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THE BEAT MARCH 2018

DISASTROUS RETREAT Why are educated Indian women leaving the workplace and staying home?

• INSIDE, MARIJUANA’S MANY USES Picture credit: ScoopWhoop

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Letter from the Editor Women the world over have been making their presence felt, in workplaces, in boardrooms, in legislatures and on the streets. Except in South Asia. For a region that has produced the likes of Indira Gandhi, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia and Benazir Bhutto, it’s shocking to discover that women are increasingly staying home. With one of the world’s lowest participation rates of women in the workforce, India is wasting a valuable opportunity to grow faster and raise the living standard of millions of families in want. For women it’s a waste of a hard-to-get education and the opportunity for independence. But the biggest loser is society, which traps half its members in domestic servitude and denies itself the benefits of their full participation and creativity. The first issue of The Beat this year looks at ways in which our institutions, whether family, politics or the media conspire to keep women in the grip of patriarchy and laud the few brave ones who break out. We also look at a variety of other interesting developments including the Bitcoin boom, the emergence of zoonotic threats to human health, the impending death of a Bangalore river and the commercial potential of non-narcotic marijuana. We celebrate India’s gripping cricket tour of South Africa and the stellar achievements of tennis superstar Roger Federer. And we end with tributes to two extraordinary women, whose passing marks the end of an era. We hope you enjoy reading all this and more.

Arlene Mathew Editor

March 2018

Pen and Paper Club

CONTENTS

Cover story

A Colossal Waste

The world’s greatest untapped resource

Nasty Language

Online Infants

The Triple Burden

Resocialising Men

Inciting violence against women Cyber sexism

Women entrepreneurs are superwomen

Why #MeToo matters

Youth Ki Awaaz

Technology 15

Bitcoin Blues

Dangers of a ‘stateless’ currency

Business 17

Marijuana’s Many Uses Hemp is a versatile plant

Health 19

A Giant Petri Dish

Threat of zoonotic diseases

Hacker Noon

Enviroment 20

Death of a River

Vrishabhavati’s last gasp

Sports 21

Vintage Tennis

Tour to Savour

Roger Federer stands the test of time India surprise South Africa

Arts&Culture 24

Voice of a Generation

Mood to Brood

Sculpting in Time

Ms. Versatility

ClickHole

Dolores O’Riordan is no more Kolkata’s new rockers Balan Nambiar’s genius Sridevi’s legacy

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Crazistan Kahani

COVER STORY

What A Colossal Waste! Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is the greatest untapped resource in the world. We undervalue it at our peril, writes Barnana H. Sarkar

March 2018

Times of India

id you know that just one in four Indian women gets paid for her work? According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), over the past 27 years, even as India’s economy has been rapidly expanding, female participation in the paid workforce has declined to 27% from 35% in 1990. To put that in perspective, the global female labour-force participation (FLFP) rate in 2017 averaged 48.6%, while among our neighbours in South Asia, Bangladesh recorded 33% and Sri Lanka 35%. On the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Report Index, India ranks 139 out of 144 countries in terms of women’s economic participation and opportunity. Says Professor Samita Sen, dean, faculty of interdisciplinary studies, law and management at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, “There has been a huge mismatch. You have numbers that are not proportionate (to our gender profile) as there are insufficient employment opportunities.” What explains this? All over the

tion in the workforce: education level, marital status and her family’s income stability. The World Bank in an April 2017 study noted, “We estimate that this drop in (India’s) FLFP has occurred mainly due to the withdrawal of rural females. Most importantly, approximately 53% of the total drop transpired among rural women within the age group of 15 to 24 years (and) can be fully accounted for by a rise in educational participation.” Simply put, rising incomes have enabled increasing numbers of the poor to send their children to school. According to a National Sample Survey Organisation survey released in 2015, the rural literacy rate reached 71% while in urban areas it has risen to 86% and in the age group of seven years and above, the male literacy rate is much higher (87%) than the female literacy rate (67%). But, nearly 86% of rural households and 96% of urban households enrol their daughters in primary and secondary schools and women are observed more likely than boys to con-

tal status has differential effects across rural and urban settings. In comparison to currently unmarried women, the participation rate of married women is visibly higher in rural areas, while it is lower in urban areas.” In rural India, married women are more likely to join the workforce than unmarried women. That is primarily because they are more likely to be encouraged to join the labour force and help contribute to the family’s earnings. While most rural women engage in agricultural and manufacturing work, most of it is unpaid. Some women even relocate to the nearest urban centres to earn a living for the family.

world, experience has shown that with expanding educational and economic opportunities, women’s participation in paid labour has increased and, in many cases, come to equal that of men. When the Indian economy has been growing at over 6% a year and education levels have been steadily rising, why has one half of our population been gradually withdrawing from the workforce? What is the personal cost to women who quit paid work and what are its social and economic consequences? Studies have shown that there are three key drivers of women’s participa-

tinue their education. So that could suggest a better-educated female workforce is in the offing. Sadly, that’s not assured. Education has not helped increase women’s employment. Among graduates in rural areas, almost 67% of girls do not have a paid job while 68.3% of girls who graduate in urban centres are unable to find work in a male-dominated workspace, notes a report by the United Nations Development Programme. A second factor is marriage and its impact on women’s work choices. As the World Bank study observes, “Mari-

women to spend more time with their children and to concentrate on ‘status production’ for their families. The term status production refers to the range of household duties of caring for, and grooming, her family that enhances their overall social standing. But this could also apply to rural families as they get richer. As the World Bank study notes, “Increases in household-income stability create a lower incentive for women to participate in the labour force. In poor households, secondary workers (usually females) enter the paid labour market

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he situation is the reverse in the cities where, with greater income stability, the family does not require another helping hand. That could be one reason why many educated women in the cities do not look for work or have given up the jobs they had. The improving living standards of the Indian middle-class has allowed

Courtesy: World Bank

Married women in rural India are encouraged to work as they contribute to the family’s income, even if it’s unpaid labour ‘temporarily’ to smooth family income, and vice versa. With rising householdincome levels, women in rural India withdraw from paid labour and engage in higher status production work at their own home.” Prof. Sen points out that often a woman is not sufficiently provided for at her workplace. Child care is a major concern for a woman. It has often been cited a key reason why women working in cities are leaving their jobs.“I left my job when my child was born, to complete my PhD,” said Hannah Jaideep, who was formerly with Cognizant Technology Solutions in Bangalore. “I am taking a break now, as most colleges do not have childcare facilities and my child is too small to be left in someone else’s care. However, I want to get back to work as soon as my child turns six, because until then I will have to be with her everytime at home.” The stark contrast between the lives of urban and rural women is most evident in respect to child care. The availability of a maid to care for her child, if only for a few hours, allows the urban women living in a nuclear family the possibility of pursuing a career outside the home. The maid, usually from the countryside, is forced to leave her own

children entirely in the care of her inlaws or relatives to be able to earn a livelihood to support them. The increasing importance of status production is reflected in a striking statistic. According to the World Bank, India’s FLFP rate is highest at two extremes, among illiterates and among college graduates, in both rural and urban areas. In other words, the female participation rate appears to be strongly correlated with either dire need or with competitive qualifications. It is the inbetween layer, the huge number of modestly-educated women in traditional communities who never enter the workforce at all that tips the scale. But even when a woman works, regardless of how important or remunerative it is, her job is seen as secondary to that of her husband. Say Soma Sarkar, assistant director of the government department of agriculture in Siliguri, “I did not leave my job after my son was born although, as a government employee, I’m entitled to two years’ paid leave until my son is 18 months old. But every time our son falls sick, or there is an emergency in the family, I’m the first one to ask for leave. I guess men still don’t take full responsibility for the family.” Similarly, she points out, when

March 2018

a man is transferred to another location, his wife is expected to quit her job and shift with him. Sayani Dutta, account coordinator and analyst with IFDS in Toronto migrated to Canada after having worked in major IT companies in India, explains her choice saying, “In India there was some discrimination. I think a woman faces an issue when she comes back to work after maternity leave. She is expected to start from scratch once again, lead a project and play certain roles to get a promotion. It’s a waste of time.”

ost working women face discrimination over pay. Whether she’s an agricultural worker, a business executive or a movie star, she soon learns her work is less valuable than that of her male colleagues. Under the national rural employment guarantee scheme, despite its mandated equal pay, discrimination is institutionalised with women routinely being paid 30% less than men. At the other extreme, top actors in the film industry earn almost five times the amount that top actresses do. A study published by IIM, Bengaluru, Economic Growth and Female Labour Force Participation in India, argues that

searcher at Venator Search Partners, says that while she faces little discrimination in her job, at times she feels uncomfortable with the way her male colleagues behave with her. “There are laws and policies to prevent such behaviour, but no one cares.” Women’s participation in the workforce is extremely critical to their economic independence. It also holds the key to a country’s economic development. As the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) points out in its 2015 report The Power of Parity, “Women are half the world’s working-age population but generate only 37% of GDP.” That is a wasted opportunity owing entirely to gender discrimination.

