Sunday, October 22, 2023
backpage
St+ART takes over a tram
in time for Durga Puja
GO TO » PAGE 8
WRITERS' RETREATS
Finding their
muse, from Goa
to Himachal
Retreats for writers are on the rise in India — with big­name
mentors, masterclasses on the beach, and yoga and heritage
walks to spur the imagination. But is there value beyond
networking and bragging rights?
Nidhi Gupta
I
t was on the remote
Scottish island of Jura that
George Orwell found the
perfect “extremely
un­get­able place” to write 1984.
Virginia Woolf wrote her stream
of consciousness novels from a
shed at the edge of her family’s
Sussex estate Monk’s House. Ian
Fleming wrote his pacy James
Bond thrillers in the languor of
his estate in Jamaica. Barack
Obama chose the South Pacific
island of Tetiaroa, an estate once
owned by Marlon Brando, to
write his post­POTUS memoir.
For as long as writers have
been writing, they have been
retreating — away from the daily
grind, far from the madding
crowds, cut off from urban noise.
But solitude, it seems, is not
necessarily what modern­day
writers’ retreats are offering; nor
is it necessarily in demand.
For Yagna Balaji, carving four
days out of her busy schedule to
decamp to Cabo Serai in South
Goa, had less to do with isolation
and more with seeking
inspiration. “As a journalist,
writing has become more a
function of our jobs, formats,
patterns… We are commissioned
to do things,” says the former
editor and CEO of DT Next, and
CM
YK
TIBETAN CAUSE
now marketing professional. “I
wanted to reconnect with the
kind of writing that drew me to a
profession like journalism in the
first place.”
Balaji found what she was
looking for at KYO Spaces’ first
writers’ retreat in mid­September.
She was one of a group of 16, who
were under the mentorship of
Kolkata­based writer Karuna
Ezara Parikh. “Cabo Serai was the
perfect sort of organic,
pollution­free, isolated space.
Karuna is a very generous, very
involved guide. Unlike most
artists’ retreats, KYO Spaces
didn’t have rigid rules as to who
could attend. So, the biggest
revelation for me was meeting
this collective of people —
scriptwriters, poets, filmmakers —
who were just passionate about
writing.”
Leveraging books and
purposeful travel
Writers’ retreats are often
luxurious, even expensive
experiences. Unlike the more
serious­minded writers’ residency
— a longer­term, structured
commitment that allows a writer
to focus on a project, in the
company of like­minded folk,
with a hefty price tag that is
occasionally supplemented with
financial aid — the retreat is
mostly open to anyone who
LITERARY REVIEW
A day with the Dalai Lama
in Dharamshala
GO TO » PAGE 8
X Retreats to
Outbound inspiration Silk Road Slippers’ Marrakech writers’ retreat — with
Nobel laureate in Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah and Booker Prize­winner
Shehan Karunatilaka as guests — will be hosted at Jnane Tamsna; and (below)
writers at work at Cabo Serai under author Karuna Ezara Parikh’s mentorship.
destination as a travel incentive,
or incorporating food trails and
such.
Retreats such as this have
punctuated the subcontinent’s
landscape for a lot of 2023,
resorting to picturesque
Himalayan valleys and the
Arabian seaside alike. In March,
award­winning author of
Shambala Junction, Dipika
Mukherjee, led a course in
“international immersion writing”
aspires to be a writer of any sort at the Himalayan Writing Retreat
or even simply to improve their in Nainital. In May, Mandodari
storytelling skills. Remote, author Koral Dasgupta led one at
beautiful backdrops are Te Aroha, Dhanachuli, in
mandatory, they last for fewer Uttarakhand, around the theme
days, and there’s often a lifestyle of ‘Power Women in Indian
element involved — KYO Spaces’ Mythology’. In September, Meera
retreat also focused on yoga; Ganapathi, editor of Soup
others are leveraging the magazine, helped a small group
The peer advantage
At Bound India’s retreats, Tara Khandelwal (above) believes the
alumni network is a huge incentive. Past retreat attendees who
have been published include, among many others, Lavanya
Lakshminarayan, who debuted in 2020 with her speculative
fiction Analog/Virtual; Kuhu Joshi, whose book of poetry My
Body Didn’t Come Before Me, was published by Aleph recently;
and Praveena Shivram, whose young adult title Karuppu was
published by Zubaan Books earlier this year. “They’ve blurbed
books for each other, they’ve offered feedback,” she says. “It’s
an immersive experience, not least because it offers
peer­to­peer review.”
No dolce vita in author
Jhumpa Lahiri’s latest
GO TO » PAGE 2
understand the “why” of writing
at Slow Garden, Leh.
“Each retreat has a different
flavour,” says Tara Khandelwal,
founder of Bound India, an
independent brand that helps
writers get published, which
began with a writers’ retreat
five­and­a­half years ago in Goa.
“We chose Divar Island because it
was still very ‘writer­ly’ and
isolated back then. Someone I
knew had just opened a boutique
hotel inside a 200­year­old
Portuguese villa. I wanted to
organise a retreat with 12 writers
and three mentors, and the villa
had exactly that capacity. It felt
like serendipity.”
CONTINUED ON
» PAGES 4-5
bookmark
● November 2023, Silk Road
Slippers masterclasses at Jnane
Tamsna in Marrakech, Morocco.
Guest authors: Nobel laureate in
Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah
and Booker Prize­winner Shehan
Karunatilaka. Five­day course
is £3,200
● February 2024, Silk Road
Slippers masterclasses with
Sunday Times­bestselling author
Clover Stroud; and March 2024,
with Monica Ali, author of the
iconic Brick Lane, venue: Jnane
Tamsna in Marrakech, Morocco.
Five­day course is £3,200
● Bound India Writers’ Retreat,
Divar Island, March 2024
(tentative). Check website for
applications announcement three
months prior
● The Himalayan Writers Retreat
has two in 2024: in March, with
American writer Tiffany Quay
Tyson ($3,300) and in April,
with British novelist Jacqui
Lofthouse and Indian writer
Chetan Mahajan (£2,900)
● KYO Spaces writers’ retreat
with Karuna Ezara Parikh, March
2024 (tentative). Follow the
Instagram page for updates
● Creative Writing Course by
Chetan Mahajan, October 14­18,
Himalayan Writers’ Retreat,
Nainital; ₹27,200 per person
A change in geography,
routine, diet, and the lack
of certain everyday
responsibilities can help
bring about subtle shifts,
which is crucial for fiction.
I wrote 40% of my book in
that one month
ANINDITA GHOSE
Author of The Illuminated
 THE HINDU
02 literaryreview magazine
Sunday, October 22, 2023

GETTY IMAGES

And all of a sudden,

winter comes
What role can poetry play in a world besieged with climate
crisis? Two recent anthologies attempt to lend an answer

X
Frozen beauty A
shikara on the
Dal Lake in
Srinagar. (GETTY
No
dolce
IMAGES/ ISTOCK)

vita
Nishi Chawla, is a heftier volume, not only
Somak Ghoshal for its girth but also the seriousness of its
curation. To begin with, the editors don’t

I
n 1798, when Romantic poets William
Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor
Coleridge published their iconic
collection, Lyrical Ballads, they effectively
launched a manifesto in the Preface,
shy away from grappling with a tough
question: what role can poetry play in a
world besieged with climate crisis? “The
writer’s world is not only the social world,”
they argue, “but the ecosphere itself.” The

celebrating the appeal of the “ordinary”. It
was a bold move, considering that heroic
couplets and epic themes were the flavour
of 18th century British poetry.
By training their own, and readers’,
in Jhumpa’s
answer to fixing our broken world isn’t in mentioned by a single initial,
“museumising” nature through eco­parks for instance, like a secret
and conservation projects. Rather, we must whispered over a glass of
feel a deep sense of urgency, an emotional amaro.
pull to soil and sun. We need “a shock” to The narrators in Roman

attention to the joys and sorrows of
everyday life, Wordsworth and Coleridge
reinvented the poet’s role in public life. It
was no longer enough for poets to dazzle
with boombast. Instead, they had to build
bridges between readers and the
fast­changing world they lived in, with the
Industrial Revolution wreaking havoc over
rural and urban landscapes all over
Europe.
Two centuries later, as rampant
consumerism continues to dig its talons
ever deeper into the fabric of society, poets
(indeed, artists of all descriptions) are
taking fresh stock of the damages being
wrought on nature by humans.
Climate­action poetry, eco­literature, call it
what you will, is forcing us to reckon with
latest
our systems, which have become Stories vary. It is sometimes a
indifferent to the ravages of young girl, sometimes a
industrialisation. middle­aged man fantasising
about an affair, and
Balancing act sometimes a third person
Spanning geography and language, the observing the action with
selected poems live up to these lofty aims. detached ease. This is where
Ricardo Bellveser’s ‘Plant Growth’, the book visibly falters. In ‘P’s
translated from the Spanish by Nishi Parties’, for instance, the male
Chawla, ends with a haunting declaration: The Pulitzer­winning author’s short stories set in narrator isn’t very convincing
We only understand/ that time has passed, when he describes beach
when/ everything stops and all of a sudden Rome, and originally written in Italian, reflect the cover­ups and pearl­grey wool
winter comes. P.N. Gopikrishnan’s shawls. In ‘The Steps’, a
Malayalam poem ‘How Does An ‘Un’ Get idea of ‘othering’ and always being an outsider seamstress jarringly
Added to Our Ease’, translated by comments on a film crew’s
Satchidanandan, sparkles with aphoristic And who knows liminality “dolly and clapboard”.
wisdom: What we call a tree is also/ the Anindita Ghose better than the immigrant?
mark of a vanished forest. Geoffrey Himes The first of the book’s three Nods to the Italian life

