APRIL 2021
THE GANDHIAN CANDIDATE COVID: A LESSON IN HUMILITY PAKISTAN’S GREEN CHALLENGE
INSIDE
TAKING ON TIKTOK
PLUS
SAVING WATER AND HABITATS
The Irrepressible
AASIF MANDVI
I’M A NURSE NOT A VIRUS. I’m working in the ER, I walked in, and there was a patient that took one look at me and decided that she wanted a different nurse because I was Asian. I’m just trying to help people. I’m a nurse, not a virus. Fight the virus. Fight the bias.
Learn more @ lovehasnolabels.com/fightvirusbias
Rianjali page 58
Dr. Shermin de Silva page 12
Kimi Verma page 22
4 5
CONTENTS
CONTRIBUTORS BEYOND LIMITS
PIONEERS 6
The Gandhian Candidate
10 Banking on Water 12 Elephants Loom Large
Over Habitat Research
16 Plant Power! 18 No Time for Goodbyes 20 A Lesson in Humility
ENTREPRENEUR
42 Taking on TikTok
62 From Love to Self-Love 64 Speaking for the Voiceless
FEATURE 44 Pakistan’s Green
HOROSCOPE
Challenges
67 Forecast with Farzana
FOOD 46 Divine Plates 50 A Food Walk
Through Lisbon
22 ‘Healthy Living
ARTS
Should Not Feel Like
54 Reviving a Legacy
a Punishment’
58 ‘We Should Accept
26 At the Edge of the Absurd
There Are Other
28 Apple of their Eye
Things Women Can Do’
ON THE COVER
‘All Along, Black People Were Telling Us And We Didn’t Want to Listen to Them’
32
MEET OUR
CONTRIBUTORS FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
SEEMA KUMAR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
RUPA MANEK
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR
SAJID MOINUDDIN DESIGN
HB DESIGN EDITORIAL COORDINATOR
ROHINI KAPUR WRITERS
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ALPANA VARMA DEEPA PADMANABAN JACQUELINE EMIGH PRATIKA YASHASWI HEENA KAUSAR NUPUR BHATNAGAR GUSTASP AND JEROO IRANI MELANIE FOURIE BINDU GOPAL RAO NIRVANI WILLIAMS ANUBHUTI KRISHNA FARZANA SURI BRAND PARTNERSHIPS, DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY
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ANJALI MANIAM
SEEMA™ ISSUE 004 | APRIL 2021 EMPOWERING SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN GLOBALLY SEEMA KUMAR, FOUNDER
COPYRIGHT © 2020 SEEMA, JAYARAM, LLC SEEMA.COM
PUBLISHED AT P.O. BOX 814, PENNINGTON, NJ 08534
ON THE COVER: AASIF MANDVI (PAGE 32).
PHOTO CREDIT: GREGG DELMAN 4 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
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EDIT | SEEMA
GOING
BEYOND LIMITS
W
hile writing this, I have simultaneously been watching on TV an older Asian woman being assaulted on the street just because she is Asian. A few minutes later, during the same news segment, I relive the horrific murder of a Black man, as the coverage of George Floyd’s murder prosecution unfolds. I saw examples of outright misogyny as stalwarts of society denigrate women. And as I wrap up our cover story on actor and comedian Aasif Mandvi, and his experience being Muslim in America post 911, I am reminded of the xenophobia that lingers on. Prejudice and hatred are repulsive and incomprehensible, and while I had hoped they were vestiges of a troubled past, they are not just present but are getting uglier every day, sometimes under the guise of freedom of speech and expression. The Merriam Dictionary defines prejudice as “a feeling of unfair dislike directed against an individual or a group because of some characteristic (as race or religion).” Bias, conscious or unconscious, is part of human nature, but when bias is nurtured into prejudice, to bloom into hate and violence, it becomes dangerous and unacceptable. Like destructive weeds, prejudice and race will always procreate and spread. If not pruned, they can take over, overwhelm and ruin the entire garden. Take what Aasif Mandvi says in the article on page 32, about the difficulty of having a Muslim identity in America. “Being Muslim in America before 911 could best be summed up as, nobody really knew what Muslim was. Nobody asked me about it. Nobody cared. After 911, suddenly there was a label. Muslim became a dirty word …
and Islam became a scary sort of thing.” Here is where leadership comes in. Two years ago... when terror attacks happened in Christchurch, New Zealanders reeled, shocked by the casual racism exhibited – even if the attacker was Australian. But the response there was heartwarming. People flocked the streets to support the Muslim community. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke with a clarity that left no doubt about where she stood. Her focus was on inclusivity and solidarity. The day after the attacks, Ardern traveled to meet members of the Muslim community. “I am here today to bring with me the grief of all New Zealand,” The Guardian quoted her as saying. “I am here to stand alongside you... We feel grief, we feel injustice, and we feel anger.” Ardern wore a headscarf to show her support to the community. Today as we approach the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death, which came after a policeman kneeled on his neck, we show our solidarity with Black Lives Matter and come to terms with racial and social injustice in America. But the hate crimes against Asians is a depressing reminder that we have not evolved or learned our lessons. We are still atavistic in our responses, and have much to learn. Almost two decades ago, I learned an interesting fact as we worked on the Human Genome Project, the effort to map and sequence the blueprint of a human being. We humans are 99.9 percent identical to each other in our genetic makeup, and yet we find those inconsequential differences a reason to hate the other. Most of us came to America to escape the bigotry that we hoped to leave behind, and find a better life in the land of the free, the home of the brave, a place of dreams and opportunity. But we have to tend to this — your land and my land. We must work to weed out prejudice and hate, if only to prevent them from laying waste to our land.
SEEMA KUMAR, FOUNDER APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 5
PIONEER | SEEMA
THE
GANDHIAN
CANDIDATE
PHOTO CREDIT: Vasavi Chakka for Naperville City Council Facebook page
City council candidate Vasavi Chakka hopes to unite people to work together for her city ALPANA VARMA
F Vasavi Chakka for Naperville City Council
6 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
or Vasavi Chakka, running for city council in Naperville, Illinois, is an extension of what she has always been engaged in: public service. Having been a community activist and small business owner, the IT professional and mother of two is the first Indian American to run for office in the city. The election is on April 6. She told SEEMA that she came from a family of freedom fighters in India, her grandfather having worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi. “I had the values of giving back to people, to society and of supporting those who have no voice, especially the marginalized and the minorities,” she says. Chakka is now fighting on a platform of unity and growth.
“I HAD THE VALUES OF GIVING BACK TO PEOPLE, TO SOCIETY AND OF SUPPORTING THOSE WHO HAVE NO VOICE, ESPECIALLY THE MARGINALIZED AND THE MINORITIES” PHOTO CREDIT: UNSPLASH
She feels the nation has been too divided in recent times by ideological or party affiliations and a spirit of unity is required to get people to work together for the entire community. As she puts it, “The community needs healing from the painful effects of the pandemic and the recent social unrest.” Growing up in a small village on the banks of the Godavari near Bhadrachalam, Chakka remembers standing up to give a speech against dowry at the age of 12. She was inspired by her father, a doctor who served tribal populations. After high school, Chakka went to Hyderabad to get a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s in literature. Unusually for a south Indian, she studied Hindi literature, as her family believed in Gandhi’s proposal of using Hindi as the language to unite the country. She soon became a journalist. In 1986, her village was flooded and everything in it, including her family home and her father’s clinic, was destroyed. With nothing but the clothes on their backs, the family sought shelter under a tree. They learned that supplies the government had arranged for distribution among the flood-hit communities was going to the black market instead. “I used my press pass of the Udayam newspaper where I worked to investigate and report on the matter, thus using my voice for justice and fair play,’ Chakka tells SEEMA. She got married, moving first to Europe, and then New York. As her children grew, she went to school herself to study computer science and landed her first job – at IBM. The family moved to Texas as she rose to management positions
APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 00
PIONEER | SEEMA mayor, then George Pradel. “As I heard him talk about how he had transitioned from being a police officer to mayor, I was mesmerized,” she recalls. Chakka concluded it was leaders like Pradel that helped the city rate so high. She decided she wanted to be just such a leader. Before leaving the room, she asked the mayor how she could be part of city government. Pradel told her,
PHOTO CREDIT: Vasavi Chakka Campaign
and became involved in leadership development and business processes. After five years in Texas, they moved to Naperville, which she says was always rated as one of the best cities in the country for its quality of life, a diverse, vibrant community, excellent schools and libraries. Chakka describes the moment she decided to run for office. She accompanied her son for a meeting with the
“WE NEED TO BUILD STRONG BONDS... EVEN IF WE DON’T AGREE ON EVERY MATTER, WE NEED TO EMPHASIZE OUR SHARED VALUES. DIVISIONS AMONG US LED US TO BE SLAVES IN OUR OWN COUNTRY” 8 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
“BUT WE ALSO NEED TO KNOW WHERE OUR ANCESTORS CAME FROM. ONLY THEN CAN WE MAKE A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY IN WHICH WE ARE LIVING”
“All Indians here are very fragmented. You need to bring them together.” She started with her son’s school PTA. She says she fought for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, a new concept that people felt threatened by since they feared no resources would be left for the arts. “We had to … explain to them how art education complements the teaching of science and that we are not trying to take away what is already there,” says Chakka, who went on to become PTA president and emphasize value-based education. Chakka laments that less than one per cent of Indian Americans are in office. “We need to get our voices heard,” she says. “We need to build strong bonds... Even if we don’t agree on every matter, we need to emphasize our shared values. Divisions among us led us to be slaves in our own country.” The new generation of Indian Americans, Chakka says, does not know about India’s freedom struggle…, about its values of unity in diversity, tolerance, family and treating neighbors as family. According to her, the next generation of Indians need to know how Gandhi united all Indians, and to have pride in their country of origin so that they can intake informed decisions. “We came to this great country which has given us so much opportunity to realize our full potential,” Chakka says. “But we also need to know where our ancestors came from. Only then can we make a valuable contribution to the country in which we are living.” APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 9
PIONEER | SEEMA
BANKING ON WATER
Garvita Gulhati, was appointed as an Ashoka Fellow for her work in water conservation
Garvita Gulhati drives effort to stave off the feared water wars by conserving the precious commodity DEEPA PADMANABAN
10 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
PHOTO CREDIT: Garvita Gulhati
T
here is a water crisis everywhere – and someone ought to do something about it. Perhaps someone like Garvita Gulhati. According to the United Nations, “Water use has been growing globally at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century.” A 2016 study found that four billion people – making up two-thirds of the world population – face water scarcity at least one month of the year. In 2019, the World Resource Institute listed 17 countries facing extremely high water stress, these including Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and India. Garvita Gulhati, 21, an Ashoka Fellow for her work in water conservation, is striving to get people to reconsider their water usage and do something about it. When she was 15, she learned that about 3.7 million gallons of water are lost because of the water left behind in glasses in restaurants. She learned that this had something to do with a law from the 1800s that required every restaurant has to provide a free restroom and water to passersby. “This went from being a law to a hospitality norm, on which the industry was graded, on how well they service the customers,” Gulhati says. “One of these was norms to keep the glass full.” She suggested that restaurants fill just half of the glass with water, putting stickers at the half-water mark. Gulhati got 30 restaurants in Bangalore to sign on, but scaling up by reaching every restaurant was a challenge. Then she applied to change.org’s program that teaches how campaigns work, and became the youngest person to be accepted into the program. She found out that she could reach a large number of restaurants by working with the National Restaurants Association of India. Her 2018 campaign, “Glass Half Full,” took a year to draw the association’s attention. “It was not easy to convince them,: Gulhati admits. “Finally we met Abhijit Saha, a celebrity chef who helped us secure the collaboration.” In 2019, she partnered with the association to take the campaign to over 100,000 restaurants across India. “The campaign took a life of its own as restaurants as well as [companies] embraced it,” Gulhati says. “We did not monitor the campaign, but reached out to see if they needed any support.” The partnership, which educated restaurant staff and customers were sensitized to the need to conserve water, helped save over 2.64 million gallons of water. Gulhati founded Why Waste, a non-governmental organization that raised awareness about wasteful water consumption. It is India’s largest youth-led movement addressing water conservation. The core team consists of eight people, and there are 25 members in all, besides several floating volunteers.
