SMART MANUFACTURING SUMMIT 2023

RESEARCH & INTELLIGENCE PARTNER

India - A manufacturing powerhouse in the making

Keynote speakers

Shri Piyush Goyal Shri Nitin Gadkari Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Hon'ble Union Minister Hon'ble Union Minister Hon'ble Union Minister
of Commerce and Industry of Road Transport and of State for Electronics and
Highways Information Technology

Eminent speakers

Aashish Gupta Anil Chaudhry Dr. Ravi M. Bhatkal Vinati Saraf

Partner, Country President MD, India CEO & MD,
Grant Thornton Bharat & MD India, Element Solutions Inc. Vinati Organics Ltd.
Schneider Electric

Amrit Acharya Annu Gupta Srinath Ramakkrushnan Rajan Anandan

Co-founder & CEO, Partner, Co-founder & COO, MD,
Zetwerk PwC India Zetwerk Sequoia Capital

Catch the summit highlights

Episode 1 - 24th June Saturday | 3:30 PM

Watch On

Episode 2 - 25th June Sunday | 5:00 PM

 02 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai
NEW ON SCREENS A thriller about a missing cocaine shipment, a wistful animated film on a manga legend, Nida
Manzoor’s boisterous comedy and other titles to watch this weekend
TATSUMI
This wistful 2011 animated film by Eric
Khoo is based on Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s
manga memoir, A Drifting Life. It fol-
lows Tatsumi’s career as a comics artist
in post-war Japan. The film inter-
weaves five of Tatsumi’s short stories
into its narrative. The animation work
was done at Infinite Frameworks Stu-
dios in Batam, Indonesia. (MUBI)
THE VILLAGE
In Michihito Fujii’s film, a waste recy-
cling plant looms over the picturesque
Kamonmura village, once renowned
for Noh artists. Yuu (Ryusei Yoko-
hama), who works on the landfill, is
ostracised because of his father’s crimi-
nal past. (Netflix)
BELIEVER
Detective Won-ho (Cho Jin-woong)
joins hands with a drug dealer to catch
Lee, the head of a drug cartel whom
nobody has ever seen or met. A 2018
Korean remake of Drug War (2013),
watch it for the late Kim Joo-hyuk, who
plays the psychotic drug lord. (Netflix)
LOUNGE
ONLINE
YOUR
FAVOURITE
WEEKEND READ
NOW THROUGH
THE WEEK
The best of Mintlounge.in from
the week gone by and what to
look forward to in the one ahead
lounge@livemint.com
@mint_lounge
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ON THE COVER: PHOTOGRAPH FROM ISTOCKPHOTO; CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS: “WHAT MAKES A CITY A DINING HOT SPOT?”, 17 JUNE, SHOULD HAVE SAID CHEF MASSIMO BOTTURA WAS INVITED TO DELHI THIS YEAR BY CULINARY CULTURE, WITH THE DINNERS HOSTED AT THE LEELA PALACE, NEW DELHI. TICKETS WERE PRICED AT ₹55,555 PER PERSON, PLUS TAXES.
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
FIRST
PLAN THE WEEK
AHEAD
CELEBRATING THE TAMATE
T
he Beru Art and Cultural
Foundation, in collabora-
tion with the Aravani Art
Project and Adavi-Parai Musi-
cians, is presenting the dance
production Taala Tamate. Cho-
reographed by Dayanand Akh-
ilesh, it’s centred on the tamate
(also known as parai), consid-
ered to be one of the oldest
instruments in India. The col-
laborative show aims to throw
the spotlight on the hand drum
that is an integral part of festi-
vals and celebrations in south
India but is not accorded prom-
inence in mainstream music.
The show will feature an
ensemble of parai players,
transgender artists and contem-
porary dancers.
At the Samsa Bayalu Ranga
Mandira, Sampangi Rama
Nagar, Bengaluru, 24 June, 7pm;
tickets available on Insider
TURN OF THE TIDE
An Italian mafia boat capsizes, spilling its cocaine cargo on the shores of a poor fishing village
in the Azores. Four friends, Eduardo (José Condessa), Rafael, Silvia and Carlihos, get their
hands on part of it—their ticket out of poverty, and the village. Throw in the local drug dealer,
the police, an investigator, the Italians, romance and a couple of murders—there’s a lot hap-
pening here. After a point, all that white powder being snorted gets tiring. The Azores have THE KEBAB CONNECTION
been beautifully captured in this Portuguese series loosely inspired by a true story. (Netflix)
O
ne of the most eye-
opening experiences for
SECRET INVASION food enthusiasts is find-
A renegade group of the alien race ing similarities with dishes from
known as Skrulls has stealthily other regions. The Kebab Quest,
manoeuvred itself into positions of an ongoing festival at The St
power on Earth and is now looking Regis Mumbai, has specialities
to consolidate. Avengers patriarch from Lebanon and different
Nicky Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) regions of India and will perhaps
must team up with Skrull ally Talos help curious diners discover
(Ben Mendelsohn, seen previously how kebabs connect them all.
in Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: The festival is on at three restau-
Far From Home) to stop the rants—Sette Mara (7-11.30pm),
invasion. This series will consist of The Sahib Room & Kipling Bar,
six episodes and slots into Phase and Seven Kitchens (both
Five of the Marvel Cinematic noon-11.30pm)—in the hotel.
Universe. Co-starring Kingsley The dishes include Chicken
Ben-Adir (Peaky Blinders) as the Koobideh (minced chicken
leader of the invasion, Olivia POLITE SOCIETY kebab), at Seven Kitchens, and
Colman (The Favourite, The Crown) Ria (Priya Kansara) spends her time and energy making martial arts Subz Shikampuri flavoured with
as an MI6 agent and Emilia Clarke reels in the hope of landing a job as a stuntwoman. When her Kashmiri saffron at The Sahib
(Game Of Thrones) as Talos’ sister’s marriage is fixed with an eligible doctor, Ria is instantly Room & Kipling Bar. The festival
daughter. (Disney+ Hotstar) suspicious of her potential brother-in-law and his formidable is on till 30 June
mother (a delicious turn by Nimra Bucha). British director Nida — Compiled by Jahnabee Borah
Compiled by Nipa Charagi and Uday Bhatia. Manzoor’s Polite Society is a riot. (Amazon Prime, rental). and Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran.
DINE WEAR BUY LIVE
The best places to eat Milan celebrates An air purifier that is Reconnect with your
in McLeod Ganj fuss-free menswear a breath of fresh air partner after a fight
N T X F
estled in the Dhauladhar range, he Milan Fashion Week this iaomi recently unveiled its latest ights and disagreements can be
the small hill station that is home month took a refined, minimalist generation of air purifiers—a tough, especially when they lead to
to the 14th Dalai Lama is known and utilitarian approach to men- Smart Air Purifier 4 and an entry- feelings of guilt, resentment or
for its colonial monuments, ancient swear and design. From Valentino to level Smart Air Purifier 4 Lite. Tushar neglect. Experts claim that rebuilding
Buddhist monasteries and bustling mar- Tod’s, designers adopted a pared down Kanwar tested the Air Purifier 4 for faith after arguments can be difficult if a
kets. McLeod Ganj, in Himachal Pra- approach to tailoring, offering comfort- about a month to see just how much it partner feels constantly neglected or
desh, is a hot tourist destination, espe- driven, relaxed, fluid and roomy silhou- has changed and whether the bump up insecure. Couples ought to find ways to
cially in summer, since it’s ettes. Prada, for instance, in price is justified. It does process complex feelings
also near a number of showed a closet of ultra- the basics well without and reconnect after a
trekking and adventure lightweight jackets (as reinventing the wheel and fight. Mumbai-based psy-
spots. Little known is the light as a crisp poplin shirt) delivers air purification at chologist Aekta Brahm-
fact that it is also a foodie’s with enhanced tailoring, a sensible price point, he bhatt says that while
paradise, with a range of teamed with preppy finds. The fan area is now repair work is possible,
cuisines from authentic Tibetan dishes schoolboy shorts. Languid tailoring in easily accessible, the grille is smaller and much often depends on the reasons for
to a delectable spread of Italian food and neutral hues was also seen at Giorgio the monochrome touch-enabled circu- the disagreement. Debarati Chakraborty
mouth-watering baked delights. Shweta Armani and Zegna. JW Anderson’s show lar OLED screen (with a colour-coded talks to couples and therapists to find out
Dravid picks five must-visit places in the stood out for his vibrant and evocative indicator for air quality levels) on the what has worked and what hasn’t—and
town, from Jimmy’s Italian Kitchen to take on knitwear. Manish Mishra picks front is larger. It’s quiet too—with a night how those in relationships can find a way
Shiva’s Cafe. the key Spring/Summer 2024 trends. mode which goes as low as 32.1 decibels. forward.
In Food >> Discover In Fashion >> Trends In Smart Living >> Innovation In Relationships >> It’s Complicated

Where modern meets ancient
Kelly Link’s stories are
expertly crafted,
layered symphonies
where the ancient
past harmonises with
a brave new world
Aditya Mani Jha
A
midst the usual blizzard of
school shootings, regres-
sive legislation and culture
war missives, the American
newspapers are overflow-
ing with a freshly baked scandal. Turns
out that Harlan Crow, billionaire, promi-
nent Republican Party donor and friend of
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,
is reported to be deeply invested in Nazi
memorabilia and owns statues of some of
the most notorious tyrants who ever lived.
I had just finished watching a late-night
talk show feverishly discussing l’affaire
Crow when I picked up Kelly Link’s latest
collection, White Cat, Black Dog.
The first story, The White Cat’s Divorce,
introduces us to a megalomaniacal bil-
lionaire in this unforgettable way. “He had
so many houses even his accountants
could not keep track of them all. He had
private planes and newspapers and politi-
cians who saw to it that his wishes became
laws. He had orchards, islands, baseball
teams, and even a team of entomologists
whose mandate was to find new species of
beetles to be given variations on the rich
man’s name.”
The bit about “politicians who saw to it
that his wishes became laws” seems such
a perfect, folk-tale-friendly method of
explaining the alleged Crow-Thomas-Re-
publicans nexus to the lay reader. And
therein lies the artistry of Link’s works;
her “updates” of folk tales, fairy tales and
oral storytelling traditions combine the
kineticism of the “wonder tale” with psy-
chological acuity and a fiendish, distinctly
postmodern humour. Her stories are
expertly crafted, layered symphonies
where the ancient past (ghosts, vampires,
talking animals) is harmonising with a
brave new world (gay and lesbian captains
of industry, sentient spaceships).
Much of her work has, in the past, car-
Medium Talk
Men being flippant about the violence women and girls face are, at best, ignorant and, at worst, habitual offenders.
I matched with a ‘serial killer’
In a country where
women are stalked and
killed, men are posing as
violent criminals on
dating apps ‘as a joke’
Indumathy Sukanya
L
ast week, I matched with a self-pro-
claimed serial killer on a dating app.
He wore a thick beard and a creepy
wide-eyed expression. His responses to
the prompts on his profile referred to a lik-
ing for stalking women, holding his breath
as they pass by and climbing up pipes to
peep through their window. His ideal first
date, he wrote, would involve a trek to a
remote place with no witnesses.
In other pictures, he appeared to be on
stage holding a mic. Once the shock wore
off, I realised this was probably a wannabe
stand-up comic, scouring for material on
dating apps because the rest of his cushy
life as a cis-het man was too dull.
It wasn’t clever. It was not remotely
funny. It was tone-deaf and insensitive. I
felt such anger, disbelief and helplessness
that I accepted his match just to tell him
off. And when I did, he admitted he was
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ried kernels of folk tales and fairy tales,
including her Pulitzer Prize-nominated
2016 collection, Get In Trouble. White Cat,
Black Dog, however, is the first book
where the stories are explicitly acknowl-
edged (beneath the title of every story is
the title of the folk tale it’s in conversation
with). The White Cat’s Divorce, for exam-
ple, is a response to The White Cat (and to
an extent, the story of Rapunzel), a French
literary fairy tale published by Madame
d’Aulnoy in 1698.
In this fable, a very rich but insecure
king (rebranded as a despot-billionaire
here) sets impossible tasks for his three
sons so that they may keep wandering far
away from the kingdom, and, therefore,
get very little chance of usurping the
throne. An impossibly small dog, the fin-
est muslin coat that can pass through the
eye of a needle, and, finally, the bonniest
bride of them all—for the youngest son,
that last bit means a white cat he becomes
attached to and insists on marrying.
In Link’s reworking, the white cat is
preternaturally wise, talks like a human (“I
can’t explain the mechanics of how I talk,”
she says) and runs a marijuana dispensary
along with her workers, who are all biped
cats skilled at healing and agriculture. I
won’t spoil the twist ending—and it is a
twist, even for those familiar with the orig-
inal fable—but I will say that it is a deeply
satisfying one for modern and pre-mod-
ern sensibilities alike.
Similarly, The Game Of Smash And
Recovery is a Hansel and Gretel remix
where the siblings have been left on an
alien planet among vampires and “hand-
maidens”, slippery creatures of power
and well-disguised malevolence. Simi-
larly, the Swedish folk tale Prince Hat
Under The Ground is reinterpreted as
Prince Hat Underground here; the pun
referring to the fact that the denouement
to Link’s story takes place in hell, liter-
ally. It is an example of the “search for the
lost husband” archetype among folk
tales, which Link has wrapped around
the sweet, eccentric love story of two gay
men, one of whom may or may not be a
faerie (the original, darker, malevolent
origin of the word “fairy”), a crown
prince of hell.
In a hilarious scene from this story, the
narrator goes to Reykjavik in search of his
missing husband, Prince Hat. There, a
bartender claims he knows Prince Hat and
what he truly is. He writes “fairy” on a
indeed a stand-up comic “doing satire”
and then proceeded to call me an “elitist”
who didn’t “get it”.
But what was the joke? That men don’t
find matches on dating apps, so they need
to do unhinged things like this to stand
out? Or that girls would go for serial killers
over the boring “nice” guys? This attempt
at humour is ghastly, especially given the
number of women and girls stalked and
killed by men daily.
As I kept swiping through the app, I
came across other men who also alluded
to the serial killer life, expressing a desire
to take women on dates to remote spots
and murder them (“the halal way, don’t
panic,” one wrote). There were those who
had pictures of TV serial killers like Dex-
ter Morgan (of Dexter) and Joe Goldberg
(You) on their profiles, some with no
explanation, others with captions such as
“my life behind the scenes”.
Has popular television gone too far
down the road of humanising violent
criminals? Are young women supposed to
find this cool and witty? This is a serious
red flag. A man who is flippant about the
violence women and girls face—on the
streets, in public transport, at educational
institutions, at the workplace, in their
homes—is at best ignorant (therefore
comfortably complicit) and, at worst, a
FIRST
In Kelly Link’s short story, Hansel and Gretel have been left on an alien planet.
piece of paper; the narrator takes this to be
a homophobic slur, not understanding the
pre-modern context of the word.
This is just one of the sly, super-cool
ways in which Link hints at the nature of
her “rewriting” exercise. This is not some
modern-day watered down version of
Grimms’ Fairy Tales. This is a seriously
gifted writer who understands the
mechanics and the raison d’etre of folk
tales better than most. Link knows that
these stories were often ways to get “for-
bidden knowledge” out in the world.
Beneath the simplistic metaphors and
More than small talk
UNSPLASH/MIKA BAUMEISTER
habitual offender. The former is a type we
are all familiar with—the typical urban
man about town, the tech dudebro, the
average Joe who has no skin in the game
but confidently asserts that *insert city
name* is “relatively safer” for women and
feminists are overreacting.
He’s the one on stage at open mic
nights, telling stale wife jokes. He’s also
the one laughing in the audience. We have
learnt to live with it. So what if he thinks
nothing of getting on a public platform
and saying he would very much like to
stalk and kill women? He’s just joking—it’s
satire, lady, relax!
So how does one know the difference
between a man who is joking and the man
who is chatting up women on dating apps
while the last one he killed and dismem-
bered sits in trash bags in his fridge?
Because that happened.
The stand-up comedy scene in India is
notorious for its misogyny. Its biggest
names have a long history of making
revolting “jokes” that hurt women, yet
they are lauded for being rebels who
“push the limits”. So perhaps our “serial
killer” friend would fit right in. As for the
women? It looks like we are on our own.
Indumathy Sukanya is a Bengaluru-
based writer and artist.
Much of her work has, in the
past, carried kernels of folk
tales and fairy tales. However,
this is the first book where
the stories are explicitly
acknowledged
SMART MANUFACTURING SUMMIT 2023
RESEARCH & INTELLIGENCE PARTNER
India - A manufacturing powerhouse in the making
Shri Piyush Goyal
Hon'ble Union Minister
of Commerce and Industry
Aashish Gupta
Partner,
Grant Thornton Bharat
Amrit Acharya
Co-founder & CEO,
Zetwerk
Catch the summit highlights
Watch On
Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai 03
White Cat, Black Dog:
By Kelly Link,
Head of Zeus,
272 pages, ₹1,490.
into Gary’s, and they have been together
ever since, faithful more or less, happy
more or less, a fairy tale of a romance
more or less, their friends say. How pleas-
ant it is to be envied! How delightful when
Prince Hat still surprises Gary but only in
ways that do not threaten to capsize their
comfortable life.”
In a similar vein, this tender and wise
aside from The Girl Who Did Not Know
Fear talks about the plight of introverts
who find themselves becoming unwitting,
ersatz psychoanalysts for all and sundry.
“(…) my face has said, all of my life, ‘I will
listen to your story.’ Pity the introvert with
the face of a therapist or a kindergarten
teacher. Like the werewolf, we are uneasy
in human spaces and human company,
though we wear a human skin.”
As that last line shows, Link is very, very
ISTOCKPHOTO good at the paragraph-ending clanger—
lyrical and powerful conclusions to ideas
exceptional events, one often finds radical she has built brick by brick in the prece-
observations on gender, matrimony and ding pages. And as White Cat, Black Dog
societal conventions. This aspect, too, is proves once again, nobody since Angela
honoured by Link in style. Sample this Carter has reanimated folk tales the way
passage from Prince Hat Underground, Link has. The illustrations by Shaun Tan
which starts off on a classical fairy-tale (creator of wordless graphic novels like
note before switching sharply into brisk, 2006’s The Arrival) make for suitably
contemporary sociological discourse. haunting prologues to these stories as
“Incredible to think that, for eight full well. If you love fantasy, science fiction
months, Prince Hat was a receptionist for and other genre stuff, this is a collection
a renowned analyst. Analysis slides off you cannot afford to miss.
Prince Hat like water off a duck engen-
dered from dark matter. Out of the Aditya Mani Jha is a Delhi-based writer
wreckage of one life, Prince Hat climbed and journalist.
Keynote speakers
Shri Nitin Gadkari Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Hon'ble Union Minister Hon'ble Union Minister
of Road Transport and of State for Electronics and
Highways Information Technology
Eminent speakers
Anil Chaudhry Dr. Ravi M. Bhatkal Vinati Saraf
Country President MD, India CEO & MD,
& MD India, Element Solutions Inc. Vinati Organics Ltd.
Schneider Electric
Annu Gupta Srinath Ramakkrushnan Rajan Anandan
Partner, Co-founder & COO, MD,
PwC India Zetwerk Sequoia Capital
And many more...
Episode 1 - 24th June Saturday | 3:30 PM
Episode 2 - 25th June Sunday | 5:00 PM
 04 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai
Source A compendium of denim fashion
DIFFERENT STROKES
Stroked Denim Pants
Denim pants with racing stripes in powder pink,
white and carbon blue on the side seams and frayed
edges at the hem. Available on Abkasa.com; ₹9,950
NOT A PATCH
Laser Print Patchwork Denim Jacket
Non-stretch denim jacket detailed with
patchwork panelling and a laser printed design
from Native Youth. Available on
Nordstrom.com; around ₹8,000
Things to watch, read, hear, do—and other curated experiences from the team
TEATIME SNACK
he first time I dunked an Ooty
T varkey into my coffee, I remem-
ber thinking I had finally found
my favourite teatime snack. A very
south-Indianised version of the
French puff pastry, the traditional rec-
ipe uses refined flour (maida), hydro-
genated vegetable oil, salt and maava:
a fermented paste made out of mashed
bananas, maida, semolina and sugar
that gives varkey its singular identity.
As for its history, there are contesting
theories about who created it or how it
got its quirky name. Origin story aside,
as an avowed fan of this biscuit, I have
always felt that it deserved love and
recognition beyond the Nilgiri hills.
That day may not be too far now; the
Ooty varkey received its geographical
indication (GI) tag in March. All the
more reason for you to (guiltlessly) ask
a friend visiting Ooty to get you a pack
of these crumbly goodies.
—Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran
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HOW TO LOUNGE
SKIRT THE ISSUE
Tazz Maxi Denim Skirt
Mid-weight, non-stretch denim maxi
skirt from Reformation with a stylish
front slit, made using 20% recycled
cotton. Available on Shopbop.com;
around ₹15,400
CAP IT ALL
Distressed-Denim Baseball Cap
Channel your inner Kendall Roy
with this logo-embossed,
denim-on-denim cap from
Miu Miu. Available on
Matchesfashion.com;
around ₹30,000
PUMP IT UP
Rosie Crystal-Embellished Denim Slingback Pumps
Designer Amina Muaddi’s signature fluted heels come
together with Italian acid-washed denim and crystal
bow embellishments to create a striking pair. Available
on Net-a-porter.com; around ₹97,000
Compiled by Shrabonti Bagchi.
LOUNGE LOVES
CHARMS FOR WINE
ou will often hear, “is this my glass?”, at
Y a party or a gathering, and, as I recently
discovered, wine glass charms are the
solution to muddled-up glasses and wine
wastage. They are tiny decorations on a ring
with a clasp that you slip on to the stem of the
wine glass. I bought a pack of metal charms
with bejewelled owls. They are elegant, and
apart from helping guests distinguish glasses,
they add sparkle to the glasses and create a
few minutes of conversation. I got mine from
the US-based online store Pier1 Imports,
packs of six that can also be based on the
theme of the celebration you are hosting, but I
later found some far cheaper, silicone, sleepy-
cat-shaped ones that wrap around the entire
stem, on Amazon. —Shalini Umachandran
REVISITING HOMEWORK
n 1989, in a documentary called Homework,
I Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami asked
students at the Shahid Masumi school
about their lives, problems and dreams. It’s a
charming, deceptively simple documentary
(streaming on MUBI as part of a Kiarostami
retrospective), the responses by the children
revealing much about the economic and
social landscape of Iran then. Kiarostami was
about to embark on the incredible run that
yielded Close-Up (1990), Through The Olive
Trees (1994), Taste Of Cherry (1997) and The
Wind Will Carry Us (1999) in the space of nine
years. In the 2022 documentary Tonight’s
Homework, film-makers Ashkan Nejati and
Mehran Nematollahi put the same questions
to a new generation of students at the same
school. —Uday Bhatia
DRESS UP
Dark Blue & Tan Denim Dress
Dark blue and tan dress in denim
and pleated suede base with
detachable denim overlay from 431-
88 by Shweta Kapur. Available on
Perniaspopupshop.com; ₹17,500
AN HOMAGE TO HORROR
emon 79 is the final episode of
D the latest season of Black Mir-
ror and though it lacks any
links with the show’s traditional sci-fi
themes, it’s still one of Charlie
Brooker’s very best. Set in racist
England in the 1970s, the episode has
classic grainy visuals and an eerie
score. Anjana Vasan plays Nida, a shoe
salesperson who unwittingly awakens
a demon, played by Paapa Essiedu.
Their chemistry is palpable, making
for some great dark comedy. The
demon, Gaap, is a rookie who looks
like Boney M’s lead singer, and is
cheerful and chatty as he guides Nida
through murders she has to commit.
The episode is gruesome, funny, dark,
but also topical with its racist side
characters. Brooker and Loki writer
Bisha K. Ali etch out the lead charac-
ters so well that one almost feels hope-
ful for them at the end.
—Dakshayani Kumaramangalam
Never mind
STREAM OF
STO R I E S
RAJA SEN
the bollocks
A still from ‘We Are Lady Parts’.
he Sex Pistols were created to sell trousers. Let that sink in. Punk rock,
T the ultimate anarchistic anti-establishment genre, came about because
canny impresario Malcolm McLaren thought an ultra-hip clothing shop
in London’s Camden Town could do with a house band, and so he threw
together a bunch of charismatic, high-energy young men with the right
look—no musicianship necessary—to play in the store. Steve Jones, Paul
Cook, Glen Matlock and Johnny Rotten. It was a few short months from the
store to the first ever punk rock album, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The
Sex Pistols. The rest is badly behaved history.
In the rousingly entertaining series We Are Lady Parts (JioCinema), a young
woman is thrown out of a mosque after annoying elders with a Slipknot ring-
tone on her phone, and swiftly recruited into a band. True to punk, she
doesn’t know drumming but learns “on the job” and writes songs with lyrics
about how her headscarf frightens white people—“Does other headgear scare
you too? A hat? Helmet? No, just you!”—all while driving an Uber for some
money. The band she’s in hasn’t been discovered, you see.
Similarly undiscovered are the talents of Amina, on the hunt both for a PhD
in microbiology as well as a good husband her family and friends will sign off
on. The mousy and self-flagellating narrator of this six-part series, Amina can
wield a mean guitar but is mortified at the thought of performing with it.
Audiences make her vomit. Literally. Therefore she conforms, keeping her
life as neat as her room. Posters of her favourite musicians—Don McLean
leads the pack—are inside her wardrobe while her walls are spotless. Even her
fandom is closeted.
Created and written by Nida Manzoor—making waves this year with her
smashing stuntwoman-vs-patriarchy film Polite Society (BookMyShow
Stream)—We Are Lady Parts is a predictable underdog story of a girl trying
not to hurl. It is also, however, a sweary, swaggering and culturally ground-
breaking comedy about an unlikely band of young Muslim women who
refuse to be boxed in. This is the kind of show that slags off Blink-182 in a con-
versation about three-person bands, then
drops a Blink-182 song over the clos-
ing credits.
“We Are Lady Parts” is an all-
Muslim punk rock band. One
of the bandmates—Mom- STREAMING TIP
taz, the manager—lives OF THE WEEK
behind a niqab, wreathed Speaking of bright young women, I
in vape-smoke, choosing guffawed hard (and repeatedly) at
to hide her face because comedian Prashasti Singh talking
of the confidence it gives about feeling sorry for Deepika
her. “Like Queen Nefer- Padukone because Ranveer Singh’s
titi,” she says, moving her energy must be exhausting first
elaborately gloved hands.
“Or Beyoncé.” All we see
are her eyes. She’s the one
thing in the morning. Singh’s
sharp new stand-up set, Door
Khadi Sharmaaye, is on
trying to persuade Saira, the YouTube.
bandleader, that popularity is not
a bad thing. Having fans does not nec-
essarily mean selling out. It is an audience,
she points out, “of young usses”.
Saira is sceptical. All tattoos and anger, she is mistrustful of the internet,
authority figures, men, labels, motives. She sings passionately about being
“broken by the Empire, raised by MTV” (the original songs in this series are
really something, by the way) but also breaks out Faiz Ahmad Faiz at one of
those insufferable spoken-word poetry evenings where people applaud by
snapping their fingers.
It’s a witty and sharply observed series and assembles a fine band of players.
Anjana Vasan’s Amina is both self-serious and dreamy, reminiscent of a Jane
Austen heroine or Lata from A Suitable Boy. Sarah Kameela Impey’s Saira
brings the punk energy hard, yet also grounds the show’s many, many emo-
tional moments. Juliette Motamed’s Ayesha has the fiercest stage presence
but is the tenderest whenever she drops her guard. Faith Omole’s bright-eyed
Bisma is black and a mother and a murderous cartoonist, and the best actual
singer. Lucie Shorthouse’s Momtaz, acting exclusively with her eyes, kills it.
Eyerolls are even more emphatic when all you can see are eyes.
Nida Manzoor’s most distinctive strength might be the lightness of touch
with which she—always authentically—explores the world of the British Mus-
lim. A young man pretending to be devout claims he goes to “Ye Olde Local
Mosque”. In a song about killing one’s sister (for stealing one’s eyeliner), the
aforementioned murder is referred to as a “honour killing”. Yet these rebel
girls (or grrrrrls) aren’t blaspheming; they aren’t against Islam at all but proud
of their Muslim identity, and expressing their own individuality. Loudly.
At one point, an outsider asks the women that—being a punk group—
“Aren’t you not supposed to care what people think?” The problem lies in the
“supposed to”, the fact that even this most non-conformist label is but a label.
That comes with expectations and these must be rubbished. Just as when
The Police came along, and, as virtuoso musicians entering a genre where
people couldn’t play guitar, revolutionised punk. There are no rules. In one
scene, We Are Lady Parts covers a Queen song—one about making bad mis-
takes—and their merry but amateurishly sung version reminded me of an
iconic Sid Vicious cover of My Way. The Vicious version is a godawful rendi-
tion, one that makes the ears bleed. That’s punk. When making a mistake,
make it unmistakable.
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.
@rajasen
 THINK Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai 05