Research conducted by Mckinsey Global Institute shows that gender equality at work is not possible without gender equality in society the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005, could play a prominent role in women participation in the labour force. It guarantees 100 days of employment per household annually and stipulates that men and women are paid equally and childcare facilities are provided at work. The study concludes the scheme has had a positive impact as there has been a smaller decline in the female-labourforce participation in the NREGA dis-

tricts compared to ones where it hasn’t been implemented. Women’s safety in a predominantly male workplace is a big concern, due to which women are often compelled to work from home or find work close to home. This forces women to compromise on the kinds of jobs they do. While this is particularly true of women who commute to work, even workplaces aren’t safe. Amrita Chakraborty, a senior re-

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GI calculates that in a ‘fullpotential’ scenario or one in which women participate in the market economy to an identical extent as men, India could increase GDP by 60% and add $2.6 trillion to its national output by 2025. Even if India just matched the highest level of gender equality achieved in South Asia, it would add 16% or $700 billion to its economy by then. The ILO estimates that of the 865 million women worldwide who have the potential to contribute more fully to their national economies, 812 million live in emerging and developing nations. Women are more likely than men to invest a larger amount of their income in the education of their children. According to the ILO, women’s work, both paid and unpaid, could be the single most important poverty-reducing factor in developing economies. Tackling gender inequality will certainly benefit businesses both directly and indirectly. Women’s equality in employment would vastly increase the available talent pool. Companies employing more women and headed by gender-diverse boards could enhance corporate governance by gaining a wider range of perspectives. A larger role for women in decision-making positions could, for instance, reduce the high-risk behaviour that has come to characterise the entirely male world of banking and financial trading. As MGI sums it up so succinctly in its 2015 report, “Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. If women—who account for half the world’s population—do not achieve their full economic potential, the global economy will suffer.”

Words Have Consequences By promoting reactionary ideas about gender and society, conservative politicians are inciting violence against women, says Kritika Agrawal

The Quint

The Indian Express

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (right) have repeatedly belittled women in their speeches

ttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently posted an encyclical on his website where the sage of Gorakhpur opined, “Considering the importance and honor of women, our scriptures have always spoken about giving her protection. As energy can go waste and cause damage if left free and uncontrolled, women power also does not require freedom, but protection.” In support, he cited a Sanskrit shloka, “Father protects women power in childhood; husband does so during her youth; and her son protects her when she gets old. Therefore, women do not deserve independence.” His logic is both revealing and predictable. Not only does it reflect the deeply misogynistic mindset of our leaders, it helps propagate and reinforce the patriarchal value system that lies at the core of the BJP’s imagined Hindu rashtra. Women have long suffered India’s patriarchal ethos and comments like these from people in power only helps legitimize that prejudice. There are numerous instances where women have been deliberately or unintentionally maligned by our politicians. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as to be expected of a loh purush, leads from

the front. On 15 April 2017 at the University of Dhaka, Modi was condescension personified. “I am happy to say that the prime minister of Bangladesh, despite being a woman, is boldly saying that she has zero tolerance toward terrorism.” His “despite being a woman” caveat provoked much outrage and invited censure in that country and ours. In 2014 Modi explained to voters in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, why the declining sex ratio was a cause for concern. “If we kill a girl child in the mother’s womb, then what will happen to the world?” he asked. “If only 800 girls are born against 1,000 boys, then 200 boys will remain unmarried.” His concern for bachelors was touching but what about the girls who were never born? What he thinks of women is no mystery. One has only to remember his crass description of Shashi Tharoor’s wife, Sunanda Pushkar in 2012, as a “50 crore ki girlfriend”. If we’re looking to measure how low politics in our country has sunk, we couldn’t do better than to contrast the words of India’s first prime minister with those of the incumbent. Jawaharlal Nehru once said, “I have long been convinced that a nation’s progress is in-

March 2018

timately connected with the status of its women.” With political leaders of the moral stature of Modi and Adityanath, is it any wonder that despite living in the 21st century we are swamped with daily reports of gang rape, honor killings, child marriage, dowry deaths and female feticide? There is a direct connection between the disrespect shown to women by those in power and the unceasing violence against women that we witness on a daily basis. Award-winning Hollywood actor Meryl Streep in her speech at the Golden Globes Awards talking about US president Donald Trump said, “This instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone on the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it (sort of) gives permission for other people to do the same thing.” With power comes responsibility and people like Trump, Modi and his saffron-clad acolyte singularly fail to understand or acknowledge this simple truth. The Ipsos Global Trends Survey 2017 revealed that “64% of Indians believe that the primary role of a woman is to be a good mother and take care of her

“Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.” - Meryl Streep sidered secondary. It’s little wonder then that female participation in the workforce has been declining in India for decades. Although the enrollment of girls in higher education has increased from 39% to 46% between 200 and 2014, female participation in the labour force has come down to just 27% in 2017.

Picture credit: Yahoo Lifestyle Singaporehousehold chores.” The survey, which gauged the attitudes towards women’s role in the society across 22 states based on interviews with 18,180 adults, gives us an idea how many young girls in our country are being raised. It is still a challenge for a woman to break out of these stereotypes enforced on her. A working woman might achieve great success in her career but her true worth is still being measured by how good a mother or wife she is. Any success outside the home is con-

espite receiving a higher education, women are unable to join the workforce. The task of balancing life and work, family circumstances, relocation after marriage and bearing primary responsibility for looking after children are the main reasons that have been cited. But there is still a stigma attached to the working woman in Indian society, stemming from the misplaced belief that a woman who belongs to a ‘good family’wouldn’t stoop to take up a job. In reality, however, earning a living makes a woman independent and with independence comes the power to take educated decisions. And that is precise-

ly what a patriarchal society fears most and would do anything to prevent, to maintain control over women. There is an urgent need to bridge the gap between education and careers for women. Gaining an academic degree to secure a good match is a terrible waste not just of educational resources but of human potential. Not giving a woman a chance to practice those learnt skills is an unconscionable waste of half the country’s human resources. Women are struggling to make their presence felt in every sphere but it’s the Women Reservation Bill that has our political leaders running scared. The bill seeks to ensure a degree of proportional representation for women in parliament and male politicians across the spectrum are bitterly opposed to it. Yogi Adityanath, the self-appointed champion of family values, advises caution: “(Women) are becoming active in all fields and it is happening naturally. So, there is no need to speed it up as such a step can have an impact on the family structure.”

Online Infantilism Cyber violence against women is a crime against society and must be punished, says Arlene Mathew

ocial media has become the preferred tool for misogynists, hiding behind fake identities, to vent. At least one in five women has experienced online harassment or abuse, according to research by Amnesty International. A survey of over 4,000 women last year showed that almost 60% of the harassment was racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic in nature. Combing through the never-ending barrage of comments in Facebook and tweets on Twitter, one can easily form a general idea about the mentality of these Twitter warriors. Many of them seem to be unable to disagree without becoming abusive or disrespectfu. They do not seem to realise how their words

reduce them and all those who respond to a state of infantilism. When the protagonist is an outspoken woman, the online trolling seems to become markedly more abusive. Recently, Parvathy Thiruvoth Kottuvata, a Malayalam actress was at the receiving end of a barrage of abusive comments and threats on Facebook. The reason was that she commented on the role of a veteran Malayalam actor, Mammootty, in the movie Kasaba. “Kasaba is a movie that I watched. I was disappointed to watch an actor par excellence mouth dialogues to a woman that were not just derogatory but saddening. Cinema reflects society, many say. But the line to draw is whether to

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glorify a hero like this or not,” she had said in her post. The comment was neither abusive nor insulting in any way, it simply objected to the glorification of a nasty fictitious character. The comment drew much flak from the ‘Mammootty fan club’ and also from many other popular actors, who believed that she had spoken out of turn. Despite her considerable achievements in cinema and all the strong characters she had played on screen, critics chose to highlight her “inexperience” which apparently rendered her unfit to comment on a legend of Malayalam cinema. Many of the responses bordered on the voyeuristic. “She is just trying to grab attention.

lash, and she had to pull it down after she started receiving messages from people threatening to rape and kill her. The trolls even went as far to say that it is a miracle that her husband has not walked out on her yet. Powerful women not only experience high-decibel online harassment but also a wide range of abuse such as genderspecific slurs, attacks on their intellect, body objectification, sexual harassment and threats of sexual violence.

