www.openthemagazine.com 50 21 DECEMBER / 2020

OPEN VOLUME 12 ISSUE 50 21 DECEMBER 2020

contents 21 december 2020

5 6 8 14 LOCOMOTIF INDRAPRASTHA MUMBAI NOTEBOOK TOUCHSTONE Pandemic correctness By Virendra Kapoor By Anil Dharker Iran of the mind By S Prasannarajan By Keerthik Sasidharan

16 18 20 22 SOFT POWER THE RACHEL PAPERS WHISPERER OPEN ESSAY Moving mountains The constant actor By Jayanta Ghosal The shape of Covid Makarand R Paranjape By Rachel Dwyer By Rajeev Srinivasan

26 26 THE NEWBORN DAD How the pandemic is changing the role of man By Lhendup G Bhutia

34 HOW TO BE A MODERN MAN New laws and the pandemic have changed ideas of masculinity and society’s expectations of men. Are they up for it? By Kaveree Bamzai

40 ACTION! FINALLY 40 46 Rajinikanth keeps his promise and enters politics. How does it change the dynamics of the battle for Tamil Nadu 2021? By V Shoba

44 WALKING WITH THE ENEMY How a team of Odisha Police’s Special Operation Group traversed hostile terrain to rescue an injured Maoist 50 By Rahul Pandita

46 A TIME TO DELIVER Cloud kitchens have emerged as the biggest trend of the dine-out culture in a pandemic year By Nikita Doval

54

50 54 58 62 64 66 MAPPING THE A WRITER AND WRIT WITH GUILT THE PULSE OF A MOVEABLE FEAST NOT PEOPLE LIKE US VISUAL INDIA THE ART OF MEMORY Katharina Volckmer’s debut THE PERIPHERY Defining Indian cuisine The bubble unit Abhishek Poddar on Siddharth Dhanvant novel explores Germany’s Grammy nominee By Shylashri Shankar By Rajeev Masand his Museum of Art Shanghvi’s meditation historical baggage Priya Darshini on & Photography on old age and death By Ullekh NP her live album By V Shoba By Urvashi Bahuguna By Divya Unny

Cover by Rohit Chawla 21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 3 open mail [email protected]

Editor S Prasannarajan letter of the week managing Editor PR Ramesh C executive Editor Ullekh NP The agitation against agricultural reforms is holding editor-at-large Siddharth Singh deputy editors Madhavankutty Pillai the national capital to ransom (‘Rage and Reality’, (Mumbai Bureau Chief), December 14th, 2020). Turning the pandemic into Rahul Pandita, Amita Shah, V Shoba (Bangalore), Nandini Nair an opportunity for reform, the Government tried to creative director Rohit Chawla rationalise laws in the farm sector and bring about a art director Jyoti K Singh Senior Editors Sudeep Paul, paradigm shift by making it demand-driven, freeing Lhendup Gyatso Bhutia (Mumbai), it from the monopoly of mandis and the hegemony of Moinak Mitra, Nikita Doval Associate Editor Vijay K Soni (Web) middlemen. The opposition to these new laws stems assistant editor Vipul Vivek from the fact that any change by its very nature is chief of graphics Saurabh Singh unsettling and finds resistance, thereby creating SENIOR DESIGNERs Anup Banerjee, Veer Pal Singh legitimate apprehensions. But this raises a question as Photo editor Raul Irani to whether the Government could have tried to take deputy Photo editor Ashish Sharma the farmers on board before legislating. Could they National Head-Events and Initiatives have been assured that the proposed changes in law national shape. Arpita Sachin Ahuja MR Jayanthy AVP (ADVERTISING) would be in their best interest, that nothing short of Rashmi Lata Swarup these reforms could address the deep structural crisis GENERAL MANAGERs (ADVERTISING) Uma Srinivasan (South) in agriculture India faces? As the standoff continues, growth cure it would be good for all sides to recall an American India’s GST collection in National Head-Distribution and Sales Ajay Gupta newspaper headline in 1966 when then Prime November was above Rs 1 regional heads-circulation D Charles (South), Melvin George Minister Indira Gandhi went to the US to negotiate for lakh crore, of which about (West), Basab Ghosh (East) food supplies: ‘New Indian Leader Comes Begging’. 25 per cent or Rs 22,000 Head-production Maneesh Tyagi An agri-crisis then spurred us to launch the crore was owing to imports senior manager (pre-press) Sharad Tailang Green Revolution. (‘The Pace of Growth’ by MANAGER-MARKETING Sangeeta Kampani Bibek Debroy, December Priya Singh Chief Designer-marketing 14th, 2020). Another large Champak Bhattacharjee contribution was from cfo & HEAD-IT Anil Bisht internal currency rotation. Chief ExecuTive & Publisher farm reality of Parliament to repeal the For India to transform into a Neeraja Chawla One look at a direct farmer- three new agriculture reform 21st century smart economy, All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner selling market or rythu bazaar laws. While providing a legal we need to plan for exports is prohibited. would convince anyone of safeguard for minimum earnings of 50 per cent of Editor: S Prasannarajan. Printed and published by Neeraja Chawla on behalf the urgent need to organise support prices is something GST—or at least equal to the of the owner, Open Media Network Pvt Ltd. Printed at Thomson Press India Ltd, India’s crops procurement the Government is now imports revenue. There are 18-35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Road, Faridabad-121007, (Haryana). and selling system according showing intent to do, more some avenues, including Published at 4, DDA Commercial to modern needs (‘Rage and adequate safeguards within those that Covid-19 has Complex, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110017. Reality’, December 14th, the agricultural produce opened up, we should focus Ph: (011) 48500500; Fax: (011) 48500599 2020). Farmers and agri- market committee structure on to raise our exports To subscribe, WhatsApp ‘openmag’ to 9999800012 or log on to administrators need periodic itself could be considered. earnings: electronics goods, www.openthemagazine.com or call our Toll Free Number training on latest trends in An important demand that clean energy (batteries or 1800 102 7510 the world. Our farm strategy the Government should cells), bio plastic, coronavirus or email at: [email protected] needs to change completely consider is related to the cures, conversion of For alliances, email [email protected] according to today’s global redress mechanism under the synthetic plastic waste. Our For advertising, email markets. Farmers need to be new laws which makes the entrepreneurs should also be [email protected] For any other queries/observations, rescued from the vagaries lower bureaucracy extremely provided with information email [email protected] of weather and infertility of powerful by making it the of the demand and cost overused land. last court of appeal. Instead of trends in foreign markets. Disclaimer ‘Open Avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing PV Madhu negotiating separately with PN Sreelekha initiatives and Open assumes no responsibility for content and the consequences of using different groups, the Centre products or services advertised in the magazine A little over a week after should see these demands to politick or not

Volume 12 Issue 50 they began protesting on the as from farmers in general, An indecisive leader is good For the week 15-21 December 2020 borders of Delhi, farmers’ not only from Punjab—at for no one (‘Indecision’, Total No. of pages 68 groups demanded that the least not anymore now that December 14th, 2020). Centre call a special session protests seem to be taking a Bholey Bhardwaj

4 21 december 2020 LOCOMOTIF

by S PRASANNARAJAN Pandemic Correctness

he enormity of reality is such that questions Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Alex Berenson, who had can hardly alter it. So better don’t ask any. Truth is serious trouble self-publishing his booklets on “unreported truths so overwhelming that retrospective thoughts can about Covid-19 and lockdowns” on Amazon’s Kindle Direct, argues only legitimise lies. Better keep quiet and follow the that mainstream media organisations are “increasingly unwilling instincts of those who outnumber you. When the even to ask ideologically inconvenient questions. Few acknowledge Tworld is challenged by what man has failed to defeat for so long, that top biologists are calling for an independent investigation what is required is not the consolation of alternative ideas but into the possibility that Sars-Cov-2 is the product of a Chinese a consensus on the wisdom of others. laboratory accident.” Berenson’s booklets are now bestsellers, but Or it’s what a world in the grip of a pandemic demands to get them published he needed endorsement tweets from the from potential flamethrowers. Solidarity alone can sustain likes of Elon Musk, because he thinks “many measures to control the Order of Fear. the coronavirus have been damaging, counterproductive and Maybe such an unwritten code of conduct is needed when unsupported by science.” A former New York Times reporter who unhinged conspiracy theorists are at play, and they have a lot doesn’t consider himself a “coronavirus denier” or “conservative”, to peddle, from Trump’s defeat to the origin of the coronavirus he has become a kind of pandemic revisionist. to the secret centre of global power. Maybe faith and trust are Revisionists are not what the world needs when the death toll in virtues that can make a benighted place a lot more tolerable, its the US alone approaches 300,000. This is not a time to ask whether inhabitants better citizens. Maybe it’s a necessary protection wearing a mask would really protect you from the coronavirus, or from deniers and debunkers. whether dining out would shorten your life. The people who are Still there comes a time when the Order wants complete asking such questions are mostly professional doubters who find control over knowledge, when there are good experts anything officially imposed reeking of a hidden agenda. They are and bad experts, and when an informed conversation is a the ones now refusing to trust scientists on vaccines. potential threat to consensus. When what-went-wrong is For the majority of us, the only one worth trusting, and listening an irrelevant introspection in the time of a plague. And in to, is the expert. When it began, everyone did listen. Remember such times discordant voices are suppressed or dismissed as the projections from London’s Imperial College, working in close scaremongering. For the ‘responsible’ majority, censorship, or association with WHO, which put the American death toll at 2.2 collective repudiation, is the duty of civic morality. Increasingly, million and Britain’s around 510,000 if the businesses and schools it’s the pandemic morality as well. were not shut down immediately. That apocalyptic warning set off When what had come to be known as the Great Barrington the global lockdown, though the projections were, in retrospect, Declaration was released, it was mostly dismissed as academic more alarmist than scientific. The experts got the respect they arrogance. The report, libertarian in nature and authored by deserved, but they couldn’t do more than issuing advisories, and, Martin Kulldorff (Harvard), Sunetra Gupta (Oxford) and Jay in the end, telling us that, in spite of everything, we had to wait and Bhattacharya (Stanford), all epidemiologists and public health count our lucky stars till a vaccine came along. scientists, didn’t lack the authenticity of scholarship. It questioned What mattered more, we are coming to realise, was the nasty the orthodoxy of initial Covid management and recommended persistence of the virus than the projections of experts, perhaps what they call “focussed protection”. They elaborated on what with the sole exception of Li Wenliang, the ophthalmologist at they meant by focussed protection: “The most compassionate Wuhan Central Hospital in China, and who could be called Covid’s approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd Galileo. This one didn’t live even after recantation. He died of what immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to he had feared for the world. The pandemic restored experts, mostly live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus for the better. It tested politicians, and only a few got through. Fear through natural infection, while better protecting asked us to listen, trust, and resist questions. Was our those who are at highest risk.” When lockdown was submission worth it? Did lockdown save the world? the undisputed ideology of survival for governments In the age of pandemic righteousness, all the questions across the world, the Great Barrington daring was that continue to be frowned upon don’t come from blasphemy, and it was treated as such. conspiracy junkies and professional deniers alone. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 5 INDRAPRASTHA virendra kapoor

t is a common human with anyone, he wired Rs 1.5 lakh in I failing to romanticise the past two instalments to the bank account while lamenting the present. The mentioned in the fraudulent email. handwringing you see these days Months passed, but the beneficiary among self-avowedly liberal sections of his assumed kindness would not about some in the ruling party calling even acknowledge the help he had them names—anti-national being rendered in his hour of crisis. So, one the most used pejorative—needs day he confronted him: “Hi, how is to be seen in perspective. Political your sister doing after the gall bladder discourse has always been rife with surgery…?” Completely taken aback, this sort of abuse. Check it out. All he asked the interlocutor, “What through the Nehruvian period, the sister, what surgery…” He didn’t ruling Congress leaders called their know what he was talking about. Jana Sangh, the BJP’s previous avatar, never been like a staid college debate Instead of realising he was fooled into counterparts “reactionaries and between well-mannered protagonists parting with money by a conman communalists” (phirkaprast). and antagonists. Since politicians who had hacked into his email Dr Lohia’s socialists, who particularly necessarily feel obliged to address account, he now became offensive, riled the first prime minister, were themselves to wider audiences, insisting that the money he sent be contemptuously dismissed as lowest common denominators paid back by the fellow member. The “anarchists”. Widely respected leaders peppered with insults and below- acrimony soon reached such a stage of the Swatantra Party were “agents the-belt innuendoes appeal the most that the conned gentleman filed a of capitalists”. The advent of Indira to partisan audiences. So, don’t get recovery suit in a city court. Most Gandhi saw the insult of political hot under the collar, all you liberal- probably by the time the court gets opponents acquire a sharper edge. leftist pretenders. This is the way the round to pronouncing its verdict, Now, in addition to communalists political game has been played all the plaintiff and the defendant will and reactionaries, the Vajpayee- through the ages. Stop glorifying the have each spent far more than Rs 1.5 led Jana Sangh was also abused as past for panning the present ruling lakh on lawyers’ fees alone. Of course, “Gandhi kay hatayare”. Veterans of the party. Period. the outcome cannot be a matter Swatantra Party like Piloo Mody were of speculation. Why? Now, I don’t dismissed, in addition to other insults, nyone remotely expect the Open editor to make out a as “CIA agents”. With the chanting A acquainted with the modern cheque purportedly for me if he were of the socialist mantra becoming a means of communications would to receive an email with one extra ticket to power, it was common for the also be alive to its misuse for frauds ‘a’ at the end of my name. And, if he Indira Congressmen to call anyone and worse. But what do you do does, I would say ‘thank you’ and ask opposed to the Government as agents when some people unwittingly him to recover the money from one of “Tata and Birla”—besides, of course, become victims and insist on being Virendraa Kapoor. of the CIA. So ingrained was the habit compensated for their credulous of dubbing the opponents of the behaviour? A Delhi court most hy must all good things ruling party as CIA agents—it was the likely will answer that question Wcome so late in life? Like after peak of the Cold War and India was when it disposes of a case filed by four decades-plus as a journo, I am virtually in the Soviet camp—that, a senior member of the Delhi Golf filled with so much of gratitude for the story goes, before announcing Club. Facts are simple. Sometime the Editors’ Guild of India (EGI) for to the world the successful Pokhran ago, the complainant received having given the sleepy body such nuclear test, a senior minister called an email, allegedly from a fellow sharp teeth that these not only bite the then Congress President member of the club who claimed the ruling establishment but some of SD Sharma, warning him that the to be in distress, and pleaded for its own members who tend to stray test was conducted by India lest he urgent financial assistance for a from the line very helpfully drawn for rush to blame the CIA for it. The medical emergency in the family. the benefit of ignoramuses by the new point is that political discourse has Without bothering to crosscheck office-bearers. A big thank you, EGI. n

