Professional Documents
Culture Documents
COVER
Zoom
into art
If self-preservation is the mother of innovation,
surviving the pandemic has forced artists
to make a virtue of being online p3
IN THE NEWS
New normal
A year ago, on October 5, the Mathura police arrested
Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kerala, and three
travelling companions. They were on their way to
Hathras, to meet the family of the Dalit girl who had
died after being gang-raped. They were detained
allegedly in apprehension of a breach of peace, but
were later charged under the draconian Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, sedition, and other
offences. Last week, journalists from several unions
staged a protest to mark one year
of Kappan’s arrest and demanded
his release. Besides a few days to
visit his dying mother, Kappan’s
bail requests have all been
turned down, and he
Fire and blood
has alleged being “Dreams didn’t make us kings; dragons did.” Released last
tortured in custody. He week, HBO’s one-minute teaser for its upcoming fantasy series
fell ill and was admitted House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones, left a
to AIIMS, New Delhi, by a hungry fandom clamouring for more. The show’s first season,
Supreme Court order, with 10 episodes, is scheduled to premiere in 2022. Set 200
before being spirited back years before Game of Thrones, it’s based on George R.R.
to Mathura by the police. In Martin’s 2018 book Fire & Blood, which chronicles the
April, the police’s Special dragon-riding Targaryen dynasty and their rule over Westeros.
Task Force submitted a At the height of their power, the royal house is divided as the
5,000-page chargesheet that, realm slowly walks down the road to war between rival male
among other things, accused and female claimants to the throne, a conflict that would
Kappan of not being a come to be known as the Dance of the Dragons. It’s often
“responsible” journalist, of thought to have been inspired by the real-life Anarchy, a
writing to “incite Muslims”, vicious struggle between King Stephen and Empress Matilda
and of sympathising with for the English throne in the 12th century. Law and order
“Maoists and Communists.” suffered greatly during this chaotic time, of which a chronicler
wrote, “Christ and his saints were asleep.”
It got complicated
When Facebook stopped working for almost
five hours on October 4, it was apocalypse
now for the millions of social media users
worldwide as related apps like Instagram,
Messenger and WhatsApp collapsed too. The
downtime brought minor and major
catastrophies, from the breakdown of
relationships to whopping business losses.
Mark Zuckerberg himself lost $6 billion as
the stock crashed. Coming close on the
heels of a whistleblower’s revelations about
the insidious intentions and manipulations
of FB and Insta, there was a lesson to be
learnt from the outage, reminding one that
even a mighty Internet company can be laid
low by a mere technical glitch. To those
glued to their phones, the disruption
showed there’s still a world out there if one
cared to look up. As God’s handle declared
on Twitter, “Instagram and Facebook are
currently not working, as are democracy,
society and a healthy sense of self.”
CM HY-X
YK
OPEN PAGE
THE HINDU Magazine
02 HYDERABAD
*
FEEDBACK
Letters to the Magazine can be e-mailed separately to
mag.letters@thehindu.co.in
Cover story
There is one
thing common
to viruses and
chameleons.
(‘Shapeshifter’;
Oct. 3) Both
change as per
their needs.
When a virus
circulates
widely in a
population, the
likelihood of it
A river’s
mutating
increases.
K.M.K. Murthy
Polluted
river An ■ The cover
birthday
ancient ghat story illustrated
of the the meticulous
Chambal. efforts rendered
Special by the medical
Arrangement fraternity and scientific the front and served as a
community in decoding beacon of light to
a rich tradition of worshipping riv Green Revolution, it became pro the bug’s sequences. As a whole generation
Why not celebrate it, if it leads ers. Even mighty rivers are shedding
tears over their condition.
gressively polluted. Even it convert
ed into a drain, when Saint Balbeer
pointed out by a of women.
molecular immunologist, C.V. Aravind
to its conservation? The Chambal river is mentioned Singh Seechewal noticed its plight the Delta variant’s
in several ancient texts. The mytho and committed himself to its rejuve evolution in the Indian History’s lessons
Atul Kanakk saving a life is a holy deed. They also logical King Rantideo had his king nation. His efforts succeeded, and population is not The interview with T.M.
wanted to contribute a little to save it dom by the river. Kalidasa gave it the today, the Kali Bein is considered surprising considering Thomas Isaac was a
R
ivers gave birth to civilisa as rivers are highly revered in India. epithet of Rantidevasya Kirtim, or one of the most holy places of pil the highly complex, remarkable assertion of
tion. But their birthdays It’s believed that the Thapana flows flagbearer of the glory of King Ranti grimage associated with Sikhism. albeit tough, the fact that a society
are unknown and seldom underground for a short stretch to deo, in his most celebrated work Almost 150 years ago, govern immunogenetic shall never sever its
celebrated. Those such as nurture crops. Meghdootam. The Chambal is also ments were not responsible for pro landscape created by its cultural moorings but
the Ganga are exceptions, The river was rescued that year. A addressed as Sadaa Salila (a river viding water supply. People had to ethnic blend. India could instead must learn and
as mythological tales speak about team of volunteers associated with which always has a great flow) in an arrange water on their own. Though be an ideal ground to test unlearn from historical
their appearance on earth. People the Yamuna Jiyo Abhiyaan (Live Ya cient literature. But today, it’s strug this system led to several social colli any genetic hypothesis; experiences. (‘The
residing by a small river, the Thapa muna Movement) came forward to gling for its existence at several sions, to fulfil their personal inter this holds good for solution is to go back to
na, in Haryana celebrate the last help the people. Two committees of points during its journey between ests, people used to be sensitive to pathogen evolutions as real history’; Oct. 3) This
Sunday of September as its birthday. friends of river (Nadi Mitra Mandala) Mhow in Madhya Pradesh and Eta wards the care and maintenance of well. model of tending to
Though COVID19 has affected the were constituted to save the river wah in Uttar Pradesh, where it joins waterbodies. But when water be K. Balakrishnan cultural and heritage
Small rivers
grandeur of the celebration, people and to create awareness. These vo the Yamuna. came easily available, it pushed development will lessen
in much of visit the river with great faith. lunteers trained 500 workers from A recent survey found that the le wells, step wells, lakes, tanks and ■ The article makes it tensions, enrich minds,
the country The Thapana is a 15km tributary nearby villages to prevent its pollu vel of pollution at several points is so even small rivers into a bad shape. abundantly clear that the and promote pluralistic
are facing an of the Yamuna. It’s a lowflow river. tion and to plant saplings on its high that drinking its water is unsafe. Big buildings have been constructed mysterious Delta variant living.
unfortunate Small rivers in much of the country banks. If this is the tale of a Sadaa Salila riv on the path of rainwater and this is is not something to be B. Rajasekaran
are facing an unfortunate end. Igno When the matter reached the er, the plight of lowflow rivers may the reason that big cities face floods. treated lightly, as it may
end. Initially,
rance of responsible people initially Thames River Trust of London, it al be imagined. Water is essential for life, and rivers be a precursor to vexing ■ People without
they converts them into a big drain and so came to help the people. Initia But where there is a will, there is are the big source of it. Small rivers, changes. Wearing masks knowledge of their past
degrade gradually they die. The Thapana was tives were made to increase the peo a way. The rejuvenation of the Tha or tributaries, help major rivers and getting vaccinated are like trees without
into a big also moving in that direction. But pe ple’s association with the river. It pana has proved it. The tale of the maintain their flow throughout the deserve wider publicity. roots, said Jamaican
drain and ople came to its rescue in 2012, worked and the Thapana was saved. Kali Bein has also set an example. year. They should be saved and the N. Rama Rao activist Marcus Garvey.
gradually die when a drought created The river has a historic background. rejuvenation of rivers such as the Thomas Isaac’s vision for
apprehensions. An inspiration It flows into the confluence of the Thapana and the Kali Bein shows Fitting tribute conserving cultural
At that hard time, farmers were This tale may work as an inspiration Beas and the Sutlej at Harike. It is be that they can be saved by developing Wonderful tribute to a heritage is a wakeup call
asked to fetch water from only those for all concerned about the condi lieved that Guru Nanak performed a feeling of belongingness in the great writer and a tragic to the other States,
points of the riverbed which were tion of small rivers. Unplanned deve holy bath in this river and wrote masses. Even celebrating the birth country of amazing where monuments have
deeper and had sufficient water so lopment, irresponsible attitude of some shabdas on its banks. Some day of a river may work in develop people placed in the become dwelling places
that fish and other creatures in the authorities and the greed of the land statements say he even attained en ing this association. crosshairs of history. for pigeons and bats.
shallow regions could be saved. The mafia have destroyed several small lightenment after taking bath in this ........................................................................ (‘Reprise: In a Land Far Bhagya Shree Nadamala
farmers agreed, considering that rivers across the country, which has river. However, in the wake of the atulkanak@yahoo.com From Home by Syed
Mujtaba Ali’; Oct. 3) Not Moral exemplar
only has Mujtaba Ali’s At 75, we are still missing
work been put in the the way by
I
have a friend by the name of Vasudevan, a Sujith Sandur dared to colonise India again. This I hope others will on our smartphones.