I Parvathy Thiruvoth Kottuvata, a Malayalam film actress

Facebook

Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of news website The News Minute Facebook Mammootty is a legend. She has not reached a position where she could comment on someone like him. While I do not support the trolling she has been subjected to, I think she brought this all on herself,” said a fan of Mammootty, who did not want to be named. Another instance of online harassment was the case in which the editor-

in-chief of the online news portal, The News Minute, was trolled for stating her opinion on a movie starring Tamil actor Vijay. Journalist Dhanya Rajendran had tweeted, “I watched Vijay’s Sura till interval and walked out. #WhenHarryMetSejal has made me break that record. Could not sit till interval.” The tweet was met with a huge back-

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n October 2017, women around the world had boycotted Twitter for a day, using the hash tag #WomenBoycottTwitter. They were protesting Twitter’s inadequate response to abuse on the platform, where tweets routinely violate Twitter’s community standards ,but are never removed. While most people would agree that women have every right to speak out, there are plenty of those who feel deeply troubled by it. Many use the word feminism in a derogatory manner and variants to underline the distaste they have for women who express their feelings, including ‘Feminazi’, ‘Psuedo feminist’, ‘Feminichi’, etc. Following the #MeToo campaign, many women had gone public about the sexual abuse they have faced. They were lauded for their courage but sure enough, there were several who seemed more interested in knowing why the women came out about abuse “so late”. Why now? they asked. If you didn’t talk about it then, why say anything now? Inevitably the questions soon degenerated into a series of abuse against these women, calling them attention seekers and gold diggers. “The danger of online abuse is how fast it can proliferate,” says Azmina Dhrodia, researcher on technology and human rights at Amnesty International. “One abusive tweet or post can become a barrage of targeted hate in a matter of minutes. As offline discrimination and violence against women have migrated into the digital world, many women are stepping back from public conversations, or self-censoring out of fear for their privacy or safety” Online violence against women is a symptom of deep-seated gender inequality. Some men seem to believe that it is not enough to criticize women or trash their views. Outspoken women are an abomination that must be crushed. It is high time that online violence is treated as real violence, with serious repercussions.

The Triple Burden Women entrepreneurs are truly superwomen, juggling family and the infinite demands of running a business, says Debanjali Kabiraj

f working women have a hard time balancing a career with the responsibilities of running a household, think what it takes to become a woman entrepreneur in India. Creating a business is a fulltime, 24/7 occupation for any businessman. So, imagine just how difficult it must be for a middle-class Indian woman, saddled with in-laws, a husband and kids to care for, to explore a business opportunity, raise funds, create a market, find suppliers and achieve success. But that is precisely what several women in small-town India have achieved over time, even if you never hear about them. Sumita Sengupta is an entrepreneur who has fought against all odds to set up a boutique, Sumita Sarees, in the small town of Chaibasa in Jharkhand, which she has been running successfully for 15 years. She started with four Banarasi sarees and Rs. 4,500 as the capital and now she has a turnover of Rs. 6 lakhs per month. The biggest obstacle in her journey to success was her own family. As long as she can remember, Sumita had always wanted to start a business but her patriarchal family wouldn’t allow her to do so. After her graduation, the ‘obvious’ next step for her was to get married. She says she was as qualified as her brothers to pursue higher studies

but her family never considered that as a possibility. She spent the next 26 years being a housewife, but her mother kept alive in her the spark of entrepreneurship. She was the one who encouraged Sumita to start a business to gain the independence lacking in her own life. When she set up the boutique, Sumita’s immediate family was not supportive. “There were days when due to the pressure of business and the household chores, I had to skip meals but my family members never helped,” she remembers. Sumita says her husband had never known a woman in his household to earn a livelihood, let alone become a businesswoman. The thought of an earning woman was troubling enough. In the light of her experience, Sumita says, “It is very hard to encourage more women to get into business because of the attitudes of society. In most of the cases men are not supportive because they are not able to accept that their wife can earn more than them or can be independent of them.” Snigdha Chowdhary is an excellent example of a woman who chose to change a situation that she found unacceptable – and to do so through a business. She is the founder and principal of Twinkle Twinkle Nursery School in Raghunathpur, West Bengal. She

The original woman entrepreneur

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SwamiRaRa

always wondered at the lack of preschool education facilities in the area and decided to start a school to provide quality education to young children. But starting the school wasn’t easy as her family wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about either nursery-education or her starting a school. So, she was left to pursue her passion on her own. She had to find the time to meet people, design the curriculum, buy books, organize space for the classes but without ignoring her household responsibilities. She had to balance domestic responsibilities and the school work simultaneously and do so alone. It was just her strong will to succeed that kept her going.

hen asked about the inequality of men and women in Indian society, Snigdha says that although India has developed as a country the past few decades, “There are still many restrictions that women of India are forced to face. The restrictions like no overnight shifts and responsibilities of household do not let the women do as they wish to.” The fact that women can earn their own livelihood is not accepted by the family members. “They are still held back by many boundaries that will take some time to change,” she says. Manvi Gandotra is the owner of 1Plus1 studio, a wedding photography and film company based in Bangalore. She quit her job as a marketing manager in an MNC in late 2014 to pursue her passion for photography and started 1Plus1 studio. Manvi says photography is a profession where women are not taken seriously, but the when they see the work that she does her customer’s opinions change. “This shows that at every step women have to prove themselves, that they are as worthy as the men for the jobs. They have to showcase their hardwork, to emerge as a winner in their respective fields.” Mostly, they have to fight against the mindset of their family members to win the battle. “As the saying goes, it is hard to stand against an enemy but harder to stand against your friends,” she says.

Arlene Mathew

Resocialising Men Every Indian woman would like to say #MeToo but few do, discovers Anjana Basumatary

he #MeToo movement has given women in the US a powerful tool to expose powerful men who misuse their positions to seek sexual favours. They have especially targeted Hollywood, media and political personalities who claim to be liberal and supportive of women’s rights. We asked activists and others working to empower women whether a similar movement to shame Indian men and hold them accountable might succeed. Kiran Moghe, councillor at All India Democratic Women’s Association “There are already many campaigns happening in India and this is one of the ways to deal with such problems, especially if women feel that the present structures of the law are not adequate to give them relief. But at the same time it is not the only way to deal with the current situation. One of the reasons behind such problems not getting solved is that there are some businesses involved in the law and system. So, walking on the streets and protesting can improve the situation In India, also can bring to the notice of legal authorities.”

Tara Krishnaswamy, women activist from Bangalore “It’s difficult to answer if it is going to be successful as it depends on when, how and who is going to lead the movement. Being an activist from many years now I know that Nirbhayalike cases happen every day. Last month a similar case happened at West Bengal where one tribal woman was raped in broad daylight, internal organs were pulled out, metal objects were inserted. People were aware that this was happening still nothing was done; there was no protest, so it is not related to the issue. Seriousness of the issue depends on the place and who is

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able to mobilise around the issue. Since Delhi has a lot of media spotlight and West Bengal doesn’t, it becomes difficult to say hypothetically whether there will be momentum or not. This issue is burning, there is lot of anger, and people are talking about it. It is possible to create momentum as the extent of sexual abuse in India has created outrage. Whether correct parameters will come together to channel this anger and bring it out to be a successful protest or not depends on timing and leadership. If these parameters exist then protest would be successful. At the time of Nirbhaya protest, even though there was widespread outrage, it fizzled out. Nothing has changed; arrest rates have not gone up, care for the rape victims has not gone up.” Bhaskar Dhanapal, CEO of Vidyaranya, a woman empowerment NGO “Since we work for women empowerment we understand the need of protest, it is required to fight against those people who misuse their power. Otherwise this kind of issues will continue. We are not slaves of anyone so

women in India should fight against people who misuse their power. There are many women who work in different organisations, who have to stay on duty overnight, they should be protected instead of being harassed.” Johnson Thomas, Director of AASRA, a suicide prevention NGO “The momentum is in their favor and if women who have been sexually harassed come out and speak out against their oppressors, obviously those men are going to feel the pinch...The awareness has already gained strength. If more women join the movement, it will only get stronger. If this can trigger an examination into the power equations that are at play which make victims out of women, then definitely it’s a worthwhile effort all around.” Jasmeen Patheja, Founder of women’s group Blank Noise “I think it might create an impact in India, but this is something that should not be seen in isolation. There should be physical effort too, instead of just putting it online. So, this should be treated as stimulus. As I have mentioned in my blog as well, a wave may have a backlash, may polarise even, because it disrupted something. But a wave has its life. It will reach new shores, new conversations. Similarly protest in India will reach its destination, it just needs people’s dedication.” Banalata Sengupta, an MNC employee from Bangalore “Protests in India are a very debatable topic as often people forget the main agenda and protests do happen but within individual interests. Molestation is an everyday affair in India, people are used to it and they don’t want to talk about it. I have faced molestation as a kid; I was teased and groped as a teenager. ‘Metoo’ campaign is one means which enables women to shift the focus of shame and blame from themselves to the social structures that perpetuate sexual violence. Issues of stigma, of bringing ‘dishonour’ to the family/ community/organization, victim-blaming, and power dynamics between the perpetrator and the affected amongst other factors have contributed to women suffering in silence. Since it is a social media campaign, men are free to write about their experiences and not all men are abusers. A proper analysis of socialization pat-

