MAY 2021
INSIDE
HEADING OFF GLOBAL WARMING
j
PLUS
TOTAL MOM SENSE
RIGHT ON THE MONEY
BEASTS IN HER BELFRY
THE MEASURE OF A MOTHER
NANDANA SEN ON HER LEGACY
THE JOURNEY BEGINS AT MANIPAL’S AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ANTIGUA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AUAA
“
It can be done! My advice would be, ask for help
when you need it. Be easy on yourself, once you take
”
care of yourself, everything else will fall into place.
Dr. Pooja Narula AUA 2013
“
There is never a 'good time' in a medical career
to start a family. You have to do it when it is right for you. Sacrifices will have to be made, but you have already done that by going to medical school.
”
I would not change my experience.
Dr. Melanie Nukala AUA 2012
“
You don't need to put your dream of having a
family on hold to pursue a career in medicine. It can be hard finding a balance between work and family sometimes, but it is possible if you prioritize your time and make a schedule for yourself.
”
Dr. Sumatt Kaur AUA 2018
Start your medical journey today! G O. AUA M E D. O R G / S E E M A 2 0 2 1
Ashwika Kapur page 10
Kanika Chadda-Gupta page 36
Priyanka Das Rajkakati page 14
5
CONTRIBUTORS BEYOND LIMITS
PIONEERS
6
To Forgive, Divine
10 Beasts in her Belfry 14 Where Arts Meets Space 18 Testing New Waters 36 Kanika Chadda-Gupta:
Total Mom Sense
42 Toughing It Out 46 Right on the Money
TEEN
STYLE
54 Run Away With These
76 Motherhood and its
Runway Designs
(Dis)Contents in 7 Books
FEATURES
58 Sensitively Teaching
the Young About
Climate Crisis
ON THE COVER
An Elegy to an Acrobat
62 Dishing it out on the Net 66 Heading off Global
22
Warming Post-Pandemic
TRAVEL
70 Make the Most of Your
RV Vacation
48 Water Wise
72 A Foodie’s Delight
ENTREPRENEUR
HOROSCOPE
52 Tress Talk
BOOKS
74 Forecast with Farzana
PHOTO CREDIT: SHRAVYA KAG
4
CONTENTS
MEET OUR
CONTRIBUTORS FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
SEEMA KUMAR CREATIVE DIRECTOR
SAJID MOINUDDIN
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ALPANA VARMA SHARMISTHA CHAUDHURI PRATIKA YASHASWI HEENA KAUSAR MELANIE FOURIE BINDU GOPAL RAO KT HALL RADHIKA IYENGAR JACQUELINE EMIGH ANITA RAO KASHI BRAND PARTNERSHIPS, DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY
ANJALI MANIAM
SEEMA™ ISSUE 005 | MAY 2021 EMPOWERING SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN GLOBALLY SEEMA KUMAR, FOUNDER
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ON THE COVER: NANDANA SEN (PAGE 22).
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EDIT | SEEMA
GOING
BEYOND LIMITS No Time for Complacency
T
his Mother’s Day, my heart goes out to Mother India. The COVID crisis ravaging her is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis. As I write this note, the country has once again shattered records for the most number of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day: 400,000. Sitting here in the United States in the comfort of my home, my family fully vaccinated, it is heartbreaking to watch people dying in parking lots gasping for breath, waiting for oxygen tanks and hospital beds. And the gruesome sight of mass cremations is a flaming symbol marking the horror of it all. A grim mood looms over our community as we approach Mother’s Day. It is encouraging to see the global Indian diaspora, many members of which have family and friends impacted by COVID, mobilize to raise funds for relief efforts. The funds are to go toward oxygen tanks, medicines, to help families in need, and provide food relief and livelihood assistance to migrant workers and other underserved populations. These measures are vital, as are efforts to set up care centers and makeshift COVID hospitals. It is heartening to see people provide aid at a time when the system has failed. As we watch the tragedy unfold, I cannot help but be frustrated by the complacency and carelessness that led to this second wave. Earlier this year, most people thought
that India had was over the pandemic, and it was lauded for keeping COVID under control. The Lancet spoke to one medical practitioner about the attitude: “’In early 2021, an opinion that India had overcome the pandemic and acquired herd immunity gained ground among policy makers, sections of the media, and the public,’ said Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India. ‘Even sections of the scientific community propagated this view,’ he added. The belief that there would be no second wave, says Reddy, was also spurred on by the desire to reopen society and revive economic growth.” This misplaced confidence led the government to relax rules for mass gatherings like the Kumbh Mela festival that millions of people attended to take a dip in the holy Ganges. Several states held elections at the same time. This meant multiple political rallies, all with large gatherings of people. The relaxation of strict measures, including the proper usage of masks and social distancing, did not help. Of course, now the virus is budding off into other potentially deadly forms, including a so-called “double mutant” that is more virulent. My wish for Mother India this Mother’s Day is the gift of wisdom – to stay at home and observe public health measures; ensure an influx of relief supplies, including oxygen, medicines, food, and vaccines from the world community; and to continue efforts to vaccinating everyone. On May 1, the government announced that all adults older than 18 years would be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine. So here is wishing Mother India all the best on Mother’s Day.
SEEMA KUMAR, FOUNDER MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 5
...TO
FORGIVE, DIVINE
Scorched by the hate that claimed her husband, Sunayana Dumala still manages to spread hope and bring communities together ALPANA VARMA
T
he recent spate of hate crimes against Asian Americans has stunned us all and we are still searching for answers and solutions to the question how and when will all this end? We spoke about this to Sunayana Dumala, widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed in a racially charged attack. On February 22, 2017, Adam Purinton went into a bar where Kuchibhotla was with a friend, asked him if he was in America legally and then screamed, “get out of my country” before fatally shooting him and injuring two others. While heart-breaking, Dumala’s story is also one of love, hope and forgiveness. “My first thought after the tragedy was to go back to India. Srinu (as she called her dead husband affectionately) was my everything. If he’s not here, what is my purpose?” But, when she learned the details of what happened and that it was a racially motivated attack, she “felt it was not right. I decided I have to come back and put up a fight.” She would have succumbed fear if she acceded to the attacker’s demand, “Get out of my country,” and had left. “I have to fight for Srinivas. He would not want me to give up,” Dumala says. So while she did go to India for the funeral, she knew
she “had to fight and give a message [of] hope.” She had lost her legal status after her husband’s death. Everything was up in the air, but she was determined to return. “I got in touch with so many people,’ she says. “He is with me, as he was then, making sure I have the right people around me, to help me learn, to help me grow.” Garvin, the company where Kuchibhotla worked, and InTouch, where Dumala worked and continues to work, helped her to get a work visa, so she could return to the U.S. after a few months. The FBI reached out to her, too, since the attack was deemed a federal hate crime. She talked to lawyers, state attorneys, and the FBI while still in India. She says her kept telling herself, “I am in this position because of a wrong notion – that my husband was here illegally or that immigrants are taking away jobs.” It took Dumala a month to see an email from Faruk Capan, the founder of InTouch. When she replied, she told him, “I have been thinking about the incident and all the wrong impressions about immigrants and I want to do something about it.” Capan agreed. and encouraged her to start an initiative for change within the company. He raised the issue in the next quarterly town hall. An immigrant of Turkish origin, Capan was committed to the mission of keeping MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 7
ALL PHOTOS CREDIT: Forever Welcome Foundation
PIONEER | SEEMA
Sunayana Dumala doing a supply drive for her foundation, Forever Welcome
alive the notion that America is still a welcoming place and that a few bad apples – or oranges – could not be allowed to destroy the dominant spirit of the country. A lot of volunteers participated in the initiative, Forever Welcome. Because InTouch is a digital marketing agency, the staff knew social media was the fastest and most effective way to get the message out. Forever Welcome suggested that everybody is welcome and not just for a finite period, the emphasis being on WE in the word Welcome. “That’s how we become one,” Dumala says. Jimmy Lan, who is originally from Hong Kong, designed the logo, a seven-sided diamond, representing the seven continents, with overlapping pink, green and blue circles to represent people from all 8 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
regions and ethnic groups. Forever Welcome launched a Facebook page in 2018; in 2019, the organization, by now a foundation, was transferred to Dumala. After her day job at InTouch, she is fully involved with immigration reform and immigrant welfare. She leads supply drives to help refugee families locally in Kansas, and collaborates with Kansas City for Refugees, an organization that has been working for reform in the community and helping refugees. “I am learning how much it takes to build an organization from scratch – after a day job,” Dumala says. While COVID-19 has slowed down her group’s activities, she hopes to achieve more in time. A STEM workshop for refugee children recently saw the community help raise $10,000
“THERE IS A NEED TO GO EVEN MORE INTO THE COMMUNITY AND SHARE OUR CULTURE WITH OTHERS AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR CULTURE”
Sunayana Dumala (left) shopping for refugees
vs the $2,500 initially projected. “There is so much good out there,” Dumala says. “Not that you can ignore the bad, but we need to also focus on how to make the bad, good.” Dumala has also spent the past four years reflecting on how attitude change is a “bi-directional process” and each individual needs to be open to learning about communities other than their own. “I have to start with myself. I can’t just preach and not do anything myself,” she says. So Dumala is trying to learn about other faiths and cultures, even as she is proud of being a Hindu, and loves to share her culture with others. Just like people in India, she addresses people she is close to in terms of relationships. So Ruth Bigus, the Forever Welcome media manager, is “maasi” (maternal aunt) to her. From Bigus, she learns about Jewish traditions. Also “maasi” is Mehnaz Shabbir, a community activist in Kansas City. Mindy Corcoran, who lost her son to an attack on a Jewish community center during a a music concert, has been her go-to person for knowledge about Christianity. For Dumala, Shabbir is “akka” – elder sister in Telugu.’ “The Indian in me helps me find a connection when we can find a relationship,” she says. Valerie Kaur, Sikh activist and TED speaker (“didi,” or elder sister in Hindi), once told Dumala, “When you see a new person, your brain has a few seconds, during which if you can say this person is my brother/sister/aunt/uncle, you can someone find of yourself in others,” This sets the base for harmonious, amicable co-existence. Dumala believes there are so many layers to divisiveness, “We, at a personal level, also have to make an effort and be openminded,” she says, adding that education plays a big role in bridging the gaps between people. “Four years into the incident [that claimed her husband] and my efforts with advocacy, I think we
should not throw ourselves into a cocoon,” Dumala says, arguing that not going to this bar or that restaurant is not a solution. How many things can people stop doing to humor someone else’s ignorance? “There is a need to go even more into the community and share our culture with others and learn about their culture,” Dumala says, adding she needs to let her community know, “this is indeed my place, my home – and I care about my home and the well-being of everybody.” Dumala is mindful of the divisions within Indian society, too, whether involving regions or religions. “We talk of unity in diversity in India, yet how much do we truly believe in that,” she asks. “We criticize others for being racist, but have we done any reflection on our own selves?” According to her, “Even though we have the opportunity to grow, broaden our outlook and be exposed to different cultures and mindsets, for many of us it is hard to give up old habits and attitudes. The hope lies with the future generation, [who] will be the flag bearers of the new, better society.” Dumala believes the work she is doing is imperative. “All the parties concerned need to make an effort to understand and accept each other,” she says “This is how we can make ripples that grow. Change will not happen overnight but we need to start now!” Sunayana Dumala with her late husband Srinivas Kuchibhotla
MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 9
PIONEER | SEEMA
BEASTS IN HER BELFRY
Ashwika Kapur caught the wildlife bug early. She just made the best of it – in the form of a great set of documentaries SHARMISTHA CHAUDHURI 10 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
A
shwika Kapur’s first pet was a duck. As a four-year-old, who wanted a dog and was denied, a duck was the only other animal she could think of. “For some strange reason, my parents agreed. My mother probably had a vision of a little duckling in the bathtub,” Kapur says with a laughs as she talks to SEEMA from her apartment in Kolkata. “While my friends took their dogs out, I took my duck for walks.” That was the beginning of a long association with nature for the award-winning wildlife filmmaker, environmentalist, and educator. “I began getting animals home that needed rescuing,” Kapur says. “At one point there were two rabbits, a squirrel without a tail, baby chicks… But my parents firmly drew a line when I wanted to bring home a goat from a holiday in north Bengal. They probably regretted not getting a dog four years earlier.” She laughs again. In her words, the apartment where she lived with her family, right in the heart of urban Kolkata, became a mini farm. “You know a funny thing? I have no pets at home now because I am constantly traveling for the work I do,” Kapur says. “But, I do have two lovely wild black kites who come flying to me when I whistle. They live nearby my apartment.” Called Lucifer and Sin, the kites do not respond to anyone else’s whistle.
“I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WAS DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, AND THAT FOR FIVE MINUTES ON A MUNDANE THURSDAY WE KEPT SAYING ‘HIMALAYA’ BACK AND FORTH TO EACH OTHER!”
Ashwika Kapur with Sir David Attenborough
ON THE MAP In 2014, Kapur became India’s youngest and only woman to MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 11
PIONEER | SEEMA
“I WAS GRATEFUL BUT THE STRUGGLES DID NOT STOP. IT WAS DIFFICULT TO CONVINCE PEOPLE ABOUT MY CREDIBILITY, ESPECIALLY AS A GIRL IN THE FIELD”
Ashwika Kapur with a gibbon on her head 12 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
win the Wildscreen Panda Award, the ‘green Oscar,’ winner for her quirky, rags-to-riches documentary on a celebrity kapako called Sirocco. The critically endangered nocturnal, flightless bird, endemic to New Zealand, has been brought back from the brink of extinction, and the latest population count (June 2010) records 210. Kapur shot it on a shoestring budget as a part of her graduation project from the University of Otago where she studied natural history filmmaking. The story focused on one bird who thinks he is a human. Sirocco even has a government post as the ‘Official Spokesbird for Conservation.’ “I have an instinctive love for nature,” Kapur explains, and she credits her undergraduate background in English literature for her love of narrating an interesting story. “English literature is not just about the text, but a rigorous training of the mind in storytelling. It is not different to what you need in an engaging wildlife documentary. You need a story to narrate first, and then comes all the technology.” While the award helped Kapur make a mark, getting work was not easy. “I was grateful but the struggles did not stop. It was difficult to convince people about my credibility, especially as a girl in the field. It is a small industry and competition is fierce. The biggest disadvantage is where you are based,” she says. “There are such amazing stories to tell the world but the work does not usually come from your region.” Most of Kapur’s work comes from international outlets, including Animal Planet, Discovery, and the BBC.
