A new kind of Independence

BY SHERYL DIXIT

This year, Independence Day in India will be celebrated in it usual style and splendour. The nation will rejoice in its 63 years of freedom, its economic and social progress and its increasing strength as a force to reckon with in the world.

But there’s much more to celebrate than the usual march pasts and flag hoistings, because independence has taken on different avatars in the India of today. Let’s take a look at what makes India truly liberated.

IT ka kamaal

Khana Khazana

Yes, India these days is in the throes of a Food Revolution. And this is not about national cuisine, it’s about the width and variety of international food now available. From an inspirational Italian restaurant in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad to a tiny, poky joint serving delicious Tibetan food in Anjuna, Goa, India now has it all. Move over dal makhani, sambar, rotis and even Indian Chinese, meals these days aren’t quite the same without Mexican, Thai, Cantonese Chinese, Italian, Greek or Lebanese gracing the weekly menu, even in one’s home. Naturally if one’s household boasts of a cook, he’s even sent to classes to expand his repertoire of dishes. Ramukaka can now cook the most delicious vegetable lasagne or chicken provincale, says madam with obvious pride. And that’s not all that’s changed. How about muesli for breakfast, the healthier option to parathas? Catering for a kitty party or a boys’ night in? Cocktail samosas, chicken tikka and pakoras are passé, bring on the tapas. Teatime treats are not quite Marie biscuits and masala chai any more. Bakeries boasting only celebrity clientele will sell you special brownies or scones – but only if you come recommended by one of their regulars! Ah, for the ancient delights of bun maska and cutting chai….

India is known as an IT hub, and its nationals are making sure everyone knows it as well. Now even the istriwala gives you his mobile number, all you have to do is call him to find out when your clothes will be ready. Most likely they won’t be, but it’s worth listening to his ringtone, the newest Bollywood blockbuster theme song. Give him a few months and you’ll be able to visit his website and track down the status of your ironing. Payments though, will still have to be paid upfront in cash, because his subjiwala is a well-known hacker. Independence through IT has never been more blatant than now, and is heading for some pretty competitive times. Travelling interstate by train via third class AC, you’ll find men of the family engrossed in their laptops, while their children fiddle with DSs and their wives talk incessantly on their mobile phones. Throw a stone and you’ll hit a Blackberry or iPhone with its owner looking at the screen in mystification. Flat screens, plasmas, Bluetooth DVDs, Wiis, Playstation – they’re all there, fighting fit and enjoying their time in the limelight. Also, let’s not forget the internet revolution with Facebook and Twitter, with everyone and his dog displaying their lives and sins to the world. In this, India isn’t alone of course, but I wonder if there’s any other country in the world in which its lead actresses have numerous profiles that they probably don’t even know exist!

Shaadihojaye?

Here’s one concept that’s rapidly going out of style, much to the relief of the country’s upbeat and in-with-it youth. India’s young men and women have finally convinced conservative parents that the best way to find a ‘suitable’ partner is to enrol on a matchmaking site. They list their own specifications including interests, hobbies, and what they desire in a partner and voila! The search is on! Of course, one does hear the occasional story of two interested parties who communicated long and hard until the ‘meeting’ stage, only to realise that it was both sets of parents representing their kids, who were blissfully ignorant of the entire exercise. And there are the jokers who download heavily retouched photographs covering the acne and correcting the vision, in the hope of getting a hit from a similarly phoney party. But what the hell, the best thing ever is that one can now confidently boast to friends that they met their partner ‘on the internet’. How much cooler is that than an ‘arranged marriage’!

