Sunday, May 1, 2022

LITERARY REVIEW WIDE ANGLE BOOKEND BACK PAGE

With Why Do You The Wildlife The short-nosed How PECDA, in 10 years, has
Fear My Way So (Protection Act) fruit bats take their become an important
Much? G.N. Saibaba should be scrapped. olfactory perception moment in an
joins a long list of There is no question, to an extreme: they under-resourced
people who crafted says ecologist use odour to identify contemporary dance
literature in jail p4 Madhav Gadgil p6 their buddies p7 landscape p8

COVER

THE BOX
OFFICE’S
WONDER
WOMEN The last few years have seen multiple
projects, big and small, with stellar
women characters. A decade or so ago,
this would have been unthinkable p3

IN THE NEWS

Sir Earth
Sir David Attenborough, the
charismatic presenter of two
hugely popular documentaries, The
Green Planet and A Plastic Ocean,
and the nine-part ‘Life’ series, has
been named a Champion of the
Earth by the UN’s Environment
Programme. The title
acknowledges the natural
historian’s “dedication to research,
documentation, and advocacy for
the protection of nature and its
restoration”. Accepting the award,
the 95-year-old offered a message
of hope. “Fifty years ago, whales
were on the very edge of extinction
worldwide... Then people got
together and now there are more
whales in the sea than any living
human being has ever seen.”
Attenborough first began work at
an educational publishing house
and then trained at the BBC where
he became a television producer.
He resigned as director of television
programming and went on to
produce, write and present several
award-winning shows.
May Day
On May Day every year, we celebrate workers and their rights. Chennai’s
landmark sculpture, The Triumph of Labour, showing four men toiling hard
to move a rock, is a commemoration of India’s first May Day rally, held in
1923 at Marina Beach. It is a reminder of the value of labour, without which
the human world would come to a standstill. Or, would it, once automation
takes over? This year’s May Day celebrations in China are going to be tepid,
with the government asking citizens not to leave Beijing in order to lower
COVID-19 transmission risks.
And Russia, of course, is at
war. In a science-fiction
scenario, would The Triumph
of Labour be a sculpture
without meaning one day? It
is said that the AI revolution
will also create new jobs,
provided those most at risk
get the support of businesses
and governments. When the
time comes, will help be
forthcoming for the poorest of
workers, most of whom are
still voiceless?
Praise Barbie
Queen Elizabeth II, who will celebrate her 70th
year on the throne this June, now has a new
distinction: a limited-edition Barbie doll
fashioned after her. The doll, dressed in a white
gown, has a distinctive coif of white hair and a
tiara. “The Queen’s look is inspired by the style
and colour of a gown that she’s favored in royal
portraits of herself — following her signature
look of simple, white, or ivory designs,” toy
maker Mattel said in a statement to Harper’s
Bazaar magazine. The doll, priced at $75, comes
in a suitably regal box with a miniature red
throne. It is part of a ‘Tribute series’ launched by
Mattel to celebrate iconic women. Last year,
Lucille Ball, the star of the I Love Lucy sitcom
was the inspiration for a doll that marked the
70th anniversary of the show.

Chemical reaction
It could be one of the biggest detoxes yet. On April 25, the
European Commission announced a new ‘restrictions roadmap’,
according to which up to 12,000 chemicals could soon be
banned in the continent. The news comes three months after
scientists stated that chemical pollution has crossed the
‘planetary boundary’. (Of the nine boundaries that influence the
Earth’s stability, we’ve already crossed climate change, loss of
biosphere integrity, land-system change, and altered
biogeochemical cycles.) The new restrictions could be one of the
ways to effect change. It will cover whole categories of
chemicals such as flame retardants, bisphenols, and PVC
plastics, which are linked to cancers, hormonal disruption, and
other illnesses. As campaigners applaud the move, we’d like to
know when the rest of the world will follow EU’s example.

CM
YK
 OPEN PAGE
THE  HINDU Magazine
02 *

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Faith in fasting  FEEDBACK
Letters to the Magazine can be e-mailed separately to
mag.letters@thehindu.co.in

Cover story
It is heartening to
Most religions prescribe going without food for certain see art exhibitions
bounce back after a
periods, which actually work in favour of health too long gap. (‘India Art
Fair 2022: Staying
Jayanthi Rangarajan taining on vegan diets similar to the positive’; April 24) It
Mediterranean  diet  during  certain is surely a big

M
ost of the world’s pop­ months such as the Tamil month of motivation for
ulation  goes  on  fast­ Purattasi.  artists too, many of
ing  in  April.  Chris­ Selective avoidance of salt (a salt­ whom struggled
tians  and  Muslims, free diet) on some days is a common­ with uncertainty
followers  of  the  lar­ ly observed practice. Salt is essential these past two
gest and the second largest religions, for life, but in excess is injurious to years. Art is a
respectively, fast for long hours dur­ health. reflection of society
ing  the  religious  penitential  period Sikhism also has various periods and its myriad
of Lent and Ramzan, respectively. It of fasting, and the Langars, or com­ issues, and helps
is also a time of repentance, abnega­ munity kitchens, in gurdwaras serve people ground their
tion and spiritual discipline. simple and healthy vegetarian food, everyday reality.
During the holy period, most peo­ though  Sikhs  are  not  disallowed Athira Ashokan
ple give up eating the food they like from  consuming  non­vegetarian
most  or  abstain  from  other  indul­ food.  Several  other  religions  have ■ The IAF should
gences, apart from sex, alcohol and their own fasting regimens suited to endeavour to bring to the That the tiger population
smoking — the “popular sins”. This their region, customs and beliefs. limelight deprived artists in the country has seen a
period varies from one month to 40 and artisans from major uptick over the
days. Cleansing effect far­flung areas. The decades is one of the
Non­communicable diseases such There is ample scientific evidence to interface with globally biggest positive
as diabetes, hypertension, high chol­ prove that the simple act of fasting renowned artists and ramifications of
There is esterol, obesity and cancers are all improves metabolism, lowers blood galleries as facilitated by community­centred
ample lifestyle  disorders  and  the  primary sugar and blood pressure levels and these art fairs will be of conservation initiatives.
scientific modality of treatment prescribed is cleanses  the  body  of  toxins  which immense value to the In the wake of global
evidence to lifestyle management. It is a science otherwise may cause intangible and artists.  warming induced climate
prove that “that  works  to  integrate  lifestyle­ irreversible inflammation at the cel­ G. Ramasubramanyam change, such proactive
based healthy habits into the course lular level. steps are the need of the
the simple act
of a person’s daily routine”.  The next important facet of lifes­ * ILLUSTRATION: SREEJITH R.KUMAR ■ Indian art has a rich hour.
of fasting tyle  management  is  incorporating heritage and the art fair M. Jeyaram
improves Lifestyle management physical activity.  dus contributes to physical activity healthy dose of medicine in it. is a fitting tribute to the
metabolism, Eating  healthy  food,  maintaining Religion  practices  often  lead  to and ensures flexibility of joints. Simi­ Irrespective  of  the  faith  we  fol­ hands that have carved a Back to the grind
lowers blood moderation in diet, abstinence from physical activity which becomes ap­ larly, Hindu practices such as thop- low, the essence of any religion is to niche for themselves. Like Kattabomman, I too
habit­forming  behaviour  such  as parent when we closely observe the pukaranams or the practice of squat­ make human beings healthy. Health cried (inwardly) to attend
sugar and S. Raghavan
smoking  and  consumption  of  alco­ customs and practices of worship — ting  several  counts  with  folded is  defined  as  a  state  of  complete India is home to some of office after ‘work from
blood hol,  regular  physical  activity  and for instance, circumambulation, an crossed arms reaching up to the ears physical and mental well­being, pav­ the most renowned home’ for over 18
pressure stress busting are the various com­ integral practice of worship in reli­ is the oldest known version of high­ ing the way for promoting tolerance, artists whose oeuvres months. (‘Welcome back
ponents of lifestyle management. gions such as Buddhism.  intensity intermittent training tech­ love and peaceful coexistence. have fetched handsome to school’; April 24) At
Hindus have various fasting prac­ Places  of  worship  such  as  big nique and is a sure­shot method for It is unfortunate to see religion di­ prices in world markets. least, Katta broke down
tices all through the year, popularly temples and churches with their vast weight loss.  vide  humanity  and  spread  hatred Jaya Asokan who is on the third day of
referred to as vrat, viradham or upa- courtyards  provide  ample  oppor­ Hence,  these  lifestyle  habits contrary to its intention. curating the art fair adds school, unlike me on the
vasa based  on  the  lunar  calendar. tunity and space for walking and al­ which  promote  good  health  in  the The true essence of religion has another feather to her first day of office
The  degree  of  fasting  may  vary  — so a conducive environment for so­ name of religion came much before been lost over time, leaving behind cap with this exhibition. reopening. There is a kid
from skipping a meal a day to eating cialising and promotion of arts and evidence­based medicine came to be empty rituals. C.V. Aravind in every one of us. 
only one meal a day or for a specified culture. known and followed. (The author is Dean, K. Pradeep
number  of  days,  usually  48  days The offering of Namaz, the daily We  physicians  do  not  shy  away Government Omandurar Medical Glory days
(Mandalam period  for  Sabarimala prayers  of  Muslims  performed  by from  boasting  that  medicine  is  our College, Chennai) The article on Westland ■ I am a Class X student,
pilgrims).  kneeling  down  and  prostrating,  or religion, but it has become increas­ ........................................................................ by Paul Zacharia was and after spending two
Sometimes,  fasting  entails  sus­ the practice of Namaskarams by Hin­ ingly apparent that religion too has a rjayanthi363@gmail.com very interesting to read. miserable years at home,
(‘The legend of my friends and I are
Westland’; April 24) In unable to decide
the era where the author whether we want to live

Nothing to do  Fighting food prejudices
worked, publishing the same old life or get
books was an art similar out. Coming to school
to good filmmaking. It is and catching up with
not so in the new age of friends is amazing but we
technology when printed feel lazy to get out of bed
When children are there was no need to feel defensive
material is simply in the early hours of the
about  his  food  habits,  and  as  the
Vijaya Bharat
made to feel different school did not have any food policy,
churned out with designs
and illustrations
day. It’s a real dilemma.
Sharvani

T
he daughter of one of my patients there was no need to avoid. 
complained about her father’s lazy lifestyle.
over what they eat As we had suggested, he patiently
borrowed from the
Internet.  Song for a dear
His daily routine would start with opening explained  his  food  choice  to  those
Siddhartha Panda N. Nagarajan The essay on the songs of
the door for the milkman. He would then pick up classmates  who  troubled  him.  We
‘viraha’ (in Tamil,

T
his smartphone and check it throughout the day, his  happened  every  day  for  a could not blame them as they most
Green warriors virahadabam) was
even while watching TV for endless hours. His week  —  our  12­year­old  son likely picked up this prejudice from
The experience at mesmerising. (‘The jogi
mid­morning and post­lunch siestas contributed coming back from school, not their  homes.  It  did  not  take  long:
Similipal National Park as seasonal hermit’; April
to late nights. While she continued, the making  eye  contact,  hardly  eating, those classmates understood that it
(‘The green knights of 24) Depicting deer with
70­year­old diabetic patient remained remaining aloof and sometimes lash­ ven any non­vegetarian tiffin. was “eat as you like”! 
Mayurbhanj’; April 24) damsels in distress was
unperturbed and told me: “I have nothing to do ing out for seemingly trivial things. Yes, that was a way out, as some
shows the effectiveness quite common in our
and don’t have any friends. I haven’t done The gentle probing of my wife and I friends and colleagues with children Blame inaction
of enlisting the services movies once upon a
anything other than attending to my office work did not elicit any response. We told in other schools in the city had done. Coming  from  an  advantaged  socio­
of the local community time. In our ancient texts
and now I am leading a retired life.” him he could talk to us whenever he However,  would  this  route  of  avoi­ economic background, our son will
in protecting and too, dejected young
I have heard such complaints quite often from felt  comfortable.  And,  after  a  few dance  help  our  son  deal  with  pro­ perhaps understand what it is to be
preserving our precious women, while separated
busy young professionals. The explanation given days, he did.  blems  in  the  future?  We  decided  it made felt different. His unhappiness
forest resource. A from their lovers, have
by the elderly parent is also the same — “Nothing The  source  of  the  problem  was was best to address than to avoid the was  not  as  much  with  those  class­
win­win for all sung to squirrels,
to do and everyone at home is busy with their the tiffin he took to school — the non­ problem. We discussed with him the mates who made fun of him, as with
stakeholders, it merits sparrow, ducks, swans,
own lives.”  vegetarian dishes. Some of his class­ need to confront the prejudice. We the inaction of the teacher. It is not
replication in all our parrots, and so on. Now,
The next patient, a 60­year­old woman with mates  spoke  disparagingly  of  his told him that food habits are an in­ just  the  action  and  insensitivity  of
protected woodlands we know where this
high blood pressure, had always been taking care food habit, repeatedly asked him to trinsic aspect of a culture, and India the  perpetrators,  but  the  inaction
and wildlife sanctuaries. practice comes from.
of everyone in her family. After her son moved wash  his  hands  after  eating,  and has a composite culture.  and apathy of the protectors which
Kamal Laddha A.M.N. Pandian
on, she got fully involved in the care of her asked other students not to sit near A large section of the Indian pop­ affect victims more. 
husband. The lifelong caregiver felt a vacuum him.  ulation  consumes  non­vegetarian When he will step into the role of
when the husband passed away. But she He did complain to his class teach­ food.  We  were  from  a  State  in  the a protector,  he  may  recognise  the
reoriented her life around daily walks, singing er, who, according to him, brushed eastern  part  of  India  where  more symptoms  early  and  develop  em­ Due to change in printing schedules, all letters
and teaching children in the neighbourhood. him aside. After sharing his problem than  95%  ate  non­vegetarian  food, pathy for those facing prejudice.
must reach us before Tuesday, 3 p.m., in order to
Afraid of falling sick with  us,  he  seemed  to  calm  down. but are now living in a northern State .........................................................................
But downcast, he asked not to be gi­ where  only  about  50%  did  so.  So be featured. — Editor
and becoming siddpanda@gmail.com
dependent, she would
never miss out on her
medical check­ups.

