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 CONTENTS
24 JULY 2023

6 8 10 14 16 18

LOCOMOTIF OPEN DIARY NOTEBOOK INSIDER GLOBALSUTRA OPEN ESSAY

The other K from Prague By Swapan Dasgupta NATO’s expanding Dealing with The rage of the liberals
By S Prasannarajan arc of alliance overtourism By Joya Chatterji
By Sudeep Paul By Pallavi Aiyar

24
24 RAM’S HOMECOMING
As the long-awaited temple rises in Ayodhya,
Open gets exclusive access to the site where
an ancient city is being rebuilt
By Rajeev Deshpande and Siddharth Singh

34 THE MESSENGER
FROM RIYADH
Mohammad Al-Issa’s visit unveils a reformed
Saudi Arabia that advocates religious
moderation and values India’s partnership
By PR Ramesh

38 BIGGER THAN A BACK OFFICE

The rapid expansion of global capacity
34 18 centres in India is marked by innovation
and high tech that can fuel growth and
raise incomes
By Rajeev Deshpande

42 DIGITAL RECKONING
The data protection bill is the first
step towards safeguarding personal
information online
38 42 46 50 By Siddharth Singh

46 THE EVIL EYE

Tribal women are being labelled as witches
and killed by their kin in parts of eastern India
By Aditi Narayani Paswan

50 53 56 57

THE WORLD IN HER FRAME GOURD OF SMALL THINGS DELHI ON THE MAP LOST IN BATTLE
Anu Menon on making The humble vegetable is a delicacy When cartography reveals a The personal price a reporter
movies and shows across continents fit for kings and commoners city’s cultural history pays to witness a war
and her latest mystery film By Priyadarshini Chatterjee By Giles Tillotson By Prathap Nair
By Kaveree Bamzai

58 60 62 64 66

CRIME CANON INDIAN ACCENTS PLAYTIME WITH THE RACHEL PAPERS STARGAZER
Intimate watching The divine armour BORIA MAJUMDAR The light of Asia By Kaveree Bamzai
By Shylashri Shankar By Bibek Debroy An IPL moment for chess By Rachel Dwyer

Cover Photograph by Ashish Sharma

Disclaimer ‘Open Avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing initiatives and Open assumes no responsibility for content and the consequences of using products or services advertised in the magazine

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 3


EDITOR S Prasannarajan
MANAGING EDITOR PR Ramesh
CONSULTING EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Rajeev Deshpande
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Ullekh NP
EDITOR-AT-LARGE Siddharth Singh
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(Mumbai Bureau Chief),
Rahul Pandita, Amita Shah,
V Shoba (Bangalore), Nandini Nair,
Sudeep Paul
ART DIRECTOR Jyoti K Singh
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(Mumbai), Moinak Mitra
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Antara Raghavan
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NATIONAL HEAD-ADVERTISING
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Volume 15 Issue 29
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editor@openmedianetwork.in
 LETTER OF THE WEEK
The political brawl between the Pawars shows
what Sharad Pawar did to remove former Chief
Minister Vasantdada Patil from office four decades
ago is still haunting him. He faces a similar situation
(‘The Loneliness of the Patriarch’, July 17, 2023). This
does not come as a surprise at all. History is
repeating itself with Sharad Pawar caught in a web
after Ajit Pawar’s open rebellion. It also raises a
pertinent question about parties hit by family feuds.
Ostensibly, Sharad Pawar, rattled by the political
developments in Maharashtra, made light of the
move of his nephew by saying that he has no plans
to stop anyone from leaving the party. One thing is
clear though— the trouble within the Nationalist already a hub of the drug
Congress Party (NCP) began the day Sharad Pawar trade and this was supported
tried to perform the surprise “stepping down” drama by Pakistan. Both civilian and
not so long ago. As you sow, so you reap—this adage military leaders were equally
aptly applies to Pawar Sr. It is surprising that he is still complicit, with military
looking for a face-saver even after Ajit Pawar made it leaders using their civilian
clear that the octogenarian should move out of counterparts as pawns.
active politics. There is no doubt that Pervez Musharraf was
family politics and infighting in NCP certainly one of the major
have weakened opposition unity. players. There is little hope
KR Srinivasan that Afghanistan will step
back from the drug trade
in the near future, or that
POWER SHIFT not to hold back those who Pakistan is anywhere
There has been a significant wished to exit. Unlike close to stopping its cross-
shift in Maharashtra’s Eknath Shinde and his border terrorism.
political dynamics (‘The supporters who launched MY Shariff
Loneliness of the Patriarch’, an all-out attack on Uddhav,
July 17, 2023). As parties Ajit Pawar’s faction is still LUXURY RESALE
scramble to recalibrate seeking Sharad Pawar’s There was a time when
their strategies, it remains blessings. buying second-hand, or
to be seen how these new CK Subramaniam what is now called preloved
dynamics will shape the fashion, was frowned upon
political landscape and NARCO STATE (‘Second Coming’, July
impact the 2024 elections. It is a well-known fact that 17, 2023). Now, preloved
Ajit Pawar’s entry into NDA Pakistan was founded products are being
has not only boosted the on shaky grounds based embraced by a large section
alliance’s numbers but also on a skewed agenda and of people, especially in the
renewed BJP’s confidence misguided policies adopted luxury segment. According
in the state. Both parties in by both its civilian leaders to market analysis, the
Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and military generals (‘The second-hand luxury goods
and NCP, are facing splits. Opium Jihad’, by Iqbal Chand market in India reached
There are many similarities Malhotra, July 17, 2023). They $555 million in 2022 and is
between the splits in Shiv never knew where they expected to reach $1,060.8
Sena last year and in NCP were leading Pakistan, what million by 2028. From
now. Both party chiefs are damage they were causing to watches, designer wear
rebuilding their parties. their country and its people, to handbags and sneakers,
Their reactions were also and what adverse reputation there’s something
similar. Uddhav Thackeray they were bringing to for everyone.
and Sharad Pawar decided Pakistan. Afghanistan was Divya Kumaramangalam
Visit your nearest Nature’s Basket or Spencer’s store
 LOCOMOTIF
By S PRASANNARAJAN
The Other K from Prague
W
HEN I THINK of Milan Kundera, I’m
taken back to those images from his early
pages. I am not alone. Whoever have been
there before, lingering in those snapshots
captured by a novelist with the smirk of
a mischievous philosopher, could have guessed where they
come from. In the opening sentences of The Book of
Laughter and Forgetting, there is the communist leader
Klement Gottwald, standing on the balcony of a baroque
palace in Prague on a cold, snowy February in 1948, flanked
by his comrades, overlooking the Old Town square, “a fateful
moment of the kind that occurs only once or twice a mil-
lennium.” Vladimir Clementis, who’s standing closer to the
leader, “bursting with solicitude”, takes off his fur hat and
puts it on Gottwald’s head. The picture of the leader in a fur
hat speaking to people from a Prague balcony, popularised by
the propaganda department, marks the beginning of
Bohemia’s communist history. “Four years later, Clementis
was charged with treason and hanged. The propaganda
section immediately made him vanish from history and, of
course, from all photographs. Ever since, Gottwald has been
alone on the balcony. Where Clementis stood, there is only
the bare palace wall. Nothing remains of Clementis but the
fur hat on Gottwald’s head.”
The other image comes from The Unbearable Lightness of
Being. After a brief meditation on “eternal return”, a concept
that concentrated the mind of Nietzsche and sets the theme
of this novel—“If eternal return is the heaviest of burdens,
then our lives can stand out against it in all their splendid
lightness. But is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness
splendid?”—Tomas, a surgeon, is introduced to the reader.
He is “standing at the window of his flat and looking across
the courtyard at the opposite walls, not knowing what to
do.” He is seeking answers on his lover, “recalling her lying
on his bed; she reminded him of no one in his former life.
She was neither mistress nor wife. She was a child whom
he had taken from a bulrush basket that had been daubed
with pitch and sent to the riverbank of his bed.”
6 24 JULY 2023
The fur hat that outlived its original wearer is a reminder
as well as a relic in the novel that made its author an enemy
of the state. Communism fed the imagination of those who
defied the lie, vindicating what Borges said, “censorship is
the mother of metaphor”. The outcasts of ideology, in Russia
and in the vassal states of Central Europe, wrote some of the
finest novels of the last century, all metaphor-rich. For
Kundera, once a card-holding pianist in Prague, commu-
nism, blocking all the light he needed to read the ebony-
black joke unfolding around him, would become a great
erasure. Clementis’ hat is a reminder: “The struggle of man
against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”
I myself may have quoted this line a hundred times, but
nothing else reminds us with such aphoristic elegance of
totalitarianism’s war on memory, the persistence of which is
more organic and intimate than history. We turn the
pages of early Kundera and realise why memory is art’s
alternative to history. Clementis’ hat is a relic too: Long
before the purge, the struggles of ideology exuded a false
sense of fraternity.
Kundera’s problem with communism was a matter of
aesthetics rather than ethics. The evil fascinated him, made
him laugh, filled him with not fear but revulsion. He devotes
a few pages in The Unbearable Lightness of Being to the idea of
kitsch, originally a German word with a metaphysical ring
to it: “kitsch is the absolute denial of shit, in both the literal
and the figurative senses of the word; kitsch excludes every-
thing from its purview which is essentially unacceptable
in human existence.” Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of totali-
tarianism, and for Kundera, nothing else brings it out with
such clarity as the May Day Parade. “The unwritten, unsung
motto of the parade was not ‘Long live Communism!’ but
‘Long live life!’ The power and cunning of Communist poli-
tics lay in the fact that it appropriated this slogan. For it was
this idiotic tautology (‘Long live life!’) which attracted people
indifferent to the theses of Communism to the Communist
parade.” Kundera resisted the temptations of totalitarianism
with the power of laughter and memory, and in 1975, left

MILAN KUNDERA
(1929-2023)
GETTY IMAGES
the then Czechoslovakia for France, and, eventually, would
start writing in French. When the streets of Prague played
out the second Spring fourteen years later, Kundera was not
there among the amateur revolutionaries, all novelists and
playwrights and singers, to lead the velvet resistance against
communism. He was elsewhere and seen by some dissi-
dents as the one who had abandoned the struggle. That was
a misreading. He never abandoned the conversation with
power, and his struggle with its grotesqueries. His resistance
was spelt out in words that retained their terrifying honesty
under the veneer of narrative lightness.
Then it is a literary crime to read Kundera as merely a
dissident writer from Eastern Europe. The political and the
historical are for him the state of “being in the world”. Even
as he rebels against the clichés of communism, we can’t miss
the subtlety with which he avoids one of fiction’s familiar
territories: the inner world. The psychological is not what he
deploys to bring a character to life. There is an overwhelm-
ing physicality about the Kundera world. Tomas, a surgeon-
turned-window cleaner in the Prague after the crushed
Spring, first appears in The Unbearable Lightness of Being as a
sensualist at an existential crossroads. At one level, Tomas
is a character floating, from window to window, in an erotic
comedy of errors where passion is regulated, politics is an in-
fringer, and history is a tireless adjective. In the three novels
that form the foundation of the Kundera oeuvre—The Book of
Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and
24 JULY 2023
Immortality—the sensuous and the cerebral make
a perfect partnership. Eroticism is the religion that
keeps the faith alive for many Kundera characters,
as if, when you are fortunate enough to escape com-
munism’s “auto-culpabilisation machine” in which
punishment seeks a suitable crime, hedonism is an
unintended alternative.
Kundera’s own alternatives lay in the infinite
possibilities of the art of the novel itself, and I can’t
think of another novelist who was as obsessive
about his art and its ancestry. In two book-length
essays, The Art of the Novel and Testaments
Betrayed, he reflects on the art that defines him
from the perspective of multiple identities: as a
writer trapped in history; as a writer from a place
culturally stolen by a monolith; and as a writer con-
stantly listening to the whispers of the great dead
(Rabelais, Cervantes, Kafka, Goethe, Hemingway,
Hašek …). He was a great believer in the sovereignty
of his art, and any Kundera novel—most of them
structured in seven parts like a musical composi-
tion—can be read as a self-referential essay on
the art of the novel. From Immortality: “Dramatic
tension is the real curse of the novel, because it
transforms everything… into steps leading to the
final resolution, in which the meaning of every-
thing that preceded is concentrated.” What propels
the pages of Kundera—home to fiction’s most enduring
aphorisms—is the drama of being in the “theatre of
memory”, where forgetting is equal to death.
T WO WEEKS AGO, I wrote in these pages about
his new little book, A Kidnapped West, which is a
collection of his two influential earlier essays on being a
writer from a small nation and the cultural legacy of
Central Europe—“not a state but a fate”—punished by
both history and geography. It was the publisher’s
invitation to reread Kundera in the wake of another
small nation’s tragedy. Still Kundera never invested in
prophecies, and in 21st-century Prague, where tourism
follows the footprints of Kafka and Havel, Kundera has not
been much of a buzz, and the bust of Gottwald I saw in the
Museum of Communism in Prague three years ago was not
accessorised by the fur cap of Clementis. Prophets
claim the future; writers marvel at the recurrence of the
present. Kundera was not in the business of prophecies,
like the other writer from Prague whom he has written
about repeatedly. The best on Prague’s original K was said
by the other K who fled the city. Kundera never forgave
Max Brod, the father of “Kafkology”, for turning Kafka
into a saint. Prague may now reclaim Kundera, adding
him to the pantheon. That will be homecoming as a
posthumous irony. Q
www.openthemagazine.com 7
 OPEN DIARY
A T THE TIME of writing, more
than 45 people were killed in the
violence associated with the panchay-
at polls in the benighted state of West
Bengal. The number is shockingly
high. If you add to this the scenes of
mob violence, indiscriminate hurtling
of homemade bombs and mass rigging
that took place inside the polling
booths, the inescapable conclusion is
that the term Jungle Raj, which was
once used to describe Bihar under
Lalu Prasad, should now be applied to
the place Gopal Krishna Gokhale be-
lieved—hopefully erroneously—was
the national beacon.
Of course, no one, not least the
Bengalis themselves, seriously
believe any longer that their state
is Sonar Bangla. Although a mood
of vacuous self-congratulation
overwhelms the state when
some foreigner issues a gushing
testimonial to the city of Kolkata
after a flying visit. It has also become
customary for the national political
leadership to start their speeches in
Bengal with syrupy references to the
glorious heritage of the Bengalis.
Speaking as a proud and rooted
Bengali who doesn’t mind being
described as a Bong, I sincerely
believe that there should be
moratorium on these meaningless
certifications of how cultured and
refined the Bengalis are. Maybe,
Bengalis have acquired a veneer of
cosmopolitanism, courtesy having
been exposed to Western culture
for the longest time in India. To this
has been added a generous layer of
‘progressivism’, a shorthand for an
attitude of disdain towards many
facets of Hindu traditions. This is
often reflected in the so-called trendy
Bangla films which often glorify
lesbianism, free love and uninhibited
swearing, and which in nearly all
cases, bomb at the box office.
Frankly, I think Bengal is in the
8 24 JULY 2023
Swapan Dasgupta
throes of self-generated confusion.
Most Bengali families, cutting across
the class divide, now have some of its
members working outside the state.
Some 50 years ago, Bengali mothers
were heartbroken if their beloved
sons and even married daughters
had to cross Dhanbad or Balasore
for employment. Of course, in some
districts, such as Midnapore, finding
work outside was seen as normal,
but this was an exception. Today,
it is understood that anyone who
has completed their school, must
look elsewhere to get on with life.
It is also understood that economic
advancement depends on attaining
success in some part of resurgent
India or overseas. Those who, for one
reason or another, cannot afford to
leave Bengal, are compelled to try
their hand in the one area that offers
easy pickings: politics.
The entry bar to politics is
tantalisingly low and the assured
returns are high. In West Bengal,
where economic stagnation has set
in for decades, a livelihood from
politics can happen in two ways.
The first, popularised by the Bangla
expression ‘tolabaazi’, is the local
variant of extortion. These take the
form of illegal cesses on businesses
(big and small), forcible donations
from individuals and corporate
houses for every conceivable puja
and festival, and compulsory
commissions on building and
renovation work. There is a Member
of Parliament, for example, who is
popularly known with the prefix
‘square-feet’ before his surname.
Those who have read accounts
of how mafia gangs operated in
New York and Chicago in the early
part of the 20th century will find
eerie parallels.
Then there is the systematic
siphoning of government funds, both
welfare allotments and development
funds. In the rest of India, the
imaginative use of technology has
seen the decline in the quantum
of corruption. Not in West Bengal.
Here, increasingly innovative ways,
coupled with the use of muscle power,
has seen a chunk of government
funds going into the hands of
those who control the panchayats.
This explains why there is such a
desperation to ensure election to
panchayat bodies. Without the
authority conferred by panchayats,
their very livelihood is at stake. They
must secure election and re-election
at all costs, even if it means subverting
the democratic process completely.
I would hazard the guess that
West Bengal is by far the most
advanced in the corruption business.
The problem isn’t confined to the
very top or the very bottom. Its reach
has extended to every section of the
political establishment, including
the opposition party activists, many
of whom are kept satisfied with
sweeteners. The term ‘setting’ is often
used to describe political match-
fixing. This is almost entirely an
offshoot of the corruption economy.
What we witnessed in the pan-
chayat election wasn’t due to the innate
Bengali penchant for violence—some-
thing that has its post-Independence
manifestation dating back to the col-
lapse of Congress dominance in 1967.
It is an expression of the criminalisa-
tion that has accompanied prolonged
economic stagnation. Q
 WHEN THE OTHERS GET
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 OPENINGS
NOTEBOOK

The Arc of Alliance

T
URKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office when the war in Ukraine began, had failed.
abrupt decision to ‘unblock’ Sweden’s bid to join But Sweden will soon join NATO and that means a substantial
NATO was not a sideshow at the Vilnius summit. change on the map. Two Nordic states, Norway and Denmark,
While all eyes were on Ukraine and President were founding members of NATO. Sweden and Finland had been
Volodymyr Zelensky had criticised the “absurd” lack of clarity neutral through the Cold War. Now, along with the three Baltic
on a timeline for Kyiv to join the treaty organisation even states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Poland, Czechia,
before the summit began, it was the ghost of Olof Palme, and an Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and, of course, Turkey,
old, lingering Cold War legacy, that was laid to rest in Lithuania. they will form an S in reverse, barricading Europe from the Black
There was nothing absurd about NATO’s position on Sea coast to the Baltic region against Russia. The map would have
Ukraine’s membership. Zelensky’s impatience is understand- meant little when it came to aerial bombing and missiles or cyber
able but there was no way NATO could have accepted a new warfare. But Russia’s demonstrated weakness for land wars, as
member state that happens to be at war. Nor would the 31 in Ukraine, keeps it relevant, especially for the Baltic states and
member states have given a timeline for Ukraine to join, since Finland. Most importantly, since an attack on one member state
such a timeline naturally depends on the cessation of hostili- of NATO is deemed an attack on all, Russia can waste words in
ties on the ground which perhaps even the perpetrator in issuing threats but do little on the ground except transport more
Moscow doesn’t have a date for. On the other hand, getting the missiles and nukes. Vladimir Putin’s actions to constrict NATO
waiver on the Membership Action Plan (MAP), which makes have resulted in the exact opposite of his objective. Add Ukraine
Ukraine’s eventual entry a simple, one-step process, will turn to that map, and the new iron curtain is complete.
out to be more than symbolic when the day comes. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of commu-
So, let’s return to Sweden for the moment. It’s immaterial nism in Europe, NATO had plunged into an existential crisis. Its
whether Erdogan was impressed by Sweden’s recent crack- relevance and continuance were questioned. With hindsight,
down on Kurdish militants or the F-16s changed his mind. Al- the rapid extension eastwards, taking in the newly liberated
though he had given way on Finland earlier this year, Erdogan states of the Soviet East Bloc, not least at the urging of those
had been adamant about Sweden. The problem was the legacy states themselves, saved the organisation. Each country in
of Palme. Sweden, more than other Scandinavian states, had question, even Hungary, had specific and similar reasons to be
long given shelter to all the persecuted peoples of the world it wary of Moscow. The Baltics were the most vulnerable. Poland
could accommodate. The Kurds, vic- could never outgrow the threat to its
tims of history and the instruments of existence on the map of Europe. The
history called conflict and its resultant Czechs always considered themselves
disputed borders, were denied the NATO’s expansion is a Central European. But it was Finland,
independent state they were promised twofold boon for India which the newest member of NATO, which
but only in a truncated version by the was guaranteed its independence
Treaty of Sèvres (1920). They had carried
XQGHUVWDQGVWKHEHQHÀWVRI by Moscow only on condition of its
on the good fight wherever they were. SXUSRVHVSHFLÀFJURXSVOLNH neutrality through the Cold War. That
Sweden was a haven for them but soon, the Quad or I2U2. Its desire made the Finnish case very different
much of the good fight had turned bad, WRHQJDJHZLWK'HOKLDVD from Sweden’s where neutrality was
as militant Kurds, whom Erdogan, bloc is a new opportunity. more a matter of ideology. The ghost of
not without reason, calls terrorists,
$QG5XVVLDFDXJKWLQDPRUH the unfortunate Palme again, although
extended their reach. Thus, there would it was really a Social Democratic
have been little irony if Sweden’s bid to VXIIRFDWLQJGHSHQGHQFHRQ worldview that still goes deep into the
join NATO, begun under Social Demo- &KLQDZRXOGORRNDW,QGLD Scandinavian soul. Palme had believed
crat Magdalena Andersson who was in IRUEUHDWKLQJVSDFH Swedish neutrality was a force for good

