OCTOBER 2012 `25

Issue no. 11 Volume no. 42

An MBD Publication RNI No.: 23870/72

D E M O C R A T I C

W O R L D

THERES SOMETHING ABOUT MARY KOM

PAGE 26

LOOKING BACK SOCIAL AGENDA

MEASURE YOUR ONLINE CLOUT WITH THESE TOOLS PAGE 20

Strokes
PLUS: BROAD CANVAS GARNISH WAREHOUSE

Verb al
JATIN DAS talks about the intensely personal act of painting Page 12

FOREIGN DESPATCHES

EDIT ORIAL
SONICA MALHOTRA KANDHARI | editorial@democraticworld.in

In Pursuit of Passion
QUOTE ON INDIA trade happenstance is the hero. A news here, a glance at the past and suddenly there is a thread of an idea which grows as a story. Two fortuitous event set the path for the present edition; one a mention of an interesting art gallery tucked away in Neb Sarai. The other, a visit to a house where a Jatin Das painting was on display. I confess I knew of Jatin Das, rather than know him. I had always heard that Das treads a tricky pathhe condemns what we see as contemporary modern art. Yet for most people he is one of the stronger members of the Indian contemporary art movement. He has been even more vocal in his criticism of the world of computer-generated, tampered, overpainted and photo-transferred art. The volatile verbaliser and artist who likes to work on large-scale murals and welded steel sculptures, what a wonderful figure he would make on the cover. And then there was K.G. Babu, an upcoming artist whose vivid, vibrant and arresting canvases stole our hearts at NIV Art Gallery. Babu and Das are poles apart. The former is slowly getting his due, while the latter has been a shinning star for 55 years. The former barely speaks. The latter is not shy at all. Yet there is that thread of commonality their joy in creating. They paint because that is what they know best. They create because without it life is meaningless,
IN OUR

because pursuit of passion is often that defines us. Like pugilist Mary Kom, who boxes, for her life is meaningless without it. She is our special feature this month. Read about her as Kom bares her soul and talks of her family and passion. In the more prosaic matters, the FDI debate, one that DW visited in February 2012, has resurfaced with anti and pro-FDI schools screaming themselves hoarse over the issue. First the LPG and diesel hike, and now the retail debate, tell us, who stands a chancethe economy or the people? The time is right for such a debate as we celebrate the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation on October 2, 2012.

JATIN DAS:
India is one of the greatest countries of the world. It is a goldmine for art and artists. I am not talking about politics, art or cinema specifically. India is not just Delhi or Mumbai. It is the rich traditions of India that is its beauty...

OCTOBER 2012

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

TOC
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

BOXING QUEEN

MARY KOM A BOXING CHAMPION, DOTING MOTHER, LOVING WIFE AND A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE. MEET INDIAS MILLION DOLLAR BABY READ MORE
ON PAGE 26

| OCTOBER

2 0 12

C O V E R DE S IGN B Y H A R IDA S BA L A N | P HOTO B Y SUBHOJIT PAUL

12
COVER STORY VIVEK BHANDARI

Countrys most prolific painter, sculptor, muralist and poetmeet Jatin Das, as he talks of things that move him and make him happy
COPYRIGHT Democratic World is published & printed by M Gulab Singh & Sons (a unit of MBD Group) at Gulab Bhawan 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110002, India and printed at Perfect Printers Gulab Bhawan 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110002, India. Democratic World is for private circulation only. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of M Gulab Singh & Sons.

12 | Meeting An Artist

24 | LOCATING CIVIL SOCIETY TODAY:

New Alliances and Reallignments

SANTOSH DESAI

32 | THE CORRUPTION GENE: Have we come to

see the world in a way that allows us to exercise and condone corruption?

Please Recycle This Magazine And Remove Inserts Before Recycling

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

OCTOBER 2012

29
ISSUE

29 | IS INDIA LETTING ITS WOMEN DOWN?

Debating safety of women in India

REGULARS

40
BROAD CANVAS

01| EDITORIAL 06 | UP-TO-DATE 10 | FOREIGN DESPATCHES 26 | LOOKING BACK 36 | READING ROOM 48 | STICKY NOTES

40 | Strokes of Silence, Indigo

Vivid colours of Kerala captured in the creations of K.G. Babu

GOOD KARMA WAREHOUSE GARNISH SOCIAL AGENDA

34 | WHEN WOMEN EARN CHILDREN LEARN A simple move to

set up a school in NCRs slums led to Katha

38 | GADGETS & GIZMOS WAGAN SOLAR EPOWER CUBE 1500 Go

green with this Solar Power Generator by Wagan

44 | SERVED WITH STYLE BY THE SOUS CHEF Achal Aggarwal is obsessed with perfectly-cooked food which looks, tastes good

20 | KNOW YOUR ONLINE CLOUT

The worlds your stage if you know how to conduct yourself online

OCTOBER 2012

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

FEEDBACK

www.democraticworld.com
EDITORIAL
Managing Editor: Monica Malhotra Kandhari Group Editor: Sonica Malhotra Kandhari Editor: Dr Chander Trikha Assistant Features Editor: Rohini Banerjee Sub Editor: Manjiri Indurkar

EDITORIAL CO-ORDINATION
Mamta Bhatt

DESIGN
Sr. Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Sr. Art Director: Anil VK Associate Art Directors: Atul Deshmukh & Anil T Sr. Visualisers: Manav Sachdev & Shokeen Saifi Visualisers: Sristi Maurya & NV Baiju Sr. Designers: Raj Kishore Verma, Shigil Narayanan & Suneesh K Designers: Charu Dwivedi, Peterson PJ, Midhun Mohan Prameesh Purushothaman C & Haridas Balan MARCOM Associate Art Director: Prasanth Ramakrishnan Designer: Rahul Babu STUDIO Chief Photographer: Subhojit Paul Sr. Photographer: Jiten Gandhi

DEAR EDITOR, WHAT A MELANGE OF STORIES THAT THE DW TEAM BRINGS TO THE TABLE IS COMMENDABLE! I WAS BEGINNING TO BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE GREATS SUCH AS SHYAM BENEGAL. GOOD TO KNOW THAT I WAS WRONG. IT WAS INTERESTING READING ABOUT THE MAN WHO HAS GIVEN US GREAT STORIES. KEEP UP THE GOOD JOB!
Kind Regards, Shraddha Aggarwal, Indore

SALES & MARKETING

Mayank Khantwal (Manager- Ad Sales), Mamta Bhatt and Arjun Sawhney

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M Gulab Singh & Sons Private Limited

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POINT OF VIEW

DISTRIBUTED BY THE INDIA TODAY GROUP

DEAR EDITOR,

Stories such as that of Nemai Ghosh would have been lost had you not written about them. The DW people are putting up a good show, just what I, as a reader, need. Thank you.
APARNA GUPTA, HYDERABAD

Democratic World is a monthly magazine published and printed by M Gulab Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd (a unit of MBD Group). It is published at Gulab Bhawan, 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India and printed at Perfect Printers, Gulab Bhawan, 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. The magazine is edited by Dr Chander Trikha, Gulab Bhawan, 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi110002, India. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of M Gulab Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd. Editorial opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of M Gulab Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd and M Gulab Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd does not take responsibility for the advertising content, content obtained from third parties and views expressed by any independent author/contributor. (M Gulab Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd, Gulab Bhawan, 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002). Email: editorial@democraticworld.in Opinions expressed herein are of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any opinion of M Gulab Singh & Sons Pvt Ltd, Gulab Bhawan, 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India Tel: 91-1130912345, 30912301. For Advertisements please call- +919899854831 Email: subscribe@democraticworld.in

WRITE TO US: Democratic World values your feedback. We want to know what you think about the magazine and would love your opinion on issues that you would like us to raise. DW continues to be work in progress and your inputs will make it a truly democratic effort. For additional images, opinion polls and much more visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/DWzine Send your comments, compliments, complaints or questions about the magazine to editorial@democraticworld.in

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

OCTOBER 2012

NARENDRA MODI

UPtoDATE
Diesel Hike Leads to Nation-wide Protests UPA allies cry foul
HIKE \\ The Centre came under heavy flak from all

Rahul Gandhi is an international leader. He can contest in Italy too

THEY SAID IT

quartersindustrial sectors, political parties, citizens and organisationsover the diesel and LPG price hike which came into being in mid-September. The Union government increased the price of diesel by `5. The new price is `6.2 per litre, including taxes. The price hike immediately affected the transport industry as a whole, and more particularly, Maharashtra was the worst hit. With the increase, the difference in diesel prices between Mumbai and Delhi jumped to `6.5 per litre. The Centre also limited subsidised LPG refill supply to six in a year at the rate of `450. The seventh cylinder will come at a cost of ` 800. The steps led to a slew of protests coming in from almost

all states. The BJP and Shiv Sena activists staged demonstrations in Maharastra. Key UPA ally and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee too expressed her unhappiness over the hike and held a series of protests in Kolkata. Key UPA ally DMK described the diesel price hike as very high and sought a roll back. BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said the hike will have a cascading effect on prices and will contribute further to inflation. Diesel price hike will indirectly increase the cost of production of goods by 10 to 12 per cent. Wholesale rates of vegetables are likely to shoot up by the end of the month by 25 to 30 per cent. With diesel prices going up, transportation companies are likely to increase their freight rates too.

`6.5
the hiked price for a litre of diesel

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

OCTOBER 2012

FROM AROUND THE WORLD //

up-to-date

Andy Murray Breaks Grand Slam Jinx

SPORTS \\ Tennis

Leaving a Gap: [from left) Verghese Kurien, Niel Armstrong and AK Hangal

India and the world looses legends AK Hangal, Verghese Kurien and Neil Armstrong bid goodbye
DEMISE \\ Late August and September was marked by the demise of two Indian

stalwartsactor, activist and reformist AK Hangal and the father of Indian White Revolution Verghese Kurien. While the world also lost its favourite astronaut in Niel Armstrong as the Moonwalker breathed his last breadth on August 26, 2012. Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the moon. An aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor, Armstrong was also an officer with the US Navy and served in the Korean War before he became an astronaut. Avtar Kishan Hangal popularly known as AK Hangal passed away on August 26, 2012. Hangal was a freedom fighter and also a stage actor. Later, he became a character actor in Hindi films and did hundreds of films between 1966 and 2005. Verghese Kurien, was an Indian engineer and renowned social entrepreneur. He was known as the Father of the White Revolution for his billion-litre idea or Operation Flood. The operation took India from being a milkdeficient nation, to the largest milk producer in the world, surpassing the USA in 1998 which in 30 years doubled the milk available to every person.

star Andy Murray ended Britain's 76-year wait for a male Grand Slam singles champion with an epic victory over Novak Djokovic in the US Open final. Murray, 25, emulated Fred Perry's 1936 achievement, winning 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 in four hours 54 minutes in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Murray also won an Olympic gold this summer. This is Murrays first Grand Slam victory after 28 appearances. On the day when the talented duo played against each other, a swirling wind made conditions troublesome. It was Murray who coped better in the first two sets and eventually ended Djokovics title defence and 27-match hardcourt winning run at majors. Murray made a devastating start to the decider, breaking in game one and consolidating it with some defensive play of the highest order. The third seed was in dreamland when Djokovic netted a forehand to hand over the double-break, only for a nervous Murray to immediately surrender one of his strikes with a timid backhand.
NUMERO UNO

AWARD

Cuban Coach Wins Dronacharya Award: Cuba-born boxing coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez became the first foreign coach to win the Dronacharya Award. He has dedicated 22 years of his life in training Indian boxers and has two-time Olympic medal winner, Sushil Kumar, as one of his students.
OCTOBER 2012
DEMOCRATIC WORLD

up-to-date

\\ FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Protest Path (left) Protesters burn the US flag in Bangladesh Embassy Attack (below) People try to climb into the American Consulate

Violence spreads across Middle East Citizens protest a low-budget

American film on the Prophet
UNREST \\ A

low-budget, crudely-produced film called Innocence Of Muslims, which allegedly portrays Prophet Mohammed as a fraud, a womaniser and a child molester sparked off controversies across the Middle East leading to violence and disruption. The violence began when Islamist protesters climbed the US Embassy walls in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and tore down the American flag from a courtyard pole. Chris Stevens, the US Ambassador to Libya, was killed, along with three other Americans, as violent protesters stormed the consulate in Benghazi. The intensity of the anti-American fervour initially caught US leaders by surprise, but in the past days, the Barack Obama administration has called for calm. It urged foreign governments to protect American interests

Pakistani government should shut down the US embassy until film-makers are punished

in their countries. The film, has sparked violent protests in many Muslim countries and the US has responded by deploying additional military forces to increase security in some hotspots. In a televised speech, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said America must be held accountable for the film, which was produced in the United States. The US government has condemned the film. Nasrallah called for protests in which the Muslims expressed their anger. In Pakistan, police fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters in Karachi. The protesters threw stones and bricks, prompting the police to beat back the crowd with batons. One protester was killed during the clash, said Ali Ahmar, spokesman for the Shiite Muslim group that organised the rally. Thousands more held peaceful demonstra-

tions against the film in other parts of the country, including the eastern city of Lahore and the north-west city of Dera Ismail Khan. The demonstration in Lahore was organised by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, believed to be a front for a powerful militant group blamed for attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people. It has been unclear how much of the violence was spontaneously triggered by the film and how much of it was spurred on by anti-American militants using it as a tool to grow and enrage the crowds. Libyas interim president Mohammed el-Megarif said the attackers who killed Stevens appeared to have spent months preparing and carefully choosing their datethe anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. But US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice said evidence gathered so far indicated it was a spontaneous reaction to the anti-Islam video. In the meanwhile, tension escalated in Libya as the civil war continued unabated, also leading to anti-American sentiments in most parts of the country.

