Blink issue 86 september19 2015

THE GOOD FIGHT Two mothers, Neelam Katara and Neelam Krishnamoorthy, have taken on a ruthless system to ensure their children get justice p2 saturday, september 19, 2015

partha pratim sharma

Black Fridays and Manic Mondays have convulsed the Sensex in recent weeks but, with Zen-like calm, small and long-term investors continue to keep faith in stocks p10

Stoic market

BITE FOR THE BUCK With home chefs teaming up with start-ups, a healthy meal is now a click away p6

DEAR QAYENAAT The art-loving protagonist of The Cosmopolitans leaves readers sleepless p17

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Apex species Ueli Steck, seen here scaling the Allalinhorn in Switzerland’s Pennine Alps, is among a handful of mountaineers who have climbed 82 peaks in one push courtesy ueli steck

82 kinds of highs The court is in session We still remember Fifty-nine people were killed in the Uphaar tragedy on June 13, 1997 atul yadav

Ueli Steck, ‘the Swiss Machine’ who conquered peak after peak as he ran, cycled and paraglided from one to the other — all in 62 days Neelam Katara and Neelam Krishnamoorthy on what it takes to fight the powerful

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fter a little over two months of toil, Ueli Steck arose during those unforgiving hours dawn to conast month the before Supreme Court (SC) querits theverdict final peaks en route ‘82 gave in two cases the where Summits’two target he hadhave set himself onthe June 11 mothers taken on systhis year.tem. In the Nitish Katara murder case, “In theNeelam beginning, youfought don’t know if it’s gomother Katara a powerful poing to lobby. work,”The he Delhi says over his litical Highemail, Court from (HC) has hometown Ringgenberg inaSwitzerland. given Vikasof and Vishal Yadav sentence of 30 “Youhowever, need a lot good you years; theofSC willweather… decide thesoquandon’t know how itnext willmonth. pan out. After I finished tum of sentence theInMont Blanc massif (atfire 4,810m, thekilled highest the Uphaar cinema which 59, summit on the I was pretty sure the SC held thelist), Ansals (brothers andI was realgoesing make it.” tateto tycoons Gopal and Sushil) guilty of ‘crimiidea was tobut conquer 82 peaks, scatnalThe negligence,’ sparedthe them a jail term tered 4,000-m region in the KrishnaAlps, in for a across penaltya of ₹60 crore.

Neelam one push, who without useher of motorised moorthy, lostthe both children invehithe cles.

That called fire, wanted this for, casebesides to set extraordinary a precedence climbing skills, strengths in running, cycling where corporates are held accountable for and paragliding. man-made disasters.

So, weekthe after week, a typical For for Katara, court’s decision hasday beenin-a volved running to the base of aamountain, consolation, for Krishnamoorthy, blow. climbing to the top, perhaps paragliding down the opportunity arose, and cycling to Readyiffor battle the next Katara base camp.

Neelam has a visitor, so I wait in the din“Cycling dangerous.

So I guess ing area. “Itisisnot thereally new SHO. Every time a new climbing mountains is more serious.

It ‘helwas officer takes charge, they come and say more important for life mechanged to have on theFebruary experilo’,” says Katara. Her ence,” says Steck.

17, 2002, when her 23-year-old son Nitish went It certainly a new TheUttar first missing from wasn’t a wedding inconcept.

Ghaziabad, to attemptPreviously, it were French climbers BerPradesh.

Katara’s days Patrick had revolvhault and Philippe on March 1, 2004. ed around her job Magnin, at Kendriya Vidyalaya, two On summitsons 67 (Täschhorn), Berhault fell That and grown-up and an ailing husband. died.

Then in 2007, Slovenian Miha Valic first life was erased the day she identified Nitish’s achieved theon feat inhighway one push,atwithout burnt body the Khurja. the For use the of a motorised vehicle, days. The followpast 13 and a half years,ina 102 policeman has been ing year, Italians Franco Nicolini and Diego stationed round-the-clock at her railway coloGiovannini it inThe 60 days. ny home infinished New Delhi. house appears to Steck took 62 days. have shut itself to anything new. A car stands “This project very weather-based.

So I was covered in theis courtyard, the verandah is never new record.furniture Each summer is cendifstrewnafter withaabandoned and the ferent, soin there no point two trepiece the is living roominiscomparing a large photofeats. graphOtherwise of Nitish. I would not climb with my wife and some friends,” says.

The day she got an FIRhe filed against Vikas YaTime, then, was Rajya neverSabha a factor man dav — son of then MPfor DPthe Yadav — christened ‘The Swiss Machine’ for his and his cousin Vishal Yadav over the82-peak disapodyssey. solocourtrooms some challenges pearanceHeoftook heron son, have such been

as the Brouillard ridge, while the climb up valley that he realised he was on the wrong Arete du Diable with Robert Bösch and Ueli side of the mountain. “It’s almost impossible Bühler — ‘which took lawyers, forever’ — was simply a to her arena and police, judges and witmiss the trail! But I did, and had to children (Nitish’s friends) did not sayturn the good day out togetheractors. for theThe oldcase buddies. nesses, the principal dragged around.

I kept making fun of myself as I backthings they did.”

She would read their stateAndreas Steindl, onWith for sixmountain years in theguide trial court, another six in tracked; I thought to myself thathot-tempered it was a great ments later; one said Nitish was Steck scaled peaks in amore single At other the Delhi HC18and a year in day. the SC. Forty- detour, so atfights least it wastruck a good training day,” and picked with drivers; another times, he indulged in a nice, climb up he three witnesses testified, andrelaxed all except three reminisces. cited family pressure for turning hostile. routes as the turnedsuch hostile.

UpFinsteraarhorn, against the “UPac-mafia” — That’s an attitude over Katara learnt quickly and developed attended every companied by wife Nicole.

Then — the former hearing thereon. complete with political muscle years“Iofknew experiencing the facts,”the shemany says. there wereofficer the reunions in education quickly realised she needed So when the public moods of a mountain prosecutor droppedwhile Bharthe mountains to be pro-active.with longaccomplishing unpreceti, whose relationship with Nitish had led to lost“I learnt friends as how bad, bad can his murder, Katara appealed oversuch the years dented feats such the to have herasback mountain guideTheAnbe,” says Katara. sessions court in Ghazia- as witness. Bharti’s lawyers stunning, first solo exhausted all atexdreas Wälchli. bad, where the trial began, was the Yadavs’ cuses to keep her away.tempt of remembers Annapurna’sa Katara Afterturf.

61 days nav- for the hearings alone, medical certificate furnished home Sheofwent South for FaceBharti’s (8,091m) abigating a carefully while a battalion came for the accused. “The sence stating she had a sprained in 28 hours in It2013, ankle. was chalked route place wasout full of their people in which he was certified byfor a gynaecologist!

The from to you south, black east gowns, couldn’t figure awarded mountaincourt allowed it. It took Katara Steck offwere for the fi- or not.” out ifset they lawyers eering’s highest four-and-a-half years of accocournalKamini summits, Pic Lory Jaiswal, senior lawyer, lade,to the Piolet tod’Or, troom drama get Bharti tes(4,088m) and Barre des all along, has been Katara’s guide and topping tify. Though Bharti Shishaturned I am not a chooha, I Ecrins (4,102m) on thefinding a will not hide in a hole hostile, pangma but that didn’t make (8,027m) in 10.5 and said her brothers Les EcrinsinMassif.

Yes, the counsel Ghaziabad easy. The hours in loving, 2011. Katara says were kind and — Neelam Katara 60-day recordwhen mightshehave case turned got it “It’s different (from her testimony helped asclimbit exeluded but there still rea moved him, to Delhi.

Katarawas didn’t ing 8,000-m peaks in the Himaposed her relationship with Nitlot atthe stake after all that hebut had alise significance then, relayas).

I was moving almosta ish. ItHere was when Bharti, endured. members the doorman at the every day. It’s not aboutwas sitting in prosecution witness, crossEn route, lost“Hume a companion court tellingheher, bolna nahi chaiye.

Par a base camp and waiting for examined by the public prosecutor that KataIt’s not about sitting — climber aaj 32-year-old jo hua, bahutDutch achchha hua. Yeh bahut badi camp good weather.

I did 117,489 vertira realised was amiss.

“I learnt the in a base and something Martijn who be fellsaying to histhis. But cheez haiSeuren, (I shouldn’t what- formeaning metres in these months hostile when Bhartitwo turned hoswaiting good of cal death in a crevasse atever happened today iswhile remarkable).” covered 1,772km. anhostilexpetile. I saw theand implication of hostileOn and weather tempting Aiguille In Delhi,the Katara wasde upRocheagainst endless ad- ity... I am sure dition, on thatyou last never night ifmove Nitishthat had fort in the Mont Blanc massif; journments, and excuses stretched from the said (to the Yadavs) much. Normally, aftermeet an expedihe wouldn’t Bharti another, Wohlleben, interestingMichael to the bizarre.

“The lawyer said he again, he would tionhave I feellived,” very unfit, now I feel veshe says. had himself when parawas injured dehydrated in an air-conditioned room strong,” he says.

Katara wasryalso shocked at the fear that gliding downargue. the Schreckhorn Hut.a pressure gripped and cannot Another time, After 62Nitish’s gruelling days on move, Steck fifriends.

Nothe one, except a se“I needed to sort things he nally cooker had some burst time at home and the out,” lawyer’s celebrated in athe waymanagement best-known to mounnior couple, from institute says, reflecting on Seuren’s death. daughter was hurt.

Since his wife worked, he taineers. pizzas went to attended bed. The where he“We andhad Bharti wereand classmates On thetofinal day, as Witnesses Steck started running wanted be home.” would often next day, we Instead left for Ceuse to go—rock-climbing the funeral. strangers such as a man from Ailefroide hebe reached a (with not turn up, andinif the theydarkness, did, would sent off. was inDelhi charge ofwas loKataraDaniel met atMader, an ATMwho in central who signboard that read ‘Glacier Blanc and Glacier Katara regrets how misinformation kept gistics),” says. followinghethe case from Libya — often providNoir’.

“I wasfrom surethe the courts arrow for Glacier Blanc her away when witnesses ascentsupport. of Nuptse is next on his wish-list. edAnmoral When Vikas and Vishal directed towards the left.

So was I kept running for And were being examined.

She witness numfinishing on theinstead Ultra Trail duprison, Mont spent weeks in22nd hospitals of in another couple hours until I couldatsee the Blanc ber 33, and was of instructed to remain home the lastshe’d week never of August a step juniorindoctors met was before inmountain.

But it was it didtold not look till her turn came up.strange, “Later, as people me I closer towards dream. subsequently filed formed her ofthat it. Katara like mountain I wanted go up,” hethere. says. wasthe a complainant, I couldtohave been RTIs to know how the Yadavs could be in hospiis a Mumbai-based was not until hehave reached endthat of the MyIt presence would madethe sure the shail tal. Indesai this unequal battle,writer the inordinate de-

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Mother courage Neelam Katara’s life changed the day she had to identify her son’s burnt body ramesh sharma; (right) Neelam Krishnamoorthy broke down in public for the first time when the verdict against the Ansals was announced kamal narang

lays tested Katara physically, mentally and financially. She lost her husband soon after the trial began and she sent her younger son abroad to make sure his life was not lost in the courts. The legal battle cleaned out the couple’s retirement benefits and she has learnt to live on little. “You think, ‘Can this car pull on for another two years?’”

With the SC upholding the conviction, a weight has been lifted and her legal team is filing a reply on the quantum of sentence.

Was she ever afraid during the last decade?

“There is something more important than fear. It is not the absence of fear. God didn’t make me a chooha (mouse), so I will not hide in a hole. It is about justice for my son.”

The other verdict August is special for Neelam Krishnamoorthy.

Her children, Unnati and Ujjwal, whom she lost in the Uphaar fire in 1997, were born this month. When the SC reserved judgment in the criminal case against the Ansals (the owners of the cinema) for August, she felt it was a good omen. The trial court and Delhi HC had found the Ansals guilty, sentencing them to imprisonment. But on August 19, though the SC upheld the conviction, it traded Ansal’s imprisonment for a combined fine of ₹60 crore.

For Krishnamoorthy, her children died a second time. The court cited Ansal’s age for avoiding a prison term. For the first time, she broke down in public. “I couldn’t believe my ears. It is not that I didn’t hear them properly, I was sitting in the second row. I walked out crying and people told me the brothers were smiling as they walked out.”

That image still rankles Krishnamoorthy.

For her husband Shekhar and her, this case was never for windfall gains. She says, “I am not going to get my children back even if the SC hangs them [the accused] or sends them behind bars for 10 years.” The corporate sector, she says, should not be allowed to endanger

lives by compromising fire safety norms, as Delhi HC thrice to have the trial expedited. It had happened in Uphaar. It was proved in the took eight years to prove the Ansals guilty. courts that the people in the balcony died as Partly because of their active participation, the gangways and exits were blocked, the pub- none of the 115 witnesses — other than the Anlic address system didn’t work. The intention sal family — turned hostile. Her pro-active was profit and convictions prove it, she adds. stance, though, made her unpopular among “I fail to understand why our children should the kin of the accused. “They don’t come to the pay with their lives because the Ansals chose court alone but surrounded by six-footers. to make profits? I felt I was sitting in a pan- When I would enter the court, they would put chayat and it was a khap panchayat faisla (de- their leg across the aisle. The judge saw this cision). It is definitely not an SC judgment.” and instructed I be allowed to use the judge’s Birthday cards the siblings exchanged sit in entrance,” she says, adding that she was openher living room at her DDA apartment in Kal- ly threatened and abused in court. Despite the kaji. There isn’t a speck of dust on them, or the threats and the CBI’s request that she take prowear-and-tear of 18 years. Sitting beside them, tection, she says, “I don’t need protection. I Krishnamoorthy says quitting is have no wish to live, especially afnot an option, “It is a promise I ter the judgement. They have ofmade to my children that I will fered money umpteen times, each get them justice. It is a mother’s time I have declined.”

It was a khap promise, it has to be kept.”

The judgment has been a shock, panchayat faisla — The CBI is likely to file a review but that has emboldened her to Neelam against the verdict. And to Krishfight the other cases. She is curiKrishnamoorthy namoorthy, the criminal case was ous to see how the tampering-ofamong the five she had filed. Now evidence case (several documents she may be battle-ready, but the related to the incident had gone couple who have a garment busimissing or were mutilated) will ness had never been to court before this case. play out. A chargesheet was filed in 2006 and In court, she would only hear the term ‘ad- until now only one witness has been examinjournment’. On one occasion the counsel said ed. “In another 20 years they will say it is a proit was solar eclipse and his client had not eat- longed trial. You are 100 years old now. So pay en, on another it was a cricket match. “I also the courts ₹50 crore and go.” heard a junior counsel saying his senior Irony has been the hallmark of the Uphaar couldn’t argue as he had lost his voice. The trial, as each higher court has shrunk the next day, I read in the papers that he was argu- quantum of punishment, and also slashed the ing in a 2G case at the Patiala Court.” compensation for the victims. “In 2003, when She quickly realised knowledge was her the Ansals were supposed to pay ₹5 crore to best weapon. “I read up the CrPC, the IPC and the victims, they said they had no money. All other judgments. I would assist the public we have is a small flat and Uphaar cinema. Unprosecutor. I would carry judgments in my til we sell Uphaar, we cannot pay. The same Anhandbag to prove my locus standi. Our dining sals, when they were asked to pay ₹60 crore table is full of court documents. Between now, didn’t take two minutes to say ‘We will Shekhar and I, we know everything about Up- pay it in three months.’” haar.” When frequent adjournments became the norm, Krishnamoorthy approached the p anima

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media has now a reach which runs into millions, with extremely fast communication capable of creating a surge of public opinion and movement faster than any government agency can monitor, let alone control.”

Referring to the 2011 protests against corruption in India and the tidal wave of street demonstrations in the Arab world, Chandra observed that “highly centralised governments” had been “taken by surprise (by) movements springing on to the streets in unexpectedly large numbers united with a common intent”.

While flagging this 6am Who can start the day without a 6.30am First breakfast: masala dosa, 8.20am Sassoon Docks, lookinghe forhad fresh “destabilising phenomenon”, words of double espresso macchiato? chutneys and sambar, #dailyaddiction seafood fellow #nobasa comfort forwith India.

Thechefs “impact of such events” would be less “in democracies where the media is free and open”.

Since then it became the commonsense among top police and security officials that the new media were part of the factors to account for in all strategic plans. In an address to the country’s top police officials in 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alerted them to the need to be vigilant on this count, though without going so far as to demand an abridgement of free speech.

Modi’s arrival in office signalled a change of emphasis, perhaps reflecting the very forceful use he had made of social and indeed all forms of media in his election campaign.

Check republic Internet messaging on mobile phones was shut down in parts of Gujarat after a spate of Within weeks of taking charge, the new PM afp/sam panthaky violence triggered by the agitation led by Hardik Patel signalled how hefrom set our by social 10.07am The wonders of Mumbai’s 12.40pm Stingmuch ray andstore snapper media as an administrative architecture… Long live VT! 11.30am Second breakfast, poha fishmonger, who makes a dailytool. stopHis early diSTATES OF MATTER rective that senior administrators should utilise social media but confine themselves to Hindi, had the unintended consequence of generating a frisson of linguistic tensions. A later meeting with a top executive from Facebook on a business visit to India earned wide media coverage.

Instrumental use of the internet and the new media is not an idea original to India. The clearest statement of intent here comes from two top officials of Google — executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Google Ideas director Jared Cohen — in their 2013 work titled ‘The New Digital Age’. Google Ideas very tellingly identifies itself as a “Think/Do Tank” and Cohen is a perfect fit for the generic term “in and outer”, constantly in transit through the revolving doors between the corporate world, 1.45pm #Bombaybecause 1.15pm It’s lunchtime at Kamala Mills, the dabbawalas doing the rounds policy think-tanks and government. He was famed for having served the US State Departilicon Valley is an ecosystem in part main reason for scepticism. The issue, rather, ment under two bosses — Condoleezza Rice nourished by technical talent with an is how far the security establishment is willing and Hillary Clinton — and for his facility to inIndian stamp of origin. Prime Minis- to tolerate the free and uninhibited use of dig- vent smart-sounding catchphrases such as ter Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to ital resources. An instinctive tendency to ‘Public Diplomacy 2.0’.

Silicon Valley and his planned meetings with a clamp down on digital communications and In 2010, Schmidt and Cohen co-authored a number of persons of Indian origin who have media has been evident in recent years at vari- paper which was a celebration of the new breached glass ceilings and achieved posi- ous junctures of actual or pofrontiers of human freedom that tions of corporate authority is a subtle effort tential civil unrest in parts of the internet made possible. From to take ownership of that intangible patrimo- the country. the “reading coalition” that Benny. And then there is the more tangible purThis matter has been under edict Anderson, in his classic pose of recruiting talent to the cause of the discussion in policy circles for work Imagined Communities, deThe utility of digital revolution that is an integral part of long. In January 2012, Naresh monitoring telephonic scribed as a key player in the the government’s developmental plans.

Chandra, then head of the Naearly days of the nation, here was conversation or Not everybody, however, seems to share the tional Security Advisory Board, intercepting messages a prophecy of how “coalitions of celebratory spirit. In a letter addressed to delivered a lecture in honour of connected” would cement a on wireless is hardly 3pm Chef the Thomas, Sameer, my business prominent Silicon Valley executives, a number the founder of India’s overseas true global solidarity of enlightpartner and I discuss menu changes and sufficient any more of academics of Indian origin urged a degree intelligence agency. The occaandCanteen freedom. tastings at enment The Bombay of scepticism about the plans for a “digital In- sion determined the audience, Time magazine honoured the dia”. A specific concern flagged was the possi- which was closely attuned to protester as the “person of the ble use of new digital technologies for the discourse on “national seyear” for 2011. Four years on, the purposes of citizen surveillance. There was al- curity” and needed no guidance through its civil uprisings against the political state have so a worry that economic disparities would be basic premises. been transformed into chaotic violence in the aggravated, that digital India would only deeChandra worried that conventional intelli- Arab world and a flood of refugees into an alpen existing divides. gence-gathering and enforcement were prov- ready troubled European continent. The lesDhruva Jaishankar, a young scholar with a ing inadequate for the brave new world of sons are yet to be learnt but thinking, clearly, US-based think tank, responded with an ad- networking technologies. “A revolution in has to shift from control and, in the worst inmonition that the intervention by the aca- communication and the tremendous expan- stance, repression to a worldview of enabling demics betrayed group-think and political sion of the internet has created a new situa- and empowering, of allowing an enrichment partisanship. The threat of surveillance, he ar- tion,” he said. “The utility of monitoring of the public sphere with a diversity of voices. gued, was overblown and the bogey of widen- telephonic conversation or intercepting messing economic disparities totally irrelevant. ages on wireless is hardly sufficient any sukumar muralidharan is an independent writer Perhaps the fear of surveillance is not the more.” Aside from print and TV, “the social and researcher based in Gurgaon and Shimla

I SPY

A mouthful of Mumbai

There is no dearth of flavours in the life of Chef Floyd Cardoz of The Bombay Canteen fame.