10 24 JULY 2023

NATO leaders with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Vilnius, July 12, 2023
in a divided world. He may even have been right. But that was
the price for Sweden becoming mediator-in-chief. And neutral-
ity is still an article of faith for a lot of Swedes although, as Prime
Minister Ulf Kristersson would affirm, geopolitics, going
beyond the reality and rumours of Russian submarines near
the Swedish coast, had left Stockholm with no choice.
At a glance, Europe, and on cue the world, is a frightfully
divided place again. But the view from New Delhi advises calm.
NATO’s expansion is a twofold boon for India which, in recent
years, has understood well the benefits of purpose-specific
groupings, such as the Quad when it comes to geopolitics, or, say,
I2U2 when it comes to technological and cross-sector coopera-
tion. India holds most of its joint military exercises with the US.
It increasingly participates in multilateral exercises, as it did
with France and the UAE in the Gulf of Oman last month. NATO
has not looked so purposeful and formidable in a long time.
Since it wants to engage more with India as a bloc, as pointed
out by Julianne Smith, the US permanent representative to
NATO, at the Raisina Dialogue earlier this year, there is an added
opportunity opening up here. On the other hand, the Vilnius
summit was the first time since the Soviet collapse that the
leaders of NATO member states put their political stamp on new
and detailed plans for collective defence against a military attack
by a major power, meaning Russia. An isolated Russia, pushed
into a suffocating dependence on China, would look at India
all the more for breathing space and room for manoeuvre. And
while in theory, there can be equivalence between China and
24 JULY 2023
AFP
India for NATO, that very Russia-China embrace, to say nothing
of the West’s increasingly difficult relations with Beijing, means
such equivalence is non-existent in practice. India will have an
opportunity in each hand for the foreseeable future.
The Biden administration disappointed Zelensky by pouring
cold water on his hopes for at least a timeline for Ukraine’s entry.
But in doing so, the US showed why it’s the leader of the alliance,
its chief military contributor and strategist. That cautious Ameri-
can pragmatism, especially against the backdrop of the much-
criticised provision of cluster bombs to Ukraine, carried the day
over and above disagreements among NATO members and left
Ukrainian membership to a future, hopefully not too distant,
“when allies agree and conditions are met”. Zelensky’s claim that
“uncertainty is weakness” was perhaps merely an exercise in
rhetoric, aimed at the desperate population back home. How-
ever, the waiver on the MAP immediately raised Russia’s hackles
even though NATO could rightfully count Moscow’s anger as a
small victory. There was a strong message from Vilnius, after all.
If US pragmatism and a Turkish turnaround were the key
takeaways, a little-noticed statement of Polish Prime Minister
Andrzej Duda summed it up best: “We raised this Ukrainian
expectation that a formal invitation to an alliance be issued for
Ukraine… Such a far-reaching decision has not been made, but
a whole series of decisions have been made regarding Ukraine,
undoubtedly bringing Ukraine closer to NATO.”
By SUDEEP PAUL
www.openthemagazine.com 11
 OPENINGS
PORTRAIT LAKSHYA SEN
SHUTTLE STAR
With his Canadian Open win, the 21-year-old
proves he is the future of Indian badminton
T HIS YEAR WASN’T going Lakshya Sen’s way. After the
breakthrough season he had last year—where the badminton player
took down some of the biggest names in the business on his way to
several titles and a World No 6 in the Badminton World Federation
(BWF) rankings—it all appeared to be unravelling quickly. It began
with the delayed recovery period after a surgery Sen underwent—for
a deviated septum—a period during which he says his immunity was
low, and he was constantly falling ill. On the court, he was sluggish
and constantly crashing out early from tournaments. This showed
in his rankings. He went from World No 6 in November last year to 25
in just a few months. And when he crashed out of yet another
tournament earlier this year, the Swiss Open Super 300, he took a
break from badminton, stating in an Instagram post that he wanted to
focus on his mental and physical health.
What was going on with one of the most talented shuttlers in the
country? When was the Sen of last year going to show up? Could he even?
Also, this isn’t any other year. It is the year of Olympic qualifications. If
you perform well, you can book yourself a slot for Paris next year, and who
knows what awaits an athlete there.
As the recently concluded Canada Open showed, Sen is very much that
player of 2022, if not more. He picked up the second Super 500 title of his
career when he comprehensively beat the current All England champion,
GETTY IMAGES
12
China’s Li Shifeng, in the final. After winning
the opener, when he conceded a 20-16 lead in the
second, it might have appeared as though he was
on the verge of throwing it all away. But Sen was
ruthless this time, chipping away at that four-point
difference as Shifeng watched on helplessly. Sen
eventually took the game 21-18, 22-20. “Lakshya
did not give up at 20-16. It is so easy to slip into that
frame of mind that he’s won the first and can play
the decider... It’s a combination of being mentally
and physically fit that he could remain calm even
when things got close,” his coach Anup Sridhar
later told the Indian Express.
Sen’s rise in badminton has been anything but
meteoric. A resident of Almora in Uttarakhand,
it is said he began playing the game when he was
just five years old. Sen’s elder brother Chirag is
also a badminton player, and his father DK Sen,
is a coach. By 10, Sen had moved to Bengaluru to
train at the Prakash Padukone Academy. And in
a few years, he was dominating the junior circuit,
picking up a clutch of prestigious titles, including
the 2018 Asian Junior Championships, the first
by an Indian in 53 years, silver at the 2018 Youth
Olympic Games, and a bronze at the 2018 World
Junior Championships 2018, and at one point in
2017, he was ranked junior World No 1.
He announced his arrival on the senior
circuit when he won a bronze at the 2021 World
Championships. But it was really 2022 when he
gatecrashed into the big league. Sen went from
being just another plucky kid in the circuit to
someone you needed to take very seriously. He
began beating the biggest names in the business,
leaving his more experienced Indian peers
behind, as he went on to win a clutch of titles,
from his maiden BWF Super 500 title at the India
Open, silver at the All England Championships,
a Commonwealth Games gold where he came
from behind to win against the Malaysian Ng Tze
Yong, to playing an integral role in India’s maiden
Thomas Cup triumph. It is no surprise that Sen
was suddenly being discussed as the future of
Indian badminton. Of the three Indian men
currently ranked in the top 20 in singles, both
HS Prannoy (ranked 9) and Srikanth Kidambi
(ranked 20) are 30 years old. Sen, who has now
moved to 12 in rankings, is just 21.
It was when he began to falter this season that
some began to wonder if their faith in his abilities
had been a bit premature. Sen has just proved that
is far from true.
By LHENDUP G BHUTIA
24 JULY 2023
 ANGLE
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FAITH
On the paradox of scientists
being religious
By MADHAVANKUTTY PILLAI
A DAY BEFORE Chandrayaan-3
was to launch, you saw an Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
team going to the Tirupati temple to
seek blessings, and so once again bring-
ing to the fore the curious paradox of sci-
entists believing in god. It is an anomaly
because science might have been born
out of religion, as an appendix to it, but
broke away as soon as it realised that
faith was an impediment to its develop-
ment. The two fundamentally look at
the world in contrasting ways. Religion
asks you to take it on its word. God must
be believed in before he deigns to come
to you—you will only get proof if your
faith is strong enough. Science needs
to be convinced through hypothesis,
experimentation and verification be-
fore putting its stamp on any certainty.
It demands an overabundance of proof
before any faith and that, too, given
begrudgingly in the anticipation that it
will fall on the wayside of new findings.
How then is it possible for scientists
to negotiate this dichotomy? There
are numerous reasons adduced for it
but mostly they keep work and faith
separate, relegating religious belief to
the personal space. But there are other
factors. One 2016 study found that
in some cultures, scientists are more
tolerant of religion, and India was one of
them. More than half of Indian scientists
did not see the two as antithetical even
if they were still less religious than the
general population. Part of it might also
be tradition. A puja or a temple visit be-
fore a major event is a common practice,
and it wouldn’t be surprising in India if
24 JULY 2023
even atheists decided to be present.
Rationalists could argue the participa-
tion of scientists publicly in religion is a
messaging against the scientific temper
and perhaps that is true. But then ISRO
still managed to remain one of the few
successful scientific institutions in India.
Plus, it probably makes no difference any-
way. Invert the situation. Assume that
every scientist in India will have nothing
to do with religion. Does anyone doubt
that the vast majority of this country will
still be as religious as ever? Religion is
irrational but it is ingrained into the brain
through its development. Most human
beings even know that many religious
beliefs are unreal but, instead of shedding
them, they just find new interpretations.
In the past, every deity was a very real
entity; now, most literate people think of
them as representations or symbols of an
unknowable, all-powerful god. Most of
these ISRO scientists know that calcula-
tions and engineering are responsible
for the launch of satellites and god has
little to contribute. But the temple visit is
important because it is also a psychologi-
cal support.
Pascal, one of the greatest scientists
who ever lived, noted in his wager—
nothing is lost by believing in god but
if you don’t believe and he does exist,
then there is much that can be lost. It is a
somewhat specious argument because
which god do you believe in when every
religion has a different one to venerate?
But having faith in even one is still taking
some insurance against uncertainties in
an uncontrollable world, which is prob-
ably all there is to it.
IDEAS
EXPANSION
It is no secret that those who run
cricket have long wanted to enter
the vast sport market of America.
There have been several attempts
to do so, from an early cricket
league called Pro Cricket in 2004
to a series of exhibition matches
that featured the likes of Sachin
Tendulkar and Shane Warne in
2015. But all of them fizzled out, and
the US market remained elusive.
There is now a new push in the
form of a T20 IPL-like league called
Major League Cricket. It has some
wealthy patrons such as Microsoft’s
Satya Nadella, and supporters in
the form of IPL franchises, apart
from well-known cricketers who
are participating in it. There are also
possibly two big events lined up in
the next few years—the men’s T20
World Cup in 2024, which the US
will co-host with the West Indies,
thereby automatically granting the
American team entry, and the Los
Angeles Olympics in 2028, for which
cricket’s inclusion is being pushed.
WORD’S WORTH
‘Americans have their
national game, baseball–
which is cricket
played with a strong
American accent’
GEORGE MIKES
BRITISH HUMOURIST
www.openthemagazine.com 13
INSIDER
CABINET HUSTLE
T
he torrential rains over the weekend of July 8-9 in Delhi
and its surrounding areas as well as in much of north
India, in particular the hill states of Himachal Pradesh
and Uttarakhand, held everyone’s attention and dominated
news headlines. But the thoughts of a certain group of people
lay elsewhere. The national capital’s grapevine was buzzing
with talk of a possible shuffle of the Union Council of Minis-
ters and many, including political pundits, were busy trying
to figure out what was in the works. There were those who had
the most skin in the game—aspirants as well as incumbents
pondering their fate—and were particularly keen on reading
the straws in the wind. Figuring out Cabinet changes has been
very challenging as the deliberations hardly ever leak. This
time the more informed speculation is that the shuffle, if it
does happen, may have some bearing on the BJP organisation.
It is being felt that appointments of senior party functionaries
need to be carefully reviewed as they are often key to prepar-
ing state units for elections. In past NDA governments, too,
there were movements from government to organisation.
With the Lok Sabha polls not too far off, radical changes in the
Union Cabinet would seem unlikely. In any case, the weekend
passed without the proverbial pin dropping and anxiety levels
dropped even if they have not subsided. The testing times
could well be back when Prime Minister Narendra Modi
returns from his visit to France.

UKRAINE
ASSAULT
I nformed reports from the Ukrainian frontline indicate that
Kyiv’s much-awaited counter-offensive is not making much
progress. The defensive lines put in place by Russian forces are
STALLS holding and the Ukrainians are making marginal progress,
hampered by lack of air support for even localised operations. As
the war grinds on, military experts reckon that Ukraine will find
it increasingly difficult to recruit fresh troops from a limited catchment area while Russia can
yet call up another round of compulsory enlistment. According to the Hudson Institute, which
collates information from various sources, the Ukrainian strategy of staging frontal assaults
is not paying off. Modifications of Leopard tanks have helped Ukrainian armour, reducing the
losses that the forces suffered a few weeks ago, but Kyiv clearly needs to do more. The possibil-
ity of getting US ballistic missiles might make a difference and also escalate hostilities that are
currently spread over a relatively narrow front of about a 100-150km. As of now, the battlefield
appears complicated with the flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, creat-
ing large tracts of waterlogged land posing further hurdles for movement of heavy armour and
making attempts to cross the Dnipro river to reach Crimea even riskier.

14 24 JULY 2023

NEW
BOLLYWOOD
T he film 72 Hoorain is attracting
notice similar to The Kerala
Story some months ago for its
theme that explores the promise
of rewards in the hereafter for
suicide terrorists. The bait has
always been suspect, not least
because the clerics and preachers
who propagate to recruit suicide
bombers rarely, if ever, tread the
path they advocate. While the
film has, not surprisingly, drawn a
polarised response, the interesting
fact is that it had received a censor
certification back in 2019 itself. It
is not, as might appear, a recent
film inspired by the success of
The Kerala Story. What seems to
have changed is the preparedness
of distributors to take up films
with sensitive themes previously
considered risky propositions.
Bollywood remains the most
pecuniary-minded of institutions
and producers and distributors
are seeing profit and even
acceptability in such projects.
All this is very disheartening for
cultural commissars who have
sought to set the ‘right’ narrative
through films that concentrate
on depicting divisions in Indian
society and the alleged rise
of ‘majoritarian’ politics. The
popular acceptance of films like
The Kashmir Files and The Kerala
Story and concerns over a social-
media backlash have dampened
the enthusiasm of this set of
‘progressive’ filmmakers, at
least now.
24 JULY 2023
Illustrations by SAURABH SINGH
JUDGING NCP SPLIT
T hough the split in NCP is yet to be taken up by the Election Commission
(EC), the poll body will soon have to apply its mind to the contesting
claims from Ajit ‘Dada’ Pawar’s and his uncle Sharad Pawar’s factions. Of
the tests that EC can apply is an assessment of the control of either side on
the organisational structure of the party. This might seem to be tilted in
favour of Sharad Pawar as a recent show of strength saw the presence of most
party district heads. Yet, the question whether the party constitution was
being adhered to and if inner-party democracy was being practised is not
easy to answer. In the recent Shiv Sena split, the Uddhav Thackeray faction
claimed the loyalty of the organisation, arguing that the views of delegates
or functionaries reflect the sentiments of the rank and file. The deposed
chief minister might have had a point, but changes in the party constitution
that made the Sena’s ‘decision-making’ body merely a collection of individu-
als appointed by the Sena chief hurt the claim. EC found that the Sena had
failed the test of inner-party democracy.
NCP’s case is bound to be examined by
both the commission and the courts but
the issue may well be finally settled
on the basis of which faction
commands the loyalty of
most number of legislators.
Here, the Ajit Pawar faction
has an upper hand as more
MLAs are likely to cross over
to his camp.
ENGAGING MYANMAR
T he outgoing Thailand government’s efforts to re-engage ASEAN with
Myanmar are being carefully watched by India which has itself kept
channels open with the junta in Naypyidaw. So far, Thailand has met with
limited success as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia stayed away from the
informal talks. Thailand shares a long border with Myanmar and there are
important trade and economic linkages. Its efforts to restart ASEAN’s con-
tacts with Myanmar are seen as also influenced by its proximity to China
which remains one of the military junta’s biggest supporters. India is not
supportive of the coup in Myanmar that was followed by Aung San Suu Kyi
being jailed on what are seen as trumped-up charges but is wary of ceding
space to China in a country that borders its Northeast. India continues to
hope ASEAN will be able to persuade Myanmar’s generals to loosen their
grip on the country and allow political
activity to restart. The muted response
to Thailand’s bid to bring Myanmar out
of the cold indicates that most ASEAN
nations are not willing to normalise rela-
tions and back a China-inspired engage-
ment yet. This is good news for India that
is looking to limit China’s influence
in its neighbourhood.
www.openthemagazine.com 15
 GLOBALSUTRA Pallavi Aiyar
Dealing with Overtourism
Is international travel an indulgence or an education?
A
T A LITERATURE FESTIVAL in Spain a few
weeks ago, I was on a travel writing panel. The
conversation rapidly dissolved into a heated
debate about overtourism.
In the years immediately preceding the Covid
pandemic, urgent headlines from around the world had
warned how Venice was sinking, Kyoto choking and
Barcelona drowning in garbage. Locals in global tourist
hotspots were being squeezed out of their own cities,
with real estate prices pushed to untenable highs. Selfie-
taking hordes were fanning out locust-like across the most
spectacular manmade and natural wonders of the world,
leaving behind trampled-over, litter-strewn husks.
There were photographs of queues of mountaineers
waiting to ascend the summit of Mount Everest,
reminiscent of Taylor Swift fans trying to cadge a ticket to
a concert. In May 2019, the Louvre Museum in Paris was
closed after the workers’ union claimed that overcrowding
had made the space dangerous.
My own first experience with how joyless actually
ticking off items on your travel bucket list can be was
decades ago, in the mid-1990s. My first visit to Rome had
entailed spending an entire morning in the sweltering July
heat queuing up at the Vatican City, all for a total of five
minutes inside the Sistine Chapel. Groups of us, packed
into the intimacy of a can of sardines, were pushed into
the hall, where the crowding made it a feat to physically
be able to crane one’s neck up towards The Creation of
Adam, before being pushed out again. To have enjoyed the
experience, one would have had to be a masochist.
In the almost three decades since that trip, global
tourism has grown like a beanstalk that belongs to a fellow
called Jack. Cheaper air travel means that the number of
international visits has more than doubled since 2000.
Rising incomes across the world, but particularly in
demographically exuberant nations like China and India,
are further fertiliser to the travel beanstalk. The number
of overseas trips made by Chinese citizens, for example,
rose from 10.5 million in 2000 to about 155 million in 2019.
International tourist arrivals around the world
have exploded from a little less than 70 million in 1960,
16
to 1.4 billion today.
When we add social media to this masala of cheaper
air travel and a rising middle class, the recipe for today’s
overtourism is complete. On Instagram, everyone is in a
febrile state of fear of missing out (FOMO) as they swipe
through a smorgasbord of photographs of friends having
“fun” in jaw-dropping locations. That this “fun” usually
consists of the one photo in which platoons of competing
photo-takers are baying for their turn at the margins of the
frame is as much a testament as any to the fact that today’s
tourism industry is a victim of its own success. The more
tourists there are, the more they end up destroying the
very assets—monuments, beaches, national parks—upon
which tourism depends.
The pandemic might have given the world a brief
window to reset, and replan the management of travel in
ways that could moderate its negative impact. But it is now
clear that this was a wasted opportunity. After two years
of enforced stillness, the world is on the move again, and
with a vengeance.
To take one example, Spain received the most
international visitors for the month of May on record this
year. It hosted 8.2 million tourists from abroad in that
single month, more than in the previous May record set in
2019. And the Iberian Peninsula is hardly the exception.
Countries from Austria to Morocco have announced similar
record-breaking numbers of tourists for 2023, so far.
A ND YET, WHEN at the literature festival I heard
one of my co-panellists talk of busloads of Chinese
tourists crawling all over cities “like ants”, it got my goat
(excuse the abundance of animal metaphors). The cold
fact is that there are racist and classist undertones to
much of the handwringing about overtourism, as well
as to many of the more common solutions proposed to
address the problem.
For centuries, travel for leisure was the privilege of
wealthy nobles or other people of means, who used it as a
way of signalling their social standing and power. The kind
of mass tourism that took off in the 1960s was the result
of the growing democratisation of wealth and leisure in
24 JULY 2023
the West. Its 21st-century sibling of global mass tourism usually a newer memory for them. They may lack the
is in turn a manifestation of this trend in other parts of confidence to travel solo and therefore choose the kind
the world, including China and India, as they have begun of package tours that provide them with some of the
climbing out of their marginalised and poor pasts. This comforts of “home”, even as they dip a toe in what can feel
is despite the citizens of the global South continuing to frighteningly foreign. The ability to be cosmopolitan is a
suffer enormous structural disadvantages in international privilege rather than a virtue.
travel, given the caste system that governs passports.
One way of looking at overtourism, therefore, is
to see it as a celebration of growing global prosperity
and egalitarianism.
N ONE OF THIS is to deny that overtourism is a real
problem. What is important is to ensure that equity
is at the centre of the solutions devised to address it. So,
Moreover, some of the scorn directed at mass tourism for example, merely charging tourists more by levying
taxes, or insisting on minimum
AP daily spends, only rewards the
wealthy while punishing the
less materially endowed. In
Japan, there are restaurants
that refuse to take bookings
from foreign tourists, unless
made by the concierges of
approved hotels. Large Chinese
tour groups have been banned
from some spas and hotels.
In cities like Berlin, there has
been a crackdown on Airbnb,
and others like Milan have
outlawed selfie sticks.
Far better than these is to
devise ways to make off-season
travel more attractive. And to
lessen the huge burden on Top
10 list-sights by incentivising
tourists to explore destinations
that are off the beaten path.
Indonesia recently
announced a plan to place
SELFIETAKING HORDES WERE FANNING OUT LOCUSTLIKE some of its cultural heritage
ACROSS THE MOST SPECTACULAR MANMADE AND on Web3, a new iteration of
the internet that includes
NATURAL WONDERS OF THE WORLD, LEAVING BEHIND
blockchain technologies.
TRAMPLEDOVER, LITTERSTREWN HUSKS. THERE A dozen of the archipelago’s
WERE PHOTOGRAPHS OF QUEUES OF MOUNTAINEERS leading master craftsmen have
WAITING TO ASCEND THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT EVEREST, created a collection of NFTs,
REMINISCENT OF TAYLOR SWIFT FANS TRYING TO one-of-a-kind digital assets
CADGE A TICKET TO A CONCERT that are sold through Web3.
This is one way in which
locals who were previously
fully reliant on tourism can
by the pundits of high culture is barely disguised snobbery. begin to plan revenue streams that are not dependent
Nouveau travellers lack the cultural capital that imbues on footfalls alone.
the “right kind of tourist” with knowledge of implicit The business of solving overtourism in an inclusive way
norms. They get over-excited on planes and don’t quite is urgent. Travel is not an indulgence; it is an education.
know when to stand up or step aside. They might snag an And collectively, we need to ensure that everyone has
extra fruit from a hotel breakfast buffet and stuff it in the chance to enjoy, be astonished by, and learn from this
their handbag to eat later because economic scarcity is world, but without destroying it in the doing.

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 17

 OPEN ESSAY

By JOYA CHATTERJI

THE RAGE OF THE LIBERALS

When they pushed Gandhi to the sidelines after the Chauri Chaura violence of 1922

W
HEN HIS SUPPORTERS attacked the local police station at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi decided
to put a stop to non- cooperation. But the writing had been on the wall for some time. The more
the Mahatma saw of Indian popular movements inspired by him and other leaders, the less he
liked them. What he saw in Malabar and Chauri Chaura persuaded him that the Indian ‘masses’
lacked the discipline necessary for the rigours of non-cooperation. If attacked by the police, they
would retaliate rather than turning the other cheek; and when they hit back, they did so with a
bloodthirsty rage that appalled him.
After this, Gandhi backed away for ever from mass mobilisation. He insisted that satyagraha
was not for the many but for the select few: the handful of disciples he had tutored at his aashrams
in self-discipline and the rigorous religious practice of seeking truth. The grand dream, that the non-cooperation Khilafat campaign
would bring about swaraj in a single year, lay in ashes.
Another legacy of the Mapilla rebellion was the end of ‘Hindu-Muslim unity’, as conceived of by the Mahatma, the Ali
brothers and Maulana Azad. These men had accepted that ‘Hindus’ and ‘Muslims’ were indeed different communities, each
with its different cultures and histories, each with its own internal problems to resolve. But they had believed that ‘Hindus’ and
‘Muslims’ could work together, support each other and live peaceably as ‘good neighbours’. Heightened religiosity in politics,
they hoped, would help achieve this, as better Hindus and better Muslims would be better fellow countrymen, and more ethical
Indians. But after the Mapilla rebellion, many leaders concluded that this emphasis on religiosity was in fact heightening com-
munal competition and violence. The failure of the non-cooperation Khilafat model had revealed that practical intercommunal
cooperation required forms of leadership and social control that did not exist, and rested on alliances at the top that were simply
too weak to withstand buffeting from below.
These events created space for the return of liberal constitutionalists to the centre ground of Indian politics. They were ready,
waiting in the wings. Another factor that helped them stand forth was the fact that the Raj, weakened by war and demoralised by
these events, recognised the need for reform.
The Government of India Act of 1919 introduced the new system of ‘diarchy’, which distinguished between different ‘heads’
of power and devolved those it deemed less important to local and municipal councils. It encouraged Indians to run for elections
to these councils, where they could raise taxes and spend local monies on local welfare. Many Indians were happy to oblige.