She doesn’t need a ticket to ride CLIMATE CHANGE TRACKER

BIBEK BHATTACHARYA
How climate change caused the deadly heat in Uttar Pradesh

CHEAP
THRILLS
NISHA
SUSAN

I
passed by a bus stop this rainy morn-
ing in Bengaluru and there was a tall
young woman in denim dungarees,
long-sleeved white T-shirt, glasses, a
white hairband and a serious expression.
I admired the outfit and thought of what
a good visual the women at the bus stop
made. If you have a dull party at your
home, please show this picture and add
that women in Karnataka now ride buses
free and oh my friend, popcorn and alco-
hol will totally not be necessary. Did you Women take shelter under a tree in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district. REUTERS
know that so many people you know are
economists, urban planners and have
PhDs in urban mass transit systems? Did
you know that these people also despise
freebies? Which is why the men are very
concerned that Karnataka’s economy
will be wrecked by a bunch of women
The Karnataka government’s ‘Shakti Yojane’ provides free bus travel for women across the state.

work every weekday to cook in four

houses. Please let her also not pay ₹76
one way to visit her granddaughter in
nataka government announced the free
bus travel for women scheme, I still
didn’t have the good sense to connect
insisted. She has since ditched the bus
for everyday travel.
The weather in my strange, wonder-
PTI

UP’s extreme heat

travelling for free for no good reason.
Me, I know nothing about economics
even though I have an undergraduate
degree in it. My feelings about the Kar-
nataka economy or the Indian economy
can be summarised in sab maya hai
(everything is illusion). But I do follow
with great interest the dozens of
smooth-talking young and middle-aged
men who run large companies into the
ground and are then somehow okay.
Companies go bust, folks are scammed,
moustaches get one more ayyo IPO and
somehow the world carries on.
Last week, I saw a news item saying
that ₹500 notes worth ₹88,032.5 crore
are… missing. An amazing fact
unearthed by another increasingly rare
artefact—an RTI (right to information)
activist who is alive. I am not here to say
what about the ₹88,000 crore, dude-
bros who are concerned that women are
wasting Karnataka’s economy. That
would be rude. Instead, I am saying,
thank you dudebros for explaining to
me that ₹88,000 crore don’t matter.
Not even in the Keynesian long run
when we will all be so dead. Even in the
week the news broke, the nation is not
rocked, no one is shook, sab maya hai.
So please let L not pay ₹10 each way to
Kolar every second weekend. Please let
K, the speech therapist from Idukki,
Kerala, also travel to work without
establishing domicile.
K’s mother was a nurse who travelled
to Kuwait to work and put three chil-
dren through college in Kerala. K’s
mother was the one who suggested she
study speech therapy. K would like to
get married and live in green, forest-
filled Idukki. Her sister, who is studying
to be a CA, wants to go abroad, where
she can just hop to a grocery store or,
better still, order from an app without
being judged for not cooking.
All this is not possible if the decisions
about public transit and women’s
mobility are made by moustaches who
are so concerned about the national and
domestic economy. I recently began
watching the 2022 Malayalam movie
Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey. The scene in
which Jaya (played by Darshana Rajen-
dran) is eavesdropping on her parents,
her useless brother and her uncle decid-
ing whether it is practical for her to go to
college in Thiruvananthapuram even
though she has a scholarship…it made
me scream silently and switch off the
TV. I just couldn’t take it.
Just weeks later, when the new Kar-
the dots. The aforementioned L pointed
out that the free intercity bus tickets
would remove the barriers at least for
some families in sending their brainy
daughters to other towns to study.
“They can come home whenever they
like from the hostel, no?”
L’s long-term acquaintance, H, is, like
her, in her early 40s, with children,
grandchildren and no husband. They
have done the grind not quite together
but with awareness of each other in the
same neighbourhood. H told me that
the first difficult thing she learnt to do as
a Telugu-speaking woman new in Ben-
galuru—barely out of her teens, with
three children and a husband who
abandoned her after they arrived in the
city—was to learn how to ride the bus to
the homes she cleaned in. She has since
put all three girls through college.
Her youngest went with colleagues
from work to Guruvayoor in Kerala and
liked it enough to say that is where she
would like to get married, far from the
relatives. H took the trip out of state for
the first time since she arrived in Karna-
taka, braved the strange rice and water
and lived to tell the tale of the destina-
tion wedding. She learnt to cycle in the
pandemic because her daughters
ful, tortured, tortuous city is bike- and
bus- and walk-friendly. It is better
weather for bikes than Paris, which,
under the leadership of its mayor Anne
Hidalgo, has made bicycles and public
transit the norm. Paris is working stead-
ily towards a complete ban on gas-pow-
ered cars by 2030. Apparently, it has a
popular bicycle school run by a woman
where most students are first- or sec-
ond-generation immigrant women.
The way the jungle likes being eaten,
that is how Bengaluru has adapted to
cars. Mostly not. And anyone can see
how more bikes and more buses and
more walking would make it so much
less tortured and tortuous. More
women going where they want for work
and pleasure would be more matchy-
matchy for Bengaluru than the bros.
In this emotional moment, I am
determined to speak Hindi, as deter-
mined as an edtech bro looking for his
next round. Bus karo, Karnataka, so that
our ambitions are less maya and more
jaya jaya hey.
Nisha Susan is the editor of the webzine
The Ladies Finger and author of The
Women Who Forgot To Invent Face-
book And Other Stories.
T
he Indian summer this year has been a story of extreme heatwaves. These
began as early as April, when a severe humid heatwave gripped most parts
of India. And earlier this month, between 14-20 June, Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar were struck by a sweltering heatwave. The effects of this were severe
enough to close schools in Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district, a deadly cock-
tail of high temperature (43 degrees Celsius on 18 June) and high humidity
resulted in the deaths of at least 68 people.
Scientists and commentators had suspected that the heat event was the result
of climate change. Now, a new analysis by the New Jersey, US-based organisation
Climate Central has confirmed the role played by global warming in the cata-
strophic event. The analysis found that climate change dramatically increased
the likelihood of the heat event’s occurrence. For the analysis, Climate Central
scientists used the Climate Shift Index (CSI), which quantifies the contribution
of climate change to daily temperatures. The index is calibrated between the val-
ues of -5 and 5, where a value of 1 and over indicates a climate change signal.
According to the scientists, the June heat event reached the CSI value of 3,
which means that the high temperatures were made at least three times more
likely due to the effects of climate change. However, since the CSI measures the
impact of global warming only on temperature, the added high humidity would
have made the temperatures during the heat event even more unbearable.
This combination of heat and humidity is commonly known as wet-bulb tem-
perature. As a Lounge cover story on India’s tryst with humid heat in 2020 (Is
Extreme Heat Making India Unlivable?) noted: “Human beings, even those who
have adapted to high heat, find it difficult to carry out normal activities in a wet-
bulb temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. The survivability threshold of the human
body is reached at the wet-bulb temperature of 35 degrees. At that level, even if
a human being is in the shade, the results are fatal.” And this lethal combination
is growing in India due to climate change.
The relative humidity in Ballia on 18 June was 31%, while the maximum temper-
ature reached 43.2 degrees Celsius. This resulted in a Heat Index or a “real feel”
of 51 degrees Celsius. This is deadly heat—India has a severe problem.

ADVERTORIAL

A food and wine tour of New South Wales

Canoes, Cool Climate Wines and Canapes in the Kangaroo Valley

I
f food and wine play an important and enjoy-
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Captain Sponge is charismatic and knowl-
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Near Bungendore, Turalla Truffles (turalla-
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The property is beautiful and the experience
right from the hunt to finding the truffles to the
meal afterwards is a fun package.
At Mollymook, a scenic three-hour drive from
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Rick Stein’s at Bannisters (www.bannis-
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This restaurant highlights fresh local seafood
in unforgettable dishes bursting with flavour.
Prepared in Rick Stein’s style, the food can be
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Captain Sponge’s Magical Oyster Tours
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Head to PepperGreen Estate (peppergreen-
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from a vineyard nestled in the undulating
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Two hours north of Sydney and just an hour
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lines.com.au) at Mount View in the Hunter Val-
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beyond compare. The menu is innately French
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The Three Blue Ducks in Byron Bay is great
Halcyon House, Cabarita Beach
.
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made picnic hamper. There is also a play-
ground to keep kids entertained.
Thirty-seven kilometres to the north of Three
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Beach. Situated within Halcyon House Hotel
(halcyonhouse.com.au) is the award-winning
Paper Daisy restaurant helmed by executive
chef Jason Barratt. The food is satisfying,
thoughtful and memorable. Featuring over 120
gins from 40 distilleries, the Halcyon House Bar
is home to the largest selection of Australian-
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This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
 06 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai TASTE

BUILDING DUBAI’S
ISTOCKPHOTO

BEST RESTAURANTS
TEA NANNY

The arrival of a
new tea season
Aravinda Anantharaman

S
ome time ago, Gautam, a reader of this column and a
Darjeeling tea lover, had shared a poem—an ode to the
muscatel—written by his brother, Girish. Reading it
once again today, I wonder if any other tea from India inspires
this absolute devotion. I don’t think there is.
The interiors of
This is the season of the muscatel, Darjeeling’s famed sec-
Carnival by Trèsind.
ond-flush black tea, made from bug-bitten leaves and at only
this time of the year. I do think it has been Darjeeling’s biggest
success, yet these teas are only sought out by connoisseurs.
Bhupender Nath, who desire in the seven-year-old to give his father
a restaurant “as a gift” one day.
So, what is the fuss about the second flush? Vikram Mittal
of the Delhi-based Mittal Teas, a tea store that also retails
runs multiple fine- But Nath, who says he comes from a middle- online, describes it as a complex tea that begins with a hint of
class family, knew he would be able to start a woodiness that is replaced with a fruity note, followed by an
dining spaces in business only once he had the capital. “It unexpected sweetness when you swallow.
would require ₹25-30 lakh to open a restau- If you have never been a Darjeeling-tea drinker or are used
Dubai, believes a rant. So, somebody told me if you work to milk tea or chai, Mittal recommends starting with a better-
restaurant must make a abroad, you can make money like that.”
So he worked towards getting a business
quality CTC, moving to orthodox Assam and then to Assam
longleaf, before arriving at the Darjeeling second flush. At
‘guest’s soul rejoice’ degree through correspondence and looked
for opportunities abroad. A relative intro-
each step, he suggests reducing the amount of milk in the tea
to allow for the flavours to come through.
duced him to P.K. Gupta, who ran an import- If you want to embark on a Darjeeling journey, the coming
Jahnabee Borah export business, Parco Enterprises Nigeria weeks are going to be interesting. The second-flush teas are
jahnabee.b@livemint.com Ltd, that exported chemicals and bicycle parts beginning to arrive in stores—and will continue to do so for
from India and imported steel from Ukraine. another month. If you are unsure of where to start, choose a

