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NEW DELHI, mumbAi, beNGALuru, kOLkAtA, cHeNNAi, AHmedAbAd, HyderAbAd, cHANdiGArH*, puNe* VOL. 17 NO. 191

SPICE AROMA
FROM THE HILLS
SATURDAY, AuGust 12 2023 From ‘jakhiya’ to ‘lakhori’
chillies, Uttarakhand spices
are gaining prominence in
chef menus and are now also
available online. ‘Jakhiya’ has
gone from obscurity to
becoming the culinary
ambassador of the state
SEE PAGE 6

  

  
 

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NEW DELHI, MUMbAI, bENGALURU, kOLkATA, CHENNAI, AHMEdAbAd, HydERAbAd, CHANdIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 17 NO. 191 Rs. 10.00 . Price with Hindustan Times Rs. 15.50 20 PAGES

BROMANCE AT THE
BOX OFFICE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 2023 Three recent blockbusters—‘Barbie’,
‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Rocky Aur Rani
Kii Prem Kahaani’— offer signposts to
an understanding of vulnerable mascu-
linity in contemporary India. The films
depict masculine fragility in deli-
ciously diverse ways, writes
Shrayana Bhattacharya.
SEE PAGE 5

DELOITTE TO RESIGN AS ADANI PORTS AUDITOR | PAGE 18

BIHAR’S
ANCIENT
ATELIERS
GenerATions of unknown ArTisTs
in BihAr creATed soMe of The MosT
infLuenTiAL BuddhisT ArT in The
worLd. LounGe visiTs Their
workshops To TeLL Their sTory

TASTE
An armchair tea
trip to Mandalay
SMART LIVING
Put a smart ring
on your health
ZOOM
An exhibition on Tibetan
struggle and resistance
CULTURE
Documenting
memories of Partition
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02 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi FIRST

PLAN THE WEEK

A NOTE FROM
THE EDITOR
NEW ON SCREENS AHEAD
A quirky office comedy, a cosy murder mystery
SHALINI UMACHANDRAN series, and other titles to watch this weekend

Frame
stories A RETURN TO MILLETS

T
he increasing discourse on
millets has seen these
making a place for them-
selves on hotel menus. At ITC
Hotels, for instance, the chefs
have curated a new millet-based
breads menu—gluten-free, with
a low glycemic index. The culi-
nary team says millet dishes
such as these are the answer to
modern-day lifestyle conditions
as the grains are nutritionally
dense and have higher levels of
protein and dietary fibre. Some
WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY of the offerings include foxtail
Winning Time returns for its second season, which will see Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) propel the Los Angeles Lakers to millet and carrot bread, multi-
new heights. This period basketball comedy-drama series had an underrated first season, with a wealth of foul-mouthed, millet and turmeric loaf and
wisecracking, hilarious turns from actors like Jason Clarke, Adrien Brody, Gaby Hoffman, Tracy Letts and John C. Reilly. pearl millet focaccia. This is in
(JioCinema) sync with ITC’s “Mission Mil-
lets” initiative, launched earlier
this year, to bring millets into
ONLY MURDERS IN the mainstream diet. The bread
THE BUILDING menu is available at ITC Hotels
Going to college in a slow-living, cinema-mad city with a ceil- The cosiest of murder comedies across the country
ing on ticket prices meant doing movie marathons or returns with a third season. One of the
re-watching films at the multiplex was a popular way to spend delights of the show is the back-and-
the weekend. It has been many, many years since I have done forth between amateur sleuths Steve
either and I am now somewhat embarrassed to say that I have Martin, Martin Short and Selena
watched Ranveer Singh in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani Gomez, and the witty guest spots. This
twice within two weeks (though I did fall asleep during the season’s new inductees are Paul Rudd
second half the second time). While two pieces we have this and Meryl Streep. (Disney+ Hotstar)
week analyse the film through the lens of gender, I watched it
just because I loved Singh’s energy—and all his beautiful,
brightly coloured shoes. Author and economist Shrayana
Bhattacharya, however, makes the point that Bollywood
romances and films like Barbie tend to get dismissed as fluff
even as they try to use the power of entertainment to question
gender norms. “Some do so through science, others through
dance,” she writes. For columnist Sandip Roy, Rocky Aur Rani
and teen drama Heartstopper are a means to understand the FILIP THOUGHT-PROVOKING ART
scars bullying leaves, though most of us don’t notice it. In this film set in the Nazi era, Filip (Eryk Kulm) escapes to Frankfurt after his

M
Unnoticed scars are also the theme of two exhibitions—one family and fiancée are killed in a Warsaw ghetto. Posing as a French citizen, he ethod Kala Ghoda is
on artists and their studios in India and Pakistan, shot by Man- works as a waiter at a luxury hotel. Seeking revenge in his own twisted way, he presenting a solo show
isha Gera Baswani over two decades, and another on the sleeps with German women—in the Third Reich, foreign workers were consid- by Mohd Intiyaz, a
Tibetan resistance of the 1960s. A couple of books were pub- ered racially inferior and German women were punished if found having a Jharkhand-born visual artist
lished in the early 2000s but the fact that the CIA funded a physical relationship with them. Directed by Michał Kwieciński, the Polish film who migrated to Delhi. Titled
mission to train, arm and parachute resistance fighters into is based on a semi-biographical novel by Leopold Tyrmand. (Netflix) Baad Me Aana, the works, based
Tibet isn’t widely known. Tenzing Sonam and Ritu Sarin, who on his experience of migration
have documented the stories of surviving resistance fighters and marginalisation, showcase
for four decades, have finally brought their exhibition, which FISK the personal tone the artist is
opened in Germany in 2019, to Mumbai and discuss how it Corporate lawyer Helen Tudor-Fisk (Kitty known for. “In search of justice,
keeps changing shape and form. Flanagan) moves from Sydney to Mel- we knock at every door with
These are all stories of artists who sign their work, but for bourne after her marriage falls apart. She hope. Asking—no, demanding.
most of history those who sculpted masterpieces were takes up a job with the solicitor firm But when we do, we find our-
unnamed. Our cover story—which is part travelogue, part Gruber & Gruber, which specialises in wills selves weaving through a famil-
treasure hunt, part cultural thesis—traces the route to find the and probates and is run by partners Ray iar maze that never leads to a
Buddhist ateliers of Bihar and the unknown artists who cre- Gruber and his sister Roz. Helen is not a positive end…. We plead for
ated some of the most beautiful art of the Pala era. And as people’s person—she was fired from her what should be ours—a life
always, we have plenty to recommend on what to read, watch last job—and has three identical brown, equal to others—and once again
and enjoy this weekend. baggy suits. When asked to lose the “festi- we are told ‘Baad Me Aana’,”
val of brown”, she turns up in a yellow suit. writes the artist in his note. At
Write to the Lounge editor at shalini.umachandran@htlive.com It is a quirky office comedy with plenty of Method Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, till
@shalinimb laughs. (Netflix) 10 September, 11am-6pm (Tues-
day-Sunday)
Compiled by Nipa Charagi and Uday Bhatia. — Compiled by Avantika Bhuyan.

LOUNGE READ MOVE LIVE DINE

ONLINE
Insta-poetry salvaged
YOUR by sincerity
FAVOURITE
WEEKEND READ
T T
he bar for contemporary, popular
and Instagram-worthy English
NOW THROUGH poetry has been set too low, so
Mehak Goyal’s debut collection of
THE WEEK poems, Failure To Make Round Rotis,
comes as a pleasant surprise. Vangmayi
Parakala reviews the collection that
The best of Mintlounge.in from makes good use of a few
poetic devices to create
the week gone by and what to passionate, accessible
look forward to in the one ahead poetry. Accompanied by
line-drawings by Shikhar
Gaur, the book will appeal
to a niche audience: urban and semi-ur-
ban women, aged 15-23, who are just
starting to feel uncomfortable with the
gendered expectations surrounding
them or are beginning to get angry at
instances of easy discrimination.
Easy ways to build
immunity
here’s something about the rain
that makes us want to sit by the
window with a steaming cup of
chai and a plate of freshly fried pakoras.
As perfect as this sounds, the monsoon is
a time to pay special attention to what we
eat, for the rains bring with them an
increased risk of infec-
tions. Yoga and wellness
expert Anshuka Parwani
lists some easy ways to
beat lethargy and infec-
tions during the monsoon.
Breathwork is the core of her sugges-
tions, with recommendations on fluids
and foods to add to your diet to build
immunity. She recommends staying
hydrated and drinking teas with ingredi-
ents such as tulsi and turmeric.
Settling into a
‘blended family’
T D
ill somewhat recently in India, it
was largely only men with children
from a previous relationship who
remarried, and usually to an unmarried
woman. It’s more common now for both
men and women in such situations to
come together to form a family, creating
a new unit called the
“blended family”. While
this progression is a happy
development and a
rewarding one, blended
families have their share
of trials and tribulations that regular
nuclear families would not be familiar
with. Shweta Dravid speaks to experts to
understand how each individual, within
that set-up or outside it, can step up to
help.
On the Dhaka
street food trail
haka may not seem like a dining
destination but for the adventur-
ous foodie, it’s definitely worth a
visit. Raul Dias discovers khichdis made
with meat, egg-topped chaats and a pop-
ular drink made with slimy aloe vera gel,
just some of the nuances of the fascinat-
ing Dhakai cuisine. Bang-
ladesh’s capital city offers
a lip-smacking range of
street food, including
mince cutlets and snacks
like chotpoti—their ver-
sion of bhel puri—and typically Dhakai
sweets like ros bhora—which is nothing
like a rasgulla—made from lentil flour
and sugar syrup, and the Bangladeshi
version of the patisapta (a sweet-filled
roll made with flour).

lounge@livemint.com In How To Lounge >> Books In Health >> Wellness In Relationships >> Raising Parents In Food >> Discover
@mint_lounge
@livemintlounge

