Talkmag mar 14, 2013

talk Volume 1 | Issue 31 | March 14, 2013 | Rs 10

magazine

the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly

ROBBERY Beware the crafty phone heist gangs 6 CRICKET Good Team India or bad Team Australia? 8 CULT FICTION Who is buying Amish Tripathi’s Vayuputras? 18

RAMESH HUNSUR

Backpacker, journalist, volunteer and novelist, she is one of Bangalore’s most vibrant personalities.

And lest you forget, she is also the media-elusive wife of India’s third richest man 10-17

PRESENTING

Plus: Excerpts from her book Days of Sepia and Gold

YASMEEN PREMJI

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mail

Article on step parents should have explored more nuances I read Maria Laveena's article Step love (Issue 30).

I was appalled by the drift that children cannot adjust to step parents at all. This is a sweeping generalisation. Modern-day relationships are more complex than we can imagine. The article seems loaded against step fathers.

Making generalisations against them can be regressive.

When marriages break, children are disturbed, and on many occasions, step fathers provide muchneeded love and care. As you have rightly mentioned in your story, there are instances of biological parents being abusive and irresponsible. While I appreciate your effort to identify and report about this emotional problem, I would request you to explore its nuances with sensitivity, and in greater detail.

S Raveendranathan Old Madras Road

Questions on coding After reading the Talk article on software coding (Look who wants you to Code, Issue 30) these were the questions I had in my mind.

1. Do you think it is necessary that everybody in school and college have the opportunity to learn to code?

2. Job opportunities currently available worldwide comprise 60 per cent computer programming and 40 per cent in math and sciencerelated areas. Do you agree?

3. Eight out of 10 schools in our country don't even offer basic computer programming classes. How can we take this current state to a better level?

I hope to get an answer from the writer.

Suzania Sharma student (Please see this week’s Techwalk column on page 10 - Ed)

team talk EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE TEAM

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

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

Printed and published

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

Editor: SR Ramakrishna. Editorial Office: FF70, Gold Towers, Residency Road, Bangalore 560025 Email: info@talkmag.in Phone: 08040926658. © All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

Spotlight on startups I have noticed that Talk magazine regularly features news reports on startup organisations in Bangalore, like the one on the Startup Festival in your recent issue (Startup Call, Issue 29). As a startup

trying to build. Hope to see more entrepreneur myself—I run a such stories in the future, too. website that aims to be an online platform that bring together brands, Satvik Shahapur manufacturers and retailers—I by email really appreciate the fact that you give so much space for people like us, and the companies we are Write to letters@talkmag.in

star dust

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editor talk

Shafiq Syed

Irrfan Khan Then Bit role in Salaam Bombay

Then Central character in Salaam Bombay Now Auto driver in Bangalore. Lives near Bannerghatta to save on rent

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Now Internationally acclaimed star. Reads one Hollywood script every week

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Mumbai teems with millionaires and movie stars. Its celebrity culture sustains many magazines, television channels and websites. Chatter about their personal lives, besides their clothes and cars, fuels this culture. The Khans and the Godrejs appear enthusiastically on Page 3. But here, in Bangalore, the truly rich don’t party at all. They lead quiet lives that brash Mumbaikars might consider boring and conservative. IT icons like NR Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji—not to speak of the wealthy Setty traders of old Bangalore—are never seen partying like their Mumbai counterparts.

(Vijay Mallya is an exception, but it turns out he isn’t as rich as the world imagined).

When Bangalore newspapers tried to recreate the glitzy Mumbai life in this city, they ended up with a crowd of wannabes masquerading as celebrities. As editor of the Bangalore edition of Mid-Day, I was often taken aback to see ‘models’ and ‘designers’ personally delivering their pictures for our party pages. Would any true celebrity do that? It is now common knowledge that some newspapers cash in on this eagerness and charge aspiring celebrities a fat fee to feature them on their pages. With little irreverence and no stardust, this city’s celebrity pages come across as little more than advertising platforms for pretenders.

A child star’s enduring sorrow Shafiq Syed’s fate changed— even if briefly—when he was picked off the streets of Mumbai to perform the lead role in Salaam Bombay, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. But the film career he dreamt of failed to materalise, and for the last 17 years he has been earning a living as an auto driver in Bangalore

SAVIE KARNEL savie.karnel@talkmag.in

t is 25 years since the release of Meera Nair’s Salaam Bombay. The iconic film that made her a household name is set for a second release on March 22. Tell this to Shafiq Syed, who played the lead role of Krishna or ‘Chaipau,’ and he says, “Really? No one told me.”

Even after a quarter century, the reality depicted in the movie— which deals with the lives of street children in Mumbai—remains unchanged.

Its protagonist Krishna works at the traffic signals in the hope that he will one day

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save the Rs 500 that will allow him to go back home. But life on the streets is such that it doesn’t happen. “At the end of the movie, we see Krishna getting lost in the crowd. The same has happened to me,” says Shafiq, who was 12 when he acted in the film. He is 37 now, and works as an auto driver in Bangalore.

Rising house rents in Bangalore forced Shafiq’s family to move from Tyagarajnagar, within the city, to Bannerghatta, almost 20 kms away. As I walk along the uneven mud path that leads to his house, surrounded by barren quarried hills, he says, “Please don’t take pictures from the outside. Leave the camera in your bag. People in

On our Women’s Day cover this time we feature Yasmeen Premji, who provides an anti-thesis to the idea of the idle rich promoted by the celebrity pages. A backpacker who hitch-hiked solo across Europe when she was in her 20s, Yasmeen has worked as a journalist, initiated large-scale philanthropic programmes, and made a difference to people in less privileged circumstances.

Capitalism, they say, creates incredible amounts of wealth for a few, but Yasmeen and her illustrious husband Azim Premji show how some among the affluent can be selfless and giving.

SR Ramakrishna ram@talkmag.in

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RAMESH HUNSUR

as Mini didi.

The boys were lodged in a flat where they were put through workshops. “Nana Patekar used to teach us. They paid us Rs 10 each every day for the first 15 days, and then Rs 20. Plus we got food and a place to sleep,” he says. After two months, the boys were sent back to Cross Maidan, where they lived. They were contacted again after a gap of two months. “They told me that I would play the lead role, and I went,” he says. The film makers paid him a fee of Rs 15,000 which was deposited in a bank account opened in his name.

After the film was shot, he went back to live on the streets. But the real turning point came with the widespread acclaim the film received. When he returned to Bangalore riding that wave of fame, no great jubilation awaited him. “My parents were happy I had acted in a film, but that was it,” he says. After spending a few months at home, he went back to Mumbai and lived the old life on the streets.

TRYST WITH FAME Shafiq, with wife Amina and the children at their home near Bannerghatta, displaying memorabilia related to Salaam Bombay When he was about 15, he was approached again to act in Patang, which also won the national award for best film this locality don’t know about me in the to feed us,” she says. It is under strict orders he is and where I am.”

Shafiq was actually living the life of a of the year. “I played Shabana Azmi’s son. film; nor do I want them to know.” He from her that the family has hidden then explains, “It’s only been eight months Shafiq’s film association from their new Mumbai street kid when he was selected Om Puri was the villain,” he says showing for the movie. He had run away from pictures taken during the shoot. since we moved here. The rents are cheap- neighbours.

With hopes of making it big in films, Shafiq doesn’t blame her, sheepishly Bangalore, along with three other friends. er here. I would have to pay Rs 3,000-4,000 saying, “She has her reasons.” Amina is His father had nine other mouths to feed, Shafiq started knocking on the doors of in the city, but here I pay only Rs 1,200.”

Once inside, he pulls out packets from quick to explain, “In the previous locality, and Shafiq wanted a better life. At producers and directors. “I used to stand in line outside the film stustation, under the bed and from the cupboards that people used to taunt us saying the journal- Churchgate dios. They would ask me to contain the most precious things he owns: ists had paid us money, and we had stashed Shafiq was separated from Shafiq lost his leave my address and go. carefully preserved clippings from maga- it away somewhere. They thought my hus- his friends. He then lived But I had no address. I zines and newspapers about him, a worn band was just pretending to be an ordinary on the streets near national award could only tell them I lived Mumbai’s Cross Maidan, out poster of Salaam Bombay, and a group auto driver.” memento on a in Cross Maidan,” he says.

Shafiq’s stardom was short lived. sleeping on the footpath, picture of the film crew at a party. As his trip to Kolkata When he was 19, four kids gather around and point to Salaam Bombay won several international begging and doing odd Shafiq returned to Shafiq in the poster and whisper “Abba,” he awards at Cannes and Bafta, and was the jobs to survive.

One day, he was picked up for the role Bangalore where he tried to act in Kannada says, “This is the only memory I have.” He second Indian film to be nominated for the has lost other memorabilia, including the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category. It in the film. “We were standing under a films, but without any luck. He later got a memento for the national award he won as launched the careers of actors like bridge when a woman approached us. She technician’s job for a Kannada serial, but Best Child Actor. “I used to travel with it in Raghubir Yadav and Irrfan Khan, who is told us we had to act in a drama and they this career too didn’t take off. Losing hope, the hope of finding a role. During one such now in demand even in Hollywood. Shafiq would pay us Rs 10 for every day of he took up work as an auto driver. This has does not hide his bitterness when he says, rehearsal,” he recalls. The woman was provided him livelihood for 17 years. He visit to Kolkata, I lost it,” he says.

His wife Amina walks in with a pot of “Irrfan Khan had a very small role, in which Dinaz Stafford, second assistant director says he earns about Rs 500 every day, of water balanced on her hips. She is busy he helps me write a letter. Now, see where for Salaam Bombay. Shafiq remembers her which he pays Rs 100 as rent for the vehicle. He also has to spend on fuel. storing water in pots and barrels for the He wants some day to film the story next couple of days. Shafiq asks her for the of his life, and once found a director who memento he received at the 2010 showed interest. “He called me to Mumbai International Film Festival India (IFFI), two years ago and wrote the script. He hasGoa. She pulls it out from a bag tucked n’t found a producer and the project is as behind the gas cylinder in the kitchen. “His good as shelved,” Shafiq says. He has kept association with the film hasn’t done us the script safe, in the hope that the film any good. It has only harmed us,” she rues, will find a producer in the future. as she hands it to me.

Shafiq’s 15-year-old son is a school Amina and Shafiq have been married dropout, having studied till the third stanfor 16 years. Theirs was an arranged mardard, just like the father. His 11-year-old riage, and the couple saw each other for the daughter and seven-year-old son too first time only after the wedding ceremohaven’t been going to school. They help ny. Did she know she was marrying a film their mother with domestic chores and in hero? She blushes and says, “No. I found looking after their two-year-old brother. out only a year after marriage, when I saw “There are only a few schools nearby, and the paper clippings.” the ones here are too expensive. We will Amina is not impressed by magazine admit the younger kids next year,” says reports with her husband’s pictures.

Amina. As for the oldest son, he may pick “What’s the use? These articles don’t bring up some odd job. us any money. He still has to drive the auto LOVABLE URCHIN The classic still showing Shaifq that featured on the movie’s poster

fun lines

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crime update

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VIVEK ARUN

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You start from a signal when a man walks across the road and pretends to be hit by you. He appears at your left window and starts gesticulating and shouting.

You open the left window to tell him it wasn't your fault. He pays no attention to your phone, lying on the left seat.

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Another man appears at your right window. You roll down the glass. 'Yeh kya kardiya, madam?' he shouts.

While you are busy explaining the sequence of events to him, the man on the left pockets your phone.

Phone heist Got an expensive new phone? Crafty gangs are out to rob you PRASHANTH GN prashanth.gn@talkmag.in

atch out. That shiny new device in your hand is a magnet for thieves, and they are upto new tricks

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to rob you.

You might think you are safe in your car, but an increasing number of heists are conducted in traffic, and at

signals, as practised gang members working together divert your attention for a few crucial seconds.

Dr Asmita Dhekne, a medical professional, was robbed of her iPhone 5 at the St John’s Hospital signal in February.

Driving a red Volkswagen Polo on a weekday, she reached the signal at about 10.45 am. The signal turned green and as she began to move, a man suddenly came towards the car from the left, as if to cross the road,

and bumped into the fender. He started complaining about her driving in Hindi.

“I decided to lower the left window to tell him it was his mistake.

Then a person came to my right and hit the car. I suddenly looked to the right to see what the commotion was.

Then the guy on the left began to say it was okay and that I should drive carefully. His tone had changed. The guy on the right too was asking me to go. I drove on and a few seconds later, I saw my iPhone 5 was missing from the left seat, where I had placed it!” she told Talk.

Shaken, she drove back to the signal to see if she could locate them, but of course, they had gone. Her travails hadn’t ended. When she registered an FIR at the Madiwala police station, the police for some reasonrecorded the value of the stolen

phone as Rs 0.

Asmita’s colleague in the medical fraternity, Dr Deepak Shetty, too had a similar experience a couple of months earlier.

He was at the Queens Circle junction at 11.30 am waiting for the signal to turn green. When it did, he began to drive. The same sequence of events occurred. “I realized they had conned me into an accident-like situation and made me lower my car windows. In that minute of looking around and talking, they made away with the phone.”

City crime police told Talk that five to six such cases are reported in the city every month. An inspector explained: “Three gangs use this modus operandi—the Ramjinagar gang from Tamil Nadu, the Irani gang from Hubli and a Hindi-speaking gang from Uttar Pradesh. The first

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Drivers behind you are screaming and honking, and you are tense.

The man to your left says, 'Chalo, jo ho gaya so ho gaya'.

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You move forward, relieved. It takes you a couple of minutes to realise you have been robbed.

two gangs may have around 100 members in all, while the third may have around 10 to 15. Many of them have been in and out of jail. We arrest them, but they manage to secure bail. Again after a few cases, we rearrest them. Some members of the gangs are in jail now.”

The inspector says the gangs speak at least six languages—Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Tamil and Marathi. “In the Madiwala and Queens Road cases, they have spoken in Hindi. It’s possible they are from the UP gang, because that gang is now known to be more active than the other two, though we cannot rule out the involvement of the others.”

The inspector said the gangs operate for a specific period and then take breaks.

After accumulating money and goods, they go back home and return after a few months. “They don’t have a permanent home in Bangalore. They live in rooms—in Kalasipalya, Upparpet and KR Market areas because it doesn’t cost them much there.

They operate in phases to sustain themselves.”

The Irani gang is known as such because its members are descendants of Iranians. The Ramjinagar gang from Tamil Nadu is known for its wide number of attention-diversion techniques.