18 24 JULY 2023
 Mahatma Gandhi with
Sarojini Naidu at the
Congress Committee
meeting, August 8, 1942

ALAMY

THESE WERE EARLY SIGNS OF A MAJOR REALIGNMENT IN THE SUBCONTINENT’S POLITICS.

ALTHOUGH MASS MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE SARKAR AND ITS LOCAL DESPOTS WOULD
CONTINUE TO ERUPT, LEADERS LIKE GANDHI AND THE ALI BROTHERS BEGAN TO RECEDE
INTO THE BACKGROUND. CONTRARY TO LEGEND, GANDHI REMAINED IN THE WINGS, FOR
THE MOST PART, IN THE YEARS BEFORE BRITAIN’S DEPARTURE IN 1947. IN THESE EARLY
DECADES OF ‘THE LONG DECOLONISATION’, DIFFERENT ALLIANCES BEGAN TO BE FORGED

While Gandhi and his closest coterie of followers, and also the
Ali brothers, called for the boycott of the new councils, they no
longer had solid majorities behind them. A large ‘Pro-changer’
group now emerged in the Congress, which preferred to work
in the reformed councils, scrutinising and debating legisla-
tion, and resisting the British state from within. The Swarajya
party, representing ‘Pro-changers’ (both Hindus and Muslims),
was born. It decided, contra Gandhi, to contest the elections.
In the Bengal council, Chittaranjan Das, the province’s most
admired Congress leader, formed an alliance with Huseyn
Shaheed Suhrawardy, a charismatic Muslim politician,
against British members of the council.
A new chasm opened up in the Congress as ‘No-changers’
battled ‘Pro-changers’ for the soul of the party. The
warfare between them was more decorous than the shoe-
hurling, head-breaking affair at Surat, but the split was
‘deeper and wider’.
These were early signs of a major realignment in the sub-
continent’s politics. Although mass movements against the
Sarkar (government) and its local despots would continue to
erupt, not least in 1942, leaders like Gandhi and the Ali broth-
ers began to recede into the background. Contrary to legend,
Gandhi remained in the wings, for the most part, in the years
before Britain’s departure in 1947. In these early decades of ‘the
long decolonisation’, different alliances began to be forged,
as Indian politicians attempted to build coalitions that could
consolidate their influence under a wounded and ever-weaker
government. In a trend enhanced by the Government of India
Act of 1935, which introduced provincial autonomy and larger
electorates, such coalition-building became ‘the new normal’.
Many of its features would endure until the 1980s.
Most political histories of twentieth-century South Asia
focus on the moments of high drama—swadeshi, non-cooper-
ation, civil disobedience, partition and the Bangladesh Libera-
tion War of 1971. Yet these moments were exceptional ruptures
in the dusty-brown fabric of the routine. If we turn our gaze
instead towards the humdrum, to the mundane mechanics of
order, what might we learn about the compromises that shaped

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 19

 OPEN ESSAY

GETTY IMAGES Courtesy NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

MOTILAL NEHRU WAS

VERY DIFFERENT, BUT
MEMORABLE IN HIS OWN
WAY. UNLIKE GANDHI OR
JINNAH, HE WAS NEVER
CALLED TO THE BAR IN
LONDON. HE ESTABLISHED
A FLOURISHING LEGAL
PRACTICE AT ALLAHABAD.
HIS COMMAND OF CASE
LAW, HIS READINESS
TO PLAY HARDBALL IN
COURT AND SOFTBALL
OUTSIDE IT, HELPS
EXPLAIN HIS RAPID RISE
TO THE TOP

the ‘everyday’ in the last decades of the Raj?
With hindsight, it is clear that the lineaments of these new
structures—already well established in the era of Gokhale—
re-emerged in the 1920s, after the Khilafat movement had
collapsed, Gandhi had withdrawn non-cooperation, and this
model of Hindu-Muslim unity had revealed its fragility.
At their heart was a set of coalitions between ‘liberals’ and
‘pragmatists’, both of whom were keen to ensure the estab-
lishment of a political order that they could influence, and
which was capable of bringing pressure to bear upon the state
without unleashing havoc on the streets, in the mills and
fields. These alliances required constant management and
negotiation. The dull political routine was thus more fragile
than it appeared to be. Each time they were reconstructed,
coalitions came again together in slightly new ways. The
emergent new order was at once brittle and tenacious.
Indian ‘liberal’ politics of this period had a different accent
from liberalism in the West. Indian liberals examined how
its different aspects (positivism, constitutionalism, justice,
economic development, social progress) were ‘suited to Indian
conditions’ or could be made so to do. Their liberalism was
grounded above all in the particularities of their colonial sta-
tus, and Queen Victoria’s proclamation. Their consciousness
of racism—the fact that they were not equal in the eyes of the
law—made them angrily committed to the liberal principle of
legal equality. Inevitably western-educated, often lawyers, they
worked for change within the law, putting pressure on the Brit-
ish by using the new councils the diarchy system had created.
They were constitutionalists to a man (or indeed woman:
Sarojini Naidu, the Bengali poetess, emerging as a major politi-
cal figure in this period). This was an age in which constitu-
tionalism matured as a robust form of politics in India.
The liberals were aware that, to succeed, they needed the
support of the pragmatists: men who wanted stability, who
wanted to make money, who knew how ‘to get their work
done’ and call in favours, and who were keen to influence
policy on matters that affected them. In this period, business-
men stepped forward in significant numbers to join politics.
In the countryside too landlords left the kutcheries (accounts of-
fices) to their naibs and aamils (deputies and chief accountants)
and joined the new local and provincial boards. In 1935, after
legislative assemblies were established in the provinces, they
fought and won elections. This was a new kind of politics for
them, but they learned its mechanics soon enough.
These new entrants into the political arena were not always
English-educated. Instead of gaining a higher education after
rudimentary schooling, many had joined the family firm,
on which so much business in South Asia rests. Yet they too
wanted change. Above all, they wanted customs barriers to
protect Indian industries, lower sales taxes and lower revenue
demands in the countryside to open up Indian markets. To
bring pressure to bear upon government, they needed political
allies who claimed to represent large communities, and liberal
friends who could articulate their case with eloquence on the
councils. But they were all clear about one thing: they wanted
change to come about in an orderly fashion. They had no desire
to shake up the status quo. They had too much to lose.
T HE KEY LIBERALS of this era were Muhammad Ali
Jinnah of Bombay, and Motilal Nehru (father of
Jawaharlal) and Tej Bahadur Sapru from the United

20 24 JULY 2023
 GETTY IMAGES
IN MANY WAYS,
MOTILAL NEHRU AND
TEJ BAHADUR SAPRU
WERE CHALK AND
CHEESE. WHERE MOTILAL
WAS SHOWY, SAPRU DID
NOT DRAW ATTENTION TO
HIMSELF. WHEN MOTILAL
THUNDERED, SAPRU
SPOKE WITH CALM
FLUENCY. HE SEEMS TO
HAVE BEEN FAR LESS
INTERESTED IN MONEY
AND THE HIGH LIFE
THAN HIS KASHMIRI
FELLOW LIBERAL
Provinces. All were lawyers and they were most comfortable
with legalistic modes of reasoning. Gokhale and Dadabhai
were their role models. Their lifestyles were urbane.
Sapru and Nehru Senior were both Brahmins whose
ancestors had migrated from Kashmir to North India in an
earlier age, where they were part of a tight-knit expatriate
community which came to wield a quite extraordinary influ-
ence over Indian politics for much of the rest of the century.
In many ways, the two men were chalk and cheese. Where
Motilal was showy, Sapru did not draw attention to himself.
When Motilal thundered, Sapru spoke with calm fluency. He
seems to have been far less interested in money and the high
life than his Kashmiri fellow liberal.
Motilal Nehru was very different, but memorable in his
own way. As part of the service elite working for the Mughal
court, Motilal’s father, Gangadhar Nehru, had been one of the
stream of refugees who fled the carnage in Delhi after the Mu-
tiny, and, having lost almost everything he possessed, soon
died in his new home in Agra. Motilal, born in 1861 three
months after his father’s death, had to make his own way in
the world. Educated in Arabic and Persian, he only joined an
English-medium school at the age of twelve. Supported by an
older brother who also died young, his education was entirely
in India; unlike Gandhi or Jinnah, he was never called to the
bar in London.
Despite these handicaps, Motilal Nehru established a
flourishing legal practice at Allahabad. His command of
case law, his readiness to play hardball in court and softball
outside it, helps explain his rapid rise to the top.
The opaque and reserved Jinnah could hardly have been
more different, although he shared Motilal’s liberal attitudes.
24 JULY 2023
TWO ACHIEVEMENTS OF
JINNAH’S EARLY CAREER
IN POLITICS GIVE A
FLAVOUR OF HIS FLAIR
FOR MEDIATION. THE
FIRST FOLLOWED AN
ATTACK IN THE PRIVY
COUNCIL ON THE
VALIDITY OF MUSLIM
WAQFS. THE SECOND,
MUCH GREATER, FEAT,
WAS THE LUCKNOW PACT
OF 1916, WHICH BROUGHT
THE CONGRESS AND
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE
INTO ALLIANCE
‘Jinnahbhai’ was born in 1876 to a family of Khoja Ismailis,
the small sect led by the Aga Khan. Although he is alleged to
have converted later to Shiism, and then to the Sunni faith, he
never disclosed his religious beliefs; we can’t be sure if indeed
he had any. Late in life, he married for love outside the com-
munity, having fallen hard for the charms of the Parsi heiress
Ruttie Petit, who was less than half his age. The attraction was
mutual: she left her family for him.
Jinnah was from a middle-income background: his father,
a small- time cloth merchant, came from the minor princely
state of Kathiawar (where Gandhi had also grown up). In
1875, the family moved to Karachi, then a small port town
in Sind, where Jinnah was educated at the madrassa. Like
Gandhi, therefore, he was an outsider to mainstream nation-
alist politics: he did not come from the typical background
or have the typical ‘English-educated’ training. Perhaps this
explains his legendary prickliness.
Two achievements of Jinnah’s early career in politics give
a flavour of his flair for mediation. The first followed an at-
tack in the privy council on the validity of Muslim waqfs—a
form of religious trust, as old as Islam itself, by which a Mus-
lim could make a religious endowment in perpetuity for the
upkeep of his descendants, or for other charitable or
religious purposes.
The second, much greater, feat, was the Lucknow Pact
of 1916, which brought the Congress and the Muslim League
into alliance. Jinnah was conscious that the biggest
stumbling block in achieving Indian nationalist unity
were Hindu-Muslim differences, and saw that both sides
would have to make major concessions for these differences
to be overcome. He worked tirelessly to achieve this, in a
www.openthemagazine.com 21
 OPEN ESSAY

ALAMY GETTY IMAGES

IN THE BENGAL COUNCIL,

CHITTARANJAN DAS, THE PROVINCE’S
MOST ADMIRED CONGRESS
LEADER, FORMED AN ALLIANCE
WITH HUSEYN SUHRAWARDY,
A CHARISMATIC MUSLIM POLITICIAN,
AGAINST BRITISH MEMBERS OF THE
COUNCIL. A NEW CHASM OPENED UP
IN THE CONGRESS AS ‘NO-CHANGERS’
BATTLED ‘PRO-CHANGERS’ FOR
Chittaranjan Das THE SOUL OF THE PARTY Huseyn Suhrawardy

series of almost balletic moves, building on alliances
he had cultivated inside each party. Using his influence
with Gokhale, Jinnah first pushed for a conciliatory gesture
from the Congress to the Muslim League. Communal
electorates—recently promised to the Simla Deputation by
Minto, and of which Jinnah did not approve—had become
a key stumbling block in the way of collaboration between
the two parties.
Next Jinnah tried to extract countervailing concessions
from the League, working with young nationalist friends
inside that party, the Raja of Mahmudabad and Syed Wazir
Hasan. On 31 December 1912, Jinnah argued successfully
for the proposal that the League change its objective to ‘the
attainment of self-government suitable to India... cooperating
with other communities for the said purpose’.
This stance moved the League several steps in the direc-
tion of the Congress, and the gesture was duly acknowledged
by the Congress, expressing at its Karachi session in 1913 its
‘warm appreciation of the adoption by the All-India Muslim
League of the ideal of Self Government’. Again Jinnah worked
behind the scenes with Gokhale to achieve this.
Next, he manoeuvred to get the Congress and the All-India
Muslim League both to meet on his own turf, in Bombay,
in 1916. The two national parties were minded to agree,
but the Bombay Provincial League—in which Jinnah had
bitter enemies, and which was split along sectarian lines
between Ismailis, Shias and Sunnis—took umbrage at not
having been consulted. Jinnah persuaded the Aga Khan,
leader of the Ismailis, to weigh in on his behalf, and the
meeting went forward, despite carping from Jinnah’s
Muslim critics.
What emerged from the meeting was the Lucknow Pact:
a ground-breaking agreement that ‘Mahomedans and
Hindus, wherever they are in a minority. . . [should be] given
proper and adequate representation having regard to their
numerical strength and position’. In the provinces where
Muslims were in a minority, they would be given weighted
representation—more seats than the demographic facts on
the ground warranted. Where Hindus were in a minority, the
same principle would be followed in their favour.
The Pact thus proposed a form of positive discrimina-
tion in a composite nation, to generate goodwill and trust
between the two largest ‘communities’. It was not—dare I say
it—a bad basis for nationhood for South Asia. Motilal Nehru
and Sapru helped cement the compromise, persuading
Hindus to relinquish to the Muslims thirty per cent represen-
tation in the United Provinces, even though they represented
barely thirteen per cent of the population. Annie Besant
(whose influence had grown enormously with the establish-
ment of the Home Rule League movement), Motilal Nehru
and even Tilak worked together to line up the Congress party
behind the Pact.
Jinnah’s role then was to persuade Punjabi and Bengali
Muslims to surrender the communal majorities that de-
mography on its own would have given them, to bolster the
position of Muslims in provinces where they were fewer in
number. This took time, but in the end they caved in to the
Bombay lawyer’s persuasion.
The Pact, achieved through a series of concessions by the
central leadership of the two parties, countered majoritarian-
ism in the provinces. While it might have had all the weak-
nesses of the multicultural politics of a later era, had it sur-
vived, the Lucknow Pact may well have had their strengths
too: it recognised group rights, and responded to the fears and
aspirations of minorities. That it failed makes it one of the
great missed opportunities in South Asian history, reminding
us once more that partition was not inevitable. Q
This is an edited excerpt from Shadows at Noon: The South Asian
Twentieth Century (Penguin, 864 pages, `999)
by Joya Chatterji. Chatterji is Professor of South Asian
History and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
She specialises in modern South Asian history and is the
author of, among other titles, The Spoils of Partition

22 24 JULY 2023
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COVER STORY

Ram’s Ho
As the long-awaited
in Ayodhya, Open gets
to the site where an ancient
B y R AJ EE V DESH PA N DE
Photographs by ASHISH SHARMA

24 24 JULY 2023
mecoming
temple rises
exclusive access
city is being rebuilt
a nd SI DDH A RT H SI NGH

Construction
underway for the
Ram temple in Ayodhya,
June 30, 2023

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 25

I
COVER STORY

T’S AROUND NOON

and there is a brief break
in the incessant rain that
has held up work at the
Ram Mandir site. Under
heavily overcast skies
marking the monsoon’s
spread across central
Uttar Pradesh (UP), the
musical cadence of temple
bells accompanies chants
of “Jai Shri Ram” that rise
in the moisture-laden air.
Undeterred by the inclem-
ent weather, hundreds of devotees throng the nar-
row passage leading to the Ram Lalla idol adjacent
to the ongoing construction, a continuous stream
sincethemorning.Thesenseofanticipationaspil-
grims peep around barricades for a glimpse of the
temple architecture now rising across Ayodhya’s
skyline is palpable. The wait for the Lord’s return
to his rightful residence has been interminable
and now the faithful are counting weeks and days
with bated breath, eager to see him in due pomp
and glory.
The garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum) that
lies at the centre of a devotee’s faith is a square
chamber at the western end of the first level of
the Ram Mandir which sits on an east-west axis.
The precise site of the idol is presently marked
by a saffron flag and devotees will receive dar-
shan of the deity at a distance of 20 feet. Bound by
three doors with gold and teak inlays, the main
idol will be a new one, that of a four-five-year-old
child Ram, and the older Ram Lalla (infant) idol
will be placed a few feet ahead. Three idols are cur-
rently being prepared and one will be chosen for AFP

26
A model of the temple
COVER STORY

the pran pratishtha (rite of consecration) slated to begin on January
14 (Makar Sankranti) next year, marking the final countdown to
the temple being finally opened to worshippers who will enter
from the eastern gate with large statues of Hanuman and Garuda
standing in welcome, one level above the Gaj and Singh dwars
(doors). The view from the east entrance, despite a renewed driz-
zle, provides an elevation with a top-down vantage of guard tow-
ers and excavation at the site where machines and vehicles have
left deep muddy tracks.
Ayodhya in rain is not quite a sight to behold. Neglected for long,
the temple city’s houses and buildings often seem worse for the
wear and stand cheek by jowl. But the frenetic pace of construc-
tion at the Ram temple complex with earthmovers and towering
cranes scooping out the earth and moving massive stone blocks
has turned parts of the city into a giant assembly site. And out of
this gigantic heap of gravel, brick and stone, something majestic is
takingshapeandisnowplainlyvisibletothenakedeye.Steadily,the
long-delayed and much-anticipated Ram temple is taking shape.
Brick by brick, pillar by pillar, the Nagara-style temple now has a
ground floor that sits on a high rectangular base with imposing
flights of stairs on three sides for worshippers to enter and exit the
fivemandaps(halls).Itsreligiousandculturalsymbolismisstriking;
the homecoming of Lord Ram seems no less momentous than the
Ramayana’s account of his return from Lanka—ever after celebrat-
ed as Deepavali. Only, in this case, the vanavas (exile) has stretched
much longer than the 14 years recorded in the epic. Along with the

‘‘
Devotees from all parts of the world are waiting to hear the news that the
Lord has returned to his rightful place. It is part of a national rejuvenation
and carries Lord Ram’s universal message that is beyond religion”
NRIPENDRA MISRA chairman, temple construction committee

rise of the temple’s ramparts, Ayodhya is getting a makeover too
with the banks of the Sarayu being redeveloped and hotels and
modern tourist facilities in the works. It seems the ancient city is
being reborn—a new Ayodhya that recreates its older glory.
Open, which was granted exclusive access to the sprawling con-
struction site, spoke to Nripendra Misra, chairman of the temple
construction committee, construction supervisors and workers
to piece together the effort to ensure that the first phase deadline
of December 2023 is met. “Devotees from all parts of the world are
waiting to hear the news that the Lord has returned to his rightful
place. It is part of a national rejuvenation and carries Lord Ram’s
universal message that is beyond religion,” says Misra, standing
under an umbrella in driving rain that has once again picked up.
The design and construction of the temple required consultation
and consensus among leading religious luminaries, architects and
engineers on an almost daily basis. Misra points to a marble umra
(a raised slab) in the passage that leads to the sanctum. The slab is
part of temple architecture and considered integral to traditional
designs. Yet it poses a risk for devotees, particularly elderly ones
who might stumble and fall. It has been decided that the slab will
go but not before a mini-religious debate. The placement of LED
bulbs that will highlight sculptures on pillars in the mandaps was
discussed at length before the positions were decided such that
they will be protected from casual or deliberate manhandling.
The roof of the first level of the complex, where column stubs on
which the upper floors will be built stick out, offers an uninter-
rupted rain-swept view of the temple’s surrounds. To the east lies
24 JULY 2023
7KHÀUVWÁRRUXQGHUFRQVWUXFWLRQ
The temple will have two floors above
the ground level. The first floor, apart
from having the Ram Darbar, will be
open to pilgrims and be a place for
religious programmes and ceremonies
and also where devotees can meditate.
The second floor will be restricted for
use of religious and other functionaries
permitted by the temple trust
the spire of the Hanuman Garhi temple and in the west, beyond
nearby residences, lie the waters of the winding Sarayu lined by
lush green fields. The languid saawan (monsoon) season seems to
heighten an air of spirituality which suffuses this ancient temple
town that even the casual onlooker would be hard put to miss.
Construction on the first floor, which will house the
Ram Darbar, showcasing Ram’s rule after his return from Lanka,
will take some time. The initial time taken to begin construction
was due to the committee having to meet the mandate that the
temple should stand for 1,000 years, says Misra. “This meant no
iron can be used as it corrodes over time. Finally, a 15-metre deep
excavation covering the area where the temple will be located
had to be carried out and engineering fill put in it as advised
www.openthemagazine.com 29
COVER STORY
by IIT, Madras.” Around the temple will be what is described
in Hindi as a parkota, roughly translated as a wall-like
structure marking the perimeter of the complex. Amenities like
a pilgrim facilitation centre and other facilities will be construct-
ed in due course as the temple construction proceeds beyond
this wall. The parkota, which will be about 800m in perimeter,
will not just be a boundary but have six-by-six feet murals that
reflect the ideals of Lord Ram drawn from accounts prior to 1850.
Bronze sculptors will craft the murals which will also include
depictions of saints, grammarians and mathematicians from
30
ancient and medieval India, such as Tulsidas, Aryabhatta and
Panini who reflect, in some way or the other, the values repre-
sented by Ram. First these will be made from fibre before being
cast in bronze. There will be around 100 murals. This work
will take time and pass beyond December 2023. Around the
main temple, beyond the parkota, will be seven temples devot-
ed to Maharishi Valmiki, Maharishi Vashistha, Vishvamitra,
Nishadraj, Shabari and Ahalya. These are well-known characters
and participants in the divine drama of Ramayana but temples
dedicated to them also carry a social message of harmony since
24 JULY 2023
 The new road being built
against the backdrop of the old road

they hail from different sections of society, conveying Ram’s Ayodhya is settled on the banks of the
inclusive message and his relevance to all. Sarayu and that creates its own civil
Sunil Tiwari, who hails from Bihar, and is a supervisor, helps
explain the approach to the sanctum which is criss-crossed with
engineering challenges. It lies in Zone III,
iron lattices. A barrier will mark the closest devotees can approach or moderate damage risk zone, in terms
the idols but the doors to the garbha griha are wide and when open of earthquakes. This is not a risk to be
allow an unhindered view of the deities. “I have been here for the
past seven months and I can see how the temple is taking shape. taken lightly given the magnitude of the
Now there is a roof on the ground floor and if you look up from the project and the CBRI in Roorkee has
sanctum, you can see a gap which will be covered by a spire,” he
been commissioned to examine all
24 JULY 2023
aspects related to structural safety
COVER STORY

says. The spire, the highest point of the temple, will rise 161 feet.
A rain-enforced break sees groups of workers gathering around
and chatting. Anil Srivastav and Paramhans Nishad are happy to
work at the site, saying it felt special to be part of the Ram Mandir
project. “I was working at a site in Delhi before I came here. This is
much better and more rewarding,” says Srivastav. Nishad agrees
that the temple is “God’s work” and along with others says the
amenities provided for workers by way of residences and work
conditions are satisfactory. The workers point out that putting
up the pillars in the halls by placing block on block did not take
much time but was the crucial part of the job to get the ground
or the first level ready on time.
The temple will have two floors above the ground level. The
first floor, apart from having the Ram Darbar, will be open to pil-
grims and be a place for religious programmes and ceremonies
and also where devotees can meditate. “It is up to the devotees
whether they want to leave after the darshan or go to the next
floor,” says Misra. The second floor will be restricted for use of
religious and other functionaries permitted by the Shri Ram
Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the temple trust. The temple plans
have grown beyond its 71-acre area. “To keep up the all-India tradi-
tion we will also add a south Indian feature. We have not acquired
the land for that purpose yet but in future there will be a gopuram
just ahead of the pilgrimage facilitation centre beyond the parkota.
A pilgrim from the south will see a feature that is recognisable,”
he says. Even now, the devotees lining up at the Ram Lalla idol in-
cludemanyfromsouthIndia.Groupsofworshipperswalkthrough
narrow lanes, their steps quickening as they approach the idol of
the infant god. Misra explains that the gopuram and the temples
devoted to the saints and other characters from the Ramayana are
meant to dispel notions that Lord Ram belongs to one region or the
other. He says “the seven or sapta rishi” temples will represent social
samanvaya, or social harmony. “In all of this, and in the temple, we
will see a reflection of our maryada purshottam Ram,” he adds.
Misra says that at the moment preparations are being made
for the pran pratishtha ceremonies due early next year in January.