ON THE COVER: CROWNED BUDDHA, KURKIHAR, BRONZE ALLOY, 11TH CENTURY; PHOTOGRAPH BY BIBEK BHATTACHARYA

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https://snapfrom.com/
An opium-laced history of the world
Amitav Ghosh’s new
book examines how
the drug and its
commodification by
colonial Britain has
shaped the world
Shrabonti Bagchi
shrabonti.b@htlive.com
A
substantial part of Amitav
Ghosh’s new work of non-
fiction, Smoke And Ashes: A
Writer’s Journey Through
Opium’s Hidden Histories, is
set in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), the
site of a famously rebellious act by China’s
then ruling Qing dynasty in 1839.
The seizing of thousands of crates of
opium, mostly from India, from foreign
merchants in Canton and their destruc-
tion on the banks of the Pearl river by Chi-
nese diplomat Lin Zexu had an immense
and far-reaching impact. It precipitated
the First Opium War, a destructive series
of battles fought by the
British for no higher pur-
pose than protecting
their economic interests
at the cost of enslaving an
entire population using
an aggressive addiction to
opium, surely one of the
most heinous of colonial
crimes. “Within a few dec-
ades, exactly as intended, it
solved the East India Com-
pany’s balance of payments
problem: the drain of silver
from England to China
ended, and huge quantities
of bullion began to flow in
the other direction,” writes
Ghosh.
The Canton incident and the First
Opium War have been immortalised in art
and in writing, including in Ghosh’s own
celebrated trilogy of novels, Sea Of Poppies
(2008), River Of Smoke (2011) and Flood Of
Fire (2015). In this new book—part-collec-
tion of essays, part-travelogue—Ghosh
revisits some of the famous sites associ-
ated with the opium trade, from Ghazipur,
Medium Talk
Rain? Don’t skip play
WIZARD OF PAWS
In wet weather, move
games inside to keep
your pet agile, both
physically and mentally
Nameeta Nadkarni
A
s the owner of a Golden Retriever,
I am aware of how challenging it
may be to walk them during the
monsoon. Muddy paws and wet coats
that can lead to skin infections can deter
many pet parents from sticking to their
walking routine. Finding dry areas to
exercise your dog outside is difficult, and
I find that pet owners frequently fail to
give their pets enough exercise during
this time of the year.
Regardless of the weather, regular
exercise is essential for the physical and
mental health of the pet. During the
monsoon, pets can become restless,
bored, and even anxious due to the lack
of stimulation. Every year, I encounter
pets that put on a couple of pounds at the
end of the monsoon simply because they
do not get to go out as much during the
rains. Exercise not only helps maintain
weight but also supports joint health,
promotes cardiovascular fitness, and
reduces behavioural issues caused by
pent-up energy.
Your pet can benefit from indoor
activities and games if and when the
weather does not cooperate. Play hide-
and-seek with them. While you hide in
another room, have someone keep your
pet occupied with treats or toys. Call your
pet after that, and watch them enjoy try-
ing to find you. Getting interactive toys
that dispense treats is another way to
keep your pet cognitively occupied.
These toys help keep your pet mentally
active and stimulated. You can make
your own versions of these by using card-
board containers or boxes and conceal-
ing kibble inside and give your dog the
challenge of retrieving the goodies. It’s a
fantastic way to keep them busy. Hide
toys or snacks around the house or in a
sniffing mat and encourage them to
https://instadownload.app/
An illustration of a battle during the First Opium War.
Uttar Pradesh, to
Guangzhou, China,
and does more
directly what his nov-
els did using the more
elliptical method of
fictional narrative.
He traces the history of
opium in Asia, offers conclusive proof of
the way the drug has shaped much of its
history, and exposes the extent to which
colonial administrations dehumanised
entire populations, being celebrated for
this in their home country.
A non-fiction work allows Ghosh to go
deeper into territory that his novels have
charted; depending upon your tastes, you
Get your pets interactive toys so that they are cognitively occupied.
search for the items to engage their sense
of smell. This cerebral workout will keep
their minds occupied and exhaust them.
You can also create a mini-obstacle
course using common household mate-
rials like cushions, cardboard boxes, and
tunnels to make sure they get their
required dose of physical activity. Use
rewards like treats to help your pet navi-
gate the course. This is excellent for
developing agility.
Cats, who spend the majority of their
time indoors, enjoy a nice obstacle
course. Make a fishing game by using a
stick with a string and a toy fastened to
the end. This will satiate cats’ natural
urges to stalk and chase.
Using a durable rope toy, you can play
a gentle game of tug of war with your dog.
It’s a great way to burn energy and
strengthen your bond. But play the game
with caution to avoid injuring or strain-
ing their neck, especially if you have a
beagle. You can use your home treadmill
for exercise during the monsoon if your
dog feels at ease using it. Start at a slow
pace and gradually increase it. Playing
fetch or using the stairs in your home to
have your pet run up and down are also
great ways to get in some exercise.
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FIRST
Ghosh makes a strong case
for the far-reaching effects
of opium cultivation
and trade on Indian
populations—visible even
in the 21st century
ISTOCKPHOTO
Rainy weather can also interfere with
your dog’s socialisation schedule. Plan
indoor playdates with your friends or rel-
atives who have pets. This will keep them
active.
To prevent accidents, ensure that your
pets are always supervised. Get good-
quality toys, especially rope toys. In the
event that they are chewed or swallowed,
surgery may be required. While using
treats to encourage them to learn indoor
activities, do it in moderation and stay
within their daily calorie intake, or that
may lead to weight gain. If your pet is
unattended on the treadmill, accidents
can occur. Clear the space where you will
be playing with your pet of any breakable
objects or potential hazards like electri-
cal cords. Adjust the intensity of activity
to your pet’s age, breed, and health. Sen-
ior pets or those with health problems
should refrain from excessive exercise.
Keep in mind that a pet that gets plenty
of exercise and mental stimulation will be
happier and healthier. So, make the most
of days that you are stuck indoors.
Nameeta Nadkarni is a practising vet-
erinary soft tissue surgeon and pet blogger
from Mumbai.
https://saveig.net/
may decide whether fiction or non-fiction
serves this story better. The latter does
allow Ghosh to look beyond the con-
straints of narrative and assess the wider
impact of the opium trade on the modern
world. For instance, he draws a direct
connection between the biggest opium-
growing region in India in the 19th cen-
tury (encompassing parts of eastern Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand) and the
fact that it continues to trail on many eco-
nomic and social parameters today.
The British Empire had, through insidi-
ous ways, gained complete control over
local governance and farming and
employed oppressive measures to ensure
farmers grew only poppy, making the
COURTESY PINKLAY WEBSITE
(from left) A co-ord not advertised as pjs; a pairing from Buna Studio; and Aashi Adani in one of her sets.
Co-ord with caution
Co-ord sets seem to
have reached peak
popularity in India—
mostly in the worst
versions of themselves
Vangmayi Parakala
vangmayi.parakala@htlive.com
I
t’s a Sunday afternoon, and, at a busy
mall, two otherwise chic ladies glide
down an escalator in what seem to
be…night-suits? Impeccable Korean
glass-skin make-up on one and classic
Ruby Woo-esque red lip on the other dis-
pel any illusions that they may have had
a lazy morning.
No, wait a second. Those are co-ord
sets. Bad ones, of course. But I soon real-
ise these aren’t an anomaly. I see them a
few days later in an office waiting room,
outside a fancy coffee shop. And at the
airport. And on Instagram, on celebrities
“spotted” doing regular-people things.
It’s an epidemic.
Ideally a predetermined set of upper
and lower garments in one colour or
pattern, co-ord sets are supposed to be
an easy way to look put-together. In
that brief phase after the lockdown,
when we were all trying to understand
how to inhabit the world socially again,
SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
ISTOCKPHOTO
local economy entirely dependent on the
manufacture and trade of opium. “The
long-term effects of this system of surveil-
lance and criminalization continue to
manifest themselves in the discord and
lack of social trust that plague much of
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand to
this day,” writes Ghosh, quoting work by
researchers such as Jonathan Lehne’s
2018 paper, An Opium Curse? The Long-
run Economic Consequences Of Narcotics
Cultivation In British India.
He also links American involvement in
the opium trade and its current opioid cri-
sis. Though less well-known than British
involvement, money from the trade had a
huge impact on American banking,
More than small talk
COURTESY BUNA STUDIO ON INSTAGRAM
fashion writers told us co-ords were the
things to bank on, that they were here
to stay. This made sense: They offered
a gentle way for us to ease out of over-
sized T-shirts and ratty pyjamas, and,
without too much effort, feel stylish
and smart.
But if Google trends for India are any-
thing to go by, it is only now, in the sec-
ond half of 2023, that the term “co-ords”
has hit peak popularity in searches…and
apparently also in some of the worst ver-
sions of themselves.
“Co-ords are so versatile and for every-
body—you can see children sporting
them, older women and men too,” says
Aashi Adani, a personal fashion and
beauty influencer. The fact that they
come in sets lets her wear colours she
wouldn’t ordinarily. “It’s a little tricky to
decide what colours will go well
together…and co-ords take away any
stress that the outfit is going to be mis-
matched,” she adds.
Pallavi Shantam, founder of the label
Buna Studio, which conceptualises gar-
ment pairings without calling them
co-ords, notes that the idea of the now
popular sets also “resonates with those
embracing minimalism and sustainable
choices...while also allowing mix-and-
match possibilities”.
It all sounds great—except that this is
where things get a bit deceptive. Not all
co-ords are crafted equal. A lot of them in
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New Delhi 03
finance and unilateral wealth creation.
“The current crisis has forced a reckoning
with the extraordinary powers of the
opium poppy,” he writes. “The outrage
against the manufacturers of prescription
opioids has not led to a wider reckoning
with the West’s role in the promotion of
opiates.”
Ghosh calls substances like alcohol
and opium “biopolitical weapons”—
along with “guns, germs and steel”, a
shorthand term formulated by American
historian and writer Jared Diamond to
explain how European colonialists estab-
lished their extractive empires, these
narcotic substances were used to subdue
indigenous people. While the introduc-
tion of alcohol among Aboriginal Austra-
lians, previously unexposed to it in any
form, by British settlers in the late 18th
century created a crisis of alcoholism and
alcohol-related deaths, opium had a sim-
ilarly devastating effect on populations in
India and China, writes Ghosh. In India,
it was a dual curse—being forced to grow
the crop at severe economic disadvan-
tage and the addictions that came along
with exposure to it.
Ghosh’s work has always examined the
moral indefensibility of colonialism, criti-
cal at a time when we are seeing a resur-
gence of colonial apologia in the form of
books like Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning
(2021) by Oxford University theologian
Nigel Biggar, influential articles such as In
Defense Of Empire by political writer Rob-
ert D. Kaplan, published in 2014 in The
Atlantic magazine, and the rhetoric of
political demagogues like former British
prime minister Boris Johnson.
Happily, we are also in the midst of a
more critical global re-examination of
colonialism’s specific ills—from William
Dalrymple’s The Anarchy: The Relentless
Rise Of The East India Company (2019) to
novelist R.F. Kuang’s immensely popular
speculative fiction best-seller Babel,
which incorporates the opium wars into
its alternate historical narrative and, inci-
dentally, has a long section fictionalising
the events leading to the destruction of
British opium in Canton.
Smoke And Ashes may look at colonial-
ism and its aftermath through the lens of
one plant, the opium poppy, but it offers
irrefutable proof of the true devastation
and exploitation perpetrated in the name
of Empire.
COURTESY AASHI ADANI
the market can actually trip up a rela-
tively inexperienced wearer because it is
the nuances of cuts, fits and accessories
that keeps them from looking like their
close cousin, the pj set.
“The more relaxed a co-ord looks, the
more it goes into the loungewear or
nightwear category,” says Adani, who
swears by her many co-ord sets. “Finding
a co-ord that fits your body well is very
important…and how you accessorise it
also makes a huge difference,” she adds.
Wasn’t the whole point to eliminate
decision fatigue and make dressing
easy? There was a time when matching
separates didn’t blur the lines between
your going-out clothes and what you
would wear to bed. Think Coco Chanel’s
colour-coordinated skirt-and-cardigan
sets, or Audrey Hepburn’s iconic all-
black polo neck, trousers and penny
loafers in Funny Face (1956). Closer
home, we have had the matching sal-
war-kameez and the standard “running
blouse” in a sari that matches with the
rest of its yardage.
In all these, the intentionality in col-
our, print or embellishment communi-
cated exactly what they were meant for.
It was simple and straightforward, com-
fort did not mean confusion. Perhaps
more contemporary co-ords can be
thought of in this way. Designers would
be doing a whole host of us looking for
ease and style a great service.
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04 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
New Delhi
Source A compendium of beautiful objects
WITHIN
RESIN
Multi-Colored
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PARTY TIME
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Confetti-like multicoloured sequins have been
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ALDO X Disney Beige Loafers
Dapper and playful leather loafers
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Compiled by Shrabonti Bagchi.
Things to watch, read, hear, do—and other curated experiences from the team
A DELICIOUS SNACK
S I
ome of us prefer savoury things
for a quick snack. But if you hap-
pen to have a sweet tooth, you
definitely need to try the vanilla,
cream-filled quadratinis from the Ital-
ian brand Loacker. The quadratini,
which means little squares in Italian,
was introduced by Loacker in 1994—
though I have just only discovered
them after a date recommended them
to me. These crispy, bite-sized wafer
cookies have four layers of delicious
vanilla cream. That doesn’t mean they
are too sweet, though, so they are per-
fect as a late-night dessert or, even
better, a companion snack with your
coffee. I also like the smart packaging:
a neat re-sealable pouch-like bag that
makes sure you don’t end up eating
too many of them in one go. The
Loacker Quadratini is available in
other flavours too and can be ordered
online.
—Nitin Sreedhar
https://instadownload.app/
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HOW TO LOUNGE
SHROOM
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A collaboration
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V FOR VEERAPPAN
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lenty has been written, filmed and said
about Veerappan, the notorious
smuggler, poacher and forest brigand
who dominated the news for more than a
decade before he was killed in 2004.
Selvamani Selvaraj’s four-episode Netflix
series, The Hunt For Veerappan, is well-
researched, with clips from his tapes and
interviews with key figures from his life,
including his wife Muthulakshmi. It pieces
together a long story, filled with drama and
multiple narrators, without seeming too
sympathetic to the smuggler who was almost
worshipped by some. A riveting watch, it
doesn’t, however, delve deeply into how a
figure like Veerappan came to be.
—Dakshayani Kumaramangalam
THERE BE DRAGONS
D
ragons have a strong hold on the
imagination of fantasy writers. In
Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series of
books featuring the eponymous dragon and
his handler Will Laurence, which I discovered
recently and belatedly through a chatty
online book club, they come alive as fully
realised creatures with strong emotions and
intellect. The backdrop of the books, which
are about the relationship between Temeraire
and Laurence if you strip away the adventure
stuff, are the Napoleonic Wars between
England and France in the early 19th century,
with real incidents woven in skilfully in
Novik’s period-appropriate prose. Having
read only the first two of the series, it’s a joy to
think there are several more left to devour.
—Shrabonti Bagchi
https://saveig.net/
STORMY
SKIES
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AN UNDER-EYE MAGIC SERUM?
am obsessive about my dark circles.
From trying to drink five litres of
water a day to applying potato
water, cold tea bags and aloe vera, to
using budget-friendly eye creams by
Re’equil and amala.earth and not-at-
all budget-friendly ones by Isdin and
Kiehl’s, I have tried it all. Nothing has
worked. But I have not given up.
Recently, Kama Ayurveda launched
its Eye Contour Renewal serum,
promising to hydrate the under-eye
areas and reduce dark circles and fine
lines. Of course, I had to try it. After a
week’s use, I can see the change,
though the fine lines, which don’t
bother me too much, are still evident.
The applicator is extremely soft and
smooth, which is something you don’t
often come across. I am waiting
another week to find out if I really
have discovered the magic lightness
wand for my dark circles.
—Pooja Singh
https://instadl.app/
Till wealth
STREAM OF
STO R I E S
RAJA SEN
do us part
Sobhita Dhulipala in ‘Made In Heaven’.
M
arriages change shape. The anything-goes elasticity of newly-weds
sooner or later becomes more defined. For better or for worse, mar-
riages solidify, and, in keeping with that, sometimes they crumble.
Shapeshifting happens also with stories about marriages and Made In
Heaven—a series about wedding planners, returning to Amazon Prime with
a much awaited second season, four years after the first—isn’t quite the
show it used to be.
Created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, Made In Heaven started as a
swishy, sexy, incisive take on the hypocrisies and hi-jinks of Delhi wed-
dings, increasingly overblown shindigs designed to out-Instagram each
other. Focusing on the planners ironing out problems born out of privilege
and bigotry, it was a sort of Call My Agent! for the shaadi market. The new
season, comprising seven episodes each more than an hour long, is a slower,
sadder drama.
One achievement of season 1 was the show’s protagonist, Tara Khanna.
Played by a poised Sobhita Dhulipala, Tara—one of the two founders of the
titular wedding planning firm—was revealed as an opportunistic social
climber who had entrapped a wealthy husband by any means necessary. Dhu-
lipala shines particularly bright in silent moments, like when she longingly
caresses a beloved green handbag. Tara is the kind of unapologetic anti-hero
we rarely see and she continues to make questionable choices while refusing
to be judged by anyone, from mother to lover to business partner.
The aforementioned business partner, Karan Mehra, is played by Arjun
Mathur, who doesn’t get as interesting an arc. As a gay man, the first season
saw him hounded by police and legality but in an India after Section 377 of
the Indian Penal Code was read down, the conflicts are less obvious. Parents
can be their own state, however, and an implacable mother can prove worse
than any policeman. Mathur is a consistent performer but the character
only springs to life in scenes with Tara as the kind of best friend who, hear-
ing news that has left her shaken, offers to roll a joint for her instead of find-
ing a solution.
Solutions are in short supply. This season doesn’t provide quick fixes for
troubled couples/families and Tara’s credo of “Don’t judge, Don’t care”
makes the planners appear too passive, serving essentially as bartender-like
listeners. The show gives us all the flavours of weddings: a same-sex commit-
ment ceremony, a polygamous marriage, a person marrying themselves, even
a marriage by lovers on the run. The
“Made In Heaven” team, striving
for efficiency, counsels but
refuses to interfere, adding to
the anti-hero greyness. STREAMING TIP
This simplistic narrative
device—of every marriage OF THE WEEK
facing one easily labelled Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid is now
problem—would have available on BookMyShow Stream.
worked infinitely better The fascinating psychological horror
without one of season 1’s film, which features Joaquin Phoenix
lingering pitfalls: a judge- as a man torn apart by indecision,
mental wedding videog- takes you to a surreal
rapher who spouts catch-
all homilies at the end of
each episode, sounding like
world that will evoke your own
recurring nightmares. A
startling, singular
achievement.
the kind of Gossip Girl fan who
frequently misquotes Rumi. After a
harrowing episode featuring a bride mar-
rying a groom who repeatedly abuses her, the drama is undone by a voice-
over like “This is Delhi, and here beauty cannot change the beast”. Sigh.
Made In Heaven has always had fine actors—Jim Sarbh is hilarious as an
indignant heir, wondering if his ex-wife-to-be “thinks we live in California,
and she deserves half of what my father built”—but the top performer is a new
entrant. Mona Singh, coming aboard to play a no-nonsense businesswoman
and mother, has powerful screen presence and eloquent eyes, providing a
reason to keep watching even when the episodes get overlong and repetitive.
Conflicts repeat themselves, as do the issues characters face: Every queer
character is shunned by family or friends, for instance, and while this may be a
sad reflection of our prejudiced world, it makes little storytelling sense to
show us first a bigoted mother, then a bigoted father. First, oafish boys make
insensitive jokes to their trans friend at a bar, later, other oafs make similar
jokes about the same character at a party. Over seven episodes, two primary
characters lose a parent. With each episode weighing in at a cumbersome 70
minutes, these patterns feel exhausting.
Smart observations gleam through. A designer covers up a bride’s bruise
(“the chunni will take care of it”) as if used to it. A young man passing through
an office casually compliments another (“I like your look, man,” he says, to
which the other replies, “Thanks, man, I try”) and this feels current and
casual, men appreciating each other’s style without an agenda. A young suitor
compliments Tara on dressing up for his friends, to which she retorts: “I dress
up. Your friends are incidental.”
The most eventful episode is directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, featuring a won-
derful Radhika Apte as a celebrated Dalit activist. The episode includes
straightforward explanations of affirmative action and coming out as Dalit,
and it feels powerful to train the glitzy Made In Heaven aesthetic on a Buddhist
Dalit wedding, one where Ambedkar’s picture is kept right next to the Bud-
dha. As Apte’s character says, “Everything is about the politics.”
Akhtar and Kagti direct a splashy, fun episode, a movie-star wedding on the
French Riviera. Other stars aren’t around—save for a hobbling film-maker
who slipped on the red carpet at Cannes—and a family member, annoyed by
this, remarks that the event better not be so intimate that it bores the guests.
Made In Heaven does feel like the kind of shaadi that goes on too long, making
you long to get away from the hubbub and take off your dress shoes. Yet it
makes for great photographs. The tiredness will fade but the pictures will last.
They remain ours to have and to hold.
Raja Sen is a screenwriter and critic. He has co-written Chup, a film about
killing critics, and is now creating an absurd comedy series. He posts @rajasen.
https://instastoryviewer.net/
https://snapfrom.com/
A reel group hug for those who have been bullied
CULT
FRICTION
SANDIP
ROY
y cup of feel-good runneth
M
over.
In an odd twist of fate, I
watched Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem
Kahaani and season 2 of Heartstopper,
the LGBTQ+ teen drama series on Net-
flix, on the same weekend. (SPOILER
ALERT for those who have not watched
either.)
At first you would think the twain can
never meet. One is a high-octane Karan
Johar extravaganza about mismatched
and star-crossed lovers, family values
and cultural stereotypes, shot through
with bling and nostalgia. The other is
the hit series about school romance
(gay, lesbian, bi, trans, asexual and more)
set in contemporary England. In a world
where teen series are bristling with sex
and drugs, its protagonists kiss and cud-
dle. They should have been insufferable.
Instead, even cynical viewers have fallen
in love with the tenderness of it all.
Both are love stories that foreground
families and acceptance. However,
there is something else they unexpect-
edly have in common. To me, both felt
like cinematic group hugs for all those
who have been bullied in the school
yard and at home.
In Heartstopper, it’s one of the protag-
onists—Charlie. He is outed in eighth
grade, bullied relentlessly. In season 2,
he seems to have put that trauma
behind him as he revels in his new rela-
BROMANCE AT
THE BOX OFFICE
Three blockbusters
offer signposts to an
understanding of
vulnerable masculinity
in contemporary India
Shrayana Bhattacharya
I
n the past three weeks, many of
us have been delighted by three
films that have depicted mascu-
line fragility in deliciously
diverse ways. There was Oppen-
heimer, where a Great Director made a
Great Film about the ethical dilemmas of
a Great Scientist. Karan Johar and a team
of writers imagined the hellishly sexy
Ranveer Singh as Rocky, unshackling
decades of emotional stunting accorded to
shiny “all about loving one’s family” Pun-
jabi himbos and the gender norms within
their families. And there was Greta Ger-
wig’s kinetic Ken—played by Ryan Gos-
ling—with his own insecurities, lack of
independent housing, and theme song in
Barbie. All this as we build anticipation for
Shah Rukh Khan’s continued attempt to
redefine the tired tropes of the Indian
action hero with a crew of women soldiers
in Jawan, a film that appears to be like
Chak De! India meets Pathaan via Chen-
nai. Men are fun at the movies again. At
least, for some of us in the audience.
I have no interest in opining on the
merits of these movies; most of us are
exhausted by the number of post-modern
hot takes these pictures have generated
online. Instead, I will take you on a strictly
offline ground-up tour of the audiences
watching them at cinema halls. Across
seven cinema halls in Delhi, Faridabad
(Haryana) and Mumbai, I observed and
interviewed viewers. This is hardly an
exhaustive and representative take. How-
ever, hanging out at cinema halls offered
three signposts to help understand the
appetite for a modern and vulnerable
masculinity in contemporary India.
First, we run the risk of doing a great
disservice to young men—particularly
those from Gen Z and Gen Alpha turning
up in sequins and pink for Barbie or cheer-
ing the men performing Kathak in Rocky
Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (RRKPK)—if
we surmise that Oppenheimer’s box office
collections being higher than Barbie’s in
India is a simple marker of the general
masculine reluctance to engage with films
that tell stories of how all is not healthy
with our gender norms. Across cities, I
witnessed a mixed crowd of male and
female school and college students at the
Barbie screenings, united in their giggles
and enthusiasm for the “I’m Just Ken”
https://instadownload.app/
The scars left by the bullying run deep, as both ‘Heartstopper’ and ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ show
tionship with the leader of the school
rugby team. He has a supportive family,
a posse of close friends and gets to go on
a dream trip to Paris but the scars left by
the bullying still run deep, though they
don’t define him any more.
In Rocky Aur Rani, the bullying story-
line isn’t about the protagonists.
Chandon Chatterjee is Rani’s father, a
man whose passion and profession is
dancing. It’s a passion which makes him
the butt of jokes and ridicule. In a film
that is all about love stories, young love,
old love, the most tender moment
involves none of the main love-lorn
couples in the film. The movie finds its
heart-stopper moment when the two
men, as different and chalk and
cheese—the brash young Rocky and the
urbane older Chandon—let their guard
down together.
At the show I had gone to, the audi-
ence, which had been laughing, chuc-
kling, tittering, suddenly fell silent. And
when the scene ended, I heard people
clapping tentatively, then a little louder
and then whole-heartedly. Some might
have appreciated the dancing. Or the
Sanjay Leela Bhansali-style opulence of
the Durga Puja set. This was Kolkata,
after all. But I think that most of us
understood that Rocky Aur Rani had
quietly became a story not just about
mismatched and star-crossed lovers
but about letting go of the pain of being
bullied.
Tota Roy Chowdhary plays Chandon
Chatterjee in the film. He told The Indian
Express that while his phone had not
stopped ringing since the film released,
his favourite scene was not the much
talked about Durga Puja pas de deux. It’s
the scene that leads up to it, when his
character is asked to perform at a sangeet
ceremony and becomes the butt of a
song. Some of the young men—they must
have been 16 or 17—were humming the
lyrics to each other. Others complained
that they felt peer pressure from their lib-
eral feminist classmates to watch Barbie.
Unlike conversations on Indian social
media, a space where 67% of users are
male (according to a 2021 Meta paper), the
boys at these screenings were relatively
silent through it all. There was no jostling
to out-discourse anyone. Walking out of a
show of Barbie in Faridabad, I overheard
a young man tell his friend, “bandon par
bahut barsi yeh film (the film rained attacks
on men).” When I asked him if he enjoyed
it, he smiled and said he did and would
insist his family watch it.
I spoke to Sanjeev Bijli, executive
director of PVR INOX Ltd, the largest cin-
ema exhibitor in India, about Barbe-
nheimer. He said he was “heartened” by
the box office performances of both films.
When I asked him about the age and gen-
der composition of the audience, his
insights, based on data from his screens,
aligned with what I had witnessed.
“Twelve- to 34-year-olds remain the pri-
mary audience at cinema halls in India,”
he said. Barbie did witness a younger audi-
ence, with far more women. “Oppenheimer
was typically 60-70% men in the hall. Bar-
bie had a female skew, which is different
from the worldwide trend where both
men and women have come out to see the
film. I wish more men had come to see
Barbie in India but the film’s business is
more than respectable for an English lan-
guage film that is not dubbed or massy.”
He makes an important point.
Familiarity with English belongs to a
sliver of the upper-caste urban popula-
tion, men more so than women. Accord-
ing to survey data collected by the not-for-
profit Lok Foundation and business infor-
mation company Centre for Monitoring
Indian Economy (CMIE) in 2019, only 6%
https://instagramvideodownloader.net/
THINK
A still from ‘Heartstopper’.
humiliating joke, jeered for being a man
who dances. “I knew I had to do this not
just for myself, I had to do this for all per-
formance artistes who are catcalled for
not conforming to traditional concepts
of masculinity,” said Roy Chowdhary. I
remembered a friend of mine, Ashok
Jethanandani, who was learning Bhara-
tanatyam in the US. A fellow dancer told
him he should focus on the more “mas-
culine” tillanas, not the lyrical javalis. “It
looks kind of awkward for a man to be
dancing Radha’s part,” she said.
This pain is obviously something
of Indians surveyed were comfortable
speaking English. Oppenheimer had both
English and Hindi shows; Barbie was only
released in English. In India, in its first
week of release, Gerwig’s film was
released on 850 screens, while Oppen-
heimer played on 1,900.
Bijli said the decision to allocate screens
is based on analytics of past audience
responses. The Barbenheimer numbers
are not a straightforward story of women’s
compromised access to cinema, they tell
a story of the interest expressed by audi-
ences (both men and women) in science
and Oppenheimer director Christopher
Nolan’s work within the minuscule elite
market for English content.
Data clearly shows that men hold more
free time and purchasing power than
women. This skewed access to independ-
ent incomes and safe spaces, compounded
by crippling time poverty, results in
women being unable to watch the films
they wish to at a theatre. Such a gender
gap is far more relevant for Hindi films,
where language does not restrict access.
Bijli said early data suggested the audi-
ence for RRKPK was gender-balanced,
with the film doing particularly well in
metros. I imagine if women in smaller
towns had more money and more free-
dom of mobility, you might see Bollywood
romances doing even better at the box
office.
Second, this is not to say that the relent-
less orgasmic squealing from tech-bros
and history uncles (and the people they
have mentored or brainwashed) about the
Greatness of Nolan’s film does not signal
a patronising lack of curiosity to engage
with what is dismissed as “women-cen-
tric” content. Nearly every young and
middle-aged woman who watched Barbie
and spoke to me complained about how
several men in their immediate social cir-
cle refused to consider the film “serious”,
https://saveig.net/
Johar wears close to his own heart. He
has written about his own experiences
of being bullied in his memoir, using his
sense of humour as armour against a
world where he did not fit in as some-
one who was both overweight and
effeminate. Later, when he played a
small part in a television serial, the actor
Lilliput took him aside and told him that
people would make fun of him because
his hand gestures were very effeminate.
Johar writes: “That stuck with me. I
stopped acting.” He told his father he
was taking computer classes but in real-
(left) Ryan Gosling as Ken in
‘Barbie’; and Ranveer Singh, who
stars in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem
Kahaani’—the films offer an
escape from the violence of our
daily news cycle.
I witnessed a mixed crowd of
male and female school and
college students at the
‘Barbie’ screenings, united in
their giggles and enthusiasm
for the ‘I’m Just Ken’ song
SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
ity enrolled with a voice coach who
taught him to bring a baritone into his
voice and cut down on the “girlish”
hand gestures.
There is a tendency to romanticise
our school days, especially when viewed
through the rose-tinted glasses of the
school WhatsApp group. But the truth is
school can be horrible for those who
can’t quite fit in. When Vikram Seth was
invited to give the Founder’s Day
address at his alma mater, Doon School,
in 1992, he didn’t mince words. “I had a
terrible feeling of loneliness and isola-
tion during my six years here. Some-
times at lights out I wished I would never
wake up,” he told his undoubtedly star-
tled audience. He said he was “teased
and bullied” because he just liked to read
and was not interested in games, gangs
and groups. He shared this story not to
gain sympathy points but to reassure
someone like him who might have been
in the audience, that it can get better.
I could have been one of those kids. I
liked to read and was not interested in
games, gangs and groups. But luckily I
was good in studies and enjoyed debat-
ing and quizzing. It all helped protect
me. I was different but it was a kind of
difference others admired in our all-
boys school. Some other boys were not
so lucky. I remember a quiet boy who
was often teased and bullied for being a
little effeminate. I would not tease him
but I did not have the courage to stand
up for him either, afraid that would
blow my own cover. Years later, I recon-
nected with him as an adult. When I
asked him if he wanted me to include
him in the school WhatsApp group, he
shuddered and said school days were
the last thing he wanted to relive.
Every time there is a suicide in some
posh school, the subject of ragging gets
GETTY IMAGES
often discounting it as feminist man-hat-
ing froth. The Oppenheimer shows I fre-
quented were more packed, more male
and more self-serious in monochrome.
Not all Indian men reject Barbie or Bol-
lywood romance but a certain type of
anglicised upper-caste Indian millennial
male and middle-aged uncle will never
accept them. I know this man very well—
he believes he can only learn from Great
Men and Dead Women; he is convinced
that all art made by women and queer peo-
ple is meant for women and queer people;
he thinks any commentary on family, love
or sex—principal sites that curtail female
freedom and impose surveillance—is friv-
olous. He can only appreciate gender
struggles when they are presented with an
adequate dosage of female misery. The
fact that India is one of the only countries
where Nolan’s film outperformed Barbie
at the box office is not a sign of sexism writ
large. Rather, the box office collections
and my interviews, supplemented by the
internet commentary, highlight that a
certain category of self-serious men (who
enjoy more purchasing power, influence
and space than most of us) love movies
https://instadl.app/
New Delhi 05
media attention. Many of us think some
garden-variety bullying builds charac-
ter. But as former US president Barack
Obama said as part of the It Gets Better
project, which aims to empower
LGBTQ+ youth: “We’ve got to dispel the
myth that bullying is just a normal rite of
passage.” And, most importantly, “what I
want to say is this. You are not alone. You
didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t do
anything to deserve being bullied”.
We cannot ever create the perfect
world where everyone always feels safe.
Children can be cruel and will pick on
differences to figure out who is the runt
in the litter. Some of those who get bul-
lied eventually come into their own. I
imagine many of those who once bul-
lied Karan Johar now try to curry
favour with him. And all those who
bully do not turn into horrible, violent,
spouse-beating monsters either. But
the shadow of that experience must live
on in both sides.
At one point in Heartstopper, Ben, one
of the boys who treated Charlie badly,
admits he was messed up and asks for his
forgiveness. Charlie looks him in the eye
and says,“I’m glad you realised what you
did was wrong but you don’t get to
ambush me into forgiving you.”
When I heard that, I understood why
my friend didn’t want to join our school
WhatsApp group, so we could all pre-
tend we had moved on and the past
didn’t matter any more. It never stops
mattering.
The best we can hope for is that like
Chandon Chatterjee in Rocky Aur Rani,
it does not stop you from dancing either.
Cult Friction is a fortnightly column on
issues we keep rubbing up against. San-
dip Roy is a writer, journalist and radio
host. He posts @sandipr.
about other serious men.
The tribalism that many English-speak-
ing Indian women display in favour of
Barbie is not wanton wokeism. It is anger
directed against a type of man who contin-
ues to dismiss and demean our stories,
worth and enthusiasms. These men will
always place an unfair burden on women
to prove brilliance. Rest assured, they
adore the impossibly poised yet suppor-
tive women in the Nolan movie—the quip-
ping sexy wife and the sexy Communist
siren. More interested in wife jokes on
WhatsApp groups, they will hate Barbie
because all the jokes are on them. They
hate Shah Rukh Khan and Ranveer Singh
because their insistent sexiness flusters
them. It is not that these men do not take
women’s art or interests seriously, it is that
they struggle to take women seriously at
all. They will pat themselves on the back
for being such grand liberals at not being
offended by the use of the Gita by Nolan.
They are most comfortable in the
boys-club worlds imagined in
Oppenheimer, where the language
of genius allows them to keep
women at a safe distance. So,
the reaction to these films
captures a deeper masculine
malaise amongst our elites.
Finally, in a country that
seems to be losing its moral moor-
ings, where many of us deploy an
arsenal of whataboutery to avoid asking
ourselves tough questions, these films and
conversations reminded me that the
power of entertainment is to offer ethical
encouragement as opposed to tedious
sanctimony. In each of these films, a man
confronts his morality and shows the
audience how he relishes and relinquishes
the power society bestows on him. Some
do so through science, others through
dance.
I watched Barbie, RRKPK and Oppen-
heimer more than once across two cities
without any research intent in mind.
Rather, like others in the audience, I
hoped to escape the odious violence of our
daily news cycle and my own mundane
routines. Watching Barbie, I could feel a
cumulative flinch from the women when
the line about an “undertone of violence”
was mentioned. Perhaps I imagined it.
Perhaps I needed to. At RRKPK, I watched
a woman seated in front of me cry when
Singh offered his monologue on the tradi-
tional family. She was watching the movie
with her son. I thought about the conver-
sations they might dare to have at home
after the film.
Following an Oppenheimer show in
Lower Parel in Mumbai, a young aspiring
engineer said he felt so worried. “Look at
our news. We must be careful about how
our leaders behave and how we behave.”
I hoped the self-serious uncles watching
the film might give the film’s moral bar-
gains a good long think, praying more of
us spend time feeling through films as
opposed to analysing them. In deeply dark
times, perhaps a darkened cinema hall can
lead us to some light.
Shrayana Bhattacharya is an econo-
mist and author of Desperately Seeking
Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young
Women And The Search For Intimacy
And Independence.
https://instastoryviewer.net/
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06 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi TASTE

