Talk Mag Feb 21, 2013 by Suhas Shankarappa

the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly

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VI VEK ARUN

Volume 1 | Issue 28 | February 21, 2013 | Rs 10

SPY TECH TERROR Bangaloreans are buying secret cameras for everything from gathering evidence on unfaithful spouses to recording customers in trial rooms. Clandestine footage is a strange new fear, finds SAVIE KARNEL 10-14

AYYOTOONS IPL is slated for April, but the madness has already begun 5

LIGHT SKIN India’s fairness obsession and an update on the intimate bleach 7

THEATRE Om Puri on his new Punjabi play, and his love of cooking 18

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

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Rajnikanth II speaks the truth about real estate business I read the latest issue of Talk and particularly liked the article on real estate baron-turnedphilanthropist Laxminarayana (Rajnikanth the Second, Issue 27). Anyone who is aware of how things work today will know that his statement: "Businessmen, politicians and swamijis run the show now" is true, and blatantly so. Chaitanya KM via Facebook Hilarious Valentine’s story Prachi Sibal’s story on a features writer’s experience of Valentine’s Day (My not-so-funny Valentine’s, Issue 27) was beyond hilarious. It was well written, and I found the story of the ‘romantic clock’ and the posing-by-the-beach incident

outrageously funny. Congratulations to Talk and the writer for bursting a few red heartshaped balloons this VDay! Piali Dasgupta by email Review bang on Vishwaroopam is such a disappointing movie! I agree with MK Raghavendra’s review of it (Vishwaroopam: India in the service of the US, Issue 27) Narcissistic, flaccid, sluggish and reptilian—I liked the adjectives he used to describe Kamal in the movie! Remya Suresh via Facebook More food stories, please! It was a delight to read your section on budget meals (Sticky

finger time, Issue 27) at the city’s fast food outlets. Your reporter has clearly taken the trouble to sort out the best from the lot that is available. It has actually made the task easier for people like us— no more trial and error, we can straight away go for the yummy stuff! Talk should have more of such stories, not just in food but in various other things too. Rahiba Parveen by email Heart wants more I recently read Talk magazine for the first time. I am definitely impressed with the range and quality of articles. However, I must also admit that at the end of every article I read, I had this feeling of wanting something more from it. Sreekanth Chakravarthy via Facebook Write to letters@talkmag.in

EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE TEAM

SR Ramakrishna Editor Sridhar Chari Consulting Editor Prashanth GN Senior Editor Sajai Jose Chief Copy Editor Savie Karnel Principal Correspondent Basu Megalkeri Principal Correspondent Prachi Sibal Senior Features Writer Sandra Fernandes and Maria Laveena Reporters and Copy Editors Anand Kumar K Chief of Design Shridhar G Kulkarni Graphic Designer Ramesh Hunsur Senior Photographer Vivek Arun Graphics Artist

Sumith Kombra Founder, CEO and Publisher Ralph Fernandez Manager - Marketing Aaron Jones Asst Manager - Marketing Abhay Sebastian Asst Manager - Sales Mithun Sudhakar Asst Manager - Sales Kishore Kumar N Head - Circulation Vinayadathan KV Area Manager - Trade Yadhu Kalyani Sr Executive - Corporate Sales Lokesh KN Sr Executive - Subscriptions Prabhavathi Executive - Circulation Sowmya Kombra Asst Process Manager

Printed and published by Sumith Kombra on behalf of Shakthi Media Ventures India Pvt Ltd - FF70, Gold Towers, Residency Road, Bangalore -560025 and printed at Lavanya Mudranalaya, Chamarajpet, Bangalore-560018. Editor: SR Ramakrishna. Editorial Office: FF70, Gold Towers, Residency Road, Bangalore -560025 Email: info@talkmag.in Phone: 08040926658. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

sky tech

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in RAMESH HUNSUR

Aerospace race A 3,000-acre aerospace park, the country's first aviation university, and an astronaut training centre will together make Bangalore India’s foremost aerospace city. But Chennai is vying for the spot, too

PRASHANTH GN prashanth.gn@talkmag.in

AERO TOWN Air Force personnel at the Aero India show held earlier this month in Bangalore. The city is home to a huge aerospace community

angalore, already home to India’s premier aerospace institutions, is pushing for a bigger piece of the action. Chennai and Hyderabad are competing hard, but Bangalore could walk away with many new aerospace projects, sources in HAL and the aerospace research community told Talk. The latest buzz is that Bangalore is all set to begin work on a 3,000-acre aerospace

park, upsized from the 1,000 acres NH7, NH4 and NH207. The govplanned earlier, and also the coun- ernment is also promising a direct try’s first dedicated aerospace uni- road link from the aerospace park to the airport, a technology innoversity. The Karnataka government is vation centre, and an international also doing the ground work for convention centre. About 40 companies have three aerospace clusters in Bangalore-Mysore-Mangalore, already been allotted land, with 17 Davangere-Chitradurga and of them having commenced civil works. Two of them, Wipro and Belgaum-Bidar. Karnataka is now exempting Starragheckert, have in fact started production. “We stamp duty, offering estimate the subsidies, and proShettar says eventual presviding many concesence of 1,000 sions to aerospace the initiative aerospace comcompanies. MN will create panies in the Vidyashankar, prin1 lakh jobs park and SEZ cipal secretary to the between 2013 Industries and Commerce Department, told Talk: and 2023,” Vidyashankar said. The “The demand for space for this government hopes to boost export park is high. We have decided to revenues from aerospace units. The aerospace park has expand the aerospace area from attracted project proposals from 1,000 to 3,000 acres.” While the government has PSUs like Hindustan Aeronautics already acquired 1,000 acres near Limited and BEML, and private Devanahalli, it is working on companies like Jupiter Aviation, acquiring the remaining 2,000 Dynamatic Technologies, Centum Starragheckert, acres. The park will be easily Electronics, accessed via key national highways AMADA, Wipro, Tyco, Dynatech,

editor talk Spy gear is easily available today. Mail order services regularly advertise spy cameras, and that route is only for those who can order and wait. In Bangalore, a shop near Town Hall sells at least 10 spy cameras, not a small number, every day. So where are these cameras going, and what are they being used for? That is the question Savie Karnel set out with, and the story took her along many surprise paths. Policemen and private detectives, she found, buy cameras camouflaged in buttons, pens, goggles and cola cans. But then, it is not just policemen and detectives who are engaged in espionage today. Politicians, businessmen and contractors use spy cameras, too. Their footage never becomes public unless their interests are seriously threatened, and they are left with no option but to expose their rivals. As may be expected, women are terrified of being secretly filmed in trial rooms and toilets, but the larger discovery was that men and women use pinhole cameras to spy on their spouses and protect themselves against physical abuse and legal harassment. In a related story, a man spent weeks, and applied much technological ingenuity, to capture evidence of his wife’s infidelity. He spoke to our reporter at length, explaining his methods, and very fleetingly, referring to his state of mind. It looks like spy cameras are used less by policemen and investigative reporters than by disturbed spouses. Read our spread for all the details. Also catch Divya Sreedharan’s story on India’s notorious obsession with light skin, and how it sustains ‘fairness’ products that hit the market from time to time. I hope you like the mix of stories we have for you this week. Satish Acharya scores again with his zany drawings for this edition’s Ayyotoons on the IPL madness. Enjoy! SR Ramakrishna ram@talkmag.in

sky tech

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Devanahalli aerospace park have been proposed as potential locations for the university, but HAL has not taken a decision yet. Russia is a major supplier to HAL and the Indian Air Force. Officials told Talk a HAL team was currently in Russia to study their seven aerospace universities to draw lessons on how such an institution should be set up. “They will look at courses, faculty, laboratories and libraries,” an official said. The RK Tyagi MN Vidyashankar syllabus will also be designed in consultation with experts from Indian universities offerSystem Controls, Aero Electronics and sever- ing aerospace courses. HAL has some experience running an academic institution with al others. While Bangalore is already home to the its in-house HAL Management Academy. As for ISRO’s astronaut training centre, TAKEOFF POINT Industries minister Murugesh Nirani inspecting the site at Devanahalli Indian Institute of Science, which has a wellestablished and prestigioxus aero-engineer- the government is examining the costs. Forty ing department, aerospace strategists have acres around Devanahalli have been earKarnataka's Shettar's offerings long felt the need for a dedicated university, marked for it, with an additional 100 acres space thrust Karnataka’s aerospace policy is the first given the need for skilled personnel and sci- promised by the state government. The The state government such for any state in India. Chief minister Indian Air Force’s Institute of Aersopace entists at various levels. plans to invest big in Jagadish Shettar unveiled the policy in HAL’s chairman RK Tyagi confirmed at Medicine, where the country’s first spaceman aerospace. This is how the presence of Defence Minister AK Rakesh Sharma underwent Aero India this year that the Chief minister Shettar Antony at Aero India earlier this month. tests and training, will play a university would indeed plans to spend the Chennai and key role in setting up this come up in Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu is keen on setting up a 3,000 money: school. most probably in Bangalore. acre aerospace park near Chennai, but Hyderabad are Rs 200 crore: Three Karnataka is going all out to snag Bangalore will have to Apart from HAL and the varalso in the aerospace clusters aerospace investments by offering more. watch out though. Chennai ious DRDO labs, there are aerospace race Rs 50 crore: Aerospace and Hyderabad give stiff other premier public sector Karnataka plans to attract Rs 60,000 research centre at competition in the informaunits like the BEL and BEML, crore (10 billion dollars) in investments Chitradurga and research institutions such as the CSIR tion technology business, and these cities over the next 10 years. With private Rs 50 crore: Aerospace laboratory, National Aeronautics Laboratory have their eye on the aerospace action as participation, it plans to launch university at Davangere (NAL), in this city. A top HAL official told well. Tamil Nadu is also planning a 3,000 acre maintenance, repair and overhaul units Rs 50 crore: Flight Talk: “A first tranche of Rs 300 crore has been aerospace park in Perambalur, apart from in Bangalore and Mysore. Medium/small school at Davangere earmarked for preliminary work in establish- related initiatives in Chennai and Hosur. scale industries will benefit from the Rs 20 crore: Aerospace Hyderabad has attracted new ventures like ing the university.” aerospace thrust, and the government is training institute at Ramanagaram, off Mysore Road and an the Rs 1,060 crore Tata-Sikorsky helicopter offering them concessions, too. Belgaum hour’s drive from Bangalore, and the manufacturing unit.

fun lines

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

political diary

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Speeding Ambi Actor-politician Ambareesh has been pushing hard to get tickets for his supporters. One of his buddies, contractor BK Nagaraj, began putting up flex boards and conducting public meetings to project himself as a leader. There is no sign the Congress will give him a ticket. So, Ambareesh took matters into his own hands, and told a public gathering at Channarayapatna that Nagaraj would be the party’s candidate, and even followed it up with a road show.

TAKE THAT Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar announces a special package for Hyderabad Karnataka in his budget

Move and countermove Hyderabad Karnataka is the chessboard on which the boldest moves of the BJP and the Congress are being played out

ome election time, and every move is intended to pay political dividends. The cases of terror accused Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru, executed in secrecy, are examples. So it must be with the fast approaching elections that the central government brought in the

Constitution (118th Amendment) Bill, granting special status to Hyderabad Karnataka, covering six districts: Raichur, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Koppal, Bidar and Bellary. This has fulfilled a long cherished demand, and is likely to bring huge political gains to the Congress, pundits say. If the party announces Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge as its chief ministerial candidate, pundits say, they could secure at least 40 seats in this region.

The BJP government in Karnataka has answered this by announcing a Rs 3,114 crore special package for the region. Also, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has announced 43 new taluks, and earmarked Rs

2 crore each. Suddenly, it seems the BJP is twirling its moustache in pride. The JD(S) and the KJP have nothing to trumpet about, and are clinging to the Cauvery issue instead. JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda was recently spotted at a rally in the city, shedding tears in the name of farmers, while BS Yeddyurappa of the KJP even took out a padayatra in Mysore. The Cauvery issue is hot only in southern Karnataka, so they better think up ways to connect with voters in the norther districts, too.

A source told Talk, “Last month, SK Bellubbi (Agriculture Marketing minister) met Janardhana Reddy twice on the directions of BJP president Rajnath Singh. We don’t know what they talked about, but the BJP high command clearly wants to stay in touch with

But for all of Ambareesh’s canvassing, the Congress hasn’t even decided on a constituency for him. Will the poor man get a ticket at all, his enemies are saying, amidst chuckes.

KJP chief BS Yeddyurappa and actress Shruthi

Ladies last for BJP?

Reddy.” Reddy strategises for the BSR Congress, and even decides who should join the party and who should be fielded where. The party insider said, “The Congress says no tickets to anyone who has gone to jail. But in our party tickets are given to only those who go to jail!” What he means is that anyone contesting on a party ticket should first visit Chanchalaguda jail before he can get a ticket—so yes, it’s only ‘those who go jail’ who can contest from the BSR Congress!

The two MLAs are among the five independents who were ministers in the BJP government. All five met senior Congress leader SM Krishna and expressed their wish to rejoin the party, but nothing has moved. Losing patience, they have approached Ambareesh to pull it off for them.