Gulhati convinced a 100,000 restaurants to save water by keeping only half a glass filled at a time for each customer
“THE CAMPAIGN TOOK A LIFE OF ITS OWN AS RESTAURANTS AS WELL AS [COMPANIES] EMBRACED IT” Recently, after hearing that Cape Town in South Africa dodged a water crisis after it monitored citizens’ water consumption to get them to cut consumption, Gulhati launched the Why Waste? App. Individuals learned to save water at home after calculating their water footprint on the app through a series of simple questions, such as time taken in the shower and the type of faucets they used. They could see how their water usage compared to average consumption and use a set of simple challenges to find out how to reduce their water footprint. For World Water Day, March 22, Gulhati put together a social media campaign to get more people to rethink their water consumption by calculating usage and sharing it on social media. Gulhati recently received a Shawn Mendes Foundation grant to improve the app, making her the first Indian out of 11 people to receive it. Last year, she also won the Diana Award, which recognizes young people’s social and humanitarian efforts. The team also plans to set up Why Waste? satellites in other countries. She already has volunteers in Canada, Dubai, Nepal, and others countries who have been conducting events at the community level to create awareness about water conservation. Gulhati says ultimately she hopes “to help everyone become conscious and aware of their water consumption.” APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 11
PIONEER | SEEMA
Elephants Loom Large Over Habitat Research With knowledge and empathy – including for other humans – Dr. Shermin de Silva helps drive conservation in Sri Lanka JACQUELINE EMIGH 12 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
THREE MAIN THREATS The three main threats to Asian elephants are habitat changes, human-elephant conflict, and accidents, the scientist told SEEMA. One major lesson she has learned is that conservation efforts must begin with empathy with other humans. “You have to truly understand why people behave as they do so that efforts to protect nature do not simultaneously impose social injustices on the people whose daily lives and very survival depend on their relationship to the landscape,” De Silva said. “Conservation can only succeed if it is founded on a desire to help people and nature flourish together, rather than falsely putting one at odds with the other.” AN ELEPHANT IN THE YARD? Ever since 2005, De Silva has been observing the behavior of up to about 700 wild elephants in Sri Lanka’s Udawalawe National Park. That was the year she returned to Sri Lanka from the U.S. after becoming a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. The Udawalawe region has long
PHOTO CREDITS: Trunks & Leaves
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onservationists need to protect animals’ natural habitats along with surrounding human communities, according to Dr. Shermin de Silva, an environmental scientist working to help save various endangered species in Asia. Based in Sri Lanka, De Silva is president of Trunks & Leaves, a nonprofit organization she founded in 2010 to facilitate the peaceful coexistence of people and Asian elephants. Once a common sight across vast expanses of south and southeast Asia, the animal is now found only in small pockets of these regions.
“CONSERVATION CAN ONLY SUCCEED IF IT IS FOUNDED ON A DESIRE TO HELP PEOPLE AND NATURE FLOURISH TOGETHER, RATHER THAN FALSELY PUTTING ONE AT ODDS WITH THE OTHER” lured elephants thirsty for water, especially in times of drought. It has also been abundant with grasses and shrubs for elephants to munch on as they roam. However, the habitat has changed dramatically since the construction of a nearby dam in 1970, according to the ecologist. Fenced-in human settlements and farming gradually replaced a lot of native vegetation. Human settlers then wanted to keep elephants away from agricultural lands. “We have only to ask ourselves how we would feel about having large and potentially dangerous wild animals roaming in our back yards,” De Silva said. “It’s one thing to love elephants on weekends, or from a continent far removed; it’s another to live with them. Elephants can
be tough to live with, given their requirements for a lot of land and the potential conflicts with human activities, notably agriculture.” To make matters worse, human settlements eventually blocked off an ancient jungle corridor the elephants had traditionally used to migrate between Udawalawe and the Bogahapattiya Forest Reserve, another protected area. Such corridors reduce the need for elephants to stray into humanoccupied areas in search of food and water. HABITAT DESTRUCTION HITS HUMANS, TOO As with animals, destruction of natural habits also impact humans adversely. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 13
PIONEER | SEEMA
Shermin De Silva on the field.
“WHILE IN COLLEGE, I SAW A PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT BY JOEL SARTORE, CALLED THE PHOTO ARK. IT IS AN AMBITIOUS EFFORT TO PRESENT PORTRAITS OF THREATENED SPECIES, ONE BY ONE” 14 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
“Natural areas lock up carbon stores and the very process of developing them releases an incredible amount of emissions into the atmosphere with consequences that will last for decades, if not centuries,” De Silva said. “They are also intimately connected with natural hydrological cycles, which are the basis of our subsistence and food cultivation. Environmental destruction results in negative feedback, whereby the landscape becomes progressively less capable of sustaining our food production, water consumption, and basic survival. This is topped off by dramatic and catastrophic events, such as storms and droughts.” One of De Silva’s biggest concerns is with future availability of water. “Sri Lanka and many parts of South Asia are projected to be severely water stressed. if they are not already, which will be catastrophic for human populations both in terms of their daily needs and economic needs in communities that are still largely agricultural,” she said. “Perversely, some areas may be subject to more extreme storms and flooding than seen before.” Meanwhile, human activities can hamper the ability of wildlife to respond to extreme weather by moving to another habitat. “This includes fish, which may be trapped by our irrigation projects,” De Silva said. “Conversely, some species may invade habitats they have not occurred or thrived in before as a result of the changing climate, outcompeting and displacing the native species. All of which is to say, we have a somewhat chaotic time ahead of us.” The effects of environmental events are not just local, but global. “Rainfall in Sri Lanka depends on monsoons that originate in India.”
she pointed out. “Deforestation for biofuel, timber, tea and coffee production is driven by consumer demand both locally and internationally. Actions in one country have consequences in another. We need to recognize once and for all that nations are not independent entities insofar as the environment is concerned,” she elaborated. LEARNING ABOUT NATURE De Silva’s fascination with nature has roots in her childhood. “I’ve always loved watching animals, which as a kid growing up in Sri Lanka I did mainly through TV documentaries,” she said. “I didn’t become aware that the environment actually needed protecting until I was about 11 or 12 years old, when I saw a documentary about the impact of the tuna fishing industry on dolphins. Those visuals had a powerful effect and sent me on a whole path of discovery that the nature I so dearly loved was under threat.” De Silva then moved on to college, receiving a B.A. in biology and philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley in 2004. “While in college, I saw a photography exhibit by Joel Sartore, called the Photo Ark. It is an ambitious effort to present portraits of threatened species, one by one.” The event spurred her to move into researching living animals instead of pursuing her previous passion for paleontology – the study of fossils. WHY STUDY ELEPHANTS? “By virtue of living in many different types of habitats and ecosystems, ranging from dry grasslands to dense forests, Asian elephants are representatives for a wide array of landscapes and their biodiversity,” De Silva said. “They are also culturally iconic and have
long standing significance to many different human communities, which makes them relatively unique. Nevertheless they can be difficult for humans to live with. So they are a perfect representative of the many conservation challenges for wildlife and wild places today. If we can solve these problems for elephants and learn from the experience, I’m hopeful that it will have spill-over effects for many other species, as well.” De Silva launched Trunks &
Leaves in 2010, after receiving her doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania. According to her, “Trunks & Leaves was created to spotlight these issues and draw together resources and like-minded efforts to overcome them, recognizing that Asian elephants need targeted attention that is distinct from efforts directed toward other charismatic species such as tigers or their sister species, African elephants.” APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 15
PIONEER | SEEMA
PLANT POWER! Lawyer, animal-welfare activist and
Instagram micro-influencer Ambika
Hiranandani has always known what
she wanted to be when she “grew up.”
Not merely in terms of her professional ambitions, but also in terms of what
she’s wanted to embody as a person. PRATIKA YASHASWI
F
or instance, she corrects me when I refer to her as a vegan. “I prefer to use the term plant-based,” she says. “They’re both the same thing, but I’m plant-based with everything.” Hiranandani has been a vegan for over 10 years, draws inspiration from Eastern spiritual philosophy, and takes great pains to ensure that her possessions, cosmetics, clothes, and any other part of her life are plant-based as far as possible.
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On her Instagram page, she shares important information on animal welfare in India along with tips on adopting a plant-based lifestyle. When she was a teenager, Hiranandani and her parents were at a restaurant from which they could observe a “Victoria,” a horse-drawn carriage and a major tourist draw in South Mumbai. There were six passengers being hauled along by an emaciated mare who persisted until she collapsed. The horse handler promptly got off and began to hit her with a slipper until she was back on her feet again. Hiranandani went on to get a law degree and, in 2011 she and a few others filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the prohibition of the carriages and a rehabilitation scheme for the owners. Now, the horsedrawn Victorias have all but vanished. Since then, she, along with various activists and organizations she’s been involved with, are working to abolish several cruel practices such as bullfighting, battery cages in the poultry industry, and more. She is currently working with the Good Food Institute on Strategic Partnerships while also pursuing advocacy work in animal welfare and rights. What got you into your current path? Why law? I found my jam very early on. I’m not a competitive person, I’m collaborative by nature. [Right from school] I was very clear that I want to create change and create a better world. I didn’t really take to sports, I preferred volunteering, and realized early on that I’m happiest when I’m making the world a little bit more compassionate. Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize when I was 14. She’s a lawyer who used the law to fight for women’s rights in Iran. I watched “Erin Brokovich” and I loved how, through just one case, she helped so many people’s voices get heard. I realized that as a lawyer, one can
bring an issue of public importance before a judge. I was like, this is perfect. I’m fearless, I’m not scared of anything or anybody and I’m very happy to speak to people who are vulnerable. I noticed that for women’s rights cases, 50 lawyers would come. For children’s rights cases, 100 lawyers would come. I’m just giving examples. But almost nobody was there for the environment and animals. So that’s when I started working on environmental and animal rights cases. I’m not a “cootchie-coo, my dog is my baccha” kind of animal lover. My dog is my friend and we love each other. But I’m in this work because I found the extent of cruelty and bullying to be so, so, bad. I’ve always had this philosophy that I want to work for those who are the most vulnerable. Whom do you count among your mentors? Who’s your squad? One is obviously Mrs. (Maneka) Gandhi, who’s a huge inspiration to everyone in animal welfare. There’s not one email that she won’t respond to and guide you on. Poonam Mahajan of the Maharashtra State Animal Welfare Board is my mentor who guides me on how to navigate the intricacies of government procedures and really takes great pains to explain things to me. There’s Gauri Maulekhi who’s an activist who’s done so many PILs that she’s pretty much a lawyer. And so many others. You’ve been plant-based for over 10 years. What’s your view on the idea that vegan protein and plant-based meat options are inaccessible to most, especially in India? Well, it depends on the way you talk about it. In my experience, plant-based options are always cheaper at restaurants. If we’re talking about plant-based milk: you can make your own at home with
a couple of almonds and it’s nonGMO and no animals have been injected with oxytocin or any of those horrible things. As for plantbased meat, it isn’t a necessity; it can be a treat once in two weeks or so. Otherwise simple Indian food, your lentils and legumes – moong, rajma, chickpeas – are good enough. It’s what I eat. It’s the best for your health, your skin. It’s the best for the environment. In my experience, the more I return to nature, the better I look, the better I feel, and at least in this respect, my karma is clean. I’m not harming any living being and I’m living my best life. The motivations are so great. Working in animal rescue and welfare, being exposed to soulcrushing cruelty every single day, do you ever find yourself getting pessimistic? How do you cope? The thing with animal or environmental activism is that half the time people don’t even feel that animals have the right to live. But you know what, it’s getting better. The world is becoming more compassionate, and the science is on our side. Have you ever had moments where you wonder if you should do something else? To be honest, the only time I’ve thought about doing something else is when I faced financial issues. Environmental and animal welfare cases don’t pay and when I started it was very difficult to take care of myself. I had to do side gigs and rely on my family. Now the sector has grown a lot in India and NGOs pay those who work with them - maybe not as much as the corporate sector but decent salaries, nonetheless. I’m one of those, like, exceedingly positive, glass-is-always-half-full type of people. I believe in collaborative change-making and I’m passionate about my work. It’s my source of happiness. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 17
PIONEER | SEEMA
No Time for GOODBYES Dr. Brinda Desiraju can never forget the harrowing early months of the pandemic HEENA KAUSAR
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Dr Brinda Desiraju, a nephrologist who practices at New York Presbyterian-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital
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few months after the death of one of her patients, New York-based Dr. Brinda Desiraju received a call. She heard sobs followed by questions. The caller was the mother of the patient, who died after getting Covid-19. The mother wanted answers – and closure. Desiraju, an Indian-American nephrologist, said she received more such calls from family members of patients, who sought details about the case and what had exactly transpired. Desiraju talked to them, to give them answers about the treatment, hear them cry, and try to comfort them.
“THE MOST DIFFICULT PART WAS TO TELL THEIR BELOVED FAMILY MEMBERS WAS THAT THEY ARE DYING BUT, SORRY, YOU CANNOT COME IN. THOSE WERE HEARTBREAKING MOMENTS FOR MEDICINE.” “They had to hear it again to get closure. … They weren’t there to see what happened to their loved ones. They never got to see their loved ones when they were passing away,” she said. Desiraju felt that the callers “needed some more empathy from the physician” and she was able to give that to some of them. During the initial phase of the pandemic, when the cases were increasing at an alarming rate, hospitals had stopped Covid-19 patients from having visitors. This reduced the risk of spreading the virus but also meant that many patients died alone, without their families being able to meet them. Desiraju, who practices at New York PresbyterianBrooklyn Methodist Hospital, was actively involved in treating Covid-19 patients. “They all needed hands-on care for kidney failure, including dialysis,” she said. “We got overwhelmed with the number of kidney failure patients… At one point we had 400 Covid-19 patients. Between 170 to 180 of them were on ventilators on a given day, and a third of them were on dialysis.” Desiraju was born in Mysore, India, where she graduated from JSS Medical College. She moved to the United States in 1999 to train in internal medicine and nephrology. She studied intervention nephrology at the University of Miami and before moving to New York. Desiraju’s interest in medicine started when she heard her parents discuss science and research. Her mother, a microbiologist, worked with the Defence Food Research Laboratory where she developed space food. Her father, a biochemist, is the former director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute. “Both my parents are scientists. We always talked about science at home. My parents were heavily involved in research and science. They inspired me,” Desiraju said.
