Blink issue 37 october11 2014

BONE OF CONTENTION Lucknow has been synonymous with Tunday kabab. But a lawsuit threatens the family legacy p3 saturday, october 11, 2014

A peacock with its beak tucked into its feathers; a common motif in the old houses of Ahmedabad meher ali

Home against the world

A battle against land sharks and the forces of nature to preserve a 200-year-old haveli in Ahmedabad p10

TRUTH FINDERS India’s first private forensic lab uses the art of science to solve cases p2

BAWDY LINES Author Amit Chaudhuri on his love for James Joyce’s Ulysses and leaky characters p16

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On the ball As Juventus forward and captain, Alessandro Del Piero played a record 705 games for the Italian club

sion after the Italian football scandal of 2006.

“When we went to Serie B, it was very easy for me. I was always clear that I would stick with the club. I was the captain and we have had a great time together, won everything.

Now I thought Juve needs me and therefore stuck on,” he says. The team rebounded the very next season and won the title in 2011-12. Del Piero had played a record 705 games for the club between 1993 and 2012, becoming its alltime top scorer with 290 goals and securing it the Uefa Champions league in 1996. Alongside, he played for Italy in three World Cups and was instrumental in winning the Cup in 2006.

ap/massimo pinca

A zone of his own The ‘Del Piero Zone’ entered football lexicon to describe his trademark style of scoring goals — simple, yet one of the most beautiful things seen on the football field. Approaching from the left flank, he curls the ball precisely before lobbing it into the top-right corner of the goal.

“It started when I was 19, when I played in the Champions’ league “I have not thought for Juventus for the first time,” he much about the future but, yes, every recalls. “I ended up scoring five consecutive goals from the same door is open to be area. I had seen players doing the a manager or same thing before and believed in something like that” that style of scoring. But when I started doing the same over and over again, it became something incredible I guess, and the term was invented by commentators in Italy.”

The classic second striker, Del Piero was part of some of football’s most formidable attacking formations that saw him pairing up first with Zinedine Zidane and Filippo Inzaghi, then with Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet, and later with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

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Whodunits R in a lab coat

Approached by the police and lay people, India’s first private forensics lab gets cracking on unsolved crimes

Delhi and beyond The Italian is looking forward to his brief stint in India. “I’m looking first of all to play football, this is my job. Football is up and coming shutterstock/arfo here, and so I’m looking forward to seeing the game here and also out of the field, with that in the FIR. That, in turn, would prove galore. “Forensic labs are either with the state learn about the country and its the book belonged to the victim and place or central government most theHe time, and culture,” he of says. is one both the accused and the victim squarely at their services are not available the general among 12 to international the scene of crime. public and other institutions apart the players in thefrom Delhi Handwriting experts examined the docu- courts and the police,”team, explains Gandhi.

“This owned by the caments — namely, the victim’s handwritten made me think of starting Truthlabs. Those ble distribution comcomplaint and the planner with some writing who have faith in forensic can appany science Den Networks. in it. Examining the alphabets, the experts ob- proach us to settle theirLike problems or ask for the others, he served that the movement and location of the help in detection.” was bought for an unand striking partdiagonal strokes in the lower case ‘m’ and ‘n’, Truthlabs has so far served a diverse of disclosed sum,range and as ner, the as French playas well the movement of their ‘shoulders’ clients, including the police in the several states, always, team will er Trezeguet andDavid directions matched in both law firms,be insurance companies, built around him. was in the middle andsimilarities documents.

Other banks, private corporations and He will also be facing he sent thethe balldownward in with included locaindividual cases. reports are friend andIts former teamation simple header clinch of the lowertocase ‘v’ and the admissible in many courts across mate David Trezeguet, who the title foranti-clockwise Juventus that distinctive move- Government forensic thewill country, it City. an addiplay forgiving FC Pune “It’ll season.

Delhad Piero ment ofThe theassist text.by “We to is be tional services fun. edge.

He’s aIts strong guyspan and cybfull labs are not available be still a cornerstone 100 considered per cent sure.

If someoneofisfoot-to the general public, er Wecrime detection, of heart. have had great gamesDNA toballing forging,history. it might look a little too profiling, medico-legal consulgether and it would be exciting to play against so I set up Truthlabs similar to the original docuhim here.” tancy among others.

Loyalty clubwere able to ascertain ment... we Truthlabs receives, on an averAnd even as he prepares for a post-football “Yes, I remember that goal;inthe that the person who wrote thefans loved it,” life by gettingage, 150 cases each month involved in charities andacross ownsays Del Piero, when wewho meetfiled him at the Delhi ing an art gallery planner and the one its centres, and has so farmind helped in Turin, Del Piero’s is Dynamos team an east Delhiboth suburb. the FIR were thehotel same,inhence placing par- never solve more an footMoU likely than to be 7,000 too farcases. away Under from the “It a tight and I don’t remember ball tieswas at the scenegame of crime.” signed recently with the Delhi state forensic pitch.

Asked if he might be Juventus’ manhow I did it, but Truthlabs yeah, it was a great moment.”

Interestingly, gave its report with- ager labs, one some case files not will thought be outday,pending he replies, “I have For Italian, he speaks English rather fluentin aanweek, whereas State forensic labs have much sourced to it.the future but, yes, every door is about ly andknown creditstoit take to his stintthan at Sydney the open been more a yearFC, or two Even readies toorexpand his services to to as behe a manager something like that. team from which for similar cases. he’s made the shift to Delhi Let’s moresee, centres, says, “Forensics is a sermaybeGandhi one day.” as its marquee player in the Indian Super vice that should anyone who Meanwhile, fansbeinavailable Delhi are to ready for excitLeague.

In anstory era where exceptional players ing A Hyderabad seeks it. Importantly, there is no Who pointknows, in detimes in the next two months. change teams other season, he was in a maybe Truthlabs was every first opened in Hyderabad tectingEland deliveringVero results three or Phenomeno (the after real phenomone-club man for long, moving from Juventus 2007 by KPC Gandhi, a former inspector gener- enon), four years, as no justice canhome, come out that.

It as he’s known back willof help his in afterand 19 seasons; Dynamos is only al 2012 of police directorDelhi of Andhra Pradesh Fo- team is a gap areinaugural working title to close.” bagwe the of the ISL. his fourth club. InLab. fact,Branches he stayed with rensic Science have Juvensince sibi arasu arasu tus even in after it was relegated to second opened Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and diviBan- sibi

Striking abilities

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n a cold January night in Delhi this year, a European national was gang raped. According to reports the next day, the violent crime took place a stone’s throw from central Connaught Place and continued for three hours until the woman escaped to her hotel in Paharganj and filed a police complaint.

Ignoring the advice of the police and emthe 28th ACaMilan vs. bassyt was officials, she minute refusedoftothe take medical Juventus match in May The de-factest and left the country the2005. following mornto title had the top twoin teams ing. This left decider the investigating officers a peculiarclashing spot. ahead of the last three matches forThey the Italian title. It was areport tense affair, had a Serie first Ainformation about marked largely by defensive playing by manboth the crime from the victim. They had also sides outdown of nowhere, emerged aged until, to track the suspects, butAlessanhad no dro wayDel to Piero. prove in court that the victim or the Playing for were the ‘Old lady of Turin’ — as fans perpetrators at the scene of crime. fondly refer to Juventus — since wasinvesti17, Del To help break this logjam, onehe of the Piero was goingapproached through a pretty pooraseason gating officers Truthlabs, newly by his standards.

The newlab manager, opened private forensics in Delhi.Fabio Capello, had bought the young superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, threatening Del Piero’s position A writing puzzle in the team in his(planner) club career.

“They camefor tothe us first withtime a book beChasing after it they had broken free in longing to the ball victim that had recovered the midfield area, Del Piero moved the on information given by one of theinside accused,” penalty box on athe left flank.

He managed to Chetan Kumar, former CBI officer employed wrong-side Alessandro Nesta,wehis national with Truthlabs, told us when met him at teammate onlab thein opposing side, butSafdarjung the latter the forensic the residential got back in time to effect block and send the Enclave south Delhi.a“In criminal cases, ball up inconfessed the air, seemingly evenfloating if an accused to it, it willheaded not be out for a corner.

Del Piero theobligated ball with admissible in court.

The chased police are his back with to the goal and, a person standout to prove evidence thatinthe wasmoacment leaned flipped tuallyof atdecisiveness, the crime scene andback hadand committed around the goalpost the act.”to In loft this the case,ball thetowards forensic lab’s task was with kick. His long-time teammate to seeaifbicycle the handwriting in the book matched

One of football’s best-known talismans, Alessandro Del Piero, is hoping to recreate in Delhi the magic he created for club and country in Italy

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Heir of the matter A lawsuit of ₹50-crore over the iconic Tunday Kababi threatens the legacy of the one-armed chef who made kababs for the toothless nawab

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t Tunday Kababi in Chowk, Lucknow, tucked away inside the narrow stretch between Gol Darwaza and Akbari Gate, past Rahim’s nihari-kulcha hole-in-the-wall outlet and shops selling sweetmeats, it’s business as usual. The 109year-old kabab-and-paratha joint, dishing out the best galawati and shammi kababs, and shirmal parathas in the city, shows no sign of slowing down, not even in the face of a ₹50crore lawsuit on trademark infringement; a family dispute that has quickly reached the chambers of the Lucknow city court.

Mohammad Usman, the current custodian of the Tunday legacy, which includes the closely guarded family recipe, is unfazed by the attention and speculation. That a near relation, “bua ke bete” (aunt’s son) in fact, went to court last month, after decades of squabbling, to demand the right to use the family brand name hasn’t upset him. Usman, who is in his late 50s, is confident of an out-of-court settlement.

“Masla khatam ho chuka hai. Family hai, settle ho jayega (The matter has ended. The family will settle it),” he says.

At the heart of the family matter is a 109year-old inheritance that can be traced to the royal kitchens of the Nawabs of Bhopal. Legend has it that one of the nawabs, having lost all his teeth, decided to hold a cook-off for baawarchis (chefs) and rakabdars (gourmet chefs) to come up with the softest dish. A plausible tale when you consider the excesses of the rulers of that period — Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula of Awadh spent ₹60,000 every month on his kitchens, the later Mughals employed an army of kitchen staff, including one man to just announce the names of the dishes laid out for the feast.

Haji Murad Ali, a rakabdar of repute in Bhopal, won the competition, pleasing the nawab with his kabab creation — silken patties of

The city of nawabs Old Lucknow is the home of the original Tunday kabab arunangsu

roy chowdhury

minced lamb with 160 spices, which included, fering not just kabab-and-paratha but fullsome say, even sandalwood powder. Half the fledged Awadhi fare. Yet, his business is windspices he used were prescribed by the hakim ing down now. “I can’t maintain the quality (physician) to aid digestion. Murad Ali, who everywhere. I have shut down operations in had lost one arm when he fell off a roof flying most places, except Kapurthala and Lucknow,” a kite, became ‘Tunday Miyan’ (one-armed he says. Even Muslim’s Lucknow Wale Tunday chef) and his meat patties, Tunday kabab.

Kababi grew wings and branched out to GhaTunday Miyan moved to Lucknow with his ziabad, Gurgaon, Delhi and Mumbai. But Usyoung family by the end of the 19th century. A man dismisses his relative’s ventures. “It’s just few years later, son Haji Rias Ahmed, Usman’s a cold drink shop in Lucknow that offers kafather, opened the first Tunday Kababi eatery babs. All Tunday outlets in the city are run by at Chowk. The family grew and business ex- our family members. For nine decades we panded. In 1996, Usman set up a have not faced any problems,” he second shop in the city at Amisays. Usman claims that Muslim nabad. By the early noughties, was influenced by an external dozens of Tunday Kababi joints party, “some people whose busiUsman insists that had sprung up across Lucknow, ness is to set up fraudulent lawthe shop at Chowk, managed by near-and-distant suits and dupe people.” After the now managed by his members of Tunday Miyan’s initial bluster, he claims that 86-year-old father, is family. However, Usman insists Muslim has settled down. The the original that the hole-in-the-wall shop at matter, however, is slated for Chowk, now managed by his 86hearing in November. year-old father, is the original.

As a legal precedent, the ₹500For him, few memories of his crore empire of Haldiram Bhujialegendary grandfather remain. “I was very wala also saw a long-drawn, bitter court battle young. I never saw him work. But we were told among family members over using the family stories about how he would mix the masalas. brand name. First petitioned in 1999, the HalHow he would chop onions with one arm.” diram trademark case made the rounds of the Sixty-eight-year-old Mohammad Muslim Delhi and Calcutta High Courts, and then the too has a few memories of his grand-uncle, Supreme Court. Now, after settlement, the faMurad Ali. The plaintiff in the ₹50-crore law- mous trademark has been divided geographisuit, Muslim believes he has an equal right to cally among warring family factions — the Tunday brand name. “The recipe was Prabhuji in Kolkata, Rameswar in Delhi and Bihanded down to all of us. I grew up in his lap. I kaji in Bikaner. But Usman and Muslim’s batam living in his (Tunday Miyan’s) ancestral tle has not been that bitter. While the former property,” says Muslim, who runs a rival chain makes light of the lawsuit, assured that his called Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi. In 2009, cousin will come around, the latter bristles Usman took the corporate route with the fam- that “he has every right” before piping down ily business. Tunday Kababi Private Limited to say, “of course, we speak every day. There is was launched, franchisee outlets opened up in no problem, we are family.”

Lucknow, Delhi and Bangalore. A spanking new food complex sprouted in Kapurthala, of- priyanka kotamraju

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shootsoffrom AFresh question parentage a pair of filmmakers

sukumar muralidharan

Ironically, all the Islamic State benefactors come from the ranks of the sub-brokers of US power in the region Family tree Rickshawalla Manish took the filmmakers Two men criss-cross the country, planting saplings and to his village near Agra to plant saplings; (below) nce before has the world seen a mi- quences, indeed may be the common thread fashioning thehome 2003 invasion of Iraq on conAngami Nagas gather at a traditional the emerge out of the fog con- documentary running through the Project various US interventions grounds, the aftermath hasfeast beenduring a perireturnlitiawith footage forandtheir 35 Trees cocted Hornbill festival at Kisama village in Kohima, Nagaland

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fusion of sectarian civil war, take abroad in the so-called “global war on terror”. od ritu of raj growing strategic worries. When the konwar on and literally rout ‘better-orga- A subsidiary motif surely would be the contin- turmoil in Iraq subsided in a relative sense, it nised’ forces. The swift Taliban takeover of Af- uing evasion by the authors of the chaos of the was only at the cost of a vast accretion to Iran’s ghanistan in 1996, though, was a distant worst consequences of their actions. strategic influence within the country. Insecuheearly traininhad barely chugged into a After prolonged uncertainty, President Ba- rities among the Arab oil kingdoms — all of memory when June a militia of uncerstation before passengers tain parentage emerged to impatient overrun Iraq’s sec- rack Obama on September 11, a day rich in sym- them vital allies of the US — were compoundclamoured board.

The hurrying ond largest city of Mosul.on Within weeks, it had bolism, formally announced that it would be ed at the prospect of Iraq being taken permato a halt the sight taken over agroups third came of Iraq’s areaatand pro- of the US intent to dismantle the IS. nently out of the Arab orbit and a pickaxe leaning against a window of the The ‘Islamic Caliphate’ had been claimed an Islamic Caliphate. becoming, alongside Syria and compartment.

Their gaze quickly shifted The ultimate territorial ambitions of the to in existence well over two Iran, a bastion of resistance. The the remained two unlikely owners of the farm equipgroup unclear.

In some renditions it months, during which time the uprising in Syria of 2011, which “When your enemies the oil kingdoms have since ea— 24-year-old Anthony Karba- US had dithered and dallied, unwasment called the Islamicfilmmaker State of Iraq and Syria; are fighting each ri andthe hisIslamic friendState Hari Chakyar.

Lugging in others, of Iraq and the Le- sure about how it could extrigerly fuelled and fomented, was other, don’t around this farmer’s tool,ambition the duo of travelled vant, representing the wider tak- cate itself from a strategic a way of breaking up the emergstrengthen either…” and that breadth country (35 quagmire that its closest allies ingthe overlength territories todayofliethe in Lebanon, ing new axis of resistance. statesPalestine and union territories), planting Jordan, and perhaps Israel.

As the sa- had fashioned.

Turkey soon joined the strateplings and aeducating the envi- In a speech at Harvard Univerterm became matter ofstudents politicalabout preference gic contest, recruiting to its as part of gained the ‘Project 35 trees’. andronment advantages to be through scare-Side sity early this month, US Vice cause an unlikely ally in Iraq’s by side, their camera captured experience President Joe Biden gave some suggestion of Kurds. As part of its bargain with the US in mongering, a compromise was thethe territorialfor a documentary, alsoIslamic called Project 35 IS. Trees, the dimensions of the mess. “Our allies in the combating the IS, Turkey has insisted on a “noly non-specific appellation State, or that released this Friday, years Nomenclature seemed toexactly mattertwo little on af- region were our largest problem in Syria,” he fly zone” to prevent Syrian airpower being dethey first setadded out ononthe journey. part said, “What were they doing? They were so de- ployed against the common enemy. But its theter ground, as IS a substantial Back territory then, setting from Caliphate, Mumbai on termined to take down (Syrian President Bash- own Kurdish population is now restive at Turof Syrian to its out putative what was meant to upon be a four-month journey, stamping its authority the disparate op- ar al-) Assad and essentially have a proxy key’s quiescence as IS forces close in on the SyrKarbari had been butSyria’s hopeful.

He and Sunni-Shia war... They poured hundreds and ian Kurd town of Kobane. Those orchestrating position groups that clueless had fought Bashar Chakyar had to raised around ₹2 lakhover from millions of dollars and... thousands of tons of the chaos in the local theatre could soon start al-Assad regime a brutal stalemate friends, colleagues, social networks three-and-a-half years relatives, of the so-called Arab weapons into anyone who would fight against feeling the heat. And it will not be long before and aExplicitly crowd-funding campaign on Wishberry.

Spring. committed to a brutal form Assad. Except that the people who were being the puppet-master himself suffers blowback. of Sunni Muslim confessionalism, the IS left a supplied (were)… the extremist elements of jiWhen India’s Prime Minister Narendra Moless travelled wal,coming staying in other gurudwaras trailRoad of atrocities against the Shia, the Kurd hadis his home,” says Karbari.

At for a small village from parts ofin theChandigarh, world.” di travelled through New York the UN Gen- on our budget was around ₹5 lakh, but The sampling caterpillar fries in and Kohima or even eraltheAssembly, and“Initially, the Yazidi people in areas it conquered. outskirts they met Manish’s Turks were not impressed demanden route a Statefamily visit memto we managed two. We didn’t waste money ed an grossly miscalculating the distance to North Washington Early in July, with Richard Dearlove, a former bers, who DC, promptly offered a fine spot apology, which was promptly proffered he made a special pointfor ofthe onof hotels and external flights, and tried to find people as the Andaman Island Karbari head Britain’s intelligence service saplings and promised to water them daily. price the US is—willing to has pay atofund keepofitssto- meeting with Netanyahu.

Little was revealed tosaid, host in us what and used public Thisofalso alliance ries to share. heading to Diglipur MI6, must counttransport. as a marvel theyof were afloat.

The“When US is now formally com- aboutAnd thewhen outcome the momentarily talks. And thestranded joint gave us a first-hand tastethings of local (300km from Port Blair), a college understatement that “such docuisine not hap-and mitted in Dimapur, Nagaland,after without a host or hotel to dismantling the ISwhere without in anypro- statement that emerged Modi’s meeting says Karbari. haditself agreed to host us, we had to change penculture,” spontaneously”.

Indeed, the Taliban in Af- wayfessor (most were forHouse, the Hornbill aligning with the militia’s most sub- with Obama in booked the White did no Festival), more Off-roading for found, 16 hours at athe stretch in Aiz- stantial two adversaries ferries to cross We and never than ghanistan was soon after military Chakyar came across an environmental on thechannels. ground: Iran reiterate older nostrums about the magaurthoseindots in This the Bay of Bengal successes of 1996, to have been fathered by Pa- thethought zineofcalled Green at a café in the local al-Assadthat regime Syria. is also in gency dealing withCache terrorism.

Official spocould be with so farthe off,”script he says with a by laugh. kistani military intelligence, bankrolled by compliance market. “Weexplicitly called and the phone was answerauthored Is- It kespersons disavowed any took themMinister about 12 hours to arrive, as the ATR possibility the oil sheikhs of Saudi Arabia and the United rael’s ed by Sentinaro Alley, who introduced herself Prime Benjamin Netanyahu, of India joining a US-led anti-terror (Andaman Trunk passes through dense coalition.

Arab Emirates, and blessed by the US. The IS who, as the publisher and promised to meet us at soon after theRoad) IS takeover of Mosul, But the deepening intimacy with Isforests andany rocky terrain.

“Night the ISIS rael has not gone though has several more claimants to parent- warned the unremarked. café in an hour. hapthat action to “counter And What sooner, travel of to Iraq” Diglipur is prohibited hood and many more generous benefactors, takeover pened is called straight outtoof a shouldn’t have the outcome rather than later, India next will be upon as the ATR runstoclose to the Iraq pro- the way it requite its obligations all now floundering for a response that will of allowing dream. by Shecommitting heard abouttoour “Iran dominate theprotected area inhabited by theHe Ja-sagely add- US-Israeli strategic preserve their strategic investments. ject,game-plan made a few dominated Lebanon and Syria”. for calls West and, Asia. a few community.”

Crossing this each Ironically, all the IS benefactors come from ed, rawa hours later, we were in a cab to “When your enemies are fighting oth- our budget Initially, sukumar muralidharan a fellow at the Indian stretch requires either a localone permit the ranks of the sub-brokers of US power in er, don’t Kohima iswith the five pine sastrengthen of them.”was ₹5 lakh, but we of Advanced Study, that Shimlashe had sponsored.” andthe no US stops allowed the region. The law of unintended conseplings For andwere Israel, whichon colluded in Institute managed with two the way. “Our car moved in a Kohima was teeming with convoy with many others. Each tourists, locals and festival revelvehicle had a guard to prevent lers. Architect Richard Belho put commuters from interacting them up at one of his many bamwith the Jarawas,” he says. The Protection of boo houses in the city and invited them to the Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956, strictly Hornbill festival at Kisama, 12 km from Kohiprohibits contacting, photographing or inter- ma. “The heritage village is designed like an acting with the Jarawas. ancient Naga village… I have never seen so many colours in one place before.”

Friends with benefits Goodwill continued to pave the way for the Despite the arduous journey and the struggle two young men on a mission. Travelling from to make do with limited means, Karbari and Shoranur, near Palakkad, to Ernakulam in a Chakyar received ready help from locals every- second-class train compartment, they met a where who offered everything from sourcing man called Balan, who had planted more than saplings to tying up with hosts and schools. one lakh trees in Palakkad, Thrissur and WayaOn Diwali day, however, the duo found them- nad districts. “Hari talked about our project selves in a trying situation in Agra. Most and explained how it was funded by well-wishschools and other establishments were shut, ers. After he heard us out, he quietly fished out and they had nowhere to plant their saplings. a ₹100 note from his pocket and told us to get Dejected, they were listlessly checking online a proper meal,” recalls Karbari. Often kindness for some leads when help suddenly arrived and company are found in unexpected places. from a least expected quarter. “Manish, our rickshawalla, offered to plant the saplings at sayoni sinha is a Mumbai-based writer

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The short road to confessionalism A fleet of IS vehicles earlier this year in Iraq’s Anbar province ap via militant website

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Telangana’s champion K Chandrashekar Rao’s message is clear: if you are not with me, you are against the state

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n September 18, 140km from Hyderabad, Telangana’s first chief minister, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, was whipping the crowds gathered at Addakal village into a frenzy. Just three months after the creation of the new state, he was inaugurating a ₹200-crore glass factory and accepting farmers’ memorandums, while reminding them that he was responsible for the statehood. He declared he would end the migration of labour, promising a much-needed turnaround for the district.

