was histechniques dedication of to photograstories on ment.” in a while?” The reply: “WillCAP. do, chacha.” dren and forgotten the concept re-discovering theneed connection PA Madhavan, a founder of Goa account, notand evenphotography. a newspaper agency. the the helpless. “Once,inanmy injured phy poor cameand together harmoniously mind online between painting “When kumaris isa Delhi-based a Delhi-based media are does not connect woman layboth neardeal a police vehicle asking for oldSocial georgina maddox artjournalist writer since they with the idea of loss and techniques discovered in a the newlocal and dharminder
Bringing back the bygone Three artists go back to old photography techniques and discover new narratives
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Stranger than fiction This and that, here and there, a novel that deals with werewolves in Calcutta at an all-too-meta level this plea. A half-werewolf gives a history professor two scrolls to transcribe, confessing that he is only the translator of these texts. The version we read has purportedly passed through many filters, some of which aren’t entirely human. Werewolf fiction couldn’t get any more meta. Alok’s transcriptions force us to leap back in time. Suddenly, and a little jarringly, we find Nowhere to go A UN report released on June 20 — World Refugee Day — says the number of uprooted people is today at its highest since the end of World War II mohd rasfan, afp/ thomas reuters ourselves inmukoya, 17th-century Mughal India. Three European shape-shifters — Fenrir, Gévaudan and Makedon — arrive in Shah Jahan’s kingSTATES OF MATTER dom when the Taj Mahal is all but half-built. Guided by what he construes to be love, Fenrir breaks the golden rule of the shape-shifter handbook. He rapes and impregnates a human woman called Cyrah. The transgression violently ruptures the sense of fraternity that binds him to his fellow brutes. Wanting answers and a better fate, Cyrah sets out on a search for her assailant with Gévaudan. While Fenrir’s confessions are marked by an annoying verbosity, Cyrah’s scroll proves more engrossing, even if overtly cinematic at times. In these rather long sections of the book, Das usorld Refugee Day on June 20 Mid-June, British Defence Secretary Michaeles the epistolaryUN device tediously explain al councils, HightoCommissioner for Humay have been just one of Fallon made a highly publicised helicopterthe mythology characters. man Rightsthat Zeidsurrounds Ra’ad Al his Hussein deplored sukumar muralidharan those rituals conjured up by landing on the deck of a warship patrollingUnlike who is given a rightful to the Alok, ‘demonisation of migrants’ andpart the ‘growthe United Nations to keep the Mediterranean, ostensibly to interceptplaying in bigotry’ this alternative history of theStrategies world, of in dealing with them. one among its many bureaucracies in busi- and turn back the boats carrying people fromthe military reader isdeterrence spoon-fed were detailcondemned that only ento failness. But this year’s observance brought gloo- the Libyan coast to the European mainland.cumbers his or her engagement with the novure. Europe simply had to reckon with the remy news. All those headlines about countless Europe had little capacity to take on board theel. Atality more times one, Devourers to that justthan as millions from seems their shores thousands setting off in despair across harsh refugee flood, he said, and its response wouldsuffer from a curse the historic. The Mughal had done in theofpast, people would ‘brave terdeserts, raging seas and forbidding moun- be to first crack down on the traffickers bring-era becomes anto excuse Das for to give his book and rible peril seek for safety themselves tains, it turned out, actually stacked up. In its ing human cargos across. This manner ofthe their proportions of an epic legend. It is this children’. report released that day, the UN refugee agen- criminal conduct would be firmly quashed.grandeur intent thatfrom turns overwhelming. Justof one remove the floundering intercy conveyed a grim but unsurprising finding, Once containment was achieved the more se- Cyrah’s troubled notwithstandnational responsejourneys to a spiralling tragedy is a flesh, stories, partners — fessed that ood, the number of thesexual uprooted — refugees, shape-shifter. In one of Devourers’ most theing, deeper rious business would begin, of mitigating the most prominent critique of rape in becrisis of globalisation. The term thisseekers is a listand of just some things that —memorable asylum the internally displaced scenes, Izrail and Alokacross visit a few factors propelling thousands choppyDevourers comes currency from the rapist Fen-cencame global in the himself. last-quarter are commonly devoured. is today at its highest since theExpectedly, end of Worldpandals Durgasearch Puja. Izrail pointsand to the seas during in desperate of security suste-rir tells “I see khrissal (human) tury Cyrah, as the inescapable destiny of allmen people. Indra Das’ The Devourers comes idolsnance. War II. of theWhile 10-armed deity and that her de- takeBut acknowledging theof complexities their allconjuncture the time, with no regard thewomen current speaks of the inpackedThe with manymade instances of such exhausfigures for bleak reading. In 2014,moninvolved, foe. He the insists these werewas human highthat British official categor-for whether they want it or not ... Women cre- exiquities of development having acquired tive the consumption. outset, the premise number of At thethe displaced went up by 13.9representations ical that the of taskshape-shifters would not in-like him. ate. Men inflict plosive violenceform. upon you, envious Globalisation was a seems beguilingly simple. A half-werewolf million, a four-fold increase over the previous“Wevolve could‘boots be anything, make ourselves on the ground’ — the in the and fearful.” Das charter doesn’t of offer absolution thisflow rights for the free sniffs outThough the loneliness that shrouds a history year. statistics are yet to be tallied, theworld’s touched the infinite. We easily. There is savage termimage. of artWe representing active violence, patricide and,crevof capital to every nook and professor andofthen tell him his sto- endweremilitary first half 2015decides broughttono respite. At the the infinite,” he says. Iz- the redeployments — in ifice thatofweren’t comeuppance world economy. Human With a better price on ry. While lycanthropy relative of 2014, the totaland number of immortalithe displacedrail,gions who through most of the where of human distress enough, there’s matricideconcern, too. rights were a subsidiary offer from the ty place well beyond the confines stoodIzrail at 59.5 million, of which close tooftwo-bookrefugee sticks to the ascribed role flows originated. InifDevourers, sexualitytoisbeconone at all, typically accomAustralian treasury, genteel society, young professor Alok is al- dis-of a storyteller, thirds werethe categorised as ‘internally once On anotherdoesn’t of the frontlines of stantly unsettled. modated throughHermaphacknowledgthe human Accessible to smugglers most so asplaced’ much and an outsider. by ‘refugees’. his par- Abarethe most of Shunned the rest as hisglobal fangs.refugee His menace crisis,isAustraroditic shape-shifters wrestle ing every ethnic particularity. were happy return Calcuttans, the to Park entssmall afterfraction, a failedjust engagement, hiscent, exile, over three per was atlargely wayAbbott liancommunicated Prime Ministerby Tony eachAsother ground and determstoofthe trade collapsed, their cargo toOly, the Street watering hole however, comparatively somewhat ab- of suggestion. some is stage of the quest(and for asylum. he and was showingWhen a different order of mate. Apartcountries from being veloping hadrivetto reach of origin the 24x7place Sharma dhaba surdly)Half more of earthly. the refugees are children. And look-Aloksmarts, part atplacing New Market, he a few strategic fiing, theinto novel’s in exploitthe deep theirclimax reserves, are all rendered eerie by The mentions of another huntingangle, and huingfrequent at the problem from one indisappears carcassestoinoutbid nancialamidst inducements Sunderbans also sexual. ing naturalisresources onFew an acthe preternatural manevery prey122infect Izrail and Alok’s first expersons inhabiting the planet todaya meat Alok goes refugees to thewarehouse. best offer desperate Indian novels scale have succeeded celerating to sustain presence of a selfchanges with tension that is immediately lives in theastate of trauma and uncertainty in-buy could brownies. make to the entrepreneurs inrapidly portraying gay sex with this in crumbling positions confessed shape-shifter The Devourers reminiscent works by pastnot Gothic masters duced byofdisplacement, knowing where These little misery. touches apart, in human With a better price on offer the world unhurried Rather than economy. ease. Solidarities between Indra Das suchthey as Bram Stoker and HP Surprisbelong or how to Lovecraft. sustain life from onewhatfrom makes a comtheDevourers Australian treasury, the human elites within negate boundaries,ofDevourers the framework the nationPenguin ingly, there aren’t day to the next.many contemporary or In- pelling read is were its airhappy of uncersmugglers to return their cargo to state eroded, admirably creates a third fuelling ethnic warfare. Fiction ₹499 dian titles that can serve as a yardstick forcrossing Das’ tainty. Media images of desperate people