The Beat, April 2013 by The Beat

The Beat

April 2013

y r w o D

Homosexuality

e c r Divo

TACKLING TABOOS Surrogacy

April 2013 | The Beat

Widowhood 1

April 2013 | The Beat

Content Off the rails

A tale of train travel with a tinge of humor.

Is the curtain coming down on street plays? An article depicting the decreasing popularity of streetplays in the country.

Garment workers stitched up

A story about how garment factory workers are pressured to work in inhospitable conditions.

Cover stories: Tackling taboos This section deals with stories on how India is confronting issues long considered taboo.

April 2013 | The Beat

Politico-musical chairs in Karnataka

An assessment of the BJP’s tenure in the state for the last five years.

Manual scavenging: India’s dirty secret Despite a government ban on manual scavengers, they’re still working in the city.

22 The tale of a pipe dweller A photo essay on an evicted Ejipura resident.

26 We review... ...a recent Bollywood film and a restaurant in the city.

The Beat is a publication by magazine students of Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media. All rights are 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 2013 | The Beat

The Beat Editor Pyusha Chatterjee Subeditor Mark Austin

From the editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desk India

is a land of diverse cultures that attracts people from all over the world. But unfortunately, it is inhabited by too many people whose minds are filled with stereotypes and prejudices.

Page designers Amrita Ray Debanti Roy Nijhum Rudra Nupur Gour Pushkar Banakar Reshma Tarwani Sidharth Shekhar Sumit Udita Chaturvedi Vintu Augustine

In many parts of the country, widow remarriage is still seen as something shameful.

Proof Reader Pushkar Banakar

Some practices that were stigmas earlier are coming into the mainstream and are being encouraged, such as surrogacy, adoption of children with special needs, women taking up unconventional jobs and so on.

Logo designer Robin Sinha Cover photo: Udita Chaturvedi Email your feedback: magazine@iijnm.org April 2013 | The Beat

In many places, the father of a bride has to pay a huge amount of dowry to her in-laws. Newlywed brides are beaten and abused by their husbands and in-laws if her father is unable to pay a handsome dowry. Meanwhile, people from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community are still fighting for their rights. But there are encouraging signs that Indians are beginning to leave behind their feudal mind-set. Support is growing for remarriages of widows and divorcees, people are speaking out against the dowry system, and the LGBT community is coming out of the shadows.

Keeping in view the current scenario, I and my team members have tried to paint a picture of how India is tackling taboos. The magazine also has other interesting articles that we hope will grab your attention. I also take this opportunity to thank my team for their efforts and bid farewell to all as this is the last issue of The Beat in 2013. Happy reading!

Pyusha Chatterjee

HUMOR

Off the rails “Yaatrigan

kripya dhyaan de!” (Passengers, please pay attention!)

The Indian Railways is one of the most interesting and entertaining modes of transportation in India. Thank goodness the British thought of introducing trains to India! Interestingly, the train ride is not even half as much fun if you’re traveling with the upper middle class or the elite in the air-conditioned coaches. Train rides are fun, lively and noisy in the sleeper coaches of the Indian Railways. For those who are unfamiliar with the Indian train ride in a sleeper coach, here is a sketch of what it’s like. As soon as you get out of your car outside the railway station with your luggage, coolies or porters dressed in red shirts crowd around you asking if you need help with the luggage. The amount of attention you receive from the coolies is usually proportionate to the size and number of pieces of luggage the passenger is carrying. Often when you’re bidding adieu to whoever has come to see you off, you turn around and see a porter already holding your suitcase over his head waiting for you to tell him the train name and coach number. For those who have yet to experience walking behind a coolie who is carrying your luggage, here’s a tip—you need to walk fast! No matter how heavy the luggage is that the coolie is carrying, he’ll always walk way ahead of you. And you feel that he might just be capable of running away with your luggage or losing you in the crowd. Platforms are always jam-packed. There is never enough space on the platforms to walk in a straight line—you need to go criss-cross, jumping over people’s luggage, avoiding stepping on banana peels by inches and climbing over someone’s legs. Yes, Indian railway platforms have banana peels thrown on the ground (though usually Platform 1 is kept rather clean), people sleeping anywhere on the ground and in any direction. You hear a ting-tong and a lady begins to announce the status of a train. Most of the time they announce how late a particular train is running. Now, you’re on a crowded platform where people are continuously talking to somebody or other and there are sounds of luggage being dragged or pushed into trains, and the lady starts talking in an accent and tone you can’t catch. You tend to miss out on words (usually important ones like the train name and time of departure).

entire berth to yourself all the time.

Seat hoggers, beggars, eunuchs, rodents and roaches After you manage to get into the coach, after pushing yourself and pulling your luggage from between the scores of people trying to enter the train at the same time, there might just be somebody else waiting to share your seat “till the next station, please.” And throughout the journey, somebody or the else come and asks you to “adjust till the next station, please.” Oh, and when you feel tired and want to sleep, you just can’t ignore the crying babies (I don’t know why mothers can’t keep their children from yelping) and snoring uncles! Then there are beggars who keep coming to your compartment and if you choose to ignore them, they start pull your sleeve or the hem of your trousers. They will even curse you, by the way, if you outright refuse to pay them alms. Talking about curses, the sleeper class of the Indian railway is one of the favorite places for eunuchs. They will literally force you to pay them. The funniest part is, when they hit on the young men and boys in the train. They run their fingers down the boys’ faces or hold their arms and talk about their muscles. They do this to make them uncomfortable. Once they are, they usually end up paying something to the eunuchs. If you’re afraid or cockroaches and rats, then the sleeper class or any other lower class is definitely not for you. Running all over your luggage under the berth are hundreds of cockroaches and scores of mice. They run here and there and make you feel as if you are intruding into their home. For those of you who are a little finicky about drinking water and hygienically prepared food, avoid eating pantry-cooked food which lies all over the floor in the pantry coach with the same rodents running over and around it. Also, avoid the mineral drinking water bottles. They are filled from the taps from the platform and sealed used one of those liquid glues. But one thing about the Indian railways, even if you don’t have a confirmed berth or seat you can always bribe our concerned, generous, well-wishing traveling ticket examiner for one.

By Udita Chaturvedi

Anyway, the train comes and you think you’ll just go, sit and relax on the seat? Well, you’ll do all of that—just don’t expect to get your

April 2013 | The Beat

THEATER

Is the curtain coming down on street plays?