common name in Tamil Nadu. My Bengali perspective was too intriguing for us discover this early Balasubramaniam Pavani
T
friends call him Basudevan. Initially, I used to here were many staunch fol pupils to comprehend at such a witness to the tragedy of
chide them, but I got used to it after lowers of Gandhian ideology young age. He probably meant “pen Afghanistan. ■ Reading any material
understanding the nuances of the language. But in my hometown. They were is mightier than sword”. Geeta Doctor on Gandhi is fascinating
still it was a shock when someone called me recognised, revered and honoured A few of my classmates and I considering the different
Vashyam. After a while, I took this also in the right at every function organised in and moved to a nearby town for high Beacon of light hats he wore. How
spirit. around the place. We children in the school and college. We were called The tribute to the late different people might
During a gettogether, I suggested a game. Each early 1970s were fortunate to have “Gandhi kids” by some seniors for women’s rights activist react to a new edition of
person talk about his or her name and whether he had opportunities to see and inte we were quite studious. As the years and poet Kamla Bhasin his autobiography was
or she likes it or not. They have to say why they ract with the followers of the Mahat passed by, I got to sense the slow was richly deserved. excellent to read and
like or dislike about it. If they do not like, what ma. erosion of Gandhian principles. Kamla distinguished thoughtprovoking.
new name will they suggest for themselves. Quite One of them had safely secured Those days, I also used to wonder herself in several fields Devang Ganesh Thosar
unexpectedly, the game worked well with eager an urn containing Mahatma Gand about “Gandhi class” in cinema and wore many hats
participation. The moral of the story was that hi’s ashes and built a small monu halls. It implied to me that followers during her long and ■ People have now tasted
many did not like their names, but they had not ment on our school premises. It was of the Mahatma were all poor. eventful journey. liberty, free trade and
made efforts to change them fearing the more like a temple of the Mahatma, I strongly feel for the millennials (‘The poetry of joy. With due respects to
associated rigmarole. If an option is given that inculcating patriotic feelings. I was for they hardly get to see or expe feminism’; Oct. 3) the Mahatma, if he were
while becoming eligible to vote, a person can witness to many farmers stopping rience anything much of Gandhiji. Hers was a strident voice alive now, it would have
change his or her name, many may opt for it. their bullock carts at the monument Millennials get to read about Mahat that refused to be to be seen if his ideas
In the U.S., the hospital should be informed of for a minute as a mark of respect. It ma Gandhi and the freedom strug suppressed. In her would be acceptable to
the name of the baby before it and the mother are was a place I reckoned where one gle, but have very little opportunity manysplendoured life, society at large.
discharged after imbibed “values” naturally. to interact with the true followers of Kamla always led from R.V. Baskaran
delivery. One of my sexagenarian tuition Mahatma’s principles, for there are
In India, in most masters was a Gandhian. He was a fighters in a dingy prison cell and al not many around. We have not lost
communities, the bachelor who was highly disciplined so the days spent hiding from the co the Gandhian legacy. But I feel sad to
naming ceremony is and punctual, and spoke eloquent lonial masters. We children heard say that we are on our way to its end
held several days after English. him with rapt attention. He would point. I strongly hope that “simple
delivery. While teaching, his narratives of tell us the importance of learning living and high thinking” does not
Further, the practice ten revolved around the Indepen English. He called the English lan come to be a joke. More on the Web
of calling the child dence struggle, the number of days guage a great tool of defence to take ........................................................................ thehindu.com/opinion/open-page
Chintu, Pinku or Gulla he spent with his fellow freedom on the colonial masters, if they ever sujith_sandur@yahoo.in Not at face value
till the formal
ceremony is prevalent. Shapeshifters challenge our assumptions about
Even after a proper name is given, the person gets what we think we know
Station names!
a pet name. If the youngest, one gets the name its name! When it came to Hotgi Sudhirendar Sharma
Chinnappayyan, meaning small boy. and Chiksugar, it was as though
Srinivasan becomes Cheeni or Seenu. they concealed a culinary past! Education and humility
Padmanabhan becomes Panna, Paddhu or Of particular interest was Gooty. There are a multitude of faculties denied even to the
Pappan. You felt goofy to imagine that Goo better educated sometimes
Many name a child after a god or a goddess Shankar Gopalkrishnan ty’s brother was perhaps Ooty! Vivek Row
B
thinking it will develop the positive traits or virtue ack then, there were no self There were station boards that an
of the divine. My friends from Tamil Nadu have help books to teach you nounced, “Alight here to visit the Cup cakes and coffee
named their children Jyoti Basu, Nehru and “speedreading”. But you ancient shrine of...” You wondered
Gandhi. could learn it by reading the names if it had compelled a passenger to A virtual selfie from the distant past
Hasmukh is the name of a friend in Delhi. P.M. Warrier
of stations as the train sped by! make a lifechanging decision to
Believe me, he has a smiling face all day. Whether With elbows anchored on the disembark and explore these exotic
it’s because of the name or not is open for debate. train’s window sill, forehead places. Homecoming
When my friend announced his grandson’s pressed to the window bar, you had No station did you look forward Memories of the various houses that one has called
name as Mudgal, I asked him what it meant. “I just a few seconds to read the sta to more than Venkatanarasimhara home over a quarter century
thought you should be knowing. You are tion’s name. And if you had an el juvaripeta in Andhra Pradesh. How Anjali Rajeev
conversant with the Puranas,” he said. I later der sister on the adjoining window could a station have such a big
found Mudgal was a great rishi and discoverer of seat, it made for healthy and at well over a century. You could faint name? Imagination ran riot: how
many mantras. times, ugly competition! ly pick anglicised names such as the signboard artist had written
This page consists of reader submissions. Contributions of up to a
Today, in the world of changing fashions and The erstwhile BombaytoMa Poona and Dhond over which the half the name and fretted when he length of 700 words may be e-mailed to openpage@thehindu.co.in.
tastes, parents like to select a short, sweet, easily dras rail route was filled with sta fresh coat of paint had the revised found no room to fit the rest! And Please provide a postal address and a brief background of the writer.
pronounceable name for their children. Yet, we tion names that were a mouthful! spellings Pune and Daund. how a tourist from outside India The mail must certify that it is original writing, exclusive to this page.
do not know whether the child will like the name You grandly announced Yerragun It was as if a mysterious world would stumble over the name, get The Hindu views plagiarism as a serious offence. Given the large
volume of submissions, we regret that we are unable to acknowledge
when it grows to an adult. tla, Tadipatri, Guntakal and Hadap existed behind these stations that ting to “venkata” and thereafter, receipt or entertain queries about submissions. If a piece is not
.................................................................................................... sar as the trains whizzed past them. you would never know. As you tra throwing his hands up in despair! published for eight weeks please consider that it is not being used.
lakshmibashyam@yahoo.com Till the mid1980s, the station velled through the Western Ghats, ...................................................................... The publication of a piece on this page is not to be considered an
boards had stayed unchanged for you wondered how Monkey Hill got endorsement by The Hindu of the views contained therein.
shankar.ccpp@gmail.com
CM HY-X
YK
COVER STORY
THE HINDU Magazine HYDERABAD
03
*
Behind screens (Clockwise from left) A dancer records her performance for a
virtual audience; contemporary dancer Mandeep Raikhy at Serendipity Arts Virtual
festival; a still from DakshinaChitra’s multi-disciplinary LangFest; actor Jim Sarbh in
acclaimed play Sea Wall, which premiered online; and theatre artist Atul Kumar in
cyber theatre production The Last Poet. GETTY IMAGES & SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
*
I
Husain,
n October 2020, folk artist Jatwang the arts would sink.
Wangsa, from Arunachal Pradesh’s “The (cultural) sector in India is deeply
Wancho community, donned an outfit fragmented and the informality results in a
usually reserved for special occasions lack of mandate,” says Rashmi Dhanwani,
— a traditional costume complete with Founder and Director of Art X Company, an
headdress. He took a twohour trek from his organisation that has pioneered arts re
remote village of Kamhua Noknu to the dis search, strategy consulting, and cultural de
trict office in Longding tehsil. The occasion? velopment. “Since this sector is informal,
A talk with the audience of ‘Indigenous Wis overwhelmingly underfunded, international
dom’, an online series organised by the Kol cultural organisations and consulates play a
kata Centre for Creativity (KCC), where he very crucial role in supporting it,” she says.
would share the cultural practices of his Art X, with its independent and com
community. The district office was his only munity initiatives, has played a pivotal role.
at home
access to the Internet. It works closely with the British Council’s
Meanwhile, in urban India, artists many arts initiatives in India, including Fes
reached online audiences with greater ease, tival Connections and the soontobe
as virtual performances, talks and art walk launched Festivals From India platform. All
throughs became the norm, and Zoom, You this comes under their Festivals for the Fu
Tube, Facebook Live, and Instagram the ture programme, which involves crosscul
new venues. Soon after the nationwide lock tural knowledge sharing in partnership with
down was announced in March 2020, Mum the U.K, and is aimed at strengthening the
bai’s National Centre for the Performing Arts creative economy of India’s art and culture
(NCPA) launched ‘NCPA@home’, a digital se festivals. During the pandemic, Festival Con
ries that showcased signature performances How artists and institutions have stepped into the digital universe with great resilience nections even received a special grant from
from their archives. Youth theatre festival the U.K. government.
