TALK DECEMBER 20, 2012

Volume 1 | Issue 19 | December 20, 2012 | Rs 10

AYYOTOONS Rajinikant, who kills two stones with one bird 5

talk the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly

TRIBUTE Pandit Ravi Shankar’s famous rivalry 11-12 LIT FEST The lofty, the flat, and the windy 13-14 CHRISTMAS Traditional recipes to welcome Santa 26

PARENTS vs CHILDREN A law only now being enforced is empowering elders to demand financial support from negligent children. It is changing family dynamics in unexpected ways, finds MARGOT COHEN 7-10

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

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mail

Why only negative reviews of books and movies?

I find a pattern in book and film reviews in issue after issue of Talk— they are mostly negative. Does the magazine do negative reviews because other newspapers do positive reviews? Is there nothing positive at all that Talk reviewers find? Admittedly, there is sensible stuff in the reviews and going against the grain sometimes makes interesting reading. But somehow, I can’t escape the feeling that Talk reviews are mostly negative in nature. The first feeling when I pick up the magazine to read reviews is that it will be negative. To that extent the magazine is getting predictable.

Perhaps you could take a more optimistic view of things.

Rajaram Srinivas Malleswaram (‘Negative’ reviewing is not our policy. But, yes, our writers hold strong opinions they back up with

facts and research. Don’t be surprised if they like something with the same intense conviction! —Ed).

Against cardboard food The article titled Don't eat cardboard food ( Issue 17) by Sandra Fernandes drew my curiosity. As a hardcore foodie with a passion for cooking, I found the article interesting. I especially liked reading about how model turned TV chef Aditya Bal finds solace in cooking. I agree with him on the importance of taking the trouble to find authentic regional cuisine, since commercialised versions of these are all that are available in cities like Bangalore. His advice rings true at a time when fast food has taken over. His recipies turned out to be the icing on the cake! Thank you.

Anne Rakesh by email

Right information at the right time I discovered your magazine accidentally when I visited an eye care hospital with a friend who needed a check-up. I'm pleased to report that it filled my need to be fed the right information at the right time! I sat and read through all the pages and could sense that what was in there was written with much passion and sense. Talk definitely talks about those things that are often overlooked by other publications.

Preeti Bharadwaj by email Pat for the photographer I have been looking at your magazine online over the last couple of weeks. As a photography student, I really don't have enough words to applaud Ramesh Hunsur, the photographer at Talk. He is just outstanding, and the pictures are lucid and perfect.

Maria Reena Bishop Cottons School What do you think of this edition?

Write to letters@talkmag.in

EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE TEAM

SR Ramakrishna Editor Sridhar Chari Consulting Editor Prashanth GN Senior Editor Sajai Jose Chief Copy Editor Savie Karnel Principal Correspondent Basu Megalkeri Principal Correspondent Prachi Sibal Senior Features Writer Sandra Fernandes and Maria Laveena Reporters and Copy Editors Anand Kumar K Chief of Design Shridhar G Kulkarni Graphic Designer Ramesh Hunsur Senior Photographer Vivek Arun Graphics Artist

Sumith Kombra Founder, CEO and Publisher Ralph Fernandez Manager - Marketing Aaron Jones Asst Manager - Marketing Abhay Sebastian Asst Manager - Sales Aman Preet Singh Asst Manager - Sales Mithun Sudhakar Asst Manager - Sales Kishore Kumar N Head - Circulation Vinayadathan KV Area Manager - Trade Yadhu Kalyani Sr Executive - Corporate Sales Lokesh KN Sr Executive - Subscriptions Prabhavathi Executive - Circulation Sowmya Kombra Asst Process Manager

Printed and published by Sumith Kombra on behalf of Shakthi Media Ventures India Pvt Ltd - FF70, Gold Towers, Residency Road, Bangalore -560025 and printed at Lavanya Mudranalaya, Chamarajpet, Bangalore-560018.

Editor: SR Ramakrishna. Editorial Office: FF70, Gold Towers, Residency Road, Bangalore -560025 Email: info@talkmag.in Phone: 08049332100, 08040926658. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

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city crime

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editor talk

SILENCED Lingaraju (left) was close to corporator Gowramma and her husband Govindaraju before their political rise, but turned against them when they cut their ties with him

Blood on their hands Azadnagar councillor Gowramma and her husband have been jailed for the supari killing of journalist Lingaraju. Who is he, and why exactly did they go after him?

BASU MEGALKERI basavaraju@talkmag.in

ouncillor Gowramma was arrested earlier this week for the murder of RTI activist Lingaraju, a case in which she’s been implicated along with her husband Govindaraju. On the surface, it seems like a corrupt-politicianeliminates-truth-seeker kind of story, but the plot goes deeper.

A few years ago, Govindaraju was a Group D employee in the public works department. He got a salary of about Rs 15,000 and struggled to make ends meet. With the intention of making some extra money, he entered the real estate business. He soon realised that political clout would help his business. So he joined the Congress.

C

BBMP and corruption

Gowramma was not the first corporator raided by the Lokayukta. Recently, two other Congress corporators fell into the corruption watchdog’s net.

Sudhamanagar corporator Angamuthu Avai was trapped when she was extorting money from hotel owners. Similarly, Ganesh Mandir corporator Govindaraju was caught taking a bribe. The court had sentenced him to four years in jail, but he is now out on bail.

Many activists use the RTI Act to catch out the corrupt. But when critical information gets into the wrong hands, corrupt municipal officials get blackmailed. From time to time, new publications crop up only with the intention of blackmail, police say.

It was here that he met Lingaraju, who was also in the same business and from the same locality.

They became friends.

Lingaraju also published a monthly magazine called Maha Prachanda. Failing to bring out the magazine regularly, he shut it down.

In the meantime, Govindaraju rose in the Congress. He became the Chamarajpet block president. He resigned from his government job.

He made his wife contest from the Azadnagar ward, not far from Chamarajpet. Lingaraju helped the couple during the campaigning, and Gowramma won and became a councillor like her husband.

Gowramma’s victory meant power to Govindaraju. Many say she was just a puppet in his hands. He was the one who ran the ward affairs. He moved around with political big-wigs. He cracked huge real estate deals and grew richer. He now moved with the likes of senior Congress leaders RV Deshpande and DK Shivakumar.

With their newly acquired status, the couple were too busy for their old friends. They ignored Lingaraju, who had helped them during elections. They ridiculed him. This troubled Lingaraju. Anger got the better of him.

The police have begun to piece together what happened. Being a journalist and an RTI activist, Lingaraju investigated the sudden accumulation of wealth by the couple. He filed for details through RTI and kept collecting evidence against them. He intended to complain to

the Lokayukta, and had revealed his plans to his friends.

Getting wind of his plans, police say, Govindaraju offered him Rs 5 lakh to keep his mouth shut.

But Lingaraju did not give in. It was not lust for money, police say, but a thirst for revenge that drove him.

Lingaraju filed a complaint with the Lokayukta, which raided Govindaraju’s house on November 9, 2012. The Lokayukta found that the couple had amassed wealth worth Rs 500 crore.

Lingaraju had called the media, which telecast the raid live on channels. The newspapers splashed the couple’s pictures and shamed them.

Humiliated, Govindaraju vowed to finish off Lingaraju. He allegedly hired some goons and paid them Rs 7.5 lakh to kill Lingaraju. In the wee hours of November 20, they arrived at Lingaraju’s house, and hacked him to death.

The police easily solved the case. They have now arrested corporator Gowramma, Govindaraju and the seven hired killers. The Congress has thrown them out of the party. The government has seized their assets.

The credit for putting the criminals behind bars should go to Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice B B Nagaratna of the divisional bench of the High Court. The court had filed a suo moto case and demanded a probe. Public prosecutor Azmat Pasha took up the case for Lingaraju’s family. It was the judiciary’s initiative that resulted in speedy proceedings.

The Indian joint family, where at least four generations lived together, is extinct. They say it is now difficult even to find siblings living in the same city. People move out in search of livelihoods, and attitudes to family change. In many cases, elders, forced to live by themselves, cannot get by without financial support. The government can do little about providing emotional security for them, but it has stepped in to ensure that children send them money every month. A little-known law that came into force in 2009 in Karnataka enables seniors to file cases against children who neglect them, but awareness is low, and only 26 elderly people have benefited from it in three years. Margot Cohen travelled in Kodagu, Mysore and Bangalore to research our cover story, and found equations changing dramatically in many families. Our centrespread: Basu Megalkeri has dug up some hitherto neglected information about film dubbing in many states. The Competition Commission of India is now asking the Kannada film industry to explain its five-decade-old informal ban on dubbing. While the battle rages, this much we know: dubbing hasn’t killed the Tamil and Telugu industries. Will it annihilate the Kannada film industry? Industries in Gujarat and Punjab haven’t produced great cinema even after they prohibited dubbing. It is true these industries feel overwhelmed by the sheer money power of Bollywood. But then, it is unrealistic that regional language films can spend as much as Mumbai and Hollywood. Perhaps the only way to take them on is to produce sensitive, entertaining fare. Good scripts just might help the Kannada industry, once known for its bold experiments, fight the moneybags.

SR Ramakrishna ram@talkmag.in

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radio prank

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Tricked into tragedy When a hoax call by two RJs led to the suicide of a Mangalore-born nurse in the UK, it led to outrage. Bangalore’s RJs are examining the implications, while listeners are demanding that a line be drawn SANDRA M FERNANDES AND MARIA LAVEENA he prank show, once the staple of TV channels like MTV, is an even bigger hit on FM radio, and many channels made their reputation on ‘innovative’ hoaxes pulled on listeners by enterprising RJs. But when last week, Jacintha Saldanha, born in Shirva near Mangalore, reportedly killed herself over a prank call, it triggered a worldwide public outcry. Two RJs of Australian station 2Day FM called Jacintha, a nurse at King Edward VII hospital where Kate Middleton, the wife of England’s Prince William, was undergoing treatment for morning sickeness. RJ Mel Greig pretended to be Queen Elizabeth, while her colleague Michael Christian played the part of Prince Charles.

Mistaking the call for a genuine one, Jacintha put it through to her colleague in the ward, who explained Kate’s status to the RJs. Only when the recording of the call was aired did Jacintha realise that she was fooled, which is said to have prompted her suicide. It has since been reported that Jacintha left behind three suicide notes, one of which deals with the prank call, while another criticises her colleagues at the hospital.

As questions are being raised about the ethics of prank shows, Talk decided to find out what Bangalore’s listeners and RJs—many of whom regularly make such prank calls—had to say about it.

Renjith P George, an instructional designer with Infosys, told Talk, “It is okay and fun to make prank calls to individuals but it is not funny to call hospitals or such places to make prank calls.” He feels that such calls definitely amount to an invasion of privacy and RJ’s should take care that they do not cross the

T

TRAGIC END A photograph of Jacintha Saldanha from her daughter’s Facebook page.

Australian RJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian (below)

limits. He also points to the very nature of interaction on air, where things happen too quickly for RJs to have a considered reaction.

Nisha Narayanan, senior vice president (programming) at 93.5 Red FM, thinks the Australian RJs did cross the line. “A hospital is no place to make a prank call to. This is an unwritten rule. Secondly, this was an unsolicited prank call—no one but the Aussie radio station knew about this call. Still, they didn’t consider the possibility of how the call would affect the recipient,” she says.

RJs in Bangalore who run their own prank shows say that they follow certain guidelines and try not to hurt people, but admit that there have

been occasions when their calls have been damaging.

RJ Prithvi of Radio One recalls an incident when the prank he pulled almost made a listener cry. “A colleague of mine once asked me to pull a prank on his wife. Half-way through, I realised that she was on the verge of crying. Maybe it was the tone of my voice that she didn’t like.

That’s when I stopped and revealed my identity,” recalls Prithvi, who hosts the Birthday Bakra segment of the channel.

Some of his calls that might have hurt listeners’ sentiments were not broadcast. “Of all the calls that I have made, only four of five have not been aired. That was because the individu-

als were uncomfortable,” he says.

RJ Kiran of Radio Indigo, who too occasionally pull pranks on listeners, claims that the intention is “to agitate or provoke the listener, which at times does get them irritated. But at the end of the prank, RJs reveal their identity and the listener has a laugh along with the RJ or the audience,” he says.

Fabian Lobo, a purchase executive and avid radio listener, does not think that this is always the case. He says he has often found RJs who call listeners crossing the limits. “They should think of the consequences and stop at some point,” he says. Speaking about the Jacintha incident, Fabian said that if the RJs had revealed their identity at the end of the call, things may have turned out different. “It might have put her under tremendous pressure from the hospital authorities for revealing the information, but she might not have taken such a drastic step,” he says.

While the Jacintha incident created widespread outrage, some radio professionals here feel that the Australian RJs were simply doing their job. “The Australian RJs pulled off a great radio prank,” says Kiran Sreedhar, programming director at Radio Indigo. “Even we make similar calls, but always reveal our identities at the end. Those two didn’t do that, so it was only when the episode was aired that the nurse knew it was a prank,” he says.

RJ Anjaan, a former Bangalore RJ now with a Dubai station, thinks that low licence fees and an all-round permissiveness in countries like Australia give presenters “a free hand.”

Dr Shyam Bhat, a psychiatrist who runs counseling shows on city radio stations, and also travels abroad regularly, says that RJs in India don’t go to the extreme lengths their counterparts abroad do. “The prank played on the nurse in UK was not in good taste. Here I have not heard many RJs being out of the line during prank calls, but abroad it is very prevalent.”

Following Jacintha’s death, the Australian station was flooded with complaints from the public, and were forced to take the show off air.

Australia’s media watchdog body is now investigating the case, and media reports indicate that the station could end up losing its license.

fun lines

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political diary

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Endgame for the big two

RAMESH HUNSUR

One of the highlights of the forthcoming state assembly election will be the battle between the two ageing gladiators, Deve Gowda and SM Krishna Five major parties are in the race for the Karnataka assembly in the state early next year—the Congress, JD(S), BJP, KJP and the BSR Congress. It has become fairly clear now, however, that it is really only the Congress and the JD(S) which will be on the board for the endgame.

Leading the Congress is SM Krishna, and in the JD(S), who else can lead but HD Deve Gowda? Yeddyurappa from the KJP and Sriramulu from the BSR Congress will try to put up a good fight.

It is not clear who the BJP will field as its main campaigner. Morale is plunging deeper every day.

So all eyes on Krishna vs Deve Gowda.

Considering their age (81 and 80 respectively), many see it as the last clash between these gladiators. They have much in common. Both hail from

BATTLE ROYALE HD Deve Gowda, SM Krishna

Revanna sings a new tune HD Deve Gowda's son HD Revanna has long coveted the chief minister's post. But of late, he has been going around denying he is an aspirant.

Something has changed.

RAMESH HUNSUR

Political wilderness PWD minister CM Udasi is widely expected to quit the BJP and follow BS Yeddyurappa into his new party, even if this harms his political career.

Revanna is well-known as an MLA and minister. He was president of Karntaka Milk Federation for nine years. He is a man of great pride, and evidently, not a little jealous of younger brother HD Kumaraswamy, who staged a coup of sorts and became chief minister after toppling the Congress-JD(S) government in 2006. Revanna reigned as the 'unofficial CM' of Hassan then.

