AUGUST 25-31, 2013

FREE WITH YOUR COPY OF THE SUNDAY EXPRESS

NEERAJ PRIYADARSHI

Questions of caste, gender and the market are shaping the Jawaharlal Nehru University in various ways, countering romantic ideas of revolution and change

Seekers of the Truth

What accounts for the enduring appeal of Byomkesh Bakshi and other iconic Bengali sleuths?

The Age of Darkness

Govind Nihalani on the making of his cult tele-series Tamas

Contents
AUGUST 25-31, 2013
VOLUME II, ISSUE 19

cover

08

Tearjerker
The price of the onion swings wildly in its journey from the fields to the market

SPEAKEASY
Pratik Kanjilal on what happens when Batman travels to Japan p13

DIGITAL NATIVE
Nishant Shah on the impossibility of regulating internet porn p20

Revolution, Meet Reality

Questions of caste, gender and the market are shaping the Jawaharlal Nehru University in various ways, countering the romantic idea of revolution and change

TECH
Does Sony have a counter to the Macbook Air? p23

MIND GAME/ IN THE STARS

Curl up with the crossword; find out what the week holds for you p24

DOWN IN JUNGLELAND
Parenting tricks for ridiculous humans p26

RAM SINGS THE SAIGAL BLUES

SEEKERS OF THE TRUTH

SUPPER THEATRE

Ram Sampath is an outsider in the Hindi music world and one of its most innovative talents

14

The enduring appeal of the world of the Bengali detective

16

The chefs table is the most luxurious of personalised dining experiences

18

Printed and published by Vaidehi Thakar on behalf of The Indian Express Limited . Printed at Indian Express Press, Plot No.EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai 400 710 and published at Express Towers, 2nd floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021. Editor: P Vaidyanathan Iyer * (*Responsible for selection of matter under PRB Act). 2013 The Indian Express Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in whole or part without the Publishers permission is prohibited R.N.I. NO MAHENG/2012/42380

DESIGN: Bivash Barua, Mridul, Mithun Chakraborty, Ranvir Singh AUGUST 25-31, 2013

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INFLATION

THE GREAT

INDIAN

TEARJERKER
The price of the onion swings wildly in its journey from Maharashtras fields to wholesale markets in other Indian cities
BY PARTHA SARATHI BISWAS

T
4

RAVELLING from the drought-hit Satana taluka of Nashik district in Maharashtra and the Agricultural Produce Market (APM) in Chandwad is both gruelling and costly. Gruelling, because of the lack of proper roads along the way, and costly because it involves at least Rs 1,000 spent on tractor fuel. But Vikas Gulecha, who has cultivated onions on his five acres of land, is hopeful that the 40-km trek along untarred and pothole-ridden roads will bring him good news. I took a loan

of nearly Rs 5 lakh this year. Hopefully, I'll get at least Rs 4,000 per quintal for my produce and manage to pay off most of it, he says. At the market, his crop fetches him Rs 3,300 per quintal, more than what he made in May, when he earned only Rs 1,500 per quintal, but not enough to pay off his debt. Gulecha has heard news of onions selling for Rs 80 a kg in metros, but cannot fathom how a crop that barely manages to earn him Rs 30 per kilo at the local APM can command almost triple the amount by the time it reaches the vendor in metros around the country. On an average, small and medium-scale farmers like Gulecha invest Rs 30,000 40,000 on each acre of land to yield around 150 quintals of onion. The crop is sown and harvested thrice, and the harvest in September normally has reduced yield due to rains and other climatic conditions. Since the beginning of this year, onion prices have almost doubled to what they were last year. As onion prices across cities hover between Rs 50-Rs 80 a kilo, the invariable problem

that is being cited low production is strongly refuted by the farming community. Instead, they say that a vicious cycle of internal trading is resulting in an artificial escalation in the price of onions across the country. On August 10, a particular tractor was auctioned for Rs 5,000 per quintal at the Nagpur APM. Within a few hours, the news spread like wildfire and by evening, vegetable shops in Delhi and other cities were selling onions at Rs 80 per kg, says Deepak Pagar, another farmer. The auction Pagar mentions is the key determinant in the price of onions. It is held at the APMs across the state, where farmers bring their ware for the traders (or the first rung of middlemen) to buy. To ensure fair pricing, this is done through open auctions in which traders bid on per quintal of the produce, after inspecting the onions, which are brought to the market either in tractors or trailers or small tempos. Before the start of the auction, the tractor or the trailer carrying the produce is weighed on the scales of the
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

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APM. On an average, a tractor can bear 20-30 quintals of the produce. Traders invariably reduce the price if the crop is brought in a tempo, on the ground that a tempo cannot be weighed on the scales at the market. This automatically puts small-scale farmers, without a vehicle of their own, at a disadvantage. Although on paper, this process is above board, Pagar and other farmers claim the stakes are heavily tilted against them. Auctions are controlled by a coterie of traders who vary the prices at will. The APMs, formed to ensure transparency and fair practices, have failed to address the grievances of farmers, says another farmer Dinesh Jadhav. In particular, the farmer is often left to bleed as there is no minimum support price (MSP) for onions. In its absence, bids called by traders are open to manipulation, which in turn are responsible for the wild speculation in the market. Since early 2000, onion production in India has seen a significant spurt, increasing per hectare yield handsomely. But the APMs have refused to update arcane laws governing the sale of agricultural produce, giving rise to trade cartels that maximise their own profit. Jaydutt Holkar, president of the Lasalgaon Agriculture Market Committee the largest and most important market for onions in Asia lays the blame squarely on the traders. It was just a single tractor of one particular farmer which got the price of Rs 5,000 per quintal at the Nagpur market. None of the other farmers got prices more than Rs 3,000-4,000 per quinital the same day. This was a clear case of internal fixing, he says. Just days after the abnormal hike fueled speculation over the paucity of crops in storage, the prices of onions slumped to Rs 3,000-Rs 2,500 at Chandwad. Price of onions continue to be volatile in India because of the stranglehold of middlemen on the system. For instance, the price a

Since early 2000, onion production has seen a significant spurt. But the Agricultural Produce Markets have refused to update arcane laws, giving rise to trade cartels that maximise their own profit
farmer gets in hand is not inclusive of the commission taken by traders, which ranges between 6-10 per cent. This is ostensibly for handling and storage charges. Often the traders do not pick up the produce for a few days. When they come for the crop, they again reduce the price as they claim the weight has gone down, says Dadaji Shevale, another farmer in Chandwad. Being a perishable commodity, the trading community counters, loss in transit is unavoidable. Other than packing, transportation, commission for the agents of the APM, there are other costs which the crop has to encounter before it goes out to the market. With diesel prices skyrocketing, we have to shell out Rs 500 for transportation of the crop from the APMs to the wholesale markets. We also have to pay 6-7 per cent to the commission agents at the wholesale markets. On an average, if we buy onions at Rs 3,500 per quintal, by the time it reaches the wholesale markets, the price of the produce, including our cuts, increases to Rs 5,000 per quintal. These days, without any steady supply and increase in demand, the prices are touching Rs 6,000-7,000 per quintal, says a trader in Chandwad. This year, the traders say, the price hike is due to the reduction in production as

major parts of the onion growing region of Maharashtra were hit by drought. However, Holkar and other farmers deny this. There was a marginal decline in production, but it cant substantiate the stupendous price rise, he says. Over the last two weeks, supply has picked up steadily, bringing about a marginal decrease in price. The journey of the onion from the farm to the wholesale market is four-pronged, with the traders and the commissioning agents holding maximum clout over the process. Govind Pagar, district president of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangthana, the farmers party by MP Raju Shetty, says, the maximum and minimum price of the crop paid to the farmers has ranged between Rs 100- Rs 450 per quintal in the last three years. There have been cases of farmer suicides in Nashik over the issue of onion price, but no one is ready to look into the problem, he says. If farmers are at the receiving end of traders, in the cities the commission agents act as the conduit between the traders and the retail suppliers. BS Dighe, a commissioning agent in the Gultekdi wholesale market in Pune, says, Instead of an auction, we charge 6 per cent of the total price of the goods as our fees. This fee covers the handling, storage and other incidental charges before we sell the goods to the wholesale markets. The rate of selling is fixed by the APM Committee (APMC), he says. For better payment, farmers have now started visiting more than one APM with their fare, even if they see little success. Roopsinh Solunkhe, a farmer in Malegaon taluka, is one of them. My 14-year-old son wants a cycle to go to school. A few days ago, when news of the Rs 5,000 per quintal sale broke, I took a portion of my produce to the Manmad market. But I could only get a rate of Rs 2,500 per quintal. At Chandwad, things were slightly better. I got Rs 3,785 per quintal for my produce. If the prices are going up as they say, I could surely use that money to pay off my Rs 4 lakh loan and save something for my children, he says.
PAVAN KHENGRE

ENDURANCE

Pushed to the Limit

Pune-based Nishit Biniwales gruelling journey to an Ironman title
BY CHINMAY BRAHME
ARUL HORIZON