BASU MEGALKERI

Rendezvous Reddy Gali Janardhana Reddy has remained holed up in Hyderabad’s Chanchalaguda jail for a year and a half. But, according to insiders of the Reddy-backed BSR Congress, the mining baron retains much of his clout, and the visitors list at the prison offers ample proof for this.

Similarly, Amabreesh has been batting for independent MLAs Narendra Swamy of Malavalli and Sudhakar of Hiriyur. Last Monday, he reportedly took both of them for a secret meeting with KPCC president G Parameshwar at a posh hotel, and sought tickets for them.

Ambareesh

Janardhana Reddy

After Shobha Karandlaje joined the KJP, others have followed suit. C Manjula, who headed the state Women’s Commission, quit her post to join the KJP, as did standup comedian Sudha Baragur and actress Shruthi. Yeddy has already made Manjula the president of the party’s women’s wing. These ladies, along with their colleagues Parimala Nagappa and Bharathi Shetty, make for a solid

women’s front for the KJP. The JD(S), which has Anita Kumaraswamy and actress Malavika, does not lack in women either, while the Congress has a large number of veteran women leaders. All of which leaves the BJP sorely lacking. Except for actress Tara and MLC Vimala Gowda, few others are seen at party events. Is it the influence of the RSS ideal of celibacy, we wonder.

beauty biz

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GOING TOO FAR (Extreme left) The much-mocked television commercial for the ‘vaginal wash’ to lighten the private parts. Fairness creams thrive on celebrity endorsements

Not just skin deep that this wash is a “fast-mov- Ugly outcomes Our obsession with fairness is unfair and revealed ing product” in every shop. A little Why blame women for using the ugly; and it runs a whole lot deeper than just chemists’ shop near Bangalore East wash (despite all the worldwide outstation, for instance, sells at rage), when deep-seated prejudices a craze for whiter private parts. But the irony railway least 15 units every month. against dark skin still affects, and is, the latest vaginal wash, advertised as a even destroys lives? Take the case of Teresa Jacob. vs must-try bleach, may not really work as one Outrage She had been seeing Cherian Thomas Dermatologist Dr Hanan Taha, who

DIVYA SREEDHARAN n April 2012, when a company launched a whitening vaginal wash, the product and its accompanying advertisement led to outrage across the world. Yet, less than a year later, the wash sells well, across India. The irony is, dermatologists say the wash doesn’t deliver what it promises. Mumbai-based Midas Care Pharmaceuticals, makers of Clean & Dry Intimate Wash, have no complaints though. For when this journalist called them up, a spokesperson said: “We sell between 40-50,000 units every month, across India”. That could indeed be true. A random survey of Bangalore’s pharmacies

does product reviews for the international beauty website www.futurederm.com, is outraged by the product and its advertisement. In her review of whether the wash actually whitens, she wrote, “...niacinamide seems to be the only ingredient that would work towards that goal, but ...its concentration might not be high enough, I have my doubts that any whitening can be achieved.” She also warns women against using any product that promises fairness in the vaginal region as the area is sensitive and prone to irritation. Such warnings have not deterred users. In a September 2012 review on the popular Make up and Beauty Blog (http://makeupandbeauty.com), a user says she will buy the wash again. Yet she also admits it hasn’t delivered on its promise. But then, even the Midas Care spokesperson uses the wash. When asked why, she stressed, “Not to make that area fairer, I use it for hygiene.”

Never mind that Cherian is of a nut brown skin tone himself. In a world where advertisements link fairness with success in life and love, is it so surprising vaginal washes succeed or that an educated woman has judged (and found wanting) a talented darker-skinned young woman? (both names changed) for four years, Teresa, an extrovert, became withsince they were colleagues at an ad drawn and was plagued by self-doubt. agency in Bangalore. Now, they were She used to be happy and confident ready for marriage. But his mother, a about her looks. But after that fateful meeting with her exretired school headboyfriend’s mother, mistress, did not conAbout 50,000 now uses an sent. Teresa and bottles of the new Teresa expensive cream her Cherian are both from intimate wash beautician recomthe same community, but for his mother, sell in India every mended, to brighten her skin tone. But at Teresa’s complexion month least she is alive and was not acceptable. “She told me my skin colour showed well. Not many young girls are as my loose character, implying I had led her son astray,” recalls Teresa who lucky. Last year, The Times of India went into a mild depression for weeks reported that depression over their looks was now leading some young after that fateful meeting. A statuesque 5’ 6”, Teresa is an women to attempt suicide: One girl accomplished Bharatanatyam and drank pesticide, another poured comtemporary dancer. Till recently, kerosene on her face. Both recovered this MBA holder, with flawless, and were being counselled, the newsmocha-coloured skin, used to be a paper report said. highly paid team leader for a global education behemoth. But for Colour-conscious culture Cherian’s mother, all that did not Dr GP Gururaj, the psychiatrist who matter. treated one of the girls, says young

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See? It makes perfect sense. We just want our vaginas to reflect more light—is that so wrong? I mean, WHAT IF MY CAR BREAKS DOWN AT NIGHT AND I DON'T HAVE A REFLECTIVE ENOUGH VAGINA?

Lindy West Writer in Jezebel, celeb and fashion magazine, satirising the new lightening wash sold in India

enhance the complexion and correct unevenness of skin tone but changing or lightening skin colour is not possible. “In fact, I always tell them to be confident, literally, in their skin. I tell them, look at me,” says the dusky, smiling dermatolgist. To no avail. Adolescents come to her on their own, but she turns away patients who are younger than 10. “Once, the parents of a seven-year-old girl came to me saying she was too dark-skinned. I refused to treat her.” Human nature comes into play, she believes. Young people (and their parents) are affected by what family members, relatives and friends say about their looks, she points out. So, girls seeking a good alliance come to her for they feel dark skin is a disadvantage.

people could be going to such extremes because there is now intense focus on physical attributes. “And in rural areas, there is also this crude way of referring to a person by his or her skin colour or sizecalling a boy ‘kariya’ or ‘dumma’ (literally, Aspirational ads “darkie” or “fatso”), for example. That can “If you use a fairness product, you are perreally affect the person at ceived as modern; only the 3.6 lakh the receiving end,” he adds. traditional woman uses Bangalore-based der- ‘likes’ on FB page ‘turmeric’ on her face,” matolgist Dr Mukta remarks Sudha Sitaraman, promoting Sachdev agrees this obsessociologist and womens’ Garnier skinsion with fair skin can studies specialist. The craze harm. “About 10 to 20 per lightening cream for fairness, she believes, is cent of my patients, men part of a self-reinforcing and women, seek lighter skin.” She can cycle. “Fairness creams now determine

how we look and we aspire to look that way quotient’. For instance, Fair & Lovely (from because these creams are part of a hierar- Hindustan Unilever) has a Fairness Expert chy of what constitutes beauty. We feel app you can sign up for. The Fair & Lovely inadequate if we are not made in that page itself is very popular, with over 82,000 image, so we buy (a fairness cream) and likes. And it’s male counterpart, the Fair & apply. But in the long run, it doesn’t help”. Lovely Max fairness page has over 4,000 What makes this message even more likes. effective is that today, fairGarnier Light India ness creams and products Up to 20 per cent (owned by beauty giant are ubiquitous. “Sachets of all patients at L’oreal Paris) has a ‘Right to cost as little as Rs 2 and you Light’ app, which informs get them everywhere—in a dermatologist's the user, “You wished for clinic seek both urban and rural Fair Skin and Garnier said areas,” she points out. Then ‘Let there be light”. Users lighter skin there are the celebrities— get a hamper of daily fairKatrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Sonam ness moisturiser, eye roll on, fairness facial Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Shah Rukh and so on. What’s more, users get to nomiKhan, Shahid Kapoor and John Abraham- nate their spouse under a ‘Light of my life’ who endorse these products. “We identify scheme. Then they are entitled to more ourselves with these heroes and heroines, goodies. The company that declares “Every take on their habits, pick up these creams,” woman deserves flawless, fair skin” has observes Sudha. 3.63 lakh likes on its page. By contrast, a community on Facebook that calls itself ‘Anti Whitening’ What’s not to ‘like’? and talks of how fairness products ruin And then, apart from iconic celebrities, the companies that make these products have your skin and your self-esteem, has just a much more powerful tool to reach out to 451 likes (at last count). For people to change, attitudes must a captive audience-the social media. Every beauty giant worth its name has a user- change and that is not easy, points out Dr friendly Facebook page and many have Gururaj. And that is also why Clean & Dry ‘apps’ (applications) to test your ‘fairness continues to sell well.

around town

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They think out of the dabba Mumbai’s dabbawalas are so reliable that customers have been known to put salary packets and love letters in their lunch boxes, says Pawan G Agrawal, unofficial ‘CEO’ of the Dabbawalas’ Association SANDRA M FERNANDES sandramarina.fernandes@talkmag.in

hen Prince Charles of the United Kingdom visited Mumbai and wanted to meet the ‘dabbawalas’ he did so on the Church Gate Station footpath for about 15 minutes—that was the best that the dabbawalas could do given their stringent schedule and their famed adherence to timely delivery. Not surprising therefore that the unofficial “CEO” of the Mumbai Dabbawalas’ Association, Pawan G Agrawal, should arrive exactly on time for his talk to the students of the IFIM Business School in the city. Pavan was given the honorary CEO title by the dabbawalas given his close association with them over a period of time, when he did his PhD on their functioning at Yashwantrao Chavan Open University, Nashik. Dressed in a white kurta pyjama and a Nehru cap, Pawan, in his notso-fluent- English, talked about their six sigma certification, the Prince Charles episode and their much admired work ethic. Some 5000 dabbawalas, carrying up to 60 to 70 kgs, make something like 2,00,000 deliveries a day. (The dabbawalas only transport the food and do not prepare it).

THE EVANGELIST Pavan Agrawal did a PhD on the dabbawala system, and is now an indemand speaker on the topic

Apart from the local trains they use bicycles, carts and sometimes even carry the dabbas on their head during the journey. A handful of them are women. Talk caught up with him after his talk. Excerpts from the interview: What is the secret of the dabbawalas’ consistent performance? They follow simple rules and ethics. They are passionate about their work, they are committed and consistent. Their principles are that work is worship and the customer is god. They have simple rules like no drinking of alcohol during work hours, which they strictly follow. What are the challenges they face? They travel in local trains in the rush, carrying the weight on their heads. But this does not affect their energy or enthusiasm. Some of them do not earn much. To make ends meet they work in the evenings as newspaperwalas or milk delivery boys and do other jobs. The dabbawalas charge about Rs 350 per customer per month and earn about Rs 6000 per month. You say they have never been on strike. Does that mean that they have no demands? They have demands and problems which are addressed at meetings that are held on the 15th of every month.

The problems are addressed by the association president. Finally, it’s the president’s word, and they do not argue with him because he is like god to them.

incident where the Titan Watch Company gave the dabbawalas some light weight trolleys for them to use instead of carrying the dabbas on their head. Within a week the trolleys broke or were damaged. Things may change though. I have started training some of them in computers.

You talked about them even delivering salaries. That is a tribute to their reliable service and Have big companies trustworthiness. tried to use this netYes. Some cus‘Customer is god work? tomers, without —that’s the only Yes, Amul dairy, for their knowledge, secret of the example. They wantput their salary ed to give away butpackets in the dabdabbawalas’ termilk tetra packets bas as they are along with the dabafraid of losing it in the commuting rush. They have also bas. But the dabbawalas refused saydelivered love letters from wives to ing that if the pouch got opened or if it started leaking they would face husbands! trouble. The idea never took off. Do you think that a similar dabba servWhat lessons can people draw from ice will click in a city like Bangalore? It will click in any part of the country them? provided there is enough man power There are no trade secrets that the and ample demand. In a city like dabbawalas have. Whatever is there is Bangalore, the same model may not an open secret—that work is worship work—but a model where dab- and the customer is god. The combawalas cook the food themselves munity however feels proud and happy that so many organisations and deliver the dabba may work. and celebrities have shown interest in their system. Do they use modern IT for their work? We have recently started an SMS service where the customers can get What is your next study going to be in touch with us. But this is not that about? effective. Technology may not work The newspaper delivery boys. I am in this system. There was this one already 11 months into it.

peep city

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

The intimate terror of spy tech The secret camera business is feeding on the neurosis of modernday relationships. Both men and women view it with dread, and for entirely different reasons

SAVIE KARNEL savie.karnel@talkmag.in

here was a time when only a James Bond could record videos from his watch, or capture pictures with his tie-pin. The secret agent never deployed his gizmos to spy on his many ravishing girlfriends. But today, thanks to the Chinese, many Bangalore couples are using cheap spy technology to reign in straying spouses or get easy divorces. In April 2012, Kalpesh Waghmare (20) hanged himself from a ceiling fan in Mumbai. A suicide note in his pocket said he was being blackmailed by two friends who had filmed his intimate moments with his girlfriend. Also last year, Najma (35), employed in a Maharashtra government office, set herself on fire and died. She had been in an intimate relationship with deputy tahsildar Nandkumar Khade before she got married. Khade had been blackmailing her to continue. When she refused, he sent a clip of the two of they are having extra-marital affairs,” them, filmed secretly, to her husband, Mohammed Azeemuddin, who runs who started talking about a divorce. the spy gadget store, told Talk. Spy cameras sales are feeding on the neuroses of modern-day relationStore for spy gear ships. Akash (30, name changed) is In Bangalore, Spy Zone, a tiny little store on SP Road, sells at least 10 spy newly married and has no differences cameras every day. Its clients are with his wife, but just can’t trust her. mostly people who suspect their He fears she might some day foist a spouses’ fidelity. “Husbands want to false dowry harassment case against see what their wives are up to when him. He believes she has clandestinethey are away at work. Similarly, ly taped him saying something that wives buy spy cameras and place could be used as evidence. Akash doesn’t want to be left them in their husbands’ cars to see if

behind and has been filming his conversations with her. He switches on a spy camera and rakes something like “Remember, I gave you Rs 5,000 yesterday?” All this is to record the response “Yes” from his wife. “She thought there was something fishy when he brought up these topics out of nowhere. That was when she came to me,” says psychologist Dr Ali Khwaja, who runs a counselling service called Banjara Academy in Bangalore. The use of spy cameras has brought about a rift in

that couple’s relationship. The wife is mortified all her movements are being secretly recorded.

