Volume 16 Issue 19

The Weekly

BSERVER An IIJNM Publication

Volume 16 Issue 19

Real women who don’t need filters How a motley bunch of women are using social media to make a different impact

Thursday, 9 March, 2017

In the Favour of the gods How a god-man influenced a hotel worker into becoming his town’s favourite temple artisan Read more on page 3

Read more on page 4

City’s civic workers on strike for their dignity Jenika Shah and Anjala Farahath

Bengaluru:As the world celebrated International Working Women’s Day yesterday, hundreds of Powrakarmikas, or sanitation workers, gathered at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike head office in the city to demand the payment of their wages according to notifications released by Karnataka Government in August last year.

On one side of the office complex, as the BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad inaugurated the women’s day exhibit, the other side of the head office saw hundreds of powrakarmikas hold a rally to intensify their ongoing protest against their contractors.

“For the past six months, we haven’t received the full amount our salary of Rs. 14,440 as promised. Only a sum of Rs. 5,000 is given to us. Our main demand from the BBMP is to pay us the amount which was sanctioned earlier,” said Lakshmamma, a sanitation worker.

Following bandhs and protests

last year, the Rammurthy Nagar. “We Labour Destart workpartment had ing around doubled the 6:30 am and salary of the work till 1:00 civic workers pm, and have to Rs. 14,440 no holidays. on August 4, They provide 2016, but deus with lunch spite this, the which is not workers have edible” she not been paid complained. their due salaF a c e d ries. with these Every day, harsh working over 29,000 Powrakarmikas strike outside the BBMP Commissioner’s office in the conditions, the contract pow- city on Wednesday. Photo: Jenika Shah powrakarmirakarmikas face kas demanded Union. “The contractors harass us a oppression at that the BBMP Commissioner hears lot. They haven’t given us any ve- them out. “When we ask the conthe hands of the contractors.

The powrakarmikas pick up hicle to carry the garbage. We have tractors to lend us money for tea or rotting garbage and faeces with to use gunny bags or covers that we transport, they dismiss us by saying their bare hands and have been borrow from the residents to carry that we earn 14,440 every month even forced to handle medical the waste. We are not given access and that there is no need for us to waste. Ninety seven percent of to toilets either and that becomes a borrow money, when in reality we these workers belong to the Dalit concern during our menstrual cy- only get paid half of that amount. community and hail from Tamil cles. We are not provided with ba- We don’t want contractors anyand Andhra regions, according to sic safety gear like gloves or masks, more. We just want to get our rightthe BBMP Contract Powrakarmikas “said Kalavathi, a powrakarmika in ful pay,” Lakshmamma added.

International Women’s Day celebrated across the country Arunava Banerjee arunava.b@iijnm.org

Bengaluru: The union minister for women and child welfare attracted criticism on International Women’s Day, when she said, “When you are 16 or 17 you are also hormonally very challenged. So to protect you from your own hormonal outbursts, perhaps a lakshman rekha is drawn.

It really is for your own safety.”

While Maneka Gandhi’s concerns on keeping the country’s children protected might have invited protests and criticism, the “#WeAreEqual” campaign, which awards citizens working towards gender equality, started by her ministry found very little mention in the news. The campaign started by Ms Gandhi found support of celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Mrinal Rohit and Mary Kom who posted pictures of them holding placards promoting the cause.

The union government marked

the occasion by awarding 33 women for outstanding performances in their respective fields with the Nari Shakti Award that was presented

by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Among the awardees were Mumtaz Kazi, India’s first woman to drive a diesel train, Amruta Patil, India’s first female graphic novelist, and ISRO scientists Subha Varier, B Codanayaguy and Anatta Sonney.

“International women’s day is to appreciate the efforts of women and promote gender quality. Women, and particularly working women, are subjected to abuse almost every day in the country. Psychological barriers and patriarchal thoughts make work more challenging for a woman,” Srijani Chaudhury, a Bengaluru based data analyst said.

Bengaluru appreciated the efforts of working women in the city through various events hosted in different parts of the city. Several women like Srijani, however, feel that such celebrations for a day do

not really help in promoting gender equality. “Yes, it is a day that celebrates working women and is a symbolic gesture that acknowledges women workers as being at par with men, but it does not change a larger mindset that prevents it from happening,” she said.