S NISHIT Biniwale felt his quadriceps throb with the exertion of pedaling his cycle up the steep gradient, the road ahead of him, winding upwards through an idyllic Alpine forest seemed to stretch on forever. It was then that Biniwale, the only Indian competing in the Ironman Klagenfurt event in Austria in June this year, briefly entertained thoughts of quitting the event and give his burning limbs some rest. The exertion, mental as well as physical, seemed to be taking its toll. I felt like letting go. But then I thought I would push myself through till the next bend and then decide, says the 21-year-old. At that moment, his cardiologist father Atul hollered out exhortations. My father was following me on the climb, and he told me to find that last inch of motivation. It wasnt easy but I was definitely glad to hear him, he says. By then, he had already completed a grueling 3.8 km swim through a sapphire blue Alpine lake full of glacial melts and after a rather short break of 9.5 minutes, the bespectacled Pune native was negotiating a tough 180 km cycle loop, which included two steep climbs in the mountains surrounding the town of Klagenfurt, a city on the southern rim of Austria, most famous for being tennis star Stefanie Grafs hometown. The Klagenfurt Ironman is one of the most challenging events on the Ironman circuit. Organised by the World Triathlon Corporation, it comprises a 3.8 km swim, a 180

Mustering the courage to participate was one thing, training to withstand the rigours of a race in which 700 participants out of a total of 2,900 were hospitalised for fatigue, was a daunting task
km cycling leg and a 42.195 km marathon to finish things off. Apart from the sheer physical endurance required, participants have to complete the triathlon within 17 hours. Biniwale completed the event in 13 hours, 18 minutes and 22 seconds. After I crossed the finishing line, I went numb. All the fatigue, the incredible soreness of muscles that you have pushed to the limit and the joy of successfully completing an Ironman triathlon are rather hard to separate. Also receiving the official title of being an Ironman feels really cool, he says. Biniwales parents are doctors, besides being amateur sportspersons. Biniwale himself is in his final year of an MBBS degree from Punes Bharati Vidyapeeth. An enthusiastic swimmer, a chance meeting with Anand Takale, a triathlete in Pune, got him hooked to the sport. I started off doing smaller triathlons and I found out that I was pretty good at completing these events. However, there is no greater validation to an athlete than to complete an Ironman. That was the

reason why I decided to participate, he says. Mustering the courage to participate was one thing, training to withstand the rigours of a race in which 700 participants out of a total of 2,900 were hospitalised for fatigue, was a rather daunting task. I began training seriously in November 2012. As the months progressed, I was training for almost 38 hours every week. I cycled to Lonavala, Lavasa and Panchgani to get my body used to the steep climbs that I was going to face. Also, I swam regularly, he says. Studying for his medical degree did not take a back seat though and his training in medicine helped him prepare for the event. I didn't have to go to a nutritionist, I had a good idea about taking care of my muscles and how much exertion they could take, he says. As a precursor to his Ironman outing, Biniwale competed in a half-Ironman event in Rapperswil-Jona in Switzerland in early 2012. With a cut-off time of seven hours, he finished the race in six hours, 38 minutes. It gave him the confidence he needed to participate in this one. When I crossed the finishing line in Switzerland, I had a measure of confidence in my own abilities. I knew that with a regular training regimen, the Ironman title wasn't too far away, he says. Biniwale is now preparing for another triathlon, the Roth Challenge, in the south of Germany next year. Once you complete an Ironman, it becomes an addiction. You crave for that pain in your muscles and the exhilaration when you bound over the finishing line, he says.

Teeth Checked

Eyes Checked

Have you checked your hearing ??

COVER

Questions of caste, gender and the market are shaping the Jawaharlal Nehru University in various ways, countering romantic ideas of revolution and change

REVOLUTION, MEET REALITY

BY DHARMINDER KUMAR

T A co-ed Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) hostel in New Delhi, Ram Sajeevan believes the girl in the opposite balcony stares at him longingly. But Anita Chandiwala is unaware that her routine plays out every day as a series of hidden overtures in the fantasy of the boy in the opposite balcony. In a class-defying JNU, it is possible for a beautiful, NRI, English-speaking girl to fall in secret love with a dreamy, revolutionary Hindi poet idolised by his party. At least, it is possible for the poet from an Uttar Pradesh village, even though he is a little bewildered at the co-ed hostel, to believe so. Unable to bridge the Hindi-English divide, Ram Sajeevan slides deeper into his fantasy. He argues with friends who try to drag him out of his make-believe world for hours. They tell him to go and speak to the girl to find out for himself that she doesnt even know his name. Mired in poetry and idealism, Ram Sajeevan is not too enamoured of reality. In his politics as well as life, he lives in a dream. He slowly loses his hold on reality and his mental balance. One day, the girl complains to the warden about an unkempt man who keeps staring at her. Ram Sajeevans friends have to take him to his village. In his jeans and kurta, scraggly beard and glasses, Marx- and Neruda-inspired Ram Sajeevan is almost real, even though he is a character in a story, Ram Sajeevan Ki Prem Katha, by Hindi writer Uday Prakash. Its a story that came to mind a few weeks ago when a

young man on the campus, Akash, attacked a 22-year-old girl, Roshni Gupta, with an axe inside a class, apparently because she spurned him, and then killed himself. When Prakash wrote the story in the Eighties, it was believed to be based on the life of JNU student and legendary poet Gorakh Pandey, who had committed suicide in a hostel. Gorakh, the much-loved poet of the revolution, gave JNU one of its most popular anthems Hille le jhakjhor duniya which was later sung by Indian Ocean. As well as the rural-urban conflict, the story is a comment on the universitys dreamy, selfobsessed Left politics. Today, the dominant Left culture in the university faces a complex reality. Questions of caste and gender have become as important as class; the market has started sneaking in as large sections of students get depoliticised. New ideas have begun to challenge old certainties, however sublime or sacred. In many different ways, the romantic idea of revolution that once fired young minds and bound them together in a pristine space, which was so different from other universities, now seems to be unravelling. With its thorny babools, rocks for chairs and tables, and deep pits and mounds, Ganga dhaba is a critique of todays glittering com-

mercialised times, as former JNU Students Union president (JNUSU) Sandeep Singh calls it. It is a symbol of free thought and open exchange of ideas, with its uncontrolled space where any number of people can huddle anyhow around any stone. Here, students have planned revolution as well as found romance. But now, it is not the locus of life on the campus that it used to be. If you walk a little ahead, you will find another eatery, the 24/7 dhaba, which seems to be what the Ganga dhaba is a
TASHI TOBGYAL

The new economy and a culture of consumption are shaping the campus. There is a pressure to succeed. Now, more students go out to work or to get coaching for competitive exams. They sometimes know each other only online

FULL MARX The Left

dominates the political space at JNU; (top) a joyride at night on the campus

critique of. Here, you will find tables and chairs, a well-ordered space, a bigger menu and fewer people in JNU chic jeans and kurta. Ganga dhaba and the 24/7 dhaba spatialise the slow shift from Marx to market which has become visible on the campus. Ajay Gudavarthy, who teaches political science at JNU, says students now have more disposable money and are spending it. Devendra Choubey, warden of Periyar Hostel, says, In our times, people subsisted on whatever they had and focused on their studies. But now a lot of students earn on the side. With extra money, they can afford to buy gadgets. You often see pizzas being delivered in the hostel. When Choubey was a student and stayed at Periyar, people used to go to Nirulas at Priya. But that was hardly the consumerist sensorium the grand shopping malls that have come up across the road are. Many students now go to Big Bazaar at the Ambience Mall instead of Sarojini Nagar market, says Komal, an MPhil student in languages who is doing research in folk songs. Choubey says earlier it did not matter what you wore but what you spoke. Now students are careful about what they wear and how they look. Kurtas are being replaced by fitted T-shirts. You know its easier to raise your fist in the air and shout a slogan if you are wearing a kurta instead of a T-shirt, Choubey jokes. The new economy and its culture of consumption are shaping the campus in various ways. People are busy these days, says Komal. There is a pressure to succeed. Now, more students go out to work or get coaching for competitive exams. And, of course, people also interact on the internet. In fact, sometimes students know each other only online, she says. Manindra Nath Thakur, who teaches political science at JNU, says the old sense of community has weakened. Now, teachers spend more time writing articles and books. The time they spend with students is not valued the way articles and books are, he says. The rise in the number of students is also one reason for reduced teacher-student interaction, he says. Thakur says the four years, from 2008 to 2011, when elections

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could not take place at JNU were alienating, because elections offered a good mechanism to interact, initiate new students and group them around ideological issues. A long time without elections depoliticised students, who started bonding on grounds immediately available to them region, language, caste, etc. These days, I often see students befriending each other more on a regional and linguistic basis rather than ideology, says Sukhpreet Brar, who is doing a PhD in Hindi. Earlier, the rich and the poor interacted a lot and each had something to gain from the other. But now people tend to stick to their own kind, Thakur says. Internet is drawing students away from addas. The political space is so contested and harsh that many take refuge in anonymity. Visit JNU Confessions page on Facebook. Its campus gossip often lewd, offensive and hard to believe discussed with a zeal that will seem out of place on the campus. The fragmentation isnt just social, its political too. Choubey says just a decade ago, the juloos (march) used to be so long that it began at Ganga dhaba and ended at Kaveri. These days, the juloos has shrunk. There are only party people. Earlier, a large number of people sympathetic with the cause also used to take part. Now people follow their parties. Caste politics has shown up the simple Left-

versus-Right politics to be inadequate. It has forced every party to tweak its agenda. Vivek Kumar, who teaches sociology, says JNU was never the liberal space it was made out to be. They used to brush most caste issues under the carpet. But now, Dalits are vocal and aspirational. They dont tolerate this, he says. The caste groups such as United Dalit Students Forum and All India Backward Students Forum have excavated their own traditions of thought which were not very visible on the campus earlier. They are now rejecting what they see as Left behalfism. Earlier, they had a client-patron relationship with the Dalits. Hum dekh lenge, they used to say. Since Dalits have found their own voice, the Left parties have to put the face of (BR) Ambedkar on their posters, says Kumar. An activist says an eminent Dalit professor, now retired, who got his job under the general quota, could not get a single uppercaste student to do a PhD with him in his 35 years in the university. Vivek Kumar says caste discrimination at JNU has always existed, at all levels administrative, academic, political and sociocultural. The Left did not encourage Dalit thought and worldview. Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule never got the place they deserve in the courses. Now that they have been forced to recognise caste due to Dalit activism, they have started paying lip service to our cause, he

says. But Kavita Krishnan, a Politburo member of the CPI (M-L) and a former joint secretary of JNUSU, says it was her party that struggled against the dilution of OBC quotas on the campus and has been opposing the anti-reservation group Youth For Equality. I dont know why they see us as an enemy and not an ally, she says. Vinod Arya, a Dalit student, says, Earlier, few Dalits would raise their issues. But now, with so many Dalit groups active on the campus, they have the confidence to raise their problems.
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