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

OCTOBER 2012

FROM AROUND THE WORLD //

up-to-date

POLITICAL

Cartoonist Jailed for Sedition Leading to Protests

JAILED \\ Mumbai Police

SALT PEPPER
AS APPLE LAUNCHES THE IPHONE5, TWITTER GOES ABUZZ WITH JOKES AND MEMES

&

questioned cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and then arrested him on charges of sedition over a series of cartoons which lampooned the governments corruption record, including one that depicted Parliament as a giant toilet bowl. The arrest of

Trivedi, a freelance artist, triggered widespread condemnation from media and anti-graft activists who said it was evidence of lack of respect for freedom of expression. The government was under public scrutiny for banning a few websites in the

recent past. An impassioned public debate generated after the arrest of Aseem Trivedi on charges of sedition, has made some senior ministers at the Centre sit up and press for an amendment in the provisions relating to sedition in the Indian Penal Code.

Many Christian folk seem more excited about the coming of the IPhone 5 than they are of coming of the Lord. Sure seem to be preparing more!
Projectpeter | Twitterati

Twin Fires in Pakistan Lead to Deaths Interior Minister Calls Fires Terror Attacks

Now that the iPhone 5 is out, what do you think about the leaked iPhone 10 layout?
Jordan Lyod | Twitterati

The iPhone 5 looks cool but I think I'll wait until the iPhone 6 b******. Apple can do better than [sic] that.
Cottrell | Twitterati

Rescuers still at work at the Karachi garment factory site

DISASTER \\ In September, Pakistan faced one of its worst industrial disasters till

date when a garments factory caught fire and was gutted. The death toll rose to 259 leading to the government registering a case of murder against its owner and manager of the Karachi factoryAli Enterprises, his two sons and managers at three-storey garments factory. On the same day of the Karachi fire, 25 people were also killed in a fire at a shoe factory in Lahore. Pakistans interior minister Rehman Malik gave a twist to the countrys worst industrial disasters by calling them an act of terrorism. The bigger fire started in the garments factory in Karachis Baldia town. Evidence suggests that the fire started because of a generator malfunction or short circuiting. The owners, who have obtained preventive bail until 21 September, 2012, also recorded their statements with the police. Till date only 177 of the dead bodies have been identified, including 23 women. Sindh police surgeon, Kamaluddin Sheikh, said around 600 people were in the factory when the fire broke out and many managed to escape with minor injuries or were rescued later.

People complain about the iPhone 5 not having a radical new design, then they complain that changing the shape of the dock is way to [sic] radical.
Jordan Lyod | Twitterati

know...

How do you tell if someone has the new iPhone 5? Dont worry, theyll let you

Zach Barff | Twitterati

OCTOBER 2012

DEMOCRATIC WORLD

foreign despatches
\\ NOTES FROM THE DIA SPOR A

California, USA

RAJU VEGESNA

Its not about how great an idea is. If you cant execute, it wont work
RAJU VEGESNA: It was in the late 1990s, when right after finishing with my Bachelors of Engineering from Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davanagere, Karnataka, I had just began working. My job was to handle website promotions which led to my interest in network management. That is when I came across Zoho. I thought they were doing interesting things in the field of network management. Since I, too, had an interest I started communicating with them. Moreover they were a product-based company, which I always found exciting. So, after a few initial interactions with them I proposed a few product ideas which they liked and in a couple of months I joined the company. Today the company is almost 16 years old and my association with it has been for 13 years now. Zoho is one of the very few productbased companies from India. A significant point about Zoho is that we run it from the US, while others are based from India. When Zoho started out, India had a lot of companies providing services, but not many were into making products. Striving hard for bringing in projects and making the clients implement those was an idea which never fascinated us. What we at Zoho wanted to do was to create products and sell them in the global markets directly. Once the decision was made, we got in touch with a few Indian companies who were dealing in the same space and launched a few products and finally marked our arrival in the network management zone. Even though Zoho is being run and managed from the US most of Zohos employees, consciously or not, are Indians. We hire engineers and management people, mostly freshers because young people are more creative, innovative and enjoy challenges. We have

RAJU VEGESNA is the Chief

Evangelist for Zoho. In this role, Rajus focus lies in shaping Zohos corporate strategy and global brand image in order to sustain its rapidly growing market and mind share. He is considered as one of the foremost thought leaders in the Office 2.0 revolution. Raju has been instrumental in the strategy for and the development of, the popular Zoho suite, which till date boasts of 28 online productivity applications. He is an avid blogger and encourages Zoholics or users of Zoho to contact him directly. Prior to working with Zoho, Raju co-founded an Internet services company serving the educational market calledInfothread. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science

around 1,600 employees in India, in America we have around 30 and in Japan around 30 more. People often talk about the challenges of running an Indian company in the US. But honestly speaking, it is not that big a deal these days. In fact, there are more advantages than disadvantages. Having said that, there are some challenges that we do face and have been facing over the years. For instance we have an office in India and in the US. In both the countries we have support teams. It is when these teams interact, that the problem arises. Most of all, language is a big barrier. Understanding each others accents is a troublesome area. But that is something that cannot be helped much. English, as we know is not our first language, and Americans do not understand any other language. The other problem that we deal with on a daily basis is the cultural difference between the two countries. This creates enormous amount of problems for us. The thing is that both the countries follow different work cultures, people have different ideologies and these are issues which will only get sorted over time. While these are some of the internal challenges that we face, the biggest and the foremost issue that we face is of reach. In a global market companies like Yahoo! and Google have a wider reach, which is something we lag. We would like to reach to more and more people but that is yet to happen. Perhaps we need to work on better marketing strategies. I would be stating the obvious in saying that the US has a more

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foreign despatches
NOTES FROM THE DIA SPOR A //

mature market, which actually changes a lot of things. For instance people in the US have been used to buying things online. They are comfortable with the concept of e-commerce. As compared to India, they are more comfortable buying something that has been put online. While in India that culture is yet to come. In the US we often see that the customers come online and browse for products. If they like the products they buy them, they dont really talk to other people or take another opinion into consideration. It is tough to get that scenario in India. Moreover, dealing with the clients in the US is completely different from dealing with the clients in India. I agree that every country has their own culture and their own issues. And it is understandable that the Indian clients will have different sets of expectations while US clients will have different ones. Japanese clients, for instance, want every minute detail to be fixed. They look into the smallest matter, as they are very detail-oriented. Our clients in the US, on the other hand, are okay with smaller nuances, but they want the core structure to be impeccable. However, in India, perhaps because of the lack of infrastructure and tech support, clients always seek support to fix problems. They demand onsite support all the time. India needs an attitudinal change when it comes to these things. Similarly in the case of venture capital (VC) investment, it is widespread in US, especially in the software market, there are many VC firms with different models. It is a highly competitive market in US and some of the VC firms from US are making their way to the Indian market for expansion. In India though, it is starting to evolve, I would say Indian investors are more conservative compared to US investors. But to be fair to the Indian market, the scene is changing. Each day, we notice changes which point towards growth and maturity. When we started off in India, it was tough to get talent on board. One big issue that India faces is that it doesnt have a culture of innovation and there is lack of exposure too. When the students come out of engineering colleges, they do not know that there is something like a product-based company, they are completely unaware. This lack of exposure becomes a road block.

India has a great future, the market is booming, we have the talent and the enthusiasm. All we really need today is to pull our act together and make things work

But I wouldnt blame just the students or the colleges for this lack of exposure. The truth is that when we started out, there werent many product-based companies in India. And the market wasnt all that open. However things have changed now, in the past few years I have seen some good product companies popping-up and the employees of these companies are the local talents, which is fantastic news. Especially for Zoho which always has had a policy of building talent and not targets. Speaking about the achievements of Zoho, I think it is becoming Indias largest product-based company, and its ability to capture the local Indian market. I think we have done a great job in bringing India to a strut in the international market. We have really worked hard on it. We have built products, taken them to the market, have taken the responsibility of ensuring that they are quality stuff and we have strived hard to promote them. The journeyas smooth as it soundshas not been easy. It has been exciting, but not without hurdles. For an Indian company it is a big challenge understanding the US market. As open as this market is, it follows a certain work culture and expects every company to follow that culture too. Indian companies, which belong to a different school of thought, find it difficult to navigate through this market. Now that we have been in the US for some 16 years we understand how it works and therefore are able to strive through and navigate through the US market. Therefore, I think that execution is a biggest issue here. It is not about how great an idea you have. If you can not execute it properly, it would not work. Things that worked in favour of Zoho was that we always believed in taking one step at a time. When we entered the product market what we initially did was that we would take a software and embed it in our product and sell. Our targeted space was not all that big, probably half a billion dollar market, but it was getting us easy money, if not a brand image. We were always focussed on our next stepentering the network management market, which was a 50 billion dollar space. There we built some 30 to 40 products and it helped us bring in money and invest in our future applications. With our third phase of the company, zoho.com, we have left behind the $50-billion market and entered the multi-billion dollar market and I am happy to say that we are doing well. After all this effort that we have put in, we really hope that we have managed to inspire people back home to start more product-based firms. India has a great future, the market is booming, we have the talent and the enthusiasm. All we really need today is to pull our act together and make things work. I hope that Zohos success model is replicated and bettered by other Indian companies in the near future. As told to Manjiri Indurkar

OCTOBER 2012

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MEE TING AN ARTIST //

cover story

Artist
an
Jatin Das may be called one of our countrys most prolific figurative painter, a graphic artist, a sculptor, a muralist and a poet. But what really makes him happy is to be unburdened from all labels and lead life to its fullest
BY ROHINI BANERJEE
DESIGN BY ANIL VK PHOTOGRAPHS BY SUBHOJIT PAUL | IMAGING BY MANAV SACHDEV

Meeting

WHAT YOU SEE...

...Is what you get; that is painter, artist, sculptor and graphic artist Jatin Das for you. He is an electrifying personality who hates to mince words, which should make him a pain for his publicist (thankfully, he has none) and a dream for journalists. But before his straightforwardness grabs your attention, the most singular aspect of his personality that hits you as a force, is his youthful, abundant energy. He bounces off to keep something, to arrange something else, places seats at the right angle, helps the photographer pick a corner for a photoshoot or opens the door for people to come in.

OCTOBER 2012

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cover story

\\ MEE TING AN ARTIST

Das is also attentive, courteous, and quick on the uptake. He offers everyone cigarettes. Before starting the interview, he wants everyone to have a cuppa. Not many artists, and certainly not many successful legends, send a drawn map minutes after the conversation. In fact, not many successful Indian people believe in common courtesies such as acknowledging emails. It seems Das and his team operate differently. Where do you work? What is it? Where is it? Who is in charge? He shoots off questions on our first interaction over the phone. He acknowledges answers with a quick hmph or a huh. And when he does not want an answer he says, I do not care, and dismisses both the answer and question with an impatience of a child. We were to encounter more of that visceral honesty and child-like impatience as we met in his Shahpur Jat studio as the conversation progressed at a mind-boggling speed over three languages, and with the artists answers beginning with an emphatic no.