Revanna is known to have propounded the view that being senior in age and in politics he is the one who must be made chief minister in the Gowda household. Discomfited by this battle on the home front, Deve Gowda had promised him that prize, whatever happens.

the old Mysore region. Both are from the land-owning community of the Vokkaligas. Both were born in May. Both entered public life in 1962-63 and have stayed put for 50 years. Both made it to New Delhi: Krishna as external affairs minister and Deve Gowda as prime minister. And, oh yes, they detest each other. It should be a terrific fight to the finish.

The way he tells it, he has been there before. In 1989, the Janata Party witnessed a tussle between Deve Gowda and Ramakrishna Hegde, and again in 1999, between JH Patel and Deve Gowda. "The party suffered, and so did my prospects. Now, I will go with my leader Yeddyurappa and again suffer political wilderness for another decade if need be," he says.

HD Revanna

Mysore region. We have heard that Deve Gowda, therefore, had a bit of a chat with him. He told Revanna plainly But a rebellion is brewing in that he was not the kind of leader Revanna's own fiefdom of Hassan.

Puttegowda, Vishwanath and Prakash, that inspires party workers, whereas all powerful leaders of his party, have they dance to the tunes of his brother Kumaraswamy. So he has agreed to deserted him and are in search of project Kumaraswamy for the CM's greener pastures. With Vokkaliga post, and then "do what’s needed" leader SM Krishna taking over the post-polls. That should tell you why reins of the Congress, the JD(S) Revanna’s is singing a new tune. cannot expect a free run in the old

CM Udasi

KS Eshwarappa with Ananth Kumar

No, thanks With the exit of BS Yeddyurappa, the field is clear for a new leader to take over the reins.

Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar have had their little stints.

Would Ananth Kumar or Eshwarappa step up please? But no, they don't want to do it.

last time around. They currently have 117 MLAs. Many of these are set to fly to the Congress, Yeddyurappa's KJP, and even Sriramulu's BSR Congress. Of the remaining 70 to 80 MLAs, only about 40 are expected to manage reelection.

They have declined to pick up the gauntlet. The BJP is widely expected to do badly at the hustings, after squandering the mandate they received

Small wonder that Ananth Kumar and Eshwarappa are giving these elections a pass.

Why waste time, money and effort?

BASU MEGALKERI

senior life

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RAMESH HUNSUR

LEGAL ROUTE Abdul Salam, who lives in Malleswaram, filed a petition seeking maintenance from his son

A new safety net Emotions are running high in cases filed under the Maintenance of Parents and Senior Citzens Act, widely seen as a ground-breaking vehicle for the elderly to demand financial support from their children. MargotCohen findsBangalore seniors less aware of their rights than their counterparts in Kodagu district

aran Johar appears frequently on Star World these days, promoting an Australian TV serial about troubled adult children who return to the nest when their own lives spin into chaos. With a knowing eye, Johar tells viewers, “When all else fails, there’s family.”

The pitch evokes India’s own image of the reliable, all-embracing joint family, where parents continue to live with their married children, at least the eldest son.

Urbanisation and migration may have changed many lives, but tradition still calls for a square deal. Children are to be nourished, educated and shepherded into jobs and matrimony. In turn they offer food and shelter to their aged parents, with filial affection and respect.

But a very different picture emerges from the bulging files of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, a piece of legislation that is starting to pick up steam,

K

particularly in Karnataka, Andhra Maintenance was awarded in 26 cases, Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. with 46 claims pending.

Such cases offer a microscopic The Act was passed by Parliament with the President giving formal approval view of painful fissures within the joint back in 2007, but it comes into force family. In Coorg, an 86-year-old mother only when states, after forming state with heart problems and arthritis rules, officially gazette it. The law has sounds bewildered by the effort it took been in force in Karnataka since 2009. to extract monthly payments from her In acknowledging mounting evi- four sons, all of whom hold university dence of neglect and abuse suffered by degrees from Mysore and benefited senior citizens across India, the Act rep- from inherited property. “I only wanted a comfortable, happy resents a radical idea: it life for all of us,” said allows anyone over age the elderly mother, a 60 to demand a stipend Decisions on former owner of two from their children of cases under the coffee estates. “Who up to Rs 10,000 a Maintenance Act would even think of month, if the children are delivered these problems?” One have the ability to pay of her daughters and the parents are within 90 days requested that the unable to sustain themfamily’s name be withselves.

In contrast with civil court cases, held from publication. “After she passes which typically grind on for years, deci- away, the sons have to perform the last sions are mandated within 90 days. In rites. I don’t want them to be upset if Karnataka alone, ever since state rules their names are mentioned,” the daughwere framed in November 2009, 80 ter explained.

“Nobody wants to be tagged in cases have been filed so far.

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BHAVANI GS

BHAVANI GS

FIGHT FOR RIGHTS (Above) KKL Rao, who heads Madikeri’s Senior Citizen Forum, actively campaigns to raise awareness about the Act. (Right) This 86-year-old former coffee estate owner was not supported by any of the four sons who inherited her property, and won a stipend from the tribunal

society as the person who abandons his 247 claims. AP did not officially issue state parents,” said G Prabhu, the Madikeri- rules until January, 2012, yet senior citizens based Assistant Commissioner who cur- had started filing cases back in 2009. Local rently rules on seniors’ claims in Coorg. officials had allowed them to file cases, on Surprisingly, this is the locality that tops the basis of a set of “draft rules.”

In the cases already decided, more the list in Karnataka, with 27 claims registhan 60 per cent of elders were awarded tered.

But it would be a mistake to assume maintenance. Dozens of other cases were that the hundreds of cases filed nationwide also handled in AP through conciliation under the Maintenance Act are all matters teams spearheaded by senior citizens.

This is no bonanza for the legal proof blithe disregard by ungrateful, deeppocketed children. Instead, the Act exposes fession. One of the Act’s key provisions universal themes of family drama: intense prevents either side from hiring an advosibling rivalries, clashes between mothers cate to make verbal pleadings. The effect of and daughters-in-law, accusations of sexu- this has been mixed, sources say. On the al promiscuity, addictions to alcohol, one hand, it can serve to level the playing field, since impoverished resentment over property seniors won’t be outmadistribution, and irresponIn Bangalore, noeuvred by legal teams sible money management. hired by children with In some cases, the chilmany seniors more resources. dren may also feel a raw hesitate to file On the other hand, sense of abandonment, and complaints it serves to diminish are struggling to cope with against their awareness of the act, their own economic bursince there is no motive dens. children for advocates to go out “Why should I attend and drum up business. the tribunal? Why do I want the headache?” blurted one 53-year-old son (In some cases, advocates have managed to residing in Bangalore, who failed to attend prepare some written documents, but the a November 20th session in Madikeri con- payback is minimal.) And for those chilcerning his father’s claim for a Rs 2,500 dren who feel deeply alienated by a parent, there is no way to simply dispatch an advomonthly stipend.

He recounted a tale of a violent, alco- cate and avoid a confrontation.

In Bangalore, many seniors remain holic parent who lost all the family property and subjected his wife and children to hesitant to file a complaint against their beatings, before they fled to Bangalore. own children. “We do receive a fair number “From the age of two, he didn’t feed me of queries, nearly every day. But very few of anything. So much land he has sold, for his them are actually converted to petitions,” personal drinking. I am still paying off said Shiv Kumar, convener of the Elders’ loans that I took to pay for the marriages of Helpline at Nightingales Medical Trust. my two sisters. What law will answer for “Once we tell them about the procedures, and the possible fall-out within the realm that?” of relationships in the family, they back off.”

No incentive for advocates On some level, seniors may also blame There are no reliable national figures for claims filed, according to the Ministry of themselves for failing to instill “family valJustice and Social Empowerment. But in ues” in their children. According to southern India, the most fertile ground Kolkata-based activist Anuradha Sen: appears to be Andhra Pradesh (AP), with “Unless they are really pushed into a cor-

ner, their backs to a wall, they don’t put family matters out in the open.”

With the odds stacked against any enforcement of the Act, how has it actually gotten off the ground in localities such as Coorg and pockets of Andhra Pradesh? The answer lies in a confluence of social and political forces. It takes a pro-active senior citizens association, with or without help from an NGO, to lobby local officials so that they activate tribunals, and raise awareness of the Act within the community. If the local official in charge of the tribunal is already attuned to problems involving senior citizens-and enlists the local media to spread the word-the door can swing wide open.

Economic forces are also driving seniors to come forward. With health costs rising, many aged parents find themselves without a safety net. Panic is setting in.

“We have no savings at all. No health insurance, no life insurance,” said 69-year-old Abdul Salam, former owner of an electrical shop on Margosa Street. He lives with his second wife in a narrow rented apartment in Malleswaram, while his only son occupies a suburban home built with family funds.

In 2010, however, a Bangalore tribunal dismissed Salam’s claim for support.

The ruling said that since Salam was still receiving Rs 15,000 in monthly rental

income from a tenanted property, his son was not obligated to chip in. But Salam, a veteran of clashes with his son and daughter-in-law over his choice of a second wife, continues to feel insecure.

Some cases boil down to sibling warfare over shouldering a fair share of medical expenses. Even in such cases, however, the elderly person risks becoming a pawn in a broader conflict. A sibling will agree to pay for expenses, as long as the parent shifts into his (or her) care.

“They are using my mother as a begging bowl to solve their financial problems,” claimed one irate son, in a battle against his sister and brother-in-law, who sheltered the mother and paid for all her doctors’ bills.

Yet the mother–a former seamstress who spent long nights stitching to pay for school fees—has refused to move back in with her son. “My son got married in January 2004. Since then I have been subject to immense mental harassment.

Unable to stay in a hostile environment with a lot of mental trauma, I left behind my house and all my belongings… I hereby state that I do not wish to stay with my son and his wife,” the widow declared in her petition.

However, there is also evidence that a petition can bring positive results, even before any ruling from a tribunal. In the

senior life

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BHAVANI GS

case of one aging father in northern Bangalore, “the moment the notice went out, all the daughters-in-law were there, carrying biryani! From then on, they started to take care of him,” recalled KH Jagadish, the advocate who moved the High Court to get the Karnataka tribunals up and running in 2009.

The Madikeri experience Bangalore could pick up a few lessons from the experience in Coorg. There, the Senior Citizen Forum got wind of the Act coming into force in Karnataka and decided to hold a workshop in May 2011, attended by some 120 elderly people and local officials.

“Things started brewing,” recalled KKL Rao, president of the forum.

The local culture was conducive to a forthright approach. While Kodavas comprise only 17 per cent of Coorg’s population, other communities follow their lead.

“Kodavas tend to be pro-active. If they know that they have a right to something, they would at least test the waters. They are, in some ways, adventurous,” observed Boverianda Nanjamma, a Bangalore-based writer and translator. In addition, a relatively high literacy rate and a history of jealousy-laced property disputes fuelled interest in the Act. The senior citizens found a sympathetic ear at the assistant commissioner’s office, where Dr MR Ravi was posted. A former journalist and history professor, Ravi had concerns over the number of elderly people left isolated and cashstrapped on their coffee and cardamom plantations. With their children migrating to Bangalore, Mysore, and Mangalore in search of higher education and jobs, family ties were weakening. “I started exploring ways to give relief to such people,” he said.

“We should not forget: we also become old, and may be disowned by the children.”

Ravi ruled on 16 maintenance claims before he was promoted to be commissioner of the Mysore City Corporation in June, 2012. He urged local print and radio journalists to publicise the cases to encourage other seniors to step up. “Parents used to come and thank me with folded hands.

That gave me satisfaction. It’s a God-sent reward for one in office,” he recalled.

In some cases, however, the outcome was more ambiguous.

Take Leelavathi KV, a 65-year-old widow and mother of three children. Her house in Katakeri village, about 6 kilometers outside of Madikeri, overlooks a lush expanse of paddy fields and hilly terrain.

For a time, Leelavathi shared her home with her son and daughter-in-law. Her son helped to farm her one-and-a-half acres of paddy fields, and gather coffee that was planted behind the house.

But serenity was elusive. Leelavathi recalled that her daughter-in-law would scream at her and prevent her from spending time with the grandchildren. In turn,

LAST RESORT Leelavathi, a 65-year-old widow who lives near Madikeri, fell out with her son and his wife.

A tribunal responded to her petition by awarding her a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000

Leelavathi criticised her daughter-in-law he has cheated me and not taken care of for laziness in not helping with the agricul- me, that’s OK. But I don’t want to do the tural chores. Sometimes the conflict same to him.”

Reached by phone, Leelavathi’s 36turned violent. “She tried to strangle me,” said the widow. “Her point is, don’t stay year old son, KV Harish said he had not been informed about the monthly Rs. 5,000 here to sleep.”

So Leelavathi fled to her eldest mar- obligation. In any event, he said he couldn’t ried daughter’s home, in a nearby village. spare that sum, given the needs of supportAnd having heard about the Maintenance ing his own family in Bangalore. Even more Act, she filed for a cash stipend from her impossible would be to reconcile his wife son. “The neighbours said, why don’t you and mother. He said his mother forced his compromise?” she recounted. “But how wife to quit her job as a schoolteacher, and can we compromise when he is not taking “humiliated her” at functions. In the big care of me?” However, as soon as she filed city of Bangalore, they could live their own the case, her son and daughter-in-law lives.

What is to be done when a child fails reportedly sold off 12 bags of coffee and moved to Bangalore with their two small to comply with a tribunal’s order? In Madikeri, Assistant children.

She heard Commissioner G Prabhu through the grapevine that The Act exposes spoke of his recent efforts he found work as a security guard, but he never universal themes to enforce judgments by police to issue a called. of family drama: asking warrant to the offending In June 2012, the trifrom sibling party. The document bunal ordered the son to rivalry to clashes states, “Failure to obey pay Leelavathi Rs 5,000 per this warrant would result month. Yet she has not over property in imprisonment for a received any money. She term of one month or complains that she does not have the energy to plant the paddy until the payment of the maintenance act fields alone, and can’t afford to hire work- is fully paid.”

A dentist at odds with her father ers. She survives on occasional day wages as a coffee picker on outside estates. “If I received a major shock when the police fall sick and go to the doctor, I won’t have turned up at her workplace in Bangalore.

Asking that her name be withheld from any money,” she said.

Still, she can’t imagine selling her land publication, the dentist spoke bitterly of and putting the proceeds in a fixed deposit her experience. “Some people are really to cushion her future. “A father’s property misusing this Act,” she said.

Both parties agree on some basic should go to the son,” she said firmly.

“What he has done, God is there to judge. If facts: the petitioner left his wife and

daughter in 1996 and eventually set up a household in Bandipur with a female companion. Soon after the move, he signed over his Bangalore home to the daughter, along with other properties. The daughter and her mother agreed to send him cash regularly, and even supplied funds to build him a house and borewells in Bandipur.

Driven out of the area by lack of water, the father said that he also experienced a drought in funds. (She insists that she sent money, all along.) He tried making a maintenance claim in Chamrajnagar, but his petition was ignored. He then shifted with his companion to a new area, and filed a petition in Madikeri. This time, he was awarded Rs. 10,000 monthly.