Taking the mike 
When she needed a considered  the  father  of  public
hip replacement, she speaking who developed its five ca­
went to her son in nons practised even today. 
another city and after Shakespeare immortalised Mark
recovery, bounced
Public speaking is a Antony in Julius Caesar with his oft­ More on the Web
back to her quoted  lines,  “Friends,  Romans, thehindu.com/opinion/open-page
independent living.  priceless skill, especially countrymen,  lend  me  your  ears;  I
The building blocks that define one’s outlook come  to  bury  Caesar,  not  to  praise
on life get assembled in the formative years. Quite for those in public life him.”  The queue conundrum
often childhood is spent on following the Who  can  forget  Abraham  Lin­ Scientific  queue  management  hasn’t  caught  on
mandatory routines. Some children with wide J. Eden Alexander coln’s  Gettysburg  Address,  which everywhere. The jostling continues
exposure fall under pressure to excel in has  become  the  pillar  of  American Thomas Paul

M
everything and miss out on the joy of learning. y interest in public speaking history. Winston Churchill, the war­
Parents and schoolteachers play an important started  to  grow  the  day  I time Prime Minister of England, re­ Transgender people and utilities
role in influencing the attitudes of children.  happened to listen to an un­ membered  till  this  day  for  his
A school principal would always ask the top scheduled  lecture  by  the  chief  of  a speeches, wrote once, “Of all the ta­
They  are  denied  the  right  even  to  use  a  public
rankers, “Okay. Good. You have come first in training  institution  a  few  decades voluntarily skipped the tea break. He lents bestowed upon men, none is so restroom
class. What else have you done?” Not every Nishuna Sugumar
ago.  We  trainees  stood  up  bewil­ handled the topic at ease with com­ precious as the gift of oratory.”
topper would have an answer. She encouraged dered  when  he  entered  our  class pelling  points  and  convincing  case A few qualities are indispensable
children to take part in extracurricular activities suddenly  one  day  and  spoke  in  his studies  that  kept  us,  all  above  50, for  a  successful  public  speaker. Pursuit of small luxuries
and would tell the parents, “Children who do well metallic voice: “Your booked speak­ mesmerised. Avoid  stage  fear.  Be  thorough  with There  were  grand  houses  lined  up  on  the  narrow
in everything, will do well in studies also.”  er has not come and so I propose to Public speaking is a priceless skill the matter to be presented by home lane but there was no socialising
Remaining focussed on one area for a long engage you for the next three hours. for everyone, especially those in pu­ work.  A  slip  with  hints  help  not  to Meera Anilkumar
time to the exclusion of everything else leads to a Please tell me what topic you would blic life. But associating it only with miss  anything  and  to  follow  the
monotonous routine. If hobbies and passions are like me to speak?”  politicians is an unfortunate miscon­ proper  sequence.  The  language Contemplating death
kept alive, even infrequently, they would cushion Glum with hearing departmental ception.  should be simple but attractive.
in rough times. In fact, lifestyle coaches subjects, I proposed a simple topic, Exceptionally proficient speakers
Logically, all of us know that we are going to die but
recommend setting aside a “me­time” and which looked silly for the occasion, Landmark speeches make the audience listen with an im­ emotionally we feel invincible
maintaining a work­life balance. The advice holds Shivam Bhamre
amid explosive laughter of the class It is true that kingdoms in the past pressive start with mind­blowing sta­
true not only for those in jobs but also for members. and governments in the present had tistics or catchy anecdotes. Make the
homemakers. When the sole focus becomes “Can  you  speak  on  how  to  save been  uprooted  by  talented  public speech lively and interesting with oc­
This page consists of reader submissions. Contributions of up to a
irrelevant on retirement or when children move and spend money, sir?” With a per­ speakers.  There  had  been  gifted casional  jokes  and  by  producing length of 700 words may be e-mailed to openpage@thehindu.co.in.
on, a sense of redundancy tends to creep in. A lot functory smile, he started to speak speakers who changed the course of matters  unknown  to  the  audience. Please provide a postal address and a brief background of the writer.
of effort is required to recalibrate life and find a fluently in King’s English, taking the history  right  from  the  days  of  So­ Closing is as vital as the start. A sen­ The mail must certify that it is original writing, exclusive to this page.
new purpose. At such times, it helps to rekindle a The Hindu views plagiarism as a serious offence. Given the large
full class with him all the way.  crates and Cicero. It was the ancient sational  episode  or  a  memorable volume of submissions, we regret that we are unable to acknowledge
hobby, learn a new skill or connect with people. I had never heard such a thought­ Greeks who developed the art of pu­ end will help the listener to remem­ receipt or entertain queries about submissions. If a piece is not
................................................................................................... provoking extempore which went on blic speaking. Their spectacular ora­ ber the speaker forever. published for eight weeks please consider that it is not being used.
vijayacardio@gmail.com for  the  three  hours  uninterrupted. tors  included  Socrates,  Plato  and ........................................................................ The publication of a piece on this page is not to be considered an
endorsement by The Hindu of the views contained therein.
He kept the class engrossed and we Aristotle. Cicero of ancient Rome is eden.alexander@gmail.com