FROM THE HILLS TO

THE CHEF’S PANTRY
‘Jakhiya’, an integral
part of ‘pahadi’ cuisine,
Tea in Yangon, Myanmar.
has gone from ISTOCKPHOTO

obscurity to culinary TEA NANNY

fame in just a few years

Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal
An armchair trip
to Mandalay
B
reakfasts of hot rotis topped
with freshly churned white
butter, accompanied by leafy
green sabzis tempered with
crunchy jakhiya (wild or dog Aravinda Anantharaman
mustard), welcomed me to my in-laws’ place

in Uttarakhand two decades ago. These were
followed by meals of basmati rice topped with
ghee and paired with dal spiced with the gar-
licky notes of jambu (Allium stracheyi).
As a Gujarati married into a Garhwali fam-
ily, Uttarakhand food has fascinated me since.
Given the increasing interest in regional food
in the post-pandemic world, I began to notice
that Uttarakhand’s spices—from jakhiya,
bhangjeera (Perilla frutescens), bhaang seeds
(hemp seeds) and gandrayani (Angelica
glauca) to lakhori chillies—had started gaining
prominence in chef menus and were being
listed on shopping websites.
In my opinion, if there is one spice that went
from complete obscurity to culinary fame, it is
jakhiya. It is the tiny seed of a plant known as
Asian spider flower, cleome, and dog or wild
mustard, and is foraged from fallow land
where it grows in abundance. Today it has
become a culinary ambassador of the state.
Chef Manish Mehrotra recently shared pic-
tures on Instagram of his Kodo millet and
potato salad with a jakhiya tadka. In a nod to
his home state of Uttarakhand, chef Rahul
Rana of the Michelin-starred Avatara in Dubai
has introduced a millet-based dish that he
serves with jakhiya aloo, a simple potato prep-
aration spiced with this pahadi ingredient.
Saransh Goila showcased jakhiya aloo as part
of his popular #74DishesOfIndia video series.
Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar shared a video on
Instagram for a raita that uses jakhiya.
The more I study Uttarakhand cuisine, the
more I realise we have only scratched the sur-
face. A few years ago, when I began doing pop-
ups in Mumbai featuring Uttarakhand cuisine,
I noticed the curiosity about the unusual spi-
ces. So, in 2016, I put together a Uttarakhand
Masala Daani to tell the pahadi spice story.
The state’s cuisine is largely categorised as
Garhwali and Kumaoni. Warming bhangjeera
seeds are the favoured tempering spice in the
colder Kumaon, while nutty jakhiya is preva-
lent in the more temperate Garhwal region.
Bhaang seeds are the preferred ingredient in
chutneys and gravies in Kumaon. Go beyond
these broad strokes, though, and the use of
spices is even more hyper-local.
In the colder reaches of Chamoli in the
north, pahadi kala jeera, a foraged wild cumin,
is used in tempering, while in the Tons Valley,
gandrayani substitutes the far harder-to-
source asafoetida (heeng).
Uttarakhand’s culinary philosophy rests on
two pillars. The first is the belief that food is
medicine. In addition to the flavour, colour
and texture that spices add to food, great
attention is paid to the digestive properties.
My mother-in-law, Saroj Ghildiyal, often uses
the term taseer to illustrate this. Taseer is an
Urdu word that loosely translates to the char-
acteristics of an ingredient food, whether it
has a warming or cooling effect. This is
reflected in what spices are used, when and
how, based on their effect or influence on
other ingredients. So, bhaang is favoured in
winter because it has a hot taseer that balances
out the cold taseer of hard-to-digest winter
vegetables, like radish.The second pillar is to
allow the natural flavours of the main ingredi-
ents to shine through; this reflects in the mini-
malist approach to spice use.
Here are some spices from a pahadi
kitchen.
JAKHiyA
The black jakhiya seeds crackle to life when
added to hot mustard oil, emitting an earthy
aroma and imparting a nutty crunch to dishes.
Jakhiya is used to temper dry dishes like pota-
toes, hari bhujjis or dry sabzis made of leafy
greens and other vegetables. When temper-
ing, the oil must be smoking hot. If the oil is
not hot enough, the seeds won’t cook properly
and will be unpleasantly hard rather than
crunchy in the final dish. The availability of
this spice on Amazon is proof of its popularity.
BHAANg
Bhaang seeds belong to the same family of
(from top, right) A masala
box; ‘lakhori’ chillies; and
‘pisyoon loon’ with ‘bhaang’
seeds. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM
RUSHINA MUNSHAW-GHILDIYAL
plants as the hallucinogen marijuana but they
are not psychoactive. They are eaten across
Uttarakhand but favoured for their warming
qualities in colder regions. Bhaang seeds are
usually roasted to heighten their nutty flavour.
They can be eaten whole and are typically
used in tempering and chutneys.
BHANgJEERA
Bhangjeera, or perilla seeds, range in colour
from grey to black. While they are eaten across
Uttarakhand, they are mostly popular in
Kumaon. Typically used as a tempering, they
lend a crunch to vegetable dishes. They are
also roasted and added to a winter trail mix
along with nuts and toasted rice to make
bhukna. Roasted and ground with salt and gar-
lic, they make bhangjeere ka namak, or pisyoon
loon (flavoured salts), served as a condiment.
GANDRAYANI
Gandrayani, also known as gandherin, or
choru, is an aromatic root or bark valued for its
digestive and medicinal properties. It came to
be preferred as a local substitute for garam
masala and heeng to flavour heavier whole
pulses like urad and rajma. A foraged ingredi-
ent, it is hard to source and is, therefore, fairly
expensive, at ₹1,000 per 100g.
JAMBoo
Jamboo, jambu, feren or faran is a perennial
herb with rosy flowers whose leaves and flow-
ers are dried and used for seasoning. The plant
from the onion family is used to temper dals.
LAKHoRi CHiLLiES
Lakhori or lakhor is Uttarakhand’s favourite
home-grown chilli. These yellow chillies with
a Scoville Heat Units (SHU) score of
50,000-55,000 pack a punch. Believed to be
good for digestion, they are typically used
whole in tempering but may also be pow-
dered. We often fry a few extra chillies and
keep them aside to eat with meals.
Where to buy: Valleycultureindia.com for
spices; beunfiltered.in for lakhori chillies; and
Namakwali.com for pisyoon loon.
Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal is a culinary
chronicler who documents the regional diversity
of Indian food with a focus on the cuisines of the
larger Himalaya, Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
T
his week too, I am looking at our neighbours and their
tea. I remember lines from Rudyard Kiping’s Mandalay:
“If you’ve ’eard the East a-callin’, you won’t never ’eed
naught else.”/ No! You won’t ’eed nothin’ else/ But them spicy gar-
lic smells,/ An’ the sunshine an’ the palm-trees an’ the tinkly tem-
ple-bells/ On the road to Mandalay…”
They conjure up images of a Burma (now Myanmar) of
another era. I get a peek of it via cups of its tea. I am in the res-
taurant Burma Burma in Bengaluru. Its owner, Ankit Gupta,
talks about choosing to add a tearoom to his restaurant as a
tribute to Myanmar’s teahouse culture. In Myanmar, he says,
teahouses, open at dawn, can be found at every street corner.
Family-owned, small and accessible, they are “bustling with
locals and with a welcoming aroma of Burmese tea, snacks and
noodles”. The tea is laphet yay, made with black tea and con-
densed milk. Pots of green tea are placed at every table, like
water. It’s the snacks that change depending on the time of
day, from tohu nuay (a chickpea tofu soup) and ohn no khow-
suey (noodle soup in coconut milk) in the morning to laphet
thoke (tea leaf salad), fritters and puff pastries in the evening.
The British occupied Myanmar for over a century, from
1824-1948, and Indians were taken there to work as civil ser-
vants, traders, artisans and labourers. Some believe this is
when the teahouse culture evolved.
The 1970s, however, saw an exodus of Indian settlers after
a political coup and a strong wave of anti-Indian sentiment.
Among those who left were Gupta’s mother and her family.
But they held on to their connections via food. Buddhist
monks from Myanmar visiting India for vipassana would
obligingly carry packets of pickled fruit and fermented tea
leaf, a condiment that puts Myanmar on the tea map. Laphet,
as it’s known, is consumed every day, mostly as a salad called
laphet thoke. It’s one of many ways the Burmese enjoy tea.
Gupta began his acquaintance with the country in 2010,
when Myanmar opened up to outsiders. Burmese cuisine, he
says, is incomplete without tea. Nor can you speak of tea with-
out mentioning the teahouse. Recent years have seen newer,
modern versions of it. In the capital city, The Rangoon Tea
House menu reveals a diverse and multicultural community,
where alu bhaji and samosa sit alongside dim sums, bao buns
and noodles, where milk tea is enjoyed as much as green tea.
Burmese tea history is likely old, like Assam’s. The main
region for cultivation is Shan state, bordering China and Thai-
land. And although laphet still dominates, Gupta says a speci-
ality tea movement is brewing, with white teas and oolong, the
pu-erh style tea, even red tea, made in Shan’s Pindaya region
from wild tea trees.
Tea Takes: If visiting Myanmar, Gupta recommends the
Feel and Rangoon Tea House in Yangon and Unique Manda-
lay Tea Room in Mandalay. If armchair travel beckons, Burma
Burma serves a range of teas with snacks to go with these.
Tea Nanny is a fortnightly series steeped in the world of tea.
Aravinda Anantharaman is a Bengaluru-based tea blogger and
writer who reports on the tea industry. She posts @AravindaAn-
anth1.

Maghrebi aromas on a Bangalore breeze

bothered with making the trip to such 8 large garlic cloves, diced bone
OUR snooty places. 1 cup cooked chickpeas 1 onion, diced
D A I LY Since I had resolved to abandon my
old habit of storing spices in my larder
2 tsp ras el hanout powder
1 tsp zaatar powder
2 carrots, sliced into small chunks
2 tsp harissa
BREAD and inevitably forgetting about them, I 2 cups couscous 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
put Deepa’s gift pack to immediate and 2-3 cups vegetable stock Half-inch piece ginger, crushed in a
SAMAR rewarding use. Among the spices was 2 tbsp fresh mint mortar pestle
HALARNKAR dukkah, which is from Egypt. A blend of Zest of 1 lemon Zest of one orange
cumin, coriander, fennel and sesame Juice of 1 lemon Half tsp cinnamon powder
seeds and hazelnut, dukkah is a nutty One tsp butter A quarter cup of red wine

T
his is the season of the Bangalore
breeze, an old, cool wind that
blows many months of the year
through modern Bengaluru, rustling
the formidable branches of the rain
trees and carrying with it aromas agree-
able and—in a city collapsing under its
own success—unpleasant.
The most agreeable aromas on recent
evenings were to be found wafting out
of my kitchen, seeded as they were with
some of my favourite spices, from the
Maghreb, which literally, in Arabic,
means the setting of the sun, or the
west. A region of about a billion people,
it has provided the world with what you
might call some of its best, well, garam
masalas, including ras el hanout,
harissa, zaa’tar and berbere.
These were some of the spices that
landed up in my kitchen last week,
courtesy my childhood friend Deepa
Nair, who got them not in North Africa
but in a store from Milwaukee, US. Such
are the—admittedly convenient—iro-
nies of the globalised world. I could
have got these spices from any fancy
store in Bengaluru, too, but I can’t be
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and neutral spice, neither very spicy nor
bland.
The first thing I made was chicken
rubbed with dukkah, roasted with vege-
tables. As it emerged, my spice-sensitive
teen loved it, but I won’t share my
method here because I am loath to
share recipes that use broiler chicken. I
handed the dukkah over to my mother,
who put it to better use on nati or coun-
try chicken, which she then air-fried.
As regular readers of this column
know, I have a weakness for the
Maghreb. More than a decade ago,
when we lived in Delhi, I wrote many
florid pieces about standing unbowed in
my kitchen in the heat of the northern
summer, the sweat pouring off my
brow, imagining in a romantic way that
I was somewhere in North Africa, per-
haps in Tunisia, Morocco—perhaps not
in Mauritania—Libya or Algeria, slaving
at my stove, imagining the hot summer
loo of north India was the wind from the
Atlas Mountains.
This, of course, is a substantially
unrealistic scene because the wind
blowing off the Atlas Mountains can be
Moroccan Vegetable Couscous and Lamb With Harissa.
frigid. But imagination is easily made
subservient to fact, which is what I did
again as I put the Maghrebi spices to use
and revelled in the Bangalore breeze
blowing into my kitchen.
While you can compare Maghrebi
spice mixes with garam masalas, most
of them tend to be milder and lighter. I
suppose only the harissa can compete,
blending as it does Tunisian Baklouti or
piri piri or other hot chillies, coriander
powder, dried garlic, and caraway. I
used it with lamb, slow cooking it for
about two hours instead of using a pres-
sure cooker. In contrast, the couscous
https://saveig.net/
2 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Method
Melt half the butter with the olive oil.
When it warms, sauté the garlic for 30
seconds, add the onion, and sauté till
translucent. Add red pepper and carrots
and sauté until almost done. Add the ras
el hanout and zaatar spices to the vege-
tables and sauté. Add the remaining
ISTOCKPHOTO butter if needed. If it sticks, drizzle in
some of the stock. Sauté for a minute.
cooked in double-quick time. I was Add zest and lemon juice. Add chick-
using couscous after a while and had peas, couscous, salt, and stock, enough
forgotten how easy it was to make. This to just cover the couscous, vegetables
really was comfort North African food. I and the chickpeas. Stir and warm
just had to imagine the Nandi Hills were through. When the stock is absorbed,
the Atlas Mountains. mix in the mint, take off the flame and
transfer to a flat serving dish. Keep fluff-
MoRoCCAN VEgETABLE ing the couscous, so it does not clump.
CouSCouS You can serve it cold or warm it later.
Serves 5
LAMB WiTH HARiSSA
Ingredients Serves 2-3
2 medium carrots, diced
Half red pepper, diced Ingredients
Half onion, diced Half kg lamb or goat, small pieces with
12 black olives, chopped in half or whole
Handful of fresh, chopped coriander
2 tsp olive or vegetable oil
2 cups, of meat stock
Salt to taste
Method
Marinate the meat for 2 hours in harissa,
salt, ginger-garlic paste, and crushed
ginger.
Heat oil gently in a pan. Sauté onion
till translucent. Add marinated meat
and cook until lightly brown. Add most
of the stock, bring to a boil, turn the heat
to a simmer, cover, add wine, and let it
cook for an hour. Stir and check now
and then. Add the carrots, cinnamon
powder, half the coriander, rest of the
stock and cover again and cook till
done, perhaps another hour. Add the
orange zest.Garnish with olives and
coriander. Serve hot over couscous.
Our Daily Bread is a column on easy,
inventive cooking. Samar Halarnkar is
the author of The Married Man’s Guide
To Creative Cooking—And Other Dubi-
ous Adventures. He posts @samar11.
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https://snapfrom.com/
Battle of the health
rings: one size fits all?
As brands ready for
launches, smart rings
are expected to gain
popularity in India’s
wearables market
Nitin Sreedhar
nitin.s@htlive.com
T
he battle for health weara-
bles has entered a new cat-
egory—and form factor—
in India: smart rings.
Over the last few weeks,
consumer electronics brand boAt has
released a teaser for its forthcoming smart
ring, while personal technology brand
Noise has introduced the Luna Ring—an
ultra-lightweight smart ring that promises
to track your health vitals, just like a
smartwatch. Health-tech company Ultra-
human, known for its continuous glucose
monitoring device, and Dhyana, a Hyder-
abad-based startup, also launched finger-
worn sensors recently.
Globally, brands such as Oura and Mov-
ano have been shaking up the wearables
market with smart rings. In 2022, Oura,
known for iterations of the Oura Ring, sold
its millionth ring.
At the CES 2023 tech show in Las
Vegas, US, in January, Movano debuted
the Movano Evie, the first medical-grade
smart ring designed for women. Set to be
released in September, it will track a user’s
resting heart rate, heart rate variability,
SpO2 levels, respiration rate, skin temper-
ature variability, period and ovulation,
menstrual symptoms, activity profile,
including steps and calories burnt, sleep
stages and duration, and mood.
In India, the overall wearables market
has been growing. In 2022, according to
the International Data Corporation’s
(IDC’s) India Monthly Wearable Device
Tracker, the wearables market shipped
100 million units, with smartwatches
accounting for 30.7 million, a growth of
151.3% year on year. Smart rings are now
catching on.
“The finger gives you the best area to
detect such health data. There are a bunch
of capillaries and arteries packed
together,” says Bhairav Shankar, creator
and co-founder at Dhyana, the company
behind the Dhyana Smart Ring, which has
been designed and manufactured in India.
Dhyana’s development of its smart ring
started in 2018, focusing on a meditation
tracking ring that was launched in 2019
and tracked a user’s heart rate variability,
or HRV, during meditation.
The new Dhyana Smart Ring,
which is available for pre-order
at ₹16,600, has more features:
everything from mindfulness
tracking to mood and sleep
analysis, apart from tracking
steps, calories and SpO2.
Apart from the Dhyana app,
the ring can also work with
other wellness apps and servi-
REVIEW | MOTOROLA RAZR 40 ULTRA
Flip it open: smartphones are becoming fun again
With the razr 40 ultra,
Motorola has improved
the clamshell-foldable
form factor with good
design and performance
Tushar Kanwar
T
he second generation of flippables is
upon us: clamshell-style foldables
with usable external displays that
allow you to get stuff done without having
to open up the phone up at the slightest
provocation.
Leading the charge is a brand that has
been seeing a bit of a renaissance, first
with affordable phones and now with a flip
phone worthy of the razr name—Motor-
ola. With the razr 40 ultra (₹89,999), it
gets a lot right and—to loosely borrow
another tech brand’s mission statement—
manages to make phones fun again.
The superlatives hold good even after
the launch of the Z Flip 5—the razr 40
ultra is still the lightest flip phone despite
its Series 7000 aluminium frame. It folds
to a slim 15.1mm thickness, courtesy the
upgraded zero-gap hinge, and yes, it still
packs in the largest cover display (3.6
inches) of any flip phone.
The display is bigger than the display on
the original iPhone and Motorola has out-
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ces—Calm, Headspace, etc.—to improve
their offerings with biometric data,
explains Hyderabad-based Shankar. Ship-
ments will begin at the end of September.
“Any ring will always be limited in terms
of features and functions as compared to
a watch because it doesn’t have a screen
(or display). But this is a product that can
be made at a fraction of the cost of a smart-
watch and delivers ultra-accurate data
that can be used by so many services:
everything from hospitals to functional
trainers on platforms like Fittr and
Healthify. We are certainly hitting a new
segment of the population,” adds Shankar.
HOW THEY WORK
Rings rely on a host of sensors to gather
health metrics that can be relayed to a
smartphone app. A 2022 study showed
that the Oura ring—and other similar
wearables—could detect early
done itself by pushing the screen down to
the edges, even wrapping around the two
camera lenses and the LED flash. With a
144Hz refresh rate and 1,056x1,066-pixel
resolution, the pOLED display is by no
means a “secondary” display.
Aside from easy-access widgets for
quick settings, weather, calendar, con-
tacts/calling and, of course, taking selfies
from the rear cameras, you can run all
manner of apps on the external display
without having to flip open the phone. It’s
incredibly easy to respond to WhatsApp
messages, check emails, play a YouTube
video or check Google Maps as you are
navigating a route. You can choose to have
apps expand to fill the entire area or
cropped to just above the cameras.
Motorola has even loaded it with casual
games specifically designed for the
smaller screen, though you can try and
play Asphalt or Call Of Duty: Mobile as well.
Playing complex games isn’t ideal, nor is
loading portrait layout apps like Insta-
gram, but the razr 40 ultra worked well
with more apps than I expected it to and I
enjoyed using the cover display to “splash
and dash”—get most tasks done without
having to open up the phone.
Yet, for each time you do flip it open,
the internal 6.9-inch, 1,080x2,640-pixel,
LTPO (1-165Hz) AMOLED panel rewards
you with a good HDR10+ compatible dis-
play without as much of the visible
“crease” at the point where the screen
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SMART LIVING
COURTESY DHYANA
COURTESY NOISE
signs of covid-19, including oncoming
fevers.
The Luna Ring from Noise will be avail-
able in seven ring sizes and uses a mix of
advanced sensors (including infrared
photoplethysmography, or PPG, sensors,
skin temperature sensors, and a 3-axis
accelerometer sensor) to measure physio-
logical signals. It can track more than 70
metrics and delivers three primary scores:
on sleep, readiness and activity. All this
can be viewed on the NoiseFit app.
Noise co-founder Amit Khatri says it
will appeal to users regardless of age. “We
have been working on the Luna Ring for
more than a year now. I have also been a
consumer who wanted a minimal form
factor. We were talking to a lot of consum-
ers who said they weren’t comfortable
wearing a smartwatch when they sleep.
Then there are those who wear analogue
watches but still want a smart wearable to
go with that. That’s how we thought this
(ring) was going to be a good product,”
Khatri explains in a video call.
Designing the ring, he adds, was tough.
“It does the same thing as a smartwatch—
but without a display. So that meant fitting
a lot of sensors from a bigger form factor
into something smaller,” says Khatri.
(above) The Dhyana Smart The build quality is strong, owing to a
Ring has been designed titanium body and diamond-like coating
and manufactured in India; that resists scratches and corrosion, he
and (right) the Luna Ring adds. The ring was open for pre-order
from Noise. with a priority access pass but Noise is
expected to release more details on availa-
bility in the coming days.
Meera Sapra, 40, a marketing and lead-
ership leader at the technology company
Zoho Corporation, has been using the
Ultrahuman Ring AIR (₹28,999) for the
last couple of weeks and says she finds it
less intrusive than a smartwatch. “I still
use the Apple Watch, especially when I go
for a swim. I just found the smartwatch to
be a glorified notification device. So, I
wanted to try a less intrusive way of track-
ing (my health vitals) but not having to
receive notifications,” says Delhi-based
Sapra. “The best bit has been the sleep
insights. Wearing the ring to bed is less of
a hassle and I am happy with the experi-
ence so far,” she adds.
According to the IDC data, the weara-
bles market is attracting both first-time
users and upgraders as brands continue to
offer features that were earlier available at
mid or high price points, at a lower price.
With Samsung reportedly working on
a Galaxy Ring and Apple recently winning
a patent for a future smart ring input
device for MacBooks, TVs and AirPods,
you should keep your finger on the pulse
of this segment.
comm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, a competent,
battery-efficient chipset that serviced last
year’s flagship phones, along with 8GB of
memory and 256GB of storage.
The phone does well for everyday use
and had no performance issues. It did
warm up a little during longer gaming ses-
sions and extended camera use. For a
device this slim, the 3,800 mAh bat-
Motorola razr
40 ultra
Display: 6.9-inch pOLED
(main); 3.6-inch (external)
RAM: 8GB; Storage: 256GB
Processor: Snapdragon 8+ Gen
Motorola’s razr 40 ultra is still the lightest flip phone. MOTOROLA
1; OS: Android 13
Battery: 3,800 mAh
folds as on the Samsung Z Flip 4. The enough razr purists, Price: ₹89,999
reduced crease, the zero-gap when folded though the phone looks
and the phone’s ability to take on multiple slick, particularly in the
yoga positions—tent mode or propped Viva Magenta colour with
open anywhere between 45- and 140-de- its faux-leather back, its
grees—is courtesy the revamped water- rounded corners are a far
drop hinge. The flip side is that the phone cry from the sharp edges
doesn’t unfold completely flat, leaving it that gave the original
just a few degrees concave. razr its name nearly 20
The razr 40 ultra is the only foldable years ago. But it’s com-
with some modicum of dust protection fortable to hold.
(IP52) but it trails Samsung in water pro- Under the hood,
tection. And as I have been reminded by you will find the Qual-
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SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
New Delhi 07
THE WEEK IN TECH
1
YOU CAN NOW SHARE YOUR SCREEN ON
WHATSAPP VIDEO CALLS
WhatsApp has added the ability to share your screen during video
calls. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced this new feature in a
Facebook post on 8 August. WhatsApp beta testers got a first look at the
feature in May but it is now rolling out to everyone. To use the screen-
sharing feature during a video call, you need to tap the screen-sharing
icon (a phone with an arrow on it) at the bottom. You then hit on con-
firm. The screen-sharing feature is the latest in a fresh line of additions
to WhatsApp, including the ability to edit messages in your chats. Multi-
ple reports suggest that the Meta-owned platform is also testing a Dis-
cord-like voice chat feature for groups.
2
JULY OFFICIALLY THE HOT-
TEST MONTH ON RECORD
Scientists confirmed on 8
August that July 2023 was officially the
hottest month on record. Data from
the European Union-funded Coperni-
cus Climate Change Service (C3S)
shows that July was the hottest month
on record globally. A press release from
C3S said that the month was 0.72
degree Celsius warmer than the 1991-
2020 average for July and 0.33 degree
Celsius warmer than the previous
warmest month, July 2019. July 2023 is also estimated to have been
around 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for 1850-1900.
According to a Bloomberg report on the development, it’s the first time
global July temperatures have exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius pre-in-
dustrial threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
3
NVIDIA UNVEILS ITS NEXT-GEN SUPERCHIP PLATFORM
Chipmaker Nvidia unveiled a powerful new AI processor at the
SIGGRAPH computer graphics exhibition in the US on 8 August.
The next-generation GH200 Grace Hopper platform, the company said,
is built for the era of accelerated computing and generative AI. Nvidia
added that the superchip has been created to handle the world’s most
complex generative AI workloads, spanning large language models,
recommender systems, and will be available in a variety of configura-
tions. According to a Bloomberg report, the Nvidia GH200 Grace Hop-
per platform relies on high-bandwidth memory 3, or HBM3e, which is
able to access information at a blazing 5 terabytes per second.
—Compiled by Nitin Sreedhar.
Clamshells seem to default to a dual
camera set-up that is somewhat inferior to
regular smartphones at the same price.
The razr 40 ultra is no exception. You get
a 12-megapixel main camera, a 13-mega-
pixel ultrawide that doubles as a macro
shooter and a 32-megapixel selfie-
shooter. For the most part, both rear cam-
eras deliver well in good light—but with
tery lasts a day of typical use limited dynamic range and somewhat
with a fair amount of cover muted colours on the primary camera.
display action, which is Bright highlights and tricky exposure
lighter on power con- often threw off the camera in day shots but
sumption. While night mode shots were more impressive.
wireless charging is Macro shots via the ultrawide were good,
available, it is slow as were selfies with the internal camera,
at 5W speeds, but but it was so incredibly convenient to use
the 30W wired the cover display to shoot quick selfies
charging will fill up that one often forgot that a perfectly capa-
the battery in a little ble selfie shooter lay just a flip away.
over an hour. I will say this again. Motorola has
What’s notable is improved the clamshell-foldable form
the clean approach to factor with good design, reliable perform-
software, with only a few ance and by far the best cover display
widgets and gestures for around. More importantly, it has made a
launching the camera/flash- phone fun to use, without resorting to
light giving the razr 40 ultra a gimmicks. Sure, at its asking price, you
very Pixel software vibe. could pick up one of many 2023 flagships
Motorola does a great job in with faster charging, better battery life
app transitions from the and performance and better cameras, but
cover display to the main this is the price you have to pay for this
and vice versa but it could fast-evolving form factor.
optimise first-party apps
for “flex” mode, when the Tushar Kanwar, a tech columnist and
screen is folded at an angle. commentator, posts @2shar.
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08 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi COVER

THE
BUDDHIST
ATELIERS
OF ANCIENT
MAGADHA GETTY IMAGES

Newar craftsmen in
Kathmandu, Nepal, use
the same techniques
pioneered by Indian
artists for metal casting.