Thespo, fuelled by the energy of its techsav during the pandemic, even as they long for the rush of going live again
vy young performers, livestreamed perfor Absence of a policy
mances and created its own podcast and on The British Council in India, in partnership
line community network. The Museum of age and identities to find odd jobs in cities with FICCI and Art X, has also published two
Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, a for paltry wages. “Now, we stand to lose editions of the extensive Taking the Tempera-
workinprogress, deferred its physical years of tradition and heritage, entirely,” she ture report — surveys conducted to track the
launch and instead showcased its collection says. impact of COVID19 on India’s creative eco
digitally. The Jaipur Literature Festival ( JLF) Deborah Thiagarajan, founder of the Ma nomy. The reports show that given the ab
garnered over 27 million virtual views. And dras Craft Foundation and of Chennai’s sence of a central culture policy in India,
to the joy of its undying fans, music festival DakshinaChitra Museum, speaks of the role most initiatives are driven by individual pas
NH7 Weekender was livestreamed to an au played by tourism in supporting folk art. sion and nonprofit organisations who strug
dience of over 65,000 (with an optional bar “Earlier, tourists bought souvenirs at Dakshi gle to survive. Although States such as Kerala
tending service provided in the safety of naChitra; now the pandemic has affected and Assam are case studies for their support
viewers’ homes). sales,” she says. Much folk art is also crafted of the arts, the picture is otherwise grim; the
around religious festivals, with musicians creative economy is shrinking, organisations
Digital revolution hired to play and religious souvenirs bought are closing permanently, and arts profes
Arts practitioners, organisations and institu and blessed in temples. With public festivals sionals changing careers. “The most affected
tions around the world have met the chal cancelled and temples closed, the doors are freelancers, and large organisations with
lenges posed by the pandemic with agility. closed to this market too. major overhead costs,” says Dhanwani. “Ma
For many, the pandemic accelerated the DakshinaChitra celebrates the art, archi ny have diversified into teaching and con
transition to the digital medium; the act of tecture and folk culture of South India, while ducting workshops for a living.” In contrast,
selfpreservation often leading to innova working extensively with rural artists. Its countries such as the U.K. with its Arts Coun
tion. heritage houses and Laurie Baker architec cils, and Germany with its grants for innova
While the multidisciplinary Serendipity ture with open spaces have allowed it to res tion in the arts during the pandemic, en
Arts Festival missed its date with Goa, the Se Theatre and Film. “The accessibility a digital ume hosting its inhouse crafts bazaar and sured that the arts would not just survive the
rendipity Arts Foundation launched a series platform offers for entertainment, educa LangFest, a multidisciplinary festival cele pandemic, but thrive.
of digital initiatives, including SAF 2020 x tion, and engagement is something we have brating Tamil. However, while it once hosted Like the British Council, the GoetheInsti
You (an online festival spotlighting art initia only scratched the surface of,” says Guthrie, artists from rural areas from across the tut too has long been engaged with the crea
tives across the globe); Serendipity Arts Vir adding that the digital versions of these per country, it now had to restrict itself to artists tive community in India. Their digitallyfo
tual (a digital arts festival with commis formances can never replace the experience from Chennai. Although centred on live ex cussed programmes such as C3: Codes,
sioned works); and the Memory Capsule of actually being there live. But they can be periences, the museum has pivoted to the Creativity, Communities, and CMDA Sum
project, among others. the next best thing. Having reached interna digital medium; it held a hybrid version of its mer School go across geographical boundar
“The Internet brought to the forefront tional audiences through their performanc festival, Utsavam, this March. ies to create digital cultural communities
unique opportunities for artists and institu es, the NCPA is now set to launch its own dig and provide skills training to arts practition
tions to interact with each other in a varied ital platform. State of the arts ers and administrators. Mumbaibased Har
manner, forging collaborations and creating With the digital medium, geography In recent narratives, much has been made of kat Studios, a multidisciplinary studio with
newer outlets for the arts,” says Smriti Raj might have become history, but it comes ‘Indian culture’. What do we really mean by a focus on art, film and new media, is today
garhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Founda with its pitfalls: global competition, reduced the term? When we hark back to the days of set to launch the Harkat Virtual Interactive
tion & Festival. The foundation has concep attention spans, digital fatigue. Also, in the ancient India, evoking a nostalgia and pride Stage, an innovative online stage supported
tualised a publication project in race to stay relevant, most virtual pro for things learnt from history books and so by the institute. “C3 will look at developing
collaboration with the Smart Museum of Art, grammes were offered free, or for a token cial media, what are we doing to preserve organic collaborations among practitioners
Chicago, a research volume that “meditates fee; this would later pose a problem in an un what exists? from different cultural fields, and depending
on the nature of art in crisis, developed derfunded sector as the pandemic pro Early in the pandemic, individuals and on how these projects develop, we will con
across continents over Zoom meetings,” she gressed. Both institutions and individuals organisations rallied to support each other sider supporting their production,” says
says. have had to rely on their own financial re and help artists stay afloat. Several perform Björn Ketels, Director, Goethe Institut/ Max
Even before the pandemic struck, MAP — serves for existence, or exit. ers and organisations launched fundraising Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai.
founded with the private collection of entre initiatives for struggling artists. New, privately funded institutions, such
preneur Abhishek Poddar — had plans in The great divide Digital communities of arts practitioners as MAP and KCC, have depended on their
place for a technological interface with art. But in the hybrid universe that we have were formed, such as the one catalysed by own resources, or on projectbased sponsor
MAP Labs, in collaboration with global IT come to inhabit, the divide between the two the British Council, the Australian Consu ships. DakshinaChitra, whose revenue de
and consulting company Accenture, uses AI Indias — those with and without digital ac lateGeneral, GoetheInstitut, and arts or pends on ticket sales, has had it tougher, but
to bring to life artists such as M.F. Husain. cess — has never been deeper. Within arts ganisations like the Art X Company. Partici CSR activities and sponsorships have helped
The artist’s voice has been digitally created and culture, an informal sector in our coun pants, me included, began to attend fund programmes.
using a speech synthesis software, and mu try, the challenges faced by the performing workshops, webinars and closeddoor meet A year and a half into the pandemic, what
Most seum visitors can expect to conduct a con arts, museums and fine art, and the vast ings that would help us navigate a changed keeps the arts going is the spirit and resi
versation with the digital persona. crafts sector, contrast sharply with other lience of the community. This is seen in the
initiatives
Before it opens its physical space in Ben sectors such as design and film. As the pan survival, twice over, of Puducherrybased
are driven galuru, MAP has firmly established its identi demic unspools, most artists find them theatre institution Adishakti — first, after the
by individual ty and presence in the digital world. Having selves at a loose end; for some, it is a ques death of its founder, theatre stalwart Veena
passion and launched the museum’s collection with the tion not merely of existence, but of survival. pani Chawla in 2014, and then through these
non-profit Art is Life festival last year, its varied pro “During the lockdown, folk artists would tough times. “In India, the arts run on perso
grammes include Museums Without Bor call, begging for work. It put me through tre nal willpower and dedication,” says Adishak
organisations
ders, a digital collaboration between MAP mendous turmoil,” says Reena Dewan, Di ti’s Artistic Director and Managing Trustee,
who struggle and institutions in India and abroad, as well rector, KCC. For rural artisans, who depend actor Vinay Kumar. “The pandemic was
to survive. as art presented with music, and talks with on the village economy and physical mar challenging, as we had to take care of 2030
Although directors of museums in places as far flung kets to sell their art or craft, the lack of work staff members. But we are also privileged to
States such as Benin. “The digital and the physical are also exacerbated existing social problems be living together as a resident community
as Kerala and two parts of a whole,” says its director, Kami such as alcoholism and domestic violence. and we used the time to rehearse. This has
ni Sawhney. The situation moved KCC to host the Ami contributed towards our new play, Bhoomi.”
Assam are Meanwhile, theatre has claimed the hy Arts Festival in December 2020, ‘to pro Yet, digital survival aside, as Kumar looks
case studies brid space between live performance and mote, support, sustain and create opportun forward to live performances of Bhoomi at
for their film. The critically acclaimed play Sea Wall ities’ for folk artists who were invited to per Mumbai’s Prithvi Festival next year, he says
support of by Simon Stephens, starring Jim Sarbh, was form and sell their work. These included what’s on every artist’s mind, “There is no
the arts, filmed in collaboration with BookMyShow at Pattachitra, Chhau and Dokra artists. The joy like being on stage.”
the NCPA and the recorded version pre space was offered free and assistance given .........................................................................................
the picture
miered online. It was followed by a virtual to facilitate online workshops. Dewan cites The writer is the author of several
is otherwise meetandgreet session with Sarbh and the the troubling trend of the younger genera Mumbai-themed books, including the novel
mostly grim director Bruce Guthrie, NCPA’s Head of tion of folk artists leaving their homes, herit Wanderers, All.