Along with the rise

of the temple’s
ramparts, Ayodhya
is getting a makeover
too with the banks of
the Sarayu being
redeveloped and
hotels and modern
tourist facilities in the
works. It seems the
ancient city is being
reborn—a new
Ayodhya that
recreates its
older glory

Devotees near the temple

construction site,
June 30, 2023
This marks the completion of work related to the first phase of
the temple construction. During this phase, the sanctum sanc-
torum and the five mandaps will be completed. A letter inviting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present at the start
of construction on August 5, 2020, is being sent. The trust has
passed a resolution to this end. The presence of two idols, the
older Ram Lalla and the newer one, is placed in the context
of Hindu theology and the concept of two kinds of idols:
achal or fixed and a chal idol, one that can be moved for cere-
monial purposes. The achal idol will be the new one to be used
for pran pratishtha.
HE THREE CHOSEN sculptors are busy giving shape
T
to their creations and will also select the stone they want
to use. The National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM)
in Bengaluru is carrying out chemical and physical analysis of the
stones and will inform the trust authorities about their suitability.
17 AUGUST 2020
“The trust will also take a call on the remaining two idols and how
best to use them with respect and honour,” says Misra. It is now a
matteroftimeforthetemple’sconstructiontobecompleted.While
all the planned features of the complex will take time, it is clear that
thepoliticalandlegalchallengestotheRamtemplearenowhistory.
But what about contemporary challenges faced by the trust
and the temple-builders? The hurdles were in the nature of engi-
neering details and in the expectations of the people of Ayodhya
and beyond. “They were in the nature of what Indians wanted
to have and what their temple should be,” a trust member says.
Turning to the 1,000-year mandate, Misra says that there was no
record of such construction techniques but there are a number of
Indian temples that are 800, 1,000 and 1,200 years old. These tem-
ples continue to exist with least maintenance. But engineering
details are not available. Informed about the project’s progress,
Modi felt there should be a subject of temple engineering in some
of the IITs where all records from India—and even abroad, from
places like Cambodia and Bali—should be studied and collected.
Ayodhya is settled on the banks of the Sarayu and that creates
its own civil engineering challenges. Excavating 15m deep is
the height of a three-to-four-storied building in an area of 2.5
acres. Samples of the engineered fill used were tested at regu-
lar intervals to check for all parameters. Ayodhya lies in Zone
III, or moderate damage risk zone, in terms of earthquakes.
This is not a risk to be taken lightly given the magnitude of the
project and the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) in
Roorkee has been commissioned to examine all aspects related
to structural safety. Earthquake records of the past 500 years
were examined and designs checked to ensure the temple is able
to withstand quakes five times the maximum recorded intensi-
ty. CBRI continues to examine this, at times even on a fortnightly
basis, to see that designs are being implemented faithfully and
properly. The minute planning and daily reviews are essential
if construction deadlines are to be met. At the site itself, the form
of the Ram Mandir rising out of the massive masonry is evidence
of the synergy between design and execution.
The path to the Ram Mandir, which was finally cleared
by the unanimous ruling of a five-judge bench of the Supreme
Court in 2019, has been littered with political and religious
strife. At the height of the Ram Mandir movement, reports and
evidences were offered by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and
the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee. Interested intel-
lectuals jumped into the fray as well. The claims were tested
by an archaeological dig conducted by the Archaeological
Survey of India (ASI) that turned up the remains of a temple,
casting serious doubt on the claims regarding the antecedence
of the Babri Masjid. The destruction of the mosque by a Hindu
mob on December 6, 1992, changed the country’s politics for
good. After an initial period of isolation, the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) grew to become India’s largest political party. The
divisive political and legal battles have subsided after the
court ruling and might, with the passage of time, pave the way
for true reconciliation and a broader acceptance of India’s
cultural destiny.
www.openthemagazine.com 33
 DIPLOMACY
LAW

THE MESSENGER
Mohammad Al-Issa’s visit unveils a reformed Saudi Arabia that advoc

Muslim World League

Secretary General Mohammad
bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
in New Delhi, July 11, 2023
PIB
 FROM RIYADH
ates religious moderation and values India’s partnership
By PR RAMESH
O
N OCTOBER 2, 2022, THE MECCA-BASED
Muslim World League (MWL), in a historic first, paid
rich tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his 153rd birth
anniversary. Hailing Gandhi as the pioneer of the
philosophy of non-violence or Ahimsa, the interna-
tional NGO based out of the birthplace of Prophet
MuhammadinSaudiArabia—italsohousestheholiest
of Islamic shrines, the Kaaba—honoured the visionary freedom
fighter in glowing terms. It also urged the promotion worldwide of
the philosophy of non-violence as a powerful transformative and
uniting tool. The event signalled another landmark in the increas-
ing proximity, through the last few years after his ascent, between
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Narendra
Modi’s India, home to the third-largest Muslim population in the
world after Indonesia and Pakistan. It followed MBS’ own visit to
India in 2019 to showcase a distinct restructured vision for his own
country both at home and in its foreign policy, over and beyond a
pan-Arab and pan-Islamic identity. Riyadh is now in the thick of
calibrating a new definition of Saudi nationalism and emphasis-
ing the distinct nationalist interests of the kingdom, which now
propagatesapatriotismrootedinthe‘SaudiFirst’outlook.Religious
conservatism, Arab solidarity, Islamic unity, and a predominantly
oil-dependent economy were the kingdom’s key markers earlier.
This week marked another defining event in the close ties de-
veloping between Riyadh and New Delhi on key fronts, including
culture, geopolitics and trade. On his first visit to the Indian capital,
former justice minister in MBS’ government, Islamic scholar and
secretary general of MWL, Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa
emphasised at an event organised by the Khusro Foundation: “In
Islam, coexistence is an obligation.” He also urged better commu-
nication between cultures to address the negative trends emerg-
ing across the world. Hailing India, a Hindu-majority nation, for
its secular Constitution, he asserted that it was a great model for
coexistence for the entire world. “Indian Muslims are proud of be-
ing Indians,” he observed, adding that the Muslim component was
an important one in the language of coexistence. Contending that
diversity within societies both protected the Constitution and pro-
moted tolerance and stability, he said that differences among com-
munities should be respected and propagated through education
from a young age. Al-Issa emphasised that religion could become
a role model for cooperation, ending clashes between cultures and
civilisations. The language of religious diplomacy and interfaith
harmonywasamarkeddeparturefrommuchoftheworld’searlier
24 JULY 2023
view of Saudi Arabia as its most patriarchal theocracy, ruled by a
feudal despot, and based on conservative, rigid and archaic laws, as
well as a nation that funded and promoted radical Islam.
On July 11, Al-Issa, who is here on the invitation of the Indian
government, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss a
host of issues, including countering the growth of radicalisation
among India’s 200 million Muslims. The meet comes ahead of
Modi’s second visit to an Islamic nation in a month, this time to
the UAE for the fifth time, after his return from France. That Modi
believes firmly in improving both cultural and economic ties with
Arab nations as part of his vision is evident in India’s bilateral trade
with the UAE, currently at a very strong $85 billion, making the
Gulf nation India’s third-largest trading partner and fourth-largest
overall investor, besides being its second-largest export destina-
tion. In September 2022, India, France, and the UAE announced
a trilateral cooperation initiative in defence, energy, and health. In
June, the three countries carried out their first joint naval exercise
in the Gulf of Oman to secure the Indian Ocean against a variety of
threats. The scheduled visit to the UAE underscores India’s grow-
ing engagement with West Asia. Modi also paid a bilateral visit to
Egypt while returning from the US last month.
India’s relationship with the Arab world did not get here on its
own. It took a powerful push from the Modi government. The elec-
tion of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power and Modi taking
office as prime minister in 2014 marked a decisive turn in relations
between New Delhi and West Asia, including Saudi Arabia. The
result,overmorethannineyearsofModi’sprimeministershipdur-
ing which he has led from the front, has been dramatic. During his
two terms as prime minister, Manmohan Singh by and large stuck
with the staid and static policy and unidimensional perspective
for West Asia coined by Jawaharlal Nehru. Singh rarely visited the
region or took cognisance of its key role in shaping the geopolitical
interests of India in the Islamic world, or even its impact on India’s
Muslims. Among foreign policy experts, Modi’s revision of the tra-
ditional Congress policy for the region has provoked new discus-
sions on India’s West Asia perspectives and whether the role of
BJP’s ideology is facilitating new explanations. BJP and Modi chose
to mould a foreign policy driven by the pragmatic rather than the
ideological, and broke with the predominantly traditional, anti-
imperialist and postcolonial positions taken by Nehru. Instead of
the aseptic restriction of relations to only oil trade (Saudi Arabia
is the third-largest oil supplier to India today after Russia which
moved up the ladder after the Ukraine war began), labour (India
www.openthemagazine.com 35
 DIPLOMACY
LAW

provides labour to West Asia and remittances from the region play reach. This is historic, given that Modi was the first Indian prime
a significant role in the economy), and religion on account of its minister to visit some of these nations and certainly the first to be
significant Muslim population, Modi has deliberately set out to so honoured. Former diplomat G Parthasarathy once described
rewrite India’s relations with Arab nations. Modi’s ability to craft a strong relationship with Islamic states as
Apart from gradual diplomatic recognition and a pro-active his best foreign-policy achievement. Significantly, there is a huge
partnership with Israel, India today has a strong geopolitical domestic component to his political vision since co-opting Mus-
footing in the West Asian region to counter Pakistan’s designs, lim Indians at home and calming the opposition against issues
in connecting with Arab nations solely by flaunting the common like CAA, mandatory unveiling in government schools, prayer
Islamic moorings, and to check China’s interests in the region too. congregations on private property, the abrogation of Article 370,
India also has high stakes in counter-terrorism and de-radicali- and the current debate on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would
sation and sees itself as a world leader in this.
Defying most projections, Modi has been
able to persistently build one-on-one rela-
Mohammad Al-Issa
tions with the leaders of individual nations and NSA Ajit Doval
and a dynamic foreign policy instead of a in New Delhi, July 12, 2023
longer-term ideologically static policy. He
has successfully managed to have relations
with both Iran (despite US disapproval) and
Saudi Arabia, and has endorsed India’s friend-
ship with Israel even as he built personal re-
lations with the Arab nations, just as he has
balanced relations with both Russia and the
US against the backdrop of events in Ukraine.
Today, issues like Kashmir (provoked by
Islamabad) and the abrogation of Article 370
or the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)
are perceived in West Asian nations more as
India’s internal matters than issues of Islamic
concern. Modi’s strategy has allowed joint ex-
ercises with countries in the region besides
being part of the I2U2 (UAE, the US, India and
Israel) and groupings similar to the Quad for
the region. Happily, for India, its decision to Photographs by ASHISH SHARMA
rework its relations comes in the wake of sig-
nificant restructuring and redefining of national interests among all go a long way in cementing relations with Islamic nations and
individual states in West Asia, in consonance with the after-effects ensuring a sound political footing at home.
of the Arab Spring and the urge among ruling regimes to insulate Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have themselves,
themselves against the danger of overthrow. The process of more especially post-2010 and the events of the Arab Spring, chosen
liberal social reform and relaxation of laws used against ordinary to depart from viewing their relations within the region and
people, the discovery of new interests and forging of relations out- globally through the Israel prism alone and have begun to restruc-
side the region with prominent non-Islamic nations, promoting ture themselves on the newly coined principles of nationalism in
interfaith relations among Muslim societies and de-emphasising Arabia (as opposed to Arab nationalism earlier). Modi has grabbed
aggressive and insular activities related to the tenets of a conserva- the opportunity with both hands.
tive Islam are all part of this exercise as West Asian nations break
with the dominant Arab solidarity and Islamic unity tenets that

M
had defined them earlier.
Modi, astute politician that he is, sensed a huge opportunity
in reworking India’s own equations with Arab nations, better
serving its geopolitical, strategic and trade interests.
Modi’s determination to change the narrative has meant
that from the UAE and Bahrain onwards, several other Islamic
countries and nationalities, such as Afghanistan, the Maldives,
Saudi Arabia, the Palestinians, have all honoured Modi with their
highest civilian awards, based on his personal diplomatic out-
OHAMMAD AL-ISSA’S ADDRESS to religious lead-
ers in India is perceived as a plea for the practice of Islam
to become more open and modern, less insular and
conservative. It comes after widespread protests in recent years
against a spate of issues, including CAA and now UCC. Counter-
radicalism, promoting religious moderation and peace among
communities in a diverse nation are key ingredients of India’s
foreign policy and New Delhi has sought to connect with such
voices in the Islamic world.

36 24 JULY 2023
 I salute Indian democracy
from the bottom of my
heart. I salute the
Constitution of India.
I also salute the Indian
philosophy and tradition
that taught harmony
to the world
MOHAMMAD AL-ISSA
secretary general,
Muslim World League
An ardent advocate of social reform and a key proponent of
moderation in Islamic practice in a modernised Saudi Arabia,
Al-Issa is seen to be close to MBS and empowered to use religious
diplomacy to unveil Riyadh’s reformed profile to the rest of the
world. His opinions today impact aspects of predominantly Mus-
lim societies, both at home and abroad, from more freedom to
women, accepted norms of behaviour in public, relaxing man-
datory veiling rules and multiple marriages, to adoption, inheri-
tance, and so on. With the rapidly downgraded importance of
the ministry of Islamic affairs and its moral police, it is powerful
organisations like MWL that have become MBS’ most preferred
tools to further his country’s charm offensive.
In his address at the event on July 11, National Security
Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval hailed Al-Issa as an “authentic voice
of moderate Islam admired by millions the world over.” The In-
dian Muslim population, he pointed out, almost paralleled the
combined population of 33 member states of the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Describing India as a refuge for
heterodox ideas with an infinite capacity to absorb dissent, Doval
pointed to the “incredibly low” number of recruits from India by
radical organisations even when emphasising that the threat of
terrorism did not, however, allow for a lowering of the guard.
Over the decades, MWL has exerted expansive influence over
Muslims the world over, including Indians, who now account for
14.2 per cent of the country’s 19,50,00,000 population. Saudi Ara-
bia’s global propagation of Wahhabism, as the custodian of Islam’s
holiest shrines and fuelled by the petro dollar, lent it immense le-
gitimacy, with Muslims everywhere holding up Riyadh’s version
of Islam as the model to follow. Along with other NGOs, the league
exercised immense extra-constitutional powers both in Saudi Ara-
24 JULY 2023
biaandelsewhere,supportingproselytism(inIslam,da’wahmeans
inviting people to Islam) and funding radical organisations rooting
aggressively for political Islam, espoused by both Iran and Turkey.
Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 saw the
Muslim Brotherhood opposing intervention by the US, deepen-
ing differences with the Saudi ruling family. After the liberation
of Kuwait in 1991, the Al Saud family saw the first signs of oppo-
sition in the form of Al Sahwa, which called for political reforms
and the overthrow of the ruling regime. Al Sahwa was allegedly
inspired by the Brotherhood. The events of 9/11 came as a second
shock, with 15 of the 19 perpetrators identified as Saudi youth
who followed the doctrinal activism advocated by the Brother-
hood. Then interior minister and crown prince, who died in 2012,
Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, accused the Muslim Brotherhood in 2002 of
being the root cause of most problems in the Arab world. The same
Saudi royal family that supported the Brotherhood for years is now
firmly opposed to it and other groups like it, besides choosing mod-
eration in Islam. The existential crisis confronting it has also meant
that the House of Saud, in an effort to shore up its own safety and
longevity, is also taking on the political Islam of Turkey and Iran.
Along the way came the crumbling of the highly oil-de-
pendent economy of Venezuela and the Covid-19 pandemic
that brought down oil sales to an all-time low, prompting
Mohammed bin Salman to extend the path taken by his father
and insulate his country by building a strong economic infra-
structure beyond oil trade. These turning points for the West
Asian giant have signalled the arrival of a transforming new king-
dom that showcases new aspirations and ambitions. This un-
leashing of an unprecedented charm offensive by Riyadh prom-
ises to be a sound investment for India and Narendra Modi.
www.openthemagazine.com 37
 ECONOMY
BIGGER THAN
A BACK OFFICE
The rapid expansion of global capacity centres in India
is marked by innovation and high tech that can fuel
growth and raise incomes
By RAJEEV DESHPANDE
A
merican political commentator Thomas L
Friedman, author of the 2005 prize-winning
book The World is Flat, described the benefits
of the rise of India’s IT sector as not only pro-
viding employment to millions but also pre-
venting the spread of terrorism and extrem-
ism. “Imagine if one-fifth of humanity living
in India were living like the people in Iraq today, blowing up each
other in their houses of worship and on the streets,” he told an
interviewer in 2006. In his book, Friedman correctly recognised
the growth of India beyond just an “off shoring” centre or a sup-
plier of cheap English-speaking hires. What he may not have
reckoned with was India’s transformation into an innovation
hub delivering solutions integral to the growth plans of hundreds
of top global companies.
The journey from being a cost arbitrage destination or a ‘back
office’ to the world to the point where every second global capac-
ity centre (GCC) is being set up in India has not been always re-
garded as so certain. As recently as May 2021, a leading UK finan-
cial daily questioned whether India’s off-shoring business faced
its “hour of reckoning” in the wake of the deadly Delta second
wave disrupting operations. The “India model” was seen at risk,
impacting global banks and technology companies. The dooms-
day prophesies failed as India overcame the supply constraints
in anti-Covid vaccines by August 2021, and when the third wave
arrived in January 2022, casualties were low and infections
subsided fast.
The National Association of Software and Service
Companies (NASSCOM) vice president for industry initiatives,
KS Viswanathan, is dismissive of terms like ‘outpost’ and ‘captive
centres’, sometimes used to describe the operations of MNCs in
India. “The time when operations here could be largely described
as ‘lift and shift’ and were typically about cost is over. The phase
where offices here were ‘satellite’ stations focusing on delivery
38
excellence and thereafter enterprise and talent is also behind us.
Today, 48 per cent of GCCs are involved in product innovation and
design,” he says. The development and application of software is
a significant point of convergence for most companies with auto-
mation and product development leading the list. For some global
auto companies, almost every top product has an Indian imprint.
Far from dampening its prospects, India’s response to the Cov-
id pandemic, particularly when normalised for population, raised
the confidence of international companies about their Indian
operations. By December 2021, India’s cumulative vaccination
coverage was 144.45 crore (84.3 crore first doses and 60.14 crore
second doses), with nearly 90 per cent of the adult population vac-
cinated. There are more than 1,580 GCCs with 2,740 units in India
(FY23) with a $46 billion market size projected to grow at 11.4
per cent (compound annual growth rate, or CAGR). The talent
recruitment is spread beyond Tier I cities and operations in areas
like HR and finance—apart from tech-related areas—are witness-
ing increasing sophistication. India is transitioning to GCC wave
4.0 by developing key competencies and leadership that impact
almost all aspects of a business, says a NASSCOM report.
Debashis Neogi, managing director at Renault Nissan Technol-
ogy & Business Centre India in Chennai, agrees that the nature
of GCCs is evolving rapidly. “Operations in India deliver value
and this is part of our DNA. This is not just about cost arbitrage
or less manpower cost but the overall cost competitiveness and
value creation that is important for product development,” he
says. The company is close to being a 10,000-strong workforce in
India with 50 per cent hires from engineering streams and the rest
in ISIT (information systems/information technology) and Busi-
ness Services (Finance, HR, etc). Describing the change in GCC
functions, Neogi says in the early stage of its GCC journey in India,
operations catered to basic tasks and developing and supporting
products for the local market. Today, the Renault Nissan Tech
Centre in India is involved in full-fledged product development
24 JULY 2023
THE TALENT
RECRUITMENT IS
SPREAD BEYOND TIER I
CITIES AND OPERATIONS
IN AREAS LIKE HR AND
FINANCE—APART FROM
TECH-RELATED AREAS—
ARE WITNESSING INCREASING
SOPHISTICATION. INDIA IS
TRANSITIONING TO GCC
WAVE 4.0 BY DEVELOPING
KEY COMPETENCIES AND
LEADERSHIP THAT
IMPACT ALMOST ALL
ASPECTS OF A BUSINESS

