B

ody languago" is a torm that is rooklossly ovor-usod by

tho modia whon it sooks to imposo a oonolusion
without too muoh supporting ovidonoo. At tho risk o boing
guilty o tho samo oonoo, would liko to suggost that tho
"body languago" o tho Aam Aadmi Party loadors and
supportors last Friday ovoning suggostod a monumontal
sonso o rolio. t is doubtul whothor too many pooplo will
oontost this assossmont. Evor sinoo ho was sworn in at a
Stato-undod politioal rally in Pamlila Maidan somo 48 or
49 days ago, Arvind Ko|riwal had boon looking or tho
most dramatio oxit routo-ono that would yiold him tho
maximum politioal advantago.
Govornanoo was novor a priority or Ko|riwal whon ho
assumod tho Chio Ministorship, thanks to an in|udioious
Congross diktat rom tho baoholor boy. Ho moroly wantod
to milk a brio tonuro or all its grandstanding potontial and
thon movo on to nowor pasturos.
Judgod by tho standards ho sot or himsol, Ko|riwal
has boon moro suooossul than ho initially oaloulatod.
First, ho has managod to soouro all-ndia rooognition and
ovon a moasuro o goodwill rom tho 48-day oxporimont
thanks in no small moasuro to tho oxygon o publioity
providod by tho modia. n a oountry whoro popularising
tho olootion symbol is a hugoly ohallonging pro|oot, tho
AAP has aohiovod in throo months what othors tako yoars
to manago. Today, AAP is a national roality, ovon i it takos
longor or tho brand rooognition to translato into aotivo
olootoral ondorsomont.
Equally, Ko|riwal's grandstanding was ooussod. Ho
oaroully targotod tho AAP's supportors in tho pooror
sootions o Dolhi and gavo thom tho hopo that ho was
bost suitod to tako on
"vostod intorosts" and
"monoy bags" who had
oapturod tho Congross and
BJP. Tho FP against
Mukosh Ambani may not
got too ar but its intontion
was puroly symbolio: To
impross upon tho
disadvantagod that only
AAP had tho guts to tako on
tho high and mighty.
Truo, this grandstanding
and ovor-rolianoo on
symbolism may havo
oxasporatod a sootion o
tho middlo olassos who
woro gulliblo onough to voto
or a supposod vision o
"altornativo politios". But Ko|riwal appoars to havo
oaloulatod that it is moro rowarding to loso tho middlo olass
voto and gain additional support o tho pooror oitizons. n
orating a voto bank o tho urban poor in Dolhi with
soomingly radioal politios, Ko|riwal appoars to havo
suoooodod whoro tho Communists ailod or 60 yoars.
Last wook, spoko to a prominont CP(M) loador and
ho rankly admittod that AAP has suooossully dooimatod
tho party in its pookots o inluonoo outsido Wost Bongal,
Korala, Tripura and Tamil Nadu. Tho Comrados who had
boon struggling or long without making any broakthrough
havo, it would soom, dosortod tho rod lag or tho |haru
booauso it promisos moro immodiato roturns. Tho samo is
tho oaso with tho BSP support in urban pookots o North
ndia. Tho groatost losor, howovor, is undoubtodly tho
Congross. All opinion polls suggost that AAP has hit tho
Congross tho hardost, dopriving it o tho potontial o taking
on tho BJP in a triangular oontost. n a situation whoro tho
Congross is staring at oortain dooat in tho gonoral
olootion, AAP oors tho domoralisod Congross votors a
glimmor o hopo. n Statos suoh as Himaohal Pradosh,
Haryana and Gu|arat, whoro AAP has had a limitod
impaot, tho oonsoquonoos aro likoly to bo olt by tho
Congross. Tho unintondod oonsoquonoo is that tho AAP
olootoral intorvontion will onsuro a oloan BJP swoop. Tho
oxtont to whioh tho AAP ooot will bo olt in tho gonoral
olootion will, o oourso, dopond almost ontiroly on tho
modia. Moro than any othor party, AAP is disproportion-
atoly dopondant on tho modia or produoing a multiplior
ooot. This may oxplain tho party's intonso angor at tho
modia whon, ator tho vigilantism against tho Arioan
rosidonts o Khirki villago, tho oovorago turnod moro
oritioal. ntomporato AAP spokosporsons showod a
moasuro o asoist intoloranoo, that inoludod viliioation o
all thoso in tho modia who darod to bo oritioal o it.
Tho AAP will bo hoping that this will ohango now that it
is no longor answorablo or tho administration o Dolhi.
Cortainly on Friday night, tho olosot supportors o AAP
woro |ubilant and woro lattoring tho smooth-talking
Yogondra Yadav into thinking that tho |ump rom Dolhi
Soorotariat to tho South Blook would bo logioal. With tho
Congross domonstrating an astonishing inoptitudo in
oonronting tho ormidablo Narondra Modi ohallongo, tho
only hopo o thoso throatonod by imminont marginalisation
sooms to bo AAP. Tho modia is muoh moro dividod today
than it was 49 days ago whon it was roady to ombraoo
Ko|riwal as tho now mossiah. Howovor, thoro is onough
AAP inluonoo in tho modia to givo tho party and its ovor-
oxuborant supportors a log up.
Ko|riwal abandonod his mission to out wator ratos and
olootrioity ratos in Dolhi booauso ho saw tho oity-Stato as
a moro launohing pad or his national ambitions. Thoso
ambitions will now oomo into ull play and thoro is no
quostion that AAP will booomo an altornativo point o
attraotion or disgruntlod Congross, BSP and Communist
votors in North ndia, partioularly in tho National Capital
Pogion. ts appoal will bo basod on two aotors. First, it will
always bo a party o protost and disruption. Thoso thomos
will rosonato among a sootion o tho urban poor,
partioularly that sootion whioh is insuioiontly rootod in a
now onvironmont. Sooond, it will invoko oar-a thomo that
will appoal to disoriontod liborals (too small a numbor to
oount olootorally) and to thoso Muslims who no longor
havo aith in tho Congross' ability to stop Modi. Whoro
AAP will bo most vulnorablo will bo its inability to movo
rom protost to ohango. Exprossod ovor-simplistioally, tho
ooming ight oould bo ono botwoon angor and aspiration.
My voto is unoquivooally or tho lattor.
Ko|riwal had boon
soouting oxit routo
USUALACA>31BA
SwAFAh 0AS0uFTA
Arvind Kejriwal
abandoned his
mission to cut
water and power
rates in Delhi
because he saw
the city-State as a
mere launching
pad for his national
ambitions. These
ambitions will now
come into full play
Fh8 Q hY0ERABA0
A
fter having been suspend-
ed from Parliament for
breaking the glass and micro-
phone on the table of the
Secretary General of the Lok
Sabha in his bid to prevent the
tabling of the contentious
Telangana Bill in the Lower
House, Telugu Desam Party
MP M Venugopal Reddy
has come up with yet
another shocker a demand
for making Seemandhra a sep-
arate country.
The TDP MP from
Narsaraopet Lok Sabha con-
stituency said that if justice was
not done to his region, then a
25-member Parliament
should be constituted for
Seemandhra and that they
would prefer a separation
from India.
If this Parliament cannot
give us justice, then form a 25-
member Parliament in
Seemandhra region. Like
Bangladesh and Pakistan, we
will also go out, he said.
TDPs deputy floor leader
in the Andhra Pradesh
Assembly Gali Muddu
Krishnamma Naidu also voiced
the separatist demand. Talking
to reporters in Hyderabad on
Saturday, he said, If there is no
respect for the views of
Seemandhra people, then it is
better to get out of the country,
he said, adding the President
approving a Bill rejected by
the Andhra Pradesh Assembly
was shameful.
For his part, Reddy was
also angry that the Seemandhra
members who were attacked
and beaten up in Parliament
were suspended. Describing
the suspension of the 16 MP as
undemocratic, he said, This is
an attempt to stifle the voice of
five crore people.
Continuing his diatribe
before the media in the Capital
on Friday, he said, The
Speaker should placate the
Seemandhra leaders by revok-
ing our suspension and
announcing that the Telangana
Bill was not introduced. We are
questioning the injustice meted
out to Seemandhra. If justice is
done to us, we will give
Telangana in a flower basket.
Otherwise, give us a separate
25-member Parliament we will
go out of this country.
Turn to Page 4
Related report on P5
k1E8h kMk Q hEw 0ELh
T
he Union Cabinet on
Saturday urged the
President of India to promul-
gate Presidents Rule in the
Capital by keeping the Delhi
Legislative Assembly under
suspended animation.
The Union Cabinets deci-
sion came on Lieutenant-
Governor Najeeb Jungs recom-
mendation of Presidents Rule.
The L-G has sent his report
on the political situation in
Delhi along with Arvind
Kejriwals resignation and the
Cabinets decision to President
Pranab Mukherjee through the
Ministry of Home Affairs.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal has
lashed out at the L-G for not
recommending dissolution of
the House as per the
Cabinets decision, alleging that
he was openly flouting the
decisions taken by a majority
Government.
I am questioning the logic
of his decision (of not recom-
mending dissolution of the
House). He (L-G) did not agree
with many of our decisions.
Our Cabinet took the decision
of holding this session outside
the House. He did not agree to
that. He was openly flouting the
Constitution and I dont know
why. This decision is com-
pletely wrong because any rec-
ommendation by an elected
Government is normally bind-
ing on the L-G, Kejriwal said.
Political experts say that
keeping the Assembly in sus-
pended animation will suit the
Congress as it would not like to
go for Assembly polls along
with Lok Sabha polls in May.
The Congress would like to see
the results of the Lok Sabha
elections and then decide the
future course of action vis--vis
Delhi Assembly polls.
The Congress fears that it
may face further erosion of its
support base if it gives in to
Kejriwals recommendation of
dissolution of the Assembly.
Congress leaders also want to
see how much of the BJPs
prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modis base can
Kejriwal dent in the Lok Sabha
polls, said political experts.
Meanwhile, senior BJP
leader Dr Harsh Vardhan on
Saturday indicated that the
party was not interested in
forming the Government.
There is no over-enthusiasm
about forming the Govern-
ment. Right now the ball is in
the L-Gs court. Let him decide.
We will happily accept any sit-
uation. We are also ready to go
to polls even if they take place
next week, he said.
Top sources said that in a
report to the President, the L-
G did not favour dissolution of
the Delhi Assembly as recom-
mended by the Council of
Ministers headed by Kejriwal.
Instead, the L-G recommend-
ed promulgation of Presidents
Rule in the Capital for a spec-
ified period, which is called
suspended animation. If the
period of suspended anima-
tion ends and no party comes
forward, the Capital will go in
for re-polling.
The L-Gs move keeps the
option open for any political
party or a combination of par-
ties to try and form a
Government in future.
Turn to Page 4
Related report on P3
k1E8h kMk Q hEw 0ELh
T
he AAP Governments
bonanza for 24,000 power
bill defaulters, who the party
claimed were part of its Bijli
Andolan, is not likely to be
materialised as the Kejriwal
Government had not made
any budgetary provision for it
before making a stage-man-
aged exit.
There is no provision for
the C6-crore power bill waiver
in the C372 crore subsidy that
the AAP Government ear-
marked for discoms to make up
for the loss due to 50 per cent
tariff reduction for those con-
suming up to 400 units of
power. The BJP and the
Congress have alleged that the
24,000 identified beneficiaries
are all AAP members and not
general public.
Officials of power depart-
ment say that the announce-
ment made by the Kejriwal
will be kept on hold after
his resignation.
Top sources told The
Pioneer that the Arvind
Kejriwal Government had not
made any provision in the
revised Budget to give relief to
24,000 identified power bill
defaulters who had participat-
ed in his Bijli Paani Andolan in
2012 in the national Capital.
Rewarding those who had
participated in the Bijli Paani
Andolan against the discoms
and refused to pay inflated
power bills, the Delhi Cabinet
headed by Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal had approved
Turn to Page 4
FTI Q hEw 0ELh
A
day after Arvind Kejriwals
resignation as Delhi Chief
Minister, the AAP on Saturday
announced that it would
launch its nationwide cam-
paign for the forthcoming Lok
Sabha polls from February 23
with a rally at Rohtak in
Haryana. Speaking to reporters
after the political affairs com-
mittee (PAC) meeting, party
leader Yogendra Yadav said,
The rally will be addressed by
partys national convener
Arvind Kejriwal. After
Haryana, the party will hold its
second rally at Kanpur in Uttar
Pradesh on March 2.
Both these rallies will
launch Aam Aadmi Partys
national campaign, Yadav said.
The party also announced to
kick-start its nationwide anti-
corruption campaign Jhadu
Chalao Yatra from Saturday.
In 332 Lok Sabha seats of
24 States, around 2,500 yatras,
starting from today, will be
organised in the next ten days.
We will expose the Congress
and the BJP for defending cor-
rupt persons during this cam-
paign. Besides, party will also
make new members, party
leader Gopal Rai said.
Of the 2,627 yatras, the
party will undertake a chunk of
it, around 461, in Uttar Pradesh,
followed by 450 in Haryana and
over 300 in Maharashtra, 270 in
Bihar and 174 in Punjab. These
are the States where the party
aims to dent the Congress and
the BJP strongholds. AAP
leader Prashant Bhushan held
the BJP and the Congress
responsible for the fall of the
Arvind Kejriwal Government.
Turn to Page 4
k1E8h kMk Q hEw 0ELh
L
ending credence to the the-
ory that Arvind Kejriwal had
scripted his resignation well in
advance is the fact that the AAP
chief s aides had been burning
the midnight oil for the last few
days photocopying, scanning
and even video-recording doc-
uments related to key policy
decisions taken by the erstwhile
Sheila Dikshit Government.
Top Government sources
told The Pioneer that this had
been going on ever since the
controversy over the tabling of
the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill began.
This, sources said, was to ensure
they had all the weapons in their
armoury even after they exited.
On Saturday, Manish
Sisodia made it clear the files
were all documented and on
record as he urged the
Lieutenant-Governor to ensure
progress in the cases registered
by the AAP Government, relat-
ed to the CWG 2010 scam and
gas pricing.
Chief Minister Kejriwal
was holding all key portfolios
including Finance, General
Administrative Department
and Power while half-a-dozen
sensitive portfolios were
assigned to Manish Sisodia, a
close confidant of Kejriwal for
several years.
Significantly, Sisodia had a
chamber on the third floor of
Players Building where the
Additional Secretary used to sit
in the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit
regime. It transpires that
Kejriwal, Sisodia and AAP vol-
unteers were keeping a watch-
ful eye on the proceedings in
that part of the building.
We did it because we
feared that sensitive files relat-
ed to the CWG scam and other
scams would either be tam-
pered with or misplaced. We
kept an eye on proceedings so
no one could destroy or mis-
place the documents pertaining
to the scams. For the past few
days, AAP was working late in
the night to ensure all sensitive
documents of the previous
Government were either pho-
tocopied or scanned, said a
volunteer of AAP on condition
of anonymity.
Turn to Page 4
Fret 80Ie Im0se4, ssemhIy s0sea4e4
Act : AAP legins
're-lanneo` LS
election camaign
49J+] puW|
||ip |u|
|ill J|+ul||
Kejri aides photocopied Govt
papers to use against Cong
!niteo Anolra or sovereign
Seemanolra, cries Venugoal
Launcles ]laou
Clalao Yatra; Kejri
to aooress rally in
Roltal on !el 23
A+| A+J|i P+||] l+J| |+|i| SiuJi+, S+||+] Si||, up+l R+i +|J Yu|J|+
Y+J+1 +JJ| + P| u|||| i| |W l|i u| S+|u|J+] Pll
BJF won'l slake
claim, bul house
ul in susended
animalion
Detailed report on P5
The 4Oday
0overnmenl
had no
mind sace
or any o
lhese
(exanding drinking
waler conneclivily,
heallhcare acililies, new
schools and colleges,
laking 0elhi Melro lo lhe
nexl hase, more
lyovers and beller Fw0
roads) issues
kh 1kITIEY
f justice
is done to
us, we
will give
Telangana
in a
flower
basket.
Otherwise, give
us a separate
25-member
Parliament, we
will go out of
this country
Published From
DELH LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCH
RAPUR CHANDGARH
DEHRADUN
`Lale Cily VoI. 24 Issue 4G
`Air Surcharge Exlra i Alicable
EsIabIished 1B64
Rhl ho. 53400/91, RE00. ho. 0L C}05/1219/20122014
www.dailypioneer.com
hEW EIhI, 8hkY IE8kY 16, Z014; FkE8 1Z+B C4
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h0A TAKE 24GRuh
LEA0 h 2h0 TEST
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00vT FLAhS T0 LEASE 0uT CL
MhES, EXFE0TE C0AL SuFFLY
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@ThoDailyPionoor aoobook.oom/dailypionoor
F0II0W 0s 0a:
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014 films & tv 02
Director's Cut -Vasantkunj: Gunday: 10:40 am,
12:00 pm, 2:20 pm, 3:40 pm, 4:30 pm, 7:20 pm,
9:40 pm, 10:55 pm, Robocop (Uninterrupted):
10:00 am, 3:20 pm, 6:00 pm, 10:55 pm, Winter"S
Tale (Uninterrupted): 12:40 pm, 6:00 pm, 11:20
pm, Her (Uninterrupted): 1:45 pm, 8:40 pm,
Hasee Toh Phasee: 10:30 am, 7:50 pm
PVR Anupam - Saket: Gunday: 9:00 am, 10:00
am, 12:15 pm, 1:15 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:45
pm, 7:45 pm, 9:55 pm, 10:55 pm, 11:40 pm,
Robocop: 10:20 am, 3:40 pm, 6:20 pm, 11:35
pm, Winter"STale: 1:00 pm, 6:00 pm, Her: 12:15
pm, 9:00 pm, Hasee Toh Phasee: 9:15 am, 3:00
pm, 8:45 pm
PVR Select City Walk: Gunday: 10:00 am,
10:50 am, 1:15 pm, 2:05 pm, 4:30 pm, 5:20 pm,
7:45 pm, 8:35 pm, 10:55 pm, 11:45 pm,
Robocop: 10:00 am, 3:20 pm, 6:00 pm, 11:40
pm, Winter'STale: 12:40 pm, 9:00 pm, Her: 6:20
pm, 11:35 pm, (3d) The Lego Movie: 1:00 pm,
Hasee Toh Phasee: 10:00 am, 3:20 pm, 8:40 pm
PVR Priya: Gunday: 10:00 am, 1:15 pm, 4:30
pm, 7:45 pm, 10:55 pm
PVR Rivoli: Gunday: 10:00 am, 1:15 pm, 4:30
pm, 7:45 pm, 10:55 pm
PVR Plaza: Gunday: 10:00 am, 1:15 pm, 4:30
pm, 7:45 pm, 10:55 pm
PVR3C's: Gunday: 10:00 am, 1:15 pm, 4:30 pm,
7:45 pm, 10:55 pm
PVRNaraina: Gunday: 9:00 am, 9:45 am, 10:30
am, 12:15 pm, 1:00 pm, 1:45 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:15
pm, 5:00 pm, 6:45 pm, 7:30 pm, 8:15 pm, 9:55
pm, 10:45 pm, 11:30 pm, Robocop Hindi: 9:20
am, 3:00 pm, 5:40 pm, Robocop: 11:15 pm,
Hasee Toh Phasee: 12:00 pm, 8:20 pm
PVR Vikaspuri: Gunday: 9:00 am, 10:00 am,
12:15 pm, 1:15 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:45 pm,
7:45 pm, 9:55 pm, 10:55 pm, Robocop Hindi:
9:00 am, 2:40 pm, 10:55 pm, Robocop: 8:20 pm,
Hasee Toh Phasee: 11:40 am, 5:20 pm
PVR Prashant Vihar: Gunday: 9:00 am, 10:00
am, 12:15 pm, 1:15 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:45
pm, 7:45 pm, 9:55 pm, 10:55 pm, Robocop
Hindi: 9:00 am, 8:20 pm, 10:55 pm, Robocop:
2:40 pm, Hasee Toh Phasee: 11:40 am, 5:20 pm
PVRAmbience GoldClass - Gurgaon: Gunday:
10:45 am, 12:45 pm, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 7:15 pm,
10:30 pm, Robocop, 5:15 pm, Her: 8:00 pm,
Winter'S Tale: 10:45 pm
F80I8FM
Fl8 I008 0I
THEATRE
Chakkar Pe Chakkar a play written and
directed by Lucky Kataria by Virsa Art
Production at Akshara Theatre, 11-B, Baba
Kharak Singh Marg. Next to RML Hospital
exit no. 5, New Delhi. Tickets available for
C100, C150, C200 from 6:30 pm onwards
6080I
*Ia: 8aaveer 8Iah, rj0a
ka00r, FrIyaaka 0h0ra, Irrfaa
8ate4: 6/10
O
ne may want to ask director Ali
Abbas Zafar what is it that he
wants to convey through
Gunday. Is it about what Kolkata was
like in the 70s? Or is it about the coal
mafia and other illegal trades? Or is it
about how it is the system that creates
goons in society? Or is about the life of
two orphans who came to India when
Bangladesh was created in 1971? Or is
it just an amalgamation of all the above
to make a film that is intense and
gripping. Or is it about yeh dosti hum
nahin todenge, todenge dum magar...?
The latter probably fits the bill to the T.
While it is not the kind of movie
that one would like to see on a
Valentines Day weekend, it doesnt take
away the fact that it has all the
ingredients that make for an interesting
watch. It has action, it has emotion, it
has intensity, it has maar-dhaad the
traditional way using fists and our
heroes Ranveer Singh and Arjun
Kapoor coming out of it with barely
a scratch though covered in soot.
If this is not enough to keep one
entertained, there is PC in her sexy
F8
*Ia: 10ag0Ia Fh0eaIx, my
4ams, 800aey Mara, 0IIvIa
wII4e, 8carIett 10haass0a
8ate4: 6.5/10
I
n this Valentines week , it is but
natural for movies to be released
808000F
*Ia: 10eI kIaaamaa, 6ary
0I4maa, MIchaeI keat0a, 8am0eI
l. 1acks0a
8ate4: 5/10
H
ere comes another Robocop all
that machinery marinated in
human emotion and sensitivity, all that
talk about how machines are the only
way to save the world peacefully
and without casualty, all that talk
about the billion-dollar dreams of a
science corporation and its merciless
CEO, all that talk about a doctor who
can do wonders with dying or maimed
humans.
However, neither the robot nor the
maimed supercop inside it make much
of an impact in this latest one from the
RoboCop series. He is bombed out by
gangsters and his wife signs on the
dotted line of the CEO to save
whatever is left of him a part of his
brain, his lungs and heart and one
hand. What they do to this mass of
flesh and how they tamper with his
brains and emotions puts the film on
the right path but for the machine
buffs, there is too much human
element to this one.
A good one for those who seek a
balance between humanity and
machinery even though in the end its
the flesh and blood that takes the lead
over the brewing robot revolution.
||+||i R+u
Printed and pubIished by Chandan Mitra for and on behaIf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 2nd FIoor, Link House, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New DeIhi-110 002, and printed at Jagran Prakashan Ltd, D 210,211 Sector-63, Noida (U.P.). Editor: Chandan Mitra. AIR SURCHARGE of C 2.00 East: CaIcutta, North: Leh West: Mumbai & Ahmedabad
South: BangaIore & Chennai. CentraI : Khajuraho, DeIhi TeIephones: EPABX-40754100, 23755271-74, 9871234271. Lucknow Office: 4th FIoor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226 016. TeIephones: 0522-2346443, 2346444, 2346445.
Altlougl every ossille care ano caution las leen talen to avoio errors or omissions, tlis ullication is leing solo on tle conoition ano unoerstanoing tlat information given in tlis ullication is merely for reference ano must not le talen as laving autlority of or linoing in any way on tle writers, eoitors, ullislers, ano rinters ano sellers
wlo oo not owe any resonsilility for any oamage or loss to any erson, a urclaser of tlis ullication or not for tle result of any action talen on tle lasis of tlis worl. All oisutes are sulject to tle exclusive jurisoiction of cometent court ano forums in !elli/New !elli only.
F0a4ay WIth 60a4ay
avatar. Of late, that is all that this Single
in the City girl has been doing in the
movies look glamorous. One might
say that here, her role comes with a
twist.
The surprise element of Gunday is
the chemistry that Singh and Kapoor
share throughout. In some ways that is
the main stay of this film. Their good
performance only adds to the overall
effect of cinematography that is
awesome. Irrfan does his bit even if he
doesnt have much to do.
Overall, it is a movie that makes
for a must see even if it doesnt come
with the usual love tag.
S|+li|i S+||+
80w IIMF
'FIIF80F I8 kFI'
vJ Andy who has relaced
Manlhra as hosl o 8]SXPb
6^c CP[T]c, lalks aboul his
chemislry wilh Bharli and his
days in lhe Bigg Boss house
wilh SAh0EETA YA0Av
Qkny speriaI preparaIions Ior hosIing
your IirsI reaIiIy shoW?
Because o lhe live audience, 'm a bil
nervous bul will bring my brand o humour
and ashion lo lhe show.
QWiII you be 8harIi's nexI IargeI?
Bharli and are Funjabi and share a lol
o chemislry o and on slage. 0ur sense o
humour will be our uSF.
QWhose your IavouriIe hosI?
Salman Khan because he has greal
sense o liming and energy.
QYour roIe modeI?
My molher who laughl me lo be
osilive and slrong, my brolher who
encouraged me lo see lie dierenlly,
0eeika Fadukone as an aclress and Salman
or being like a brolher lo me.
QhoW did 8igg 8oss rhange IiIe?
can'l go shoing anymore as eole
now know me. 'm also gelling a lol o good
work oorlunilies.
QIesson IearnI Irom 8igg 8oss?
hever lake anylhing and anybody or
granled, and always be alienl.
RAPDFRE
!ifferent lino
of love story
A luman
roloco
based on love. It is an emotion that all
of us, at some point in time, have gone
through and go crazy and act in a
manner which some may question. But
in this day and age of the Internet,
when everything is possible, director-
producer Spike Jonze brings a story of
how one can fall in love with an
Operating System. Yes, you read that
right a love story where a man says
he loves his OS Samantha.
What makes Her, which has been
nominated as the Best Picture for
Oscars, so brilliant is the way in which
it has been dealt with. If one were to
just listen to the conversation that
Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix)
has with his OS, it would be difficult to
imagine that the person at the other
end is inanimate. Phoenix has given a
performance that has a mixture of fun
and touching element giving a twist to
a love story this digital era with its
heartaches and break-ups just like
in real life.
Though the first half tends to move
rather slowly, the second half moves in
a seductive and sentimental fashion.
Jonze has created magic on the 70 mm
screen with Her.
S|+li|i S+||+
I
t is a moonlit night. All is
peaceful and quiet when
Jalaal thinks that it is only
appropriate that he spend some
time with his first begum
Ruqaiya. He sends the baandi
to convey the message that she
meet him in gulab bagh. But he
has other things on his mind,
he cant stop thinking about
Jodha. Even though he knows
that Ruqaiya will be waiting for
him in the garden, it doesnt
stop Jalaal from heading
towards Jodhas hojra (tent)
where he finds her all decked
up. He picks a rose and puts it
into her plat. He then goes
down on his knees, opens up a
ring box and asks: Humare
seeney mein bhi dil hai... Hum
aapse mohabbat karte hain
Jodha begum. Blushing all
over and unable to meet Jalaals
eyes, Jodha shyly replies: Haan
shehenshah... Hamein bhi aapse
mohabbat hai. You are my
hero and an ideal husband. She
then ears the ring.
Cut to scene Ruqaiya is
walking eagerly towards the
bagh unaware that Jalaal,
mesmerised by Jodhas beauty
and innocence, is all set to
consummate their marriage
on this very special day.
But wait! Before one jumps
to the conclusion that this is a
sneak peek of the special
episode from Ekta Kapoors
Jodha Akbar in Valentines
week, think again. This is just
a screenplay shot that has been
playing over and over again in
RM Joshi, the dialogue writer
of Jodha Akbars mind. Joshi
has been working on the
dialogues for the situation, if
Jodha and Jalaal were to
celebrate Valentines Day.
Heer-Ranjha, Laila-Majnu,
Sheeri-Farhad or Jodha-Akbar
all these couples are the ideal
Valentines couples for me.
However, to weave in a special
day came to me much later. If I
were to modernise the story of
Jodha-Akbar by introducing
how the couple would spend
this special day, I would have
planned it as a week-long affair.
But for now the viewers will
have to wait for the suhaag raat.
Im sure that whenever it
happens it will be big. Every
other daily soap is running a
Valentines special episode, so it
would have been fun to see
Jodha and Jalaal celebrate theirs
too, Joshi says.
Fans on India Forum are
also talking about how the
two would finally have their
suhaag raat. If this is not
enough, there is a contest
inviting people to write about
how Jodha and Jalaal will
confess their love for each
other.
Another historical show
Buddha (ZEE TV) by BK
Modi, the love story of
Siddharth and Yashodhara,
could have taken a twist by
introducing a tte--tte.
Siddharth is always looking
for answers about life and why
there is misery all around. So,
on this Valentines Day, I would
have created a situation in
which Yashodhara tells
Siddharth: Tum saari duniya
ki chinta aur dukh-dard leke
baithe rehte ho. Un pareshanio
ka hal dhoondte ho. Apni iss
zindagi se sirf ek din nikaal lo
mere liye. Kabhi mere baare
mein bhi socha karo. Since
Yashodhara is in the final stage
of her pregnancy, Siddharth
could have pampered her. He
would have probably given her
a foot massage, since men are
very good at that. He would
have done her hair and made
her wear jewellery. With the
birth of the baby on Valentines
Day, the bond between the two
would have become stronger,
Gajra Kothari, writer of
Buddha, says.
He also tells you that the
love between the two was
eternal. It was Yashodharas
love and sacrifice for Siddharth
that she supported him
unconditionally on his journey
of enlightenment.
Even in mythological
shows like Devon Ke Dev
Mahadev (DKDM), Mahadev
and Parvati have a bond. Dr
Bodhisattva, research head of
DKDM, explains that in
Mahadevs story, Shivratri is the
Indian version of Valentines
Day which is celebrated on a
large scale by married couples
in India. Before the era of
Valentines Day, Shivratri was
considered as a special day as
Mahadev and Parvati got
married. Many couples even
today, consider this an
auspicious day to tie the knot,
Dr Bodhisattva says
For him the idea of
Mahadev and Parvati
celebrating a day like Shivratri
or Valentines Day would have
been very entertaining and
fun viewing. If Mahadev and
Parvati were to celebrate the
day, Parvati would have
prepared bhang for him and
gifted him him favourite food
bel patra. She would have
prepared dhatura which he
would have applied. Mahadev
would have then asked his
veragi mandali to dance and
party through the night, Dr
Bodhisattva tells you, adding
that Mahadev would have
performed a taandav or played
the damru for Parvati.
Since it is a special day,
Mahadev would have taken
Parvati for a long ride on
Nandi. He would have taken
her to Kashi, Nandanvan,
which is Lord Indras garden
and kalpvriksha, the wishing
tree. Mahadev would have
sat with Parvati under the tree
and said: Jo maangnaa ho
mang lo. Parvati would have
said: Tumhe paake maine
jahah paa liya, jameen aur
aasmaan paa liye, Dr
Bodhisattva says.
Well, heres hoping that
script writers take note for
next year February 14.
What if...
Almosl all soa, be il 0ubool hai or Ek Boond
shq or Jee Le Zara, showed how lhe lead coule
celebraled valenline's 0ay. So i 0hruv and
Saanchi in Jee Le Zara can coochiecoo on lheir
honeymoon why can'l viewers gel lo walch
sleamy scenes wilh JodhaAkbar and Mahadev
laking Farvali or a long ride on his handi or
even Siddharlh giving a ool massage lo a very
regnanl Yashodhara in Buddha?
SAh0EETA YA0Av brings you some 'whali'
silualions rom lhese eic romanlic shows
Some viewers
want to know how
Draupadi in
Mahabhart would
spend Valentine's
Day? Would her
husbands shower
her with jewellery
or would they let
Arjun, who won
her hand in
swayamvar, be
the only one to
romance her?
WIIEhE88 kY8
Th8 100
Wilderness Days
made a record last
Saturday when its 100th
episode was telecast on
Doordarshan National.
For the past 100 weeks, Wilderness Days
has been covering wildlife and
environmental issues in India. The show
is particularly popular among wildlife
enthusiasts and the youth.
A work of Raheja Productions, the
show is the brainchild of well-known
entrepreneur and wildlife expert Navin M
Raheja. Speaking on the occasion, Raheja
said it was his mission to spread the
message of wildlife and environmental
protection in India and Wilderness Days
is an offshoot of this holistic approach.