CM HY-X
YK
Literary Review
THE HINDU Magazine
04 HYDERABAD
*
GETTY IMAGES/ STOCK
VIGNETTES
I
deally one should be sitting on a chaise longue, in both India and France, and now resides in
preach
cheroot in hand, beside a marbletopped Norway. He is a latterday Sindbad who has sailed
rosewood table with a tall glass of pink many seas and come to port. He’s a listener as well
lemonade, to listen to the seductive tales of as a malicious raconteur, at least in some of the
Ari Gautier. Somewhere in the background, stories.
you might even notice a copy of Life of Pi, which
also starts in Puducherry, the former French town Constantly reinvented
that remained aggressively Francophone in a His visit to city market is as enticing as the
The poet performs her rage distinctly Tamil landscape. freshlycaught fish being sold by the lascivious
I am reminded of a time in the early 1980s when fishwives or the Creole cuisine of the feisty cook,
at gender injustice with wit an interim Chief Minister I was interviewing Lourdes. But when Gautier as Gilbert Thatha
and sarcasm in these suddenly got up from his chair and said, “Come, I
want to show you something special. It is so
combines the story of the French diamond
merchant Tavernier with that of a Golconda
politically charged poems French!” Taking me past his private quarters, his diamond named ‘The Stone of
bedroom and his startled wife, he threw open the Sita’ and ponders the latter’s
bathroom door, and pointing to the object next to impact on world affairs, he goes
the toilet seat, exclaimed, “Bidet — imported from too far. One begins to despair at
France!” “Bonjour bidet!” I said and we both this stage.
laughed. In those days, Chief Ministers were His most damaging critique is
secure enough to be able to laugh. of the North Indians, read the
It’s what I would describe as an Ari Gautier ‘Ashramites’, and the hippies
moment. His characters live in a small hamlet with their drugs lurking in the
called Kurusukuppam at the edge of what was sidelines waiting to be rebirthed
K. Srilata had undergone hysterectomies so needs to be burned for the good/ of once known as the White Town. Central to the in the City of Dawn, Auroville.
they would not miss a day of work. the republic often doing so in architecture of the dwellings is an open platform at These are the ‘spiritual
T
ishani Doshi’s stunning The poem’s quiet, hard anger plays brown/ pleated shorts and cute the entrance to each house, the thinnai, which is a The Thinnai colonisers’, as some have called
new poetry collection, A out via the construction of a surreal black hats with sticks…” semipublic space, where people gather for small Ari Gautier, trs them, appropriating the Creole
God at the Door, performs universe — a village which is a hold The shape poems in this collec talk and gossip. Blake Smith heritage left by the French.
the difficult task of locat ing place for all missing women who tion, ‘I Carry My Uterus in a Small Hachette India It’s interesting to compare
ing the body within the have been sending proof of their ex Suitcase’ and ‘Advice for Pliny the El Reclaiming histories ₹399 Gautier’s evocation of
broader politics of state power and istence to offices of the registrar and der, Big Daddy of Mansplainers,’ per The thinnai is Gautier’s stage. Le Thinnai Kreyol, Puducherry in the latter half of
gender. Through it all, her voice re have received in response “a rake form the body visually. the public initiative he runs with Ananya Jahanara the 20th century with M.
A God at mains clear as a bell, her hold over and a cobweb in a box.” Doshi can be deadly serious and Kabir, is meant to be a “multicultural online Mukundan’s novel, On the Banks
the Door craft unwavering. Over and over, the Similarly, ‘After a Shooting in a funny at the same time. ‘Advice for platform” celebrating the life born of India’s long of the Mayyazhi, translated from Malayalam by Gita
Tishani Doshi poems pose the question: How does Maternity Clinic in Kabul’, which Pliny the Elder...’ begins with “Great contact with Europe. It’s where those who have Krishnankutty. On the Banks is set in tiny Mahé, also
HarperCollins one return to the body when takes off from a May 2020 attack, Man, now that you are dead, allow been tossed about by currents of colonial a former French colony, in the years before
₹499 trapped in the systemic violence of speaks to the cognitive dissonance of me to squeeze your hand” and gets dislocation — most often wars, migration as slave Independence.
structures designed to make you for the city — the happy, fertile image of us with the lines: “I am a mere wo labour for New World plantations, or financial Puducherry, now a Union Territory, has
get who you are? orchards overlaid by that of a gra man — inferior lettuce… Once a ventures lured by the fabled wealth of the East — undergone so many transformations from its time
Disparate though they may be in veyard into which babies are born. month, when the blood comes, I go meet to reclaim their histories. as the last habitat of the French in India that it is
terms of theme, tone and approach, The title of the poem, ‘We Will Not out to lie in whatever field I/ find to Gilbert Thatha, an old man who had landed up constantly in a state of being reinvented. Questions
the poems nevertheless sit brilliantly Kill You. We’ll Just Shoot You in the feel the scorch rise and the crops in Kurusukuppam one Bastille Day clutching a that find their way almost unbidden into the text
together, the effect achieved akin to Vagina’, based on Filipino president wither.” bundle of stories, stretches out on the thinnai of the are those one could ask of the blueeyed straggler,
that of a single long narrative. Doshi Rodrigo Duterte’s orders to soldiers The strategy of evoking Pliny the narrator, who is himself trapped in the history of Gilbert Thatha, too: ‘For whom?’, ‘By whom?’ And
doesn’t given in to the temptation of to shoot female communist rebels in Elder, who in his Natural History the colonial enterprise. Gilbert is accompanied by one can ask the same questions of the glorious
taking shortcuts, of saying the trite, the vagina, is a story in itself. In lines spoke of the calamitous power of the Little Gilbert, a young boy he claims to have amalgam that is India.
politically correct thing. Everything reminiscent of Mahasewta Devi’s menstruating body, only to recast rescued from a railway platform. .......................................................................................................
is held up to the light so that we ar story, Draupadi, Doshi writes, “It’s him as the “Big Daddy of Mansplain Is it Gautier himself who returns to The Chennai-based writer is a critic and cultural
rive slowly, by gradual steps, at a true. We’re useless without our vagi ers” does its work. Both in this poem Kurususkuppam? Is Kurususkuppam a fictionalised commentator.
way of looking at the world. nas./ How will you rape us?” and in ‘What Mr Frog Running Away
‘Hope is the Thing’ builds on the from Marilyn Monroe Taught me
Eye for the incongruent story of 12year old Jamalo Madkam, about #MeToo,’ Doshi eschews ser
Foundational to Doshi’s collection a migrant worker who died of ex monising, choosing instead irony
are four aspects and it is through haustion during the long walk back and humour.
these that I would like to read the home from Telangana to Chhattis Finally, Doshi brings to her poe
poems. The first, and perhaps the garh during the lockdown. It offers try a specialised toolkit of simile and
most significant, is the cleareyed na the striking image: “A god at the metaphor. In ‘Why the Brazilian Butt
ture of her moral universe and the door sitting/ on a giant buffalo offers Lift Won’t Save Us’, lips burgeon
tongueincheek sarcasm and wit you a sip/ of wine to make the bitter “like a Hokusai wave”. ‘A Dress is
with which she responds to all that ness go away.” Like a Field’ begins with the evoca
ails the world. Doshi has an eye for tive lines: “A dress is like a field./ Lift
Everything is the incongruent — it is on this that Serious and funny a hem and flowers/ will fall.” The vi
the poems rest. Another equally striking aspect of sual reach and music of these lines
held up to the
For instance, her poem for Mar Doshi’s work is her pitchperfect linger with us.
light so that garet Mascarenhas, ‘I Found a Vil awareness of a poem’s performative The world is a mess and there is
we arrive lage and in it Were All Our Missing life. The beat and the rhythm of ‘The no way to square it all. But Doshi’s
slowly, by Women’ is woven from two stories: Stormtroopers of My Country,’ writ poems help us sit with all that is in
gradual one, that 21 million Indian women ten in response to the passing of the congruent and awry.
steps, at a were denied the right to vote (be Citizenship (Amendment) Act in ........................................................................
cause their names were not regis 2019, convey an urgency that feels The reviewer’s latest collection of
way of tered on voting lists) and two, that like a call to action: “The storm
Sitting rooms A Tamil village as recreated in
poems, The Unmistakable Presence
looking at DakshinaChitra Museum near Chennai.
4,600 women sugarcanecutters troopers of my country love/ their of Absent Humans, was published
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
the world
*
from Beed district of Maharashtra wives but are okay to burn/ what by Poetrywala, Mumbai.
up to face adversity
the books. Sales figures for the shortlisted and L The prize has had a very warm response,
winning books have gone up by nine times. both from the publishing industry and
readers across India. Being one of the biggest
Can you explain the selection process awards in the contemporary literary space,
and succeed’
briefly? How is transparency maintained? the prize not only encourages writing but also
L In order to maintain transparency, the JCB works towards enhancing the prestige and
Prize comes with multiple checks. The success of books. Over the past four years we
process, each year, begins with the have seen a yearonyear increase of 1015% in
appointment of a jury of five members who eligible entries on the one hand and a good
The JCB Prize for Literature has greatly impacted the come from different fields, bringing with 600% increase in the people interacting with
visibility, promotions and sales of the selected books, them varied sensibilities and points of view. the listed books on the other.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The opening of entries is announced publicly
says its literary director, Mita Kapur along with targeted outreach to publishers A few words on the 2021 longlist and
across the country. shortlist please. Do they reflect the
Anusua Mukherjee the five books in the 2021 shortlist are Each publisher is provided with a quota of present-day realities, from the pandemic
translations. four entries, of which two have to be to the political changes India and the
W
ith the shortlist for the JCB If translations are in vogue now, this prize translations. No distinction is made among world have been going through?