India, theater is considered to be one of the most prestigious art forms. Numerous bigwigs of the theater industry have been honored with several awards of national and international fame. But today, the state of street theater, a very basic form of theater art, lies in a shambles. Even a theater-loving city like Bangalore fails to appreciate its importance. Street plays are arguably one of the oldest forms of theater, dating back to the ancient times of the Roman Empire though street plays or street theater seems to have existed well before that. As it was thought that this form of art would survive the tests of time like its conventional counterpart, the art has disappeared from society and has become nearly extinct. So what exactly are street plays? Street plays, as the name suggests, are plays performed in an open area, mostly on the streets. The players don’t receive a regular income. Usually, their income is the money collected in a hat, which audience members voluntarily give at the end of a performance. To understand how street plays rose to their zenith of popularity and what caused their sudden downfall, it is important to know a little about their history. Street plays had been conventionally used in pre-medieval times as the only form of public communication and entertainment. During the medieval era, street plays became an important tool for spreading awareness among the people about issues relating to health and others. Like everything else, street plays have their share of advantages and their disadvantages. The primary advantage is that the entertainment provided to the people is absolutely free of cost. It also does not require any specific designated area. In today’s space-crammed world, this turns out to be a great advantage. Another advantage is that the theme of the play can literally be anything under the sky! Social activists use street plays as a powerful weapon to increase awareness among everyone. One such activist was Akram Feroze. Akram, a college dropout, took to street plays to make the tribal woes heard. He worked for the welfare of tribes along the Maharashtra-Karnataka and Karnataka-Andhra borders. Currently, he is on a cycle trip across the country to work for the welfare of tribes across the country. He has aptly named his journey “The Cycle Natak’ which literally translates means cycle play.

of the declining popularity of street plays. “I used to perform in a street play group back in Delhi, but the number of people watching my street plays started dwindling and I had to quit,” he said. “That’s how I landed in Bangalore.” Vikram left Delhi and his passion for street plays due to its decreasing popularity. He had started street plays as he was passionate about them although he knew that this would not generate much in the way of earnings for him. But he quit street plays as his income had come down from Rs.300 per act to a paltry Rs.30 per act. “Street plays require a lot of practice, dedication and hard work. One wrong move and we tend to make fools out of ourselves on the street in front of a huge audience,” said Vikram. Other members of Tahatto blamed the advent of movies and technology for the downfall of street plays. “With so many new and easy ways of accessing information of any kind, it’s very difficult for us to convince our audience to stay back in an auditorium for a couple of hours and watch our play” Prashanth said. “I guess cell phones are our biggest enemy.” There were some politically influenced reasons for the downfall of street plays. The Naxalites or the Maoists as they are more often called, used these street plays to influence the rural and the tribal people to pick up arms against the government. The country’s internal security was at threat. There came a time when every street play was looked at suspiciously. This contributed majorly to the decline of this easy-to- watch, free form of theater. It would be interesting to see if the efforts of people like Akram revive the near-extinct art form or else we will see more and more people like Vikram lose their passion for it.

By Pushkar Banakar

Vikram of Tahatto, a Bangalore-based theater group, is one victim

April 2013 | The Beat

LABOUR

Garment workers stitched up When

Forum hears shocking stories of abuse

It shouldn’t surprise us that the brands of countries including Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and the like are all makes produced mostly in Asian countries, including India. And Bangalore is home to many such exclusive and well-known brands’ manufacturing units. They are spread across over 1,700 small and big units of more than 170 private firms with around 500,000 laborers in the city.

The National Human Rights Tribunal held in Bangalore in November heard appalling revelations by garment workers regarding poor living wages and indecent working conditions. Around 250 garment workers from Gurgaon, Tirupur and Bangalore who participated in the tribunal told stories of meager wages; physical and verbal abuse when they failed to meet impossible targets; having to work overtime without pay; experiencing gender discrimination; denial of the right to unionize, and so on.

Seldom do these people’s lives cross our minds and still less are the chances that we give a thought to their lives.

The tribunal provided a platform for the garment workers to express their grievances to help improve their deplorable lives.

purchasing a shirt or a pair of pants we usually look at the brand—Walmart, JCPenney, Gap, Van Heusen—and seldom think of the hands that have worked on them.

Have you ever thought about them?

The struggle to hike minimum wages and improve working conditions of garment and textile workers has been protracted and has made little headway. R. Pratibha, Vice President, Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU), Bangalore, spelled out just how little progress has been made in improving the lives of garment workers. “The demand for a hike in daily wages from Rs.100 to Rs.200 was made in 2000. It took 10 years for the minimum wage to be fixed at Rs.127 in 2009 and at Rs.172 in 2012. Now, our demand is to have the minimum wage fixed at Rs.300 or Rs.350, which will take another 10 years for certain, given the lethargic approach of the government toward the working class,” she said.

Photo: Vintu Augustine

April 2013 | The Beat

No overtime due to impossible targets Low salary, disrespect and maltreatment toward workers, fear of harassment, unstable jobs, lack of insurance schemes and factories shutting down without paying salaries are some of the grievances of the garment workers in the city. Anil Kumar, 19, who works with Sara Garment Manufacturers on Mysore Road, said: “I am assigned to work for eight hours daily, but usually it gets extended to another 1½ hours due to my failure to hit the target on time. How can I hit an impossibly huge target within the stipulated working hours? They never pay me for the overtime under the accusation that I was supposed to finish my work on time.” Kumar had to quit his studies in order to earn and assist his ailing mother and a school-going younger sister. Having no father, he struggles to meet both the ends with a meager salary of Rs.5,000 a month. Jyoti, 36, a mother of two, works at a garment factory on Hosur Road. She wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every day to complete her household chores and reach the plant well in time for the shift that begins at 8 a.m. She returns home only after dusk, working overtime to earn enough to meet the added expenses of house rent and her daughter’s educational expenses. Her daughter Nisarga, 11, studies in sixth grade at an Englishmedium school. “Without working overtime, it would be impossible for me to meet the expenses of house rent, and children’s education,” Jyoti said. “It is hard to meet the expenses with a house rent of Rs.2,500 monthly, Rs.20,000 per annum for the school fee of my daughter and food, clothing, medicine, travel and all the other unforeseen expenses with a meager salary of Rs.5,000.” She remained silent about paying the house rent on time regularly. With just a salary of Rs.4,500-Rs.5,000, people struggle to meet both ends of life in a metro city like Bangalore, where every little thing is costly.

Low salary, disrespect and harassment, unstable jobs, and lack of insurance schemes are some of the grievances of the garment workers in the city. April 2013 | The Beat

Workers scared to join unions Regardless of the abuse and harassment from the supervisors and managers, the womenfolk that make up 90 percent of garment factory workers in Bangalore, work uncomplainingly to earn that precious sum, which is not equal to the work they do. The fact that only just over 1 percent of the total garment workers in Bangalore are members of GATWU speaks volumes about the harassment they face and their fear of getting fired. “We are not allowed to be part of any organizations, and we are not aware of any such either. They (managers and supervisors) threaten to fire us if we register ourselves with any organization or be a part of any strike or rally,” said Purna, a worker at the Bombay Rayon Fashions Ltd. on Mysore Road.

Purna

Worker, Bombay Rayon Fashions Ltd.