People from neighbouring states like Karnataka would come to Telangana, not the other way round, he told the village, whose workforce frequently migrates for menial labour.

Drought-prone Mahabubnagar would turn into an oasis; its arid lands would transform into verdant forests. On that day, assured by their leader, the people of Addakal went back home with a new dream — economic prosperity.

Sixty-year-old KCR, as he is popularly known in the region, is a merchant who peddles dreams to the common man of Telangana.

Well-versed in both Telugu and Urdu, he can connect quickly with the masses, hold forth on immediate challenges and paint a picture of ‘Bangaru Telangana’ (golden land). Laced with satire and anti-Andhra rhetoric, his speeches have forced people to sit up and take notice. He has seen the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the party he founded with a

handful of individuals 15 years ago, through several ups and downs before finally coming to power. It is this trait with which he singlehandedly built the ‘last phase’ of the statehood movement that led to the eventual formation of the 29th state of the Indian Union.

A great orator since his college days, he has the knack of turning the tables on opponents at the slightest of provocations. Known to be a voracious reader, he is also said to possess a photographic memory, reeling out numbers with ease and using timely idioms and phrases to elicit laughter.

KCR, who holds a post-graduate degree in Telugu, once nursed an ambition to be a lyricist in Tollywood, the local film industry, says Nandini Sidha Reddy, his batchmate in colNo love lost Telangana Chief Minister K lege. An early entrant in politics, he has never Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh lost an election since 1985. Changing constitucounterpart N Chandrababu Naidu pv sivakumar encies for every election — he currently holds the assembly seat from Gajwel, Medak — he has been elected to the Lok Sabha thrice. A part but that didn’t stop KCR from sending more of Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, such messages. While the High Court has he resigned in 2001 when Naidu, his former questioned the government’s motives behind mentor, refused to give him a cabinet berth. A the cancellation of fee reimbursement for stufew months later, KCR founded the TRS and dents and forcing vehicle owners to change summoned his son Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama number plates (to reflect Telangana or TS), the Rao (KTR) and daughter Kavitha back from the chief minister has made it known that there US to galvanise the movement for a separate are no sops for people from Seemandhra. state. In fact, KTR, the IT and Panchayat Raj Since both chief ministers took oath in minister, has become the most recognisable June, there has been no love lost between the face of the state government now. While KCR two. If KCR reserves the best of the Telangana prefers to sit in for hours-long — sometimes idiom to criticise, even heckle Naidu, the Andeven day-long — review meetings at the Telan- hra Pradesh CM too doesn’t lose an opportunigana secretariat, son KTR represents him at ty to patronise his former colleague. More national and international conferences, than the lost cabinet berth, it was Naidu’s launches and even inaugural meetings. staunch opposition to statehood that still irks Political commentators have compared KCR. That it took 75 days after assuming office, him to Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee, for and the insistence of Governor ESL Narsimhis iron-fisted control of the party and admin- han, for them to meet — despite working out istration. The opposition has often alleged of a common capital — reveals the bitterness that the state government is run solely by the in their relationship. family — KCR, KTR and nephew Harish Rao. A The biggest challenge KCR faces now is to refew others have likened him to Bal Thackeray store confidence of the industry and to deal for his tirade against Seemandhra people, with a serious power crisis. With Larsen & Touwho have increasingly felt insecure. bro threatening to back out of the metro proDisliked in the 13 districts of ject and hundreds of firms residual Andhra Pradesh for his shifting base to Andhra, he has ‘hate speeches’, and admired in his work cut out to deliver on his Telangana for the same, KCR promises. Even as there is an adKCR must restore minces no words and has no mission of little progress in the confidence of the room for diplomacy. While supfirst 100 days, he says the prosindustry and deal porters have emboldened, he is pect of achhe din lies after Duswith a power crisis quick to label his critics anti-Tesehra festivities.

Yet, his langana. When TV channel TV9 statement that it is possible to aired a satire on newly-elected earn an income of ₹1 crore per Telangana legislators, he hit out acre of farmland has struck a at mediapersons, threatening to sour note. At his 60-acre farm“bury the media 10km under the earth if it in- house in Eravalli village in Medak district, one sults Telangana”. The shrewd politician that of the most backward in the state, KCR has he is, KCR knows well that most of the Andhra claimed a bumper yield on potato and capsimedia has political affiliations, controlled by cum crops. Civil rights activists such as G HaraSeemandhra entrepreneurs and politicians. gopal and revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, Using local cable operator muscle, he has cur- who have supported the struggle for four dectailed the airtime of such broadcast channels; ades, see the signs of an intolerant regime takTV9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi have been banned ing roots. The former was placed under for over three months now for their anti-Telan- house-arrest, and the latter detained at a pogana stance. lice station for a day to stop them from holdWeeks before the Intensive Household Sur- ing a meeting on alternative politics. It seems vey was held in Telangana this August, specu- that KCR is sending a clear message — if you lation was rife that the survey was a thinly are not with me, you are not a well-wisher of veiled attempt at profiling people from See- the state of Telangana. mandhra. The controversial clauses were subsequently removed from the questionnaire kv kurmanath

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Two flight paths diverged…

Naresh Goyal and Vijay Mallya have proved a study in contrast as they pilot their respective airlines through the many air pockets in India’s newly liberalised skies general sales agent for a number of airlines, airline launched operations, Kuwait Airways starting with Lebanese International Airlines and Gulf Air had a stake in it. This was a time way back in 1967. Far from Mallya’s trademark when few cities landed international flights. flamboyant style, Goyal preferred to remain in So, many of the passengers flying to Mumbai the background, dealing instead with the nuts from the Gulf on Kuwait Airways or Gulf Air and bolts of the airline business. would automatically board a Jet Airways flight On the other hand, you had Mallya jet-set- to their final destinations within the country, ting on his private plane from one city to an- assuring steady business for the newly other, giving half-hour TV interviews launched airline. interspersed with sumptuous lunches, as he More success came Goyal’s way when Jet airattempted to propel his baby airline into the craft were chartered on two instances, first for big league. He moved around with a security the visiting Japanese PM and again for the posse drawn from the elite group that pro- media team accompanying the then US Presitects VVIPs, such as the prime minister. dent Bill Clinton to visit the Taj Mahal at Agra.

From the start, the low-key Goyal steered Delhi was agog with rumours that just ahead clear of the media and instead focused on rub- of Clinton’s India visit, Goyal had organised bing shoulders with the who’s who of the several luncheon meetings with the US Amglobal aviation business. He has, in fact, not bassador at the time. missed a single annual meeting of InternaGoyal often voiced his dream of making Jet tional Air Transport Association (IATA) since as good as Singapore Airlines, and soon he was the late ’70s. Thanks to years of painstaking well on his way to doing just that. networking, he is now on first-name basis A number of things worked to his advanwith chairmen of most global airlines. He tage. First off, he hired Saroj Datta, an Air India once spent hours with a visiting global airline veteran of 24 years with stints in other airlines head, ferreting out information on various too. And PK Sinha, another old Air India hand, aircraft, just ahead of acquiring the smaller was roped in to head Jet Airways’ internation80-seaters to connect Tier II and III cities. al operations.

Mallya’s style was to summon Mallya too had professionals, global aircraft makers to his including ace Indian Airlines pihome for a meeting before delot Captain Ron Nayar and foring a city. compared Assam’s beautiful ingly throughmer ciding on But a purchase.

Thetorepreand place back onCEO shelf’. Sanjay I’ve alSpiceJet Far from Mallya’s desolation, wasmanufacturer quite the bustling urban ways loved visiting sentative ofitone Foyles 2 lakh titles at Aggarwal, in (over his team, but Kingflamboyant style, hub. a few cinemas, a crowded Tibetan their new location), flew It inhad from across the globe, but recently fisher employees point studying out that Goyal preferred to market, Chinese restaurants, and some good near Russell Square only to be kept waiting for close meanthad discovering smallall decisions to be cleared by remain in the bookshops.

Ratna’smeeting Mascot,him. in particular, on er, more specialist to 14 hours before placesGoyal, in Bloomsbury.

The him, unlike who normally background theDespite main launching road in Police Bazaar, a one-room shadowy depths in different of Scoob Books, with to itstake totallowed his team leaders space that a nine-year-old decades, forto some time both theseemed caver- tering second-hand bargain piles in their own decisions and(Venus stepped nous. the display windows were dusty cof- Furs for 50p),inand airlineAtowners seemed to be student staff. The onlyfriendly if required. fee tableinbooks on the Indian Air Force, one and only Gay’s moving the same direction.

The Word, in allegedly the The differences their workencyclopaedias, and when worldthe atlases, the country’s Jet came up at a time winds but of liber(and decisive last surviving) litering stylesfirst proved when queer the tough good stuffwere was sweeping at the back.

We spent hours alisation through India.

The ature Or the elegant London Review times stockist. arrived. The looming threat of a conflict here, my sister and I, significantly bulking up Bookshop, government had opened up the skies to priwhere are guaranteed neverup. to in West Asia saw you global oil prices shoot our Blyton collection with each visit, buyvateEnid airlines and many wanted to partake of find a seatStates in thelevying café, but will enamoured And with sales taxberanging from ing giftsand for what each oththisbirthdays high profile, they also thought 4 per cent toby the30 poetry collection.

An entire over per cent, operating costs er, ourselves.profitable Later, I’d visit wasand a potentially business. wall-length of verse from proved backbreaking forshelf the airline business with saved took pocket-money to when liberali- in India.

Kingfisher off at a time around the world. pick upwas onealready Agathahere Christie at aand the domessation to stay Brighton by thelosses, sea, I’ve been Even as his At airline reported Mallya We leave time.

All that’s changed of the confident tic airline sector had grown of behind loyalacquired to City Books, conveniently went ahead and Air Deccan from unplace the name — now chartakingison even international routes. bookshops like placed the road, der old a mountain of down debt. Many seearound this as the loves, laden with the ofcorner. mingly Ka Ibadasuk airline, King- beginning From acalled single-configuration And is everything an inthe end foritMallya.

Books Shillong is twinknowledge fisher Agency. quickly Since converted into class — of their — Goyal, ondependent the other bookshop hand, wasshould bidingbehis familiarities andHe worked home of eternal leaving and re-This set Indian time.

Kingfisher First and economy. small, lovely, packed with to quirky, get the Indian government oddities turn, I always drop inthe if I pass by, of live televiaviation on fire with offering the airlines good and Here,inI Indian found to allow foreign to rare. buy stake glad it’s still amenity there, despite sion, takeaway pouches for all flyers carriers. Jet staffers my mostsay beloved of the year, Goyal book was always conmany alarming signs the past on flights. and, delectable of all,in hot meals Osman’s Fairytales for Lost vinced that Diriye this policy change was crucial to that it might shutpampered for good. with valet service, the industry’s First Class was Children.

A bunch beautifully ilsurvival, as ofIndian banks Perhaps having lived in north125 degrees, ad- baulked from sleeperette seats that reclined lustrated Andrea Camilleri’s lending to the severely MonlossDelhi means I’ll always carryextendable a greater fondjustable headrests and fully foot- talbano Andairlines. more. Vintage postcards of making series. domestic ness Connaught Place more thanfeeds any other rests.for The latest audio and video were Brighton in the A localdid literary magaAnd when the1950s. government change the spot in the Its white, splattered available oncity. demand.

The paan-spit brand soon notched zine called What the Dickens?

A lenticular policy in September 2012, after a gap print of 16 Dantian circles. between to the British up a snob value,Inwith manyvisits passengers insist- bookmark of a waving years, Jet Airways sold orangutan. a minority stake to the Council and Volga, our favourite stu- Abu ing on a Library ‘KF’ experience.

WeDhabi-based leave behind bookshops old crore. loves, Etihad for overlike ₹2,000 dent bar,inwe’d loiter at The Bookworm.

Back the Nineties, Jet Airways had Head simi- laden with the knowledge of their familiarThe airline has since been going from upstairs toexpectations the theatreto section, and level. leaf ities larly raised a whole new and oddities.

All their secret corners and strength to strength, despite running losses through Stoppardthree-course plays, which we hidden The brandTom new aircraft, in-flight treasures.

Sometimes, weend return, and huge debts (₹9,800 crore at June and this couldn’t afford. jazz, and always jazz, playing meals served byWith smiling smartly attired find no longer there, theyhand, used year).they’re Kingfisher Airlines, onwhere the other in the background. it shut in 2008, young airhostessesWhen and multiple flightsI reto to they’ve changed or moved or adisaphasbe. itsThat wings broken and buried under debt member travelling there, changed like many others, peared destinations had forever domestic mysteriously. of ₹9,000 crore, which includes ₹6,500 crore not forfor thethe heart-breaking travel Indian flyer. ‘all books at 70 per owed This to is aamemory trail. Prompted by leaving. consortium of banks and about cent discount’, to sayatfarewell.

People who but worked the airline during By moving from place to place. ₹1,500 crore of unsecured loans and pending Living in London, where people joke that salaries, paying dearly for the ‘good times’. these initial years remember Goyal as a stickyou pay breathe, meant book-shopping ler for thetotiniest details.

Many also point to janice pariat’s novel Seahorse will be published in t@janicepariat ashwini phadnis more often than not translated intoWhen ‘leaf longthe shrewd businessman in him. the November shutterstock/everett collection

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hey are contrasting personalities, to say the least. And this was all the more apparent over the past few weeks. Promoter of Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya has just got temporary relief from embarrassment by securing a stay from the Calcutta High Court on the United Bank of India’s decision to declare the airline and its directors as wilful defaulters for not repaying dues amounting to ₹7,000 crore (the next date of hearing is November 10). Jet Airways owner Naresh Goyal, on the other hand, has been in the news for all the right reasons.

Goyal recently announced that Jet Airways would not only bring its low-cost airline Jet Konnect under the Jet brand, but also restructure to be back in the black by 2017. And James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad Airways, which has a 24 per cent stake in Jet, is confident that Jet’s India operations will soon pose PAPERWALLAH a formidable threat to other low-cost carriers.

The contrast between the two Indian honchos goes back to the very genesis of their respective airlines. Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2007 as a birthday gift when his son and UB Group heir Sidhartha turned 20. He saw the move as an extension of his hugely successful run in the liquor business.

In hindsight, many accuse Mallya of needless haste, first in setting up the airline, and his is aout memory trail. Prompted by again in buying the loss-making low-cost carrier Airleaving.

Deccan. By moving from place to place,setcity to Airways city, across countries When Goyal up Jet in May 1993, it was at theand endcontinents. of long years of struggle as a And at the edge of that journey — a new beginning, an old end — always the questions: how do the places you’ve lived in mark you?

How do you mark them?

We accomplish this variously. Languish at our favourite cafés. Roam city streets filled with strange exhilarated melancholy. Linger at our choicest restaurants. Take night drives, long and aimless, capturing movie-still memories of lamp-lit roads and illuminated windows. Unless, of course, you happen to be one who prefers to never/hardly leave. But if you are a bit of a rover, restless and rootless, what do you leave in your wake? How do you map your journey? For Ila, in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, the world she inhabits is reduced to a series of airports —‘Oh yes, Cairo, the ladies is way on the other side of the departure lounge.’

As I pack my life into boxes, again, I find myself thinking of my own markers. I was a semiurban child, growing up between Shillong and various tea estates in Assam. My father was transferred every few years from one to the next (possibly fuelling my own adult wanderlust), and my ‘fixed points’ were the planters’ club libraries. Dusty rooms filled with the oddest collections of books, curated not so much by design but mostly by whoever happened to retire and donate. At Thakurbari, ensconced on tall, throne-like chairs (allegedly from a Freemason society), I discovered Asterix and Anne of Green Gables. (Fewer memories of North Lakhimpur as our terrifically isolated tea estate was two hours away from anywhere.) At Margherita, brightly lit and more orderly, I picked up, with the indiscrimination of youth, Ben Okri and Danielle Steel.

In the 1990s, Shillong had no claims of be-

Marked by places

Mapping one’s journey of arrival and departures through bookshops and libraries

The way we were Rival airline owners Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal share a moment of bonhomie at the Kingfisher House in Mumbai in this file picture shashi ashiwal

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Capital gain Jayaram Banan, founder and promoter of Sagar Ratna kamal narang

night.” He soon had his next big opportunity: to take over the Woodlands Restaurant at Lodhi Hotel. He bagged the tender, beating 34 other applicants. As this was a star property, he decided to name the venture ‘Sagar Ratna’.

“That name has stayed on,” says the restaurateur, who opened 102 outlets in all.

Spreading aroma Banan relied on two models for expansion: revenue sharing and franchisee. All the while he kept a tight grip on quality. The taste and quality of food are consistent across his outlets. “All the main cooks in any Sagar Ratna restaurant are trained at the Defence Colony outlet for a minimum of six months,” he says.

As location is key, he inspects the property and surrounding areas before opening an outlet.

“We need [clientele from] offices nearby for afternoon business and local residences in the evening. Ample parking space is also a must.”

Even as Sagar Ratna thrived, Banan sensed the Capital was craving for something more — coastal food. “While non-vegetarian restaurants were in plenty, those offering speciality food were just a handful. I hail from coastal Karnataka and have first-hand knowledge of seafood, which again was beyond the reach of Delhi’s middle-class. And so, Swagath was born in 2001,” he says.

The Swagath chain with 17 outlets serves Mughlai, Chinese and coastal cuisines from the Mangalore, Chettinad and Malabar regions. “The focus has been equally split between the veg and non-veg segments. But setting up a veg restaurant costs about a third of what it takes for a non-veg multi-cuisine restaurant. That, in turn, determines the direction and focus for expansion,” he says.

Ocean’s 102

When he ran away from home, little did the Mangalorean teen imagine he would conquer Delhi by recreating the very flavours he left behind at home

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hat does a 13-year-old do after he spends his school fee on fun and frolic? Get tied to the tamarind tree in the courtyard to be caned by his strict father? Or run away to the city of dreams? Jayaram Banan, the boy from Karkala in Mangalore, chose the latter when he came to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1967 to escape the beating.

He was found crying in a city bus by a man who took him to the canteen of Hindustan Organic Chemicals (HOC) in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, to wash utensils for a living. After barely a week, the harsh washing powder affected the child’s hands and he was asked to serve the staff tea instead. This was how he lived for the next six years until the now young man started drinking country liquor after work, forcing his boss to inform his family back home.

In 1973, Banan moved to Delhi, where his brother worked at an Udupi restaurant.

Around this time the Government was setting up Central Electronics Ltd in nearby Ghaziabad. The personnel manager, formerly with HOC, remembered Banan and thought of him for the canteen at the new company.

Fresh from the South “I bagged the contract to set up the CEL canteen in 1974 and there was no looking back,” says the Mangalorean. He has wooed the Capi-

Bittersweet moment That focus convinced the New York-based India Equity Partners (IEP) to pump in ₹180 crore for a majority stake in Sagar Ratna in 2011. The idea was to extend the chain from the NCR to the whole of India and take the restaurant count to 200 in three to four years. IEP founder and managing director Gaurav Mathur joined the chain as a non-executive director. After he left IEP, the private equity firm’s principal Abhishek Sharman handled its restaurant portfolio.

However, it was a matter of time before relations soured between IEP and Banan. But he regrets nothing. “Every decision taken had solid justifications and reasoning behind it,” he insists. He has filed an FIR against the IEP management at Sagar Ratna, alleging “cheating, fabrication and forgery of documents”. He also resigned as the chairman but retains 22.7 per cent equity.

tal with a chain of South Indian vegetarian restaurants since 1986.

Mangalore’s famous vegetarian Udupi cuisine was not unknown in Delhi, but the choices were limited. “There were not many eateries offering South Indian specialities for the middle class at affordable prices,” Banan recalls.

With his savings of ₹5,000 and a loan from family and Taste the new friends, he set up his first outlet Even as the dispute takes its own — Sagar — in Delhi’s Defence Colcourse, Banan and his son are exony, paying a weekly rent of There were not many panding to other businesses. His ₹3,250. The first day’s sales at the JRB (the initials of his name) eateries offering 40-seater restaurant was ₹408. group owns star-category hotels, South Indian Word spread, but not before Babanquet facilities, budget hotels, specialities for the nan had booked losses. canteens at industrial establishmiddle class “The initial days were tough ments, a snacks manufacturing but my credibility was, and recompany under the Ratnagiri mains, very high in the market. brand, and a bakery called Raro.

Commitments were always met “Ratnagiri products are manuon time. My family and friends supported factured at a plant in Noida and we are planme,” he says. ning to set up another factory soon,” he says.

Down the years, Sagar has hosted the Gand- “One has to constantly adapt and evolve with hi family, Birla clan and many other famous the changing demands of the market.” personalities. A waiting list of 400 was not unNaturally, that sees Banan testing the readycommon and Banan remembers nearly losing to-eat segment, both veg and non-veg. But unhis voice calling out to people whose turn had til those heat-and-eat packs hit the shelves, his come. Today, daily sales exceed ₹3 lakh and the loyal patrons will continue to wait in line for a eatery can seat more than 225 at a time. table at Sagar Ratna.

Back then, Banan’s only priority was to expand business. “I worked from 7am until mid- rashmi pratap

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The enchanted author

Amit Chaudhuri on reworking James Joyce, admiring Homer, a love for leaky characters and the Bengali obsession with bodily functions dipankar

my between what is life and what is fiction. I don’t believe life is prior to fiction. Fictionalisation begins for me with the everyday. There is an undoing of a binary between life and art that is at work here. When I look at myself, when I was 16, 17, 22, ya, I was very strange. I find myself hilarious. Also moving in a way.

Were you acutely sensitive to the world?

I don’t know if I was more sensitive. But I thought I was more sensitive than the rest.

And that is a reason for hilarity. There is an immediacy for one’s concerns at that time, which one does not have any more. I feel moved by that. And that combination of comedy and seriousness is something I tapped into when writing The Immortals as well. But The Immortals and Odysseus Abroad are about characters who want to become someone, we don’t know if they ever will.

INDIAN RAILWAYS JOINS SWACHH BHARAT CAMPAIGN!

Why did you fill this book with the bawdy SHOVON CHOWDHURY is and fantasy sexual experiences? chief Truthdigger and author of Life like art Author I felt it was important to the story. It gave me The Competent Authority Amit Chaudhuri is an opportunity to write about characters who hilarious and profound have an obsession with body and bodily funcin Odysseus Abroad geoff pungh — everything from masturbation to defedestinations were Khajuraho, Simla, he General Manager picks up a Class IV employees. Once they verishould be possible,” says the GM, ulartions cation.

Bengalis seemUdaipur especially obsessed mini-broom and removes a speck fy that it is clean, I go over “Besides, we did not have much Kalka, Palampur, Jaipur, and Solan, with Chaudhuri updates James Joyce’s why I am interested digestion.

And this gave me an opportunity in the Jean home of dust from his desk. He takes with mymit broom and my money left soundtracks after recentofTA to Mohan Meakin Distillery.

Religious to Ulysses in Abroad. In the Renoir and Satyajit writechose aboutstations that. But it isasalso a reference Ray’s There areoftwo officers such Tirupati and to out a pile of files from his in-tray, photographer.