Prize for Literature 2021 can be counted as one of the significant publishing houses by way of entry quotas. L This year’s lists are special — they give
*
BROWSER
Tenderness Noise Cancellation State of Terror The Dead Don’t Talk
Alison Macleod Jhilam Chattaraj Louise Penny, Hillary Rodham Clinton Sumit Ghosal
Bloomsbury Publishing Hawakal Publishers Simon & Schuster Om Books
₹699 ₹350 ₹650 ₹295
On the shores of the Mediterranean in These are poems about simple After a tumultuous period in American In this thriller, private investigator
1928, D.H. Lawrence races to complete things — the beauty of block prints, politics, a new administration is sworn Rudradeep Ray and his best friend Sujit
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which will be the pain of a homeless dog, the in. Then Anahita Dahir, a young foreign solve a case in 70s’ Calcutta by
censored on publication. This story dilemma of online classes, the joy of service officer in the State Department, contending with hostile witnesses and
recreates the novel’s origins and holding a fistful of wet earth. These receives an anonymous text and so perplexing clues. No one is what they
imagines its journey to freedom sensations are the poems’ core. They starts an international chess game appear to be and almost every member
through the story of Jackie Kennedy, nourish the mind grown weary of involving nuclear weapons, the Russian of the prosperous Ganguly family has a
who was known to be an admirer. the chaos of the present world. mob, and a rogue terrorist organisation. motive in the murder.
CM HY-X
YK
Literary Review
THE HINDU Magazine HYDERABAD
05
*
FOCUS
WELLNESS
H
arsh and dark phrases or be imported. for a collapse. The dangers of the was in that speech that he clearly
issues cannot be stressed enough are usually deployed to Keane’s The New Despotism on ills promise of equality, once it re spelt out his worries for India’s fu
signal the end of de plaguing several democracies in mained unfulfilled, lead to a con ture, when politics guarantees one
mocracy, but Debasish cluding India was valuable in under tempt for democracy when large man being equal to one vote but
Pragati K.B. Roy Chowdhury and standing the contemporary crises, sections begin to thirst for someone within a social reality which does
John Keane refreshingly use history, where he argued that elections and who could cut through the system not accord each citizen an equal va
T
his is not a memoir, Urvashi Bahuguna tells us, in marshal facts and weave a complex popular will were being used to con and deliver. “Give me a despot,” they lue. He was convinced that unless
the preface of No Straight Thing Was Ever Made. and compelling narrative on why In jure up support for despotic and said. dealt with, the divergence will tear
More caveats follow — the essays are not meant to dia’s democracy stands at a danger authoritarian rule. This, he argued, The despotism in India has come the modern Indian project apart.
be prescriptive; the book is not a definitive ac ous crossroad. was not just an imposition. combined with Hindutva ideology,
count of mental illness; what works for one may A significant section of the which as a consequence of electoral A pushback
not apply to others; and one does not have it all figured out, Wide gap population was willingly dominance, is trying to fundamen But as they conclude, the authors
is continuously learning and adapting. As the collection — a The book’s fundamental ar supporting the despot. tally remake the nation as an ethnic spot hope due to substantial coun
set of 10 personal essays on mental health — comforts, con gument is that there is a democracy. Even though this was tercurrents against the current re
fronts and challenges a reader, it is the crevices of these re wide gap between India’s The missing essence pointedly negated during the free gime. The authors see challenges to
minders that they can retreat into. political reality, which off Roy and Keane invoke Peri dom struggle and the crafting of the authoritarian decisions in numerous
ers political equality, and its yar’s worldview, of the es Constitution. protests and India’s diversity. This
Not a binary social reality. The absence sence of democracy being diversity, they say, could serve as the
“Mental health doesn’t exist in isolation. It changes everyth of egalitarian values in In equality and freedom for Where we stand most effective counter to the ruling
ing it touches, and it touches everything,” Bahuguna, diag dia’s social life has finally each of its members. It is There is, generally speaking, a desire dispensation’s ideology of onena
nosed with major depressive disorder in 2014 and later with caught up with its political not limited to elections to see whatever degradation we see tion and oneeverything.
generalised anxiety disorder, writes. project under the Bharatiya where “bread and fish” se around us, as historical baggage, of This important and wellwritten
Each essay is an attempt at demystifying Janata Party (BJP) since 2014. To Kill a cure votes and sap the sys bitter fruits of a past when Indian so book’s title is inspired by the Harper
one facet of life the illness has in This is not too far from Dr. Democracy: tem of its essence. A “well ciety was always prone to privileging Lee classic, To Kill a Mocking Bird.
fluenced. Through anecdotes, recollec Ambedkar’s warning in an India’s Passage functioning democracy re powerful sections with others falling Democracy is ultimately “insubordi
tions and reflection, she exemplifies interview to the BBC in 1953 to Despotism quires a special kind of in line. The other view is to prioritise nation: the refusal to put up with
how mental health is not a binary bet that the authors quote. Frus Debasish Roy social life. Democracy is the present, and blame it all on everyday forms of snobbery and
ween ill and well, but a spectrum. Care trated by opposition to his Chowdhury, freedom from hunger, hu events, a single person or party in toadeating, idolatry and lying, bull
fully memorised experiences provide plans to reform Hindu perso John Keane miliation and violence... It’s power. What this book tries to do is shit and bullying.” The problem that
an annotated narrative on family, body nal laws, he did not think Oxford freedom from fear and the get away from choosing one or the the reader is left with is, can this be
image, dating and writing with the ill Remembering much of the chances of In University Press right not to be killed. It’s other of the reasons to account for done in the absence of social democ
ness, social media, the natural world as Sketches of dian democracy surviving ₹995 equal access to decent med where India stands today. It con racy? As the authors conclude, “if
a space for healing, suicides, fatigue, Dr. Ambedkar “for the simple reason that we have ical care and sympathy for those nects all that has been achieved by despotism replaces democracy then
No Straight and prospective parenthood. on display at got a social structure which is totally who have fallen behind. Democracy India by adhering to its constitution this isn’t because despotic power is
Thing was Ever Bahuguna doesn’t euphemise the pe an exhibition incompatible with parliamentary is a learned sense of worldly wonder. al values as its desired ideals. It is al somehow inevitable, but because ci
Made: Essays riods of her mental illness. In repeated in Vijayawada, democracy.” It’s the everyday ability to handle un so able to measure the large gaps tizens allow it to happen.” Citizens
on Mental and casual usage of “illness” and “sick organised in It is ironic that with an Indian go expected situations wisely. It’s the between socially acceptable norms will have to be the proverbial Atticus
Health ness” — “being ill is lonely”, “when I turn view of his vernment which is trying hard to rejection of the dogma that things which were left mostly uncontested Finch to prevent the killing of India’s
Urvashi 20, I fall really sick — for the first time”, 130th birth embed ‘democracy’ as central to its can’t be changed because they’re even as India went to boldly em democracy.
Bahuguna “your sick mind is trying to…” — she nor anniversary international and strategic outreach, ‘naturally’ fixed in stone.” brace universal progressive values. ........................................................................
Viking/Penguin malises mental illness. In an interview on April 14 this the Indian edition of the book has By meticulously recording the You would not be wrong to argue The reviewer is a journalist-writer
₹499 with SheThePeople, Bahuguna says the tit year. GIRI KVS
*
been hard to procure, with little clar degrading of life in India for an aver that this book is an expansion of Am based in New Delhi.
le of the book, part of a quote by Immanuel Kant, is a way for
her to try and accept who she was and how ill she was. She
compels us to look at actions and symptoms as the outcome
of the illness rather than a personal shortcoming. “We don’t
have to hold ourselves to unreasonable standards.”
Extension of poetry
Terrarium, Bahuguna’s debut work, is a collection of poems
she refers to as “a microcosm of my life”. The essays in No
Straight Thing Was Ever Made were written as an extension of
these earlier poems, she has said in various interviews. As
she clambers up the “mountain of accumulated memories”,
in essay after essay, accosting her emotions, paring away the
hurt, understanding perspectives, the book feels like an inti
mate exercise in exoneration and forgiveness, all for that elu
sive exult of catharsis. In an essay on family, she asks: “Why
did my parents not do better?” Her parents honestly answer,
“We did not know, okay? We didn’t know.” Bahuguna, in
atonement, tells us she suspects that sometimes, one’s in
stincts aren’t good enough. That, over time, she has learnt to
make the questions smaller and the heart a little bigger.
The author attributes the success of managing her illness,
of selfawareness and circumspection — if not caution — to
therapy and medicine. Acknowledging her privilege of hav
ing access to healthcare, she writes, “I wish these were not
luxuries.” A diagnosis and a prescription are the first steps
on the journey and not the end of it, Bahuguna tells us,
charting her path thematically, rather than chronologically.
“The future is a nifty place for holding hope,” she writes
while discussing why we endure or succumb. And that fu
ture, she tells us, with measured optimism in the departing
chapter, can have lasting relationships despite the illness, for
although the “illness cannot be wished away, it can often be
managed.”
........................................................................................................................
The reviewer is a freelance journalist based in Bengaluru.