Resort coupons? No, thanks Neeta (25, name changed) should have been a happy woman with the many perks and privileges her corporate employer showers on her. She regularly gets gift coupons to spend weekends at posh resorts. But she is apprehensive about using them. “She is scared the HR people will film her there and use the footage to

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

stop her from changing her job,” says Dr Khwaja. It is unlikely any big corporation will use such means to retain talent, but Neeta’s fear is real. The fear of spy cameras is such that some of her friends also throw away their resort coupons. Priya (21, named changed), an undergrad student, doubted her boyfriend’s claims that he wasn’t seeing anyone else. She bought a spy camera from SP Road, and fastened it on the strap of his backpack. “It looks like a pen drive with a clip. He went around meeting other girls,” she said. A couple of days later, Priya called her boyfriend home for dinner. After they were done, she told him she wanted to watch a movie with him. To her boyfriend’s shock, she projected footage from the spy camera on to a TV screen. “I suggest every girl should buy a spy camera to keep an eye on her boyfriend,” she told Talk. Shuba (23) is scared of using trial rooms, especially in small stores on Commercial Street. “If I have to try lingerie I go to places managed by women. Even there I first check for hidden cameras,” she says. She read on the Internet that one way to test if a trial room has a spy camera is to try making a phone call from inside. If a camera is hidden in the vicinity, the cell phone will have no reception, the article claimed. That turned out a hoax. In 2009, the Ahmedabad police arrested Ashfaq Chippa who was selling MMS clips of women changing in trial rooms across various showrooms and malls in the city. He sold each clip for Rs 100. Police suspected the housekeeping staff were involved in installing the cameras.

Dangerous liaisons In Bangalore, many women in informal and adulterous relationships admit they are scared by the possibility that they are being captured on a spy device. In October last year, a store manager in Payannur in Kerala was arrested for filming women in trial rooms. A dental college student spotted the camera and complained to the police, who arrested the manager PC Zubair. A mob then ransacked the store. The Internet is flooded with footage of Indian couples hugging, kissing, and making love. How these videos went public is not clear, but men posting clips to embarrass their ex-girlfriends isn’t uncommon. On some sites, certain clips have been replaced with a note explaining that someone, presumably one of those featured in the videos, has mailed in an objection.

Spy cameras come disguised as objects of everyday use: table clocks, photo frames, wrist watches, car key chains, pen drives, cloth hooks, pens, buttons, belts, tie-pins, caps and cans. Newer varieties are entering the market every day, and are camouflaged in increasingly imaginative ways. A more recent model comes disguised as an electrical socket.

Prices start at Rs 1,000 Affordability and easy access have made spy devices popular. A spy camera costs between Rs 1,000 and Rs 15,000. Shops selling them typically offer a year’s warranty and after sales service. The cameras are easy to use and can be charged like mobile phones. Besides shops on SP Road, websites deliver the devices to your doorstep. Many electronic shops sell basic spy cameras that look like pens and buttons. Going by what the store owners say, a majority of those buying these cameras in Bangalore are men and women caught in, or anticipating, divorce litigation. But then, using a spy camera to gather evidence may not always be the best way to deal with a divorce case. Senior advocate Pramila Nesargi says many advocates ask their clients to use spy cameras, but do not disclose that they did so in court. “For the record, clients say someone videotaped the spouse cheating and mailed it to them anonymously. This is simply to avoid being accused of infringement of privacy and trespassing. In case the client is a woman, there may also be questions like whether she sought a man’s help to instal the camera, and other kinds of muck,” she says. Despite all these legal tangles,

why do people take the trouble to shoot spy footage? Many reasons. Victims of extortion and blackmail can use spy devices to protect themselves against future demands. Spy cameras can capture the highhandedness of officials (An inspector attached to the Tilaknagar police station in Bangalore was recently caught on camera assaulting a boy). And then, cameras not only make divorce easy, but also help men avoid alimony. Advocate Kiran Rozario has come across couples who record their spouses’ transgressions, but refrain from using them as evidence in court. It is easier for them to show evidence and get their spouses to agree to a mutual divorce. His advice: “There is a lot of pain in divorces, and watching the video in public will only aggravate it. Nobody wants a messy divorce. It’s best not to show videos in public”. Ali Khwaja is against the very idea of couples using cameras to spy on each other. “I have had clients who have done it innocently. They never thought they would ever do such a thing, but they found the cameras easily and decided to see how they work,” he says. These couples installed the cameras to see what their spouses do in the house when they are away. There was little suspicion in their minds. “But when the spouse found the spy cam, there was a feeling of being distrusted, and that affects relationships,” he says. Sex vidoes are circulated by spurned lovers, but cameras also come in handy against officials who get too greedy. Contractors and vendors then videotape them and use the footage either to blackmail or expose them. (See box about N Sampagi, the Karnataka MLA who got a jail term of four and a half years for demanding and taking a bribe). Ali Khwaja is convinced spy cameras are responsible for the spread of a silent fear epidemic. He recalls a case where a young girl was traumatised after a break-up. She feared her boyfriend would use spy footage of their intimate moments to defame her. “Her parents were looking for a suitor, but she was paranoid and refused to marry, fearing her ex would show those clips to her husband,” he says. Even though the clips were never circulated, they wrecked her self-confidence. Whenever she asked the boy if he had taped her, he only gave vague replies such as “I know what I did” and “I know what I will do.”

Stung

Some high-profile cases involving spy cameras Swami Nityananda The Bangalore religious leader was caught with Tamil actress Ranjitha. Clippings were aired on the Kannada news channel TV9, after which he went into hiding. The police later arrested him in Himachal Pradesh. Nityananda claimed the video was morphed; he continues to head the mutt.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Congress MP and then a daily presence on TV news channels, was taped having sex with a lady lawyer. His driver allegedly burnt the footage on a CD and blackmailed him. He later gave the CD to some media houses. Singhvi resigned as party spokesperson and head of parliamentary standing committee on law and justice.

Bhanwari Devi The nurse was allegedly involved with Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna and Congress legislator Malkan Singh Bishnoi. She filmed her sexual acts with them, and allegedly blackmailed them. Maderna hired some men to abduct and murder her in September 2011. After killing her, they burnt her body and threw her ashes into a canal.

Tara Chowdhary The Telugu actress was arrested for allegedly luring young women into the flesh trade by promising them jobs and roles in movies. She is said to have filmed them using spy cameras and later blackmailed them and their customers. Her client list included names of politicians and top bureaucrats.

Bangaru Laxman In a sting operation in 2001, Tehelka reporters posing as arms dealers captured the then BJP President Bangaru Laxman accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh. Laxman promised he would recommend them to the Defence Ministry for the sale of night vision binoculars to the army. In April last year, a Delhi court sentenced him to four years in jail.

peep city

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

A visit to Spy Zone RAMESH HUNSUR

A shop that stocks the latest in spy tech has no restrictions on who it sells these powerful—and potentially dangerous—gadgets to

SAVIE KARNEL savie.karnel@talkmag.in

narrow staircase with pan stained walls led me to ‘Spy Zone,’ an ordinary looking shop which is almost hidden in the crowded market on SP Road. Mohammed Azeemuddin, the store manager sits behind a table with a latest flat screen desktop. There is none of the usual enthusiasm that shopkeepers show when they meet a reporter. Not surprising, since he has many journalists as his customers. later. “It was an intelligence officer. “We supply gadgets for sting opera- We offer a one year warranty on our tions to many TV channels, including products and also provide after sales the latest imported spy cameras dis- service. That’s why they keep calling guised as objects which no one will us,” he says. “What about the ‘bugs’ that we suspect,” he told me later, rattling off keep hearing about in high offices?” I names of TV channels. When asked to show his latest asked. He pulls out a thin rectangular range of spy gadgets, he casually box like thing. It has an Apple logo, places some items on the table: a and could pass off as an iPod. “Is it watch with a black dial, a pocket made by Apple?” I ask. He shakes his watch, a digital bed side clock. “All head, “No, this is a listening device. You only have to put these have cameras, a GSM SIM card in and can be placed in ‘What users buy this device and leave houses without raisit wherever you ing any suspicion,” it for isn’t our want to. When you he says, like any business,’ says call on the number, other salesman. And Azeemuddin the device picks up that’s not all. The your call and you wrist watches, he says, “can be used at a business meet- can listen to the conversation around it, on your phone. It doesn’t record, it ing or to catch a corrupt official.” This piques my interest, and I only transmits.” He then brings out something ask him if they supply spy cameras to any government organisations. “Yes. that looks like a pen drive and says, We supply to the Lokayukta and also “This is the world’s smallest voice to the state intelligence depart- recorder.” He takes out some more ments,” he replies proudly. “They boxes from the shelves; a pair of black have conducted several raids and rimmed glasses, a cap, a Coke can and covert operations using our cameras,” a key chain. “All these are cameras. Look here,” he says pointing to the he goes on to claim. As if on cue, his phone rings. I camouflaged lenses. “The glasses and guess from his manner of speaking the cap are ideal if you have to capthat a government official is on the ture something outdoors, may be at a line. “May I know who it was?” I ask picnic or in a park. The key chain is

FREE FOR ALL A customer inspects various spy gadgets on offer at Spy Zone

good if you are in an office,” he says. “Do people use these to catch corrupt officials?” I ask. “Contractors use them,” he replies, and goes on to explain, “See, when BBMP engineers demand a bribe to pass a contract, the contractors record the video of the meeting. They then show the footage to the engineers and blackmail them saying that they will hand it over to the Lokayukta. The BBMP engineers are then compelled to pass the contract.” “So, it means that people can misuse these cameras also, right?” I ask. “Yes, they do. Some people buy the bed side clocks to record their intimate moments with their girl friends without their knowledge,” he says shaking his head disapprovingly. He then takes out a cloth hook from his drawer.” Do you see this cloth hook? There is a camera in here. Some shop keepers install these in their trial rooms.” “Why do you sell it to them? Can’t you refuse to sell these cameras to such people?” I ask. “These cameras can be used for both good and bad. Our job is to simply sell. What the buyers use it for is none of our business,” he replies. He fidgets with his phone a little and continues, “Most of our customers are people who suspect their

spouses. Some wives install the cameras in their cars to see where their husbands are going, or if they are having an affair. Some husbands place the cameras in their houses to see what their wives are up to when they are away. Some working couples use these cameras to keep an eye on their domestic help or baby sitters.” He quickly adds, “You see, these spy cameras are of great use and help several genuine causes.” Surveying the varied objects spread out on the table, Azeemuddin continued, “Now most people know about pen cameras and button cameras, so we have ordered some new gadgets from Japan and Korea.” He then stood up and declared, “As of now, this is all we have.” It was a clear enough indication that it was time for me to leave. As I climbed down the stairs, it was hard to reconcile myself to the fact that the innocuous looking objects I just saw might have helped net corrupt officials and topple powerful politicians, but also broken many homes, ruined lives, aided greedy businessmen or helped blackmailers. Either way, they had the power to change the course of lives, and I wondered if they should be so easily available, or should there be a check on them.

first person

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

Sex, lies and videotape

VIVEK ARUN

Hemanth Rao (name changed), software architect at a major company, reveals how he used spy devices to capture footage of his wife's infidelity. Without the evidence, he fears, he would have paid her a ransom as alimony

e met through a common friend and fell in love. After a year, we got married. It was a loveand-arranged marriage. I was 24 and she was 22. In 2003, just a couple of months after our marriage, our problems began. She didn’t like living with my parents. Her parents threatened to file a dowry harassment case against me. So, I bought a plot, built a house and we moved out. We fought occasionally and her parents interfered in everything, but otherwise, we got along okay. As recently as in 2011, we went for a north India trip with our son, then six. In 2012, she started distancing

herself from me. I asked her to tell me what was bothering her. But she didn’t say anything. I wish I could delete last year from my life. My neighbours told me a man would come with her to our house every afternoon. I grew suspicious, but I wanted to be sure. I bought a spy camera from Burma Bazaar. It looked like a remote car key, and cost me Rs 2,500. The shopkeeper said the battery would last two hours. When I tested it, the charge lasted just half an hour. So, I had to find out when this man came home, and time the placing of the camera. I placed it on the compound wall of the house in front. It captured videos of his coming,

parking his bike inside the compound cal. Then I heard the bedroom door and going inside. close. It opened after an hour. I stopped my bike and sat on the footpath and cried. It was raining and Thud of the bedroom door people watched me. I didn’t care. I Initially, I thought it was just an emotional relationship. I wanted to know was near Ulsoor Lake. I felt like jumpwhat they talked. I got a Sony mp3 ing into it. I then told myself the relationship was over. I recorder and placed had to be courait in a shoe in the livThe spy cam geous and get out of ing room. It had a captured videos it. I read up on the battery that lasted law. I needed evieight hours. I heard of a man going dence to prove her the recording on my into my home infidelity. I wanted way to office and to file for divorce back. There were long periods of silence. Then he came before she foisted a false case on me. and they talked. There was romantic If it is proved that the wife was in an stuff like “I love you”. I kept telling adulterous relationship, the husband myself it was just talk, and not physi- need not pay alimony.