India’s rich art history is
littered with
Bibek Bhattacharya
bibek.b@htlive.com
elements are frequently created with a single strain
of wax, so that a smoother effect is achieved.” She
also argues that “…Kurkihar metal images display
regnal year of the monarchs during whose reign a
particular statue was created.
This lack of information about artists has long
been a source of frustration for historians. Relatively
recently, efforts began to group images found at spe-
cific locales in order to contrast them with images
found elsewhere, to see if any signature styles
emerge. The Kurkihar artists were themselves work-
ing in a continuum with earlier traditions, the most
immediate being that of Nalanda, a close neighbour
in both time and distance (Nalanda is about 65km
from Kurkihar), as well as the earlier idiom of the art
Approaching the south-west boundary of the vil-
lage, along a narrow road between paddy fields, it is
stunning to see how little the village has changed in
92 years. Much like how the two scholars described
it, the first thing you see is a large man-made lake
that is probably as old as the Kurkihar site. To its east
is a low mound, partly encroached upon by some vil-
lage houses. A little further down the road, to the left,
is the main historical mound of Kurkihar, under
which lies the ancient monastic site where the stat-
ues were excavated.

masterpieces by
unknown artists. This is
especially true when it
comes to the creators
of some of the most
internationally
influential Buddhist art
of Bihar. Lounge
journeys to the state to
reveal the stories of two
such ateliers
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T
o gaze on a Kurkihar bronze is to be
entranced by texture. Deep inside the
cavernous bowels of the Bihar
Museum in Patna, lit by soft, diffused
overhead illumination, resides a
small gallery of bronze sculptures, depicting the
Buddha and Bodhisattvas. These range from statues
as small as a few centimetres to ones that are over 5ft
tall. But no matter what the size, each sculpture
glows. In the larger images, the grains of the aged
bronze stelae, sculpted in the lost-wax (or cire per-
due) process, sparkle where the light hits. In the
smaller, portable statues that are sculpted in the
round, the bronze gives off a matte sheen.
After a gap of a millennia, many of the original col-
ours and shine can dissipate. However, many of the
Kurkihar bronzes have managed to retain their orig-
inal, resplendent hues. A small ninth century statue
of a standing Buddha displaying the varada mudra
is particularly beautiful for the rich array of colours
it portrays, especially on the Buddha’s exquisitely
crafted robe, its striped effect derived by a masterful
blending of metals of different colours.
So, who were these artists? Scholars are increas-
ingly of the view that throughout the long period of
the suzerainty of the Buddhist Pala emperors of Ben-
gal and Bihar (750-1170 CE), the iconographic needs
of a new, resurgent and international Buddhism
were met by seeding ateliers of artisans, especially
attached to large Buddhist establishments like mon-
asteries, throughout eastern India. In time, many of
these workshops developed distinct styles which
would go on to influence each other and be exported
across South Asia and beyond.
In her 1984 book, The “Pala-Sena” Schools Of
Sculpture, art historian Susan L. Huntington was one
of the earliest to make a case for Kurkihar being the
site of an atelier distinct from the neighbouring ones
at Nalanda or Bodh Gaya. While discussing Kurki-
har’s metal sculpture, she writes, “In contrast to
works from Nalanda, for example, where jewelry,
head-dresses and other details were often created by
using small balls or beads of wax, at Kurkihar, such
much greater use of inlay of different colours of
metal to achieve a rich surface throughout the artis-
tic development”.
In fact, scholars have noted that while the ninth
century bronzes from Kurkihar show stylistic simi-
larities to the works of Nalanda, with passing centu-
ries, the mature Kurkihar style becomes more dis-
tinctive. This is evident in a set of gorgeous statues
of crowned Bodhisattvas and Buddhas from the 11th
and 12th centuries. The sumptuous line in the jewel-
lery that Huntington describes is present in all of
them, as is another signature of the Kurkihar artists:
the creation of expressive eyes by drilling irises.
This stylistic flourish, coupled with the silver inlay
for the eyes, works wonders for the personality of the
images. The mature Kurkihar images display a soft-
ness of the body, and, as Huntington points out, a
“more flowing, continuous lines of elements such as
the jewelry, and a smoother quality to the facial fea-
tures…” Taken together, the result is that each statue
is a masterpiece of artistic form and religious func-
tion.
THE ROAD TO KURKIHAR
The artisans who created these pieces, over a long
stretch between the eighth and 12th centuries, were
evidently masters of their art. That Kurkihar had a
settled atelier for much of this time isn’t in much
doubt and it is increasingly clear that the stylistic
flourishes of the Kurkihar “school” laid the ground-
work for Buddhist art across South and South-East
Asia, certainly in terms of metal casting, influencing
art in Tibet, China, Nepal, Myanmar and Java, to
name just a few.
Despite their influence, the artists remain
unknown to us. As is the case with nearly all pre-Is-
lamic art in India, art creators were never encour-
aged to sign their work. They built in wood, terrac-
otta, stone and metal, to create structures ranging
from palaces to statues, but the only information
that we have, if at all, is the identity of the donors
who patronised the works of art—be they royalty,
merchants or monks—and sometimes, the name and
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of the Gupta empire. But their innovations were
their own.
Over late March and early April, I was trundling
across south Bihar, through the vast landscape of
ancient Magadha, looking for the artistic remains of
the region’s many Buddhist sites. The heartland of
the Buddhist faith, Magadha is geographically huge,
bound by the Ganga in the north and its subsidiary
rivers, Son, to the west, and Kiul, to the east.
The Buddhist sites are arranged in a roughly east-
west axis parallel to the Ganga and include Bodh
Gaya on the Phalgu river, the ruins of the Nalanda
and Telhara mahaviharas, the ancient Magadhan
capital city of Rajgir, the town of Bihar Sharif (sup-
posedly the site of the Odantapuri mahavihara) and
then the important site of Lakhisarai on the western
bank of the Kiul.
Present-day Kurkihar, a small village in Bihar’s
Gaya district, is located smack in the midpoint
between Bodh Gaya and Rajgir, about 40km from
either city. Hardly anyone knows of Kurkihar’s exis-
tence today. But this village had a very different pro-
file about a thousand years ago, as a major Buddhist
centre. Finding Kurkihar, though, was easier than I
thought it would be, thanks to the ubiquity of Google
Maps, and also due to the fact that I could follow the
directions laid down by two historians who visited
the village in 1931.
Scholars Sarasi Kumar Sarasvati and Kshitish
Chandra Sarkar of the Varendra Research Society in
Rajshahi (in present-day Bangladesh) were curious
to explore Kurkihar, which had shot to fame the pre-
vious year after a hoard of nearly 226 metal pieces
(including 150 images and many fragments) were
discovered by villagers while quarrying the walls of
an old monastery for bricks. These had been packed
in two large earthen jars and buried some eight-nine
centuries earlier, probably to save them from depre-
dations during a time of political turmoil. These
were the very same sculptures that I saw in the Bihar
Museum. At the time, though, they were stored at
the Kurkihar zamindar’s house, and Sarasvati and
Sarkar were eager to view them.
THE TEMPLE MUSEUM
On the south-west corner of the mound is the old
Ramji Temple, built by the zamindar over a century
ago. I had read about it in Sarasvati and Sarkar’s
monograph, Kurkihar, Gaya And Bodh-Gaya (1936),
and wanted to check if it was still inhabited.
I was greeted by the purohit of the temple. Parmod
Kumar Harit is a man in his 50s, his white hair
cropped short, dressed in white with a huge Vaish-
navite tilak across his forehead. When I tell him the
purpose of my visit, he is quite taken aback, asking
me how I found the place. I tell him of my readings
and he graciously offers to show me around.
The temple, though old, looks like it is built over
an earlier structure that looks suspiciously like a
stupa. Much of the main temple is whitewashed,
but, as Harit points out, one can still see Pala-era
architectural stone slabs, pillars and lintel frag-
ments that were used to create parts of the tem-
ple, from doorways to wall brackets. Inside the
sanctum, next to the modern images of Ram, Sita
and Lakshman, lay a couple of beautiful carved
votive stupas, with four seated Buddhas displaying
different mudras in directional niches. A panel
showing the pancha (five) Tathagatas and another
depicting the various manushi Buddhas served as
wall brackets on the outer wall of the sanc-
tum.
Harit then takes me out to the rear of
the temple and on to the main mound
itself. Looking like a grassy hillock, lit-
tered with debris from the
encroaching village, he points
out the highest part of the
mound, shaded under a ban-
yan tree. “That’s where the
statues were found,” he says,
“down in a hole.” He says that
people constantly come
across pillar fragments
and other debris all over
the village. There is so
much underground, he
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R STORY
Narodakini, Rajgir, Nalanda, Phyllite Stone, c.
11th century CE, Bihar Museum; and (below)
Sarvavid Mahavairochana, Nalanda, Bronze,
12th century CE, National Museum.
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A view of the Main Temple Site 3 at the ruins of the Nalanda ‘mahavihara’; and (below) Crowned Bodhisattva, Kurkihar, Bronze Alloy, 11th century CE, Bihar Museum.
says. He then points me to the compound of one of
the houses. A large and beautiful pillar fragment, he
says, is used to wash clothes on. Others are used as
fodder basins for household cows. Has the Archaeo-
logical Survey of India (ASI) ever come to excavate?
I ask. He shakes his head. “Not as far as I know of.”
He offers to take me to the main Kurkihar temple
further inside the village, where locally excavated
statues have been collected and stored for decades.
The Devistan temple, which, in 1931, was basically a
shed and a compound, is still a fairly humble one-
storey shrine, but with a large outer courtyard and
a spacious inner sanctum hall. Harit introduces me
to a gregarious middle-aged man in sunglasses, the
purohit of this temple, Rajo Pandey. He says he has
been friends with Harit since they were children but
had never imagined that one day they would be
helming the two village temples.
While describing the temple as it stood in 1931,
Sarasvati and Sarkar had drawn attention to the fact
that it was clearly built either over a pre-existing
structure or by using the materials from one. “Four-
teen ancient pillars, most of them of the early Pala
period (ninth century AD), support the roof of the
porch, and the stone frame of the entrance of the
temple too belongs to the same age.” Modern gaudi-
ness hides much of the detail now but the 14 pillars
still hold up the temple, although they have now
been painted a bright red.
Inside the main hall lies a veritable museum hoard
of stone sculptures, all from the Pala period. Apart
from a couple of Brahminical images, including an
ekamukha-linga (Shiva’s face carved into a lingam),
they are all Buddhist. The most stunning is a large,
5ft-high sculpture of the Buddha seated in the earth-
touching pose (bhumisparsha mudra). Carved out of
black basalt, like pretty much all the stone sculptures
of the region, it is almost a larger mirror image of an
exquisite bronze seated Buddha image from the vil-
lage that I had seen at the Bihar Museum.
Like all the other Buddhist images in the temple,
it too is worshipped, albeit in a Hindu garb, so the
Buddha’s forehead is marked in a white Vaishnava
tilak, with an additional dab of vermilion paste on
the ushnisha. Two fantastical leogryphs, or vyalas,
flank the Buddha’s sides, while two Bodhisattvas
flank his shoulders and two flying vidyadharas hold
garlands above his head. A mass of thick twirling
vines, exquisite in their detail, form a large circular
nimbus above the halo.
What’s interesting is the identity of the Buddha.
It isn’t the Shakyamuni but one of the pancha Tatha-
gatas: Akshobhya. This is clear from a short Sanskrit
mantra engraved near its head, written in characters
from the era: tun Aksobhya vajra hun. The halo is
engraved with the classic Buddhist prayer: ye
dharma hetu...
The system of the five cosmic Tathagatas, four for
the cardinal directions and one in the centre, is the
classic system of forming Tathagata-kulas or fami-
lies, out of which the last great form of Buddhism,
the tantric Vajrayana, emerged. Much in the way
as it is practised in Tibetan and Newar Buddhism
today, Vajrayana, in its popular outward form,
was just the ritualised form of Mahayana devo-
tionalism. There is no record of the more esoteric
tantric rituals that may have been once practised in
Kurkihar. Without a proper excavation of the site,
though, this can’t be ruled out.
On stylistic grounds established by Huntington,
and more extensively by the doyen of eastern
Indian art history, Claudine Bautze-Pi-
cron, the Akshobhya statue can be
ascribed to artisans working in the
mature tradition, so, 10th century or
later. While this latter Kurkihar style
is marked by a more slender treat-
ment of the body, especially the
arms and torso, it can also be
marked by other flourishes, like
the use of the vyalas as decora-
tive elements.
After waving goodbye to the
two priests and driving away
from Kurkihar, it’s hard not
to feel bittersweet about the
place. While the villag-
ers have done as good a
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job as anyone can expect them to of safeguarding
such priceless images, the potential of the site is just
crying out for a systematic excavation. It’s high time
Kurkihar was put on the map.
THE ART OF THE TANTRA
One of the first things that medieval monarchs did,
while donating land for a village, a monastery, or a
temple, was to build a water reservoir, a tank. In a
country and culture as sensitive to water pressures
as India, it is probably not surprising that one of the
first recorded instances of public works in Indian
history is inscribed on a rock in Junagadh in Gujarat:
the Western Kshatrapas ruler Rudradaman I declar-
ing in 150 CE how he had repaired and maintained
a water reservoir and irrigation conduits built by the
Mauryan emperors.
The Palas were no different, and, throughout their
vast domains across Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pra-
desh, sites of political and cultural importance were
dotted with reservoirs. Many historical tanks have
survived, including the one at the village of Bargaon,
which itself stands atop a large mound containing
the unexcavated remains of the rest of the Nalanda
mahavihara.
The northernmost limit of Nalanda is said to lie at
the village of Begumpur, 3km north-west of the
excavated ruins. The southernmost would be at
Jagdishpur village, 3km south-west of the ruins.
Nalanda, in its prime, was massive, and it wasn’t the
only Buddhist establishment in the area.
The Odantapuri mahavihara is thought to lie
under modern Bihar Sharif, about 11km north-west
of Nalanda. And 33km to Nalanda’s north-west are
the excavated ruins of Telhara, the site of the Tilad-
hak mahavihara. Just about 15km east of Nalanda are
the historical villages of Ghosrawan and Tetrawan,
https://saveig.net/
both sitting atop large old Pala-era localities and
Buddhist remains. For nearly a thousand years,
starting with the Guptas and ending with the Palas,
the area was a thriving region of Buddhist learning,
culture and art production.
Among other kinds of religious art produced by
Nalanda’s many ateliers, the most interesting has to
be the tantric artworks. Tantric Vajrayana Bud-
dhism’s rich iconography is well represented at
Nalanda, although the Palas established the Vikram-
ashila mahavihara further east to function as the
cutting-edge monastery for new esoteric innova-
tions.
Art historian Rob Linrothe, in his magisterial sur-
vey of Vajrayana in Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful
Deities In Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art
(1999), proposes a highly influential method of
dividing the emergence of Tantric Buddhism into
three phases.
Phase 1 of proto-tantric imagery, existing within
the wider Mahayana, had the longest span, from the
seventh to the 13th centuries, and can be seen in the
maximum number of places, from Maharashtra to
Afghanistan. Phase 2 imagery, corresponding to the
major Yoga Tantra texts, spans the eighth to 13th
centuries, while Phase 3 imagery, corresponding to
the radical and transgressive Yogini Tantra philoso-
phies, ranges from the 11th-13th centuries.
Through each of these phases, the importance of
the historical Buddha declines, even as that of
wrathful deities, like Yamantaka, Heruka, Vajrayo-
gini, Nairatmya and Samvara, greatly increases. At
Nalanda, you can see exquisite examples from all
three phases. And one of the best ways to do so is to
buy a ₹5 ticket for the ASI site museum, located just
opposite the main gate of the Nalanda ruins.
Two of the masterpieces of Nalanda’s stone sculp-
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SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
New Delhi 09
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BIBEK BHATTACHARYA
tures are actually fragments. The first of these, the
lower portion of a colossal sculpture of the tantric
deity Trailokyavijaya, from about the 10th century,
could seem like a most un-Buddhist thing: a study in
power and violence. The deity is based on the myth
of the subjugation of Shiva during a fight for the
ownership of Kailasha. The myth emerged at a time
of an intensifying power struggle between Bud-
dhism and Saivism for patronage, clout and religious
supremacy. While Saivism concocted its own myths
for the domination of Shiva over Buddhist heretics,
Trailokyavijaya was the answer in Buddhism, over-
throwing the prideful Maheshwara and integrating
him into the Buddhist faith.
The artists responded to the myth and its popular-
ity in Nalanda, taking iconographic cues from tantric
meditation compendiums . In the Nalanda fragment,
we see just the feet of Trailokyavijaya as he tramples
on Shiva and Umadevi in the warrior-like pratya-
lidha stance. The victor wears a garland (vanamala)
made up of tiny Buddhas and emerges from a field of
fire. The black basalt is shaped into fantastical
whorls depicting the flames, even as Trailokyavijaya
prepares to draw an arrow from his quiver. It is a
powerful image and we can gauge the importance of
this deity from the fact that Nalanda’s artists pro-
duced other masterpiece versions in full bronze
(now in the Bihar Museum), as well as complete
smaller stone stelae (which you can see at the
National Museum in Delhi).
The ultimate meanings of tantric imagery have
more to do with depicting psychological states. For
a tantric sadhaka (initiate), the Trailokyavijaya
imagery represents the victory of true knowledge
over false.
Similarly, the imagery of the Phase 3 tantric deity
Heruka functions on a variety of levels.The Nalanda
Heruka is huge, about 5.7ft high, and although both
its arms and feet are damaged, enough remains to
portray this wrathful deity’s dance of bliss. Heruka
dances on a corpse, wearing a garland of skulls. His
smiling lips are parted to reveal fangs, while his
skull-adorned crown has a small image of the Tatha-
gata Akshobhya, whose family, or kula, Heruka
belongs to.
In tantric texts like the Hevajra Tantra and mantra
compendia like the Sadhanamala, Heruka is a
stand-in for the tantric practitioner, dancing as he
does in the maha-sukha (the great bliss) of the reali-
sation that the phenomenal world (samsara) and
Buddhahood (nirvana) is one and the same, that
duality of experience is just an illusion. It is an imag-
ery dripping with iconographic symbolism and the
Nalanda artist’s mastery of its many subtleties is
astounding. The statue really does look like, to quote
the Hevajra Tantra, “The Lord plays in the cemetery
surrounded by his eight yoginis.”
The fact that tantric images such as the ones cre-
ated in Nalanda and elsewhere in Bihar would go on
to create the benchmark for images as far afield as
Sumatra or Tibet make the work of the unknown art-
ists even more remarkable.
Pala-era Buddhist art was truly internationalist
and at the base of that global vision were generations
of humble, highly skilled and imaginative artists.
The ateliers of Nalanda and Kurkihar are but two in
a wealth of such workshops spread across Bihar,
Bengal, Odisha and Kashmir, to name but a few
regions. It is only in Bihar, though, that so much of
their work has survived the vagaries of time and
neglect.
The genius of the ateliers is that they kept abreast
of all the iconographical and doctrinal innovations
that emerged over this long period. They would have
had help, of course, through the guidance of monks,
tantric sadhakas and other religious specialists, but
the fact that they could create such masterpieces of
esoteric art, all the while churning out Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas and Brahminical images for main-
stream devotees, is nothing short of astounding.
For anyone who loves Indian religious art, it’s
hard to leave the treasures of Bihar behind. There’s
always the urge for one last look. And so, a few days
later, I visit the Bihar Museum in Patna one final
time, to gaze again at the calm eyes and inscrutable
smiles of the bronze Buddhas. After all, to gaze on
the masterworks of the unknown artists is to
immerse one’s self in wonder.
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10 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
New Delhi
Mustang resistance fighters on a raid; and (right) Lhamo Tsering, Gyato Wangdu and men in Mustang, late 1960s.
SHADOW AND
LIGHT IN TIBET
Bapa Yeshe, Lhamo Tsering and others.
In the exhibition
‘Shadow Circus’,
Tenzing Sonam and
Ritu Sarin tell an
expansively political
yet personal story
Uday Bhatia
uday.b@htlive.com
T
enzing Sonam and Ritu
Sarin have been docu-
menting the Tibetan expe-
rience for almost four dec-
ades. Through their films,
which include short and long fiction and
non-fiction, they have explored nuances
of Tibetan identity, culture, politics and
the ongoing struggle for freedom. Their
many years of work inform Shadow Cir-
cus: A Personal Archive Of Tibetan Resist-
ance (1957–1974), an exhibition showing at
Experimenter in Mumbai.
The Shadow Circus was also the title of
a documentary the duo made in 1985,
about a CIA-sponsored mission to para-
troop resistance fighters into China-occu-
pied Tibet. Sonam’s father, Lhamo Tser-
ing, was one of these fighters. The multi-
media exhibition draws on his “personal
archive of photographs, documents, let-
ters, and maps of the secret operations
that he was involved in”, including poign-
ant details like the artwork of homesick
Tibetans during their training.
The exhibition, curated by Natasha
Ginwala and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng
Ndikung, was first shown at SAVVY Con-
temporary in Berlin, Germany, in Febru-
ary 2019 as part of the 14th Forum
Expanded, 69th Berlinale. It showed last
year at the India International Centre,
Delhi, and the Kochi Muziris Biennale. On
email, Sonam speaks about the project’s
long gestation, calling it “an ongoing act of
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reinvention”. Edited excerpts:
Did you originally conceive this as a
multimedia exhibition?
We first started researching this subject
in the early 1990s with the idea of making
a documentary film. While we were
researching and then shooting the film,
we realised that many of the people we
were meeting were old and this was our
only chance to do in-depth video record-
ings of their stories. At that time, we did
not really have any idea that one day, all
this material would come together in the
form of an exhibition. Later, when my
father passed away and his archive came
into our custody, we realised the impor-
tance of bringing this material to the
attention of the larger world. This is how
the idea of the multimedia exhibition
came about.
Did you ever discuss this sort of
project with your father?
Our conversations with my father when
he was alive were to find out more about
the resistance. He knew that we were
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ZOOM
Classroom at Camp Hale with
CIA instructor Ken Knaus
and interpreter Thinley Paljor,
early 1960s.
BRUCE WALKER, HOOVER INSTITUTION
Because the Tibetan
movement is seen primarily
through the lens of non-
violence and compassion,
this chapter in Tibetan history
is often neglected
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LHAMO TSERING ARCHIVE/WHITE CRANE FILMS
Reconnaissance mission in Tibet by members of the Mustang Resistance Force, early
1960s.
working on a documentary and, in fact,
was able to see the final film before he
passed away. But we never had any inkling
then that we would one day be doing an
archive-based exhibition project.
When you look at ‘The Shadow Cir-
cus’ documentary now, how do you
feel about it, and the progress, or lack
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY LHAMO TSERING ARCHIVE/WHITE CRANE FILMS
LHAMO TSERING ARCHIVE/WHITE CRANE FILMS
of, since?
The documentary film that we made is
still very relevant. Most people, including
the younger generation of Tibetans, still
have no idea about the details of resistance
and the sacrifice that so many Tibetans
made for their country. And because the
Tibetan movement is seen primarily
https://instadl.app/
Lhamo Tsering with
camera in Darjeeling,
photograph, early
1960s.
LHAMO TSERING ARCHIVE/
WHITE CRANE FILMS
Drawings by Tibetan
trainees at Camp Hale,
1959-64.
DONATED BY BRUCE WALKER;
COLLECTION OF DEPAUW UNIVERSITY
Loading a rocket launcher.
LHAMO TSERING ARCHIVE/WHITE CRANE FILMS
through the lens of non-violence and
compassion, this chapter in Tibetan his-
tory is often neglected. This makes it all
the more important to keep presenting
the documentary, albeit in a more con-
temporary context. The exhibition,
Shadow Circus, hopefully does that.
How much of your family’s life is in
this show? How did you decide on the
balance between personal history
and the mapping of a political strug-
gle?
Since the exhibition is based so much
around the archives that my father col-
lected, we felt it was important to present
it through a personal perspective. By
weaving in some of my own recollections
of my father when I was growing up, we
wanted to provide a more human context
through which to tell the larger historical
story of a political struggle.
At what stage did Natasha Ginwala
and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndik-
ung get involved? What was the col-
laboration like?
We have known Natasha for many years
and have worked together on some other
projects, including the multimedia exhi-
bition Burning Against The Dying Of The
Light, which was shown as part of Contour
Biennale 2017 in Belgium, that she
curated. Natasha was instrumental in
helping us to conceptualise the project as
an archive-based exhibition. Through
her, we met Bonaventure and we worked
closely together in framing the outlines of
the first iteration of Shadow Circus, which
was presented at SAVVY Contemporary in
Berlin. Coming from a film background,
we had little experience of contemporary
exhibition-making and Natasha and Bon-
aventure’s experience in this field was
hugely helpful in forcing us to look at the
archive material in a new light.
‘Shadow Circus’ is on at Experimenter in
Mumbai till 26 August, 10.30am-6.30pm
(closed on Sundays and Mondays).
https://instastoryviewer.net/
https://snapfrom.com/ https://instagramvideodownloader.net/ https://instadl.app/

