GOING A-STRAY When it comes to animals in our cities, we are never sure whether we want to pet them or stone them p2 saturday, september 5, 2015
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As Millennials, our lives might be embedded in the online world. But a true digital native lives with one foot outside of the technological p10
CURATING THE PAST Starting a museum means unearthing memories and histories, responsibly p9
BREAKING WALLS Author Amitava Kumar on classism in Delhi and the language of India’s streets p18
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Man vs. beast Once a cheater… BEYOND THE FIELD
Humans are benightedly bipolar when it comes to animals in their cities. They love them, Usain Bolt’s triumph last week may as ablame relief, the butanimals athleticsfor they hate them. Theyover feedJustin them,Gatlin they throw bricks athave them.come Can we continues to be and mired in murk and dirt being confused freaking out?
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ast week at the IAAF World Championships, held at the Bird’s stadium n kindergarten we’ve all Nest nodded our in Beijing, Usain Bolt performed his heads and virtuously chanted, ‘Kutta wanow familiar routine. He is completed fadar jaanwar hain — the dog a faithful the sprint treble. Hethen wonlater, both we thecome 100- and animal’. And all the un200-m dash,our andrugged he anchored his country Jadone when hero (usually in a Hinmaica a resounding 4x100-m di film)tosnarls, ‘die like victory a dog!’;in or,the if we’re very relay. To many read whothose see Bolt as the supreme sophisticated, words from Shakesathlete, this was hardly surprising. Butmoon, as aspeare: ‘I’d rather be a dog, and bay the tounding it might seem, Bolt entered these than suchas a Roman!’ events with a spectre of doubt looming over Wacko! When it comes to animals we are behis ability to win gold. In fact, in at least onethe of nightedly bipolar — and of course, blame these events — they the 100-m sprint — Bolt wasn’t animals when freak out. Especially when even projected towith win.us America’s Gatlin, they share space in cities.Justin Even though who wasthem 0.14 over seconds faster than Boltand in the we run in their sanctuaries naheats, and who came into the finals on the tional parks as well. back of acities 28-race unbeaten streak, began the Most have large populations ofasstray overwhelming dogs, roamingbookmaker’s the streets, favourite. cleaning up garSo, when Bolt crossed the line a mere colo0.01 bage and, when they adopt residential seconds nies ahead of Gatlin, therenicely), was much (and are treated servefor as his fans to besecurity. thrilledProblems about. Their joy doubled arise when they when Bolt repeated in the race. run the in act, packs — 200-m a privilege This time, he granted left Gatlin his onlycompletely to bands ofinferal wake, and sped awaylouts fromlounging the entire pack young about in with electrifying grace. As theparks, Jamaican galstreet corners, outside loped to glory, ecstasy delight weren’t collegesand and schools and the anonly feelings among athletics fans. There was also a sense of profound relief. “He’s saved his title, he’s saved his reputation, he may have even saved his sport,” the former world champion Steve Cram said in commentary for the BBC, of Bolt, as he pipped Gatlin in the 100-m dash. Had Gatlin won, as Cram was alluding to, the world of athletics would have been left smeared by an irredeemable loss of integrity. Although Gatlin is incensed at being referred to as a “two-times cheat,” it is a matter of fact that he has twice been disqualified for consuming prohibited substances. In 2001, Gatlin was banned for two years after he tested positive for a banned amphetamine. But the sanction was reduced after he
explained how the substance had purportedly as the president of the International Associmade his way into his bloodstream through cient monuments, catcalling and leering at ation (IAAF), expressed tail orofgoAthletic for theFederations jugular? If it’s a dude be premedication that was meant to treat an atten- apared (female) prey. similar at Gatlin’s “I’m for uneasiness a brick to come flying,success. if a dudette, tion deficit In 2006, Who saiddisorder. dogs could do thatGatlin too? accepted hardly going to sit here given I’ve probably something to—eat — oreverything a shriek. With an But eight-year after proscribed look at ban it from thethe dogs’ point of steroid view. In said — and sayjust that I’msay: anything other children, you can’t anything canthan haptestosterone had been have exogevery city there’ll be a found sectionto(usually very queasy at the ofand athletes thatthem; have pen. Better jointhought the pack run with enously made way into histhat body. Gatlin’s ex- served bans for small) of theitspopulation it’sserious safer. infringement going on planation, on this occasion, was particularly to win championship will serve them dal-roti, idli-dotitles,” Coe said,happen before Yes, terrible things novel: his massage sa three times a day,therapist, take themhe to claimed, had the event began in Beijing.Dogs The Brit, is an sometimes. havewho attacked rubbed a cream with and the spaysubstance on his Olympic goldbabies the vet for injections medallist mustdumps certainleft himself, on garbage — body, without his knowledge. As it happened, ing (hey, hey, wait a minute, who ly are be relieved at Bolt’s success. Butworse what than was truly terrible! Much The monkeys not an arbitration panel really needs that eh?),reduced give them forthat instance, during the the fact some poor benightgoing to go back into telling, Gatlin’s just four basically years, blanketsban andtobaskets… 100-m final was that four of the ed mother has dumped (or been the forests anytime in view of his supposed coop- a give them a good (as against athletes competing foringold forced to dump) her baby the soon… would you — nine eration with thelook US Anti-Dopdog’s) life. Just at all the fat previously been suspended garbage? What does that sayfor of if you were given a had ing lalaAgency. dogs strewn about in Delhi’s the drugs. human condition? (Which, Four of the nine Green card and a taking More Khan recent Market tests of Gatlin ‘posh’ — they athletes Exacerbating theits lack of reliabiliany dog worth wag, can allecompeting high-sugar diet? have haven’tapparently done a strokerevealed of work in ty in athletics is a new report by the viate by furiously licking a face for gold had nothing untoward. But his extheir lives! Just like… Theand Sunday Times, its which chronicles wagging tail…) Yet, for previously been traordinary feats in the pastthe On the other hand there’s what it terms an “extraordinary exthese and lesser crimes, ‘off with suspended few years,who given earlier majority, willhis stone, kick, tent of cheating” athletes in the their heads’ weby cry, let them die doping and beatbans, themhave — andcreated proudlyaput their acts on like dogs! last decade. According to the rebelief thatSo the drugsa good he took Facebook. what’s dog gotta do when port, even which is based leaked files Till recently, the armedon forces quietly during the formative phase of he or she sees a stranger approach? Is this ‘put down’from the IAAF’s database, 146 them medthe animals that had served his career are to positively dude going tocontinuing bash my brains out withimpact a brick als, including 55 golds, endurance events — loyally all their lives: in what could be more his performance. In theand last rice? two years, justmy as from or give me brain curry Do I wag 800-m to the marathon — atWe’re the shameful andraces unchivalrous than that? other athletes have become slower, Gatlin, Olympics and world championships between who is in his thirties, has produced remarka- 2001 and 2012 were secured by athletes whose ble timings. Had there been no veneer of tests exposed suspicious results. cheating surrounding Gatlin’s career, his curToday, perhaps there’s little that the IAAF rent feats would have been a cause to hail him can do to reverse its previous tolerance of reas a great champion. But any trust that existed peat offenders, and its inability to clean athlethas now completely dissipated. ics comprehensively of its murk and dirt. But, “It shows one of two things: either he’s still as Bolt’s rivalry with Gatlin has shown, a failtaking performance-enhancing drugs to get ure to act decisively against those found guilty the best out of him at his advanced age, or the of doping can deeply damage the sport. Come ones he did take are still doing a fantastic job,” the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next year, we Dai Greene, a former British 400-m hurdles will all still be sailing in the same boat, hoping world champion, told the BBC’s Tom Fordyce Bolt can deliver to us a moral victory, a defeat late last year. “Because there is no way he can of Gatlin. still be running that well at this late point in suhrith parthasarathy is a Chennai-based lawyer his career.” Sebastian Coe, who recently assumed office and writer t@suhrith
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Dirt tracks Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (third from left) sped away from the entire pack, including America’s Justin Gatlin (in red), winning the gold in the final of the men’s 200-m at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing afp photo/pedro ugarte
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not alone in this bipolar behaviour: the ‘advanced’ countries of the West (shining with goodness and light) have quiet policies of ‘euthanasia’: strays are rounded up, kept for a stipulated period and, if no one shows up to claim or adopt them, quietly put down. (In Japan pet dogs can even have their voice boxes removed if they bark too much: nice; if we could only do the same to… naming no names!) Ah, then, but out in the West they’re barbarians and we’re up there on the moral high ground, spouting ‘ahimsa’ to one and all, aren’t we? Simians in the corridors Monkeys get different treatment because they have — like most Delhizens claim to have — high-up connections and immunity from prosecution. So in parks and gardens, pious citizens chant ‘aao-aao-aao’ and throw papayapomegranate-boondi laddoo-and-banana parties for them — especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays. (I was once brained by a flying banana!) In return the monkeys break and enter, trash fridges, rip off rear-view mirrors on cars, steal and model scandalous underwear in full public view, and gang up and bounce threateningly towards you if denied these privileges. (Beware, their canines are two inches long and have never been cleaned.) In Mathura (of all places) I was warned to take off my spectacles, put away my mobile and wallet, and have my wits about me — as it was a monkey-mugger’s paradise. And yes, all the largesse that is bestowed is not out of love for the beasts — it’s um… bribery for favours with the higher powers. Sweet. Monkeys live in large groups with clearly demarcated territories and, believe me, you do not want to be caught in the middle when
one group decides to invade the territory of your drawing room, how would you react? Cows, of course, are sacrosanct. And really, another. They attack like the hordes of Genghis Khan. The Northern Ridge, where I walk, is they (and bullocks) deserve respect: they sit teeming with them (seven groups, according there sloe-eyed in the middle of the mayhem to one researcher’s study) and you have to be with yogic calm, meditatively chewing the very careful not to trip on a monkey’s tail as cud (or is it gutka?), while we screech, judder, you walk past, as they’ll sit at the edge of the and blast our horns, and behave like monkeysnarrow pathways merging with the rocks, on-crack all around them. No wonder foreigners go gaga over them — it helps lower their their tails carelessly lying across. But yes, something must be done about the blood pressure. We, alas, never seem to get the message: that there’s really no ‘monkey menace’, so we set a need for apoplexy behind the monkey to scare a monkey. And wheel because the only thing the langurs (the scarers) and the you’re likely to get out of it is a rhesus macaques (the scarees) We build highways coronary aneurysm or windhave worked it out beautifully: through the ancient screen in your face. When langur dada does his migratory routes of rounds, the rhesus duck. When And now they say a parrot has elephants and then he’s gone, it’s back to business been put behind bars for using complain when the as usual. These guys are not gofoul language — in dulcet-voiced pachyderms turn to ing to go back into the forests Haryana! I really wonder what booze and go berserk the cops making the arrest said to anytime soon… would you — if you were given a Green card and it… ‘Darling haram-saale, ulloo ke paththe, anything you say will be a high-sugar diet? taken down and used as evidence Apparently, a long time ago there was an attempt to take them back into against you, but, chi-chi you really musn’t use the wilds by train: the monkeys took the next such words… achche bachhe aise nahin bolte — train back to the city. Perhaps, we need to rig- good children don’t say such things!’ And then the cuffs were snapped on. orously practise some of the immigration policies followed by certain countries to deal ranjit lal is an author, environmentalist and with this problem. And now, even leopards are taking to the birdwatcher suburbs and eating our dogs: simply because we’ve built our ‘be-one-with-nature’ multistoreyed housing developments in their hunting grounds and they see no reason to move out. We build highways or tea gardens or coffee plantations through the ancient migratory routes of elephants and then complain when the pachyderms turn to booze and go berserk. If someone decided to plant rice in
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A nursery for leaders Over the last 17 years, Kerala’s Kudumbashree programme has helped women in its villages realise their political dreams SPIRITUAL SWEAT
Life’s like that...
Sheela Tilakan, 37, who had started out years ago as a member of the Priyam NHG, is now overseeing the planned growth of several villages in Mattathur panchayat, as the Chairperson of the Panchayat Development Committee. “The Kudumbashree programme is not just helping women become self-sufficient financially through its micro-credit and micro-enterprise wings but has also become a medium for discovering and unleashing women’s collective strength and using it effectively at the household, community, social and political levels,” she says . “Over the last 17 years, the Kudumbashree network has surely become a force to reckon with. It catapults women to the PRIs (panchayati raj institutions), brings their particular needs to the attention of the local government bodies and plays an important shatbhi basu role in the implementation of government programmes. All this aids in development acshutterstock/evgeny karandaev/ tivities ranging from community resource management, enterprise development, agrihile I have written a few mis- played a gigantic role) I ended up in what was culture, and so on,” explains Ratnam ArvinFlaming57, Lamborghini sives already, it was brought popularly known as the ‘Dadar catering col- dakshan, CDS chairperson, Mattathur I must’ve who madetransformed a zillion of into a dynamic to my notice recently that I lege’. I sailed through the first year with indif- panchayat, these. Butshe only this Kudumbashree instant did didn’t really introduce myself ference. By the second year my interest in leader after joined some 15 it occur properly to my audience. I took them for cuisine took shape. years ago. to me that it does strangely sumhundreds up my lifeof villages that dot granted, or, assumed there was no need for it A reasonable crush on a Chinese friend Today, across I need coffee to begin with. as everyone knows me already. I apologise. I’m steered me in the direction of the Oriental Thrissur, PRIs are riding high on Baileys Irish Cream liqueur to the success of glad not everyone knows me. It is often evi- kitchen. I was totally fascinated with the way thekeep relationship that the Kudumbashree me calm. dent to me when my friends begin with ‘this is in which they worked — the precision, the or- women and the elected women Sambuca: Though I prefer the leaders share. Shatbhi and she needs no introduction’. I see, ganisation, fluidity, flavours. Kudumbashree groups ouzo are being tapped to unsweetened Pernod, gratefully, that there are always a few with a My boyfriend’s colleagues were super nice, identify andthat select government beneficiaries, and raki ooze my favourite anise and star question in their eyes. It keeps me grounded. teaching me on every holiday, feeding my in- homing in spices on individual and community anise.asMy writing career began And reminds mehat that I have to keep working does a woman need to terest making sure aofpart theofdirection on anyand matter. Till I me became the Sride-I needs well as for community outreach. with ouzo president, on ice! to reinvent myself everyher day.mark So here This now make in goes. electoral wanted to take. an Oriental Ajith vi Swayam Sahay, oneTo of become the neighbourhood Kumar, Panchayat President’s Vodka: My Thrissur, basic go-to drinkout, “Any interis my story. politics in India? Belong to a chef. I took my first job asKudumbashree. a trainee chef with a Association, groups created under Sudpoints Blue curacao: Bright blue skies My earliest thoughts what be I would political on family, close do to five-star hotel in theworld hope opened of making in vention undertaken by the panchayat, such as denly, a whole new up it forbig me,” The flame: My passion when was the older, was being one, orI have blessings of a apowerful male says Shivadasan. the world of Sichuan cuisine. rehabilitating the poor, universalising Take Glass: Martini and 2 shot glasses great veterinarian. child, I — whether politician? It’s a ‘yes’Astoaall of these Didn’t of happen. I slaved but govwas Home Ration, introducing computer educaA joint initiative NABARD and Kerala Ingredients read thethe usual suspects available it is at grassroots, where it’s easier for a ernment, the never transferred to the one kitchprogramme is implemented in tion in sambuca/ schools, and on, israki being realised 15ml ouzo/so Pernod/ at the time — Enid Blyton and all has served three tiers: Neighbourhood woman whose family member(s) en I wanted to be in. That search, Groups (NHGs) at with thekahlua assistance of Kudumbashree wom15ml of mystery magic Fa- or in the on her the panchayat to getwith elected, however, was what eventually got grassroots; the Area Developen.” Atcream present, Kudumbashree 15ml Baileys Irish (keep it cold always)is Andurheal Ithe did. mous Five, where Secret climbing Seven, Five ban setting, the political ladme(ADSs), bartending. ment Societies whichThe are‘sideboard’ of 15ml vodkaactively working with panThirsty souls, angry 5ml blue curacao syrup Find-Outers & Dog amongstwithout othder is virtually impossible the right a Chinese restaurant was my first made up of NHG representachayats across the state to conones, sad, lonely, ers; the schoolHowever, series of St Clare’s connections. Bindu Shivadasan, 40,andtives; bar. Where the fear of not knowthe Communiduct the firstspirit everincommunity 1 Put the sambuca/anise the martini happy moreand finally, glass and Malorythe Towers; has defied norm Billy to getBunter elected as the presi- ty Development ing Societies gripped (CDSs), me so much that some I validation of the BPL lists. In 2010, 11,000 2 Mix the vodka blue curacao syrup the in and None of gram them panchayat imdentAsterix. of the Mattathur in Ker- which operate delved into the trunk members and un- contested at the panchayat Withand Shivadasan heading one shot glass pacted me asdistrict. much as James ala’s Thrissur Trader Vic’s Bartender’s level with earthed members elected Mattathur gram panchayat, the local self3 Add kahlua and Baileys in the next shot48, Herriot, country vet When the thissimple once simple homemaker decid- through theGuide me, liter- polls ADSs.— which propelledgovernment like Rosalie Kurien, andTheywomen glass. will automatically layer from Yorkshire dales. From then on,she I ploded to the contest the polls a few years ago nei- ally, into the world of euphoria. “My group elected me to the from Chungaal village are confinearly 50 per cent of the 4 Warm anise spirit with a lighter and ded much him, but through wind- ADS theron had the like support of the area’sthe political I started off to wanting toAlong heal animals, proand later the CDS. their healthcare, them wonallow it to dent flamethat by slanting the glass, liveliing streets Mumbai. a friendly gressed bigwigs norofthe benefitLooking of years for of grooming aiming at creating a stir in Oriental the way,tomy interactions with hood, education, making the liquid touch the lightersanitation flame vet who would me into rooms or, betby party cadres.allow What she didhis have at her dis- gastronomy, myselfmemflailing in the funfellow sisters,found their family or proper disbursal of 5 Swirl theconcerns, flaming liquid to allow oxygen to ter still,was his asurgery. did succeed network a couple of da posal broad Icommunity the the martini and finally bersof and community as acame into my public distribution system fan the flame, keeping it away from draftsratimes. chicks, kit- own womenPicking just likeup her,stray withpuppies, considerable experiin the zany world cocktails. And heal I whole increased. I ofbecame tions will always remain a prioriof air shot glasses into the flaming drink, tens the way and them home did. ence along in micro-credit andcarrying micro-entrepreneurThirsty angry ones, sad, lonely, hap- ty 6onEmpty aware of thesouls, various problems faced by womthe governance agenda. Incidentally, and sip through two venture long straws. Make much to the dismay of myofmother. If all failed, py ship, an understanding the community’s more. But there’s a lot more healing to Kurien en.and Many group discussions automatically runs a business along withsure her the flame is away fromwith your each face. member I’d spend atin my family doctor’s issues andhours a friend almost every homechamin ev- be done. towards Beginningcommunity with me anddevelopment then passing Kudumbashree veered group, Warning: One₹5,000-10,000 is definitely enough. ber, listening to the and ery village under thediagnosis panchayat. Asrelevant a long- it on for anyone who started may seeunderstanding light through earning matters. I gradually about every month. treatment advice he passed on atofinancially his patients. time Kudumbashree member, in- my random thoughts. people’s concerns and wanted to find work- She says, “I used to run a catering business on Idependent needed to be treated for allergies the time, Shivadasan was ready all to exert her able It’ssolutions,” not something I had imagined I would enjoyed the earlier ones,vegetarian well… says Shivadasan. It was then have my own, serving only Kerala food. so he was let me hang around, treat write powers to happy providetogood governance. about even deliberate upon. I’m still Then Surefive it’s of about life behind bar. And at that she tookorthe ‘conscious decision’ to fight us formed an aNHG, Ojus,life and meInlast and then me home. He liked me. debating Kerala, the drop hugely successful Kudumas I pen downThat thisthe justification of large. And history, sciencezilla and misphithe panchayat elections. Kudumbashtrained under thegeography, Kudumbashree I worked hard atalleviation physics and chemistry, surbashree poverty programme has sorts. For I can only call it that. Here con- losophy I didn’thow dream wouldfood bring such enree has indeed metamorphosed intoI awas, nursery sion. We learnt to prepare like biriyavived maths and completely biology. changed the lives of hundredsenjoyed of thousands of templating a book on whisky. And my mind an average Jane. It’s what for women political leaders is clear from the lightenment nis and othertonon-vegetarian delicacies and Zoology were the highlight of my women, labs facilitating their economic and,week, sub- kept wandering to this. I told myself conthat bartending taught meour that no classroom or fact that in 2010,back some 11,000 members confidently expanded catering menu. Adwhere I cutpolitical through empowerment. the digestive system of a atested sequently, “I was million of this nature have everwere did.taught It madehow meto who I am tothemissives local self-government polls been and walloping ditionally, we make pickfrog or dissectcompletely an earthworm to find a perfecthomemaker, dependent on the written byper those way thanminme. day. Shatbhi Basu.from Cheers! nearly 50 cent of more them qualified won. Kerala’s les. With support the larger network, we ly intact nervous All so Iand could get adhusband, cateringsystem. to his needs doing ev- But strange reason, tribes my mind isterfor forsome welfare of scheduled anddefied youth are doing well.” mission And I did too. erythinginto as vet perschool! his wishes. I hardly ever all sane advice or logic. I gave shot.emerged If some shatbhi basu is a mixologist, author, television host, affairs PK Jayalakshmi, too,it ahas headmenon of Stir, a, bartending academy in Mumbai ajitha Women’s Feature Service But forout more reasons than (the stepped of the house andone had noallergies opinion of you are actually through this system.reading this in print, and and