“We are not allowed to be part of any organizations. They threaten to fire us if we register ourselves with any organization or be a part of any strike or rally” Asked about the dearth of membership at GATWU, Pratibha, the vice president, said: “Only about 6,000 of them are registered with the union. It is very difficult to organize them as many of the first-generation workers do not feel the need to belong to any union, and the rest are scared of the management.” However lengthy the list of garment workers’ problems is, the most pressing of them is their low wages. It is because they are desperate for money that they turn up for work. Deprived of adequate pay, they are denied of a decent living.

and C-class about Rs.6,000. Helpers have to be satisfied with a minimum salary of Rs.4,000-Rs.4,500. It is here that the demand of GATWU to fix the minimum daily wage at Rs.350 gains momentum and importance.

A.T. Gopal

Manager, Bombay Rayons

“The demand of the workers union is to fix the minimum wage at Rs.350, in which case the factories have to be closed down rather than run at a loss.” A.T. Gopal, a manager at Bombay Rayons, Peenya, Bangalore, said: “The demand of the workers union is to fix the minimum wage at Rs.350, in which case the factories have to be closed down rather than run at a loss.” That sounds hard to believe given the large profits they amass from exporting their products to foreign countries, where the cost of a single shirt or pair of jeans amounts to more than the total monthly earnings of a third-class worker. GATWU President Jayaram K. R. said: “The Garment and Textile Workers’ Union all over Asia is trying to bring their concerns under one umbrella and win the battle for decent minimum wages against the big brands. If the workers have to benefit a decent pay, the export brands need to share a certain percent of their profit with the manufacturers who in turn can increase the wages.” The national tribunal has, however, brought about a general awareness, and GATWU’s common venture to fight out the manufacturers and their owners, ought to bear fruit in the near future. And that alone seems to be the sole hope for the garment workers as of now.

Minimum daily wage of Rs.350 sought The garment and textile workers are paid on the basis of the grade they belong to, ranging from A to C. A-class workers earn over Rs.8,000, B-class earn Rs.7,000,

By Vintu Augustine

TACKLING TABOOS

To most Indians, homosexuality is a disease It

was published, she had to face an obscenity trial as the story discussed the relationship between two women and also because a part of the story dealt with pedophilia.

was a hot summer afternoon. I was walking through the lanes of Connaught Place in Delhi with my friend, when we encountered a man who later became a part of our ongoing conversation.

Maybe Indian society was not as progressive then as it is now, but even when director Deepa Mehta tried doing the same through her movie Fire (1996), which portrayed a relationship between two women, it raised a huge controversy.

He must have been in his early 20s. He was wearing a body hugging pink T-shirt and jeans of a similar fit. My friend said excitedly: “Oh! Check out that guy, he is gay!” I was a little surprised at her comment and asked her that how could she be so sure about the statement she just made and she replied, “Which normal guy wears a body hugging T-shirt, that too pink?” There were two extremely disturbing aspects to the statement she made. One was generalizing, and the other—and more crucial one—was her thinking that homosexuals are abnormal. But her statement reflected the true perceptions that Indian society has about homosexuals and homosexuality.

Prejudice runs deep Homosexuality is one of the most widely talked about social stigmas that is still pres-

Posters were burned and protests were being made to stop the film from being screened as some right-wing groups claimed that it would corrupt Indian culture—a culture that has openly discussed homosexuality in one of the most descriptive ways, not to forget the positions suggested, in the famous book The Kama Sutra.

ent in the Indian society as well as in many other parts of the world. The topic has raised a lot of controversy since the time it started being talked or written about in the open. In the 1940s, when Ismat Chugtai’s Lihaf

Indian cinema.

Fire was later listed as the one of the most controversial films made in the history of

Anti-gay attitudes remain entrenched Although we are constantly being reminded that our society is gradually opening

April 2013 | The Beat

up to the idea of homosexuality, it is far from being the truth. Yes, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized consensual sexual acts between people of the same gender, has finally been removed. There have been protests for LGBT rights, and there have been a few films made on this issue as well, but it has hardly made any difference to the perspective of majority of the population. “When my parents got to know about my sexual orientation, they took me to a psychiatrist as they thought it was some mental illness that could be cured. I was shocked. Here I was telling them about my feelings for someone and all they could conclude was that I was mentally ill. I had never felt so humiliated in my life,” said Shahnawaz, a photographer. Social ostracism is the main reason why most gay people in our society are afraid to talk about their sexual orientation. “Once, while I was just taking a stroll in a park, a bunch of youngsters pointed out at a gay couple sitting at a distance and started laughing at them, as if they were some sort of clowns or some kind of an alien species. Then one of the guys shouted aloud, “Look at that gay bastard!’” “I was disgusted. It is hard to imagine how frustrating and uncomfortable it must be for them to be a homosexual in a society which is so insensitive and narrow-minded,” said Devika Sahni, an employee at UNESCO.

‘I felt so helpless’ This is the way homosexuality is treated in our country. The moment we see a guy wearing tight-fitting clothes and talking in a soft voice, the instant reaction is a raising

April 2013 | The Beat

of eyebrows and a rolling of the eyes and a comment in a mocking tone, “He must be a gay.” “I was once standing in the railway station, waiting for my friend. After a while I noticed a few men walking towards me. At first they started commenting and passing lewd remarks at me and then one of them stepped forward and started caressing my body. When I tried to move backwards they said: ‘Why you are shying away, you are a defected piece anyway. Come with us, we’ll pay you for the night,’” said Parth, a law student. “There was a policeman standing right beside me, he was witnessing everything, but he just stood there grinning constantly. I felt so helpless. There were four men and I was so scared that I ran as fast as I could from the station. I have never been able to forget the incident; it keeps haunting me all the time,” he added.

and homosexuals, but it has even a longer way to go in completely accepting it. Today, if a member of a family finds out that their son, daughter, brother or sister is a homosexual there is only one person that gets a knock at the door—a psychiatrist. The truth is homosexuality, especially for the women in India, threatens the very patriarchal nature of society. The truth is that we still cannot come to terms with the fact that a homosexual is as normal’ as any other person, only with a different sexual orientation. The truth is that most of the population treats homosexuality as something that they always thought it to be: a disease.

By Amrita Ray

It is true that our society has come a long way to be tolerant towards homosexuality

TACKLING TABOOS

Surrogacy—no longer a stigma India

is advancing in all spheres, and medical advances in India have been massive in the past 25 years. Bangalore, apart from being the most happening city in terms of parties and fun in India, has also been a city where more and more educational and medical institutes are coming up. This has helped Bangaloreans to open up to new and unconventional medical practices. One such practice has been surrogacy. Surrogacy was looked down upon till very recently because it was considered to be against culture and tradition. Of late, surrogacy in the city and the country has seen a steady rise. Surrogacy is a complex medical procedure, but in simple language it can be explained as the transferring of a fetus into another woman’s womb for it to develop. Surrogacy began at one of the best medical schools of the world, Harvard Medical School where Dr. John Rock became the first person to fertilize an ovum outside the uterus of a female. This became the benchmark for the practice and further research in this field.

The rise of surrogacy can be attributed to two reasons according to Dr. Mailini Prakash. Firstly, the rise in the drinking and smoking habits among women, which leads to complications in their reductive system and second the cathinking of the present-day modern

proreer-oriented woman.