R
estaurateur Bhupender Nath
may not know how to make an
omelette but he has cracked
the code for running
extremely successful restau-
rants. Some of them have won Michelin stars.
The 51-year-old entrepreneur is the force
behind Trèsind Studio (two Michelin stars),
Avatara (one Michelin star) and seven-month-
old Aamara, which has entered the Bib Gour-
mand of the Michelin Guide that lists restau-
rants with moderate prices. In fact, Passion
Food and Beverage, the parent company of
these Dubai-based establishments that Nath
started in 2014, took home the maximum
number of awards at the Michelin ceremony
held in Dubai last month. Earlier this week,
Trèsind Studio, a smaller version of their first
restaurant, Trèsind, with a tasting menu, was
named The Best Restaurant in Middle East &
Africa by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and
secured the 11th rank on the prestigious list.
The story begins with Nath’s father. In the
1970s, his father, along with a business
partner, established the Pal-
ace Hotel and Restau-
rant in Patna. “One
day, I saw him
crying. He had
lost the busi-
ness,” says
Nath, without
explaining fur-
ther. It seeded a
He was hired; within six years, he was heading
the firm’s shipping and chartering arm. “But
in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to
open a restaurant.”
So he left Parco to start a business, African
Fish Company Nigeria Ltd, importing frozen
fish in Nigeria in the late 1990s. “(At that time)
who would think that this business could
bring in millions and millions of dollars in
turnover?” says Nath.
In 2008, Nath and his wife moved to “safer”
Dubai in search of a good education for their
two young children. It was here that his dream
of starting a restaurant materialised. Not with-
out hiccups, though.
Nath secured a franchise to open an
acclaimed, fine-dining Indian restaurant
there. The plan fell through a day before it was
due to open in 2014—he refuses to say more.
Nath would open Trèsind in the same loca-
tion, in the same year, self-funding it.
This plan took shape after a phone call from
US-based chef Himanshu Saini, who wanted
to work with him. Nath, in turn, had
tasted Saini’s food at the
Masala Library and
knew he had
immense talent.
In a matter of
days, he
emailed a
flight ticket to
Saini. “We knew
that we wanted to
Bhupender Nath (above); and baked artichoke with roasted vegetable curry.
start something different.” It meant there
would be no kadhai chicken served in a small
balti and naans would not come in a bread bas-
ket. “The whole idea was to take people on a
culinary journey.”
This translated into one of Trèsind’s most
popular menu items, the 20-ingredient
khichdi. The comforting dish comes with mas-
alas and condiments—papaya chutney from
Gujarat, saffron from Kashmir and ghee from
Punjab—sourced from 20 Indian states and is
placed on a plate shaped like the map of India.
It’s a compelling idea to demonstrate how a
simple dish can be reinterpreted in a fine-din-
ing format.
This is in line with Nath’s philosophy that a
restaurant must make a “guest’s soul rejoice”.
He explains: “I started an Indian restaurant.
This is the kind of food that Indians who visit
my restaurant have at home. In fact, theirs is
perhaps better than what I can make here. So,
as an Indian, why would you come to my res-
taurant? I have to give you something differ-
ent. Plus, I have to give you value for your
hard-earned money. This is my USP. The food
should please your eyes, satisfy your palate
and fill your stomach.” Phrases like “some-
thing different” and “value for money” repeat
throughout the hour-long interview.
After Trèsind, Nath went on to establish
Trèsind Studio, a casual-dining iteration, Car-
nival by Trèsind, a catering arm, Gala by
Trèsind, a curry-focused restaurant, Maison
De Curry, and a tapas-oriented bar, A Cap-
pella.
Last year, he opened two more restau-
rants—the slightly lower priced Aamara and
the sattvic, vegetarian and vegan Avatara. Car-
nival and Avatara are scheduled to open in
Mumbai soon.
QUICK TAKES
u Fave restaurant in India: O Pedro
u A dish that reminds you of home:
Litti bharta
u Fave food city apart from Dubai:
London
The writer was in Dubai at the invitation of
Dubai’s department of economy and tourism.
blended Darjeeling. Mittal offers six varieties. Your favourite
tea store very likely also carries a good second-flush.
For those already hooked on to this tea, the year is looking
promising. Divya Puri at TeaCupsFull, a retail tea brand, is
selecting teas from what he calls the “muscatel belt” between
Kurseong and Sonada, which includes the estates of Marga-
ret’s Hope, Castleton, Singbulli, Goomtee, Oaks and Balasun.
His top two gardens: Castleton and Margaret’s Hope.
Vivek Lochan of Siliguri-based Tea Swing, which also
retails online, is tasting teas from Giddapahar. He’s selling and
selecting the Giddapahar Muscatel and their AV2 black tea
(the AV2 is a popular clone in Darjeeling which, suffice to say,
connotes a flavourful tea). He has already selected teas from
Ringtong and Risheehat and has high expectations from the
estates of Jungpana, Thurbo, Okayti and Avongrove.
While most gardens and buyers will focus on the classic
black tea and muscatels, I am equally excited by the rule-
breakers. At his estates, Rohini and Gopaldhara, Rishi Saria
continues his experiment with tea-making. I am looking for-
ward to the Honey Oolong (reminiscent of the muscatel in its
bug-bitten origins but lighter than the latter) and a summer
green tea made from Japanese cultivar growing on the estate.
All these teas can be steeped in the classic hot brew style or
as a cold brew. Mittal adds that the Darjeeling black tea keeps
very well, so you can hoard it for the year (store in dark airtight
tins, away from strong flavours) to enjoy every day. This sum-
mer, let’s drink Darjeeling!
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.
@AravindaAnanth1

How to pick and prepare oats for breakfast

. PJOTOGRAPHS BY NANDITA IYER

tening it between rollers, like rice flat- Half cup chopped walnuts Half kg rolled oats
tened into poha. This variety has the Half cup raisins 1 tsp black mustard seeds
DOUBLE widest range of culinary applications
and takes around 5-10 minutes to cook.
Half cup dried cranberries A handful of curry leaves, finely
chopped
TESTED u Instant oats is obtained from pre- Method Half cup peanuts
cooked, dried and finely chopped rolled Add all the wet mixture ingredients in a Quarter cup cashew nuts
N A N D I TA oats. This cooks instantly, on soaking in large bowl and mix well. To this, add the Quarter cup almonds
IYER hot water, or takes one-two minutes in dry ingredients, except the raisins and Quarter cup flax seeds
the microwave. Instant oats mixed with cranberries. Mix thoroughly; the mix- Quarter cup sesame seeds
flavours and additives is available as ture should be damp. If it is too dry, Quarter cup thinly sliced coconut

T
he way we have embraced oats as
top tier breakfast food, it is easy to
forget that it was initially grown
for animal feed by the ancient Greeks
and Romans. Human consumption of
oats came much later. There is some
evidence to show oats have been con-
sumed by humans since 3300 BCE in
the colder parts of Europe, where it was
easier to cultivate oats than wheat. This
made it the grain of choice for porridge,
bread and other hearty dishes in places
like Scotland and Ireland.
The oats nomenclature can be quite
confusing. Here’s a quick explainer to
help you choose the variety of oats
depending on what you are planning to
cook, from least to most processed.
u Whole oats or oat groats is the whole
oat grain minus the hull—it takes
around 45 minutes to cook and has the
texture of cooked barley. It is good for
risottos, salads and soups.
u Steel-cut oats or Irish oats is the
whole oats cut into three-four pieces—it
takes 20-30 minutes to cook.
u Rolled oats or old-fashioned oats is
made by steaming whole oats and flat-
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
packaged sweet and savoury instant
breakfasts.
I feel a lot of people pretend to like
oats—so they can convince themselves
to eat a bowl of porridge first thing in
the morning. It is often the most
ignored thing in a hotel’s breakfast
buffet, getting all gluggy, waiting to be
eaten—a tough ask when there are
interesting dishes like poha, vada, eggs
and parathas made to order. Yet, oats
is one of the drivers of the breakfast
cereal category market in India.
According to the management con-
sulting firm Praxis Global Alliance,
oats has seen 24% growth in the past
few years, overtaking the entire break-
fast cereal category.
Oats is often considered a superfood
by health-conscious people and the
general perception is one of feeling vir-
tuous when you eat it for breakfast. The
big brands, which have realised that
bland food will not work in their favour
when it comes to the Indian palate, have
packaged a variety of savoury and sweet
flavours like masala, tomato, veggie,
dark chocolate, blueberry and so on,
(left) Chocolate Granola; and Savoury Spiced Granola/Oats Chivda.
which make oats as processed as any
other ready-to-eat packaged foods.
French biochemist Jessie Inchauspé,
better known by her Instagram handle,
Glucose Goddess, says oats for breakfast
can lead to glucose spikes.
But there are a few correct ways to get
the health benefits of oats without
spikes in sugar level.
u Choose steel-cut oats over instant
and rolled.
u Oats is 60% starch, so make sure you
add some protein and fats, such as nut
butter, full fat milk or coconut milk,
nuts, Greek yogurt, egg, etc. to your oats
which slows the release of sugars.
u Don’t add tropical fruits or dried
fruits to oats; this will increase the
sugar content.
sprinkle some more water and mix well.
Preheat the oven at 160 degrees Cel-
sius. Spread the mixture on three lined
trays. Bake for 20-30 minutes until
golden and crisp. If you have a smaller
oven, then make a smaller batch or do
the baking in batches. Once baked to
golden brown and crunchy (it will turn
crisp on cooling), cool well and break
ChOCOlATE gRANOlA into small clusters. Combine the raisins
Makes around 1.7kg and cranberries. Store in airtight jars.
Eat as is as a travel snack or with cold
Ingredients milk for a breakfast cereal, as toppings
Wet mixture on smoothie bowls or even ice creams.
Half cup peanut butter
One-third cup coconut oil or ghee SAvOuRY SpICED gRANOlA /
Half cup honey or maple syrup OATS ChIvDA
2 tbsp cocoa powder (This Indian chivda-inspired savoury
2 tsp cinnamon powder granola can be eaten as is or with
2 tsp vanilla extract yogurt, or as part of a salad.)
Quarter cup water Makes around 700g
1 tsp salt
Dry ingredients Ingredients
1kg rolled oats (or old-fashioned) 2 tbsp ghee
Half cup pumpkin seeds Half tsp turmeric powder
Quarter cup sesame seeds Quarter tsp citric acid crystals (optional)
Quarter cup flax seeds (or chia seeds) One and a half tsp salt
1 cup chopped almonds 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
Method
Take the melted ghee in a small bowl.
Add the turmeric, citric acid crystals,
salt , chilli powder and mix well. Put all
the remaining ingredients in a large
bowl. Transfer the ghee mixture over
this and rub well to coat the dry ingredi-
ents with it. Sprinkle some water to
make the mixture slightly damp to pre-
vent spices burning in the oven.
Preheat the oven at 160 degrees Cel-
sius. Spread the mixture on two lined
trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes until
golden and crisp, cool well and transfer
to airtight jars.
Note: Only rolled oats (also called old-
fashioned oats) will work for these gran-
ola recipes.
Double Tested is a fortnightly column
on vegetarian cooking, highlighting a
single ingredient prepared two ways.
Nandita Iyer’s latest book is The Great
Indian Thali—Seasonal Vegetarian
Wholesomeness (Roli Books).
@saffrontrail
 STYLE Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai 07

The beauty
rituals of
bodybuilders
Muscles alone don’t win bodybuilding contests.
You need make-up and a skincare regimen too

On 2 June, Mayyur Girotra became the first Indian designer to open New York Pride, with a showcase of his prêt line ‘Aikya’.

WHEN PRIDE AND

FASHION MEET
Every June, brands use rainbow-themed colours for merchandise to celebrate the
Navreet Josan (in red bikini) at the IFBB Pro League show last year.

LGBTQ+ community. We asked designers about the true meaning of inclusive fashion Dhara Vora Sabhnani

feel make-up and bodybuilding are very similar. Both boost your confidence
Manish Mishra community, as did Versace. Keratase has
brought out a limited-edition hair oil to
the list? Is there a of risk reducing the
entire queer community’s way of living I and make you take care of yourself,” says Chandigarh-based professional body-
builder Navreet Josan. Over the past weekend, she was at the convention centre

E
ach June, the LGBTQ+
community around the
world celebrates Pride
Month with dance parties,
food pop-ups and parades.
Several designers, labels and brands start
offering rainbow-coloured clothes and
accessories. For instance, this year, Cal-
vin Klein launched a special collection of
apparel, innerwear and accessories ear-
lier this month to celebrate the LGBTQ+
RUDRAKSH DWIVEDI
ride is when being called “gay”
mark the month, though the link to Pride
seems tenuous.
Some brands have such launches every
year; others do it occasionally, depending
on the footfall the previous collection
brought in and the space they want to
occupy in a socially conscious world.
Fashion brands have a long list of “spe-
cial” days to celebrate— Valentine’s Day,
Mother’s Day, Father’s Day—so are their
Pride Month launches just an addition to
into a month-long theme?
We reached out to designers who
belong to the community and asked them
what Pride means to them, and whether
Pride-themed merchandise is a good
idea. Some of the designers have shared
a sketch that reflects their thoughts on
inclusive fashion.
Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based writer
and content creator.
in Delhi’s Pragati Maidan for the IHFF (International Health, Sports and Fitness
First) Expo, Sheru Classic, Asia’s largest IFBB (International Fitness and Body-
building Federation) Pro League and the qualifiers for Mr Olympia. But she
attended the 16-18 June event as a make-up artist for five participants.
“Nice glutes are a rage at the moment in the industry,” says Josan, 37, who’s pre-
paring to compete in a bodybuilding competition later this year. A freelance
make-up artist (she was a professional MAC artist till February 2022), she has been
in the bodybuilding industry for 13 years. “It’s like a Victoria’s Secret show, you
need to be well groomed, and many athletes wear hair extensions too. Having a
well-rounded look with face make-up is important to stand out on the stage.”
For you need more than defined muscles to win competitions today. So, besides
rigorous training, supplements and a dedicated diet plan, make-up, a strict beauty
and skincare regimen are also important to accentuate the body.
Josan’s decade-long experience as a make-up artist helps her understand how
lights work on stage. For extra shine, Josan uses shine spray just before going on

P no longer feels like an insult. It’s

knowing that I am not defined
by my sexual orientation.
stage. The process, however, starts the night before, when she uses a body self-
tanner and sleeps with the AC cranked up to let the tan set. Another layer is
applied the next day and, finally, shine spray just before stepping on to the stage.
Slapping a rainbow on the mer- This practice is standard for men and women. “Everyone uses the same bronzer
chandise doesn’t help the commu- as it helps the judges judge fairly under the harsh stage lights,” explains Josan,
nity progress in any way. The brands who uses a skin-resurfacing retinol body lotion daily.
could conduct HIV awareness drives For women participants, face make-up and a strict skincare regimen are extra
at their stores and host blood dona- steps.
tion camps to show they genuinely Before her shows, Pune, Maharashtra-based Sarina Pani, a natural bodybuilder
care. They should who does not rely on steroids or hormone pills for that extra pump, goes for body
work with the exfoliation treatment for an even skin tone. Pre-show rituals include body polish-
community ing and a waxing session, says Pani, 34, who competes in the bikini division. Like
towards mak- Josan, she’s preparing for a contest later this year. “I like to use niacinamide and
ing pride a vitamin C via serums as these ingredients help heal the skin and promote skin
norm and not rebuilding while maintaining your skin barrier. And, of course, I drink enough
a novelty. water. It’s essential not just for muscle recovery but also for the skin,” says Pani.
As far as When it comes to make-up, participants have to ensure that the face matches
more inclusive the fake body tan. This is tricky, says Josan, for just applying bronzer to the face can
fashion is con- make the person look unwell, given that working out leaves no fat on the face. Dur-
cerned, many designers ing the run-up to a contest (known as peak week), athletes flush water out of their
have found what’s most profitable for bodies and usually go on extreme diets with little to no oil and salt and limited water
them and made it a cookie-cutter intake to lose every last bit of fat. The leaner they are, the better their muscles look.
business due to which all the collec- “The trick is to highlight your face around the centre and keep it slightly darker
tions end up looking generic. While I around the periphery. We need to mix foundation and contour colours to focus
do understand the pressures of keep- on the centre and use darker colours for the edges of your face,” explains Josan.
ing a brand afloat, somewhere the ANIKET SATAM She regularly likes to get hydrating facials to maintain her skin, especially since
creative risks that keep the consumer ride is to be fierce and fearless meal plans can be severe on the skin. ”The make-up has to be loud as the judges
on their toes and looking forward to a
new season, have gone missing. P about being yourself. If creating
or curating Pride merchandise,
make sure it gets a per-
are far away.”
The choice of bikini is as important as the make-up, stresses Josan. “The eye
make-up complements the bikini colour and I do a bit of shine and contour
manent rack in your around the eyes and finish with big lashes. This makes the face look fuller and
store. Fashion can more lively.” Your bikini, then, should match your make-up and skin tone.
MAYYUR GIROTRA that for certain brands, the commercial- be made more Bikinis are designed in accordance with the guidelines of different bodybuild-
esignating a specific month can isation of Pride may be driven primarily inclusive by nor- ing competition categories, such as bikini, physique, fitness, figure and wellness,

D serve as a focused opportunity to

raise awareness, educate and
advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and
by profit-seeking motives rather than
genuine support for the LGBTQ+ com-
munity. However, it is worth not-
malising it for
people to experi-
ment, especially
all of which demand different levels of bulk and weight. Two winners, Rita Sharma
and Jahanara Islam, at the Sheru Classic last weekend wore bikinis by Neha
Solanki, who runs NS Diva Bikini, which offers exotic custom competition bikinis.
equality. It creates a platform ing that even if some brands with gender-neu- She usually advises athletes to choose designs and colours according to their
for dialogue, visibility and view Pride as a marketing tral clothing. There tanning tone. “There are different winner criteria. For example, what percentage
progress. It allows us to opportunity, it can still have should be more non-la- of glutes should be covered, the top shouldn’t be smaller than a certain percent-
shine a spotlight on the positive outcomes. The vis- belled clothing. We need more main- age, front can’t be too low, certain categories need an open back for back muscles
challenges faced by the ibility of Pride-themed stream designers from the bridal to be more visible, and there is also designer sportswear for routines where bikini
community, to amplify campaigns can help spread space to showcase queer identities. suits are not comfortable. Crystal work is done to make athletes stand out from
their voices, and to work awareness, promote accept- the crowd so their hard work can shine,” says Solanki.
towards fostering a more ance and normalise LGBTQ+ Pani, like many bodybuilding athletes, uses ProTan for tanning. “The aesthetics
inclusive society. identities and relationships. It SAISHA SHINDE are different for body make-up for the stage to regular make-up. While athletes
It is also true that in recent years, has the potential to reach a wider his special Pride merchandise is aren’t marked down for not doing face make-up, it helps to have a fully done face
Pride-themed products and campaigns
have become more prevalent, particu-
larly during this month. Some argue
audience, including individuals who
may not have been exposed to queer
experiences before.
T extremely gimmicky. It’s not a
festival and it is not necessary
that everyone parades
to show the judges. I am not good with make-up so I hire a make-up artist for my
face,” says Pani. And like so many Indian women, she also had difficulty finding
her skin tone match and sought her make-up artist’s help to find a shade close to
in the rainbow col- her body bronzer. “I use Dermacolor Camouflage Cream for my face. Even when
ours of the com- I am training, I like to wear matte lipstick,” says Pani, who is currently training for
JEETINDER SANDHU munity. Don’t pro shows in Mumbai in November and in Taiwan in December. Her most impor-
ride for me is to be able to get me wrong, tant skincare step is cleansing, in addition to sunscreen and moisturiser.

