The Beat- April 2015 by The Beat

April 2015 | The Beat

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“A place where in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs -- acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation” —Barack Obama

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April 2015 | The Beat

The Beat Editor Sharangee Dutta

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Letter from the Editor Almost a year ago, in a manifesto delivered by the BJP, a certain Prime Ministerial candidate of the party pledged, “I promise that I will leave no stone unturned to accomplish what is being promised, I promise I will never do anything for myself. I will never be vindictive.” It was Narendra Modi, the man whose “magic” has spread across India. People across the globe are accustomed to politicians making big promises during their campaigns before the elections, giving them new hope in their hearts, only to break them later. Mamata Banerjee, the honorable chief minister of West Bengal, and how her “motives” changed before and after the elections, proves the point. Modi made many such “promises” before becoming landing the top job, but how much of what he promised has actually happened? Commendable campaigns like “Make in India”, “Clean India” have been launched or widened, drawing applause from every nook and cranny of the nation. Even though many cases of sexual violence against women have occurred after he took office, the startup efforts such as “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao,” the introduction of self-defense in the school curriculum, and the proposal of reserving 33 percent of the parliamentary seats for women look like they could be effective. However, certain questions remain. Modi, or NaMo as he is popularly known, has portrayed the successful “Gujarat model” as the epitome of perfection before the whole country. He emphasized on the state changing from being backward in every possible way to housing the manufacturing plant of TATA Nano. But a state shrinks when compared to a country of 1.3 billion. With the absence of capital and lack of resources, it is hard to spread the notion of “Make in India” throughout. It will be impossible to make people understand the need to keep our country clean, and how it is our duty to do so. As “fair” as it may sound, on some level the reservation of seats in parliament for women is also demeaning to them. It’s true that the proposal is like a silver lining to women from the lower strata of society but it also questions their capability, and sticks by terming them the “weaker sex.” The same thought can be applicable to the self-defense lessons where women don’t get to choose whether they want to learn it or not - it’s more of a standing order to protect them from sexual harassment.

The series of questions can go on, and on. This month’s issue analyses Modi as he is on the verge of completing one year in power. Our cover story throws light on NaMo’s foreign visits, the epic budget and its effect on the economy. In other stories, we have all-round coverage of the current swine flu epidemic and how doctors feel about dealing with it. We also have an art piece depicting how performing arts have emerged in the “City of Joy,” Calcutta. We have travelogues on international destinations with each place breathing its individuality. It shows our writers’ personal journeys with the countries, and how they grew so attached to them. Also, take a look at our reviews section and the list of upcoming events. Cheers! Sharengee Dutta

April 2015 | The Beat

CONTENTS Minimum govt, maximum Modi

Modi and his party ideologies, a bane for Indian women The “common” H1N1: An overall picture

“Name them. Shame them!” says Bangalore

April 2015 | The Beat

Art for artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sake

Malaysia: Home from home

Japan: Where beauty lies in tradition

Storytelling on canvas: Paresh Hazraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest paintings steal hearts Cover Design- Shubhang Saurav

The beat is a publication by Magazine students of Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media. All rights reserved by IIJNM. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or any means,without the prior permission in writing of the publisher,nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published.

April 2015 | The Beat

Cover story By Sameer Deshpande Nearing the end of his first year as Prime minister, we bring you the highlights of the events that have unfolded during Narendra Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister. The much talked about Modi wave, Modi’s decisions on economy and his style of governance and execution of policies.

First year of Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi became the 15th Prime minister of India on May 26, last year. Modi made a promise to bring Achche Din (good days) to the voters who were reeling over high inflation, massive corruption in government, policy paralysis of the previous regime. Modi’s election campaign had focused advertising, on TV, print, and other media. This was the first Indian election, like 2008 election of US President Obama where social media was extensively to canvass and galvanize potential voters. Modi addressed countless election rallies, sometimes two or three times in a day. The strategy was to make the election presidential, with Modi appealing that voting for BJP candidates in the election was like voting for him. It worked well. Early in the campaign the contest became Modi vs. rest. The strategy worked and for the first time in 30 years a party got simple majority in a general election. The BJP won 282 seats, past the magic number of 272 in Lok Sabha with 31% vote share. The BJP led NDA alliance got a total of 336 seats and combined vote share of 40%.

Make in India Modi had hinted at “Make in India” in his Independence Day address in on 15 Aug 2014. Make in India campaign to promote manufacturing in India was launched on 25 Sep 2014. India at present spends more money importing electronic goods than crude oil. Import of electronic goods like smart phones, computers, lap-

Minimum governme tops drains lot of valuable foreign exchange from India. Make in India hopes to address this disparity.

Focus on Foreign Policy The inauguration ceremony of Modi as Prime Minister saw gathering of all the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders. Narendra Modi, when he was CM of Gujarat faced travel ban from US and West on pretext of his alleged involvement in the 2002 postGodhra riots. This made Modi focus on Asian countries. Modi visited Japan PM Shinzo Abe in 2007, and also 2012. He visited China, Israel to boost investment in Gujarat. Vibrant Gujarat, a biannual international business summit was started to bring investors together. Modi delivered his first speech in UNGA on 27 September 2014. He was only second Indian PM after AB Vajpayee to address the august assembly in Hindi. This was followed with address to Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden. Multilateral engagements like BRICS, G20, ASEAN were also in Modi’s itinerary. Modi has visited Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Fiji, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, United States once and Nepal twice. The 2015 calendar also has many visits planned. The bilateral talks with Pakistan are April 2015 | The Beat

stalled as of now. On 23-23 March 2015, 18th round of talks between the Special Representatives of India, China were held to solve the long pending border dispute.

Budget and Economy The economic survey 2014-15, which was presented before the budget does not see the need for Big Bang reforms as double-digit growth is just a step away with “creative incrementalism”. India’s GDP growth rate as 8.5% in 2003-04,7.5% in 2004-05, 9.5% in 2005-06,9.7% in2007-08, 6.7% in 2008-09,8.6% in 2009-10, 9.9% in 2010-11, 6.2% in 2011-12, 5% in 2012-13, 5% in 2013-14; according to various economic surveys of Government of India. In March 2010 Re-

ent, maximum Modi additionally, doubledigit inflation has become the norm in recent years. In India 93 percent of the workers are employed in informal sectors that lack any form of job or social security in spite of India’s “progressive” labour laws. These old laws unduly favor the few fortunate permanent employees, while leaving the vast majority of contracted workers with nothing.

serve Bank of India (RBI), Indian central bank increased its policy rates to combat high inflation, decrease in India’s growth rate has resulted due to this policy. The economic survey 2014-15 is optimistic with lower rates of inflation in recent times and expects RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to reduce policy rates soon. The survey forecasts that the economy will grow by 8.1-8.5 per cent in the fiscal year 2015-16 so that India can achieve double-digit growth soon. An article in The Diplomat expressed what is widely known; that since 2010, GDP growth in India has been far too low to create jobs for the nearly one million new workers entering the labor force each month,

The Modi led government has taken some steps in labour reform, also by empowering states to reform their labour law to tackle jobless growth and high inflation that plagued India in the last decade. More needs to be done as there are ever increasing levels of unemployment, underemployment of educated and skilled workforce.

ultra mega power plants, each of 4000MW For rapid industrialization, as well as agricultural growth, more there is ever increasing demand for electricity. Allocation of Rs.10,351 crores to women and child development, Rs.22,407 crores for housing development Housing for all till 2022, and a Slumfree India are the long term vision of the government. The economic independence of women through Self Help groups (SFG), microfinance will help the economy.

Upgrading 80,000 secondary schools Primary and secondary education form the base of early child development. Until their quality is improved vast sums spent on IIT’s, IIM’s, medical Institutes won’t help the needy and the deserving. The Jan Dhan Yojana promises bank accounts to Indians who do not have one for financial inclusion, and for use of ATM card by the account holders. The Jan Dhan Yojana has worked to some extent but we need all Indians to have bank accounts. The measures to curb large cash transactions and proposed new law to tackle Black money with strict punishment will help in long term.

The “Make in India”, and skill development plans will help to decrease the menace of unemployment in the long run, but clearly more needs to be done. All the states should reform their labour laws to start a healthy competition between the states to attract more industry.

Privatization of loss making PSU’s like HMT watches will help with overall economic efficiency. PM Modi had said, “I believe government has no business to do business”; it is time to put this in action. Disinvestment will help in making government more efficient and responsible.

Some key features of the recent union budget 2015-16 are

Along with economic reforms, India needs Police, Judicial, Administrative reforms to create a lean and efficient government in the line with the ideal “minimum government, maximum governance”.

Allocation Rs. 5,300 crore to support Micro Irrigation Programme Drip irrigation, organic farming is the way to go forward to increase agricultural efficiency. This will help in increasing farm output. Government proposal to set up five

Picture courtesy of Shubhang Saurav

April 2015 | The Beat

Modi and his party ideologi By Aadhira Anandh.M In spite of numerous protests and awareness programs happening around women on issues regarding their protection, experts in the city are of the opinion that there is no positive development. “Modi comes from a different party and their ideology is completely different. Their party ideology never gave chance to women on any grounds. Even his administration is completely different. We just can wait and hope that he does something for the women with little hope.” said Mr. Surya, an advocate who deals with women issues. Geetha Menon, an activist for women and child empowerment said, “In our country we have always set up predetermined rules for women and expect them to live according to the set rules. If a woman does something that is not in their rule book, then she becomes someone who brings shame to the society.” In India, we always talk about women empowerment. But judge a woman who is empowered! During Modi’s election campaign, he spoke about empowerment of women through the television show, “Chai pe Charcha.” In the show he em-

phasized on how women should play a larger role in the politics today. But the irony is that these campaigns were made just after an Indian court ruled out marital rape stating that it is not a crime. The court said that if a man and woman are married and if the man sexually assaults the women then it is not a crime. A few years back, in 2002, during the rule of Modi in Gujarat, there have been reports that Muslim women were gang raped and killed on large numbers. And till date there is no proper reaction from the prime minister on the riots. Every time he deployed his favorite weapon of being silent. “Rape is still a big social stigma in our country. No family is ready to come out and report that my daughter has been raped. This in turn leads to a lot of cases going unreported,” said Mrs. Menon The horrific rape of Jyothi singh in December gave birth to initiative of rape rehabilitation centers that were brought into motion with the gesture of helping women who were raped. The allotted budget for the program was 224.08cr and subsequently, 660 rehabilitation centers were planned.

But however the Modi government has curtailed the large initiative for women. Now there will be only 36 centers, and their locale decided by the individual states. The program has seen a slash in budget also, where 224.08cr has come down to 18cr. Mrs. Menon said, “We do not have friendly counseling centers. Hospitals are a very strange unhealthy place. And above all this we do not have proper support from the government. On a whole there is no proper mechanism for the rehabilitation of rape victims.” Lakshmi (name changed), 21 years old girl was among many others who were trapped in the clutches of the rape trauma. She was raped by her uncle when she was 16.Two months later when he found out that she was pregnant, he took her for abortion. After that he approaches her parents saying that he will marry her. The girl’s parents got her married to him even though they knew that he is married before. After the marriage he took her to his house, where she ended up being a servant to his wife and him. After a year he threw her out of the house. Thereafter, she decided to file an FIR against him. Mrs. Menon says that this is one of the larger problems we face today. The way our society has shaped up does not any guarantee women that they would be safe neither does it gives them the assurance of justice. “Even today the man who raped her is out without any consequences. They say that there are fast track cases to help women in situations like this, but the truth is none of these courts give women the justice they need,” she added. She feels that in our country, a case is given proper stands only when there is public interference. When there are huge protests and pressure, then the judicial system comparatively works faster. Rapes occur on a daily basis in India, but not every one of them get the jus-

Activist Geetha Menon 8

April 2015 | The Beat

ies, a bane for Indian women tice they deserve. Mrs. Menon continued, “In Karnataka, we have ‘One Stop Crisis Centers’ which helps the rape victims. But the center does not have proper counselors and the victims are subjected to more trauma, as they are directed to police officials who believe that it’s her fault that she was raped.” On International Women’s day, Modi tweeted, “I salute the indomitable courage & outstanding achievements of women on International Women’s Day.” He also emphasized on bringing out various schemes for women to help them develop. But again, the question that crops up is that, can we expect any change in the situation we face today?