Dr. Malini Prakash, gynecologist at the IV More fertility clinic said: “I have been here for the past three years and I have seen the number of patients rise. More than the numbers, women are more open to the idea of surrogacy today.” In most cases, surrogate mothers are paid a sum of Rs.3,000 a month to take care of themselves and their growing fetus. They are also paid an amount of Rs.25,000 for taking up the surrogacy.

consent. Her child’s fetus was being raised in a surrogate mother. Payal (name changed), a widow, was the surrogate mother of the child. Payal, a 30-year-old housewife said: “I was not having a child of my own and I could understand Sushma’s pain hence I decided to help her by being her child’s surrogate mother.” Today, Sushma is the mother of a healthy 2-year-old baby boy, Arjun. Payal was adamant that she did not do it for money. She said: “I did not do this for money. They paid me money, but I refused to take it. I can understand the pain of a woman who does not have a child and it was out of mere goodwill that I did it.” The above case was that of surrogacy out of force. Surrogacy has lost its stigma status to such an extent that it has been taken up by Mrs. Anjali Reddy out of choice. Anjali is a senior executive in a private firm. Being a career-oriented woman, she chose to have a baby via surrogacy. “I did not want to cut my career short by resorting to pregnancy. Moreover I did not see anything wrong with surrogacy.” Today, Anjali is a top notch executive and also the mother of a healthy 3-year-old. The practice of surrogacy is considered a boon for couples who fail to conceive. Like all good things, even this practice has its shades of gray. It has been made a commercial business by touts. Although the practice of commercial surrogacy is not entirely illegal in the country, it is not taken well by Indian society. Surrogacy that does not involve the exchange of money is called altruistic surrogacy. Surrogacy, although gaining popularity among Indians has been a regular practice abroad. The rules for surrogacy are very complex in India, especially for foreign nationals who want to go in for surrogacy in India. This makes it a little more difficult for foreigners to opt for surrogacy in the country. Keeping the change in lifestyles and the broader outlook of today’s women in mind, there would be a day when the previously stigmatized custom of surrogacy will become lot easier and more prominently will be practiced in a conservative nation like ours.

Sushma Dey, (34) an executive in a multinational company, has been married for six years and has not been able to conceive. She was a regular alcohol drinker. “After I got married, I was not able to conceive and my gynecologist told me my fallopian tubes were affected due to the alcohol” Dey said.

By Nupur Gour

Dey was suggested to go for surrogacy. After a lot of deliberation with her family, which was very supportive, she decided to give her

April 2013 | The Beat

TACKLING TABOOS

Women taking jobs once the preserve of men “Ticket kodi sir.” A feminine voice unsettled my reverie. A sweet voice demanding a ticket in one of the most unusual places—a BMTC bus—would generally unsettle you.

The owners have their own reasons to employ women staff. Going by the words of a petrol bunk owner, women workers are more sincere towards work.

The bus and I were going to Electronic City, and for the first time, since I boarded it, I noticed the lady conductor. She was walking the entire length of the bus with agility and handling the passengers equally quickly. The Indian woman has finally come, I realized.

“They are more into work rather than taking smoke and tea breaks. Also, they are punctual,” says the owner.

We talk about women empowerment, we talk about women equality and then we talk about talk shows on women empowerment and equality but what do we do? The problem with us Indians is that we are loquacious. But these women have taken a step forward. A rather small step, maybe, but remember, one small step for woman can always be that giant leap that mankind needs. And this change is not limited to Bangalore. Lady autorickshaw drivers whizzing past on the fast moving roads of Delhi is not an uncommon sight anymore. They have shed their inhibitions. They have challenged the men on their home turf—a turf that requires physical prowess. And they are making their mark. Meet Kaveri S., a female bus conductor of one of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses running between Jaynagar 4th Block and Marathahalli. Kaveri is 33 and apart from dispensing her duty as a lady conductor, she is a mother of two. “My husband and his parents have always been supportive. I have never felt the need to compromise with my domestic duties for the sake of my work,” Kaveri says. The story of women venturing out on the lesser taken paths is not limited to buses and autos. You can find them in their blue uniforms, standing on petrol bunks across the city, catering to your vehicle’s empty tanks. You can find them supervising their male and female colleagues at garment factories in the city. They are right there directing traffic at the signal you daily cross. Yes! They are carving a niche in the most unusual of places. Unlike Kaveri, Laxmi did face some initial reluctance when she decided to take up the job of a filling lady at one of the petrol pumps off Brigade Road. “My husband did not believe it. Initially he was not comfortable with the idea of my working at a petrol bunk,” says Laxmi, 50. However, a look at Laxmi clad in her blue uniform over her sari, handling the dispenser efficiently, clearly indicates that she has overcome all resistance. The staff and administration treat Laxmi with respect and on equal terms.

There may be many Laxmis and Kaveris who otherwise remain in oblivion. Once in a while we bump into them and they pull us out of our reveries to register their presence. “I never thought I am doing something very different,” says Kaveri. For her, meting out her duties as a conductor and domestic chores as a wife and mother are more than enough. No sooner does one utter the words “women of substance” we Indians are reduced to our voluble best. We talk about Miss Universe and Miss World, we talk about celebrities and socialites, and we talk about each such woman who has reached the echelon of success. But in the limelight of these substantial women, the Laxmis and the Kaveris are overshadowed. Prema Ramanna is another such name that brings smiles to Bangalore. She is the first bus driver employed by BMTC. What defines a woman of substance? Prema has grit. In the wake of the recent bus strike called by the BMTC drivers association, she was one of the few drivers who were operative. Unfurled of the negative responses she gathered from her colleagues, Prema delivered her duty with pride. Our society has a magnetic structure. It has two poles. And they remain at the farthest ends from each other. What we tend to see is that stratum of society where romanticism still holds on the threads and realism struggles to set in. What we ignore is realism where romanticism is a luxury. Underneath the shadows of the so-called women of substance nurtures another breed, unobserved and ignored. This breed is constantly taking the challenges thrown at them, by the collar. They have treaded the lesser traveled waters. However, every time I bump into a woman from this breed, a line crosses my mind: “The desired land lies on the other side of the wilderness.” The irony of our society is in its obsession with success. In the race to salute the rising sun we turn a blind eye towards the glittering stars.

By Sumit

“She is one of the oldest and most trusted employees,” says a staff of the bunk.

April 2013 | The Beat

TACKLING TABOOS Dr. Aloma Lobo with her daughter Nisha

Photo: Satyamev Jayate

April 2013 | The Beat

TACKLING TABOOS

Would you adopt a child with special needs?

When

we hear a case of adoption, we silently bless the couple in our hearts and pray for the child’s bright future. But would we do the same if we heard that a couple had adopted a physically or mentally handicapped child? The probability of hearing a “yes” in this case is high, but whether most people would actually feel positive about such an adoption is doubtful. We often start feeling sympathetic toward the couple with pity in our eyes for the child rather than feeling proud and accepting the child the way he or she is. Once I met a little boy with cerebral palsy. He was lying on a couch at my relatives’ place when we went to meet them. When we asked about him, my relatives told me that his parents had gone somewhere and had left him at the house. It is indeed true that we feel uncomfortable in the presence of a person with any form of disability and I was feeling exactly the same but suddenly I felt good and went towards him.