NEW PROJECT Kapur’s latest project, Planet Defenders, a six-film show that follows young environmentalists and filmmakers across the world, premiered on BBC in late March 2021. Kapur’s film focuses on India’s only ape species, the hoolock gibbons. While working on a documentary, she had met a gibbon called Kalia who had adopted a human family in a remote village in northeast India. “Working on that project was heartwarming,” Kapur says. When the BBC approached her for a new project in last October (a homeshot audition video of a rescue owl won them over), Kapur knew what she wanted to focus on. “We drove as much as possible, took tests and precautions of all manners before and at the remote village near the IndoMyanmar border where I shot,” she says. Sincehjoolock gibbons spend their time in the canopies, deforestation threatens their habitat. Kapur focused the film on a village where gibbons and humans have coexisted peacefully for centuries, addressing the loss of habitat and interviewing a scientist trying to save the species with local help. “It is primarily a children’s program, a series to help the young learn about conservation,” Kapur says. She also speaks at schools and to children about science communication and protecting the environment. KAPUR IDOLIZES DAVID ATTENBOROUGH. “He gets us to love nature,” she says. “He gets us to protect what you love. He has inspired a whole generation of zoologists, filmmakers, photographers and more, to fall in love with the wild world.” Kapur
has worked with her idol on a short elephant documentary. “People say never meet your heroes, but they are all completely wrong,” she says. Earlier this year, a colleague suddenly put her on the phone with someone who wanted to be sure of the Hindi pronunciation of a word. “I couldn’t believe it was David Attenborough, and that for five minutes on a mundane Thursday we kept saying ‘Himalaya’ back and forth to each other!” DO WHAT YOU DO Kapur tends to tell a story about overlooked, unchampioned heroes. From an Xmas frog in Shillong, a species endemic to the region and so tiny it is about one-third the size of a thumb, to the batagur baska turtle in the Sunderbans, a rare species extinct in the wild and limited to a captive life in a wetland ecosystem that is a natural barrier against disasters, her films are fascinating. For Kapur, getting into wildlife filmmaking was a leap of faith. “I was starting blind. There was and still is no industry in India. My work is dependent on the West,” she says. “Before studying filmmaking, I did internships and also went to South Africa for about six months to see if I was cut out for the path I wanted to embark upon. Wildlife filmmaking may sound glamorous from the outside but is anything but. It is about waiting, painfully extreme temperatures, staring at grass for hours, get bitten by insects, no connection with home… But at the end of the day the experiences you have make it all worth it. To be able to put out a message of conservation; to touch people’s lives, to help people do their part, no matter how big or small; is what and why I do what I do.” MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 13
PIONEER | SEEMA
IVE S U L C EMA EX
A SE
WHERE ART
MEETS SPACE
Arts is arts and science is science and never the twain shall meet. Or so it seems for most — but it no longer holds true for Priyanka Das Rajkakati, who has carved a path where she can do both
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PRATIKA YASHASWI
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fter high school, Rajkakati chose to follow her creativity to the prestigious National Institute of Design (NID). But even as she was there, something gnawed within her. She could not shut out her equally powerful calling for the sciences. Within a month, she was sure she had to leave. And so, with a Physics major at St Stephen’s College in Delhi began a long academic journey filled with serendipity and joy. Today, Rajkakati holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from France’s prestigious ISAE-Supaéro, an upcoming trip to Antarctica (currently postponed thanks to COVID-19) and hopes to be an astronaut — but it appears her artwork will reach the moon before she does. Through her career, Rajkakati has made it clear that the welltrodden path is not for her. Yet, in conversation with the talented multi-hyphenate, one learns how steely and stoic determination can exist with humility and selfpossession—just as art can walk together on a path with science. So, Forbes 30 under 30! Congratulations. What has it been like so far? Certainly it was good news after a weird 2020. I feel honored. I was asked by a lot of people who’ve been following my work to apply — especially the ex-director of NID, Dr Pradyumna Vyas whom I've known since I joined NID after school. During my time there I had discussed a lot with him about my science vs art/design dilemma
and he told me, “You know if you really want to do science, this is the moment. Even if you leave now, eventually, you'll come back to design, I'm sure.” He was not wrong. That month at NID, deciding which way to go, what were your considerations? It was quite simple, actually. I really wanted to work in space. And for that, you need a solid background in science in, especially in physics and mathematics. Science gets more and more difficult to study as one grows older. The younger you are, the easier it is to really train your brain for the “annoying bits” like learning math equations, as you have the attention span, (the capacity to) retain more things. Artistic features develop over time. The more experience we have in life, the more expressive we get. At the time I didn't know too many people who were artists and scientists at the same time. I lacked role models, to be honest. And, frankly, I didn't want to get stuck working for someone else’s creative projects with less of a creative say. I wanted to be an artist in my own right. It seems like your career's one decisive step after another. Has serendipity, luck, or chance had any role to play? I just defended my PhD thesis, and I was dealing with sinusoidal curves. When you multiply a sinusoidal curve with the exponential function, it goes something like this: MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 15
PIONEER | SEEMA
Lunar Phases ©Priyanka Das Rajkakati
Like the sinusoidal curve, you have several ups and downs in life, right? So you really don't know if you're going to end up at the top or at the bottom. But given enough time, you have the chance to go to the top then wait a little further, something else happens and you're at the bottom of the curve again. So that's life and in the last decade or so, I’ve had to deal with some things. For example, I suffered a very serious accident just before starting my PhD, and I had to relearn to walk. That was a turning point in my life — call it a quarter life crisis, I was 25 — where I understood that you can plan all you want, but something might just completely change your life altogether.
“HEY, WHY NOT JUST TRY AND CREATE SOME ARTWORK WITH THESE NEW, COOL ALGORITHMS WE’VE BEEN LEARNING?” 16 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
That’s quite something. What about professionally? So for me, one example of serendipity — I don't know how my life would have been if that hadn't happened—was at this very technical space conference called the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in 2018. I’d just started my PhD and was deep into the science aspect of my career. At that moment, I remember saying to myself, “Space is so interdisciplinary, I wish I could meet some artists who work in space,” and then I turned left, and on the door, it said, ‘Space Art Conference starting in 10 minutes.’ I took it as a sign from the universe and attended that instead of something more technical. I met people there whom I still work with till today, and the team with whom I worked on the Moon Gallery Project. So what’s your take on this? Do you believe in signs from universe, God, unconscious etc? I mean, I’m going to be 30 this year. That’s a long time on earth, so a couple of coincidences are bound to happen… you have be present to them and pursue the opportunities. These incidences, they just prove to me that the first step of getting anywhere is going there. Walking through that door into the space-art conference, for example, it was a choice I had at that moment. Do I go there? Do I go to another conference, which is on the more technical side? What I was interested in? You still have to choose. Tell me more about the Moon Gallery Project So it costs about 1 million euros per kilogram to send anything to the moon. That’s a lot of money, so what the what the scientists at
Artwork by Priyanka Das Rajkakati ©Priyanka Das Rajkakati
the European Space Agency said was “Why don't we just miniaturize everything into small 1 centimeter cube cases and then challenge artists to fit the artwork into that one centimeter cube. And so you have 100 artworks.” (Fun fact: there are still spaces open.) Someone is sending music, someone is sending a piece of horse hair, perfume that reminds you of petrichor…Something to set a baseline for cultures that will be developed on the moon or on Mars later on. Assuming we survive the global warming situation of course. And your artwork Bhedadipika plays on the idea of duality. Why that? That’s an interesting story. When I first learned to code in Class 9 or 10, we were given these summer projects. All my friends were building databases, that kind of stuff. I thought, “Hey, why not just try and create some artwork with these new, cool algorithms we've been learning?” I’ve always been really passionate about space and back then I was reading about celestial orbits. It turns out that one of the most basic equations
for describing motion can be described by spirographs, for example, the path of the moon around the sun. And if you change the parameters, then you can come up with these really nice forms. And so I was experimenting with these things. I submitted something else as my project then, but the equations and colour schemes were still at the back of my mind. And for the next 15 years I kept developing it until I learned about the Moon Gallery project. While doing my artist statement, I came up with the idea that, hey, it's art, but it's also made of science. So why not talk about this notion of duality? You’ve done some really great work and have a lot to look forward to. Do you have any advice for young people looking to pursue your path? Young kids are limited growing up because they’re told to follow set paths by their parents’ experience — but their parents’ experience is over 30 years outdated, especially in professional life. For example, I did artificial intelligence as a coursework five years ago at Polytechnique, and I haven't
Nightsky ©Priyanka Das Rajkakati
touched it properly in almost three years. And now I go back and I barely recognize the models that they're using for solving equations. Everything is changing at such a fast rate. It's incredible. I would also say: concentrate on building a personality that makes you creative and curious about everything around you. You should have a sense of adaptability…in my opinion, being too fixed in one personality is counterproductive. And, yeah, certainly don't give up stuff that makes you really, really happy. MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 17
PIONEER | SEEMA
18 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
Testing NEW
WATERS
Jenny Bhatt began publishing later in life, but she has already made a significant impact with her work
PHOTO CREDIT: Jenny Bhatt
ALPANA VARMA
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ominated as a Foreward Indies 2020 Book of the Year Finalist, author Jenny Bhatt’s debut short story collection, “Each of Us Killers,” has been an instant hit with critics. Her non-fiction and literary criticism have been published in various outlets, such as NPR, The Washington Post, Literary Hub and The Atlantic. Her literary translation, “Ratno Dholi: The Best Stories of Dhumketu,” also came out last year. She is the host of the Desi Books podcast and a creative writing instructor at Writing Workshops Dallas. Bhatt spoke to SEEMA about her work.
MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 19
PIONEER | SEEMA
Tell us about your book. It is a collection of stories, fiction, and they are all focused on work. Different kinds of people in workplaces, in the workplace. They are of Indian origin, in India or abroad, in varied professions. There’s a housemaid, a baker, an auto rickshaw driver, an English professor in the U.K., an architect, a yoga instructor, a techie engineer in the US, an auto rickshaw driver in India, [I] have looked at the challenges and conflicts they face at the workplace. Why the focus on work? I was interested in exploring how much our work shapes who we are as individuals and how much of our personal lives, upbringing etc shapes how we are at our work place. This meshing, the intersection of our work and our emotional lives, is what I wanted to explore. I didn’t find that many stories forced specifically on work ... Our hunger for validation, our 20 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
GROWING UP IN MIDDLE CLASS INDIA BACK IN THE 70s AND 80s, THERE WEREN’T A LOT OF OPTIONS FOR GIRLS OUTSIDE THE HOME, BESIDES SCHOOL. DURING THE SUMMER VACATION, BOOKS WERE A CONSTANT PASTIME. need for accomplishment, self realization or whatever, can be as grand as a love affair, yet we don’t see a lot of fiction centered on that … When I left that to pursue writing, I felt the ground beneath my own feet shift because my identity was not what it was. You do manage to bring in the South Asian experience. Yes, two or three stories that look at Indian immigrants in the U.K. and the U.S. and the different issues they deal with, be it racism or ethnicity issues. I have written one story based on ... Srinivas K., who was shot at in a bar in Kansas by someone who told him to ‘go back to your country.’ In my story, this happens in the Midwest where I was working at the time. [In] the case of Srinivas … when
the investigators talk to his work colleagues … it comes to light how little they know him. All their prejudices come forth towards him as an immigrant from another country. How did your upbringing affect you as a writer? Being around a mother who read a lot, made me an avid reader. Growing up in middle class India back in the 70s and 80s, there weren’t a lot of options for girls outside the home, besides school. During the summer vacation, books were a constant pastime. That helped I suppose... When I was 10, my English teacher asked me to enter a national short story writing contest and I won the prize. In those days 75 rupees was a big amount and it gave me validation. of sorts ... I really wanted to be a writer but my parents thought that was not practical. … So I studied engineering in the U.K., worked in different places until I turned 40. Writing is something I always did in the background. I moved to the U.S. in 1998.I started taking writing workshops ... I continued to do that till I turned 40 ... At 40, I said if not now, when will I do this? I gave up my corporate job and gave myself a finite amount of time. What are you working on now? I am looking at a certain period medieval Indian history and I’m trying to understand certain events but I don’t know what I will write – a book, a short story or an essay. A lot of male historians from a certain era, when they documented their accounts ... a lot of times it would be about the wars, about kings, who killed whom, and which country did they invade. The
sociocultural aspects is missing; although there’s stuff out there, but no women’s perspective. I’ll give you an example of an 11th century Jain monk in Gujarat called Hemachandra. He was a polymath – a historian, a poet, philosopher and even a mathematician. It is widely acknowledged that he discovered what is known as the Fibonacci sequence before Fibonacci, but it is not called the Hemachandra sequence. He wrote in Sanskrit and Prakrit. For example, he describes what the men wear when they went to temples, but not what women wear, and I am thinking I would like to know that … There’s a whole big gap there. Nothing about what the women were doing there. It’s like working as a detective, looking for clues. How did you get started on the Desi Books podcast? ...I was trying to find for myself interesting South Asian books that had come out. I found that the Western media would talk about
two or three big books in the year, tweet and get a lot of responses. … Other than two or three books backed by a lot of hype and PR, there’s no room for anything else. In a capitalistic system, it’s just a winner-takes-all scenario. it’s just the big names, for example Jhumpa Lahiri, that count. When the pandemic hit, a lot of my friends … were told there would be fewer book reviews as editors were cutting down on their budgets. So even the limited way South Asian writers had to get their books out there were gone. Either I could moan and groan and get depressed or do something about it. So I decided to launch this platform for highlighting and spotlighting South Asian writers and their books in their languages as well as in English. There is a lot said, also by you, about South Asian writers getting typecast or pandering to Western tastes. Western publishers look for three things: the slum saga, arranged marriage, and terrorism. With
Each of Us Killers, Jenny Bhatt’s collection of short stories woven at the intersection of labor and our emotional lives
other ingredients thrown in – monsoon, mangoes, spices. Readers get used to certain stereotypes. What advice would you give to upcoming writers? Make sure you have a day job, another source of income … so you can take risks with your writing ... Be very clear in your mind about what you’re writing and why you are writing and why you are the right person to be doing that writing. Which writers inspire you? There are two groups of writers. I do write in Western literary tradition, I don’t in the South Asian tradition, much as I would like... Katherine Mansfield, Grace Paley, Jhumpa Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry… There’s also Anita Desai, whom we don’t pay as much attention to these days but has a body of work which is very good. I am a huge fan of Toni Morrison, I teach her work. Also of Zadie Smith. Her essays more than her fiction. Different writers for different things.