Mrs. Menon believes that, “The only way to bring some kind of changes in the system is through education. We cannot expect a pragmatic change in the society as we live in a country which still justifies issues like female infanticide. We have the same cliché way of approaching things. Commenting on rape with such a lame approach that it is

tion. The various schemes brought into actions remains just a scheme which would never see the light of the day. Their situation is like a moon, hoping to blaze stronger than the sun.

In the same government we have politicians making derogatory comments against women. They were neither questioned nor were any actions taken against that. All these comments created a big ruckus in the media and the social networking sites and eventually, subsided. “The larger issue in the day today is the new level of patriarchy. Our country has always been patriarchal. But at present the politicians ruling us is also driven by the same system. A positive change for women has become a big cry that’s always left unheard,” said Mrs. Menon. The latest issue being the ban of Leslee Udwins documentary on “India’s daughter” emphasized to the fact that the government is not ready to accept the society and change it, but rather conceals the truth by banning it. The reason for the ban was that the country’s self esteem will go down, but by banning it, the country only drew criticisms. Modi was never a woman’s man. He hardly had been with his wife or with his mother. In 2011, the Gujarat census showed that it had 918 women for every 1000 men, which is below the national average of 940 women, where he was the chief minister of the state for 13 years.

always the woman’s fault if she is raped, can only make the situation worse.” Modi has proved to be just like any other politician who has only made random claims and has definitely not lived up to them. With his strong social networking base he just makes comments and conveniently forgets about them rather than putting them into acApril 2015 | The Beat

Land Acquisition Bill: A By Darshan D Rane “We depend on our land. If our land is taken away for industrial projects, we would be left with nothing,” says Basalingappa Jagnam Shetty, a farmer who depends on his agricultural produce to make a living. More than 71% of the rural Indian population will be affected by the Land acquisition Act, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on March 10. In reply to the central government’s decision of passing the land acquisition act with amendments; the opposition party led by Congress President Sonia Gandhi slammed the centre accusing it of being “antifarmer and anti growth.” “Proposition of a post facto debate after unilateral imposition of antifarmer law is basically a mockery of building partisan consensus,” said Sonia Gandhi leading a delegation of 26 opposition leaders in the march to protest against the land acquisition act. The right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement was passed by a voice vote in Lok Sabha with the congress and other opposition parties walking out of the house before the bill was passed. BJP’s ally Shiv Sena did not take part in the voting procedure. According to the data provided by the World Bank, 60.3 % of total Indian land is used for agricultural produce. This includes the area under permanent pastures, land that is arable and which is used for permanent crops. “ Modi ji’s vision for the farmers is unquestionable. BJP has always underlined its duty towards the poor. It was the Congress who had exploited the farmer’s land when in power. We have made amendments to the Acquisition Act of 2013, to benefit the farmer,” said Karnataka state BJP president Pralhad Joshi. Accusing the Congress of being antidevelopment, Jagadish Shettar, BJP member and Leader of opposition in 10

Karnataka Assembly, pointed out to the Arkhavathy land de notification scam. “The Siddharamaih government has de notified over 540 acres of land meant for Bangalore Development Authority. Jagadish Shettar accused the Chief Minister of Karnataka of violating the guidelines by Karnataka High court for dropping land acquisition. “It is the Congress Chief Minister with whose consent the de notification letter was issued. The land has been denotified in the name of re-modification of layout project and on the pretext of implementing a court order. The de notification file had come to me when I was the chief minister in 2013. But I rejected it as it was against the guidelines. The de notification was done by this Congress government in order to raise funds for the recent parliamentary elections.” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President, G Parameshwara, said: “The Arkavathy de notification is done according to the law. The opposition has been raking up the issue to gain political mileage.” Speaking on the passing of land acquisition act, G Parameshwara added:” The BJP government has conveniently twisted some clauses to favor the industrialists. The bill has exempted Social Impact Assessment. There is no consent required for acquiring irrigated croplands. Also the amendment stating the consent for five categories does not provide sufficient detail. The bill may have been passed in the Lok Sabha but we will fight to the last, to prevent such injustice to the farmers and the poor people of India.”

Why the Land Acquisition bill is draconian The bill provides exemption from Social Impact Assessment. Social Impact Assessment is a method of reviewing the social effects of development and infrastructure projects. This gives the BJP led government April 2015 | The Beat

to manipulate its industrial project without the consent of the ones affected. No consent is required from the farmer, with regard to acquisition of irrigated land. Consent from the farmers, would be taken into account for five categories which include industrial corridors, infrastructure under public-private partnership projects, affordable housing, rural infrastructure and national security and defense. This clause is difficult to understand as there has been no detailed description to this clause and it leaves room for misuse in the name of public welfare. The bill is said to violate several Human Rights laws. It violates the basic recognition of land as a right to farmers, agricultural labor and forest dwellers who may be forcefully evicted from their land as no consent is required. There is no clause stating the rehabilitation scheme of evicted land owners. No amendment for food security has been provided for those whose irrigated land is to be acquired.

Desecration of Land Acquisition Act India ranks the highest in the world in terms of number of people displaced for development projects. A survey conducted by Centre for Science and Environment in 2012, revealed that iron and steel plants in India have acquired 1,200 hectares of land per million tone of operating capacity. More than 400% of this land has been acquired and diverted for other commercial purposes, since a well designed steel or iron plant does not require an area more than 200 hectares. A report by the United Nation says that more than 60 million people in India have been displaced due to development projects in over 50 years. “This amounts to more than one million displaced every year since independence. Of these displaced, over 40 percent are tribals and an-

A bane for the farmers other 40 percent consist of dalits and other rural poor. Of the 60 million, about 21.3 have been displaced by dam projects, mines, industrial development, wild life sanctuaries and national parks. An estimated 38.7 millions have lost land to corporate conglomerates. Deprivation and displacement of land has been high in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Assam and West Bengal. Seven million tribal people were forced out of forests and six million from common property resources. The Narmada Valley development project affected 25 million people apart from disturbing the ecological balance of the entire river basin. The Tehri irrigation and power project in Ganges valley displaced over 85,600 persons. The gas based power plant in Dadri region of Ghaziabad district which acquired about 1011 hectares of land led to the displacement of over 6000 families. Approximately 3000 people were displaced as a result of signing of MOU between Posco, a South Korean steel company and the government of Orissa. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plant in Uttar Pradesh affected the livelihood of 469 settled households, leading to an adverse effect on food security and agricultural output. Most of the displaced families have not been provided rehabilitation packages by the government leading to frustration and increased suicide rates among the agricultural laborers. Statistics provided by the United Nations have recorded that 43 million people who were forced to evict their land have not been provide with rEhabilitation packages. And with the passing of the present Land Acquisition Act, which exempts the basic exercise of Social Impact Assessment (SIA), tens of millions of farmers and agricultural laborers would be at the helm of Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s land acquisition orders and projects by private-public partnerships.

Pivture courtesy of Shubhang Saurav

April 2015 | The Beat

By Sreemoyee Chatterjee “Why do the creamy layer of engineers and doctors shift to other cities, leaving out Bengal in its untold misery?” asks a veteran professor from Kolkata, scared about revealing his identity. “It is because of the over ambitious Chief Minister who shoots fire balls on other parties to quench her thirst of becoming the Prime Minister, one day. Modi is now her primary contender. She has no interest to develop the state,” he says. The political conflict between West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is said to have resulted in West Bengal suffering from infrastructural and financial setbacks.

Bengal versus Gujarat: Tata Nano Controversy Modi’s call to Ratan Tata to shift the Nano car project from Bengal to Gujarat in 2008 appears to have been the primary cause of conflict between Modi and Mamata. 12

Modi wave: Not Then opposition leader of Bengal, Banerjee in her attempt to ostracize the communist power, lost the Tata project to Modi. Modi used the Nano project to Gujarat’s benefit which contributed to his success as its Chief Minister. Ratan Tata, then CEO of Tata Motors, said, “There is a good ‘M’ and a bad ‘M’ and we have made the transition.” Mamata was faced with a considerable amount of criticism and this is said to have sparked the rivalry between Modi and Mamata. Argha Ganguly, an IT employee from Bengal, said, “Bengal could have also flourished industrially, had Mamata been a bit more reasonable and a little less greedy for power.” “Keeping Modi by her side, she would have easily managed to develop the state. But she values her ego more than anything else,” he added.

Modi-Mamata ruckus over pre-election campaign April 2015 | The Beat

The Chief Minister of Bengal slammed Modi’s Gujarat Development model from the start of preelection campaigns conducted by Narendra Modi. Calling Modi a donkey and accusing his party of collecting ‘Modi for PM fund’(collecting funds for the Prime Minister), she went on to comment on the extent of lawlessness predominant in PM’s party. When Modi visited Bengal for election campaign in 2014, Mamata tagged Modi as “dangababu”, or the man who plots communal riot. She has invariably used Modi’s connection with Gujarat riot to portray Modi as the riot-figure in Bengal. Soumitra Banerjee, a Communist Party of India CPI(M) cadre in Bengal, said: “She did all this to bring in the majority of Muslim votes in favor of Trinamool Congress. The election record in Bengal since 2011 clearly indicates that there has been a remarkable rise of BJP votes in Bengal that never existed prior to the NaMo effect. Our aggressive CM is now scared of los-

for West Bengal ing her dream throne to Modi.” “Modi in return has not granted pleaded loans to Bengal. The state infrastructure has been badly affected. Those students who want to pursue their academic degree from abroad are not getting any Central help. If this continues, Bengal is soon to witness its dooms day,” he added.

Somok Banerjee, a scholar from Jadavpur University said: “Present Bengal scenario gives a clear change of another parivartan or change, and this time towards the orange flag. This fear is eating up Mamata who will not be willing to give up her throne easily to BJP. Bengal is soon to witness another political bloodbath.”

Shaswata Mukherjee, a Trinamool Congress(TMC) supporter said: “Lack of Central help and benefit is one of the major causes of economic and industrial downturn. Modi-Mamata clash creates a sociopolitical debacle in Bengal due to which the common men suffer. I have been supporting didi till date. But now it feels that didi’s brawl with Modi will ruin Bengal.”

In December 2014, BJP President Amit Shah criticized Banerjee for allowing people involved in the Saradha scam to hold ministerial positions in her party.

Aneek Acharya, a law student from Kolkata considers the Modi-Mamata battle as nothing but a game of chess. He said: “Both of them are trying to stabilize their political strength. Bengal is getting ex-communicated. That’s the best possible way of strengthening the opposition and the ace in the hole is ‘cheat fund investigations’. Mukul Roy will be decisive in this matter.”

The arrest of Madan Mitra, a TMC leader, in connection to the Saradha scam strengthened BJP claims of Mamata’s involvement in Saradha scam.

Speaking on the present political state of Bengal, he added: “BJP will get a significant boost in this upcoming corporation and state vote.”

Modi’s reply to Mamata

West Bengal in trouble

Modi who initially remained a silent over the civic war with Mamata, called her mentally unbalanced and suggested she consult a psychiatrist after he was refused permission to organize a BJP rally in Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee met Modi on March 9, 2015, to ask for loan remission for the development of Bengal’s poor infrastructure and economy.

“They are well on becoming the significant opposition for the state. It’s all Modi charisma. But I don’t see change in cabinet for the next tenure at least. But after that, there is a strong possibility of upset in the state.”

Modi refused to grant the “loan waiver” as requested by Mamata. April 2015 | The Beat

Political experts claim that Modi would now use Bengal’s misery as his trump card to avenge his contender.

Courtesy of Firstpost, Flickr and Bengal news

Promises proving to be power seeking gimmicks? By Nikunj Ohri Promises to bring about change in the country by criticizing the opposition in almost every public address, Narendra Modi seems to be losing track of the promises made by him when he was contesting the 2014. A bird’s view of his one year in office this May is somewhere bordering on the lines of ‘mere words and no work’. The real question that arises here is whether our prime minister is losing his charm day by day by keeping mum on issues which need his actions or comments? People called him names like ‘feku’, which the urban dictionary has defined as “a word used to describe Mr. Narendra Modi for his penchant for braggadocio regarding his achievements”, the general meaning of which is a person who speaks bullshit.

After BJP agreed in forming a coalition government with PDP. There was no mention of article 370 in new chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s, swearing-in ceremony which had all BJP bigwigs present including Modi himself and his close aide Amit Shah. Why not, since there he believed in having a debate about it?

and work for developing the country as a team with chief ministers of all the states. Once, a potential candidate for the PM’s post, who emphasized on changing India for the good in his long speeches, has suddenly changed his way of working? Bora also spoke out on how all ministers in his cabinet are frustrated, but none of them is speaking up.