InOdysseus this and DAfilms. expenditure bargain, he tells the story of an uncle characters talking senior Joyce writing eating, frying kidneys, to eachofficers. other, let’s say, Each se-but Ajmer.

Since Mahaabout Ashtami was on October dusts them thoroughly, and puts them back way, I am using symbolism and a nephew set in London that is as you can always hear shitting.

One officers of my favourite scenes in Ulysses a nearly unrelated sound- 2, many Bengali were sent to Bengal in his in-tray. Behind him is a portrait of the to encourage better habnior officer had to visit occurs in a chapter called ‘Calypso’.

Leopold as it is ribald; telling of individuals as track happening somewhere else. That is the to inspire one station, to ensure it was friends and relatives.

We spared PM, in a lemon yellow kurta and a cobalt moving its. We have also as sanchis temporary wife tea, pats his cat, goes off of society.₹1,000 Excerpts from way both showed how we are constantly blue waistcoat, holding a broom. “As you it is tioned per an interview: clean. us Naturally their familiesbe- no Bloom effort togives ensure cleanliness.” to shit, but before that,about fries some kidneys for ing impacted upon the invisible.them, in “Will anything be done the trains?” can see, a new day has come,” he says. “Files platform for cleaning of also had by to accompany himself. Having fried“By the 2022, kidneys then goes an interview, you once“Per said you don’t order to provide moral support.”

“Certainly,” he says, allhe trains will no longer gather dust on our tables. In- Insmaller stations.”

Do you think “All ‘leakiness’ is expedited to the loo andwhich he takes a magazine the“No, 19thno,” century novel. stead, we will personally ensure that each believe day?” in I ask. he says, “On-Why not? stations in India by were willoff have bio-toilets, process human with OdysseusSo Abroad certain idea of the 19th-century Titbits.

Which into is a trashy magazine. being atI ask. home. In Odysseus himand called waste emit methane the atmoone of them is spotless.” is he, which is A ly on Gandhi Jayanti.

They are ex- novel has travel, by not covered?”

Amit Chaudhuri — that I still don’t quite under- Abroad — Ananda He reads while shitting.

Even I aswe an Indihis uncle curious, given thatPenguin he has spent the better something pected to do it thoroughly, so that “There and are many stations, and sphere.

Whythat clean toilets, we felt, when — called character in the centre is toothat much forthemselves?” me. He tears off a page rathersenior leaky characters… not— are enough officers,” canan... get it toilets clean part of the day cleaning it can last till next year.”

“Isn’t and that Rangamama Fiction a railway station. I stand ₹499 Andsome be com- Ifrom and wipes himself.

So I am making never really interested sayscan themove GM, around.

“Naturally leaveTitbits his office reeling, my mind filled point this out to him. ₹1,000 a rather small me. sumSocial for aninter-rela- It depends. You Many are like with references scenes.

And that becomes really Iinterested me. Living in pletely self-enclosed.

“The type of dirt I have to deal with is very tionship entire never platform?” ask. “If the shortlisting had Indians to be done: images oftoathose bright, new India, where, cansenior move officers about and yet their not see every partday, of the play of theofnovel. worldisinterested and opting clean,” he says. “We have a carefully defined the broom attached me to their but- out of so- that. So you245 chose thousands trains will run I have learned a lot from all popmy mi- across the country, farting. inter-relationships — daydreaming, creat- anything. hometown procedure. First the garbage is inspected by cial tocks, and they run very fast, it stations; other ing fantasies — interested me. Magic is of serable experiences. I hate travelling. I hated Tell us about your encounters with Ulysses. interest to me. Not magic realism. But en- living in London. For one, what we think of the I first read it when I was 16, 17. I read A Portrait chantment. The 19th-century novel is a very globalised world is not true. There are so of the Artist as a Young Man, then Ulysses. I remember not taking to either book. Read it begrown-up form. It comes out of understand- many different stories of globalisation. cause I had to. Angst had made me an ing the aspirational nature of human beings. intellectual. Got absolutely nothing out of it So when I say I am not comfortable or not at Ananda expects to acclimatise to London, (laughs). As I was revising A Strange and Subhome in the 19th-century novel, I mean I am but quickly realises that ‘class was what lime Address, I was 25, I fell ill with jaundice not at home with such a grown-up under- formed you but didn’t move to other and I re-read Portrait. And read Anna Karenina cultures’. On the other hand, the uncle standing of the world. for the first time — the 19th century novel — thinks he is a ‘Black Englishman’. Can you If character at the centre is not what with great admiration. But I realised that temexpand on that?

The uncles the comes from background Portrait you,awould you his say,maternal the city –uncle. be it peramentally I amtocloser n news described as “wan more sacri- interests which was gift from death tollthe mounts on the of tizens.

We can’t bear watchtothe plightthan of a Anna need toquestion read Ulysses as a piece of small-town cosmopolitanism.

He is a deeply Karenina. or Calcutta or London – is your As a fice for common pipool” by Trinamool Bombay His sacrifice will never be forgotten. border, the Foreign Ministry has mother.

Plus You there is the of nationwriting on Dublin and forget allfamily the baggage. cosmopolitan andthe cultured but he is al prestige. mark muse? of respect, Didi will allow him to wear Given 75 per cent of the is Congress sources, a TMC leader has special assured nation person, that swift dipinterests me. Writing placealis trying to lose everyaction part ofishimself.

He seems blown up his own house in order to The urban Hawaii chappals once about a week, lomatic imminent.

American, international relations too hard for youAstosoon write one way of though escaping novel of character. It is a “So to not want to identify withlimited where to he came Is it are combat terrorism. “For several not in public.” far, the damage has been a factor. asfunny? we sort it out, humour is be connected joy.agenThe word way to go out into the from closed from. For variousexplained reasons of aregret and anger. For me weeks he was sheltering terrorThestreet, case isaway currently being some villagers,” spokesPakistan will on top oftoour means ending onfishermen.” a joyous note, not rooms, either of investigated the mind or abyphysical closed person.

He wants to escape being Wants to es- comedia ists,” said a source, “lulling the National “We will start theBengali. diplomatic da, followed

by Tamil are lots ofIndo-Pak jokes inrelations it. One thing room. And if you are not going out the on the cape family.

At the matter same time, he loves Investigation Agency, In- process In the interim, them into a false sense of sebefore becomes se- his fam- that there learns from by Sanskrit street — open atelligence window, soBureau, at leastthe you Special are dis- rious. ily. Loves Bengaliness.we Heare wants to have both Ananda will be handled Arnabliterature Goswami.is that curity. But his objective was alUnfortunately, doesseems not need to be the end tracted by what is happening outside. To not preoccupied these things — and Bengaliness — on his tragedy“He ways different. Sometimes he Task Force, the Anti-Terrorism byfamily the Khobrato have come backof all things. Thefrom end can For writers like me, be completely attentive tothe what is happening own case. terms.

If he can’t, he will disavow them. would leave drums of kerosene Squad, and Criminal Inves- gade Even after deprivthebe USjoy. a much kinder, something outside, it isForhere. before you. To tigation be slightly inattentive.ofThereway, Ananda wants to have heaven is not near the bombs. Other times Department the ingInUSanother diplomats of whisky, gentler person,” said the fore slightly decentred.

To not be a complete the things completely his own he offered them cigarettes.

West Bengal Police. matter has not been re- way. If he can’t, he eign Ministry spokesperis your muse. You character, so that there are to parts of you leak- solved. wouldn’t engageshe with them. Maybe, he feels Clearly the everyday Whole intention was to cause “We tried get the Railway Although is free, son, “His complexion hasonce quoted Philip Larkin: “Deprivation to me is ing somewhere else.

Andinvolved, I explore that this she he owns this explosion, which has Police but inthey faces literary arrest if history. she returns also improved.

As a result, what daffodils Wordsworth”.

What novel as well. were busy sweeping plat- to These very blown up the two jihadis, all the US.are This is strange causingpeople. her weare aretohoping he will not are your daffodils?

One of the things aboutexplained sound thataalways the evidence, and an exquisitely forms,” TMC mental anguish, as her husdeclare war on Pakistan in Which takes me toare theUS next, My daffodils are the ramshackle within a city. interests me — as spokesperson. a writer and a musician — is band carved teakwood marriage bed, and children ci- if slightly unfair the next two-three weeks.” the way the invisible touches you. What you question: are they true to life?

A lot t@shovonc of my writing tries to undo this dichoto- NANDINI NAIR are listening to, isAll what youare cannot see. Really That ispersonal The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll and newsy. views personal.

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TMC LEADER SACRIFICES HOME TO FIGHT TERROR!

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ARNAB TO HANDLE PAKISTAN, SAYS FOREIGN MINISTRY!

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LIGHTHOUSE

The shame game Do I become a slut if I sell my physical labour? If I work as a construction worker or a massage therapist? Why do we stigmatise sex?

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Amit Varma is a novelist. He blogs at indiauncut.com

ne of the finest graphic novels I’ve read recently is Paying for It, a ‘comic strip memoir about being a john’

by Canadian writer Chester Brown. In 1996, Brown’s girlfriend informed him that she had fallen in love with someone else.

Brown took it well, and they even continued living together for a while, till eventually Brown moved on. But he saw no sense in seeking conventional relationships that involved ‘possessive monogamy’, and instead started seeing prostitutes. Paying for It is an account of more than a decade spent eschewing romantic love and instead satisfying his sexual needs with a series of paid encounters.

Brown treats his encounters in a matter-of-fact way, right down to his chapter titles — ‘Carla’, ‘Anne’, ‘Angelina’, ‘Back to Anne’, ‘Edith’, etc. There are no seedy, cheap thrills to be had here, and Paying for It is more about the internal workings of Brown’s mind through these years than anything that actually happens. He doesn’t try to sentimentalise or even glamorise the lives of the women he sleeps with, and there isn’t much of their backstory in the book.

The book would be worth your time for the appendices alone. In a series of clear, nuanced arguments, Brown lays down why prostitution should be decriminalised. He is a libertarian (as am I), and the basic premise of that argument is simple enough: what consenting adults do with one another is no one’s business but their own, as long as they do not infringe on anyone else’s rights while doing so. When a john sees a prostitute, it is fundamentally an economic transaction, with one party paying the other for services rendered. That’s it. There is no moral dimension to it.

One can argue, especially in a third-world context, that many prostitutes are forced into that line of work, and that there is always coercion involved. This is exactly why prostitution should be legal. Whenever the State outlaws victimless crimes, such as prostitution, the underworld fills the resultant vacuum, and things get shady. Human trafficking thrives not because prostitution exists, but because it is illegal and we’ve left it to the mafia. (Ditto match-fixing in the context of sports betting in India.) If it was legal and transparent, trafficking and coercion would be vastly reduced, and easier to counter when they do happen.

There are those who hold that prostitution necessarily involves implicit coercion, because which woman would choose it willingly? This is plain disrespectful to women who

look at other ways of earning money. She was arrested during a raid at a five-star hotel in Hyderabad, where she was, we are salaciously informed, ‘caught in the act’. She was later sent to a government rehabilitation home for ‘rescued’ women. (She had no say in this.) And of course, she was named and shamed in the media.

Some of the people who spoke out in her defence were outraged that she was put in the spotlight and humiliated, and not the businessmen on the other side of the transaction. But why should even they be named and shamed? Both Prasad and the businessmen were doing nothing wrong — there was clearly no coercion involved, just consenting adults getting together. Nor did the pimp do anything wrong in bringing them together. The people who should be ashamed are the police, who spend time and effort busting victimless crimes instead of focusing on other duties they fail to perform.

And it’s obvious why. Why do you think the raids happened in the first place and the businessmen weren’t named?

The police across the country act like a mafia engaged in extortion of those unfairly criminalised by our antiquated penal system, such as homosexuals, make that choice. If someone deems it the best prostitutes and their customers, gamblers option open to them, who are we to judge? Al- and so on. They are the ones who should be so, why is it frowned upon if you sell sexual shamed, who should not be able to look at services for money, but not if you sell other themselves in the mirror, whose families parts of yourself? One of my marketable as- should be embarrassed by them. And yet, poor sets, for example, is my writing ability, and I’ve Prasad is treated like a criminal and humiliatsold my services to dozens of publications ed in this manner. She is the victim here, not of over the years. (Indeed, at the moment I write the clients she was working with, but of the columns for both The Hindu Busipolice, and our hypocritical, reness Line and The Economic Times.) pressed Indian society.

Am I a slut then? Do I become a The last chapter of Brown’s slut if I sell my physical labour? If book is titled ‘Back to MonogaHuman trafficking I work as a construction worker my’. But unlike what that might thrives not because or a massage therapist? Why do indicate, he doesn’t realise the erprostitution exists, we stigmatise sex? ror of his ways and go off and You could look at that last but because it’s illegal find a conventional girlfriend. Inquestion as either a rhetorical stead, he finds his comfort zone question or as an anthropologiwith one of the women he has cal one. But here’s my point: if had paid sex with, and decides to we look down upon sex workers be monogamous with her, while for the kind of work they do, then that reflects continuing their financial arrangement. This badly on us, not on them. People who use the might seem unusual to you, but on reading terms ‘whore’ or ‘slut’ as pejoratives are de- the book, you’ll see why it makes perfect sense meaning themselves. for Brown. We all stumble through life, trying That brings me to the sad, sad story of Shwe- to understand what makes us happy, making ta Basu Prasad, who was caught a few weeks compromises, negotiating with our destinies. ago in a ‘prostitution racket’. Prasad is an ac- Whatever works, works. There is no right or complished national award-winning actress, wrong in this. who has also made a documentary on Indian t@amitvarma classical music, and decided, at some point, to

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How much for that?

A house for

Art does not need to cost an arm and a leg. Recent exhibitions feature a range of emerging talent at affordable prices

I Mr Vyas

n south Delhi’s Lado Sarai, you cannot es- shelf-life. Alternative mediums such as phocape the potholed lanes; however, during tography, etchings, sculpture and new-media the recent Art Night Friday, where galler- work might demand more from their collec● www.artsquare.in — Provides a platform ies hosted a vibrant opening night, such tors in terms of maintenance but are also for around 1,000 highly skilled artists hazards were the least of one’s concerns. This more affordable. (₹500 to ₹30,000) season, seven galleries opened their exhibiGallery Latitude 28’s owner Bhavna Kakar ● www.storyltd.com/categories/art/ — The tions to an enthusiastic, wine-sipping crowd. says, “If you start buying young, your collecaffordable cousin of leading online art Notably the clutch of exhibitions has been cu- tion serves as a unique narrative of your perportal www.saffronart.com; here one can rated to appeal to younger collectors and they sonal history. What was it about that shop for art, jewellery and furniture. It showcase up-and-coming artists whose works particular work that made you buy it? What hosts online auctions with no reserve are priced between ₹50,000 and ₹5 lakh. did you have to sacrifice in order to get it? ArtSome works go up to ₹10 lakh, where the artist works remind you of where you were in your prices and at fairly modest final rates. is already well-known or when the work is life, not just geographically but socially and (₹2,000 to ₹50,000) rather large. psychologically too.” Kakar firmly believes ● www.artslant.com/ind/main — Promotes The rise and fall of the high-end art market one doesn’t have to buy expensive work or faboth Indian and international artists are often regulated pricing thatMadhavrao is middle- mous family names — wife, to two daughters son — be- — a sure sign of a house under repair — illumio youby know Guruji? have a “real”and art acollection. ranging from high-end artists like Ganesh of-the-road, andSadashivrao this is where exhibitionsasks fea- “No camematter the haveli’s occupants.

Golwalkar?” how sole inexpensive the purchase, nated by the setting sun. Further up are glassHaloi and Jogen Chowdhury to emerging windows.

Through these come the sound turing young and emerging art-sitting in his Duttatrey Vyas, Like any other hyper-urbanised Ahme- less takecity, whatever you buy seriousSamir Aich Roy. of the wood like being sawed andand theSekhar scratching ists play a role.

Theroom toastthat thiswas once used dabad has little room or empathy for its ofnames living ly,” she advises. (₹30,000 to ₹1 lakh) season Delhi “He andvisited Mumbai heritage. people like trowel against a wet trough of cement. to storeingrains. thisis house. As did musty, dilapidated Latitude 28, a But leading gallery The haveli has all the elements typical of Ahwhat comes under the he umbrella Vyas hold outin hope.

In the eventual of Narendra Modi, when was an RSS worker.” the Capital, is usuallyresult known architectural term ‘affordable art’. his fight against time and real Vyas is referring to the 200-year-old haveli for promoting young, daring 2014 with anmedabad’s exhibition of MF Husain’stradiseriCanvases continue to tion — wood carvings in the forsince example, hisAishwarya family hasPathy, lived in 1942. One that em-theestate sharks artists will liewho the future push the envelope. graphs, its current exhibition, ‘Excess Deremain money courtyard, on the pillars the is a young inspired by to ofthey most owned bodies twocollector decades of his struggle reside insince Currently it isherishowcasing the nied!’, features young artists like Arpitand Biloria, spinners areprivately façade;Deviba originalWala, flooring and frescontemporary artists from tage architecture country. Kalita, who Anjaneyulu Gundu, and restore a crumbling relicher of Ahmedabad’s art in ofthe Deepjoyti Shahanshah highly collectable and There are only about coes on the top-floor ingeneration, but she occasionally architectural heritage.

Located in thehave old city, works with video installations, Mittal and Manish N Barodia.

“Eachwalls, of these a long shelf-life 500 such structures he storeroom-turned-living formschosen Nikhil for Vyas, by collects the Ni Moderns.

“I after buy the once prein Pushkarna Pol, named mixed media and inkjet prints. artists have been thisarchitect show after left in themeticulous city room we’re is neither training and technical headSanof what I like Pushkarna and can afford.

It is community, dominant Brahmin Theinartist takestoo a cynical, rather research,” says gallery owner “And during usually art was that rented jumps out at the haveli tome his father, advo- hot nor too cold. un-romantic look at the idea of jay Sethia. City Heritage Centre (CHC), an feellove. like it’s air-relationships focusing on the restoration because it’s different cate Harish Shankar and RevaorigiShankar Vyas, for the rains, youbig “Our The works NGO are technically superior, though conservation of heritage conditioned,” says Vyas. It overnal it’sBalabhai the medium, technique ₹40—a whether month by Girdharbhai Seth,ora have become battlegrounds, and we are re- the artists areand young and still influenced by selooks the courtyard, whichroles hasof enemy and nior artists like properties in theand oldAnita city. Dube.

“Only content.

I find myself drawn to artVyas thatwas is discotton mill owner.

Harish Shankar al- duced to the contradictory Subodh Gupta threehave, or four houses that have frescoes remain scaffolding along its edges. turbing or of thought-provoking,” says of Pathy, so the head the Ahmedabad branch the friend,” saysrunning the artist, whose workFurniture is priced They however, displayed innovative apand other₹65,000 household lined up in one proaches in Ahmedabad,” he says. existing But whatmetaphors. really sets who has travelled to international art venues Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which between anditems ₹1.75 are lakh. to reinventing Theinteresting water tank is at the farthest corner For thisinstance, haveli apart from‘Onion the rest is that and has a fair idea the global art scene. corner. functioned out of theofhaveli until 1968.

Another exhibition is ‘ThanatoGundu’s Basket’ is a there techhave been no rendering modifications.

“It isutensil, the way it of the courtyard. don’twhich use itisanymore, While acquisition was an Anjolie Ela phobia’, Afterher hisfirst father’s death, Duttatrey Vyas conby B Ajay “We Sharma, a collec- nically superb of a steel but but inofmygraphic father’s time, would drink from he wastakes a 100ityears Theby haveli hasat now been Menon painting gifted bywith herhis mother, Raj- tion tinued to live in the house two brothprintsweand photographs a stepago.” further hinting middleit,” saysat Vyas, as he slides the heavy stone lidthe off class categorised as a Grade I heritage property by shree Pathy, eminentAtart collector ers and theiranfamilies. the time, heand wasbusithe hosted Wonderwall Gallery, Delhi.

While aspirations by painting colourful reflecto showbehind me itsthe depth.

It is about feet.rather tions the of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation nesswoman, now collects works chief cashier Aishwarya at Bharat Suryodaya Mills.

But by theme exhibition may25seem bright, packaged goods on the vessel.

“There are only 500 such structures left If one stands right at the of of thedeath cour- (AMC). younger artists as Abir Karmarkar, the late ’80s, thesuch brothers had all boughtSeher flats grim —‘Thanatophobia’ is centre the fear In Mumbai, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinin the city,” he says. tyardthe andworks looks up, one can see a cloud of dust Shah and Alyssa Pheobus Mumtaz. in newer parts of the city, and Vyas and his and examine human mortality — ruecke recently hosted Art for Young Collecthey are highly collectable because of their tors 2014. It introduced young collectors to New names on the block aesthetic appeal. Also, the works are attractive- quality art by up-and-coming artists. The exhiNotably, emerging artists work in mediums ly priced, starting at ₹35,000 and going up to bition featured photographer Sandip Kuriathat are not the conventional oil or acrylic on ₹4 lakh for a larger diptych. “We have had in- kose, whose installations take inspiration canvas. Despite bold attempts by collectors to terest in his works and will be finalising sales,” from section 377 of the IPC, drawings by Abhisupport alternative mediums, canvases con- says Ajay Rajgarhia, owner of the gallery. nav Yagnik, Manali Rawat, who works in clay, tinue to remain the money spinners since A new entrant in the Lado Sarai art village is sculptures by Ragini Bhow, watercolours on they are highly collectable and have a long Gallery Five. While it launched in March paper by Rajesh Kargutkar and Ratna Khanna.

The works are technically sound and original in their approach to subjects that range from the topical to the spiritual.

Art for all

A haveli that has weathered 200 years in Ahmedabad’s old city and the man who fights to keep it standing have found the last two decades the most trying yet

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Living heritage Duttatrey Vyas’s wife Jyotika washes dishes in the tiled courtyard meher Deathly does it ‘Thanatophobia’ byaliB Ajay Sharma deals with the topic of death with deftness

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E-canvas Unlike most online art that only has a virtual presence, Art Alive has both a physical presence and a website that promotes young artists at affordable prices. Its two galleries in the National Capital Region display established and emerging art.

Its well-managed website, www.emergingartists.in provides online curated exhibitions that support young artists and give collectors affordable options.

“The online format widens our audiences while showcasing the entire gamut of fine arts — from conventional paintings to mix media, sculpture, photography, digital prints, installations and lithographs,” says gallery owner Sunaina Anand.

So this Diwali, young collectors can aspire to acquire art that is pocket friendly and thought provoking. georgina maddox is a Delhi-based art writer

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For centuries, the itinerant Gujarati trader has travelled across continents, bringing back from his travels the knowledge of diverse architectural traditions — from places such as Indonesia, East Africa and West Asia. This is reflected, for instance, in the woodcarvings in each of these havelis, says Manvita Baradi, convener of the Gujarat Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Timber was the preferred material for construction as most of these homes were two- or three-storey high, and unlike stone, timber was lighter and provided ventilation.

Before electricity and air-conditioning changed the tenets of insulation, climate dic-

MANJH KHAMAJ

tated the layout of all such homes. The entrance of these havelis, for instance, is narrow, which, according to Baradi, minimalised the entry of hot air. The air that managed to slip through, eventually travelled upwards and out of the house through the open courtyard.

The courtyard was the ‘core’ of the house used as a space for the family to come together. A private room recessed in one corner was used either as a storeroom or bedroom, and in another corner was the kitchen, usually adjacent to a puja room, according to a paper published by Jay Thakkar of CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Thakkar also surmises that ornamentation was used in a deliberate manner — the spaces that were on public display, such as the courtyard and the otla or raised entryway supported by columns, were marked by elaborate carvings, while private spaces, such as the kitchen, were relatively spartan.