Illustration by SAURABH SINGH

www.openthemagazine.com 39
 DIPLOMACY
ECONOMY

for the local market and is also playing a supportive role in global in sophistication—and the increasing presence of large inter-
operations. The learning curve has led to a strong Made in India national companies with legacy knowledge of biology, chem-
imprint with production of the Renault Kwid hatchback at 95 per istry and medicine. About one-third of Novartis’ GCC hires are
cent localised and the quotient for the Nissan Magnite SUV and involved in what he refers to as “deep tech”. While Gullapalli’s
Renault Kiger/Triber, also reaching 90 per cent-plus local content. observations relate to the pharma sector, they are broadly appli-
TheglobalheadofNovartisCorporateCenters,NaveenGullapalli, cable in other segments of business and industry as well, with
concurs that there is a larger story to the growth and transforma- India offices gaining a major role in the international operations
tion of GCCs. “There is a long or strategic view to what we are wit- of leading MNCs.
nessing. The projections are that India will provide 20 per cent of The last decade has seen every industry and trade coming to
the world’s work force by 2047, which is not all that far off. There India and this is helping companies improve functions across
is a growth mindset and a supportive talent ecosystem,” he says. their value chains, says Gullapalli. He agrees that India’s ability to
India is witnessing a fusion of local capabilities—steadily gaining respond to the pandemic over time was a significant milestone as
it did so in a transparent manner. “It was
a litmus test and did create confidence in
India’s capabilities,” he says. He added
that Novartis was committed to playing
A POWERHOUSE OF TALENT its role and its staff rose to the occasion
during testing times. He emphasised the
Total GCC Units Total GCC Units in Tier-II Total GCC Talent in Tier-II
precise nature of research in the pharma
(FY 2023) : 2740+ and Tier-III cities: 215+ and Tier-III cities: 71K+ sector where medicines are crucial to
saving lives, pointing out that the gains
serve patients all over the world.
Banking services have been a visible
link to off-shoring operations in India
5%
and Citi India has seen considerable
8% 15 %
6% diversification of operations, including
7% 7% the establishment of market intermedi-
aries and IT-backed financial services.
Stating that its first operations in India
17 % began in 1902, the group became a recog-
nisable presence in the 1980s and 1990s,
15 % entering every sector of banking. It has
more than 27,000 employees working
in its Indian GCCs at five locations. The
increasing involvement of GCCs can be
gauged by the fact that they now cater to
as many as 80 of the 95 markets where
Citi has a presence. About 55-60 per cent
12 % 14 % of its hires in India are related to technol-
18 % ogy and analytics. There is a clear pivot
13 % in the group’s operations towards cut-
12 % ting-edge processes and excellence that
14 % has given the India operations a seat at
Citi’s top decision-making level. It is a
coveted seat at the table marking a sig-
10% 7% nificant transition from call centre-type
of tasks with a radical change in the na-
15 % 5% ture of jobs and roles. The blend of trade,
finance and technology is opening new
avenues that push India-based expertise
further up the value chain.
Viswanathan agrees that the ability
Source Zinnov Research & Analysis * Others include cities such as Goa, Mysuru, Indore, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, Madurai, etc
of Indian GCCs to deliver during the
pandemic was important in building
Graphic by SAURABH SINGH

40 24 JULY 2023
trust. “There was no drop in services.
In fact, the level of operations has only
THE TRANSITION TO but is not a substitute for quality or
serious workmanship. There was a
scaled up in volume and expertise,” GCC 4.0 WAS NOT EASILY danger in the 1990s and early 2000s
he points out. There is a confidence, VISUALISED EVEN FIVE that India might find itself relegated
says Gullapalli, that Indian growth to a low-skill economy. But progres-
prospects are almost recession-free. YEARS AGO BUT A sive economic reforms and a lightly
The development of design and op- COMBINATION OF THE regulated IT sector helped India
erations is continuous, whether it is
sensor-operated lights in luxury cars
AADHAAR ECOSYSTEM move up the ladder. The transition
to GCC 4.0 was not easily visualised
(where a wave of a hand turns on a THAT PROVIDED even five years ago but a combina-
light) or cloud operations at German IDENTITY CONFIRMATION tion of the Aadhaar ecosystem that
firm Bosch which has 30,000 associ- provided identity confirmation in
ates and consolidated sales of around IN LESS THAN less than half-a-second and a series
`11,800 crore. Every development fills HALF-A-SECOND AND A of policy initiatives to improve ease
a technology gap and marks an ad- of business and transparency began
vance, such as the design and test- SERIES OF POLICY to deliver results. More recently, the
ing of a windshield-wiper system INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE resilience of the Indian economy and
at Bengaluru for Collins Aerospace.
The Adobe Firefly AI art generator
EASE OF BUSINESS AND the growth of Tier II and III cities be-
gan to fuel growth as well. As Neogi
and hardware and software systems TRANSPARENCY BEGAN points out, Renault Nissan’s recruit-
for Phillips CT scanners have an TO DELIVER RESULTS ment goes beyond the top institutes
India connect, too. On the hiring and the pandemic demonstrated that
side, around 75 per cent are laterals employees can be skilled and trained
and 25 per cent fresh employees, through remote strategies as well.
somewhat different from usual corporate profiles. The growth in GCCs based on the location of headquarters
India’s embrace of digitalisation and the benefits of India has been seen in the context of all global locations, such as the
Stack, which stands for a set of open APIs and digital public goods, Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific (APAC).
are clearly seen as a facilitator and a boost to the country’s innova- In fact, it has been the fastest for APAC and engineering research
tion ecosystem. The digital stack that aims to facilitate identity and development account for 42 per cent of hires but IT, finance
verifications and payments at a “population scale” has been a and accounting are not far behind. As GCCs change, the core
huge success. Some 67 billion digital identity verifications, `14 expertise in customer-centric business development remains
trillion monthly mobile payments, 8.6 billion volume in trans- a key capability, along with monetising services and, increas-
actions and 10 operational account aggregators are a powerful ingly, work on policy formulation relating to government.
argument in favour of India’s business environment. As Renault Much of these transitions are leading to companies strategically
Nissan’s Neogi points out, Indian offices are urging parent firms prioritising their portfolios in India, according to NASSCOM,
to consider India’s prospects in totality and that includes a market with executives saying that the movement from portfolio to
transformed by the efficiency and transparency of digital technol- transformation hubs is very much underway. Stage 1 of autono-
ogies and payment systems. India’s digital leap has encouraged a mous driving and AI-based medical imaging is an example of
vigorous startup culture that in turn is generating reams of data the process of transformation relating to GCCs based in India,
and science as also training Indians in cutting-edge capabilities. making them indispensable to parent companies. The multiple
“India Stack is a set of layered capabilities that India has built over aspects of the functioning of GCCs are reflected in the growth
the last 15 years, each of which is at population scale, at very low of triangular partnerships with academia and startups.
cost, accessible at your fingertips, on your phone, and all interop- The upshot of the proliferation of GCCs and the growing di-
erating with each other,” Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani versity in their functioning is that the expertise and experience
said during an interaction with Morgan Stanley in May this year. is helping fill critical gaps in India’s industrial-technological
GCC operations span legal, HR, compliance, regulatory, tech, base that have held it back in the past. Deepening cooperation
logistics and analytics and have moved from mostly trouble- with countries like the US that lead in technology and innova-
shooting to solution-oriented work. There was a time when the tion should provide further momentum to India’s capabilities
word jugaad (non-conventional solutions often making use of while encouraging American businesses to expand invest-
limited resources) was associated with the Indian approach to ments and, more importantly, pursue collaborations in critical
problem-solving. Though no doubt reflective of an innovative sectors like defence, space, avionics, agriculture, and science.
mindset, jugaad was essentially low-tech and offered temporary Free trade arrangements with the UK, Canada and the EU will
solutions and could not be celebrated beyond a point. Jugaad do the same. Indian tech and innovation capacities could be at
might help fix a vehicle that has broken down on a highway a tipping point.

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 41

 LAW
DIGITAL RECK
7KHGDWDSURWHFWLRQELOOLVWKHÀUVWVWHSWRZDUGVVDIHJXDUGLQJSHUVRQDO
By SIDDHARTH SINGH
L
AST WEEK, THE UNION CABINET
gave the green light to the Digital Per-
sonal Data Protection Bill. The Bill is
likely to be tabled in Parliament in the
Monsoon Session. The Bill provides a
charter of rights and obligations for in-
dividuals and data processors as well as a
hefty schedule of penalties ranging up to
` 250 crore in case of certain violations.
The Bill has been in the works for a
long time and was first outlined in 2018. Last August, the govern-
ment withdrew the Bill and promised to come back with compre-
hensive legislation. In November last year, it released a draft Bill
for debate and discussion. While the Bill cleared by the Cabinet
has not been released, it is expected that the broad contours of the
Bill will be along the lines of the draft released last year.
As can be expected for any legislation of such magnitude, criti-
cism has begun mounting just before the Bill is to be presented in
Parliament. Much of the criticism has come from privacy activists
and civil society members who claim the Bill is heavily loaded in
favour of the government. Some of it is unwarranted.
For many privacy activists, the deemed consent clause of
the Bill (Section 8) is unusually loaded in favour of the gov-
ernment and other data processors/fiduciaries. According to
these activists, the deemed consent clause is far-reaching and
gives insufficient protection to individuals. But a close read-
ing of Section 8 shows that requirements for deemed consent
are essential for both running a modern, information-based
economy as well as the functioning of government. The sec-
tion does include a sub-section that introduces a novel concept
42
of public interest. This is wide-ranging and includes network
and information security, operation of search engines for pro-
cessing publicly available personal data, recovery of debt and
prevention of fraud, among other matters.
A further sub-section weighs between the interests of data
fiduciaries and individuals—data principals in the Bill’s par-
lance—as well as the “reasonable expectations” of data prin-
cipals. All these sections are likely to witness intense debate
within and outside Parliament.
On paper, it seems that taking consent of individuals is just a
matter of a click for any company or private enterprise. But in re-
ality, there are additional compliance costs associated with such
steps. When these ‘benefits’ are read along with the duties of a
data fiduciary, the balance sheet is more or less even.
The one area where the dice is loaded in favour of the govern-
ment is on public order, national security, and the interests of the
state. This was to be expected in this Bill and it is unlikely that
there will be any major change on this score in the text of the Bill
that will be presented in Parliament.
In this context, there has been a hot debate on the exemptions
outlined in Section 18 of the Bill. These are indeed wide-ranging
and include a near-blanket exemption for government agencies
as and when notified by the government. Activists contend that
this can be done on the basis of a ‘mere’ notification. They say
this lowers the bar on privacy when compared to the Supreme
Court’s judgment in the privacy rights case (Puttaswamy). Many
of these activists worry that Section 18(4) of the Bill exempts any
government agency from deletion of an individual’s data after
use and allows the retention of such data for a possibly long
and unspecified period. Privacy activist Apar Gupta claims this
24 JULY 2023
ONING
LQIRUPDWLRQRQOLQH
violates the “principle of purpose limitation”.
The reality is different. When it comes to the private sector,
the danger emerges from the use of large aggregates of data to
predict individual behaviour through data mining and artificial
intelligence (AI) techniques. This is an emerging area where the
effects of such modelling and prediction at the individual and
social levels are yet to be fully understood. In this context, it is
essential that data retention—if needed—is tightly regulated.
It would be best if such data is automatically erased, especially
when in the hands of private corporations. Here, the Bill is weak
and instead of an automatic erasure of data, it prescribes that a
data principal can approach a data fiduciary to erase his/her data.
This is weak medicine against powerful corporations that can
THE IRE OF ACTIVISTS
IS DIRECTED AT THE
EXEMPTIONS FOR STATE
AGENCIES IN STORING DATA.
THE REALITY IS THAT MANY
OF THESE EXEMPTIONS ARE
NECESSARY FOR LEGAL
PURPOSES AS WELL AS
PROCESSING OF DATA
FOR INVESTIGATIONS
24 JULY 2023
Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
store such data with the individual having no means to verify if
the data has indeed been erased. These are genuine and worrying
trends as observers of developments in the use of information by
large corporations can testify.
In contrast, the ire of these activists is directed at the govern-
ment and the exemptions for its agencies in storing data and other
provisions of the Bill. The fear expressed is that this could lead to
largescale surveillance and that other parts of the state—like the
legislature—would exercise insufficient scrutiny of the govern-
ment. The reality is that many of these exemptions for govern-
ment agencies are necessary for legal purposes, such as judicial
proceedings, law and order matters, as well as processing of data
for investigations. The one exemption for national security pur-
poses is outlined in Section 18 Part 2(a). This states: “The Central
Government may, by notification, exempt from the application
of provisions of this Act, the processing of personal data: (a) by
any instrumentality of the State in the interests of sovereignty
and integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with
foreign States, maintenance of public order or preventing incite-
ment to any cognizable offence relating to any of these.”
The wording of this section is identical with the “reasonable
restrictions” to Article 19 of the Constitution that deals with
“fundamental freedoms”. As such, there is nothing out of place
in this section: it transposes to the digital domain what is other-
wise available elsewhere.
This is where the hollowness of the activist approach to pri-
vacy becomes obvious. If left to civil society, NGOs and others,
there would be a blanket ban on government when it came to
processing and retaining any kind of data. The reasons are not
hard to discern. Many of these activists and NGOs are closely
www.openthemagazine.com 43
 LAW
INDIA’S DIGITAL ECONOMY IS ESTIMATED TO
RANGE BETWEEN $150 AND $200 BILLION IN
2023. IT IS EXPECTED TO JUMP TO $1 TRILLION BY
2030. IT HAS TAKEN A LONG TIME TO EVEN
FORMULATE A BILL FOR DATA MANAGEMENT.
THERE IS NO POINT TRYING TO GET A ‘PERFECT’
LAW IN AN AREA THAT IS STILL EVOLVING
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology
involved in political activities while they profess neutrality. Many
of India’s restive regions with a history of violence and separatism
require careful handling and in these regions the government is
well within its rights to keep a close eye on so-called activists. A
law-abiding citizen has hardly any reason to fear these provisions
as he is not in the zone where he puts others in danger.
One interesting case where activists have opposed a portion of
the Bill is Section 16, Part 4. This section reads: “A Data Principal
shall furnish only such information as is verifiably authentic
while exercising the right to correction or erasure under the pro-
visions of this Act.” This is a harmless, good-faith, provision. But
the ire against it reflects something else. Imagine you are run-
ning an anonymous social media account that vents freely on
all subjects. Suppose you delete your account and you want all
information deleted. In that case you will have to provide authen-
44
tic personal information while making
the request. But what this will do is make
anonymity difficult. This anonymity
has been linked to the “right to dissent”
by activists. The politics of this right is
quite obvious.
The same activist mindset informs
criticisms against the compliance
framework of the Bill. The Bill provides
for a Data Protection Board of India.
The board will be tasked with receiving
complaints and grievances and hear-
ing these and finding solutions. The
board, including its chairperson, will
be appointed by the government. This
has not gone down well with activists
who think the board will not be ‘inde-
pendent’. If left to these activists, NGOs
and civil society members, the board
should have an independent appoint-
ing authority just as in the case of lead-
ing institutions. Government, in this
view, is best left with a peripheral role.
This is again part of the drive where
key institutions are by design sought to
be distanced from the executive while
turning the government into a series of
checks and balances. It is another matter
that in a country like India this is a recipe
for governmental paralysis where each
institution does what it pleases, all in the
name of autonomous functioning.
Whenever the Bill gets passed, it will
make a beginning towards establishing
a system of rights and obligations in the
REUTERS
digital arena. India’s digital economy is
variously estimated to range anywhere
from $150 to $200 billion in 2023. It is
expected to jump to $1 trillion by 2030.
For an area growing by leaps and bounds it is incongruous that
it lacks a charter of digital rights and obligations. India’s digital
economy began its slow march at the turn of the 21st century and
has grown fast in the last five to seven years. It is strange that it
has taken nearly a quarter century for enabling legislation in the
area. For sure, there are laws like the Information Technology Act,
2000. But that law deals with regulation and not the management
of data and information and privacy safeguards. India has taken
a long time to even formulate a Bill for this purpose. There is no
point trying to get a ‘perfect’ law in an area that is still emerging
and one where technological changes are bound to outpace any
legal framework that can be devised. There will be later occasions
when the law can be amended after seeing how it works. In the
interim, courts and watchful citizens can always keep an eye on
how the law evolves. Q
24 JULY 2023
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DISPATCH

24 JULY 2023
Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
Tribal women are being labelled as witches
and killed by their kin in parts of eastern India

By ADITI NARAYANI PASWAN

M
ERI ROOH KAAP UTHTHI HAI, This research has also brought me in touch with a handful of
USS din ke baarein mein soch ke (I am scared women who have survived by a whisker and lived to tell the tale.
to death thinking of that dreadful day),” Simply put, in tribal India, especially in the eastern Indian
a young man recalls while narrating the states mentioned here, the charge of witchcraft continues to
cold-bloodedmurderofanoldwomaninhis be employed by men to grab land, money, and other resources
neighbourhoodonachillingNovemberday from women who are labelled “dayan” or “dakan” (witch) before
of 2022 at Baihatu village in the Tonto subdivision of Jharkhand’s they are eliminated. Some of the victims include a woman who
Singhbhum district. The woman had to die because she cast an evil had sought postpartum treatment at a hospital, another who lit
spell on the rest of the villagers, the elders had decided. the funeral pyre of her mother, and then a woman who married
The elders here comprise a group of men who have the power the man she loved, of course, from the same tribal community.
to preside over the destiny of the others in this remote country- They were mostly burnt alive. The younger ones were gangraped
side. In this backward tribal hamlet frozen in time, most resi- before they were killed.
dents are either illiterate or semi-literate. Patriarchy here isn’t a Their crime? They dared to challenge the power dynamics in
seminar-room expression in a plush 21st-century setting. The their communities. The result: they were persecuted as wielders of
woman wouldn’t die an easy death. She would be beaten until she black magic, a patriarchal ruse weaponised against women since
fell unconscious; when she regained consciousness, she would the dawn of time to rein in inconvenient ones. Such brutalities in
be paraded naked across the village alleys until the last ounces of the country’s hinterland serve as a reminder of how women’s posi-
her strength ebbed away. And then she would be burnt to death. tion in a section of society continues to be precarious, and that any
Unlike Joan of Arc at the stake in 1431, nobody would ever bring deviation from their prescribed roles transforms them into targets.
her name up and canonise her cen-
turies from now because she lived
and died a nonentity, a victim of
superstitions, and the cunning of The NCRB data reveal the killings of 310
men whose aim possibly could ‘witches’ between 2018 and 2021 nationwide.
have been her property.
A year earlier, in broad daylight, While Odisha recorded 2,500 such killings
on an October afternoon, in the between 2000 and 2016, Jharkhand saw 377
Potka block of East Singhbhum
district, Jharkhand, another old ‘witch murders’ from 2015 to 2022
tribal woman was smeared with
urine and faeces, thrashed with
sticks, stripped naked and paraded around the village on a bull- The connection between femininity and accusations of
ock cart. She was found dead in her mud house the next day. In witchcraft has roots in most parts of the world. In the 17th cen-
the case of young women, rejecting sexual advances may mean tury, Salem, Massachusetts, US, witnessed a series of witch hunts.
being branded a witch. Following public “witch trials”, over a dozen young girls were
My ethnographic studies across Jharkhand, Odisha, West burnt to death there. Throughout pre-modern Europe and colo-
Bengal, and Bihar since 2021 have put me face-to-face with 21 nial America, this savage practice was routine, especially amidst
such instances of tribal women being accused of possessing black socio-religious turmoil, epidemics, and largescale property con-
magic charms and later killed. All those who have died perished flicts. Similarly, in Indian folklore, we have heard of the daini and
at the hands of their communities. It meant the news of the kill- the pishachi using black magic to wrongfully possess, corrupt,
ings never attracted much attention, not to talk of an outcry over and pollute their targets. Such gendered powerplay is seen in
gender-based crimes. Police forces in these areas are unable to the occurrences of “witch hunts” in contemporary tribal India,
take action due to the local customs and silence around such kill- too. Notwithstanding the government’s best efforts to close the
ings. In the absence of official complaints and police inquiries, gender gap, some cultures are bound by old habits that go by the
such acts of violence are normalised, except for the occasional name of traditions or customs.
revelations from the young man quoted at the start of the story. The targeting of tribal women by their own men has persisted,

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 47

DISPATCH

but increasingly for motives other than superstition

and religious or cultural faith. As recently as October
Baihatu village in Jharkhand
2021, a 55-year-old tribal woman from Mangadu vil-
which frequently witnesses
lage, Jharkhand, was murdered by two youths after attacks on women labelled
the duo claimed she was a witch. As usual, she was as witches
mercilessly thrashed with sticks and paraded naked
before she was killed. Unexpectedly, though, the in-
cident caused a furore.
Tribals in these parts of India typically are closed
forest groups who worship nature, animals, and
other totems. Being traditionalists, they understand
nature and ecology through methods of observation,
which may not always be scientific. As a result, any
ecological imbalance is perceived as someone’s evil
spell. Crop failure, land issues, floods and droughts,
and incessant rains are all blamed on the evil eye.
Literature suggests that tribal civilisations in certain
belts of India had a higher prevalence of patriarchal
institutions and therefore, historically, there has been
a strong link between allegations of witchcraft and
gender tensions in indigenous groups. Low literacy
rates and significant backwardness in these locales
haven’t helped the tribals change with the times.
Therefore, they end up behaving in the same fash-
ion as people did in pre-modern societies. However,
the modern witch hunt isn’t about superstitions and
tradition alone, but about a certain power play that
comes into effect to silence women.
Witchcraft as a practice works in consensus with
both mass approval and mass involvement, mostly
embedded in norms of adherence to traditional and
cultural affiliations. Traditionally, across cultures, the so-called will help me become normal again.”
witches are first given a bad name and then treated as fair game. The ojha then walked out and addressed the village crowds
As we know from literature, tribals believe that women who have saying that her blood was deep maroon in colour, and that her
the power of black magic can cause crop failure, unforeseen death blood flow wasn’t “fast enough”. His interpretation was that ma-
in a family, ailments, and the reversal of fortunes, meaning they roon is close to black, and that she needed to be “treated” by him.
can turn a rich man poor. Once a woman is identified as a witch,
she is first made a village outcast, relegating her to living on the

periphery of her village. Killing them is not always the preferred
norm, but as it emerges now, the number of killings is on the rise.
None of this is without a reason.
My study puts the spotlight on the manipulative nature of
men in these societies.
A not-so-often acknowledged but widely practised phenom-
enon is the blind belief in the ojha, or a pandit. These men position
themselves as experts who claim to communicate with ghosts
and spirits. In Purulia district of West Bengal, my team and I met
a woman who was accused of being a witch. She said on condition
of anonymity, “He [the ojha who came to her village to meet her]
asked me if I could eat rice without experiencing any hiccups. Do
I feel pain when I perform domestic chores, like washing clothes
or grinding lentils on the sil-batta [stone mortar pestle]? When I
said I had no difficulty, he looked grim. The ojha then took a drop
of my blood using a pin and examined its colour. Then he said he
E
SSENTIALLY, WHAT HE did was to scare families in
the village and extract money to perform pujas that can
“protect the area from the evil eye” of the alleged witch.
The illiterate villagers look up to the ojha and offer him presents
because they believe he is risking his life for the good of the village.
It is an irony that this village is so poor that most people here are
anaemic from malnourishment. The womenfolk here have low
bone density and suffer from anaemia once they cross age 30.
From 2017 to 2022, at least 21 cases of tribal witch hunts
have been reported in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and
Odisha. First, women are classified as witches to settle personal
grudges or dishonour to a family apart from the motive to secure
their land. The “witches” are often single and/or widowed and
have some land in their possession. Their close relatives are the
ones involved in the whole exercise of branding them as witches
and persecuting them.