HISTORY
T
he emergence of indepen broadcaster and commentator, U.L. gime’s claim that the crisis had been orities realise this, better it would be the genocidal tactics of the Pakistan a beginning... a farsighted step for
dent Bangladesh in 1971 Baruah. As director of the External stoked by India. for them. Otherwise, the very exis army was not only presented in de ward on the part of both India and
was the most significant Services Division, he was responsi On the contrary, “It almost start tence of West Pakistan might be in tail, but emphasised as a report by a Pakistan.... It should be looked upon
geopolitical event in the ble for conveying India’s perception ed with the creation of Pakistan. It danger for there are similar move Pakistani journalist. as a framework by which both coun
subcontinent since the of those extraordinary events to au was apparent to most sensible Pakis ments for autonomy among the Pak Foreign correspondents were al tries could work for a durable peace
partition of India. At the time, it was diences outside India — especially in tanis that religion could not hold the htoons, Baluchis and Sindhis.” so quoted as stating that “the major to live in cooperation.” He was em
hailed in India as the decisive repu Pakistan. The despatches were two disparate wings of a country The banning of the National Awa ity of the refugees now fleeing the phatic that “the old concept of na
diation of the idea that religion could broadcast on All India Radio’s servic separated by over a thousand miles mi Party was given much promi country” were Hindus — a point that tionhood for the Muslims of the In
be the basis of national identity. Fifty es in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto of foreign territory, unless a reasona nence — as was the Afghan govern the Indian government refrained doPak subcontinent is long dead”.
years on, this idea is well and alive in and Bengali. They provide a fascinat ble kind of relationship based on ment’s protests on behalf of the from broadcasting to its domestic An inclusive nationalism was the on
the region — above all, in India. Iro ing peek into the battle of narratives mutual trust was established.” India Pashtuns. audiences, owing to concerns that it ly way forward for Pakistan and the
ny, as Reinhold Niebuhr suggested, that unfolded alongside the battles had “never accepted the twonation might trigger communal violence. only basis on which peace and good A Bangladesh
is perhaps the key to understanding on the ground. theory... but it never questioned the No communal spin Indeed, Indira Gandhi privately re neighbourly relations could be esta War
history. Nevertheless, it is important existence of Pakistan.” Baruah was acutely aware of the pro quested A.B. Vajpayee of the Jana blished — a piece of strategic wisdom Commentary:
to recall the extent to which an inclu Piercing through censorship The broadcasts also sought to blem of credibility in these narra Sangh not to give a communal spin worth emphasising today. 1971 Radio
sive, progressive nationalism shaped Broadcast from midJune 1971, Ba confute the military regime’s claim tives. His preferred method was to to the tragedy. ........................................................................ Dispatches
India’s handling of the 1971 crisis. ruah’s despatches sought to pierce that the Bangladeshi fighters were quote extensively from reports in Baruah continued to write these The reviewer is Professor of U.L. Baruah
This book casts into sharp relief the crust of censorship and disinfor Indian personnel or agents. “The British and American newspapers as despatches after the war. In his ac International Relations and History Pan Macmillan
this crucial dimension. It brings to mation laid by the Pakistani military truth of the matter is that there is a well as to amplify dissenting voices count of the Simla agreement of 1972 at Ashoka University. ₹1,650
Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman The World of India’s First Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid Indian Innings: The Journey of
Chidanand Rajghatta Archaeologist: Letters from Thor Hanson Indian Cricket from 1947
HarperCollins Alexander Cunningham to JDM Beglar Hachette Edited by Ayaz Memon
₹599 Upinder Singh ₹1,867 Westland Sport
In January, Kamala Harris was sworn Oxford University Press In this volume, Hanson explores the ₹799
in as the Vice President of the U.S., ₹2,495 remarkable ways that plants and This anthology, edited by a veteran
making her the first person of Indian Alexander Cunningham was the first animals are responding to climate sports journalist, traces cricket writing
origin, and the first woman to reach Director General of the Archaeological change: moving, adapting, and even through the years, highlighting the
this position. This biography focuses Survey of India. This volume contains evolving. It is a story of hope, game’s post-Independence journey in
on values that shaped her, 193 letters he wrote between 1871 and resilience, and risk, and shows what India. From the early pioneers and right
celebrating her Asian and Jamaican 1888 to his archaeological assistant, natural history is making of an up to the present, several writers
heritage. J.D.M. Beglar. unnatural time. provide a snapshot of the last 75 years.
CM HY-X
YK
06 WIDE ANGLE
HYDERABADTHE HINDU Magazine
*
Indian
Moodbidri ran in the slush track. Ja
maluddin was a nationallevel athlete Traditional ecosystem
at the time. The attempt did not suc As many as 75 traditional ‘noncompe
ceed, however, as coaches were ap tition’ kambalas are also conducted by
buffalo run
“But times have changed now, with the tradition going,” says K. Gunapala
youth coming forward themselves to Kadamba, retired principal of Jain Pre
run in the kambala races,” says Kangi University College, Moodbidri, and
namane. The president of the commit president of the pioneering Kambala
tee, P. R. Shetty, says that as a first Academy that has trained nearly 170
step, they have begun training in jockeys.
For many young men from Karnataka’s Moodbidri (Dakshina Kannada dis Even so, the sport is not without its
hinterlands, the annual kambala season that trict) and Baindoor (Udupi district)
this month. Training in Miyar (Udipi)
share of controversies. In 201617, the
annual event was stopped for the first
begins next month may be a chance to trend on and Paivalike (Kasaragod district) will time, following a High Court ban in
commence later this month or in the response to a petition by animal rights
social media, but the sport’s history is a rich first week of November. “Our aim is to group PETA. Similar to the jallikattu
prizes at kambala races across the tricians, lorry drivers and even a train at least 10 persons in each loca row in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, after
tribute to the animal that’s the farmer’s best friend State. “I ran 57 rounds on a single day teacher who have come to be a part of tion,” says Kanginamane, who is also a a lot of arguments for and against the
in 2006 and bagged four medals,” says kambala history. A majority of them member of the committee, which or practice, an Ordinance in 2017 paved
a beaming Ravi Kumar, adding that come from a farming background and ganises 18 to 20 races every season. the way for kambala’s continuance.
Raviprasad Kamila Karnataka and in Kasaragod, northern opportunities should be given to new are between 16 and 30 years of age. The word ‘kambala’ means paddy Now, the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani
Kerala, until the season ends in runners to carry the tradition Most live within a 50km radius of field. Buffaloes running on slushy pad mals (Karnataka Second Amendment)
I
t’s raining cats and dogs and the March. Last year, only seven kambalas forward. Moodbidri. dy fields began to mark the end of till Act, 2017, permits it to be conducted
slush tracks at KotiChennaya were held due to COVID19 As the veteran arrives at the dou ing season before the planting of see with restrictions to safeguard against
kambala field in Moodbidri, Kar restrictions. bletrack field, a young man ap Booming appeal the mistreatment of the animals.
nataka, are now perfect for a The training in Moodbidri, about 35 proaches and bends to touch Ravi Ku “With increased media coverage and Kadamba, who is penning a book
training session. Beginning in km from Mangaluru, is a personal in mar’s feet. He is Sampath Poojary, a thanks to social media comparing on kambala, recalls the monthlong
November, these muddy tracks will itiative of senior kambala runner first year ITI student and aspiring kambala jockeys to international festivities that used to be held in the
see groups of men, young and old, run ( jockey) Ravi Kumar Aladangady and kambala jockey. Poojary is among the sprinters, more youth are turning up The word ‘kambala’ means villages of Dakshina Kannada and
alongside pairs of buffaloes as part of his son Girish Aladangady. Ravi Ku 40odd men who have gathered at the to be trained,” says Girish, adding that Udupi a long time ago. “They were
paddy field. Buffaloes running
the annual kambala or buffalo races. mar, 52, has been a jockey for more fields to receive training from the Ala they began the initiative on a trial ba like village fairs, where people would
Organised through local committees than three decades, while his 23year dangadys, who began the training ses sis last year with 30 participants. This on slushy paddy fields began to get together and also buy farm equip
or kambala samithis, over 90 such old son took up the sport some five sions in June. year, there are 60, of whom as many mark the end of tilling season ment and other commodities.” Those
events are usually held across coastal years ago. Both have won numerous Apart from students, there are elec as 40 are regular attendees. before the planting of seedlings were far simpler times.
decision is — which is totally pervasive loss of faith in the capacity
understandable — I offer them my of the country’s institutions to
unconditional anticipatory apology. protect the democratic rights of
With the mandatory apology out ordinary Indians and the even more
of the way, let me come to ordinary media.
the bit you’ve been
waiting for: my mental Oh by jingo!
health. It’s true that Notwithstanding the above, I shall
the ‘official statement’ continue to fulfill my duties as a
has some way to go proud nationalist and avid jingoist.
before it attains the That is to say, whether or not I love
literary stature of a my fellow Indians — especially those
novel, sonnet or that don’t belong to my own religion,
narrative nonfiction. caste or class — I shall continue to
But it has, in the last love my country’s territorial
eight months, evolved boundaries. This follows naturally
rapidly in the choppy from my longstanding belief that
waters of Twitter, there is nothing in the universe more
Facebook, Instagram, and worthy of adoration than the
several other social Government of India and the moral
media you don’t give a giants that run it.
