Culturama June 2016

culturama June 2016 Volume 7, Issue 04

POWERED BY GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS

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Magic of Mandala All about our brand new identity

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POWERED BY GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS

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June 2016 Volume 7, Issue 04

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Food Culture The many avatars of biryani

32 Chaat Up Delicious treats from India’s streets

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Dear Readers, Editor-in-Chief Ranjini Manian Senior Editor Lakshmi Krupa Business Head Archana Iyengar Creative Head Prem Kumar VP Finance V Ramkumar Circulation S Raghu Advertising Chennai Archana Iyengar Bengaluru Meera Roy Delhi/NCR Ruchika Srivastava Mumbai/Pune Arjun Bhat To subscribe to this magazine, e-mail circulation@globaladjustments.com or

Self-service and self-directing while watching where we are going is not a well-known Indian trait. I was reminded of this as I went to a Pret A Manger organic food eatery in Marble Arch, London.

After standing in a queue pouring over all the new things to eat as breakfast food, I chose a porridge, croissant and coffee each, for my husband and me. Diving through my bag for the right change after the cashier had patiently been waiting, balancing all the items on a self service tray, I headed for the extra sugar and stirrers counter.

Mission accomplished! As I turned to take the next steps of my breakfast adventure, a man bumped into me, knocking one well-sealed coffee off my tray so it burst open. He apologised; I accepted and after I had made furtive glances to make sure no one would expect us to clean up the mess, we headed to a table. My husband most kindly offered to share the one coffee. In just a few minutes, John came over with a sheepish grin, handing us another coffee. And it was the exact same latte that I had ordered, too, Indian ishtyle.

To bump into someone is human; to replace coffee so thoughtfully, divine! I have found a new friend for life in John Mas and we laughed as we connected over food and culture.

This issue of Culturama is dedicated to food of the gods which India is famous for. Our feature is on the many biryanis of India. We have interviews with top chefs from Delhi and Chennai about food from the north and south! Our Seeing India column, Kitchens of Krishna, is on the food of various Krishna temple towns. Do read about Global Adjustments' new brand identity as well in this edition. Hope you enjoy it and form eternal friendships, too!

Ranjini Manian Editor-in-Chief globalindian@globaladjustments.com

access it online at www.culturama.in Chennai (Headquarters) 5, 3rd Main Road, R A Puram, Chennai – 600028 Telefax +91-44-24617902 E-mail culturama@globaladjustments.com Bengaluru No.: A2, SPL Habitat, No.138, Gangadhar Chetty Road, Ulsoor, Bengaluru – 560043.

Tel +91-80-41267152, E-mail culturamablr@globaladjustments.com Delhi-NCR Level 4, Augusta Point, Golf Course Road, Sector 53, Gurgaon 122002, Haryana Mobile +91 124 435 4224 E-mail del@globaladjustments.com Mumbai #1102, 11th floor, Peninsula Business Park, Tower B, SB Road, Lower Parel, Mumbai – 400013 Tel +91-22-66879366 E-mail mum@globaladjustments.com Published and owned by Ranjini Manian at #5, 3rd Main Road, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai – 600028, and printed by K Srinivasan of Srikals Graphics Pvt Ltd at #5, Balaji Nagar, 1st Street, Ekkattuthangal, Chennai – 600032 Editor-in-Chief Ranjini Manian Disclaimer Views and opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s or the magazine’s.

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Cover Image This month’s cover features a beautiful, antique, Indian ‘mortar and pestle’ set, made in brass.

Fresh ground spices are staples in many Indian dishes. Our cover page pays rich tribute to this tradition.

Advisory Board Members N. Ram is an award-winning journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu. He is Director of Kasturi & Sons Limited, publishers of The Hindu.

Suzanne McNeill lived in India for seven years before returning to Scotland. She is a freelance writer and graphic designer.

Marina Marangos is a lawyer, and enjoys travel and writing. She lived in India for four years before moving to Australia. www.mezzemoments. blogspot.com G. Venket Ram is an acclaimed photographer and the creative mind behind many a Culturama issue. www.gvenketram.com Annelize Booysen is a business consultant and social entrepreneur. She lived in Asia for more than a decade, which included three years in India.

She is currently based in the United States.

Namita Jain, founder of Jaldi Fit, is a leading fitness guru and a businesswoman who helms Kishco, a world-class cutlery brand.

Contributors Susan Philip is a freelance writer based in Chennai, and the editorial coordinator of Culturama’s various coffee table books.

Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) was a spiritual teacher, author and interpreter of Indian literature. In 1961, he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and Nilgiri Press in California.

Devdutt Pattanaik is the Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group and a writer and illustrator of several books on Indian mythology. www.devdutt.com

Letters to the editor Dear Editor,

I enjoy reading Culturama every month. I loved the cover picture of Raja Ravi Varma’s painting in the May issue.

Dr Nilima, Bengaluru

Dear Editor,

I left India 20 years ago and have been staying in touch with cultural tidbits via Culturama online magazine. When I came back this month and actually got the hard copy in my hands I realised that this is not different from the excellent Wall Street Journal magazine we get back home. Culturama is world class.

Martha Keaveney

Dear Editor,

I enjoyed reading The Sari Story in the May 2016 issue of Culturama. It was fun, funny and informative.

Nirmala Joseph, Chennai

culturama – Subscribe Now! Get your copy of Culturama as a hard copy or as an e-magazine - visit www.culturama.in to subscribe For other enquiries, e-mail us at culturama@globaladjustments.com or call us on +91-44-2461 7902

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Contents 18

Ten for the Road

Trivia about an Indian state – featuring Telangana this month.

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India Now

A recap of the events and people that made news in the last month.

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Look Who’s In Town

24 Feature Wherever you are in India, you are never too far away from local authentic biryani.

India’s Culture 12

Short Message Service

Short, engaging snippets of Indian culture.

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Festival of the Month

This month Hindus celebrate Vat Savitri and Muslims start fasting as the holy month of Ramadan begins.

Expats share their views about life in India.

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Journeys Into India

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Seeing India

Find out what makes the various kitchens of temples dedicated to Lord Krishna special!

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Holistic Living

Calendar of Events

See what’s going on in the main cities and suburbs.

Letters from the Valley

Find out what a tapri is and what it means to students.

Picture Story

Street stalls are an integral part of India’s food culture.

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India Diaries

Peel away layers of mistaken identity to find your true self.

Regulars 34

Global Citizen

Find out how you can help your team embrace deadlines, and shine instead of seeing them as ‘dreadlines’.

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India Impressions

Annalize Booysen on all the things the world would have missed out on, if not for India.

Relocations and Property Two chefs, one from the south of India and the other from up north on local cuisine and their influences.

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Space and the City

Property listings in Chennai.

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Magic of Mandala A brand new avatar

Blossoming from the peacock featherfan (our previous logo) to a Mandala, Indian-ness continues to be at the core of Global Adjustments’ new identity. GA aims to touch the very heart of every customer it serves...

Creating Empowered Global C

Creating Empowered Global Citizens When Global Adjustments turned 21 this year, we decided to refresh the company’s identity, to make it at once wellrooted in Indian culture and appealing to this brave new century. Our re-branding exercise reinforces our position as a player in multiple industries. Symbolic of this endeavour is our new logo – the Mandala.

Global Adjustments was founded as a destination services provider. In tune with the founders’ intuition, local cultural wisdom was always a part of the value-addition expat transferees received. As a result of this, Global Adjustments launched a cultural magazine for expats just one year after it was founded. At a Glance, as the magazine was then called, was a pioneering effort at that time, and Culturama, as it is known today, remains India’s only such publication.

Over the last 21 years, guided by the same principle, several other services were introduced – to leverage the experience we acquired in the industry, in order to serve clients better.

Global Adjustments now offers its services across four connected industries. To announce these areas of focus clearly, we are launching sub-brands, namely: Global Adjustments Relocation, Global Adjustments Realty, Global Adjustments Publishing, Global Adjustments Academy and Global Adjustments Foundation.

Global Adjustments Relocation offers city orientation services, facilitates house and office rentals for expats, as well as immigration services and all related paperwork.

Global Adjustments Realty, our new division, helps Indian clients buy, rent, fit out and maintain homes.

Global Adjustments Academy, our training division, presents flagship business programmes for expatriate leaders to work with India as well as for Indian professionals to learn country-specific business practices.

Global Adjustments Publishing brings you Culturama every month and also produces unique coffee table books on India.

Global Adjustments Foundation works for the cause of women, students and elders to bring life skills and purposeful connections to communities.

Creating Empowered Global Citizens

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Founder’s message What the mandala means: Ranjini Manian When we looked for a crisp new symbol to truly represent our 21-year business serving the 21st century, we decided, as always, to look to India for inspiration.

Mandala literally means ‘circle’; it is inspired by the eight-petalled lotus, and represents mankind’s interrelatedness to the ‘whole’. The mandala was originally a spiritual tool used by Hindus, and popularised

by Buddhists. It allows a balance of stillness amidst activity.

This is a key value that is at the core of our company’s philosophy – existing to promote cultural understanding. Stretching out in all eight directions, our new logo stands for the circle of life which embraces colleagues and communities as we create empowered global citizens. It is a great reminder of a dynamic global citizen’s life, interconnected on the planet, yet being still at the core.

We picked blue, which represents eternity, and green, which stands for growth, as our colours. The letters ‘GA’ in the pure white center reiterate the continued commitment to integrity in thought, word and deed by each member of the Global Adjustments family.

We stand ready to boost your success by creating empowered global citizens.

Bringing two decades of experience to Realty Rohini Manian, VP, Global Adjustments, on the new Global Adjustments Realty division: “When we decided to add to our two-decade strong company’s services, it was natural for us to ask ourselves, ‘What can we offer our Indian clientele?’ GA Realty will continue to bring a personal touch to the core of professionalism in all of its real estate-related transactions. We hope to leverage technology to make living easier for our new customers.”