Here are a few bites from a day in the city he grew up in

Social media and the civil uprising

“Coalitions of the connected” are redefining the frontiers of human freedom and empowerment

sukumar muralidharan

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Ad hoc… ad hic In a spirited show of determination, our reporter tries shopping for some of the CDs, bottled water, soda and crockery that are heavily advertised by liquor makers

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ou would think something that’s advertised heavily can be found easily.

But try looking for the CDs, cocktail stirrers, glasses et al that liquor companies make commercials about — and good luck finding them!

I like the ads Carlsberg makes for its glasses.

Those tall and gracefully curved beauties are a must-have for someone with my crockery fetish. I looked for them in supermarkets, crockery stores, ordinary stores, but alas! no luck.

Finally I call the firm’s office in Haryana and ask where I can buy them.

After putting me on hold for a few seconds, the receptionist comes back on the line and says the glasses are sold only in select cities.

Which ones?

“Mumbai, Gurgaon, Secunderabad, Kolkata and Pune,” she tells me.

“Where in Pune,” I ask, and she names PCS Crockery House on MG Road and Classic Agency, Sukravarpet.

I locate the phone number for PCS and call, only to be told they do not stock crockery with liquor brand names. “Oh, but I was really hoping to get them from you; Carlsberg itself told me so,” I tell him.

“No, madam, such items sale allow nahin karte,” the person at the other end says.

Perplexed, I ring up a neighbour who used to deal in crockery. He explains that liquor companies distribute the crockery free, either with their compliments or with the sale of their main product. They are never to be sold.

A colleague tells me that if I order Carlsberg at a club, it will be served in one of those glasses.

So possession looks like a distant dream…

I like the ads for Seagram’s music CDs, too, where stars and superstars set the screen ablaze with dance moves. I check on some websites but the results come up with ‘discon-

tinued’, ‘out of stock’ and ‘unavailable’. On the know, but could they please tell me where the odd website that appears to stock it, the ‘Buy golf retreat is? The whisky brand sponsors Now’ click takes me to ‘Continue Shopping’, golf tournaments, apart from holding an anwhere the process aborts itself... over and over. nual retreat in either Thailand’s Chiang Mai or I call their office, also in Haryana, to find out Vietnam. Only professionals can participate, how I can get my hands on the CDs. After depending on their handicap, the company much disconnecting and re-ringing, I finally executive says. reach someone in the marketing department But why advertise so heavily if it’s only for who tells me Sony’s dealers will have them. professionals? “This is brand advertising. But “And where can I find the dealers?” I ask. He even if it’s an amateur golfer, he can enquire thinks for a few seconds and about our retreat through his asks me to try the Net. “But I golf club. It all depends on the sehave, it’s not available,” I counniority of the handicap… six and ter. He thinks some more and below will qualify,” he clarifies.

In any case, there is then offers to courier me the So, this then seems to be the no clear rule that CDs. But I’m not ready to share closest you can get to laying your products advertised my address with a stranger. hand on a non-liquor product adhave to be sold, right?

But by now, my curiosity has vertised by a liquor maker. been aroused and I call the UB ofOf course, I still have to make fice in Bengaluru to ask where that trip to Bengaluru in search its McDowell’s No 1 Platinum soof the bottled water and club sodas and mineral water are available. Each da. In any case, there is no clear rule that prodtime, I am connected to the marketing depart- ucts advertised have to be sold, right? If you do ment, but after ringing incessantly the call see them being sold somewhere, don’t forget gets disconnected… that is, if I don’t hang up to drop me a line. first. This continues for a couple of days.

As for the much-hyped Kingfisher calendar Friends assure me, though, that should I hop with its thinspiring models, I can always put over to Bengaluru I am likely to find the prod- together my own copy from its website. ucts in a couple of stores. And, of course, in sravanthi challapalli clubs and pubs.

An advertisement for Ballantine’s golf retreat has been on TV for a while now. Where is it, I wonder, but find no ready answers, until someone offers to connect me to a marketing executive. He is willing to part with some details, but insists on first knowing my name, where I am from and why I am interested.

Convinced that mere curiosity may not cut it, I tell him it’s for my spouse, who plays golf now and then.

“What’s his handicap?” I’m asked. I don’t

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The anatomy of love A translation of Dharamvir Bharati’s 1949 classic takes us back to an Allahabad caught in the struggle between the old ways and the new

Variety show The range of cuisines is crucial to the popularity of home chefs. Seen here (clockwise from left) are the offerings from Holachef, Bite Club and Masalabox

Role play Allahabad, with its parks and colonial buildings, tehzeeb and social barriers, is the setting for the tragic love story of Chander and Sudha brijesh jaiswal

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he search results for Gunahon ka Devta on Wikipedia are akin to my own faint memories of this rather poetic oxymoron — a gloriously insufferable 1990s Bollywood revenge melodrama, starring Mithun Chakraborty. Apart from its rather memorable title, it has little to do with Dharamvir Bharati’s almost otherworldly love story of the same name.

It is to Poonam Saxena’s credit that I am able to discover the beauty of the original Gunahon ka Devta with all its nuanced romance and tragedy. Each word of the title expands through the pages capturing the varied contradictions, passions and tortured dimensionsnofKochi’s the author’s young hero.

Kacheripady locality, Nisha Nal Chander & Sudha is a her confident and wellKattitaren begins day preparing crafted translation that renders efmeals for Masalabox, which Bharati’s delivers her fervescent novel accessible toare a whole new lefood to customers who unknown to gion of fans.

The bestselling Gunahon ka Devta her. Her expertise lies in Kerala cuisine, with has been consistently print its first appam and duck roast in being hersince biggest hits publication 1949 andelayil this statistic alone is followed byinkarimeen pollichathu (fish testament to its enduring popularity. wrapped and cooked in banana leaf). KattitaThere thismeals tragica tale ren endsisupsomething making atabout least 20 day, that draws you right the ofshe things and the number goesinto up to 50heart when gets—a abulk charming whereatime itself down. order city — once week onslows average — Mid-20th century Allahabad is thetheperfect through Masalabox.

This has turned home backdrop young lovers. opening lines cook into afor sought-after chefThe with a steady inof the stream. book speak volumes: come ‘If stillChembur believe inarea, cityArchana or village deiIn people Mumbai’s Vohra ties, I would say meals Allahabad’s god is asdishes out 200 every reigning day. A participant suredly a romantic in MasterChef India,artist.’

Vohra had mastered the is an old-young city, a citykitchen of the past artItof cooking in her home andthat furis starting onher a slow march towards thein future, ther honed skills during her stay New aJersey, renaissance cityshe where poetry, art,tiffins culture US, where was supplying to and a certain thrive. The stage2014, is setshe for singletons intehzeeb her building.

In June the two lovers — Chander and Sudha —start-up to play listed with Holachef, a Mumbai-based out partshome in anchefs Allahabad that allows that their connects with end-consumsuch impossible loves towebsite flourish.

Chander, ers. When the Holachef launched in Sudha and Gesu spend languorous afternoons September 2014, Vohra was supplying 10 daydreaming, take walks under the perfumed meals a day; that number has grown 20 times mango of Alfred Park, and live in the in just ablossoms year. charming Civil Lines with its colonial bungaIn a country with limited options for lows andeating-out sprawlingand compounds.

Theirs is an healthy an increasing number

untarnished world touched by an old-world tiate a sea of temptations and sacrifices in oretiquette. Yet, it is also an Allahabad that is a der to love and be loved. There are debates bastion of Brahminical social structures, rigid about the purity of love and the nature of placaste divisions and gender inequalities. Hin- tonic and filial affection. The boundaries of dus and Muslims mingle but the segregation friendship are tested and sex becomes a catais rigid as ever and there is barely any possibil- lyst for suffering and disaster. Sudha, Binti, ity of an inter-caste meal, much less a mar- Pammi — each of these characters represent a riage. The story revolves around the different kind of love for Chander and well-educated youth of the day pursuing high- through them, he is able to experience the ener studies at the prestigious Allahabad Univer- tire spectrum of emotions. Love for Chander is sity. They have the freedom to form their own both a thing of joy and also fraught with pain. opinions and ideas and yet they are trapped His burning desire for Pammi becomes his by the conventions of the day. It is this strug- purgatory while redemption lies in his pure gle between the old ways and the new that and unadulterated devotion towards Sudha. causes them to falter and often There is a line from Plato’s Sympocanwhom be eaten ontouches a dailynot baof working women who are hard-pressed for something which shatters their illusions. sium: ‘He love time to cook, ‘Such is thepreservative-free nature of love,home food is sis,” he says. walks in darkness’, and yet it is alnow greatly soughtploy/ after. Hitherto hidden besuch is this strange so love that pushes Chander and bucks over the edge into madhind chefs are a Big bites, Thekitchens, one whohome remembers itsnow getting The boundaries of big Sudha platform tonever showcase their meals as well as are Across the country, companies lessons will find any joy.’ ness and despair. like Holachef, friendship tested Bite Club, Cyber Chef aredicinearn by tying up with a slewand of startThismoney strangely melancholic As the and older generation sex becomes a Masalabox vesting big bucks food and delivery logistics. ups thatisare bridging theone gapof between homefor suffering couplet recited during tates into customs makes autocatalyst foodearliest and empty stomachs.

While demand seems pickthe exchanges between cratic decisions, it toisbe their and disaster ing up, who therelive were “We saw college a big gap in the martwo young girls — Sudha children out challenges the conseket where could aplenty to get these goand Gesu —someone who discuss lifesell anda quences, often to start-ups disastrous ing initially. goodonselection of interesting love a lazy afternoon.

Their ends.

Teetering between love and Vohra had further and healthy food options into and Biteduty, Club found chefs conversation is a window lust, loyalty anditspassion, honed herChander skills transforms throughinto social Holakeepworld the prices affordable. the of poetry, high art We and philosophithemedia. titularAnd gunahon duringaherka stay in while chef took goes a lot of references from came to theTheconclusion that between cal musings. characters seesaw devta Sudha into a downward New Jersey, US, Their unrequited what makes foodand goodreal-world is a good social friends and love family.

“But it wasmodifromantic idyll conspiral. makes each where was spent ficult to convince the chefsEvery that chef. And nobody wascontradiction making straints and it is this that cre- she ment together more poignant. supplying tiffins togesture, the affectionate model couldglance work.and Theyword had the talent available in our ates the unique context forkitchBharati’s novel. teasing in her newameaning good grasp over recipes but ens That’s&when Atto thecustomers. heart of Chander Sudha lies asingletons simple assumes and becomes a lingerbuilding were restricted to feeding friends we started home chefslovers. Howevand oft-toldtalking tale ofto star-crossed ing bittersweet memory. to partner with us,” says Prateek and family.

We managed coner, it is Bharati’s frank and refreshing take on While Bharati’s later novels Suraj ka to Satvan Agarwal, founderthat of makes GurgaonvinceYug some them greater and then their relationship it stand out. The Ghoda and Andha haveof received litbasedisBite Club. in understanding the anat- erary acclaimword-of-mouth played a role,” novel an exercise with their strong social comSaxena.

Saurabh founder-CEO omy of loveSaxena, — a universal preoccupation of po- mentary and says literary technique, it is Chander & Vedant founder and CEO of freshFoodof Mumbai-based Holachef saysThe he love realised ets, artists and lovers themselves. that Sudha thatKanoi, continues to sparkle with that an alternative supply could created by ness.

Cloud,It agrees: “Initially was simply harder what to find it describes is far removed frombe today’s bold expresses quietlyitand it chefstoand empanel but nowto welive getand aloffering a declarations variety of cuisine thatmedia. was both and hectic on social It is feels be young andthem, in love — and healthy andtender tasty.and “Werambling. thought of getting die most slow-paced, by10 itsenquiries vagaries. daily from new chefs wantchefs are well-versed with certainboats cui- ing to join us.”

The who characters are like untethered kohli is a Mumbai-based freelance writer Today, FoodCloud has home chefs as well as sines, and keeping recipes and light, diya tossed about in a storm and homely they have to nego-

Bon appétit

Home chefs are tying up with a slew of start-ups that are bridging the gap between affordable healthy food and empty stomachs

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Chander & Sudha Dharamvir Bharati

(Translated into English

by Poonam Saxena) Fiction Penguin India ₹499

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Food ambassadors (From left) Siddharth Sharma , Aushim Krishan and Prateek Agarwal of Bite Club; (inset) Harsha Thachery, co-founder and CEO, Masalabox

professional ones. The ratio of home to professional chefs for Holachef is 65:35 now. But the companies want to put in place a stringent onboarding process to ensure that food quality remains consistent.

Agarwal says that at his company the chefs are judged for their cooking capacity, passion as well as ambition. “We have a form on our website where potential chefs fill in their details. We then filter them, meet the shortlisted chefs and have a tasting session,” he says.

From there on, it is the food quality team that decides if a chef should be brought on board.

Even after the chefs are on board, their kitchens are regularly inspected and audits made for raw material supplies. The companies specify the type of oil to be used and ensure that preservatives are not used.

Harsha Thachery, co-founder and CEO of Masalabox, says her company asks all the chefs to register with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). “And every time a chef cooks, we take a sample portion to ensure that everything that goes out is of standard quality. We take customer reviews seriously and do it on a daily basis.”

As does Holachef, which takes customer feedback and chef rating seriously. And if any chef’s rating falls below three stars out of five, he/she is dis-empanelled. “That is the maxi-

Anil Gelra (left) and Saurabh Saxena of Holachef

ery boys, Holachef is using a hybrid model — own-plus-outsourced staff for pick-up and delivery. “We are hyperlocal. The food supplied in an area is also cooked in the same area, bringing down the cost of logistics,” says Saxena.

The modus operandi differs within markets. Thachery follows the own fleet model in Kochi, as the orders come in early and the deliveries can be planned in advance. But in Bengaluru, she uses the hybrid model owing to last-minute orders and the vastness of the city.

As for the revenue model, these start-ups are still in an experimental phase. Holachef takes a commission from the chef which is 20-30 per cent, depending on the items — non-vegetarian meals have a smaller cut. Neha Puri, founder and CEO of Cyber Chef, says while 60 per cent of the revenue per meal goes to home chefs, her company keeps 40 per cent, reducing the cut for dishes that require more expensive raw materials. Thachery’s Masalabox has a mark-up model — “The chef does the pricing and we add 30 per cent to it,” she says.

Breaking ground Since all these companies are less than two years old, they are yet to break even. “On an operational basis we have broken even, but there is some more to go,” says Thachery. For Part and parcel Holachef’s Saxena, While the chef is in “Break-even is a concern. charge of deciding the At the end of the day, a busimenu, procuring the supness has to recover its costs; plies and cooking the meals, we have an eye on that conthe companies ensure that stantly. However, in terms of Saxena has figured the food is well packed and unit economics — per order — out that curd rice is a dispatched on time from their we are not losing money.” prime seller for a Monday kitchens. The companies proTo ensure an early breaklunch while dal bati vide the packaging material. even, these companies have to churma sells the best After that, the delivery boys focus on minimising wastage for Wednesday and take over. and efficient forecasting for Sunday lunches And it is here that the comthe next day. “That’s where panies are incurring the maxitechnology plays an impormum cost. Logistics takes up tant role.

Tremendous almost one-fifth of the operatamount of data is generated ing expense and the start-ups every day on our app and webare still experimenting with various models. site. Predictive algorithms are used to forecast While Bite Club recruits its own fleet of deliv- the level of demand and also the type of food on given days,” says Saxena. He has figured out that curd rice is a prime seller for a Monday lunch while dal bati churma sells the best for Wednesday and Sunday lunches.

Cyber Chef’s Puri says regional specialities that are not easily available sell fast while street food does well on a Friday evening but not in the middle of the week.

As it is impossible to make a 100 per cent accurate forecast, the companies have made arrangements for handling leftover food.

Company staff tend to eat in-house and a considerable quantity is given to NGOs. Bite Club and Holachef have tied up with the Robin Hood Army, a voluntary organisation that takes surplus food from restaurants to the less-fortunate sections of society.

With the scaling up of demand, expansion is also underway. From moving to newer cities to setting up centralised kitchens, these startups are doing everything to keep the pot boiling. And when they are able to replicate their success across more cities, it will make life much easier for people who don’t have the time to prepare their requirement of three square meals a day. mum tolerance level. It has happened in some cases.

We are focused on maintaining high quality,” says Saxena.

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Stuck in a moment Dhaka boasts some of the worst traffic anywhere. Urban sprawl is swallowing up older buildings afp/munir uz zaman; (below) prito reza

HOME SPUN

City of surprises The spy who loved office APPROACHING EYE LEVEL

shutterstock

Defying stereotypes, Dhaka is where serendipities are made possible

farah ghuznavi

nisha susan

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n this era of globalised tourism, many capitals brand themselves with enticing sobriquets — from the City of Minarets (Cairo) to the City of Beer (Brussels)! Dhaka, known as the City of Mosques, due to the 700-plus mosques built from the 15th century onwards, is no exception. Of course, titles don’t always live up to expectations, and even the most loyal residents will admitI hen I was of 13 IDhaka told my mother that everyday life has more than its fair share wanted to be a spy.

I read evof challenges, like most Indian cities.lay my eryinspy novel I could For one thing, Dhaka some of the hands on.boasts From Len Deighton worst anywhere.

Urban sprawl swalto Johntraffic Le Carré to Ian Fleming to Tom is Clancy. lowing up older with limited individual My mother told buildings, me I was rather by houses beingof replaced by identical my accident birth. The RAW, sheapartment thought, blocks the ubiquitous shopping malls was tooand sarkari and I couldn’t possibly joinso a dearagency to the in South Asian country. heart. Gardens are aI spy any other Soon after, thing of the past, green areas tend toinbe few saw a magazine snippet: RAW agents Delhi and been far apart. had handed smartcards to punch in and the news bad.

Theso first BanglaoutBut of work.

Onlyisn’t the all cards were enormous deshi woman tothat summit Everest (yes, more and antiquated it marked the carrier as a than agent one have so,ifeven flat-as-aRAW — nodone longer, ever, in anmy undercover pancake country) is alike cityhow animal a my bubhai.

It sounded a bit yearsand later, reaucrat. described And amidst clutter and professor thethe subterfuge of hischaos, newtheNaxal switchfriends to compressed gas (CNG) ly from thenatural ’70s. They’d put technology reduced brown paperhas covers on theirpollution seditious levels, literawhile grow the banning of plastic bags provides ture, beards and cover themselves in some relief from the once-chronic shawls.

If you greeted them they’dblockage say “ShhhofI the underground.” city’s drainage system. Fewer people live am onThe theworldly streets insights than might be expected, comof mother plus magapared to cities like Kolkata or Mumbai. zine almost squashed my desire to be a UN spy.staI’d tistics indicate thata spy justwas 2.5going per to cent of gathered that being be an Bangladeshis don’t own a toilet, only compared to elaborate ballet of bureaucracy, relieved India’s 48.3 per cent. by an occasional leap into murder. But I’d still As far the as titles go, Dhaka could rightfulenjoyed world-weary sense of also purpose and ly claim to of be intelligence the City of Restaurants — rangthe pitting against enemy and ing from garden deshi the traitorous friend.variety For me, its Chinese platonictoideal moreachieved sophisticated Thai, was not in aMexican, spy novelBurmese, but in a Ruth Turkish, novel Mongolian, cuiRendell whereJapanese a bunchand of Korean schoolboys sine their — reflecting theseriously.