Ratno Dholi: The Best Stories of Dhumketu, the first substantive translation of the Gujarati short story pioneer, Dhumketu
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COVER STORY | SEEMA
AN
Elegy
Acrobat TO AN
The daughter of two famous parents — Padma Shri
award-winning literary legend Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen —Nandana Sen has charted her own path in life, juggling intersecting roles as author, activist, and actress. But her biggest legacy yet is her role as a devoted daughter and a doting mother. We talk to Sen about memories, multitasking and motherhood SEEMA KUMAR
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PHOTO CREDIT: SHRAVYA KAG
Nandana Sen with her daughter Meghla MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 23
Nandana Sen with her mother Nabaneeta Dev Sen (top) Nandana with her poet grandmother Radharani Devi, who also wrote under the pseudonym Aparajita Devi (middle) Nandana with her mother, sister Antara, and niece Hiya (bottom)
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COVER STORY | SEEMA
andana Sen has answered many callings in life — to be an activist, author, actor — but none tested her mettle as much as her latest project: the reincarnation in English of Bengali poetry written by her late mother and literary legend, Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Set to launch on May 11, “Acrobat” is a collection of poems that invoke womanhood, intimacy, first love, childbirth and death. The book pays homage in rhyme to the balancing act, the amazing feat that women must pull off in the tightrope of life. It has already received rave reviews from the likes of Gloria Steinem, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Anita Desai, and Wendy Doniger, professor and scholar of Sanskrit and Indian language. “Nandana’s voice, overlapping her mother’s make a perfect fit, as one simultaneously hears the voices of mother and daughter in a duet of complete harmony,” Doniger wrote in a tribute. “The translations don’t read as translations; they read as poems, a new voice perfect in its own right, transcending the barriers of death.” For Sen, the book launch, on the heels of Mother’s Day, is at once heartbreaking and fulfilling. “It was a very difficult and painful project to do while grieving, because everything reminded me of her. I had never experienced grief and sadness of that kind, But now that it’s finished, I know that it also helped me [cope] with the loss. It was the hardest project, but one that I’m going to cherish the most.” As the daughter of two famous and accomplished parents, her Padma Shri award-winning mother and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Nandana Sen says she never felt the pressure to live up to her parents nor was she overshadowed by their fame and celebrity as children of celebrity parents often are. Sen was born in Kolkata but her early childhood was divided between Boston, Kolkata and England, where her parents were teaching. She was 6 years old when her parents divorced and her mother returned to their ancestral home in Kolkata with Sen and her sister Antarra. Sen, who continued to maintain a close relationship with
her dad, was not fazed by the divorce nor the move. Instead, she says, she developed an identity of her own, being raised by two generations of strong, feminist women — her mother and grandmother — who imbued the two girls with a sense of independence and social consciousness. “Growing up in an all-female family…, you never think for a moment that being a girl is going to inhibit you from doing [anything you want],” says Sen. “My grandmother was a child widow. She remarried at a time when widow remarriage was legal but not acceptable, and reinvented herself as a bestselling poet. My mother, a professor who was a divorced single mom, would drive to college [when] not many women were driving cars in Kolkata. They were fearless in the choices they made and that made us feel invincible.” Sen grew up in a literary environment, in a house overflowing with books and anthologies of women, She tagged along with adults to poetry meets and book fairs rather than going to animated films. “While I complained about that as a child, I’m really grateful to my mother for raising me like that, because it really shaped what I grew up with, and what drew my interests from a very young age. It also created a very strong relationship between me and poetry — not a talent, but a love — that I inherited from my mother and my grandmother.” Sen says she also learned to be selfreliant at an early age, getting herself ready for school, ironing her clothes and polishing her shoes. Although she went to a school where all schooling was in English, she chose Bengali as her first language, devouring Bengali classic literature. “My mother was in college teaching when I got back from school. My grandmother was the one who made sure I had my lunch and did my homework and would tell me stories,” says Sen, who learned valuable lessons on values.
“GROWING UP IN AN ALLFEMALE FAMILY…, YOU NEVER THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT BEING A GIRL IS GOING TO INHIBIT YOU FROM DOING [ANYTHING YOU WANT]”
Playtime With Purpose Young Sen learned another important lesson on the streets of Kolkata, one that would leave a lasting mark on her psyche and her purpose. After homework, Sen ran out to play with kids on the streets and in a shanty town nearby,
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COVER STORY | SEEMA holding up traffic to play cricket with the boys, becoming best friends with the rickshaw driver, and squatting on the pavement to share sattu (a Bengali gram flour dish), an inexpensive but nutritious dish often called a poor man’s protein. Playtime would end with her inviting her friends back home for a meal. “My grandmother would feed them lovingly and generously. But afterwards, they would have go back on the streets again, which was one of the most traumatic experiences [for me] as a child,” says Sen, who struggled to come to terms with the “heart-breaking” reality of inequity and social injustice. Barely a teenager, she began collecting food and clothes to help disadvantaged children and, later, began teaching children in need. She also made pact, as a child herself, to
adopt, “to give a child that did not have a home a home.” This was the foundation of what would later become more than an abiding passion - a purpose and profession. Coming of Age After graduating from high school, Sen decided that she wanted to study abroad, drawn in particular to the liberal arts education system in America. She made what she calls her first grown-up decision in choosing America and Harvard over England (and Oxford or Cambridge). “I did not want to choose a country that we had been colonized by. I wanted to choose a country toward which I felt no resentment,” Sen says.” That’s how I ended up in America. I absolutely loved being at Harvard, I loved studying literature and learning with wonderful writers like
THE RISE AND RISE OF NANDANA SEN AHAD SANWARI
Nandana Sen is bold, yes, an acrobat, outspoken, an activist, a writer, someone basically ready to take on many roles. But her big claim to fame was ultimately as an actress, someone known for giving performances that were unconventional, uninhibited, and consistently acclaimed. Here are some of the most notable performances of Sen’s career, ones that showcase her potential as a performer and what she so uniquely brings to the screen: THE DOLL/GUDIA (1997) Sen’s debut movie role in Gautam Ghosh’s psychological drama follows the life of a musician and puppeteer, played by Mithun Chakraborty. The film premiered at the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and garnered positive reviews. But it also had people take notice of Sen, and think of her as someone who could go big. BLACK (2005) Sen’s first film performance in front of Indian audiences didn’t come until 2005. That was in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Black.” The film is, to this day, her biggest success, both commercially and critically, becoming a milestone in Indian cinema. Sen’s performance as Rani Mukerji’s younger sister garnered her critical acclaim and set her on the path to even more roles. THE WAR WITHIN (2005) Soon after “Black” came this American drama film about a suicide bomber who falls in love with Sen’s character. The film is a commentary on terrorism in America and our ideas
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of it. The film was her first venture in the United States and got her more positive reviews, cementing her status as an actress willing to take on all kinds of challenging roles. AUTOGRAPH (2010) One of Sen’s few forays into Bengali cinema sees her star in this tribute to Satyajit Ray’s 1966 “Nayak.” The film was another critical and commercial smash for Sen, becoming one of the longest-running films in Bengali cinema and garnering a stack of awards, including a few for Sen herself. RANG RASIYA (2014) Perhaps Sen’s most notable role is also her most recent, starring opposite Randeep Hooda in this erotic drama. The film is an homage to the painter Raja Ravi Varma, commenting about censorship using stylized shots and colors to make the film come alive. Sen’s comfort with the film’s sexually charged nature and use of nudity saw her tagged as an actress unashamed to take on roles that were unconventional and required actors to give fully of themselves.
Nandana in a cover shoot for “Rang Rasiya”
From Literature to Film to Children’s Books Sen studied literature, but she also liked film, and continued her advocacy for children, organizing to start a helpline for Asian women who were survivors of domestic abuse, marching for abortion rights, and working with inner-city kids. Some of her most cherished moments were when her mother came into town for lecture tours, opting to stay with her daughter in her dorm and turning down to room and board at conference hotels. The process of creative collaboration to translate her mother’ poems began during those years at Harvard, out of sheer necessity, says Sen. “As an acclaimed writer and professor, she would be invited to give readings on her work, and although she was perfectly bilingual herself and wrote beautifully in English, she didn’t have a lot of translations [ready]. We needed to translate them so she had something to read. I didn’t think then that I would become her primary translator, that was not a goal. But then, that kind of happened.” Sen graduated from Harvard, writing a thesis on black women writers, and landed a dream job in New York with Ms Magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem and a few other feminists, but she turned it down, electing instead to stay in Cambridge in a job at Houghton Mifflin, editing books like “The Riverside Shakespeare,” ”The Best American Essays” and other literary staples. Sen had always liked film, choosing to stay behind the
PHOTO CREDIT: FARROKH CHOTHIA
Seamus Heaney and Toni Morrison, and [taking] film classes with Spike Lee, it was just great. It couldn’t have been more fun.” By coincidence, her father, Amartya Sen, who had remarried by then and had two children from that marriage, left his position as the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at All Souls College in Oxford, and moved to Harvard University to become the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor of Economics, and to a home in the middle of Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he still lives. Although Sen stayed in the dorms on campus, having her father close was a bonus, in part because she could spend time with him, but also because she could play “big sister” or didi to her stepbrother and stepsister.
camera until, out of the blue, she received a call from Bengali film director Goutam Ghose asking if she would like to be cast in a film called “Gudiya.” “At first I said no because acting was actually one thing that I had never thought I wanted to do, although I loved cinema.” Sen asked if he would instead consider her to be his assistant director. A few months later when she was in Kolkata, he offered her the job of assistant director if she would also agree to act in his film. “Then I just completely fell in love with acting, and what you need to do as an actor,” Sen says. “I loved it because it was very different from all the work I’d done before.” According to Sen, “In a way, our family is extremely cerebral. This work was instinctive and emotional, and very exciting. Scary, but then, it was new and fun.” She continued acting, always choosing to play unconventional roles focused on social justice and political consciousness. Her first mainstream Indian film was “Black,” about the rights of children with disabilities. Others were an American film about a suicide bomber in New York City, a British-South African film about apartheid, and a film about freedom of expression and censorship. Her work in cinema
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COVER STORY | SEEMA helped her as a writer of children’s books, she says, where visualizing characters on a page was an important aspect of storytelling. What began as a journey in theater to help children speak up about child abuse ended up in vivid storytelling with imaginary characters, resulting in books like ““Mambi and the Forest Fire,” and others focused again on children’s rights. “The three areas that I’ve worked extensively in are as an actor, as an activist, and as a writer,” Sen says. “They really have complemented each other.” But her childhood dream of adopting a child was still unfulfilled. “I really was keen to become a mother and to adopt, and I knew that it was very difficult to do that. I wasn’t married at that time. And as a single mom..., how do you do that if you were an actor of the kind that I was… I was doing independent, eccentric, independent films all over the world.” In 2013, Sen got married and finally adopted. Her mother saw her fulfil her dream and met Meghla. “They were very close. My mom had long stunning hair until the very end and my daughter loved jumping into her bed and combing her hair,” she says. Sen is an acrobat in her own way, winding her way down the rope of her life’s journey, balancing lives as an actor, activist, and author, to a moment in which she honors her mother, and living up to the legacy she wants to leave. “People often say that I look just like my mother or that, when I read her poetry, I sound like her,” Sen says. “It used to annoy me earlier because you want to be as different from your parents as you can be. But
Nandana with her father, Nobel Prize-winning economist, Amartya Sen at her Harvard University graduation
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“I REALLY WAS KEEN TO BECOME A MOTHER AND TO ADOPT, AND I KNEW THAT IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO DO THAT. I WASN’T MARRIED AT THAT TIME” [now] I just love it when people say I look like my mother. Or that when I read her poetry, I sound a lot like her. I love to hear that. I feel a very strong connection to her. It’s impossible to not think about her and not remember—I cannot even [find] the right word—to not feel all the ways in which I’m still full of her.” We sat down with Nandana Sen to talk about multitasking, motherhood, and memories. You grew up in a literary background, then went into acting. What’s it like to perform? And how do these rely on a different part of you? It’s not entirely coincidental that actor and activist have the same outcome, which is to act. As you’ve asked me, what is it to act? It is to do, and you have to do as an activist, and you have to do as an actor, you have to be, and you have to do. I don’t – in my life – really compartmentalize. They really flowed into each other. And there have been lots of intersections. You talked about your grandmother being a storyteller. Your mother clearly was a storyteller. And you, through your children’s books. That, to me, is really, full circle back to your days being on the streets, and playing with children and bringing them back home. I see a connection. It is beautiful that you see that connection, because there is a very strong connection, and not everybody picks up on that.
PHOTO CREDIT: SHRAVYA KAG
Nandana Sen takes a break with daughter Meghala
When you talk about your Harvard undergraduate days it wasn’t about children on the streets but rescuing those who are underprivileged. That seems to be an aspect of you, inspiring your storytelling. That’s a really astute observation. What about film? Is that a way you showcase your activism? I don’t think I’ve been strategic about any of the decisions I’ve made in my life, but the choices that I have made I’ve made with [strong values in mind]. As an actress it was always very befuddling to everybody. Nobody really understood why I said yes to certain films and why I said no to certain films, Every film that I’ve done has had a very
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PHOTO CREDIT: SHRAVYA KAG
COVER STORY | SEEMA
Nandana Sen plays the acrobat with daughter Meghla
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THEY WERE VERY, VERY CLOSE. MY MOM HAD REALLY LONG LIKE, STUNNING [HAIR] TO THE END. [MEGHLA] USED TO LOVE JUMPING IN HER BED AND COMBING MY MOTHER’S HAIR. I HAVE LOVELY VIDEOS OF HER DOING THAT. AND SHE LOVED BEING IN MY MOTHER’S HOUSE
strong social or political consciousness. There was a lot of intersection – intersectionality – between my acting and my activism. In fact, [I did] a play, which subsequently became extremely popular, about child sexual abuse. It was based on the first report [on incest] that had come out in India, based on extensive research by an organization called RAHI (Recovering and Healing from Incest) with which I had worked with for many years when I was an ambassador. On opening night, a lovely young woman who stood up and said the play felt like she was looking at herself in the mirror, and how her story was almost exactly the same as the story of a young woman I was playing, who had been abused by her uncle. She had never broken the silence – and [doing it then] was incredibly brave. This was at the Prithvi Theater, a famous one in India. She spoke her truth in that way that was both deeply moving, but also inspiring and stunning to me. Just her bravery!. In those sorts of ways, like all my work, my film work, my theater work, they’ve all been very close to the values that I’ve had as a human being and the priorities that I’ve had as an activist. How did you begin writing children’s books? My first book actually came out of a workshop I had done with children, who had been rescued from trafficking and from the streets. This was in a children’s home outside of Kolkata called Sneha. I would do workshops, which [involved] performance, music, singing, dancing theater. That would be a way of encouraging kids [too] traumatized to express themselves. And it was part of the rehabilitation and reintegration process. Usually kids have much to say, but one particular group was very shy. Everybody in the group felt that others were much better. To break the ice, I created this character of a monkey who was really shy and and wanted to fly like her friend Coco, the crow; to swim like her friend Tonga, the turtle. She didn’t value the fact that she could jump higher than everybody else. Then… we [described] a forest fire in which she was the hero and saved all her friends. That became our play. And then that turned into my first book. While I was working with kids, there were all these stories that kept coming out of the [workshops]. Eventually, I moved to my home in Brooklyn, New York. Why did you move to New York? Because I was very busy in India, both as an actor, MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 31
COVER STORY | SEEMA
“MY GRANDMOTHER WAS A CHILD WIDOW. SHE REMARRIED AT A TIME WHEN WIDOW REMARRIAGE WAS LEGAL BUT NOT ACCEPTABLE, AND REINVENTED HERSELF AS A BESTSELLING POET. MY MOTHER, A PROFESSOR WHO WAS A DIVORCED SINGLE MOM, WOULD DRIVE TO COLLEGE [WHEN] NOT MANY WOMEN WERE DRIVING CARS IN KOLKATA. THEY WERE FEARLESS IN THE CHOICES THEY MADE AND THAT MADE US FEEL INVINCIBLE.” and as an activist. I decided that I had to make a choice and start writing and take a break from acting... Because if I didn’t focus on my writing, it just wouldn’t happen. I love acting, I miss it. But it doesn’t really allow you space to be a writer and to be a mother. If I was living at home, like my mother did with her mother, things would have been easier. But I wasn’t. I was in Bombay. I decided to focus on writing.…..And, then I met my husband. You met your husband in New York? I actually met him in Jaipur. But we became friends. And we met in a literary context, the Jaipur Lit Fest, but we met again in New York. I already had my place in Williamsburg and I was going back-and-forth between Bombay and Brooklyn. And my husband, John [Makinson], was going back and forth between London and the West Village. We intersected in New York when we were here, and eventually got married. And we had our daughter. We adopted, we adopted together. So you came full circle. That’s great. I want to ask about your mother and the book that’s launching. You started on this journey when you were a student at Harvard. How long has it been that you’ve been working on this? We did start working together decades ago, but I wasn’t doing it as a project for myself at that time. It was born out of need to [translate her poems for her readings in America]. My mother, interestingly, was a brilliant translator herself. That was one of her biggest passions. She was unbelievably prolific, she had more than 100 books in
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print when she died, and she wrote all the time. One of the things that she loved to do was to translate the poetry of women across the world, because to her poetry was something that was very strongly connected to women’s freedom. She did a lot of work on women’s work songs, Ram kathas and the Sita kathas that are actually sung by women in villages in India. She’d always spoken and written about how poetry was a vital necessity for women. She also included the oral songs, not just written poetry happening in the cities. She translated [work] from around the world, but she did not like translating her own work. Not because she couldn’t do it, but to her, she had written the poem. And her work on that was done. So how did that work continue? We loved traveling together. We made a list of places she that she wanted to go to, and I decided about 10 years ago that I would bully her into making those trips with me. We went to practically every place on that list — China, Egypt, Africa. One on the list that we didn’t manage to go to, because trouble started there, was Myanmar. We were in Beijing. And there’s a lovely bookstore there called Bookworm. She had a beautiful new book of poetry that had just come out..., [the title of which meant] “make up your mind”. And I decided that we should use some of those poems in this reading. I translated a few of them very quickly… This was nine years ago when we were in Beijing, that I did that those translations, which she loved. On her 75th birthday, which was the next year, I did a whole book. I translated that book of poems, most of the poems and we published it, a bilingual book called “Make up your Mind,” that’s how this all started.