subjects that Wordsworth and Coleridge
once labelled “ordinary”, and look at them
from an all­new perspective. What used to
be ordinary — nature in all its glory, All
things bright and beautiful/ All creatures
great and small — is becoming scarce, as
species of flora and fauna become extinct
from the planet.
Clarion call
Two recent anthologies address the
devastating impact of this vanishing natural
world by bringing together a multitude of
poetic voices from across the globe, writing
in a range of languages. Count Every Breath:
A Climate Anthology, edited by Vinita
Agrawal, is a slim, albeit uneven, collection.
Theme­driven anthologies are often
susceptible to setting a template for writers
to pursue a single agenda with dogged
earnestness. In several poems in this
volume, such a tendency results in trite
attempts at rhyming lines rather than
poems (Salil Tripathi’s ‘The Problem Is
Yours Now’, for instance). But thankfully,
there are exceptions that more than make
up for the disappointments.
The hint of menace in Mani Rao’s sparse
lines in ‘Lately, the Colour of Water’, the
limpid grace of Medha Singh’s ‘Rewilding’
(All I want in the anxiety and aimlessness of
world/ and ecstasy is the courage of gardens
that endure/ the quiver of time), and the
arresting imagery in poems by Michele
D’Costa, Pratisthya Pandya and Sridala
Swami stay with the reader.
Greening the Earth: A Global Anthology of
Poetry, edited by K. Satchidanandan and
Greening the Earth
Ed. K. Satchidanandan into the earth, so all the world/ was touched
& Nishi Chawla
Penguin
₹599
writes with scathing exactitude about the
rot in us: The swamp swallows everything,
nutritious and noxious alike./…We too
swallow the tasty and the toxic.
Count Every
Breath
Ed. Vinita
Agrawal
Hawakal
Publishers
₹400
The beauty of the poems in Greening the
Earth comes from their delicate dance
between poignant tragedy and ironic
indictment. Thanks to global warming/ an
Inuit community/ up in the Arctic Circle/ sees
its first ever wasp, Penelope Shuttle writes
in ‘Wasp’. She unfurls this striking thought
over the next eight lines, closing with
haiku­like concision, with the stunning
image of a Japanese sex doll.
Almost all the poems in this volume
handle diction and form with a bold
confidence. In some, the two come
together to create magic. Vivek Narayanan’s
‘Chitrakuta’, for instance, based on an
episode in Valmiki’s Ramayana, takes us
back in time, only to remind us of our
current predicament. In the beginning, the
gods accepted man/ as a victim, the poet
writes, Later the ability to be sacrificed/
passed from him into antelope and horse./
From horse into cattle, from cattle/ into
sheep, from sheep into goat, then from/ goats
by our humility, our/ complicity.
Few lines capture the reality of the
world we live in with such precision, grief,
and subtlety.
The writer is based in Delhi.
F
or a book about a
city known for its
Colosseum and
ancient fountains,
Jhumpa Lahiri’s latest
collection of shorts, Roman
Stories, is coloured by new
beginnings. Lahiri’s characters
are immigrants who arrive on
boats, a couple coming to
terms with the death of their
12­year­old son, and a widow
living by herself for the first
time, among others.
This is not the Rome of
Fellini films and Patrician
women in black dresses who
perfume their décolletage.
Here, there are red
construction cranes on the
horizon and the view from the
top of the scalinata, known to
tourists as the Spanish Steps,
is “satellite dishes and
smokestacks with impetuous
fumes”.
In what is perhaps one of
the most daring literary
experiments in contemporary
times, Lahiri has written only
in Italian since she moved to
Rome in 2012. Of the 13 stories
in the book, she has translated
all to English herself except
three critical ones translated
by Todd Portnowitz.
I had interviewed Lahiri in
Kolkata in 2015, not long after
her move, and this idea of
always feeling like the outsider
was a persistent thread in our
conversation. I found Lahiri’s
deeply­embedded sense of
liminality present throughout
this book — the houses are on
the outskirts of the city,
women return to Rome to
relive old memories, the men
sit on the outdoor tables at
trattorias. The essence of
Roman Stories is a dark cloud
that belongs as much to the
ground below as it does to the
uncharted territory of the sky.
sections is devoted almost
entirely to them. They are
dark­skinned, politely called la
moretta or heckled as ragazza
on the street; they wear “long
cotton dresses and veils” and
speak of homelands with palm
trees, crows and dusty roads.
In the most devastating story
in the book, ‘Well­Lit House’,
a young father of five thinks
back to the journey to this
country after the war killed
his grandparents. He
remembers the white
butterflies flitting above the
sea’s surface, almost seeming
to lead the way. Once in
Rome, however, there are only
cicadas that leap out of trees
and frighten his wife.
Resonating with the times
Reading Lahiri the week we
encountered news of millions
of displaced Palestinians was
particularly affecting. The idea
of othering — the idea of a
woman being told by school
children that she is dirty and
unliked — it is these minor
humiliations that lead to big
wars. But apart from a single
mention of the Bengali word
alna in the ‘Notes’, there is no
indication that the woman is
South Asian. Indeed, the
Reading Lahiri the week
we encountered news of
millions of displaced
Palestinians was
particularly affecting. The
idea of othering — the idea
of a woman being told by
school children that she is
dirty and unliked — it is
these minor humiliations
that lead to big wars
Roman Stories
Jhumpa Lahiri, trs with
Todd Portnowitz
Penguin
₹499
sociological details of the
characters seem to matter less
than what the city makes
them feel.
Not all the immigrants in
Lahiri’s stories arrive on
boats, however. ‘P’s Parties’
brings together the foreign
correspondents, diplomats,
and their wives who spend
their afternoons shopping for
shoes and indulging in
leisurely lunches — the Italian
way — with mothers of other
children who go to the same
international school as theirs.
But even in these circles, a
new arrival is prone to
wearing an off­season dress
and a “heavy and complicated
necklace”. A year later, she is
dressed in black “like nearly
all the other women in the
party”.
Section two’s ‘The Steps’ is
a collection of character
sketches of those whose lives
revolve around the Spanish
Steps. Though unambitious in
scope, it brings readers closer
to the residents. There is an
intimacy to lovers being
Surprisingly, architectural
descriptions do not weigh
down the book. Yes, there is
the romance of the piazzas,
bridges, derelict archways and
church facades with “a few
bricks missing” but it isn’t a
sycophantic ode to the city.
There are musty apartments
with chandeliers that dangle
precariously too. There are
several nods to the Italian love
for tradition and routine and
there is food, of course. From
glasses of chinotto to hot
plates of pasta, from the
cotechino at the salumeria to
the panettone and pandoro —
it is recommended to have
some form of pastry around
while consuming these pages.
The stories often feel
long­wound and unrewarding,
but even non­Lahiri lovers will
concur that the third section
delivers. The four stories here
offer the gut­punch
reminiscent of her
Pulitzer­winning debut book
of shorts, Interpreter of
Maladies, that with its silver
cocktail dress pooled on the
closet floor and Mr. Pirzada,
the botany professor from
Dhaka, carving a pumpkin.
The last story, ‘Dante
Alighieri’ is a stunning
meditation on the passage of
time, and the graceful
acceptance of fate. Incipit Vita
Nova — Latin for “And so
begins a new life” — is the
message in its denouement.
Profound for a city so proud
of its ageing churches and
wrinkled faces. This story, this
dull golden knife through our
chest, is what we have always
loved Jhumpa Lahiri for.
The writer’s debut novel
The Illuminated is now out in
paperback internationally.

