Talk jun 06 2013

talk Volume 1 | Issue 43 | June 6, 2013 | Rs 10

AYYOTOONS Cement Srini 5

magazine

the intelligent bangalorean ’s must-read weekly

CRIME 3 cricket bookies who rule Bangalore 6 TRIBUTE Famously rude Girish Karnad at 75 18 LUNCH Quick snacks for the school dabba 22

RIGHT CHORD The rock r band Eka was formed afte ed tch wa ers mb me its two of the Hindi film Rock On

L A E R O T L E E R

jkumar’s Haalu Jenu Ra . nd ba a t ar st d an b jo h us rporate honcho to quit a pl den for 30 years. V Shantaram’s Do Aankhen co a ed pt om pr n O ck Ro . es Movies change liv e care of his wife, bedrid to set up a 113-acre prison without walls. th to lf se m hi te vo de to ee oy ionate jailor ss pa m co inspired a bank empl a ed at iv ot m h at s of life imitating art 8-14 Ha ie or st Barah e or al ng Ba t ee w -s er tt TALK presents bi

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mail

Margot Cohen ’s story on Right to Education exposes vested interests Jain renunciation ritual I enjoyed reading your article on Priya Kochar (The bride who tuns nun, Issue 41). It gave a good perspective into Jain customs and rituals and made for very interesting reading. It was also thorough and wellresearched. It is wonderful how Talk Kavitha K manages to cater to the by email varied interests of Bangaloreans. The articles are all informative without being boring. Good work!

Read the Talk story on the implementation of the Right To Education Act in Bangalore (The new insiders, Issue 42). I thought Margot Cohen did a superb job with the story. It ’s a welladministered kick in the rear for greedy private school owners. Way to go!

Straight talk I was impressed with your coverage of the Right to Education Act, and its implications for Bangalore schools. As we all know, many schools are unabashed teaching shops, with no idealism — as you rightly point out in your editorial —and the government deserves thanks for trying to bring them back to their senses.

Mandira KS Basavangudi

Anusha R Malleswaram Theory vs theorist What a novel way to appreciate the pretty Ms Sibel Edmonds, the ‘conspiracy theorist ’ mentioned in a recent Chutney! item of yours.

You say you were “forced to ignore the theory in favour of the theorist. ” Wah! Mala Sridhara by email

team talk EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE TEAM

SR Ramakrishna 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 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: 08040926658. © All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

A point well made I was very impressed by your ‘Election Special ’ article And a few good men (Issue 39). Politicians are usually branded corrupt and one does not stop to think of the honest politicians who try to work for the

politics. I hope Talk will set a trend public good. The article brought by creating awareness about the home the point that the troubles faced by such leaders are ignored. I solutions. feel the public is disillusioned about AS Rao the state of governance, partly by email because most publications focus only on the negative aspects of Write to letters@talkmag.in

around town

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in RAMESH HUNSUR

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editor talk Indian cinema is celebrating its centenary year. We are the world ’s largest producer of feature films, making about 1,200 every year. Clearly, films are a passion across India; they are produced regularly in at least a dozen languages. Hindi, Tamil and Telugu make brash, over-the-top films, and set the tone for the ‘mainstream ’ cinemas in other Indian languages. Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry, which produces about a hundred feature films every year. Here, the ‘arthouse ’ cinema of Girish Kasaravalli co-exists with the kitsch of Ravichandran. Mani Ratnam, maker of blockbusters in Tamil and Hindi, began his career with a Kannada film, convinced that audiences in this language were more open to new kinds of cinema than audiences elsewhere in the south. Bangalore screens films in many languages, and that is no surprise, considering how the city thrives on a diverse mix of languages, tastes and cultures.

WINNING IDEA PESIT students Manoj Sanker and Mrinal Parekh, members of the three-member team that developed the Emote Sensor

A little device for the autistic Engineering students Mrinal, Manoj and Prabhanjan have designed and developed a monitoring device for people with neural communication problems.

Is their Emote Sensor the Next Big Idea of 2013?

I

t is an emotional moment all right for Mrinal Parekh, Manoj Sanker and Prabhanjan Mutalik. The three engineering students of People’s Education Society and Institute of Technology (PESIT), Bangalore, have won accolades for their prototype of a tech device that has the potential to make life a tad better for people with autism.

The monitoring device, called Emote Sensor, can “measure emotions and stress levels of people with autism.” Using customised software, it can send

alerts to an android device or plane to California to participate mobile phone of the autistic per- in the Intel Global Challenge (IGC). son’s caregiver seeking help.

But what really excites them On May 22, the PESIT team was among the top three winners is the way their device can transof the Next Big Idea 2013, an form the lives of people with speannual ideas festival hosted by the cial needs, especially children with NS Raghavan Centre for autism.

Citing the need for a moniEntrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at the Indian Institute of toring device such as the Emote Sensor, Mrinal says people with Management Bangalore (IIMB).

Next Big Idea, which aims to autism are usually unable to fuel and nurture the entrepre- express themselves. “Our device neurial spirit among the youth, is a has three sensors connected to national contest sponsored by the each other and to a small board Department of Science and that can be attached to the wrist.

When a person with Te c h n o l o g y , autism is experiencGovernment of It sends alerts ing severe stress, the India, and Intel.

This edition when a patient sensor sends an alert to the Android of the contest experiences device or mobile had 320 teams, high stress phone of the carefrom across the giver or parent. The country, submitting their business plans that an alert indicates that the patient eminent jury then whittled down needs help.”

The significance of a tech aid to 32. Of the 32 teams, 10 made the finals and three were declared such as the Emote Sensor becomes clear when one realises that peoTop Teams of 2013.

In just a few weeks from now, ple with autism tend to experience Mirnal, Manoj and Prabhanjan heightened emotions that lead to could be the lucky ones boarding a stress, sometimes making them

So what role does cinema play in the lives of Bangaloreans? When our team at Talk started working on this week ’s cover story, we were in for many surprises. A jailor was inspired by the Shantaram film Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) and persuaded Chief Minister Devaraj Urs to provide land for an open-air prison near Devanahalli. Basu Megalkeri tracked down BC Mallayya, now 84 and as much a stickler for time as during his working years, and got fascinating details about how the film had inspired him to build an unconventional correctional institution. A Rajkumar film has inspired a caring relationship, and a Vijay film motivated a school dropout to earn money and educate himself. We bring you some rousing stories and some poignant ones; many never told before. Also catch film maker KM Chaitanya ’s tribute to his guru Girish Karnad, who has just turned 75.

Happy reading!

SR Ramakrishna ram@talkmag.in

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What is autism?

Autism is a neural disorder in

which persons struggle to interact and express themselves verbally or non-verbally.

Autistic persons exhibit restricted,

repetitive or stereotyped behaviour.

The diagnostic criteria require that

symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old.

Autism affects information

processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organise; how this occurs is not well understood.

The prevalence of autism is about

1-2 in 1,000 people worldwide.

hurt themselves.

“Our device is meant to capture the change in mood and seek help right away,” says Mrinal.

The Emote Sensor essentially monitors the heart rate, temperature and skin conductance value or sweating. If the measures of the three physiological conditions are erratic, the caregiver can act instantly.

The prototype, consisting of a circuit board with sensors, can be attached to the wrist with a wire. Mrinal, Manoj and Prabhanjan plan to develop it into a wristwatch-like device. “The fabrication of the watch may take 12 to 18 months.

Eventually, we hope to develop it into a wireless model incorporating blue tooth technology,” says Mirnal.

Mrinal’s teammates, Manoj Sanker

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and Prabhanjan Mutalik, were working with IISc on a health project when the idea of the Emote Sensor struck them. Manoj’s cousin is afflicted with Down’s syndrome and that prompted Manoj to think of a tech aid for people with special requirements.

The three innovators are keen on careers in medical technology.

Original and creative Having researched the market diligently, Mrinal says though wristband monitors and self-monitoring devices are available in the United States, the Emote Sensor has a competitive edge because of its pricing and customised software.

“When you import a wristband from the US, it could cost you around 2500 dollars (approx Rs 1.5 lakh). Our device is priced at Rs 15,000. Moreover, the US band uses one sensor, while we use three. As an emotion is experienced, electrical signals move from one sensor to another. The significance is the second sensor authenticates the first and the third authenticates the second to make sure it is not a false alarm. Also, we have developed a system that calibrates itself—the sensors quickly calculate how far the heart rate or sweating or temperature is from the reference or standard and then decides to communicate with a mobile device. This is done with the help of software.”

User experience The trio has sought feedback from scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), parents of children with autism, and caregivers at autism societies.

“Everyone is sure there is a need for a

EARLY WARNING The Emote Sensor (right) monitors stress levels of patients and sends alerts (above) to a mobile phone

device such as the Emote Sensor. We know we are on the right track; we are now validating the device,” says Mrinal.

G Padmanabhan, Professor of Life Sciences and Bio Chemistry and former director of IISc, says: “The concept and fabrication of the device is certainly feasible. Even if it is a prototype now, it can be converted into a full-fledged product in the market provided good work goes into it.

Such self-monitoring devices are very popular in the US and Europe. Self-monitoring devices have a long way to go in India in manufacture and usage, but they are feasible and can be done.”

Ruby Singh, parent of an autistic child and founder-trustee of Assisted Living for Autistic Adults, says: “There are practically no monitoring devices for people with

Autism in Bangalore Autism educator Ruby Singh estimates a minimum of 1,000 children with autism in the city. She says: “There are no systematic studies done or definite data collected on autism. The data comes from an estimate of the number of members of the Autism Society of India, Bangalore Chapter, which is nearly 750. ” autisim. In such a context, the boys’ work is excellent. I have an observation. Autistic kids are usually unhappy to wear anything —even clothes. The product design has to work around this.” Manoj, Mrinal and Prabhanjan are sure to be listening.

fun lines

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sports betting

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The cricket tournament has proven a boon for bookies in the city— one of them, a former lab technician, now owns several luxury cars and a bungalow with a terrace pool. Betting rings have the blessings of politicians, and the not-so-covert support of IPL organisers

IPL windfall for bookies A CHETANA BELAGERE

BIG LEAGUE Post-IPL, bookies in Bangalore accept bets of up to Rs 5 crore

s the investigation into the spot-fixing case has shown, the success of IPL has turned cricket betting into a multi-billion dollar business. One of the surprises is that Bangalore is emerging as a major betting hub.

IPL betting first made news here in 2011, when leading bookie Ravi, alias Fighter Ravi, was arrested along with two of his associates. Last month, Ravi managed to flee the country—supposedly to Sri Lanka, police say—after securing bail from the Karnataka High Court. He had claimed in court that he had been falsely implicated in the case. Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths who pursued the case were recently in Delhi to meet Sreesanth, the disgraced Rajasthan Royals player, to examine his Bangalore connections. Sreesanth studied in Bangalore and has many links with the city.

Bangalore has rarely seen any crackdown on betting rings, but the

spot-fixing case is likely to change that. Police sources admit the immense popularity of the IPL has pumped money into betting, and the lack of team loyalty makes it the perfect target for both betting and fixing.

Bookies have been active this season in places like Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Karwar, Bhatkal, Manipal, Gulbarga, Bidar and some districts bordering Tamil Nadu.

Deputy Comissioner of Police D Devaraj, perhaps trying to downplay matters, told Talk there were no bigtime fixers in Karnataka. “We couldn’t find any major city links to fixers, but we have information that some prominent names in the social arena are involved in betting. The punters here range from bartenders to merchants, and real estate agents to businessmen,” he said.

The big three Fighter Ravi, Shibu and Narahari are the three big names in cricket betting in Bangalore. Ravi, a one-time lab technician, rose rapidly in the business, and is believed to own property

worth more than Rs 5 crore, includ- arrests. According to a police official, ing a five-storey house in Vyalikaval his activities are still being tracked as with a terrace pool, all of it acquired some of his associates continue small-time betting. in just four years.

A CCB sleuth recalls a conversaSources say Ravi, a diploma holder, lived in a small rented house tion with Narahari, who reportedly and often squandered money on bet- told him, “Cricket betting is like eight ting. He soon made contact with hours of non-stop sex. My turnover other punters and through them, got for a single match would be around in touch with some bookies. He then Rs 5 crore. It’s even more during IPL or when India is playing. But I don’t started his own betting business.

According to Devaraj, his ven- enjoy it anymore. I prefer horse racing. The risks in cricket ture clicked as its are too great; you launch coincided with Lack of team might have done that of the IPL. “He loyalty makes everything right as a quickly became a bookie, but your outprominent bookie, and IPL perfect standing bets will kill forged strong alliances for bookies you.” with bookies across the In betting, it is country. He has also cheated punters many times and standard practice for bookies to put stashed away crores of rupees,” he cash down 24 hours after a match, whereas punters, especially the regusaid.

Narahari, the bookie who was a lars, often run on credit. If they lose favourite of punters at the Turf Club, money on a match, they often tend to also enjoys the confidence of jockeys wait for the next match to make up and businessmen. He is said to have for it, thus delaying the payment to stopped cricket betting after suffering the bookie. This is supposed to be major losses and enduring repeated why Narahari has stayed away from

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cricket betting. But his contacts have gone to preferring instead to deal exclusively with big bettors. other bookies in the city, sources reveal.

Bookies are active in Hanumanthnagar, Finally, the man who is considered the smartest and most trustworthy among the Chickpet, Chamarajpet, High Grounds, three is Shibu, originally from Kerala. He is said Seshadripuram and other busy areas, many of to have contacts with the Mumbai underworld them connected to kingpins operating from as well as with big punters and bookies from Mumbai and Delhi or from overseas.

Bookies always need a safe base to operate across the country. Acting on information from Ravi, the Bangalore police have booked nearly from, and this is where they take ‘political help.’

15 cases against him, but Shibu has managed to While this is true for the big betting hubs of evade arrest so far. He is believed to have shift- Mumbai and Delhi, Talk has learnt that at least ed base to Goa in the beginning of the season, one such ‘raid-proof’ safe haven exists in the though the bulk of his clients are still from city—in Nelamangala—for betting. The politician in turn gets a percentage of the turnover Bangalore.

“We tried to trap him three times, but he for the use of the premises. escaped. He has changed his location each time we went after Betting 2.0 Bookies operate On match days, many punters him. It’s not just him; after the from vehicles spot-fixing scandal, most bookand bookies stay plugged into ies, including the small timers, international websites and to avoid being have gone underground,” says phone hotlines which give traced Devaraj. minute-to-minute updates on Highflying bookies like the betting rates. A hotline Ravi and Shibu prefer to operate either from service can cost as little as Rs 5,000, and the posh vehicles (so that the location cannot be bookies ensure the service providers are traced) or star hotels. The minimum bet changed frequently. accepted by mid-level bookies in the city is Rs The Internet allows bookies and their cus5,000. Earlier, it would go up to Rs 5 lakh, but tomers to use online money transfers to bypass post-IPL, the amount could be as much as Rs 5 the banking system. Since betting is illegal in crore. To place still larger bets though, punters India, online betting websites can’t be hosted in have to contact bookies in Mumbai and Delhi. this country, but there are plenty of foreign websites that conduct the business pretty much like online stock trading portals.