6 21 december 2020

Mumbai Notebook Anil Dharker

jay Mohan Bisht came the label, which means all is well Ato Mumbai and said “Veni, Vidi, inside. However, it’s not because the Vici.” Except, of course, he didn’t Chinese make a fructose syrup because it’s a foreign tongue; and sec- solution that goes undetected in In- ondly, he didn’t vici anything, except dian tests, so many Indian companies perhaps, Akshay Kumar, who being import it and use it to dilute real honey, a patriotic Indian who is Canadian, is thus reducing costs. Only a Nuclear always eager to be conquered by any- Magnetic Resonance (NMR) test con- one called Bisht, especially if the Bisht ducted by German labs can detect this called Ajay Mohan is better known as adulteration. The brands caught with Yogi Adityanath. mathematics (which explains his skill their pants down and stung by these If you have been following the in being calculating), he renounced revelations have cried foul. (I could news, which means not watching his family at 21, became the youngest have said fowl, but there are limits to television, but reading newspapers member of the 12th Lok Sabha at 26, bad puns.) ‘But we passed the FSSAI after washing them with soap and and has been a five-term parliamentar- tests!’ they have protested loudly, gloss- water, drying them in the sun and ian. As Member of Parliament, he had ing over the fact that they were unde- then reading the bits stuck to your 77 per cent attendance, asked 284 ques- niably introducing a spurious Chinese palms (this is called reading between tions, participated in 56 debates and item into the real, genuine, product of the lines or palmistry), you will have introduced three private member bills. hard-working Indian honey bees. noticed that Yogiji was in our city to of- He also opposed the Women’s Reserva- If you are the kind of person fer its sinful inhabitants good karma tion Bill saying that if men develop who revels in completely useless and punya by relocating our industries feminine traits, they become gods, but information, you have come to the to his holy state of Uttar Pradesh, if women develop masculine traits, right place: a beehive contains three sometimes erroneously referred to as they become demons. In his home types of bees—a single Queen Bee, a Ulta Pradesh. Yogiji was particularly state he opposed the BJP for diluting large number of seasonally variable keen on reforming wicked Bollywood Hindutva, defeated its candidates in lo- number of male drone bees to fertilise (notorious for its late-night parties and cal elections, so naturally the BJP made the Queen, and up to 40,000 female bad acting), by moving it to his state. him Chief Minister. worker bees. On average, one hive Presumably, it was in this connection If all this is not impressive enough, will produce 29 kg of honey per year. that Akshay Kumar met him in his Yogiji is also a hard-working man, I leave it to Yogi Adityanath and his capacity as ambassador of Bollywood, having kept 36 UP ministries to maths degree to calculate how many a post which he graciously accepted himself, including Home and Prisons hives and millions of bees are needed when he offered it to himself on ac- (which may actually be the same to meet our insatiable greed for honey. count of the fact that he is extremely thing). The film city at Noida will be I could give you more useless good-looking, makes pots of money yet another portfolio he will com- information on how bees actually and is a bona fide Canadian citizen. mand. Watch this space to know how produce honey, but I won’t because it’s It seems highly improbable, but Bollywood becomes Nollywood. a pretty disgusting process involving is it likely that even the Mahant of regurgitation and digestion and I am Goraknath Math in Gorakhpur could ehind the honey adultera- supposed to keep this column clean. be so dazzled by the glitter of Bolly- Btion controversy, there is—you’ve But this you might want to know: if we wood that he overlooked the fact that guessed it—a hidden Chinese hand. eat the honey produced by honey bees, some of its leading citizens are named Mumbai-based Marico’s Saffola honey what do the honey bees eat? Khan, and that if two of them—the has come out smelling roses, if that’s Apparently taking advantage of the two biggest—moved to Ulta Pradesh, the appropriate phrase, while a few fact that bees of all three kinds— he would have to get them arrested other celebrated names, including Queen, drones and workers—being for love jihad? Perhaps it’s foresight one belonging to another saffron-clad 100 per cent desi and thus lacking the that’s stopped the third biggie from man, have not. To be fair to the other facility of conducting Nuclear committing love jihad, not once, not brands, they passed the tests laid down Magnetic Resonance tests, bee twice, but many, many times. by the Food Safety and Standards keepers fool them by feeding them Don’t let Yogiji’s saffron robes Authority of India. If you look at your with a fructose syrup solution. It deceive you though: he’s got a degree in next jar of honey, you will see fssai on doesn’t even have to be Chinese. n

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NOTEBOOK The Challenge of Vaccine Distribution

s Israel, like many other countries, begin (including personnel from state and central police depart- their rollout of the Covid vaccine, its Prime Minister ment, armed forces, home guard, civil defence organizations, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would disaster management volunteers and municipal workers) be the first to take it there. This was the mRNA and also about 27 crore people in the Prioritized Age Group, vaccineA developed by Pfizer whose first lot had arrived, with which includes those aged above 50 years & those with co- the programme to begin from December 27th. Netanyahu was morbidities,’ said their press release. going to be recepient No 1 so that, according to him, the rest of This seems fair but one important group is not mentioned the country would have confidence that it is safe and neces- here. In a podcast where he was a guest, the Yale sociology pro- sary. That is a good enough rationale. Many still find vaccines fessor Nicholas Christakis, who recently came out with a book, suspect and in the atmosphere of fear, would take convincing. Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus And if everyone is not getting vaccinated, then the very nature on the Way We Live, had an interesting take—that the first to get of the virus means that it will keep circulating. Netanyahu’s it must be those who participated in the vaccine trials but were announcement, however, also brings to the forefront the part of the placebo wing of recipients. Since they took the risk of aspect of who should get it first. What if there is someone at adverse events and were instrumental in the vaccine’s develop- greater risk and urgency than him? By what ethical impera- ment, it was just they have first claim to it. He also had another tive can Netanyahu get first claim over someone else’s life? interesting point to make. It might seem like the obvious thing This is an academic point. Leaders of countries are considered to do to give the elderly who are at maximum risk the vaccine more valuable lives. Tomorrow, if a nuclear attack is going to first but it could, in fact, be more beneficial, even if counterintu- wipe out a country and only 5,000 people can get sanctuary itive, to give it instead to the working population despite their in a bunker, then the first to enter through that door will be a being young and healthy. That is because the elderly usually prime minister or president. remain confined to homes while the workers interact more in But the question remains an illustration of the priority list society and so are greater spreaders. If the virus is defeated by once the vaccines roll out. The problem is of magnitude. breaking the chain of transmission, this might be an equally ef- Everyone on earth is a potential and necessary recipient of a fective strategy. He wasn’t recommending it but merely stating vaccine. The requirement is then the questions involved. more than seven billion doses. That specific scenario, Double that if the vaccines, as however, is an option probably many of them do, require two Everyone on earth is a potential relevant to Western developed shots spaced across a period of and necessary recipient of a societies where the elderly can time. To make 14 billion doses be insulated, unlike India where will take time. To get it to all those vaccine. The requirement is then the extreme crowding of even who need it will take even longer. more than seven billion doses. living spaces makes the policy And until then, some will have to Double that if the vaccines, as redundant. India has a number get it before others. of other hurdles when it comes Who will these be? This week, many of them do, require two to distribution. The two most the Union Ministry of Health shots spaced across a period of effective vaccines, from Moderna gave a media briefing where and Pfizer, require very low sub- they spelled their policy out. time. To make 14 billion doses zero temperatures to store and ‘Prioritized Population Groups will take time. To get it to all transport. It requires a cold chain include about 1 crore Healthcare those who need it will take even infrastructure which India does Workers in both Government not have. The health ministry and Private Healthcare facilities, longer. And until then, some will is trying to address the problem about 2 crore Frontline Workers have to get it before others and the same press release noted:

10 21 december 2020 Illustration by Saurabh Singh

‘Current cold chain system, consisting of 85,634 equipment for up. Like bolstering the cargo capacity of airports. The airport storage of vaccine at about 28,947 cold chain points across the in Mumbai, according to a Quartz India article, ‘plans to create country, is capable of storing additional quantity of Covid-19 a dedicated task force to facilitate vaccine transportation. This vaccine required for the first 3 Crore, i.e., Health Care Workers team will undertake advance planning and collaborate with all and Front Line Workers. The Health Ministry in consultation stakeholders such as other airports, airline customers, supply with States/UTs has assessed the additional requirement for chain partners, regulatory and governmental bodies, and vac- Cold Chain storage (Walk in Coolers, Walk in Freezers, Deep cine distributors.’ Airlines and railways will be instrumental Freezers, Ice lined refrigerators etc.). Additional supplies would in transportation and distribution across the country. Private be available to States/UTs beginning December 10, 2020.’ hospitals, too, are getting ready. Apollo Hospitals, which has Yet, the creation of enough cold chain facilities to cater to 70 hospitals under its chain, was getting ready to give as many the entire population is impossible within months or even as one million doses per day. It was training 10,000 healthcare years. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will be, even if avail- workers to administer the vaccine. A Moneycontrol report said, able to India, only the rich man’s option. That would not be a ‘The healthcare workers will be given four month training and problem if other vaccines that India is banking on to distribute certification, using Apollo’s nursing schools and online educa- in large quantities, like the one by Oxford-AstraZeneca or tion platform. Apollo said the company has been investing on Bharat Biotech, are found to be equally effective. But if they expanding and strengthening its cold chain and transportation, are not, then it becomes a political question whether the to facilitate storage and distribution of the vaccine.’ wealthy should have exclusive access to better ones while the The challenge is gargantuan. If 30 crore people are in the first poor have to wait and get infected, meanwhile. It is not easily line, then that needs more than 60 crore doses. No single vaccine answered. Price controls could impede the financial health of manufacturer can deliver anywhere close to that. There would the sector without really achieving anything. Writing in Mint, need to be a combination of suppliers. An article in The Print former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek S asked where the scope is for choice when demand outstrips sup- Ahluwalia wrote, ‘Denying high-income individuals access to ply by so much. It said: ‘So, the question of choice of vaccine arises state-of-the-art vaccines available abroad will lead them to go — does a recipient or even a state get to choose which vaccines abroad to get vaccinated. In fact, some of our private hospitals he/it wants, or would the choice of which state gets what vaccine may be tempted to set up vaccination clinics in Nepal or Sri be made by the central government?’ After that, there are the Lanka to offer these vaccines with much lower costs even after remaining 100 crore Indians who also need to get their doses. n accounting for airfare,’ he wrote. Meanwhile, other infrastructure are also being propped By Madhavankutty Pillai