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CM
YK
THE HINDU
magazine
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Landscape in a flux
A compendium on the Nilgiris shows how rapid
urbanisation, climate change and exploitation
have taken a toll on the indigenous people
Geeta Doctor
I
t’s difficult not to have echoes of
A.E. Houseman’s poem about “the
land of lost content” rustling
through the leaves of this compendium
of images and histories on the Nilgiris
collated by Paul Hockings.
As Professor Emeritus of
Anthropology at the University of Illinois
and also Editor­in­Chief of Visual
Anthropology, Professor Hockings brings
an overview of the area that we
recognise as the Nilgiris. Between the
introductory essay by Hockings on
Ootacamund, also known as Ooty and
Udhagamandalam, which has gone
through many transformations after the
Englishman John Sullivan planted his
stake in the area, and the closing chapter
written by Indu K. Mallah, who creates a
mytho­poetic image of its inner world,
the effect is of opening a portmanteau of
recollections from the past.
These include a deeply perceptive
engagement with the primeval forest
lands and the people who have been
living there as recorded by scholars from
a variety of disciplines. It’s also heavily
cross­referenced with an extensive
selection of notes and sources, even if
some of these often mention Hockings’
own contribution. There are maps,
drawings, reproductions from old news
items, and a comprehensive selection of
photographs taken by an early
enthusiast, the veteran photographer
A.T.W. Penn.
Musical notes
In the chapter, ‘A nineteenth century
photographer of the Nilgiris and its
People’, Christopher Penn notes: “In
1865, now aged sixteen, Penn was sent to
study at the Ooty studio. It was there
(Plates 1­3) that he was married in 1870,
raised his family, and then worked for
almost half­a­century.” As a further link
to Penn, we are told that during a grand
farewell to the family by the St. Stephen’s
choir group, the chief organist was a
certain Charles Misquith. The notes
confirm that the same Misquith was the
owner of a shop at Madras, Misquith and
Co. (founded in 1942), selling musical
instruments, and that it continues in
Chennai today as ‘Musee Musical’.
Having established a survey of the
unique vegetation and forests besides the
weather with essays by R.J. Ranjit Daniels
and Hans J. von Lengerke, the interest
shifts to a description of the
communities, particularly five major
Nandini Bhatia
A
woman’s passion is
often perceived as an
expression of emotion
than of ambition. Their zeal is
sentimental and their success,
a stroke of luck. Anita Mani,
founder of India’s first bird
book imprint, Indian Pitta
Books, actively engages with
this passive aggression that
women face in their
professions, especially in the
field of science and scientific
research, in her latest book
Women in the Wild. Her focus is
on wildlife, depleting
biodiversity, and the women
who have dedicated their lives
to its research, protection and
preservation.
The anthology features a
vast array of pioneering
biologists and ecologists. There
is India’s first ‘Birdwoman’,
Jamal Ara, about whom so little
is known; the ‘Turtle girl’ J.
Vijaya, who saved olive ridley
turtles; wildlife biologist Vidya
Anita Mani’s focus is on wildlife, and the
Athreya who spent years women who have dedicated their lives to its
studying life patterns of
leopards; Divya Mudappa
research, protection and preservation
known for her resilient work in
the area of restoration ecology; observations on marine
Dr. Uma Ramakrishnan who is conservation and the
passionate about uncovering inconsistencies in seafood
tiger genetics; and Dr. Divya consumption. Writers,
Karnad famous for her journalists and scientists who
CM
YK
X The
Stepping out Kotas
and Badagas at a
community
gathering in
Udhagamandalam.
trailblazer
(SATHYAMOORTHY M.)
tribal groups, Todas, Badagas, Kotas,
Kurumbas and the Irulas. Each of them,
or their sub­groups, live in individual
clusters specialised in certain areas of
production that they tended to barter on
different occasions. Sharada Srinivasan
in describing Ancient Nilgiri Metallurgy,
and Marie­Claude Mahias on the women
potters of Kota find fascinating stylistic
and technical connections that suggest
influences way beyond the blue
mountains.
From references to the Toda influence
on John Sullivan by Anthony R. Walker
and the settlement taking shape under
him in the early 19th century by Philip K.
Mulley, we get ‘Through Badaga Eyes:
The Social Construction of a Cultural
Landscape’ by Frank Heidemann. Tarun
Chhabra brings the Todas’ recollection of
the Raj alive through their songs; while
William Tallotte describes the actual
process of recording tribal music. Pratim
Roy and Anita Varghese write a
wonderful account of honey hunters
who rappel down their ropes to collect
honey from beehives clustered around
The Nilgiri Hills:
A Kaleidoscope
of People, Culture,
and Nature
Edited by Paul
Hockings
Orient BlackSwan
₹975
the underside of cliffs.
Yet, as Indu K. Mallah writes in her
essay, ‘The Symbiosis of the Nilgiris’,
“although the symbiotic relationship
between the indigenous peoples
continues in essence and spirit today,
time, changing values and lifestyles, and
exploitation have taken their inexorable
toll.”
One can only end with a quote by
Pope Francis as recorded by Indu K.
Mallah who describes the unbreakable
link between indigenous people and the
environment.
“For them, land is not a commodity,
but rather a gift from God and from their
ancestors, who rest there, a sacred space
with which they need to interact if they
are to maintain their identity and
values.”
The reviewer is a Chennai­based
writer and critic.
Georgias of the
jungle
have composed these essays
are also prominent names in
the field, including the
award­winning
journalist­writer Teresa
Patrick Olivelle’s biography
brings out the multi­dimensional
personality of Ashoka who
redefined kingship and what
it meant to be a Buddhist
Manu S. Pillai
U
nder Ashoka, the last
great Mauryan
emperor, the empire
extended across
almost the entirety of the Indian
subcontinent. In his new book,
Ashoka: Portrait of a Philospher
King, Patrick Olivelle examinies
the life of Ashoka, and issues
around his approach to
violence, religious harmony, his
relationship with Buddhism and
his development of the concept
of dharma. In an interview with
the historian Manu S. Pillai, the
Professor Emeritus at the
University of Texas at Austin
explains why Ashoka is ‘unique’
in many ways. Edited excerpts.
Question: You describe Ashoka as
a “Philosopher King”. In India, we
hear of warrior kings and
poet­kings. Is the philosopher king
a rarer commodity?
Rehman, environmentalist Zai
Whitaker who comes from a
long line of naturalists,
columnist and conservationist
Neha Sinha, and Mani herself,
among other women and some
men.
A way of life
While the philosophy of
conservation and sustainability
Answer: Yes, indeed, it is not
only rare but perhaps unique.
The only other example one can
think of is the Mughal king
Akbar. There are so many ways
in which Ashoka is “unique”,
and that was part of his
greatness. His ancestors did not
provide a blueprint for his
activities. He was a trailblazer.
But, alas, his successors were
unable or unwilling to follow his
path.
Q: You argue that he was “not a
Buddhist king but a king ‘who
happened to be’ a Buddhist.” Why
is kingship critical to
understanding Ashoka?
A: I want to “centre” the royal
identity of Ashoka because that
is the identity Ashoka himself
asserts throughout his writings.
Even in his letter to Buddhist
monks he identifies himself as
“raja/lāja” — king. None of his
other identities —as Buddhist,
Moral Philosopher, Ecumenist —
or initiatives would have been
possible were he not the king.
X and fauna. For these women,
Green warriors
(clockwise from left)
Divya Mudappa at a
restoration site; Pooja
Choksi installing an
acoustic monitor on a
tree; and Dhanusha in
Andaman islands. (NATURE
CONSERVATION FOUNDATION,
SARIKA KHANWILKAR, AND
SANTIAL TOPPO)
is embedded in our traditional
history, it is fast being replaced
by commercial values. In our
urban pursuits, we remain
disconnected from nature. In
an effort to reverse this,
Women in the Wild interacts
with indigenous, local and
dependent communities –
trying to preserve the culture
as much as the science of flora
literaryreview 03
One other reason is that except
for his first Minor Rock Edict, he
never propagates Buddhism.
Ashoka may have provided the
space for Buddhism to thrive.
Ashoka was not its cause.
Q: Ashoka’s dharma is an
interesting substance. What
makes it different from mere
state sponsorship of Buddhism?
A: Ashoka’s dharma was not
a simple recasting of the
Buddhist dharma. It is
something novel. Yes, Ashoka’s
thinking on dharma and other
religious topics was influenced
by his Buddhist faith. But he
went beyond this. Many of the
central tenets of Buddhist
philosophy are absent in
Ashoka’s articulation of dharma.
The only prominent shared
feature is Ahimsa, not killing or
hurting living beings. But that
was a cornerstone of morality
common to many new religions
that originated in Magadha,
Ashoka’s home territory. He
envisaged dharma as something
that stands above the individual
religions of his day and adds
value to them.
Q: There is the old cliché of Ashoka
as a pacifist. You demonstrate that
this is not accurate. Do tell us
about this tension.
A: Ahimsa creates many moral
dilemmas. Do you not kill
someone who comes to kill your
family? Does the killing of
animals prescribed in rituals go
against Ahimsa? What about
soldiers? So, Ashoka’s dilemma
is the inevitable corollary of a
moral philosophy based on
absolute Ahimsa. For Ashoka as
an individual, this is expressed
in the first Rock Edict where he
confesses that three peacocks
and one game animal continue
to be killed each day in the
imperial kitchens. And he is
clear in several writings that he
can and will use force when he
must. There has been a
controversy about whether
Ashoka abolished or maintained
capital punishment. It is clear
from his writings that he
maintained the practice. So, the
tension you allude to is there in
Ashoka’s writings.
Q: What was the religious
landscape in Ashoka’s
time? We find him
not so much
encouraging
tolerance
conservation is more than a
career choice; it is a “way of
life”. Regardless of the subject
of their study, who they’re
trying to save — someone with
leaves, wings, paws, fins or
shells; or where — on the hills,
under the ocean, deep inside
forests or caves — their goal is
simple: to bring the nuances of
ecology and human geography
under the limelight. In the
process, they face multiple
challenges: from managing
funds to controlling the effects
of climate change on wildlife.
They spend a lifetime fighting
for animal sensitivity and
minimising human­animal
conflict — “bridging science
and society” through this triad
of life, lifestyle and livelihood.
As spokespersons, they use
media to communicate
science. As activists and
historians, they bring tangible
change in policy and
Women in the
Wild: Stories
of India’s
Most Brilliant
Women
Wildlife
Biologists
Anita Mani
Juggernaut
₹499
as seeking to construct something
greater.
A: Ashoka’s attitude to what we
may call “popular religion” was
different from his attitude
toward organised “higher”
religions of his day, the ones he
calls Pasanda. He is quite
dismissive of the former. He has
a far more positive view of
Pasandas — after all, he himself
belonged to one, the Buddhist.
However, it appears that he
thought most Pasandas were too
inward looking and antagonistic.
He asks them to be “nice” to
each other — that is tolerance.
Yet, Ashoka thinks that more is
required. He makes the
astonishing claim that no single
Pasanda possesses the full truth.
Astonishing, because as a
Buddhist he must have been
told that the Buddha obtained
the fullness of dharma at his
enlightenment. Ashoka claims
that to be truly learned one
must “listen” to others. So, yes,
Ashoka was seeking something
more than mere tolerance. I use
the modern word ecumenism to
describe his effort.
Q: Who, in the end, ‘was’ Ashoka?
You highlight that the book is not
an answer but a search.
A: In the book, I try to bring out
his multi­dimensional
personality. So, there may not
be a simple answer. He was a
king; a Buddhist; a writer; a
preacher; an educator. From
today’s perspective he may
seem to be arrogant and
self­righteous. He demanded
obedience from his bureaucrats.
At the same time, he did break
the mould of what a king was
supposed to be. He redefined
kingship. With his ecumenical
spirit and endeavour, he also
redefined what it meant to be a
Buddhist — or a member of any
Pasanda. He was innovative and
even visionary — just think of the
fact that he was the first in India
to communicate with his
subjects via the written medium.
So, he was a complex human
being, as most of us are.
The interviewer is a historian.
X
Buddhist site The Ashoka Pillar
at Vaishali, Bihar. (GETTY IMAGES)
infrastructure.
Mani’s book embodies the
intersection of wildlife and
women in wildlife — the
minority within the minority.
Research from last year reveals
that less than one­third
researchers worldwide are
women, which is saying
something, given the
modern­day access to
education. There are, of
course, infrastructural lacks in
successfully implementing the
global goals of education and
literacy. Nonetheless, the
hurdles do not seem to be
entirely technical, but social,
possibly even geographical or
economic. Mani addresses
these hurdles. For the women
in her book, gender is a part of
the sustainability they aspire to
achieve.
We are three years into the
“Decade of Ecosystem
Restoration” and Women in the
Wild celebrates the spirit of
preservation. It is an
inquisitive, optimistic and
inspirational book
accentuating that scientific
temperament is gender neutral
and must be treated that way.
The reviewer is a freelance
feature writer. She reviews
books on Instagram
@read.dream.repeat.
 THE HINDU
04 | 05 coverstory By invitation only
magazine
Sunday, October 22, 2023

Author Sathya Saran is a

veteran when it comes to
organising writers’ retreats.
She launched ‘Unfestival’ in
novel in 2015, alongside a full­time job. Abdulrazak. How is a story conceived in Y