New slang Then there are the many international Police say the bookies have wisened up to surveillance. They now refer to large amounts in online bookmakers who accept bets from India, modest terms to mislead eavesdroppers into such as Bet 365, William Hill, Ladbrokes and thinking they are small-timers. According to an Betfair, which are hosted in countries where official, ‘dus rupaiya’ actually stands for Rs 10 betting is legal.

In fact, the IPL promoters themselves aid lakh, while ‘sau rupaiya’ denotes Rs 1 crore.

Post-IPL, the terms are being thrown around betting on their matches—for instance, Global casually, an indication of how the scale of the Cricket Ventures, IPL’s official digital media partner, has facilitated betting on the semibusiness has changed.

In fact, many bookies now refuse to accept finals through its global cricket portal bets from small-time punters, and the top guns www.cricket.com.

When the fence does not mind eating the are unlikely to accept anything less than ‘pachaas rupaiya’ (Rs 50 lakh). The latter are crop, and betting is popular from the street all known to have declined bets from 500-odd the way to the five-star hotel, it is unlikely the punters and 50 mid-level bookies in the state, ‘menace’ will go away any time soon.

KINGPIN? A police photo of ‘Fighter’ Ravi and his associates

Legalise betting, say lawyers Since betting cannot be controlled, the government might as well generate revenue by taxing it, say Bangalore lawyers

themselves knowing it is legal.

It ’s a very difficult decision though the tax and revenue angle to it is easy. Whether it will reduce temptation to bet is debatable. ”

Aditya Sondhi, who practises from his chambers off Cunningham Road, agrees with Nanaiah that Aditya Sondhi betting needs to be legalised. “But taxing doesn ’t mean it would clean up sport.

Once legalised, people may be tempted to bet more and cricketers may bet on

deciding how the tax revenue is shared. “So we need an overarching law to handle betting.

I know people have suggested that betting be linked to PAN card and Aadhaar card, so it can be traced and people betting can be identified. It is not easy to do this without studying the implications.

A study will have to explore the cultural implications of betting too. Will Indian people tolerate legalisation of betting? ”

Control over betting doesn ’t mean end of fixing. Fixing can be stopped only if special offences are identified and drafted for PRASHANTH GN fixing specifically. A new sport prashanth.gn@talkmag.in law will be required that incorporates these offences.

Betting is rampant across the Legalization of betting is just one country. People bet on sports, step in the overall solution to elections, and even the address the vagueness around monsoons. Since the central and betting. ” state governments are unable to BT Venkatesh, control it, prominent lawyers executive suggest betting be legalised and director of Reach used for revenue generation. law, suggests a Advocate and central politician MC government Nanaiah says study of betting betting in India is BT Venkatesh in the West. huge, and “India needs to understand why estimates its betting has been legalised in turnover at Rs 3 certain European countries and MC Nanaiah lakh crore how it is benefiting the annually. “If betting is legalised, governments. England is an the government can earn tax to example. Betting is legal there. the tune of Rs 20,000 to Rs The English Premier League 40,000 crore, which can be attracts betting. I agree shared between the centre and tentatively legalisation is a first the states. I suggest legalisation step. This may spur more people because betting cannot be to buy tickets and then bet controlled. Apart from betting in legally. Tax is certainly welcome race courses, betting in all other when unaccounted money is domains is not sanctioned by being plunged into betting for law. ” random gain. ” No law can stop betting within Supreme Court families, and in friends ’ circles advocate KV and intimate groups: the Dhananjay says government does not have the since the betting power to intervene legally in racket is spread those spaces. “Organised, public out in various betting bordering on gambling is states, numerous what can be controlled, ” says KV Dhananjay difficulties are Nanaiah. bound to arise in the matter of

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film matters

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LIFE IMITATES CINEMA RAMESH HUNSUR

We embrace our movies, and our stars, with all our heart, critical distance be damned. As Indian cinema celebrates its centenary, here are testimonies of lives miraculously transformed by sparks on the screen

A jailor takes personal responsibility for inmates, and starts a prison without walls Do Aankhen Barah Haath (Two Eyes, Twelve Hands, Hindi, 1957) Directed by V Shantaram, the film was inspired by the true story of the Swatantrapur Open jail in Maharashtra in 1937. Young jailor Adinath reforms six prisoners convicted for murder in an open jail. He wins their trust with his compassionate ways, and takes them to a lone house outside town, where he encourages them to grow vegetables. Happy with their new-found freedom, the prisoners work sincerely. A greedy merchant who sees competition in their work, hires goons to kill the jailor. Adinath dies, but his dream of reforming the prisoners is fulfilled.

The film won laurels nationally and internationally and became the first Indian film to win a Golden Globe at Cannes.

BASU MEGALKERI basavaraju@talkmag.in

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bout 50 km from Bangalore, near Devanahalli is the Koramangala Open Jail. Without fences or high walls, the 113-acre stretch resembles a vast farm. Instead of watch towers, you see trees laden with fruits, and a rose garden welcomes you.

“Don’t call them convicts,” jail superintendent Obaleshappa instructs us. “Address them as inmates.”

He believes they have committed a crime in a weak moment, but are reformed now.

“Calling them prisoners will hurt them,” he explains.

The prison was set up after a jailor saw the Shantaram film. Its philosophy continues to be compassionate. CS Mallayya, now 84, recalls how how the film inspired him to moot the idea of an open jail and overcome all bureaucratic hurdles to its founding.

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“On an official visit to England, I had seen an open jail. But it was only when I saw Do Aankhen Barah Haath in 1957, that I decided to start a similar correctional institution in Karnataka,” says Mallayya, who now lives in Palace Guttahalli, Bangalore.

Hailing from Chalya village near Shravanabelagola, Mallayya joined the prisons department in 1952. He lives with his wife in a house he built in 1964-65. His son has migrated to the US in 1990.

The first experiment Mallayya first experimented with the open jail system in 1964 when he was posted at the Hindalga jail in Belgaum. The construction of the Ghataprabha-Mallaprabha river canal was in progress. Mallayya requested the then home minister RM Patil to let him keep the jail doors open. The minister relented after much persuasion, but not before cautioning Mallayya about the risks.

The young jailor built temporary sheds on a two acre stretch near Savdatti, and took some prisoners there. The inmates dug two kms of the canal. “They didn’t betray me. The minister appreciated us. My resolve to start an open jail grew stronger,” he says.

In 1970 Mallayya became DIG (prisons), and had by then built a reputation as a strict officer. He had friends in high places. He was close to Devaraj Urs, who took over as the chief minister in 1972.

When Mallayya proposed the idea of an open jail to Urs, he didn’t take him seriously. He simply said, “Find the land and we will see.”

Mallayya relentlessly looked around and identified some government land in Koramangala near Devanahalli. He prepared the required documentation, but his proposal got stuck in bureaucratic hurdles.

A determined Mallayya approached TS Ramachandra Rao, the then editor of the mass circulation Kannada daily Praja Vani, and asked him to watch Do Aankhen Barah Haath. Rao exclaimed, “Brilliant idea,” after watching the film, and spoke to Urs. Mallayya arranged a screening for Urs, who was so impressed with the film that he immediately gave a go-ahead.

With Urs’ blessings, the land was acquired in Koramangala near Devanahalli

MOVING FORCE CS Mallayya, who was inspired by Do Aankhen. (Facing page) A prisoner at the Koramangala Open Jail near Devanahalli.

and the open jail was inaugurated in 1972.

Inmates of Bangalore central jail, imprisoned for life and with five years behind bars, were transferred to the new open jail.

This batch of 25 inmates built houses with asbestos sheet roofs and tilled the land.

They grew grains and vegetables and reared cattle.

The yield of coconuts, vegetables, ragi, jowar, grapes, banana, was sold by the roadside. In the first year, the open jail made a profit of Rs 1.5 lakh. More inmates wanted to go to the open jail.

Bharmya (30) from Bailahongal in north Karnataka was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case. He owned 60 acres, but had been in jail for two and a half years. Bharmya requested Mallayya to transfer him to the open jail. “The rules stated that an inmate had to spend at least five years in jail and should have good behaviour. He didn’t meet the requirement,” says Mallayya. Bharmya persuaded Mallayya so much that he gave in, and allotted five acre land to Bharmya’s charge.

Bharmya worked hard and planted jowar in one acre, which produced 42 quintals. Farmers from neighbouring villages visited the jail to see Bharmya’s farm.

The escaped prisoner After spending a year and a half in the open prison, Bharmya asked Mallayya to send him on parole to see his ill mother. He was her only son.

“Since he had not spent five years in

prison, he could not be granted parole. I expressed my helplessness since I was answerable to my seniors,” says Mallayya.

The next day Mallayya received a phone call at 9 pm that Bharmya had escaped.

“I felt the ground crumble under my feet. I didn’t want to believe it and asked them to look again,” he recalls.

The prison officials said they would have to file a case against Bharmya.

Heartbroken, Mallayya asked them to go ahead. Within an hour, his phone rang again. This time the prison official said, “Bharmya is back here.”

Mallayya immediately drove from Bangalore to the jail. “I missed my mother.

I had to see her. So, I ran. I sold my watch for Rs 60 and took a bus to Bangalore. But then, I thought of you. I didn’t want to betray you. I got off the bus and returned,” Bharmya told Mallayya.

These words touched Mallayya. “I remembered the last scene of Do Aankhen Barah Haath, when the soul of jailor Adinath watches the inmates from the clouds, and weeps. His tears fall to the earth as raindrops, and the inmates are reformed,” says Mallayya.

Like the kind jailor in the movie, Mallayya went out of his way and granted parole to Bharmya. “I sent him for one month, and gave him permission to stay back for two months if his mother didn’t recover,” says Mallayya. Within 20 days Bharmya was back. “On seeing me, my mother recovered in an instant. She HEAVE HO (Far left) From the jail’s early days. A scene from Do Aankhen Barah Haath

became as strong as a mare and began doing all the chores. There was no need for me to stay any longer. So I came back,” he said.

The jail now The Koramangala open jail is 41 years old, and Mallayya is fondly remembered as its founder. The wells that Mallayya dug have gone dry. In their place, four new bore wells have been dug. The open prison now houses 53 inmates, eight security guards, three sentries, five assistants, two officers and a pharmacist.

The inmates now grow lemon, guava and ornamental plants. They have stopped growing grapes, because they are prone to diseases, and pesticides aren’t allowed inside. The vegetables cultivated here now include bottle gourd, bitter gourd and cluster beans.

“We continue Mallayya’s work. The coconut palms he planted have died, but the mango and sapota trees are still bearing fruit,” says Jail Superintendent Obaleshappa. The jail now boasts 20 cows, 98 calves and 50 pigs. The cows give about 600-700 litres milk every month.

Jail officials sell vegetables and fruits near MS Building on Nrupathunga Road in the heart of Bangalore. They earn about Rs 5,000 every day.

Some inmates are pursuing studies there. Like Padmanabha, who was imprisoned after his tenth standard. He has spent 11 years in jail, nine of them in the open prison. While in prison he did his PUC, degree, MA in sociology and diploma in journalism.

Ramakrishnaiah, another inmate, took the Talk team of two around in a jeep.

The jail premises have four water bodies where they rear fresh water fish. They also grow tulsi, which is supplied to the Himalaya Drug Company.

“Mallayya was a strict officer. Inmates would shiver before him. Now, Obaleshappa is carrying on the legacy,” says assistant jail superintendent Krishnamurthy.

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RAMESH HUNSUR

LOVE STORY Ramkumar took voluntary retirement to constantly be by the side of his wife Padmashri. (Above) A scene from Haalu Jenu

He plays Rajkumar songs and cares for his wife, bedridden for 30 years Haalu Jenu (Milk and Honey, Kannada, 1982) Starring Rajkumar and Madhavi, and directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, it tells the story of a middle-class man who sacrifices everything to keep his cancer-stricken wife happy. He looks around for a cure, and keeps her cheerful till the very end

Ramkumar and Padmashri had seen Haalu Jenu separately, and wished for such love in their own lives. As luck would have it, their lives turned out just as in the film.

Ramkumar, who has retired from Canara Bank, is now 60. He is a Bangalorean. His wife Padmashri, now 53, hails from Mysore.

They hadn’t seen each other.

When elders in their families suggested the match, they agreed blindly. “I just heard she was a Rajkumar fan, and I had no hesitation in saying yes since I was one, too,” Ramkumar told Talk.

Padmashri married him for the same reason: that he liked a hero who was loving and fun.

A graduate shuns a government job and tillsBangaarada hisManushya father’s lands

HIT COMBO Siddalingaiah is best known for directing popular Rajkumar films

(Man of Gold, Kannada 1972) One of Rajkumar’s biggest hits, it ran for two years to packed houses. The educated hero gives up city comforts and returns to his village. There, he encourages people to use modern farming methods, and brings vibrancy where there was desolation

They were married at a choultry opposite Navarang cinema in Rajajinagar, and on a day the Rajkumar film Chalisuva Modgalu (Moving Clouds) was released. As a couple, they watched every Rajkumar film together, and attended Rajkumar shows, where they would walk backstage and talk to the actor.

They collected newspaper articles about him, and bought cassettes and CDs of his movie songs. They have on their shelves albums from all his 200 films. Their house is a Rajkumar archive.

When she was 23, a pregnant Padmashri was admitted to a maternity hospital in Mysore. The

An agriculture graduate from Kolar district decided not to go in for a government job, which he would have got easily, and went back to his village to cultivate his father’s lands. “Many young people became aware of government policies favouring farmers, and enthusiastically took to the agricultural life,” says Siddalingaiah, director of Bangaarada Manushya, now 77 and living in Rajajinagar 4th Block. The agricultural graduate did well, and built a structure on his land, calling it the ‘Bangaarada Manushya Farm House’. He took Siddalingaiah to inaugurate it. “I couldn’t speak a word… I was dumbstruck by what my film meant to him,” Siddalingaiah recalls.

Sharatchandra of Shimoga was also influenced by the film, and

doctors made a major mistake, and she fell seriously ill. For 30 years since that day, she has remained bedridden.

Ramkumar takes care of her without a word of complaint. In 2001, he took voluntary retirement from his bank job, and attends to Padmashri’s needs full time. “We spend our time listening to Rajkumar songs,” he says.

He recalls what Rajkumar had said when he met him for the first time in 1962: “We must care for people when they are alive. What is the use of building memorials when they are gone?”