Several restaurants across the city marked the occasion by organising various cultural events. Hard Rock Café hosted a live performance by an all-girls band called The Void, BFlat hosted female artists and themed their services as “I’m every woman,’ for the day, the Local celebrated the day by providing special offers to women, while other restaurants around the city celebrated the day through similar programmes. Apart from this, people participated in a ‘5K marathon’ organized by the Kaagaz Foundation to promote gender equality, and several talks on gender quality also took place to gauge where the city stands on the topic.

As the powrakarmikas grew impatient and the agitation gathered momentum, S. Balan, President of BBMP Contract Powrakarmikas Association, said, “The women of the poor sections of the society have no Women’s Day. The commissioner threatens us that the sanitation workers will be arrested and dismissed. We are merely asking them to implement what they had promised.”

The BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad addressed the powrakarmikas today who were shouting slogans and protesting for three hours outside his office, and announced that they will receive their due wages within a week.

Additionally, he promised the provision of toilets and restrooms to them, and said that the workers will no longer be employed under contractors.

Meanwhile, the contractors argue that this strike is merely for publicity and say that the payment has been cleared, and “will reach the powrakarmikas soon”.

Month-long election season comes to an end Prabhakar Kumar prabhakar.t@iijnm.org

Forty assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and 22 in Manipur voted in the last phase of the assembly elections that concluded on Wednesday. Deputy Election Commissioner Vijay Kumar Dev said, “The elections were largely peaceful.”

In Uttar Pradesh, all eyes were on Varanasi, which is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency.

In the north-eastern state of Manipur, the fate of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and activistturned-politician Irom Sharmila got sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines.

An IED blast occurred in Imphal at 06:15 pm yesterday, leaving five people injured. Voting in Imphal had already taken place in the first phase.

The overall voting percent in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur stood at

60 percent and 85 percent respectively.

With the elections in these two states getting over, more than a month long process of voters exercising their franchise in five states of Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur came to an end.

The results for these five states will be declared on Saturday, 11th March.

The most followed election campaigns were in Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress party and Samjwadi party were in an alliance against Mayawati-led BSP. and BJP. Single-phased elections were held in Goa and Punjab on 4th February where BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were in a triangular contest.

In Uttarakhand, where voting took place on 15th February, it was a two-way battle between BJP and Congress.

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Metro

Thursday, 9 March, 2017

Envrionmentalists object to BMRCL’s move to cut trees Rishjraj Bhagawati rishiraj.b@iijnm.org BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), in a recent meeting, has decided to go ahead with the extension of the Metro network without official permission. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) delayed granting permission to Namma Metro to fell trees along the roads of Mysuru and Kanakapura.

This decision has enraged a large number of civilians and non-governmental organisations across the city. They argue that the point of the permission was to ensure that infrastructural development does not take place at the cost of the environment.

“BMRCL is an opaque organisation. They would have gone ahead with the felling of the trees anyway. You hardly see any trees along the length of Mysuru Road now where Metro construction is going on,” Amith Pallavoor, an activist and former journalist who is involved with multiple urban projects including the (now scrapped) steel flyover, said.

Mr. Pallavoor added that the climate around the Mysuru road area has changed drastically over the last few years because of the rapid felling of trees for various construction works, and if the BM-

The BMRCL sought permission to cut a total of 313 trees along Mysuru and Kanakpura roads for extension of the metro network.

Source: Leo Reegan RCL goes ahead and exercises its unrestricted powers to fell more, “there will be nothing left to cut - the place will be uninhabitable.”

Initially, almost 190 trees were to be cut on the roads for extending the Metro line by 6.52 km, from Yelachenahalli to Anjanapura area alone. The BMRCL sought permission to cut a total of 313 trees along the Mysuru and Kanakapura roads from the Forest Cell of the BBMP in November 2015. After three unsuccessful

public consultations, a 12-member tree committee was formed in March 2016, which is yet to meet again after July last year.

BMRCL has reportedly cited a daily loss of Rs. 2 crore due to this delay and has hence decided to move ahead with its construction of the Metro line. Last year, in November alone, 44 trees were cut along this stretch without the permission of the Forest Cell.

As the Metro project had been stalled mid-way, Forest Cell

officials say, that pressure was mounted against them to grant permission. The tree officer of the BBMP used ‘discretionary powers’ to allow the felling of 45 trees between the stretch of land from Yelachenahalli to Thalaghattapura. The tree officer can allow the cutting of less than 50 trees at a time based on BMRCL’s requirements without permission from the tree committee; powers which many argue are being misused.

Other environmentalists and

The Samsung Galaxy Note7 Saga Sonal Agarwal sonal.a@iijnm.org The Federation of Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation of the U.S.A decided to ban the Samsung Galaxy Note7 from all air transportation in the U.S. on October 14th, 2016.