THE ARTIST
The studio where Das works is a small and neat space. Though it is filled with wooden racks, stuffed with files and folders, and a handful of people quietly busy before computers, it contains an air of hushed order. Every folder, box and rack is neatly labelled. There is a temple-like quality to the spaceguests are asked to remove their shoes before entering. If you strain your ears, a soft sitar music can be heard with the click-click of the keyboards. When Das does appear for the interview, he is in no hurry to get on. No, no, no, listen, I do not even know your name. Let us all get to know each other. Unless you wish to

IMAGING BY PETERSON PJ

finish everything in three minutes flat and make a quick exit. I am not ready as once I go through what I am going to say, I will have to relive it all in my mind. You know what I am saying? he asks. For Jatin Das, there are no quick fixes or short cutsif it is an interview, then it is about building a sense of trust before anything else. Smallest of details matter to me. What I do, I do it with a passion for quality. If I am consuming daalchawal, it should be made with care, with love. I cook with passion. I garden with a passion. If I bathe I think of the rivers. Everything needs fervour and sincerity. For every bit of our life we should be committed and concerned, he says without taking a breath. I may not have done much for my children, but I find it most gratifying when I see them today. They, too, have a strong sense of commitment. They have the right set of values and they do not compromise in what they do. I have never compromised in what I have done either, he says, as an afterthought. But our interview is yet to startin fact, it will not start for well over an hour in which he will sometimes speaks in a tearing hurry, while often he would break off mid-sentence to review what was said before. But he would do everything with carebecause a hurried interaction is not genuine. When you come to meet me, shed the baggage. About what you know of art and artists. Let us start innocently, he says.

Bold Strokes [From left] Initiated, a water colour, Digambar, oil on canvas and finally, Birahini, oil on canvas

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FAN OF PANKHAS
Over the years Jatin Das has collected 6,500 hand fans. For him they are the remaining testament to the dying crafts of India

As his mind skips and wanders over what he wants to say he offers more information. I came to Delhi in 1967 to teach. At that time, Delhi was a hub for artists. With the passage of time, they (colleagues) have all dispersed and some of them have become quickies with their quick shows, quick money, quick parties, says Das. Lot of young artists tell me, Jatin-da I have to earn my bread and butter. Where do they learn the phrase? Why not talk about daal chawal? They accuse me that I must have thought about the same (bread and butter) when I was young. In my twenties I was much more dangerous because I thought of nothing else than work. Somehow for 54 years one has lived life without compromise. How did I do that? Perhaps the question lies in the pasta little bit in his family, his teachers, the friends he acquired and people he met. Born to a traditional artistic family in Mayurbhanj (Orissa), Das was exposed to art early on. He grew up amid tribal and folk art, crafts, dance and music. His home is one of the lushest states of the country, dotted with ponds, rivers, groves and hamlets. His mother was an artist and a writer. It was a rich childhood. One that naturally progressed into a richer youth as he moved to Mumbai at the age of 16 to study at the JJ School of Arts. There he met Homi Bhabha (Das refuses to divulge how, as it is not relevant) and slowly learnt the art of lifeliving every second to its fullest. It is his mantra; he cooks, eats, plants a garden with the same fervour as he paints. This fervour lends him an exceptional eye for detail. From the next time, dont bring cups on a plastic tray. And put some extra water. Not too much, but a bit more. But very good Gopal, he says as the tea gets served. He is quicker to heap praise for a job well done and every gentle criticism is accompanied by a pat in the back. Here is an artist not residing in an ivory tower of solitudeobtaining inspiration from the ether. In fact, if one suggests such a thing, Das would be enraged. He is easily provoked, the quintessential angry, youthful senior man. He is enraged by the present state of our country, he is dissatisfied by the youths unwillingness to commit to a craft for the sake of learning, he is embittered by the publicity-driven, commerce-driven world of art. Everybodys summing up everybody without knowing. Like you! You want an interview done in two minutes, you want a summation in three. An acquaintance of mine said such-and-such person said such-and-such things about you that too without meeting me even once. We have a very narrow vision of what a person, a profession should be. You remark that my studio is clean. How many artists studios have you visited? Did you know that Dom (Moraes) was one of the best poets that India ever had? he asks.

he JD Centre of Art (JDCA) was established in 1997 by Jatin Das for the conservation and promotion of traditional and contemporary visual and plastic art in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. It is supposed to be a non-commercial institution which will house all the art work that has been made and sourced by Jatin Das. Before the designated, proposed National Pankha Museum comes up, all the pankhas or hand fans sourced by Das are now being housed at the JD Centre of Art. In 2004, the centre held its first major programmea national seminar on conservation of art of nature and man made art. Participants included Unesco and the Department of Culture of the Indian Government along with

Crafts

Centre for

town planners and architects. It also held national camp for sculptors and potters. Since the past 10 years the centre has been organising a monthly programme called Meet the Artist which has been held every second Saturday of the month. The centre will house, conserve and promote a range of traditional and contemporary visual and plastic arts. There would be a dedicated gallery to toys, brass and bell metal, terracotta and ceramics and hand fans. There will also be a sculpture garden, an open-air auditorium, a library and archives, conservation and research units. The Centre will actively promote artists residency programmes along with seminars, workshops and publications on art.

I died too: where we are Is big enough for us three, Even though you're a tall man You haven't seen your child. They preserved us with chemicals Here in the Nordic museum. Our daughter waits to see you. Come back soon from Africa.
A poem by Dom Moraes

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\\ MEE TING AN ARTIST

His friend, the fabled journalist Dom Moraess name, would appear in our interview regularly. It is when he talks of his friend or friends that we get to realise that there is the ivory tower after all. Age and nature has stolen most of his friends from him leaving him rather alone. I have a handful of friends left, he admits. His travels with Moraes in Sweden are sweet memories which he misses acutely. He gets up to show us articles and a photo of it. If I stayed in Bombay I would either stay at Doms or Basu-das house or flit between both. When I would be at Doms, he would read out his poems. He never shared his poetry with the world apart from his few friends. He would tease his wife (Leela Naidu) and tell her, Polly you have no sense of poetry, off you go and sleep. And Dom would write about me the very next day. After all he was a lazy b*****, Das says softly with a chuckle. The mention of old friends Don Moraes, Basu Bhattacharya, Satyajit Ray and Raghu Rai enter every conversation. He mentions them as people who did not live their lives stuck on a singular, linear path. They were, he tells us, souls who pored themselves in their immediate engagement, however trivial.

THE TECHNIQUE
I never use the expression that I am doing art. I always say that I am working. I never use words such as creativity or inspiration. They are hackneyed words. In any profession when you work for a certain period of time you have set of concerns, commitments and certain fervour with which you work. These emotions are devoid of the country or society, etc. Of course, certain things leave a mark. Your personal anguish, family, nature of things seep into the work naturally. I work on human predicament and all my work generally are human figures. But they are devoid of embellishments and devoid of time and place. They are not factual. They are not narratives. I cant explain my work at all. I am not going to and I am not attempting it, he says when the official interview starts. We begin with India. I make the mistake of asking him whether he finds working in India conducive. In seconds he is inflamed and calls the question quite dangerous. Every country is conducive to art. One can create everywhere. I think people who dont like staying in India and dont find working here conducive are mediocre and ordinary. India is one of the greatest countries of the world. It is a goldmine. I am not talking about politics, art or cinema, specifically.

I am not always telling a story. I paint first, then draw the outline. I see something and just feel like translating that onto paper. Thats it. These photographs are manifestations of my concern. They are never enlarged. I write a bit of free verse occasionally. I listen to a lot of music. I am open, willing and ready to be exposed to anything...
Jatin Das

There is either a lot of purpose or there is none at all I enjoy the process I paint because I love to
Jatin Das
India is not just a Delhi or a Mumbai. Even if for arguments sake we say they are the so-called yardsticks to deciding the concept that is India, how do you define these cities? In Delhi and Mumbai there are hundreds of smaller spaces which are distinct and interesting. There are people in Chandni Chowk who have, perhaps, not seen the world outside the walled city. People in Bhindi Bazaar in Mumbai. Every city has hundreds of layersespecially the Asian cities, he adds. The western world is finished. They have lost their arts, crafts and culture. They are all prototypes. They have a shared post-colonial, postwar culture and shared paradigms. The fact that India

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MEE TING AN ARTIST //

cover story

is still chaotic and is in a transitional state, is the best bit about our country. It is a pity that we are not trying to retain its character but adopting western paradigms and prototypes (food, clothing and way of life). We have adopted the British education systemthe British taught us to make us into clerks. Real education comes from being rooted to your reality, your home town, your state. Once you know your home then you know or imbibe everything else, says Das. Here is an artist who likes to dirty his hands. He loves the dusty road. He adores making real life his

playground. If indeed the real is his inspiration. His nudeswhether supple lines or rich and textured oil canvasescome from his greatest inspiration; life. Or, if you are talking of Dass version of it, write them in capitals. What inspires this artist? Everything, he will tell you. Encounters, passions, life, experience and relationships. This exultation of spirit makes his art youthfulgiving it a vitality which makes the figures dance before your eyes. He is also an innovative artist. Perhaps a part of this innovation stems from the impatience of the

FACT FILE
Jatin Das was born in December 1941 in Mayurbhanj, Orissa. He studied at the Sir JJ School of Art, Bombay, under Professor SB Palsikar. His term at the school lasted for a period of five years, from 1957 to 1962. Thereafter, he started participating in the art exhibitions, both at the national as well as the international level. Some important exhibitions where he participated include the Biennales in Paris (1971), and in Venice (1978)

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cover story

\\ MEE TING AN ARTIST

Every country is conducive to art. One can create everywhere. I think people who dont like staying in India and dont find working there conducive are mediocre and ordinary people. India is one of the greatest countries of the world. It is a goldmine.
Jatin Das

young man he is. He is always trying to find dynamic ways of depicting his emotions. His paintings revolve around the various aspects of relationships (crisis, contact, disclosure, emotional tension). The treatment is often clean, linear and colours are charged with emotions with a brisk brushwork which further add a unique dimension. But all these explanations (and narratives) are just unnecessary words . Why cant a painting be accepted as it is? Work never has an agenda, he protests. I am not always telling a story. I paint first, then draw the outline. I see something and just feel like translating that onto paper. Thats it. These photographs are manifestations of my concern. I write a bit of free verse occasionally. I listen to a lot of music. I am open, willing and ready to be exposed to anything and any influence which comes my way. When you grow older in such a rich environment, art is not a separate thing that you do when you have the time, he says. But why is the human body a recurring theme? There is either a lot of purpose or no purpose at all. I just enjoy painting. I paint because I love to. I enjoy the process allowing the unexpected to enter and govern. That is the beauty of painting, indeed, of life for me. I have been painting human figures for many years. Usually, I like working on a single figure. Now and then, two figures together have periodically emerged unintentionally. Recently, I have become conscious of it as a series. I suppose I have become more and more conscious about human relationships and our predicament. But it is in no way a documentary of anything. I try to capture a mood, an emotion. And the body, the form, the physicality is accidental, Das avers. My works are quite unlike other artists. They are usually linear and I sculpt paintings. First, I create the mass, tone, colours and body, and then chisel it with lines. Most artists first draw the lines and then fill it up with colours. Das usually draws with conte and ink, sometimes in oil and sometimes with acrylic; and he has admitted in a previous interview that he had used water colour every day for 12 years now. He also engraves on metals and occasionally etches. For someone who has exhibited in more than 55 solo exhibitions, he calls them mechanical. Exhibitions are boring. Painting is a more personal thing. When I am painting it is just about my paper and me. Nothing else matters. I also hate auctions, especially those that sell a painting at a much higher price than what it deserves, he says. For a bit, forget about art and fart, I am deeply concerned about issues and these matter to me. The psychological state of the country with bad governance, corruption which has percolated to all layers

Art Projects

The JDCA Film Forum : The forum was set up in 2006 for archiving short and documentary films on arts and artisans and to hold an annual non-competitive film festival in India. The festival is the first-of-its kind in the country.

OTHER PROJECTS : JDCA Publication : will be an in-house publication which will bring out limited editions on series such as sketchbooks of artists, scientists, potters and architects. The editions would be numbered and signed and will include handprinted handmade books. The JDCA will also include poster poems. Jagannath Project : Four archivists in Bhubaneswar and Delhi will spend two years on making a bibliography of all art work and architecture related publications which are to be published together and archived. At the same time, the JDCA will be inviting students and artists to visit the temple and make drawings on the temple which would be later shown in the state and in the NCR.

(including art). We have forgotten basic truths. That a plant can only grow in the ground. A potted plant is an anomaly. Due to a lack of space, now we believe that to be the ultimatebut that is and will remain an anomaly, he says as an after thought.