Paisa phaiko

Yes, money’s flowing all around India like the tributaries of the Ganges. Restaurants and retailers enthusiastically overcharge, doormen at fancy hotels expect more than a mere Rs 100 note for parking your car and the ten paisa coin is now almost obsolete. You are even likely to cop a dirty look from the beggar or eunuch with palm outstretched at signal lights, particularly if your only offering is a five rupee coin. And the amazing thing is that people actually spend incredible amounts of money. A night out with a couple of friends could cost up to Rs 50,000 in a posh restaurant with a bar, but the noisy DJ belting out remixed Bollywood tunes would be a part of the deal. And that would be normal for some people in India, but would make us poor videshis living abroad wonder at the sheer indulgence of it all. So while you’re busy converting rupees into dollars while looking at kurtis in what you thought was a reasonably priced shopping mall in Malad, a bright young thing walks around randomly picking up stuff and toting up a bill that easily hits five figures. And she’s still talking to her call centre friends on her iPhone while you’re desperately trying to relocate your jaw that’s fallen to the floor. The nouveau richies spend money almost as quickly as they earn it, and the concept of ‘saving’ which I was brought up to believe is almost as old as India’s history, has somehow slipped through the cracks. Money means independence to this young breed of big spenders, and they’re happy to pay the price for their freedom.

all the unreal ingredients of escapism, there used to be the one-off movie that broke the mould. But now, things have changed to such an extent that the number of good movies coming out of Bollywood are worth way more than one’s three hours. Social themes are tackled with panache, topics like terrorism, abuse, disabilities, and the malaise in the education system are being highlighted in realistic, yet tasteful cinematic style. Bollywood has finally come of age, and it’s an independence that’s welcomed by the nation (and its unworthy compatriots residing abroad). Even the commercial no-brainers appeal with their gorgeous actors, stunning sets and locales, rhythm-filled music and of course, the ever appealing item dances. Unfortunately, all can’t be great in this mega-industry and the problem is with its actors. They’re talented, goodlooking and mind-numbingly boring! Actors today display their lives on Twitter and personal blogs, leaving very little to the imagination of fans and to the gossip writers of film magazines. Live-ins are popular, but not shocking after the initial speculative excitement. Break-ups, makeups, getting hooked are all a part of Bollywood, but seem to have lost their appeal. There isn’t that sense of intrigue or mystery about the acting fraternity any more, they’re all quite normal instead of being the quirky, temperamental creatures we expect them to be.

in-laws, interfering parents and ungrateful children. Everyone enjoys a sense of independence as grandparents spend quality time with their grandkids without feeling that they’re being put-upon, parents enjoy the responsibility of yelling at their kids without having to endure disapproving looks, and the grandchildren enjoy playing one set of adults against the other. Wealthier families who still abide by the concept have now rebuilt their homes to include a floor for each branch of the family, and the rules of ‘sharing’ a kitchen and mealtimes taken all together is rapidly fading, regardless of what dada/dadi Besides, they’re too busy finding old friends on Facebook!

cricket as the common man kicking around a ball in narrow alleyways, as hitting a ‘six’, which breaks an unpopular neighbour’s window for the nth time. For the rich, famous and their wannabes, golf, motorsport and yachting are now buzzwords.

But in the same perspective, there’s way more awareness of women’s rights, girl children are no longer considered a liability, people are willing to be generous for a good cause, there is a genuine desire to learn and educate and the coils of corruption are slowly, but surely untangling. Yes, India today is certainly more liberated that it ever was, since the advent of Independence in Jai hind…or is it Jai

Flash floods claim 132 lives in Leh, 500 still missing

Over 500 people, including a Spanish tourist and 20 Army soldiers, were missing after a cloudburst caused flash floods in Jammu and Kashmir’s Leh town on 6th August, claiming at least 132 lives and causing widespread destruction.

Four Air India flights have reached the town to evacuate stranded passengers, most of them foreigners, while the Indian Air Force sent more planes with relief supplies.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir zone) Farooq Ahmad said the 111 bodies identified so far do not include any foreigner. The rescue teams have fanned out to six villages near Leh that had not yet been reached during the relief operations.

Over 400 people were injured in the disaster, including a Spanish tourist, and are being treated in a local hospital, he said. The bodies of four policemen who died in the rescue operations were airlifted to Srinagar, where tributes were paid to them. Their bodies were later sent to their hometown, Kargil, in the Ladakh region.