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

I have a duplex house with several rooms. I had to find out which room they used. I placed the recorder in the shoe again. I shut each door one by one. I then matched the sounds. It seemed like the bed room. I wanted to be doubly sure. I gave a call on my landline and used a stop watch to note how long she took to come to the phone. One day, I spoke like a telemarketer from a bank. My stopwatch indicated she had walked up from the bedroom.

placed the digital video recorder in it. Old TVs have small openings in front. I drilled one of them to make it bigger, and placed a camera inside. After setting it up, I used a vacuum cleaner to clean up the copper wires and insulation.

The law’s stipulations

I recorded them for five days from different angles. The law says to prove adultery in court, the faces should be visible, the people identifiable, and intercourse should happen. I wish the Mobile tower tracking She then went to Hospet, osten- law simply said holding hands or sibly to attend a friend’s wedding. kissing was enough. Recording Her lover went along with her. and watching this is not easy. Using a spy device, I found out One needs a lot of strength. When I had the video ready, which mobile towers her phone was connected to. I then went to I showed it to my wife on my lapall the lodges covered by the top. She wept and said things like, “I am not tower. I told worth your them I was She wept and love. Hit me. investigating said, ‘Hit me, I’m Shout at me.” I something and didn’t scream or looked for her not worthy of raise my hand. I lover’s name in your love’ had lost all feelthe registers. I ings for her. I found their names at one of the lodges. I coldly said, “You have seen this. knew he would not fake his name Now get lost.” The same night, I called her because hotels ask for identity proof. I didn’t let my wife know I parents and showed them the video. She pleaded with me not had got to know of her affair. The next step was to get to tell them. I had no intention of video images. I needed to instal a harming her, but I had to defend camera in the bedroom. We have myself. Her parents had threata 30-year-old TV that still ened to foist a false dowry case worked. I deliberately messed up and send me to jail. I asked them the wiring. I didn’t want her to to take their daughter with them. doubt anything. I kept quiet for a Otherwise, I was afraid she month. I then modified its would commit suicide and I wiring so that the power was would be in trouble. I had transcribed what they always on. I connected the cable to a digital video recorder. I made spoke and at what time. I put my computer stop working, and everything in an excel sheet, and

password-protected it. All these, I told myself, would come in handy in court. That was in November last year. The week I showed her the video, I also sent her a legal notice. I tipped the postman to ensure she personally received and signed it. It was a registered letter and I can track the number on the Net and prove she received it. I didn’t want her to say she didn’t receive the notice and then file a case against me.

The in-laws angle I didn’t want to defame her by taking the video to court. I asked her to agree to a mutual divorce. Her parents were fine with me not giving her any maintenance. They asked me to take care of my son’s expenses. I will certainly do that. He is my son. I have sent my son with her. He is young and needs a mother. She hasn’t been a good wife, but she has taken good care of our son. I meet him only on weekends. We filed for divorce, citing incompatibility. I expect the divorce to come through in May this year. I spent about Rs 50,000 for the cameras. It was a good investment. It saved me Rs 25 lakh in alimony. For those who want to use spy cameras on their cheating spouses, I have some advice. You need a calm mind, patience, courage, and trustworthy friends with whom you can share your secrets. You need friends who will not incite you to do something in a rage. Everything else can be googled.

(As told to Savie Karnel) EDGY Dibakar Banerjee’s 2010 film Love, Sex Aur Dhokha was a hard hitting take on the use and abuse of spy cameras

Caught you, honey! An overwhelming number of Bangalorean spy tech users are out to trap cheating spouses etective agencies rent out spy cameras to clients who either want to pry on their spouses or record the actions of abusive partners. “We may not have access to their personal spaces or their houses. It is then that we lend cameras to our clients and ask them to bring us the footage,” says Vishwanath V Katti, managing director of Guardwell Detective Services. The rent ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000, depending on the kind and number of cameras given out. Much of the business Katti gets in the ‘personal case’ section is from those seeking divorce-related information. In one case, a husband used to beat his wife regularly. Whenever family elders confronted him, he would flatly deny he was violent, and tell them she had psychological problems. “The wife approached us and we installed a camera in her house. She recorded the abuse and showed it to the elders,” he says. A similar case was reported in Mumbai in 2010. There, it was the husband who was the victim of physical abuse. Purushottam Mahajan’s

friends and family wouldn’t believe him when he told them his wife thrashed him frequently. He used a button camera and recorded his abusive wife for three months. He then uploaded an edited 30minute video on YouTube. He later used the recordings as evidence to divorce her and win custody of his son. Phaneendar BN of Evidence Experts, a Bangalorebased detective agency, told Talk about a case in which a man went absconding a few months after marriage. The man had taken Rs 5 lakh from his wife, and then stopped going home. “The wife came to us seeking help. She didn’t know where her husband was holed up, but knew that he went to work regularly,” he says. Since the husband worked at a big multinational corporation, no outsider, including his wife, could enter the office or meet him there. The private detectives waited outside his office for three days and tailed him. “We wore goggles with a spy camera and visited his house. We captured images of a woman living with him. We then handed it over to his wife, who has now lodged a police complaint against him.”

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

The vaulted chamber that captures light

Camera SAVIE KARNEL savie.karnel@talkmag.in

or a long time, a camera meant a device with which you could take still pictures. But now, the device can do much more. It can capture movements, help make video calls, keep an eye on property, ensure public safety, and much more. Curiously, the word originally meant a vaulted room in Latin. In Greek, it meant a vaulted chamber. Later it was used for any W structure with an arched roof. When the term entered English in the 17th century, it was still used to refer to a vaulted room. This usage explains the phrase in camera in legal parlance. Sometimes sensitive cases are heard by the judge in camera, and The Talk not in a public courtcolumn on word origins room. It doesn’t mean

that proceedings are recorded and the judge then sees them. It simply means that the case is heard in private. The case is either heard in the judge’s private chamber or in the courtroom without the presence of the public. A few decades after the term camera had been used for describing a room with a high ceiling, its meaning started to change. In 1728, a person coincidently named Ephraim Chambers published his Cyclopaedia, or a universal dictionary of arts and sciences. In it he used the Latin expression camera obscura to signify a darkened room. It appeared in his description of a technique in which light is allowed through a small aperture in a darkened chamber to shine on the opposite wall, projecting an image on to it. Etymologists consider this to be the first instance of the word camera being used in English for something that deals with images. The technique itself, though, is ancient and was perhaps used by the stoneage man to draw images in caves. In ancient Greece, Aristotle noticed how light passed through a small hole in a darkened

K E Y

O R D S

An 18th century illustration depicting the working of a camera obscura

room to create images during a partial solar eclipse. In the 10th century, Arabian scholar Al Hassan used this principle to demonstrate that light travelled in straight lines. It was also used by astronomers to view the sun. In the 16th century it became an aid to artists to create drawings with precision. It was also made transportable, with the effect being created in a tent. It was discovered that the same effect of the dark room could be created in a box with a hole too. Portable camera obscuras were invented, and became popular pastimes in Europe during the Victorian era. People also used them to spy on courting couples.

It was later discovered that the images could be captured by applying certain chemicals to the wall which would bleach with sunlight, forming permanent images. This went through several stages of development, ultimately leading to the creation of the device we are all familiar with today. With common usage of the term, obscura was dropped and just camera remained. In the 1920s, when video cameras were invented, the term stuck around. And today, with the profusion of cameradevices—from mobile phone cameras to spy cameras—the term has been further abridged to cam, and is unlikely to shrink any more.

Advertorial

‘A mile a day cures your diseases away’ Pic by Anagha

How important is fitness to Bangaloreans considering the present day lifestyle of the city? Fitness is the key to success. Studies have proven that a routine fitness schedule helps people cure diseases and relieves stress and anxiety. Fitness requires discipline and a positive mindset. We have to take care of our body as that is the only place we live in.

Chandra Gopalan

Run for the joy of running, says Chandra Gopalan, an accomplished marathon runner and the director of Contours India. Driven by a sedentary lifestyle, fitness still remains a minor priority among the urban populace. In a quick chat with Mithun Sudhakar, Chandra highlights the importance of running and fitness

As fitness is a key to success! How does one stay fit with the least amount of effort? Just like brushing your teeth every day, exercise is a must for everyone. There are diverse methods to involve your body into a physical fitness routine. Brisk walking, jogging, running , gymming and playing a sport are the most common ways to physical fitness. In a technology infected world making humans lazy, be it cooking, cleaning, communicating or working. What is your view on present day society with the lifestyles and food trends? Over the past few decades there has been a massive change in our life styles. Most of us over eat as food is in abundance. People rarely get off their computers and move.. It takes 10,000 steps a day to be physically active and rid yourself of diseases and stress. Hence apart from exercising 45 mine care e of yo our bo ody - it is the e only plac ce yo ou live e in n.”” Chandra says, “Take utes per day, it is important to be physically active through the indoors. Running in an a/c shoes, strength in your feet and your immune system, thereby day. chamber works against your courage in your lungs. Running fighting almost every disease. mechanism. Do you think the Running can cure a lot of dis- improves your stamina tremeneases. Why do you think run- dously, giving you a great sense Known as the garden city, the local authorities should stand up and vouch for a cleaner ning should be prioritized for of self esteem. Besides running rising levels of pollution and city, directly increasing the lack of responsibilities from improves cardio vascular fitan individual? health of the citizens and ness, reduces diabetes, normal- our governing authorities to Running is a metaphor for life. decreasing the pollution levYou get what you put into it . All izes blood pressure, assists with curb it, a lot of fitness enthuels in air, water and ground? siasts are forced to run weight control and improves you need is a pair of good

We have a long way to go in developing sports facilities in India. All that a runner requires is safe level surfaces to run on. With increasing traffic, lack of open green parks, an increasing number of pot holes and danger of stray dogs chasing, there are very few places in the city where a runner can train.

marathon attract a lot of people. Personally, the Mumbai Marathon is my favorite. I grew up in Mumbai and I love the energy and the support at the marathon. I have witnessed a lot of organizations supporting good causes, while getting people to start running and adapt a healthy lifestlye

The local governing authorities must understand the need for better facilities for runners. The importance of fitness must dwell in them too. Only when one understands and experiences the value of fitness, he/she can emphasize on it. The government should focus on fitness for its employees too. The productivity of their employees will rise.

How big a motivation is winning? If not running what would take Chandra’s time? Winning a marathon hasn’t been the greatest of motivators for me. Every marathon runner scores a personal best (PB). It is not about running for my personal recognition, but the joy of running. Helping other runners achieve their goals has been an amazing experience. Cheering and supporting them during an event is as liberating as running.

If one has to know more about fitness and running, where is the place to learn? Fitness is a matter of prioritizing time and effort. It is important to consult an educated and experienced trainer when one takes up a training program. The awareness about the importance of fitness should start from school. Sports should be a mandatory subject in our curriculum. Children should be graded and promoted based on their physical fitness too. Why running? Running fascinates me. I am an outdoor person and absolutely love the challenge of running long distances, be it a marathon or an ultra marathon. I have been running marathons since 2004. I have also done ultra marathon distances of 50 kms and 75 kms. Running gives me my own space. It liberates me Do commercializing fitness events lose the charm of its purpose? No! Fitness events like a

Three dos and don’ts for fitness, what would it be? DO • Exercise everyday • Eat sensibly • Rest well

DON’T • Fad eat • Stress yourself • Lead an unhealthy lifestyle

Few words on the upcoming marathon? The Contours Women’s Day Run (CWDR) is in its 4th edition this year. The event is an effort to celebrate the achievements and ambitions of the Indian woman. We want women to embrace a healthy lifestyle and this run is a good starting point. It is an open event to all and for a charitable cause. Funds raised in this even through registrations go to Asha(The Asha Foundation Trust - an NGO) to provide education for the under preveliaged Girl Child. It is a fun event with something in it for everybody.