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JNU was never the liberal space it was made out to be, says a professor. They used to brush most caste issues under the carpet. But now, Dalits are vocal and aspirational. They dont tolerate this

COMRADES, CONSUMERS (Clockwise

from left) Elections were held in 2012 after four years; the malls across the road; Lohit hostel; a woman on campus at night
TASHI TOBGYAL TASHI TOBGYAL

If caste has become a big faultline at JNU, there is a greater demand to address gender issues too. Earlier, you could be deemed progressive on all counts if you were an idealistic young man dreaming of revolution. But now there is a deeper scrutiny of political assumptions. The idea that girls can go out in the dead of night is too simplistic as a measure of womens freedom. It assumes that only a nocturnal monster can harm girls. It discounts the fact that male prejudice and sexual violence can operate in broad daylight, sophisticated talk and at classrooms and seminars, says a girl student who does not wish to be named. Aparna has a lot of politics to choose from she studies Sri Lankan Tamil poetry, is a Dalit and calls herself a feminist. The last fact puts her at a remove from the political parties because just as the outside world is patriarchal, so are the political parties here. She is sceptical about most JNU narratives nostalgic, declinist, revivalist however poetic. But this doesnt mean she has no narrative of her own. Her narrative is corrective, that JNU can improve. She is happy more

women are complaining about gender issues, which should be seen as a welcome change instead of eliciting a what-has-JNU-come-to reaction. JNU was already a patriarchal space, she says; more people now know about it. The more we know and rectify, the better, she says. Krishnan of CPI-ML says the gender debate at JNU is more audible because the Left groups recognise gender issues and not because the Left at JNU is less gender-sensitive. We have been raising gender issues since the Nineties. Gender sensitisation in our party is an ongoing process. Patriarchy is everywhere, but we recognise this fact and address it within our party. Gender and caste issues were always addressed on the campus, Gudavarthy points out, but they are now being articulated in different languages, which are often conflicting. There has been a strong identity focus in the last 10 years. Earlier, the same issues were articulated in a different language, of class and region. The Left has not been able to provide an alternative to identity politics. It

COVER

The idea that girls can go out in the dead of night is too simplistic as a measure of womens freedom. It assumes only a nocturnal monster can harm girls

PYAAR, PADHAI AND POLITICS The

unique landscape of the campus (top); fewer people in JNU chic jeans and kurtas can be seen at the 24x7 dhaba
JNU. Thakur believes JNU is quite dynamic and it would find intellectual resources to manage the change. The recently revived JNU magazine, Parisar, says that the campus has 200 native and foreign species of birds, 80 species of butterflies, 30 species of reptiles and 15 species of mammals. Many of these are rare and protected by laws. It seems JNUs diversity of biology has also started reflecting in its ideology. Ram Sajeevan the species, so to speak, spotted often earlier will now find the campus crowded, because the simple ideological geometry of Left versus Right is being redrawn by ideas that dont fit too neatly into either of these categories. Amid all the change, the one constant on the campus is its stone-age landscape of rocks and caves. A primitive terrain contains all life on campus, which a student breezily describes as pyaar, padhai and politics. The JNU terrain not only transcends all ideology but history itself, giving the campus an instinctual, elemental climate infused with power and desireas poet Kedarnath Singh writes in the campus magazine: Yes, this is my house/And perhaps this is the stone on which laid its head and slept/The first axe that hunted the first tree./Even today, this stone smells of a sweat/Which is perhaps the odour of that first woodcutters body/That feeds the whole modernity of my campus.
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

requires an innovative political imagination to handle new tensions, he says. The gated community of JNU protected from the noise of the aspirational Ber Sarai and Katwaria Sarai, the elite IIT, a middle-class Munirka and the consumerist arcades of Vasant Kunj for long prided itself on its boutique liberalism. Earlier, if a butterfly flapped its wings around a LatinAmerican dictator, it could cause a storm at JNU, but a storm at, say, Munirka, would rarely bother a butterfly on the campus. Now, things are changing. After the December gang rape of a young woman, which took place not far from the campus, students

and political parties drove the protests in the heart of Delhi, rubbing shoulders with the bourgeoisie. Krishnan of CPI-ML became the face of the protests, perhaps the only Left leader in recent times to get a huge popular following. JNU has now woken up to a diversity of politics and a multiplicity of languages. Either the dominant Left politics will have to transform or the campus will no longer be the Kremlin on Jumna, as an American diplomat once described it in a cable to his government. Krishnan says that people forget that it is only because of the Left that the diversity of ideas has found an expression in

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speakeasy
What happened when Batman travelled toJapan

Pratik Kanjilal
pratik.kanjilal@expressindia.com

Say Pow in Nihongo

T
WO COMIC books, one popular and the other a rarity, show America and Japan trying to become each other. They close a vast circle centred on Gotham City, whose circumference swings from Manhattan to Tokyo and back, through the 1960s Silver Age US comics that coloured the Japanese imagination to 21st century US work steeped in manga. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sales Batman: The Long Halloween (1996-97) features the modern avatar of the Dark Knight, carrying forward the tradition of long shadows and dramatic points of view which was begun by Bob Kane, lost its way in camp humour and resurged in the Seventies in memorable issues like The Demon of Gothos Mansion and Half an Evil (1970-71). The imprint of manga became patently visible later, for instance in the sophisticated visual storytelling in the Owls series (2012-2013). In contrast, vintage Batman storylines were structurally simpler, like endless Tom and Jerry chase sagas. But these are mainstream texts. In this column, we are chiefly interested in that which is forgotten, precious, obscure yet within easy reach. To feature here, a book has to have the element of surprise what, if it was right here all along and we didnt notice? Like Batmanga, from Pantheon Books, which reveals that manga and US superhero comics influenced each other. It reprints the first wave of Batman and Robin comics and merchandise which hit the shores of anime and manga country in 1966. For the first time, these stories are available in English translation many incomplete, and read right to left in the Japanese manner. Interesting issue: How do you translate Pow! from Nihongo? It stays Pow! in huge Kanji letters. These stories were drawn by Jiro Kuwata, father of hit manga superhero 8-Man. In 1966, he was commissioned by the now-defunct boys magazine Shonen King to redo DCs Batman stories in Japanese. Batman had reached Japanese TV and the mag wanted to catch the wave. Kuwata wanted to learn the US idiom, but he was so rushed that he reinterpreted the American style to create something altogether new. Even the dialogue feels different. Batman says that since Dr Faceless (Doctor No-Face in the DC original) is acrophobic, it follows that he cant have headed for the hills but must be somewhere in Gotham. Ironically, it was the worlds tallest city at the time. Batman writers have generally been technically careful, so this is probably an interpolation by someone who had never been to NYC. Bat-manga was anchored by editor and designer Chip Kidd, along with Illinois Batcollector Paul Ferris and photographer Geoff Spears. You cant but have seen his iconic cover design, like the skeletal T-rex on the cover of Jurassic Park, which is also the logo of the film. Bat-manga could be the first pathbreaking Batman collection since E Nelson Bridwells classic Batman: From the Thirties to the Seventies (1971). It is a valuable time capsule containing material which may have vanished off the map in America. Im a fairly driven fan but I do not recall a DC release titled Professor Gorillas Revenge, which features here. It feels authentic, dating from a time when US comics were pigging out on gorilla rampages, three decades after King Kong. And theres the Bioinformer, which converts the properties of animals into electrical waves that can be absorbed by human cells. Dont remember that in comics either but in anthropology, something like that is the basis of totems and, by one explanation (when applied to humans), of cannibalism too. For instance, people eat fleet-footed enemies to absorb their speed. (Ate, you say? Are you sure about the tense?) Interestingly, the Japanese Batman supported scientific literacy. Every other page of the first story in this collection, The Terrible Clayface Encounter, has marginalia on astronomy and astrophysics. Like, the starlight we see now dates back to when Murasaki Shikibu was writing The Tale of Genji. Murasaki probably died exactly a millennium ago, after writing what is often called the worlds first novel. Her book is definitely the only early medieval novel to remain in print in multiple languages. Obscure, precious, yet right under your nose. Funny she hasnt featured in this column yet. We must correct that soon.