CM
YK

THE  HINDU Magazine
*
Sunday, May 1, 2022
ENTERTAINMENT
Actors from Taapsee Pannu to 
Vidya Balan and industry experts
weigh in on whether the female lead is
finally getting her due, and the space to
tell new, untold stories
Women in
cinema:
telling it
like it is
Aditya Mani Jha
A
fter a standing ovation premiere at
the  Berlinale  in  February,  and
grossing nearly ₹197 crore at the
box office, the Alia Bhatt­starrer
Gangubai Kathiawadi made a big
splash on streaming giant Netflix a few days
ago. Among the very few films to have stuck
to  the  eight­week  window  between  theatre
release and OTT debut, Gangubai’s continued
stellar run is a testament to both good story­
telling and Alia’s star power.  Quick take |
That women­led films or shows don’t sell is
a myth  long  busted.  Already  this  year,  we
have  seen  multiple  projects,  big  and  small,
with  strong  women  characters  essayed  by
some very talented actors — from the Vidya
Balan and Shefali Shah­starrer Jalsa to Gangu-
bai to The Fame Game web series headlined
by Madhuri Dixit, or to cite a non­Bollywood
example, the Malayalam thriller Oruthee, led
by Navya Nair.  ing offers. But they all relied heavily on tropes;
As  recently  as  a  decade  or  so  ago,  this
would  have  been  unthinkable.  Says  actor
Taapsee  Pannu,  “When  I  started  working,
there would be one or two female­led films in
Bollywood per year, and it would feel like the
light at the end of the tunnel. Now we proba­
bly have one or two every month. Every lead­
ing female actor right now has multiple wo­
men­led projects.”
Commercial tag
It could be argued, therefore, that the idea of
the ‘bankable’ female lead (and as the word
indicates, the nomenclature is largely com­
mercial) has never been stronger in Indian
cinema.  What  are  the  factors  behind  this
shift? Has OTT or the streaming industry
played a huge role in this? What more
can one expect in the years ahead?
These are some of the questions we
asked the stakeholders themselves
— actors,  directors,  producers,
writers and critics — to gain their
different perspectives and expe­
riences over the past decade.  clearly is the fact that visual spectacle
“I think there definitely has
been progress over the last de­
cade or so,” says Sohini Chat­
topadhyay,  who  won  the  Na­
tional  Award  for  Best  Film
Critic last year. “In 2012, we
saw Kahaani and at least for
Hindi  cinema,  its  commer­
cial  success  heralded  a  pe­
riod  of  so­called  women­
centred projects. By then we
had seen Tanu Weds Manu in
2011  and  Kangana  Ranaut
had another major commer­
cial success a couple of years
later, with Queen. So, the first
half  of  the  2010s  was  a  pe­
riod where we were seeing a
lot of women­led films doing
well in mainstream Hindi ci­
nema.”  big part in making such varied castings possi­
Manju Warrier
Subha J Rao
T
he trailer of Saani Kaayidham
dropped five days ago, to posi­
tive feedback. Keerthy Suresh
is riveting in the Arun Mathes­
waran  directorial,  as  a  former  police
constable  who  commits  24  murders.
The last time she had such a response
was in 2018, for Mahanati, when she ef­
fortlessly played veteran actor Savitri.
Despite winning the National Award for
the biopic, it has taken her four years to
get another role befitting her talent.
Things are changing, however, with
strong, women­led projects increasing
in South cinema. The success of direc­
tors like Sudha Kongara, Anjali Menon
and B.V. Nandini Reddy, and the range
of stories they tell, have a lot to do with
it. As does the popularity of female su­
perstars  such  as  Nayanthara  and  Sa­
mantha, who use their ‘popular’ films
*
SRINU KANDUKURI
CM
YK
Vidya Balan
■ How would you describe the
changes in the way women are
written in Indian films/ TV now?
There has been a sea change in the
portrayal of women in the past
decade, and that is so heartening.
Now there is no one kind of woman
you aspire to be. You are allowed to
be yourself in the world. We’re
fighting for that every day, and you
can see that on screen, too.
■ Would you say that OTT
releases, where box office
numbers are not involved, have
made it easier for women-led
projects to be financed?
I think that would be an unfair thing
to say. Though I definitely think the
OTT space has expedited progress in
this regard, I do think women-led
films have been slowly doing better
at the box office, too. And while trade
pundits would love to believe that
women-led films have a better
chance on OTT than at the box office,
I think we have to remember that
trade pundits are mostly men. Jokes
apart, I think it’s very difficult at this
point to predict how a film will fare.
Things have changed a lot now, and
the horizon for women’s stories has
widened. What’s emerging very
films are doing very well in the
theatres. And the more intimate or
personal stories are doing better on
OTT. But that has nothing to do with
gender.
■ What kind of characters appeal
to you at this stage in your
career?
I don’t know what kind of film would
appeal to me because I’m waiting to
be surprised and challenged to do
something I had never imagined
doing. Sometimes, the simplest of
ideas appeal to me, sometimes,
spectacular ones appeal. So, I can’t
really tell for sure.
Sai Pallavi
Unconventional themes
and a tribe of brave actors
and directors are making
women’s voices heard
Parvathy
COVER STORY
Making it count (Clockwise from
above) Alia Bhatt in a still from
Gangubai Kathiawadi; Anushka Sharma
in NH10; and Madhuri Dixit SPECIAL*
ARRANGEMENT
ble  and  paving  the  way  for  women­led  pro­
jects to get off the ground. Financiers may still
give these films reduced budgets, using words
like ‘niche’ to justify the decision — but the sto­
ries are here, and they’re piling up. Says Tanul
Thakur, who won the National Award for Best
Critic in 2014, “Today there are several shows
and films led by women that simply would not
have  seen  the  light  of  day  as  recently  as  10
years ago — the SonyLiv show Maharani, for
instance, where Huma Qureshi’s lead charac­
Taapsee’s filmography over the last five to ter has been inspired by former Bihar CM Ra­
six years is a particularly relevant example in bri Devi. Could the standards of Indian OTT
this context: Pink, Mulk, Thappad and more content be better? Sure, but I think this in itself
recently, Rashmi Rocket and Loop Lapeta are is noteworthy.”
all  solid,  well­made  mainstream  films  that It’s not like theatrical releases didn’t have
have made an impression on critics as well as interesting women. It’s just that the streaming
the  general  public.  Many  of  these  projects medium allows for more well­rounded, com­
would have found it impossible to find finan­ plete  stories,  says  Sameer  Nair,  CEO  of  Ap­
cial backing before the mid­2000s. plause  Entertainment,  which  has  produced
OTT series such as Scam 1992, Rudra, and Cri-
Mirroring society minal Justice. “This is more important, I feel,
There is also a marked difference in the kind of than the fact that there are no box office num­
roles  being  offered  to  women  actors  today. bers for OTT shows/ films. I always tell our ac­
The industry has slowly but surely begun re­ tors,  ‘In  our  shows,  there  is  no  hero  or  he­
flecting changing attitudes in society, says ac­ roine, there is an ensemble and the script is
tor Vidya Balan. “Back in the 90s, women in the real hero’.”
films were either glorified or vilified. From the And  true  enough,  streaming  platforms
mid­2000s  onwards,  women  onscreen  were have given some very talented but relatively
seen as individuals with hopes, dreams and as­ unknown actors more prominent roles and in­
pirations of their own. It’s a reflection of the creased screentime to make their performanc­
progress that society as a whole has made on es count. Take Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, for in­
that front. And the things women still have to stance — she has been involved in some very
fight  for…  you  see  that  struggle  onscreen  as interesting OTT shows in recent years, includ­
well.” ing  Netflix’s  Ghoul,  TVF’s  Permanent Rom-
The streaming industry may have played a mates, and most recently, the darkly funny se­
ries  on  Disney+  Hotstar,  Ok Computer.
Shaking
up the South
to  springboard  themselves  into  more who has pulled off the role of a strong­
weighty storytelling.  minded village girl in Fidaa and that of
But some of the most significant con­ a child  sexual  abuse  survivor  in  Love
tributions have also come from actors Story. “If I’m going to build a home, I’d
such as Parvathy in Malayalam, Sai Pal­ like it to be the way I want. So, I choose
lavi in Telugu, and Aishwarya Rajesh in films that resonate with me.”
Tamil who follow their own path. Fame The  problem,  she  believes,  is  a
doesn’t play an important part in their dearth  of  good  writers.  “Everyone  is
film choices; scripts and characterisa­ writing  the  same  kind  of  women,  so,
tion  do.  Parvathy,  for  example,  did basically, all actors end up playing the
Uyare, a brave role that centred on her same  kind  of  women,  just  with  diffe­
playing an acid attack survivor, but she rent faces.”
also took on a small but important role Streaming  platforms  are
in Virus, where she played the doctor helping change this scenario.
who connects the dots of the Nipah vi­ People used to watching sto­
rus outbreak in Kerala. ries  from  around  the  world
are  open  to  unconventional
Telling better stories themes  and  bold  writ­
Over the last seven years, Coimbatore­ ing.  “You  don’t  need
born Sai Pallavi has impressed audienc­ hero­centric  films
es with her performances. “Sometimes anymore.  Different Nayanthara
I think I expect too much. I’ve read so kinds of stories can
many scripts this past year and most of be  told,  and  diffe­
Samantha them  are  about  naive,  kind­hearted rent kinds of cast­
girls. I yearn for the kind of characters ing  can  happen,”
Revathy or Suhasini did,” says the actor, says  Nandini  Red­
03
Reality check |
Taapsee Pannu
Taapsee, who recently launched her production
house, Outsider Films, talks about the disparity in
allotment of screens when it comes to
women-led projects. “Even though I am now an
established actor,” she says, “the maximum
number of screens that has been allotted to one
of my films is still less than 1,000. Whereas films
centred around male stars can easily get 3,000
screens or more. The show timings also matter —
morning shows are a disaster, for instance.
Distributors play a big role in this. We get the
leftover screens or fewer screens, and that affects
box-office collections. So, it’s not really a level
playing field, in that sense. We are in a better
place compared to a decade ago, but we are not
yet equal.”
She adds: “The audience blindly compares the
collections of a female-led film with those of a
male-led film without realising that we don’t even
get half the number of screens/shows. I wish the
maths behind box-office figures were better
known. When trade analysts release box-office
collections, they should also mention the number
of screens.”
Ratnabali also co­wrote Ladies Room, a 2016
web  series  (produced  by  Y­Films,  Yash  Raj
Films’ digital wing) following two young wo­
men where each episode was set in a different
loo.
A reliably funny and whip­smart show, La-
dies Room was well­received, especially for its
dialogues. Despite the audience reception, ho­
wever, change is often slow and painful, says
Ratnabali. “After Ladies Room got people’s at­
tention — IndieWire named it one of the best
web series of that year — I received more writ­
poor boy meets rich girl, fat girl meets sweet
boy, and so on and that didn’t interest me.”
New narratives
This  is  probably  where  production  houses
helmed by women can play a bigger role. “I
named my production house Outsider Films,”
says  Taapsee,  “because  I  wanted  to  reach
those people who are talented and have fresh,
innovative perspectives and stories to tell, but
who do not have anybody backing them in the
industry.”  Actor  Anushka  Sharma,  who  co­
founded a production house with her brother
nine years ago, is also known to champion wo­
men­centric projects — NH10, Phillauri, Bulb-
bul and Pari — all films marked by distinctive
visual  styles.  Last  month,  however,  she  an­
nounced her decision to step back from the
venture, handing over the reins to her brother.
A young mother, Anushka said she wished to
concentrate on her acting for now. 
The shift is also reflected in the kind of sto­
ries  the  women  in  the  industry  have  to  tell.
“Traditionally,  Bollywood  films  have  been
made  with  a  very  male­centric  gaze,”  says
screenwriter Suhani Kanwar. “But, things are
changing and I’d like to think I’m part of that
change.” Suhani penned the additional screen­
play for Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick Under
My Burkha (2016) and also wrote episodes on
the  Netflix  shows  Leila (2019)  and  Betaal
(2020). 
But, she says, “This change is not restricted
to gender. Whether it’s caste or sexual orienta­
tion  —  I  enjoyed  Badhai Do recently,  for  in­
stance — there are now stories coming from
people who were under­represented thus far. I
think the industry was very different when I
started working, just over a decade ago. On a
film where I was AD [assistant director], the
notes for a female character simply said, ‘Woh
bra nahi pehenti thi’ [She did not wear a bra].”
Surely, it’s time for a change.
..............................................................................................
The writer and journalist is working on his
first book of non-fiction.
dy. For instance, Oh! Baby, the 2019 Te­
lugu film starring Samantha, came Nan­
dini’s way because the actor believed a
female director would bring a different
perspective to the story. The film’s box
office success gave credence to her jud­
gement call.
Market reactions
How do producers and the market per­
ceive  a  female­centric  film?  Kiran  Ku­
mar, distribution head of Screen Scene
Media Entertainment, which produced
Saani Kaayidham before they sold it to
Amazon Prime Video, says all that mat­
tered  to  them  was  the  script  and  the
cast. “We knew it would be commercial­
ly viable and moved confidently.” It, no
doubt, helped that Arun Matheswaran
had  already  made  the  critically­ac­
claimed Rocky.
This respect for a good script gives
filmmakers the luxury to use their ener­
gy for their real job: to tell good stories.
“People are more open now to stories
that are edgier, deeper and with stron­
ger subtext. This gives me more energy
to focus on direction,” says Priya V.,
whose  Tamil  anthology,  Anan-
tham, is streaming on Zee5.
...............................................................
The consultant writer from
Mangaluru has been
covering the
entertainment beat
for two decades.
04
Literary Review
THE  HINDU Magazine *

Sunday, May 1, 2022

POETRY AND MEMOIR

He sings of love
This slim volume of Saibaba’s writings chronicling his days in prison and his gentle
defiance in the face of it all will leave you gutted
Serish Nanisetti free  verse  the  throbbing,  pulsating by  his  wife,  Vasantha  Kumari.  She
heart  of  a  man  who  knows  love, narrates in grim detail the ordeal of

W
ho  is  this  man?  A
wheelchair­bound
poet who sings the
songs of love, free­
dom,  and  flight?  A
dangerous  terrorist  who  threatens
the  unity  and  integrity  of  a  nation
with words? A lover who seeks and
searches out love in the unlikeliest of
places? These are some of the ques­
Why Do You
tions answered by a new collection
Fear My Ways
of poems and letters by G.N. Saiba­
So Much:
ba.  Why Do You Fear My Way So
Poems and
Much? is part poetry, part memoir of
Letters from
the English professor who has been
Prison
incarcerated  in  the  ‘anda’  cell  (the
G.N. Saibaba
innermost cell in the prison complex
Speaking Tiger
meant  for  solitary  confinement.
₹450
While other prisoners can see move­
ment of guards and prisoners, an an­
da  cell  prisoner  can  see  only  the
guard  posted  outside)  of  Nagpur
Central Jail for the past few years af­
ter he was booked under the Unlaw­
ful  Activities  (Prevention)  Act  in
2014.  citizens at large
wants love, and is ready to run into
the  rain  telling  everyone  about  his
love.
It is not the love of the physical
kind  but  a  metaphysical  one  like
Walt Whitman’s, encompassing eve­
rything and everyone in its wake. It
is  a  love  that  wants  to  overwhelm
and  defeat  the  hate  sweeping  the
country. It is a love that is dense with
meaning.  Beneath  the  love  is  the
awareness of reality. An understand­
ing  of  realpolitik  that  can  stir  the
conscience of a nation.  Do they still stand...
Tell Me, O Monk
how did you renounce
the worldly things?
Saibaba’s collection is not a cry
for help. He doesn’t apologise.
Rather there’s a stab at the
conscience of the nation and
the  former  DU  professor  (he  was
sacked in April 2021) from the time
he is picked up by police in Delhi to
the  months  of  the  COVID­19  lock­
down. Saibaba survived the virus to
write this haunting nightmare about
Indian education system: 
I had a dream…
I failed in mathematics
in the Second Year Intermediate.
Now what to do
with my MA, PGDRE and Ph.D
or even with my BA?
Clipped freedom *
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK
The  clipped  freedom  of  Saibaba  is
LEATHER BOUND
not just physical and psychological.
Even  the  language  used  by  him  is
dictated by the gaolers. The poems
which were sent as messages are in
English as his mother tongue, Telu­
gu, is considered seditious and diffi­
The novelist’s handbook
cult for prison censors.  Aristotle’s advice on the craft of fiction in Poetics is as good as any
Amidst the poems that are barbs
of bitter reality, there are moments modern creative writing course
of  reverie.  Like  the  poem,  ‘The