Human beings started walking and running some 4-6 million years ago when we evolved and rose from all fours Cardio-respiratory fitness (aerobic fitness or “cardio”) is the ability of your heart to pump stronger and more efficiently and your muscles to use oxygen more efficiently. As you get more aerobically fit, your heart will pump more blood and oxygen with each beat (this is called “stroke volume”) and your muscles will extract (or consume) more oxygen.

back stage

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

With his Punjabi play Teri Amrita about to premiere in town, veteran actor Om Puri speaks to Talk of his return to theatre after a 25-year gap, his method for performing intimate scenes, and his penchant for the household arts

‘I’d make a good housewife’ PRACHI SIBAL prachi.sibal@talkmag.in

Why did you decide to leave theatre for film initially? And why return to it 25 years later? I started theatre first in college and did a lot of plays between 1968 and 1987. Then I went to the National School of Drama which was almost a break of two years since I did only two plays during that period. I got involved in cinema and I loved the work I was doing there. It was similar to my work in theatre, films that revolved around a social message. I love cinema, you reach out to millions of people overnight, which is exactly what happened with Tamas. I believe that theatre is the mother plant. All elements in cinema have been borrowed from theatre including music, sets and dialogues. Cinema is a child with a scientific approach to the same concepts. I’m almost 64 now and I’m not getting much good work in cinema, and that’s one the reasons I decided to get back to theatre. Was it planned out? You picked a script as widely performed as Love Letters...

Getting back to theatre was like get- Have you added more movement to it? ting back to swimming, I was afraid No, there is no action in the play. Just to jump in at the deep side. I have two people sitting and reading out been thinking about this for a few letters written to each other. Though, years. I picked Love Letters because it through those letters you will experience laughter, sadwas a simple play. I ness and action. It is used the script mainly ‘In today’s the story of a 35-yearfor my convenience. It films, there’s long relationship required just two between a Muslim actors, no sets, no no warmth or boy and a Hindu girl. lights, just two chairs gentleness’ Such marriages were and glasses of water. I rare then. They write knew I could travel with it. If it was a play that required letters to each other for several years 14 or 15 actors, I would end up per- but the relationship doesn’t last. forming it over and over again only in Does theatre feel different now? Mumbai. For an actor, frankly, there is no difference. It’s just that in theatre you Why translate the script into Punjabi? The play is already being performed have to project yourself to 2,000 peoby Shabana Azmi and Farooq Sheikh ple, as opposed to cinema where you in Hindi and has been performed in are playing to just one, the camera. English, so I decided to get it translat- Getting back is a wonderful feeling ed into my own mother tongue. It is though. In theatre, you get live for people who love the Punjabi lan- applause and standing ovations. You guage and no challenge for Hindi- get that in cinema too sometimes; speakers as they would understand 80 there are times when after a shot per cent of it. That said, I don’t expect everybody at the sets stand up to a Kannadiga to follow the play; it is applaud, but it is not very common. primarily for a Punjabi audience. Theatre now uses a lot more technology than it did 25 years ago. Was it easy to The play has only minimal action.

adapt? It was not too difficult. Technical changes are there everywhere, even in farming. I was recently visiting a maternal uncle’s farm in Punjab and saw ripe potatoes that needed to be plucked out of the soil. When I asked him how he took care of the ordeal, he told me about a machine that plucks them! Shyam Benegal once said your life story is worthy of a biopic. Are you planning to do one? I have no such intentions; it was just something he said. My life has indeed been adventurous, but why must I do it? If somebody is interested, they can make a film. My wife, Nandita wrote a biography (Unlikely Hero) of me some years ago and unfortunately it became controversial. I was deeply hurt as I was not even allowed to read the manuscript. What’s next? I am part of a film, Rambhajan Zindabad, a political satire on the various schemes that the government introduces for the public. The intention is good but the schemes often get misused. It was Rajiv Gandhi himself

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who said, “Of every rupee spent by the government, only 17 paise reaches the intended beneficiary.” Your comment at the Anna Hazare campaign landed you in controversy. Are you more reluctant to speak up now? I did not say anything untrue. My language was unpolished and I have already apologised for that. Calling politicians illiterate and ignorant was not right on my part. I could have said the same thing in different but more complex words. I said sorry for the words but not for the sentiment. You can ask any shopkeeper or vendor the same thing and see what he says. The government doesn’t mind people talking; to them it is just like dogs barking. It was reported that Mallika Sherawat was embarrassed about doing a bold scene with you in Dirty Politics (the film supposedly based on murdered Rajasthani nurse Bhanwari Devi’s life). What about you? Firstly, about the film being based on Bhanwari Devi, it is not true. It is a typical commercial film. Moreover, there are so many other politicians involved in incidents like these. I play the role of an uncouth politician. In Bhanwari Devi’s case the exploitation was mutual, but again,

scenes. Foreign films don’t embarrass you, but ours are crude. I’d be embarrassed to let my son watch such scenes in Hindi films, but not in a Western film. It’s the same with item numbers. It’s not always necessary for a woman to show her legs and boobs, especially women from good families. As it is, there is so much resentment in the youth that they don’t think twice about grabbing a woman; so why market that? There is no romance in films these days. Or even sex, for that matter. There’s no warmth, no gentleness. You recently contributed recipes to a vegan cookbook. Are you much of a cook? I am a decent cook. In fact, I would make a good housewife. I can cook, clean, stitch and more, these are things that I learnt in childhood. My recipes are not complicated. COMEBACK KID Om Puri and Divya Dutta in Teri Amrita, Punjabi version of AR Gurney’s Love Letters I can make as many as three dishes in one that wasn’t the only case where the woman embarrassed. You know that your body will hour and feed four to five people. I use garbe seen by millions in the audience, why lic, ginger, onion, tomato, jeera and salt. I begins to the exploit the man either. About the intimate scene, I don’t feel bother about who is watching on the sets? keep away from the masalas available in the market. I also avoid fried food. The weight uncomfortable. I have done so many loveyou see on me is mainly due to lack of exermaking scenes in Western films. After all, it How differently are intimate scenes treated cise. I plan to start walking soon. is only a performance, you are only giving in Indian cinema compared to the West? the impression of making love, and you are Unfortunately, Indian cinema is all about not actually doing it. I don’t see why shoot- titillation. Very few Indian films keep aes- Teri Amrita plays on February 23, at MLR ing a scene like that should make anyone thetics in mind while shooting intimate Convention Centre, Whitefield

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Rewind The week that was  Nuclear tests: North Korea conducts its third nuclear tests, defying US and world pressure, threatens to conduct more.  Air strike: A Nato air strike killed eight Afghan civilians, four children and four women, as well as a number of insurgents in an eastern province near the Pakistani border.  Self-immolation: A 21year-old Tibetan monk set himself on fire in front of Boudhanath Stupa, the holiest Tibetan shrine in Kathmandu, in the first case of self immolation by a Tibetan in Nepal against Chinese rule in Tibet.  Reforms: US President Barack Obama has made a strong push for comprehensive immigration reforms, saying immigrants make the US economy stronger.  Guam killings: Three people were killed and 11 injured—most believed to be Japanese tourists— when a crazed man went on a stabbing spree in the Pacific nation of Guam.  Refuge: Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed sought refuge in the Indian High Commission in Male, after an arrest warrant was issued against him.  Assam violence: The toll in Assam’s Goalpara district rose to 15 with violence continuing even as indefinite curfew continued and the army flag-marching affected areas.  In defense: Amid growing clamour for resignation of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien in the Suryanelli gangrape case, his wife has rejected the allegations against him as “malicious charges.”  Suicide attempt: A BMTC driver attempted suicide by consuming poison in the chamber of a senior officer alleging harassment.

Calling young scientists Scientifically curious teens now have a platform for their talent. Google Science Fair, a unique Google initiative, wants young scientists in the age group of 13-18 to submit science projects that can help change the world. The company has set up a comprehensive website that not only gives guidelines for your submission, but also has many resources that help you pick a project best suited for you. The

Science Heroes section tells you stories of people who changed the world through simple scientific projects. The grand prize this year is

formulate the theory of evolution. Other prizes include Google scholarships for both the student and his/ her school, LEGO goodies and a handson experience with Google Science Fair’s a trip to the Galapagos partner organisations, Archipelago, the flora- which includes the and-fauna-rich Pacific famous CERN labs. islands where Charles For more information, Darwin made his log on to legendary field trips www.googlesciencefair which helped him .com.

Digital art workshop Learn everything about digital art from Andrew ‘Android’ Jones, one of the foremost practitioners of the visionary art movement, a wave of digital artists who emphasise creativity as the foundation of consciousness and agent of social change. Jones, who calls himself a 'digital alchemist,' will take students from any level of experience and help them unlock the secrets of new digital creative tools. The visionary art movement builds on

the technical developments of art by using new technologies and media forms. The workshop will be held over February 21 and 22 at MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield. For more information, log on to www.creativegaga.com

Go ahead, say you’re sorry New York-based writer Dave Bry’s forthcoming book, Public Apology, has been described as ‘a sort of a memoir told through incidents of regrettable behaviour.’ The book grew out of the author’s newspaper column, where he would post apology letters to people he had wronged in the past. Bry has now taken this a step ahead to give people a platform to post anonymous apologies so that they could get it off their chest. You can post notes or videos, reveal names or keep them anonymous. He promises not to edit the notes unless something libelous or offensive is posted. Here are a few

samples: I’m sorry I made fun of you for saying “sorry” all the time, but I’m even more sorry for turning into someone who needs to be saying it all the time. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the last year, and most of them have to do with you. This might even be one now! If so, I’m sorry. This is me apologising for making you a nervous wreck by being such a nervous wreck. Hope you can forgive me.

Dear Grandma, I’m sorry that I didn’t ask for the patterns or pictures or letters I took from you. They said you wouldn’t notice, that you had memory problems. And I was afraid that you would give them away and I wouldn’t get them. And since you weren’t going to use them anymore… I realise now that even if you really had memory problems it doesn’t mean I can take your things. I’m just too afraid to tell you that I’m the one who took them… Log on to publicapologyproject.tumblr. com to post your own

Delhi's World Book Fair goes annual Book lovers have reason to rejoice. The bi-annual World Book Fair, recently concluded in New Delhi by will now be an annual spring affair. Besides going annual, the festival will also be marked by three distinctly new features—a separate rights table to facilitate publishing and retail trade, an authors’ corner and a CEO Speak section which will see senior professionals talk about the publishing industry. Poland will be the guest of honour country in next year’s edition of the World Book Fair.

Startup sparks E-Sparks 2013, organised by YourStory and sponsored by Microsoft, will showcase emerging players in the ecommerce sector. Speakers include Saran Chatterjee of Flipkart.com, Vivek Prabhakar of Chumbak Design, and Shailendra Singh of Seuoia Capital.

The event will also have an assortment of panel discussions, keynote talks and Q&A sessions attended by industry leaders, successful entrepreneurs, investors and enablers from the e-commerce sector. The event offers an opportunity to learn about the latest in e-commerce. On February 16 at Royal Orchid Hotel Old Airport Road.. For more info, log on to: esparks.yourstory.in

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Forward

Screenwriting mela for films that tell the truth Film Writers' Association Mumbai has announced the third Indian Screenwriters' Conference, centred on the theme 'Untold Stories: Screenwriting and the Truth of our Times.' While creative and professional freedom in Indian cinema and television is expanding, the question remains: How much of our changing social reality does popular entertainment reflect? The FWA believes it is time for some soul-searching among screenwriters, who as creators of narratives that engage the popular imagination must address the question of social responsibility. The conference will showcase new and interesting work in film and TV,

Akhtar, Gulzar, Sudhir Mishra, Rituparno Ghosh, Hariharan and Prasoon Joshi, among others. Well-known social scientist Shiv Vishwanathan will deliver the keynote address, while Tom Schulman (Oscar winner for Dead Poets’ Society) and Rebecca Kessinger (Writers' Guild of America) will be present as special guests.

and discuss the newly amended Copyright Act. With nearly 850 screenwriters and writerdirectors expected to participate, the conference is

the most important screenwriting event in the country. The who's who of the screenwriting world will be in attendance: Salim Khan, Javed

The conference is open only to FWA members, so if you want to be a member, this is a good time to go for it. Log on to www.fwa.co.in or mail screenwritersconference@gmail .com to register. Venue: St. Andrew's Auditorium, Bandra (W), Mumbai Dates: February 25 to 27

Valentine Aligarh film fest invites entries verse by Nash American poet Ogden Nash, who passed away more than 40 years ago, was famous for his light verse. Not surprisingly, he was cynical about the manufactured mushfest that’s Valentine’s Day, as this short and funny poem, titled To My Valentine, shows us. More than a catbird hates a cat, Or a criminal hates a clue, Or the Axis hates the United States, That’s how much I love you. I love you more than a duck can swim, And more than a grapefruit squirts, I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore, And more than a toothache hurts. As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea, Or a juggler hates a shove, As a hostess detests unexpected guests, That’s how much you I love. I love you more than a wasp can sting, And more than the subway jerks, I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch, And more than a hangnail irks. I swear to you by the stars above, And below, if such there be, As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes, That’s how you’re loved by me.