What bartending taught me that no classroom or walloping ever did
W I have the power The Kudumbashree programme catapults women into leadership positions and they, in turn, ensure that the government accords priority to healthcare, sanitation, education and proper disbursal of PDS rations wfs/ajitha menon
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STATES OF MATTER
Rise of the new Labour left Blair watches in helpless disquiet as the left-wing he had banished to the shadows acquires a menacingly concrete shape in Jeremy Corbyn
sukumar muralidharan
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arties that lose elections usually end up licking their wounds in friendless isolation. But the Labour Party has, since sinking in May to a second successive election defeat in Britain, seen a surge in membership. Distinctly unhappy at this good fortune is Tony Blair, who restored Labour to power in 1997 after two decades in the wilderness. Where some see opportunity, Blair sees ominous visions of the party going backwards to a “parallel reality” where “evidence and reason” have no place. The new entrants to the party, Blair worries, could make electoral victory impossible. But it is not just winning that matters. The programme that the party seems eager to embrace in the flush of new-membership enthusiasm is, for Blair, simply wrong-headed — a consequence of mistaking “radical leftism” for the more sensible pursuit of “radical social democracy”. Blair was the fourth in a leadership succession that shifted Labour away from its left orientation after 1983, when the eloquent and cerebral Michael Foot led the party to spectacular defeat. Though mired in recession, Britain was heady with victory in the Falklands War and ebullient over the prospect of a new trans-Atlantic partnership, with Republican right-winger Ronald Reagan being inaugurated as US president in 1981. Since then, winnability has been an obsessive focus of the party leadership, and this has meant banishing the spectre of left-wing politics from within. Neil Kinnock came agonisingly close in 1992, but it took another five years of inept dawdling by the rival Tories for Labour to regain the winning mojo. Blair’s first electoral contest as Labour leader in 1997 was a sweeping triumph that more than requited the indignities of 1983. Today, Blair watches in helpless disquiet as the left-wing he had banished to the shadows acquires a menacingly concrete shape in Jeremy Corbyn, an eight-term Member of Parliament and survivor of all the swings of the electoral pendulum over the years. He complains bitterly that despite all efforts since Kinnock’s days, Corbyn remains a potent threat to balance and sanity. And he would also undoubtedly remember with great chagrin that Corbyn was among the main organisers of the February 2003 demonstration in London against the march to war in Iraq. It was Britain’s largest ever public demonstration, a warning of imminent folly that Blair chose to disregard. Today, the invasion of Iraq is recognised as a fiasco, a millstone that Blair will never shake off, and will remain his unique claim to a place in the history books. It is not his seeming prescience on Iraq that propels Corbyn’s rise. Rather, it is a growing sense of malaise at the narrowness of politics since Labour acquired the prefix “new” and stretched itself out on the bed of neoliberalism. Whether it is Labour or the Tories in power today, the economy runs on the spectral sense of “confidence” of the speculator in the financial markets, and entitlements are determined not by social ne-
Mr Right? Britain’s former Prime Minister and former Labour Party leader Tony Blair afp/ justin tallis
Left hook Jeremy Corbyn, surging ahead in the Labour leadership race afp/ ben stansall
gotiation and collective bargaining but by the poll forecasting a dead-heat. The failure of the fickleness of asset prices. pollsters was sufficient to excite an inquiry by Corbyn’s Islington North constituency — the British Polling Council and the Market Rewhich he won with over 60 per cent of the vote search Society. Early hypotheses proposed a in May — reflects the polarities of a state in “shy Tory, lazy Labour” explanation: of conserwhich Labour does no more than embroider vative voters being reluctant to state their and embellish the central pillars of neoliberal choice in pre-poll surveys and Labour supportorthodoxy. This London suburb has 42 per ers failing to turn up on election day. That cent of its residents living in social housing seeming effort to extenuate at least some of and 31 per cent owning their the pollsters’ obtuseness may homes. The average income of hold a kernel of truth. Labour the former class is £15,000 and simply failed to offer a credible of the latter, £78,000. alternative to the menu of ecoClearly, these are strata that nomic austerity the Tories had Labour simply failed would define voting allegiance cooked up. to offer a credible by where they stand in the hieCorbyn’s surge in the Labour alternative to the rarchy. There is a large element leadership race is quite possibly menu of economic in the middle though, where the one way of preventing the fragausterity the Tories real battle for votes is fought. mentation of the middle behad cooked up Since Blair bid farewell as its tween regional parties and the leader, Labour had an indifferextreme right. Interestingly, ent performance in 2010 and there is a close analogue across then a seemingly catastrophic the Atlantic in the strong early defeat in 2015. Yet the fine print indicates that showing of Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed between 2010 and 2015, Labour gained over socialist, in his quest for the 2016 Democratic 700,000 votes and the rival Tories just party nomination. 600,000. Labour’s share in votes increased by Here again, voter ennui at an undifferen1.5 percentage points against 0.8 for the Tories. tiated middle is driving a sharp polarisation With all that, the outcome was a decisive La- between left and right, with the oafish real-esbour defeat, a consequence of being too much tate developer Donald Trump — bizarre even a part of the middle-ground, insufficiently dis- by the standards of the Republican right-wing tinguished from the Tories. This yielded space — representing the other end. for insurgent campaigns run by Scottish and Politics under neoliberalism is clearly enWelsh nationalist parties and environmental tering a phase of mutation and rapid, unprecampaign groups, not to mention right-wing dictable change. xenophobes. Tory victory remained a dimly foreseen pos- sukumar muralidharan is an independent writer, sibility till the very end, with every opinion researcher based in Gurgaon and Shimla
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times he gasps, ‘yeh sahi cheez hai (this is the right thing), the role of writers and reporters and the Booker wins that he finds laughable. Excerpts from the interview. The relationship of Indians with the English language is of special interest to you. In which ways do Indians use it best and in which ways do we mangle it? I have often seen signs in Bihar, but also elsewhere in India, saying ‘Child Beer Sold Here’. I was delighted when Siddhartha Chowdhury used that in a novel. There is no pleasure in being prescriptive about language. I enjoy the inventive ways in which language is manipulated to make meaning. But even as I say this, I have to acknowledge that I often get mails from people in India who want advice about writing. And while reading their letters, my first impulse, quite often, is to ask them to read George Orwell. If I could I would assume the lotus position, left hand resting in my lap, right hand held upright with the index finger resting upon Crowd-pullers the thumb and the other fingers fanning out Anshulika Dubey and I in a pleasing way. If anyone came to me Priyanka Agarwal, would offer the mantra: ‘Write simply. Be dico-founders of rect’. Or quote from the Vedas of Strunk and Wishberry White: ‘Omit needless words’.
The big-hearted mob
You write in Lunch With a Bigot: “A novel’s primary task is to produce a map of the contemporary moment.” If realism has become your religion, what has fiction become for you? The essay from which you are quoting, ‘Bad News’, begins with a description of the murder of Aarushi Talwar. So, let me try to answer your question by using that example. I don’t think a novel about that killing or, for that matter, about the infamous Delhi rape case of December 2012 would have worked. You’d have to use an iron prod on me to make me pick up a novel about those deaths. I say this among reasons, those tragehe world’s first animation film in collected until then is returned. On the other because, readily agree with.other Her pitch was for ₹5 lakh to demand better and more meticulously reSanskrit, Punyakoti, is currently un- hand, if additional money is raised, then the dies launch Loveability, a matchmaking app for ported non-fiction. I’vealready read theraised reviews of the der production. Based on a much- project creator gets to use it for the project. the disabled. She has over ₹6 Senof book the Talwar case. One loved folksong from Karnataka Globally, there are four established models new lakh Avirook well ahead the on campaign’s deadline. welcome for such books.with I had liked Patrick about a cow that speaks the truth at all times, for crowd-funding: rewards, equity, debt and must “Matrimony people disability is vesober account of theeveryone murder. who Suchunan the film has music by the legendary composer social (namely, charity fundraising). The equi- French’s ry challenging and I wanted New script Amitava Kumar he doesn’t want to use language to build a bloodyadopted wall, instead wants to use theproblem sensationalistic, if not crimiIlaiyaraaja. Director Ravisays Shankar V had earlier ty model is usually byhestart-ups, giv- antidote derstandstothe to come together and kamal narang language quietly, but quite militantly, as an instrument of ownership reporting practised in the published a picture-book on Punyakoti andof communication ing the backers a stake in the company. nal, havesort equal in changing the mainsituapress. held exhibitions as well. Yet, his dream film Wishberry follows the rewards model, which stream tion. Crowd-funding makes you accountable asked mehave about fiction! project fell short of ₹40 lakh. That’s when he has captured 60 per cent of the global market toBut the you people who backed you,When whichI thefaster remark about realism my reliturned to Wishberry, a crowd-funding plat- share in crowd-funding. Here, backers are re- made leads to execution as well,”being says Khona. was commenting, not without form where people from all walks of life can warded with funky merchandise from the gion, TheIentire process also doubles as an some effecdistance,and on branding my desirestrategy, to have awhich jourcontribute as little as ₹500 towards any art project or a VIP ticket for the premiere of the critical tive marketing as the protagonist of my first novel, project they are passionate about. The re- movie they are supporting, a mention in the nalist is an added bonus that no other funding procProductsshe (2007). quired funds trickled in steadily, and Punyako- credits, or perhaps an autographed DVD of the Home ess provides, pointsWhy out.this desire for observational integrity? I think it year, sprang from an ti is readying for release next year. music album produced. In January this Wishberry anxiety aboutcompleted authenticity. moved away “We took the crowd-funding route as it was “When we were starting, I was itsI’veseed funding from the kindround of fetishism of the real.co-led Now, by in difficult finding producers for a niche film told nobody in India gives monworth ₹4 crore, the space of fiction, want to with what is like this, where returns are not predictable,” ey without expecting returns. GoogleI India MDplay Rajan Anandan I was told nobody in real software or historical. So that iSPIRT’s what is says Ravi Shankar. That has been proved to be unand think-tank India givesrecognisably money imagined is aSharad disturbance, a stone thrown inRaising small amounts of money from a true,” says Dubey. Passion for a Sharma. without expecting to the waters ofWhile what actually large number of people, crowd-funding plat- cause can get people to loosen projectshappened. ranging from returns. That has forms like Wishberry are now coming to the their purse strings. As was done films to food and art to product been proved to be Products in 2007, and you You wrote Home aid of theatre artistes, filmmakers, musicians by Samir Chabukswar, CEO of dedesign are tasting success with untrue mention that Wishberry, you wishedthe thatcompany when people and anyone in the creative space in need of sign firm Yug Design. itself is read it they would it wereItwritten in 10 funds. “While I was working on a project for He has contributed ₹4 lakh toyet toimagine break even. charges Hindi. Why did you wish my previous employer (McKinsey), I came wards the Punyakoti animation per cent ofthat? the money raised as mitava Kumar is the the idea kindresonated of writer collection. Whilefully the well genres might change, I find it quitecommission, ridiculous that in Delhi, for exacross crowd-funding and film, knowing that while its costs ingetpeople to know a bit with ev- they a robust you’ll find rich speaking in Enwith me. you While are notbetter buying (art), thereare willallbecharacterised no financial by returns. “Asengagedesign- ample, clude maintaining andpeople updating the website, ery book. Here artists is a person whoproen- ment an examination of trying what to is glish to working people whostaffing might have many are willing to back and fund ers, wewith, are inand a niche field. Someone investment in technology, needscome and is beyond. He writes gagesthis deeply fully with all that jects. I thought wasand a good way to save art within make aand filmwhat in Sanskrit resonated withwith our to so do on.menial jobs from places like Darbhanga. is around him,says whether it is the rats the of Patna a vast cast characters, as if the rich doesn’t know has anand culture,” Anshulika Dubey, COO equal cause.passion Sanskritabout is a language weof should all be It isn’t “I wouldn’t say person that our product or the taxi drivers of New York. The words of from Bajpai to Arundhati Roy to his language, in this case, Hindi. Butisthey’ll of Wishberry. proudManoj of. And we believe in participating in other cracked the market. Crowd-funding not a Oliver Sacks,Agarwal neurologist and author, who family. effort,” Even while he might delve into out the speak onlyindustry in English. are giving a comPriyanka and she co-founded the own any related he says. Shankar points developed yet.You We have to crack how passed away come to since mind when andisideological, thepayoff book ends with mand demanding (‘Excuseplatme, company inrecently, 2012 and have raisedone ₹5 political that money not the only in crowdpeopleorinteract withsomething a crowd-funding most Your moving andalso acutely observed when essay excuse reads Kumar: “I have been a sentient a the me…’) but your psychological is crore for 250 projects through 11,000 being, backers funding. ideas get validated form. And we need to coach people onintent how to deaththe of his mother. thinking Lunchlike With Bigot, Ku- on erect an product,” insurmountable wall. It is a class across theanimal…” world. It works this:a An upcomyouthe choose crowd-funding route, which to pitch their says Dubey. mar’s most and recent of essays — divid- does With five non-fiction and a novel be- thing. ing project its collection funding pitch are uploaded not happen whenbooks you choose convenAnd yes, soon there will be an app for it too, ed Writing, PlacesIfand People — hind the routes, professor English at Vassar from Now, to link it to my novel, I didn’t want to on into theReading, Wishberry website. the entire tionalhim, funding he of says. Wishberry. moves literary criticism the political, NewisYork spends a night answering amountfrom required is not raised to within 60 days, College And in that something Kalyani Khona, use language to build a bloody wall. Instead, I from memoir toisreportage: a thinking man’s questions sent email.with Here he reveals the wanted to use language quietly, but quite milrashmi pratap then the appeal taken down and any money matchmaker forbypeople disability, would
Raising small sums of money from a large number of people, crowd-funding platforms like Wishberry are coming to the aid of theatre artistes, filmmakers, musicians and anyone in the creative space in need of funds
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Amitava Kumar’s latest collection of essays throws a bright light on cinema and politics, life and death
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Financial inclusion is financial freedom Fino, a lesser known entity which got the payment bank licence, readies to serve people from all income groups and make it a more inclusive programme. What kind of investments will FINO have to make for payment banking? We are working on the numbers. Our initial estimate is that $60-80 million will be required in the first phase… There has to be investment on technology, compliance and manpower. People were always interested in partnering with us and that interest has grown. In the next month or so, we will start more serious discussions around partnerships. How do you plan to comply with foreign shareholding requirements for payment banks, given that foreign investors (including Blackstone and Intel Capital) hold the majority stake in the company? I don’t think it is a challenge to bring in domestic investors; foreign investors will dilute the stake. We have multiple banks in our portfolio. We have to be compliant (in the next one-and-a-half years) before applying for the formal licence. I am confident of doing it. Everybody now FINO will leverage its web of 10,000 retail points for its bank services; (below) CEO Rishi Gupta
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t’s a success story that has been built in many small steps, over almost a decade. FINO, or Financial Inclusion Network and Operations, was set up in 2006 to provide technology services to banks. Later that year, when RBI approved the creation of business correspondents (BCs), FINO began taking the financial products and services of banks to rural customers. Today its network of over 25,000 agents and 10,000 retail points are spread across 28 states. After bagging the payment banking licence in August, FINO is readying for a new innings in the financial inclusion space. CEO Rishi Gupta spoke to BLink about the company’s plans to bank the unbanked in an increasingly competitive market. Edited excerpts: What are the factors that helped FINO PayTech bag a payment banking licence? It has been a gradual process. We got into micro-insurance and slowly migrated to owning the customer and getting his retail fees. We set up a non-banking financial company for microfinance business and now disburse over $100 million every month. We then began providing remittance services, besides recharges and top-ups for mobiles. We also got into electronic benefit transfer for government schemes like NREGA. What worked for us was the knowledge of business, products, customers and having a distribution set-up in the financial inclusion system for many years. We have set up a low-cost banking system and are working with the target segment to understand their requirements. Our learning was instrumental in getting us the RBI licence.
How will you leverage your existing network of business correspondents and retail points to promote payment banking? We will move some of the existing BC points to the FINO payment bank, as it is allowed under RBI guidelines. We will continue to service existing customers besides entering new geographies. FINO will leverage the existing infrastructure, products and technology to make it a bank, which can serve 150 million people who don’t have complete access to financial products. We are looking at not only savings account but also financial inclusion.
What are your current sources of revenue, and how will that mix change once you start offering payment banking services? We were looking at transformation already. Retail business was bringing in just 5 per cent a couple of years ago; now it will become 30 per cent, and we will continue to build that platform. We will do three things now — have our own product, own channel and own customer. So the ownership of the product will move to us. As a payment bank, I can decide what product to sell in which geographies.
What was your revenue and profit in the last fiscal? When do you expect to How do you perceive financial break even with the new inclusion? services? I look at financial inclusion as fi- The market out there We have been clocking revenues nancial freedom. To me, finanupwards of $60 million for the is very big. We are a cial inclusion is creating an past few years. We achieved cash-heavy economy ecosystem around a customer break-even in 2010 and have and need payment where he can freely do a finanbeen profitable since then. Now, banks to make it less cial transaction. He understands we will have to make more incash-heavy what he is buying and gets into vestments, and there will be a the habit of saving and spends rise in operations cost as well. As only when it is required. Since a payment bank, we hope to unbanked customers don’t have break even in about four years afa place to keep the money, they spend it un- ter starting operations. necessarily. Financial inclusion is when he can save and, whenever he requires, his money is What is the future of payment banking in five minutes away from his home or place of India, where dozens of public and private work. All financial products should be availa- sector banks as well as new payment banks ble to people from all income groups. are scrambling for the same pie? The market out there is very big. We are a cashWhat changes will FINO make in its business heavy economy and need payment banks to model to offer the payment banking services? make it less cash-heavy. We need to create a We have already started work on enhancing full ecosystem, as you cannot give customers our infrastructure both on the rural and ur- limited choices. In India, the euphoria is more ban side. We had tied up with multiple enti- on the digital space and, over the next few ties for relevant products, such as Yatra for years, non-digital space will create new opportravel services and Billdesk for bill payment. If tunities and a big market. The entire payment a customer wants to book a ticket, he can go to ecosystem is in a nascent stage and it will be our touch-point and book through Yatra. He the biggest disruption in the next few years. doesn’t have to queue up to pay any bill either. Now we will venture deeper into geographies rashmi pratap
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Raising an illusion dipankar
German mentalist Nicolai Friedrich on how magic uses logic and creative thinking to accomplish what appears impossible
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nything that’s pleasantly out of the ordinary is magic. It’s often overwhelming and even freaky. For Nicolai Friedrich, it is a metaphor for the human ability to make seemingly impossible things possible. Friedrich blends visual artistry and mind tricks with excellent comic timing, leaving audiences awestruck. He attempts to inspire the audience to look beyond the boundaries of reality. With no one in his family even remotely connected to magic, he started out by studying law at the university and even became a professional lawyer. But magic was destiny. “My mother thinks I learned something really serious. But lawyers and magicians have a lot in common, so I guess it worked out all right,” he says. On his fourth visit to India, Friedrich performed across five cities. In an exclusive interview before his opening show in New Delhi, he talked about the magical tricks that oscillate between belief and make-belief. Excerpts from want the public to be deprived of any thenot interview. details,” explains the constable. He seems Is magic for real?So far I have not been beaten to be cordial. Well, I spot believe magic up. A boy there hurriesis past withhappening a plate of around us every day.byHowever, weman are carryoften samosas, followed a make-up blind wonders life and ingto a those tray. Ilittle notice severaloftubes ofnature. Fair & Instead them for Lovely.ofI admiring, reach out we for simply one of take the samosas, granted. I have to admit thatmy myhand show is not but the constable slaps real magic but it absolutely like it. So I away. “Khabardar!” he says,looks “See the trypacket to get asofclose to realsauce? magic as I can. tomato Those are for the SHO.” What“Is gotit you magic and mindtrueinterested that youinwill reading? soon be adding live comAt mentary?” four, I saw Ia ask. magician “Yes,” in hea circus. It perplexed I thoughtwill of be becoming a magisays, me “Theand experience cian myself. I invested all my time, richer. WeSoon haveafter, requested money andPolice effort to in pick learning Punjab up new tricks. So probably this first magic show was the cornerstone of my career.
POLICE TO PROBE LIVE ON TELEVISION!