Raheja Productions documentaries have
been aired on DD, NGC and other
channels. Its crew are currently shooting
at wildlife locations with Tom Alter.
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
townhall 0S
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
W
ith imposition of
Presidents Rule in Delhi,
there is no likelihood of an
immediate re-election in the
national Capital. The existing
rules do not permit elections
for at least 12 months after the
Presidents Rule comes into
force in Delhi. For other States,
the timeframe is six months.
However, the current political
situation in the Capital is most
favourable to the Congress
which was reduced to rubble in
the December 4 Assembly
elections last year.
Sources said the Congress
would want the Assembly elec-
tions only after the Lok Sabha
polls so that the party could
plan its future course of action
after poll results at the Centre.
On the other hand, the
Opposition BJP and the Aam
Aadmi Party want early
elections in Delhi.
The AAP immediately
after stepping down from
Government on Friday rec-
ommended dissolution of the
Delhi Legislative Assembly
with the hope of re-elections.
Similarly, the BJP on Saturday
said it was also ready to face
elections at any given point of
ti me. The Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) leader Manish
Sisodia on Saturday reiterat-
ed t hei r demand for
dissolution of Delhi Assembly
and to conduct t he
election thereafter.
Legally the Lieutenant-
Governor is bound to accept
the Cabinet decision of the
AAP Government which was
holding the majority in the
House till the end of the session
since the House cleared the
other subsidy related Bills sine
die, he said.
Political experts said the
Congress party which is
ruling at the Centre would
never push for early elections
primarily to prevent the AAP
from gaining advantage of
the Jan Lokpal Bill that was
defeated in the Assembly and
led to fall of the Government.
The Congress cannot afford
to suffer further erosion in its
votebank in Delhi. Any delay
in re-elections will only ben-
efit the Congress. Imposition
of Presidents Rule in Delhi
will provide a favourable
atmosphere to the party,
sources said.
Notably, the AAP has
already put the blame on the
BJP and the Congress for
defeat of the Jan Lokpal Bill
and also accused the two par-
ties of being hand-in-glove.
On the other hand, the BJP
would also be keen on fresh
elections preferably along side
the Lok Sabha elections so as
to gain maximum benefit from
the Modi wave. The BJP was
i mmensely benef ited by
Modis rallies in the Assembly
polls and the party hopes to
repeat the magic.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
F
our minor girls escaped
from the child protection
home in West Delhis Hari
Nagar area on Friday evening.
The girls are between the age
group of 10-12 years.
According to the police four
girls from the protection home
escaped around 8 pm on Friday.
The girls knew the surround-
ing well and took the route to
escape which did not have any
CCTV footage. The incident
took place between 8-9 pm, said
a police official. We had earlier
also requested the authorities to
install CCTV cameras in the
whole area and this would be
done in the near future.
A case of abduction has
been registered at Hari Nagar
police station. Five teams have
been constituted to hunt down
the girls.
8TkII EFTE Q
hEw 0ELh
U
nder f i re over t he
repeated attacks in the
city on people from the
North-East, Delhi Police on
Saturday announced a slew
of steps, including setting
up of a new unit and a
helpline number to address
any grievance faced by
them. We have decided to
start a helpline for those
hailing from the North-
East and this number will
be 1093, there will be five
lines of this number in the
control room, said Delhi
Pol i ce Commi ssi oner
BS Bassi.
Bassi said that these
measures were taken as,
after the unfortunate inci-
dent in which Nido Tania
died, there was a sense of
concern in everybodys
heart. The Delhi High
Court had also directed
police in this regard. Apart
from this we have also con-
stituted a Special Cell to
address policing issues, this
cel l wi l l operate f rom
Nanakpura and an official
of the rank of Deputy
Commissioner of Police will
supervise it, he said.
Senior police official
Kime Kaming who hails
from the North-Eastern
part of the country and is
current l y DCP fourt h
battalion will supervise the
new unit. He wi l l be
working under the close
super vi si on of Joi nt
Commissioner Robin Hibu,
who i s our Chi ef
Coordi nator, t he
Commissioner said. Earlier
Delhi police had 7 nodal
officers to address the issues
of people hailing from
Northeastern part of the
country. Now it has been
decided that all district
DCPs will be nodal officers
who will maintain close
cont act s wit h vari ous
North-Eastern groups and
associations and also deal
with issues which may crop
up with any individual.
Police has also identi-
fied certain pockets like
Munirka parts of Dwarka
where peopl e f rom
Northeast mostly reside.
Bassi said that special pre-
ventive policing will be
ensured in these areas from
now on. He also informed
that on similar lines, a spe-
cial cell and a helpline num-
ber has also been set up for
foreign nationals. For for-
eign nationals, the chief
coordinator of this cell will
be Joint Commissioner of
Police Mukesh Meena. 1098
and cell phone number
08750871111 where
any foreigner who has any
grievance can contact these
numbers. Any policing issue
pertaining to foreigners can
be redressed here, he said.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
A
26-year-old married
woman working in a
multinational company in
Noida was hacked to death here
while she was visiting her rel-
atives, police said on Saturday.
Simranjeet Kaur was
returning home when a man
attacked her with a meat
cleaver near Karol Bagh Metro
station on Friday evening at
7.35 pm, a police officer said.
She was coming to give us
all a surprise as my son had
recently become a proud dad to
a baby girl. Her mother was
also at our residence when the
tragedy occurred. The last call
on her mobile phone was to her
husband, said uncle Prabhjot
Singh. The family members
also claimed she was not
pregnant.
After attacking her, the
assailant fled from the scene
leaving behind the weapon, the
officer added. Kaur was taken
to a nearby hospital where she
was pronounced dead on
arrival. She received two deep
wounds to her chest and shoul-
der. Police said the man and an
alleged accomplice on a scoot-
er have been identified on the
basis of a CCTV footage
installed near the Metro station.
Simranjeet resided in
Nanakpura area with her hus-
band who also works in Noida.
She was married for the last
two years. She passed out from
Khalsa College and finished her
MBA from Amity University.
Her family members revealed
she had never complained of
anyone stalking her. The
family members and relatives
have left for Jalandhar for the
cremation and police will
question them once they are
back in the Capital.
The motive behind the
murder was not yet clear but we
are investigating the case from
all possible angles, Joint
Commissioner of Police
Sandeep Goel said.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
T
he Delhi Pradesh Congress
Committee (DPCC) on Saturday
said the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi
Government not only misguided and
misled the people in the matter of giving
power and water subsidy but its decision
to provide subsidy in power and water up
to March, had proved the Government
had totally failed to honour the promis-
es made to the people. The Congress
Party reiterated its stand that it was ready
to extend unstinted support to Arvind
Kejriwals AAP Government to pass the
Lokpal Bill provided it was brought in a
constitutional manner, as the Congress
Party had given it in writing to Kejriwal
that it was ready to go to the Centre to
plead for a very strong Jan Lokpal Bill and
extend its support.
The DPCC President Arvinder
Singh Lovely, in a Press conference,
made it clear that during the Delhi
Assembly session on Friday, the
Congress only backed the Lt Governors
message to the Speaker regarding the Jan
Lokpal Bill but it did not oppose the
Lokpal Bill. In the name of the Jan
Lokpal Bill, he was pushing his own
political agenda. His intention was
never to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed,
said the DPCC president. Another
Congress leader Haroon Yusuf said the
Congress not only gave its full support
for the passage of a Bill in the Assembly
to give C372 crore subsidy to the power
companies, but only reassured the
Congress Partys support to the AAP
Government. He alleged that the
Kejriwal Government had promised 4.5
lakh temporary employees would be
regularised within a month, but he took
no step to fulfil this promise. The AAP
betrayed these temporary employees
since the February 12 deadline had
passed. The Government was also
scared of the agitation by the temporary
employees and that was also a reason for
Kejriwals resignation, said Yusuf.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
A
day after the AAP Government
stepped down in Delhi, the BJP on
Saturday said it was ready to face fresh
elections while the party hinted its reluc-
tance to form Government. The BJP
leader Dr Harsh Vardhan said the
Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi has to
take a call on the current political sit-
uation. There is no over-enthusiasm
about forming the Government. Right
now the ball is in the Lieutenant-
Governors court. Let him decide. We
will happily accept any situation. We are
also ready to go to polls even if they take
place next week, Vardhan said.
Specifically asked whether the BJP
would accept an invitation by the
Lieutenant-Governor to form the
Government, Vardhan said senior lead-
ers of the party would take a call if such
a situation arose. We will discuss the
matter with senior leaders, he said,
adding there was no pressure from party
MLAs about forming the Government.
He also denied the possibility of form-
ing a Government with support from
the AAP dissidents saying Delhis gov-
ernance could not be taken lightly. As
to whether the party was in favour of dis-
solving the House, he said, Collectively,
we are in a situation where no one wants
to go to elections within three months.
The BJP leaders also hit out at
Kejriwal saying the AAP leader now
aspires to become the Prime Minister
and was fooling the people. He accused
the AAP of playing into the hands of
the Congress and foreign elements with
the sole objective of preventing
Narendra Modi from coming to power
in the Parliamentary polls.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which
emerged as the single largest party by
winning 31 seats in Assembly elections,
held a meeting on Saturday to discuss
the partys future course of action. State
unit president Vijay Goel said that the
party would launch an agitation at
Jantar Mantar on February 18 to
expose the AAP. This (resignation)
was scripted and planned, Goel said.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
F
ormer Delhi Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit on Saturday
said Arvind Kejriwal had no
option but to resign after losing
majority on the floor of the
Assembly and it was not a mat-
ter of choice for the Aam Aadmi
Party leader who believes in
talking action and not action.
His (Kejriwal) Government
lost majority on the floor of the
House, it is not a matter (of
choice), so he quit, the 75-year-
old Congress leader told PTI in
an interview. She also took a dig
at Kejriwal saying the AAP leader
had to (quit) because he had said
he was not going to rule by the
law. She was responding to a
query on Kejriwals decision to
step down after he was prevent-
ed from tabling his dream Jan
Lokpal Bill in the Assembly yes-
terday in the face of stiff opposi-
tion from both Congress and BJP.
Dikshit made it clear that her
partys support was very cate-
gorical. Anything that is good
for the city and its citizens, we
will back you for it but it does not
mean that tomorrow you will say
that we will not listen what the
Lt Governor says. We did not
promise to support that, she
said. Asked about the feeling
among Kejriwals critics that he
was all talk and no action, the
Congress leader said, He
believed in talking action only,
whether he believed in action is
anybodys guess.
0aItaI aIa & I0ss: FresI4eat's 80Ie Iav0ke4
Puddorloss and
adrit, Dolhi staros at
ro-polls whilo Ko|ri
romains pooplo's horo
A+| A+J|i P+||] l+J| Yu|J|+ Y+J+1, S+||+] Si||, |+|i| SiuJi+ +|J up+l R+i +JJ| + |Ji+ ||i|i| i|
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wu|+| |illJ Wi||
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Si||+||| |+u|
F00r mIa0r IrIs hreak
00t 0f r0tectI0a h0me
Cong calls AAP`s lluff, icls
loles in sulsioy leoge
A|1i|J| Si|| |u1l], PCC p|iJ||
wi|| B1P i| W+i|+|JW+||
|uJ, |u| |up Wi|| 1u|
l|i B1P p|iJ|| Vi|+] ul, B1P l+J| |+|| V+|J|+| +|J u||| Ju|i| + P| u||||
i| |W l|i u| S+|u|J+] Pll
B1P |+|| V+|J|+|
kejrI aII taIk
aa4 a0 actI0a,
says 0IkshIt
His (Ko|riwal)
Govornmont lost
ma|ority on tho loor
o tho Houso, it is
not a mattor (o
ohoioo), so ho quit
0IaI 1093 aaIast racIsm
l|i Puli l+u||
|lpli| |u| pupl
||u| |u|||E+|
There is no
over-enthusiasm
about forming the
Government. Right
now the ball is in the
L-G's court. Let him
decide. We will
happily accept any
situation. We are also
ready to go to polls
even if they take
place next week
He {Kejriwal] was
pushing his own
political agenda; his
intention was never
to get the Jan
Lokpal Bill passed
nation 04
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
R+i|W+|| J+|+i| W|+| |+i| pilJ i| up| +| |+|l+ A|+| |+|Ji i| |W l|i u| S+|u|J+] Pll
From Page 1
From the beginning, the Congress and the BJP were
against this (Jan Lokpal) Bill and that is why they didnt
support the Government. Leaders of both the parties dont
want the country to be corruption-free, he told reporters.
AAP has been formed to root out corruption from
the country. Passing the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly
was the first priority of the AAP Government. As we were
not allowed to pass this Bill, we did not have an option
but to get out of the Government, Bhushan said.
Getting official posts in the Government was not the
motive of our party. Our partys motive is to change the
system, but we are not being allowed to implement our
motive, then there is no benefit to run the Government,
he said.
From Page 1
Sources said Jung has conveyed
to the Centre that the Capital be
brought under a spell of Presidents
Rule as no party is in a position to
form an alternative Government
right now. Sources said that Jung has
also sent, along with his report, the
resignation letter of Kejriwal to the
President for its acceptance.
When Presidents Rule is
imposed, the Assembly is kept in
suspended animation for the first
three to six months. Therefore, par-
ties may work out ways to form a
Government. The Presidents Rule
will end once a party stakes claim to
form a Government. Then the L-G
will ask the party to prove majority
in the Assembly.
Under Presidents Rule, the
Lieutenant Governor (L-G) will
assume all the administrative powers
of a Cabinet. All principal secretaries
and bureaucrats will report to him
and he will run the Government with
their help. The L-G will perform the
role of the Chief Minister once
Presidents Rule is imposed in the
Union Territory while the Chief
Secretary will act as chief coordina-
tor between the L-G and Principal
Secretaries of each department, said
former Director-General of Lok
Sabha SK Sharma. It was further stat-
ed that as per the statutory provisions,
Delhi may remain without an elect-
ed Assembly for a year. Once
Presidents Rule is imposed, the L-G
will assume all administrative pow-
ers of the State. The order for the
proclamation of Presidents Rule
needs to be approved by Parliament.
Presidents Rule is for six months in
case of States and in the case of Delhi,
the cap is one year and can be extend-
ed, again subject to Parliaments
approval, Sharma explained.
From Page 1
He said accused the Congress, the Speaker and
YS Jaganmohan Reddy for the unruly incidents in
the Lok Sabha. He alleged that the Congress MPs
had physically assaulted him but Jaganmohan
Reddy kept quiet.
Two TDP members of the Rajya Sabha also
lashed out at the Speaker. Sujana Chowdhary and
CM Ramesh alleged that the presiding officers of
both the Houses were behaving like Congress
agents. It is unfortunate that a member had to use
pepper spray for self-defence, Chowdhary said.
From Page 1
He revealed that several
sensitive files containing
information about the scams
and irregularities that took
place during Dikshits regime
are missing from the depart-
ment.
AAP officials said on
condition of anonymity that
they made the most of their
49 days in power by carrying
the sensitive files to Kejriwals
residence where there was an
advance system of scanning
and making duplicates of
each important document.
Once the whole exercise was
conducted to their satisfac-
tion, they planned the partys
exit in a manner that would
appeal to the masses, i.e on
the issue of corruption.
When asked to comment
on t hi s i nformat i on,
Congress MLA and former
Power Mi ni ster Haroon
Yusuf said when RTI is avail-
abl e, t hen what
was the big deal about getting
photocopies of the sensitive
files?
From Page 1
a proposal to give them a 50 per cent relief on their
pending Bills and waived 100 per cent penalty on the bills
despite strong objections by the finance department which
claimed that such a policy would encourage power theft
in the city while honest consumers would feel cheated.
The Cabinet had also decided to consider the closure of
theft cases against power bill defaulters.
Accusing Kejriwal of cheating his supporters, Delhi
Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said: He
(Kejriwal) has befooled people who had participated in
the Bijli movement. Actually he was in hurry to make pay-
ment of Rs 372 crore to Reliance, Lovely said.
Fret 80Ie Im0se4...
Kejri aides
photocopied
Govt
papers to use
against Cong
!niteo Anolra... 49J+] puW| ||ip |u|...
Act : AAP legins 're-
lanneo` LS election camaign
Fh8 QSAMBALFuR
T
he police on Saturday arrest-
ed two more persons in con-
nection with the Hirakud Dam
reservoir boat tragedy in which
31 people were killed on
February 9.
The arrested persons were
Anjan Parua, the second driver
of the ill-fated motorboat, and
boat owner Satyananda Pandey
alias Satia (40), who had been
absconding since the mishap.
Earlier, the police had arrest-
ed boat driver Akshay Rana on
Wednesday. The police have
registered a case against the
three arrested persons under
various Sections of CrPC soon
after the mishap.
In yet another such incident,
two persons went missing after
a country boat capsized in the
Jalaput reservoir near Arengi in
Koraput district on Saturday
afternoon, reports said.
80at 0Waer,
4rIver heI4 Ia
Irak04 trae4y
Ghaziabad: A local leader of
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was
shot dead on Saturday night
allegedly by three unidentified
men in Loni town of the district.
Amarpal Jatav, 40, was going
to his house in an auto rickshaw
after attending a party function.
Three bike-borne men inter-
cepted the vehicle and opened
indiscriminate fire at Jatav.
After shooting him, all the
three accused fled from the
spot. He was immediately
rushed to a nearby hospital
where doctors declared him
brought dead, a senior police
officer said.
Jatav was district secretary
of BSP and lived with his fami-
ly in Loni area. PTI
BSP leaoer
slot oeao
in Glazialao
New Delhi: Congress MLA Jai
Kishan alleged that some Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) workers
pelted stones at his car and res-
idence in Sultanpur Majra area
on Friday.
The incident occurred just
few minutes after the MLA
reached his residence. Few
unidentified goons started pelt-
ing stones at his residence and
also damaged his vehicle. He
alleged that it was a conspiracy
by AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
I had gone to meet
Sisodia on Friday evening and
he behaved in an ill-man-
nered way with me. I am sure
it is the AAP workers who
attacked my house. I need
security from the Delhi Police
as this could happen again as
well, said the MLA.
A case under Sections 336
and 427 was registered at
Sultanpuri police station against
unknown persons. SR
8t0ae eItIa
0a 0eIhI 00a
Ml's h00se
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
F
ormer Chief Minister of
Delhi Sheila Dikshit shifted
her residence to a rented
accommodation in Silver Arc
Apartment on Feroz Shah Road
on Saturday.
Earlier the Arvind
Kejriwal-run Government had
issued a notice to Dikshit to
vacate the official bungalow sit-
uated at 3 Motilal Nehru Marg.
Dikshit moved into her 3-
bedroom duplex flat on
Saturday evening. Despite two
reminders former Power
Minister Haroon Yusuf and
former Transport Minister and
Delhi Congress president
Arvinder Singh Lovely have
failed to vacate their official
accommodations.
According to the officials
in the Public Works
Department, Ministers are
required to vacate the official
accommodations within a
month of appointment of the
new Government.
A notice is served to the
occupants after completion of
one month. The occupant is
required to vacate the proper-
ty within 15 days of the notice
being served. If they want
extension of the allotment,
they need to pay rent which is
fixed by the department, said
a senior PWD official. However
since Dikshit had exceeded
her stay at the official residence
of the Chief Minister she will
have to pay a fixed market rent
for a period of one month.
Sleila !ilslit moves to
renteo accommooation
|lA |ill |+/+l l+J|
C|+|Ju i| Ji|+ |+il
Fh8 Q JEYF0RE / R0uRKELA
A
senior official of the National
Investigation Agency (NIA), which
is investigating the May 25 mayhem by
Maoists on a convoy of Congress lead-
ers at Darabha Ghati i n
Chhattisgarh, started quizzing a Maoist
on Fri day at t he Ci rcl e Jai l i n
Koraput regarding his involvement in
the ambush.
NIA team member, Additional SP
(Operati on) Sanj ay Kumar
interrogated T Anil Kumar alias
Chandu, a top Maoi st cadre of
Andhra-Odi sha Border Speci al
Divisional Committee, for over 90 min-
utes at the jail.
kVhI8h 8Ihhk Q RAhCh
O
utsiders making their
way to the Rajya Sabha
from Jharkhand on Saturday
surpri sed El ect i on
Commi ssi oner (EC) HS
Brahma. Accordi ng to
Brahma, a local candidate
would be more appropriate
due to his availability to peo-
ple in times of need rather
than someone who leave the
place after getting elected.
I have seen that wealthy
businessmen living elsewhere
come to Jharkhand and get
elected to the Rajya Sabha,
sai d t he surpri sed EC.
Brahma was interacting with
people during a conference
on electoral and political
reforms at Aryabhatt Hall of
Ranchi University.
Associ ati on for
Democratic Reforms and
National Election Watch
organised the meet in which
Speaker Shashank Shekhar
Bhokt a al so attended.
Interestingly, the green pas-
ture that Jharkhand offers to
influential businessmen has
seen many outsiders getting
elected on the ticket of
Jharkhand-based political
parties. The EC called for
reforms within the political
parties, a major component of
reforms.
This country needs good
and accountable political par-
ties for good governance,
maintained Brahma. Notably,
2014 Rajya Sabha elections
also witnessed Prem Chand
Gupta, a Haryanani, and
Parimal Nathwani, a Gujarati,
getting elected to the Upper
House from the State.
Significantly, the year
2014 could mark the onset of
serious electoral and political
reforms in Jharkhand and
rest of the country with the
Election Commission of
India and independent elec-
tion watch dogs ready with
newer set of measures to fil-
ter out tainted candidates
from the election process to
maintain sanctity of the
democratic processes.
Considering the bottle-
necks in scrutiny of candi-
dates in an election the
Election Commission of
India is likely to introduce the
online filing of affidavit by a
candidate before elections to
the Lok Sabha and elections
to as many as six State
Assembl i es, i ncludi ng
Jharkhand, while retaining
the offline mode for furnish-
ing details about their crim-
inal antecedents, assets, lia-
bilities in Form-26.
'Outsioers` reresenting
]`llano in RS surrise IC
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
T
wo persons were killed and another
got critical injuries in a firing incident
on Lane number-5 in Om Nagar area of
South East Delhis Jaitpur area around
10:30 pm on Saturday.
Police officials stated that the accused
were known to the victim.
The accused fired at the three victims
on their residential premises after an alter-
cation. Police said personal rivalry among
two caste groups Thakur and Pandits
may be the cause of scuffle.
Two shot doad
in Jaitpur aroa
I, Kusum Gupta W/o
Surender Lal Aggarwal R/o
A-26, Ashok Vihar, Ph-3,
Delhi-52, I have changed my
name Kusum Lata Gupta for
future.
PD(5840)C
I, Surender Lal S/o Faqir
Chand R/o A-26, Ashok Vihar,
Ph-3, Delhi-52, I have
changed my name Surender
Lal Aggarwal for future.
PD(5841)C
I, Rajesh Kumar Mahnot S/o
Manak Chand R/o 2352 FF
Gali Kakwan Basti, Punjabian
Subzi Mandi, Delhi-7, I have
changed my name Rajesh
Mahnot.
PD(5842)C
I, Ompali W/o Sh. Ramesh
Pal Singh R/o C-196,
Sector-19, Noida (U.P.) have
changed my name to Amita
Singh for all purposes.
PD(5843)A
I, Ashutosh Anal S/o Shri
Krishna Kumar Singh R/o
D-204, Kesar Garden
Apartment, Sector-48, Noida
(U.P.)have changed my name
to Ashutosh Singh for all
purposes
PD(5844)A
CHANGE OF NAME
landmark 05
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
L
eader of Opposition in the
Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on
Saturday hit out at the current
UPA leadership but praised for-
mer Prime Minister PV
Narasimha Rao, who, he said,
brought about a turning point
in economic policies. He said
that the recent history has not
been very kind to Rao who
worked at a time when a clar-
ity was yet to emerge in eco-
nomic policies.
Coming down heavily on
the incumbent Prime Minister,
Jaitley said the country cannot
afford to have a non-politician
as a Prime Minister, however,
attractive he might look.
Without naming
Manmohan Singh, the senior
BJP leader said politicians are
not known by years in
Government but by footprints
they leave behind.
He said the country paid
heavily by not selecting a
national leader as PM. He
spoke of what he called inde-
cisiveness and policy paraly-
sis in the UPA Government
causing recurring harm to the
investment environment in
the country, slackening of FDI
and breaking of communica-
tion between the government
and the main Opposition.
Contrasting it with the
strong leadership in Gujarat,
Jaitley said though Modi came
under relentless criticism of
his political opponents, he
chose not to respond and
instead went ahead with his
agenda that helped
Gujarat do a developmental
leapfrog. Jaitley said Saurashtra
in the State had at one time
no drinking water but now
agri cultural growth has
doubled during Modis gov-
ernance and rural economy
has turned stronger.
He said the Guj arat
Government has developed
ports all along the coast which
had helped fishermen, cited
the case of milk revolution
and drew attention to the
fact that Gujarat is now
known for Growth in manu-
facturing sector.
Referring to the non-tra-
ditional thinking in Gujarat
model, Jait l ey sai d
Ahmedabad Development
Authority has developed good
quality urban homes half the
price in the country. BJP
leader said reduction in the
cost of houses owe it to the
policy in Gujarat that instead
of shrinking land availability
expand it
I think it was decisiveness
at the leadership level playing
decisive role, Jaitley said
summing up the reasons for
the success in Gujarat.
Bureaucracy also fine tuned to
new political culture and to the
eventual model that grew, he
hastened to add.
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
T
wice bitten, the anti-
Telangana petitioners are
not shy. They have now come
up with a new set of petitions
in the Supreme Court to stall
the Telangana Bill in
Parliament. The apex court
will consider whether it should
intervene in the matter.
On two occasions in the
past, the court refused to inter-
vene on the ground that the
plea was premature. The fresh
set of three PILs, however, has
relied on the Presidents rec-
ommendation to table the Bill
in Parliament as a fresh ground
that was not present on
February 7 when the court
heard the matter last.
The President gave
approval to table the Andhra
Pradesh Reorganisation Bill
2013 on February 10, which
resulted in unprecedented
scenes witnessed in the Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha. While
the ruling UPA combine has
claimed that the Bill was intro-
duced in House, the main
Opposition party BJP differed
with this view.
On Monday, the petitions
would come up for hearing
before a bench headed by
Justice HL Dattu, which had
earlier heard and dismissed the
matter on two occasions. In the
first instance, the petitioners
came to Court against a deci-
sion taken by an inhouse com-
mittee of the Indian National
Congress, leading the UPA
Government. The second occa-
sion arrived when the Bill got
approval from Cabinet to be
tabled in the House. Both
developments were not con-
sidered fit opportunity by the
Court to intervene as it failed
to see a law being in place.
The three petitioners
P Adusumilli Jayaprakash,
M Ramakrishna and K Raghu
Ramakrishna Raju, expressed
apprehension that in the event
the SC would not step in at this
stage, after the passage of the
Bill the situation will be irre-
versible. On February 7, the
court had heard at length coun-
sels appearing for the peti-
tioners, who raised objection
against the Centres move to
proceed with the Bill despite
being rejected in toto by the
Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
While the Constitutional
question on whether Centre
can act in defiance of the State
Assembly would arise in such
a case, the court has so far
maintained that the stage to
consider this question has not
yet arrived. The Bill is likely to
be taken up by Parliament
next week.
kkE8h k 8Ihh Q hEw 0ELh
T
he CBI is gearing up to finalise the
chargesheet in the Tatra truck procurement
scam and tighten noose around former BEML
chief VRS Natarajan.
The agency is likely to arrest Natarajan,
who has been named in five cases other than
the one for supply of Tatra all-terrain vehicles
to the defence PSU. Natarajan is also a named
accused in the cases relating to the recruitment
scam in BEML and bogus invoic-
ing for mining areas for testing of
earthmoving equipment, sources
said. He is alleged to have raised
invoices for mining areas which
were not permitted for such activ-
ities as per the environmental
laws.
The CBI team from Delhi had
questioned Natarajan and another
former BEML CMD TVS Shastry in Bangalore last
week and received documents relating to the rel-
evant period.
Natarajan had not only inked but also per-
petuated the contract of UK-based Tatra
Sipox with BEML for supply of the all terrain
vehicles in contravention of the defence pro-
curement rules that stipulate acquisitions
only from original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs). Tatra Sipox was allegedly not an
OEM. The OEM of the iconic trucks is Tatra
a.S., a Czech firm. He is also suspected to have
downgraded the General Staff Qualitative
Requirements to suit Tatra Sipox.
BEML procured the Tatra trucks for supply
to the Army. Apart from other violations
allegedly weaved into the contract for the sup-
ply of the vehicles, the defence PSU also
allegedly did not carry out the indigenisation of
the specialised trucks despite investments for the
same by the BEML.
During earlier rounds of questioning
Natarajan was also confronted with Vectra
Group boss Ravi Rishi, a named
accused in the case for procurement
the trucks. Natarajan had alleged-
ly renewed the supply contract with
Tatra Sipox in 2003 much before it
was required in 2006 and despite
lapses being pointed out in the pro-
curement of the vehicles by the
Comptroller and Auditor General
in a report in 2000.
In 1997, Tatra Sipox UK
had si gned t he t ruck suppl y
deal with BEML and Natarajan was instru-
mental for this. As many as 500 trucks (that
cost the exchequer C80 lakh apiece) are lying
unused for want of spare parts, 3000 com-
pletely knocked down kits (CKD) were pro-
cured without the necessary gearbox leading
to unnecessary piling up of unwanted
inventory. However, the payments have
been fully accounted for in the BEML books,
CBI sources added.
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
I
n a snap poll conducted by
ABP News-IPSOS over Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) leader
Arvind Kejriwals exit as Chief
Minister, around 49.1 per cent
feel Kejriwal did the right thing
by quitting from the post of
CM over Jan Lokpal row,
whereas a close 48.9 per cent
respondents feel it was a wrong
decision to bring down the
AAP Government in 49 days.
Only two per cent were
undecided about their opinions.
According to ABP News-IPSOS
snap poll, around 67 per cent
respondents feel that AAP
deserves another chance and are
likely to vote for them again if
there are re-polls in Delhi right
now. A meagre 6.5 per cent like-
ly to vote for Congress, 23.1 per
cent predicted to vote for BJP if
Assembly elections are held
again in Delhi.
A majority of respondents
84.8 per cent feel that there
should be re-polls in Delhi.
Only 15.2 per cent think
Assembly elections should not be
held again in Delhi, says the poll.
As per the ABP News-
IPSOS snap poll, around 55.6
respondents are likely to vote
for Kejriwals AAP party in the
upcoming Lok Sabha polls as
compared to over 67 per cent
in Delhi. The appeal of AAP
party seems to be confined to
the Delhi polls. Around 34.1
per cent predicted to vote for
BJP whereas only 6.7 per cent
to support Congress in the
Lok Sabha el ecti ons.
Congress predicted to get
dented by AAP i n both
Assembly and Lok Sabha
polls, said the snap poll.
According to the snap poll,
around 62 per cent respondents
feel that Kejriwals AAP
Government fulfilled the
promises made by them in
their short 49-day stint in Delhi.
Around 31.9 per cent feel that
he could not give all that was
promised by the AAP party.
The snap poll was con-
ducted by ABP News-IPSOS in
10 Assembly constituencies in
Delhi with 1,013 respondents
on February 15, 2014.
kh 1kITIEY
T
he nightmare is finally
over. The worst ever State
Government that Delhi has
ever witnessed has resigned.
The AAP Government decid-
ed to submit its resignation to
the Lt Governor. The past 49
days witnessed an uncon-
ventional Government. It was
a Government without an
agenda and without an ide-
ology. It was a Government
committed to populism and
demagogue.
Clever politics and no
governance this appeared to
be the motto of the AAP
Government in Delhi. This
was a Government without a
mandate. It had only 28 seats.
The BJP was a bigger party.
The AAP had no qualms
before accepting shamelessly
the Congress support in order
to prove the majority. Most of
its MLAs were inexperienced.
They lacked maturity. At
times, they were outlandish.
They had an agitational
approach but were foreign to
any form of governance.
Did the AAP Government
decide to expand the drinking
water connectivity in Delhi?
Did they seriously conceive of
a scheme to increase the
healthcare facilities in Delhi?
Did they ever think of setting
up new schools and colleges?
Did they ever think over
expanding the technical edu-
cational institutions in Delhi?
What about taking Delhi
Metro to the next phase? Did
the idea of more flyovers and
better PWD roads ever cross
their thinking? These are all
areas which add to the quali-
ty of life of those living in a
large metropolis. These are real
areas of governance. The 49-
day Government had no mind
space for any of these issues.