BASU MEGALKERI started experimenting with sugarcane. He managed to harvest a sugarcane plant 25 times, creating a sensation in his region, and in the press. When reporters visited him, he told them the Rajkumar film had been his inspiration.

Kadidal Shamanna, leader of the Raitha Sangha—an umbrella organisation of farmers in Karnataka—admits the film inspired young people to return to their villages. “But in the 1980s, many farmers had pledged their land, and were losing all their property to the lenders. Siddalingaiah should have shown the happy climax first, and the dark opening shots last,” Shamanna joked to Talk.

BASU MEGALKERI

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

11

GM in a top company chucks it all up to form a rock band Rock On (Hindi, 2008) A Mumbai-based rock band reunites after 10 years to play the music it loves. Woven into the story is the life journey of four musicians with individual aspirations and alternative career pulls

ROCKING ON Benjamine, Hitesh and Lokesh formed Eka after watching Rock On

Rock On set off newer aspirations in the life of two musicians and a corporate honcho. The result: a band called Eka with music self-described as Swatantra rock.

Once part of a college band called Canzona—Italian for ‘song’— Hitesh Madan and Lokesh Madan (also cousins) went their separate ways. While Hitesh became a part of the band Euphoria, Lokesh took up a full-fledged corporate career in Bangalore.

They stayed in touch, but the thought of coming together as a band again hadn’t crossed their minds.

Until Rock On hit the screens in August 2008.

“The promos seemed exciting and I went to watch the film with my wife in Bangalore. When the movie began, I knew it was our story. I sent Hitesh a message in the interval, only to discover he was watching the film at the same time in Delhi. I communicated with Hitesh in the interval and I remember saying the music was

great and this was our story,” says Lokesh.

The seed was firmly planted and the two got thinking about their school and college band days. “We could identify with so many things in the film! It worked as a catalyst to get us back to what we were doing in school and college,” Lokesh says.

The film set Lokesh thinking about what lay ahead. Music as a career option emerged in his mind for the first time. By March 2010, he had quit his job as General Manager and shifted to Delhi to live his rock band dreams with two Euphoria band members—Hitesh Madan and Benjamine Pinto.

“The time was just right. Lokesh moved to Delhi and Benny (Benjamine) and I had just left Euphoria to pursue our own music.

We got together and had our first show in August 2010 as the new band Eka,” says Hitesh.

For Lokesh, Rock On triggered the impulse to break free from the

corporate world, while for Hitesh and Benny, it was a trip down memory lane. “To me, it was sheer nostalgia.

The audience reactions in the film were very similar to what we had heard,” says Hitesh.

For Benny, who connected Hitesh with Arjun Rampal’s character in the film, it was nostalgia flowing right through. “The scene where a fight breaks out in the band during the shooting of a music video… something like that actually happened with Euphoria,” he says. “And I remember Luke Kenny once telling me at a show, “Don’t ever cut your hair”.

Then, Benny saw the scene in the film where nobody recognises Kenny after he cuts his hair. It all made sense. “Hitesh’s character is a lot like that of Rampal, who doesn’t want to play anything but rock and he appears visibly uncomfortable in a kurta pyjama. He used to sulk,” he recalls.

Nostalgia had its own place in

getting Eka on stage, but it wasn’t all they took away from the film. The story of an Indian band held some lessons for them. “The key takeaway was the importance of a single vision and dream,” says Lokesh. Benny adds, “One dialogue by Luke Kenny in the film said it all. Translated, it meant, in your success lies the success of the band. It spoke of some of the fundamental problems in bands, and individual aspirations against collective aspirations”.

Breaking through as a band became simpler after such a film was made.

“In 1998-99, when we were a band first, there were hardly any success stories. The film made it a more acceptable profession. It introduced the masses to the concept of the ‘band’. Earlier, it wasn’t cool to perform in Hindi. Rock On actually drew from many bands in the country”, says Lokesh.

PRACHI SIBAL

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

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VIVEK V NARAYAN

Annamalai (Tamil, 1992) One of the many Indian remakes of the Jeffrey Archer novel Kane and Abel, it tells the story of a poor boy called Annamalai. After being insulted by his close friend Ashok, the son of a rich businessman, he works hard to become successful himself. It ran for 175 days at the box office and was the highest grossing Tamil film ever until 1995, when the record was broken by another Rajini-starrer, Baashha.

A cigarette vendor becomes a real estate king, owning a fleet of cars and bikes, all bearing Rajini’s No 5625

RAJINI PROMISE! Harsha outside one of his five offices and (facing page) with his idol

As you turn off Old Airport Road into a narrow bylane that goes to NR Colony, you see unassuming middleclass apartments interspersed with monstrous multi-storey buildings under construction—until you reach a stretch decorated with little flags fluttering in the breeze. The flags have the face of Rajinikanth, with the caption, “V Harsha, President, Rajinikanth Fan Club”.

On either side are buildings belonging to the Mariyamman Temple Trust. Abutting an old tailor’s shop, two buildings have five little one-room offices bearing the name of Mahaveer Enterprises, and a logo that looks like a cross between the Manhattan skyline and an industrial dystopia. Above it looms a handpainted portrait of Rajinikanth, in the leaning-sideways-showing-off-bouncy-forelock posture that adorns countless barber shops in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. On an average day, about 20 to 30 bikes are parked outside, all with the number plate 5625. They are used by Harsha’s employees to scour the neighbourhood for vacant hous-

moments in Harsha’s life. To the left, es, and to ferry prospective tenants.

Harsha wants to “dominate real on a fax machine, is the same photoestate in Bangalore East like graph, this time framed tighter in A5 Thalaivar dominates filmland” size and cutting off Thalaivar and fan because “lot of real estate are there club president at the waist. Next to it but Mahaveer has different style” is a copy of My Days with Baashha, the [sic]. He was echoing Rajini’s catch- memoirs of Suresh Krissna, director phrase in Padayappa, en vazhi thanii of Annamalai, Veera and Baashha, with a close-up of vazhi (My way is a difRajini on the cover, ferent way), which he ‘Rajini’s style right arm raised in the later identified as his famous ‘Naan oru thais different, favourite Rajini catchdava sonna nooru thaphrase. like that my dava sonna mathri’ (If This was my third style is also I say it once, it’s like trip in two days, each different’ saying it a hundred time I returned with times) pose. The left assurances that Harsha would talk to me later only to find wall has yet another photograph of him gone. This time, I’d managed to Rajinikanth.

Harsha tried yet again to postambush him in his office.

The wall behind Harsha’s desk is pone our interview to the night, dominated by a 4.5 by 2.5 feet full- except I wasn’t so trusting. Finally, I length photo of Rajinikanth, with his was in for some luck, and Harsha gave arm around a younger Harsha, who me what he called his ‘Rajini promise’, looks suitably deferential. The same making us both crack up in laughter. photograph adorns the walls of every Faced with making my fourth trip in one of the five Mahaveer offices in two days, I felt strangely optimistic. the city, giving me the impression Later that night, Harsha honoured that this is one of the defining his ‘Rajini promise’ and we had a long

conversation in Tamil and English.

A Kannada Jain, Harsha recounted the beginnings of his career. “I used to sell cigarettes when I saw Annamalai. When I saw Annamalai film only, my life is changed. In the film, as they break his house, Thalaivar challenges, ‘Till now you saw me as a friend, but from now on you’ll see new face of Annamalai.’

That made a huge impression on me, I wanted to get ahead in life.”

I wondered if Harsha had turned to real estate because of the plotline in Annamalai (in which Rajini becomes a major hotelier) or reverseengineered the film’s influence once he had made it big in real estate. He continued, evidently relishing the rise-of-the-individual narrative, the staple of Rajini films of the 1990s: “Then I took up a marketing job, followed by painting job—a painting contract—finally coming to real estate. When I came to real estate, I saw film-Arunachalam-and then, with difficulty, I bought a bike. With Thalaivar’s number plate 5625. Then when Padayappa released I bought a

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

[Maruti] Zen.” Deliberately or subconsciously, Harsha was echoing the song Vetri nichayam from Annamalai in which Rajini’s climb up the social ladder is shown through his vehicles—modest cargo autorickshaw to a cargo van to a black Ambassador, and finally, a status symbol of the 90s, a bronze Fiat Premiere 118NE. “After Padayappa, Baba was released, then I bought another Zen. For Chandramukhi, I bought a Scorpio. Sivaji, Skoda Laura. And for his 12.12.12 special birthday, I bought a Toyoto Fortuner. In 2011, when he was admitted at Ramachandra Hospital in Chennai for some medical tests, I took along 250 people from the fan club in my vehicles to go see him. He’s like a god to me.”

He was eager to prove the parallels between god and devotee. “He also has two daughters, I also have two daughters - I named them Aishwarya and Soundarya” (after Rajini’s daughters; I checked if his wife was named Latha, and was relieved she wasn’t!)

He continued: “He went to Mantralaya and wears a bangle from there, I also started to go there and wear this bangle. I also don’t wear any gold, Thalaivar goes to events dressed simply, no? He showed Himalayas in Baba, I went there for my honeymoon.”

How did he become the Rajinikanth Fan Club President? Harsha explained, “His film release is like my daughter’s wedding. I book a theatre and organise free ticket distribution. Thalaivar has poor people also as fans, so I give them tickets. IT people are also there, and middle class, business people also. We’ll go in a big pro-

cession with a horse and band set and 250 bikes, some 30 cars.”

Of these 89 bikes and six cars belonging to Mahaveer lead the procession, bearing Rajini’s number plate 5625, procured at Rs 8,000 a bike and Rs 25,000 a car. “All this is my own money, since I got ahead in life having watched Thalaivar’s films. I even took a Rs 6 lakh loan from Standard Chartered Bank for Sivaji. I spent for tickets and banners; I had put up 200 10×200 (foot) banners-biggest in India, no one has put up banners so big. Then they made me Fan Club President.”

Anxious not to sound as if he had bought his way into the post, he added, “In my life also, I take his advice-how to deal with parents and friends, I’m maintaining my life according to his advice only.”

When I suggested that the Rajini films of the 1990s showed him playing either a common man (Annamalai) or someone pretending to be a common man (Basshha), whereas in 2000s, he had transformed into a superhuman figure—a billionaire philanthropist in Sivaji, a saint in Baba, a superstar in Kuselan, and a star scientist and his robot in Enthiran.

Harsha’s reply was revealing, “Yes, yes, that is correct, but this is good. Different type of story is very good, different type of acting also, we are all very happy. We

go with friends and family and we’ll enjoy and come. Now I want Thalaivar to do a film on politics to give a message to all the politicians clad in white, all of them are 420 only, making crores of rupees.”

By Harsha’s reckoning, Rajini cannot be in politics because “he don’t (sic) know how to stab in the back, he’s honest and straightforward, speaking what he feels in his heart”. Clearly, Harsha has bought into the superhuman themes unquestioningly.

Harsha compares Rajinikanth releases to a pilgrimage, “People go to temples, they go to Tirupati and pray. I want Rajini’s next film to be a big success, and I’ll do everything for that. I’ve made a lot of success in the last 15 years, and my life has changed since I saw Annamalai. Every film of his has one dialogue, which I’ve implemented in my work. He gave me an autograph which has lot of meaning: ‘No pain, no gain’. How Rajini’s style is different, my style too is different, my vehicle number is different. My staff has uniforms and nametags, since we are dealing with IT people. IT people, business people, Telugus, Tamils, Kannadigas, Muslims— all are Rajini fans.”

Harsha links his army of workers, all riding bikes with the number 5625, to Enthiran’s superhuman army of clones, and their pink uniforms to Vetri

13

Kodi Kattu (Raise the flag of victory) from Padayappa. Perhaps informed by the spate of business books using Rajini’s catchphrases as inspiration, Harsha explained Rajini’s influence. “I learnt from the way Rajini started in Chennai and grew to Karnataka and Andhra and Bombay. Just like how Rajini dominated Tamil Nadu, I dominated Airport Road, then Indiranagar became my Karnataka, 80 Feet Road is like Andhra, Marathahalli is like Bombay.”

When I persisted in asking him what his clients felt about the Rajini-worship, he cut to the heart of the matter. “Rajini is an honest person, illaya? Simple, honest, straightforward. See how he goes in public —simple, normal, no makeup, no gold. I also don’t wear any gold, any jewellery.

Only this bracelet from Mantralaya. Rajini is an honest person. He doesn’t go here and say one thing and say another thing somewhere else. So my customers come in and see Rajini’s photos and they’ll think, ‘Okay, this is an honest place. Simple people. They will do my job properly. I can believe them.

Depend on them.’ We also want that.”

As I walked away, I looked back at the Rajini flags fluttering in the breeze, but I could no longer see Rajini’s face. I only saw a promise hanging. A young Hindi-speaking couple-the man in yellow t-shirt and jeans and the woman in cotton churidar, walked in to his office. I saw them exchange glances as they were confronted with the massive photo of Rajini with Harsha, and noticed Harsha beaming at them.

I wasn’t the only one to have trusted Harsha’s ‘Rajini promise’ that day.

VIVEK V NARAYAN

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

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A boy grows up to become an honest, public-spirited auto driver

THINK POSITIVE David Raj does social work in actor Vijay’s name, though he’s yet to meet his hero

A school dropout takes up a part-time job to kick-start an accounting career Pudhiya Geethai (New Gospel, Tamil, 2003) Directed by newcomer Jagan, it tells the story of a young man with a never-say-die attitude. The movie flopped, but changed at least one life After completing his 12th board exams, David Raj had no choice but to stop studying as his parents couldn’t pay his fees any more. His dream of becoming a film maker lay shattered.

The Hebbal resident was drifting aimlessly till he watched Pudhiya Geethai in May, 2003. “I had just finished my exams, and I had been to watch the movie to loosen up a bit from the problems that I was facing. But the movie transformed me once and for all,” Raj says.

The hero of Pudhiya Geethai is an optimist, and inspires people around him to strive against heavy odds. Inspired by the actor selling newspapers to pay his school fees, Raj started looking around for a part-time job. He found one with Just Dial, the phone yellow-pages company. At the end of the first summer, he had Rs 13,500 in hand. With the money, he decided to pursue a BCom from BEL College in Hebbal. He paid Rs 8,500 towards his fees, and kept the rest of the money for other expenses.

Raj’s father works as a gardener with Bescom, and his mother is a homemaker, so he couldn’t expect much help from them. He decided to work at Just Dial every summer for three years. By the end of the vacation, he would have enough money for the next academic year. This way, he successfully graduated from BEL College.

“The character’s positive attitude made me realise that education is important. Even now, whenever I feel down and out, I put on a CD and watch Pudhiya Geethai to get my positive energy back,” says Raj. After his graduation, Raj found an accountant’s job with Tesco, and worked at its Whitefield office for four years. The pay was good, and the corporate job could have taken him places, but his heart was more in media than in numbers.