The University Film Club, Aligarh Muslim University, will be holding its sixth Film Saaz International Film Fest from March 3 to 5, 2013 at the Kennedy auditorium. The festival gives special emphasis to short films and documentaries. The club was established by some enthusiastic faculty members back in 1974 with the aim to promote the cinematic culture among the students of AMU. The

Kaifi Azmi, Anubhav Sinha and Ajay Jhingran, among others. A series of film workshops, lectures and other programmes will be organised by the Club on the sidelines of the festival.

alumni who have left their mark in the field if cinema— in direction, screenplay, lyrics and music —include Kanan Devi, Naseeruddin Shah, KA Abbas, Javed Akhtar, Shakil Badauni,

Filmmakers who want to submit their works to the festival must send them in on or before February 24. For registration form and rules and regulations, log on to filmclub.amu.ac.in

Oh Calcutta! Calcutta: Two Years In The City, is acclaimed writer Amit Chaudhuri’s chronicle of his time spent in India’s original metropolis after he returned from a spell abroad. If it can be said to fall into any genre, it is that of the ‘love letter to a city’. The genre has given us such gems as Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City on Mumbai and Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful

Forevers on Delhi. A mix of history, journalism and personal memoir, it ranges further afield than both those works, and has already been hailed as a masterpiece. Chaudhuri uses the historical state assembly elections of 2011 as the fulcrum of his meditations, and paints an ironic portrait of the city and its people. The narrative shuttles between 19th century Calcutta, bursting with

The week ahead  LA hunt: The search for fugitive former Los Angeles policeman Christopher Dorner, 33, suspected of a revenge-fueled killing spree, is expected to continue.  China warning: ChinaNorth Korea relations set to sour as China reacted angrily to the latter’s third nuclear test and conveyed its protest to Pyongyang.  Next Pope: Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement of resignation sets the stage for a succession battle that is likely to determine the future course of the Catholic Church troubled by scandal and declining faith.  2G probe: BJP president Rajnath Singh has said the party will step up pressure for widening the scope of a probe into prosecutoraccused collusion in the 2G spectrum scam case.  Left reign: The Left front is hoping to script history by returning to power for a fifth consecutive time in Tripura in the assembly polls.  IAF scandal: Former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi is garnering attention of the probe agencies as his name has surfaced in the VVIP helicopter scam. He has admitted having met one of the alleged middlemen but claimed innocence.  Copter deal: The Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal, put on hold following corruption allegations, is expected to dominate the news the coming week.  Lokayukta: Former High Court chief justice Y Bhaskar Rao, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, will head the Karnataka Lokayukta, a post vacant for 17 months.

vitality, and 21st century Kolkata, which after a long period of decay, seems to be finally coming to grips with a globalising world.

 Ambedkar statue: The Karnataka High Court will hear petitions on shifting of Dr Ambedkar’s statue in front of Vidhana Soudha, indicating that it wants an end to the controversy.

box office

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The return of Veerappan AMR Ramesh, director of the hit film Cyanide (on the killers of Rajiv Gandhi), has just released Attahaasa, a biopic about forest brigand Veerappan. The Tamil and Telugu versions are shorter and tweaked to sensibilities in other states, but it is the full-length Kannada version he recommends you see

DAAAYYYY! Ramesh says lead actor Kishore spent six years preparing for the role. (Bottom right) Arjun Sarja as the task force chief

BASU MEGALKERI basavaraju@talkmag.in

or over two decades, Veerappan was feared in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Media stories spoke about his cruelty and his ghastly murders. He was responsible for the deaths of at least 184 people, some of them policemen. While helpless governments looked on, he had plundered the forests for sandalwood and killed elephants for their ivory. Kannada film maker AMR Ramesh, who earned critical acclaim for Cyanide, a film on Rajiv Gandhi’s killers, has now captured Veerappan’s story on celluloid. Researching his subject for over 12 years, Ramesh met hundreds of people who knew the brigand. He also spoke to Kempaiah and Gopal Hosur, senior police officers involved in the operations against Veerappan. Four of Veerappan’s accomplices, now in death row, had applied for Presidential clemency. News broke earlier this week that Pranab Mukherjee rejected their petitions. Meanwhile, Attahaasa director and co-producer Ramesh tells Talk why he is so excited about his film.

What is Attahaasa all about? This is a biopic about Veerappan. It has no love songs, no romance, no comedy routines. Many say Veerappan was ‘notorious’. Yes, he had harmed the police. But he is a demi-god to the Vanniyar people living on the fringes of the forest. Their villages got drinking water only because of him. He did not trouble them, and they did not worry about him. To whom does the forest belong? Who should protect it? My film has both arguments.

of the Special Task Force set up to nab him.

Why three languages? We have shot the film separately for Tamil and Kannada. While the Tamil film is two hours and five minutes long, the Kannada version runs for two hours and 45 minutes. We have dubbed the Tamil version into Telugu. I have the confidence that the Kannada audience will like the film. I don’t like creating controversies. I am not one of those sitting in TV studios, trying to promote their films through controversies. I What got you interested in him? People in Karnataka felt Veerappan was want my film to do well at the box office reckless only after he kidnapped on the strength of its content. Rajkumar. I was involved in the language movement, and was a member of Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi had some a Rajkumar fan club. I was the first to go concerns. into the forest after the kidnapping. I Yes, Veerappan was her husband, but he was the first to meet Tamil political isn’t her property alone. She went to activists Nedumaran and Kolatthur court and demanded money through Mani, who mediated on behalf of negotiators. Now all that has been Veerappan. Mugilan, Perumal and cleared. (This interview was conducted Selvam are three Veerappan associates early January. On Feb 14, the Supreme involved in the abduction of Rajkumar, Court directed Ramesh to pay a sum of and they are all in the film. Nagappa Rs 25 lakh as compensation to Maradagi, who escaped from Muthulakshmi. The Madras High Veerappan’s clutches, plays himself in Court, on an earlier complaint from her the film. I personally like the abduction had asked for some cuts. Ramesh comsequence. Suresh Oberoi has brought plied, but then Muthulakshmi life to the role of Rajkumar. Kannada approached the Apex court). Then Nakkeeran Gopal went to actor Kishore plays Veerappan, with Arjun Sarja donning the role of the court. After he saw the movie he K Vijay Kumar, the chief patted my back and said I had done a good job. As for allegations about my copying the story, many journalists have written about Veerappan as they saw him. Similarly I have made a film about Veerappan as I saw him. Why these double standards? What will your film reveal? How many really know about the role

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RAMESH HUNSUR

Questions, questions Veerappan's wife Muthulakshmi: The film shows my husband as a villain and Kannada actor Rajkumar as a hero. (The Supreme Court has ordered director/coproducer Ramesh to pay her Rs 25 lakh before releasing it in Tamil) Kannada icon Rajkumar's family: We're worried

about how Appaji (respectful name for Rajkumar) might be portrayed. Tamil journalist Nakkeeran Gopal: Have they shown me as an unscrupulous dealmaker? Gururaj, who wrote a book on Veerappan: They've stolen my story.

Who was Veerappan?

AUTHENTIC Ramesh with the bullet-punctured diary and briefcase of Gopal Hosur, senior officer in the task force that killed Veerappan

right hand man of Veerappan, this many know. But before him there was a man called Gurunathan. How many know of him? I have done his role myself. There is no ‘reel’ in my film. Everything is real-people, places, incidents.

Tell us about your hero. I promise you, people are going to forget the face of Veerappan—it will be replaced by that of Kishore! He has done the role so well. Kishore has wandered the forests with me for six years. He has internalised many of

DAAAYYYY! Ramesh says lead actor Kishore (right) spent six years preparing for the role

Veerappan’s characteristics. Which hero would do this just for one film, one role? And finally, how many people know the secret of Veerappan’s death? I have revealed this in the film. I have revealed the truth as I saw it.

Despite a Rs 5 crore price on his head, Veerappan remained untraceable for decades. Was he a Robin Hood who robbed the rich to help the poor? That's what many villagers believed. He smuggled sandalwood out of the forests. He sold ivory and animal skin. People who knew him say he wouldn't hesitate to commit the most gruesome of

murders. They say he had friends in high places, in politics and the police department. He hit the national headlines when he abducted Kannada movie star Rajkumar on July 30, 2000, from his house in Gajanur, and held him hostage for 109 days. Veerappan fell to the bullets of the Special Task Force on October 18, 2004.

L I S T I NGS

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book launch

food Sarjapur Road, February 17 30412940

 Taste of Asia: This weekend enjoy a spread of Japanese, Thai and Korean dishes. Choose from sushi, maki rolls and dimsums and for the main course enjoy a variety in chicken, prawns, beef, fish and vegetables. Shiro, 2nd Floor , UB City, Vittal Mallya Road, February 17 41738864

 Doughnut delight: Enjoy jelly-filled doughnuts, the latest offering from Mad Over Donuts. Available in flavours like berry bites, pucker up, loco for coco and fruitilicious. They are priced at Rs 50 each. Available at all Mad Over Donuts outlets  Sweet offerings: You don't need Valentine's Day to make your loved one feel special. Just give him/her a box of almond rocks, Belgian chocolate, white chocolate, caramel nutties, soft centered chocolate and others to express your love. Deli Counter, Gateway Hotel, No. 66, Ground Floor , Residency Road, February 15 66604545  Sizzling weekend:

Dig into some sizzlers that will leave you wanting more. Have some herb and lemon crusted grilled chicken served over smoky flavoured vegetables with chardonnay fondue sauce, crispy corn strips and black bean mousse, Hungarian steak goulash, flavoured beef steak stew topped with exotic vegetables, chicken tikka makhani, paneer tikka butter masala and more. Hard Rock Café, 40, St Marks Road, till February 17 41242222

 Have fun while you learn: Learn to bake goodies this weekend with Smitha Sujir who will teach you how to make tarte tatin spinach, gruyere tarts, banana and caramel frosted cupcakes and lemon cupcakes. Following the workshop you can also feast on the baked goodies and have an interactive session with her. Le Crueset store, #25, Lavelle Road, 2 pm February 16 40926824

 Seafood brunch: Craving for some sea food? Satisfy your cravings this weekend as you choose from a variety of seafood like fish, prawns, crabs and more. Buffet is priced at Rs 1,199 plus tax (including alcohol). Fisherman's Waft, 26, Opposite Shubh Enclave, Haralur Road, Off

retail therapy  Shopping spree: Make the most of this season as you shop at Megamart and avail a discount of 50 per cent on you purchase. Also you can get a Mossimo bag worth Rs 1,499 for just Rs 99. Megamart, Forum Value Mall, Whitefield, February 15  Bag it: Ladies head out this weekend and pick out good deals on bags. Shop for bags and avail a discount up to 50 per cent. The bags are with contemporary design and can be carried to work or for a get together. Available at Holii outlets till February 17  Revamp you kitchen: Le Creuset brings to you pots and pans and other kitchen essentials that will last you for a long time. On your purchase you can also avail a discount up to 50 per cent. Le Crueset store, #25, Lavelle Road, till February 22 40926824  Love khadi? Show your love for khadi as Basava Ambara unveils the khadi line called

 Military mania: Well known writer Mukul Deva will be in the city this weekend to launch his book RIP. Mukul has written on military subjects including his best selling Lashkar series. RIP, The Resurgent Indian Patriots is about Colonel Krishna Athawale and his team of Special Forces officers who try to protect the country from the enemy within. They are known as the K Team. The book also talks about a rogue commando who is against Athawale and his team. Caught in between are Vinod Bedi, Special Director, CBI and two young boys, Sachin and Azaan. Mukul Deva has delivered five best sellers in the past five years. he was in the Army for a decade in the operational service. Crossword Store, Sarakki Industrial Area, JP Nagar, February 15, 6.30 pm 41208691  The ticking clock: Milan Vohra, India’s first Mills & Boon author is now out with another book that gives you a sneak peak into the whacky side of her life. Tick-tock We’re 30 which will be launched in the city this weekend is about a woman, Lara approaching the 30-year mark. The whole gang of friends is coming together to celebrate the day as planned many years ago. Also, there are other mishaps linked with this landmark like a promise to a friend, Nishad. Lara’s life is full of quirky characters and she must pass off one of them as her lover so as to avoid an embarrassment with Nishad. The book promises to keep you guessing who Lara will end up with. Vohra’s first book Love Asanas is also being translated into other languages. Ista, MG Road, 4.30 pm Call Preeti Kumar at 9738030006 for an invite

music

Leslie Charles Qartret

’Metaphor Racha' designed by Chandrashekhar and Ravi Kiran. Choose from bags, kurtas and more. Basava Ambara, 93, Kanakapura Road, Near Gunasheela Nursing Home, Basavangudi, till February 15 65461856  Neighbourhood carnival: Enjoy a two day extravaganza this weekend at the Oorotsava - Your Friendly Neighbourhood Carnival. At this carnival you can enjoy some music, savour some food and have a good time with your family. The Camel Academy, Bannerghatta Road, February 16 and 17 9845998899  Shopping fiesta: Has the shopping bug bitten you yet? If yes then, head to the nearest Wrangler showroom where you can avail a discount of 50 per cent or on your purchase of one product you can get the other one free. Available at all Wrangler outlets till February 17