CULTURE SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi 11

MAHARANA OF MEWAR CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

A repository of artists’
memories of Partition
An ongoing exhibition
documents the
Partition memories of
47 Indian and
Pakistani artists and
their families The maps have tremendous archival value.

The stories
Avantika Bhuyan
avantika.bhuyan@htlive.com

O
ne of the most striking
images from an ongoing

maps hold
show, Postcards From
Home, is of Indian artist
Bharti Kher. She peeks out
from behind a mannequin at her studio in
Gurugram, only half her face revealed. In
sharp contrast is the photograph of Saba
Iqbal, a printmaker from Pakistan. She
stares at the camera, as if beckoning it
An exhibition of rare maps in Udaipur hopes to
closer to tell her story. In both, the eye of offer a deeper understanding of Mewar’s history
the artist, evocative and unhindered in
expression, is captivating.
You come closer to the scrolls on dis- Abhilasha Ojha
play, drawn by the images, and then start

reading the text, which contains
snatches of memories of Partition,
passed down to these artists from their
families. Forty-seven artists—25 from
India and 22 from Pakistan—have
entrusted their family’s stories to artist
Manisha Gera Baswani, who has been
photographing artists from both sides of
the border for her ongoing series, Artists
Through The Lens. Over nearly two dec-
ades, she has built a repository of images
that intimately document artists and
their studios in the subcontinent.
The Postcards From Home series, now
showing at Museo Camera in Gurugram,
Haryana, grew organically from this
project when Baswani visited Pakistan for
a solo show of her paintings, in 1999 and
then between 2015-17. “I told my friends to
take me to artist studios to photograph
them. Koi plan nahi tha (there was no plan)
of documenting memories of the Parti-
tion. It was all very random,” she says.
The Gurugram-based multidisciplinary
artist had grown up hearing stories of her
parents’ homes in Quetta and Sargodha,
and how they had to flee overnight. “In
Pakistan, I heard stories similar to the ones
enmeshed in my heart. And I felt that I
simply had to document them. I was being
given this privileged access as I hailed
from the art world as well and I recognised
that honour,” she adds.
Iqbal shares a poignant story related by
her grandfather, Major Ibn-e-Hassan
Sharique, who grew up in Delhi and
moved to Karachi after Partition. In the
1950s, when he was posted in Karachi’s
Malir cantonment, he had a chance
encounter with his friend, Roop Chand,
from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, who had
been posted as the Indian ambassador to
Pakistan. The next day, Iqbal’s grandfa-
ther was summoned to the headquarters
to explain why an Indian national had
been allowed into the cantonment area. A
senior saved him.
The Postcards From Home project was
first shown at the inaugural edition of the
Lahore Biennale in
2017. Thereafter,
Salima and Mon-
eeza Hashmi,
daughters of the
poet Faiz Ahmed
Faiz, invited Bas-
wani to exhibit at the
Faiz Festival in
Lahore. “It was prob-
ably the first public
art project on the
Partition by an
Indian, exhibited in
Pakistan,” writes Bas-
wani in her note.
The series took on
different shapes and
forms as it travelled,
from the Kochi Muzi-
ris Biennale in 2018 to
the India Art Fair in 2019, and, recently,
the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK,
where it was on show for a year, till March.
At the India Art Fair, the 47 postcards were
displayed in sacks of wheat, with visitors
encouraged to pick a card. At the Kochi
Biennale, and now at the Museo Camera,
the memories have been displayed as
scrolls, arranged in a maze of sorts.
Visitors can have a private moment with
each story as they cannot see each other in
the labyrinth. Baswani, however, can see
them all and has been privy to many wet-
eyed moments. “The project speaks at
many levels to people across the world. I
don’t say this with arrogance but with all
humility. My mother had rightly said that
yeh project khuda ne aapka haath pakadwa
ke banwaya hai (God has held your hand
and made you do it),” says Baswani.
In a way, the Postcards From Home
series has also become an important piece
of art history, documenting the stories of
masters such as Satish Gujral and Vivan
Sundaram, who are no longer with us.
Their memories of such a significant
(top) Saba Iqbal at the
printmaking department, Indus
Art College, Karachi, 2015; and
Bharti Kher at her studio in
Gurugram, 2012.
IMAGES COURTESY MANISHA GERA BASWANI
‘Postcards From Home’ has
become an important piece
of art history, with the stories
of masters such as Satish
Gujral and Vivan Sundaram,
who are no longer with us
moment in history
live on through this
project.
While Baswani
has been privy to
memories of Parti-
tion, she has her-
self lived through
another key
moment in his-
tory—the covid-19
pandemic. That
has had a deep
impact on her
practice as well.
“During the
lockdowns, I sat
down with sev-
en-eight hard
drives, containing images of art-
ists in their studios taken between
2001-19,” she recounts. Suffering health
issues around this time and opting for
acupuncture treatment, Baswani started
drawing parallels with her parents, who
still speak of their home in Pakistan with
so much love. “The way I am being
pinned (with needles) to recover, the
same way my dad and mom—92 and 83,
respectively—tell these stories repeat-
edly to heal,” she adds.
All the dots in her practice are getting
connected, says Baswani. “There is a
phrase in Punjabi called laang jawa,or to
hop across. My father still says, ‘If I can hop
across the fence to go home’.” That’s when
the visual of a fence occurred to her—what
if the fence gathered moss to become an
extended garden? “My father wouldn’t see
the fence but simply walk across the gar-
den. This has resulted in a new series of
beautiful painted and pinned fences, titled
If Fences Gathered Moss.
Postcards From Home can be viewed at
Museo Camera, Gurugram, till 13
August,11am-7pm.
W
hen art conservators Anuja Mukherjee and Bhasha Shah saw a 19th cen-
tury map of undivided India, framed and displayed at the exhibition
Picturing Place: Painted And Printed Maps At The Udaipur Court, they
couldn’t stop beaming with pride. Until some months ago, the map, despite its
extraordinary historical value, had been just another crumbling piece of paper.
The conservators spent long hours trying to piece it together.
Today, their efforts on this and 52 other artefacts have culminated in an exhibi-
tion, an outcome of the Paper Project grant awarded by The Getty Foundation
in 2021 to the City Palace Museum, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation
(MMCF), in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The initiative aims to fund print and drawing pro-
jects and make collections more accessible to 21st century audiences. MMCF trus-
tee Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar says the grant has allowed the museum to showcase
their commitment to building and sharing their rich legacy of art and culture.
Since the City Palace Museum has a collection of over 28,000 photographs,
2,000-plus paintings and over 2,000 maps, paring this down to 53 artefacts—a
mix of 31 topographical, district, national and world maps, seven hand-painted
renderings of maps of Mewar and Udaipur, 12 photographs of landscapes, besides
architectural drawings and old diaries, or bahida—for the show was both, daunt-
ing and an opportunity. The exhibition finally opened on 21 July at the museum
and will remain on display there till 31 December 2024.
Shah and Mukherjee, together with the exhibition curator Shailka Mishra,
worked long hours to tackle brittle, damaged paper. Special adhesives, Japanese
archival paper and moisture-control techniques were applied to treat the parch-
ments before they were flattened out, cleaned and fumigated to remove dust par-
ticles. Since the exhibition will travel to other cities too, this was critical.
For the conservationists, bringing each map back to life was akin to “nurturing
a child”. Mishra too found the visual storytelling fascinating—from the typical Ori-
entalist imagery of earlier maps and a political leader’s personal note to procure
a map in the 1930s to a map from the mid-1970s showing the scope of tourism in
Udaipur. Even the names of English cartographers on some of the maps tell the
story of how the British were engaging with the royalty to introduce administra-
tive changes.
Mishra, who had been poring over the artefacts, including tools for measuring
maps, for over a year, was struck by the draughtsmanship, with several of the maps
displaying the complex “hachure” line technique to show the land’s terrain in
greater detail and depth. She has also explained the significance of some of the
maps commissioned by the Survey of India office in Kolkata. For instance, many
of the parchments highlight how the British consolidated their rule by building
a network of railways, canals and roads. “Many of the 19th century maps on display
show the finesse and sheer artistic spirit of the cartographers, as seen in the shad-
ing and hand colouring techniques,” says Mishra.
With the museum getting more than a million visitors every year, Mayank
Gupta, CEO of the foundation, says they have set up interactive kiosks and tours
for the exhibition, for people to understand Mewar’s historical importance
through maps. “The maps are historical documents and have tremendous archival
value,” notes Mishra. “They are a pointer to the political and cultural motivations,
while also elaborating on the agency of the court artists within the field of carto-
graphic knowledge.”
Abhilasha Ojha is a Delhi-based writer.

Gaddar and the end of an era in Indian music

bols of a time when the radical political his lyrics drew from the common man’s spent underground. Even after his
power of music was not just a matter of tales of pain, suffering and resistance. return to public life in the 1990s, after
LOW faith and theory but something that
played out in the streets. A time when
They invoked scenes and lived experi-
ences that resonated with his audi-
restrictions on the PWG were lifted in
1989 —his songs Bande Naka Bandi
FIDELITY ideologically committed young men ence—the starving rickshaw driver sim- Katti and Podusthunna Poddumeeda
could shake the foundations of capital mering with anger, the bonded labou- became anthems for the movement for
BHANUJ and state power with just their voice rer spending all day in the field, only to a separate Telangana state, and hits to
K A P PA L and a dappu. return to an empty kitchen, a farmer so boot—he was the target of an assassina-
Gaddar—pronounced “Ghadar”, the dispirited by market prices that he set tion attempt in 1997, allegedly by
moniker was inspired by the revolution- fire to his own crops in protest. His undercover cops. By 2010, disen-

L
ate on Sunday evening, my phone
started blowing up with texts from
friends in Indian activism circles.
“Dost,” the first one read, “Gaddar has
died.” With the news came a dull, throb-
bing ache that has become increasingly
familiar to me as a 30-something music
fan, the diffuse sense of loss you feel
when a musical icon—someone you
never met but whose life and work has
informed your sense of who you are—
passes on. The next morning, I sat down
for a little ritual of remembrance:
watching those of his performances I
could find on YouTube, digging out my
copy of Vasanth Kannabiran’s excellent
book of Gaddar songs (translated into
English), allowing myself an hour or two
of cathartic grief.
But the ache mutated into something
sharper, more acute. It wasn’t just Gad-
dar—the revolutionary balladeer, the
maverick anti-caste poet—whose loss I
felt. Along with him, I was also mourn-
ing the passing of an era in Indian music
history. Gaddar was one of the last sym-
https://instadownload.app/
ary Ghadar party—was born Gummadi
Vittal Rao, the son of Dalit labourers in
Toopran village in present-day Telan-
gana. As a child, he would spend hours
hiding under his mother’s pallu, listen-
ing to her sing all day. These were
among the first songs he learnt as he
accompanied his mother to work,
cathartic folk songs of sorrow and joy,
inscribed with the many oppressions
that come with being a Dalit woman. It’s
these songs and traditions he would
turn to for inspiration when he started
writing his own songs of resistance.
“Women are the source and founda-
tion, the fountain of songs in this coun-
try,” he told Kannabiran in a 2019 inter-
view. “They sing their feelings, their
work, their grief. They vent all their
oppression, sorrow and protest in song.”
The first Dalit from his village to fin-
ish high school, he enrolled as an engi-
neering student at Osmania University,
where he was introduced to left-wing
politics by Lohiaite socialist Keshav Rao
Jadhav. At the time, Andhra Pradesh
Gaddar at a rally in Delhi in February 2008. ARVIND YADAV/HINDUSTAN TIMES
was a terrible place for the poor and writing songs of revolution. He joined
marginalised. The communist-led Tel- the Art Lovers Association, started by
angana peasant rebellion of the late film director B. Narsing Rao, and would
1940s—later crushed by Jawaharlal travel with it to bastis and villages to
Nehru’s military—had overthrown the perform consciousness-raising songs
nizam but the landlords and feudal and poems. It’s here that he adopted his
caste elite retained their power even trademark uniform: the shepherd’s gon-
after elections in 1952. Atrocities were gadi (woollen blanket), the wooden
commonplace. staff, the red handkerchief tied to his
It was in this cauldron of dissent that wrist. Gaddar added Burra Katha (an
Gaddar found his political voice. oral storytelling form) and folk song to
Inspired by the peasant uprisings in Sri- the group’s repertoire.
kakulam and the 1969 Telangana agita- His music drew from familiar well-
tion for a separate state, Gaddar started springs of melody and harmony, just as
https://saveig.net/
songs transmuted the anger and humili-
ation of these experiences into stirring
calls to revolution, reminding the peas-
ant and labourer of their latent power.
By 1972, like many other radical
young artists and activists, he was
drawn into the mass revolutionary
struggle after the Naxalbari revolt. As
part of the Jana Natya Mandali, a cul-
tural front for the Maoist People’s War
Group (PWG), he wrote songs like
Ragal Janda (Red Flag) and Voli Volila,
Rangula Voli (Holi, Shining Holi),
infused with Marxist-Leninist theory
and incandescent rage at atrocities—
police encounters of left-wing youth,
the Dalit massacre at Karamchedu.
He became the Bard of the Revolu-
tion, thousands thronging to his per-
formances, thousands more following
his call to action. His songs were com-
piled and published as booklets, sold on
thousands of cassettes, translated into
different languages.
He wouldn’t escape unscathed. There
were days spent in police lock-up, years
chanted by the Maoists’ unwillingness
to engage with caste, he disavowed
armed revolution and took up the
Ambedkarite cause.
It didn’t dent his popularity. Gaddar
was bigger than the party.
He still towers over India’s anti-caste
and anti-capitalist protest music scenes.
The first time I met Maharashtra lok
shahir (people’s poet) Sambhaji Bhagat
in 2012, he spent 15 minutes talking
about what he learnt from Gaddar in the
years they spent travelling across India,
performing to Dalits and workers (they
even spent some time together in jail in
the 1980s). When I found myself at a
meeting in Delhi with activist cultural
troupes from central, west and south
India, Gaddar was their common lode-
stone. Everyone from Kabir Kala Manch
to anti-caste rapper Sumeet Samos had
stories about him: He was like the
movement’s Elvis, Lennon and Reed, all
rolled into one.
Bhanuj Kappal is a Mumbai-based
writer.
https://instastoryviewer.net/
https://snapfrom.com/
12 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023
New Delhi
SHOOTING THE SKY
IN LADAKH
The window to shoot the Milky Way was a narrow one, between 17-21 June—taking
months of planning. But shooting in the dark, and in freezing weather, is not easy
The Milky Way at Hanle, located in an area that has been designated India’s first Dark Sky Reserve.
Rishad Saam Mehta
Hello darkness, my old friend/ I’ve come
to talk with you again.
S
imon and Garfunkel may have
been singing of people’s ina-
bility to communicate in their
evergreen song from the
1960s, The Sound Of Silence,
but I found myself seeking out and making
an appointment with darkness earlier this
year. For darkness would be my one true
friend when it came to photographing the
Milky Way, something I had wanted to do
since I first visited Ladakh in the early
2000s.
It took months of planning because my
window to shoot the Milky Way was a nar-
row one, between 17-21 June, when the
galaxy would be at its brightest best and
there would be no moon in the sky
between sunset and sunrise (the illumina-
tion of the moon is a sort of light pollu-
tion). I could not do it anywhere in the
vicinity of Leh because lively Leh now
shoots light through the night like a shiny
disco ball. It was to Zanskar that I headed,
taking a route from Manali to Jispa, and
then peeling away from the Manali-Leh
road at Darcha to climb the mighty Shinku
La and descend into Zanskar. In the deso-
late reaches of Zanskar, where tarmac,
tourism and lumens are yet to arrive, the
darkness is complete.
After experiencing our fair share of
frost, falling rocks and heavy snowfall at
Shinku La, we arrived in Zangla, 25km
from Padum, the district headquarters of
Zanskar, on 18 June. Zangla is a little vil-
lage where people are happy to sleep
early; it is usually “lights out” by 9pm and
this suited us well because that was the day
of the new moon, and the Milky Way
would be visible from 7.50pm to 3.24am.
Since winter was still at war with sum-
mer, it was freezing cold when we stepped
out at 10pm to walk to a vantage point. I
was lugging my 14-year-old Nikon D700
with a 28-300mm lens, my tripod and a
headlamp. I waited for my eyes to adjust
but suddenly realised that the absence of
light was complete. I looked up to the
sky—and like a luminescent reel, the Milky
Way was stretched out to the horizon.
I fumbled with my headlamp’s push-
button to light our way to the vantage
point; the powerful beam startled a big
marmot that was sitting on the trail. It
waddled away and we began our walk to
the base of the ruined Zangla Fort.
It was one thing to have studied the the-
ory of shooting in the dark but another
thing altogether to put it into play on a
cold, dark night. With my gloves on, I
couldn’t turn the dials or hold down the
small buttons of my camera and with my
gloves off, my fingers started freezing. We
managed to get some great shots that
night, but, all too soon, the clouds closed
in, signalling the end of that session.
The next day, we drove from Zangla to
Khalsi on the Kargil-Leh road, an adven-
ture in itself. We made our way through
200km of rain, snow, slush and ice
brought about by dense fog thanks to dark
clouds that hung low, well below the
15,000ft-high passes, Singhe La and Sirsir
La, which we had to cross. During those 10
hours, we crossed a maximum of four cars
and one solitary dhaba, where we had the
tastiest Maggi noodles. We reached Leh
https://instadownload.app/
WHERE
TO STAY
u Zangla is 25km from Padum
on the road to Singhe La and
there are basic home-stays
(clean sheets, squat toilets,
vegetarian food).
u Lchang Nang Retreat in the
Nubra Valley is 117km from Leh
and secluded and dark post
9pm. This is a very good option
if you don’t want to go all the
way to Hanle.
u Hanle is great for photogra-
phy but it is very cold and the
accommodation is tented, with
basic, attached bathrooms.
HOW TO
SHOOT THE
MILKY WAY
u Mount your camera on a
tripod.
u Switch your camera to
full manual mode.
u Set the aperture to the
lowest your lens will allow.
u Set the ISO, which
determines the sensor’s
sensitivity to light, in the
range of 3200 to 6400.
u Keep shutter speed
between 15 to 30 seconds
and take shots at various
speeds.
u Set white balance values
between 3800 kelvin and
4200 kelvin to catch the
natural colours of the
stars.
u Finally, shoot in RAW
mode so that you have
greater editing control.
Gemur Khar at Jispa, in Himachal Pradesh.
https://instagramvideodownloader.net/
TRAVEL
The Lchang Nang Retreat in the Nubra Valley.
safely but soon news reached us that such
heavy snowfall had followed that evening
that the passes had been shut. The road
remained closed to civilian traffic for the
next two days.
The two days of crisp linen, cosy quilts
and freshly brewed coffee at the Golden
Dragon Hotel were a much needed break
after long 10-hour drives. The city of Leh,
though, has sadly lost the bohemian vibe
it had two decades ago. Gone are the bak-
eries and bistros that used to do whole-
some breakfasts; they have been replaced
by bars where beer and butter chicken
rule the roost. After two days in Leh, we
were back on the road, heading towards
the Nubra Valley after crossing the
17,852ft-high Khardung La.
Hunder and Diskit are the tourist hubs
in the Nubra Valley and bonfires and gen-
eral revelry mean light pollution. But at
the isolated Lchang Nang Retreat in
Tegar village, this was not the case.
Lchang Nang literally means “House of
Trees” and the conscious connection with
Ladakhi culture can be felt through the
architecture, the methods for the upkeep
of the grounds, and the cuisine. Sunshine,
an ample resource in Ladakh in summer,
generates most of the resort’s electricity
and the water is filtered glacial snowmelt.
On our first night there on 21 June, the
skies were clear and we got a fantastic
https://saveig.net/
ISHAN SAXENA
PHOTOGRAPHS BY RISHAD SAAM MEHTA
photograph—though it meant standing
outdoors during the coldest time of the
night. This time around, though, I was
wiser and set all the parameters on my
camera in the comfort of my warm and
well-lit room before heading into the cold
darkness.
Our final stop in this “shoot the sky”
sojourn was Hanle, 345km south of Nubra,
located in an area that has been desig-
nated India’s first Dark Sky Reserve. It is
home to the Indian Astronomical Observ-
atory and bright sources of light are
banned there. It is truly the place for astro-
photography enthusiasts.
It is located in the Changthang desert,
where the weather is bitterly cold all year
round, but this dry, cold weather also
means the skies are really clear. By now, I
was accustomed to the cold and surer of
operating my camera in pitch darkness.
On 24 June, the moon set at 11pm and the
Milky Way shone in the sky for seven and
a half hours, from 8pm to 3.30am. I got all
the photographs I wanted, but, at the end
of it, I realised that capturing the brilliant
night sky isn’t half as enrapturing as star-
ing at it, without a lens or a screen, for
hours.
Rishad Saam Mehta is a Mumbai-based
author, travel writer and budding travel
video maker.
https://instadl.app/
The railway station displaying the long name. ISTOCKPHOTO
The village
with the really
long name
A Welsh village has one of the longest names in
the world. How do you pronounce it?
Teja Lele
A
bit to the left.” “No, a tad to the right.” “Step forward, just a dash.” I hear
the exasperation in the words. Clearly, getting the picture-perfect pho-
tograph isn’t easy when you want to make sure that you include a ridicu-
lously long sign on the train station platform in the frame.
The family is on the small Welsh island of Anglesey, situated off the north-
west coast of Wales and located across the Menai Strait from the city of Bangor.
And we are in a small village with the longest name in Europe: Llan-
fairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
The 19-syllable name is the longest place name in Europe and the longest
one-word name of any municipality in the world. Home to about 3,000 people,
the village, with a name that translates to “St Mary’s Church in the hollow of
white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio near the red
cave”, welcomes more than 200,000 visitors every year, all trooping in to see
the long sign and get that photograph. It’s also known as Llanfairpwll or Llanfair
PG for short.
We have driven down the coastal path of Wales, going from Cardiff to St
David’s and from Tenby to Aberystwyth, to reach Ynys Môn (or Anglesey), the
largest island in England and Wales. Known for its ancient history and prehis-
toric and Celtic remains, Anglesey, which has an area of 676 sq. km, has been
designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and offers some of the most
distinctive, beautiful and varied landscapes in the British Isles. Connected to
the mainland by the Menai Bridge and the Britannia Bridge, Anglesey was
known as Mam Cymru (Mother of Wales) during the Middle Ages, with its fertile
fields making it the bread basket for northern Wales.
The island is sparsely populated. Census records reveal that Anglesey has a
population of around 68,900 people and boasts the second highest percentage
of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 57.2%. Attractions such as coastal walks, light-
houses, old structures and an ancient copper mine attract tourists round the year.
Most of the people who come to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn-
drobwllllantysiliogogogoch queue up at the railway station, says Lucy Gillard,
who manages the ticket counter. The village originally had a shorter, easier-to-
pronounce name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, she says.
In the second half of the 1800s, train travel started becoming more accessible,
leading to a boom in railway tourism across the UK. The local populace, keen
to make their village a tourist hot spot, came up with ideas. In 1869, a tailor is
said to have come up with the idea of the long name, one that would entice peo-
ple to get off at the station. The name isn’t random— it offers clues to geographi-
cal and cultural features found in the vicinity of the village, Gillard says. It
worked, reeling in the tourists.
Since then, the name has been jokingly referred to as “the Englishman’s cure
for lockjaw”. Between 1900-10, a shopkeeper made quite a bit of money hawk-
ing postcards with “an English, Irish and Scotchman’s cure for lockjaw”, says
Greg Ainsworth, as he fixes us drinks at the Penrhos Arms, the pub that over-
looks the station. In 1979, the village’s name also became the longest word to
ever appear in a crossword in the local newspaper, Telford & Wrekin News.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch isn’t the only
village that tried to change its tourist-led fortunes. In 2004, Llanfynydd decided
to protest plans for a nearby wind farm by changing its name; it chose the name
Llanhyfrydawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyllafnauole, which
translates to “A quiet, beautiful village, a historic place with rare kite under threat
from wretched blades”. But things didn’t work out quite as well for them.
We walk around Llanfairpwll, which is divided into two sections: The upper
village has old homes, while the lower village houses the train station and com-
mercial buildings. Over the next couple of days, staying at a gorgeous beachside
bungalow in nearby Benllech, we find there’s more to this small village than its
big name.
We explore the Plas Newydd Historic House and Gardens, once the home of
the marquess of Anglesey. Situated on the shore of the Menai Strait, the struc-
ture dates to the 18th century and showcases a series of neo-classical rooms,
many with intricate wallpaper, lovely fabrics and ornate décor. A large mural
painted by the artist Rex Whistler stands out, as do the lovely gardens that offer
scenic views across the Menai Strait of the mountains of Snowdonia.
The Menai Suspension Bridge, built by Thomas Telford and opened in 1826,
is hard to miss and makes for wonderful photographs. One of the world’s first
modern suspension bridges, it connects the mainland to Menai Town, one of
the five towns in Anglesey.
We stop at St Mary’s Church, the one which finds mention in the village’s long
name. Built in 1853 to serve the village in the diocese of Bangor, the Grade
II-listed building showcases some stunning stained-glass work.
Bryn Celli Ddu, which translates to the Mound in the Dark Grove, is the best-
known prehistoric monument on Anglesey. Like most prehistoric tombs on the
island, it was constructed to protect and pay respect to the remains of ancestors.
Erected around 5,000 years ago, as a “henge” or ritual enclosure, the site, com-
pletely excavated in 1928-29, stands apart from the other tombs on Anglesey
owing to one feature: It is the only one aligned to the rising sun on the longest
day of the year. “At dawn on midsummer solstice, shafts of light from the rising
sun penetrate down the passageway and light the inner burial chamber. It is
believed that the sunlight was meant to bring warmth and life to ancestors,” the
bartender tells us that evening.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, lived in Bodorgan for
three years, just a few miles from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn-
drobwllllantysiliogogogoch. William was deputed to the Royal Air Force base
on the island, where he served as a helicopter rescue pilot.
There are many other places to explore nearby: Anglesey Sea Zoo, the Mar-
quess of Anglesey’s Column, St Tysilio’s Church, Bryn Gwyn Stones, and Oriel
Ger-Y-Fenai, a lovely art gallery. The Anglesey Sea Salt Co. offers tours that
showcase the process of salt making.
The small village with a big name leaves us with some really special memories—
though we are still at sea when it comes to pronouncing the name of the village.
Teja Lele is an editor and writes on travel and lifestyle.
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SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi 13