Watch out for some of these: the robbers throw currency notes on the ground and ask you whether the money is yours; they point to a ‘fuel leak’ in your vehicle; they suddenly throw something on your shirt to unsettle you; they puncture car tyres to distract you. All three gangs though are known to cross the road, knock into your vehicle and then accuse you while one of the members tries to moderate the argument.

Be alert Police say that bumping into your car while "crossing the road" is a frequently used tactic. They advice: if you are in a car, don't lower windows at signals when somebody knocks into you; don't stop the car and get down if you see two or more people; check for damage to the car at a distance well away from the spot where you were accosted; don't keep your cell phone and belongings on the left seat where they are seen easily; always be alert and watch out for people walking too close to the car or trying to cross the road suddenly; brake at a safe distance when somebody tries to cross the road in front of the car.

echwalk It sports a 21.5 inch HD LED AIO with a frame-less design and the built-in battery gives you a claimed 1.5 hour back up. The screen has an antiglare backlit display enabling broad viewing angles and has HDMI, Wi-fi and Bluetooth. They have thrown in a three-years McAfee anti-virus & 'edutainment' kit.

Coded future Eight out of 10 schools in our country don't even offer computer programming classes. How can we improve this current state to a better level?

I am not sure about that Do you think it is necessary statistic, but it is a fact that talking about teaching that everybody in school or programming when even college should have the basic literacy is an issue, opportunity to learn to seems ambitious. But given code?

Absolutely. The point of what how the costs of hardware and software are coming we talked about is what is down, this can only get now a lucrative job skill might in the future take on a better, and is in fact getting better. But it needs to be broader importance. pushed.

Whether it does that or not, there is no doubt that computer programmers are in demand and will be so. Why not enable more people to join the pool, whether in the US or in India?

After reading the item Look Who Wants You to Code in last week's TechWalk, (Issue 30), Suzania Sharma, a student, wrote to us with the following questions.

HCL Beanstalk AIO HCL Infosystems is looking to create a new category in the All In One (AIO) market with this one carrying a built-in battery.

It is powered by second generation Intel core processors, with a 500 GB HDD, 4GB RAM and integrated Intel HD graphics. Other features include integrated

stereo speakers, 1.3 MP webcam, four USB 2.0 slots, 4in-1 multi-format card readers, and Windows7 home premium.

Three models have been launched at Rs 33,500, Rs 40,000 and Rs 43,000. In the press release, Princy Bhatnagar, Vice President and Head Consumer Computing, says the computer is "geared to provide an uninterrupted computing experience even during power cuts which are common in cities and towns in India."

HP ElitePad tablet HP, India's number two PC seller with a market share of 15.2 per cent, has entered the tablet market with its ElitePad, designed for businesses and governments. Priced at Rs 43,500, PTI quoted an HP executive as saying that the tablet "replaces primary computing devices and provides an eco-system which addresses the requirements of the enterprise."

Clearly, manufacturers are hoping to stay abreast of the momentum shift away from

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desktops and laptops and towards the tablet, even in environments where the PC still does well. The tablet is light (.63 kg) and thin 9.2mm), with eight hour battery support, expandable to 19 hours. It runs Windows 8. Since it is designed to be enterprise grade, it has many security features, including remote trace and wipe in case of loss.

SRIDHAR K CHARI Send feedback to sridhar.chari@talkmag.in

political diary

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Whose party is it, anyway?

Mandira Bedi Media personality

BS Yeddyurappa’s KJP runs into a name row. Or is it a conspiracy to finish him off? admanabha Prasanna, a realtor who started the Karnataka Janata Paksha in 2008 only to later "sell" it to BS Yeddyurappa, is now accusing him of hijacking his party by forging his signature.

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Apart from being vocal on television channels, he has also written to the Election Commission: "BS Yeddyurappa should be disqualified from contesting all elections for the next six years. I have even received death threats from him."

THOSE WERE THE DAYS Padmanabha Prasanna and Yeddyurappa

political career. Prasanna has been saying Yeddyurappa made many promises to him when he took over the party: "He told me, 'You are in debt and have lost a lot of property trying to promote this party. I won't cheat you. I will give you a responsible position and a car.' But he never kept his word."

It is clear that Prasanna willingly handed over the name to Yeddyurappa. But he is now talking about forgery. The suspicion that Yeddyurappa’s rivals are behind the move is therefore natural.

Not that Prasanna has many Dhananjaya Kumar of the KJP supporters. Political observers feel suspects Prasanna has played into he has allowed himself to be led into the hands of Yeddyurappa’s political a conspiracy to end Yeddyurappa's enemies BJP leader Ananth Kumar

and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy.

The talk in political circles is that Yeddyurappa has a secret understanding with the Congress, and is working day and night to defeat the BJP and the JD(S).

Yeddyurappa’s calculation is that, in return, the Congress will help him wriggle out of the serious CBI cases against him.

No wonder his enemies are working overtime to have him and his party disqualified. While Prasanna may not be capable of much damage, the problem he has created cannot be dismissed easily either. Who would ever imagine Yeddyurappa would run into brand wrangle with a man whose name no one has heard?

Even Bommai Payment seats open was better Jagadish Shettar was never taken seriously when he was the assembly Speaker. But now that he is the chief minister, has the situation changed? Most say it hasn't.

SR Bommai Shettar is very soft spoken, and displays little charisma. Leave alone the party, he does not appear to have much hold over his own cabinet colleagues.

Of all the Lingayat chief ministers the state has seen, S Nijalingappa was known as the tallest. SR Bommai was considered the most ineffective.

JH Patel, Veerendra Patil, BD Jatti and Yeddyurappa are given above average marks.

Looking at Shettar, though, people are saying Bommai was not so bad, after all.

All indications are that the Congress might come to power after the assembly elections in April-May. Ministerial aspirants are clamouring for Congress tickets.

The convention is that all aspirants submit applications to the party.

Nearly 2,300 leaders have already applied for tickets. So there are some 10 applicants for each of the 224 Assembly seats.

These include present and former MLAs, former central ministers like Jaffer Sharief, bigwigs like

Ambareesh, CM Ibrahim, and DK Taradevi, sitting MPs H Vishwanath and Vinay Kumar Sorake, and MLC Nazeer Ahmed.

Jaffer Sharief Then you have BJP ministers and MLAs who want to defect to the Congress.

If nothing else, this growing applicants' list is adding some money to Congress coffers: Rs 2 crore at last count.

Weight of industry Murugesh Nirani is industries minister in the current BJP government. But he is openly going around with Yeddyurappa and his KJP. Nirani was present recently at the helipad to receive Yeddyurappa when he toured the northern districts to campaign for the local body elections. Nirani has been going door to door with

Yeddyurappa, seeking votes for a party of which he is not a member.

A senior BJP leader says the industries ministry isn't one that goes to 'ordinary men.' It has remained with Nirani through three CMs. For fund-starved parties, he clearly packs a lot of weight.

‘People in the South are very conservative’ What do you think about events like Slut Walk (a procession of women dressed ‘provocatively,’ to highlight that no style of dressing is an invitation for inappopriate male attention)? The first event planned in town was cancelled and the second had low participation.

Maybe it was the fear in people. Fear that something like this can take place in our country. Generally, people in the South are very conservative. Organising something like a Slut Walk is a brave step. People need to make sure there is acceptance for women’s rights.

Do you think things would be different if there were more women in politics? What needs to be done to ensure women enjoy equal rights?

We are a country that has had a woman prime minister and we have so many women politicians. While on one hand we are showing that women are empowered, on the other, atrocities are being committed against women. We have to educate children early on. Things need to be done at the grassroots level. There should be positive reinforcement of gender equality in every individual.

Have things changed after your first child? What would you like to tell women who have just had kids?

Luckily things haven’t changed much for me as my husband supports me a lot. He treats me like an equal and that's how I'm able to get back to work even after having a kid.

Women must not give up on their independence after they become mothers.

There must be an understanding between the husband and the wife.

Mandira Bedi, actress, model and television presenter, was in Bangalore recently to speak about women's rights. She shot to fame after playing the lead in the TV soap Shanti and later as a presenter of World Cup cricket and the IPL.

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BASU MEGALKERI

Questions

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

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test cricket

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It’s not India, it’s Australia India's twin victories prove little beyond the fact of an Australian team fallen on lean times—and the celebrations cannot mask international Test cricket's steady decline ot even Indian cricket’s was their spinners who appeared most fervent disciples unplayable. The best names in the would have expected Indian batting lineup appeared forthe kind of thrashing lorn as they failed to negotiate the Australia received in the spin of Graeme Swann and Monty first two Tests of their four-Test tour. Panesar, who were backed by consisThe Indian team’s performance tent pace bowling from the likes of brought alive the fantasies of our Jimmy Anderson and Tim Bresnan. youth—imagine the Aussies losing by Dhoni all but abdicated his on-field captaincy during that series, banking an innings and 135 runs!

Granted that the Test win was in on hope rather than smart tactics to India and not in Australia—but with challenge the English.

Was it really the same Dhoni the Indian team, we’ll take what we who has plotted two wins against the get.

Indian cricket writers were Aussies? Or is it that the Aussies are quick to write paeans on the players. in such a sorry state that even an Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who average Indian team can beat them has had the rough end of the stick with ease?

It’s hard to believe that an Indian over the last two years or so, was once team that capitulated again hailed as an to England’s spinners astute captain. It was South Africa on spin-friendly subas if, in the space of a continent conditions fortnight, all the is perhaps the has suddenly rediscovangels had begun only side that ered its best form. showering their stands out Rather, the fact is that blessings on the Australia has fallen on Indian team.

Now cast your mind back three lean times; its best players, barring months. The visiting England team skipper Michael Clarke, look out of had run rings around the home depth.

Australia has been on a slide ever favourites, winning the four-Test series 2-1. It wasn’t just the margin, since the likes of Adam Gilchrist, but the manner in which they pulled Matthew Hayden, Glenn McGrath it off, that made it seem Indian crick- and the rest of Steve Waugh’s ‘Invincibles’ retired. We could never et was down to its darkest days.

The Indians had reckoned they have imagined the depths to which its would simply use their spinners to Test team has plunged. Australia has, send the English packing—but the in recent memory, always been a English turned the joke on us, and it competitive squad, and surely its sup-

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Dev S Sukumar Writer and biographer of badminton legend Prakash Padukone

LONE WARRIOR Skipper Michael Clarke was the only Aussie who didn’t look out of depth

porters must be wringing their hands in despair, for the performance thus far in India has been so un-Australian.

What does this Australian side say about world cricket? That the quality of Test cricket is pretty low, and that South Africa is perhaps the only side that stands out. Every other team, India included, is like a patchwork quilt, with a couple of good players and a bunch of journeymen whose real interests are the IPL and other 20-over circuses. Even Cheteshwar Pujara, who is being called the next Rahul Dravid, remains unproven outside Indian conditions.

It really does seem, therefore, that world cricket hasn’t moved an inch since the 1980s. If anything, it has regressed. In the eighties, we had at least five world class teams, and all of the same level: Australia, England, India, Pakistan, West Indies. The players too were worth following:

sound batsmen, fearsome fastbowlers, and exceptional all-rounders who could shoulder the burden of both bat and ball.

Today, there is hardly an allrounder worth mentioning (with the exception of South Africa’s veteran Jacques Kallis), and celebrity batsmen in the limited-over formats invariably come up short in Test cricket. Only the fielding standards have improved.

This is not to bemoan what’s become of cricket, but to wonder if there is a discernible direction in which cricket has moved over the last two decades. Australia’s loss is no indicator of the quality of the Indian team, for it is likely that the result will be reversed if we travel to Australia.

Any good Test team should be able to produce quality cricket in all conditions, and only South Africa fits the bill. What one would give to see topquality Test cricket once again!

profile

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Writer, educationist, lover of rustic art Yasmeen Premji quietly juggles diverse interests PRASHANTH GN prashanth.gn@talkmag.in

asmeen Premji is not one to grant interviews and photo shoots. A search on Google reveals just one profile in six decades of her life, and that too only in the context of the release of her first novel, Days of Gold and Sepia. No wonder it took us many days of persuasion before we could convince her to talk to us.

In fact, Yasmeen agreed to a photo shoot only after she was convinced it was absolutely necessary from an editorial perspective. As one who had worked as assistant editor of the interior design magazine Inside Outside, she understood our need for high resolution pictures that we could run on the cover.

Journalism is just one of Yasmeen’s lesser known interests. Her peers talk about her as a gentle hostess and a connoisseur of ‘ethnic’ Indian art, but she is also an adventurer who backpacked in Europe for 15 months, an avid storyteller to two sons, and a novelist whose work has impressed such total of Rs 23,000 crore worth of Wipro literary giants as Girish Karnad. Last but not shares for the foundation. Since then, least, she is the wife of India’s Azim Premji, Yasmeen has been an unobtrusive presence a business icon of new India, and the coun- on the board governing it. She doesn’t head it, though. It is from this office that the unitry’s third richest man.

The Azim Premji Foundation on versity, 10 km away, is administered. The Sarjapur Road is an hour’s drive from the foundation’s primary objective is to improve southern Bangalore neighbourhood of the quality of primary education.

By the time we came back to the lobby, Jayanagar. At 10 am, when Talk senior photographer Ramesh Hunsur and I reached Yasmeen was sitting on a chic wood seat, the the foundation, we were welcomed by the sort you associate with FabIndia. Draped in staff, and shown around. More than 250 a yellow cotton sari, Yasmeen stood up with a warm smile and straightpeople work here. away got ready for the shoot.

The foundation Good work, she “Inside or out in the garfunctions from the Wipro believes, can be den?” she asked, graciously. campus, but is independShe was all patience, ent of the IT giant. done without and even suggested some Simplicity sets the founsplurging angles for Ramesh’s pictures. dation apart from the The building housing glitzy software world.

Foundation employees earn salaries compa- the Azim Premji Foundation is made of red rable to what their counterparts earn at uni- brick and stone, with the material being versities, and are in not in the same bracket handpicked by Yasmeen. The flooring is granite. Each cabin is decorated with a traas software employees.

Azim Premji has dug into his personal ditional mat from end to end. Big earthen wealth of Rs 87,000 crore and provided a pots dot the reception with its striking cir-

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GRACE AND STYLE The Azim Premji Foundation environs reflect Yasmeen’s personality. Below: Yasmeen in her 20s

She makes no proclamations Yasmeen Premji is a warm, caring and wonderful person who believes in living life low-profile. She is not one for attention. She walks the talk and is practical. She likes small, tangible results, not big, dreamy change. She makes no proclamations. She

likes products to be environment-friendly, but also ensures they are colourful. As a designer, she has a strong sense of colour, and is intense and passionate. She has strong views: she believes Indian society must change, and equality is the need of the hour.