He was very excited to talk to me although he could only throw joyful voices and gestures at me, which I accepted happily. I don’t know what happened, but from that day I started feeling normal in the presence of so-called abnormal people. I don’t think “abnormal” has the right connotation. His mother was a fighter. She said that she always fought with her relatives whenever they said something against him. It is not hard to believe that people are still surrounded by such stigmas in India.

heads the Adoption Coordinating Agency of Karnataka (ACA), Dr. Lobo and her husband adopted a girl child 13 years back.

The girl is visually impaired and has a dermatological problem. She recounted an incident that happened to her when she took the little girl, Nisha, to a mall. A shameless lady asked how she could bring someone like Nisha out in public, and she spat on Nisha. Dr. Lobo tried to comfort her daughter and said sorry, to which Nisha, who was much younger then, asked why she was the one being sorry. It was the lady’s problem, Nisha said, and so she should be the one feeling sorry. Dr. Lobo has six children, including three adopted children. When I met her and asked her how was it like being Nisha’s mother she said: “She is the most loved because she is the youngest. She came into our lives when she was 3 weeks old and she is a part of our family now.. She added that she believes families are “made in heaven.” As a social activist and a doctor, she believes that one has to be comfortable to adopt a child with special needs. One has to completely discard the feeling of pity and learn to accept.

More willing to adopt disabled kids

A shocking encounter with prejudice

According to the records of ACA, Karnataka, a couple from Bangalore adopted a girl from Maharashtra who has a cleft palate two months ago. Vanita, a social worker associated with ACA said the couple knowingly adopted the girl and are very happy with her. Another couple adopted a boy with a hearing problem two years back.

However, my belief that most people look down upon children with special needs got a positive blow when I saw Dr. Aloma Lobo on the reality show Satyameva Jayate, hosted by Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.

Vanita also shared a story she heard from another social worker. She said that in 2010 a couple adopted a boy who did not have a hand. She also said that some couples adopt children with mild problems that are

April 2013 | The Beat

curable, like a hole in the heart, and so on. Two Bangalore couples adopted girls with such a condition in 2008 and 2010, respectively. These were stories of couples from Bangalore who dared to take up the challenge of adopting a child with special needs. There are quite a few who have taken steps to bring about a change not only in Karnataka, but also in India as a whole. However, very few people adopt children with severe impairments. It is mostly the case that couples from abroad adopt children with special needs and impairments. According to ACA, in 2012 seven couples from abroad have adopted children with special needs from India. In fact, a couple from a foreign country recently adopted a hermaphrodite child. Dr. Lobo said: “These couples confidently adopt special needs children. They say that they are educated enough to handle these children and provide good medical facilities which are easily available there.” She added that in India very few people adopt such children as they feel they would be a burden. She said she has often been asked why she and her husband adopted Nisha to which she always replies, “Why shouldn’t we have?” Although very few people are coming forward and adopting children with special needs in India compared with the number doing so in countries like the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, and so on, I can proudly say that though slowly but surely Indians are coming out of the cage of social stigmas.

By Pyusha Chatterejee

TACKLING TABOOS

Widows: Ostracized and socially dead

wasn’t till the 1829 that the practice of sati was officially banned in India by the British. Sati was a social funeral practice in which a widow immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, a social practice common mostly among the Hindus. Yet, even more than a century after the Brits put a ban on this barbarous tradition, incidents of sati were observed in the country. In fact, the tradition is still followed among some extremely orthodox communities of India.

ern state of Uttar Pradesh, away from their family and home.

The status of widows in India has never been too good. Yes, there are very few cases of sati reported, but that doesn’t mean than Indian widows live a fairly decent life. In reality, most of the widows of the country are stigmatized in this society.

They have left their homes or have been disowned by their parents and in-laws, leaving them no choice but to move to the “city of widows” and putting across a smirch on the face of the society. Even their children seem to be indifferent to them, leaving their parents in this plight.

Statistics say there are about 40 million widows in India, which accounts to about 10 percent of the female population of the country. Of these, 15,000-odd widows live in the holy city of Varanasi in the north-

They live in a limbo condition, with hardly any financial, social or medical support from anyone. Some live in rehabilitation homes, some in boarding houses and others on the streets of Varanasi. Based on a study conducted by The Guild of Service, an NGO that promotes the welfare of widows, 41.75 percent of the widows who live on the pavements are aged 60-69.

Varanasi home to many widows A large number of widows from conservative Indian families come to Varanasi to

devote their time to the goddess Radha and god Krishna and spend their time singing praises for them in congregations or asking for alms because the Rs.300 monthly pension to the widows of Varanasi is not enough and quite a few of them don’t even have bank accounts. Some work in people’s houses, others run their own tiny little shops. Some others just while away their day wishing to die. According to the study by The Guild of Service, just 8.75 percent of the widows who beg on the streets of Varanasi are literate. Gayatri lived in a small village of Bihar when she was married off to a 28-yearold man. Four years into the marriage, her husband died in a road accident. She was cursed by her in-laws as a bad omen for the family and disowned. Her own parents had no room for a widow. She was sent away to spend the remaining of her life in Varanasi, away from anyone she knew.

April 2013 | The Beat

She decided to go against her in-laws and married the widower anyway. It’s been 10 years now her in-laws have neither spoken to her nor seen her face. Anamika doesn’t regret her decision, she’s happy with her husband, her son and her daughter-in-law.

Savitri Misra, who works for an NGO in Varanasi, told many more stories of widows like Gayatri and of those who had spent their lives in misery and died in the city of Varanasi.

Age-old tradition still followed

This is the story of a modern, educated, urban, upper-middle-class family of India.

Recently the Supreme Court expressed concern on the horrific news of how the deceased widows were being treated. Due to lack of funds or a family to take care of the deceased widow, the bodies are chopped into pieces and stuffed into a gunny bag before being thrown away.

Anamika is not alone. Quite a few of even the “modern families” think that a widow is inauspicious and should not be allowed to be a part of celebrations like weddings, childbirth and others.

Even years of NGO and government work in the city, the lives of the widows has not improved. A majority of widows in Varanasi are still supposed to lead a life away from the worldly pleasures.

Is society ready for a change? The Indian mentality and even the traditions are open to remarriages of widower but against those of widows. Gender discrimination! What else? We seem to live in a patriarchal and hypocritical society.