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 11 openings

portrait Astad Deboo (1947-2020) at The Action Players in Kolkata, then The Clarke School for the Deaf, Chennai, and the street children of Salaam Baalak Trust, Delhi. His friends celebrate Dancer Like No One Else him for his generosity of time and spirit, he would go out of his way to help others, whether it was He expanded the possibilities and Chandralekha performing in 1984 at the NCPA in aesthetics of Indian dance Bombay, or Anita Ratnam who called upon him when another dancer suddenly fell sick. hy do I dance? I never gave it a thought. Then I realised Those who know him personally and “Wdance has been the carrier of my thoughts. Through dance I professionally, talk of him as the “lone traveller”. have been communicating my innermost self. Dance is who I am and how Fellow dancer and choreographer, Anita I am,” says Astad Deboo in a YouTube video titled Why I Dance, dated Ratnam, says that Deboo was deeply moved by August 23rd, 2020. Born a month before Independence, the 73-year-old Rabindranath Tagore’s song ‘Ekla Chalo Ekla Chalo’, Deboo died of cancer just a short while after first being diagnosed. which he performed to as well. The song embodied Deboo was recognised for the precision of his movements, the flamboyance him in many ways, ‘move alone, move alone’. of his costume, his attention to detail, whether it was his hairstyle or his Sadanand Menon, arts editor and critic, who has starched white kurtas or his impeccable choice in the music and lighting of his known him over the decades, says, “Astad can be performances. He was known for the physicality of his dance and his Kathak- called an original in the Indian context.” Menon inspired twirls, which could last up to 12 minutes. In his dance he dealt with adds, “One of his big contributions is that he very life’s brutalities , such as drug addiction and the messiness of unions. At his consciously and deliberately critiqued certain performances, viewers were exposed to hot wax on bodies, arms jabbed with syrupy ideas of beauty and grace of Indian dance. syringes and blood oozing out. He contorted his body into shapes and licked He provided a fantastic counter to that.” the dirt off the floor. In his dance, one saw the modern human condition as Born in Navsari, Gujarat, to a Parsee family, he fragmented, scattered and searching for a stillness and centering. He expanded grew up in Calcutta and Jamshedpur, which he both the vocabulary and aesthetics of dance in India, and by stepping on the appreciated for its cosmopolitanism. As a child toes of the establishment, he forced all to look farther and further. he learned Kathak under Prahlad Das. But it was Initially he was treated with hostility and cynicism, and seldom invited while pursuing his degree in Bombay that he saw to India’s hallowed auditoriums to perform. But he would eventually get a contemporary performance of the American the recognition he richly deserved and received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Murray Louis Dance Company. That performance award in 1995 and the Padma Shri in 2007. While he has met the Queen showed him the direction he wished to take. He left of England personally and performed in over 70 countries, his desire to Bombay in 1969 and hitchhiked through Europe democratise dance was unwavering. He worked with the hearing impaired imbibing different dance skills, before reaching

Photos getty images New York in 1974. He learned Martha Graham’s dance technique. He even travelled to Japan to learn Kabuki theatre. Back in India in the late ’70s, he learned Kathakali under E Krishna Panicker. By the time he was performing in India, he had already created his own dance vocabulary and aesthetic. Critic and writer Geeta Doctor still vividly recalls the first time she saw him perform at Prithvi theatre, Bombay. She remembers his “extraordinary solo dance” with its “strong homoerotic passages, which were unthinkable at that time.” She says, “His dance was personal, but he could whirl out like a galaxy of movement.” Dancer and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas first knew Deboo as Astadji. Over time, that relationship turned into friendship. Terming his death a “terrible blow” to the dance community she adds, “He taught us, ‘Open your eyes, don’t be complacent about your inheritance.’ He was a lonely warrior who blazed such an incredible dance trail in his life.” n

By nandini nair

12 21 december 2020 ANGLE ideas Not a Rosy Picture Notes from risking a visit to a theatre to watch a flawed movie

By madhavankutty pillai Conformity The new measurement of our columnist decided getting a decent shot of at least Rs 200 Mount Everest, unveiled just a Y to test his fate and went to watch crore, and that doesn’t look like it can few days ago, was an exercise a movie after an interregnum of happen. Perhaps the fear will come in national pride for Nepal. The eight months. The theatre, a down. Perhaps as people see other country measured the peak on multiplex in a Mumbai suburb, people go for movies and not dry its own refusing, for instance, looked like a ghost town. The cinema coughing the next day, they might India’s offer of jointly measuring hall had only alternate seats take a cautious step too. But will any the peak back in 2017. But the occupied, the middle one being filmmaker really take a chance on announcement also signifies kept vacant to ward off the virus probability when there are hundreds almost complete closeness though the efficacy of that seemed of crores riding on the decision? with its neighbour, China. For somewhat suspect given that the Some of Tenet’s debacle is because years, even though the two distance between the next human of Tenet. The fundamental crux of the countries became allies, with still wasn’t six feet. But, Mumbai has story is too dense unless you have a Nepal becoming increasingly about 700-odd cases daily now and in Master’s in Physics. And while you dependent on China, they a population of 2 crore. that seemed can enjoy the visual grandeur, there is continued to dispute each like fairly decent odds. This was always that lurking feeling that a other’s estimate of the peak’s the first time that the theatres were percentage of your movie ticket is not height. A Chinese survey in 2005 hosting a movie of any commercial getting its worth. The writing tries claimed the mountain was 8,844 substance and so it was going to be a to be clever but is not clever enough. metres. While Nepal, since it portend of the fate of entertainment What you are left with is only hadn’t authorised to that survey, until the vaccine got around spectacle and that might not be continued to stick with the to enough people. Alas, the enough considering the risk measurement of the 1955 Indian portend was not sanguine, associated with being there. survey of 8,848 metres. This because even though Tenet, It is, therefore, unfortunate that the new measurement of 8,848.86 Christopher Nolan’s latest opus, waters of entertainment’s immediate metres, jointly announced by had had the aura to take on Covid future were tested with Tenet. There Kathmandu and Beijing, after the and get away with it, it quickly needs to be something spectacularly former measured the peak from ran out of air. successful for the sector to feel like it its side and the latter sent a team The movie has flopped elsewhere can breathe again. And right now, it is earlier this year, now puts to rest where it released earlier and going still gasping. one of the few disputes between by the numbers in the theatre that The movie had an interval which the two countries. n day, it didn’t seem like India would be was almost 20 minutes long. much different. In any case, at only This was because no food could be 50 per cent seats to begin with, the taken inside the hall, only in the Word’s Worth box-office takings are halved from the lobby. That might also be to prop up starting point. This would more or food and beverages sales. But ‘An alliance with less make any Bollywood big-budget considering the empty queues at a powerful person is fare untenable. It would be a surprise the counters, that is not working to see any of the three Khans come out either. After all, to eat or drink, one never safe’ with a movie unless they thought of has to let the mask down. n Phaedrus roman fabulist

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 13 touchstone

By Keerthik Sasidharan

Iran of the Mind The challenges of writing about a place in permanent flux

n January 3rd, Qasem Soleimani, the head administering moral lessons for our secularised world. of the Iranian military’s offensive capabilities, In his anthology of the writings of Nikos Kazantzakis, the was assassinated. And then, after a long and great Greek writer of mid-20th century, editor Peter Bien writes, Oseemingly unending year marked by a global ‘Politics is a good way to approach [Kazantzakis’ writings] pandemic and an extraordinary American presidential because in Greece it stings everyone and everything. Nothing election, 2020 is now bookended with a certain macabre escapes. Language, the arts, religion, metaphysics, historiogra- symmetry. On November 27th, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the phy, education, philosophy, even science and sports are subject head of the Iranian atomic bomb programme, was killed to its inflammation.’ This omnipresent flood of all consuming outside Tehran. Predictably, waves of public lamentation politicisation of public spaces is now everywhere. The US, followed alongside vows of reprisal and revenge. A pall of India, Israel, much of South America, to say nothing of authori- martyrdom was evoked with melancholy and indignation tarian regimes such as Russia and China—our public imagina- was unleashed with well-practised ease—both of which tion and personal lives are permeated with politics. In such a shroud the more glaring fact: the Iranian security climate, travel writers who seek to describe another country establishment is an open book for its enemies. or society are charged with an unenviable task. They might as Seeing this public support for the deceased, I was reminded well be tasked with describing the inner life of a schizophrenic. of a conversation chronicled in Christopher Thornton’s travels I have often thought about Iran, for various personal (for a through Iran (Descendants of Cyrus: Travels through Everyday Iran), few years, I lived in Vancouver among many Iranian friends) in which a man called Parviz tells the author, “The people have and increasingly for intellectual reasons—Iran remains a finally seen that there’s nothing inside these leaders. And the permanent beachhead between the Arab worldviews on its leaders have learned that the people are willing to fight them.” west and the innumerable Indic subcultures that begin from This was from 2009, when Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Balochistan in the east; and its sociopolitical culture contains a Karroubi—two reform-minded politicians—were tipped to win. host of responses to the West ranging from reactionary anger to Much blood was spilt then, but the regime bosses eventually pre- unthinking emulation. But Iran also poses another kind of chal- vailed through the use of violence. Nearly a decade later, depend- lenge, one that is familiar to travel writers in particular. How ing on when in 2020 you look, the Iranians have been repeatedly must one write about a country where so much is in flux? Faced back in the streets. If on one occasion—frustrated by official lies with such a question, the most convenient method is to travel about a downed Ukrainian Airlines plane—they declared ‘Death through its cities—Tehran, Tabriz, the Caspian shore, Mashhad, to the Ayatollah’, then another even larger crowd announced Kermanshah, Hamadan, Kashan, Abyaneh, Esfahan, Qom, permanent fidelity to the memory of Qasem Soleimani, the Aya- Yazd, Persepolis and Shiraz—where each of these urban centres tollah’s military mastermind. What is one to make of a country becomes a metonymy to explore different aspects of Iranian where sentiments and loyalties shift with an alarming ease, often culture and life. This is, of course, an easy way out. Other writers within days? This is not an Iranian phenomenon, even if such such as Hooman Majd or Shahriar Mandanipour, who know swings in public opinions are extravagant there, but rather an Iran intimately, can write more cleverly and creatively. But for increasingly global trend. How must one write about such places, the rest of us—foreigners—this city-by-city approach is useful. such societies where a permanent low-level agitation is always on There is no surprise in the choices of these cities or what each of and an agit-prop mindset is de facto rule? This is a state of affairs them can stand for in a narrative—but there can be great profit in which all sides involved refract all of life’s experience through in treading the familiar path to mine the unfamiliar. a political lens. Ostensibly, these politically inflected claims echo VS Naipaul famously travelled through four Muslim coun- the reality of the hour, which is why political journalists fashion tries in the late 1970s and was able to write penetratingly about themselves as arbiters of truth—and present themselves as clergy the great wave of Islamism that was to arrive on the shores of

14 21 december 2020 they accumulate impressions, like the crow in Aesop’s fables, filling up their pitcher of imagination with scenes from everyday life, at the end of which flows the cool waters of description, often intimate and resonant, which slakes the reader’s thirst who then concludes that she ‘knows’ these places. This illusion of knowledge is a testament to the writer’s genius for evocation rather than any deep truth we may have gleaned as readers. In a way, I am reminded of what Ashis Nandy says about a generation or two of his contemporaries: ‘Malcolm Muggeridge once said that Indians are the only surviving English in the world. I would go further… . There are people here who can give you street direc- tions in London without ever having been there.’ These type of travel writers peck away at details, collect them, architect a carapace of dialogues and observations, and eventually construct an image of a place that is indistinguishable from the story that one or the other set of natives tells us about themselves. If we rely on this simple dichotomy, the former type of travel writer records his experiences which are often marinated in Saurabh Singh Saurabh by Illustration the politics of the day, while the latter makes assiduous efforts to sidestep that politics and goes in search of the phenomenol- What is one to make of a country where ogy animating life itself. But in our times, both approaches get sentiments and loyalties shift with an alarming little play. What matters is the ability to attract eyeballs. All ease, often within days? This is not an Iranian else is irrelevant or, worse, the plaything of the self-indulgent. The stories we tell about our present now need two opposing phenomenon but rather an increasingly global forces—the conscientious objector and the war monger, the trend. How must one write about such places, reactionary and the liberal, and so on. Antipodes must coexist such societies where a permanent low-level uneasily, so that the writer may offer stark relief and worship at the altar of that great intellectual god: nuance. It may all very agitation is always on and an agit-prop well be true but such narratives are also invariably incomplete. mindset is de facto rule? It takes great effort to realise that most places—even ones as seemingly self-satisfied as the insides of a Swiss bank—are brim- ming with great personal dissatisfactions and apolitical strife and personal struggles. What makes writing, particularly travel Western political consciousness. In Iran, greeted by revolution- writing, about complex places interesting is the worlds of the ary kitsch (posters saying ‘DOWN WITH U.S.A.’) under which deeply religious, the pious, the fanatics, the clerical bureaucra- families had their tea and cake, Naipaul writes, ‘What I had seen cies—the kind of people who live amid politics but have inner in the lobby of the Hyatt were the sad beginnings of a new mid- lives far removed from it. They fill the cavernous hollows of dle class.’ In a different vein, Claudio Magris journeyed through society with their blood and sweat, upon which the iridescent al- cities and villages that live on the banks of the Danube which gae of intellectualisation can freely froth. For everyday lives to be snakes past history and brutalities with little afterthought. In his rendered meaningfully, or for travel writing to aspire to become writings, geography becomes a silent but omnipresent witness literature, one that is read well beyond the writer’s own lifespan, to life just as the USSR prepared to meet its deservedly humbling sentences must contain a steady trickle of portents gleaned from end. What marked both of these writers was an ear that willing- ordinary life. The didactism of intellectuals and glib summaries ly heard the superficial and a mind that teased out the animating of soundbite warriors on the payroll—the staple of foreign jour- historical and demographic forces that trembled beneath. But nalists reporting in complex places—makes for good fishwrap this is not just a writerly trick. Colin Thubron’s documentary and, worse, the dulling of the mind. To go past all this is hard film (from 1988) about his travels from Beijing to Kashgar in work and demands that the writer become a craftsman of prose. Xinjiang similarly brims over with premonitions about what But he must also publicly declare his premonitions, often at the is to come: a true clash of civilisations between Han Chinese risk of being wrong. Else, travel writing quickly devalues into and Turkic Uighurs—and in the final reckoning a permanent a harmless stenography of the present. The writing that could conflict between the furies of Mao and Mohammad. have been subtle and radical becomes convenient and palatable For another set of travel writers such as the woefully under- for one’s own tribe, propped up by ‘likes’ and ‘retweets’, but is ul- read Marius Kociejowski or the grandees of the craft—William timately consigned to the labyrinths of a server’s database where Least Heat-Moon, Lawrence Durrell or Patrick Leigh Fermor— the Minotaur of obscurity consumes all that comes its way. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 15 soft power