But though she has been treating patients since 20062007, nothing prepared her for the initial months of the pandemic. “Every single operating room in the hospital was converted into ICU. Every single space we could convert into an ICU, we did. There were ventilated patients just about anywhere you looked. It was like a war zone,” she said. The hospital staff also faced critical shortages of masks, PPE kits, and other protective gear. Things only improved by mid-May, she said. “To put it in simple words; it was a mess,” Desiraju said. “To put it in more dignified way, it was a very difficult learning curve.” But keeping families apart was especially distressing
for the doctors. “The most difficult part was to tell their beloved family members was that they are dying but, sorry, you cannot come in,” she said. Desiraju said that doctors and nurses held iPads and phones next to the patient so that their family members could say their goodbyes. But it was done for a limited time of 7-10 minutes because there were many patients to attend to. “Those were heartbreaking moments for medicine,” she said. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 19
PIONEER | SEEMA
A Lesson in
Humility Dr. Amritpal Sandhu saw the horrors visited upon her patients – and was reminded of how much more needs to be learned HEENA KAUSAR
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alling family members for a video call with their relative who was seriously ill with the coronavirus was the most heartbreaking part of being a doctor for Dr. Amritpal Sandhu. Sandhu, a resident doctor at Saint Joseph in Stockton, California, has worked in many departments in the last year, including emergency and the intensive care units where she tended to Covid-19 patients. “It is always hard to see a patient pass away, or almost pass away, but it is even harder when their family cannot even be with them. That was the worst — watching a patient deteriorate and giving the family updates. But we cannot do anything more than set up a FaceTime or a video call so that the family can see the patient,” she says. Due to the risk of spreading the virus, Covid-19 patients are kept in isolation and not allowed visits by family members. Sandhu was born in London and moved to the U.S. with her parents when she was one-year-old, but her family originally hails from Punjab in India. She is an MD from the American University of Antigua and an MPH from the National University in San Diego. Dr Amritpal Sandhu with her family Sandhu was motivated to pursue medicine due to a personal tragedy. She lost her father to a heart attack while she was teenager. He was 42, and left behind a wife and with adequate supplies at the outset of the pandemic, but three young children. those were soon depleted as more cases flowed in. It took “He was young, lean, vegetarian, and non alcoholic. a couple of months for things to stabilize. By June the He passed away within 30 minutes,” says Sandhu. “That hospital was able to restock supplies, she says. is what motivated me to go into primary care.” She also “We were facing a shortage of PPE in the beginning,” liked it because she could help people stay on top of their Sandhu says. “We didn’t have N95 and we had to reuse our physical, their screening to avoid a premature demise. N95s. We didn’t have gloves and sometimes we wouldn’t It is this motivation that keeps pushing her, never have enough sanitary wipes.” wanting to quit. Sandhu, who Sandhu lives with her husband, works 60-80 hours per week at the their child, his parents, her hospital, said that even during the “WE STILL CANNOT brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and initial days of the pandemic when their three children. She says she not much was known about the was scared of going home after GUARANTEE ANY virus and the ways to treat it, she dealing with so many infected OUTCOMES. WE was never scared to go to work. “I people and passing the virus on to was driven and motivated to keep her family. ARE ALWAYS going to work. I never once felt like “Everybody got to stay at home I should quit. It was more like how but as health care workers we had LEARNING. WE ARE to go to work,” she says. “So we can I be safe so that I don’t infect people,” said. were the ones who were going ALWAYS GOING TO In March 2020, Sandhu was to bring it (the virus) home to posted in the ICU when Covid-19 the family.” BE STUDENTS” patients started coming in. She was The one lesson Sandhu has taken moved to the emergency department. from the experience is to be humble “We just saw everybody that came into the door,” she since medicine is ever-evolving and doctors have to be says. “That’s very hard because you don’t know if they have students all their lives. Covid or not.” “We still don’t know everything,” she says. “We still Sandhu said that the pandemic caught doctors and cannot guarantee any outcomes. We are always learning. hospitals by surprise. The hospital Sandhu works at started We are always going to be students.” APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 21
PIONEER | SEEMA
‘HEALTHY LIVING SHOULD NOT FEEL LIKE A PUNISHMENT’ A candid conversation with model, actress and health coach Kimi Verma NUPUR BHATNAGAR
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NUPUR BHATNAGAR
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he is the face of brands such as Sunsilk, Nivea and Ponds, and owns the designer label Shail K. Kimi Verma’s experience of going from being a model and actress to a health coach in Los Angeles is one of grit and hard work. As I speak to her, I quickly realize how grounded she is. WE BEGIN TALKING ABOUT HER ROOTS “I was born in a small town in Punjab called Jagraon,” says Verma. “My parents were forward thinkers. They sent me to an English medium school that was a 40-mile drive each day. That was the only school that taught English at the time. I think the exposure there tremendously helped with my public speaking skills and helped me widen my mental wings.” Her family’s move to Mumbai due to terrorism in Punjab was the catalyst in her success story. Winning the Miss Beautiful Hair in the Miss India competition and winning the Miss Mumbai pageant opened up
multiple advertising and modeling assignments for her. But it wasn’t always easy. “Adjusting to the fastpaced life of Mumbai was a big challenge,” Verma says. “I was not as aware of things in big cities as my friends were and they often made fun of me. But I was a courageous girl from childhood, always up for challenges. Once I got over that, there was no looking back. I believe in the philosophy that if a door opens up for you, just walk in. Don’t think too much.” SUPPORT FOR FEMALE EDUCATION AND GROUPS Verma is also an ardent contributor to charities like Akshaya Patra that provide meals to Indian school children, a major incentive for them to come to school, and to Los Angeles Giving Circle, which funds upcoming female entrepreneurs. “It is very important for women to be financially independent,” she says. “It teaches them self-worth. I stand big and tall for women having support
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PIONEER | SEEMA from institutions for their organizations and goals.” As president of the upcoming Miss and Mrs. Punjaban USA pageant, Verma says, “It is important to bring married women to the limelight too. Why not promote them as they are the real pillars of our families?” A HEALTH COACH, NUTRITIONIST AND DIETICIAN Working in the glamour industry for long and being aware of of the desire for men and women to be fit made Verma delve deep into the need to promote healthy living. “While modeling for many companies and being associated with many pageants, I was always surrounded by beautiful women,” she says. “Common to all of them was their struggle with staying healthy while maintaining their weight. My study on nutrition science at Stanford University reinforced my thoughts about health. I decided to help people who innocently harm their health.” SHE RAILS AGAINST THE MYTHS ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS “I tell my clients to stop thinking about getting into a particular size but rather start with correct food choices and activity,” Verma says. “This helps get the pressure off. Losing weight should not feel like a punishment.” She describes what she has seen in people who don’t know what and how to eat, and the lack of a holistic approach to health. “I volunteered for hospital meal service in Los Angeles and met many people suffering from
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“ADJUSTING TO THE FASTPACED LIFE OF MUMBAI WAS A BIG CHALLENGE”
“IT IS IMPORTANT TO BRING MARRIED WOMEN TO THE LIMELIGHT TOO. WHY NOT PROMOTE THEM, AS THEY ARE THE REAL PILLARS OF OUR FAMILIES?” diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, etc., all caused by unhealthy eating habits,” Verma says. “We let these diseases happen by making wrong food choices and due to a lack of activity. In June, she is coming up with a new talk show on TV Asia, “You and Your Health,” in which she will address questions from people that “love to ask questions about health.” Besides, Verma is also working on two Punjabi movies. A CERTIFIED SKY DIVER, SHE IS FOR EVERYTHING ADVENTUROUS “I love doing things that challenge me,” she says. Clearly, she has no shortage of them.
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PIONEER | SEEMA
AT THE EDGE of the Absurd Filmmaker Shashwati Talukdar tests the limits of language and expression in her work ALPANA VARMA
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hashwati Talukdar, already a reputed documentary filmmaker, is now getting noticed as a playwright. Now living in Taipei with her husband P Kerim Friedman, an anthropology professor at the University of Taipei, she is pleased with the artistic activity in the area, which helped her rediscover her love for the theater she dabbled in while at college. “Taipei has a small but vibrant theater scene, incredibly well-trained actors and a lot of people from all over the world,” says Talukdar. It helps that normal life was not affected by the pandemic, thanks to the deft handling of the situation by the island’s government. Talukdar’s latest foray into theater, however, was a livestream play reading event held in New Delhi, London and San Francisco, in October 2020. Organized for the Same Boat Collective, at an event dubbed “Earthquake,” the idea was to move the earth with human voices for environmental justice. The one-act play, “Hari and Ramesh get Flooded in Mumbai,” is a comedy about two characters on opposite sides of the globe and how they deal with a crisis. “It’s about global warming and
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Filmmaker Shashwati Talukdar
people being brainwashed by conspiracy theories,” Talukdar says. “What draws me to plays,” she says, “is the symbolic space, and the basic raw material of theater … in threedimensional space, and how I can use language – bend it in ways that one doesn’t while making films.” Talukdar finds working with theater actors to be very different than dealing with them in films. “The psychological and sensory experience is very different, almost painful actually. But one is always glad for it,” she says. Born and raised in Dehradun, India, Talukdar earned her bachelor’s degree at Lady Shri Ram College, and then her master’s degree in mass
communications at Jamia Miillia Islamia University, both in New Delhi. She also attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where she earned a master’s degree in fine arts. Talukdar has written a series of plays around Indian freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose, called the Bose Cycles. “Your Country Needs You” is about a politician, a secret service agent and a person of an impossible age, wrestling with the question, “Who are you.” These were produced by Alicia Haddad and John Brown in 2019. The second play, “The Memory Stratagem,” was staged the same year. “The Return of the Hero” has Bose traveling between old memories
and the uncertainties of the present during a flight to New Delhi. He is accompanied by an ambiguously shaded monk, who could be either a disciple or a jailer. “These plays are about how he is thought about in contemporary India,” Talukar tells SEEMA, adding that she has a couple of more plays to add to the series. She is contemplating a full-length play on the subject of history as an instrument of politics, the undergirding question being that if a historical figure could see the present how would they view the way their name was being used or abused. “I saw the first play in March last year, and it worked well as a standalone,” wrote Diane Baker in Taipei Times. “Camels in Outer Space,” another one-act play Talukdar wrote in 2018. was produced by Brook Hall in Taipei a the LAB Space 24hour festival. “Potted Plant Or Say Something If You See Something,” is another micro-play, written in 2016, produced by Lisa King of Butterfly Effect Company, Taipei. According to Talukdar, “I am always prompted by something that is happening around me, but the texts themselves tend to be in the realm of the absurd. Interestingly, the themes do start with something political, or I would prefer to say, some contemporary concern, and then move on to explore other themes of human existence.” Taludkar, who divides her time
between Dehradun and Taipei, is working on “Marriage Cops,” a film about a helpline at a women’s police station in Dehradun. Among other things, the play shows that while trained to be cops, women constables often deal with their own domestic disputes. “I am just following a couple of women’s stories, the role of the policewomen and how these things unfold in a police station,” Talukdar says. Some of her most notable works include a feature length documentary, “Please Don’t Beat Me Sir” (2011), about the Budhan Theater, a theater group composed of members of India’s Chhara, once deemed a criminal’ tribe; “Wall Stories” (2014), about the murals of the Guru Ram Rai Durbar in Dehradun; “The Girl,” a narrative Himalayan Gothic short; and “The Sound of Bombs,” an art video to promote writer Sharbari Zohra Ahmed’s book, “The Ocean of Mrs Nagai.” Talukdar’s oeuvre includes documentaries, and narrative and experimental films, that have been screened at venues such as the Margaret Mead Film Festival, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Busan International Film Festival and the Whitney Biennial. Asked why she particularly prefers documentaries, she takes refuge in a cliché: “Truth is stranger than fiction.”