Narendra Modi had promised in his election rallies that he would bring all the black money from

Suraj M. N. Hegde, secretary of All India Congress Committee, said: “Forget the promises, what else has he done for the country after he came to power? He introduced the new Land Acquisition Bill which is corporate centric and helping them in making more money. The government is taking a U-turn on the issues they raised before the elections which they will address. He is just repackaging and remodeling the initiatives taken by the UPA government, like the Insurance Bill and giving

abroad within 100 days once he becomes the PM and make each one of us richer by Rs. 15 lakh. ney come back nor has he made us any richer. Amit Shah, the party president in his recent interview has called this promise or gesture of Modi, an “idiomatic expression”.

them a new name.

Narendra Modi promised revoking article 370,

which gave special powers to Kashmir. He said in his first few election rallies that there should “at least be a debate” on Article 370 and assured people that if the BJP comes to power at the centre, it will transform the separate state into a super state. As BJP couldn’t form a government in Jammu and Kashmir state election, they were adamant towards forming a coalition government with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because of the conflicts in the ideologies that the two political parties follow.

A member of national executive of BJP, Prodyut Bora, has accused Modi of being arrogant, self centric and undemocratic. Modi, who used to criticize Manmohan Singh for not being a team player or working as a team, said in his speeches that he would lead India April 2015 | The Beat

People don’t even know the name of his cabinet ministers because he is constantly reshuffling as he doesn’t want them to grow as he, himself wants to grow. Amit Shah in his interview called Modi’s promise as a ‘jumla’ (electoral proverb). They are fooling the whole country.” If Modi, the choice of the masses, will be a good leader for the country, still remains a question. Picture courtesy of Shubhang Saurav

National

The “common” H1N1: An overall picture By Sanreen Tungekar & Sharangee Dutta Delays in seeking treatment and late diagnosis are responsible for India’s huge swine flu epidemic, according to doctors.

‘Swine flu is like another form of influenza now, it is that common’ Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) is considered to be the primary health care centre for swine flu in Karnataka. Dr. Shashidhar Buggi, medical director, said that H1N1 is no longer a rare phenomenon. “It is not a new virus and is there in the community. It’s just like flu,” he added. He pointed out: “One thing that people don’t know is that if 100 people are exposed to a virus, 90 may not realize the full picture. They will develop minor symptoms and will continue with their daily routine. Only 10 people will develop a serious infection. Whenever we get people who are really sick and if their condition doesn’t change after three days, we put them on medication.” The hospital is strictly maintaining decorum in terms of hygiene. “The staff has to wash their hands regularly, be vigilant about the patients and wear masks. Infection control measures are being regulated and even though this is the primary institution and we have handled so many patients, none of my staff has ever been affected by swine flu. We’re that careful,” he said. 60 percent to 70 percent of their patients are from lower socio-economic background. Dr. Buggi said: “Host factors are very important in causing an infection and factors like overcrowding and lack of proper ventilation make these people more prone to infection.” Tamiflu has proven to be an effective medicine for treatment, as Dr. Buggi said that none of the patients who have been diagnosed on time and given the medicine have had recurrences. “No complications and mortality will occur if people come for treatment on time. Most deaths occur when the patient comes for treatment later than advised,” he added. The institution in 2014 had 22 positive H1N1 cases out of 247 screenings out of which three people died. The figures in 2015 so far have spiked, as out of 8,506 out patients, 1,700 were suspected of swine flu and were treated with Fluvir. Out of 826 swabs taken, 363 have been tested positive and the death toll is 119. RGICD held an H1N1 workshop on March 11 for doctors, as advised by the health minister, to provide them hands-on information on the infection. Nearly 255 doctors were involved in this, including medical students.

April 2015 | The Beat

Statistics upto March 30 Source: zee news

States

Death toll for swine flu in India

Number of deaths

Victoria Hospital has two ventilators reserved for H1N1 patients Dr. Basavaraju. T.J., H1N1 specialist at Victoria Hospital, said that the government has ordered all the hospitals, both private and government to reserve at least two ventilators at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for H1N1 patients. Since the start of the epidemic in January, he and his team screened 700 persons and tested 200. Out of these, 60 tested positive and five died, including one woman. The hospital has four separate wards, two each for male and female patients. Describing the process of testing, Basvaraju said that there are two types; nasal swab and throat swab. After taking samples from both these areas, the swabs are cut into the size of cylindrical bottles and deposited inside the refrigerator at a temperature of 2 to 8 degree Celsius. The samples are then sent to NIMHANS for testing in no later than 24 hours. The hospital also has a certain set of guidelines to be adhered to, prior to admission. Basavaraju said: “We have certain guidelines to admit patients. Unless a patient adheres to those, we don’t admit them in our wards.”

Guidelines for admission at Victoria hospital The guidelines have three stages. Stage A requires 16

the patients to be monitored thoroughly for their condition and progress at 24 to 48 hours and confined to a room, if they have mild fever, vomiting, and headache. Stage B has two sub-stages. If children under five, persons aged 65 or above, pregnant women, persons with kidney and lung diseases, blood disorders, diabetes, neurological disorders, cancer and HIV/AIDS have the stage A symptoms, then tamiflu should be given immediately along with home isolation and should any deterioration happen the doctor should be reported. Stage C requires the patients to be hospitalized immediately along with tamiflu dosage, if they have breathlessness, sputum mixed with blood, bluish discoloration of nails, failure in blood pressure, chest pain and worsening of underlying chronic diseases.

‘The cost of treating swine flu can range from Rs. 5 to 10 lakh’ Talking about the cost of swine flu treatment, he said that in private hospitals, depending upon the stage of the disease, it can range from Rs. 500 to Rs. 10 lakh. “People are so scared that they are spending up to Rs. 5,500 for one test at the private hospital while it’s free here,” he said. Right after the outbreak of the epidemic, in the wake of different private hospitals charging different charge for testing, the government of Karnataka passed a standing order ordering all hospitals, ir

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Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) has started a campaign for swine flu awareness in collaboration with government hospitals, and Dr. Basavaraju said that it has had an impact. “We distribute health education leaflets in and around the vicinity of Victoria Hospital, and the process is looked at by BBMP,” he added. Brushing aside any possibility of government hospitals running out of adequate medicines, he said that they have enough of them and are “easily available.” “The basic medicine is Tamiflu tablets, and that is easily available in the market,” he said.

‘I had to pay Rs. 15,000 in a private hospital’ Patients who are H1N1 positive are kept in the ICU. Selvi, 35, was admitted to RGICD on March 19. She said,” My husband is a painter and I am a government employee. I shifted to this hospital as the private hospital was costing me Rs, 15,000. We cannot afford that.”

Selvi, 35, had to pay Rs. 15,000 in a private hospital

Shanaz, 45,was admitted to RGICD on March 14 due to severe breathlessness and was put on ventilator. Nagaraj, senior staff nurse, said that Shanaz was in a terrible condition when she was brought to the hospital. “Her survival looked impossible to us, we thought we lost her. But she is recovering now,” he said. Shanaz recently lost her daughter to dengue and her husband is a truck driver. Nageena Tabassum, 34, was suffering from ovarian cancer when she was admitted to the hospital after developing chest congestion. “She was not admitted on time, but after her husband saw her condition deteriorate, he brought her here. She has been tested for swine flu and is being treated with Fluvir,” said Nagaraj.

Suggestions to keep swine flu at bay - Wash your hands with lukewarm water often - Sleep for at least eight hours at night - Have natural foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables - Consult your doctor at the slightest symptom of a flu. - Be aware of what public surfaces you are touching and wash your hands after using public transport

Shahnaaz, 35, tested positive for swine flu April 2015 | The Beat

The fanfare over filing an FIR in fact that— four months on—th By Nikunj Ohri You can now file FIRs without going to a police station, but there won’t be any assurance from the police department that your complaint will be resolved in a specific time period, or ever. It’s difficult to file a First Information Report in India. Cops keen to keep their records clean show their bosses that they are doing a great job by not doing any actual work thereby, on paper anyway, solving every case. The Ministry of Home Affairs, in 2013, instructed all police stations that failure to register an FIR will invite prosecution for the duty officer under Indian Penal Code section 166A (disobeying government law) and offenders faced a year in jail. To make the process of filing FIRs flawless and people-friendly, Bangalore City Police set up an FIR kiosk at Mantri Mall, Malleshwaram in November 2014. This was a pilot project by the city police, which will be expanded soon. One can simply go to the kiosk and register an FIR with the help of a duty officer sitting at both ends—one at the kiosk and the other at the Traffic Management Centre office. This being the first FIR kiosk in the country, the chief minister promised that the city will get 100 such kiosks as one is not enough for a city like Bangalore. One has to write a complaint on a piece of paper, which is scanned and sent to the police headquarters. The assistant sub-inspector video chats with the complainant to get more information about the complaint and to make the report error free. The complaint

is then sent to the police station concerned, so that they can start investigating. Once the complaint is registered, the complainant gets a printed acknowledgement.

No cases resolved Of the 214 FIRs that have been filed up to March 10, none of the cases have been solved and the police stations concerned are still investigating cases that come under their jurisdiction. A police official posted at the Malleshwaram police station, said: “Investigating a case takes time, so the cases have not been resolved so far. Whenever the case will be resolved, it will be closed, notifying it in the database.” The police authorities have no records of false complaints that have been registered in the FIR kiosk as the investigation of any case is yet to be completed. The authority will only know whether a complaint reported was false once the investigation is over. Seventy of the 214 FIRs came under Vidhan Soudha police station and 13 under Malleshwaram police station’s jurisdiction. City police has an edge over technology The city police has always been tech savvy, be it introducing new apps or implementing new technology for the department’s smooth functioning. Bangalore police officers are active on social media platforms like Twitter and have introduced tweet petitions (complaints updated as tweets) on Twitter. They have also developed an application to record real time crime data, with officials claiming that the app will help them in effective policing as the data now is recorded at sub-divisional level.

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Bangalore also introduced using Blackberry phones to generate echallans (receipt for payment) for breaking traffic rules, automated fingerprint identification system and the Bangalore traffic improvement project—B-TRAC.

‘Filing FIRs became much more easier’ A complainant, who filed an FIR at the kiosk, said: “I had lost my ATM card and someone withdrew Rs.70,000 from my account. I had

nside a shopping mall masks the he number of cases solved is zero a tough time trying to file an FIR at BTM layout police station as the sub-inspector told me that money had been withdrawn four times, and the last ATM kiosk from which the money was withdrawn, comes under the jurisdiction of BTM Police station. He didn’t file an FIR saying that the first three ATM kiosks do not come under his police station’s jurisdiction.” He added: “Still, the practice of not filing FIRs continues, the moment I came to know that any type of

complaint in the city is registered in the FIR kiosk, I filed an FIR without any hassle within minutes.” Chetan Sharma, another complainant, said: “This was the second time I have filed an FIR in a year’s time. First time when I had to file an FIR as I had lost my phone, I had to go to Kengeri police station three times as the first time the inspector wasn’t there at the police station, so no one bothered to file one. I was only successful in filing an FIR when I made a high rank police officer call the inspector.” “FIR kiosk has made the job much simpler. The authorities who take the complaint are very friendly. Such kiosks should be set up in many places as it is difficult for someone who lives at the other part of the city,” he said. S Sadagopan, director, International Institute of Information Technology, said: “I do not have any data on how the kiosk is working, but I think it is a good idea to set more such FIR kiosks. There can be simpler ways of filing FIR though; net based, SMS-based, so that people need not go to a spe-

April 2015 | The Beat

cialized kiosk. BangaloreOne (software developed by Karnataka government to pay bills and apply for

water and telephone connections online) and other options should be explored too.” About setting up such kiosks in every city, he said: “The proof of the pudding is in eating. One has to see how the follow-up works only then, we should extend this to other cities. Government allotting more funds on this project is not the issue, action is the issue.” He said that it is not “something unexpected from the police department’s side that no complaints have been resolved so far.”

Bangalore is ready to ‘name and sham By Samreen Tungekar An activist along with her supporters has decided that rapists will now be brought under public scrutiny, whether anyone likes it or not. After a successful campaign in Hyderabad last month, Shame the Rapist has finally been launched in Bangalore.