What does it feel like to be on the verge of launching this book, and paying homage to all her work? How did you choose? This book, “Acrobat,” we signed it less than two weeks before she died. She was really excited about it. She was writing almost till the end. She had a weekly column that was wildly popular, and wrote about this book in her last column, and how much she was looking forward to it. This has a very special meaning. I feel more strongly about this than any of my other books...because she published her first book when she was not even 21. So it’s a 60-year career of poetry to choose from. That is not the easiest thing. But it was basically what I did at last. She died about 18 months ago. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer exactly a year before died. I should have been prepared. And I spent most of the year with her. But I wasn’t prepared for it. It was very hard for me … We both knew that we didn’t have an indefinite amount of time together… which is the reason why we rushed … There were several book projects that I knew were important to her, and I was finding ways of making them happen. I was hoping that she would be able to see them. But the publisher of this book, Jill Schoolman, who’s wonderful, sent the contracts very quickly even put the cover together. We [my mother and I] chose the cover image together, which is a beautiful painting by Rabindranath Tagore. She even made a first list of the poems she wanted me to translate for sure. I used that as a guide for the translation process. I found myself going back to everything that she’d written about her own work and about translation about poetry. But, it was a both a very difficult and painful project to do while you’re grieving, because everything reminded me of her. But now that it’s finished, I know that it also helped me a lot in terms of coping with the loss because I had never experienced grief, sadness of that kind... It was not easy. It was the hardest of projects, but the most fulfilling one, the most important one. In a way, one that I’m going to always cherish the most.
I lost my own mother. It was all of a sudden. But I find myself becoming more like her…That’s the legacy. You’re right. People often say that, and it used to annoy me earlier. But I just love it whenever people always say that you look just like a mother. People often say that I sound a lot like her, and I just I love to hear that. I feel, as I’m sure you do, too, a very strong connection to her. It’s impossible to not think about her and not remember. Why the title “Acrobat”? It’s about the multitasking that every woman has to be has to do… how every woman is an acrobat, because to be a woman is a balancing act. That’s what it’s about. That’s why I chose that title. And she loved it. I asked her, “Do you think that’s a good c[title]”?, ”That’s perfect,” [she replied]. Did your mom meet your daughter? They were very, very close. My mom had really long like, stunning [hair] to the end. [Meghla] used to love jumping in her bed and combing my mother’s hair. I have lovely videos of her doing that. And she loved being in my mother’s house. What do you think your mom is thinking like now? She must be very proud of you? I hope she is. I don’t know. I mean, she would be very happy with the way the book has turned out. We’re also very lucky to have a great team in the publishing company. It’s a very small press, but they make beautiful books, and really the best of world literature in translation. It’s my mother’s first book to be published specifically for an international audience. I’ve been recording the audio book. I made the choice of recording every poem both in English and in Bengali. But I always enjoy hearing poetry in the original [language]. Even if I don’t know the language. I don’t think everybody’s going to necessarily listen to both versions. But it may be interesting to a lot of people. So she would really feel really pleased. She achieved much. And she got many awards. And she had a huge audience… and loved the relationship she had with her readers, which was a personal relationship. She was also close to her students – as a teacher and a mentor. She made herself really available. For someone of her fame and stature, she was able to make herself available, was incredibly open-hearted and really generous. But she always felt a little sad …that she didn’t have an international audience. She hadn’t prioritized it. She had in fact very consciously made the choice of writing in Bengali. When we lived in London,
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PHOTO CREDIT: MALA MUKHERJEE
“PEOPLE OFTEN SAY THAT I LOOK JUST LIKE MY MOTHER OR THAT, WHEN I READ HER POETRY, I SOUND LIKE HER”
Nandana with her mother, Nabaneeta Dev Sen 34 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
COVER STORY | SEEMA
Nabaneeta Dev Sen: A multi-faceted woman ROHINI KAPUR “I don’t like labels, but I do happen to be a feminist writer,” Nabaneeta Dev Sen said in a Femina interview in 2019. But Sen was much more than that one label; she donned multiple hats throughout her lifetime. A prolific writer, an intrepid traveler, a vocal feminist, she was a multi-faceted woman. Here’s a peek into the many roles she played in her life: TRAVELER: Adventurous Sen made several solo trips, such as to the Kumbh Mela and to the McMahon Line between India and China. She later chronicled some of these journeys in books like “Karuna Tomar Kon Path Diye” (“The Path of Thy Grace,” 1978). WRITER: Sen’s first book was a collection of poems, “Pratham Pratyay,” which was published in 1959. She wrote over 80 books in her lifetime, producing works that cut across genres and audiences — poetry, novels for adults, books for children, short stories, plays, personal essays, travelogues and newspaper columns. FEMINIST: Sen wrote about women’s lives while experimenting with new narrative styles. She also supported women much beyond her writing, setting up a group for women writers and artists called Soi (friend), and mentoring younger colleagues. She wrote about her research into women’s retelling of the Ramayana, and spoke about village women using “the Sita myth to give themselves a voice”. LITERARY ACTIVIST: From homosexuality to child abuse, Sen’s work covered a variety of social and political issues of the time. She wrote about the role of intellectuals in the Naxalite movement (“Ami Anupam”), of evolving family life in India, and the identity crisis of second-generation non-resident Indians, among other themes. ACADEMIC: Sen was a visiting professor and a visiting creative writer at several universities in the U.S. (such as Harvard, Cornell and Columbia), Germany (Humboldt), Canada (universities of Toronto and British Columbia), Australia (Melbourne and New South Wales), and Mexico (El Colegio de Mexico). In 2002, She retired as professor of comparative literature from Jadavpur University, Calcutta. POLYGLOT: Even though Sen wrote primarily in Bengali and English, she could read Hindi, Oriya, Assamese, French, German, Greek, Sanskrit, and Hebrew. MOTHER: Sen had two daughters with her husband Amartya Sen (whom she divorced in 1976), Nandana and Antara. She later adopted Srabasti Basu.
all the poetry she wrote was in English fantastic, wonderful poems [that have been] published in “Acrobat”. When she went back, she felt it was a political choice for her to write in her mother tongue. And she made that choice. She felt more and more strongly about the choice even while she was very supportive of Indian writing in English. But she also saw that, because that was such a powerful kind of force, in terms of representing Indian literature internationally, that it [was] important for Indian writers to keep writing in their languages, and for good translators to translate their work. Because she was always very disappointed by the quality of translation in India, which is getting a lot better now, actually. That’s a recent thing, because for the longest time, great writing in India never made it to an international audience because... either they’re not translated at all, or the translations are not good enough, or they’re not readily available. The books just arrived and it’s a beautiful production. I just wish I could give it to her. How does it feel to be a mother? What was that like? It feels like the most important part of my identity. I’m sure all mothers feel that way. Don’t you? Like, what could be more important than me being a mother? What could be a bigger blessing than having a child? Yes. Well, I feel very thankful. And I feel grateful that my mother, saw that part of my life fulfilled. She was very close to my husband as well – extremely close. There are lots of things that I feel that I’m thankful for, given that I don’t have her in my life any more. I’m very grateful that she was close to the two people that I’m the closest to in the world other than her. Nandana Sen would be happy to answer questions on social media. Find her @nandanadevsen on Facebook Instagram and Twitter.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Kanika Chadda-Gupta
PIONEER | SEEMA
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KANIKA CHADDA-GUPTA:
TOTAL MOM SENSE CNN anchor-turned-mompreneur tackles parenting concerns in her podcast MELANIE FOURIE
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anika Chadda-Gupta has worn many hats in her lifetime. This mom of three (including twins), hosts “That’s Total Mom Sense,” a podcast about parenting concerns. It features interviews with parents, thought leaders and industry experts on a variety of topics. “I believe moms have a built in
sixth sense, our intuition, which I call ‘mom sense,’” says ChaddaGupta. “It’s our mom sense that steers us on the right path when it comes to our kids. I was thrown into the deep end of motherhood as I had three kids in a year and a half. But I put on my journalist cap and asked the hard questions to make sure I felt supported and equipped to take on my new role efficiently
and effectively. I believe parenting is one problem after the next, so we have to be problem-solvers ... I’ve interviewed prominent industry leaders like Bobbi Brown, Reshma Saujani, and Rebecca Minkoff – who are known for their career success – who shed light on their roles as mothers. Because often times the press completely overlooks this. On my show, they MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 37
PIONEER | SEEMA
“I’M A PROBLEM SOLVER AT HEART, AND SO I WANTED TO CREATE A SHOW THAT HELPS PARENTS, AND SERVES THEM IN A WAY THAT THEY GET TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OR CHALLENGES THEY’RE FACED WITH..., ESPECIALLY DURING THE PANDEMIC”
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get to open up and tell their story in their own words.” Chadda-Gupta is also a former CNN India anchor who covered “Slumdog Millionaire” at the Oscars and interviewed celebrities like Priyanka Chopra. She is the CEO of Kronologie Agency, a marketing firm focusing on web design and branding. She is also an ardent dancer – in Indian and contemporary dance. We caught up with her via Zoom, where she recounted some experiences. What was it like growing up in Mumbai, India? I was born in Mumbai and my parents immigrated to the U.S. when I was two. So I am firstgeneration Indian and had an incredible childhood. I was only in Mumbai for a few years, but it made a lasting impact on my life.
I was very rooted in my culture; my parents instilled that in me. At the age of five, my mom enrolled me in the India School, which is in Bethesda, Maryland, very close to where I grew up. Every Sunday, I would attend school. It was a full day, from like 9 [a.m.] to about 2 p.m. I loved visiting Mumbai as a child. There’s no other place in the world that has that level of hospitality. You feel instantly welcome, and you are fed and offered chai, and I just love that it is embedded in our Indian culture. I think we are who we are today, thanks to our mom and Nani. How was the concept of “That’s Total Mom Sense” birthed? After I got married in 2013, I had kids in 2017 and 2018. I had three kids in a year and a half. Yes, it’s
possible, but it does throw you for a loop. I had twins in 2017, a boy and a girl; in 2018, I had my youngest son. It was challenging, but I knew I wanted to be a mom and made room for it in my life. As much as I would joke that I was thrown into the deep end of motherhood..., there were times I was just crying from the exhaustion at 3 [a.m.]. I was up at those odd hours nursing, and I would listen to podcasts to stay awake. I listened to a lot of parenting podcasts, and I found quickly that the space was bereft of a show with the three pillars, namely, informative, engaging and inclusive [material]. Many shows I was hearing were just a lot of banter, commiserating about breastfeeding or pottytraining. Yes, those are daily challenges parents face. But I felt like if I’m going to dedicate half an
In conversation with Bobbi Brown MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 39
PIONEER | SEEMA
hour of my time to listen to a show, I don’t want to hear a host and the guests just saying that. I’m a problem solver at heart, and so I wanted to create a show that helps parents, and serves them in a way that they get to solve the problems or challenges they’re faced with..., especially during the pandemic. I know we don’t have the time to read 300-page parenting books, so I bring on top psychologists, parenting experts, best-selling authors, speakers and thought leaders. Parents … get a very wellpackaged show with all their answers in half an hour. How do you juggle your career with family life? There’s no such thing as worklife balance. Balance means a 50/50 split, but I do believe you can create harmony with all the moving parts in our lives... We have to decide our priorities. What are our nonnegotiables? How do we want to show up for what matters? In my case, it’s leading my team, doing my research, preparing for each podcast interview, and delivering a compelling product with significant reach and engagement for my sponsors.
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You began training as a classical Indian dancer at five, and now dance for the Sa Dance Company. Describe your love affair with this art form. I began dancing when I was five, trained for 15 years, and really enjoyed performing Bollywood and semi-classical dance in college at culture shows. I want to be a better dancer as a mother, because I have so many life experiences to draw from. For me, dance is cathartic. It’s a way to express our truest emotions. Whether it’s the breakdowns or the breakthroughs, you can convey it all and lay your heart out there on the stage. That’s what I find most liberating. Is there any message you have for other mompreneurs? Yes, be kind to yourself because the world is so unforgiving. You emanate that kindness and joy and peace to those around you. Your kids imbibe it, too. Celebrate those small victories. Be proud of all you’re doing, because when you’re a mother, you’re responsible for these other beings and their lives, and you’re enriching their souls in a way that they feel supported.
“CELEBRATE THOSE SMALL VICTORIES. BE PROUD OF ALL YOU’RE DOING, BECAUSE WHEN YOU’RE A MOTHER, YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE OTHER BEINGS AND THEIR LIVES, AND YOU’RE ENRICHING THEIR SOULS IN A WAY THAT THEY FEEL SUPPORTED”
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PIONEER | SEEMA
TOUGHING IT OUT How some mothers who also worked in healthcare navigate an ongoing pandemic HEENA KAUSAR
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ashmi Prakash, a resident doctor, found out last July that she was pregnant. Prakash’s first pregnancy, it was marked by excitement, but also some concern. “There was a lot of fear about bringing a baby into a world where a pandemic is going on,” she says. Being a mother and a frontline healthcare worker during a global pandemic is a challenge many women have now faced. With Mother’s Day around the corner, SEEMA spoke to
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them, including Prakash, to learn about how they negotiated this difficult but rewarding phase. Prakash, who went to medical school at the American University of Antigua, is in the third year of a family medicine residency at Humboldt Park Health in Chicago. She says she has been extremely careful, always wearing two masks over her personal protective gear. As her pregnancy advanced, even simple things like climbing the stairs became difficult. “Trying to climb stairs with the mask on
while being pregnant was hard,” she says. Along with the physical difficulties, it was also an emotionally tough time for her. “Because you’re pregnant, you’re scared about the pregnancy,” she says. “Then, on top of that, I was scared about getting COVID when pregnant.” Despite her fears, what kept her going was the expectation of a better tomorrow – and the family support she had. “I think it was just the hope that there would be a vaccine, that things would get better as we learned how to better treat the virus,” she says. “My husband and I in the same field. We kind of talked about it all the time. And we helped each other kind of get through it together.” As a new mother, she feels the pandemic has amplified her need to provide a safe environment for her baby. “I am sure any new mother is scared and anxious,” Prakash says. “Even without a pandemic, your whole world now revolves around this newborn. I guess your goal is just to protect them as much as you can. And now, in a world with a pandemic, it’s even more amplified.”