“I AM JUST FOLLOWING A COUPLE OF WOMEN’S STORIES, THE ROLE OF THE POLICEWOMEN AND HOW THESE THINGS UNFOLD IN A POLICE STATION”
Quizzed about how she comes up with ideas, Talukdar says, “Things come to you in different ways. Sometimes it is a compelling conversation or something you’ve read.” She says it is hard for women filmmakers, since stereotypes still rule people’s viewpoints, ensuring that women find it harder to get hired, to get equitable pay, and to prise the money out of the hands of men, who tend to control the finances. Though dealing with a female crew is easier, that is not always the case, she says. Talukdar says she likes to immerse herself in a community for a few years before works on a documentary involving it. “It tends to be a long-drawn association with the community,” she says. “It takes time and commitment to develop the trust with its members and the ethics of documentary filmmaking are very important.” APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 27
FEATURES | SEEMA
APPLE OF THEIR EYE
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Kartik and Anuradha Budhraja jettisoned lucrative careers in Singapore to embrace a sustainable lifestyle in the Himalayas GUSTASP AND JEROO IRANI
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uscious red apples shimmered as they weighed down the boughs of trees dotting the slopes of an orchard-studded valley. As the mist rolled in like a giant parachute, Anuradha and Kartik Budhraja, who were touring the enchanting apple belt in Himachal Pradesh, north India, felt that they had come home. Apple farming in Himachal Pradesh was a far cry from the shiny glasssheathed high rises of Singapore. Though Kartik had lived the good life in Singapore for 11 years and Anuradha for 7, both had felt a gnawing void in their hearts. The Himalayas beckoned. “I can still recall the flavor of my mom’s Himalayan plum jam that we enjoyed as kids,” said Kartik, whose grandmother was born and raised in Shimla. Home also meant being back in the land of their
birth, being close to their parents, and finding real meaning and fulfillment in their lives. We first met the couple at the Banjara Orchard Retreat in Thanedar, the apple basket of India, located at 7,500 ft. Enfolded in apple and cherry orchards, Thanedar turned out to be a typical Himalayan town where the crisp air is spiked with a sweet piney fragrance. At the time, Anuradha and Kartik had jettisoned lucrative careers in Singapore, three years prior in 2013, to strike roots in the apple belt that they had fallen in love with as tourists. And they weren’t alone in succumbing to the allure of the region, with its deep dense forests, quaint villages basking in the sun and multihued birds... Way back in 1904, Samuel Evan Stokes, the scion of a wealthy Philadelphia family,
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FEATURES | SEEMA
“I CAN STILL RECALL THE FLAVOR OF MY MOM’S HIMALAYAN PLUM JAM THAT WE ENJOYED AS KIDS” traveled to India and, by a strange turn of fate, arrived in Thanedar, fell in love with the place and married a local girl. Legend has it that his mother bought him an existing tea plantation and that Stokes later brought a few saplings from his homeland and planted them in his orchard in Kotgarh (about 10 miles from Thanedar). The Red and Golden Delicious variety of apples bore fruit and seduced the taste buds of an entire nation – and apple farming in 30 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
Himachal Pradesh was born. Local farmers in the Shimla hills in the western Himalayas, too, started planting them. Stokes was generous with help and advice to newbie farmers. Initially, the Budhrajas lived in a rented cottage on the Stokes estate and handled challenges head on. There was some resistance from the locals getting the hang of the process of fruit and jam making, dealing with the hailstorms that damaged crops
and the occasional jackal that gatecrashed their kitchen. They often glimpsed foxes and even leopards lurking on the periphery of the estate. Those challenges are now behind them, thanks to their hands-on approach. They now know which fruits to buy from which farmer, says Kartik, and from which tree a particular fruit may have been cut! Their boutique jam and chutney processing venture, Kotgarh Fruit Bageecha, has become a brand in the
“AND WE WILL SOON GO INTO SOLAR-POWERED DEHYDRATION OF APPLES AND APRICOTS” When we tasted some of their jams and preserves, hand-crafted at 7,500 ft, in India’s first and finest fruit orchards, the products seemed to snare in their juicy depths the abundant bounty of this sliver of land. The apple chutney spiked with the hot Naga King chilli strikes a
area of fruits and preserves. Their production unit (with a capacity to produce 400 kg a day) is located in the village of Shathla, 6 km away from their new home, where they are assisted by a dozen local women and three men. “We work according to the needs of local communities,” says Kartik. “Sometimes, the women have to attend a festival or tutor their children for exams.” But these are not major issues! They are the perks of living on unhurried mountain time, of people involved in apple farming in Himachal Pradesh.
sweet and spicy note; the plum jam is calibrated to nostalgia, based as it is on the homely recipe of Kartik’s mom; and the wild apricot jam happens to be Anuradha’s favorite. Then there are other lip-smacking flavors – green apple and ginger chutney, Xmas plum preserve, chunky Kiwi preserve with star anise, Himachal wild apricot preserve, etc. “We both share a passion for developing new recipes and products,” says Anuradha, “and we will soon go into solar-powered
dehydration of apples and apricots.” Asked if they have any regrets, they responded with a firm “None at all.” The duo has fashioned a way to thrive in work and love, and the geographical move to India has only strengthened their professional and emotional commitments. The couple, now in their mid-forties, have their own home in the minuscule village of Saroga (host to just 20 households). Their three-storied home, of slate and wood, has been built in keeping with the local vernacular and perches on a ridge, 8,000 ft above sea level. Imagine waking up each day to the amphitheater-like sight of the Greater Himalayas blueing into the distance; the centuries-old Hindustan-Tibet road curving beyond their home and the river Sutlej chortling past. The duo love their sustainable, carbon-neutral lifestyle. They grow their own food, a rainwater-harvesting system is in place, and a soon-tobe-installed rooftop solar power system will supply enough power for their needs and some. This is in sync with the philosophy that powers this region of sustainable organic farming. But what the Budhrajas love the most is the white stillness of winter. At the end of the day, they look forward to snuggling by a bukhari (traditional fire place) in their living room, their two cats curled up beside them. That is when Anuradha and Kartik revel in a world that is as untouched and eternal as the Himalayas that soar protectively in the distance. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 31
PHOTO CREDIT: Gregg Delman 00 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
COVER STORY | SEEMA
‘ALL ALONG, BLACK PEOPLE WERE TELLING US AND WE DIDN’T WANT TO LISTEN TO THEM’ Aasif Mandvi on everything from acting, opportunity, identity, becoming a dad, even the legacy of racism in America SEEMA KUMAR
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COVER STORY | SEEMA
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ctor and comedian Aasif Mandvi is a square But Mandvi’s biggest break came when he was plucked peg in a round hole. As a person of color, out of relative obscurity by Jon Stewart of the “Daily an immigrant Muslim of Indian descent, Show.” Mandvi’s portrayal of a Muslim correspondent, the Mandvi stood little chance of breaking into first non-white correspondent on the show, catapulted him television and movie industries dominated from a relatively unknown artist to someone who people by white people, especially in post 9-11 America. knew and recognized. With no connections and few professional credentials, “It was post 911, Mandvi points out. “America had except for a one-line role as a doorman on “Miami Vice” undergone a change. And to see a brown guy, a brown and stints doing improv at Disney and playing Aladdin at a face, on TV, in that role, at that moment in time, children’s theater production, Mandvi moved to New York speaking to the American culture from the vantage point in 1991 and began auditioning for theater roles. of being an insider and an outsider at the same time… “We used to get up at five o’clock in the morning, go That was huge,” says Mandvi. The satirical news format to Times Square on 46th Street, and line up [along with] called bullshit on a lot of rhetoric, says Mandvi, and 300-400 other actors. You get a number… They call you penetrated the zeitgeist. and you do your monologue or 16 bars of a song,” says “A Muslim talking about this news [was] a perspective Mandvi. “There were no parts that [I could play]. You end that nobody in America was hearing,” he says. “I’m up playing just white people. Because in all the plays there standing on that fence and talking about Islamophobia were no characters except white people… No monologue and what was going on in the Middle East and here. That that really spoke to my DNA.” wasn’t happening anywhere else. Although Mandvi landed bit There was no conversation on parts in movies and television, he that. So it was incredible.” “A MUSLIM says he quickly realized there was But for Mandvi, his most no defined path to achieve the meaningful role was in the TALKING ABOUT representation he sought on the 2012 Obie-award-winning big screen. play “Disgraced.” Written by THIS NEWS [WAS] “When I wrote ‘Sakina’s Pakistani American playwright Restaurant,’ it was sort of the aha Ayad Akhtar, who later won the A PERSPECTIVE moment, the realization that… Pulitzer for this work, the plot I was going have to tell my own centers on Islamophobia and the THAT NOBODY stories…of my experience of self-identity of Muslim American IN AMERICA WAS America, to write those [parts] citizens. A casual dinner party rather than trying to ape somebody turns into a powder keg of HEARING” else’s experience, or culture… Your emotions surrounding politics, life changes as a result of it.” religion, prejudice. Mandvi plays “Sakina’s Restaurant,” written and enacted by Mandvi, Amir Kapoor who rejects his Muslim heritage for the first premiered on June 24, 1998, as a one-act play featuring sake of his career. an Indian Muslim immigrant family that owns a restaurant “That was one of the most phenomenal roles written in New York City. Mandvi plays all six characters, both for a brown man in American theater, the first of its kind male and female, with just a few props turning from a in the way that it was written,” says Mandvi. “That role of young Indian immigrant waiter to the older Muslim couple the lead in … ‘Disgraced’ was probably one of the most that owns the restaurant, to Sakina, their young daughter fulfilling of work that I didn’t write or create… but used who is a confused desi struggling with a dual identity. all of me in every way.” The play was produced by Mandvi’s acting coach, Wynn While Mandvi is optimistic about the progress made in Handman, an influential director who taught acting to the America, he says being Muslim is still complicated. likes of Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway and Richard Gere, “After 911 suddenly there was a label,” he says. at the American Place Theater in Manhattan (Handman “’Muslim’ became a dirty word, and ‘Muslim’ became died last year at the age of 97 of complications from a frightening word. Islam became a scary word, and COVID). “Sakina’s Restaurant” received critical acclaim Muslims became synonymous with terrorism.” And yet, and caught the attention of legendary filmmaker Ismail this April, Riz Ahmed will become the first Pakistani Merchant, who cast Mandvi in a lead role in “The Mystic Muslim to be nominated for an Oscar in a movie. Masseur,” based on Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul’s We sat down with Mandvi to talk about his childhood novel set in Trinidad. and his own journey of self-identity.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Lisa Berg (2018)
Aasif Mandvi plays multiple characters in his one-act play, Sakina’s Restaurant
COVER STORY | SEEMA
OUR TOP 12 FAVORITE ROLES OF AASIF MANDVI
Miami Vice (1988) In his first professional job, Mandvi played a doorman with one line of dialogue—“He went that way.”
Sakina’s Restaurant (1998) Mandvi portrayed six roles in this thought-provoking one-man show about the immigrant experience. The Mystic Masseur (2001) Mandvi played the role of frustrated writer Ganesh Ramsumiar in this Merchant Ivory film. Oklahoma! (2002) In this revival of a popular Broadway musical, Mandvi was Ali Hakim, a Persian peddler. The Daily Show (2006-2015) Starting off as an occasional Muslim correspondent, Mandvi was promoted to a regular correspondent of this satirical TV news show in 2007. Today’s Special (2009) In this film adaptation of “Sakina’s Restaurant”, Mandvi played a chef struggling to hold on to his father’s failing restaurant. Disgraced (2012) Mandvi was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for his role as a Pakistani American lawyer in this Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Ayad Akhtar. The Internship (2013) Mandvi played Roger Chetty, the head of Google’s internship program in this film starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Million Dollar Arm (2014) Mandvi played Jon Hamm’s business partner and co-founder of the Million Dollar Arm Contest. Halal in the Family (2015) Mandvi co-starred with Sakina Jaffrey in this short web series featuring an American Muslim family. The Brink (2015) In this political satire TV series featuring Jack Black and Tim Robbins, Mandvi played a Pakistani employed by the U.S. Embassy. Evil (2019-) Mandvi is part of the main cast in this ongoing CBS and Netflix series, offering a voice of reason to explain supernatural phenomena. 36 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD LIKE, GROWING UP IN THE UK? I was born in India, in Mumbai, and my family moved to the north of England, to Bradford, where I grew up. It was a very normal … middle-class childhood. I went to public school, rode my bike around the subdivision, and was a relatively normal Indian kid. It was the ’70s in England. Nothing stands out. Bradford has a large Pakistani population and a large South Asian population…For me it was about discovering acting and performing at a very young age. YOU LIVED IN A COMMUNITY OF PAKISTANIS AND INDIANS. WHILE GROWING UP, DID YOU EVER FEEL YOU WERE DIFFERENT – AS A PERSON OF COLOR? Yes, I dealt with a lot of racism, a lot of bullying, and being made fun of by white English kids. That was a big part of it… I also ended up going to boarding school when I was 13, which had more racial violence.... I did have my [community] of South Asians that my parents were part of, and so, by default, became friends with their kids. [But] they weren’t the kids I went to school with; they were the kids that I got together at South Asian events. I did experience being chased home from school and [being] called a Paki. We all did – South Asian, Indian, Pakistani kids that grew up in that time. WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER THAT ACTING WAS YOUR CALLING? I fell in love with it. But I didn’t really know whether I could make it my career. My parents were not wealthy. My father owned a small business, and a lot of our Indian friends were doctors and had nice houses. They made a lot more money than we did. Life was not always easy. It was a struggle. My dad worked really hard, had a store and would sell paper and plastic bags to Pakistani shopkeepers. He would drive in his van in the dead of winter from
Halal in the Family (2015)