Bat-manga could be the first pathbreaking Batman collection since E Nelson Bridwells Batman: From the Thirties to the Seventies. It is a valuable time capsule with material which may have vanished off the map in America
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AUGUST 25-31, 2013

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PROFILE

Ram Sings

the Saigal Blues

Ram Sampath is an outsider in the Hindi music world and one of its most innovative talents
BY SUANSHU KHURANA

F YOU think it is impossible to have a Punjabi song without the pulse of the dhol or the high-pitched call of the tumbi, listen to Ambarsariya, a song from Fukrey. Its sauntering strings and joyful accordion strains turn the typical Punjabi sound on its head. And yet, it has the unmistakable stamp of a Punjabi song. I was tired of that old sound. Those Delhi kids (of Fukrey, a buddy flick set in the city) listen to music from Punjab as much as they listen to sounds from Birmingham. It had to represent who they are. So I decided to try something different, says music composer Ram Sampath of the song that was a last-minute addition to the movies soundtrack. Sampaths small oeuvre is marked by innovation, and his track record so far has been of an outsider who will not bend to the industrys whims. If he convinced Aamir Khan to accept 10 tracks for a single-song film (Delhi Belly), in 2008, he sued producers Rajesh and Rakesh Roshan for plagiarism. I also married Sona (Mohapatra), who is five feet and ten inches tall, says 36-yearold Sampath, who is not exactly a towering figure, with a laugh. (He met the singer during a music show. Their first date had them singing to each other the whole night.) Sampaths music cant be canned in neat little boxes of folk or contemporary.

AMIT CHAKRAVARTY

At that point (suing the Roshans for plagiarising my music), one of the things that were tested was my resolve to be in the business. It came down to a matter of integrity. Taking a stand and talking about my intellectual property rights was about giving spine (sic) to other composers. If I didnt do that, I would have had to wrap up here

Delhi Belly was a wisecracking, witty soundtrack for a romp of a film. While the punk-rock track Bhaag DK Bose became a youth anthem for its naughty lyrics, the other songs showed his command over a slew of genres. (Saigal Blues sung by Chetan Shashital in the nasal style of KL Saigal was part-spoof, part-tribute to the sentimental love songs of old Bollywood.) For Talaash, he composed the background music and the contemplative Jee le zara, and is now a regular in Aamir Khan projects. But it is also true that nine out of 10 times, he is asked to compose only two or three songs in a film. I get a three-song script and then I have to work to make it a six-song or an eight-song script, he says ruefully, when we meet him at his ninth floor apartment in Bandra. He has just got over an enrichingly exhausting Coke Studio @MTV recording session. The theme is Devi, the various forms of the feminine divine, says Sampath, who is elated by the wide spectrum offered to him. He will present a gospel qawwali, a Rajasthani hip-hop track and a padam that was sung by courtesans in the 16th century. Its a chance for me to reimagine our music, says Sampath. Growing up in a half-Tamil, half-Kannadiga family in Mumbais Chembur, music was an inseparable part of his life. I come from an obsessive musical family. As much kicking and screaming as I did, learning music was compulsory, says Sampath. Both his parents were musically inclined and his grandfather was cofounder of Shanmukhananda Hall, one of Mumbais important cultural addresses. Everything from Carnatic music to Hindustani classical and classic rock played at home, and a 10-year-old Ram was introduced to the genius of Mehdi Hassan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and MS Subbulakshmi through hundreds of LPs stacked in the living room. He wrote and composed his first song when he was nine. I wrote some environment-friendly rubbish and put together a basic chord structure, says Sampath. Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix happened along the way too. Armed with all the training, he started Colourblind, a little-known band in 1997, which released only one album. With Sampath on vocals, synth and programming and Siddharth Achrekar on guitars, Colourblind brought together grunge, electronica and progressive rock. Sampath soon became the go-to guy for underground musicians. He also produced music for a nascent Indipop scene (he composed Shaans Tanha Dil), which began with great promise but quickly went under. Both rock and Indipop could have developed if the industry wasnt as short-sighted as it was. I got no funding and ended up losing a lot of money. It was very disheartening, he says.

Disenchanted, he took his musical skills to advertising, which funded his personal projects. I wanted to be able to write good songs and expand my palette as a composer. Also, my heroes Pink Floyd and Miles Davis had done film scores. So I wanted a chance to be able to explore that space too, says Sampath. But he found Bollywood music to be formulaic and resistant to new sounds. For example, the tabla-dholak sound defined good music. I wanted to introduce new sounds and not follow the typical route in films, says Sampath, who also felt that film music was controlled by a handful of composers. Over the next decade, he made music for a few films like Khakee (2004) and Family (2006), which went unnoticed. I wasnt expecting anything good to happen at this stage. Four films got shelved after this. It was a traumatic time, he says. In 2008, he sued the powerful Roshans for plagiarism, accusing that four tracks of the film Krazzy 4 were a copy of a jingle he had created for a television commercial. The Bombay High Court held the producers prima facie guilty and awarded Sampath Rs 2 crore. At that point, one of the things that were tested was my resolve to be in the business. It came down to a matter of integrity. Taking a stand and talking about my intellectual property rights was about giving spine (sic) to other composers. If I didnt do that, I would have had to wrap up here, says Sampath. Two years later, his luck turned with Delhi Belly. I began getting some work, says Sampath, who knew he finally had a winner. He followed it up with music for Aamir Khans much-popular series Satyamev Jayate, thus becoming a fixture in most Khan projects. If, at any point, Aamir feels that I am not doing my bit, we will still be friends but we will also move on, says Sampath, who is not happy with the idea of Bollywood camps that makes it difficult for any newcomer to break in. Everyone is so insecure, he says. The difference between Aamir and 90 per cent of Bollywood is that he doesnt come from a space of fear and with a band of insiders. He wont tell me, Yaar agar gaana hit nahi hoga, toh apni film pit jayegi, says Sampath. Sampath sees the last 15 years as transition time for film music. Mainstream is finally paving the way for the indie scene. But earlier there was a basic love for songs in films. Now, the song is completely out of the narrative. As a result, you get a blank page to fill. Thats too much freedom, he says. In the future, he wants to resume his search for new sounds. You can be extremely versatile in Bollywood. Its a big space. With the right producer, it isnt such a bad place to be in, he says.

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CASE FILES

THE DETECTIVE

RETURNS
Byomkesh Bakshi is back on the screen. But he is not the only iconic Bengali sleuth in action
BY PREMANKUR BISWAS
Byomkeshs. My Byomkesh is young, straight out of college and on the throes of something that he doesnt even have the vocabulary to describe. Thats why he calls himself satyanveshi (the truth seeker), says Banerjee, who is directing the film under the Yash Raj Films banner. In many ways, Byomkesh Bakshi is a prototypical figure of the eclectic world of Bengali detective fiction. A world that is inhabited by a strapping Charminar-smoking dude (Feluda), and a middle-aged physically challenged kakababu (uncle) who, ironically, hates being called a detective. The history of Bengali detective fiction, however, had a more conventional start in the early 20th century. In his book The Bhadralok as Truth-Seeker: Towards a Social History of the Bengali Detective, Gautam Chakrabarti notes how in the early Bengali detective movies such as Hana Badi (The Haunted House, 1952) and Chupi Chupi Ashe (He Comes in Stealth, 1960), the detectives not only dress in pucca sahebi (perfect western) attire, down to their starched waistcoats, patent leather shoes and the pipes, but also mirror the mannerisms of their Anglo-European archetypes. Byomkesh Bakshi changed the Bengali detectives persona. This dhoti-clad bourgeois detective made his appearance as Sharadindu Bandyopadhyays protagonist in the 1932 story Pother Kata (Hurdle). He was rooted in his time but was also keenly aware of the societal and political forces that formed his context. It is said that Bandyopadhyay was concerned with the way the Indian and Bengali fictional detectives created between 1890 and 1930 were mere copies of western detectives. The stories of Dinendra Kumar Rays Robert Blake, Panchkari Deys Debendra Bijoy Mitra or Swapan Kumars Deepak Chatterjee were almost always set in London. Byomkesh, though, was a creation of such sociological import that filmmakers down the ages have come back to him over and over again. When Satyajit Ray adapted
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

RICKETY OLD tram makes its way through Kolkatas rainswept Maidan. People, grazing cattle and buildings amble through, as a young Byomkesh Bakshi leans out of the window and samples the sights absentmindedly. Graver concerns stew in his brilliant mind, the future of humankind amongst one of them. In a press meet as thoughtfully executed as his films, director Dibakar Banerjee introduced us to his Byomkesh Bakshi. He dressed him in a staid kurta, strategically placed him in a tram and let Kolkatas vintage charm do the rest. That his Byomkesh Bakshi is current Bollywood heartthrob Sushant Singh Rajput is almost incidental. The hero of the enterprise is clearly Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyays iconic detective. I am aware of the various interpretations of this character. I know that everyone, from Satyajit Ray to Rituparno Ghosh, have created their own

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SPY TALES Sujoy Ghosh in Satyanvenshi (left); Prosenjit in Mishawr Rahashya