Traditionally, a widow should only be clad in a white sari with no jewelry or bindi on her forehead. They should not have the joys of eating sweets or meat and most orthodox widows of Varanasi are even supposed to shave off their heads. This is done to keep them away from attracting the male gaze or sexual desires among men. They nearly live a life of being socially dead. Scarier is the truth behind a lot of young widows of Varanasi who are forced into prostitution to earn a living for their boarding houses. If you think this is a story narration of Deepa Mehta’s 2005 movie Water, then you should know that the movie deals with the true stories of widows of Vrindavan and Varanasi. Yes, all this still happens in a small part of India where a large population of widows lives. Apparently, in the Indian conservative context, a woman’s life is purposeless after the death of her husband. Varanasi specially, presents a blazing gender bias among the Hindus. With the evolution of time and baby steps towards modernity, urban India has fairly improved. Urbanized Indians are not as inhumane to the widows as they were earlier, but then their condition isn’t the most ideal either.

‘We’ll disown you if you marry another man’ Anamika Gautam was 42 when her husband died due to cancer. Her in-laws were

April 2013 | The Beat

Talking about traditions in the context of widows, in some northern regions of India, after the death of her husband a woman is married off to her brother-in-law to avoid being raped. Then there is Jyoti from Kanpur who lost her husband when she was 29 and her inlaws took the responsibility to get her married into a nice family, where she now lives happily with two children. very supportive of her and never asked her to wear the conventional white sari that a widow wears. She herself never thought of wearing one of those because the thought scared her as the sari would constantly remind her of her widowhood. Anamika felt lonely and missed the company of a husband. Her only son was studying engineering in Pune while she stayed alone in the house her husband had bought in Delhi. Two years later, she got a marriage proposal from a widower, through a friend of her parents. She considered marrying him and consulted her parents, her son and siblings. They all wished for Anamika’s happiness. She then went to her in-laws to seek their permission. They right away told her, “We’ll disown you if you marry another man.” Anamika was taken aback. She was a doting daughter-in-law and was shocked that her in-laws cared more of what the society would say than caring about her happiness.

Yes, the educated urban class has opened its eyes and a lot of families have become open to remarriages and thrown away their superstitions and age-old traditions. However, we can’t forget that that a large population of India remains illiterate, and widow remarriages are still not common in India, not just in rural India, but even in urban India. People need to break free from the shackles of societal pressure to empower the women. A woman deserves a life even after the death of her husband.

By Udita Chaturvedi

TACKLING TABOOS

Dowry: A medieval menace India

is considered one of the most cultured nations in the world, characterized by its spirituality and respect for education. Unfortunately, the country is still struggling with some medieval systems that are a stain on our image. In spite of rapid innovation and the increasingly high-profile role that women play in all phases of life, the dowry system is still prevalent in India and dowry harassment seems to be increasing day by day.

torture or even kill her.

Karnataka saw most dowry deaths in 2009-10 B.T. Venkatesh, a criminal lawyer at the Karnataka High Court said: “The dowry system is mostly prevalent in parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and some parts of Karnataka. Karnataka has recorded

According the Karnataka State Crime Research Bureau, Bangalore, Tumkur, Mysore, Hassan, Davanagere, Chikkaballapur recorded highest number of dowry deaths in India from 2009 to 2011. In 2009, the state witnessed 15 dowry deaths, while in 2012 it witnessed 13 dowry deaths, and many unsolved dowry-related death cases have been registered.

In India, marriage is considered sacrosanct and occupies a sanctified place in our society. The fear of dowry has transformed marriage into a feared institution. In ancient Indian society there was no system of dowry as it was considered to be highly inauspicious.

In many cases even after marriage a bride is told to bring money from her family to give to the groom’s family, and if she fails to do so the family of the groom may often

Several strict laws have been passed by the Supreme Court of India to outlaw dowry, but this legislation has failed to prevent the menace. Even rich people happily give dowry for their daughters. If girls swear not to marry a greedy man, if they become reasonably self-dependent, then this ugly menace will automatically fade away.

If a bride’s family fails to pay the amount demanded by the groom’s family, the bride gets ill-treated by the in-laws and sometimes she is burned to death.

The dowry system is a great slur on our culture and it hurts the dignity of the man and woman. It is not only illiterate people who are demanding dowry—even educated people are demanding large sums of money before and after marriage.

these 47 women burned themselves alive as they could not bear the extreme agony and pressure for dowry and 225 women committed suicide by hanging themselves, drowning and by consuming poison.”

the highest number of dowry deaths from 2009-10. There were 284 cases of dowry deaths in Karnataka in 2009. Bangalore city has had 65 victims, (in 2009) and out of these, five women were burned to death. Mysore stands second, with eight brides being burned related to dowry. Hubli reported the deaths of six women.” Venkatesh added: “In 2010 there were 375 dowry-related cases in Karnataka. Out of

The district of Mysore recorded 20 dowry deaths in 2008, 16 in 2009, 13 in 2010 and 28 in 2012. The only district in Karnataka which has not recorded any dowry deaths for the past six years is Udupi.

‘My daughter took poison’ Debasish Basu, a lawyer at Kolkata High Court said: “West Bengal, Maharashtra and some parts of South India like Tamil Nadu

April 2013 | The Beat

and Andhra Pradesh recorded a lesser number of dowry deaths in the past eight years. The Supreme Court of India in 1961 passed an act known as the Dowry Prohibition Act, which forbids the giving and receiving of dowry before and after marriage.

took a significant step in 1980 to tackle dowry death cases by issuing an orders that stipulated that if a woman died within five years of her marriage, the case is to be investigated by top police officers of the rank

be completed within three months of the death. The dowry system started from the Rajputs from northern India and it is still practiced over there. If a girl is born in a Rajput family they see it as a curse; in fact, female infanticide is carried out by the Rajputs on a larger scale as they have to pay massive amount of dowry when their girl gets married.

According to the act, paying dowry is a strict punishable offense and it can lead to imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of Rs.50,000 can be imposed on the accused.”

In order to stop this misconduct, young people both men and women should refuse to get married if dowry is demanded by the groom’s family.

In India the system of dowry is entrenched and is followed in our culture without any embarrassment.

The girl should protest against this system as dowry system is partly responsible for the dreadful condition of women in India.

The Dowry Prohibition Act was amended in 1984 and 1986, adding clauses that make giving and receiving dowry a nonbailable offense, and setting a minimum six-year prison sentence for those convicted of killing a woman over dowry.

The dowry system is a great shame for our country. In spite of rapid education among the two gender the system still continues to exist.

But these provisions have had a negligible effect. Pakrippa Putuswamy, a resident of Sandur Taluk, said: “My daughter committed suicide by consuming poison in November 2011 as she could not bear the excessive torture from her husband. “My daughter was married to Ravikumar in Kolar, who is an autorickshaw driver. He used to beat my daughter every day for the pending dowry of Rs.50,000. Ravikumar is now in jail.” The Karnataka Crime Research Bureau

April 2013 | The Beat

of deputy superintendent of police, assistant commissioner of police or assistant superintendant of police.

The Supreme Court of India should strong stand against this isue and it should pass a stronger act.