The MeToo campaign has opened doors for the victims of abuse to come forward and share their story with the world. The movement has gained momentum, with many taking to social media to express their solidarity to the cause terns is required, the way we bring up our boys, the equation of masculinity with dominance and control (there is a thin line between domination and violence) that sanction all forms of violence against women. Writing about their experiences on social media is a cathartic expression and not a formal justice mechanism. So how does it matter if women seek validation? Complaints by men originate in their perception that women should be silent and not put up any resistance, and their fear of disruption of the status quo. It is not very different in other countries as well; victim-blaming in sexual violence is common. But in our country, sexual conduct has always been associated with honour of the woman, and sexual violence with dishonour and shame. Hence, the emphasis on guarding the ‘purity and sexual propriety’ of women. This reflects the link between women, family, and caste, lack of counselling, lack of self-confidence and awareness. Patriarchy starts from your house, to the textbooks we read to everything. Gender-sensitization needs to be introduced to children at an early age itself. Women must be enabled to gain more access and control over resources like education and employment opportunities so that they can be empowered to oppose and deal with instances of violence, instead of being silent. There must be more responsive services available for women like help lines, prompt action by the police, fast track courts and swift punishment for the guilty. As these measures are more at a material level, we will need more gender-sensitization programmes at the attitudinal level to make people aware of the gender-based inequalities that exist in the society and to treat each other with respect.”

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Tenzin Cheda, poet and author, The Anonymous Writer “It was great at the beginning, but the MeToo Movement became wrong, like the concept of feminism. Now, in US, any woman can accuse any man without any proof or whatsoever, and then the accused men’s career gets destroyed and they become guilty instantly. If it starts in India, hopefully, it won’t go in the wrong direction like in US. I think in India it will work much better, because unlike American women, most Indian women are not arrogant enough to think that women are superior to men instead of equal, and that women should be believed, no matter what.” Pallabi Sutar, graphic designer of Outlook magazine “#Metoo is more of an internet thing than restricted to only US women, it was started by an American women but garnered responses all over the world. Part of why it became successful was because celebrities got on this bandwagon. The hash tag has already reached India with hundreds of girls posting #MeToo, you can see how #MeToo gave rise to ‘Times up’. It can be more widespread in India if celebrities bring it out of the internet into the mainstream media.”

Shweta Raj Konwar, sub editor of The Northeast Today “I think it will be successful. The same situation is faced by many women here too, I believe. If women here in India are subjected to similar kind of atrocities, then I am sure they will come forward in support of a movement like #Metoo”. Passu, a blogger on human rights “I think it will be the same everywhere. But the success of the campaign depends on how women will open up. Especially in India, I doubt if people will speak up. But that’s just a doubt, you never know, we might be in for a big surprise.”

TECHNOLOGY

Cryptocurrency Conundrum A ‘stateless’ currency would be a globalist’s fantasy. It could also be dangerous, says Sreejani Bhattacharyya

itcoins have become the hottest investment class in recent times and ever more Indians have been investing in them. And why not? The value of a bitcoin hit an all-time high on 29 November last year when it crossed the $11,000 mark, doubling its value in just one month! Says Sahil Raaj Kapur, a small-time investor in bitcoins, “I invested in October 2017 when the rate was close to Rs. 4.9 lakh a bitcoin and purchased Rs. 1,000 worth of bitcoin just to get into the market. Once we had a proper way of investing then it was easy for me to monitor. I used the Zebpay app which is authentic and my PAN, Aadhaar and bank account are all linked to it, so it is also legitimate. But I would not advise

you to invest in bitcoin since government intervention is causing the rate to drop drastically.” Kapur’s concerns are justified. Finance minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting this year’s budget on February 1, categorically stated, “We will take all measures to eliminate use of cryptocurrencies in financing illegitimate operations.” He said he, however, looks forward to the use of blockchain technology, which is the foundation of all cryptocurrencies, in the future as it would lead to better maintenance of financial records. As the late monetary economist and free-market champion, Milton Friedman once said, “I think the internet is going to be one of the major forces for

reducing the role of government. The one thing that is missing but that will soon be developed is a reliable e-cash.” So, what exactly is a bitcoin? It’s is a digital currency that, like any other kind of money, can be exchanged to procure goods or services from vendors who accept bitcoins as a mode of payment. It isn’t issued or backed by any government or central bank. All transactions take place directly between users. The roots of bitcoin remain unknown. What’s known is that its origin lies with an unknown group or person using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, who released it as open-source software in 2009. As the website How to Geek explains, “Bitcoins are blocks of ultra-secure data that are treated like money. Mov-

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Mining Bitcoins requires huge quantities of electricity, by one estimate as much energy as Denmark consumes in a year 14

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ing this data from one person or place to another and verifying the transaction, i.e. spending the money, requires computing power. Users, called “miners”, allow their computers to be used by the system to safely verify the individual transactions. Those users are rewarded with new Bitcoins for their contributions to the network. Those users can then spend their new Bitcoins on goods and services, and the process repeats.” According to Bitcoin.org, “As a new user, you can get started with Bitcoin without understanding the technical details. Once you have installed a Bitcoin wallet on your computer or mobile

Yet, bitcoins have become almost synonymous with the words ‘hidden’ or anonymous transactions. As The Sun newspaper commented in December 2017, bitcoins are linked to a range of serious crimes as the users are anonymous in this payment system. “Within minutes of logging on to the Dark Web — an encrypted corner of the internet that can only be accessed by special browsers — we found organised criminals offering a chilling array of services. For payment in Bitcoin, we could get a computer hacker to ‘destroy a business or a person’s life’, buy drugs, passports, cloned credit cards and counterfeit

A bitcoin mine in Wenatchee, Washington phone, it will generate your first Bitcoin address and you can create more whenever you need one. You can disclose your addresses to your friends so that they can pay you or vice versa.” “The blockchain is a shared public ledger on which the entire bitcoin network relies. All confirmed transactions are included in the blockchain network. This way, the bitcoin wallets can calculate their spendable balance and new transactions can be verified to be spending bitcoins that are owned by the spender. The integrity and the chronological order of the blockchain are enforced with cryptography.” The blockchain is a ‘distributed ledger’ which allows anybody to view and verify a transaction involving bitcoins but not modify it in any way. Thus, it provides a transparent and permanent record of bitcoin transactions.

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money or even order acid attacks, rape and murder.” What explains this anomaly? As cryptocurrencies.com explains, “Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin is not, strictly speaking, anonymous. In fact, it’s pseudonymous; your identity is tied to a fake name (or pseudonym). With bitcoin, this fake name is simply your ‘public key’, a long string of numbers which acts as your bitcoin address. So, bitcoin provides more anonymity than other electronic payment systems run by third-parties. Your bitcoin possession and transactions aren’t tied to your real name, your email, or your physical address – only your randomlygenerated bitcoin address. Your anonymity isn’t compromised unless someone can connect your bitcoin address to your real-world identity, says Sharan Nair, vice president, marketing at Unocoin. “In bitcoin-wallet

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companies, when a person opens an account,his/her identification details like PAN card is taken so that if something illegal happens that can be tracked.But a bitcoin-trading account can be opened without the help of any wallet like ours. That is where the account becomes anonymous and can be used for illegal activities.”

s early as December 2013, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued a press release cautioning “users, holders and traders of virtual currencies (VCs), including bitcoins, about the potential financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security- related risks that they are exposing themselves to.” The RBI has repeated its warning four years later, saying, “The creation, trading or usage of virtual currencies including bitcoins, as a medium for payment are not authorised by any central bank or monetary authority. No regula tory approvals, registration or authorisation is stated to have been obtained by the entities concerned for carrying on such activities.” Says Dr. Prabirjit Sarkar, former head of the department of economics at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, “RBI should ban it as the monetary authority has no control over it. Criminal and speculative activities are determining its price. It is very volatile and holding it for investment purpose is dangerous for the layman.” Nagaraj P B, another small-time investor says, “As the cryptoworld is volatile, investments are subject to the risk. Hence my advice to all investors would be, invest what you can afford to lose. Investing in cryptocurrencies involves very high risk, as prices have been extremely volatile. Many experts are sceptical about using bitcoin as an investment primarily because there is nothing for them to analyse. Since these cryptocurrency prices are not regulated, as more people enter the market lured by the high prices, the prices climb ever higher. This might lead to formation of a bubble that will eventually burst and cause widespread losses.” Jamie Dimon, CEO of global investment bank JP Morgan, expressed his doubts over the value and credibility of bitcoins. He said, “It is worse than tulip bulbs (subject of one of the greatest financial bubbles of all time). It won’t end well. Someone is going to get killed.”