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SHOVON CHOWDHURY is chief Truthdigger and author of Murder with Bengali Characteristics
Navjot Singh Sidhu. We wanted to bring in Why should only Arnab get TRPs, he said. Gavaskar-sir, but we were feeling shy.” We can also get TRPs. He is a visionary. He “What about cheerleaders?” I ask, “Will has also thought of a Bigg Boss type show, you have cheerleaders?” He looks down- wherein the public gets to vote guilty or not cast. “We are not sure yet. A committee is be- guilty after watching the investigation.” A man carrying an umbrella enters the ing formed to study the social and moral implications of this.” He ducks out of sight, police station, followed by a man with a disappearing briefly, before reap- trumpet. He blows the trumpet. My friend pearing on my other side. “Sorry,” snaps to attention. “Salute, salute,” he whishe says. “I spotted some- pers, “Commissioner is here to do personal one trying to file an FIR.” interview.” The Commissioner enters, a commanding presence withand a profile to world die “Howsays did youFriedrich, get thisis a mixture Mixing it up Mental magic, Nicolai of psychology, suggestion magic agp idea of turning your inves- for. He stands in front of the interrogation tigations into a live room as the make-up man applies a few finCan magic ever go wrong? psychology show?” I ask. “It was Com- ishing touches.helps us understand why people Oh yes, especially if you have invented some- “Will behave the way they do. IItwhisper. is quite“Only easy to demissioner-saab, naturally. he also be singing?” thing entirely new. it isvery all part of the if you tectask a lie or predict behaviour. Our body HisHowever, brain is large. nicely,” saysfuture the constable. natural procedure of trial and error. The most is constantly sending out information, so if important thing that you learn is to never you think your secret thoughts are safe within make the same mistake twice. Luckily most of your head if you keep your mouth shut, you the time, the audience will not are wrong! even realise when something You have performed in India goes wrong, because a good mabefore. How has the response gician always has a plan B up his been? sleeve, so he can secretly switch A good magician to that and finish the trick. always has a plan B up Indian audiences have been very receptive and have loved my his sleeve, so he can Which is the most difficult secretly switch to that ‘mentalism’ and illusion tricks. trick you have between, reach inperformed the nick oftilltime. Bihar andisfinish the trickone Manjhi. Now one Modi has Haveminute you heard or met any date?about to end it all. I help Bihar down come. One he of questions I flewfrom an airplane blindfolded. It Indian or mentalist? the chair. “You’re alone, right?” my DNA, nextmagician day he says I’m inhave he met some was asays dangerous publicityanxiously stunt he Brihanmumbai Municipal ing underneath? Have they even thought telligent.I Does love me Indian or hatemagiBihar, peering over cians won’t and mentalists and have for television andone since Corporation has prohibited the about the suffering they’re causing? ApparmyGerman shoulder. “If I hear more me? Why he tell? What some, unfortunately have not there was about no autopilot I amgoing happy use of lingerie on mannequins, ently all this is to prevent sex crimes. If I am I do but to deserve this? It’sItrue question DNA, I’m tothat I man- heard ofdid seen their shows yet. The magician aged to land Every the plane to protect the morals of the not allowed to wear undies, how will this that during theonly Maurya andwhom kill myself. five safely. years, this I knew and admired lot was Ali Bongo. youth, without even once considering if prevent sex crimes? Will it not increase the happens. They examine me. Gupta ages, asome amount of He Does mind-reading intuition or the lived in the UK, but I occurred. found out that he was the mannequins would like it. “It’s as if our danger, especially if I’m wearing chiffon? conquering Blood They analyse me. Myinvolve history-gesixth sense? born in Bangalore. modesty is nobody’s concern,” says Prami- What happens if it rains? Meanwhile, we ography is thrown around. was shed. Wealth was transIReasons would say Mental magic la, a mannequin who works at Banarasi Sari are constantly being examined by city offiferred. These things happen. But forboth. my failure are dis- is a mixture of it bewas correct to say that magic tricks psychology, suggestion and magic. Even Wouldthat Bhandar. “Just because we have perfect cials. Their power is not restricted to underso long ago. Since then, cussed in detail. People write logic harm to them andI yet they arework though looks that way, it has nothing to have what bodies, does it mean we can be exposed like wear. As per government order, they have have done? You pieces on it Pappu. with powers. Howev- illusions? this? Some may enjoy it, but I’m not like to judge if our dress is indecent. The other for The Hindu group. In faraway PatWhy dodo they do supernatural it? I correct. er, our mind that. I’m more traditional. My fiancé is day, one of them adjusted my pallu. He linnever change, and has much more poten- Yes, that na is weabsolutely salute you. If you Magic speak,uses the logic thinking accomplish thanme? most of us are aware of. and creative working in suitings at Raymond’s. Even he gered. I am now apprehensive. We are gonation will listen. to Please ask themsomehow can youtial blame that looks fact isthat it If we train and use some of the thing to is facing problems. Some of their fabric is ing on indefinite strike demanding right to leave meimpossible. alone. All The I want Who else has suffered impossible thequiet, illusion, all magipotential we possess, lookssome very itchy. Why don’t you try wearing 50 to lingerie. Until then, if you want to check peace is and andsince a modlike me? First Ihidden had Lalu. are amount also bound to the laws of nature. can In do things that may cians 60 per cent polyester trousers with noth- out an outfit, wear it yourself.” erate of carbohydrate.” Then there was we Nitish. seem like miracles to othThe Investigator is a monthly round-up of all things droll and newsy. All views are personal. Really personal t@shovonc ers. The study of human arunima mazumdar is a Delhi-based writer e are lathi-charging the media much less these days,” says the constable, “because sometimes we have to borrow their cameras.” We are standing inside a police station in an upscale south Mumbai locality. The thana itself is downscale. It is a hotbed of activity. A lightman is standing on a desk, adjusting a halogen. The soundman rushes out of the interrogation room, his headphones still on his head. His face tells a story. His bladder is bursting. He has waited too long. The substitute soundman rushes into the room with his gear. He had been standing next to us all this time, poised like a cheetah. “We keep a duplicate, as we do
MUMBAI MANNEQUINS DEMAND UNDERWEAR
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THE CRITICAL ISSUE
The time is now How might a museum be set up? What would it house, in terms of tangible things, and how would it deal with people’s memories? And is the time right for such an exercise?
Lest we forget Survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster share a moment of reflection at The Remember Bhopal museum am faruqui
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Urvashi Butalia is an editor, publisher and director of Zubaan
have had museums on my mind lately. It all began with a small idea that took root in our office: how would it be to set up a museum of women’s history in India? Excited, we began to explore it in earnest. The internet provided some leads on women’s museums in different parts of the world. We discovered there were quite a few of them — in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Vietnam, Senegal, Dubai, for example. Targeted travel added to this: we visited different museums — having secured a small grant from the much-maligned Ford Foundation to do the initial research — talked to people who had run them, looked at what they contained, what they were trying to do, where the money came from, and then began to plan our strategy. Meanwhile, sort of unbidden, other museum-like thoughts began to make their way into my head. Sometimes, when you become interested in something, your brain and your eyes, almost of their own accord, start seeking out that very thing. We discovered a museum of the Bhopal gas tragedy, a museum of conflict in Ahmedabad, a number of small and large museums in Delhi (some listings put this figure at 21, some say it’s higher). Interest piqued, I decided to visit a museum that had long been on my agenda: the museum of Sikh history, known as Virasat-e-Khalsa, in Anandpur Sahib. Set up in 1999, Virasat, as the locals call it, traces the history of the 10 gurus of Sikhism and was set up to commemorate 300 years of the Khalsa. Imposing in its design, the museum offers free entry to anyone who wishes to see it. As a result, hundreds of visitors, mostly locals from the town, and pilgrims from nearby places, turn up every day. Many treat the museum
as if it were a place of worship, taking their and now a repository of invaluable oral and vishoes off and covering their heads while sual records. And then the large numbers of browsing the exhibits. individual collections of art, films, photos, obPerhaps the most stunning exhibit is a huge jects and so on. hall painted from top to bottom with everyday All of this, and more, is exciting. But there images of Sikh life, where both music, and the are also dangers: unearthing memory, dealing play of light, tell multiple narratives of what with divided histories, is never an easy thing, the Sikh way of life has come to stand for. At and it cannot be done without being fully cogthe centre of this brightly coloured and lively nisant of the responsibility it carries. This is depiction lies a video of the Golden Temple something that any museum project will need where people ceaselessly make their way to to be aware of. A question that has refused to the Harmandir Sahib and go away, for example, in our thinkcircle the water tank in ing on a women’s museum, is how which it stands. do you place inside museums the Meanwhile, back in Delhi, continuing histories of sexual vioA question that has coincidentally, a discussion lence? Is it even desirable to do so? had begun on the possibility refused to go away on a What about the women whose hiswomen’s museum, is of setting up a museum on tories these are? And if you extend the Partition of India, and so how do you place inside that question to the idea of a Partimuseums the other thoughts were tion museum, then how would continuing histories of sparked off. such a museum deal with the hissexual violence? How might such a mutories of mass rape? Can this histoseum be set up? Where ry be left out? Clearly not, but how would it be located? What then can it be included would its purpose be? What sensitively? would it house, in terms of There are, as always, no easy antangible things, and how would it deal with swers. But it is time that we began to think those intangibles, people’s memories? And is about this and to see how we might begin the the time right for such an exercise? process of creating such museums. And here, I In many ways, I do believe the time is right. think, new technology offers many possibiliIn the last few years, so much has happened ties. So, for example, my dream of a Partition that refers us to the great need people have be- museum would be to create two such mugun to feel to speak out, to tell their stories. seums, one in India and one in Pakistan, and This is in contrast to, say, two decades back then connect them through a video link, when people were still reluctant to speak out. whereby visitors in Pakistan can see and talk Witness the numbers of archives that have to visitors in India and vice versa. Wouldn’t come up: a web archive called the 1947 Parti- that be a great way to defeat the designs of our tion Archive, which has thousands of oral nar- governments? ratives, the Citizens Archive of Pakistan, begun blink@thehindu.co.in in a small way by a few committed individuals,
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The future is now With the spread of digital technologies, our present is often the science-fiction future that our past had imagined
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The uniting lines The monsoon art season has showered the Capital with shows that get South Asian creative forces conversing with each other about shared histories and differences
Neighbourly exchange Kedar Dhondu’s ‘Dark Dawn’ (left), examines the history of slavery in Goa, via the Portuguese invasion latitude 28; ‘Cosmology to Cartography: A Cultural Journey of Indian Maps’ offers a historical glimpse into early mapmaking practices national museum
Connected, but not bound
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t is perhaps not a coincidence, but it underlines prevailing concerns. In Delhi, the monsoon art season opened with four galleries hosting events that seemingly address issues of national identity and cartographic borders, both from a historic perspective as well as the contemporary nature of borders and the problematic representation of the nation state. We are told this is just the tip of the iceberg. During the summer we witnessed a historic Collateral Project at the 56th Venice Biennale, where Feroze Gujral showcased the unlikely India-Pakistan collaboration ‘My East is Your West’, featuring Pakistani artist Rashid Rana and Indian artist Shilpa Gupta. While Rana’s work collapsed borders between Pakistan and Venice through a live timeshare streaming of viewers interacting with a classical painting in both countries, Gupta’s 10-metre-long outdoor light installation dwelt on the borders and enclaves between India and Bangladesh. The past four years have witnessed a burst of artistic conversations between India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and hen I first encountered the Bhutan. Realising international curator Hans term ‘digital I wonUlrich Obrist’s prophetic wordsnative’, — “Art practicthey looked like. es in South Asia dered shouldwhat ideally speak more to They were supposed to be the South Asia, while it addresses the West…” — newCapital Millennials who grew upinteresting digital andcrosstook the is host to several to new technologies like fish to water. border projects. They were the coding the is lurking Gallery Espace directorwarriors, Renu Modi orgahackers, the techie geeks and the data nerds, nising a four-month exchange programme — who were changing the world one— byte at a from September to December 2015 between time. They from the of artists fromwere Indiaremoved and Sri Lanka. Sheworld believes the analogue and were deeply in that a South Asian dialogue notembedded only makes the circuits of the Wide Web. came as sense at a time likeWorld this, but is in factItcrucial. a bit of apolitical surprisesituation to me thatisbyso virtue of being “The volatile curborn inbut thewe 1980s, I didn’t havewith to go looking rently, share so much our Asian for one, I wasthat one!it only makes sense to move neighbours The descriptions that accompany the tagand sit beyond obvious exchanges of gunfire a tad uncomfortably on me. They suggest that cricket,” says Modi. “Cultural dialogue opens as a digital I live my life on curatedour Inwindows ofnative, communication, enunciating stagramhistories feeds, distributing strategic ‘likes’ on shared under colonial oppression, social underscoring media networks, my behaviour while ourshaping differences.” to The ‘trend’ with my ‘followers’ on Riyas Twitter, and Sri Lanka-bound artists are Komu, carefully Upadhyay, monitoringManisha my dashboards create Chintan Parekh,toManjudigitalKamath profilesand on historian-artist distributed devices, nath Paula apps Senand platforms. conversations are Perera, all on gupta. In return,My Espace will host Anoli
the founding core group member of Theertha cal glimpse into early mapmaking practices is — a visual artists-led initiative in Sri Lanka, Ja- the ‘Cosmology to Cartography: A Cultural gath Weerasinghe and Anuradha Koli. Going Journey of Indian Maps’ at the National Mubeyond producing art in a workshop or art seum, on view till October 11. Curated by the camp, the idea is to absorb local culture, archi- London-based Indian architect Vivek Nanda, tecture, visit museums and collect artefacts. together with German cartographer AlexanA one-month residency in Sri Lanka was the der Johnson, it is organised by Hyderabadcatalyst behind young curator Anushka Rajen- based Kalakriti Archives. dran’s two exhibitions featuring South Asia. The gallery walls have been painted a bold The first is at Bhavna Kakar’s Latitude 28 in black to highlight the rich variety of the over Lado Sarai running till September 22. Here you 72 maps spanning 400 years until the early can catch Lankan artists like Pala Pothupitiye, 19th century. From the early hand-painted Jain Thisath Thoradeniya, Pradeep Chandrasiri and Hindu cosmological representations of and Danushka Marasinghe in dialogue with land, complete with depictions of sacred rivPakistani artists Adeela Suleman, Amna Ilyas, ers and pilgrimage sites, the display transiWaseem Ahmed and Imran Channa. tions to the ‘empirical’ cartographic The Indians in the mix are Niyeti Chadha- depictions of the ancient European concepKannal, Sarika Mehta, Sujith SN and Shailesh tion of the subcontinent. One can almost BR. The other show, at Shrine Empire, is in the trace the colonisation of India from the time than fixed jobs expected routines. pipeline. This fairly large exhibiof and Vasco da Gama’s arrival in I admit that there a grain of truth inofthis tion is well-orchestrated, ad1498, to is the ‘consolidation’ Inexaggerated dia list through that I draw up. I domapmakthink of dressing issues around borders, the Raj-era myself as digitally-savvy, with limited skills in maps and the ways in which ers. software tinkering, fluency in they affected lived realities. in Lado Sarai, yet another It only makeshardware sense to and Back usage, and aexplores co-dependent Pothupitiye’s playful, yet po- move beyonddigital project nation,relationborder obvious with the numerous and tent depictions of the Sri Lanka and memory.digital Exhibitdevices 320 showexchanges ofship gunfire WhatsApp, and I use Doodle to figure outand mycricket apps that manage my quotidian life; so much map — superimposed with icocases three artists — Nurjahan Akcomplex andlike iterative calendars. I am sup- so that on my OkCupid dating profile, mennographies the national hlaq from Pakistan, Parul IGupta posed traditional to multitask acrosstiger multiple screens tion that my smartphone and an internet dress, daggers, from India and Yasmin JahanconNuand devices, and trust computing devices nection are in thefrom top six things that cannot claws and fishing hooksmy — speak pur Bangladesh — Icurated andimagined cloud services remember of mapsto that have and manage live without. by Meenakshi Thirukode. my memories. I have lived a speak footloose and come alive withThe thepresence country’sofhistory of coloAkhlaq’s collage-miniatures directly the precarious digital in my lifefocusing on the to the re-assemblage fancy-free life thatthe hasgeomemade nisation and ethnic tensions, of tradition, also means that belong to a call four countries in three cities of Jaffna andI Colombo. tries of Islamic me architecture that impinge on generation that makesofspecific continents Taiwan, The subtle erasure imagery in Channa’s all forms of expression, and—finally the China, kitsch choices — I am not supposed the US luscious and Germany — ‘home’. large work speaks to Sarika to Mehta’s delicate of the bazaar. red-velvet flowWhile I was learning how Nupur’s own property AirBnb (yes,tugging I am always separated by a few watercolour ofbut birds playfully at and negotiate histories with broader to write codeers in BASIC, I personal it is now athe verb), andofI am thousand miles fromconversaat least changing shape thenot net representing socio-political environmental was also figuring out the and supposed to drive but Uber my half my friends, my relathe India map. tions embedded within the ideaand of nationalconnection between a way around I travonly “‘Lay of thecities. Land:When A work in Progress’ treats ism. address remain a kind alive of mass pen and an They alsotionships el I am to eschewand the hospitalithrough distributed cirshared histories relatable socio-political forgetting. Gupta focusesthe on line and its relaaudio cassette ty industry andSouth crashAsia on as the cuits and of connectivity that socontexts within a point of depar- tionship to formal spatial negotiations willing resources of a experiences Couchcial media and VoIP ture to chart the lived of artists, within the architecture of built spaces. surfer, and in my free time I am borderlines applications offer. consequently rendering political Each exhibition brings into focus a unique to superfluous,” become a Mechanical Turk I wear multiple hats. Which as says Rajendran. aspect of South Asia, while this increased diaperforming tasks forrealisation little money, makesamong my family weary of in trying to explain You come simple away with the thatand all logue the countries this region provolunteering my time on glorious what Ian doalternative to people who ‘But he is a profesmaps are a work-in-progress, as it user-generis impossi- vides andask, diverse narrative to atedtocontent spaces like Wikipedia and Red- being sor, no?’ I change devices and work in ble capture the dynamics of constantly viewed as the ‘other’quickly by the occident. dit, preferring complex variety of an ecosystem that collects and curates a maschanging cities andacountries. maddox is aabout Delhi-based art writer preunpredictable and mobile resources rather georgina sive amount of data me, generating Another exhibition offering a vivid, histori-
The mark of a digital native is not the hours spent online or the broadband speed, rather a critical and invested relationship with digital technologies
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dictions what I want to buy, who I want to MANJHon KHAMAJ date, which friend needs activation in my networks, and whether I have slept enough today.