It concentrated its
approach only to agitational
issues. It agitated against the
Home Minister, against the Lt
Governor, against the
Commissioner of Police and
against the African ladies. Its
approach was to concoct false-
hood and create imaginary
enemies and then carry on
propaganda on the strength of
attacking the imaginary ene-
mies. It had the arrogance to
believe that only its leaders
were honest and everybody
else was compromised. It start-
ed losing popularity with
everyday in Government. The
Party had realised that its
leaders sitting in Sachivalaya
were a bull in a China shop.
They were more suited to the
streets. It therefore crafted an
exit route for itself. Its Jan
Lokpal Bill was kept as a close-
ly guarded secret till the last
day. The Lokpal content of the
Bill is not radically different
from the Central legislation
but it wanted to create a false
propaganda that its Bill is a
revolutionary one in compar-
ison to the Central law. It
decided to defy the conven-
tional procedure for legislative
approval in order to invent a
pretext for resignation.
The AAP Government has
exited. It defied the hopes of
many who wanted to see an
alternative politics emerge. The
alternative politics was pop-
ulism, demagogue, falsehood
but no governance. Thank
God, the nightmare is over.
(The writer is Leader
of Opposition, Rajya Sabha)
Ihaak 604, F ZP
aIhtmare Is 0ver
Jatra trucl scam: CB gears
u to finalise clargesleet
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
B
JP leader Subramanian
Swamy on Saturday accused
the so-called secular and US-
funded academia for opting
selective amnesia and double
standards on freedom of speech
on the cancellation of Wendy
Donigers controversial book
on Hinduism. In a statement
issued he said the same people
were seeking his arrest over the
controversial article on Islamic
terrorism. They deliberately
forget that in late 2011 when the
UPA Government, on such US-
based academics pressure, after
getting my Harvard courses
deleted by a disgraceful and con-
trived majority in the faculty
meeting and without first asking
my response, got registered a
FIR invoking the same Sections
of IPC for an Op-Ed article I had
written for a Mumbai daily The
DNA titled How to Wipe Out
Islamic Terrorism, said Swamy.
Today the shoe pinches on the
other foot. Prof Doniger opted
out fighting for her
fundamental rights, as I had
done, and her publishers as any
good commercial entity would,
cut their losses by surrendering
faced with certain defeat in the
court, said Swamy.
8Wamy sIams
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wrong decision 48.O
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KEJR EXT
F DELH FACES REPOLLS
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Apex court to
take call on
intervention
Praisos ormor PM
Narasimha Pao or
'turning point' in
ooonomio polioios
EEFkk k FETI Q hEw 0ELh
G
uj arat under Chi ef
Minister Narendra Modi
presents a model for the rest
of the country in terms of
effective decentralising of
power, implementation of
Panchayati Raj and that of e-
governance at district and
village levels.
This is the dominant
t heme of a book t it l ed
ModiNomics, authored by
Sameer Kochchar, Chairman
Skoch Group, which was
rel eased on Saturday by
Leader of Opposition in Rajya
Sabha, Arun Jaitley.
The book maintains that
the leadership provided the
cutting edge in Gujarat with
a clarity on adopting policies
and ways of their implemen-
tation that lacked under the
UPA leadership.
Modi, who was to release
the book at a function here in
India Habitat Centre, could
not attend the function due to
hi s preoccupat i ons at
Gandhinagar.
The book compliments
Modi for his out-of-the-box
thinking and bridging the
gap between economic theo-
ry and practice through
innovative development
models. To substantiate his
argument on what he called
quick-footed policy imple-
mentation of his policies
rather than reeling of high
sounding economic theories,
Kochchar said Mani Shankar
Ai yar, a Panchayati Raj
Minister in the Congress
regime appreciated my ideas
on devolution of powers and
sought a report that has till
now not seen the light of day.
As against this, the author
said while visiting Gujarat in
2005 he discovered that Modi
had already implemented
e-governance in the State way
back in 2003.
In his book, Kochchar
cites example of solar panels
covering Gujarat irrigation
canals, serving duel purpose
of preventing water evapo-
ration and generating solar
energy si mul t aneousl y.
Similarly, he says that patients
in hospitals in Gujarat are not
seen carr yi ng t hei r fat
medical files as they are
already stored in computers
and transferred to the relevant
destinations.
The book claims how e-
governance in the State has
cut short t he red-t ape
and made delivery of birth
certificate, land, property and
IT documents etc in the
shortest possible time at all
levels, including that in
rural areas.
'Mooi a mooel for rest of tle country`
The country cannot afford to
have 'a non-politician' as a
Prime Minister, however,
'attractive' he might look
A|u| 1+i|l]
Modi is praised
for his
'out-of-the-box
thinking' and
bridging the gap
between
economic
theory and
practice through
'innovative'
development
models
While the
Constitutional
question on
whether the
Centre can act in
defiance of the
State Assembly
would arise in
such a case, the
SC has so far
maintained that
the stage to
consider this
question has
not yet arrived
nation 06
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
khF 8hkMk Q0uwAhAT
B
JP national vice-president
Smriti Irani on Saturday
accused the Congress of failing
to maintain the pace of devel-
opment for the North-East
region, which was started dur-
ing the NDA Government
under the leadership of Atal
Bihari Vajpayee.
Irani, who was here for a
book release function, slammed
the Congress for failing to ensure
educational infrastructure in the
State, which has led to outflow
of bright students of the region
to go outside seeking better
education and job opportunities.
Irani released a book titled
Natun Axom Garhim authored
by spokesperson of the Assam
BJP Pradyut Bora.
I meet many young people
from North-East outside the
region. When I ask them about
their feeling of going back home,
these young people narrate sto-
ries of bad roads, power cuts and
lack of opportunities. When
NDA was in power Atalji
realised this and took steps to
ensure that every youths from
the region go back to their
homes on pucca road. That is
why four and six lanes highway
projects were started during
Ataljis time, Irani said.
During the NDAs rule
even road connectivity between
North-East and Southeast Asian
countries were also taken up.
Now forget about driving your
car from Guwahati to
Singapore. Even driving within
the region is a difficult exercise.
All States of North-east are still
not linked by railways. Better
roads and connectivity bring
good health, better prospects
and brings prosperity to the
people, Irani pointed out.
She also slammed the PM
and said that price rise of essen-
tial commodity has led to seri-
ous impact on States like Assam
where the per capita income is
significantly less than the nation-
al average.
kMk 6hEIIkFFkh Q
TRuChRAFALL
T
he DMK is still waiting for
word from its erstwhile ally
the Congress for a possible elec-
toral alliance for the upcoming
Lok Sabha elections. If the first
days proceedings of the 10th
State Conference of the DMK
which began at Tiruchirapalli on
Saturday is any indication, the
party is facing a severe lack of
confidence and shortage of ideas
for the betterment of lives of mil-
lions of Tamils in the State.
Speaker after speaker who
spoke on the first day of the
mega event had nothing new to
tell other than eulogising and
waxing eloquence on party chief
M Karunanidhi and members of
his clan, especially MK Stalin,
the heir apparent. It was a show
of strength organised by partys
Tiruchirapalli satrap KN Nehru,
a close confidante of Stalin. Not
a single speaker dared to attack
the Congress, the DMDK and
the BJP. Though the Congress
has put all the blame on the
DMK for the 2G Spectrum
scam, the DMK leadership
played it safe and there was no
mention about the same.
The speakers directed all
their ire towards Jayalalithaa.
Most of them blasted the Hindus
for the ills faced by the country.
What was lacking in the speech-
es were proposals and action
plans for reviving the economy
and society which are at their
lowest ebbs. Though the sprawl-
ing ground in the Tiruchirapalli
suburb was jam packed with
party workers who had gathered
from all over the State, many of
them were seen sleeping by 11
30 am itself.
Karunanidhi, rated as a
master in the art of double
speak has not opened his mind
about possible alliance with the
Congress. When reporters asked
him late Friday whether there
was an opportunity to form a
mega alliance comprising the
DMK, the Congress and the
DMDK, he was evasive and said:
It might happen or might not
happen. But we will unitedly
implement our decisions.
The conference, which is
expected to cost the DMKs
Tiruchirapalli district com-
mittee about Rs 20-crore, is
being seen as an answer to the
September 2013 rally organ-
ised here by the BJP and which
was addressed by the partys
prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi.
The DMK, rattled by the
crowd numbering more than
two lakh , started preparing for
the State Conference in October
2013 itself. The DMK cadre ,
demoralised by the 2011
Assembly election defeat and a
series of failures in the by-elec-
tions held hereafter needed a
morale booster in the run up to
the Lok Sabha election and
hence the Tiruchirapalli meet.
The entire Karunanidhi
clan barring the party chief ;s
second wife Dayalu and his
elder son Alagiri were present
en masse for the meeting.
Karunanidhi and Stalin are
expected to address the con-
ference on Sunday.
8kk 8EhFTk Q K0LKATA
I
n what is being viewed as an
observation directed at a
section of ambitious people in
her own party as also eager not
to keep her backyard political-
ly unsecured, Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee on
Saturday declared her wish to
stay put in her own State.
Curiously her statement
comes barely a day after
Gandhian activist Anna Hazare
endorsed her probable candi-
dature for the prime minister-
ial chair. Writer, Mahasweta
Devi and a Muslim cleric from
Kolkata had also expressed a
similar desire at a recent rally.
I am not going anywhere.
I am going to stay back in
Bengal, Banerjee thundered
at a party meeting at Durgapur
adding her only wish was to
control the affairs in Delhi.
More seats we win the more we
will be able to make our pres-
ence felt in Delhi, she said
adding her party would contest
polls throughout North-East,
and other parts of India.
We will fight from the
North-East, we will put up our
candidates in Bihar, Jharkhand,
Haryana, even Delhi and many
other States which I am not
mentioning now, she said
adding her fight was against the
Left, Congress and the BJP
alike. Taking a dig at BJP prime
ministerial candidate Narendra
Modi for interacting with the
people of the country through
video-conferencing programme
called Chai Pe Charcha,
Banerjee said such discussions
over tea cups should take place
throughout the year and not
just before elections.
We discuss over tea cups
throughout the year and not
before the elections like others
do and so we are so near the
people, she said. Insisting that
the BJPs politics was of fragile
nature where only the leaders
and the people have no role to
play, Banerjee said her party
detests opportunistic politics.
Referring to Modis speech at a
Kolkata rally where he said
Mamata would serve the people
of Bengal from Kolkata and he
would serve them from Delhi,
the Chief Minister said, such
type of statements are part of a
bigger drama being played
throughout the country.
Saying that her party was
not so rich like the BJP or the
Congress to let lose huge pro-
paganda machinery, Banerjee
said she would personally
appeal to the people for voting
for her party.
Curiously in her speech
there was hardly any mention
of Anna Hazare with whom she
was likely to hold a meeting a
few days from now and with
whom she was likely to cam-
paign in six States.
Reacting to Banerjees
insistence on her staying in
Bengal, a senior Trinamool
leader who was not present in
the meeting later said the Chief
Minister was increasingly get-
ting suspicious of a few leaders
who were getting ambitious
about usurping the chief min-
isterial chair in Kolkata after
she left for Delhi.
V 1kYkk1 Q K0Ch
C
ongress president Sonia
Gandhi on Saturday
kicked off her partys cam-
paign for the coming Lok
Sabha election with mild
attacks on the BJP and Left
and coming down heavily on
rampant groupism in the State
party unit.
Inaugurating the State-level
convention of the Kerala PCC
to mark the launch of election
campaigning at the Jawaharlal
Nehru International Stadium in
Kochi on Saturday, Sonia said
that the party could not afford
groupism anymore as of all
elections, these coming elec-
tions are important because
these elections are about our
countrys future.
Sonia, who had less than a
week ago appointed group-
neutral leaders VM Sudheeran
and VD Satheesan as president
and vice-president respective-
ly of the Kerala PCC angering
group managers in the State
Congress, said, We are all one
group. We are al l
Congressmen and women and
that is how we will fight the
coming electoral battle and
that is how we will win.
Criticising the CPI(M),
leader of the Opposition LDF
in Kerala, Sonia said they had
not been able to stand by the
people either in West Bengal or
Kerala, the two states where
they were said to be in strength.
She said all that the CPI(M),
based on an ideology which
had lost its relevance, had done
was to oppose whatever the
UPA Government had done.
The choice before the vot-
ers of Kerala is to vote for a
party which is strong on its ide-
ologies While we practice
non-violence, they (Left) are
engaged in brutal killings and
murders, Sonia said. In the
2009 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala
with 20 seats, the Congress-led
UDF had won 16 seats while
the LDF got the remaining
seats. The Congress alone had
won 13 seats.
Referring to the Congresss
electoral battle against the BJP
and the NDA it leads, Sonia
said, The choice is very clear.
The choice is to vote for a party
which strives for a united India
or to vote for one which is try-
ing to divide out country. The
Congresss rival were asking the
people for a change but they
had not specified what that
change was, she said.
Descri bi ng t he Bi l l s
Parliament had passed during
the UPAs tenure, Sonia said,
We have been here for more
than six decades and we have
done lots for the people. They
(the Congresss rivals) wear a
mask and hence we must
resist them with all our might
as we have to protect the sec-
ular ethos and the future of
our country.
Later in the day, Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy,
leader of the A group in the
Congress, conveyed his unhap-
piness over the appointment of
Sudheeran as the State party
chief but Sonia replied that the
initiative was necessary for
strengthening the party in
Kerala. Home Minister Ramesh
Chennithala, leader of
Chandys rival I group, also
took part in the convention.
Inaugurating the Nirbhaya
Keralam - Surakshita Keralam
(Fearless Kerala, Secure Kerala)
programme, a Kerala
Government-civil society ini-
tiative to tackle crimes and
women and children, in Kochi
earlier in the day, the UPA
chairperson regretted that the
Government had not been able
to pass the Womens
Reservation Bill in the Lok
Sabha for lack of consensus.
Sonia said that her party
would continue its struggle
for the legislation which sought
to reserve 33 percent of seats in
Parliament and State legisla-
tures for women. The UPA
Government had initiated sev-
eral schemes for womens wel-
fare but these alone would not
ensure womens safety, she said,
adding that it needed aware-
ness campaigns and training
young minds.
|+|+|+ B+||| Ju|i| l|i|+|uul
Cu|| Wu|||up +| u|+pu| i|
Bu|JW+| Ji||i| u| w| B|+l Pll
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80aIa kIcks 0ff camaIa Ia keraIa
Ralul targets B]P on corrution
kE8T Vk8kI QBAh0AL0RE
A
s Karnataka is crucial for
the Congress in the South,
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi aggressively took on
the BJP on corruption. Rahul
visited the State for second
time in a month apart from a
recent visit of AICC president
Sonia Gandhi.
Addressing the Bharat
Nirman rally in Belgaum in
Karnataka on Saturday Rahul
Gandhi came down heavily on
Opposition BJP and its PM can-
didate Narendra Modi. He
accused the BJP and Modi of
blocking six crucial anti-graft
Bills in Parliament. He also
said the BJP was ignoring cor-
ruption selectively in States
ruled by them.
He said, Their leader is
travelling across India and
talking about eradicating cor-
ruption. But does he see their
leaders in Karnataka indulging
in corruption. He doesnt see
that their partys then CM
was jailed on corruption
charges. He doesnt even see 16
of their Ministers in Karnataka
had to resign on graft issue.
He (Modi) does not see
corruption in Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh and
Karnataka. In Karnataka, you
people removed BJP from
power due to corruption.
Thereafter, the then CM has
again come back to BJP, but
their leaders ignore this, he said.
Gandhi said BJP leaders see
corruption in only Congress-
ruled States, adding, They
dont see it anywhere else.
Even if corruption takes
place in Gujarat, they ignore it,
he said taking a dig at Modi.
Wherever they do not have
their Governments, they see
corruption taking place.
Gandhi also attacked BJP for
blocking passage of six anti-
graft Bills.
He said, Who is standing
against those Bills? We want
to pass them. We are being
stopped in Parliament. Who
is stopping it? BJP is stopping
it. They dont allow func-
tioning of Parliament.
Congress vice-president
attacked BJP, which has made
corruption its main weapon of
attack against the UPA
Government. Gandhi said,
They (BJP) only talk, we
bring progress.
Rahul Gandhi also spoke
about RTI and claimed that
Congress Government imple-
mented it for the people.
Who brought RTI? Who
gave power to your hands?
Congress party di d it.
Whatever was happening
behind closed doors is getting
known to you because of
RTI. Who brought the Lokpal
Bill? BJP did not bring it.
Congress brought it, he said.
Rahul Gandhi was also criti-
cal of Narendra Modis recent
meeting with the IT leaders
over a video conference and
said it was the late Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi and
former Congress Chi ef
Minister SM Krishna created
an IT revolution which was
mocked by the BJP.
Cu|| p|iJ|| Su|i+ +|J|i p+| Ju|i| ||
i|+uu|+|iu| u| '|i|||+]+ p|u|| |u| |puW|||| u|
Wu||, i| |u|i u| S+|u|J+] Pll
Cu|| 1ip|iJ|| R+|ul +|J|i +JJ| + |+ll] +|
Bl+u| i| |+||+|+|+ u| S+|u|J+] Pll
!ioi wants to stay
ut in West Bengal
|| W+i| |u| Cu|, |l+| 1+]+
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
GLOBE
kIkEk 6hIEI 6kII8 h
8khIkE8hI8 T 1Ih 1Ihk
haka: Al 0aeda leader Ayman alZawahiri
has called on Bangladesh's Muslims lo
launch a "jihad" againsl weslern nalions,
claiming lhe counlry is a viclim o "lols" by
ndian and Fakislani elemenls. "My Muslim
brolhers in Bangladesh, invile you lo
conronl lhis crusade onslaughl againsl
slam," Zawahiri said in an audio message
released by a jihadi websile.
IhIk8h MIIIIhkIE'8
kE8T 8hkkE8 F k FIITI68
Iondon: The arresl o an ndiaborn
businessman and his son as arl o a robe
by lhe uK's Serious Fraud 0ice (SF0) inlo
allegalions o bribery al aerosace and
deence major RollsRoyce has shaken lhe
corridors o ower in Brilain. Mulli
millionaire Sudhir Choudhrie and his son
Bhanu, wellknown as major olilical donors
lo 0euly Frime Minisler hick Clegg's Liberal
0emocral arly, were arresled and
queslioned or several hours on wednesday
beore being bailed wilhoul condilions.
IhIk, ITkIY 8hI E8IVE
MkIhE8 I88E, 8kY8 h
niIed haIions: The longslanding issue o
lwo lalian marines being lried by ndia is
romling lensions belween lhe lwo
counlries and lhey should lry lo ind a
"reasonable" and "mulually accelable"
solulion lo il, lhe uh has said.
EMkh MIhI8TE E8Ih8 VE
6hII FhkFhY 'F8E IEkk'
8erIin: Chancellor Angela Merkelled new
0erman 0overnmenl has been jolled by ils
irsl olilical crisis aler a Minisler resigned
over claims he leaked conidenlial
inormalion aboul an inlernalional child
ornograhy robe involving an ndianorigin
exMF.
IkI Mk81I 6k8E: Fkk 6T
8MMh8 M8h h Mk6h 1
IsIamabad: Beleaguered ormer mililary
diclalor Ferve/ Musharra was on Salurday
summoned by a Fakislani courl lo aear on
March 1 in a case relaled lo lhe killing o Lal
Masjid cleric Abdul Rasheed 0ha/i in a 2OO7
mililary raid.
ITkIIkh FIME MIhI8TE
EhI6 IETTk E8Ih8
ome: lalian Frime Minisler Enrico Lella
has submilled his resignalion aler his
0emocralic Farly backed a call or a new
adminislralion.Farly leader Malleo Ren/i, 8O,
had argued lhal a change o 0overnmenl was
needed lo end "uncerlainly". Mr Ren/i, who
was elecled arly leader in 0ecember,
aears oised lo be nominaled or FM.
TROTTNG TROTTNG
FTI Q 0h B0AR0 SFECAL ARCRAFT
I
ndia will provide helicopters to
Afghanistan very soon and refurbish
the war-torn countrys transport aircraft,
External Affairs Minister Salman
Khurshid said on Thursday.
We are giving them helicopters
and we will be supplying them very
soon, Khurshid told reporters who
accompanied him on a day-long visit
to the Afghan city of Kandahar, where
he inaugurated an agricultural univer-
sity built with Indian aid. We have also
been giving them some logistical sup-
port and we hopefully will be able to
upgrade and refurbish their transport
aircraft, he said.
Khurshid did not specify the number
or type of helicopters to be provided to
Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is very special and uptil
now wherever they felt they need (some-
thing), we have been giving them, he said.
I think it is consistent with our approach
building capacity, providing training.
That seems to be going well. Ultimately
it is what we mutually agree and is with-
in our capacity to supply. India is not
reluctant about assisting Afghanistan as
it has a very clear policy the world over
to build capacity, Khurshid said.
kIF Q 0EhEvA
T
he UNs Syria envoy said he
was very, very sorry on
Saturday as peace talks in
Geneva broke off with no
progress made and no date set
for a third round. Just weeks
after the warring parties sat
down for the first time to seek
a political settlement to the
three-year conflict, a second
round ended in acrimony. Im
very, very sorry, UN mediator
Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters
in Geneva as he announced the
break-off in talks.
I think it is better that every
side goes back and reflects, and
takes their responsibility: do
they want this process to con-
tinue or not? With no guaran-
tee the parties will return to the
negotiating table, the death toll
continued to mount in Syria
where more than 136,000 have
died and millions have been dri-
ven from their homes.A moni-
toring group said this week
more than 5,000 people had
been killed since the talks began
on January 22. And the UN
raised the alarm over Syrian air
raids in the Qalamun mountains
near the Lebanese border, as
thousands fled the opposition-
held town of Yabrud amid fears
of a ground assault.In Geneva,
the rivals have seemed to agree
on only one thing this week: that
the negotiations were stalled.
The regime is not serious... Im
very sorry to say there is noth-
ing positive we can take from
this, Opposition spokesman
Louay Safi told reporters.
anrho: As Syrian eace lalks in
0eneva aeared lo lounder, uS
Fresidenl Barack 0bama has
vowed lo sle u ressure on lhe
regime o Fresidenl Bashar al
Assad.0bama's remarks came as
he hosled Jordan's King Abdullah
al lhe Sunnylands relreal in
Falm Srings, Caliornia, lo add
ress issues including lhe lood o
Syrian reugees inlo Jordan. 05?
eneva: hew Syria eace lalks
would be useless i lhe regime
conlinues lo reuse lo discuss a
olilical lransilion, lhe oosilion
said loday aler a second round
ended wilhoul rogress. "A lhird
round wilhoul lalking aboul
lransilion would be a wasle o
lime," oosilion sokesman
Louay Sai lold reorlers in
0eneva. 05?
08 's0rry' as 8yrIa taIks
hreak 0ff Ia faII0re
8YIk TkIk8 'Wk8TE
I TIME' WIThT
Tkh8ITIh: FF
Doiant Thai protostors
vow to ight 'to tho ond'
Bilawal slams Taliban or
dragging Pakistan to 'stono ago'
ndia lo rovide
helicolers lo
Aghanislan
soon: Khurshid
kararhi: Amidsl calls by lhe Taliban or imlemenling Sharia in Fakislan,
FFF leader Bilawal Bhullo Zardari said eorls are being made lo drag lhe
counlry back lo lhe "slone age" in lhe name o slam. Addressing a
galhering during lhe closing ceremony o lhe lwoweek Sindh Feslival,
Bilawal raised queslions aboul lhe FMLh 0overnmenl's eace lalks wilh
lhe banned Taliban."The Taliban wanl lo imose lhe law o lerror in lhe
counlry bul wanl lo lell lhem, i you have lo live in Fakislan you will
have lo ollow ils Conslilulion," he said."we don'l accel lhe law o
lerrorisls," said lhe 25yearold scion o lhe Bhullo amily. ?C8
8angkok: 0eianl Thai oosilion aclivisls on Salurday vowed lo ighl "lo
lhe end" as olice braced lo reclaim key Slale buildings and 0overnmenl
headquarlers besieged by roleslers or monlhs as arl o lheir
camaign lo ousl remier Yingluck Shinawalra.Carelaker Labour Minisler
Chalerm Yubamrung direcled aulhorilies lo ensure lhal lhe Fremier's
oice comound, known as lhe 0overnmenl house, is reoened by
wednesday. Chalerm, direclor o lhe Cenlre or Mainlaining Feace and
0rder (CMF0) lhal is overseeing lhe resonse lo lhe rolesls, said
Yingluck inlended lo relurn lo lhe building on wednesday. Bul rolesl
leader Sulhe Thaugsuban said he would nol negoliale wilh Yingluck's
carelaker 0overnmenl and lhe rolesls would end only when she quils
and a Feole's Council is sel u lo carry oul reorms. " would like lo
make il clear, lhere is nolhing lo negoliale. 0ur slance is clear. we will
ighl lo lhe end, jusl win or lose," he said. ?C8
world 07
8kMk ThEkTEh8
hEW FE88E h
k88k EIME
money 08
khIME8h 8Ihh Q hEw 0ELh
I
n a move which is likely to gen-
erate greater revenue for State-
owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) as
well as address its long standing dry
fuel supply problem to power sta-
tions, an inter-ministerial panel
headed by Planning Commission
Member (Energy) B K Chaturvedi
has okayed a proposal wherein the
Maharatna company's mines would
be leased to private entities for
faster evacuation of the natural
resource.
Known as the mine-develop-
operate (MDO) model which is
based on the public private part-
nership (PPP) concept, it was under
consideration since the last one
year and according to sources privy
to the development, the inter-min-
isterial panel led by Chaturvedi
(having representatives from Coal,
Steel, Mining, Law and Finance
Ministries) has recently okayed its
implementation.
The Coal Ministry is mulling
declaring Mahanadi Coal Field's
(MCL, a subsidiary of CIL) Siarmal
Opencast Project as a pilot project
for implementing the proposed
MDO model, sources added.
Under MDO, private companies
having modern coal evacuation
technology would be given CIL's
mines on a 15 year lease, during
which they will develop the reserves
on t he Maharatna company' s
behalf. The advantage here would
be that owing to state-of-the-art
technologies possessed by these
companies, not only will it result in
faster extraction of coal, but would
also consequently put on fast track
the supply of coal to thermal power
plants.
NTPC, which is a major buyer
of CIL's coal, has always com-
plained of delay in supply of the
dry fuel owing to which its plants
are forced to run at half their
capacities. Thus by adopting the
MDO model, not only will it help
CIL address the coal supply prob-
lem but also attract greater rev-
enues for its coffers.
Sources further said that the
MDO model will now be sent for
CIL's consideration and its board is
likely to clear it soon.
Official sources said that the CIL
mines would be offered to interest-
ed entities along with the detailed
mining plan so that those develop-
ing these would have an accurate
idea of the quantity of coal available
in them.
Wit h even Coal Mi ni ster
Sriprakash Jaiswal keen on getting
the MDO model implemented, CIL's
board approval for the concept is
being seen only as a mere formali-
ty, sources added.
Jaiswal had been quite vocal
about putting coal production on the
fast track, especially after the issue
of poor supply of the dry fuel to
power producers had led to the
issuance of a Presidential Directive
in 2012 by the Coal Ministry, where-
in CIL was asked to sign fuel supply
agreements (FSAs) with power pro-
ducers assuring them of at least 80
per cent of the committed coal
delivery.
In fact all the subsidiaries of
CIL too had been mobilised by the
Coal Ministry to ensure unanim-
ity in the adoption of the MDO
model. The model is likely to be
implemented by the end of the
current fiscal.
60vt Iaas t0 Iease 00t 0Il mIaes, exe4Ite c0aI s0Iy
8 k1kFkIkh Q
wAShh0T0h
D
octors Without Borders",
the Geneva-based inter-
national humanitarian body,
has come down hard on the
US's powerful pharmaceutical
lobby for pressuring India over
its intellectual property laws in
disregard of the country's right
to implement a patent system
to serve its public health needs.
At the ongoing US
International Trade
Commission hearing on Indian
policies, the doctors' body
highlighted the importance of
India's generic drugs industry
to cater to the medical needs of
hundreds of millions of poor
people.
American industry groups,
on the other hand, used the
forum to launch a bitter attack
on India's trade, investment
and industrial policies, com-
plaining of "widespread dis-
crimination" against US
exports to India and subjecting
US companies to stringent
local content norms.
Doctors Without Borders,
which works in more than 60
countries to help people afflict-
ed by epidemics, malnutrition,
natural disasters and armed
conflict, voiced its acute con-
cern about the adverse conse-
quences that the US investiga-
tion could have on access to
affordable medicines for the
poor in India and other devel-
oping countries.
"Every country has the
right to take steps to increase
access to medicines and imple-
ment a patent system in line
with its public health needs. We
strongly object to the pressure
exerted by the US on develop-
ing countries, including India,
for using legal flexibilities to
protect public health," said
Rohit Malpani, head of policy
and analysis at Doctors
Without Borders, in his testi-
mony.
The group, which won the
Nobel Peace Prize for human-
itarian action in 1999, views the
US investigation as the "latest
and most aggressive effort by
members of Congress and
pharmaceutical industry to
exert pressure on India for
intellectual property laws they
have deemed anti-business and
discriminatory, but which are
completely in line with all
existing international trade
rules".
Referring to the fact that
India with its mass production
of generic drugs has in a sense
become the "pharmacy to the
developing world", Malpani
said: "Losing this 'pharmacy'
would be devastating for
patients and for treatment
providers." He urged the US
government to give up its
aggressive campaign and
instead work with India and
other countries to develop new
models that promote both
innovation and access.
In contrast, some
American industry bodies
sought to paint India as the vil-
lain. The National
Manufacturers Association
complained of widespread dis-
crimination against US exports
to India and called for urgent
solutions. Linda Dempsey, the
group's vice president, alleged
that the Indian policies, favour-
ing domestic companies, were
"systematically blocking
imports and forcing the local
production of everything from
automobiles, textiles and steel
to high-tech, clean energy
equipment, medicines and
medical devices".
The Association of Clinical
Research Organisations (ACRO)
saidthatIndia's"restrictive"policies
werealsoharmingclinical research,
stating that US companies could
turn to "more hospitable countries
inEasternEuropeorChina". Arep-
resentative of the association com-
plained that over the past year, the
Indian government has mounted
localization barriers by taking "a
number of very serious steps to
revoke protection on widely-
patented biopharmaceutical prod-
ucts".
The Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), on the other hand,
sought to put up a strong defence
of India's policies, listing the series
of steps over the past decade to lib-
eralise the Foreign Direct
Investment regime in India, with
FDI now allowed in domestic air-
lines, mass rapid transport, petro-
leum, financial services, telecom-
munications, development of
townships and housing, con-
struction, hydrocarbons and
retail sectors.
0lobal docs' body deends
ndia againsl uS harma lobby
FTI Q hEw 0ELh
P
utting a question mark on
the entire project of pri-
vatising six major airports
devel oped by Ai rports
Authority of India (AAI)
i ncludi ng Kol kata and
Chennai, the bidding process
has been postponed once
again till mid-March.
This is the third post-
ponement since November
last year when the process
was formally started, offi-
cial sources said. Problems
have arisen on the drafting
of the concession agree-
ment which is to be signed
between the selected private
party, the AAI and the Civil
Aviation Ministry to give
effect to the contract, the
sources said.
The due date of applica-
tion for the Request for
Qualification was pushed ear-
lier from January-end to
February 17 for four airports
at Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow
and Guwahati and to February
12 for Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
These dates in February have
now been further postponed
to March 17.
The latest postponement
effectively implies that the bid
process may have to be taken
up only after the upcoming
general elections by the new
government.
The Model Code of
Conduct is likely to be in
place by the first week of
March, they said, adding that
the government cannot take
any policy decision once the
code is in place.
In order to fast-track the
privatisation of the airports,
the government had invited
applications from the private
sector in September last year,
marking a major policy shift.
But in November, the process
was postponed by two months
till January, then to February
and now March.
Several private and
foreign infrastructure firms
like IL&FS Transportation
Networks, Essar Projects
India, Cochin International
Ltd, Essel Infraprojects Ltd,
GVK, Fraport, Saudi Arabia,
GMR Airports Ltd, Sahara
Group and Turkish firm
Celebi Habacilik Holding AS,
have evinced interest in these
airport projects.
All these airports have
already been modernised by
AAI at a high cost to the
exchequer. The modernisa-
tion of Kolkata and Chennai
airports had cost the AAI C
2,325 crore and C 2,015 crore
respectively.