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by Suzanne McNeill Short cultural snippets for an easily digestible India

Art/textile/craft Indigo Dyeing India is believed to be the oldest centre of indigo dyeing in the world. Indigo was produced and processed from the leaves of the Indigo feratinctoria plant during the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, around 2,000 years BCE, and the dyes were valued as luxury products – the Greek word for the dye, indikon, means ‘from India’. European merchants exported large quantities back home from the 16th century onwards, and it was so valuable that it became known as ‘Blue Gold’. Cakes of indigo dye are still produced using traditional, time-tested methods in Tamil Nadu. Indigo bonds naturally with cotton fibre, so there is no need to pre-treat fabric. The cloth is washed and rinsed, then immersed into the dye vat. Once it is pulled out and exposed to oxygen, the dye is fixed. The fabric is re-dipped several times until the correct, deep shade is achieved.

Food and Drink Gulab Jamun

Word of the Month Thik Hai

These soft spongy doughnuts soaked in syrup are easily India’s most popular dessert. The traditional way of preparing Gulab Jamun begins by simmering milk over low heat until all the liquid evaporates, leaving the milk solids called mawa (or khoya). These should be fairly dry, with a delicate golden colour and a hint of a taste of caramel. The mawa is then mixed with flour, baking soda and cream to form a soft dough, which is shaped into small balls and deep fried in ghee or oil. Finally, the jamuns are soaked in rose water or saffron-flavoured sugar syrup. Indians adore Gulab Jamun, but it can be a little sweet for Western tastes.

This is a very common, colloquial Hindi phrase that means ‘OK’ or ‘it’s fine’, and is slang for ‘all going great’. It is pronounced ‘teek’ then a sound between ‘hey/high’. ‘Thik’ means ‘right’, ‘correct’, ‘exact’, ‘true’. ‘Hai’ has many meanings; here, it stands for ‘is’. The phrase is sometimes used with the all-purpose word ‘achha’ (good or excellent): ‘I’m off, I’ll be back by 4.00 p.m.’ ‘Achha, thik hai’ (OK, good, fine); or as an exclamation to express or ask for assent, ‘Thik hai, I’m going now’ (All right, I’m going now). Said casually, in a rising tone of voice, it is used to ask someone how the person is feeling: ‘Sab thik hai?’ (All well?)

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Interpretations Jal Tarang The musician at the centre of this photograph is an exponent of the rare and dying art of Jal Tarang. Jal Tarang is the name given to an Indian melodic percussion instrument that consists of a set of ceramic bowls filled – and tuned – with water. The bowls are played by striking the edge with beaters, one in each hand. Jal Tarang has been known since ancient times, and is used in performances of Indian classical ragas. As shown, the bowls vary in size. Originally, they would have been made of bronze, but nowadays china bowls are preferred. The larger bowls are used for the lower octaves, the smaller ones for the higher octaves, and the pitch is changed by adjusting the volume of water. The musician strikes the bowls softly with a cane stick to create a light, pleasant tone, a little like wind chimes.

Watch Indian maestro Milind Tulankar performing Jal Tarang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E63RsPj0UCc

Name to Know Birju Maharaj Birju Maharaj is recognised as the master of the Kathak form of Indian classical dance. He is also a choreographer, who has helped popularise dance dramas, and an accomplished singer and musician. He has won numerous accolades during his long career. Born in 1938 in Lucknow into a family of renowned Kathak dancers, Brijmohan Mishra, popularly known as Pandit Birju Maharaj, began performing as a child alongside his father and uncles.

He was teaching dance by the age of 13, and continued to do so until his retirement, first at the Sangeet Bharti in New Delhi and then at the city’s National Institute of Kathak Dance. Birju Maharaj is known for his perfect sense of rhythm, his precise footwork and his expressive abhinaya, the graceful gestures that are a hallmark of the Lucknow style of Kathak dance.

He is also celebrated for his renditions of Hindustani classical vocal music, and plays the naal and tabla (Indian hand drums), and the violin. Birju Maharaj now runs his own dance school in Delhi and this year won the Filmfare Award for best choreography for the song ‘Mohe rang do laal’ from the historical romance film Bajirao Mastani.

In this short video, you can see the Master explaining and teaching Kathak’s aspects and movements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOqTWir1psU

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India now

by Susan Philip

The month that was

Q: IPR was in the news recently with the Patent Office of India granting a patent for a major drug. Can you name it?

A: Sovaldi, a drug to treat Hepatitis C, from the stable of the American pharmaceutical major Gilead Sciences.

Awards and Accolades Thank you sisters!

As we enter a new month, we quickly recap the events, people and places that made news in the past month

Business Matters In the top bracket Bhavesh Patel tops the list among highest earning global CEOs of Indian origin, with a pay cheque of $24.5 million from LyondellBasell Industries. PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi with $22.2 million and Satya Nadela of Microsoft are not far behind. California-based compensation information provider Equilar placed Patel sixth among a 100-member list of best paid CEOs in the world. Nooyi was in eighth position while Nadela came in at 26.

The contribution of a hard-working, essential, but often ignored section of healthcare providers – nurses – was recently celebrated when President Pranab Mukherjee honoured 35 of them with the Florence Nightingale Awards. Presented on the occasion of International Nurses Day, the awards are given by the Union Health Ministry to nursing professionals chosen from across the country for rendering meritorious service.

The awards carry a cash prize of Rs. 50,000, a citation and a medal.

Celluloid trophies

‘Creative India, Innovative India’ India’s new National Intellectual Property Rights Policy (IPR) is strong, yet flexible. It offers protection to creative output, ranging from software to music. The policy also gives a thrust to industrial progress. Under the new policy, a host of laws, including those relating to geographical indications, trademarks and patents stand to be revamped. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the time taken for trademark registrations in India will be significantly reduced in the near future.

The brightest of the bright from across the Indian celluloid world gathered in New Delhi for the 63rd National Film Awards ceremony. Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Kangana Ranaut were presented the Best Actor and Best Actress honours, respectively, by President Pranab Mukherjee. Awards were given away under the Feature Film, Non-Feature Film, and Best Writing on Cinema categories. Baahubali: The Beginning bagged the Best Feature Film award, Masaan directed by Neeraj Ghaywan received the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director. Kalki Koechlin won the Special Jury Award for her performance in Margarita with a Straw.

Q. The National Awards are nothing new to Amitabh Bachchan. Do

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you know how many times he has won it earlier? And for which films?

A. He has won it three times already, for films ‘Agneepath’, ‘Black’ and ‘Paa’.

Sports Spots Making history Dipa Karmakar made history by becoming the first woman gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics. The young woman from the state of Tripura has won herself a berth in the Rio Games. Dipa was the only Indian woman gymnast to win a medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and had been placed fourth at the Asian Games the same year. In 2015, she reached the final round of the World Championships, and was placed fifth.

Q. How many men have represented India in the Gymnastic events of the Olympics?

A. As of now, the total stands at 11. The last time was in 1964, when six men competed in the artistic individual all-round category. There was no qualification system in place then.

This and That Jewish genes uncovered The Bene Israel community living in the western region of India has always claimed to have Jewish roots. This has now been confirmed by a genetic study carried out by the Tel Aviv University, Cornell University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The researchers studied the genetic history of Jewish diaspora across the world using sophisticated tools. The study dates the Jewish part of the heritage of this distinctly different though definitely Indian group of people back to between 19 and 33 generations.

According to the tribe’s oral history, they were descended from a group of Jews who were shipwrecked on the Konkan Coast of India. There was subsequent intermarriage with the local people. Visit Matancherry near Kochi in Kerala for an out-of-country experience – it is a quaint Jewish colony, and the synagogue there, known as the ‘Pardesi Synagogue’, is believed to be the oldest active one in the Commonwealth of Nations.

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In the Maharana’s honour The name Maharana Pratap brings to the Indian mind stories of immense courage and sacrifice. Now, those memories will be rekindled every time a tenrupee coin carrying his image is used in daily commerce.

The Government of India released the circulation coin on the celebrated warrior king of Mewar in northwestern India to mark his 475th birth anniversary. A commemorative 100 rupee coin was also released.

Q. Maharana Pratap’s father was the founder of a famous city. Can you name it?

A. Udaipur, in present-day Rajasthan.

Take a break!

Lonely Planet has chosen Kerala as the best ‘family destination’ in India. The travel destination site says the southern Indian State offers lots of things that a family can do together, at a ‛reasonable’ cost. The winners are chosen by readers of the Lonely Planet Magazine by vote, from a list of nominations shortlisted by travel experts.

Q. Kerala Tourism won a prestigious award this year for a multimedia campaign titled ‘New Worlds’. What was the award?

A: The Golden City Gate Award.

News for use Customs rules at your fingertips International travellers confused about prevailing baggage and customs rules can now clarify their doubts using a newly launched mobile app. The app is a first of its kind and has information relevant to visitors from various countries. The ‘Indian Customs – Guide to Travellers’ app is available on Android Playstore, Apple Store and Windows Store. The app offers a wide range of information. Using it, you can even find out the rules about bringing your pet into the country from abroad.

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Ten for the Road

by Susan Philip

Telangana

29 Indias: One Nation, published by Global Adjustments, has 10 hand-picked snippets about each of the Indian states.

Read the book for free at www.globaladjustments.com. Global Adjustments has created an animated video that captures the cultural markers of all 29 states: http://tinyurl.com/m734xsm

Explore the 29 states of this fascinating subcontinent. This segment will set out a collection of interesting, bite-size facts from each state – this month, we look at Telangana 1.

How the Land Lies: The baby in the Indian family, Telangana is encircled by five other states. Its borders encompass much of the catchment areas of two major rivers – the Krishna and the Godavari. Hyderabad has been designated its capital, but will double up as the capital of Andhra Pradesh too, for up to ten years.

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Political Pressures: The area was originally under the Nizam of Hyderabad. It became a part of the larger State of Andhra Pradesh post-Independence, but, over the years, there has been a concerted call for an identity of its own. The goal was finally achieved when it became the 29th state of the Indian Union in June 2014.

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Past Glories: The highest point in the early history of the region was possibly between 1083 and 1323, when it was ruled by the Kakatiya dynasty. A clue to its grandeur can be found in the celebrated diamond, the Koh-i-noor, literally, ‘mountain of light’. It is believed to have been mined from the region and installed as one of the eyes of the idol of the presiding deity of a temple in Warangal, the Kakatiya capital. Subsequently, the gemstone fell into the hands of various conquerors and passed through many countries till it became part of the British Crown Jewels.

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Ethnic Fingerprint: The Chenchus are a tribe native to this part of India. Members of this aboriginal tribe are still largely forest dwellers and good hunters. They are found mainly in the Nallamala Hill area.