By Makarand R Paranjape

Moving Mountains Vivekananda and the Himalayan connection—Part VI

hough in 1897, Swami Vivekananda had haraja to choose a piece of land, that item was twice vetoed out of warned Sister Nivedita of the many difficulties the agenda by acting Resident Sir Adalbert Talbot. that she would face in India, he had also bid The journey from Almora to Kashmir was long and arduous. T her welcome—‘a hundred times welcome’ (bit. The group descended to the plains of United Provinces, then trav- ly/33Z6CGM). He had no wish to paint a rosy, unrealistic elled to Punjab, reascending to the Himalayas via Rawalpindi, picture and to varnish or mitigate the trials and tribulations Murree, Muzaffarabad, thence to Baramulla, finally to Srinagar. that lay in store for her. Arriving in Srinagar on June 20th, 1898, the group soon made Would the strange, hot, dusty and colonised nation, or the themselves comfortable, moving into houseboats on the Dal role that she was to adopt as its champion, suit her? But after Lake. Filled with enthusiasm, Vivekananda took his party to forewarning her, Vivekananda also promised in no uncertain the Shankaracharya temple, also called Takht-i-Suleiman. The terms to stand by, and with, her, ‘As for me, I am nobody here as Swami exclaimed: elsewhere, but what little influence I have shall be devoted to “Look! What genius the Hindu shows in placing his temples! your service’ (ibid). He always chooses a grand scenic effect! See! The Takt commands Well aware of how difficult a transition he was subjecting the whole of Kashmir. The rock of Hari Parvat rises red out of blue her to, he also absolved her, in advance, of any wrongdoing if she water, like a lion couchant, crowned. And the temple of Mar- decided later to turn back or even part ways: ‘If you fail in this or tanda has the valley at its feet!” (bit.ly/3gygP1Y). get disgusted, on my part I promise you, I will stand by you unto It little deterred Vivekananda that what he was looking death whether you work for India or not, whether you give up at, and showing to his group, were the ruins of India’s ancient Vedanta or remain in it’ (ibid). He also urged her to be self-reliant, civilization. Kashmir, with its grand temples and rich cultural depending on nobody or no one: ‘Again, I must give you a bit history, was formerly the intellectual centre and cultural nucleus of warning. You must stand on your own feet… it is absolutely of classical India. After centuries of Islamic rule, most of its popu- necessary to stand on one's own feet’ (ibid). lation had forgotten the genius of their own ancestors. Perhaps, Of course, being forewarned is not always to be forearmed, standing aloft that hoary peak, he envisioned a new birth for his especially when it comes to one’s psychospiritual training. beloved nation. Each one must, so to speak, bear his or her designated cross. This On June 26th, the party visited the root shrine of Kashmir, Nivedita had begun to realise in the hardest possible way during Kshir Bhavani, where Swami would later see the vision of the this Himalayan journey.If Almora (in Uttarakhand) was harsh Divine Mother. Throughout their time in Kashmir, the group and difficult for the Indian guru and his English shishyaa, Kash- also went to see other famous temples. One of these was the mir, so beloved to the Swami, was even more trying ancient Pandrethan shrine, ‘sunken in a scum-covered pond and demanding. within a wood by the side of the Jhelum’. The temple of Meru- As if anticipating their trip a year earlier, on October 1st, 1987, vardhanaswami, built in the early 10th century, was once located the Swami had written Margot a passionately beautiful letter in Kashmir’s capital. Founded, according to Kalhana, by King from Srinagar, the capital of the princely state: ‘I shall not try to Pravarasena, in the 6th century, the Sanskrit name of Pandrethan describe Kashmir to you. Suffice it to say, I never felt sorry to leave was Puranadishthana or ‘old town’. any country except this Paradise on earth.’ (bit.ly/33XZ1Z3). The fine carvings in the interior of the temple were praised Vivekananda had grand plans in the valley, with the Hindu by Vivekananda: maharaja’s help. The latter, Sir Pratap Singh, held Vivekananda ‘Inside the temple the Swami introduced his companions in high regard. He was agreeable to starting, at the Swami’s to the study of Indian archaeology and taught them to observe behest, a Sanskrit college and math. Unfortunately, that did not the decorations in the interior with their sun-medallion and materialise. Though Vivekananda had been invited by the ma- beautiful sculpture, in low relief, of male and female figures

16 21 december 2020 Illustration by Saurabh Singh tipur, Bijbehara (Vijeshwara) and Martand, which they visited on July 23rd. Nivedita writes: ‘It had been a wonderful old building—evidently more abbey than temple—in a wonderful position; and its great interest lay in the obvious agglomeration of styles and periods in which it had grown up.’ With trefoil arches, originally ‘three small rectangular temples, built with heavy blocks of stone, round sacred springs… . Its presence is a perpetual reminder that the East was the original home of monasticism’ (bit.ly/3qGewyp). The Swami led many profound discussions on Egyptian, Zoroastrian, Christian, Islamic and Indic religions and faiths, in each instance presenting the broadest and deepest ideals of each tradition, leav- ened with his own unique insights. In all, enjoying the sights and listening to Vivekananda’s teachings on various aspects of Indian culture and spirituality was their daily routine. On one occasion in Islamabad, Vivekananda picked up two pebbles, saying, “Whenever death ap- proaches me, all weakness vanishes. I have neither fear, nor doubt, nor thought of the external. I simply busy myself making ready to die” (bit.ly/3gygP1Y). Striking the rocks against each other, he continued, “I am as hard as that... for I have touched the feet of God!’ (ibid). But, as Nivedita recalls, ‘The Swami was not the philosopher or the teacher all the time. He could be gay as well as grave, full of fun, jokes and humorous stories—a phenomenon which shocked the feelings of the divines and ecclesiastics when he DID Vivekananda specifically have was in the West’ (ibid). Vivekananda’s lessons in leadership to his chosen Nivedita in mind when he explained disciples continued: “Some people do the best work the difference between personal when led. Not everyone is born to lead. The best and impersonal love? For the leader, however, is one who ‘leads like the baby’. The baby, though apparently depending on everyone, is guru, only the latter was possible. the king of the household” (ibid). Regardless of how much the Vivekananda was well aware that without personal magnetism and charisma no leader could members of his flock idolised him inspire others to do his bidding. Yet, there was a great danger in the adoration and adulation that such leadership induced: “The great difficulty is this: I see persons giving me intertwined with serpents. Among the outside carvings was a almost the whole of their love. But I must not give anyone the fine image of Buddha, standing with his hands uplifted, in one of whole of mine in return, for that day the work would be ruined. the trefoil arches of the eastern door, and a much defaced frieze Yet there are some who will look for such a return, not having the of a seated woman, with a tree—evidently Maya Devi, Buddha’s breadth of the impersonal view. It is absolutely necessary to the mother. The temple was built of heavy grey limestone and dated work that I should have the enthusiastic love of as many as pos- perhaps from Kanishka’s time AD 150’ (ibid). sible, while I myself remain entirely impersonal” (ibid). Nivedita recalls that the Swami thought the Buddha “was the Did he specifically have Nivedita in mind when he explained greatest man that had ever lived”. “He never drew a breath for the difference between personal and impersonal love? himself… he never claimed worship. … Buddha is not a man, but a For the guru, only the latter was possible. Regardless of how state. I have found the door. Enter, all of you!” (ibid). much the members of his flock idolised him. Vivekananda also took his group to the great temples of Avan- (To be continued) n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 17 THE RACHEL PAPERS

By Rachel Dwyer

The Constant Actor Soumitra Chatterjee became every character he played

ong before I ever saw a mainstream Hindi cloud over the sun. movie, I watched Indian films at the British As I watched more Bengali films, it felt as though Film Institute (BFI) and at arthouse cinemas in Soumitra was in most of them, as were many other actors L London. Most of the films were made by Satyajit who were the key players of a golden age of Bengali Ray, but also the occasional Mrinal Sen, Goutam Ghose. cinema. Chhabi Biswas, Robi Ghosh, Utpal Dutt, Pahari In those days I could see films only in cinema halls, Sanyal and Supriya Choudhury, Karuna Banerjee, Aparna rarely on television or at special screenings. So when Sen and Sharmila Tagore. None of the men was typically I heard about Ray’s ‘Apu Trilogy’ I couldn’t see it, so I handsome or came close to Soumitra. Then I saw Uttam read the novel, in English translation, of Pather Panchali Kumar in Nayak. before I watched the film. The first time I saw Apur The ‘Mahanayak’ was the star of Bengali cinema, a Sansar (or was it Aparajito?), I had to wear headphones star around whom much of popular Bengali cinema for a simultaneous, live translation, clearly not by an seemed to orbit. Famous as half of the star couple of actor, and wondered what had happened to the subtitled Uttam and Suchitra on screen, off-screen he lived with print. Now the films have been restored by the BFI his co-star Supriya Devi. I have enjoyed his performance and I watched the trilogy again recently, which was a in many popular films since I first saw him, where he wonderful experience. looked wonderful and had many lovely songs. His early I had remembered many of the iconic scenes from melodramas often show him as a sensitive middle- Pather Panchali. Durga’s death, the sweet vendor, the class Bengali man negotiating complex roles and wider grass and the train, but I barely remembered Aparajito social questions in his search for love and stability. But (which makes me wonder if it was the film I saw with like other viewers, I find it hard to separate Arindam headphones.) This is where Subir Banerjee changes Mukherjee, the star of Nayak, from Uttam Kumar. into Soumitra Chatterjee, the child Apu becomes the Soumitra was very different, always an actor, never student Apu. The shift is from the rural to the urban, and a star. I mean this in the sense that he was an actor the son can no longer relate to the world of his mother, who became the character, and even looked different nor she to his. according to the role. I didn’t see him act in plays though I remembered every scene in Apur Sansar. The shabby know he was loved for his work in theatre and also for lodgings, the railway line, the nosy neighbours, the his writing, which included poetry. Soumitra’s off-screen village, but above all, the couple Apu and Aparna, played life wasn’t of interest, unlike that of a star. Nor was he a by Soumitra and Sharmila Tagore. The flute-playing, celebrity despite being one of India’s most famous and the hairpin in the bed, the carriage ride, the letter to be admired actors. Although he supported various causes, savoured…and then how Apu, the father, finds how to I couldn’t tell you anything else about him or his family. live with his grief through their son, Kajal, who is as I never wanted to know as he was an actor and that was memorable a character as the child Apu himself. A full more than enough for me. circle as we see the father as the son, and son as the father. I have enjoyed Soumitra’s films of the 1950s and 1960s I was enchanted by Soumitra. Not just because he which were about a Bengali bhadralok world that was was good-looking but also because he was far from challenged in the 1970s by youth turning their back being a typical film hero. He played a real character, the on this culture which offered them so little, notably in person who could make the big moves, from village to Mrinal Sen’s Calcutta Trilogy. city, but who couldn’t focus his life or be the writer he Soumitra worked mostly with the great filmmakers wanted to be. Gentle, but not saintly. And for the viewer, of his time, notably Satyajit Ray, the director whose one could watch an emotion pass across his face like a work I know best and with whom he made 14 films. But

18 21 december 2020 Soumitra often played an educated, cultural bhadralok figure, contemporary or historical, the romantic, sometimes maudlin Bengali non-macho masculinity, a figure which appealed to women who preferred a man with an interior life

Soumitra Chatterjee in Apur Sansar he also performed wonderfully with other Feluda, the Indian Sherlock Holmes, as Feluda himself directors, notably Tapan Sinha. He was also the acknowledges in the stories. Bengali literary hero given how many of the films The day Soumitra died, I watched Barnali where he in which he acted were adaptations of novels by played the archetypal Bengali romantic hero. It is one Rabindranath Tagore, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay of his more lovely performances where he pairs again and others. Yet, Soumitra made these roles his own. with Sharmila Tagore four years after Apur Sansar. It’s He embodied a golden era of Bengali cinema and of wider a film where nothing much happens but offers a vision Bengali culture. It’s almost impossible to imagine of Calcutta, Bengal and India from my youth. A world some of India’s most admired figures—Satyajit Ray, where everyone knows everyone, and though there are Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Ravi Shankar— predatory men and social climbers, the couple fall in all working together. love in part due to their shared values and admiration for In these films, Soumitra often played an educated, education. As Beth Watkins (Beth Loves Bollywood) put it, cultural bhadralok figure, contemporary or historical, the film ‘feels like the story Apu and Aparna the romantic, sometimes maudlin Bengali non-macho from Apur Sansar deserve to have had if only their masculinity, a figure which appealed to women who lives hadn’t been so cruel.’ They get a chance to roam preferred a man with an interior life. Again, it’s easy around Calcutta, even enjoying a moonlit boat ride after to conflate him with his roles. Apu is a clear example. escaping from a wedding he didn’t want her to see, a The young man who can’t really focus but wants to be a wedding where the band plays Colonel Bogey and the writer, who loses his wife, who doesn’t know what to do Teddy Bears’ picnic. but ultimately finds himself. Soumitra, who was born and who died in Calcutta, Sometimes he played a more ambivalent character, represents so much of the city and its culture for notably as a seducer of unhappy wives, whether the more so many of us around the world. And all of us bideshinis innocent Amal of Charulata or the more exploitative adore the full-on Bengaliness of him being voiced by Sandip of Ghare Baire. He was convincing even as Kishore Kumar singing Tagore’s ‘Aami chini go chini Narsingh in Abhijan, the inspiration for Scorsese’s Taxi tomare ogo bideshini….’ in Charulata. We won’t see their Driver. Soumitra was also loved for his non-romantic like again. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 19 Whisperer Jayanta Ghosal

Foe Turned Friend Again? n Karnataka, can the Janata Dal (Secular) Ihead and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy again make an alliance with BJP? He met Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa recently and rumours on this front began immediately. In fact, the two have met on several occasions in the last few months. Kumaraswamy also made a comment that a major mistake of his life was to ally with Congress to form the government in 2018.