The move has come
under severe criticism from
several quarters, including
AAI empl oyees , t r ade
unions, some political par-
ties, airlines and their glob-
al repres ent at i ve body,
International Air Transport
Association.
The privatisation plans
also received a blow with
the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Transport,
Tourism and Culture adopt-
ing a report opposing the
move and advocating long-
term management contracts
instead of leasing the air-
ports out to private parties
for three decades.
In its latest report last
week, the Public Accounts
Commi t t ee ( PAC) of
Parliament had also ques-
tioned the government over
the public-private partner-
ship (PPP) to develop and
run the Delhi Airport.
Biooing of 6
airorts`
rivatisation
oeferreo
Jax case not to affect oeal
witl Microsoft: Nolia
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
M
obile phone handset
giant Nokia has clari-
fied that the developments
in its C21,153 crore tax lia-
bility case in India is not
expected to affect the "tim-
ing or closing" of its deal
wi t h s of t ware gi ant
Microsoft.
Last year in September,
t he US-based f i rm had
announced it will acquire
almost all of the Devices and
Services business of Nokia
for $7.2 billion.
"Nokia would like to stress
that recent developments in
India related to ongoing tax
proceedings are not expected
to affect the timing of the clos-
ing nor the material deal
terms of the anticipated trans-
action between Nokia and
Microsoft, announced on
September 3, 2013," Nokia
said in a statement.
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
special 09 NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
It was a sunny afternoon in May 1971,
when I sensed the tension in my family
for the first time. They were talking agi-
tatedly my mother was hysterical, my
father was pacing. They are here... we
heard my grandfather whisper. Suddenly,
my mother caught hold of me and shoved
me on top of an almirah. Whatever hap-
pens, dont make any noise were her
instructions. Just then the door burst
open and an angry group of eight people
barged in. They were carrying big knives
and screaming at the top of their voices.
My brother started to run but they
stabbed him to death. They pulled my
mother to the cot and two of them got on
top of her. She was screaming in pain but
I couldnt understand why. The cot was
shaking terribly but these men were not
letting go of her. My father ran away. My
grandfather sat there on his arm chair,
motionless. He was no more. The men
left after an hour. Thankfully, they had
not bothered to look up. I gathered the
courage to jump from where I was hiding.
My mother was still breathing but there
was a lot of blood around her. It was as if
she was urinating blood. There were cuts
on her chest as well. I ran to get help but
it was too late.
Urmila Ghosh (name changed)
who works as a domestic help in Jal
Vayu Vihar, Noida, recounting the hor-
rors of Operation Searchlight in which
women were gangraped. Ghosh sur-
vived and escaped with her neighbours
to India
T
he time is 6 am on a foggy
winter morning as Urmila
Ghosh rings the bell of her
masters home in Jal Vayu
Vihar, Sector 30, Noida. She
has been working as a house help for 15
years now. Her eyes are mostly down-
cast and hands trembling but Urmi let
her work speak for herself. She is often
called the master bartan wali some-
one who completes her task in no time.
Her employers say Urmi might have
spoken hardly five lines or so in an
entire year and keeps aloof most times.
Her credentials are little known and her
identity card is suspect but as long as
she does the chores cheaply no one in
this posh society is complaining. It took
a Mrs Bhanu Bishwas in Flat No 216 to
unravel the mystery behind this woman.
Rain, sunshine or bitter cold
Urmi would brave it all but not miss a
single day at work. I have to push her to
take a day off to take care of her son.
She has been our cook for eight years.
Her husband, a rickshaw puller, passed
away in 2010 but this made Urmi only
more strong. On December 21, 2013, I
was busy preparing for my mothers
return from the US after a month long
trip that I noticed Urmi was more ner-
vous than usual. She looked scared.
When I asked her what the problem
was, she broke down and muttered:
That man is asking me to get a police
verification. She told me that her identi-
ty card and verification papers had been
forged 30 years ago when she came to
Delhi in search of work. Urmi was a
Bangladeshi who had managed to
escape that afternoon of torture,
Bishwas tells you.
Urmis problems multiplied when
she sneaked into India with her neigh-
bour without valid papers. She had been
raped umpteen times by his 24 year-old
son who liked to torture her before giv-
ing her food. There were a host of other
problems but Urmi had to be with them.
She was finally rescued by a Bengali
rickshaw-puller in Malviya Nagar 25
years ago but her problems did not end.
All her troubles here help her forget the
nightmare of that May afternoon which
separated her from her family forever,
Bishwas says.
The Bengali Sansthan, one of the
few registered official Bengali maid
agencies in New Delhi, has so far placed
around 40,000 Bangladeshi women in
Delhi alone. They are in huge numbers
in Kolkata and Mumbai as well. Agency
brokers help these maids get a new
identity by giving them aliases and fake
ID papers.
In the 1990s, many of these women
complained of ill-treatment. They were
sacked the minute they shared details
their details. Everyone in India knows
what had transpired during Operation
Searchlight. They felt awkward keeping
a help who had either been raped or was
the result of one. We had to do some-
thing to restore their sanity. Some of the
agencies advised these helps to lie about
their origins to be in their jobs. They
have followed this pattern ever since,
Manohar who owns this agency says.
Four decades after this genocide by
Pakistan, Mrityunjay Devrat, a Delhi-
based filmmaker, has decided to make a
motion picture on this huge human
tragedy. This film has not been an easy
one. When I decided to make this
socially relevant film with a direct mes-
sage, little did I realise that I had set my
sights on one of the most pathetic plight
of women which was crying for atten-
tion. Children of War deals with the
birth of Bangladesh in 1971 and dwells
on the genocide in which 4,00,000
women were raped and three million
people slaughtered, Devrat says, adding
that the film, to be released on February
21, had to be renamed from the original
The Bastard Child to Children of War
due to Censor Board issues.
As a child, Devrat lived in Dhaka,
where his parents worked, not far from
former Bangladeshi president the late
Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans house and
this helped him build the ambience of
his debut venture. We obviously were
not allowed to shoot this film in
Bangladesh so we had to be content
with Indian locales, he says.
Because genocidal rape was used as
a war tool, Devrat decided to focus on
that. I wanted to name the film The
Bastard Child but the Censor Board did
not agree. I was initially frustrated with
this double standards in the film indus-
try but realised this was a part and par-
cel of Indian Cinema, he says.
The film will be released in India
before it going to any international film
festivals but Devrat says he has got a
positive response from the worlds best
distributors.
Given that this operation was one of
the most darkest periods of history, how
did Devrat manage to do his research?
The movie is based on historical evi-
dence and true stories. Some parts are
fictionalised because no one really
knows the extent of the rapes and tor-
ture that took place back then. There is
no documentation available as the
Governments (Pakistan and India) dont
have any supporting files, he explains.
Meenavati Vardan, a Maharashtrian
NGO worker, had opened a recognised
counselling-cum-training centre (hostel)
for Bangladeshi refugees who managed
to flee to west Delhi in March, 1972 (it
is believed that Vardan had kept this
buildings identity a secret). The hostel
called Pannah was a two-storeyed dilap-
idated building housing 278 people who
had escaped from East Pakistan back
then. Although Vardan kept this hostel
her best guarded secret till 2005, after
her death, her elder son Murali brought
down this building to construct a duplex
for his family.
My mother dedicated her life to the
uplift of people. She may have given
shelter to a few refugees from East
Pakistan during 1971 but Panaah was
not constructed only for refugees. It was
just a hostel for the homeless. The
housemates got jobs and moved out.
The last occupant Gopal (49) died in
1983, he recalls.
However, locals have a different
story to tell.When Madamji was fit and
involved in the activities of Panaah,
these inmates had something to look up
to but once she started keeping ill, they
were driven away. There was a 35-year-
old widow Nazneen. She was Vardan
madams favourite. She was married into
the household of a prosperous landlord
in East Pakistan but Operation
Searchlight took everything from her.
Her husband was killed, her eight-
month-old daughter abducted, her in-
laws beaten to death and she was kid-
napped for 13 days before she managed
to break a windowpane and flee. In
those 13 days, Nazneen says she was
raped by many men, seldom given food
or water and beaten each time she resist-
ed. When she finally fled and took shel-
ter at a policemans house in the vicinity
her troubles doubled.
In November 1971, she found her-
self pregnant. Since the baby was already
into the second term there was no
chance of an abortion. Nazneen had to
give birth to a child whose father she
did not know. Barely some hours after
delivering her baby, she burnt him alive.
She worked with me for nine months
but her life was in tatters. We admitted
her to a rehabilitation centre for orphans
and women in New Delhi. We havent
heard from her since 1995, Dr Ritesh
Kalra, an occupant of Kidwai Nagar
(east), says. Nazneen and many other
women, he recalls, couldnt come to
terms with the horrors of those days
which had serious implications on their
health.
Devrat agrees. Many men and
women who survived the atrocities
couldnt live for many years. The memo-
ries of those months were torturous.
Imagine living in a rape camp for days
where many men violate you and then
you are thrown into the street and
forced to bear their children. The
Pakistani Army and their razakars (local
Bengali confidantes) would carry lists of
Bengali women to be abducted and
raped, sometimes 20 a day, Devvrat
says, explaining that the idea was to get
them to bear children from Pakistani
soldiers and thus, genetically engineer
the future race of the region.
There has been a lot of talk about
this and many who have braved to write
about their experiences but Lt Gen JFR
Jacobs books Surrender at Dacca: Birth
of a Nation and An Odyssey in War and
Peace are considered the most true-to-
life.
I dont like to talk about that sum-
mer. I cant bear to recall the atrocities
committed by Pakistani Armymen. I
knew Tikka Khan, the then Pakistani
General, very well. He was my student
in Deolali in 1947 and a brilliant boy.
But they called him the Butcher of
Bangladesh for a reason. Very seldom
have I come across a man who can so
cold-bloodedly order the murder and
rape an entire generation of women. He
commanded his men to rape and do so
violently. He told them to kill without
compassion. They slaughtered students
at the Dacca University, Lt Gen JFR
Jacob (retd), who was Chief of Staff of
the Eastern Command during the 1971
War, recalls.
It was his strategy that defined
Indias victory in that war within a span
of 12 days. Jacob, now 90 plus, lives in
Delhi with his family.
Devrat, meanwhile, says that docu-
menting such horrific tales on the big
screen looked impossible but he got as
close to reality as possible.
Raima Sen plays a woman who was
brutally raped. She was very moved
while doing this film as was the entire
starcast. There were times when my
actors needed a break just to let go of
the horrific journey. It was difficult for
them to detach themselves from the
roles they were playing, Devrat says.
The starcast and the moving stories
they tell in his film, Devrat feels, will
make COWa hit because they have the
power to connect with the audience.
While Pawan Malhotra has essayed one
of the toughest roles and done a phe-
nomenal job, Tilottama Shome portrays
an inspiring character in the film.
Besides Raima and Indraneil, veterans
like Farooque Shaikh who is no more
and Victor Banerjee brought to my film
a huge temple of learning, Devrat says.
A boy and his father who fled to India
in the 1970s also feature in the
film.They have sung a few numbers
and the child has enacted a few scenes.
He is superb, the director says.
According to one statistics, there
about 70,000 foetuses were aborted in
those nine months in East Pakistan. It is
believed that more than 40 per cent of
these women managed to flee to India
while some remained in Bangladesh.
Australian doctor Geoffrey Davis, who
performed thousands of late-term abor-
tions following the mass rapes during
the war, compared this kind of atrocities
to the Nazi Lebensborn programme. For
my film, I got a lot of information about
this war through his papers, Devrat
says.
You may get to see them as cooks
and cleaners in our homes but in reality
these people used to be very rich and
powerful. They were sethjis in their own
land. But when they lost everything,
they came here to stitch back what was
left of their lives by doing odd jobs,
Devrat explains with an example.
Maushami and Bijoy Roy (names
changed) owned one of the most popu-
lar jewellery stores in East Pakistan.
With annual earnings of up to C10 crore
and more, the Roys were easily the rich-
est people in Bangladesh. The childless
couple used to visit AIIMS in New Delhi
to explore fertility solutions. Little did
they know that they would become per-
manent residents of Neb Sarai and work
as part-time attendants at this same hos-
pital in the coming few months.
Their four-storey bungalow in the
heart of East Pakistan was burnt down
to ashes. Bijoys parents were sleeping
inside the house when this incident
occurred. Their shop was raided and
every item stolen or destroyed. There
was no way that the Roys could recover
from this loss.
Finally, after hiding in a secluded
basement for two days without food or
water, Bijoy managed to take a train to
India. He was hoping that friends and
relatives in Kolkata would help in start-
ing afresh. But no one did. Then
Maushami asked her AIIMS gynaecolo-
gist for help.
Dr Geetika Maheshwari was the
head surgeon at that time and a very
warm person. She offered us her
barsaati in Neb Sarai for a paltry sum of
C200 a month. We had no money, not
even enough money to buy clothes. We
borrowed some clothes from the doctor.
She got us the job attendants in the hos-
pital. For the first year, we worked for
free and used to get food and sometimes
a sleepover in the hospital. Later, we
were paid C2000 a month.
My husband died the next year
because he couldnt cope with the pres-
sure. I continued working in the
Gynaecology department. It was such an
irony that a childless mother had to
assist to-be mothers in delivering chil-
dren. I used to treat each delivery as my
own, each child as mine. I loved my job
and took training as a nurse too,
Maushami recalls.
Today, this 88 year-old former head
nurse of the Gynaecology and
Pediatrician Department stays with the
AIIMS hostel warden and is recuperat-
ing from dengue. She doesnt want to be
photograped nor does she want to tell
her story. The nightmare of 1971 is best
locked in the forgotten part of her brain.
I would like to erase that part of
history but that is not possible so I will
go ahead and watch this film by
Mrityunjay Devrat. I will also shed a
tear or two but I will come back home
happy to be alive, she concludes.
43 yoars havo
passod sinoo tho
1971 Bangladosh
War in whioh
4,00,000 womon
woro rapod ovor
nino months,
3 million pooplo
massaorod and
70,000 ootusos
abortod. Tho horrors
o Oporation
Soarohlight,
porpotratod by
Pakistan, still haunts
survivors who rooall
how tho horrors
unoldod. Now, a
truo-lio ilm on this
dark poriod o
history is ooming up.
DEEBASHPEE
MOHANTY mot up
with ilmmakor
Mrityun|ay Dovrat
who traoos tho
|ournoy o somo o
tho viotims whoso
troublod livos havo
boon highligtod in
his ilm titlod
Childron o War
l|i p+i||i|, +llJ l| C+p|+i| S|+| | l| Buu|], i u||||l] +| || +ll|] u| |u/||u| +|J i ||uW| |u | || || Jpi|iu| u| |+p + +| i|||u||| u| W+|. l| W+ p+i||J |] |||| +||i| C|+|l EJuu+|J J B+u|u|| i| !8c8
damned
and the
Tortured
l|E PA|lSlA|l AR|Y
A| l|ElR RA/A|ARS
(|CA| ||ES)
wu| CARRY |lSlS
| BE|A|l w|E|
l BE ABuClE A|
RAPE, S|Ell|ES uP
l 2J ll|ES A AY.
|RE l|A| 4,JJ,JJJ
w|E| wERE RAPE
l| l|E |l|E ||l|S
| PERAll|
SEARC||l|l
sport 10
kF S0Ch
T
he closest 1,500-meter race
in Olympic speedskating
history came down to a final
lunge of the skate - then a few
more agonizing seconds to fig-
ure out who won.
Zbigniew Brodka knocked
off all the favorites in the king
of races Saturday, capturing
Polands first gold medal in
Olympic speedskating by a mere
three-thousandths of a second
over Koen Verweij of the
Netherlands.
Shani Davis? He wasnt
even close. Verweij skated in the
final pair and powered towards
the line, trying desperately to
knock off Brodka in a race that
requires both endurance and a
sprinters speed.
At first, Brodka and Verweij
were shown with the same time,
broken down to hundredths of
a second. But the scoring system
in speedskating can take times
to the thousandths if necessary,
and that proved to be the differ-
ence. Brodka finished in 1
minute, 45.006 seconds. Verweij
settled for silver in 1:45.009. I
said to myself, These are the
Olympics and I have to push
right up to the line, the winner
said. Every thousands of a sec-
ond will be counted.
Brodka, who had skated in
the 17th of 20 pairs, watched
anxiously from the infield as
the times were calculated. He
thrust his arms in the air
when he saw the 1 stay
beside his name the first
major victory of his career.
Broola usets lig names
kF S0Ch
B
rad Jacobs scratched his
neck and rubbed his face
with his hands in a gesture of
sheer relief as he slid across the
ice to celebrate with his Canada
teammates.
The gold-medal favorites
in mens Olympic curling
stayed on course for the semi-
finals on Saturday.
But only just.
In another thrilling finish
at the Ice Cube Curling Center,
Canada stole a point in the final
end to beat Britain 7-5 and
avoid dropping back into trou-
ble in the standings. Relief,
Jacobs said.
China and Sweden earned
far more convincing wins to
move into a two-way tie for
the lead at 6-1 and guarantee
at least a tiebreaker for a spot
in the playoffs.
The Chinese silenced the
home crowd early in a 9-6 vic-
tory over Russia to maintain
their sparkling form this week
and Sweden needed only nine
ends to beat Germany 8-4.
The joint-leaders are one
more victory away from defi-
nitely being in the semifinals.
Both Britain and Canada are 5-
2. Only Norway (3-3), which
didnt play Saturday, realistical-
ly can stop the current top four
from advancing.
The Norwegians play
Britain in Sundays morning
session and could be knocked
out of contention with a loss.
Players and coaches from rival
teams stayed on to watch the
riveting end to the Canada-
Britain game, highlighting how
crucial it was in the context of
the tournament.
|+1uu|i| C+|+J+ lupp]
|u| Wi| i| || u|li|
kF S0Ch
T
.J. Oshie brainstormed
while he skated to center
ice, desperately trying to
come up with one last move to
end an epic shootout. He had
already taken five shots at Sergei
Bobrovsky, and the Russians
were still even.
Yet Oshie was chosen for
the U.S. mens hockey team
with just such a situation in
mind, and the shootout special-
ist concocted one last clever goal
to silence an arena filled with
screaming Russian fans.
Oshie scored four times in
the shootout and put the win-
ner between Bobrovskys legs in
the eighth round, leading the
United States past Russia 3-2
Saturday in the thrilling revival
of a classic Olympic hockey
rivalry.
I was just thinking of
something else I could do, try-
ing to keep him guessing, said
Oshie, the St. Louis Blues for-
ward. Had to go back to the
same move a couple times, but
I was glad it ended when it did.
I was running out of moves
there.
International rules allow
the same player to take multi-
ple shots after the first three
rounds of a shootout, and U.S.
coach Dan Bylsma leaned on
Oshies array of slick shots and
change-of-pace approaches to
the net. Oshie scored on the
Americans first shot before
taking the last five in a row,
going 4 for 6 against Bobrovsky
and disappointing a Bolshoy Ice
Dome crowd including Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
I aged a couple of years in
that shootout, Bylsma said.
We had other guys that are
capable, but T.J. was the guy who
was going well. It seemed like he
was going to score every time he
went.
Oshies final shot was a
beauty: He threaded a forehand
right through Bobrovskys pads,
the puck punching the back of
the Russian net emphatically
enough to pop the water bottle
on top into the air.
At some point, you think,
Does he have any more moves
left? U.S. captain Zach Parise
said. But he did a good job. ...
Thats hard to do, to get in a
goalies head and throw him off
a little bit.
Oshie was among the final
selections for the U.S. roster, and
though the 27-year-old from
Warroad, Minn., has never had
a 20-goal NHL season, he leads
American-born players with
seven shootout goals this sea-
son.
The U.S. men are only inter-
ested in the one that all but
wrapped up an automatic berth
in the quarterfinals next week.
I think youre going to see
T.J. Oshie become a household
name after that display he put
on, said David Backes, Oshies
teammate in St. Louis. The kids
will be out on the pond proba-
bly in Minnesota right now,
throwing a 5-hole on the goalie
three or four times in a row.
Cam Fowler and Joe
Pavelski scored in regulation for
the Americans in the marquee
game of the preliminary round.
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves
and stopped five attempts in the
shootout as the U.S. improved
to 2-0.
Captain Pavel Datsyuk
scored two goals in regulation
and another in the shootout for
the Russians, who rallied from
a third-period deficit in a fast-
paced game. Russia also had an
apparent goal waved off with
4:40 left because Quicks net
came off its moorings.
The U.S. team is a good
team and a good test for us,
Datsyuk said. We played good,
but the result is not good.
The shootout finish was
entertaining, but the entire
game was international hockey
at its most compelling - and the
third period was a thriller.
Pavelski scored the
tiebreaking goal for the
Americans on a power play with
10:33 to play, but Datsyuk tied
it with 7:16 left during a Russian
power play, spurring Putin out
of his seat to cheer.
After review, the officials
waved off Fedor Tyutins appar-
ent go-ahead goal because the
net was loose, incensing the
crowd. Russian coach Zinetula
Bilyaletdinov and Alex
Ovechkin both felt Quick had
intentionally dislodged his net
earlier in the sequence.
I dont know what hap-
pened there, but definitely was
a goal, Ovechkin said. Nobody
touched the net. Their goalie
touched the net and put it out.
But the referee has to see it and
at least give him two minutes,
you know?
Quick claimed he didnt
even realize the net had come
unmoored.
You need to catch some
breaks to win games, he said.
Both teams had quality
chances in overtime, but
Bobrovsky denied Patrick Kane
on a breakaway in the most hair-
raising moment.
The sociopolitical impact of
that game is long gone, and the
nations have already met three
previous times in the Olympics
since NHL players joined the
games in 1998.
8IvaIry reh0ra
uSARussia icehockey lie had lension wrillen all over il
Rui+ u+l||J| S|i Bu||u1|i |up + ||+| +W+] ||u| uSA |u|W+|J P+||i| |+| i| u1||i| u| + || i |u|] +| +| || wi||| l]|pi u| S+|u|J+] AP
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
sport 11
NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
EhIkh EkT IIhhEY Fk88E8 kWkY
London: England oolball greal Tom Finney has died al
lhe age o O1, his ormer club Freslon horlh End said.
"Freslon horlh End have been inormed o lhe
exlremely sad news o lhe assing o Sir Tom Finney,"
a slalemenl on lhe English lhird lier club's websile said
on Friday. "Sir Tom was lhe grealesl layer lo ever lay
or Freslon horlh End and one o all lime greals or
England. "The lhoughls o everyone al lhe club, and
lhose connecled wilh il, are wilh his amily al lhis lime.
Finney, a winger who could lay in several osilions
across lhe orward line, was amously loyal lo his
homelown side in Lancashire, norlhwesl England.
Finney made his debul or horlh End in 1O4G and
remained wilh lhe club unlil his reliremenl in 1OGO,
scoring 21O goals in 478 aearances or lhe
Lillywhiles. his England record was equally imressive,
Finney scoring 8O goals in 7G malches or his counlry.
0ne o lhe mosl oular Brilish sorlsmen o his era,
wilh ans and ellow layers alike, Finney was
nicknamed lhe 'Freslon Flumber' aler his alher
insisled he comlele an arenliceshi al lhe amily
business he laler ran alongside his oolball career.
kkThIk EkE T FIkY hE kY
Mumbai: wickelkeeerbalsman 0inesh Karlhik, who
was lhe secondcoslliesl buy al C12.5 crore in lhe FL
auclion al Bangalore earlier lhis week, is keen lo lay
under 0elhi 0aredevils coach 0ary Kirslen in season 7
o lhe T2O lournamenl slarling Aril O. "Everybody
knows him as a wonderul human being and his lrack
record has been henomenal. l is going lo be
wonderul lo be working wilh a erson like him and
you require a calm head in T2O and he will deinilely
bring lhal lo lhe lable," Karlhik lold reorlers here
aboul exndia coach Kirslen. " lhink il is a very
balanced squad. l is one o lhose squads where you
don'l have huge names, bul lhink we have lhe
olenlial lo win games o crickel. Bul T2O is such a
ormal. l is nol aboul how slrong a leam is, bul al lhal
given day who lays lhe besl," said lhe Tamil hadu
wickel keeerbalsman who will lead ndia Cemenls in
lhe BCC Cororale Trohy lournamenl slarling on
Sunday.
MhkMMEkh WIh IIk 8hIEI
Kolkata: Mohammedan Sorling came back rom
behind and overcame a siriled challenge rom Sheikh
Jamal 0hanmondi Club lo emerge winners in lhe
enally shooloul and clinch lhe FA Shield or lhe irsl
lime since 1O71. Flaying in ronl o a ren/y 4O,OOO
odd home suorl al lhe vivekananda Yuba Bharali
Krirangan, bolh lhe leams were locked 11 al exlra
lime. Subslilule goalkeeer haseem Akhlar, who came
in lace o an injured Luis Barrelo in lhe exlra lime in a
ine move by Mohammedan Sorling coach Sanjoy
Sen, lhwarled 0idarul haque's solkick or a 48 win in
lhe shooloul. 0own O1 in lhe 28lh minule aler Sony
horde's curling reekick, Mohammedan Sorling made
a comeback al lhe slroke o hallime when Mehrajuddin
wadoo made il 11 in lhe 45+1sl minule lo sark a
celebralion.
EMF 8EkT khk1IE, 1MF T 6Th
Vasco: Two irsl hal slrikes saw 0emo FC score a 2
O win over Rangdajied uniled FC lo move lo ilh lace
in lheir relurn malch o lhe League al Tilak Sladium
here on Salurday. 0emo scored lhrough Alwyn
0eorge (7lh) and haroon Amiri (44lh). wilh 1O oinls
rom 1G malches, lhey jumed lo ilh lace.
Rangdajied uniled FC, who suered lheir second
slraighl deeal here, remained al lhe bollom wilh 12
oinls rom 1G malches. 0emo who were al lhe lenlh
osilion, jusl our oinls above bollom lace
Rangdajied uniled, slrenglhened lheir deence and
slrike orce wilh lhe recruilmenl o oreigners,
Aghanislan calain haroon Amiri and Tolgay 0/bey.
3 kThIETE8 ETh 'EIE6TIVE' MEkI8
Margao: Three 0oan alhleles have relurned lheir
medals won al lhe Lusoonia 0ames2O14 here aler
lhey allegedly began losing sheen, leaving lhe
organisers redaced even as lhey sloed aymenl lo
lhe medals' manuaclurers. Alhleles Anik haik (silver),
0esiree Fereira (Bron/e) and hinanshu velingkar
(Bron/e) relurned lheir medals yeslerday lo lhe 0ames
0rgani/ing Commillee, claiming lhal lhey were
"deeclive." The silver medal was ading while lhe
bron/e medals had black sols all over lhem. 0ireclor
o Sorls and Youlh Aairs, v M Frabhudesai said lhe
Lusoonia 0ames 0rgani/ing Commillee (Lu00C) had
earlier insecled lhe medals aler receiving unoicial
comlainls and were shocked lo see lhal mosl o lhem
were nol in good shae.
8ZI1k6 WIh8 kIkkTk TITIE
Kolkata: Conlinuing his dream run, unseeded lija
Bo/oljac o Serbia oullayed Russian lhird ranked
Evgeny 0onskoy in slraighl sels lo clinch lhe singles
lille al lhe $5O,OOO ATF Challenger Tour evenl, here on
Salurday. having made lhe inal wilhoul droing a sel,
lhe Serbian ired 11 aces en roule lo a lhuming G1,
G1 win in a maller o 58 minules al lhe BTA Courls.
The Serbian, who ockeled uS0 72OO and 8O ranking
oinls, said he's leasl inleresled in ollowing rankings.
Asked aboul rankings, Bo/oljac said " don'l know...
did nol even check my ranking or lhree years!" " was
52 u in lhe second sel and had a chance o gelling
lhe sel bul he layed well," he said.
FEEk IIIT8 TITIE, IkhII 8E6h
Bangalore: 0eending chamion Anirban Lahiri gave a
siriled charge on lhe inal round wilh a card o our
under G8 bul Sri Lankan goler Milhun Ferera came u
wilh a resolule oneunder 71 lo win lhe F0T Eagleburg
0en, his second lille in lwo weeks. Ferera signed o
wilh a lournamenl lolal o 22under 2GG lo regisler a
lhreeshol win desile Lahiri's brillianl show on lhe inal
day here. Local avourile Lahiri secured runneru
osilion aler ending u wilh a lolal o 1Ounder 2GO.
Ferera (G5GGG471) and Lahiri (G8G5G8G8) were
involved in a very keen conlesl loday wilh a ew lwisls
and lurns. Anirban made all lhe moves on lhe irsl 11
holes wilh ive birdies againsl a lone bogey lo overcome
a huge sixshol deicil and draw level wilh Milhun, who
had only lwo bogeys lo show on lhal slrelch.
kh IIhkIE I 86hI I 8FEE
New Delhi: FuMA kicked o ndia's irsl relay race or
sludenls wilh lhe 0elhi edilion o School o Seed al
lhe Jawaharlal hehru Sladium on Salurday. School o
seed is a relay race or children belween lhe 7lh and
1Olh slandard who comele or lhe lille o lhe Faslesl
Team and School. The 0elhi edilion o School o Seed
saw lhe relay race wilh over 1,5OO sludenls who
arlicialed enlhusiaslically or lhe lille. vidya 0yan
School made a clean swee in lhe junior boys calegory
and 0SS School bagged lhe junior girls lille. hol lo be
lel behind lhe senior leams raced comelilively lo see
vidya 0yan School and 0BSSS School win lhe lille in
lhe senior girls and boys calegory, reseclively. The
nalional winners rom lhe senior calegory boys and
girls leams 0BSSS School and vidya 0yan School will
now move on lo exclusive meel wilh usain Boll.
Fh8lkgenries
8I86lF8
FTI wELLh0T0h
A
jinkya Rahane cracked his
maiden ton as India
dished out a dominant
batting display to take a massive
246-run lead and put them-
selves in the drivers seat against
New Zealand in the second and
final Test here on Saturday.
Rahane, playing in his fifth
Test, struck a classy 118 which he
made from 158 deliveries with
the help of 17 fours and a six as
India scored 438 all out on the
second day in reply to New
Zealands 192 on a Basin Reserve
pitch which has considerably
eased out in favour of batsmen.
Pacer Zaheer Khan dis-
missed opener Peter Fulton for
just one as New Zealand ended
the day on 24 for one, still trail-
ing by 222 runs with nine second
innings wickets in hand.
The other opener Hamish
Rutherford and in-form Kane
Williamson were at the crease on
18 and four respectively at the
draw of stumps. Rahane bettered
his previous highest score of 96,
made in Durban against South
Africa in December last year. He
put on a 120-run seventh wick-
et stand with skipper Mahendra
Singh Dhoni (68 off 86 balls) as
India pressed for advantage in the
post-tea session with some
aggressive batting.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan
(98) was unlucky to miss out on
a century. Dhawan, who laid the
foundation of Indias best batting
show of the Test series, faced 127
balls and struck 14 fours and a
six. India also scored at a brisk
pace on Saturday adding 338
runs from 74.4 overs they faced.
They scored at 4.26 runs per over
overall.
For New Zealand, Tim
Southee (3/93), Trent Boult
(3/99), Neil Wagner (3/106) and
James Neesham (1/62) shared the
spoils among them. Corey
Anderson (0/66) went wicket-
less. With three full days left,
India, who lost the first Test in
Auckland by 40 runs, would
look to win the game and level
the two-match series.
Starting off at 301/6 post-tea,
Rahane and Dhoni scored runs
at a quick clip, especially the lat-
ter. The Indian captain brought
up his 29th Test fifty off 64 balls
with six fours and one six, in the
86th over. Two overs later, they
brought up their 100-run part-
nership. Just as it was looking too
easy for the Indian batsmen,
Dhoni was strangled down the
leg-side and caught by keeper BJ
Watling off Boult in the 93rd
over.
Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 16
balls) came to the crease and
started hitting out, living by the
sword and dying by it, in the 97th
over. He added 37 runs with
Rahane who was now beginning
to run out of partners. But
Zaheer hung around long
enough for Rahane to complete
his richly deserved maiden hun-
dred, coming off 149 balls, with
15 fours.
After becoming the 76th
Indian batsman to score a Test
century, he changed gears to
add 38 quick runs with Zaheer,
who scored 22 runs of 19 balls
with the help of four fours. At the
other end, Rahanes superb
innings was brought to an end by
an equally stupendous one-hand-
ed catch in the deep by Boult in
the 102nd over. An over later,
India were bowled out, with
Zaheer edging behind.