Her philosophy: People should have equal access to the basics of life — food, clothing, shelter and education.

Dileep Ranjekar CEO, Azim Premji Foundation

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cular windows.

Dileep Ranjekar, CEO of the foundation, says the building reflects Yasmeen’s personality. “She loves the ethnic, rural, rustic and real feel to things. She personally picks and chooses materials, and each has a meaning and a place in the overall design. She also loves colours, especially in combinations that match.”

Another aspect of Yasmeen’s style is her frugality. “She is extremely cost-conscious and believes quality work can be done even at low cost. She conceptualises work and design in ways that ensure costs are kept to the minimum,” says Ranjekar.

He believes she brings a special “homely dimension” — to everything she works with.

He explains: “So you’ll find an office not entirely an office, but with dimensions of the home.”

Yasmeen spent a good part of her life in Mumbai (then Bombay). She was born in that city, and studied up to college there. Her social work there has focused on disadvantaged children.

The desert region of Kutch and the business-savvy state of Gujarat figure in her life in a big way. “My mother and mother-in-law come from Kutch and they told me many stories of life in Kutch. Very generally, these stories form the background of the story I narrate

Bangalore needs Talk

"How is Talk doing? I understand magazines are going through tough times," Yasmeen Premji said, towards the end of the interview.

Keenly aware of the travails of the media market, she is at the same time optimistic. She wished the magazine luck: "It's nice we have a Bangalore-focused magazine in Talk. We needed one. Hope you do well". in my novel. The journey from Kutch to Bombay is also my family’s journey.”

In Bangalore, she has been working with Vishwas (Society for Mental Health). “I have spent the last 15 years in Bangalore. The people and culture I see here are reflected in a few characters in the novel. Bangalore is home to me as much as Bombay.”

Her first novel took her 20 years to write.

Is she looking at a second one? “I need some rest. At my age, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do another,” she said.

Yasmeen is seized by the same question that grips media and the arts in an India that is young and often resistant to time-tested ways of looking at the world. “How do young people like my work? I hope they do. We need to understand how they look at life,” she mused.

She is a generous hostess Yasmeen is simple, humble and caring. She would never ever use her name and position to secure favours. I find her interesting and engaging to talk to. She can come up with ideas that surprise you. She is also a good researcher. She did painstaking research for her novel. It's a lovely novel, rich in character and detail. She is deeply interested in issues that affect the common citizen. At heart, Yasmeen is a philanthropist like her husband.

She would do exactly what Azim Premji has done. She's a big

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support to him, quiet, but a very solid anchor. She loves history, literature, art and design. She chooses things carefully and makes time for theatre and a whole lot of culture. If you wonder how she participates in all these, it is by staying away from the limelight. This makes it possible for her to do things ordinary people do. She visits all public places on her own and the anonymity of it all is something she loves. She visits my house, and I go to her house, and we go out for coffee, and we dine. She loves all kinds of food, though Indian cuisine is her favourite. She is an extremely generous and gracious hostess. It's a treat to go visit her.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairperson of biotech giant Biocon

novel voice

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‘My book was a secret’ Writer and social worker Yasmeen Premji believes it is not just about giving, but about caring

PRASHANTH GN prashanth.gn@talkmag.in

asmeen Premji, writer, social worker, and wife of Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, says she worked on her novel for 20 years on the quiet, telling family and friends about it only after signing a contract to publish it. Her lead character, like herself and husband Premji, believes in a “culture of giving and sharing.” She credits her mother and her in-laws for cultivating a spirit of generosity that goes beyond the mere giving away of money.

This spirit is reflected in her life’s work, as director of Aga Khan Health Services (India), 1993-1996, Managing Committee and Executive Council member, PAK Hospital, Mumbai, 1994-97, managing committee member, Currimbhoy Orphanage, Mumbai, 1990-97, and in Bangalore as member, Vishwas (Society for Mental Health).

She spoke to Talk on her book, her philosophy and the diverse influences on her life. Excerpts:

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What has been the response to your novel Days of Gold and Sepia?

I have been very touched by the response to my novel. Writing was a personal journey with no agenda to write a bestseller, but rather to reach those whose values and good opinion I set store by. And I am indeed grateful for the feedback I have been getting. It has, I would presume, also been selling well, as my publishers HarperCollins-India have brought out a second edition, within six months of the launch in August 2012.

In the novel you outline the story of an orphan boy from Kutch who becomes a wealthy ‘cotton king’ of Bombay. What inspired you to take up a rags-to-riches story?

A rags-to-riches story is something

everyone can relate to, because essentially it implies the fulfilment of dreams, and we all have our own dreams. It was also a format that I had not come across much in Indian fiction and one that I find interesting. It provided me the scope to describe the exciting city of the Bombay of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which fascinated me, and also enabled me to interweave some of the old family stories I had grown up with.

large, whether by building a college or a hospital or a simple park bench. I feel it is very important for a society to create a mindset, a culture of giving and sharing.

Your mother Gulbanoo has had a major impact on you. What did you learn from her?

My mother read widely. It was she who first taught me to enjoy reading, to appreciate thoughts and the beauty of language. She helped broaden my The protagonist, ‘I hate to mind by teaching me Lalljee Lakha, instidisappoint you, not to be judgmental, tutes a generous to respect different scholarship to help but my life is points of view. She students. Do you quite simple!’ laughed easily and believe in Lakha’s taught me to laugh, notion of wealth — not at others but at myself; to not that it is not meant only to be owned, take myself too seriously, to have a but also to be shared generously?

Clearly Lalljee Lakha was a man of sense of humour… I have almost no great heart who believed in sharing memory of her being angry or harsh his wealth and giving back to the city or unkind. And yes she told me many in which he had flourished. But you family stories which I listened to, fasmust remember that was also the cul- cinated, some of which have crept ture of the Bombay of that era. The into my book. merchant princes who made money, gave back generously…whether it was It is said your mother-in-law too influthe Jeejeebhoys, the Tatas, the enced the family greatly?

Sassoons, Premchand Roychand…. My mother-in-law was an extraordieven men of much less wealth gave in narily generous woman, and yes, she ways that would benefit society at was, like Lalljee, generous of heart,

mind and purse. For true generosity has, I believe, not so much to do with the money one gives away, as about caring about those we give to… not giving what one wants to give, but understanding what others want to receive.

Some have said the novel is a reflection of your father-in-law Mohammed Hasham Premji’s life. Is this the case?

The character of Lalljee Lakha is entirely fictional. But certainly, aspects of his character, even events in his life, have been inspired by other lives and stories.

What should Lakha’s character tell us about inequality in Indian society? Do you think it can be overcome?

Inequality in any society is inevitable for people are born unequal. But it is imperative that a society strive to provide a basic level of roti, kapda, makaan and education to every last citizen if we want to live with a modicum of self-respect. Perhaps what is needed is a change in mindset, where we derive satisfaction not only from the lavishness of our lifestyles or how much we have accumulated , but also by how much we share — of our wealth, our time, our knowledge, ourselves…. Not “yeh dil maange

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tor. But I’d say the economy should do more to open more to young Indian women. This will change the way men look at women—as persons who can take decisions. We also need more women in decision-making positions. The Japanese always say women hold up half the sky.

Can you imagine a society in which this half is not working? That can’t be, though the freedom to work or not is always available. And then the young urban Indian woman needs a lot of collaboration at home—there needs to be more equal parenting from the men.

more”, but “hum kaise kare more”…..

What was a typical day like when you were writing? How would Azim, Rishad and Tariq react to your book project?

The book was a secret. I told no one I was writing… for I really didn’t know whether I would ever complete it. So it meandered along for close to 20 years from the time the outline of the plot first occurred to me until its final publication. I only revealed it to my family when I had a signed contract in my hand!

What are your thoughts on sexual violence against women in the country? How do we overcome this?

I deeply worry about what is happening to our national character in the context of violence against women. I worry about how we are bringing up our sons. It should not be that people can get away with what they do. Family and parents have a key role to play in addressing this structural violence — every girl and boy in the home should be brought up as equals. Chances are when boys see girls as equals at home, they will be able to extend that to the public domain. The key is to understand what families and parents are telling their children. This content will have to change.

Who comes to mind when you speak of assertive, articulate women whom youngsters can emulate?

There are so many but Marissa Mayer is MEET THE AUTHOR Yasmeen chats with fans at the launch of her novel at a city book store one of them. She’s showing pregnancy Do we need better laws? Do you believe strict tooth. It would turn the world blind. needn’t come in the way of leadership, hard People would come out worse convicts. work and tough decisions. She’s inspiring. punishment will deter crimes against Have strict punishment, but try and reduce women?

There are laws, laws and more laws. What the violence. The overall societal violence You are now a famous writer/novelist and your family is also very well-known. How do we need is not more laws, but implementa- should begin to thin. you manage relationships with neighbours, tion. Punishment cannot occur sometime friends and relatives? in the distant future, it will have to be Are you otherwise happy about the young Hardly famous. I hate to disappoint you, quick, time-bound. When punishment urban Indian woman? acquires urgency and immediacy, the law There is sexual violence in various forms but my life is really quite simple, and will be a far more effective deterrent. But I no doubt. Outside that women are rising in remains largely unaffected by perceived don’t believe in eye for an eye, tooth for a urban India, especially the technology sec- outward changes!

The word that survived the feminists

Woman SAVIE KARNEL savie.karnel@talkmag.in here’s a popular story on the origin of the word woman: that it comes from the joining of two words, womb and man.

Not true.

In Old English, the term man meant human, and was not a word used specifically for the male gender. It was a neutral word used for W both males and females. There could be sentences like “the man is nursing her baby.”

There was another pair of words used to make the distinction between male and female: wer and wif. Males were called wer. This term disappeared in the 13th century. It only survives now in werewolf, which means a manwolf.

Females The Talk were called wif. column on Over the years

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the term became wifa and then wife. The meaning of wife was a female, irrespective of the marital status. For instance, there could be a sentence like this: “The old wife (woman) was engaged once, but never got married.”

The usage of wer and wifa can be seen in the Old English epic poem Beowulf: “Many there were wera (men) and wifa (women).” This meaning too has been lost over time. Now the term wife means the spouse of a man. The original usage remains in words like midwife.

In late Old English, wifa became wifman, which was a compound of wifa and man (human being). The plural was wifmen. It literally meant female human being. Wifman got altered to become wimman and the plural was wimmen. It later became wumman and finally woman.

The term wimman is still used as slang in some parts of the world.

We can see it in comics of the 1950s, where wimmen is a humourous way of saying women.

It also evidently survives in the sound of the plural — ‘wi-men’

K E Y

O R D S

word origins

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instead of ‘wo-men’.

In the 70s, feminists were unhappy with the term woman.

They felt that the term man in the word made it seem they were secondary to the other gender. So, they replaced the letter a with y to form womyn. This new term did not gain popularity and soon disappeared. In any case, they had got it wrong as we have seen, as woman is not derived from the masculine form of the word. It is an independent term, just the way they would have liked it to be. Now the term woman is accepted by feminists as well, and we can have a Women’s Day. In some cultures the term woman is used for females from the lower class of society. The word ‘lady’ is used for those in the higher rungs. In some regions, woman is also used to denote wife. The usage could be “She is his woman.”

Like the term man, the word girl was also gender neutral. It meant any young child of either gender. For instance, it could be used in a sentence like this: “The girl (child) accompanied his father on a hunt, while his sisters played in the garden.” But that one’s for another column.

Woman in Red, a work by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt

the gift

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A culture of giving While large gifts like the ones made by Azim Premji make news, Bangalore can boast both a history of charity that goes back decades as well as a culture of generosity on the quiet

SRIDHAR K CHARI sridhar.chari@talkmag.in

hen the legendary US investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet visited Bangalore in March 2011, he stressed it was important for “big time charity to tackle things that may fail.” His reasoning is that if philanthropists are giving to easy causes, they might not be doing enough.

Indian philanthropists, whether inspired by Buffet or not, don’t necessarily agree. They believe it is crucial to take on doable projects that can show results, particularly important in a still-developing country struggling with a range of problems.

And while it is nobody’s case that there is anything “easy” about reforming India’s education sector, it is clearly emerging as a preferred channel for making a difference.

After all, the oldest cliché in helping out one’s fellowman is not to give him a fish, but actually teach him to fish. Statistics suggest that 20 per cent of India’s poor have no access to education. Nearly 85 per cent don’t have access to technical and vocational training and 45 per cent drop out of school before eighth standard.

And the woes of our higher education system are numerous too.

Buffet’s efforts to rally around billionaires ready to give wealth away

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BY EXAMPLE His Rs 23,000 crore endowment has put Azim Premji among the world’s top five givers

THE EVANGELISTS Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and close friend Warren Buffet of investment firm Berkshire-Hathaway drive the ‘Giving Pledge’

is now well-known, and days after Wipro Chairman Azim Premji signed the Buffet-driven ‘Giving Pledge’ earlier this month, he made his biggest philanthropic gift.

Premji donated nearly 300 million Wipro shares, worth some 2.2 billion dollars (Rs 12,000 cr), to his Azim Premji Foundation, which works in the field of education. The donation brings down Premji’s personal stake in Wipro from 70 to 58 per cent. It takes the foundation’s holding to almost 20 per cent, coming as it does on top of earlier such donations.

(When he set up the foundation in 2001, Premji gave 125 million dollars worth of shares. In December 2010, he pledged 213 million shares worth 2 billion dollars (Rs 11,000 cr).

Forbes magazine, which tracks Indian and global philanthropic giving, reported that with this new endowment, Premji joins the ranks of the world’s top five givers. His 4.2 billion dollar gift (Rs 23,000 cr) bests that of the world’s richest person, Carlos Slim Helu, who has gifted 4 billion dollars to his foundation.

Towards the end of May last year, Premji also played host in Bangalore to a number of top business leaders and philanthropists, including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Warren Buffet’s partner in his philanthropy campaign. According to a media statement released then, the “group expressed belief that philanthropy and social service are integral

all known for their generosity to to the development of any society.”

The statement added: “Noting charitable causes. And genorisity can that India has its own significant tra- take different forms. Murthy’s Infosys dition of philanthropy and social has given away some Rs 50,000 crore service, the group reaffirmed the view worth of employee stock options. that there is vibrant thinking and Elsewhere, other groups like the action on philanthropy in India.”