On Notice Famous artists who have been asked to vacate bungalows in Lutyens’ Delhi are complaining, but many in the Government think they have no right to be there. Among those who got notices are Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj, painter Jatin Das and Dhrupad singer Wasifuddin Dagar. But the Government is arguing that these were only allotments for a stipulated period, which is over. There was also a Supreme Court order that said people who have outstayed their allotted time should vacate. Get Priyanka Can Priyanka Gandhi Vadra eventually take over the Congress leadership? After their terrible showing in Courting Controversy the Hyderabad municipal corporation polls, several in rinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra the party are now demanding that if Rahul Gandhi is Thas run into a controversy with the not serious about becoming their president, then she media in West Bengal. In a meeting with should don the mantle. Recently, P Chidambaram’s partyworkers, she angrily asked why they had son, Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, suggested that invited the “two-paisa press”. A few Bengali TV Priyanka should contest the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha channels then boycotted her and the Kolkata by-election in Tamil Nadu. The seat fell vacant on the Press Club condemned her statement. Several death of its Congress MP. But Congressmen from Uttar Trinamool leaders said that what she said was Pradesh (UP) objected, saying that she should fight not the party’s view and even advised her to apologise. Even party chief Mamata Banerjee from their state. The UP Assembly elections will take is said to have not taken too kindly to it. place in 2022 and there is even a proposal that But an apparently unrepentant Moitra tweeted Priyanka contest then to lift the mood of the that she apologises for all the accurate things average partyworker. that she had said!

20 21 december 2020

Illustrations by Saurabh Singh

Headless Unit The Thaw ongress is wholeheartedly supporting the farmers’ fter a history of Cprotests. But some people are asking why the party confrontation, there doesn’t have a head for its own farmers’ wing, the Kisan A is now a sign of thaw Congress. A year ago, the person heading it had vacated between Punjab Chief the post after becoming a minister in the Maharashtra government. It remains vacant. The leadership is now Minister Amarinder Singh considering getting someone from Punjab for the job. and his former cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu. The ice was broken with the former inviting the latter to lunch. Harish Rawat, Missing in Action Congress general secretary t is after a very long time that India is seeing a and Punjab affairs in-charge, Ifarmers’ agitation on such scale. Farmers’ issues was said to be active for the have moved centrestage again in politics, but where last few months to are all the dynasties who have their bases in the bridge the gulf community? Like Jayant Singh, son of Ajit Singh and grandson of the pioneer farmers’ leader Charan Singh. between the two. Or Sachin Pilot, the son of kisan Jat leader Rajesh The meeting took place in the Pilot. Both are said to be not against the reforms spelt farmhouse of the chief minister out in the farm laws and think that new-generation near Chandigarh. Gossip is, if farmers must be equipped to deal with the future. Sidhu is ready, Singh is ready to Meanwhile, in UP, another young leader, Rakesh Tikait, son of Mahendra Singh Tikait, who was once a reinduct him to the cabinet. mass organiser of farmers, has however jumped into the agitation through his organisation, Bharatiya Kisan Union. Celeb vs Celeb wo Bollywood celebrities, Priyanka Chopra TJonas and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, came out in Khalistan support of the agitating farmers. BJP immediately decided to counter them with a celebrity of its Twist own. The party got its MP Sunny Deol to tweet in support of the farm legislation. here is a new Ttwist to the Khalistani angle in the farmers’ protests. The US-headquartered No Party for Actresses pro-Khalistan separatist outfit, Sikhs For Justice, ctresses don’t seem to last too long in threatened to shut down ACongress. Urmila Matondkar, who had Indian consulates across the contested on the party’s ticket for a Lok Sabha world through tractor and seat and lost, recently joined Shiv Sena. South truck rallies in support of the Indian actress Khushbu Sundar had earlier left as agitation. Their campaign is Congress spokesperson to join BJP. Telugu saying that Khalistan is the actress Vijayashanthi had left BJP to join only solution for Punjab farmers’ plight. Union Congress in Telangana but switched back to Home Minister Amit Shah BJP. In Karnataka, Divya Spandana, who used has taken note of to be Congress’ social media chief, also left the this development. party some time ago.

11 may 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 21 open essay

By Rajeev Srinivasan

The Shape of covid What Artificial Intelligence may reveal about the coronavirus and a possible cure

may well turn out to have been a watershed year in biochemistry and biology. Despite the failure of the establishment in finding a quick cure for the Wuhan-originated coronavirus pandemic, there was the Nobel Prize won by Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing mechanism with immense possibilities. 2020 Then there is the amazing news in biology of the apparent success of DeepMind’s Alpha- Fold2 in predicting the shape of proteins with unparalleled accuracy. This has been a quest in biochemistry for at least 50 years, and the fact that a machine-learning algorithm has been able to do it with better than 90 per cent accuracy is truly impressive. Why is this important? Proteins are the building blocks of life, in a truly literal sense. Enzymes, hormones, antibodies, neu- rotransmitters, muscles, bones: all of them either consist entirely of proteins or have large quantities of them. Even the spike on a Covid-19 virus, which enables it to attach to a receptor on a cell and invade it, is a protein. Proteins are long chains or sequences of tens of thousands of amino-acid molecules. And there are 20 types of amino acids. That means the possible number of proteins is enormous. DNA has only four types of basic nucleotides, and that is enough for massive complexity, as seen in the human genome project. What is truly remarkable is that it is the shape of the protein that mat- ters, not necessarily the specific amino acid in the sequence. More on that later. First, a thought about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). There have been several remarkable outcomes in AI/ML in the recent past: DeepMind (a company owned by Google) itself defeated the world champion at Go, a game with simple rules but significant strategic complexity. GPT-3 from OpenAI, a California company, is now able to produce astonishingly lifelike texts based on a few samples of some- one’s writing; and now AlphaFold2 has performed the feat of predicting the shape of proteins. There is also an ongoing effort at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to identify those with the coronavirus merely based on the sound of their cough. There are also glitches on the way, of course. There is a brand-new scandal about Google firing AI researcher Timnit Gebru (a Black woman) allegedly for criticising the huge carbon footprint of crunching large data sets and for highlighting recurring instances of racial and sexual bias in large datasets, which end up causing the algorithms themselves to appear biased. The thing that we all need to keep in mind is that AI/ML is a performing monkey. It may go through the motions and execute what appear to be wondrous feats, but it simply has no understanding of what is going on: it is an idiot savant, if you want to be more charitable. It is about syntax, not about semantics. AI/ML is merely doing a statistical analysis of correlation, with no idea about causation. Is this enough? Yes, in the real world, to a significant degree of abstraction, this is mostly what we need. To put it bluntly, it is engineering, not science. Engineers are bothered about what works, not necessarily why it works: that is the province of science. There are not too many theological battles in engineering, unlike in science where deeply held beliefs (often like blind faith) cannot be changed: whence Max Planck’s epigram that “science advances one funeral at a time”. In a way, all of us are votaries of this engineering philosophy. For instance, unless you are a stylite-type hermit somewhere, you

22 21 december 2020 Saurabh Singh Saurabh by Illustration

We are not quite there yet, but the excitement over google’s Alphafold2 is because it might be able to identify precise counter-weapons, based on the shape of the enemy’s own weapons, that can fend off the enemy. Instead of trial and error, if Alphafold2 could narrow the field down to a handful of possible drugs and vaccines, that would be a major boon

are almost certainly using software of some kind. Even if buggy, tion from writing beautiful code. It is possible to write very ugly all of this software works more or less correctly most of the code (which even the writer can scarcely bear to look at again), time, which is all we need. We don’t ask for formal proof of cor- but once you see beautiful and elegant structures, it is hard to rectness, which would be extremely tedious (unless machines go back to the old style. The old monolithic style of writing do the proving for us). code contrasts sharply with the spare elegance of Unix, and that Similarly, allopathy (modern, mainstream medicine) is also trend has percolated to Linux, Android and iOS. about that which works. Since it really doesn’t have a theory of dis- Almost all of us are moved, sometimes to tears, by beautiful ease (except for Louis Pasteur’s germ theory that it adopted as late things. The fact that this is so suggests that there is evolutionary as the 19th century), it is about using whatever means are at hand value to the appreciation of beauty, or else it would have been to combat whatever illness is about (thus the extraordinary, and extinguished as a useless trait somewhere down the line. in my opinion, dangerous, fuss over the coronavirus vaccines). Beauty, apparently, is not optional, but integral. Thus, AI/ML works in certain limited domains, and we In the Indian tradition of aesthetics and rasas, the importance accept it as useful. Maybe another analogy is helpful: Newton’s of structure in invoking certain emotions is well articulated; in- physics is not complete, nor does it work in the realms of the deed, one of the cornerstones of Carnatic music is its mathemati- very small (subatomic particles) or very large (galaxies). But it is cal precision (this is true of Western classical music as well). a good enough approximation for everyday use. Another example is in the precise utterance of Sanskrit Second, the question of aesthetics. There has always been mantras (which, according to the theory, create specific sound a philosophical question as to whether beauty matters. Even patterns that have beneficial effects, and so chanting them though most engineers and scientists have been trained to in translation in a different language wouldn’t have quite the think that that is a frivolous question best left to dreamy artists same effect) that may resonate with certain frequencies in the and philosophers, the fact is that elegance and, yes, beauty mat- human body or in the environment. ters in almost everything. Another example is the great length to which tradition- In the world of software, which is just about the most pro- ally oral renditions of scriptures went to preserve exact- saic thing you can think of, programmers derive quiet satisfac- ness. Pada paatha, using hand mudras as error-correcting

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 23 open essay

codes for ensuring absolutely correct transmission of the now well-known that the way a virus attacks a normal cell is Rig Veda, is a tradition from Kerala. by matching its ‘key’ to a ‘lock’ in a receptor in the cell. In other A sri yantra is another example of a structure that is beautiful, words, it has created a structure that matches the ‘keyhole’. In precise and quite likely recursive and fractal. Fractals are found the case of the coronavirus, the spike proteins on its surface are so widely in nature that it is likely that our sense of aesthetics can the keys that match the ACE2 receptors in the cell. zero in on that property of structures, both human and natural. Therefore, can we find something that can specifically Then there is the humble kolam or rangoli. It is astonishing look for the spike proteins on the surface of the coronavirus, to watch housewives in Tamil Nadu casually and effortlessly or SARS-CoV-2, using its ‘key’, attach itself to the virus and create a pattern that is recursive and often fractal, often while destroy it? That would be the perfect way of finding a cure, or a they are chatting away with somebody else. vaccine, for the disease. The fractional dimensions of these patterns may have a There exists a vast pharmacopoeia of drugs, tried and tested. relationship to theoretical insights, And a large number of vaccines such as Subhash Kak’s conjecture too that have stood the test of time. that gravity can be explained if the An expert such as Gobardhan Das universe is e-dimensional, where has suggested testing existing vac- e = 2.71828… , the irrational number cines, such as the BCG vaccine for called Euler’s constant. tuberculosis and a leprosy vaccine, What does all this mean in the as possible preventives for the context of protein folding? It turns coronavirus, based on his hunches out that a protein, which, as men- about their molecular biology. tioned earlier, is a long chain of We are not quite there yet, but amino acids, can be folded into an the excitement over Alphafold2 is astronomical number of possible because it might be able to identify shapes when it is created. precise counter-weapons, based Proteins, according to a podcast on the shape of the enemy’s own from the New Scientist magazine, weapons, that can fend off the are the workhorses of biology, enemy. Instead of trial and error, and they can do things as varied if Alphafold2 could narrow the as being a generator of energy and field down to a handful of possible being a transporter of goods. They drugs and vaccines, that would be are specialised to do these tasks, A sri yantra is an a major boon. and that specialisation includes example of a structure None of this may happen for their shapes as well. that is beautiful, precise and years, but it is a promising way for- Apparently the number of per- quite likely recursive and ward. There are further complica- mutations for folding the protein tions: it is also necessary to consider is of the order of 10300, enormously fractal. Fractals are found how protein molecules interact greater than the number of atoms so widely in nature that it with each other and with other in the universe, which is supposed is likely that our sense of molecules, say water, in the vicinity. to be around 1080. That would make aesthetics can zero in on There are 180 million protein se- the task of computing the permuta- that property of structures, quences known to scientists accord- tions essentially NP-complete, that ing to The Economist, but only some is, not computable using brute- both human and natural 170,000 have had their structures force methods. You need certain determined so far. Automating the heuristics or rules of thumb to task will help enormously. reduce the universe of possibilities to a manageable number. The drug discovery time can be reduced; in a future pandem- What AlphaFold2 has done is to develop its own set of ic, researchers may find an antidote among known drugs and heuristics, a standard ML practice, by reviewing a very large vaccines in days, instead of spending months inventing new dataset of previously known proteins and their structure. things and rushing them to market barely tested. That would Based on this, it can predict, with a degree of statistical prob- reduce the risks for humanity and would be a great contribu- ability, what the structure of a newly formed protein will tion to public health. n be. Obviously, that is useful, because the traditional chore of hand-analysing structures through X-ray crystallography is Rajeev Srinivasan worked at Bell Labs and in Silicon Valley. painful, slow and expensive. He has taught innovation at IIMs and writes widely There are very interesting implications. For instance, it is on the impact of technology on society