couple of years ago, I was sitting at a restau- create websites or design apps, but I can read rant in Hawaii with a friend from India. We the political choices that are made and the asked the server for a glass of lemonade with- frameworks that they engender in my everyout sugar. He could not compute that request. day life. I am aware of the processes of surveilOur server, a young, well-spoken man in his lance and interception that lurk under the early 20s, only knew lemonade as it came out seductive interfaces of my big-data life. I read, of a bottle. When he made lemonade, he research and write about the implications of opened a can of premixed powder, mixed the digital, and work with people in different some of it with water, crushed ice and served sectors to understand my own power, agency it. On further inquiry it turnand choice in the world of ed out that he had never eatcustomisation that the digital en a lemon — they are not has to offer. I am a digital naindigenous to the island of tive not because I am digital Hawaii — and for him, a glass but, paradoxically, because I My complex relationship of lemonade could only come insist on keeping one foot with the digital, where I out of a packet and be sweet. outside of the digital. I am a celebrate and am cautious While this might sound lu- about it, perhaps brings me digital native not because of dicrous to our ears, it is an ex- closer to the digital settlers my continued, and often experience that I have and immigrants who might pensive attempts at being repeatedly had with other connected 24/7/365 (I actually not have ‘grown up digital’ digital natives who live emtried a digital detox last year bedded in digital networks — didn’t work; I went on Facebut don’t know how they are book and lamented about it), made. They can’t compute but because I am critically the repercussions that their actions might aware of the perils that accompany my conhave, and they have no idea who makes and nectivity. controls these technologies that they interact My complex relationship with the digital, with so closely. For Millennials who have where I celebrate and am cautious about it, grown up with these technologies as a natural perhaps brings me closer to the digital settlers ecosystem, the ethical, political and cultural and immigrants who might not have ‘grown dimensions of these technology practices are up digital’. opaque — the digital equivalent of add water In the fetishisation of the young, we often and stir. overlook the fact that the current billion, as well as the next billion of digital users are not just the younger generation but also the older ones who have found their groove online. This brings me to another anecdote. I was walking down a street in Amsterdam with a friend and we were trying to locate a shop with good winter coats. My friend called up her mother to get a recommendation and the answer was: ‘Why don’t you just Google it?’ When I landed in Ahmedabad last week, my father initiated me into the world of Ola Cabs, so that I wouldn’t have to wait for an auto. When my younger brother decided to search for his life partner online, I saw the ways in which parents create accounts Think harder Referring to the collaboration between Philip Glass and Panditand Ravi handle Shankar might renderfor youtheir a tad disingenuous the hindu archives children on matrimonial sites, managing a complex workflow of emails, profiles, updates, and discussion groups. combinations of Miyan ki Malhar. You will be In a group where all your ‘western’ collaborain clothes that border on the considered a fusion outcast if you exercise any tors are dressed Hit pause forcloser the tradition restraint in introducing these note axes when- normal, your silksI will findstand myself to the you represent and your unwillingness diever you are singing an alaap-like passage. practices of this to older lute merely to blend in. generation, who might Higher Octaves: This is not a metaphor. have come upon the Distinct Entity: You must always Whether you are a vocalist or an instrudigital withmaintain hesitathat your classical self tion. is distinct from your mentalist, you have to display great facility This hesitation to insist thattowhen with the higher notes. Not all listeners will collaborative self. You haveallows them be a don’t detect find comfort in poetry — for them, you must you perform classical, listeners bit sceptical about avatardevices in your mubring out your higher octave artillery. If you even a tinge of your fusiontheir and sic. However,technology when you in talk of can perform a gradually rising genyour abilities you sequence that culminates in the This is why, when eral in andfusion, stops them should absolutely attribute third octave tonic, perfect: you digital natives share from revealing inapthem to your ‘solid information foundation’ will melt If you files, they in dothe notapplause. think propriate If you are vocalist, in Hindustani music. canithitasitstealing. again andThey again, you of online, and also makes you must put hours will beprivate a legend. post information them kinder to strangers of riyaaz into the on public forums, unaware onDisaffection: the web. TheyThis giveisa moimprovisations Either Speed or Husk: Nothdifficult to acthat the information might have ment most of pause to theskill breathless around the word ing sells like virtuosity. Faster quire. we Youhave cannot too real-life implications. They engage in interactions with sound our digital ‘Maula’ — especially you of sing/play, higher and the harassment imaboutforhow fusion has acts cyber-bullying with- technologies,keen and allow a point of reflecinto perfecting pact.recognising What you that are performing upsurrender amazing to opportuniout the user at the other end tion and not opened a heedless the techvariations around ceases matter They if youget areinto per-trouble when nological. Five ties years to collaborate musiis a realtoperson. ago, I hadwith edited a the last long vowel AlterNatives forming it atactions great speed and in on real bod- four-volume cians the world. You will their digital are mapped book around titled Digital where I worked withthe more than the which reasonably right pitch.(at You veering towards flippant ies, results in stress times, even ar- with a Cause?risk from Africa andacross Latin can get away withat not performlot. And yetAsia, you can’t come rests) and horror the lack of control they 200 participants America about makes a digital native in ing fast only if you have a husky as what stuck-up. The right degree of have in their digital decisions. Global South. If Icommunicate were to revisit that provoice. music will think then be disaffection helps to that all-imThisYour is why I do not of differently myself as a condig- the Native again, I mighteven rename it Digital textualised: reflective. But toofpull portant message: though you are inital native as deep a user.and Instead, the marker my ject a Pause. this off, you will need reams of Urdu poetry. volved in fusion, you fundamentally continue digitality is as a domain expert. I am not a cod- with er, but I can read code. I am not trained as an to define yourself as a Hindustani musician. Wardrobe: must, with yourthat heart, engineer but IYou understand theall logic as- nishant shah is the co-founder of Centre for Internet Society, India professor of Digital at arunabha deband is a aKolkata-based lawyer Media and a music hold on that turquoise kurta with goldsembles mytocomputer and the signals that and en embroidery/pink-and-green Kanjeevaram. University, Germany writer shubhodeb@hotmail.com make it communicate with networks. I do not Leuphana
Ten tips for Hindustani musicians practising fusion
Times of contradictions As I describe my life, I realise that my present is the science-fiction future that my past had imagined. But even as I immerse myself in the digital circuits of connection, I have a political position that does not belong only to the digital. In growing up as the Generation Y in India, I have had a slow transition from the older technologies to the new one. I touched my first computer at 14. At 15, I got my first Walkman. While I was learning how to write code in BASIC, I was also figuring out the connection between a pen and an audio cassette. I went online for the first time in 1998. A year later I accessed internet at home, which resulted in a massive phone bill that got me groundEvery young Hindustani edBe forSerious: a few months! I even fell in lovemusiand cian now dabbles in ‘fusion’. It doesn’tde help ‘sexted’ before the word had become rito be perceived as the variety, so gueur. I learned how to‘bandwagon’ write HTML just before nurturing serious disposition is an imperathe turn of athe millennium but also worked as seriousness has little to dono with the ative. beatThe reporter for a newspaper with online music. You justpoint. have Ito ensurewith thatayou give edition at that worked start-up the right by interviews and make appropriately initiated a Gujarati American, part of the seriousValley comments. objective simple: Silicon boom The before it wentisbust, andessitablish the general practicewith of fusion as who flipmultaneously did research people pant but your fusion asasmeaningful. thought of Windows something to hang curtains on. of Quotes: You mustand enter inIQuiver have learned to be digital, ameach aware with at least 10 curated quotes. And thatterview it is a privilege. Eventually, as my research, undeterred by the line of questioning, you must spout at least five. Here is a must-have: “I resisted collaborative music (never say ‘fusion’) for the longest time. I knew that I would come into it only when I felt I could add some value to the genre.” (If the interviewer insists on specifics of how you have added value, deftly change the topic. Refer to next tip.)
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A handy guide on how to perform, interview and dress in order to establish the general practice of fusion as flippant, but your fusion as meaningful
arunabha deb
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Games people play In the fetishisation of the young, we overlook the fact that the current billion, as well as the next billion of digital users are not just children but also the older generations who have found their digital groove afp/ hoang dinh nam; (inset) shutterstock / scott bedford
Cite Precedent: This is the safest escape route from uncomfortable questioning. Conjure up a mild sense of indignation at the interviewer’s ignorance and say, “Hindustani musicians have been collaborating with other genres for the longest time.” Then comes the crucial exercise of choosing your example. Referring to Pandit Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass/Zubin Mehta might render you a tad disingenuous. You might do better with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and John Handy. For real impact, you could say that even Ustad Alauddin Khan used western classical instruments in his Maihar band — so that was a merger of musical cultures as well. And if you really want to push the envelope, you should say that Hindustani music is itself a fusion of various musical influences. When pressed to name these influences, just say ‘various folk forms’. That is the point from which no conversation on Indian music has ever returned. political activism and writing coalesced, I think of myself as ‘digitally HowUrdu: You must be ableentrenched’. to go on and on ever, this the is not because of reliance acabout richness of Urdu poetryon, andorhow cess digital technologies and interfaces. it hastochanged your perspective on music.In If fact, the trying measure of my digital nativitysort, has you are to impress a liberal-arts never beensay the amount of time I have spent you could that your orientation in Hindusonline or the speed of you my internet. tani music had made obliviousInstead, to lyrics,I think of myself in asUrdu digitally native of but immersion poetry has because given your my critical andaesthetic invested perch. relationship with digmusic a new You absolutely ital In poems common imagination, musttechnologies. set a few Urdu to tune and perthe is often painted as someformdigital them. native If you are a vocalist, you must put body just ‘naturally’ tuned in to the binahourswho of riyaaz into improvisations around ry of computational usage. Some the logics word ‘Maula’ — especially into perfecting believe thataround this Peter is native variations thePan lastgeneration long vowel, which to the digitalbebecause are the obvious users you should able towe deliver both as passionof ate digital yelp anddevices. intricateHowever, whisper. this overlooks both the infrastructure of learning and the Raga of Jogagency and Raga ki Malhar: You erosion that Miyan goes into becoming a mustuser. have a good command over these two digital ragas. Even if you choose not to bother with the entire ragaroop, please practise all the twoNot all peachy gandhar possibilities Jog andan theanecdote. two-nishad Let me approach thisofthrough A
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Too close for comfort Many of the BBN units border agricultural ďŹ elds
A shade too dark Outside a unit producing chemicals
Foam up A stream in the town of Baddi
Murky waters Effluents from a textile unit near the village school, Bhatian
Waste land A grim picture of the Balad Nadi riverbed
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Heavy duty These massive cement units are responsible for both air and sound pollution
The dirty picture An industrial zone in Himachal’s Solan district leaves a trail of pollution and environmental degradation
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Not a drop to drink Suresh Kumar’s tubewell gives only contaminated water
addi. Barotiwala. Nalagarh. The first two names won’t ring a bell if your interest in Himachal Pradesh is purely touristic. The third, with a fort-turned-heritage hotel, may still sound familiar. Together, these three towns in Solan district form the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) Industrial Area. Close to 3,000 units are crammed into the zone, which was formed in 1984-85 along NH 21A. The BBN area is home to a long list of industries, which speaks for the success of the state government’s industrial package — cement factories, textile units, stone crushers, aluminium smelters, leadacid battery manufacturers, boiler producers, brick kilns, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics companies. Tax subsidies granted by both the Centre and the state have attracted units from highly-polluted industrial areas like Vapi in Gujarat and Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh. The dark side of this success story is the en-
vironmental crisis brewing in the region. In 2009, the BBN area was identified for a Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) study along with 88 other industrial clusters across the country. With an index rating of 69.7 per cent, it almost made it to the Central Pollution Control Board’s list of ‘critically polluted’ areas. Depletion of groundwater due to heavy extraction, increasing river pollution, air pollution, generation of fly ash, illegal dumping of hazardous waste and riverbed mining are some of the key problems identified in the area. Discharge of contaminated waste into the water bodies have polluted six to seven small streams flowing into the Sirsa, a tributary of the Sutlej. Here are some images from this toxic gateway to the Himalayas. sumit mahar is a member of the Himachal-based Him Dhara, an environment research and action collective
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The future is now With the spread of digital technologies, our present is often the science-fiction future that our past had imagined
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The uniting lines The monsoon art season has showered the Capital with shows that get South Asian creative forces conversing with each other about shared histories and differences
Neighbourly exchange Kedar Dhondu’s ‘Dark Dawn’ (left), examines the history of slavery in Goa, via the Portuguese invasion latitude 28; ‘Cosmology to Cartography: A Cultural Journey of Indian Maps’ offers a historical glimpse into early mapmaking practices national museum
Connected, but not bound
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t is perhaps not a coincidence, but it underlines prevailing concerns. In Delhi, the monsoon art season opened with four galleries hosting events that seemingly address issues of national identity and cartographic borders, both from a historic perspective as well as the contemporary nature of borders and the problematic representation of the nation state. We are told this is just the tip of the iceberg. During the summer we witnessed a historic Collateral Project at the 56th Venice Biennale, where Feroze Gujral showcased the unlikely India-Pakistan collaboration ‘My East is Your West’, featuring Pakistani artist Rashid Rana and Indian artist Shilpa Gupta. While Rana’s work collapsed borders between Pakistan and Venice through a live timeshare streaming of viewers interacting with a classical painting in both countries, Gupta’s 10-metre-long outdoor light installation dwelt on the borders and enclaves between India and Bangladesh. The past four years have witnessed a burst of artistic conversations between India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and hen I first encountered the Bhutan. Realising international curator Hans term ‘digital I wonUlrich Obrist’s prophetic wordsnative’, — “Art practicthey looked like. es in South Asia dered shouldwhat ideally speak more to They were supposed to be the South Asia, while it addresses the West…” — newCapital Millennials who grew upinteresting digital andcrosstook the is host to several to new technologies like fish to water. border projects. They were the coding the lurking Gallery Espace directorwarriors, Renu Modi is orgahackers, the techie geeks and the data nerds, nising a four-month exchange programme — who were changing the world2015 one—byte at a from September to December between time. They from the of artists fromwere Indiaremoved and Sri Lanka. Sheworld believes the analogue and were deeply in that a South Asian dialogue notembedded only makes the circuits of the Wide Web. came as sense at a time likeWorld this, but is in factItcrucial. a bit of apolitical surprise situation to me thatisbyso virtue of being “The volatile curborn inbut thewe 1980s, I didn’t havewith to go looking rently, share so much our Asian for one, I wasthat one!it only makes sense to move neighbours The descriptions that accompany the tagand sit beyond obvious exchanges of gunfire a tad uncomfortably on me. They suggest that cricket,” says Modi. “Cultural dialogue opens as a digital I live my life on curatedour Inwindows ofnative, communication, enunciating stagramhistories feeds, distributing strategic ‘likes’ on shared under colonial oppression, social underscoring media networks, my behaviour while ourshaping differences.” to The ‘trend’ with my ‘followers’ on Riyas Twitter, and Sri Lanka-bound artists are Komu, carefully monitoring my dashboards create Chintan Upadhyay, Manisha Parekh,toManjudigitalKamath profilesand on historian-artist distributed devices, nath Paula apps Senand platforms. conversations are Perera, all on gupta. In return,My Espace will host Anoli
the founding core group member of Theertha cal glimpse into early mapmaking practices is — a visual artists-led initiative in Sri Lanka, Ja- the ‘Cosmology to Cartography: A Cultural gath Weerasinghe and Anuradha Koli. Going Journey of Indian Maps’ at the National Mubeyond producing art in a workshop or art seum, on view till October 11. Curated by the camp, the idea is to absorb local culture, archi- London-based Indian architect Vivek Nanda, tecture, visit museums and collect artefacts. together with German cartographer AlexanA one-month residency in Sri Lanka was the der Johnson, it is organised by Hyderabadcatalyst behind young curator Anushka Rajen- based Kalakriti Archives. dran’s two exhibitions featuring South Asia. The gallery walls have been painted a bold The first is at Bhavna Kakar’s Latitude 28 in black to highlight the rich variety of the over Lado Sarai running till September 22. Here you 72 maps spanning 400 years until the early can catch Lankan artists like Pala Pothupitiye, 19th century. From the early hand-painted Jain Thisath Thoradeniya, Pradeep Chandrasiri and Hindu cosmological representations of and Danushka Marasinghe in dialogue with land, complete with depictions of sacred rivPakistani artists Adeela Suleman, Amna Ilyas, ers and pilgrimage sites, the display transiWaseem Ahmed and Imran Channa. tions to the ‘empirical’ cartographic The Indians in the mix are Niyeti Chadha- depictions of the ancient European concepKannal, Sarika Mehta, Sujith SN and Shailesh tion of the subcontinent. One can almost BR. The other show, at Shrine Empire, is in the trace the colonisation of India from the time than fixed jobs expected routines. pipeline. This fairly large exhibiof and Vasco da Gama’s arrival in I admit that there a grain of truth inofthis tion is well-orchestrated, ad1498, to is the ‘consolidation’ Inexaggerated dia list through that I draw I domapmakthink of dressing issues around borders, the up. Raj-era myself as digitally-savvy, with limited skills in maps and the ways in which ers. tinkering, fluency in they affected lived realities. Back in Lado Sarai, yet another It only makeshardware sense to and software usage,project and aexplores co-dependent Pothupitiye’s playful, yet po- move beyonddigital nation,relationborder obvious with theand numerous and tent depictions of the Sri Lanka memory.digital Exhibitdevices 320 showexchanges ofship gunfire WhatsApp, and I use Doodle to figure outand mycricket apps that manage my quotidian life; so much map — superimposed with icocases three artists — Nurjahan Akcomplex andlike iterative calendars. I am sup- so that on my OkCupid dating profile, mennographies the national hlaq from Pakistan, Parul IGupta posed traditional to multitask across tiger multiple screens tion that my smartphone and an internet dress, daggers, from India and Yasmin JahanconNuand devices, and trust my computing devices nection are inpur thefrom top six things that cannot claws and fishing hooks — speak Bangladesh — Icurated andimagined cloud services of mapsto remember that have and manage live without. by Meenakshi Thirukode. my memories. I have lived a speak footloose and come alive withThe thepresence country’sofhistory of coloAkhlaq’s collage-miniatures directly the precarious digitaltensions, in my lifefocusing on the to the re-assemblage fancy-free life thatthe hasgeomemade nisation and ethnic of tradition, also means that belong to a call four countries in three cities of Jaffna andI Colombo. tries of Islamicme architecture that impinge on generation that makesofspecific continents Taiwan, The subtle erasure imagery in Channa’s all forms of expression, and—finally the China, kitsch choices — I am not supposed the US luscious and Germany — ‘home’. large work speaks to Sarika to Mehta’s delicate of the bazaar. red-velvet flowWhile I was learning how Nupur’s own propertyofbut AirBnb (yes,tugging I am always separated a few watercolour birds playfully at and negotiate histories with by broader to write code ers in BASIC, I personal it is now athe verb), andof I am thousand miles fromconversaat least changing shape thenot net representing socio-political environmental was also figuring out the and supposed to drive but Uber my half my friends, my relathe India map. tions embedded within the ideaand of nationalconnection between a way around I travonly “‘Lay of thecities. Land:When A work in Progress’ treats ism. address remain a kindalive of mass pen and an They alsotionships el I am to eschew and the hospitalithrough distributed cirshared histories relatable socio-political forgetting. Gupta focusesthe on line and its relaaudio cassette ty industry andSouth crashAsia on as the cuits and of connectivity that socontexts within a point of depar- tionship to formal spatial negotiations willing resources of a experiences Couchcial media and VoIP ture to chart the lived of artists, within the architecture of built spaces. surfer, and in my free timepolitical I am borderlines applications offer. consequently rendering Each exhibition brings into focus a unique to superfluous,” become a Mechanical Turk I wear multiple hats. Which as says Rajendran. aspect of South Asia, while this increased diaperforming tasks forrealisation little money, makesamong my family weary of in trying to explain You come simple away with the thatand all logue the countries this region provolunteering my time on glorious what Ian do alternative to people who ‘But he is a profesmaps are a work-in-progress, as it user-generis impossi- vides andask, diverse narrative to atedtocontent spaces like Wikipedia and Red- being sor, no?’ I change devices work in ble capture the dynamics of constantly viewed as the ‘other’quickly by the and occident. dit, preferring complex variety of an ecosystem that collects and curates a maschanging cities andacountries. maddox is about a Delhi-based art writer preunpredictable and mobile resources rather georgina sive amount of data me, generating Another exhibition offering a vivid, histori-
The mark of a digital native is not the hours spent online or the broadband speed, rather a critical and invested relationship with digital technologies
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dictions what I want to buy, who I want to MANJHon KHAMAJ date, which friend needs activation in my networks, and whether I have slept enough today.