Although his daughter never travelled to Coorg for the tribunal sessions, she did come up with a Rs 9,000 payment. Irked by the Rs 1,000 shortfall, he informed the tribunal, and the police issued a warrant.

Mortified that she was ushered into a police station, the dentist paid the extra Rs 1,000 and avoided jail.

The father, now 72 years old, said he has no regrets. “The order is there. It is her own fault that this has brought her humiliation. It is not mine.” He mused on the irony of the case. “I prayed to God to give me only one girl. I never had a desire for a son. My reason was, maybe a female child will have more affection for parents than a male child.” But the dentist, a mother of two, seethed at those words (as relayed by a reporter). “It’s easy to say. But he left us, just like that. My mother and I have suffered all these years.”

Why didn’t she go to Madikeri to explain her side of the story? The dentist replied, “I didn’t want to see his face.”

Counselling and mediation With emotions running high, some observers argue that a combination of counselling and mediation would be a better route than a series of brief appearances before an assistant commissioner.

In fact, the Maintenance Act calls for a team of conciliation officers to be appointed in each locality. The team is supposed to meet with family members, and only pass on cases to the tribunal if consensus can’t be reached.

That’s how the system works in a few districts in Andhra Pradesh, but it doesn’t seem to have been widely adopted.

In this regard, India might examine the track record in Singapore, which passed its own Maintenance of Parents Act in 1996. Just last year, the government decided to “prioritise conciliation over legal action,” and reports that 80 per cent of cases reached settlement through consensus in 2011. The tiny nation-state recorded 286 cases filed last year.

Singapore had the same problem with offspring who were estranged from their parents due to alcoholism, gambling, or desertion. But under Singapore’s system,

senior life

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MADHUSUDHAN SR

How to file a case under the Maintenance Act

SUPPORTIVE Civil servant Dr MR Ravi has helped further the cause in Kodagu (Coorg), the district with the maximum number of elders’ maintenance cases

the child must still recognise a “basic duty” to support an elderly parent. It remains to be seen whether India’s tribunals will take the same approach.

Clearly, the Act is no remedy for BPL families, whose children can’t be expected to provide elders with monthly stipends. As for the moneyed classes, some senior citizen groups are now advising extra caution. “We are explaining to the parents, don’t give any property to the children until they reach the end of their

life,” said VK Veerarao, the 72year-old president of the West Godavari district senior citizens association. If they sign those gift deeds prematurely, “they’ll be thrown out,” he predicted.

Later this month, Bangalore officials plan to hold “awareness camps” in Yelahanka and Anekal to apprise seniors of their new rights under the Maintenance Act. Participants will be told that children are not so very reliable, and when all else fails—sue them.

Senior citizens who have made the decision to press for financial support from their children using the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, may either file a petition personally, or have a caretaker do so. In either case, they may request assistance from an NGO worker or relative to help fill out the forms. An advocate is not permitted.

Kantharaju, Assistant Commissioner & Subdivisional Magistrate, Kandhaya Bhavan, Bangalore North subdivision.

Phone: 2210-0056; email: acnorthblr@gmail.com

Forms are available at both these offices. Petitions may be hand-written, but they require some detailed information, including the name/age/address of the child, sources of income for the Those residing in Bangalore parent/child, details of property South, may visit the the office owned by parent/child, and of Dr BV Vasanthi Amar, Assistant Commissioner & Sub- details of transfer of property divisional Magistrate, Bangalore made by the senior citizen in South sub-division. Her office is the previous three years. located at Kandhaya Bhavan, The dossier will be more second floor, KG Road, persuasive with documentary Bangalore 560009. The evidence, such as salary slips, building is new, and no landline gift deeds, or other documents. has yet been installed. The However, if a parent can only email address is estimate an offspring’s wealth, acbloresouth@gmail.com. then the tribunal may compel the offspring to submit the Seniors residing in Bangalore North may visit the office of PS necessary documents regarding

salary and property.

Finally, the senior citizen should be prepared to specify how much money (s)he needs each month, with a ceiling amount of Rs 10,000.

A helpline set up by the Nightingales Medical Trust can answer questions about the Maintenance Act. Call 1090 and speak to Shiv Kumar.

Forms may also be obtained from the Directorate of Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens, Podium Block, Vishveswaraiah Tower, Dr Ambedkar Road, phone 2286-6066 or 22866046. Otherwise try the Federation of Senior Citizens Forums in Karnataka [FSCFK], which has a small garage-level office in the Pushparang Building, No. 14, Cornell Cross Road, Langford Gardens.

Phone: 2222-2184 or 22632051. However, all petitions must still be filed at Kandhaya Bhavan.

tribute

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Our Ravi Shankar (no, not Sri Sri) The question of whether the sitar maestro was the greatest of his generation will continue. For now, Bangaloreans must simply be grateful for the many scintillating concerts he gave the city

SR RAMAKRISHNA ram@talkmag.in

ho is the greatest sitarist of our times: Pandit Ravi Shankar or Ustad Vilayat Khan?

Among connoisseurs in Bangalore, as elsewhere, this question was often debated. Ravi Shankar visited Bangalore more frequently than Vilayat Khan—his students lived in Bangalore and propagated his style of playing, but Vilayat Khan’s diehard admirers thought Ravi Shankar’s music was showy, not austere enough.

Showy? That would be a blasphemous word to describe someone

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PIONEER Ravi Shankar’s (1920-2012) extensive collaborations with Western musicians earned him the title of ‘godfather of world music’

with Ravi Shankar’s iconic stature.

Yet, in music circles, people make comparisons, and arrive at conclusions, some of which are just fashionable, and some well considered. No one could deny Ravi Shankar’s greatness, but his association with pop stars and movies and politicians somehow made him, for a class wary of Page 3, a little less of a hero than Vilayat Khan.

Ravi Shankar was deeply rooted in Indian music and thought, but was fundamentally Western in his approach to life. In his autobiography Raga Mala, edited and introduced by George Harrison, he reveals many aspects of this life that others might have obscured. He is unapologetic about his love of the good life, even though he feels he could have scaled greater peaks in music had he been as disciplined as his guru Baba Allauddin Khan. He is especially open about his love life, something classical musicians in India are not comfortable discussing or recording for posterity.

It was a startling discovery for me that Vilayat Khan admired the Mysore maharajas, and was scathing about how democratic India was treating its musicians. When I met him for an interview at the Windsor Manor 10 years ago, I asked him why

he had famously declined the Padma described Veena Venkatagiriyappa as awards. He had just refused the his hero.

Europe and the West played a Padma Vibhushan, calling it an ‘insult’ since it had already been given big role in Ravi Shankar’s life, but for to his juniors. From all accounts, he Vilayat Khan, music couldn’t be a was upset Ravi Shankar had bagged mish-mash. Hailing from a long linthe big titles before him, and how eage of sitar players, Vilayat Khan could he acknowledge he was second wasn’t one for collaborations and to his longtime rival, even in the silly mixing this with that. “You can play raga Chandni Kedar. matter of awards?

Or you can play the Vilayat Khan ‘All innovators Moonlight Sonata. didn’t say a word are a little mad,’ You can’t do both at about Ravi Shankar. the same time,” he In fact, he spoke Osho said of said during the angrily about the Ravi Shankar interview. political class. “Why Ravi Shankar should I receive an award from the hands of someone had been a dancer in his brother Uday who knows nothing about my Shankar’s troupe, touring Europe and music?” he said, bristling. That was in the world. After he gave up dancing in keeping with his earlier position, that 1938, he lived a life of difficulty in the committee selecting musicians Maihar, learning music in Baba’s for the Padma awards was ‘incompe- gurukul. When he moved to the US, tent’. Sitting cross-legged on the car- he spread Indian music at events as pet in his suite, he went on to talk American as Woodstock. Since the about his association with Mysore, 1960s, Ravi Shankar was revered as and how he would have been happy the godfather of world music, thanks to receive any award from mainly to his association with Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the Western musicians of all persuasions. maharaja famed for his knowledge of From the Beatles to Yehudi Menuhin Indian and European music, or the to Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar had colNizam of Hyderabad. The generosity laborated with, taught, and inspired of the Mysore court, he recalled, had some of the world’s most respected helped classical music, both northern non-Indian musicians.

Ravi Shankar today may not be and southern, flourish, and he

tribute

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as quickly identified as he was 20 years ago (On December 12, when he died, The Daily Beast and MTV wrongly published a photo of the New Age guru Sri Sri!), but he was a glamorous star who could mesmerise audiences who had never heard an Indian melody, and then convert them into devotees, and even students, of raga music.

In his younger days, when Ravi Shankar came down to Mysore, he would visit the house of the great composer Vasudevacharya (whose composition Brochevarevarura in raga Khamach is a concert standard). He spent time with the orthodox guru, discussing the nuances of southern ragas. In fact, Ravi Shankar introduced several Carnatic elements, such as the percussion solo, on the Hindustani stage, and enjoyed a warm rapport with people in this part of the world even before his students NR Rama Rao and Shubhendra Rao got well-known here.

Earlier this year, Ravi Shankar performed at the Palace Grounds, just a week or so after a German film orchestra had played AR Rahman in this city. Ravi Shankar’s hands flew over the frets with the old dexterity, but his touch had become faint, and many of his expressions sounded muted. But, happily, his daughter Anoushka took off from where he left, and produced the dazzling patterns and

sparkling sonics that he had in his head. It is not every day that you get to hear a 92year-old maestro perform on stage. I had heard him live at Ravindra Kalakshetra before, but that was at least two decades earlier, and this concert drove home a point: a great musician in his declining years is still better than a film orchestra at its peak and with no excitement about its music. The German orchestra came here as part of a business promotion event, and the organisers had selected Rahman because, as everyone knows, he is the most saleable musician in India today. The huge German orchestra took Rahman a bit too seriously, and performed pieces picked from his background scores: they made no sense without the visuals, and they weren’t great standalone pieces either.

So how does Ravi Shankar come across to someone who doesn’t belong in his camp or in Vilayat Khan’s? Vilayat Khan’s music is awe-inspiring, but Ravi Shankar can be much more accessible.

“Ustad Vilayat Khan was born for the sitar, or rather, the sitar was born for Vilayat Khan,” said Aditi Upadhya, the well-known vocalist who lives in Malleswaram, when I spoke to her about the celebrated rivalry.

“But Pandit Ravi Shankar was light years ahead of anyone else as a composer.”

A fascinating comparison of the two

BRIDGE Inspired by the Carnatic tradition, Ravi Shankar encouraged tabla solos at his concerts

maestros comes from Osho, a genuine showman among gurus if ever there was one. This is what he said of Ravi Shankar: “He has everything one can imagine: the personality of a singer, the mastery of his instrument, and the gift of innovation, which is rare in classical musicians. He is immensely interested in the new. He has played with Yehudi Menuhin. No other Indian sitar player would be ready to do it because no such thing has ever happened

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before. Sitar with a violin! Are you mad?

But innovators are a little mad, that’s why they are capable of innovation….

Innovators are bound to be a little crazy, unconventional... and Ravi Shankar has been unconventional.”

Osho believed Ravi Shankar had a magic touch, and Vilayat Khan was as great because he wouldn’t allow anything to be polluted, made ‘pop’. For Osho, Vilayat Khan was “arrogant”, with arrogance being a “common” trait among artistes. And then: “Ravi Shankar is even more arrogant, perhaps because he is a brahmin too. That is like having two diseases together: classical music, and being a brahmin. And he has a third dimension to his disease too, because he married the great (guru) Alauddin’s daughter… Alauddin was so respected that just to be his son-in-law was enough proof that you are great, a genius.”

Shankar separated from his guru’s daughter Annapurna Devi in the 1940s and had a relationship with dancer Kamala Shastri, and another with Sue Jones (leading to the birth of Norah Jones). He married Sukanya in 1989 in Hyderabad, and trained their daughter Anoushka to play the sitar. In February, when he performed in Bangalore with Anoushka, someone had ominously billed the show ‘Ravi Shankar’s last in Bangalore’. They weren’t wrong.

The time of destruction, but also of renewal

Apocalypse SAVIE KARNEL savie.karnel@talkmag.in

y now you would have surely heard about the supposed Mayan prophecy, which puts a date to the end of the world—December 21, 2012. That should leave us just a few more days on this planet. But despite the best efforts of many TV channels and websites to convince us that this is indeed the case, few of us are overly worried. All this scare-monW gering hinges on an undeniable fact: human beings are forever fascinated by the idea that the world is going to end, the idea of the Apocalypse.

The dreaded word did not always carry its current meaning. In fact, it meant ‘uncover’ or ‘reveal’, formed from the Greek word apocalupsis, which means ‘disclose’. The word refers to the Book of The Talk Revelation, the last column on book in the New

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Testament, written in Greek by St John.

It conveyed a terrifying vision of great destruction unleashed upon the world in its last days. It predicts the end of the world, when the battle of the Armageddon takes place. Here, Armageddon is a place.

In the end, the book says, Jesus will reveal himself as the messiah and rule over the world. It also predicts the triumph of good over evil, and suggests the ways of the world will bring it to doom. And yet, scholars throughout history have argued about its ‘real’ meaning, some even holding the view that John is referring to contemporary or even historical events, rather than the future.

When Latin became the official language of the Catholic Church, the Greek word was adapted as apocalipsis, and carried the same meaning. It was from Latin that the word entered the English language in the 13th century.

In the late 14th century, when the scholar John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, he change the name of St John’s book from Apocalypse to Revelations, substituting the incomprehensible Greek term for its actual meaning in English.

Until the 1660s, Apocalypse exclusively referred to the Book of Revelations, which is why it was always used with a capital A. The term apocalypse stuck on in Middle

K E Y

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word origins

Poster for the movie 2012, a typical example of apocalyptic scare-mongering in popular culture

English as well, but it soon came to have diverse, if related meanings, such as ‘insight’, or ‘hallucination’.

In the 1880s, the word came to denote something similar to its current meaning, that of the ‘end of the world’, thus referring to the content of John’s revelation than to the act itself.

This usage has gained wide popularity and acceptance, and is today detached from its original Biblical meaning.

Apocalypse now refers to any large catastrophe. For example, many use the terms when warning about threats posed by climate change or nuclear war.

Needless to say, the idea of the destruction of the world, of doomsday, has

always been present in the human imagination, and long before St John. For instance, Hindu scriptures speak of the Kali Yuga, or the ‘age of Kali’ (also considered ‘the age of vice’), the last of the four stages the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas, and which portends cataclysmic events. Islam too speaks of Qayamat, or Judgment Day, which is also a time of destruction. Many tribal myths have similar prophecies or visions.

But for all that, most such visions also hold out a ray of hope, for renewal follows destruction. There is always someone who is saved, who will carry on life on earth.

Strictly speaking then, none of these ‘apocalypses’ really mean the end of the world.

travel diary

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Hong Kong’s smart ways A Bangalorean is struck by just how conducive this hyper-urban Chinese city is to good living, and how our planners have got it all wrong week is a shamefully small period to form opinions about another country and compare it with our own, but as I stood at The Peak—from where you can see most of Hong Kong’s central business district—I wondered what it had that India didn’t.