Bengali preoccupation take spy games with stomachs.

It’s also fantastic shopping This week I read dozens of spyfor stories writ— from heritage textiles like Jamdani and the ten by teens in my parents’ neighbourhood famous Tangail saris three to export-quality for a contest.

Among topics given readyto the made garments, the likesastronaut of Tayebawho Beparticipants (spy art on abymission, gum Lipi something (whose work displayed at discovers onhas thebeen moon, Freaky FriNewexchange York’s Guggenheim Museum) and a the vaday of place with one parent) rietytheme of traditional exquisite crafts. spy was mostand popular.

From the stories

But perhaps the reality of the city is best re- twisted her ankle and fell. She was trying to flected by calling it the City of Stories — a mil- get up, when two young men in a rickshaw lion a minute, and some of them quite stopped. “They asked me what was wrong. I unbelievable. For example, I recently asked said ‘nothing’, because I didn’t want any trousomeone who does home-visits for sports inju- ble. But they got down, insisted on helping me ries if he found the traffic exhausting. “No, be- into the rickshaw, and walked the rest of the cause I sleep a lot,” he replied. “This morning, I way to their destination. I was really surprised, napped for two hours on the number six air- but it was such a nice surprise!” conditioned bus!the And I have other places— to it was clear that thrill of the mission if work.

Dhaka’s cafesthe and eateries provide A waymany of turning banal phrase ‘good rest, because I like — a nap vastly more ironic still after runs lunch, strong.too...” nother only variety of snacks — ranging from at job’ainto a moral pronouncement. do you a place to rest the phuchka I“But waswhere distracted by find one of the only twoinchiland been chatpati, to red velvet cupcakes Men have remaking themselves at middle of picked the day,the so Freaky far from home?” dren who Friday theme. She work and shawarma but their ownshocked form ofby unexforever. We—have all been the “Oh,of I find the nearest mosque, curl up in wrote wanting to switch places with hera men pectedinentertainment.

A list of stern rules at our lives being described by colcorner and cat-nap.

After all, alike place mother.

A mother who sounds sheofis worQ to leagues one place makes it clear that customers will and juniors as kind, patient and helpship shouldBond. be open to anyone theidea faith! someone’s The writer likedofthe of ful. notMy be friend permitted to has licktoeach other’s the tonsils.

M only remember odd Usually, they that I’mfor a regular wor- line working, likeassume her mother, the DRDO Not that are always reeffromsuch her admonishments brother’s work evaluation shipper,got because of woman my haircut,” he smiled, port (which its first director-general fective.

My 20-something intern,“They Emmy, to start giggling hysterically. say,left he gesturing towards theweapons, half inch meeting of fuzz coverthis month) making vari- is me feeling a little bruised hahahaha.” with her observapersonable and sociable, ing his scalp. of India and also having total tion ous Presidents thataround “some and old people” who were doing making Look there are women it Streetover harassment, while perhaps not as out in the café control her younger sister. put her off Belgian chocotoo.

Doing it her so well you’ve no bad child as some of the stories comThe never mentioned the late Mymilkshake bythattheir clue. cousin A is like pering out ofhome neighbouring counmother’s life. The writer (mis)behaviour. son from an old-fashioned insurtries,wondered is part ofif going everyday life.of-A also to the “Seriously, Farah, the guy had ance ad. She is a mother, sister, friend of mine, Polly, be recently fice every day might a bore.had She wrote of wanting wife, to bedaughter, at least 40!

And the womdaughter-in-law. a stranger follow up toage, her At roughly thisher child’s an wasthe over 35!” in shethe said, apUnlike person insurI napped for two to switch places third-floor apartment in by a houswhy was I so fascinated the palled. condemnation was ance ad, This she manages big teams, hours on mother. the number with her A ing in colony.

It was evening, and mother spy the British novel, the kind blithely isofacourse prizeddelivered analyst and also to a six air-conditioned who sounds she was on the phone as she that continuously emphasises my 40-something self, thereby sleepless theatre producer.

When bus like she is Q to climbed the stairs,of so spying she didn’t the pointlessness itfirmly establishing that no one we meet, I am always intrigued someone’s Bond notice hiscould stealthy pursuit until self?

You be really good at a her day charming over 29 has any business by slacker vibe — in he suddenly her, ever and your job and nogroped one would engaging any form of search of a in horizontal surface then took off, racing toathe buildknow or care.

It seems strange hanky-panky. and some chips. How did she get ing exit. thinking, he actually climbed choice for“Iakept 13-year-old.

On a less exclusive such places provide so muchnote, done? upPerhaps all thosenot stairs just to The grabworld me like that for so much. outside mya anRecently, unrivalled opportunity for people-watchI got a clue. I congratulated her for few seconds!

Whatwith do these perverts get of switching house was filled possibilities of out being ing — whatever thejob, ageswhich of thecut specimens unto a new her 40-minsuch behaviour?!”

But the creep gotwho his comesomething other than a screw-up broke ute der commute scrutiny. by Sitting in said, a café recently, myI half. She “Are you mad? uppance.tore Crashing the darkened things, things,through forgot things, burnt needed friend Farah T observed drive two teenagers giggle that 40-minute to transition to yard inblurted his attempt escape, things, things.to School washe theprovided first site my about theself.” butterflies in the stomach a boy at home neighbours who heard her scream some school of my double life.had At school, I could be magihad evoked.

At the table,capsule a six-yearA’s drive home was likenext a space reunexpected entertainment: ran straight in- turning cally responsible, filled withhe initiative and enold girl overheard them and burstsoout to earth, slowing down as crying, to not to the clotheslines and fellpart-time flat on hisjob behind, terprise.

Later, in my first I was burst “How into could they that, Ma? flame.

Thisdo realisation hasWho madeeats me before scrambling up to make a decidedly un- look responsible for laying out clothes, underwear butterflies?!” at A differently. It has also made me look dignified retreat. the end of it,oneveryone and accessories forBymodels racing and off more (In this monthlyatcolumn, the carefully peopleauthors I know.chronicle There are was laughing. ramps.

I was 15 and thrilled at being organised spies cities they call home.) on missions all around us. even in the unselfconsciously mega-city, things onSometimes, behalf of these amiable, farahsusan ghuznavi is a writer, newspaper is a writer and editor of thecolumnist feminist and aren’t giants. what they seem. On another occasion, nisha naked development worker basedt@chasingiamb in Dhaka, Bangladesh The Ladies Finger returning from work very remaking late at night, Polly Being a spy is the purest of self at website

There are secret agents all around us, each on their own mission

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LIGHTHOUSE

Lessons from 1975 The men who run the government today were at the receiving end during the Emergency 40 years ago. What did they learn? mark event because Modi’s win seemed to mark a final, clean break from everything that post-Independence Congress represented. He stood for many things to many people, though, and it is worth asking how he is doing after a year in government.

If you’re an economic liberal like me, Modi has been a disappointment. It is with good reason that people are beginning to refer to this government as UPA 3. Modi has not instituted any far-reaching reforms, and the rhetoric of ‘incremental reforms’ does not cut it for me.

But it’s fair enough to wait out the five years they have been given before passing judgement.

It is in the domain of personal freedoms that Modi has let the country down. Much of this is due to petty vindictiveness, straight out of the Indira Gandhi playbook. Consider how Teesta Setalvad has been harassed after Modi came to power, the latest salvo being the cancellation of the licence of her NGO. (Why should any organisation need a licence from the government anyway? Wasn’t Modi, the messiah, supposed to do away with this kind of nonsense?) Consider the government’s harassment of NGOs like Greenpeace, and the offloading of Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai when she was on her way to England because officials felt she would give India a “negative image” there. Go online, search for videos of the recent Patel uprising in Ahmedabad, and see the shocking brutality with Lending a helping hand Young party worker Narendra Modi guided Subramanian Swamy to a safe house in Ahmedabad during the Emergency pti which the police crack down on common people. (The Gujarat government also banned the mobile internet during this time, as well as n 1975, a Tamilian disguised as a sardar millions of forced sterilisations he caused.

Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.) Consider all landed up at Ahmedabad Railway Station The press was silenced. Loren Jenkins of the nonsense the fringe elements on the Hinto escape from the central government. Newsweek wrote, “In ten years of covering the du right are getting up to, and the silence of He was met and escorted to a safe house world from Franco’s Spain to Mao’s China, I the government on these issues — the same siby a 25-year-old who once sold tea on that sta- have never encountered such stringent and all lence you would get from Indira every time tion’s platform. Freeze that moment in history encompassing censorship.” One of the leaders she was confronted with the antics of her psy— Narendra Modi escorting Subramanian Swa- of the opposition, LK Advani, later said that the chopathic son Sanjay. my to his safe house — and contrast it to today. press “was asked to bend and it chose to Modi has not declared an Emergency or What a long way we have come. crawl.” A permanent dictatorship seemed like- jailed opponents, but this approach to power Or have we? ly, and we owe much gratitude to the fact that does remind me of 1975, and makes me wonI got the above trivia from Coomi Kapoor’s power made Indira delusional, der. Many of the prominent politiexcellent book, The Emergency: A Personal Histo- for she called for elections only cal actors of today played small ry. Kapoor was a journalist living in Delhi in because she thought she would roles in that particular producthose days, and though her book was timed to win. (Indeed, Sanjay was option. Arun Jaitley spent the years It is in the domain of coincide with the 40th anniversary of the posed to the decision.) of the Emergency in jail. In the personal freedoms Emergency, it is a timely reminder to the damIt is true that a political leader hundreds of hours of solitary conthat Modi has let the age people drunk on power can do, and the does not need to suspend detemplation that he no doubt had, country down threat such untrammelled power can pose to mocracy to devastate a country. what did he think about? When a nation.

Even without the Emergency, Inthe young party worker Narendra The Emergency began with the filling up of dira would count as one of the Modi guided Subramanian Swajails. “The number of those in Indira Gandhi’s worst rulers in our history. my to his safe house, what did prisons during the Emergency,” writes Kapoor, Through a series of disastrous they talk about? Was it about how “far exceeded the total number jailed during economic policies, many of which her delud- power corrupts, the necessity to impose limits the 1942 Quit India Movement.” This included ed partymen still support, she kept tens of mil- on it and the tragedy of how politicians in Innot just those in the opposition parties but al- lions of people in poverty, and adversely dia sought to rule than to serve? Or did they so potential opponents within her own party affected all our lives. There are no counterfac- simply say to each other, “Just wait. Just wait plus whoever they damn well felt like. (“The tuals, of course, and abstract economic argu- till we are on the other side, and we are the entire Sanskrit department of Delhi University ments do not have the visceral impact of the ones in charge.” was sent to prison.”) Personal vendettas were kind of stories that Kapoor’s excellent book is I suspect it was the latter. And what a loss quickly settled, and torture was common in filled with. that is. jails. The exploits of Sanjay Gandhi and his coLet’s get back to the present. To many, the t@amitvarma terie were particularly shameful, such as the general elections of last year felt like a land-

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Big impact Trauma and loss are frequent themes in Arpana Caur’s work courtesy arpana caur

Celebrating small partha pratim sharma Arpana Caur’s first solo in Delhi after 2003 commemorates three decades of work and her smaller masterpieces

It’s Zensex for now A rpana Caur refuses to wear a watch, does not carry a mobile phone, avoids switching on her computer and does not believe in lavish exhibition openings, even if it is one that marks her turning 61. The renowned artist describes herself as “living in a timeless zone”, devoid of gadgets and gizmos.

She prefers to pour you a cup of brewed tea in limited-edition stoneware pottery as she gives you her undivided attention at the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature at Siri Fort, Delhi, whereuyher firstthere’s solo after long is when blooda on thebreak streets, currentlythe on display.

18th-century financier Baron We areRothschild surroundedsaid by 104 in afterdrawings, making asetkillmodest grey frames whiteofmount. ing on bondsagainst in the aBattle Water‘Crossing 60’ ranges from works of loo. But if you’re looking for a early crimson tide on graphite onafter paper, penstock and ink on paper Dalal Street theand recent market rout, to from the ’90s, a set of youzinc willplate likelyetchings be disappointed. gauche paper made during her visit to LaFor aon few weeks now, global events have dakh, and a collection of soft, dry-pastels been churning the Indian stock markets, that just were made in thethe 2000s. as they did after Lehman Brothers’ crisis of “Everyone my large canvases 2007-08.

On knows Augustme 24, for a sudden collapse in and I still like to work on a large scale.

Chinese stocks saw the Sensex tumble byBut overI wanted to share myofdrawings and smaller 1,600 points in one its biggest single-day works to commemorate my have turning 60,been befalls ever.

Foreign investors since cause they not citing get seenthe in their ownChinese right. I anxious todoexit, wobbly had planned exhibition over a year ago. economy andthis emerging market currencies, as However, due to also, a hawkish USvarious Fed. personal reasons, I had postpone it by a year, have In to a series of Black Fridays andhence ManicI Moncalled it ‘Crossing 60’,” sheby says with a smile. days, the Sensex has fallen 15 per cent, while Caurcommodity says that what is remarkable some and mid-cap stocksabout have this show per is that lost 40-50 cent.half the works are not for sale.

Some have been borrowed the AlkaStrangely however, the panicfrom and mayhem zi Foundation, while others are older and dear that usually follow such a market meltdown is pieces that sheFinancial does notadvisers wish to report part with. missing now. thatThe regalleries which will show her work after the tail investors continue to pour new money inDelhi exhibition Gallery Veda in investors Chennai to equity mutual —funds.

Long-term and Emami Chisel Art Kolkatabuys — agreed to are busy hunting forinbargain in the her conditions. wreckage.

And professional traders seem Caur’s works, while gentle inthey’ve their execuquite pleased with the tidy sum made tion, are filled with pain, loss and often speak by shorting this market.

of trauma. Whether it is her recent series, time, they were priced only ₹100. Most people ‘Threatened Landscape’, that depict imagina- rushed in to see the large-scale paintings and ry maps juxtaposed against a single flame, a these little drawings were often ignored in the sword or a deer in flight, or earlier ones that corridor,” she recalls. Today, however, the speak of the tragic 1980s Sikh riots and the smaller art works have found their place in the widows of Vrindavan. sun. Caur’s zinc plate etchings should also be Caur has seen tragedy in her own life; her admired. She lost many of the original zinc maternal grandparents were refugees from plates while shifting homes, but their craftsLahore and she lost her younger sister in an ac- manship is evident. She says, “I enjoyed my cident when she was only 18. Her mother, Ajeet phase in printmaking at Garhi Studios, Delhi, Cour, an award-winning novelist and Pad- because unlike drawing and painting you canmashri recipient, could never get over this. not entirely predict the outcome when you’re Caur grew up drawing beside her mother, who etching No fear a zincbecause plate. There is that of aren’t rattled they were notelement participawould often be lostfor in reading a book.

“If you’re looking blood on the street, it chance, sinceinyou calculate exactly ting actively thecannot rally that preceded the “These maps speak ofNithin the sites of upheaval, simply isn’t there,” says Kamath, CEO of how thefall. acid intoisthe how market “Awill bullbite market notlines, madeor simply like Indiaa discount and Pakistan, India and used BanglaZerodha, broking platform by the ink-roller willyou inkknow. them,It’s andinvestor it is that eleby Sensex levels, behadesh… our history is“This one of conflict andfall conprofessional traders. whole market is ment surprise enjoy.” viour of too.

In this that rally,Ithere was simply no exstantly changing says. being played outborders,” between she institutions — for- citement, Caur hasno always been interested lives leveraged positions, in nothe margin There are also that institutions. funding, none eign investors andworks domestic of of ‘marginal’ characters.

And the things you expect tothis see glimmer with hopeinvestors and spiritu(Long-term) retail are hardly in the in a bull market.” becomes evident in a beautiful ality, like he ‘Pilgrim’, picture,” adds. a pastel that where a was construction That kinddiptych of excitement certainly depicts Guru Nanak walking “Compared to 2008, 90 perin-cent of my cli- around between worker carries bricksWhen upon that her 2003 and 2008.

What is remarkable to green are landscape, or Inthe entsa [today] composed. fact, I was more bull market was head, thenat transforms on,which IPOs were the centreinof about this show is glowing face of Lord Budddisturbedblue than some of my clito anmarket ‘Eid kaaction. chand’Realty, or a power sicklegrey that half the works ha, reassuringly ents,”which quipsfloats G Chokkalingam, shaped moon, is considand infra firmswhich of all sizes were are not for sale above maps by conflict. Refounder oftorn Equinomics ered an omen wish-fulfilment. rolling out of big-ticket offers.

In another work the bleeding search and Advisory, which manHer famed ‘Night and Day’listing series These, in turn, delivered 90 per cent of my feet Jesus Christforhave given ages of portfolios wealthy also the per labour of congainscelebrates of 70-100 cent like fruition a dense, green per ba- clients are composed. struction investors.to“At least 50-60 workers, while ‘The Waclockwork, spawning a brisk In fact, I was nana Kerala. wanted to cent grove of myinclients termore Weaver’ business depicts ainwoman a rented weaving demat acdisturbed them out counts.

Caur’s ‘Widows of Vrindavan’ is another fas- than bring in more money.” garment of water.To secure assured allotcinating series, only does The scene is for no not different at it depict a There is also a series pastels that laments ments inoffancied IPOs, large town of numerous lamenting but also the degradation Motilal Oswal Securities, one widows of of the would environment, where operators pay ₹3,000includes an autobiographical piece that por- hungry dogs4,000 India’s largest retail brokers. devour wild peacocks tall to retail investors and holding trays the seeing artist and mother “I’m not any her panic from ‘in the same buildings take the place of trees.

“Nature is in demat accounts to apply on their boat’. work intensely personal,portfolios. and Caur chaos clientsThe who are is building long-term wethe canstock only listed blamewith ourselves for behalf.and Once fabulous restricts her comment to to “We werepositions,” both fac- this,” Rather, they have added their Caur, with a sigh. gains,says the benami demat-holders would transing similar loss at the CEO time…” saysaVijay Kumar Goel, - Broking and Dis- fer(The runs till October 5, would at Academy the exhibition shares to the operator, who then The works were made 1989 were part tribution.

Hethat believes that in this market fall of Arts and Literature, Siri Fort Institutional sellFine them. of a larger exhibition hosted by theallAlkazi hasn’t affected long-term investors that Area, ForDelhi) the last five years, though, the primary Foundation Delhi.

“I remember that Alkazi market has been dead in the water. Even rockmuch as theyinwere barely invested in equities. maddox is a Delhi-based writerhave rebought most the drawings, since at the georgina Kamath tooofbelieves that retail investors solid offers from public sectorart firms

Keep calm and carry on investing — that’s the message sent out by the thousands of small investors in India who remain unfazed by a tottering domestic market and upheavals around the world

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ceived poor response, forcing the trusty LIC to bail them out.

More mature There are those who read the lack of panic (or euphoria) among retail investors as a sign of maturity. Could it be that all those investor awareness camps and seminars extolling long-term investing did, after all, make an impact on the retail mindset?