Brief Scores
New Zealand: 192 and 24-1
(Hamish Rutherford 18 not out;
Zaheer Khan 1-7) trail India 1st
Innings 438 (Ajinkya Rahane
118, Shikhar Dhawan 98, MS
Dhoni 68; Tim Southee 3-93,
Trent Boult 3-99) by 222 runs. at
close of play on Day 2 of second
Test. New Zealand lead 2-Test
seies 1-0.
Rahane hils maiden hundred as visilors lake 24Grun 1sl innings lead over hZ; irsl win a ossibilily
Ia4Ia fIa4 theIr f00tIa
FTI M0hAL
L
ocal favourites Jaypee Punjab Warriors
dished out a commendable performance to
register a 2-1 win over Uttar Pradesh Wizards
in a hard-fought match of the Hero Hockey India
League, here on Saturday.
Playing attacking hockey under nearly
freezing weather conditions, Punjab skipper
Jamie Dwyer gave an early lead to his team when
he scored from the left flank in the 21st minute
by beating the goalkeeper.
Eight minutes later, Sandeep Singh increased
the lead when he scored from the rebound of his
own flick, thus converting the only penalty cor-
ner which the team had earned.
Despite missing some chances, Punjab kept
up the attack and the Wizards fought hard and
were rewarded in the 35th minute when Inglis
Hugo Reid scored the solitary goal. With this win,
Punjab have now won five matches out of the
eight played so far and are placed at number two
spot while Wizards are a rung below with four
wins from nine outings.
WkVEIE8 8EkT MkI6Ikh8
Mumbai: Rajpal Singhs double strike helped
Delhi Waveriders thrash Mumbai Magicians 5-
3. The table-toppers, Delhi Waveriders, took the
lead in the third minute with striker Yuvraj
Walmiki, who deflected the ball at the goalmouth
after skipper Sardar Singh got an initial touch.
The hosts managed to equalise seven minutes
later through a combined effort from Bharat
Chikkara and captain Glenn Turner. It was the
visitors who surged ahead in the 11th minute
with another brilliant field goal, when Rajpal
Singh sent the ball soaring past the diving
Mumbai goalkeeper P R Sreejesh.
Mumbai next play Kalinga Lancers in
Mumbai while Punjab would lock horns with
Ranchi Rhinos.
FTI 0uBA
D
efending champions India
kicked off their campaign on
a positive note as they comfortably
defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 40
runs in their first marquee clash
of this editions Under-19 World
Cup here on Saturday.
The holders posted 262 for
seven after opting to bat at the
Dubai International Cricket
Stadium and then bowled out
their opponents for 222 in 48.4
overs, with off-spinner Deepak
Hooda registering figures of five
for 41.
Sarfaraz Khan (74) and Sanju
Samson (68) were the major con-
tributors with the bat for the
India U-19 side before Baroda
player Hooda did the trick with
the ball.
Pakistan were off to a solid
start with the two openers, Sami
Aslam (64) and Imam-ul-Haq
(39) putting 109 runs together for
the opening wicket. But their bat-
ting fell apart in the face of some
spirited bowling from the Indians,
managing to add only 113 runs for
the loss of nine wickets.
Earlier, opting to take first
strike, India rode on Akhil
Herwadkar and Ankush Bains to
put on 65 runs for the first wick-
et in just a little under nine overs,
before Irfanullah Shah struck for
Pakistan. India U-19 skipper Vijay
Zol did not last long as he was
trapped in front by Zia-ul-Haq,
just fours runs after Bains dis-
missal.
After racing to 41 off 46 balls,
Herwadkar was bowl ed by
legspinner Karamat Ali. Ricky
Bhui followed suit, caught off
Alis own bowling to leaving India
in a spot of bother at 94 for four
in the 20th over.
India needed a partnership at
that stage and Sanju Samson and
Sarfaraz Khan did the needful by
putting up 119 runs for the fifth
wicket to put the holders on track
for posting a challenging total.
While Sarfaraz struck five fours
and a six in his 78-ball knock,
Samson found the fence twice
while clearing it once during his
101-ball innings. Both took their
time to gauge the conditions and
situation. They paced their innings
differently and while Samson
dropped anchor and held one end,
Sarfaraz was given the licence to
look for boundaries.
Sarfaraz swept the spinners
and was successful in finding the
gaps. After remaining scoreless for
his first 15 balls and surviving a
dropped chance at slip, he opened
up with Samson too playing con-
fidently at the other end. A pro-
ductive powerplay period fol-
lowed for India as both players
used their feet against the spinners
to eke out 36 runs. But Sarfaraz got
out soon, falling to a miss-hit,
before Samson too made his way
back to the pavilion.
Lower-order batsman Deepak
Hooda made a quickfire 22 off 18
balls to help India reach a target
that could challenge their oppo-
nents. For Pakistan, Irfanullah
Shah and Karamat Ali picked up
two wickets each.
Brief Scores
India Under-19: 262 for 7
(Sarfaraz 74, Samson 68) beat
Pakistan Under-19: 222 (Aslam
64 not out, Hooda 5-41) by 40
runs
k8TkIIk ThMF
hkMI8Ik 8Y 101 h8
Meanwhile, in the other match-
es of the day, opener Shadman
Islam became the first batsman of
the 2014 tournament to hit a cen-
tury as Bangladesh gave
Afghanistan a cricket lesson when
they won by 10 wickets at Abu
Dhabi Oval 2. Three-time former
winner Australia thumped Namibia
by 101 runs at Zayed Cricket
Stadium and Scotland made short
work of Papua New Guinea (PNG)
by six wickets at ICC Academy 1.
After initial liccus, noia leat Palistan ly 40 runs in !-19 Worlo Cu
Colls slarl deence in slyle
kF CEhTuR0h
A
ustralia crushed crickets
top-ranked team on
Saturday as unstoppable fast
bowler Mitchell Johnson took
12 of 20 wickets to send South
Africa to a humbling 281-run
defeat at home in the first test.
Already with 7-68 from
the first innings, Johnson
ripped out 5-59 in the second
to bowl South Africa out for
200, way off the huge target of
482 at SuperSport Park.
Johnson finished with match
figures of 12-127 off 33 brutal-
ly hostile overs.
Bowling fast and often
short, and too fast for the
South Africans to handle, the
left-arm Johnson sent back
openers Alviro Petersen and
Graeme Smith inside four
overs. He had JP Duminy out
just before tea. For good mea-
sure, Johnson struck Ryan
McLaren a crunching blow
on the helmet with a bouncer,
then blasted him out too as a
ruthless Australia took the
lead in the three-match con-
test.
The red-hot quick eventu-
ally finished with a second
five-wicket haul of the match
and his third career 10-for in
tests. Fellow fast bowlers Peter
Siddle and Ryan Harris had
two each as Australia rattled
through South Africas top
order for the second time in
the match and then bruised its
lower order.
Johnsons destructive start
to the series opener already
had the Proteas all out for 206
in their first knock.
Sweeping aside South
Africas No. 1 ranking, Australia
and Johnson had the home
team on the ropes throughout
the opening match and sealed
a commanding win to start the
three-match series, where
Australia is now far more than
just a mere challenger to South
Africas status as the top team
in the world. Australia has
been the best team by some way
in this match.
Brief Scores
Australia: 397 (Shaun Marsh
148, Steve Smith 100; Dale
Steyn 4-78) and 290-4 declared
(David Warner 115, Alex
Doolan 89; Steyn 2-61) beat
South Africa: 206 (AB de
Villiers 91; Mitchell Johnson 7-
68) and 200 (AB de Villiers 48;
Johnson 5-59) by 281 runs.
A|i||]+ R+|+| |+i |i |+| +||| u|i| |i |i|| |u|J|J ++i|| |W /+l+|J +| wlli||u| u| S+|u|J+] AP
`ll rememler tlis first ton
for a long time: Ajinlya
FTI wELLh0T0h
E
lated after scoring his
maiden Test hundred,
Ajinkya Rahane thanked
retired legends Sachin
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid
for inspiring him and helping
him become a better player.
Rahul Dravid is my role
model and I have been follow-
ing him since childhood. I
have played with him in the
Indian team and with Rajasthan
Royals, and so I really learnt a
lot from him both on and off
the field. I just want to thank
Rahul bhai, Rahane said at the
end of second days play here.
I also want to thank Sachin
(Tendulkar) paaji because dur-
ing his last two Test matches, he
told me about my batting. He
said, I have been following you,
and your hard work and your
fitness. Just be patient and wait
for your chance. Thanks to both
of them, he added.
The 25-year-old said he
did not know how to express
his feeling of elation at getting
maiden Test ton. I dont know
how to express my feelings. A
Test hundred is always special,
but I will remember this first
hundred for a long time. Its a
very special hundred for me,
but tomorrow is also a crucial
day for us and hopefully the
bowlers will do their job, said
Rahane.
Meanwhile, how the pitch
behaves over the next three days
will be vital to Kiwi chances of
preventing India from squaring
the series. Wicketkeeper-bats-
man BJ Watling said that the
pitch had improved. The wick-
et has definitely improved. On
day one, it was pretty green and
doing a bit. Today, there was still
enough in it for the bowlers but
it has browned off and looks a
pretty decent batting track now.
We are looking forward to get-
ting out there and taking on the
challenge and trying to bat for
a long time as a group, he
insisted.
RAhuL 0RAv0 S MY R0LE
M00EL Ah0 hAvE BEEh
F0LL0wh0 hM ShCE
ChL0h000. hAvE FLAYE0
wTh hM h ThE h0Ah
TEAM Ah0 wTh RAJASThAh
R0YALS, Ah0 S0 REALLY
LEARhT A L0T FR0M hM
B0Th 0h Ah0 0FF ThE FEL0.
JuST wAhT T0 ThAhK
RAhuL BhA
- AJhKYA RAhAhE
Pacer Zaheer Khan
dismissed opener
Peter Fulton for
just one as New
Zealand ended the
day on 24 for one,
still trailing by 222
runs with nine
second innings
wickets in hand
1u||u| |u||+u|
|ull u1| Suu|| A||i+
Bowler's 12 wickels give Auslralia 281
run viclory over hosls in 1sl Tesl
Bowling short
and too fast for
the South
Africans to
handle, left-
arm quick
Johnson sent
back openers
Alviro Petersen
and Graeme
Smith inside
four overs
p+| |uuJ+ |uu| |i1 Wi|| +|J u|J 22 u|| !8 |+ll i| || +| |il p|u|u
Warriors outwit Wizards 2-1
|i||ll 1u||u| l||+| u| u| |i Wi|| ++i|| Suu|| A||i+ AP
Pu||+| w+||iu| S+|Jp Si|| (|i||) l||+| + u+l Pll
QWere you nervous about
your debut film Gulaab Gang?
The entire team has put in
a lot of hard work into the mak-
ing of Gulaab Gang. It was an
honour to work with Madhuri
and Juhi who are considered
icons in the industry. When
Madhuri is on the sets, she is
a thorough professional. Her
song Rangi Sari Gulaabi
Chunariya, which is already
quite a rage was not made
overnight. She rehearsed the
song for a month before going
ahead with the final recording.
She also had to undergo a 30-
day training camp with Shifu
Kanishka Sharma and Madhuri
did it very sportingly.
It was slightly more diffi-
cult for Juhi Chawla who is
playing a negative character for
the first time. At first, she was
slightly apprehensive but she
stuck to the script and followed
her instinct. Both these veter-
ans can make any character
come alive on screen. For me,
GG is going to be the biggest
grosser of 2014.
QWith this film you have
donned many hats. How dif-
ficult was it for you to man-
age so many things?
Very few people know that
Im a trained musician. Neha
Saraf and I have composed
many songs. I have conceptu-
alised the lyrics for this film
and because I had the time I
decided to compose as well. It
was not very difficult to han-
dle because we had ample
time. Only after wrapping up
the script we ventured into
other areas. In the last stage, the
film was directed and sent for
post-production. Everything
fell into place without difficul-
ty.
QYour biggest challenge in
making such a heroine-ori-
ented action film
Working on all-woman
action drama with no male lead
was a huge challenge. It was a
dream come true for me to
direct my first film with the two
biggest stars in Bollywood. I
have always looked up to them
for inspiration. And they have
done exceedingly well. I am
riding on their popularity to
make this film a cult one.
QLead us through the mak-
ing of GG?
There is a charm in shoot-
ing with veterans. They know
their work so well that the
di rectors rol e becomes
redundant. The day when
Saroj Khan and Madhuri were
practising steps for a song was
the most memorable one for
me. It took me back to their
heyday. They share brilliant
chemistry. It is a learning
experience to see them work
together. We were shooting in
Wai, Maharashtra, and the
weather was quite chilly, but
that wouldnt deter Saroj and
Madhuris practice sessions.
Although Saroj can be quiet a
hard taskmaster, Madhuri was
not complaining. I have never
seen her lose her cool while
acting. She was completely
focussed.
QWhat works according to
you a popular starcast or
a good script?
For me, if the script is
good, it will finds its own
audience. We have seen many
examples where films with big
names bombed at the box
office due to a thin story line.
The script has to be good and
more importantly should be
performed well by the actors
on the big screens.
QIs it based on Sampat Pals
life?
Next question please.
QBut Sampat has asked for
credit....
Gulaab Gang is a com-
pletely fictional film. We have
Maharashtrian women who
can dance the lavani and fight
with weapons bought from
the North East!
backpack 12 NEW DELH SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2014
QDo you remember seeing the orig-
inal 1987 RoboCop ?
Oh yes, I probably saw it around 20
times during my childhood.
QWhat did you think when you
heard it was going to be remade?
When I first heard it was going to
be remade I thought it would really
depend on who the filmmaker is for me
to be interested in it; and then I found
out that Jos Padilha was going to direct
it, which excited me. He is such an inter-
esting and talented filmmaker.
QWhat had you seen of Jos Padilhas
previous work?
I had seen his documentary Bus 174
and the two Elite Squad movies and
really liked them. So, I definitely want-
ed to meet him, regardless of what pro-
ject he was working on.
QHow did that first meeting with the
Brazilian filmmaker go?
He told me his vision for this film,
which I thought was very brave and that
it could be both intellectually and
physically challenging for me as an
actor. So, that got me engaged in the
process of trying to get the role. I real-
ly had to fight to get it!
QAfter having achieved that, how do
you see your character?
Alex Murphy loves his job and his
family and is a great cop trying to do
the best he can in a flawed and corrupt
system until some events completely
change the course of his life. Then he
has to learn to deal with this new real-
ity as he struggles between trying to
regain his humanity and accepting his
new ability to make a difference.
QHis wife Clara is portrayed by
Abbie Cornish.
She was an actress that I was unfa-
miliar with, but I couldnt be happier
with how its gone for us. Abbie brought
an emotional truth and rawness that
helped to portray the loss they go
through as a family.
QWhat does she deliver on screen that
is so important?
The family dynamic is the emo-
tional core of the movie and critical to
how the audience feels about what Alex
Murphy is going through, and what
they have lost together.
QWhich scene would you say was the
toughest for you to shoot?
The scene in which my character
wakes up as RoboCop, its a complete
reality-altering experience. Its like
being born again into a nightmare, a
surreal situation that has so many dif-
ferent emotions that have to be por-
trayed. This scene was tough to prepare
because theres so much pain that he
goes through, but its something I had
to live with and rehearse in my mind
for awhile leading up to shooting it.
QIn that scene you are playing oppo-
site Gary Oldman in the role of Dr
Dennett Norton, the scientist incharge
of the RoboCop programme.
It was an incredible luck to play
opposite him because he is such a phe-
nomenal actor who expresses with his
eyes. Gary is a great partner to have on
the set.
QAnd what surprised you about
director Padilha?
That before the shoot we went
through a rehearsal process I hadnt
done since I was in the theatre,
where he really opened the books for
us. I was very surprised having this
kind of process in a big budget stu-
dio movie. You often hear that in
these types of projects decisions
are made in boardrooms
and that the creative
process is stalled due
to all these other
interests that
come into it
(when there is a
lot of money
involved there is
also a lot of fear, people
want to protect their invest-
ments and dont want to let go
of any control), but here Jos
won a couple of big battles and
the trust of the people that have
invested in this movie. So, we actually
had a three-week process before the
shoot with all the actors in which we
went through the whole script, rehears-
ing and tweaking the script.
QHow do you believe that rehearsal
process helped the movie?
It helped create a feeling of ensem-
ble. It was a very open process that was
inspiring and impressive.
QAnd what was Padilha like on the
sets?
He is a passionate happy man, often
joking around and creating a great
atmosphere. He has his Brazilian team,
which includes his photographer Lula
Carvalho and his editor, the Academy
Award Nominee Daniel Rezende. He is
very comfortable with them, and they
are just very friendly
happy people. Jos is a boss
that everybody wants to
help.
QWhat differentiates him from other
directors?
The way he earns the respect of all
the people that work with him. People
are having fun while taking him very
seriously.
QOne of the most iconic aspects of
RoboCop is the suit he wears. How is
it?
It became a big part of the perfor-
mance. It took about half an hour to put
on and is formed of pieces that had to
be assembled together. So, wearing it
completely changed my pattern of
movements. And even though I have to
admit that it was a bit uncomfortable,
because it weighed around 35 pounds
and was pretty taxing, I got used to
it. Wearing it became the reality of
the situation. And if I ever thought
any morning, Ugh, I have got to put
this on again, I just reminded
myself how fortunate I was.
QWhat can you say about
the gadgets and firepower
of the suit?
RoboCop has a lot
of firepower! And
when he gets
involved in a fight
he uses a mixture of
many things. I stud-
ied some Brazilian
jujitsu movements
that were modified due
to the constraints of the
suit, and I did some Thai
boxing too, which helped.
QHow different is your look
in this movie compared to the
original RoboCop?
In this movie you can still see
my face until I go into combat
mode because then there is a
visor that comes down. So for
the dramatic scenes it was pos-
sible to connect with my co-
actors on a deeper level.
QBut how would you compare
our idea now of what robots will
be like in the future to what they
thought back in the 80s?
There is a big difference between
the vision of a robot in 1987 to our
future vision of a robot now. Today, we
already have robots and people with
bionic hands and legs that work per-
fectly well. So, our vision of a robot in
15 years is going to be something that
is pretty advanced.
QAnd how different would you say
the tones of the two films are?
There are two very different direc-
tors directing them so that will of course
be reflected in the tone of the different
films. We did keep some of the satire
though..
'RoboCo has a lol o ireower'
J0EL KhhAMAh who lays RoboCo in lhe lalesl inslallmenl says he eels
incredibly lucky lo have been selecled lo lay lhis lille role. According lo lhis
melhod aclor, Bra/ilian direclor Jose Fadilha is lhe besl lo work wilh in
hollywood. Excerls
Talktime
6280,. 6(1
Scriptwriter Sen turns director with Gulaab
Gang a film which marks the comeback of
Madhuri Dixit and brings out the evil side of
Juhi Chawla. The director-cum-singer-cum
composer of this film tells
SANGEETA YADAV that his directorial
debut is not based on Sampat Pals life and
times. It is a fictional film with fictional situa-
tions, Sen asserts. Excerpts:
GG is not
based on
any real
character
A
www. Somebody recorded a babys first
walk; cautious, hesitant but willing to
run. Another eager mother filmed hers
cooing, drooling and rocking unsteady
to the rhythm of music. Yet another
caught the merry abandon of the senses and a
carefree tossing of the head. Babies, their one-
toothed smiles and unconscious behaviour
patterns, have always elicited a smile. Be it in home
videos, the collage of dancing toddlers in Tata
Docomos latest dhinka chika advertisement or
the Huggies campaign, where the baby follows the
shadow of his mother, in this case Kajol in an
unconventional second role, and kisses it, creative
directors world over are using first-born moments
to rekindle human stories in an anodised world,
increasingly dependent on automated emoticons.
Its not just babies. If the latest Budweisers
super bowl commercial is anything to go by
a lost pup finds his way into the stables and
befriends Clydesdales who prevent their owner
from finding another home for him innocence
is the only experience. The beer giant decided to
indulge in some clever wordplay, extracting bud
from its title to build a best buds campaign in
conventional and social media.
And in a classic twist of dosti, the social
service Taare Zameen Par ad features a blind girl
sheltering a physically-challenged boy under an
umbrella just to hear his story about how
Spiderman grants kids wishes.
Brands across the globe are now looking for
more slice of life slides for their storyboards,
using a multitude of ordinary faces cutting across
generations, to sell what is now a rare
commodity in a digital society, the human touch.
As cellular service provider Idea, itself an enabler
of smart devices applications, in one of its ads on
language barriers, had effectively communicated,
You dont really need a language. Because an
idea can change your life.
Advertising is weaving a story that makes a
brand endearing to the consumer. That story can
be something that makes you jump out of your
chair, laugh out loud, bring tears to your eyes or
cuddle the person sitting next to you. But the
essential of a good story is that it should strike a
chord with the person whos watching it. The more
potential the ad has to evoke emotions, the more
relatable and better it is. You will notice that most
recent successful ads establish an emotional bond
with the audience, so much so that the ad lingers
on in the minds of viewers, not because of the
brand or the product, but because of the story or its
characters. Each ad film has to present emotions
differently and sometimes share a message too. Our
Asian Paints Har ghar kuchh kehta hai ad with an
army officer recreating the room of his wifes
maiden home is not only about human sensitivity
but about the softness and warmth behind a tough
exterior. It is a lot about comfort that we are
constantly craving for, says Abhijit Awasthi,
national creative director, Ogilvy India.
5=?D9?>C 9> 1 4979D1< 175
Brand managers across the world are using the
classical tool of irony to tug at the heartstrings.
While the digital revolution has connected us from
moment to moment, sometimes making even the
insignificant ones stand up and be counted, this
over-saturation and full engagement of the senses
have alienated us from the touch and feel of
simplicity. We may stay in touch with the tap of
the button but not in touch with reality, a reality
where family members are clued into their
respective devices in the same house but text each
other through the day rather than talking or
hugging. Marketers are tapping the wellspring of
human emotions sitting deep inside us,
unexpressed but bubbling over.
This is one of the reasons why the zany
slickness, smart lines and photoshopped
perfection of an aspirational society has in fact
deglamourised itself, choosing normal 35 mm
film type formats, grainy home video styles, slice-
of-life stories and a pan-Indian regular Indian
family to convey its message very simply.
Storyboards are not sensational but sensible,
taglines arent just clever, they are simple and the
characters are no longer stars but the ordinary
Indian. In a sense, emotions are the new nostalgia,
longed for only because they are slipping away. As
a noted brand expert says, In a way emotions re-
establish our own sense of historicity, particularly
in Asia. A study by Asia Emotion examined ads
that people rated highly and found that engaging
emotions in communications led to a more
powerful audience response with better messaging
and better brand impact.
The findings of the study emphatically proved
that emotional appeals used in TV ads were
preferred and had a positive impact for
respondents with different demographic and
psychographics profiles. This was more profound
among female respondents from a lower age group
and among respondents having achievement as
their highest priority need. However, a mixed
response was found for TV ads dominated with
emotional appeals when a cross comparison was
made across demographic and psychographics
profile along with product life stage. In some cases,
emotional appeal was preferred to rational appeal
while on the other hand, rational appeal was
preferred by respondents under some specific
situations proving the fact that the impact of
appeal is situation-specific. Either way, the
emotional response is vital, particularly among
gender and age categories.
While the women orientation dominated
much of the earlier storyboards, premised
largely on the supposition that they are the ones
who make a bulk of the buying decisions, the
new demographic profile of India has
necessitated a shift in target groups. So most
advertisements are focussed on the two age
groups that would influence opinion with their
numbers in this decade the young and the
old. Both groups are most receptive to emotions.
So while the Cadburys Silk campaign focusses
on the sheer physicality of emotion and enwraps
the fullness of the senses with the very teen cheesy
line, kiss me, close your eyes and miss me,
Google Indias cross-border friendship ad of two
men separated by the Partition and reunited by the
granddaughter of one of them using Google maps
reinstates the primacy of being worthy at an old
age. A happy, independent senior citizen is a
recurrent theme of pension plans or insurance
campaigns focussing closely on rediscovery of
youth, be it by taking a much delayed honeymoon
or following passions.
Products with a dry appeal, like cement, are
expertly playing on emotions to convey their
brand philosophy of rootedness, permanence and
providing a solid anchorage to a nation in change.
The one by ACC even connects the so-called
vulnerable generations. The 100-second film
opens with a conversation between an old man
and his grandson. The grandfather gives directions
to a friends village, to bring mangoes. He describes
the railway station where the young man must get
down as a small station in a small village, adding
that he wouldnt find taxis and would have to take
a rickety bus from there. The accompanying
visuals tell the opposite story, with a large railway
station with taxis lined up outside. The narrative
continues with the grandfathers voice saying that
the road from the station to the village would be
kachha (rough) and would only take him up to the
river. The visuals again paint a different picture,
with the taxi taking the grandson across a modern
bridge. A small ground described by the
grandfather as a place for cricket and cows, is
shown playing host to young cricketers in whites
and an umpire in uniform, signalling a modern
cricket facility. At the spot where a big tree under
which the village kids had their classes according
to the grandfather is the Saraswathi High School.
The grandson meets his grandfathers friend and
returns with a box full of mangoes and a story of
change. The voiceover goes, Badal raha hain har
gaon, har sheher (Every village and every city is
changing) and the spot ends with the message:
ACC Cement. Cementing Relationships. Clearly,
the empowered, urban grandfather and grandson
havent been able to map a changing India despite
their access to technological platforms. The
unseen is visceral but more immediate.
Binani Cement uses Amitabh Bachchan in a
library full of photo frames to communicate the
idea of continuity with your maa-baap, ever
present in the thoughts, smells and corners that
you have grown up with. In fact, though Amitabh
is considered a star endorser, the focal point of the
campaign is on his being just a link in the
continuity with a worthy legacy before and after.
The family is the king in the Coke ads as is life
on the fringes (last IPLs open happiness theme by
a group of boys practising cricket under the desert
sun). And going by the assemblage of regular faces,
from big brands to the small ones, everyday
ordinariness is the new pitch, poking you out as a
valued endorser in an economy that is spreading
out across middle India and encouraging start-ups
resonant with effort and born out of far-flung
pockets. (For example, the Tata Sky ad which
shows two Himachali girls wondering if a dish
connection can work in the Himalayan heights).
Brands are amassing new segments in a fiercely
competitive market.
Emotions have been an important part of
advertising. Our 90-second slots are like any
other form of entertainment which keep in mind
the navrasas or the nine emotions. These
navrasas never change, what changes with time is
the treatment and context. So on one hand we
have stories on bonding and friendship, while on
the other there will be motorbikes with
something adventurous and an extreme sport.
There will be some funny, crazy stories, totally
based on imagination. So I think with the
passage of time, the way we bring out our
emotions have changed. We have gone more
guttural perhaps, says Awasthi. We all know of
some person in our family or an acquaintance
who has memories of the Partition. The Google
reunion ad reminds people of those sweet stories
in an engaging way, adds he.
Ajay Chandwani from Percept Limited adds,
We are changing fast in terms of technology and
it is a fact that technology does alienate people. But
people in the creative world realise that and are
using technology to highlight emotional stories
people can connect with. Technology is being used
to serve a balance and fill the void.
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The eternal question is one of breaking through
the clutter of products and the sameness of quality.
There has to be an edge and that can happen only
when your brand not only has a philosophy but a
strong personality, says a market watcher.
The slew of ads that comes to mind includes
ICICI, known for human interest plots around
the family, weaving a campaign called Bande
acche hain. It pans several Indian men going
about their tasks on a given day and shows how
they still care despite the haze of mistrust caused
by recent documentation of their vices and
abuses in the media. Uncannily, it almost seems
to echo the phonetic power of Surf s cleanliness
tagline, Daag achche hain. The mens actions
speak louder than their words, almost mimicking
the art of subtlety amid the noise. The ad stands
out against the tide of popular sentiment and
dares to invest our men with character at a time
when defence isnt too politically correct.
Then theres Tanishqs latest ad of a dusky
bride entering a second marriage in the presence
of her daughter.
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V
acations and Nainital
have an inseparable
bond. Ever since its
unorthodox and rather
romantic chance dis-
covery in 1841 by a sugar mer-
chant from Saharanpur, this cup-
shaped hill town has perpetually
fascinated people from all over.
Every year the lake-town is visited
by thousands of tourists who wish
to witness the surreal vista of the
Himalayan valleys, the sparkling
ice-caped ranges, and the placid
emerald coloured mango-shaped
lake. Besides its aesthetic charis-
ma, Nainital is also home to a
number of 19th century colonial
structures. Sadly this prized pos-
session is unknown to the swarms
of visiting tourists to the town and
is subjected to ignorance and
neglect from all corners.
Nestled midst age-old Deodar
trees at the foot of the Cheena
Peak is one such architectural
beauty, the Church of St John in
the Wilderness. This 19th century
Gothic architecture is a glaring
example of the plight that art and
architecture have been subjected to
in a State whose lifeline survives
on tourism. It highlights the nos-
talgia and romance of a colonial
town which rose to become the
summer capital of the erstwhile
United Province under the Raj.
With the progressive con-
struction that began soon after
the towns discovery, the need for
the construction of a church was
felt to develop Nainital into a
colonial hill station.
In 1844, Sir John Hallet, the
then commissioner of Kumaon,
selected the ground for its con-
struction which was later
approved by the Bishop of
Calcutta, Daniel Wilson. The
designs of the church were carried
out by Captain Young, an execu-
tive engineer and the cornerstone
was laid on October 13, 1846.
Probably owing to the demands of
the mounting population, it was
first opened for divine service on
April 2, 1848, even though its con-
struction had not been completed
by then. It is arguably one of the
oldest churches in the entire
Himalayan belt.
As years rolled by and
Nainital slowly entered its halcy-
on days with beautiful bungalows
and German arches dotting its
slopes, the church too was gradu-
ally enlarged and beautified with
art and artifacts. In 1860, a big
metallic bell (which still hangs on
the top of the tower, though it is
dysfunctional) was purchased for
the church. A stained glass win-
dow was erected at each end of
the church in 1864. It is a capti-
vating work of art by Ward &
Hughes of London.
On September 18, 1880, a
massive landslip occurred which
left 151 people missing and dead.
In 1881, a memorial was erected
in the memory of those who lost
their lives in the tragic incident.
The memorial consisted of an east
window, an alabaster reredos and
a carved altar table. The memorial
window consisted of a series of
scenes concerning the resurrec-
tion of the dead. The names of
those who perished in the landslip
are inscribed on two brasses, one
on each side of the reredos.
Every year, on September 18,
a special prayer is organised by
some vigilant members of a gener-
ation gone by at St Johns in the
Wilderness, now commonly
known as St Johns Church. This is
apparently the only day when
people think of this church. The
younger generation is probably
oblivious of its existence.
Books written by British trav-
ellers and residents on Nainital
suggest that the church was once
decorated with crystal chandeliers,
colourful glasses and exotic brass
work. But today the original win-
dow panes are mostly broken;
thickets of jungle weeds have
grown all over the roof and on the
walls, and the place seems to be
perpetually losing its sanctity.
Rajshekhar Pant, an educa-
tionist from the town, says:
Much of the brass plates, chan-
deliers and candle-stands have
long been stolen. The interior of
the church is dinged, damp and
full of bats. There is no electricity
or any other arrangements of light
save the sunlight which comes
through the main entrance.
It appears that for the past 20
years the church has been single-
handedly managed by one
Wilson, a tea-stall vendor near
the cemetery with absolutely
no funds from the administra-
tion. It is ironic that the place is
just a five minute walk from the
Nainital High Court and the
famous hotel, Manumaharani.
Sadly, it is denied even a sign-
board to direct people towards it.
The church, if properly main-
tained, has immense potential to
draw tourists, both domestic and
foreign, which would be a boon
for the lake city and its residents.
Its renovation is also possible
within an economic budget. Its
surroundings need proper para-
meter-fencing, the road demands
a facelift, and probably the State
Tourism Ministry can put it up on
its website to attract some spon-
sors who can consider the logistics
of its maintenance in the long run.
T
here is no getting away from the
royals and their valorous past in
the fabled Rajput city of
Udaipur. In its City Palace complex,
we met with royalty recently.
The City Palace, the largest in the
State, is now a museum and is a part
of the domed and turreted palace
complex whose monumental girth
also includes the royal residence
(Shambhu Niwas) as well as two
palace hotels (Shiv Niwas and Fateh
Prakash) run by the HRH Group of
Hotels, owned by the Maharana.