one town to the next – a traveling salesman for a while. So life was sometimes hard. HOW DID YOU GET INTO TO ACTING? I told my mom I wanted to be an actor because I saw this movie called “Bugsy Malone,” with Scott Bale and Jodie Foster. It’s a gangster movie, and I told my mom, I want to do that for a living. I never watched Bollywood movies. I saw “Sholay” when I was a kid, and that was about it. [I watched] movies with Paul Newman … “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “Bugsy Malone” and …that’s what I wanted to do. YOU DIDN’T GET PRESSURE TO BE A DOCTOR, ENGINEER OR LAWYER? I was interested in acting, and, to be fair, I wasn’t a good student. I was good in English but got terrible grades [in math and science], and they didn’t offer drama in high school in England. I always knew there was a performer in me. So [my mom] said, ‘Why don’t you find a local theater company and try things out. I went to the library and [looked up] names of local theater companies… and wrote letters (my mom helped me). One wrote back to
me… The Brighouse Children’s Theatre in a town called Brighouse, 10 miles outside of Bradford. I could get there on the bus. I started going there on Wednesday nights… We would do scenes from plays and improv games. That was the beginning. I was 14. SO YOUR PARENTS, ESPECIALLY YOUR MOTHER, HELPED YOU CHASE YOUR DREAM? Look, did my parents want me to follow a traditional doctor, lawyer, engineer path? It probably would have been their preference. But I think my mother was smart enough to also recognize that her kid was not an engineer, doctor type, and so she encouraged me. My mother was a woman who had a lot of talents. She could have done a lot of things. She could have been Oprah. Because of who she was and her status in life, the fact that she came from a very conservative Muslim family in Bombay…, married my dad [in an arranged marriage] and [moved] to England…, a lot of her own personal dreams did not get fulfilled. That is common for a lot of South Asian women of her generation. I wrote about this when I did “Sakina’s Restaurant.” I actually did a character that was my mother. There was a direct link between her own dreams being squashed and not being fulfilled … and encouraging me to [pursue my]
dreams. Her favorite saying, when I was a kid: The saddest words in the English language are “Too late.” HOW DID YOU COME TO AMERICA? I took a left at Greenland. That’s the Beatles, isn’t it? John Lennon? … The 1980s in England was a mess. Unemployment was high… the National Front …Racism… The economy was bad. My dad wanted to get out of England… I don’t think he knew quite how. One day, he read an ad in the newspaper…[from] a real estate company [offering] to set you up in West Palm Beach, Florida. If you [bought] a home in a brand new subdivision they were building… and a business in the mall they were building, they would … get the business visas and help you emigrate. He fell in love with the place… the sunshine, big houses – America. The land of opportunity … Streets paved with gold … He planned to open a bike shop [although he’d never even ridden a bike] and move to West Palm Beach. His friend persuaded him to go to Tampa instead, where business was booming. So we moved to Tampa. It’s very different now. You can’t do any of this. But back then you could come on a business visa and start a business. And that’s how we came to America. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 37
PHOTO CREDIT: CBS Watch Magazine
COVER STORY | SEEMA
“I DON’T KNOW IF THERE WERE A LOT OF ROLE MODELS TO LOOK UP TO BECAUSE WHEN I WAS STARTING OUT IN THE 1991-92, THERE WERE VERY FEW BROWN ACTORS.” 38 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
I was 16 and went straight to junior high school. WHEN DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST ACTING ROLE? My first professional job was on the TV show, “Miami Vice.” I was still in school when I auditioned for the part. It was [all of] one line. I borrowed my dad’s car [and] drove from Tampa to Miami, which is about a four hour drive…, showed up at the casting office, walked in and said the one line. They said, “Thank you very much. That was great.” I got in my car, drove four hours back to Tampa. They called me the next day and said, you got the part. I was ecstatic. I was so excited. Oh my God… And I remember we shot it on election day the year that George Bush beat Michael Dukakis. It was November 1988 and I shot this scene outside the Biltmore Hotel with Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thompson. They were looking for a suspect… They come out of the hotel. And they ask, “Did you see him? Which way did he go?” My line was, “He went that way.” And that was that. I had a party when it aired. All my friends came over. We all watched [the] whole thing. This was before Twitter and Instagram. So you couldn’t even … share the little video of yourself. FROM THAT ONE-LINER IN MIAMI VICE, HOW DID YOU END UP IN OFF-BROADWAY SHOWS. YOU ARE A SERIOUS ACTOR. I left school to go work at Disney MGM as a street performer in a comedy improv company, then worked at Universal Studios, Orlando theme park. Then I was dating a girl [who was] moving to New York. I was working with the Asolo [Repetory] Theatre in Sarasota, Florida … doing a children’s theater touring company production of “Aladdin.” We would go to preschools, kindergartens and first grade schools, and I played “Aladdin.” So I had my Equity card, and I had my SAG card
from “Miami Vice.” I literally just hopped on a train and moved to New York … and just started auditioning and trying for theater. YOU DID SOME IMPORTANT WORK IN THAT PERIOD. WHO WAS YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCE IN THOSE DAYS? I don’t know if there were a lot of role models to look up to because when I was starting out in the 1991-92, there were very few brown actors. I didn’t see any other South Asian or MiddleEastern actors. There was nobody. I remember, when I first read in the paper about Sakina Jaffrey, another Indian actor, I wanted to meet her. And when I got into acting school with artistic director Wynn Handman and his acting class. He was a influential teacher for me. Not only that, he helped me develop “Sakina’s Restaurant” and helped me produce that play at his theater. [It] was the biggest thing that happened for me… That took me from zero to one. He was a tremendous person in my life who helped me to get [on] the first step on the ladder. LET’S TALK ABOUT AN AHA MOMENT THAT CHANGED THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR LIFE. Wow. An Aha moment! I think when I wrote “Sakina’s Restaurant,” when I realized, there isn’t a set avenue for me to walk. I have to basically chop down a lot of trees … and build that road. So in the end, the only people I could look up to were people like Madhur Jaffrey and Ismail Merchant, who I ultimately ended up working with [and] who had also struggled in a previous generation. I’m having another aha moment right now, where I just became a father. That is a life-changing experience. I started to realize, how much of the way I think about the world has now changed and how I not only think about the world, but … about my relationship to my own creativity and what I want to write about – just based on the fact that I’m now a child’s father. It’s a big
moment, I think, for everyone. But also for me…I waited much later in life to [get] married. I spent so much of my life, really [focused] on my own career and myself and now for the first time… thinking about [our child] with the reality of being an older parent … in the middle of a pandemic [the boy was born on March 14, 2020]. So he’s being raised in this world … A very different world … A whole new world. WE’LL COME BACK TO THE LEGACY PART, BUT I WANTED TO ASK YOU ABOUT THE FAMOUS STORY ABOUT AUDITIONING FOR “THE DAILY SHOW” WITH JON STEWART AND BEING HIRED ON THE SPOT. WHY WAS IT SUCH A SUCH A BIG HIT? Yes, that’s true. I auditioned for “The Daily Show.” It was one of the many auditions that I had. I think often in our business, it’s the job that you don’t care about…, when you are the freest…, [that] you perform the best, because you’re not belaboring it … You end up being just open and free to your own creativity. So I auditioned for this job thinking I don’t care if I get this or not. And Jon hired me on the spot and I was on that night. Then he just kept bringing me back. And I’ve talked about this story a lot, it’s in my book as well, “The Daily Show” was for me, personally, a seismic change in my career, because I went from being somebody who was a working actor seen on Broadway and who popped up in movies now and then to somebody who people knew. I was on TV on a regular basis. And it was a different experience for me. A lot of times in my career, I feel things have happened to me that wasn’t what I was planning. There’s an old adage, “Tell God your plans and listen to him laugh.” I had other plans and along came “The Daily Show.” The same thing happened to me when I was on Broadway. I was in a musical on Broadway in Oklahoma. And I APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 39
[thought] What the fuck am I doing here? This is not what I envisioned; I’ve gotten to do a lot of things in my career [that I never imagined]. The most defining thing about my career is that I’ve gotten to do a lot of things that I’ve gotten to wear a lot of hats. I’m thankful for that. Ismail Merchant saying…, I want you to star in my movie. Suddenly, I’m in a Merchant Ivory film… with Om Puri, and shooting in Trinidad. And I’m the star of this movie with Jimmy Mistry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Om Puri, Zora Sehgal and Sakina Jaffrey, and I’m thinking, what am I doing in this movie? And Ismail Merchant is directing it. I’m glad that I have gotten to do a lot of different things. And I’ve gotten so far to do a lot of different things. IS THERE ONE PARTICULAR ROLE OUT OF THOSE THAT ROLES YOU’VE PLAYED, THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF? Two things I’m most proud of thus far… work that I’m doing currently on “EVIL,” especially this second season, which nobody’s seen yet. I’m very excited about my work there. But outside of my own film..., “Today’s Special,” which was a labor of love, I got to tell a story that I really wanted to tell for a long time and with “Sakina’s Restaurant,” which then led to “Today’s Special.” Telling those stories [was a] cathartic experience … But then in 2012 I got to do “Disgraced” at the Lincoln Center, and it was really new. That role of the lead ... was probably one of the most fulfilling works [I’ve done]. YOU’RE STILL A RARITY IN MAINSTREAM TELEVISION AND HOLLYWOOD – A BROWN ACTOR, INDIAN AMERICAN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE LACK OF REPRESENTATION IN MAINSTREAM? Things have changed. We’re at a 40 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
PHOTO CREDIT: PREMIERE OF NO LAND’S MAN
COVER STORY | SEEMA
“I FIRST MET AASIF WHEN HE HAD JUST WRITTEN SAKINA’S RESTAURANT, AND WAS HOPING TO FIND AN AUDIENCE. WYNN HANDMAN HOSTED AASIF’S PRODUCTION AT THE AMERICAN PLACE THEATRE WHILE I DRUMMED UP AUDIENCES THROUGH MY NETWORK AND THE MEDIA. WE SOLD TICKETS FOR $5 AND $10. AASIF PLAYED EVERY ROLE IN THE PLAY, LEAVING AUDIENCES IN SPLITS... WORD SPREAD.... AUDIENCES CAME.... SOON ISMAIL MERCHANT OFFERED AASIF A LEADING ROLE IN HIS FILM “MYSTIC MASSEUR”… AND HE HAS NOT LOOKED BACK SINCE” – AROON SHIVDASANI, Founder, Indo-American Arts Council
moment in history right now, where Riz Ahmed has just been nominated for an Oscar as the first Pakistani Muslim guy to ever get nominated for an Oscar in a movie. A couple years ago, Dev Patel was nominated for an Oscar as well. And so you seeing more [brown] people… in more roles. Even the role that I get to play on “EVIL” … I wouldn’t have been cast in that role 10 years ago. That role would have gone to a white guy. So things have changed. Today, we do see more diversity, and more willingness to tell stories. The more people we have — not only the storytellers, but the gatekeepers of Hollywood – [the better]. Right now, it’s a boon. Right now, being a brown
creator or person of color is a great thing to be. Now, it could be a fad. In three or four years we could be back to white people again. But I hope what has happened is that we’re starting to integrate these stories into an experience that is larger. The emergence of streaming [services] like Netflix and Amazon [is] creating a global audience. When you have a global audience, what you realize is that the world is made up of not just Americans. That is an uncomfortable truth for a lot of people – that there are stories that can speak globally, I’ve never been so excited about where we are right now. Is it perfect? No. It isn’t. We need to
have more creators, more people telling stories, and more gatekeepers inside the establishment of Hollywood that represent [people of color]. But are we getting to tell stories that we’ve never gotten tell before? Sure. I think I think we are today, there’s a willingness to hear those stories. And, and there’s a market for those stories. WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING MUSLIM IN AMERICA NOW, HOW DO YOU BREAK STEREO-TYPES. You see all the hatred that’s going on against the Chinese, the Asian Americans? The direct line between Trump calling [the coronavirus] the China virus and the hate crimes now happening against Asians in this country? The same thing with Black people… I do think that we are in an
era where … [we’ve] uncovered the fragility of American democracy… How fragile we are and how our democracy can be taken away from us if we are not diligent about it – and the underbelly of America. The election of Barack Obama led to white supremacy [going] underground, and then erupt with Trump, and now infiltrate the mainstream. You suddenly realize how much race and white supremacy has been a part of American history... We have been talking about Muslims…, those people over there when the reality is that we’ve had a cancer here, under the surface, from the very beginning. The only people who have been talking about it are Black people, and nobody believed that because all the
immigrants [didn’t] want to associate with the Blacks. All along, Black people were telling us and we didn’t want to listen to them – that there’s a lot of white supremacy… This shit happens to us. The police are killing us. But I don’t think we’re gonna go back to 1950s America. I think there’s a wokeness emerging. Even what happened in the Capitol on January 6 [the attack by supporters of Donald Trump]. [Without that] we’d never know, that these people felt – [that] they owned America, they felt they are America, [that] you and I are not America in their eyes. They are America. That is changing, and it will inevitably change. I mean, the privilege of being white in America is slowly going away.
“YOU SUDDENLY REALIZE HOW MUCH RACE AND WHITE SUPREMACY HAS BEEN A PART OF AMERICAN HISTORY... WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT MUSLIMS…, THOSE PEOPLE OVER THERE WHEN THE REALITY IS THAT WE’VE HAD A CANCER HERE, UNDER THE SURFACE, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.”
ENTREPRENEUR | SEEMA
TAKING ON
TIK TOK
Shivaarti Bajaj, the entrepreneur who co-founded BoxEngage. 42 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
Shivaarti Bajaj capitalized on the fact that India is ticked off with the Chinese app, and came up with an indigenous alternative MELANIE FOURIE
B
oxEngage is India’s answer to Tik Tok, a video-sharing platform, filling the void created when the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps.The virtual platform, co-founded by Shivaarti Bajaj, since rebranding (it was called GoParties, and was an offline events and ticketing platform), has gained more than a million Indian content creators to date. Other than commenting or following posters, content creators can form a bond with clients though short live streams, longer prerecorded videos, or private sessions. Bajaj, an intellectual property rights attorney who decided on the change of strategies, spoke to SEEMA about her new venture. Tell us a bit about yourself. My father was in Indian Air Force, and my mother was a homemaker. I have grown up across various countries and multiple cities. My brother is a qualified lawyer and he runs a law firm, RSD Bajaj Global LLP, which has also received various awards for being India’s first AIenabled full-service law firm. BoxEngage has pivoted from GoParties, another largely successful endeavor of yours. Could you tell why you did that? GoParties was born out of an inherent need for people to step out, especially for entertainment, with the central focus being music, crowd quotient, and safety. It was a real-time discovery and booking platform.
short and long form videos/content that’s built and conceptualized completely in India. One can host their own content and end- to end functionality for a user to not only upload content, but also host one’s own experiences on it.