“I get the feeling that many investors are no longer out to make a fast buck on equities. In 2007, a number of people wanted short-term stock ideas. Now I see more people wanting to build a long-term portfolio. So maybe maturity levels have improved,” says Sandip Sabhar- warnings from the charts, he was short on the ed with US financials. In India, financials made wal, a fund manager-turned-professional markets ahead of the fall. “I made 25 per cent up 25-26 per cent of the indices then. Therestock adviser. “Or maybe the kind of clients of my annual profit target on that single day. I fore we were severely hit. This time, the probwho come to me now are different,” he adds. know I will lose money in some of the upcom- lem is with China in the metals space. Metals PV Subramanyam, a leading financial advis- ing sessions, but that was a big day for me.” don’t have a big weight in our indices. Two, er from Mumbai, who counts many small inHe finds it amusing that in 2008 he lost while America got into trouble after taking on vestors among his clients, is convinced that quite a bit of money as a long-term investor, too much debt for consumption, China has there has been a behavioural change in mu- but is now raking it in as a short-term trader. used its debt to create hard assets,” he reasons. tual fund investors, thanks to the widening He is among the many investors who kept ac- He predicts that the $10-trillion Chinese econSIP (Systematic Investment Plan) market. cumulating blue-chips such as Reliance Indus- omy will re-emerge a global heavyweight after “When you get SIPs from Kerala, Punjab, Guja- tries and SBI in the tumbling markets of 2008, the froth recedes. rat and West Bengal all in the same equity confident that nothing could happen to such Three, the Indian economy was racing fund, not all those investors will behave in the big names. But when they lost a chunk of their ahead at eight-10 per cent GDP growth in same way. The farmer’s SIP is different from value, they had no choice but to convert them 2008, which slowed to five-six per cent after the schoolteacher’s,” he says. into ‘long-term’ holdings. the global crisis. But this time Click almost amongst and emerge Maleficent or blonde He me! has Women observed thatoutnumber investorsmen at the lowerthe cosplayers. Girls in hijabs and headscarves disappear into the changing roomaround, theasGDP growth is pickcourtesybehave comic con differently from bewigged Khaleesi end of the pyramid Why it’s different ing up from five-six per cent and the (so-called) savvy investors. “They bench- But should everyone be so sancan only accelerate. He argues Lay investors rarely mark their returns to what they are getting guine? What if this fall turns out that the crash in oil and comspend sleepless elsewhere, maybe a bank recurring deposit. to be just the beginning of a modity prices will repair India’s nights fretting over Investing is a simple process for them. I have mammoth crash, like 2008? fiscal deficit and prop up corpoGreece, China or small clients telling me, ‘Maine saat hazaar After all, aren’t many invesrate profits, which can only help Janet Yellen dala, woh assi hazaar ho gaya (my investment tors still licking their wounds stock prices. Sabharwal points to of ₹60,000 has grown to ₹80,000).” from January 2008? the complete absence of froth in That is sound reasoning. Global cues might That year, the Sensex hit a rethe markets today. “Bull markets shake up investors in urban centres who are cord high of 21,206 on January 10 never top out when the growth is plugged into the hourly news flow from TV, before descending into a tailspin, all the way so low, inflation is under check and central Twitter and business blogs. But lay investors to 16,700 on January 22. Quite a few investors bankers are preparing to cut rates,” he says. Inoblivious to all this noise would scarcely viewed this as a lifetime buying opportunity, stead, they top out when asset prices are in spend sleepless nights fretting over Greece, and rushed in to bet their shirts on realty and bubble territory, like in China. He compares Chinaam or Janet at theYellen.

Hyderabad Comic Con, which infra that and the the An stocks. organicOnly basetoofdiscover decadestoo of late comics recent correction to theand sharp in self-published their comic are decline travelling is two days and 40,000 sq ft of pop cul- rout waseventually far from over.

When the bear like market fandom led to mega-events San mid-2006 when bull-runtheir was briefly from Con to Conthe displaying work. interTrading opportunity ture.

Journalism is my day job but I also bottomed outhasn’t in October the Sensex Diego. There been2008, any such growthwas in rupted in fulla force.

Thenbefore there itisresumed Mahayodha, war strategy If long-term investors aren’t exactly shaking write comics under a pseudonym.

While at 7,800.

Fancied names that lost 70-80 per card India, where interest in pop culture has been Investors aside,stories what about the pessimism game using from Hindu mytholoin some traders are cent thistheir alterboots, ego has sold short-term comics at Cons all over oftop-down. their value backis then haven’t recodriven There one publisher that displayed by corporate chieftans gy as the basis, ‘where Shiva meetswho Sunare Tzu’disas happy withI’m theattending market volatility.

Traders the world, for the first timeusuas a vered date. could till claim this organicity. I head to the Raj enchanted theIf lack reforms the the promo, by says.

Ramof attacks youunder for examsarkar?

Sabharwal prefers toto seesend thishim as a ally thrive visitor — onon thetwo-way behest ofmovements, an editor. and for comics A repeat of that brutal episode is unlikely to- Modi stall where feverish fans pore over ple, you can use the Kaikeyi card showThe forartwork public for consumption.

“Corpothem the rallythe from 2013 has proved rather un- day, Breathing exhalations of 30,000 people many portfoliothemanagers assure us, mere posters of Parmanu Wonderman and Suinto exile. the cards is an ecleclikeblending to lobby cultures. for benefits, know. exSo eventful.

The recent gyrations have pro- pointing for several hours is index not something I’m keen to fundamental the rates per Commando Dhruv, all differences presided byina glotic mix, Theyou designer they take a negative vided good opportunities. on. But the trading college-age crowd whoop with ex- market between then andhalf-man now. wering conditions bust of Doga — the half-dog, plains that many ofstance.” the artists were Polish, He refuses to fault of reforms.

In Pawan Arora trades Nifty of futures based citement as they enter.onWaves Telugu hip- all-crime Chokkalingam his Aoptimism with fighting backs vigilante.

Doga movie to giving their Ravan the the lookpace of a Slavic Hetman. he had started about on indicators and,Baba thanks to early hoptechnical blast through the hall.

Sehgal is on four reasons.

2008,Kashyap the problem originatbe helmed by “In Anurag has been in de- fact, Cosplayers prowl out the being aisles.negative They pause evgovernment last June,request wary ofa all theJokexstage, belting out, ‘They call him the cool cool velopment hell for years. Who knows it may the ery few feet as enthusiasts selfie. pectation was beingThere built up angry man… he is a human tsunami/Sare pa- just jumpstart the Raj Cinematic Universe? ers form that the baseline. arearound Jokers rein Now,suits, he sees change on outfit, the ground, da gama ne sa/Come come on karo ____’, as he I don’t see a single cosplayer (person in cos- forms. pinstriped Jokers in nurses Jokers although people turned sceptical. hits the punch line, the good Baba swings the tume) as Chacha Chaudhary or withhave smeared makeup made faChokkalingam par mic to the crowd. Instead of shouting ‘jalsa’ Sabu — there is no place for them moussays by fear-mongering Heath Ledger. isEven for the coursemore in falling mentions they merely respond with an inchoate roar — here. The volcanoes erupt in vain. basicmarkets. is V fromHeVendetta.

A a large client Guy who Fawkes was in a plastic tizzy last weekand aftera the ‘happy to be here roaring’ roar.

As I push my way deeper, familmask These people are a large institution advised him for to sell allentryequiAs I take in the spectacle I think back to the iar sights assail me. There are hoodie is enough your super consumers. ties. “I told him that I have gone through bear ‘origin story’ of comic book conventions. In long lines snaking to the sole leveller.

At the other end there Not fans phases five times in my life. Every time you the US, they started when fans, mostly teenag- ATM. The intense crush is always are intricately elaborate crehave a big market fall, you will see these ers or young men, began looking for a safe kryptonite to any card machine. ations, taking hundreds of bears mancoming out of hiding and together. saying all Asorts of haven free from aggressive bullies and disapOnce you are in the heart of the hours to put sevennegative things shake your confidence.” proving parents. Even the government and convention floor, you are sucked footthat high Groot gently wends his Hedozens points out that whencams the Sensex wasup lanthe media was against them — comics were into the whirl and counter-flows of the crowd. way, of cellphone are held to 8,000 in 2008, there where were stalseen as leading America into decadence. Start- Some stalls are located near cataracts where guishing herald hisatpassage.

This is a world the painting a ing off in basements, the fans had to endure invisible lines of force churn in a constant warts selfie is thewho currency.were scenario.men Yes, he thinks several decades of being ridiculed. flow while others are located in backwaters, ‘there-is-no-tomorrow’ Women almost outnumber amongst three-five per Girls cent fall is likely, butdisappear expects a Only now the geeks have inherited the shores swept bare of customers. I immediate- athe cosplayers. in headscarves recovery fromroom October. earth, though the mega-events of today don’t ly notice these unfortunates, with their dead- solid into the changing and emerge as MalefOverall, the market gyrations don’t seem to bear any trace of a once-persecuted subcul- eyed proprietors staring out behind vast piles icent or blonde bewigged Khaleesi. have disturbed the aZen-like of long-term ture. In India, which has four major Cons in a of unsold inventory.

I talk to Svathi, bubblycalm engineering stuthevolunteers. volatility continues, year — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and HyderaThe crowd is a vast animal that doesn’t investors dent whoso is far. oneBut of ifthe There are remain unaffected?

That’s not a givbad (all managed through the global chain know what it wants. All manner of merchan- will 120 they of them who slog it out without pay As Sabharwal says: “In the first Reed Pop) — this relation is totally upended. dise is on display. Mugs, coasters, key chains, en. through the weekend setting up fall, the everyevent. is amotivates buyer. Buther? if it continues, youher have to The Cons are mega-bazaars where people who plush toys, shoes and t-shirts. Amidst the one What She waves arm themgoing to staycrazy,” put!” she says. stream Game of Thrones or have watched Aven- sameness of the offerings I do find a few inde- reassure around, “fans gers want on may merchandise.

These pendent creators.

There four Looking up,to yetpig Theout market be melting, but long-term investors are busy hunting for are bargain buysstudents in the afp/ punit paranjpe wreckage, andsuper professional tradersNot are gleefully shorting jaideepkrishnan unudurti is a Hyderabad-based writer people are consumers. fans. profiting byfrom Jharkhand who have written, drawn and aarati

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A day spent at Comic Con, Hyderabad, quickly reveals that it is a haven for consumers and a lonely refuge for creators

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Hands on The cutting and polishing units in Thrissur still re

Final round A polished diamond. The quality of the stone is determined by its ability to reflect and refract light

Stone cold

Low key The employees have little to look forward to — nee

Trade union politics and the absence of modern technology have robbed Thrissur’s diamond industry of its sparkle

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ot very long ago, before Surat emerged as the diamond capital of India and the industry opted for the high tech, Thrissur was an important cutting-and-polishing centre. It employed thousands of workers in villages like Kaiparambu, Choondal, Kandanassery, Tholoor, Elavalli, Avanoor and Adat. But the sparkle has gone out of Thrissur’s diamond industry — from a workforce of 25,000 in nearly 300 companies, it has shrunk to just 900 workers in 42 units.

Technology, trade-union politics and a lack of government support knocked Thrissur’s diamond industry off the perch. An 85-daylong agitation by the trade unions in 1994-95 against the government move to impose some labour laws in the sector had triggered

the downfall. Many units shut down or relocated to other states.

“In Gujarat, the entire city of Surat is dedicated to the diamond industry,” says PP Achuthan, president of the All-Kerala Diamond Artisans Association. “We fell far behind Gujarat after it adopted the latest technology for cutting and polishing,” he adds.

Jewellers in other states have cut down business with the units in Thrissur. According to owners of units still operating in the area, they only get small stones for cutting and polishing. Procured mainly from Mumbai, these diamonds are difficult to shape using machines. But it’s near-impossible to survive on this reduced scale of business. kk mustafah

As long as it lasts Thrissur has less than a thousand workee

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ely on manual processes

No divide Surat’s diamond industry is dominated by men. The story in Thrissur has always been different

eeither good wages nor business

eers left in its diamond industry

Cutting it close Most of the work in the Thrissur units involves smaller diamonds

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Big impact Trauma and loss are frequent themes in Arpana Caur’s work courtesy arpana caur

Celebrating small partha pratim sharma Arpana Caur’s first solo in Delhi after 2003 commemorates three decades of work and her smaller masterpieces

It’s Zensex for now A rpana Caur refuses to wear a watch, does not carry a mobile phone, avoids switching on her computer and does not believe in lavish exhibition openings, even if it is one that marks her turning 61. The renowned artist describes herself as “living in a timeless zone”, devoid of gadgets and gizmos.

She prefers to pour you a cup of brewed tea in limited-edition stoneware pottery as she gives you her undivided attention at the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature at Siri Fort, Delhi, whereuyher firstthere’s solo after long is when blooda on thebreak streets, currentlythe on display.

18th-century financier Baron We areRothschild surrounded by 104 in said afterdrawings, making asetkillmodest grey frames whiteofmount. ing on bondsagainst in the aBattle Water‘Crossing 60’ ranges works of loo. But if you’re lookingfrom for a early crimson tide on graphite onafter paper, penstock and ink on paper Dalal Street theand recent market rout, to from the ’90s, a set of youzinc willplate likelyetchings be disappointed. gauche paper made during visit to LaFor a on few weeks now, globalher events have dakh, and a collection of soft, dry-pastels been churning the Indian stock markets, that just were made in the 2000s. as they did after the Lehman Brothers’ crisis of “Everyone my large canvases 2007-08.

On knows Augustme 24, for a sudden collapse in and I still like to work on a large scale.

Chinese stocks saw the Sensex tumble byBut overI wanted to share myofdrawings and smaller 1,600 points in one its biggest single-day works to commemorate my have turning 60,been befalls ever.

Foreign investors since cause they not citing get seen in their ownChinese right. I anxious todoexit, the wobbly had planned exhibition over a year ago. economy and this emerging market currencies, as However, due to personal reasons, I also, a hawkish USvarious Fed. had postpone it by a year, have In to a series of Black Fridays andhence ManicI Moncalled it ‘Crossing 60’,” sheby says with a smile. days, the Sensex has fallen 15 per cent, while Caurcommodity says that what is remarkable some and mid-cap stocksabout have this show per is that lost 40-50 cent.half the works are not for sale.

Some have been borrowed the AlkaStrangely however, the panicfrom and mayhem zi Foundation, while others are older and dear that usually follow such a market meltdown is pieces that she does notadvisers wish to report part with. missing now.

Financial thatThe regalleries which will show her new workmoney after the tail investors continue to pour inDelhi exhibition Gallery Veda in investors Chennai to equity mutual —funds.

Long-term and Emami Chisel Art Kolkatabuys — agreed to are busy hunting forinbargain in the her conditions. wreckage.

And professional traders seem Caur’s works, while gentle inthey’ve their execuquite pleased with the tidy sum made tion, are filled with pain, loss and often speak by shorting this market.

of trauma. Whether it is her recent series, time, they were priced only ₹100. Most people ‘Threatened Landscape’, that depict imagina- rushed in to see the large-scale paintings and ry maps juxtaposed against a single flame, a these little drawings were often ignored in the sword or a deer in flight, or earlier ones that corridor,” she recalls. Today, however, the speak of the tragic 1980s Sikh riots and the smaller art works have found their place in the widows of Vrindavan. sun. Caur’s zinc plate etchings should also be Caur has seen tragedy in her own life; her admired. She lost many of the original zinc maternal grandparents were refugees from plates while shifting homes, but their craftsLahore and she lost her younger sister in an ac- manship is evident. She says, “I enjoyed my cident when she was only 18. Her mother, Ajeet phase in printmaking at Garhi Studios, Delhi, Cour, an award-winning novelist and Pad- because unlike drawing and painting you canmashri recipient, could never get over this. not entirely predict the outcome when you’re Caur grew up drawing beside her mother, who aren’t No fear etching a zincbecause plate. There is that of rattled they were notelement participawould often be lostfor in reading a book.

“If you’re looking blood on the street, it ting chance, sinceinyou calculate exactly actively thecannot rally that preceded the “These maps speak ofNithin the sites of upheaval, simply isn’t there,” says Kamath, CEO of market how thefall. acid intoisthe how “Awill bullbite market notlines, madeor simply like Indiaa discount and Pakistan, India and used BanglaZerodha, broking platform by by theSensex ink-roller willyou inkknow. them,It’s and it is that elelevels, investor behadesh… our history one of conflict andfall conprofessional traders.is“This whole market is viour ment too. of surprise that Ithere enjoy.”

In this rally, was simply no exstantly changing says. being played outborders,” between she institutions — for- citement, Caur hasno always been interested in the lives leveraged positions, no margin There are also that institutions. funding, none eign investors andworks domestic of of ‘marginal’ characters.

And the things you expect tothis see glimmer with hopeinvestors and spiritu(Long-term) retail are hardly in the in a bull market.” becomes evident in a beautiful ality, like he ‘Pilgrim’, picture,” adds. a pastel that where a was construction That kinddiptych of excitement certainly depicts Guru Nanak walking “Compared to 2008, 90 perincent of my cli- around between worker carries bricksWhen upon that her 2003 and 2008.

What is remarkable to green are landscape, orInthe entsa [today] composed. fact, I was more bull market was head, thenat transforms on,which IPOs were the centreinof about this show is glowing face of Lord Budddisturbedblue than some of my clito anmarket ‘Eid kaaction. chand’Realty, or a power sicklegrey that half the works ha, reassuringly ents,”which quipsfloats G Chokkalingam, shaped moon, is considand infra firms which of all sizes were are not for sale above maps by conflict. Refounder oftorn Equinomics ered an omen wish-fulfilment. rolling out of big-ticket offers.

In another work the bleeding search and Advisory, which manHer famed ‘Night and Day’listing series These, in turn, delivered 90 per cent of my feet Jesus Christforhave given ages ofportfolios wealthy also celebrates theper labour of congains of 70-100 cent like fruition a dense, green per ba- clients are composed. clockwork, investors.to“At least 50-60 struction workers, while a‘Thebrisk Waspawning In fact, I was nana Kerala. wanted to cent grove of myinclients termore Weaver’ business depicts ain woman rented weaving demat ac-a disturbed them out counts.

Caur’s ‘Widows of Vrindavan’ is another fas- than bring in more money.” garment of water.To secure assured allotcinating series, only does The scene is for no not different at it depict a There is also a series pastels that laments ments inoffancied IPOs, large town of Oswal numerous lamenting but also the degradation Motilal Securities, one widows of of the would environment, where operators pay ₹3,000includes an autobiographical piece that por- hungry dogs4,000 India’s largest retail brokers. devour wild peacocks tall to retail investors and holding trays the seeing artist and mother “I’m not any her panic from ‘in the same buildings take the place of trees.

“Nature is in demat accounts to apply on their boat’. work intensely personal,portfolios. and Caur behalf. clientsThe who are is building long-term chaos and wethe canstock only listed blamewith ourselves for Once fabulous restricts her comment to to “We werepositions,” both fac- gains, Rather, they have added their this,” says Caur, with a sigh. the benami demat-holders would transing similar loss at the CEO time…” saysaVijay Kumar Goel, - Broking and Dis- fer(The exhibition runs till October at Academy the shares to the operator, who5,would then The works were made 1989 were part tribution.

Hethat believes that in this market fall sell of Fine Arts and Literature, Siri Fort Institutional them. of a larger exhibition hosted by theallAlkazi hasn’t affected long-term investors that Area, ForDelhi) the last five years, though, the primary Foundation Delhi.

“I remember that Alkazi market has been dead in the water. Even rockmuch as theyinwere barely invested in equities. maddox is a Delhi-based writerhave rebought most the drawings, since at the georgina Kamath tooofbelieves that retail investors solid offers from public sector art firms

Keep calm and carry on investing — that’s the message sent out by the thousands of small investors in India who remain unfazed by a tottering domestic market and upheavals around the world

B

Q Q R R

ND-X _ A

BL

watch cover

saturday, september 19, 2015

ceived poor response, forcing the trusty LIC to bail them out.

More mature There are those who read the lack of panic (or euphoria) among retail investors as a sign of maturity. Could it be that all those investor awareness camps and seminars extolling long-term investing did, after all, make an impact on the retail mindset?