THE BEGINNING, THE END

Words flow torrentially and freely changing colour and direction in response to his moodsDas is as quickly inflamed as he becomes pensive. Phrases from Bengali, Oriya, Hindi and Sanskrit are used liberally in his conversation. The poetic, rather than the

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Sepia tones: Above are the photographs of a travel done by two friendsone poet and a painterwho visited Sweden in the summer of 1988. The time spent there, is one which Jatin Das recollects fondly. His and his friend, Goanese journalist and poet, Dom Moraes' experiences have been now captured in a small notebook which contains black and white sketches drawn by the painter and the poems penned by his friend.

prosaic, is his chosen metier. Winding through the diverse bylanes of his life, he looks more to the future than the past. A big book on paintings, memoirs and one on poems for Penguin, a book on the pankha collection. I have stalled many things. My daughter keeps calling me up to make my documentary film festival once in every two years. She has a pointI am putting too much on my plate. Nearly 90 per cent of all that I had earned is now into the JD Art and Research Centre and in the art documentary film festival which will happen next year. And see all these brushes and painting items, well, there should be a centre that is dedicated to the tools of art, if I can have my way. It is not the end of the road for Das as his journey has just begun.

Im still a child, and still beginning to paint, beginning to live, and rethinking about life and work. Im looking for people who can take up a few projects. Between the books, the JD Centre for Art, the proposed pankha museum and the dream of the museum dedicated to tools of painting, I am very busy, he reveals. To make his point, he gets up and picks up an ostrich feather duster used to dust canvases. He displays it with a grin of a child. You look around the room, spot the transparent telephone, a dusty paper ferris-wheel and the black and white photograph of Das caught in the middle of a danceand you see a pattern. This is not merely a studio, it is a museum dedicated to celebrating life and its little details.

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social agenda

\\ BUSINESS STR ATEGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Know Your
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DEMOCRATIC WORLD

Online Clout
BY TUSHAR KANWAR
OCTOBER 2012

The worlds your stage, and clients your avid audience, if you know how to conduct yourself online

social agenda
KNOW YOUR CLOUT//

nfluence n. the power or ability to affect someones beliefs or actions, arising out of status, contacts or wealth. As succinctly as the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word, social influence is particularly difficult to define, and is one of those things that you just know when you see it. And unlike the word-ofmouth brand champions of yesteryear, what we are increasingly seeing is the rise of the digital influencera small breed of somewhat special individuals on the Internet that have a strong effect on the opinions and even consumption habits of a large number of ordinary individuals. Crack this puzzlefigure out who is influential in which community, up to the extent of driving purchases and growing the brandand you can crack the ultimate goalsales. But if you thought it was difficult to define exactly who is influential online, measuring it and putting it to meaningful use is even more so. No wonder there is a slew of start-ups, each pushing their own metric of social currency to define how connected and influential you are online, and measuring social influence has fast become one of the key buzzwords to track this year. The tool to beat, and also the one youve probably heard the most about, Klout looks at your activity across all the major social networksFacebook, twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, FourSquare among othersfactors in a whole bunch of parameters such as likes, retweets, friends or subscribers, and who youre connected to, to arrive at a Klout score between 0 and 100. Add in more accounts to your Klout profile and the formula works in your influence across various social platforms towards that magic numberyour Klout
KLOUT:

score. If you are interested in analysing the score further, Klout provides some neat but basic graphs and a good-looking user interface for you to see what topics you are regarded to be an expert on, and how the Klout scores of your friends and peers compare to yours. Of particular interest is the Perks section, which allows businesses to offer products or services to individuals with a certain Klout score or influence in a specific topic. The idea is to get that product or service into the hands of the people who will then hopefully talk about it through their social channels and influence their audience towards the product or service.
PEER INDEX: While

about, as well as others who are influential about the same topicsvery handy if youre looking to engage with thought leaders in your space. Where it differs from Klout is that apart from an overall PeerIndex score, topical Peer Index scores are calculated based on category, making it easier to identify people with authority on a particular subject. It uses three variablesauthority, audience and activity to identify expertise in a particular subject and in my experience, does a better job at pinpointing specific areas of interest and expertise than Klout. While Kred is relatively new in the game, it has tried to differentiate itself by being transparent about how your Kred score breaks down, something that Klout and Peer Index cannot claim to do. Each tweet, mention or retweet on twitter is
KRED:

it is not as flashy as Klout, Peer Index does a decent job at helping you understand what topics you and your social circle is influential

TIPS & TOOLS

How to Increase Your Klout Score Basic steps: Build a relevant network. Have a compelling content strategy. Systematically engage influencers who can push your content virally Klout Score Influencers: Twitter and Facebook carry the most weight, LinkedIn and Foursquare do not pull much rank, Google+ matters. There is some correlation between number of +K's earned and high Klout scores What Can You Do Right Now?: Check your Klout Score. Make sure it accurately portrays your brand profile, persona, and influences. See how Klout can fit into your business model. If it makes sense, spend more time with a strategy, if it isn't a fit, don't waste time worrying about it. Not sure? Try it out

for 30 days and see what happens. Do not obsess over it. Check your score in real time with iPhone app. Check your score in real time with iPhone app How to Improve Your Klout Score: Stay active five to seven days a week (reminder: social media is more than a full-time job)Keep visibility on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ steady and flowing on a daily basis. Facebook seems to be the favored network. Interact with other influencers Post engaging and electrifying photos with visual impact and messaging. Find more friends and followers = larger network of opportunity. Participate in Twitter chats to build reach. Stay on topic with content and optimise your Twitter schedules with tools like Buffer

ILLUSTRATION BY MANAV SACHDEV

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\\ KNOW YOUR CLOUT

assigned a score (which is visible on your dashboard). The sum total of your interactions is then totaled and averaged across the Kred network to give you an idea of where you are placed. Kred calculates two scores, a measure of Influence, which is based on how often you are retweeted, replied, mentioned or followed on Twitter, and a measure of Outreach, which is reflective of how often you engage (retweet, reply or mention) with others. Now, in our numbers-driven world, does merely having a high Klout, Kred or PI score mean you have arrived? Understand thismost of these tools indicate the stature an individual possesses within a social network, what one could term as their social capital, and at best a limited range of interests that contribute to that standing. They then compute the influence using proprietary formulae, with little guidance to the individual on what they can do to improve their scores. At most, they introduce some elements of gamification, such as rewarding users for either completing their profiles or inviting more friends on to the network, but never a clear explanation as to how to consciously work towards a higher score. In short, there is no one formula for being influential. So then is all of this just hokum? In the end, you as an individual or a brand manager have to decide, but my advice would be to take all these scores with a grain of salt. Any one metric will at best give you a hazy picture of an individuals online presence, so it would be best to use these scores to augment your own primary research findings. There is no one-size-fits-all-solution, instead social influence scores should be taken as guidance to help inform but not dictate your social media and marketing outreach plans.

How to Lose Friends...

With a click, at least five clicks. Thats simple but it can be tedious when there are 480 faces and names you need to go through which I am doing right now. And wondering why I did not do so before. I have never been part of the I do not do FB brigade. I am not active but I do post pictures. I go like my friends' pictures. And I have accepted almost all friend requeststhe criterion being I know the sender in person (or through the blog). A Big mistake. And who did I remove? You know who you are but for politeness' sake, I offer some explanation. Let me start with you. You did nothing wrong, seriously. You added me as a friend because your colleague sits next to a guy who once talked to me and you saw that! You added me and I accepted you for the same reason (yes, kill me). The only time we have conversed is when you sent me a message asking me if I remembered you (I didnt) and if I could help you find a job in my company (I am not sure I can. I cannot refer you for this amazing FB connection we have). Off you go. Then you. We share an alma mater. That is big. We loved our college. And when you added me, I saw we had 14 mutual friends, all from college. So I accepted. But tell me what is the point? Do you care about when Zo started walking? Or when I went on a vacation? Do you really want that bother? I wouldnt, I know. So, in a way, I am doing you a favor. If this is about networking (which I suck at) go to Linkedin. I will add. Promise. And you. You still had a good reason to be on my list. We shared a floor or a coffee area. Yes, we did say hello but its been years since I moved out from my work place or you did. And we have nothing in common. I seem to talk about myself and my family only. And you, about how awesome Pawan is. There you are. You, by the way, are

Divya Iyer

BLOG WATCH

Tushar Kanwar, a selfconfessed gizmo-holic, is Bengaluru-based technology freelancer, who has contributed to leading Indian technology publications for years.

going for a weird reason. I knew you pretty well. Problem is; I do share a bit of my life through updates. So you know what I wore, where I went, how I look. But you, you are a closed book. You dont even have a profile picture! So looks like this is just your way of keeping a tab rather than keeping in touch. I know, its your choice. But, I choose to not share anything with you. Hey! Youre from my school. Seems like we are from the same classyou added me. We seem to have truckload of mutual friends. Youre nice and harmless and you share your pictures, even tag me on some (what is with that?). Thing is, I have no clue as to who you are! I cannot place your name or face and I have an awesome memory. You too are from school and I remember you. You were popular. What surprises me is that you remember meactually, I am sure you dont. And the reason you added me was that you spotted me through mutual friends, I had a nice picture and I seemed to have done ok. It sounds pathetic, but I was thrilled when I saw your request. We chatted and now it all seems so childish. We are not friends and I doubt we ever will be. We have never spoken beyond notes or classes. I was ok with you being around, until you started acting like we were buddies. When you pointed out about my priorities, how I have let go of important things in life, like friends and gotten busy with my career and family. Youre right. I had my priorities muddled up when I accepted that friend request. I have removed a 100-odd names in the past two days. It feels good. Rude, maybe, but I think its fine. So, if you dont see any more updates from me and have the patience to check why, dont fretit is better this way. Im really not worth it. [Blog Link: http://foreverinbluejeans.wordpress.com]

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PLATFORM
VIVEK BHANDARI | Social Scientist

Locating Civil Society Today

New Alliances and Reallignment

EVER SINCE the revelations about the

2G imbroglio, the media has been lamenting the decline of public morality. Indeed, it has been able to sustain this narrative because alleged scams are being unearthed with relentless regularity. In all of its lamentations, the media is joined by a multiplicity of activists, NGOs, and public citizens, loosely described as members of civil society. The list of such voices is long, and the now fractured Team Annafor better or worsehas perhaps emerged as one of the most visible faces of civil society engagement in recent times. Occasional hiccups faced by members of Team Anna notwithstanding, the media savvy of the India Against Corruption Movement needs to be unpacked carefully. Many of their strategies emerge out of a deeper structural shift in the place that civil society occupies in Indian politics today. What is this shift, and how exactly have civil society organisations (CSOs)NGOs, non-profits, advocacy groups, etccome to relate to the government and private sector today? A brief glance backwards

might provide perspective on this. When Pandit Nehru declared that dams were the temples of modern India in 1963, he articulated a vision that sought to meet three challenges after Independence. First, he worked towards the consolidation of a government that would prioritise rapid economic growth to address the welfare needs of India. The emphasis on planned economic growth was put in the service of a second ideal: the need for modern infrastructure, which would provide a material framework within which Indias masses would conduct their lives as citizens of a socialist republic. These two ideals were, for Pandit Nehru, central to the realisation of a third: the idea of liberal democracy. At its core, Nehruvian Socialism sought to create the apparatus necessary to channel the energies of Indias millions in a modern, liberal democratic direction. Regular elections, bicameralism at the centre, fundamental rights, elected legislatures, etc., were all part of this federal vision and its attempt to unify the country, without muffling Indias diversity. And in this

ABOUT THE WRITER

Dr Vivek Bhandari
is a noted historian and former director of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), a post he took up after spending 15 years in the US. Today he is a keen observer of a dramatically transitioning India

vision, civil society was autonomous of the state. Partly for these reasons, civil society at this early stage was a localised or regional affair, directed by the energies of local groups. Few in the 1940s and 1950s would have imagined that social movements and NGOs would play a critical role in representing the diversity that was such a conspicuous fact of Indian life. There were, of course, some notable exceptions like Vinoba Bhaves Sarvodaya Movement, but broadly, civil society from the 1950s to the late 1970s had an unstable quality and was rooted in the lives of those being directly affected. For all practical purposes, these movements had little impact on the central government. By the time Indira Gandhi became a national political figure, a whole generation had been marked by their contact with the State in some form. Many were benefited by the Nehruvian model, but others began expressing a sense of political disenchantment at the states inability to alleviate the problems confronting their constituencies. Some of this put a severe strain on Indias federal

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VIVEK BHANDARI //
HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT THIS COLUMN? WISH TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ON THIS MONTHS ISSUE?