Teaming up with friends in advertising, Raj has produced 12 corporate films over the last four years. His clients include Cloud Nine Bytes and Wipro. He has now quit Tesco to do an MS in Communications at St Joseph’s College. “I saved up to join this course. I’m the most educated person in my family,” Raj told Talk.

Raj is all set to start his own production company, and plans to call it Emotions Factory. “I want to earn while I study,” he says.

Since actor Vijay has converted all his fan clubs into social service organisations, Raj is involved in service activities all round the year. He hasn’t met Vijay yet, but says he will surely meet him some day.

MARIA LAVEENA

Auto Raja (Kannada, 1982) Starring Shankar Nag and Gayatri (who later married Anant Nag), and directed by Vijay, the film tells the story of a sincere and heroic auto driver. When he falls in love with a rich girl, her evil father tries to separate them. The old man almost succeeds, insulting the hero and making him believe she is not in his league. Raja finally marries her with the support of his auto-driver fraternity. Auto Raja made Shankar Nag an icon among auto drivers.

Sometime in the 1990s, a decade after it was first released, MB Kumar got to watch Auto Raja. He was just a child then.

“Shankar Nag made me understand that being a driver is not something to be ashamed of. The movie had a great impact on me,” says Kumar, now 34. When his parents couldn’t afford to educate him after the ninth standard, he didn’t hesitate to take up auto driving. “I had learnt one can live with self-respect and stay happy even in such a job,” he explains.

Kumar was particularly inspired by a scene in which the Raja’s colleagues help him marry. When lovers run into trouble, he volunteers to talk to their parents. If that doesn’t work, he helps them elope.

Once, a Vokkaliga driver fell in love with a Lingayat girl, but they had decided to part, unable to counter the opposition.

Kumar was determined to help them. “I urged all my fellow drivers to join me in getting them married,” he says.

Kumar says he ‘kidnapped’ the girl and asked the boy to meet her at the Veerabhadhreshwara temple near Golretti, on Nice Road. There he got them married against their parents’ wishes. “I have helped four couples tie the knot and all of them are living happily. If I hadn’t watched the movie, perhaps I wouldn’t have even thought about helping lovers,” he says with pride.

‘Helping others’ has sometimes put

him in trouble, but then, like his hero, he doesn’t care about the consequences. “A man was hit by a vehicle in RT Nagar and was dying. People just stood by, watching him, so I stopped and got him admitted to a nearby hospital,” recalls Kumar. The victim was in a coma, and the police wouldn’t let Kumar go. They detained and questioned him all day. “But I had rendered service, just like Auto Raja,” Kumar says.

Kumar sports a portrait of Shankar Nag on his auto. With his community, he has set up the Shankar Nag Auto Stand on 8th Main in Basaveswaranagar.

Kumar has watched all of Shankar Nag’s celebrated movies, and says it has inculcated honesty in him. He remembers films like SP Sangliana, in which the actor played an upright policeman. Kumar charges his customers by the meter and doesn’t demand anything extra. For pregnant women, he offers free rides to the hospital and back. “When I see poor people waiting for a bus, and I don’t have a customer, I take them along for free,” he says.

Another lesson he has learnt: Selflessness leads to wealth. In just nine years as a driver, he has earned enough to buy four autos. “Shankar Nag’s movies show how change can be for the better. I give lectures to drivers on how to dress and talk to customers,” says Kumar.

MARIA LAVEENA NAMMA HERO Auto drivers like Kumar look up to Shankar Nag as someone who gave them dignity. Note the actor’s portrait under the tail lamp

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Not really the opposite of ‘bombed’

Blockbuster SAVIE KARNEL

savie.karnel@talkmag.in

W

e know the term blockbuster simply to mean ‘very successful’, used mostly in the popular media to describe the latest hit film. Even in common parlance, we now use the term. When we say a film is a blockbuster, we imply that cinema halls running the movie are packed and it ought to be enjoyable.

But when the term was coined in the 1940s, it certainly didn’t have a pleasant W connotation. It was coined by joining two words—‘block’ meaning ‘locality’, and ‘bust’ meaning ‘destroy’. First used as two different words, block buster referred to aerial bombs used in World War II, with the capacity to destroy an entire residential block in a city.

The origin can be The Talk column on traced to the United word origins States, since the con-

cept of blocks as housing units originated there. British cities, being much older and having developed gradually over the centuries, were not planned as blocks.

The term was used with a hyphen as block-buster for some time. The two terms were soon joined to form one, blockbuster.

On the lookout for buzzwords even then, the American press was the first to latch on to the term, in 1942. One of the earliest usages can be found in a United Press report published around the time: “The aerial second front against the Germans already is striking telling blows, including another 600-plane RAF raid with block-buster bombs on the Nazi submarine base and port at Hamburg last night.”

Back then, buzzwords did not travel the world as fast they do now, so it took a few months before the term was picked up by the Australian press, and a year before it appeared in its British counterpart.

After the war, the term made an appearance again in the next decade, in the 1950s. This time it was used for popular plays. Some etymologists believe that the new meaning came with the idea that when one play was a success, the other the-

K E Y

O R D S

THE ORIGINAL These World War II bombs were capable of ‘busting’ entire residential blocks

atres in the block got busted (ran out of business).

The show business sense can be seen in Godfrey Smith’s 1957 book, The Friends: “One day I had what seemed to me like a block-buster of an idea for a musical play.”

The term was soon used for successful films like The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur, which made huge collections. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws expanded this meaning. The term was then used for big budget films which were huge money grossers, and appealed to the mass market.

Advertisers soon began using this

term to market big-budget films. Any film with extravagant production costs was called blockbuster, irrespective of its commercial or critical success. The term is now also being used for commercially successful books, as with The Shiva Trilogy and the Harry Potter series.

The term is used so loosely these days that we now even have the phrase, “biggest blockbuster.” The popular press continues to use the word ‘bombed’ for failure and blockbuster for success, unmindful of the fact that both terms originated in war, and meant more or less the same.

storytelling

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

With an event almost every week this summer vacation, the old, old art of storytelling is finding new takers in Bangalore. The kids can't get enough, and a staggering 60,000 people have taken formal courses to learn how to tell tales

Once upon a time …

ANUSHA S RAO

T

here was once an old man, who was everyone’s favourite guest.

He was welcomed, seated and listened to with delight. And then there was a young lady, who was unwelcome everywhere. Doors were slammed on her face; no one invited her home at all. The sorrowful lady approached the old man, who decided to help her. He said, “From now on, you can sit in my pocket and come with me wherever I go. That way, people will welcome you too.” That old man’s name was Story, while the young lady was called Truth.

When Ameen Haque, founder-member of The Storywallahs ends one of his storytelling sessions with these words, you cannot help but applaud. What better way to demonstrate the power of the story but through a seemingly simple, but moving tale?

Storytelling is perhaps the oldest of arts— one enjoyed by children and grownups alike. Its growing popularity in Bangalore was well in evidence during the summer holidays this year, with kids flocking to storytelling events held at the rate of at least one every week.

Parents

actively encourage the trend, and keep themselves updated about such events through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Storytellers at such events come from diverse fields, but share an unmistakable passion for stories. Haque, a trained actor and storyteller, works in advertising, and manages to pack storytelling sessions into his busy schedule. Isn’t it surprising that storytelling should enjoy such popularity in this age of virtual entertainment? Not so, he says. “Every force has a counter-force.

Just like McDonald’s cannot make a Maharashtrian thali less popular, no matter what technology comes up, storytelling can never go out of fashion.”

Storytelling events also seem to be a way of replacing a lifestyle that is fast vanishing.

Poornima Shankar, mother of Sahana, aged 5, who enthusiastically attends all the storytelling sessions with her daughter, says, “Nuclear families are the norm today and children miss out on hearing stories from their grandparents. This is perhaps a way of making up for that.”

Should all stories have morals? For Haque, “A story is food for the soul, with a moral or without it. But it so happens that every storyteller somehow puts his sense of ethics into the story.”

Storyteller Sariga Menon, who worked in advertising and corporate planning for four years, agrees. “Stories are not

always told to instil morals in children. I, personally, tell stories for the pleasure of it. Perhaps, kids imbibe these values involuntarily at a sub-conscious level while just listening. That is the best part of storytelling.”

Sariga feels stories are not given due importance in teaching.

“It is a pity that stories and learning are still considered separate.

Incorporating stories into the school curriculum does not mean having a story hour every week. It means that every subject should be taught as a story. But for that, our entire education system needs to change.”

Shreya Biswas, another popular storyteller who loves narrating folktales, echoes the sentiment.

“The immense power of stories has not been recognised. Stories broaden our horizons and expose us to different cultures. For instance, stories are told very differently by storytellers from other countries.

Associating with them can be a very educative experience.”

Shreya volunteers with the Spastic Society, Bangalore, and helps the children there learn and retain concepts through stories.

Formerly a teacher, she is fully aware of the role that stories play in reinforcing concepts and learning. “Basic concepts, right from the need for politeness and courtesy to counting and colours, are better understood through stories. For very young children with special needs, visual aids like glove puppets or pictures can make learning more fun,” she suggests.

To be a professional storyteller is not easy. Sariga explains, “It is a difficult process if you have to become a pro. We rehearse in several stages, such as reading the story aloud, consciously observing

The storytellers

Shreya Biswas 9900234613 piubiswas67@gmail.com The Storywallahs 9845536114 www.thestorywallahs.com Kathalaya 26689856 www.kathalaya.org

AND THEN... (Top) Ameen Haque at a storytelling event. (Above) Geeta Ramanujan runs storytelling academy Kathalaya. She founded it 15 years ago, and trains thousands every year

Rasaloka Bimba - The Art Hut 41489354, 9886635069 www.bimbaartfoundation.org

17

LONG STORY SHORT Storytellers Sariga Menon and Shreya Biswas say that learning happens best through stories

the emotions that go into the story, Course (for beginners) and a (for professionals). and practising in front of a mirror Diploma before we present it to an audi- Affiliated to universities in the UK, ence. Introspection plays a major USA and Sweden, it has trained role in storytelling. Also, the story 60,000 people and reached out to changes each time it is narrated; it many more. The majority of course changes with the audience and the attendees are students, teachers and professionals who want use storyteller.”

Haque too stresses the impor- the skills in their work, but they tance of practice: “The best way to also get those who are simply curilearn storytelling is to practise ous.

Kathalaya’s executive director everywhere and with everyone.”

For Shreya, seeing the enjoy- Geeta Ramanujam explains why ment and interest on the faces of many professionals are choosing to listeners makes it worth all the take up storytelling. “Today we live in a world that is effort. “The best part marked by unpreceabout storytelling is ‘We’re not dented advances in the connection you communication can instantly estabpreserving technollish with the audiculture, we’re equipment, ogy and speed, but a ence. You feel elatjust being us’ breakdown of comed,” she says. munication skills on However, storytelling, as a career, is not finan- a person-to-person basis. There is cially viable. Even for the profes- an absence of feeling in human sionals, it is in effect a hobby. interactions. Storytelling can be a Shreya elaborates, “Storytelling is powerful tool to sensitise minds, not considered a profession in young and old, to the subtleties of India, as it is in other countries. We communication and connect us to do not have specialised, intensive the human aspects of living.”

For her, storytelling bridges courses to train storytellers in specific areas of storytelling like pup- the communication gap in homes petry or folklore. Hence, there is and schools. She feels storytelling no basic pay-scale for storytellers. helps balance emotion with intelliThis has discouraged many talent- gence, and thus makes developed people from taking up story- ment of children more holistic. telling seriously. We are now mak- “Storytelling is effective because it ing an effort to see that this can break through communal and language barriers easily,” she changes.”

Haque, meanwhile, is opti- explains.

Sariga, who has completed a mistic. “Many professionals are quitting their jobs to be story- beginner’s course from Kathalaya, tellers. It is a field that has great explains why training is necessary potential and I hope it will give for those aspiring to be professional storytellers. “Every one of us financial rewards soon”, he says.

Bangalore-based Kathalaya, knows how to tell a story. But, started in 1998, is one of the few what a professional course does is storytelling academies in the coun- to help you become conscious of try. It offers two certificate courses the deeper aspects of our stories. It in storytelling—an Intensive emphasises various techniques of

telling stories and makes the experience more intense. It also helps us become aware of the stories all around us,” she says.

Interestingly, stories can also have a therapeutic effect. “We have a special section in the course called Storyweb, where participants share traumatic personal experiences. This draws them out of their shells and helps in the healing process,” says Geeta.

Meanwhile, Rasaloka, a part of Bimba—The Art Hut in Basavangudi, has made storytelling a captivating art-form. Deepika Dorai and her mother Uma Nagaraj narrate stories the traditional way. As a part of the Navaratri festival, dolls of various characters from Indian mythology are made and arranged artistically, depicting stories from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Bhagavata. These stories are narrated every Saturday, throughout the year, in a mix of Kannada and English.

The unique story experience includes songs about the characters and special lighting to help visualise the change in time. Says Uma, “Western stories are enjoyable, no doubt, but our stories touch the heart. We expand on mythical tales with our own imagination, but the values conveyed are the same.” When lauded for preserving our culture in such a creative way, Deepika is quick to respond, “We are not preserving Indian culture. We’re just being us.”

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talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

Mentor, friend, inspiration

18

RAMESH HUNSUR

As playwright Girish Karnad turns 75, a personal insight into his creativity, impatience, and generosity

G KM Chaitanya

Theatre and film director

FILM FRIENDLY Girish Karnad in Ananda Bhairavi

irish Karnad is a mentor, teacher and friend to me.

I have learnt everything about filmmaking from him. He is the one who has given me a perspective on art and culture.

My association with him was accidental. I was offered a job as an executive producer by a TV channel. I had packed my bags to go to Mumbai.

Since Girish had lived in Mumbai and seen the film and TV world there, my father asked me to meet him before leaving. When I went to see him, Girish offered me a chance to be his assistant in a film he was then directing. I jumped at the idea.

Girish was making a film based on Kuvempu’s novel, Kanuru Subbamma Heggadathi (The Headwoman of Kanuru). I worked with him for three years. He encouraged me to work independently. It was being produced as a film and a TV series, and work was in progress simultaneously. News came that he had won the Jnanpith award, and he had to go to Delhi. He put me in charge of the TV series. Our unit had a hugely talented cinematographer in

S Ramachandra. He was known to be sharp tongued. I was young and he was very senior to me. Girish ensured Ramachandra fell in line and treated me like a director.

Dinner at House of Lords When Girish went to London, I followed him. I was not working with him, but went there just because he was there. I worked on a film on cancer for UK’s National Health Service.

Since one of the funders was a Member of Parliament, I was invited to the House of Lords for dinner.

When I told Girish about it, he said it was an honour to be invited there. He gave me a 45-minute lecture on the different kinds of suits available, and how to carry one off. He took me to an Italian tailor from whom he had bought his first suit. I wasn’t ready to spend 150 pounds on a suit. But he forced me to buy it.