Ahmed said that medical personnel and relief supplies had begun reaching in strength and special flights have been flying out stranded tourists.

At least 20 soldiers deployed near the base camp of Siachen glacier - the highest battleground of the world at the height of 18,000 feet above sea level - are still missing and are feared dead, army sources said in Jammu.

The sources said that they feared that the soldiers were dead as there was no trace of life anywhere in the area they were posted in.

The IAF has pressed more aircraft into service to take relief material. Besides Chandigarh and Delhi, relief supplies are being ferried in from Jammu and Udhampur as well, an army spokesman said in Jammu.

“An IL-76 and AN-32 transport planes took off from Jammu and Udhampur on 8th August with relief material and also debris clearing machines like earthmovers and engineering equipment, provided by the Northern Command of the Indian Army,” the spokesman said.

Stunned locals are still trying to come to terms with the tragedy that hit Leh, which is popular with Indians and foreigners alike. The floods razed important buildings and washed away homes as people desperately tried to escape.

Survivors clawed through their devastated homes to look for their near and dear ones - some who survived while others were not so lucky.

The shocked tourists promptly made a beeline for the airport to leave the town at the earliest.

Britain on 8th August advised its citizens against travelling to Ladakh and asked those in the area to follow “local advice”.

“Due to ongoing disruption following floods, we advise against travel to Leh and the surrounding area at the current time,” said a travel advisory issued by the British foreign office.

The police have set up tented accommodation for 2,000 victims in Choglamsar village and Leh town where free meals are being served.

In Delhi, NGO Save the Children appealed to the people to contribute relief material like blankets and household utility kits.

“About 5,000 blankets are required immediately to keep people warm, particularly children as homes have been damaged and the weather conditions are poor,” said Thomas Chandy, the NGO’s chief executive officer.

“About 5,000 household and hygiene kits are required. Tarpaulins and medical assistance are some of the other critical needs of the victims,” he said.

Head in the sand: India’s leading sand sculptor Sudarshan Pattnaik won the People’s Choice Award at the Eighth International Sand Sculpture Festival held in Berlin recently. Pattnaik’s work is entitled You don’t listen. You don’t talk. You don’t see. Don’t put your head in the sand, act now. Pattnaik had earlier won the award in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2009.

Save the Children is coordinating relief efforts with international NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and local NGOs.

To lend a helping hand or to donate one can call or SMS at +91 8898619953 and +91 9811320906 or log onto www. savethechildren.in

Over 6,000 army soldiers and troopers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are involved in the massive relief and rescue operation and are assisting the local administration.

Leh is 434 km from Srinagar and 474 km from Manali in Himachal Pradesh, to which it is connected by an alternative highway.

The cloudburst occurred at Choglamsar village, which is situated above Leh town, causing flash floods and mudslides that washed away government offices, paramilitary camps and residential homes.

Among the worst hit are the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), many local hotels and shops.

The headquarters of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a government polytechnic, an ITBP camp, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp, some government offices and the main transmitter of All India Radio Leh have been extensively damaged by the flash floods.

The general manager of BSNL said that according to preliminary estimates the corporation has suffered a loss of around Rs.12 crore and the damage has led to communications being completely disrupted in Leh.

Another service provider, Airtel whose network is still operating in Leh, has issued SIM cards to the local administration for setting up helplines.

Situated at 3,524 m above sea level, Leh is spread over 45,110 sq. km. and comprises the main town and 12 adjacent villages.

Pakistani teenager mistakenly enters India, sent back

A Pakistani teenager who had inadvertently entered Indian territory on 8th August has been sent back to his country by the Border Security Force (BSF), an officer said.

According to the officer, Mohammed Hyder, 16, had entered Indian territory from near the Rorawali post at around 4 a.m.