‘This campaign has no geographical boundaries’ Bhavana Chiranjay, who is in charge of the Bangalore campaign, said that the idea behind bringing this campaign to Bangalore was to be able to show solidarity in huge numbers. “Campaigns like this one have no social or geographical boundaries. An NGO from Tamil Nadu and one from West Bengal have come forward to show their support towards the Bangalore chapter of this campaign.”

So what kind of support is the camp vana said that the first thing to do is fi media works is in geometric progres culprits. You may certainly not know t gression leads you to such a culprit, d your network and tell them to share it try. Secondly, the CBI is involved now tion? We need people to display solida faster. We want people to spread awar

“There are nine more videos that have been handed over to the CBI. Dr. Sunitha Krishnan, the activist who started this campaign, is also looking for the Supreme Court’s support in adding victim protection to the recommendations proposed by her.”

‘You use social media to shame the victim; we will use the same to shame you’ In February, Sunitha Krishnan discovered two six-month-old videos of two women being gang-raped by six men that were being circulated on WhatsApp. She uploaded the images of the video on YouTube and asked people to help her identify the rapists, who were smiling in the video. Bhavana said: “These rapists had the brazen attitude of committing a crime, shooting it and then circulating it on social media. So now, we are going to use the same media to shame them.” The campaign in Bangalore is going to be no different from what it was in Hyderabad. “Bangalore is going to be as involved in the campaign, spirit wise. The idea is to evoke the thought process in Bangalore. We want to start with evoking their thought process by a candle march or a seminar. As I said, it needs to start with people showing their solidarity first.”

‘We will find sex offenders in Bangalore, with the help of the police or an RTI’ “In addition to what Dr. Sunitha has done, we are going to ask the police to hand us a list of convicted sex offenders. I’m hoping they cooperate and give it to us but if they don’t, we will file an RTI to get that list and will publish it, with their names and faces. We have been asking for the Supreme Court’s directive to give us a go ahead for this, and we really don’t want to delay it.” This registry, she said, will also help schools and colleges hire people. “If someone applies for a job in a school or college, they can glance through this record and be able to do a background check. The plan of action for the near future is getting this record out in the open.” Shame The Rapist campaign is a part of Mitra Sangeeta, a board dealing with women and child welfare, which is the operational partner of Prajwala, the NGO founded by Dr. Sunitha. The board members of Mitra Sangeeta, the NGO from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal etc. are supporting this campaign in Bangalore. “The establishments are aware of these videos being made and circulated, but they are keeping quiet about it. Based on Dr. Sunitha’s recommendation, the SC has directed that the Home Ministry should have a database of all these videos that are being circulated so that these videos are directed to them, instead of being circulated and then coming to someone’s notice.” 20

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Two gangrape videos go viral on socia

She said that there is a large segment “They don’t know what they can do w can report these cases to the cyber cr it to us and help us find the culprit.”

‘We want to steer clear of any

About any kind of political backing in port is good support, but we genera involvement. Why do we need them? let the lawmakers take care of it. Thes lot of tolerance in the society for it. So want to gauge the response. So we fol

‘The response in Hyderabad ha

“Dr Sunitha has the national level know me, I have found the response hearten ity and even the SC supported us. In a hearings happened and the way the CB progress.”

me’ with Shame The Rapist campaign

paign expecting from Bangalore? Bhaind these culprits. “The way the social ssion and it can help us reach these these people but when geometric prodon’t keep quiet. Like it, share it with t. Let it reach every corner of the counw, but will all these cases reach convicarity so that these cases are looked at reness with us.”

On India’s Daughter: ‘India cannot handle honest conviction’ The recent controversy surrounding India’s Daughter was taken to be the focus statement shifting from the victim to the rapist. Bhavana agrees that

We will get the record of the convicted rapists out in the open —Bhavana Chiranjay this should be done. “Yes, the focus should be on the culprit. Why hide their identity after what they have done? Name them, shame them. Let people be aware of these culprits. We cannot handle honest conviction. People are looking at it to defend India. What is there to defend? This is India!”

Lawyer speaks: ‘You need not be a witness or a victim of the crime to file an FIR’ Nalini Sharma, lawyer, spoke about the legal implications of such a campaign and said that there are immense number of issues with crimes like these. “Not only are these accused guilty of rape, assault, unnatural sex, outraging the modesty of woman and other crimes under the IPC and the CrPC, but also cyber crimes under the IT Act. What is even more pertinent to note is that these videos were shared on mediums like WhatsApp for months, which means they would have reached thousands of people and not one person before Sunitha Krishnan brought up this issue before an appropriate authority.

al media

t that finds this campaign distasteful. with this kind of a campaign. Yes, you rime, but it will be better if you report

political support’

n Bangalore, Bhavana said: “Any supally try to steer clear of any political The SC is giving us the directive that se videos come out because there is a o when such a movement happens, we llow the cases ourselves.”

as been heartening’

wledge of this campaign but if you ask ning. People are showing their solidara matter of three weeks, two to three BI is tracking down cases, it is evident

“To file an FIR against a crime, you do not necessarily need to be a victim or the witness of the crime. If you’ve received the information of a cognizable offence being committed, it becomes your duty as an Indian citizen to file an FIR at the earliest.” Keeping aside legal implications, Nalini explained why she thinks this campaign is important. “Women were raped by several men at one time; the men recorded the crime and then broadcasted them to their friends or people they knew. They probably defiled the girl beyond repair, left her to die and went and had a laugh about it back home. Can the Indian authorities not begin to realize how scary that is? The thought that men would commit such a gruesome crime and be so fearless of the consequences that they would boast about it to the world, on the internet, without even trying to hide their identity or their faces. What does that say about the power of the police or the judiciary in India? Acts like these are a direct hit on the abilities of the Indian authorities, sending a message that our “protectors” are incapable of taking any action against the gravest of crimes,” she said.

Picture courtesy of facebook.com/shametherapist

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Picture courtesy of facebbok.com/shametherapist

Skin color and ating and ridiculous,” said an angry Martha. “We are not allowed to bring other African friends and our families to the apartment as my house owner feels that dark skinned people are not as civilized as his tenants with a light skin color.” “We bring other African friends to celebrate an occasion and stay together as a family. That is what my African culture taught me. What is Indian culture then? Is it all about being biased, being racist, being indecent?” she asks.

By Sreemoyee Chatterjee Heavy security deposits and monthly rent on the basis of race and caste have left the so-called ‘outsiders’ in deep trouble in Bangalore. Non-Kannadigas face a tough time renting an apartment in Bangalore as discrimination based on race and caste means house owners can charge tenants what they like.

Skin color and rent are inter-related ‘The darker the color, the more the rent’ has now become the chant of most house owners in Bangalore city, famously known as the “IT capital of India.” Despite being a cosmopolitan city and with a wide variety of people, Bangalore effectively fails to provide an apartment to people coming from abroad and other states, either for jobs or for academic purposes. It is clearly evident that race, color and caste have become the major determinants for providing houses on rent to non-Kannadigas. Christine (name changed), a 21-

year-old student of Christ University, who has come all the way from Zimbabwe to study, said: “I was extremely fond of Indian culture before I came here. I used to love Indian hospitality and its warmth. But now it seems to be a myth. Although we pay a stupendous amount for our small one BHK apartment, we are made to feel as if we live here for free. It seems as if the house owner has pitied us and allowed us to stay. We have to pay a heavy price for our skin color.” Martha (name changed), Christine’s African classmate, stated that her landlord had charged a hefty price of Rs 60,000 as security deposit apart from the first month’s rent. “He made a rent agreement all by himself without consulting us. When we disagreed to follow some of the clauses, he blatantly asked us to leave his property. “It was almost dark and despite knowing the fact that we are new to Bangalore, he was least concerned about our security. We too are girls. How can mere dark skin make us different from any other Indian girls? This is pretty humili-

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“We do not even get regular supply of water. But still we pay Rs. 2,000 as water bill for which we never get a receipt. This is illegal. When we ask for the receipt, he asks us to vacate the flat. He very well knows that we won’t be able to manage another flat, so he threatens us every time we complain against his misbehavior”, blurted out an agitated Christine.

North East India is “dirty” and “notorious” Manish Bordoloi (name changed), an IT employee, hailing from the North- East India faced a similar problem. He had to pay an advance deposit of Rs. 75,000 that was much beyond his three months’ rent. “It was too much for me to pay as I just joined my company as a fresher. Besides, it was not legal as house owners are supposed to receive three months’ rent as an advance and not more than that.” Manish stated that his house owner was a retired school teacher who easily concluded that just because Manish belonged to the North-East region, he would be extremely dirty, would eat snakes and rats and would turn his apartment to a pub. The school master said with utmost confidence that he did not trust the North Eastern people as they are all drug-addicts and notorious.

d caste decide the rent in Bangalore Being a Brahmin adds concession to the rent Argha Ganguly, another IT employee had to compel his mother to mortgage her gold earrings to generate cash for his security deposit. “I come from a middle class family in Bengal and could not afford the extravagant security deposit here. My parents are old and expect me to earn for my family. Instead they have to suffer because of me,” said a frustrated Argha. However, he often wondered why his room-mate, Vishnu (name changed) had to bear an extra rent of 5,000 bucks, although they shared the same apartment and similar facilities. After a few months he realized that Vishnu was basically paying the price for not being a Brahmin. He said, “Being a Brahmin not only signifies your wisdom in India but also makes you privileged enough to enjoy a number of facilities from the house owners in Bangalore.” Vishnu, an IITian and who belong to a supposed lower caste is often ill-treated and insulted by his house owner who prefers Brahmin tenants.

ent from Indians. They are uncultured and uncivilized as a result of which the house owners are skeptical to let their house on rent. “We have had enough bad experiences with the non-Brahmins. They have no decorum and decency and hence we charge more from them”, he said.

House owners versus the law According to the Model Residential Tenancy Act, 2011, every house owner in Bangalore has legal right to extract three months’ payment in advance as security deposit from his tenants. This, however appears to be valid only on paper as most of the house owners charge a security deposit that is double the rent of three months. As stated by Christine, the security deposit is directly proportional to melanin, the skin pigment. Beholding 885 colleges and being at the top of the list of cities with highest number of educational institutions in India, Bangalore has indeed declined to impart the knowledge of being just and

impartial to the money-grubbing house owners. Mr. J.W. Lobo, the Head of the Department of International Affairs, Christ College said with despair: “We speak about equality in India and blame rural India for being orthodox and conservative. But Bangalore city is no less. Majority of the house owners in Bangalore are well educated. Yet they often choose their tenants on the basis of caste and color. They charge double the rent and a stupendous amount as advance security deposit from the African students and those hailing from the NorthEast part of the country.” Despite Bangalore being tagged one of the most modern cities in India, the tenants from outside the city are judged by their caste and race. It seems that it is time for the non-Brahmins and the dark skinned ones to bid goodbye to Bangalore.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay and Clipartheaven

A city cop unaware of the civic law! Srinivas Reddi (name changed), a house owner in Koramangala, Bangalore, said: “I have no idea about any such law. Show me where it has been mentioned that we can extract only three months’ rent in advance. We have been receiving a ten months’ payment as a security deposit.” It is indeed a tragedy when the legal executioner himself is unaware of an existing law. Mr. Reddi happens to be a city cop. Reddi looked confident when he further mentioned that the dark-skinned people are completely differApril 2015 | The Beat

Art for By Raya Ghosh Brilliant artists. Proficient actors. Ethereal performances. And scintillating melodies. Being a 5000-year old-civilization, India contemptuously boasts of a diverse culture and a legacy of classical art, theatre, music, dance and literature. Indian art has evolved since prehistoric times in several ways. From the Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh that depicted paintings pertaining to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic age to the creations of Hussainâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Indian artists have matured by pushing aside aesthetic boundaries to create contemporary art. Throughout its course of evolution, art has also paved the way for performing arts in India. Theatre, music and dance have played a significant role in the Indian Diaspora. However, in Calcutta, performing arts has emerged, wherein artists have adapted epics to create new versions, explored Indian rhythms and imbibed the qualities of divine dancers like Shiva and Krishna in their performances.

stered the glorified history of the City of Joy. Young artists in Calcutta have established a new trend wherein they manage academics and arts simultaneously. A picturesque imagination with oodles of creativity has helped them to pursue dynamic ambits for their creative interpretations. Moreover, they have constantly traversed contemporary perimeters that are on the other side of the orthodox and classical. Several coldents in Calcutta have formed fashion teams a n d t h e a t r e groups. On the other

lege stu-

hand, some have tried to prove their mettle in the field of music and dance. Breathtaking performances have often provided them with a platform to perform in several other cities. Theatre has always been a significant part of the Indian culture. Paul Kurtz, a prominent American humanist states that the Rig Veda suggests that dramatic theatre in India evolved around the eight century BC. Moreover he believes that the Jataka stories illustrate Indian life between 600 BC and 300 BC, which also contains several evidences of theatre.