Alok isofseduced the theAsplace origin.byQuestioned about his space of where man/woman, hu-conThe implosion South Sudan and the speculative fiction. His first book seems to in-at afantasies the Mediterranean after aggregating being described by that a mysterious methods, Abbott admitted ‘creative strat-man/non-human, cotinuing tensionsApollonian/Dionysian in the horn of Africa exemplihabit a genre all byfrom its novel couldn’t point in Libya, whereself. the Itsea journey tostranger, recall egies’we hadcan’t beenhelp usedbut and thenthe fellprofesback on aexist. notfailure about this ‘or’ that; it is all about fyIt’s the of older antidotes of peace havethe been easy to do,mainland but the author has adeptEuropean is relatively short,sor’strusted initial doubts. What if this was a practical old principle of Australian politics:this through ‘and’ that separation. instead. The consequence has ly transported thethe werewolf from London and jokethat have flooded airwaves. Equally traumatic being played by an one of his peeved stutapping into underlying vein of racist Itbeen doesn’t long to guess we’re able an take entire new nationthat emerging on the Parishas of the 20th to ethnic present-day Kolka-flee-dents? been thecentury plight of Rohingyas What if this merely anHe elaborate xenophobia is a was fail-safe plan. would notto read this becauseofAlok had kindly map: theaccount global nation the disempowered ta. The is curiously ingeffect persecution andunsettling. a virtual declaration ofsetup? Izrailthe himself doesn’t discuss methods used,promise since themuch key goalbeenand spared by his half-werewolf friend. the displaced, which signals to theThe world There to be a careful that deter- ofcertitude. theirseems non-personhood by logic the government He tells “Romance,offantasy, of turning backAlok, the boatloads distressedJoker, a resilient from that there cansurvivor no longer be another any delaymyin admines Das’ choice Accessible to de-horror, Myanmar, whichofthesetting. great hope for global realism, fable,Neither history, was lies, thethology, people had moralistic been achieved. had the explained Alok’sofeventual condidressing programme disempowerment most Calcuttans, the Park watering holedonetruth. mocracy, citizen AungStreet San Suu Kyi, has It’s all there for you. Pick and choose, mythattionthat Australian opposition willing to grasp brilliantly — “Whathas doesn’t kill you makes globalisation represented for large Oly, little the 24x7 Sharma dhaba and even the ubiq- friend.” to contest. Amusingly, frustrated de- vin-you numbers nettle since the astrategy wasAlok oneonce of long stranger.”of people. uitousImages Cafe Coffee Day are all rendered of desperation on one eerie side aremands Izrail, “Don’t get metatooncross-partisan me.” For tageofand credible claims sukumarnevatia muralidharan is an independent writer by the preternatural a self-consharpened by thepresence sublime offarce of the re-most part, Izrail and Das both seem deaf to shreevatsa authorship. sponse from the masters of the global order. As alarm bells began sounding across glob- and researcher based in Gurgaon and Shimla
Globalisation of misery
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One in every 122 people on the planet today is displaced, a result of the iniquities of development the world over
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All together now The Buddhist gompa in Itanagar is one of the most visited tourist sites of the city arif siddiqui
HOME SPUN
Nowhere else
Itanagar is the secret corner I return to, and it is in this space that my writing begins
mamang dai
I
remember a ride through the city some seat of government and power. I think it is the indescribable aura of the land years ago with a friend. The road was For a journalist this was the place to be to that makes me stay on. This is the one place on bumpy with potholes. It was raining cover news of the state. In 1987 Arunachal Pra- earth where I recognise everything about the heavily. At the time I was wondering if I desh gained statehood and I have been living landscape. More importantly, it is the enshould return to settle in Itanagar for good. here since 1991. Back then the media fraternity trance to a different place, another dimension “Can you imagine,” I said, “living here for the was small and we had our work cut out. Those that is the place of ‘feeling.’ It is the secret corIdol Shahjahanpur’s Hanuman statuewe is the online of thehectic town, thanks its photos countless rest talk of your life?” “Not only live... have to iconwere days, to rushing toon meet deadlines, ner I return to, and it is in this space that writsaxenaa loud shout, Facebook pages websites die here!” saidand my friendamit with working against wind and weather, with pow- ing begins. laughing as we rattled past the dim shops and er lines snapping and stories being trapped Here there is no happiness of meeting famhalf-constructed buildings. Another summer, mid-air. I used my father’s typewriter, shouted ily members with open arms. It is a more soliso many summers later and I am still travell- into the phone and did some bad driving on tary reunion. The outline of the hills, the river, ing to and fro on this same road that is Nation- these roads. Now, of course, things are differ- the green landscape — amazing! Clouds, al Highway 52A, which runs through the city ent. I have since abandoned that Ambassador mountains, sky-touching trees — amazing! My of Itanagar. Nova and spend more time watching TV than heart embraces this. In the early 1970s, with the change of no- doing any reporting. From my window I can see menclature from erstwhile NEFA (North East Sometimes the thought crossgreen trees and the wilderness of Frontier Agency) to Arunachal Pradesh, this es my mind — maybe it’s time to the garden. The sun glimmers for site in the Himalayan foothills bordering As- move on, to... elsewhere? I know a moment in the western sky. It is sam was selected for a new capital. This was people say: nothing like your like a glimpse of the sea. SomeBeyond the flow of in else Shahjahanpur of people the one calls from the gate. The dogs the birth of Itanagar and its twin city, Naharla- own place.hutar Where can you district traffic and Uttar Pradesh goes aboutmountains its daily are green gun, which grew around a few small villages feel so at home? The thing is — create a ruckus and the white unperturbed. homesurrounding a lake and the archaeological re- one can. routine People transplant. I The and geese start honking. Festivals of mysterious of journalist Jagendra Singh, mains of a brick fort (hence the name Ita-na- read Julio town Cortazár: “I realised different communities of the whose gruesome murder on June 1 shook the gar), dating back to the 14th century AD. that searching was my symbol, state and nation are celebrated is notofthe centre ofgo the storm you’d exIn those early days, town planners had lined nation, the emblem those who out here. Friends and relatives turn it to be. Innothing Mohalla Kot, under a sprawling the first 50km stretch of road leading into the pect at night with in mind, up with food parcels. In ‘C’ Sector tree,ofbarely a dozen people sit with market the women selling vegetables ask me, capital with rows of Bauhinia trees and bou- peepal the motives a destroyer of compasses.” on a Idharna to demand a CBI gainvillea, but obviously rapid changes have Singh’s Therefamily was a time scrutinised maps like an “Have you been away?” I am happy to say — into In his dying transformed the landscape. Today the speed of probe explorer inhis thedeath. small library of mydeclaration, hometown “Only a little distance, and back.” There is famallegedI that policemen him time is visual. One day there is the outline of Singh of Pasighat. yearned to live had nearset the sea.onI ily here, and the presence of small children. at pack the behest of state Ram the mountains, the next it is wiped out by a fire could my bags today.minister But these areMurti emo- Sometimes I go whale-hunting with them in whose scamsget heknocked exposedabout, in hisinflupop- the North Atlantic, shouting like an assassin wall of concrete. Buildings rise up, collapse in Verma, tions and emotions Facebook the monsoon floods, and rise up again forti- ular enced, altered. page DeepShahjahanpur in my heart Samachar. I know I on a playstation. Within the confines of hill a reporter of Singh says, fied with retaining walls. A motorcycle roars Death, would not want tofriend live anywhere else. could Every and home I wonder if this is what the mystics be the pricethis of journalism at Shahjahanpast. An old man wearing a solid cane hat and easily day I drive along road gritty with sand and talked about… this must be the ‘happiness of HeAlists names of those whoathave disap- the drop’. necklace of red and yellow beads walks slowly pur. gravel. huge new construction a turning peared were murdered at least five in the up the steep street. creates or a bottleneck. Take a—deep breath. What (In this monthly column, authors chronicle the 10 years.allDozens were seriously Itanagar is a story of overlapping time peri- last lies behind this? Beyond the flowwounded of traffic cities they call home.) beaten few monthsare ago, a journalist’s ods, of an era gone and one in transition, as or and peopleup. theA mountains green and mysslitstretch right outside his office. Ainto TV mamang dai is a poet, novelist and journalist. She is the city beckons one and all, like a beacon throat terious.was They ever northwards waspeaks. beaten up than by policemen pointing towards the future. It is, after all, the journalist snow-covered More anything this else also the author of The Black Hill