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Culture Quotient: Apart from the classical kuchipudi, which it shares with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, folk dance traditions that flourish here include the Perini Shiva Tandavam, highly popular during ancient times, and being revived now. It was originally performed in front of the idol of Lord Shiva before setting out for war. Even today the dancers are usually men.

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Personality Plus: There have been very few women rulers in the subcontinent, and Rani Rudrama Devi stands tall among those few. Her father had no sons, and so a putrika ceremony was conducted, designating her as a son. She faced rumblings from her own territory, but was able to quell them, and also fended off attacks from powerful neighbours. Her reign was marked by good governance. Small wonder that she is numbered among the powerful rulers of ancient India.

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Sights to See: The new state has its share of natural and man-made wonders, including wildlife sanctuaries and scenic beauty, temples, mosques, forts, palaces and museums. As a leisure destination, Ramoji Film City is a one-of-a-kind experience. Spread over 1,666 acres, it is the largest integrated film city in the world.

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Tasty Treats: Agricultural conditions are particularly conducive to millets in this part of the country, and the grain plays a big part in the traditional cooking here. If you like to experiment at the stove, try adapting dishes to include this healthier alternative to rice and wheat.

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Crafted with Care: The elegant Pochampally saris with their distinctive geometric weave, named after the cluster of villages in Telangana where they originated, have the coveted Geographical Indication (GI) stamp. The state is also famous for Nirmal paintings. They are typically done with organic colours, including golden hues, set off against a black or dark background.

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Worshipfully Yours: One of the largest mosques in India, Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid derives its name from the bricks used in the construction of the central arch of the mosque.

They are said to be made from clay brought from Mecca.

The massive edifice is also patterned on the Big Mosque at Mecca and can accommodate around 10,000 worshippers.

Construction was completed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb in 1694, around 77 years after it began.

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Look Who’s In Town Chennai

Help, always at hand

Joe Howard, a British national currently working in Randstad, Chennai, on food, traffic and selfless Indians

When my company first proposed the idea of living and working in India for six months to me I was very apprehensive. I knew very little about the country and imagined a hot, dry place which was not the ideal destination for a pale, redhead from England. Luckily, I had a Dutch colleague who was coming to the end of her work placement in Chennai and she assured me there was nothing to worry about and that I was going to have an amazing experience. .

Then & Now Before I arrived in India I really didn’t know what to expect; the only knowledge I had was from other peoples’ experiences but, of course, you never really know what a place is like until you experience it for yourself. The first couple of weeks were a bit of a culture shock for Steph (my girlfriend) and me. Now that we have been here for almost four months and are settled in the city we have really started to enjoy life in India. The people are extremely welcoming, friendly and always willing to help and we are very lucky that most people speak English!

India on a platter Steph and I are both big foodies and have tried to eat as much of the local dishes as possible. We are lucky enough to have a lot of Indian restaurants in England but none of them compare to the ones in Chennai. The food scene in Chennai is really fantastic and fast-growing; if we ever want a break

from Indian food, there are plenty of other restaurants with food from around the world… we are still yet to find a British Sunday roast though!

Little bit of everything One thing I have learnt since being in India is the country really has everything. When we are in Chennai we really enjoy eating out at restaurants, going to the beach and going to the cinema). When we fancy a break from the city we have travelled to different parts of the country.

Travel tales So far we have been to Kerala, Goa, Pondicherry and Sri Lanka (not really India but close). Everywhere we have been so far has been great and really different in terms of language, food, culture, climate and even the price of a beer!

What I would like to change in India I think I would improve the infrastructure. Travelling by car can be a gruelling (albeit interesting) experience due to the amount of traffic. However, with a population of over 1.2 billion people, that is obviously easier said than done!

I am taking home I would definitely take some of the food! Also, the selflessness of the people. Often we can be very selfish and only look out for ourselves; but from my experience, it doesn’t matter if you have known someone for ten minutes or ten years Indian people are always willing to help.

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Look Who’s In Town Delhi

See it to believe it

Xiao Jing Chen (alias Nicole Chen), from China, on making Gurgaon her home, and more…

In March 2016, I came on my first look-and-see trip to Gurgaon. It was also the first time I touched Indian ground. As I knew that I was going to relocate to India, accommodation, food and knowing about the local Chinese and German community were my top priorities.

So I researched a lot about these on the Internet.

My husband’s company too provided quite a bit of information in this area.

Then & Now Before I came here I heard a lot of negative comments about India. About how it was dirty, people were poor, and there was chaos and no respect to women, and so on.

But even then I wanted to come here and see the truth for myself. I have always believed that you cannot really comment about a place/country until you stay there for a long time. After living here for 22 months, I would say chaos is the Indian rule. Indians are very positive about everything. The social status of women here is not comparable to that in China, but one can definitely feel the development.

India on a platter Indian cuisine is very rich, with many different varieties of spices. You cannot tell what went into the pot when the food is presented on the table. You can taste the spices on the meat and vegetables rather than the main ingredients. Cantonese cuisine focuses more on the original taste of the ingredients.

Colours of paradise We have experienced the Holi festival. And of course, we like to decorate our home with lights during Diwali.

I believe that festivals are a very important part of any culture. And you get to know a lot of stories and histories from festivals. If a foreigner really wants to adapt to the local customs and culture, she/he must participate in the local festival.

Travel tales I have been to Mumbai, Varanasi, Goa and Leh. During my travels, I can see the differences inside India, not only in the landscape but also between the people and their cultures. I felt very much at home while I was in Leh. What I would like to change in India Actually, it is all the things I am not used to in India that make up the character of India. If something changes, India’s character will also change. But if I really had to choose one thing that would be the lack of public restrooms and people using the roads for the same!

I am taking home...

Carpets!

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Feature Team Culturama

The many avatars of

Biryani

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Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ambur, Kolkota, Bhatkal, Malabar... Wherever you are in India, you are never too far away from authentic biryani Aromatic, spice-laced rice, with succulent pieces of meat that readily transport you to paradise, as you bite into them… Yes, we are indeed talking about the amazing biryani. And there are so many ways of making this versatile dish. For some it can mean only one thing – celebration.

From weddings to special occasions, biryani is the deal-maker. For some others it is the very definition of comfort food. Go to a 24-hour lounge café in a star hotel, and you will see young party animals tuck into some biryani after a night of fun.

Mushrooming biryani chains and outlets across the country, and even abroad, is further testament to the appeal of this dish. In Indian cinematic parlance, biryani is what you would call ‘mass meets class’! While you can have a plate of biryani for as little as Rs. 30, off the street, or taste the khushka (the biryani rice without the pieces of meat) for even less, it can also be called the food of the royals – and is served in the biggest of restaurants in the country, costing a few thousands, with recipes passed down over generations through the Nawabi and Mughlai kitchens of India.

Hot from Hyderabad The words Hyderabadi and biryani when uttered together are known to bring a smile or a tear of joy to even the toughest of men and women. Chefs and restaurateurs are even asking for a GI (geographical indication) tag for this famous dish! The Hyderabadi dum biryani is a slow-cooked delicacy with marinade chicken and masala featuring traditional spices like clove, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and pepper. Laced with caramelised onions and saffron milk, with a hint of mint, the container in which the dish is prepared is sealed with wheat dough and the cooking is done slowly – in the ‘dum’ method. Various ingredients are layered inside the dish and this ‘katcha biryani’ is served with raita – a spiced yogurt accompaniment.

Where to eat: For biryani aficionados, Paradise in Secunderabad is the last word on all things biryani. If you would like to eat more of the same in a different place, there’s Shadab

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in the old city, Sarvi in Banjara Hills and Angaara in Kondapur, all in the twin cities of Secunderabad and Hyderabad.

Lucknowi Love Lucknowi or Awadhi biryani is the food of the Mughals and it carries with it the legacy of the royals of yore. Also called ‘pakki biryani’, in this version, too, slow cooking is the hallmark.

Aged basmati rice and the meat are cooked individually.

The meat (usually mutton or gosht) is seared in fat and cooked in a stock of spices while the rice is fried and then cooked in broth. The final task is the layering of the rice and meat – stacked alternately. Et voila, your ‘Awadhi gosht biryani’ is ready.

Where to eat: Lalla Biryani in Lucknow is the stuff of legends, and is known to serve rich biryani with tender, succulent mutton pieces. If you are not in the mood for a roadside pit stop, try Karim’s started in 1913 by Haji Karimuddin.

Kitchens of Kolkata It’s all about the aloo (potato) when it comes to Kolkata biryani. The City of Joy enjoys fandom for its own special version of the rice and meat dish. Made with long-grained rice, and a hint of saffron, this mild biryani comes with a helping of soft potatoes and a boiled egg.

Where to eat: Try the 83-year-old New Aliah Hotel on Bentick Street for one of the best biryanis in town, or the Royal Indian Hotel on Chitpur Road that was started in 1905! The chefs of this hotel, back when it was first started, hailed from a family of cooks who worked in

Photo: Michael Stern, via Flickr

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the kitchens of the nawabs in the eras past. There’s also Aminia in Esplanade that was started on August 15, 1947, and has since become the best Mughlai restaurant in town.

Aromas of Ambur Short, fragrant, seeraga samba rice (like the Arborio used to make the famous Italian risotto) is responsible for this biryani’s special taste. Ambur, which is approximately a three-hour drive from Chennai, is well-known for its leather tanneries and biryani. Made traditionally on wood-fired stoves, in this version the meat is first cooked separately and the rice is par-boiled. Then the two are mixed together and cooked in the ‘dum’ method – using a lid on which red hot coal is placed so as to allow the mixture to cook from all directions and not let the heat escape. Curd and mint add to its subtle quality. This biryani is served with a spicy and tangy eggplant pachadi, a stew of sorts.

Where to eat: As you travel down the Chennai-Bangalore highway, look for Star Biryani

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in Ambur. They are the final word on Ambur Biryani for many. You will also see various roadside stalls selling biryanis of different varieties – with chicken, beef, mutton, and so on.

The Bhatkal Effect Located off the scenic Konkan Coast, in Karnataka, is the sleepy small town of Bhatkal. The local biryani from here, with grated onion, squashed with garlic, curry leaves and other spices, mixed with chicken and layered with basmati rice, has a subtle, different taste. The joy is of course, in mixing up all the layers and tucking the rice in with pieces of well-cooked chicken. It is usually eaten with pieces of raw onion and tomatoes or pickles.