Tatas also have a track record of givThe 2012 edition of the India ing to charitable causes. But there is Philanthropy Report, brought out by no doubt that over the last few years, management consultancy firm Bain there has been increased interest. and Company, bears this out. Bain At the same time, it is important partner and report not to forget that author Arpan Sheth Bangalore, and India ‘Our idea of says in the report that in general, have had more than half of their own illustrious philanthropy is High Net Worth history of giving. different from Individuals (HNWI) Take for instance, that in the US’ in India planned to Arcot Narrainsawmy increase their chariMudaliar who set up table contributions in 2012, with a numerous schools in the late 19th large chunk planning to boost their and early 20th centuries. Chamaraja donations by 10 per cent or more. Wodeyar conferred the title of India has one of the fastest-growing “Dharmaratnakara” on him.

HNWI populations in the world. An And over the years many of updated report is due for release early Bangalore’s educational institutions, March. like National College and the Also encouraging is a strong NMKRV College, have benefited from commitment to “giving back” from donations.

HNWI donors under the age of 30.

Ravi Venkatesan, former head of The majority of the HNWIs surveyed Microsoft in India and a founder of

by Bain are under 40. the Bangalore-based philanthropy Of course, India’s HNWIs are group Social Venture Partners (SVP), newcomers to philanthropy — 80 per notes that a lot of work is being done cent are novice donors compared to on the quiet, as befitting a culture of 74 per cent in the US who consider giving that emphasises anonymity in themselves experienced. But fellow charity.

Bangaloreans and corporate stalwarts “Our idea of philanthropy is like NR Narayana Murthy, Kris quite different from that in the US, Gopalakrishnan, and Kiran where there is an inheritance tax and Mazumdar-Shaw, to name a few, are you can stand to lose as much as 50

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per cent of your wealth. So there they do big ticket philanthropy. Our traditional model is quite different. In the middle class, for example, we take care of our parents, we might finance our niece’s marriage, not turn away any beggar who comes for food, and so on. They are small amounts, but the sigma is a big chunk of whatever modest means we have,” he told Talk.

Of course now that India has a growing group of HNIs, big ticket giving is happening, not all of it publicised. “While this change is good, our traditional model should not go unappreciated or ignored,” Venkatesan emphasises.

What is more, the work being done quietly is substantial. Since the donors wish to remain anonymous, many of the schools they are now running, at significant cost, cannot be named. “Big ticket giving is not what changes the world. It is the drops that add up,” says Venkatesan.

SVP itself now has some 60 partners, who have come together. “We have just started the grant making process. Soon we will have Mumbai and New Delhi chapters.

In a few months time, I’ll be able to give you numbers and the impact,” Venkatesan said.

HR Ananth, managing director of the

GIVERS INC NR Narayanamurthy, Ravi Venkatesan and HR Ananth

venerable Bangalore Press, who have been adding their own “drops to the ocean” over the years, makes another point. “I have noticed that a lot of giving comes from the generosity of people who have made Bangalore their home, rather than from our own people. Our own people should be sensitised to giving, sharing,” he told Talk.

The Bain report warns, not surprisingly, that continued growth in big ticket giving will be “contingent on organisations raising confidence in the returns on giving….Philanthropists cite a lack of accountability as the biggest obstacle.”

This is probably the main reason why for large givers, it makes sense to operate with their own private foundation. “With the Azim Premji Foundation and others like the Shiv Nadar Foundation leading the

way, the model for private foundations in India is gaining traction, similar to the role they play in the US,” says the report.

Anurag Behar heads the Premji foundation and is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Azim Premji University, which the foundation runs. For Anurag, education is the most “organised, social means of building a better society — a better society defined as one which is just, humane and equitable.”

And within the sector, “school education is the most direct means available,” he told Talk. The foundation aims to improve both access and quality, and is currently working with some seven state school systems, which have some 3.5 lakh government schools under them. Obviously, their level of direct engagement with the schools

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will vary, but they hope to impact them all, with efforts covering everything from curriculum to capacity building.

The quality vision is ambitious in scope. It is multi-dimensional, in that they hope to impact the school child on ‘ethical, social, emotional and cognitive” parameters. The child has to “fulfill its potential” and play out her role as an “active citizen.”

And in the university, which offers masters level programmes, Anurag is seeking to create “education sector experts.”

For example, someone might do an advanced programme in curriculum and pedagogy, or child nutrition.

While Premji’s wealth is estimated at about 16 billion dollars (Rs 87,000 crore), ranked 50 in the world’s rich list after fellow Indians Mukesh Ambani and LN Mittal, Buffet is worth some 53 billion dollars (Rs 2,90,000 crore) — he has pledged to give away 99 per cent of his wealth.

The upward momentum in India will hopefully continue, as the upside is large.

Bain’s Arpan Sheth writes: “Our most affluent individuals have a strong desire to donate a portion of their wealth ...we are only a few steps away from better supporting that need.”

And projects both big and small will help.

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Stories in sepia and gold Yasmeen Premji’s novel tells the story of a penniless orphan who becomes a textile tycoon. But as these excerpts reveal, it is also a fond recreation of an old Bombay, peopled with merchant princes, courtesans and daring revolutionaries Prologue

HarperCollins India Rs 399

Chapter 15:

I have come back to the old house to see it again The beauty who walks away one last time. Tomorrow they will begin to break it ‘I want to marry her, Masi,’ he confessed all in a down, to take it apart stone by stone, brick by rush. ‘Take her away with me and start a new brick, like the pieces of my heart. life.’

They say it is better this way. No one wants to Masi sighed, ‘She is someone else’s wife, live here any more, in this ancient mansion with its my son. Don’t you understand? She is the mothbrooding shadows and forgotten dreams. Certainly er of his sons. It is his child she suckles at her not the younger generation! They would much breast. Forget her.’ rather peddle their ancestral home for so many But Lalljee’s heart was so full, that he was pieces of silver, and move into gleaming new past listening. ‘Does she ever ask about me?’ he apartments far removed from the ghosts of their persisted. forefathers.

The old woman sighed. ‘Oh, you foolish The builders have been hovering around like boy! Who can tell the secrets of a woman’s vultures for a long time, watching in greedy antic- heart?’ ipation as decay and dissonance destroy what once Overwhelmed by his feelings, Lalljee seemed like a timeless edifice. They can sense a kill decided to step outside to get some fresh air in the making and are waiting for the first scent of and clear his thoughts. As he walked out and blood to close in. headed towards the old neem tree, he paused, Take it all, I told them. I want no part of the for there was already someone sitting on the spoils, no part of the dismemberment of my grand- swing. He hesitated, not wanting to intrude. He father’s dream. took a few tentative steps to see who it was, I bid farewell to corners poignant with mem- then stopped. It was Reshma! ories and take a last lingering look, so I can His heart hammering, he walked towards remember it all when it is no more. Suddenly, her. She turned with a start at the sound of the something catches my eye. Something glitters approaching footsteps and rose quickly from bravely beneath the layers of dust and debris, a the swing. lone survivor amid the ravage.

He had thought she was alone, but he was I bend down to retrieve it and find myself mistaken. For there was a little boy tugging at holding a gilded frame, with my grandfather’s por- her chanya, and a baby in her arms. The sight trait in sepia. Through the shattered glass, he unsettled him. What had he expected? That she smiles up at me. It’s all right, he would be waiting for him untouched all these seems to say. This too, had to years, her marriage miraculouscome to pass. Life’s endless cycle ly unconsummated?

A bullet had must go on.

How many times in these Nothing else remains. pierced him past years had he dreamed Nothing of the joys and sorrows, about this moment, longed for just below the the tears and laughter, the pains, it! Fantasized how she would ribcage the passions, the pretensions of come into his arms. How they that splendored era or of those would confess their love over that once lived in this house, Nothing save this and over. But now that the moment was so solitary portrait. unexpectedly here, he found himself speechIt is almost as if Bapaji willed that he be less. here until the bitter end, to urge unknown hands When she realised it was Lalljee, she be gentle as they dismantled his dreams. For this paused in mid-flight. She opened her mouth to was, after all, his home and this is his story, not say something but closed it again, the words mine. It is just as well that he is here to witness its unsaid. She looked down and then for a fleetnarration. ing moment, permitted herself to meet his eyes.

Mumbai, 2000 AD She looked ethereal. Motherhood suited her, he Shahina Lalljee thought with a twinge, motherhood and sor-

row. For there was that softness on her face that only sorrow brings.

Her eyes were brimming with tears, tears of pain and longing and loss. She lowered her eyes. She knew it was too late for them. She pressed the baby closer to her, as if to protect herself from him, from herself, from temptation.

She walked wordlessly past Lalljee into the sheltering safety of the house. And as he watched her go, Lalljee knew he had lost her for ever.

Chapter 40: A stranger hides in the mansion The freedom movement was sweeping across the country. Even in commercial Bombay, it was hard not to be caught up in the excitement of the times. But though Lalljee had burned his foreign garments and taken to wearing khadi, he had never become highly involved in politics.

On a wet evening in June 1919, as darkness fell, the cars and carriages began to drive quietly down Lalljee’s pebble-covered driveway, for an extremely high-level parley, very hush-hush, in which key British and Indian political players would be taking part. It was Sir Edward Hamilton, recently appointed governor of Bombay Presidency, who had suggested Lalljee Lakha’s home as an ideal venue, a neutral setting where all players would feel at ease. An eminent citizen, non-controversial, apolitical and discreet, Lalljee was respected not only within the Presidency, but in business and

social circles across the country.

Even as the viceregal car was entering the imposing front gates of Lalljee’s mansion, in the darkened alley behind the great house, two cloaked figures were stealthily making their way towards the rear entrance.

They unlatched the rear gate and slipped in, moving soundlessly through the back orchard, where the lush variety of tropical trees, papayas and bananas, guavas and mango, jamun and jackfruit filled the air with their rich aromas. They had hardly walked a few paces ahead into the open space beyond when they heard a voice call out.

‘Is that you, Rego?’

It was Babu driver’s voice. For a moment, the two men froze. Then one of them slowly uncovered his face. Old Babu stared incredulously, for standing there in front of him was a familiar figure.

‘Hari Saheb!’ he exclaimed.

Hari nodded, putting a finger to his lips. ‘It is me, Babu,’ he said. ‘I need your help urgently.

My friend here is badly hurt. We have to hide him in a safe place.’ He hesitated, then added conspiratorially, ‘The police will be here any moment. There is no time to lose.’

When Hari uncloaked his companion, Babu could see that the stranger had a deep wound where a bullet had pierced him just below the ribcage on the left side. A makeshift bandage had been tied, but he looked exhausted and was almost swooning from loss of blood.

‘I’ll fetch Lalljee seth,’ Babu said.

Hari shook his head. ‘No! There is no time,’ he repeated. ‘The police will search the place thoroughly. We need to hide him quickly.’

Babu racked his brain. ‘Come with me,’ he whispered, leading the way towards the mews where the horse carriages were housed. He pointed underneath the carriage. ‘We can hide him there below,’ he said.

Hari looked at the carriage and then at Babu, and nodded, ‘That sounds like a good idea. Let’s move.’

Suspended just below the undercarriage was a sturdy bamboo frame, criss-crossed with coir rope, rather like a charpoy that was used to carry hay for the horses. Babu quickly lowered the frame and covering it with a generous layer of hay, helped the wounded man onto it. Hari and he then suspended the bamboo frame back in place, with metal hooks in the four corners.

Pleased with his ingenuity, Babu smiled at Hari.

They then ensured that the frame was secure and everything appeared normal, and quietly closed the mews door.

Hari made his way out the back and had barely walked some fifty yards down the darkened lane, when behind him a car ground to a halt outside the mansion and some men jumped out. As Hari quickly rounded the corner and headed towards the front of the building via a by-lane, Hari could see that a car had just reached there too. A uniformed officer stepped out, followed by three or four others.

The officer briskly walked to the gate. ‘Koi hai?’ he called, in a tone of authority, rattling

17

the locked gate. ‘Open the gate. This is the mil- Lalljee exclaimed. ‘What’s happened? Is someitary police.’ He barked orders at the chowkidar thing wrong?’ and after a brief exchange, the man quickly Hari said, quite simply, ‘I am afraid I have opened the gates and let them in. abused your trust.’

‘Well, well, well, Captain Briggs. So we Lalljee listened appalled as Hari filled him meet again,’ Lalljee said, recovering his compo- in, finding it hard to believe what he was hearsure. ing. How could Hari have brought a wanted ter‘Mr Lauljee,’ returned Captain Briggs rorist, a fugitive into his home? How could he stiffly. have so compromised Lalljee and his reputation ‘And how can I be of service?’ Lalljee asked as a law-abiding citizen, a man of integrity and amiably. honour?

‘We are on the lookout for a militant sus‘How could you do this, Hari?’ Lalljee pected of being involved in the recent bomb- exclaimed. ings in Allahabad who, we are informed, ‘There are various ways of fighting for a escaped to Bombay. He was spotted with an cause, Hari,’ he said gravely. ‘You know that. accomplice on this road and appears to have After all, you are the lawyer. He is a wanted run into one of the bungalows, most likely this man, a murderer!’ one.’

‘He is a militant, fighting In the incident that had for the freedom of his country.’ taken place two days earlier in ‘He is a fugitive, a killer ‘We are looking Allahabad, a group of three who has taken at least two lives, for a militant militants had blown up an including a native sepoy,’ involved in a empty army depot. The intenLalljee interjected. ‘An Indian tion had not been to hurt anylife, in case white lives are just a recent bombing’ one but unfortunately, one statistic to you!’

British officer and a native But what troubled Lalljee sepoy who happened to be nearby were killed. It was that even as he spoke, he felt within him a was a daring attack, close to the army head- secret sense of jubilation that the militant had quarters. Witnesses claimed to have seen three escaped the clutches of the British police. The natives. One had been shot dead while trying to realization startled him . Having always considescape, and another captured. He would cer- ered himself to be a man of reason and rationtainly be hanged or exiled to Kala Pani, the pen- ale, of moral and intellectual integrity, he could itentiary on the Andaman Islands. The third not believe that his sense of right and wrong man was a dark wiry local, identified as one had become so blurred. The feeling of having Kanu Molay, who was known to be active in the been compromised by his friend receded in the underground freedom struggle. He had been light of this new awareness. shot and wounded, but had managed to escape.

‘What will you do now?’ Lalljee asked in a Babu, his face expressionless, answered more subdued tone. the captain’s questions in detached monosylla‘As soon as his wound is better, I will put bles. No, he had not noticed any untoward him on the first train to Calcutta where he has strangers around here, no one at all. friends. Unless you ... ‘ Hari looked at Lalljee When the meeting ended and the players quizzically. left, Lalljee saw them off and went inside in a Lalljee shook his head. ‘No, l will not turn thoughtful mood. him in, Hari,’ he said with a sigh, adding with a wry smile, ‘Who knows, he might well go down in our history as one of the heroes of the freeChapter 40: dom struggle.’