In Vyas’s house, the façade of the first floor has carvings of elephant heads and peacocks with their beaks curiously buried in their feathers. According to Thakkar, elephants were a common motif engraved in wooden panels, since they were easy to “draw and carve”, and so were peacocks, a celebrated symbol among ancient Greeks, Sufi iconographers and the Mauryas.

haveli. was in the sing news.

Soon after, people Making It the mandolin U Srinivas the ‘prodigy’ at concert in 1982 connected toahim started making the rounds, the hindu archives; performing with his insisting yet again that Vyas vacate the haveli. mandolin in Vijayawada in 2013 v raju One of them was closely associated with Asaram Bapu (and was arrested by Gujarat Police in October 2013 in connection with a sexual assault case implicating the godman and his son Narayan Soni.)

That year, in September 2009, as the front of the haveli leaned outward at a 30° angle, the AMC issued a notice directing Vyas to restore the façade, failing which it would take it down. Vyas, whose tenancy status had still not changed, did not have the legal right to carry out the restoration. He didn’t have the financial means either.

Vyas’s eldest daughter then advised him to buy a flat, as it was too dangerous to continue living there. So he started looking, but “my heart was not in it. I didn’t like these flats, they were so small… I felt like if I walked from one end to another, I would end up banging my head against a wall.” The apartment hunt was called off and the Vyas family decided to stay.

In December 2010, when his eldest daughter returned to India, she went with her father to meet the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, with a photograph of their house. “He said I would get the house and gave MLA Bhushan Bhatt the responsibility to get it n 1996, architect Debashish Nayak, then as- done,” says Vyas. Meanwhile, the family faced sociated with the AMC, along with French yet another hurdle: “The tilt of the house had conservationists, paid Duttatrey Vyas a visit. increased substantially. We were now afraid They offered to undertake restoration worth that it would fall and we would suffer a tre₹10 lakh, but the offer was contingent on his mendous loss.” Fixing it was now imperative owning haveli.asThis encour- He chose the cording studios (his father was a clarinet playSrinivas’the courage a musician. year to later, architects from aged Vyas, — who was a tenant, to mandolin an instrument without a history er) and was attracted its sound.

He learnt City Heritage Centre visited begin the process of seeking in the Carnatic tradition.

Ghosh had displayed from vocalist Rudraraju Subbaraju, transposhouse.

Conservationist Deownership of the house.

But besimilar courage in taking up the bansuri ing elementsVyas’s of vocal music on to his instru2001, bashish had beenstyles instrufore that could goananywhere, a thatInhad (bamboo flute) — instrument no a massive ment; he also drew Nayak from playing of earthquakeother struck mental—inlike its the establishment property shark started pressuplace in Hindustani music. instruments veena — in and the Gujarat, the tradition. had referred Vyaschanges to them. rising Vyas to vacate the house Before Ghosh, the bansuri was a folk instru-causing Carnatic He made to “We the haveli’s façade to had [identified] this the house immediately: “He wanted to see ment: it was unthinkable play full-fledged traditional mandolin to better express nuamong theHis topstory 10 houses that this haveli of demolished. saidtrained onlean renditions ragas on it. He Ghosh the away ances of Carnatic music. is uncannily needed to be restored he wanted a commersitar under to hisbuild father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, similar to that of Ghosh — his choiceurgently,” of a new says Nikhil Vyas.

But full restoracial on thetoground but complex he was drawn tunes instrument; his method of assition of such a largehis property was floor and top.” of Bariplayed byflats the on cowherds milative learning; confidence atocostly And thepath. leaning fathe old city on hastheir hissalAlthough (now in Bangladesh) treadaffair. an unknown So the conservationtorically been a commercial small flutes.

He picked up a flutehub, it’s also çade was a pressing Sinceissue.

Ghosh — and aided by ists decided the to focus on securing theofhouse home to housing clustershis orsitar pols located in al- music and started transposing phenomenal success PanSrinivas’ leys, off on theit.arterial roadshereserved fortranscends busi- structurally. lessons Eventually, dedit Hariprasad Chaurasia — the any But before work could Duttatrey Vyas ness.

Theaheritage havelis locatedappraisal in these in terms veloped larger flute thatare could bansuri hasstart, become well-enof received a stay order from the city’s Small pols, andHindustani residents ofphrases many such express to homes have trenched in the Hindustani lost years fromevery renovating now shifted to ‘new’ Ahmedabad his satisfaction.

He conjured the due to the Cause Court prohibiting framework:him almost major it did notmusic belong to him. high costofofpursuing maintaining the properties. The the haveli, asHindustani courage an instrufestival hasSix at the one stay flautist was lifted, after vacant houses arenever then ‘occupied’ by go- months later,least ment that had been in itsand line-up. decade of tilting, was downs.

They often due to neglect or, more than a The played before on acollapse Hindustani mandolin toothe is façade no longer readyintoCarnatic be restored. in some cases, down by the AMC. mas- finally concert stage. are He torn learned from several unfamiliar music, as it was in the Masons and carpenters specialising resNot—surprisingly, families that decide to stay ters including Ustad Allauddin Khan but hands of the nine-year-old Srinivas. Thein possiwere hired. First they removed on butofare unable to maintain their none them a flautist.

He fused hishomes variedare ta- toration bilities he explored — and perfected — an in unhis of thecareer wooden roof and replaced it targeted.

Real what estateis now dealers realised lim — to create the “have ‘flute idiom’ in stable 35-yearpart playing have inspired many to plastic components, and moved to the that [such] individuals have not been able to with Hindustani music. take up the instrument. and windows.

Bhai, the head craftsmaintain property. such havelis, Srinivasthe never learnt They fromeye a Carnatic man- doors In their short lives,Som as musicians simplicter, “I almost off the roof when we so thatmaster they can convert them into concrete dolin — there wasn’t one before him. man, Ghoshsays, and Srinivasfellensured immortality. downover a part of it.”

Although only buildings,” says He had heard theBaradi. mandolin being played in re- were Theirtaking command their instruments was “minimal has taken place so But far, absolute, restoration” their precision unwavering. n 2001, even as the Vyas family faced threats the house savedtheir and contribution standing tall again. when one isviews to Indian from the property dealer, a massive earth- music Duttarey Vyas envisions a day when haas pioneers, it is tempting to putthe them quake struck Gujarat. It caused the haveli’s fa- veli become placefew frequented byclaim local on awill pedestal on awhich others can çade to lean away from the main structure. and foreign people. He space.

Theirvisitors gift ofand twoprominent new instruments — Vyas says that people from the neighbour- wants to setimportantly, it up as a homestay. now,—the and, more two new For idioms to hood came to see if his house had caved in. As doors are open for students to maran ancient musical traditionwho is acome rare achievethe fore portion of the haveli stooped, he says vel at itThat andthey learndid about its architecture. ment. so before they reached 50 he could see 12-inch-long iron nails that held is staggering.

As I walk away, turning back to look at the the structure together and kept it from col- haveli, gridIndian of the wooden It is through true thatthe when classical pillars maeslapsing. Although this re-affirmed Vyas’s faith that support the I canlook stillfor see thechairs deep tros approach 50,roof, listeners cosy in the ‘heritage value’ of the haveli, he recog- brown textured to awaitwood the bestofofthe theirhouse, music. That is theand age nised that it needed more than just minor ren- carved Only a few away starts lies a about elaborately. when (supposedly) a feet maestro ovation. He would need expert help. But even busy street, by rush-hour traffic, but finding the clogged much-pursued element of thehwith the added trouble of a leaning façade, here, theequanimity silence is astounding. raav or in his music. Listening to Vyas had no intention of vacating.

(At the time of goingthough, to print,50 Duttatrey Vyas Ghosh and Srinivas is rendered In July 2009, while visiting his elder daugh- was fighting a case in a local court to get ownjust still a number. ter who lived overseas, Vyas received a call ership of this haveli.) from his younger daughter about the murder arunabha deb is a Kolkata-based music writer and ali is a freelance journalist of the property dealer who had his eye on the meher shubhodeb@hotmail.com lawyer

Age no bar I

The achievements of U Srinivas and Pannalal Ghosh with ‘new’ instruments is staggering and ensures them immortality Patina of history (top to bottom) the old water tank; frescoes in the top storey of the house; a wooden frieze; and Duttatrey Vyas overseeing the renovation meher ali

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news flash on my mobile phone informed me that U Srinivas was no more. I wasn’t aware of his illness and it took me a while to absorb the update. He was 45, but I imagined him to be somewhere in his 30s. That could be because music lovers keep talking about the nine-yearold Srinivas who had stunned Madras with his debut recital in the late ’70s. His narrative was always that of a ‘prodigy’, the young boy who had conquered the mandolin.

My thoughts about musicians dying young led me to another instrumentalist, the flute legend Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. He had died at 48. Later that day, I played my favourite Pannalal piece — the Darbari that begins with the most hair-raising komal dhaivat I have heard in any Darbari. After a while, I wasn’t as depressed about Srinivas’ death as I was on receiving the news. We don’t remember Ghosh as a young musician. His music is so complete that his age is an arbitrary marker; he left no room to wonder what his music could have been had he lived longer. Srinivas’ music is of similar richness; it transcends any appraisal in terms of lost years.

The media carried several tributes to Srinivas. While reading Samanth Subramanian’s excellent piece in Mint, I was once again reminded of Ghosh. Subramanian emphasised

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Threads of tenacity Keeping the looms of telia rumal, a complex double ikkat textile, clacking in Telangana

Old hands Narsimha works on preparing the weft yarn along with his wife Manemma

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lthough its kin can be found on most continents, the traditional weaving technique of chitiki or ikkat is an important skien in the identity of the newly formed state of Telangana. The one product that epitomises the complexity, skill and beauty of this tradition is the telia rumal, made of cotton yarn naturally dyed in maroon, white and black. Like other such weaves that are time- and skill-intensive, telia rumal is fast disappearing from the shelves.

Only a handful of weavers are now privy to the intricacies of weaving this textile, which derives its name from the faint smell of oil and the sheen in the ďŹ nished product. Septuagenarian K Narsimha of Koyyalagudem village

in Nalgonda District is notable among them.

Narsimha started weaving more than half a century ago at the age of 16. He has since been associated with the handloom co-operative in Koyyalagudem and worked for over two decades as a tie-and-dye trainer, ďŹ rst with the Weavers Service Centre in Hyderabad and later with the Hyderabad-based NGO Dastkar Andhra. He was recently honoured by the Delhi Crafts Council with the Sutrakar Samman.

While the looms fall silent elsewhere, Narsimha continues to weave a story of hope for the telia rumal. pankaj sekhsaria is a writer and photographer based in Hyderabad

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Creative commons Black strips of rubber are tied before dyeing the yarn to create the desired pattern

On the shelf Two chitiki sarees woven using natural dyes

Fine art A chitiki pattern in the traditional colours of red, black and white

Tangled Dyed warp yarn waiting to be strung on the loom

Ready to go The warp and weft being prepared before weaving

Carrying it forward Narsimha with a fellow weaver in the neighbouring village of Kuntlagudem

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How much for that?

A house for

Art does not need to cost an arm and a leg. Recent exhibitions feature a range of emerging talent at affordable prices

I Mr Vyas

n south Delhi’s Lado Sarai, you cannot es- shelf-life. Alternative mediums such as phocape the potholed lanes; however, during tography, etchings, sculpture and new-media the recent Art Night Friday, where galler- work might demand more from their collec● www.artsquare.in — Provides a platform ies hosted a vibrant opening night, such tors in terms of maintenance but are also for around 1,000 highly skilled artists hazards were the least of one’s concerns. This more affordable. (₹500 to ₹30,000) season, seven galleries opened their exhibiGallery Latitude 28’s owner Bhavna Kakar ● www.storyltd.com/categories/art/ — The tions to an enthusiastic, wine-sipping crowd. says, “If you start buying young, your collecaffordable cousin of leading online art Notably the clutch of exhibitions has been cu- tion serves as a unique narrative of your perportal www.saffronart.com; here one can rated to appeal to younger collectors and they sonal history. What was it about that shop for art, jewellery and furniture. It showcase up-and-coming artists whose works particular work that made you buy it? What hosts online auctions with no reserve are priced between ₹50,000 and ₹5 lakh. did you have to sacrifice in order to get it? ArtSome works go up to ₹10 lakh, where the artist works remind you of where you were in your prices and at fairly modest final rates. is already well-known or when the work is life, not just geographically but socially and (₹2,000 to ₹50,000) rather large. psychologically too.” Kakar firmly believes ● www.artslant.com/ind/main — Promotes The rise and fall of the high-end art market one doesn’t have to buy expensive work or faboth Indian and international artists are often regulated pricing thatMadhavrao is middle- mous family names — wife, to two daughters son — be- — a sure sign of a house under repair — illumio youby know Guruji? have a “real”and art acollection. ranging from high-end artists like Ganesh of-the-road, and this is where exhibitionsasks fea- “No camematter the haveli’s occupants.

Sadashivrao Golwalkar?” how sole inexpensive the purchase, nated by the setting sun. Further up are glassHaloi and Jogen Chowdhury to emerging windows.

Through these come the sound turing young and emerging art-sitting in his Duttatrey Vyas, Like any other hyper-urbanised Ahme- less takecity, whatever you buy seriouslike Samir Aich Roy. of the wood being sawed andand theSekhar scratching ists play a role.

Theroom toastthat thiswas once used dabad has little room or empathy for its ofnames living ly,” she advises. (₹30,000 to ₹1 lakh) season Delhi “He andvisited Mumbai heritage. people like trowel against a wet trough of cement. to storeingrains. thisishouse. As did musty, dilapidated Latitude 28, aBut leading gallery The haveli has all the elements typical of Ahwhat comes under thehe umbrella Vyas hold outin hope.

In the eventual of Narendra Modi, when was an RSS worker.” the Capital, is usuallyresult known architectural term ‘affordable art’. his fight against time and real Vyas is referring to the 200-year-old haveli for promoting young, daring 2014 with anmedabad’s exhibition of MF Husain’stradiseriCanvases continue to tion — wood carvings in the forsince example, hisAishwarya family hasPathy, lived in 1942. One that em- theestate sharks artists will liewho the future push the envelope. graphs, its current exhibition, ‘Excess Deremain money courtyard, on the pillars the is a young inspired by to ofthey most owned bodies two collector decades of his struggle reside insince Currently it isherishowcasing the nied!’, features young artists like Arpitand Biloria, spinners areprivately façade; Deviba originalWala, flooring and frescontemporary artists from tage architecture country. Kalita, who Anjaneyulu Gundu, and restore a crumbling relicher of Ahmedabad’s art in ofthe Deepjoyti Shahanshah highly collectable and There are only about coes on top-floor ingeneration, she occasionally architecturalbut heritage.

Located in thehave old city, works with video installations, Mittal and Manish N the Barodia.

“Eachwalls, of these a long shelf-life 500 such structures he storeroom-turned-living formschosen Nikhil for Vyas, by collects the Ni Moderns.

“I after buy the once prein Pushkarna Pol, named mixed media and inkjet prints. artists have been thisarchitect show after left in themeticulous city room we’re inartist is neither training and technical headSanof what I like Pushkarna and can afford.

It is community, dominant Brahmin The takestoo a cynical, rather research,” says gallery owner “And during usually art was thatrented jumps out at the haveli tome his father, advo- hot nor too cold. un-romantic look at the idea of jay Sethia. City Heritage Centre (CHC), an feellove. like it’s air- relationships focusing on the restoration because it’s different and origicate Harish Shankar Reva Shankar Vyas, for the rains, youbig “Our The works NGO are technically superior, though conservation of heritage conditioned,” Vyas. It overnal the medium, technique ₹40—a whether month byit’s Balabhai Girdharbhai Seth,ora have become says battlegrounds, and we are re- the artists areand young and still influenced by selooks the courtyard, whichroles hasof enemy and nior artists like properties in theand oldAnita city. Dube.

“Only content.

I find myself drawn to artVyas thatwas is discotton mill owner.

Harish Shankar al- duced to the contradictory Subodh Gupta threehave, or four houses that have frescoes remain scaffolding along its edges. turbing or of thought-provoking,” says of Pathy, so the head the Ahmedabad branch the friend,” saysrunning the artist, whose workFurniture is priced They however, displayed innovative apand other₹65,000 household lined up in one proaches in Ahmedabad,” he says. existing But whatmetaphors. really sets who has travelled to international art venues Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which between anditems ₹1.75 are lakh. to reinventing The interesting water tank is at the farthest corner For thisinstance, haveli apart from‘Onion the rest is that and has a fair idea the until global1968. art scene. corner. functioned out of theof haveli Another exhibition is ‘ThanatoGundu’s Basket’ is athere techhave been no modifications.

“It isutensil, the way it of the courtyard. don’twhich use itisanymore, While acquisition was an Anjolie Ela phobia’, Afterher hisfirst father’s death, Duttatrey Vyas conby B Ajay “We Sharma, a collec- nically superb rendering of a steel but but inof mygraphic father’s time, would drink from he wastakes a 100ityears Theby haveli has at now been Menon gifted herhis mother, Raj- tion tinued topainting live in the housebywith two brothprintsweand photographs a stepago.” further hinting middleit,” saysat Vyas, as he slides the heavy stone lidthe off class categorised as a Grade I heritage property by shree Pathy, eminentAtart collector ers and theiran families. the time, heand wasbusithe hosted Wonderwall Gallery, Delhi.

While aspirations by painting colourful reflecto showbehind me itsthe depth.

It is about feet. rather tions the of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation nesswoman, now collects works chief cashier Aishwarya at Bharat Suryodaya Mills.

But by theme exhibition may25seem bright, packaged goods on the vessel.

“There are only 500 such structures left If one stands right at the of the cour- (AMC). younger artists as Abir Karmarkar, the late ’80s, thesuch brothers had all boughtSeher flats grim —‘Thanatophobia’ is centre the fear of death In Mumbai, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinin the city,” he says. tyardthe andworks looks up, one can see a cloud of dust Shah and Alyssa Pheobus Mumtaz. in newer parts of the city, and Vyas and his and examine human mortality — ruecke recently hosted Art for Young Collecthey are highly collectable because of their tors 2014. It introduced young collectors to New names on the block aesthetic appeal. Also, the works are attractive- quality art by up-and-coming artists. The exhiNotably, emerging artists work in mediums ly priced, starting at ₹35,000 and going up to bition featured photographer Sandip Kuriathat are not the conventional oil or acrylic on ₹4 lakh for a larger diptych. “We have had in- kose, whose installations take inspiration canvas. Despite bold attempts by collectors to terest in his works and will be finalising sales,” from section 377 of the IPC, drawings by Abhisupport alternative mediums, canvases con- says Ajay Rajgarhia, owner of the gallery. nav Yagnik, Manali Rawat, who works in clay, tinue to remain the money spinners since A new entrant in the Lado Sarai art village is sculptures by Ragini Bhow, watercolours on they are highly collectable and have a long Gallery Five. While it launched in March paper by Rajesh Kargutkar and Ratna Khanna.

The works are technically sound and original in their approach to subjects that range from the topical to the spiritual.

Art for all

A haveli that has weathered 200 years in Ahmedabad’s old city and the man who fights to keep it standing have found the last two decades the most trying yet

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Living heritage Duttatrey Vyas’s wife Jyotika washes dishes in the tiled courtyard meher Deathly does it ‘Thanatophobia’ byaliB Ajay Sharma deals with the topic of death with deftness

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E-canvas Unlike most online art that only has a virtual presence, Art Alive has both a physical presence and a website that promotes young artists at affordable prices. Its two galleries in the National Capital Region display established and emerging art.

Its well-managed website, www.emergingartists.in provides online curated exhibitions that support young artists and give collectors affordable options.

“The online format widens our audiences while showcasing the entire gamut of fine arts — from conventional paintings to mix media, sculpture, photography, digital prints, installations and lithographs,” says gallery owner Sunaina Anand.

So this Diwali, young collectors can aspire to acquire art that is pocket friendly and thought provoking. georgina maddox is a Delhi-based art writer

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For centuries, the itinerant Gujarati trader has travelled across continents, bringing back from his travels the knowledge of diverse architectural traditions — from places such as Indonesia, East Africa and West Asia. This is reflected, for instance, in the woodcarvings in each of these havelis, says Manvita Baradi, convener of the Gujarat Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Timber was the preferred material for construction as most of these homes were two- or three-storey high, and unlike stone, timber was lighter and provided ventilation.

Before electricity and air-conditioning changed the tenets of insulation, climate dic-

MANJH KHAMAJ

tated the layout of all such homes. The entrance of these havelis, for instance, is narrow, which, according to Baradi, minimalised the entry of hot air. The air that managed to slip through, eventually travelled upwards and out of the house through the open courtyard.

The courtyard was the ‘core’ of the house used as a space for the family to come together. A private room recessed in one corner was used either as a storeroom or bedroom, and in another corner was the kitchen, usually adjacent to a puja room, according to a paper published by Jay Thakkar of CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Thakkar also surmises that ornamentation was used in a deliberate manner — the spaces that were on public display, such as the courtyard and the otla or raised entryway supported by columns, were marked by elaborate carvings, while private spaces, such as the kitchen, were relatively spartan.

In Vyas’s house, the façade of the first floor has carvings of elephant heads and peacocks with their beaks curiously buried in their feathers. According to Thakkar, elephants were a common motif engraved in wooden panels, since they were easy to “draw and carve”, and so were peacocks, a celebrated symbol among ancient Greeks, Sufi iconographers and the Mauryas.

haveli. in thesing news.

Soon after, people Making It thewas mandolin U Srinivas the ‘prodigy’ at concert in 1982 connected toahim started making the rounds, the hindu archives; performing with his insisting yet again that Vyas vacate the haveli. mandolin in Vijayawada in 2013 v raju One of them was closely associated with Asaram Bapu (and was arrested by Gujarat Police in October 2013 in connection with a sexual assault case implicating the godman and his son Narayan Soni.)

That year, in September 2009, as the front of the haveli leaned outward at a 30° angle, the AMC issued a notice directing Vyas to restore the façade, failing which it would take it down. Vyas, whose tenancy status had still not changed, did not have the legal right to carry out the restoration. He didn’t have the financial means either.

Vyas’s eldest daughter then advised him to buy a flat, as it was too dangerous to continue living there. So he started looking, but “my heart was not in it. I didn’t like these flats, they were so small… I felt like if I walked from one end to another, I would end up banging my head against a wall.” The apartment hunt was called off and the Vyas family decided to stay.

In December 2010, when his eldest daughter returned to India, she went with her father to meet the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, with a photograph of their house. “He said I would get the house and gave MLA Bhushan Bhatt the responsibility to get it n 1996, architect Debashish Nayak, then as- done,” says Vyas. Meanwhile, the family faced sociated with the AMC, along with French yet another hurdle: “The tilt of the house had conservationists, paid Duttatrey Vyas a visit. increased substantially. We were now afraid They offered to undertake restoration worth that it would fall and we would suffer a tre₹10 lakh, but the offer was contingent on his mendous loss.” Fixing it was now imperative owning haveli. encour- He chose the cording studios (his father was a clarinet playSrinivas’the courage asThis a musician. yeartolater, architects from aged Vyas, —who was a tenant, to mandolin an instrument without a history er) and was attracted its sound.

He learnt City Heritage Centre visited begin the process of seeking in the Carnatic tradition.

Ghosh had displayed from vocalist Rudraraju Subbaraju, transposhouse.

Conservationist Deownership of the in house.