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Where to eat: Kwality Hotel in Bhatkal is a landmark of sorts in the town, known for its biryani. If you are in the mood for more, head to Pai’s Fish Land and Hotel City Light.

Made in Malabar The Malabari biryani, famous in Thalassery and Kozhikode regions of Kerala, is marked by the presence of fragrant khyma rice. Spices, nuts and raisins add a distinctive local flavour. The rice and meat gravy are cooked separately and served with coconut chammanthi (chutney), pappadam and dates pickle.

Where to eat: In Kozhikode, visit Hotel Sagar and Paragon Hotel for the famous biryani; and in Thalassery, you can treat yourself to what is called the ‘Paris Biryani’. No, it is not a French variant but the famous Fish Biryani made with kingfish from Paris Restaurant in the area.

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Photo: Jan Arendtsz via Flickr

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p u t a a h C

No roadtrip is complete without a pitstop at roadside stalls selling hot pooris

Picture Story rama

by Team Cultu

Street food in India is as varied as its landscape, people and culture. In Mumbai, try the famous Vada Pav and Misal Pav; in Delhi, try Dahi Papdi; and in the South, try the famous Churmuri and Bajji.

Street food is usually sold on carts on the roads of various parts of the country. Chaat is usually savoury and features potatoes, a variety of crisp-fried bread, fresh yogurt, dried mango powder called aamchoor, black salt, coriander, cumin and ginger powder. One urban legend states that the famous Pav Bhaji has Portuguese origins and that the word Pav comes from the Portuguese word for bread, Pao!

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Photo: Owen Young via Flickr

Photo: Barry & PK via Flickr

Photo: Rishabh Mathur via Flickr

Crisp-fried batter with vegetables or meat, and a fresh dose of greens, makes for a great tea-time snack

Indulge your sweet tooth for, street food isn't always savoury

Roasted lentils, corn, onion, tomato and chillis make bhel puri a must-have on the streets of Jaipur

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Photo: Silvia RICANEK Germany

Global Citizen

by Octoli Tuccu

D(r)eadline Why do our Western teams give us such unrealistic deadlines that they wouldn't be able to stick to if the same was given to them?

I get this question a lot from Indians in our cross-cultural training programmes. My half-serious answer is, “Because they know you’re smarter than they are.” But my serious answer is this: deadlines can be dreadful. If you do reach a deadline, it usually only comes after a lot of stress and unpleasant conversations with your teams.

A Japanese company gave an Indian mobility team 60 days to find two properties to rent. Thirty days later, the team from Japan arrived, only to find that the Indian team was ‘still working on it.’ One Indian team member asked, ‘Why should we update them when we don’t have any progress to report?’ Another commented, ‘It’s possible to find a property in a week; we still have one month, so what's the worry.’ Many such ‘discussions’ later, the Japanese team helped implement an ‘unrealistic’ deadline with several variables – identify ten potential properties, shortlist two, sign the lease, fit home appliances, furnish and stock up with groceries, and so on.

After working through every weekend, the properties were ready, on time. The engineers moved into their new readyto-live homes and arrived for our Intercultural Business Communication session.

Here's how the ‘ideal Japan-India team’ story could have played out: Pacing - The Indian team could have created their own timeline starting on ‘Day 1’ with similar variables and frontloaded most of the work to the early days to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

Prioritisation - Regular meetings would have helped them check the progress and reprioritise if necessary.

Collaboration - The team could have shared the plan with the Japanese company and set up regular communication to manage expectations.

With clear communication and agreed benchmarks, deadlines don’t have to be the ‘death’ of your team. Spend time to get everyone on the same page and see deadlines as a chance to let your team shine!

The writer heads Global Adjustments Academy ‘My team works with the United States, Europe, Australia and the Far East. All the sessions were designed appropriately and flowed logically. Questions from the team were clarified with real-life examples and described perfectly well with the cultural undertones and reasons for the behaviours. The participant’s queries were automatically answered with the course content and the real-life examples. I certainly recommend this training for anyone trying to bring cultural maturity to teams working with diverse cultures.’

Anirudh Yadav, General Manager, Business Services, Cargill Inc. Empower your teams to communicate timelines and work cohesively across cultures!

To know more about customising our 'Building Cultural Intelligence and Effective Business Communication programs' to suit your specific company needs, contact courses@globaladjustments.com

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India Impressions

by Team Culturama

More than

‘just curry’ Chef Shankar Padmanabhan, the Chef in-charge of Southern Spice at Taj Coromandel in Chennai and a Junior Sous chef, on what makes South Indian cuisine so unique…

In your experience, what have visitors come to expect from South Indian food? Are they surprised by what they see, especially when they discover that 'Indian food is curry' is a myth?

‘Indian food is curry’ – this myth still prevails all over Europe and the West. The word curry originates from the Tamil word ‘Kari’ referring to meat (preferably goat). The word curry was coined during the days of the British Raj in

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India. This versatile word has multiple meanings; up north it means gravy or sauce. Down south, we have come to find two meanings: one refers to meat, as mentioned earlier. Two, it is also referred to by the Tamil Brahmin community to indicate any dry vegetable preparation. Most Westerners who come to dine with us have little or no clue about South Indian food.

The dishes they can remember is biryani, chicken tikka and dosa, which is a rice and lentil pancake. They are pleasantly surprised to see the variety on offer at our restaurant.

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region would have at least one locally sourced unique dish or ingredient. Even a common dish like sambar (curried brown lentils) will have its own variations from region to region. For instance, the sambar prepared to accompany idly and dosa is different from the one served with rice.

If you were to describe South Indian cuisine for a newcomer to this country, what would you say?

The variety of seafood and vegetarian delicacies consumed in South India are rivalled by none. It’s also a common misconception that South Indian food is hot and fiery. The reason behind the fieriness in the cuisine is because south of India has a hot and tropical climate throughout the year. Hot food increases thirst, and hence keeps one hydrated.

It’s a far more complex and diverse cuisine in terms of ingredients and their usages – each and every ingredient contributing its own unique character to the dish. Every

The choice of chilled beverages originating from the south is also extensive. The reason behind this is the necessity for the same. Some popular chilled beverages are Paanagam

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(spiced lemonade sweetened with jaggery), Neer Mor (spiced buttermilk), tender coconut water, and so on.

Can you tell us about the influences that make South Indian food so unique?

The local produce heavily influences the cuisine of the region to a large extent. Traders and travellers from across the globe have also influenced the culture and cuisine likewise.

Some of them are from the Far East – use of star anise in Chettinadu food, Maharashtrian influence in Thanjavur cuisine, French influence in Puducherry, British influence in Anglo-Indian Chennai cuisine and Burmese cuisine in the streets of Parry’s Corner in Chennai.

What were your own influences that led you to be so deeply interested in food?

INGREDIENTS

As far back as I can remember, the aromas from my grandma’s kitchen always intrigued me. The very uses of seasonal produce and local ingredients kindled the childlike curiosity in me to experiment with different flavours.

My mother’s recipes and her style of cooking have greatly influenced and held my interest in the art of cooking South Indian food. Good quality ingredients have always inspired me in doing justice to my cooking. Our annual trips back to Manacaud, in our hometown, exposed me to some of the best seafood and vegetable produce. The payasams made in the temples of Ambalapuzha will forever stay etched in my memory.

Toor dal

200 gm

Shallots

10 nos

Chana dal

2 tsp

Refined oil

50 ml

Raw rice

2 tsp

Ghee

50 ml

Grated coconut

1 tbsp

Curry leaves

10 nos

Coriander seeds

1 tbsp

Coriander leaves

A few

Fenugreek seeds

1 tsp

sprigs

Bedki chillies

12 nos

Mustard seeds

Tamarind pulp

40 ml

Round dry chillies 12 nos

Drumsticks

2 nos

Turmeric powder

What kind of research goes into the preparation of menus in your restaurants? Especially considering India's rich culinary history?

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Our culinary trails covered remote villages and towns of the south. We covered Madurai, Karaikudi, Viudhunagar, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu; Kochi, Ernakulum, Kozhikode, Kottayam and Alapuzha in Kerala; Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Nellore and Rayalseema in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh; and Mysore, Bengaluru, Mangalore, Udipi and Ullal in Karnataka. We mostly visited the kitchens of family-run eateries (called ‘Mess’), homes, roadside vendors and iconic restaurants of these various towns. We collected recipes and ingredients from these towns. Our food trials were presented to a panel of experts and chefs, who scrutinised and crafted our à la carte menu, considering the preferences, likes and dislikes of our loyal patrons.

Learn to make the South Indian Arachuvitta Sambar with Chef Shankar’s recipe:

2 tsp 2 tsp

Salt to taste

METHOD Slow roast the chana dal, raw rice, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and bedki chillies in 2 tsp of refined oil and set aside. Grind to a coarse paste.

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Soak the toor dal in water, pick and wash. Pressure cook up to 4 whistles until soft and cooked.

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Heat refined oil in a thick bottomed vessel. Splutter the mustard seeds, round dry chillies and curry leaves.

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Add the shallots and drumsticks. Saute well until soft.

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Add the turmeric powder and salt.

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Pour in the tamarind pulp and cook till raw the smell goes.

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Time to add the boiled dal and slow simmer for another five minutes.

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Now add the roast and ground spice paste.

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Simmer for another 5 minutes.

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Adjust seasoning with salt and grated jaggery.

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Finish with a dollop of ghee and fresh coriander leaves.

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Come to Delhi‌ ‌with empty stomachs and hedonic appetites, says Executive Chef Sandeep Kalra of Trident, Gurgaon

Delhi is the first stop for many people visiting India. In a sense, it is the place that gives people their first impression of India. What have people come to expect from Delhi's cuisine?

You are absolutely right. Delhi, being the capital, is expected to be the reflection of what India as a country has to offer.

Although it is impossible to encompass the vastness, diversity and uniqueness of every corner of our country, Delhi lives up to the expectations. It is a beautiful amalgamation of cultures and ethnicities of our country

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and beyond, which makes it very charming.

The same applies to Delhi’s cuisine as well.

You can find an authentic Kashmiri Wazwan (multi-course meal) as well as the best of South Indian fare. Tiny lanes in buried parts produce home-made papads (rice crispies), pickles and bustling markets sell almost every fruit and vegetable one can wish for.