 Mystik Vibes live: Catch the Mystik Vibes perform this weekend. Watch artists Aman Mahajan on keyboard, Muthu Kumar on percussion, Amith on flute and Mishko on bass perform music that is inspired from around the world. Bak Bak BAR, No. 1, Kira Layout, Koramangala, February 15, 8.30 pm 8792000392  Quatret at work: Leslie Charles Quartet is a jazz outfit that experiments with jazz tunes and also plays hip hop, rock, funk, soul to psychedelic music. Watch Leslie Charles on bass, Ramanan Chandramouli on gui-

tars, Deepak Raghu on drums and Karan Joseph on keys. bFlat, 100 Feet Road, Above ING Bank, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, February 15, 8.30 pm 41739250  Return to the 90’s: This weekend witness Biju Nair perform along with Supriya Ramakrishnaia, Anit Chand, Sapna Chand, Kavya Maiya, Kumaran Muthuraman, Raghupati Jha and Reena Hebbar. Watch them as they relive the 90's with some well known romantic Hindi numbers. Sathya Sai Samskruta Sadanam, Besides PVR Cinema , Big Bazaar Road, Koramangala, February 16, 6.30 pm

 Music festival: The Bangalore Music Festival is sure to start your weekend on the right note. Watch DJ Jasmeet live as an opening act. He will spin out some groovy desi tunes from behind the console. Phoenix Market City, Mahadevpura, Whitefield Road, February 15, 7 pm  When East meets West: Watch Prem Joshua and Band perform some world fusion music this week. Their music is a mix of Indian and Western jazz and funk. Hard Rock Cafe, # 40, St Marks Road, February 21, 8 pm 9243777970

L I S T I NGS theatre

 A Play A Pint A Pie: A set of four short plays will be staged by city-based troupe, Dramanon. The play is full of laughter, melancholy and absurdity. The first play, Smell is about two best friends, Surgery is about a dentist who is with a patient on the first day of his job, Absolution is about a man who makes a business out of

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talk picks

84 Charing Cross Road

a death and The Game is about four friends who are at a party and the game that they play. CounterCulture, 2D2, 4th Cross Dyavasandra Industrial Area, Whitefield, February 17 41400794  California Suite: The play is a set of four short plays that have one

thing in common, Suite 203 and 204 of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Actress Diana Nichols is nominated for the Academy Awards best actress category. She knows that she has no chance of winning. At the same time her marriage is turbulent. A visitor from New York, Hannah Warren is here to get her daughter back who is living with her screen writer father. The divorced couple is left to decide what is best for the girl. Conservative businessman Marvin Michaels is all worried after a prostitute falls unconscious in his room. Trouble mounts as his wife is on her way to the suite. From Chicago, the two couples Stu Franklyn and his wife and Mort Hollender and his wife are also staying at the same hotel. Things go hay wire when Stu's wife hurts herself during a tennis match. Ranga Shankara, #36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, February 19, 7.30 pm 26592777  Yayati: One of Girish Karnad's first

plays, Yayati is based on an episode on Mahabharata where Yayati is given the curse of premature old age by his father-in-law, Shukracharya, who is incensed by Yayati’s infidelity. Ranga Shankara, #36/2, 8th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar, February 20, 7.30 pm 26592777  84 Charing Cross Road: The play is about the long distance friendship between Helene Hanff and Frank. The play includes many incidents including Christmas packages, food parcels from Helene to tide over the postWorld War II rationing and birthday gifts. Jagriti Theatre, Varthur Road, Ramagondana Halli, Whitefield, February 15 and 16, 8 pm and February 16, 3 pm and 6.30 pm 41248298

To get your event listed, write to us at listings@talkmag.in

The top five books that you should be reading

Playing to Win: The book revolves around the corporate world Author AG Lafley and Roger L Martin Published by Harvard Publishing Price: Rs 995 Arjuna Saga of a Pandava Warrior Prince: The book is set against the backdrop of the Mahabharata and is about the Pandava warrior, Arjuna, about his love, friendship and his death Author Anuja Chandramouli Published by Plantinum Press Price: Rs 250

Billionaire Boy: The book is about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Author George Beahm Published by Harper Collins India Price: Rs 199 Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The book is about the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s Author Rahul Pandita Published by Random House Price: Rs 499

Accidental Apprentice: The book is about a sales girl, Sapna, who is made the CEO of the company out of the blue by one of the country’s most wealthy men. Author Vikas Swarup Published by Simon Schuster India Price: Rs 350 Courtesy Sapna Book House

film Murder 3 stars Vivek Oberoi and Neha Sharma in the lead. Innovative multiplex, Marathahalli- 12.40 pm, 7.40 Rockline cinemas, Jalahalli cross- 1.20 pm, 6.25 INOX, JP Nagar12.50 pm INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 9.35 pm INOX, Mantri Mall, Malleswaram- 8.50 pm Gopalan Cinemas, Bannerghatta Road- 2.40 pm Fame Lido, off MG Road- 12.30 pm Gopalan Grand Mall, Old Madras Road- 2.45 pm PVR, Kormangala- 10.05 am, 9.30 pm

 Murder 3 Hindi The third installment of the Murder franchise, the film is about Vikram, a fashion and wildlife photographer who gets into a relationship with Nisha, a waitress at a lounge. Nisha soon moves in with Vikram but little does she know that his house is haunted. Vikram on the other hand is also dealing with his ex-girlfriend's disappearance. Directed by Vishesh Bhatt, it stars Randeep Hooda, Sara Loren and Aditi Rao Hydari in the lead. Everest theatre, Frazer Town- 11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 Rex Theatre,

Brigade Road- 9.55 pm Veereesh cinemas- 10 pm Innovative multiplex, Marathahalli- 10.30 am, 3 pm, 5.15, 10 Rockline cinemas, Jalahalli cross- 10.45 am, 4.05 pm, 9.30 INOX, JP Nagar- 10 am, 12.55 pm, 6.45, 9.40 INOX, Swagath Garuda Mall, Jayanagar- 10 am, 3.50 pm, 6.40, 9.45 INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 10 am, 12.25 pm, 3.50, 7.15, 9.45 Gopalan Cinemas, Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 12.35 pm, 5.30, 7.35 CineMAX, Outer Ring Road, Bellandur- 10 am, 12.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 Vision Cinemas- 10.30 am, 4 pm, 9.45 Fame Lido, Off

MG Road- 10.05 am, 1.10 pm, 7.15 , 9.40 PVR, Koramangala- 10.10 am, 12.55 pm, 6.30, 9.30 PVR, Orion Mall- 10 am, 1.25 pm, 4.05, 6.45, 9.25  Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story Hindi This romantic comedy is about a street thug, who falls in love with a girl. The girl acts very simple but she is actually a bigger rebel than him. Directed by Vinnil Markan it

 Zero Dark Thirty English The death of Osama Bin Laden created a flutter across the world. The movie is about the intelligence and military operatives who track down Osama Bin Laden. It brings together directorproducer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal of Hurt Locker fame again. It stars Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke,

Kyle Chandler , Jennifer Ehle and Joel Edgerton in the lead. Q Cinemas, ITPL, Whitefield- 10.10 am, 4.10 pm, 10 INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road- 2.50 pm, 9.10 INOX, Mantri Mall, Malleswaram- 3.30 pm INOX, JP Nagar- 9.10 pm Cinepolis, Bannerghatta Road- 4.10 pm, 10 PVR, Kormangala- 6.15 pm,

9.10 Fame Forum Value Mall- 7 pm PVR, Orion Mall- 6.25 pm, 9.10  Attahasa Kannada The biopic is based on the life of notorious forest brigand Veerappan. Ever since the shooting of the movie began, there have been constant controversies around it.

Directed by AMR Ramesh, it stars Kishore who plays the role of Veerappan in the film, Arjun Sarja, Lakshmi Rai and Suresh Oberoi, who plays the role of Dr Rajkumar. Tribhuvan 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Govardhan10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Nalanda- 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Nandini- 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 Q Cinemas, ITPL- 12.50 PM, 3.45, 6.45 CineMAX, Outer Ring Road, Bellandur- 10 am, 1 pm, 6.45 Fame Lido, off MG Road- 12.50 pm, 4 INOX, Garuda Mall, Magrath Road12.55 pm, 3.25 PVR, Koramangala6.15 pm PVR, Orion Mall- 6.10 pm

Attahasa

smart tool

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

Whatsapp sidelines SMS RAMESH HUNSUR

Texting is on the decline with the emergence of a cross-platform mobile messaging application that allows you to exchange messages, pictures, audio and video files, all for free

MARIA LAVEENA maria.laveena@talkmag.in

hatsapp, the crossplatform smartphone messaging app that the London-based Financial Times famously declared to have “done to SMS what Skype did to international calling,” is gaining popularity in Bangalore too—with palpable impact on SMS, long a popular add-on for mobile phone operators. Whatsapp, launched in July 2009 by two former Yahoo! engineers, enables users to exchange messages, pictures, audio and video files for free, rather like other proprietary messaging systems like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)—except that it works across smartphone platforms like Android, IOS, and Blackberry. While the service is free for the first year, users in the West start paying from the second year. Those installing the app here are now being informed that a Rs 55 annual charge may be levied soon. Whatsapp has an estimated 250 million users worldwide, with messages per day hitting upwards of 10 billion, according to published reports.

The Whatsapp story

As you would expect, Whatsapp began life in the Silicon Valley in the US, launched in July 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, earlier working together at Yahoo! Whatsapp handles around 10 billion messages per day as of August 2012 (Wikipedia). In comparison with the high profile start-up entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley, the duo not only keep a low profile, but are much older. As a private company, they do not provide revenue or profit figures.

In the old days, there were heaps of free SMS offers by all major operators. A recent decree by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has forced all of them to charge for SMS services. This is having its own impact. Until six months ago, a Tata Docomo outlet at Indiranagar used to activate about 40 SMS packs every month, but it’s now down to just five. Shibu Sinha, the store-in-charge, blames TRAI’s rule for the dwindling off take. “People are not ready to pay extra money for message packs. In the beginning, we gave 200 SMSes free per day but now it’s reduced to 100 and users are charged Re 1 for the first two SMSes,” he said. According to Joysten (name changed), a salesman, even Idea outlets in the city aren’t doing that great in the ‘texting’ business. Joysten, who has been working with Idea for more than three years, told Talk, “Unquestionably, the message packs’ activation has come down in the past one year. We have lost around 60 per cent of our customers.” Narsimha Raju, Senior Customer Care Executive of Reliance, also has the same opinion. In addition, he reports a steady rise of activation for GPRS packs at his outlet. GPRS is a basic Internet service. He says Internet packs were expensive before and are now more affordable. (Free apps like Whatsapp work over

the Internet, unlike say, the BBM, which has its own network). At Reliance, they have introduced a number of recharge packs where their customers not only get talk time but free GPRS. There are also special GPRS packs for both GSM and CDMA phones. Tata Docomo executives also say that its GPRS packs are doing very well in the city. Concomitantly, there is a sense that Whatsapp is getting increasingly popular. While only time will tell if apps like Whatsapp will kill SMS, the appeal is clear. Rochelle Pinto, a software professional, is a fan. “My boyfriend and I are in a long-distant relationship,” she told Talk. “We use Whatsapp to keep in touch and it has been of great help to us at all times.”

The increasing popularity of Android phones is also contributing to users abandoning SMS for Whatsapp. With cheap GPRS packs, not to mention relatively cheap handsets, Android smartphones are a draw by themselves. Bharath Kumar, owner of Heera Stationery in Ulsoor, says brands such as Samsung, Micromax, Karbonn and Lava offer Android phones in an affordable range from Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000. Bharat adds: “Without Internet, having an Android phone is a waste. My customers who used to come for message activations are now coming to me for GPRS activation. The ones who really use the SMS packs are the people who have low incomes and own a very ordinary phone.”

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

DEMONSTRATED BY PRIYA CRASTA. PHOTOS BY RAMESH HUNSUR. TRANSCRIBED BY RADHIKA P

The ability to understand change Way of Budo 21 In budo you learn to cultivate an unceasing awareness of your own negativities, says Sensei Avinash Subramanyam

udo is the way of the warrior (bu=warrior and do=way). But the warrior can be understood in many ways. It can mean great fighters or men of honour. Many samurais committed seppuku (ritual suicide) for honour. My own budo path is inspired by my sensei (teacher) and moulded to fit modern times. Martial art and life for me is like a cloud—formless and seamless. The point is not to win or lose but to give your best. Thoughts of victory or defeat, honour or dishonour can weigh on your mind and prevent you from doing what is required to the best of your ability. Withdrawing from a fight that is meaningless and not in the interests of your people is not dishonourable. Living to protect them is important. To be a cloud is to have no specified technique or form because no enemy is the same. Enemies fight differently and

you need to respond to that. In life, it is the ability to adapt to different contexts that counts. What is life and the universe but constant change? You too need to evolve (kaizen) and for the better. When I was 20 I could hit and take any number of blows because of raw physical strength. At 40 I didn’t have muscles; so I used my mind and inner energy. My senseis, at 70, were bent but had developed such inner power that nobody could even touch them. The ability to grasp change is the spirit of budo. To change you have to be formless. No, this is not weakness. This is real strength, that comes from possessing a sturdy core and understanding true form. It is to be one with nature, the universe and without ego. Believe in a God, or a greater force that charges the universe and the life in it. Remain grounded through true spiritual training. A true fighter is like a tiger

that does not hunt or kill when not hungry. He is not a mercenary street thug. True combat is the ability for peace. It is to overcome the need for combat. Nor is it sufficient for a warrior only to know how to wield a sword. He should understand the entire gambit of the universe and his own place in it. He needs to understand life in its various shades—hunger, thirst, lust, jealousy, anger, greed, insecurity. He needs to wade through life avoiding and fighting these negativities which are the real shurikens (blades) directed at him. To realise your negativities and to fight them is to live well, to die well. All of us have our weaknesses. But when you follow budo, you learn to not unleash the sword of negativity, but wear it sheathed. Surely live life to the fullest, but don’t cut harshly, or even bruise mildly. In budo, every moment can be training. Be aware of how you feel when you get up, take a cold

shower, eat yesterday’s food, watch insects and animals, smell perfume and stink or come across the sick and unclean. If a fly comes near you, does it bother you? Do you think it’s a pest? Do you swat it without remorse? If you see a beggar, do you only want him out of the way? Do you roll up your car window? Learn to walk the budo path by using the true weapons of love, kindness and magnanimity. Train to see the fly and beggar as God’s creations and part of the universe. See what the fly and beggar means to you over time. Do you feel kinder and more encompassing of the universe? If you do, you have grown. We continuously strive to upgrade our gadgets. Why not upgrade our true inner lives? Make life a journey in truth. Reflect at every moment on where you stand in relation to the rest of the universe. Next week: How to train in budo

STRETCHING EXERCISE 1

Step out two shoulder-widths apart. Bring hands to waist with palms folded in a fist.