Beauty the stage

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Trendingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Calcutta has always retained a rich cultural heritage reminiscent of exquisite traditions. Almost every Calcuttan believes in mastering some sort of art that promotes the culture of the conventional city. And with due respect to our democratic society, young artists have been motivated Codename:SRK, staged by Mad About Drama to form individual associations that have bol24

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Calcutta observes the tradition of jatra which are folk theatres that feature epic plays with loud music, lights and dramatic props; performed on huge outdoor stages. The City of Joy blusters a classical ethic of commercial and group theatres. However, group theatres do not believe in making profits. Rather they concentrate on a social message. The popularity of commercial theatres

r art’s sake has declined since 1980’s due to their money making objectives. Youth theatre groups have become extremely popular in Calcutta. College students who have an impeccable love for theatre have formed groups and conduct street plays and shows across the city. Not only that, most of these groups have achieved great heights which have helped them to establish their groups on a professional level. Shriek of Silence, also known as SOS, is a campus theatre group that was formed by Suprovo Tagore in February 2012. “As campus theatre was dying in Calcutta, I formed SOS. After a few months, we came out of the contingent and started doing public shows with budding thespians from across the city,” said Suprovo, a microbiology student and the founder.

Suprovo firmly believes that theatre is his first priority, which is why he kept his graduation at a two year halt. Thereafter, he decided to study theatre and watch plays in order to make SOS successful. “Engaging in such conversations and organizing talk shows regarding the same is my education. My mother is a stalwart in Bengal, in the field of recitation and audio drama. My father designs auditoriums and sound and light shows around the country. So I have received immense support from my parents in this field,” added Suprovo. All the plays staged by SOS have a social message. Mostly, they concentrate on musicals and adaptations of famous plays such as The Vagina Monologues and Merchant of Venice- the Kolkata Musical and The East Side Story, which is an adaptation of West

Side Story. They are based in Calcutta and have a modern day perspective. “Social messages are always there which relate to current affairs around us. It may be the U.S-Iraq War or the influence of politics on music,” Suprovo said. Soumya Mukherji co-founded Mad about Drama (M.A.D), which is another youth theatre group in Calcutta. He firmly states that that the idea was to form a parallel theatre base in Calcutta and not a youth theatre group as such. Since the Academy of Fine Arts bred mainstream theatre in Calcutta, it had lost its reach among the youngsters. Hence, M.A.D aimed to provide the young audience with a fresh taste of theatre. “Our mothers and aunts do watch serials regularly and the youth is addicted to TV series such as Homeland and Break-

The East Side Story, staged by Shriek of Silence

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ing Bad. So we wanted to present fresh new subjects to the audience. In other words, a parallel and much more entertaining form of theatre. Right from our school days, we have been mad about drama,” said Soumya. Furthermore, Soumya believes in blending academics with theatres. “I am a Political Science student and I am intelligent enough to use the knowledge that I acquire from the subject in my art form. Both complement each other,” added Soumya. M.A.D concentrates solely on proscenium and intimate plays. Variety is what they stress on. In 2013, they staged an unabashed adaptation of Brecht’s highly political “The Resistable Arturo Ui”. “Codename SRK” is a Bollywood play that will be staged by M.A.D in 2015.

Soaring high Both SOS and M.A.D achieved great heights with their subsequent growth. Suprovo conceptualized the Kolkata Youth Theatre Festival last year, in order to bring all youth theatre groups under one roof. “It is the only youth theatre festival in Calcutta and the biggest one in Eastern India. The total reach considering finance, ticket sales and press support has tripled this year,” said a proud Suprovo. In 2013, M.A.D made it to the Thespo, which is India’s biggest youth theatre festival. Team Thespo had auditioned more than 100 plays in 2013 and selected only six plays for the coveted stage of Prithvi in Mumbai. “We auditioned with our much acclaimed play ‘With Love, Calcutta’ and were selected to perform at Prithvi. It was after six years that an under-25 theatre group from Kolkata was selected to perform at Prithvi. The last time a youth theatre group made it to Prithvi from Calcutta was in 2007,” beamed Soumya.

The money business

Since these theatre groups finance their own shows, they state that sponsorship often proves to be an issue. “It takes a lot to convince financers as we do not have spectator friendly venues in Calcutta. Which MNC would sponsor us in such cases,” questions Soumya. Plays staged by SOS are quite expensive which makes the process even more difficult. “Sponsorship from local brands is the only way we finance our shows. Our plays are quite expensive. For example, The East Side Story was an Rs 5.2 lakh production. Gathering finances thus is a difficult process,” added Suprovo. Internal conflicts is another issue which youth oriented groups face. This often tends to affect the unity but the trick lies in managing things professionally. “Any collective group with more than 3 members will experience clashes, mostly due to difference in opinion. 50 people have the same goal but different ideologies. Any group which denies this is either living in Utopia or has not matured yet,” said Suprovo.

The red carpet Calcutta is carving its niche in the fashion map as it houses young and creative fashion designers. Students who have an immaculate interest in fashion are also trying to manage a career in it apart from concentrating on academics. Rohan Pariyar, a third year student of Scottish Church College is an ardent fashion freak. He loves designing and always dreamt of models walking the ramp, wearing his creations. In 2013, he established his own fashion team, Triagon with a set of 10 models and one choreographer. Initial glitches did hinder the process of growth, but the team soon gained momentum and participated in fests and programs all across the city. “The main reason why I wanted to form Triagon was because I wanted to question certain conventions followed by

April 2015 | The Beat

the fashion industry. I do not use professional models. Rather, all my models are college students,” said Rohan Pariyar. A major breakthrough for Triagon came with Kriti, a fashion show that was organized in Silliguri in November 2013. Kriti was a fashion tour in the North East India. “The fashion industry is quite renowned across the country. But nobody really bothered about taking the industry to unexplored regions. As I am from Silliguri, I would love to extend the industry to areas like Darjeeling, Kohima, Meghalaya and Agartala. I am sure people out there would love to dress in designer pieces,” added Rohan. Renowned designers of the city believe that young fashion designers pose a threat to them. “One can find at least three designers in every building of Calcutta. Not only are these budding designers quite talented but they also increase competition in the market. Another factor is that they manufacture products which are not heavily priced. Hence people prefer to buy those. Unlike North India, Calcuttans do not mind wearing stuff that are not designer ones. This is how young designers challenge us,” said Agnimitra Paul, a renowned fashion designer in India.

Dancing away Dance and music also constitute an integral part of Bengali culture in Calcutta. However, aspiring dancers are now crossing the boundaries of classical dance to explore new avenues of contemporary dance forms. Harshvardhan Bhan, a student of Calcutta University believes that dance is the only way of expression for him. Hence he formed his own dance team- The Big Bong Theory, last year. ] “We specialize in street dancing but a lot of us can also do bollywood and different contemporary styles. In order to spread the hip hop culture in the city, we have also conducted several

Triagon performs at India Fest 2013 workshops in the suburbs. Apart from that, we also teach street dancing to budding dancers in the city,” said Harshvardhan. It is said that music is the soul of life, and young musicians in Calcutta believe in creating this intramural connection between music and the spirit. Utsav Dan, a young musician graduated last year from St. Xaviers College in Calcutta. Due to his immense love for music, Utsav started his formal training in Hindustani Classical music at a very young age. “I participated in several school and college fests. Thereafter, I gradually took a detour towards music production. I also write and compose for various events. Recently, I composed a song for the Microsoft- Create to inspire which is a fellowship program,” said Utsav. The young musician is currently pursuing his post graduation in Film direction from Roopkala Kendra in Calcutta.

To a bright future Proficient youngsters in the City of Joy aim for the stars. They

certainly do not wish to stick to the ‘youth ‘title associated with them. Instead, they plan to convert their groups into proper professional ventures. “I have almost shelved the bacteria and microbes. Theatre is my profession,” said Suprovo. Soumya believes that the entire point is to make this creative concoction sustainable. Hence, the team is considering several other opportunities. “Although our primary objective is theatre, we are also heading towards the field of casting, the most recent being that of a popular online shopping portal. Also we have been approached to design and execute publicity campaigns from both brands and films alike,” said Soumya. Similarly, Harshvardhan also plans to make his team a business venture as they excel in all parts of hip hop elements such as djing, graffiti and mcing. With exquisite performances and resolute enthusiasm, young performers are breaking barriers and striving to get noticed on a national platform. The added advantage is that they get no-

April 2015 | The Beat

ticed by senior artists, which further helps them to establish their career constructively. “I love theatre, which is why I joined SOS. Since I am studying psychology, it was extremely difficult for me to manage academics and theatre. But now I have learnt the tricks of the trade and can successfully balance both. More than a career choice, theatre is my passion. The love to express myself on the stage will never fade away,” said Kathakali Chatterjee, Second year student, Asutosh College, Calcutta. Enchantment has diverse aspects. And art certainly enchants its muse who resolves to absorb its delicate honey. Young performers of the city have been charming audiences all across the country. Not only have their performances won them several accolades but they have also kept the culture of city alive. On that note, Calcuttans can definitely rejoice in the mirth of a glorious future constructed by polished and competent performers. Picture courtesy of flickr

Travelogue: Kuwait

Kuwait-

The paradise of every gastronome By Paul C Oommen Kuwait has never made it to the list of popular destinations nor has it ever been featured in the bucket list of travelers. The people who generally visit Kuwait are those in search of jobs and those who have relatives and children working in Kuwait. Little did I know that all the shawarmas and biryani I had gobbled in India thinking of it as the ‘best shawarma’ or ‘best biryani’ was going to fail when I would experience food in a place where people just love to eat!

Everything Arabian: Food, religion, tradition Islam is the main official religion of Kuwait. Freedom of religion is guaranteed to the adherents of other religions, provided that no prejudice may occur against Islam. Unlike many other nations that follow Islam, Kuwait hasn’t imposed the rule that women have to wear a burqa(veil).

people visit for a Kuwaiti’s home for the first time, they should be served rich Arabic coffee. Kuwait also has some good sushi restaurants, like Sakura at Multaqa Alshab, which is well known for its sushi and katsu but also serves other Asian food. There is also a Kentucky Derby juice that this restaurant is well known for. Sushi is obviously just a suggestion, as the charm of Kuwait lies in Middle Eastern food. Fafafels and shawarmas are available at almost every corner on carts, but to try some classy Lebanese food, one must go to Mais Alghanim in Kuwait city, as this place also has good vegetarian food. The menu is vast and the place serves amazing Sheesha(hookah). The ambience of the place makes it pleasant as it is located on the water front opposite to Kuwait Towers. Dikaakeen is an Egyptian restaurant that most Kuwaitis suggest visiting. It is a vintage Egyptian themed restaurant with a vast menu. They have a great platter called Platter no. 49, which includes grapes, eggplant, samosa, hummus and fatta. So vegetarians, there is something for you all here too.

Arabian food is another major attraction for people who visit the place. For lovers of meat, lamb and chicken there are a lot of options available to choose from. Mint and thyme are the herbs that are used widely in their cuisine. Lunch is considered the main meal of the day. The family comes together and it is usually the meal of choice to invite guests over too.