On 17th October, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) of India announced a strict ban on the carriage of Samsung Note7 onboard or in the check-in luggage. Without clear instructions from DGCA, there was confusion among the travelers in India who were still using the phone.

“There were some passengers, who were carrying Note7 and were asked to offload, as maintaining safety standards is

our priority,” said Sanjana Medhi, cabin attendant of Jet Airways. “Some passengers were very confused as they were unaware of the new rule. Earlier, the phone was allowed in switched off mode in hand luggage, but later it was completely banned on October 14th,” she added.

One month before the ban, Samsung and the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices sold prior to September 15. Later, a warning to avoid switching on or charging it on board was announced. The decision was taken due to the battery, which overheats and explodes.

There were incidents recorded of overheating and explo-

sion of Note7 with videos and pictures of it being destroyed, posted on social media portals.

The CPSC reported that Samsung received a total of 96 reports of batteries overheating in the U.S., among which 23 were after the September 15 recall.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation anyone violating the ban may be subject to criminal prosecution with imprisonment up to ten years and fines. As soon the notification came up, orders from B.S. Bhullar, chief of DGCA, said that the phone should not be carried on flight to and from India.

Jai Prakash, CAS (Civil Aviation Security) Bureau of Civil Aviation Security said that he

couldn’t give exact numbers but, there have been incidents where unaware passengers either deposited their phone with the operator or cancelled their tickets.

Karishma Verma, cabin attendant from Indigo airlines said, “If the phone is found in any of checked in baggage, then it will not be loaded. The passenger could either deposit it or he will not be allowed to board. The person can only take the phone back when he gets back to the same city. This is only Indigo’s policy.”

The U.S. department of Transport states that passengers travelling with Samsung Galaxy Note7 should contact Samsung or their wireless carrier to understand the process of refund or replacement.

academics echo Mr. Pallavoor and have come together to oppose this move, arguing that the environmental damage will be immense and irreparable. “This can’t be undone. Once you cut trees at this magnitude, you are depleting the health of the entire biodiversity of the region permanently,” T.V Ramachandra, head of Centre of Ecological Studies at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, said.

In an interview to The Hindu, Dr. Ramachandra, who is also a member of the tree committee, said that they have written letters to the BBMP protesting the decision. “The BBMP cannot blame us for the delay. Our recommendations on geo-tagging, rectifying erroneous data or proper afforestation have not been implemented. The committee is not being taken seriously. There is no sincerity from their side.”

“This has socio-political consequences too. If we allow powerful bodies like the BMRCL to continue on its whims like this at the cost of the environment, we are setting a wrong precedent for the rest of the city, while undermining the spirit of development,” conservationist Swetha Nagendra said.

Officials of the BMRCL have been contacted by this paper several times, but they have refused to comment on the issue.

Chirag Mittal, owner of Chirag Telecom in Delhi said that after the ban, a customer is entitled to full refund for the Samsung Note7 if he shows the bill.

An open apology letter to the customers was published on Samsung’s website by YH Eom, CEO of Samsung, which stated, “Samsung is fully committed to identifying and addressing the source of the Note7’s battery issue. We have already initiated investigations with independent third party experts to carefully revisit every aspect of the device, including the battery, hardware and software, and manufacturing processes. Once available, we will transparently share our findings.”

Metro

The Weekly Observer

Drones shaping the future of India Divya R divya.r@iijnm.org BENGALURU- Drones are spreading its wings across different sectors in India. They serve multiple purposes in industries like Agriculture, infrastructure, defence, aerial cinematography, crowd management, event and real estate monitoring.

Gone are the days when we had to spray pesticides on crops and wait for a quality yield.

People who lived too close to forest areas no longer need to fear wild animals. “Be it tracking down a man-eater, cracking a murder case, or even keeping an eye on a protest march, having eyes in the sky are proving to be critical,” agreed Mahesh Kumar Agarwal, Inspector General of the Tamil Nadu Police Intelligence Unit, in an interview to Al Jazeera.

“In the field of agriculture, drones are being used extensively. The crop quality can be identified and any stressed or affected crop can be treated immediately,” explains Mughilan, who owns a drone company called Skylark in Bangalore. According to their official website, Skylark, offers solutions like mining inspections, aerial land surveying and even advertising using the drones. Presently, their clients include

Drones in aerial cinematography Bangalore City Police, Indian Army’s Assam Regiment, RedBull and others.