couple of years ago, I was sitting at a restau- create websites or design apps, but I can read rant in Hawaii with a friend from India. We the political choices that are made and the asked the server for a glass of lemonade with- frameworks that they engender in my everyout sugar. He could not compute that request. day life. I am aware of the processes of surveilOur server, a young, well-spoken man in his lance and interception that lurk under the early 20s, only knew lemonade as it came out seductive interfaces of my big-data life. I read, of a bottle. When he made lemonade, he research and write about the implications of opened a can of premixed powder, mixed the digital, and work with people in different some of it with water, crushed ice and served sectors to understand my own power, agency it. On further inquiry it turnand choice in the world of ed out that he had never eatcustomisation that the digital en a lemon — they are not has to offer. I am a digital naindigenous to the island of tive not because I am digital Hawaii — and for him, a glass but, paradoxically, because I My complex relationship of lemonade could only come insist on keeping one foot with the digital, where I out of a packet and be sweet. outside of the digital. I am a celebrate and am cautious While this might sound lu- about it, perhaps brings me digital native not because of dicrous to our ears, it is an ex- closer to the digital settlers my continued, and often experience that I have and immigrants who might pensive attempts at being repeatedly had with other connected 24/7/365 (I actually not have ‘grown up digital’ digital natives who live emtried a digital detox last year bedded in digital networks — didn’t work; I went on Facebut don’t know how they are book and lamented about it), made. They can’t compute but because I am critically the repercussions that their actions might aware of the perils that accompany my conhave, and they have no idea who makes and nectivity. controls these technologies that they interact My complex relationship with the digital, with so closely. For Millennials who have where I celebrate and am cautious about it, grown up with these technologies as a natural perhaps brings me closer to the digital settlers ecosystem, the ethical, political and cultural and immigrants who might not have ‘grown dimensions of these technology practices are up digital’. opaque — the digital equivalent of add water In the fetishisation of the young, we often and stir. overlook the fact that the current billion, as well as the next billion of digital users are not just the younger generation but also the older ones who have found their groove online. This brings me to another anecdote. I was walking down a street in Amsterdam with a friend and we were trying to locate a shop with good winter coats. My friend called up her mother to get a recommendation and the answer was: ‘Why don’t you just Google it?’ When I landed in Ahmedabad last week, my father initiated me into the world of Ola Cabs, so that I wouldn’t have to wait for an auto. When my younger brother decided to search for his life partner online, I saw the ways in which parents create accounts Think harder Referring to the collaboration between Philip Glass and Panditand Ravi handle Shankar might renderfor youtheir a tad disingenuous the hindu archives children on matrimonial sites, managing a complex workflow of emails, profiles, updates, and discussion groups. combinations of Miyan ki Malhar. You will be In a group where all your ‘western’ collaborain clothes that border on the considered a fusion outcast if you exercise any tors are dressed Hit pause for closer the tradition restraint in introducing these note axes when- normal, your silksI will findstand myself to the you represent and your unwillingness diever you are singing an alaap-like passage. practices of this to older lute merely to blend in.generation, who might Higher Octaves: This is not a metaphor. have come upon the Distinct Entity: You must always Whether you are a vocalist or an instrudigital withmaintain hesitathat your classical self tion. is distinct from your mentalist, you have to display great facility This hesitation to insist thattowhen with the higher notes. Not all listeners will collaborative self. You haveallows them be a don’t detect find comfort in poetry — for them, you must you perform classical, listeners bit sceptical about avatardevices in your mubring out your higher octave artillery. If you even a tinge of your fusiontheir and sic. However,technology when you in talk of can perform a gradually rising genyour abilities you sequence that culminates in the This is why, when eral in andfusion, stops them should absolutely attribute third octave tonic, perfect: you digital natives share from revealing inapthem to your ‘solid information foundation’ will melt If you files, they in dothe notapplause. think propriate If you are vocalist, in Hindustani music. canithitasit stealing. again andThey again, you of online, and also makes you must put hours will beprivate a legend. post information them kinder to strangers of riyaaz into This the on public forums, unaware onDisaffection: the web. They giveisa moimprovisations Either Speed or Husk: Nothdifficult to acthat the information might have ment most of pause to theskill breathless around the word ing sells like virtuosity. Faster quire. we Youhave cannot too real-life implications. They engage in interactions with sound our digital ‘Maula’ — especially you of sing/play, higher and the harassment imaboutforhow fusion has acts cyber-bullying with- technologies,keen and allow a point of reflecinto perfecting pact.recognising What you that are performing upsurrender amazing to opportuniout the user at the other end tion and not opened a heedless the techvariations around ceases matter They if youget areinto per-trouble when nological. Five ties years to collaborate musi-a is a realtoperson. ago, I hadwith edited the last long vowel AlterNatives forming it atactions great speed and in on real bod- four-volume cians the world. You will their digital are mapped book around titled Digital where I worked withthe more than the which reasonably right pitch.(at You veering towards flippant ies, results in stress times, even ar- with a Cause?risk from Africa andacross Latin can getand away withat not performlot. And yetAsia, you can’t come rests) horror the lack of control they 200 participants America about makes a digital native of in ing fast only if you have a husky as what stuck-up. The right degree have in their digital decisions. Global South. If Icommunicate were to revisit that provoice. music then be disaffection helps to that all-imThisYour is why I do will not think of differently myself as acondig- the Native again, I mighteven rename it Digital textualised: reflective. But toofpull portant message: though you are inital native asdeep a user.and Instead, the marker my ject a Pause. this off, you will need reams of Urdu poetry. volved in fusion, you fundamentally continue digitality is as a domain expert. I am not a cod- with er, but I can read code. I am not trained as an to define yourself as a Hindustani musician. Wardrobe: must, with yourthat heart, engineer but IYou understand thealllogic as- nishant shah is the co-founder of Centre for Internet Society, India professor of lawyer Digital Media at arunabha deband is a aKolkata-based and a music hold on that turquoise kurta with goldsembles mytocomputer and the signals that and en embroidery/pink-and-green Kanjeevaram. University, Germany writer shubhodeb@hotmail.com make it communicate with networks. I do not Leuphana
Ten tips for Hindustani musicians practising fusion
Times of contradictions As I describe my life, I realise that my present is the science-fiction future that my past had imagined. But even as I immerse myself in the digital circuits of connection, I have a political position that does not belong only to the digital. In growing up as the Generation Y in India, I have had a slow transition from the older technologies to the new one. I touched my first computer at 14. At 15, I got my first Walkman. While I was learning how to write code in BASIC, I was also figuring out the connection between a pen and an audio cassette. I went online for the first time in 1998. A year later I accessed internet at home, which resulted in a massive phone bill that got me groundEvery young Hindustani edBe forSerious: a few months! I even fell in lovemusiand cian now dabbles in ‘fusion’. It doesn’tde help ‘sexted’ before the word had become rito be perceived theto‘bandwagon’ variety, so gueur. I learned as how write HTML just before nurturing serious disposition is an imperathe turn of athe millennium but also worked as seriousness has little to dono with the ative. beatThe reporter for a newspaper with online music. You justpoint. have Itoworked ensurewith thatayou give edition at that start-up the right by interviews and make appropriately initiated a Gujarati American, part of the seriousValley comments. objective simple: Silicon boom The before it wentisbust, andessitablish the general practicewith of fusion as who flipmultaneously did research people pant but your fusion asasmeaningful. thought of Windows something to hang curtains on. of Quotes: You must and enter each inIQuiver have learned to be digital, am aware with at least 10 curated quotes. And thatterview it is a privilege. Eventually, as my research, undeterred by the line of questioning, you must spout at least five. Here is a must-have: “I resisted collaborative music (never say ‘fusion’) for the longest time. I knew that I would come into it only when I felt I could add some value to the genre.” (If the interviewer insists on specifics of how you have added value, deftly change the topic. Refer to next tip.)
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A handy guide on how to perform, interview and dress in order to establish the general practice of fusion as flippant, but your fusion as meaningful
arunabha deb
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Games people play In the fetishisation of the young, we overlook the fact that the current billion, as well as the next billion of digital users are not just children but also the older generations who have found their digital groove afp/ hoang dinh nam; (inset) shutterstock / scott bedford
Cite Precedent: This is the safest escape route from uncomfortable questioning. Conjure up a mild sense of indignation at the interviewer’s ignorance and say, “Hindustani musicians have been collaborating with other genres for the longest time.” Then comes the crucial exercise of choosing your example. Referring to Pandit Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass/Zubin Mehta might render you a tad disingenuous. You might do better with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and John Handy. For real impact, you could say that even Ustad Alauddin Khan used western classical instruments in his Maihar band — so that was a merger of musical cultures as well. And if you really want to push the envelope, you should say that Hindustani music is itself a fusion of various musical influences. When pressed to name these influences, just say ‘various folk forms’. That is the point from which no conversation on Indian music has ever returned. political activism and writing coalesced, I think of myself as ‘digitally HowUrdu: You must be ableentrenched’. to go on and on ever, this the is not because of reliance acabout richness of Urdu poetryon, andorhow cess digital technologies and interfaces. it hastochanged your perspective on music. In If fact, the trying measure of my digital nativitysort, has you are to impress a liberal-arts never beensay the amount of time I have spent you could that your orientation in Hindusonline or the speed of you my oblivious internet. Instead, tani music had made to lyrics,I think of myself in asUrdu digitally native of but immersion poetry has because given your my critical andaesthetic investedperch. relationship with digmusic a new You absolutely ital In poems common imagination, musttechnologies. set a few Urdu to tune and perthe is often painted as someformdigital them. native If you are a vocalist, you must put body just ‘naturally’ tuned in to the binahourswho of riyaaz into improvisations around ry of computational usage. Some the logics word ‘Maula’ — especially into perfecting believe thataround this Peter is which native variations thePan lastgeneration long vowel, to the digitalbebecause are the obvious users you should able towe deliver both as passionof ate digital yelp anddevices. intricateHowever, whisper. this overlooks both the infrastructure of learning and the Raga of Jogagency and Raga ki Malhar: Youa erosion that Miyan goes into becoming mustuser. have a good command over these two digital ragas. Even if you choose not to bother with the entire ragaroop, please practise all the twoNot all peachy gandhar possibilities Jog and an theanecdote. two-nishad Let me approach thisofthrough A
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Raising an illusion dipankar
German mentalist Nicolai Friedrich on how magic uses logic and creative thinking to accomplish what appears impossible
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nything that’s pleasantly out of the ordinary is magic. It’s often overwhelming and even freaky. For Nicolai Friedrich, it is a metaphor for the human ability to make seemingly impossible things possible. Friedrich blends visual artistry and mind tricks with excellent comic timing, leaving audiences awestruck. He attempts to inspire the audience to look beyond the boundaries of reality. With no one in his family even remotely connected to magic, he started out by studying law at the university and even became a professional lawyer. But magic was destiny. “My mother thinks I learned something really serious. But lawyers and magicians have a lot in common, so I guess it worked out all right,” he says. On his fourth visit to India, Friedrich performed across five cities. In an exclusive interview before his opening show in New Delhi, he talked about the magical tricks that oscillate between belief and make-belief. Excerpts from want the public to be deprived of any thenot interview. details,” explains the constable. He seems Is magic for real?So far I have not been beaten to be cordial. Well, believe is past magic up. IA spot boythere hurries withhappening a plate of around us every day.byHowever, weman are carryoften samosas, followed a make-up blind wonders life and ingtoa those tray. Ilittle notice severaloftubes ofnature. Fair & Instead them for Lovely.ofI admiring, reach out we forsimply one of take the samosas, granted. I have to admit thatmy myhand show is not but the constable slaps real magic but it absolutely away. “Khabardar!” he says,looks “See like the it. So I trypacket to get asofclose to realsauce? magic as I can. tomato Those are for the SHO.” What“Is gotityou magic and mindtrueinterested that youinwill reading? soon be adding live comAt mentary?” four, I saw Ia ask. magician “Yes,” in hea circus. It perplexed and I thoughtwill of becoming a magisays,me “The experience be cian myself. I invested all my time, richer. WeSoon haveafter, requested money andPolice effort to in pick learning Punjab up new tricks. So probably this first magic show was the cornerstone of my career.
POLICE TO PROBE LIVE ON TELEVISION!
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SHOVON CHOWDHURY is chief Truthdigger and author of Murder with Bengali Characteristics
Navjot Singh Sidhu. We wanted to bring in Why should only Arnab get TRPs, he said. Gavaskar-sir, but we were feeling shy.” We can also get TRPs. He is a visionary. He “What about cheerleaders?” I ask, “Will has also thought of a Bigg Boss type show, you have cheerleaders?” He looks down- wherein the public gets to vote guilty or not cast. “We are not sure yet. A committee is be- guilty after watching the investigation.” A man carrying an umbrella enters the ing formed to study the social and moral implications of this.” He ducks out of sight, police station, followed by a man with a disappearing briefly, before reap- trumpet. He blows the trumpet. My friend pearing on my other side. “Sorry,” snaps to attention. “Salute, salute,” he whishe says. “I spotted some- pers, “Commissioner is here to do personal one trying to file an FIR.” interview.” The Commissioner enters, a commanding presence withand a profile to world die “Howsays did youFriedrich, get thisis a mixture Mixing it up Mental magic, Nicolai of psychology, suggestion magic agp idea of turning your inves- for. He stands in front of the interrogation tigations into a live room as the make-up man applies a few finCan magic ever go wrong? psychology show?” I ask. “It was Com- ishing touches.helps us understand why people Oh yes, especially if you have invented some- “Will behave the way they do. IItwhisper. is quite“Only easy to demissioner-saab, naturally. he also be singing?” thing entirely new. it isvery all part of the if you tectask a lienicely,” or predict behaviour. Our body HisHowever, brain is large. saysfuture the constable. natural procedure of trial and error. The most is constantly sending out information, so if important thing that you learn is to never you think your secret thoughts are safe within make the same mistake twice. Luckily most of your head if you keep your mouth shut, you the time, the audience will not are wrong! even realise when something You have performed in India goes wrong, because a good mabefore. How has the response gician always has a plan B up his been? sleeve, so he can secretly switch A good magician to that and finish the trick. always has a plan B up Indian audiences have been very receptive and have loved my his sleeve, so he can Which is the most difficult secretly switch to that ‘mentalism’ and illusion tricks. trick you have tilltime. Bihar between, reach inperformed the nick of andisfinish the trickone Manjhi. Now one Modi has Haveminute you heard or met any date?about to end it all. I help Bihar down come. One he of questions I flew from an airplane blindfolded. It Indian or mentalist? the chair. “You’re alone, right?” my DNA, nextmagician day he says I’m inhave he met some was asays dangerous publicityanxiously stunt he Brihanmumbai Municipal ing underneath? Have they even thought telligent.I Does love meIndian or hatemagiBihar, peering over cians won’t and mentalists and have for television andone since Corporation has prohibited the about the suffering they’re causing? ApparmyGerman shoulder. “If I hear more me? Why he tell? What some, unfortunately have not there was no autopilot I amgoing happy use of lingerie on mannequins, ently all this is to prevent sex crimes. If I am I dobut to deserve this? It’sItrue question about DNA, I’m tothat I man- heard ofdid seen their shows yet. The magician aged to land Every the plane to protect the morals of the not allowed to wear undies, how will this that during theonly Maurya andwhom kill myself. five safely. years, this I knew and admired lot was Ali Bongo. youth, without even once considering if prevent sex crimes? Will it not increase the happens. They examine me. Gupta ages, asome amount of He Does mind-reading intuition or the lived in the UK, but I found out that he was the mannequins would like it. “It’s as if our danger, especially if I’m wearing chiffon? conquering occurred. Blood They analyse me. Myinvolve history-gesixth sense? born in Bangalore. modesty is nobody’s concern,” says Prami- What happens if it rains? Meanwhile, we ography is thrown around. was shed. Wealth was transIReasons would say Mental magic la, a mannequin who works at Banarasi Sari are constantly being examined by city offiferred. These things happen. But forboth. my failure are dis- is a mixture of it bewas correct to say that magic tricks psychology, suggestion and magic. Even Wouldthat Bhandar. “Just because we have perfect cials. Their power is not restricted to underso long ago. Since then, cussed in detail. People write logic to them andI yet they arework though bodies, does it mean we can be exposed like wear. As per government order, they have harm have done? You pieces onit looks Pappu.that way, it has nothing to have what with powers. Howev- illusions? this? Some may enjoy it, but I’m not like to judge if our dress is indecent. The other for The Hindu group. In faraway PatWhy dodo they dosupernatural it? I correct. er, our mind that. I’m more traditional. My fiancé is day, one of them adjusted my pallu. He linnever change, and has much more poten- Yes, that na is weabsolutely salute you. If youMagic speak,uses the logic thinking accomplish thanme? most of us are aware of. and creative working in suitings at Raymond’s. Even he gered. I am now apprehensive. We are gonation will listen. to Please ask themsomehow can youtial blame that looks fact isthat it If we train and use some of the thing to is facing problems. Some of their fabric is ing on indefinite strike demanding right to leave meimpossible. alone. All The I want Who else has suffered impossible thequiet, illusion, all magipotential we possess, lookssome very itchy. Why don’t you try wearing 50 to lingerie. Until then, if you want to check peace is and andsince a modlike me? First Ihidden had Lalu. are also bound to the laws of nature. can In do things that may cians 60 per cent polyester trousers with noth- out an outfit, wear it yourself.” erate amount of carbohydrate.” Then there was we Nitish. seem like miracles to othThe Investigator is a monthly round-up of all things droll and newsy. All views are personal. Really personal t@shovonc ers. The study of human arunima mazumdar is a Delhi-based writer e are lathi-charging the media much less these days,” says the constable, “because sometimes we have to borrow their cameras.” We are standing inside a police station in an upscale south Mumbai locality. The thana itself is downscale. It is a hotbed of activity. A lightman is standing on a desk, adjusting a halogen. The soundman rushes out of the interrogation room, his headphones still on his head. His face tells a story. His bladder is bursting. He has waited too long. The substitute soundman rushes into the room with his gear. He had been standing next to us all this time, poised like a cheetah. “We keep a duplicate, as we do
MUMBAI MANNEQUINS DEMAND UNDERWEAR
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ON THE SHELF
Going boom The time is now THE CRITICAL ISSUE
Seven hundred and sixty pages of linguistic wizardry, Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow is How might a museum a life-changing bookbe set up? What would it house, in terms of tangible things, and how would it deal with people’s memories? And is the time right for such an exercise? anita roy
person can ‘do’ so many voices. It is, ironically, Pynchon’s invisibility that makes him stand out, in a publishing industry that recently hit a new low with the publication of Selfish, an art book comprised entirely of Kim Kardashian’s mobile phone selfies. Author Arthur Salm muses that if Pynchon and Paris Hilton ever met, the resulting “matter/ antimatter explosion would vaporize everything from here to Tau Ceti IV.” So let’s leave the Wizard safely behind his curtain, and follow the yellow brick road into Pynchon’s very own Oz, a maelstrom of parody lyrics, statistics and probability, ballistics and rocket science, behavioural psychology, scatological slurs and madly inventive names (‘Pirate’ Prentice, Dr Laslo Jamf, Tyrone Slothrop, Tantivy Mucker-Maffick, Bartley Gobbitch, Teddy Bloat — take your pick: there are around 400 characters in the book to choose from). Set during the final months of World War II, this is a war-ravaged world, characters’ minds are as Blitzkrieged as the cities they stumble Lest we forget around. Survivors of the of a homoerotic Like the bastard offspring Bhopal gas disaster transhistoricalshare ménage a trois involving Don a moment of DeLillo, Herman Melville and Lenny Bruce, reflection at The Pynchon doesn’t just have his finger on the Remember Bhopal Who is that Thomas Pynchon makes a delicious cameo appearance in The Simpsons where he stands masked in am faruqui museum pulse of the white, male, American psyche, he front of a large neon sign that says ‘Thomas Pynchon’s House. Come on in’ twitter/the simpsons slices open the entire artery. have had museums on my mind lately. It as if it were a place of worship, taking their and now a repository of invaluable oralbook’s and vi-title) The plot arc (referenced in the all began with a small ideadrops that took ometimes a book intoroot your life shoeswould off and headsPynchon while recall covering himself ‘atheir recluse’, sual follows records.the AndNazi then the large numbers of the development of the V-2, in our office: how would it be to set or upfate, a or like a depth-charge. Chance, browsing plied,the “Myexhibits. belief is that ‘recluse’ is a code word individual collections of art, films, photos, ob- misworld’s first long-range guided ballistic museum women’s history in India? Exa of misguided librarian, or a mischiePerhaps the most stunning exhibit is a huge generated by journalists… meaning, doesn’t jects sile, and asorocket on. that broke the sound-barrier. GI cited, we began to explore in earnest. vous Englishit high school teacher hall painted topreporters.” to bottom with like to from talk to He everyday All of this, and more,Slothrop, is exciting. Butchattering, there teeth Thelaunches internetthis provided some on womtome in yourleads direction. It seems images of Sikh life, where both music, and the are also dangers: unearthing sends himself up deliciously memory, dealing explains to Tantivy Mucken’s museums in different parts of the world. to trace a quasi-mystical parabola to reach its play in of alight, tellappearance multiple narratives cameo on The of what with divided histories, iser-Maffick, never an easy thing,other “The We discovered there were quite fewfor of athem target — the pointed metalatip split secthe Sikh way ofwhere life has to in stand for. At and it cannot be done without Simpsons hecome stands being fully kind, those V-1s, cogyou can — in Germany, Switzerland, Vietnam, ond strikesItaly, the top of your skull — andSeshortly the centre of athis brightly coloured front of large neon sign that and lively nisant of the responsibility carries. This Maybe is hear itthem. Right? negal,afterwards, Dubai, for example. you hear it detonate: boom. The depiction a video ofPynchon’s the Golden Temple something that any museum reads lies‘Thomas project will need you have a chance to get Targeted added this: quietly we visited dif- where sound travel of your mindto being blown. people ceaselessly make their way to to be aware of. A question House. Come on in’ with a pahas way. refused outthat of the Buttothese ferent museums — having secured a smallRainThomas Pynchon’s 1973 novel, Gravity’s the Harmandir and (Inciper bag overSahib his head. go away, for example, in our first, think-a-and things explode grantbow, fromdid thethat much-maligned Ford Foundafor me, anyway. And having recircledentally, the water tank when he wasin sent the ing on a women’s is howcomthen museum, you hear them tion to do thetoinitial research — talked to peo- after turned my old bedroom bookshelf which it stands. script, he apparently refused do you placeing inside the if in.museums Except that, ple who haddecades run them, looked at what they several away, I decided to risk re-read- Meanwhile, back in Delhi, to utter the words “No wonder continuing histories of sexual you’re dead, youvio-don’t contained, to do, where ing it. what Not athey task were to betrying undertaken lightly, you coincidentally, discussion Homer is asuch a fat-ass” be-A question that has lence? Is it even desirable hear them.” to do so? refused to go away on a What about theThis the money came from, and then began to plan had begun understand. possibilityto procause, on as the he explained women is awhose worldhisof lies women’s museum, is our strategy. For a start, it is a dense, heavy book — 760 of setting a museum on ducerup Matt Selman, “Homer is tories these are? if youmind-experiextend and And sinister how do you place inside that questionments, Meanwhile, sort of unbidden, other mu- bepages of linguistic wizardry that oscillates the Partition India, and my roleofmodel andsoI can’t to the idea of a Partisado-masochistic museums the seum-like began to make theirincompreway otherspeakthoughts tweenthoughts tantalising insight and total ill of him.”) were tion museum, then how(you would armaments heard continuing histories of into my head. Sometimes, become hensibility, sometimeswhen in theyou same sentence.sparkedHe off. has been likened to Greta such a museum with the his- of me),deal covert operations, interested something, your brain anddangerous your Andinfor another thing, it is that How might a mu- of Oz. sexual violence? Garbo and such the Wizard tories of mass rape? Can this surveillance andhistocontrol, eyes, thing: almost of own accord, startAseeking a their life-changing book. book that seumOne becritic set refers up? to Where Pynchon as ry be left out?ofClearly not, but how and Pavlovian octopi out that very thing. discovered aof museum stretches your We understanding what literawould be located? What “anitenigma” in both senses: he is then can be breakfasts included unrooftopit banana This book stretches of theture Bhopal gasthat tragedy, museum of concan do, takes ayou by the hand — or by would its purpose enigmatic, butbe? he What is also, like the sensitively? der London’s barrage balloons, your understanding flict in a number of small and and theAhmedabad, nose — and leads you down difficult would it house, terms ofencrypted, Nazi code ofinthe 1940s, There voyages are, as always, nosewers easy anthrough where of what literature largewarped museums in Delhi listings putabout pathways to (some discover things tangible things, and would deal with a code for us to how break. Someitconswers. But itcan is time thatsocial we began to isthink every nuance readable theto seeinhow this figure at 21, say it’sobsession higher). that you canwar and sex,some death and thosespiracy intangibles, people’s memories? is taking theorists believe he is ac- Anddo, aboutyou thisbyand might begin thealong the we accretions of shit hand — or by the Interest piqued,even I decided visitto. a museum the time not unlearn, if youtowant right for such an exercise? tually several people: a single pen process of creating such museums. And here, the way, not to mention — Ias if I nose —think, downnew difficult that had long beenLee on or myJDagenda: mu- is In name Like Harper Salinger,the Pynchon many for ways, do believe thehands. time is right. theI work of many technology offers—many possibili- pascouldn’t the infamous pathways seumone of Sikh history, known as Virasat-e-Khalof those high-profile literary recluses In — the last impression few years, soismuch has happened That bolstered in and warped ties. So, for example,sage myof dream of adetailed Partition lovingly coprosa, inthe Anandpur Sahib. Set up in 1999, Virasat, only known photograph of him dates back that refers usthe to the great need people have be- museum would bephilia part by extraordinary breadth to create such mu- cost thattwoprobably as thetolocals call it, traces thein history of70s theand 10 livthe early 1950s. Now his late gun to to speak out, to tell their stories. seums, one in IndiaPynchon of feel his knowledge across a variety and onethe in Pakistan, Pulitzer. and gurusing of in Sikhism and Pynchon was set uphas to evaded commemoNew York, the modThis of is technical in contrast to, say, two decades back then connect them Thirty-two fields. through a years video after link, first rate 300 of the Khalsa. ern years publishing publicity machine far more when people reluctant to speak When were askedstill to write a review of out. whereby visitors in picking Pakistanitcan and talk up,see I’m re-reading Imposing in itsthan design, theEven museum offers successfully most. in a fairly recent Witness the numbers of archives that Pynchon’s first novel, V., for the Newhave York Reto visitors inRainbow. India and vice versa. Wouldn’t Gravity’s free entry anyone wishes to see it.toAsslip a unnews to item aboutwho him, he managed comeview up: of a web archive the 1947 PartiBooks, Georgecalled Plimpton’s first impresthat be As a great way to defeat designs of our I write this, I’mthe only about halfway result, of visitors, mostly alocals derhundreds the radar. The camera showed busy New tion Archive, of oral sion waswhich that has thethousands author was “thenarsort of governments? through. fromYork the town, pilgrims plac-chanstreetand with him infrom it butnearby the news ratives, the Citizens Archive Pakistan, begun in a person that could turnofout an almanac Boom. blink@thehindu.co.in es, turn every day. Many treat the museum nelup — respecting his wishes — refused to pick in a small by a few committed mind.” individuals, week,way a huge encyclopaedic Added to him out of the crowd. that is Pynchon’s virtuoso ventriloquism: it anita roy is a writer, editor and publisher When asked by the same CNN team if he seems almost impossible to believe that one www.anitaroy.net
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times he gasps, ‘yeh sahi cheez hai (this is the right thing), the role of writers and reporters and the Booker wins that he finds laughable. Excerpts from the interview. The relationship of Indians with the English language is of special interest to you. In which ways do Indians use it best and in which ways do we mangle it? I have often seen signs in Bihar, but also elsewhere in India, saying ‘Child Beer Sold Here’. I was delighted when Siddhartha Chowdhury used that in a novel. There is no pleasure in being prescriptive about language. I enjoy the inventive ways in which language is manipulated to make meaning. But even as I say this, I have to acknowledge that I often get mails from people in India who want advice about writing. And while reading their letters, my first impulse, quite often, is to ask them to read George Orwell. If I could I would assume the lotus position, left hand resting in my lap, right hand held upright with the index finger resting upon Crowd-pullers the thumb and the other fingers fanning out Anshulika Dubey and I in a pleasing way. If anyone came to me Priyanka Agarwal, would offer the mantra: ‘Write simply. Be dico-founders of rect’. Or quote from the Vedas of Strunk and Wishberry White: ‘Omit needless words’.