From The Peak, all I could see was a dense cluster of buildings within a few square miles. And yet, Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world; it is a hub of international finance, and apparently registers high on the Human Development Index and other measures of development.

It isn’t necessary to compare, of course. One can just experience another country without constantly referring back to life at home. India’s challenges are different. But standing at The Peak, in another Asian country that had been colonised by the British, and with a dense population as well, it was hard to keep from wondering what could have been.

The first few days, I was nonplussed by the unexpressive faces of the Chinese I saw on the metro trains.

Few seemed to know English; fewer still offered assistance when

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Dev S Sukumar Writer and biographer of badminton legend Prakash Padukone

approached. I turned off a switch within: this place wasn’t for me.

Luckily, though, a Chinese friend took me out for dinner, and that turned things around, so to speak. Dinner (‘Hot Pot’) consisted of a large pot of boiling water and plates of raw meat and seafood. My stomach turned as she dumped everything into the boiling water, and I took a nibble more out of politeness than any curiosity in what this primodial broth would taste like.

Surprisingly, I liked it.

It was the first time I’d had meat without the interference of masala, and it wasn’t half as bad as I expected.

This was one of their standard fares.

Of course there is a staggering variety of food in the Chinese cultures, but they seem to prefer meat boiled or steamed; nothing fried. She was also steadily sipping Chinese tea, which she said was to negate the effects of the little oil there was in the sauce.

“We Chinese finish our dinner by 7pm,” she said. “I can’t understand how you have your dinners so late.”

She also introduced me to a couple of herbal drinks. They drink it all the time, and of course there’s a great variety of herbal drinks as well.

Walking through crowded avenues with all sorts of shops, I was struck by the number of herbal items on display. “We drink herbal juices through the day,” she told me, and I could see what she meant. In India, herbal concoctions are consumed either by the sick or by a small band of natural

healing practitioners. Herbal drinks have not yet assumed mass popularity—which should be surprising, given our traditions of Ayurveda and other streams of knowledge. According to her, the Chinese, in general, are careful eaters, scrupulously avoiding spicy or oily food, and depending on various herbal concoctions to aid their body’s functions.

Like other developed countries, Hong Kong has efficient public transport systems. They have designed a city that’s pedestrian friendly—one can walk for kilometres through the city without coming into contact with the traffic on the streets. I visited a few governmentrun sports halls too, and they’re as good as you’d want them to be. A friend says there are around 600 government-run spots halls in Hong Kong—some municipal buildings have badminton courts, gyms and swimming pools. Then of course there are the ‘tea-parks’ you suddenly come across, small beautiful parks in the midst of this urban jungle.

This is not to be star-struck, but to wonder at how urban India has got it wrong. Our lack of awareness about the Chinese culture (and vice-versa), and our unwillingness to learn from it, has been one of our big failures.

Our forefathers were probably more progressive in this sense - having exported Buddhism and imported silk (to put it simply). It's almost amusing to consider how we generally regard

them: as inconsiderate eaters of all flesh; Westernised to the point of having forsaken their culture, and living super-urbanised lives, which must apparently mean that they have given up their traditional food and living styles.

But does urbanisation only mean the building of hundreds of skyscrapers, efficient transport systems, and an enviable per capita income? We are told frequently that to urbanise is to destroy native habits of food and festivity and language, but I now wonder.

The average Hong Kong baby doesn’t drink Coca Cola from his birth; he is more likely to drink his herbal concoction as a lifestyle habit than we are ever likely to. The constant fear of borrowing ideas from other cultures has damaged us more than anything else. Our living habits are far more self-destructive than that of many other, ‘Westernised’ cultures—our workplaces force us to work beyond the call of office hours; we return home from dense and unruly traffic to a late dinner and restless sleep; our spare time is not spent in play, for we see no value in sports halls. Our governments have become real estate agents.

We blame all our urban ills on urbanisation, but we’ve got it wrong.

Efficient urbanisation aids good living. Is it urbanisation that has hurt us, or have we got suckered by ourselves into building a world that we all hate?

lit fest

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MIXED FRUIT JAM Theatre director Prakash Belawadi, former Infosys director Mohandas Pai, writers Shobhaa De and UR Anathamurthy and movie star Ramya at the session titled Bangalore/Bengaluru: Multiple City

Some gyan, some gas Usual suspects Chetan Bhagat and Shobhaa De made a spectacle of themselves at the first Bangalore Lit Fest, which otherwise discussed some important questions, reports

Prashanth GN

mong the more distinguished windbags at the first Bangalore literary festival was Chetan Bhagat, self-proclaimed ‘agent of change’, who passed comments that would have got a more serious writer in deep trouble.

Part of the problem lay with the questions posed by the moderator.

After listening to a serious talk on

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how writers needed metaphors to escape oppression, Bhagat responded to a question: “South Indian girls are beautiful. They are well brought up, they are educated, they cook well...”

Luckily for him, no one pounced on him and called him stupid and sexist. With Jnanpith awardees Dr UR Ananthamurthy and Chandrashekhara Kambar, and poets KS Nissar Ahmed, Gulzar, sitting in the front row after a discussion on the role of literature in our times, Bhagat took off on a different tangent: “Tamil jokes just aren’t jokes... Yeh yenna? Any Tamil and Telugu people here?”

And then came his auto-eroticism: “I can influence people. I think I’m an agent of change. Politicians call me because they think I understand the younger generation well...

I’m on TV prime time twice a month... I’m called and I go but that’s not what everybody should be doing.”

At this point, the moderator wisecracked: “He is sitting between two women (referring to two fellowpanelists), no way he can run away.”

One of the above-mentioned- completely misread the biographies, women just wouldn’t let Bhagat be. generalising them as rags-to-riches She asked him how he made it to stories, an observation that was national news all the time. “Say some- repeatedly rejected by the panelists. thing that’ll make this lit fest national Sethi was contrived, abnormally news,” she urged. This chatter went accented, poorly informed, and relied on for a good 30 minutes, taking more on his English than his knowlattention away from everything the edge of writing to bail himself out.

And then there was Shobhaa De, serious writers had said earlier.

But Chetan wasn’t the only one. who sat in on the disastrous session titled ‘Bangalore/ Sunil Sethi, the dapBengaluru: Multiple per talking head you A panel on the City’. The moderacan’t miss on nationtion, by V al TV, moderated the city’s cultural Ravichander, was session on biograidentity mostly uninformed. The phies. He painted a discussed the subject was the grotesque picture of garbage crisis city’s linguistic, ethMayawati amassing nic and cultural wealth through illeidentity, but why gal means, falling back on a stereotype dished out about was he talking about the city’s overthe Dalit leader by the national flowing garbage and rats and landThe panelists, barring media, especially in comparison to fills?

Sonia and Sushma Swaraj, whom they Ananthamurthy and Mohandas Pai, see as cleaner hands. Ajay Bose, former director of Infosys, were incoMayawati’s biographer, hit back, say- herent. The debate on the city’s ing all political personalities had garbage not being cleared continued uncomfortable secrets, and singling for so long that an exasperated out Mayawati was unfair. Sethi also Shobhaa De said: “I can’t contribute

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Shobhaa De said: “I can’t contribute anything to this debate.”

As an aside, De did make a contribution in another session with Sethi. When he asked her how she managed to look young even as she was growing older, she replied: “My mother used to tell me to apply Pond’s cold cream... I’m still loyal to Pond’s.” That was probably the first time Pond’s cold cream made its presence felt amidst debates about freedom of speech, analysis of literary metaphors and Gulzaar’s lofty nazms.

To get back to the session on Bangalore, Ravichander did initiate a semblance of a debate on English and Kannada identities after De’s remark.

Ananthamurthy and Pai again made sense, while others mixed garbage and identity yet again.

While Ananthamurthy referred to the pride people needed to have in an inclusive, catholic Kannada, Shobhaa De misread it, and reduced him to some sort of chauvinist by repeatedly shouting: “Talking English doesn’t mean we’re elite.

If we are the elite, even you are part of the elite. If you talk of privileging local languages, you are talking of divisive politics.”

Ananthamurthy replied: “I have been the first to defend Tamils and members of other linguistic groups in troubled contexts. I am not saying make Kannada the only language, but take pride in it while being involved in other languages. Pride here means generosity. Bangalore’s identity is Kannada, and Kannada is about being joyous and making room for other languages. I have known Kannada only as a language open to all cultures and absorbing everything in its wake. We must celebrate the diversity of languages. Kannada makes this possible. We must have pride in such a Kannada, the pride of generosity.”

‘Playing the write game’ was a session moderated by Boria Majumdar, and was ruined by his over-the-top TV anchor antics. He launched into a question that Rahul Dravid would have found offensive and defamatory. Majumdar asked Vedam Jaishankar, who has written a biography of the cricketer: “Will you write about whether Dravid had womanised in his personal life? Are you sure he hasn’t? What about other Indian cricketers? Are you sure they haven’t doped?”

These questions came out of the blue —not once has anyone, anywhere in the world asked such questions of Dravid, who his colleagues and fans regard as blemishless. Dravid recently delivered a brilliant lecture in Australia on the future of cricket.

Majumdar was more of a racy tabloid hack than a lively moderator. His questions on doping were dismissed without much ado by athlete Ashwini Nachappa. Being a TV personality with a degree and a few books to one’s name doesn’t automatically make one a worthy moderator at literary festivals. Majumdar was farcical. Ashwini,

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WIND CHEATERS

Some free, unsolicited advice on how to make the lit fest better!

1. Provide good, sharp translations of relevant regional language works at non-English sessions.

2. Choose moderators for their scholarship, versatility and sensitivity. Keep out airheads who speak fluent English but can't tell Panini from pani puri.

3. Tell the panelists they must discuss themes and ideas, and not blabber about themselves and their size.

POET MEETS POET Jnanpeeth awardee Chandrashekhara Kambar with Gulzar

Shehan Karunatilaka and Vinod Naidu lent poems to express his thought.

Chandrashekar Kambar was riveting respectability to the session torn asunder in his narration of allegorical tales from his

by Majumdar.

But let’s return to the beginning. The native Belgaum. Vaidehi’s story-telling was first edition of the Bangalore Literature natural and emphasised women-centric Festival at the Jayamahal Palace (December themes. Kum Veerabadrappa narrated 7 to 9) was a rousing success in organisa- delightful folk stories from Bellary. Jayanth tional terms, but, as you can see, fell short Kaikini, whose poetry was received with in the quality of debates. The Kannada and enthusiasm, expressed concern over the decline in criticism and Urdu-Hindi sections were the gradual withering outright winners, though.

Shobhaa De away of the novel.

In English, of 14 sessions, Fiction writer four were decent, four attributed her Bhanu Mushtaq spoke were average and six were beauty to Pond’s about her personal experank bad. cold cream rience of overcoming traThe Kannada sesdition within the Muslim sions turned out stimulating and mature, with the participants community, while Mamata Sagar provided speaking both in Kannada and English. insightful responses to Kaikini’s concerns.

A brilliant contribution to the festival Manu Chakravarthy, professor of English and well-known literary and film critic, was film-maker Maya Chandra’s work. She who co-ordinated the ‘Creativity in writ- showed two documentaries. The first, Jeeva ing’ session, was a cut above all moderators Swara, is a musical based on poet Channaveera Kanavi’s works, and offered in scholarship and articulation.

The three Kannada sessions, four tak- cultural slices of Karnataka through its ing into account the inaugural, raised music. The music and the images were capimportant issues. Ananthamurthy spoke tivating. The second film, about actor about the need to escape into metaphors Rajkumar’s multi-faceted celluloid life, while under oppression of any form. He offered a quick view of the stalwart of also articulated a critique of development, Kannada filmdom to a non-Kannada audience. Maya demonstrated an warm, incluas it is understood today.

Nissar Ahmed, whose Kannada poetic sive linguistic sensitivity.

A discussion later on Rajkumar, feaoeuvre embraces the lyrical and the satirical, pointed to the crucial link between the turing his son Puneet Rajkumar was equallocal and the universal in the creation of ly considerate towards non-Kannadigas. ideas and recited two beautiful Urdu Puneet was dignified, and spoke to the

point. The organisers, Maya Chandra, the moderator, and Puneet did everything possible to take Rajkumar to an audience that was unfamiliar with his cinema.

On the inaugural day and the second day, poet Gulzar was a big draw. The packed crowd repeatedly requested him to recite his Urdu verses. Gulzar wasn’t carried away by the clamour and the accolades. He described Ananthamurthy as his ‘guru’, adding that he had a lot to learn from him. He commented on life, love, longing, the environment, and how the craft of poetry had to be learnt even if thoughts were pouring out. He paid a tribute to Bangalore as the best multi-lingual city in South India and a cradle of multiple cultures.

Amish Tripathi, whose mythologybased novels in English are all the rage, enjoyed a Gulzar-like following. He offered interpretations of stories from the Ramayana, and argued for a pluralistic outlook to the epic. He reacted sharply to the moderator’s question on the presence of regional languages at such festivals, praising the organisers for showcasing Kannada.

Akbar Mirza Khaleeli provided an excellent perspective in the session titled ‘Ferment in West Asia’. While the session on ‘Experience, memory and stories’ dwelt on techniques of writing, the discussion wasn’t stimul ating enough.

Another session asked: ‘Is fiction losing its magic?’ but didn’t provide any interesting answers. Playwright Mahesh Dattani’s conversation with Ashish Sen revolved around what is already known about Dattani, with no updates. The panelists in the ‘Literature in Twitter era’ were neither writers nor social media evangelists. What were they doing there?

The hard work of the organisers was there for all to see, and the festival received a rousing response, with the venue being packed on all three days. At least 700 to 1,000 people participated in the festival each day. A good beginning at a good venue —the quiet and verdant Jayamahal Palace.

sandalwood

The dubbing dram T

LUCRATIVE Poster for the dubbed Malayalam version of Kannada hit Jackie starring Puneeth Rajkumar and (right) Upendra-starrer Super in Teleg

films were dubbed into Telugu, and 38 into TWO CAMPS, ONE THOUGHT Tamil. Kerala exhibited only 6 dubbed films The war against dubbing has diametrically opposed camps coming together. For examlast year. ple, arthouse film makers Girish Kasaravalli SINCE THE 1960s and Girish Karnad, litterateurs UR No film has been dubbed into Kannada Ananthamurthy and SL Bhyrappa, and since the 1960s, when writers such as AN masala film makers such as Ravichandran are Krishna Rao and actor Rajkumar found that determined to block any attempts to dub Tamil and Telugu films had pushed films and TV serials into Kannada.

Kannada films to a corner. But the mood The Kannada industry's position on has changed. While industry bigwigs, led by dubbing is again facing a legal test. If someRajkumar's actor son Shivaraj Kumar, con- one were to file a case against the Karnataka tinue to advance cultural and livelihood Film Chamber of Commerce, he would win, arguments against dubbing, many as did the producers of the Hrithik RoshanKannadigas are campaigning for dubstarrer Kites, whose screening the trade body bing in private, and in the safe tried to limit to a few prints. The film's environs of the Internet. distributors had planned to release "Why shouldn't my grand21 prints in the state, which was mother watch Titanic in opposed by the KFCC, fearing that Kannada?" is the sort of quesit would swamp theatres and push tion you'll find on discussion local productions out. forums.