Pulsating heart
It is a slim A5­size volume of 215 pag­
es  but  guttingly  difficult  to
read. The cold words, diffi­
cult  experiences,  and  the
awareness that a polio­rav­
aged person is locked up in
a prison  where  he  has  to
crawl, leave you shaken. But
in a triumph of imagination,
Saibaba brings out with his
The poems and letters are not the
only literary accomplishment of Sai­
baba in prison. He managed to do a
Telugu  translation  of  the  Kenyan
author  and  revolutionary  writer
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o called Yuddaka-
lamlo Swapnalu — Balya Gnapakaa-
lu. Batches of papers with Saibaba’s
translation were smuggled out of the
prison cell and the book was finally
launched  by  him  in  Hyderabad  in
2016 during a brief bail.  Mere time is no history.
Ironically,  the  book  includes  a
short message from Ngũgĩ about Sai­
baba’s poetry. Mentioning the recur­
ring line, “I Refuse to Die”, the Ke­
nyan  author  says,  “He  is  talking  of
the death of the spirit, the result in­
tended by those who cage progres­
sive intellectuals and writers in pri­
son. But opposed to the death of the
spirit is Love”.  about the world, be it the digital pro­
With  this  collection,  Saibaba
joins a long list of people who craft­
ed  literature  and  explored  the  hu­
man soul while being locked
up  —  Alexander  Solzhe­
nitsyn,  Oscar  Wilde,
Nelson  Mandela,  Ja­
waharlal  Nehru,
among  others.  Yet
this glory is no safe­
guard  against  the
cruelty of the sys­
tem, a fact which
comes  out
sharply  in  the
introduction
Well’:  have been trying my hand at writing fiction, a him. The misery bit must come from some error that
I used to peep into the well
in my maternal grandma’s compound
holding the top rim
of its round wall.
The short free verse moves from
poems like these to lines of defiant
hope like these:  cannot write a book).
Have no doubts, my sweetheart,
This season of hate collapses in no
time.
History is what changes the times.
While the poem is a play on the
adage ‘history is the study of change
over time’, this is given a twist in the
realisation that the poet is biding the
time when he will be outside and his
tormentors  are  judged.  The  collec­
tion is a commentary on our times
with a surprising level of awareness
mise  or  the  reduction  of  Mahatma
Gandhi to a symbol. The personages
who  pass  through  the  mind  of  the
poet are as diverse as Stephen Haw­
kins,  Sadguru  Jaggi  Vasudev,  Rohit
Vemula,  Mahatma  Gandhi,  Kabir,
and  even  Anjum,  a  character  from
Arundhati Roy’s novel, The Ministry
of Utmost Happiness.  work, less than 50 pages in my Penguin Black edi­ much about the most important element of storytell­
Saibaba’s  collection  is  not  a  cry
for help. He doesn’t apologise. Rath­
er there’s a stab at the conscience of
the  nation  and  citizens  at  large.
Strangely enough, the rhythm of the
words evokes jackboots though it is
suffused with love.  consistent  in  character,  so  that write a book and broke it down to its elements in a
I
novel.  I  thought  writing  it  would  be  fairly the protagonist himself has committed (for instance,
straightforward since I write for a living. It turns Oedipus killing his father), which cannot be rectified.
out that this is not the case. Writing a novel is Such a story will stir in the audience strong emo­
not the same thing as writing non­fiction, and tions, such as pity or fear, and induce catharsis. Aris­
indeed as different from it as writing non­fiction is totle says that the craft of writing lies in keeping the
from writing columns (which is why most columnists plot tight and unified. Aristotle divides tragedy into
plot, character, thought, diction, melody and specta­
What is different? The primary problem concerns cle  and  discusses  these  (as  he  also  does  with  epic
the  core  of  the  novel  —  not  the  plot  but  the  story. poetry, like Homer’s). He concludes that tragedy —
While the plot is about externals, the story is about think of the Oresteia, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, The Bac-
the individual, the protagonist. In the words of the chae and Medea — are superior to epic poems, possi­
author Lisa Cron, the story “flows directly from how bly because they have more strictly controlled plots. 
the  protagonist  is  making  sense  of  what’s
happening,  how  she  struggles  with,  eval­ Ultimate tutor
uates, and weighs what matters most to her, I read Poetics many years ago, long before I
Aristotle says
and then makes hard decisions, moving the began my current project of writing a no­
action forward”.  that the craft vel.  At  that  time  I  thought  I  fully  under­
The tension is produced from “the prota­ of writing lies stood what Aristotle meant. Not so. I didn’t
gonist’s impossible goal: to achieve her de­ in keeping the apply  the  principles  he  put  in  place.  Be­
sire and remain true to the fear that’s keep­ plot tight and cause  of  that  I  wrote  things  that  have
ing  her  from  it”.  Meaning  that  it  is  an unified turned out to be less than useful, a polite
internal  struggle  and  only  if  the  reader  is way of saying it is rubbish.
hooked,  and  experiencing  the  same  things  as  the I knew that the novel was going nowhere fairly
protagonist, does the novel work. early on. However, I didn’t know why and turned to
the  four  volumes  I  have  of  the  Paris Review inter­
Inducing catharsis views, in which authors speak about their craft and
I didn’t know this before starting to write. I should the way they write. This produced some illumination
have, because I had read the same advice much ear­ on the process of writing, but little, if anything, on
lier, in an ancient text: Aristotle’s Poetics. It is a short the  fundamentals.  Above  all,  they  didn’t  tell  me
tion. In it Aristotle discusses tragedy — the most im­ ing — it is the character of the protagonist and the
portant  theme  for  Aeschylus,  Sophocles  and  Euri­ changes in her that hook the reader. 
pides.  Aristotle  says  that  tragic  plots  must  have I do not know if I will ultimately write a novel or
someone  transitioning  from  happi­ whether it will be any good if I do. I do know however
ness to misery. He also says that the that if I fail it will not be because of lack of tutelage.
individual  must  be  shown  to  be More than two millennia ago, Aristotle told us how to
the  audience  can  identify  with way that is still relevant. 

Long live G.N. Saibaba in New

Delhi in 2013 SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
* Aakar Patel is a columnist and translator of Urdu and Gujarati non­fiction works.

LITERARY THRILLER was  based  on  Chatterjee’s  expe­

rience as a civil servant, Villainy is an

Vile bodies
outcome of his research into the bu­
siness of black money and the prison
system. 

Virtues of brevity
Upamanyu Chatterjee is back with his characteristic  Chatterjee  emerges  as  a  good  eth­
GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

nographer, meticulously document­
black humour but the verve is missing  ing minute details of institutions and
systems. However, in this age of SMS
N.S. Gundur cars, drugs and guns. In contrast, his and fast food, the novel might have
friend  Parmatma,  son  of  the  family stood better if it had been brief. As

T
he  focal  point  of  Upama­ driver  Atmaram,  is  studious  and compensation for the reader, there’s
*

nyu Chatterjee’s new no­ hard­working. When Pukhraj is on a Chatterjee’s signature dark humour.

vel  Villainy is  the  crime,
not the punishment. The
institutions meant to con­
tain  crimes  are  hand­in­glove  with
criminals. This is not a moral story of
the  Dostoyevskian  crime­and­pun­
ishment kind but a literary thriller in
the  mode  of  Agatha  Christie  or
James Hadley Chase.
Set in Delhi of the late 90s, it be­
gins with a who­done­it episode: an
unidentified dead body is found in a
park, and nobody going about their
morning walks there is ready to call
the police. Immediately confronting
the banality of villainy thus, the story
goes  back  by  19  years.  Pukhraj,  the
spoilt  brat  of  a  wealthy  saraf,  is  a
gambler with a penchant for foreign
joyride in his father’s Mercedes, a bus
turns from the wrong side and hits it.
Pukhraj shoots the driver dead.
Principle of uncertainty
Rich  parents  and  ‘well­wishers’  of
Pukhraj try to fix the crime on Par­
matma, bribe the judge and manipu­
late the police system in Pukhraj’s fa­
vour. Within the thriller plot, there is
a sharp criticism of modern institu­
tions,  including  prisons,  hospitals,
the judiciary and the police. When
Pukhraj comes out of jail, he shoots
one  more  person  point­blank,  and
his  Bentley  hits  a  man  urinating  in
the dark.
The novel thus drives home the
point that “the principles of villainy
and uncertainty appear to be beguil­
ingly similar. They are both terribly
all­pervasive,  for  one,  and  further,
one can never be fully certain either
of  what  constitutes  villainy,  of
whether  it  is  not  governed,  just  as
much as the principle of uncertain­
ty, by the four cardinal characteris­
tics of time, location, movement and
As a thriller, it does not offer
much, except for plot twists
and turns. But it is perfect 
for a screen adaptation: I felt  vel English, August was made into a
as if I were watching a
Bollywood potboiler
spin”. As a thriller, it does not offer
much,  except  for  plot  twists  and
turns.  But  it  is  perfect  for  a  screen
adaptation: I felt as if I were watch­
ing a Bollywood potboiler.  vels now.
Chatterjee’s much­acclaimed no­
moderately  successful  film,  of
course.  But  while  English, August
Also, the omniscient narrator strikes
a balance  between  his  own  voice
and  that  of  the  characters,  letting
them grow according to their whims
Villainy
and fancies, choices and constraints. 
Upamanyu
This is not a great novel, but not a
Chatterjee
bad one either. We are not yet sure
Speaking Tiger
about  the  death  of  the  novel  form,
but the genre is certainly undergoing ₹699
a crisis,  challenged  with  different
forms of creativity in the new media.
Chatterjee’s old­fashioned craft pro­
vides an occasion for us to reflect on
what it means to write and read no­
........................................................................
The writer teaches English
Literature at Tumkur University,
Karnataka.

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In a West London locality, Priti speaks Amelia works in her family’s funeral In Fagu, a few kilometres from Shimla, This translation of the Tamil novel
English and her nani Punjabi — they can parlour, doing make-up on the dead. retired police officer Vanessa and her Pasitha Manidam (1978) is about the
only connect via Priti’s mum. Chetan and She has her life with the men she husband Aidan find a young girl in the conservative and caste-conscious
Aanshi’s relationship changes when a meets online. But when a sudden bushes, hurt and unconscious. Two temple town of Kumbakonam. Ganesan
woman leaves her car in their drive, never loss unhinges her, she tries to outrun years later, Shanaya helps out at her returns there after four decades.
to return. The stories make up a wider grief by learning more about sex, foster parents’ café and remembers Seeking treatment for leprosy, he must
narrative about multiple generations of death, grief, and the different ways nothing of her past. Then a stranger confront the consequences of his
Asian immigrants in the U.K. pain changes the body. arrives in town, triggering memories. disavowal of Brahminical morality.

CM
YK
 Literary Review
THE  HINDU Magazine
*

Sunday, May 1, 2022

05

SOCIETY
EXPERIENCE

A writer and Conversations in Muthu’s room

an artist Six women who worked in a factory discuss their everyday life, dreams, frustrations, 
and their little acts of rebellion in a patriarchal society 
Amitava Kumar’s diary
P.V. Srividya offer  a  rich,  layered  and  complex them, 23­year­old Lakshmi, was in­ show  us  how  female  bodies  that
intersperses his musings  narrative of what they think, see and credulous  about  a  radio  podcast, work on the assembly line negotiate

I
with drawings and paintings  n 2014, a university re­ feel and why they chose to work.  “Who will listen to them?” The talks bodily  pain,  scheming  ways  of  rest
searcher,  with  an  interpreter The  women  hail  from  different were triggered by Lakshmi’s frustra­ and  forming  quiet  solidarities.  We
Shuma Raha and theatre artist in tow, land­ districts of Tamil Nadu and belong to tion at being unable to have a cup of sense  how  the  precarious  migrant
ed up in Kancheepuram town diverse  castes.  Their  families  are tea  at  the  wayside  stall  on  her  way work space — the assembly line — is