Married and settled in Boston,
the young princess Padmaja Kumari
Parmar, the daughter of Shriji Arvind
Singh Mewar of Udaipur (the current
Maharana or custodian of the House
of Mewar, acknowledged as the
worlds oldest serving dynasty), han-
dles business development and strate-
gy for the HRH Group of hotels and
shuttles between the city of her birth
and the US. She says, Its all about
preserving your heritage. Once its
lost, its gone forever.
The House of Mewar has con-
verted its royal palaces into grand
heritage hotels and the creation of the
Eternal Mewar brand which encom-
passes hospitality, cultural preserva-
tion, philanthropy and so on.
And the elegant princess bears
the weight of history lightly
belonging as she does to a dynasty
that was founded in 734 AD but was
never subjugated. Not only did her
ancestors build formidable fortress-
es but also alluring lakeshore and
island palaces that were studded
with silver and crystal furniture and
also Persian carpets and valuable
paintings. Beyond the palaces flare
parklands studded with fountains
and pavilions.
Udaipur today seems to wear its
royal origins on its sleeve and locals
still reminisce about the antics of their
former rulers. Even under the British,
when Rajasthan continued as a collec-
tion of princely states, headed by
independent monarchs, the rulers of
Mewar would fiercely demonstrate
their sovereignty. To express his con-
tempt for the British, one of the
Maharanas would have the road by
which the British official had arrived
washed a couple of times!
Udaipur has developed a com-
fortable equation with tourism and its
palace-hotels such as the lakefront
Fateh Prakash and Shiv Niwas as well
as the Jag Mandir island palace have
enabled former royalty to preserve
their heritage and live off it.
The royal vintage car collection
which includes a Rolls Royce, 1939
Cadillac convertibles, Vauxhall, cus-
tomised Mercedes models and much
else is showcased in the original
palace garage which is now a part of
HRHs bougainvillaea-draped Garden
Hotel. Shikarbadi, the former royal
hunting lodge on the outskirts of the
city, is now a restful 250-acre retreat,
back-dropped by forested hills. At
Shikarabadi, there is a deer park and a
stud farm where Marwari thorough-
breds are bred and one wakes up in
the jungle-style rooms to the call of a
strange bird or the cry of a peacock.
In the palace-hotels, guests may
be served by retainers whose fore-
fathers (going as far back as six
generations) have served royalty.
Guests can also play king and
queen in a grand suite once occu-
pied by the present Maharana or in
the Silver Suite where all the furni-
ture from the huge canopied four-
poster to throne-like chairs, side-
board and doors have all been
crafted from silver.
In the precincts of Shiv Niwas,
one may hear a bagpiper band that
plays briefly every evening, a long-
cherished tradition; or witness an
Ashva Pujan which celebrates the
bond between the Rajput warrior and
his horse or be part of the Sheetala
Ashtami procession when ornament-
ed horses, bands, and richly costumed
security guards from the City Palace
wind down to the Sheetala Mata tem-
ple to observe puja-archana.
In the Fateh Prakash palace hotel,
we stumbled on the opulent Durbar
Hall with its 1,000-kg chandeliers,
imposing portraits of the Maharanas,
royal artefacts and armoury. The
Instrument of Accession to the Indian
Union was signed here by Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel and Maharana
Bhopal Singh in 1947, we were told.
Above the Durbar Hall, unravels
the Crystal Gallery. This astounding
collection is said to be the single
largest private assortment of crystal
under one roof. It was ordered by
Maharana Sajjan Singh in 1877 from
the Birmingham-based F&C Ossler
Company. The objets dart gleam and
beckon decanters, glasses, washing
bowls, dinner sets, hookahs, fountains
and even furniture. The gallery hous-
es what is probably the only crystal
bed in the world and the royal trea-
sure trove even has an Arabian-style
bed made of gold as well as carpets
woven with gold and silver threads
and studded with precious stones!
We were in Udaipur on the
occasion of Guru Poornima in July
when the royal family renews its
contract of being the custodians of
the House of Mewar at the Eklingji
Temple. When we walked barefoot,
the sacred precinct of Lord Eklingji
was suffused with Indian classical
music emanating from the main
mandap. Some of the finest Indian
musicians had been invited to play
homage to the Lord. There was a
striking black marble, four-faced
lingam of Lord Eklingji, guarded by
heavy silver doors and altar while on
the domed ceiling above were grace-
fully sculpted dancers.
Every Monday evening, the
Maharana (if he is in town) visits the
temple, mingling among his people
like a commoner this, say locals,
is a big opportunity for some royal
watching.
Where else but in Udaipur
would you get a ringside view of the
descendant of the brave Rana
Pratap, a great builder like Maha-
rana Fateh Singh or a visionary like
Maharana Bhagwat Singh who was
the first royal in the country to con-
vert his palace (the iconic Taj Lake
Palace) into a hotel? And feel a lega-
cy that has been preserved so metic-
ulously that you can experience a
Maharanas abode as your own?
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A cily so icluresque and sleeed in ables, il
inlrigues even lhe mosl modernday lravellers
wilh ils evergrowing charm, alronised by lhe
regal heirs, say 0uSTASF and JER00 RAh
F R O M P A G E 1
uda|pur a|rport |s |ocated 22 km
awa, from the c|t, centre. 0a||,
tra|ns connect uda|pur w|th Ia|pur,
New 0e|h|, Ahmedahad and
Numha| among other c|t|es.
wh||e there are man, |usur, hote|s
|n uda|pur, for head, wh|ffs of the
past comh|ned w|th unmatched
|ake .|ews, a sta, at the Sh|. N|was
Pa|ace or the |ateh Prakash Pa|ace
|s unheatah|e.
Shop |n the co|ourfu| markets
(ath| Po|, 8ada 8ataar, 0hetak
0|rc|e and Pa|ace koad[ for test||es,
do||s, puppets and s||.er
kajasthan| jewe||er,.
V|s|t the wehs|te of kajasthan
Iour|sm www.rajasthan-
tour|sm.go..|n and the k 0roup
of ote|s www.hrhhote|s.com
hainilal's Sl John's Church, which has lhe olenlial lo ascinale
lourisls, is slruggling wilh ils losl legacy, says MuKESh RAwAT
footlills
in tle
FACTFLE
T
he adoptive father and groom picks
the little girl up, demolishing any
taboos that people may harbour about
celebrations not being platinum size every
time life throws up a second chance.
Gillettes Soldier for Women turns gender
politics on its head with women giving
testimony on how they want their men to
be while Kareena Kapoor, who flaunts her
diva status in many campaigns, reveals her
vulnerability as Everywoman in solitary
spaces in the V app ad.
People respond better to a human
interest angle and an interesting story in a
flooded marketplace with increased
awareness. With our Har ghar amul
campaign, we are not pushing a brand, we
are narrating a story; one that stays in
your mind. Present-day advertising should
not tell what the brand is about or what it
can do. A consumer should get an
emotional benefit out of the story. Once
the story reaches the target audience, it is
an easy sail, says Rahul DaCunha,
managing director and creative head,
DaCunha Communications, the
advertising agency behind Amul.
Explains Arun Iyer, national creative
director of Lowe Lintas & Partners, Ads
with human interest stories spread fast
today, thanks to the social media and word-
of-mouth. Since these ads share interesting
stories, they are shared worldwide on digital
platforms and that helps in the promotion of
the brand beyond their psychological hold.
The clear example of such a beneficiary is
Maggi which, through its my story, my
recipe interactive campaign, has been able
to push new lines with specialised recipes.
1 C?391< D9<D
Remember the Tata Steel campaign with the
tagline We also make steel? While Tata
Steels brand value was undisputed then, the
company cleverly showcased its corporate
social responsibility showing happy faces of
employees revelling in the concern it had
for them. It pitch forked Tata as a maker of
steel with a core value system.
Social messaging and cause-
endorsement are now openly used as an
imaging tool by big brands to entrench
themselves firmly in the minds of
consumers. Tatas CSR continues with its tea
companys Jaagore campaign, which is
currently sloganeering The Power of 49,
urging women voters to transfer a half of
their demographic advantage into a sound
electoral choice. The Visa Debit Card
revolves around processing smart loans to
set up local vocational training facilities for
village women in Rajasthan who travel
miles to fetch water. Even beauty brands
like Dove have progressed from celebrating
the politically correct inner beauty to a full
frontal celebration of the outer body, warts
and all. As real women with imperfections
step out confidently from its frames,
another beauty major LOreal is reaping the
benefits of its rootedness campaign, where
the concept of strong hair roots was linked
to an online campaign of uploading family
pictures and establishing personal history
and growth. Ostensibly a sub-text, it has
overtaken the supermodels the brand has
traditionally promoted.
Brands have started realising their
social commitment more than before. Dil
ko chhoota hain ad toh lamba asar hota hain
(recall is stronger if an ad touches your
heart). Its a smart strategy. Such
advertisements meet two requirements. You
advertise yourself and also fulfill part of
your CSR activity. If you look back, the
Tatas and Birlas have always kept the
human element in their marketing
campaigns. They are always at an advantage
because they think socially. They enjoy
immense credibility and are considered
premium brands just because of their ethics
and marketing strategies. Having said that, I
would like to believe not many companies
are moving in this direction. We have
hundreds of clients and a handful of them
are pushing the envelope. Theres a long way
to go, says adman Prahlad Kakkar.
DaCunha adds, Brands are beginning to
realise that they can fare well if they become
socially responsible.
Iyer, who can be credited for bringing
about the social interest angle through his
Tanishq ads, says, We thought about
making the idea of remarriage a cosy affair
with the bride wearing muted colours. We
chose a girl with a dusky complexion to
make a statement. When we make a
statement with a social context, it helps
people connect with the brand better. When
we came up with the Par bande achche hai
ad, there was a lot of negativity in society
about the way men were being projected.
The reason why it went viral was because it
restored balance in a polarised debate.
When everything was so negative around, it
was such a fresh concept that it worked well
for both people as well as the brand.
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The abandon of expressions has given our
ads a distinct identity vis--vis the universal
template that would earlier be tweaked
around to make it look local and relatable.
While we are not averse to chasing bright
sun spots like the Mahendra Rise campaign
featuring Amazing Indians, we are not
averse to looking at the downside to better
ourselves. Social awareness campaigns do
not mind telling a story like it is. Be it the
Forgotten India campaign by MSE, the
Excellence to Change ad showcasing how a
blind man is pushed around with irrever-
ence and blatant disregard of basic civilities
with a tagline sight not enough, vision
counts, the thalassemia ad by NACO AND
NBTC, where a girl thanks every adult she
chances upon thinking they are blood
donors who save her life, Breakthroughs
Bell bajao campaign urging people to
confront homes with victims of domestic
violence, the message is clear: To be an agent
of change rather than hide in shame.
The Ministry of Tourisms Atithi devo
bhava series is not about saccharine gloss
but acknowledges the problems that tarnish
our ancient culture of hospitality. The ad
came in the wake of a series of brutal
incidents involving foreigners. The first ad
from the lot showed a tourist guide
harassing a foreigner only to be ridiculed
and reprimanded by the general people and
good citizens later.
I think the recent ads have been such
phenomenal hits because we have stopped
copying Western concepts. We have started
feeling comfortable in our own skin, how-
ever scaly, and we are coming up with con-
tent that reflects issues faced by common
people in our country. We focus on events,
celebrations experienced by everyone, so
that the people watching them would imm-
ediately feel like the ads are talking about
their life; they are their stories, says Iyer.
The reason why the quality of our ad
films has gone up several notches is because
the quality of filmmaking has improved in
our country. The creatives we have in our
industry today are educated from the best
universities, they understand trends, they
know the demand of the youth, the needs of
a changing India and produce something
that is of an international standard, says
DaCunha. Iyer agrees with DaCunha and
adds that as the craft of filmmaking
becomes more innovative, ad films will
improve too. The best filmmakers from
our industry are working on ads. The
condensed time and attention span is
challenging them more and bringing out
their creative best. Better budgets are
cushioning their ideas, he says.
Even the manufacturers have a better
understanding of what an ad film should be
like and creative teams are specially devised
for a certain slot or a product. An
understanding has evolved and society is
done with accepting anything that is served.
As consumers are getting smarter, the
advertisers have to come up with not an
extraordinary trick but an extraordinary
conviction, says Awasthi. And that is the
forte of the ordinary Indian.
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Now Dolhi, Fobruary 16, 2014
Progress is impossible without change, and those who
cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw
W
hether we like it or not, but we have to
constantly keep up with the changing
dynamics. Today, change has become so
rapid that some people, especially professionals,
have to keep a perpetual watch on the emerging
trends. As a consequence of keeping themselves
constantly in a high gear, many people feel that
rapid changes shake up their nerves and are physi-
cally and mentally taxing their lives. However, we
must not have an impression that every change is an
anathema. On the contrary to common belief,
change is generally a welcoming feature of life and
stagnancy is considered boring. It is the high fre-
quency of change or the enormity of it that forces
responsible people to miss the much needed rest.
Observation and analysis tell us that science and
technology are responsible for this predicament, as
they compel an individual to lead an increasingly
faster life in a highly competitive world. They force
people to move like machines which, too, are mov-
ing faster day by day and are changing enormously
in design and functions. But, if we go deeper into
the problem, then we would find that science and
technology are, in fact, at the service of mankind.
Evolution of science is based on a mans needs,
mindset, motives, emotions and external influences,
including exposure to the media and societys
approval or criticism of his acts. Hence, these are the
major factors that lead to new designs. They deter-
mine the purpose and use to which science and
technology should be put to. Therefore, rapidity of
change depends, to a great degree, on the rapidity of
rejection of the old system. This, in turn, depends on
how rapidly a person is discontented with the pre-
sent facilities. This discontentment may, in most
cases, be due to the lack of mans inner stability and
happiness and wrong sets of values and attitudes.
A thorough analysis of the present situation
would lead us to the conclusion that the current
depression or the short-lived pleasure is due to our
own consumerist attitude, geared mainly to cater to
our sensual pleasures. Its time society realised that
spiritual values alone would be the remedy to the
present precarious situation.
l| W|i|| i + pi|i|u+l Ju+|u|
A
new sludy suggesls
giving some cancer
alienls high doses o vil
amin C inlravenously -
as oosed lo orally -
alongside convenlional
chemolheray, may hel
kill cancer cells and also
reduce some o ils loxic
side eecls. Reorling
lheir indings in Science
Translalional Medicine,
researchers rom lhe
universily o Kansas (Ku)
Medical Cenler describe
how lhey lesled lhe
aroach in cells, animals
and humans. They ound
giving inused vilamin C
logelher wilh carbolalin
and aclilaxel - lwo con
venlional chemolheray
drugs - sloed ovarian
cancer in lhe lab and also
reduced loxic side eecls
o chemolheray in ovari
an cancer alienls.
F
ro haveed Sallar and
0r Jason 0ill, rom lhe
universily o 0lasgow,
said lhal drinking more
lhan jusl one glass a day
o ruil juice can lead lo an
increased risk o diabeles.
They have also argued lhal
ruil juices should nol be
included in lhe currenl
iveaday guidelines as
high inlake is "counler
roduclive" lo a heallhy
lieslyle. Sallar said: "Fruil
juice has a similar energy
densily and sugar conlenl
lo olher sugary drinks. For
examle, 25Oml o ale
juice lyically conlains
11O kcal and 2Gg o sugar,
and 25Oml o cola lyically
conlains 1O5kcal and
2G.5g o sugar. By con
lrasl wilh lhe evidence or
solid ruil inlake, or which
high consumlion is asso
cialed wilh reduced or
neulral risk o diabeles,
currenl evidence suggesls
high ruil juice inlake is
associaled wilh increased
risk o diabeles."
w
omen o all ages should
ay more allenlion lo
lhe risk o slroke lhan lhe
average man, walching lheir
blood ressure careully
even beore lhey lhink aboul
laking birlh conlrol ills or
gelling regnanl, according
lo a new sel o guidelines.
women are also more likely
lo have risk aclors associal
ed wilh slroke, such as
migraines, deression, dia
beles and abnormal hearl
rhylhm known as alrial ib
rillalion. The new guidelines
rom lhe American hearl
Associalion were lhe irsl
such recommendalions lo
revenl slrokes in women.
Slroke is lhe ourlhleading
cause o dealh or all Amer
icans bul lhe lhirdleading
cause o dealh or women,
aler hearl disease and can
cer. women share many o
lhe same risk aclors as
men or slroke, bul lhey also
have unique risks lhal come
wilh regnancy comlica
lions and hormone use.
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L
ife is a continuous process
of teaching you to let go.
You are stuck in a traffic
jam and your car is behind
50 other cars. There is no
way you can go back or go forward
and you are running out of time. You
are upset. What do you do? You
simply have to let go!
The whole philosophy of life is
based on letting go. When we hold
on to things, they become a reason
for tension. If you allow the universe
to work through you, you will find
that life takes on to another level of
existence. Change is the
phenomenon of the universe and if
you do not let go, that means you are
stuck. Then there is depression and
frustration.
6hkIIEhE8 kIE
Time poses challenges; it is for you
to figure how you can benefit from
them. See how you can turn a
challenge into an opportunity for
your own growth. Think of all those
challenges you had, and how they
have contributed to your growth.
Think of how you handled them,
what mistakes you made and what
lessons you learned. This is the
first step.
Second, think of gifts that the
past year has brought to your life,
and how you are going to utilise
these gifts for the betterment of life.
Everyone is bestowed with some or
other talents. You need to see how
you are utilising these talents. Once
in every three to four months take
some time off and go deeper into
meditation, into silence. And spend
some time doing some good work
for the society. You will notice that
whatever you ask is coming to you
readily. You would earn a right to
demand something for yourself. This
is real currency.
hEW IE88h8
Next, you need to be ready to learn
new lessons in life. Keep the joy and
smile throughout the journey of life.
It is as if everybody is on a conveyor
belt that is moving. Some are crying,
others are laughing, but the belt
continues to roll. It is your choice
now: How do you want to move on
this conveyor belt of time?
In a car, you have a small
rearview mirror and a big
windshield. Just imagine if the
rearview mirror is as big as the
windshield and windshield as small
as the rearview mirror, what will
happen? Would you be able to
drive? Not at all!
The rearview mirror represents
the past and the windshield is the
present. You need to look back only
a little. The future is like the side
view mirrors. When you drive, you
have to look at the sides and to the
back as well, but most of the time,
you have to look in the front. If you
only keep looking at the side mirrors
while driving, you will meet with an
accident. Look a little at the past and
the future, but stay in the present for
most of the time.
hI h T hkFFIhE88
By your being unhappy, things are
not going to change. Just because
things didnt happen the way you
wanted them to, it does not mean
that you lose all what you already
have. At any point in time, do not
lose your happiness.
Similarly, you may have lost out a
relationship, but dont lose your
smile. Never mind, there are seven
billion people out there. Who will
come and make friends with a
depressed person? When you are
looking for a companion, enthusiasm
and smile are what you need.
Remember that you are
connected to the big mind, to the
universal spirit. Even in the case of
an argument or a fight with someone
at home, dont take too long for the
smile to come back.
Be strong and subtle, sensible
and sensitive, all at the same time.
Love means letting go, not to grab. If
God loves you, then He knows what
is best for you. Do your best and
leave the rest to the nature.
8EhE Y 8I
Relaxation is surrendering, nothing
else. Surrender whatever troubles
you in the head. Offer that as aahuti
(the act of making prayerful
offerings to the sacred fire) to the
divine. That which you cannot
handle by yourself, that which has
become a burden for you, just put it
down and let go. That is what is
meant by surrender.
Otherwise what is there to
surrender? Unlike what you may like
to think, everything about you
belongs to God. Your body and even
your mind belong to the supreme.
Letting go, relaxing and smiling
are what surrender means. Dont be
afraid. Take life in its totality. Some
pleasant, some unpleasant
experiences all these things
happen and then they go away.
Knowing that I have all the
blessings, I have the grace, the best
will happen to me, move ahead.
l| W|i|| i + Wll||uW| pi|i|u+l |+||
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Issence of Veoanta lilosoly
T
he Vedanta philosophy com-
prises all the various sects
that now exist in India. Thus
there have been various interpreta-
tions, and to my mind they have
been progressive, beginning with
the dualistic or Dvaita and ending
with the non-dualistic or Advaita.
The word Vedanta literally means
the end of the Vedas the Vedas
being the scriptures of the Hindus.
Sometimes in the West by the
Vedas are meant only the hymns
and rituals of the Vedas. But at the
present time these parts have
almost gone out of use, and usually
by the word Vedas in India, the
Vedanta is meant. It has another
technical name with the commen-
tators the Shrutis. Now, all the
books known by the name of the
Vedanta were not entirely written
after the ritualistic portions of the
Vedas. For instance, one of them
the Ish Upanishad forms the
40th chapter of the Yajur Veda, that
being one of the oldest parts of the
Vedas. There are other Upanishads
which form portions of the
Brahmanas or ritualistic writings;
and the rest of the Upanishads are
independent; but there is no reason
to suppose that they were entirely
independent of other parts, for,
many of these have been lost
entirely and many of the
Brahmanas have become extinct.
So it is possible that the indepen-
dent Upanishads belonged to some
Brahmanas, which in course of
time fell into disuse, while the
Upanishads remained. These
Upanishads are also called Forest
Books or Aranyakas.
The Vedanta, then, practically
forms the scriptures of the Hindus,
and all systems of philosophy that
are orthodox have to take it as their
foundation. Even the Buddhists and
Jains, when it suits their purpose,
will quote a passage from the
Vedanta as authority. All schools of
philosophy in India, although they
claim to have been based upon the
Vedas, took different names for
their systems. The last one, the sys-
tem of Vysa, took its stand upon
the doctrines of the Vedas more
than the previous systems did, and
made an attempt to harmonise the
preceding philosophies, such as the
Snkhya and the Nyya, with the
doctrines of the Vedanta. So it is
especially called the Vedanta phi-
losophy; and the Sutras or apho-
risms of Vyasa are, in modern
India, the basis of the Vedanta phi-
losophy. Again, these Sutras of
Vyasa have been variously
explained by different commenta-
tors. In general there are three sorts
of commentators in India now;
from their interpretations have
arisen three systems of philosophy
and sects. One is the dualistic, or
Dvaita; a second is the qualified
non-dualistic, or Vishishtdvaita;
and a third is the non-dualistic, or
Advaita. Of these the dualistic and
the qualified non-dualistic include
the largest number of the Indian
people. The non-dualists are com-
paratively few in number. Now I
will try to lay before you the ideas
that are contained in all these three
sects; but before going on, I will
make one remark that these dif-
ferent Vedanta systems have one
common psychology, and that is,
the psychology of the Sankhya sys-
tem. The Sankhya psychology is
very much like the psychologies of
the Nyaya and Vaisheshika systems,
differing only in minor particulars.
Therefore, all the Vedantists
agree on three points. They believe
in God, in the Vedas as revealed,
and in cycles.
E/|p| ||u| SW+|i Vi1|+|+|J+
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Lead the
change
Sirilual values can hel us
overcome consumerisl leasures
and kee ace wilh raid change
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SwAM vvEKAhAh0A exlains lhe dualism and nondualism as revalenl in lhe vedanla hilosohy o hinduism
0elachmenl, in mosl cases, is lhe way orward. So leave your worries
behind and smile al whal lies ahead, advises SR SR RAv ShAhKAR
T
heres little about Arvind
Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi
Party that either amuses or
amazes any more. Every utterance,
every action, every theatrical show
of outrage has become predictable.
The script has been used once too
often. Yet, theres something daz-
zlingly amazing about the man who
clearly suffers from a rare syndrome
called messianic zeal his ability
to brazenly lie, on camera, in front
of his volunteers, wherever and
whenever there is an opportunity to
peddle untruth packaged as his, and
hence incontestable, version of the
truth. The monopoly over all that is
virtuous and good vests with the
self-righteous and sanctimonious
Arvind Kejriwal. It is not surprising
that Ford Foundation should have
showered its bounty on him.
Let it be said, and said upfront,
that Arvind Kejriwals decision to
resign from the post of Chief
Minister of Delhi has nothing to do
with highfalutin principles of moral-
ity and ethics. Indeed, his resigna-
tion on Friday is as much anchored
in principled politics as his decision
to form a Government with the sup-
port of the Congress. No Mr
Kejriwal, contrary to your claim that
the Congress forced its support on
you, as you told the crowd at the
AAP headquarters on Friday
evening, the fact is that it was a deal
which was struck by you with an
industrialist playing broker. Within
hours of your having lunch with the
industrialist at a Delhi hotel whose
gym is the favourite haunt of the
Congress first familys son-in-law,
my friends in the Congress called to
give me the information. Factional
politics has its benefits.
For the Congress, AAP was (and
remains) a useful means of trying to
halt Narendra Modis march to
Delhi. For Arvind Kejriwal, the idea
of forming a Government with the
Congresss support was not without
merit. It would afford him the
chance to hand out freebies, consoli-
date the AAPs vote and, at an
opportune moment make a grand
show of resigning from office on an
emotive issue. That was the script
and he has followed it without any
diversions. Tax-funded hand-outs by
way of cheaper water and power
(though the price reduction is illu-
sionary), writing off 50 per cent of
the electricity bills of those who
joined his Bijli Andolan, late night
vigilantism to pander to khaapis in
our midst. These are essentially the
achievements of the 49 days he and
AAP were in power. In between he
sat on a dharna that he called off
after the Congress bailed him out.
Arvind Kejriwal now says that
the BJP and the Congress connived
against him because he ordered the
filing of an FIR against Mukesh
Ambani, Veerappa Moily and others
for unduly raising the price of gas.
We will never know the fate of that
FIR or his true intent. What we know
for a fact is that his last deed before
exiting office was to gift C372 crore to
Anil Ambanis power distribution
companies. But then facts have never
stood in the way of Arvind Kejriwal
who has cynically manipulated them,
subverted them and reinvented them
to suit his goal of capturing power.
Never mind his proclaimed disdain
for office, and the loaves and fishes
that come with office.
It is frightfully absurd to suggest
that the BJP and the Congress
joined hands to bring down his
Government over the Jan Lokpal
Bill. Whatever may have been the
compulsions of the Congress to stall
the introduction of the Bill, the BJPs
reasons were stated unambiguously
by Harsh Vardhan, and reiterated
subsequently: The party would vote
for the Bill provided AAP followed
the constitutional route of getting it
approved by the Union Government
as is stipulated by law.
But the law, like the truth, is of
little relevance to Arvind Kejriwal.
So he would not acknowledge the
validity of Section 22 (3) of the
National Capital Territory of Delhi
Act. Nor could he bother about
Article 239 AA of the Constitution
of India. So he thumped a copy of
the Constitution and pompously
declared: Nowhere does the Consti-
tution say I have to get the Union
Governments approval. So how can
my bringing the Bill directly to the
Assembly be unconstitutional?
Nowhere does the Constitution
mention the word murder. By
Arvind Kejriwals twisted logic, the
crime of murder cannot be held to
be unconstitutional. If such be his
ignorance or, as many would sug-
gest, contempt for subsidiary law
drawing from the Constitution, it
would be worth revisiting the files
he cleared as an Income Tax Assis-
tant Commissioner that is, pro-
vided he cleared any files at all.
This is not to suggest that the
law preventing the Government of
Delhi from tabling money Bills
directly is justified or correct. But if
the law so offended Arvind Kejriwal,
he could have contested it in court
and got it struck down. That would
have been the right thing to do. He
chose to avoid that route as it would
have robbed him of the opportunity
of grandstanding and resigning; it
would have meant digressing from
the script.
There are many promises made
by AAP and Arvind Kejriwal that
could have been taken up while
sorting out the messy arrangement
on law-making in a quasi-State like
Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal could have
worked on providing relief to the
thousands of contract workers
whom he had promised full time
jobs. He could have worked on
night shelters for the homeless.
Instead, after posing for pho-
tographs, his Ministers abandoned
Delhis poor to die in this years bit-
ter winter. He could have focussed
on hospitals but all that he did was
to let loose his vigilantes to run riot
in Delhis under-staffed, over-
stretched health facilities. He could
have begun work in earnest to build
more and better schools.
All this and more could have
been done. But they would have
required something which is called
governance, a word that does not
exist in AAPs lexicon and is anathe-
ma to Arvind Kejriwal. So he decid-
ed to spit and scoot, something
which he and his boorish colleagues
excel at hurl allegations, make
startling charges, claim the world is
conspiring against gods army, label
everybody who disagrees with their
anarchic methods of political
aggrandisement as corrupt, and
move on to the next round of slan-
der and abuse.
In the coming weeks we will see
the second phase of AAP-Congress
collaborative politics of limitless
cynicism take shape. The bother-
some task of governing Delhi was a
big drain on Arvind Kejriwals fanci-
ful ambition of taking over the
country. Having got rid of the dis-
traction called Delhi, he can now
aim for India. In that task he will be
amply helped by the Congress
which, having lost India, is loath to
see Narendra Modi win India to lead
this nation back to economic recov-
ery and success. Its not for nothing
that Ford Foundation chose Arvind
Kejriwal he is the perfect anar-
chist to throw a spanner in the
works for Indias return to the trajec-
tory of stability, growth and prosper-
ity. And its not for nothing that the
Congress has chosen to collaborate
with him and vice versa.
(The writer is a Delhi-based
senior journalist)
IteraatIve hIst0ry
0r Ware4 hIst0ry7
3@= cY^[Y^W Red
Yc 2U^WQ\ bYcY^W/
Reader response to
Swapan Dasguptas column,
Usual Suspects, published on
February 9:
Her own worst enemy:
Mamata Banerjee may win
for the time being, but she,
more specifically her tongue,
is her own worst enemy. The
Left will rise again in West
Bengal. Its past experiences
will lead it to success.
Vimala Vidya
Left of the Left: It was the
encourage industrialisation
strategic switch of former
West Bengal Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
that fuelled the Nandigram
disaster the protests, the
firings, the public backlash
and the rise of didis goon-
squad politics. Just because it
is convenient for Rightists
now, one should not lose
sight of the fact that the
Trinamool Congress is to the
left of CPM on most issues.
It is by out-flanking the
Left that the TMC wins. How
long will this last? Is it good
for West Bengal? Are we
okay with political goons
attacking free speech?
Contrarian
All the same: Unfortunately
for West Bengal, one com-
munist party defeats another
party of the same political
and ideological hue
SheldonFromBBNOT
Ambitious leader: Mamata
Banerjee is undoubtedly an
honest leader and a simple
woman. But she has ambi-
tion (nothing wrong in that)
and that has led her to pur-
sue cynical minority
appeasement politics.
bittertruth
>QbU^TbQ =_TY* DXU
]Q^ 9^TYQ QgQYdc
Reader response to
Kanchan Guptas column,
Coffee Break, published on
February 9:
Modi, more than BJP: India
needs Narendra Modi, not
the BJP in particular. Leaders
like LK Advani are sitting on
fence to become the Prime
Minister. Once Modi comes
to power, he should strike to
rid India of the plague of
dynasty politics.
Utham
Old guard must go: India
surely needs Narendra Modi
and he can do without the
old war horses. Instead, he
needs to bring in the likes of
Subramanian Swamy, VK
Singh and Kiran Bedi
intelligent people with
impeccable credentials
Swapnil
Foot soldiers are key: This is
a historic opportunity for the
Parivar to ensure that the BJP
gets a comfortable majority.
But Narendra Modi will not
be able to take all voters to
polling booths. Every foot
soldier has to do his best.
Jitendra Desai
Eliminate rivals: Like
Chandragupta Maurya,
Narendra Modi should not
spare his opponents, once he
is in power. If, like Prithviraj
Chauhan, he forgives his
rivals, they will defeat him by
hook or crook. The Congress
and its allies did this in 2004.
Shirish Dave
RSS-BJP culture: Separating
Narendra Modi from his
party is wrong as he is a
product of the RSS-BJP cul-
ture, which has produced
many nation-servers.
Singh
9TU^dYdi `_\YdYSc Yc
Q SebcU _^ ^QdY_^
Reader response to
Rajesh Singhs column,
Plain Talk, published on
February 9:
Irresponsible talk: I agree
that the loose talk that our
politicians indulge in, often
in the name of caste and reli-
gion, is playing havoc with
the countrys progress and is
a curse on the people.
Irresponsible leaders try
to leave a stamp of their orig-
inality by fanning passions.
When they are questioned
they take refuge by either
defending their remarks
or apologising.
Senior Congress leader
Janardhan Dwivedi has, at
least, stood by his recent
remarks that there needs to
be a serious re-think on
caste-based reservations.
RL Pathak
First serve the poor: The
easiest way to tweak the
reservation system is to leave
the quota system as it is, but
fill the slots with first the
poor among the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The vacant seats can then be
given to other SC/ST mem-
bers. This way the poor will
benefit the most. If certain
Muslims among the Other
Backward Classes are poorer
than their Hindu counter-
parts, then let them benefit.