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TTITTITWPUKL^QYW
,+  "  ',  " 4lq o
%- me h` CNH Industrial Capital (India) Private Limited
(CIN: U65999DL2017PTC325228)

ik3` *+  " `   me  Statement under Regulation 52(4) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India
  me ilq h` (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 for the quarter ended 30 June 2023
OZZWY-]]]TYZJLJVTTLXJL (Rs. in Millions)
JVTH[JZPVUOVTLTTITTITWPUKL^QYW ]]]TWYTJSTWNV\PU
OZZWY-LROHUPQTWNV\PU ik3`  +  " Extract of Unaudited Financial Results for the Quarter ended 30 June 2023
4lq #- me
Quarter ended Year ended
S.
Particulars 30.06.2023 30.06.2022 31.03.2023
PUMVTWYTJ2TWNV\PU No.
(Unaudited) (refer to note 6) (Audited)
1 Total Income from Operations 624.45 569.02 2,324.62
2 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period (before tax, Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) 278.36 (29.81) 253.67
3 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax (after Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) 278.36 (29.81) 253.67
& qh aik0 ` o o orh qh o h k
i k
i h )q3n` 5jq op 4 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period after tax (after Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) 208.05 (22.31) 148.37
o ` ko aik0 `$ `r 3 p o( ckofq 4lf )9e / 2 % )h ckofq 5 Total Comprehensive Income for the period (comprising Profit / (Loss) for the period (after tax) and Other 204.09 (30.12) 178.46
Comprehensive Income (after tax))
6 Paid up Equity Share Capital 3,972.00 3,972.00 3,972.00
7 Reserves (excluding Revaluation Reserve) 582.21 169.52 378.10
8 Securities Premium Account - - -
9 Net Worth 4,554.21 4,141.52 4,350.10
10 Paid up Debt Capital / Outstanding Debt 13,995.53 14,385.54 13,871.21
11 Outstanding Redeemable Preference Shares NA NA NA

7 12 Debt Equity Ratio 3.07 3.47 3.19

13 Earnings Per Share (of Rs. 10/- each) (for continuing and discontinued operations)*
a) Basic 0.52 (0.06) 0.37
b) Diluted 0.52 (0.06) 0.37
14 Capital Redemption Reserve NA NA NA
8 15 Debenture Redemption Reserve NA NA NA
16 Debt Service Coverage Ratio NA NA NA
4
17 Interest Service Coverage Ratio NA NA NA

*Quarter end Basic EPS and Diluted EPS are not annualised
Notes:
OZZWY-]]]TYZJLJVTTLXJLJVTH[JZPVUOVTLTTITTITWPU 1 The above results for the quarter ended 30 June 2023 have been reviewed by the Audit Committee and subsequently approved by the Board of Directors at their
KL^QYW ]]]TWYTJSTWNV\PU OZZWY-LROHUPQTWNV\PU respective meetings held on 10 August 2023 and are limited reviewed by the Statutory Auditors of the Company pursuant to the requirement of Regulation 52 of the
Securities Exchange Board of lndia (“SEBI”) (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), 2015 (as amended) including relevant circulars issued by the SEBI from
time to time.
)m3j d
3 r` 2 The above is an extract of the detailed format of the quarter ended results filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange (“BSE”) under Regulation 52 of the SEBI (Listing
Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), 2015. The full financial results are available on the website of BSE (https://listing.bseindia.com) and is also available on the
Company’s website (www.cnhindustrial capital.com).
3 For other items referred to in the sub-clauses of the Regulation 52 (4) of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), Regulations, 2015 the pertinent
disclosures have been made to the BSE and can be assessed on (https://listing.bseindia.com).
4 During the quarter, the Company has issued Commercial paper of Rs. 800 Million and the same got listed on BSE on 9 June 2023.
5 The results have been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement principles laid down in Indian Accounting Standard (Ind AS) 34 - “Interim Financial
Reporting” as prescribed under section 133 of the Companies Act,2013 (the Act) and other accounting principles generally accepted in India.
6 The figures pertaining to the quarter ended 30 June 2022 have been approved by the Board of Directors but have not been subjected to review by our statutory auditors.
However, the management has exercised necessary due diligence to ensure that the result for the period provide a true and fair view of the Company’s affairs.

For CNH Industrial Capital (India) Private Limited

Sd/-
Vishal Chaudhury
Place: Gurugram Managing Director
Date: 10 August 2023 DIN No.: 09463209

Regd Office: 4th Floor Rectangle No.1 Behind Marriot Hotel, Commercial Complex D4, Saket NA New Delhi South Delhi DL 110017 IN

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14 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi NEWS LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS Poonawalla Fin has UltraTech eyes 200 mt

NCCF to distribute 60 tonnes of enough cash now,
tomatoes in NCR this weekend
New Delhi: National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation
(NCCF) is gearing up to distribute about 60 tonnes of tomatoes,
including 10 tonnes of imports from Nepal, in the Delhi national
may tap PEs later production capacity
capital region over the weekend to bring down tomato prices fur- FROM PAGE 18
ther ahead of the Independence Day, two government officials
aware of the matter said. This comes after tomato prices shot up partners to achieve its busi-
again since the last week of July due to another spell of unseasonal ness goals, he added. Firm added 5.5 mtpa capacity this fiscal year to reach a total of 138 mtpa
rain disrupting the procurement operations in Maharashtra, Kar- “We retain the option to
nataka and consequently the supply chain. PUJA DAS secure primary capital for the
company, opening doors to Naman Suri
potential collaboration with naman.suri@livemint.com
Jindal Steel and Power Q1 net valuable strategic investors, New Delhi
PE funds, and partners, but not
profit down 14% to ₹1,687 cr

BLOOMBERG
in the immediate, short term.”
Rising Sun Holdings Pvt.
Ltd, a Poonawalla Group
entity, bought controlling
stake in non-banking financial
firm Magma Fincorp in July
2021, and renamed it Poona-
walla Fincorp, to foray into
financial services, and has
been investing in it for grow-
ing the business. However, it
had sold the housing finance
business to global PE company
TPG in a ₹3,000 crore transac-
New Delhi: Jindal Steel and Power Ltd announced their tion.
quarterly results for the period ended June 2023, reporting The Poonawalla group owns
a consolidated profit after tax of ₹1,686.94 crore, a fall of Serum Institute of India, the
14.37% year-on-year (y-o-y) from ₹1,960.13 crore during the vaccine manufacturer which
same period last fiscal. The company reported adjusted earn- emerged on the world map by
ings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation increasing its capacity signifi-
(Ebitda) of ₹2,704 crore, a 17% fall y-o-y. The company also cantly to produce covid vacci-
is on the path of deleveraging, with the net debt reduced by nes during the peak of the pan-
₹141 crore to stand at ₹6,812 crore, with net debt-to-Ebitda at demic.
0.75x, while debt-to-equity stood at 0.29. NAMAN SURI Poonawalla Fincorp had
disbursed nearly ₹6,370 crore
in Q4FY23, clocking the high-
Foreign ministry urges Indian est quarterly figure with a 151%
increase over the year-ago
nationals to leave crisis-hit Niger period. Around 81% of the
New Delhi: The ministry of external affairs urged Indian nation- loans were disbursed digitally.
als to leave the crisis-hit West African country of Niger. This Recently, Poonawalla Fin-
comes after military leaders orchestrated a coup that deposed corp brought former vice-
democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum. The MEA chairman and chief executive
urged Indian nationals to register with the Indian Embassy in of HDFC, Keki Mistry on its
Niger’s capital Niamey. SHASHANK MATTOO board as a strategic adviser.
Mistry, who retired from
Poonawalla Fincorp had
disbursed nearly ₹6,370 cr in
Q4FY23. ISTOCK
HDFC on 30 June, believes
there are a lot of growth
opportunities in traditional
banking, and that new-age
financial technology compa-
nies do not pose any threat to
the industry.
In separate interviews,
Poonawalla shared his views
on the financial services verti-
cal and the company’s future
fundraising plans, while Mis-
try shed light on his expecta-
tions of India’s banking eco-
system going forward. Mistry,
who was approached by sev-
eral financial services compa-
nies to shepherd the busi-
nesses in different capacities,
decided to join the Poonawal-
las, considering the group’s
pedigree, high governance
standards and integrity,
according to Mistry. He
intends “to act as a sounding
board” for the firm, which is
helmed by Abhay Bhutada, the
managing director of Poona-
walla Fincorp.
U
ltraTech Cement Ltd will
work towards achieving a
production capacity of 200
million tonnes (mt), chairman
Kumar Mangalam Birla said
on Friday, up from its existing commis-
sioned capacity of nearly 138 mt.
“This scorching pace of expansion is
unprecedented in the sector. Completion
of all the capacity expansion projects cur-
rently underway will take your company’s
cement production capacity to 160-plus
mtpa (million tonnes per annum). Your
company is now targeting an ambitious
goal of achieving a production capacity of
200 mt,” Birla said at UltraTech Cement’s Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, UltraTech Cement Ltd. MINT
23rd annual general meeting.
Ultratech doubled its grey cement pro- ume in FY23. pany’s operations, Birla said, “It has gen-
duction capacity from 66.3 mtpa in FY16 “Despite weaker global growth in the erated positive cash flow even after meet-
to 132.4 mtpa in FY23. current year, there is room for cautious ing all ongoing capital expenditure, work-
It commissioned an additional 5.5 mtpa optimism about a subsequent recovery, as ing capital, and dividend payment
of capacity in FY24, raising the total global financial markets have held up rea- requirements and has still been able to
capacity to 137.85 mtpa. sonably well,” Birla added. deleverage a bit.”
“Work has already com- The cement maker has also
menced on our next growth CONCRETE STEPS taken steps to decarbonize its
phase of 22.6 mtpa additional operations throughout the
capacity,” he added. ULTRATECH has IT clocked a profit of ROOM for cautious
initiated work on the ₹1,688 crore and optimism despite
value chain.
UltraTech recorded a profit next “In FY23, the Scope 1 net
growth phase
of ₹1,688 crore in the June of adding 22.6 mtpa
revenue of ₹17,737 weak global growth
carbon intensity decreased by
crore in the June as global financial
quarter, up 7% from a year capacity quarter markets have held up 12% with the base year of 2017,
earlier. It reported net reve- which is in line with the target
nue of ₹17,737 crore during to reduce carbon intensity by
the quarter, up 17%, and earnings before UltraTech has recommended a divi- 27% by 2032. Your company’s green
interest, tax, depreciation, and amortiza- dend of ₹38 per share for FY23, entailing energy share is planned to be increased
tion (Ebitda) of ₹3,223 crore. The com- a cash outgo of ₹1,097 crore. threefold to 60% of its total energy
pany recorded more than 100 mt sales vol- Highlighting the strength of the com- requirements by FY26,” Birla added.

Norwegian fund invests ₹350 cr

more in Fourth Partner
ISTOCK
‘State data boards will spark fights on jurisdiction’
FROM PAGE 18
tralization.
To that point, is there no
merit in having state-level
data protection boards?
Data or digital economy
doesn’t follow physical bound-
aries, or jurisdiction. Having
separate state data protection
New Delhi: Norwegian Investment Fund for developing boards will basically mean a
countries, ‘Norfund’ has announced a fresh investment of fight over jurisdiction, whereas
Govt
who don’t know English. All ciary also. So, I would not like to rulemaking process will also be
releases
apps will now have to give the
option to see the consent form
in 22 languages.
go beyond the remit of the law. very fast. Again, the rules will
This law is about how we pro- be simple, in very clear lan-
tect citizens’ privacy. guage, as least prescriptive as
onions
How will fair and reasona-
ble be spelt out?
One of the MPs also men- possible. There is flexibility in
tioned that the word pri- implementation, and that pro- from
Fair and reasonable is a very vacy was missing from the cess is already on.
clearly defined construct in the
law. We use that phrase which
bill. How do you respond to Would you want to set an
that? outer limit for industry
reserves
has been used in multiple ways, That’s a very legalistic way of readiness?
interpreted so many times for looking at it. The three princi- A few months. FROM PAGE 18
the courts, and then define ples of the Puttaswamy judge- There may be cases when

‘
₹350 crore into renewable energy solutions platform Fourth having a democratized way of what is fair and reasonable in ment—legality, legitimacy the industry may come India (NAFED) and National
Partner Energy.This is the second round of equity infusion digital implementation, where the rulemaking process. So, and propor- up with dif- Cooperative Consumers’ Fed-
by Norfund into Fourth Partner Energy, following its $100 total decentralization will hap- rulemaking gives you that flexi- tionality—do ferent inter- eration of India (NCCF) on
million investment in June 2021. STAFF WRITER pen, in that way, the philoso- bility. The industry says that other law is treated in exactly you write The legal structure pretations of Thursday and finalized the
phy of democratizing technol- no, I cannot do this, and people the same way by the civil those three regarding internet the same modalities for the disposal.
ogy gets implemented, and citi- also say that except that yes, courts, by the civil procedure. principles in and digital rule or pro- They decided to release the
PLI scheme disbursements will zens living in different parts of this is not the right thing. Then That cannot be made part of exactly the
economy has to be
vision. How onion stocks by targeting key
the country get equal access to we can come to a common this problem. That’s a bigger, same way, or will the gov- markets in states or regions
be at ₹13,000 cr this year: Govt justice. understanding and then take much bigger question of do you write a done by the central ernment including Himachal Pradesh,
New Delhi: The Union government is expected to lay out ₹13,000 One of the biggest issues faced what is fair and reasonable. reforming the judiciary. law which government respond to Delhi, Northeastern states and
crore to firms that are seeking benefits under the production by consumers is that user On the issue of compensa- Will the judiciary be sensi- meets those that? Andhra Pradesh, to some
Ashwini Vaishnaw
linked incentive (PLI) schemes, said secretary in the department consent taken by apps contin- tion, can the government tized in any way to the three princi- Union minister for railways, In the rule- extent, where retail prices are
for promotion of industry and internal trade Rajesh Kumar Singh. ues to be very broad and not enable digital access to changes that will happen in ples? All the telecom & IT making pro- ruling above the all-India aver-
The government disbursed ₹2,900 crore till March 2023 out of limited to the purpose. compensation? this law so that when a com- sections that cess in India, age and where the rate of
₹3,400 crore claims received under the scheme so far. STAFF WRITER The consent has to be fair and This is a bigger question of pensation matter does we have writ- everything increase in prices over the pre-
reasonable under Section 6. reforming the judicial system, come up with them under ten meet all those principles. has to be within the four walls vious month and year are above
Would that be open to inter- which is significantly beyond this law, it becomes that When will industry consul- of the Constitution. Now, the threshold level.
Apollo Hospitals Q1 net profit dips pretation? the mandate of this bill. Com- much faster? tations for the rules under within those four walls of the Disposal through e-auction
No. When we make the rules, pensation is to civil courts, and The judiciary itself is getting the law begin? law, every interpretation has to and retail sales on e-commerce
47%, adjusted profit down 2% we will say what is fair and rea- they follow the Civil Procedure changed, and a lot of reform is We’ve already started con- be made. Rules interpretation platforms are also being
New Delhi: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd’s performance sonable. We’ll make it itemized. Code. That’s part of our judicial also happening. Also, a lot of sultations with the industry for is not something which has explored. The quantity and
during the June quarter remained impacted by one-offs and net We’ll make sure that this is architecture. judicial digitization is happen- implementing the law. Most ever been found as a major pace of disposal will also be cali-
profit at ₹167 crore declined 47% year-on-year (y-o-y) compared clearly understood by the con- For people seeking com- ing, and e-court projects are industry participants have told problem in the Indian legisla- brated with the prices and
to ₹317.1 crore in Q1 FY23. However, the year ago quarter’s net sent-giver, and also, since we pensation under this law, being implemented. During us that they already have in tive system. There are things availability situations to make
profits included tax credit of ₹146.6 crore. Hence adjusted for have given the provision for 22 how will it be merged with covid, we have seen how the place structures and business about the interpretation of the onions available to consumers
the same, Q1 net profit shrunk 2% over adjusted net profit of ₹171 languages, this will make it that civil procedure? technology adoption rate sig- processes which will be com- law which has to be made in at affordable rates.
crore in Q1 FY23. UJJVAL JAUHARI even more accessible to people Compensation under any nificantly increased in the judi- pliant with our legislation. The line with the Constitution. Apart from market disposal,
the government decided to
offer onion to states at dis-
counted rates for sale through
Bobby Pawar Big discounts are now being offered on large diamonds retail outlets of their consumer
cooperatives and corporations.
steps down as In the current year, a total of
300,000 tonnes of onion have
of Covid’s disruption three years ont, which owns luxury jew- that dating is up 8% compared Meanwhile, lab-grown dia- bucks—an area to watch: Under been procured for the buffer,
Havas chief FROM PAGE 18
ago. On average, it says, couples elry brands Cartier and Van with pre-Covid levels.Another monds are getting cheaper and an agreement that De Beers which could be enhanced fur-
demand rose strongly in 2021, get engaged after three years and Cleef & Arpels, saw sales grow development to watch is more popular: About 36% of struck with Botswana last month, ther depending on the situation.
Varuni Khosla the industry went into overdrive three months of dating. 19% on a constant-currency whether the G-7 nations follow center stones in 2022 engage- the country is set to increase the The two central nodal agen-
varuni.k@livemint.com and probably overproduced For those looking to impress, basis in the three-month through on their proposed ban ment rings were lab grown, up share of diamonds it keeps from cies, NAFED and NCCF, pro-
New Delhi ahead of diminished consumer bigger rocks offer some of the period ended June 30, com- on Russian diamond imports. from 18% in 2020, according to the company’s mines to 50% cured 150,000 tonnes each of
appetite in 2023. Demand from biggest bargains.A 1.5-carat pared with a year earlier. This The group said it would work to a survey conducted by wed- from 25% in a decade. As De rabi onion during June and