The Competition Commission The debate was sparked off three of India had then fined the KFCC Rs 17 months ago, when Suvarna News lakh for attempting to control the release of announced it would telecast Aamir Khan's films in other languages in the state. The activist reality show Satyameva Jayate KFCC has since appealed the verdict, and the dubbed in Kannada. When it looked like the matter is now in the Karnataka High Court. show would run into resistance from the In another development, a citizen has industry, it appeared on YouTube, garnering lodged a complaint with the commission, close to 32,000 visitors in a single day. opposing the ban on dubbed films in the

state. The body has now se leading film industry organ KFCC, the Chalachitra Ac directors', prod associations Wants a ban on explanatio dubbed should be Hollywood films in th and South Moha Indian films Manager Pradesh Fil Commerce, told tion here is that all dubbed cent entertainment tax." T Pradesh way of discouragin Rao is convinced the done the right thing in issu KFCC because "there sho tions on these things."

S Subramanyam, form Kerala Film Chamber of C Rao's views: "I don't think ban on dubbing. One shoul business as long as one do law."

He is for a national p "If each state makes its should a National Film Ch If there is anything wrong let there be a uniform polic Hindi

he Karnataka film industry is now grappling with a notice from the Competition Commission of India, which seeks to know why dubbed films shouldn't be released in the state.

Is the Kannada film industry the only one in the country to oppose dubbing? No. As Talk went about researching this story, we discovered that Gujarat, West Bengal and Punjab have also put a similar ban in place.

Dubbing involves replacing the voice track of a film, and is therefore a cheap way of reaching any market.

The Telugu and Hindi industries are divided on dubbing: some stalwarts are for it, others aren't. In Andhra Pradesh, dubbed Tamil films are seen as a threat. In Tamil Nadu, dubbed Hollywood films take away business from Tamil blockbusters. At least some in Mumbai, it seems, are against south Indian films which get dubbed and shown on television channels, thereby eroding the revenues of the Hindi producers.

So the big question: Is the Kannada film industry paranoid, or has it grasped the dangers of dubbing before all others?

Many Kannada hits, starring Puneeth Rajkumar and Upendra, are routinely dubbed into Telugu and other languages, and shown in cinemas and on TV in Andhra Pradesh. Even low-brow Kannada films, starring macho and sometimes misogynistic heroes like Saikumar and Darshan, are dubbed into Hindi, and appear on channels such as Colors.

Last year (see accompanying chart), 81

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policy on dubbing. policy, then why hamber exist at all? in dubbing movies cy."

‘The Kannada industry is small and has low standards, so they ban movies from other languages. If we believe we cannot compete with other languages, even we can impose a ban on them.’

The first talkie dubbed into Tamil was Harishchandra, (1944), from the Kannada production Satya Harishchandra (1943)

Tamil Nadu slaps a high rate of tax (30 per cent) on dubbed films. The Andhra Pradesh government is under pressure from Telugu producers to hike tax on dubbed films

Telugu

He sees the Kannada industry's move to CONFIDENT RESPONSE ban dubbing as a strategy to have it both KFCC president Vijay Kumar is confident the ways. "They restrict dubbing from other lan- Kannada industry can counter the notice. guages, but have’nt stopped others from dub- "We have answered all 25 questions the commission has asked, but since the matter bing Kannada movies. That’s not right." is in court, we can’t reveal our CHANGED TIMES responses. After the case is Not Rabi Kisku, filmmaker and member of the settled, we’ll make our too concerned, stand clear."

Film Producers' Guild of South India, feels but some dubbing should not be banned because every According to Kumar, producers Individual has the right to watch movies in are against the seven film organisadubbed their preferred language. "The ban was tions the commission has Hindi and imposed in the 1960's. Be it technotified are united in their Tamil nology or the way movies stand of not allowing dubfilms Benefits are made, everything has bing in Karnataka, but since from changed."

As for they all have different problems and dubbing into Telugu Karnataka's cultural iden- different agendas, they have chosen to suband Hindi, tity concerns, he says the mit their replies individually. About dubbing but against industry should look at of Kannada films into other languages, he dubbed Hollywood creative solutions-like hav- said, "That is left to the chambers of those films ing limited screenings for states, but we are clear we do not want other dubbed movies, for exam- language films to be dubbed into Kannada." ple, rather than a blanket ban.

The dubbing question even cropped up Unlike Subramanyam, he thinks that a at the 2012 edition of the International Film national policy is not advisable. He says it is Festival of India held in Goa recently. all right for industries to have separate poli- Director Girish Kasaravalli reiterated his cies because they are not all alike - for position that he was opposed to dubbed films instance, some are dependent only on the being released in Karnataka. local market whereas others gain from the overseas market as well.

(With inputs from Maria Laveena)

Tamil

mer secretary of the Commerce, echoed k there should be a ld be able to do any oesn't infringe the

Pawan Kalyan Telugu actor

Faced with a notice from the Competition Commission of India, will the Kannada film industry finally be forced to reconsider its ban on dubbing? The action is building up, reports Basu Megalkeri

gu. (Bottom left) The Tamil version of the James Cameron-directed Hollywood hit Avatar

nt notices to seven nisations including cademy as well as ducers' and artistes' s demanding an on on why there a ban on dubbed he state. an Rao, General of the Andhra m Chamber of d Talk, "The condid movies pay 20 per That is the Andhra ng dubbing. e commission has uing a notice to the ould be no restric-

17

In the first two months of 2012, 29 Tamil films dubbed into Telugu were released in Andhra Pradesh, as against 26 straight Telugu films. Dubbed films pay more tax in Andhra Pradesh

Shanmuga Sundaram Star dialogue writer in Tamil ‘The Tamil industry is huge. But it is in trouble. When we accepted dubbing, we were only thinking of its benefits for our industry. But today, when big budget films are dubbed into Tamil, they take away our space.’

Comparison of dubbed vs. original films in South Indian film industries

gangsta rapstar

Shot at success Life as a gang member in Canada, two bullets in the chest, and a ‘second chance’ that led to an international music career— Canadian-Indian rapper Gangis Khan tells his story

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dominantly black and Indian. There was a gang culture there and I became a part of it. People prachi.sibal@talkmag.in like my parents didn’t understand why; they didn’t realise I needed to do it to survive. I angis Khan aka Camouflage, who became a gang member and we were soon takperformed in Bangalore last week, ing over more neighbourhoods and I acquired a derives his stage name from that reputation for being vicious in fights. That is of the 13th century Mongol con- how I came to have the nickname Gangis queror. The Canadian-Indian rap- Khan.”

Interestingly, music—rap music—was per was born Graham D’Souza to a Mangalorean father and a Mumbaiite mother, very much a part of the gang culture. As one of twin brothers who were put under the Graham puts it, “Gangsta rap was the coolest care of their grandmother in Mumbai while thing in Canada at that time.” A gangleader their parents worked in Kuwait. He is frank with a musical streak, he naturally tried his about what must have been difficult years: “We hand at it, but in an off-hand way.

And then, in 2006, Graham’s life changed: studied in Mumbai initially, where we stayed with our grandma. When she couldn’t handle he was shot at twice from close range in a club. us anymore, she sent us away to a boarding “It was a guy I’d never seen before. We were in a club, an argument happened, a fight ensued school in Mount Abu.” Even after he eventually left for Kuwait, and bullets were fired. Before I knew it, I was Graham continued to visit India every year, undergoing an open heart surgery,” he tells us.

The long period of rest that followed led and remembers a particularly long stay during the first Gulf War. “We were on vacation until to some introspection. Finding himself drawn two days before the war broke out. My parents more and more to music, he started writing his had good jobs and had to return to Kuwait. own material. “I realised how important life was to me and knew I had to They worked and slowly made take up music full time,” he way for us to go back to them,” He was born says. Second chance, a track he he recounts. wrote and recorded, describes At 13, Graham’s family Graham D’Souza, how he lived through that moved to Canada, where they and understands experience. He seldom perstill live. Exposed to music Konkani forms the track because he’s through his parents from an afraid it might make him too early age, his choice of music for a career was no surprise to those who knew sentimental on stage.

While the incident left an indelible mark, him, though the fact that he chose gangsta rap it also gave a great boost to the musical career was.

“My dad is to blame for all the music,” he of his alter ego, the rapper Gangis Khan. says fondly, “We heard a lot of music. Every Perhaps that was not surprising for a genre time we were upset, dad would make us sing whose biggest icons like Tupac Shakur fell to songs.” Graham grew up listening to Konkani bullets. But Graham wasn’t prepared for the and Hindi, and says his upbringing also sudden acceptance it would create for him on instilled in him a love for the languages. He the local rap scene. “I became more famous says he understands both languages, but— after I was shot. They respect a guy who can and this sounds strange coming from a take bullets. My story became more valid for gangsta rapper—does not speak them people who hadn’t seen me. It made me a vetbecause he feels inhibited. “I’m shy eran. People would say I was a credited gangsabout talking in Konkani. There are ta,” he says.

In the years that followed, Graham’s times when I know what to say, but won’t for fear of being career took off, and invitations for live shows judged. I have used some in other countries started coming his way.

Konkani words in my songs Three years ago, he came to India after a long though, words like udok gap, this time for a show.

“I found that India had become a lot more (water), in a track called A walk through India. modernised than I had imagined. Musically Our rap crew is called too, I realised it was on a par with most other Deep Waters, so it countries, though, at the same time, it is not. made sense,” he Not all Indians are in touch with different kinds of music,” he says. He has visited India says.

For Graham, several times since.

“After the shooting, I had taken up rap full life in Canada turned out totally time, but hadn’t told my parents. Later, when I unexpected. In his came here with them, they saw that people own words: “We lived recognised me. That’s when they knew I had in a neighbourhood been pursuing music all along,” he says. “My that was pre- dad is proud of me now.”

PRACHI SIBAL

G

Gangis Khan aka Camouflage performed at Pebble on Palace Road

concert notes

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A riff short of paradise city Guns N' Roses' first show in the country was everything a rock show could be, but it still left fans asking for more

PRACHI SIBAL prachi.sibal@talkmag.in

rom the time it was announced some months ago, the first ever Indian tour of the American rock band Guns N’ Roses has provoked a quarrel among fans here.

On one side were steadfast loyalists (some would say purists) convinced that GN’R, as they are popularly known, had none of the magic they once did, now that they don’t have legendary guitarist Slash and the founding line-up. The others weren’t so sceptical, and were in favour of welcoming with open arms the rock act they grew up listening to. And besides, Axl Rose, frontman and star vocalist from the original line-up, was going to make it here after all.

For me, there was excitement tinged with a mild scepticism. It was

F

ROCK N’ ROSE Axl Rose, DJ Ashba, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal and Richard Fortus at the Bangalore concert

going to be a night of extremes, with much elation or much disappointment. From the response when the band came on stage, it was clear that most in the crowd were there for only for one man, Axl Rose. In fact, attempts by Rose to introduce the rest of the band didn’t go down too well with the audience.

The first number, the lessknown Chinese democracy, was delivered promisingly enough, but the band was unable to sustain the momentum. Perhaps expecting the same old guitar riffs was wishful thinking, as the sceptics had warned.

Lead-ups to some of the newer tracks sounded strangely like distorted versions of the familiar November rain.

Someone in the crowd muttered, “I hope this isn’t it.” Another complained about the inadequate decibel levels (typically for a fan, they were too low for a rock show). A few notso-popular numbers followed, and the hooting and cheering began to slowly die down. The bar and food counters started filling up.

An hour into the performance, just when things seemed to be going steadily downhill, they played Sweet child o’ mine, the first of their most popular numbers to be played that evening. As the song progressed, it

Lead guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ pulled the crowd back where they belonged. But for all the noise, the Thal too was no less than a sensation track still did not evoke anything on stage, pulling off his riffs with close to the frenzy we had expected. ease, including the long solo in While the rendition itself was lacklus- November rain. He could have set tre, it paved the way for better things. even the dullest of crowds raving, but Perhaps, charged by the renewed such is the nature of rock fandom that his talent and attention from the stage presence was crowd, the band Most people in unfavourably comtook charge and let the crowd had pared throughout to the madness build. that of Slash, his After that, come to see one predecessor in the there was no lookman: Axl Rose band. And therein ing back, both for lay the problem with Rose and the rest of the band (the changed dynamic the entire show, or rather, the fans. makes it necessary to refer to them as People were constantly comparing separate entities). Hit after hit rolled them to the original line-up and makout—November rain, Don’t you cry, ing esoteric complaints about the Welcome to the jungle and more. And “great” tracks that were not played.

The band played a 100-minute then came a surprise tribute—perhaps from the knowledge that it’s a set without any major breaks. The sure-fire hit at an Indian venue—Pink predictable yet fitting end came with the upbeat Paradise city. By then, they Floyd’s Another brick in the wall.

What remained consistent had done nearly everything that throughout was Rose’s vocals—not could be expected in a concert like once did he let down the audience on this—played full length renditions of that count, even when his move- some of their most popular numbers, ments were restricted. Age had clear- let every member do a solo and ly deprived him of some the famously unusually for a band of their stature, maniacal energy he used to display on even performed some covers.

And yet, I kept wondering if stage—once a benchmark for all rockstars—but not that silver-throated what we had just experienced—GN’R magic—was the real thing, after all. voice.

lit fest

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Overheard at BLF It’s a known fact—journalists just can't help eavesdropping. What a treat it was then to find ourselves amongst a gaggle of witty, whiny or plain bitchy book lovers! For all those who couldn't make it to Bangalore Literature Festival, here's what it was (really) like Priyanka Chopra ko bulana baaki tha (only Priyanka Chopra is missing) - Guy to friend after Gulzar’s session *** During a discussion on publishing, a young girl from the audience got up to ask the panel how long they usually take to decide on a manuscript. “About four weeks. At the most three months,” one of them replied.

The girl sat down, murmuring to herself, “Not for my book. You’ve already taken six months.” *** A woman reporter to a famous male writer : “You’re so hot, you know.

That’s another reason why we want to write about you.”

The writer: “I and hot? Not bad at all.

Sure, let’s chat, but please don’t ask me the five best things I like about lit fests.” *** “He’s unbearable. His accent is so heavy and deliberate and he thinks he is the custodian of all that is literature and knowledge. I couldn’t stand him, so I escaped to the book stall.”

- An audience member, speaking about a moderator to a friend ***

“Is he an actor? Then take out my camera, no?”

- Woman to husband, standing next to the crowd surrounding Puneet Rajkumar *** “Camus! What is that?”

- Woman in bookstore *** “It should get interesting” -Woman to friend while walking out of the Shobhaa De session

DANIELLE ESTEFAN

“Do you want to listen to Chetan Bhagat or do you want to come over there and have tea and chat with me?”

- One of the organisers to a couple sitting in the front row. Couple exits promptly *** “Hey, I’m at the Bangalore Lit Fest. Oh, it is so nice… all of us got in pretending to be journalists and we are now having a great time. It’s damn cool!”

- Girl on phone *** “The Illicit Happiness of Other People?

Who is this Manu Joseph? Never heard of him. But I like the cover...”

- Woman to husband *** “What is this nonsense? If there was no food why did the announcer say there is food? This is sad—they don’t have food at a lit fest!”