Bandyopadhyays Chiriakhana with the reigning superstar Uttam Kumar as Byomkesh in the late 1960s, he faced a lot of criticism because some Byomkesh loyalists felt that Kumar was miscast. What is this enduring appeal that makes the common Bengali question his or her most revered icons? Chakrabarti feels that it is the identification factor. Since Byomkesh is not a scientist, addict or a violinist, but just an average Bengali youth, it makes it much easier for the common man to identify with him. From Kiriti Roy to Jayanta and daroga (inspector) Banka-ullah to Feluda, Bengali fictional detectives have succeeded in creating a dedicated universe of readership, which is incrementally ahead of similar figures in other Indian languages, says Chakrabarti. When it came to his own celebrated creation, Feluda or Pradosh Mitter, not many could fault Satyajit Ray. Feluda first came into being in 1965 in the Bengali childrens magazine Sandesh (which was edited and produced by Ray himself). By this time, Ray was already a renowned filmmaker. My father created Feluda primarily for children. He would invest a lot of time in writing these stories. Since there were childrens stories, he had to do without two integral parts of any crime fiction, sexual intrigue and violence, says filmmaker Sandip Ray, Rays son. That didnt stop Feluda from being one of the most enduring fictional figures of Bengali literature. Rays two masterful adaptations of Feluda novels, Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress, 1974) and Joy Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1979), in which Feluda was played by acclaimed Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, contributed to the icon-making process. SubseAUGUST 25-31, 2013

quently, Sandip Ray adapted many Feluda novels for television and cinema. When I was growing up, I gorged on Feluda and Kakababu stories, says director Srijit Mukherji, who is busy with the postproduction of Mishawr Rahashya based on another iconic Bengali fictional character, Sunil Gangopadhyays Kakababu. As a playwright, Mukherji has already worked with Feluda (Feluda Ferot, 2008) and Byomkesh (Checkmate, 2009). In both these plays, he

PRIVATE EYE Still from Sonar Kella

took the characters to places they hadnt been before. In a brave step, he penned original stories based on these two characters. He made Feluda an aged armchair journalist in Feluda Ferot and explored the crumbling of Byomkeshs marriage in Checkmate. These figures are such revered icons for most Bengalis that we dont want to mess with them. I desperately wanted to make films on them, but couldnt because of copyright issues, says Mukherji. Kakababu was a different challenge. Primarily because

Gangopadhyay always distinguished his protagonist as an adventurer and not a detective. Though clubbed with the rest of Bengali detective fiction, Kakababu stories are more of thrillers, says Mukherji. His Kakababu will be played by Prosenjit, a matinee idol who is willing to experiment with things. Kakababu is a middle-aged physically challenged adventurer and its not easy to play such a character. Given his stature and talent, Prosenjit was just the person for this role, says Mukherji. But it is Byomkesh Bakshi who has yet again found his way into most Bengali drawing rooms, thanks to the buzz created by Rituparno Ghoshs last offering Satyanveshi which releases later this month. Ghosh described it as a crime thriller in the molten glow of the pensive falling afternoon. Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh, who was surprised to find out that Rituparno Ghosh wanted to cast him as Byomkesh, has been promoting the film after Ghoshs death. I have read a lot of Byomkesh Bakshi novels, but I have never really thought about adapting them. This is entirely Ritudas vision, he says. What makes Bengali directors revisit the detectives over and over again? Explains Mukherji, Bengalis are essentially an inquisitive race. When we read detective fiction, it becomes a sort of wish-fulfillment. Thats why Byomkesh and Feluda will never go out of fashion. When Basu Chatterjee adapted Byomkesh for DD in Hindi in the 1990s, he proved the same stands true for the rest of India too.
Premankur Biswas is a freelance writer based in Kolkata

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SPLURGE

Supper Theatre
The chefs table is the most luxurious of personalised dining experiences
BY SHANTANU DAVID

NE OF the more agreeable aspects of globalisation is that it makes everything so accessible. Look at how world cuisine is now on our plates. Restaurant larders in the country have been blossoming with ingredients such as San Danielle Ham, Wagyu Beef, Enokitake Mushrooms while their cellars are rich with Bordeaux and Barolos. But sometimes, just ordering off the menu isnt enough, the most hedonistic bon vivant is indulging in joys of another kind. Enter the chefs table. The chefs table, in its ultra-luxe format, features the head chef of a restaurant taking select diners through a culinary drama of sorts. The kitchen transforms into a stage, the chefs and ingredients into the actors, and the guests are the audience. Here, every aspect of the meal is tailor-made for diners, where they can customise every detail or leave it all in the hands of the chef and his team. Services offered include personalised menus, place cards, paired wines, choice of tableware, even the floral accents on the table. The concept has been around in the US and UK for some years now, with chefs like Gordon Ramsay having adopted it in his multiple restaurants (his chefs tables at New York-based restaurant, London NYC, and London-based restaurant, Savoy Grill, regularly feature on the respective cities best of list). Various formidable chefs like Daniel Boulud, Heston Blumenthal and Joel Robuchon all have their own tables at their various restaurants around the world, with meals compris-

DINE LIKE ROYALTY: The chefs table being set up at Le Cirque; chef Manish Mehrotra (above)
ing anything between three and 16 courses and priced from $550 to as high as the patron is willing to go. In Paris, Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athne, the formidable three Michelinstarred restaurant, whose kitchens are presided over by Alain Ducasse (otherwise known as god in the food world) has a chefs table opened once in a blue moon and attendance is solely by invitation. In India, the concept of the chefs table was first introduced with the establishment of The Chefs Studio, chef Hemant Oberois gift to the dining elite at The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower in Mumbai in 2006. The most decadent of chefs tables in the country, organised by appointment in the heritage wing, this palatial spaces footfall includes mostly international royalty, celebrities and industrialists (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were the first guests of the first chefs table here). The attached kitchen is linked to the room with an interactive interface so guests have an up, close-and-personal look into what is cooking in the kitchen. The eight-cover tables are the apex of power dining in the country, and come with Versace-designed Rosenthal dinnerware, Ercuis silver cutlery and a coveted wine-list, at a base price of Rs 1,50,000 for a group of six, all inclusive. Even though chefs tables exist across
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

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People want to see whats happening inside the kitchen and feel part of the bustle of creating a meal. The chefs table gives them that experience. Everything is tailored to their requirements, making the occasion intimate, says Bhoite
restaurant formats in the west, in India, the concept is still largely restricted to five-star hotel restaurants, though stand-alones occasionally host a chef's table for short durations. On the 10th floor of the Leela Palace in Delhi is the only Indian outpost of international fine-dine chain Le Cirque, which is the culinary equivalent of a Turkish milk bath. Here, chef Mickey Bhoite practises the arts of both showmanship and cooking at his chefs table. He believes that todays high-end consumer wants more than just a meal: he wants to be engaged and entertained. And nothings a better crowd-puller than food. People want to see whats happening inside the kitchen and feel part of the bustle of creating a meal. The chefs table gives them that experience. And to top it off, everything is tailored to their requirements, making the occasion all the more intimate, says Bhoite. Delhi-based chef Manish Mehrotras Indian Accent is considered one of the crown jewels of contemporary Indian dining around the globe and frequently features on worlds best restaurant lists. After having successfully wowed diners with his innovative takes on Indian cuisine for over four years, creating an intimate dining experience seemed a natural progression for Mehrotra, who started his chefs table earlier this year. At our chefs table, we stay with the guests from the first course to the last and engage in a dialogue around the myriad aspects of food and dining, says Mehrotra, who serves modernistic fusion food such as khandvi ravioli, ricecrusted John Dory moilee, mishti doi cannoli and foie gras galawati kebab among other delicacies. The base price at Indian Accent is Rs 29,400 for a group of six, exclusive of alcohol and taxes. In the choice of dining companions, chefs hold mixed views. I would never recommend a chefs table to people who have a business meeting as it would be a waste of both time and money, says Mehrotra, who holds at most three such events in a month. For him, a chefs table is a sort of an adda where there is plenty of give-and-take between him and his guests. Almost all our guests are serious foodies. In the course of our conversation, I get to learn so many different things about food that I wasnt aware of, the chef of over 20 years avers. At a base price of Rs 39,000 for a group of six, exclusive of alcohol and taxes, Bhoite
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

EAT TREAT: (From top) A foie gras galawati

platter at Indian Accent; honeydew melon and cucumber soup; Bhoite

believes the chefs table is a more evolved form of power dining where the elite dine, do business and entertain on a lavish and customised scale. We do a chefs table almost a dozen times a month and while there are private occasions, a large number of them are business meals, says Bhoite. The age demographics vary from a business party to anniversary celebrations to a trigenerational family get-together, he has catered to them all. While most chefs tables have their own menus, the chefs like to have a tte--tte with their guests prior to their meal. While quite a few of our guests are happy just to tell us their likes and dislikes and leave the menu to us, many discerning patrons have defined ideas about what they want on their plates. We are more than happy to provide both sets with what they want, says Bhoite. At the Vetro, in Oberoi, Mumbai, theres both a set menu and a personalised one for a base price of Rs 21,000 for a group of six, exclusive of alcohol and taxes. At Le Cirque in Delhi, dishes range from the apparently simple honeydew melon and cucumber soup to the more complex black cod paupiette and grilled chicken paillard to the sheer theatricality of a honey and orange infused duck tortelloni cooked tableside. Essentially, we set a base price, which serves as the minimum bill amount for a meal and above that, the sky is the limit, says Mehrotra, who has catered to the most unusual of requests, including a 12-course saatvik (no onion or garlic) meal.