BUSINESS

Marijuana’s Real High Hemp is a versatile plant with multiple commercial uses that could provide livelihoods for millions, says Angarika Gogoi

he legalization of Cannabis sativa cultivation has long been the subject of global debate thanks to confusion over its two very different progenies. The stigma attached to ‘pot’ has overshadowed the huge commercial opportunities that hemp cannabinoids (which are completely non-psycho active) offer in producing textiles, fuel and medicine. Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu, in his book Sustainable Fibres and Textiles published last year, says that among plant fibres, hemp-based tex-

tiles are ideal for summer clothing and very popular in the luxury-garment industry. Researchers in North America have established that vegetable oils extracted from hemp seeds can be used as food, biofuel, nutritional supplements along with other industrial uses. In fact, hemp seed oil has immense scope in the food and nutrition industry as it is rich in both omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids. Siddhant Mistry, a molecular biologist with the Bombay Hemp Company (Boheco), says they have been explor-

ing how the crop can be transformed into livelihood opportunities for farmers and artisans in many parts of the country. Boheco, he says, “has gained an understanding of the agronomic and environmental conditions which are crucial to the cultivation of the cannabis plant.” Mistry says Boheco is collaborating with the government’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for the cultivation of high and low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) varieties of the plant.THC is the psychoactive com-

Eco Fashion Talk

Hemp has found it’s way into the textile industry, and is ideal for summer clothing. Esteemed labels like Stella McCartney and Calvin Klein use the fiber in their apparels 16

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ponent of cannabis. Low-THC varieties can be used for different purposes including textiles, medicine, food, and hempcrete, a bio-composite material used in construction and insulation. The project to cultivate high THC varieties of cannabis seeds is mainly for developing high-grade medicine to treat patients suffering from epilepsy and chronic pain. “At the moment we are importing certain varieties to study their output and adaptability to Indian conditions and how we could stabilize them for our conditions,” he says. However, the use of the plant in the medical industry has been controversial. Dr. Arno Hazekamp, scientific advisor to Boheco and a cannabis expert, says clinical trials related to marijuana have been hard to conduct as compared to other subjects as cannabis is considered an illegal narcotic around the world. “The lack of clinical trials does not reflect the fact it does not work, it reflects how hard it is to set up and execute such trials,” he says. Sourab Agarwal, founded the Medicinal Cannabis Foundation of India in Bhubaneswar two years ago to conduct medical and scientific research on the use of medical marijuana. He said that there has been ample research conducted from the 1960s that proves the efficacy of cannabis to treat several conditions. Studies have shown that cannabidiol (CBD) has been successful in providing relief for chronic pain

without causing major psychoactive side effect and analgesic tolerance. Naveen Salins, the editor of the In-

“Opioids are more effective in comparison to cannabis and if cannabis is used at all, it should be devoid of psychotropic effects.” dian Journal of Palliative Care and associate professor at Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai confirms the positive effects of medical marijuana. However, he adds that opioids are more effective in comparison to cannabis and if cannabis is used at all, it should be devoid of psychotropic effects. Hazekamp says that currently opiates and its derivatives cause the death of 91 American individuals daily due to unintentional overdose because too many people believe that opioids are safe. He added that the world market for opioids is very strictly controlled, resulting in an huge shortage of medicinal opioids available around the world. “Currently, only a very tiny proportion of Indian patients have access to opioids when they really need them. Cannabis is easy to cultivate and can be easily and cheaply converted into medicines suit-

Varieties of cannabis seeds are cultivated for developing medicines that can treat patients suffering from epilepsy and chronic pain Getty Images THE BEAT

able for patients suffering from intense pain and other conditions.” The first instance where the question of the legality of cannabis popped up in the subcontinent was when the British administered a survey to access the patterns of cultivation, sale, and usage of ganja. The Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895, was prepared with the intention to impose taxes and derive revenue by establishing a link between “hemp drug use and insanity.” Mark Merlin and Robert Clarke, in their book, Cannabis: Evolution and Ethno-botany, trace the origin and evolution of the plant over the years and its effect on human societies. They state in the book that throughout the nineteenth century, Khandwa and Gwalior in central India and Bengal in the east were the largest producers and exporters of ganja in the Indian subcontinent. Also, in 1985, ganja production and sales were still licensed in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal.

espite the debate over the legality of marijuana in India, many parts of the country, especially villages in Himachal Pradesh, grow cannabis. It is almost impossible to curb the cultivation as it is native to the country and it grows wild in the Indian Himalayas. In Himachal Pradesh, the charas or hashish produced by the manually extracting the resin of the plant sustains the livelihoods of many farmers in the hills. In Uttarakhand, Boheco in collaboration with CSIR, is trying to develop varieties of hemp seeds which are low in THC. When they discovered that local artisans were using raw hemp to produce handlooms, the company employed 150 women weavers to train in weaving using with hemp yarn. ‘The Great Legalisation Movement’ which was launched by Viki Vaurora in Bangalore is another campaign to legalise cannabis for medical use and to promote the large-scale industrial cultivation of hemp. In a recent letter addressed to the prime minister, Vaurora extolled the many benefits of medical marijuana and outlined the multiple industrial uses of hemp. He also pointed out how the crop requires very little investment and care besides being an eco-friendly option to produce bio-cement, bio-fuel and even bio-plastic.

HEALTH

A Giant Petri Dish Zoonotic diseases constitute the single biggest threat to human health in the 21st century, writes Saket Tiwari

he increasing incidence of bird and swine flu outbreaks around the world have raised public awareness about zoonosis, or naturally transmissible diseases from vertebrate animals to humans. While such transmissions from domestic livestock to humans are becoming better understood, transgenic diseases from wildanimal species remain something of a mystery. The Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), first discovered in 1957 in Shimoga district of central Karnataka and which infects some 500 people a year, is a case in point. The disease came to light when local authorities found high mortality rates among red-faced bonnet macaques and langurs, two monkey species that are predominant in these forests. Scientists from the National Institute of Virology, Pune researching the outbreak initially thought it wasa yellow-fever virus, but then discovereda tick-borne flavivirus that was the cause. The incubation period for KFD is 3-8

merase chain reaction (PCR), are effective because the family to which the KFD virus belongs carries the gene NS-5. But there is no specific treatment for the disease. “All our funds and resources are being used to tackle existing diseases,” says Dr. Sarman Singh, professor & head of clinical microbiology & molecular medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi in an interview with Down to Earth. “We do not have the time and resource to anticipate danger or create awareness as other countries do.” Human activities are the cause of changes in the genome of micro-organisms that cause diseases. Six out of ten infectious diseases in India are transgenic and wildlife constitutes a major source of infection. Major causes include increased deforestation, timber harvesting and the practice of slashand-burn cultivation. These practices disturb the forest ecosystem and force wild animals to move beyond their own

Constant proximity increases the chances of transfer of fluids, microorganisms and other infectious material between animal and man Anjana Basumatary days after which the patient develops a fever, chills, and headache. In extreme cases, it causes internal haemorrhaging and neurological imbalances. Diagnostic techniques, including enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) and poly-

territories or habitats. In the last few decades, India’s forest cover shrunk by a third, which has led to more animal-human interaction. Human activities have made pathogens adapt and survive in hoststhatthey

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weren’t able to previously. Domestic animals, birds and stray dogs also acts as reservoirs for zoonotic infections. Migratory birds play a major role in transmitting avian influenza. The threat from zoonotic diseases has not been taken very seriously, despite the fact that India accounts for a third of all rabies deaths in the world.

eople working in agriculture or tending cattle, on poultry farms or in fisheries, especially those who live in close proximity to animals, are more likely to get exposed to infections. In India, a human population of 1.34 billion shares limited space with 512 million livestock and 729 million poultry, in many case sharing even their dwelling spaces. About 70% of the human community is dependent on farming either directly or indirectly. During the late 1980s and 90s, the risk of infectious diseases from animal populations became apparent after incidents of major outbreaks, like H1N1 in Asia and Ebola in Africa, started surfacing. More recently, the spread of the Zika virus from central Africa to south America and Mexico and to south and east Asia underscored and highlighted how extensive zoonotic infections could spread, with serious implications for human health. As Joanne Webster and her coauthors observed in a recent issue of Evolutionary Applications, “In recent years, the emergence or re-emergence of animal and human infectious diseases has been increasingly documented around the world, with an average of three new human infectious diseases being reported approximately every two years, and a new infecting organism described every week.” “The ‘megacities’ of the world constitute obvious melting pots for the mixing of human and animal parasites and their potential rapid spread, both locally and internationally,” they write. “The World Bank has estimated that zoonoses have cost global economies more than $20 billion in direct, and $200 billion in indirect, costs between 2000 and 2010.”