“On seeing a boy coming from Pakistan side, we immediately challenged him and he surrendered to us. During his questioning, we found him innocent and informed the Pakistan Rangers,” the BSF officer said.

“Hyder is a resident of Golmandi in Lahore. He was repatriated from the same point of Rorawali post from where he had entered India.”

In normal practice, if any Pakistan national enters India unintentionally, he is handed over to Pakistan Rangers through the Attari-Wagah joint check-post, around 30 km from here.

“The boy was found innocent and he had entered India by mistake. Moreover, keeping in mind his age, we decided to send him back through the Rorawali post,” said the BSF officer.

Efforts on to check worst oil spill in Arabian Sea

Efforts have been launched on a war footing to combat an unprecedented oil spill in the Arabian Sea, spanning around two miles, from a Panaman ship which crashed into another vessel in Mumbai harbour.

The oil spilled from Panaman ship MSC Chitra which collided with a St. Kittsregistered vessel, MV Khalijia-III, on 7th August.

In the biggest such operation mounted so far in the Indian waters, the authorities have deployed five ICG ships, a helicopter and a small aircraft for controlling the massive oil spill in the Mumbai harbour, around five km south of the island city, an Indian Coast

Guard (ICG)officer said.

The affected ship, MSC Chitra, was loaded with an estimated 2,500 tonnes of oil at the time of the accident, but officials declined to comment on this.

Due to the impact of the collision, MSC Chitra has dangerously tilted in the sea and rescue groups were seeing containers that it was carrying falling from it at regular intervals.

The containers are floating in the choppy sea in the busy navigation channels that are the entry to and exit from one of the country’s oldest and the largest ports - the Mumbai Port - and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

In view of the serious hazard posed by floating containers to vessels navigating in that area, the shipping traffic has been kept on hold for the time being.

Meanwhile, the ICG ships - Sankalp, Amrit Kaur, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Kamla Devi and C-145 - have joined the ICG AOPV Sangram which was deployed to monitor the oil spill and guide the relief efforts.

A helicopter and a small aircraft have been pressed into service for aerial spraying of dispersants on the thick oil slick through regular sorties.

So far, they have sprayed nearly 150 litres of dispersant, the officer said.

The ICG’s smaller vessels are now engaged in churning down the oil sheen for weathering or emulsification, but the discharge from the grounded ship continued, thwarting the efforts by different agencies.

The officer said that the authorities are making the best efforts to mitigate and minimise the damage to the sea due to the oil spill.

“Containment and recovery of spilled oil in present position is not feasible because of the rocky surface and the prevailing weather and tidal conditions,” the officer explained.

Though officials declined to hazard a guess on the time-frame, it is expected that the operation may go on for over a week.

The ICG has also requisitioned additional pollution check assistance from Goa, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and other agencies.

The state government, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the Maharashtra Maritime Board are also in a state of high alert to mobilize resources for a shore clean-up if required, according to the officer.

Besides, the Bombay Natural History Society has been approached to mobilize and keep volunteers on standby for shore cleanup operations.

In the meantime, the maritime authorities have requested the state government to restrict all fishing activities off Mumbai till the oil effects are controlled and minimized.

The shipping agency of MSC Chitra has engaged Smit Salvage of Singapore to help out with the salvage operations of the fully loaded cargo ship.

The MSC Chitra collided with an incoming vessel, MV Khalijia-III - both more than 200 metres long – on 7th August around 9.45 a.m. near the JNPT, creating the emergency situation.

Shortly after the accident, the ICG rescued 33 crew members and evacuate them to safety, even as the MSC Chitra ran aground near the Prong Reef Lighthouse.

The Directorate General of Shipping and the port authorities have already instituted separate inquiries into the accident, which occurred due to navigational errors, as per preliminary reports, said officials.

Tejaswini becomes first Indian woman shooter to win gold at World Championships

Tejaswini Sawant has became the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold at the World Championships with a world record equalling score in the 50m rifle prone event in Munich on 8th August. She dedicated the medal to her father, who had been her pillar of strength and passed away earlier this year.