News@Shahjahanpur Q K
A newspaper agency for ₹5,000 is often what it takes to become a reporter in a town where journalism is largely a racket. With the arrival of news pages on social media, independent reporters like Jagendra Singh, who was burned alive this month, are scripting a new story
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A place of darkness Hadal’s strength is Surendran’s poetry parading as prose, and its weakness — a plot stingy on complexities
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Turn on chat, therapist H is available oney Jaspreet Kumar’s arching libido is matched only by his veritable lack of charm and the void within. Midway through Hadal, CP Surendran’s third novel, the author nails the problem with his chief character — “Half the problems that people had were because, just like him, they were oversexed and under******.” The espionage in Hadal spirals out of Kumar’s unruly mind, one pulped by swigs of cough syrup. Hadal’s strength is Surendran’s poetry parading as prose. Its weakness is his plot. The novel never lets you forget that the author is also a poet. He ack chooses words carefully, lovingly, yet in 2004, when Chaula Patel was with such ease, that they sit in counselling unfamiliar providing psychological spaces without qualm throw up lines that to IT and BPO and employees in Pune, she surprise.had Miriam, Maldivian on morethe cases than she woman could hanwhom Kumar loses hiscarrying moorings, sits work-realone in dle. From youngsters home alated colonial the Foreigner’s Registrastressbuilding, and vice versa, to small-town boys tion Thiruvananthapuram, awaiting viand Cell girlsindealing with heartbreaks and odd sa extension. was and working hours “The in thesilence big cities, thesunlit number of perfect likecallers a desert,” writes Surendran, distressed far outstripped the hoursthe in poet. is at home in his milieu Thiruvaa day. He Together with her friend and — fellow psynanthapuram and Ebrahim, Delhi, and recreates with chologist Niloufer she struggled to the same theUntil, frothy andcame the calreach outskill to all. in beaches 2007, they up culating minds in Kerala’s capital as old Delwith a handy solution, onlinecounselling.in — hi’s dark space alleyswhere and people darker can secrets. an online pour The out throbbing “velvet violence” of Kerala’s landtheir grievances any time of the day or night, scape is not missed oncould the author. Buttohethem also and the counsellors respond imbues the narrative with images that will more speedily. draw a newcomer’s eye. So in the small shopsa Miles away in Bengaluru, Ankita Puri took lining the telemedicine, roads are “soda with blue cue from herbottles former area of marbles in their necks andHealthEminds bright yellow — lemwork in the US, to launch an ons balanced on their online marketplace formouths.” psychological counselThewhich novel,she however, doeswith not live up to Mathe ling, co-founded Dr Sunita promise was it tootogether good a heshwari.of its Sheprose. has Orbrought promise to live up to? Hadal is inspired by a psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotheratrue one that had a generation of Mapists,story, life coaches, parenting and relationship layalis to a soap espionage, experts,hooked nutritionists andopera otherofcounsellors defence andletting honey people trap in the 1990s. It on one secrets platform, choose the falsely scientists and serviceimplicated they need. senior Visitorsspace log on to the web-
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brought much disgrace to two Maldivian tractiveness. The day his mother died, young women. Surendran pitches the story in the Kumar had run endlessly on the shore, not present. Norway has deported the Menons for knowing what else to do. When he comes reprimanding their 12-year-old, who pisses in back, she is already “soot and ashes well on the school bus. The tsunami wave had their way to becoming diamonds.” Surendran “brought white fish leaping all over the roads loses that vulnerable boy there and never in Male” and in return took away Miriam’s fa- finds him again. Aloofness characterises Surether, mother and sister. ndran’s Miriam despite her baggage of loss Miriam arrives in Thiruvananthapuram to and unhappiness. Ram Mohan, Kumar’s boss, drift away from an insipid marriage and to witness and partner to his misdeeds, is real, write a novel. Kumar, a police officer and a liv- burdened by ambiguous sorrow. Anita, his ing monument to the potent wife, is on a subversive war with naming skills of the Malayali him. He texts her about arriving and the Punjabi, is shunted to late from Thiruvananthapuram crore, online psychological site, choose their counsellor, fix an appoint- pegged at ₹1,400 Thiruvananthapuram for acand instantly regrets it. Anita, he ment, discuss their problems holds out great promise. cepting bribe. Miriam wants Ku-through knows, will make sure he is welHevideo choosescounselling words chat to and pay online. oflovingly, yet comed to emptiness. And she mar extend her visaWithin and hesix months carefully, launching, the website handling Lookthat ma, no stigma needs that age-old favourisinalready redoes. Surendran’s small characwith such ease, “Owing to the social people don’t and dis200 cases a monthtouches and hasbase 45 specialists turn. As Miriam ters havestigma, promising stories they siton in unfamiliar cuss depression and relationship issues in an board.Paul The Roy, number of casesscienis nearlyspaces doubling with a playboy possibilities. But they remain without qualm every month. open forum, that and refrain fromThe seeking help detist whom she first met in Mal— minor. Kerala chief and throw up lines spite being aware of the In such The rising number of cases bythat web-surprise dives, Kumar goes on received a minister, theproblems. wily Thomas Law-a sites like HealthEminds and onlinecounsellinscenario, an online platform ideal for rampage. Unrequited lust and rence Pappan, is is a study of amaskkind. ing identity and seeking help,” g.in corroborates jealousy send himmental down ahealth hazy Pappan laughs carefully, so as not says Puri. his hair-do, a meticustatistics. to WHO, Inpath; he According smells espionage in to disturb dia had 10 million Patel would agree. When she adultery and places people Miriamwith and lous arrangement of strands cucounselling practice depression in 2012. An AssoRoy at its centre. rated by his started wife, illher or well, every morning. Owing to social cham report released in Aprilfor words, his She combs hair nearly three decades ago, and she Surendran’s love is reserved from around his head stigma, people days mop without any middle. clients says tools, over 42 perthe cent of privatehe builds with places them went play than characters in a neat in the hesitate to openly and people questioned hergive casector words. employees in India suf-‘Hadal’ means These snippet those So Hadal limps. visions of real-life quirks discuss depression fers depths from anxiety or depression reer choice. the of an ocean beyond 6,000 metres. Hadal its pleasing parts. Nobody was willing due author, to demanding schedules, admit they had mental health The though, does not invest much enHadal pickstoup a feverish pace towards the high instress levelsthe worries issues. Today, has ergy plumbing depthsover of his characters. climax. The narrative cracksthe up situation to be a Bollychanged forwith the violent better. interro“People and performance-linked perquiKumar remains the run-of-the-mill officer wood pot-boiler, topped are getting more are at sites. Ato study by themisdemeanour National Institute of Menprone mindless despite his gation scenes. The tech-savvy author is inand a hurry to ease seal tal Health and With Neurosciences (NIMHANS) when interacting Online heady backstory. an activist Malayali fa- the parts. And heonline. opts the lazy counselling way out — is also popular because even people found that 36 per Punjabi cent of techies Bangalore ther and feminist mother,inwho is com- bumping off one, sending another on looking self-disshowed signs of disorder as covery for personal consultation are not apically finished offpsychiatric midway her victory even speech and putting the third in getting coma. The pointments time,” sheasadds. the government itself areports thattree, oneKumar in five frenzy after climbing down coconut leaveson the reader, it does Kumar, bleIndians suffers from mental problems. wasworn-out. this shortage of specialists that could have been much morehealth than the cough- aryItand With one doctor for everystalked three lakh syrup gulping protagonist, by amental fear of prompted Delhi-based Dr SK Sharma to animaonline counselling in 1994 under his health coconuts patients and in India an industry falling a senseand of physical unat- plaunch
Beating the queues and the stigma, people in need of psychotherapy are logging on to the many online counselling services in India
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Baroque by the riverside
medical initiative Ethos Healthcare. “People used to come from other cities for counselling; some even came from other countries. They were spending a lot of time and money. Besides, there were problems in the follow-up treatment. We then decided to use technology to reach out to people,” he says.