A
d industry veteran
Bobby Pawar, chairman
and chief creative offi-
cer of Havas India, will step
down at the end of his five-year
stint in September, the com-
pany said. Pawar, who has had a
career over 30 years, will also
leave the advertising industry.
The company said that Anu-
pama (Anu) Ramaswamy, who
joined as chief creative officer last
year, will head Havas Worldwide.
Along with chief executive Tarun
Jha and chief strategy officer
Anirban Mozumdar, they will
oversee all three of its offices. Rana
Barua will remain group CEO.
Pawar was earlier chief crea-
tive officer of JWT, and spent
four and a half years as the
chief creative officer at DDB
Mudra Group.
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China, the second-largest mar-
ket for diamonds behind the
U.S., hasn’t been as strong as the
industry had hoped, which
meant diamond dealers and
jewelers ended up sitting on
supply. Anglo American, the
owner of largest diamond
miner, De Beers, said diamond
revenue declined 21% in the first
half of 2023 compared with the
same period in 2022, citing a
buildup of polished diamond
inventory and macroeconomic
headwinds.
And then there is Covid-19’s
crimp on dating. Signet Jewel-
ers, owner of Kay Jewelers and
the world’s largest retailer of dia-
mond jewelry, said there was a
low-double digit percentage
decline in engagements in the
quarter ended April 29 as a result
engagement ring is likely sell-
ing at a steeper discount today
than a piece of jewelry studded
with many smaller diamonds.
Stones in the 0.75 to 1.5 carat
range, as well as those between
3 and 4 carats, are priced at a
10-year low, according to data
from the Zimnisky Global
Rough Diamond Index. Pricing
of the smallest (0.13 to 0.42 car-
ats) and the largest (5 to 9 carat)
stones has stayed more resil-
ient. The smallest diamonds are
priced near their 10-year high.
Cheapskates aren’t causing
that shift. The opposite in fact:
Luxury jewelry brands such as
Cartier tend to buy a lot of
smaller, high-quality dia-
monds—the types that adorn
watches or make up fine
designs on brooches. Richem-
was on top of 12% growth in tighten sanctions, including on ding-industry website the Knot. Beers takes fewer diamonds, one July from Maharashtra and
the year-earlier period. polished diamonds. Russia is Industry analysts say lab-grown risk is that the company, which Madhya Pradesh.
Today’s demand slump isn’t one of the world’s largest sour- diamonds aren’t cannibalizing successfully planted “A Diamond Maharashtra has a share of
likely to dent the ces of mined dia- natural ones in a meaningful Is Forever” in consumers’ minds, 43% of the country’s entire onion
diamond indus- When demand monds and a strict way—at least not yet. stops investing as heavily in mar- production, followed by Madhya
try in the near rose strongly in ban would push A growing share of self-pur- keting. A De Beers spokesperson Pradesh’s 15%, Karnataka’s 9%
term as long as 2021, the industry prices up. chased diamond jewelry could said in an email that it continues and Gujarat’s 9% contribution.
economic condi- went into More concern- offset some of that weakness. to “invest significantly” in natu- This year, irradiation of
tions don’t deteri- ing is the indus- Self purchases represented ral-diamond marketing and that onion had also been taken up
overdrive and
orate dramati- try’s long-term about 39% of diamond jewelry Botswana’s state-owned com- on a pilot basis in collaboration
cally. Based on probably outlook. Marriage volume bought in 2022, up from pany is expected to increase its with Bhabha Atomic Research
global economic overproduced rates are declining 30% in 2019, according to pre- investments. Meanwhile, the Centre (BARC) with the objec-
forecasts, in both the U.S. sentations from Anglo Ameri- Natural Diamond Council, an tive of minimizing storage loss.
Zimnisky expects and China. The can. But that comes with risks, industry group for mined dia- About 1,000 tonnes had been
diamond jewelry demand to two countries are the largest too. Consumers may be more monds, lost a chunk of its market- irradiated and stored in con-
rebound beyond 2022 levels markets for diamond jewelry at inclined to buy virtually indistin- ing budget after Russian dia- trolled atmosphere storage.
next year. Signet said during an 55% and 10% of demand, guishable lab-grown diamonds mond producer Alrosa sus- In March, Mint reported the
investor-day presentation that respectively, according to De on fashion jewelry items that pended its membership and Centre is planning to irradiate
it expects engagements to start Beers owner Anglo American. aren’t engagement rings. ceased financial contributions onions with Gamma rays before
recovering in 2024, noting that Engagement rings make up Fending off lab-grown dia- last year. Keeping natural dia- sending them into cold storage
people were eager to resume about a quarter of diamond monds’ market share and shift- monds’ sparkle alive looks more on a pilot basis to reduce post-
dating “as soon as people could jewelry demand in the U.S., ing demand to fashion jewelry challenging than ever. harvest losses to 10-12% from
begin getting back out” and according to Golan. will probably take big marketing ©2023 DOW JONES & CO. INC. the prevailing 25%.
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LIVEMINT.COM NEWS SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi 15

‘Farm growth intact

despite erratic rains’
Gireesh Chandra Prasad
gireesh.p@livemint.com
New Delhi

A
ny shortfall in farm output due
to this year’s uneven rainfall—
ranging from delayed mon-
soon to floods in pockets—is
likely to be made up by higher
production in other areas, keeping the 3.5%
long-run agriculture growth intact, Niti
Aayog member Ramesh Chand said in an
interview. Chand said output growth from
states such as Rajasthan and high water lev-
els in reservoirs as positive factors for farm
output. The rice export ban can be
reviewed if the September-October har-
vest is good, he added. Although there is no
signal from the market that warrants any
further strong export-import-related
measures, we need to keep a close watch on Also, we find that the overall area sown is much moisture. There is a wonderful level
international food prices, Chand said. He more than what is normal. Only in some of moisture in Rajasthan. One can expect
also pitched for liberalization of state-level sensitive and seasonal crops, such as toma- that whatever setback in some other states
regulations in the agriculture sector. Edited toes, we are seeing price spikes. But the will be compensated by Rajasthan. Rajast-
excerpts: overall story of long-run growth in agricul- han grows a variety of crops, but in the
ture—that the Indian agriculture sector is kharif season, the main crop is millet or
What’s the outlook for agriculture poised to grow around 3.5%—that story, to bajra. Pulses, groundnut and, in some parts,
growth this year? me, seems intact. cotton are also grown in the state.
It is still too early to say anything with So no cause for concern for farm out- What more can the government do to
precision. There were a lot of reports at the put this fiscal? And the impact of cool food inflation?
beginning of monsoon that this year, mon- floods in some parts of north India? The government has taken a few policy

‘
soon is not going to be normal, that there Agriculture is biological production. measures, including going to the
would be a deficit and that El Niño impact Anything can happen any- extent of putting a ban
would be there. But nothing like that has time. But as of now, it on the export of non-
happened so far. appears that the overall The only measure basmati white rice. The
As of date, at the national level, we are picture is okay, and there which is still left with ban on the export of
having is nothing to worry. But the government to wheat and wheat prod-
m INTERVIEW excess rain-
fall. Distri-
because the monsoon
came late and there were cool prices is to resort
ucts stays. The govern-
ment has also invoked
bution heavy rains in some pla- to imports, but that the Essential Commodi-
issues are always there, but at the national ces, that will affect some situation has not arisen. ties Act and open market
level, we have a surplus. Sceptics are saying commodities, but the sale scheme (OMSS).
RAMESH CHAND
that the El Niño effect will be there in overall picture seems to be Member, Niti Aayog The only measure which
August, but again, I would say that going by intact. Some areas of Pun- is still left with the gov-
what has happened so far, we cannot place jab have been affected ernment to cool prices is
very high reliance on what is attributed to because of the Ghaggar river, which is a to resort to imports, but I think that kind
El Niño. As a result of the very good rainfall seasonal river, but farmers are going for of situation has not arisen, and in most
in the last six-seven weeks, you will find fresh transplantation. cases, international prices are higher
that the water level in reservoirs is better You will see that some pockets are than our prices.
than the long-term average. Only com- affected, but the impact is restricted to When will the restrictions on rice and
pared to that of last year, it is slightly less, those pockets. In some pockets, I agree wheat be reviewed?
but then that depends upon rainfall distri- with you that there will be some effect of Not in the case of wheat, but in the case of
bution. the flooding, but it will be more than com- rice, if we have a good crop, we can review
One probable factor, when you make pensated elsewhere. In some places, there that. August and September are critical for
this comparison with last year’s level, is the is a strong positive effect also. For example, the rice yield. If we get normal rain, then I
late arrival of the monsoon this year. in Rajasthan, we never used to have this don’t see any threat to rice production.

Evolve from
‘Can AI take my job?’

Extact of Unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023

(Rs.in thousands except per share data)

Sr Particulars Quarter ended Year ended
No June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 March 31, 2023
(Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited)
1 Total Income from Operations 135,097.28 127,714.82 496,758.76
2 Net Profit/ (Loss) for the period (before Tax, Exceptional and/ or 57,359.45 22,294.18 101,160.27
Extraordinary items)
3 Net Profit/ (Loss) for the period before Tax, (after Exceptional 57,359.45 22,294.18 101,160.27
and/ or Extraordinary items)
4 Net Profit/ (Loss) for the period after tax (after Exceptional and/ 42,771.77 16,508.69 77,694.85
or Extraordinary items)
5 Total Comprehensive Income for the period [Comprising Profit/ 42,771.77 16,508.69 77,694.85
(Loss) for the period (after tax) and Other Comprehensive
Income (after tax)]
6 Paid up equity share capital (Face Value of Rs.10/- each) 234,154.36 234,154.36 234,154.36
7 Reserve (Excluding Revaluation Reserve) 685,603.36 581,645.43 642,831.59
8 Securities Premium Account - - -
9 Net Worth 93,046.93 (10,911.00) 50,275.16 to
‘How can AI work for me?’
10 Paid up Debt Capital/ Outstanding Debt 1,746,589.55 1,854,328.13 1,774,401.12
11 Outstanding Redeemable Preference Shares - - -
12 Debt Equity Ratio 1.90 2.27 2.02
13 Earning Per Share (Face value of Rs.10/- each)*
Basic earnings per equity share (Rs.) 1.83 0.71 3.32

To decode the right answers,

Diluted earnings per equity share (Rs.) 1.83 0.71 3.32
14 Capital Redemption Reserve - - -
15
16
Debenture Redemption Reserve
Debt Service Coverage Ratio
175,080.00
2.14
89,162.79
1.93
150,348.95
1.73
you need to ask better questions. Stay updated with
17 Interest Service Coverage Ratio
* The earnings per equity share are not annualised except for year ended 31 March 2023.
4.29 3.68 3.34
the latest happenings in the word of tech,
Notes: only with Mint.
a) The above is an extract of the detailed format of quarterly financial results filed with the stock exchange under regulations 52 of SEBI
(Listing obiligations and disclosure requirements) Regulations 2015. The full format of the quarterly financials results is available on the
websites of BSE Limited at www.bseindia.com and of the Company (www.sembcorpindia.com/sepset.html).
b) For the other line items referred to Regulations 52 (4) of SEBI ( Listing obiligations and disclosure requirements) Regulations 2015,
pertinent disclosures has been made to the Stock Exchange and are available on the websites of the Company (www.sembcorpindia.
com/sepset.html).
c) The above financial results have been reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on August
10, 2023. The Statutory Auditor of the Company have carried out limited review of the results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.
For and on behalf of Board of Directors of,
Sepset Constructions Limited
Sd/-
Mahendra Gottipati
Place: Gurugram Director
Date: August 10, 2023 DIN : 09824710

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16 SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi NEWS LIVEMINT.COM

June IIP falls to

3.7%, dragged by
Parliament clears 28% GST RBI calls
for early
manufacturing on online gaming, casinos review of
IMF quotas
Rhik Kundu
rhik.kundu@livemint.com Gopika Gopakumar
NEW DELHI gopika.g@htlive.com
The laws also make any payment made towards online gaming through crypto assets taxable MUMBAI

I
ndia’s factory output rose to

R
3.7% in June, down from eserve Bank of India
5.2% in May, due to weaker Gireesh Chandra Prasad (RBI) governor Shaktik-
manufacturing growth, official gireesh.p@livemint.com anta Das on Friday
data released on Friday NEW DELHI pitched for speedy completion
showed. of the general review of the

T
The Index of Industrial Pro- he Parliament has approved International Monetary Fund
duction (IIP), or factory output the necessary legislative to help countries in debt dis-
growth, stood at 12.6% in June The third quarter will be modifications for implement- tress.
2022, mainly due to a lower crucial for the manufacturing ing the Goods and Services Speaking at a seminar on the
base effect. sector. BLOOMBERG Tax (GST) Council’s proposal global economy organized by
“The growth rates over cor- to levy a 28% tax on the full value of the finance ministry and RBI,
responding period of previous Office (NSO), electricity gener- deposits made by individuals to online Das said recent experience
year are to be interpreted con- ation saw a growth of 4.2% in gaming platforms, casinos, and horse suggests countries facing
sidering the unusual circum- June 2023 compared with racing clubs. financial difficulties go to
stances on account of covid-19 16.4% a year ago. According to a notification issued on other bodies beyond the IMF
pandemic since March 2020,” Mining output grew 7.6% Friday, the legislation will be effective because of “perceived stigma”
said an official statement. during the month against a from 1 October. Both Houses of Parlia- or lack of access.
The IIP growth was below 7.8% rise in the year-ago ment have endorsed the Central Goods “A bigger and stronger IMF
projections made by econo- period, and the capital goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, that is capable of managing the
mists at Bank of Baroda, who segment grew 2.2% compared 2023 and the Integrated Goods and Ser- levels of country risks assumes
pegged it at 5.5% for June. with 28.6% a year ago. vices Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The crucial importance,” Das said.
Manufacturing growth, at During the April-June FY24 laws will come into effect in October. It’s He noted that since the
3.1%, brought down the overall period, the growth in IIP stood important to note that the 28% GST IMF’s support to a country is
growth rate after 14 of the 23 at 4.5%, down from 12.9% in the applies solely to instances involving linked to the quota size of
sectors in manufacturing regis- year-ago period. wagering on gaming sites. GST will not countries, “the sixteenth gen-
tered negative Consumer be imposed on casual gaming services eral review of quotas and its
growth, said Manufacturing durables output offered by the platforms. The laws will come into effect from 1 October and will not affect casual online gaming. BLOOMBERG attendant requirements,
Madan Sabnavis, growth, at 3.1%, fell in June by Parliament approval for the legisla- including governance reform
chief economist at hit the overall -6.9% against tive changes on the last day of the mon- of “online gaming”, “online money gam- and casinos, irrespective of them being combination of both or whether it is per- needs to be completed expedi-
Bank of Baroda. growth rate as 14 25.2% growth in soon session indicates that the new tax ing”, “specified actionable claim”, and games of skill or chance, was taken after mitted under any legal framework. tiously”.
“The signifi- laws will be implemented as decided by “virtual digital asset” in the amendment elaborate deliberations for about three
of the 23 sectors the year-ago Notably, this definition takes into “It may be helpful if pro-
cant non-per- period. Consumer the GST Council. States will also have to are still “ambiguous”. years. “There will be no effect of the consideration the prohibition of online grammes can be designed with
formers were in manufacturing n o n - d u r a b l e clear the changes to State GST laws to “With the amendments, online gam- amendments on India’s startup ecosys- gaming involving stakes in Tamil Nadu. less conditionality for coun-
food, textile-re- contracted goods output implement the law. The amendments ing companies shall not expect any liti- tem, as it brings parity between global Despite the online gaming industry’s tries with macro-fundamen-
lated and elec- increased by 1.2 % will not affect tax on casual gation in respect of the charge of entities and domestic firms, the appeal to impose GST on gross tals that are not sound but rea-
tronics among compared with online gaming, wherein no GST, prospectively. How- official added. gaming revenue, referred to sonably resilient, if they are
others. The performance of 2.9% a year earlier. real money, betting, or ever, litigation for the old The amendments were as their margins, the coun- not marred by balance of pay-
electronics is a disappointment “The year-on-year growth in
as this industry had been a front the IIP slid to a weaker-than-
wager is involved, said a
government official, Aug
The day GST
2 period will continue. The cleared by the GST Coun-
regulations clarified that cil on 2 August. years
The time GST
cil chose to apply GST on
the complete value of the 3 ments stress,” added Das.
Further, the RBI governor
runner for the production- expected three-month low of seeking anonymity. international e-gaming Any payment made for deposited amount. Some said that there was a need to be
linked incentive scheme,” Sab- 3.7% in June 2023 belying the A simplified but man- Council cleared the corporations would be these activities in crypto Council mulled industry players said that mindful of the financial impli-
navis said. hope engendered by the core datory GST registration amendments treated at par with Indian assets will also be taxable. over the changes imposing 28% GST on the cations involved in green tran-
“The third quarter will be sector print. The sequential for overseas platforms offer- counterparts and will need Besides, activities wherein nominal value of deposits sition.
crucial for the manufacturing slowdown was led by the man- ing online money gaming ser- registration in India for pay- players make deposits or pay does not serve the industry’s He highlighted the need to
sector as this would be the time ufacturing sector, while the vices to Indian consumers, and a ment of GST,” said Rajat Mohan, in monetary form or in the form of best interests. fortify regulatory frameworks
when the festival demand mining and electricity sectors special provision bringing tax liability senior partner at accounting firm virtual digital assets (VDAs) with the The council “duly considered the that enable the implementa-
would add to growth. Here witnessed an improvement in on such platforms, were part of the AMRG and Associates. expectation of winning money or an negative impact of online money gam- tion of climate taxonomy
both rural and urban demand their growth performance amendments. Non-compliant offshore The council’s proposal to impose a equivalent, including VDAs, fall under ing on society and the youth in particu- across jurisdictions, prevent
would matter,” he added. amid deficient rainfall in the gaming platforms or websites will be 28% GST on the so-called actionable the scope of online money gaming. lar, in the form of internet gaming disor- greenwashing, and facilitate
As per the IIP data released month,” said Aditi Nayar, chief blocked. claims (in legal parlance) or the chance This applies regardless of whether the der due to addiction to online gaming”, sufficient green capital inflows
by the National Statistical economist, ICRA Ltd. However, experts said the definition to win in horse racing, online gaming outcome relies on skill, chance, or a the official cited above said. to emerging market countries.

NCLT clears Ather Energy aims 30% market share by end of FY24 HC notice to Desai
bad bank plan
for Srei cos’
Alisha Sachdev
alisha.sachdev@livemint.com
widow on FIR plea at 55,000 units. The 450S will we are positioning the scooter
take competition to that space. as a performance scooter
NEW DELHI It will take 20-25% market instead of a generic product.
resolution share in the short term, then Soon, every OEM will be elec- Priyanka Gawande legal process for recovery of

B
engaluru-based Ather take on segment leaders TVS tric. That’s not a good way to priyanka.gawande@livemint.com dues. They also sought interim
Priyanka Gawande Energy, the third-largest NTorq and over the long term differentiate ourselves,” said MUMBAI relief of no coercive steps and
priyanka.gawande@livemint.com electric scooter manu- take a meaningful share of the Mehta. a stay on the investigation.

T
MUMBAI facturer in India at present, is segment,” said Tarun Mehta, “However, we won’t just he Bombay high court Following Desai’s death,
looking to double its market co-founder and chief executive keep selling performance on Friday issued notice suspected to be a suicide, on 2

T
he Kolkata bench of the
National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) on Fri-
day approved state-owned
National Asset Reconstruction
Company Ltd’s (NARCL’s) res-
olution plan for Srei Infra-
structure Finance and Srei
Equipment Finance as part of
the corporate insolvency reso-
lution process.
A bench led by Justices
Rohit Kapoor and Balraj Joshi,
while approving the resolu-
tion plan, said the tribunal is
satisfied with the resolution
plan since it is in accordance
with the Insolvency and Bank-
ruptcy Code. Other necessary
regulatory approvals from the
Reserve Bank of India and the
Competition Commission of
India have already been
received by NARCL, the suc-
cessful resolution applicant.
The proposed transaction
involves the acquisition of a
majority of equity share capital
of Srei by NARCL and IDRCL
(India Debt Resolution Com-
pany Ltd).
In February, lenders to the
share in the e-scooter market to
25-30% by the end of fiscal year
2024, a top company executive
told Mint. The company hopes
to be able to produce 20,000-
units each month by then.
The company is also working
on a new scooter platform, and
will expand its offering to seg-
ments beyond performance
scooters, into the family, con-
venience, and value segments,
where rivals such as TVS Motor
Company and Ola Electric play.
Ahead of the festive season,
two-wheeler makers are gear-
ing up to launch new low-cost
models, and advancing their
product launch plans in
response to revised FAME-II
subsidies. Ather’s new 450S,
NCLT gives final nod for merger of Sony and Zee
Priyanka Gawande
priyanka.gawande@livemint.com
MUMBAI
of Ather. scooters. There are other seg- to the widow of the late August, Naina lodged an FIR
“The market is ments we are eye- Nitin Desai on a petition filed on 4 August with the Khalapur
maturing super Ather expects ing. There’s a fan- by Edelweiss group chairman police station invoking the
fast. Increasingly e-2W volumes tastic market in Rashesh Shah and the chief offence of abetment to suicide
it is becoming that dipped after the family seg- executive of Edelweiss ARC under Section 306 of the
sophisticated, subsidy cut in ment, in the com- chief executive officer Raj Indian Penal Code (IPC). Desai
especially where
June, to revive to fort and conve- Kumar Bansal, in the case had defaulted on a ₹185 crore
EVs are present nience segments. involving the death of the loan taken from ECL Finance
for a while, like in March-like sales in And you can bet renowned art director. Ltd, a non-banking financial
Tarun Mehta, co-founder and chief executive, Ather Energy. Bengaluru, Chen- a month or two Ather is building a The court said company (NBFC)
nai, Hyderabad, lot and in the it will hear the Counsel for the promoted by the
positioned to compete in the really no 110CC sports scooter. and Pune, with coming years you matter on Tues- complainants Edelweiss Group.
125cc performance scooter The 150cc scooter segment is customers seeing 20-30% elec- will see many announcements day. pled that they Desai’s family
market, is its most affordable 8,000-9,000 units per month tric penetration in the scooters as we enter those segments.” Notices were were merely claimed that the
product, priced at ₹1.29 lakh and the rest (50,000-55,000 space. They want to buy an According to Mehta, electric issued to Naina loans were taken
following legal
ex-showroom, including the units) is 125cc. In the 150cc seg- Ather for a performance two-wheelers, which grew at Desai, the com- from Edelweiss
FAME-II subsidy. ment, Ather 450X is pretty scooter. If you want the trust of 30-35% every quarter, but saw plainants, and the process, and not between 2016
“The sports scooters market much the leader, with 70-80% an old name, you buy TVS. This a volumes dip following lower state. On Mon- pressuring Desai and 2018, and
in India is over 60,000 units a share. The 125cc segment is implies that a large number of subsidies in June, will recover day, Shah and part of the repay-
month, that you can segment obviously the next big segment buyers walking into our show- to March-like sales within a Bansal had ment had been
into 150cc and 125cc. There is with five times larger volumes rooms want performance. So, month or two. moved the high court seeking made. Naina alleged that the
to quash a First Information lending firm had pressured
Report (FIR) filed against them Desai to repay an outstanding
for alleged abetment to Desai’s loan and attempted to take
suicide. The two have filed over his ND Film World Studio
separate petitions against in Karjat to recover the dues.
Naina and the state. Raigad police had issued
Amit Desai, senior counsel Edelweiss executives a notice
“From the material on approval of the scheme at the tors”, NCLT said in its 57-page stated that Sony (Culver Max) for Shah and Bansal, argued to appear and provide infor-
record, the scheme appears to behest of the above petitioners/ order. had every right to take up this that there could not have been mation on Tuesday and have
be fair and reasonable and does objectors who have no direct One of the clauses stated that issue at their board level after abetment to suicide when the recorded statements of over 10
not seem to violate any provi- privity of contract with Zee and Punit Goenka of Zee should be approval of the scheme, duo was merely following the witnesses.

debt-laden firm had approved
NARCL’s bid with 89.2%
majority from the verified
creditors. NARCL had offered
a net present value bid of
₹5,555 crore. The committee
of creditors had stated that the
plan met the requirement of
being viable and feasible for
revival of the company.
Apart from NARCL,
Authum Investment, and a
consortium of Varde Partners
and Arena Investors had sub-
mitted resolution plans.
T
he Mumbai bench of the
National Company Law
Tribunal on Friday gave
its final approval to Sony Pic-
tures Network India’s (Culver
Max Entertainment) proposed
merger with Zee Entertain-
ment Enterprises Ltd.
The move paves way for the
merger of two of India’s largest
media and entertainment com-
panies. With this, the two com-
panies have received all the
regulatory approvals needed
for the merger.
sions of law and is not contrary
to public policy,” a bench led by
Justices Kuldip Kumar Kareer
and Anuradha Bhatia held.
Similarly, on Thursday, Jus-
tice H.V. Subba Rao approved
Zee’s application seeking regu-
latory approval for the merger
from NCLT. Zee’s scheme saw
strong opposition from various
operational and financial cred-
itors, but the bench refused to
entertain any of the objections.
“This bench did not find any
valid reason to withhold the
withholding such the managing depending on the final out-
approval would With the NCLT’s director and chief come of the Sebi order. The CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
seriously preju- nod, the two executive officer present scheme need not be
dice the interest of companies have of the merged halted on that grounds, it said. Mint welcomes comments, suggestions or complaints about errors.
99.997% share- received all the entity. Following It further clarified that its
holders of Zee and Sebi’s 12 June observations don’t “in any way Readers can alert the newsroom to any errors in the paper by
regulatory emailing us, with your full name and address to
will shake the order, Goenka amount to approving the
confidence of approvals needed and Subhash
feedback@livemint.com.
appointment of Goenka under
commercial wis- for the merger Chandra were the scheme as it is sub judice It is our policy to promptly respond to all complaints. Readers
dom of the corpo- restrained from and subject to further approval dissatisfied with the response or concerned about Mint’s journalistic
rate entities. holding key man- of the transferee company or of integrity may write directly to the editor by sending an email to
Therefore, this bench is of the agerial positions in any listed any other authority required as asktheeditor@livemint.com
considered opinion that there entity. per regulations”. Sebi may pro-
Mint’s journalistic Code of Conduct that governs our newsroom is
is no merit in any of the above Agreeing with Zee’s counsel nounce its verdict on Goenka’s available at www.livemint.com
objections raised by the objec- Janak Dwarkadas, the bench plea on Monday.