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In fact, with the influx of expatriates, the cuisines of the world have also become more accessible and authentic. We have Japanese chefs making great Japanese cuisine and Chinese cooking their native dishes. To answer your question, people should come to Delhi with empty stomachs and hedonic appetites!

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INGREDIENTS

Delhi’s food, locally, has been most influenced by the numerous dynasties that ruled over it and the different cultural communities that inhabited the capital If you were to describe the capital's cuisine for a newcomer to this country, what would you say?

I would call it hearty, dynamic and crazy fun. Just the right mix!

Can you tell us about the influences that make Delhi's food so unique?

Delhi’s food, locally, has been most influenced by the numerous dynasties that ruled over it and the different cultural communities that inhabited the capital. It also has a large number of young entrepreneurs and chefs, who are now keen on bringing suave cuisine to the city. Thus, the rich culture of the state, I feel, has the most influence on making the food so unique.

What led you to be so deeply interested in food?

As it goes for every young cooking enthusiast, it was my mother! I would watch her cook and be enamoured by the science of food and the balance that was involved in getting the flavours just right! I was also lucky to be working with a set of hard taskmasters who were very talented chefs across the globe. They helped me understand the finer nuances of cooking and become an intelligent chef.

How is your menu designed? Can you take us through the process?

We try to keep our menus as dynamic as possible using seasonal ingredients and keeping abreast with the constantly changing food trends and more developed techniques. Being in the hub of the capital, catering to, both, leisure as well as business clientele, it is also important to have an allencompassing menu. We have a team of chefs from different cultural backgrounds which brings in a lot of freshness and diversity to our menu brainstorming sessions!

Desi ghee

150 ml

Cloves

3 gm

Mathania chillies

20 gm

Bay leaf

3 gm

Ginger and garlic paste

20 gm

Lamb

1 kg

Chopped onions

200 gm

Curd

150 ml

Lamb stock

2 litres

Salt to taste Degi mirch powder 20 gms Clove powder

3 gm

Chopped garlic

5 gm

METHOD •

Heat desi ghee. To this add cloves and bay leaf. Add chopped onions and cook till they are brown. Now add the lamb and cook for 5 minutes.

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Add ginger and garlic paste and cook till properly done.

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Add salt, degi mirch powder and make a fine paste of Mathania chillies and add this paste along with the powdered spices to the lamb.

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Cook this paste until the oil comes to the surface.

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Now add beaten curd to the lamb and let it simmer until the oil comes to the surface again. Add stock and let it cook slowly for around two hours.

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Once the lamb is cooked, heat desi ghee and add chopped garlic and whole red chillies. Cook until the garlic browns. Add this tempering on meat and place a live charcoal and smoke the lamb covering the lid of the utensil for five minutes.

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Serve immediately with bajre ki roti and garlic chutney.

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Seeing India

by Shefali Ganesh

Kitchens Krishna

of

In the Bhagavad Gita (Ch 9:26), Krishna says, ‘If one offers me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it’. But at Braj Bhoomi, he is offered much more than that, enough to send lesser mortals on a gastronomic tizzy

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Vrindavan, where Krishna was born and played his Raas Leela or divine games.

The kitchens of ISKCON resonate with faith as the pots are stirred lovingly. Dinner here is a wholesome affair – much like what Yashoda served her son according to that hymn – ghee-laden, melt-in-your-mouth rotis, vegetables in different gravies that tickle your palate, vadas in curd with chutneys that set you slurping for more and hot mixed lentils to go with the ghee-laden (again!) rice. When one is just about satiated, in come the plump shiny rasagollas and a tray full of Maha Prasad – that was just offered to the idol o Krishna for his dinner – such as a variety of sweets and savouries.

Mathura, Uttar Pradesh

ISKCON, Delhi It is noon; and from the rambling premises of the ISKCON temple in Delhi, snatches of a Sanskrit song can be heard…

‘Come Damodara, take your lunch,’ calls Yashoda, Lord Krishna’s mother. His meal is, ‘... a feast of green leafy vegetables, fried things, salads, small square lentil cakes, thick yoghurt, chapattis, and rice with ghee.’ While these set off the gastric juices, what gets the mouth watering is the description of dessert served to the young Krishna – ‘… sweets made with milk, sugar; rice flour cakes, thick cooked-down milk; sweet rice with camphor that tastes like nectar…’

This is how Lord Krishna at the ISKCON temple is invited to sit down to his lunch; and the spread, even today, is no less elaborate. At ISKCON, prasadam is Krishna’s mercy and one does not just eat it, but honours it. It was after honouring one such dinner prasadam at ISKCON that a group of us foodies began our gastronomic trail to some well-known Krishna temples in what is called ‘Braj Bhoomi’ in the North of India.

Braj Bhoomi is considered holy soil, namely, Mathura and

Krishna Janma Bhoomi or the place of Krishna’s birth – Mathura in Uttar Pradesh – brings to mind the famous song ‘Adharam madhuram… madhuradipate akhilam madhuram’, everything about Krishna is madhur or sweet. The temple in Mathura is the jail house where baby Krishna was born, according to legend. Baby Krishna loved his butter and we are given his favourite Makhan Misri – chilled and sweetened butter – in earthen pots here. Makhan Misri is best eaten the way Krishna would, dipping our fingers into the pot and slurping it down. We forget about counting calories, as yet another Krishna favourite – creamy rabri scented mildly with cardamom – is handed to us in leaf-plates. Our sweet breakfast complete, we carry home some of the famed brown Mathura pedas, made traditionally with mawa (reduced milk) from cow’s milk.

Vrindavan derives its name from the sacred groves of tulsi (vrinda) or holy basil, where Krishna grew up and played his pranks. In Vrindavan, prasad cannot be without an element of cow’s milk or ghee, as Krishna was a cowherd. It is late evening, and we are walking the winding lanes of Vrindavan to visit the temple of Sri Banke Bihariji. The streets are lined with his favourite prasad items – from colour-coded doodh pedas (milk cakes), delicate rolls of khurchan (milk cream) to the pista-strewn rabri, there are sweets in every conceivable shape and colour, mostly made from milk. For those without a sweet tooth, kachoris and tikkis save the day. After a spiritlifting darshan of Banke Thakur, we are eying the sweetmeats eagerly, when we are asked by a co-diner, ‘Aap brij ki roti khaye nahin?’ So while we try out the famed hand-patted roti layered with ghee (how else!), our new friend tells us the story of Banke Bihari who is fed six meals a day, much like a child who requires his many small meals. Legend has it that Thakurji was hungry one night and walked to a neighbouring

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sweet maker for some ladoos. The miracle was discovered by the sweet maker only when he realised the bangle that the young boy had given him as the price for the ladoo belonged to Banke Thakur himself! To this day, the tradition of keeping some ladoos and water near the Lord when the temple closes continues.

Jaipur, Rajasthan From Braj Bhoomi, our trail of Krishna Ras continued towards Rajasthan. Peacocks welcome us to Jaipur, the home of Sri Govind Deviji.

Sri Govind, the presiding deity, is worshipped through seven arathi darshans throughout the day, the main one being at 11.45 a.m. when the Chappan Bhog is laid out for him.

Chappan (meaning fifty-six) Bhog is the most elaborate feast of the day for the eight-year-old Govindji and consists of 56 types of sweets, savouries and fruits. The spread is sponsored by devotees, everyday and made from 56 types of ingredients that include 40 kilos of sugar and 35 kilos of desi ghee among calorific others.

Govindji’s grand feast is prepared in a large kitchen, outside which sits the idol of Ladoo Gopal, which is believed to act as the ‘food-taster’ for the Lord. As we treat the Lord to

The Chappan Bhog is a tradition that locals continue to express gratitude to Govindji for having saved them from the torrential rain and sheltering them under the Govardhan Mountain

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his Chappan Bhog of the day, he treats us in turn to a delicious home-cooked meal. The rabri with generous saffron strands, a perfectly rounded gulab jamun that surprises one with its pista centre, the creamy dahi bhalla – we don’t bother stopping with single helpings. Some sweetmeats from the bhog accompany us on the road after the meal too.

The Chappan Bhog is said to be a tradition that locals continue to this day, to express gratitude to Govindji for having saved them from the torrential rain and sheltering them under the Govardhan Mountain. While Krishna stood seven days without his eight meals a day, villagers made 56 dishes to make up for the meals he had missed!

Around 400 km away, in a town called Nathdwara, a similar tradition is carried out for Lord Shrinathji. This seven-year-old infant God is the darling of the town, which

is also named after him – Gateway (Dwar) to Srinath (Nath).

The idol here can be seen with one little finger raised to hold the Govardhan. His favourite prasad appears to be the ladoo, of which there are two types – the boondi and the mohanthal, made from gram flour. What caught our fancy was the snowflake-layered thor – fried wheat crispies dipped in sugar syrup, the faint whiff of cardamom casually engaging our taste buds. We reluctantly leave after a beautiful morning darshan (sighting) of the Lord, bhajans on our lips and more prasad in our bags.

Our search for Krishna Ras or the essence of Krishna began with the assumption of elusiveness. In this trail, though, we imbibed him through the stories of his bravado, bits of information from his lifetime, and most importantly, through the flavours of his favourite foods.

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In focus Yamini Vasudevan

A Dyeing Art The kalamkari art form, whose rich lineage extends as far back as 3000 BC, was nearly extinct in the 1950s. We look at its history, revival and the factors that are threatening its sustenance in modern times

Type the word ‘Srikalahasti’ in an Internet search engine, and popular results that pop up are for the Shiva temple located in this town, which is regarded as one of the most holy shrines in India. A lesser known fact is that this town, located in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is a centre for an ancient art form known as kalamkari. Originally known as vrathapani, the art form was given this more popular name by the Muslim rulers of the Coromandel and Golconda provinces, who bestowed the terms ‘kalamkar’ on those practising the art, and ‘kalamkari’ on the goods that were produced.

The term is derived from two Persian words – kalam (pen) and kari (craft) – and refers to the art of decorating pieces of cloth by drawing and colouring with a pen.