48 24 JULY 2023

In this backward tribal
hamlet frozen in time,
most residents are either
illiterate or semi-literate.
Patriarchy here isn’t
a seminar-room
expression in a plush
21st-century setting.
The woman wouldn’t die
an easy death. She would
be beaten until she fell
unconscious; when she
regained consciousness,
she would be paraded
naked across the village
alleys until the last
ounces of her strength
ebbed away
The various instances of witch hunts in tribal societies involve
an undercurrent of power and legitimacy, projected to be drawn
from ritualistic purity. Take the case of a love marriage between
a tribal man and woman from Van Pokharia village of Odisha in
2021. The village leaders demanded compensation of approxi-
mately `20,000 for rice, chicken, sheep, etc, to remove the ‘pollu-
tion’ caused by a modern love marriage.
The violence unleashed on so-called witches can be divided
into three categories: normal, harsh, and extremely severe. The
first involves mild beating, tonsuring, solitary confinement,
blackening of the face, and so on. Then comes an economic boy-
cott, making the woman walk naked, thrashing with sticks, etc.
Most severe punishments include gangrapes and mob lynching.
The last category is now the most frequent. Worse, witches are
often put to trial by forcing them to consume human excreta and
urine to see what happens next. In some cases, their teeth and
nails are pulled out. Most of these brutal incidents are reported
from Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar.
A field study conducted by the National Confederation of Dalit
Organisation (NACDOR) highlights two heart-wrenching stories
of women branded as witches who however survived their ordeals.
Munni (name changed) is a 40-year-old from Lakhanpur vil-
lage in Dumka district of Jharkhand. Married with four children,
24 JULY 2023
she was branded a witch by village elders. Her
family was engaged in casual labour. One
morning, the family woke up to realise that
Munni was blamed for the death of a neigh-
bouring boy. The elders alleged that she prac-
tised black magic and had cast her evil spell
on the deceased boy. She was put through a
well-planned and structured boycott, along-
side torture like beating and physical abuse.
She was forced to consume human excreta
and urine as part of her “purification process”.
Complaints to the police did not help, and the
villagers finally decided to make the family
outcast. Munni escaped death, although so-
cial and economic boycotts continue.
Anita Devi (name changed) was once re-
spected for being smart, hardworking, and
knowledgeable. Her woes surfaced after she
was accused of causing the death of her sister-
in-law’s child. The accusation against her was
that she failed to save the child despite being
intelligent and of quick wit. She was subject-
ed to physical torture. An intervention by
the police pacified the elders for a few days.
Soon, her own husband joined the others in
beating her up in public. Unable to bear the
ordeal any longer, she fled the village leaving
her children behind.
The National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB) data reveal the killings of 310 “witch-
es” between 2018 and 2021 nationwide.
While Odisha recorded 2,500 such killings between 2000 and
2016, Jharkhand saw 377 “witch murders” from 2015 to 2022.
Even though steps have been taken by social groups and authori-
ties to stop this, the practice still thrives among some of India’s
most backward tribal groups.
District administrations must chalk out comprehensive pro-
grammes to weed out the practice and launch effective awareness
campaigns. However, officials aver that ignorance and backward-
ness compound the problem among the tribals who stick to old
traditions and refuse to treat women with respect—although a
few bravehearts are working towards the uplift of these tribal
women and to save their lives. Traditional healers also add to the
confusion by blaming the deaths on “witch exorcism” when peo-
ple treated by them die. The sheer brutality of killings of women
after hanging a bad name on them suggests that transforming
such societies through outreach schemes and campaigns is
bound to be a Herculean task. Q
Aditi Narayani Paswan is an assistant professor at
Lakshmibai College, University of Delhi, and founder of the
Dalit Aadivasi Professor & Scholars’ Association. She received
field assistance to write this essay from Sangya Dubey,
a doctoral candidate at Jamia Millia Islamia
www.openthemagazine.com 49
 CINEMA
SALON

THE
WORLD
IN HER
FRAME

ANU MENON

GETTY IMAGES

50 24 JULY 2023
 ANU MENON IS MAKING MOVIES AND SHOWS ACROSS
THREE CONTINENTS. HER LATEST MYSTERY FILM CAPTURES
THE ESSENCE OF MULTIPLE PLACES
By Kaveree Bamzai
G
r
rowing up in Delhi money” to be a student, but she says
iin the 1980s, stud- when you take a leap of faith, some-
ying at Kendriya
y times the universe rewards you.
Vidyalaya, Andrews
V “Those were young, crazy days,” she
G
Ganj, Anu Menon says. “I was married by then and my
n
never thought she husband was living in Paris. I felt what
w
would be a film- I was doing was meaningless. I wanted
maker. “Films were something we to do something drastic. That was my
watched and had an opinion on,” she wake-up call. There was no one there I
says, “but never made.” Well, 30 years wanted to be like in ten years. And that
later, here she is, having just directed an was sad. But it takes a bit of courage to
intricate mystery, Neeyat, starring have no income for a while.”
Vidya Balan; having wrapped up two At London Film School (LFS),
episodes of a forthcoming prestige she was years older than the other
show, a historical fantasy The Winter students but spent three glorious years
King, and just getting into directing an- learning filmmaking. “I think when
other she cannot yet name in Septem- you get into education after a break,
ber. And yes, all this after having shot you value it a lot more,” she says. “I
two episodes for the final season of the missed education, I felt the need to
international BBC hit, Killing Eve. find out who I am, I had experienced
If she sounds breathless, it is be- the world by then. It was so immersive,
cause she is. After years spent wonder- it allowed me to figure who I was. It
ing if she could get a film made, she is was full of 21- and 22-year-old boys
working on three continents, making who wanted to be David Lynch and
movies and series in India, and doing here I was wanting to make a rom
TV work in London and Los Angeles. com.” She was there just to study. “I
All from her Victorian home in was not distracted. I got a distinction
Highgate, Northwest London, which and I thought, ‘That’s it man, I’ve made
she shares with her financier husband it.’ A bunch of us were identified as
and 16-year-old daughter Rhea. trailblazers. But then reality struck.”
So, what is a graduate of Birla Insti- Life outside of LFS wasn’t easy. It was
tute of Technology & Science (BITS), a struggle to get her first film—London,
Pilani, doing in show business? It took Paris, New York (2012), starring Ali Zafar
a small dream and a whole lot of cour- and Aditi Rao Hydari— off the ground.
age. She completed an engineering It was a romance across three countries,
degree, did strategy planning for adver- shot at three different stages of a couple’s
tising agencies, Lintas and then JWT, life, and refreshing in its articulation
got head-hunted and sent to Singapore of what a woman wants. Zafar loved
for three years with Bates Consulting. working with her but thought the film
That’s when she had a mid-life crisis was ahead of its time. He says now, “Anu
and realised she did not want to do that is one of the first true feminists in the
for the rest of her life. industry, I would say. If you read into the
It wasn’t easy to quit her job where lines of London, Paris, New York you could
she was earning a “fair amount of tell. When I read the script, that’s what
24 JULY 2023
really struck me. I thought she was an
inspiring and empowered woman who
knew what she wanted.”
She followed it with Waiting
(2015), a film that dealt with grief.
Two strangers, an elderly man (Shiv,
played by Naseeruddin Shah) and a
young woman (Tara, Kalki Koechlin),
are waiting for their significant others
to wake up from a coma in a Kochi
hospital. Like all her films, she wrote
it herself, putting her distinctive
humour and deep emotion into it.
Apurva Asrani was the editor on the
film. He says, “Anu is deeply passion-
ate about her characters and has a lot
of empathy for the human condition.
But her magic trick is in taking sad
and bitter realities and finding joy
and optimism in them. I remember I
was in the middle of editing Aligarh
when I worked on Waiting, and felt
very strongly that we needed to
give Naseer Saab’s character in
Waiting, more pause, more melan-
choly. But Anu insisted that she want-
ed to find the light in these stories and
show that life still goes on. She pushed
me to edit differently. The result was a
crisp film that refused to brood.”
Menon wears her laurels lightly.
She no longer suffers from imposter
syndrome, with seven films/series
under her belt. Having signed up for
the first season of Prime Video’s Four
More Shots Please! (2019), she had the
difficult task of making the intimate
lives and complicated loves of four
single women light, but not light-
weight. It needed her understanding
of human nature, which she ponders
over in what she calls her “quiet life” as
a school mum and working woman. “I
don’t ever remember a career not being
www.openthemagazine.com 51
 CINEMA
“I DON’T EVER REMEMBER A CAREER NOT
BEING AN OPTION. MY JOB IS NOT MY IDENTITY
BUT WITHOUT IT I’M NOTHING”
Anu Menon filmmaker
an option,” she says, describing her gen-
eration of post-liberalisation women.
“My job is not my identity but without
it I’m nothing,” she says, adding she is
completely focused on writing, creat-
ing, directing.
Rangita Pritish Nandy, who worked
with her on Four More Shots Please!, calls
her a “storm”. She adds, “Anu and I had
met many, many years before Four More
Shots Please! courtesy Rahul Bose, for a
feature that didn’t work out. We then
tried to collaborate on another film, but
as luck would have it, that didn’t pan
out either. When Four More Shots Please!
was greenlit into production, Anu was
the first name on Ishita (Nandy) and
my list. If you’ve met Anu, you’d know
why.” She calls her a strong cinematic
voice, and an even stronger female
narrative champion.
Driven by a world vision, she remains
true to her Indian roots. Add to that her
humour. “Everything was a perfect
match for Four More Shots Please! It was
a no-brainer, really. She saw our written
52
THE CAST OF NEEYAT
word and just got it. And season one
brought home an international Emmy
nomination, no less,” adds Nandy.
That led to Shakuntala Devi (2020),
her first collaboration with producer
Vikram Malhotra of Abundantia Enter-
tainment and with Vidya Balan, a story
which she felt needed to be told and
had been hidden by history. She didn’t
write Shakuntala Devi without her
flaws, and that is typical of Menon, who
refuses to iron the creases and mask
the warts women can and do have. Says
Nandy, “She’s driven by telling a unique
story and she never fails her characters.”
The struggle now is no longer
whether she will do another film. “Now
it is what can I do that will push the
boundary, that will be different,” says
Menon. She is not afraid of ambition
and it is a good time for such confi-
dence given the importance being
accorded to diversity and inclusion
in the entertainment world. “It’s no
longer a white man’s world,” she says,
which it was even five years ago. “The
pandemic changed everything for me,”
she says. “Suddenly I was on a plane not
to Mumbai and I got an opportunity
to interview for Killing Eve and got the
job. It was an amazing experience. That
opened doors to other international
prestige television shows and I did the
last two episodes of The Winter King.
I’m reaching the stage where I have one
foot in both these worlds.”
She grew up in middle-class Delhi,
the daughter of an executive with the
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. “It
was not very Bollywood-driven. We
saw a lot of international cinema. It was
actually more cosmopolitan in a very
different way from Mumbai,” she says.
She doesn’t feel burnt out, she still has
the hunger to do more. “I love it when
I step into these shows where you’re
working with the unknown. They
don’t know you, you don’t know them.
You have to prove yourself every time.
That’s what is driving me now. I love
writing but I also like the idea of just
landing there with my instrument and
playing the music and not composing it
myself,” she says.
Now the question is; “Am I doing
something I am terrified of or am I doing
something genuinely unique or has
something to say? There’s such an explo-
sion of content around us, I am privileged
to be in this position.” She wants to
embrace everything, like Greta Gerwig
redefining Barbie and how it relates to
the new generation. “She is not doing yet
another Marvel movie. I love that. You
need to feel that. It’s a luxury to have that,
to be given that opportunity.”
Everything she’s done so far is
very different from everything else.
Neeyat, for instance, is her homage to
murder mysteries, of which she is a fan.
But it says something beyond it too,
with the lead character being modelled
on a rogue, runaway businessman like
Vijay Mallya.
“I live in multiple worlds,” she says,
and Neeyat, with its mix of Scottish
castles and CBI officers, Indian actors
and English newcomers, spirit-reading
healers and brittle mistresses captures
the essence of just that.
24 JULY 2023
 FOOD

GOURD OF
By Priyadarshini Chatterjee

I
n some parts of rural Bengal,
young women sometimes

SMALL THINGS
THE HUMBLE VEGETABLE
IS A DELICACY FIT FOR
KINGS AND COMMONERS
ALAMY
observe a curious vow called
Nakhchuter Brata (which
revolves around beautification).
The rituals are accompanied by a rhyme
that goes, “Hoy jaano mor potol chora
chokh, paaner moto hoy jyano mor bodon
khaani (May my eyes be like split pointed
gourd, and like betel leaf my face).” It’s
curious how eyes that resemble a spin-
dle-shaped, green vegetable gravid with
seeds, is considered a standard of beau-
ty—but potol is no ordinary vegetable.
Potol, parwal in Hindi, Trichosanthes
dioica, or pointed gourd, is an ancient
vegetable indigenous to the subconti-
nent. Patola in Sanskrit, the cucurbit
is mentioned even in Puranic texts.
For instance, in the Garuda Purana,
Dhanvantari, the divine physician,
recommends Triphal, where patola is
cooked into a decoction and drunk with
sugar and yastimadhu (liquorice) as a
remedy for fever, vomiting and acidity.
It also appears many times in works of
classical medicine like Charaka Samhita
and Sushruta Samhita. The Ayurvedic
patoladya churna, recommended for
treating abdominal diseases, is made by
combining the extract of patola with a
host of medicinal herbs and spices.
In Bengal, where summers are hot
and sultry, potol is particularly extolled
for its cooling properties. It is often the
go-to antidote for the many afflictions
that the fragile Bengali stomach suffers
from. But it’s also ubiquitous in the
region’s cultural expressions. The antiq-
uity and importance of potol as a crop in
Bengal is confirmed in Khanar Bochon,
a collection of maxims attributed to a
woman Khona. One such bochon, for in-
stance, says, “Potol bunle phagune, phalan
baade dwigune. (Should pointed gourd
be sown in Phalgun, (February-March),
the yield doubles).”

(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP)