Tejaswini shot 597 (100,100,100,99,99,99) and was tied with Polish shooter Ewa Joanna Nowakowska, equalling the 1998 record set by Marina Bobkova of Russia. She was declared winner with a better perfect score tally of 41. Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan won the bronze with a score of 596.

After winning the medal, the gritty girl recalled how at one point financial constrains forced her to consider giving up shooting, but the strong support of her family, especially her father, kepy her going.

“I dedicate this gold to my father,” Tejaswini said.

Tejaswini’s father passed away Feb 23 when she was competing at the Commonwealth Championships.

“I was shattered after hearing the news, but I could not leave the competition. I was part of the team and had I left, the team would not not have been able to participate,” she said.

“I owe it to him. On many occasion I told him that I will not go for the camps and tournaments, because it was getting difficult for my family to afford it. We have seen some bad days. But he would always tell me to continue shooting and somehow he would manage the finances,” said Tejaswini, 29, who won two gold medals in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in the air rifle event.

She won gold medals in 10m air rifle singles and 10m air rifle pairs (with Avneet Kaur Sidhu).

Tejaswini says she could have broken the world record but nerves got the better of her in the last shot.

I have been training hard and as per the plans charted out, I was supposed to score my personal best here. I won the gold with a world equalling score, I could not have asked for more,” she said.

India’s shooting coach Sunny Thomas was elated with Tejaswini’s performance.

“It came as a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a medal from her in the rifle 3 position event. She was very confident and she did well in the elimination, but could not produce the same performance in the finals. She made up in the prone. She is the World Champion and it is a huge achievement. She is only the fifth world-record holder in India,” Thomas said.

Thomas said it was a mixed performance from the Indian shooters at the World Championships.

“There are some shooters who peaked in the tournament, but there were some shooters who were nowhere. There were a lot of expectations from some of them. It could be a completely different team in the Commonwealth Games because the scores of this event would be taken for final selection. For shooters who could not participate in this event, we would have another selection trial.”

Dialogue with Pakistan must despite WikiLeaks, says India

It is vital to talk to Pakistan despite against India”.

The foreign secretary was asked if this held true despite WikiLeaks disclosures that Pakistan was directly and clearly involving in instigating terror against India, including in Afghanistan.

“I believe that dialogue is the most effective means to tackle outstanding issues with Pakistan,” she said. “In other words, dialogue is the most intelligent means of addressing points of contention.”

Dialogue, she said, “has served the purpose of putting across our deepest concerns in Pakistan”.

She said that what WikiLeaks had come out with was known to India for a long time.

“The role of officials agencies from Pakistan in promoting terrorism against India is something we have been speaking of and drawing attention to for a long time now,” Rao said.

“We understand and we know that country better perhaps than any other country in the world.”

She denied that India was dependent on the US to curb Pakistan’s terror machine.

“We are not dependent on any third country when it comes to transacting relations with Pakistan,” she said. “We deal directly with Pakistan, and bilateral issues are taken up bilaterally with that country.”

Turning to Afghanistan, Rao said that Washington’s increasing leaning against India as the history of the last 60 years goes”.

She sought to allay fears that Pakistan would virtually take over Afghanistan once the US military left, saying Afghans were too independent a people to allow themselves to be subjugated.

“Afghanistan is a fiercely independent country. And the take away we have had from meetings with the Afghan leadership in the recent past is that they are zealous about guarding that independence.”

A former Indian envoy in Beijing, Rao said the relationship between India and China was complex but would be the “big story of the 21st century”.

“A story based on dialogue, which we intend to conduct intelligently and which we intend to conduct with confidence so that our concerns are protected always,” she added.

Rao said the two Asian giants not only have a multi-pronged, multi-sectoral dialogue but also consulted each other on multilateral issues.

India and China fought a war in 1962 but have since witnessed an increasing economic relationship, with trade volume expected to increase to $60 billion by the end of this year.