R ASH M I PR A K ASH, re sident doctor MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 43
PIONEER | SEEMA Ramandeep Mudgal’s wish for a second child came true when she found she was pregnant last July. Mudgal, who works as a physical therapist in Michigan, immediately knew that this would be far more difficult pregnancy than her first. Throughout her pregnancy, she continued working at Ingham County Medical Care Facility and Rehab Center in Okemos, Michigan. Mudgal said that during the first trimester she had to wear two face-masks, face-shield, and a protective gown that all made her nausea worse. She always felt hot, and her mouth dried out in the heat. “I would drink water all day long,” Mudgal says. “I would walk around with water in my hand. In my first trimester, my nausea was so bad because of the mask, I could not breathe, it’s just so dry. But I survived through this.”
Her husband, also a physical therapist, was not able to be with her at all of her doctor’s appointment because of COVID-19 protocols. Mudgal said it was taxing dealing with a lot of these issues on her own. “I was so emotionally drained/ I would think, oh my gosh, I wish my husband was there to listen to this. And we could have handled it properly,” she says. Mudgal stopped work on April 10 and delivered a baby girl on April 14. Despite the fear and the low points, Mudgal kept her spirits high through the pregnancy even while the world around her was being ravaged by a pandemic. She had a mantra that kept her going. “I kept telling myself and everyone else that strong women raise strong girls,” she says.
R A M A N DE EP MU DGA L , physical therapist 44 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
SWAT H I K R ISH N A , child psychiat rist For Swathi Krishna, a child psychiatrist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the problem came how when the pandemic shut down the daycare to which both her children went. Krishna and her husband suddenly found themselves making arrangements to take care of the children, aged three and five, at home. “Luckily, my husband had a corporate job and they got him to work from home,” Krishna says. “So he kept the kids at home while I had to go to the hospital.” Still, the children felt socially isolated because they could not meet their friends. They continually asked her why they could not go out to play with their friends or meet their grandparents. Krishna said it took some time for
them, but they finally adapted well to the new rules of the pandemic. “Luckily we have a large yard and we have a neighborhood friend who was also quarantining,” she says. “So we all kind of decided with our next door neighbor to do it together. So, they [the children] have one friend that they can play with.” Krishna believes that children are pretty resilient. “Especially as a psychiatrist, we’ve seen the older kids have really struggled more, because they remember a whole life that they have lost,” she says. “Whereas the little kids they don’t really remember that life; their memory span is shorter. So they’re kind of go with the flow.” MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 45
PIONEER | SEEMA
RIGHT ON THE
MONEY
Sonya Thadhani Mughal was always into finance. Now she runs Bailard, a famed name in the field
PHOTO CREDIT: Bailard, Inc.
HEENA KAUSAR
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onya Thadhani Mughal’s introduction to finance happened when she was a child, watching her father’s stockbroker at the Bombay Stock Exchange giving or taking certificates from him for shares he had bought or sold. Now Mughal is the first woman CEO of Bailard, a 52-year-old wealth and assets management firm in the Bay Area. Mughal credits her mother for pushing her to pursue higher studies in the U.S. When she was 18, Mughal left her parents and elder sister in Pune, where she had grown up, to major in math at a liberal arts college.
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SEEMA magazine spoke to Mughal about how she decided to pick finance, how her firm dealt with the impact of the pandemic, her firm’s plans for the future, and her advice to young women seeking to make a career in finance. The interview has been edited for consistency, clarity, and flow. Tell us about your journey from Pune, India, to the U.S. Though people have stereotypical ideas about what it might be to grow up in an Indian household, mine was quite atypical. Both my parents had studied abroad in the ’60s and had decided to go back to India and settle
in Pune. My mom was very, very instrumental in pushing me to apply to colleges as an undergraduate – which at that time was quite rare. Being an immigrant [in the U.S.], I was on a student visa and needed a job when I graduated. My first day (at work) was February 22, 1994. My role was a split role as a junior analyst – on the U.S. equity team, and on the real estate team. How did you decide to make a career in investment management? Whether it was a bank or an insurance company, or an investment management company, I wanted to be in finance.
WE HAVE BEEN IN A REMOTE SITUATION SINCE MARCH 16 LAST YEAR. WE HAVE OFFICIALLY STATED THAT WE WILL START TO GO BACK AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER My father, his brothers, and his parents grew up in Sindh in the days before India and Pakistan were formed. They came to Mumbai after Partition. My dad used to take me with him to his stockbroker. I’m talking about more than 40 years ago, when the Indian stock market was far more rudimentary. It was very manual, it was very paper driven... I would see this exchange between him and his broker – where he would hand over the share certificate if he was selling and get a share certificate if he was buying. It was all very fascinating to me. As CEO, what are your plans for your firm? It’s been our belief that we should start to specialize, and really focus on the more inefficient areas of the market. Investing has become highly commoditized. We are not necessarily going to try and compete in the large cap, blue chip S&P 500 area. But there are areas where we have a tremendous amount of expertise. On the equity side, it’s the international equities and emerging market equities, as well as our technology and science strategy. We have a small cap value ESG strategy and a dedicated life sciences part. So those are the areas that we will be focusing on in the public equity side. On the private equity side, we have a real estate division we are going to be focusing on. How has your business adapted to the realities of the pandemic? We have been in a remote situation since March 16 last year. We have officially stated that we will start to go back at the end of September. There’s no advantage in rushing it.
That being said, you cannot continue to maintain and grow and build upon a great culture over Zoom. It’s those little lunchroom conversations, conversations in the hallways, when you can stop in somebody’s office and check in that really are very important to us. So I think we’ll start to go back, and we will most definitely maintain flexibility as we go back. What are your thoughts on the current debate at the SEC and other regulatory agencies about ESG (environmental, social, and governance) disclosures? About 20-30 years ago, any kind of ESG, or SRI investing was considered niche investing. It was values-based investing. There used to be a belief that if you followed any kind of strategy with ESG and SRI restrictions you might be giving up returns. Things have evolved in the right way, where, today ESG investing, or certainly having an ESG framework to think about [when] picking stocks or constructing portfolios, is more from a risk management standpoint. So you’re looking at factors, whether they environmental, societal, or governance factors. Governance, of course, is easy to understand. We are dealing with lots of different things. Having a very robust framework on how to [think] about this as risk management ... is very important. So I think it’s front and center for the SEC – as it should be. What do you expect regarding America’s economic recovery? It is really miraculous and commendable that we have vaccines. We are already seeing signs of life and it’s already reflected in the stock
market. You are also seeing jobs coming back ... You’re gonna see a tremendous amount of pent-up demand being unleashed, particularly with things like discretionary spending, but also with service jobs coming back. We are pretty positive on the outlook. How can finance and investment firms ensure there is gender parity in employment and in leadership positions? The world is not so simple to say that everything’s a meritocracy. I mean, that’s how it should be. … People … in leadership positions have to set an example. I think it’s [incumbent] upon all of us to make sure that when [we hire, we] remove any kind of bias. A lot of times the biases are unconscious ... Even things like unconscious bias training, honestly, is something to think about. Do you have any advice for young woman aspiring to make a career in finance? Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it. That’s not true. You should absolutely follow your dreams. I think it’s incredibly important. If you’re going to be an expert, you should study for it. Get a CFA, get a CFP, look into various industry designations. The most important thing is to join a company that’s going to actually invest in you, just as you’re going to invest in the company. All too often when we’re young – and it’s understandable – we need a job, right? You don’t have the luxury of thinking about cultural fit and values. But my biggest piece of advice to women – and to men – is join a firm that’s aligned with your values. I don’t think you can go wrong. MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 47
TEEN | SEEMA
WATER WISE Young Shreya Ramachandran is creating a more sustainable water future through The Grey Water Project BINDU GOPAL RAO
A PHOTO CREDIT: Children’s Climate Prize 48 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
t the peak of a California drought, Shreya Ramachandran, 17, visited a particularly hard-hit county in central California. She spoke to people who were trucking in water even for their basic needs. Her heart broke when she heard stories of failed harvests and abandoned homes. Soon after, while visiting India, Ramachandran met South Indian farmers who described how the monsoons had failed them for years. “The farmers had to abandon their ancestral lands and move to the cities to find whatever work they could,” she says. “It was through talking to
“THE CAMPAIGN TOOK A LIFE OF ITS OWN AS RESTAURANTS AS WELL AS [COMPANIES] EMBRACED IT”
Shreya Ramachandran demonstrates the use of water filters at Ardenwood Elementary School
these people and hearing their stories that I realized what a global issue water scarcity is and how it was destroying lives.” Ramachandran started The Grey Water Project in 2016 to create a more sustainable water future. Through the nonprofit, she encourages people of all ages to act, learn about and protect one of the most important resources ever. Her goal was to find a way to reuse grey – or waste – water from irrigation. Approximately 60% of the used water in a home is uncontaminated waste water – or grey water. Reusing this
“AFTER YEARS OF WORK, I FOUND THAT GREY WATER FROM SOAP NUTS WAS INDEED SAFE TO USE FOR IRRIGATION AND IT IS A VALID DROUGHT SOLUTION”
outdoors could save large amounts of water. “I found that grey water often became unsuitable for reuse because there are harmful chemicals in soaps and detergents,” Ramachandran says. “That is why I was interested in testing soap nuts. I found out about them from my grandma, who wanted to use them to wash my hair. Instead, I made soap out of them and used it as a laundry detergent. My central question was, can soap nuts be an alternative laundry detergent whose grey water can be re-used for irrigation?” “After years of work, I found that grey water from soap nuts was MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 49
TEEN | SEEMA indeed safe to use for irrigation and it is a valid drought solution,” Ramachandran says. “However, irrigation from grey waters with high levels of heavy metals like boron or containing soluble salts, like powder detergents, can be detrimental to plant health. It is important to be cognizant of the type of detergent you are using when reusing grey water, but my research shows that grey water reuse can be a solution. Furthermore, in addition to soap nuts being biodegradable, you can also reuse each nut up to ten times. They are cheaper than any organic or non-organic conventional detergent.” Ramachandran conducts workshops and presentations for local, national and international audiences to demystify grey water reuse and encourage people to act. “In my workshops for adults, I explain how to install simple no-permit grey water systems,” she says. “To younger students I explain the importance of water conservation and how to make an impact.” When Ramachandran started her project she knocked on doors and did workshops at every library and community event she could. She also conducts water challenges that encourage people to reduce their household water use. Currently she is working on the Climate Ambassadors program. It teaches environmental leadership skills, public speaking and media communication, and the science behind solutions for various challenges caused by climate change. The ambassadors will also be given the tools to implement change in their own communities. Ramachandran has also developed a Next Generation Science Standard aligned curriculum on grey water reuse that teaches students about grey water reuse and water conservation, 50 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
“I WANT TO CONTINUE TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT – FIGHTING FOR A BETTER WATER FUTURE”
where their water comes from, how it is used in a home, and where it goes. She says during the pandemic she modified many hands-on activities for an online setting. Ramachandran’s efforts won her the Children’s Climate Prize 2019 which acknowledges the importance of working on water issues. The
award also gave her a platform to reach people she usually could not. Water scarcity is one of the most devastating effects of climate change, and one of the greatest issues facing today’s generation. “I want to continue to be at the forefront – fighting for a better water future,” says Ramachandran.
“IN MY WORKSHOPS FOR ADULTS, I EXPLAIN HOW TO INSTALL SIMPLE NO-PERMIT GREY WATER SYSTEMS” MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 51
TRESS
ENTREPRENEUR | SEEMA
Talk
Entrepreneur Shaily Kataruka speaks about her journey, and how it began when she realized the importance of scalp care BINDU GOPAL RAO
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rowing up, Shaily Kataruka had two ambitions – becoming an entrepreneur and being a creative person. It was hard to choose between the two. And that conflict is key to understanding her story
Shaily Kataruka, founder & CEO, The Earth Collective 52 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
FLASH BACK Kataruka spent her first 10 years in
Nepal with her parents, then went to Mussoorie International School, a boarding school where she learned to be independent by the time she graduated when she was 18. Trying to strike a balance between creativity and entrepreneurship, she learned fashion designing and information technology from NIFT, New Delhi. “My first job … was as a lead designer with an
WHY HAIR? While Kataruka always had good hair and experimented with chemical treatments, haircuts, hairstyles and hair care routines, the same was not true of her husband, Ashish. Not much given to hair care, he began losing hair. “Among my family and friends, I came across many who faced various issues regarding hair care and nourishment,” says Kataruka. “Ashish, based on his personal experience and industry insights, told me that there were some deficiencies in the Indian hair care
HAIR CARE TIPS • Heat oil and apply hot oil to the scalp and ends. • Rinse hair with cold water. Avoid warm water for hair washes. • Dry hair naturally. • Condition hair post-cleansing to seal the hair cuticles to avoid any dirt and bacteria to set in easily. • Avoid combing hair when wet to avoid breakage. • Use a wide-toothed comb. • Style hair naturally, using hair serums and moisturizers as opposed to heating tools. • Trim hair every six months for healthy, full hair length. • Avoid sulfate-infused shampoos as they lead to hair dryness and damage. • Oiling and pre-shampoo hair masking is a must once a week. • Give hair the hydration and boost it requires with regular use of hair serums, hair moisturizers, enriching hair masks and, most importantly, oil shots
“I FEEL THAT LIBERATION IS MORE OF A MINDSET. IF A WOMAN FEELS FREE IN HER MIND, SHE CAN DO WHAT MATTERS TO HER”
The Earth Collective products help nourish your scalp.
sector. While people kept searching for good hair products, they hardly ever focused on scalp care. We wanted to make everyone appreciate that taking care of the scalp was essential for healthy, lustrous locks.” The brand, which also calls itself The Hair Specialist, has a large selection of hair care products that bring together elements from nature and science. A NEW WORLD As a woman entrepreneur, she prefers not to focus on gender challenges as she believes capacity of an individual matters most. “The society is more accepting of a woman stepping out and carving out a path of her own,” Kataruka says. “I feel that liberation is more of a mindset. If a woman feels free in her mind, she can do what matters to her.” Kataruka spends a lot of time understanding customers’ needs and addressing their hair concerns. When not working, she plays board games with her kids, checks out Netflix with her husband and goes on walks with her friends. Her advice for wannabe young women entrepreneurs is simple: “Imagine, dream then decide what you want. It is your decision only which will make your dreams a possibility.” MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 53
ALL PHOTO CREDITS: THE EARTH COLLECTIVE
Ahmedabad-based firm,” Kataruka says. “However, I let it go when I married into a business family from Kolkata.” Her in-laws own a cosmetic manufacturing and exporting company. While the family became her priority in the early years, Kataruka was determined to follow her ambitions. “My husband and father-in-law paved the way for me to become an entrepreneur,” she says. “With their help, I got the opportunity to not just take my family’s legacy forward but also make it my own.” She then launched The Earth Collective, her hair care brand, in 2020.