RAW POINTED GOURD OR PARWAL;
CHAL POTOL; AND AAM POTOL
Courtesy MAUMITA PAUL GHOSH

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 53

 FOOD
Bengali parents name their children mind-boggling assortment of dishes with
after the innocuous Potol, often distort- it—from sick-bed stews to unctuous
ed to Potla in affectionate ridicule. curries served at wedding feasts. There’s
Kolkata even has a neighbourhood shorshe potol, plump potol are deep fried
called Potoldanga, immortalised in and simmered in a pungent mustard gra-
the pages of renowned Bengali author vy quite like paves of fish, or potol cooked
Narayan Bandopadhyay’s iconic Tenida in a yoghurt-rich gravy and then there is
series. A colloquial Bengali expression potol cooked in milk. Or there’s potol posto
for dying is “potol tola” or “picking point- made by cooking potol sliced into thin
ed gourd”. It perhaps stems from how slivers with freshly ground poppy seeds.
when a pointed gourd vine dies all the Food writer Maumita Paul Ghosh
gourds on it should be picked at once. adds tart raw mangoes to her version of
Growing up in Kolkata, summers the potol posto. “In our home, the dishes
meant a potol infestation. Sunday break- made with potol changed with the stages
fasts of porota and panch-phoran-scented of ripening,” says Ghosh “For instance,
potol aloo chorchori, and during lunch the beginning-of-season, young, tender
limp potol, halved lengthwise floated potol yet to develop seeds would be used
languidly in watery jhol specifically to make dishes like the tel potol—the
constructed to cool the stomach and baby gourds lightly scraped and scored
fortify the body against the summer at both ends, would be cooked simply
heat. For dinner, there would be potoler in mustard oil tempered with green
dalna—barrel-shaped chunks of potol chilies and nigella seeds, with nothing
cooked with large cubes of potatoes in but turmeric and red chili powder, while
a ginger-scented curry finished with a the large, mature ones would be used to
smidgen of garam masala and ghee—a make dishes like potoler pur—scooped
few too many times a week. It was only halves of the potol would be stuffed with
when our gasps of boredom turned into a sharp paste of mustard and coconut
rumbles of protest, and cooked on a
that some shrimp griddle,” she adds.
would be added to NO PART OF THE POTOL IS Ghosh also talks
the curry. about a unique
WASTED. THE SKIN OF THE
On certain dish called dudher
POTOL, ALSO A POWERHOUSE OF
days when the jhol—a soupy milk-
women in the
NUTRIENTS, IS USED TO MAKE based dish of pota-
house observed a
A SHARP CHUTNEY AND THE toes, pointed gourd
vow, they broke CRUNCHY MATURE SEEDS and bottle gourd
their fast with a OF THE POTOL ARE leaves, suffused
comforting bowl of GROUND UP AND FRIED by the warmth of
aromatic gobindo AS FRITTERS ginger, the smoki-
bhog rice, cooked ness of nigella and
to a mush along the citrus notes of
with chunks of potatoes, halved pointed coriander seeds, and finished with ghee.
gourd and slabs of sweet pumpkin. They “My grandmother discovered the recipe
mashed it up while still hot, and poured in her neighbour’s grandmother’s diary
lashings of ghee and sandhak laban (sea from the 1930s,” says Ghosh.
salt). The potol also made its way into kum- A festive dish made with potol is the
ror chhawkka—a thick curry made with chaal potol—whole, mature potol deep
sweet pumpkin, potatoes and black gram, fried and cooked with fragrant, short-
redolent with roasted cumin, sometimes grained gobindo bhog rice flavoured with
finished with fresh grated coconut. It was aromatic spices, with a hint of ginger
a must in shukto, a summery stew made and ghee. The dish comes studded with
with a medley of veggies. golden fried cashew nuts and raisins.
Potol has the range of a soprano. It is evocative of the muri ghonto—a
And Bengali kitchens turn out a similar dish made with deep fried fish
54
head. It is possible that the dish was born
as a vegetarian approximation of the
piscine delicacy to cater to the Vaishnav
insistence of vegetarianism widespread
in West Bengal, or to add variety to the
vegetarian kitchens of Bengali widows.
In fact, mature pointed gourds, fleshy
and malleable with thin but tough skin,
yet capable of holding shape could easily
qualify as a faux meat/fish candidate.
It is interesting to note potol’s impor-
tance in vegetarian Vaishnav cuisine of
the region and how it often crops up in
Vaishnav texts. In Krishnadas Kaviraj’s
16th-century text Chaitanya Charitam-
rita, for instance, the vegetable features
in the elaborate meal Chaitanya’s
mother cooks him. A verse in another
16th-century text Chaitanya Bhagavata,
composed by Vrindavana Das Thakura,
says, “Potol, bastuk, kala shak bhojone,
janma janma biharoye Baishnaber Sane.
(By eating pointed gourd, lamb quar-
ters, and leaves of white jute, one enjoys
the Vaishnava’s association birth after
birth).” In his book Govinda Leelamrita
or The Eternal Nectarian Pastimes of
Sri Govinda, Krishnadas Kaviraj
describes a meal prepared by Radha for
Krishna. Among the numerous dishes
that she makes are potol fried in ghee
and a dish with its leaves.
No part of the potol is wasted. The
skin of the potol, also a powerhouse of
nutrients, is used to make a sharp chut-
ney and the crunchy mature seeds of
the potol are ground and fried as
fritters. Rabindranath Tagore’s niece
Pragya Sundari Devi’s celebrated recipe
book Amish o Niramish Ahaar, published
at the turn of the last century, features
the curious potol beechir nona malpua—
savoury fritters made with a batter of
flour, rice flour and seeds of ripe pointed
gourd, flavoured with minced ginger
and green chilies, and fried in ghee.
It is the potol’s Indian roots that has
sealed its spot in temple cuisines and
ritualistic food, too. At the Jagannath
temple in Puri, potol is an integral part of
Chhappan Bhog. “At the Jagannatha tem-
ple in Puri, potol is added to preparations
like besara—a dish made with a medley
of vegetables like brinjal, raw bananas
24 JULY 2023
and gourd veggies cooked in
a delicately spiced mustard
gravy and bhaja besara, a drier
version of the dish, as also the
temple’s famed dalma, a dish
of lentils cooked with a rain-
bow of seasonal vegetables,”
says food researcher
Swetak Abhishek Mohapatra,
who has a keen interest in
temple food and rituals.
He adds, “Besides, at the
bhoga mandap, devotees could Courtesy SHEETAL BHATT
order for potala rasa—whole
potols deftly scored are cooked in spirited,
cumin-scented gravy rich with coconut
and cashew nuts—as an offering to the
deities even if the dish is not part of the
Kotho Bhoga list of food items that are
traditionally carried to the inner sanctum
as bhog.” At the Ananta Vasudeva Temple
in Bhubaneswar, on the other hand, sola
potol or pointed gourd cooked with chick-
peas is among the dishes offered as bhoga.
There are several other dishes made
with potol in Odiya kitchens. “Potol is sim-
ply fried in mustard oil, or turned into
crisp chips, or added to a soothing jhol or
watery stew of sorts or a korma rich with
slims and nuts,” says Sujata Dehury, a
food writer. “But one of my favourite
dishes is the potol poda, where the potol
are roasted on an open flame until the
skin chars and crinkles and mashed up
with a host of ingredients,” says Dehury.
In Bihar, fire-roasted pointed gourds
are used to make parwal ka chokha—
mashed with garlic, chilies, mustard oil
and sometimes roasted tomatoes,
and served with ghee-laced litti. “Biharis
love their parwal,” says chef
Rachna Prasad who runs Ambrosia
Kitchen. It’s cooked into curries, stir-
fried with slivered potatoes with ground
spices like coriander, chili and some-
times a dash of aamchur for a hint of tang
and in rarer instances added to vegetari-
an biryanis, she says.
C OME SUMMERS, INDIAN
Muslim kitchens, where vegetables
are rarely served on their own, cooling
gourd vegetables, tinda, turai, lauki, are
24 JULY 2023
PARWAL
NA RAVAIYA
added to salans with beef, and in some
cases mutton. In Muslim households
in Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh, a
particularly favourite summer dish is
the parwal gosht. Sometimes chunks of
potatoes are also added to the dish.
But an ingenious parwal dish to
come out of the region is the parwal ki
mithai where the pointed gourds are
stewed in sugar to make murabba and
stuffed with cooked and sweetened
khoya and chopped nuts and garnished
with flecks of silver warq or slivers of
candied cherries. In Bengal, a version of
the dish is also made with a stuffing of
chhana-based sandesh.
The spindle-shaped potol with its
soft core that can easily be scraped out
is a fantastic vehicle for stuffing, and
communities across the country, espe-
cially in north India, have their version
of bharwan parwal. In Gujarat, parwal is
stir-fried with potatoes or added to the
ceremonial patrali—a dish made with
a cornucopia of seasonal greens,
gourds and leafy vegetables—offered
to Lord Krishna, the day after
Janmashthami, that falls at the height of
monsoon, when parwal is in season.
But a particularly special dish is the
parwal ka ravaiya, that Sheetal Bhatt,
a champion and chronicler of the cui-
sines of Gujarat, talks about. Ravaiya is
the generic name for a genre of stuffed
vegetables in Gujarat. For parwal ka
ravaiya, the parwals are hollowed out
and filled with a diverse combination
of ingredients like roasted channa dal,
ground sesame seeds, peanuts, spices
and a hint of jaggery, or a wet masala of
coconut and coriander, green
chilies, garlic, ginger etc, and
steamed. Finally, it’s tossed
in hot oil tempered with
mustard seeds and
fenugreek seeds until it all
comes together.
But when it comes to
stuffed pointed gourd,
potoler dolma, the crown
jewel of Bengali cuisine, is
the apogee. Large, mature
pointed gourds are hol-
lowed out and stuffed with
fish, mince or lentils, fried and finally
added to a gravy. Author Ananya
Jahanara Kabir sees the potoler dolma
as a fine specimen of Creolisation that
entails “the creation of something
new through exchange, negotiation,
collaboration and compromise” that
transpire when diverse groups mingle
“in tightly demarcated spaces.” It is
generally accepted that the
Armenians brought the dolma—
originally stuffed vine leaves or pep-
pers—that they acquired through the
Turks, to colonial Calcutta. The Jews
of Calcutta also made stuffed
vegetables of various kinds. The
Bengali potoler dolma, as Kabir points
out, was born through the proximity
and exchange between these mercan-
tile communities like the Jews and
Armenians who coexisted and inter-
acted with local populations within
colonial Calcutta’s Chitpur.
In The Calcutta Cookbook,
Minakshie Dasgupta shares a recipe for
the ‘original’ Armenian-version of the
potoler dolma, sourced from an Armenian
resident who catered the lunch at the
Burra Club on Park Street. This dolma
comes with a stuffing of ground beef,
tomatoes and raisins. In Hindu
Bengali homes, the prohibited beef got
replaced by minced fish or goat meat.
Vegetarian versions that come with a
stuffing of chhana (fresh cottage cheese)
or ground lentils have also cropped up
over time. The potoler dolma might be
layered with diverse culinary influence
and cultural memories, but there’s no
denying that it is resolutely Indian.
www.openthemagazine.com 55
 BOOKS
Delhi on the Map
When cartography reveals a city’s cultural history
By Giles Tillotson
T
HIS BOOK IS about a single
document: a map of the walled
city of Old Delhi made in 1846-47,
now preserved in the British Library.
The date is important: hand drawn on a
large scale and precisely measured, the
map shows every street and gali, every
landmark and major building, as they
were just a decade before the cataclysmic
events of 1857. In the aftermath of the
Rebellion, the British obliterated large
swathes of buildings inside the city,
especially in front of the Red Fort and
around the mosque, and many gardens,
like those laid out by Jahanara to the
north of Chandni Chowk.
The city suffered a further
transformation in the wake of Partition
in 1947, not just demographically—
with the removal of the vestiges of the
old elites—but physically too, with
increasing commercialisation and other
changes in function. The city we see today
retains some famous salient features, but
is in many ways unrecognisable as the
realisation of the vision of its founder,
Shah Jahan. This map takes us back not
Chandini Chowk;
Studio of Mazhar Ali Khan,
c 1840
56
to his time—for it was made 200 years
after the foundation—but to its last years
as a living Mughal city. This is the Delhi
of Bahadur Shah Zafar, of Ghalib, and the
young Syed Ahmad Khan, among other
notable residents.
Finding a richly detailed primary
source like this is a historian’s dream,
what we geekily live for. The joy is
tempered only by a sober awareness that
historical documents are not generally
made for the benefit of future historians
(any that are, on that ground alone, are
suspect). Often their makers fail to tell
us what we most want to know: things
that were so obvious to them, they were
deemed not worth telling, but are now
invisible to us. Makers of documents
address their own concerns, not ours.
Against this general rule,
Swapna Liddle could be forgiven for
thinking that this map was made
specifically for her—or she for it. As she
has shown in another recent book,
The Broken Script, Liddle has an unrivalled
knowledge of Delhi in the first half of the
19th century; in the period between the
Courtesy BRITISH LIBRARY, LONDON, UK
SHAHJAHANABAD
MAPPING A MUGHAL CITY
Swapna Liddle
Visual curators: Pramod Kapoor
and Sneha Pamneja
Roli Books
108 Pages | 2,495
expulsion of the Marathas in 1803 and
the revolt against East India Company
rule in 1857. She tells the tale of high
politics: the negotiations (often farcical)
between the last emperors and their
Company minders. But she also goes
beyond the imperial palace and the
mansions of the British Residents and
gets into the streets, to tell us the stories
of its markets and colleges, its places of
worship and learning, and of individuals
who contributed to the city’s economic
and intellectual life. Now, at a stroke,
she gives us the stage-set for all those
stories. We no longer need to imagine the
locations, distances and routes between
the homes and the places of business of
the many who populate her history: they
are laid out before us in astonishing detail.
Although the two books enrich
each other, they also stand alone. In
Shajahanabad: The Mapping of a Mughal
City, Liddle takes us through Old Delhi,
quarter by quarter, pointing out the
major buildings and bazaars, explaining
what was new or changing at the time
the map was made, and what has altered
since. Blow-up details are supplemented
with other images showing buildings’
elevations, including paintings from
the studio of Mazar Ali Khan, and
early photographs.
The districts, indicated on the map
by coloured shading, correspond to the
jurisdiction of the various police stations,
or thanas. This, and the many Urdu
inscriptions, suggest that its original
purpose was administrative. The
authorship is unknown. But its creators
must have deployed European methods
of survey, and deep local knowledge,
pointing to a collaboration between British
and Indian hands and minds to create this
extraordinary record of a once great city. Q
24 JULY 2023
Lost in Battle
The personal price
a reporter pays
to witness a war
By Prathap Nair
A
UTHOR-JOURNALIST
Anjan Sundaram revisits his
marriage and ponders over
the fragility of relationships in this
slim memoir. In a tone replete with
retrospective wisdom and melancholy,
Breakup parses the memory of a
marriage on its brink, attempting to
make sense of its slow demise.
Juxtaposing his marital conflict with a
real civil war, Sundaram, who
reported from central Africa for
The New York Times, Associated Press,
and others, sets his memoir against
the backdrop of tumultuous African
geopolitics straddling the Central African
Republic (CAR) and the tranquillity of
Shippagan, a coastal town in Canada.
Bottled up in frosty remote Shippagan
where he lived with his wife Nat and his
infant daughter Raphaelle, Sundaram
decides to pursue wartime reporting by
setting out to travel deep into CAR where
a civil war has been raging between
destructive government forces and rebels.
As he ventures farther into CAR,
losing connection with the outside
world, a silent unrest brews in his
personal life. In the absence of solid
reasoning on why Sundaram’s marriage
has been souring, it’s hard not to
empathise with Nat, alone with a new-
born whose anxieties now must include
her husband’s whereabouts.
“I conjured up Nat’s face for comfort,
but I knew I shouldn’t call her for
reassurance,” writes Sundaram from
the warfront. These cryptic deliverances
add up to the confusion the reader feels
over what really happened between the
couple because the build-up to this stage
of marital ruin is missing in the narrative.
24 JULY 2023
A little later when Sundaram calls home
again, Nat is cold because the child’s
feeding schedule has fallen on her. Put
off by her reaction, Sundaram decides
he won’t call her until he has news about
his departure from CAR. Nat, perhaps
unintentionally, emerges as a lonely
figure grasping at the straws of maternal
responsibility with an absent husband.
Meanwhile, near-death experiences
follow Sundaram as he stumbles upon
one war crime after another—massacres
by government forces, burning of
churches and schools, killing of a French
photojournalist—and witnesses first-
hand how civilians, like schoolteachers
and priests, are forced to join the rebellion.
At one point when Sundaram’s
team is held hostage at gunpoint by the
rebel army, the presence of Lewis, an
American companion who works for the
Human Rights Watch, saves thousands
of villagers seeking shelter in a church
from an impending massacre. Faced with
a bitter realisation that one American’s
life is more precious than thousands of
villagers in CAR, Sundaram tells Lewis,
“You know how to stop all the wars in the
BREAKUP
A MARRIAGE IN WARTIME
Anjan Sundaram
Simon & Schuster
208 Pages | 699
Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
world? Put an American with a satellite
phone in every village, and if anyone
threatens to attack, the US government
will stop them.”
These sad racial realities of the world
notwithstanding, when Sundaram
describes his marriage, it becomes
evident there’s palpable awkwardness
in the relationship, not in the least due to
lack of communication.
He examines the demise of his
marriage impassively. “How much of
my journey was about the war, and how
much about my marriage? Could I tell
Nat how close I had felt to her, even while
we did not speak…? Or was it cloying, and
making myself too vulnerable, to say how
she and home and family gave me the
courage to explore the limits of the war?”
Eventually as the simmering
resentment boils over, one gets the sense
of what pushed the marriage to the cliff’s
edge. “You can make crazy journeys,
while I’ve got to stay home,” Nat accuses
him, asking, not unreasonably, “What
kind of father risks his life?”
Unspoken in Sundaram’s own
analysis is perhaps the residual trauma
he may have suffered owing to his trip
to CAR that resulted in exacerbating
the marital crisis. “The end came after
a period of estrangement and quiet
torment, when neither of us felt loved. We
lost our words. Something impassable
had come up between us,” he writes.
Sundaram’s writing is incisive and
brimming with a resolved sense of
catharsis, yet there is no happy ending
when a marriage breaks. What’s
better than a stagnant marriage, if not
a clean break and this book maturely
documents it. Q
www.openthemagazine.com 57
 CRIME CANON Shylashri Shankar
Intimate Watching
Detectives with cool, rational minds who need to see justice done
THE FEMALE DETECTIVE
by Andrew Forrester
Women, it seems, were not
strangers to reasoning and
dispassionate inquiry in
Victorian England. Meet
Miss Gladden, the first pro-
fessional female detective in
the English-speaking
crime fiction world in
Andrew Forrester’s The
Female Detective (Hachette
Yellowback; 264 pages; `399) first published in 1864. (Hachette
India has re-published this and about 150 crime fiction bestsell-
ing titles from the mid-late 19th century in yellowbacks or
yellowjackets.) Her friends think she is a dressmaker, and her
enemies are convinced she has a questionable profession. Here
is Miss Gladden introducing herself in her own words. “Who
am I? It can matter little who I am…It may be that I am a widow
working for my children—or I may be
an unmarried woman, whose only care
is herself. But whether I work willingly
or unwillingly….whether I am married
or single, old or young, I would have my
readers at once accept my declaration that
…in me that profession [as a detective] has
not led me toward hardheartedness.” She
points out that a female detective has far
greater opportunities than men of “inti-
mate watching” and of ferreting out the intimate secrets. There
are seven short stories in the book. In ‘Tenant for Life’,
Miss Gladden hears a story told by her friend’s cabman hus-
band about how he bought a new-born baby from a frantic
young mother, only to sell it almost immediately for thirty
pounds to a lady who stopped him not too far from where he’d
made the bargain. Our Lady Detective’s curiosity is piqued and
she sets about finding the baby and the reason for such a large
sum exchanging hands. It is the way she investigates—using
reason and logic to ferret out the clues, like boot marks—that
sets her apart. The baby must be desperately needed and there-
fore it must have something to do with an inheritance, she
deduces. In carrying out the investigation, she has no ulterior
motive—she refuses to take money from the nobleman in-
volved in the case. Her dogged work—for which she disguises
herself as a maid — is dictated by her overwhelming need to see
justice done even if she doesn’t care much for the victim. Her
58
determination, her ability to reason, to coax information from
the housekeeper and the others in the household, her bravery
in confronting men in powerful positions — are all exemplary
characteristics that present-day authors still use especially in
police procedurals. As the jacket cover blurb puts it — her
application of science and search for clues anticipated
Sherlock Holmes by about 20 years.
The narration of the stories is matter of fact and has some
incisive observations about human nature. “Every man who
has lived with his eyes open has come across human beings
who concentrate within themselves the most wonderful
contradictions,” Miss Gladden remarks in ‘The Unknown
Weapon’. That’s a case of a young heir murdered with a strange
weapon. Miss Gladden is unstoppable in her quest for the
wrongdoer but interestingly, often the culprit is not brought
to justice. Though by modern standards, the pace is creaky and
the dialogue is full of colloquialisms, this is worth a read for
crime fiction aficionados and the feminists among us. It gives
us a refreshing glimpse into Victorian England where a woman
detective could run rings around her male counterparts in her
ability to track down the how of the case, which in turn leads
her to the whodunnit.
ZERO DAYS by Ruth Ware
Fugitive meets Mr and Mrs Smith — that’s the logline of the
pacey chase-mystery from Ruth Ware. Jack (Jacinda) is part of a
Mr and Mrs Smith style set-up. She and her husband (Gabe) test
the security of companies and report back on the bugs; she is
the feet on the ground who breaks into buildings and he is the
man on the computer hacking into the systems. After an opera-
tion, Jack returns home to find Gabe murdered with his throat
cut. She calls the police and while being questioned, she realises
she is the main suspect. It doesn’t help that a million-pound life
insurance kicks in with Gabe’s death and she is the beneficiary.
The rest of Zero Days (Gallery/Scout Press; 368 pages; `2,251)
is her trying to figure out who initiated the insurance, who
is trying to frame her and why Gabe had to die. The action is
sharp and pacey, aided by the countdown
to zero day. Ware’s previous books were
in the realm of psychological thrillers. In
Zero Days, she retains that breathless and
panicked interiority of the main character
and melds it with an adventure story. Jack
scarpers to lonely shacks on beaches and
highway overpasses with the police on her
heels, a nasty ex-boyfriend policeman, and
24 JULY 2023

Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
has to rely on her family, Gabe’s close friend and the kindness of
strangers to unravel the whodunnit, which frankly didn’t come
as a surprise. I would’ve mentioned a third movie here but that
would give the game away. Having read this after Forrester’s
book, it struck me as ironic that the 21st-century Jack behaves
like an emotional and frazzled woman on the run, while the
19th century Miss Gladden of The Female Detective displays a
cool and rational mind. Most of the telling in the book is firmly
in the psychological suspense mode where we are privy to long
stretches of Jack’s high anxiety and panicked thoughts. Fans of
Ruth Ware will like this one.
ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by SA Cosby
All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books; 352 pages; `2,290) is a sear-
ing look at the sinners of the American South. It begins with a
quote from Joseph Conrad, “The belief in a supernatural source
of evil is not necessary; men alone are capable of every wicked-
ness.” What evil is Cosby talking about in Charon County — a
land “founded in bloodshed and darkness”? It is the evil of old
hatreds, old hierarchies, old attitudes— of racism at its worst
“waiting for you in the dark”.
Titus Crown, born and raised in Charon County, Virginia, re-
turns home after a stint at the FBI to care for his aging father. He
is elected as the first Black Sheriff, defeating a powerful, corrupt
and racist predecessor who’d allowed racism and drugs to thrive.
On the first anniversary of his election, Titus is summoned to
the local school. Someone has shot dead a white teacher, Stead-
man, beloved to many students including Titus. The shooter,
Titus’s best friend’s teenage son, comes out with a wolf mask
in one hand and a gun in the other. The boy looks at Titus and
24 JULY 2023
THOUGH BY MODERN
STANDARDS, THE PACE OF
THE FEMALE DETECTIVE
IS CREAKY AND THE
DIALOGUE IS FULL OF
COLLOQUIALISMS,
THIS IS WORTH A READ
FOR CRIME FICTION
AFICIONADOS AND THE
FEMINISTS AMONG US. IT
GIVES US A REFRESHING
GLIMPSE INTO
VICTORIAN ENGLAND
WHERE A WOMAN
DETECTIVE COULD RUN
RINGS AROUND HER
MALE COUNTERPARTS
says: “Check his phone,” and then charges toward them. Titus’s
two white deputies shoot him dead. Videos and photos in the
phone reveal that Steadman and the teenager along with a third
masked man were involved in horrific mutilations and killings
of children of colour. Their bodies, Titus discovers, are buried in
a field; religious markings and words are carved into their skins.
As more deaths mount up, the clues point to the serial killer’s
connection with the local church. Titus,
who is determined to bring justice to the
victims, has to brave the wrath of his com-
munity and the church’s flock led by a char-
ismatic preacher out for his blood. While
in his personal life, he has to deal with an
estranged brother and a new girlfriend; it
doesn’t help that Titus’s ex-girlfriend is in
town to do a podcast on the crimes.
Cosby doesn’t shy away from the visceral nature of these
tensions. Though emancipation of Blacks and desegregation
occurred in the 1960s, Charon County, like much of the
American South, is still stuck mentally in the racist era.
Through the characters and the trail of the clues, Cosby picks
away at the festering sore that is the struggle between Blacks
and whites—equality versus old ways of a racist domination—
and also holds up a mirror to present-day religious zealotry
against homosexuality and the liberal agenda.
All the Sinners Bleed is a splendid addition to a crime
fiction that shows us a reality at its most dangerous—and
ferocious. It lives on in your head, making you reflect on
the difficulty of shaking off prejudices, and the toll it takes on
the human soul. 
www.openthemagazine.com 59
 INDIAN ACCENTS Bibek Debroy
The Divine Armour
The Trailokya-vijaya prayer is a weapon and a protective shield
OST PEOPLE
M know the
Parashurama
story, at least the bare
bones of it. The story is
about Kartavirya Arjuna
and how, because of
Kartavirya Arjuna’s
oppression, Parashurama
eliminated the Kshatriyas
from earth 21 times. Most
people also probably know
that Parashurama obtained weapons from Shiva. Kartavirya
Arjuna was blessed by Vishnu. How could Parashurama
destroy him without something special? This column is
about that something special, the Trailokya-vijaya mantra,
and the account is from Brahmanda Purana. Let me warn
you. This will be heavy reading.
Shiva addressed Parashurama in compassionate words.
“O Brahmana! From today, you will become like Skanda to
me. O immensely intelligent one! I will give you a mantra
and a divine kavacha. Through this favour, you will be able
to playfully kill Kartavirya. You will also empty the earth of
kings 21 times.” Saying this, Shankara gave him a mantra
that is extremely difficult to obtain. He also gave him the
extremely wonderful kavacha named Trailokya-vijaya, the
noose of the nagas, the Pashupata weapon, the Brahmastra,
which is extremely difficult to obtain, the Narayanastra,
Agneyastra, Vayavyastra, Varunastra, Gandharvastra,
Garudastra, the extremely wonderful Jrimbhanastra, a
club, a spear, a battle-axe, a trident, an excellent staff and all
the aggregate of shastras and astras. He was delighted and
prostrated himself before the serene Shiva, Durga, Skanda
and Ganeshvara. Circumambulating them, Rama went to the
supreme tirtha of Pushkara and consecrated the mantra stated
by Shiva and the excellent kavacha.
(Trailokya-vijaya is a weapon that allows the possessor to
conquer the three worlds. These are divine weapons, named
after Brahma, Narayana, Agni, Vayu, Varuna, the gandharva
and Garuda. Pashupata is Shiva’s own weapon. Jrimbhanastra
makes the opponent yawn and go to sleep. Kavacha means
armour, but is not to be understood in the sense of physical
armour. It is a mantra that acts like a shield of protection.)
This entire account is being reported by the sage
Vasishtha to King Sagara.
Vashishta said, “I will tell you about this exceedingly
60
wonderful kavacha and about the mantra that brings
eternal siddhi to sadhakas, bestowing happiness. At the end
of the pada, one must utter, “To Gopijana-Vallabha”. [Gopa
is a cowherd. Gopi is the feminine. Gopijana-Vallabha is
the one loved by gopis, that is, Krishna. Since Krishna and
Rama were later avatars, there is a chronological issue. It is
possible that these sections, especially those on Krishna,
were added to the text subsequently. Not only is there a
reference to Krishna, Radha/Radhika is also mentioned.] The
great mantra has 10 aksharas and must end with “svaha”. It
bestows objects of pleasure and emancipation. The rishi is
Sadashiva and the chhanda is said to be pankti. The divinity is
Krishna and it is recited and used to obtain everything. The
rishi for Trailokya-vijaya kavacha is Prajapati. The chhanda is
jagati and the divinity is Rajeshvara himself. It is said that it
should be used to conquer the three worlds.”
(Each mantra has a rishi who composed it and a divinity
to whom it is addressed. The pankti chhanda has 10 aksharas
in every pada. The text leads to confusion between a mantra
to Krishna and the Trailokya-vijaya kavacha. The Krishna
mantra in pankti chhanda is simply—“Gopijana-Vallabhaya
Svaha/To the one loved by Gopis, Svaha.” The rest can be
taken to be Trailokya-vijaya, composed in jagati. However,
the classic jagati chhanda should have 12 aksharas in every
pada. As stated in the text, this has 16 aksharas and is actually
ashti chhanda. Anga-nyasa is the mental appropriation (nyasa)
of different limbs of the body (anga) to different divinities.
Kara-nyasa is similarly done to different parts of the hand
(kara). In this mantra, anga-nyasa acts as the kavacha. In
addition, the kavacha is worn as an amulet.)
“Let Pranava protect my head. I always prostrate myself
before Shri Krishna. Let him always protect my forehead.
To Krishna. Svaha. Let Krishna protect the pupils of
my eyes. To Krishna. Svaha. Let him always protect my
eyebrows. To Hari. Namah. Let him always protect my
nose. OUM. To Govinda. Svaha. Let this always protect my
cheek. I prostrate myself before Gopala. Let the kalpa-taru
protect my ears. Kleem. [These are bija-mantras, each with
a single akshara -kleem, shreem, hreem. Each of these has
three varnas and each of these varnas possesses mystical
significance.] To Krishna. Namah. Let him always protect
my two lips. Shreem. To Krishna. Namah. Let him protect
my rows of teeth. OUM. To the lord of gopis. Svaha. Let these
three aksharas of ‘Shri Krishna’ protect the gaps between
my teeth. Let him always protect my tongue. OUM. To
Shri Krishna. Svaha. Let him always protect my palate. To
24 JULY 2023
 Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
KAVACHA MEANS ARMOUR, BUT IS NOT
TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN THE SENSE OF
PHYSICAL ARMOUR. IT IS A MANTRA THAT
ACTS LIKE A SHIELD OF PROTECTION
Rameshvara. Svaha. Let him always protect my throat. To
Radhika’s lord. Svaha. Let him always protect my neck. To
the lord of all the gopis. Namah. Let him always protect my
shoulders. OUM. To the lord of gopas. Svaha. Let him protect
my back. To the one who assumed a boy’s form. Namah.
Svaha. Let this always protect my stomach. To Mukunda.
Namah. Hreem. Shreem. Kleem. To Krishna. Svaha. Let him
always protect my hands. OUM. To Vishnu. Namah. Svaha.
Let him protect my two arms. OUM. Hreem. To Bhagavan.
Svaha. Let him protect my row of nails. To Narayana.
Namah. Let him protect the gaps between my nails. OUM.
Hreem. Shreem. To Padmanabha. Let him always protect
my navel. OUM. To the lord of everything. Svaha. Let him
always protect my hair. Namah. To Krishna. Svaha. Let
him always protect my brahmarandhra. [Brahmarandhra
is the centre of the brain and sahasrara chakra is located
inside brahmarandhra.] OUM. To Madhava. Svaha. Let him
always protect my forehead. OUM. Hreem. Shrem. To the
lord of rasikas. (A rasika is a graceful person, a person who
possesses taste.) Let him always protect my waist. Namah.
To the lord of all gopis. Let him always protect my thighs.
OUM. Namah. To the destroyer of the daityas. Svaha. Let him
protect my knees. To Yashoda’s delight. Namah. Let him
protect my calves. To the one who loves the pleasure of rasa.
24 JULY 2023
[The festival and dance of the gopas and gopis.)
Svaha. Let him protect my modesty. To Vrinda’s beloved.
(Vrinda is Radhika’s name, but can also be interpreted
as a multitude.) Svaha. Let him protect all my limbs.
Wholeheartedly, let Krishna always protect me in the
east. Let the lord of Goloka himself protect me in the
southeast. Let the one who is the form of the complete
Brahman always protect me in the south. Let Krishna
protect me in the southwest. Let Hari protect me in the
west. Let Govinda protect me in the northwest. Let the
lord of rasikas protect me in the north. Let the one who
sports in Vrindavana always protect me in the northeast.
Let the lord of Vrinda’s life always protect me in an
upwards direction. Let the one who destroyed the
immensely strong Bani always protect me in a downward
direction. Let Nrisimha always protect me in the water, on
land and in the sky. Let Madhava himself protect me when
I am asleep and when I am awake. Let the unattached lord,
present in all atmans, protect me in all directions.”
Vasishtha concluded, “O lord of the earth! This is said
to destroy every kind of sin. This is the kavacha named
Trailokya-vijaya. I have heard it from the mouth of Shiva
Paramesha. It should never be revealed to anyone. After
worshipping the guru, the kavacha must be worn in the
proper way, around the neck, or on the right hand. There is
no doubt that a person who does this, becomes like Vishnu
himself. If a person is such a sadhaka, the goddesses of
speech and wealth also reside with him. If a person succeeds
in wearing such a kavacha, there is no doubt that he is like
a jivanmukta. [A person who has been emancipated, though
he is alive.] It has been determined that he obtains fruits
equal to those obtained through crores of years of worship.
Thousands of royal sacrifices, hundreds of horse sacrifices,
all the great donations and pradakshina of the earth do not
earn even one-sixteenth of the merits obtained through
Trailokya-vijaya. Vows, fasting, niyamas, studying, teaching
and bathing in all the tirthas do not earn even a fraction
of the merits. Becoming a siddha, becoming immortal
and obtaining the status of Sri Hari’s servant—there is no
doubt that all these are obtained if one successfully wears
the kavacha. If a person performs japa one million times,
he becomes successful in wearing the kavacha. If a person
wears the kavacha successfully, there is no doubt that he
is victorious. A kingdom can be given away. A head can be
given away. The breath of life can be given away. But even
in a calamity, this kavacha must never be given away. For
the sake of saving you, I have revealed this. O one who
brings radiance to your lineage! Follow my command and
understand. Wear this kavacha and become a chakravarti.”
This was Vasishtha’s advice to King Sagara. What did
Parashurama do? Full of supreme devotion, Rama followed
the sadhana. He slept on the ground, bathed thrice a day
and observed the sandhya rites. Attentive, Rama resided in
Pushkara for one hundred years.
www.openthemagazine.com 61
 PLAYTIME WITH BORIA MAJUMDAR