platform

Write to us at editorial@democraticworld.in

structure, as Indira Gandhis decision to declare Emergency makes clear. This political churning came at a time when Indias socialist planned economy was having to compete with alternative economic visions in the minds of Indias increasingly vocal middle class, members of which began to feel hemmed-in by Indias closed economy. As the effects of globalisation seeped into the nooks and crannies of urban life in the late-1980s, economic reforms were adopted in the 1990s. How many CSOs are there in India? Figures vary, but according to a Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Report released in March 2012, India has staggering 3.17 million non-profits registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, of which 80 per cent were created after 1990. Little is known about the activities of most of organisations, but it is fair to say that they are reshaping Indian society and culture in subtle, and as in the case of the Anna Hazare movement, not-so-subtle ways. Today, civil society is an active sphere of political engagement at the national level, propelled by a resurgent middle class. There are countless illustrations of this going back to the early 1990s. The Right to Information campaign started in Rajasthan and burgeoned into a

It is patently clear that in the past few decades, the distinctions between the Indian government, private sector, and civil society have become murkier, less discernable
national movement that succeeded in bringing about a constitutional legislation. After the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, CSOs have been among the most effective groups to get the state governments to provide rehabilitation services. The Right to Education Campaign had a strong civil society base; and the list goes on. Clearly, unlike the CSOs active from the 1950s to the 1970s, many that have emerged since the 1980s have much closer relationships with both the government and the heavy-hitters of Indias private sector. Whether they receive funding from the government, corporates or international agencies, CSOs are today forging new linkages in ways that were unimaginable in the Nehruvian years. The creation of the National Advisory Council in 2004 is the strongest statement of the governments formal acceptance of a role for civil society at the central level. And the Indian governments fondness for public-private partnerships only underscores the growing role that CSOs will play in the implementation of governments developmental initiatives. It is patently clear that in the past few decades, the distinctions between the government, private sector, and civil society have become murkier, less discernible. The globalisation of Indias culture and economy has added an additional dimension into this mix. As we look to the future, it is difficult to discern any general relationship of causality between the four; in other words, which sphere will exercise greater authority over others at any moment is impossible to predict. But the overall result of thisand this is significanthas been the growing professionalisation of movementbased politics, and civic engagement in general. As one looks to the future, one can only hope that CSOs will exercise constructive surveillance over the state to keep it accountable, while providing support when necessary. In their more pernicious form, however, CSOs have the potential to be hijacked and put in the service of selfish, illiberal ends. (The views expressed in this column are of the author alone)

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looking back
\\ MARY KOM

PHOTO BY WWW.MARYKOM.COM

THERE IS
SOMETHING
DEMOCRATIC WORLD

ABOUT MARY!
OCTOBER 2012

A boxing champion, a doting mother, a loving wife and a woman of substance. Meet Mary Kom, Indias Million Dollar Baby
MANJIRI INDURKAR

26

looking back
MARY KOM //

DOSSIER

NAME: Mary Kom PROFESSION: Pugilist BORN: 1983 DEBUT MATCH: AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship

WEBSITE: www.marykom.com

here is a scene in Clint Eastwoods Million Dollar Baby, where Maggies (Hillary Swank) mother asks her to quit boxing and do something more suited for a woman. Maggie simply tells her mother that boxing is what she likes and knows best and shall do it till she can. Maggie might have been a fictional character, but her story could not have been more real. When our own Million Dollar Baby told her parents about her decision of becoming a boxer, their reaction was: What if you get disfigured? Who will marry you? One look at the recent Tag Heuer commercial and you know that her mothers fears completely unfound. The magnificent Mary is grace personified, and looks splendid in that commercial. This beauty only increases when beads of sweat adorn her face after a gloriously won boxing match. The idea of a woman becoming masculine because of the manly sport is something that Kom does not understand. When asked if she ever has been tagged as a masculine woman, she laughs and asks, I do not think it applies to me, does it? I thought I was quite feminine! She also believes that men and women are equal and physical strength is probably the silliest standard or marker to judge women against men. Coming from such a school of thought, it is no wonder that Kom did not listen to her mother and did not give in. Like every other great story, this one too has many twists and turns, ups and downs. But then, what good is a story without a bit of a drama? When Kom started training for boxing at the age of 15, she did not inform anyone in her family. She knew that she would not be granted her wish, and thought it was best to hide it from her parents and her three siblings. In the Kom household, while boxing was not considered a sport, athletics was given a lot

I always believed that I would win a medal. I was aiming for the gold and apologise to the entire country for falling short this time. I will try again at Rio and hope to bring back gold from there
Mary Kom
of importance. So Kom informed her parents that she was training to be in athletics. They happily let her go. However, truth has a way of sneaking in when you least expect it; one morning, Koms father was surprised to find his daughters picture in the newspaper. It was taken after she won the Manipur State Boxing Championship. After confronting Kom on the subject, she finally told them, and managed over a period of time to convince them. It is not too far from the truth that today they are the proudest set of parents in the country. After the Olympic Bronze, Kom became a household name. When she apologised to people back home for not winning the Gold, she managed to induce a few tears. When she came back, she was received with great love and admiration. Some said she is a role model, and some called her an inspiration. It is said that the road to success is seldom smooth. Kom knows it more than anyone else. Born in an economically weak family of Manipur, life was nothing short of a struggle. Each day, the parents worked hard

to make ends meet. But they understood the importance of education and made sure that all four children went to school. Talking about her growing up years, Kom informs us that [They] were difficult as we were very poor. I had to go to school, take care of my siblings, help my parents in the fields and still find time to study and train for sports. Perhaps it was this everyday brush with poverty that made her the person she is todaydisarmingly modest, humble to the core and absolutely genuine. So far in the conversation Kom has told us a lot, answering all questions as candidly as she can. But the one question that begs to be asked is: why boxing? How did she become interested in a sport which India barely notices? She tells us that the reason behind her interest was another boxer, who hailed from the same regionDingko Singh. In the year 1998, Singh won the Gold at the Asian Games, and became a star overnight. Kom was in her teens and was awestruck by the way Singh was felicitated. What inspired me to take up boxing was Dingko Singhs performance at the Asian Games. He was given a heros welcome after that, says Kom. That was very inspirational for me and made me think of boxing as a possible future, she adds. Such was the impact that Kom started training that very year. Other than Singh, Kom considers Muhammad Ali to be her inspiration. But then it is difficult to a find a pugilist who has not been touched by the magic that is Ali. Like her inspirations, Kom, too, is a fighter; she has fought injuries and bounced back to form. It was during the World Championships in 2006 when she fell severely ill during the finals. The match had to be stopped in the second round. After this, Kom took a two-year break. However, keeping away from ones passion for too long is easier said that done. If records are to be

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looking back
\\ MARY KOM

Super Mom: Mary Kom with her twins Rechungvar and Khupneivar

Mary Kom at her boxing academy in India. She hopes to make boxing popular in the country

believed, it did her more good than bad. Upon her return, she won a Silver at the Asian Womens Boxing Championships, a Gold at AIBA Womens World Boxing Championships and another Gold at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games. While medals and accolades were coming her way, the one thing which is considered to be the Mecca for any sportsperson the Olympicswas a far cry. Till the 2012 Games, womens boxing as a sport was not featured in the Olympics. Therefore, when they added boxing to the list, Kom knew what she had to do. Despite the fact that she had won several medals in the 48 and 46KG category, the Olympic rules meant that she had to gain weight. Kom now had to fight in the 51KG category and win a few fights to be a part of the Olympics team. Thus began a rigorous training regime in which she sweated for eight hours every day, in the morning and evening. The little time in between was spent with her family. Even that became impossible towards the end, when she had to be training away from her twins and her husband for almost 12 weeks, which she calls a lifetime. Then arrived the final moment. The Olympic glory came in the form of a well-deserved Bronze.

This was no mean feat since Kom was fighting in a higher category an unknown territory. But Kom does not believe in backing off. This time was no different. The life of any sportsperson involves travelling and being away from the family most of the time. So how does her husband cope with situations when he has to be the primary care giver of the family? If you like a love story with a strong hero, then read on. Kom met her husband Onler in Delhi in 2001, fell in love and married him on March 12, 2005. Ours was a love marriage. He is my friend, philosopher and guide; my pillar of strength, says Kom. Often when one partner is more popular than the other, things go sour. But in Koms case, her gallant hero was a lot stronger and secured about himself, than the run-of-themill mewling personalities. Not only did Onler become Koms pillar, he quit his job after the birth of their twins. Several years have passed, and the two remain blissfully married. Onler continues to make his family a priority and takes care of their children to let his exceedingly talented wife do what she does bestwin. And with time, his contribution to her success has grown. He is a

BOXING QUEEN
SHE WON Bronze at the London Olympics 2012 Only woman to win medals in six world championships

loving husband and an outstanding father. Without him there would be no question of me having continued boxing. After her Olympic victory, the Manipur Government announced a cash award of `50 lakh for her. She was also awarded a government job for which she admits being grateful. She also confesses that while the job has allowed her to live reasonably, life is still not a luxury. It is only after the Olympic medal that we received financial support which would allow us to secure the future of our family, she admits. But the Olympic medal has turned the tide to her favour. The acknowledgement might have come late, but it arrived. It has allowed Mary Kom to think of expanding her boxing academy in Manipur. She now talks about equal opportunity for all and encourages women to take up sports not for fun, but as a way of life. Despite all the hardships, she does not believe in frowning; after all she is a true sportsperson. We posed one last question, how confident was she about her chances, Kom says, I always believed that I would win it. I was aiming for the Gold and apologise to the entire country for falling short this time. We, too, apologise for not being more vocala star boxer, a super mom and a loving wifethere truly is something about Mary.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT SAFE T Y OF WOMEN //

issue

Is India Letting its Women Down?

The molestation of a teenage girl on July 9, 2012 in Guwahati, Assam, which happened in full public view, was taped, recorded and then flashed across news channels, was just the tip of the iceberg of the problem of safety of women in India. Not a day passes without cases of atrocities against women, dominating the news headlines. A recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) revealed that the proportion of IPC crimes committed against women (to the total IPC crimes) has increased from 8.8 per cent in 2007 to 9.4 per cent during the year 2011 BY ROHINI BANERJEE
Yet the law and the judiciary has been inactive in dealing with the issuesthere has been no radical overhaul of laws relating to rape or sexual assault. In fact, there has been a rather steady decline in the conviction rates of rapists with ever-fewer victims getting justice. The issue has become so serious that even the more reticent politicians of the country have started to comment on the phenomenon. During the recent Parliamentary session, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde remarked, Serious crimes against women have continuously increased during the period 2009-11. We need to adopt appropriate measures for swift and salutary punishment to the persons found guilty of violence against women. The Home Minister also added that police chiefs have to increase the number of women personnel in their respective organisations. The overall representation of women in police forces should be increased through affirmative action. There are only 83,829 women police in our country as on January 2012, he said. And Shinde stated several reasons for the rising graph of crimes against women. Relaxing of social norms, relaxing of family control, adverse sex ratio and proximity of colonies of the afflu-

issue | a closer look at safety of women

SNIPPETS

AMONG 53 cities surveyed

by the NCRB, Delhi (4,489 cases) has accounted for 13.3 per cent of total crime against women followed by Bengaluru (1,890 cases ; 5.6 per cent), Hyderabad (1,860 cases ; 5.5 per cent) and Vijayawada (1,797 cases ; 5.3 per cent). Again one of the worst-affected states seem to be Bihar. The abduction of young girls is on the rise. 71 per cent of all kidnapping cases in Bihar are reported against women and children

ent with the underprivileged. Surprisingly, he found no fault with the Police in tackling crimes. However, most single women have some interface with police. Recent trespasses on womens modesty have been more incriminating and often the perpetrators have been police personnel. There is an euphemism in India regarding harassment of women. It is sugar coated and shrouded in a sweet word called eve teasing. It is about women becoming recipients of hate attacks. It is about men turning into monsters. It is about women damned because she chooses to or has to work late. Because she dresses wrong. What is this twisted link that exists between what a woman wears and does and between her safety? What makes an institute such as Vivekananda Vidyavardhaka Sangha issue a mandate asking every female student and staff to wear bindis and bangles to ensure the safety of the people on campus. In India the answers are not clear. To understand the issue, DW spoke to two women Urvashi Butalia, who runs Indias first feministic publication and to Brinda Bose, Associate Professor at Department of English, University of Delhi, for their take in the matter in our Issue of the month.