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LIVEMINT.COM NEWS SAturDAy, 12 AuguSt 2023

New Delhi 17

Data law brings firms’ Bills to overhaul criminal justice system

PTI to protect the rights of the

staff info under focus feedback@livemint.com

New DelHI
Indian citizen at the centre
stage,” he said.
Offences against women

H
ome minister Amit
Shah on Friday intro-
duced three bills in the
Lok Sabha to replace colonial-
era laws, asserting that the
Companies may have to request employees’ consent to seek, store data proposed laws will transform
the criminal justice system and
bring the spirit to protect the
Devina Sengupta & Gulveen Aulakh rights of Indian citizens to the
devina.sengupta@livemint.com centre stage.
MuMBaI/ New DelHI Shah introduced the Bhar-
atiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Bill,
and children, murder and
offences against the State have
been given precedence, Shah
said, adding that various offen-
ces have been made gender-
neutral.
“The experience of seven
decades of Indian democracy
calls for comprehensive
review of our criminal laws,
including the Code of Crimi-
Home Minister Amit Shah speaking in the Lok Sabha during the nal Procedure and adopting

C
ompanies will no longer be 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Friday. PTI them in accordance with the
able to collect vast amounts of Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Bill, contemporary needs and aspi-
employee data since it has the 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya sions for first-time community laws made by the British were rations of the people,” said the
potential to become a “toxic (BS) Bill, 2023 that will replace service as one of the punish- full of signs of slavery aimed at statement of object for the
asset” after the enactment of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, ments for petty offences. punishing those opposed to BNSS bill.
the personal data bill, said consultants and Criminal Procedure Act, 1898, The bill also lists new offen- their rule. It said the government’s
law firms advising corporates. and the Indian Evidence Act, ces such as acts of secession, The home minister also mantra was “Sabka Saath,
Companies will have to take the con- 1872 respectively, stating the armed rebellion, subversive urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas
sent of employees after explaining in changes were done to provide activities, separatist activities, Birla to refer the three bills for and Sabka Prayas” and that it
granular detail why their data or that of a speedy justice and create a and endangering the sover- scrutiny by the parliamentary was committed to ensuring
prospective candidate needs to be col- legal system that meets con- eignty or unity and integrity of standing committee on home speedy justice to all citizens in
lected and how long it will be stored in the temporary needs and aspira- India. affairs. conformity with these consti-
system. tions of the people. “I can assure the House that The minister said the focus tutional democratic aspira-
Corporates will also have to specify if The BNS bill has provisions these bills will transform our of the laws that will be tions.
the data will be saved to protect the pro- that seek to repeal sedition, criminal justice system. The repealed was to protect and “The government is com-
prietorial rights of the company or pro- and award maximum capital aim will not be to punish, it will strengthen the British admin- mitted to making a compre-
vide services and benefits the employee punishment for crimes such as be to provide justice. Punish- istration; the idea was to pun- hensive review of the frame-
has asked for. mob lynching and rape of ment will be given to create a ish and not to deliver justice. work of criminal laws to pro-
“Until now, some firms used to collect Corporates will also have to specify if the data will be saved to protect the proprietorial minors, the home minister sentiment of stopping crime,” “By replacing them, the new vide accessible and speedy
and retain all the data they could get from rights of the company or provide services and benefits the employee has asked for. ISTOCK said. The bill also has provi- Shah said while noting that the three laws will bring the spirit justice to all...”it added.
employees, using broad notices for con-
sent. Now, they will need to be careful to employee data,” he added. to get clarity on whether the data collected
about how much data they hold, and will Parliament this week cleared the Digital from employees prior to the implementa-
need to be clear about the purpose and Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP), tion of the bill falls under the purview of
necessity for collecting data, for consent making it India’s first law on protecting the law.
to be valid,” said Arun Prabhu, partner and personal data. According to a Mint report, In its current form it is silent on this, but
Direct tax collection grows 17% to ₹5.84 tn
head, technology and telecom at Cyril the government had already started work some firms expect that the rules which
Amarchand Mangaldas. on implementing the bill, and a roll-out will follow may provide clarity on the ways Gireesh Chandra Prasad ures that direct tax collections FY24. nology and analytics-based
There will be provisions which will will be seen very soon. Communications to be adopted for such data. gireesh.p@livemint.com continued to register steady In the just-concluded per- focussed assessments.
allow employers to ask for Businesses across sectors New DelHI growth. sonal income tax return filing The widening of scope of
data, but there too, changes in ADOPTING CHANGES will have to now reach out to Until 10 August, gross season for assessment year tax deducted at source (TDS)

T
policies will need to be made. millions of employees to rel- he central government direct tax 2023-24, the and tax collected at source
“While firms can use data PROVISIONS will be SOME firms expect INDIA Inc may seek ook at the data that was sub- has collected ₹5.84 tril- receipts without Centre has set a government (TCS) also advances the point
without consent to safeguard there which allow
employers to ask for
that new rules may
provide clarity on
clarity on whether
past data falls under
mitted to them. lion in net direct tax adjusting for target of ₹9.2 tn reported a rise in of tax collections, instead of
from liability, protect propri- data but that will the ways to be the purview of the “Employers have their revenues as of 10 August, refunds stood at for corporate tax the number of tax waiting for advance tax and
etary information or to pro- need policy changes adopted for data law workforce’s personal, educa- marking a significant 17% ₹6.53 trillion, collection and return filers. self-assessed tax payments,
vide benefits that employees tional and medical data. Com- improvement over a year-ago, which is 15.73% Divakar Vijay- said Vijayasarathy.
₹9 tn for personal
have asked for — like crèche, panies will have to, unless according to an official state- higher than the asarathy, the Earlier this month, CBDT
medical insurance etc — consent will still and information technology minister they have done so in the past, get back to ment. gross collection income taxes for founder and said the number of income tax
likely be important,” Prabhu said. Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the fiduci- their own employees and seek consent,” This accounts for about one for the corre- FY24 chief executive returns for assessment year
“Employees have enforceable rights in aries will be consulted for the roll-out, said Vihang Virkar, partner at Lumiere third of the ₹18.2 trillion sponding period officer of DVS 2023-24 filed till 31 July was
relation to their data including to seek its which will be done swiftly but with Law Partner. direct tax collection target of of last year. Advisors, said the more than 67.7 million, show-
correction and erasure, so India Inc. may extreme caution. Another partner in a Mumbai-based law the government for FY24. The Centre has set a target growth in tax collections is ing a 16.1% improvement over
no longer be able to afford to hold data it While the bill, once it becomes a law firm said that now firms will have to look The Central Board of Direct of ₹9.2 trillion for corporate the result of sustained efforts the returns filed for assess-
does not need because it can incur signifi- after Presidential assent, will be applicable at data as “toxic liability” and keep data Taxes (CBDT) said in a state- tax collection and ₹9 trillion by the government on ment year 2022-23, up to 31
cant liability under the DDPA in relation prospectively, corporate India may have used only to bare minimum. ment quoting provisional fig- for personal income taxes for enforcement and use of tech- July 2022.

Sitharaman calls for sustainable finance

FROM PAGE 18
and central bank governors, as
the grinding war in Ukraine
continued to polarize the bloc,
which counts Russia, China,
and the US as members.
Sitharaman emphasized
that the Indian G20 presi-
dency’s main focus is to
strengthen multilateral devel-
opment banks (MDBs) to
address mounting debt issues
among developing economies.
“MDBs need to expand their
scope of operation to address
the needs of emerging econo-
mies,” she said.
“By restructuring existing
debt and providing sustaina-
ble finance, the international
community can contribute to
releasing financial resources
for vulnerable countries to
shield their populations from
economic hardships,” she
added.
Vehicles drive past the G20
summit logo in New Delhi.
Sitharaman also pointed out
that MDBs are currently not
equipped well enough to
address these demands ade-
quately and will need to
evolve.
“MDBs are facing increasing
pressure from donor and bor-
rowing countries to expand
their lending operations man, said that the ongoing
beyond their core develop- geo-economic distress is
ment mandate,” she said. She harming the emerging and
said G20, under the Indian developing economies that are
presidency, is working on more reliant on integrated
solutions that can construct- global economy and devel-
ively contribute to the efforts oped on globalization.
that MDBs are undertaking. “These challenges are
Sitharaman global in nature
said that India has Sitharaman for which we
voiced the con- emphasized need global solu-
cerns of the that India’s tions,” he added.
global south. G20 presidency’s The priorities
“The interna- of the finance
main
tional commu- track of G20
nity must collab- focus is to under the Indian
AFP orate in stronger strengthen MDBs presidency are
ways to coordi- strengthening
nate debt struc- international
turing for low-income and finance architecture, financ-
middle-income vulnerable ing global public goods, man-
countries facing debt distress,” aging global debt and vulnera-
she added. bilities, addressing the macro-
Meanwhile, the Indian gov- economic impact of food and
ernment’s chief economic energy security, and financing
advisor, V. Anantha Nageswa- sustainable and resilient cities
ran, who spoke after Sithara- of tomorrow.

Biocon to close Deloitte to resign as auditor

Viatris merger
quarterly earnings statement
by FY24 end FROM PAGE 18
of Adani Ports.
parties.” Deloitte reviewed Adani
Ranjani Raghavan On 24 January, US-based Ports’ interim financials as the
ranjani.raghavan@livemint.com short-seller Hindenburg “independent auditor” for the
MuMBaI Research alleged that the June quarter.
Gautam Adani-led group exe- Such a review is substan-

B
iocon Biologics Ltd
expects to conclude the
merger with Viatris’ bio-
similars portfolio in FY24, chief
executive Shreehas Tambe said
on Friday. “We are looking to
complete the transition ahead
of time. We planned a two-year
transition. But now we are
looking to complete it by the
end of this fiscal year,” Tambe
said. Biocon closed its $3.34 bil-
lion acquisition of the global
biosimilar portfolio of Viatris in
November 2022 in a cash and
equity deal. It paid $2 billion in
cash, which included a $1.2 bil-
lion sustainability loan.
It had also issued compulso-
rily convertible preference
shares of around $1 billion to
Viatris. In early June, the com-
pany said it had completed a
third of the integration, cover-
ing 70 emerging economies.
https://instadownload.app/
cuted the “largest con in cor-
porate history,” triggering a
collapse in Adani group
stocks, resulting in a market
value loss of over $150 billion
and removing Gautam Adani
from the top 10 ranking of the
global rich list.
During the June quarter,
Adani Ports re-negotiated the
terms of sale of its container
terminal under construction
in Myanmar with Solar Energy
Ltd, which resulted in an
impairment loss of ₹1,273.38
crore. “The (Adani) group did
not consider it necessary to
have an independent external
examination of these allega-
tions (made by Hindenburg)
because of their evaluation
and the ongoing investigation
by the Sebi,” Deloitte said.
This is the third change in
auditors for Adani Group com-
This is the third change in
auditors for Adani Group
companies over the past few
months. AP
panies over the past few
months. In May 2023, Shah
Dhandharia & Co. LLP
stepped down from their role
as the auditor of Adani Total
Gas. It was replaced by Walker
Chandiok & Co. LLP.
In an exchange filing on 8
August, Deloitte brought
attention to specific matters
within the auditor review
report included in the June
tially less in scope than an
actual audit, and therefore, it
does not enable the auditor to
obtain assurance that it would
be aware of all significant mat-
ters.
In the review report on
Adani Ports, Deloitte men-
tioned a net balance of ₹3,871
crore recoverable from a con-
tractor, which the company
believed was not a related
party.
“However, the contractor
was identified as a related
party in a short seller (Hinden-
burg Research) report pub-
lished in January 2023. The
net balance with the contrac-
tor increased by₹ 122 crore on
a sequential basis in the June
2023 quarter,” Deloitte said.
On Friday, shares of Adani
Ports fell 0.28% to ₹ 800.65 on
BSE.
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NEw DElHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 17 NO. 191 Rs. 10.00 . Price with Hindustan Times Rs. 15.50 20 PAGES

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Parliament clears 28% GST on RBI calls for early completion

livemint.com online gaming, casinos uP16 of IMF quota review uP16

SENSEX 65322.65 365.53 NIFTY 19428.3 114.8 DOLLAR ₹82.83 ₹0.12 EURO ₹90.94 ₹0.23 OIL $87.2 $0.3 GOLD ₹58,635 ₹71

Deloitte to resign as ‘State data boards

will lead to fights
Govt releases
onions from
DON’T MISS

buffer to curb
Adani Ports auditor over jurisdiction’ price surge
Puja Das
Resignation due to ‘difference of opinion’ on some transactions Gulveen Aulakh puja.das@livemint.com
gulveen.aulakh@livemint.com NEW DELHI
NEW DELHI Personal data law brings firms’
Anirudh Laskar employee info under focus

T
he government on Friday
PullING OuT
S
anirudh.l@livemint.com tate-level data protection decided to release onions Companies can no longer collect vast
MUMBAI boards will not figure in from the 300,000-tonne amounts of employee data since it has the
the rules of the digital buffer created this year as part potential to become a “toxic asset” after the

D
eloitte Haskins & Sells
has decided to resign as
the statutory auditor of
Adani Ports and Special
Economic Zone Ltd, a
person directly aware of the devel-
opment said, raising concerns
about the company’s accounting
practices yet again.
A formal announcement of
Deloitte Haskins’ resignation is
expected soon, the person said,
declining to be named, citing the
sensitivity of the matter.
“Deloitte Haskins sought some
information and clarification.
There seems to be a difference of
opinion with the company’s top
management about certain transac-
tions,” the person said.
The resignation comes just days
before the much-anticipated probe
report on the Adani Group by the
Indian market regulator.
The Supreme Court directed the
Securities and Exchange Board of
India (Sebi) to submit its investiga-
tion report on Adani Group’s mar-
ket transactions involving 13 suspi-
cious foreign portfolio investors by
14 August.
Emailed queries to spokespeople
SNAPPING TIES
MOVE comes days SEBI to file report on DElOITTE was
before Sebi’s report Adani Group’s 13 reappointed as
on Adani Group suspicious FPIs auditor last year
for Deloitte and Adani Group did company’s FY23 financial results
not elicit any response. that “there were financing transac-
Bloomberg first reported on Fri- tions (including equity) with/by
day about Deloitte’s resignation. certain other parties identified in
Deloitte Haskins, which has the allegations made in the short-
been auditing Adani Ports since seller report, which the group has
FY18 and was reappointed as the represented to us were not related
statutory auditor for a five-year
period last year, mentioned in the TURN TO PAGE 17
personal data protection of the price stabilization fund enactment of the personal data bill, said
(DPDP) bill as the difference in (PSF) to cool onion prices amid consultants and law firms advising
jurisdictions will pose a chal- the broader trend of rising veg- corporates. >P17
lenge to the execution of the etable costs.
law, said Ashwini Vaishnaw, After two years of relative Agri growth intact despite erratic
Union minister for railways, stability, onion prices surged in rains: Niti Aayog’s Ramesh Chand
telecom and IT. In an interview, Railways, telecom & IT recent weeks despite record
Any shortfall in farm output due to this
the minister added that the minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. PTI arrivals at mandis (marketpla-
year’s uneven rainfall is likely to be made up
government would state and ces for farm commodities). Pri- by higher production in other areas, keeping
itemize instances that com- law has to be made by the cen- ces have risen because of antici- the 3.5% long-run agriculture growth intact,
prise fair and reasonable terms tral government only in this pated supply constraints in the Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand said in
for apps to take consent from case. Then, implementation coming months amid unsea- an interview. >P15
users under the law. Edited can be done in a variety of ways, sonal rainfall in key producing
excerpts: and here, we have created a states having decreased shelf- Amit Shah introduces bills to
Some MPs referred to the totally democratized way of life for stored onions.
centralization of power in implementing. With the digital Onion prices shot up to
overhaul criminal justice system
the law. How do you by-design access to justice, the ₹1,700 a quintal (100 kg) from Home minister Amit Shah on Friday
respond to the criticism? use of 22 languages, the ability ₹1,370 a week ago in Maharash- introduced three bills in the Lok Sabha to
The Consti- to understand, tra’s Lasalgaon mandi.Onion replace colonial-era laws, asserting that the
tution has and with the fair prices in the retail market went proposed laws will transform the criminal
clearly said
m INTERVIEW and reasonable up to nearly ₹30 a kg on 11 justice system and bring the spirit to protect
the rights of citizens to the centre stage.>P17
where the laws consent form, August from all-India average
will be made and who will make where they don’t give big legal- price of ₹26 in January, accord-
the laws. Under List 1, the cen- ese, where it’s properly item- ing to the data by the consumer HC notice to Nitin Desai’s widow
tral government has the power ized for selecting informa- affair’s price monitoring divi- on plea by Edelweiss executives
to make laws. The legal struc- tion—these things actually cut sion. Consumer affairs secre-
The Bombay HC on Friday issued notice to
ture regarding the internet and out the big barriers between a tary Rohit Kumar Singh met the widow of the late Nitin Desai on a
digital economy has to be done citizen who seeks justice to the managing directors of the petition filed by Edelweiss group chairman
by the central government as body that will provide justice. National Agricultural Coopera- Rashesh Shah and the CEO of Edelweiss ARC
part of List 1, Schedule 7 of the It’s actually significant decen- tive Marketing Federation of Raj Kumar Bansal, in the case involving the
Constitution. Where is the death of the renowned art director. >P16
question of centralizing? The TURN TO PAGE 14 TURN TO PAGE 14

‘Fragmented global Poonawalla Fin

economy a challenge’ likely to tap PEs
Rhik Kundu Sneha Shah
rhik.kundu@livemint.com sneha.shah@livemint.com
NEW DELHI MUMBAI

A P
fter decades of integra-
tion, the global econ-
omy is seeing increas-
ing fragmentation, making it
one of the biggest challenges
for multilateralism and
addressing shared economic
objectives, finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Speaking at a G20 event in
Mumbai, Sitharaman said that
India’s presidency has so far
ensured that geopolitical dif-
ferences don’t supersede the
core mandate of international
cooperation.
“Indian presidency has
ensured that common ground
is reached in all economic
issues while maintaining a for-
ward-looking agenda in G20
in 2023,” Sitharaman said.
“Discussions have been cen-
Finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman. PTI
tred around finding solutions
to existing challenges and
forestalling emerging prob-
lems,” she added.
Notably, last month, coun-
tries of the G20 grouping
could not agree on a joint
statement at the end of a meet-
ing of their finance ministers
TURN TO PAGE 17
oonawalla Fincorp Ltd
might look at private
equity (PE) investments
for achieving its business tar-
gets, the company’s chairman
Adar Poonawalla, said in an
interview.
After selling its housing
finance business to TPG ear-
lier this year, the group has Adar Poonawalla, chairman,
enough headroom to pursue Poonawalla Fincorp. MINT
both organic and inorganic
growth, he said. capital reserves are more than
The leverage at present is adequate to support our
quite modest—remaining expansion over the next three
below two times, Poonawalla to four years, as per the gui-
added. “It’s worth noting that dance given.”
within the NBFC sector, the However, in due course,
typical leverage can extend depending on the require-
four to five times. Looking ment, the group may explore
ahead, there’s no immediate seeking strategic funds and
necessity for capital infusion
to sustain growth. Our existing TURN TO PAGE 14

Diamonds are on sale, but not forever

Jinjoo Lee U.S. placed sanctions on Russian
feedback@livemint.com diamonds last year, loopholes
make it possible for Russian

Y
ou can’t put a price on
true love. Engagement
rings are another matter.
Luckily for today’s proposal-
ready consumers, diamonds
are selling at a compelling dis-
count—especially the popular
1-carat range. The bargains are
likely only a temporary chal-
lenge for the diamond industry,
but there are larger forces that
threaten to take the sparkle off
the stones in the decades ahead.
Hopeful fiancés and fiancées
paid through the nose in 2021
and 2022, when the gems’ val-
ues rose to a multiyear high.
This wasn’t unique to dia-
monds, of course. The prices of
many discretionary goods
soared as stimulus-boosted con-
sumers went on a pandemic-
fueled spending spree. Industry
analyst Edahn Golan estimates
that diamond jewelry sales in
the U.S. rose 57.4% in 2021 and
https://instadownload.app/
The popular 1-carat diamonds are selling at good discounts.istock
stayed elevated in 2022.
Diamonds tend to be popular
purchases following disasters:
Sales surged in the U.S. follow-
ing the 9/11 terrorist attacks in
2001 and in
Japan after
a cata-
strophic
tsunami in 2011, according to
diamond industry analyst Paul
Zimnisky.
“People buy fewer things
[after events like that, but nicer
and more meaningful things,”
he said. “The pandemic was the
most recent example of that.”
On top of strong demand, the
disruption in supply from Russia
following its
invasion of
Ukraine
helped push
prices even higher in 2022 as
western insurers avoided Rus-
sian entities and restrictions
were placed on the Swift pay-
ment system. Even though the
stones cut and polished else-
where in the world—say, India—
to land up in the U.S. The Euro-
pean Union, meanwhile, doesn’t
have a ban on them.
Russian supply has since
bounced back as the industry
found pathways through other
countries such as China, accord-
ing to Zimnisky, who estimates
that supply from the country is
down just 10% compared with
preinvasion levels. Polished dia-
mond prices are down about
27% from their peak in 2022,
according to IDEX. Zimnisky
says a 1-carat round, near-color-
less natural diamond with very
slight flaws will set a consumer
back $5,185, a $1,900 discount
compared with early 2022.
Industry analysts say the
decline in diamond pricing is
simply a hangover: When
TURN TO PAGE 14
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