24 21 december 2020 While Inside Look Outside For FREE With access visit www.openthemagazine.com Cover Story

The NewBorn

DADHow the pandemic is changing the role of man By Lhendup G Bhutia t the beginning of this year, Jezreel Pannikot began to make preparations for the birth of his first child. He would be hiring someone to help out with the baby’s care, another person who specialised in massaging and bathing newborns, and then there would be the calm presence of his mother-in-law and his own parents, Awho would be around to steer him and his wife through the exciting and turbulent world of first- time parenthood. But all their plans came undone when Noah ar- rived nine days before the due date in the first week of April, in Mumbai, right in the midst of the pan- demic. Not only were they not going to be able to Cover Story

hire someone for the baby and for household chores, but the two, The father, so often the distant and reproachful figure in our who live by themselves in a flat in the Mumbai suburb of Borivali, homes, is now, shirt-sleeves rolled up, plunging himself into would not be able to rely on their parents either, who, because of the care of his children. their advanced age, now had to isolate themselves. The couple re- Like elsewhere in the world, his role used to be of the breadwin- turned to their flat with their young son, delighted and terrified. ner. The father was at best indifferent, at worst a wrecking ball Both parents had been thrown into the deep end. And like his through the emotional lives of his wife and child. He would smile wife Anita, Pannikot began to kick his way up for air. The days when his wife approached her delivery date, as friends joked about and nights were endless in both their joy and misery. Pannikot the end of his former pleasurable life. He would wait outside the had to spend his waking hours juggling his job at a trading firm labour ward for news of his child’s birth and promptly return to and caring for his son when his wife was too exhausted, apart work the next day. After the birth, he remained aloof, someone from taking on his share of domestic duties. In the night, the baby summoned only to discipline an errant child. He knew about cars would keep the two awake. Pannikot would look up YouTube and sport, brimmed with stock tips, but struggled to recall the tutorials to learn the correct way of holding a baby during a bath age of his child. Those rare few who did participate at home were as well as the right method of swaddling one. He would maintain often viewed as domestic dunces, figures of hilarity who fumbled his newborn’s growth chart. Sometimes he would weigh his baby around, and proved just why they were an exception. by subtracting his from their combined weight on the weigh- And then there have been those fathers in the public imagina- ing machine. The two agonised for days when their baby cried tion, so brilliant at their work, but terrifying at home. History is relentlessly, possibly from a bout of colic discomfort. Outside full of them. Steve Jobs was awful to his daughter. Henry Ford their window, the pandemic raged in full force. Inside, Pannikot appeared to take pleasure in the humiliation of his son in public. and his wife were always exhausted and sleepy. John Paul Getty didn’t pay his grandson’s ransom until an ear Nearly nine months since the arrival of their baby, the two par- was parcelled to him, and when he did, it was only as much as ents are more relaxed now. Some weeks ago, Pannikot’s parents was tax-deductible and he loaned the rest at interest to his son. briefly moved in to help them out. Now, Anita’s aunt is also there. Or William Faulkner, who, when his daughter tried to inter- “The pandemic situation has been tough. But I think it has vene in his alcoholism, thundered, “Nobody remembers Shake- been such a blessing for me,” he says. “I’ve been with my son every speare’s children.” In the public imagination, a pram in the hall day. I’ve seen him grow, seen him reach his milestones, bonded so is often seen as an impediment. And these cruelties have been intimately with him. I couldn’t have wished for more.” excused as a small but perhaps necessary evil for the genius of For some years now, the idea of fatherhood has been going an eccentric to bloom. through a change. Like many other things, Covid-19 has put an All of this has been changing for some time. Our playgrounds electric charge into a social transformation already underway. are filled with fathers now. Men make it to parent-teacher meet-

FOTOCORP ✻ Sunil Gavaskar chose to participate in back-to-back tours of New Zealand and the West Indies, which lasted for more than two months, than to be by his wife’s side when she gave birth to their son. And when he sought to fly back home briefly at his own expense the request was Sunil Gavaskar turned down and son Rohan

28 21 DECEMBER 2020 ings and paediatrician consultations. Instagram is filled with pictures of fathers doting on their children. There is also a per- formative aspect, as with everything else on social media, but it is remarkable when one considers how this private aspect of a “Avnish has changed my life. Whenever father’s life, his doting on a child, has become, on social media at I think about it, I don’t feel like I chose least, such an accepted public display of affection. him. But that he did. It was tough to explain to my son why we can’t go out now. But we have here are plenty of reasons for all this. More and more women are participating in been using the the workforce, smashing old ideas about divi- opportunity to do sion of labour between men and women. Joint other things that families are disintegrating and becoming nuclear. All of this has compelledT men to pull in some of their weight. There is still not he likes” an equitable division of childcare responsibilities between men – Aditya Tiwari and women but a significant change has been underway. Both campaigner for men and women are also delaying having children, ensuring that children with when they do, the child has their full attention. And perhaps more special needs importantly, in an age of intense scrutiny about the way privilege functions in society, there is a larger enquiry going on about male- ness, about what is toxic and what’s not, and whether the identity of the father can be stripped of the symbol of patriarchy. No news has illustrated the changing nature of fatherhood in India as that of Virat Kohli deciding to apply for paternity leave. The superstar cricketers of the past, like any other father of those times, skipped the birth of their child over a game. Sunil Gavaskar chose to participate in back-to-back tours of New Zealand and the West Indies, which lasted for more than two months, than to be by his wife’s side when she gave birth to their son. And when he sought to fly back home briefly at his own expense after he had suffered an injury, the request was (infamously) turned down. Even as recently as 2015, India’s last superstar cricketer and cap- tain Mahendra Singh Dhoni chose the World Cup in Australia over the birth of his daughter. His wife had to send news of the birth through Dhoni’s teammate Suresh Raina because he wasn’t reachable. When asked by the media if he would like to be with his family, Dhoni’s reply was no different from what most past cricketers would have made. “As of now, I’m on national duty,” he had said. “So I think everything else can wait.” But Kohli is now exemplifying a new age of the superstar father. You can be the most competitive man on the professional field, the best really in the business, a symbol of the stereotype of “I didn’t know how to run a house, to aggressive Punjabi masculinity, but you can also be a tender male even switch on a washing machine. at home. A man comfortable in the skin of fatherhood, for whom a pram is not an impediment to genius, and one who is willing to But I had fought so hard for my son’s put his home before work. custody, why would I send him to a He is, of course, not the first cricketer to do so. Rohit Sharma, hostel or bring a new person (wife) for instance, availed of paternity leave around this time two years ago. England captain Joe Root took one earlier this year, and New into the relationship?” Zealand captain Kane Williamson, it appears, could take one by – Prithvish Rajamani the end of this year. legal consultant But Kohli’s decision to avail of such leave has become a big

21 DECEMBER 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 29 Cover Story

Mahendra Singh As recently as 2015, Dhoni and daughter Ziva India’s last superstar cricketer and captain MS Dhoni chose the World Cup in Australia over the birth of his daughter. When asked if he would like to be with his family, Dhoni’s reply was: ‘As of now, I’m on national duty. So I think everything else can wait’ ✻

talking point. He is arguably the biggest brand in the country this whole culture of ‘Wow, look how dedicated (to work) this at present, someone who carries with him a certain cultural guy is. He became a dad just days ago and he’s back in the office’,” cachet, and through whose body and action, everything from says Kanthawala. “And in many cases, fathers don’t take leaves new ideas about masculinity or athleticism to a new packet of worried that they will lose out on a promotion or something.” chips in the market flows. In the early noughties, when AK Srikanth became a father, it When he endorses something, it carries a certain weight. were these same fears of career setbacks that kept him from tak- When he tells people he is moving to a vegan diet, it puts forth ing time off from work. Currently the CEO of KLAY, a network of a new idea of athleticism and nutrition. When he tells people he preschools and daycare centres across India, Srikanth was then is going to skip a marquee series to perform another role, that of based in the US working for a health-related firm. “Five days of the father, this idea of a new fatherhood acquires a new currency. leave, and this included the day of the birth at the hospital, and I was back at work. Back then I used to make a lot of international trips. And shortly after the birth of my boy, I was back to travel- ling again, being gone for months. And this was in the US, where you would imagine it would be better for new parents,” says Sri- hen the news of Kohli’s decision kanth. “Even those five days of leave really went running around came out, there were two distinct reac- to buy things. I was just playing the role of the provider.” When he tions. One group of people were very became a father for the second time, the same script played out. happy to hear this. Here’s a couple, both According to Srikanth, while there has been a lot of societal with very successful careers, and the father has decided to take change in the last 15 years, with more men becoming involved Wsome time off. Of course he should,” says Nadir Kanthawala, a fathers, laws and workplaces haven’t kept pace. “We need work- father to a young daughter, and who, along with Peter Kotika- places to become more accommodating and flexible to allow lapudi, another father in Mumbai, runs a podcast (Pops in a Pod) men to embrace their roles as fathers,” he says. The fear that on fatherhood. “But there was this other group on social media men will misuse provisions of paternity benefits to dump all who couldn’t stomach it. They were saying, Kohli has chosen his childcare work on their wives and relax at home is an archaic family over country.” and misguided way of looking at how young working parents According to Kanthawala, Kohli’s decision has brought to the can be provided more support, he says. fore the rarely discussed issue of paternity leave, which, since it is There is certainly not much legal sanction behind the idea of not legally required, is provided by just a few progressive compa- paternity leave. A Paternity Benefit Bill was introduced in Lok nies. Even when paternity leave is available, often, as Kanthawala Sabha in 2017, which, according to reports, proposes that all work- points out, men will not take it or only take a few days off. “It’s ers in both the unorganised and private sectors be allowed to avail

30 21 DECEMBER 2020 paternity leave of 15 days, extendable up to three months, is yet to be passed. Some progressive private companies allow paternity leave. In many others, fathers dip into their allotted privileged and casual leaves. Most take a few days off, spend these preparing their homes, and soon enough are back at the office, amid jokes of the end of the good days. Kanthawala and Kotikalapudi bonded, when they were work- ing in the same digital agency in Mumbai, over their shared in- terests in caring for their child. Kanthawala had become a father a few months before Kotikalapudi. This interest, coupled with what they call the absence of any material that looks at parenting from the father’s perspective, led the two to create their podcast. Almost all parenting content is from a mother’s perspective, Kotikalapudi says, or when it is for fathers, it tends to be super- ficial advice. There is nothing, he says, for involved fathers like Kanthawala and him. “What we have seen (through the podcast) is that there is this silent community of fathers like us out there “I feel terrible saying this given how interested in the things we are interested in,” Kanthawala says. much pain the virus has caused. But Kotikalapudi believes he takes such an active interest in his I’m seeing so much of my daughter. No son’s life because that is what he saw growing up himself. “I grew up in the Gulf and my mom would have to leave quite early for one has had the opportunity to spend work. So my father would prepare me in the mornings, wash, so much time with their children. And I dress and feed me. It was only later when I became older that I saw this wasn’t as common,” he says. “My wife’s mother worked have loved every bit of that” too and her father did stuff for her. And my wife was clear that she – Nadir Kanthawala wasn’t looking for a husband who would take a backseat when marketing professional a child came along.” The pandemic has been difficult for both Kanthawala and Kotikalapudi. The fear of contracting the virus and passing it on to their families made them anxious, and the burden of profes- sional work and parental chores sometimes made them irritable. But the positives far outweigh the negatives, Kanthawala says. “I feel terrible saying this given how much pain the virus has caused. “I grew up in the But I’m seeing so much of my daughter. I’m seeing the things she Gulf and my mom says. No one in history I think has had the opportunity to spend so much time with their children. And I have loved every bit of that.” would leave early Recently, both Kanthawala and Kotikalapudi managed to put for work. My father the gloom of the pandemic away briefly when they went on short would prepare me holidays with their spouses. In Kotikalapudi’s case, his son travelled in the mornings. along to enjoy the wide spaces and relatively empty beaches in Ali- baug. But in Kanthawala’s case, while he and his wife travelled to It was only later a vineyard in Maharashtra, his daughter decided to travel to Pune that I saw it wasn’t with her paternal grandparents. “This was the first time she (the as common. My daughter) was away from us. And I would keep calling to check if she wasn’t missing us, until my wife told me to stop it,” he says. wife was clear she According to Rakhi Kapoor, a Chennai-based antenatal coun- wasn’t looking for sellor and the author of a book that serves as a guide for men a husband who would take a backseat whose wives are pregnant (Expecting Daddy Delivers), fathers make for exceptional caregivers. “We often tend to be dismissive when a child came along” of fathers. But many men want to help. Given a chance, and with – Peter Kotikalapudi some guidance, they can be very good parents,” she says. marketing professional Kapoor points out that the modern Indian father has come a long way since she began her antenatal classes about 20 years ago.