But up be- the bansuri ing elementsVyas’s similar courage taking of vocal music on to his instru2001, bashish had beenstyles instrufore that flute) could —goananywhere, a thatInhad (bamboo instrument no a massive ment; he also drew Nayak from playing of earthquakeother struck mental—inlike its the establishment property shark started pressuplace in Hindustani music. instruments veena — in and the Gujarat, the tradition. had referred Vyaschanges to them. rising Vyas to vacate the house Before Ghosh, the bansuri was a folk instru-causing Carnatic He made to “We the haveli’s façade to had [identified] this the house immediately: “He wanted to see ment: it was unthinkable play full-fledged traditional mandolin to better express nuamong theHis topstory 10 houses that this haveli of demolished. saidtrained onlean renditions ragas on it. He Ghosh the away ances of Carnatic music. is uncannily needed to be restored he a commersitarwanted under to hisbuild father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, similar to that of Ghosh — his choiceurgently,” of a new says Nikhil Vyas.

But full restoracial on thetoground but complex he was drawn tunes instrument; his method of assition of such a largehis property was floor and top.” of Bariplayed byflats the on cowherds milative learning; confidence atocostly And thepath. leaning fathe old city on hastheir hissalAlthough (now in Bangladesh) treadaffair. an unknown So the conservationtorically been a commercial small flutes.

He picked up a flutehub, it’s also çade was a pressing Sinceissue.

Ghosh — and aided by ists decided the to focus on securing theofhouse home to housing clusters orsitar pols located in al- music and started transposing his phenomenal success PanSrinivas’ leys, off on theit.arterial roadshereserved fortranscends busi- structurally. lessons Eventually, dedit Hariprasad Chaurasia — the any But before work could Duttatrey Vyas ness.

Theaheritage havelis locatedappraisal in these in terms veloped larger flute that are could bansuri hasstart, become well-enof received a stay order from the city’s Small pols, andHindustani residents ofphrases many such express to homes have trenched in the Hindustani lost years fromevery renovating now shifted to ‘new’ Ahmedabad his satisfaction.

He conjured the due to the Cause Court prohibiting framework: him almost major it did notmusic belong to him. high costofofpursuing maintaining the properties. The the haveli, asHindustani courage an instrufestival hasSix at the one stayflautist was lifted, after vacant houses then ‘occupied’ by go- months later,least ment that hadarenever been in itsand line-up. decade of tilting, was downs.

They often due to neglect or, more than a The played before on acollapse Hindustani mandolin toothe is façade no longer readyintoCarnatic be restored. in some cases, down by the AMC.mas- finally concert stage. are He torn learned from several unfamiliar music, as it was in the Masons and carpenters specialising resNot families that decide to stay ters —surprisingly, including Ustad Allauddin Khan but hands of the nine-year-old Srinivas. Thein possiwere hired. First they removed on butofare unable to maintain their none them a flautist.

He fused hishomes variedare ta- toration bilities he explored — and perfected — an in unhis of thecareer wooden roof and replaced it targeted.

Real what estate dealers “haveidiom’ realised lim — to create is now the ‘flute in stable 35-yearpart playing have inspired many to plastic components, and moved to the that [such] individuals have not been able to with Hindustani music. take up the instrument. and short windows.

Bhai, the head craftsmaintain property. such havelis, Srinivasthe never learnt They fromeye a Carnatic man- doors In their lives,Som as musicians simplicter, off the roof when we so thatmaster they can convert them concrete dolin — there wasn’t oneinto before him. man, Ghoshsays, and“I almost Srinivasfellensured immortality. downover a part of it.”

Although only buildings,” says He had heard theBaradi. mandolin being played in re- were Their taking command their instruments was “minimal has taken place so But far, absolute, restoration” their precision unwavering. n 2001, even as the Vyas family faced threats the house savedtheir and contribution standing tall again. when one is views to Indian from the property dealer, a massive earth- music Duttarey Vyas envisions a day when haas pioneers, it is tempting to putthe them quake struck Gujarat. It caused the haveli’s fa- veli become a placefew frequented byclaim local on awill pedestal on which others can çade to lean away from the main structure. and foreign people. He space.

Theirvisitors gift ofand twoprominent new instruments — Vyas says that people from the neighbour- wants to setimportantly, it up as a homestay. now,—the and, more two new For idioms to hood came to see if his house had caved in. As doors are open for students to maran ancient musical traditionwho is a come rare achievethe fore portion of the haveli stooped, he says vel at itThat andthey learndid about its architecture. ment. so before they reached 50 he could see 12-inch-long iron nails that held is staggering.

As I walk away, turning back to look at the the structure together and kept it from col- haveli, gridIndian of the wooden It is through true thatthe when classical pillars maeslapsing. Although this re-affirmed Vyas’s faith that support the I canlook stillfor see thechairs deep tros approach 50, roof, listeners cosy in the ‘heritage value’ of the haveli, he recog- brown textured to await wood the bestofof the theirhouse, music. That is theand age nised that it needed more than just minor ren- carved elaborately.

Only a few away starts lies a about when (supposedly) a feet maestro ovation. He would need expert help. But even busy street, by rush-hour traffic, but finding the clogged much-pursued element of thehwith the added trouble of a leaning façade, here, theequanimity silence is astounding. raav or in his music. Listening to Vyas had no intention of vacating.

(At the time of going to print,50Duttatrey Vyas Ghosh and Srinivas though, is rendered In July 2009, while visiting his elder daugh- was fighting a case in a local court to get ownjust still a number. ter who lived overseas, Vyas received a call ership of this haveli.) from his younger daughter about the murder arunabha deb is a Kolkata-based music writer and is a freelance journalist of the property dealer who had his eye on the meher shubhodeb@hotmail.com lawyer ali

Age no bar I

The achievements of U Srinivas and Pannalal Ghosh with ‘new’ instruments is staggering and ensures them immortality Patina of history (top to bottom) the old water tank; frescoes in the top storey of the house; a wooden frieze; and Duttatrey Vyas overseeing the renovation meher ali

arunabha deb

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news flash on my mobile phone informed me that U Srinivas was no more. I wasn’t aware of his illness and it took me a while to absorb the update. He was 45, but I imagined him to be somewhere in his 30s. That could be because music lovers keep talking about the nine-yearold Srinivas who had stunned Madras with his debut recital in the late ’70s. His narrative was always that of a ‘prodigy’, the young boy who had conquered the mandolin.

My thoughts about musicians dying young led me to another instrumentalist, the flute legend Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. He had died at 48. Later that day, I played my favourite Pannalal piece — the Darbari that begins with the most hair-raising komal dhaivat I have heard in any Darbari. After a while, I wasn’t as depressed about Srinivas’ death as I was on receiving the news. We don’t remember Ghosh as a young musician. His music is so complete that his age is an arbitrary marker; he left no room to wonder what his music could have been had he lived longer. Srinivas’ music is of similar richness; it transcends any appraisal in terms of lost years.

The media carried several tributes to Srinivas. While reading Samanth Subramanian’s excellent piece in Mint, I was once again reminded of Ghosh. Subramanian emphasised

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The enchanted author

Amit Chaudhuri on reworking James Joyce, admiring Homer, a love for leaky characters and the Bengali obsession with bodily functions dipankar

my between what is life and what is fiction. I don’t believe life is prior to fiction. Fictionalisation begins for me with the everyday. There is an undoing of a binary between life and art that is at work here. When I look at myself, when I was 16, 17, 22, ya, I was very strange. I find myself hilarious. Also moving in a way.

Were you acutely sensitive to the world?

I don’t know if I was more sensitive. But I thought I was more sensitive than the rest.

And that is a reason for hilarity. There is an immediacy for one’s concerns at that time, which one does not have any more. I feel moved by that. And that combination of comedy and seriousness is something I tapped into when writing The Immortals as well. But The Immortals and Odysseus Abroad are about characters who want to become someone, we don’t know if they ever will.

INDIAN RAILWAYS JOINS SWACHH BHARAT CAMPAIGN!

Why did you fill this book with the bawdy SHOVON CHOWDHURY is and fantasy sexual experiences? chief Truthdigger and author of Life like art Author I felt it was important to the story. It gave me The Competent Authority Amit Chaudhuri is an opportunity to write about characters who hilarious and profound have an obsession with body and bodily funcin Odysseus Abroad geoff pungh tions — everything from masturbation to defedestinations were Khajuraho, Simla, he General Manager picks up a Class IV employees. Once they verishould be possible,” says the GM, ular cation.

Bengalis seemUdaipur especially obsessed mini-broom and removes a speck fy that it is clean, I go over “Besides, we did not have much Kalka, Palampur, Jaipur, and Solan, with Chaudhuri updates James Joyce’s why I am interested digestion.

And this gave me an opportunity in the Jean home of dust from his desk. He takes with mymit broom and my money left soundtracks after recentofTA to Mohan Meakin Distillery.

Religious to Ulysses in Abroad. In the Renoir and Satyajit writechose aboutstations that. But it isasalso a reference Ray’s There areoftwo officers such Tirupati and to out a pile of files from his in-tray, photographer.

InOdysseus this and DAfilms. expenditure bargain, tells the story of an uncle characters talking senior JoyceSince writing eating, frying kidneys, to eachofficers. other, let’s say, Each se-but Ajmer.

Mahaabout Ashtami was on October dusts them thoroughly, and puts them back way, I am using he symbolism and a nephew set in London that is as you can always hear shitting.

One officers of my favourite scenes in Ulysses a nearly unrelated sound- 2, many Bengali were sent to Bengal in his in-tray. Behind him is a portrait of the to encourage better habnior officer had to visit occurs in a chapter called ‘Calypso’.

Leopold as ithave is ribald; telling of individuals as track happening somewhere else. That is the to inspire one station, to ensure it was friends and relatives.

We spared PM, in a lemon yellow kurta and a cobalt moving its. We also as sancgives his temporary wife tea, pats his cat, goes off of society.₹1,000 Excerpts from way both showed how we are constantly blue waistcoat, holding a broom. “As you it is tioned per an interview: clean. us Naturally their familiesbe- no Bloom effort to ensure cleanliness.” to shit, but before that,about fries some kidneys for ing impacted upon the invisible.them, in “Will anything be done the trains?” can see, a new day has come,” he says. “Files platform for cleaning of also hadby to accompany himself. Having fried“By the 2022, kidneys then goes an interview, you once“Per said you don’t order to provide moral support.”

“Certainly,” he says, allhe trains will no longer gather dust on our tables. In- In smaller stations.”

Do you think “All ‘leakiness’ is expedited to the loo andwhich he takes a magazine the“No, 19thno,” century novel. stead, we will personally ensure that each believe day?” in I ask. he says, “On-Why not? stations in India by were willoff have bio-toilets, process human with OdysseusSo Abroad certain idea of the 19th-century Titbits.

Which into is a trashy magazine. being atI ask. home. In Odysseus himand called waste emit methane the atmoone of them is spotless.” is he, which is A ly on Gandhi Jayanti.

They are ex- novel has travel, by not covered?”

Amit Chaudhuri — that I still don’t quite under- Abroad — Ananda He reads while shitting.

Even I aswe an Indihis uncle curious, given thatPenguin he has spent the better something pected to do it thoroughly, so that “Thereand are many stations, and sphere.

Whythat clean toilets, we felt, when — called character in the centre is toothat much forthemselves?” me. He tears off a page — are rathersenior leaky characters… not enough officers,” canan... get it toilets clean part of the day cleaning it can last till next year.”

“Isn’t and that Rangamama Fiction a railway station. I stand ₹499 Andsome be com- Ifrom and wipes himself.

So I am making never really interested sayscan themove GM, around.

“Naturally leaveTitbits his office reeling, my mind filled point this out to him. ₹1,000 a rather small me. sumSocial for aninter-rela- It depends. You Many are like with references toathose scenes.

And that becomes really Iinterested me. Living in pletely self-enclosed.

“The type of dirt I have to deal with is very tionship entire never platform?” ask. “If the shortlisting had Indians to be done: images of bright, new India, where, cansenior move officers about and yet their not see every partday, of the play of theofnovel. worldisinterested and opting clean,” he says. “We have a carefully defined thebroom attached me to their but- out of so- that. So you245 chose thousands trains will run I have learned a lot from all popmy mi- across the country, farting. inter-relationships — daydreaming, creat- anything. hometown procedure. First the garbage is inspected by cial tocks, and they run very fast, it stations; other ing fantasies — interested me. Magic is of serable experiences. I hate travelling. I hated Tell us about your encounters with Ulysses. interest to me. Not magic realism. But en- living in London. For one, what we think of the I first read it when I was 16, 17. I read A Portrait chantment. The 19th-century novel is a very globalised world is not true. There are so of the Artist as a Young Man, then Ulysses. I remember not taking to either book. Read it begrown-up form. It comes out of understand- many different stories of globalisation. cause I had to. Angst had made me an ing the aspirational nature of human beings. intellectual. Got absolutely nothing out of it So when I say I am not comfortable or not at Ananda expects to acclimatise to London, (laughs). As I was revising A Strange and Subhome in the 19th-century novel, I mean I am but quickly realises that ‘class was what lime Address, I was 25, I fell ill with jaundice not at home with such a grown-up under- formed you but didn’t move to other and I re-read Portrait. And read Anna Karenina cultures’. On the other hand, the uncle standing of the world. for the first time — the 19th century novel — thinks he is a ‘Black Englishman’. Can you If character at the centre is not what with great admiration. But I realised that temexpand on that?

The uncles the comes from background Portrait you,awould you his say,maternal the city –uncle. be it peramentally I amtocloser n news described as “wan more sacri- interests which was gift from death tollthe mounts on the of tizens.

We can’t bear watchtothe plightthan of a Anna need toquestion read Ulysses as a piece of small-town cosmopolitanism.

He is a deeply Karenina. or Calcutta or London – is your As a fice for common pipool” by Trinamool Bombay His sacrifice will never be forgotten. border, the Foreign Ministry has mother.

Plus You there is the of nationwriting on Dublin and forget allfamily the baggage. cosmopolitan andthe cultured but he is al prestige. mark muse? of respect, Didi will allow him to wear Given 75 per cent of the is Congress sources, a TMC leader has special assured nationperson, that swift dipinterests me. Writing placealis trying to lose everyaction part ofishimself.

He seems blown up his own house in order to The urban Hawaii chappals once about a week, lomatic imminent.

American, international relations too for youAstosoon writeasfunny? one way of though escaping novel of character. It is a “So to not want to identify withlimited where to he came Is it hard combat terrorism. “For several not in public.” far, the damage has been are a factor. we sort it out, humour is be connected joy.agenThe word way to go out into the from closed from. For variousexplained reasons of aregret and anger. For me weeks he was sheltering terrorThestreet, case isaway currently being some villagers,” spokesPakistan will on top oftoour means ending onfishermen.” a joyous note, not rooms, either of investigated the mind or aby physical closed person.

He wants to escape being Wants to es- comedia ists,” said a source, “lulling the National “We will start theBengali. diplomatic da, followed

by Tamil are lots ofIndo-Pak jokes inrelations it. One thing room. And if you are not going out the on the cape family.

At the same time, he loves Investigation Agency, In- process In the interim, them into a false sense of sebefore matter becomes se- his fam- that there from by Sanskrit street — open atelligence window, soBureau, at least the you Special are dis- rious. ily. Loves Bengaliness.we Heare wants to have both Ananda will learns be handled Arnabliterature Goswami.is that curity. But his objective was alUnfortunately, doesseems not need to be the end tracted by what is happening To not preoccupied these things — and Bengaliness — on his tragedy“He ways different. Sometimes he Task Force, the outside.

Anti-Terrorism byfamily the Khobrato have come backof all things. Thefrom end can For writers like me, be completely attentive to the what is happening own case. terms.

If he can’t, he will disavow them. would leave drums of kerosene Squad, and Criminal Inves- gade Even after deprivthebe USjoy. a much kinder, something outside, it isForhere. before you. To tigation be slightly inattentive.ofThereway, Ananda wants to have heaven is notgentler near the bombs. Other times Department the ingInUSanother diplomats of whisky, person,” said the fore slightly decentred.

To not be a complete the things completely own he offered them cigarettes.

West Bengal Police. matter has not his been re- way. If he can’t, he eign Ministry spokesperis your muse. You character, so that there are to parts leak- solved. wouldn’t engageshe with them. Maybe, he feels Clearly the everyday Whole intention was to cause “We tried get of theyou Railway Although is free, son, “His complexion hasonce quoted Philip Larkin: “Deprivation to me is ing somewhere else.

Andinvolved, I explore that this she he owns this explosion, which has Police but inthey faces literary arrest ifhistory. she returns also improved.

As a result, what daffodils tohoping Wordsworth”.

What novel as well. were busy sweeping plat- to These very blown up the two jihadis, all the US.are This is strange causingpeople. her weare are he will not are your daffodils?

One of the things aboutexplained sound thataalways the evidence, and an exquisitely forms,” TMC mental anguish, as her husdeclare war on Pakistan in Which takes me toare theUS next, My daffodils are the ramshackle within a city. interests me — as spokesperson. a writer and a musician — is band carved teakwood marriage bed, and children ci- if slightly unfair the next two-three weeks.” the way the invisible touches you. What you question: are they true to life?

A lot t@shovonc of my writing tries to undo this dichoto- NANDINI NAIR are listening to, isAll what youare cannot see. Really That ispersonal The Investigator is a fortnightly round-up of all things droll and newsy. views personal.

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TMC LEADER SACRIFICES HOME TO FIGHT TERROR!

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ARNAB TO HANDLE PAKISTAN, SAYS FOREIGN MINISTRY!

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saturday, october 11, 11, 2014 saturday, october 2014

Home and away In sea-kissed Ireland, the protagonist finds a love for life

LIGHTHOUSE

The shame game

ap/helen o’neill

Do I become a slut if I sell my physical labour? If I work as a construction worker or a massage therapist? Why do we stigmatise sex?

O

ne of the finest look at other ways of earning graphic novels I’ve money. She was arrested during read recently is Paya raid at a five-star hotel in Hydeing for It, a ‘comic rabad, where she was, we are sastrip memoir about being a john’ laciously informed, ‘caught in

by Canadian writer Chester the act’. She was later sent to a Brown. In 1996, Brown’s girlfgovernment rehabilitation riend informed him that she had home for ‘rescued’ women. (She fallen in love with someone else. had no say in this.) And of course, Brown took it well, and they even she was named and shamed in continued living together for a the media. while, till eventually Brown Some of the people who spoke moved on. But he saw no sense in out in her defence were outraged seeking conventional relationthat she was put in the spotlight ships that involved ‘possessive and humiliated, and not the monogamy’, and instead started businessmen on the other side of seeing prostitutes. Paying for It is the transaction. But why should an account of more than a deceven they be named and ade spent eschewing romantic shamed? Both Prasad and the love and instead satisfying his businessmen were doing nothsexual needs with a series of paid ing wrong — there was clearly no encounters. coercion involved, just consentBrown treats his encounters in ing adults getting together. Nor a matter-of-fact way, right down did the pimp do anything wrong to his chapter titles — ‘Carla’, in bringing them together. The ‘Anne’, ‘Angelina’, ‘Back to Anne’, people who should be ashamed ‘Edith’, etc. There are no seedy, are the police, who spend time cheap thrills to be had here, and and effort busting victimless o Country is inmany narratives in probable that you, against your better sense er universes Paying for It is more about the Ray instead creates are coiled crimes of tightly focusing on and A literary parallel to the Yeat- and judgement, begin to believe it’s true. And well wrought ternal workings one. of Brown’s mind — be itthey thefail rural Irish setting, other duties to perform. sian gyre of history through these years than any- and transcend- this is where Ray succeeds. In forcing his read- Naxal Calcutta, Anglo-Indian milieu in the And it’sthe obvious why. Why do you ence.

A narrative thing that actually happens.

He held together as ers to willingly suspend disbelief, to submit to city, the think migrants from happened Bangladesh, the raids in pastoral the much fragments ofor‘Sailing to Byzanti- his alternative universe, where death and des- Canada first doesn’t try by to the sentimentalise or the working-class catchments of place and the businessmen — from the which it also borrows its title — as tiny collide ad nauseam, compelling his char- New York. even um’ glamorise lives of the So much so, that at times, as a readweren’t named? it ishe bysleeps a sprawling filigree women with, and thereof human tragedy. acters to watch and report from the frontlines, er you resent away from one only Thebeing policetorn across the country spansbackstory five generations, three conti- all in first person. isn’t One muchthat of their in to be propelled into engaged another.in Two-thirds act like a mafia extornents and 551 pages. the book.

From the Irish famine and political upheav- throughtion the novel, however, thecriminalstory begins of those unfairly Grappling the your inexplicability of the al in the mid-19th century to the fire at New to loosenised The book would with be worth its grip, in the wrong places. by sagging our antiquated penal No Country: it gets murders of analone.

Indian time twin for the appendices In academic and his York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911, the And thissystem, is the fatal flawasof homosexuals, such carried away by its own ambition.

Like a ball of doctor wife in New York City on the very first a series of clear, nuanced arguments, Brown rejection of Anglo-Indians inbest Calcutta makecolonial that choice.

If someone deems it the prostitutes and their customers, gamblers wool too far before gathered page, why author Kalyan Ray barely lays down prostitution should be allows decri- the to open the Jallianwala Bagh theAlnarraoption to them, who aremassacre, we to judge? and so on.unspooled They are the ones whoit’s should be up againwho to knit a symmetrical end. readerHe toiscome up for air. pages later, he minalised. a libertarian (asFive am I), and the tiveisconstantly local worldso, why it frownedrams uponinto if you sell and sexual shamed, should not be able to look at The one that defines novel and cutsofacross to Ireland is 150simple years ago, basicrudely premise that argument shaping events but andnot changes a services for money, if youdirection sell otherlike themselves in motif the mirror, whosethe families gives it direction by throughout is poor journeys. challenging the written worddo towith walkone apace as enough: what consenting adults toyof car.

The borders of ‘public’ partsmotion-sensing of yourself? One my marketable as- should be embarrassed them. And yet, Planned or unplanned, and alhe weaves his epic tale inbut a changed register, another is no one’s business their own, as in andexample, ‘private’ arewriting constantly sets, for is my ability, and I’ve Prasad is treated like a criminal and humiliattheyhere, are undertaken sea-kissed County Sligo, where long bucolic, as they do not infringe on anyone else’s the freetowill (fiction) sold breached; my services dozens of reinpublications ed in this manner.ways She isfateful, the victim not of to working arrive at with, new destinations Padraig Aherne, is caught rightsmain whileprotagonist, doing so. When a john sees a prosby (Indeed, history at (non-fiction). over ed the in years. the moment I write the clients she was but of the in search that ever-elusiverebeast: embrace of thean love of his life.

“A clantitute,initthe is fundamentally economic transBut of many such episodes, columns forthe both The Hindu Busipolice, and of our hypocritical, closure.

Butsociety. of all the closures, it destine that — as thethe sleeve of the action, with affair” one party paying other forbook none is perhaps so poetic or poiness Line and The Economic Times.)

Indian And this is the fatalpressed is the one of— Brown’s coloured by suggests — “sets in motion series of unforeservices rendered.

That’s it. Therea is no moral quietly Am Ignant a slut — then?

Do cinematic I become ain its flaw of No Country: it The last final chapter that‘Back bears traces of seeable, events”, which lead Padradimension toirrevocable it.

— physical as the one where slut ifsweep I sell my labour?

If Mr is titled to the Monogagets carried away bybookblood trafficking families and histories, unknown ig can to his futureespecially in Bengalin and his (yet) unborn One argue, a third-world O’Flaherty, Padraig and his best Human I work as a construction worker my’.