I come from a middle-class Kannada family, and didn’t know how

to eat with a fork and knife. For one hour, Girish kept putting pieces of chicken on my plate, and prepared me for the dinner at House of Lords.

My first film Aa Dinagalu was initially offered to Girish. He told Agni Sridhar, the producer, “I am old and tired of film making. Why don’t you take someone young?” He suggested my name. I insisted I would direct the film only if Girish co-wrote it. He agreed and wrote the screenplay with Agni Sridhar.

As director of FTII Girish has spotted some of the biggest talents in the film industry. The board of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, had rejected Om Puri because he was skinny and his face was pockmarked. Girish was the FTTI director then. The director has the powers to overrule the board and induct a candidate. Girish inducted Om Puri. Now we all know who Om Puri is.

Girish saw Shankar Nag act in a Marathi play in Mumbai. He offered him a role in his film. At a time when actors would give an arm and a leg to act in a Girish film, Shankar refused.

He said he was not interested in acting in films, but could assist Girish in directing it. When Girish returned to Bangalore, he narrated this incident to Shankar’s brother Anant Nag, who was already a star. The next day, Anant flew to Mumbai, brought Shankar down, and made him act in the Kurosawa-inspired martial arts film Ondaanondu Kaaladalli (Once Upon a Time). The film, Shankar’s first, went on to win the national award.

Vishnuvardhan also began his career with a small role in Girish’s film, Kaadu. Girish gave a break to Shekhar Suman, Sonali Kulkarni, cinematographer Rajeev Menon, and art director Sabu Cyril.

Besides being generous, he is a disciplinarian. I once saw him haul up

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

an actor for coming late by just five minutes. He said, “Don’t come tomorrow if you have to come five minutes late.”

When Sharmila came early Once, when I was in London, the wellknown actress Sharmila Tagore was to meet Girish at 12 noon. She came at 11 am.

Girish opened the door and asked her, “Why are you an hour early?” She replied she had been around in the neighbourhood and had nothing to do. He said, “Come after an hour,” and shut the door on her.

People consider him rude. He is not.

He is just frank. He is not a hypocrite. He hasn’t learnt to be polite and humble. He is the greatest playwright in India, and he knows it. It is not an exaggeration when the form of his plays is compared to that of Kalidasa.

We have people who write many things—novels, poems, plays. Karnad is among the very few in India who has concentrated only on plays. His poetry is part of his plays. He has written just one short story and the other piece of prose is his autobiography.

My favourite among all his plays is Anju Mallige (whose English translation is called Driven Snow). It is one of the few plays where Girish has written from per-

EYE FOR TALENT Shankar Nag, Vishnuvardhan and Om Puri were all first spotted by Karnad

sonal experience. The play deals with remarried. Bhyrappa is criticised and called a rightist. But Girish has filmed his novels, incest.

After toying and dabbling with histo- and made them acceptable. ry and mythology, he is now taking up contemporary themes. An artist usually picks a Ready to learn any tongue subject and writes about it. When he He has also worked in commercial films becomes skilled, he takes and Tamil potboilers. issues from his life and Once, my wife asked him He is a master from around him. Girish’s how he had learnt Tamil. latest play Bendakalu on He replied, “If you pay me playwright, Toast deals with life in enough, I will even learn often compared Bangalore. to speak Japanese.” to Kalidasa His films were pioYou cannot make neering. His directorial money by solely being a debut, Vamsha Vriksha, based on an SL writer. He even jokes about his association Bhyrappa novel, deals with widow remar- with Tamil films. He says the heroines riage. Perhaps he chose the story because there are usually north Indian and fair. of his mother, who was a widow who They require the heroine’s father to be fair,

19

and that’s how he lands those roles.

Born in Matheran in Maharashtra, he learnt Marathi. He grew up in Dharwad, where Kannada is the main language. His mother tongue is Konkani. He is also fluent in English and Hindi. But he writes only in Kannada. He has said in interviews that his first play Yayaati came to him in Kannada. That’s the language he thinks in.

We count in the language we think in. I have heard Girish count in Kannada.

He is disciplined with his writing. He works over and over again on his scripts.

He takes a long time to finish a play. That’s why his plays are so perfect. Many actors have complained about stagecraft problems in his first play Yayaati. He is now rewriting it to fix the bugs.

He has a sense of humour which is dark. A noted Kannada theatre artiste once invited him to his 60th birthday celebrations. Girish said to him, “It’s easy to grow old. You need to do nothing.”

Girish has no respect for the concept of birthdays. I had once called him to wish him on his birthday. He said, “Very clever of you to remember. What time are you coming to work?” Girish turned 75 on May 19. I just sent him a text message.

(As told to Savie Karnel)

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Rewind The week that was Á Drone strike: A US drone strike killed seven people, including Wali-ur-Rehman, the number two of the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan region on Wednesday, in what would be a major blow in the fight against militancy. Á Myanmar tension: Religious violence shook eastern Myanmar for a second day as terrified residents called for security reinforcements after an orphanage, mosque and shops were burned down. Á Everest Anniversary: Nepal marked 60 years since the first ascent of Everest, celebrating the pioneering climbers whose bravery spawned an industry that many mountaineers fear is now ruining the world ’s highest peak. Á Maoist attack: Maoists in Chhattisgarh ’s Bastar district ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying Congress politicians and security men, killing 28 people, including Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma, state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister VC Shukla. Á Spot fixing: BCCI chief N Srinivasan ’s son-in-law and IPL team Chennai Super Kings ’ CEO Gurunath Meiyappan has been arrested for betting on IPL matches. Demands for Srinivasan ’s resignation are mounting from all quarters. Á Aruna Roy: Social activist Aruna Roy has decided not to continue in UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhiled national advisory council (NAC) after her term expires, criticising the government for inaction on MGNREGA. Á Aadhaar for LPG: Starting June 1 cooking gas (LPG) consumers in 18 districts will get Rs 435 in their bank accounts when they book an LPG cylinder as the govt rolls out its direct benefit transfer programme to cut fuel subsidy.

Google’s Policy Fellowship about ten weeks, starts on July 7 and is open to students as well, as long as they have been enrolled in a college or university course as of January 1, 2013.

Applications should include a Statement of Purpose (a brief write-up outlining your interest and qualifications for the programme), your Successful candidates get an resume and three Bangalore-based Centre for opportunity to do research in references. Send your Internet & Society (CIS) is applications to inviting applications for their the fellowship focus areas, google.fellowship@ciswhich include Access to Google Policy Fellowship india.org. For more Knowledge, Openness in programme. Google is information and to download India, Freedom of providing a 7,500 dollars the application form, log on Expression, Privacy, and (approximately Rs 4.2 lakh) to www.google.com/ stipend to the India Fellow, to Telecom. The programme, policyfellowship. which lasts for a period of be selected by July 1.

Choral singers wanted

The Majolly Music Trust (MMT), headed by the wellknown singer and pianist Neecia Majolly, has just concluded presenting a set of Spanish compositions at a show simply called Spain. The show, which premiered at Alliance Francaise on May 18, featured choral music by composers ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day. MMT choir is now looking for choristers to join its choir for the next season. For more details, call 87222 10941 or log on to www.majollymusictrust.in.

Goodbye, Flyte In some bad news for music lovers, the Flyte MP3 store on Flipkart, popular for selling individual tracks for a pittance, has announced it will shut down on June 17.

Flyte has requested users who hold accounts to use up their balance by that date. Users also have the option of getting a refund later. Those who have already purchased tracks

and stored them in the Flyte digital library have time till August 18 to download them. With one lakh users and 25 lakh downloads, you would have thought the online store was doing great, but then, it has concluded the online music business isn ’t so viable.

Passport Seva completes three years The Passport Seva Kendra project in Bangalore has completed three years of operation.

According to a press release sent out by the Regional Passport Office, the centre has processed 11.75 lakh passport applications in three years, and issued 10.9 lakh passports. The release further says that over the last year the number of passport applications processed at the centre increased by over 20 per cent. The percentage of police verifications completed within the stipulated 21 days has increased from 31 to 43 over the three years. The release also quotes Acting Regional Passport Officer L Madan Kumar Reddy as saying that the application handling capacity at the two Passport Seva Kendras (Lal Bagh in Bangalore and Mangalore) has doubled to accommodate more applicants and address high demand for passports. According to Reddy, the Bangalore RPO is handling in excess of 2,000 passport applications every day, which is five times more than it used to handle three years ago.

Mario Miranda merchandise online

Neecia Majolly

Mario de Miranda, who never studied art formally, started his career as a newspaper cartoonist, and went on to win several national and international honours for his illustration and fine art works.

Those who love the late cartoonist ’s work now have reason to rejoice. Prints of his

drawings and cartoons, books of his illustrations, apart from a whole lot of other merchandise, can now be purchased online at www.mariomiranda.com.

The big attraction of the website, though, is a collection of original Mario cartoons for sale, if you have the cash to

spare (prices range from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh, though you can be sure these classic works will only appreciate in value over time). The collection is curated by Gerard da Cunha, the well-known Goan architect who runs the award-winning Architecture Autonomous in the state ’s Bardez district.

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

21

Forward

Heard that Kannadiga joke?

In an interesting article in Outlook magazine, Chandan Gowda, Professor of Sociology at Azim Premji University, dwells on what he says is the unique predicament of Kannadigas among other Indians: a lack of stereotypes about them. Unlike Punjabis, Bengalis or Malayalis, there are few images, sounds or smells that help create a recognisable presence of the Kannadigas in the national imagination, which he says is liberating.

We quote: “Community stereotypes thrive through jokes, gossip and anecdotes.

Historically, the Kannada speakers have not moved out much; the ones who did have not aided in the creation of generic impressions about

themselves. While anonymity can be a source of pleasure and freedom, invisibility conveys a lack of power for those who wish to mark their presence in India ’s repertoire of subregional images. The non-arrival of a generic Kannada identity is also a triumph of its heterogeneous nature.

None of Karnataka ’s chief cultural zones, i.e. the old Mysore region, coastal Karnataka, Coorg, MumbaiKarnataka, and Hyderabad-Karnataka, has been able to stand in for the Kannada community image. Amidst the unpredictable twists in a fast transforming India, a Kannadiga stereotype might yet emerge. At the moment, though, being an amorphous presence in the national imagination means a delicious freedom to me. ”

Free seminar on MBA Central at Manipal Centre. Speakers include AM Kanna of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Imran Kanga of York University ’s Schulcich School of Business ’ Mumbai Campus, and Ratnesh Bhattacharya of Ohio State University's Mumbai office.

Prospective applicants to business schools in Indian and abroad can get first hand information on admissions Test prep institute Jamboree criteria, GMAT preparation, Education Pvt Ltd is conducting a free placements and campus life. To seminar on “MBA in India and Abroad ” register for the event, visit for aspirants on June 2 at Royal Orchid www.jamboreeindia.com

Calling writers and poets Helter Skelter, an online magazine with a focus on independent and alternative culture in India, has invited submissions for the third issue of their New Writing series. The series is an initiative to promote emerging writers and poets and to create a space for original, fresh short fiction and poetry.

The theme for this volume is ‘Strange Love ’ and according to the organisers, you can “use the theme as a starting point, an ending, or as the nucleus, but just ensure that the connection is clear. You ’re free to interpret it in your

own way. In fact, we want you to. ” Short fiction entries must not exceed 2000 words in length, while poetry must not take up longer than two pages of MS Word. A panel of judges, comprising writers Krishna Udayshankar, poet Sharanya Manivannan and journalist and critic Jai Arjun Singh will pick the winners. Submissions should be sent to write@helterskelter.in on or before July 7. For more information and to read the past two issues in the New Writing series, log on to www.helterskelter.in.

The week ahead  Syria tense: Russia said it reserves the right to provide Syria with state-of-the art air defence missiles, seeing it as a key deterrent against foreign intervention in the country. Israel and US has condemned the move.  China rasp: As India and Japan warmed up to take bilateral relations to a higher plane, a Communist Party-run newspaper cautioned New Delhi against “petty burglars ” among Japanese politicians, out to target Sino-Indian ties.

Dilip Chhabria

Automobile designer

‘Our youth crave supercars ’

 Paris murder: The city is expected to remain tense after police investigating the stabbing of a French soldier in Paris on Wednesday arrested a suspect sources described as a supporter of “radical Islam. ”

Tell us about your latest project, Avanti?

It could be India ’s fastest super car —its expected speed for 0-100 kms is five seconds, which is just half a second slower than the Ferrari. It will be manufactured in Pune, and the engines will be brought from Europe. Avanti costs around Rs 25 lakh. In the first year, we will manufacture 1,000 models and may be 2,000 in the next year. Our youth crave super cars, but get to buy them only when they are old. So, Avanti is for the youth.

 Army chief notice: The Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Indian Army chief on former Lt General Tejinder Singh ’s contempt plea alleging that no action was taken against former army chief General VK Singh and four others for defamation.

Do you think India is ready for customised cars?

There is a high demand for customised cars in India, which is one of the reasons we are expanding every single year. As of now, we have 12 showrooms in the country and will probably have 19 by December. Out of the three major cities in India, Delhi ranks number one in demand for customised cars, next comes Bangalore and then Mumbai.

 Aadhar e-card: If you are waiting for your Aadhaar card, log on to the UIDAI website, key in your enrolment number and take a print of your eAadhaar card. This, according to UID deputy director general Ashok Dalwai, is as valid as having a card. This came in the wake of repeated complaints of delays.

What ’s unique about your company DC Designs?

We have 700 original customised designs, which no other company has been able to beat so far. We have worked with all leading automobile industries in the world. Our hallmark is that we don ’t touch the machines. It ’s only the outside of a car that is handled by us. Our niche is “going extreme for extreme persons! ”

 Malleswaram blast: Pressure is expected to mount on Bangalore police on the Maleswaram blasts case after a fact-finding team from the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO) reported that the cases filed against 11 Muslim suspects in connection with Malleswaram bomb blast were fabricated.  Dengue lab: The BBMP has directed its chief health officer to set up a laboratory for testing blood samples for dengue fever at a cost of Rs 20 lakh.

BHAVNA MAHANTA Automobile designer Dilip Chhabria inaugurated an exclusive DC Design Showroom in Bangalore recently.

Along with the launch of the showroom, DC Design also launched its versions of Renault Duster and Hyundai i20. They also plan to open a school for aspiring automobile designers.