The big-hearted mob
You write in Lunch With a Bigot: “A novel’s primary task is to produce a map of the contemporary moment.” If realism has become your religion, what has fiction become for you? The essay from which you are quoting, ‘Bad News’, begins with a description of the murder of Aarushi Talwar. So, let me try to answer your question by using that example. I don’t think a novel about that killing or, for that matter, about the infamous Delhi rape case of December 2012 would have worked. You’d have to use an iron prod on me to make me pick up a novel about those deaths. I say this among reasons, those tragehe world’s first animation film in collected until then is returned. On the other because, readily agree with.other Her pitch was for ₹5 lakh to demand better and more meticulously reSanskrit, Punyakoti, is currently un- hand, if additional money is raised, then the dies launch Loveability, a matchmaking app for ported non-fiction. I’vealready read theraised reviews of the der production. Based on a much- project creator gets to use it for the project. the disabled. She has over ₹6 Senofbook on the Talwar case. One loved folksong from Karnataka Globally, there are four established models new lakh Avirook well ahead the campaign’s deadline. welcome for such books. I had liked Patrick about a cow that speaks the truth at all times, for crowd-funding: rewards, equity, debt and must “Matrimony people with disability is vesober account of theeveryone murder. who Suchunan the film has music by the legendary composer social (namely, charity fundraising). The equi- French’s ry challenging and I wanted New script Amitava Kumar he doesn’t want to use language to build a bloodyadopted wall, instead wants to use theproblem sensationalistic, if not crimiIlaiyaraaja. Director Ravisays Shankar V had earlier ty model is usually byhestart-ups, giv- antidote derstandstothe to come together and kamal narang language quietly, but quite militantly, as an instrument of ownership reporting practised in the published a picture-book on Punyakoti andof communication ing the backers a stake in the company. nal, havesort equal in changing the mainsituapress. held exhibitions as well. Yet, his dream film Wishberry follows the rewards model, which stream tion. Crowd-funding makes you accountable asked mehave about fiction! project fell short of ₹40 lakh. That’s when he has captured 60 per cent of the global market to But the you people who backed you,When whichI the remark about realism my reliturned to Wishberry, a crowd-funding plat- share in crowd-funding. Here, backers are re- made leads to faster execution as well,”being says Khona. was commenting, not without form where people from all walks of life can warded with funky merchandise from the gion, TheIentire process also doubles as an some effecdistance,and on branding my desirestrategy, to have awhich jourcontribute as little as ₹500 towards any art project or a VIP ticket for the premiere of the critical tive marketing as the protagonist of my first novel, project they are passionate about. The re- movie they are supporting, a mention in the nalist is an added bonus that no other funding procProducts (2007). quired funds trickled in steadily, and Punyako- credits, or perhaps an autographed DVD of the Home ess provides, she pointsWhy out.this desire for observational integrity? I think it year, sprang from an ti is readying for release next year. music album produced. In January this Wishberry anxiety about authenticity. moved away “We took the crowd-funding route as it was “When we were starting, I was completed its I’ve seed funding from the kindround of fetishism of the real.co-led Now, by in difficult finding producers for a niche film told nobody in India gives monworth ₹4 crore, the space of fiction, want MD to play with what is like this, where returns are not predictable,” ey without expecting returns. GoogleIIndia Rajan Anandan I was told nobody in real software or historical. So that iSPIRT’s what is says Ravi Shankar. That has been proved to be unand think-tank India gives recognisably money imagined is aSharad disturbance, a stone thrown inRaising small amounts of money from a true,” says Dubey. Passion for a Sharma. without expecting to the waters ofWhile what actually large number of people, crowd-funding plat- cause can get people to loosen projectshappened. ranging from returns. That has forms like Wishberry are now coming to the their purse strings. As was done films to food and art to product been proved to be Products in 2007, and you You wrote Home aid of theatre artistes, filmmakers, musicians by Samir Chabukswar, CEO of dedesign are tasting success with untrue mention thatWishberry, you wishedthe thatcompany when people and anyone in the creative space in need of sign firm Yug Design. itself is read it they would it wereItwritten funds. “While I was working on a project for He has contributed ₹4 lakh toyet toimagine break even. chargesin 10 Hindi. Why did you wish my previous employer (McKinsey), I came wards the Punyakoti animation per cent ofthat? the money raised as mitava Kumar is the theidea kindresonated of writer collection. Whilefully the well genres might change, I find it quitecommission, ridiculous that in Delhi, for exacross crowd-funding and film, knowing that while its costs inyou getpeople to know with ev- they a robust you’ll find rich speaking in Enwith me. While area bit notbetter buying (art), thereare willallbecharacterised no financial by returns. “Asengagedesign- ample, clude maintaining andpeople updating the website, ery book. Here artists is a person whoproen- ment an examination oftrying what to is glish to working people whostaffing might have many are willing to back and fund ers, wewith, are inand a niche field. Someone investment in technology, needscome and is beyond. He writes gagesthis deeply fully with all that jects. I thought was and a good way to save art within make aand filmwhat in Sanskrit resonated withwith our to so do on.menial jobs from places like Darbhanga. is around him,says whether it is the rats the of Patna a vast cast characters, as if the rich doesn’t know has anand culture,” Anshulika Dubey, COO equal cause. passion Sanskritabout is a language weof should all be It isn’t “I wouldn’t say person that our product or the taxi drivers of New York. The words of from to Arundhati Roy to his language, in this case, Hindi. Butisthey’ll of Wishberry. proudManoj of. AndBajpai we believe in participating in other cracked the market. Crowd-funding not a Oliver Sacks, neurologist and author, who family. effort,” Even while he might delve into out the speak onlyindustry in English. are giving a comPriyanka Agarwal and she co-founded the own any related he says. Shankar points developed yet.You We have to crack how passed away come to since mind when andisideological, thepayoff book ends with mand demanding (‘Excuseplatme, company in recently, 2012 and have raisedone ₹5 political that money not the only in crowdpeopleorinteract with something a crowd-funding most Your moving andalso acutely observed when essay excuse reads Kumar: “I have been a sentient me…’) but your psychological is crore for 250 projects through 11,000 being, backersa the funding. ideas get validated form. And we need to coach people onintent how to deaththe of his mother. thinking Lunchlike With Bigot, Ku- on erect anproduct,” insurmountable wall. It is a class across theanimal…” world. It works this:aAn upcomyouthe choose crowd-funding route, which to pitch their says Dubey. mar’s most and recent collection of essays — divid- does With five non-fiction and a novel be- thing. ing project its funding pitch are uploaded not happen whenbooks you choose convenAnd yes, soon there will be an app for it too, ed Writing, PlacesIfand — hind the routes, professor of English at Vassar from Now, to link it to my novel, I didn’t want to on into theReading, Wishberry website. thePeople entire tionalhim, funding he says. Wishberry. moves literary criticism the political, NewisYork spends a night answering amountfrom required is not raised to within 60 days, College And in that something Kalyani Khona, use language to build a bloody wall. Instead, I from memoir a thinking man’s questions sent email.with Here he reveals the wanted to use language quietly, but quite milrashmi pratap then the appealtoisreportage: taken down and any money matchmaker forby people disability, would
Raising small sums of money from a large number of people, crowd-funding platforms like Wishberry are coming to the aid of theatre artistes, filmmakers, musicians and anyone in the creative space in need of funds
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Amitava Kumar’s latest collection of essays throws a bright light on cinema and politics, life and death
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Financial inclusion is financial freedom itantly, as an instrument of communication. This has to have been a motivation at the back of my mind. In a more obvious way, however, I feel it had to do with place. I was writing about Patna and Bihar. How the hell could I write about those places in an English that seemed utterly removed from the milieu?
Tell me, how much does ‘diasporic’ literature bother you? When you see another angsty NRI novel winning an award, what are your thoughts? It doesn’t bother me any more than desi literature. No one land or location has sole claims on producing crap. I want good books to get awards. Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of Loss won the Booker, and this result was extremely pleasing. Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger won the same prize a year or two later. I thought that was laughable. A case of the goras clapping themselves on the back for rewarding what they believed was a report from the interior. Now and then I’ll hear someone say that surely by now the NRI novel has exhausted our interest. But the thing about good art is that it makes you look at things in a new way. I think that happened recently with Akhil Sharma’s Family Life.
Fino, a lesser known entity which got the payment bank licence, readies to serve people from all income groups and make it a more inclusive programme. What kind of investments will FINO have to make for payment banking? We are working on the numbers. Our initial estimate is that $60-80 million will be required in the first phase… There has to be investment on technology, compliance and manpower. People were always interested in partnering us language and thatis manipulated interest has grown. In the Come again Amitava Kumar takes joy in the inventive wayswith in which to make meaning in next month or so, we will start more serious India; (clockwise from above) m srinath; ramya naik; pti / kamal kishore discussions around partnerships.
the morning and picked with up and fed afterthat’s alive and using it for one’s own How do you plan to comply foreign wards. It wasn’t surprising that I turned away purposes. You can do it with trees, butterflies, shareholding requirements for payment from the kind offoreign writinginvestors that required long or human beings. Making a little life for banks, given that (including periods of travel and,Capital) instead,hold wrote oneself by scavenging other people’s lives is a As a “citizen of a world created by Blackstone and Intel thea novel. big question, and it does have moral and Bollywood,” which recent movie do you feel majority stake in the company? research in aIndia. Your desk in in doethical implications. an allegiance to? IYour don’t think itis is challenge to bring Poughkeepsie. How does that geographic Undoubtedly, Maqbool. As I say in one of my es- “In fiction, I feel the most intelligent, and the mestic investors; foreign investors will dilute says in Lunch With a Bigot, on watching Maq- most free, and the most excited, when my distance you multiple to unpackbanks your material? the stake.allow We have in our portbool I thought, ‘Such glory!’ Bollywood had characters are fully invented people. That’s I wroteWe about in New York Citynext and folio. haveterror to betrials compliant (in the Foreigner Carrying in thefor Crook long borrowed from Hollywood, but this part of the excitement. If they’re based on New Jersey in A years) one-and-a-half before applying the (2010).ofThis book of His Arm a Tiny Bomb wasn’t like that at all. Neither was it like a writ- somebody else, in a funny way it’s an formal licence. I am confident doing it. has Everybody nowthe FINOIndian will leverage its web ofsystem 10,000 retailinfringement points for its bank (below) CEO Rishi Gupta been published by Picador India. But yes, by er explaining joint-family of aservices; copyright. That person and large, mycurrent subjectsources has been India. You or caste to someone in London or New York. owns his life, has a patent on it. It shouldn’t be What are your of revenue, t’s a success storyacross that has built know, I didn’t even a driver’s here Shakespeare strutted thebeen screen asina How available for fiction.” will you leverage your existing network and how will that mixget change oncelicence you start many bard smallinsteps, overgiving almostlife a decade. in America for thebanking longest services? time. I was certain I vernacular Mumbai, to Mac- of Asbusiness writers and journalists aren’t allpoints guilty correspondents and we retail offering payment or Financial Inclusion Network and to was were goinglooking back. Who hell needed a already. driver’s beth FINO, as an underworld don. of promote acting likepayment a succubus? How do you deal banking? We at the transformation Operations, was set up in 2006 to provide We licence? Doesin a man withwill that? move some of the existing BC points to Retail business was bringing just 5standing per cent technology banks. thatyou year, the and ManojLater Bajpai, onago; a platform waiting for his In the essay services on Satyato That’s a lovely quote. More FINO payment bank, as lyrical, it is allowed under a couple of years now it will become 30 when RBIthat approved creation of business mention you are the unsure whether he journey to resume but guidelines. also less attractive the fa-to service ex- per cent, and we RBI We willthan continue will continue to buildworry that correspondents (BCs), FINO began taking understood the difference between a writerthe isting about renting a flat? For— long, mous opening lines fromentering a Janet new geog- platform. We will customers besides do three things now have For long, perhaps financial products andisservices banks to ru- raphies. and a journalist. What the keyof difference? perhaps far too and long, I only Malcolm book: journalistthe existing FINO “Every will leverage our ownfar product, own channel own custhought ral customers. Today its network of over To my mind, a journalist needs to espouse ob- infrastructure, thought ofof myself as an Indian who is not too products stupid orand full technology of too long, to I only tomer. So the ownership the product will myself as an Indian 25,000 and 10,000 points are make jectivityagents and distance while aretail writer practises whose material in himself noticewhich what iscan going on 150 of it to a bank, serve million move to us. As writer a payment bank, I can was decide writer whose material spread across 28 states. After bagging pay- people an art that is more free. A writer can bethe subjecmaybe it helped knows that doescomplete is moral- access whowhat don’thehave to fiwhat product toIndia. sell inAnd which geographies. was in India ment banking licenceor inintrospective, August, FINO is readytive, even digressive, and cer- nancial during these decades going ly indefensible. a kind of at not only products.He Weisare looking ing a new innings the financial tainlyfor judgemental. This is ain simplification, of savings back again again tolast look confidence man,but preying on peo- inclusion. account also financial What was your revenue andand profit in the inclusion CEO Rishi Gupta spoke to ple’s vanity, ignorance, or lonelicourse, butspace. as a general rule, it holds true. at what had been familfiscal? When do once you expect to BLink plans bankisthe There about is valuethe in company’s both, but only thetowriter of How iar. even But to dothe so new with an outness, dogaining theirfinancial trust and you perceive break with unbanked in an increasingly competitive interest to me. Partly because objectivity is a inclusion? So that one sees more, or betraying them without remorse.” I teach Mal- sider’s eye. services? market. Journalist and theasMurderer. don’t out myth, butEdited partlyexcerpts: also because it is wonderful Icolm’s differently, nothing is a given or simlook atThe financial inclusion fi- TheI market We have been clocking revenues there because want myfreedom. students To hobbled by this realisation to hear an engaging voice manoeuvring nancial ply natural any more. me, finanupwards of $60 million for the is very big. We are a Whata are theand factors thatemotional helped FINO that they are in is such a parasitic across wide, diverse, terrain. I’ve often believed thatyears. a strength a writer cial inclusion creating an relationship past few We ofachieved cash-heavy economy PayTech bag a payment banking licence? with their subject. I want a mindful ac- payment like VS Naipaul in India was he was outecosystem around No. a customer break-even inthat 2010 andanhave and need It has beenisabeing gradual process. You We got into where knowledgment of this to piercebanks any comYour big fear inauthentic. sider but not entirely. He carried a sense of behe can freely dofact a finanbeen profitable since then. Now, to make it less micro-insurance and But slowly migrated placency they might have. What distinguishes mention that many times. these days, to cial longing andwe alsowill alienation. It is amore difficult transaction. He understands have to make incash-heavy the customer and getting his what Malcolm’s that herinto intelligence and balance, but when aren’t weowning (as writers and journalists) in it works it is marvellous. he is writing buying is and gets vestments, and there will be a retail fees. set town? up a non-bankher honesty as spurs a more incisive redanger of exoticising theWe small I feel the habit of act saving and to spends rise in operations cost as well. As ing financial mi- only porting. I prefer Morrison. The lat- You are Hindu, that the new Orientalism is a company fetishisingfor of the wife Muslim. She hope was to when it is Malcolm required.toSince a your payment bank, we crofinance business ter seems to suggest in whathave you have quoted born in Pakistan. ‘small town’. What would you say? and now unbanked You married in the year of afcustomers don’t break even in about four years over $100can million there is a way to avoidthey the spend problem. In ter Did I ever say disburse that authenticity only evbe athat thestarting Kargil war. You write of this in detail. As a place to keep the money, it unoperations. ery town? month.What We then began pro- necessarily. contrast, Malcolm says the only way he to can ad- writer, is the personal always political? found in the small you are critiquFinancial inclusion is when viding services, dressand, the problem to embrace ing might indeed be trueremittance of some recent Hindi save No, orisatthe least not in simple way. But the wheneverishe requires, it. his money is What future ofapayment banking in perrecharges top-ups films, although,besides come to think of and it, several of five minutes away from his home or place of India, sonal is enormously useful toand me as a writer. It where dozens of public private for that mobiles. We also into work. How does being a parent change howbe you read sector them are so good I’m willing to got go some provides me as a point entry into the world. All financial products should availabanks well asofnew payment banks electronic benefit transferWhat for ble andto write? Youfrom can all no income longer write at leisure, length to forgive their sins of fetishism. I’m scrambling surprised that writers people groups. are for the sameare pie?often asked to schemes likeofNREyou are reallygovernment saying is whether the idea the as a parent, you write in intervals. Does that comment from policy on The marketon outeverything there is very big. the We are a cashGA. aWhat worked And for us was change the content and rhythm work? authentic isn’t red herring. it is. Butthe — What drugs to electoral politics even banks cheating changes will FINO make inof itsyour business heavy economy and need and payment to knowledge ofsudden business, products, The year mypayment first child was born, I was make what can I say? I love the feeling when model duringitexams. I speak from experience. Buta to before offer the banking services? less cash-heavy. We need to create customers a distribugone away from started home for months. I was in full you encounter a voiceand or having a description that We whatecosystem, about things thatcannot are lessgive related to polihave already work on enhancing as you customers set-up in the financial inclu- our Gujarat, after the riots, in other feels so true,tion so real, so alive that you say somecy and are matters that I actually am intimate infrastructure bothand onthen the rural andplacur- limited choices. In India, the euphoria is more sahi cheez hai!’ sion system for many years. We ban es, like Bhagalpur andup Jammu, interviewing thing like ‘Yeh with? instance, loveover for my side. We had tied with multiple enti- on theFor digital spacemy and, the children? next few have set up a low-cost banking ties people by violence. of this Or thenon-digital death of one’s parents? I havenew been writfor displaced relevant products, suchSome as Yatra for years, space will create opporHusband of a FaToni Morrison in an interview said: “There system and are working with is the travel work later became a part offor ing about these want to remember. services and Billdesk bill payment. If tunities and a bigbecause market.I The entire payment (2005). I think that kind he ofcan inquiry this feeling that artists have — to understand anatic target segment And in the process of writing I want customer wants to book a ticket, go to ecosystem is in a nascent stage andtoitsort willout be would be impossible for me now. IYatra. can’t He be the photographers, more than other people, and their requirements. Our learnmy feelings. I want to see clearly. our touch-point and book through biggest disruption in more the next few years. gone forhave too to long. Notup atto least the chilwriters — thating they areinstrumental acting like a succubus was in getting doesn’t queue paywhile any bill either. nandinipratap nair dren we stillwill need to be deeper taken to thegeographies bus-stop in rashmi . . . this processusofthe taking from something RBI licence. Now venture into
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A nursery for leaders Over the last 17 years, Kerala’s Kudumbashree programme has helped women in its villages realise their political dreams SPIRITUAL SWEAT
Life’s like that...