But there is no place for reli-
gion-based reservations.
mp
Nation-building has failed:
Ethnicity and the oneness of
a nation are incompatible.
Religion, language and caste
play a key part in determin-
ing ethnicity. Nation-build-
ing has failed because we
have set up quotas.
Sardindukurup
PLANTALK
RAJESh Sh0h
Jime to call Kejriwal`s lluff,
time to call out lis lies
T
he debale over ublishing house Fenguin's wilhdrawal o a conlro
versial book on hinduism has largely cenlred round lhe issues o ol
ilics and 'lolerance or secular values'. n lhe cacohony, lhe core
maller has been shul oul rom lhe discussions. The oinls which lhe eli
lioners, who wenl lo lhe courl againsl lhe book, and a bunch o online
roleslors who wrole lo lhe Fenguin oices in lhe uS and ndia, raised,
have been missing rom lhe discourse. To conlemluously dismiss lhem
is as wrong as lhe wilhdrawal o lhe book, and shows similar inlolerance
as in lhe laller case.
Bul beore we gel lo lhem, lel us bring cerlain acls on record. The
irsl is lhal no 0overnmenl aulhorily has banned lhe book. The second is
lhal lhe ublishing house has wilhdrawn lhe book rom lhe ndian markel
as arl o an agreemenl which il reached wilh lhe 0elhibased elilioner,
Shiksha Bachao Andolan, oul o lhe 0elhi high Courl. The lhird is lhal no
'hindu' organisalion has violenlly agilaled againsl lhe book or issued UPc
fPb againsl lhe aulhor. The ourlh is lhal lhe wilhdrawal has gol nolhing
lo do wilh lhe surge o lhe BJF and harendra Modi in lhe runu lo lhe
Lok Sabha eleclion.
wrilerlurnedsocial aclivisl and lhe counlry's selaoinled con
sciencekeeer Arundhali Roy has in an oen leller lo Fenguin, drawn a
linkage belween lhe wilhdrawal and lhe rise o lhe 'ascisls'. She said,
"The eleclions are slill a ew monlhs away. The ascisls are, lhus ar, only
camaigning. Yes, il's looking bad, bul lhey are nol in ower. hol yel. And
you've already succumbed?" She orgels lhal lhe 'ascisl' orces have
been in ower in many Slales since lhe lasl decade and more, and none
o lhem has eilher banned lhe book or launched a hale camaign againsl
lhe ublisher and lhe aulhor.
She and olhers o her kind can lamenl lo lheir hearl's conlenl lhal lhe
counlry's laws are lhe real culrils since lhey allow or lhe inlimidalion o
wrilers and ublishers. Ferhas she loo believes desile knowing beller,
like 0oniger does oul o sheer ignorance, lhal lhe laws are biased in avour
o lhe hindus. n any case, she has never had much resecl or law, going
by lhe way she has backed lhe Maoisls and lheir camaign or change
lhrough lhe ower o lhe gun. She and lhose olhers seem lo orgel lhal lhe
very laws lhey lrash allow lhem lhe reedom lo sew venom. n a less loler
anl sociely and legal syslem, she would have been behind bars long ago.
how, lel's look al some o lhe issues lhal lhe elilioners againsl
wendy 0oniger's CWT 7X]Sdb) 0] P[cTa]PcXeT 7Xbc^ah, now recalled rom
lhe markel, have lagged. Many o lhese are aclual in nalure, and some
have hurl lhe senlimenls o lhe
hindu communily. Bul we'll be on
lhe acls.
0n age 552 o lhe book,
0oniger claims lhal Tulsidas com
osed AP\RWPaXc\P]Pb in
varanasi. She wriles, "The
Brahmins o varanasi, where lhe
lexl was comosed, are said lo
have been shocked by lhe como
silion o a lexl in a vernacular lan
guage." l is well eslablished lhal
Tulsidas comosed lhe eic in
Ayodhya. The sliu may seem
lo be a minor one concerning a
lace, bul given lhal 0oniger was
wriling a scholarly accounl o
hinduism, and lhal loo an 'aller
nalive hislory', lhe error seriously
denls lhe book's credibilily.
The elilioners also lalched on
lo a descrilion lhe aulhor, ciling
early (Rig vedic) sources, gives on
age 112 o lhe ealing habils o lhe
vedic eole. "The usual meal o
milk, VWTT (clariied buller), veg
elables, ruil, wheal, and barley
would be sulemenled by lhe
lesh o callle." The elilioners
oinled oul lhal wheal had never
been menlioned in lhe AXV ETSP
and lhal lhe irsl menlion came
only in lhe laler HPYda ETSP. l is
clear lhal 0oniger was nol being
careul wilh her research.
To lo il all, is lhe aulhor's
conlenlion lhal lhe oulalion in
lhe ancienl ndus valley
Civilisalion (lhe haraan cullure,
really) was "as many as orly
lhousand". She oolnoles a source
here, bul is clearly wrong, accord
ing lo her crilics. The igure o
4O,OOO would reer lo lhe oula
lion o Mohenjo0aro alone; lhe enlire ancienl civilisalion comrised
around ive lakh eole, by mosl eslablished eslimales.
Bul lhal is nol lhe end. Al a oolnole on age 1O4, 0oniger reers lo
one o Mahalma 0andhi's essays on lhe 1WPVePS 6XcP, lhe lille o which
she gives lo mean as '0bPZcX H^VP' (science o dee allachmenl), when in
acl il should have been '0]PbPZcX H^VP' (science o dee nonallachmenl
or delachmenl). how could lhe aulhor have been so careless in a book
lhal is suosed lo be a scholarly accounl o a religion - and lhal loo an
allernalive hislory o lhe world's oldesl religion?
There are also many errors o dale lhal lhe elilioners have oinled
oul, such as lhose concerning Kabir, Muhammad bin 0asim, Akbar and
Mirabai. These are unardonable in a book aulhored by a scholar who
holds lwo doclorales in Sanskril and ndian sludies rom lhe universilies
o 0xord and harvard, has lranslaled several works rom Sanskril, laughl
al lhe School o 0rienlal and Arican Sludies al lhe universily o London,
and is considered a world aulhorily on hinduism.
nlereslingly, neilher lhe ublisher nor lhe aulhor, since lhe lime an
organisalion, lhe Sarasvali Research Trusl, demanded lhe book's wilh
drawal lhrough ils online camaign in 2O1O, and since lhe lime lhey were
challenged in lhe courls, bolhered lo come clean on whal amounls lo
alleged aclual errors, or meaningully disule lhe claims lheir crilics had
made. The acl lhal Fenguin has now 'succumbed' may have more lo do
wilh ils weak osilion eXbPeXb lhese aclors lhan wilh lhe resence o a
hidden armlwisler and rejudiced laws.
l musl be menlioned here or lhe beneil o lhose who see lhe hand
o '7X]SdceP' in lhe wilhdrawal o lhe book lhal in none o lhe above
inslances do lhe argumenls go beyond acls o hislory and documenled
malerial. 0 course, lhe elilioners, bolh online and in lhe courl, had also
raised lhe maller o hurl lo hindu sensilivilies, bul lhese were comle
menlary, nol exclusive, lo lhe aclual inaccuracies lhey reerred lo wilh
secial vehemence.
n all airness, lhus, lhe debale should have cenlered round lhese
conlenlious issues. holed exerls in hindu religion, archaeology and his
lory oughl lo have deliberaled and conlesled on lelevision channels lhe
oinls lhe elilioners had raised. Sadly, we have seen none o lhis.
Bul, does all lhis mean lhal Fenguin's aclion o wilhdrawing 0oniger's
book was in rincile aroriale? ho, il wasn'l, also because il has given
lhe book, and ils aulhor, urlher reseclabilily. l has rovided a handle lo
lhe 'secularisls' lo go hindubashing yel again.
We won't know
the fate of the
FR that Kejriwal
ordered against
Mukesh Ambani,
Veerappa Moily
and others. What
we know for a
fact is that his
last deed before
exiting office was
to gift CS72 crore
to Anil Ambani's
power
distribution
companies
sunday
magazino
jitit
Now Dolhi, Fobruary 16, 2014
F E E D B A C K
Arvind Kejriwal did nol resign rom lhe 0elhi Chie Minisler's osl lo uhold rinciles; lhose who
suer rom messianic /eal have no rinciles lo uhold - lheir only rincile is selinleresl
n the cacophony
over the withdrawal
of Doniger's book
on Hinduism, the
core matter has
been ignored: The
points which the
petitioners who
went to the court
against the book,
and online
petitioners who
wrote to the
Penguin offices,
raised, have been
missing from the
discourse
wEh0Y 00h0ER h0L0S 00CT0RATES h
SAhSKRT Ah0 h0Ah STu0ES FR0M ThE
uhvERSTES 0F 0XF0R0 Ah0 hARvAR0.
BuT, F hER CRTCS ARE R0hT, ShE
MESSE0 uF FACTS h hER B00K
COFFEEBREAK
KAhChAh 0uFTA
T
he Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy
Doniger raised great expectations of a new refresh-
ing approach. We had tired of the stereotypical
British approach followed by a spate of communist
interpretations beginning with Prof Mohammed
Habib. With the demise of communism in Europe, secular
fundamentalism has become rather fashionable, the latest
being Ramachandra Guhas efforts. Regrettably, Doniger has
fallen into the same groove, copying liberally from Romila
Thapar, DN Jha, et al.
In some ways Doniger has gone much beyond these sec-
ular fundamentalists. On the Ramayana she says, One night
while Sita and Rama were lying together, Sita discussed
Lakshman very affectionately. She said, There he is sleeping
alone. What is it that keeps him away from a woman? Why
doesnt he want to marry? This roused suspicion in Ramas
mind. Sita slept soundly, but Rama kept awake the whole
night imagining things. Early next morning he sent for
Lakshman from his lonely palace and asked him suddenly,
Do you love Sita? Lakshman was taken aback. The author
clearly wants to denigrate Hindus, else why would she pick on
Rama, Sita and Lakshman. Could she think of nothing better
to interpret in the Ramayana which Hindus view as a sacred
book and not merely an epic. Why distort the beautiful story
of Raja Dashrathas family into such rot? Clearly, Doniger has
no consideration for other peoples sentiments.
When she comes to the Mahabharata, she simply quotes
from an irreverent novel by Shashi Tharoor. Shashi Tharoor
retold the Mahabharata as The Great Indian Novel, in which
the self-sacrificing Bhishma (the son of Ganga, in the Sanskrit
text) becomes Ganga-ji, a thinly veiled form of Gandhi, while
Dhritarashtra is Nehru, with his daughter Duryodhani (Indira
Gandhi), Karna goes over to the Muslim side and becomes
Jinnah (where the original Karna sliced his armour off his
body, this Karna seizes a knife and circumcises himself) and
is eventually exposed as a chauffeur, the humble modern suc-
cessor to the noble profession of charioteering. As Tharoor
remarks, It is only a story. But you learn something about a
man from the kind of stories people make up about him.
Continuing with the great epic, the book then picks on
Draupadi: Now, even with five husbands didnt Draupadi
have to worry about Karna Maharajs intentions? Dalit women
are equally dubious about Satyavati
and Kunti: One agreed to the
whims of a rishi in order to remove
the bad odour from her body, the
other obeyed a mantra! What won-
derful gods! What wonderful rishis!
And a popular song among lower-
class women in 19th-century
Calcutta imagined the objections
that Ambalika might have expressed
when her mother-in-law, Satyavati,
insisted that she let Vyasa impreg-
nate her. These references are not
taken from the epics but are based
on folklore attributed to Dalit and
Adivasi women who were presumed
to resent upper castes. Why should
such stray observations be quoted in
a book which claims to be an alternative history?
In the chapter Fusion and Rivalry under the Delhi
Sultanate, the author observes that Buddhism was driven out
of India by a combination of lack of support, persecution, and
the destruction of religious monuments and monasteries by
Hindus as well as Muslims. Hindus have not been known to be
iconoclasts. They are themselves idol worshippers. Second,
Lord Buddha is accepted as the 10th avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Therefore, destroying any of his monuments cannot arise.
Vincent Smith, the distinguished British historian, wrote: In
or about 1197, several years after the fall of Delhi, this officer
(Bakhtiyar Khalji) secured the control of Bihar by a raid of
almost incredible audacity, seizing the fort of the town of Bihar
with a party of only 200 horsemen. The Buddhist monasteries,
which still flourished under the patronage of Pala kings, were
destroyed, and the monks killed or dispersed. The
Mohammadan onslaught extinguished the life of Buddhism in
its old home and last refuge. After this time the indication of
the existence of that religion anywhere in India are very slight.
Clearly, Doniger is not an objective scholar. To quote her,
Hinduism under Islam was alive and well in India. The same
sultans who, with what Hindus would regard as the left hand,
collected the jizya and destroyed Hindu temples also, with the
right hand, often married Rajput princesses, patronised
Hindu artists and Sanskrit scholars, and employed Hindus in
the highest offices of state. How can anyone with a sense of
fairplay excuse jizya and the destruction of Hindu temples so
casually? In her chapter Dialogue and Tolerance under the
Mughals, Doniger says about Aurangzeb: He financed the
maintenance of several other Hindu temples and matts, and
he even made land grants to some. FS Growse, the District
Magistrate in his gazetteer published in 1882, has observed
the following: Aurangzeb had descended in person on
Mathura. The temple specially marked out for destruction
was one built so recently as the reign of Jahangir at a cost of
C33 lakh, by Bir Singh Dev Bundela of Urcha. Beyond all
doubt this was the last of the famous shrines of Kesava Deva.
While discussing jizya, the author writes: The Delhi
sultans levied the jizya, graduated according to income,
with exemptions for people at both ends of the social spec-
trum, the poorest and (until Feroz Shah changed the rule)
the purest, the Brahmins. There is also evidence of the exis-
tence of a Turkish (Turuska) tax, which may have been a
poll tax on Muslims in India, a Hindu equivalent of the
Muslim jizya. A Hindu jizya is indeed an innovation by the
American Doniger! The truth is jizya was imposed in 712
AD with the advent of Mohammed bin Qasim. A leading
scholar on Mughal history, Prof Sri Ram Sharma wrote that
jizya implied a declaration that the Muslim rulers of India
were still her conquerors, holding the inhabitants down by
sheer force. It proclaimed the superiority of Islam over
Hinduism in too brazen a fashion. Every other aspect of the
religious policy of Muslim emperors of India was founded
upon the imposition of this tax. Thus its abolition in 1564
was a turning point in the history of the Muslim rule in
India. As long as the jizya was levied, the Muslims were the
only true citizens in the Muslim state. Hindus were subjects
who acquired certain rights as a result of their undertaking
to pay the jizya to their conquerors.
All in all, An Alternative History by Doniger is a com-
prehensive attempt to denigrate the Hindu ethos, be it her
spontaneous effort or a sponsored attempt by Hindu-bashers.
Cuu||]. CWT ?X^]TTa (||| 2J, 2JJ9)
sunday
magazino
lJ||lt l
ThE 0FFEREhCE BETwEEh A SuCCESSFuL
FERS0h Ah0 0ThERS S h0T A LACK 0F
STREh0Th, h0T A LACK 0F Kh0wLE00E, BuT
RAThER A LACK 0F wLL.
- vhCE L0MBAR0
Now Dolhi, Fobruary 16, 2014
R
eportedly, BJPs prime ministerial candi-
date Narendra Modi will contest the Lok
Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh.
Modi is likely to fight from either
Lucknow or Varanasi. At the same time,
he may also contest from Vadodara in Gujarat.
The speculation of Modi shifting his base is
important keeping in mind the 139 Lok Sabha seats
the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and
Jharkhand have. The BJP desperately wants to do
well in these States, and the party believes that it
can use Modis poor background along with the
Congress-led UPAs minority appeasement policy to
do well in this region. In fact, the Gujarat Chief
Minister, in a recent rally in Kerala, reminded the
people about his ordinary origin and how he was
still considered an untouchable. He seems to be
playing his poor background card very well. He
has also made much noise over Congress president
Sonia Gandhis poison statement and said that it
was the Ranganath Misra Commission which was
constituted to sow poison. The BJP is expecting a
win-win scenario from these two issues.
h hE WkhT8 kh kIIIkh6E
T
he Congress and the BJP are not quite enthusi-
astic about pre-poll alliances. The BJP had, of
course, finalised its alliance with Vaikos party in
Tamil Nadu, but soon several controversies crept in.
In Andhra Pradesh, its talks with the TDP are
stuck. In Bihar too, it has made no progress with
the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party. Om Prakash
Chautala is still waiting in Haryana and the party
has not moved an inch towards the AGP in Assam.
Though Raju Shetty has come into the NDA fold in
Maharashtra, only two seats have been left for his
party. Many BJP leaders, however, feel that there is
a strong current in favour of the party and so there
is no need to get into the complexities of alliances.
The Congress leadership, on the other hand,
feels that the party is not in a strong position and
this would not change even if some smaller part-
ners join in. That is the reason why talks have not
started with the probable partners enumerated by
the AK Antony Committee report. Though
Digvijay Singh, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ghulam
Nabi Azad are talking with the old alliance partners
of the UPA, the Congress has put in harsh condi-
tions regarding the same.
TMII Ih 6hE88
C
ongress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has put
many party veterans in a tizzy. He wants elec-
tions for all posts in the party, including the
Congress Working Committee (the apex decision-
making body), to encourage democratic practices
within the organisation. Interestingly, most CWC
members happen to be honorary. State in-charges
and general secretaries are appointed in this body.
So, several leaders are apprehensive that they might
have to face elections to get a party post. They also
wonder what would happen to the special and per-
manent invited members.
Many not-so-active leaders oppose this idea,
fearing that they might be removed or sidelined
forever. One may recall the case of Jitendra Prasad
who had fought against Sonia Gandhi in 2000 and
got only 94 votes as compared to 9,000 in favour of
his opponent. After that he was put on the margins
and he died within a year.
EkI kh IkkE IhT8
T
he Third Front has not been formed yet, but a
debate over the real and fake fronts has already
started. Sources say that the Left leaders are consid-
ering Mamata Banerjees probable front as a fake
one. Reportedly Mamata is still considering her fed-
eral front. Recently, Anna Hazare has praised her,
saying the West Bengal Chief Minister deserves to
become the Prime Minister; this has motivated her
to form her own front. Probably, she is in touch
with Chandrababu Naidu, Sharad Pawar, YS
Jaganmohan Reddy, among others.
6hk8 Ih khhk
I
t is being speculated that after the creation of
Telangana, the MPs and MLAs of the Andhra
Congress would change their party. The parties led
by YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu
are likely to be benefited by this development.
On Monday, three MLAs T Vijay Kumar,
Dharmana Prasad and J Jagan Naikulu left the
Congress and joined Jaganmohans party.
Likewise, G Aruna Kumari, one of the State min-
isters whose son is likely to fight on a TDP ticket,
has been seen in a function organised by the
TDP. It is being speculated that one of the MPs of
the Congress, M Srinivasulu, may also join the
party. Sources say that all the 16 MLAs, who had
joined the Congress with Chiranjeevi, are also
planning to leave the party now.
I88YIh I kkhkTkkk
A
mid apprehensions of the Congresss meltdown,
the party is hopeful of doing well in Karnataka.
Its leaders in the State are not just claiming tickets
for themselves, but also for their sons and daugh-
ters. Reportedly, Petroleum Minister Veerappa
Moily wants a ticket for his son, Harsha Moily, from
the Dakshina Kannada seat. N Dharam Singh, for-
mer Chief Minister, wants to pit his son from the
Bidar seat which is already considered by
Moradabad MP Mohammed Azharuddin. RV
Deshpandes son, Parasnath Pande, is staking claim
on the Uttari Kannada seat. This pits him against
Margaret Alvas son. At the same time, the BJP is set
to get cricketer Anil Kumble from the same seat.
6hE88 kh kIIT VTE8
I
n Haryana, the Congress is pursuing Dalit vote-
bank politics. This is evident from the partys two
recent moves: Kumari Selja has been sent to the
Rajya Sabha and Ashok Tanwar has been made the
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president.
Interestingly, those replaced were Dalits themselves.
Selja and Tanwar, however, are more popular Dalit
faces than their predecessors Ishwar Singh and
Phool Chand Moolana respectively.
Sources say that this time the Congress high
command doesnt see a good prospect in Haryana.
Om Prakash Chautala had got many Jat votes the
last time as well. This time they will be divided. An
alliance between the BJP and Kuldeep Bishnoi is
making inroad into non-Jat voters. Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda wanted a Brahmin as the
State Congress president. But this time it is expect-
ed that the Brahmin votes will swing towards the
BJP-HJC alliance, while the Congress is expecting a
large chunk Dalit votes. Recent incidents of tension
between Jats and Dalits may be another reason why
Selja and Tanwar have been put forth.
sunday
gupshup
hAR ShAhKAR vYAS
The Congress
leadershi, on lhe olher
hand, eels lhal lhe
arly is nol in a slrong
osilion and lhis would
nol change even i
some smaller arlners
join in. Thal is lhe
reason why lalks have
nol slarled wilh lhe
robable arlners
enumeraled by lhe AK
Anlony Commillee
reorl
W
e are living in a time
when the country is
undergoing a
process of class formations.
Class formation can take place
only when castes show fissures
and implications of decline as
an institution.
Class is more about the
material privileges and caste
revolves around the social
world. In a class-based society,
a Dalit with a Mercedes and a
Rajput with his Mercedes
would be more similar in atti-
tudes than dissimilar. But in a
caste-based society, the duo
cannot be neighbours and will
be more dissimilar in attitudes
than similar. Inequality is a
fundamental feature of a
caste-based society.
On the other hand, in a
country like ours, class forma-
tions too would contain mul-
tiple characteristics. Put
frankly, class formation in
India would mean the inter-
mixing of people from all
castes and outcastes on a vari-
ety of scales education,
profession, income, residential
location, modes of transport,
and so on.
Further, the class markers
attract few more identities:
Infants of the underclass
would be born in government
hospitals and would grab the
alphabet in government
schools. The middle class chil-
dren would be born in private
hospitals and study in private
schools. Linguistics will differ
too. The underclass will speak
vernacular languages, English
will belong to someone else.
There is enough proof
that Dalits also belong to the
middle class howsoever
small in number they may
be. They also book flats in
apartments that are predom-
inantly non-Dalit. There is
also evidence that the Dalit
middle class is sending its
kids to private English-medi-
um schools that are predom-
inantly attended by children
from the upper castes.
Howsoever prosperous a
nation might be, there will be
class distinctions upper
class, upper middle class, mid-
dle class, lower middle class,
and the underclass. However,
the Dalits are now rising up
and integrating into a world
owned by the upper castes.
However, as far as I can
recollect, there is no empirical
study that measures a situa-
tion where members of the
upper castes are taking up
jobs that once only Dalits and
the lower castes did. There is
hardly any study showing that
the upper castes too live in the
slums or that their children of
the upper castes study in
Government schools too.
Last week, I visited
Tronica City where Dalit
Indian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
(DICCI), Delhi Chapter, presi-
dent NK Chandan is setting
up a manufacturing unit that
will produce industrial safety
helmets. In order to source
belts used in tying helmets, he
visited a factory that manufac-
tures school bags where belts
are used.
I accompanied Chandan
and while he did his business
deals with the factory owner, I
took time off to move inside
the manufacturing area. I saw
12 women at work.
With some hesitation, I
asked the owner if he could
find out the caste back-
grounds of his women
employees. Most will be
Dalit, he replied. When
enquired, following results
were found:
Upper Caste
1. L Sharma, a Brahmin
from Delhis Mahendragarh.
Husband is a security guard.
2. P Dixit, a Brahmin
from Gopalganj, Bihar.
Husband is a painter.
3. A Sharma, Brahmin
unmarried from Azadpur,
Delhi.
4. N Singh, a Rajput from
Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
Husband works at a packaging
unit.
5. S Singh, a Rajput from
Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
Husband is a driver.
6. D Agrawal, a Bania
from Jamui, Bihar. Husband is
an industrial worker.
OBC
1. T Chaurasia, from
Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Husband is an industrial
worker.
2. Rani K, a Kurmi from
Nalanda, Bihar. Husband is an
industrial worker.
3. Rati Rani, a Kanhar
from Patna, Bihar. Husband is
an industrial worker.
4. P Devi, a Saini from
Delhi. Husband is an industri-
al worker.
Others
1. Rukhshana, a Muslim
from Muzaffarpur, Uttar
Pradesh. Husband is an indus-
trial worker.
2. M Maseeh, a Christian
from Delhi. Unmarried.
In all cases, spouses
worked as security guards,
house painters, helpers at gro-
cery shops, etc.
DALTDARY
ChAh0RABhAh FRASA0
l| ||i| l+ |u||+|iu|
Why Modi may movo
to Uttar Pradosh
A new sense o class ormalion is blurring lhe rigid ideas o casle divisions in
lhe sociely. There is now an inlermixing o dierenl casles wilhin lhe same class
0oniger's book is a comrehensive
alleml lo denigrale lhe hindu elhos,
say FRAFuLL 00RA0A & KR FhAh0A
0Ist0rtI0a 0f
reat hIst0ry
10YEkI TkkE8 FkEhT8'
6k, 6IkIM8 hE'8 k WkI
A
10-year-old Norwegian boy came
up with a novel excuse after he
drove his parents car into a snowy
ditch on Wednesday morning: He told
police he was a dwarf who forgot his
driving licence. The boy lives
near Dokka, a town about 110
km north of Oslo. Sometime
before 0600 local time, he
loaded his 18-month old
sister into the car and
headed for their grand-
parents in Valdres,
about 60 km away,
local police said.
He drove more
than 10 km before
he veered off the
road. A snow-
plow driver
found him and
alerted the
police.
The par-
ents woke up
and discov-
ered that the
children were
missing and that someone had taken
off with their car. They were pretty
upset, as you can imagine, said Baard
Christiansen, a spokesman for the Vest
Oppland police district. The boy
told the snowplow driver that he was a
dwarf and that he had forgotten his
drivers licence at home. Police said
no charges would be filed and
the case was closed. (Reuters)
'8EEThVEh I 1kFkh'
8kY8 hE 6kh hEk kkIh
A
composer known as the
Beethoven of Japan
said he had regained
some of his hearing abil-
ity, a week after setting
off a furor by admitting
he had used a ghost
writer for his popular
symphonies and other
music. Mamoru
Samuragochi, a classical
musician, became
known as an inspira-
tional genius for com-
posing despite losing his
hearing.
Samuragochi said that
he had suffered hearing
loss and was not able to hear when he
began paying a part-time university
professor to write music under his
name, a collaboration that went on for
18 years. But the situation had
improved.
The truth is that recently I have
begun to hear a little again, he said in
a statement reported by Japanese
media, adding that for the last three
years he has been able to follow con-
versations under certain conditions.
Samuragochi, 50, apologised to
fans last week for paying Takashi
Niigaki to write compositions under
his name. Niigaki told reporters that he
had also wondered about the extent of
the composers hearing loss. (Reuters)
8ITkIh'8 8IE8T FFFY I8
VE 7IT TkII
A
t 7ft 1 inches and weighing in at a
massive 11 stone, Great Dane Fred-
dy is the tallest dog in Britain. The big,
friendly and gigantic Great Dane Fred-
dy, who weighs in at 11 stone,
towers over most when hes
on his hind legsat a
staggering 7ft 4in tall. At
41 inches from foot to
shoulder blade the not-so-small pup is
only 18 months old and said to be still
growing. Although no official measure-
ment has been made, Freddy is almost
tall enough to take the current Guin-
ness World Record from Zeus, a four-
year-old Great Dane from Michigan,
US, who is 44 inches tall from foot to
shoulder blade. He is already signifi-
cantly larger than Britains current
recorded biggest dog Samson, who is
6ft 6in when stood on his hind legs.
The gigantic dog began life as the runt
of the litter, but experienced an aston-
ishing growth spurt to reach his cur-
rent size. Freddys petite and proud
owner Claire Stoneman, 38, from
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, said she spends
4,000 a year on standard dog food
alone. Miss Stoneman, who is just 5ft
4inches, said she is aware that his size
may cause concern to fellow pups in
the park so gets up extra early in the
morning for his daily walk. (The Dai-
lyMirror)
E8TkkhT 8hT Wh
I 8EIIIh hMkh IIE8h
A
restaurant was shut down
after it was found to be
selling dishes made from
human flesh. Cops arrested
11 people including the
owner and recovered at least
two fresh human heads when
they swooped on the eatery
at Anambra in Nigeria after
a tip-off. The bloodied and
disembodied heads were
found wrapped in cellophane
sheetsand police said roast-
ed human head was even on
the menu. Two AK-47 guns,
other weapons, dozens of
rounds of ammunition and
several mobile phones were
also discovered. One local resi-
dent said, We always saw
weird people coming and
going. A pastor, who was sur-
prised to learn that he had been
served human flesh com-
plained to the police. I ate at
the restaurant and the bill was
very high, he told Your Jewish
News. (The Daily Mirror)
6W8 VI8IT 'WEEFIh'
8TkTE I VIIh MkY
H
undreds of people have
flocked to a small town
in northern Israel to view a
statue of the Virgin Mary
that residents say weeps
oil. Members of a Christ-
ian family from Tarshiha,
near the Lebanon border,
say they have witnessed a
miracle in their living
room. Osama Khoury said
on Tuesday that his wife
Amira found the statue
covered with oil recently.
Amira said the statue
spoke to her and told her
not to be afraid. After a
neighbour witnessed the oil,
word soon spread. Parts of
the statue appear to be slick
with moisture, even after it is
wiped off. The family says it
is most striking when a tear
seems to roll down the stat-
ues cheek. It says about
2000 people have come to
see the statue over the last
week. (The Daily Telegraph)
sunday
magazino
itl|tJlitJl |
ThE KEY AB0uT L0Sh0 wE0hT: Y0u hAvE T0
00 T F0R Y0u. Y0u hAvE T0 wAhT T0 00 T. Ah0
Y0u CAh'T LET whAT EvERY0hE hAS T0 SAY
0vERShA00w whAT Y0u wAhT F0R Y0u.
- JEhhFER hu0S0h
W
hen John Travolta is in
a bar and the Bee Gees
Night Fever comes on,
the actor always experi-
ences a moments trepi-
dation. Of course it makes me smile,
he says. And it makes me feel very vali-
dated. But I also have this fear that peo-
ple are going to expect me to get up and
dance. Now I dont mind dancing, but
the days of wanting to be circled by peo-
ple while dancing? Theyre gone. At 59,
the star of Saturday Night Fever, Grease,
Pulp Fiction and Face/Off has handed his
dancing shoes down to his three-year-
old son, Ben. Hes a dancing boy. So
fun, so adorable. He sings, dances and
plays with his planes (Travolta flies his
own, including a Boeing 707) and its
interesting to watch these things pass on
from one generation to the next.
Its four oclock on a Saturday after-
noon in sub-zero New York and
Travolta is in the mollified, expansive
mood that follows an afternoon nap. I
always feel that people who gain a cer-
tain level of success are indulged from
the beginning in a way that others
arent, he says. I think that they are
either loved and admired from the get-
go, or they havent been and theyre
demanding their moment.
At 12, his mother put him in the
Frank D Gilroy play Wholl Save the
Plowboy? and encouraged him to con-
sider acting as a profession, but it was-
nt until he turned 17, after two years of
summer theatre, that he got his first
professional gig with an Equity theatre
group. I remember the director said,
You know, other people have come in
here and auditioned but none of them
had the joy in performing that you
have. Its contagious and were hiring
you for that reason.
Travoltas contagious quality could
be condensed down to a boyish natural-
ness that he still possesses today, after
four decades at the top of the business.
He exuded an unschooled sincerity, from
his early years in Urban Cowboy and the
Brian De Palma thrillers Carrie and Blow
Out, through to Nora Ephrons comic hit
Michael. He could do comedy, morphing
from a light-hearted romantic hero in
Amy Heckerlings Look Whos Talking to
a dark-humoured, morally corrupt vil-
lain in Barry Sonnenfelds Get Shorty and
Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction.
Once the actors un-nuanced pretti-
ness filled out into something more solid,
he re-emerged as a Hollywood hard man,
scoring leading roles in thrillers such as
Swordfish, Domestic Disturbance, Savages
and last years Killing Season. I always
knew how lucky I was, he tells me, when
I ask whether being nominated for an
Academy Award for his role as the sinu-
ous-hipped Tony Manero in Saturday
Night Fever, aged 24, and becoming a
global sex symbol overnight went to his
head. So actually I was quite humbled by
success when it came. It did, however, he
concedes, make the next 10 years his
hardest. I felt like the decade between 25
and 35 was my most difficult.