3

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Questions

Reactions, statements, accusations, complaints, or just straight talk—this is where you get them all

food path

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

22

Chicken sandwich

Ingredients: Boiled chicken shredded or chopped - 1 cup, shredded cabbage - ½ cup, onion chopped - 5 tspn, 1 iceberg lettuce, celery chopped - ½ cup, mayonnaise - ½ cup, pepper powder - 1 tspn, salt to taste

Pancakes

Ingredients: Self raising flour (maida) - 1 cup, sugar - 1½ tspn, 1 egg, milk - 3/4 cup, melted butter - 50g

Method: In a bowl, add the boiled chicken, cabbage, onion, celery and mix well. Now add the mayonnaise, salt and pepper and mix well. Place the iceberg lettuce between two slices of bread and then add the mix. Your sandwich is ready (Tastes good with tomato sauce).

Method: Pour the flour and sugar in to a bowl and mix well. Beat in the egg and then milk, a little at a time, until the batter is smooth and lump-free. In a hot pan, brush a little butter over the cooking surface and pour 1/4 cup measures for each pancake. When large bubbles form on the surface, flip over and cook until lightly golden on the other side. Serve with sliced strawberry pieces or grapes.

Chocolate vanilla French toast

Lunch-in-a-box Now that it’s time for moms (and dads) to get back to packing lunches for the little ones, here are some tasty, wholesome and easy-to-do options by Sandra M Fernandes Veggie rolls

Ingredients: Paneer tikka chopped - 4-5 pieces, tomatoes chopped ½ cup, onions chopped - ½ cup, tomato ketchup - 2 tspn, coriander chopped - 2 tspn, 2 chapatis Method: Put the paneer in a bowl.

Add the chopped onions, tomatoes and coriander and mix well. Put some tomato sauce on the chapatti and spread it well. Then take the mix of paneer and place a little on the chapati and spread it well. Now roll the chapati so that the filling stays in. Tastes best with tomato sauce or tangy chutney (You can also use shredded red cabbage).

Ingredients: Milk - 1 cup, sugar - 4 tspn, 1 vanilla pod, 2 eggs, chocolate syrup - 1 tspn, bread - 4 slices Method: Pour the milk into a bowl.

Add the eggs and whisk well. Spilt open the vanilla pod and remove the vanilla seeds from it. Add the seeds to the bowl. Now add sugar and chocolate syrup and whisk well. Heat a pan with a little oil in it. Now dip a slice of bread in this mix and shallow fry the slices till golden brown on both the sides.

eating out

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

23

RAMESH HUNSUR

DIY MEALS YouCook has a precooked buffet, but the main attraction is the ‘cook-it-yourself’ meals (far right)

You cook, you eat, you pay too A newly opened restaurant in Indiranagar greets you with counters full of raw ingredients and makes you put together your own dishes PRACHI SIBAL

prachi.sibal@talkmag.in

W

hen a new restaurant in Indiranagar called YouCook announced itself, I was curious to know what it had to offer on the already eatery-crowded area. The name made it quite obvious, and as it turned out, YouCook does take the ‘letting you cook’ bit rather seriously.

There, you’ve been warned.

Situated bang on 100 Feet Road where the Indian restaurant Village used to be, YouCook spans two floors.

It has open air and partly covered seating with functional yet pleasant

décor, and you can even pick a private covered table for special occasions. I got myself a modest table in the open-air section but soon realised that the evening wasn’t about sitting down and being served.

In no time, I was being politely but firmly directed to the ‘cook section,’ which comprises two ‘boats’ (wooden boat shaped counters), one vegetarian and the other non-vegetarian. Each of these ice-filled counters is loaded with meats and veggies—all raw—in marinade respectively. (If the couch potato in you shrinks back in disbelief, turn to the right to find some prepared starters in the ‘no cook’ section).

tion. Depending on the time each component took to cook (between 10-20 minutes), I took the pieces off the grill. The dips (chilli, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and some others) went a long way in adding variety to my meal. The effort did pay off and I soon had before me a plate loaded with steaming hot, tenderly cooked, mildly flavoured fish, chicken and mushrooms. The prawns and squid needed to be left on the grill longer, I was told. Put it down to a lack of The marinade is made up of sim- experience in multi-tasking, but my ple ginger-garlic paste and salt, with chicken skewers did end up tasting an elaborate selection of sauces on slightly burnt.

There is a simple main course the side. Besides the marinated variety, the vegetarian section also has section too (pre-cooked), but chances some garden-fresh leafy veggies and are the starters are going to leave you beans that are required to go into quite full. I did spot some dishes like your soup. Oh, did we tell you? Here, noodles, dal, rice and chicken in this you’ve got to make your own soup, desolate area. Desserts are bite-sized cakes and mousse and perfect to end too!

By this stage, I had surrendered. the meal with. The simple sponge Once I was done shopping for mari- cake worked wonders after the meat, nated meat and veggies and some veggies and sauce deluge.

The place predictably uses a skewers, I headed straight back to our table. Each table has a custom grill YouTube inspired logo with a delifitted at the centre; one side of it for cately balanced chef’s hat on the ‘Y’. skewers and the other for marinated Partner Kay Mikado told me the meat and soup. At this point, I had to name came first and the YouTube take some cooking tips from my serv- inspiration almost as an afterthought. er (hardly the apt title). He handed YouCook also has a comprehensive me a basket with odds and ends like a but simple drinks menu. I was espebrush, tongs and some unusual cut- cially fascinated by the ‘beer margarilery. Ahead lay the task of brushing ta,’ which was, well, a margarita with a whiff of beer. oil on the grill and YouCook is carefully placing the Keep a close indeed novel in conmeats and veggies on watch; after all, cept and may provide top with the help of variety to otherwise tongs. there’s no one lazy weekend dinThe central grill else to blame ners. While the meal is surrounded by a itself was nothing to canal-like section where my soup was on the boil. I now write home about, all things considhad to drop my veggies and meat balls ered, the outing was satisfactory. The in it. Now, don’t think it ended there. next time around, I shall be going in a I had to keep a close watch on my group and letting someone else enjoy food as it got cooked; after all, I had the ‘experience.’ nobody else to blame.

YouCook, 100 Ft Road, The staff was helpful, and it looked like they didn’t need me to Indiranagar. Prices start at Rs 599 plus show signs of panic to get their atten- tax per person

cuisine schools

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

24

RAMESH HUNSUR

LITTLE CHEFS Sisters Nitya and Nandita (extreme left) have particpated in Junior MasterChef India

Shazia Khan

Runner up of MasterChef India Season 2

‘Indian judges are kinder ’ What was the MasterChef India experience like?

MasterChef has given me the identity I have always wanted; from being a home cook, I've become a chef. So that's the biggest change. And yes, there are more expectations. People think I know everything, but that's not true.

Kids in the kitchen Bangalore’s children are signing up for cookery classes, inspired by the food channels on TV

MARIA LAVEENA

maria.laveena@talkmag.in

T

he community hall at Hotel Mayura on Race Course Road is overflowing with children between seven to 14 years, all there for the auditions of Junior MasterChef India. The parents are beaming as their wards are primed to appear on TV. How do these kids know more about kitchen ingredients than their school homework?

Nandita N Kishore, the youngest contestant at age seven, is sitting with her older sister and mother. She isn’t nervous at all. “I have made potato egg roast and mango mania, and my sister has made pome ruby crush and spaghetti cheese balls,” she says, betraying no anxiety.

Nandita’s mother loves to experiment with food and attends baking classes and that’s how the little one was drawn

towards cooking. “She goes to learn fireless cooking. Nidhi learn Italian, eggless cooking, charges about Rs 125 a class.

Shini’s Cooking Class in and deserts. I accompany her and learn to cook as well,” Hennur has similarly seen an increase in interest among chilexplains Nandita.

Names like Sophia and dren. “It’s because of 24-hour Isabella, winners of the cooking channels such as TLC Masterchef Australia TV con- and reality shows. “I have kids tests, are popular with the kids. starting from five years.

“I want to win Masterchef like Interestingly, boys are as interIsabella. I have watched all her ested in cooking as the girls,” says Subhashini S, who conshows,” says Nandita.

Many children have spent ducts classes here. Her students their summer holidays this year love to make cakes, pizzas, pasattending cookery classes. Nidhi tas and burgers. She offers classGoyel, Director of a cookery es only during the holiday seaschool called Craftis Corner in sons: Dasara, Christmas and Marathahalli, says, “They watch summer. Subhashini charges Rs cookery shows with their par- 500 a class.

Jaishree Shanthakumar has ents and end up helping them in the kitchen. Parents then bring been teaching cooking for 10 years in them here.” Her Electronics youngest stu‘Boys are as City. She says dent is four. more than realNidhi says interested in cookery shows cooking as girls’ ity shows, it is nuclear on the TLC and says Subhashini the family that Food and Food inspires chilchannels are the most popular among kids. dren to take up cooking. “Both “Since the Australian and the parents work tirelessly and American kids make cakes, jams, reach home late. They want and cup cakes, our students also their children to learn cooking make them. They also insist on so that they can make somelearning how to decorate their thing for themselves,” she says.

Jaishree’s students ask to learn plates beautifully,” she says.

Nidhi teaches children recipes to make chocolates, how to make sandwiches, and muffins and fruit salads. She decorate them like Angry Birds conducts workshops for 15 days and fish. Craftis Corner teaches during the holidays and charges 20 kids every weekend, and they about Rs 1,000.

MasterChef wants to create a food revolution in the country. Do you think it is happening?

Yes. For example, in the present season, there's a lot of fusion cuisine happening.

I think it works with a lot of housewives including those who like traditional food. It is a programme for the masses, so people can connect to it. Earlier, if you were to tell someone you wanted to be a chef, they would say, "Khansama banega kya?" But now, every kid on the block wants to be a chef. It's the 'in' thing these days. My younger son, who is in class nine, used to tell me he wanted to become a scientist. Now he says 'I want to become a chef!' So, it is a revolution.

How does MasterChef India compare with its American and Australian versions?

Firstly, I would say our judges were very sweet and kind. If they don't like the dish they can be a little tough, but they don't really make you feel horrified the way Gordon Ramsey and the other chefs do there. In India, the chefs are kind and they even come and give you tips. That said, I'm a big fan of MasterChef Australia. I like it anyway.

PRIYANKA PADOLE Shazia Khan was the runner-up of Masterchef India Season 2. A member of the board of management at Delhi Public School Bangalore North, she's a popular host of cooking shows and demos.

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Questions

Reactions, statements, accusations, complaints, or just straight talk—this is where you get them all

OOKtalk

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

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Books We Love

THE SISTERHOOD Ensler (extreme left) with her friends in Congo

The Vendor of Sweets ANUSHA S RAO

W Excerpt

The Congo stigmata Writer of The Vagina Monologues fame, Eve Ensler is known for her stark writing. In this excerpt from her gritty new memoir, In the Body of the World, she narrates her experiences with rape victims in Congo

T

here are no accidents. Or Impossible holes. Absences. may be everything is an Gaps, tears in membranes. accident. My friend Paul Fistulas. Obstetric fistulas occur says to me, “It’s like you’ve got because of extended difficult Congo Stigmata.” Well, actually, labor. Neccesary blood is unable almost everyone said it in one to flow to the tissues of the vagiway or another. “It doesn’t sur- na and the bladder. As a result, prise me, Eve, of course. All those the tissues die and a hole forms stories of rape over all these through which urine or feces years. The women have entered flow uncontrollably. In the you.” And at first I pushed this Congo fistulas have been caused away because it’s not really a by rape, in particular gang rape, great advertising for activism. and rape with foreign objects like Come care about others, listen to bottles or sticks. So many thoutheir stories and their pain, and sands of women in eastern you can contact it too. Then Congo have suffered fistulas immediately after the surgery, from rape that the injury is considered a crime of the doctors told me combat. that they had discovAfter three trips ered inside me that to the Congo, I needed they had rarely seen to see a fistula. I asked before.

Cells of to sit in on a reparative endometrial (uterine) operation. I need to cancer had created a know the shape of this tumor between the hole, the size of this vagina and bowel and hole. I needed to know had “fistulated” the what a woman’s rectum. Essentially, insides looked like the cancer had done Rs 199 when her most essenexactly what rape had Random House tial cellular tissue had done to so many thousands of women in the been punctured by a stick or Congo. I ended up having the penis or penises. Wearing a mask and gown, I peered into this same surgery as many of them.

Dr Handsome, my colon woman’s vagina, as she lay on her doctor, e-mailed Dr Deb the day back, legs spread, her feet tied to after the surgery and said he had steel stirrups with strips of bluebeen unable to sleep because he green rags made from old hospiwas so in awe of the mystery of tal uniforms. As always, I was what they had found. He said, awed by the vagina, so intricate, “These findings are not medical, so simple, so delicate. There in they are not science. They are the lining was an undeniable hole, a rip, a tear in the essential spiritual.”

I have always been drawn to story. It was almost a perfect cirholes. Black holes. Infinite holes. cle, the size of a quarter may be,

too big to prevent things from getting in or from falling out. I couldn’t help but think of the sky, of the membrane of the sky and the rip in the ozone.

Humans had become hole makers. Bullet holes and drilled holes, hurt holes, greed holes, rape holes. Holes in membrane that function to protect the surface or bodily organ. Holes in the ozone layer that prevent the sun’s ultraviolet light from reaching the earth’s surface. Holes that cause mutation of bacteria and viruses and an increase in skin cancers.

Holes, gaps in our memory from trauma. Holes that destroy the integrity, the possibility of wholeness, of fullness. A hole that would determine the rest of this woman’s life, would prevent her from holding her pee or poop, would destroy sex or make it very difficult, would undermine her having a baby, would require many painful operations and still might not be fixed. As I stood there in mask and gown, I realised I had stopped breathing.

This woman’s vagina was a map of the future, and I could feel myself falling, falling through the hole in the world, the hole in myself, the hole that was made when my father invaded me and I lost my way. The hole that was made when the social membrane was torn by incest. Falling through the hole in this woman.

I was falling. I have always been falling. But this time was different.

From Falling, Or Congo Stigmata, Page 41

ritten in the simple, yet touching style that is characteristic of RK Narayan, The Vendor of Sweets has to be my all time favourite. Set in Narayan’s famous fictional town Malgudi, it traces the story of Jagan and his relationship with his ambitious son Mali.

Jagan, a humble sweetvendor in Malgudi is very likeable, in spite of, or perhaps because of his eccentricities.

He has a philosophical bent of mind and spends time reading out passages from the Bhagavad Gita to his cook and other aides at the shop. He has unquestioned faith in the health benefits of margosa and manages to find a relevant quote by Gandhiji to suit any situation. Though proud of his participation in the Freedom Movement, he is timid and intimidated by his aggressive son, with whom his relationship has weakened after Jagan’s wife’s death.

The book becomes more interesting as Mali goes abroad to study the art of ‘writing books.’ Jagan, initially apprehensive (“Going there to learn storytelling!

He should rather go to a village granny!”), grows proud of his son’s achievements in America and speaks about them to everyone he meets, but suppresses in horror a letter where his son mentions eating beef, because “The Shastras defined the five deadly sins, and the killing of a cow headed the list.”