An IPL Moment for Chess

Magnus Carlsen gives his verdict on the global league in Dubai

HE INAUGURAL With fans supporting the league in numbers in Dubai,

T edition of the Global

Chess League (GCL)
played in Dubai between
it could easily become a feature of the annual chess
calendar. Sameer Pathak, CEO of GCL, for example, is clear
about the importance of fan engagement. “Fan experience
June 21 and July 2 was a is at the heart of everything at the Global Chess League.
success. Mixed gender With each initiative we have tried to make the experience
teams, innovative points wholesome for the fans. Whether it was the Metaverse
system, active efforts at platform for GCL or bringing in a commentary panel of
fan engagement and most chess experts and social influencers who could break down
importantly the presence the chess for the general public, we have always believed
of the world’s best players in keeping fans at the centre of action. Even on-ground, we
in Magnus Carlsen, had various events to ensure the fans—who are coming to
Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, and the upcoming watch the players—are going back with happy memories
Indian stars, Gukesh D, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, of watching the stars in action and even meeting them
Arjun Erigaisi, all of it contributed in giving the league a in person. This will remain one of the focal points of the
head start. A brainchild of Anand Mahindra, the league Global Chess League in future and we will strive to make
has reasonable corporate backing and is expected to grow the fan experience even better,” argued Pathak.
year-on-year prompting Magnus Carlsen to call it the “IPL With team owners all in it for the long haul, the league
moment for chess”. has a few positives going for it. Speaking about the vision of
Carlsen, who played for the SG Alpine Warriors who the SG Alpine Warriors, for example, Chief Strategy Officer
narrowly missed out on making the final, gave a thumbs- Anubhav Gupta was clear that this is just the start. “We
up to the league. “It has indeed added to the sport. We are keen to contribute to the growth story of Indian sport.
have never played in a team format before with players Except cricket, the other sports have all struggled because
from multiple nationalities in each team and in that sense of the lack of corporate support. That’s the gap we want to
it was a first. The intensity was good and the kind of fan fill. We also bid for a WPL team and were the sixth highest
engagement I could see makes me feel the league will bidder. Five teams were awarded the contracts. We have
grow in future. It has been a good start and it can only get invested in chess and will invest in a host of other sports
better”, said the five-time world champion. going forward for it will make a difference to society at
What was fascinating to hear from Carlsen is what large,” argues Gupta.
he had to say about the rising Indian chess stars Gukesh, The league, however, will do well to see what hasn’t
Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi. “Each one of them is worked for other franchise-based efforts which have all
a talented player and each has a very fallen by the wayside. Except the
different style of play to mine. It was Indian Premier League (IPL) and to a
good to play a few training games AFTER THE INITIAL degree the Pro Kabaddi League, and
with them and I learnt much in the EUPHORIA IS OVER, now the Pro Volleyball League, a lot
process,” said the champion. THINGS TURN DIFFICULT of these franchise-based competitions
And unlike others who always have not been able to sustain
IN SEASONS TWO AND
want to be politically correct, with themselves. After the initial euphoria
Carlsen it is always straight talk. THREE AND THAT is over, things turn difficult in seasons
When I asked him about the issues IS WHEN THE REAL two and three and that is when the real
of chess being a male domain and CHALLENGE CONFRONTS challenge confronts the organisers.
discrimination, he did not hesitate to THE ORGANISERS. It will be no different with GCL. The
agree. “Yes it has been the case. And novelty, which was so very important
we need it to change. Two of my own
IT WILL BE NO in season one, will no longer be
sisters played the sport and I wish they DIFFERENT WITH GCL the key driver in season two. The
could do so professionally,” he argued. innovations in format, points systems,

62 24 JULY 2023
 Viswanathan Anand and
Magnus Carlsen at the
Global Chess League in Dubai

Courtesy GLOBAL CHESS LEAGUE

MAKING CHESS A SPECTATOR SPORT IS WHAT WILL DRIVE SUCCESS. THAT IT IS A
PARTICIPATORY SPORT IS WELL ESTABLISHED. HOW YOU CONVERT A PARTICIPATORY
SPORT INTO A SPECTATOR SPORT COULD DEFINE THE FUTURE OF GCL. AND THAT’S WHERE
PLAYERS LIKE CARLSEN, WHO ARE BRANDS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT, TURN RELEVANT

and mixed-gender teams will all become routine. You need
to continuously evolve and that’s what the organisers will
have to ensure. Sustainability is key. Repeat engagement
is the essence of a successful franchise competition and
perhaps the most challenging of all tasks. An early start for
season two will perhaps help the GCL stakeholders.
And at the root of all this is the standard of play. You
need stars like Carlsen and Anand to give it their best and
make for great games. The one thing that has helped IPL
be what it is happens to be the standard of cricket on offer.
Much more than the entertainment and glamour, it is the
sport that is at the centre of IPL. Matches that have kept
fans on the edge of their seats till the very last ball. And
that’s where you can’t compromise. The presence of the
world’s best players with each trying to outdo the other
is what fans want to see. IPL is a template and GCL can be
no different.
I, for one, am hopeful. Chess has seen spectacular
progress since the start of the pandemic and series like
The Queen’s Gambit have helped. The number of players
who now play the sport has grown over the last few years
and with efforts like GCL, it is only expected to grow
even further in the next few. While the league aims to be
truly global, it needs to identify areas from where it will
be drawing its primary support. If it is Indian fans at the
core of it, then at some point it must come to India to give
budding team identities a push.
Making chess a spectator sport is what will drive
success. That it is a participatory sport is well established.
How you convert a participatory sport into a spectator
sport could define the future of GCL. And that’s where
players like Carlsen, who are brands in their own right,
turn relevant.
To go back to Carlsen, “I am no longer concerned with
the 2,900 points. Rather, I am much more focused on
growing the sport in the next few years.”
This could well be the key for GCL. The drive to grow the
sport from the very best could make it a global success story.

24 JULY 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 63

 THE RACHEL PAPERS Rachel Dwyer
The Light of Asia
India should do more to attract globetrotters
HE WORD ‘HOLIDAY’
T means so many
different things
to different people.
For some, it is a time to
relax and do nothing,
whether at home or
abroad and to read
—and sunbathe—
by a swimming pool.
Some seek adventure
or danger and enjoy
staying somewhere less comfortable than their home and
following some self-improvement.
When I interviewed Yash Chopra, who travelled much
of the world, he said there was no concept of holiday in
his youth. One visited family or went to weddings or on
pilgrimages. The idea of the holiday is seen in Indian films
of the 1960s onwards with films that celebrate exotic
locations (Love in Tokyo, An Evening in Paris), or Kashmir
as a paradise on earth (Kashmir Ki Kali). Dev Anand as
the eponymous guide in the movie Guide (1965), loosely
based on RK Narayan’s novel, The Guide (1958), set the
novel trend in the rising tourist industry in Rajasthan as
palaces became hotels. The Indian Tourism Development
Corporation was set up in 1966 and a growth of domestic
tourism was later followed by international tourism after
economic liberalisation in the 1990s.
Foreign tourists, such as Fanny Parkes, came to India
from the nineteenth century, and in one of the early Indo-
German collaborations, The Light of Asia/Prem Sanyas, a
silent film directed by Franz Osten and Himanshu Rai
(1925), the opening sequence shows foreign tourists, who
then learn the story of Gautam Buddha, the Light of Asia.
The 1960s saw the hippy trail and among many texts
which engage with it are Gita Mehta’s Karma Cola (1979), a
wonderful look at the marketing of the mystical East, and
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s novels and Merchant-Ivory film
collaborations. This was followed by more backpackers as
the publication of the Lonely Planet guides from the 1970s
opened up India to students on their vacations and gap
years. Including me.
I like to visit places that are interesting and make
me think. India is always my favourite place as I have never
been bored there in forty years of regular and frequent visits.
It can be overstimulating at times as there is so much to
64
engage with — the people, landscapes, buildings, languages,
literature, music, and of course, the films. India used to be
a tough place to travel, but now you can choose utmost
luxury if that is what you want.
I took my first flight after the pandemic this year. Of
course, it was to India. Then I went to Venice in April after
a long absence. Despite the constant crowds on the Grand
Canal, it remains a magical place. Even from a crowded
vaporetto, it’s a pleasure to look at the fabulous buildings
which inspired the Victorian Venetian style, seen across
the world, not least in Mumbai, and note the influence of
the Arab and Ottoman world on what we see as European.
In early June, I went to Corfu for a family holiday. Most
of us know of the island from reading Gerald Durrell’s
books when we were children. It’s also known as the
birthplace of the late Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip
of Greece and Denmark. He was born in Mon Repos,
a villa that was used by the Greek royal family, and
originally built for Frederick Adam, the British Lord High
Commissioner of the Ionian Islands and his Corfiot wife.
Adam was later Governor of Madras (as it then was). After
centuries of Venetian, French and British rule, Corfu and
the Ionian islands joined Greece in 1864. There remains
much evidence of this history, not least in its name—Corfu
is the Byzantine version of the Greek Kerkyra—while the
Venetians left a magnificent fort and elegant buildings.
However, Corfu has an older history and may be the land
of the Phaeacians, whose naval prowess is recalled by
Homer’s epithet for them: “long-oared”. It is identified
as the home of Nausicaa whose father, Antinous, hosted
Odysseus as his guest and helped send him on his way
back to Ithaca (now Ithaki).
Gerald Durrell and his siblings were born in India to
parents who were also born in India. Their father was
born in Dum Dum, Kolkata, and educated in what became
the IIT-Roorkee, before working for the Railways, while
their mother was born in Roorkee. Gerald was born in
Jamshedpur (1925) and although he left India at a very
young age, he recalls his fascination with animals
began with a visit to a zoo in India. His older brother, the
writer Lawrence Durrell, was born in Jalandhar (1912)
and first went to school at St Joseph’s, North Point,
Darjeeling. His book about his time in Corfu, Prospero’s
Cell, tells a different story from Gerald Durrell’s books
and evokes the interwar years in a very different culture
from the England they left.
24 JULY 2023
 Dev Anand and
Waheeda Rehman
in Guide
DEV ANAND AS THE EPONYMOUS GUIDE IN THE MOVIE GUIDE (1965) LOOSELY
BASED ON RK NARAYAN’S NOVEL, THE GUIDE (1958), SET THE NOVEL TREND IN THE
RISING TOURIST INDUSTRY IN RAJASTHAN AS PALACES BECAME HOTELS
My husband’s work took us to Norway which I first
visited 23 years ago as a guest of the Stavanger Indian
Film Festival. We attended a conference to commemorate
the discovery of the leprosy bacillus 150 years ago by
Gerhard-Henrik Armauer Hansen in Bergen. Many
people are unaware that leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, is
not yet eradicated.
Bergen was also the home of Edvard Grieg, whose music
is key to the national identity of Norway. Norway had been
part of the union of Denmark-Norway for almost three
hundred years, and then part of the United Kingdom of
Sweden and Norway from 1814 to1905. Grieg is a major
figure in the tradition of European classical music and
his use of Norwegian folk music in his compositions
made him one of the key figures in defining Norwegian
culture. The role of the arts in shaping national cultures,
drawing on ancient traditions to form the modern and the
international are perhaps more familiar from literature
and film. Grieg’s summer house in Bergen is a monument
to this national culture, and a timeline at Grieg’s house
with the major events of his life above the timeline and
the history of Norway below, makes this clear. Visitors can
attend a concert and visit his house which is adapted from
traditional wooden house construction.
In Oslo, the role of art is also celebrated in the massive
24 JULY 2023
Munch Museum, which presents the artist Edvard
Munch’s work beyond just The Scream. Children dash
around the building and there are special exhibition
rooms for them to engage with as part of forging a
Norwegian identity.
I am no historian of any of these places but as a casual
tourist, one comes away with such impressions of a
place and realises that India, one of the world’s great
civilisations with a vast and living history, can do much
more to present its national culture to its citizens and the
tourist. I’m always astonished how many people with
the means to do so, have not visited Ajanta and Ellora or
Hampi. I have been surprised how few tourists, especially
foreign visitors, one sees in Gujarat, for example, at
magnificent sites such as Modhera and Pavagadh, let alone
in the big cities.
It’s not just history or elite culture that one learns as
a tourist but also a sense, however limited, of people.
I remember the warm Corfiots with their sense of
humour, and the reserved Norwegians. And of course, the
wonderful varieties of food away from the international
chains, so Venetian cichetti (snacks), or Corfiot mezze,
or Norwegian brown cheese. I have never tried to eat
whale which is readily available in Norway. I don’t like
too much adventure.
www.openthemagazine.com 65
 STARGAZER
ER
KAVEREE BAMZAI
AI
SUVINDER VICKY
À When Ira Found Agatsu
Not every star child wants to be in the
family business. Ira Khan, daughter
of Aamir Khan, has spent the last
few years evolving a model whereby
she can reach out to those with
mental health issues before it gets
too late. All of 26, she has created a
community centre called the Agatsu
Foundation in Mumbai where she
has so far reached out to 400 unique
visitors and found like-minded
people with similar issues. The word
Agatsu means victory over oneself in
Japanese. The Agatsu Foundation is a
place without judgement and which
offers help and support, something
Khan says she was fortunate to have
in her family. Put into therapy when
she was 12, she continued it for three
years because she was too polite to
say no, she laughs. But by the time
she was graduating from school, she
started to feel she was falling into
depression. By the time Khan went
to college at the Utrecht University
in Amsterdam, she knew she was in
trouble. She would cry for eight hours
a day, sleep for a long time or not sleep
at all, not eat, not bathe. All these
were signs of clinical depression. She
wrote a letter to her mother, returned
home, tried to get to college again,
but dropped out again. She has now
realised that was not for her. Instead,
Khan finds solace in helping people
like her who may be groping in the
dark. She has done a course in mental
health leadership at Sangath, the
well-known NGO in Goa. Started by
the next chair of the Harvard Medical
School Department of Global Health
and Social Medicine, Dr Vikram Patel,
66
IRA KHAN
Sangath trains community mental
health workers. It is not easy to run a
centre as Khan does, especially given
the gap in practice and policy in the
area of mental health in India, but
she is trying innovative ways. “The
human connection keeps you going.
You can recover if you have hope,”
she says. Khan believes everyone
is on the mental health spectrum,
and that her lived experience can
benefit others. This is one area where
the country could use more such
courageous star kids.
À Patience Meets Talent
Since he appeared in Gurvinder
Singh’s Chauthi Koot in 2015,
Suvinder Vicky has been a known
name in the indie film circles. The
Punjabi film was the first of its kind
to premiere in the Un Certain Regard
section at the Cannes Film Festival
in 2015. “I didn’t even know what
the red carpet was,” says Vicky, who
did his postgraduate in theatre from
Panjab University in Patiala.
A devoted theatre actor, he had
been in a few Punjabi films before
Chauthi Koot but Ivan Ayr’s sombre
Meel Pathhar, or Milestone in 2020
put Vicky firmly on the path of indie
stardom. He played a laconic truck
driver who has to undertake one
last trip for his boss. A few small
roles in Bollywood films would have
seen his talent being wasted until
OTT discovered him. CAT and now
Kohrra, both on Netflix, will make it
impossible for audiences to ignore
him. In the forthcoming Kohrra,
he plays a troubled police officer
SHUBHAM SARAF
assigned to a high-profile murder
of a young NRI man who has come
home to get married. Vicky plays
a sub-inspector doing his best to
catch the killer and young man’s
missing English friend, even as a
family unravels and his own ghosts
come to haunt him. Vicky is grateful
for the world that comes to him
in Chandigarh where he has been
living most of his adult life, with
his teacher-wife Gursharan and two
daughters. “It’s too late now to move
to Mumbai,” he says, though
he does visit the city for meetings.
On the anvil is some work with
Vishal Bhardwaj, a filmmaker he has
long admired. Some dreams do come
true if patience meets true talent.
À Scene and Heard
Shubham Saraf is a well-known
name in the British TV industry,
often cast on South Asian roles
requiring police officers, doctors or
PR advisers. He had a major role in
Apple TV+’s unfortunate Shantaram
but his real star-making turn was
on stage last year when he played
Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin
Nathuram Godse in The Father and
the Assassin at the National Theatre.
So, it was good to see him in
JioCinema’s Blind, shot in the UK,
starring Sonam Kapoor Ahuja. Saraf,
last seen as a young aristocrat on
Indian screens in Mira Nair’s
A Suitable Boy on Netflix, plays
Sonam’s character’s unlikely ally,
and gives a good account of himself
and his Hindi. Time for him to be cast
in more work out of India too?
24 JULY 2023
The original ranking of the 50 Most Powerful
Women in Business & Economy. This includes
Indian leaders in business and Indian women

*Most Powerful Women in Business from the 2022 listing

who lead large corporations globally. The
Fortune India ranking is based on multiple
factors that include size and importance of the
business; health and direction of the business;
resume-longevity; runway ahead and social
and cultural influence.

ON STANDS AUGUST 2023

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