Arab dishes and their “Indianizing” Muttabaq, Kabsa, Hummus, Falafel, Tabulah, Majbhoos, Shawarma and Arabian Chicken Tikka are some of the numerous Arabian dishes that are famous throughout the world. Arabian food is not very spicy and is quite light on the stomach. They love eating meat and chicken. Meat lovers and foodies will have an amazing time trying some amazing food. My mouth waters even today, as I write this, think

Kuwaitis take immense pride in their cuisine being extremely ‘homely’, and believe that authentic Kuwaiti food can only be had at a Kuwaiti’s place. Also, coffee and tea are an important part of Kuwait’s food culture. Kuwaiti tea is usually served after lunch, and is regular, hot tea but people prefer adding flavors to it as well. Traditionally, it is said that when

April 2015 | The Beat

cally constructed, this mall is spread out horizontally. It is impossible to see the whole mall even if you spend one whole day there.

u m m Hu

ing of all the great food that I tasted. The beauty of the food served in the Arab countries is the reason why many Arab restaurants have started in many cities all over India. Shawarma, which is originally made of kubbus- a kind of Arabic bread, stuffed with sliced beef or mutton that has been marinated and grilled on flames, is a hit in many parts of India. In India, the Arabic shawarma has undergone an “Indianization” with Kubbus being replaced by Roomali Roti- an Indian bread and beef with chicken.

The Kuwait towers are one of Kuwait’s most famous landmark that is visible from almost anywhere in Kuwait. It is located on the Arabian Gulf Road in Sharq district. It consists of two major towers and a minor tower. These towers look just like a gigantic structure, built as part of beautifying the city, but the truth is far from the truth. The main tower has the Horizon Restaurant, a restaurant where the hospitality level is commendable. The tower also has a ballroom and a viewing sphere that is located 123 meters above sea level. This tower rotates 360 degrees to give its visitors a complete view of Kuwait. The tower completes a full rotation in half an hour. The Kuwait Towers also holds the annual Ice Cream Festival, Chocolate Festival, Popular Kuwaiti Meals Festival, as other programs through which relations are ascertained with all its visitors.

Celebrating food in Kuwait Q8 Productions, a media company in Kuwait, is starting The Q8 Food Festival an open air consumer food festival was held in Kuwait in March 2015. According to a report by Arab Times Online, “Q8 Food Festival attendees can enjoy shopping and tasting at the Farmer’s Market that showcases local organic produce and locally made artisan food and products. They can shop for a wide array of gourmet products produced locally as well as enjoy desserts, snacks, juices from local concept restaurants and producers. The Taste of Q8 Food Festival Main Stage will feature live music throughout the three-day event. Musical acts will include Classical, Arabic, and Jazz.”This food festival also had live cooking demonstration.

The ‘mall culture’ and Kuwait towers: Glorifying the gastronomy Kuwait’s shopping malls are paradise for people there, as that is where they get their dose of entertainment. The Avenues mall in Kuwait developed, enhanced and evolved the shopping experience of the people in Kuwait. The Avenues is considered one of the largest shopping malls in the world. The Avenues concept was inspired by the natural forms of the desert sand dune, rock formation and the sky. Unlike many other malls in the world that are verti-

lat ter

Kuwait, is a small country where there is not much to discover and see but the culture, traditions and food of the Kuwaitis will make the trip worth it all. When you are bored of visiting highly crowded and popular tourist locations around the world, do consider Kuwait for a great shopping experience and some great food. It’ll leave you with nice memories to cherish for a lifetime.

April 2015 | The Beat

Travelogue: Malaysia

Malaysia: Hom

words from other languages like By Vatika Kaul Sanskrit, Tamil, Urdu, Japanese and Growing up with a bunch of Chinese. memories When you visit a place that changes your entire perspective of how life should be lived, you leave a part of yourself there. I believe shifting to Kuala Lumpur located in Malaysia in 1994 was probably one of the best decisions that my parents have ever taken. I was five when I left India, taking with me not many memories that could lead to homesickness. Around 50 percent of Malaysia’s population is Tamilians. South Indian restaurants where I had the mouth watering “masala dosas” were a thing to fall back upon for my parents. Malaysia had become mini India for them. The international school that I studied at had students from different backgrounds and countries. It was also the place where I learnt Bhasa Malay, Malaysia’s national language. The first few words that we learnt were ‘Taremakase’ which means thank you, ‘makkan’ which means food and ‘susu’ which means milk. Bhasa Malay has incorporated 30

Living on the 10th floor of our building provided us a breathtaking view of the city’s skyline. The K.L. tower and the Petronas tower, which were under construction then, adorned the skyline. We would watch people leaving their houses everyday with an umbrella. It seemed strange initially, but later made sense as almost every afternoon Kuala Lumpur witnesses thunderous rainfall. That is something everyone who visits Malaysia should bear in mind. It’s never too cold or hot, but it rains cats and dogs. For a growing me, Malaysia was the perfect place. It had the perfect blend of modernity and traditional values. It seemed like the Indian festival of Diwali was a national festival of Malaysia. Food chains like Mc Donald’s and KFC were every child’s delight. A trip to Genting Highlands would be my idea of a perfect weekend getaway. The one hour journey from Kuala Lumpur, Genting is at a April 2015 | The Beat

great height. The cable cars carrying us from one point to another were my favorite thing about the place. It would take us to its highest peak with dense forest below us. My friends and I would be enthralled to hop on all the scary and twisted roller coaster rides and devour on the array of fast food joints around. While we spent the entire day loafing around, our parents would spend their time in the casino, where sadly we were not allowed. The beauty of Genting highland really lies in its magnificent height— you can sometimes see a cloud pass you by at an arm’s length, which also makes the place cold. Another memorable visit of ours was to Frasers’Hill or Bukit Fraser. It’s lush greenery was a treat to the eyes. We went there during our Christmas holidays, when the place was lit up all around. I remember my parents and their friends setting up a barbeque outside our cottage and singing old English songs. This place has a very English feel to it. The clock tower gives you a hint of how Malaysia was once a British

me from home Going back into an old-new world When I went back at eighteen, I had a lot of anticipations running through my entirety. I fanta-

Life was good and easy there. It opened my eyes to people from different backgrounds. I learnt about various cultures around me. It was a developing country, on the brink of becoming a country to reckon with. Leaving Malaysia after four years was a hard step to take for my family. I didn’t want to leave the familiar place which had become home for me. India now seemed like a foreign land. I was heartbroken and crying my heart out when we left for the airport. We bid adieu to our friends and all the moments spent there. For the last time we saw the Petronas tower, taking in its magnificence, and feeling sad that we won’t be around when world’s tallest building would be revealed. I promised myself that I would come back in a few years. I would come back to the simple life of Malaysia— it had become my nineyear old self’s favorite country in the world.

Visiting Petronas towers helped me fulfill my utmost desire to see how it had turned out to be. I was glad to see that all the latest brands and global cuisines were present over there. The revisit made me realize how much I loved the vibrancy of the city.

colony. It is said to be one of the most travelled hill stations in country. When we were not going away for the weekend, we would enjoy the simplicity of K.L. tower. Every Thursday there would be an Indian market set below our apartment. Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were mostly seen rushing to this market to have the scrumptious “jallebis” or other Indian delicacies.

They also took us to Petronas towers. I was glad to see how it had turned out. All the latest brands and world delicacies were there.

sized about how going back would be. Would I fall in love with that place all over again? Or was it just a little girl’s innocence that attached her to that country? We went for a twenty day trip this time, trying to do as much as we could in the short span. By visiting the place where we used to live, a lot of memories gushed back in my mind, and I happily relived them. However, it looked haggard down compared to the rest of Kuala Lumpur. I was a sign of how the city had moved on leaving its old bits and pieces as they were. Everything had changed for the better. New malls had come up and the old ones were there too. Things moved at a much faster pace now. We met our family friends, who took us around the city, showing the new restaurants and clubs. This was the first time I was seeing a new side of Kuala Lumpur. We danced the night away, and while going back to our hotel at 3 am, we saw how jam packed the traffic was even at such time. People were bustling with energy. It was another evidence of how the city had changed from the time I was a little girl. April 2015 | The Beat

We went to Langkawi which is an island where one can do adventurous water sports like paragliding and banana boat ride. I am terrified of heights, but when the boat took me paragliding a different sense of calmness arose in my body. The fear was overcome. However, being a vegetarian the sole problem for me was finding proper vegetarian food. It was then that started craving for my Indian food for a change. We made a short visit to Genting highland. The excitement I felt was just the same as before or maybe more. New attractions like scary house had come up. My parents tried their luck at the casino but to no avail. I went back to Malaysia as a teenager, having my own perspectives about life. I was a grown up girl who could dare to dream and make decisions of her life. Even after nine years of staying away from there, it was still my preferred choice for a livelihood and before the mammoth trip ended, I realized that a huge part of me will always belong to the country. The realization triggered me to promise myself that if things work out fine, I will one day return to Malaysia to stay back there forever. Picture courtesy of pixabay

Travelogue: Japan

Japan: Where beauty lies in tradition

By Nikunj Ohri It was the first time I was appreciated for the work that I had done. I was selected for an exchange program by the Japan government. I didn’t have any doubt on my capabilities, but it came as a surprise even to me and surely raised many eyebrows. But, the best thing was the message I received from my professor soon after the names were declared which read, ‘Happy?’, ‘Very’, I replied. We boarded the Japan Airlines flight from Delhi. Everything was amazing from serving Chivas to attempts to serve good Indian food. We reached Tokyo where the delegates were present at the airport to welcome us. ‘Ohayo gozaimas’(Japanese for ‘good morning’), they said, by bowing down their heads. Tokyo has it all. Helpful, disciplined and punctual people, cleaner roads, proper city planning, no traffic and separate lanes for cyclists. People here prefer cycling to work over other means of transportation. Convenient Stores in Japan are actually ‘convenient’ as you can get everything from a beer to point cards for Amazon and itunes. Tokyo has traces of old Japan, along with skyscrapers and swanky shopping malls with fabulous food and an astonishing mass transit system.

light hours, Mt. Fuji which is around 100 kilometres far from the building, can be spotted. A walk at the famous intersection of Tokyo, the Shibuya Crossing is one of the busiest crossings in the world, will show you how organized the Japanese are; when all traffic lights turn red, stopping all cars at the same time and pedestrians gushing in from almost all directions.

Oita The hot springs public bath is considered to be spiritual by the Japanese and is the best way one can feel relieved after a hard day at work. People are supposed to rinse themselves first and only then one can enter the pool, wherein the hot water flows all the time. The hot water from the springs warms the body and imparts physical and mental relaxation by stimulating blood circulation. People spend weeks at a place which has hot springs nearby for rest and recuperation. An open-air hot spring (roten-buro) can be an astounding experience; with just hot water— underneath the twinkling stars or sunrise. Soaking in the hot spring bath will melt the exhaustion Spending 15 to 20 minutes in the hot springs pool will have a soothing and pleasant effect and one would want one to stay there for long. It is a must try

The 634 metre Tokyo Sky Tree with silvery exterior is the second tallest building in the world. During day-

April 2015 | The Beat

for someone visiting Japan. People in Japan are helpful to such an extent that they’ll go out of their way to help you. Japanese find it difficult to communicate in English but they try their best, always sending out good vibes and not snubbing you for not knowing their language. Saiki in Oita prefecture is the place for nature lovers. Standing on the top of the mountains, one can see most parts of the city, yachts and motorboats in the water. A motorboat ride can turn out to be an exemplary experience for a lifetime. Just mountains and water around will make one admire the scenic beauty of Japan.

The Japanese are very particular about being on time wherever they go. They think if you’re late, you waste someone else’s time as they could utilise their time in meeting someone else, so in that case you waste more than one person’s time. The metros never run late, and if they run even five minutes late, passengers are given slips at the ticket counters to prove to their bosses that they are late because of the delay of the trains.

Picture courtesy of Ikusuki

The people in Japan make it a point to remove their shoes before entering their houses. They believe in leaving all the unwanted dirt outside when they enter their houses. ‘Clean uchi (inside) dirty soto (outside)’ is what they think.

Days in Japan will just fly with so much to see that days will fall short for the visit. Plan accordingly and the beautiful country with lovely people, awaits to welcome you with their hospitality. Japan is the perfect plan to experience a culture that is so different from the culture we are born into, and a beautiful experience with so much to learn and remember is the kind of travel every person must make at least once in their lives.