Koo about. A I wish to take this opportunity to
characteristic of the also express my gratitude to the
ALLEGEDLY most memorable Government of India for providing
specimens of the national security to every single
My official
modern and even the citizen of India. This is all the more
postmodern official statement is an creditable given that millions of
inspiring paragraph or two on the Indians still do not enjoy job
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK
statementgiver’s mental health security, food security, healthcare
challenges. security, education security or
statement
survival security. Some people might
Constellation of symptoms be thinking: it’s all very well to focus
So, am I depressed? My stakeholders on protecting our borders, but what
tell me I should avoid any reference about the people living within those
*
to depression. Their logic: By borders? Don’t they deserve
referring to mental health in my protection from hunger,
official statement, I could be opening malnutrition, disease, police
In this difficult time, I request all of you to respect myself to accusations of trivialising atrocities, and vigilante violence just
my privacy and give me the space I need mental health concerns. After all,
would it not be construed as
as they deserve protection from
terrorist violence and Pakistan? My
offensive if I were to state in this advice to these misguided souls:
statement that the likelihood of kindly volunteer yourself to be
I
t is after much thought and know how my conduct might change people taking offence at anything I investigated by the ED for
extensive consultations with all if someone transfers a few dozen may say (about depression or moneylaundering, NCB for
my stakeholders that I’ve come crores to my bank account. By the anything else) could be causing me drugpossession, and NIA for waging
My statement is to this decision, which is mine way, I encourage those of you who depression or a depressionlike constitution jihad.
alone and not connected to can afford this intriguing experiment variant with a constellation of In conclusion, I just want to say
not motivated your or anyone else’s grandfather. to go ahead and give it a try. Those symptoms that mimic depression that understanding whatever and
by a desire to This isn’t a situation I ever imagined not wealthy enough can always go without actually qualifying for the one’s relationship with whatever is a
cause offence to or intended when I embarked on this for crowdfunding. Thanks to title, as it were, purely on clinical very important thing, and in this
any community, journey of a lifetime. I mean, I never Aadhaar and Digital India, my bank merit? difficult time, I request all of you to
caste, wanted to be the centre of details are readily available on the Be that as it may, for all these respect my privacy and give me the
attraction, or even a distraction. But darknet. reasons, and with deep regret, I space I need. The space I need is
nationality,
I have for long wanted to take a Anyway, all I can say is that my would like to announce that I am located in Australia and costs a lot of
religion, brand, decision like this, and issue a statement is not motivated by a stepping back, with immediate money. So don’t forget what I said
individual, statement like this. desire to cause offence to any effect, from all my responsibilities as about crowdfunding.
animal or You may wonder why. Am I community, caste, nationality, a rightsbearing citizen of a
vegetable (body Joseph K, about whom someone religion, brand, individual, animal or constitutional democracy. This is a
must have been telling lies? Not vegetable (body parts of plants as completely personal decision and
parts of plants
really, though I do live in Kafkaland. well as primates in voluntary coma). has nothing whatsoever to do with G. Sampath, author of
as well as Am I an ultrarich person getting a Nonetheless, in case anyone is the erosion of the rule of law in my this satire, is Social
primates in divorce, like Bill G or Jeff B? Not offended before having read my country or with the climate of fear Affairs Editor,
voluntary coma) really, though it would be good to statement or knowing what my and selfcensorship or with the The Hindu.
CM HY-X
YK
BOOKEND
THE HINDU Magazine HYDERABAD
*
Should a
whose iconography of Hindu trees, rivers, or pots and baskets
deities defined later renditions. filled with food and water. An
Wellcome Library, London thropomorphic images, where
gods have human form, came
edge of their empire show Greco much later. And images of gods
deity
RomanScyhtian influence while with many heads and hands came
their coins in the eastern edge even later. Tamil Sangam litera
show Buddhist and Hindu in ture refers to gods like Mayon and
fluences. By the time of the Gup Ceyon and Perumal, with their
tas, the Buddhist influence was complexion, their abode, their
have two
on the wane. banners, and sacred animals, but
The earliest Hindu iconogra does not mention multiple arms.
phy showing a fourarmed Vishnu
has been found in Malhar in Mad Supernatural beings
arms or
hya Pradesh, dating to 100 BCE. It The Mahayana and later the Tan
becomes more explicit in the Hin trik schools introduced the idea
du temple in Deogarh that dates of supernatural beings with multi
to the Gupta period, where we ple heads and arms into Buddhist
find the fourarmed Vishnu in art. But the form was associated
more?
three forms: riding Garuda, re with Bodhisattva, who is still to
clining on Shesha, and as a teach attain Buddhahood. He sprouts
er. When he is reclining, Lakshmi many heads and hands to see,
is at his feet. But she has only two hear and help the many suffering
arms. souls of the cosmos. On attaining
The sprouting of multiple Buddha status, he may have giant
arms and later, multiple heads, form, but retains only two arms.
The earliest Hindu iconography differentiated supernatural be Adi Shankaracharya is said to
showing a four-armed Vishnu has ings from regular humans. In have established the worship of
Buddhist art, Brahma and Indra goddess Sharda, who is identified
been found in Malhar in Madhya are often shown bowing to the as Saraswati, nearly 12 centuries
Buddha. How does one know earlier. Early 20th century prints
Pradesh, dating to 100 BCE they are not just any kings or of the goddess show her as two
priests? Brahma is shown with armed but new prints show her as
four arms, establishing his divine fourarmed. How do we resolve
I
n Kushan coins, minted over Puranas, and pushed back on status and Hindu roots. In early this mystery? Was she a Buddhist
1,800 years ago, we come Buddhist popularity. The shift be Jain art, we find four images of the goddess who became Hindu un
across images of a woman gan in the earlier Kushan period. Tirthankara Rishabhdev facing der Shankara’s influence? Shan
holding the horn of plenty. The rise of fourarmed deities ef four directions. But in Hindu art, kara was after all described by his
She is identified with the Ro fectively marks a turning point in we find chatur-mukha lingas opponents as Prachanna Buddha
man Goddess Fortuna, the Greek assertive Hindu art. showing Shiva’s head on four or cryptoBuddhist. And he did
goddess Tyche, the Central Asian sides. In Jain art, we do find four play a key role in eclipsing Budd
Ardochsho, the Buddhist Hariti, Not more than two armed yakshas and yakshis, but hism from the Indian landscape.
and the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. The earliest Indian art comes the Tirthankara is never given su We will never know for sure.
Images of Lakshmi are also found from Harappa. Here we have im pernatural form. At best, his But what we do know is that
on pillars and medallions of early ages of men meditating, or escap limbs are longer than usual, today, Hindu gods from Lakshmi
Buddhist stupas. She is visualised ing from tigers, or leaping on reaching up to the knee, an indi to Ganesha to Saraswati are al
there as a bejewelled woman, bulls, and women in procession, cator of being special. ways depicted with four or more
standing in a pond of lotus flow or resolving conflicts. All human arms. They are twoarmed only
ers, surrounded by elephants, ve characters have only two arms. No icons here when they take mortal form, like
ry similar to Lakshmi images Nearly 2,000 years after the Ha The idea of a god with multiple Ram or Krishna. Four arms do
found in Hindu homes today. But rappan period, we have the re heads, arms and feet is first found what the halo did in Christian art
there is one crucial difference. markably evolved Gandharan and in Vedic literature, and finds ex — help the viewer quickly esta
Lakshmi images today show her Mathura art, mostly Buddhist, ings with wings, heads, and bo images of Krishna holding a arms only. From the Kushan pe pression also in the Bhagavad Gi- blish who is divine, who is super
as fourarmed, not twoarmed. telling stories from the life of the dies of horses, indicating the wheel; he is twoarmed. Kushan riod, we have the earliest images ta where Krishna takes his cosmic natural, and who is worthy of
The transformation of two Buddha and folktales inspired by clear influence of Greek and Per coins from 200 CE have images of of Durga, showing her killing a form, one that pervades every veneration.
armed Lakshmi into fourarmed Jataka tales. In Mathura art, we sian art. But no fourarmed Shiva holding a trident, many buffalo. She too has multiple corner of the universe by expand
Lakshmi happened in the Gupta find the earliest image of Saraswa beings. showing him with four arms. But arms. The Kushans were migrants ing his form and by multiplying Devdutt Pattanaik
period, 1,700 years ago, when the ti, from a Jain site, seated with a The earliest images of Hindu the oldest Shiva lingam at Gudi from SouthWest China and had heads, arms, legs. The Vedic is author of 50 books
old Vedic way reinforced its pow book in her hand. She too has two gods are found on coins. Indo mallam, Andhra Pradesh, dated no religious affiliations, which is priests visualised the gods but did on mythology, art
er by redefining itself through the arms. Here we find celestial be Greek coins from 200 BCE have to 300 CE, shows Shiva with two why their coins in the western not turn them into icons of stone and culture.
S
outh’s sixclub bid showed He won the opening spade lead ruffed dummy’s last diamond with
1 On October 10, 1865, John Wesley Hyatt
submitted his patent for a piece of
sporting equipment. These items used to
mean to score a goal. In which sport is
this used and what is the name of this en
tity, which sounds like a character from a
be made from ivory, which was scarce, Shakespeare play?
so as a substitute, Hyatt and his brother
came up with ‘Celluloid’. They were the
first to identify the value of adding cam
phor to cellulose nitrate. Although cellu
9 An explanation for this cricketing
term states that it comes from the
fact that the delivery used would cause a
loid was manufactured for that sport, it batsman’s eyes to goggle or would shock
became widely used to make guitar him. What is the term that we now use,
picks, combs and as a part of table ten based on this, for a tricky delivery in
nis. What sport is this that uses 22 items cricket, or any situation in real life that
made of celluloid, of which one is white, throws up an unexpected twist?
15 are red and 6 are in other colours?
CM HY-X
YK
BACK PAGE
THE HINDU Magazine
08
*
HYDERABAD
*
ILLUSTRATION: R. RAJESH
governance means. If the BJP could win
the 2014 election riding on the Gujarat mo
del, which was only a mirage, then we can
certainly show what the Tamil Nadu model
is and how significant it can be for the rest
of the country. Why would people with big
holes in their pockets vote again for false
hoods and dichotomy? We do not feed pro
paganda and hate. With our good gover
60 MINUTES: WITH PALANIVEL THIAGA RAJAN nance, we can swing 2024.
‘Privatisation
against the Hindu Religious and
Charitable Endowments Department.