The pretty Bavarian town of Passau, close to Austrian and Czech borders, owes its charm to water and splendid architecture
Handholding in small towns HealthEminds gets many enquiries from small towns and remote places, with people reaching out not just for themselves but also their family and friends. “The ease of access and the promise of anonymity in the online
Travel log Get there
Fly Lufthansa directly from Mumbai or Delhi to Munich. Travel by road to Passau. Stay
Weisser Hase is a family-run fourhoteltoin the Old steps Easy in mind Online counselling services allowstar patients interact withTown, therapists over video chat and pay for it online courtesy healtheminds away from the Danube cycle-path and river-cruise piers. The building ethics andisguidelines to adhere to our quality both historic and quaint. standards.www.weisser-hase.de Online counselling is an unregulated space and people with barely three months Tip of training become counsellors. But lack of exWith five breweries, can webbe pertise can be damaging,” PuriPassau says. Her called ‘beer with city’, not and less the Wachau site has counsellors than four monastery wine makes it a ‘wine years of experience. Wary ofcity’ theasmany Sharma has rewell. pitfalls, Both beer and wine frained from hiring a team. He handles go perfectly together with the cases, both domestic international, on his own. typicaland dishes of the region, from “Counselling a delicate job. If notfish. done corroastis pork to freshwater rectly, it can prove counter-productive. Till now I have managed on my own and will continue to doofsothe forfacade, the next few years,” he says. bleakness and lend an early-ClasPuri, on The the Diocese other hand, is ready for awith big sical aura. Treasury, a palace bang expansion. From 45, hopesrococo to inan interesting staircase, has she elaborate crease the number of counsellors to 250 over lattice and a shaft-type stairwell. The magnifithe And — sheThe is in talks raise centcoming ceiling year. painting Gods of toOlymp “Investors beginning intericated to Francis Xavier, on the southern wall, funds. worshipping theare eternal towntoofshow Passau — in the sector,” she says. From sharingdardis in early rococo style. Most notable is the est shows some charming cherub groups. high altar with a painting of the fallen angel. .com and Your Candid Friend to the online counselThe side altars, pulpit and the organ casing onlinecounselling4u.com, Old Town Hall space(Old in India has many look splendid in black and gold. Passau’s Gothicling Rathaus Town Hall), with players lending patientdates ear. its colourful wooden beamed aceiling, And all of them gunningneofor St Stephen’s Cathedral back to 1393. The exterior has a are handsome venture funding.Great AssembLocated at the Old Town’s highest point, it is Gothic tower while the Baroque Ankita Puri, co-founder and CEO of Online HealthEminds Passau’s pièce de résistance, rebuilt after thecounselling ly Room is has beautiful stained glass windows No more great fire by the famous Carlo Lurago. an unregulated depicting scenes from tête-à-têtes? Passau’s history and lack of all theWagner. enthusiastic reThe cathedral consists of a Gothic choirspace... and huge paintingsDespite by Ferdinand A smallexpertise behas a magnificent sponse, it is ceiling still moot whether transept (an area set crosswise to the nave in a ercan room fresco of the damaging online counselling can totally cruciform-cross shaped building in RomanesDanube, attended by water nymphs. replace one-on-one interacque and Gothic church architecture), while the towers and nave are Baroque. The main al- Veste Oberhaustion. “In a face-to-face conversation,atwe a lot more tar is Expressionistic (modern 1952) with the The fortress stands theget confluence of Ilzclues and about rivers. the intensity statues carved out of poplar and Danube Curiously,ofitsemo800tions besidesyear-old other non-verbal clues. With covered with silver foil. The buildings have a modemail and online counselling, not everyone is scene represents the stoning of ern look. Built in 1219 by Passau’s able to put across their thoughts accurately,” St Stephen. The golden pulpit is prince-bishops as residence, it says another highlight from the 18th has played a significant part in After a great firePatel. in Puri agreesthe that in the case Due of psychiatric century. The central cupola, city’s history. to several 1662, the Italian disorders such as schizophrenia, an online flooded with light, has a depicchanges over the centuries, tomasters rebuilt treatment will have its limitations. But she retion of the Christian heaven day’s castle consists of Gothic, RePassau with a Chaula Patel, co-founder of cases. The her cliwith God the Father seated on naissance andmajority Baroqueofparts, its Baroqueceives flair few such onlinecounselling.in ents are those grappling with the throne, surrounded by the location above the depression city offeringora cancer-related anxieties and heavenly hosts. Here two angels panoramic view.who, in fact, find it difficult to step theinto home for help. dangle their feet out of the picWe outside then get a boat and charges for personal, phone or on- “For them, online is helpful,” says. ture andthe intosame the room. pass by the manyshe more churches line counselling, andpipes, the fee233 depends on each Sharma is confident that online With 17,974 organ stops and five and monasteries. The raindrops onand theoffline boat’s session’s Puri’s HealthEminds takes services can coexist different peopletohave individualduration. organs, St Stephen’s has the largest glass windows add aas strange character the acathedral commission per sheorgan declines to different needs and mindset. “Some people organ insession, Europe. but All five parts view. At the confluence, I see three distinctivereveal figure. The on her individwebsite need to meet personally. Some are not techcan be the played from thecharges main console, ly coloured rivers. vary ₹500 to ₹1,500 per 45-minute ses- comfortable. Foratsome communicauallyfrom or simultaneously, making for an acousThat evening the others, 600-year-old Heiligsion, depending on the experts chosen. tion is more complete eye contact, tical delight. Geist-Stiftsschenke, a with restaurant whichfacial was expression etc. They feel peronce an infirmary, as I better sip a only fine with rosé afrom Pooling sonal meeting,” everything he says. around looks magBishop’sexpertise Residence their vineyards, Interestingly, several of bishop these isexperts are nified While online including vs. offline my debate hascatno The new residence of the connected in the grandeur, grilled based outside India, offering consultations answers, it’s undoubtedly win-win for with the old residence and the cathedral. The clear fish and pine fritters with dollops of vanilla from such ascoat Malaysia, theThe US bold or Canahelp-seeker, who now can confide on her facadeplaces has bishop’s of arms. bal- the ice-cream. da. Allportals, of them the havecircular a licencebalustrade, to practise in In- own terms. cony both dia. of with our cast experts is screened, richly“Each decorated lead figures, reliefs, vijaya pratap is a Hyderabad-based travel writer and pratap documentary filmmaker interviewed multiple andgeometrical trained on rashmi and ornaments, take times, away the The unique mode of service offered by online counsellors necessitates a different kind of revenue model. Patel’s onlinecounselling.in charges a fixed sum from the companies using its services. For individuals, the charges are on hourly basis. Ethos
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Shades of history Passau marks the confluence of three rivers — Danube, Inn and Ilz shutterstock
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medium are driving this trend. A lot of people hesitate icturesque to consult local practitioners, they Bavaria takes me byaspleasmay be ant known to them. Moreover, appointsurprise. Watching blue skies, ments are difficult to get,” Puri says. crystal-clear lakes and passing “It is also not small easy to find qualified through medieval towns, Iand retrained counsellors inmorning. places that far‘town from ach Passau on a rainy It are is the the majorrivers’, cities,”located says Sharma. on three at the confluence of Singh, college theSneha Danube, Inn aand Ilz. student in Nagpur, knows this allumbrellas, too well. Her mother Gita, Armed with my guide Sonia anda homemaker, was taking medicaI set out on a walking tour.depression Passau is dominattion by the local psychiatrist. “It ed byprescribed large squares, romantic promenades, led to side-effects loss of bridges. appetite,The nausea winding lanes andlike majestic fine and tiredness. Duedistinctive to this myambience mother was redrizzle makes the all the luctant to continue using the medicine.” more alluring, lending the city a rare beauty. answers online, she Cathecame In Looking the heartfor of Passau rises the iconic across andits shared mother’s dral ofHealthEminds St Stephen’s, with threeher characterisstory. The onion-domed counsellor recommended tic green towers. After regular a great counselling sessions. hesitating initialfire in 1662, the Italian“After masters rebuilt Passau ly, myamother agreed soon used to and vidwith Baroque flair.and Close togot Austrian eo chatting. counsellor also provincial suggested Czech borders,The it was once a Roman exercises toruled overcome her negative thoughts. town, later by prince-bishops. It became Today, she city has in come a Bavarian 1803.out of her depression,” Singh says. Sonia throws light on the architecture, the building style of the Baroque era begun in late Young and troubled 16th-century Italy. It took the Roman vocabulaWhile people of all ages seekand psychological ry of Renaissance architecture used it in a counselling, young professionals in their late new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to 20s andthe 30striumph are found in Catholic larger numbers. express of the Church. “They have problems relationships, as The aristocracy also sawwith the dramatic style of lack of time is often an issue and they are baroque architecture and art as a means of unimable to address emotions. At the pressing visitors.their My own knowledge thus enworkplace, the issues revolve lackthe of hanced, I am now equipped toaround appreciate confidence, loss motitown better.deadline The walkpressures, takes me to theoffollowvation and so on,” says Patel. ing highlights: Another major segment seeking counselling services today is made Old Town Conjunction Point up of cancer patients, and theirbyfamilies. From The Oldsurvivors Town is dominated church spires diagnosis to treatment, findthe it hard to and monuments. Firstpatients we enter Jesuit deal with theMichael, side-effects and theback inability to church of St which dates to 1677. lead a normal Pune-based Prashanti CanReflecting earlylife. 18th-century architecture, the cer Careexterior Missioncontrasts is readying to alaunch online simple with rich interior counselling for them. “Twelve filled with pilasters, paintings andcounsellors large statuhave been trained so far,” says who is ases of angels. The barrel vault isPatel, decorated with sociated with the initiative. impressive stucco work, while the chapel ded-
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Sex in the sanctuary Parrots get lovey-dovey, cranes hop, skip and jump, the flamingos march to their own beat, and the alpha female painted snipe is on the prowl. The monsoon is here, the gates are shut and the mating season has begun
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he Sultanpur National Park, a bird sanctuary near Delhi hosting over 250 species, has been closed down for the monsoons, to give birds some ‘privacy’ during the breeding season, according to the authorities. So exactly what do birds get up to at this time of the year? We take a look at a cross-section of species and their love lives. Reader discretion is advised.