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It is in Srikalahasti that I met Niranjan Jonnalagadda, who is regarded as one of India’s best kalamkari artists. He is a fifth-generation artist in this tradition. His grandfather Lakshmaiah’s paintings of scenes from the epic Ramayana and from stories of Lord Krishna’s life are exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Niranjan’s grandfather and father (Gurappa Chetty), played a key role in reviving this art in the 1950s, when it was near extinct.

Of Art and History The origins of kalamkari are said to date as far back as 3,000 BC. Some historic sources say that samples of this fabric were found in the excavated sites of Mohenjo-daro. The art form flourished under the Vijayanagar kings (1336 to 1646) and Golconda Sultanate (1512 to 1687).

Temples were primary patrons, and hence the artists were strongly influenced by religious themes. In the 17th century (or even earlier), the artists’ works were highly sought after in other parts of the world as well. In the latter half of the 17th century, the British East India Company established a roaring trade in these fabrics, and special orders were placed from the European market to produce them as dress materials

(topmost) Niranjan Jonnalagadda at work; (insert) his daughter, Gowthami, following in his footsteps and his father Gurappa Chetty receiving the Padma award from the then President of India, Pratibha Patil

and furnishing. During this time, European designs such as the Tudor rose and Persian symbols such as the ‘tree of life’ found their way into the craftsmen’s repertoire of designs, and into the kalamkari tradition.

Winds of Change Despite its rich tradition, kalamkari suffered a decline in the

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Photo and Art: Niranjan Jonnalagadda

The kalamkari process has not changed much over the centuries – it involves as many as 17 steps, all of which are done by hand

museums and institutions to archive and encourage Indian crafts and arts – including the Theatre Crafts Museum, Central Cottage Industries Emporia, All India Handicrafts Board and The Crafts Council of India.

early 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution resulted in a boycott against fabrics imported from India to Britain.

By this time, due to colonial rule, local rulers had been ousted and patronage for the arts was extremely limited. With their livelihood in question, many artists branched out into other fields.

“Kamaladevi came to Srikalahasti and met my grandfather and father, and asked them to take up training.

My father selected six people to train – three from his family and three from other communities. The six of them trained others, and the art was revived in Srikalahasti,” says Niranjan.

Lakshmaiah was also the first to teach women this art. He established a training centre and instituted a two-year course in 1957.

“My grandfather and father became schoolteachers,” says Niranjan. “In the 1940s, my grandfather, Lakshmaiah, was only one of two traditional kalamkari artists in Srikalahasti.

Despite being a schoolteacher, he continued to practise kalamkari as a hobby.”

In the mid-1950s, Lakshmaiah met Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, a former member of the Indian Independence Movement, who was working to revive indigenous arts and crafts. Kamala Devi was concerned that the introduction of Western-style factory based mass production – seen as a necessity for economic development – could stunt the growth of traditional artists and artisans. Thus, she set up a series of

Gurappa Chetty followed in his father’s footsteps and began to teach students in Srikalahasti, and at Sophia College in Mumbai. Niranjan, in turn, learnt the art from his father.

Niranjan lives in Srikalahasti, where he runs the Kalamkari Research and Training Centre. Like his father, he teaches students at his hometown and gives lecturedemonstrations in other parts of the country as well.

Paintings, bespoke designs on saris and other wearable fabrics are part of his repertoire, and his designs are bought in India and overseas as well.

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Teaching remains his primary calling – and he teaches students in Srikalahasti and in other cities. He has also travelled to several countries – including the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Switzerland, Sri Lanka and the United States – to give lecture-demonstrations. “When we do live demonstrations in other countries, people there are very interested, primarily because it is all hand-painted and handmade – even the dyes,” he adds.

Crafted by Hand The kalamkari process has not changed much over the centuries – it involves as many as 17 steps, all done by hand.

The cloth is first prepared by soaking it in a myrobalan (a fruit) and milk solution and then washed in running water. Then, the outline of the images are drawn with a ‘pen’ – a sharpened bamboo or date palm stick with a bundle of hair or a small piece cut from a gunnysack, which is tied just above the pointed end with cotton thread. The end is dipped in dye and then used like a stylus to draw freehand on the fabric. The fabric is treated and then the colours are filled in with the pen – but only one colour at a time. Each time a colour has been filled in, the cloth is treated with alum solution to ‘fix’ the colour. A final treatment is done once the design is complete.

Due to the use of milk and natural dyes, kalamkari fabrics have a pungent smell, which fades away with time.

Opportunities and Threats Niranjan says that kalamkari became famous in the 1960s, then suffered a decline in the 1980s and has seen renewed

interest in recent years. The surge in interest could be due to widespread initiatives by the government-run bodies such as Dastkar and Crafts Council of India to promote indigenous arts and crafts. The fact that weavers and artisans now travel to major metros and cities across the country has also helped reduce the gap between the artist and consumer. E-commerce, too, has played its part in sparking interest and enabling wider reach. Thanks to these changes, kalamkari saris, dupattas and furnishing are now in great demand in India and abroad.

However, this surge in demand has also led to the rise of spurious lookalikes. If an artist were to follow the traditional method, it might take up to a month to complete an intricate design on a sari (which includes the two borders of the sixyard drape and the large panel on the free end or pallu). Add more colours or intricacies to the design, and the timeline

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is increased by a few more days. It is a labour-intensive process and involves the effort of two or three people at each stage – and, thus, is much more expensive when compared to printed fabrics. To beat the high prices and time-consuming process, many businessmen/women skip the traditional process and replicate hand-drawn kalamkari motifs and designs through screen-printing. This reduces the price to a tenth of what you would pay for an authentic hand-drawn piece, and enables production at a much faster rate.

So, how does one make out the difference between the original work and a printed lookalike? Niranjan points out that hand-drawn motifs and designs cannot be identical across the work. If it is, it has been printed for sure. He lists other concerns as well – the use of chemical dyes, for one. “Traditionally, only four primary colours are used in kalamkari – black, red (maroon), yellow (mustard) and blue (indigo). Green is (sometimes) derived from these. Now, we see turquoise, orange and purple in kalamari – definitely chemical colours. Also, the colours used by some people are much brighter – in contrast to the original process, which gives very subtle results,” says Niranjan.

The process of making natural dyes is a priceless technique in its own right, and to lose the knowledge (which is typically passed on from master to student) due to the onslaught of chemical replacements is sad indeed.

Add to it the fact that even simple designs are immediately scooped up by willing customers – which leaves ‘artists’ with little need to actually learn the techniques and designs properly. “Once kalamkari became famous, middlemen who don’t know anything about it are taking it up,” Niranjan says.

All of these factors are threatening the continued survival and growth of the original art form. There is little that institutions can do to protect this rich tradition from such threats. “It’s up to the customers to realise the value of this art and support it, and spread the word about it,” Niranjan says.

However, he says, it is not time to write an obituary just yet. There are people who still love and respect the art – and remain true to its legacy. His own family is an example.

“Both my daughters are following in this tradition,” he says proudly. “And they train people to do kalamkari.” Hopefully, he says, more people will be trained in the authentic art form and keep the links alive.

And, some day, I hope, the town will be just as famous for its art as it is for its temple.

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June

Calendar of events

Presenting the best of India’s events in different categories across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and nearby suburbs

Art & Exhibitions

Decoupage Workshop Bengaluru

Clay Workshop Chennai

Pooja D. Gupta will conduct a workshop on various techniques of the French art of decoupage, followed by lunch and tea/coffee.

Clay-On is a 15-day workshop in ceramic hand building and pottery organised by Kriyavat, The Maker's Collaboration at Rupam Ceramic Studio, Chennai. The workshop is a fun and challenging 2-hour session every day, suitable for both beginners and those with experience. During the workshop you will explore various handbuilding and wheel-throwing techniques along with glazing and firing. At Clay-On you will not only make, glaze and fire but also take home the pieces you can be proud of. Entry on first-come-first-serve basis. Fees: Rs. 10,000. For details, call 91-9962803955 /9940511389 or email achus@kriyavat.com.

Date: June 4 onwards Time: 1600 hrs – 1800 hrs Venue: Rupam Ceramic Studio, Kottivakkam

Date: June 26 Time: 1100 hrs Venue: Vivanta By Taj: MG Road, 41/3, Trinity Circle, MG Road

Carpentry Workshop Bengaluru Master the basics of carpentry with a fun and fast-paced workshop with focus on projectbased learning. As a participant you get to take home everything you make. This is a four-day workshop.

Date: June 4 Time: 0900 hrs onwards Venue: IKP Eden, Bhuvanappa, 16, K.M.Layout,Tavarekere Main Road

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Events

Theatre Workshop Delhi Sensitivity, concern, self-reliance, integrity, adaptability and creativity are precisely the values focused on in these sessions.

Participants will be taken along on the move to explore something for themselves (movement, speech and expressions) and subsequently will create their own tales for presentation. The faculty would empower and enable participants and help them find their energies.

Date: June 1 Time: 0900 hrs and 1400 hrs Venue: Atelier Studio, 680, Mukherjee Nagar, NCR 110009

Food Walk Delhi Old Delhi is a foodie's paradise, but more so during the holy month of Ramzan when the day-long fast is broken with an evening meal, or 'Iftar'. Explore the gastronomic wonders of Iftar and walk and eat your way through the haloed by-lanes around Jama Masjid. Take in the heavenly aromas and relish the festival delicacies that leave your taste buds satiated with absolutely mouth-watering food.

This workshop is conducted by Carpe Diem, which conducts specially designed experiential Heritage & Food Walks. They can be reached on 9810703890 for more details.

Date: June 19 Time: 1800 hrs Venue: Gate No 3, Kaccha Pandit Main Bazar, Chawri Bazar Metro Station, NCR 110006

Theatre Mumbai 2nd Decoction is Karthik Kumar’s second stand-up comedy special, after his first #PokeMe. This show is a celebration of all the things that are second best. It’s a celebration of the middle-class upbringing. This is an NCPA presentation.

Date: June 3 Time: 1900 hrs Venue: NCPA, Nariman Point, NCPA Marg

Master class Bengaluru The World on a Plate festival will feature restaurant pop-ups by the most influential people in the culinary world – George Calombaris, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan.

Relish food from a dream tasting menu prepared by top class restaurants and get into conversation with the master chefs – an intimate rendezvous about their lives, how they got together and also live master classes by the three culinary experts.