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DIGITAL NATIVE

Out of the

BEDROOM
The internet produces pornography that is new, strange and unprecedented. How can you regulate it?
BY NISHANT SHAH

E HAVE shared it with our friends. We have watched it with our lovers. We have discussed it with our children and talked about it with our partners. It is in our bedrooms, hidden in sock drawers. It is in our laptops, in a folder marked Miscellaneous. It is in our cellphones and tablets, protected under passwords. It is the biggest reason why people have learned to clean their browsing history and cookies from their browsers. Whether we go

into surreptitious shops to buy unmarked CDs or trawl through Torrent and user-generated content sites in the quest of a video, there is no denying the fact that it has become a part of our multimedia life. Even in countries like India, where consumption and distribution of pornography are punished by law, we know that pornography is rampant. With the rise of the digital technologies of easy copy and sharing, and the internet which facilitates amateur production and anonymous distribution, pornography has escaped the industrial market and become one of the most intimate and

THINKSTOCK

commonplace practices of the online world. In fact, if Google trend results are to be believed, Indians are among the top 10 nationalities searching for pornography daily. Even a quick look at our internet history tells us that it has all been about porn. The morphed pictures of a naked Pooja Bhatt adorned the covers of Stardust in the late 1990s, warning us that the true potential of Photoshop had been realised. The extraordinary sensation of the Delhi Public School MMS case which captured two underage youngsters in a grainy sexcapade announced the arrival of user-generated porn in a big way. The demise of Savita Bhabhi Indias first pornographic graphic novel is still recent enough for us to remember that the history of the internet in India is book-ended by porn and censorship. Recent discussions on pornography have been catalysed by a public interest litigation requesting for a ban on internet pornography filed in April by Kamlesh Vaswani. Whether Vaswanis observations on what porn can make us do stem from his own personal epiphany or his self-appointed role as our moral compass is a discussion that merits its own special space. Similarly, a debate on the role, function, and use of pornography in a society is complex, rich and not for today. Instead, I want to focus on the pre-Web imagination of porn that Vaswani and his endorsers are trying to impose upon the rest of us. There is a common misunderstanding that all porn is the same porn, no matter what the format, medium and aesthetics of representations. Or in other words, a homogenising presumption is that erotic fiction and fantasies, pictures of naked people in a magazine, adult films produced by entertainment houses, and user-generated videos on the internet are the same kind of porn. However, as historical legal debates and public discussions have shown us, what constitutes porn is specific to the technologies that produce it. There was a time when DH Lawrences iconic novel now taught in undergraduate university courses Lady Chatterleys Lover was deemed pornographic and banned in India. In more recent times, the nation was in uproar at the Choli ke peeche song from Khalnayak which eventually won awards for its lyrics and choreography. In all the controversy, there has so far been a broadcast imagination of how pornography gets produced, consumed and distributed. There is a very distinct separation of us versus them when it comes to pornography. They produce porn. They distribute porn. They push porn down our throats (that was probably a poor choice of words) by spamming us and buying Google adwords to infect our search results. We consume porn. And all we need to do is go and regulate, like we do with Bollywood, the central management and distribution mechanism so that the flow of pornography can be curbed. This is what I call a broadcast way of thinking, where the roles of the performers, producers, consumers and disAUGUST 25-31, 2013

Savita Bhabhi, Indias first animated porn strip, was censored by the government
tributors of pornography are all distinct and can be regulated. However, within the murky spaces of the World Wide Web, the scenario is quite different. Internet pornography is not the same as availability of pornography on the internet. True, the digital multimedia space of sharing and peer-2-peer distribution has made the internet the largest gateway to accessing pornographic objects which are produced through commercial production houses. However, the internet is not merely a way of getting access to existing older forms of porn. The internet also produces pornography that is new, strange, unprecedented and is an essential part of the everyday experience of being digitally connected and networked into sociality. The recent controversies about the former congressman from New York, Anthony Weiner, sexting sending inappropriate sexual messages through his cellphone gives us some idea of what internet porn looks like. It is not just something captured on a phone-cam but interactive and collaboratively produced. Or as

Naked flashmobs, young people experimenting with sexual identities in public, and sometimes bizarre videos of a bus-ride where the camera merely captures the banal and the everyday through a pornographic gaze are also a part of digital porn landscape
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our own Porngate, where two cabinet ministers of the Karnataka legislative assembly were caught surfing some good old porn on their mobile devices while the legislature was in session, indicated, porn is not something confined to the privacy of our rooms. Naked flashmobs, young people experimenting with sexual identities in public, and sometimes bizarre videos of a bus-ride where the camera merely captures the banal and the everyday through a pornographic gaze are also a part of the digital porn landscape. The world of virtual reality and multiple online role-playing games offer simulated sexual experiences that allow for human, humanoid, and non-human avatars to engage in sexual activities in digital spaces. Peer-2-peer video chat platforms like Chatroulette, offer random encounters of the naked kind, where nothing is recorded but almost everything can be seen. The list of pornography produced by the internet as opposed to pornography made accessible through the internet is huge. It doesnt just hide in subcultural practices but resides on popular video-sharing sites like YouTube or Tumblr blogs. It vibrates in our cellphones as we connect to people far away from us, and pulsates on the glowing screens of our tablets as we get glimpses of random strangers and their intimate bodies and moments. An attempt to ban and censor this porn is going to be futile because it does not necessarily take the shape of a full narrative text which can be examined by others to judge its moral content. Any petition that tries to censor such activities is going to fall flat on its face because it fails to recognise that sexual expression, engagement and experimentation is a part of being human and the ubiquitous presence of digital technologies in our life is going to make the internet a fair playground for activities which might seem pornographic in nature. In fact, trying to restrict and censor them, will only make our task of identifying harmful pornography porn that involves minors, or hate speech or extreme acts of violence so much more difficult because it will be pushed into the underbelly of the internet which is much larger than the searched and indexed World Wide Web. Trying to suggest that internet pornography is an appendage which can be surgically removed from everyday cyberspace is to not understand the integral part that pornography and sexual interactions play in the development and the unfolding of the internet. The more fruitful efforts would be to try and perhaps create a guideline that helps promote healthy sexual interaction and alerts us to undesirable sexual expressions which reinforce misogyny, violence, hate speech and non-consensual invasions of bodies and privacy. This blanket ban on trying to sweep all internet porn under a carpet is not going to work it will just show up as a big bump, in places we had not foreseen.
Nishant Shah is director, research, The Centre for Internet and Society

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NOSTALGIA

The Age of Darkness

Govind Nihalani on the making of Tamas, his cult tele-series on Partition violence that was re-telecast last fortnight
BY ALAKA SAHANI

HILE SHOOTING for Richard Attenboroughs Gandhi in Delhi in 198081, cinematographer Govind Nihalani wandered off to a small bookstore at Shri Ram Centre during a break. There he spotted a copy of Tamas, the award-winning novel by Bhisham Sahni. By then, Nihalani had developed a habit of collecting books on the Partition and he instantly bought the book. Months before Partition, Nihalanis family had migrated from Karachi to Udaipur, escaping the horror that would visit the two new nations. But they had already had a taste of the violence. My first memory of fear, panic and violence comes from the time I was around six years old and we were living in Karachi, recalls the filmmaker. His family, along with those of his three uncles, lived on the top floor of a fourstoried building. One sunny afternoon, he ran up to the terrace on hearing a piercing shriek. He saw a dhoti-clad man being stabbed. His mother quickly pulled him inside, but the image of blood oozing out of the persons back remained with him. Ever since I joined films, I wanted to work on the subject of Partition. The search for materials and stories on it made me read Jhootha Sach by noted Hindi author Yashpal. It is a big and beautifully written book. However, I was intimidated by it, he says. Tamas aroused a vastly different emotion in him. Bhishamji had written Tamas nearly 30 years after the Partition. It was not an immediate emotional reaction to it. Through the stories of his characters, he showed how the tragedies of Partition were caused by very complex issues and agendas. How, when a community is manipulated in the name of religion, such tragedies take place. A small section of fanatics exists in every religion. They influence the common man's views with their loud propaganda and muscle power, apart from muzzling the moderate voices, says Nihalani. When Nihalani chanced upon Sahnis work, he had already made his directorial debut, Aakrosh (1980). In Tamas, he found the subject for his second feature film. This triggered his search for a producer. When he

HISTORY REPEATED A still from Tamas featuring Om Puri and Deepa Sahi
got the opportunity to meet the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the International Film Festival of India in 1981, he sought her help for his dream project. If there is a serious film on Partition, will the government support it? he had asked. Gandhis response was cautious. It all depends on the political situation at the time of the films making, she said. That was the first indication he had of the many stumbling blocks in the making and showing of Tamas. Lack of funds for a feature film made Nihalani choose the mini-series format on Doordarshan eight one-hour episodes. The subject was serious and I believed the regular half-an-hour episode would not do justice to the gravity of the story, he says. He had the go-ahead for the format, but no one was ready to invest in it. During an ad shoot, he met Lalit Bijlani producer of Shyam Benegal's Ankur, Nishant and Bhumika (for which Nihalani handled the camera) who showed interest in the subject. In three weeks, the script was ready and shooting started in 1986. Trouble brewed once the production was over and the date for its telecast January 3, 1988 was finalised. Three days before it went on air, a court issued a order against its telecast. It feared that the telecast could lead to law and order problems, and objected that it seemed to suggest the Partition violence started because of the Hindus. The courts direction came following the publication of an interview of Nihalani by Sudheendra Kulkarni in The Sunday Observer. The director filed a review petition and a bench comprising Justice Bakhtawar Lentin and Justice Sujata Manohar of the Bombay High Court watched the entire series at a preview theatre in Colaba on a television set in the same way the Indian viewers were going to do in two days. Both sides presented their case at the theatre and the verdict giving DD the goahead to air it was delivered on a Sunday afternoon at Justice Lentins Marine Lines residence. The show went on air the following day. Till it got over, Nihalani lived under police protection. Nearly 25 years after it was first aired, Tamas was re-telecast on History channel last fortnight. The issues that Tamas tackled have not gone away. In fact, it has become worse. Intolerance is 100 times higher. Manipulation on the basis of caste and religion has increased, says the director. His main concern, however, is the response of the contemporary audience. A new generation knows about Partition through history books. Here is something which is as close to that period as it could be. I am very curious to know how this audience responds to it, he says.
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The issues that Tamas tackled have not gone away. In fact, it has become worse. Intolerance is 100 times higher. Manipulation on the basis of caste and religion has increased, says Govind Nihalani
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SPOTLIGHT

FREE

Plants vsZombies 2 , iOS

This sequel to the smash-hit game, Plants vs Zombies, has tougher villains and better plants, including a boxing plant that does a lot of damage.The game is free-to-play, but has in-app purchase options for power-ups.The graphics are just as good as they were in the first game.