Ducks the Ravagers These guys are low-down mean and nasty and probably have developed their attitude towards gang and marital rape after observing us. (Most ducks are migratory but there are a handful of resident species.) What happens is truly appalling. Several hoodlum drakes will pile on top of the poor ducky in the water, squabbling, fighting and hammering her, sometimes even drowning her. Watch them at it and you think, boy, they really are only good for roasting to a crisp and dousing with orange sauce. But of course, as we’ve been repeatedly told, ‘boys will be boys’.
Parakeets the Great Romantics Their love-life, which commences in January, can best be described in Shakespearean terms: (Scene: Telephone wire, tree branch or balcony railings) Totabhai Romeo: (Perches next to Mithoo- Till Death Do Us Part Sarus Cranes Dark and delicious The rice is the perfect accompaniment to fish or meat-heavy shutterstock ben Juliet. Gives herdishes sidelong looks and shuf- These tall, grey, red-headed cranes are revered fles up close) May I roll mine eyes at thee and for their lifelong fidelity to each other, not a ogle thy beauteous breast and whisper sweet practice popular with most other species (innothings in thy delicate ear and cosy thus clos- cluding our own). It is said that if one partner er to thee than ever? dies, the other will starve itself to death in Mithooben Juliet (simpering): By all means, grief. But all is not what it seems and, my god! my love, I will not tell Mama! But pray, why have you seen their courtship! They’ll throw dost thou speakest thus, with thy beak full? their heads back, face the heavens, and trumTotabhai Romeo: ‘Tis full of love — and pap — pet their love to the world! They’ll pick up sweet berries masticated just for thee! But their skirts and hop, skip and jump high like na’er as sweet as thy rolling eye and loving Marilyn Monroe trying to control her skirt. countenance! But hark! I must look at thee Talk about PDA! The trouble is that it’s highly from thy other side to see if yon psittacula infectious and they can easily tempt you to do from there is greener! (Flutters around her the same on yoga day… especially if you beand perches on her other side) Forsooth! Thou long to the moral police or lunatic fringe. Not art hotter than red chilli peppers in the blis- a good idea if you are wearing baggy shorts. marketsun potential of ‘heritage crop’.me swoon! restored and social and familial bonds reroving cynics and naysayers wrong, tering from here and maketh Biswa Bangla, the West Bengal Gov- (Shuffles I encountered thea first paired. I relished theofblack rice and listened to right up black to herrice and for raises claw,time as if The Can-Can March the Candyfloss my guideoftranslating ernment’s recently set-up high-end offering several years ago in but a pretty Cambodian vil- Battalion a bouquet, is holding nothing.) Flamingos the moving speech of lage, aWhat few hours outside Phnom Penh. roses Dark When the villagers, and the sweet, comretail chain for Bengal products, is do- Alas! became of those wine-dark I first saw thissomehow performance, many years forting preparation — like soothing a rather good job. Brand Bengal at the that and glutinous, it tasted fer- ago, I filched for thee like froma very yon sweet, olive-eyed I couldn’t believe mysome eyesexotic, and should ing payesh payasam) mentedat rice I was in the country to have swish stores covers premium items from fab- damsel thepudding. Moti Bagh flyover traffic lights? felt very(kheer, honoured instead—of became rolling review a rural microfinance associated with healing anda ric to food. But for me, the enterprise deserves Did darkest dementia strike me down, or in an with laughter. There, on Sultanpur jheel was regeneration. kudos for placing on its shelves something I anguished programmemoment designed prodid to I consume them, I re- battalion of greater flamingoes (with one sermote group savings In flamingo Cambodia, blackmidst) rice have wanted for a very long time: local black member not! Oh, woe isamongst me! geant-major ‘lesser’ in their charmed me. But it was closer rice. Over the last few years I’ve been scouring some of its Juliet: poorest Mithooben No people. matter! Stop talking standing up very straight and tall, marching a few years later, in These communities high-end gourmet shops as well as village so muchwere and kiss me forsoothin like they do un- stiffly turning their heads in high perfect I encountered blackpast riceme, home which thewanton horrorsParis! mist-clad hillsides Shilhaats on road trips out of Kolkata in search of der thememories bridges ofof yon unison — ‘Eyesthe right! Eyes left! Seedhaofdekh! for the first time several long,me, that the grain about made aturn beblack rice. This dark rice — also known as pur- of (They the Pol Pot regime still cast — butyears French kiss passionately the ago They did a smart in amarched past their noxious of thing me. missing My second ple rice because it acquires a strong purple curtain mightshadow. come down before that) came The only was Cambodianand village, a back.liever encounter tint when cooked — is delicious. Moreover, it’s The shimmering emerald Colonel Bogey March. with the rice was at few hoursthe outside thewear house of courageous antipaddy fields surrounding the Pigeons super-food loaded with fibre and antiox- The Kabutarasutra by Doves and Now,and flamingos these short pink tutus Phnom Penh. Dark stilt-hut villages I visited were by activist Hasina idants, fights harmful cholesterol and may This erotic manual was written ancient it tasted and have ballerina legs; dark boomerglutinous, likeendless a trafficking once doves the terrible killing Kharbih. After an exhilarating even prevent certain types of cancer. rock for males onlyfields: (which isvery whysweet, the fermented ang bills and this gloriously snooty way of Even today threat and of aislongbut long day,(rather we regrouped at In ancient China, it was the forbidden rice species is sothe popular), followed devotedlooking down at the world like a camrice pudding beautiful home, for commoners because every precious har- ly buried is horriby allmine rockexploding doves today. The bottom-line is: el). And when aher battalion startsfamily marching theya traditional slant-roofed woodvested grain belonged exclusively to the no- do fyingly To crush the possiit — real. wherever, whenever, however. Touch perhaps bring to mind a militarised version of bles. My research showed that Bengal has a down bility — of itrebellion, Pol toPot’s en cottage, on a steep can be next a dhaba, a play- Swan Lake. Anyhow, stiflingsituated my laughter I saand as winding single carriageforces hadanother used fear and intimilong history of cultivating it too. Yet, some- ground, dove, in the forecourt of luted them smartly they marched because, dation to turn family members against way road. Soft, melodious stayed with us where down the line, the forbidden rice of Chi- Rashtrapati Bhavan during the guard of each hon- well, they were sort of also rain murmuring a little all evening, and it was turning in na had become the forgotten rice here. So, of our other, utterly destroying the social of malevolently ceremony, it doesn’t matter! Flufffabric yourself under their breathchilly. — andBut to be these communities. In village the cosy interiors of thecommando cottage, helped by a course, I was delighted to discover its availa- up andonce starttight-knit pirouetting and let it be known to taken down by 50-odd ballerinas fast-emptying bottle of Old Monk, wescurry were bility at Biswa Bangla. And even happier to one afterand village, heard same thing: the group all I(in thatthe gurgling baritone) that would be infra dig in extremis. But I did warm to and comfortable. savingsgod’s was not about financial health of home read articles in the local press that indicate you’re gift just to every female regardless check up on what the heck they were the community, but testimony trust being upHasina gotitbusy in they the kitchen and sooneach the the state government has woken up to the species and she must fall at yourtofeet. to. Well, seems were checking
In the black
A ‘heritage crop’ brought back to the shelves from the dead, Bengal’s variety of black rice lends itself beautifully to a medley of Eastern flavours
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Black rice to salad with prawns other out with a view selecting their life near water) and frenetic building activity andboy mango four) look commences as the famous vase-like nests take partners. Both and (serves girl flamingos much the same and take part equally in this shape woven out of grass. The charmers now Ingredients march, where they presumably assess each await the young ladies… And all hell breaks 1 cup cooked black rice other for posture, marching ability, snootin- loose when they arrive. Like hustlers, the boys 10-12 large prawns, deveined, heads ess, plumageremoved and other that make flutter around, shrieking loudly, ‘4BHK! Penthenthings gently poached in a a flamingo’s heart faster. Imagine thouse! Central air-conditioning! Jacuzzi! water beat bath containing salt, a what they’re murmuring while giving one another tablespoon of chopped spring onion, Golf course view! Blah-blah-blah!’ The ladies the beady eye:an inch piece of chopped ginger are cool chicks and will proceed on inspecripe the mangoes diced she think she tion. Badly finished residences, with no wash‘That chick,2who heck does 1 redthat chilli is, flouncing like inthinly such sliced a short skirt; ma- ing machine or microwave get the boot and For the dressing ma would throw a hissy fit! What a floozy!’ the charmer has a nervous breakdown. But if a 1/2 cup ‘That ass, who thesesame heck oil does lady finds a place she likes, she’ll tbsp of rice wine/white he think he2 generous is… Charles De settle on the special love seat wine vinegar Gaulle? Freaking banana-bill! (which looks like a chinstrap) be1 tbsp caster sugar (if you have Hey I heard that, side the builder and all will be mirin,did useyou thatcall andme reduce It the is sugar said that if one a floozy? Waittotill I tell bhaiyya — well. Or so you think. When she’s taste) partner dies, the he’ll sort you out! What a jerk!’ safe and snug on his eggs, the other tall grey redFishIssauce — start ‘Banana bill? that what youwith 1/2 two-timer starts building anothheaded crane will said? I heard teaspoon you too!’ then shake in more er residence for a mistress. Not starve itself to death drops if needed ‘Good! Banana-bill, bananaone, but maybe two or three, dein grief Thin batons of cucumber (1 small bill, banana-bill! Get used to it!’ pending on his skill and stamina one is enough) that have been ‘Oooh babe! When you say tha-30 minutes in a and charm, of course. The good steeped for about t…it turns mebath on!’of vinegar, salt and sugar wife and mistresses have no ‘Ooh, when1you look at me like (optional) knowledge of the perfidy. Aren’t sheet nori shredded that, it makes me feel like I’m the only flamin- soap operas made of such things? But thank1 Whisk together all ingredients go in the world!’ fully, there is some redress. cucumber andlifenori Flamingosexcept do tend to pair for and(ifboth using). Taste and adjust parents take care of the chicks. Alas, the chicks Amazons Ahoy! Painted Snipe seasonings. are (any flamingo mom and dad would and agree) The painted snipe is a striking water-bird clad 2 Stir in pickled cucumber excessively independent and jump out of in olive green, chestnut, black and white and torn nori. their mud cone nests as soon as they wears white spectacles and ‘rucksack’ straps 3 Pour over rice and use can fork and to form hellionensure gangs allwith the other rice is brats. evenly Alas, I over her shoulders. Yes, her shoulders, bedon’t know coated. whetherPlace anyon actual cause it’s Madame P Snipe who wears the platterpairing-off and prawns mangobut on the top. pants in this family. She’ll slap up other ladies took place atscatter Sultanpur thatand summer, 4 Shake some chilli flakesorover the to win her pale wuss of a husband, and then birds certainly didn’t nest-build breed andtosprigs of coriander. there, which ensemble is supposed happen immedi- make him build a nest, hatch her eggs and coldMarching or at room ately after theServe Can-can Dance. take care of the brood. In the meanwhile she’s temperature. Grainyconquests truth Black — riceno is loaded with fibre and antioxidants shutterstock off to make fresh sit-on-theBaya beware! Weavers the Crooks, Conmen eggs mom this one. and Charmers Inc Now you know why they don’t want you to table was groaning with local fare: there was ing, it’s black rice’s salad potential that I’m Weaverbirds are masterful architects and see what’s going on! bamboo shoot and ferns; local greens, pork now mining regularly. Perhaps because of its builders, but that’s not all… A flock of bacheauthor and environmentalist and chicken; an array of pickles — vegetarian eastern roots, I find that the seasonings from lor weavers arrives at a suitable site (usually ranjit lal is an and meat-based; and bowls of piquant sauces the store cupboards of Japan, Korea, and Thaiand pastes. Each preparation was unique, the land have an easy affinity with the grains — the cooking light and done with the freshest in- subtly sweet wine notes of mirin, the punchy gredients and subtle use of herbs and spices. sharpness of wasabi, the complex umami of And at the centre of the table was a huge plat- miso, the fermented accents of rice wine vineter of black rice from a local farm, the deep gar, the nutty flavour of toasted sesame oil, the purple-black grains filling the air with an ear- marine richness of dried seaweed, the punthy fragrance that at once made us realise how gency of quality fish sauce, the sweet-sharp hungry we were. crunch of pickled cucumber. That night I tried the rice with Cooking the rice is easy: you everything on the table, and just cover the amount you need while each preparation was dewith two inches of water and lectable in itself, the rice enthen let the water simmer off unhanced every dish. It was the til the grains are al-dente. It’s imAs for the dressing, perfect resilient base for the portant to keep a check on the just go where your meat curries; a delicate accompawater level and occasionally stir creativity and taste niment to the greens; eaten take you. A miso and the rice so that there’s always plain, seasoned with the pastes some liquid till cooking is commirin base is good; and pickles, its nutty scent plete. Once done, fluff out the or rice wine and seemed to add another dimenrice and let it cool. Just rememcastor sugar for sion to the notes playing out on ber that you should prepare your a cleaner, sweetthe palate. salad before the rice is completesour hit After that amazing meal, I ly cold, so that it really absorbs couldn’t wait to experiment with the flavours of the dressing. it in my kitchen. But back home As for the dressing, just go in Kolkata I discovered that it was where your creativity and taste virtually impossible to source. take you. A miso and mirin base is good; or rice Till now that is! And with a ready supply at wine and caster sugar for a cleaner, sweet-sour hand, I’ve been happily tinkering with this hit. Throw in slivered red chilli for colour and wonder grain. I find the Bengal variety very scented heat; toasted sesame seeds speckle similar to the Meghalaya one in texture, but the black grains prettily while adding nutty with a more floral than nutty character. I’ve notes; and if you can bear to steal a single used it successfully to accompany light coco- sheet of precious nori from your sushi kit, nut-based fish and prawn curries (if you use shredding the seaweed into a mirin-white vinlemongrass or gondhoraj lime in these prepa- egar dressing will give it delectable ozone rations, the combination is outstanding); it notes. As for the main ingredients, prawns forms a voluptuous bed for feisty chilli pork; and squid are the absolute winners. But tofu and pairs beautifully with crunchy bamboo works really well too, as do thin strips of roast shoot that’s been lightly sautéed in salt, tur- chicken, duck or pork. meric and red chilli. But with temperature and humidity spik- arundhati ray is a Kolkata-based food writer
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Foretaste of grass In the warm-up to Unequal footing (Clockwise from top) An RTI filed by a former student showed that a majority of the students and faculty at IIT-Madras, in Wimbledon, Roger Chennai, belonged to forward castes m karunakaran; a placard-carrying SFI activist in Delhi protests against the ban on Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle Federer defeated at IIT-Madras pti; police stand watch outside the institute during an agitation by members of the Opposition DMK party lisbun kumar Andreas Seppi to claim the Gerry Weber Open title in Halle, Germany ap/martin
Joint entrance? Roger that
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The recent controversy at IIT-Madras exposed, once again, the bumpy caste dynamics in premier Given hiseducational ability to hitinstitutes an ace just when he is in a tight spot, Federer seems more than likely to lift the Wimbledon trophy
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ince 2004, there have been 64 suicides at the 16 Indian Institutes of Technolo“If you can meet Triumph Di-least gy (IIT). Whilewith certainly notand all, at saster, andoftreat two imposters a few thesethose deaths have been attrijusttothe same…” —discrimination. Rudyard Kipling buted caste-based Earlier this year, the IITs and Indian Instihe line fromwere Kipling’s poem If, intutes of Management advised scribed canteens above theforentrance to have separate vege- to the Centre Court, sums up tarian andWimbledon non-vegetarian students. the spirit the and championship, inIIT-Delhi went a stepof ahead disaldeed all sport. lowedofnon-vegetarian food on the At the for All aEngland Lawn Tennis and Croquet campus brief period. Club nearinLondon, players It is(AELTC), known that 2006, the IIT-Ma-consider participation in the annual dras administration offeredtournament support itself an achievement, a win herememis the crownto the Youth for while Equality (YFE) ing in the the world of tennis. Only bersglory protesting introduction of 27a Grand Slam champion can round this off with victories at the other majors — the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open — within a calendar year. An elusive feat, so far managed by only five in the history of the sport: Don Budge (1938), Maureen Connolly (1953), Rod Laver (1962 and 1969), Margaret Smith Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988). Laver had achieved the distinction both as an amateur and as a professional. The four Grand Slam championships have become tougher over the years because the differences in their surfaces (slow, mediumfast and fast) call for different skills; in the distant past, in contrast, grass was the most common surface in many countries. The growing emphasis on the game’s entertainment value, in the form of prolonged rallies, has necessitated a slowing down of all surfaces in recent years. The clay courts at French Open are considered the slowest and the grass at Wimbledon the fastest. While clay courts encourage baseline play, serve-and-volley is favoured on grass. John