But unlike what that might its own ambition in their entirety eventhe toer-those daughter Maeve to NorthareAmerica, putting context, that many prostitutes forced into friend Brendan’s or a massage therapist? teacher, Why do sitsthrives not because indicate, he doesn’t realise whose handsand are tainted by them many seas and fathoms between that line of work, andmany that there is always coer-them. dead on asex? chair, a copy of Cicero prostitution exists, we stigmatise ror of his ways go off and but because it’s illegal find a—conventional that comes closest to theInpromBut by theThis endisofexactly the book, buffeted by You cion involved. whyrudely prostitution oncould his lap, floating on last an iceblook at that girlfriend. isehe offinds a resolution. thebe winds fate, the descendants of the once should legal.ofWhenever the State outlaws erg, until the ‘receding’ Atlantic question as either a rhetorical stead, his comfort zone Despite theone obvious of he thehas author lovelorn boy such and his benefactors in victimless crimes, as prostitution, theIndia un- and withdraws him from life. question or as an anthropologiwith of thetalent women ability tosex imbue and settings, Bangladesh findresultant themselves on a common derworld fills the vacuum, and cal one.Ray some of the Butsketches here’s my point: if characters, espe- and his had paid with,words and decides to ‘foreign’, with certain “terra incognita, its geography things get shady.

Human trafficking thrives yet cially in the beginning, in great detail, while no matter we look down upon sex workers be how monogamous with aher, whileluminance, it’s hard not to arrangement. compare Ray’sThis prose to unexplored”. not because prostitution exists, but because it for the dismissing other equally important ones unkind of work they do, then that reflects continuing their financial that of others who before over it is only in the is illegalFirst andread we’ve leftaitweekend, to the mafia.

(Ditto to keep his fragile, often badlyceremoniously on us, not on them.

People who use the conmight seem unusual(in to plural) you, but on went reading thatbetting the breathhim. you’ll Severalsee scenes are so vividly illustrated second reading of No Country match-fixing in the context of sports narrative fromare collapsing termstrived, ‘whore’ or ‘slut’ structure as pejoratives de- the book, why it makes perfect sense in lessness firstand is transparent, replaced by atrafheightfact, they arestumble bound through to remind of resoin India.)

If it of wasthe legal entirely.

And while the rootless, absent or wanmeaning themselves. for Brown.

We all life,one trying ened of details.

It is another kind of That nance on paper on us celluloid.

But to judge ficking andawareness coercion would be vastly reduced, dering men Padraig or his granddaughter brings melike to the sad, sad story of Shwe- to understand what and makes happy, making joy, working backwards ondo a happen. puzzle, decona novel sonegotiating compelling with — despite its failings — and easier to counter when they Bibi’s Italian boyfriend, Frankie, a foil in ta Basu Prasad, who was caught a fewfind weeks compromises, our destinies. structing the who larger picture, pausing at every as a product of imitation impressions There are those hold that prostitution thea likes of dependable ago in ‘prostitution racket’.Brendan Prasad and is anMr ac-O’FlaWhatever works, works.

There isand no right or turn of involves phrase, every image, to admire would be grossly unfair. Both to the author necessarily implicit coercion, be- the herty, the women,award-winning including Padraig’s ma, the complished national actress, wrong in this.

Andchoose such aitdeep engagecausepieces whichindividually. woman would willingMaire, Bibi, are almost always an- and to prospective readers. For what work is who feisty has also madeand a documentary on Indian t@amitvarma ment with the same text within a week is only ly? This is plain disrespectful to women who chored in and person or spirit to the ideals classical music, decided, at some point, to of truly original anyway? afforded by a story of this scale. An operatic, home and hearth. over-the-top drama that is so brazen, so imIn isolation, the skeins of each of the small- soity banerjee

Death and destiny collide An over-the-top drama where readers willingly submit to an alternative universe

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No Country Kalyan Ray Bloomsbury India Fiction ₹599

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Amit Varma is a novelist. He blogs at indiauncut.com

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saturday, october 11, 11, 2014 saturday, october 2014

Two flight paths diverged…

Naresh Goyal and Vijay Mallya have proved a study in contrast as they pilot their respective airlines through the many air pockets in India’s newly liberalised skies general sales agent for a number of airlines, airline launched operations, Kuwait Airways starting with Lebanese International Airlines and Gulf Air had a stake in it. This was a time way back in 1967. Far from Mallya’s trademark when few cities landed international flights. flamboyant style, Goyal preferred to remain in So, many of the passengers flying to Mumbai the background, dealing instead with the nuts from the Gulf on Kuwait Airways or Gulf Air and bolts of the airline business. would automatically board a Jet Airways flight On the other hand, you had Mallya jet-set- to their final destinations within the country, ting on his private plane from one city to an- assuring steady business for the newly other, giving half-hour TV interviews launched airline. interspersed with sumptuous lunches, as he More success came Goyal’s way when Jet airattempted to propel his baby airline into the craft were chartered on two instances, first for big league. He moved around with a security the visiting Japanese PM and again for the posse drawn from the elite group that pro- media team accompanying the then US Presitects VVIPs, such as the prime minister. dent Bill Clinton to visit the Taj Mahal at Agra.

From the start, the low-key Goyal steered Delhi was agog with rumours that just ahead clear of the media and instead focused on rub- of Clinton’s India visit, Goyal had organised bing shoulders with the who’s who of the several luncheon meetings with the US Amglobal aviation business. He has, in fact, not bassador at the time. missed a single annual meeting of InternaGoyal often voiced his dream of making Jet tional Air Transport Association (IATA) since as good as Singapore Airlines, and soon he was the late ’70s. Thanks to years of painstaking well on his way to doing just that. networking, he is now on first-name basis A number of things worked to his advanwith chairmen of most global airlines. He tage. First off, he hired Saroj Datta, an Air India once spent hours with a visiting global airline veteran of 24 years with stints in other airlines head, ferreting out information on various too. And PK Sinha, another old Air India hand, aircraft, just ahead of acquiring the smaller was roped in to head Jet Airways’ internation80-seaters to connect Tier II and III cities. al operations.

Mallya’s style was to summon Mallya too had professionals, global aircraft makers to his including ace Indian Airlines pihome for a meeting before delot Captain Ron Nayar and foring a city. compared Assam’s beautiful ingly throughmer ciding on aBut purchase.

Thetorepreand place back onCEO shelf’. Sanjay I’ve alSpiceJet Far from Mallya’s desolation, wasmanufacturer quite the bustling urban ways loved visiting sentative ofitone Foyles 2 lakh titles at Aggarwal, in (over his team, but Kingflamboyant style, hub. a few cinemas, a crowded Tibetan their new location), flew It inhad from across the globe, but recently fisher employees point studying out that Goyal preferred to market, Chinese restaurants, and some good near Russell Square only to be kept waiting for close meanthad discovering smallall decisions to be cleared by remain in the bookshops.

Ratna’s Mascot,him. in particular, on er, more specialist to 14 hours before meeting placesGoyal, in Bloomsbury.

The him, unlike who normally background theDespite main launching road in Police Bazaar, a one-room shadowy depths in different of Scoob Books, with to itstake totallowed his team leaders space that a nine-year-old decades, forto some time both theseemed caver- tering second-hand bargain piles in their own decisions and(Venus stepped nous. the display windows were dusty cof- Furs for 50p),inand airlineAtowners seemed to be student staff. The onlyfriendly if required. fee tableinbooks on direction. the Indian Air Force, one and only Gay’s moving the same The Word,in allegedly the The differences their workencyclopaedias, and when worldthe atlases, the country’s Jet came up at a time winds but of liber(and decisive last surviving) litering stylesfirst proved when queer the tough good stuffwere was sweeping at the back.

We spent hours alisation through India.

The ature Or the elegant London Review times stockist. arrived. The looming threat of a conflict here, my sister and I, significantly bulking up Bookshop, government had opened up the skies to priwhere are guaranteed neverup. to in West Asia saw you global oil prices shoot our Blyton collection with each visit, buyvateEnid airlines and many wanted to partake of find a seatStates in thelevying café, but will enamoured And with sales taxberanging from ing giftsand for what each oththisbirthdays high profile, they also thought 4 per cent toby the30 poetry collection.

An entire over per cent, operating costs er, ourselves.profitable Later, I’d visit wasand a potentially business. wall-length of verse from proved backbreaking forshelf the airline business with saved took pocket-money to when liberali- in India.

Kingfisher off at a time around the world. pick upwas onealready Agathahere Christie at and a the domessation to stay Brighton by thelosses, sea, I’ve been Even as his At airline reported Mallya We leave time.

All that’s changed of the confident tic airline sector had grown of behind loyalacquired to City Books, conveniently went ahead and Air Deccan from unplace name — now chartakingisonthe even international routes. bookshops like placed the road, der old a mountain of down debt. Many seearound this as the loves, laden with the ofcorner. mingly Ka Ibadasuk airline, King- beginning From acalled single-configuration And is everything an inthe end foritMallya.

Books Shillong fisher Agency. quickly Since converted intois twinknowledge class — of their — Goyal, on dependent the other bookshop hand, wasshould bidingbehis familiarities andHe worked home of eternal leaving and re-This set Indian time.

Kingfisher First and economy. small, lovely, government packed with to quirky, get the Indian oddities turn, I always drop inthe if I pass by, of live televiaviation on fire with offering the airlines good and rare.stake Here,inI Indian found to allow foreign to buy glad it’s still amenity there, despite sion, takeaway pouches for all flyers carriers. Jet staffers my mostsay beloved of the year, Goyal book was always conmany alarming of signs the past on flights. and, delectable all, in hot meals Diriye Osman’s Fairytales for Lost vinced that this policy change was crucial to that it might shutpampered for good. with valet service, the industry’s First Class was Children.

A bunch beautifully ilsurvival, as ofIndian banks Perhaps having lived in north sleeperette seats that reclined 125 degrees, ad- baulked from lustrated Andrea Camilleri’s lending to the severely MonlossDelhi means I’ll always carryextendable a greater fondjustable headrests and fully foot- talbano Andairlines. more. Vintage postcards of making series. domestic ness Connaught Place more thanfeeds any other rests.for The latest audio and video were Brighton in the A localdid literary magaAnd when the 1950s. government change the spot in the Its white, splattered available oncity. demand.

The paan-spit brand soon notched zine called What the Dickens?

A lenticular policy in September 2012, after a gap print of 16 Dantian circles. between to the British up a snob value,Inwith manyvisits passengers insist- bookmark of a waving years, Jet Airways sold aorangutan. minority stake to the Council Library and Volga, our favourite stu- Abu ing on a ‘KF’ experience.

WeDhabi-based leave behind bookshops old crore. loves, Etihad for overlike ₹2,000 dent bar, loiter at The Bookworm.

Back inwe’d the Nineties, Jet Airways had Head simi- laden with the of their familiarThe airline hasknowledge since been going from upstairs toexpectations the theatreto section, and level. leaf ities larly raised a whole new and oddities.

All their secret corners and strength to strength, despite running losses through Stoppard plays, which we hidden The brandTom new aircraft, three-course in-flight treasures.

Sometimes, weend return, and huge debts (₹9,800 crore at June and this couldn’t afford. jazz, and always jazz, playing meals served byWith smiling smartly attired find no longer there, theyhand, used year).they’re Kingfisher Airlines, onwhere the other in the background. it shut in 2008, young airhostessesWhen and multiple flightsI reto to they’ve changed or moved or adisaphasbe. itsThat wings broken and buried under debt member travelling there, changed like many others, peared destinations had forever domestic mysteriously. of ₹9,000 crore, which includes ₹6,500 crore not forfor the heart-breaking travel the Indian flyer. ‘all books at 70 per owed Thisto is aamemory trail. Prompted by leaving. consortium of banks and about cent discount’, to sayatfarewell.

People who but worked the airline during By moving from place to place. ₹1,500 crore of unsecured loans and pending Living in London, where people joke that salaries, paying dearly for the ‘good times’. these initial years remember Goyal as a stickyou pay breathe, meant book-shopping ler for thetotiniest details.

Many also point to janice pariat’s novel Seahorse will be published in t@janicepariat ashwini phadnis more often than not translated intoWhen ‘leaf longthe shrewd businessman in him. the November shutterstock/everett collection

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hey are contrasting personalities, to say the least. And this was all the more apparent over the past few weeks. Promoter of Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya has just got temporary relief from embarrassment by securing a stay from the Calcutta High Court on the United Bank of India’s decision to declare the airline and its directors as wilful defaulters for not repaying dues amounting to ₹7,000 crore (the next date of hearing is November 10). Jet Airways owner Naresh Goyal, on the other hand, has been in the news for all the right reasons.

Goyal recently announced that Jet Airways would not only bring its low-cost airline Jet Konnect under the Jet brand, but also restructure to be back in the black by 2017. And James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad Airways, which has a 24 per cent stake in Jet, is confident that Jet’s India operations will soon pose PAPERWALLAH a formidable threat to other low-cost carriers.

The contrast between the two Indian honchos goes back to the very genesis of their respective airlines. Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2007 as a birthday gift when his son and UB Group heir Sidhartha turned 20. He saw the move as an extension of his hugely successful run in the liquor business.

In hindsight, many accuse Mallya of needless haste, first in setting up the airline, and his is aout memory trail. Prompted by again in buying the loss-making low-cost carrier Airleaving.

Deccan. By moving from place to place,setcity to Airways city, across countries When Goyal up Jet in May 1993, it was at theand endcontinents. of long years of struggle as a And at the edge of that journey — a new beginning, an old end — always the questions: how do the places you’ve lived in mark you?

How do you mark them?

We accomplish this variously. Languish at our favourite cafés. Roam city streets filled with strange exhilarated melancholy. Linger at our choicest restaurants. Take night drives, long and aimless, capturing movie-still memories of lamp-lit roads and illuminated windows. Unless, of course, you happen to be one who prefers to never/hardly leave. But if you are a bit of a rover, restless and rootless, what do you leave in your wake? How do you map your journey? For Ila, in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, the world she inhabits is reduced to a series of airports —‘Oh yes, Cairo, the ladies is way on the other side of the departure lounge.’

As I pack my life into boxes, again, I find myself thinking of my own markers. I was a semiurban child, growing up between Shillong and various tea estates in Assam. My father was transferred every few years from one to the next (possibly fuelling my own adult wanderlust), and my ‘fixed points’ were the planters’ club libraries. Dusty rooms filled with the oddest collections of books, curated not so much by design but mostly by whoever happened to retire and donate. At Thakurbari, ensconced on tall, throne-like chairs (allegedly from a Freemason society), I discovered Asterix and Anne of Green Gables. (Fewer memories of North Lakhimpur as our terrifically isolated tea estate was two hours away from anywhere.) At Margherita, brightly lit and more orderly, I picked up, with the indiscrimination of youth, Ben Okri and Danielle Steel.

In the 1990s, Shillong had no claims of be-

Marked by places

Mapping one’s journey of arrival and departures through bookshops and libraries

The way we were Rival airline owners Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal share a moment of bonhomie at the Kingfisher House in Mumbai in this file picture shashi ashiwal

janice pariat

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Capital gain Jayaram Banan, founder and promoter of Sagar Ratna kamal narang

night.” He soon had his next big opportunity: to take over the Woodlands Restaurant at Lodhi Hotel. He bagged the tender, beating 34 other applicants. As this was a star property, he decided to name the venture ‘Sagar Ratna’.

“That name has stayed on,” says the restaurateur, who opened 102 outlets in all.

A giant leap

It may be Ireland’s third largest city, but Limerick is no Dublin; hardly anyone has heard of it.

Spreading aroma Banan relied on two models for expansion: Yet, this year, it’s getting all the attention it deserves revenue sharing and franchisee. All the while he kept a tight grip on quality. The taste and quality of food are consistent across his outlets. “All the main cooks in any Sagar Ratna restaurant are trained at the Defence Colony outlet for a minimum of six months,” he says.

As location is key, he inspects the property and surrounding areas before opening an outlet.

“We need [clientele from] offices nearby for afternoon business and local residences in the evening. Ample parking space is also a must.”

Even as Sagar Ratna thrived, Banan sensed the Capital was craving for something more — coastal food. “While non-vegetarian restaurants were in plenty, those offering speciality food were just a handful. I hail from coastal Karnataka and have first-hand knowledge of seafood, which again was beyond the reach of Delhi’s middle-class. And so, Swagath was born in 2001,” he says.

The Swagath chain with 17 outlets serves t’s not often that you get to see a city as Mughlai, Chinese and coastal cuisines from it’s changing: evolving, almost physicalthe Mangalore, Chettinad and Malabar rely, out of its drab past into, what it hopes, gions. “The focus has been equally split beGet there is a brighter future. It may be Ireland’s tween the veg and non-veg segments. But Shannoncosts Airport is the third largest city, but Limerick is no Dublin; setting up a veg restaurant about a third (30 minutes), reshardly anyone has heard of it in India, and touof what it takes for aclosest non-veg multi-cuisine though you can easily rism is limited. And in parts of the world taurant. That, in turn, determines the direcdrive to Limerick where it’s known, it’s usually known for all the tion and focus for expansion,” he says.from Dublin as well (2 hours). wrong reasons. It wouldn’t be an injustice to say that until recently Limerick deserved its Bittersweet moment Stay rather dire nickname, Stab City. No one went That focus convinced the New York-based 1 Pery Square is a lovely,Inthere for a weekend. Not many still do. Not yet. dia Equity Partners (IEP) to pump in set ₹180 small boutique hotel But this is Limerick’s year to climb back on the crore for a majority stake in Sagar Ratna in in a Georgian building tourism map.

2011. The idea was to extend the chain from the (from €100; Two years ago, it was declared that Limerick NCR to the whole of India and take the restauoneperysquare.com). The would be Ireland’s City of Culture in 2014, a rant count to 200 in three to four years. IEP moredirector modernGaurav ClarionMathchance to finally shrug off its murky past. Sevfounder and managing Hotel is located by the eral arty events and theatre productions were ur joined the chain as a non-executive direcplanned for the year, the largest of which tor. After he left IEP,river the (from private€80; equity firm’s would be held in the first week of September, principal Abhishekclarionhotellimerick.com).

Sharman handled its reswhen the French theatre group Royal de Luxe taurant portfolio. Eat would bring their theatre and a ‘giant grandHowever, it was aAmatter time great of area tobefore scour relafor mother’ to the city’s streets. The Giant’s Jourtions soured between IEP and Banan.

But he meals is Georges Quay. hatadoes a 13-year-old after tal with a chain of South Indian vegetarian res- regrets nothing. “Every decision taken had solney would involve granny trampingdo around Tip spends September his school5fee town as a touristhebetween andon 7, taurants since 1986. id justifications and reasoning behind it,” he cab fun and Getby tied the exploring historical sites,frolic? walking thetoriver Mangalore’s famous vegetarian Udupi cui- insists. He has filed Don’t an FIRbother againsthiring the IEPa manin Limerick; you “cheating, can treeinin the cour- sine was not unknown in Delhi, but the choic- agement at Sagar Ratna, and discoveringtamarind things to love Limerick. alleging easilyofwalk everywhere tyard be too, caned by his strict need father? run es were limited. “There were not many eateries fabrication and forgery I didtothat except, I didn’t 20 Or people documents”.

He alaway tome thewalk city and of dreams?

Jayaram to help I didn’t block the Banan, traffic. offering South Indian specialities for the mid- so resigned as the chairman but retains 22.7 the boy from Karkala inover Mangalore, To be fair, Granny was 20ft tallchose and the un- dle class at affordable recalls. compact city, roughly prices,” divided Banan into old and ve- per plays at equity. a brisk pace till I came to the shop. cent latter came to aBombay (now Mumsteadywhen on herhe feet.

It was grand spectacle and ry With hislovely savings of ₹5,000 old; its Georgian architecture made Here I spent much longer! bai) in 1967 to escape thedesign beating. a marvel of mechanical as several ‘Lilli- and a loan from familyriver. and On King’s Isprettier by the Shannon Over the next two days, Taste the newI explored the city’s He wasdressed found crying a cityfrom bus by a man putians’ in red in swung ropes to friends, set up hiswhich first outlet land, thehe older side, you can reach in 10 arty side. Limerick of Arttakes is a smallish Even asGallery the dispute its own who took various him to the canteen Hindustan Or- — operate parts of of her, while she Sagar —from in Delhi’s Defence minutes the high streetColby walking over space where course, you canBanan find temporary and his sonexhibiare exganic Chemicals in Panvel, stomped through(HOC) the city with Navi Mum- ony, paying aa bridge, weeklystands rent of the marvellous tions of modern art; Crafts Hub is where you panding to other businesses.

His There were not many bai, to wash utensils forfondly a living. her size 70 feet, gazing atAfter barely a ₹3,250. The first day’s salesSt atMary’s the Cathedral; 12th-century can buy localJRB handmade products, soaps (the initials of from his name) eateries offering week, the harsh washing powder all who had gathered to see her affected the 40-seater restaurant was ₹408. in Limerick the oldest structure and notebooks to clothes.

But the clear winner group owns star-category hotels, South Indian child’s hands he was asked — and by thatand I mean, close to to serve the Word spread,that but not before is still usedBa-daily. specialities You can isfor Hunt Museum: with original works of Picasbanquet facilities, budget hotels, the I’d for eatthe my sunglasses staff tea instead. wasthat howthe he lived one lakh people.This Given nan had booked losses. spend an hour or so in the quiet so, Renoir and Yeats inatitsindustrial eclectic collection, canteens establishmiddle class if there next six years theisnow young man start-were not population of until the city one lakh “Theatinitialofdays toughadmiring its the bungalow thewere church, that houses thismanufacturing private collecments, a snacks least 80,000 people ed drinking country after work, forcing but my credibility — give or take a few liquor lazy people and respindlywas, Gothic windows and tion of art and curios should a bigRatnagiri draw by company underbethe out on the mains, streetsvery high his inform his family andboss a fewtoeager tourists — I’dback eat home. market. Romanesque itself. I was atbrand, morein the elaborate Hunt Museum whencalled Granny left and a bakery Raro.

1973, Banan moved to Delhi, myInsunglasses if there were not where his Commitments were always met doorways, photographing the town. Children “Ratnagiri waved madly at her as exitproducts areshe manubrother worked at out an on Udupi at least 80,000 people the restaurant. on time. Mystained family glass... and friends supported A graveyard out- factured ed Limerick her in bed.

For three days the at aon plant Noida and we areall planAround timetheir the Government streets this with children, was setting me,” he says. side is protected by shadowy ning city had talked about was Granny and now she to set up another factory soon,” he says. up Central Electronics in nearby Ghaziacheering Granny along.Ltd Though Down the years, has here, hosted the Gandtrees, Sagar and from I could hear “One was gone, leaving Limerick with happy memohas to constantly adapt and evolve with bad.

The personnel manager, formerly you could get maps of the giant’s routes,with you hi family, clan and many other famous cheery popBirla music telling me that Granny was the rieschanging and the prospect of of more demands the visitors. market.”

HOC, Banan—and thought of him personalities. didn’tremembered really need them music and crowds list of 400 was not13thunat my heels. SoAI waiting beat a hasty retreat to the By the third a great fondNaturally, thatday, seesI developed Banan testing the readyfor the canteenher at wherever the new company. accompanied she went, and you common andJohn’s BananCastle, remembers losing century King wherenearly expecting to to-eat ness for Limerick.