TECH

Arch Rival
Can the Sony Vaio P13 dethrone the MacBook Air?
BY PRANAY PARAB

Build & Design

Software

desktop mode is the classic look that has been around since Windows 95, but without the start button. Users can switch between these modes by hitting the Windows key. With an average trackpad and a touchscreen thats inconvenient for the desktop mode, the Vaio P13 seems like a device caught in tranThe first impression of the Vaio P13 is good. The edges of the laptop are sition between two input methods. The software does not permit a slightly curved, making it easy to hold and carry. At 1.06 kg, it is very, complete switch to touchscreen, while the hardware limits the user very light, and most users are unlikely to feel its weight in their backexperience in desktop mode. You will be better off buying a USB packs, even if they pack the charger. One neat feature is the addition of mouse along with the P13. a USB port to the charger itself. This ensures that you can charge your The touchscreen isnt as responsive as that of the iPad. Users may portable gadgets (smartphones, battery packs, find it difficult to execute the swipe-down gesture tablets, wireless headsets, etc.) without occupying which closes apps. Otherwise, the screen is the two USB ports on the laptop, which you can decent. Colour reproduction is nearly accurate With an average keep for pen drives, hard disks or a mouse. and high-resolution pictures, games and videos trackpad and a The build quality is excellent, apart from the look good. However, gamers will be disappointed touchscreen thats sharp corners which can result in uncomfortable as Shank 2, a one-year-old game with relatively jabs. The keyboard is good, with well-spaced keys modest system requirements, lagged on this inconvenient for and backlight (for typing in the dark). But there is machine. desktop mode, the no shortcut to turn off the backlight. For this, Vaio P13 seems like a users will have to open the hard-to-locate Vaio Control Center (swipe the screen from the right The Vaio P13 is an excellent machine if you need to device caught in edge, hit the search key, type Vaio control centravel with your laptop. Its also good for daily use transition between ter). The palm rest on the keyboard is longer than and should please most users. Sony claims that the two input methods usual, which is good for those with big hands. laptop can last 8.5 hours on a single charge (16 hours with an additional battery sold separately), but during tests, the Vaio P13 ran for around six hours on moderate Microsofts Windows 8 is a polarising OS. On the one hand, it has the use. This involved playing a few light games, reading, browsing, beautiful start screen and refreshing user interface with smooth tranwatching videos, downloading pictures and social networking. Heavy sitions, but on the other hand, it has the desktop mode that has use (gaming) made it run out of charge in four hours. become difficult to use. For the uninitiated, the start screen is a beauOverall, the Vaio P13 gives the MacBook Air a tough fight. tiful grid comprising tiles for each app. Some of these tiles are live, For Rs 74,990, it is worth it for the touchscreen and display, and if you which show you information as and when it is updated (weather, need Windows . If battery life and the trackpad are your primary Facebook and Twitter notifications) without opening the app. The needs, get the MacBook Air instead.

HREE KEY moments in the short history of computers happened in the last six years. In chronological order, these were: iPhone, MacBook Air and iPad. Apple launched these game-changing devices in three years (2007-10). Today, similar machines are everywhere. No write-up on ultrabooks is complete without mentioning MacBook Air. After its launch in 2008, Intel released specifications for ultrabooks (thin, light Windows laptops) and most major manufacturers began designing them. The latest MacBook Air promises 12 hours of battery life, thanks to Intels fourth-generation Core series processors. Since Windows ultrabooks also use the same processor, what do they offer that the MacBook does not? Sony answers that question with Vaio P13, which is lighter than the MacBook Air, and has a touchscreen too.

Performance

AUGUST 25-31, 2013

23

mind games
CROSSWORD
Even at the games highest level, finesse remains a favourite tool. In the problem posed to you last week, declarer considered himself unlucky that all the three finesses were not working. But a bit deeper thought would have pointed out the futility of trying out many finesses. Let us recap the problem: Dlr: South; Vul: None WEST : Q 9 2 : K J 3
: A 10 8 : 9 8 7 3

1918

NORTH : 8 7 6 : 8 6 : 5 4 3 2 : K Q J 5 SOUTH : A KJ : A Q 9 : K 7 : A 10 6 4 2

EAST : 10 5 4 3 : 10 7 5 4 2 : Q J 9 6 : None

NORTH : 8 7 6 : 8 6 : 5 4 3 2 : K Q J 5 SOUTH : A KJ : A Q 9 : K 7 : A 10 6 4 2

Another declarer showed that luck had nothing to do with it. She cashed four clubs ending in a dummy and led a heart to the nine. West could win but then had to concede the ninth trick to her whatever he returned. Your problem for the week is on defence. Dlr: East; Vul: None

A simple auction saw South open 2NT and North raise to 3NT. How would you play to make nine tricks on a club lead? With eight tricks on top, it does not look too difficult to make the ninth. Your diamond King is badly exposed, so you do not want to let East in to lead through it, but luckily you can take every finesse into Wests hand. In Mexican team trials, one declarer did just that. She won the club in dummy and tried the spade finesse. When that lost, she won the second club in dummy and tried the heart finesse. When that lost, she won the third club in dummy and staked all on leading up to the diamond King. No doubt she thought himself desperately unlucky to go down.

WEST : K : 9 8 5 2
: A 10 9 6 4 2 : 10 5

NORTH : J 6 : Q 6 3 : K Q J 7 3 : J 4 2

QUICK CLUES ACROSS 1. What you feel after you have been badly bashed up? (5,3,5) 8. Comprehend, become aware of (7) 9. ___ nerve: large nerve from pelvis to thigh? (7) 11. Not in large number; sparsely (6) 13. Publican or restaurateur? (8) 15. __ __ ruins: be overthrown or fallen? (3,2) 16. Puts on ones clothes (7) 18. Fidgety and impatient with delay (7) 19. Ars gratia ___ (5) 21. Botanical microorganisms (8) 23. Roman official (6) 25. Odd, peculiar (7) 26. Arthur Haileys The _____ (7) 28. Not many know about this gettogether a tryst (6,7) DOWN 2. Ridiculous pretence (7) 3. Center or gram lead-in (3) 4. A smart ___: a would-be smart person (4) 5. Found out, unearthed or invented? (10) 6. A miss is as good as _ ___ (1,4) 7. Foolish persons, dullards (7) 8. Theyre made on New Year (11) 10. Watchful, attentive to everything (11) 12. Marine containers (5) 14. Careful consideration (10) 17. Part of the cask (5) 18. ____ Bank of India: RBI in short? (7) 20. Three-pointed hat (7) 22. Possessor or proprietor (5) 24. Cook by dry heat, especially in an oven (4) 27. Decay, moulder (3) CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS 1. Sarah Dight ate out right in front (8,5) 8. Hed crow about a thick soup (7) 9. The undoing of Aunty, not needing a gin cocktail (7) 11. Deprived youngster taken from a pub in a North African town (6)

13. Point to tortoises competitor holding a cigarette, in the dock (8) 15. Impudent, pointed and very different (5) 16. Threatens to give people good service! (7) 18. Bird seen in Lagos lingering in pain (7) 19. He will probably braze the wrong pieces, like an ass line it up (5) 21. Bursting out into pure chaos (8) 23. Most private jiffy during pest-free jiffy (6) 25. Isolate city district in riotous duels (7) 26. Blood-sucker displays wrath against a politician first (7) 28. Mention artist receiving instructions from bank (5,2,6) DOWN 2. He swears hes a soldier (7) 3. Also article 500 used (3) 4. That may make you sick and have an addition in Europe (4) 5. Large-billed bird swallows fishtail and dog, becoming uncertain as a result (5-3-2) 6. Surely, he is a heart-breaking person (5) 7. Bit of Islam in Ankara turned up creatures (7) 8. They may add sparkle to a visit to the tower (5,6) 10. Novel enlargement of Buchan story (11) 12. Bay wrecked ship in its bottomless depth (5) 14. Most powerful top men into mergers (10) 17. Deceive member of family with speech (5) 18. Turn at university and long for body colour (7) 20. An element of my brother it might seem (7) 22. The colour of a letter from Greece with purple edges (5) 24. Nothing on telerecording for poet (4) 27. Old-time birds thus responsible for Manooras beginning, middle and end (3)

Contract: 4 Spades Opening lead: Ten of clubs

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD
QUICK CLUES ACROSS 1 Chronometers 8 Apex 9 Centennial 10 Bated 11 Oman 12 Cages 14 Sheep 15 Eradication 20 Engendering 21 Caves 23 Baker 25 Heat 26 Based 28 Easy way out 29 Be it 30 Streets ahead DOWN 1 Cyclones 2 Runs away 3 Need 4 Mensa 5 Tragedian 6 Sanath 7 Deleted 13 Files 14 Sneer 16 Aggravate 17 Tiresome 18 Agitated 19 Parades 22 Erects 24 Egypt 27 Baba CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS 1 Cool customer 8 Inca 9 Skinflints 10 Mop up 11 Ship 12 Brand 14 Strum 15 Finger-print 20 Killer whale 21 Jolly 23 Juicy 25 Here 26 Quack 28 Mine-laying 29 Eats 30 Trend setters DOWN 1 Casts off 2 Opinions 3 Cuff 4 Shier 5 Ostensive 6 Rig-out 7 Scrub up 13 Peaky 14 Stows 16 Pollution 17 Date line 18 Revenges 19 Modular 22 Locust 24 Cress 27 Bait

1917

24

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AUGUST 25-31, 2013

in the stars
aries
MAR 21 - APR 20

BY

PETER VIDAL
taurus
APR 21 - MAY 21

gemini
MAY 22 - JUNE 21

BIRTHDAYS
AUGUST 25
Having good ideas doesnt give you the excuse to impose your opinions on others. The secret of success is to be confident in the knowledge that you have the future worked out. The more you believe in yourself, the more others should believe in you, too.