I
t  is  said  that  writers  reveal  themselves  in  their of Tamil Nadu and gathered a mostly engaged in farming, weaving, home  from  work  without  being also  perhaps  their  only  chance  of
works. No doubt, they reveal themselves much group  of  women,  urging  them  to small trading and daily wage work. stared at. This discussion led them finding love and forging friendships
more  profoundly  in  their  diaries  and  journals. speak  about  things  that As  the  women  spoke  of to talk about everyday routines, the unrestrained  by  the  caste­kinship
The Blue Book: A Writer’s Journal by Amitava Ku­ mattered to them. The wo­ their  individual  experienc­ drudgery  of  household  work,  dis­ diktats.
mar does not disappoint on that count. It offers men worked in an electron­ es or family circumstances, criminatory gender roles, the limit­ The  conversations  are  raw  and
gleanings from his writing life, giving us glimpses into ics  factory  —  Nokia,  now they  offered  insights  into ing nature of marriage, women’s bo­ perceptive.  As  the  women  lament
Kumar’s mind, his musings, his quiet introspections. shuttered — and the conver­ the wider nature of unequal dies,  demeaning  rituals  around their inability to co­mingle in public,
However, what strikes one most about this slim vol­ sations  happened  in  the social  and  economic  rela­ menstruation and so on. They spoke like having a cup of tea at the way­
ume is Kumar’s felicity with art.  form  of  podcasts.  Mobile tions  in  households  and of  how  households  without  male side stall, readers can draw a parallel
Interspersed  with  the  text  are  his  drawings  and Girls Koottam: Working Wo- communities,  says  Dutta, members  are  more  egalitarian  and to Virginia Woolf’s lament of library
paintings, and they point to another facet of the por­ men Speak by  Madhumita who met the women for ov­ unregimented;  how  men  make  the doors staying shuttered to women to
trait  of  the  artist  as  a  writer. Dutta  is  the  manuscript  of er a year. They travelled to rules of women’s servitude and how maintain knowledge as a male pre­
Though  their  inclusion  is  some­ the  podcasts,  and  a  fasci­ the factory in company­pro­ women reproduce patriarchy at the serve. The tea stall is the male pre­
what self­indulgent, The Blue Book nating account of the lives vided buses, and assembled behest of men. Their reflections are serve,  where  male  chatter  is  mas­
is the richer for it. of  a  rural  migrant  work­ Mobile Girls mobile  phones,  working from lived experiences.  queraded  as  political­intellectual,
The journal was penned during force,  extending  beyond Koottam: three  production  shifts  of and female presence violative. Here
the  pandemic,  although  Kumar, the factory floor.  Working eight  hours,  six  days  a Breaking free the ‘Mobile girls’ reimagine the tea
who  has  written  several  books  of As  a  researcher,  Dutta Women Speak week.  They  had  regular And if we listen carefully, like Dutta stall  as  a  public  space  for  women,
fiction  and  non­fiction,  eschews was particularly interested wages,  written  contracts, wants us to, we will see nuances — of where  they  can  sit  around,  chat,
Madhumita Dutta;
any form of chronology here.  in  people’s  “expectations maternity  benefits,  provi­ how  caste  backgrounds  circum­ read a newspaper without the tyran­
Illustrations by
The  text,  which  has  a  rumina­ and anticipation” from the dent  funds  and  so  on.  Wo­ scribe  and  concede  women’s  free­ ny of the male gaze, and the fear of
Madhushree
tive,  unhurried  quality,  is  an  ag­ Special  Economic  Zones men comprised 60% of the doms.  We  have  Lakshmi  from  the ‘shame’. 
Zubaan
The Blue Book: glomeration of his meditations on that  were  launched  post workforce  but  were  repre­ dominant Thevar caste from south­ The  conversations  meander,
₹425
A Writer’s disparate  subjects,  his  memories 2005, creating IT and other sented in the union by men.  ern  Tamil  Nadu,  preferring  to  be making the narrative organic, chee­
Journal and encounters — literary or other­ industrial hubs. She was keen to find On days off from the factory, they locked up by her parents inside the ky, funny, brave and profound, all at
Amitava Kumar wise. He talks about his conversa­ out what motivated young men and would  lie  on  the  floor  with  pillows house in her village voluntarily as if once. The illustrations by Madhush­
HarperCollins
tions with writers like Michael On­ women to work at these manufactur­ under  their  heads,  watching  Tamil to pledge her fidelity, while there is ree add to its richness. 
daatje,  Amit  Chaudhuri,  the  poet ing sites. Dutta wanted to hear what movies, songs or local news. Slowly, rebellious  Kalpana,  from  a  Sche­ Through this monograph, Dutta
₹699
Mary  Ruefle,  and  many  others. the women felt about their lives.  they opened up, sharing with Dutta duled Caste family, breaking free, in­ asks us to look at these women not
And he dwells on the writers he has never met, but the details of their journey: how for spired by Periyar, and indifferent to as a homogenous lot, exploited and
whom he admires and anoints as his mentors — John Complex narrative example, they initially found it diffi­ patriarchal  constructs  of  female waiting to be rescued, but as reflect­
Cheever, Joan Didion, and, especially, John Berger.  The  conversations  took  place  in cult to rent a place, because people beauty. “I was the same black then ing minds, exercising degrees of au­
It’s not just his writing that influenced Kumar — Ben- ‘Muthu’s  room’,  a  small  two­room always did not view ‘factory women’ as I am now... Colour is not impor­ tonomy,  with  dreams,  aspirations,
to’s Sketchbook, a work where Berger’s writing is dot­ flat  on  the  ground  floor  of  a  three­ as  ‘respectable’,  especially  those tant, work is important... I’ve seen and shared angst over unjust gender
ted with his drawings, gave Kumar the inspiration for storied  house,  which  she  shared who worked on night shifts. Despite so much Sun in my life,” she says, re­ norms and a yearning for an equita­
the format of The Blue Book.  with Lakshmi, Sathya, Abhinaya and their uneven social and material pri­ calling  her  hard  labour  as  an ble order — expressed in their own
Pooja;  their  friend  Kalpana  visited vileges, Dutta immediately realised MGNREGS worker before she joined voices,  unsullied  by  academic  me­
Nostalgia and loss them often and also became part of they shared some common grounds. the industrial workforce.  diation.  When  the  conversations
Much of this book is, of course, about writing and wri­ the  conversation.  Rebelling  against As  Dutta  prepared  them  for  the It is striking how the secular mi­ stop, we are left with a sinking feel­
ters, but it is equally about Kumar’s umbilical ties with lazy categorisations of the female ru­ podcast, all except Kalpana said they grant  work  space  also  makes  their ing of a bond forged through the pag­
India. Though he has been based in the U.S. for many *
GETTY IMAGES ral  migrant  workforce,  the  women would prefer a pseudonym. One of camaraderie  possible.  The  women es coming to an end. 
years, his thoughts are never far from the land of his
birth. He harks back to the memories of his native Pat­
na and of the time when he was a student in Delhi —
his ardent desire to be a writer, the long walks in Lodi
Gardens, catching a bus from ISBT and heading off to
the hills. His is the nostalgia of the immigrant and it’s
tinged with a palpable sense of loss. In another place,
Kumar gently mourns the fact that he is losing touch
with his mother tongue: “The loss of the mother ton­
gue is one of the consequences of this loss of home.
My Hindi is now like an old Ambassador car. It can still
cover distances, but the speed isn’t there.” 
The Blue Book does offer some specific advice on
writing, or rather, the discipline of writing. “A modest
goal of 150 words daily and mindful walking for 10 mi­
nutes” is Kumar’s mantra for becoming a productive
writer. He also stresses the importance of keeping a di­
ary. “This book that you hold in your hands” he tells
the reader, “is both a diary and a work made up of di­
ary entries.”
But more than the details of Kumar’s own writing
rigour, the real delight of The Blue Book is to be found
in  the  author’s  musings  on  the  things  that  have
touched him — people, places, events, birds, trees, the
pandemic...  There  is  beauty  in  his  spare  sentences.
And there is illumination in the words of the masters
he invokes: “All you have to do is write one true sen­
tence,” said Hemingway in A Moveable Feast. “Write
the truest sentence you know.”
Perhaps keeping a journal can bring you closer to
that goal. 
...........................................................................................................
The reviewer is a journalist and author.

BIODIVERSITY

Field notes from nature’s sanctuaries in India

A ringside view of conservation efforts, the impact of unbridled development on wildlife habitats and the challenges 
Murali Sivaramakrishnan It provides the reader with a lens of the Amur Falcons, the annual re­ In brief, the message against des­ energy, but coal mining is a hazard ted  reader  who  wades  through  its
to  look  at  and  understand  wildlife, newal  of  life  in  the  subcontinent tructive projects in wildlife habitats and threatening the corridors of tig­ pages will undergo sleepless nights.

I
n  our  blind  rush  towards wilderness  and  conservation  prac­ with  the  coming  of  the  monsoons, is clearer than ever before.  er reserves at Tadoba in Maharash­ State­wise  highlights  of  issues  and
growth and development, the tices in contemporary India.  the recognition accorded to the dol­ tra,  Kawal  in  Telangana,  Satkosia happenings,  interspersed  with  in­
natural environment and those The extracts and editorials high­ phin, the recovery of Manas sanctu­ Not the real markers and  Similipal  (Odisha),  Palamau sightful  editorials  over  the  years,
calling for environmental and light  the  challenges  and  urge  the ary after many years of insurgency Our  wetlands  and  coastal  systems, ( Jharkhand), Sanjay­Dubri (Chhattis­ make this book a sort of atlas for en­ Conservation
social concern are often berat­ reader  to  honour  the  commitment and struggle are all laudable, calling grasslands,  forests,  deserts  and  se­ garh  and  Madhya  Pradesh),  Band­ vironmental information.  Kaleidoscope:
ed as impediments and speed break­ to nature. Above all, the book serves for celebration.  mi­arid  regions,  the  Himalayas  as havgarh and Kanha in Madhya Pra­ For example, Conservation Kalei- People,
ers. Conservation laws and protect­ as a reminder of all that we have be­ But  the  same  cannot  be  said well as the rainforests of the North­ desh. In Rajasthan, overhead power doscope reiterates the fact that a pro­ Protected Areas
ed areas are constantly remapped by come  while  suggesting  a  path  to when it comes to issues such as tiger east and Kerala’s Western Ghats, are lines have sounded the death knell tected  area  is  much  more  than  a
and Wildlife in
political powers to bring them in line recovery. conservation,  water  management all  crucially  affected  because  of  of­ of the Great Indian Bustard, one of mere line on the map, it is an entity
Contemporary
with  current  requirements  to  meet and tribal rehabilitation.  ten­unregulated infrastructure pro­ the rarest birds on the planet.  with multiple identities and realities.
India
objectives. We need a fundamental Joy and despair When surveys reveal that Sariska jects.  More  roads  that  penetrate And it is calling for urgent attention
Edited by Pankaj
rethinking about the way we live and The volume triggers a whole range Tiger Reserve has lost most of its tig­ deeper, rail lines that promise a fas­ Exhaustive approach and action. 
Sekhsaria
think  about  nature.  In  that  back­ of  emotions  —  anxiety  at  the  strife er population to poaching or that le­ ter mode of transport, dam projects The book offers a mosaic of informa­ As the book says, we cannot un­
Kalpavriksh,
drop, Conservation Kaleidoscope is a and  conflict  between  man  and  his opards are killed every year on the for power and irrigation, coal min­ tion and data collated and edited in do the extinction we have caused al­
Duleep Mathai
massive compilation of facts and is­ environment, joy at the success of a roads along Sanjay Gandhi National ing for electricity are all important 14 sections, from law, policy and go­ ready, but we can strive to prevent a
Nature
sues  from  over  two  decades  of  the conservation  effort  and  frustration Park or that thousands of migratory markers of development, but is the vernance through changing seasons, worse fate for our environment and
Conservation Trust,
Protected Area Update newsletter, when things do not go right.  birds have died in Sambhar Lake, we environment  being  protected tourism, local contexts, and the fate wildlife if we act immediately.
Authors Upfront
and offers a ringside view of conser­ The heart­warming reports track­ understand the tragic consequences enough? of the elephant, tiger and the rhino. ........................................................................
₹650
vation.  ing the cross­continental migrations of unfettered development.  Coal  may  be  a  useful  source  of There is little doubt that the commit­ The reviewer is an artist and writer.

The Resilient Society: Economics The First World War Adventures of This Luckiest of Women: The Story The Struggle for Police Reforms
After COVID Nariman Karkaria: A Memoir of My Years on the Tea Estates of in India
Markus K. Brunnermeier Translated by Murali Ranganathan South India Prakash Singh
HarperCollins HarperCollins Margaret Emily Cantlay Rupa
₹699 ₹599 Bewley Publishing ₹795
A Princeton University economist A young Parsi boy decided to volunteer £9.99 This book documents efforts to bring
shows how individuals, institutions and for the British Army during the First Born in 1892 to British parents living in about police reforms in the country.
nations can navigate an economy filled World War in 1914. Karkaria saw action Ceylon, Margaret was sent to Scotland Singh traces the evolution of the Indian
with risks. Applying his macroeconomic on three fronts. After being discharged when she was six years old. At 16, she Police pre and post-Independence.
insights, he offers blueprints for the he returned home and wrote a book in returned to the tea estates of Kerala. Capturing the struggles of diverse
reconstruction of societies and Gujarati published in 1922, which has She worked tirelessly for the welfare sections of people, it focuses on
economies in a post-COVID world. now been translated into English. of women workers and children. transformational changes.

CM
YK
06 WIDE ANGLE
THE HINDU Magazine *

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Rational policy (Clockwise from

left) Madhav Gadgil; the
dried-up bed of Shivsagar Lake
(Koyna backwaters) in Satara,
RED EARTH Maharashtra, in 2019; and an
elephant herd photographed
with a drone in the Coimbatore

Madhav Gadgil:
Forest Division in 2020 THULASI *

KAKKAT, PTI & SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

‘The Wildlife ti­people  and  anti­science.  Let  me

take one or two examples from this
year. They [mining companies] want

(Protection) Act
to  transport  coal  through  Mollem
National Park. And the forest depart­
ment  is  standing  on  the  sidelines
and clapping. It is the people of Goa
who  put  pressure  to  stop  the  des­

is anti-people’
truction  in  Mollem.  Not  the  forest
department.  So  to  think  that  this
agency will protect forests, while pe­
ople will not, is absurd.