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issue

\\ A CLOSER LOOK AT SAFE T Y OF WOMEN

Author, Publisher

URVASHI BUTALIALIA

Publisher-cum-writer Urvashi Butalia started Kali, a publishing house for women, in 1984. After her first stint in publishing, in 2003, she started Zubaan on her own. Zubaan is dedicated to empowering Indias women and the margins

URVASHI BUTALIA// I am not sure that the

recent spate of attacks that we have been witnessing currently are different from what we have seen in the past. The question is why we are seeing more of it. I believe that there are many reasons behind the rise. One of them is the increasingly sharp difference between the rich and the poor in the semi-urban and urban areas of the cities. Gated communities that are a part of the entire NCR and in several cities across India, create strong levels of distance and difference. They also exacerbate a lot of tensions which are already there, and just get sanctioned by the presence of

such islands of prosperity. The fact of new kinds is that the jobs which have opened up as a result of globalisation have led to a lot of women joining the workforce, stepping out to do jobs that they did not do before. Although these (jobs) are not large in number, both the jobs and the women are becoming more and more visible. Women are also accessing spaces and going out more. There is a kind of anger in the society that is already suffering with such a lot of unemployment when they see half of the population successfully landing jobs. It is also a case of women being those who are not

supposed to get out to the field, they are now taking a share of the limited pie. That and the fact that women perform quite well in the workplace, sometimes better than their male colleagues, and then return home to manage to take care of the household, creates jealousy, tension, anger and resentment of sorts among a lot of men. All that finds an expression in one kind of violence to which women are extremely vulnerable to, which is usually sexual in nature. I believe that there is also the fact that there is a kind of modernisation and modernity coming into Indias cities. A lot of women from the semi-urban and rural sections are stepping out into the cities and leaving their homes behind. These are not the women that we spot in the shopping mall or in the BPO or the IT sector, but are the domestic helps and the daily wage earners from Bihar or Jharkhand. They are the ones who are most vulnerable to exploitation because their earnings do not allow them to live in places which have a modicum of law and order, security or protection. There is a general breakdown of law and order. There is also a general breakdown of public infrastructure. The public spaces and travel vehicles are not equipped to provide that extra protection to the vulnerable peoplewhy only the women, it is not safer for the senior citizens and the children, when the streets are badly lit and when the public transport is in shambles. Then there is a creamy layer of modern, urban, educated women who see no reason as to why they will have to lock themselves down in their houses, who feel that they have the right to be out on the streetsand rightly so. They too become targets and it seems that because they are doing that they are asking for it. I believe the collection of all these things leads to the thing that is always talked aboutwhich is because some women dress in a particular way or they move around later in night, they are asking for it. In this of list reasons I would think it is at the bottom of the ladder. But it is a reason that gets most picked up; because it is convenient to state that women are moving out of the boundaries that have been set for them and thereby they are being targetted.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT SAFE T Y OF WOMEN //

issue

BRINDA BOSE
Associate Professor

BRINDA BOSE// All of us realise that the

problem of safety of women is a pan-Indian one. Because I have not systematically studied reports and tables on cases of violent attacks on women in India, I would not like to comment on the actual numbers. But there certainly appears to be a sense that they have increased, which I think is more to do with the fact that the issue has now become a focus of media interest, as well as the fact that there are more ways for stories to circulate in the media and more people accessing them. All of which is not a bad thing at all, if attention is drawn to the issue and it begins to knock on public consciousness in a much bigger fashion. As I said, it is probably that we know more because of greater reportage of attacks. It may also of course be due to other factors like more women being out and about the cities, more women living alone or driving alone today compared to a decade ago, but obviously the answer does not lie in women being less independent or more prudent and careful but in the enhancement of safety measures in cities and the greater policing of crime. It is important that we see freedom for women to live and work and dress as they please as a right rather than as a blight on our society. All cities have always had a mix of different realities, spaces and classes, is that not what makes up a city? I am not comfortable with finding reasons for increased crime against women in the notion that it is bound to happen when rural boors have recourse to ogling sophisticated city women in the NCRwhich is the purport of the idea that conflicting spaces are now slowly merging into one another, is it not? I think this is stereotyping the semi-urban and rural people most dangerously, and trying to fix scapegoats for what is a larger malaise. Of course, when there are interfaces between different communities and beliefs there may be clashes in expectation and reaction, but I think this is what makes an urban space exciting and dynamic, and would be true of inner-city neighbourhoods just as much as suburban

ones. I am sure citizen communities need to step up their efforts to spread greater and more urgent awareness about crimes against women as well as to make the spaces within their control safer for women to move freely in. Many of the crimes against women in latenight car-drops home from work are perpetrated because of the callousness of corporate employers in securing minimum safety for their female workers in particular. I do not know of the statistics in demographic spread of crimes against women, except that it is normal perhaps that some cities emerge as safer than others for women, which may also be something to do with how many women go out to work, live alone, are out later at nightin terms of sheer numbersin those cities comparatively, rather than to do with northern or southern or western character, especially of men. It is quite likely that the number of such women in Delhi and the NCR are many times that of its equivalent in another city of the south or west of Indiain which case the number of cases of assault against women will expectedly be higher in the north? I would not like to essentialise the character of any region as more brutish than another, but of course some cities are always far more dangerous to live in for women due to a large number of reasons. Finally, I do not think that the panels and commissions do enough, and yes, sometimes they do more damage because many of those who sit in power on them are incredibly conservative about womens rights! They consider their function to be that of vigilantes rather than of securing freedom for women

Brinda Bose taught in the English Department at Hindu College and was a Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Currently, she is completing a manuscript on the gendered body and public culture in India via a handful of iconic Indian cultural texts
to live as they wish. If women, who head bodies set up to investigate and frame policies for controlling crime against women, harbour the deep-seated notion that women must behave according to certain norms set for them failing which they invite assault and violence, then they are policing the women instead of policing the criminals.

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PLATFORM
SANTOSH DESAI | Columnist

The Corruption Gene

Have we come to see the world in a way that allows us to exercise and condone corruption?
see the world in a way that allows us to exercise and condone corruption? At the heart of the Indian response lies the ambivalent relationship we have with the idea of power, particularly that of power acquired through man-made mechanisms like a designation or political office. Power is seen less as an instrument of making an impact but more as a condition that modifies ones born station. Power makes all of us rulers, whatever may be the size of the territories. The fondness of visible signs of power (sirens, badges, entourage), as with the extreme touchiness when the less powerful question us, all point to the implicit mental model of power we carry. The election exists to pick rulers not public servants and promotions anoint new despots. It is revealing to see how naked this model of power is; a despotic boss who rides roughshod over his subordinates sees nothing wrong in enacting rituals of greasy subservience in front of his own boss. The message is clearhierarchy itself must be respected and all power and all modes of use of power are legitimate. Hierarchy exists in every facet of life and we measure ourselves anxiously with those against whom we benchmark ourselves. Even in the private sector there exists a presumption that one should be paid what ones batchmate gets for no other reason than that the two lie on the same social platform. What this wholehearted embrace of power does, is to legitimise all forms in which it comes to be used. Separated from the purpose for which it was created, it lives on in its mutant form, and recognises few boundaries of right and wrong. A system gets created around this mode of using power. Institutional power that is acquired, rather than in-born, is particularly difficult to digest. Given the deeply-rooted nature of Indian social organisation, where everyone has a defined place, and there exists a great certainty about rules and conventions that govern our lives, we find it difficult to navigate a world

CORRUPTION is hardly a new phenom-

enon in India but in the past few months we have seen corruption of a scale never witnessed before. Every week brings in a new scandal. Corruption seems to have moved beyond its permanent abode (viz politics and the bureaucracy) into sports, the military, media, the judiciary, religion and godmen and corporate India. It is clear that the problem does not relate to isolated individuals but is of a systemic nature. Of course, corruption is by no means unique to India. But we do manage an impressive ninth rank in the world corruption charts. According to the same study, 54 per cent of Indians claimed to have paid a bribe in the past one year. It begs the question as to whether there is a cultural element to this phenomenon, without descending into gross cultural stereotypes that speak of corruption as a character trait. Is it possible that corruption is a manifestation of the ways in which we have collectively learnt to respond to certain contexts? Have we come to

Author

Santosh Desai
is the author of the bestseller Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense of Everyday India. He is a columnist, media critic and social commentator. He is the MD and CEO of Futurebrands, a branding services and advisory company and serves on the boards of ING Vysya Bank and Mumbai Business School

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SANTOSH DESAI//

platform

What this wholehearted embrace of power does is to legitimise all forms in which it comes to be used, separated from the purpose for which it was created...

where rules do not carry the same invisible certitude. Rules are so visibly constructed by human beings that they carry little moral sanctity. They become frameworks within which we carry out negotiations with local circumstances. New social formations do not have the heft of the older (more defining) categories such as the community. And we struggle with figuring out what is appropriate behaviour for a neighbour or an elected representative. New rules do not imprint themselves with the same finality. The fact that we see everyone around us display the same ambivalence re-inforces the doubts we carry about them. The same does not apply when we are in a developed country; there it becomes apparent that these rules are non-negotiable. The idea of using acquired power for socially-correct reasons has never really been ingrained in us. For all the railing against corruption, in our personal lives we are happy to excuse ourselves from the prescriptions we proffer. The belief that our values

are implanted within us, because of a past that is mythically rather than historically defined, makes it easier to believe that all actions are therefore suffused with values by definition. Actions comes pre-fitted with presumed propriety and the outside world is not taken that seriously. By giving the individual endless latitude in dealing with his immediate circumstances, we engage with the world as hagglers, trying to hustle a better deal. Every ounce of power earned becomes useful leverage in extracting a little more. In this view of the world, power is useless unless converted into some form of currency. The awareness of its transience lends urgency to this need. The powerful thus create a system around the extraction of value from their good fortune. Patronage, rather than competency, becomes the key operating principle. Every kacheri, RTO office and passport office has an institutionalised set of touts, brokers and middlemen who get the work done for a fee. Citizens

can carry out some civil action if they so desired. But the truth is that even as we moan, we take no interest in dealing with the graft right in front of us. Is there a reason why we are seeing so much corruption today? A change that we have seen in the past few years is the entry of the market into more arenas of our life. It is interesting to note how easily India has embraced the market. As a mechanism, it carries great resonance with the Indian ability to see the world as a place where we carry out negotiations. The market has given everyone a common vocabulary in which to transact. The market legitimises the pursuit and use of power for personal gain. Of course, when regulated well, the market is not allowed to penetrate all walks of life. In India, given the learnt collective tolerance for the personal use of power, the market seems to be present everywhere. For now certainly we seem united by corruption. (Views expressed in this article are of the author alone)

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good karma
\\ K ATHA

Executive Director

STARTED IN: 1988 Formerly registered in 1989 MENTOR: Geeta Dharmarajan, social entrepreneur, writer and activist OBJECTIVE: Katha is a 'profit-for-all' organisation working with social injustice and economic poverty in urban India by focusing on quality education and innovative programmes which hone the reading ability in children. Katha leverages its mission goal on the idea that children can help communities get out of poverty WEBSITE : www.katha@katha.org For volunteering please contact: http://www.katha.org/site/ volunteer/volunteer

LEARN
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CHILDREN
OCTOBER 2012

WHEN WOMEN EARN,

A simple move to set up a school in NCRs slums led to Indias first profit-for-all voluntary organisation
BY ROHINI BANERJEE

good karma
K ATHA //

Our country is perhaps one of the few on

this planet where we are assured of a steady population growth of 330 million children in the next 20-odd years. This is our demographic dividend, which is a good thing, right? However, if were to take advantage of an army of educated and able citizens (everyone we are planning to), the country and its administration will have to educate them firstthe proper, holistic education.
Holistic education is one which imparts an applicable set of skills. To do all that a child needs exposure to bookslots and lots of them along with newspapers, storybooks, and educated adults. But does an Indian child, especially he in that impoverished semi-urban, rural and urban fringes, receive all that help? Katha began its journey by asking this simple question. Its inference was obviousbasic, primary schooling in India left underprivileged children with a handful of textbooks (often hand-me-downs with pages missing) and zero exposure to reading. Whom does a child in a family of illiterates, wage-labourers turn to, to know more? Some successfully turn towards Katha, the voluntary organisation which helps Indias underprivileged children through their primary schools, reading centres and libraries. The best bit about Katha is the means they employ to teach the children enrolled with them. You thought education was only through boring text books. Think again, as even illustrated storybooks can be used to explain complicated issues such as nanotechnology, marine biology or trigonometry. As Executive Director of Katha Geeta Dharmarajan points outwhat is a subject, if not a story waiting to be told? Today through cooperative action and activism, Katha brings together parents and teachers to boost childrens interest in reading. It brings together the colours of his or her country alive to children across socioeconomic, linguistic and cultural divideswith volunteers and community members. It brings storytelling techniques and expertise to people across age groups. The story of Katha starts some 2,000-3,000 years ago. We do not kid you. The New Delhi-based voluntary organisation derives its vision from the age-old educational traditions of Bharat, a land where learning was a pleasure activity, imparted through stories. In India storytelling was always treated as the more effective form of learning. There were so many ways of telling a story; through theatre, dance recitals, and puppet theatre. And Bharata Natyashastra encompassed all these. Natyashastra was put in place to take the so-called knowledge of the Gods to humans on earth. We at Katha, have faith in the way in which communication was carried out 2,000-3,000 years ago, which always incorporated a pleasure principle. Learning was not arduous, tedious or difficult, she adds. Katha began with an idea that students would learn through stories. In reality two kinds of storiesone for leisure and another for learning. The team also decided to source the right kind of stories from across the nation and the world. Originally I hail from Tamil Nadu. It was there while working as the Director of Indian National Trust of Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and for an orphanage that my duties took to me to the rural sections on a regular basis. There while speaking to children, parents and teachers about education, health care and infrastructure, I always felt that the people carried within them a sense of defeat. They had reconciled to an idea that poverty was a matter of karma. Poverty is not