P build and live a life of one’s

choice. I always gravitate
towards Pride products
Pride month is
definitely worth
celebrating,
“Your diet is calorie-deficient in this field; it causes hormonal imbalances and
you will end up having issues. So you need micronutrients such as vitamin D, cal-
cium and magnesium. It is a lifestyle that demands your attention 365 days a year
from smaller brands everyone should and is not comparable to losing weight before your wedding or for a photoshoot,”
and businesses that celebrate it, but it is says Josan. “It is not a modelling show. If someone has a better physique, they are
are either LGBTQ+ hurtful when those same going to win. What the judges are looking for is a balance between upper and
owned or strong allies of the people don’t seem to care about the lower body and an hourglass shape in a muscular form. Make-up helps us high-
community, are friendly, welcoming and have community the rest of the year or light our hard work a little more.”
fair policies when it comes to employing peo- make an effort to be truly inclusive of
ple from the community and otherwise. members of the community. Dhara Vora Sabhnani is a Mumbai-based journalist.
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 08 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai
EATING
THUKPA
& MYSORE MASALA
Six decades into exile,
Tibetan cuisine
continues to hold its
own even as it opens
itself up to local flavours
and makes space for
Indian dishes at the
dining table
Aravinda Anantharaman
I
n the late 1990s and early 2000s, if you walked up Benga-
luru’s Brigade Road, then the city’s downtown, past Rex
Theatre and the Nilgiris supermarket, you would reach
the Shangrila Bar and Restaurant serving Chinese and
Thai cuisine. Tucked in the menu were some Tibetan
dishes—never with their own name or identity. Like the
chicken noodle soup. For a Tibetan, it’s simply thukpa.
The idea of uniquely Tibetan cuisine just did not exist,
despite the very large Tibetan community that lived in
and around the city. While walking on Brigade Road back
then, it was always easy to pick out Shangrila’s owner,
Lhasa Dolma, because she stood out in her Tibetan chuba
(dress) with mala beads on her wrists. I don’t think anyone
ever stopped to ask what a Tibetan was doing so far from
home.
And yet, Bengaluru is home to a significant Tibetan
community. In 1959, the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual and
political head, escaped to India. Within weeks, tens of
thousands of his people followed him into exile, on foot.
Many headed south when Karnataka became the first
state, in 1960, to offer asylum.
It has been home to the largest Tibetan community in
exile. Five settlements came up in the state, two in Bylak-
uppe, en route from Bengaluru to Coorg, one each in Kol-
legal and Hunsur, in south Karnataka, and one in Mund-
god, in north Karnataka. Some 40 more settlements came
up across India, mostly in the north and North-East.
McLeod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh became the centre of
the Tibetan exile community, as the place of residence of
the Dalai Lama. In 2009, the estimated population of
Tibetans living in India was 94,203 (Demographic Survey
of Tibetans in Exile, 2009), with 44,523 in Karnataka. A
UNHCR survey of 2022 puts the number of Tibetans in
India at 72,312.
Many of those who lived in Karnataka worked as farm-
ers, going to the cities in winter to sell sweaters. Initially,
the self-sufficient settlements remained fairly insulated.
Monasteries were built, including the three main monas-
teries of Sera in Bylakuppe, Gaden and Drepung, both in
Mundgod. Tibetan schools were set up. People could con-
tinue to follow their own culture and tradition, whether
it was wearing traditional clothes, learning music, or cele-
brating festivals.
Change, nevertheless, is inevitable. Language in exile
has transformed, becoming a homogenised dialect. Liter-
ature, which existed either as religious texts or oral narra-
tives, is seeing modern writers who struggle with forms
and script. Tibetan cuisine, rooted in the simplest of tech-
niques, with dishes that were already versatile and accom-
modating, has opened itself up to local flavours.
There is no dissonance or friction in the kitchen or at
the Tibetan table. Nor has there been a loss of identity or
dilution of culture. In its borrowing of Indian influences,
the cuisine has gained a layer, a spiced layer perhaps, an
addition of sweets, more vegetables and different meats.
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(above) Momos served with chilli sauce and the pie-like ‘shabaley’; and (right) Chicken Thupka at the
Potala Kitchen in Bylakuppe.
And it’s not uncommon to see Indian dishes share space
at the dining table.
In a chapter on Tibetan food in The People Of Tibet
(1928), Sir Charles Bell, Tibetologist and diplomat,
wrote,“Variety was neither expected nor perhaps
desired.” Perhaps this aspect has worked in its favour as
it embraces other influences. (Norzom, a content mar-
keter in Bengaluru, tells me that a love of all things Korean
is now trending!)
A TIBETAN IN BENGALURU
I catch up with Lhasa Dolma two decades later. We are
practically neighbours in Bengaluru. She still dresses in
a chuba and the mala beads are still very much there. Her
home is unmistakably Tibetan, with long rows of prayer
flags fluttering on the terrace and at the entrance and a
large altar in the living room. Lhasa Dolma—named for
the city of her birth—arrived in Bengaluru from Sikkim in
1976, to study. Marriage followed. Widowed young and
with two boys to raise, she started managing Shangrila.
“My son, Tseten, was around eight years old when my
nephew came from Sikkim for a visit. That’s when I real-
ised how different their food preferences were. My
nephew liked bland Tibetan food. My son loved biryani,”
she says. Her home was in Benson Town, in Bengaluru’s
cantonment, and her neighbours a generous and helpful
Muslim family who often looked after her sons while she
was at work. Tseten calls biryani his comfort food.
Lhasa Dolma would speak to her sons about their cul-
ture and religion but with food, she says, it was impossible
not to adapt. Today, her kitchen is not unlike any contem-
porary Bengaluru kitchen—anchored in tradition but
culinarily an assorted mix. On any given week, family
meals range from dosa for breakfast to thukpa, parathas,
dal chawal, momos and biryani for lunch and dinner. On
trips to Sikkim, she stocks up on the ingredients she needs
for Tibetan dishes. From her pantry, she brings out pack-
ets of phing (mung bean noodles) and dehydrated black
mushrooms from Kalimpong, tsampa (roasted barley
powder) from Bylakuppe, and even a tea brick for po cha,
or butter tea.
As long back as 1000 AD, tea used to be traded for
horses from Tibet. To ensure it lasted the journey, it
would be compressed into bricks—and that became the
preferred style. To make po cha, a chunk is broken off the
brick and steeped in hot water. This decoction is churned
with yak butter, salt and yak milk. While she prefers leaf
‘Laphing’ at the Piyang
food cart in Bylakuppe.
UTSE SUITES & KITCHEN
tea from Sikkim’s famous Temi tea estate,
she indulges her daughter-in-law’s love for
po cha. I ask her about using yak butter or a
traditional churner to make it. “Mixie,” she
replies emphatically. And “Amul butter is best”.
THINKING TIBET
I met Jangchup Lingpa in 2004, a year after he moved
from Bylakuppe to Bengaluru. He and his family had lived
in Ladakh for many years. Ladakh, says Jangchup, was
familiar terrain—geographically, culturally and food-
wise. “Thukpa was a staple,” he says, recalling childhood
meals. “We had it with meat or with tsampa.” Thukpa is a
Tibetan broth to which meat, vegetables and even dried
cheese, or churpi, are added. When Jangchup was 13, his
family moved to Bylakuppe, where his father was in
charge of the school. “In this hot weather, we couldn’t eat
the way we did in Ladakh. Although my mother continued
to make thukpa once or twice a week, the dishes began to
change. We were introduced to rice, dal, vegetables,
chicken and fish here. My mother learnt how to make
them…although I think our curry is more like soup.”
While his family did not view these changes as particu-
larly significant, Jangchup says, “With chicken, we take
one life to feed one family while the meat of one yak can
feed many.” It’s a philosophical thought, to minimise
harm to others. For while most Tibetans may be practis-
ing Buddhists, they are not vegetarian, something of an
impossibility in Tibet’s high altitude. For most Tibetans,
meat was the source of fat and protein. Grains, beans, a
few “cold-weather vegetables” like onions, potatoes, rad-
ishes and turnips made up their diet. Yak was a singular
source of nourishment, for meat and dairy. In exile, buf-
falo meat has come closest to replacing yak meat.
Jangchup’s classmate, Tsering Dekey, now in her late
30s, too made the journey to Ladakh and then to Bylak-
uppe. “Coming to Bylakuppe opened me to another world
of food. I had never eaten such dishes. I love idli, dosa and
south Indian biryani… And bonda.” The bonda, deep-fried
batter made of rice and urad dal, tops the list of favourites
among the Bylakuppe Tibetans.
When many Tibetan youth moved to Bengaluru to
study in colleges there in the 2000s, more Tibetan restau-
rants began to open in the city. One of the more popular
of these was Amdo Corner, a small restaurant in Austin
Town that opened in 2006.
Amdo Tsering had left Tibet for India in his 20s, carry-
COVER
ing whatever recipes he had. The Amdo province is
famous as the birthplace of the Dalai Lama and Amdowas
are reputed to be excellent cooks. Tsering’s restaurant
became Jangchup’s go-to place for a bowl of thukpa in
Bengaluru. Today, Koramangala, where the office of the
chief representative of the Southern Tibetan Settlements
and the Youth Hostel are located, has lots of small restau-
rants serving inexpensive Tibetan food—drawing stu-
dents from the two big colleges in the area.
In 2005, Jangchup started Think Tibet, an informal
platform for local Tibetans and Bengalureans to interact.
In 2009, they organised a three-day event to mark 50
years in exile and introduce visitors to facets of Tibetan
culture and politics. Amdo Tsering greeted everyone with
a cup of po cha and a small selection of Tibetan dishes like
tingmo (steamed bun) and bhaktsa martsu (made with
flour, churra, or dried cheese, sugar and yak butter) and
daesil (the sweet rice made on special occasions). “To
share food is to share our culture,” says Jangchup. “In my
travels, I meet Indians who know nothing about Tibet.
Food breaks those barriers.”
TSAMPA FOR TIBET
In 2017, Tsering married Wangdue Dorjee and moved to
Bir, in Himachal Pradesh. Over conversations with her
husband, the idea of promoting traditional food came up.
The couple launched Tibet Foods online in 2018-19, with
packaged tsampa, neythuk (hand-pulled flat noodles) and
churpi. A new addition is neyja, or nomadic barley tea. In
the pipeline are tsampa cookies and muesli.
“We are tsampa eaters. Tsampa is Tibet. It’s a unifying
dish,” says Tsering. Tsampa is also the first solid food
given to Tibetan babies.
Tsampa is made from roasting barley, the one grain that
grows well in Tibet. Washed barley is roasted gently and
milled into a fine powder—a seemingly simple but tedious
task. There is nothing striking about its appearance or
R STORY
taste but it’s portable, keeps well, and can be had with a little
bit of milk, water or butter tea, as a beverage, a porridge,
rolled into thick balls, dropped in soup, salted, sweet-
ened…it always lends a feeling of satiety.
Both tsampa and thukpa are extremely versatile and can
be customised to one’s preferences. Apart from noodles,
meat, vegetables and cheese, you can add tsampa and
even momos to thukpa. It can be bland or spiced, a meal
by itself or served with tingmo, or had with rice. What is
often sold in restaurants is a single style of thukpa, often
thentuk, with flat noodles. If the noodles are shell-shaped,
it becomes bakthuk, while Chinese-style long noodles
make it gyathuk. With momos, it becomes mothuk; tsam-
thuk is tsampa balls dunked in thukpa.
In Bengaluru, Tsering’s cousin, Tasang, gives me a bag
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Lhasa Dolma holding a bowl of
‘daesil’ at her home in Bengaluru.
of tsampa, advising me to “make it like Horlicks”, with
part boiling water, part milk. It’s a very filling beverage
that I sweeten with some brown sugar. It’s all the break-
fast I need.
I am surprised that the momo rarely comes up in these
conversations about food. I ask Norzom’s mother, Tasang,
if its origins are Tibetan and she insists that they are.
The momo stalls that line the streets of Koramangala
every evening, however, boast of momos from Tibet, Dar-
jeeling, Sikkim and Nepal, each claiming it as their own.
For the Himalayan communities share a culinary history
that goes back to a time when borders were drawn differ-
ently and there was greater interaction. For Tibetans, Sik-
kim is Denzong, or the valley of rice—a reference to the
rice imported from there. And Darjeeling derives its name
(above) Nyima Dakpa runs an online store called Zomphel where he sells Tibetan products. He is seen here with a jar of
‘dalle’ chillies; and Tibetan ‘thentuk’, a flat noodle soup.
PHOTOGRAPHS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
BY SAMYUKTA
SAMYUKTA LAKSHMI
LAKSHMI
ISTOCKPHOTO
from the Tibetan dorje ling, or land of the thunderbolt.
Where it originated notwithstanding, the momo is defi-
nitely a part of Tibetan cuisine. It has also been the gate-
way to Tibetan culture for Bengalureans. “I have one
grouse with it,” says Norzom, referring to the momo’s pro-
liferation as fast food. In Tibetan families, the momo is not
a snack or a quick-fix dish. It is a meal, often made on spe-
cial occasions, and it’s communal.
THE TIBETAN KITCHEN
“What Tibetan dishes would you like Norzom to learn?”
I ask Tasang. She lists daesil, bhaktsa marku and, as an aft-
erthought, chutaghi (bow-tie shaped noodles in a vegeta-
ble or meat soup). Norzom, who has been our translator,
has never heard of it. When Tasang describes it, we won-
der if it’s a deconstructed momo.
“Tibetan cooking is not very technical,” says Dechen
Dolker, who runs the Utse Kitchen with her Kodava hus-
band, Sujith Belliyappa, in Bengaluru. Utse’s menu is
Himalayan—but predominantly Tibetan—cuisine. The
décor is Tibetan but also quite modern. As is the food
they serve.
Dechen describes Utse’s menu as “born from Tibetan
recipes but produced as Indian- and Chinese-accented
dishes”. She explains that Tibetan cooking uses meth-
ods such as steaming food, making stews and ageing
meat. While it may seem to be rather bland cuisine, it
would be incorrect to say there is no spice at all. “Tibet’s
eastern border adjoins the Sichuan province of China
and peppercorns, or yerma, flavour the dishes, while
those near India and Nepal will use cumin and garam
masala,” says Dechen.
Monks bringing tea at At Tibet Foods, Tsering plans to add a Himalayan spice
the Namdroling to her list, one that sounds something like gonyoe, which
Tibetan Monastery, Tsering says is like cumin. And Tibetans who have lived
Karnataka. for some years in Bylakuppe are sure to have, on their
spice rack, the Mysore Masala.
The Mysore Masala, a mixture of what seems like sam-
bar powder and tamarind paste, is available online on
Zomphel, started by Nyima Dakpa, a 26-year-old farmer
from Bylakuppe. “I sell shichak products,” he says,
explaining that shichak refers to settlement products
sourced especially for Tibetans who have left Bylakuppe
and miss home. In recent years, many who left the camps
for college have chosen to stay in the cities or move
abroad.
The products Nyima offers include the Mysore Masala,
Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai 09
UTSE SUITES & KITCHEN
chilli potato chips, tsampa powder, ramen noodles, pre-
mixed butter tea sachets from Thailand, Tibetan noodles
and Red Label tea. There is also a range of pickles, includ-
ing one that Nyima makes with homegrown dalle chillies.
This range of products tells the story of how the Tibetan
palate has changed.
“My grandparents came from Tibet. They ate tsampa.
In exile, my parents were introduced to Indian food. If my
mother doesn’t have rice once a day, she feels something
is missing. My father loves ragi mudde (a farmer’s staple
in Karnataka, made from finger millet and washed down
with bassaru, which is like a watery dal). But they also urge
my brother and me to eat Tibetan food. I feel our environ-
ment is different. Our bodies have changed. I don’t enjoy
tsampa or thukpa very much,” says Nyima.
At the hostel, Tasang serves us laphing (a cold noodle
roll) and milk tea. Her husband, Dorje, remembers the
time he lived in Tibet. He recalls a wooden cup lined with
silver that was always tucked in his chuba, to be brought
out for a serving of butter tea wherever he went. Today,
the utensils have changed, tea is drunk in mugs, not bowls.
Momos are steamed in electric steamers, butter tea is
made with a quick whizz in the blender. Norzom points
out that the stainless steel pressure cooker is now part of
the Tibetan kitchen.
In the early 2010s, Amdo Tsering sold his restaurant to
a compatriot and left India, embarking on yet another
journey that took him even further from home. Like him,
more Tibetans are moving westward, in yet another
migration, seeking better economic opportunities.
“Sa thang nam,” says Tasang, when I ask her what has
changed in exile. Everything from ground to sky. Nyima
speaks of going to Tibet. “When we go to Tibet…” he says.
Not “if”.
Jangchup is philosophical. “Change is normal,” he says.
And food will change. He points out that even within
Tibet, more Chinese influences have come into food,
another inevitability.
“When you go to Tibet, will you miss rice and dal?” I ask
Nyima. He thinks for a while and says: “I wish to go to
Tibet, to take my parents there. And when I have children,
and if Tibet is free, I would like them to be there, to be
100% Tibetan. But I am 80% Indian. There’s an emotion
attached to a place. It’s complicated. Rice and dal is my
kind of food. It represents my Indian birth.”
Aravinda Anantharaman is a Lounge columnist.
 10 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai
Revisiting
Shahjahanabad
p Jama Masjid. By Sita Ram. 1815. At the time of its founding, it had been built as a congregational mosque.
A new book explores
the medieval city of
Shahjahanabad with
a fascinating map
going back to 1846-47
Nitin Sreedhar
nitin.s@htlive.com
A
uthor and historian Swapna
Liddle makes a compelling
point about the value of
physical maps when we dis-
cuss her new book, Revisit-
ing Shahjahanabad: Mapping A Mughal
City. “Before Google Maps, when we used
to navigate the city (Delhi), we used to take
the help of Eicher Maps. This was like the
Delhi version of the British A to Z maps. I
still have it in my car,” she adds.
A map also forms the basis of the book
Revisiting Shahjahanabad, written by Lid-
dle, along with visual curators Pramod
Kapoor and Sneha Pamneja. But this is not
just any map. The centrepiece of this 104-
page coffee table book is a pre-1857 carto-
graphic resource: a large map of Shahjaha-
nabad from the British Library (IO Maps
X/1659). Dated 1846-47, it is the most
detailed available cartographic record of
the walled city before the changes that fol-
lowed the revolt of 1857. Shahjahanabad
was founded as the imperial capital by the
Mughal emperor Shahjahan in the mid-
17th century.
While the map is missing a corner, cor-
responding to the south-eastern corner of
the city, it still has a lot of interesting
detail, as Liddle writes in the book. The
inscriptions are in Urdu but can be read
with a moderate level of difficulty, accord-
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
ing to the author.
The book comes with a beautiful, large
pull-out replica of the historic map, a col-
lector’s item. Who the mapmaker was or
who commissioned it in the first place
remains a mystery. There is no “overt evi-
dence”, as Liddle writes, only clues, which
you come across as you go through the
book.
Liddle has broken down the map into 13
zones—like chapters almost. Be it the Red
Fort, which was known then as Qila-e-
Moalla, “the exalted fortress”; Faiz Bazaar,
known to us today as Dariyaganj; or
important historical locations like the
Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk.
Detailing the landmarks in all these
areas, spotting and explaining architec-
tural features, required years of extensive
research. “For me, the map does not stand
in isolation. The whole point of writing
the book is that I have studied this map in
ZOOM
p Shahjahanabad and
its surroundings. Printed
map, 1858.
Author Swapna Liddle says
this map is one of the few
sources that can be used to
retrace areas of
Shahjahanabad that have
disappeared completely
ALL MAPS, PHOTOGRAPHS FROM ‘SHAHJAHANABAD: MAPPING A MUGHAL CITY’ BY SWAPNA LIDDLE, ROLI BOOKS
t ‘A Bird’s Eye View Of The City Of
Delhi And The British Cantonment’,
Artist unknown, 1857.
Shahjahanabad—Mapping A Mughal
City: By Swapna Liddle, Roli Books,
104 pages and 1 map; ₹2,495.
t Bahadur Shah II seated
on a throne below the
scales of justice in the Khas
Mahal, soon after his
coronation in 1837. The
Mughal emperor is flanked
by his sons, the older Mirza
Fakhru, and the younger
Mirza Mughal. An
attendant behind holds a
yak tail fly whisk. Painting
by Ghulam Ali Khan.
qFaiz Bazaar. By a
Rajasthani artist, c. 1840.
the context of other sources of informa-
tion, a variety of other texts,” says Liddle
during a video interview. “While I was
doing my PhD thesis, I got to know this
city in this period quite well. In fact, while
I was writing this book, I was also writing
another book, The Broken Script: Delhi
Under The East India Company And The
Fall Of The Mughal Dynasty, based on my
research. It is that work on the city, com-
bined with what I get from this map, that
I have put together.”
Liddle says one of the fascinating
aspects of this map is that it is one of the
few sources that can be used to retrace
areas of Shahjahanabad that have disap-
peared completely: landmarks like the
actual square, or chowk, in Chandni
Chowk or the Akbarabadi Mosque, which
was demolished after 1857. “It’s one of the
few sources we have of trying to recon-
struct what the city was,” says Liddle.
This aspect is another reason the book
will appeal not just to cartography enthu-
siasts but anybody who is wanting to find
their way around the galis of Old Delhi or
discover old structures. It’s the best map
to attempt this with, Liddle adds. “If you
try and find something with Google Maps
in Old Delhi... (it’s) impossible.”
While the book focuses on the Shahja-
hanabad map, it also includes other earlier
and contemporary maps which give the
reader a peek into the changing character
of the city and map-making techniques.
Deciding what to include and leave out in
the book was also challenging, says Liddle,
adding that anybody who wants to know
about Mughal town planning and how cit-
ies were made will also find the book use-
ful.
The city of Delhi has seen constant
change, losing historical areas, buildings
and landmarks to time. Liddle says it is
important to preserve monuments and
heritage landmarks, considering them
archives to study the past—and learn from
it. “Shahjahanabad, for instance, was a
medieval city which had its own logic of
how people lived in those days.... It was a
compact, walkable city. You can walk from
one end of the city to another quite easily.
If you see what cars have done to the city,
you appreciate the value of it (such city
planning),” she notes.
Be it the neighbourliness factor or the
importance of open spaces, these are
characteristics of the old city we can learn
from when we design cities today, says
Liddle. “In Delhi, we have not realised the
potential of a heritage city like Shahjaha-
nabad. This is an important asset from the
point of view of tourism and heritage-led
economic development,” she adds. “I
always feel that you can only save heritage
by making it economically viable for those
who have a stake in it... We can’t save it on pShahjahan 1592-1666. The Mughal emperor founded the city of Shahjahanabad in the
sentiment alone.” mid-17th century as his capital.