STYLE | SEEMA
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RUN AWAY
WITH THESE RUNWAY DESIGNS Top spring fashion trends and the influencers to follow K.T. HALL
B
old shoulders, knits and airy florals. Spring 2021 is all about running to do things that bring joy and let the fresh air in. Updating your wardrobe and knowing which key accessories to add are vital especially with everyone isolated for so long… What is she wearing? From patchwork and seaside attire to cozy knits, here’s a welcoming escape this spring. And, who to follow.
MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 55
STYLE | SEEMA JEWELRY This spring brings a mix of baubles, beads and chunky jewels that make bold statements. Look for bold beads from Jason Wu, Anni Lu and Eliou. Pearls range from cluster earrings to baroque necklaces. Explore styles from Anita Berisha, White Space and Agmes. Find chunky gold bangles from Ambush or Jlani Jewels and textured earrings from Epifene. For minimalist clothing designs, pair them with drop earrings from Isabel Marant and Ulla Johnson. Source: MC CLOTHES Yes, you’ve spent the winter buried in flannel PJs. But designers are leaning towards clothes that help you break out of that cocoon and blossom! Minimalist and freeflowing fabrics in muted tones are definitely trending as unity is a big theme this year. Expect to see more silky textures and linen styles mixed in with patchwork patterns which we haven’t seen since the 1990s. Who to watch? Collections to follow include Snow Xue Gao, Issey Miyake, Max Mara, Emporio Armani and Rokh. Helping us showcase exuberance and whimsy with popping and vibrant colors are Molly Goddard, Christopher John Rogers and Schiaparelli. Designers Gabriela Hearst, Altuzarra and Victor Glemaud focus on comfy knits as we work remotely but take occasional outdoor breaks. To embrace our inner beauty (with fewer restrictions), look for romantic sheer fabrics from Akris, Fendi, Alberta Feretti and Brunello Cucinelli. Jeans are returning but this time in wide-leg and boot-cut styles from Celine, Balmain and Ulla Johnson. Seaside themes are inspiring, especially if you are planning that trip with friends. Expect vibrant and 56 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
muted shades of blue from designers like Baja East, Dries Van Noten Burberry and Stella McCartney. Maxi dresses in delicate floral colors are open and airy. Chloe partners their looks with wide belts and flats while Patou prefers oversized jewelry and chunky heels. Ready to make a statement? Christopher Kane, Sukeina 286,990 and Carolina you r titlre Herrera are bringing out the bold shoulder look. With both hard and soft styles, it’s the perfect way to showcase your inner fashionista. Layered shirts in short-sleeve and sleeveless styles with matching pants and shorts. Short sets and pant sets are other favorites that are returning. Simplistic in style and fabric, they’re ideal for that weekend road trip or day out in t he city. Flirty and short styles that show a little leg are also big. With more people getting ready for summer, road trips are trending over airlines. Hence, designers are offering an array of lightweight fabrics that travel well
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#lo remipsum
and don’t need ironing (thank goodness!). Sources: T&C, MC, HB ACCESSORIES Scarves, ribbons and floral hair clips are budding this spring. Ribbons from Bevza, Ashley Williams and Giambattista Valli can help you tame those locks. Scarves from Christian Dior and
INFLUENCERS
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Influencers are insanely able to put any style together and they have millions of followers to back them up. With consulting knowledge about what’s hitting the runway forecast, check out these people: • Negin Mirsalehi is always fashion-forward. She likes keeping it casual and vintage with jeans, oversized tees and blazers. Follow her @negin_ mirsalehi • Cece Olisa is a Brooklyn girl who loves neutral tones and bright textures. Able to mixand-match all kinds of fabrics, follow her @ceceolisa • Based out of Greenwich Village, Katy Bellotte loves 70’s antique styles, accessories and flowy fabrics. Follow her at @ katybellotte • Danielle Bernstein is versatile and loves puffy sleeves, chunky boots and neutral colors. Follow her @weworewhat Source: SC
Dolce & Gabanna let you channel your inner Jackie O. Mother said never leave the house without your pearls (even if you’re only going to your backyard). And, Simone Rocha, Rodarte and Acne Studios have the finest collections for wardrobe accents and hair-pieces. Source: Glowsy SHOES Because road trips with friends are the next big thing, we are seeing more go-to flats and sneakers this season. Designers also know that practicality is in as people assess their wardrobe and dust off last year’s favorites. For flats, try Velcro sandals from Jason Wu and Anna Sui. The baroque ballet flat is another must and Simone Rocha and D&G offering inspiring plays. For minimalist thong sandals, try Alexander Wang and Alexandre Vauthier. Chunky heels are also popping – especially with so many spring dresses to pair them with. However, platform heels are big with city dwellers who want to make a statement. Erdem and Ulla Johnson help us gain a little elevation with their stiletto styles. But, Seychelles and Stuart Weitzman offer platforms that encourage “beach ready,” not boxed in. Goodbye stay-athome orders! Sources: HB, MC SPRING FORWARD Despite these trying times, the spring season is a welcome distraction. And, designers have several ways to help you share the love and show unity (even if you’re still stuck on your couch). Here’s to new beginnings! From bold shoulders to sheer fabrics, here’s how to break out this spring and bring joy! MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 57
FEATURES | SEEMA
Sensitively Teaching the Young About
ALL PHOTO CREDITS: Earth Warriors
CLIMATE CRISIS
From left to right: Keya Lamba and Shweta Bahri, co-founder of Earth Warriors 58 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
RADHIKA IYENGAR
W
hen four-year-old Billy Bond was taking a stroll with his father across the sprawling lush farmlands in Cornwall, England, something worrying caught his eye. “We came across a patch of woodland that a farmer had cleared to make way for agricultural storage,” recalls his father, Dominic. Billy appeared visibly upset. He turned to his father and asked, “Daddy, doesn’t the farmer understand that we need those trees to breathe out, so that we can breathe in?” Our planet is witnessing a climate crisis of catastrophic proportions. A report in the Frontiers in Conservation Science predicts that the world will face a “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climatedisruption upheavals,” if focused interventions are not taken. The urgency is palpable.
“ONLY ONE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HAS CLIMATE CHANGE AS PART OF ITS NATIONAL CURRICULUM DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE WORLD IS FACING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS”
Apocalyptic storms, the alarming rise in sea levels and raging wildfires in the recent past are crucial warnings that convey that our home is falling apart—and, it’s up to us to fix it. While a global climate revolution is underway, it is yet to gain the substantial momentum required to bring about the mammoth changes we need to reverse some of the most damaging scars. Educating the young about climate emergency therefore, is vital. They are the ones who will face its most worrying consequences in the future. If schools resolve to teach children about respecting the environment, chances of them becoming more receptive to the task at hand and helping in solution building, are greater. In fact, school-going children have resolutely stood at the forefront of worldwide climate protests with young activists like Greta Thunberg and 9-year-old Licypriya Kangujam leading the way. Recently, Earth Warriors, which is an early-childhood
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FEATURES | SEEMA
Graphic depicting how countries are educating kids on climate change
Graphic highlighting excess CO2 emissions relative to 2030 targets
environmental curriculum provider, conducted a study which observed that most countries had failed to provide satisfactory climate-andenvironment focused training to the young. “Only one country in the world has climate change as part 60 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
of its national curriculum despite the fact that the world is facing an environmental crisis,” say Earth Warriors’ founders Keya Lamba and Shweta Bahri. “Children will face an environmental crisis throughout their lifetimes. A research done
by The Lancet shows that building sustainable habits from a young age is therefore, necessary for becoming citizens who are conscious about planetary health and stewardship in adulthood. They need to be taught about Earth’s biggest challenges, so they are equipped with the tools they need to protect our planet.” On the flip side, however, there have been reports indicating that certain children have begun experiencing high-levels of anxiety and hopelessness after learning about the planet’s sorry state. Fearful about the unstable world they have inherited, many are having panic attacks or are depressed. Parents, mental health professionals and educators have wondered how to mitigate such stressors, while still responsibly teaching pupils about the climate crisis and adopting an environment-
friendly, sustainable lifestyle. Earth Warriors, for instance, offer play-based solutions to help children aged 3-7 years learn about such topics by engaging them in fun, experiential tasks. “The fact is that 90% of brain development happens before 5 years of age (Harvard Center on the Developing Child) and research shows that learning through play is critical for children’s skill development for the future (The LEGO foundation). At this age, we focus on children building a bond with and love for nature, and understand that Earth is home to many creatures and needs to be cared for,” explain Lamba and Bahri. Billy, who virtually participated in Earth Warriors’ international pilot program received an activity every week via email, which encouraged him to be more appreciative of nature. From going on a wildlife spotting walk with his family to using a pair of binoculars made from recycled toilet rolls, from building wind chimes and making bird feeders—little Billy is consciously working hard towards making a larger impact.
Another section in Earth Warriors’ study found that highincome nations like Norway which ranked first on Child Flourishing Index (CFI), stood 156th on the sustainability chart. “Many developed countries which rank highly in terms of child flourishing are actually producing more carbon emissions than less developed countries,” note Lamba and Bahri. “At the moment, CFI is focused on child wellbeing without taking into account any sustainability indicators. However, we believe countries need to make sure children have a sustainable future and that sustainability should be part of the CFI going forward.” At the same time, progressive efforts are required to extend conversations around environment conservation and climate solutions into classrooms. Billy’s father, Dominic feels that if climate change was introduced as a subject in schools’ curriculum 30 years ago, perhaps the world
“MANY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES WHICH RANK HIGHLY IN TERMS OF CHILD FLOURISHING ARE ACTUALLY PRODUCING MORE CARBON EMISSIONS THAN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES” would have been in a better shape today. “We might have been able to take action sooner and avert some of the issues our global society now faces,” he says. “Climate is the most pressing issue facing our world right now. Our children need to understand what choices and behaviors they can individually adopt, as well as how they can hold the adults to account to reverse climate breakdown. These are really scary topics for all of us and need to be handled in a sensitive way to help children understand what is going wrong and how we can mitigate it.” MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 61
DIS
N T HE N TO
I T G O N U I H
ET
Social media has helped these pioneers provide the world a richer understanding of the nature of food SHARMISTHA CHAUDHURI
origins, little-known aspects, the history of ingredients, migration of cuisines, and more.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ragini Kashyap
W
hen the world went into lockdown mode, Ragini Kashyap’s (@ thirdculturecooks) well-laid plans came to a grinding halt. When the world went into lockdown mode, Ragini Kashyap’s (@thirdculturecooks) welllaid plans came to a grinding halt. An educational consultant who has lived and worked in various parts of the world, Kashyap was in Mumbai at the time. She loved food, and had a passion for history and different cultures, having lived in many countries. So she had come up with a unique supper club concept in 2016 while in London. She concentrated on “bordered menus” — focusing on food through geo-political conflicts. Kashyap had set up similar supper clubs in Vancouver and Mumbai, focusing on different conflicts, including India’s with Pakistan and Tamils’ with Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, and organizing conversations and dishes for a three-hour-long, sixcourse meal. She had planned to work with food full time, quitting her job in February 2020 and renting a kitchen space. “It all had to shut down once the pandemic started,” says Kashyap, who is currently based in Vancouver. Though not a big user of social media earlier, the pandemic shifted her focus. When pandemonium broke out, social media was initially flooded with sourdough starters, homemade bread, glazed cakes, fermented drinks, and much more. But what shifted and became more common was the need to understand what we put inside our bodies. As people stayed more at home, conversations revolving around food changed, from superfluous reviews and commonplace recipes to more in-depth discussions — delving into regional dishes, urban terrace gardens, sustainability,
FEATURES | SEEMA
A FOCUS ON HISTORY AND POLITICS Kashyap focused on Instagram but did not want to post recipes. “Nor photos of what I am eating. One can find a recipe with a click of Mansaf from Jordan, a popular dish eaten throughout a button,” she says. So the Levant Kashyap began writing the its food history, culture, people and history behind a particular dish. establishments. Her Singapore series, “I realized I had a lot of food photos from my travels, but I had never shared posted earlier this year, was a delight — teaching about Kaya them with the information that I had toast, hawker centers, and the famed gathered,” she says. Singapore Sling! Kashyap translated her passion for research and teaching to educate a THE WAY TO A HEALTHY follower, “telling you a little bit more” MIND... Chris Kurian (@forksongs), an academic and home chef based in New Delhi, began her food journey because she was fed up of her day jobs. “Cooking has stayed longer with me than any job,” she says. Growing up in a Malayali family in India’s capital in the north of the country, she was appalled at having to justify her identity, which included food she ate, in a city she has lived in all her life. “Delhi has diversity, but there’s a lack of imagination and accessibility in Ragini Kashyap
about what we eat on social media. She showcased delectable spreads and fiery plates, dishes from Vietnam to Jordan, from the Mughal era to ancient Greece, the origins of chicken salad to uses of fenugreek in the ancient worlds to the global phenomenon of how the carrot cake came to be paired with Philadelphia cream cheese. Each post on social media boasted a beautiful picture in a fun history lesson. She did several series on Instagram, focusing on a particular country, taking the reader through
Chris Kurian MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 63
FEATURES | SEEMA
64 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
ways to use regional and seasonal vegetables, the nuances of growing food, local fermentation methods, how to treat wet waste to use as compost, and to come up with well-balanced plates of food. “Good food does not mean elaborate feasts,” she says. WILD AND EDIBLE For Shruti Thariyal (@forgottengreens), nature had always been part of her, but she realized the potential of wild edible greens found in everywhere later in life. “I grew up in a city but when I began PHOTO CREDIT: Shruti Thariyal
PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Kurian
and nutritional food should be a fundamental right?” Kurian has an education and background in political policy and a doctorate in understanding well-being. City life, after a point, suffocated her. As the pandemic raged, Kurian packed up and moved to a village in Haryana to live a slow-paced lifestyle. “I can hear again,” she says Organic vegetables from the Chris Kurian’s community garden with a laugh. “It availability of food,” Kurian says. “It was extremely bothered me to hear people grouping important for me that what we are appam and stews, as if that is all people putting inside our bodies has a welleat in Kerala.” balanced relationship with mindfulness She decided to educate through the and nature. I wanted to understand median she knew best — the food she the produce I am cooking with.” She has grown up with. frequently interacts with community Kurian first set up a food stall at a farmers and growers, and draws handicrafts stall, serving unfamiliar upon their knowledge to further foods to a non-ethnic community. educate herself. “Everyone eats a fish moilee in On Instagram, Kurian makes it clear Kerala, but they haven’t had a fish that it is eminently possible to grow red curry which locals eat at home,” one’s own food. Her posts and videos she says. Kurian used social media to on social media are diverse — about draw attention to the authentic fare of diverse communities in Kerala that she served. She included their history and cultural background, During the lockdown, she also focused her attention on an urban terrace garden to produce organic vegetables of the highest quality. “It is an abomination that we have to depend so much on a market, even for the simplest of things, like yogurt, which we earlier used to make at home,” Kurian says. “Why is there no emphasis on eating seasonal foods? Why is organic produce priced and Shruti Thariyal positioned for the elite when healthy
Tree spinach, tender pumpkin leaves, Indian pennywort, butterfly pea flowers and toothache plant.
to travel to remote, interior parts of the country for non-profit work, I noticed the inherent relationship between nature and community,” Thariyal says. She was interested in the politics of food – how women, the key knowledge holders, are barely recognized in the food space, and understanding if the food consumed today was actually a part of the traditional ecosystem. “I asked simple questions,” Thariyal says. “What plants did my grandparents eat? Are they available now? I spent time documenting knowledge from women farmers. I plucked random leaves I found, asking locals what they knew about it.” When Thariyal comes across a wild plant that catches her eye, she
immensely researches its history, local names, mentions of it in social media, and so forth. She then cultivates knowledge by talking to local elders and foragers who might be able to answer her questions. In 2018, Thariyal began sharing her knowledge about edible wild greens that grew in abundance but whose taste was not known to the general public. After the first lockdown began, she noticed a boost in interest. “People were noticing what was growing around them more,” Thariyal says. “I was getting a ton of messages with pictures, asking ‘What is this?’ ‘Are they edible?’ ‘How do you eat this plant?’ ‘What are its health benefits?’ and more.” So, the wild weeds and greens expert forager started an online program to highlight a particular edible plant/ weed, how to forage for them and use them in one’s diet. She soon realized, the program focused too much on consumerism. “The perspective needed to shift from just the edible/non-edible question to how to look at these wild greens in a more holistic manner,” she says. From her everexpanding knowledge, Thariyal began to explain the medicinal and health benefits of these wild edible plants. She emphasized the need to retrieve the forgotten knowledge of local ingredients, to ask why we are eating this. In a recent post, she puts forth her conundrum rather eloquently for her followers: “We have reached a point where what is local is now exotic, and what grows in Brazil/ Mexico is considered local and is also easily available. Each culture has a gastronomically rich food system which in the wake of globalization and colonization is getting homogenized.” FOCUS ON REGIONS Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta (@ bongmom_cookbook), has been
SEO or web traffic,” Datta says. “The blog was a hobby, then a passion. Social media were more for allowing me to connect with my readers and have a community feeling.”
Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta
blogging for almost 14 years. The New Jersey based-engineer started to document food she grew up on with a simple goal — to pass on the legacy of Bengali food to her daughters in a land far from their ancestral one. Datta relied on simple regional Bengali food and techniques she had learned from her mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, and the multitude of aunts and grandmothers who had fed her for years in India. Datta’s first book was based on recipes from her blog. She recently published her debut novel based on food, “Those Delicious Letters.” “I love reading food fiction and wanted to read one set in the backdrop of the Indian diaspora,” Datta says. “But I didn’t find anything and so I wrote something I would love to read.” Datta’s Instagram is filled with delicious photographs — ranging from kid-friendly, easy-peasy dishes with canned beans, to techniques used in Bengali cuisine albeit with a twist, like bhaapa (steaming) using fresh paneer instead of fish. Each write-up makes one’s mouth water. For Bengalis who live outside the region, or anyone keen on learning about the regional variants of foods in Bengal, Datta breaks down recipes in an easy-to-follow, mostly healthy, manner. During the pandemic, her food posts on Instagram became more regular. “I do not cook or plan social media posts, nor do I think about
FINDING A PATH Kashyap, Kurian, Datta and Thariyal all share a common experience — during the pandemic, they were able to connect with like-minded people through social media. “I started cooking classes, taught about food and politics, and wrote a book to raise money,” says Kashyap. “Through it all, I found making personal connections on social media that grew over time with consistency.” She will soon be launching two podcasts – one focusing on spices, and the other about the stories of migrants who came to, or left, South Asia over centuries. Her Instagram planning is short-term and flexible, and she still has plenty in the pipeline in the coming months. Kurian, most whose followers are women, says she found “her tribe” on social media. “The reception has been encouraging,” she says. “I firmly believe in authenticity, not algorithms.” Yet, through social media, she has discovered a vast group of women gardeners in urban cities where space is limited. Thariyal is planning a tour in South India to document lore, names, and recipes of hyperlocal wild greens. Based on requests, she plans to teach about local plants used to alleviate stress and anxiety, help during a menstrual cycle, etc. Datta found that she provided succor to her followers. “Readers said that the virtual community of my blog helped them cope with the pandemic. That we were all in it together.” The pandemic has been hard on everyone, but it has also started a movement on social media — providing a deep dive into understanding what we eat, and helping us reimagine our relationship with food. And that shows no signs of slowing down. MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 65
FEATURES | SEEMA
HEADING OFF GLOBAL WARMING
Post-Pandemic
66 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
Developing nations are fighting climate change – because they are at the most risk from its effects JACQUELINE EMIGH
I
f the COVID-19 pandemic has a silver lining, it is the worldwide decline in carbon emissions, a major cause of global warming. When the pandemic recedes, that advantage will be gone. So what steps are people in India, Pakistan, and other countries doing to reduce the off-the-charts monsoons, droughts, and other impacts of climate change post-pandemic? Some environmentalists are optimistic that the unique conditions of the pandemic will prepare us to deal with climate change. After all, even during the pandemic, governments worked with each other and industry on innovative approaches to address it. Investments are being made in renewable energy – wind and solar technology. Sustainable architecture is being developed to reduce carbon footprints while helping rural women to support themselves and their families through farming.
“Rural women worldwide are the gatekeepers of food security, assuming so much of the burden of family nutrition and playing an invaluable, invisible role in agriculture,” said Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the UN secretarygeneral’s special envoy for the Food Systems Summit 2021. GOVERNMENTS TEAM UP Nations are working with each other and industry on climate change. Early in 2021, the US rejoined the Paris Agreement making the same commitment as about 100 other nations – to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. For its part, India has eight Paris Agreement targets, including plans to produce about 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel-based resources by 2030. By then, India also expects to plant more trees for CO2 absorption and reduce emissions by 33% to 35% over 2005 levels. India has set up the Apex Committee for MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 67
FEATURES | SEEMA the Implementation of the Paris Agreement, to monitor government and private sector contributions to climate change, and to ensure India meets its Paris Agreement commitments. According to some, India is the only G20 nation on track to do so. The same month, Pakistan announced plans to boost renewable energy to 20% by 2025 and 30% by 2030, up from to about 4% today. It did not put hydro power in this tally. In addition to wind and solar power, the nation is looking at geothermal, tidal, wave and biomass energy. Meanwhile in India, India Climate Collaborative (ICC), set up in January 2020, brings together more than 40 entities, including philanthropic arms of major corporations, academic thinktanks, and aid agencies, Members share a goal to accelerate India’s development while simultaneously moving beyond its current climate goals. “There is an urgent need to build an ecosystem around issues of climate change and sustainability wherein a range of actors do not work in silos,” said Shloka Nath, the collaborative’s executive director. One of its new ventures is The Echo Network, a “social innovation partnership” steered by the India’s principal scientific adviser. It aims to increase scientific collaboration around environmental issues. After launching a nationwide tree planting program with financial backing from the World Bank, Pakistan will host the UN’s annual World Environment Day on June 5, 2021. At least, 150 other countries are to participate in the event with the theme “Ecosystem Restoration.” IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTH ASIA South Asian nations are among those 68 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
most vulnerable to climate change. For example, the Global Climate Index 2021 ranks Afghanistan sixth, and India seventh, among the most impacted countries. The rankings are based on extreme weather events. Last year, India came in fifth, Sri Lanka sixth.
“TRAVEL AND TOURISM WILL PROBABLY REBOUND. BUT THE INCREASED SHARE OF PEOPLE WORKING REMOTELY MAY BE HERE TO STAY, REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT FROM COMMUTING” WHAT’S GLOBAL WARMING ANYWAY? It happens when carbon dioxide and other air pollutants and greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, absorbing solar radiation. One big
cause is the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, for industrial purposes. Agriculture accounts for 15% or more of carbon emissions, livestock waste being a major culprit. Humans also make emissions worse by cutting down trees that would otherwise absorb carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, commercial and organic fertilizers release nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Crops such as rice can emit methane, another greenhouse gas. WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO? The UN Environment Program says carbon emissions needs to reduce by 7.6% per year for the next decade to keep the globe from warming more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels. “If we reach 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels, the Mediterranean basin will experience desertification, coral reefs will disappear, and ice sheets will collapse,” said Jan Gould, an American inventor who works on new environmental initiatives in Pakistan. EMISSIONS FELL DURING THE PANDEMIC During the pandemic, the world saw a 6.4% drop in annual carbon emissions. The U,S, led at 12.9%, India was in second place at 8.0%, and Europe third at 7.6%. Russia saw a 2.8% decline in emissions, and China 1.4%, says an analysis by the international Carbon Monitor program and Nature.com. Carbon emissions will certainly rise in some sectors as the economy revives. “Travel and tourism will probably rebound. But the increased share of people working remotely may be here to stay, reducing the carbon footprint from commuting,” predicted Dr. Shermin de Silva, founder of Trunks & Leaves, an environmental organization in Sri Lanka.
“THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO BUILD AN ECOSYSTEM AROUND ISSUES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABILITY WHEREIN A RANGE OF ACTORS DO NOT WORK IN SILOS”
EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH FARMING In the developing world, women bear the brunt of climate change. Between 2011 and 2016, some 9 million men have annually moved from rural areas to cities in India, seeking work, according to the Economic Survey of India 2017. About 80% of the region’s farmers are women, said Nishtha Satyam, deputy representative, UN Women Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. The UN runs projects about sustainable agriculture for women and their families in these countries. In flood-jeopardized Bangladesh, for example, farmers grow saline-tolerant rice, build floating vegetable gardens, and raise ducks. The UN’s Food Systems Summit, convened by Dr. Kalibata in March, considered ways to mitigate the effects of global warming
on women farmers. It included an action track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, water use, and soil degradation involved in food production, processing and distribution. PAKISTAN EVALUATES SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TOOLS Meanwhile, the Pakistan Agricultural Resource Council has worked to increase food production and conserve water in rural areas during the pandemic, As elsewhere, COVID-19 has also disrupted the economy, said Gould, founder of Responsive Drip Irrigation. The council and its sister organization, the Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center, have researched such technologies as regenerative farming and more efficient irrigation. Regenerative agricultural methods,
such as crop rotation, cover crops, and no-till cultivation, keep the carbon in the soil, where over time it can build healthy plants. In 2020, the center tested Gould’s GrowStream, an irrigation system needing no electricity, and which improves soil health and yield for a decade. Women farmers can easily manage the irrigation system on small holder farms of one to three hectares, enabling them to “provide for their family, while increasing their economic status,” Gould told SEEMA. NEW TWISTS FOR ALTERNATIVE ENERGY? In 2019, India ranked fifth worldwide for installed wind power capacity, behind China, the European Union (EU), the US, and Germany, according to the Global Wind Council. Pakistan, however, was in 34th place and Sri Lanka in 55th place out of the 63 nations listed. India consistently rates in the top 10 for installed solar power capacity in industry. The pandemic and some dispute resolutions delayed Pakistan’s plans to boost use of renewable energy until August 2020. But it got a jump start when the World Bank gave it $100 million for the Sindh Solar Energy Project, which supports deployment of solar power plants in Sindh Province at the utility scale, for distributed generation, and for households. After the pandemic, some environmentalists, including Dr. de Silva, would like to see maximal decentralization of energy sources. “All energy sources have their particular footprints, so I would hesitate to generalize broadly. Instead, we must look to what makes sense for a given region and has the lowest impact overall,” she says. She described hydroelectric power as a good example of an outdated technology relying on the premise that an electrical grid must be centralized. MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 69
TRAVEL | SEEMA
MAKE THE MOST OF
Your RV Vacation With some hope that the pandemic waves will recede, an RV vacation offers the freedom, flexibility and relative safety to go forth into the world again
ANITA RAO KASHI
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A
s the pandemic swept around the world, the best-laid schemes went awry and all kinds of restrictions fell into place. People soon became
antsy of sheltering in place and sought innovative ways to break the monotony and travel without jeopardizing their health or those of others. One way that became instantly popular was getting on the
road in a recreational vehicle (RV). So here are some general pointers on RV for beginners. Americans were already feeling restless as early as last April. Fuel Travel, an organization offering e-commerce solutions to the travel and hospitality industry, found that 59% of 10,000 North American leisure travelers surveyed said they would certainly travel in that year. This sentiment held well into May. The Harris Poll survey of 2,500 people in the U.S. found that 57% of people said they would travel to meet with family and friends, while 48 per cent said they would travel for a change of scenery. But while people were eager to travel, they also showed a strong tendency to prefer traveling by road. Not only that, they would insulate themselves as much as possible while on the road. This had a predictable consequence: the demand for RVs shot up dramatically. According to the RV Industry Association, the sector shipped 40,462 units last June, a nearly 11% jump compared to the same time the year before. As much as an RV vacation sounds like it ticks all boxes in view of the pandemic, here are some additional tips for beginners seeking to get the most of their vehicles.
SPACE ODYSSEY Opt for one with lots of storage space so you can be on the road longer. It is also imperative to have adequate kitchen space or at least a comfortable kitchenette with enough space for groceries. This gives you twin advantages: you can save on dining out and you can camp anywhere, since food availability is not a criteria. This gives you a lot of freedom.
OWNER OR RENTER? It is worthwhile to analyze how much you will use it. If you are planning on doing a lot of small- to medium-range trips, then buying one makes more sense. This will inevitably involve questions of size and type (trailer or motorized versions). If you are unsure, for the first RV trip rent one and see what the experience it like. Also, whether renting or buying, check the vehicle in great detail, and always take it out for a spin to see how it behaves on the road. Also ask around and join one of the many RV forums providing helpful tips to beginners.
SOCIALIZE ON THE GO Opt for campsites and camping grounds that not only convenient but are midsized. This way you do not have to walk long distances in the darkness to access facilities. This also means there are just right number of people to socialize with. Make sure to take all precautions. Holidaying is intensely personal, especially if it takes the form of road trips in an RV. The first RV trip is incredibly exciting. But there are so many choices out there, it can often get daunting. But a bit of organization and research should provide the tools to make the best of an RV holiday.
RESEARCH While spur-of-the-moment decisions seem like a romantic idea, and does have its attractions, it is best to do some research about the route, potential stops and factor in parking and facility closures if you don’t want to end up being disappointed. BE MINDFUL Undoubtedly, the biggest joy of being on the road on an RV vacation and going camping, especially for nature lovers, is being out in the open in nature. But adopt a mindful attitude. Make sure you leave every place as clean you found it. Try and adopt as many sustainable behaviors as possible, using and consuming organic and biodegradable products. Even for a chemical toilet, there are natural and sustainable solutions. If you find yourself overwhelmed, ask around for helpful RV camping tips for beginners.
MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 71
A FOODIE’S FOOD | SEEMA
DELIGHT
Azerbaijan is truly beautiful, but the cuisine is to die for TEXT AND PHOTOS BY SHARMISTHA CHAUDHURI
A DOLMA
You may have had stuffed vine leaves filled with meat and rice in various Balkan, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, but no one takes it as seriously as the Azerbaijanis. Dolma comes from the Turkish word ‘dolmak,’ meaning stuffed or filled. Dolma is a stuffed vegetable (the traditional trio is tomato, aubergine and pepper called ‘Uch Baji’ or Three Sisters) that is initially hollowed and then filled with a stuffing, or a leaf (grape or cabbage) and folded with the same ingredients. The stuffing usually consists of rice, minced meat, and a variety of herbs. For a meatfree version, ask for ‘yalanchi’ (false) dolma. There are over 50 variations. Dolma-making was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017 because, in Azerbaijan, the skills are transmitted from generation to generation, transcending ethnic and religious boundaries.