The conflict between tradition and modernity, one generation and the next, between Western and Indian culture, is depicted skillfully and with effortless humour.

When Mali returns from America with a girl he claims to have married, he introduces her to his father as Grace and proceeds to address her as “Honey.” Poor Jagan is thrown

RK Narayan

into a state of confusion, not sure if he should call her Honey or Grace!

Jagan’s reminiscence about his first meeting with Ambika (his late wife) is delightful. As the groom-to-be, though hungry, he is required to display disdain for the delicious food the bride’s parents compel him to eat. The staunch support he initially displays for his wife provokes criticism at home that he has already become an ‘unpaid advocate’ for her family. It is such anecdotes that make the book quintessentially Indian.

Jagan’s realisation that the differences between himself and his son are irreconcilable gives the book an ambiguous but touching end.

The Vendor of Sweets is my personal favourite also because it captures South Indian culture with perfection. The spoilt Mali who considers his father a mere financier, the sweet-vendor who concerns himself only with higher values but maintains cash and accounts separately to evade tax, the cousin who loves solving Jagan’s problems in return for a free sample of sweets every day, Grace, the foreigner who is a perpetual enigma to Jagan—are all memorable characters with endearing frailties, and stayed with me long after I finished reading.

That is also why I return to the book every few months: to get another taste of Malgudi and the gentle wit of RK Narayan.

L I S T I NGS music

 Stringed symphony: The stage is set for a musical extravangaza as violinst Karthick Iyer performs live under a selfnamed act this weekend.

The band has Karthick Iyer on carnatic violin and vocals, Vikram Vivekanand on lead guitar, Napier

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

Ameeth Thomas of Junkyard Groove

Naveen Kumar on bass guitar, Allwyn Jeya Paul multi percussions and Sumesh Narayan on mridangam. Karthick Iyer has previously performed as part of several citybased and national bands like Raghu Dixit Project and Emergence.

bFlat bar, 100 Feet Road, Above ING Bank, HAL 2nd stage, Indiranagar, May 31, 8.30 pm, 25278391 Â From dance to music: This weekend lend your ears to Sumitra Nitin, who will present the Music of Bharathanatyam, a

multimedia performance on the dance form. In this multimedia presentation, the compositions played will be discussed supported by photoraphs, video and audio clips, history, analysis, descriptions and more.

The presenter will also sing and dance to illustrate.

Bangalore International Centre, TERI Complex, 4th Main 2nd Cross , Domlur, May 31 9886599675 Â Music for a cause: City bands and solo artistes will get together for an evening to mark World No Smoking Day and generate awareness about the ill-effects of tobacco consumption. The idea is to also remind people about the existent Tobacco Prohibition Act. Solo artistes from within the city will open the stage to what is being called Garage Jam. Death metal band Nihilus and Thrash will be on stage for the closing act. Formed in 2010 by Siddharth and Manu, the band later added Jason D'Souza on the bass and Navneeth Singh on the vocals. The band's emphasis is on giving its listeners an adrenaline rush through the genre of thrash metal.

kiddie corner

Sonido Musicals, Opp Catholic Club, Brigade Road, May 31, 6 pm 41251429 Â Rock for all: Popular Indian rock band Junkyard Groove performs this weekend for all its fans in the city. Based out of Chennai, the band has a large base of followers in town. They draw their influences from the likes of Incubus, Iron Maiden, Prodigy and more.

Besides their brand of rock that appeals to music lovers across age groups, frontman Ameeth Thomas is popular for his highenergy performances and light-hearted stage banter.

The band has seen a lineup change since its formation and Thomas remains to be the only one from founding group of Junkyard Groove. bFlat bar, 100 Feet Road, Above ING Bank, HAL 2nd stage, Indiranagar, June 1, 8.30 pm 25278391

vals. His energetic beats seem to point to the future of electronic music in the country.

Geoffrey’s Lawns, Hotel Royal Orchid, Old Airport Road, June 1, 4 pm onwards  A Bluesy Tribute: In its third year now, Blues Around Town, the festival has returned to pay tribute to the blues’ legend Robert Johnson.

The festival was started in 2011 to mark the centenary birth year of the legend and has caught followers since. Blues’ musicians from across town and lovers of the

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genre come together to celebrate at these concerts.

The Chronic Blues Circus at Karnataka Golf Association Club, June 1, 8.30 pm Blues Brunch featuring By2Blues, Arjun Chandran and Anand Vijayasimha at The Humming Tree, Indirangar, June 2, 1 pm onwards By2Blues: Roots Blues Set at Rewind, Kammanahalli, June 5, 9 pm Ministry of Blues at Opus in the Creek, Whitefield, June 6, 9 pm The Finale, CounterCulture, Whitefield, June 7

Karthick Iyer

 Zedd comes to town: International electronic DJ Zedd, known for smash hits like Clarity will be in town as part of India tour.

The 23-year-old has gathered a fan following through his music and appearances at several international dance festi-

food The Fabulous Adventures of Aditi and Friends  Pet needs: Treat your pet to a nice doggie platter consisting of steamed chicken dim sums, ragi balls, mince meat balls and biscuits (milk optional) while you (the owners) can feast on continental breakfast. The doggie platter is priced at Rs 100.

Under The Mango Tree, # 3, Laurel Lane, Richmond town, (Behind TNT & Lakme salon on Richmond road), June 2, 9 am to 11 am 9686601021

 Kids’ competition For all those kids going back to school, here’s your chance to have some fun before the daily grind begins. As part of the Landmark Carnival for Kids, there are two concluding activities—a quiz and a dumb charades competition.

Open to children between the ages of 10 and 15, these events will let your children have fun while they learn new things.

Landmark, Forum Mall, Koramangala, June 1, 3 pm to 5 pm and Landmark, Orion Mall, Rajajinagar, June 2, 3 pm to 5 pm  The return of Aditi and Friends For all those who missed out

on this delightful play for kids, here is another chance. The Fabulous Adventures of Aditi and Friends returns as part of the Jagriti Kids’ Carnival.

Fairy tale like, this play is based on stories written by Suniti Namjoshi, published by Chennai-based Tulika Books.

The 40-minute-long performance uses a mix of dance, drama and puppetry to tell the story of a rather peculiar group of friends—a monkey, an ant, an elephant, two dragons and a little girl. They are trying to escape a giant who just won’t see reason.

Jagriti Theatre, Varthur Road, Ramagondanahalli, Whitefield, June 1 and 2, 3 pm and 6.30 pm 9535779953

 Back to school in style School is about to begin and what better way to get back than with oodles of style.

With the Back to School range at Reliance TimeOut, you can shop all your new session needs and with a host of special offers. Pick from trendy bags, Barbie stationary kits, other cool stationary, notebooks, fancy tiffin boxes and all that you can think of before packing your school bags. Make going back to school happier with all the new goodies to show off to your friends.

All Reliance TimeOut outlets

 Mouth watering fare: Ever imagined a spread of more than 50 varieties of dosas in both vegetarian and non vegetarian options? Visit this dosa festival this weekend and you will be amazed. Apart from the usual potato filling you can also choose from carrot, tomatoes and spinach filling. The lunch buffet is priced at Rs 499 and the dinner is priced at Rs 599.

Spice It, Hotel Ibis, Bengaluru Techpark, Marathahalli Sarjapur Road, till June 3 66700600 Â Mojito love: For all the fans of this refreshing lemon-laced summer drink, there’s good news. At the Mojito Mania festival, you get to drown in Bacardi rum-spiked goodness in many flavours, from the

original lemon variety to some dunked with seasonal fruits.

Sip away as you bid summer goodbye.

Hard Rock Cafe, St Marks Road, till June 6 41242222 Â Seriously extended breakfast: Here’s something for the night owls who love breakfast but

just can’t manage to grab that meal on time. Head to this midnight breakfast festival and savour all the early morning goodies at an hour of your convenience. Choose from eggs, pancakes and all those delights you never imagined in a midnight meal.

Cubbon Pavillion, ITC Gardenia, Residency Road, till June 30 22119898 Â The world on your platter: In this new course-by-course buffet, you get to sample everything from dim sums to street side chat and chole bhature to Mediterranean pizza.

Le Jardin, The Oberoi, MG Road, June 1 onwards 41358201

L I S T I NGS

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

theatre

mango party

retail therapy Robinson and Crusoe

 Mango madness, theatre style: It is that time of the year again and the king of fruits is here for a lot of summer fun. It is also time for much mango madness at the yearly Mango Party at Ranga Shankara. This popular ‘party’ is all about celebrating the mango as a community fruit. There isn’t much you have to do to be part of it, just carry a kg of mangoes of your choice and then dig into the collective pool, eat away.

Eating mangoes isn’t all there is to the Mango Party, there are stories to hear about mangoes too. Share your mango story at an audition on May 31 and be one of the 10 people who will tell their stories in front of the entire audience at the Mango Party. Two of the mango-inspired storytellers also walk away with prizes.

Ranga Shankara, # 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, June 2, 12 pm to 5 pm Mail office@rangashankara.in for audition registrations

 Your best foot forward: Summer is for colours and why let your feet miss out on the fun? Choose from patent pumps to colourful ankle-strap sandals and patterned platforms from Marie Claire’s new summer collection to add to your wardrobe. While the emphasis is on colour, you could also keep it plain by picking ballerinas in nude shades and kitten heels in gold, bronze and brown. Also, choose from a range of newly introduced bags and clutches.

At all Bata outlets

 Undadi Gunda: This Kannada play by The Green Room Club and directed by Bhargavi Narayan is the story of Gunda, who wants to take revenge on his own father. He sends Ramu and Kitti to do the job after being disturbed by his father’s remarks on himself and his friends. The confusion is later cleared by Gunda himself.

Ranga Shankara, # 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, June 2, 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm, June 3 to 6, 7.30 pm 26493982

 Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani Hindi It is the story of a relationship between Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) and Naina (Deepika Padukone). They meet at two different times in their lives, once right after college and once when they are in their late twenties. The central theme is about how the two eventually fall in love.

The movie directed by Ayan Mukerji also stars Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapoor in supporting roles.

Madhuri Dixit also makes an appearance in an item number with Ranbir Kapoor.

Urvashi Digital Cinemas - 6 pm, 9.45 Rex Theatre - 9.55 am, 2.30 pm, 7.10, Gopalan Cinemas, Bannerghatta Road - 10 am, 1 pm, 4, 5.10, 7, 10

Gopalan Cinemas, Arch Mall, Mysore Road - 10 am, 1 pm, 4, 7, 10 Gopalan Mall, Sirsi Circle -10 am, 1 pm, 4, 7, 10 Cauvery Theatre - 11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 6, 9.30 Navrang Theatre - 10 am, 10 pm Everest Theatre, Frazer Town - 11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 Innovative Multiplex Marathahalli - 10.05 am, 1 pm, 4, 7, 10 Veeresh Cinemas - 1.15 pm, 4.15, 7.15, 10 Abhinay Theatre - 10.15 am, 1.15 pm, 4.15, 7.15 Vision Cinemas - 10 am, 1 pm, 4, 7, 9.55, Rockline Cinemas, Jalahalli - 10.30 am, 12.55 pm, 4, 6.50, 9.40 Â Cinderella 3D English This is a modern take on the fairy tale with some elements intact like her trans-

formation before the party.

Cinderella has some new furry friends accompanying her. The backdrop is of the wild West and the prince is kidnapped by gorilla pirates.

Now, Cinderella has to do it all; rescue the prince and fall in love before the clock

 Summer offers: Here’s your chance to make the most out of your denim purchases. While you find the perfect fit to keep your casual days upbeat, avail some offers on denim wear too. Shop worth Rs 9,999 at Calvin Klein Jeans and receive a gift voucher worth Rs 1,500. Also, if you buy Calvin Klein underwear merchandise worth Rs 14,999 you will receive underwear woth Rs 2,699 free with your purchase.

Calvin Klein Jeans, Forum Mall, Koramangala

 Robinson and Crusoe: For both children and adults, this popular play is the story of two young soldiers from different countries stranded on a roof during a war. The two, due to their circumstances, develop a warm friendship despite being from enemy sides. Their conversation is laced with happiness, tragedy and humour at the same time. The play has an underlying message for children and adults too.

Ranga Shankara, # 36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, May 31, 7.30 pm 26493982

film Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani

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comic con strikes 12 and her secret is let out.

INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road - 10.05 am, 2.35 pm  Hangover Part III English The epic conclusion of the three-part series is here.

From where the story left the last time around, Alan's father has passed away and the other three accompany him while he gets mental issues sorted. Things obviously turn chaotic on the way, just as they did in the previous versions. Doug is kidnapped again and the three find themselves in yet another trail, not to forget, a hangover too. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha.

Rex Theatre - 12.45 pm, 5.20 Vision Cinemas - 11 am, 3.15 pm, 7.30, 9.45 Innovative Multiplex, Marathahalli 10.45 am, 12.45 pm, 5.30, 10 Tribhuvana Digital 2k Cinemas - 10.30 am, 1.30 pm,

4.30, 7.30 Gopalan Cinemas, Bannerghatta Road - 3 pm, 8.05 Q Cinemas, ITPL, Whitefield - 10.10 am, 12.10 pm, 5.10, 7.10, 9.30 Rockline Cinemas, Jalahalli - 1.10 pm, 5.20, 9.30 Â Director's Special Kannada The film is a comedy directed by and starring Guruprasad. It tells the story of a struggling film director in Kannada film industry, evoking humour out of the workings of the industry.

Rangayana Raghu and Anoop Seelin have scored music for the film. PL Ravi is the cinematographer. Tabla Nani is the assistant director of this film. Basavaraj is the editor and the film is produced by M Govind.

Triveni Cinemas - 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Veeresh Cinema - 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Kamakya Cinema - 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Director’s Special

 Comic Con Express returns: The biggest pop-culture event, Comic Con Express in town is back for the second time in a year. With a mix of book launches, discussions and talks, Comic Con had a succesful run in the city last time. Talk picks some of the must-attend sessions: Jerry Pinto’s session on his first graphic novel: June 1, 2 pm Manta Ray launches Twelve, a series of 12 books: June 1, 3.45 pm Session with graphic novelist Appupen on The Legends of Halahala: June 1, 5 pm. Self Publishing with Abhijeet Kini, Akshay Dhar & Jatin Varma: June 2, 1.30 pm Enter the world of Franco-Belgian Comics with Cinebook: June 2, 2 pm Comic Con Express is at Koramangala Indoor Stadium, June 1 and 2, 10 am to 6 pm. Log on to www.bangalorecomiccon.com

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

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

Override the ego The budo self is flexible, and not rigid and adamant. It understands its limitations and weaknesses, and then fights and overcomes them, says Sensei Avinash Subramanyam

I

n budo, the knowledge of the ‘I’ is all knowledge, because it is an understanding of your self and your place in the universe. It is a mastery of life in its many facets.