- Ravenous woman, complaining to no one in particular *** “Mark Tully, Manju Kapoor, Shashi Deshpande… who are these people? They seem to be bigger than Amish Tripathi!”

- Confused guy to friend *** “This lit fest is all about cinema. Bas

jazz icon

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A tune fades A tribute to Dave Brubeck, considered to be one of the foremost exponents of progressive jazz, who passed away last week ave Brubeck, the American jazz pianist and composer, who recorded the iconic Take Five passed away on December 5 in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Brubeck was a big influence on the small jazz and western music circuit that has evolved over the years in southern cities like Bangalore and Chennai.

City based jazz pianist Aman Mahajan told Talk that he got into jazz listening to his earlier compositions. (As an aside, Aman maintains that there isn’t much of a “jazz scene” in the city.)

“I am very much influenced by him though I may not sound like him. He had a simple and accessible way of presenting

D

complex music.”

Chennai-based bass guitarist and jazz musician Keith Peters, who has also played in Bangalore, told Talk: “basically we all came from Dave Brubeck, along with others like Miles Davis. Brubeck was an early pioneer of Jazz. Pieces like Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk was something we all learnt.”

Take Five, written by Paul Desmond, was on the 1959 Dave Brubeck Quartet album Time Out. It was called Take Five because it was written in an unusual 5/4 beat instead of the typical 4/4 beat.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report, Brubeck believed that jazz presented the best face of America to the world. “Jazz is about freedom within discipline.”

Brubeck and Dizzy Sal Musician-journalist Ramjee Chandran on Edward Dizzy Saldanha, perhaps the only city artiste to have performed with the jazz legend

n the old days, most upmarket restaurants (modelled on London’s velvet night-clubs), featured jazz bands. And these bands frequently sought new

I

talent.

Young Edward Saldanha from Bangalore, then nurturing a precocious and extraordinary musical talent, responded to an ad by Bombay band leader Ken Mac asking for a pianist.

When Edward Saldanha walked in the door, Ken Mac took one look at him and said: “You look just like Dizzy Gillespie. Your name is no longer Edward Saldanha, from now on, its Dizzy Sal.” Dizzy joined the band which was called Three Hits and a Miss.

One day Dave Brubeck was in Bombay. Some of Dizzy’s fans went up to Brubeck and told him that he

ought to listen to this pianist playing at the Ambassador Hotel.

Dave Brubeck came to meet Dizzy. One session and Brubeck and Paul Desmond (who wrote Take 5) decided that they would sponsor Dizzy for his study at Berklee School of Music (the best known jazz school in the world). Brubeck decided that would pay for Dizzy learning some theory in addition to his practical brilliance on the piano.

Dizzy went to live in the US. William Saldanha, Dizzy’s brother, (who had since moved to play sax in Kuwait), says that he heard nothing from Dizzy except occasional references to the fact that he had performed with some jazz greats— Thelonious Monk once, Duke Ellington another time and so on.

One blazing afternoon in Kuwait, a friend of William’s knocked on his door and said: “Guess who I have here with me?”

Behind him stood Dizzy.

Dizzy looked mentally rumpled.

He did not have a suitcase, no passport, no visa, no travel papers and bore the air of a man who had no idea what he was doing.

TAKE THREE A 1958 photograph of Paul Desmond, Dizzy Sal and Dave Brubeck

William turned to friends in the travel business who helped organise his journey and Dizzy returned empty handed to Bangalore with nothing to show for his days in America.

Dizzy’s relatives Maria and William say that to this day, they have no idea about what had happened to Dizzy in the States. He would not talk about it and they described the situation to me like it was an episode from Twilight Zone. Maria said: “We are Catholics and we are not supposed to believe in such things, but some of his closest associates said that there were elements of black magic. He was too good to handle and there were con-

siderable jealousies from fellow musicians. He never had a substance abuse problem of any kind...we just don’t know what happened...”

William adds: “Yes, he did play after that. He played in Bombay with the same spirit that he had before. He toured all the Max Mueller Bhavans in India. His last concert was in Bangalore in 1981 when he played at the Ashoka Hotel.”

Dizzy Sal died in 1998. Bangalore lost a world class jazz pianist. Only, the city does not know it.

Edited version of an article published in The Bangalore Monthly Update

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Rewind The week that was  Rocket: North Korea defies US to launch rocket and put satellite in orbit; observors say this means North Korea has the capability to build missiles  UK Airports shut: Airports across UK including Heathrow are forced to shut down owing to ice and fog formation, flights cancelled  Peace journey: A young British Pakistani activist Star Malik begins road journey through 21 countries to emphasise the need for peace between India and Pakistan  Apology: A top South African TV channel apologises for using three year old footage of Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela, in which she says the ailing statesman has "lost his sparkle"  Gujarat Elections: First phase polls in the Gujarat Assembly elections. Focus on whether Narendra Modi will make it back  LPG: A government panel has said LPG cap is no good, instead govt can scrap cheap supplies to the rich. Says supplies should be based on income levels  Cleared: The Supreme Court has cleared Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khalil Chishti of all charges in a murder case, says he can go back to Pakistan  Trouble brewing: Rumblings have reportedly surfaced against Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for listless leadership and slide in the Indian team  CAG: The Comptroller and Auditor General has stated the Karnataka government has illegally denotified 212.39 acres between 2007 and 2012  Statue: The Karnataka High Court has asked the government to shift the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar near Vidhana Soudha to enable Namma Metro work

Film Fest ahoy!

The fifth edition of the Bangalore International Film Festival will open on December 20, 2012 with a screening of Japan's Tragedy by the eminent Japanese filmmaker Masahiro Kobayashi, who will also be attending the festival. The highlight of the festival is films by legends like Antonioni, Kurosawa and Clouzot, as well as contemporary masters like Aki Kaurismaki, Michael Henneke, Abbas Kiarastomi, Lars Von Trier, Kim Ki Duk and Volker Schlondorff. The festival will open with Kauwboy, directed by Dutch filmmaker Bouwdewjin. Many of these films come to Bangalore after winning awards at major film festivals like Cannes, Venice and Berlin. A special attraction of this year's festival is the Indian competition section, with 11 contemporary films in eight Indian languages.

On December 21, the festival will host a

programme on 100 years of Indian cinema, where many eminent personalities of the Indian film fraternity will be felicitated. On the sidelines of the festival, Max Mueller Bhavan will organise a master class on film editing by renowned British-born editor Andrew Bird.

'I'm just a storyteller' An excerpt from the lecture given by Nobel-winning Chinese writer Mo Yan, at the Swedish Academy on 7 December 2012. Yan has been accused of defending censorship and not speaking up against the Chinese government's targeting of dissidents. Here he responds to his critics.

The announcement of my Nobel Prize has led to controversy. At first I thought I was the target of the disputes, but over time I've come to realise that the real target was a person who had nothing to do with me.

Like someone watching a play in a theater, I observed the performances around me. I saw the winner of the prize both garlanded with flowers and besieged by stone-throwers and mudslingers. I was afraid he would succumb to the assault, but he emerged from the garlands of flowers and the stones, a smile on his face; he wiped away mud and grime, stood calmly off to the side, and said to the crowd: For a writer, the best way to speak is by writing. You will find everything I need to say in my works. Speech is carried off by the wind; the written word can never be obliterated. I would like you to find the patience to read my books. I cannot force you to do that, and even if you do, I do not expect your opinion of me to change. No writer has yet appeared, anywhere in the world, who is liked by all his readers; that is especially true during times like these.

Even though I would prefer to say nothing, since it is something I must do on this occasion, let me just say this: I am a storyteller, so I am going to tell you some stories.

A round table meeting on current trends in Asian cinema will also be held during the festival.

For more information and for details on registration, log onto www.biffes.in or call 22222355/26711785

Write a novel with your friends The Water Glass Project is the latest initiative by Madness Mandali and its Mad Minions, the same folks who gave us Kavi Kala, the book of poetry and illustrations that brought together 33 young poets and artists. Buoyed by the success of their first collaborative venture, the group now wants to take up a more ambitious project -- a month-long writing challenge to produce an original work of collaborative fiction.

Teams of two, and not more than five people can participate in the contest, where they must write a novel with more than one voice in a span of 31 days. The length should be between 20,000 to 30,000 words, or approximately 120 pages, and the actual writing has to happen from 1st to 31st January, 2013.

The winning entry will be published by Madness Mandali, who promises to "promote, publicise and do everything for your book, including running around in the market with

drums." They will also bear the cost of the book's first print-run.

Whether or not your entry gets published, the copyright remains with you. Registrations opened from 1st December, 2012 and will be on till midnight of 30th December. For more, log onto www.facebook.com/ madnessmandali

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

23

Forward Dr R Ganesh

 Pressure: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is under pressure to win the Nagpur test over this weekend to level the series with England

Midnight marathon The country's only such event, Bangalore Midnight Marathon is back in its sixth edition. The race will be held on December 15, at Karnataka Trade Promotion Organisation (KTPO), Whitefield. Apart from the main event, there are also competitions like Fun Run, Half Marathon and Women's Relay.

Live entertainment and cultural events will keep the runners and fans pumped up through the night.

The marathon is organised by Rotary Bangalore IT Corridor (RBITC) as a fundraising event for its social service projects. Nearly 7,000 people took part in the last year's events. Prizes for the men's and women's categories in the the 42km full marathon, the most prestigious among the events, was won

by Yeshewa Abate and Rhale Worku from Ethiopia .

Online Registrations and Race/Route details available at www.midnightmarathon.in

 Probe: The Indian government plans a probe into charges that Walmart paid huge bribes to enter India, Enforcement Directorate enters picture  Results: Gujurat Assembly elections results expected to be out on Dec 20. Will be keenly watched for its impact

First-ever Kannada Shatavadhana Avadhana is an ancient scholarly art that uses a literary performance to test poetic skill, creativity, memory, concentration, scholarship, and wit.

Traditionally conducted in Sanskrit, it has recently been revived thanks to the efforts of a group of Kannada and Telugu scholars who are promoting it in their native languages as well. The event revolves around a central character, called 'Avadhani,' whose challenge is to come up with grammatically flawless, metrically perfect and creative poetry extempore, in response to the questions and challenges put forward by a group of scholars, called 'Prcchakas'. The main variants of the performance are the Avadhana (eight prcchakas) and Shatavadhana (hundred prcchakas).

The questions generally consist of a description given in prose and the avadhani has to express it as a poem,

which must conform to metre. The art requires immense memory power and tests a person's capability of simultaneously performing multiple tasks - which vary from making up a poem spontaneously to keeping a count of a bell ringing at random.

Dr R Ganesh, one of the best-known practitioners of the art and the only Shatavadhani from Karnataka at present, recently performed the first ever Shatavadhana entirely in Kannada.

The event was held at NMKRV College, Jayanagar, on December 2 and 3.

During the event, 75 prcchakas posed 100 questions to him. A mechanical engineer by qualification, Ganesh is a polyglot, an author in Sanskrit and Kannada, and an extempore poet in multiple languages, and has performed close to 1,000 avadhanas in Kannada and Sanskrit.

Pool that ride Carpooling is considered the "no-brainer solution to increasing fuel costs, car maintenance costs and traffic congestion," and the Internet has solved the biggest problem those who want to pool rides face: connecting to each other. No more sticking printouts advertising your willingness to share a ride on your neighbourhood grocery shop's wall. A clutch of websites are connecting commuters willing to pool rides, and promising that it will be a safe and even pleasant experience. In fact, some like Zinghopper even offer to connect you with others who share your hobbies or interests, presumably to ensure that the ride will be no ordeal. For safety, they allow users to connect on social media to get a better idea

The week ahead

Dial-an-auto

of who they are travelling with and so check if they have common friends. While most of the carpooling websites are commercial ventures, V Ride Along, which started with Bangalore and has since gone national, is a non-profit.

On the web: Zinghopper.in, Olivetrips.com, Poolmycar.in, Vridealong.org

Another commuting related venture—and you wonder why no one thought of it earlier—is Autowale.in, which allows you to dial-a-rickshaw, just like you would a cab or a pizza. Their service, which is currently available only in Pune and Bangalore, works almost exactly like that of the popular dial-a-cab services, where you book a trip by phone and pay the fare to the driver. To attract customers, they currently offer deals like no extra night charge on festival days and so on.

To book an auto, log on to their website: Autowale.in or call 50661111

 Egypt vote: A vote for or against the Mohammed Morsi government in Egypt is on the cards, people want Morsi to step down  Permission: Pakistan minister Rehman Malik's request to India to arrange for a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi is under consideration  Extortion case: Zee Chairman Subhash Chandra has said he is ready for a lie detector test in connection with the Rs 100 crore extortion case filed against Zee by Jindal group  Infosys: A good response is expected to Infosys shares debuting on the New York Stock Exchange; Europe is expected to take keen interest  T20: More than 35,000 tickets expected to be sold for the T-20 cricket match between India and Pakistan on Dec 25, sales through the week  Body awaited: Nurse Jacintha Saldanha's body is still to be released in London; after release, body may be brought to Mangalore; Jacintha allegedly committed suicide after receiving a prank call from Australian RJs seeking information on Duchess Kate Middleton's pregnancy  Garbage meet: Ministers R Ashoka and Aravind Limbavalli are expected to resolve differences over dumping garbage at Mandur, Limbavalli's constituency

L I S T I NGS

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food

24

music festival Gojira December 16 22119898  Chinese fiesta in city: Savour dishes like basil flavoured chicken or vegetarian dumplings, barbequed fish, four treasure vegetable in Hunan sauce, Tao's chicken and more. The meal is priced at Rs 678 inclusive of all taxes.

Available at all Mainland China outlets

 Butterflies in your tummy: This Christmas season, Nandos offers its latest addition, the butterfly chicken breast. The marinated meat is cut in the butterfly style and is served with potato wedges, salad and a drink. The meal is priced at Rs 420.

Available at Nandos outlets located in Church Street and Park Square Mall, ITPB 65681480  A day with Santa: This festive season, children get a chance to compete at cookie decoration, ginger bread decoration and more.

The children can also have

breakfast with Santa and have a chance of winning gifts from his bag.

The Leela Palace, #23, Airport Road, December 15 9030571315  Have a slice of Italy: Enjoy a spread of meat, seafood, vegetables along with cheese, pasta, mascarpone served with Italian bakes, frozen dessert of liqueur soaked sponge and ice cream, meringue, tiramisu and more.

The menu is prepared by Chef Vittorio Greco. Priced at Rs 1,350 per head.

Cubbon Pavilion, Lobby Level, ITC Gardenia, Residency Road,

 Something special is brewing: This Christmas lift your spirits higher with cocktails such as spicy santa, the mobar hot chocolate, Xmas three and more. You can also have the regular in house cocktails that can be teamed with desserts.

Monkey Bar, 14/1, Krishna Manare, Wood Street, Ashoknagar, till December 23 41116879  It's raining desserts: This festive season wish Merry Christmas the sweet way.

Choose from the Xmas brownie served with vanilla ice cream, straw-

berry and orange twin topped with white chocolate, chocolate passion fruit charlotte twisted with rich dark chocolate mousse on passion fruit ganache, peanut butter mousse cake, dark chocolate truffle, Diane cake and more.