Privatisation might help restore and
maintain temples more efficiently, so
why do you insist that temples must
remain under government control?
cannot be
L The government controls only those
temples that belonged to the kings, the
Pandyas, Pallavas and the Cheras, because
those are as much about culture, history,
and architecture as about religion. I don’t
understand how privatisation can make
the answer to
temples more efficient. I am aware of the
irregularities and get hundreds of com
plaints. It frustrates me as much as any
other templegoer. Madurai Meenakshi
Temple is in my constituency and I am still
not able to make changes for the better. If I
every malaise’
set up a Board, how will you decide who
will be on it to run the temple? There is no
easy apolitical solution. Name a depart
ment that doesn’t have problems. Are go
vernment hospitals, corporation schools,
water supply, garbage collection flawless?
What else shall I denationalise? Privatisa
Tamil Nadu’s Finance Minister on fighting tion cannot be the answer to every ma
laise; then the government should shut
corruption and social media wars down everything?
And if this is wrong, then why and how
was it right for Uttarakhand to nationalise
temples in 2000? Why did Modi’s Gujarat
nationalise temples? How can we have dif
ferent rules for different States?
A
40minute slot seamlessly tran just need to add your own value to the sha riyar water in Theni. dence, not arrogance. If I have attitude and seas, I felt the weight of my alleged legacy.
scended into a 140minute off reholders, the company and to investors’ coldshoulder you, then call me arrogant. I felt I was on borrowed time because my
beat conversation with Tamil bank books. In public life now, I deal with Is this why you give vent to political But not when I am compassionate towards father and grandfather always wanted me
Nadu’s Finance Minister, Pala all kinds of people to add value to society. frustration on social media? Is it wise people and genuinely do not have the to work for the people.
nivel Thiaga Rajan, at his ances Resolving people’s problems gives im to engage in virtual conversations time. I want my sons to study well, see the
tral home in Madurai. The 55yearold Wall mense satisfaction. with known rivals and unknown Many politicians accuse me of bragging world, do what interests them. After that,
Street bankerturnedpolitician is as can people? about my lineage. If I am doing nothing if they still feel like entering politics, it is
did and articulate as he is known to be. “I What are your chief challenges as a L I rarely get provoked for personal rea other than namedropping, then I am entirely their choice.
■ Grandson of former
Madras Presidency dislike pretensions,” says the twotime politician? sons. I ignore those who twist words, mis wrong. My achievements through hard
Chief Minister Sir P.T. MLA, whose sharp tongue often courts L It bothers me every day that wrong represent and conflate. But yes, some work are in the public domain. I do not How hard has it been for your spouse
Rajan and son of controversies. He attributes his sense of in doers are able to get away. It is a flaw of the times I feel there is societal benefit in need to namedrop. I am who I am. And to adjust to life here?
former Tamil Nadu ner stability to two major events — a mirac system, which persecutes innocents and exposing the fakes and lies, the empty yes, every chance I get, I invoke my ances L I am fortunate to have been blessed with
Assembly Speaker ulous escape during the 9/11 attacks (his of fails to prosecute the crooked and power shells, and the semiliterates who act as tors because it is our Tamil culture to pay a strong partner. Margaret and I met at un
and Minister P.T.R. fice was in the basement of the Twin ful. There are thousands of cases of mal geniuses. respect to our forefathers. iversity. I was a tad unsure about how she
Palanivel Rajan Towers) and his job with Lehman Brothers feasance and no government wants to would adjust, but today my family, voters,
during the 2008 freefall. “You realise noth open a can of worms. There is pressure But you are often accused of being What are your strengths and everybody is so fond of her. She keeps our
■ B.Tech (Hons.) from
ing is permanent in life,” he says. that does not let the system improve, and it arrogant; many on social media tell weaknesses as a politician? sons grounded. Though it hurts, we deny
NIT, Trichy; Master’s
and Ph.D from the From a happygolucky childhood to a is not easy even with the best leadership at L I get dragged into multiple issues and them certain luxuries because we want
State University jetsetting corporate career, and now a mi the top. problems. I should learn to say no. My them to understand that we are instilling
of New York nister with an important portfolio in a re We are working towards inclusive strength: I believe in outcomes and don’t certain values.
■ Worked as an surgent DMK government, he believes his growth, where everybody has access to Why would people with big get distracted.
investment banker at life has been a journey of luck and good everything within the boundaries of social holes in their pockets vote How do you unwind after your
Lehman Brothers and timing. Edited excerpts from the and economic fairness, unlike in the past again for falsehoods and Do you think it is time for Tamil Nadu strenuous work schedule?
Standard Chartered, interview: when everything was grabbed illegally and
dichotomy? We do not feed to play a bigger role in national L I love to spend time with my family.
in New York and What is the difference between your the State did nothing. Four months in pow politics? They are my lifeline and laughter is our
Singapore er is too short a time to flush out the rot, propaganda and hate. With L Absolutely. It is a golden opportunity for medicine. Our pets bind us. The five dogs
earlier corporate life and your political
one now? but we have succeeded in stemming it. For our good governance, we can us to show what really compassionate, and a kitten at home are my best stress
■ MLA for Madurai
Central since 2016 L In a corporate setup, the alignment of instance, the water table of the Vaigai is up swing 2024 competent, social and technically sound busters.
*
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK
and the journey begins. I stare
SUNDAY RECIPE out of the rusted windows: the
shanties outside are replaced by
Jaisalmer’s tall trees and green fields a
Namkeen Puri couple of hours later. The next
thing I know is that I’m hungry.
Ingredients There’s something about train
Whole wheat flour – 1 cup journeys, they give you
Gram flour – 2 tbsp inescapable hunger pangs as
Oil – 2 tsp soon as you hop in. But mum will
Red chilli powder – 3/4th tsp open the food bag only at the
Turmeric powder, carom seeds, cumin right time.
seeds and coriander powder – 1/4 tsp
each
A pinch of asafoetida and salt to taste Chennai is here
Our first meal on the train is curd
Method rice, bajra rotis, gatte ki kadhi and
1. Add oil in the flour and mix well sangri ki loungi. For salad, dad
2. Add the spices and knead a dough. We crushes a few onions with his
don’t need a tight dough, but preferably palm and keeps half a piece on
not too loose as well. each plate. Once lunch is over, we
3. Roll out thin discs of puris; a drop of siblings play games and check out
oil on the rolling board will help you
every foodseller who passes by,
make the puris (no flour needed).
4. Once the oil in your cast iron skillet is convincing dad to buy us a snack
hot, slide in the puri. Make sure the flame or two. In the evening, mum
is on medium, not low. When you drop prepares a snack with puffed rice,
the puri in the oil, press it with the jhari/ which I relish. No more looking at
skimmer — this way the puri will puff up the vendors selling chana in
(the secret behind soft puris). paper cones. Other boxes with
5. When making them for travel purpose, the food she packed so carefully
cool all the puris in a plate, then pile
get opened at dinner time.
them up and pack. Serve with curd rice,
pickle and raw onion. When I wake up the next day,
NOSHTALGIA Deepika Nandal onions, cucumbers, raw medium flame. The puris puff I can get whiffs of sambar and
mangoes (a must during up like pillows — dad knows the coconut chutney and know we
M
um has been summer vacations) and puffed trick. The orangered puris are closer to our destination. We
There’s something about long working in the rice, and we are good to go. make me hungry, but we don’t reach Vijayawada station, where
train journeys, they give you kitchen since
dawn. She’s
My favourite food of all these,
however, is the namkeen puri.
have time to eat them. every passenger rushes off to get
their morning meal sorted.
inescapable hunger pangs cooking a feast In a pital paraat (brass platter Off we go But Chennai won’t come till
that we will carry with us in our used to knead dough), mum Soon we are rushing to the evening, giving us ample
as soon as you hop in long train journey from our heaps up wheat and gram flour, Surat railway station. I notice time to wade through all
home in Surat to our nani’s sprinkling spices and drizzling that the jute bag with food items our food. By the time the
Mum’s
house in Chennai. some oil. Then my father takes is as heavy as bricks. Once at sun sets, we are done
I see doodh ka parathas over to knead the dough. Those the station, which in my with our games, music
(flatbread made with wheat are strong biceps, I think in my childhood had only two has been played on loop
flour and milk), saangri ki sabzi head. He rolls out the thinnest platforms, all of us gear up for on my Walkman, the
(a Marwari dish from Jaisalmer), round puris on a wooden chakla the journey. I fix my Walkman food boxes are empty,
aloo ki sabzi, and a lot more — (round board) and fries them on with fully charged and all we want is to hit
mobile pantry
all of which she has made batteries; my elder Chennai roads. After
singlehandedly without brother weighs what seems like an
showing any sign of fatigue. himself on the interminable wait, the
Once they cool, she packs them The puris puff up like machine; my younger train enters the station and I
in used sweet boxes, fills up pillows — dad knows brother waits anxiously see my maternal uncle waving
recycled plastic jars with for the train whistle. from the platform. “Jiji,” he
the trick. The orange-red
homemade mango pickle and At around 9 a.m., the calls out and mum smiles.
gatte ki kadhi (a dish made from puris make me hungry, Navjeevan Express rushes in. ...................................................................
buttermilk and gram flour), but we don’t have time We find our seats, the train The writer is a freelance journalist
loads a bag with spice mixes, to eat them pushes off with an abrupt jerk, and food blogger.
CM HY-X
YK