BoxEngage was birthed in the middle of the pandemic. Video streaming is the way in. It is essential that the model lasts beyond a few months of lockdown, and has a market it can cater to even in the new normal. How did you and the other cofounders determine what the right product market fit was? For instance, was there a gap in the Indian market for a platform like BoxEngage? Yes there certainly is always a gap, but as with all video streaming platforms it depends strongly on the hook point that one creates to fill a certain gap. And a lot of the strategy was based on the immense sudden demand for a video streaming platform born 100 percent out of India. Why choose BoxEngage? What are the advantages? It’s a multi- video platform – for
How does BoxEngage differ from TikTok? BoxEngage hosts short and long form videos/content, whereas TikTok hosted only short videos. Also the engagement differs between the two platforms. However, the ban on TikTok did send BoxEngage viral. A massive surge in traffic was there because of that. What are your hobbies? Reading – a plethora of topics and books – and, at times, writing. Also, swimming and golf. What’s it like being female in a male-dominated industry? What is your message to other female entrepreneurs? Being a female is a bit of a challenge but it comes with its own bucket of advantages. I would strongly recommended all women entrepreneurs to follow their ideas and thoughts and to keep moving forward. Because having such a high level of involvement of women at workspace is also new for men and everyone around. So only you know what is best for you and making it work will always count. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 43
FEATURES | SEEMA
PAKISTAN’S GREEN CHALLENGES Driven by activists like Fatima Gul and more informed politicians, the country is beginning to deal with climate change
JACQUELINE EMIGH
P
akistan faces some of the world’s toughest environmental and climate disruption challenges, including extreme weather, air pollution, coastal erosion, species loss, deforestation, and the impact of melting glaciers. Over the past few years the country has taken indeed steps to confront these issues with governmentsponsored “green” programs and increased involvement in United Nations-led international initiatives. But these are yet to blunt the impact of these huge problems. DEATH BY MONSOON The freak snow storms that recently pelted Texas have nothing on the potentially deadly situation in the southern province of Sindh in Pakistan. “Sindh has witnessed 44 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
extreme weather in the last few decades: extreme heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall and floods,” Fatima Gul of the Sindhi Foundation told SEEMA. “People in rural areas are most vulnerable. They die because of extreme weather, drinking toxic water, and of food scarcity. The majority of Sindhis in rural areas don’t have access to health facilities.” While enduring droughts at some times, at others much of Sindh is inundated during the monsoons. More than 2 million people across the province were affected by the rains in 2020, with 68,000 residents being displaced in relief camps. In August, 68 people died in monsoon-related incidents in Sindh, according to official tallies. More havoc was caused by flooding sewage water, road collapses, three-day power outages, and ravaged fields of cotton, vegetables, onions, tomatoes, and sugarcane. According to Gul, a serious threat to the environment in Sindh is the Thar
Block-1 Integrated Coal Mine Power Project. Located in southeastern Sindh, it covers 3,500 square miles, and is working towards 7.8 million tons in annual coal production, and has two 660-megawatt coal-fired power plants to provide electricity to 4 million households. “The project is proving hazardous to the people and the environment,” Gul said. “Sindhi people are deprived of pastures and fresh water through diversion of about 200 cusecs [1,500 gallons of water per second] from Farsh Makhi Canal.” ANTI-SMOG UNRESTS Meanwhile, in the northern province of Punjab, in the past two decades, hordes of people have been drawn to the bright lights of Lahore by the promise of jobs and a better lifestyle. Until the start of the pandemic, many people who could afford the high housing costs found Lahore a good place to be.
Yet residents of Lahore are also unpleasantly aware of the city’s increasing air pollution problems. Other residents have cited a constellation of reasons for the smog, including the rise in the number of vehicles, the felling of trees to make way for roads and shopping plazas, and the emissions from industrial areas in and around the city. These problems drew widespread attention in November 2016 when the Lahore Bachao Tehreek organized a protest against smog and other forms of pollution in Punjab. The protesters in Lahore held banners and placards with lines such as “Say no to air pollution,” and “Go Green – Breathe Clean.” Participants chanted slogans such as “Stop cutting trees” and “Complete development projects at the earliest.” TREE-PLANTING AND MORE Two years earlier, in 2014, the neighboring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had launched a reforesting program known as The Billion Tree Tsunami. Led by Imran Khan, who went on to become the country’s prime minister, the project was limited to that province. Then, in September of 2018, when he was elected prime minister, Khan instituted a nationwide program, “The10-Billion Tree Tsunami,” sometimes referred to as Plant Pakistan. Initial funding included $180 million from the UN-affiliated World Bank, plus some financial assistance from the German KfW Bank and the Pakistani government. In December 2019, the federal government announced the Ecosystem Restoration Fund (ESRF), a funding plan with the World Bank for “The 10-Billion Tree Tsunami. It included new initiatives for biodiversity and marine conservation, and the promotion of ecotourism and electric vehicles. Besides restoring forests and
mangroves, “The 10-Billion Year Tsunami” aims to plant trees in urban settings, including in schools and colleges, public parks, and along green belts. Pakistani officials maintain that reviving natural carbon sinks, such as forests and peatlands, can help close the climate emissions gap. They say replanting with native tree species can help to reduce the risk of forest fires and the other side effects of a warming planet. In May 2020, during the pandemic, the World Bank partnered with Pakistan on the Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services (PHERS), which adds improved weather and disaster recovery risk management services to the eco programs already in progress. The joint programs with the World Bank are also seen as a “green stimulus package,” since it has created 5,500 new jobs for young people in Pakistan’s first national parks system. THE LONG ROAD AHEAD Environmental crises can require multi-pronged remediation, and some critics argue that there still are substantial gaps in Pakistan’s response. In the international Sustainable Development Report 2020, released in August of 2020, the UN announced that Pakistan had met its sustainable development goal 13, which is about “taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.” The UN describes the goals as “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” Still, Guillaume Lafortune, the coordinator of the report, maintained that Pakistan lags behind in achieving goal 7, which calls on countries to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.” He also urged the Pakistani government to stop investing in coalfired power plants and to discontinue subsidies for fossil fuel companies. Gul agrees, highlighting her concern
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2021
Pakistan is taking environmental issues seriously, even if various factions do not always agree on solutions. In recognition of the country’s efforts, the UN has chosen Pakistan to be the host nation for the its annual World Environment Day on June 5, 2021. At least 150 other countries are expected to participate. This year’s theme is ecosystem restoration, with special emphasis on relationships with nature. Pakistan plans to highlight major environmental issues while showcasing its own initiatives and its role in the UN’s efforts. about the air pollution she expects from the Thar Block-1 Integrated Coal Mine Power Project in Sindh. “Another development against the people of Sindh is the federal government’s announcement of the construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam,” she told SEEMA. Last May, the Pakistani government inked a contract to have China Power and Frontier Works Organization build the concrete dam on the Indus river between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan provinces. Envisaged in 1998 and still at the preliminary stages of construction, the dam, which is to rise 892 feet, is expected to produce 4,800 megawatts of electricity through hydropower, while also storing 2.77 trillion liquid gallons for drinking and irrigation. While conservationists prefer sustainable sources of power, such as solar and wind, to dams, which disrupt natural habitats,.hydroelectric power is cleaner than oil or gas. Still, Gul pointed out that downstream in Sindh, the Diamer Bhasha Dam will “further reduce freshwater discharge, allowing the sea to further invade the land.” Another planned dam, the Kalabagh, was set aside in 2008 due to opposition from people in both Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 45
FOOD | SEEMA
DIVINE PLATES 46 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
A selection of Japanese temple foods served at Edo, the Japanese specialty restaurant at ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru
Spurred on by foodies, high-end restaurants in India are beginning to serve traditional temple fare
BINDU GOPAL RAO
F
ood served as prasad in temples may seem commonplace in India. However, across the country there is a whole new spectrum of cuisine that is as mind boggling as it is diverse. Every kind comes with a touch of spirituality, which adds to its mysticism. In India, temple food has always held a special place in the hearts of the people. Food served as prasad in temples may seem commonplace in India.
HISTORICAL CONNECT
K.T. Acharya in his book “The Illustrated Foods of India,” says, “It is usual in the Hindu temple to prepare foods that are first offered to the deities and left in their presence for a while to satiate this spiritual hunger. Thereafter, the food becomes a sanctified prasad. which is distributed or even sold to the assembled devotees. In South India the Padmanabhaswami temple, in Thiruvanthapuram has a special avial that uses traditional vegetables, fresh coconut and coconut oil and no mustard seeds. The Ganesha temples of Kerala have the unni-appam, which are spongy brown fried pieces, made of a mélange of rice powder, banana, jackfruit and jaggery. The Muruga temple of Palani Hills has its own panchamrita of crystal sugar, honey, ghee cardamom and fruits (bananas, dates and raisins), which does not go rancid, even after six weeks. The great Vishnu temple of Devarajaswami in Kanchipuram has a prasad of a giant idli, weighing a kilo and a half (3.3 pounds). This is spiced with pepper, jeera, ginger and asafoetida fermented with curd and then steamed. The
Vishnu temple at Srimushnam has a confection prepared from the sweet root korai, which is dear to Varaha, the boar incarnation of Lord Vishnu.” Of course, most people know of the famed Tirupati laddu which is made every day in the inner kitchen by 30 cooks, who use tons of urad dal, sugar, ghee, raisins, cashew nuts and cardamom to make it. At the Dharmasthala temple in Karnataka food is served to several thousands of people every day. One of the most elaborate preparations of temple food is at the Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha where every day, thousands of persons manning 750 stoves and ovens, turn out hundreds of varieties of dishes. “Using rice and wheat, and their flours and grits, urad dal, indigenious vegetables, jaggery and spices with cow ghee as the cooking medium, the Gods are served ritually five times a day,” notes Acharya.
DIVERSITY IN DIVINITY
Sudha G Tilak, author of “Temple Tales,” a book on the many unique aspects related to the temples of India, including details about its food shares some interesting experiences: “The Annapurna temple in Varanasi is the story of how food is nourishment for humans and good life in India. The mahaprasad in the Jagannath temple in Odisha is a huge catering operation by the temple kitchen; Chappan bhog consists of 56 food items offered in temples to the god Krishna in Uttar Pradesh. The women of an entire village gather to cook sweet rice at the Attukal Bhagawathy temple in
Sudha Tilak, author of “Temple Tales,” a book on the many unique aspects related to the temples of India, including details about its food
Kerala, and some food historians say the ubiquitous masala dosa had its origins in the Udupi Sri Krishna temple in South India.” Often there are colorful legends and myths associated with the temples and reasons why certain foods are offered.
SPIRITUAL CONNECT
Interestingly, apart from India, temple foods are also popular in countries like Japan, Korea, Vietnam and China. Nimai Pandit, founder of Gopal Farm, a 120-acre farm in New Paltz, NY, in the Hudson Valley, has plans to open a restaurant next year in collaboration with Chef Hari Nayak focusing on temple foods. “I was trained at ISKON’s Hare Krishna temple in Bengaluru,” APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 47
FOOD | SEEMA
Pandit says. “The Vaishnavas are known to offer food to the gods that is then distributed as prasad that is a way of purifying the food. In New York, in fact we have a Michelin star restaurant that specializes in Japanese temple food called Kajitsu that serves Shojin Ryori menu, a vegetarian menu originally served by Japanese Buddhist monks.” Shojin Ryori cuisine is a combination of various flavors and simple processes which makes it so unique. The most simplistic form of Shojin Ryori is the traditional Buddhist cuisine that spread through China in the sixth century. Like the Saatvik concept of cooking in India, temple food in Japan is largely driven by the idea of eating local and seasonal produce. Edo, the Japanese specialty restaurant at ITC Gardenia in 48 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
THE VAISHNAVAS ARE KNOWN TO OFFER FOOD TO THE GODS THAT IS THEN DISTRIBUTED AS PRASAD THAT IS A WAY OF PURIFYING THE FOOD
Nimai Pandit, founder of Gopal Farm, a 120-acre farm in New Paltz, NY, in the Hudson Valley
Bengaluru, hosted a food promotion event to break the myth that Japanese cuisine is mainly non vegetarian. The master chefs at ITC Gardenia dug deep into this historic cuisine to bring out the authentic flavors. Temple cuisine is dominated by soya products. It is based on the concept of nonviolence, i.e. ahimsa and includes small portions of seaweed and underwater mushrooms such as mozuku, koyadofu, aburagae and yubaand. While there is no set rule,
Amit Patra, masterchef, Edo, ITC Gardenia Bengaluru
mindful eating is what makes consumption very different. There are various advantages of this cuisine, such as gaining focus, losing weight and clearing one’s mind to strengthen concentration,” says Amit Patra, masterchef at the Edo Restaurant & Bar, ITC Gardenia.
TEMPLE CUISINE IS DOMINATED BY SOYA PRODUCTS. IT IS BASED ON THE CONCEPT OF NON-VIOLENCE I.E. AHIMSA AND INCLUDES SMALL, PORTIONS OF SEAWEED AND UNDERWATER MUSHROOMS SUCH AS MOZUKU, KOYADOFU, ABURAGAE AND YUBAAND.