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zerbaijan lies at the cusp of East and West. Once a stop on the Silk Route, its traditional culture coexist peacefully with modernity, both in terms of culture and architecture. It is also a land of great natural beauty, boasting mud volcanoes, burning mountains, and ancient petroglyphs. Azerbaijan’s cuisine is equally intriguing, each region boasting local specialties and ingredients. Dishes are always served with condiments and chorek (bread), each bite a burst of flavor. The array is diverse — from hearty soups to flavored rice, char-grilled meats to stuffed vegetables, freshly caught and baked fish to caviar from the Caspian Sea. A typical meal can last hours, starting and ending with hot chay (tea). Azerbaijan may be a new country, born after the fall of the former Soviet Union (1991), one still finding its own identity, but it is a dream destination for a food lover, replete with flavors that remain a secret to the rest of the world. Some dishes you must-eat in Azerbaijan
GUTAB
Think stuffed half-moon pancakes to eat on the go. The word Gutab is derived from the Azerbaijani word for ‘layer.’ A specialty of Baku, a gutab is stuffed with cheese, vegetables, meats, or just herbs, and is best eaten with yogurt seasoned with sumac. The gutab dough is layered like a paratha and brushed with melted butter to brown on the pan.
SHAH PLOV
Plovs (pilafs) are the mainstay of Azerbaijani cuisine. There is no occasion complete without a plov, either filled with various combinations of meats, fruits, nuts, herbs and vegetables. The crowning glory is the shah plov — a hearty base of saffron basmati rice, layered with meat, dried fruits, encrusted in flaky lavash (a flatbread), and then steamed to mouthwatering goodness. When serving, a hole should cut in the middle of the dish, and the plov then cut into portions. The flaky crust should unfold like petals, with steaming hot meat and rice in the middle.
PITI
This comfort dish is made with lamb, chickpeas, chestnuts, prunes and potatoes, slow-cooked for hours in a clay pot called a dopu. The term piti derives from the Turkish ‘bitdi,’ or ‘end of festivities.’ A person who finishes the dish says ‘bitdi,’ signaling they are full. A workman’s stew, one serving provides nourishment for a day. Piti is eaten in two parts. The broth goes with lavash, the solid ingredients make the main course.
KEBABS
Skewered, marinated meat cooked over charcoal… Yes, every food lover knows the concept. However, each Azerbaijani skewer offers diverse variety and flavors. Known as Shishlyk, the word ‘shish’ means skewer, and ‘kebab’ meat. Vegetarians, too, can enjoy a traditional kebab because many vegetables are also cooked in this manner (potatoes, aubergines, tomatoes and onions). The kebabs are grilled on a mangal (a special brazier used to barbecue). Kebabchis, professional practitioners, ensure every bite is juicy and flavorsome. Kebabs are usually served with condiments. Do try the amazing lyula kebabs made with minced meat.
DOVGA
The national soup may be a hearty kufta bozbash, but if you want something light, try a dovga. A dovga is made with yogurt (katyk) and a ton of fresh herbs – such as dill, coriander, mint, chervil and mountain parsley (when available). It is available in both summer and winter. In summer, dovga is served chilled, but in harsh weather, chickpeas and rice, and sometimes tiny meatballs, are added and the soup is eaten hot.
CHAY AND JAM
When in Azerbaijan, do visit a local tea house or chaykhana, where hardcore tea drinkers play backgammon or smoke a shisha as they down cup after cup. The tea is served hot and black in small armudu (pear-shaped) glasses. Place a bit of jam from the bowl of murabba provided, then sip the tea through the sweetness. The most popular jams are made with walnuts, white cherry and quince. But the possibilities are endless. MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 73
HOROOSCOPE | SEEMA
FORECAST WITH FARZANA Mar 21 - Apr 19
Brace yourself for ground-breaking changes. Some may excite you and some may disconnect you from your moorings. Work out solutions by putting pen to paper. Overthinking will not lift your soul or burn calories. View it as an opportunity for selfgrowth may help, especially in the area that disturbs you the most – your relationship, career, business, or finance. Trust your hunches and the tides are likely to turn. Be ready to don your new avatar, infusing yourself with more humility, practicality, and new patterns of behavior that lead you to victory. Oh, and stop looking over your shoulder. Keep going.
Apr 20 - May 20
Well, two heads are better than one. Expect smooth sailing at work when you open yourself to partnerships, collaboration and teamwork. This is not the time to slay all dragons all by yourself. Go ahead. Ask for help, or call in a favor to achieve your goals. Alternately, be that friend who is encouraging and excited for those seeking support. There is no need to color between the lines so don your ideas hat. You have the power. Make sure you have the right intentions out there. This is 74 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
the time to heal and win hearts through love and friendship. Tact, diplomacy, balance and compassion are your allies towards victory.
May 21 - Jun 20
There are occasions when life is about making plans, and times it is all about taking action. This month signals the coming of the end of the situations you have been battling with on a personal, health or financial level. Your creativity and problem-solving skills are at a high. Use them to keep your sight on fresh inspiration and new opportunities. Things are likely to look positive in love. The time to display your courage, confidence, and enthusiasm is now. Apply for a role you may not be qualified for, or venture into a project you’ve never done before. Forward momentum is of the essence. Make your move.
Jun 21 - Jul 22
You may seem a trifle dissatisfied or bored. All is well, so pull yourself together and count your blessings. It may be wise to make moderation your friend. If you find yourself in the mood to find fault with everything and everyone, snap out of it! If you step away from playing victim, you will hear opportunity knocking. Do not
neglect what you have for things that are far out of your reach. Say no to temptation. If in a relationship and you are feeling like roommates more than lovers it is time to rekindle the romance to spice things up.
Jul 23 - Aug 22
Stability and serenity at home take precedence. Finding the balance between work and home, inspiration and nourishment are of utmost import. Take stock of ways to create harmony around you. You find yourself investing time in the needs of your family, resetting your rooms, pottering in the garden, or indulging in some self-love. You have what it takes to use your resourcefulness to ensure financial abundance. This is a good time to commit in a relationship. However, if in a new relationship, some discernment would be advantageous. Your challenge could lie in finding ways to increase your peace. Prioritize ‘me’ time in between so-called ‘pressing’ commitments.
Aug 23 - Sept 22
Opportunities may come wrapped in challenges that throw a spanner in the works. While progress may seem slow or delayed, be assured that careful planning and perseverance can help you ride over problems. Your ambition, hard work and aspiration are growth drivers.
They are likely to pay off in the form of a promotion, a pay raise, or new business opportunities. On the home front, you may take on a parental role in the family, providing stability and security. If single, perhaps a romance with a mature or older person may be in the offing. For those in a relationship, it is time to display some maturity and responsibility.
Sept 23 - Oct 22
The weight you have been carrying is being taken off your shoulders. Something you may have invested time and energy in will bear fruit. It could be a relationship, a career, or education. Perhaps it could be a process of learning and change, changing you from a soul perspective. Change is on the way. In case you feel like you are moving backward, that will be momentary. Let go and head for where you belong. Place your trust in your personal growth. It is time to bask in the limelight. If you are involved in a real estate deal, expect positive results in a year or two.
Oct 23 - Nov 21
You may feel like you are being pulled in one too many directions. Family and financial matters or strife at work may add to your internal conflict. Do not be bullied by the situation you face. The need to prove yourself by beating the competition ceases when you are not truly confident within. Stand tall. The chances of victory are high. Remember that real talent has its own light. Work to harmonize what you want with what is currently possible. Tact, being a better team player, maintaining clear boundaries and quiet assertiveness are recipes for the peace you seek.
Nov 22 - Dec 21
Things may not be going your way, but this is no time to throw in the towel. Whatever may have gone down – yesterday or last year – is no excuse to stop trying. Pave the way for a new sense of independence. When you stop needing and wanting something badly, watch it come rushing towards you. This includes relationships. Things, are likely to change in a partnership, whether you like it or not. Vet investments before making a purchase. Stave off the tyranny of moods with a solid routine that uplifts your energy. Remember, there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, repaired or replaced. Keep marching in faith.
Dec 22 - Jan 19
It’s time to think clearly and rationally while making life-altering decisions. So, keep the worry monster and anxiety at bay. While all may not seem as it looks, patience will prove fruitful. You are on the cusp of change. It may be time to mend fences if you have offended (knowingly or unknowingly) someone in the past. The power of communication can bridge any divide – more so in relationships. Step back and assess your financial situation. It may not be as bad as you think they are. Make YOU come first, and focus on your well-being. It is okay to seek support and find healthy ways to manage your stress.
Jan 20 – Feb 20
Individuality and independence are your strengths. Be assertive, optimistic, determined and use your unbridled energy to create opportunities. You have a chance to make a positive splash and receive
recognition. Follow your intuition and focus on what you want, instead of things that are holding you back. An opportunity to do better at work or to find new work, may spring up. So keep your eye on the ball. Things are fairly good financially, so resist the temptation to spend aimlessly. Being spontaneous in love could go a long way. Get out there and mingle if love is what you seek. Life needs some lightening up. While you do not need to be a barrel of laughs, do let your hair down once in a while.
Feb 21 – Mar 20
You may feel the desire to slow down, reflect and take a break from people and everyday life. This may be necessary for clarity, introspection and self-healing. It is possible that you may seek space in your relationship as well. Ensure you keep the lines of communication going to prevent any distance developing. It may be prudent to pinch pennies, since finances may pose a challenge momentarily. Or, the money may not be enough to satisfy you. Learning and maturity are part of the process. You may seek a mentor or delve deeper into spirituality. Instead of being obsessed by material or spiritual pursuits, aim for balance. Farzana Suri is a Victory Coach who coaches people through their life’s challenges to take the leap to victory, using the science of numerology. For a personalised forecast, you may contact Farzana at surifarzana@gmail. com or visit her website www.farzanasuri.com MAY 2021 | SEEMA.COM | 75
BOOKS | SEEMA
MOTHERHOOD AND ITS SUGARBREAD BY BALLI KAUR JAISWAL
PRATIKA YASHASWI
B
ritish paediatrician turned psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott believed that a child’s sense of self is built by the kind of a relationship that they have with their primary caregiver—in most cases, their mother. There is no self for an infant without the nurturer who wipes his/her backside, takes career-interrupting breaks from work, and keeps track of Zoom lesson timetables. So deeply intertwined are mother and child that the relationship can wound or heal, or both. Sometimes in catastrophic ways. So powerful is this connection that sometimes it alone suffices to take on the world. In Hindu mythology, Parvati creates and raises child Ganesha, entirely without the involvement (or knowledge) of her husband, Shiva. If you ask a Hindu, they’ll say he turned out fine. Even today, whispers it’s like you don’t even need men anymore. In the age of IVF, epidurals and great birth control, women have more agency than ever before. Motherhood has never, ever been simple. It has always been broad, complex and multifaceted. It stretches you beyond your wildest imaginings of who you could be. And it crushes you in unexpected ways. There’s always non-fiction to tell you what to expect when you’re expecting and how to frame your parenting challenges sociologically. But nothing quite captures motherhood like a good old novel.
76 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
1
Here’s a coming-of-age story set in a woefully underrepresented region of diaspora fiction: Singapore in the 90s. It’s a period writer Jaiswal is deeply connected with and she portrays it beautifully as she unfurls a tale spanning three generations of Sikh women. There is a mystery the solving of which is of utmost concern to the sweet, inquisitive heroine, Pin. Little Pin’s mother, Jini, has told her she is not to become like her. What does she mean? Then Pin’s grandmother moves in, upending the existing household order and resurfacing old secrets. With delectable prose (replete with talk of food, metaphors of food and love) and gorgeous detailing, one reviewer has called this novel “Singapore’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’”
(DIS)CONTENTS IN 7 BOOKS
2
ZIKORA BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
Adichie is one of the most powerful and influential voices of our times and in Zikora, she tackles motherhood with sensitivity, nuance and breadth through the tale of the book’s eponymous protagonist, a high-flying lawyer abandoned by her lover. Zikora is pregnant and her mother flies down from Nigeria to help. Their relationship is no idyllic picture, but as Zikora learns more about her mother’s life and struggles, she also learns more about herself and more importantly, about her dreams for her coming child. In just 34 pages, the short story manages to be expansive in its coverage of black motherhood, and the agony and ecstasy of childbirth.
A RIVER OF STARS BY VANESSA HUA
In China, Scarlett Chen, the mistress of her wealthy boss, finds out she is pregnant with his first male child. Delighted, the father of three daughters promptly sends her off to a secret maternity home in Los Angeles. Her son is to be born on American soil as a U.S. citizen, and thus a recipient of all the privileges that come along with it. But when a routine sonogram reveals something unexpected, Scarlett, along with a fellow unwed mother, Daisy, decides to make a break for it. Little do they know that Scarlett’s baby’s father is not far behind them. Adventurous, insightful and abundant in comic moments, the book reads like what the author herself has described the book as a “pregnant Thelma & Louise.”
4
3
THE LAST QUEEN BY CHITRA DIVAKARUNI BANERJEE
You know your Mumtaz Mahal and Jhansi Ki Rani. If you get Sony TV where you live, you also know Ahilyabai. But hear the name Jindan Kaur and chances are, it won’t ring even a payal bell. Kaur, the youngest of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s wives — and his favorite — was the mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh, who would ascend the throne at the tender age of six. She ruled as regent, valiantly fended off the British until they imprisoned and exiled her, and cruelly kidnapped her child. She was eventually reunited with him over thirteen years later (and only very briefly), when the British no longer saw her as a threat. “The Last Queen” is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and indefatigable heroines.
BOOKS | SEEMA
5
THE NEW WILDERNESS BY DIANE COOK
Mother Earth is a mother, too and her suffering is an aching presence in “The New Wilderness,” a Booker-nominated, exhilarating work of speculative climate-fiction. In a dystopic world wracked by dense smog and monstrous metropolises, Bea makes a decision for her infant Agnes, who will die if she does not get access to clean air. So Bea and Agnes find themselves alongside eighteen other volunteers in an experiment in the Wilderness State to see if humans can exist as hunter-gatherers in nature without destroying it. The story is situated amidst much turmoil, both existential and temporal, as Bea and Agnes’ relationship is tested over and over again.
WITH TEETH BY KRISTEN ARNETT
6
Out in June Motherhood and families come in all compositions, shapes and sizes and there’s nothing like looking into nonheteronormative families to see that we’re all messed up in the same way. With an absent wife and an increasingly unruly son, Sammie Lucas struggles to keep it together. When her son’s hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess. Exploring themes of queer marriage and of course, motherhood at its scariest, With Teeth, like Arnett’s breakout critics’ fave “Mostly Dead Things” promises to pierce, move and entertain. Set in Florida and pouring forth copious amounts of Arnett’s warm and witty style, the novel is a great read in between nap times or for socially-distanced beach reading.
78 | SEEMA.COM | MAY 2021
7 BELOVED BY TONI MORRISON
In Toni Morrison’s Pulitzerwinning novel set after the American Civil War, a woman makes a desperate choice — after all, who would wish a life of enslavement upon children whom you love? Not that there was any planning to it, but the attempt goes awry and so for years the protagonist, Sethe, her house, and her family are haunted by a spiteful infant spirit. Motherhood takes on a tragic, powerful face, one that transcends the realms. With a healthy dose of magical realism and gripping, page-turning prose, “Beloved” is a stunning work of literary fiction unlike any other, and if you let it in, you just might find yourself haunted by “Beloved” herself.
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