Since the commercial use of drones is restricted in India, private drone manufacturers have been working closely with government agencies. According to a recent rule from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), “A business start-up should have a Unique Identification Number (UIN) and other approvals to legally use the drone.”

Drones equipped with specialised cameras are wirelessly linked to location software and mapping tools so they can survey fields from above and route back the images and details of the analysed object. Apart from agriculture, the drones are widely used in infrastructure and pipelines. The camera attached to the drone can be changed according to the type of object it aerially checks out. “To construct mobile towers at a particular distance in the cities and to monitor it frequently, UAV drones at a specified Line-of-sight (LOS) are used to survey the area and safety check,” says Gokul, an employee at Skylark.

IdeaForge, a drone manufacturing company based in Mumbai, produces unmanned aerial

vehicles (UAV) which are used by the Indian Armed Forces for defence purposes and police offices across the nation. Founded by a group of IIT-Bombay graduates, IdeaForge has developed Netra, a UAV which was used during the Uttarakhand floods rescue operations. In 2016, the company raised Rs.70 crores from private investors including Infosys.

Another usage of drones is in crowd management. “Drone usage is moving a step forward in increasing surveillance on the hills of Tirumala, which is high on the radar of terror organisations,” according to The New Indian Express. It further added that “The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) security wing is going to purchase an unmanned aerial vehicle for homeland security and disaster management operations, if necessary. The unmanned aerial vehicle will be purchased from ideaForge as it has been authorised by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.”

Swaminathan Chandrasekaran, working as an Assistant Commandant at the Indian Coast Guard, said that “Drones are widely used in the Navy for reconnaissance purposes and they save a lot of manual effort.”

“Drones are one of most useful innovations of our life time. Their application is limited only by the imagination of the person deploying it. The main limitation of drones are their size, payload capacity and the flight time (which is limited by battery life),” explained N.Shekar, President of Aerospace Industry Development Association of Tamil Nadu. He further elaborates that UAVs carry a heavier payload and have a longer flight time and that they are mostly deployed in the military for monitoring and low altitude attack situations.

In India, the deployment of drones have been limited. According to Shekar, “The main reason is the non availability of regulatory guidelines from the DGCA which has only issued a draft guideline so far and enforcement authorities are still not clear about what is allowed and what is not.” He explains that there are no clear guidelines for drone management around the world.

Shekhar compares this to the issue of traffic management on roads, saying, “When drones take over the skies, how does one manage their behaviour, use and safety or security aspects.

Like road transport, we need to have licensed drone operators who understand the safety or security aspects of flying drones and act accordingly. These are issues in the commercial applications of drones in public spaces.” Going forward, the deployment of drones should be carried out effectively to avoid pitfalls in the Indian context.

Thursday, 9 March, 2017

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In the favour of gods: The story of a stone mason Arunava Banerjee arunava.b@iijnm.org BENGALURU- The little town of Hosanagara breathes on the banks of the Sharawati River, surrounded by lush green farm and forest lands, a little over 300km from Bengaluru.

Locals in the area who own land are farmers while most others work as labourers or pursue other blue collar jobs in different parts of Karnataka.

The skilled populace find themselves employed to a small but growing service sector.

a large following of devotees, he had found himself in a controversy after a lady accused him of raping her mother. “It is a conspiracy to malign him,” Kumara says. Bharati has also been a victim of blackmail on a couple of occasions.

Kumara says that he learnt the art of building temples from granths (religious texts) that his guru had introduced him to. “I use the granths based units for measurements. They are primarily three units, kolu (79 cm), angula, and yava. One Kolu is equal to 24 angula and 8 yava,” he adds. Kumara claims to have built over 33 temples in the Shimoga and neighbouring Chikamagalur district.

“I am presently building a temple in Malleswaram in Bangalore,” he said.

The artist’s elder son, Ravindra is pursuing Bachelors in Commerce from the Hosanagara PU College and wants to work with his father to expand the business. His younger son, Raghavendra, is studying in class 10 in the local government school. Raghu’s English teacher, Prakash, said, “Kumara is very popular in this region. People often talk about how he changed from being a menial worker to having an affluential business. He is liked for his humility and people appreciate his talent.”

From a person who did not believe in godmen and other spiritual figures, to an ardent devotee of the Ramachandrapura mutt, Kumara is a local celebrity in Hosanagara today.

He initially started his business with his friend, Dinesh, who still helps him use Autocad in laying out the designs

Kumara Swamy, who has become an inspiring figure in this little Taluk headquarter, runs a business that employs a labour force of 15.