April 2015 | The Beat

Travelogue: Singapore

Singapore, a truly mesmerizing experience

By Ridhi Agarwal A wanderer. A thinker. A nature lover. These are just three sides of my Rubikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cube. And in a pursuit to discover the other three sides and finish the cube, I sneak in travelling. Be it a weekend getaway to beat the hustle bustle of a city, an extravaganza holiday to see the outside world or a tranquil moment to rediscover myself, travelling is something that I always look forward to. Being in my mid 20s, the enthusiasm in the young and dynamic me is a go factor that compels me to travel every year. You never know what could prevent you from travelling later on. Hence, I believe that one should make the most use out of age and travel when young as the energy levels are always high. Travelling to me is not just about visiting different places. It is much deeper. It is an attempt to take time off for myself from my daily 34

chores and connect with my inner soul, rejuvenating and nourishing it with Pranayama energy. This gives me the moral strength to overcome hurdles and keep moving. It is a thirst for knowledge, to delve into the rich history of the country, to connect with different cultures, relish different cuisines and network with people. Also, it requires one to be disciplined and organised enough to plan your trip and do a good research on the city you intent to travel. I have heard people go gaga about travelling overseas. But I think you should not always believe what you hear. Witness it, rather. So I made a random plan to visit Singapore in 2013. This was to be my first international trip. All that was required of me was to book my to and fro tickets. Call it fate; little did I know that this charismatic city will grace my presence again when I visited it during my Christmas holidays last April 2015 | The Beat

year. Christmas decors, Christmas carols, joy stick candies, Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s socks, gifts under Christmas trees and youngsters with selfie sticks. After a four hour flight from Bangalore to Singapore, this is what welcomes you at Changi International Airport. I had rats rattling in my stomach by the time I landed. A toast with a topping of coconut jam that just melts in your mouth- Kaya toast is one of the specialities that I did not want to miss out on. The only drawback was, being a vegetarian; where the fish oil smell can get on your nerves if you enter any restaurant. Something I despise. Right from the time you land to the time you hit the busy streets of Singapore, you feel you have touched down upon another world altogether. There is so much warmth in the air. I wish I could kerchief the fragrance of this city and take it along with me.

During Christmas, Singapore is a city of light. Be it the airport or the malls, the Christmas decor is something you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to see here in India. I was wonderstruck. Orchard Street transforms itself into a galaxy of stars. This high end iconic shopping boulevard that houses brands like Louis Vuitton and Salvatore Ferragamo, is an attraction during this season of joy. There were street plays and dances depicting the Singaporean culture, which kept the visitors engaged. The other attraction which includes Marina Bay by Sands has a fantastic laser show during new yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eve. Even though I missed it, the night life at Clark Quay compensated for it. Unlike in Bangalore in particular, where there is a curfew imposed when it comes to night life, Singapore has a different style altogether. Clark Quay, a riverside

April 2015 | The Beat

quay in Singapore, is the place to party. I was so excited to be celebrating new years in a different country which is four and a half hours ahead of time with respect to India. Youngsters with their friends, families and lovers crowded this area which has multiple restaurants. Despite the rush, I knew this new year’s eve would be special to me. The countdown to the new year by the DJ empowered me with zeal, enthusiasm and a ray of hope to move forward in life and achieve great heights. However, even though the taxi service is very quick there, on New Year’s Eve, I was left stranded without any means of transportation for two hours. Because of the mad rush, people chose to sleep in the malls and wait for sunrise to head back home. One of the factors of Singapore that I thought was striking was not their high rises, but their streets. Spick and span, pedestrian and trafficfriendly. I didn’t have motor bikes sprawling on the foot paths meant for pedestrians. I could just walk around with confidence with my head held high, not having to look down for any open drains. If you are terrible at crossing roads and streets in India, Singapore is a blessing. You become a pro at crossing roads at the first attempt because people adhere to rules. There is so much lane discipline that you wish you lived there rather than India; at least you can avoid the snarling traffic. The laws are so stringent that no one dares to break a rule there. A display of a robotic lifestyle is what I got to see. Unlike in India, where people glare at you, here you can wear the skimpiest of clothes and walk around the streets at any given hour, hold hands with your loved 36

one, or even kiss in public. No one gives a damn. You can travel in a cab late at night and still be safe. You don’t have to bother about what others think of you. You can just be at ease and be yourself all along while you explore a city where you just cannot get lost. It’s like rediscovering yourself and trying to live that carefree life which everyone aspires for at some point in time -- a life where you are not judged by what you wear, how you look and what you do. After all Singapore is a finance hub, a city

that never sleeps. Being in such a city, my thoughts started playing hide and seek. Why can’t this model of security and development be implemented in our very own country? Indulging in sports is always been my choice where ever I go. My visit to the Sentosa Island served the very purpose of it. My fear for heights have kept me crippled throughout. However, the Para jump there was a scintillating experience which helped me come out my acrophobia. During this activity, all you have to do is follow the trainer’s advice. Wear on the safety gear, step on the line and jump! And before you even know you touch the ground. My heard skipped not a beat but several beats. And here I am still April 2015 | The Beat

alive. Thank God! This jump was one of a kind. You jump backwards. It was like connecting with myself—leaving aside all the negative thoughts, jumping to a new start, garnering the rest while in the air and setting a foot to a new beginning. The Megazip ride zipped my mouth. I was suspended from a rope, which is at one end of Sentosa, and then pushed and made to slide down. What a free fall! This slide gave me a 360 degree view of the entire Island; a reflection of the inner beauty of my soul. What makes a view beautiful is the angle from which you see it and what you see. I chose to see the happiness around me and draw inspiration to remain vivacious and jovial all along. There are times when thoughts leave you so preoccupied that you are not aware of what is happening around you. In one of those moments, the luge ride saved me. It rekindled the dying competitive spirit in me. I raced my heart out, vented my frustration, finished three lapses and emerged much happier with a tranquil mind. The East Coast Park cycling, along a man made beach is something to die for. The serene beauty of the trees neatly lined up, the cycling tracks, the stone tables for a picnic and the camping sites is an inspiration to burn those carbohydrates and keep running. Cycling and recycling my thoughts couldn’t have gotten easier. All good things come to an end. And so did this trip. Trying to draw parallels with the city I visit and myself, this was just a glance of my travel experiences. With a Europe Trip next on my bucket list, I better get going to making that dream a reality.

My story

Hoping against Hope By Raya Ghosh Life is so strange. Isn’t it? It has the power of snatching souls away from you at any given juncture. By virtue of destiny. Or death. Death- the abhorrent monster. The sheer epithet of mortality is enough to send shivers down the spine. And the worst part of it is the void that it leaves behind, remains stark forever. So I was asked to write this obituary about a friend or an acquaintance. But honestly, life has been gracious enough to keep me away from this destruction. Never have I lost somebody to death. However I do have this person in my life who is quite vulnerable to darkness. To a certain departure. A 22 year old who craves for his eradication. Someone whose anonymity will be maintained throughout this article. But not in my life. You see, love is an emotion which has the ability to destroy the vitality of a spirit. However betrayal which is pretty much synonymous with love can leave you in a deplorable state. And that is exactly what happened to this person. At this point, you would probably want to know his identity. So let me tell you. Both of us were just two lost souls. And we met through a sudden stroke of fate. Our conjunction is beyond words. A relationship which is extraordinarily pure. Devoid of any sort of irrational tangibility. We talk. That is precisely what we do. About anything and everything under the sun. We have so much to share with each other. Stories of our ecstasies. Stories of despair. And indefinitely – serendipity. Destiny separated our respective lovers from us. And that is what struck a chord. I remember the first time I met him. October 2012- The time when my life had stagnated. I was struggling to move on when I realized that he was also trying to do the same. Further

conversations revealed that both of us were quite similar. However the intense love which was confined within his dilapidated soul for his lost love, had forced him to consider death every day. Every single moment of his life. Honestly, I could not contradict this feeling much as I was also trying my level best to validate my existence without that man who was my universe. Expectations, they say is the root of all evils. I expected. Desired for love. Asked for nothing but mental reinforcement. But the dance of desire proved to be supererogatory for my apparent soul mate. Hence, he decided to eliminate me from his life. Love, according to me is nothing but a paradoxical incongruity. For some, it may be the most delightful chapter of life. But in certain hapless cases, love remains an insatiable craving forever. An abstract emotion as such has the power to destroy you––that may eventually lead to a cataclysmic end. The end may not necessarily imply literally. But it can for sure damage you emotionally. For the rest of your life. Like me, the anonymous character mentioned here was also struggling. Struggling to battle the demons of life. The failed aspects of love. And certainly conquer the atrocious feeling of betrayal. Subsequently, the people around us constantly made us realize about the horrid mistake that we had committed- the mistake of trusting somebody. This deception broke us into pieces that refused to see the light of the day. We were asked to move on. But is it easy? Is it so easy to overcome such a strong emotion? The world expected us to do so. Our lives had come to a standstill. But opinions were ceaseless. Nevertheless, I believe that a supernatural force was watching over us. Because of which we met each other on one fateful day. With each passApril 2015 | The Beat

ing day, we have helped each other to rediscover ourselves. Endless conversations about life and soul healed us gradually. Of course there were days when we hit the rock bottom. But the complementary circumstance in our respective lives played an instrumental role in consoling each other. Probably this was the most unparalleled episode of my life wherein an intense heartbreak, gifted me a friend. We revered the past. And mourned the dissolution of love, life and all things reminiscent of bliss and grace. However, every conversation of ours summarized the fact that amazing human spirit is all you require to¬¬–– a sensitive soul who will stream over the fortuitous blows of fate. Time heals every godforsaken wound, I believe. And we were just waiting for that occultism- to occur of course. Two years. It took us two years to realize that life was not worth wasting over a particular person. So what if love turned out to be farce. We at least found somebody worth living for. We found each other. Somebody who will be there right beside us. No matter what. Is it necessary to name the bond we share? Or demean it by calling it otherwise? Unfortunately, very few people will understand this. They find it difficult to comprehend the essence of friendship. But it does not matter. At the end of the day, we know what we did for each other. We at least have each other. And that is exactly what matters. It puts our internal conflicts at rest. Well, they say everything happens for a reason. Life forced us to cope with a loss which had incinerated our souls forever. But the only consolation was that we found each other. And through each other, we found ourselves.

Op-ed

For the love of milk and leather By Kedar Deshpande The Ruminating cow Oh good! Someone finally took notice of the fact that thousands of my brethren are being chewed upon every day. Not only that, the thoughtful soul had the common sense and decency to beat out a law and get it passed through the infernal mess that is parliament. No human-possibly with the exception of those living in parts of Africa- could possibly understand the inconvenience that is caused to us because some holy human one day decided to chop us up and serve us to his family. Well if you live in Maharashtra and Haryana now and decide to mete out this barbaric form of treatment, you go to jail. Which I hear is some kind of vile and dreadfully morbid place. So I shake my head and moo in all my glory with respect to that courageous and steadfast branch of citizenry, which took up our cause. Although I must say, if you must be a cow, there is no better place than India to be one. You may scoff at the obviousness of my statement, but it’s true. We cows have been treated like royalty in this country. And now, my bull and bullock friends have gained the same protection thanks to the aforementioned Good Samaritans. To get a little historic perspective, cows are considered holy in the Hindu religion. This means that we can never be touched with those savage blades that have brought swift and merciless ends to many of my bull and bullock buddies. Just the other day, I was the star of a particularly extravagant ritual where they fed me with rich foods till I could eat no more. They circumambulated around me while I kicked back and relished a particularly toothy bit of grass. Of course, one has to put up with the inconvenience of being driven around by my owners like I was some kind of Neanderthal but aside from that, life for a cow in India is pretty peachy. My bull friend tells 38

me that these days, his owners have the same reverence in their eyes. Life is changing for the better. But as I sit here and enjoy a cool pool of water, I wonder if this move was really made to protect the rights of my kind. Or was this a bid to gain some political mileage? I know for certain that humans are not beneath carrying out such a farce. I hear my owners say that some of the states have refused to back the ban. I shudder to think what were to happen if I were born a bullock in the terror land that is Goa, which has refused to back the ban in any way. Their contention; minorities will run out of jobs. Great! Bulls and bullocks are being slaughtered so that people have something to do in their day time. Why can’t they find something to do, that doesn’t result in bloody endings and leather shoes? A report from the Shillong Times which my owner happened to be browsing the other day spoke about how other animals are suffering because of the lack of red meat. I understand that we as herbivores are centrally placed in the food chain with carnivores devouring us and omnivores having a go at us as well, but to kill us and feed us to animals that are in captivity is downright humiliating. We are a good source of protein they say, humans in their white coats and fancy laboratories. The fact that they haven’t been able to find a cheap and sustainable alternative to red meat to feed animals should tell you all you need to know about the human society’s development and progress. I have heard of countries where cattle is raised only to be butchered. Countries like the USA, UK, Japan and China raise our kind and then put them to the knife. But at least they do it in a systematic and clean manner. Abattoirs in India are simply ghastly. Comparisons can easily be drawn between them and the caverns that the early man used back in the day. April 2015 | The Beat

Simply put, the human stomach is like a bottomless pit of doom for all animals. Now that the ban is in place, I hear they started serving the meat of other animals such as kangaroos and deer. What’s next? Gorillas? Chimpanzees? Oh apologies, I forget that humans don’t eat other primates. Or do they in some dreadful part of the world? I shudder to think. But coming back to the subject of the ban, from what I can make out, this is really a ploy on the part of some people to gain some political limelight. That new minister Narendra Modi and his team have been accused of inciting religious favoritism. Logic dictates that this means we are nothing more than a playing card for the humans, who decide our fate according to their need of power. Such is the travesty of being born fourlegged and without a human tongue, I suppose. But are we to rejoice in the relief that this ban offers us? Or are we to tread lightly and monitor political developments to ensure the safety of our kind? The whole thing is just exasperating! One of my cow friends tells me, over a session of wallowing in a cold pool, “religion my left udder!”. These humans will not hesitate to butcher our entire kind if it suits their purpose. I interjected and spoke of some valorous ladies and gentlemen who fight diligently for our rights, to which he simply swayed his head irritably and asked how much have they actually been able to achieve? The question had me tongue tied. For now, we are jubilant at the thought of a long and complete life, but should the political landscape shift, then we might start thinking of packing our bags and heading to ashrams run by Jains and vegetarians. God bless their souls. The fact of the matter remains, that banning beef in one state is doing nobody any good. And to those who subscribe to the theory of one step at a time, I say easier said than done with the saw blade hanging over our heads.