ENVIRONMENT

Death of a River

Bengaluru’s Vrishabhavati is dying of civic neglect, writes Shiny Kirupa

rishabhavathi River, a tributary of the Cauvery, was once pure and pristine. Today it’s referred to as ‘mori’ or a drain by locals. The river, once a lifeline to thousands of people living on its banks, is now heavily polluted with industrial waste and Bengaluru’s sewage. As if that wasn’t degradation enough, nearby residents routinely burn mounds of garbage that’s dumped along the riverside. The major chemical pollutants in the river’s water are nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, detergents, pesticides and hydrocarbons. It has been found out that the pH of the water is higher in the rainy season than in summer. Priyanka Jamwal, water quality scientist at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) says that by collecting water samples every hour from three villages downstream Peenya industry, they found high concentrations of metals like chromium, lead and manganese. It was also found that the level of discharge increased during 10 PM to 12 AM. The polluted river emits a heavy stench and poses a health hazard to nearby communities. The pollutants have seeped into the groundwater making it unusable. Says Bejoy Kumar, a scientist at ATREE, “The Vrishabhavathi watershed carries polluted effluents downstream to join the Cauvery river through the Akravathi river. The river originates in Bangalore city and carries domestic sewage along with industrial waste from the Peenya industrial area. A small part of it gets treated in the Vrishabhavathi sewagetreatment plant.” From the Vrishabhavathi treatment plant the treated water

passes through Bidadi industrial area and reaches Byramangala reservoir. The treated water contains pollutants that cause skin rashes and other ailments to the farmers who use it for irrigation. This unclean water is used by 20-25 villages to grow vegetables like tomato and baby corn that are supplied to Bangalore. Kumar explains Bangalore generates 1,720 million litres of wastewater a day (MLD), only a part of which is treated before being released into the environment. According to the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, the Vrishabhavati plant has a capacity of just 130 MLD of which 104 MLD enters the plant from the river and 26 MLD enters the plant from the sewage system. 127 MLD is treated and released into the water whereas only 3 MLD is recycled from the plant. A study of the Vrishabhavathi water by Santa Clara University, California, attributes the current inadequacies of the plant to the fact that its capacity is a tiny fraction of the river’s flow, it cannot handle the pollutant load, its operation and maintenance are poor and made worse by power failures. The Santa Clara study recommended increasing the plant’s capacity and installing a decentralized, wastewater treatment system which would minimize the need to construct extensive pipeline systems for transporting untreated wastewater. The important point to remember is that the Vrishabhavati can be revived. The river Thames in London, which is now home to 125 species of fish, was once declared “biologically dead”. Threats to the health of the river and

the wildlife it supported were combated by a campaign named “Cleaner Thames” that was led by an international explorer named Paul Rose who called on the Londoners to “do the right thing” by disposing waste in bins and not in the river.

loser home, the Citarum river near Jakarta, Indonesia has been exposed to dumping of garbage, industrial chemicals and sewage. Described as one of the world’s most polluted rivers, the Citarum supports 27 million people who use it as a source of drinking water and irrigation. The Asian Development Bank has approved $500 million to fund a project to clean the river. Singapore’s Straits Times reports that soldiers have begun a large-scale clean-up operation, starting at the Cisanti reservoir, which supplies water to the Citarum. Bejoy says that Bengaluru’s wastetreatment plants are underperforming because of the inefficiency of their design. Moreover, concern and responsibility for the protection of the environment lies not just with the state pollution control board, which monitors and regulates industrial emissions, but also with citizens who have the live with its consequences, he adds. The goal of the World Health Organization is to improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping, minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated waste water and substantially increasing the recycling and safe reuse globally by the year 2030. The Vrishabhavati would a good place to begin.

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Shiny Kirupa

SPORTS

A Man for All Seasons At 36, Roger Federer is a player who’s stood the test of time, says Arlene Mathew

theaustralian.com.au

s Roger Federer faced Marin Cilic in the finals of the Australian Open this January, many in the crowd seemed to sense there was history in the making. Despite a feisty and at times commanding performance by Cilic that frustrated Federer and made him tetchy at times, the champion did not let down his fans. He won his 20th Grand-Slam title in style, the most any male player has in the history of tennis. With his 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Marin Cilic at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park, Federer also clinched his sixth Australian Open title. The Swiss star admitted to having been nervous at certain points of the game. The game, which stretched a little over three hours, was an emotional rollercoaster for Federer and ended up with him breaking down in tears at the end of the courtside presentation. A master of his game, critically acclaimed and known as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Roger is one of the most iconic figures in the field of sports. His age-defying techniques and boundless grace on the court have attracted millions of fans from around the world and have inspired books like Fedegraphica: A

Graphic Biography of the Genius of Roger Federer and Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession. The past decade has been a heady one for men’s tennis and has witnessed intense competition between a raft of incredible players such as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal. But Roger Federer stands out for both his consistency and perseverance. Federer has been defying expectations over the past 16 years, his achievements only increasing with age. Experts have praised him for his technique and finesse and continue to be amazed at his sheer talent. Roger Federer has spent a whopping 237 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, breaking the record of the legendary Pete Sampras who stayed on top for 160 consecutive weeks in total. Rod Laver, who watched the final match at the stadium named after him, described Federer as “the greatest player that has ever come along”. “He’s stood the test of time. That’s probably the one thing that puts you in that category of the best ever. It is just unusual to see a wonderful champion like that be able to win at age 36 after seven tough matches,” said Rod Laver, after the finals. Rod Laver is the only

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tennis player in history to have won all the Grand Slam titles in a single calendar year twice, in 1962 and 1969. “It’s a combination of how many grand slams have you won, how many tournaments you have, how many years you were number one and he’s got all those,” says the famous nine-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion Martina Navratilova.

ederer broke the previous alltime record held by Pete Sampras (14 grand slams) in 2009 and is the first and one of only two male players (other being Rafael Nadal) to win more than 15 Grand Slam singles titles in men’s tennis history. (For the record lover, Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf have won 24, 23 and 20 Grand Slam titles respectively in the women’s-singles game). The amazing thing about Federer is that despite the number of wins he has notched up, and the number of records he has broken, he continues to play with the same passion that was evident when he began. With his latest win, Roger Federer has yet again set a fine example of talking with your racquet and playing with your heart.