SEASONAL FACTOR
While eating seasonal may be in vogue in the culinary circles, Hindu temple prasad or food offerings are unique as they have always used local and seasonal produce. Varr in Rishikesh is a new restaurant that offers a thousand-year-old history of Indian temples on a plate. The service sequence, audio visuals and small rituals will ensure customers gain a new respect for Indian culture, says Tarun Gulati, director of the Himalayan Hotels & DJUBO Hotel Tech Suite , pointing out that the food relies on healthy ingredients, both locally sourced and delivered by select vendors across India. Menu planning and selection of ingredients for Varr are
Anushruti RK, a food writer and recipe creator at Divine Taste
based on principles and wisdom of Ayurveda on the one hand and derived from ages of practices and rituals across Indian temples on the other. I addition, the dishes are topped up with infusions of immunity boosting ingredients such as cinnamon, curry leaves, tulsi, ashwagandha, giloy, triphala, gooseberry, ginger, nutmeg and turmeric. According to Anushruti RK, a food writer and recipe creator at Divine Taste, “The food cooked in the temples of India (with the exception of a few Shiva and Kali temples) are based on Ayurvedic principles of Sattvic philosophy, making it good for the body, mind and soul. Food cooked in the temples of India is made with fresh ingredients which are locally sourced with recipes dating back to hundreds of years making it delicious and healthy at the same time.” And as the pandemic continues, it is perhaps time we reconsider our diets. After all, the lessons of the past can serve us well in the present and the future. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 49
FOOD | SEEMA
A Food Walk
50 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
Through Lisbon ANUBHUTI KRISHNA
Lisbon is known the world over for its historical sites, iconic buildings and sprawling views of the Tagus. However, the Portuguese capital is also an important center for the country’s culinary heritage and is known for its many food tours. Influenced by its colonies and celebrated by its people, Lisbon’s food is a melting pot of diverse, unique and gratifying dishes hard to find anywhere else. Good food in Lisbon is not confined to elite restaurants or rich family homes. Although there is no dearth of hip fine diners, Lisboans love to eat on the streets, stalls and mercados. From highly touristy places like Placa de Commercio to the Mercado da Ribeira, to the hidden slopes of Alfama and the shores of Belem, good food in Lisbon can be found a few steps away. Here are some things we recommend you to try when in the sunshine city. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 51
FOOD | SEEMA PASTÉIS DE NATA: The first thing to
taste in Lisbon has to be this palm-sized pastry. Filled with gooey custard, layered with butter, and charred on top, nata pastry is Lisbon in a tart shell. While it can be found everywhere in the city (including supermarkets) the best place for nata remain its birthplace, Belem. Invented in the convent of Jeronimos, the custard tart is now sold from a neighboring shop, Pastel dé Belem, which claims to use the same centuries-old recipe of the nuns. Manteigaria, in Chiado district in the city center, is another legendary tart bar known for its light, thin, and flaky crust, with a thick cream and the right hint of sweetness. All Lisbon food tours are not complete without sampling this delicacy.
PASTÉIS DE BACALHAU: Bacalhau cutlets are to Lisbon what bagels are to New York. Made by mixing salted cod with potatoes, onion, garlic and local cheese, these patties are almost a staple in Lisbon and go perfectly well with Lisbon’s traditional espresso and a shot of milk. Made here since the early 20th century these cutlets do not often find a place in posh lists but let that not deter you: Cheesy, fishy, starchy and garlicky, they are all things delicious. Remember to insist on getting them fresh and hot when you go on any walking tour of Lisbon, as touristy places sometimes pass on cold cutlets to unsuspecting tourists.
BACALHAU À BRAS: No Lisbon food tours can have just one cod dish. So deeply ingrained is the fish in its cuisine that every second preparation uses cod here. The cod used in Lisbon however is almost always salted and cured. Large pieces displayed in grocery stores and outside restaurants act as magnets for travelers. Bacalhau à bras is listed almost on all menus across the city. A popular Portuguese comfort dish, it is made with panfried cod, finely sliced potatoes and scrambled eggs, and served garnished with local black olives, and parsley. 52 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
BIFANA: This Lisboan sandwich is the mother of all sandwiches.
Made with sliced pork that has been slow-cooked in a rich sauce of white wine and garlic for hours, Bifana is assembled fresh from the pan on thick rustic slices of local bread and eaten with mustard or piripiri. It is traditionally washed down with house wine or local beer . A wonderful and fulfilling meal on the go, Bifana is found everywhere here and is an integral part of all Lisbon food tours, but for the best version, try one at Casa das Bifanas. It’s a sumptuous meal to end a day of sightseeing, especially after those long walking tours.
SARDINES: No place celebrates
sardines like Alfama, the oldest neighborhood of Lisbon, which was once a fishing village. Smoked over open fire, dressed in sea salt, served on its own or with a pao, sardine understandably is the most important fish here. It is also the most celebrated. Throughout summer residents put out tables in their courtyards and grill sardines on charcoal for hours while the locals throng the neighborhood for their share of fresh and smoky sardines night after night.
GINGHINA: You cannot go to Lisbon and not have Ginjhina. Sweet, strong, scented, sticky and very heady, this concoction has been Lisbon’s favorite drink since the 1600s. Traditionally made at homes with Morello Cherry, the liqueur is drunk in shot glasses and can be served with or without the cherry (which is delightfully potent). You can also opt to have it in a chocolate cup and eat the cup afterwards. The best places to taste—and buy many bottles as souvenirs— are from tiny old bars in the Rossio area, like A Ginjhina, or the locals in Alfama who sell home-brewed versions in jugs outside their homes. Almost all Lisbon food tours end on a high with a visit to these old bars.
CHINESE MEALS: Lisbon’s list of unregulated Chinese restaurants is legendary, and a tourist attraction on their own. Tucked in deep alleys and apartment complexes, they are often unmarked and quiet from the outside. Inside, however, you find full-fledged restaurants run by immigrants. The best way to find them is on a GPS map since most are listed there. The best food to eat here is the signature bowl of soup filled with meat, vegetables, broth and seasoning that satiates your craving for comfort and spice in a city devoted to salted cod.
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ARTS | SEEMA
KODIYALA, ONCE A THRIVING HANDLOOMWEAVING CENTER IN MANDYA DISTRICT OF KARNATAKA HAS SEEN HUGE CHANGES OVER TIME
PHOTOS BY: ANEEV RAO FOR YALI SARIS
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Reviving a LEGACY The Kodiyala weaves that once enjoyed royal patronage are seeing a revival, courtesy the efforts of a project called Hosa Arambha Seven motifs were developed for use on the border and the loose ends of the sari.
BINDU GOPAL RAO
I
t was a newspaper clipping many years ago that sent me driving down narrow dusty roads off the BangaloreMysore highway to look for a village called Kodiyala. This was a weaver community that made saris during the time of Tipu Sultan and continued to make them for the Mysore royal family. Even prime minister Indira Gandhi wore these
saris. I have been to Kodiyala a couple of times, always making it a point to buy saris from the weavers. Then I was pleasantly surprised to see a new revival project, Hosa Arambha. Meaning new beginnings in Kannada, the Shrenis Trust and the weavers began working on this project in November 2019. This was part of architect Kshitija Mruthyunjaya’s final year M.A. research project, at which time she contacted the Bengaluru-based The Registry of Sarees. “They introduced me to the
Kodiyala weavers via the Shrenis Trust, a community organization in Bengaluru,” says Mruthyunjaya. “That is how the work in Kodiyala began. [My] key interests lie in processand research-driven interventions, whether it is architecture or textiles.” Kodiyala, once a thriving handloom-weaving center in Mandya district of Karnataka has seen huge changes over time. These Teluguspeaking weavers, called Padmashalis originally migrated from Andhra Pradesh. Before the project began, out of around 400 families in Kodiyala, APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 55
ARTS | SEEMA
“MY HEALTH TOOK A BEATING. WHEN SHRENIS TRUST APPROACHED ME IN 2019, I KNEW IT WAS TIME TO GET BACK TO THE HANDLOOM” only four were still producing handloom goods; the rest were working on powerlooms. G. Sridhar Padmashali, 48, a weaver who has worked on handlooms for 32 years, says he moved to Bengaluru for a few years to work on powerlooms. “I found that it was not suitable for me,” he says “My health took a beating. When Shrenis Trust approached me in 2019, I knew it was time to get back to the handloom.” 00 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
To ensure that dignity of the weaver, the Kodiyala sari needed a distinct identity, based on history, mindful methods, and responsible production systems based on the weavers’ skills. The ideas were introduced in phases. “The key goal is to create a viable, sustainable long-term environmental and economic entity that contributes to the growth of the individual and community,” says Mruthyunjaya. A handwoven code was developed to provide information about who made the sari. A pinned leaflet on also explained the process of development. In future, these are to be digitized with details to help the wearer and artisan connect directly with each other. Currently, Kodiyala textiles are mostly brightly colored saris, with motifs borrowed from other clusters. There are no clear ways to identify what was originally woven in Kodiyala, raising a few questions. “Were they imitating other clusters? Did they have a strong identity in design and technique, and it vanished,” asks Mruthyunjaya, explaining that the artisans were actually employing a variety of skills to keep up with changing markets.
PIONEER | SEEMA Re-introduction of cotton from Salem, Tamil Nadu, was the main part of the intervention. Since the weavers were restarting cotton handloom after a long time, they first used mill spun yarn, dyed with Azo free dyes since Azo dyes are potentially carcinogenic. After several meetings with the weavers to understand their skills, a phased intervention plan was developed. These included plans for the use of relevant motifs designed to reconnect the Kodiyala weaving community to their ancestral roots to establish an identity rooted to their contextual history. Seven motifs were developed for use on the border and the loose ends of the sari. The colors and texture also relate to the mythological story where lotus fiber is described as ‘white and shimmering’ and the conch shell white used to describe the color of the cotton, says Mruthyunjaya. These white tones were picked, along with the indigo, a lighter shade of yellow, and a red closely associated with the weaving community’s history. Many weavers in Kodiyala have aspired to move back to handloom if it was viable. For those who lost their jobs at the
powerlooms, this project gave them the opportunity to not just move back to weaving handloom but also be gainfully employed. According to Sridhar, “We have a steady market for our weaves and are able to see demand through the year. Also, if you have a space of 8 feet by 8 feet, a loom can easily be part of a home. There is no dependency on electricity. The investment is minimal and, instead of one powerloom, we can have 10 handlooms.” It helps that Sridhar has been able to get more villagers on the handloom bandwagon. “Lakshamann Raav, a master weaver and our production head, with experience of over 25 years in the handloom industry, will be training the weavers in the upcoming phases,” says Mruthyunjaya. “This will also mean that other members from the weaver families and the non-weaving community will be trained in several pre loom processes, which is key for successfully weaving handspun yarn. As he puts it, “The end goal for this project is to create an integrated facility, a seed-to-sari intervention that will hopefully bring back many of the facilities associated with handloom weaving.”
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ARTS | SEEMA
“WE SHOULD ACCEPT THERE ARE
OTHER THINGS WOMEN CAN DO”
Rianjali has broken free of pigeon holes, and is beating a new path to musical success 58 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
NUPUR BHATNAGAR
A
s I finish my conversation with singer, songwriter and composer Rianjali, there is one thing that strikes me: how candid she is. Self-assured and forthcoming, she shares her story of success, struggle, and breaking barriers that women musicians encounter every day. Rianjali’s musical canvas is wide. She went from working and performing with music composer A.R. Rahman, U2, and the Shawn Mendez band, among others, to being the songwriter of hits like “I Am More,” sung by Bishop Briggs; and “For You My Love.” She was also the singer-songwriter for “Raakh Baakhi” and “Freaking Life” from the Sreedevistarrer “MOM,” the music supervisor for the 2017 Netflix Original, “Daughters of Destiny,” and was Oscarnominated for the best original song from the movie “Lake of Fire.” Here she is, in her own words, describing, among other things, how even Spotify unaccountably slots her songs only as Indian music.
also mentor younger people and I make it a point to be accountable for what I say and do.”
UNDER A.R. RAHMAN’S MENTORSHIP
“I sang a track with my brother’s friend in 2014. Months later, he calls and tells me A.R. Rahman heard me and wanted me to come to India and work for him. Of course, I had to try. The initial idea was great for my family but the idea of moving to India did not go down well. It goes to show that while our community loves to hear of such opportunities, but the moment you drop everything for it,
CHILDHOOD
“I was born to immigrant parents in New York and was raised in Queens. My mom who was going to nursing school, and my father, who was working tirelessly in a restaurant, made the hard choice of sending me to my grandparents in Delhi. When I came back to my parents when I was five, I had trouble acclimating again. I did not know my family and I just wanted to go back to my grandparents. We had a hard time connecting with one another, and it is only around my teenage years that I began to settle down. It is now that I can understand the struggle our parents faced coming to the US.”
MUSIC, THE WIND BENEATH HER WINGS
“My dad is a popular Bengali singer from Bangladesh and so I grew up listening to and singing Bengali songs. He heard me one day, sat down with the harmonium, and was so impressed [by my singing that] he put me in Hindustani classical classes. “I was a case manager in a domestic violence field with a master’s in clinical psychology on way to become a Ph.D. I was getting burned out pretty fast. Then, due to a growth in my vocal cords, I stopped singing. After surgery three years later, I realized I had to take advantage of my gift all these years and picked up my instrument again. “Songwriting is a very personal part of me. I write from experience, or I imagine it if I have to. It gives me a sense of relief. Music has such a strong power to connect. I
Rianjali with music composer A.R. Rahman APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 59
ARTS | SEEMA
“MY MUSIC IS NOT INDIAN; IT IS WHAT PEOPLE LISTEN TO HERE SO WHY CONNECT ME WITH THEM? IF I HAD A ‘WHITE NAME,’ AND I LOOKED AND DRESSED A CERTAIN WAY WOULD THEY STILL DO THAT?”
60 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
it is not taken well. There is the typical mentality of getting a stable job in our households. But I did not want to regret later, and I just had to try so I left my job, relationship, friends and family to go to India. “A.R. Rahman became my mentor. He taught me to trust my instincts and changed my perspective. I have learned to control my insecurities. “I also know my parents are proud of me. I see my Dad sharing my performance videos with his friends every now and then.”