Finding their
2018 — to address the “little
scope for writers to interact
with each other” at literature
festivals. The concept is
Four years in, I was feeling terribly stuck.” their head? Do they share your fears or Setting the mood
A chance phone conversation with insecurities as a writer…,” says Shroff, a (L­R) Author­mentor Karuna Ezara
William Dalrymple, who was at lunch at a mother of two and author of bestsellers Parikh; the view from Cabo Serai;
writers’ residency in Scotland at the time — Love in the Time of Affluenza and Battle

muse, from Goa

simple: she reaches out to
around 10 handpicked writers
(she’s invited singers,
playwrights and journalists,
where the great English author Jeanette
Winterson was walking around — led her to
attend Hawthornden. The elite residency
hosted at a castle in Scotland was founded
and writers getting ready for an
Hymn of a Bewildered Mother. open­air yoga session.
Looking beyond just print
And yet, despite this winning combination

to Himachal
CONTINUED FROM
» PAGE 1
The participants at Bound India’s
retreats have been “curated” to include
people of all ages, from all walks of life —
marketing executives, advertising
professionals, students, artists and more.
For that first edition in 2018, Clouds and
Arzee the Dwarf author Chandrahas
Choudhury came on board as mentor.
Journalist and now curator of the
Serendipity Arts Festival Vivek Menezes
conducted a guided tour of the island.
Khandelwal also invited writers and book
industry professionals living in Goa, such
as Jessica Faleiro, to dinner “so people
too) to attend a week­long
writing retreat at a select
location in India. They are “free
to write or not write, sleep or
not sleep all day. But in the
evening, we meet and read
each other’s work”, says Saran.
Each retreat also culminates in
a book.
This year in April, they
decamped to Sholtu in
Himachal Pradesh. “We tried
to write stories that could be
adapted for the screen. In fact,
one of our members is now
shooting in Sholtu, doing a
short film. It’s a very different
experience, and we gain
immensely.”
Past invitees include writers
Chandrahas Choudhury and
X the commercial translation of that book.
in 1982, to “provide a peaceful setting for
creative writers — four sessions across 10
months a year, with six writers at a time —
to work without disturbance”.
“When it comes to writing fiction, it’s so
much about a change in pace,” observes
Ghose. “A change in geography, routine,
diet, environment and the lack of certain
everyday responsibilities can help bring
about subtle shifts, which is crucial for
fiction. The idea of seeing the world
differently is crucial. I wrote 40% of my
book in that one month; every big thing in
the book arrived in that period.”
Mumbai­based author Shunali Shroff
believes the craft of novel­writing is
something you can go on learning till your
last day. “[At Silk Road Slippers] I’m also
keen to get an insight into the creative
process of a Nobel laureate like
of community, creativity and travel with a
purpose, it can seem paradoxical that
writers’ retreats are popular at a time when
readership is in sharp decline. How does
the starving author stereotype co­exist
with this seemingly rampant desire to
become an author?
Khandelwal traces the rise of reading
and writing in 21st century India to the
arrival of Penguin in 1985; followed shortly time to focus on wellness. The and even rap artists!
by other international publishers in the day started with open­air yoga The goal for almost
early 2000s. Shroff notes the spread and by the beach and health shots everyone in our group was to
impact of literary festivals, beginning with with lemon, chia, cucumber get published, but my personal
the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2006, and mint, followed by goal was to find my writing
which led to “writing being seen as an ice­breaker sessions and voice. Being a career journalist
aspirational profession, even if not a creating writing challenges. for two decades, writing was
practical one”. Parikh created pods where not only my job, but also
Now, as the book­to­screen writers were paired up based something I took for granted.
phenomenon has caught speed, she notes Yagna Balaji on genre, style and topic, But when one is surrounded by
that “a lot of writers also write thinking of allowing for in­depth nature, when inboxes,

would get the chance to meet them”.
“I had seen that there were a lot of
writers who wanted to get published or
increase their skill level, but they didn’t
have access. There were lots of
programmes abroad — residencies and
MFAs [Master’s of Fine Arts] — that
weren’t accessible to writers in India
No writer’s block (Clockwise from above) discovered the potential for such events at
Participants of Bound India’s retreat; their first writers’ retreat, especially when
Hawthornden is hosted at a castle in it got booked out within a day.
Scotland; writers in the ‘Unfestival’ retreat. “Writing is such a solitary venture,” says
Kapoor. “You need peace and quiet. Very
Writers from Haiti and Panama, a Syrian often, you don’t share your work with
lawyer, academics from Harvard and others. As I discovered, it is great to have
Sweden — it’s an eclectic mix of that community of people where you can
F
Madhulika Liddle. All expenses or ages, writer’s discussions and feedback. deadlines, and life as we know
are covered by Sangita Jindal’s And why not? There’s very little money in residencies were We chose to write wherever it doesn’t get in the way — the
JSW Foundation. But over the publishing in India. It’s a good time to be a considered the we felt most comfortable. Some muse softly comes back.
years, Saran has seen the writer because there is greater possibility domain of those found their sanctuary in the What a retreat like this
landscape change. “The that books will go on to live beyond the particularly gifted in the warm sand, others — me prepares you for is to take
moment you start charging for print medium”. literary department. It is included — drew from the scent writing beyond a hobby. It
writers’ retreats, then anybody Khan considers the spike in online usually a ‘by invite only’ of rain­soaked grass and gives you the tools to nurture
can come, and it becomes a masterclasses and workshops, and the opportunity, not accessible to birdsong. Often, small groups your writing and see it to
ensuing rise in more accessible writers’

because of the price, the travel, the
geography,” she says. “But I felt that there
are many potential mentors in India, right
from bestselling authors to professors.”
Intersections of lived experience
Access is also key to the mission of Silk
Road Slippers, an all­women initiative,
whose writing masterclasses, led by Nobel
laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah and
Booker­winning author Shehan
Karunatilaka, will take place in Marrakech
in November. “We wanted to do
something that did not imagine Europe as
the centre of civilisation,” says
London­based freelance editor Faiza
Sultan Khan, part of the founding team.
My first
money­making thing,” she newcomers. Which is why, would break away for a completion. A good guide is
participants. “We wanted a place along the bounce ideas off each other, make friends, says. “Funds to cover costs are retreats, as a sort of levelling of the playing when I chanced upon a writing spontaneous swim or a walk crucial in such an endeavour,
Silk Road, a really rich and cultural city,” and meet like­minded people.” necessary, but we’re human field. “Increasingly, people come to writing retreat by Karuna Ezara Parikh, through one of Cabo Serai’s and Parikh didn’t hold back
says Khan, adding that the retreat would be beings, and slowly, the idea of from non­traditional routes at different I was intrigued. It did not many nature trails. while sharing her experiences
held at the boutique hotel Jnane Tamsna, A change of pace profit creeps in. That’s when stages of their life and those people now discriminate between genres, The post­dinner sessions on getting published. She
and also involve a session called ‘Learn
with Your Sixth Sense’. “We will go out into
Marrakech and touch and smell and see
things to figure out how one can learn to
capture immediate lived experience.”
Writers’ retreats and residencies have as
many critics as evangelists, who wonder
about what value they can add beyond
networking and bragging rights. Writer and
editor Anindita Ghose says she used to find
there is pollution. Writing
retreats are a great
opportunity, but they
shouldn’t be sullied. It’s not
In my writer’s retreat [Unfestival
2022 in Ratnagiri], out of a group of
have options that don’t require the
commitment or financial investment of an
MFA, for example.”
It is heartening that there’s been a
pushback against gatekeeping in the
and was open to all writers of
fiction, non­fiction and poetry.
There were 16 of us at Cabo
Serai in Goa, at various stages
writers’ retreat were special, when we
gathered after dining on the
fruits and vegetables grown in
the eco­resort’s gardens (think
helped the group understand
what to focus on after the
actual writing is done.
I believe that it takes retreats
helping writers if they say,
Meanwhile, Meghna Kapoor at KYO the idea of such getaways pretentious. “I ‘Come live in a tent, pay
10, there were only three men. It industry, she adds. “That’s allowed people
in our writing evolution. Some
had complete manuscripts, The journalist and writer aubergine and feta salad,
zucchini aglio olio pasta, and
like this to democratise what
was considered the hallowed
Spaces has been keen “to create never understood why one needed to go to ₹50,000 and it doesn’t matter if does seem like writing retreats to be more confident of the validity of their
experiences where wellness and learning a beautiful location, and eat exotic food, if you write or not, go for a hike attract more women than men. narrative. People now feel they can tell
others dabbled in poetry, some
short story writers and a few
looks back at a five­day white chocolate and kokum
mousse). Some would read out
domain of senior or established
writers, to allow new talent to
intersect”. This means yoga and they wanted to write. Just write at your Maybe that’s because writing comes their story.”
permaculture retreats, alongside the desk!”
instead’.”
Sathya Saran is the former more naturally to women
who wanted to explore
non­fiction. No one in the
programme in Goa their prose and poetry, others
told tales of love, happiness,
come to the surface.
writers’ retreats, which was a result of Ghose, however, realised their value editor of Femina. group was a full­time writer. even heartbreak. It was a time
Kapoor’s market research — people are while crafting her debut novel, The — Neha Mehrotra NADEEM KHAN
The writer is an independent journalist The five­day programme when the participants turned The writer is former editor and
now hungry for purposeful travel. She Illuminated. “I started writing my first Teacher and translator based in Mumbai. combined writing sessions with into singers, stand­up comics CEO of DT Next.

X Amongst the new centres, the
GREEN HUMOUR No boundaries From robots third, the Serendipity Arts
that paint to AI­generated media Foundation’s museum, The Brij,
Rohan Chakravarty
and interactive installations, takes the biggest leap away from
mixed is the medium of art conventional museum design into
today. (GETTY IMAGES) both the experimental space and the
new medium. Designed by
Delhi­based architect Dikshu Kukreja,
it states in no uncertain terms that
art’s most telling presentation need
have no cultural reference at all. The
architecture itself can be a fluid
sequence of space, real and virtual,
live and traditional, all at once.
Three new museums, three
distinct provocations on the future
role of art. Certainly all three retain
the view of the museum as an
institution of visual experience, the
stage set that engages the physical
The openness of public space and the virtual, the popular and the
has definitely shrunk in the last high­brow, in as daring and insightful
a way as possible. However, given
decade or so, in terms of weighing
today’s multiple overlapping
words, actions, gestures and ideas
one is rolling out into the world.
mediums in art, new galleries will
have their work cut out. The flux in
GETTY IMAGES
climate has so denuded daily life that
the museum’s cultural importance
becomes all the more critical. Katthirikai should help you.
Point of convergence Nanban
Indeed, so mixed is art media now, Like the better known Kanban,
we may well ask if there is any which is a visual management
distinction between fashion, film, tool to track your progress,
style, politics, or architecture any Nanban is an aural
more. Certainly, the art world, art management technique that
mediums, and art content are now all boosts your self­esteem — a
completely out of control, and earlier critical element of professional
definitions of art as pure sculpture, success — by refashioning your
portrait painting, landscapes, classic inner voice, transforming it
or modern, satire or from being a guilt­tripping
representational, have all but taskmaster continuously
disappeared. When art installations carping at your laziness, to
are depicting desperate messages of being the voice of your best
climate change, censorship, refugee friend who supports you
crisis, political repression and unconditionally, laughs at your
terrorism, it is getting harder to bad jokes, and keeps asking
separate artists from journalists, you to join him for a drink.
sociologists and politicians. One reported side­effect of
As Artificial Intelligence infects the Nanban is that people
sometimes find themselves too
art world, such niggling distinctions
may ultimately disappear. Many
ALLEGEDLY inebriated to start working. But