When he returned to work for a lorry owner after having worked in a hotel in Indiranagar, Bangalore, he was penniless and struggling. At the age of 42, he is the proud father of two sons and believes that they will choose their professions based on the education he is providing them with.

“I studied till the third standard,” he says, sitting on his easy chair, staring at the wall of his living room. “I had to quit education due to economic difficulties. First I went to Bangalore looking for work. I returned home in 1999 and got married. I did not have a stable income even then,” he adds. The Hosanagara shilpi (artist), as he is popularly referred to as, started building temples in 2007 starting with the Cut stones lie outside Swamy’s house in Hosanagara Anjaneya temple near Pic Courtesy: Arunava Banerjee his house in Jayanagara in Shimoga district. he makes for the temples.

He recollects the shift in his for“People say that the guruji at Ratune after he met a revered godman in machandrapura mutt helped change the area. “I have changed completely Kumara’s life,” Prakash said. Kuas a person since then,” he says. “I mara, who works eight hours a day did not know the art of stone cutting and spends his Sundays with his or temple building. In 2007, I met my guruji (pontiff) and he directed me to family, also credits his success to his this path.,” he adds. His guruji is Ra- guru. He believes that Bharati showed gaveshwara Bharati, the 36th pontiff him the right direction in life and he of the Ramachandrapura Mutt. With gained the favour of the gods.

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Tr e n d s

Thursday, 9 March, 2017

Real women who don’t need filters Romita Majumdar romita.m@iijnm.org We are engulfed in a social media blitzkrieg. We have coffee with Facebook, lunch on Instagram and are lulled to sleep on Youtube. We tweet our intellect and snap our gawkiness. Trends, rumours and personalities originate and turn to dust all through a complex mix of likes, views and followers. While this glorious platform is utilised by everyone from presidential nominees to celebrities pawning their dysfunctional lifestyles, a motley bunch of women are using it to make a different impact. These lone warriors have been using entertainment, art and sass to peddle ideas beyond their social lives.

They stir discussions about cultural pride and self-confidence through innocuous self-portraits.

In a world populated by fake pouts and beauty enhancing fil-

ters, these women are bringing rawness back in fashion.

Lilly Singh a.ka. Superwoman became a Youtube sensation when ‘vlogging’ wasn’t even a recognised word. This Canadabased dusky Punjabi kudi (woman) has garnered a cult following to become one of the highest paid Youtube stars simply by talking about everyday issues faced by a non-white woman. While she doesn’t rant about racism and gender bias per se, she uses humour to call out stereotypes and prejudices not only outside but within her own community. She has slammed menstrual taboos, parental pressure, immigrant experiences, mansplaining and bras among others in her satirical videos. She also uses her celebrity status to support an African charity to raise funds to educate Kenyan girls through shows.

Moshtari Hilal, an Afghanistani

artist and student of middle-eastern studies, is known exclusively through her Instagram handle ‘Monmoshtari’. Her illustrations deal with decolonization, whitesupremacy and body image issues. Last year, she started working on a portrait series, inspired

by Freida Kahlo, titled ‘Embrace the Face’ which exhorted women to reject western beauty standards. “I take symbols and stereotypes that we all recognise and change something about them. Not everything has to look like they imagine it is supposed to look like,” she says while describing herself.

Sumitra Selvaraj, a Malaysiabased TV producer, never imagined that her camera-evading pictures from work would gather a global following. From past two decades, this blogger had been wearing sarees to work each day and was tired of answer-

ing endless questions about it to her friends and colleagues. This prompted her to post descriptions and anecdotes about the sarees that resulted in Instagram stardom. “Saree connects me to my heritage and it’s certainly not some sanctified garment that needs to be pulled out of your closet for special occasions and handled with care,” she says. Her blog posts have been influencing young working women, who had never worn sarees, to embrace the drape with élan and flaunt it on social media.

How do you create an online space where introverts, bookworms, geeks, philosophers and the kid-next-door find something to talk about? Well, you refer to the ‘one-woman labour of love’ also known as brainpickings.org.

Maria Popova, 32, had already written for publications like

Wired, The New York Times and The Atlantic before she decided to start a website dedicated to literature classics. It’s a repository of stories of reinterpreted mythology, curious art and trivia about famous authors and the relevance of their work. From discussing out-of-print editions of Alice in Wonderland illustrated

by Salvador Dali to the story of how zero was invented, no concept is pariah. Popova defiantly resists the barrage of fake news, selfies and cat videos to offer users new and meaningful ideas to contemplate, every day.