per cent reservation for Other Backward Class- petitioners in a PIL challenging the governes (OBCs). The late PV Indiresan, a former di- ment’s decision to implement the reservarector of Boris IIT-Madras, was Pete one Sampras of the chief thatthe year. McEnroe, Becker and used tions of which Queen’s Club in London (AEGON According to a survey conducted at IIT-Bomto win on short points of three or four shots. Championships) and Halle, Germany (Gerry in Championships) 2013, 56 per cent attract of the afirst-year However, many experts and players contend bay Weber majoritystuof belonging toand, a ‘reserved’ category that the Wimbledon courts are not as fast as dents the leading players in turn, offer a cluefelt to discrimination did exist in the institute. they once were. Maria Sharapova has said: that the likely winner at Wimbledon. On 22 this IIT-Madras derecog“When I look back to when I won here in 2004, AndyMay Murray wonyear, in London and Roger FeAmbedkar Periyar Study it was much faster than it is now.” From the na- nised derer inthe Halle. Seeing their recent game,Circle they its campus to after receiving a commuture of the grass to the weight of the ball, (APSC) are myonfavourites win at Wimbledon. from the Ministry ofin Human Resources there is speculation that things have been niqué Watching Federer at Halle the final against whichthat in turn hadmasacttweaked to slow down the game, although Development Andreas Seppi,(MHRD), it was evident the old ed on an anonymous complaint. head grounds man Eddie Seater was back in form. Jimmy ConThe cited reason: organising meetings ward denies it. In recent years, nors once said: “In an eraand of issuing pamphlets “spread game telecasts carry inserts of specialists,that you’re either hatred a clay against the present dispensation and its polithe number of shots in a rally, court specialist, a grass court species”. It is another matter Central Vigisomething that I had never seen cialist, or a that hardthe court specialIt was evident that lance (CVC)Roger had Federer.” specifically before in more than 50 years of ist… or you’re the old master wasCommission instructed all Iinstitutions to never actabilon following the Grand Slams. am always amazed by his back in form anonymous letters. Until last year, the transition ity to hit an ace just when he is in After several twists andSeppi turns, the group from clay at Roland Garros to a tight spot. missed three was re-recognised June 7. grass at Wimbledon happened breakon points in the first set, inwith just two weeks in between. cluding two set points, which Fethedefended status quowith two successive aces. That left players with too little time to prepare Not derer when wetoformed a year ago, they (IIT-M for a different surface and too few back-to- “Even Murray swept a record-equalling fourth tithe idea. back victories: only six players, in fact, had this administration) tle at the Queen’sdidn’t Club bylike defeating KevinThey Anto remove the names distinction — Rene Lacoste (1925), Fred Perry wanted derson. usNovak Djokovic, theof Ambedkar defending Periyar,”seems says Akhil Bharathan, a foun(1935), Budge Patty (1950), Bjorn Borg (1978, and champion, to have slowed 23, down. On APSC, his Mas1979 and 1980), Rafael Nadal (2008/ 2010) and der-member the women’s of side I canwho betisonpursuing Serena Williams ter’s in development Roger Federer (2010). earning the title. She studies. won both the Australian “While it was clear thatthis they took action Nadal once said that because of the short in- Open and the French Open year, following the letter MHRD, manageterval between the two Grand Slams, he could based her USonOpen win from last year. Thethedefending later said it wasisbecause we had violated not resist the tendency to slide on grass at ment champion Kvitova reportedly grappling for independent student bodWimbledon, after having done that on clay at the withguidelines health problems. Other potential conten(but) as what about other groups such as Roland Garros over several days, leading to er- ies… ders such Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic Circle Vande rors. Taking note of these issues, Wimbledon the and Vivekananda Li Na do not Study seem to haveor thethe strength group? don’t the rules apply to has delayed the commencement by a week Mataram that Serena amplyWhy displayed in her recent outthem also?” Incidentally, the Vivekananda from this year. ings. Her serves are as devastating as ever. During the intervening three-week period, Study Circle has its own page on the IIT-M webseshan is an economic consultant and tennis fan site, a provision that has now been promised there are six warm-up tournaments on grass, a
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Captain’s classes Vijayakanth’s yoga session goes viral
G Joining forces Protestors in Delhi and (bottom) Bengaluru express solidarity with members of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle in IIT-Madras after it was de-recognised recently sandeep saxena/ k murali kumar
Skinny catastrophe
ot it. Anu...Anulom...sorry, what was it again? Okay...Anulom-Vilom. I know, of course. I start my day with 108 padmasanas. Whatever that means! Seriously, do you think I could stay away from the yoga bandwagon. I have a party to fend for. Did you see my immaculate white yoga-wear and the vibhuti to match? Back to Anulom-Vilom. Press the left nostril with left thumb. Wait! What should I do with the ring and little finger? Or is it the point and middle finger? God, am I ever going to get this right? Gosh, the cameras are on me. I don’t want a simple yoga mess-up to go viral. Hey neighbour, why are you nudging me? Oh, you are telling me to do it with my right hand. Never mind, I’m Captain!
to APSC as well. The Dean of Students, Sivakumar M Srinivasan had reportedly asked APSC members to remove the names of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar and Dravidian leader Periyar EV Ramasamy from the organisation’s title. He also asked them to desist from any activities that “would those affiliated with the APSC, the re-recognigo against the grain of the institution”. etting into a size 32 skinny is more like a tion is a battle won, although what will follow As the issue played out on television screens morning workout? Let go. Things could remains unclear. “We see the re-recognition as and was debated in newsrooms, the IIT manbe much worse. Like getting into a skinny the result of protests by students and progresagement seemed to realise that it had bitten and then crawling on the streets, crying for sive forces across the country. We plan to conoff more than it could chew. APSC study circles help. That’s what happened to a 35-year-old tinue our work, conduct more lectures and rapidly mushroomed in other IITs and supergranny from Hungary is instituseeking to set a world record this ‘fashion victim’ in Adelaide. She squatted the other events along the same lines as we used tions across the country. weekend by playing more games of simultaneous chess than whole day in leg-hugging denims cleaning a to,” says Bharathan. He adds, “How exactly it Akhil Bharathan, a founder-member Finally, an attempt to douse controanyoneinelse. The current recordthe holder is Cuban chess grandmaster relative’s cupboard. The skinny, meanwhile, will play out for us individual students associof Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle versy before new academic yearBriggita began, the Jose Raulthe Capablanca. Granny Sinka has played over 13,000 smothered her legs and cut off blood supply. ated with APSC, I’m not really sure… we’ll have management re-recognisedchess the group. Milind(mostly against schoolchilgames of simultaneous in Hungary Numb, the woman thought a walk might do to wait and see.” Brahme, professor humanities dren)associate and is now going at forthe the kill — the remaining few hundred her good. She collapsed in the park. Unable to only 32 students out of 1,655 belonged to SC Voices from the Right, too, contend that the andgames socialneeded sciences wastotal to department, overtake the who current ofST13,545. Popularly get back on her feet, she crawled across the and groups. issue was blown out of proportion. Aravindan guiding theasgroup wassupergran officially recogknown Auntyearlier, Bici, the walks kilometres while moving road and hailed a cab. At the hospital, they Sudarsan had also asked for the caste and Neelakandan, consulting editor of Swarajya nised as one its faculty advisor. “I’m thinking from chessboard to another. Doctorsofadvised her to take it easy, among faculty mem- magazine, a self-proclaimed votary of a libersnipped off her skinny and freed her legs. community break-up calling together andwalking decide stick andthe herstudents responseback was to throw the away it kept Last heard, the legs took four days to recover. bers andbecause here too, unsurprisingly, the forward al, centre-right point of view, argues that the on the kindover of programmes andon activities theyGoodcastes falling when she leant the tables. luck, dominate. Aunty Bici!Of the 536 faculty members, APSC controversy was more hype than subwould like to take forward in the new academ- 86.57 per cent belongs to the general category. stance. “It is a fabricated incident; there was ic year,” says Brahme. “The issues they raise Only 13 members of the faculty belong to the no action taken against free speech,” he says. “Naming the group Ambedkar-Periyar is as are matters that should be discussed openly. SC or ST communities. Caste in India is an issue you cannot ignore “I filed the RTI out of curiosity. My 1,500-odd bad as calling a group Gandhi-Godse. There even 67 years after Independence. It works friends on Facebook discuss many issues and should be a debate to tell people they don’t have a right to use this name. in different ways and it’s important to reservation inevitably comes How can they associate Ambedbring it out in the open, be willing to decon- up,” says Sudarsan, who has also kar, a conservative, liberal demostruct ourselves.” worked as a project assistant at crat, who was