Lalljee declines a British honour Lalljee spent most of the night on the terIn the hall below stood Hari, wrapped in a shawl race, lost in thought. He found it hard to recon‘ H a r i ! ’ cile this development with how he had hitherto viewed himself. As a man who abhorred hypocrisy, he could not be shielding militants and at the same time pretend to be a law-abiding citizen of the British Raj. The following morning Lalljee arose early, went to his desk and penned a carefully worded letter to the governor, deeply regretting his inability to accept the honour of the knighthood which was to have been bestowed upon him.

With permission from HarperCollins India

VIVEK ARUN

book excerpt

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I swear Amish Tripathi's The Oath of the Vayuputras broke all records in Indian English publishing when it was released last week.

Savie Karnel decided to talk to his fans to find out exactly why

t is not everyday that a book is launched at midnight. It may have been a marketing ploy, but when fans actually show up by the hundreds at that hour to grab a copy, it must count for something.

The launch of The Oath of the Vayuputras, the third and final volume in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy, saw such frenzy in Mumbai last week.

The trilogy, which has sold an unpredented 15 lakh copies, has already won its author a record Rs 5 crore advance for his next series.

Bangalore fans were very much among the buyers; many had ordered the book in advance on e-commerce sites to receive it on the day of release. Says 28-year-old Sreeja S, manager at a telecom company, “The moment I saw the book was available for advance booking, I ordered it, and received a copy on the day of the launch, just as promised.” It was the cover of the first book in the series, The Immortals of Meluha that drew her into Amish territory. “I saw the jacket and was impressed with the handsome Shiva,” she says. Once she read it, she loved the avatar of Shiva that Amish presented. “We grew up knowing Shiva as a God. Here he is a chillum smoking dude and an amazing dancer,” she says.

Sreeja considers herself a compulsive reader, who devours everything from chocolate wrappers to toothpaste boxes to novels. “I didn’t start reading suddenly. Books grew on me,” she says. Sreeja started with Enid Blyton in school, then moved to Mills and Boon, Sidney Sheldon and now prefers Indian authors like Chetan Bhagat and Hussain Zaidi.

But Amish remains her favourite: “He is mind boggling. I love him.”

I

LAUGHING ALL THE WAY Banker-turned author Amish Tripathi got a record Rs 5 crore advance for his next series

Entrepreneur Praveen wasn’t a seasoned writer when he Rajaretnam, 27, thanks his father for began, but has come a long way. “I introducing him to the series. “My love how he brings his characters to dad has been a reader all his life. He’s life and makes the reader connect. the one who asked me to read The There’s a certain endearing quality to Immortals of Meluha saying I would Amish as a person and that translates like it,” he says. It turned out his into his writing and characters as father was more than right, for well,” she says.

Niveditha couldn’t wait to lay Praveen got hooked to the series. The day the father-son duo found that her hands on the book when she they could preorder the book, they found out that her friend has predid. “He read it first, the day it ordered it. “I immediately went arrived. Now, I have got my hands on online and ordered the book,” she says. She loves popular fiction and is it,” Praveen says.

It’s Amish’s philosophy that has also a fan of Dan Brown, Robin Cook, made a loyal fan out of Praveen. He James Patterson and Lee Child.

Those who missed out on the goes on to quote the author, “The opposite of love is not hate. It’s indif- advance booking, like 22-year old ference, when you simply don’t both- techie Kaushik Govindaswamy, er about the person.” Praveen says he rushed to the nearest book store to applies this idea to his business, an pick up Vayuputras. “I had been waitinternet startup. He says he is fine if ing for the book for the past five someone hates his product. “I have to months, from the time it was learn from him and try to improve announced. I had to get it the day it the product. If someone is indiffer- was released,” he says. He bought the ent, I can’t get anything out of him,” book in the morning, started reading at 12 noon and couldn’t stop until he he explains.

In many ways, Praveen is an had finished it at about one in the exception among Amish fans. He is a morning. “I didn’t get up in between sci-fi fan who swears by Isaac Asimov even for tea or food,” he says.

Kaushik first and Arthur C Clarke read Amish when he and hates Chetan ‘Amish is mind- found the book in Bhagat’s books. He the library of the isn’t a great mytholoboggling, I love MNC he works for. gy buff either, but him,’ says fan After that, he had to makes an exception Sreeja buy the next two for Amish’s writings. parts. He likes the “It’s about the way he treats mythology and makes it so way the last book in the trilogy believable. We grew up looking at answers questions raised in the first Shiva like a larger-than-life figure. two. “Amish gives scientific reasons But Amish makes it seem like Shiva for mythological beliefs, like when he had a real life story, just like us. I also says Ganesha had an abnormal condilike the idea of a utopian world,” he tion and did not really have an elephant’s head. He says Daksha didn’t says.

Journalist turned baker have a goat head like we believe, but Niveditha Rao points out that Amish had a mark of a goat,” he says.

He admits he started reading only when he got to engineering college and says he enjoys books by Chetan Bhagat and Ravinder Chaudhury. He tried reading other popular mythology-based books but didn’t enjoy them much. “Devdutt Pattnaik’s book was slow paced and I took a longer time to finish the book.

I can finish Amish’s book in one sitting,” he says.

Ease of reading clearly is one of the big draws for Amish, a fact echoed by most fans. “The language is not complex. It’s like the way we speak.

There are no thees and thous,” says Manoj Kumar, a techie who holds Amish on a higher pedestal than the other Indian writers. “You can say Chetan Bhagat’s writing is bad, but you can’t say that of Amish. He is on a different level,” he says. When Amish attended the Bangalore Literature Festival, Manoj met him, clicked pictures with him and also got his autograph on the books. “He was so down to earth. I didn’t feel like I was meeting a celebrity,” he says.

The online advance booking offers have dampened the book’s sale prospects at brick and mortar stores.

Krishna Gowda of Bookworm had ordered 350 copies of Vayuputras. “We have sold 98 copies in a week, which is less than our expectation.” But he adds that the figure is still a lot higher than those of other books.

Ravi Menezes of Goobe’s book store says he has witnessed new readers flocking to his shop, thanks to Amish. “There are people coming in to buy the third book. There are also those who have read about it and come to buy all the three books in the trilogy,” he says. Now, when was the last time an author got someone to do that?

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Third time lucky Despite the overly detailed battle descriptions and the trademark literalism, Vayuputras is much better written than the others DEEPA BHASTHI riting a trilogy does not mean you start a book with a sentence that follows from the last sentence of the previous book. But Amish Tripathi’s big fat The Oath of the Vayuputras does begin this way, such literalism being par for the course.

It has been a while since I finished his second instalment in the re-imagined story of Shiva, so it took me several pages before the story came back to me. But when it did, problem number one was immediately clear: he has cut one very long book into three parts, or so it seemed.

Amish makes it all too easy for you.

You cannot help but notice the poor editing and find yourself mentally correcting

W

the grammar. And then there is that rather annoying habit of his (or that of his editors): italicising Indian words like ‘prasad’, and ‘darshan’ and giving their literal meaning, in italics again. It is probably because his books are now released abroad as well, but I find it ridiculous when the missile Pashupatastra is explained literally as the weapon of the lord of the animals.

But before you pursue your nitpicking further, Amish surprises you. Just when you’re imagining having to groan through the book, the war—and this one’s all about war—it draws you in. The next several hundred pages are only about war: complicated strategies are discussed, battle lines are drawn, alliances forged. Bits about dharma and righteousness are thrown in.

If it had not been such an exciting read, The Oath would have been a war manual, describing as it does tortoise formations, subvert attack tactics and such like. Shiva doesn’t swear as much as he does in the first two books. Though he continues to flirt with his wife Sati, the romance is kept to a bare minimum; it comes as a welcome breather from pas-

MUSCULAR MYTHOS The Shiva trilogy gives a contemporary spin to mythological stories

sages that detail swordfights and knife maneuvres at length.

Shiva here is the barbarian tribal from Tibet who migrates from the mountains and is reluctantly cast in the role of a living god. He is righteous but forgiving, an excellent dancer and singer even. He is also merciless when it comes to destroying that which he knows is evil. He errs too, like a human; it is only in later times that his “…descendants, in many ways unworthy… behold gods in what were great men of the past, for they believed that such great men couldn’t possibly have existed in reality.”

In the last sentence of the book,

Amish hints at what he might be writing about next. (His publishers have already given him a Rs 5 crore advance, and it’s going to be another trilogy.)

In The Oath of the Vayuputras, Amish is much better than his last book, The Secret of the Nagas, and I at least was (almost grudgingly) forced to pull up one notch higher my opinion of his writing. It is a pity though that you have to suffer through the first two to get to what is the best in the Shiva trilogy.

The Oath of the Vayuputras is published by Westland Books. Price Rs 350

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Rewind The week that was  Chavez death: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez died after a bout with cancer, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the grip of a political crisis.  Israel warning: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said diplomacy has failed to deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear programme, warning it was getting closer to crossing a crucial “red line.”  Korea threat: North Korea vowed to carry out a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States ahead of a vote by UN diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.  Nasheed arrest: Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, who was arrested on charges of abuse of power, was later freed as his trial has been deferred.  Waiver scam: The CAG has expressed serious concern over the implementation of the Rs 52,000 crore farm debt waiver scheme, suspecting misuse of funds.  Captain cool: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Sourav Ganguly after India won the second Test against Australia by an innings and 135 runs. Dhoni, now has 22 Test wins, one more than Ganguly.  Immolation: As protests against Sri Lanka picked up across Tamil Nadu, a 45year-old man set himself on fire to pressure India to vote against the island nation on an UNHRC resolution.  Brainy: Bangalore girl Neha Ramu, now in the UK, has scored 162 in the Mensa IQ test, inducting her into the league of the top one per cent of the brightest people in the world.

Summer camp gets creative

No honking, please In a citizen’s initiative launched by Police Commissioner BG Jyoti Prakash Mirji and former India cricket captain Rahul Dravid at Coffee Day Square, citizens and public figures came together to take a pledge against incessant honking in the city. The campaign aims to change citizens’ attitude to noise pollution.

While Rahul Dravid kicked off the campaign by taking the pledge ‘I Won’t Honk’, also revealed at the launch event were some startling statistics. While the legal limit for noise pollution is 55 decibels, areas like Kempegowda bus stand

and Marathahalli Junction record as high as 110 decibels and 105 decibels respectively. The ‘I Won’t Honk’ campaign aims to bring together the citizen, traffic police, state transport agencies, taxi

and auto associations, schools and colleges and corporate houses to work for a common cause.

The aim of the publishing course is to encourage social and ethnic diversity in the publishing business and is designed along the lines prescribed

by UK-based forum Equality in Publishing that aims to take away the ‘elite’ tag from the business. In association with Navayana, two students from underrepresented groups will also be offered scholarships. There are

12 seats each in book design and 20 in the editing courses for this season.

Sign up on www.iwonthonk.com or give a missed call on 080 3008 8638

This one’s for all those who are wondering how to keep the little ones entertained through their summer vacation. Registrations are now open for Infinite Souls 2013, a unique summer camp that promises a holistic yet fun month for children. The camp is being organised by well-known theatre director and actor Kirtana Kumar. The kids get to experiment with art forms like music and theatre, try their hand at adventure sports like rappelling and do other fun things like dance by a campfire. There are also promises of goodies like freshly-baked scones and marshmallows. For more details call Kirtana Kumar on 9845213857

Day-long Learn the ropes of publishing filmmaking workshop The Seagull School of Publishing, Calcutta, invites you to enrol in a professional course in editing and book design conducted by practising publishers, editors and designers. The course, which begins on June 1 and goes on till August 31, promises hands-on training, field trips and discussions with those in the know.

Open house discussions and training sessions on subjects like e-books and copyright infringement will be part of the programme.

To apply, you need to be a graduate and have basic knowledge of English and Microsoft Office. The course fee is Rs 50,000 for Indian students and US$ 3,000 for the rest.

Last date for applications is March 31.

To apply, log onto theseagullschool. wordpress.com

WeMove Digital, a wing of the city-based WeMove Theatre is conducting a day-long filmmaking workshop by Gowtham Shravan Kumar of the Asian Academy of Film and TV, Delhi. The workshop will equip participants in the basics of screenplay writing, editing, camera work, sound and light.The workshop begins on March 24 at 10 am and the course fee is Rs 700. Seats are available on first come first serve basis. To attend, register yourself by sending an email to register@wemovetheatre.in.

BBMP's book on Old Bangalore The BBMP has blatantly allowed the destruction of Bangalore’s legacy, demolishing heritage buildings, encroaching lakes and depleting the green cover.

Now that it’s almost done with the destruction, it wants to ‘preserve memories’ of the city and has come up with a coffee table book on the heritage of the city. It has spent Rs 10 lakh on the initial

temples, water bodies, gardens, and fairs. It also contains a map of the city in 1791, when Bangalore was a town with an area of 196 hectares and only 80,000 people lived here. print run of 500 copies.

The 157 pages book, Namma Bengaluru Pustaka contains rare pictures of old markets,

The Bangalore Municipal Corporation had published a similar book in 1931, called Bengaluru Municipal Handbook. The new volume

contains pictures from the old book, and more have been sourced from Deccan Herald’s photo library and senior photojournalist TL Ramaswamy.

The BBMP plans to bring out an English version soon, and will make it mandatory for all star hotels to keep the book.

When it comes to tokenism, no one can beat the BBMP.

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Forward

Pitch in for Decoding the nuptial highway safety According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety, India leads the world in road accident deaths, with at least 13 people dying every hour in the country. As part of the ongoing safety awareness Dr CP Joshi campaign conducted by the road transport and highways department, Union minister Dr CP Joshi will be available for a ‘citizen dialogue’ on highway safety on Google Hangout. The session be on March 29, starting from 7.30 pm. If you want to interact with him, you need to register on the Ministry’s website by submitting your personal details, as well as your suggestions/questions for making our highways safe. Log on to morth.nic.in/hangout.asp

The week ahead  China leadership: China’s new leadership headed by Xi Jinping is all set to succeed outgoing President Hu Jintao and his team during the two-week annual session of the National People’s Congress.

The Taj Group of Hotels has released the findings of its survey, the ‘Taj Wedding Barometer’. The survey was aimed at understanding attitude, trends and belief of Indians towards the concept of marriage.

Outsourced to the agency IPSOS, the survey covers all aspects of an Indian marriage right from the proposal.

 UK scandal: In a development that is bound to hit the image of the Catholic church in the UK, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, formerly Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, has admitted to “sexual misconduct” with fellow priests.

Some of its findings are: Indians are still conservative in their attitude towards finding the right match with 75 per cent respondents still keen on arranged marriages.