Date: June 4 and 5 Time: 1100 hrs onwards Venue: UB City and JW Marriott, 24, Vittal Mallya Road

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Slam Poetry Delhi Experience slam poetry at Summer Slam Camp. International slam poetry champions Kyle Louw from South Africa and Ikenna Onyegbula from Canada will work with students individually on their writing and performance.

Slam Camp is an engaging month-long spoken word programme in June for students across India to come together at DelSlam to learn how to write and perform the spoken word. Throughout the month, students attend over 40 hours of personal and intensive grounding in slam poetry.

This camp is for beginners. No experience required. All students 13 and above are welcome to join.

Date: June 4 Time: 1200 hrs Korean Cultural Center, 25A, Lajpat Nagar IV, Near Moolchand Metro Station, NCR 110024

Folk music Bengaluru The folk band Dohar demonstrates, represents, produces and works on 30–35 folk forms specially from the northeastern part of India, West Bengal and Bangladesh, and its members play more than 25 different kinds of ethnic/folk instruments of India. The genres of folk song Dohar performs are Baul, Bhatiyali (songs, specially related to the rivers of East Bengal), Bhawaiya (the basic melody

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of North Bengal), Chatka (the faster form of Bhawaiya), Jhumur (the basic melody of some part of South Bengal and also sung among the tea garden labourers of Assam and North Bengal), Saarigaan (songs of boat racing, harvesting, etc.) Jaari gaan (songs in memory of kaarvala, sung in the Muharram month of the Muslim calendar), Gaajan/Charak (songs of a carnival of Shiva), Dhamail-geet (songs of different festivals), patriotic folk songs, BihuKamrupi (the songs of Assam), and so on.

Date: June 17 Time: 1900 hrs Venue: Chowdiah Memorial Hall, 16th Cross, G.D. Park Extension, 2nd Main Road, Malleswaram

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Spotlight

by Team Culturama

Sao Joao Festival June 24

Every June, the little village of Siolim in North Goa hosts the Sao Joao festival. In Portuguese, the name ‘Sao Joao’ translates to St. John (the Baptist), whose feast day it celebrates. The festival is widely known to have been celebrated for more than 100 years and is a tourist attraction. It is also one of the many remnants that Goa has of its past as a Portuguese colony.

Locals wear crowns made of flowers and tender coconut fronds called Kopel, and play traditional music. The Siolim boat parade is a much anticipated event of the festival; it has small boats decked up in themes drawing up into a parade. The colourful themes of the boat parade range from biblical themes to everyday scenes.

A unique tradition that is followed by locals during the festival is of the kopel-wearing young men jumping into wells in the neighbourhood. This jump is said to signify the joy that St. John the Baptist felt when Jesus was born. The men are rewarded with bottles of feni, the local liquor of Goa. As the Sao Joao festival also heralds the monsoons, the Goan Tourism Board has events across the state to celebrate it with music, dance and food.

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Festivals of India hindus celebrate vat savitri and muslims across the country observe a month-long fast, as ramadan month begins, this june...

Photo: Michelle Klakulak, USA

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Vat Savitri

Ramadan month begins

Vat Savitri is celebrated by women on Purnima (full moon day) of Jyeshta mas – between the months of May and June – and is celebrated this year on June 15. A three-night fast is observed by married Hindu women for the well-being and longevity of their husbands. The banyan tree is of great significance in this festival. Women bathe early in the morning, before gathering at the nearest vat or banyan tree.

The roots of the banyan tree vat vriksha represent the Hindu God Brahma and are consumed along with water. The stem represents Vishnu and the portion above, Shiva. A sacred thread is tied around the tree and offerings of flowers and rice are made. Finally, the women circumambulate the tree. Upon returning home, they should draw a banyan tree using a paste of turmeric and sandalwood and pray to Vat Savitri.

Legend has it that Savitri married Satyavan despite advice of his oncoming early death. When Yama (the God of death) came to claim Satyavan’s soul, she followed the pair, never leaving her husband’s side. Impressed by her devotion, Yama granted Savitri three wishes with the exception of her husband’s life. After deep consideration, her final wish was to bear healthy children and Yama was forced to return Satyavan to her in order to make the wish possible.

Ramadan falls on the ninth month in the Islamic calendar – this month is regarded as holy, as the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad at this time. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection and intense worship, and Muslims are called upon to use this month to re-evaluate their lives in the light of Islamic guidance. During Ramadan, Muslims have to undertake a fast from dawn to dusk. The period of fasting is for 29 or 30 days (the number of days is determined from the lunar calendar). Fasting is one of the five major pillars of Islam and teaches self-restriction and patience.

Special prayers are held every night, after the fast is broken, and the Qur’an is recited in mosques around the world. The fast is broken with an evening meal, a communal religious observance, called iftar. The end of Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, (this year Eid falls on July 8) is marked by grand celebrations.

To Do: Ramadan is when devout Muslims perform charitable deeds – so contribute to a charity of your choice. If you can, sample some rich haleem – made with mutton and wheat – which is served in many restaurants. Haleem is typically made only during Ramadan, so be sure to try some.

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Holistic living

by Eknath Easwaran

Levels of Consciousness The Indian scriptures say there is a great deal hiding our real Self – covering it up, if you like, in dense layers of mistaken identity

the Gita’s idea of body and mind: one hidden inside the other and possessing the same form.

I came across a perfect illustration of these levels of personality when a friend showed me a Russian doll shaped like an egg, apparently made from one piece of wood. I had never seen a doll like this, so I turned it around in my hands admiring its artistry.

Then, anticipating my surprise, my friend took the doll back, held it up before my eyes, and twisted it open. What had seemed solid was only a shell; inside was another doll exactly like it but smaller, fitted to the outer one as nicely as a hand inside a glove. This is

Teresa of Avila has a nice turn on this image: she invites us to think of ourselves as a castle with concentric chambers made of pure crystal. Imagine a Russian doll made of crystal; wouldn’t it be beautiful? The outermost shell, the body, would be opaque, but the one inside would be a bit translucent.

And at the very centre would be the Atman, which shines as pure intelligence. The more

The Indian scriptures say there is a great deal hiding our real Self – covering it up, if you like, in dense layers of mistaken identity

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5 Join Us Every Saturday India Immersion Centre in Chennai facilitates a weekly spiritual fellowship group following Easwaran’s Eight Point Programme of Meditation.

E-mail us for more information at globalindian@globaladjustments.com.

If you are in other cities, visit www.easwaran.org for e-satsangs.

Photo: James Jordan via Flickr

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we identify with the Self, the Bhagavad Gita would say, the brighter our whole life will be. Conversely, if we think we are no more than the body, very little of the imprisoned splendour within us can shine forth. In fact, this idea that we are the body is the most monstrous superstition that humanity is subject to. No case of mistaken identity could cause greater grief. At the very least, as William James put it, this is so limiting a view that it leads us to think and act as if we had no more resources than our little finger.

Just as we have a physical body, the Gita says, we have a mental or “subtle” body consisting of thoughts, memories, desires, and other such intangibles.

The physical body, being physical, is subject to decay; but the subtle body is a field of forces, which are nonphysical in the sense that they are not measurable in the objective world. But that doesn’t make them less real.

We can’t see electricity, but we can see the effects of it. Similarly, though we can’t see anger, we can see the effects of it, not only in damaged relationships but even in damage to the body in heart attack or stroke. And although we can’t see forgiveness, we can see the effects of it in the healing of emotional wounds.

Imagine the Self at the core of our set of Russian dolls, looking out at the world through all those layers! No wonder we see as through a glass darkly – very darkly indeed. The Gita is trying to tell us that our life is really what our consciousness is. Everything we do and say and think is based upon the state of consciousness we have at the moment. When we are happy, we don’t have any serious complaints against life; but if we’re depressed, though we may have all the satisfactions that make for happiness, we feel empty inside – not because the world has changed, but because there has been a change in consciousness. One big problem is that this is our personality. We think it is who we are. Not only can we not imagine removing it, we don’t really want to; we’re rather fond of it, and we imagine others feel the same way. This is a very limited view.

The word personality comes from the Latin word persona: a mask. What we call personality is the mask of the ego, which hides the divine essence that is within. In this perspective we are all impostors, acting separate and selfcentered and angry and playing all kinds of undesirable roles. Our real nature is to be naturally good, naturally kind, naturally big-hearted. It may not show, but all the conditioning that makes us selfish, self-willed, violent, and even cruel is a mask that can be taken away. That is why I find that image of a Russian doll so appealing: you can imagine taking off mask after mask until the innermost Self is revealed.

Reprinted with permission from ‘Levels of Consciousness’ from Essence of Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran from The Blue Mountain Journal. Copyright The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, P.O. Box 256, Tomales, CA 94971, www.easwaran.org. (Extract from http://bmcmwebsite.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/ bm-journal/2013/2013Summer.pdf)

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India Diaries

by Annelize Booysen

An altered world Voltaire once said, ‘I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges’ I had a disturbing dream.

It was Saturday morning. I got up early and as usual reached for my favourite pair of stretchy pants. Yet, there was only a big void where the pants should have been. Baggy pants it was then. I started to do some stretching, but drew a blank. Instead I went for a run.

Back home, I took a shower and washed my hair.

However, where the shampoo should have been, there was only a void. Things were not going well.

With spring in the air, the day called for a light pair of cotton pants with a sweater. The sweater was there. The pants were not.

Photos: Anne Wu and Bär Baer, via Flickr

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Sharing in the British belief that there is nothing that a good cup of tea can’t fix, I reached for the tea, just to find – by now to be expected – a void.

The carpenter stopped by to take the measurements for a small kitchen table. He was struggling though – no measuring tape. I settled in to catch up on e-mails. Except that there was no computer. No iPad or iPhone either. Just a void.

My world started to look like Swiss cheese.

I walked round to my neighbour to see if she needed anything. Poor thing had cataract and couldn’t see a thing anymore. I headed to the store to pick up a few things for her.

No sugar on the shelves.

Workmen were laying the paving outside the store but it wasn’t going so well with their day either, it seemed. They couldn’t get the hard tiles cut.

The day was drawing to an end and I got ready for a birthday party at a restaurant. I planned to wear my cashmere sweater with pearl buttons and blue pants. Void. Not even the chess set that I had carefully wrapped as a gift existed.

Thankfully, I woke up.

What was this all about? Simple. I had experienced a life devoid of India. Literally. That is what our lives would look like if there had never been an India.