Sheela Tilakan, 37, who had started out years ago as a member of the Priyam NHG, is now overseeing the planned growth of several villages in Mattathur panchayat, as the Chairperson of the Panchayat Development Committee. “The Kudumbashree programme is not just helping women become self-sufficient financially through its micro-credit and micro-enterprise wings but has also become a medium for discovering and unleashing women’s collective strength and using it effectively at the household, community, social and political levels,” she says . “Over the last 17 years, the Kudumbashree network has surely become a force to reckon with. It catapults women to the PRIs (panchayati raj institutions), brings their particular needs to the attention of the local government bodies and plays an important shatbhi basu role in the implementation of government programmes. All this aids in development acshutterstock/evgeny karandaev/ tivities ranging from community resource management, enterprise development, agrihile I have written a few mis- played a gigantic role) I ended up in what was culture, and so on,” explains Ratnam ArvinFlaming57, Lamborghini sives already, it was brought popularly known as the ‘Dadar catering col- dakshan, CDS chairperson, Mattathur I must’ve who madetransformed a zillion of into a dynamic to my notice recently that I lege’. I sailed through the first year with indif- panchayat, these. Butshe only this Kudumbashree instant did didn’t really introduce myself ference. By the second year my interest in leader after joined some 15 it occur properly to my audience. I took them for cuisine took shape. years ago. to me that it does strangely sumhundreds up my lifeof villages that dot granted, or, assumed there was no need for it A reasonable crush on a Chinese friend Today, across I need coffee to begin with. as everyone knows me already. I apologise. I’m steered me in the direction of the Oriental Thrissur, PRIs are riding high on Baileys Irish Cream liqueur to the success of glad not everyone knows me. It is often evi- kitchen. I was totally fascinated with the way thekeep relationship that the Kudumbashree me calm. dent to me when my friends begin with ‘this is in which they worked — the precision, the or- women and the elected women Sambuca: Though I prefer theleaders share. Shatbhi and she needs no introduction’. I see, ganisation, fluidity, flavours. Kudumbashree groups ouzo are being tapped to unsweetened Pernod, gratefully, that there are always a few with a My boyfriend’s colleagues were super nice, identify andthat select government beneficiaries, and raki ooze my favourite anise and and star community question in their eyes. It keeps me grounded. teaching me on every holiday, feeding my in- homing in spices on individual anise.asMy writing career began And reminds me that I have to keep working hat does a woman need to on terest making sureaofpart theofdirection anyand matter. Till I me became the Sride-I needs well as for community outreach. with ouzo president, on ice! to reinvent myself every day.mark So here This vi make her in goes. electoral now wanted to take. an Oriental Ajith Swayam Sahay, one To of become the neighbourhood Kumar, Panchayat President’s Vodka: MyThrissur, basic go-to drinkout, “Any interis my story. politics in India? Belong to a groups chef. I took my first job asKudumbashree. a trainee chef with created under Sud-a Association, points Blue curacao: Bright blue skies My earliest thoughts what be I would political on family, close do to denly, five-star hotel in theworld hope opened of making it big in vention undertaken by the panchayat, such as a whole new up for me,” The flame: My passion whenorI have was the older, was being a one, blessings of a powerful male says Shivadasan. the world of Sichuan cuisine. rehabilitating the poor, universalising Take Glass: Martini and 2 shot glasses great veterinarian. I — whether politician? It’s a ‘yes’Astoaallchild, of these Didn’t of happen. I slaved but govwas Home Ration, introducing computer educaA joint initiative NABARD and Kerala Ingredients read thethe usual suspects available it is at grassroots, where it’s easier for a ernment, the never transferred to the one kitchprogramme is implemented in tion in schools, on, israki being realised 15ml sambuca/ and ouzo/so Pernod/ at the time — Enid Blyton and all has served three tiers: Neighbourhood woman whose family member(s) en I wanted to be in. That search, Groups (NHGs) at with thekahlua assistance of Kudumbashree wom15ml of her mystery magic Fa- or in the on the panchayat to getwith elected, however, was what eventually got grassroots; the Area Developen.” At cream present, Kudumbashree 15ml Baileys Irish (keep it cold always)is Andurheal Ithe did. mous Five, where Secret climbing Seven, Five ban setting, the political ladme(ADSs), bartending. ment Societies whichThe are‘sideboard’ of 15ml vodkaactively working with panThirsty souls, angry 5ml blue curacao Find-Outers & Dog amongstwithout othder is virtually impossible the right a Chinese restaurant was my first made up of NHG representachayatssyrup across the state to conones, sad, lonely, ers; the schoolHowever, series of St Clare’s connections. Bindu Shivadasan, 40,andtives; bar. Where the fear of not knowthe Communiduct the firstspirit everincommunity 1 Put the sambuca/anise the martini happy moreand finally, glass anddefied Malorythe Towers; has norm Billy to getBunter elected as the presi- ty Development ing Societies gripped (CDSs), me so much that some I validation of the BPL lists. In 2010, 11,000 2 Mix the vodka blue curacao syrup the in and Asterix. None of gram them panchayat imdent of the Mattathur in Ker- which operate delved the trunk members and un- contested at theinto panchayat Withand Shivadasan heading one shot glass pacted me asdistrict. much as James ala’s Thrissur Trader Vic’s Bartender’s level with earthed members elected Mattathur gram panchayat, the local self3 Add kahlua and Baileys in the next shot48, Herriot, country vet When the thissimple once simple homemaker decid- through theGuide me, liter- polls ADSs.— which propelledgovernment like Rosalie Kurien, andTheywomen glass. will automatically layer from Yorkshire dales. From then on,she I ploded to the contest the polls a few years ago nei- ally, into the world of euphoria. “My group elected me to the from Chungaal village are confinearly 50 per cent of the 4 Warm anise spirit with a lighter and ded on much him, but through wind- ADS ther had the like support of the area’sthe political I started offto wanting toAlong heal animals, proand later the CDS. their healthcare, them wonallow it to dent flamethat by slanting the glass, liveliing streets Mumbai. a friendly the bigwigs norofthe benefitLooking of years for of grooming gressed aiming at creating a stir in Oriental way,tomy interactions with hood, education, making the liquid touch the lightersanitation flame vetparty who would into rooms or, betby cadres.allow Whatme she didhis have at her dis- fellow gastronomy, myselfmemflailing in the funsisters,found their family or proper disbursal 5 Swirl theconcerns, flaming liquid to allow oxygen of to ter still, hisasurgery. did succeed network a couple of bers posal was broad Icommunity da ofand the the martini and finally community as acame into my public distribution system fan the flame, keeping it away from draftsratimes. Picking chicks, kit- whole women just likeup her,stray withpuppies, considerable experiown in the zany world cocktails. And heal I increased. I ofbecame tions will always remain a prioriof air shot glasses into the flaming drink, tens along the way and them home aware ence in micro-credit andcarrying micro-entrepreneurdid. Thirsty angry ones, sad, lonely, hap- ty 6onEmpty of thesouls, various problems faced by womthe governance agenda. Incidentally, and runs sip through two venture long straws. muchan to the dismay of myofmother. If all failed, en. ship, understanding the community’s py and more. But there’s a lot more healing to Kurien Many group discussions automatically a business alongMake withsure her the flame is away fromwith your each face. member I’d spend atin my family doctor’s issues andhours a friend almost every homechamin ev- veered be done.towards Beginningcommunity with me anddevelopment then passing Kudumbashree group, Warning: One₹5,000-10,000 is definitely enough. ber, village listening to the and ery under thediagnosis panchayat. Asrelevant a long- matters. it on for anyone who started may seeunderstanding light through earning I gradually about every month. treatment advice he passed onatofinancially his patients. time Kudumbashree member, in- people’s my random thoughts. concerns and wanted to find work- She says, “I used to run a catering business on I needed to be treated for allergies all exert the time, dependent Shivadasan was ready to her able It’ssolutions,” not something I had imagined I would haveown, enjoyed the only earlier ones,vegetarian well… says Shivadasan. It was then my serving Kerala food. so he was let me hang around, treat that powers to happy providetogood governance. writeshe about even deliberate upon. I’m still Then Surefive it’s of about life behind bar. And at tookorthe ‘conscious decision’ to fight us formed an aNHG, Ojus,life and meInlast and then me home. He liked me. the Kerala, the drop hugely successful Kudumdebating as I elections. pen downThat thisthe justification of trained large. And history, sciencezilla andmisphipanchayat Kudumbashunder thegeography, Kudumbashree I worked hard atalleviation physics and chemistry, surbashree poverty programme has ree sorts. I can only call it that. Here con- sion. losophy I didn’thow dream wouldfood bring such enhasFor indeed metamorphosed intoIawas, nursery We learnt to prepare like biriyavived maths and completely biology. changed the lives of hundredsenjoyed of thousands of for templating a book on whisky. And my mind lightenment an average Jane. It’s what women political leaders is clear from the nis and othertonon-vegetarian delicacies and Zoology facilitating labs were the highlight of my women, their economic and,week, sub- fact keptthat wandering to this. I told myself conthat confidently bartending expanded taught meour that no classroom or in 2010,back some 11,000 members catering menu. Adwhere I cutpolitical through empowerment. the digestive system of a tested sequently, “I was a million of this nature have walloping we everwere did.taught It made meto who I am tothemissives local self-government polls been and ditionally, how make pickfrog or dissectcompletely an earthworm to find a perfecthomemaker, dependent on the nearly written50 byper those way more won. qualified thanminme. les. day.With Shatbhi Basu.from Cheers! cent of them Kerala’s support the larger network, we ly intact nervous All so Iand could get adhusband, cateringsystem. to his needs doing ev- ister But for strange reason, tribes my mind forsome welfare of scheduled anddefied youth are doing well.” mission into And I did too. erything as vet perschool! his wishes. I hardly ever affairs all sane PK advice or logic. I gave shot.emerged If some shatbhi basu is a mixologist, author, television host, Jayalakshmi, too,it ahas and headmenon of Stir, a, Women’s bartendingFeature academy in Mumbai Service But forout more reasons than (the stepped of the house andone had no allergies opinion through of you are actually this system.reading this in print, and ajitha
What bartending taught me that no classroom or walloping ever did
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I have the power The Kudumbashree programme catapults women into leadership positions and they, in turn, ensure that the government accords priority to healthcare, sanitation, education and proper disbursal of PDS rations wfs/ajitha menon
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Art and the city Rise of the new Labour left STATES OF MATTER
An annual festival in Reykjavík shows that Iceland has more than just geothermal baths, glaciers and volcanoes Blair watches in helpless disquiet as the left-wing he had banished to the shadows acquires a menacingly concrete shape in Jeremy Corbyn
sukumar muralidharan
Off the beaten path (Below) Participants at Engram, an audio walk at the 29th edition of the Reykjavík Arts Festival; an artiste from Guerrilla Girls, a feminist art group image courtesy reykjavík arts festival
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magine the soft voice of a woman whispering in your ear. “I will soon take you arties loseA elections usually along on that a story. story based on a end few up licking wounds in friendless people who aretheir no longer with us. And to the Labour do that, isolation. you must But become me. YouParty musthas, folsinking Iinwant May you to a second suclow my since instructions. to imagine cessive defeat Britain, seen a surge that youelection only have 640in breaths left. in Breathe membership. Distinctly unhappy at this in. good fortune Breathe out.is Tony Blair, who restored Labour to each power in 1997 after two decades in the With breath you take, you are closer to wilderness. the last one.Where some see opportunity, Blair sees ominous visions ofstop. the party back…Now I want you to Standgoing like you’re wards to a “parallel reality” where “evidence frozen. Around you everything goes on as usuandBut reason” have noyou place. al. for a second, are invisible. The breaths new entrants 395 left.” to the party, Blair worries, could electoral victory impossible. But it Thismake is part of Engram, an audio walk by the is not just winning that Theatre), matters. aThe Osynliga Teatern (Invisible pieceproingramme theleft party eager to live. emspired by that people withseems a few weeks brace in new-membership Engram wasthe one flush of the of selected pieces at the enthusiasm Blair, simplyArts wrong-headed 29th editionis,offor the Reykjavík Festival in — a consequence of mistaking “radical leftJune this year. ism” more sensible pursuit of “radical In for the the spirit of securing some great Instasocialshots, democracy”. gram I decided to capitalise on my short Blair wasvolcano-riddled the fourth in a nation leadership successtay at the and packed sionwhat that shifted awaywilderness from its lefttrip’. orifor I calledLabour ‘an Arctic entation after 1983, Under when Armour the eloquent and North Face jackets, thermals, cerebral Michael Foot led the party to spectacand boots were all unceremoniously shoved ular my defeat. Though alongside mired in arecession, into tiny suitcase variety of Brinetaintees wasand heady with victory infor theIbiza, Falklands on tanks I had packed and I War and ebullient the prospect of ait’new mentally preparedover myself to ‘rough in trans-Atlantic partnership, with Republican freezing temperatures and community pools right-winger Ronald Reagan being inaugu(read: Blue Lagoon). rated as IUS president in 1981. What saw at the outset was more women’s Since then, winnability has been an obsesliberation than Blue Lagoon. A bright pink sive focus of the the party leadership, and thisFilm has billboard with question “National meantWhy banishing theofspectre of left-wing poliQuiz: has 87% Icelandic Film Centre tics fromGone within. Neil Kinnock came agonisFunding to Men?” The answer, circled in inglyreads, close“It’s in discrimination. 1992, but it took another five red, The film indusyears inept dawdling by of thethe rival Tories for try is of way behind the rest country!” It Labour to regain winning mojo. Blair’s was the work of thethe Guerrilla Girls (formed in first electoral contest as Labour in 1997 1985, it is a group of female artistsleader fighting racwas aand sweeping thatart more than and reqism sexismtriumph within the world), uited the indignities 1983. commissioned by theofFestival. Today, Blair in helpless disquiet as Iceland firstwatches gained international attention the left-wing he had banished the to the shadows when it was used to epitomise 2008 global acquires acrisis. menacingly concrete in Jerebanking Since then it hasshape dropped its my Corbyn, an eight-term Member of Parliament and survivor of all the swings of the electoral pendulum over the years. He complains bitterly that despite all efforts since Kinnock’s days, Corbyn remains a potent threat to balance and sanity. And he would also undoubtedly remember with great chagrin that Corbyn was among the main organisers of the February 2003 demonstration in London against the march to war in Iraq. It was Britain’s largest ever public demonstration, a warning of imminent folly that Blair chose to disregard. Today, the invasion of Iraq is recognised as a fiasco, a millstone that Blair will never shake off, and will remain his unique claim to a place in the history books. It is not his seeming prescience on Iraq that propels Corbyn’s rise. Rather, it is a growing sense of malaise at the narrowness of politics since Labour acquired the prefix “new” and stretched itself out on the bed of neoliberalism. Whether it is Labour or the Tories in power today, the economy runs on the spectral sense of “confidence” of the speculator in the financial markets, and entitlements are determined not by social ne-
bid to join the European Union, celebrated the and rights struggles, the event exposed vis100th anniversary of women’s suffrage (on itors to thought-provoking pieces such as artJune 19, 2015), and captured the headlines by ist Dorothy Iannone’s ‘The Next Great Moment installing a mosque at the 56th Venice Bien- in History is Ours’. On display at Gallery GAMnale in May this year. And it has MA, the sexual piece commands found a spot on tourist maps — I undivided attention from each knew all about the hot springs, visitor. Upon seeing my shocked and glaciers, the otherworldly face, a fellow viewer asked, landscape (used appropriately in “American?” I confirmed his The last thing I futuristic movies like Prometh- expected to discover guess with a nod. He smiled and eus). The last thing I expected to reminded me “A prude country, was the fascinating discover was the fascinating in- intersection of global no? But she is even appreciated tersection of global art, femithere.” He was right. Compared art, feminism, and nism, and Icelandic history. to a culture where showering Icelandic history In the beginning of my trip, it naked with strangers is the seemed as though I was trapped norm, I am prudish. in a tourist-only part of the city; Other notable exhibits and souvenir shops and excursion performances included: Shantacompanies peppering every la Shivalingappa’s sold-out Kucorner of Reykjavík, and chipudi show, Akasha, the people who walked which was in collaboraalongside me were also tion with Vempati Ravi dressed in North Face Shankar; and Karólíjackets and armed na Eiríksdóttir’s opwith DSLR cameras, era MagnusMaria, which were used as which tells the cenpoint-and-shoots. turies-old story of Driven by the Maria Johansdotfear of having an ter, a woman who entirely touristy exposed as a man for perience, I registered Mr Right? Britain’s former Prime Minister and former Left hook Jeremy Corbyn, surging ahead independher own afp/ ben stansall Labour leader Tony Blair afp/ justin tallis in the Labour leadership raceence. for theParty I Heart ReykjaThe piece not vík’s walking tour led only touches on womby a local. It was from my en’s rights but also those gotiation andthat collective bargaining but by the poll forecasting a of guide Ásta I learnt dead-heat. The failure ofpeothe gay and transgender fickleness of asset prices. about the eye-catching pink billpollsters was sufficient to excite by ple — when Mariaanisinquiry asked (in Corbyn’s Islingtonhad North constituency — the British board. Its unveiling marked the the or Market RethePolling piece) Council if she isand a man woman, which heof won over 60 Festival per centand of the vote opening thewith three-week was al- she search Society. Early hypotheses proposed a answers ‘both’. in May — reflects the polarities of a stateThe in “shy so perhaps its most obvious marker. Tory, lazythe Labour” of conserOnce I left formalexplanation: settings of the Festivwhich Labour does notomore embroider bright pink was hard miss than against the dull al, vative voters being reluctant street to state I noticed more of Reykjavík’s art:their Sara and embellish the central pillars of neoliberal Riel’s grey skies. choicemurals in pre-poll surveys Labour supporton the sidesand of buildings, small orthodoxy. London to suburb has 42 per spray-painted Iceland isThis no stranger feminism. Earlier ers failing to turn up on election day. That animals the sidewalk that cent year, of itsIcelandic residentswomen living inre-energised social housing this the pertained seeming effort to extenuate at least of to recent legislation, and some painted and 31 per cent owning theiracross social electrical boxes. #FreeTheNipple campaign the pollsters’ obtuseness may homes.They The were average income of year’s Festivmedia. the focus at this hold the a kernel ofevery truth.minute, LabourI Trying to make most of theUnder formeritsclass is £15,000 and censorship, ended my 48simply al. themes of gender, failed to offer a credible hours in Iceland by walking the of the latter, £78,000. alternative theevening; menu of streets of Reykjavík lateto one it ecowas Clearly, these are strata that nomic and austerity thesleepy. Tories Ihad stillfailed bright outside I wasn’t enLabour simply would define voting allegiance cooked up.and witty puns on the joyed the funny quotes to offer a credible by where they stand in the hiesurge inSample the Labour of homesCorbyn’s and restaurants. this: alternativewalls to the rarchy. There is a large element leadership race is quite possibly ‘Alcohol because no great story has ever startmenu of economic in the middle though, where the one way of apreventing the fragedTories with someone eating salad’. austerity the real battle for votes is fought. mentation of the middle beEventually, I found myself again at the iconhad cooked up Since Blair bid farewell as its tween regional parties and had the ic Hallgrímskirkja, the church which leader, Labour had an indifferInterestingly, served as theextreme backdrop right. to Engram. I remement performance in 2010 and there is a close analogue across bered I hadn’t gotten a clear photo of the then a seemingly catastrophic the Atlantic initthe early structure during the piece; wasstrong too cold to defeat in 2015. Yet the fine print indicates that neatly showing Bernie Sanders, self-proclaimed lineofup the shot, and I awas also in a rush between 2010 and 2015, Labour gained over to socialist, in his quest the digging 2016 Democratic make my next stop.for I was through 700,000 votes and the rival Tories just my partymany nomination. layers, searching for my phone, 600,000. Labour’s share in votes increased by when Here again, voter atfrom an undifferenI decided to takeennui a break the self-in1.5 percentage points against 0.8 for the Tories. flicted tiated middle is Idriving sharp polarisation body pat. lookedaup at the landmark, With all that, the outcome was a decisive La- blinked betweento left and right, thedreaming, oafish real-esmake sure I with wasn’t and bour defeat, a consequence of being too much thought tate developer Donald Trump — me bizarre of Engram — reminding that even a part of the middle-ground, insufficiently dis- after by thewe standards the Republican right-wing take our of last breath, the world moves tinguished from the Tories. This yielded space on. — representing the other end. I let my phone be and decided to apprefor insurgent campaigns run by Scottish and ciate Politics under neoliberalism is clearly enthe rare moment of peace and introspecWelsh nationalist parties and environmental tion teringI afound phasemyself of mutation and rapid, unpre-I in. Goodbye, Iceland; campaign groups, not to mention right-wing hope dictable change. to see you soon. xenophobes. Zero breaths left. Tory victory remained a dimly foreseen pos- sukumar muralidharan is an independent writer, researcher based Gurgaon Shimla haque is a in writer basedand in Washington DC sibility till the very end, with every opinion abid
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Man vs. beast Once a cheater… BEYOND THE FIELD
Humans are benightedly bipolar when it comes to animals in their cities. They love them, Usain Bolt’s triumph last week may as ablame relief,the butanimals athleticsfor they hate them. Theyover feedJustin them,Gatlin they throw bricks at have them.come Can we continues to be and mired in murk and dirt being confused freaking out?