BEING MILD-MANNERED AND TIMID
“As South Asian people, we are expected to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, basically keep our head down – be mild-mannered and timid. “My husband, a friend, and I talk about everything, especially our frustrations, a lot of which comes from being an Indian American on our podcast. We started over 1.5 year back, with no promotion, no advertising. Within six months we had over 20,000 people from all over the world listening to us. What started as a fun activity is now a platform to vent a lot of our emotions.”
SMASHING STEREOTYPES
“I have a problem with people always wanting me to be a playback singer. I want to be known for what I do as a composer. We should accept there are other things women can do.
“I would be told that if I don’t sing Tamil or Bollywood songs, what am I doing in the Indian Industry? A.R. Rahman trusted me with songwriting, composing and audio engineering but that world is really tiny for women musicians. “As a South Asian woman, born and brought up in America, I’ve never felt I belong to any specific group. And it’s been problematic for me. In my many communications with record labels, it always boils down to ‘We love her music, but we don’t know who we will sell her to.’ “It’s truly upsetting because in a day and age of growth in the South Asian American creative industry, I cannot name a single singer, songwriter, composer that you hear on the radio. “My music is not Indian; it is what people listen to here so why connect me with them? If I had a ‘white name’, and I looked and dressed a certain way would they still do that?”, she questions.
THE NEED FOR SOUTH ASIANS TO STEP UP FOR EACH OTHER
“There is a lot of struggle in the industry and it is harder for us South Asians. Our stories are always told last. Our own people need to step up and support us. I truly appreciate that Indian communities stick up to me and I feel we are making an impact. The private premiere of our first production, ‘Seeing God,’ sold out within the first night. We need that support and belief in our work.”
RIANJALI HAS DONNED MANY HATS, NOT ALL OF THEM INVOLVING MUSIC. SHE ALSO LOVES BEING BEHIND THE CAMERA AND, ALONG WITH HER HUSBAND, HOPES TO FINALLY HAVE A FULL-FLEDGED PRODUCTION HOUSE
APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 61
SPONSORED FEATURE
FROM LOVE to Self-Love
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Delhi-based Kamakshi Khanna’s single, “Qareeb,” explores the evolution of the self
Q
areeb,” Kamakshi Khanna’s first-ever attempt at writing a Hindi single, is a celebration of selflove for any woman experiencing romance or heartbreak. In an inventive, stop-motion music video that gained nearly 8,000 views on YouTube, the audience follows a woman in a ruby-red, felt dress evolving through various romantic encounters. Time is represented by plush cotton clouds and gold, spinning stars in a woolly night sky. Khanna’s music has been described as calming, healing and melodic by her fan base and she wants to maintain this reputation, but she has now has taken her songwriting in a new direction by writing about her personal growth over the past few years. “‘Qareeb’ is an expression of gratitude for
NIRVANI WILLIAMS every opportunity to love and underlines the message that the most important relationship is the one that you have with yourself,” said Khanna. The track is inherently personal. “I wrote this song when I was in a relationship where I thought I was happy,” Khanna said in an interview with Platform 15. “But on a deeper level, I was constantly neglecting my needs and the things that I stand for. I wanted to take the same emotion to pay gratitude for how much love teaches us about the world, and how letting go of it helps us rediscover ourselves in new ways each time.” From her first extended play record, “Much Mellow,” to her latest single, Khanna has been an artist who believes in constantly reinventing and innovating herself, her influences including R&B/Soul, folk, pop, jazz, and
Hindustani classical. The Delhibased singer-songwriter who has 17,000 Instagram followers, is now experimenting with her sound in a way that is rich and intricate. “What makes [‘Qareeb’] unique is that even though the arrangement, production and vocal ideas are very relevant to what’s going on internationally in the R&B world, the lyrics and melody are reminiscent of 90s indie pop,” Khanna told Platform 15. Khanna has performed at many notable venues, including indie music festivals such as NH7 Weekender Pune and Shillong, VH1 Supersonic in Pune, Rhythm N Blues Festival in Kasauli, Lil Flea Festival in Mumbai and Delhi, and a solo US tour across cities like New York, LA and Austin. “Qareeb” is available via JioSaavan streaming platforms.
APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 63
ARTS | SEEMA
Indushree Raveendran performing with two puppets
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Speaking for the
VOICELESS Ventriloquist Indushree Raveendran breaks barriers with her challenging acts DEEPA PADMANABAN
I
ndushree Raveendran is more than just India’s first woman ventriloquist. She’s also a magician and an amateur musician. She started dabbling in these art forms at a very young age. Enveloped by an artistic family- her mother is a Carnatic music singer and father a theater artist – playing musical instruments came to her effortlessly. Inspired by a family friend who was a magician, she started performing small magic tricks, and was attending magic conventions at the age of 7. At one of these conventions, she got a ventriloquist puppet, a yellow feathered monkey that she named ‘Tommy.’
She was eager to learn but she ended up practicing alone before the mirror for hours because other ventriloquists believed the field was not for women. Later she found a virtual guru, Edgar Bergen, an American ventriloquist, actor and radio artist. According to Raveendran, “Like Ekalavya [the tribal rejected by Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas in the epic Mahabharata, and who learned from the guru by watching the training], I learned from my guru distantly, by listening to his audio CDs. It was a very big challenge to make it sound the way it has to be.” Bergen was renowned for speaking without moving his lips, unlike some APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 65
ARTS | SEEMA other ventriloquists. Raveendra persevered until, like her guru, she became skilled in projecting and modulating her voice with sealed lips. She was still in school when she started performing magic shows along with ventriloquism with ‘Tommy’ on Doordarshan, India’s national television channel. For three years, she performed on TV, without charging a fee. “It gave me good experience in handling people, how to face the audience, how to be spontaneous, how to handle unplanned situations,” Raveendran says. Once she lost her voice before a show in Mysore. When she got on stage, she was dizzy because of the medications she was taking, but she soldiered on, and even received good reviews. A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Raveendran works not only on the physicality of her act, but also ensures the script is engaging. She instills humor, satire, light references to the audience and social issues in her act. Raveendran’s puppets also exhibit vivid colors and characters. Whether it’s a sparky grandma with her wisecracks, or a dhoti-clad grandpa handing out marriage tips, each has its own unique persona. Young Dinku, her frequent puppet companion, is a celebrity of sorts himself. She has travelled to 19 countries, and was the first lady ventriloquist to represent India at the Vent Haven convention in Kentucky. That was in 2010. In 2018, Raveendran won the President of India award. She now has five Limca Book of Records mentions to her name. It hasn’t always been easy, Raveendran concedes. “Ventriloquism is not a middleclass pursuit,” she says. “Puppets 66 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
Indushree Raveendran at the Niagara Falls, Canada, during a performance tour in 2020
are expensive. They can cost from 2 lakhs to 6 lakhs ($2,700 to $8,200), depending on what you want.” Her father’s ingenuity and support helped her leap over these obstacles. He designed and engineered many of her puppets, including one 10-foot behemoth, Mahisasur, that got Raveendran into the Limca Book of Record for performing with the tallest puppet. Throwing her voice 10 feet up was hard, but she did it. Raveendran’s father also suggested performing with three or four puppets simultaneously. While performing with one or two puppets at a time requires a fair amount of proficiency, managing a four-puppet act is a complex task, demanding skillful coordination, mastery and presence of mind. “I have to use five different voices, and both my hands and legs to manipulate the various levers – limbs, head, mouth for each puppet,” Raveendran says. “I have to remember the script, match the right dialogue to the right puppet. While I’m doing these things for one puppet, I have to keep other puppets alive.” Raveendran has also performed with everyday items, such as a book, coffee mug, white board, microphone, and even with a dog. “One day, I would like to perform with a buffalo,” she says. While Raveendran has made her mark in ventriloquism, she keeps her other interests alive. She intersperses her magic tricks with ventriloquism, and is currently learning Hindustani music. “I want to sing the most complicated classical songs with ventriloquism, using two or three puppets,” she says. On her wish list is a challenging act with six puppets. “The design is ready,” she says. “I just have to practice.”
HOROSCOPE | SEEMA
FORECAST WITH FARZANA Mar 21 Apr 19
It is the time for tact and diplomacy in professional dealings. Use your intuition, not just your eyes, for added advantage. Compassion and putting others first will help personal and work relationships. If you have a heavy heart, heal that first! Expect good news or a resolution in a situation through intervention. Your energy is inspiring, so weave creativity into your life. Make sure to add a dollop of fun in your social circle and connect with people that light up your (Zoom) room. Financial dealings and issues related to money may require your attention.
Apr 20 May 20
Patience is the motto to live by this month. It is a powerful time to listen to your initial instincts about people and situations in your life. So step into a new level of yourself. Feel, rather than think. Collaborate instead of competing. Set aside mistruths and speak out, especially if someone is pushing you to do something that feels wrong. Open conversations will bind relationships. Tighten your belt where finances are concerned. It may feel like the dead of winter, yet the sun will shine.
May 21 Jun 20
Jul 23 - Aug 22
Jun 21 - Jul 22
Aug 23 Sept 22
You may throw caution to the wind to embrace new beginnings, experiences and personal growth, relying on newfound daredevilry, spontaneity, naivete and optimism. This may reflect in your choices at work or in a relationship. As you step into the unknown, go with your intuition and trust that the universe has your back. Unleash your creativity to tap into your fullest potential. Do not let any negativity make you believe things you should not. Money may seem scarce, however you have enough to get by. The need for adventure may have you packing your travel bag.
It is hard to say how things are stacking up. You may be unclear or anxious about your career direction, and allowing that to overwhelm you. It may affect your outlook negatively. Be patient. There is power in remaining calm. You’ll be better off following your instincts about people and situations. Put a lid on that overactive imagination and invest your energy seeking ways to expand your knowledge. There are no coincidences, so focus on integrating and learning the lesson at hand. Be discerning about financial dealings. Do not rush into anything without vetting.
The energy this month is for reinvention. Use it as an opportunity for self-growth and learning in the area that disturbs you the most: relationships, the job, business, or finance. A sudden decision may transform your life in a fundamental way. See this as an opportunity to make a breakthrough. You are more capable and talented than you realize. Lift the cloud of ego and operate from the space of humility and kindness – to others as much as yourself. Make way for new beliefs, values and processes and keep swimming towards your goal.
It is time to roll with life’s punches. Remember, to win the war we sometimes have to lose battles. Release negative emotions involving guilt or playing the victim. Look at the situation as the glass being half full, so you can move on to create positive change. Hold on to your purse strings, for now is not the time to be frivolous with money. If you are still harboring strong feelings about an ex, focus on resolving those before committing to your current relationship. Do not let the tough stuff drag you down! Everything is functioning as a catalyst for change. APRIL 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 67
HOROSCOPE | SEEMA
Sept 23 - Oct 22
Good news is on the horizon! You are at a special moment when future plans are ripe and ready to be explored. Bask in the luxury and contentment that your accomplishments bring you. Your financial worries could well be sorted for a while. If you are single, a meaningful, deep, love, could be headed your way. If in a committed relationship, it is time to stop and smell the roses. You are at a point in your career or business where you can savor your victory. There is a possibility of searching for property – as in buying a house or land.
Oct 23 Nov 21
Get out there and meet new people since a new romance could well be on its way. Steer clear of getting caught up in complicated financial deals or investments. Keep an eye on your finances though. Expect support and guidance in your career from an emotionally, mature woman at work. Conversely, you may feel as though you are Yoda, with everyone turning towards you for advice. Compassion, conversation and commitment are your strengths. While, you are playing bleeding heart, show more compassion to yourself and your body, too. 68 | SEEMA.COM | APRIL 2021
Nov 22 Dec 21
Success, growth, family and stability are major themes as you move into the new month. You may find yourself banking on family values, conventional and old school traditions in your decision-making. If you are seeking to resolve a messy issue; in business or relationships, reach out to your family for support. If you have been hoping for a deeper commitment, now is the time to strengthen the bond. Conversations regarding inheritance, property and familial gatherings will keep you occupied. That said, if the bonds get too overwhelming, reclaim your power; it is not your responsibility to make everyone happy.
Dec 22 - Jan 19
You do not need to limit yourself by what you have done, or what others expect of you. Take action now; there’s no more time for procrastination. Open yourself to new opportunities, however vet them well. You may find yourself burning the candle at both ends, however the effort you put in will pay off. Expand your skill to bolster your net worth. Stay in pursuit of that job, business idea or project, crunch time is now. While your career is priority, ignoring the love of your life may not be a great idea. Be an active and equal partner.
Jan 20 – Feb 20
You are “in the flow” of creativity and
life, sit back and enjoy it. Focus on providing the right conditions for your dreams to flourish. Do not push too hard and come in the way of your own goals. Any creative activity will yield good results. Financially speaking, your cash flow is likely to be healthy however restrain yourself from breaking the bank. A good time to attract “the one” or to recommit and “grow” your current relationship. Watch your energy levels, if you find them see-sawing, take time out for yourself to relax and unwind.
Feb 21 – Mar 20
Ignite your dreams into reality because the force is with you. Whatever you turn your hand to may just take off at great speed and gain momentum. Be prepared to follow through and initiate action. It is a busy time for work and love. A business opportunity or a new venture could take off, sooner than expected. Financially speaking, you may have your finger in a lot of pies, so vet and evaluate to avoid high risk investments and overspending. Set long term goals and stop letting present issues hold you back. Farzana Suri coaches people through their life’s challenges to take the leap to victory, using the science of numerology. For a personalized forecast, you may contact Farzana at surifarzana@ gmail.com or visit her website, www. farzanasuri.com
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