While these women are creating ripples online, there are many more waiting to be discovered for their fascinating work. Next time you find yourself surfing the web aimlessly, check them out.

You are not likely to regret it.

The Art of Identity: Sexuality finds its voice in Bengaluru Azmia Riyas azmia.r@iijnm.org During the National Youth Poetry Slam on 18th September 2016, Bharath Divakar, a spoken word poet, performed his poem ‘Bully’.

“This body is not yours. This is not a graffiti wall for you to paint tainting words in angry colours on!” he recited to a stunned audience. After the performance, a young Roman Catholic girl approached him saying that she grew up believing that homosexuality was the greatest sin, but that he had changed her mind. If you can change my mind, she said, you can change a lot of people.

Encounters such as this one are the reason Bharath performs poetry. Growing up in a quintessential South Indian Brahmin family, it took him 18 years just to say the word ‘gay’ to himself.

“The interesting thing is that I’m not as open about my sexuality in real life. The stage is a safe space where I feel comfortable expressing this angst,” he explains.

Bharath is yet to come out as a homosexual to his own mother, but every weekend he dazzles huge crowds across Bengaluru with words that celebrate the very same.

Sexual identity has been an unexplored element in Indian culture. Hidden under the shroud of tradition, sexual minorities have found themselves deprived of the opportunity to express themselves. In the metropolitan city of

Aishwarya Sainath performing at Lahe Lahe Bengaluru, with a surging popu- participate from all walks of life lation of young minds, such senti- within the city. Sayantika Maments find a way to present them- jumder, a writer and dancer who selves regardless. Here, art has has been a long time volunteer provided solace for individuals to for ‘Pride’ explains, “The moveexpress sexuality through forms ment becomes stronger every such as poetry, film and literature. year. The more we are exposed Recently, movements such to people of different sexualias ‘Namma Pride’ have brought ties, the more open we are about the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexu- it. And art of all forms is crucial al and transgender) community for this process of normalisation.” into the fore. In 2016, the moveSayantika is also one of the ment saw a number of people primary members of All Sorts

(Source: Yatish VT) of Queer (ASQ), an organisation that includes women that are homosexual, bisexual, pansexual and transgender. ASQ has a large array of talent including dance, art and poetry that are performed across venues to raise money for awareness and understanding of sexual diversity.

The Bangalore Queer Film Festival (BQFF) was conceived in 2008 to celebrate cinema with LGBT themes from across the

country. Its ninth edition took place from 24th to 26th February. This year, the event featured over 55 filmmakers from 21 regions. Joshua, a founding member of BQFF, explains that this year, the event focused on featuring cinema from across rural India. “These are films from parts of the country where a sexual minority is still one of the hardest things to be. Such diverse narratives will help people understand what it’s really like to be gay in this country,” he said.

“Being around poets has opened me up to a world where I don’t think love is bound by gender, age or race,” says Aishwarya Sainath, a student of Psychology who dabbles in poetry on weekends. Growing up as part of a Tamil family in Dubai led to a crisis of identity from a very young age. “I come from a family that shirks the idea of a girl falling in love with a girl. But my art is one place where I cannot lie,” she explains.

Silenced from being themselves in their homes and in society, these voices ring a few decibels higher from the midst of a stage. People like Aishwarya and Bharath believe that their art is an extension of who they are. In arenas across the city, these words and performances paint portraits of their identity that no law can erase.

The Weekly Observer

Metro

Thursday, 9 March, 2017

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Weaving change: Sustainable fashion as a means to conservation Pallabi Sutar pallabi.s@iijnm.org On the morning of 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh, experienced a power outage that kicked on the diesel generators on the top floor.

The workers continued with their jobs, ignoring what they thought was a minor technical snag. Minutes later, the whole building collapsed, leaving only the ground floor intact. By the end of the rescue mission, which lasted 19 days, until 13 May, 1,135 people had died. There were several causes for the collapse, ranging from an attempt to convert the building from a commercial to an industrial one to an unauthorized construction on a pond.

The incident brought the ugly side of the garment and fashion industry to the fore. For the first time, people started questioning what they were wearing and how many people had died or suffered in order to make it.

This sense of conscientiousness led to Sustainable fashion, also known as eco-fashion, pop-

ping up in designer collections. The goal of sustainable fashion is to create a system which can be supported indefinitely in terms of human impact on the environment and social responsibility. This has translated into fashion labels employing local craftsman and using their skills make eco-friendly clothes, clothes made from non-genetically modified organisms and pesticide-free crops or that recycles leftover materials from threads to plastic.