Starting posture: Stand erect with feet shoulder-width apart and parallel to each other. Back straight. Body relaxed.

Sit in horse rider stance. Extend arms out with palms facing outwards. Stretch to the maximum with palms drawn in. When stretching out, turn palms in a circular motion inward. Inhale through Posture 1, 2 and 3.

Come up with palms facing the sky.

Pic 5 and Pic 6: Return to starting posture. Exhale through postures 4, 5 and 6.

Repeat entire sequence 4-6 times. This technique helps strengthen arms, shoulders, legs and hips.

memoir

A police bungle and a murder mystery W

VIVEK ARUN

If only the police system were efficient, criminal lawyers would have it a lot tougher, as this murder case shows

hile investigating crimi- punished and don’t much care for the legal nal cases, it is common nuances. And that is the reason defence for the police to make lawyers go unchallenged sometimes. On many occasions, I have felt I could silly mistakes. Their mistakes often come in have not won a case had the police shown handy for defence lawyers. Our job would some acumen during the investigation. be a lot tougher if the police system func- One case which illustrates the point was handled by Prof tioned more efficiently. Puttaswamy, who used In pre-Independence Dyavamma told to practise as a senior India, the police were criminal lawyer and unquestionable. But, now her nephew, teach law. Since I had the situation has changed. ‘Don’t step in handled the case only in The relationship between here anymore’ its initial stages, my role the police and criminal was limited. lawyers is complex, akin to The origins of the case is curious. It one between the writer and the critic in the literary realm. Without the growth of involves one Doddappaiah, a rich farmer literature, criticism cannot flourish; if crit- in Hoskote taluk in Bangalore Rural disicism stagnates, then literature comes to a trict. As he could not have children with his wife Doddananjamma, he had taken standstill. But when the police system is clever another wife. But even his second wife, and professional, a criminal lawyer’s skills Dyavamma, did not bear children. elder sister’s son are put to the test. Most often, the police Dyavamma’s are only interested in getting the accused Narayanaswamy, who used to visit her fre-

crime folio

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

Fabled ranconteur and Bangalore’s top-notch criminal lawyer brings you moving, sensational and bizarre stories from 40 years of his practice

CH HANUMANTHARAYA

quently, used to ask his aunt: “You have no children, so why not treat me as your son?” Soon, he began to take advantage of the family, and had even started pestering Doddappaiah for money. Narayanaswamy’s family was not poor, but he had grown greedy, and was almost extorting money from his uncle. Doddappaiah had handed over most of his business activities, including money-lending, to his elder brother’s son. As he started assisting his uncle in debt recovery, the nephew started eyeing his assets. This nephew of Doddappaiah did not like Narayanaswamy’s persistent interference in their affairs. Normally, Doddappaiah would oblige Narayanaswamy whenever he asked for

memoir money, but soon he started did not record his arrest. to resent it. Even Dyavamma Instead, they detained him was getting annoyed by his illegally and tortured him. Three days later, they conbehaviour. One day, when ducted a raid on his house, Narayanaswamy demanded and seized the gold jewmoney, Doddappaiah ellery, now worn by the refused to give any. But women of the house. Narayanaswamy had Narayanaswamy was not one to take no for an answer. been accused of the murder He suggested, “If you don’t just because he had threathave money, then give me ened to kill Doddappaiah, gold.” When she heard this, when the fact was that it so enraged Dyavamma almost anybody could have that she shouted at him and taken advantage of the incisaid, “Don’t step into our dent and committed the murder. At the same time, it house anymore.” was also possiA quarrel ble that he had followed, and Doddappaiah done it himself. the neighbours But only a gathered in their and his proper investicourt yard. wife were gation could Doddappaiah’s found have revealed nephew too brutally the truth. joined them on I filed a hearing the hacked to habeas corpus commotion, and death petition in the this emboldened High Court on the older man to shove Narayanaswamy out behalf of Narayanaswamy’s of the house. Insulted in father, questioning his illefront of everyone, gal detention. I submitted a Narayanaswamy swore he list of ornaments the police would finish off had taken away from his Doddappaiah and his house. The police then came nephew. That evening, one of on record that they had Doddappaiah’s neighbours, arrested Narayanaswamy on celebrating a wedding in November 12, 1983, and said their family, approached they had seized the ornahim to borrow some jew- ments from an acacia grove ellery from him, which he where he had buried them. Based on their statement, promptly gave. The very next day, the court dismissed my petiDoddappaiah and tion. My role in the case Dyavamma were found mur- ended here, and soon, I had dered in the house. They had forgotten all about it. Later, the case was been brutally hacked to referred to Prof Puttaswamy. death. On the fateful day, It took some time before the Doddananjamma was not in case came up for hearing in the village. She was miffed the session’s court. By then, with her husband’s second the police had forgotten marriage, and in her unhap- about the justification given piness, used to visit her par- in response to my habeas ents’ place frequently. On corpus petition. Apparently, hearing the news of the the original investigating officer had been transferred murder, she rushed back. Doddananjamma filed and a new one had taken his a complaint with the police place. They had produced that gold jewellery had been stolen from the house, and some villagers present durgave a list of the missing ing the quarrel as witnesses valuables. She told the police against Narayanaswamy. All she suspected Narayana- the witnesses said he could have been the culprit, as he swamy. sworn to kill Narayanaswamy went had into hiding. But the police Doddappiah. At this juncture, tracked him down on November 5, 1983. But they Puttaswamy telephoned me

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

and asked for the files of the habeas corpus petition. In the petition, I had listed the ornaments the police had taken away from Narayanaswamy’s house. When Puttaswamy raised this in court, the police admitted to it. But, later they informed the court that they had mistakenly given the earlier statement that they had seized the same ornaments from the acacia grove.

When Puttaswamy pointed out the contradiction in the police statement, the court took it seriously as a case of perjury. Based on this point alone, the court discharged Narayanaswamy, and acquitted him. If the police had not bungled the case at that point, Narayanaswamy might even have got either a death sentence or a life term. Narayanaswamy was released

from jail that very evening, and Puttaswamy brought him and his relatives to my office. They garlanded me and offered me a gift of fruits, saying they could not have won the case but for my habeas corpus petition. I felt proud. As for who had committed the murder, it remained a mystery till the very end. (Translated by BV Shivashankar)

T I M E P A SS

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

talk the intelligent bangaloreanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s must-read weekly

How do advertisers talk to Bangaloreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most intelligent readers? They call these numbers Abhay 95388 92618 Mithun 98864 69787

T I M E P A SS 1st Cross

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

Talk’s weekly crossword for Bangaloreans who know their way about town 19 Their recent strike crippled health care in the state (7)

6 10

2 3 4

DOWN The Karnataka High Court has asked the police to crack down on illegal ____ rearing (7) He recently took over as the deputy commissioner of Shimoga district (5,6) Pascal ____ : French consulate employee in the news (8) Head of Karnataka's legal team for the Cauvery water case (4,7)

11 12 15 16

Area in the news when an advocate was found murdered in his flat (12) State minister in charge of Medical Education (1,1,6) Two girls were run over by ___ Express near Anekal on 9th February (5) Naxalites were recently spotted in this region of Karnataka (6) The Bedthi river falls from a height of 650 feet at these falls (5) Bangalore has recently seen a rise in passport application for ____ (4)

Prof Good Sense  I am a married woman working for an MNC. I have become close to a male colleague, and we spend a lot of time together, even outside work. Initially, it was just friendship, but soon I realised I was in love with him. I felt I was in a Catch-22 situation and backed off, as my husband is a good human being and we have a satisfying family life . This colleague calls me often. It is disturbing, but I'm still weak for him. Please help. Anonymous, Bangalore

Last week’s solution Across: 1 Iruppu, 3 St Marks, 4 Everest, 5 LIC, 7 Aero India, 8 Millers, 11 Mandur, 14 Amritanandamayi, 15 More time, 16 November, 17 R P Singh. 5 7

8 9

Across Tourist destination famous for white water rafting (8) Health minister Aravind Limbavalli recently promised better ____ services (9) Dam on the Cauvery river (7,4,6) ___ Market: Market In Shivajinagar (6)

13 Two youths from Belgaum recently drowned near this dam (7) 14 Beach near Udupi (5) 15 The state government has promised to construct a harbour here (6) 17 Multiplex at Arch Mall (7) 18 Karnataka saw nearly ___ crore tourists in 2011 (4)

Down: 2 Passport, 3 Siddaramaiah, 5 Lingarajapuram, 6 Bal Bhavan, 9 Devdas, 10 Ambedkar, 12 Nehru, 13 Thirteen.

You need to tell your friend you are not interested in an intimate relationship. If he suspects you are still available, he will certainly not let you sleep in peace. Then there is your unsuspecting husband in the love triangle. If you are truly happy in your marriage, then why tip-toe outside its confines? Don't walk into a trap knowingly, and wreck what you have. Prof M Sreedhara Murthy teaches psychology at NMKRV First Grade College. He is also a well-known photographer. Mail queries to prof@talkmag.in

talk|21 feb 2013|talkmag.in

Where evil really lurks

Coming: Apocalyptic Pope

Dr Gerhard Roth of the University of Bremen’s Brain Research Institute has a weird job. He shows extremely violent short films to convicted felons, whose brain waves are then scanned to find out how their brains react. The idea is that it might reveal something about how brains of ‘evil’ people work differently from those of us nice guys. Imagine his shock when he found that his rather nuanced explanation of his research to the UK’s Daily Mail was ‘simplified’ by paper, which promptly announced that Dr

Roth had discovered a spot in the ‘central lobe’ of the brain where evil lurks. Turns out that the ‘central lobe’ of the brain was an invention of the Mail, which is known for its hyper-sensational coverage. Hmm. The neurologist may have dealt with violent convicts and psychopaths, but he clearly was no match for the crooked imaginations that go by the name of ‘journalists.’ Looks like Dr Roth has been looking in the wrong place all along...

Main Writer Bhi Hoon We hear that Penguin India has decided to turn Shobhaa De, one of their top-selling authors, into an imprint. That’s right, you will now have the privilege of reading glossily produced wisdom churned out by her many celebrity friends, and bearing De’s stamp of approval. The first offering is already out, and has Kareena Kapoor-Khan (with Rochelle Pinto, who we assume did the actual writing) spilling her ‘fashion and style secrets’ in Kareena Kapoor —The Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva. For a supposed ‘diva,’ her choice of dress for the book’s launch event was unfortunate, we

thought. She turned up in the same outfit New York socialite Kim Kardashian wore to launch one of her perfumes in September 2012. But then, no one ever accused Kareena of originality. Other gems announced by Shobhaa De Books include My Yummy Mummy Guide by another Kapoor, Karishma, who has reinvented herself as a YM, as the book says. Kareena as style guru, Karishma as lifestyle guru, Shobaa De as (wannabe) publishing guru, and all this in addition to books churned out by their gurus. Clearly, dahlings, you get the gurus you deserve.

The unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has left many tongues wagging. It’s not just that he’s known to be a fierce character (he was once described as ‘God’s Rottweiler’), but also that popes never give up their thrones if they can help it (Benedict’s the first to do so in 600 years). But, for the moment it’s something else that occupies idle minds like ours—an ancient prophecy that says Benedict’s successor will lead the world into the Apocalypse, no less. The prophecy was made by St Malachy, a tenth century bishop and mystic.

Malachy is said to have had a vision, based on which he described 112 future popes, starting with Celestine II, his contemporary, and ending with the ‘last pope’, who he called ‘Petrus Romanus’ (Peter the Roman), whose arrival would signal the destruction of the Church as well as the end of the world. With Benedict, we’ve reached number 111 in that list. No wonder then the web is buzzing with speculation about whether his successor will indeed be the feared Petrus Romanus. If you were disappointed by the non-starter that was the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse, don’t lose faith yet.