So, what would happen to the

species that are not found in
The eminent ecologist explains why the wildlife lobby is protected areas? What do we do
often indifferent to the plight of the common man  with a hyena or a sarus crane
found outside national parks
and sanctuaries?
L We should follow a rational policy.
A rational policy is what was adopt­
ed  by  Sweden  and  Norway  and  by
Bahar Dutt sary  destruction  of  forests.  A  huge the entire European Economic Com­
■ Madhav number  of  people  were  never  pro­ munity, which says that wildlife is a

A
Gadgil, 79, n  award­winning  ecolo­ perly compensated when their lands renewable resource. Of course, it is a
founded the gist,  Madhav  Gadgil  has went under water. That was 1956. In renewable resource, it’s a biological
Centre for researched  extensively 2022,  there  has  still  been  no  adeq­ population.  Scandinavians  say  that
Ecological on  the  participatory uate rehabilitation of these refugees.  this  renewable  resource  should  be
Sciences at IISc
monitoring of biodiversi­ harvested, it should be harvested in
■ He is the ty. His work has led to the recogni­ In a recent interview, you said a restrained  fashion,  and  then  the
former tion of ‘People’s Biodiversity Regis­ it’s time to review wildlife laws. meat  can  be  sold.  I  have  lots  of
member of the ters’  under  the  Biological  Diversity You also said that “if friends in Norway and Sweden, and
Scientific Act  (2002).  With  this,  for  the  first conservation has led to an have  enjoyed  moose  steaks  with
Advisory time,  the  communities’  traditional unusual rise in the population of them.  Moose  are  all  over  Sweden
Council to the wild boar, tigers or elephants,
knowledge of their natural resources and Norway. It is rational harvest.
Prime Minister
was acknowledged. He now lives in people should be allowed to
of India
Pune and continues to have his fin­ shoot if they are under attack or But given the corruption levels
■ He was visiting gers on the pulse of conservation is­ if their crops are being in our country, given that the
professor at sues  in  the  country  and  remains  a destroyed. If wild boar meat is forest department, as you say, is
Stanford passionate  advocate  of  people­cen­ nutritious, why can’t the already not able to do its job,
University and farmers be allowed to eat it?”
University of
tric conservation. would you not say that the
Do you really think this is servationist  spreads  wrong said  the  Wildlife  (Protection)  Act You could kill a robber. But what if a rational harvest would end in an
California, practical, especially at a time
Berkeley During a lifetime spent writing information. should  be  reviewed.  I  said  the  Wil­ wild  pig  comes into  your  field  and irrational harvest?
when wild species are facing so Tigers  are  coming  out  of  the  re­ dlife  (Protection)  Act  should  be robs you of your livelihood?  L If we have deep democratic decen­
on the environment, you’ve
■ He was invited many threats? serves  now and  they  are  attacking scrapped. There is no question. It is tralisation, then people will protect
come up with very detailed
as an expert These assertions are simply false. and killing people. So the notion that anti­constitutional when a wild ani­ everywhere.  We  must  also  realise
policy documents that have L Does it not worry you that it is
member of the
the National found their way into India’s Where  is  the  evidence  that  wildlife wildlife is threatened is without em­ mal  attacks human  beings,  and going to raise the hackles of the that  there  is  habitat  destruction
Tiger environmental laws. So, how do populations are declining? Take the pirical basis. when you resist, you are a criminal. wildlife lobby because they through  infrastructure  projects,
Conservation you feel about the state of the elephant  population,  for  instance. Is it justifiable to say that If dacoits attack you, you can resist. believe the Wildlife (Protection) which  people  would  like  to  stop.
Authority after environment in India today? From 1975 to date, data on elephant wildlife laws need to be Act has been the bedrock of These  projects  are  impacting  agri­
Sariska’s tigers L The state of the environment has population shows that it has at least relooked? If we tell people you conservation policy in India? culture  and  water.  So  people  can
were poached been  progressively  deteriorating. tripled.  The  tiger  task  force  report L I don’t give a damn about raising stop all this, provided they are pro­
can go ahead and kill tigers or
■ He was
Let  me  give  you  just  one  example: was very good. CBI made an inquiry crop-raiding animals, would that You could kill a robber. But their hackles because they are indif­ perly empowered.
awarded the the major project Koyna Hydroelec­ and  said  that  forest  officials  must not open a Pandora’s box of what if a wild pig comes into ferent  to  facts.  And  they’re  com­ ........................................................................
Padma tric  Project in  Maharashtra.  It  has have been involved in poaching. The indiscriminate hunting? pletely indifferent to the plight of the The writer is an environment
been  implemented  in  such  a  way forest department tried to blame the
your field and robs you of your common  man  in  India.  Obviously,
Bhushan in L Let me make it very clear. I never
journalist and associate professor,
2006 that there was a large scale, unneces­ villagers. This is how the urban con­ livelihood? the forest department is corrupt, an­ Shiv Nadar University.

GREEN HUMOUR BY ROHAN CHAKRAVARTY POP-A-RAZZI A Machiato, Murder on the Orient Es­

presso,  Lawrence  of  Arabica  or  the
French Press Connection.” It can be

A HOT
all too clever for its own cool.
And  then  there’s  cascara.  Every
hip  coffee  bar  seems  to  have  disco­
vered it. Cascara, I learned, is Span­

CUP OF
ish for skin, peel or husk. One obtains
it  after  extracting  the  coffee  beans
from the coffee cherries. The pulped
skins are sun dried and then brewed

COFFEE
and the cascara can be drunk hot or
cold.  Some  describe  it  as  a  “coffee­
tea” and detect notes of cherry and
hibiscus. Others think it’s more of a
fruit tisane with much lower caffeine

SKIN content  than  coffee.  Once  a  by­pro­

duct of coffee manufacture, the husks
have now acquired an eco­cool life of
their own in a wine glass. Of course, a
name like cascara helps. It wouldn’t
Cascara, served in open-air Kolkata sell as well in Kolkata if it was called
“brewed coffee husks”.
cafés, encapsulates in a glass the
Ahead of New York
strange new world we inhabit The  cascar­ification  of  Kolkata  can
carry alongside the notes of cherry,
vanilla and rose­hip, a slightly bitter
taste of pretentiousness. We are basi­
cally spending good money to drink
coffee waste, chuckled a friend visit­
ing from New York. Then a few weeks
later he sent me a picture of cascara
on the menu in a Brooklyn café. Our
cafés  in  Kolkata,  it  seemed,  were
ahead of his New York café.
I have not discovered cascara on
the menu in the French cafés yet or
perhaps  I’ve  not  scrolled  down  far
enough in the endless choices of cof­
fees, teas, wines, beers and cocktails.
Or I’ve been too distracted by the co­
Chill (clockwise from top) Café Le Bon Georges in Paris lourful  explosion  of  flans  and  tarts
and cascara on offer at Roastery Coffee House, Kolkata and  macaroons  in  the  boulangerie
* GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK & ROASTERY windows. But I am keeping an eye out
for it because cascara in an open­air

W
hy is Paris not called post­COVID  consciousness,  I  am shop.  The  devoted  clients  would  sit café seems to be the drink that encap­
the  café  capital  of struck  by  the  plethora  of  open  air on  the  stoops  of  houses  around  it, sulates  in  a  glass  the  strange  new
the  world,  wonders options.  smoking, arguing and drinking cups world  we  inhabit.  It’s  “greener”  be­
a friend. of  extra  strong  tea.  Now  just  one cause  it  upcycles  waste  that  was
Maybe it is. Eco-cool life crossing on the same street has three headed for the compost heap. So we
It’s spring in Paris. In town for the But I also have an odd feeling of fa­ chic coffee shops. can virtue signal while drinking it. It
Paris  Book  Fair,  I  am  rediscovering miliarity  even  though  I  have  not The swankiness can be stress­in­ has  less  caffeine  so  we  can  drink
the  joy  of  travel,  albeit  nervously, been to Paris in a decade. And then I ducing.  At  the  tea  shop  milk  or  no more. It has wineglass chic. And or­
Cascara is with  one  eye  on  the  rising  COVID realise it reminds me of South Kolka­ milk  were  the  only  options.  There dering it from a QR­code menu and
“greener” numbers. ta. Not the architecture. Not the riv­ was  no  green,  Moroccan  mint,  cha­ then sipping it in an open­air café al­
because it On a little side street in Montpar­ er flowing through the city. Nor the momile,  Darjeeling,  first  or  second lows us to pretend we are dodging the
nasse, there’s crêperie after crêperie people, though someone jokes that flush and there was no coffee. Now in virus.  What  more  can  we  aspire  to
upcycles
with little tables out front. No matter like  Kolkatans,  Parisians  are  cul­ this  new  Café  City  in  coffee  shops these days? 
waste that what street I walk on there’s a café or tured,  possessed  of  a  superiority lined with books, potted plants and And while Paris might be the un­
was headed a brasserie  with  tables  on  the  side­ complex,  and  deeply  opinionated. bleached  wood,  we  have  to  learn  a contested café capital, maybe Kolkata
for the walk, the specials of the day written But  it’s  not  that.  I  realise  it’s  the whole  new  vocabulary  and  be  con­ can become the cascara capital.
compost in chalk on a blackboard. At all hours cafés. fronted  with  a  dizzying  variety  of
heap. So we of  the  day  there  are  people  sitting Kolkata, ever since the pandem­ choices.  Chronicling  the  café  make­
Sandip Roy, the author of
outside in the sun drinking little cups ic, has seen an explosion of chic little over of Kolkata, Bachi Karkaria once Don’t Let Him Know, likes
can virtue of coffee, or glasses of wine, smoking open­air  cafés  too.  The  modest wrote that in this “single estate, bes­ to let everyone know
signal while cigarettes,  ordering  pastries.  They South  Kolkata  street  I  grew  up  on poke”  world  ordering  can  be  trau­ about his opinions
drinking it were  always  there  but  in  my  new had one famous hole­in­the­wall tea matic. “You must agonise over To Kill whether asked or not.

CM
YK
 BOOKEND
THE HINDU Magazine
07
*

Sunday, May 1, 2022

All-inclusive The short-nosed

fruit bat is one of only two THE PORTZEBIE PAPERS
species to build a nuptial
chamber that also serves as a
maternity ward and nursery
*
RAJESH PUTTASWAMAIAH Fake fake vs. real fake
Anand Ramachandran intense 3 hour Dawn of War II
says  Murugavel.  “And  the  tent multiplayer battle” would all be

M
shakes with all that activity.” This in­ y friend wished me read, believed and forwarded with
timate  primping  serves  more  than “Good Morning” world­class gullibility and an
one purpose. It helps the members over text a few days almost charmingly carefree
recognise each other by smell, and ago. I immediately disregard for common sense.
the  group  huddle  may  soothe  the fact checked his News channels on television
frayed nerves between housemates message. This has now become my have, in fact, elevated this blurring
which live in cramped quarters. Per­ conditioned response to anything I of lies (er... lines. Sorry.) into high
fumed and becalmed, they set off to receive over WhatsApp. Regardless art. It’s bad enough that most news
feed not only on flowers and fruits of what the message may be, I feel channel debates sound remarkably
but  also  on  nectar  and  leaves.  The the need to check for its validity like a raging three way
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE male doesn’t have the luxury of tak­ before responding. Whether a Warhammer battle between the
ing his time over dinner. Leaving a casual greeting, a cricket update, a Adeptus Astartes, an Ork Warboss

Scent of solidarity
coveted home wide open is not a hu­ polite inquiry after my health, or and a Tyrannid swarm, but things
man concern alone. He quickly feeds an invitation to dinner, my get really hard to decipher when
within a 500­m radius and returns to immediate reaction is “Probably the screen overlays simultaneously
his abode, where he spends most of fake”. inform us that petrol prices are at
the night safeguarding it from rivals. While some may posit that this an unprecedented high, BYJU’s is
When his consorts return, guided by is due to the rampant proliferation
Short-nosed fruit bats have fancy ways of roosting in groups now offering live tuitions, and that
the  tent’s  bouquet,  they  are  wel­ of fake news on social media, I beg Ajay Devgn has a new film coming
comed with a smelly hug. Should an
and use odour to identify their buddies unfamiliar  female  enter,  the  resi­
to differ. On the contrary, I believe out in July.
that the primary reason is that it
dents send her packing.  In fact, real news reaching such
has become virtually impossible