Available at all California Pizza Kitchen outlets till December 22 64058888  Calling all foodies: This weekend all foodies in the city will have one thing on their minds; Bangalore Foodies Eat Up. There is something for everyone.

From dosa to chaats to rolls you can eat here to your heart's content.

Apart from this you will meet likeminded people and share your food experiences with them. Treat yourself to a gastronomical extravaganza from various stalls.

Food Street, 361, 5th Block, 17th E Main, KHB Colony, Koramangla, December 15, 5.30 pm

retail therapy food

 Get that bling: Designs by Pooja Kamath will be for sale.

She has worked with numerous jewellery houses and her handcrafted silver pieces will give you that bling this festive season. Choose from earrings, neck pieces or rings.

Yellow Button, House #787, 12th Main, 1st Cross, Off 100 ft Raod , Indiranagar,HAL 2nd Stage, till December 16 25262108  Free spirited clothing: Fusion Beats from 1090F introduces the Nomadic Collection. The apparel is a mix of African and Aztec prints, tribal sketches and intricate prints. The colour, prints and the fabric give a tropical, nomadic feel to the clothes.

Available at all 1090F outlets  Care for your skin: This winter season skip

 Weekender debuts in town: The happiest music festival as they call themselves in another part of the country, the NH7 Weekender is here to make its debut in town. And that doesn’t come without an unforgettable line-up. The two day festival will feature the likes of Indian Ocean, Testament, Susheela Raman, The Raghu Dixit Project and many more acts. Spread over six stages, NH7 Weekender is a festival known not just for the music but the vibe and the atmosphere it creates for music lovers.

Embassy International Riding School, 149/2 and 223, Tarunhunse Village, Jai Hobli, Devanahalli Taluk, December 15 and 16, 3 pm onwards, Log onto www.nh7.in

music 4th Element the harsh winds and the cold weather that make your skin dry. Tips & Toes introduces moisturisers that include honey and grape seed extracts and a whitening agent that repairs damage caused by sun and prevents acne.

Available at all leading Tips &Toes outlets

 Decorate your Xmas tree: Search no further as Buy n Brag offers a set of 18 Christmas ornaments. Order for these and start decorating your Christmas tree right away. The set of 18 ornaments is priced at Rs 2,500.

Available at www.BuynBrag.com

 Treat for metal lovers: All roads will lead to this concert where four international bands are set to perform. The highlight of the event is Gojira, a French metal band. Other international bands performing at the event are Blood Shot Dawn, Xerath, Flayed Disciple and Echer’s Knot. Gojira's music is a technical death metal, thrash metal and progressive metal band. The band members include Joe Duplantier on vocals and guitar, Mario Duplantier on drums, percussion, Christian Andreu on guitar and Jean Michel Labadie on bass. For tickets log on to www.indianstage.in Manpho Convention Ground, next to Manyata Tech Park, Hebbal, December 16, 12 pm

Cathedral Grounds, December 16, 11 am

outside, yoke seam over panel, W stitch, seven belt loops, the patch and watch pocket.

Available at Wrangler outlets

 Shop for shoes: Whether it is the cold winds that you want to beat or want to match your dress with a pair of ballerinas or want to wear comfortable sneakers for lunch, Crocs has shoes for all occasions. Boots are available in suede and leather and are priced at Rs 8,995. Sneakers are available in various colours and are priced as Rs 2,995.

Available at all Crocs Outlets

 Funky Saturday night: This Saturday get ready to watch 4th Element spell their magic all the way from Shillong. Watch Ribor MB on keyboards, Sarah Lee on vocals, Amit Mullick on guitars, Sam Shullai on drums and Jeffery Laloo on bass. Their music is an amalgamation of funk, jazz, R n B and Soul. bFlat #776, 2nd Floor, 100 ft Road Indiranagar, December 15, 8.30 pm 41739250

 Biker jeans are here: For every biker who takes long trips, Wrangler offers its latest, ' The 7 Icon jeans', that is comfortable while riding a bike. The 7 icon jeans has flat rivets, fully felled seam

 Feel the Blues: Ministry of Blues is all set to perform this weekend in the city. Their music is a blend of blues and rock and is more contemporary presently. Their inspirations come from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore,

Robben Ford, Buddy Guy and more. Watch Philipe Haydon on guitar and vocals, Rauf on keyboards and vocals, Vinoo Matthew on bass and Kishor Karambaya on drums. bFlat #776, 2nd Floor, 100 ft Road Indiranagar, December 14, 8.30 pm 41739250  Carol singing: This Sunday head to watch some carol groups in Bangalore usher in the Christmas season. Choirs like Jyothi Nivas College choir, ICYM Choir, Choral Blueprint, Infant Jesus Chruch and others are all set to perform. There will be carol singing and various competitions to participate in. Entry is free.

Gloria, St Francis Xavier

 A night of folk music: The Rajasthan Roots are all set to take you to the sand dunes of Rajasthan.

Watch them perform along with Kutle Khan. They play the folk music that appeals to all thereby making a mark for themselves in this era.

Opus, #4, Chakravarthy Layout, Sankey Road, December 14, 9 pm 23442580  Glorious evening: This weekend celebrate the spirit of Christmas with the 23-year-old choir, Glorious.

Glorious is a known name in the city and have performed several times during Christmas. Entry is free.

St Germains High School Grounds, Promenade Road, Frazer Town, December 15 and 16, 6.30 pm  Blues Unlimited Popular blues band from Shillong, Soulmate is back for a pre-Christmas bash in town.

Opus, #4, Chakravarthy Layout, Sankey Road, December 17, 9 pm 23442580

L I S T I NGS

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art & workshops

25

theatre & books Art

 Sweat it out: This workshop allows you to dance your heart out. You will be dancing with balloons, ribbons, newspapers, or just as yourself with your partner.

This allows you to feel free and this is felicitated by Natasha of Three Left Feet.

Atta Galatta, 75, 2nd main, 1st block, Koramangala, December 16, 5 pm 9632510126  Photographic dreams: Learn the technical, artistic and social aspects of photography through this workshop. Grasp the concepts of how to compose a photograph, how to process pictures, how to use different modes of the camera and more. Fee is Rs 3,500 per person.

Call 9880006460 for details  Art through light: Breathing Light showcases the art

work of Prarthana Krishnamurthy, her photography through her travel. Her photographs are an experience for her, journeying through life, recording its special moments and features through the lens after a fulfilling career as a lawyer. This is her first photography exhibition.

Atta Galatta, 75, 2nd main, 1st block, Koramangala, till December 16 9632510126  Learn the craft of filmmaking: Are you interested in film making?

Then head to this filmmaking workshop. The workshop will be facilitated by writer/director Rabi Kisku.

You will learn the basics of screen writing, cinematography, direction, editing and technology. Fee for the workshop is Rs 4,000.

St Joseph's Boys High School, Museum Road, December 15 and 16, 1 pm 9886539405

 Art: The first masterpiece by Evam, the play is a hilarious tale of three friends Serge, Marc and Yvan.

When Serge indulges in his passion and buys an expensive piece of art work, which is almost a white painting, his friend Marc is horrified and says that the painting looks like shit. This comment of his strains his friendship with Serge. Yvan is caught between them and tries to please both of them but is not successful. This comedy has Karthik Kumar, Sunil Vishnu K and Jimmy Xavier in the cast.

Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Thimmaiah Road, Vasanthnagar,

December 14, 7.30 pm 41231340  Picasso at the Lapin Agile: Directed by Vaishak Shankar the play is about one night in Paris where Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein meet each other at a bar. This bar witnesses the presence of one genius after another and what follows is a series of hilarious and witty exchanges between the two.

Jagriti, Varthur Road, Ramagondana Halli, Whitefield, December 15 and 16, 6.30 pm and 8 pm 41248298  Tokers unite: Jugal Mody, author of

film

Toke will read out his first book this weekend. The book is set in today's scenario and is about a fictional character called Nikhil.

The book shows how Nikhil, when stoned, sees Lord Vishnu who asks him to save the world. In order to save the world he gets to kiss the girl of his dreams several times.

Atta Galatta, 75, 2nd main, 1st block, Koramangala, December 16, 6.30 pm 9632510126

revolves around the world of cinema and theatre and is set against the backdrop of partition. Nazia Sahiba, who is an actress, has been through five decades of performance and her personal life consists of 7 years of struggle. She sails through her life on her talents however there is a bizarre and funny look at life through her eyes, and affects the lives of those who were unfortunate enough to be close to her.

The cast includes Lillete Dubey, Soni Razdan, Neha Dubey and Sid Makkar.

Ranga Shankara, #36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd phase, JP Nagar, December 15 and 16, 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm 26592777  Yayavar Launch: Written by Sourav Roy, Yayavar will be launched this weekend. Yayavar meaning vagabond, is his third book of Hindi poems.

The poems are philospphical, political and subtle in nature. This is a free event.

Atta Galatta, 75, 2nd main, 1st block, Koramangala,December 15, 6 pm 9632510126

 Where did I leave my purdah: Directed by Lillete Dubey, the play is inspired by the spirit of famous company theatre artists of the bygone years. The play

To get your event listed, write to us at listings@talkmag.in

kitsch mandi The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

 Myoho Hindi Directed by Ranjan Shandilya, it revisits the controversial subject of religious fanaticism and also talks about the 26/11 attacks of 2008. He also uses another tragedy, the Bihar earthquake of 1934 with the same characters making it appear as if karma is catching up on all those involved. The film is being seen as reflective over preachy.

Fun Cinemas, Cunningham

Road - 10.40 am Innovative Multiplex, Marathahalli- 12.35 pm Q Cinemas, Ascendas Park Square, Whitefield - 12.50 pm  Cigarette Ki Tarah Hindi The film is a romantic thriller and is about a man who falls in love without hesitation. That's when trouble starts brewing and he is isolated from everything. He faces a lot

of problem but still continues to believe in his love.

Directed by Akshaditya Lama, it stars Bhoop Yaduvanshi, Prashant Narayanan, Yuvika Chaudhary and Madhurima Tuli in the lead.

Innovative Multiplex, Marathalli- 4.45 pm Q Cinema, ITPL, Whitefield- 1 pm  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (3D) English

This adventure film is about the journey of Bilbo Baggins who is trying to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Bilbo unexpectedly joins the company of thirteen dwarfs who are led by Thorin Oakenshield.

On their journey they have to fight off goblins, wargs, spiders and shape shifters. Bilbo on the way also meets Gollum who changes his life forever.

He gets Gollum's ring that possess special powers.

Directed by Peter Jackson, it stars Elijah Wood, Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving in the lead roles.

Rex Theatre, Brigade Road- 11 am, 6pm, 9.35 Urvashi Digital 4K Cinemas- 11 am, 2.45 pm, 9.30 Innovative Multiplex, Marathalli- 6.30 pm Cinepolis, Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 12.45 pm, 3.55, 6.40 8.05, 9.50 INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 10.40 am, 12.30 pm, 2, 5.30, 6.20, 8.45 INOX, Mantri Square, Malleshwaram- 10 am, 11.45, 3.35 pm, 5.35, 8.50

Fame Lido, off MG Road10.45 am, 5.20 pm, 8.45 Fame Forum Value Mall, Whitefield- 10 am, 3.25 pm INOX, JP Nagar- 11.50 am, 5.40 pm, 8.55  The Collection English The film is about Elenas who goes out with her friends for a party to an undisclosed location, where she becomes the victim of The Collector, a psychopath killer. The Collector kidnaps Elenas and takes her to an abandoned hotel, which he has transformed into his hideout. In the meantime Elenas father hires a group of mercenaries to get her back from the grip of The Collector. The mercenaries are led by Arkin, the only person to have escaped the clutches of The Collector. The film stars Josh Stewart, Christopher McDonald, Johanna Braddy and Navi Rawat in the lead.

INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 10 am, 5.20 pm, 10 INOX, Mantri Square, Malleshwaram- 10 am, 5.20pm, 9.55 Cinemax, Total Mall, Outer Ring Road- 9 pm

 Get your dose of kitsch: This weekend head to The Kitsch Mandi and be a part of a visual extravaganza. Artists will portray their works in illustrations, photography, paintings, prints, digital art and more. There will be stalls displaying other creations of artists too. Live music

by Thaavalattam and Mystik Vibes and a performance by Sahil Madaan will also be an added attraction. Food counters will be there to make your day smooth sailing. There will also be art workshops, live painting, pottery, clay work and other interesting things that you can indulge in and get your hands dirty. Live juggling, caricatures and graffiti workshops will be included. So head to this market and have a day of fun, frolic and music. DJ Vachan will be seen behind the console pumping up the crowd with his tunes.

Pebble, Princess Riding Academy, Palace grounds, December 16, 1 pm 9845026141

jingle bells

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

Rice ladoos

Ingredients: ½ kg boiled rice, 250 gm jaggery, ½ cup grated coconut, ¼ cup of ghee, a handful of raisins and cashews, 1 tspn cardmom powder Method: Wash the boiled rice and dry it completely (drying in the sun helps). In a pan, dry roast this rice till the colour changes to brown. Put the roasted rice in a mixer and powder it and keep it aside. Grind the jaggery, add the grated coconut and grind again. Mix the rice powder from before to this jaggery coconut mix. Add ghee, dry fruits and the cardmom powder. Mix well and make laddus of desired size.

Rose cookies

Kulkuls (Kidio)

the prongs of the fork into a Ingredients: 250 gm all rectangular patch. Roll the dough from one side using a little purpose flour (maida), 1 egg, ¼ of fresh coconut extract, 1 tspn sugar, 1 pressure on your finger tips so that the dough has the impression of the tspn warm oil, salt for taste, 1 bristles/fork. Seal the edges gently fork/comb For sugar icing : 75- 100 gm of sugar, without losing the impression. Place the curled kulkuls on a greased plate. ¼ cup of water Heat oil in a kadhai and fry the Method: In a large bowl, mix the flour, kulkuls till they turn golden (dark sugar, salt and egg well. Add the brown indicates that they are burnt). coconut milk in parts till the dough Keep aside and let it cool. In a becomes firm and smooth (should separate vessel, mix water and sugar resemble chapatti dough). Keep the and stir till thick or till it acquires the dough aside, covered with a damp consistency of honey. Drop the cloth so that it does not dry. Take the kulkuls and twirl the vessel so that fork or the comb and slightly grease it each kulkuls is coated with the syrup. with oil. Make small round marblePut the kulkuls in a large plate and size balls from the dough and press separate if they are sticking to each them on the bristles of the comb or other. Let them cool before storing.

Ingredients: ½ kg all purpose flour (maida), ½ bowl coconut extract, 3 eggs, sugar to taste, a pinch of salt, oil, rose cookie mould Method: Put the flour in a deep bowl and add sugar, coconut extract, eggs and salt.

Beat this into a thick batter (should have the consistency of dosa). If the batter is too thick, you can add a little more coconut extract. Heat the oil in a kadhai on a medium flame. Dip the cookie mould in the hot oil. This will allow the cookies to slip away easily from the mould. Now dip the mould into the batter so that the batter covers the mould but not entirely (this should be done fast or the mould will cook the batter in the bowl itself). Dip the mould in the oil till the batter separates.