While 82 per cent of women respondents prefer parents and family deciding their future mate, only 68 per cent of men feel the same way. Overall, both men and women prefer proposals in private.



13 per cent of males and 8 per cent of females believe that women should take the initiative in a marriage proposal.

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Respondents in the South are more likely to have their hair styled while people in North prefer spa and beauty



treatments. Respondents living in the west are more likely to opt for bleaching services.

80 per cent prefer honeymoons at conventional romantic destinations and within a week of their wedding.



Tips for intrepid women travellers you. Try not to make people of either gender feel either aroused or embarrassed.

Elizabert Gilbert, writer of the bestseller Eat, Pray Love (later made into a movie of the same name, starring Julia Roberts) has the following advice for women travelling alone: “I have always had great experiences traveling alone.

While there are certainly dangers, I have found that the same factors that make you vulnerable as a woman also make you powerful. What I mean to say is, a woman on her own does not telegraph a threat to anyone—which means that strangers all over the world will welcome you and trust you.

They will let you into their houses. They will let you play with their babies. They will tell you their stories. They will give you a place to sleep. They will offer you assistance, food, directions, affection. I feel that, as a female traveller, I have had much more intimate experiences with new people than any man could ever have.

They know I’m not going to hurt them, and so they open up to me. I wouldn’t trade those

Elizabeth Gilbert on a bus in Laos

experiences for anything.

long sleeves and loose clothing.

It’s more comfortable, for one That said, do be careful — or at thing. It also tends to attract least alert. There are places in less male attention. But most of the world I would not travel all, in places in the world where alone. There are places in my modesty still reigns, dressing own life I would not travel carefully will win you the favour alone, for that matter. If you of local women — whose good don’t see any native women graces you will always need. If walking around the streets at you’re walking around in what night, you probably shouldn’t be looks to a nice Indonesian there either. Other tips: woman like underwear (tank Dress modestly. I keep this rule top and shorts) she will be too wherever I go. I always wear embarrassed to interact with

PACK LIGHTLY. I never travel with a carry-on…not anywhere, not for any amount of time.

Never bring more than you can comfortably carry. Being overburdened makes you vulnerable in a thousand different ways.

Stay light on your feet and you’ll be safer and less conspicuous.

Also, you don’t really need it.

Really, you don’t! You will also be safer from people putting things in your luggage (drugs) or taking things out of your luggage (cameras) when you aren’t looking.

Eye-m mask, ear-p plugs, PJ’s. Bring good ones. Sleep is the most important thing.

Don’t act entitled. I won’t give any examples here. Just ask yourself constantly, “Am I acting entitled?” Then stop. Actually, this is kind of good advice for even when you aren’t travelling.

Be ready to have your life changed.”

 Probe: Bangladesh’s main opposition leader Khaleda Zia has condemned recent attacks on Hindus in different parts of the country allegedly by activists of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami.  More documents: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is setting off alarm bells in the US by claiming that his website holds more US classified documents which are yet to be published.  Honour: The victim of the Delhi gang rape who later died, is among ten extraordinary women being honoured with the US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award.  Parliament logjam: With Parliament being stalled for two consecutive days today, the government has appealed to the opposition parties to allow the houses to function, to enable discussion on important issues including the financial agenda.  Kashmir hit: Normal life will be affected due to a march called by a group of separatists protesting the death of a Kashmiri student, who was found hanging in his hostel room in Hyderabad.  Kingfisher debt: The State Bank of India, the lead banker in the 17-lender consortium to Kingfisher Airlines, is in the process of identifying some properties for attachment.

film review

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COP OF THE WORLD? Jessica Chastain as CIA operative Maya in Zero Dark Thirty

Now showing at Fame (Forum Value Mall): 6.15 pm; Inox (Magrath Road):9.05 pm; PVR (Forum): 1 pm, 3.35 pm, 9.05 pm; (Orion): 9pm

I am the law

In Kathryn Bigelow’s tautly-made Zero Dark Thirty, US agencies like the CIA aren’t merely furthering their own national interests. Instead, they are shown as protectors of a ‘universal law,’ and a global order supervised by America athryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty about the pursuit and killing of Osama bin Laden is a remarkably taut and well-made film, but the political nature of its subject leaves us asking questions, some of which can leave us feeling quite uncomfortable.

Unwittingly, the film presents us with an American view of our part of the world and that is its greatest attraction. The film is billed as ‘the story of history’s greatest manhunt for the world’s most dangerous man’ and is clearly structured and marketed as a thriller of sorts in which the ‘forces of the law’ triumph.

The film begins on September 11, 2001 and the screen dark; it obviously will not do to use the attack on the twin towers as spectacle. In 2003,

K

Maya, a young CIA officer is reassigned to the US embassy in Pakistan to work with a fellow officer, Dan. During the first months of her assignment, Maya often accompanies Dan to a black site for his continuing interrogation of Ammar, a detainee with suspected links to several Saudi terrorists. Dan subjects the detainee to torture, including water-boarding.

He and Maya eventually trick Ammar into divulging that an old acquaintance, who is using the alias Abu Ahmed, is working as a personal courier for bin Laden. Other detainees corroborate this, with some claiming that Abu Ahmed delivers messages between bin Laden and a man referred to as Abu Faraj. In mid2005, Abu Faraj is apprehended by the CIA and the local police in Pakistan.

Maya interrogates Abu Faraj

Where films with spies as heroes under torture, but he continues to deny knowing someone with such a (e.g. Spielberg’s Munich) show their name. Maya interprets this as an protagonists to be on the side of the attempt by Abu Faraj’s to conceal the ‘good’, Zero Dark Thirty is not content importance of Abu Ahmed. The film with this but shows them to be on the shows the attacks on Americans in side of the ‘law’. As an illustration, as Afghanistan and Pakistan (including in most American films dealing with the one on the Marriott Hotel in the CIA, Zero Dark Thirty includes Islamabad) in which some of Maya’s locations in several countries— Afghanistan, Kuwait, friends are killed, but she manages to Britain, survive. Maya continues to track Abu Pakistan and the US to name some— Ahmed aka Ibrahim Sayeed through and the general sense is that the pubhis family in Kuwait, locating and fol- lic in Afghanistan and Pakistan are ‘dangerous’ to the lowing him till he Americans. leads them to their The CIA abroad In one sequence quarry. The film conset in Peshawar, for cludes with the Navy acts like police instance, operatives Seals attacking bin dealing with from the CIA are Laden’s compound in hostile crowds being driven around Abbotabad, bin the city until their Laden being killed, his body retrieved and identified by way is deliberately blocked by two motorcyclists ahead of them and a car Maya.

The protagonists of Zero Dark behind them and they are told that Thirty are operatives of the CIA, white faces are not welcome. The which is America’s espionage arm. Pakistani driving their car climbs out But, to my mind, the most significant and speaks to the men blocking their aspect of the film is that the CIA is route while the CIA operatives get presented, rather, as an international ready to open fire. Finally, ‘good body entrusted with law enforce- sense’ perhaps prevails upon the ment. This is in contrast to, say, the locals because the car is allowed to go.

There is a clear admission in this Jason Bourne films in which the CIA is shown to be engaged in clandestine and many other sequences that the Americans are unpopular but, when activity.

talk|14 mar 2013|talkmag.in

they are in danger, they are in danger only from private agencies, and not from the state. If, for instance, they had opened fire in Peshawar, they would not have got into official trouble. The CIA operatives are also shown torturing terror suspects in foreign countries. Since this can only be illegal, one wonders how operations which should rightly have been clandestine can be treated as legally unassailable.

To show that torture is justifiable, the film hits upon a simple ruse: Dan does the torturing while Maya watches with obvious distaste—thereby conveying the sense that what is being done is in the service of something larger, ie justice.

If a comparison is to be made, the operatives of the CIA conduct themselves in foreign countries as lawmen might have when they are dealing with a hostile local populace. The members of the public who assist the Americans are therefore like police informers within the underworld, people who side with the law at great danger to themselves. This observation may be seen alongside two other aspects of the film—one being the assertion that Osama killed 3000 innocent people (rather than Americans) and the notion that Osama is the ‘world’s most dangerous man’ (rather than America’s principal enemy).

DUBIOUS POLITICS Director Kathryn Bigelow

As Osama is being liquidated by the Navy Seals local people hear the explosions and come thither - to be kept away by the Seals as policemen might have kept innocent bystanders away while undertaking a law enforcement operation. The point here is that Hollywood appears to have dropped the sense that the CIA is working on behalf of America and Americans and is now asserting that the CIA is working on behalf of ‘the law’. If one were to compare the CIA with the FBI, the latter enforces the law

domestically while the former does so internationally.

Zero Dark Thirty is a remarkably candid film not only because it admits that Americans routinely use torture on suspects but also because it admits America’s true view of the ‘client nations’ in which it operates. When a CIA operative asks another about what Pakistan is like, his answer is: ‘pretty f**ked up.’ The film holds back nothing when it presents the Pakistani state as not in any degree of control. Rather than being the sovereign democratic country it pretends to be, Pakistan, the film has us understand, is in actuality an unmanageable, rogue population presided over by an ineffectual state, nominally answerable to the US but which cannot be trusted to take orders, either.

When the Navy Seals return with Osama’s body, Pakistani F16s are apparently on their way to intercept them but the film does not make an effort to follow this up. The Pakistani military is apparently not a credible enough threat—although carrying out a military operation on foreign territory is an act of war. To all appearances, an unwritten ‘global order’ administered by the US supercedes local authority in a designated client state like Pakistan.

If there is a new political development

23

signaled by Zero Dark City, it is the US invoking not self-interest but a ‘global order’ as justification for its acts; an unwritten law which is ‘universal’ in some sense, but in fact has the US is its sole enforcer. If such a view of the US and the rest of the world is also propagated by the American education system in its Political Science curriculum (as is likely), the children of our own elites—who are often sent of to the US to study—could find themselves subconsciously absorbing the message.

Hitherto, cinema from Hollywood has not presented India in the terms reserved for Pakistan. Considering that Hollywood’s views are more reliable indicators of America’s real ideology than official pronouncements, this is heartening.

India is still regarded as a sovereign - if mismanaged—nation. But judging from the way India’s elected leaders have been conducting themselves in the recent past, the Indian elite may be on the path of turning India into the client state like Pakistan, submitting to a global order administered by the US. Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam—which was targeted at an elite rather than a mass audience—suggested that this class might even regard such a development with favor.

L I S T I NGS

talk|14 mar 2013|talkmag.in

music

 Rocking weekend: This weekend lend your ears to our very own Galeej Gurus. Watch them perform some of their originals. Their music is on the lines of Indie, Alternative, Funk and Blues-Rock. The band has opened for artists like Mr BIG, Deep Purple and Korn. bFlat , 100 Feet Road, Above ING Bank, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, March 8,

flea market

Galeej Gurus

8.30 pm 41739250  Some soulful numbers: Nikhil D'Souza is all set to perform this weekend. He has lent his voice for movies like Aisha, Anjanaa Anjani, Crook, Jannat 2 and more. Watch him perform along with Warren Mendonsa, Zohran Miranda, Aditya Ashok and Rushad Mistry. bFlat , 100 Feet Road,

Above ING Bank, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, March 9, 8.30 pm 41739250  Classical evening: If you love classical music, then head to watch the Warsi brothers perform live. The Warsi Brothers belong to the Delhi Gharana of Hindustani music and are well known as the radio and television artists of traditional

women’s day special  Celebrate Womanhood: Head out with your girlies this weekend and enjoy a spread of Indian cuisine. Avail a discount of up to 50 per cent if you are in a group of five or more. You can also choose dishes of your choice from the a la carte menu and avail a discount on them as well.

Raj Pavilion, Dum Pukht Jolly Nabobs, Royal Afghan and Dakshin, #25, Windsor Square, Golf Course Road, March 8 22269898

sufiyana qawwali, ghazals, thumris and classical bandish.

Chowdaiah Memorial Hall, 16th Cross, Malleshwaram, March 8, 7.30 pm 23445810

films like Cloud Door, Mr and Mrs Iyer, Lokpriya and Anahat.

MLR Convention Center, Brigade Millennium Campus, 7th Phase, JP Nagar, March 9, 7 pm 40182222

 Shakey time: Watch the four member rock and roll band, Shakey Rays from Chennai perform in the city. Featuring Dhruva Gautham, Vikram Kannan and Niranjan Swaminathan.

CounterCulture, 2D2 , 4th cross, Dyavasandra Industrial Area ,Whitefield, March 8, 8.30 pm 41400793

 Gravity and Grey Matter: Performing this week is Grey Matter with their rock-and-roll music. Watch Joshua on vocals, Sidharth on drums, Abhi on bass, Raghu on rhythm guitars and Himanshu on lead guitar. The other band for the event 3/4th Gravity is more about progressive, alternative and metal music. The band features Aditya Ashwath on guitars, Paraj Kumar Singh on guitars, Roshan Shah on vocals, Supratik Das on drums and Shankar Padmanabhan on bass and vocals.

Bak Bak Bar, # 1, Kira Layout, Kormangala, March 8, 8.30 pm 9483537761

 Farhan Akhtar Live: Actor, director and singer Farhan Akhtar will be performing live this weekend.

The actor has lent his voice for many movies like Rock On and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Jayanmahal Palace, # 1, Jayamahal Road, Behind Bangalore Cantonment Station, March 923331321  Dhrupad Recital: Watch Uday Bhawalkar perform some Indian music.

He is trained in Raag Dhrupad under Ustad ZIa Fariduddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

He has also contributed to

 For EDM lovers: Akshai Sarin will be launching his album Connected this weekend and will also perform some numbers from the same.

Trader Vic’s, 2nd, Floor, Phoenix Market City, Whitefield, March 9, 9 pm 67266237

 Veggie delights: If you love vegetarian food and need a reason to cele-

 Market for all: This weekend enjoy some music; eat some delicious food and shop from garments, jewelry, show pieces and more. Green Haat in its 5th version promises to be an exciting and a fun filled experience for all. The flea market will also have a eating competition where you will need to guess the ingredients in the dishes that you've tasted. You can try out some cakes and other goodies.

Also get your fortune told at the tarot card reading booth.

Green Theory, #15, Convent Road, off Residency Road, March 9, 12 pm

food brate Women's Day then try out some authentic vegetarian fare at Rajdhani. Some of the special dishes will be malpua with rabdi, kesari jalebi with rabdi, strawberry halwa, apple basundi, badam bhog. Avail 25 per cent discount on your meals.

Available at all Rajdhani outlets

 Musical celebration: Ladies, celebrate Women's Day in style as you enjoy some music by artistes like Madonna, Tina Turner, Avril Lavigne, Courtney Love and many more. You can also enjoy a complimentary dessert each on the order of any main course if you are more than four in number.