KEEPING UP
WITH KHURANA
Director, writer and producer Akarsh Khurana, now in his 40s,
has had a productive year. He tells us what keeps him going
Prachi Sibal
A
sports biopic, a political
satire, a teenage romance,
a family drama, a play on
climate change. There
seems to be nothing
Akarsh Khurana hasn’t done in the last
couple of years. Now on a sabbatical, he
has written and directed a new play, The
F Word, and adapted Anahita Uberoi’s As
Bees In Honey Drown for the last Aadyam
Season (an Aditya Birla theatre initiative).
His theatre troupe, Akvarious Produc-
tions, has hit 100 shows with two of its
best-running productions, Dekh Behen
and Internal Affairs.
During this time, Akarsh has also pro-
duced two of his most political works—
a play, There’s Something In The Water,
and the OTT series Jugaadistan. Then
there is Go With The Flow, their most
ambitious production, with 22 new
actors, directed by brother Adhaar Khur-
ana. If that wasn’t enough, he has turned
podcast host for the first time. Unscripted
With Akarsh Khurana by Aadyam is a rare
insight into the lives of theatre makers
and actors, in an informal setting.
Khurana chooses to meet me in a
bookshop in Bandra, Mumbai, arriving
well ahead of time for a quick look
around before he settles with his coffee.
His book and film recommendations on
Instagram have a following of their own.
Akvarious Productions, founded by
actor Akash Khurana (Akarsh’s father) in
the 1990s, is now helmed by Akarsh, with
support from his younger brother,
Adhaar. To say Akarsh Khurana is having
a moment in theatre, film, and now pod-
casting, would be an understatement.
He tells us that the path to this success
was paved during the pandemic. Mis-
A love letter to the screwball charms of 13th Aunt
WORLD VIEW
A look at what’s making waves
on the global cinema scene
While Tsui Hark and Jet Li
are rightly deified for the
Wong Fei-hung films, the
secret ingredient is
Rosamund Kwan
Uday Bhatia
uday.b@htlive.com
I
n the early days of cable TV in India,
which were my early days as well, two
credit sequences set my imagination on
fire. The first was Chariots Of Fire (1981),
for the Vangelis theme, of course, but also
Nigel Havers’ beatific smile registering
among the serious runners on the beach.
The other was also a beach scene, also
partly in slow motion, with a theme song
almost as catchy. This was from Tsui
Hark’s Once Upon A Time In China (1991),
a phalanx of bare-chested martial club stu-
dents executing a series of strenuous, eye-
catching workouts.
By the time the 1990s got under way,
Hong Kong film-maker Tsui Hark had
already made cult favourite Zu: Warriors
From Magic Mountain (1983) and the mas-
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
matched Season One and Two, Rashmi
Rocket, Jugaadistan were all in produc-
tion and several online theatre events
were conducted through Akvarious Live.
Whether it is the story of love-struck
Rishi and Dimple in Mismatched or the
political play There’s Something In The
Water, there is one thing Akarsh, now in
his 40s, never loses sight of: the youth.
This is at the heart of Akvarious’ philoso-
phy. “There is an entire generation, 8-10
years younger than me, who felt alien-
ated from the theatre that was happen-
ing. I am trying to find stories relatable
for the youth but also balancing them
with a certain maturity of what we are
telling. People now watch theatre on a
date night,” he says.
“I was almost 40 when Mismatched
came to me. I read the book and under-
stood the appeal but didn’t know why
they chose me; I was almost double the
age of the characters,” Akarsh says about
what is perhaps his biggest hit, adding,
“The reasoning I got was how I depicted
Mithila’s character in Karwaan. It was
the first time a teenage girl was not irri-
tating. She was spunky but she also dis-
played a certain maturity.”
He co-directed the first season with
actor/director Nipun Dharmadhikari
and went solo in the second. Then came
Jugaadistan, a Lionsgate series set in
Delhi University that digs deep into edu-
cation scams and college politics. Akarsh
rates it as his best work so far but says he
nearly turned it down. “After season 2 (of
Mismatched), so many of the offers that
came to me were youth-related.... So,
when Jugaadistan came, I said no ini-
tially because I was told it was another
college story,” he recounts.
Akarsh tries to keep abreast of the
needs of a Gen Z audience. “Interacting
terful Peking Opera Blues (1986) and pro-
duced John Woo’s heroic bloodshed clas-
sics A Better Tomorrow (1986) and The
Killer (1989). In 1991, he embarked on the
project he’s arguably most associated with
today, a six-film cycle chronicling the
adventures of medic and martial artist
Wong Fei-hung in late 19th century Fos-
han. It made a star of Jet Li, who played
Wong in the first three films (he was
replaced by Vincent Zhao in the fourth
and fifth instalments). The final entry,
Once Upon A Time In China And America
(1997), which predates Jackie Chan’s kung
fu Western Shanghai Noon (2000), was
directed by Sammo Hung, with Li back in
the lead.
Wong Fei-hung was an actual medicine
man and folk hero who died in 1925. Films
on his life started being made in 1948 and
never let up. Audiences in 1991 would have
been familiar with Jackie Chan’s comic
portrayal of Wong in the classic Drunken
Master (1978) and perhaps even Gordon
Liu in Challenge Of The Masters (1976) and
Martial Club (1981). Li’s performance was
strikingly different, though. While the
films are fairly comedic, the humour
doesn’t derive from Wong. Instead, Li
presents him as a figure of immense dig-
nity, formally polite and painfully consci-
entious. This makes Wong the perfect
straight man to chaotic disciple Leung
Foon (and Bucktooth So and Porky Wing
in the first film) and the hapless object of
Yee Siu-kwan’s affections.
Unlike the strictly fight-oriented Chan
CULTURE
Akarsh Khurana (left).
with the young keeps me grounded....
People stop being part of the conversa-
tion. Even if you are ignorant, you have to
be in the room,” he says. And though he
doesn’t always curate what he watches
and reads on the basis of work, he con-
fesses he has liked the odd youthful
show. “I do try and watch content that is
younger than my demographic from
time to time. And I end up enjoying
something like Dash & Lily and am
shocked by myself. Perhaps because it’s
set in a bookshop,” he says.
Theatre, he admits, is where he gets to
say what he wants to. “It’s also the nature
of things. Films are far more collabora-
tive. There are so many moving parts. In
a play, it’s a fairly tight unit, and it’s easier
to have a common vision,” he says.
And the larger vision is what seems to
drive many of his choices and work.
When it comes to film-making, it is the
post-production process that he enjoys
most. “It’s there that you are able to real-
ise your vision as a creator,” he says.
He keeps meticulous Excel sheets of
every play, with percentages and occu-
pancy to see what kind of growth it has
seen. Though he can now foretell the
future of the production with the first 10
shows, the success of Dekh Behen sur-
prises him. “We have never seen any-
thing like it. We started at Cuckoo Club
with 60 seats and have now done over
100 shows,” he says. At the 100th show,
he announced Dekh Behen 2, set to hit the
stage in August.
Go With the Flow will be staged on 2
July at the National Centre for the Per-
forming Arts, Mumbai. Visit www.ncpa-
mumbai.com for details.
Prachi Sibal is a Mumbai-based writer.
Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan in ‘Once Upon A Time In China III’ .
and Liu films, Hark makes use of a histori-
cal period of great ferment in China, turn-
ing the films into riotous time capsules.
Once Upon A Time In China I begins with
French troops mistaking firecrackers dur-
ing a ceremonial lion dance for an attack
and returning fire; Wong jumps in and
continues the dance himself. There are
also Americans (running a human traffick-
ing ring), British (ineffectual in II) and
Russians (plotting to assassinate the
empress in III). But for all the nationalistic
A grand art legacy now
accessible to the public
The National Gallery of
Modern Art, Mumbai, is
displaying part of Air
India’s collection of
8,000 works of art
Riddhi Doshi
A
t Air India offices and lounges
around the globe, visitors would
once be treated to paintings spe-
cially commissioned to Indian artists
such as M.F. Husain, V.S. Gaitonde, F.N.
Souza, K.H. Ara, Arpana Caur, Anjolie Ela
Menon and Jitish Kallat. A few artists
would be paid for the work, others would
get air tickets, even be flown to another
country to paint their masterpiece. The
only exception was Spanish surrealist
Salvador Dali. He got a baby elephant.
Air India, the country’s flag carrier,
which was founded by J.R.D. Tata in 1932
as TATA Airlines and became a public
limited company in 1960, has been one of
the biggest patrons of Indian art. Its col-
lection of 8,000 works of art and arte-
facts includes modern, contemporary,
miniature and Company paintings, tex-
tile pieces and a few sculptures.
Given to the National Gallery of Mod-
ern Art (NGMA) for safekeeping and digi-
tal archiving following the sale of the air-
line to the Tata Group in October 2021,
200 of these works are now on display in
Mumbai in an exhibition, Maharaja’s
Treasure: Select Works of Art From The
Famed Air India Collection. “The idea of
this exhibition is to showcase the best of
the collection,” says Sushmit Sharma,
deputy curator of NGMA, Delhi. “Most of
these were displayed in Air India’s Mum-
bai office building and it was only apt that
it be shown to the Mumbai audience
first,” adds Nazneen Banu, director,
NGMA, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The
exhibition, on till 13 August, is the first in
a series and will also travel to other
NGMA galleries in India as well as venues
abroad.
The star object of the exhibition is the
famous porcelain ashtray designed by
Dali, based on a work the artist had made
in 1937, titled Swans Reflecting Elephants.
“The reflection of the elephant appears
satisfaction of clobbering or bettering for-
eign adversaries, the primary antagonists
in the three Hark-Li films are Chinese. In
I, it’s the nefarious Shaho gang and a wan-
dering kung fu master they enlist. In Can-
ton-set II, it’s the psychotic White Lotus
sect, out to destroy all things foreign, and
a wily military officer played by Donnie
Yen. And in the third film, which unfolds
in Beijing, it’s Chiu Tin-bak, a gangster
bent on winning the lion dance martial
arts competition.
Saturday, 24 June 2023
(above) N.S. Bendre’s ‘Returning Journey’; and K.H. Ara’s ‘Holi On The Seaface’.
to be a swan and the reflection of the
swan appears to be an elephant. That is
what I have done for the ashtray. Thus,
the swan upside down becomes an ele-
phant’s head inverted and the elephant
inverted becomes a swan,” Dali had said
in a statement during his collaboration
with Air India.
The ashtray has a shell-shaped centre
with a serpent twined around its perime-
ter, which is supported by a swan, but
when turned upside down, it looks like
two elephant heads. Legend has it that
Air India officials met Dali in New York
and persuaded him to design limited-
edition ashtrays (the exact number is not
known) in 1967. “They were gifted to Air
India’s select first-class passengers,” adds
Banu. In return, Dali wanted a baby ele-
phant. The airlines bought a two-year-
Hark’s eye for scale and colour and Li’s
poise and economy of movement com-
bine to make these some of the most
pleasurable martial arts films ever made.
The legendary Yuen Woo-ping was
enlisted to choreograph the fights in the
first two films. The second film is legend-
ary for the face-offs between Li and Yen.
The climactic fight, with the actors balan-
cing high in the air on a flimsy bamboo
structure while wielding long poles, is
rated as one of the greatest in martial arts
cinema. I also love their first meeting: Yen
tosses Li a bamboo stick, and, without any
warning, starts whacking away at him.
This continues for a ferocious minute or
so before Yen stops and says, “I just
wanted to spar with you a little.” As is usu-
ally the case with Hark, the scene is
capped with an extra payoff. A couple of
spectators grumble that the pole Wong
struck during the fight didn’t even move,
let alone splinter. Foon walks up to the
pole and touches it. The rope around it
uncoils and it breaks into two.
Revisiting the Hark-Li films made me
realise the series has a secret weapon that
has nothing to do with kung fu—Rosa-
mund Kwan as the foreign-returned Yee
Siu-kwan, a character invented for the
films, whom Wong insists on addressing
formally as “13th Aunt” (Siu-kwan’s father
was a blood brother of Wong’s grandfa-
ther). As the one romantic foil, she spends
a lot of time being rescued by Wong. Yet,
Yee’s curiosity and pluck mean she’s
rarely far from the action herself. She’s at
Chennai 11
old baby from a zoo in Bengaluru, flew it
to Geneva with a mahout and then put it
in a truck to Cadaqués, a Spanish town
where Dali lived at the time.
Another striking work is that of artist
Arpana Caur, whose practice reflects the
exploration of her identity as a woman
and an artist. In a painting titled Women
Hold Up Half The Sky, Caur depicts the
face of a woman, a dark-skinned con-
struction worker carrying a pan that
looks like a crescent moon. Interestingly,
her eyes are also the shape of the crescent
moon—but hollow. “It talks about the
struggles of mothers working as con-
struction labourers while trying to tend
to their little children,” says Sharma.
In Anjolie Ela Menon’s Nawab With A
Pigeon, a man stands behind a panelled,
wooden window, next to a subdued little
girl and a white pigeon. “It’s another
work that comments on the shackles of
patriarchy in our society,” adds Sharma.
Then there is the modernist portrayal
of Kashmiri, Maharashtrian and Rajast-
hani women, dressed in traditional attire,
by B. Prabha, whose career took off with
the patronage of Air India. Fresh out of
Mumbai’s Sir JJ College of Art, Prabha
walked into Air India’s Nariman Point
building and showed her works to Jal
Cowasji, head of Air India’s publicity
department. He immediately bought
three paintings for ₹87.50 each. Her
works also featured on Air India’s spe-
cially designed in-flight menus.
“Air India has played a major role in
promoting Indian art and artists around
the world. This exhibition is also an ode
to the company’s efforts and enthusiasm
towards Indian art,” says Banu.
Riddhi Doshi is a Mumbai-based jour-
nalist.
her most useful in III, where her dedica-
tion to her motion picture camera—we see
her graduate from still camera to film over
the course of the trilogy—ends up foiling
the assassination plot.
Tsui Hark films often play like screwball
comedy—Peking Opera Blues is perhaps
the finest example. In the Once Upon films,
Kwan is best suited to pull this off, the lone
actor in a cast of action specialists. She
doesn’t have their physical quickness but
makes up for it with an ever-changing
array of expressions. In the classic screw-
ball sense, 13th Aunt is a great match for
Wong: She’s chaotic and modern, he’s
methodical and square. His inability to
recognise her attraction to him, and then
his panicked dodging of that attraction,
take up a large part of the three films, but
never get old.
None of this could work without Kwan’s
endless good cheer in the face of constant
frustration. When Wong finally comes
around at the end of the third film, Hark
frames this with the momentousness it
deserves. Wong, who thinks Yee has left
forever, sees her across the room. He calls
out to her, using her real name, not 13th
Aunt. He then runs towards her, the shot
of scurrying feet a neat parody of kung fu
films. To the surprise of everyone in the
room, most of all Yee, he lifts her up and
whirls her in a most un-Wong-like fash-
ion. Kwan laughs in delight, then looks
shocked, relieved, exhausted and content.
A few seconds that sum up an indelible
performance.
 12 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai
Paying homage to
Bawa on Galle Road
Along Sri Lanka’s
coast, hotels
designed by Geoffrey
Bawa embody the
visual opulence of
another time
Rahul Jacob
f you go on an extended pilgrim-
I age to hotels in southern Sri
Lanka designed by the great Sri
Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa,
it is hard not to be overcome by a
heretical, ahistorical thought. Was Bawa,
who died in May 2003, a reincarnation of
the Mughals? Visit the Heritance Ahun-
galla and a pool in the driveway reflects
the palm trees lined up to greet you. Step
into its lobby and the series of vistas—of
the dramatic entrance mirrored in the
adjoining swimming pool that also
refracts the colours of the sky—are akin to
an optical illusion. Ahead, the Indian
Ocean could be a hallucinatory mirage.
In a lecture in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in
1985, Bawa suggested this view had cast a
spell even over its creator: “If the world
were only flat, you’d see Africa on the
horizon.” While the Heritance Ahungalla
on Galle Road recalls the mirroring effects
of the water bodies around the Taj Mahal
and in Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Cinnamon
Bentota Beach, a 20-minute drive down
the same road, offers a different kind of
Mughal enchantment.
The cupola of the reception features a
shamiana-styled gigantic batik by Ena de
Silva fit to welcome a medieval emperor.
Every animal to walk the grass of this hal-
lowed island is represented in 160 panels:
wild boars, elephants, peacocks in the
wild, luminous colours. This is Jungle
Book reworked for Asia, except that even
the snakes, against an iridescent blue
backdrop, are rendered beautiful. De Silva
throws in a few mythical animals too, a
theme picked up by Ismeth Raheem in his
paintings for the lobby. The lobby doubles
as the setting for one of the most beautiful
bars in the world, with views of waves
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY CINNAMON BENTOTA BEACH
A mix of history, heritage—and sustainability
A city awash in history
and heritage, Bremen has
been quietly trying to
add a different moniker
—of sustainability
Anita Rao Kashi
ust a couple of kilometres north of
J Bremen’s city centre in north-west
Germany, on the banks of the Weser,
an unusual sustainability project is
under way. Spread over just 8,000 sq. m,
Gemüsewerft is an enclosed yard filled
with raised beds made of hundreds of
plastic crates and pallets, almost all of
them overflowing with plants. It was a cold
day in April but the scent of herbs, vegeta-
bles and assorted greenery hung in the air.
One of the more innovative and novel
experiments in urban farming, the yard
also has a section for growing hops, used
to make the beer next door.
Once a busy industrial area, the dock-
side neighbourhood of Überseestadt had
gone to seed until a regeneration project,
launched two decades ago, slowly
pumped life back into it. Concrete struc-
tures and building sites still dot the nearly
300-hectare area but terms such as mod-
ernity, sustainability and community are
used to describe it. It pulsates with a quiet
energy. And it’s a project Bremen is
incredibly proud of.
The yard and the surrounding area are
a far cry from Bremen’s claim to fame. For
the city, spread on both sides of the Weser
river, gives you the feel of stepping back in
time. It is a city of sprawling gardens and
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
crashing on the beach in front and the qui-
eter, almost ascetic expanse of Bentota
river to the side.
Along Sri Lanka’s southern coast, from
Colombo to Galle, are hotels and villas
designed by Bawa with the visual opu-
lence of another time. Nowhere on earth,
arguably, can one be a beach bum and an
architectural aesthete so seamlessly. At
The Villa Bentota by KK Collection, the
garden consists of nothing but grass and
giant coconut trees with a frangipani or
two. At Club Villa next door, a checker-
board entrance with a small pond gives
way to a similarly minimalist lawn. The
scene is disturbed only by the exposed
roots of another ancient fran-
gipani in a slow-motion
wrestling match with
the ground beneath
it, and the trains run-
ning by. A neigh-
bouring villa is Bou-
tique 87, where
another docudrama
of nature unfolds.
Guests in just
three rooms
enjoy 17
water bodies, with the occasional giant
windmill converted into a chic restaurant.
But the fulcrum is clearly the Marktplatz,
or Market Square, an expansive oblong
open area surrounded by Hanseatic build-
ings that are predominantly Gothic and
Renaissance in style.
The focal point is the city hall, in a mix
of Gothic and Renaissance styles (origi-
nally built in the 13th century and added to
later). As striking as the building is, it is
fronted by a towering Roland statue, a
stone knight symbol that is rooted in
medieval history but represents freedom.
Both are Unesco World Heritage sites. At
the other end of the square, St Peter’s
Cathedral dominates the skyline with its
elaborately sculpted facade and giant dou-
ble spires. The vaulted ceilings, medieval
crypts, even some mummies, within lend
it an air of mystery.
But the most endearing aspect of Bre-
men, and something it has adopted as its
symbol, stands outside the church. Called
the Town Musicians of Bremen, the statue
depicts four animals, each standing on top
of the other—a donkey, dog, cat and
rooster. It was inspired by a Brothers
Grimm fairy tale that tells the story of four
ageing domestic animals who overhear
their owner, a farmer, saying he plans to
kill them. So they run away to Bremen and
become town musicians. The sculpture, in
bronze, has been rubbed to a shiny sheen
by tourists who consider it a lucky charm
and believe this would ensure they visit
the city again.
Bremen’s conscious effort to take the
road to sustainability catches my atten-
tion. Much of the old town is vehicle-free;
for those who prefer a vehicle, an electric-
powered road train—Town Musicians
TRAVEL
(clockwise, from top) A view of Club
Villa Bentota; a lace-weaving
demonstration at Cinnamon
Bentota Beach (CBB); CBB offers
access to the beach; and the service
there is a standout.
Bremen’s Marktplatz; and (right) Gemüsewerft.
Express—ferries visitors to the main
sights. There are cyclists everywhere and
row boats can be rented to ply on some
water bodies. A series of zero-waste shops
stock everything.
Amidst shiny towering buildings and
construction sites, Gemüsewerft (literally
vegetable yard) not only holds its own but
seems perfect in the setting. Strolling
between the beds, founder Michael
Scheer points to the different herbs, vege-
tables, fruits and other plants, explaining
their philosophy: Gemüsewerft combines
urban food production and social service
(it employs people challenged in various
ways; Gemüsewerft offers dignity and a
COURTESY CLUB VILLA BENTOTA
acres set off against a paddy field, over-
grown footpaths and a jewel of a narrow
pool hidden in the foliage. As you walk
towards the pool, a statue of Hanuman
leaps out of the shadows. Are there ani-
mals around? I ask, as I make my way
through an especially overgrown bit.
“Sometimes snakes,” one of the hotel
staff says casually. “Wild boar occasion-
ally and lots of monkeys.” Boutique 87 is
booked often by film crews and advertis-
ing directors. No wonder: It really is
a movie set.
I usually skew towards
small villa properties in Sri
Lanka but the service at Cin-
namon Bentota Beach, when
I visited recently, was a
standout and its design hard
to beat. Not surprisingly,
Bawa’s late 1960s design has
been imitated time and again
across Sri Lanka. The resto-
ration, a few years ago, by
Channa Daswatte, who
worked closely with Bawa
as a young man and is a
ANITA RAO KASHI
safe space to work). “It combines eco-
nomic and urban sustainability,” he adds.
Their website explains that it “promotes
food skills with regard to cultivation
methods, cultivation techniques and
diversity of varieties. It imparts knowl-
edge about the harvest, processing and
preparation of food, illustrates the effort
involved in the production process and
promotes the seasonal consumption of
regional food”.
Scheer says the yard produces 75 kinds
of organic produce—herbs, tomatoes,
kale, lettuce, zucchini, etc.—that is sup-
plied to restaurants and cafés in Bremen.
Any excess produce is publicised on social
leading architect in South Asia (with
buildings in India ranging from a museum
in Porbandar, Gujarat, to hotels in Bengal
and Odisha), was meticulous. Many of the
chairs and table lamps designed by Bawa
and recreated for the renovation of the
lobby give it the flavour of Scandinavian
design, complete with textile genius Bar-
bara Sansoni’s panels for the ceiling that
mimic a Sri Lankan sunset. This is an
unforgettable setting for a grand wedding
or a quiet drink by the bar where bartend-
ers skilfully adapt cocktails to cater to
guests’ whims. The hotel even has an irre-
pressibly enthusiastic member of the staff,
Yashika, deputed to take guests around to
understand the different works of art. I
learn that Laki Senanayake’s dinosaur-
sized metal peacock was not moved from
the lobby even during the renovation.
On a visit in January, I split a few days
between Club Villa and Heritance Ahun-
galla. The latter was built in 1979 by a large
Sri Lankan conglomerate as the country
moved away from the excesses of a social-
ist state. With tourism suffering owing to
the back-to-back calamities of the pan-
demic and last year’s economic crisis,
parts of the hotel felt in need of a refresh.
But the charm of the front office staff, with
smiles that shimmer like the views around
them, makes up for this, as does a compli-
mentary all-day juice bar serving freshly
made wood apple and pineapple juice. A
singer with Rastafarian dreadlocks, who
does covers of Bob Marley every evening
on a stage with a Mughal hall of mirrors,
had a nice turn of phrase: “Welcome to
beautiful Sri Lanka, ladies and
gentlemen, where the politi-
cians are crazy.”
I have been visiting Club
Villa (designed by Bawa in the
mid- to late 1970s) since I
stayed there two decades ago
with my late parents on our
last holiday together. Its ele-
gant simplicity and
monastery-like
environs are not
for everyone
perhaps. I am
often over-
come with
both a
sense of
media and immediately picked up by the
local community.
In fact, the community has been an
integral part of the yard. “When our first
hops crop was ready, we wondered how to
harvest. On a whim, we put out a post on
our social media handles, asking for vol-
unteers in exchange for beer,” he recalls.
More than 300 people responded. Over
six years, it has become a tradition.
Scheer insists that projects like
Gemüsewerft are the way forward to
tackle issues such as ecology, food sustain-
ability and self-sufficiency, arguing that
food production in urban areas can help
redefine regional and seasonal food pro-
duction and consumption.
The Bremer Braumanufaktur, a small-
batch brewery that shares a wall with the
Gemüsewerft, takes the concept of hyper-
local a step further. Markus Freybler, who
brews a range of craft beers, from dark to
gratitude and loss, what Orhan Pamuk
identified as huzun, a nostalgia for another
time. Memories of that holiday come back
with near total recall but there’s also
appreciation that the Japanese owner
stayed religiously true to Bawa’s vision.
One rarely sees the other guests except at
mealtimes, making it easier to pretend to
be lord of the manor.
The past couple of decades have made
Sri Lanka a byword for sorrow and beauty.
A tourist may not notice the severity of the
economic crisis. The lawns and swimming
pools of The Villa and Club Villa, however,
are by the side of railway tracks. One con-
templates all too closely this most unequal
of economic recoveries: Commuters lean
out of jammed third-class carriages while
you daydream on a pool bed. Sri Lankan-
born author Michael Ondaatje’s comic
memoir, Running In The Family, captured
this contradiction when he wrote that the
1929 crash on Wall Street had “a terrible
effect: Many of the (race) horses had to be
taken over by the military.”
Yet Sri Lanka boasts of an unusual
esprit de corps even in crisis, evident in
the storming of the presidential palace last
September, which had the festive air of a
picnic. Last month, awaiting sunset, I was
walking along Bentota beach picking up
plastic bottles when I realised two boys in
their late teens had been swept out by the
riptides. After a half-hour struggle against
the rough sea, the first was pulled out by a
shaven-headed lifeguard. The other
required a team of four using small flota-
tion devices that looked like Styrofoam
gas cylinders. One watched, sick to the
stomach but also in admiration at both the
fragility of life and the strength of desire to
sustain it. When I spoke with one of the
lifeguards, where he had fallen to his
knees, spent, he said he was 53. The two
teenagers had to be hospitalised. The
resort manager of Cinnamon Bentota
Beach had come out to see if the hotel’s
pool attendants were needed.
That evening also seemed like a moral-
ity play in which industrious, ingenious
people somehow collectively overcome
the epic challenges fate all too often sends
their way.
Rahul Jacob is the author of Right Of
Passage, a collection of travel essays.
GEMÜSEWERFT.FACEBOOK PAGE
pale ale, jokes that he wanted a set-up
where the hops could be thrown over the
fence directly into the machine. “We call
it catcher in the hops,” he remarks, riffing
on the title of J.D. Salinger’s famous novel.
After the visit to the vegetable yard, Frey-
bler leads a tasting of his beers, including
the Übersee Ale, which uses hops from
next door. It has a distinct citrusy smell
and tingles on the tongue.
For me, the most touching and endear-
ing things were the bookmarks prepared
by Bremen Tourism: Two thin strips of
handmade paper sandwiched with
assorted seeds of the city’s flowers that
could be buried whole. I imagined bits of
Bremen sprouting all over the world.
Surely there can’t be a better way to sus-
tain the memory of a city.
Anita Rao Kashi is a Bengaluru-based
journalist and travel writer.
 LIVEMINT.COM NEWS Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai 13