A brand new sleep hack

But while the exploratory spaces
in the public arts context have
diminished, artists are doing
tremendous work on many fronts
— ecology and environment,
agriculture, public awareness of
social issues
the current social and political
forms of art have already completely that’s a small price to pay for
succumbed to a mind­numbing and the potential productivity gains
convenient theatricality. A recent of higher self­esteem.
MoMA film screening showed a
Takkutakunu Seyyuda
sculpture dissolving into a painting, Why fans of Japanese techniques for productivity and Although in Japanese it literally
which then re­assembles into an
happiness might enjoy the Reverse Pomodoro means ‘do it now, do it fast’,
architectural fragment, and finally
collapses into mirrored liquid. The Takkutakunu Seyyuda is a
same holds true for other types of ritualised practice of starting

M
ROOBINA KARODE art. Books are performed as readings ost people are you I’ve never been so happy a time, then go back to sleep. your work in a timely way
Chief Curator and Director
Kiran Nadar Museum of Art on stage or at book fairs. There is no unhappy — even with my life, the world and You gradually extend your through ceremonial
value to the effort of self­reading in those who claim they the universe. And I’m now ‘awake time’ through a procedures designed to avoid
isolation when Tom Hanks can recite are happy. The main reason itching to sow more joy in the cascading set of alarms procrastination. The
into your ear the full unabridged text for their unhappiness is lack of seven realms by sharing with spaced out at 25, 50, 75, 100, choreographed act of
of Great Expectations or The Da Vinci discipline, and a chronic you some of the lesser known 125, and 150 second intervals self­administering a kick in the

The museum’s Code. Many of van Gogh’s paintings inability to exploit themselves but powerful Japanese up to 2,500 seconds, until seat of your pants so that you
are subjected to animation for the benefit of their practices that anyone can you end up feeling more rapidly move towards your
what could have emerged? techniques that render his often employer specifically, and incorporate into their daily awake than sleepy. workspace is a difficult art that
Something truly magnificent and painfully conceived art into a live capitalism generally. The only life for complete fulfilment. requires several years of
enlightening. Maybe nothing at all. performance. Should then sound be way to boost happiness is to Katthirikai practice to master, but totally

changing mandate
New on the block
Three new major cultural art centres
— with similarly grand expectations —
have been recently presented to the
Indian public. The first is a model for
the new Sir David Adjaye­designed
Three new spaces for art and culture, and what they mean in Kiran Nadar Museum and Cultural
Centre, unveiled in Delhi this July.
today’s politically charged and AI­inflected world Expected to open in 2026, the
building — described as ‘a cluster of
concrete pavilions’ — is meant to be a
crowded street in Varanasi, or an society is a no­brainer, and doubtless larger question of what it means to showcase for India’s emerging artists
Gautam Bhatia open stretch on a Goa beach — and my letter­writing efforts found their be alive today? What then is the as well as the owner’s valued
construct a suitable work, without a way into Spam or the Recycle Bin. space and shape of art in an permanent collection.
The Brij stems from a
responsibility we feel towards
the arts; the way art is seen today,
compared to how it was
perceived in the region, prior to
colonisation. Planned around
diverse creative practices, the
facility will have higher arts
education, incubation labs,
centres of cultural innovation,
added to Edvard Munch’s The Scream boost productivity — that is, Orodomop (also known as This is Ikigai for people who worth it.
to invoke yet more realism? get more things done in a Reverse Pomodoro) don’t have a “reason for
A touch, a feel, a sense of not single day, and also increase Is your job so boring that it being”. Unlike Ikigai, which Gacha Kucha Buchi Mu
knowing anything too well, the rate at which you increase puts you to sleep? Do you requires you to identify a This simple Japanese phrase
contemporary art similarly requires the number of things you get struggle to finish your tasks passion or formulate a means “if you check WhatsApp
no fore knowledge, no active done in a day, until your because you can’t wake up in purpose for your existence, before you have finished 80%
participation in styles, no periods, no employer is able to double his the morning when the alarm Katthirikai asks you to build of your tasks, you are a
likes or dislikes; no reliance on output while halving rings? Then Orodomop is your life around an obsession, genetically modified armadillo
beauty or ugliness; the world is a per­employee costs. what you need. While the and to acquire one if you that feeds on disgusting
force for good or bad, or nothing at The Internet contains many world­famous Pomodoro don’t have any. This Japanese electronic waste”. Invented in
all; the artist is neither a personality, productivity hacks to help you technique entails breaking up innovation derives its name Okinawa in the late 1600s
nor a form maker, just a sharpened do this. The best of them, such your task into 25­minute from its founder Akiraka during the reign of Emperor
perception in an incoherent world. as Pomodoro and Ikigai, are chunks, Orodomop applies Thirikai, who in the 1990s Murakami, this sophisticated
For the three big contemporary art Japanese. What makes the the same strategy to a quit his senior management reminder to not get distracted
museums now appearing in the Japanese ones so effective is non­task: sleep. It is based on job at Nintendo to plant by social media has been a

L
ast year, on a whim, I wrote
to British­Indian sculptor
Anish Kapoor, inviting him,
along with dissident
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, and award
winning West African architect
Francis Kere, to create public
artworks in India. Each could select a
location of his own liking — a
mountain setting in the Himalayas, a
brief, on an idea of their own choice.
I would, as I wrote in the letter,
contact foundations and
municipalities for funds and
permissions. As expected, there was
a long lull; the project received no
responses, no funds, and no
permissions.
That art, and public art especially,
occupies a precarious place in our
But, what had driven me to this
illogical invite was the fact that both
Indian gallery art and public art
rarely ever make magnanimous and
exploratory gestures, remaining
instead within the safety of
acceptable subjects, and nurturing
only private talent.
How do we in India live without
active engagement with art and the
uncertain time and uncertain place?
The idea of bringing three artists to
ask these questions was merely in the
hope that through their work,
cultural collisions would somehow
take place, and produce unimagined
and unforeseen forms. Had the three
wilfully positioned their art in
unexpected contexts, historic
terrains and traditions, who knows
A few months earlier, the Nita
Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre
opened in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla
Complex, with an even broader
cultural mandate. A series of
dispersed facilities for visual art,
theatre, film and fashion, the
complex is a reminder of the value
placed on all forms of traditional, folk
and modern Indian art.
performance spaces, and
museums at a never­before­seen
scale, in an interdisciplinary
manner
SUNIL KANT MUNJAL
Founder and patron, Serendipity Arts, and
founder, The Brij
Indian cityscape, will the agenda that they don’t only focus on
making you more productive,
move away from self­congratulation
into some new untested terrain — they also aim to make you
something that steps into arenas of happy, because when you are
discomfort, indeed into ideas happy, you naturally work
perpetually on the brink? more.
I have been trying out these
Japanese techniques over the
past month and I can assure
The writer is an architect and
sculptor, and the author of Blueprint.
an astounding insight: the
reason people hate waking up
is their mistaken belief that if
they get up from bed, they
have to stay awake, maybe all
the way till dinnertime. But in
Orodomop, you don’t wake
up and stay awake. Instead,
you wake up for 25 seconds at
10,000 acres of Bt Brinjal on great productivity booster
his virtual farm. Some of his through the ages.
friends felt he had gone mad,
but even they agreed they had
never seen him so happy and G. Sampath,
fulfilled. He is today the the author of this
leading supplier of Brinjal to satire is Social
the Umbrella corporation. If Affairs Editor,
happiness is your goal,
The Hindu.

CM CM
YK YK
 THE HINDU
06 wideangle magazine
Sunday, October 22, 2023

X
Family politics “In the absence of
patriarchy, there is anarchy,” says
PERSON OF INTEREST Prashasti Singh. (SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT)
heartbeat. The year­end months
were great and business was solid in
March, when everyone looked for a
funny woman for Women’s Day. “I
really milk people’s token feminism,”

Prashasti Singh:
But then she took improv classes
to avoid going back to an empty
home after work (salsa seemed too
much of a cliche) and there they told
she says laughing. “Gimme all the
tokens.” But in the summer months,
the work dried up. There was
writer’s block. “I understood why

the UP advantage her she was funny. In 2017, there

were open mic opportunities for
beginners in Mumbai and Singh
began showing up after work. She
had always loved the stage and she
artists get depressed. When you’re
new you say it all and then you
wonder, ‘Did I have just one thing in
me which I’ve given out?’.”
Then there’s was the price you
The stand­up comic on ‘give­up humour’, realised she could “distil the funny
out of my theatrics”. One of the
pay for your life choices. “It gets very
lonely living alone and with no office
and quitting a stable life things that strikes you when you
watch her perform is how her body
to go to. Switching careers makes
you lose connections and with no
moves in perfect synchronicity with structure to your day, you can start
her jokes. feeling very lost,” she says. It’s only