“I get the feeling that many investors are no longer out to make a fast buck on equities. In 2007, a number of people wanted short-term stock ideas. Now I see more people wanting to build a long-term portfolio. So maybe maturity levels have improved,” says Sandip Sabhar- warnings from the charts, he was short on the ed with US financials. In India, financials made wal, a fund manager-turned-professional markets ahead of the fall. “I made 25 per cent up 25-26 per cent of the indices then. Therestock adviser. “Or maybe the kind of clients of my annual profit target on that single day. I fore we were severely hit. This time, the probwho come to me now are different,” he adds. know I will lose money in some of the upcom- lem is with China in the metals space. Metals PV Subramanyam, a leading financial advis- ing sessions, but that was a big day for me.” don’t have a big weight in our indices. Two, er from Mumbai, who counts many small inHe finds it amusing that in 2008 he lost while America got into trouble after taking on vestors among his clients, is convinced that quite a bit of money as a long-term investor, too much debt for consumption, China has there has been a behavioural change in mu- but is now raking it in as a short-term trader. used its debt to create hard assets,” he reasons. tual fund investors, thanks to the widening He is among the many investors who kept ac- He predicts that the $10-trillion Chinese econSIP (Systematic Investment Plan) market. cumulating blue-chips such as Reliance Indus- omy will re-emerge a global heavyweight after “When you get SIPs from Kerala, Punjab, Guja- tries and SBI in the tumbling markets of 2008, the froth recedes. rat and West Bengal all in the same equity confident that nothing could happen to such Three, the Indian economy was racing fund, not all those investors will behave in the big names. But when they lost a chunk of their ahead at eight-10 per cent GDP growth in same way. The farmer’s SIP is different from value, they had no choice but to convert them 2008, which slowed to five-six per cent after the schoolteacher’s,” he says. into ‘long-term’ holdings. the global crisis. But this time Click almost amongst the cosplayers. Girls in hijabs and headscarves disappear into the changing roomaround, and emerge Maleficent or blonde Heme! hasWomen observed thatoutnumber investorsmen at the lower theasGDP growth is pickcourtesybehave comic con differently from bewigged Khaleesi end of the pyramid Why it’s different ing up from five-six per cent and the (so-called) savvy investors. “They bench- But should everyone be so sancan only accelerate. He argues Lay investors rarely mark their returns to what they are getting guine? What if this fall turns out that the crash in oil and comspend sleepless elsewhere, maybe a bank recurring deposit. to be just the beginning of a modity prices will repair India’s nights fretting over Investing is a simple process for them. I have mammoth crash, like 2008? fiscal deficit and prop up corpoGreece, China or small clients telling me, ‘Maine saat hazaar After all, aren’t many invesrate profits, which can only help Janet Yellen dala, woh assi hazaar ho gaya (my investment tors still licking their wounds stock prices. Sabharwal points to of ₹60,000 has grown to ₹80,000).” from January 2008? the complete absence of froth in That is sound reasoning. Global cues might That year, the Sensex hit a rethe markets today. “Bull markets shake up investors in urban centres who are cord high of 21,206 on January 10 never top out when the growth is plugged into the hourly news flow from TV, before descending into a tailspin, all the way so low, inflation is under check and central Twitter and business blogs. But lay investors to 16,700 on January 22. Quite a few investors bankers are preparing to cut rates,” he says. Inoblivious to all this noise would scarcely viewed this as a lifetime buying opportunity, stead, they top out when asset prices are in spend sleepless nights fretting over Greece, and rushed in to bet their shirts on realty and bubble territory, like in China. He compares Chinaam or Janet at theYellen.

Hyderabad Comic Con, which infra thatand the the An stocks. organicOnly basetoofdiscover decadestoo of late comics recent correction to theand sharp in self-published their comic are decline travelling is two days and 40,000 sq ft of pop cul- rout waseventually far from over.

When the bear like market fandom led to mega-events San mid-2006 when bull-runtheir was briefly from Con to Conthe displaying work. interTrading opportunity ture.

Journalism is my day job but I also bottomed outhasn’t in October the Sensex Diego. There been2008, any such growthwas in rupted in fulla force.

Thenbefore there itisresumed Mahayodha, war strategy If long-term investors aren’t exactly shaking write comics under a pseudonym.

While at 7,800.

Fancied names that lost 70-80 per card India, where interest in pop culture has been Investors aside,stories what from aboutHindu the pessimism game using mytholoin traders are cent thistheir alterboots, ego hassome sold short-term comics at Cons all over their value back haven’t recodrivenoftop-down.

There is then one publisher that displayed by corporate chieftans gy as the basis, ‘where Shiva meetswho Sunare Tzu’disas happy withI’m theattending market volatility.

Traders the world, for the first timeusuas a vered date. could till claim this organicity. I head to the Raj enchanted theIf lack reforms the the promo, by says.

Ramof attacks youunder for examsarkar?

Sabharwal prefers see thishim as a ally thrive visitor — onon thetwo-way behest ofmovements, an editor. and for comics A repeat of that brutal episode is unlikely to- Modi stall where feverish fans pore over ple, you can use the Kaikeyi cardtoto send show forartwork public for consumption.

“Corpothem the rallythe from 2013 has proved rather un- day, Breathing exhalations of 30,000 people many portfoliothemanagers assure us, mere posters of Parmanu Wonderman and Suinto exile.

The the cards is an ecleclikeblending to lobby cultures. for benefits, know. exSo eventful.

The recent gyrations have pro- pointing for several hours is index not something I’m keen to fundamental the rates per Commando Dhruv, all differences presided byin a glotic mix, Theyou designer they take a negative vided good trading opportunities. on. But the college-age crowd whoop with ex- market conditions between then andhalf-man now. wering bust of Doga — the half-dog, plains that many ofstance.” the artists were Polish, He refuses to fault of reforms.

In Pawan Arora trades Nifty of futures citement as they enter.onWaves Telugubased hip- all-crime Chokkalingam his Aoptimism with fighting backs vigilante.

Doga movie to giving their Ravan the the lookpace of a Slavic Hetman. he had started about on indicators and,Baba thanks to early hoptechnical blast through the hall.

Sehgal is on four reasons.

2008,Kashyap the problem originatbe helmed by “In Anurag has been in de- fact, Cosplayers prowl out the being aisles. negative They pause evgovernment last June,request wary ofa all theJokexstage, belting out, ‘They call him the cool cool velopment hell for years. Who knows it may the ery few feet as enthusiasts selfie. pectation was beingThere built up angry man… he is a human tsunami/Sare pa- just jumpstart the Raj Cinematic Universe? ers form that the baseline. arearound Jokers rein Now, he sees change on outfit, the ground, da gama ne sa/Come come on karo ____’, as he I don’t see a single cosplayer (person in cos- forms. pinstriped suits, Jokers in nurses Jokers although people turned sceptical. hits the punch line, the good Baba swings the tume) as Chacha Chaudhary or withhave smeared makeup made faChokkalingam par mic to the crowd. Instead of shouting ‘jalsa’ Sabu — there is no place for them moussays by fear-mongering Heath Ledger. isEven for the coursemore in falling mentions they merely respond with an inchoate roar — here. The volcanoes erupt in vain. basicmarkets. is V fromHe Vendetta.

A a large client Guy who Fawkes was in aplastic tizzy last weekand aftera the ‘happy to be here roaring’ roar.

As I push my way deeper, familmask These people are a large institution advised him for to sell allentryequiAs I take in the spectacle I think back to the iar sights assail me. There are hoodie is enough your super consumers. ties. “I told him that I At have gone through bear ‘origin story’ of comic book conventions. In long lines snaking to the sole leveller. the other end there Not fans phases five times in my life. Every time you the US, they started when fans, mostly teenag- ATM. The intense crush is always are intricately elaborate crehave a big market fall, you will see these ers or young men, began looking for a safe kryptonite to any card machine. ations, taking hundreds of bears mancoming out of hiding and together. saying allAsorts of haven free from aggressive bullies and disapOnce you are in the heart of the hours to put sevennegative things shake your confidence.” proving parents. Even the government and convention floor, you are sucked footthat high Groot gently wends his Hedozens points out that whencams the Sensex was the media was against them — comics were into the whirl and counter-flows of the crowd. way, of cellphone are held uplanto 8,000 in 2008, there where were stalseen as leading America into decadence. Start- Some stalls are located near cataracts where guishing herald hisatpassage.

This is a world the painting a ing off in basements, the fans had to endure invisible lines of force churn in a constant warts selfie is thewho currency.were scenario.men Yes, he thinks several decades of being ridiculed. flow while others are located in backwaters, ‘there-is-no-tomorrow’ Women almost outnumber amongst three-five per Girls cent fall is likely, butdisappear expects a Only now the geeks have inherited the shores swept bare of customers. I immediate- athe cosplayers. in headscarves recovery fromroom October. earth, though the mega-events of today don’t ly notice these unfortunates, with their dead- solid into the changing and emerge as MalefOverall, the market gyrations don’t seem to bear any trace of a once-persecuted subcul- eyed proprietors staring out behind vast piles icent or blonde bewigged Khaleesi. have disturbed the aZen-like of long-term ture. In India, which has four major Cons in a of unsold inventory.

I talk to Svathi, bubblycalm engineering stuthevolunteers. volatility continues, year — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and HyderaThe crowd is a vast animal that doesn’t investors dent whoso is far. oneBut of ifthe There are remain unaffected?

That’s not a givbad (all managed through the global chain know what it wants. All manner of merchan- will 120 they of them who slog it out without pay As Sabharwal says: “In the first fall, event. everyReed Pop) — this relation is totally upended. dise is on display. Mugs, coasters, key chains, en. through the weekend setting up the buyer. Buther? if it continues, have to The Cons are mega-bazaars where people who plush toys, shoes and t-shirts. Amidst the one Whatis amotivates She wavesyou her arm themgoing to staycrazy,” put!” she says. stream Game of Thrones or have watched Aven- sameness of the offerings I do find a few inde- reassure around, “fans gers want on may merchandise.

These pendent There four Looking up,to yetpig Theout market be melting, but long-term investors creators. are busy hunting forare bargain buysstudents in the afp/ punit paranjpe wreckage, andsuper professional tradersNot are gleefully shorting jaideepkrishnan unudurti is a Hyderabad-based writer people are consumers. fans. profiting byfrom Jharkhand who have written, drawn and aarati

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Where the selfie is currency R

A day spent at Comic Con, Hyderabad, quickly reveals that it is a haven for consumers and a lonely refuge for creators

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Stuck in a moment Dhaka boasts some of the worst traffic anywhere. Urban sprawl is swallowing up older buildings afp/munir uz zaman; (below) prito reza

HOME SPUN

City of surprises The spy who loved office APPROACHING EYE LEVEL

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Defying stereotypes, Dhaka is where serendipities are made possible

farah ghuznavi

nisha susan

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n this era of globalised tourism, many capitals brand themselves with enticing sobriquets — from the City of Minarets (Cairo) to the City of Beer (Brussels)! Dhaka, known as the City of Mosques, due to the 700-plus mosques built from the 15th century onwards, is no exception. Of course, titles don’t always live up to expectations, and even the most loyal residents will admitI hen I was of 13 IDhaka told my mother that everyday life has more than its fair share wanted to be a spy.

I read evof challenges, like most Indian cities.lay my eryinspy novel I could For one thing, Dhaka some of the hands on.boasts From Len Deighton worst anywhere.

Urban sprawl swalto Johntraffic Le Carré to Ian Fleming to Tom is Clancy. lowing up older with limited individual My mother toldbuildings, me I was rather by houses beingof replaced by identical apartment my accident birth. The RAW, she thought, blocks the ubiquitous shopping malls was tooand sarkari and I couldn’t possibly joinsoa dear to the in South Asian country. heart. Gardens are aI spy agency any other Soon after, thing of the past, green areas tend toinbeDelhi few saw a magazine snippet: RAW agents and apart. had far been handed smartcards to punch in and the news bad.

Theso first BanglaoutBut of work.

Onlyisn’t the all cards were enormous deshi woman tothat summit Everest (yes, more and antiquated it marked the carrier as a than one have so,ifeven flat-as-aRAW agent — nodone longer, ever,in anmy undercover pancake country) is alike cityhow animal a bubhai. It sounded a bit yearsand later, my reaucrat.

And amidst clutter and professor described thethe subterfuge of hischaos, newthe switchfriends to compressed gas (CNG) ly Naxal from thenatural ’70s. They’d put technology reduced brown paperhas covers on theirpollution seditious levels, literawhile the banning of plastic provides ture, grow beards and cover bags themselves in some relief from the once-chronic shawls.

If you greeted them they’dblockage say “ShhhofI the city’s drainage system. Fewer people live am underground.” onThe theworldly streets than might be expected, cominsights of mother plus magapared to cities like Kolkata or Mumbai. zine almost squashed my desire to be aUN spy.staI’d tistics indicate thata spy justwas 2.5going per to cent of gathered that being be an Bangladeshis don’t own a toilet, only compared to elaborate ballet of bureaucracy, relieved India’s 48.3 per cent. by an occasional leap into murder. But I’d still As far as go, Dhaka could rightfulenjoyed thetitles world-weary sense of also purpose and ly to be the City of Restaurants — rangtheclaim pitting of intelligence against enemy and ing from garden deshi the traitorous friend.variety For me, its Chinese platonictoideal more sophisticated Thai, was achieved not in aMexican, spy novelBurmese, but in a Ruth Turkish, Mongolian, cuiRendell novel whereJapanese a bunchand of Korean schoolboys sine — reflecting theseriously.

Bengali preoccupation take their spy games with stomachs.

It’s also fantastic shopping This week I read dozens of spyfor stories writ— from heritage textiles like Jamdani and the ten by teens in my parents’ neighbourhood famous Tangail saris three to export-quality for a contest.

Among topics given readyto the made garments, the likesastronaut of Tayebawho Beparticipants (spy art on abymission, gum Lipi something (whose work displayed at discovers onhas thebeen moon, Freaky FriNew York’s Guggenheim Museum) and a the vaday exchange of place with one parent) riety of traditional and exquisite crafts. spy theme was most popular.

From the stories

But perhaps the reality of the city is best re- twisted her ankle and fell. She was trying to flected by calling it the City of Stories — a mil- get up, when two young men in a rickshaw lion a minute, and some of them quite stopped. “They asked me what was wrong. I unbelievable. For example, I recently asked said ‘nothing’, because I didn’t want any trousomeone who does home-visits for sports inju- ble. But they got down, insisted on helping me ries if he found the traffic exhausting. “No, be- into the rickshaw, and walked the rest of the cause I sleep a lot,” he replied. “This morning, I way to their destination. I was really surprised, napped for two hours on the number six air- but it was such a nice surprise!” conditioned bus!the And I have other places—to it was clear that thrill of the mission if work.

Dhaka’s cafesthe and eateries provide A waymany of turning banal phrase ‘good rest, I like a—nap vastlybecause more ironic still after runs lunch, strong.too...” not only variety of snacks — ranging from at her job’ainto a moral pronouncement.

“But do you a place to rest the phuchka I waswhere distracted by find one of the only twoinchiland chatpati, to red velvet cupcakes Men have been remaking themselves at middle of picked the day,the so Freaky far from home?” dren who Friday theme. She and — have but their ownshocked form ofby unexworkshawarma forever. We all been the “Oh,of I find the nearest mosque, curl up in wrote wanting to switch places with hera pected A list of stern rules at men inentertainment. our lives being described by colcorner cat-nap.

After all, alike place mother.and A mother who sounds sheofis worQ to one place makes it clear that customers will leagues and juniors as kind, patient and helpship shouldBond. be open to anyone theidea faith! someone’s The writer likedofthe of not be friend permitted to has lickto each other’s the tonsils. ful. My M only remember odd Usually, that I’mfor a regular wor- Not working,they likeassume her mother, the DRDO are always reefline that fromsuch her admonishments brother’s work evaluation shipper, because of woman my haircut,” he smiled, fective. (which got its first director-general My 20-something intern,“They Emmy, port to start giggling hysterically. say,left he gesturing towards theweapons, half inch meeting of fuzz coverthis month) making vari- me feeling a little bruised hahahaha.” with her observais personable and sociable, ing scalp. of India and also having total tion ous his Presidents thataround “some and old people” who were doing making Look there are women it Streetover harassment, while perhaps not as out in the café control her younger sister. putDoing her off Belgian chocotoo. it her so well you’ve no bad as some of the stories comThe child never mentioned the late Mymilkshake bythattheir clue. cousin A is like pering out ofhome neighbouring counmother’s life. The writer (mis)behaviour. son from an old-fashioned insurtries, is part ofif everyday life.of-A also wondered going to the “Seriously, Farah, the guy had ance ad. She is a mother, sister, friend of mine, Polly, be recently fice every day might a bore.had She wrote of wanting wife, to bedaughter, at least 40!

And the womdaughter-in-law. a stranger follow up toage, her At roughly thisher child’s an wasthe over 35!” she said, apUnlike person in the insurI napped for two to switch places third-floor in by a houswhy was I apartment so fascinated the palled. condemnation was ance ad, This she manages big teams, hours on mother. the number with her A ing colony.

It was evening, and mother spy in the British novel, the kind blithely isofacourse prizeddelivered analyst and also toa six air-conditioned who sounds she on the phone as she that was continuously emphasises my 40-something self, thereby sleepless theatre producer.

When bus like she is Q to climbed the stairs,of so spying she didn’t the pointlessness itfirmly establishing that no one we meet, I am always intrigued someone’s Bond notice hiscould stealthy pursuit until self? You be really good at a day over 29 has any business by her charming slacker vibe — in he her, ever and yoursuddenly job and nogroped one would engaging any form of search of a in horizontal surface then off, racing to athe buildknowtook or care.

It seems strange hanky-panky. and some chips. How did she get ing exit.for “I akept thinking, he actually climbed choice 13-year-old.

On a less exclusive such places provide so muchnote, done? upPerhaps all thosenot stairs just to The grabworld me like that for so much. outside mya anRecently, unrivalled opportunity for people-watchI got a clue. I congratulated her for few seconds!

Whatwith do these perverts get of ing house was filled possibilities of out being — whatever the job, ageswhich of thecut specimens unswitching to a new her 40-minsuch behaviour?!”

But the creep gotwho his comesomething other than a screw-up broke der scrutiny. by Sitting in said, a café recently, myI ute commute half. She “Are you mad? uppance.

Crashing the darkened things, tore things,through forgot things, burnt friend T observed drive two teenagers giggle neededFarah that 40-minute to transition to yard inblurted his attempt escape, things, things.toSchool washe theprovided first site about the self.” butterflies in the stomach a boy at my home neighbours who heard her scream some school of my double life.had At school, I could be magihad evoked.

At the table,capsule a six-yearA’s drive home was likenext a space reunexpected entertainment: ran straight in- old cally responsible, filled withhe initiative and engirl overheard them and burstsoout turning to earth, slowing down as crying, to not to the clotheslines and fellpart-time flat on hisjob behind, terprise.

Later, in my first I was “How could they that, Ma? burst into flame.

Thisdorealisation hasWho madeeats me before scrambling up to make a decidedly un- butterflies?!” responsible for laying out clothes, underwear look at A differently. It has also made me look dignified retreat.forBymodels the end of it,on everyone and accessories racing and off more (In this monthlyatcolumn, the carefully peopleauthors I know.chronicle There are was laughing. ramps.

I was 15 and thrilled at being organised cities call home.) spies they on missions all around us. evenamiable, in the unselfconsciously mega-city, things onSometimes, behalf of these ghuznavi is a writer, newspaper nisha susan is a writer and editor of thecolumnist feminist and aren’t naked what giants.they seem. On another occasion, farah worker basedt@chasingiamb in Dhaka, Bangladesh website The Ladies Finger returning from work very remaking late at night, Polly Being a spy is the purest of self at development

There are secret agents all around us, each on their own mission

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LIGHTHOUSE

Lessons from 1975 The quasipolitans

The men who run the government today were at the receiving end during the Emergency 40 years ago. What did they learn?

mark event because Modi’s win seemed to mark a final, clean break from everything that post-Independence Congress represented. He stood for many things to many people, ear Qayenaat, though, and it is worth asking how he is doing I realise these are minor inconsistencies. But they Your unusual name is certainly one of the after a year in government. pile up. The morning after the fire, for instance, when reasons I have chosen to write directly to you are told that a death has occurred, you switch fromIf you’re an economic liberal like me, Modi you, the protagonist of the novel under rebeing light-hearted about burning down a buildinghas to been a disappointment. It is with good reaview. I wanted to be able to use it right away, to signal guilt-stricken about having inadvertently killedson a that people are beginning to refer to this that this is an unusual book, riven with odd and interas UPA 3. Modi has not instituted friend. Even though it’s very clear that murder was government noesting dualities. any where in the picture, you take on the mantle of a far-reaching reforms, and the rhetoric of For instance, your name suggests that you’re a Mus‘incremental reforms’ does not cut it for me. marked woman and decide that you need to leave Banlim, though you’re not. It means “the world (…) all of But it’s fair enough to wait out the five years galore, lie low and “go into India”.