m MINT SHORTS
‘Inflation slowing down personal
‘Sterling & Wilson RE to look
consumption, private investment’
Mumbai: Bringing down inflation and stabilising inflation expec-
tations will help revive private capital expenditure, according to
the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) June bulletin released on Fri-
for additional investments‘
day. “Recent national accounts data and corporate results when
read in conjunction clearly show that inflation is slowing down Rituraj Baruah
personal consumption. This, in turn, is moderating corporate sales rituraj.baruah@livemint.com
and holding back private investment in capacity creation,” said NEW DELHI
the bulletin. GOPIKA GOPAKUMAR
T
he board of Sterling and Wil-
son Renewable Energy Ltd is
Opposition parties unite for considering getting more
investments into the com-
2024 poll, BJP says not worried
PTI
pany, its global chief execu-
tive officer Amit Jain said. The talks for
raising further capital come after Reli-
ance New Energy Ltd, a unit of Reli-
ance Industries Ltd (RIL), completed its
acquisition of a 40% stake in the com-
pany in February last year. In an inter-
view, Jain said the company is consid-
ering expanding its operations and
diversifying into newer areas, includ-
ing battery storage and wind balance of
system (BoS). Edited excerpts:
What is your order book status? around pretty fast.
New Delhi: Leaders of 15 Indian opposition parties agreed What are your expansion plans for
on Friday to fight the 2024 national elections on a common the India business?
platform against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling We have an order book in excess of straints still persist?
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Meanwhile, BJP leaders said 4GW right now in India. As of 31 March,
What is the status of solar project
developments? Do supply con-
Module capacities are coming up. I
age globally. Can you outline your ing for the technology and the market
diversification plans?
We are going to cater to practically
all the major aspects with respect to debt right now?
renewables. We are already doing
Indian corporate. We are definitely TCS was recently rocked by a
going into wind BoS (balance of system) bribes-for-jobs scandal. MINT
this year. We plan to start with India
with a smaller project this year and
‘Blacklist
then see how those we can multiply
because there is a lot of demand every-
where across the world.
Are you looking at the emerging
vendors
space of green hydrogen?
Another area can be waste-to-energy
and green hydrogen. We have not
who take
planned for this fiscal in terms of green
hydrogen. We are keeping a close bribes’
watch. Once the electrolyzer technol-
FROM PAGE 16
ogy comes into place, because so far,
not even a single big plant is there in
the world, the whole hydrogen ecosys- ulatory compliance”. The
tem will take another three years to industry body said this is to
come into place. “safeguard the interests of both
We are not going to be a (green the employer-companies and
hydrogen) developer. So, we are wait- flexi workers”.
TCS is one of the largest
to mature and then decide our strategy. recruiters in the IT services
What is the scenario in terms of sector and employs a workforce
of 614,795 as on 31 March 2023.
Our debt is around ₹2,000 crore. We In FY23, it added 22,600

‘
they were not worried as there was little hope for such allian- in value terms, it was ₹4,500 crore. So, see the situation easing to a much bet- solar. We are going to plan to be Ebidta positive by FY24, employees on a net basis.
ces. Amit Shah, the Union home minister and the powerful typically, it has been 70:30, with over- ter situation than last year but not com- enter battery energy and retire our debt by “Recruitment firms who have
number two in BJP, called the meeting in Bihar’s Patna a seas having the major share of our busi- pletely. By the end of next year, I see the storage systems in a FY25. Further, right an alliance or are part of these
“photo session”. REUTERS ness. But now that pro- situation with respect to big way. We are We are definitely going now, looking at the bribes should be blacklisted,
portion is going to m INTERVIEW module supply com- already working on into wind BoS (balance ₹4,500 crore order and an industry body like ISF
reverse. By FY25, we pletely in control and projects overseas, and of system) this year. We book and whatever needs to have a whistle-blower
Yes Bank gets board approval for expected it to be 65:35, the domestic require- we expect to deliver orders we are going to policy. HR teams in client com-
with most of our business in India. ments, I hope, would be catered by projects in India plan to start with India book this year, reve- panies get their own set of
raising up to ₹2,500 crore in debt Reliance New Energy picked up local manufacturers. because this sector will with a smaller project nues will be signifi- recruiters, and that is an
Mumbai: Private sector lender Yes Bank on Friday said its board a 10% additional stake last year. But the only thing that needs to be explode and contrib- this year cantly higher than unhealthy practice that needs
has approved raising of up to 2,500 crore in debt. This fundraise Could we see further investments checked is that domestic manufactur- ute revenues in a big what we had in FY23. to stop,” said Ajit Isaac, founder
Amit Jain
in rupees or a foreign currency could be through non-convertible coming in? ers are not exporting the bulk of their way. Global CEO, Sterling and
Maybe we can say of India’s now largest staffing
debentures, bonds, or medium-term notes, among others, it said Options are open, and we are dis- manufacturing. That’s a big concern As early as this year, Wilson Renewable Energy numbers can come company Quess Corp.
in a regulatory filing. Shareholders will vote on the proposal at the cussing them with the board, but we for us that capacities are currently we should start work- close to double what Isaac highlighted that the
bank’s annual general meeting on 18 August. STAFF WRITER have not decided anything. Our net there, but most of the production, they ing on a project. We we had in FY23. issue especially plagues the IT
worth right now is negative, but with are supplying to US markets. So, the are talking to PE funds and others who So, to achieve an Ebidta positive, we sector since these firms “are
the upcoming projects and the portfo- export market is getting prioritized have set up their branches in India. So, have to do close to ₹4,500 crore. FY24 more prone to cutting costs
India may reduce wheat import lio, the growth in the market and the over Indian customers. we may start one of the projects as early and FY25 revenue numbers are going when it comes to hiring and
revenues we are expecting, we will turn You diversified into battery stor- as this year, either with a PE fund or an to be significant. hunker down on fees, leading
duty if needed: FCI chairman to poor quality of vendors”.
REUTERS
The names of the recruit-
ment firms that offered bribes

Micron India chips next year Adani shares plunge could not be ascertained, but
the lack of regulation in the hir-
ing industry is under the spot-

FROM PAGE 16
on US probe news
applicants to reapply in light of
the modifications made to the
$10 billion semiconductor
financial incentive scheme,
after which the government
New Delhi: India may lower wheat import duty if required, will evaluate their proposals.
said Ashok Meena, the chairman of Food Corporation of “All these modifications have
India (FCI), on Friday. There is a 40% import duty on wheat. to be accounted for by the
“Inflation above 6% due to higher cereal inflation is a cause applicants, so we have asked
of concern for the government. Retail prices of wheat and them that basis the modifica-
rice are on the upswing trend, and the government is explor- tions, please resubmit your
ing all possible interventions, including reduction in import applications or modify them,”
duty of wheat, to bring down prices,” Meena said. PUJA DAS Vaishnaw said, noting that the
proposals will be processed
after thorough checks. He
Kotak funds invest ₹732 crore added that some of the compa-
nies were also changing their
in NCDs of RattanIndia Power technology partners. Mint had
New Delhi: Kotak Strategic Situations India Fund II (KSSF II) and reported earlier that Vedanta-
Kotak Private Credit Fund (KPCF), managed by Kotak Investment Foxconn was likely to be
Advisors Ltd (KIAL), have invested ₹732 crore in the non-converti- approved ahead of the other
ble debentures (NCDs) of RattanIndia Power Ltd (RIPL), the com- two proposals.
pany said in a release. The investment is part of an overall ₹1,125 Micron’s plant in Sanand,
crore infusion by a consortium of lenders, RattanIndia said, adding Gujarat, will see investments of
that it will be deployed for refinancing debt. SAURAV ANAND $825 million, with the govern-
ment contributing the rest on
an ongoing basis, totalling
SP group firm is set to sell India’s $2.75 billion over the next five
years. The plant will employ
biggest low-rated bond next week 5,000 and create 15,000 addi-
Mumbai: Goswami Infratech, a Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) group firm, tional indirect jobs. Applied
is set to sell India’s biggest ever low-grade local-currency bond next Materials will invest $400 mil-
week. It is seeking bids on Monday for notes due in April 2026 to raise lion over the next four years to
$1.7 billion, according to people close to the matter. The planned set up a collaborative engineer-
zero-coupon bond is rated BBB- by Care Ratings. BLOOMBERG ing centre in Bengaluru, and
Micron’s plant in Sanand will see investments of $825 million,
with the government contributing on an ongoing basis.
Lam Research will train
60,000 workers for semicon-
ductor jobs over 10 years with
the virtual simulation pro-
gramme beginning in August
this year. Vaishnaw expects 2-6
new proposals with similar
investments as Micron or
Applied Materials to emerge in
the next 12 months following
the modification of the incen-
tive scheme. “From our under-
standing, anywhere from 2-6
good proposals is what we are
expecting in the coming 12
months. The investment range
we’re expecting is around equal
or more, some slightly less,
depending upon the technol-
REUTERS
ogy and what they would like to
focus on,” he added.
Micron Technology, Applied
Materials, and Lam Research’s
entry into India will allow for-
eign companies to diversify
their supply chains and miti-
gate concerns regarding their
dependence on China. “There’s
a natural driving incentive for
them. So, the China-plus-one
strategy is actually getting
started. And that (PLI scheme)
is feeding into our electronics
manufacturing ecosystem,
which is $106 billion,” Vaish-
naw said, in response to a ques-
tion on India becoming an
alternative to China.
FROM PAGE 16
just 39%, indicating height-
ened speculation.
The active futures contract
of Adani Ports also witnessed
the creation of fresh bearish
bets as the outstanding posi-
tions rose 6.58% alongside the
price correction in the con-
tract by over 4%. A rise in posi-
tions, along with price correc-
tion, indicates a bearish
build-up.
“Whatever recovery has
been seen in the group stocks
from the lows post-Hinden-
burg has not resulted in the
desired revival of investor con-
fidence,” said Rajesh Palviya,
technical head research at Axis
Securities. “Those with a low
risk appetite should avoid
these stocks as they are given
to sharp movements based on
news flows.”
Bloomberg also reported
that 12 of the 15 dollar bonds of
the Adani Group declined
intraday following the news,
with Adani Green bonds
maturing in September 2024
leading the losses.
“Adani operates a robust
Adani Ports down by 4.2%. AFP
corporate governance frame-
work and is strongly commit-
ted to following all laws and
regulations in all of its differ-
ent markets,” the spokesper-
son added. “We request the
media to avoid needless spec-
ulation at this time and wait for
Sebi and the Hon’ble Supreme
Court to complete their work
and submit their findings.”
Hindenburg, in a report on
24 January, alleged corporate
malfeasance against the group,
which it denied strongly. A
Supreme Court-appointed
committee also said there was
no prima facie evidence of
wrongdoing by the group.
light. “The entry barrier
required to become a recruiter
is low, and there is no way of
ensuring that those empan-
elled by the client are ethical,”
said Sunil Chemmankotil, chief
executive of Teamlease Digital.
A senior executive in one of
the largest recruitment firms
highlighted concerns arising
from the TCS scandal. “Clients
will now want to know who are
the vendors recruiting for the
tech firm and does the quality
of candidates gets impacted,”
said the senior executive who
did not want to be named.
The cracks in the IT sector,
including dual employment
and moonlighting, are starting
to show in recent years because
of relaxed oversight during the
pandemic and a subsequent
hiring frenzy as demand for
digitization surged. According
to reports, Infosys, TCS, Wipro
and HCL Technologies collec-
tively recruited more than
82,600 employees in FY23.
IT industry body Nasscom
declined to comment on the
scandal. A TCS spokesperson,
however, said: “While there are
complaints regarding code of
conduct violations that arise
from time to time, the company
has robust processes for inves-
tigating and resolving them.”