suhrith parthasarathy
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ast week at the IAAF World Championships, held at we’ve the Bird’s stadium n kindergarten all Nest nodded our in Beijing, Usain Bolt performed his heads and virtuously chanted, ‘Kutta wanow familiar He iscompleted fadar jaanwar hainroutine. — the dog a faithful the sprint treble. wonlater, bothwe thecome 100- and the animal’. AndHe then all un200-m dash,our and he anchored his country Jadone when rugged hero (usually in a Hinmaica a resounding 4x100-m di film)tosnarls, ‘die like avictory dog!’; in or,the if we’re very relay. To manyread whothose see Bolt as the sophisticated, words fromsupreme Shakesathlete, this was be hardly surprising. Butmoon, as aspeare: ‘I’d rather a dog, and bay the tounding it might seem, Bolt entered these than suchas a Roman!’ events with a spectre of doubt looming Wacko! When it comes to animals we areover behis ability to win gold. In fact, in at least onethe of nightedly bipolar — and of course, blame these events — they the 100-m sprint — Bolt wasn’t animals when freak out. Especially when even projected win.us America’s Gatlin, they share spacetowith in cities.Justin Even though who was 0.14over seconds faster than Boltand in the we run them in their sanctuaries naheats, and who came into the finals on the tional parks as well. back of acities 28-race unbeaten streak, began the Most have large populations ofas stray overwhelming favourite.up gardogs, roaming bookmaker’s the streets, cleaning So, and, whenwhen Bolt crossed the residential line a merecolo0.01 bage they adopt secondsnies ahead of are Gatlin, there was much (and treated nicely), servefor as his fans to be thrilledProblems about. Their joy doubled security. arise when they when Bolt repeated the packs act, in the race. run in — 200-m a privilege This time, he granted left Gatlin his onlycompletely to bands ofinferal wake, and sped awaylouts from the entire pack young lounging about in with electrifying grace. As theparks, Jamaican galstreet corners, outside loped to glory, colleges ecstasy and weren’t anddelight schools and the anonly feelings among athletics fans. There was also a sense of profound relief. “He’s saved his title, he’s saved his reputation, he may have even saved his sport,” the former world champion Steve Cram said in commentary for the BBC, of Bolt, as he pipped Gatlin in the 100-m dash. Had Gatlin won, as Cram was alluding to, the world of athletics would have been left smeared by an irredeemable loss of integrity. Although Gatlin is incensed at being referred to as a “two-times cheat,” it is a matter of fact that he has twice been disqualified for consuming prohibited substances. In 2001, Gatlin was banned for two years after he tested positive for a banned amphetamine. But the sanction was reduced after he
explained how the substance had purportedly as the president of the International Associmade monuments, his way into his bloodstream through cient catcalling and leering at tail ation (IAAF), expressed orofgoAthletic for the Federations jugular? If it’s a dude be premedication that was meant to treat an atten- pared (female) prey. a similar at Gatlin’s “I’m for uneasiness a brick to come flying,success. if a dudette, tion deficit In do 2006, Who saiddisorder. dogs could thatGatlin too? accepted probably hardly going to sit here given I’ve something to — eat — oreverything a shriek. With anBut eight-year ban after proscribed steroid look at it from thethe dogs’ point of view. In children, said — and say that I’msay: anything other you just can’t anything can than haptestosterone had been found to have exogevery city there’ll be a section (usually very pen. queasy at the athletes thatthem; have Better jointhought the packofand run with enouslyof made way into histhat body. Gatlin’s ex- served bans for small) theits population it’sserious safer. infringement going on planation, on this occasion, was particularly to win championship will serve them dal-roti, idli-dotitles,” Coe said,happen before Yes, terrible things novel: massage sa threehis times a day,therapist, take themhe to claimed, had the event began in Beijing. The Brit, is an sometimes. Dogs havewho attacked rubbed a cream withand the spaysubstance on his Olympic goldbabies the vet for injections medallist must certainleft himself, on garbage dumps — body, without his aknowledge. As it happened, ing (hey, hey, wait minute, who be not relievedtruly at Bolt’s success. But whatthan was terrible! Much worse The monkeyslyare an arbitration panel really needs that eh?),reduced give them forthat instance, during the the fact some poor benightgoing to go back into telling, Gatlin’s ban just fourbasically years, blankets andtobaskets… 100-m final was that four of the ed mother has dumped (or been the forests anytime in view of his supposed coop- a give them a good (as against athletes competing foringold forced to dump) her baby the soon… would you — nine erationlife. with the US at Anti-Dopdog’s) Just look all the fat previously been suspended garbage? What does that sayfor of if you were given a had ing Agency. lala dogs strewn about in Delhi’s drugs. condition? (Which, the human Four of the nine Green card and a taking More Khan recent Market tests of Gatlin ‘posh’ — they athletes Exacerbating theitslack of reliabiliany dog worth wag, can allecompeting high-sugar diet? have apparently haven’t done a strokerevealed of work in ty in athletics is a new report by the viate by furiously licking a face for gold had nothing untoward. But his extheir lives! Just like… Theand Sunday Times,its which chronicles wagging tail…) Yet, for previously been traordinary feats in the pastthe On the other hand there’s what it terms an “extraordinary exthese and lesser crimes, ‘off with suspended few years,who given earlier majority, willhis stone, kick, tent of cheating” athletes in the their heads’ weby cry, let them die doping and beatbans, them have — andcreated proudlyaput their acts on like dogs! last decade. According to the rebelief thatSo the drugs he took Facebook. what’s a good dog gotta do when port,even which is armed based on leaked files Till recently, the forces quietly during the sees formative phase approach? of he or she a stranger Is this ‘put down’from the IAAF’s database, 146 them medthe animals that had served his career are to positively dude going tocontinuing bash my brains out withimpact a brick loyally als, including 55 golds, endurance events — all their lives: in what could be more hisgive performance. In theand lastrice? two years, justmy as shameful or me brain curry Do I wag from 800-m to the marathon — at the andraces unchivalrous than that? We’re other athletes have become slower, Gatlin, Olympics and world championships between who is in his thirties, has produced remarka- 2001 and 2012 were secured by athletes whose ble timings. Had there been no veneer of tests exposed suspicious results. cheating surrounding Gatlin’s career, his curToday, perhaps there’s little that the IAAF rent feats would have been a cause to hail him can do to reverse its previous tolerance of reas a great champion. But any trust that existed peat offenders, and its inability to clean athlethas now completely dissipated. ics comprehensively of its murk and dirt. But, “It shows one of two things: either he’s still as Bolt’s rivalry with Gatlin has shown, a failtaking performance-enhancing drugs to get ure to act decisively against those found guilty the best out of him at his advanced age, or the of doping can deeply damage the sport. Come ones he did take are still doing a fantastic job,” the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next year, we Dai Greene, a former British 400-m hurdles will all still be sailing in the same boat, hoping world champion, told the BBC’s Tom Fordyce Bolt can deliver to us a moral victory, a defeat late last year. “Because there is no way he can of Gatlin. still be running that well at this late point in suhrith parthasarathy is a Chennai-based lawyer his career.” Sebastian Coe, who recently assumed office and writer t@suhrith
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Dirt tracks Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (third from left) sped away from the entire pack, including America’s Justin Gatlin (in red), winning the gold in the final of the men’s 200-m at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing afp photo/pedro ugarte
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not alone in this bipolar behaviour: the ‘advanced’ countries of the West (shining with goodness and light) have quiet policies of ‘euthanasia’: strays are rounded up, kept for a stipulated period and, if no one shows up to claim or adopt them, quietly put down. (In Japan pet dogs can even have their voice boxes removed if they bark too much: nice; if we could only do the same to… naming no names!) Ah, then, but out in the West they’re barbarians and we’re up there on the moral high ground, spouting ‘ahimsa’ to one and all, aren’t we?
Who’s the boss? Ensuring the PM is not embarrassed on Sept 5
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resident. Tick. PM. Tick. CM. Tick. Education Minister, just in case. Tick. The Uttar Pradesh Education Department is taking Teacher’s Day very seriously. So seriously that it has prepared a list of 50 questions and answers, mostly names of dignitaries, which the teachers will drill into students. Such fastidiousness comes for a reason. When Akhilesh Yadav asked children during a recent interaction to name UP’s CM, a sprightly one shot up with ‘Rahul Gandhi.’ Imagine another young kid whispering the name of You Know Who when PM Modi interacts with children on Teacher’s Day.
Simians in the corridors Monkeys get different treatment because they have — like most Delhizens claim to have — high-up connections and immunity from prosecution. So in parks and gardens, pious citizens chant ‘aao-aao-aao’ and throw papayapomegranate-boondi laddoo-and-banana parties for them — especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays. (I was once brained by a flying banana!) In return the monkeys break and enter, trash fridges, rip off rear-view mirrors on cars, steal and model scandalous underwear in full public view, and gang up and bounce threateningly towards you if denied these privileges. (Beware, their canines are two inches long and have never been cleaned.) In Mathura (of all places) I was warned to take off my spectacles, put away my mobile and wallet, and have my wits about me — as it was a monkey-mugger’s paradise. And yes, all the largesse that is bestowed is not out of love for the beasts — it’s um… bribery for favours with the higher powers. Sweet. Monkeys live in large groups with clearly demarcated territories and, believe me, you do not want to be caught in the middle when
Grumpy cat goes to London Will her animatronic doppelganger sit next to Nicki Minaj?
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ine. I will twitch one whisker for this. No more. No less. I am not hugely elated at being cast in wax. But if I am to sit cheek-by-jowl with Nicki Minaj I will not protest too much. While she strikes her anaconda pose on all fours, I shall purr, close my eyes and fall asleep on all fours. I wonder if my statue risks getting violated like hers... While much is being made of the museum’s “first animatronic cat,” I’d just like to add that grumpiness ain’t ever been this kosher. Thanks to me.
one group decides to invade the territory of your drawing room, how would you react? Cows, of course, are sacrosanct. And really, another. They attack like the hordes of Genghis Khan. The Northern Ridge, where I walk, is they (and bullocks) deserve respect: they sit teeming with them (seven groups, according there sloe-eyed in the middle of the mayhem to one researcher’s study) and you have to be with yogic calm, meditatively chewing the very careful not to trip on a monkey’s tail as cud (or is it gutka?), while we screech, judder, you walk past, as they’ll sit at the edge of the and blast our horns, and behave like monkeysnarrow pathways merging with the rocks, on-crack all around them. No wonder foreigners go gaga over them — it helps lower their their tails carelessly lying across. But yes, something must be done about the blood pressure. We, alas, never seem to get the message: that there’s really no ‘monkey menace’, so we set a need for apoplexy behind the monkey to scare a monkey. And wheel because the only thing the langurs (the scarers) and the you’re likely to get out of it is a rhesus macaques (the scarees) We build highways coronary aneurysm or windhave worked it out beautifully: through the ancient screen in your face. When langur dada does his migratory routes of rounds, the rhesus duck. When And now they say a parrot has elephants and then he’s gone, it’s back to business been put behind bars for using complain when the as usual. These guys are not gofoul language — in dulcet-voiced pachyderms turn to ing to go back into the forests Haryana! I really wonder what booze and go berserk the cops making the arrest said to anytime soon… would you — if you were given a Green card and it… ‘Darling haram-saale, ulloo ke paththe, anything you say will be a high-sugar diet? taken down and used as evidence Apparently, a long time ago there was an attempt to take them back into against you, but, chi-chi you really musn’t use the wilds by train: the monkeys took the next such words… achche bachhe aise nahin bolte — children sayseats such are things!’ train back to the city. Perhaps, we need to rig- id good you know thatdon’t airline now around then the cuffsthey wereused snapped on.Or that orously practise some of the immigration pol- 4cmAnd narrower than to be? icies followed by certain countries to deal seats are being designed with a ‘precline’? As flights ranjitand lalseats is an author, environmentalist andbecomes with this problem. get slimmer start to shrink, travel birdwatcher And now, even leopards are taking to the tougher. What do you do? Get a BauBax. What’s that, suburbs and eating our dogs: simply because you ask? Only the most successful crowd-funded we’ve built our ‘be-one-with-nature’ multijacket ever. Fitted with 15 pockets — for iPad, phone, storeyed housing developments in their huntblanket, glasses, even hip flask and hand-warming — ing grounds and they see no reason to move this nifty apparel comes with a neck pillow, eye mask out. We build highways or tea gardens or cofand gloves. The jacket is so popular, and air travel is fee plantations through the ancient migratoso not, that the makers, who had a modest target of ry routes of elephants and then complain $20,000, received 400 times more — $8 million. No when the pachyderms turn to booze andmore go travel and tribulation. berserk. If someone decided to plant rice in
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Wherever you go, this jacket is all you need
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Top tyrant All sorts of weird New Zealand’s getting a new flag, very different from Australia’s
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he New Zealand government is facing an existential crisis. They’re worried that they’re invisible on the map because their flag resembles their neighbour’s, and that 60 per cent respondents in a poll ‘Does New Zealand exist?’ said no. In an attempt to assert an independent and serious identity, the Kiwi government recently announced a 12-stage flag design competition. More than 10,000 entries were received, out of which many were rather weird and wonderful. Our favourites: Sheep and Hokey Pokey, designed by Jesse Gibbs, because “NZ has a lot of sheep and we love hokey pokey ice cream”. Also, Fire the Lazar, designed by James Gray, because “the laser beam projects a powerful image of NZ. I believe my design is so powerful it does not need to be discussed.”
Survey brands Henry VIII ‘gross man-child’
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ix wives (two of whom were executed), a nasty temper, syphilis, and narcissism — these are only some of the ‘crimes’ that makes Henry VIII the worst monarch in history. Twelve out of the 60 writers surveyed by the Historical Writers Association (HWA) found the second Tudor king the most hateful the world has ever seen. One of them went as far as describing the 16th-century king “a gross man-child, wilfully and capriciously dangerous to everything around him…’’ Interestingly, Henry VIII’s second daughter — Queen Elizabeth I — got the maximum votes in HWA’s quest for the best monarch.
dipankar
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in-faq by joy bhattacharjya
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n September 5, nine Israeli athletes were taken hostage by the Black September group during the 1972 Munich Olympics. This week’s quiz focuses on terror.
here,there & elsewhere
Striking terror
Scented séance
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t’s Birk’s idea to go to Salem. “Always wanted to visit,” he says. “One of my ancestors was killed in the witch trials.” “Really?” I say, instantly interested. “Well, no,” says Birk. “But he lived somewhere around here...” This seems a good enough reason to make the detour, so we do. Bins tells us there’s a Salem in Tamil Nadu too. “No witches there,” he says, looking it up on Birk’s smartphone. “Textiles. Sago. Temples.” Punky, the skunk, who has become so tame and relaxed around us that we no longer tie his tail down to prevent him from spraying, stirs and looks around. Bins asks him what he thinks. “So, Punky! Isn’t MY Salem better than YOUR Salem?” Punky gives a noncommittal sigh and settles back into sleep, but Birk feels the need to defend his ancestral neighbourhood. “I bet those girls were just havin’ fun,” he says. “They were messing around and when they were questioned, they blamed the Devil.” He’s at the wheel, but he turns his head slightly towards me in the back. I pretend to be asleep. Bins and Birk have been having a series of arguments of the ‘My Country’s Better/Worse Than Your Country’ variety. Bins says, “Ho! In YOUR Salem, they were making witchkababs! In MY Salem, girls can run
around with flowers in their hair and sing songs and no-one says anything.” But Birk has been doing his own research into the facts and foibles of Indian social history. “In YOUR Salem, they didn’t need to burn witches coz they just used widows instead!” He’s talking about the practice of sati. Bins roars back with, “NEVER! Not in Salem, not in the sacred South —” and launches into a tirade against the savages of North India where, according to him, everything short of cannibalism was the norm. Birk is of course unaware of the Indian North-South divide. Before Bins can present his fantasy version of
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The Black September group got its name from a conflict which began in September 1970 in Asia. Name the country.
history, wholly centred upon the “little Gaulish village of Pondicherry”, I tell them both to shut up, “—or I’ll put a spell on both of you, using my superior female powers,” I say, pointing to the silhouettes of witches riding broomsticks that have been appearing on road signs, as we approach Salem. The small city is full of various witchflavoured activities aimed at tourists. There are historical sites as well as hokey recreations of the 17th-century witch-trials. We bought Punky a catharness so that he can walk around with us. Hardly anyone notices that the blackand-white animal at the end of a smart red leash is capable of emptying an auditorium with one blast from his anal scent-glands. Just for fun we decide to attend a faux séance in a make-believe church. We’re sitting in the darkness, while our guide pretends to conjure up the dead. A foul odour soon makes itself apparent. People begin to notice Punky asleep in Birk’s arms. But Bins confesses it was him. “Too much tandoori chicken last night.” Whereupon Birk chuckles softly into his beard. “The revenge of the North!” he says. manjula padmanabhan, author and artist, writes of her life in the fictional town of Elsewhere, US, in this weekly column
Which critically-acclaimed American television series is based on the Israeli series Hatufim, which went with the English title Prisoners of War?
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Criminologist Nils Bejerot called this ‘Norrmalmstorgs syndromet’. Thankfully, the world has an easier name for this — coined after an event that happened in the early ’70s.
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By what name is the organisation Wilayat Gharb Afriqiyah, founded by Mohammed Yusuf, better known? In which Indian state are the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), Revolutionary Joint Committee (RJC), People’s United Liberation Front (PULF), Kuki Security Force (KSF), Chin Kuki Revolutionary Front (CKRF) and Kom Rem People’s Convention (KRPC) among the main terrorist outfits working underground?
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The LTTE’s conventional forces were called the Charles Anthony Brigade and the Jeyanthan Brigade. Their naval units were known as the Sea Tigers. What was the role of the Imran Pandian Regiment?
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Which well-known writer created a series of award-winning stealth games based on a black operations sub-division in the National Security Agency known as the Third Echelon?
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Alexander Duggan, Per Jensen, Martin Schulberg, Andre Martin and Charles Calthrop were all names adopted by which fictional terrorist?
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Which former organisation called a ceasefire in 1997, and finally disarmed in 2005 under international supervision, handing over 1,000 rifles, seven surface-to-air missiles, 30 machine guns and over 20 grenade launchers?
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The Russians know them as ‘Shahidka,’ after an incident in 2010. How are they more commonly known worldwide?
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Answers 1. Jordan. The conflict began when King Hussain declared military rule after an attempted coup 2. Homeland starring Claire Danes as a CIA operative 3. The ‘Stockholm Syndrome,’ where hostages become emotionally attached to their captors, coined following the behaviour of bank employees during a hostage situation in Kreditbanken, Stockholm. American Patty Hearst is perhaps the most famous example 4. The Boko Haram, which translates to ‘Western education is forbidden’ 5. Manipur 6. They were Prabhakaran’s personal bodyguards led by Viduthalai, also known as Gaddafi 7. Tom Clancy created the Splinter Cell series of games 8. The Jackal, in Frederick Forsyth’s Day of the Jackal, which was based on an actual assassination attempt on French President Charles De Gaulle 9. The IRA (Irish Republican Army), one of the rare happy endings of our time 10. Black Widows, female Chechen suicide bombers who have been associated with at least two plane crashes
joy bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup t@joybhattacharj
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