Fry till the cookie is golden brown.

ways to greet Santa

5

26

These traditional Christmas goodies, passed on from generation to generation, are a must in many families even today. Try them and you'll know why Fruit cake

Ingredients: ½ kg unsalted butter, 1 kg sugar (powdered), ½ kg maida, 25 eggs, Dry fruits and nuts like cashew, raisins, figs (tastes better if soaked in rum for over a month), 200 gms tutti frutti, 1 tspn baking powder, 1 small bottle vanilla essence, ½ nutmeg, 12 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon stick, Cake moulds For caramelising: 2 cups of granulated sugar, ¾ cups of water Method: Begin by caramelising the sugar. Put the granulated sugar in a saucepan and heat it on medium flame till the colour changes from white to dark brown. Keep stirring so that it does not froth over. Add hot water in small

portions, gradually. Put the unsalted butter in a big bowl and let it melt. Add the powdered sugar and mix thoroughly to remove any lumps. Add the eggs and beat well. Slowly, add the maida portion by portion and mix really well. Add the dry fruits that have been soaking in rum (do not add the rum as this will thin out the batter).

Add the tutti frutti, followed by the baking powder, vanilla essence and powder of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Add the caramalised sugar slowly till you achieve the colour you desire (too much of caramel will give the cake a dark brown colour and also a bitter tinge). Grease the mould with a little butter and line the cake mould with butter paper. Pour the batter into the moulds. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees for ten minutes and then bake for about an hour and a half.

Ginger wine Ingredients: 250 gms of ginger, 1 orange, 8-10 dry red chillies, 2.5 litres of water, 1 tspn yeast, 1 tspn pectic enzyme, 1 kg sugar Method: Wash and dry the ginger, then cut it finely with the skin intact.

Peel the orange and extract the orange juice. Keep both aside.

Pour water in a big vessel and boil it along with the orange peel, ginger, sugar and dry red chillies. Boil till the mixture is reduced to half. Take the vessel off the stove, add orange juice and let it cool. Once cooled, add the pectic enzyme and yeast and let it cool completely. Strain and store in bottles.

SANDRA M FERNANDES

memoir

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

27

VIVEK ARUN

When 300 poor people die after drinking a deadly brew made from industrial spirit, Bangalore's politicianbootlegger nexus is suddenly out in the open. But the police investigation is so weak no one gets punished

he Gundu Rao government (1980-83) had earned notoriety for its insensitivity and corruption. R Gundu Rao’s predecessor Devaraj Urs had projected his government as pro-Dalit, backward classes, and minorities.

Although Gundu Rao headed the same Congress government, he made fun of land reforms and the backward class politics practised by Urs. On July 7, 1981, about 300 people died after drinking hooch in Bangalore. The victims were mostly from the poor neighbourhoods of Lingarajapuram, Munireddy Palya, Sagayapura and Tannery Road. Slums there were hotbeds of discontent. A small excuse was enough for trouble to erupt. A drunk had once stabbed a push-cart vendor because he had denied his fried a bonda (fried snack).

We heard of hundreds of such incidents. A slum called AK Colony had problems all the time. Many of its dwellers were addicted to drink, and had taken to hooch which was cheap.

An industrial spirit, used in paints and varnishes, was available against a licence. A racket was thriving, with bootleggers mixing it with water and selling it as arrack.

Marimuthu, who later became a councillor, and Ameer Jan were running the racket.

The brew was poisonous and fatal. It worked like slow poison, damaging the intestines and kidneys,

T

resulting in the early death of slum- Bhattacharya, who became chief secdwellers. As the deaths were not retary later, had been the excise comdramatic, and most victims were missioner. HT Sangliana, who rose to poor, the problem did not attract become Bangalore commissioner of police and a member of parliament, attention.

The problem came to light trag- was then the deputy commissioner ically when 300 people died at once. of police (DCP) for law and order.

Usually, the brew contained more The racket had thrived under their water than spirit, and drinkers very noses.

After the tragedy, we comwouldn’t show symptoms immediplained to ately, but this time, Commissioner of the spirit content Chief Minister Police AR was high, and hunGundu Rao Nizamuddin and dreds died within urged him to act minutes of drinkgrandly against officials ing the hooch. announced who had sat on our Some days compensation: petitions. Excise before the tragedy, Rs 1,000 a family Inspector Arjun residents of AK Das was the main Colony had made a representation to the government villain, we told him. I noticed a bigger against the sale of hooch. Advocate O tragedy in the public indifference to Sridhar and I, through separate com- the death of fellow-citizens. When plaints, had urged the government to the opposition parties demanded an act against the illicit liquor menace. inquiry, the government appointed a But the government had not been commission under RG Desai.

Sridhar submitted an affidavit responsive.

The deaths occurred just a before the commission, and I assisted month after the government had him. The way the inquiry was conwas disgusting. thrown our petitions into the dust- ducted bin. I was disturbed: hundreds of Jakkappanavar, a leader of Dalit bank lives could have been saved if the employees, had got the Dalits to subgovernment had acted to our com- mit an affidavit through Sridhar. plaints. I gave up on the fight, think- They had sought compensation for ing that submitting affidavits before families of the hooch victims.

Although 300 people had died, the inquiry commission would be as the government officially declared useless.

When O Sridhar and I first peti- the number as 229. In the meantime, tioned the government, AK the excise department cancelled 110

crime folio

The big hooch tragedy Fabled ranconteur and Bangalore’s top-notch criminal lawyer brings you moving, sensational and bizarre stories from 40 years of his practice

CH HANUMANTHARAYA

licences for industrial spirit. We had demanded an inquiry into how these licences had been issued in the first place.

The police registered cases against 63 people. Not one was convicted and punished in the end. Such was the quality of the police investigation and the charge-sheet. The commission report revealed a nexus between the bootleggers and important politicians.

Gundu Rao grandly announced compensation for families of the victims. The amount? Just Rs 1,000 a family. When the opposition parties ridiculed him, he said, “If we give more money, we will be responsible for more deaths… people drink more hooch if we give them more money.”

Translated by BV Shivashankar

martial arts

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DEMONSTRATED BY PRIYA CRASTA. PHOTOS BY RAMESH HUNSUR. TRANSCRIBED BY RADHIKA P

Power, friendship and love oss: A boss might excel at his job but his expectations of a subordinate should be based on gracious evaluation. If your junior shirks work, pull him up. But know that he deserves a work-life balance. It is possible a subordinate performs multiple tasks to meet a deadline. If you are constantly unreasonable in your demands, you disturb harmony.

Don’t use your position to demand and destroy. Our sensei made unbelievable demands on us and we spent sleepless nights just to meet his expectations. But he made it up by giving us immense affection. He made us feel good and special. We forget what people want is not money but kindness, recognition and love. A senior’s job is to assess the weakness and suffering of a subordinate and try to fill the void with kindness. One of my former students was stressed: his boss had assessed him as an underperformer, and wanted him to quit.

His health and marriage were breaking down, and his performance had indeed been affected.

But, given the circumstances, the management shouldn’t have asked him to quit. The US marines have a policy: they don’t

B

Way of Budo 12 As boss, subordinate, parent, child, lover and friend, we play multiple roles, some of which appear conflicting. Sensei Avinash Subramanyam on personal and professional dynamics

leave their dead behind. It is possible that to pick up one killed marine, five will die, but such an attitude builds tremendous faith and love. The real job of a leader is to see what best can be done for all, irrespective of rank. He shouldn’t just talk big. A good boss is a mentor beyond the call of duty. If you can be such a boss, your spirit grows.

Subordinate: A subordinate should learn through the experience of seniors. Unless a senior’s action truly causes indignity (and don’t let your ego measure this), you should learn from and respect your senior. Isn’t this what you expect from your subordinates?

Learn about people and their ways. Take all that is positive from a senior; leave out all that is negative. When we trained, we were told to learn the movements of black belt champions, and also to observe their negativity and take care not to ape them. Some say, “I was kicked as a junior, so I will kick my juniors”. Adopt the attitude of a parent who had a deprived childhood but will ensure that his children don’t suffer the same way. This is the true spirit of a budo warrior.

Friend: Friendship and love are much misunderstood rela-

tionships. We might have many acquaintances but friends are rare. Friendship is not just for meeting over a drink or watching a film. It is a bond of love and trust, beyond all dos and don’ts.

Friendship is a relationship without hate, sorrow or disappointment. Nobody can take it away from you, not even your friend!

Even if the friend goes, the friendship remains. No action can break a friendship-abuse, anger, show of knife... such is its integrity. You shouldn’t mind apologising for a friend’s mistakes if that prevents him from feeling bad. Remember, friendship is not about right and wrong, winning and losing. This may sound idealistic but even a fraction of this sentiment will sustain a true friendship.

Lover: Love is a unique power bestowed by God on people who have space in their hearts.

Love is nothing but nature that is free flowing. It is understanding nature and hence an acceptance of everything-good and bad. If you love, you cannot hate. Also, you cannot say, “I love you, but…”

There is no ‘but’, ‘can’t’, or even a ‘wish I could...’ in true love. There is only a ‘yes’. But often, love manifests itself in non-loving ways.

Romantic love between a man

and a woman is often mixed with jealousy and hate. To be truly in love is not to bind or to be bound: it is freedom. Love is not about reciprocation, it is about giving without return. Many people feed ants and birds and expect nothing in return. Ideally, romantic love is like that. Be selfless and giving.

Think of how soldiers willingly die for the country. They don’t know if the country will win, or even if the cause is right or wrong.

They know their own people may forget them. So what do they love?

We don’t know. Yet they are willing to die.

At the end of the day, live for truth. Share and don’t be selfish.

If a senior says there’s a new job position available, share the news with friends. There’s a story about a saint who performed rigorous penance following which God gave him a powerful mantra. He asked the saint to use it with discretion. The ecstatic saint went to the top of a hill and shouted it out to the world so that it could partake of his happiness. Though the saint defied God, because of the purity of his action, he won grace.

Don’t read this as merely an old story. New knowledge leads to progress, but old wisdom brings serenity.

STRETCHING EXERCISE 1

2

4

6

Turn neck towards the centre (exhale) and then right (inhale) Hands akimbo

Lift chin up as you exhale Lift chin to sky (inhale)

5

8

9

7

3

Place feet shoulder width apart and parallel to each other. Spine straight, back erect and chin down.

Important: keep body relaxed in all movements

Turn neck left ensuring chin is not lifted.

Inhale as you turn

Bring neck back to centre with exhalation

Bring chin to centre (exhale) and continue to touch chin to chest (exhale) Drop hands and relax

Repeat movements beginning with neck turning right. Perform technique on both sides once a day.

T I M E P A SS

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

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talk the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly

How do advertisers talk to Bangalore’s most intelligent readers?

They call these numbers Abhay 95388 92618 Aman 88844 11718 Mithun 88844 11720

T I M E P A SS 1st Cross

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

Talk’s weekly crossword for Bangaloreans who know their way about town involved in an accident (4,10) 15 Karnataka High Court has suggested killing ___ that are a public menace (4) 16 You will find the Bangalore Golf Club on this road (6) 17 BS Yeddyurappa launched his new party in this town last Sunday (6)

1 2

3

DOWN HD _____ : State President of the JD(S) (11) City which observed a bandh last Saturday on account of the Cauvery water crisis (6) St _____ Convent: A cleaner was accused of molesting a 5 year old girl in

Last week’s solution Across: 3 Silver, 4 Fog, 6 IIMB, 8 Mount Carmel, 9 Anushka, 13 Kidwai, 15 Koli, 16 Jayamahal, 18 KSFA.

1

5 6 7

Across Homely restaurant known for its delicacies from Kerala at HSR layout (9) Kannada film actress who recently joined the KJP (5,6) Bangalore's favourite alcoholic beverage? (4) ____ Union & Service club: Club at

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Tagore Circle (12) 10 A man was recently jailed for plucking a couple of saplings from ____ __ (6,4) 13 Namma Metro has lost over ____ thousand tokens in it's first year (6) 14 Manipuri playwright who was abused by the crowd after being

Down: 1 Margosa, 2 BSF, 3 Sagar, 5 Umerkot, 7 Mangalore, 10 Nandini, 11 Swarathma, 12 Kaup, 14 Dalai Lama, 17 LPG

this school (6) 4 State body keen on promoting the mother tongue or administrative state language as the medium of instruction in primary schools (3) 6 One of the Bs in BBMP (6) 8 Karnataka district which has the maximum number of undernourished children in the state (7) 9 Norwegian rock group which has used footage of our beloved city in the visuals of their album (5,5) 11 __ _____ Amphitheatre recently hosted the "Battle Of The Bands" (2,4) 12 Theatre at Rajaji Nagar (7)

Prof Good Sense  I am a tenant in an apartment owned by my aunt, which I share with my colleague. My roommate sometimes brings her boyfriend home. I have no issues, but I am afraid my aunt will ask us to vacate if she finds out about this. She is conservative and won’t listen to any explanation. How do I tell her?

Munni, Peenya

If you stay at your aunt's flat, and she keeps a guardian’s eye on you, you have no choice but to play by her rules. Take your friend into confidence and tell her exactly what you have just told me. Your friend will understand, I’m sure. If she continues to bring her boyfriend home despite your apprehension, you could politely ask her to leave. If that doesn't work, get your aunt on your side and she will do the rest.

Prof M Sreedhara Murthy teaches psychology at NMKRV First Grade College. He is also a well-known photographer.

Mail queries to prof@talkmag.in

talk|20 dec 2012|talkmag.in

Size-zero house

Condom nation

This one came to us via Facebook. We'd like to think of it as a common man's answer to Bangalore’s real estate mafia. More power to you!

It seems Thailand, that hedonists' paradise in otherwise dull South Asia, is getting a bit desperate these days. What else is one to make of their latest tourist attraction, a museum dedicated to all things condom. Even in a world filled with museums dedicated to chocolate, dog collars and Arnab Goswami (isn't it time we had one?), this sounds like a slippery

idea. On display are such educative exhibits as "condoms belonging to every decade of Thai history," a pump (to inflate the condoms) and vintage posters of condom advertisements. According to Thailand’s deputy minister of Public Health Phansiri Kullanartsiri, the condom museum is intended to "eliminate Thai people's negative point of

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view on condom usage, create awareness of sexual protection and boost their confidence in using condoms." Given their huge, ahem, hospitality industry, and status as the world's largest producer of condoms, we understand the Thai need for the museum.

Germs vs Gerba If the hygiene maniacs have their way, we'd all be eating omelettes that smell of phenyl.

Listen to this one: "In most cases, it's safer to make a salad on a toilet seat than to make one on a cutting board," says Dr Charles Gerba (aka Dr Germ), a

microbiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. His logic is that people disinfect their toilet seats all the time, but not their kitchens.

His 'top five' dirtiest spots in the kitchen are: dishcloths, the sink, the counter-top, the

cutting board and the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. He holds a real grudge against kitchen sinks, especially, saying that the reason dogs like to drink out of toilets is that sinks are so dirty.

Gerba has supposedly been

studying the hidden bacteria lurking in American homes since 1973. If you ask us, that's an awful long time to study anything, let alone germs. But what we also wonder: could we expect a man who spent 40 years doing that to tell us anything else?