Hard Rock Café, # 40, St Mark's Road, till March 10 41242222  Happy times: Start off your day with a fruit tart or a fruity juice shot followed by watermelon and feta salad, fruit and cheese satay, grilled mini chicken roulette with jalapeno stuffing and prawns with orange juice on a bed of rocket leaf salad.

Under The Mango Tree, # 3, Laurel Lane ,Richmond Town, March 8 9686601021

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 Weekend brunch: After partying hard the previous night, you can enjoy the Sunday brunch which offers dishes like fresh salads, Asian and Continental appetizers, live pad Thai station, dimsums, khao

suey, biryani, desserts complimented with cocktails and mocktails.

Loveshack, Mother Earth Building, 5th Floor, 541-543 Koramangala Inner Ring Road ,Domlur, March 10, 12.30 pm 41500787

 Summer treats: Summer is all about salads, fresh juices and more. At this summer food demo you can learn to prepare citrus summer salad, traditional whole roast chicken, and spinach and feta quiche. The fee for the demo is Rs 850. At the end of the demo participants will receive recipes for the dishes.

Toscano, 2nd Floor, Forum Value Mall, Whitefield, March 13 25930224

taquitos and Pan-Asian style chicken cakes.

Available at California Pizza Kitchen outlets

 Kebabs and curries: This is one kebab and biryani festival that even the vegetarians will be happy about. Vegetarians and non-vegetarians can choose from a variety of kebabs and biryani to suit their palette.

The Onyx Restaurant, No.686,The Emilion Hotel, 15th Cross, 2nd Phase, J P Nagar, starts from March 8 9731766305

 Learn how to bake: At this workshop you can learn to make cupcakes, white chocolate ganache tarts, eclairs and other desserts from Chef Yuvna Damani. Priced at Rs 2,500 per head.

Spoonful of Sugar, 421-G, 1st Main, 3rd Cross, 1st Stage, Indiranagar, March 10, 12 and 13 9845004400

 Small bites: Choose from black bean quesadilla, bocconcini and cherry tomato bruschetta, serrano cheese toast and mac and cheese. Those with the non-vegetarian cravings can indulge in Thai chicken satay, chicken

 Eat like a king: Start your Sundays with unlimited cocktails, mocktails, beers, wood-fired pizza, barbeque and grills in European and Mediterranean flavours.

Priced at Rs 799.

Fenny's, 115, 3rd Floor, 7th Block , Koramangala, March 10 65658000

 More kebabs: Indulge in some murgh sula, bhutte ke kebab, Mewadi paneer, mutton bhujma, safad murgh, dal banjara and more.

24/7, Lalit Ashok, Kumara Krupa Road, Seshadripuram, till March 10 30527777

L I S T I NGS

talk|14 mar 2013|talkmag.in

25

retail therapy

theatre Cock school? What would you do if you realised that everyone around you is dying and that you are the reason?

Are all break ups so painful? The play answers all these questions.

Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, # 16 GMT Road, Vasanthnagar, March 9, 7 pm 41231340

 By George: Directed by Nasseruddin Shah, By George is a collection of three short pieces by George Bernard Shaw. The first piece deals with the funny side of spoken English, while the other two short plays are satires on the processes of wooing and wedding, and their aftermath. The play has Kenny Desai, Imaad Shah and Faisal Rashid.

MLR Convention Center, Dyvasandra Industrial Layout, Near Brigade Metropolis, Whitefield, March 8, 7.30 pm 33151260  Cock: The play is about two men. John, after breaking up with his boyfriend, suddenly meets the woman of his

dreams. Now he has to make a choice between her and his boyfriend. The play looks at a man's sexuality and the difficulties that arise while making a choice. Directed by Manish Gandhi, it has Nakuul Mehta, Sayani Gupta, Rahul Chhabria, Manish Gandhi and Kaizad Gherda in the cast.

Jagriti theatre , Varthur Road, Ramagondanahalli, Whitefield, March 8 and 9, 8 pm and March 10, 3 pm and 6.30 pm 41248298  A Sketchy Affair: Directed by Vijay Saravanan, the play revolves around the theme of love.

What if you meet the love of your life at an airport lounge? What if you meet him or her when you are in

 The Interview: The play is about a man, who awaits for his interview turn for one of the biggest corporations in the country.

A few minutes later he is called for his interview and what follows is unexpected. Whatever he has learnt in college and in the past few years does not prepare him for what lies ahead.

The play is directed by Akarsh Khurana.

Ranga Shankara, #36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, March 12 to 14, 7.30 pm 26592777  A Play A Pint A Pie: A set of four short plays, A Play A Pint A Pie by Dramanon is all about laughter, melancholy and absurdity.

The first play, Smell is about two best friends, Surgery is about a dentist who is with a patient on the first day of his job, Absolution is about a man who makes a business from a death and the The Game is about four friends who are at a party and the game that they play.

Counter Culture, 2D2, 4th Cross Dyavasandra Industrial Area, Whitefield, March 10, 7 pm 41400794

 Weekend shopping: Head out with your friends or family for three days of fun and frolic. At The Flea Fair flea market you can choose from fashion clothesline, accessories, hand bags, collectibles and home décor from over 50 stalls. There will be origami workshop for children along with mural making and lamp painting classes.

Fame Forum Value Mall, Whitefield, March 8 to 10, 11 am 25043800  Spring shopping: This Spring season shop from Rani Kamini's collection labelled Rose Tree.

The collection is made from linen and organic cotton and offers a wide variety of party wear.

Collage, Wood Street, Ashok Nagar 25566818  Shop till you drop: Go crazy this weekend as you shop for clothes, accessories, jewelry and more at the Paraphernalia 2013.

Vivanta by Taj, 41/3 Bhaskaran Road , MG Road, March 9 66604444  Great times ahead: This Spring season be the

talk of town as you sport the Spring 2013 collection of neutral strap watches

by Emporio Armani. The watches are available in various designs.

Available at all leading Emporio Armani outlets  Fashionable khadi: Make khadi the new fashion statement this season.

Khadi Kool

by Deepika Govind is a way to stick to the basics and yet look modern and stylish. The collection offers you printed sarees, dresses, salwars and more.

Deepika Govind Store, 21/11, Craig Park Layout, MG Road 25321786

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

film Oz The Great and The Powerful

 Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns Hindi Sequel to the film Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster, the film is about Aditya Pratap Singh who is a physically challenged person. His wife Madhavi Devi is an MLA. Her relationship with her husband is strained and she continues to take to alcohol. On the other hand there is another prince, Indarjeet Singh who has lost everything in his life. Ranjana is a modern girl who is in love with Indarjeet. But the story takes an unsusal turn when Aditya falls in love

with Ranjana. Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, it stars Jimmy Shergill, Irrfan Khan, Mahie Gill and Soha Ali Khan in the lead.

Urvashi Digital 4K Cinemas- 11 am, 2.30 pm, 6, 9.45 Vision Cinemas- 10 am, 4.30 pm , 7.15, 9.55 Fun Cinemas, Cunningham Road- 10 am, 10.45 1.15 pm, 4.15, 6.45, 10 Gopalan Cinemas, Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 3 pm, 7.20, 10 Cinepolis, Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 12.30 pm, 1.15, 3.25, 4.10, 6.20 Rex theater- 2,45pm, 10 Fame Lido, off MG Road- 10 am, 12.45 pm, 3.35 Gopalan

Mall, Sirsi Circle- 10 am, 5 pm, 10 INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 10 am, 12.45 pm, 3.35, 6.25, 9.15 INOX, JP Nagar- 10.10 am, 1.15 pm, 3.35, 6.40, 9 INOX, Swagath Garuda Mall, Jayanagar- 10 am, 12.50 pm, 3.40, 6.30, 9.20 INOX, Mantri Mall, Malleswaram- 10 am, 12.45 pm, 3.35, 4.55, 6.25, 9.15  Oz The Great and The Powerful English The movie is about Oscar Diggs, a small time circus magician who is taken from Kansas and is hurled in the Land of Oz. he is

under the impression that he will make it big in the Land of Oz but his dreams take a back seat when he comes across three witches, Theodora, Evanora and Glinda. He must now convince them that he is one of the greatest wizards and he must separate the good from the ugly.

Directed by Sam Raimi it stars Mila Kunis, James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Abigail Spencer, Joey King and Bill Cobbs in the lead.

Vision Cinemas- 11 am, 1.30 pm, 4.15, 9.30 Fun Cinemas, Cunningham Road- 10 am, 12.40 pm, 3.40, 9.45 Gopalan Cinemas Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 2.40 pm, 5, 10 Cinepolis, Bannerghatta Road- 10.30 am, 12.15 pm, 2.50, 5.25, 10 Rex Theater- 10.15 am, 5.20 pm, 7.40 Fame Lido, off MG Road- 10.44 am, 12.45 pm, 4.05, 6.25, 9.25 Gopalan Mall, Sirsi Circle10 am, 2.45 pm, 7.40 Gopalan Grand Mall, Old Madras Road- 10 am, 2.45 pm, 7.35, 10 INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 10.45 am, 1.25 pm, 4.05, 6.45, 9.25 INOX, JP Nagar10.30 am, 1.10 pm, 6.45, 9.25 INOX, Mantri Mall, Malleswaram- 10.50 am, 1.30 pm, 4.10, 6.50, 9.30 INOX, Swagath Garuda Mall, Jayanagar- 10.40, 4.30, 9.45 Fame Lido, off

MG Road- 10.45 am, 12.45 pm, 4.05, 6.25, 9.25  Saare Jahan Se Mehenga Hindi The movie is about a family who are the victims of inflation. They are not aware of what lies ahead of them in this time of financial crisis. From the makers of Phas Gaye Re Obama, the movie is directed by Anshul Sharma and stars Sanjay Mishra, Zakir Hussain, Vishwa Mohan Badola, Sitaram Panchal, Pragati Pandey, Paritosh Sand and Ranjan Chhabra in the lead.

Fun Cinemas, Cunningham

Road- 1.30 pm, 9.35 Gopalan Cinema, Bannerghatta Road- 12.40 pm Cinepolis, Bannerghatta Road- 12.45 pm, 7.45 Fame Lido, off MG Road2.35 pm Gopalan Cinemas, Mysore Road- 12.45 pm INOX, JP Nagar- 11.55 am INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 10 am Fame Lido, off MG Road2.35 pm Fame Forum Value Mall- 10.20 am, 5 pm  Simple Agi Ondh Love Story Kannada This romantic film is about love blossoming between two people, the ditching and the patch up between them. Directed by Sunil it

stars Rakshit Shetty and Shwetha Srivatsav in the lead.

Nandini theater, Rajajinagar- 11 am, 2 pm, 5, 8 Prasanna Theater, Magadi Road- 1.15 pm, 4.15, 7.15 Sri Srinivasa theater11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 Anupama (Aparna)10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Veeresh- 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Govardhan- 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Cinepolis, Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 3,10 pm Gopalan Mall, Sirsi Circle- 12.20 pm Gopalan Cinemas, Arch mall- 10 am 3,15 pm Mukunda theater11 am, 2 pm

Simple Agi Ondh Love Story

film matters

talk|14 mar 2013|talkmag.in

27

The Oscar goes to…

Kancheepuram Cinematographer Siddhartha Nuni, who was part of the team that won Life of Pi the Academy Award for visual effects, was in the middle of a shoot in Tamil Nadu when his mother called to break the news

PRACHI SIBAL prachi.sibal@talkmag.in I’D LIKE TO THANK..

IITian Siddhartha Nuni quit a corporate job to try his hand at films.

(Right) Life of Pi astounded audiences with its visual effects

hile the world was raving about the spectacular VFX sequences that won Ang Lee’s film Life of Pi one of its Oscars, 29year-old Siddhartha Nuni was busy shooting for his next film.

One day, Siddhartha, a cinematographer and assistant to the VFX supervisor of Life of Pi, got a call from his mother, who broke the news; his team had won an Oscar.

“My mother was watching the Oscars on TV, and called me on the sets at Kanchipuram to tell we had won,” he recounts. “Our schedule was so tight we shot for five more days there before we could celebrate,” he said.

An IIT Madras electrical

W

engineering graduate, this Chennaiite quit a job with a banking firm within a year to do theatre, simultaneously dabbling in advertising and photography. His love for film got the better of him and he joined Mind Screen, the Chennai film school run by filmmaker Rajiv Menon.

Siddhartha, now a sought-after cinematographer who shuttles between Bangalore and Chennai, also runs his own film production house called 357 Films. The turning point in his career came when he met a friend working as a production assistant on the sets of Life of Pi. He told Siddhartha that Rhythm & Hues Studios, the California-based company handling visual effects for the film, required somebody who understood digital cinematography. “It is a very new field, and few are familiar with it.

I was interviewed by the bosses in the US and got through,” he says. The next four months were a high, as he worked with a VFX team of five on location in Pondicherry and Munnar.

Siddhartha had a curious encounter with the Life of Pi director earlier. “I was conducting a workshop in cinematography in Chennai when a Chinese man walked in and started looking around the place. The person

with him was clicking pictures. It was lower,” he says.

Siddhartha says he has been only later, when the organiser asked me if I had recognised the visitor, that attempting to bring the same work I realised it was the famed filmmaker ethic to his films here — last year’s Ang Lee! It was an absolutely crazy Software Hardware… Kya Yaaron and the ongoing Lucia, incidentally both moment for me,” he says.

In and out of projects as a cine- crowd-funded projects.

While the Oscar was a distant matographer, Life of Pi came as the big break that changed his life profes- dream, Life of Pi, he knew, was a landmark in itself. “I’m a sionally and otherbig fan of the book wise. “I have been ‘On a Hollywood

by Yann Martel. I getting offers for read it in my last films ever since. I set, you don’t year at college and was featured in India have to look like since then it has Today as one of the you’re busy’ been one my 37 Indians taking favourite books.

India forward, with the likes of Sachin Pilot. When these Also, I have always been a fan of Ang things happen, you are at a loss for Lee.” With the combination of an acclaimed book and Lee for a direcwords,” he says.

So how does the Hollywood tor, Siddhartha was aware that the work environment compare to our film was as big as it could get. “When own chaotic film sets? “It is as differ- I watched the film, I knew it had to be ent as the earth and the sky—in con- at the Oscars!” he says.

It was his boss on the project, tent, scale and professionalism.