S
tand­up comic Prashasti
Singh, 36, has a word to
describe the culture of
humour prevalent in Uttar
Pradesh, the State she grew up in. “I
call it ‘give­up humour’. It’s salty and
bitter and so funny,” she says. “It is
how people there cope with life.
Bollywood discovered it around 15
years ago and they have not let it go.”
Thank You For Coming, Singh’s
first Hindi film as a writer released
recently. Produced by Rhea Kapoor
and Ekta Kapoor, it tells the story of
a 32­year­old woman who has never
had an orgasm. Most Indian women
don’t orgasm because the majority
of men don’t know how to have sex,
the film submits. There was peak
excitement when Rhea offered Singh
the writing job after watching her riff
on sex and singlehood. Her mother
excitedly told everyone that Anil
Kapoor’s daughter had called home.
Work hard, party hard
Singh has already begun work on her
next Hindi film. Her second,
hour­long national comedy tour,
Man of the House, is underway too. recently, six years after embarking
It’s inspired by the power struggles Not the stable offspring on this journey, that she’s made
in our families and how they play Later that year, she took a sabbatical peace with the white noise of
out when the male figurehead is from work when she got a chance to Internet feedback and started
missing. “In the absence of participate in Comicstaan, a popular sharing her videos on YouTube.
patriarchy, there’s anarchy,” she reality TV show for budding She built a community of friends,
says. Talking to her is almost as fun stand­up comics on Amazon Prime. many from her professional
as watching her perform. She’s just “It was like going on a vacation, fraternity. Comics Kanan Gill and
woken up when we chat over the having an affair and then coming Biswa Kalyan Rath are mentors who
phone but our conversation is an back to your husband,” she says. pitch in for “professional and
hour of funny, insightful takes. “Most Things were meant to go back to existential issues”. Urooj Ashfaq,
of us have been raised by a normal but they never did and after who recently won the Edinburgh
generation of parents who are not much thought, she quit her job to Comedy Awards, or the Oscars of
fully conservative, I call them start a second life as a stand­up comedy, is a close friend. “We
confused liberals or comic in 2018. She was no longer the discuss stuff and keep calibrating
semi­conservatives,” she says. stable offspring. each other’s work,” says Singh.
In her 20s, Singh was firmly on Soon she realised that life as an As for U.P., Singh no longer goes
the path to middle­class nirvana. Her independent comic had an irregular back frequently. “The U.P. I grew up
mother was a government college in was definitely not what it is now,”
professor, her late dad a doctor, and she says referencing the politics of
Singh’s goal was to acquire hate. “The roads are better but
engineering and MBA degrees and people are worse.”
tick all the boxes that follow. “Drink I call it ‘give­up humour’. It’s
coffee, work hard, get drunk with salty and bitter and so funny. It Priya Ramani is a
your friends,” as she puts it. She was is how people...[in UP] cope Bengaluru­based
happy if not a little burnt­out as she journalist and the
with life. Bollywood discovered
lived her perfectly­planned life, co­founder of India
working at companies such as it around 15 years ago and they Love Project on
Deloitte Consulting, Dell and Star TV. have not let it go Instagram.

GOREN BRIDGE their first turn. The final club from dummy on the
Bob Jones contract would have been jack of spades and another

Opportunity A
the same. on the ace of hearts and
highly competitive South ruffed the opening make his contract. Very
auction, as we heart lead in dummy and nicely done!
frequently see in cashed the ace of It is fun to think what

lost the modern game. East’s

double showed a high
honor in hearts and South’s
redouble showed
Neither vulnerable, first­round heart control.
South deals All­in­all, there was
probably too much bidding.
Most players with the North
hand, we believe, would
have bid five diamonds at
diamonds, hoping for the
king to fall. No luck there. It
looked like South would
have to lead a club and let
might have happened had
West played his queen on
the first round of spades.
South might well have run
his fate rest on the location the nine of spades next,
of the club ace. Before South read the position crossed back to dummy losing to West’s 10. This
doing that, however, he perfectly. He led dummy’s with a heart ruff and led the would have defeated the
cashed the king of spades, nine of spades to his ace, five of spades to his seven, contract even if the ace of
noting the fall of the 10 delighted with the fall of finessing East for the eight. clubs had been onside all
from West. What now? the queen from West. He He could now discard one along.

QUIZ over the years, had many THE SUNDAY CROSSWORD NO. 3277
followers, including Howard
Hughes, George Sitwell and

Easy like Sunday morning recently magician Penn Jillette.

The return of manias!
Berty Ashley
Born this day in 1811, Franz Liszt
1 was a Hungarian composer
whose piano playing started a craze
in the 1840s. He is said to have got
audiences into a mystical ecstasy,
with women fighting over his
gloves, a phenomenon known as
‘Lisztomania’. One of his greatest
compositions was ‘Hungarian
Rhapsody No.2’. In which cartoon
series do two title characters play
this piece?
Clinomania gets its name from
2 the Ancient Greek word ‘clino’,
which means ‘to lean’, the same
word from which we get ‘recline’.
This term is attributed to a person
unable to undertake an action to
start the day. What do people who
have Clinomania love doing?
Dromomania is a condition
3 described as a kind of
impulse­control disorder. The root
word ‘dromos’ means ‘racetrack’,
from which we also get words such
as ‘velodrome’. What do people
who have dromomania tend to do
more than others?
and trivialise their achievements.
This is a rare disorder, but the
other extreme — where someone
is obsessed with their own ego —
What do these people desire,
which may seem boring and
flavourless to most of us?
Plutomania is an obsession
9 with a very important entity
known to be beneficial to a
person. Those who have this
nurse an unhealthy disregard for
anything that does not serve their
goal, and are often ignorant of the
hurt they cause others. What is a
plutomaniac obsessed with, which
is just a hobby for a numismatist?
X
Pyromania is an
Musical
genius Franz 10 impulse­control disorder
in which a person engages in a
Liszt is
considered destructive activity, either to
one of the relieve tension or for instant
most prolific gratification. Mankind’s
fascination with the phenomenon
composers of
his era. (WIKI responsible for this destruction
has been around for almost two
COMMONS)
Across 6 Lettish (although this version’s its
million years. What does a
1 Withdraw fix (6) alternative name), primarily! (7)
pyromaniac want to do, usually
4 Light reading? (6) 7 Everyman’s stuck between bores and
without thinking of the 8 So endlessly berate furiously: show rotters in stalls (5,4,5)
consequences? some backbone! (9) 10 Surprised expression before attacks
9 One’s destined to have hot head in from airborne in battle (8)
sports event (5) 12 French president’s eaten starter
A molecular biologist from
Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys
trivia and music, and is working
11 Jolly’s hiring ship: it’s renovated (2,4,7)
13 Red coat fashioned in ‘20s style (3,4)
of andouilles; later duck and almondy
cake (8)
14 Greek character averse to a 15 Disco classic, If Slippery Character
on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a fruity Red? (7) Comes to Nothing (1,4,4)
lot of us have felt at some point in Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. 16 Collection of lies in dispute (2,5) 17 Ordains where water flows (7)
our adult life. What is it called? @bertyashley 18 Gap’s first day of trading (7) 19 Mo’s coffee (7)
20 Lots shall hide out like 21 Rate of knots in ocean – capsized! (5)
Oniomania is a disorder that Methuselah (3,2,3,5) 22 Shoe tree regularly rejected

Empleomania gets its name

has been studied throughout
history. What is this phenomenon
7 has seen a huge rise thanks to
the digital age. It is also known as
10. To start fires 23 Calling, wanting portion of macaroni
cheese (5)
as present (4)

4
from ‘empleoir’, an old French
word from which we get ‘employ’.
It was first used in 1845 to refer to
people who have a thirst for a
particular kind of employment that
gives them a sense of power and
control. Those in these positions
can be anyone, from a criminal to a
movie star. What do these people
want?
Micromania is a personality
5 removed) for cooking (5,1,4,4)
disorder where a person has
the tendency to belittle themselves
that is frequently used in news
articles about politicians, a word
that is the opposite of
micromania?
Nostomania is a condition
6
that gets its name from
‘nóstos’, the same word from
which we get the modern word
‘nostalgia’. This is the
overwhelming desire to go
somewhere a person finds the
most comfort. There is another
iteration of nostomania, which a
wealth
Compulsive ______ Disorder (CBD). 9. To collect money / amass 24 Fancy flesh out(9)
This is an excessive, expensive Penn ­ Potatoes) 25 Whispered comments in LPs’ first SOLUTION NO. 3276
and time­consuming activity food (Howard ­ Canned Soup / tracks (6)
resulting in personal and financial 8. To have only one type of 26 Temperament of eg iron, did you say? (6)
difficulties. What is the full form 7. Compulsive Buying Disorder
Down
of CBD, which has become more
6. Homesickness
1 Range demonstrated to have no
prevalent with the rise of 5. Megalomania
beginning or end (4)
e­commerce? 4. To hold a public office
2 Soldier on some uppers is tingling (7)
(Wanderlust)
3 Reworked cheesiest material way
Opsomania is a disorder that
8
3. To keep moving or travelling
up North (3,6)
has been studied since the 2. To stay in bed
4 Chills hake, escalope and cod (with head
1850s, and scientifically viewed as
1. Tom & Jerry
a very unhealthy practice. Also Answers 5 We hear one opposing building
known as ‘monotrophism’, it has, in clouds (5)