Search operation took place in ‘an incredibly unforgiving environment’

FROM PAGE 16
ble began its voyage Sunday,
according to officials involved
in the search.
Who were the passen-
gers on the Titan submersi-
ble?
Pakistani businessman
Shahzada Dawood was on the
craft with his 19-year-old son,
Suleman, according to a state-
ment from the family’s com-
pany. The Dawoods, one of
Pakistan’s richest families, are
owners of a conglomerate
called Engro that produces
everything from electricity to
fertilizer to milk.
British aviator and explorer
Hamish Harding was also on
board, according to his com-
pany Action Aviation, which
specializes in services includ-
ing aircraft brokerage, man-
agement and financing. Hard-
ing had undertaken a series of
record-breaking challenges
that led him to the depths of
the ocean and around the
world. He also went to space
on a Blue Origin flight last
year.
Another passenger, Paul-
Henry Nargeolet, was consid-
ered a leading authority on the
Titanic wreck, according to
the website of Experiential
Media Group. The Georgia-
based company lists Nargeolet
as its director of underwater
research.
Nargeolet spent 22 years in
the French Navy, rising to the
rank of commander. He com-
pleted more than three dozen
dives to the site of the wreck-
age.
OceanGate’s founder and
chief executive, Stockton
Rush, was also aboard the sub-
mersible, according to a
spokesman for the company.
What is OceanGate Expe-
ditions?
Rush founded OceanGate in
2009, saying in a speech last
year that he wanted to expand
deep-sea exploration.
The Washington-based
firm owns three submersibles,
including the Titan, that have
completed more than 200
deep-sea dives, according to
to join an expedition to see the
Titanic.
What documents did
passengers sign?
Past travelers on the Titan
said they signed a waiver
before boarding that men-
tioned the risk of death at least
three times.
What kind of craft was
the Titan?
The Titan was about 22 feet
long and equipped with a
sonar system, four LED lights
and a device that should have
allowed it to emit acoustic sig-
nals, according to OceanGate.
All five aboard the ill-fated submersible (clockwise from top left) The submersible launched
British explorer Hamish Harding, OceanGate founder Stockton from and landed on a sub-
Rush, Pak businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, and merged platform and was
deep sea explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet. VARIOUS SOURCES/AFP capable of reaching depths of
around 13,000 feet.
the company’s website. hours to travel from the sur- A video posted by the com-
OceanGate completed two face of the ocean to the wreck- pany showed that it had a low
trips to the Titanic wreck in age in the submersible. roof, requiring passengers to
2021 and 2022. OceanGate, a privately be seated, and a small window
This year’s expedition was owned company, lists six to look out from. Each mem-
slated to last 10 days, with board members, including ber was trained as a mission
eight days at sea. Stefan Willi- Rush, on its website. The other specialist for the eight-day
ams, a professor of marine members include an astronaut trip. The submersible had a
robotics at the University of and a financial executive. small toilet in the front that
Sydney, said it takes about two Tourists can pay $250,000 could be hidden by a curtain.
Rush said in a 2022 segment
with CBS News that the vessel
was operated by a videogame
controller. Such controllers
are commonly used in applica-
tions beyond videogames, said
Will McKeon-White, an ana-
lyst at technology research
firm Forrester.
The hull of the Titan was
made of a combination of tita-
nium and composite material
and was sensitive to defect,
said Eric Fusil, director of the
shipbuilding hub at the Uni-
versity of Adelaide in Austra-
lia. “For these depths we are
looking at perfect spheres…to
withstand such pressure,” he
said.
Any defect could cause a
pressure hull implosion,
which would take place in mil-
liseconds and would be large
enough to be picked up by
seismometers that detect
earthquakes, he said.
What is the difference
between a submersible and
a submarine?
A submersible is usually a
small boat or craft designed to
be sent underwater for
research and exploration.
They require a mother ship to
launch them, while tradi-
tional submarines are
equipped to leave port and
return on their own. A sub-
mersible is usually smaller
and has less power, so it
requires a larger ship to
launch and recover it.
The most common sub-
mersibles are robots that are
deployed from a mother ship
to the sea, where they record
and collect information and
samples for scientific research,
according to the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration.
NOAA operates three types
of submersibles: human-occu-
pied vehicles, remotely oper-
ated vehicles and autonomous
underwater vehicles. Human-
occupied vehicles are the ones
most closely resembling the
Titan. Such craft, first built in
the 1960s, contain compact
pressure hulls with a window
that allows those on board to
see out, according to NOAA.
What happened to the
Titanic?
The Titanic shipwreck has
captivated public attention for
more than a century. Operated
by the White Star Line ship-
ping company, the luxury
ocean liner departed South-
ampton, England, for its
maiden voyage across the
Atlantic to New York in 1912.
The ship sank the night of
April 14-15 in the North Atlan-
tic after hitting an iceberg. Of
the more than 2,200 passen-
gers and crew aboard, only
about 700 people survived.
Where is the Titanic
wreckage?
After years of intense
searching, the wreck of the
Titanic was discovered in 1985
by researchers from the Mas-
sachusetts-based Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution.
The wreck of the Titanic is
below 12,500 feet of water in
the Atlantic, about 350 miles
southeast of Newfoundland,
Canada, according to the
Smithsonian.
©2023 DOW JONES & CO, INC

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 14 Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai NEWS LIVEMINT.COM

Jio in talks
Children in cities
losing height edge
No additional US scrutiny of with banks
over rural kids steel, aluminium from India for $1.6 bn
to buy 5G
Priyanka Sharma
priyanka.sharma@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
equipment
This is part of the resolution of six out of seven disputes between the two nations at the WTO Bloomberg

C
hildren living in urban
areas no longer have a feedback@livemint.com
height advantage over Ravi Dutta Mishra & Rhik Kundu

R
those from rural areas, accord- ravi.dutt@livemint.com eliance Jio Infocomm
ing to a study by the Indian NEW DELHI Ltd. is in talks to raise a
Council of Medical Research loan for about $1.6 bil-

T
(ICMR). Research on the body he US has assured India that lion to fund the purchase of
mass index (BMI) of children a large majority of steel and equipment from Nokia Oyj,
and adolescents (5-19 years) aluminium products according to people familiar
between 1990-2020 high- Study shows less difference imported from the South with the matter.
lighted the complexity of fac- between urban, rural kids. HT Asian country will be Banks involved in the dis-
tors influencing children’s excluded from additional processes of cussions with billionaire
health globally. happened in the last few dec- scrutiny, commerce minister Piyush Mukesh Ambani’s telecoms
The study revealed that BMI ades,” he added. Over the years, Goyal said on Friday. company include Citigroup
differences between urban and people are at risk of physical This is part of the resolution of six Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc. and
rural children are diminishing. work at diminished levels and out of seven disputes between the two JPMorgan Chase & Co., said
This indicated declining bene- health complications. nations at the World Trade Organiza- the people, who asked not to
fits of urban living for growth The trends in South Asia tion (WTO), Goyal said. The develop- be named because the matter
and development over the last would apply to India, he said. It ment tracks prime minister Narendra is private.
30 years in most regions across showed that BMI of children Modi’s state visit to the US this week, The loan will likely have a
the world. The trend has now and adolescents increased which included meetings with US pres- maturity of as much as 15
been published in the latest more in rural areas than in ident Joe Biden and other top govern- years and will be priced over
issue of Nature journal. urban cities, leading to a clos- ment officials. the Secured Overnight
“We have analysed the ing of urban–rural difference. “They have given us an assurance Financing Rate, they said.
global data among the interna- Researchers from three that at least 70% of all such requests for As the deal hasn’t yet been
tional group NCD Risk Factor ICMR institutes—National steel and 80% for all such requests for finalized, the lineup of banks
Collaboration Institute of Medi- aluminium application, for products This is a very big victory for India and a mutually beneficial arrangement for both countries, minister Piyush Goyal said. PTI and the terms may still
(NCD-RisC),” Dr In India, kids’ BMI cal Statistics, originating from India, will be excluded change.
Himanshu Chat- increased more in (NIMS), National from additional processes for Section said. The six trade disputes that will be American workers and manufacturers, Meanwhile, the commerce ministry- Finland’s export credit
urvedi, director rural areas than in Institute of Nutri- 232,” Goyal said. terminated include three disputes each in violation of WTO norms that bar backed Export Credit Guarantee Cor- agency, Finnvera, will issue
general at ICMR- urban cities, tion (NIN) and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion from the US side and India. subsidies that distort global trade. poration of India (ECGC) on Friday said guarantees covering the
NIMS, one of the National Centre Act of 1962 authorises the US com- The disputes filed by the US This is a very big victory for India and it has carried out the expansion of 90% majority of the loan, they said.
leading to a
authors of the for Disease Infor- merce secretary to conduct compre- included countervailing measures on mutually beneficial arrangement for insurance cover for exporters with a Nokia announced last
paper, said. The closing of urban– m a t i c s and hensive investigations to determine certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat both countries, Goyal said. He added credit limit of ₹50 crore, a cover limited October that it had clinched
study showed that rural difference R e s e a r c h the effects of imports of any arti- products, countervailing meas- that India continues to seek the to ₹20 crore earlier. an agreement to supply Jio
low height and (NCDIR)—evalu- cle on its national security. ures related to renewable restoration of the General- “Earlier, ECGC used to with equipment for its 5G
excessively low ated data from Mint had on 19 June energy sector, and certain ized System of Preferences compensate 60% of the rollout in India.
BMI increases the risk of mor- 2,325 studies, with measure-
bidity and mortality, and low ments of height and weight
reported that India and
the US are in advanced $5.7
bn
of imports into the
measures on steel and (GSP) status that was
aluminium products withdrawn by the US %
Compensation
export losses incurred by
exporters. Last year, 90 Ambani’s Reliance Indus-
tries Ltd was first out of the
height impairs cognitive devel- from 71 million participants in talks for an out-of-court from India. government in 2019. ECGC increased the starting blocks to offer 5G in
opment and reduces educa- 200 countries. settlement to resolve US got duty-free Meanwhile, disputes India was the biggest limit increased by compensation to 90% India, after investing billions
tional performance and pro- ICMR said there is a need to major trade disputes at status in 2017 filed by India that are set beneficiary of the GSP ECGC last year. with an export limit of ₹20 of dollars to acquire the air-
ductivity in later life. A high implement policies and pro- the WTO, and headway is to be terminated include status in 2017, with $5.7 bil- crore, which benefited the waves.
BMI in these ages increases the grammes that improve growth expected soon. measures relating to solar lion worth of imports into the small exporters. When 90% of JPMorgan, Citibank and
lifelong risk of obesity and sev- and development outcomes in “It’s a package deal, where they cells and modules, additional US given duty-free status. About the losses are being compensated, HSBC declined to comment.
eral non-communicable dis- children. Poverty, inflation, (US government) have assured (us) that duties on certain products and other 2,000 products including auto parts the account becomes an AA count, A Nokia spokesperson
eases, and might contribute to lack of nutrient-rich food, and all the exclusion requests that export- export related measures. and textile materials were allowed to which lowers the interest rate,” Goyal declined to comment when
poor educational outcomes. changes from the covid pan- ers and importers from the US make— Earlier, the US, in its complaint, had enter the US duty-free. said. contacted by Bloomberg about
“The objective of this study demic and the war in Ukraine very often there are requests made for alleged that these “apparent export “It (GSP) is a matter for us to pursue “From 1 July 2023, the scheme will the loan talks, as did Finnvera.
was to understand the changes may hinder further gains or exporters for allowing certain products subsidies” offer financial benefits to and have dialogue. However, the US be extended to accounts that borrow up A representative of Reli-
in the growth and development even set back healthy growth to be exported—will be excluded from Indian exporters, allowing them to sell Congress will have to take the final to ₹50 crore for export purposes,” the ance Industries declined to
of children worldwide that and development in children. under the tariffs of Section 232,” Goyal goods cheaply to the detriment of decision (on this),” Goyal added. minister said. comment.

India likely to HDFC Life gets GST Dubbing woes over foreign films Icra flags CBAM hit
offer digital
infra to several demand of ₹942 cr to steel cos’ profits Lata Jha
lata.j@livemint.com
audiences who enjoy foreign Shaikh said adding that the
cinema. In India, most viewers more mainstream the offering,
countries Mayur Bhalerao taking appropriate steps in due
NEW DELHI prefer dubbed content in their the better chances there are of
regional languages over subti- returns. Dubbing Chinese Subhash Narayan & markets and potentially result

D
mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com course to reply to the show espite the growing rec- tles owing to India being a lin- films such as Enter the Dragon, Saurav Anand in loss of market share in the
Shashank Mattoo & MUMBAI cause notice and contest the ognition of interna- guistically diverse country, Shaolin and The Shaolin Tem- region for Indian mills, it
subhash.narayan@livemint.com
Gulveen Aulakh matter,” the insurer said in a tional language pro- with a rich tapestry of regional ple helped improve reach mul- added. The implementation of

H
shashank.mattoo@livemint.com DFC Life Insurance regulatory filing on Friday. gramming in India, certain languages,” Ashish Saksena, tifold. NEW DELHI CBAM further exacerbates the
Company Ltd said it has The company has already territories such as South Korea chief operating officer, cine- Benefits of dubbing aside, situation. CBAM is a mecha-

S
NEW DELHI received a notice from deposited ₹250 crore under and Japan refuse to grant dub- mas, BookMy- studios and film- teep rally in carbon prices nism designed to impose taxes
the tax authorities relating to protest on this matter. It said bing rights to film distributors Show said. Territories such as makers in certain and compliance require- on embedded carbon imports

I
ndia is in talks with a num- Goods and Services Tax (GST) the insurance regulator has and streaming services. While these S Korea and Japan markets can also ments of the Carbon Bor- from various sectors, includ-
ber of developing countries dues of ₹942 crore granted approval Instead, they insist on subti- countries like refuse to grant be averse to der Adjustment Mechanism ing steel, aluminium, cement,
to extend its digital public from July 2017 till for transfer of tles, aiming to maintain the Korea and Japan dubbing rights to exploring remake (CBAM) could heavily weigh hydrogen, electricity, and fer-
infrastructure (DPI) part- 31 March 2022. The regulator has HDFC Life shares authenticity of the show or may change their
also approved film distributors rights of standal- on profits made by Indian steel tilizer.
nerships, according to per- The notice owned by HDFC film. stance over time, one films or producers on exports to the The EU aims to level the
sons aware of the matter. relates to the HDFC to buy Ltd to HDFC However, industry experts it is common for and streaming shows if the for- European Union (EU) by playing field for its steel mills,
Earlier this month, India claiming of input additional shares Bank in view of argue that this approach filmmakers in services mat has already $60-165 per tonne between which have been struggling to
signed a Memorandum of tax credit against in HDFC Life to their proposed restricts the content’s reach in certain foreign been sold to a 2026 and 2034, cope with rising
Understanding (MoU) with supply of services, own over 50% of amalgamation. a country like India, where markets to streaming plat- credit ratings Since 2021, carbon prices.
Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suri- which the tax total share capital The regulator has most viewers prefer dubbed remain averse to dubbing, said form. agency Icra said carbon prices in Since the begin-
name, and Antigua and Bar- authorities also approved content over subtitled alterna- Yusuf Shaikh, business head, “Often there are restrictions on Friday. Europe have ning of 2021, car-
buda on sharing its ‘India believe are ineli- HDFC to buy tives. feature films at production and on even selling remake rights The steel mak- more than bon prices in
Stack’ with them. gible for such additional shares “Filmmakers in countries distribution firm Percept Pic- to other markets and makers ers are facing Europe have
doubled,
India Stack broadly refers claims. HDFC Life has been in HDFC Life to own over 50% like Japan and Korea often tures. in these countries will let go off challenges in more than dou-
to digital solutions imple- advised by its legal and tax of its total share capital. Shares prefer subtitles for their con- “Their point of view is that business but will not explore reducing their increasing costs bled, inflating
mented at population scale to counsel that it has a good con- of HDFC Life closed 1.44% tent to preserve authenticity the accent could sound funny such deals,” said Adita Jain, carbon footprint for EU steel mills costs for EU mills
deliver social benefits. These testable case. lower at ₹629.8 apiece on the and cultural context. This or the authenticity gets lost. senior associate vice presi- as they have an as they exceed
agreements were signed at “This is an industry-wide NSE underperforming a 0.56% approach has been widely However, in India, dubbing dent, acquisition and syndica- average emission their annual free
the Global Digital Public issue, and the company will be fall in the benchmark index. appreciated by international can make a huge difference,” tion, IN10 Media Network. intensity of about 2.6 tonne emission allowances.
Infrastructure (DPI) Confer- carbon dioxide per tonne of India exports up to 3-5 mil-
ence, which was held on the crude steel, 12% higher than lion tonnes of finished steel to
sidelines of a G20 working the global average level of Europe every year, according
group on the digital economy.
According to the persons
cited above, India is now in
Modi hails progress in US-India relations 2.32, Icra said in a release. to Icra. India produced 122 MT
The implementation of finished steel in the last finan-
CBAM is expected to affect cial year. Average emission
talks with several countries in between 15% and 40% of intensity of leading Indian pri-
the global South, including in FROM PAGE 16 Indo-Pacific, shorthand for fearless in their choices, where In another context, Modi also gallery and regularly chanted India’s annual steel exports to mary steel producers is 12%
Latin America, Africa and China’s behaviour and actions, progress is not suffocated by said India created “capabili- “Modi, Modi” through the the EU. Failure to address the higher than the global average
Southeast Asia, to extend firming India’s commitment to to the American legislature impossible burdens of debt, ties, not dependencies”, speech, which may well have carbon footprint issue could level from the blast fur-
these DPI partnerships. principles of sovereignty and united across party lines in its where connectivity is not lev- another dig at Beijing. taken by surprise legislators lead to lower profits in EU nace route, Icra said.
Digital public infrastruc- territorial integrity and antipathy towards Beijing. eraged for strate- From the press not used to political sloganeer-
ture has become a key facet of reminding the audience that “The dark clouds of coercion gic purposes, Modi combined gallery of the ing from the gallery as they sit CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
India’s diplomatic outreach to he had “directly and publicly” and confrontation are casting where all nations humour and House, HT saw on the floor.
the developing world. Key said this was not an era of war, their shadow in the Indo-Pa- are lifted by the optimism as he members clap- As he rushed to the Con- Mint welcomes comments, suggestions or complaints about errors.
elements of India’s DPI offer- in a bid to allay any apprehen- cific. The stability of the region h i g h t i d e o f showcased India’s ping over 50 gress after prolonged meet-
ings are its UPI digital pay- sions or where India stood on has become one of the central shared prosper- times and offer- ings and a joint press confer- Readers can alert the newsroom to any errors in the paper by
dynamism and emailing us, with your full name and address to
ments interface, the Aadhar the war in Ukraine. concerns of our partnership,” ity,” Modi said. ing a standing ence with President Joe Biden
bio-metric digital identity But he also spoke about the Modi said. He added that both Each reference technological ovation over half at the White House, Modi first
feedback@livemint.com.

system and data management
systems like DigiLocker.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi made a pitch for the wide-
spread adoption of India’s DPI
solutions during the G20 Sum-
mit in Bali in November 2022.
importance of diplomacy, the
impact of the war on the
Global South, and the need to
end the suffering, which drew
applause.
He also offered a stark warn-
ing about the challenges in the
India and the US dreamt of a
“free, open and inclusive Indo-
Pacific, connected by secure
seas, defined by international
law, free from domination”.
“A region where all nations,
small and large, are free and
can be read as a embrace a dozen times met the US Congressional It is our policy to promptly respond to all complaints. Readers
critique of China, during Modi’s leadership — House Speaker dissatisfied with the response or concerned about Mint’s journalistic
which is seen as hour-long Kevin McCarthy and minority integrity may write directly to the editor by sending an email to
coercing smaller nations, trap- speech. The mood was rather leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate asktheeditor@livemint.com
ping them with debt, and electric, in no small measure majority leader Chuck Schu-
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 LIVEMINT.COM NEWS Saturday, 24 June 2023
Chennai 15

Lagos Free Zone woos Exited Byju’s board, say Peak XV, Prosus
Staff Writer Deloitte Haskins & Sells,

Indian manufacturers feedback@livemint.com

NEw DELhI
which audited the books of
Byju’s for six years, also said it
was resigning with immediate

V enture capital firms

Peak XV Partners and
Prosus Ventures have
confirmed the resignations of
their representatives from the
LFZ is looking for investments in pharma, consumer goods, chemicals board of Think and Learn Pvt.
Ltd, the parent of India’s larg-
est edtech company Byju’s.
Shashank Mattoo “We confirm that G.V. Rav-
shashank.mattoo@livemint.com ishankar, managing director,
NEw DELhI Peak XV Partners, has
resigned from the board of
effect, citing long-delayed
financial statements for the
year ended 31 March 2022.
Byju’s then termed the news
of its directors resigning as
“speculation” and “firmly
denied” the reports. Byju’s did
not immediately respond to
requests for comments on Fri-
day.
On the same day, Byju’s
Byju’s has separately been in a legal tussle with the lenders of the named BDO as its new auditor

T
he Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), a Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd. We are $1.2 billion term loan B it raised in November 2021. BLOOMBERG Peak XV owns around 6% of
private free trade zone in committed to supporting the Think & Learn, while CZI
Nigeria, is looking to attract company in bringing on board entity) on the board of Think & three external board members owns 2.5-3%, and Prosus 9%.
Indian investments in fields an independent director in Learn, has also resigned from of Think & Learn had stepped But the edtech company has
such as pharmaceuticals, con- order to strengthen business his position. “The company is down from the board over dif- over 70 investors on its capta-
sumer goods and chemicals, managing processes and internal control required to file the resignation ferences with the founder over ble.
director Dinesh Rathi said. The zone, mechanisms,” a spokesperson letter with the ministry of cor- the delayed filing of FY22 Byju’s has separately been
which is owned by a Singapore-based for Peak XV Partners, formerly porate affairs in India within financial statements as well as in a legal tussle with the len-
conglomerate, has received around $2.5 Sequoia Capital India, said in a the required time period,” the its approach to its lenders. This ders of the $1.2 billion term
billion in investments so far, which it statement. spokesperson added. They did included Vivian Wu, the rep- loan B it raised in November
aims to double over the next five years. A Prosus Ventures spokes- not give any specific reasons resentative of the Chan Zuck- 2021. It also declined to make
“In Nigeria, we operate two verticals. person also said Russell Drei- for the resignations. erberg Initiative (CZI). Wu did an interest payment earlier in
One is an infrastructure vertical, which senstock, the representing On 22 June, Mint reported, not respond to a request for June, citing predatory tactics
comprises the free zone, and the other is director from MIH Edtech citing people with knowledge comment. by lenders and pending law-
a deep sea port, which is called Lekki Investments BV (a Prosus of the development, that all On Thursday, Byju’s auditor suits.
Port. This special economic zone solves
a lot of problems, which business opera-
tors generally encounter in many emerg-
ing markets like Nigeria. One is transpor- The LFZ has also featured in discussions between the governments of India and Nigeria,
tation and logistics, which is solved by said Dinesh Rathi, managing director, Lagos Free Zone .
the presence of Lekki Port,” Rathi said.
Won’t reach 2030 emissions goal: Tata Steel
The presence of a free zone and a port, African nation include Tata group, Bajaj nership, Jaishankar had said that India- Bloomberg nology and research and tion costs will rise due to the promising involves replacing
coupled with fiscal incentives, is aimed at Auto and Bharti Airtel. Africa trade had grown to $98 billion in feedback@livemint.com development at Tata Steel, newer technologies will also coal with green hydrogen,
luring major Indian companies which The LFZ has also featured in discus- FY23 from $89.6 billion the previous said in an interview this week. prove to be a challenge to which is made using renewa-