Everybody knows what he is doing. Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm & Hues, We had schedules for literally every- who received the Oscar on behalf of thing. Also, they just want you to do the team. When asked if he wished he your job well and expect nothing had been an invitee at the awards’ extra. On Indian sets, you end up try- ceremony, Siddhartha explains, “The ing to do things to impress the direc- invitee list is very short. It depends on tor or to make yourself seem busy. On Fox Studios. Even Irrfan Khan and a Hollywood set, you can even read a Tabu didn’t get invited, so I am not book. The stress levels are much complaining!”

memoir

Turncoat lawyers The High Court pulls up lawyers obstructing a murder trial in which the victim is a crusading lawyer-journalist and the main accused is a powerful politician.

The protesters show no consistency

THE STORY SO FAR

VIVEK ARUN

Kanchanahalli Gangadharamurthy, lawyer and reporter for the weekly Lankesh Patrike, exposes many scandals in Mandya district. One morning, he is murdered. LR Shivarame Gowda, a powerful politician who now runs an international school, is the main accused. When Hanumantharaya takes up his case, he runs into violent opposition from the lawyer fraternity.

ircle Inspector Hanumaiah your entry into the court hall. But, if you’re saved me when a mob, instigat- attacked inside, we are helpless. We can’t ed by the Mandya Lawyers enter the hall without the judge’s permission.

Association and the Raitha This is the situation. You can decide what to Sangha, tried to attack me. I do.”

I didn’t want any lathi charge or bloodcan’t forget his help. A hulk of a man, Hanumaiah lifted me and covered my body shed. In any case, the law allowed me to within his arms to protect me from the fight the case in another court. “I will not mob’s fury. He took all the blows and stones file the vakalath today. I will explain the sitaimed at me as he carried me to a safe place. uation and request the High Court to shift Hanumaiah was no stranger to me. In the case to some other court,” I told the 1980, his father Kempaiah had been charged police officials. They were relieved.

I petitioned the High Court. It came up in a murder case. Lawyer BK Ramachandra Rao and I argued for him and won the case. before Justice C Shivappa. I had made the The police had dragged Kempaiah, then in government and the Mandya Lawyers his 70s, into the case. We had convinced the Association parties to the case. KN Subba Reddy, then president of court to acquit him along Bangalore Lawyers with 29 others accused in The policeman Association, appeared for the case. That was the reathe Mandya Lawyers son for Hanumaiah’s gratilifted me and Association. tude. I didn’t know he was covered me with Judge Shivappa had a capable of so much affechis arms Bar Association backtion. But for the Mandya ground: he had been a scuffle, I would never have member during his lawyer days. He took realised the depth of his affection.

I breathed easy only after Hanumaiah Subba Reddy to task. “Shouldn't you be escorted me to the Inspection Bungalow ashamed to pass such a resolution in the nearby. My heartbeat returned to normal Lawyers Association, being a law expert?” he when he offered me a cold drink. He tele- said. Subba Reddy was unfazed. But when phoned the superintendent of police and the judge thundered, “The association has arranged for my security. He got lunch for passed a resolution that one of your colsome 20 people, including me, senior lawyer leagues was murdered. How much money Shankare Gowda, and the policemen. The has this association collected to help the vicdepartment's sleuths arrived and tim’s family?” Subba Reddy started sweating.

The judge told me, “There is no need to announced: “The situation is still tense.

Some lawyers from Bangalore are talking to shift the case. Go and fight the case in the local lawyers, and plotting an assault on Mandya court. Nobody will obstruct you.”

I filed the vakalath in Mandya, and this Hanumantharaya. They plan a human chain to stop Hanumantharaya in case he steps time around no one took objection. I applied for anticipatory bail for the muder-accused into court to argue the case.”

While having lunch, I had told the Shivarame Gowda. The COD (Corps of superintendent of police I would leave Detectives), now called the CID (Crime Mandya only after filing the vakalath. He Investigation Branch), delayed filing the objection and took LR Shivarame Gowda had told me: “If you are so particular, we into custody. It produced him before the have to cane and disperse the agitating magistrate at his house and obtained the lawyers. We can ensure court’s permission to take him to custody.

They did this twice and got extension on his custody.

But, according to the law, custody cannot be extended without a remand application. So, I filed a habeas corpus application in the High Court, seeking directions to the

C

crime folio

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28

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

CH HANUMANTHARAYA

police to produce Shivarame Gowda before the court.

The application came up before a division bench comprising judges KA Swamy and NDV Bhat. Advocate General BV Acharya and High Court pleader Shimoga Subbanna, also a well-known singer, represented the government. The court ruled that the police could keep the accused in custody even without the remand application. Since it was a special judgement, it was published in the Karnataka Law Journal.

Later, I applied for regular bail in the sessions court. Meanwhile Shivarame Gowda was admitted to Victoria Hospital because he had fallen ill.

Bore Gowda, husband of the then legislator Damayanthi, and a lawyer from Mandya, supported Shivarame Gowda.

I referred to many files and books in my efforts to have Shivarame Gowda released.

Three or four lawyers who claimed to be relatives of Shivarame Gowda and Bore Gowda started interfering in the case. Bangalorebased lawyer CG Sundar also started poking his nose in the proceedings. I was surprised to see people who had remained silent when Basavaraju and I were attacked now supporting Shivarame Gowda.

That day, when the bail petition came up for hearing, I was all prepared. But senior counsel N Santosh Hegde, who later became a Supreme Court judge and Karnataka’s Lokayukta, was already there to argue for Shivarame Gowda. Lawyers supporting him had engaged Hegde without informing me. I did not argue that day, and the court granted bail to Gowda. Hurt by the development, I retired from the case.

The case was then shifted from Mandya to Bangalore. Local lawyers AS Bhagavan and AN Radhakrishna, besides Mandya lawyers Bore Gowda and CG Sundar, appeared for Shivarame Gowda. The Bangalore Lawyers’ Association did not stop them, but neither did it take back its resolution barring lawyers from fighting the case. I could not figure out why the association had objected when I took up the case. I have not found the answer till today. (Concluded) Translated by BV Shivashankar

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

Build a protective shield Way of Budo 24 An unwanted touch or look is no small matter, and can do more damage than you think, says Sensei Avinash Subramanyam

hen I recently accompanied a friend to a unisex salon for a hair cut, I found the hairstylist touching her more than was required. I immediately asked him to stop and complained to the management. My friend thought I over-reacted — she thought the touch was unintended and harmless.

But no, my protest was called for. In today’s world, touching in the form of handshakes and hugging is more common than in the past. But we don’t recognise the weight of a touch, what a touch can carry.

A touch is always made with intent and undoubtedly constitutes a form of energy that can, depending on the intent, help or harm a person. We know of healing forms like reiki and pranic

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healing that use this energy positively. Likewise, touch or even looks can carry negative energy.

We are familiar with phrases like “drishti thegeyodu” or “nazar utarna” (To undo the evil eye), born out of the understanding that looks of jealousy and lust can harm you. We know how anger makes you sweat and palpitate; lust makes you drool — these are negative life forces that can penetrate your body and make you unhealthy in the long run. Even excessive praise constitutes negative energy.

A woman, especially, should wear a barrier to ward off negative energy. Like the ozone layer that protects the skin from getting scorched, she should build around herself a shield. For this you need to genuinely, in body and mind, want not to be looked at as ‘sexy’ by men who do not

belong to you.

Do you, when you see a handsome stranger with whom you have no bonding, enjoy the look? If you do, the shield will not be formed. Know that there are no adjustments; the truth is the same for you and the man you love. It is only from an understanding of this truth that a shield can be built.

Allowing yourself to be a display piece for the world is not good for you. Even flirting carries bad energy and can break a marriage. It is healthy only when the intent is truly pure fun. A woman should feel proprietary about her soul and spirit, which can be reached only through her body.

We pay attention to washing and sanitising our hands to prevent them from contamination.

Extend that to stop the contamination of your body, spirit and

STRETCHING EXERCISE 1

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Lift right hand forward and left hand to the side.

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Starting posture — Stand erect with your feet shoulder-width apart and parallel to each other. Back straight. Body relaxed.

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Pic 3 & 4: Turn to left and look back. Place left hand on the small of the back and right hand at the shoulder.

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Pic 5, 6 & 7: Repeat similarly on the right side Repeat the entire technique 6-8 times. This helps in relaxing the back, shoulder, spine and waist.

soul too. For you never know—a small degree of contamination can sometimes lead to big consequences. The first snort of cocaine or brown sugar can lead you to become an addict. It is better to contain yourself to find the truth.

Mind you, I am not being prudish or moralistic. Woman or man — be free with the one you love. But protect your body, mind and soul against others.

Personally I don’t allow people I am not comfortable with to touch me. Once in Japan when my foot had become swollen because of training and I was offered a massage, I refused. If it’s a life-long or dear friend it’s okay, but otherwise avoid touch.

Even in my class I tell my students not to hug children after training. As adults we sweat out negative energy, and it is not advisable to come in contact with defenceless children. So too I tell my women students not to swim in a public pool because men enter the pool with dirty bodies and thoughts. Don’t underestimate how dirty a man’s mind can get.

When you build a protective shield, you will walk tall. Live this way for a couple of years and you will be able to discern just by looking at a man what he is all about. Most women would have experienced men talking to their chests. Learn to keep away from such men.

How should women react?

Most often women are not aware that they are constantly being looked at. If they do, they don’t consider it a big deal. But it is.

Show displeasure the first time even for the slightest of unnecessary touches.

If it’s an auto-driver we are talking about, and it’s late at night, use your discretion and avoid confrontation. But otherwise, at work and at salons, clinics, and shops, stand up for who you are. Don’t allow men to touch you in the name of a friendly pat. If you are buying footwear don’t allow the salesman to hold your feet. If a salonist is washing your hair, he needn’t touch your face. If walking on the street, your colleague needn’t hold you at the waist.

Don’t forget you are special and it is not a man’s prerogative to touch you. If you stand up once, you will hold your dignity in other situations too.

T I M E P A SS

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talk the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly

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

They call these numbers Abhay 95388 92618 Mithun 98864 69787

T I M E P A SS 1st Cross

talk|14 mar 2013|talkmag.in

Talk’s weekly crossword for Bangaloreans who know their way about town Karnataka (3) 18 MLA from Mulbagal who has been sentenced to two years imprisonment in a land document forgery case (7) 19 Farmers protested outside the mini Vidhana Soudha of this district demanding action against doctors who treated a farmer who allegedly committed suicide (10)

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3 4

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DOWN Freedom fighter whose statue will now grace the west gate of the Vidhana Soudha (8) Park spanning 300 acres in the Cantonment Area (6) Number of new express trains granted to Bangalore in the recent rail budget (5) A handloom shop caught fire in this

Last week’s solution

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ACROSS By the end of the month a ___ ____ train will ply from Bangalore to Chennai (6,6) ___ Convention Centre Grounds: Where ___ (see 10 Down) will be performing (6) Official language of Karnataka (7)

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13 ____ 2013: Techno-cultural meet organised by BMS College of Engineering (5) 14 Theatre at Tavarekere (7) 16 Karnataka's first Chief Minister (1,1,5) 17 The number of times President's Rule has been imposed in

Across: 1 C P Yogeshwar, 2 Freescale Cup, 4 MVJ, 6 Vijaya, 7 Hoskote, 10 Toit, 11 Minsk, 12 Polio, 13 Peripheral Ring, 15 Cancer, 16 Kamakya, 17 Hassan.

Down: 1 C Nagaiah, 3 Settop box, 4 Mahalakshmi, 5 Manipal, 8 Sringeri, 9 Young India, 10 Taipan, 14 Green.

area recently (9) Pub on Residency Road synonymous with what you are solving (4) 7 Elections which will be held in May (8) 8 Area in the news when a lift in a maternity home hurtled down from the first floor after it's cable snapped (11) 10 Grammy award winning singer who is performing in Bangalore this weekend (5,5) 11 The High Court feels blind adoption of western laws will lead to a ___ __ ____ culture (3,3,4) 12 French firm Activeo bought a stake in this city based Customer Management Consulting company (7) 15 ____ Rajendra :The city's largest fruit and vegetable market (7) 6

Prof Good Sense  When in college, I turned down a proposal from a classmate because my studies were my priority. Later, I got married, but three years ago, my wife died in a terrible road accident. I recently happened to meet my classmate and we’ve been in touch. She is not married and her parents are dead. I feel it is my duty to stand by her, but what if she refuses my proposal, like I did then?

Y, Jayanagar No relationship should be based on pity. Marry her only if you love her, and she loves you. You shouldn’t try to rehabilitate your classmate through marriage and soothe your guilt-ridden ego. It is a stroke of good luck that you met her again after all these years. Meet often and share your memories of the good old days over coffee. As the cafe ad goes, a lot can happen over coffee!

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

Mail queries to prof@talkmag.in

talk|14 mar 2013|talkmag.in

Feminist SRK

What the nature-loving Germans now produce: eco-friendly bombs

A few gems from the original 'Feminist Shah Rukh Khan' internet meme, courtesy feministsrk.tumblr.com/

Yes, you read that right.

Since explosives generate toxic gases that pollute the environment upon detonation, scientists at Germany's University of Munich are hard at work trying to come up with, hold your breath, 'ecofriendly bombs.’ In fact, these eco-warriors in lab coats have already created two bombs: HBT and G2ZT using materials called tetrazoles, which

ensure that the bombs produce fewer toxic byproducts when exploded. We are particularly thrilled that they are Germans, a people famous for putting their love of nature above all else. In fact, Hitler was a vegetarian, and the Nazis who ran the concentration camps took care that none of the dead Jews went

waste: they converted them into soap, biodegradable lampshades and other such useful articles.

While our green hearts silently cheer for those Munich scientists, we also dream of a future of eco-friendly war, fought with torpedos that don't harm dolphins, missiles that spare butterflies, armoured tanks that blow only smoke rings…

Who is the Apocalyptic Pope the prophecies are talking about?

Post the sudden resignation of Benedict XVI, we brought you all the buzz about a prophecy by 10th-century bishop St Malachy that predicts that the next pope will cause the destruction of the Church and the world. Malachy identifies this sinister figure as 'Petrus Romanus' (Peter the Roman). Punters are now pointing to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a shadowy but powerful Vatican figure as the man in the prophecy.

They point to the fact that he carries the second name of Pietro (Peter), and was born in Romano.

Adding fuel to the speculative fire is his involvement in many shady goings-on at the Vatican, including corruption and blackmail, exposed in the 'Vatileaks' scandal last year. Not so quick, say others, who consider Ghanaian bishop Peter Turkson to be the one most eligible to be Petrus, because it would fulfil another prophecy, this time by Nostradamus, that warns of a "young black Cardinal" who seizes power in Vatican in the end days. We have featured both potential Petrus’s here, but just don’t forget you read it here first.

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