CM
YK
THE HINDU
magazine
Sunday, October 22, 2023
On the content
carousel
Trapped in the never-ending cycle of social media
scrolling in the elusive pursuit of the perfect content
Nimra Ahmad
ahmad.nimra12112@gmail.com
n today’s digital age, the Internet has become
I an integral part of our lives, influencing us in
ways we could not have imagined. Nearly five
billion people, or 63% of the world’s
population, are now online. Platforms such as
YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have
evolved from mere sources of information and
entertainment to realms of obsession.
The concept of “endless scrolling”, initially
introduced by Aza Raskin in 2006 for smoother
website navigation, has now become an intrinsic
way of engaging with online content. This shift in
how we consume content is striking.
Seamless distraction
Videos on platforms flow seamlessly into one
another, while social media feeds offer an unbroken
stream of posts. The abundance of content fuels
continuous scrolling, driven by a psychological
tendency known as “unit bias”. Essentially, we are
inclined to finish a task we are given, and in this
On the lookout
for uncharted
territory
Rima Deswal
rimadeswal4@gmail.com
uman curiosity never truly
H dies; it always looks ahead to
what cannot yet be seen or
touched. History has shown us that
curiosity involves bravery. Ancient
humans would venture out into
unknown places without fear of
nature or the divine. It’s in the nature
of humans to explore beyond what
they know, drawing maps of the
unknown. Just like Christopher
Columbus, ancient explorers
fearlessly sailed into unknown
waters, discovering new lands despite
the mysteries of nature and the
unknown beyond the horizon.
For humans, maps are records of
whatever they have known, but their
imagination and curiosity make them
search beyond any map so that the
unknown can be made known. At
first, humans only knew the area
around them, but it was their
curiosity that drove them to explore
beyond, discovering different regions
and countries and eventually
mapping the entire world. Yet,
human quest does not stop at the
tangible earth; curiosity extends
beyond our planet.
Curiosity made humans search the
outer world, which led to the
discovery of planets that were not
even visible to them, making their
search even beyond the visibile
universe. The sun and the moon are
visible, but they are far beyond reach.
Nevertheless, human curiosity drove
them to missions such as
Chandrayaan and Aditya L1, with the
aim of satisfying a thirst for
knowledge by initiating contact with
these celestial bodies.
A major portion of the universe is
still unknown to humans, but their
curiosity is something that is driving
them to map the unknown. It’s
amazing how just an emotion of
human is conducting a search beyond
the known. Human search beyond
the maps continues, and maybe this
search can lead to knowing God.
CM
YK
openpage 07
articles and letters from readers
SREEJITH R.KUMAR
Spending excessive time on social media,
particularly at night, has been linked to sleep
disturbances, leading to a cascade of issues such as
FEEDBACK
depression, memory lapse, diminished academic
performance, and professional challenges —
Letters to the Magazine can be e­mailed separately
particularly impactful for young adults and
to mag.letters@thehindu.co.in by Tuesday 3 p.m.
students. Understanding the social and
psychological phases that students experience while
scrolling is crucial. A significant portion of work 쑽 reducing population of
time is diverted to personal tasks, hampering Cover story smaller species disrupts
productivity. the ecological balance.
Moreover, a concerning connection exists International education is Restoration of their
between social media use and self­esteem, the latest cash cow in habitat is important.
impacting overall satisfaction with life. Knowledge India. (‘India’s study Captive breeding centres
abroad ecosystem’; Oct. are the need of the hour.
alone is not enough; action is key. Recognising the
snare is a vital first step, but equally crucial is the 15) Banks are providing Monita Sutherson
endeavour to break free. Seek real­life activities, the fillip to aspiring
forge connections, and embrace elements that students through 쑽
context, the task is consuming content. The more nurture well­being. educational loans. That’s The just­released global
content available, the stronger our compulsion to Balance is the bridge to reclaiming control over why even students from amphibian assessment,
consume. our digital lives. lower middle class published in Nature,
Harvard Business School’s research provides Reducing screen time or seeking support from backgrounds can fulfil serves a grim reminder to
fascinating insights into our behaviour. Simply those around you are powerful steps toward their ambitions. Poor all of us to work towards
categorising videos as similar increases the
likelihood of continued viewing. We are naturally
drawn to content that feels accessible and familiar,
even if it’s not entirely predictable. Each quick
switch between information releases dopamine in
liberation.
These scrolling loops were designed to enhance
productivity and activity, not to become bottomless
pits of endless engagement. True productivity lies
not in boundless scrolling, but in the tangible
salary packages and huge
taxes are some of the
reasons that drive the
young away.
Balasubramaniam Pavani
addressing climate
change. It is
disheartening to see the
world spiralling into
conflicts rather than
our brains, creating a neurological “high” that actions you take beyond the screen. Reclaim your coming together to
motivates us to keep scrolling. time, your focus, and your agency in this 쑽 address common
The surge in short­form video content on ever­evolving digital landscape. The migration of concerns. Biodiversity is
platforms such as Instagram Reels and YouTube It’s a journey worth embarking on, and one that youngsters to foreign the “precious puzzle” of
Shorts from 2021 to 2022 has been nothing short of holds the promise of a more balanced, fulfilling life. universities has serious the earth. Let’s preserve
astonishing. By recognising these patterns, students and social, economic and every piece of it.
Yet, amidst this digital renaissance, a shadow professionals can take steps to regain control of demographic Rohit
looms. Many sections of users feel trapped in the their time and attention. Employing repercussions. The
never­ending cycle of social media scrolling. They research­backed strategies and finding ways to situation is particularly 쑽
express frustration in the elusive pursuit of perfect outsmart digital algorithms can help students use worrisome in Kerala, Dangerous people
content, often unsure of what it even looks like. This social media more purposefully. where the large scale India’s ranking in the
quest for relevance has transformed into a rat race, In this dynamic era, as reels spin and algorithms exodus of youth to Press Freedom Index is a
where victory seems reserved for omnipotent churn, it is imperative to thread the digital needle countries like the U.S., dismal 161st in a list of
artificial intelligence algorithms and the ceaseless carefully. The web may be woven, but we hold the Canada or Australia has 180 nations. (‘Suspected
machinery of the capitalist market. shears to cut free. created a vacuum. journalists’; Oct. 15) The
T.N. Venugopalan government in power
feels this is no skin off
쑽 their nose. The satire in
The lure of international the article can hardly be
education in India is a passed off as black
reality. And there exists a humour because the
Surviving road rage on, the driver of one of the multi­crore industry that situation on the ground is
frontline cars is busy helps Indian youth serious. Lapdogs in the
texting on his mobile, and achieve their ‘foreign Indian media abound,
The heat and dust on thoroughfares
the car next to him has
stalled. Both of them
dream’. This is because of
the vagaries plaguing
and those that insist on
calling a spade a spade
despite signals and wardens receive a lifetime’s worth
of colourful curses thrown
at them from other
qualifying examinations
like NEET, foreign
universities offering
are a hunted species.
C.V. Aravind
complying motorist who drivers. courses at cheap rates, 쑽
Thomas Paul heeds the red light, and Any monster truck, and sub­optimal faculty in Journalists have every
sagitex@gmail.com the nothing­is­off­limits dented, corroded, Indian educational right to provoke society
trucker who is running soot­stained, rattling and institutions. with the truth, and they
ou honked a late. belching smoke, ticks all George Jacob E. become controversial
Y second before you
noticed the sign
“Silence Zone. No Horn”.
You are in the middle of
a cluster of vehicles at a
red light. The countdown
the boxes of fear. Right
now you are cruising far
ahead of such a truck
쑽
Threatened species
only when they distort
facts and concoct stories.
Former attorney general
Without a horn, there is of the signal has begun visible in your rear­view Despite the discovery of Soli Sorabjee once
no way to attract the from 120, while more and acts as if that beep mirror. A hundred metres several new varieties of famously said, “There is
attention of the vehicles arrive behind. was an accidental touch in front, you see the frogs, their survival is freedom of expression,
jay­walking folks intent on You switch off the engine, on the horn. When the amber light has come on. threatened due to several but there is no freedom
mobile phones. as do many other vehicles. countdown reaches 20, You slow down and know environmental factors. after expression.”
We consider traffic When the countdown there is a general that you would be the first (‘The global paradox of Freedom of expression
signals as suggestions, arrives at 60, there is a impatient shuffle of to halt at the red light. frogs’; Oct. 15) The has the highest place in
leaving it to our discretion single beep from behind. vehicles, for nothing. That truck is now Western Ghats are the Constitution. It
to jump the signal or not, It’s some trigger­happy When the countdown tailgating you. There is no impacted by should not be curtailed
especially if the signal is driver’s force of habit. reaches 10, there are space for it to get ahead. deforestation, landslides, by any force.
manned by traffic wardens Irritated, you try to locate several beeps, the The driver intends to beat and climate change. The K. Pradeep
— the poor souls burdened the perpetrator, consensus being that the amber light, and you
with responsibility devoid dramatically swivelling countdown 10 is as good are in the way. He floors 쏋
쑽
of authority. At unmanned your head. You glare at as a green signal. In spite the accelerator just when
signals, it’s a psychological him, which unsettles him, of that, when the actual you apply the brakes. The
war between the strictly and he furrows his brows green signal does come rest is road statistics. MORE ON THE WEB
www.thehindu.com/opinion/open­page
쑽
The fragrant tree
Getting along with neighbours, as everyone
knows, can be a headache
quite literally.
The scent neither lets you wake up completely nor lets
you sleep fitfully
neighbours
Chaitanya Nagar
The annoyances are
many and varied. A Spreading smiles
common grievance is Apart from conveying happiness, they perform many a
playing loud music at wonder in relationships
There needs to be mutual respect and untimely hours or late at Venugopala Rao Kaki
night with little
goodwill on both sides of the fence consideration for others. Living with the phone
Having one’s premises Messages, pictures and videos assume different
neighbours now and then repeatedly fouled up by a dimensions when they do multiple rounds
George N. Netto — sometimes unwittingly neighbour’s dog, dumping Radha Prathi
gnettomunnar@rediffmail.com and sometimes knowingly. litter, malicious gossip,
Some neighbours, of borrowing things and Changing flight plan
t’s a social problem as course, can be perverse at seldom returning them, Who would have thought flying could be so entertaining?
I old as time — friction
between neighbours.
Perhaps, just as familiarity
times. How we tackle their
vexations can make or
mar our relationship with
and children left
unsupervised are among
the many aggravations
G. Venkatakuppuswamy
Contributions of up to a length of 700 words may be
breeds contempt, so does them and determine with one’s neighbours that we resent. e­mailed to: openpage@thehindu.co.in Please provide the
living in close proximity. whether we can live regardless of their religion, Ideally, in the interests postal address and a brief background of the writer. The
Harmonious neighbourly compatibly with them. creed, social or economic of better social relations, mail must certify that it is original writing, exclusive to this
relations, of course, Apparently, a life­skill that status. there should be a ‘code of page. The Hindu views plagiarism as a serious offence. Given
the large volume of submissions, we regret that we are
cannot be sustained if neighbours need to learn Being considerate to conduct’ drawn up by unable to acknowledge receipt or entertain queries about
there is underlying is how to get along with one’s neighbours is of vital housing societies or at submissions. If a piece is not published for eight weeks
resentment or enmity. each other. importance if there is to least an implicit please consider that it is not being used. The publication of
Gregarious as we are, Good neighbourliness is be mutual respect and understanding among a piece on this page is not to be considered an endorsement
we usually face certain rooted in a genuine desire goodwill on both sides. neighbours not to by The Hindu of the views contained therein.
irritants caused by to be on friendly terms And inconsiderate inconvenience each other.