B
aheerathan Murugavel be­
came  fascinated  by  fruit
bats during his postgrad­
uate  studies  in  Madurai,
Tamil  Nadu.  Unlike  the
poor­sighted  insectivorous  bats
which echolocate their way through
life,  the  fruit­eaters  navigate  long
distances  and  orient  themselves  to
landmarks in the dark by sight. But
they also rely on their widely spaced
nostrils to catch a whiff of the heady
aroma of flowers and ripening fruits.
The short­nosed fruit bats take their
olfactory perception to an extreme.  retreats or in building eaves should
Since  they  roost  in  groups,  they
use odour to identify their buddies.
Weighing as much as two AA batter­
ies, they are one of only two species
to build a nuptial chamber that also
serves as a maternity ward and nur­
sery.  closed space. He is his own real es­
Several  months  ahead  of  the
twice­a­year  breeding  season,  the
GOREN BRIDGE
orange­brown  male  spends  up  to
eight weeks crafting ‘tents’ in palm
fronds, mast trees, and creepers. He
gnaws the midrib of leaflets or thin
branches  that  collapse  to  create  a
bell­shaped  abode.  Then  he  marks
his  ownership  by  licking  the  inner
walls as thoroughly as a cat cleaning
itself. Some enterprising males con­
struct an extra tent. This is especial­
ly crucial if one collapses, leaving lit­
tle  time  for  repairs.  Bachelors  that
don’t have the foresight to work on a
backup  shelter  sleep  alone  in  their
their refuge be damaged.  Intimate primping
Mere possession isn’t enough; the
tent needs decoration. He chews the
peel of wild citrus fruits and leaves
of  other  trees  and  smears  the  fra­
grant  paste  on  the  walls  of  the  en­
tate  agent,  and  his  customers  are
exclusively females. To advertise his
assets  to  prospective  mates,  he  ra­
pidly  fans  his  wings  to  diffuse  the
scent into the air.  suffer  from  the  empty  nest  syn­
Olive­grey females evaluate partn­
er material through his construction
and interior decoration skills. Once
they signal their approval, he seals
the  deal  by  hugging  and  smearing
them  with  an  oily  secretion  pro­
duced by glands in his wings. As ma­
ny  as  15  females  marked  by  the
mouth and body odour of their mate
may huddle with him in this shelter
during the day.  ing season rolls in.
As  sunlight  wanes,  an  early  riser
starts scratching, licking, and mois­
tening  itself.  Soon,  as  if  grooming
were infectious, the whole bevy be­
comes a tangle of soft furry bodies
and naked skin­covered wings, vigo­
rously  anointing  each  other’s  fur.
“They drench each other in saliva,”
At the end of the season, pups fly levels of absurdity has had the
these days to identify actual, real
the  roost,  but  their  parents  don’t knock­on effect of raising the bar
news. In fact, it has become so
for fake news. For fake news to
difficult that even editors of
drome.  Some  females  continue  to really stand out these days, it has
mainstream news outlets seem to
spend their days in the tent, with a to really reach for the stars. “Man
struggle with it, even though one
few  bonding  with  each  other  and bites dog” or “Rishabh Pant plays
would assume that this would be
choosing  the  refuge  of  the  same technically sound forward
their primary skill. Every morning,
male year after year. He continues to defensive stroke” will no longer do.
my news feed seems to give equal
guard his structure as long as it is un­ We need more. “Yogi Adityanath
importance to the war in Ukraine,
damaged  or  unmolested  by  preda­ changes his name to Chapter
some tweet exchange between
tors such as crows, owls, and snakes. Master Gabriel Angelos,
Irfan Pathan and Amit Mishra, Sri
Such  protracted  tenancy  attracts recommends translating entire
Lanka’s economic collapse, the
more females when the next breed­ Black Library catalogue into
happenings on the latest episode of
Sanskrit”. “Jawaharlal Nehru rises
Lock Upp, the possibility of a
Perhaps the shelter’s layers of ac­ from the grave to revive fortunes of
cumulated pungency of male musk fourth COVID 19 wave in India,
Congress party”. “Major
spiced  with  a  fruity  undertone  are riots in New Delhi, and how good
Bollywood stars admit ignorance,
an olfactory aphrodisiac. Mouni Roy looks in a lehenga. I do
refuse to give opinions of budget”.
suspect that some of these are of
That sort of thing.
more importance than others, but
Janaki Lenin is not a it’s hard to tell anymore. I am actually of the opinion that
conservationista but we should simply stop referring to
This is why people are so ready
many creatures share
to believe anything they read real news as real altogether.
her home for reasons Perhaps we could call it “Fake fake
she is yet to discover. online, especially on WhatsApp.
“India offers to absorb Sri Lanka”, news”. Or maybe “Poor man’s fake
“Penguin rescues puppy from news”. Or “alternative fake news”.
Ninjas”, “Nirmala Sitharaman That would at least then absolve
moonwalks to China for talks”, and news media of the responsibility of
making sure that the news they

Another lament “Modi beats Putin in

publish is relevant, important,
or even true, and get on
with the far more

from Louie important task of

making sure that it’s
entertaining. And
complete the
delightful cycle of
East-West vulnerable, South deals irony where we can
regard news channels
Bob Jones
as entertainment,
and films like

I
t  was  half­way  through  the
club’s Saturday night duplicate
and Hard Luck Louie was hap­
py  with  his  slam  contract.  He
would make the slam if either
red suit finesse worked, which Louie
knew was a 75% proposition. Both fi­
nesses lost, however, and Louie was
once  again  bemoaning  his  terrible
luck.  was Larry’s twelfth trick.  loped  a  third  heart  trick.  Nothing
Lucky Larry played the same con­
tract  after  the  same  opening  club
lead. He won with dummy’s ace and
drew trumps in two rounds, ending
in  dummy.  He  cashed  the  king  of
clubs,  crossed  to  his  hand  with  a
trump,  and  ruffed  his  remaining
club.  Larry  led  a  low  heart  from
dummy  and  simply  covered  East’s
three with the eight. That won and it
How could he take a chance like
that? Larry was not taking a chance
— he  was  making  a  sure  trick  play. Kashmir Files as the
Had West won with the 10 of hearts, gospel truth. 
he would have to play a red suit or ..............................................
yield a ruff­sluff.  The Chennai-based
Any of those plays would give Lar­ writer and game
ry his twelfth trick. Had East played designer likes
the  10  instead  of  the  three,  Larry playing games with
would  have  won  and  easily  deve­ his writing.
*
ILLUSTRATION: SATHEESH VELLINEZHI
could go wrong.

QUIZ THE SUNDAY CROSSWORD NO. 3200

Easy like Sunday morning

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there: Josh Billings
Berty Ashley lect. Some of the more eclectic designs have in­
volved  porcelain  stamps  with  a  rose  on  them,
leather Lederhosen stamps, glass stamps and one

1 On May 1, 1840, this country issued Penny Black,
the  first  official  adhesive  postage  stamp.  Till
then, postal rates were complex and caused much
that  had  six  swarovski  crystals  in  it.  Two  of  the
most sought­after stamps are embroidered: one in
the shape of a local outfit called a ‘Dirndl’, and the
confusion:  the  recipient  had  to  pay  for  postage second  in  the  shape  of  a  blue  Edelweiss  flower.
based on the distance covered. With Penny Black Which country is this?
one could send anything weighing up to 14 gm for
just a penny. Since this was the first stamp, it did
not have the name of the issuing country, and this
tradition remains to date. Which country is this?
9 In 1851, the province of Canada issued its first
postage  stamp.  Designed  by  Sir  Sandford
Fleming,  it  was  black  and  white and  showed  a
beaver standing in water. Costing three pence, it

2 The British Guiana 1c stamp is printed in black
on magenta paper, and features a sailing ship
and has the colony’s Latin motto at the centre. It
was issued in what is now Guyana. In June 2021,
one  such  stamp  was  auctioned  for  $8,307,000
and is now on display inside a special zero­oxygen
frame. What is special about this stamp?
One cent worth What is special about this
British Guiana stamp, which is now on
display inside a special zero-oxygen frame?
featured a now­common theme represented on a
stamp. The first instance the theme was used on
an Indian stamp was in 1962: it showed a scene
from either Kaziranga or Jaladapara sanctuaries.
What  distinction  did  the  Canadian  stamp  have,
and what was featured on the Indian stamp?

3 The U.S. Postal Service released some spectac­
ular stamps at the World Stamp Expo 2000.
One of them was their first ever circular stamp,
which  showed  a  faint  representation  of  North
America against a starry sky. It was the first com­
plete stamp to use a certain technique, which, till
then, was only a small security feature. What was
special about this stamp, which made a 2D image
look 3D?
*
WIKI COMMONS
whose name has become synonymous with fine
chocolate?
6 In  1972,  this  country  issued  a  set  of  seven
stamps,  which  were  actually  vinyl  records.
They could be played on a standard record player.
You could also peel off the backing paper and use
it as a regular stamp. These stamps played either
10 In philately, a certain term is used to refer to
stamps that look like a postage stamp but
are  not  issued  for  postal  purposes.  These  are
Across
1 Smooth move: child’s play? (4,6)
stinks (7,4)
4 Satirised pampered, absent son at last (7)
6 Hardly any, you say? What a relief (4) 5 Light in city initially niggled bird (7)
usually commemorative stickers issued by chari­ 9 Son, charmer, baked pastries (5,5) 7 Scotsman, tipsy, riding moon vehicle (10)
ties, for example. Stamp collectors consider these 10 Russian’s a little vigorous (4) 8 Argument over merit in poet (10)
inferior to postage stamps even though they are 11 Messages about time-shifted treat: 12 Hair gel a cop recovered in islands (11)
beautifully  designed.  This  led  to  their  name,
which  refers  to  a  fairytale  character  who  was
treated poorly by her step­sisters. By what name
drink here? (6,6)
15 Given a warning, changed (slightly
changed) (7)
13 Liquid Asian space? (7,3)
14 According to relative, coverage is
constant (10)
are these stamps known? 16 Bring-a-bottle party? Afraid not (2,3,2) 18 Lout disrupted funfair (7)
................................................................................................... 17 Frenchman known for mould in spread 19 ‘I need a hug’ offered up — stop! (7)

4 The kingdom of Tonga is an island nation in the
Pacific Ocean, and was one of the first coun­
tries  to  issue  self­adhesive  stamps.  In  the  late
folk songs or the national anthem. If the language
you  heard  was  Dzongkha,  which  country  pro­
duced these wonderful stamps?
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our
quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is
working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink,
that’s original (7)
19 In retrospect, Everyman has small problem,
that’s obvious (7)
21 I ran up to see where salami is sold? (4)
22 Some fantastic wine (4)

1960s the country released a series of stamps in a
peculiar  shape.  This  was  a  tribute  to  the  staple
food of the Tongan people, a fruit. Every part of
the plant is used: its large leaves are used as plates
or to wrap parcels. The stamp is designed in the
shape of which fruit?
Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley 20 Primarily allegorical episodes (sometimes Solution No. 3199
offering proverbial suggestions) following an-
7 Since the Victorian era, Great Britain only fea­
tured  royals  on  their  stamps.  The  very  first
non­royal to be featured on a U.K. stamp was in
thropomorphised beasts’ learning experiences
succinctly? (6,6)
23 Suddenly change direction, getting
1964. This was done to celebrate his 400th anni­
10. Cinderella stamps
9. Features an animal in the wild, a one-horned rhinoceros knocked off (4)
versary as one of the most celebrated Englishmen 8. Austria 24 Interpreters tear apart rulers, according to
in history. Eventually, more tributes were paid to 7. William Shakespeare
Spooner (3-7)

5 In 2013, this country issued stamps that smelt him on stamps, including the most popular one 6. Bhutan

and tasted of chocolate. The stamps showed
various vivid chocolate images and when lightly
scratched, released the distinct fragrance of co­
coa.  Even  the  glue  of  the self­adhesive  is  made
from  a  cocoa  product.  Which  country  is  this
25 NT book has an effect (4)
that  featured  someone  holding  a  skull  in  their
5. Belgium
4. Banana 26 Indian moon waning now? (4,6)
hand. Who was this popular person? 3. The entire stamp was a hologram Down
2. Rarest stamp in the world (only one known to exist) 1 Axe in bag (4)
8 This particular country is known for its innova­ 2 Miss that’s born, daughter (4)
1. The United Kingdom
tive stamp designs that philatelists love to col­
Answers
3 Topshop came undone making a pile — that