Let’s fill the voids.

First – no stretchy pants? If there is no yoga, then there is no need to supply pants in which to do yoga. But, more so, India introduced the Jodhpuri pants which, with the invention of stretch material, turned into leggings as we know it.

Without yoga, morning exercise routines the world over would look a lot different. So would morning showers, because India introduced us to shampoo. They also ensured that we have cotton pants because it was in India where cotton was cultivated and processed the first time.

No tea in the cupboard? A wild plant growing in India, tea turned into an industry, with India leading the way.

A carpenter without a measuring tape? India brought the ruler to the world.

No computer? It was India that brought the concept of zero to us. In addition, a large portion of mathematics can be attributed to India, including algorithms which were developed on the basis of Indian techniques. Without India, there would be no Google.

Photo: Ike Hire, via Flickr

No mobile phone? It was India that introduced the world to radio receivers and microwave transmission technology, the basis for all mobile phones and WiFi. My neighbour would have been fine since an Indian surgeon already described a cataract procedure in 800 BC. The store would have stocked sugar since India discovered a way to create crystallised sugar from sugar cane.

The tilers would have been more productive because they would have had a diamond cutter – diamonds were first recognised and mined in India.

And lastly, I would have gone to the birthday party, dressed as intended, with a brand new chess set – an Indian invention – in hand. Cashmere, buttons and blue indigo dye all originated in India. And as for the restaurant, it was Indian, of course!

This is not to say that in the absence of these Indian contributions, no one else would have invented /created/ discovered/developed something similar. What is indisputable though is that life as we know it owes a lot to India’s ingenuity – back then, as it does today.

As Voltaire once said, ‘I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges.’

And by the way, the word ‘that’ has its roots in Sanskrit.

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Photo: Ian Watkinson, UK

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Letters from the valley

by Sakshi Krish

Photos: Diksha Chauhan

The tapri life There is a kind of culture that thrives among students within the isolated valley of Lavale village, tucked safely away from the bustling and perennially changing trends of Pune city.

Lavale's valley serves as home for two residential universities.

If there's one thing that cannot be overlooked in the life of a valley student, it is his/her daily trip to the tapri – be it for a meal, a cigarette or simply some company.

A tapri is a makeshift stall strategically erected outside colleges, railway stations and around busy streets, and usually sell tea. These small establishments come as respite to students and help them break away from the repetitive drone of college.

Offering mouth-watering meals (that treat one’s wallet well) and steaming cups of chai – (students' days begin and end with this manna) – the tapri becomes a part of every student’s routine. A habit hard to break.

One can find these stalls either thronged by impatient

Craving a cup of hot tea? Or a vada pav? The tapri waits for you...

people, peering across the counter for a vada pav or with only a few who sit with their teas in the silence of a hot afternoon.

In a way, these tapris have become essential to the Indian student's survival. Hour-long conversations exchanged over trademark egg bhurjis, quiet sips of chai sheltering from the rain, last minute assignment completions while one's thums up ‘de-cools’ or even a friendly encounter with a teacher who also craves a cigarette break once every few days – new memories are attached to one’s tapri trip every single day.

The boy who always sleeps in class, the security guard with a polite smile, a local construction worker, the university’s favourite English teacher... they’ve all sat at the same table in our tapri, discussing the weather while waiting for their orders. In a way, these tiny shops act as great levellers. It is where people of different backgrounds, ages and gender come to unwind and share an amiable time over a pocket-friendly cup of tea or meal.

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sri lanka

Best for July & August: Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle with a beach break at Trincomallee

milesworth holidays india • srilanka • maldives • and beyond

visit: www.milesworth.com Milesworth Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd., 39 R M Towers, 108 Chamiers Road, Chennai. Tel: +91-44-24320522 / 24359554 Fax: +91-44-24342668 E-mail: holidays@milesworth.com

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Myth and Mythology

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Going around to come around Art: Devdutt Pattanaik

There are no destinations in the world. Seated or moving, we are always travelling

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All his life, Buddha kept speaking about the impermanence of all things and the relationship of desire and sorrow. So it was ironical that after he died, his relics such as bone, tooth and hair, were placed under mounds of clay and cow dung, which were decorated with parasols and garlands of flowers and transformed into a stupa. People did not want him to go; they wanted the permanence of the Buddha, if not the person then at least the idea. They walked around this stupa in reverence. This act of circumambulation came to be known as the parikrama – going around the perimeter, the circumference of the stupa. This ritual movement of reverence gradually came to be explained metaphysically. For it mimicked the action of the cosmos: all things go around to come around. Everything is cyclical, like the seasons.

Shortly after Buddha, we have India’s greatest empire: the Mauryan Empire, with its greatest king, Ashoka, who reigned in the 3rd century BCE. Royal laws travel radially outwards from his capital city of Pataliputra in the Gangetic Plains, north to Gandhara, modern Afghanistan, and south to Andhra Pradesh. The spread of his power is indicated by his edicts that were carved out in stone. He encouraged monks and nuns to travel to different parts of the world to spread the word of the Buddha. Travel takes a new form: not the search for a new home, not raids into other people’s lands, not the quest for trade, but the spread of ideas.

The ideas of both empire and proselytization seem rather alien to the Indian way of thinking, which has been more inward looking, and one wonders if these ideas were inspired by the actions of Alexander, the Great, who overthrew the great empire of the Persian emperors and shook up the world of his times, and came right up to the north-western borders of India. He wanted to change the world, unite the world with his ideas, inspired

by Greek philosophers, and hence he established many cities called Alexandrias along the way.

They say that on the banks of the Indus he met a naked ascetic, who he called a ‘gymnosophist’. It probably was a Jain Digambar muni. Digambar means the sky-clad, a euphemism for naked. Finding him seated, at peace, on a rock, staring at the sky, Alexander asked him, “What are you doing?” The ‘gymnosophist’ replied, “Experiencing nothingness. What about you?” Alexander declared, “I am conquering the world.” Both laughed. Alexander laughed because he thought the ‘gymnosophist’ was a fool for not travelling, for not having ambition, for living a life without a destination. The ‘gymnosophist’ laughed because there are no destinations in the world. Seated or moving, we are always travelling. And when we keep travelling, we end up returning to the place from where we started, hopefully a little wiser.

Published in Mid-day, 18 August 2013. Reprinted with permission from www.devdutt.com

Photo: Anke M.L. BOLLEN, The Netherlands

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At Global Adjustments Team Culturama

I Am the King of My Emotions

Twenty-six children who attended the week-long ‘Emojis... in life’ workshop conducted by Global Adjustments Foundation were heard joyfully saying, ‘I am the king of my emotions’ at the end of it.

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‘More than IQ, it is the EQ that determines happiness and success in life. This, when introduced to children at a young age, makes them confident and happy individuals,’ said Ranjini Manian, Founder, Global Adjustments.

‘We subtly drove home the importance of Emotional Intelligence from various angles through games, activities, brainstorming, role-play and clippings. Initially it was about becoming multi-talented, studying happily and communicating effectively. Then it was about understanding others and managing them – friends, family and strangers.

Increasing positivity also happens by reducing negative aspects such as gadget addiction, short temper, avoiding foods that create health hazards and handling bullying friends,’ says Usha Ramakrishnan, Director and Trainer.

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‘My son has never cleaned his shelf ever and was I surprised to see him accomplish that and whastapp the picture to Usha Aunty,’ remarked one parent.

‘My daughter wants the workshop for a longer duration,’ said a mother.

Apart from the smiley ball (with a positive emotion that they will work on highlighted on it), they received certificates on successful completion.

‘This was a successful summer camp that was not meant to just keep them occupied during the vacation but also help them take home something positive and reflect upon,’ concluded Madhumitha of the Foundation.

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Learn from the Bhagavad Gita

by Team Culturama

Capturing the essence of the Bhagavad Gita in a single sentence, one chapter at a time; accompanied by an inspirational photograph from our Annual Photo Competition.

Chapter 2

Right knowledge is the ultimate solution to all our problems.

Photo Credit: Sophie FONTANT, France

Learn a yoga pose

by Namita Jain

The dancer This pose resembles a graceful dancer.

1. Stand tall.

2. Stretch your left hand up, bend your right knee back and hold the ankle with your right hand. Slowly tilt your body forwards and raise your leg backwards.

3. Return to the starting position and switch legs.

Benefits – Strengthens the leg muscles and improves stability and concentration.

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culturama

4 Chennai Property Your solution provider for excellent quality rentals of home and office with 21 years of experience in ‘global adjustments’. Write to us at info@globaladjustments.com

Besant Nagar, Kalakshetra Colony Overlooking greenery • 3 bedrooms; 1,626 sq. ft.

• Modular kitchen, living, dining and 2 balconies • 2 car parks, both covered

OMR, Perungudi Gated community villa • 3 Bedrooms; 3,522 sq.ft.

• Servant quarters, modular kitchen • Fully furnished with club house facilities • Power backup, gated community

ECR, Neelankarai Independent house • 5 bedrooms + 1 study room; 4,000 sq. ft.

• 3 car parks • Garden area • Semi-furnished

ECR, Kovalam Independent villa for rent • 2,400 sq. ft., fully furnished • 3 bedrooms, dining and living area • Garden and sit-out patio • Club house, pool and power backup

OMR, Thoraipakkam Independent villa in gated community • 4 bedrooms; 2,822 sq. ft.

• 2 car parks • 100% power backup • Fully furnished with clubhouse facilities • Near American International School

For more properties, call Global Adjustments at +91-44-24617902/+91-72999 12203, or e-mail realty@globaladjustments.com Please note that any changes to the information above are done at the property owner’s sole discretion. Global Adjustments assumes no responsibility for such changes.

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June 2016

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June 2016

culturama

Postcard from India nghar Fort taken at Mehra The photo was tting man was just si d ol is Th r. pu in Jodh cupboardng in this little si po ly ul ef ac pe all the courtyard while like room off a I liked the rt walked past. visitors to the fo d framed rfectly posed an set up. It was pe ntented e just seemed co H e. ur ct pi a r fo ng everyone milli and oblivious to having as like he really w around. It was favourite It is one of my ! k' ea br e ok a 'sm a at one of ok while in Indi to I at th os ot ph aces. my favourite pl , UK

— Johnny Baird

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June 2016

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