Your stars are moving this way and that in quite a chaotic manner. One planetary picture indicates that this is a fine time for socialising, another that you will be keeping your feelings close to your chest. The result could be an enigmatic impression that bemuses rivals and attracts friends and partners. Who could ask for more?

Whatever your ambitions, this is an auspicious moment. Your professional stars are strong, which could mean that youll be doing superbly well at work. In the broader sense, however, the most important part of your life will consist of those leisure activities and hobbies which attract extra attention and boost your reputation.

Its a great time for variety. While some of you will be sorting out legal questions, others could be pressing ahead with educational matters or embarking on an adventure or gloating over travel plans. Even family proposals could take you to the corners of the globe, although maybe only in your imagination!

AUGUST 26
Youll be struggling to understand what friends really mean but before you get too muddled, consider one thing they might just mean what they say. Stop looking beneath the surface and concentrate on improving your lot and learn a new skill.

cancer
JUNE 22 - JULY 23

leo
JULY 24 - AUG 23

virgo
AUG 24 - SEPT 23

Youre good at understanding long-term patterns, but sometimes even you get confused. However, while the details seem to defy description, you must have faith that your inner understanding of life is as strong as ever. You may possibly embark on a spiritual quest, searching for deeper meaning to age-old questions.

Money matters are climbing to the top of your celestial agenda. Youre entering an extravagant phase, one which might go on through the coming month. Intimate relationships are also set to become more passionate, so watch out! Take care if a partner makes grand financial promises and call in the experts.

All endings are followed by new beginnings. Youre entering a new cycle in relationships, one when you would be advised to turn the other cheek as often as is necessary. Your only thought should be of longterm happiness, not of shortterm gratification. At work, job satisfaction comes first, financial rewards second.

AUGUST 27
This is an uncertain period, although you must realise that difficult circumstances are now largely in the past. Concentrate on making life more comfortable. You deserve it. And keep in mind that positive thoughts attracts welcome opportunities.

AUGUST 28
The Sun kicks off a fresh phase in your personal affairs. Super social stars are spurred by Venus delicate transits, yet a friend may have something rather awkward to say late in the week. At work, unfinished business from the past will return.

libra
SEPT 24 - OCT 23

scorpio
OCT 24 - NOV 22

sagittarius
NOV 23 - DEC 22

Energetic stars are moving through vital areas of your horoscope. The personal cycle youre entering now is bound to be progressively more busy, and, even at leisure, you will remain active. In love, it now looks certain that you will have to dance to a partners tune. Why not relax and let them take responsibility?

Your stars are urging you to slow down. Its a fine time for stay-at-home activities and family arrangements, thanks to a small group of harmonious planetary aspects. Whatever the difficulties which come up at home, youll face them all with your usual skill. Start planning a future professional move as soon as possible.

Domestic affairs become more important with suggestions that you must become more assertive and decisive. You should make every attempt to consult close partners and relations, drawing them into a muchneeded dialogue. A cash crisis will work out in your favour. All you have to do is stick to the facts and hold your nerve.

AUGUST 29
You could be one of societys movers and shakers over the coming year. Even if youre working behind the scenes or keeping yourself to yourself, your thoughts, dreams and actions could still have an effect way beyond your immediate circle.

AUGUST 30
Prepare your long-range goals by all means, but spare a thought for short-term pressures. There seems to be a great deal to be said for sorting out a possible financial mess. It is still not too late to change your mind, even though a partner might need a lot of persuading!

capricorn
DEC 23 - JAN 20

aquarius
JAN 21 - FEB 19

pisces
FEB 20 - MAR 20

Your planets are urging you to take care. There is much to be gained from a few judicious purchases or investments. Of course, its naturally a good time for picking up bargains, but there could be long-term implications arising from current developments. The main trend at home has you contemplating a long overdue move.
AUGUST 25-31, 2013

The Moon is exerting its deeply emotional influence over your sign, and it is bound to give you the advantage. The only question is whether you can genuinely make all the necessary financial arrangements. In love, pursue unusual contacts, and when you are going out, choose colourful modes of entertainment.

Important planets are entering intensely private places in your horoscope. Your secretive, independent, unusual celestial alignments could have a classic Piscean twist, enabling you to get the best out of life by having your cake and eating it too. All that is required is a much thicker skin and a big dose of extra self-confidence.

AUGUST 31
The emotional Moon is a relaxing factor in your chart, but you should guard against complacency over the coming year. The only concern is that you may be tempted to overlook fundamental details, especially at work.

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25

down in jungleland How to Raise Your Child

Ranjit Lal
eye@expressindia.com

Or the battle of the nidiculous and the nidifugous

THINKSTOCK

ABIES of all kinds come in two main models: nidiculous or nidifugous. The first kind, which includes ourselves, other mostly large mammals, and birds, needs pampering, TLC and a 24X7 a la carte service run by the parents for a hell of a long time. Such babies are helpless and pretty hopeless, often ugly and hairless; in fact when I Googled nidiculous young I got a million entries for ridiculous young. Which pretty much says it all. The parents of such baby birds, for example, have to fly a million sorties a day with oozy caterpillars in their beaks to fill the bottomless pits that are their chicks. Lion and tiger cubs stay with their parents for years, as do the young of chimps. As for us, well, well come to that soon. Some birds, many reptiles and BORN WISE Fawns are nifty and alert nearly all the insects tackle parenting very differently. They sing, dance, seduce, mate, lay their eggs and let their babies take care of themers, and some are making determined bids to become nidifugous. In selves. Several are even worse: Some spider mummies, after eating some countries of the advanced, developed world for instance, up spider daddies, will zealously guard their nests and when the babies are expected to choose their colour-coordinated diapers and babies arrive start on them. Some of the little ones literally have to bibs and have a say in the maintenance of their hedge-fund portfoparachute out of their homes to get away alive. Little wonder then lios by the time they are six months old. The parental mantra there that they are nidifugous, leaving the nest soon after is: theyve got to be independent, which can also birth. translate to get them out of my hair asap, so I can But for many species there is a point to this DIY have a ball. Of course, what little conscience parenting. If youve just laid 1,045 eggs, or even just remains will occasionally prick, so every conversa45, and are expected to spoon-feed every brat that tion is riddled with interjections of I love you, just screams its head off, 50 times a day youre headin case the kid turns around on its fourth birthday ing for a heart attack. So these babies are little and screams, Who are you? Get out of here you old know-it-alls from the moment they hatch. Duckbat, its my life! lings hatched (several duckies may lay in one nest) In societies such as ours, its the reverse. in the bole of a tree will blithely leap out with flutPaunchy men of 50 still expect to have their feeds tering wings and plonk down on the pond just lovingly prepared by their mamas or wives, before beneath and start swimming and gobbling insects going off to work every morning. Here, nidiculous is with great lan. Mama duck or goose is not a comtruly ridiculous. But there is hope. Indian girls are pletely negligent parent; if the shadow of a raptor now determinedly trying to become nidifugous passes overhead, all the little ones will cluster under they want to drive space shuttles, climb Everest her for protection. Some larger species of mammals, blindfolded and backwards, become CEOs and such as the deer, too spawn youngs who are born prime ministers, by the time theyre 14. This makes pretty nifty on their feet. Theyll stagger around for 15 minutes, get many less-equipped Lotharios and toothless bigots in culottes, foam the hang of coordinating four legs and then be bounding about at the mouth and reach for the acid. But they should be wary and the everywhere as though the world was their trampoline. They know girls can take heart. theres nothing better on a lions menu than a tender fawn from the Remember Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, the moment they are born. Rani of Jhansi, and Joan of Arc? And, most of all Madame Defarge? Well what about us? Nidiculous, you will say. Well, ridiculous Ranjit Lal is an author, environmentalist and bird watcher. In this column, he certainly: we cant drive or give a friend TLC till were 18, or buy a reflects on the eccentricities and absurdities of nature beer until were 25. But some societies are more nidiculous than oth-

In societies such as ours, paunchy men of 50 still expect to have their feeds lovingly prepared by their mamas or wives every morning. Here, nidiculous is truly ridiculous

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AUGUST 25-31, 2013