Itsveg shady had But keptunit segment, both and past non-veg. knew she was coming by the sheer number of his calling out to people had til findvoice an imposing castle (you whose can seeturn its rear from theheat-and-eat traveller’s path and, locals, those packs hitlike the the shelves, hisI Fresh theaSouth peoplefrom lining street. come. salesfrom exceed lakh and the loyal spreadToday, alongdaily the river the₹3bridge), I was hoped that the had finally taken a giant patrons willcity continue to wait in line for a “I bagged to set thefootsteps CEL can- eatery Instead the of contract following in up her can seat more thanto 225find at a an time. somewhat disappointed audio-vi- table step into the limelight. at Sagar Ratna. teen in 1974 and there wasmuch no looking though, I went everywhere beforeback,” Gran- sual-heavy, Back then, Banan’smuseum only priority wasI much to exhigh-tech of sorts. kalyanipratap prasher is a Delhi-based freelance writer says the Mangalorean. has wooed the Capiny arrived, to avoid theHecrowds.

Limerick is a pand “I worked fromthrough 7am until preferbusiness. to see ruins, so I walked themiddis- rashmi

I

Connections old and new King John’s Castle by the Shannon river shutterstock/patryk kosmider; and (right) Granny comes to town kalyani prasher

Travel Log

Ocean’s 102

When he ran away from home, little did the Mangalorean teen imagine he would conquer Delhi by recreating the very flavours he left behind at home

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know takeaway

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shootsoffrom AFresh question parentage a pair of filmmakers

sukumar muralidharan

Ironically, all the Islamic State benefactors come from the ranks of the sub-brokers of US power in the region Family tree Rickshawalla Manish took the filmmakers Two men criss-cross the country, planting saplings and to his village near Agra to plant saplings; (below) nce before has the world seen a mi- quences, indeed may be the common thread fashioning thehome 2003 invasion of Iraq on conAngami Nagas gather at a traditional the emerge out of the fog andtheir con- documentary running through the Project various US interventions grounds, the aftermath hasfeast beenduring a perireturnlitiawith footage for 35 Trees cocted Hornbill festival at Kisama village in Kohima, Nagaland

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fusion of sectarian civil war, take abroad in the so-called “global war on terror”. od ritu of raj growing strategic worries. When the konwar on and literally rout ‘better-orga- A subsidiary motif surely would be the contin- turmoil in Iraq subsided in a relative sense, it nised’ forces. The swift Taliban takeover of Af- uing evasion by the authors of the chaos of the was only at the cost of a vast accretion to Iran’s ghanistan in 1996, though, was a distant worst consequences of their actions. strategic influence within the country. Insecuheearly traininhad barely chugged into a After prolonged uncertainty, President Ba- rities among the Arab oil kingdoms — all of memory when June a militia of uncerstation before passengers tain parentage emerged to impatient overrun Iraq’s sec- rack Obama on September 11, a day rich in sym- them vital allies of the US — were compoundclamoured board.

The hurrying ond largest city of Mosul.on Within weeks, it had bolism, formally announced that it would be ed at the prospect of Iraq being taken permato a halt the sight taken over agroups third came of Iraq’s areaatand pro- of the US intent to dismantle the IS. nently out of the Arab orbit and a pickaxe leaning against a window of theThe ‘Islamic Caliphate’ had been claimed an Islamic Caliphate. becoming, alongside Syria and compartment.

Their gaze quickly shifted The ultimate territorial ambitions of the toin existence well over two Iran, a bastion of resistance. The theremained two unlikely owners of the farm equipgroup unclear.

In some renditions it months, during which time the uprising in Syria of 2011, which “When your enemies the oil kingdoms have since ea— 24-year-old Anthony Karba-US had dithered and dallied, unwasment called the Islamic filmmaker State of Iraq and Syria; are fighting each ri andthe hisIslamic friendState Hari Chakyar.

Lugging in others, of Iraq and the Le- sure about how it could extrigerly fuelled and fomented, was other, don’t around this farmer’s tool,ambition the duo of travelled vant, representing the wider tak- cate itself from a strategic a way of breaking up the emergstrengthen either…” and that breadth country (35quagmire that its closest allies ingthe overlength territories todayofliethe in Lebanon, ing new axis of resistance. statesPalestine and union territories), planting Jordan, and perhaps Israel.

As the sa-had fashioned.

Turkey soon joined the strateplings and aeducating the envi- In a speech at Harvard Univerterm became matter ofstudents politicalabout preference gic contest, recruiting to its as part of gained the ‘Project 35 trees’. andronment advantages to be through scare-Sidesity early this month, US Vice cause an unlikely ally in Iraq’s by side, their camera captured experiencePresident Joe Biden gave some suggestion of Kurds. As part of its bargain with the US in mongering, a compromise was thethe territorialfor a documentary, alsoIslamic called Project 35IS. Trees,the dimensions of the mess. “Our allies in the combating the IS, Turkey has insisted on a “noly non-specific appellation State, or that released this Friday, years Nomenclature seemed to exactly mattertwo little on af-region were our largest problem in Syria,” he fly zone” to prevent Syrian airpower being dethey first out on journey. part said, “What were they doing? They were so de- ployed against the common enemy. But its theter ground, as ISsetadded onthe a substantial Backterritory then, setting from Caliphate, Mumbai ontermined to take down (Syrian President Bash- own Kurdish population is now restive at Turof Syrian to its out putative what was meant to upon be a four-month journey, stamping its authority the disparate op- ar al-) Assad and essentially have a proxy key’s quiescence as IS forces close in on the SyrKarbari had been butSyria’s hopeful.

He andSunni-Shia war... They poured hundreds and ian Kurd town of Kobane. Those orchestrating position groups that clueless had fought Bashar Chakyar had to raised around ₹2 lakh frommillions of dollars and... thousands of tons of the chaos in the local theatre could soon start al-Assad regime a brutal stalemate over friends, colleagues, social networks three-and-a-half years relatives, of the so-called Arab weapons into anyone who would fight against feeling the heat. And it will not be long before and aExplicitly crowd-funding campaign on Wishberry.

Spring. committed to a brutal form Assad. Except that the people who were being the puppet-master himself suffers blowback. of Sunni Muslim confessionalism, the IS left a supplied (were)… the extremist elements of jiWhen India’s Prime Minister Narendra Moless travelled wal, staying in other gurudwaras trailRoad of atrocities against the Shia, the Kurd hadis his home,” says Karbari.

At for a small village coming from parts ofin theChandigarh, world.” di travelled through New York the UN Gen- on our budget was around ₹5 lakh, but The sampling caterpillar fries in and Kohima or eveneraltheAssembly, and“Initially, the Yazidi people in areas it conquered. outskirts they met Manish’s Turks were not impressed demanden route a Statefamily visit memto we managed two. We didn’t waste moneyed an grossly miscalculating the distance to NorthWashington Early in July, with Richard Dearlove, a former bers, who DC, promptly offered a fine spot apology, which was promptly proffered he made a special pointfor ofthe onof hotels and external flights, and tried to find peopleas the Andaman Island Karbari head Britain’s intelligence service saplings and promised to water them daily. price the US is—willing to has pay atofund keepof itssto-meeting with Netanyahu.

Little was revealed tosaid, host in us what and used public Thisofalsoalliance ries to share. heading to Diglipur MI6, must counttransport. as a marvel theyofwere afloat.

The“When US is now formally com- aboutAnd the when outcome the momentarily talks. And thestranded joint gave us a first-hand tastethings of local (300km from Port Blair), a college understatement that “such do cuisine not hap-andmitted in Dimapur, Nagaland,after without a host or hotel to dismantling the ISwhere without in anypro-statement that emerged Modi’s meeting says Karbari. haditself agreed to host us, we had to subchangewith penculture,” spontaneously”.

Indeed, the Taliban in Af- wayfessor (most were forHouse, the Hornbill aligning with the militia’s most Obama in booked the White did no Festival), more Off-roading for found, 16 hours at athe stretch in Aiz- stantial two adversaries ferries to on cross We and neverthan ghanistan was soon after military Chakyar came across an environmental thechannels. ground: Iran reiterate older nostrums about the magaurthoseindots in This the Bay of Bengal successes of 1996, to have been fathered by Pa- thethought zineofcalled Green at a café in the local al-Assadthat regime Syria. is also in gency dealing withCache terrorism.

Official spocould be with so farthe off,”script he says with a by laugh. kistani military intelligence, bankrolled by compliance market. “Weexplicitly called and the phone was answerauthored Is- Itkespersons disavowed any took themMinister about 12 hours to arrive, as the ATR possibility the oil sheikhs of Saudi Arabia and the United rael’s ed by Sentinaro Alley, who introduced herself Prime Benjamin Netanyahu, of India joining a US-led anti-terror (Andaman Trunk passes through densecoalition.

Arab Emirates, and blessed by the US. The IS who, as the publisher and promised to meet us at soon after theRoad) IS takeover of Mosul, But the deepening intimacy with Isforests andany rocky terrain.

“Night the ISIS rael has not gone though has several more claimants to parent- warned theunremarked. café in an hour. hapthat action to “counter And What sooner, travel of toIraq” Diglipur is prohibited hood and many more generous benefactors, takeover is called straight outtoof a shouldn’t have the outcome rather than later,pened India next will be upon as the ATR runstoclose to the Iraq pro- the way it requite its obligations all now floundering for a response that will of allowing dream. by Shecommitting heard abouttoour “Iran dominate theprotected area inhabited by theHe Ja-sagely add- US-Israeli strategic preserve their strategic investments. ject, made a few dominated Lebanon and Syria”. game-plan for calls West and, Asia. a few community.”

Crossing this each Ironically, all the IS benefactors come from ed, rawa hours later, we were in a cab to “When your enemies are fighting oth- our budget Initially, sukumar muralidharan a fellow at the Indian stretch requires either a localone permit the ranks of the sub-brokers of US power in er, don’t Kohima iswith the five pine sastrengthen of them.”was ₹5 lakh, but we of Advancedplings Study, Shimla andthe no US stops allowed the region. The law of unintended consethat she had sponsored.”

For andwere Israel, whichon colluded in Institute managed with two the way. “Our car moved in a Kohima was teeming with convoy with many others. Each tourists, locals and festival revelvehicle had a guard to prevent lers. Architect Richard Belho put commuters from interacting them up at one of his many bamwith the Jarawas,” he says. The Protection of boo houses in the city and invited them to the Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956, strictly Hornbill festival at Kisama, 12 km from Kohiprohibits contacting, photographing or inter- ma. “The heritage village is designed like an acting with the Jarawas. ancient Naga village… I have never seen so many colours in one place before.”

Friends with benefits Goodwill continued to pave the way for the Despite the arduous journey and the struggle two young men on a mission. Travelling from to make do with limited means, Karbari and Shoranur, near Palakkad, to Ernakulam in a Chakyar received ready help from locals every- second-class train compartment, they met a where who offered everything from sourcing man called Balan, who had planted more than saplings to tying up with hosts and schools. one lakh trees in Palakkad, Thrissur and WayaOn Diwali day, however, the duo found them- nad districts. “Hari talked about our project selves in a trying situation in Agra. Most and explained how it was funded by well-wishschools and other establishments were shut, ers. After he heard us out, he quietly fished out and they had nowhere to plant their saplings. a ₹100 note from his pocket and told us to get Dejected, they were listlessly checking online a proper meal,” recalls Karbari. Often kindness for some leads when help suddenly arrived and company are found in unexpected places. from a least expected quarter. “Manish, our rickshawalla, offered to plant the saplings at sayoni sinha is a Mumbai-based writer

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The short road to confessionalism A fleet of IS vehicles earlier this year in Iraq’s Anbar province ap via militant website

takeaway meet

saturday, october 11, 11, 2014 saturday, october 2014

Raw force

The cold-pressed juice trend trickles into India

Telangana’s champion K Chandrashekar Rao’s message is clear: if you are not with me, you are against the state

OThe coast is near MEAL TICKET

naintara handful of individuals 15 years ago, through maya oberoi several ups and downs before finally coming to power. It is this trait with which he singlehandedly built the ‘last phase’ of the statehood movement that led to the eventual formation of the 29th state of the Indian Union.

A great orator since his college days, he has the knack of turning the tables on opponents at the slightest of provocations. Known to be a voracious reader, he is also said to possess a photographic reeling out numbers But every day,memory, something distracted us. “Âne?” I said, stopping mid-chew, my with ease and using timely idioms and phrasMarseille’s food, especially its seafood, mouth full of what I now knew had once es to laughter. was aselicit varied as its population, and we been a blameless donkey. who holds a post-graduate degree inWe got back to Marseille just in time keptKCR, accidentally eating too much to conTelugu, once an fish ambition to be a lyritemplate such nursed a massive extravaganfor a palate-cleansing aperitif. Like any cist in Tollywood, the local film industry, za.

There were anchovy pizzas, panisse or says good Mediterranean spot worth its salt, Nandini Sidha Reddy, his flour batchmate discs of deep-fried chickpea (“besanin colMarseille has its anise-flavoured liqueur: No love lostmore Telangana Chief Minister lege. An early in politics, he has never pakoras!” saidentrant my friend delightedly), pastis, absinthe’s genteel cousin.K Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh lost an election 1985. Changing constitusoup à la pistou,since the French pesto, and We ordered Ricard and Pastis 51 at rancounterpart N Chandrababu Naidu pv sivakumar encies for every election — he currently holds fish with candied lemon peel. Among the dom from a bar menu, and waited. the assembly from Gajwel, winding streetsseat of Le Panier, thereMedak were — heI generally don’t like the taste of anise, has been to the Lok sautéed Sabha thrice. but that didn’t stop KCR fromhad sending more supions orelected baby cuttlefish, with A part and none of our recommendations of Chandrababu Naidu’s While the High lemon and garlic and basil,Telugu Desam Party, such messages. been very encouraging.

“Di- Court has he resigned 2001 when Naidu, his former questioned the government’s motives behind and in thein immigrant lute it with plenty of water” mentor, refusedoftoNoailles, give him a cabinet berth. A the cancellation of fee for stuneighbourhood and “Ask for ice”reimbursement don’t seem few months later, KCR founded the TRS and dents and vehicle owners harissa-tinged couscous. like forcing testaments to the taste to change Said to have evolved summoned his son Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama numberofplates (to reflect Telangana At the Sunday market at the tipple.

But these were or TS), the from the unsold dregs Rao (KTR) and daughter Kavitha back from the chief minister hassummery, made it known Aix-en-Provence, I spied a laherby and the lic- that there of day’s catch, US saying to galvanise theàmovement forthe a separate are no sops people from Seemandhra. bel Saucisse la Laoricefor taste clouded by the bouillabaisse state. In and fact, KTR, the IT and Panchayat Rajis nowSincewater. both We chief ministers took oath in vande, wandered lingered, ordera very expensive, very minister, has the most recognisable June, there been no love between the towards an become imperious ing has more pastis andlost peaface of in theastate government While KCRdishtwo. If KCR the best ofand the Telangana woman hat at a table now.protected nuts,reserves and potatoes, prefers high to sit with in for gnarly hours-long — sometimes idiom to criticise, even heckle heaped then cold white wine. Naidu, the Andeven day-long — review meetings at the Telan- hra Pradesh CM too lose an opportunisausages and cured meats.

Then we doesn’t remembered ganawant secretariat, son said, KTR represents him at ty to patronise hisour former colleague.

More “You to try?” she that it was last day in national and ofinternational conferences, thanand the we loststill cabinet berth, it was Naidu’s slicing off slivers the lavender and the Marseille, hadn’t encounlaunches and even inaugural meetings. staunch opposition that still irks myrtle sausages for me.

Surprisingly, nei- tered any bouillabaisse.

Soto westatehood sped down commentators have KCR. That itLetook 75 daysatafter assuming office, therPolitical tasted like potpourri; there was compared just the hill towards Miramar the mariand Mamata Banerjee, for the insistence of Governor ahim hinttoofJayalalithaa flower among the dominant na. Butand we were too late. It was 10pm, andESL Narsimhis iron-fisted control of the party and han, for them to meet — despite working out gristly pork. “Here, take another,” saidadminLe Miramar’s kitchen had closed.

The istration.

The opposition has often alleged a common capital — reveals the bitterness her daughter, seeing that I was intrigued. maîtreofd’s of the neighbouring restauthat is the state government is run solely by the in their relationship.

“This sanglier sauvage, a wild boar.” rants too, shook their heads. family KCR, struck KTR and The biggest challenge faces now is to re“Ooh,”—I said, by nephew the dark,Harish gameyRao. ADefeated, we skulked away,KCR envisionfew others have likened him to Thackeray store confidence of the flavour.

She beamed, and gave meBal anothing Subway in our future.

Butindustry Marseilleand to deal his tirade againstwith Seemandhra withto a serious power crisis.

Withdes Larsen & Touerfor knobbly slice, dotted splodges ofpeople, was kind the end.

At the Place who have back outBistrot of the metro prowhite fat. increasingly felt insecure.

Huiles,bro wethreatening found the to charming Disliked in the 13 districts of hundreds “What is this one?”

I said enthusiastides Dames, where ject there and was no bouilla- of firms residual his like its baisse, but instead,shifting to Andhra, he has cally, evenAndhra thoughPradesh I didn’tfor really a menubase replete with ‘hate speeches’, and admired in his work cutof out to deliver on his strong smell. the flavours of the sunny South France: Telangana for the same,herKCR promises. Even as fenthere is an ad“Âne,” she said, cleaning knife. courgette flowers, anchovies, olives, KCR must restore minces no words and has no mission of littlea progress in the nel, and lemons from Menton, few confidence the Thefirst room for diplomacy. While sup100 days, he says the prostowns of away. slow-cooked jarret industry and porters have emboldened, he is pectlacquered, of achhe din lies after Dus(shin) ofdeal beef came as our with awaitress power crisis quick to label his critics anti-Tefestivities. his called it, sehra in its own braising Yet, langana. When TV channel TV9 thata Pixarit is possible to juice, with fondantstatement potatoes and aired a satire on newly-elected anofincome of ₹1 crore per worthy ratatouilleearn tower paper-thin Telangana legislators, he hit out acre of farmland has struck a courgettes and olives.

Sardines were marat mediapersons, threatening to sour note.

At his 60-acre farminated in lemon zest, olive oil and marjo“bury the media 10km under the earth if it ram; in- the house in of Eravalli in in Medak filet lambvillage cooked basil,district, one sults Telangana”. The shrewd politician that most backward in the state, KCR has restingofonthe a bed of tomato marmalade. he is, KCR knows well that most of the Andhra“I’ll claimed a bumper yield bring you a dessert,” saidon thepotato wait- and capsimedia has political affiliations, controlled ress, by looking cum crops.

Civilspotless rights activists such as G Haraat our plates, and Seemandhra entrepreneurs and politicians. gopalback and out revolutionary Varavara Rao, she came with two: poet a peach Using local cable operator muscle, he has curwhoinhave struggle for four decpoached rosésupported wine andthe a strawberry tailed the airtime of such broadcast channels; ades, see theasigns of an intolerant cheesecake with single frozen litchiregime takTV9 and ABN Andhra Jyothi have been banned The We former was have placed under hiddening in roots. the centre. couldn’t for over three months now for their anti-Telanthe latter detained at a poasked house-arrest, for more fromand Marseille. gana stance. lice station for a day to stop them from holdWeeks before the Intensive Household Suring maya a meeting onisalternative It seems naintara oberoi a food writer politics. based vey was held in Telangana this August, specuKCR is sending a clear message — if you in Paris that t@naintaramaya Catch of the day A fish fair on the waterfront at Canebiere Marseille lationstreet wasinrife that shutterstock.com the survey was a thinly are not with me, you are not a well-wisher of veiled attempt at profiling people from See- the state of Telangana. mandhra. The controversial clauses were subsequently removed from the questionnaire kv kurmanath

n September 18, 140km from Hyderabad, Telangana’s first chief minister, Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao, was whipping the crowds gathered at Addakal village into a frenzy. Just three months after the creation of the new state, he was inaugurating a ₹200-crore glass factory and accepting farmers’ memorandums, while reminding them that he was responsible for the statehood. He declared he would end the migration of labour, promising ven the best-laid schemes of a much-needed for go theawry, district. miceturnaround and men often esPeople from neighbouring Karnatapecially if thestates mice like or men in ka would come to Telangana, not the other question are on holiday.

In Marwayseille round, told thefor village, whose thishesummer, instance, myworktwo force frequently and migrates menial labour. co-travellers I had for done our homeDrought-prone Mahabubnagar would inwork and, armed with our lists andturn Everto an oasis; its aridwe lands would transform note memos, knew exactly what into we verdant forests.

Ondothat wanted to see, andday, eat.assured by their leader,Marseille, the people of Addakal went back a millennia-old port, is ahome welwithcoming, a new dream — economic prosperity. brawny, mongrel city, hemmed Sixty-year-old KCR, and as hecalanques is popularly known by beaches, cliffs or steepin the region, a merchant who walled inlets.isUnlike Paris, the city peddles centre dreams to the common man of of Telangana. is a real Mediterranean jumble ethnicWell-versed in both Telugu Urdu, he can ities; a cathedral jostlingand with mosques, connect quickly with the hold djellabas rustling pastmasses, hipsters in forth dison immediate challenges and paint a picture tressed denim. of ‘Bangaru Telangana’ (golden land).

Laced And bouillabaisse, Marseille’s most fawithmous satire and exemplifies anti-Andhra another rhetoric,suchis export, speeches have forced people to sit up and take cessful jumble.

Said to have evolved from notice.

He has dregs seen of thethe Telangana Rashtra the unsold day’s catch, it’s Samiti theexpensive, party he founded with a now(TRS), a very very protected dish. There’s even a Charter of Bouillabaisse, drawn up in 1980 by a dozen local restaurants. True to French bureaucratic form, the Charter specifies the ingredients (at least four of the following: rascasse, araignée, Saint-Pierre, rouget grondin, lotte, chapon, congre), and the serving method: the broth first, served with croutons and garlicky rouille (sauce made with breadcrumbs) on the side, then the fish, separately, sometimes even in courses.

“Bouillabaisse,” we kept saying to each other, determined to sample it. It didn’t seem hard to find. Every restaurant along the Vieux Port offered it, and we’d heard that L’Aromat even served a “Hamburger de bouillabaisse.”

Marseille’s food was as varied as its population, and we kept accidentally eating too much to contemplate a bowl of bouillabaisse, the city’s most famous export

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year ago, Delhi-based sisters Nadia Singh Bahl and Carol Singh started the ‘juicecleanse revolution’ in India with their company Antidote. The timing was perfect. Young brides-to-be were looking for that magic potion for a perfect wedding glow. The rest, guilty of binging on sweets through the festive season, were willing to try anything to flatten tummies and squeeze into lehengas.

For the uninitiated, cold-pressed juice is wildly popular in the West, apparently consumed by children as young as six. In the past year, the trend has trickled into India, Mumbai and Delhi, in particular. Makers claim it’s healthier than packaged juices, even homemade fruit and vegetable juices that lose nutrients due to heat generated by the blades of a blender.

Much like Antidote, Anuj Rakyan’s Raw Pressery in Mumbai got off to a flying start in January this year. So much so that by 2015, he hopes to make the juices available pan-India. Raw Pressery already delivers freshly-pressed juices to customers’ doorstep. Its most extreme diet at the moment is the Raw Cleanse package, which involves skipping regular meals and surviving an entire day on six bottles of juice. Rakyan says young women are early converts; and the FAQs are ‘How fast can I lose weight?’ and ‘How do I get glowing skin?’ Rakyan does, however, get orders from women in their 50s and 60s, but it takes more effort to convince them that the juice they’ve been making at home for decades isn’t as healthy as they thought.