God’s creation” yet you chose, early in your life, to use they have been given before passing So you run away to a small town called Simhal “1,500 it without a surname as if cutting yourself free from kilometres away” north of Bangalore, with the ideajudgement. of the clutter of the world. As a single woman in her early writing a paper about an obscure dance form that youIt is in the domain of personal freedoms fifties, you are the sort of character who, in murder had once seen performed. By going there you enter that the Modi has let the country down. Much of mysteries, would be called “the spinster” whereas Indian version of “Darkest Africa” where anythingthis is is due to petty vindictiveness, straight out you’re actually a divorcée, bold and free. Your story inof the Indira Gandhi playbook. Consider how possible because it’s not within the confines of a city. cludes a steamy romance but it’s really about Idealism Teesta Setalvad has been harassed after Modi There are tribals and cellphones, a crumbling regal and Art. came palace and enchanting dancers, loyal retainers and a to power, the latest salvo being the canFor all these reasons, I enjoyed meeting you. It was cellation of the licence of her NGO. (Why mad queen-mother. There’s a surly, glue-sniffing easy to think of you as a friend I might meet over coffee should any organisation need a licence from young man who rides to your rescue on his two-wheelat the Bangalore Gymkhana. Yet for these the government anyway? Wasn’t Modi, the er when required and there’s also the classame reasons, ie, because you’re credible messiah, supposed to do away with this kind sic tall handsome charmer — not merely a and likeable, I found your actions during of nonsense?) Consider the government’s haprince but a King — for you to lose your the course of your story increasingly diffiof NGOs like Greenpeace, and the ofheart to. There are modern medicinesrassment to For me, the cult to justify. Take, for example, the incifloading of Greenpeace campaigner Priya take care of your sudden illness and inconsistencies dent with the cigarette lighter. Yes, you’re Pillai when she was on her way to England bethere’s also an ancient ritual that you find were like tiny, overcome with rage at that moment. Yes, it whining mosquitoes so savage, you realise you can no longercause ac- officials felt she would give India a “negmay well have been a nasty shock to find a that I could not swat cept your self-imposed exile. You returnative to image” there. Go online, search for best friend apparently flirting with your videos of the recent Patel uprising in Ahmedathe city no longer fearing arrest because… out of my mind ex-boyfriend.

But ...aarson! youYoung see what bad, and see the shocking brutality with well? Time Swamy heals all including corLending helpingDo hand party worker Narendra Modi guided Subramanian to wounds, a safe house in pti during thefor Emergency I’m saying?Ahmedabad It’s extreme even someone which the police crack down on common peorosive guilt. at the peak of a romance, never mind 15 For me, the inconsistencies were likeple. ti- (The Gujarat government also banned the years after the romance has died. mobile internet during this time, as well as ny, whining mosquitoes that I could not 1975, athat Tamilian a sardar swat millions of my forced sterilisations he caused.

Frankly, evennbefore scene,disguised I had myasdoubts Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.) Consider all out of mind as I read about your exploits. landed at Ahmedabad Station The press silenced.

Jenkins of many about you. It’s not justup that women whoRailway continue to the nonsense the fringe elements on the HinEventually, theywas succeeded in Loren drowning out the escape from the central government.

Newsweek bits wrote, “Innovel. ten years of covering smoulder for a to man are edging into Classic Spinster du right are getting up to, and the silence of interesting of the I ended it feelingthe sleep-deHethat was Baban, met and escorted safepast house prived worldand from Franco’s Spain to Mao’s China, I the government on these issues — the same siterritory. It’s also the object to of ayour cross. a 25-year-old who once sold creature. tea on that never encountered suchresponse stringentisand all tolence passion, isby such a pompous, unattractive Westa- have Fortunately, however, my likely be you would get from Indira every time tion’s platform.

Freeze moment history atypical! encompassing Oneit’s ofgood the leaders see him through your eyes as a that caricature of in today’s she was confronted with the antics of her psyFor verycensorship.” many readers enough that — Narendra Modi Subramanian Swa- you’re of thelively opposition, LK Advani, later said that the taken artist-superstar, a man whoescorting flies around the world chopathic son Sanjay. and witty, an older woman who’s my to his safe house — and contrast to today. charge press of “was asked toVictoria, bend and it chose to hero-Modi has not declared an Emergency or with a glamorous young woman posing as hisitmanagher life.

Like the Anglo-Indian a long way have come.from hither, crawl.”

A permanent dictatorship seemed like-of coner while heWhat collects giant artwe commissions jailed opponents, but this approach to power ine of Bhowani Junction, you feel the pressures Or have we? ly, andidealisms, we owe much gratitude to theoffact thither and yon. does remind me of 1975, and makes me wonflicting you have the blood anthat accidental I gotyou, theintelligent above trivia from Coomi would Kapoor’s death power delusional, Someone like and idealistic, der. Many of the prominent politionmade your Indira hands and you have lovers from three excellent The Emergency: A Personal for she called forofelections onlyIndian pantheon: an surely laugh at yourbook, youthful folly and move away?HistoIncal actors of today played small different strands the modern ry. Kapoor a journalist living Delhi in artist, because she thought she would stead the old flame iswas rekindled and you areinthrilled roles in that particular produca commoner, a royal.

The discussions about art those days, though her book timed win.

(Indeed, waswith op-your companions are when he suggests thatand he really did love youwas once and to and tion. Arun Jaitley spent the years ideology thatSanjay you have It is in as thethe domain coincide withinthe of the genuinely posed to the decision.) may still be interested you40th now. anniversary Another ex-lover, of the Emergency in jail. In the refreshing.

Live long and prosper, Vul- of personal freedoms Emergency, is a timely reminder to the dam- cansItsay. is true that a political leader Sathi, is also an odd itcombination of cool-cat-withhundreds of hours of solitary conthat Modi has let the ageand people drunk on powerHe can do, and heart-of-gold man-of-flexi-morals. shares yourthe does not need to suspend detemplation that he no doubt had, — MP country down such powerupcan pose to mocracy to devastate a country. home withthreat you but notuntrammelled your bed. He cooks dal-rice what did he think about? When manjula padmanabhan is an artist a nation.

Even without the Emergency, In-and the author meals while also making embarrassing revelations the young party worker Narendra The Island of count Lost Girls The Emergency began with theparty. filling up of ofdira would as one of the about his undying love for you mid-dinner Modi guided Subramanian Swajails. “The number of those in Indira Gandhi’s worst rulers in our history. my to his safe house, what did prisons during the Emergency,” writes Kapoor, Through a series of disastrous they talk about? Was it about how “far exceeded the total number jailed during economic policies, many of which her delud- power corrupts, the necessity to impose limits the 1942 Quit India Movement.” This included ed partymen still support, she kept tens of mil- on it and the tragedy of how politicians in Innot just those in the opposition parties but al- lions of people in poverty, and adversely dia sought to rule than to serve? Or did they so potential opponents within her own party affected all our lives. There are no counterfac- simply say to each other, “Just wait. Just wait plus whoever they damn well felt like. (“The tuals, of course, and abstract economic argu- till we are on the other side, and we are the entire Sanskrit department of Delhi University ments do not have the visceral impact of the ones in charge.” was sent to prison.”) Personal vendettas were kind of stories that Kapoor’s excellent book is I suspect it was the latter. And what a loss quickly settled, and torture was common in filled with. that is. jails. The exploits of Sanjay Gandhi and his coLet’s get back to the present. To many, the t@amitvarma terie were particularly shameful, such as the general elections of last year felt like a land-

A letter to the protagonist of Anjum Hasan’s The Cosmopolitans

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The anatomy of love A translation of Dharamvir Bharati’s 1949 classic takes us back to an Allahabad caught in the struggle between the old ways and the new

Variety show The range of cuisines is crucial to the popularity of home chefs. Seen here (clockwise from left) are the offerings from Holachef, Bite Club and Masalabox

Role play Allahabad, with its parks and colonial buildings, tehzeeb and social barriers, is the setting for the tragic love story of Chander and Sudha brijesh jaiswal

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he search results for Gunahon ka Devta on Wikipedia are akin to my own faint memories of this rather poetic oxymoron — a gloriously insufferable 1990s Bollywood revenge melodrama, starring Mithun Chakraborty. Apart from its rather memorable title, it has little to do with Dharamvir Bharati’s almost otherworldly love story of the same name.

It is to Poonam Saxena’s credit that I am able to discover the beauty of the original Gunahon ka Devta with all its nuanced romance and tragedy. Each word of the title expands through the pages capturing the varied contradictions, passions and tortured dimensionsnofKochi’s the author’s young hero.

Kacheripady locality, Nisha Nal Chander & Sudha is a her confident and wellKattitaren begins day preparing crafted translation that renders efmeals for Masalabox, which Bharati’s delivers her fervescent novel accessible toare a whole new lefood to customers who unknown to gion of fans.

The bestselling Gunahon ka Devta her. Her expertise lies in Kerala cuisine, with has been consistently print its first appam and duck roast in being hersince biggest hits publication 1949 andelayil this statistic alone is followed by inkarimeen pollichathu (fish testament to its enduring popularity. wrapped and cooked in banana leaf). Kattitathismeals tragica day, tale renThere endsisupsomething making atabout least 20 that draws you right the things and the number goesinto up to 50heart whenofshe gets—a abulk charming whereatime itself down. order city — once week onslows average — Mid-20th century Allahabad is thetheperfect through Masalabox.

This has turned home backdrop young lovers. opening lines cook into afor sought-after chefThe with a steady inof the stream. book speak volumes: come ‘If people stillChembur believe in cityArchana or village deiIn Mumbai’s area, Vohra ties, I would say meals Allahabad’s god is asdishes out 200 every reigning day. A participant suredly a romantic in MasterChef India,artist.’

Vohra had mastered the is an old-young city, a citykitchen of the past artItof cooking in her home and that furis starting a slow march towards thein future, ther honedonher skills during her stay New aJersey, renaissance cityshe where poetry, art,tiffins culture US, where was supplying to and a certain thrive. The stage2014, is setshe for singletons intehzeeb her building.

In June the two lovers — Chander and Sudha —start-up to play listed with Holachef, a Mumbai-based out partshome in anchefs Allahabad that allows that their connects with end-consumsuch impossible loves to flourish.

Chander, ers. When the Holachef website launched in Sudha and Gesu spend languorous afternoons September 2014, Vohra was supplying 10 daydreaming, take walks under the perfumed meals a day; that number has grown 20 times mango of Alfred Park, and live in the in just ablossoms year. charming Civil Lines with its colonial bungaIn a country with limited options for lows andeating-out sprawlingand compounds.

Theirs is an healthy an increasing number

untarnished world touched by an old-world tiate a sea of temptations and sacrifices in oretiquette. Yet, it is also an Allahabad that is a der to love and be loved. There are debates bastion of Brahminical social structures, rigid about the purity of love and the nature of placaste divisions and gender inequalities. Hin- tonic and filial affection. The boundaries of dus and Muslims mingle but the segregation friendship are tested and sex becomes a catais rigid as ever and there is barely any possibil- lyst for suffering and disaster. Sudha, Binti, ity of an inter-caste meal, much less a mar- Pammi — each of these characters represent a riage. The story revolves around the different kind of love for Chander and well-educated youth of the day pursuing high- through them, he is able to experience the ener studies at the prestigious Allahabad Univer- tire spectrum of emotions. Love for Chander is sity. They have the freedom to form their own both a thing of joy and also fraught with pain. opinions and ideas and yet they are trapped His burning desire for Pammi becomes his by the conventions of the day. It is this strug- purgatory while redemption lies in his pure gle between the old ways and the new that and unadulterated devotion towards Sudha. causes them to falter and often There is a line from Plato’s Sympocan whom be eaten ontouches a daily not baof working women who are hard-pressed for something which shatters their illusions. sium: ‘He love time to cook, ‘Such is thepreservative-free nature of love,home food is sis,” he says. walks in darkness’, and yet it is alnow greatly soughtploy/ after. Hitherto hidden besuch is this strange so love that pushes Chander and bucks over the edge into madhind chefs areitsnow getting a Big bites, Thekitchens, one whohome remembers The boundaries of big Sudha platform tonever showcase their meals as well as are Across the country, companies lessons will find any joy.’ ness and despair. like Holachef, friendship tested Bite Club, Cyber Chef aredicinearn money by tying up with a slew and of startThis strangely melancholic As the and older generation sex becomes a Masalabox vesting big bucks food and delivery logistics. ups thatisare bridging theone gapof between homefor suffering couplet recited during tates into customs makes autocatalyst foodearliest and empty stomachs.

While demand seems pickthe exchanges between cratic decisions, it toisbe their and disaster ing up, who therelive were “We saw college a big gap in the martwo young girls — Sudha children out challenges the conseket where could aplenty to get these goand Gesu —someone who discuss lifesell anda quences, often tostart-ups disastrous ing initially. goodonselection of interesting love a lazy afternoon.

Their ends.

Teetering between love and Vohra had further and healthy food options into and Biteduty, Club found chefs conversation is a window lust, loyalty anditspassion, honed herChander skills transforms throughinto social Holakeepworld the prices affordable. the of poetry, high art We and philosophithemedia. titularAnd gunahon duringaher ka stay in while chef took goes a lot of references from came to theThe conclusion that between cal musings. characters seesaw devta Sudha into a downward New Jersey, US, Their unrequited what makes foodand goodreal-world is a good social friends and family.

“But it wasmodifromantic idyll conspiral. love makes each where was spent ficult to convince the chefsEvery that chef. And nobody wascontradiction making straints and it is this that cre- she ment together more poignant. supplying tiffins togesture, the affectionate model couldglance work. and Theyword had the talent available in our ates the unique context forkitchBharati’s novel. teasing in her newameaning good grasp over recipes but ensAtto That’s&when thecustomers. heart of Chander Sudha lies asingletons simple assumes and becomes a lingerbuilding were restricted to feeding friends we started home chefslovers. Howevand oft-toldtalking tale ofto star-crossed ing bittersweet memory. to partner with us,” says Prateek and family.

We managed coner, it is Bharati’s frank and refreshing take on While Bharati’s later novels Suraj kato Satvan Agarwal, founderthat of makes GurgaonvinceYug some them greater and then their relationship it stand out. The Ghoda and Andha haveof received litbasedis Bite played a role,” novel an Club. exercise in understanding the anat- erary acclaimword-of-mouth with their strong social comSaxena.

Saurabh founder-CEO omy of loveSaxena, — a universal preoccupation of po- mentary andsays literary technique, it is Chander & Vedant founder and CEO of freshFoodof Mumbai-based Holachef saysThe he love realised ets, artists and lovers themselves. that Sudha thatKanoi, continues to sparkle with that an alternative supply could created by ness.

Cloud,Itagrees: “Initially was simply harder what to find it describes is far removed frombe today’s bold expresses quietlyit and it chefsto and them, but welive getand aloffering a declarations variety of cuisine thatmedia. was both and hectic on social It is feels be empanel young and in love — now and to healthy andtender tasty.and “Werambling. thought of getting die most slow-paced, by10 itsenquiries vagaries. daily from new chefs wantchefs are well-versed with certainboats cui- ing to join us.”

The who characters are like untethered kohli is a Mumbai-based freelance writer Today, FoodCloud has home chefs as well as sines, and keeping recipes and light, diya tossed about in a storm and homely they have to nego-

Bon appétit

Home chefs are tying up with a slew of start-ups that are bridging the gap between affordable healthy food and empty stomachs

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Chander & Sudha Dharamvir Bharati

(Translated into English

by Poonam Saxena) Fiction Penguin India ₹499

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ery boys, Holachef is using a hybridMahatma model — Road or the congested, unappealing own-plus-outsourced pick-up andBut deGandhi Road of most staff otherfor Indian towns. livery.

“We are hyperlocal.

The food supplied it’s meant to signal the pan-Indian nature in of an is also cooked in the same area, bringthearea menu, which changes every three months. ing theiscost of logistics,” says Saxena.

The down spicing gentle, to suit Parisian palates, The modus operandi differs within marand there is nothing so outlandish as to baffle kets. theand ownbrightened. fleet model Of in — justThachery classics, follows lightened Kochi, as the come intikka, earlyslow-cooked and the delate, they haveorders had chicken liveries can be planned in advance.

But in BenKerala-style duck, rara gosht, meen moilee, shagaluru, sheand usesChettinad the hybridliver model owingThe to hi paneer, masala. last-minute orders andlassi, the vastness of thecraft city. drinks menu offers nimbu pani, As for the revenue these start-ups beers, India pale ale,model, and biodynamic wine.are still in an experimental takesI “Malabar Monsoonphase. filterHolachef coffee!” asqueaked. commission chef which is 20-30 “Andfrom Mittalthe teas!

And Old Monk!” per“You cent, depending theMonk,” items pointed — non-vegedon’t even likeonOld out tarian meals have a smaller cut. Neha Puri, my companion. founder andit’s CEO of to Cyber Chef, while 60 “Yes, but nice know it’s says there,” I said per cent ofParis.” the revenue per meal goes to home firmly.

“In chefs, her company 40 per reducOn our right, thekeeps waitress wascent, explaining ing cuttheir for dishes that require more expenthe the chaat, star attraction: “The coquilles rawblown materials.

Thachery’s soufflées?sive They are shells of dough with has a mark-up modyoghurt, and aMasalabox tamarind sauce.” el — “The chef(the does the pricTo my eavesdropping ears tables are Food ambassadors (From left) Siddharth Sharma , Aushim Krishan and Prateek ing and we add 30 closely-packed) this conveyed nothing of per the Agarwal of Bite Club; (inset) Harsha Thachery, co-founder and CEO, Masalabox cent joy to it,” says.But tart-sweet-crunchy-creamy ofshe chaat. when our own crisp dahi sev puris arrived, ground they had lost nothing in Breaking translation, textures professional ones. The ratio of home to profes- mum tolerSince offalleachthese and flavours all bouncing gently othsional chefs for Holachef is 65:35 now. But the ance level. It companies are er. Chef Manoj Sharma grew up in Delhi’s companies want to put in place a stringent on- has hapless thanbuttwo Chandni Chowk, we were informed, he boarding process to ensure that food quality pened in years they knows his Bombay street chaat just old, as well.

At remains consistent. some cases. are some yet tovery break €8 for four, however, these were exAgarwal says that at his company the chefs We are foeven. “On an oppensive golgappas. are judged for their cooking capacity, passion cused on erational Our lamb sweetbread bhajiyas were basis firm as well as ambition. “We have a form on our maintaining we have— broken but pillowy, creamy and crunchy simply website where potential chefs fill in their de- high quality,” there is done, mildly spiced, very even, good.but They came tails. We then filter them, meet the shortlisted says Saxena. somemango, more to go,” with a tart sauce of tamarind, ginger chefs and have a tasting session,” he says. says pink, Thachery.

For and chilli, and a salad of fresh white and From there on, it is the food quality team that Part and parcel Holachef’s Saxena, green sprouts. decides if a chef should be brought on board.

While the chef is in “Break-even is athe concern.

After these encouraging entrees, mains Even after the chefs are on board, their charge of deciding the therogan end ofjosh the was day, a busiwere less exciting.AtThe light kitchens are regularly inspected and audits menu, procuring the supnesspopular has to recover its costs; rendering of the lamb dish, wellmade for raw material supplies. The compa- plies and cooking the meals, we meat have suffused an eye on that cooked, succulent with theconsanies specify the type of oil to be used and en- the companies ensure that stantly. However, terms of voury gravy of Kashmiri mirch andin onion (and Saxena hasafigured sure that preservatives are not used. the food is well packed and economics — perThe order — heavy-handedunit coriander garnish). butout that curdter rice is a a large Harsha Thachery, co-founder and CEO of dispatched on time from their we are not money.” chicken, piece oflosing bird accompanied prime seller forbya pulao Monday Masalabox, says her company asks all the chefs kitchens. The companies proTo ensuresalad, an early breakand an indifferent was servicelunch whileable dal bati to register with the Food Safety and Standards vide the packaging material. these to but I alwayseven, find it hardcompanies to like thathave sweet, churma sellstomato-ey the best sauce Authority of India (FSSAI). “And every time a After that, the delivery boys focus on minimising wastage stippled with cream.