21 DECEMBER 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 31 Cover Story

No news has illustrated the changing nature of fatherhood as that of Virat Kohli applying for paternity leave. He is the New superstar father for whom a pram is not an impediment, who is willing to put his home before work. arguably the biggest brand in the country, When Kohli tells people he is going to perform another role, the idea of fatherhood acquires a new currency Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma ✻

“Then it was a new concept in India and everyone would say the routines got disrupted. A few surgeries for some health-related (pregnant) mother was fussing too much by joining these classes. issues were being planned but these will now be performed later. The men who came to pick up and drop their wives were also When the pandemic struck, Tiwari, who lives with his son in reluctant. And those men who were supportive, their masculin- Pune, travelled back to his home town of Indore. “It was tough ity would always be questioned for allowing their wives to fuss to explain to my son why we can’t go out now. But we have been (about their pregnancy),” she says. Many of Kapoor’s sessions are using the opportunity to do other things that he likes, such as now tailored to also include the expecting father. And during the gardening and terrace farming,” Tiwari says. lockdown, when she had to move her classes online, she watched Tiwari adopted Avnish back in 2016. He had been trying to with amusement the husbands of her clients in the background adopt him since 2014, he says, when, as a 27-year-old on a visit to doing household chores. “There would be this guy in his jocks, an orphanage in Indore, he came across the young boy whom oh my god, and he wouldn’t realise I could see him. And while no one was willing to adopt. Then, adoption laws did not allow his wife was doing yoga, he’d be there in his jocks doing some anyone below 30 to adopt a child. So for the next couple of years, cleaning work,” she says. he travelled from Pune, where he worked as a software engineer, For Prithvish Rajamani, a 50-year-old single father based in to Indore nearly every week to meet Avnish at the orphanage and Coimbatore, the pandemic and the closure of schools have visit government authorities to plead his case. rekindled old memories of a time when it appeared the world Once the age criterion for adoptive parents was reduced to consisted just of him and his son. It had not immediately been 25, Tiwari says, despite discouragement from several quarters, easy—he had struggled after his separation from his wife some- he brought Avnish home. That was in 2016. Some months later, time in 2007, learning to cook and care for his then three-year-old giving in to parental pressure, he also got married. son—but it was one based on love. “I didn’t know how to run a Tiwari quit his job to care for Avnish. Now he uses what time house, to even switch on a washing machine,” he says. Once he he gets to conduct workshops and raise awareness about children even attempted to dry his son’s wet socks in a microwave oven. with special needs. “Avnish has changed my life,” he says. “When- Rajamani quit his marketing job to look after his son Talish. ever I think about it, I don’t feel like I chose him. But that he did.” When money became hard and he tried to look for jobs, he was A few weeks ago, back in Mumbai, Pannikot finally mustered advised to put his son in a school hostel or remarry. “I had fought the courage to take his eight-month-old son Noah for a stroll out- so hard for the custody (of the child), why would I send him to side the building. Apart from drives to get his vaccination shots, a hostel or bring a new person (a second wife) into the relation- this was the first time the toddler was stepping out. Pannikot car- ship?” he asks. Rajamani took up freelance jobs instead. Gradu- ried his son and stepped into the lift where a young girl of about ally, things began to ease. three tried to talk to them. Noah hung his lower lip and bawled. Just before the lockdown, Rajamani was struck by a bacterial “It was the first time he was seeing someone apart from us infection that required three surgeries and about 42 days of hos- (parents and some relatives),” Pannikot says. pital stay. His son sat by him those days, preparing for his Class Such encounters of infants and children, once so common- 10 board exams. “That period was tough. But with the lockdown, place, now feel rare and even overwhelming under the cloud of it’s actually been good. I’ve been recovering while my son is with the pandemic. me all the time. Just like the old days,” Rajamani says. Pannikot held his baby and consoled him. And as they For Aditya Tiwari, a father whose son suffers from Down’s moved out of the lift, the little girl followed, asking what had Syndrome, the pandemic has been hard. All of his son Avnish’s gone wrong. n

32 21 DECEMBER 2020 Unparalleled Cutting edge

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HOW TO BE A MODERN MAN New laws and the pandemic have changed ideas of masculinity and society’s expectations of men. Are they up for it? By Kaveree Bamzai

n a year when corporate CEOs have treat them like the independent-minded individuals they started taking mental wellness seri- are as Virat Kohli does? ously and are using Zoom calls to urge Praseeda Gopinath has written at length on the many men working from home to share the masculinities offered by Mumbai cinema in particular. The load of housework with their wives whimsical, decent picaresque hero embodied by Raj Kapoor, and partners, traditional masculinity the suave sophistication of Dev Anand, Guru Dutt’s idealis- has certainly come under the scanner. tic tragic hero, and Dilip Kumar’s understated, emotional Gender roles may not be equal but a everyman in the 1950s—the Golden Age of Hindi Cin- conversation has started in society on ema—to Shammi Kapoor’s boisterous masculinity, Kishore what being a man means in contemporary India. The cul- Kumar’s goofy non-normative men, and Shashi Kapoor’s tural cues are confusing. Should they emulate Kabir Singh beautiful, youthful urbaneness that defined Hindi cinema from the eponymous movie and love their partners to death and urban India’s translation of the swinging 1960s. The (or at least abandonment) or should they be like the father of arrival of Rajesh Khanna’s romantic hero, writes Gopi- Ithis year’s Gunjan Saxena, progressive, patient and silently nath, although short-lived, ushered in the beginning of a persuasive? Should they celebrate that men in Central Gov- new age of the all-powerful charisma of the Hindi hero and ernment jobs—and some enlightened private sector compa- the male star, reaching its apogee in the restrained yet unin- nies—can now take 15 days of paternity leave or should they hibited lanky vigilante machismo of Amitabh Bachchan, mourn that Rajeev Satav’s Paternity Benefit Bill, introduced who spoke to the increasing national anger at corruption in 2017, is still pending? Should they infantilise their wives and income inequality in the 1970s. In the 1990s, post-lib- and call them gudiya (doll) like Ranveer Singh or should they eralisation, Shah Rukh Khan shifted the paradigms of hero

34 21 december 2020 ✻

In Virat Kohli, the millennials found their icon swaggering on the field and a softie at home, creating a new physicality, a new set of emotions more empathetic to women, And a new way to be for the middle- class man ✻

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma

getty images 29 june 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 35 Cover Story

✻ The suave sophistication of Dev Anand, Guru Dutt’s idealistic tragic hero, and Dilip Kumar’s emotional everyman to Shammi Kapoor’s boisterous masculinity. Rajesh Khanna’s romantic hero ushered in the all-powerful male star, reaching its apogee in the vigilante machismo of Amitabh Bachchan. Shah Rukh Khan shifted the paradigm to the vulnerable yet ambitious middle-class man

Dev Anand aurabh S ingh S aurabh by Illustration

Guru Dutt

Dilip Kumar

Rajesh Khanna

Shah Rukh Khan Amitabh Bachchan masculinity to the softer, sweeter, vulnerable yet ambitious, not buy meat for a passing Brahmin who insisted he ate only urbane, middle-class man. The new millennium brought in the mamsam (non-vegetarian) food. So he carved up, cooked and man child of Dil Chahta Hai, best embodied by Ranbir Kapoor served his only son. The son was later restored to life. Arjuna was in a series of films from Wake Up Sid to Sanju. a good father to Abhimanyu but he didn’t bat an eyelid when In cricket, another marker of social behaviour in India, the it was decided to sacrifice Iravan, his son by Ulupi. Yayati de- masculinities have altered as well, from the regal Anglicised manded his sons by Sharmistha and Devayani give up their gentleman Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in the still-sold-on- youth so that he may indulge his desires for a thousand years England 1960s, to the aggressive little guy punching above his and punished the ones who did not oblige. Dushyanta aban- weight and stature in Sunil Gavaskar during the angry 1970s. doned Shakuntala and Bharata. Even Rama, blissfully unaware Cut to the 1990s where the good son, Sachin Tendulkar, grew of his sons being raised in the forest by Sita, thought nothing of up into the new king of a new India-dominated game—Rahul taking them away from her while she went back into the earth. Dravid, always in his shadow, was equally dependable, reliable, trustworthy in a world where values were changing as fast as market dynamics were altering. Then to MS Dhoni, cool, confi- dent, carefully constructed small-town boy with fire in his belly, father to baby Ziva with a sharp Instagram profile. In Kohli, the millennials found their icon swaggering on the field and a softie he modern Indian man is caught between at home, creating a new physicality, a new diction, and certainly his many roles in the private domain— a new set of emotions more empathetic to women, offering a father, son, husband—as well as his public new way to be for the middle-class man. role. These may not have been mutually Film scholar Pramod K Nayar says: “As role models, the conflicting but with the rise of women em- sports stars are seen as aspirational. The new-age stars combine powerment,T a more dynamic family unit, and increasingly an aggressive on-field persona with a sensitive father-compan- enlightened laws, led by the Sexual Harassment of Women at ion role. But both are roles for public consumption: presenting Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, particular images of themselves. Since we no longer debate, or and moments such as the #MeToo movement, men are find- can debate, whether they are truly aggressive/ sensitive, all we ing it difficult to balance their roles. They’ve been taught from have before us is this role-play.” an early age that they can have it all without doing it all, but In the midst of this role-playing, the middle-class man won- perhaps it is not so true now. ders which way to go. Does he go the way of Maryada Purushot- Divya Prakash Dubey, storyteller of middle India and its aspi- tam, the ideal man, or pursue greatness to the exclusion of all rations, says: “The people I write about, you could say, their role else, even being good, like the accomplished but flawed Ravana? model is Rahul Dravid. He’s the man you can trust, the father Is he to revere the celibate Hanuman of the Indian Ramayana or who will stand in his child’s school line. His father did not even the warrior in love with the mermaid princess Sovanna Mach- pick up his own shoes. Yet he is ready to help his wife, he sits in cha of Southeast Asian Ramayanas? Does he focus on being a on online classes, he knows that the daughter of the house wore good husband or a good father? If he does the latter, what do jeans and the daughter-in-law of the house should by rights do our ancient stories tell him? Popular writer Anand Neelakan- the same,” says Dubey. “He sees everything from the same lens tan decries the idea of the ideal man. “It is a very north Indian as that of his father. He may not have become the son his father concept,” he laughs. “In the south, we are all Mahabali’s people. wanted, but in the eyes of his son or daughter, he wants to be a We believe in the equality of all. We believe in the ideal human, father of whom maybe after a few years his children will say: ‘I it could be a man, a woman or even a transgender.” want to be like dad.’ This father is a superman wearing a T-shirt In popular ancient texts though, author Anuja Chandra- and shorts. No one has married outside their caste or religion in mouli points out, most fathers in particular veered from being his family, and yet he will tell his children, if you have a choice stern and expecting their sons to be dutiful to being murderous. of your own, tell me, don’t run away.” Dasharatha was a doting father and husband. He pampered For Dubey, masculinity is a simple choice: “We all want to Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra, and the ‘putrasneha’ (love for be like our father. Most of us imitate our fathers. We want to son) he demonstrated for Rama defies belief. He loved his son grow old speaking like that, to love in the same way, to do ev- too much and when forced to send Rama into exile he pined erything just the way our fathers did. That is what makes us away and died shortly after. Shiva was less indulgent. He de- unique. People who do not want to be like their father or hate capitated Ganesha when Parvati’s son denied him entry to them, they too are measuring themselves against their father his mother’s chambers without her permission. What made at a deeper level. Their hatred is also a copy of their father.” He it worse was that Shiva asked Vishnu mounted on Garuda to references Ajay Devgn in Drishyam (2015). “If there is a tragedy engage Ganesha from the front while he attacked from behind. in the family, the man stands like a wall.” But once he resurrected Ganesha, all was forgiven. Often this is a trap too. In this year’s finest thriller Raat Akeli Siruthondar, one of the 63 Nayanmars, was so poor he could Hai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Jatil Yadav, a small-town police

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 37 Cover Story

✻

Divya Prakash Dubey, storyteller of middle India and its aspirations, says: ‘The people I write about, you could say, their role model is Rahul Dravid. He’s the man you can trust, the father who will stand in his child’s school line’ ✻

getty images

officer, who has several complexes—being dark-skinned, being identities and winning their own independence. 40 and still a bachelor, even his odd name. He has an expectation Much of middle-class life in India is a performance, notes of a devoted and dutiful wife which is smashed to smithereens Dutch scholar Michiel Baas, who has just written on the topic when he meets the character played by Radhika Apte, who is (Muscular India: Masculinity, Mobility & the New Middle Class). For also the chief suspect in the murder of her much older husband. men, it’s a journey towards and away from one’s own father. “I Siddiqui says as a man he himself internalised many insecurities always joke that it is very expensive to be middle class in India and ways of being, inherited from his father and grandfather. because there are all these expectations of the kind of lifestyle “Culturally, patriarchy gives us so many complexes that it takes you need to lead. But it is equally true of the masculinity that is us a long time to realise how wrong some of these notions are. adopted. It may be respectful of the patriarchy but in practice I have seen this in myself, in my own journey, internally and it can follow quite different trajectories.” externally from Budhana to Mumbai. And in my own relation- Indeed, even in a country as deeply patriarchal as India, not ships with women. For instance, often with our mothers when all men are powerful. Masculinities, like patriarchies, operate we have fights, their last retort is usually that ‘your father was in the cruel plural rather than the comfortable singular. Men, as exactly like this’,” says Siddiqui. And yet, they can’t be like their Siddiqui says, can also be victims of patriarchy. In that, at least, fathers, because the women have moved on, acquiring their own they finally have something in common with women.n

38 21 december 2020 The beauty of the written word; a story well told. The luxury of immersing myself in myriad lives; journeying to faraway lands. I am obsessed. And the Reviews in Open help me discover the best. A quiet corner. An interesting book. Life’s good!