The postmortem must be completed within two days of the death. Even the Karnataka Police Department imposed a rule in 1987 stipulating that if a woman dies an unnatural death within 10 years of marriage it should be investigated as a murder case and the investigation must

By Nijhum Rudra

POLITICS

Politico-musical chairs in Karnataka: 5 years in a nutshell The

Election Commission has decided that May 5 will be the D-Day of Karnataka politics. Those aged 18 and above get another chance to utilize their adult franchise. The last assembly elections in Karnataka took place in three phases in 2008. May 10, 12 and 22 saw elections on all the 224 assembly constituencies in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party was declared winner, with 110 seats in its kitty. This was clearly not enough to form the government, but despite to the anti-defection law, with the support of six independent MLAs, the BJP formed the first ever government in Karnataka (and South India) on its own. This was when the party with the difference came to power in Karnataka. However, five years down the line, the same party is brimming with differences. Thanks to the passionate love ministers owe to the chief minister’s chair, politics has become a game of musical chairs in Karnataka. Politicians dance to the tune of power. B.S. Yeddyurappa formed the first ever BJP government in Karnataka on May 30, 2008. It was a major victory for the BJP, but the honeymoon period did not last long for the party. Yeddyurappa resigned in 2011 due to his involvement in an illegal mining case. D.V. Sadanand Gowda, an MLA from Chikmagalur Constituency proved to be the elected one following Yeddyurappa’s resignation. With this resignation in 2011 began the game of musical chairs in Karnataka politics. The seat of power was the most sought-after object in the political arena of the state.

fascination. Even when Gowda was busy introducing various schemes for the proper functioning of the state machinery on one front, his differences with Yeddyurappa channeled his efforts to save the chair on another front. Finally, this difference proved to be another blow to the stability of the state government. In July 2012, Jagdish Shettar was sworn in as the new chief minister. Shettar emerged as a forceful contender for the chief minister’s post at the time of Yeddyurappa’s resignation. But it was Gowda who at that time got the pleasure to rest his butt on the most sought after-chair—the chief minister’s chair. However, the internal strife within the party made way for Shettar this time round. Then another chapter was added in this already volatile book of BJP governance in Karnataka. Yeddurappa's first love yet again returned to haunt the politics of Karnataka. Once named in the illegal mining scam and land allotment issues, unfathomable pressure surmounted on Yeddurappa. He resigned from the BJP on Nov. 30 and floated the Karnataka Jana Paksha on Dec. 9.

By Sumit

It was Yeddurappa’s first love and Sadanand Gowda’s object of

April 2013 | The Beat

POLITICS

Manual scavenging: India’s dirty secret “I

am paying them more than Rs.400 for their work, but these dirty fellows are not cleaning the toilets properly!” A lady was shouting angrily in the middle of K.R Market, pointing at a group of men. My curiosity piqued, I went up to the woman and asked her what the matter was. “Why are you interfering in my work?” she snapped. “I am talking to these safai karmacharis [manual scavengers]. They didn’t turn up for their cleaning work yesterday. They’re supposed to clean the toilets and drainage system, but these lower-caste people are not doing so.” According to The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (prohibition) Act 1993, manual scavengers and those who hire them are liable to pay a fine of Rs.500 and serve a year’s imprisonment. Unfortunately, this law has done nothing to change the reality of Indian society. Even now, in many parts of Karnataka, people are practicing manual scavenging on a large scale. They work as contract workers for the private authorities.

In places like K.R Market and Nagarthpet, which are among the most crowded areas in Bangalore, people are still practicing manual scavenging as a business. The scavengers have their own unions to discuss business and resolve customer grievances. Even after implementation of the law, manual scavengers continued to follow their occupation. They have even formed their own unions.

Who would imagine that manual scavenging could turn out to be a business? Well, it is—and a quite lucrative one.

April 2013 | The Beat

Sadashiva , a manual scavenger said: “I was in the scavenging job a few years ago. I used to earn Rs.300 per day. Then I started working as a daily wage laborer where I earned only Rs.100. So I left the job and again became a manual scavenger. I now work under a private contractor.” He added, “With just Rs.100, it’s very difficult for me to feed my family. Currently, I earn more than Rs.500 per day because of these private contractors. They give me my commission and free food, and I am happy to work with this private manual scavenging contract unit.” Many poor people like Sadashiva are very satisfied with their choice of work. They are earning well and their families also don’t mind them working in stinking, polluted pipelines.

Photo: Reshma Tarwani Rekha Narayanan, senior environment engineer at Bangalore’s municipal corporation, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said, “We have come up with a lot of campaigns to encourage manual scavengers to leave this job, but they are still practicing it because they are earning quite a lot of money.”

Happy with their lot One would think that those engaged in manual scavenging, surely one of the dirtiest and inhuman jobs, would feel a sense of shame about their work, but manual scavengers who spoke to The Beat seemed quite satisfied with their lot.

filthy job as early as possible, and we have planned alternative jobs for the workers, but they are apprehensive of working elsewhere due to smaller wages. They prefer to continue with this work.”

Development is the biggest dilemma in India where a job like manual scavenging is still in demand.

Poverty is so deep-seated that just to earn Rs.500 in a day, men and women are ready to work amid stench, dirt, garbage and filth at the cost of their lives. The superficial cleanliness of Indian society has many untold and hideous truths behind this.

Dirty, dangerous work Manual scavenging leads to diseases like pneumonia, malaria and skin infections. In 2012, the BBMP registered 45 cases of death of manual scavengers. Suffocation while working underground was the cause of death.

By Reshma Tarwani

Narayanan said: “We want to eradicate this

PHOTO FEATURE

The tale of a pipe dweller

April 2013 | The Beat

Poverty

is a curse to any nation. We humans see it around us every day. We observe it to an extent that at point of time we stop thinking about it and turn apathetic.

More than 1,000 families evicted from the Ejipura slum are forced to live their lives on the streets. Cramped in with their family members these people are dependent on money and help provided by the NGOs and many colleges in the city who collect money to provide food and basic health facilities to these lost natives. Local city channels and newspaper throng the place bytes and information to decorate this utter disrespect for these when they hound photographs or

most of the time for their story of displacement. Their poor people is clearly visible them for desired pose for other information.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highly unpleasant ers, whose only prime done by resorting to matter how degrading

to see these TV reportconcern is to get their job every means possible no it is.

While politicians and the Bangalore Mahanagara buck all over to get rid of them uncomfortable itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who are paying the price of on the part of the governMany families canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even afa day. For now they are definancial help, and they use the fast and lunch. Food is preby the ecvicted slum dwellers

incompetent Bruhat Palike are passing the questions that make the poor, like always, this utter ignorance ment.

themselves.

ford a meal twice pendent on meager money money to prepare breakpared in one makeshift common kitchen set up

Lizzy, 55, lives alone in a utility pipe with a few of her belongings, which comprise one blanket full of holes, a few steel utensils and a packet filled with torn cloths and rags that she uses as her pillow. She has been left to live in the pipe because her daughter and son-in-law forcefully evicted her from their house few months ago. Hearing her story of distress was a soul-wrenching moment.