08 backpage
TENUOUS LIVES OF TIBETANS
IN DHARAMSHALA
Suhasini Haidar
suhasini.h@thehindu.co.in
T
he line begins at the base
of the hill every morning,
as tourists, devotees and
disciples wait to see the
Dalai Lama, after crossing rigorous
security checks and leaving bags,
belongings and everything except a
silk scarf or khata as an offering to
him. At 88, the spiritual head of
Tibetan Buddhists and the leader of
the Tibetan diaspora that fled, like
he did in 1959 from Tibet under
Chinese rule, is remarkably healthy,
and sharp. When asked about his
health, aides point to his knees, and
some hearing issues as the big
worries. The Dalai Lama comes out
of his home in McLeodganj in a golf
cart, waving to all those gathered,
before sitting in a chair as they file
past. He blesses them, has advice for
those who seek it, and cracks a few
jokes.
We are a group of four journalists,
hosted by the India Tibet
Coordination Office and among the
first to speak with him in some
years. Most of what he says to us has
been said before: that he hopes to
return to Lhasa one day, but will
return to India; that he thinks China
is changing, and that more Chinese
people, not just in Tibet, are taking
to Buddhism and want to see him
return. Above all, he speaks of his
commitment to non­violence and
the middle path, demanding talks
for more freedom and autonomy
X St+ART’s
A festive start (Clockwise) The painted tram;
the second car with Sabyasachi’s wallpaper;
and ST+ART’s Satyajit Ray mural.
(SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT)
Ahead of Durga Puja, a tram turns into a living canvas — with
hand­painted scenes that capture the season’s festive spirit
Goddess takes the tram
Malini Banerjee
O
n an unseasonably hot
and sweltering October
afternoon, the Kolkata
tram on Route 24/29 rolled out of
Tollygunge Tram Depot, its front
bedecked with the trinayani
(three­eyed) face of goddess
Durga. As it trundled past curious
onlookers, on its way to
Ballygunge, its brightly painted
cars encapsulated the emotion
Kolkatans revel in this season —
pujo aschay (the pujas are
coming).
CM
YK
Identifying Dalai Lama’s successor, and a new crusader for the rights of the
Tibetan people, has never been more significant
inside Tibet, but not independence
or political separation from China.
The ‘splittists’
The Dalai Lama exudes optimism of
achieving this demand, despite the
fact that China has termed Tibetan
freedom activists ‘terrorists’ and
called him a ‘splittist’, but there are
now furrowed lines on his otherwise
clear visage. Travelling around
McLeodganj, nicknamed ‘little
Lhasa’ for the thousands of Tibetans
who have made their home there, it
is easy to see that worries about the
future hang heavy. Three concerns
follow us: the growing restrictions
and lack of news from inside Tibet,
the large Tibetan diaspora leaving
India and getting scattered around
the world, and the question of the
Dalai Lama’s succession, or
reincarnation as Tibetans believe,
upon which lies the larger question
of the direction the Tibetan
movement will take.
Nowhere is that debate louder
than inside what is called the
Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE),
made up of 45 MPs who comprise
elected representatives of the
diaspora in India, Australasia,
Europe, and the U.S., and meet for
bi­annual sessions in Dharamshala.
“Within the lifetime of His
Holiness (Dalai Lama), China has the
key to solve the Sino­Tibet conflict.
It’s a feeling Asian Paints
knows well, too. (For 35 years,
the paints MNC has handed out
Sharad Shamman, an award for
the best Durga Puja pandal.) This
year, they decided to up the ante.
To celebrate the UNESCO
heritage tag for Durga Puja and
the 150th anniversary of the city’s
tramways with art, they
collaborated with St+ART India
Foundation (its XXL Collective
works with a global network of
artists) and the West Bengal
Transport Corporation, to redo
two cars of the tram — both inside
and out.
After he is gone, it will be very
difficult… We don’t have a leader
who is charismatic enough, who can
explain to the younger generation
what is right and wrong,” says TPiE
deputy speaker Dolma Tsering
Teykhang.
We sit down at the TYC (Tibetan
Youth Congress) office in
Dharamshala, with four young men
in their 20s and early 30s, who lead
Tibetan youth movements across
India and abroad.
The 15th Dalai Lama
“So far the younger generation has
adhered to the middle­path, to
non­violence as the 14th Dalai Lama
has espoused. If the Tibet issue is not
resolved in his lifetime, even I am
not able to assume what will
happen… I can’t say,” says Sonam
Tsering, 31, the general secretary of
TYC, who claims a membership of
38,000 Tibetans worldwide. Since
2020, Tsering says, Indian bans on
Chinese social media apps have cut
out an important way for Tibetans in
Dharamshala to communicate with
family in Tibet.
As a result, the choice of the next
in line to the Dalai Lama becomes
more significant. At his office, the
CTA Sikyong (elected leader), Penpa
Tsering, tells us: what is clear is that
the Chinese government will, as it
has with other high Lamas and
Rimpoches, announce a successor the Himalayas from Tibet to India.
inside China. “I think China is more The biggest worry at present, say
worried about the 15th Dalai Lama officials, is the clutch of new
than the 14th (present) Dalai Lama.” ‘residential’ schools opened for
In addition, the U.S., that has Tibetan children, that seek to
taken the lead in promoting the ‘re­educate’ them, and according to
Tibetan cause, is now home to the many Tibetans, to wipe out Tibet’s
Karmapa Lama, who leads the rich history. In February this year,
influential Karma Kagyu sect from a U.N. special rapporteurs issued a
massive estate in Woodstock, New statement criticising the schools that
York. The Karmapa fled to India in teach only Putonghua (standard
2000 from his monastery at just 15; Mandarin), where an estimated 1
he has, since 2017, lived abroad, million Tibetan children are enrolled
mainly in the U.S., after differences with the purpose of “building a
with the Indian government over his modern and strong socialist state
travel as well as a controversy over based on a single Chinese national
Chinese donations, and has acquired identity” while suppressing Tibetan
a Dominican passport. language and culture and alienating
students from their families and
‘Re-educating’ children traditions. China’s Ministry of
Another growing worry in Foreign Affairs denied the charge.
Dharamshala is of preserving the At our next stop, the Tibetan
Tibetan language and culture: at the arrivals centre, the worries become
Tibetan library, manuscripts more apparent. About 15 years ago,
smuggled out of the land are being our guides tell us, more than 500
scanned and stored, while old videos Tibetans arrived each year. But as
showing the past are digitised. At the the border between China and Nepal
Men­Tsee Khang Tibetan Medicine has become more strictly guarded,
centre, more than 360 doctors have that number is down to just 32 this
been trained, as batches of
traditional Tibetan medicines are
manufactured and exported around
the world. At the Tibet Museum Scan this QR
opened last year, we see code to watch a
photographs of Tibet’s past and even video of the
the clothes and mementos of those Dalai Lama in
who took the arduous journey over McLeodganj
Kolkata chapter
On the tram’s Tollygunge to
Ballygunge route is one of
St+ART’s three projects in the city:
a giant mural of Satyajit Ray
painted by Chennai­based artist
A­Kill on a metro railway building,
a stone’s throw from the
Tollywood film studios. The
second, painted by artist Afzan
Pirzade, is on a Patuli sub­station
and pays homage to Kumartuli’s
potters and artisans. Spot the
third project, by artist Blaise
Joseph, on the Howrah Riverfront
across the Hooghly River,
depicting the Howrah bridge,
railway station, yellow taxis and
quirky Kolkata motifs
Hop on the streetcar
The first one pays tribute to the
pujas: with images of percussionists
playing the dhak, sindoor khela
(vermillion game), and the artisans
of Kumartuli moulding the goddess.
“The second car is painted with
Bengali motifs like the Bengal tiger,
Bankura horse, shiuli flowers, and
chhau masks,” says artist Sayan
Mukherjee (@sayanart), who
worked on the exteriors with his
team. “We took nine days to paint
the tram,” adds the artist, whose
social media is now flooded with
notes of appreciation.
Architect and urban designer
Abin Chaudhuri’s Abin Design
Studio did the interiors. “Trams are
such an important part of the urban
fabric of Kolkata. So, it was a project
that I immediately agreed to [with
less than three weeks’ notice],” he
says, adding, “I have always
believed that art and design best
prove their function when there are
multiple interactions with the
public, and this was one such
example.”
THE HINDU
magazine
Sunday, October 22, 2023
X
For the cause The
Dalai Lama meets
followers in
Dharamshala; and
(far left) visitors at
the Tibet Museum
that opened in
McLeodganj last
year. (THE OFFICE OF
HIS HOLINESS THE
DALAI LAMA AND
SUHASINI HAIDAR)
year. We meet a group of nine young
men, in their 20s and 30s, who
arrived this month in India. There
are also two children, a boy aged six
and a girl, eight. We aren’t told their
names, and we are asked not to take
photos or reveal their identities. The
men, who speak no English, tell our
translator they escaped from homes
in different parts of the Tibetan
Autonomous Region, undertook a
10­day trek, avoiding the People’s
Liberation Army and Nepali border
guards to reach the U.N. office in
Kathmandu, where they registered
as refugees and were sent by bus to
Dharamshala.
In Dharamshala, we visited a
Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV)
school, one of dozens where such
children who have been sent away
are now studying. TCV projects have
educated more than 28,000 Tibetan
students in the last 60 years. It is
hard to tell whether living in
Dharamshala, away from their
parents, is in any way better for the
children than living in Tibet, but it is
hard to deny the conditions that
must drive parents to send away
their children on this perilous
journey so far away from
themselves.
As they spoke about their travels,
and also the joy of meeting the Dalai
Lama, some of the men from Tibet
began to weep. Our translator’s eyes
too were moist, overcome by their
story, as also perhaps by the weight
of concerns of a people in exile, with
a tenuous future. The language of
tears needed no interpretation.
While the first car was redone
with beautiful alpona on red
painted floors, evocative of the rice
flour paste designs made on the red
oxide floors of Kolkata’s old
bungalows, the second one focused
on luxury. It has wallpapers from
the city’s own designer, Sabyasachi,
on the ceilings, velvet drapes, and
gold and faux crystal light fixtures.
Tracking public art in the city
Kolkata is no stranger to art in
public spaces. Mukherjee, for
instance, has been part of several
projects. The Cricket Association of
Bengal commissioned his work for
the walls outside Eden Gardens; his
art also adorns many pockets in
New Town, the IT hub of the city.
“The public have an immense
aspiration to understand art and
design, and its presence in a public
context can help create this
awareness,” says Chaudhuri, whose
2018 pandal — created for club
Behala Nutan Dal’s puja — is now an
open­air installation titled Unbox in
Kolkata’s New Town. He also
collaborated with activist and writer
Mudar Patherya to paint electric
feeder boxes: a mix of famous
Kolkatans, iconic film posters, and
graphic forms.
But the greatest example of art in
public spaces is Durga Puja, feels
artist Sanatan Dinda. “Many would
argue that since these forms of art
are religious, they are somehow less
than the ones seen in galleries,” he
says. “When visitors go to see
Michelangelo’s frescoes from the
Old Testament in the Sistine Chapel,
it is no longer just religion but art. I
think the same applies to our
pujas.” And one of the best ways to
catch the many pandals this year is
to hop on the painted tram, which
will pass many of the popular spots.
The tram will run till the new year.
The writer is an independent
journalist based in Kolkata.