also a fierce “We have resolved the issue satisfactorily. I IIT after completing his five-year When most of the nationalist, with EV Ramasamy, don’t think there should be any future prob- course in economics. “Most peofaculty is also upper an anti-Indian, Dravidian leader? lems,” says Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, di- ple tend to have a narrow view. caste, the students There’s discrimination in their rector, IIT-M. They see reservation as a threat need a protective name itself.” to meritocracy. So I wanted to body to feel safe Viduthalai Rajendran, general Casting questions get my hands on some concrete secretary of the Dravidar ViduthUnder a Right to Informa- data, and hence filed the RTIs,” he Chevy is back from alai Kazhagam, sees the the incident tion (RTI) petition filed by he says. Levy a basketful of instil as yet with another attempt to former IIT-M student Sudarsan believes the APSC emojis.monopoly. And the “Without pictography reservaArun Sudarsan, it was controversy could have been handled better an upper-caste sent the automobile into from SC/ST andworld OBC communifound that from by the institute. “In IITs, when it comes to stu- tions, students a tizzy. Ahead thein launch of itsWhen even get aoffoot the door. 2008 to 2015, out of dent affairs, I have noticed that things are ties cannot American compathe Cruze, facultythe is also upper caste, the stu2,483 PhD stu- done quite informally. That’s why there was most ofnew has asent out a press release need protective body to feelwith safe,” he dents, only 142 confusion about the guidelines. While I won’t dentsny no“How words, emojis. To quote the canonly an IIT graduate be only techniwere from the say there’s systemic discrimination, there is a says. he world might still be worrying about what by human and household waste, the UP state motor giant,without ‘words alone can’tofdescribe skilled, any kind social underscheduled castes and bias towards upper-caste values. The only way cally to do when we run out of petrol and diesel, road transport corporation decided it wouldforward get new 2016 Cruze’. standing? It’sChevrolet not wrong to Many raise athese nine from scheduled is to have open debates on these is- the but the Uttar Pradesh government is not. It is on the crap-wagon too and is planning use Unfortunately, APSC doesn’t have pop- grey cell across world wasour jogged in questions. We’rethe not saying viewpoint is tribes. Of the remain- to sues. planning to source buses that run on a fuel all these buses on itsder, intra-city across dis- support on campus. Most students, I trying toright decipher code — replete the only one, allthe we’re saying is that there 1,592 routes belonged to 75 ular too easily available in the country — poo. As soon tricts. We predict a general win-wincategory — more (forpoo in think, the tend to see this controversy as a dent to with happy face, for heart, car,school plus sign, gas should be room every of thought.” the as they heard the UK is introducing buses fuelled bus, less on theward streets. pump, right arrow and even basketball! castes) and 740 to the the institution’s image.” OBC. In the MS programmes, Meanwhile, for students at IIT-M, especially sibi arasu is a Chennai-based journalist
Skinny denims land woman in hospital
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in-faq by joy bhattacharjya
H
elen Keller was born on this day 135 years ago. This quiz is about overcoming odds.
Against all odds
here,there & elsewhere
1
Bruce Willis, Marilyn Monroe, Emily Blunt, James Stewart, Julia Roberts, Samuel L Jackson and Rowan Atkinson are celebrities who overcame this affliction. What was the affliction?
Forbidden love F
or two days, perfect peace reigns in the building. Which is wonderful. Then on the third day, I hear a faint scratching at my front door. I open it to find Jiggs wilting on the doorstep all teary-eyed and desperate. I let him in. “What’s the matter?” I ask. “Mrs Manju,” he whispers, “I have done a bad thing.” “Only one?” is what I want to ask, but restrain myself and offer tea instead. “Miss Suzie” — that’s DingDong’s real name — “is a wonderful lady,” says Jiggs. “Really. She is a goddess. She has….” “Okay, okay — enough!” I say. “Just tell me what the problem is.” He cannot meet my eyes. “I ... I ...” he begins, before giving up and burying his face in his hands. “I can’t say it. It’s too bad. It’s horrible. I will kill myself.” I offer him one of his own laddoos while saying, in what I hope is a kind voice, “What, are you crazy? You’re a vegetarian! You can’t kill anything, not even yourself!” And definitely not on MY doorstep. He looks up, his lips quivering. “But Miss Suzie says she doesn’t like vegetarians. So if I want to stay in her house, I must eat meat. So ... so ...” He buries his face in his hands once more. “What did you eat?” I ask, instantly regretting the question because of potential
cornerstone
x-rated answers. “Nothing,” he says. “But I made a god-promise. So now I MUST DO it. Or she will throw me out of her house.” In other words: solve my girlfriend’s heartless hatred of herbivores or I’ll move in with you. Right then, Bins returns home in high good spirits. “See!” he says, waving papers in the air. “I have got my taxilicence!” Then he registers the pall of gloom hanging over the room. I explain the situation. “Poof!” he says. “No problem. I will go speak to DingDo -- uh -- Suzie.” He gallops out. I have no idea
what his plan is so I just shrug and glance at Jiggs. He’s looking at my studio with the hungry eyes of a soonto-be-resident. Before I can re-direct his attention, Bins waltzes in once more, with DingDong in tow. She’s dressed in her usual assortment of straps and nothing, with high-fashion stilts on her feet. “Jiggsie honey!” she yodels, holding out both arms, “Why didn’t you TELL me? OF COURSE I won’t force you to eat meat! I’m not that kind of girl!” Whereupon Jiggs leaps up, flies across the room and splashes down into a totally non-vegetarian embrace right there in the hallway. “Oi, oi,” says Bins as he shoos them out. “You’ll set off the fire-alarms!” I’m so impressed. “What did you tell DingDong?” I ask. He says, “Jiggs talks about culture, caste purity and tradition so DingDong throws him out. That’s ancient mumbo-jumbo, makes no sense. But when I say to her, Jiggs has a FOOD ALLERGY, ah! THAT she understands, THAT she respects. Same old mumbo, but served up as jumbo.” He taps his forehead. “These humans are crazy, huh?” manjula padmanabhan, author and artist, writes of her life in the fictional town of Elsewhere, US, in this weekly column
2
The 20th of 22 siblings, she contracted infantile polio and wore braces till she was nine. Eleven years later, she became the first woman to win three athletics gold medals in a single Olympics. Name this sportswoman.
3
Karoly Takacs was a well-known Hungarian shooter before World War II. He came into his own in the 1948 London Olympics winning two medals for rapid-fire pistol shooting. Why is his achievement considered unique?
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On May 7, 1824, what did contralto Caroline Unger do at a premiere at the Theater am Karntnertor, Vienna, that made musical history? This Hindi film is in the Guinness Book of World Records for taking the longest time to make. Two heroes and the director passed away before an incomplete version came out in 1986, 23 years after production began. Name the film and the director.
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On September 12, 1897, 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikh regiment defended an army post against 10,000 hostile tribesmen before being overwhelmed. All 21 died, but their stand allowed reinforcements to reach the next fort, which held out. Name the battle or the modern-day country in which this stand took place.
7
In an ESPN documentary released in 2010, Alcides Ghiggia made this statement, “The ___________ has been silenced by three people, the Pope, Frank Sinatra and me.” Fill in the blank and tell us Ghiggia’s claim to fame.
8
At the US Open 1992, a 39-year-old former champion came back from two sets down, 3-0 and 0-40 down in the third to beat a player 100 ranks above him. Name the player who came back to win the match and also the opponent.
9
Published in 1974, this book is an American classic and has sold over five million copies. But it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being rejected by 121 publishers before being printed by William Morrow & Co. Name the book.
10
Which billion dollar corporation was formed on the basis of a paper submitted in Yale in the late 1960s which the examiner found too impractical and gave a ‘C’? Answers 1. They all stuttered 2. Wilma Rudolph, nicknamed ‘The Black Gazelle’ by Italians and ‘The Black Pearl’ by the French. She won the 100, 200 and 4x100 metres relay in the 1960 Rome Olympics 3. He was a right-handed shooter before the war. After his right hand was seriously injured in a grenade accident in 1938, he switched hands and won both medals as a left-handed shooter 4. She turned Beethoven so he could see the audience cheer and applaud. The ‘Ninth Symphony’ was being premiered and Beethoven was completely deaf at this point 5. Love and God, originally directed by K Asif. Guru Dutt and Sanjeev Kumar passed away and the film was released on the request of Asif’s widow, Akhtar 6. The Battle of Saragarhi, which is in Pakistan 7. Maracana, the stadium in Rio de Janeiro, where Uruguay shocked Brazil to win the World Cup in 1950. Ghiggia scored the winning goal 8. Jimmy Connors against Patrick McEnroe 9. Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig 10. Fred Smith’s Federal Express
joy bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup t@joybhattacharj
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