CM
YK
 BACK PAGE
08
Ranjana Dave
“T
his  is  my  first  video
in Insta... old school
basic l hope pasand
ay ga [hope  you’ll
like it]” reads dancer
and choreographer Pradeep Gupta’s
first Instagram post on February 10,
2017. He dances to the camera in a
corridor  weaving  big  movements
around the metal, tile and wood that
surround  him.  Behind  him,  a  man
fiddles  with  a  locker  key,  while  a
third man walks towards the came­
ra,  breaking  into  a  grin  as  he  sees
Gupta move.
Five years and 211 Instagram posts
later, Gupta shares another update —
a photo of himself with the Prakriti
Excellence in Contemporary Dance
Awards (PECDA) trophy. Gupta was
the  2022  winner  of  the  biennial
open­entry  dance  competition  or­
ganised  by  the  Prakriti  Foundation
last weekend.
Gupta’s win sealed five editions of
PECDA since it began in 2012, with a
gap  in  2020  due  to  the  pandemic.
Every  two  years,  dance  makers
based in India are invited to submit a
short video and proposal for a new
performance made for a proscenium
space. In 2022, 57 artists applied, of
which 18 were shortlisted to perform
The Paris at  the  Bangalore  International
Centre.  Five  performances  were
model chosen for the finals. Dancer­chore­
PECDA is ographer Parth Bhardwaj from Ben­
modelled on galuru  was  the  runner­up  with  his
Danse Elargie, solo  work  Unsaid, while  Kolkata­
an annual based Promita Karfa’s Aki Buki: The
competition held Ingenious Madness, performed along
at the Theatre de with Abrar Saqeeb, received special
la Ville in Paris. jury mention.
Competitors must
present a Expanding the scope
10-minute work As  the  winner,  Gupta  receives  a  ₹5
with a minimum lakh grant to develop his 10­minute
of three sketch into a full­length work, along
performers. with performance opportunities in a
Finalists at Danse multi­city tour. He will be mentored
Elargie receive by  French  choreographer  Rachid
a € 2,000 Ouramdane, 2022 PECDA jury mem­
contribution ber  and  director  of  the  Chaillot­
towards the Théâtre National de la Danse in Pa­
cost of their ris. Ouramdane is a veteran of Franc­
participation. At e’s  National  Choreographic  Centre
this year’s (Centre Choreographique National),
competition, a nationwide  network  of  choreo­
PECDA 2014 and graphic hubs aimed at strengthening
2016 winner Surjit the French dance scene.
Nongmeikapam is For former winners, PECDA has
a finalist for his helped  expand  the  scope  of  their
work Meepao. work. Bengaluru­based dancer­cho­
Many faces (Clockwise from
OFF-CENTRE
below) Mike Sullivan’s Wan in
Kerala; with his mentor Norm
Jonhson; and experimenting in
Bengaluru. MIKE SULLIVAN
*
Let the
mask talk
Photographer Mike
Sullivan, who was recently
in India, uses his masks to
explore the performative
nature of identity  started out very impulsively for
Rohini Kejriwal
S
hards of mirrors, feathers,
jewels, delicate leaves and
flowers. These are the
objects American artist
and photographer Mike
Sullivan, 28, uses to tell his stories,
with the help of the masks and
headpieces he fashions.
To Mike, these are not just
objects of beauty, but a safe space
for the wearer. “People are
incredibly vulnerable when we are
creating an image together. Masks
and crowns help them feel an
inner sense of liberation and self
CM
YK
SPOTLIGHT
Interrogating
a decade of
dance
Can a biennial “competition” become a focal
point for nurturing and sustaining dance makers
in the country? As PECDA came to a close in
Bengaluru last weekend, it offered some answers
reographer Deepak Kurki Shivaswa­
my  had  created  a  solo  and  a  few
works  within  educational  pro­
grammes when he won the inaugu­
ral  edition  in  2012.  The  award  al­
lowed  him  to  create  an
evening­length  work.  Speaking
about the dance environment in In­
dia at that time, he says, “In the early
2010s, there were few places which
offered  the  environment  and  skill
sets to create dance work. There was
the Gati Summer Dance Residency,
the Attakkalari biennial and FACETS
residency,  and  PECDA.  These  pro­
jects  exposed  more  creators  to  the
process of making work.”  and  money  raised  from  classes  or
2014  and  2016  winner  Surjit
Nongmeikapam  of  Imphal  shares
worth,” he says. Mike visited India
at the start of the year, and the
three weeks he spent between
Kerala, Goa and Karnataka became
an impromptu creative residency.  The stigma around queer
He explored local flower
markets, jewellery shops and
collaborated with artists along the
way, including Goa­based
photographer Pretika Menon. “I
created far more than I expected
and am extremely grateful for how
open people were,” he says.
It was his training in theatre in
Ithaca College, New York, followed
by a semester at Ithaca College
London Center, that led him to
and  contemporary  dancers  are  in­ Perspective matters
creasingly  likely  to  hail  from  non­
metropolitan regions.  Over the years, the composition of PECDA’s jury, largely made up of experts from
Gupta,  for  instance,  is  from  a the Global North, has drawn criticism for the context and relevance of its decisions.
working­class  background  in  Maro­ What perspectives and audiences do this jury represent when it makes decisions to
da,  Bhilai.  He  started  in  2014  with support performances made in India — works that often respond to local crises and
hip­hop  and  breaking,  and  picked concerns?
up his initial dance vocabulary from Ranvir Shah, founder of Prakriti Foundation, says that the ecosystem of
TV. Participating in local dance real­
ity shows in Chhattisgarh, he won a
scholarship  to  do  a  short  training
stint  at  the  Terence  Lewis  Dance
contemporary performance in India is reliant on international support. “This is one of
the reasons why we presented work that was finished from some of our friends and
dancers who have either been part of PECDA or friends of PECDA.” Shah was
referring to the showcase by former competitors and local choreographers, which
Academy in Mumbai. There, he stu­ ran alongside the competition segment. Having invited local and international
died a range of “commercial” dance programmers, Prakriti hopes that the showcased works will have opportunities to
styles, the practices that constitute tour and perform widely.
the vocabulary of reality TV and Bol­
lywood, learning technique, and al­
so  understanding  what  interested
him as a maker. 
Watching  a  performance  of  The running after being on TV,” he says.
Kamshet Project by the Terence Le­ Gupta performed in 2018 runner­
wis Contemporary Dance Company, up Purnendra Meshram’s Two Men,
he  was  struck  by  the  images  and a choreographic process he credits
ideas the performers offered up. “I with helping him understand how to
saw animals, a man kissing a woman process  his  own  ideas  and  realise
and then the audience applauding. It them in performance. The lock­
felt natural. I felt an urge to make so­ down  saw  Gupta,  like  many
mething meaningful, and stopped other dancers, scrambling to
find survival strategies. He
was  offered  support  by
Nathaniel Parchment,
director  of  the  Goa
Dance Residency.
In  isolation,
struggling  to  feel
connected to the field, he
began working with wooden
sticks, a prop that took him back
to his childhood.  having  to  expand  their  roles  to  ac­
Defining movement
Bindadevi, his  PECDA  piece,
emerged from that isolation. Over 10
minutes,  Gupta  traverses  a  pool  of
light,  clamping  two  wooden  sticks
between  his  arm  and  leg.  He  must
this sentiment. “I was focussing on move with the sticks, producing tiny,
solo work, but after winning PECDA, sinuous movements — a ripple of the
I had to make a longer version of the shoulders, a flaring out of the upper
piece and had the opportunity to be­ back.  The  sticks  define  his  move­
gin working with other people. Ma­ ment, but also constrain him. Binda-
nipur  is  also  very  isolated,  so  the devi is named for Gupta’s parents, Ja­
award proved helpful to meet others groshan Devi and Binda Gupta, and
in contemporary dance.” is based on the intergenerational dy­
From the fledgling scenes Shivas­ namics  of  a  working  class  home,
wamy describes, the contemporary where his parents’, and particularly
dance landscape in India has grown his  father’s,  aspirations  shape  his
to encompass training programmes, reality,  simultaneously  working  to
residencies, festivals and a few grant liberate and limit him.
opportunities.  Most  initiatives  are Winning feels like a validation of
funded by a precarious mix of indivi­ his  artistic  choices,  says  Gupta.  “I
dual  and  institutional  donations, have never gone to a dance school. I
want  to  find  my  own  technique.  I
performances.  But  more  pro­ want to learn from people. I want to
grammes  mean  more  participants, allow myself that freedom. I want to
grow deeply interested in mask
making. “For a
Shakespeare/Grecian section of the
semester, we had to create and
perform in our own masks, which
was the first leg in my journey as a
mask maker.”  our different ideologies. So I started
Free expression
London became his playground to
experiment with his queer identity
and gender expression. “I was of
legal age to enter queer spaces for
the first time, and the first mask I
made and wore out in public was in
London. I was meeting people from
the community, wearing heels,
playing with make­up,
experimenting with drag culture.
Drag is a means for people to
express themselves, and a crown
can be another tool to help bring a
person to that place of free
expression.”
The process of mask making
Mike. And very soon it became an
extension of himself, and a way to
communicate with the world
around him .
Nature has always been a
leitmotif in Mike’s often fragile
pieces, having grown up by the
riverside, with marshes and woods
all around. “I grew up hiking with
friends, foraging for wasp nests and
making monster faces with dead
flowers and crab legs.”  eventually like to make more
expression led to him to
incorporate nature. “Because
nature is a tender, universal
The process of mask making
started out very impulsively
for Mike. And very soon it
became an extension of
himself, and a way to
communicate with the world
THE  HINDU Magazine
Sunday, May 1, 2022
*
Fluid dynamics
(Clockwise from
left) Moments
from PECDA 2016
winner Surjit
Nongmeikapam’s
Meepao; this
edition’s winner
Pradeep Gupta
with the trophy;
Gupta performing
his piece,
Bindadevi; and
Ammith Kumar
performing Out of
Hand with Tarini
Tripathi. SHARAN *
DEVKAR SHANKAR/
PRAKRITI FOUNDATION
embody the movement that is com­
ing  from  my  life  at  that  moment.”
For such artists, PECDA is an impor­
tant moment in an under­resourced
landscape, offering the opportunity
to be seen and to receive support for
their work. They can also meet peers
from  across  the  country,  start  con­
versations  with  mentors  and  fun­
ders, and experience what it means
to be part of a “community” or “eco­
system”. 
But how does a week­long bien­
nial event foster a sense of commun­
ity?  PECDA’s  current  artistic  direc­
tors, Chandrika Grover Ralleigh and
Farooq Chaudhry, are hoping to ad­
dress that. “One supports where one
can.  Institutions  and  initiatives  are
tively encompass the pastoral, as it
were,  and  the  last  two  years  have
been a learning in this direction. We
need to move actively towards a ded­
icated recognition of this mutual ca­
regiving within communities,” Grov­
er Ralleigh says.
PECDA, in what works about its
model, and in its challenges, has be­
come  a  site  for  crucial  questions
about  funding  dynamics,  support
structures and the hierarchies they
might  set  up  between  the  Global
North and South. How can a “com­
petition”, a term Grover Ralleigh in­
sists  she  hates  fervently,  become  a
starting point for more sustained re­
lationships  between  an  institution
and  the  communities  it  brings  to­
gether?  What  does  equitable  inter­
dependence look like? These are the
questions  the  dance  community
must answer collectively.
........................................................................
The writer is a dance practitioner
based in New Delhi.
language that’s accessible to
everybody. I had political
differences with loved ones but I
didn’t want to write them off. I
wanted to make my queer
expression palpable to them despite
using nature and flowers as a way to
destigmatise being queer.”
Life events nudged him along his
artistic journey. “My practice
deepened in Provincetown
[Massachusetts], where you get to be
seen and celebrated. People
engaged with my work and I got to
understand their perception of it.” 
The pandemic and its isolation
also led Mike to deepen his practice.
“Pre­pandemic, I was able to use
crowns and collaborate more
regularly with others. But with social
distancing becoming the norm, the
focus was brought back to masks.
My parents helped photograph me
while I wore the pieces.” Mike also
found his old jewellery box during
lockdown, and started wearing the
pieces and using them in his masks.
“The jewels add a layer of
adornment and storytelling. I also
use vintage clothes because it opens
up different interpretations to the
image,”
Mike currently works with
cardboard, foil, found objects and
versatile materials that make the
piece less rigid; but he would
sculptural art pieces. “I’d love to see
my work in galleries, museums and
even movies. But at the core, I want
it to be a means for people to
express themselves intentionally
and safely. It’s important for people
to release themselves from
inhibitions and embrace creativity.”
...........................................................................
The writer runs The Alipore Post
and started Chitthi Exchange,
a penpal project, to help people
connect during the pandemic.