A Tour to Savour

India’s performance in South Africa, though patchy at times, was a display of the depth of its talent, says Abhishek Sarkar

eam India had huge expectations riding on its shoulders even before the players boarded the flight to South Africa. It was the first real test for Virat Kohli’s young team, which hadn’t lost a test series under him. This was the time to show what they were really made of. After all, they were chasing the dream of winning a series in South Africa for the first time in 25 years. They started brightly too. In the first test, Team India was in a dominating mood as Virat Kohli marshalled his troops brilliantly. Till the third innings, India looked the favourites to win the match. Then came the amazing display of fast bowling by South Africa’s Vernon Philander, who first broke the back of India’s top and middle order and then quickly bundled out the tail to win the first test by 72 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the 3- match series. India was left reeling in shock and awe. Then came the second test match where India was eyeing revenge to put their campaign back on track. Unfortunately for them, it was déjà vu all over again. But the difference was that South Africa was even more clinical than in the first test, beating India by 135 runs to not only win the match but also seal the series 2-0. India’s hopes of winning a test series in South Africa was then over and the third test just seemed to be a formality. India’s batsmen seemed to have accepted their fate and were bowled out

for a mere 187 runs. But the Indian bowlers had other plans. They quickly bowled out the Proteas for just 194 runs and the game suddenly came alive. India’s batsmen failed again and could muster just another 258 runs. But their bowlers truly came into their own and skittled South Africa for 177! That got them a much-needed win on South African soil. Despite the dismal series performance, the third test win also ensured that India continued to hold on to the No. 1 spot in ICC’s test rankings. It was the one-day (ODI) 6-match series where India really turned things around. They proved that in style, with clinical performances in the first, second and third ODI games to ensure that they’d at least even the series. But then in the 4th ODI, they were blown away by the heroics of Klassen. But by now, India had set out to avenge the test defeat and they absolutely blew South Africa away again in the 5th and 6th ODIs, marking India’s first ever full-fledged series win in South Africa in 25 years. While some argued that South Africa was a depleted team without the services of their key players, including FF du Plessis and AB de Villiers, few could deny that it was the total dominance by India that swept the series with a 5-1 victory. The 3-match T20 series which followed was really the icing on the cake as far as India was concerned. The decider T20 game was a nail biter..India won the 1st and the 3rd T20 games to

Cricwizz

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win the series 2-1 and take home not one but 2 trophies.

he fans took to social media to express happiness over their country’s victory. Said Abhradeep Saha, a fan and blogger, “It’s a rare occasion where Team India has won overseas, so extremely happy.” Another fan, Chirag, added, “It was a wonderful performance by the men in blue and full credits to them for that. But AB de Villiers’ absence was felt in the shorter format games.” “There were a lot of expectations going into this tour for India, and I think it can be rightly said that hissab pacchis sal ka (a 25-year account) has been settled. Virat and his boys showed consistency with the bat and the ball in all formats of the game and as a fan I couldn’t be more proud of our team’s current position heading into the 2019 World Cup,” commented Pariket, another ardent cricket fan. South Africa’s coach Otis Gibson showered praise on Indian pace bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah and said that their experience was instrumental in helping Team India win the match. Indian batsman Rohit Sharma complimented the bowlers for their performance in the third T20 match for their win. It was revealing to see how Team India found their feet not just to recover but claim the next two series and in great style. It was clearly an all-round show which turned things for the Men in Blue. With tours in England and Australia coming up, it will be not only a challenge but also an opportunity for the Virat Kohli-led team to create history. Rohit Sharma may still have to prove a point in test matches but in the ODIs he did prove that he is world class. So can India win in both Australia and England? England will be an important venue as the ICC cricket world cup 2019 will also be held. India has had mixed fortunes in both counties but there’s a crucial difference this time. Even seasoned India pessimists admit there’s a level of confidence in this team they’ve never seen before, an aggression and a determination to win that mark champion teams.

ARTS&CULTURE

Dolores O’Riordan: Voice of a Generation Fans of the Irish rock band The Cranberries are in shock at the loss of one of their own, writes Arlene Mathew

he sudden and unexplained death of Dolores O’Riordan, lead singer of the Irish band The Cranberries, has left her global fan base reeling from the news and caught in a torrent of emotions, a mixture of nostalgia and loss. Propelled to fame through their song ‘Zombie’ released in 1994, the band has drawn millions of fans from all around the globe. While many attended her funeral at Limerick, Ireland, the rest of them took to social media to express their grief over her passing. The Cranberries was first formed in 1989 with Niall Quinn as lead singer, who was later replaced by Dolores O’Riordan, ‘a girl with a unique voice’. The band, with Noel Hogan as the guitarist, Mike Hogan as the bassist and Fergal Lawler as the drummer, incorporated alternative rock and Irish folk music in their songs. Described in 1995 by Rolling Stone magazine as “part Audrey Hepburn, part David Bowie,” Dolores has always been a unique singer, her songs echoing her experience of life and love. With her distinct Irish brogue, effortless yodeling, Celtic undertones and catchy tunes, the singer’s voice stood sublime and distinct from that of any other.Her voice underscored the power that music had to ‘Linger’ on in the listeners’ mind. “Dolores’ voice was so amazing and unique,” says Vivian Samartha, a music lover from Bengaluru.“We could immediately recognize the voice whenever it was played. One of my favorite performances of hers was the one at the Warsaw concert. I believe it was backed by Irish Chamber Orchestra. The level of connect she had with her audience was amazing,” The song ‘Zombie’ written by Dolores, was inspired by the 1993 IRA bombing in Warrington, England, and was written in memory of the two young victims of the bombing,

Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry. It soared to fame on the wings of her powerful voice, at once a lament and an anthem to end violence, imprinting each lyric into the listeners’ mind. The music takes the listener on a journey, the voice so raw, supplemented with astrong rhythm, a

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driving bass line and the hard, industrial buzz of the electric guitar. The song won the “Best Song” award at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. Tim Parry’s father, Colin Parry, who had been unaware that the song was inspired by his son, reportedly

thanked Dolores for the ‘majestic and very real’ words she used in the song. This song is also the one that garnered the attention of music-lovers and critics worldwide. “It was in mid-nineties that I heard the song Zombie on MTV. The music was just amazing…and we ended up buying the cassette. ‘Zombie’, ‘Linger’, ‘Dreams’ and ‘Ode to my family’ are some of my favorite songs of hers,” recalls Vivian. “It was when we grew up that we really understood the meaning of the song Zombie. After that, we became more involved in her music.” Dolores’ death has forced a wave of strong nostalgia among fans of The Cranberries’ music. Five songs from The Cranberries’ catalog reached Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart Dolores had always stood out of the mold, not just with her unique voice, but also with her striking personality. She was always original, and never felt the need to have to copy someone else to stay relevant. “I don’t want to get into a clique of people that I suddenly feel I have to

have an identity with,” she said in an interview with Billboard. She had often proclaimed herself as a rebel, despite her strong catholic upbringing. Many of her fans found themselves resonating with her emotions, living her life through her music.

er death sparked conversations in The Cranberries’ YouTube channel’s comment sections, Twitter, and Facebook, with many ardent fans learning of her death through those conversations. “I was going through the comments under a YouTube video of theirs and noticed someone comment ‘RIP’. Immediately, I got a horrible sinking feeling. I was praying for it to not be what I thought it was. I have always loved listening to their songs… her death just breaks my heart,” said Conor O’Brien, a fan of The Cranberries’ from Ireland. “It’s hard to describe this feeling ... when I saw the headlines of her passing I felt like I lost a part of me. I really think she was one of those people who put her heart and soul into her music

-- and I am so glad that we were lucky enough to have gotten to know a part of her and the band in this way,” said Benjamin Robison, a fan of the band from Oklahoma. Dolores lived in troubled times and her songs and life reflected those realities like few other artists. She admitted to having had trouble handling popularity. There were incidents of erratic behavior which was later attributed by her mother to her being unable to deal with the end of her 20-year-old marriage. News of her death has revived speculations about the problems she had been going through, and paints a vulnerable side of her, that so far had been hidden under her music, fame and on-screen persona. With Dolores O’Riordan’s death, the world has lost yet another icon, a singer whose songs expressed emotions relatable to an entire generation. As the last chapter of her life concludes, we are left reminded of how singers like her have left a part of themselves, imprinted in our minds, revived often with the highs and lows of our emotions.

Dolores with her bandmates THE BEAT

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In the Mood to Brood Barnana H Sarkar reviews mood music for our times from Kolkata’s new rockers

ost people listen to music, attend concerts, or even compose their own sound because music has that strange ability to take us outside ourselves, to help us momentarily forget everything else. Some musicians take it upon themselves to give their listener those precious moments of oblivion and two bands from Kolkata, with their new EPs, aim to do precisely that for their listeners using psychedelic rock and polyrhythmic music. The Radical Array Project (also known as TRAP), in their latest EP Obliviate, have experimented with several different genres, predominantly progressive rock, space rock and psychedelia. Inspired by a spell from the famous movie series Harry Potter, the four track EP has been explained by the band as their first try to reach out to people of every type. The band has not only put much thought into the concept of the album, but the songs are arranged in an order that elaborates that plan. The album experiments with various abstract ideas such as time, mood, hallucinations and language. Take, for an instance, the name Pradosagama, which has been derived from the Sanskrit word for dusk. Interestingly, this particular song is in