Then, once Pulp Fiction came into
play, I was being offered the most won-
derful roles again.
Even during his hiatus, Travolta was
always a glass-half-full man, he says,
an optimist by nature. He took care
never to lose the joy that director had
seen in him as a 17 year-old, not even by
the various celebrity torments he has
been subjected to over the course of his
career the lawsuits, extortion plots
and unending media speculation about
his sexuality but by the series of tragic
losses the actor has experienced in his
lifetime. First there was his long-term
girlfriend Diana Hyland, whom he met
while filming The Boy in the Plastic
Bubble and nursed through a long battle
with breast cancer until her death in
1977. Then in 2009 Travolta and his wife
of 23 years, actress Kelly Preston, lost
their autistic son, Jett, after the 16 year-
old suffered a seizure and hit his head
on the bath at the familys holiday home
in the Bahamas. Im probably less terri-
fied of death than your average fellow
now, because people so near to me have
suffered before their time and I just feel
that if they can do it, so can I, he admits
today. The panic that most people feel
has been ineffective for me. I almost feel
like its disrespectful to fear it when oth-
ers have been able to do it.
He and Preston try to keep their sons
memory alive for themselves and their
13-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu, by talking
about Jett freely, he says. And he holds on
to the traditional Catholic belief that a
persons soul lives on forever, despite
having been converted to Scientology in
1975 by the actress Joan Prather on the
set of The Devils Rain in Mexico. Travolta
was intrigued enough to sign up for a
course on his return to Los Angeles,
where he found that Scientology used
everything I had always known to be true
and provided really workable solutions.
If it werent for his beliefs, he says,
he could never have got through the
period following Jeff s death. Oh my
God, he says, and theres a crack in his
voice even now, If I hadnt had the
support of Scientology, I dont think I
could have got through it. They were
with me every day after Jett died. They
even travelled with me. And for a solid
two years it was like that.
A private man who remembers a
time when showbusiness was about
ability being valued over getting atten-
tion for no particular reason, Travolta is
bemused by todays reality television cul-
ture. I always feel like a terrible snob
when I say this but I would be embar-
rassed to be famous for not doing any-
thing. Its about a modern cult of
voyeurism he says. To think that peo-
ple invite that scrutiny into their lives
through social media is anathema to
him, who once described the seclusion
famous people are forced into as being
like a celebrity prison.
Of course Diana, Princess of Wales,
was the ultimate victim of that, and when
the two of them had that famous dance at
a White House gala dinner in 1985,
Travolta felt that it was two victims of it
dancing together. There really was
something lovely and girlish about her,
he remembers, and I felt that I had taken
her back to her childhood, when she had
probably watched Grease and for that
moment I was her Prince Charming.
Hes gentle and courteous through-
out our interview; hes also unafraid to
sound vulnerable. I dont love the idea
of turning 60, he admits of his birth-
day later this month. Having feared
that he might never act again after Jetts
death, he now has a series of tough-guy
roles lined up, first in heist movie The
Forger, then as John Gotti Sr in a 2015
biopic about the mobster.
His white, three-piece disco-danc-
ing suit may now be a museum piece,
but Travolta still likes to sing partic-
ularly to his son, Ben. I like to intro-
duce him to songs in unusual ways. I
recently told him about the fastest air-
craft in the world the SR-71
Blackbird because he loves planes
like his dad. Hes still laughing softly
to himself when we say goodbye.
l| +il] ll|+p|
L
ost for centuries, a rare bronze
statue of the Greek god Apollo
has mysteriously resurfaced in
the Gaza Strip, only to be seized by
police and vanish almost immediately
from view. Word of the remarkable
find has caught the imagination of the
world of archaeology, but the police
cannot say when the life-sized bronze
might re-emerge or where it might be
put on display.
A local fisherman says he
scooped the 500kg (1,100lb) god from
the seabed last August, and carried it
home on a donkey cart, unaware of
the significance of his catch. Others
soon guessed at its importance, and
the statue briefly appeared on eBay
with a $500,000 (300,000) price tag
well below its true value. Police
from the Islamist group Hamas,
which rules the isolated Palestinian
territory, swiftly seized it and say they
are investigating the affair.
Archaeologists have not been able
to get their hands on the Apollo to
their great frustration- and instead
must pore over a few blurred pho-
tographs of the intact deity, who is
laid out incongruously on a blanket
emblazoned with Smurfs. From what
they can tell, it was cast sometime
between the 5th and the 1st century
BC, making it at least 2,000 years old.
Its unique. In some ways I
would say it is priceless. Its like peo-
ple asking what is the (value) of the
painting La Gioconda (the Mona
Lisa) in the Louvre museum, said
Jean-Michel de Tarragon, a historian
with the French Biblical and
Archaeological School of Jerusalem.
G
eorge Clooney has strolled
into one of the most bitter
and longest-running contro-
versies in the heritage world, saying
it would be very nice if the British
Museum sent the Parthenon
Marbles back to Greece. Clooney, at
the Berlin Film Festival promoting
The Monuments Men, the story of
an Allied team trying to save arte-
facts from the Nazis, was asked by a
Greek reporter whether Britain
should return the Marbles. I think
you have a very good case to make
about your artefacts, Clooney said.
Maybe it wouldnt be a bad thing if
they were returned. I think that is a
good idea. That would be a very fair
and very nice thing. I think it is the
right thing to do.
The sculptures were removed
from the monument, which had been
used as a gunpowder store, by Lord
Elgin between 1801 and 1805, when
he was ambassador to the Ottoman
court in Istanbul, which ruled
Greece. The collection, eventually
bought by parliament in 1816 and
presented to the British Museum,
includes roughly half the surviving
sculptures more than 70 metres of
the beautiful frieze, showing a pro-
cession of horses and warriors.
Greece has been campaigning
for the Marbles return for decades,
and just before the recession
built a spectacular museum with
windows facing the stripped temple
on the Acropolis hill.
D
evelopers have begun to
demolish an Alexandria villa
that campaigners claim is one
of the most important examples of
Egypts architectural heritage. The
Villa Aghion was a modernist villa
built in 1928 by renowned architect
Auguste Perret, whose work in France
is protected by Unesco and whose
career has just been celebrated in an
exhibition in Paris. But Perrets work is
less appreciated in Egypt, where offi-
cials removed his landmark design
from a list of protected buildings last
month, allowing its owner to begin its
destruction on Wednesday. It might
be the most valuable villa that we
might ever have had here in
Alexandria, said Mohamed
Aboulkheir, the co-founder of Save
Alex, a campaign to save the ports
vanishing heritage. Its one of the
masterpieces of Egypt.
The Villa Aghion is a relic of
Alexandrias heyday in the 20s and
30s, when the city was one of the
most cosmopolitan and grandest in
the region, attracting writers such as
EM Forster and Lawrence Durrell.
Now many of the buildings con-
structed during that era are under
threat with the Villa Aghion one of
at least 36 landmark sites to have
been destroyed in the past five years.
That figure is expected to rise sharply
in the near future, with 20 further
properties removed from a list of pro-
tected buildings since mid-December,
according to the Save Alex campaign.
Among them is the Villa Ambron,
where Durrell lived and which
inspired his Alexandria Quartet
one of the most acclaimed works of
20th-century literature. We are about
to face the same thing with the
Durrell villa. Its a clone of this situa-
tion, said Aboulkheir.
The problem partly derives from
how owners of buildings are given lit-
tle financial incentive to maintain
their properties. Due to an antiquated
rent-control system, tenants of
Alexandrias oldest buildings such
as the Villa Aghion need only pay
rent at decades-old rates, meaning
annual earnings for owners are often
now only worth a few English pounds.
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F
rom a revolutionary and a political
leader to a yogi and a spiritual guru,
from an outstanding poet and liter-
ary critic to a political and social theo-
rist, Sri Aurobindo was a man of many
attributes and a master of all. But the
essence of his personality lies in his spiri-
tuality and philosophy. Naturally,
describing him is a rather complicated
issue, and evaluating him even more so.
In the volume under review, Peter Heehs
has attempted to carry out no ordinary
task. And rightly, therefore, has he iden-
tified 15 eminent essayists who have
thrown light upon the contributions of
the sage and philosopher who deserved
more from history than what he got. A
multidimensional intellectual,
Aurobindo fits into the definition of a
genius rather perfectly.
In this volume, Heehs has selected 15
essays on Aurobindo that have been pub-
lished in the recent past and has present-
ed them in four sections Poetry and
Criticism; Political and Social Thought;
Philosophical Thought; and, Social
Thought. That most of these essays are
the ones published between 2006 and
2011 prove that the genius of Aurobindo
is recognised even in the 21st century,
suggesting that the spiritual master was a
quintessential personality who tran-
scended time. Through these essays the
writers have positioned Aurobindo in
their own frames of reference, that is, the
discipline to which they belong and focus
from their respective angles. Though
evaluation is not the appropriate word to
be used in the context of someone like
him, yet the different essays do present
some kind of an assessment of the life,
time and work of Aurobindo.
The editors introduction of the book
presents such a succinct account of the
life, time and work of Aurobindo that
further elaboration is hardly needed. Yet
the different essays selected by Heehs do
a great job in enlightening the reader
about Sri Aurobindo. As he very rightly
says, Aurobindos personal life intersect-
ed dramatically with the history of 20th
century India. Between 1906 and 1910
he was one of the most visible leaders of
the Indias freedom struggle, and his
writings and activities changed the direc-
tion of the movement.
The greatest quality of Aurobindos
writings and thought was that though he
used the European literary and intellec-
tual tools, he did them in distinctively
Indian way. Thus, the substance of his
philosophy was primarily Indian while
the form largely Western. Sri Aurobindo,
widely read as he was, drew from the
Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita as well as
from European philosophical thoughts
like Platonism and Stoicism very judi-
cially. But his thought was so original
that calling it a mixture or even a com-
plete blend of Indian and Western phi-
losophy would be erroneous. They were
typically his thoughts. And the reason
for this was his spirituality, which was
his main strength.
The essayists in this volume have
used the methods of their disciplines to
evaluate the works of Aurobindo that
they have chosen for study and through
that they have tried to project his rele-
vance in the present century. In fact, by
increasing their awareness about his
writings, the people of this century can
enhance their understanding of con-
temporary literature, social science, phi-
losophy and spirituality. It would also
help them create better societies and find
answers to intriguing questions to life.
Scholarly interest in Aurobindo has
remained strong after his death and the
essays contained in the volume are the
ample proof of this. While Aurobindo
needs no commemoration or promotion
because his place in Indian history is
secure, yet these essays discuss his ideas
in greater depth and present him in
modern light. The relevance of some of
the seminal writings of Aurobindo like
Savitri or The Future Poetry or even Life
Divine has been discussed quite
absorbingly. Going through these essays
one can find that the 21st century writers
have appreciated Aurobindo in a more
catholic sense. In his essay on poetry and
criticism, KD Verma does it rather neat-
ly when he says, Aurobindos emphasis,
it should be noted, is not on religion but
on spirituality as a basis of his vision of
evolutionary progress. Similarly,
through their essay Bringing Brahaman
Down to Earth: Lilavad in Colonial
India, Nalini Bhushan and Jay Garfield
conclude that the promise of the Life
Divine is simply the promise of our own
potential realised and it is improper to
understand Life Divine as the life of a
divinity. It would be interesting to
understand Aurobindos theory of action
because the basis of his interpretation of
action was the karmayoga of the
Bhagavad Gita. His nationalism was a
specific instance of the larger insight
concerning the indissolubility of the
material and the spiritual.
In substance, this volume reinter-
prets or rather reinvents Aurobindo
Ghose, whose head and heart seemed to
work in tandem. The volume is to be
read seriously and may be many more
times to understand his spirit.
This is a slory o a leenage
boy who wanls lo be an
ndian mililary oicer lo make his
grandalher roud. Bul a slorm lhal will
change his lie awails him. The slory has
been insired rom a series o reallie
incidenls, where lhe aulhor ieced logelher
bils and ieces lhrough his inleraclions
wilh hundreds o eole across various
lowns and cilies. The book rovides an
enlhralling iclure o lhe loils o a deserled
young boy and his enormous slruggle.
SKY BEYOND
THE CLOUDS
Deepak Rana
Frog Books C125
NEW
ARRVALS
Kalaam discovers lhal he
has a lair o concocling lhe
mosl deleclable recies.
Svelalana, a RussoAmerican is convinced
lhal his signalure EX]SP[^^ is lhe answer
lo wesl's craving or lhe 'exolic'. A
rollicking ride lhrough a cenlury's worlh o
hislory, lhis book olows lhe lives, limes
and exloils o lhree generalions in a
amily o cooks. 0elighlully subversive,
lhis manylayered debul serves u
imerialism, consumerism, ackaged ood
- and lhe very arl o sloylelling - in a
lavour all ils own.
GONE WTH THE
VNDALOO
Vikram Nair
Hachette ndia, C350
This book oers a rereshing
inlerrelalion o 0alil olilics
in ndia. Foular democracy in ndia has
nol crealed a more civil sociely, argues
Suryakanl waghmore, bul has allowed
dominanl and comeling casle grous lo
enlrench lheir ower lhrough orce and lhe
ballol. his accounls lake us lo lhe villages
in Maralhwada in cenlral ndia where
slruggles or dignily and a lie wilhoul daily
humilialion are oughl everyday.
CVLTY
AGANST CASTE
Suryakant Waghmore
Sage, C750
H
ow can a country be
reimagined? Even while
allowing latitude for some
literary licence, it is hard to
conceptualise how the
image of a country could be adequately
captured and re-conceived later to serve
a defined purpose. Apparently, a similar
exercise in Reimagining Japan has been
undertaken by McKinsey & Company.
But, this conceptualisation and re-con-
ception become especially hard for a
civilisational country like India that has
had a long and distinguished past fol-
lowed by a millennium-long dark peri-
od. Now, analyses are tumbling over
each other in predicting that a glorious
India is rising once again like the
proverbial phoenix, and that it is distin-
guishing itself everywhere arts, com-
merce, sciences, technology and politi-
cal discourses to shape its domestic
and international systems. More sober
analyses, of course, draw up a balance
sheet of Indias current and potential
strengths and vulnerabilities to present
more nuanced conclusions about where
India is likely to be in 2020, in 2050,
and in the mistier future.
Not surprisingly, Indias growth is
being compared and contrasted, almost
reflexively, with Chinas peaceful rise,
which reviews the speed and content of
their respective growth. So much is
apparent. Chinas peaceful rise has led
to a great alarm among its neighbours
and invited a more muscular US
response in East Asia. But, Indias rise
does not seem to threaten the Asian
countries and is even welcomed by sev-
eral of them to offset and balance China
in the Asian continent.
These issues provide the backdrop
for the book being reviewed here that
attempts to reimagine India in its baf-
fling complexities. India has its
strengths and weaknesses. It has a great
latent potential, which needs to be
realised. But this is where its contradic-
tions, too, become visible. For example,
does it need more government to
achieve its social objectives, or less gov-
ernment to achieve its economic ambi-
tions? Moreover, it has been wisely
observed that for every statement made
to encapsulate India, an opposite state-
ment can be made, and both statements
would probably be true. For instance:
India needs to open up its economy and
free it from stifling regulations in the
interests of its national growth. But, it
needs more regulation to ensure that its
poor have access to health and educa-
tion at affordable costs. Perhaps the
greatest contradiction that India pre-
sents to the world is that while it is
home to some 30 per cent of the latters
population that is living under the
poverty line (howsoever defined) it is
also home to a fair percentage of the
worlds billionaires.
The book comprises a large number
of short essays 64 in all that have
been clustered into six chapters entitled
reimagining, politics & polity, business
& technology, challenges, culture & soft
power, and India in the world. The writ-
ers of these essays comprise a galaxy
from different walks of life and include
well-known national and international
personalities like Fareed Zakaria,
Gurcharan Das, Mukesh Ambani, Bill
Gates, Azim Premji, Edward Luce,
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Nandan
Nilenkani, Anil Agarwal, Ramchandra
Guha, Mallika Sarabhai, Vishwanathan
Anand, Stephen P Cohen, Kishore
Mahbubani and Bruce Reidel.
No consensus could have been
expected to emerge from essays with
such a global sweep and authors from
very difference backgrounds. In fair-
ness, it should be emphasised that the
editors have not tried to achieve any
conformity in the views expressed by
the essay-writers. What emerges, there-
fore, from this mlange of contributions
is a series of vignettes on the issues
embodied within the chapters identi-
fied. The result has been strong opin-
ions and throwaway assertions being
made, without much effort being made
to balance these views or to debate them
at more than cursory length. The result
is a stirring of the appetite, but no ful-
fillment of the hunger.
For instance, Ruchir Sharma in
Breakout or washout is all praise for
the new genre of smart, dynamic chief
ministers, who have been rewarded by
the voters with up to three terms in
office, which is unique in the Indian
political system. He concludes by not-
ing, In an increasingly federal nation,
the dynamism of the State leaders is
countering the ineffectiveness of the
Centre and changing the economic map
of India. He might have qualified this
over-statement by also noticing the
stranglehold some border States have
acquired over a weak and indecisive
New Delhi in the foreign policy sphere.
Recent events have revealed that
Mamata Banerjee has acquired a veto
over Indias Bangladesh policy in the
matter of negotiating the settling land
borders or sharing river waters. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singhs inability to
attend the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting Summit in Sri
Lanka due to the objections of the
Dravida parties in Tamil Nadu is yet
another example of how the strong-
States-weak-Centre dynamics have
played out to the detriment of Indias
national interests. It is clear, therefore,
that an unqualified federalism is as
deplorable as mindless centralisation.
Again, in The closing of the Indian
mind, Kishore Mahbubani indicts
Indias underperformance on a host
of factors overpopulation, corrup-
tion, illiteracy, political incompetence
and stubbornly persistent poverty. But,
the real failure is, to a large extent, one
of imagination. Many Indian leaders
still seem unable to conceive their
country as a confident, open-minded
rising power. Again, this throwaway
statement simply does not take into
account the capacity of its under-per-
forming civil bureaucracy and much-
maligned political leadership to deal
competently with natural calamities of
an epochal nature like the tsunami in
2004, or more routinely, massive oper-
ations like the census or elections at
periodical intervals. Contrast, for
instance, the manner in which cyclones
have been faced in India with the chaos
surrounding the US handling of
Hurricane Katrina in August 2005,
despite possessing all the assets of a
superpower. Mahbubanis assessment is
one-sided and extreme.
That cavil apart, we have in this col-
lection of articles a challenging set of
views by eminent writers on various
facets of Indias polity and how it could
be harnessed to achieve its goal to
becoming a major global power. There
is much to disagree or to agree with in
these prescriptive analyses. But they are
also uniquely persuasive.
l| |1iW| i Vii|i| P|u|u|,
l||i|u| u| P+ +|J Cu||li| S|uJi
Sri Aurobindo was a dynamic ersonalily who deserved much more rom hislory lhan whal he aclually
received. his mullile acels are broughl lo lhe ore in Feler heehs' lalesl book, says FRAM00 FAThAK
Jle revolutionary guru
n lhis colleclion o arlicles, we have a challenging sel o views by eminenl wrilers rom dierenl walks o lie on various
acels o ndia's olily and how il could be harnessed lo achieve ils goal o becoming a major global ower, wriles FR ChAR
8FIM6I8I86 I80I
0Iay 0haa4Ier aa4
4II LaIa0IhhaI [e4)
8Im0a & 8ch0ster, C699
8II0II86
88I 0808I800
Feter eehs [e4)
0xf0r4 0aIversIty
Fress, C995
ndia
aaIysIa
ndia
aaIysIa
This week, ignore mallers lhal may lead lo
lension. A new emloyee mighl give you
insecurily and you may be ranlic lo lhrow
him/her oul; you could be lhe viclim o jealousy
as well. n lhe conlexl o career, you may be
your own worsl enemy. Conlicls, bolh exlernal
and inlernal, mighl be aced. Think beore you
acl. Your olenlial could be ulilised in crealive
ursuils which will rove salisaclory. You eel
blessed and inlensely allached lo your arlner.
Your concern and ailh in each olher will hel
you slay connecled wilh your arlner. You are
magnanimous and kind enough in your relalions
wilh loved ones. This is lhe lime or
recirocalion, celebralion and enlerlainmenl.
Iurky day Thursday
Iurky number 1, 7
Iurky roIour Fink
8IF8 March 21-April 20
0on'l ignore or comromise on heallh. Those
suering wilh serious ailmenls need lo be under
conslanl observalion o a secialisl. Rivalry and
uncerlainly mighl be aced on lhe career ronl.
There could be some oul lay roessionally; i
you are execling romolion on lhe job ronl,
lhen lhe wrillen documenl mighl gel dislaced.
You eel indecisive in lhe sense o whal course
o aclion will suil you al lhis lime. You have
been inlerviewed bul no inlimalion has come
rom lhe organisalion. Your mind is nol sel and
you eel lhe same in love loo. you aren'l
inleresled in a relalionshi wilh someone, lhe
besl lhing would be lo lel him/her know lhal you
jusl aren'l inleresled.
Iurky day Friday
Iurky number 7, O
Iurky roIour Red
I0808 April 21-May 21
Moderalion is deinilely lhe way lo good heallh
righl now. This is an imorlanl lime lo medilale
and lislen lo your inner voice or guidance. 0n
lhe career ronl some lension mighl revail. You
wanl lo change your job, sell your roerly, or
lake charge o some new rojecl. This is lhe
lime when you need career counselling. Slay
away rom unheallhy elemenls as lhere are
chances o your gelling lraed. Time is wasled
in lackling moody and diicull eole. you are
looking or a soul male or lrue love enlering
your lie, you should wail or lhe righl lime.
Romance and mallers o lhe hearl are nol being
recirocaled lhe way you wanl. You will have lo
be more alienl.
Iurky day Sunday
Iurky number 2, O
Iurky roIour Farrol green
6FMI8I May 22-June 21
You come in conlacl wilh osilive eole
lhal will be helul in resloring your slamina
and good heallh. You gel lhe answer or many
queslions. nheriled diseases may lrouble you,
bul a osilive mindsel could hel you
overcome lhem. Some quick haenings
may surrise you on lhe career ronl. This
is lhe lime or wish ulillmenl. Transer or
lravelling is indicaled which may rove ruilul.
Falience is your slrenglh in a loving
relalionshi. you are looking or love,
you should wail urlher. however, lhis can
also be a magical, myslical lime or love. There
are also chances o you meeling someone
secial. Trusl your inslincls.
Iurky day Monday
Iurky number 8, O
Iurky roIour havy blue
080F8 June 22-July 22
Take care o your mood swings, lhey could cause
harm lo your heallh. Fosilive mindsel can hel
you overcome mosl o lhe lough alches easily.
You eel eslablished in your roessional lie. You
have a good equalion wilh your boss; lhis will be
lhe righl lime lo seek a romolion or avour.
Follow lhe rules and regulalions o lhe
organisalion you are working wilh. 0lherwise,
lhere are chances lhal you may ace inancial
crisis which could be irrearable. The silualion is
under your conlrol now. There will be inlense
and cherishable momenls wilh lhe loved one.
Those looking or a suilable arlner, lheir wish
could be ulilled. You may lan lo send lime
wilh your arlner in nalural surroundings.
Iurky day Salurday
Iurky number G, 7
Iurky roIour Yellow
I860 Aug 24-Sept 23
Likeminded eole and your wellwishers will
be helul in resloring your slamina and vilalily;
avoid negalivily. Somelhing unexecled may
haen on your career ronl, so i you are
wailing or osilive resulls, a romolion or
acquiring a new slalus, you may ace
disaoinlmenls due lo rocedural delays.
Career /ooms and you eel elaled and roud o
your achievemenls. Relalionshis wilh riends,
seniors and colleagues will roser. You may
lravel lo a warm, sunny lace which will rove
ruilul in every sense. There will be celebralion
o a romolion, or some imorlanl assignmenl
given lo you. Realise your olenlials and ulilise
lhem.
Iurky day Thursday
Iurky number 4, O
Iurky roIour Black
lI88 Sept 24-Oct 23
Conlrol your aggression and ay close allenlion lo
your emolions. Talking lhings oul wilh someone
you lrusl is imorlanl and can lead lo a heallhier
oulcome. Froessional beneils will increase. hew
venlures/roerly mighl lake lace. Your inances
will increase and so will be your exendilures.
Buying luxurious ilems or home/oice is likely.
Those in job will ind lhe environmenl al oice
smoolh. There could be a hike in your salary. A
resligious rojecl will bring oul your crealive
olenlial. Seldisciline and exerience will hel
you careerwise. Those eligible and looking or a
lie arlner, lhis is lhe lime when your alliance
gels inalised. Those commilled will need lo lake
lime oul or your arlner.
Iurky day Friday
Iurky number 1, 5
Iurky roIour Red
8008FI0 Oct 24-Nov 22
You sread a smile wherever you go. Feole
around you are imressed and eel molivaled
in your comany. Those suering rom joinl
ain and bonerelaled roblems will ind
ease. This is a good week or lhose
aearing or inlerviews and comelilive
exams. Your menlal abililies will hel you
ind oorlunily oul o simle lhings. you
are loo occuied wilh your ersonal and
domeslic aairs, you are likely lo ace a
warning by your seniors or a job nol being
done roerly. Sincerely ollow lhe rules
and regulalions o your organisalion. You
will slay connecled wilh your relalives and
dearandnear ones.
Iurky day Salurday
Iurky number 2, 7
Iurky roIour while
008I08 Jan 21-Feb 19
This is lhe lime lo learn rom asl mislakes
and be careul aboul lhe ulure. A lol o
money could be senl on medicines and olher
heallhenhancing roducls, bul you will be
able lo bring hysical balance and emolional
slabilily in your lie lhis week. Those who
are wailing or a job change and ind il
diicull lo make il haen, lhere are chances
lhal you mighl gel il now. Money should be
coming in. The mood in general in your oice
should be relalively leasanl. you are
looking or work, lhings lurn oul surrisingly
well or you. So don'l give u. 0el ready or
celebralions around a new baby, wedding or
similar occasions.
Iurky day Monday
Iurky number 5, O
Iurky roIour Blue
FI80F8 Feb 20-March 20
You can look orward lo asl recovery rom an
ailmenl you have been suering or a long lime.
Some o you may eel relaxed as your medical
resulls are ine. You make roessional
commilmenls wilh sincerily and honour. You'll be
very hay wilh and roud o lhe way your career
is moving. Your relalionshi wilh seniors and
riends will be slrenglhened. You're likely lo lravel
lo a warm lace which will be beneicial or you.
A romolion is on lhe cards. There could also be
celebralions and merrymaking. use your lalenl
or roduclive ursuils. Those in relalionshis
may ind il diicull lo bring balance in lheir
ersonal and roessional lives. 0vercome lhe
communicalion gas, and lhe world is yours.
Iurky day Sunday
Iurky number 8, 5
Iurky roIour 0range
0F8I0088 Dec 24-Jan 20
This is lhe lime or inlroseclion and ind oul lhe
ways lo conlribule lo your heallh. There is a need
lo slow down and lake lhings easy. You should
indulge yoursel in enlerlainmenl, socialising and
some lighler momenls wilh likeminded eole.
You need lo olish your managerial skills. See
lhe oorlunily in adversily as you are likely lo
overcome a diicull silualion roessionally. This
is lhe lime when you musl seek advice rom lhe
seniors. Slay ocused and connecled lo
inluenlial eole. n mallers o hearl you will eel
lucky; lhe erson you love or admire will
recirocale your eelings. There will be aeclion
and warmlh rom olhers as well, giving you lhe
slrenglh lo ace challenges in your lie.
Iurky day Tuesday
Iurky number 8, 5
Iurky roIour while
lF0 July 23-August 23
You need adequale resl, roer diel and
medical consullalion. This will hel you build
u your slamina. 0o nol exerl yoursel. you
have aeared in an inlerview, you will
deinilely gel a job call lhis week. Those who
wanl lo swilch lheir job, lhis is lhe lime when
lhey could ulill lheir ambilions. Some
monelary gains are on lhe cards. You could
be argumenlalive in a relalionshi. Avoid lhis
and analyse your relalionshi. 0on'l ignore
your gul eelings. you susecl lhal
somelhing is going on behind your back, your
besl bel is lo ask your arlner aboul il.
you've recenlly mel someone, don'l
gel carried away al all.
Iurky day Sunday
Iurky number 4, O
Iurky roIour 0olden yellow
86III8I08 Nov 23-Dec 23
YOURE339AHEAD
MA0hu K0TYA
I
n the past, the art of playing with
words remained an exclusive preserve
of the writers. But with growing edu-
cation, this space seems to have been
taken and misused by the demagogues in
their bid to entice the gullible minds. No
wonder the neo-politicians have been
loud-mouthing the word swaraj to mean
that people would get liberated with the
theatrical passage of their model of the
Lokpal Bill. I wonder if they really
understand the true meaning of the
word. For, with greed entrenched in
every mind, just the passage of the Bill
cannot offer a one-stroke solution to
rampant corruption.
The word swaraj was brought in the
public domain by Mahatma Gandhi dur-
ing the freedom struggle. But his concept
had a much wider connotation. He knew
that mere political independence from the
clutches of British rule cannot liberate
people out of their long-drawn miseries.
He rather wished to work towards gradu-
ally freeing our society from all man-
made evils and divides, and create an
environment that ensured dignified exis-
tence for one and all. But he knew that the
task was not easy as he understood the
complex dynamics of the human mind;
he knew that a mere blame game would
not serve any purpose. Any quick-fix
solution to hardened preconditioning of
the human mind too is impossible, and if
attempted, would bring in chaos. He,
therefore, suggested a model that could
gradually induce the change of mindset.
Accordingly, he called for the privileged
and the deprived complementing and
supplementing each others resources for
mutual gains. He also gave a call to the
privileged ones to lead the show with a
spirit of trusteeship, as would dharma call
for. Both having reaped the benefits of liv-
ing in harmony, would gradually realise
over a period of time the worth of collec-
tive existence. And that would have laid
down the ground for meeting the aspira-
tions of one and all.
Had people followed Gandhis spirit,
we would not have faced the chaotic
state beyond reprieve as on date. The
truth of life in this fast-changing aspira-
tional world is that the element of greed
is getting firmed up more and more day-
by-day, and with obvious consequences.
Unless, we attempt to eradicate this evil
propensity from the root level the
mind no cosmetic surgery or the-
atrics could liberate us from our mis-
eries, and the very thought of swaraj will
remain a distant dream.
Remember, swaraj has to be first
secured in mind, by freeing it from all the
evil propensities that drive it crazy. They
have to be nipped in the bud by trying to
consecrate every human mind, right from
the early school level. That alone has the
potential to not simply free us from ram-
pant corruption, but also all such evils
that stand in way of an orderly and quali-
tative existence in peace and harmony,
individually and collectively. First, that
would help people understand that their
individual aspirations would be better
served for long by simultaneously attend-
ing to their collective obligations and sec-
ond, with their minds free from any pre-
conditioning, they would not be swayed
by mere rhetoric of either half-knowing
visionless people, or gimmicks of those
trying to serve their vested interests.
Here is a case to showcase how the
impressionable mind of someone not con-
scious about attending to inlaid mental
infirmities could go crazy over mere
inconsequential suggestion of a marketer.
A well educated person sought the advice
of a psychic to take stock of what is in
store in his future. The psychic informed
him that he is liable to paying heavily for
some mistake he had committed in the
past. The emotional fool with a weak
mindset that he was, it put him into so
much brooding over the issue that even-
tually turned him schizophrenic necessi-
tating medical intervention. Look at his
astrological pointers. Exalted Jupiter
extending its benevolent support to
Mercury ensured good education. But his
combust Venus pointed to being an emo-
tional fool. Debilitated Sun placed adverse
to its planet of detriment, Saturn, pointed
to a weak mindset, vulnerable to depres-
sion even on a small trigger. Mind-signifi-
er Moon placed adverse to mischievous
Neptune implied his impressionable mind
subject to unpredictable mood-swings,
and also vulnerable to get caught up in
self-delusion. That also makes him vul-
nerable to go crazy over even silly inputs
to the mind. And the result is there for all
to see. The man was put to mind-detoxifi-
cation exercise a year back, which he sup-
plemented with yoga and secured swaraj
in his mind. For, he has come out of his
woes and also got rid of psychotropic
drug, his companion for last 17 years.
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BfPaPY has to be
first secured in mind,
by freeing it from all
the evil propensities.
They have to be
nipped in the bud,
right from the early
school level
sunday
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Now Dolhi, Fobruary 16, 2014