Sustainability also means the craftsmen involved are paid a fair wage. The system preserves the culture and skills of various communities and ensures that they are not exploited.

Danish fashion designers were the first to catch up on to the fact that waste can be a source of income rather than just a nuisance.

Here, brands like Trash-Couture hand sew their garments using 50 percent industrial leftover fabrics.

In India, a few home-grown

brands like Indigreen, Samtana, Forty Red Bangles and Tvach are forerunners in the sustainable fashion scene. In fact, labels like Nonasties and UV&W carry the certification of Global Organic Textile Standards by the Control Union in Netherlands. Designers and environmentalists alike believe that sustainability is the solution to the environmental problems caused by excessive waste produced by the industry.

However, the initiative is not catching up to the industry

fast enough. Something this beneficial to the environment has to come with a hefty price tag, Apurva, of Nonasties, says that their cotton costs 30% more and the garment production also costs 20-30% higher. While s simple tank top from Forever 21 costs 479 rupees while the same kind of tank top would cost 799 rupees in Nonasties (or even higher in other ethical fashion brands).

The process of creating a sustainable fashion line costs the producer a lot more than what a 1,000 underpaid workers in a clothing factory situated in a Third World country would cost. Ravi, from Metaphor Racha, another ethical fashion brand based in Bangalore, says that the extra cost is due to alternative production methods. Metaphor Racha’s cotton is bought locally and processed into khadi from scratch in an effort to retain and conserve local produce.

“The challenge lies in the sales as not many are aware of sustainability in fashion,” says

Apurva. “It becomes difficult to break through this industry where fast-fashion has become a huge consumer brand.” He also adds that most garment factories certified to make organic fair-trade clothes in India are working with international brands and are not always open to taking domestic orders, making it hard for Indian brands to enter the market.

However, Ravi feels that developing countries like India have a better chance to rectify the problem since there is a relatively higher number of hand-loom weavers here. He loathes the way developed countries have reduced anything handmade into a DIY hobby craft. Ravi says that, “As long as we talk more (even if its Face book activism) about these issues and promote local produce we are going to be fine. I am very optimistic about the future of handmade. What we need to do is retain rural crafts, look into antimigration, and transparency in fair wages, skill upgrading and most importantly partnering with craftsmen instead of employing them.”

Carnatic music: Evolution of an aging art form Aneesh Srinivasan aneesh.s@iijnm.org The evolution of Carnatic music, an art form originating in south India, that has entertained classical music enthusiasts for centuries has corrupted its essence and sanctity.

Carnatic music has evolved into shorter performances and technological advances have made way for experimentation while performing on stage. Bengaluru based Carnatic musician G. S Nagaraj says, “Artists like TM Krishna are trying to follow unconventional methods. He may be a genius, but going against tradition and singing Mangalama song which is usually played in the end of a concert- in the middle of the concert is not good. There should be a limit to the amount of experimentation.”

Violinist JK Sridhara, however said that TM Krishna may be wrong in such experimentation “but he is such a genius that people do not mind his antics.

There is a certain level of advantage that one has when he has made a name for himself.”

Both Sridhara and Nagaraj

GS Nagaraj playing the Mridangam at a concert.

Source: http://www.gsnagaraj.in/ feel that media has influenced the to less than three hours. “Earlier periods of concerts have made way people watch concerts today. there were no microphones and sure that the artists feel concerts They said people no longer sit in concerts used to go on for five-six to be a cakewalk. He feels this is auditoriums and temples- places hours. But, nowadays, technology a positive change as more people where kacheris (concerts) were is being used to ease the strain on now sit through entire concerts. performed- and prefer watch- the artists. Also concerts do not “People never used to sit in coning it live on TV or watching it last more than two to two-and-a- certs previously as they used later online. This has spoiled half hours,” Nagaraja said. Srid- to get bored of sitting for long the mood for artists as artists hara seconds Nagaraj by saying hours. Now, with the reduction generally live for respect and that thirty to forty years ago, con- in time, people willingly sit the appreciation from the crowds. certs used to last for a long time full length of the concert. I have A short attention span and re- and the artists had to put in a lot myself played concerts that have luctance to spend long hours on of effort to make a concert suc- lasted more than seven hours. a single concert has led to Car- cessful. This is not the case today Artists shudder at the thought of natic performances being limited as technology and reduced time performing so long now,” he said.

Nagaraj feels that artists today do not practice for enough hours and the quality of Carnatac music is being jeopardised by it.