about karma. It is a state that can be alleviated, she adds. But before she could do more, Dharmarajan shifted to the National Capital Region. Her introduction to Delhis municipal schools was through Govindpuri; with its lakhs of people surviving in utter squalor and poverty. The schools she visited there had students who could barely read. It was then that she hit upon an idea of a magazine stocked with fun and informative tales, which made reading so much fun that children would put that extra effort in. In 1988, Tamasha was launched. It was to make stories from across the world come alive on paper, all translated in Hindi. Along with Tamasha, Dharmarajan also began the first library for children of Govindpuri (in Dharmarajans own garage). By the third issue Tamasha became a hit and UNICEF picked up quite some copies of it, providing a decent profit to Dharmarajan. With that sum (`20,000) and a year-old experience behind her, she officially started Katha on September 8, 1989. Their first project was to start a school at Govinpuri. Parents agreed to send their children to school. We calculated that between all of us, we could manage 50 children. The parents had given us their consent to send the students. But around five turned up, she remembers with a chuckle. It was then that this Executive Editor, and visionary, learnt her hard lessonpoor families did not send their primary bread-earners away to school. It was there that we found a figure (`600) which was required to put food on the table for a month. We started to pay the mothers that sum in exchange they would let us bring the children to school. Thus we started, says Dharmarajan. Bribery was the way out thenpresently the way has changed. And how. Lakhs of students are trained by the first batches of Katha schools. These children will one day, hopefully, train several more and the dominoes effect will pull the evil of illiteracy down. One glance through the pages of the website, it is easy to see their innovative methods have worked. Their students have also come back and joined Katha serving as trainees, teachers and accountants. These are people who are breaking the poverty-karma equation. Their dreams combined with Kathas effort, gives a polish to the dream of India Shinning.

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READING ROOM

I think rather too much has been made of the distance between Britain and India
Roderick Matthews
Author

A lucidly-written, balanced study of constrasts by one of the better-known historians writing on India BY ROHINI BANERJEE

Jinnah Vs. Gandhi

MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH, born as

Mahomedali Jinnahbhai, in his vision for a new land for his Muslim brothers wanted six provinces and a sperate state of Pakistan. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or the Mahatma opposed the partition with all his being. Interestingly, the two states formed during partitionPakistan and Indiaeven in the later days were to embody the most fundamental differences between the two men; how they were born, how they were raised and not in the least, the religion that the two belonged. In their essence they were human. But the course of history has ennobled them to near prophets (in the strict sociological meaning of the word). In sociology, prophets are charismatic people who are first-class attention winners. Through their discourse they provoke absolute resentment or evoke absolute sympathy. And Jinnah and Gandhi, have the characteristics that can lead them to be christened thus. One can see that prophetic quality by reading all the tomes that have been dedicated to themthey have been vilified or hailed. Does Roderick Matthews successfully

break the mould and manage to put forth a realistic idea of what the two were? He does. Matthew for the best part of the book sees the two as they were, distinct personalities whose differences merely served to put them further apart. Matthew points out that the two great men differed on three pointsnature of the country they lived in, the procedure in which to end the colonial rule and the methods that should be used to persuade the colonialists to leave. For one Matthew draws our attention to the detail that Gandhi was an individual, personal being (hence his worries about sexual behaviour and diet). Gandhi was also concerned with personal and national reformation which was, in many cases, one and the same for him (how people could be better authorities and government by being better people). Jinnah, on the other hand, worked for self-determination and political rights, isms that were far more western in their narratives and thereby more understandable. While one worked from inside-out, the other worked outsidein. Gandhi believed that good people would make a strong nation. Jinnah

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roderick Matthews is a freelance writer specialising in Indian history. He has written for a number of British and Indian publications. His first book on India, The Flaws In the Jewel, was published in 2010. He can be contacted at his website historydetox. com Publisher: Hachette (India) ISBN 13: 978-819061-739-0 Pages : 336 Price: `499

knew that a strong nation would have strong (good) people. The last time when I picked up a book which dealt with the past was when teachers at school held me at gunpoint. I am sure there are several like me aroundthose who would not bother reading tomes unless there was a prize or punishment awaiting. This book catches the reader by surprise. Matthew caught my attention from the first chapterand there was no flashback to the school days for yours truly. He has taken the trouble to understand the culture and times of the country he has looked at. He has obviously done his research. Matthews assessments do not carry the colour of Hark! I was right. He lets his readers decide similarities or differences and keeps things less scholarly (a good thing for some readers but not for all). Personally, the de-elitisising of history works. The questions raised by the author are common enough; how did Jinnah, who started out as a secular liberal, end up a Muslim nationalist? How did a god-fearing moralist and social reformer like Gandhi become a national political leader? And how

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When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone. They can come back to you, even at unlikely times
Mitch Albom

reading room
CRITICS & AUTHORS //

did their fundemental divergences lead to the birth of two countries that have shaped the political history of the subcontinent? Matthews decodes these questions on behalf of his readers by analysis which has been attempted before. Where Matthews gets brownie points is his methodol-

ogyhe demystifies both the leaders and makes them as human as they can be made. He does so in a lucid and unbiased manner; at least he tries his best to. Personally, I felt Jinnah was left hanging a bit, rather there was more to Jinnahs vision than what was attributed to him.

What Matthew does say is, here are your two leadersthey are equally indecisive, they are trying equally hard to make a better time and they are both human. It is finally upto the reader to decide who is the poster boy. Do not expect a heavy, scholarly tome in Jinnah Vs Gandhi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mitch Albom is an author, playwright and screenwriter who has written more than six books to his credit, including the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. He also works as a columnist and a broadcaster and has founded several charities in Detroit and Haiti Publisher: Hachette India ISBN: 1847442250 Pages: 226 Price: `499

The Timekeeper

An interesting perspective on time but lacks originality BY IRA SWASTI

WHAT IF THERE were no clocks in the world? What if you

did not know what time of the day it is or going to be? How different would the world have been? Would you have lived your life any differently? Mitch Alboms latest novel The Time Keeper urges you to ponder over these questions and makes you wonder the relevance of mans obsession with measuring every second of the day, every day of the month. An author relevant to his times, Albom chooses an unusually interesting protagonist to help his readers understand the meaning of life or the meaning of timethe inventor of the worlds first clockFather Time. As is his usual style, the novel shuffles between two timelines (the past and the present) with three story tracks running parallel to one another. One is a story of a man (Father Time) obsessed with counting everything that is humanly possible, set in a centuries old era when no time measuring devices had been invented on earth, and the other two are the tales of two modern-day individuals (a teenage girl and an old, wealthy businessman) who are used to measuring time as the most natural process of their lives. The young girl, hurt in love, wants to end her

life, while the old businessman diagnosed with cancer, wants to bypass death and live forever. Albom paves the way for an interesting yet trite perspective on the most precious thing man considers today after money, when Father Time meets the girl and the businessman to teach them the value of time. He learns this lesson himself after being banished to a cave for centuries and forced to understand the phenomenon he had set in motion by counting time. There are a few obvious references to Biblical stories which I did not find too appealing. And around the end of the novel, Father Time assumes the role of Dickens The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come to show characters their future. Yet as always, Alboms everyday characters make it very easy for the reader to relate to them and work well for him. The novel is thought-provoking though some of its lessonsit is never too soon and never too late for spending more time to be with the people you loveare reminiscent of Morries aphorisms from Alboms debut novel Tuesdays with Morrie. Hailed as his most heartfelt novel yet, The Timekeeper is inspiring, as long as you have not read any of his others.

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WARE

HOUSE

Our pick of the boldest, bravest and craziest gadgets. Glance through the Warehouse page and check them out. Happy hunting!

Ours is still a third-world country (remember the Northern Grid collapse?) and uninterrupted power is still a luxury concentrated in big cities. For `56,000, you can solve the riddle by relying on the energy of the sun. This solar power generator from Wagan is capable of providing 1,500W of continuous A/C output with a peak of 3,600W. And the generator is portable, with solar panels that spread out and fold in with ease. The ePower Cube 1,500 has power sockets and USB ports built-in for instant plug-n-play power output.

WAGAN SOLAR EPOWER CUBE 1500

$999.98

Wagan Solar ePower

TABLET ZYNC

SOLAR FOCUS KINDLE

Zync recently launched its low cost tablet, the Z-909 plus for `3,699.

What better way to make the digital book carrier eco-friendly than powering it with solar energy? Price? `4,500.

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GADGE TS & GIZMOS //

warehouse

(CROSSKASE SOLAR)

BACKPACK

`17,000
Imagine a backpack with a solar panel and built-in ports to charge your laptop and gadgets as they snuggle inside? Well, thats what this smart, eco-friendly bag does, converting natural light into power for your early 21st century gadgets. With a visible 3Watt solar panel outside, the backpack generates enough energy to charge a 2200mAH battery. Spread across the backpacks internal compartments are ports compatible with eight device charging adaptors (micro USB, mini USB, Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Sony, Motorola, etc.) to plug-n-charge your smart gadgets. The backpack can accommodate a 15.6-inch laptop and is made of durable water-repellent ballistic nylon with dedicated iPod and iPad pockets. This can be yours for a little under `17,000. Going green anytime soon?

RUKUS SOLAR
`8,500

A portable Bluetooth speaker that runs on sunshine? Thats what the Rukus Solars all about. It has an internal 7V 1500mAH Li-ion battery which is charged by a monocrystal solar panel. With two full-range stereo speakers, the Rukus Solar needs only a Bluetooth audio source to get the good times going. Not only does it have a cleverly crafted handle in its design, but the portable speaker also maintains a USB port for charging mobile devicesso thoughtful. Weighing just under a kilo, this solar-charging bluetooth speaker is available for a minimum of `8,500.

SMALLER ITEMS: LOGITECH K750

MAC OS X10.8

A thin, PVC-free wireless keyboard, the Logitech K750 is a wireless solar keyboard which claims to run on both natural and artificial light. Price: `5,900

Apple recently launched its latest desktop OS, Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. For further details go to: http://dgit.in/ NFhKO1
OCTOBER 2012
DEMOCRATIC WORLD

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BROAD CANVAS
Untitled : One of his larger canvases84x60in oil paint

Strokes of Silence, Indigo

Vivid colours of Kerala captured in the creations of K.G. Babu
friend of K.G. Babu, who also happens to be a colleague, informs me that Babu is a reticent man. He speaks only when prodded and prefers to pour his words into his canvases instead. That to know him one needs to understand a multitude of concepts; the colour green, its role in the lives of people who stay in Kerala and why some people prefer to stay within the womb of nature. Or why Babu chooses to live and work in the backyard of Thrissur, where he grew up in a modest home; its backyard opening out into a grove. His childhood was spent a short walk away to lush jungles, waterfalls, rivulets and all the other abundance that Kerala has been blessed with. I was also asked to examine why Babu chose to leave the bustle of Dubai (he received an opportunity to collaborate with a famous international artist there) and comforts it provided, to return home to Keralas cultural capital. A visit to Kerala is difficult proposition. Instead it is simpler to look at Babus creations

BY ROHINI BANERJEE

which were recently exhibited at the NIV Art Gallery in NCRs quieter Neb Sarai area. If the artist is silent, his vividly arresting canvasescollectively called In Spirit with Naturespeak volumes. So, what goes on in Babus head and what prompts him to adopt hyperralisme? Babu believes that his present style crept into his art slowly; it was a natural, organic growth and progression from being a portrait artist (a craft for which he is famous in his home state). As he began to adopt the style more and more, albeit unconsciously, his friends were left astounded with his level of finesse. After conversations with his colleagues, friends and a former professor at Trisshure Art College, he truly began to indulge in the