17/16 count which in a 24 hour-clock would mean 5 pm/4 pm-- the time of approaching dusk. While most of their songs, like Ilham and Middle Earth, follow a regular pattern, a 4/4 count, there is a break in Middle Earth where the song drifts into an eclectic polyrhythmic pattern. Ihaam on the other hand goes through a smooth transition from a 4/4 to 5/4 count. The song XIX, with its extreme psychedelia, manages to remain at a 19/18 count. The Radical Array Project has added some fresh sounds with their ideology to not follow any particular genre at all. However, Enolaton on the other hand, in their self-titled new EP have mixed post rock and electronica to form their own style, calling it Bleak Rock. Enolaton (which when reversed spells as Not Alone) have always believed in composing something to identify with. They deal with subjects like alienation, media circus and broken communications. Their tag almost goes as ‘Reel is more real’. While almost all the songs maintain a time signature of 4/4, their music is chiefly dominated by the distorted sound of the electric guitar which wraps itself around the jarring sound of the drums. Their sound cap-

TRAP, left, and Enolaton, are meticuluos, tight and experimental 24

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tures the downbeat mood quite well. The essence of their songs remains subjective. The song Stabdhota (which translates to silence) deals with a dreamy state of mind. The following four songs are about similar concepts of being a misfit is a crowd and struggling to get a grasp of reality.

nolaton stands out for their stirring combination of both audio and visual to give their listeners or audience a more sensory experience. Released by Mushroom Entertainment, an independent recording label from Bangladesh, the band has used Bengali for most of their lyrics. Their primary focus has been on their music, which in a way gives their sound a more global perspective. The EP is available in a booklet where they have translated their songs to help them reach a larger audience. The monotony of TRAP and Enolaton sound is deliberate. It’s vitally relevant to their core audience, the youth of Calcutta who hear an echo of their own lives in the music, an expression of their alienation and a sound for their own generation. Both the bands are meticulous in their compositions, tight with their execution, and above experimental with their forms and genres.

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Sculpting in Time Balan Nambiar’s six decades of artistic genius is on full display at the NGMA, writes Saiqua Sultan

he exhibition themed “Sculpting in Time, Balan Nambiar and his six decades of engagement with Materiality” was inaugurated on February 4, 2018. Curated by his long-time friend Sadanand Menon, this retrospective exhibition encompasses Nambiar’s enormous repertoire. Nambiar’s drawings in conté, Indian ink, charcoal and pastels, and sixty jewellery enamel paintings on silver and copper as well as paintings in water colour and oils are on exhibit. Along with those one can get to see the artist’s famous sculptures in bronze, mild steel and stainless steel. A timeline of creative works carefully catalogued by his wife is what you see on the wall the moment you enter the exhibit. The artist has worked with a wide variety of mediums like clay, wood, bronze, mild steel, fiber glass reinforced concrete and stainless steel to create monumental sculptures which involve computer-generated designs and laser-cutting technology. “I use computer technology to create my designs because—first I am a contemporary artist. I want to incorporate that in my artwork,” says Nambiar of his steel sculpture. “Secondly, once you start working with steel or iron then you find that using modern technology can give shape to the thought you have in mind.” Capturing the various expressions of movements and forms, Nambiar moulds iconic sculptures that show his commitment to his work. “What you see behind you,” pointing to a huge

mild steel conch shell sculpture called ‘Valampiri Shankha’, “was a work in progress for almost two decades, you have to keep working, giving as much shape to your imagination as you can,” he says. With national and international art exhibitions, National and State Lalit Kala Academy awards under his belt, this painter, sculptor, enamellist and photographer finds inspiration from his childhood memories. Nambiar is a passionate aficionado of ritual performances and motifs from the southern coast of India and has done intensive research on them.

he exhibit has a separate photography section which displays huge photographs documenting Teyyam and Bhuta and other ritual art forms. These photographs are overwhelming to the say least as Nambiar captured them in the best light settings to do justice to the riot of colours that run through these rituals. “The photographs were overwhelming, and very intense. The bright colors make them appear larger than life. It is also nice to actually see the artist mingling and talking with us visitors,” said Kimberley Pinto, a third year St. Joseph College of Commerce student visiting the exhibition. Born in 1937 in Kannapuram in Kerala to a farming family, Nambiar grew up working on the fields. It was during this time that he imbibed a strong love for nature and uses its various elements in his art works.

He worked as a draughtsman in the Indian Railways and then shifted to Madras. He quit his job and to study sculpture. “There was a time when I had almost next to nothing. Quitting my job at the age of 30, leaving a steady income to study art, it was a difficult. But I did what I truly wanted to do. Pursue my love for painting and sculpting,” recalls Nambiar. He has been meticulously working and cataloguing his collection for more than 60 years and has experimented with almost all mediums. “I was struck by the sheer vastness of his work! It is overwhelming to take it all in at one go. I feel I have to come back again to truly absorb this experience,” says Sugatha K S, an admirer of Nambiar’s work. “I am going to come out with a book on enamel paintings. It’s too soon to give away all the details but this is something I have wanted to do since a long time,” says Nambiar, looking out onto the serene setting for his sculptures in the NGMA.

Valampiri Shanka was a work in progress for almost two decades

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Saiqua Sultan

Ms. Versatility Actress Sridevi’s untimely death marks the end of an era, says Debanjali Kabiraj

indi cinema’s first “female superstar” is no more. Legendary actress Sridevi passed away on 24th February 2018 in a drowning accident. She is known for her extraordinary performances in Chandni, Sadma, Mr. India and English Vinglish, and played pivotal and strong characters in the many movies she acted in. Born in 1963, Shree Amma YangerAyyapan, later shortened to Sridevi, stated out as a child artist at the age of 4 in the Tamil movie Kandan Karunai. She acted in several Tamil, Telegu, Kannada and Malayalam movies till she debuted in Bollywood in an adult role was in Solva Sawan (1979). Sridevi was also a TV star, acting in a serial called Malini Iyer.She quit acting in movies in 1997 but continued to make appearances in TV and fashion shows. After an eight-years hiatus, she made a comeback in Bollywood film English Vinglish, directed by Gauri Shinde, which won her acclaim. Her latest movie was MOM, a thriller based on the a India’s first “female superstar” mother-daughter relationship. In the long journey from Sadma to and Pooja, a mother-daughter duo. Her MOM, Sridevi played many roles. But it characters in the movie convey a meswas strong woman character that won sage of love transcending age. Roopki her fame, one such role being Nehalata Rani Choro ka Raja was a big-budget in Sadma. She plays the role of a mod- movie where she plays the role of ern girl who meets with an accident Seema Soni, a girl who lost her father at and develops reprographic amnesia. It a tender age and is out to avenge her faleaves her with the memory and be- ther’s murder. She portrays the role of havior of a six or seven-year-old girl. a strong woman who is willing to go to Through this character she brings out any length to protect her family. the innocence of a child and the beauty Judaai is a dramatic comedy which of a simple life. has Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Urmila In Himmatwala, Sridevi plays Rekha, Matondkar in lead roles. Sridevi plays the female protagonist who stands up the role of Kajal, a woman greedy for against her father to fight for what’s riches. Although she plays a negative right. Tohfa is a 1984 drama directed by role in the movie, her role ultimately K. Raghavendra Rao, in which Sridevi conveys the truth that money is not portrays Lalita, who sacrifices her love everything. Relations are much more for her sister’s happiness. important in life than money. Chalbaaz Nagina was a blockbuster where is another movie where Sridevi plays a Sridevi plays the lead role of a shape- double role. She exhibits two differentshifting venomous snake. She was personas of women, the coy, soft-spopaired opposite the star Rishi Kapoor ken girl and a go-getter who can fend but dominated the screen with her phe- for herself. nomenal acting. In this role she sought Chandni, however, is the movie that to convey the power and willfulness of made Sridevi a household name. She an angry woman. plays the title role where she portrays a Lamhe, directed by Yash Chopra, saw caring and sensitive woman. The inner Sridevi play a double role, of Pallavi beauty of her character perfectly com-

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plements Sridevi’s gorgeous appearance, an image of her that stays with you long after the movie.

er comeback movie English Vinglish earned her critical acclaim. She portrays the role of Shashi Godbole, who is both a homemaker and an entrepreneur. Her character shows how an Indian woman can balance her household and simultaneously be true to herself and independent. Her latest release was MOM, where she plays the role of Devki Sabarwal, a stepmother who sets out to take revenge on her daughter’s rapists. Her character shows the boundless love of a mother for her child and the price she’s willing to pay for it. These outstanding characters inspired women of all ages from teenagers to middle aged housewives. Her death at 54 has come as a shock to millions of men and women who came to identify her with the strength of the characters she played, their goodness of heart and the hope they inspired. She will be deeply missed.

THE BEAT

Arlene Mathew

For 28 private circulation only

March 2018

Arlene Mathew