T
already have operations in Nigeria. Lekki sions between the governments of India year. ata Steel Ltd says it won’t The company is relying on use steelmakers, Bhattacharjee ble power.
Port, partly owned by a Chinese com- and Nigeria, Rathi said, though not at the Indian companies may benefit from be able to achieve a goal of scrap metals to cut emis- said. The exact amount will However, limitations in the
pany, has been active for some months highest levels. the recently created African Continental to cut emissions by 2030 sions for now, he said. depend on factors including use of hydrogen and scrap in
now. There is much government interest in Free Trade Area (ACFTA), which came unless development of new Tata’s warning the cost of scrap the steelmaking process, cou-
“All of this creates a strong into force in 2019, Rathi said. technologies is accelerated. comes as global The co seeks to and hydrogen, pled with low quality domestic
value proposition for TAPPING INTO TRADE “The overall mandate of the India’s second-largest steel steelmakers face trim carbon the ability to gen- iron ore, could hamper decar-
anchoring Indian compa- ACFTA is to create a single producer is seeking to trim massive costs to emissions from erate profits from bonization efforts, Bhatta-
nies, which are not only look- THE zone, owned by THIS SEZ solves a lot THE LFZ is in talks continental market with a emissions from the current 2.5 green their oper- 2.5 tonnes for other products charjee said.
ing at Nigeria, but also want aconglomerate,
Singapore-based of problems, which with several large population of about 1.3 bil- tonnes of carbon dioxide for ations. The Euro- generated from “If the world largely moves
has business operators Indian companies every tonne of
to use it as a beachhead for got around $2.5 bn in face in emerging already present in lion people and a combined every tonne of the alloy pro- pean Union is carbon dioxide, to hydrogen-based direct
other parts of Africa because investments so far markets like Nigeria Nigeria GDP of approximately $3.4 duced to 1.8 tonnes in 2030, planning to alloy produced to and potential new reduced iron and electric arc
there is an Africa continental trillion,” according to the and achieve net zero by 2045. implement taxes 1.8 tn in 2030 carbon taxes, he furnaces, then high quality ore
free trade area,” Rathi said. African Union’s website. That’s even as it plans to dou- on supplies from said. will be at a premium—it’s
The LFZ is in talks with several large strengthening India’s economic links to Rathi also believes that Indian compa- ble its Indian capacity to 40 high emission- The global already a premium, it will be
Indian companies already present in Africa. According to external affairs min- nies may find it attractive to manufacture million tonnes by the end of producing countries, poten- steel industry is experiment- more so,” he said. “So there is a
Nigeria, Rathi said, adding that the dis- ister S. Jaishankar, India-Africa trade will in Nigeria given that the country is eligi- the decade. tially hitting profitability of ing with several decarboniza- huge economic risk that we
cussions are at an advanced stage with cross $100 billion soon. ble for duty-free access of exports to “New technologies have to mills struggling to reach net tion techniques, all of which see if you go entirely in that
some of the potential Indian investors. Speaking at the CII-EXIM Bank Con- America for a range of products under come in,” Debashish Bhatta- zero targets. are at an early stage of devel- route, even if the electricity
Leading Indian entities present in the clave on the India-Africa Growth Part- the African Growth and Opportunity Act. charjee, vice president of tech- Expectations that produc- opment. One of the most and hydrogen is green.”

Power cost to vary

based on time of day
FROM PAGE 16
energy transition, he added.
“ToD tariffs will improve the
management of renewable
generation fluctuations, incen-
tivize demand increase during
periods of high RE generation
hours and thereby increase
grid integration of larger quan-
tity of renewable power,” Singh
added.
Several state electricity regu-
lators have already imple-
mented ToD for large commer-
cial consumers. Smart meters
will bring the system to domes-
tic consumers as well. The sys-
tem is used worldwide to man-
age power demand by incentiv-
izing consumers to shift some
consumption from peak to off-
peak times. The ministry also
amended rules to reduce pen-
alties for an increase in con-
sumer demand beyond the
maximum sanctioned load or
demand. “As per the amend-
ment in the metering provi-
sion, post-installation of a
smart meter, no penal charges
will be imposed on a consumer
A SYMBOL
based on maximum demand
recorded by the smart meter
for the period before the instal-
THAT STANDS FOR
CLARITY & CREDIBILITY
lation date. Load revision pro-
cedure has also been rational-
ized in a way that maximum
demand shall be revised
upwards only if the sanctioned With a rich legacy spanning more than nine decades, Hindustan Times
load has been exceeded at least
three times in a financial year,” has always upheld the values: clarity and credibility. As India’s leading
the statement said. Smart news brand, we stand by our resolve every day to continue upholding
meters will be read remotely at
least once a day, and the data the truth in our essence.
will be shared with consumers
to help them take decisions
about the consumption of elec- Keep Reading Hindustan Times to stay updated
tricity, the ministry said.
saurav.anand@livemint.com

‘No need for a higher

real interest rate’
FROM PAGE 16 there are worries about the
extent of demand destruction
The current real repo rate is that it will cause and the con-
close to 1.5% based on projec- sequent damage to economic
ted inflation 3-4 quarters growth. So, any further rise in
ahead. In ensuing months, the the real rate would be
first couple of quarters of extremely damaging.
2024-25 would move into the What is leading you to
forecast horizon. I expect move more cautiously vs
inflation projections for these your past stances, which
quarters to be lower than the were decisively dovish and

‘
projections for 2023-24. If clear that we are overdo-
that happens, ing it?
the real repo I still think
rate would Inflation risk has that the cur-
rise even fur- moderated due to rent mone-
ther if the lower crude oil and tary policy is
nominal repo excessively
rate is left commodity prices and tight because
unchanged. the abating of supply the optimal
Monetary chain disruptions real rate is
policy must probably
Jayanth Varma
focus on the External member, MPC closer to 1%
real policy than to 1.5%.
rate and not However, my
the nominal rate. It would more pressing concern now is hindustantimes htTweets www.hindustantimes.com
therefore become necessary to that the MPC might, by sheer
adjust the nominal repo rate to inaction, let the real rate rise
ensure that the real repo rate even above 1.5%, which would
does not rise above the optimal be extremely damaging to the
level. Even at a 1.5% real rate, economy.
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 CHENNAI, NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 17 NO. 149 Rs. 15.00 16 PAGES

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Peak XV, Prosus confirm exit No extra US scrutiny on steel,

livemint.com from Byju’s board uP15 aluminium from India uP14

SENSEX 62979.37 259.52 NIFTY 18665.5 105.75 DOLLAR ₹82.03 ₹0.082 EURO ₹89.12 ₹1.05 OIL $73.03 $1.11 GOLD ₹58169 ₹251

Adani shares plunge Blacklist

vendors who
DON’T MISS

offer bribes,
on US probe news say recruiters
Devina Sengupta
US is investigating Adani’s statements to investors, report said devina.sengupta@livemint.com
MUMBAI
HDFC Life Insurance gets GST
Ram Sahgal

L
eading Indian recruiters demand of ₹942 crore
Ram.sahgal@livemint.com mARkET RIPPLES have demanded stricter HDFC Life Insurance Co. Ltd said it has
MUMBAI audits and blacklisting of received a notice from the tax authorities
The market value of 10 Adani group firms declined by $5.9 billion, the
Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for electronics, IT and telecom, said companies that offer bribes for relating to goods and services tax (GST)

A
sharpest drop since 22 February.
dani group shares the first chip from the plant will be out by Dec ‘24. PTI job placements. The Indian dues of ₹942 crore from July 2017 till 31
Closing price (₹) % change March 2022. The notice relates to the
plunged the most by Staffing Federation (ISF), rep-
value in four months
after Bloomberg
reported that US
Adani Enterprises

Adani Transmission

Adani Power
2,233.55
757.5
242.4
-6.83
-5.83
-5.53
Micron India plant to resenting over a hundred
recruiters, plans to seek details
from Tata Consultancy Servi-
claiming of input tax credit. >P14

Sterling & Wilson RE to look

authorities, including the depart-
ment of justice and the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC),
Ambuja Cements

Adani Ports and SEZ

425.8
714.3
-4.28
-4.20
make chips next year ces Ltd (TCS) on the recent hir-
ing scandal at India’s largest IT
company.
for additional investments
The board of Sterling and Wilson Renewable
launched an investigation into the NDTV 214.2 -3.71 “Our regulatory committee Energy is considering getting more
conglomerate’s statements to Gulveen Aulakh largest semiconductor com- will approach the brand and see investments into the company, CEO Amit
ACC 1766.9 -3.54
American investors following gulveen.aulakh@livemint.com pany in the world. So, it’s a very if they can share information Jain said in an interview. He said the
Adani Wilmar 404 -3.38
short-seller Hindenburg Research’s NEW DELHI big endorsement of our semi- related to the investigation company is planning to diversify into newer
allegations against it. Adani Total Gas 634.3 -3.18 conductor program,” he added. enabling us to assist as an areas, including battery storage. >P13

The combined market value of 10
group companies fell by $5.9 billion
to $119.5 billion, marking the steep-
est decline since 22 February, when
it slid by $6.3 billion to $91.43 bil-
lion. Adani Enterprises and Adani
Ports, both Nifty stocks, registered
a 6.83% and 4.2% decrease, respec-
tively, in response to the report.
Other notable losers were Ambuja
Cements, Adani Power, and Adani
Transmission, which experienced
declines ranging from 4.3% to 5.8%.
An Adani group spokesperson
said it was unaware of such a devel-
opment. “We are not aware of any
such subpoena to investors. Our
various issuer groups remain confi-
dent that the disclosures are full and
complete as disclosed in the rele-
vant issuer offering circulars,” the
Adani Green Energy
SHARP STING
SCRUTINy of Adani
group follows
Hindenburg’s report
spokesperson said. “We strongly
reject any suggestion that Adani
group and its businesses have not
acted as per the regulations and
accounting standards of the juris-
dictions in which they operate.”
Despite the group’s clarification,
speculators had a field day on the
cash counters of the two group
heavyweights.
A total of 15.2 million Adani
Enterprises shares were traded on
T
959.85 -1.54 he first semiconductor
Source: Bloomberg chip from US-based
Micron Technology
Inc.’s plant in India will roll out
‘WE are not aware of 15.2 million shares of by December 2024, said Ash-
any such subpoena,” Adani Ent changed wini Vaishnaw, minister for
the group said hands on NSE Friday railways, electronics, IT and
telecom.
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
“The first semiconductor
NSE on Friday, the highest since 9 unit of India will be set up by
February, while just 1.89 million Micron Technologies... We’re
shares changed hands, showing hopeful that within the next six
that traders squared off their bets quarters, we should have the
before the market closing. first made-in-India semicon-
On Adani Ports, the number of ductor chip rolling out of this
shares traded of 15.4 million was the factory,” Vaishnaw said in an
highest since 15 March, when 15.5 interview. “Micron leads the
million shares changed hands. memory chip manufacturing
Here, too, delivery volumes were used by laptops, mobiles, serv-
ers, electric vehicles and tele-
TURN TO PAGE 13 com equipment and is the fifth
Meanwhile, companies that
submitted their applications
last year under the $10 billion
financial incentive scheme
have been asked to reapply.
Micron’s investment will
come ahead of those proposed
by Vedanta-Foxconn JV, Inter-
national Semiconductor Con-
sortium (ISMC) and Singa-
pore’s IGSS Ventures, which
submitted their proposals last
year. The government subse-
quently modified the incentive
scheme to attract more chip-
makers in October and in June
2023.
Vaishnaw said that the gov-
ernment requested existing
TURN TO PAGE 13
industry body,” Lohit Bhatia,
president of ISF, which
requires members to uphold a
code of conduct, told Mint.
Bhatia’s comments followed
Mint’s report on Friday that
TCS discovered that a few sen-
ior executives entrusted with
hiring thousands of critical per-
sonnel accepted bribes from
staffing firms, compromising
the recruitment.
In a separate statement on
Friday, ISF urged “all stake-
holders, including corporates
and the government, to con-
sider engaging staffing compa-
nies that prioritize ethical
employment practices and reg-
TURN TO PAGE 13
Dubbing restrictions limit reach
of international content in India
Despite the growing popularity of
international language programming in
India, certain territories such as South Korea
and Japan have refused to grant dubbing
rights to distributors and streaming services.
Instead, they insist on subtitles. >P14
Jio plans to raise about $1.6 bn
for equipment purchase
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is in talks to raise
a loan for about $1.6 billion to fund the
purchase of equipment from Nokia Oyj,
according to people familiar with the matter.
Banks are involved in parleys with billionaire
Mukesh Ambani’s telecom company. >P14

Modi hails progress in US-India Power to cost more during

ties in address to US Congress peak hours and vice versa
Prashant Jha including on climate, using the Saurav Anand & Rituraj Baruah consumption during peak
letters@hindustantimes.com platform to present New NEW DELHI demand hours by raising tariffs
WASHINGTON Delhi’s achievements to a for the period and lowering the

E
powerful audience that wields lectricity usage may cost tariff for the lean-demand

P
rime Minister Narendra enormous influence in deter- less during the day and period. This is also expected to
Modi said the momen- mining American foreign pol- more during the night, promote the use of renewable
tous progress in Ameri- icy. He highlighted democracy with the Union power ministry energy. Mint earlier reported
ca-India (AI) ties surpassed the and diversity as India’s innate preparing to roll out the that the system would be
Jayanth Varma, an external member of the monetary policy remarkable advances in artifi- values in a setting with con- so-called time-of-day (ToD) implemented in a phased man-
committee (MPC), says inflation risk has moderated. cial intelligence (AI) in the cerns about India’s recent tariff system. ner once the smart metering
seven years since his last record on both. He laid out a During solar hours, a stretch project is complete.

‘MPC’s inaction address to the US Congress.

Modi termed his visit a
moment of “great positive
India and US are united by a
persuasive case for the mutual
synergies that had already
propelled the India-US rela-
of eight hours set by the respec-
tive State Electricity Regula-
tory Commission, the tariff will The time-of-day tariff system
ToD is a “win-win” for con-
sumers as well as the power sys-
tem, Singh said.

may drive real

transformation” and the deep- common vision and a common tionship forward. He raised be 10-20% below normal, while is set to be rolled out. “During non-solar hours,
ening of the India-US partner- destiny, Prime Minister new frontiers of progress in during peak hours at night, the thermal and hydropower, as
ship as the “calling of this cen- Narendra Modi said. REUTERS the chamber where bipartisan tariff will be correspondingly for commercial and industrial well as gas-based capacity, is
tury”. support for ties exists. And he higher, a power ministry state- (C&I) consumers with a maxi- used – their costs are higher

rates over 1.5%’ “We are united by a com-

Gopika Gopakumar You said that monetary
gopika.g@htlive.com policy is now dangerously
MUMBAI close to levels at which it
can inflict significant dam-
mon vision. And, by a common
destiny. When our partner-
ship progresses, economic
resilience increases, innova-
tion grows, science flourishes,
knowledge advances, human-
ity benefits, our seas and skies
deliver,” Modi told a joint
meeting of the Senate and the
House of Representatives on
Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Modi combined humour
(including good-natured digs
at the partisan battles that
mark the operation of the US
hailed the role of the diaspora,
acknowledging, in particular,
the person sitting behind him,
vice president Kamala Harris
and the “samosa caucus”, as
the five Indian-American
members of the House
informally call themselves.
ment said.
“ToD tariffs comprising sep-
arate tariffs for peak hours,
solar hours, and normal hours
send price signals to consumers
to manage their load according
to the tariff. With awareness
and effective utilization of ToD
mum demand of 10 KW and
above beginning 1 April 2024;
and a year later for most other
consumers except in agricul-
ture.
The ministry has amended
the Electricity (Rights of Con-
sumers) Rules, 2020, to intro-
than that of solar power – this
will be reflected in ToD tariff.
Consumers can plan their con-
sumption in order to reduce
their power costs, planning
more activities during solar
hours when power costs are
less,“ Singh said.

T
he Reserve Bank of age to the economy. Do you are safer, democracy will shine Congress) and optimism as he Modi spoke about the chal- tariff mechanism, consumers duce the new system, which This will also ensure better
India’s monetary policy expect rate hikes off the brighter, and the world will be showcased India’s recent eco- lenges of the moment, includ- can reduce their electricity will take effect as soon as smart grid integration of renewable
is excessively tight as the table for this fiscal year? a better place…. Together, we nomic dynamism, social wel- ing the war in Ukraine, reaf- bills,” Union power minister meters are installed. energy and facilitate faster
optimal real rate is probably The real interest rate is now shall demonstrate that democ- fare, technological embrace R.K. Singh said. The new system’s key objec-
closer to 1% than 1.5%, said Jay- close to 1.5% based on forward- racies matter and democracies and global contributions, TURN TO PAGE 14 ToD tariffs will kick in first tive is to disincentivize energy TURN TO PAGE 15
anth Varma, an external mem- looking inflation projections,
ber of the monetary policy and there is no need for a
committee (MPC). In an inter- higher real interest rate to deal
view, Varma explained that as with the inflationary pressures
inflation falls as projected in that exist today. Inflation risk
the next three to four quarters, has moderated considerably
What happened to the Titan submersible in the deep ocean?
real rates will rise, and there- due to lower crude oil and
fore maintaining a pause could commodity prices and the Gareth Vipers long search for the submersi- Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Rescuers had focused on an
effectively abating of sup- feedback@livemint.com ble and its passengers. Mauger, who has been leading area where Canadian aircraft
mean tighten-
m INTERVIEW ply chain dis- The Coast Guard said the search. Experts previously detected banging noises

T
ing. Edited ruptions. Infla- he five people inside a Thursday it found debris con- said death would have been underwater, officials said
excerpts: tionary expec- submersible that went sistent with “the catastrophic instantaneous in those cir- Wednesday. Officials said
You mentioned in the min- tations have come down and missing Sunday are loss” of the submersible’s pres- cumstances. Thursday there didn’t appear
utes that with every succes- are now well-anchored. I believed to be dead, according sure chamber approximately Asked about the prospect of to be any connection between
sive meeting, the stance is expect inflation to keep com- to the U.S. Coast Guard and the 1,600 feet from the bow of the finding the passengers’ bodies, the noises and where debris
becoming more and more ing down due to (a) the lagged company that operated the Titanic. Mauger said the operation from the vessel was found.
disconnected from reality. effect of the rate hikes that vessel. What’s the latest update took place in “an incredibly What is the timeline of
What should the stance be, were undertaken during the The craft, called Titan and on the search? unforgiving environment.” events?
according to you? last year or so, (b) supply-side operated by OceanGate Expe- The search uncovered five “We’ll continue to work and Officials are still piecing
If there is to be a stance at all, measures by the government, ditions, major pie- to search the area but I don’t together a timeline to deter-
it should be a neutral stance and (c) the lagged effect of dived in an ces of have an answer for prospects,” mine when the submersible
since the risks are now evenly declining wholesale prices. area about debris that he said. imploded, Mauger said.
balanced. In the past, I have Since inflation is expected 900 miles told investi- The Titan submersible, whose disappearance on 18 June led to a Teams and equipment from A top secret military acous-
argued for replacing the to be above 5% in the sec- off Massachusetts’ Cape Cod gators they had found the massive rescue operation, deep into the Atlantic Ocean. around the world converged in tic detection system designed
stance with projections by ond, third and fourth quar- on an expedition to visit the Titan’s remains, including a a remote part of the North to spot enemy submarines first
individual MPC members of ters, does it require a wreck of the Titanic. Titan lost nose cone and the front-end ocean floor in a smooth area which was helping with the Atlantic to help with the heard what the U.S. Navy sus-
the future trajectory of the pol- change in policy rates and contact with a research vessel bell of the pressure hull, offi- without any debris from the search. search. They combed an area pected was the Titan implo-
icy rate, and I would make the stance? on the surface about one hour cials said at a news briefing Titanic shipwreck, said Carl “The debris is consistent at least twice the size of Con- sion hours after the submersi-
same recommendation now as and 45 minutes into the dive, Thursday. Hartsfield of the Woods Hole with the catastrophic loss of necticut for the 22-foot-long
well. TURN TO PAGE 15 kicking off a desperate, days- The debris was found on the Oceanographic Institution, the pressure chamber,” said Titan. TURN TO PAGE 13

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