In martial arts, if you are a small man fighting someone big, you initially get beaten. With time, you learn to hold your own, and then even to beat the opponent. You will use your smallness to your advantage and strike fast. In the process, you conquer yourself. In Game of Death a 5’7” Bruce Lee fights and defeats a 7’2’’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by using his small frame effectively.

But remember, in budo the battle is only with one’s own pitfalls and not against anyone outside. A man of war trains to have no inadequacies within—fear, anger, jealousy— because his preparation is to die without a second thought. Ironically, you train to perfection to be able to let go.

Budo requires you to possess no ego, to be loving and magnanimous.

Even if this self has an ego, it is used only to fulfil the needs of others and not yours. You should use your pride to fight your weakness. Once, a group of us found ourselves famished after a rigorous training session. We reached a nearby restaurant. Those who got in first finished everything they could lay their hands on. A student and I reached last and found there was only one plate of food left. I was dying of hunger, but I told my student I could not eat after training.

That way, I ensured he got the meal.

Arts like tai chi or kendo aim at the refinement of the self and spirit.

Once you truly learn the art of the sword (not the one that asks to kill), you will burn away negativity. In fact, the renowned samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi killed many in combat but finally retired to a cave to write the famous Go Rin No Sho (The

TRUE PATH Legendary samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi—portrayed here slaying a dragon—was undefeated in combat, but gave up violence in his last days

Book of Five Rings). Though initially violent, he changed later because the sword taught him tolerance and calmness. Such refinement of the body and mind leads to the perfection of the self.

This refinement of the self achieved through meditating on the sword is nothing but the act of finding God within. The secret behind Musashi being undefeated was that the sword had become an extension of his hand; his hand had become the sword.

Musashi’s merging with the sword is the state of perfection where there is no negativity, for only with internal peace can there be great external ability.

Only if you are calm inside can you handle the gun with speed and with a steady hand. This internal peace, devoid of a flickering mind, means to be with God. Train to house God inside you like a privileged and dear guest. Know that he will stay where there is no disturbance, only peace and love. Train to be in this state of mind often enough till it

becomes a regular way of life.

One of my Japanese teachers was 80 and could slice wood with his katana (samurai sword). In a jodo (short staff) combat, he could take a massive strike without blinking an eye. But he was so gentle that at home when we placed a cup on the table with a slight sound, it would disturb him. He only taught children between five and seven years because he believed the sword should be used only for spiritual ref inement—to inculcate values of gentleness, love and togetherness. And the understanding that the sword and love are one had to begin early in life. This teacher spent hours tending to his garden, again because, he said, only by understanding the power of the sword can you understand how to gently nurture a plant.

How can you train to develop the budo ‘I’? Start building the budo ‘I’ on the existing ‘I.’ Tell yourself you will live the budo ‘I’ till it becomes the real you. Reflect on your negativi-

Way of Budo 35

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ties—anger, jealousy, pride. Use your ego to assert that you will not be the egotistic I. By finding internal peace, you will be able to perceive life and the world with tremendous clarity.

Another method is to genuinely smile and find happiness in everything around you because when you smile you become lighter and freer.

My students mention changes they have experienced in their lives: A student who used to get irritated at office now says her angry self is a thing of the past. Another student who is short-tempered says, “Earlier, when I got angry, my brain would freeze and I’d be unable to think. Now in any situation I can think and respond, understand the situation for what it is worth and move on.”

A third student feels with training he is less egoistic: “Earlier, I rarely took up responsibility for others’ happiness. Now I can do things for others, whether feeding dogs or helping people. I react less to insults and am able not to hold any grudge after.

Earlier, when friends planned a trip and ditched it at the last moment, I used to get upset. Now, I expect less.

That way there is more peace. I try to change myself now, and not others.

My dad is a dictatorial person. Earlier I harboured anger against him. Now, even though I don’t approve of his ways, I feel no hate. I’ve realised that’s his nature. I decide how close or distant I should be with him. It’s true at times the egoistic self dominates. But over the day, the budo self brings me back to the path. If I keep training, maybe I’ll need less time for that shift to happen.”

Another student said, “Earlier, I never realised when I got angry. Nor did I know why. Because of training, I understand why I am angry and work towards getting out of that mood. At other times, my manner of speaking led people to believe I was aggressive though I didn’t feel aggression inside.

With training I realised how to link mind to action. Even in my training, initially when I practiced kata (form) there was unnecessary aggression.

Then I realised that my way of training was wrong. Now I practise differently. I can see the change in the way my hands move while doing the kata.

At the end of the day, the ego should be overcome. In this world, however, you have to deal with big egos. At such times I don’t prove my point.

Instead of saying you’re not right, I say you’re right but go on to show my point. I believe the way to overcome the ego (anger, pride) is to practise giving it up in every situation that it rises.”

Transcribed by Radhika P You can write to Sensei at: seefarwellnessorg@yahoo.com

T I M E P A SS

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

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Talk ’s weekly crossword for Bangaloreans who know their way about town fort in the City Market area (4) 15 Job expo organised by Vijay Karnataka and Rotary Bangalore Cantonment (5) 16 According to a recent survey, over ___ ____ per cent of pregnant women in Karnataka has mild anemia (5-5) 17 The Chief Minister wants to link the Re 1 per kg of rice scheme to _____ (7) 18 Alert staff prevented the sale of a baby at this hospital (4,5) DOWN 1 The State Home Minister has ordered the Bangalore police to arrest ____ in order to curb betting (7) 2 Home minister in Siddaramaiah's cabinet (1,1,6) 4 The new government has helped

Last week ’s solution Across: 1 Agumbe, 4 Patna, 7 Four, 9 Bahadur, 10 Moral, 11 Thimmappa, 14 Claytopia, 17 Cariappa, 18 BDA, 19 Cauvery, 20 Algerian, 21 Pandhi.

ACROSS 1 Three people were arrested for blocking a train and forcing it to halt at this station (13) 3 Engineering college which recently organised a blood donation camp (3) 6 ___ City: Bangalore of course (6) 7 Bangalore residents can now apply

talk|6 jun 2013|talkmag.in

for a new water connection through a licensed ____ (7) 8 Only minister from the upper house in the current Karnataka cabinet (1,1,5) 10 According to a recent survey only ___- ____ percent of Bangalore's women are employed (6-4) 11 You will find the remnants of his

Down: 2 MGNREGA, 3 Madarangi, 5 Barnwell, 6 Tainted, 8 Basavanagudi, 12 Pickpockets, 13 Amritsar, 15 Three, 16 Ambareesh, 17 CCTVs.

Bangalore's ____ market (6) Irish pub at the Windsor Sheraton Hotel (6) 7 Outgoing BBMP commissioner Siddaiah feels that implementing these will help tackle the garbage crisis (8,4) 9 Water resources minister M B Patil wants to revive this river along the lines of the Thames (9) 12 Chief engineer of the BBMP's vigilance cell who recently took voluntary retirement (1,7) 13 Utility agency which recently added 15 helplines to cope with customer complaints during the monsoon (6) 14 Cinema in the Banashankari area (7) 5

Prof Good Sense I have been in a relationship with a boy for four years. I admit that I have cheated on him a number of times.

Recently, I met a guy in a party and instantly fell in love with him. I cannot stop thinking about him, but later thought that I should make things work with my boyfriend. I am really confused. Please help.

Ms JJ, Ejipura Does commitment mean anything to you at all? Cheating on your boyfriend over four years doesn't say much about your values. Stay out of your boyfriend’s life, if you cannot stop thinking about this 'other' guy. You cannot hop, skip and jump from one relationship to another. Even your new love interest could just turn out to be a casual fling. Take time off to know who you are and what you want from life. First learn to treat yourself with honour and respect. Given your current state of mind, any relationship is bound to fail.

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

Mail queries to prof@talkmag.in

memoir

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crime folio

VIVEK ARUN

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

CH HANUMANTHARAYA

A fitting reply to police arrogance An insolent cop (featured on this page earlier), who enjoys the backing of powerful politicians, rubs lawyers the wrong way. The incidents that follow put the government on the defensive

A

t a time when the nation voted against the Emergency, Karnataka voters supported the Congress. This led the party to become smug, and the Gundu Rao government earned notoriety for its atrocities against farmers and the middle class.

As people developed aversion against the ruling party, bureaucrats had become all-powerful.

Chief minister Gundu Rao antagonised farmers by ordering a police firing when they were protesting in Naragund, and people were further miffed when he refused to pay homage to those who were killed. He ignored the demand for an inquiry, and took no action against the police.

Instead, his government booked cases against the agitating farmers and put them in jail.

All this had made citizens furious with the police and the government.

Cauvery Bhavan on Kempe Gowda Road housed the office of the police vigilance cell. As the Civil Court is also located on the premises, the entrance would always witness a rush during the morning hours when the vehicles of lawyers and their clients scrambled to reach in time.

“After picking up the quarrel, On one such occasion, a lawyer was driving in through the gate when Somashekar first registered a comhe heard rude honking from behind. plaint. Now, if we don’t file a counter It was a police vehicle. He could not complaint, we will become culprits in give way because of the jam. The the eyes of public. So, we too have to police officer seated in the vehicle lodge a complaint,” said a senior took it for indifference and shouted advocate.

The responsibility of drafting abuses at the lawyer. When it did not help, he alighted and started banging the complaint was given to me and the glass windows of the lawyer’s car. other six lawyers.

We went to the police station An incensed lawyer shouted back, “Why don’t you behave? There with the complaint. But they wouldis no way to move the car, and you n’t accept it. After a futile argument, I called up the police commissioner have to wait till the way is clear.”

This further enraged the police and warned him of the legal conseofficer who started hurling obscene quences. Finally he gave in, and the invectives. When he was about to complaint was registered.

The next day the papers promibreak the window pane with his cane, carried the incident. the lawyer stopped him and held his nently Somashekar, in a fit of hand. When the rage, had abused the police officer tried to The enraged lawyer community as assault him with his police officer a whole, and the news other hand, the lawyer held it too. started hurling reports were telling.

The legal fraterFellow advocates tried obscenities nity erupted in anger, to separate them. In and stalled the prothe scuffle, badge of the police officer was torn and his hat ceedings of the court in protest.

Courts across the state shut down. fell to the ground.

Policemen were also determined The police officer was N Somashekar, then assistant commis- to put up a united fight and met to sioner of police (ACP). He later devise a strategy.

When things were reaching a became a controversial deputy compoint, Advocate-General missioner of police (DCP) and faced a flash Keshava Iyengar called representamurder charge.

Following the incident, the tives of the agitating lawyers and lawyers huddled to deliberate what to tried to pacify them saying he would do. By then, Somashekar had lodged a talk to police commissioner AR complaint against the three lawyers Nizamuddin and try for a truce. But with whom he had clashed: Prof when he called Nizamuddin, he Puttaswamy, HS Visweswara, and refused to talk to him and even denied him an appointment.

Vasanthakumar.

A miffed Keshava Iyengar told Knowing about the police complaint, the lawyers boycotted court the representatives he would make and assembled to protest police high- Nizamuddin appear before him within 15 minutes, and called the chief handedness.

minister. Nizamuddin showed up even before 15 minutes. But no truce came about.

The lawyers continued the strike. Lawyers filed defamation cases against Somashekar in Bidar, Gulbarga, Bellary, and Bangalore.

The clash became a talking point among the public, and the government came under pressure.

MS Gopal was then the President of the Lawyers’ Association, and AJ Sadashiva was its Secretary.

Pramila Nesargi was the Chairman of the State Bar Council. Mohanty, Chairman of the National Bar Council, camped in Bangalore, expressing his solidarity with the protesting lawyers.

When the protest reached the sixth day, Chief Justice Bhimaiah summoned the police commissioner and spoke to him.

“If you are adamant, you will regret it. It will be difficult for you to face the court case as no lawyer will come forward to fight for your ACP. As the National Bar Council is supporting the striking lawyers, you cannot find a lawyer even from outside the state. Your officer will be remanded in judicial custody as his bail application is sure to be rejected,” Bhimaiah counselled Nizamuddin.

Following this, on the sixth day of the protest, Somashekar openly apologised to the lawyers. We called off the strike.

By the sixth day, it was no longer a protest against one police officer, but against the very attitude of the government. Lawyers had not only won but also put an authoritarian regime on the defensive.

(Translated by BV Shivashankar)

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When animals smoke weed...

Houston, you ’ve got a problem

...they get bad trips, say ace US veterinarian Dr Andrew Springer Browne, who actually conducted experiments to prove it. The main clinical signs in dogs that have consumed cannabis are low body temperature, dilated pupils, increased sensitivity to noise and movement, unsteady gait, and dribbling urine. They also usually whimper or howl.

With really high doses, they collapse, breathe slowly, and

By now it’s common knowledge that the American economy isn’t exactly in good shape (to put it mildly). Going by what’s on TV, at least, the sight of people rummaging through dumpsters for food is not all that uncommon on American streets.

Since all those poor and homeless folk seem hell bent on denting the image of their mighty country by advertising their hunger so blatantly, officials in Houston decided to do something about it: they made ‘dumpster diving’ a crime.

James Kelly, a 44-year-old homeless Navy veteran, was one of those recently arrested on charges of “disturbing the

are barely responsive. Sounds pretty much like the average human teenager’s response to the stuff. But Dr Browne says it’s nothing like it. In fact, animals are thoroughly distressed by the stuff. And too high a dose can actually kill them. So, the next time you and your friends try feeding hash cakes to your pet cat, remember you are giving the poor thing a hell of a time, quite literally.

Cockroaches: 1 Humans: 0

There has been a turning point in the centuries-old war between humankind and its oldest enemy, and it’s not in

favour of us. Researchers at the North Carolina State University in the US have found that cockroaches have actually evolved their ‘taste hairs’ (similar to our taste buds) to make sweet insecticide taste bitter. Which means they instinctively avoid them, much to the frustration of homeowners. Insects build resistance to insecticides all the time, but scientists have never discovered the actual mechanism of it before. That cockroaches pulled such a

thing off shouldn’t really surprise anyone who has paid attention to them. For one , they have been around way longer than us humans; some 350 million years in all. They can live on almost anything from starch to grease. Why, they are even capable of surviving extreme nuclear radiation. Throw in the possibility of a nuclear war sometime in the future, and it suddenly becomes possible that the cockroach just might inherit the earth, after all.

contents of a garbage can.” No, we didn’t make that up. The officials are relying on a 1942 ordinance that had declared “molesting garbage containers” an illegal act. Of course, it’s a tactic we’re familiar with over here every time they host a big international event—witnessed most recently in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games, when beggars and such other unwanted elements were rounded up and carted off so that the foreign visitors would not be offended by their sight.

But for the world’s sole superpower to do it? Chee chee.

Something’s stinking in Houston; and it’s not the trash.

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