“People used to practice 10-12 hours every day. But, artists do not spend more than two hours a day now. This is not good for the quality of music and the overall image of Carnatic music,” he says.

Though Carnatic music’s roots aren’t clear, people believe that Carnatic music was created by Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. The three were considered pioneers who brought about a change in the way music was composed and performed.

They are also said to be the people who are responsible for the way concerts are performed now.

“Earlier the Trinity of music which consisted of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri were the ones who had a stronghold over the music scene,” Sridhara said. Nagaraj said that the trio have inspired generations of music composers to follow in their footsteps..

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The Weekly Observer

Unwind

Thursday, 9 March, 2017

Bringing art to the streets Aishwarya Iyer aishwarya.i@iijnm.org

Public art seems to be gradually increasing its presence in Bengaluru with more wall graffiti and artistic installations decorating parts of the city like metro stations, highways and parks.

Amitabh Kumar, an ex-SARAI researcher and the chief artist and head of the Art in Transit group of The Srishti School of Art and Design said that making art public was not as much of a trend some years ago and still faces challenges. Recollecting an incident during his stay in Delhi two years ago, Kumar, who was a part of the SARAI New Media initiative for public art movement, said, “I went there to paint for four days. The nearby paanwala came to me and said, ‘Sir, why are you wasting your time in doing this boring and meaningless painting?

Go and invest this time in doing some productive work, at least you will earn a few pennies.’ I did not know how to react,” he said.

Dipankar Panth, founder of Shoonya- centre for art and somatic practices, says that the “tangibility of artistic communication” can be

Caption: Start India art Foundation use buildings as canvas to bring art outside the galleries traced back to the Mesolithic paintings on Bhimbetka rock.

Shraddha Panicker, a resident of Indiranagar said, “Public Art is free and you do not have to dress up to fit in a particular crowd like you do in art galleries. You can view them in a group and get to know more about art from others in the crowd, unlike the silent viewings in galleries.”

Public art is not restricted to paintings, murals, graffiti and sculptures. “Recently, we had a city

walk called ‘LENS’ which began from Cubbon Park where participants were taken on a walk while our troupe performed (drama, skits, stories) on the narrative of gender in the society and the city,” said Aruna Ganesh Ram, founder of Visual respirations, a Bangalore based theatre group that engages its audience in observations through their senses.

However, art installations in public spaces are not always appreciated by residents of Bangalore.

Hari Menon, a resident of Jayana-

gar feels that artistic installations in parks, gardens and stations rob the place of its utility. “Parks are for children to play. When you erect an installation, that area cannot be used by citizens. Bringing art to public spaces is a nuisance and everyone is forced to view it. What about the ones not interested in art?

It is better when confined to galleries,” he said.

Kumar opines that he finds street-art culture a random phenomenon in the city. “Our country lacks graffiti culture. There is less guerrilla art which is a form of activism and symbolises rebel in the nation.

Street art comes from a post-graffiti era for which you need one in the first place,” he says.

Viewing street art from an alternative lens, Kumar says that the form is being hijacked for political sloganeering. “BJP, during the previous elections in Mumbai, came up with posters containing manipulating and provocative slogans along with captivating visuals. This needs to be taken care of,” he adds.

Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor “That incomparable radiant light born from the bodies of all the gods&pervading the universe w/its effulgence...became a woman.”

Barkha Dutt‫@ ‏‬BDUTT Why do journalists ask successful women about balancing work & home. Or on Marriage. you would never ask men this stuff #womensday

Shobhaa De @DeShobhaa Maneka Gandhi seems to be having a “hormonal outburst” herself!!!Did she really say that?

Curfew for girls? Happy International Women’s Day!

Rajdeep Sardesai‫@ ‏‬sardesairajdeep India has 3rd largest Muslim population; only a handful radicalised. So let’s not demonise Indian Muslim nor be apologetic. #LucknowTerrorOp

Silent Sufferings

Narendra Modi @narendramodi_in Elections in Uttar Pradesh has turned into an ‘Utsav’ of freeing the state from misrule of SP, BSP, Congress: PM

Thirty-nine years after Endosulfan sprayed diseases and disabled thousands of villagers for life, shadows of the tragedy still haunt villages in and around Kerela. An endosulfan affected victim in Hirabindady in Uppinangad, Dakshin Kannada says she has not received any government aid since she was disabled 38 years ago.

Her children, who are also endusalfan victims, can only dream of a future where they can lead a healthy life.

Picture by: Abhishek Mitra

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