In the course of the year, several other companies offering juice cleanses have cropped up to cash in on the trend — JustPressed in Delhi and Juicifix in Mumbai are among them.

As for those who think this is a passing fad that will die out when people tire of paying ₹150 for a bottle of vegetable juice, or discover another trend that promises the same results, Rakyan has a simple retort: “Anything related to a healthy life can’t be transient.

Cold-pressed juice will soon replace tetrapacks in all markets.”

Reformer or rebel K Chandrashekar Rao allows little mohini chaudhuri mohammed yousuf room for dissent

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On the ball As Juventus forward and captain, Alessandro Del Piero played a record 705 games for the Italian club

sion after the Italian football scandal of 2006.

“When we went to Serie B, it was very easy for me. I was always clear that I would stick with the club. I was the captain and we have had a great time together, won everything.

Now I thought Juve needs me and therefore stuck on,” he says. The team rebounded the very next season and won the title in 2011-12. Del Piero had played a record 705 games for the club between 1993 and 2012, becoming its alltime top scorer with 290 goals and securing it the Uefa Champions league in 1996. Alongside, he played for Italy in three World Cups and was instrumental in winning the Cup in 2006.

ap/massimo pinca

A zone of his own The ‘Del Piero Zone’ entered football lexicon to describe his trademark style of scoring goals — simple, yet one of the most beautiful things seen on the football field. Approaching from the left flank, he curls the ball precisely before lobbing it into the top-right corner of the goal.

“It started when I was 19, when I played in the Champions’ league “I have not thought for Juventus for the first time,” he much about the future but, yes, every recalls. “I ended up scoring five consecutive goals from the same door is open to be area. I had seen players doing the a manager or same thing before and believed in something like that” that style of scoring. But when I started doing the same over and over again, it became something incredible I guess, and the term was invented by commentators in Italy.”

The classic second striker, Del Piero was part of some of football’s most formidable attacking formations that saw him pairing up first with Zinedine Zidane and Filippo Inzaghi, then with Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet, and later with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

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Whodunits R in a lab coat

Approached by the police and lay people, India’s first private forensics lab gets cracking on unsolved crimes

Delhi and beyond The Italian is looking forward to his brief stint in India. “I’m looking first of all to play football, this is my job. Football is up and coming shutterstock/arfo here, and so I’m looking forward to seeing the game here and also out of the field, with that in the FIR. That, in turn, would prove galore. “Forensic labs are either with the state learn about the country and its the book belonged to the victim and place or central government most the He time, culture,” he of says. is and one both the accused and the victim squarely at their services are not available the general among 12 to international the scene of crime. public and other institutions apartthe from the players in Delhi Handwriting experts examined the docu- courts and the police,”team, explains Gandhi.

“This owned by the caments — namely, the victim’s handwritten made me think of starting Truthlabs. Those ble distribution comcomplaint and the planner with some writing who have faith in forensic can appany science Den Networks. in it. Examining the alphabets, the experts ob- proach us to settle theirLike problems or ask for the others, he served that the movement and location of the help in detection.” was bought for an unand striking partdiagonal strokes in the lower case ‘m’ and ‘n’, Truthlabs has so far served a diverse range of disclosed sum, and as ner, the as French playas well the movement of their ‘shoulders’ clients, including the police in the several states, always, team will er Trezeguet andDavid directions matched in both law firms, be insurance companies, built around him. was in the middle documents.

Otherandsimilarities banks, private corporations and He will also be facing he sent thethe balldownward in with included locaindividual cases. reports are friend andItsformer teamation simple header clinch of the lowerto case ‘v’ and the admissible many courts across mate in David Trezeguet, who the title for Juventus that distinctive anti-clockwise move- Government forensic thewill country, it City. an addiplay forgiving FC Pune “It’ll season.

Del Piero ment ofThe theassist text. by “We had to is be tional services fun.edge.

He’s aItsstrong guyspan andcybfull labs are not available be still considered a cornerstone 100 per cent sure.

If someoneof isfoot-to the general public, er Wecrime detection, DNA of heart. have had great games toballing forging,history. it might look a little too medico-legal consulgether and it profiling, would be exciting to play against so I set up Truthlabs similar to the original docuhim here.” tancy among others.

Loyalty club ment... we were able to ascertain Truthlabs receives, on an averAnd even as he prepares for a post-football “Yes, I remember that goal;inthe that the person who wrote thefans loved it,” life by getting age, 150 cases month involved in each charities andacross ownsays Del Piero, when meet him at the Delhi ing an art gallery planner and the onewewho filed its centres, and has so farmind helped in Turin, Del Piero’s is Dynamos team an east Delhiboth suburb. the FIR were thehotel same,in hence placing par- never solve more an MoU likely than to be7,000 too farcases. awayUnder from the foot“It a tight and I don’t remember ball tieswas at the scene game of crime.” signed recently the Delhi state forensic pitch.

Asked with if he might be Juventus’ manhow I did it, butTruthlabs yeah, it was a great moment.”

Interestingly, gave its report with- ager labs, one some case“I files be outday,pending he replies, have will not thought For Italian, he speaks English rather in aanweek, whereas State forensic labsfluenthave much sourced to it.the future but, yes, every door is about ly andknown creditstoittake to his stintthan at Sydney the open been more a year FC, or two Even readies toorexpand his services to toas behe a manager something like that. team from cases. which he’s made the shift to Delhi Let’s for similar moresee, centres, Gandhi says, “Forensics is a sermaybe one day.” as its marquee player in the Indian Super vice that should anyone who Meanwhile, fansbeinavailable Delhi areto ready for excitLeague.

In anstory era where exceptional players ing A Hyderabad seeks it. Importantly, there is no Who pointknows, in detimes in the next two months. change teams everyopened other season, he wasina maybe Truthlabs was first in Hyderabad tecting Eland deliveringVero results three or Phenomeno (theafter real phenomone-club man for long, moving from Juventus 2007 by KPC Gandhi, a former inspector gener- enon), four years, as no justice canhome, come out that.his It as he’s known back willofhelp in 2012 afterand 19 seasons; Dynamos is only al of police directorDelhi of Andhra Pradesh Fo- team is a gap wethe areinaugural working to close.” bag title of the ISL. his fourth club. In fact,Branches he stayed have with Juvenrensic Science Lab. since tus evenin after it was relegated to second divi- sibi arasu opened Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Ban-

Striking abilities

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n a cold January night in Delhi this year, a European national was gang raped. According to reports the next day, the violent crime took place a stone’s throw from central Connaught Place and continued for three hours until the woman escaped to her hotel in Paharganj and filed a police complaint.

Ignoring the advice of the police and emwas the 28th ACaMilan vs. bassyt officials, she minute refused of tothe take medical Juventus match in May The de-factest and left the country the 2005. following mornto title decider had the officers top twointeams ing. This left the investigating a peculiarclashing spot. ahead of the last three matches forThey the Italian A title. It was report a tense about affair, had a Serie first information marked by defensive playing by manboth the crimelargely from the victim. They had also sides until, outdown of nowhere, emerged aged to track the suspects, butAlessanhad no dro Piero. in court that the victim or the wayDel to prove Playing forwere the ‘Old lady of Turin’ — as fans perpetrators at the scene of crime. fondly refer to Juventus — since wasinvesti17, Del To help break this logjam, one he of the Piero goingapproached through a pretty pooraseason gatingwas officers Truthlabs, newly by his standards.

The newlab manager, opened private forensics in Delhi.Fabio Capello, had bought the young superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, threatening Del Piero’s position A writing puzzle in the team in his club career.

“They camefor to the us first withtime a book (planner) beChasing ball after it they had broken free in longing to the victim that had recovered the midfield area, Del by Piero the on information given onemoved of theinside accused,” penalty box on athe left flank.

He managed to Chetan Kumar, former CBI officer employed wrong-side Alessandro Nesta,wehis with Truthlabs, told us when metnational him at teammate onlab theinopposing side, but the latter the forensic the residential Safdarjung got back in time effect a“In block and send the Enclave southto Delhi. criminal cases, ball up inconfessed the air, seemingly evenfloating if an accused to it, it willheaded not be out for a corner.

Del Piero chasedare theobligated ball with admissible in court.

The police his back with to the goal and, standout to prove evidence thatin thea person wasmoacment leaned flipped tually of at decisiveness, the crime scene andback had and committed around loft case, the ball towards lab’s the goalpost the act.” to In this the forensic task was with kick. His long-time to seeaifbicycle the handwriting in the bookteammate matched

One of football’s best-known talismans, Alessandro Del Piero, is hoping to recreate in Delhi the magic he created for club and country in Italy

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Majesty’s writ Heir ofHerthe matter

After six decades, India is ready to let go of laws’ Kababi threatens the legacy of the one-armed A lawsuit of ₹50-crore over the‘laughable iconic Tunday chef who made kababs for the toothless nawab

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ne of the worst places in the world to do business is India. In a World Bank report on ease of t Tunday Kababi in Chowk, doing Luckbusiness,minced India ranks out 189 countries.

Blame it onfering antiquated lawskabab-and-paratha that still lamb 134 with 160ofspices, which included, not just but fullnow, tucked away inside narrow find athe place in the Constitution.

Sample this: Flying kites or balloons withoutAwadhi permission un-his business is windsome say, even sandalwood powder.

Half the fledged fare.isYet, stretch between Gol Darwaza and lawful in India because a 1934 still classifies these harmless pleasures “aircraft”. spices he Act used were prescribed by the hakim ingasdown now.Or “I take can’tthe maintain the quality Akbari Gate, past Rahim’s World nihari-kulWar II decree(physician) that outlawstodropping of pamphlets in Gujarat. the next time you shut find adown operations in aid digestion.

Murad Ali, who Or everywhere.

I have cha hole-in-the-wall outlet and shops selling rupee or two on the had street, don’t it. Itflying belongs to “Her Majesty” under the lost oneeven arm think when of hepocketing fell off a roof most places, except Kapurthala and Lucknow,” sweetmeats, it’s business as suspiciously usual. The 109nameda“Treasure Trove ‘Tunday Act of 1878”.

Under the Motor Vehicles in Muslim’s Andhra Prakite, became Miyan’ (one-armed he says.Act Even Lucknow Wale Tunday year-old kabab-and-paratha joint, out must desh,dishing an inspector cleanpatties, set of teeth, not have a “pigeon chest, knock knees, chef)possess and hisameat Tunday kabab.

Kababi grew wings andflat branched out to Ghathe best galawati and shammi and foot,kababs, hammer toes or fractured limbs” to qualify.

Nearly 300 obsolete laws have been identified Tunday Miyan moved to Lucknow with his ziabad, Gurgaon, Delhi and Mumbai. But Usshirmal parathas in the city, shows sign of for by theno government scrapping.

Out with young family by the endthem! of the 19th century. A man dismisses his relative’s ventures. “It’s just slowing down, not even in the face of a ₹50- few years later, son Haji Rias Ahmed, Usman’s a cold drink shop in Lucknow that offers kacrore lawsuit on trademark infringement; a father, opened the first Tunday Kababi eatery babs. All Tunday outlets in the city are run by family dispute that has quickly reached the at Chowk. The family grew and business ex- our family members. For nine decades we chambers of the Lucknow city court. panded. In 1996, Usman set up a have not faced any problems,” he Mohammad Usman, the current custodian second shop in the city at Amisays. Usman claims that Muslim of the Tunday legacy, which includes the close- nabad. By the early noughties, was influenced by an external ly guarded family recipe, is unfazed by the at- dozens of Tunday Kababi joints party, “some people whose busiUsman insists that ike the famous whisky brand, the Chinese government’s motto tention and speculation.

That a near relation, had sprung up across Lucknow, ness is to set up fraudulent lawthe shop at Chowk, too seems to be ‘make it large’. The government, on an son) in fact, went to court managed by near-and-distant “buawhich ke bete”is(aunt’s suits and dupe people.” After the now managed by his overdrive to remove corruption from its system, has onafter its paylastfound month, decades of squabbling, to de- members of Tunday Miyan’s initial bluster, he claims that 86-year-old father, is rolls no less than 1,62,629 fake employees, each of whom mand thereceives right to ause the family brand name family. However, Usman insists Muslim has settled down. The the original monthly salary, but it’s anyone’s guess where the money TheUsman, who is in his late that the hole-in-the-wall shop at hasn’t ends upsetup. him. matter, however, is slated for Hebei province in central China had the single largest pool of fake 50s, is confident of an out-of-court settlement. Chowk, now managed by his 86hearing in November. employees (55,793!), with the Sichuan and Henan“Masla provinces closehoon khatam chuka hai. Family hai, settle year-old father, is the original.

As a legal precedent, the ₹500its heels. Shanghai and Tibet seem to be the cleanest provinces ho jayega (Thewith matter has ended. The family For him, few memories of his crore empire of Haldiram Bhujiano interlopers at all. The government also scrapped willmore settlethan it),” 90 he says. legendary grandfather remain. “I was very wala also saw a long-drawn, bitter court battle per cent of its over one lakh official vehicles in a bid At to force the heart of the family matter is a 109- young. I never saw him work. But we were told among family members over using the family public servants to use public transport. year-old inheritance that can be traced to the stories about how he would mix the masalas. brand name. First petitioned in 1999, the Halroyal kitchens of the Nawabs of Bhopal. Leg- How he would chop onions with one arm.” diram trademark case made the rounds of the end has it that one of the nawabs, having lost Sixty-eight-year-old Mohammad Muslim Delhi and Calcutta High Courts, and then the all his teeth, decided to hold a cook-off for baa- too has a few memories of his grand-uncle, Supreme Court. Now, after settlement, the faesperate timesdivided call forgeographidesperwarchis (chefs) and rakabdars (gourmet chefs) Murad Ali. The plaintiff in the ₹50-crore law- mous trademark has been ate warring measures.family And this Brazi- — to come up with the softest dish. A plausible suit, Muslim believes he has an equal right to cally among factions soccer club tells youinhow.

Facing tale when you consider the excesses of the rul- the Tunday brand name. “The recipe was Prabhujilian in Kolkata, Rameswar Delhi and Birelegation Brazil’s diviers of that period — Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula of handed down to all of us. I grew up in his lap. I kaji in Bikaner.

But to Usman andsecond Muslim’s batsion, that the most Awadh spent ₹60,000 every month on his am living in his (Tunday Miyan’s) ancestral tle has not been bitter.important While the thing former done isassured to hire athat hyp-his kitchens, the later Mughals employed an army property,” says Muslim, who runs a rival chain makes light ofthey’ve the lawsuit, Olimar Tesser,bristles Porof kitchen staff, including one man to just an- called Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi. In 2009, cousin will comenotist. around, the latter tuguesa nounce the names of the dishes laid out for Usman took the corporate route with the fam- that “he has every right” beforeclub’s piping new down hire,every believes key is the feast. ily business. Tunday Kababi Private Limited to say, “of course, we speak day.the There to pulling the Haji Murad Ali, a rakabdar of repute in Bho- was launched, franchisee outlets opened up in no problem, we are family.” team out of pal, won the competition, pleasing the nawab Lucknow, Delhi and Bangalore. A spanking this downwith his kabab creation — silken patties of new food complex sprouted in Kapurthala, of- priyanka kotamraju ward slide is to make them walk barefoot on hot coals, or bend iron poles with their necks, or walk on glass. The team has lost hat do you do when an annoying most of their matches this season, quadcopter floats into your backbut despair not! With Tesser’s conyard? If you’re Russell J Percenti of New fidence-boosting exercises, they Jersey, you practise your skeet shooting might not only avoid the second skills, of course. Last week, Percenti saw division but the sport altogether. his neighbour’s drone, equipped with a Tesser explains his method: “It’s camera, fly into his property. The triggernot magic. I work on the man, happy ‘drone warrior’ shot it down and and this is reflected on the was later arrested on unlawful weapons pitch. He thinks if he can bend charges. The case is under trial now and leiron, he can do anything.” For Portugal experts say that in the eyes of the law, guesa, it’s two minutes of hypnosn Nottingham, England, a fight between two the balance between the rights of droneis a day, rather than 20 friends over ‘poking’ on Facebook had disastrous owners and people’s rights to privacy and minutes of practice. consequences. Friends Scott Humphrey and Richard self-defence remains unclear. Not surprisRovetto ended up arguing over why Rovetto had ing, since drones were not even a real ‘poked’ Humphrey’s girlfriend. Arguing inside the thing until a decade ago. With the lack of close confines of a taxi, tempers ran so high that any precedent in the US, or elsewhere, Humphrey punched Rovetto, who fell out of the with regard to human-drone conflict, the taxi, hitting his head and sustaining fatal injuries. future of drone law could depend on the While Humphrey initially fled the scene, he later actions of this one annoyed, trigger-happy surrendered and after trial was awarded a fourNew Jersey resident. year prison sentence. Much ado about poking?

The city of nawabs

The phantom menace

To curb corruption, China’s government is weeding out all the fakes on its payroll, all 1,62,629 of them

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A football team tries walking on glass to play better

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Drone warrior

The future of humandrone conflict hinges on one trigger-happy man

A fatal ‘poke’

A friendly poke ends in a not-sofriendly scuffle

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Old Lucknow is the home of the original Tunday kabab arunangsu

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cornerstone in-faq by joy bhattacharjya Rajinikanth special

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t is October 11, and Amitabh Bachchan’s 73rd birthday. Perfect occasion for a quiz on India’s biggest cinematic superstar, Rajinikanth! Be warned, this is Raijnikanth 1.0, meant essentially for beginners and new converts.

1 2

Other than the fact that they are both Indian actors, what connects comedian Johnny Walker and Rajinikanth?

the new york times crossword-0831

second shift

Rajinikanth’s first film as the lead was a Telugu film, which amazingly was remade by K Balachander in Tamil with Kamal Haasan in the lead role. Name both films.

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In a recent interview, what did Rajinikanth admit to having picked up from watching Ambareesh in his first movie, Naagarahaavu?

Amitabh and Rajinikanth have acted in a total of three films together. Two are Andha Kanoon and Geraftaar. Name the third.

K Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal was Rajinikanth’s debut film in 1975. What was the name of the Hindi remake of the film, and who did it star?

6 7 8

Rajinikanth’s 50th film was Tiger. Which male co-star appeared with him in this film for the first and last time?

Rajinikanth has a substantial fan following in Japan. Which ’90s hit film started the craze for Rajini sir in that part of the world?

Rajinikanth has starred in a variety of Amitabh Bachchan remakes. The Telugu film Jeevana Poratam was a remake of which ’70s film featuring Bachchan in an important role?

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Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth appeared in 18 films together, mostly in the ’70s, till they figured it did not make commercial sense to appear together. Which ’80s film was the last one they starred in together?

10

What did Rajinikanth do for the first, and so far only time in the 1992 film Mannan, co-starring Vijayashanti and Kushboo?

ANSWERS 1. Both worked as bus conductors, Rajinikanth with KSTC and Johnny Walker with BEST 2. Chilakamma Cheppindi and Nizhal Nijamagiradhu, both were extremely successful 3. The style of lighting a cigarette 4. Hum, directed by Mukul Anand 5. Ek Nai Paheli; interestingly Kamal Haasan played the lead with Hema Malini.

6. NT Rama Rao 7. Muthu; subsequently, Chandramukhi and Robot have also done decent business there 8. Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. Amar Akbar Anthony was incidentally remade as Ram Robert Rahim 9. The Hindi film Geraftaar, released in 1985 10. He sang a song, Adikuthu kuliru

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joy bhattacharjya is a quizmaster, and author of Junior Premier League — The First XI t@joybhattacharj

ACROSS 1 In most cases 8 Stomach settler 14 Fasten, as a rope 19 “But wait … there’s more!” items 20 Truck-driving competitions 22 The Roman poet Ovid, once 23 Paintball gun?

25 “Keep climbing” sloganeer 26 Hankerings 27 Maintains the border, say 28 Device that can tell if someone’s recently vacationed in Hawaii?

30 U.K. news source, with “the” 31 Trifling amount 32 Dated 33 Narrow shaft in a mountain?

38 The Cardinals, on scoreboards 39 Eschew modesty 43 Big name in trucking 44 Item from the Victoria’s Sweetness catalog?

49 Nautical command 50 Collective effort 51 Boccaccio wrote a biography of him 52 Union general Wallace 53 Shingle sealant 55 Poker set?

56 Like many hospital patients getting visitors 57 Anne Frank, e.g.?

61 Ones manifesting Manifest Destiny 63 Wash. Square campus 64 Some credit-card rewards 66 Aerodynamic 67 Site of many IVs 70 One in a tight space, perhaps 73 “Hee Haw” heyday, say?

76 Rock growth 79 Director of the “Dark Knight” trilogy 81 Salt source 82 Make do with, say 83 Figure skater Mao 84 Microscope part 87 Absorb 89 Novelist Danielle without her glossy dress?

DOWN 1 Pen name of columnist Pauline Phillips 2 Where the rubber meets the road?

3 In a moment 4 Reasons to resurface 5 Miss ___ 6 “Lolita” subject 7 Honor 92 “A Streetcar Named 8 Family business abbr.

Desire” role 9 Particle in a salt solution 93 ___-Ball 94 Channel-surfing catalysts 10 Connie’s husband in “The Godfather” 95 Honey Bunches of Oafs, 11 Last thing bid? e.g.?

12 Mortgage adjustment, 97 Set a price of briefly 98 Beaver Cleaver 13 Willing to take risks exclamation 14 Dampen, perhaps 100 Yom Kippur War figure 101 Soup after it’s been taken 15 Higher-up 16 “Rock-a-bye Baby,” e.g. off the burner?

17 ___ clef 107 Semidome site 108 Care providers, for short 18 It starts with a celebration 21 Handles 112 Given 113 What might determine if 24 Take a shot?

29 Masseur’s supply the moon hitting your 30 “Bugsy” star eye like a big pizza pie is 31 Fashion lines truly amore?

116 “A Journal of the Plague 33 Burn 34 Peaceful protest of the Year” novelist, 1722 1960s 117 ___ Lane, acting first lady 35 Kind of during Buchanan’s 36 Bugs that weigh tons tenure 37 Brady Campaign opposer, 118 Send to the ocean for short bottom 38 Cheat 119 Goes downhill?

39 Kind of rock 120 Cells displaced them 40 Sound off 121 British eatery

41 Palindromic name 42 Grieve openly 45 Work with a number 46 Garbage collection?

47 Driven group 48 Sign of rot 50 Be behind 54 Modern-day capital that King David ordered besieged 56 Sri Lanka export 58 “Joseph Anton: A Memoir” autobiographer 59 Absence justification 60 Game drawers 62 Letter arrangement?

65 Black Friday events 68 Candlelight diners, perhaps 69 Phoebe’s twin on “Friends” 71 Have in mind 72 Spellbound 74 When repeated, cry before “They’re catching up!”

75 High country 76 Miss 77 Author Dinesen 78 Blanchett of “Blue Jasmine” 80 One who may be grand?

85 Slithery swimmer

86 Walks noisily 88 Poetic contraction 90 Whip tip 91 Ex-mayor seen in “The Muppets Take Manhattan” 92 “It’s true whether or not you believe in it,” per Neil deGrasse Tyson 96 Stop it 97 Summits 98 ___ Cantor, German mathematician who invented set theory 99 Kovacs of comedy 101 Heels 102 Rink maneuver 103 Long sentence 104 Grammatical concept 105 Close the set?

106 TV “explorer” 107 Kennedy Center focus 108 Humble dwellings 109 “Breaking Bad” commodity 110 Home of the first U.N. secretary general 111 Walking distance 114 Poetic contraction 115 Who: Lat.

By Patrick Berry / Edited by Will Shortz

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