MG for Wednesday and chef cooks, we take a sample portion to ensure take over. for Road’s bestsellerand wasefficient too close forecasting to the standard Sunday lunches that everything that goes out is of standard And it is here that the comthe the next punch day. “That’s for me, lacking of awhere real Fresh take Roadcustomer rubs elbows with theseriously fashionable restaurants ofincurring Marais; (below) Punjabi rara gosht quality.

WeMGtake reviews panies are the maxireimagining. technology plays an imporcourtesy mg road and do it on a daily basis.” mum cost. Logistics takes up role.

Tremendous Desserts weretant pleasant, and not too sweet: As does Holachef, which takes customer almost one-fifth of the operatamount data is generated one a milky, dense, lovelyofkulfi with lurid rose don’t miss seriously.

Indian cuisine in ing feedback andoften chef rating And if any lantexpense at the long-awaited arrival of “la nouvelle syrup, and the other and the start-ups everyaday on our app sweet and webginger-spiced yobut abelow prolonged boutout of of illness chef’sFrance, rating falls three stars five, are cuisine stillindienne”. experimenting with various models. site.

Predictive algorithms are used towe forecast ghurt baked like a cheesecake.

“Shall share recently left me craving food. While he/she is dis-empanelled.

“Thatcomfort is the maxiBut would anyrecruits of the new lot live my the level Bite Club its own fleetup of to delivof plate?” demandsaid andthe alsoAmerican the type of food cheese half of But where would I find it, I wondered. In high expectations? A celebratory occasion on says He has figured out thegiven tabledays,” next to us.Saxena.

The French half, who had Paris, Indian restaurants are mostly uninspir- gave me an excuse to test the one-year-old bis- that ricethe is a kulfi, primelooked seller for a Monday beencurd eyeing forlorn, but dalcheese bati churma sellswhich the best for ing affairs where the food is dull and the inte- tro MG Road. lunch agreedwhile to the selection, came Wednesday and Sunday lunches. naans and riors hallucinatory. I’d been to one once: a dim Far from Gare du Nord, MG with dry-fruit-stuffed Cyber Chef’s Puri says chutney. regional specialities establishment in the 18th arrondissement fes- Road rubs elbows with the homemade that are not easily available while tooned in brass, latticework, velvet and ele- trendsetting eateries of the MaThe prices are sell high,fast and the street food does well on a Friday evening phants. It had charming service, but appalling rais area instead. The small marservice lackadaisical, but but MG not in the middle the week. food: swampy curries, microwaved ‘tandoori’ ble-fronted spot with its Roadof knows what it’s doing. It reThe spicing is gentle, As it is impossible to make a 100 cent acstarters, and a sticky, depressing neon halwa. upcycled bric-a-brac, marblesembles neither an per old-school to suit Parisian forecast, thecafé, companies have made arGoogling the place later, I was amazed to find topped tables, and almirah of Irani nor the restaurants in palates andcurate there is rangements India for or handling leftover that it had good reviews.

Bhuira jams, Pearlpet spice jars nothing so outlandish elsewhere which food. have tend to eat in-house and a con“The poor, misguided souls,” I said to a and teas, is meant to mimic the been reinventing Indian cooking as to baffleCompany — just staff siderable quantity is given to NGOs. friend. “They just don’t know any better.” I Irani cafes of Bombay. But the for over a decade now.Bite It’s Club Pariclassics, lightened and Holachef have tied up with the Robin wiped a tear for the locals who would never pale, bleached interiors and exsian in personality: polished, and brightened Hood Army, genteel a voluntary organisation that know that a better world was possible, and re- posed walls, punctuated by jewand upscale.

And they’re takes surplustrying food to from restaurants to to thea signed myself to bullying people into ferrying el-toned glass lamps, could be introduce people less-fortunatenew sections of with society. frozen kebabs to me. anywhere in the Marais (barring world, lunchtime ‘tifWith the scaling up(“like of demand, expansion Then last year, the tide turned. A lassi bar ap- the Ganesha, of course). fin’ deals Indian bento,” as I also underway.

From moving to newermenu, cities peared, followed by the very chic MG Road, reWe slid into our spot on a sluggish summer is overheard someone explain), a brunch setting up centralised kitchens, startported to be an Irani café “just like in day, thankful for the retro brown ceiling fan, a to special meals for Holi and Diwali, these and home are doing everything keep MG’s the pot boilBombay”. And then a hip restaurant, Naan, rarity in Paris. Tables filled up for the second ups delivery.

Meanwhile, DesitoRoad, brandwhen they are thalis, able toplates replicate their specialising in snacks and naan wraps, and Ba- dinner service: an Indian couple, two French ing. new And sibling, is offering to share, across more cities,Paris it will make life ranaan, a speakeasy serving “Indian tapas”. ones, a party of friends, and two colleagues, success and desi-inspired cocktails. might finally easiertofor peopleup who don’t haveIndithe And all outside the traditionally South Asian French and American, discussing a third co- much be en route catching with modern time to prepare their requirement of three district of droopy dosas and mysterious un- worker in loud Franglish. an cuisine. limited ‘bhaji’, around the Gare du Nord staThe name ‘MG Road’ doesn’t evoke appetis- square meals a day. tion.

Bloggers were astonished, ing visions for anyone who knows either Del- naintara maya oberoi is a food writer based in pratap Paris t@naintaramaya Anil Gelra (left) and Saurabh Saxena of Holachef Instagrammers rapturous, and reviewers jubi- hi’s migraine-breeding Mehrauli-Gurgaon rashmi

MEAL TICKET

Streets ahead

And finally, an Indian restaurant that offers Paris a tasty respite from swampy curries, frozen kebabs and neon halwas

naintara maya oberoi

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media has now a reach which runs into millions, with extremely fast communication capable of creating a surge of public opinion and movement faster than any government agency can monitor, let alone control.”

Referring to the 2011 protests against corruption in India and the tidal wave of street demonstrations in the Arab world, Chandra observed that “highly centralised governments” had been “taken by surprise (by) movements springing on to the streets in unexpectedly large numbers united with a common intent”.

While flagging this 6am Who can start the day without a 6.30am First breakfast: masala dosa, 8.20am Sassoon Docks, lookinghe forhad fresh “destabilising phenomenon”, words of double espresso macchiato? chutneys and sambar, #dailyaddiction seafood fellow #nobasa comfort forwith India.

Thechefs “impact of such events” would be less “in democracies where the media is free and open”.

Since then it became the commonsense among top police and security officials that the new media were part of the factors to account for in all strategic plans. In an address to the country’s top police officials in 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alerted them to the need to be vigilant on this count, though without going so far as to demand an abridgement of free speech.

Modi’s arrival in office signalled a change of emphasis, perhaps reflecting the very forceful use he had made of social and indeed all forms of media in his election campaign.

Check republic Internet messaging on mobile phones was shut down in parts of Gujarat after a spate of Within weeks of taking charge, the new PM afp/sam panthaky violence triggered by the agitation led by Hardik Patel signalled how hefrom set our by social 10.07am The wonders of Mumbai’s 12.40pm Stingmuch ray andstore snapper media as an administrative tool. architecture… Long live VT! 11.30am Second breakfast, poha fishmonger, who makes a daily stopHis early diSTATES OF MATTER rective that senior administrators should utilise social media but confine themselves to Hindi, had the unintended consequence of generating a frisson of linguistic tensions. A later meeting with a top executive from Facebook on a business visit to India earned wide media coverage.

Instrumental use of the internet and the new media is not an idea original to India. The clearest statement of intent here comes from two top officials of Google — executive chairman Eric Schmidt and Google Ideas director Jared Cohen — in their 2013 work titled ‘The New Digital Age’. Google Ideas very tellingly identifies itself as a “Think/Do Tank” and Cohen is a perfect fit for the generic term “in and outer”, constantly in transit through the revolving doors between the corporate world, 1.45pm #Bombaybecause 1.15pm It’s lunchtime at Kamala Mills, the dabbawalas doing the rounds policy think-tanks and government. He was famed for having served the US State Departilicon Valley is an ecosystem in part main reason for scepticism. The issue, rather, ment under two bosses — Condoleezza Rice nourished by technical talent with an is how far the security establishment is willing and Hillary Clinton — and for his facility to inIndian stamp of origin. Prime Minis- to tolerate the free and uninhibited use of dig- vent smart-sounding catchphrases such as ter Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to ital resources. An instinctive tendency to ‘Public Diplomacy 2.0’.

Silicon Valley and his planned meetings with a clamp down on digital communications and In 2010, Schmidt and Cohen co-authored a number of persons of Indian origin who have media has been evident in recent years at vari- paper which was a celebration of the new breached glass ceilings and achieved posi- ous junctures of actual or pofrontiers of human freedom that tions of corporate authority is a subtle effort tential civil unrest in parts of the internet made possible. From to take ownership of that intangible patrimo- the country. the “reading coalition” that Benny. And then there is the more tangible purThis matter has been under edict Anderson, in his classic pose of recruiting talent to the cause of the discussion in policy circles for work Imagined Communities, deThe utility of digital revolution that is an integral part of long. In January 2012, Naresh monitoring telephonic scribed as a key player in the the government’s developmental plans.

Chandra, then head of the Naearly days of the nation, here was conversation or Not everybody, however, seems to share the tional Security Advisory Board, intercepting messages a prophecy of how “coalitions of celebratory spirit. In a letter addressed to delivered a lecture in honour of connected” would cement a on wireless is hardly 3pm Chef the Thomas, Sameer, my business prominent Silicon Valley executives, a number the founder of India’s overseas true global solidarity of enlightpartner and I discuss menu changes and sufficient any more of academics of Indian origin urged a degree intelligence agency. The occaandCanteen freedom. tastings at enment The Bombay of scepticism about the plans for a “digital In- sion determined the audience, Time magazine honoured the dia”. A specific concern flagged was the possi- which was closely attuned to protester as the “person of the ble use of new digital technologies for the discourse on “national seyear” for 2011. Four years on, the purposes of citizen surveillance. There was al- curity” and needed no guidance through its civil uprisings against the political state have so a worry that economic disparities would be basic premises. been transformed into chaotic violence in the aggravated, that digital India would only deeChandra worried that conventional intelli- Arab world and a flood of refugees into an alpen existing divides. gence-gathering and enforcement were prov- ready troubled European continent. The lesDhruva Jaishankar, a young scholar with a ing inadequate for the brave new world of sons are yet to be learnt but thinking, clearly, US-based think tank, responded with an ad- networking technologies. “A revolution in has to shift from control and, in the worst inmonition that the intervention by the aca- communication and the tremendous expan- stance, repression to a worldview of enabling demics betrayed group-think and political sion of the internet has created a new situa- and empowering, of allowing an enrichment partisanship. The threat of surveillance, he ar- tion,” he said. “The utility of monitoring of the public sphere with a diversity of voices. gued, was overblown and the bogey of widen- telephonic conversation or intercepting messing economic disparities totally irrelevant. ages on wireless is hardly sufficient any sukumar muralidharan is an independent writer Perhaps the fear of surveillance is not the more.” Aside from print and TV, “the social and researcher based in Gurgaon and Shimla

I SPY

A mouthful of Mumbai

There is no dearth of flavours in the life of Chef Floyd Cardoz of The Bombay Canteen fame.

Here are a few bites from a day in the city he grew up in

Social media and the civil uprising

“Coalitions of the connected” are redefining the frontiers of human freedom and empowerment

sukumar muralidharan

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Ad hoc… ad hic In a spirited show of determination, our reporter tries shopping for some of the CDs, bottled water, soda and crockery that are heavily advertised by liquor makers

Y

Enjoy the Special ouChef’s would think something that’s ad-

vertised heavily can be found easily.

But try looking for the CDs, cocktail stirrers, glasses et al that liquor companies make commercials about — and good luck finding them!

I like the ads Carlsberg makes for its glasses.

Those tall and gracefully curved beauties are a must-have for someone with my crockery fetish. I looked for them in supermarkets, crockery stores, ordinary stores, but alas! no luck.

Finally I call the firm’s office in Haryana and ask where I can buy them.

After putting me on hold for a few seconds, the receptionist comes back on the line and says the glasses are sold only in select cities.

Which ones?

Chargrilled chilli calamari “Mumbai, Gurgaon, Secunderabad, Kolkata 4 tells me. andServings: Pune,” she “Where in Pune,” I ask, and she names PCS Ingredients Crockery House on MG Road and Classic Agen1/2 kg squid body + tentacles cleaned cy, Sukravarpet.

Squid spice mix: I4locate the phone number for PCS and call, tsp cumin 4 to tspbe coriander only told they do not stock crockery with 4 tspbrand yellownames. mustard seed liquor “Oh, but I was really hopchillies ing8toKashmiri get them from you; Carlsberg itself told turmeric me1/4 so,”tsp I tell him.

Lime juice to taste “No, madam, such items sale allow nahin 4 tbsp sliced pickled onion (recipe karte,” the person at the other end says. follows) Perplexed, I ring up a neighbour who used to deal in crockery. He explains that liquor Method 1 Grind the spices the crockery free, either companies distribute 2 Clean squid and make score with their the compliments or with the sale of marks with a knife.They Marinate the squid their main product. are never to be sold. body andtells tentacles A colleague me that if I order Carlsberg at 3 Sprinkle with salt and oil before a club, it will be served in one of those glasses. grilling.

So possession looks like a distant 4 Heat up the charcoal grill or dream… grill Ipan likeon thehigh ads heat. for Seagram’s CDs, too, Place the music calamari where stars and superstars set the on the grill and cook for about a screen ablaze with moves. check on some minute ondance one side.

Turn Ithe calamari websites butcook the results with over and on thecome otherupside for‘disconabout another minute till it is cooked through and tender but not overcooked.

5 Remove from the grill, cut into smaller pieces and transfer to a plate.

6 Garnish with sliced pickled onions.

3.20pm Spot the pink amby #classic

3.45pm Fresh khaari biscuits for The

#nostalgia #India and ‘unavailable’. On the Bakery tinued’, ‘out of stock’ know, butCanteen could they please tell me where the odd website that appears to stock it, the ‘Buy golf retreat is? The whisky brand sponsors Now’ click takes me to ‘Continue Shopping’, golf tournaments, apart from holding an anwhere the process aborts itself... over and over. nual retreat in either Thailand’s Chiang Mai or I call their office, also in Haryana, to find out Vietnam. Only professionals can participate, how I can get my hands on the CDs. After depending on their handicap, the company much disconnecting and re-ringing, I finally executive says. reach someone in the marketing department But why advertise so heavily if it’s only for who tells me Sony’s dealers will have them. professionals? “This is brand advertising. But “And where can I find the dealers?” I ask. He even if it’s an amateur golfer, he can enquire thinks for a few seconds and about our retreat through his asks me to try the Net. “But I golf club. It all depends on the sehave, it’s not available,” I counniority of the handicap… six and ter. He thinks some more and below will qualify,” he clarifies.

In any case, there is then offers to courier me the So, this then seems to be the no clear rule that CDs. But I’m not ready to share closest you can get to laying your products advertised my address with a stranger. hand on a non-liquor product adhave to be sold, right?

But by now, my curiosity has vertised by a liquor maker.

4.20pm #AshokVadaPao wowed 5.10pmOfOne for everyone been aroused and I call the UB ofcourse, I still #keymaker have to make fice in Bengaluru to ask where that trip to Bengaluru in search its McDowell’s No 1 Platinum soof the bottled water and club sodas and mineral water are available. Each da. In any case, there is no clear rule that prodtime, I am connected to the marketing depart- ucts advertised have to be sold, right? If you do ment, but after ringing incessantly the call see them being sold somewhere, don’t forget gets disconnected… that is, if I don’t hang up to drop me a line. first. This continues for a couple of days.

As for the much-hyped Kingfisher calendar Friends assure me, though, that should I hop with its thinspiring models, I can always put over to Bengaluru I am likely to find the prod- together my own copy from its website. ucts in a couple of stores. And, of course, in sravanthi challapalli clubs and pubs.

An advertisement for Ballantine’s golf retreat has been on TV for a while now. Where is it, I wonder, but find no ready answers, until someone offers to connect me to a marketing executive. He is willing to part with some details, but insists on first myfloor name, 6.45pm Manager Kartikknowing prepping the 8pm Bangda rechado leaving the kitchen whereteam I ambefore from and why I am interested. dinner service with a tingmo Convinced that mere curiosity may not cut it, I tell him it’s for my spouse, who plays golf now and then.

“What’s his handicap?” I’m asked. I don’t

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pimpic/shutterstock

Pickled onion 500g finely sliced onion 250 ml white wine vinegar 100 ml water 100g honey 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns 4 cloves of garlic smashed 1 dry red chilli 1 stick of cinnamon 2 star anise 2 bay leaves 1/2 tbsp salt

Method 1 In a sauce pot, put water, vinegar and honey.

2 Put everything else except the onions into a sachet, add to the liquid and bring it to boil.

3 Add the sliced onion simmer for five minutes; allow to steep while it cools.

Courtesy: Chef Floyd Cardoz, culinary director at The Bombay Canteen

10.30pm A surprise delivery, crab curry from a friend’s home

12.40am Goodnight Mumbai #citylights

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Apex species Ueli Steck, seen here scaling the Allalinhorn in Switzerland’s Pennine Alps, is among a handful of mountaineers who have climbed 82 peaks in one push courtesy ueli steck

82 kinds of highs The court is in session We still remember Fifty-nine people were killed in the Uphaar tragedy on June 13, 1997 atul yadav

Ueli Steck, ‘the Swiss Machine’ who conquered peak after peak as he ran, cycled and paraglided from one to the other — all in 62 days Neelam Katara and Neelam Krishnamoorthy on what it takes to fight the powerful

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fter a little over two months of toil, Ueli Steck arose during those unforgiving hours dawn to conast month the before Supreme Court (SC) querits theverdict final peaks en route ‘82 gave in two cases the where Summits’two target he hadhave set himself onthe June 11 mothers taken on systhis year.tem. In the Nitish Katara murder case, “In theNeelam beginning, you don’t aknow if it’s pogomother Katara fought powerful ing to lobby. work,”The he Delhi says over his litical High email, Court from (HC) has hometown Ringgenberg inaSwitzerland. given Vikas of and Vishal Yadav sentence of 30 “Youhowever, need a lot you years; theofSCgood will weather… decide theso quandon’t how it willmonth. pan out. After I finished tum ofknow sentence next theInMont Blanc massif (atfire 4,810m, the highest the Uphaar cinema which killed 59, summit on the I was pretty sure the SC held thelist), Ansals (brothers andI was real goesing make it.” tateto tycoons Gopal and Sushil) guilty of ‘crimiidea was tobut conquer 82 peaks, scatnalThe negligence,’ sparedthe them a jail term tered across a of 4,000-m region in theKrishnaAlps, in for a penalty ₹60 crore.

Neelam one push, who without useher of motorised moorthy, lost the both children invehithe cles.

That called fire, wanted this for, casebesides to set extraordinary a precedence climbing skills, strengths in running, cycling where corporates are held accountable for and paragliding. man-made disasters.

So, week week, a typical For for Katara, theafter court’s decision has day beenin-a volved running to the base of aa mountain, consolation, for Krishnamoorthy, blow. climbing to the top, perhaps paragliding down the opportunity arose, and cycling to Ready iffor battle the nextKatara base camp.

Neelam has a visitor, so I wait in the dindangerous.

So I aguess ing“Cycling area. “Itisisnot thereally new SHO. Every time new climbing mountains is more serious.

It ‘helwas officer takes charge, they come and say more important forlife mechanged to haveon the experilo’,” says Katara. Her February ence,” says Steck.

17, 2002, when her 23-year-old son Nitish went It certainly a new TheUttar first missing from wasn’t a wedding in concept.

Ghaziabad, to attempt it were French climbers Patrick BerPradesh.

Previously, Katara’s days had revolvhault and Philippe Magnin, on Vidyalaya, March 1, 2004. ed around her job at Kendriya two On summitsons 67 (Täschhorn), Berhault fell That and grown-up and an ailing husband. died.