We Review

Storytelling on canvas By Samreen Tungekar An artist’s forte lies in his ability to communicate through paintings, to make his audience relate to his art. The latest exhibition of artist Paresh Hazra’s paintings communicates different faces of life and colour in an enticing way. For what he is known is his tempera, and this collection has 18 paintings in old egg tempera, a technique where egg yolk, linseed oil and mastic varnish are mixed in water in equal proportions. The one that grabs attention out of the tempera paintings is The Mermaid, which is of a beautiful Indian mermaid wearing ornaments. The colours splashed on the canvas bring out a certain kind of curiosity to it, making one delve deeper and think about the kind of portrayal the artist is trying to bring out. As he is well known for his Tempera paintings, there is a different aspect in this exhibition, of his charcoal paintings and a beautiful mixed media work that bring out a different side of talent in him. Summer Laughter is one of the best out of his nine charcoal paintings, as it shows emotions associated with summer. If one draws a parallel, we usually relate summer to a season of happiness and sunshine, and the artist is bringing out just that in this painting. It shows two faces, both giving a mysteriously happy look. The absolute delight of colour block on canvas is his mixed media painting “Thinker”, which reflects the process of a person’s mind, clouded with several thoughts and clogged with so many things to do. He brings out the melancholic confusion of a man’s mind with primary colours on canvas. These brilliantly textured paintings will make you think, reflect and curious. Hazra’s collection should be on every art lover’s priority list this month. Must see, must think! Address: Crimson - The Art Resource, 32 Cunningham Road, Bangalore 560052 Timings: onwards

11pm

Date: Open April 11.

till April 2015 | The Beat

We Review: Film and Book

Film: NH10 By Samreen Tungekar NH10, marking the debut of Anushka Sharma as a producer, is the reflection of a dark reality of the world that has been for centuries altogether, and how the world has learned to ignore this dark reality. But when someone decides to speak up against it, it is not until they lose every inch of humanity that they are heard.

Arjun(Neil Bhoopalam) and Meera(Anushka Sharma), are a couple from Gurgaon. When Meera heads out for a late business meeting, she is attacked by goons. She manages to escape, but is mentally scarred with the incident. Arjun decides to take her for a weekend to a luxurious resort, as it happens to be her birthday too. They set off for a road trip and take the National Highway 10 route, but their lives change forever with one stop at a dhaba for refreshments, when Arjun sees something that he decides he has to stand up against. But will he be able to fight one of the society’s oldest menaces or has he just put their lives in the biggest danger there could be? The film’s underlying message is honour killing in the Indian society. It is not so much about the honour killing, which we are all aware still exists majorly, but about how these cases are not reported. There are numerous cases where even the policemen are involved in the heinous crime. The journey depicted in this film is not only about two people trying to es-

cape village goons, but about how difficult it is to bring light to something as gruesome as killing in the name of the family’s respect. From despair to fear, from hope to hatred, this film brings out a plethora of emotions and makes one feel as frustrated as the protagonists on screen. Coming to performances, you have never seen Anushka Sharma look this fit and appear this strong. Enough with the Punjabi kudi dressing and bubbly roles, this one is a stunner! She is fierce, strong and fearless. Her portrayal of Meera is what lifts up the storyline majorly and keeps one hooked to every scene. Neil’s character Arjun is who one builds a love-hate relationship with. One loves him for having the courage to stand up for the wrong thing, but one hates him for unnecessarily risking their lives too. The film has a brilliant storyline that has been brought on screen with great screenplay and strong performances. It is a must watch!

Truth: A dream within a dream after she receives the news of her best friend, Meg committing suicide by consuming a bottle of industrial cleaner. She crumbles into pieces, shocked.

By Sharangee Dutta Sometimes being with someone throughout your life might not suffice to know that person completely. Sometimes a sudden twist of fate can destroy your lifelong trust in a blink of an eye. Sometimes the person you love can turn out to be a total stranger. Gayle Forman’s new release I Was Here revolves around such a theme. It traces the life of a young eighteen-year-old, Cody Reynolds 40

However, death is always not the end. As Cody ventures out in a quest to find as to why Meg left her all alone, she arrives at the biggest truth of her life. She stumbles upon a series of secrets about Meg. The truth shakes her, and makes her feel like she has been friends with a total stranger throughout her life. It is this revelation that sets Cody on a journey of self-discovery. As she gets deeper and deeper into solving the suicide case of Meg, Cody learns a lot about her own life. This book is classic Gayle Forman style of storytelling, holding onto her style of blending emotion, mystery and tragedy beautifully in her writing. The simple life of April 2015 | The Beat

Cody makes the reader connect to her easily, and in fact grow with her throughout the novel. The more she solves Meg’s suicide case the more she gets deeply woven into it, realizing that the perfect Meg she knew wasn’t that perfect after all. The way Forman unfolds this realization is wonderful, and engaging. The book is all about understanding. It circles around Cody, and how she deals with the various realizations of love, life and death, becoming a completely different person eventually who has perception and substance to act maturely. Gayle Forman’s books are always a roller-coaster of emotions. They transfer the reader into a whole new world, leaving a little piece of the journey engraved into their hearts. I Was Here lives up to the expectations, and completely adheres to her style of writing.

We Review: Restaurant

Have the perfect The perfect ambience comfort food @ with appetizing food HongKong Noodles @GrabEat

By Samreen Tungekar

By Sharangee Dutta

There can never be an excess of good Asian food joints! HongKong Noodles has recently opened and has a wide variety of Chinese and Thai food to choose from. Good starters, momos, soups et al at a reasonable rate under one roof is the best thing about this place.

Looking for a nice hangout with good food at pocket friendly prices? Then, a small joint among a series of famous ones located in Koramangala is certainly the place to go.

Starting with their appetizers, if you want something sweet to have with dry noodles but would not want to opt for a gravy based dish, try their Red Dragon Chicken. The quantity is a little more than enough for two people, and it is diced chicken made in some tangy, sweet and spicy sauce that will keep your noodles good company. Speaking of noodles, their hakka noodles are pretty regular, but team it up with the right kind of starter like the Pepper Lemon Chicken and you have yourself a lovely meal! No Chinese meal can be complete without momos, and this place gives you pan fried, steamed or deep fried, whatever floats your boat! Their schezwan chicken momos are to die for, steamed and stuffed with chicken. A must try at this restaurant would be their Malaysian noodles. Now, not every place can do the right kind of Malaysian noodles but this place does it pretty well! Their noodles are cooked enough, not brittle and the sauce used to toss the noodles in is delicious. The noodles are tasty enough to suffice for themselves, This place gives you all your comfort Chinese food in the right amount and hardly puts any pressure on your pocket. Student-friendly, it is! Try it. Rating: 3.5/5

Specializing in momos, wraps, and shakes, the joint offers various other choices as well. Filled with minced chicken and mixed with vegetables, they are tender and melt in your mouth readily. However, the wraps are a big disappointment. Priced at Rs. 125, the wraps taste awful with nothing but molten cheese, shredded chicken, and lettuce stuffed inside them. The bread is poorly prepared and feels like eating uncooked dough. The shakes absolutely make up for the wraps. They are tasty, look good and reasonable in price. The “Mango Tango Milk Shake” is a great choice to beat the present heat. The joint has a nice surprise for all the Bengali residents of the city with “Kolkata Chicken Breast Cutlet,” and “Kolkata Mutton Kossa” featuring on their menu. So, if you’re missing your home-cooked delicacies, you might consider eating out here. The place is quite colorful with orange and white as its color code. Small notes from customers are attached to the walls, giving a sweet feeling. Coming to the service, it is sure to annoy you. The employees are confused, forget to offer water, and can mess up the bill too. If you’re willing to compromise a little to have a nice time with your friends or family then Grab Eat is the right choice. Rating: 2/5.

2721, New Thippasandra Main Road, Next To Post Office, Thippasandra, Bangalore

476, KHB Colony, JNC Main Road, 5th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore.

Cost for two: Rs. 350 approx.

Cost for two: Rs. 500 approx. April 2015 | The Beat

Events Galore CONCERT Living Legends & Budding Masters A beautiful evening of music has been organised by Alliance Francaise of Bangalore, in association with Sursagar. This concert will have a Hindustani vocal recital by Padmabhushan Pandit Chhannulal Mishra from Varanasi, accompanied on tabla by Pandit Ramkumar Mishra and Dr. Ravindra Katoti on the harmonium. Venue: Alliance Francaise of Bangalore Date and time: April 4, 6.30 p.m. Entry free of cost

Photo: bangalore.afindia.org

DANCE World Dance Day with Dance DISCourse Get ready for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s danceathon at Alliance Francaise of Bangalore for International Dance Day, where 108 dancers will perform non-stop from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. This event will have dancers in Bangalore doing all forms of dance, including Bollywood. This danceathon will also have a sale of dance books in half the price along with some films and seminars to celebrate the day. Venue: Alliance Francaise Auditorium, Bangalore Date and time: April 26, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Entry: Free of cost Photo: bangalore.afindia.org

ART Modernist Paradigms, Nativist Leanings Forum Art Gallery is holding the art exhibition of the renowned artist M.Senathipathi, founding member of the Cholamandal artist village. His work revolves around traditional mythology of India and he uses human sentiments to the fullest. Date: March 14 - May 12 Time: 10.30 a.m. onwards Address: 57, 5th Street, Padnabha Nagar , Bangalore

Photo: buzzintown.com 42

April 2015 | The Beat

THE BEAT TEAM

Samreen is very energetic, bubbly and enthusiastic. All these qualities can be seen in her work as well. Sharangee may be tiny, but hell hath no fury like this girl’s scorn. Efficient and determined, she is one earnest girl! Nikunj lightens the mood when the team is under stress, but no one can lighten his mood when he is designing pages. That is how sincere he is. Aadhira is the most sorted member of the team. She is funny, enthusiastic and energetic. She pulls the team together in full power. Darshan is the positive vibe of the team. No one can be stressed out for too long around him as he spreads ‘magic’ with his vibe. Raya is hard working and puts her heart and soul into whatever she does. She is usually spotted talking on the phone, as there is always a story to work on! Asmita is a cricket freak and believes in positivity. She doesn’t talk much but when she does, she’s praising Virat Kohli. Sreemoyee is thoughtful and a music-lover. Dedicated to her work, she pays attention to every little detail and always strives to bring out the best content in her stories. Sameer’s knowledge of the world around him is unmatchable. He loves discussing politics and religion.. He wants to be a political journalist. Mark is particular about the kind of work the team does, but is very encouraging when it comes to the kind of stories anyone wants to do. Girish has the highest level of patience a technical advisor could have, when he is dealing with a team that may just ask the same question repeatedly! He is always there for the team’s designing woes.

April 2015 | The Beat