April 2013 | The Beat

A sense of helplessness prevailed. She recounted falling seriously ill a few days previously and there was no one to take care of her and she was bedridden for weeks when some students from Bangalore University came to know about her and provided her with medicine and money. She recovered after a few days. “I thought that I would die. I wasn’t even able to move my body and then God heard my plight and these two students came and helped me,” she said. “I pray for them every day.” God doesn’t exist for the poor. Hope is all that they have. One side of her body hurts a lot because of lying in the pipe. She doesn’t even have money to pay for medicines or consult a doctor. Cold nights are cheered up by burning pieces of wood and twigs, and people along with dogs can be seen warming themselves by these fires. Ejipura is under the real estate developer’s scanner and Maverick Holdings Pvt Ltd. which built the city’s renowned Garuda Mall has plans to develop a mall on this land and it has also proposed to develop an EWS (economically weaker section) quarters for the displaced people. The construction hasn’t even started yet and no one knows whether will Lizzy be able to survive this ordeal in the dusk of her life or if she’ll find her paradise in the pipe.

By Sidharth Shekhar

Photos: Satyajith GD

April 2013 | The Beat

READER’S VOICE

Litterbugs shouldn’t blame the government

Mr.

I brought his hands furtively to the bus window and dropped the empty packet of the chips that he had just consumed on the busy road. How could he clutch the packet in his hands till his long journey was over? And anyway, it was the road, not anyone’s house. It was the government’s prerogative to clean the road, not his. Mrs. N was very particular about cleanliness at her home. There was not a speck of dust anywhere, even on close inspection. She also taught her children not to litter their home or go to bed without washing their feet. A home is like a temple, she said, and it should be kept clean. That is why, when one of her sons asked if he could empty their trash bin into the neighbor’s backyard, she replied with an assured “Yes, of course!” The government cleaners would anyways collect it the next day. Mr. D gathered the empty cola cans and polythene bags—the remnants of an outing with his family on the beach—in a large cloth bag he meant to dispose off in a municipality trash bin. At the end of the day, the cloth bag was of a formidable size. (He had also brought along his brother’s three children, all of them addicted to chips and Coke). His commitment to cleanliness was dented considerably when he could not fit the bag in his overtaxed car. And then he looked around. Huge heaps of trash dotted the beach and the waves washed flower garlands, empty water bottles and miscellaneous filth ashore. He blamed the government for the deplorable state and left the bag there. A gust of wind emptied the bag on the beach, and the contents happily gamboled away across the beach. Ms. I was a responsible Indian citizen, and she had read in books how littering was punishable in other countries. So, after she had finished eating her fried bhajjis, she was determined to throw the

April 2013 | The Beat

paper plate on which she was served in the dustbin. She started walking, looking for a dustbin on the busy road. She walked a considerable distance, but still no dustbin in sight. She dejectedly threw the plate into a small heap of garbage by the side of the road. “Why doesn’t the government put dustbins on the road?” she grumbled to herself. Mr. A loved chewing paan, but there was a minor problem. You cannot carry spittoons around with you, and that is why you have no other option other than spitting the red fluid on deserted stair walls and lifts. And he was not the only one who was guilty. His friend, Mr. N, being a police constable, a public servant himself, spat on roads and practically everywhere. If he, a government representative, could give in to such guilty pleasures, why not Mr. A? What do these allegories tell about Indians? These very commonplace examples from everyday life witnessed in the country show the need for Indians to respect public space. There is also a conspicuous absence of government initiatives, as is evident from the fact that India still does not have any anti-littering law. Also, it has to be realized in every home that cleanliness is not a private thing, and is not the responsibility of the government alone.

By Kakoli Mukherjee (Special to The Beat)

Recipe for success The Indian judicial system is yet again the target of the Indian cinema. But it is just not the negative side that’s been projected by director Subhash Kapoor. It also shows the positive and strong side of the profession. The movie lacked the drama that has been a trend in Bollywood recently but it did have the usual dance and romance. Great cast, simple script and perfect comic timing is the recipe of the success of this movie. It follows the life of a small town lawyer (Arshad Warsi) and his fight for truth with one of the biggest lawyers of the country (Boman Irani). It is the classic narration with quite a few captivating twistsin the story, so much so, that you fall in love with the script. The movie is filled with its share of dance and drama but it only gives it a Bollywood essence. I would say it is worth a watch. By Nupur Gour

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani and Amrita Rao

nt Review -

ura sta

The cosy, air-conditioned restaurant has two floors. The ambience of one of them is that of a “sophisticated stable” with a cowboy theme. It also has a bar. The other revolves around Wild West theme.

We hungrily devoured the juicy chicken, which tasted all the better with melted cheese. We had indeed ordered a great combination or it should be put this way: The chef has brilliant culinary skills.

nt Review ura Re sta

The restaurant serves a wide variety of dishes, including steaks, sizzlers, salads, pasta, sandwiches, baked and roasted meat and vegetables.

rant Review -R tau e es

zlers, including mutton, chicken, beef, pork and fish. The aroma of steak, barbecued chicken and herbs assails e R v your olfactory senses as soon as you enter Millers 46. i t e n w -R u ra A waiter promptly served us complementary bread, Located at 46, Millers Road, Vasanthanagar, it is the sta buns, bread sticks and butter. This was followed by only restaurant in Bangalore that is exclusively a him serving us the food we had ordered. steak house.

When I went there with my friend, I preferred to sit in the one with the cowboy theme although I am not interested in hard drinks. It was the atmosphere, which attracted me—wheels, lanterns, horse replicas and so on. As we were quite hungry, we quickly browsed through the menu and decided to order grilled chicken and cheese sizzler with mashed potatoes.

I had an awesome lunch that day and the food is also not too expensive (Rs.500-Rs.700 for two without alcohol).

If you are a steak lover, you should definitely visit Millers 46. Even if you are not, it is worth a try.

By Pyusha Chatterjee

Meanwhile, we were sitting and browsing through the menu again and we found that it indeed has a wide variety of steaks and siz-

April 2013 | The Beat

There are two major reasons why I think Indian society is conservative. The first is that people give more importance to society than anything else. They are afraid to accept new things and changes in fear of being ostracized. The second is lack of proper education among the masses.

Had I been single, I would have definitely adopted a handicapped child, provided I am financially secure and these kids need a lot more medical care than other kids. But being married does bring more responsibility, so I am not sure if can I can do that now.

Swapna Abraham,24 Teacher

Archit Singh, 25 bank Assistant Manager

If one of my children was a homosexual, at the very first instant, I would not believe. I would try to explain him/her that this is wrong. I would take my child to a psychologist and seek treatment. But if nothing works out, I do not know what I would do, but I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t accept this.

Aroti Shaha, 58 Housewife

Society thinks... When looking for a bride for my son myself, I would definitely not get him married to a widow. However, if he himself chooses to marry a widow who is really nice and belongs to a good family, I would not mind. I will support my son even if my relatives go against me and my family. What matters to me most is his happiness.

Taposhi Chatterjee, 55 Housewife April 2013 | The Beat

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