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broad canvas
K.G. BABU //

ARTIST OF THE MONTH

Arresting and vivid, brilliant and eerie, K.G. Babu's canvases are a look into Kerala's sheer splendour. Babu is a spiritualist and a lover of life. He strives to live his life, fully as is apparent from the depth of his work. He draws energy from the forests that borders his home and when he was thrust into an urban space, he chose to escape it all and return home to Kerala, again

style. He confesses that his modus operandi as an artist is to capture his subjects on his portable camera. But he does not paint them as is. Babu derives inspiration from the images and takes an artists liberty (or licence, call it what you will) to enlarge the eyes (as if the image is being reflected on the surface of a dewdrop) and then juxtaposes them with nature. Nature is the overriding theme with tropical lushness of Kerala as its leitmotifas is apparent in the abundance of bamboo groves, which become his backdrop on several occasions. The iota of artificial or reminiscence of civilisation (depicted through the clothes that his subjects wear) are naturalised and adopted into the backdrop as well. The pocket of a childs shirt curls up like a leaf or a newly-opened bud, womens floral nighties and scarves become a part of the foliage, a lime green frock complements a leaf in the background or a deep purple shirt reflects the lights and shadows of moonlit night in the bamboo groves. Babus subjects are never alone (except on one or two occasions) even when he paints them as solitary objects. There are grasshoppers, dragon-flies, parakeets, macaws, monkeys and fruit-bats, which sneak into the scene or boldly pose with the human subjects. An avocado dragon-fly rests on a childs forehead while an ruby-red one rests on a shoulder complimenting the childs claret frock and bindi. As a young woman stares at a red and yellow bug, one realises that it is difficult to separate the flora and fauna; the thin, white antenna of a dragon-fly droops like a bough

The Exhibits: The four creations of Babu which were also a part of the recently-held exhibition titled In Spirit with Nature

and the dragonflies merge with the curled up leaves. That is when it strikes you; the point is not to differentiate of course but to grasp nature in all its entirety. Perhaps which is why Babu finds his best muses among the Tribals of Trisshur. He was introduced to them after his brother (also an artist) married a

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broad canvas
K.G. BABU //

Tribal woman. When Babu met his new relatives, he saw in them an indomitable spirit which was one with nature. There are no points of separation in a life of a jungle-dwellerthe lives of every creature and tree and man are intricately woven together. While the reticent artists action starts with an urban process of capturing the light and darkness through his lenses, when he paints, he tries to imbibe what the Tribals feel (the oneness with the whole creation). Thus Babus creations reflect the sensitive tolerance and acceptance of the tribal way of life. The faces look peaceful, reflective and contemplative. Part of the peace comes from within the artist himself. The same friend who introduced Babu said that when he gets the time Babu loves to introspect and reach within himself for peace. However, as an artist, his expressions have been, on more occasions, directly impacted by the civil society. Babu was deeply affected by a singular incident in which a child was sexually exploited by a prominent religious leader. The violence meted out by the powerful and the vulnerability of the child and the unfairness of the whole situation is depicted on one of his canvases in which a grasshopper strikes at a unripe fruit while resting on a childs forehead. The girl looks on mutely. While trying to decide on a title for the painting, words failed Babu. Nothing came close to describing the horror of the situationand he left it as is. One of the reasons why all of his canvases carry just numbers. Sometimes, it is imperative for the viewer to feel more than merely see. As an artist, he implores us (the viewer) to put ourselves in the situation. As he did. His earlier paintings were more lush and green. But as he spent more hours in the company of the people he painted, his canvases became darker, and deeper shades of blue and purple started to seep into them. The indigo in Babus later works depicts the silencethat gapwhich exists between the world of those who have embraced nature in all its beauty and terrifying colours, and the civilisation that constantly tries to breach nature to tame it. Can we understand the Tribal people at all? For K.G. Babu, the answer is an emphatic no. It is impossible to do so, as long as we are submerged in the trappings of civilisation, comfort and normality. Urban people cannot really be like the rural or jungle dwellers. I have seen a tribal man derive happiness even from a small payment of `20. While towns seem to thrive on dissatisfaction and mate-

WILD GLIMPSES

Untitled 72X60:

Oil on canvas

Untitled 36x48: Oil on canvas

Untitled 36x48:

Oil on canvas

Untitled 36x36:

Oil on canvas

rialistic cravings, Tribal, jungle dwellers live in an austerity that is impossible for us to imagine. But they live a life that is so much more fulfilling, rich and content. I will not call them happy as theirs is a harsh life. But they see themselves as contented. It is a matter of discipline and inner peace which we all need to learn, he explains. This characteristic of making the best out of every situation separates Babus concept of us and them and that lacuna was felt by him as well. Despite numerous interactions he could never be really one of them. As a result, he felt that unfathomable silence depicted by the deep shades of blue and indigo. The canvases of K.G. Babu shares a striking similarity with the art of Binoy Verghese, also an artist born in Kerala and now living in New Delhi. Both create canvases that are vast and lush. The canvases thrive in a solidity highlighted through subtle light and shade. As is the case with hyperrealistic images which are 10 or more times the size of a original photographic reference, both retain high-resolution of colour and detail. However, while Verghese prefers the airbrush, Babu admits that he is more at home with the brush. He loves to use acrylic which is easier to manipulate as his first base and then once he is happy with the result, he finishes off with the oil. And the result is simply glorious.

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GARNISH
PHOTOS BY WWW.THELEELA.COM

Piece De Resistance: The Megu Oriental Salad, [below] the succulent Kobe beef

Served with Style by the Sous Chef

Achal Aggarwal is obsessed with perfectly-cooked food which tastes, and looks, good
or all who survived the good-old 1990s here is a pop quizwho was that grinning man who ruled your hearts, stomachs and television sets? If you saied Sanjeev Kapoor then you are spot on! Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has inspired a whole generation of chefs, including a young Delhi boy, who grew up watching Kapoors Khana Khazana. Like other youngsters, he dreamt that one day he, too, would be like Kapoorteaching India its spices. But the boy did not just dreamhe became a famous chef much like his inspiration. Today, Achal Aggarwal is a known name in the foodie circle. He is one of those rare Indians who can treat Japanese food just right, like it is done in the country. According to the Sous Chef, when he first saw Kapoor he took seconds to decide that he wished to be a chef. He remembers that he was watching Sanjeev Kapoor cook, when something clicked in his brain. Being the meritorious middle-class boy, Aggarwal believed that it was best that he kept his dreams

BY MANJIRI INDURKAR

to himself till the time he could make himself heard; apparently no parent wished to see their beloved son become a bawarchi. Instead, Aggarwal took the mommys boy routein the pretext of helping his mother, he began to experiment with dishes he saw being cooked on television. For a while the charade went well. The family was happy gorging on the dishes that I cooked, till the day he was banned from the kitchen. The reason: the young man belonging to a strict Hindu family had cooked beef. The lifelong ban was lifted after several years. But more of that later. He might have been banned from the kitchen, but he pursued his hotel

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ACHAL AGGARWAL //

garnish

CHEF OF THE MONTH

The Sous Chef of Megu, The Leela Hotels, Chef Achal Aggarwal is one of the best chefs of this country. He specialises in modern Indian and Japanese cuisines and has an exceptional knowledge of Thai, Italian, Chinese and Mexican dishes. He loves his knives. And can not cook without garlic. And he would give away his kingdom for an unending supply of Saffron

management course from the Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition in Meerut. Afterwards, he joined Hotel Metropolitan (Sakura) where, to his surprise, he was put into the Japanese Kitchen. The selection procedure, he tells us, was unique and just a little bit absurd. While chefs are usually asked to prepare a dish or two to get a job, Aggarwal and other candidates were asked to sketch a fruit basket placed before them. That was that. Based on his sketching skills, he got his first job. They probably judged me by my precision with which I made the sketch. One can not prepare the perfect Japanese plate without precision, he explains. In the beginning Aggarwal was not all that pleased with his job as the cuisine did not excite him much. I thought, why Japanese food? What is there to even cook in it? They do not use spices and are happy eating raw fish, he says. Once he began learning more, he realised that Japanese food was so much more. The Japanese style of cooking left a deep impact on him. So much so that even if he is making a contemporary Indian or a spicy Mexican dish, he makes sure that vegetables are cut in uniform shapes. It irks him if the ingredients are not right. A Japanese effect indeed! Sakura was a great learning curve, but it was far from what he wanted. Like every other dreamy-eyed young man and woman who enters the kitchen, he,

Eggy Treat: Noten Top Toro Tartare with Caviar [top left], the assorted Sushi platter [top] and the Sous Chef [below]

too, wished to work with the Taj Group of Hotels and the Oberoi Group. With his second job, that dream came true. This time, he opted for the Indian Kitchen, at the Rajvilas, Oberoi Group, Jaipur. As fate would have it, he was, by mistake, put in the Continental Kitchenone of the biggest mistakes of his life. For someone who called himself a chef, he failed to

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garnish

// ACHAL AGGARWAL

make a decent omelette. My Chef asked me to make an omelette. I thought that he was asking me to make a Japanese omelette, so I began hunting for a square pan (yes, the Japanese like their omelettes square). The Chef, however, was not amused. He asked me to make a regular round one, he remembers with a chuckle. Aggarwal started making the regular round one. In India, when you make an Indian masala omelette we put dollops of fat in it to fry it till golden brown. In the Continental Kitchen that is short of a disaster. Aggarwals masala omelette was hurled straight back at him. The Chef kicked him out. But Aggarwal was not ready to give up. He went back and grovelled till he was allowed back to learn the art of the perfect omelette. In the following week, all he made were omelettes30 of them in six days. It took all of the 30 omelletes to convince the Chef de Cuisine that Aggarwal could cook. His Chef may have finally known but Aggarwals parents still remained in the dark about their sons intentions. One Diwali night found Aggarwals relatives asking him to cook dinnersince he was studying hotel management. Till that time Aggarwal had not revealed his plan of becoming a chef to his parents. Nevertheless, he cooked the meal which comprised of paneer makhani, Gujarati kadhi, bhindi masala and rice. Aggarwal says that his father figured out his intentions by simply looking at the meticulously prepared meal. The decision worried him, nonetheless, he gave Aggarwal two yearss time to make a success of it. If he could build a respectable career in these two years he could go on. Today, 12 years later, Chef Aggarwal is the Sous Chef of Megu, The Leela

Exotic Yellow: The Shira Ae which is a signature delight at the Megu

JAPAN CALLING

The Desi: Sometimes, a bit of desi is what the palate demands

Fishy Delight: The Salmon Tartare

Hotels. He has worked in some of the best kitchens of the country including a Michelin Star restaurant. He has worked with some of the best Chefs of the world, some of who gifted him kitchen knives. He modestly tells us that he loves his knives a lot and carries them around everywhere. He says he is a bit fussy about them (in reality, he absolutely hates it if you touch them). But then, why wont he? Those finely chopped vegetables and the perfectly shaped fishes we love so much are a by-product of those knives.

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STICKY

A qui ck guide -start to wha fresh, ts fu worth n & y peek.. of a .

NOTES
CLOUD ATLAS

Based on the David WATCH Mitchell novel called 'Cloud Atlas' (2004), the es film promis an epic to be an saga of hum an allest hum tch how the sm actions. Wa hether connected or not, ge and frailty, coura the future of people w daries of scends boun pact actions im gle act of kindness tran October 26, 2012. on n and how a si to inspire a revolution, and space time ckets now! Book your ti

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

Brad Pitt plays Jackie Cogan in this American crime drama based on a 1974 novel called 'Cogan's Trade' written by George V. Higgins. A professional enforcer, Cogan investigates a heist which occurs during a high stakes, mobprotected poker game. Join Cogan on his chase to find out what happened on October 19, 2012, in a theatre near you.

THE SEER BY SWANS

Swans is a band that emerged in the early 1980s as a part of New York's 'No Wave' scene. Since then, the group of six has been experimenting with different genres of music. Their latest creation'The Seer'is a two-hour-long megaalbum which demands and deserves attention. The album shifts between jagged noiserock, apolocalyptic balladry, black-wave style synths and experimental noises. A great record that you would not want to miss.

LISTEN

ATTEND

2012 FORMULA 1 AIRTEL INDIAN GRAND PRIX

RAJASTHAN INTERNATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL

For those of you who missed the mega event in 2011, there is good news. The Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix is back. The Budh International Circuit, Noida, is ready and awaiting the speed stars. The event starts on October 28, 2012, and so book the tickets before they run out... speed counts after all.

Mehrangarh Fort is decorated, and your favourite room is readyawaiting your arrival for the Rajasthan International Folk Festival, which is held in Jodhpur every year. Starting from October 26, 2012, the five-day-long festival promises to celebrate Rajasthan's rich culture, music and dances. The much-awaited event should be the perfect reason to take that mini-break.

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