Then in 2007, Slovenian Miha Valic first life was erased the day she identified Nitish’s achieved theon feat inhighway one push, burnt body the atwithout Khurja. the For use the of a motorised vehicle, 102 days. The followpast 13 and a half years,in a policeman has been ing year, Italians Franco Nicolini and Diego stationed round-the-clock at her railway coloGiovannini it inThe 60 days. ny home infinished New Delhi. house appears to Steck took 62 days. have shut itself to anything new. A car stands “This project very weather-based.

So I was covered in theiscourtyard, the verandah is never new record.furniture Each summer difstrewnafter withaabandoned and theiscenferent, no point two trepiecesointhere the is living roominiscomparing a large photofeats. graphOtherwise of Nitish. I would not climb with my wife and friends,” says.

The daysome she got an FIRhe filed against Vikas YaTime, then, was Rajya neverSabha a factor man dav — son of then MPfor DPthe Yadav — christened ‘The Swiss for his and his cousin VishalMachine’ Yadav over the82-peak disapodyssey. solo some challenges such pearanceHeoftook heron son, courtrooms have been

as the Brouillard ridge, while the climb up valley that he realised he was on the wrong Arete du Diable with Robert Bösch and Ueli side of the mountain. “It’s almost impossible Bühler — ‘which took lawyers, forever’ judges — was simply her arena and police, and wit-a to miss the trail! But I did, did and not had say to turn children (Nitish’s friends) the good day out togetheractors. for theThe oldcase buddies. nesses, the principal dragged around.

I kept making fun of read myself as I statebackthings they did.”

She would their Andreas Steindl, onWith for sixmountain years in theguide trial court, another six in tracked; I thought to myself thathot-tempered it was a great ments later; one said Nitish was Steck scaled peaks in more a single day.SC. At Fortyother detour, the Delhi HC18 and a year in the so atfights least with it wastruck a good training day,” and picked drivers; another times, he indulged in a nice, climb up he three witnesses testified, andrelaxed all except three reminisces. cited family pressure for turning hostile. routes as the turnedsuch hostile.

UpFinsteraarhorn, against the “UPacmafia” — That’s quickly an attitude over Katara learnt and developed attended every companied by wife Nicole.

Then— the former hearing thereon. complete with political muscle years“Iofknew experiencing the facts,”the shemany says. there wereofficer the reunions in education quickly realised she needed So when the public moods of a mountain prosecutor dropped while Bharthe to bemountains pro-active.with longaccomplishing unpreceti, whose relationship with Nitish had led to lost friends as how bad, bad can his murder, Katara appealed “I learnt oversuch the years dented feats such the to have herasback mountain guide be,” says Katara.

TheAnsessions court in Ghazia- as witness. Bharti’s lawyers stunning, first solo atexhausted all exdreas Wälchli. bad, where the trial began, was the Yadavs’ cuses to keep her away.tempt ofremembers Annapurna’sa Katara Afterturf.

61 days nav- for the hearings alone, medical certificate furnished home Sheofwent South for Face (8,091m) Bharti’s abigating a carefully while a battalion came for the accused. “The sence stating she had a sprained in 28 hours inIt2013, ankle. was chalked route place was out full of their people in which he was certified by for a gynaecologist!

The from east toyou south, black gowns, couldn’t figure awarded mountaincourt allowed it. It took Katara Steck offwere for the fi- or not.” out if set they lawyers eering’s highest accofour-and-a-half years of cournalKamini summits, Pic Lory Jaiswal, senior lawyer, lade, the Bharti Piolettod’Or, troom drama to get tes(4,088m) and Barre des all along, has been Katara’s guide and topping tify. Though Bharti Shishaturned I am not a chooha, I Ecrins (4,102m) on thefinding a will not hide in a hole hostile, pangma but that didn’t make in 10.5 and said(8,027m) her brothers Les Ecrins Yes, the counsel inMassif.

Ghaziabad easy. The hours inloving, 2011. Katara says were kind and — Neelam Katara 60-day recordwhen mightshehave case turned got it “It’s different (from her testimony helped as climbit exeluded but there stillrea moved him, to Delhi.

Katarawas didn’t ing 8,000-m peaks in the Himaposed her relationship with Nitlot stake after all that had aliseatthe significance then,hebut relayas). moving almosta ish. ItHere wasI was when Bharti, endured. members the doorman at the every day. It’s witness, not aboutwas sitting in prosecution crossEn route, lost“Hume a companion court tellingheher, bolna nahi chaiye.

Par a base camp and waiting for examined by the public prosecutor that KataIt’s not about sitting — climber aaj 32-year-old jo hua, bahutDutch achchha hua. Yeh bahut badi camp good weather.

I did 117,489 vertira realised was amiss.

“I learnt the in a base and something Martijn who be fellsaying to histhis. But cheez haiSeuren, (I shouldn’t what- formeaning cal metres in Bharti these two months when turned hoswaiting good of hostile death in a crevasse atever happened today iswhile remarkable).” covered of 1,772km. anhostilexpetile. I saw the and implication hostileOn and weather tempting Aiguille In Delhi,the Katara wasde upRocheagainst endless ad- ity... I am suredition, never ifmove on thatyou last night Nitish that had fort in the Mont Blanc massif; journments, and excuses stretched from the said (to the Yadavs) much. Normally, after an expedihe wouldn’t meet Bharti another, Wohlleben, interestingMichael to the bizarre.

“The lawyer said he again, he would tionhave I feellived,” very unfit, now I feel veshe says. had himself when parawas injured dehydrated in an air-conditioned room strong,” he says.

Katara wasryalso shocked at the fear that gliding downargue. the Schreckhorn Hut.a pressure gripped and cannot Another time, After 62 gruelling days on move, Steck fiNitish’s friends.

Nothe one, except a se“I needed to sort things out,” he nally cooker had some burst time at home and the lawyer’s celebrated in athe way best-known to mounnior couple, from management institute says, reflecting on Seuren’s death. daughter was hurt.

Since his wife worked, he taineers. pizzas went toattended bed. The where he“We and had Bharti wereand classmates On thetofinal day, asWitnesses Steck started running wanted be home.” would often next day, weInstead left for Ceuse to go the funeral. strangers — rock-climbing such as a man from Ailefroide hebe reached a (with not turn up, andin if the theydarkness, did, would sent off. was inDelhi charge loKataraDaniel met atMader, an ATMwho in central whoofwas signboard that read ‘Glacier Blanc and Glacier Katara regrets how misinformation kept gistics),” says. followinghe the case from Libya — often providNoir’.

“I was surethe the courts arrow for Glacier Blanc edAn her away from when witnesses ascentsupport. of Nuptse is next on his wish-list. moral When Vikas and Vishal directed towards the left.

Sowas I kept running for And were being examined.

She witness numon theinstead Ultra Trail Mont spentfinishing weeks in22nd hospitals of induprison, another couple of hours until I couldatsee the Blanc ber 33, and was instructed to remain home the lastshe’d weeknever of August a step juniorindoctors met was before inmountain. it was as it didtold not me lookI closer till her turnBut came up.strange, “Later, people dream.subsequently filed formedtowards her of that it. Katara like mountain I wanted go up,” hethere. says. was the a complainant, I couldtohave been RTIs to know how the Yadavs could be in hospiis a Mumbai-based was not until reached end of the shail MyItpresence wouldhehave madethe sure that tal. Indesai this unequal battle, writer the inordinate de-

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#Dronie Hello (klepto)kitty What is a cat doing with a bag of pot?

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e all know that kitty cats have a penchant for showering their owners with the lost and found. It could be a sparrow with a broken neck, a smelly sock, a beheaded lizard or just a ball of wool. But we have now found the superstar cat burglar.

Tigger, belonging to a policeman in an Oregon neighbourhood, has been christened Kleptokitty.

Every morning, when police sergeant Dave Kempas goes to get his morning cuppa, he returns to find Kleptokitty’s haul of the day.

While socks, spoons and forks seem a favourite, the feline recently showed its true colours by bringing home a bag of marijuana. Wonder if he got to puff the magic dragon, after all.

Move over selfies, your time is over

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ach time the world mourned the death of the selfie, it came right back, armed with sticks and dandruff, in the hands of Kim Kardashian and Narendra Modi. What we needed was a worthy successor. So, say hello to Dronie!

Whether taken from the bottom of a cliff, the top of a pyramid, or in the middle of an ocean, the dronie is nothing like its ordinary, hand-held cousin. The majestic dronie is not about the self, but about the place. Ask designer Renee Lusano, who has gone through four drones (yes, four, all named Furby) and eight countries to capture that perfect picture of a pool and a pizza float.

My precious!

Mother courage Neelam Katara’s life changed the day she had to identify her son’s burnt body ramesh sharma; (right) Neelam Krishnamoorthy broke down in public for the first time when the verdict against the Ansals was announced kamal narang

lays tested Katara physically, mentally and financially. She lost her husband soon after the trial began and she sent her younger son abroad to make sure his life was not lost in the courts. The legal battle cleaned out the couple’s retirement benefits and she has learnt to live on little. “You think, ‘Can this car pull on for another two years?’”

With the SC upholding the conviction, a weight has been lifted and her legal team is filing a reply on the quantum of sentence.

Was she ever afraid during the last decade?

“There is something more important than fear. It is not the absence of fear. God didn’t make me a chooha (mouse), so I will not hide in a hole. It is about justice for my son.”

The other verdict August is special for Neelam Krishnamoorthy.

Her children, Unnati and Ujjwal, whom she lost in the Uphaar fire in 1997, were born this month. When the SC reserved judgment in the criminal case against the Ansals (the owners of the cinema) for August, she felt it was a good omen. The trial court and Delhi HC had found the Ansals guilty, sentencing them to imprisonment. But on August 19, though the SC upheld the conviction, it traded Ansal’s imprisonment for a combined fine of ₹60 crore.

For Krishnamoorthy, her children died a secondthe time.

The court cited Ansal’s age for avoid1am. It’s that hour of the day when you’ve read newspapers, had your a prison term. For thealso first time, she broke second cup of coffee and stalked a couple ing of people online.

You’re “I couldn’t believe my ears. It ready to begin ‘real’ work, to write that perfectdown jingle,in orpublic. power through that notit’s that I didn’t hear them perfect edit meeting. But new research tells usisthat also the best time of properly, I was sitting thedesk, second row. the I walked out crying day to take a break. Hang on. Isn’t the secret siesta onin your behind and told meApparently the brothers were smiling desktop, after a sumptuous meal, the best time to people take a break? they walked not. The findings reveal that when you take aasbreak at 11am,out.” you still like That what you’re doing, so you won’t step away from theimage job at still handrankles entirely.Krishnamoorthy.

For her husband Shekhar and her, this case Here’s a recipe for optimum productivity: 52 minutes of work, work, work. was never for windfall gains. She says, “I am Then, 17 minutes of break, break, break. not going to get my children back even if the SC hangs them [the accused] or sends them behind bars for 10 years.” The corporate sector, she says, should not be allowed to endanger

What time is it?

The time to take a break, according to science

1

Chinese men try to sell lives by compromising fireiPhone safety norms, kidneys for 6s as

Delhi HC thrice to have the trial expedited. It had happened in Uphaar. It was proved in the took eight years to prove the Ansals guilty. hat’s in the a kidney? courts that the people balcony Money died as Partly because of their active participation, buy you the the gangways andthat exitscan were blocked, the new pub- none of the 115 witnesses — other than the AnChinawork.

DailyThe reports that lic addressiPhone system6s. didn’t intention sal family — turned hostile. Her pro-active Huang, residents of Nanjwas profitWu andand convictions prove it, she adds. stance, though, made her unpopular among ing, tried to sellour their kidneys for a “I fail to understand why children should the kin of the accused. “They don’t come to the slice of Apple luxury.

The two found pay with their lives because the Ansals chose court alone but surrounded by six-footers. an agent over thesitting internet and to make profits?

I felt I was in a panWhen I would enter the court, they would put faisla (de- their leg across the aisle. The judge saw this undergo medical tests. chayat andagreed it was atokhap panchayat cision). It is definitely not anHuang SC judgment.”

But when Wu and turned up and instructed I be allowed to use the judge’s Birthdayatcards the siblingsthe exchanged in entrance,” she says, adding that she was opena local hospital, agent wassit noher living where room at apartment in Wu Kal- ly threatened and abused in court. Despite the toher be DDA found.

A worried kaji. Therechanged isn’t a speck dustHuang on them, orunthe threats and the CBI’s request that she take prohis of mind; was wear-and-tear of 18Inyears. them, moved. orderSitting to stopbeside the sale, Wu tection, she says, “I don’t need protection. I Krishnamoorthy sayscops. quitting is called the The Apple is still have no wish to live, especially afnot an option, “It from is a promise missing his life. ISo is friend ter the judgement. They have ofmade to my children I willon the run Huang, who that has been fered money umpteen times, each get them since justice.

It week. is a mother’s last time I have declined.”

It was a khap promise, it has to be kept.”

The judgment has been a shock, panchayat faisla — The CBI is likely to file a review but that has emboldened her to Neelam against the verdict. And to Krishfight the other cases. She is curiKrishnamoorthy namoorthy, the criminal case was ous to see how the tampering-ofamong the five she had filed. Now evidence case (several documents she may be battle-ready, but the related to the incident had gone couple who have a garment busimissing or were mutilated) will ness had never been to court before this case. play out. A chargesheet was filed in 2006 and In court, she would only hear the term ‘ad- until now only one witness has been examinjournment’. On one occasion the counsel said ed. “In another 20 years they will say it is a proit was solar eclipse and his client had not eat- longed trial. You are 100 years old now. So pay en, on another it was a cricket match. “I also the courts ₹50 crore and go.” heard a junior counsel saying his senior Irony has been the hallmark of the Uphaar couldn’t argue as he had lost his voice. The trial, as each higher court has shrunk the next day, I read in the papers that he was argu- quantum of punishment, and also slashed the ing in a 2G case at the Patiala Court.” compensation for the victims. “In 2003, when She quickly realised knowledge was her the Ansals were supposed to pay ₹5 crore to best weapon. “I read up the CrPC, the IPC and the victims, they said they had no money. All other judgments. I would assist the public we have is a small flat and Uphaar cinema. Unprosecutor. I would carry judgments in my til we sell Uphaar, we cannot pay. The same Anhandbag to prove my locus standi. Our dining sals, when they were asked to pay ₹60 crore table is full of court documents. Between now, didn’t take two minutes to say ‘We will Shekhar and I, we know everything about Up- pay it in three months.’” haar.” When frequent adjournments became the norm, Krishnamoorthy approached the p anima

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Watch this New ways to count working hours

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ho said work is work only if it is inside an office? Imagine if your laborious commute across three states, and a couple of metro lines was actually counted as ‘work’. While we might take a few decades to entertain such preposterous claims, the European Court of Justice ruled last week that “time spent travelling by workers should be regarded as working time.” Sure, there are riders — the travelling is to and from “first and last appointments” for workers with “no fixed office”. But the court is keen to ensure that no employee in the European Union works more than 48 hours a week. Next up: Offices without bosses.

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in-faq by joy bhattacharjya

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quiz on films inspired by the Rock HudsonGina Lollobrigida starrer Come September, which actually released in August.

here,there & elsewhere

Film time

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Cow quest D

eep gloom envelops the car. Losing Punky the skunk affects each of us differently. Birk, who has been at the wheel ever since the Burger Rest Room Incident as he calls it, claims that we have lost our sacred mascot. “Every journey is a quest,” he says in the authoritative voice of one who plays multi-player war games in all of his spare time. “Every quest has its mascot.

We have lost our mascot. So we are bound to fail.”

Bins prefers to lash himself with guilt.

“He was in my care! It is my fault! I cannot forgive myself! If only I can remember to zip my bag!” Whereupon he clutches his skull and pulls out his few remaining grey-blond hairs. I, on the other hand, am of the Pollyanna Persuasion. “Who knows? We might find a replacement!” This goes down so badly with the other two occupants of the car that I have to amend my statement. “What I mean is, maybe we will find some OTHER animal companion — or mascot — or whatever ...” Snarling groans and mumbled oaths from the front seat convince me that silence is the safer option.

We plough on northwards. As if attracted to our misery, clouds gather overhead and drop their load over us in a dreary, relentless pitter-patter. Twice

cornerstone

Birk misses exits we were supposed to take, resulting in long, looping detours through small grey towns so featureless that we are amazed anyone bothered to name them. “Why not just give them serial numbers!” we cry, as we pass through yet another celebration of boredom, flat tires and snot.

Late in the evening, we cross the state boundary into “more-cows-thanpeople” Vermont. The rain has stopped, the sky is clear. We turn off the interstate, driving along a two-lane highway. The only light source is our own headlights and the flashing of the reflective stripes on the road surface.

Small green markers blink by on the sides now and then. Birk, who travels North routinely, says “Got a couple of aunts and a rash of cousins living on the land,” he says in his laconic way. “Used to bash me up when I was little. Then one year I came by for the annual visit and they had all become midgets —” He stops mid-sentence and whoops, “Whoa!

Did you see that? It’s a COW!” We all turn to look as Birk slows the car. Sure enough, behind us, sauntering along the highway in the darkness is a lone quadruped. Bins nods approving, “Ya. Smart lady. She is walking by the side. In Tamil Nadu they walk straight down the middle —” “You don’t understand!” exclaims Birk. “American cows NEVER walk around on the road!

NEVER!” He has pulled over to the shoulder. “We have to call someone — Highway patrol! Bovine Emergency Services!”

Bins cannot believe this level of concern. “Tcheh — let her be! She is just another Seeker, looking for The Way.” Birks snorts. “Ha! A cow on a quest! Seeking what, exactly?” Bins points sagely up at the stars twinkling overhead. “The Milky Way,” he says. manjula padmanabhan, author and artist, writes of her life in the fictional town of Elsewhere, US, in this weekly column

Identify the English film by a famous director which featured this eclectic mix of music on its soundtrack — ‘Where do you go to my Lovely’

by Peter Sarstedt; ‘Title Music from Satyajit Ray’s Film Jalsaghar’ by Vilayat Khan; ‘Charu’s Theme from Charulata by Satyajit Ray’ and ‘Typewriter Tip Tip’ by Shankar Jaikishan.

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“One day, sitting on a wall of the same studio, I saw a man wearing a muffler and cap and holding a black stick. He was imitating everyone who passed, just like a monkey. When we went into the studio the man jumped off the wall and came into the recording room…….When I asked him why he was doing it he said: ‘I am an orphan.

Nobody looks after me. Please give me a chance.’” This was the first meeting between which two Hindi film legends?

3 4

With which ’60s classic would you associate Givenchy’s iconic ‘Little Black Dress’?

Extensive research by Susan Orlean in a book published in 2012 indicates that a certain Oscar went to the wrong person. Who was the award winner and who should have got it?

5

One of the original West End cast of ‘The Mousetrap’ actually got a 10 per cent stake in the production. He claims that he foolishly sold part of it to finance a pub. What did he claim to have financed with the rest?

6 7

In 1994, one person has had his creations at No.1 in both the book, film and television worlds. Identify him.

Only once has the Oscar for both Best Actor and Best Actress been won for characters based on real-life. Both real-life inspirations were present to watch the awards. Who were they?

8

Eric Williams was a former Spitfire pilot who wrote the book The Wooden Horse, which was made into a film in 1950. However, a later film is a far more popular version of the same story. What is the name of the ’60s film?

9

The final line of a ’60s Oscar acceptance speech said, “And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr Jack Warner.”

Why was this unusual and what was the context?

10

Why does a dinosaur discovered in 1995 in China have the species name Nedegoapeferima?

Answers

1. The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson 2. Sitting on the wall was Kishore Kumar and the other man was RD Burman 3. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the LBD was worn by Audrey Hepburn 4. The dog Rin Tin Tin should have got the Best Actor Oscar instead of Emil Jannings 5. The film Gandhi, the man was Richard Attenborough 6. Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Jurassic Park and the television show ER were his creations 7. 1980. Jake LaMotta and Loretta Lynn for Raging Bull and Coal Miner’s Daughter respectively 8. The Great Escape 9. Julie Andrews was mocking Jack Warner for not taking her for My Fair Lady. Andrews instead did Mary Poppins and won the Best Actress award over Audrey Hepburn 10. The dinosaur research was funded by Steven Spielberg who took the name from the surnames of his cast in Jurassic Park — Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Robert Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello

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

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