Sanjay Malik, Dubai

Tell us why you read Open www.openthemagazine.com openthemagazine politics action! finally

times content Rajinikanth keeps his action! finally promise and enters politics. How does it change the dynamics of the battle for Tamil Nadu 2021? By V Shoba

here is no history of a man who is too greedy or a woman who is too haugh- ty ever having lived well.” The dialogue from Padayappa (1999) does not translate T well. To fans of superstar Rajinikanth, it seemed a deliberate political statement against the Manichean duality of Tamil politics, where power constantly shifted back and forth between M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa. But if Rajinikanth was suggesting that the Tamil people could use a leader with no intellectual vanity or personal ambition, he him- self was not ready for the meta-responsibility, at least not yet. Only after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016 and amidst DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s illness did he propose to launch a party and con- test all 234 constituencies in the state. It has taken him three long years to act on that promise. After launching the balloon in De- cember 2017, the 70-year-old actor finally dropped the payload on December 3rd, 2020, ending the suspense about his political foray. “It is now or never,” he admitted, even as he exulted that the new party, to be launched in January, “… will win the Assembly polls and give honest, transparent, corruption-free, spiritual, secular politics without caste, creed or religion.” The quixotic announce- ment had the desired effect—it rattled politicians into crunching their numbers, forced TV panelists to explain his orotund claims of the “wonder and miracle” that he was about to perform, and got his fanclub network, the Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM), to clink glasses in celebration. But did he have a plan? How would he face elections within five months of launching a party? What about fundraising, training and organising cadres, coming up with a manifesto, and campaigning in the shadow of Covid-19? “We don’t think we are running out of time. Five months is plenty for someone like Rajinikanth who already has a large support base,” says his political advisor Tamilaruvi Manian, speaking ex- clusively to Open. “And he is wise; he did something last year—he made RMM concentrate on forming booth committees. So now, in each constituency, we have committees ready to spring into action across 250-300 booths. No party in the state other than rajinikanth AIADMK and DMK have that kind of ground level presence.” An RMM member from Tiruchirappalli who runs a convenience

www.openthemagazine.com 41 politics

store echoes Manian’s optimism. “Rajinikanth’s campaign had of party supervisor. Manian was by Rajinikanth’s side when he begun the day the media started discussing his entry into politics. made the announcement, as was a mysterious figure, whom the When (Chief Minister) Edappadi Palanisamy or (Deputy Chief star introduced as Dr R Arjuna Murthy, the chief co-ordinator Minister) O Paneerselvam visits a flood-affected area, it makes of the party. Murthy, who briefly served as head of Tamil Nadu headlines. When (DMK’s chief ministerial candidate) MK Stalin BJP’s Intellectual Cell before joining Rajinikanth, is said to be a addresses a farmers’ protest, it makes news. But Superstar only longtime friend and confidant of the movie star. Manian, who has has to step out of his home to make news. The dynamics are advised Rajinikanth on political matters for years, tells Open that different for Rajini.” this was the first time he had heard of Murthy. A businessman, Murthy was reported to have served as a former Union minister and DMK leader Murasoli Maran’s assistant—a claim now re- s Tamil Nadu’s most loved film icon, Rajini- futed by his son, Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran. While sources kanth does inhabit a space where facts and obses- in DMK reveal he is distantly related to the party’s first family— A sions meld—a space that had fallen vacant after his daughter was married to a cousin of Stalin’s son-in-law—it is the death of Jayalalithaa. Since the 1960s, DMK clear that Murthy is a man both BJP and DMK are eager to wash and AIADMK have relied as much on personal- their hands of. “He is a man capable of spinning fantastic tales ity cults as on ideology to build intense loyalties among voters for hours on end,” says a DMK leader. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that have lasted generations. The crucial difference between Ra- he was instrumental in sweet-talking Rajinikanth into entering jinikanth and MG Ramachandran, who had been anointed god the poll fray—something BJP and his advisors had failed to do.” on earth and voted to power in 1977 after splitting from DMK So what’s in it for Rajinikanth? “One thing I can say clearly. We to form his own party, is that while MGR promised to person- will have no truck with AIADMK or DMK. Rajinikanth believes ally lead Tamil Nadu through a golden age—as did his successor that the system has to be changed. And it degenerated because of Jayalalithaa—Rajinikanth is an advocate for change, without these parties,” says Manian. Su Thirunavukkarasar, the Congress positioning himself as the change. By declining to be the chief MP from Tiruchirappalli and a friend of Rajinikanth’s, says that ministerial candidate, he is refusing to star in the most awaited rather than political pressure from BJP or a desire to leave behind production of his life. He is yet to clarify if he will contest the polls a legacy beyond his films, the superstar seems to have acted on or forge alliances. “Not being the party’s chief ministerial can- “a compulsion to stay true to his word”. “He promised his fans didate is his decision but RMM does not accept it, neither will he would come, and now he has. It is certainly a risk, but then, voters. I think, in due course, we may be able to persuade him he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.” Right off the bat, to change his mind,” says Manian, the Tamil politician, orator Thirunavukkarasar, who made his political debut in AIADMK’s and founder of a Gandhian forum who is set to assume the role maiden Assembly election in 1977, winning the Aranthangi seat, rules out a comparison with MGR. “While MGR believed in his mass appeal, it was in- credibly brave of him to break away from DMK in 1972, just a year after M Karunanidhi had proved his mettle as the next big Dravid- ian leader and heir to CN Annadurai’s lega- cy. Barely 15 MLAs out of 200-plus stood by MGR. Not a single district president of DMK joined him. He built the party from scratch, with a small but resourceful team of people including organisers like RM Veerappan and SD Somasundaram and Nanjil Manoharan who was an orator. With Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, they may be able to attract cadres from other parties easily, but I feel that they He promised his fans he In due course, we hope run the risk of being self-referential. There are would come, and now to persuade Rajinikanth no big leaders in their camps telling people he has. It is certainly to become the chief what they bring to the table,” Thirunavuk- a risk, but then, he has ministerial candidate. We karasar says. Even gods need their prophets and moralists, and Rajinikanth cannot rely nothing to lose and will have no truck with on his filmography alone to act as teacher, everything to gain” AIADMK or DMK” storyteller and propagandist. Su Thirunavukkarasar, Tamilaruvi Manian, More importantly, is the superstar will- Congress MP advisor to Rajinikanth ing to play a cameo in someone else’s hit?

42 21 december 2020 share dip to 2.4 per cent. In fact, the one big takeaway from the 2016 elections was that the two Dravidian majors had gained in strength from 2011 to 2016— AIADMK from 38.4 per cent to 40.8 per cent and DMK (and allies) from 22.4 per cent to 39.7 per cent (41.05 per cent in the 176 seats it contested)—and the smaller parties weakened. In subsequent polls in the state, even without Karunani- dhi and Jayalalithaa leading the charge, DMK scored a resounding win, net- ting 38 of 39 parliamentary seats in the 2019 General Election, and AIADMK, which went solo in the by-elections to 22 Assembly constituencies, managed to win nine. Is the argument for a third force then a moot point? “Rajinikanth’s real strength is that he doesn’t hide anything from the public. His strengths and weaknesses are on full display,” says Manian. The star’s health (the reason he is said to have waited out (L-R) Rajinikanth, MK Stalin and Kamal Haasan in Chennai, 2017 the pandemic to launch his party), his commitment to spirituality, his admira- tion for Prime Minister Narendra Modi— and for LK Advani before him—have Having said that he wouldn’t enter politics to play the spoiler’s made him an easy target. “He is not perturbed. He refers to Mahatma role, he finds himself in a multi-cornered contest featuringS talin, Gandhi’s concept of spiritual politics—respecting all religions and Palanisamy, Seeman of the Naam Thamilar Katchi, Kamal Haasan doing no wrong—and practises the teachings of the Gita, which and others. Pundits venture that he may capture a little of every- advocates detachment. He believes he should do everything he can one’s vote share and end up a lodestar for lost souls. “At a time to bring change, while harbouring no expectations,” Manian says. when Tamil society has been depoliticised and younger voters AIADMK has extended a friendly hand to Rajinikanth, but aren’t committed to a party, there are bound to be neck-and-neck he would have to stand alone to project himself as an alternative fights in certain constituencies, and this is where Rajinikanth to the knaves, traitors and profiteers who populate the political could weaken both AIADMK and DMK,” says Manushyaputhi- ranks in Tamil Nadu. He must also exercise extreme caution with ran, a Dravidian intellectual and DMK spokesperson. If DMK BJP, which is seen as a force of regress by a majority of Tamils, es- has not formally reacted to Rajinikanth’s foray into politics, it is pecially given his statements in favour of the Centre’s decisions because they don’t consider him a threat, he says. “Change is the in the past— be it the revocation of Jammu & Kashmir’s special one thing he keeps talking about. Even if you say that a section status or the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. It is of society is tired of traditional parties, how can one individual no secret that within AIADMK, which will face the elections in change it? Will people buy into such a theory?” alliance with BJP, the latter’s nationalist policies are a constant background anxiety. “National parties that have found they can- not penetrate Tamil Nadu have neglected the state’s development, hile AIADMK and DMK each have a core vote- and we have prospered despite that,” says C Ponnaiyan, a senior bank, attempts to get fence-sitters to back a third AIADMK leader. “BJP, unless they change their policies, cannot W front have largely failed. Actor Vijaykanth’s Desiya take root in Tamil Nadu overnight. This is the understanding Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) had gar- under which we are in alliance with them. One cannot expect a nered 8.38 per cent of the total votes polled in his cinestar to understand the nuances of such a relationship.” Rajini- 2006 debut election, but went on to ally with AIADMK in the 2011 kanth’s cardinal virtue is his ability to connect with the masses. elections. In the 2016 Assembly polls—the last time Karunanidhi To achieve a reasonable measure of success in a high-stakes elec- and Jayalalithaa led their respective parties—DMDK stitched tion that will determine the future of both the major Dravidian together an alliance with the Left parties and Vaiko’s Maruma- parties, he must in all honesty grasp the Tamil mind, with all its larchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), and saw its vote thorny issues, instead of trying to be a catch-all. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 43 DISPATCH Walking with the Enemy by Rahul Pandita n November 23rd, personnel of Odisha Police’s Special Operation Group (SOG), Bor- der Security Force (BSF) and Greyhounds forces launched a massive anti-Maoist operation in the Totaguda forest area of Malkangiri district. This area in the district’s Chitrakonda block is hilly, surrounded by the Balimela reserve on Othree sides and Andhra Pradesh on the fourth. Maoists have been active here since the 1990s. Consisting of 151 villages, it came to be known as a cut-off area as one had to cross a river by boat to reach here from the rest of Malkangiri. In 2018, a bridge was built on the river Gurupriya, after a delay of 26 years. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik then rechristened the area as Swabhiman Anchal (Pride Zone). On the night of November 26th, a group of SOG involved in the operation in the area’s northernmost tip came under fire from a Maoist squad. It was raining hard and the SOG decided not to engage. A little ahead, it came under fire again from the Maoist side. This time, the SOG team returned fire. As the firing ebbed, the police party went ahead and found the body of a Maoist guerrilla. He turned out to be Kishore, a platoon commander of the CPI (Maoist)’s Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC). As they carried the body, the SOG party came under fire for Operations like these have been made possible after the bridge over the Gurupriya river was the third time from a retreating squad of Maoists. After a heavy built, ending the area’s isolation. It is here in 2011 that the then district collector of Malkangiri, exchange of fire that lasted about 40 minutes, there was silence R Vineel Krishna, was abducted by Maoists. In the last two years, Maoist strength has suffered on the other side. The Maoists, the SOG felt, had retreated in the face of their superior firepower. a significant setback. Three months ago, mobile towers came up for the first time. There As the team planned its course of action, the police personnel are now two police stations. In January, an 11 km road was completed in just five days suddenly heard a feeble voice coming from the other side. “Please don’t shoot, I want to surrender,” it said in Odia. “Initially, we were wary of foul play. But we wanted to give him a chance,” the SOG team leader, whose name has been with- held due to security reasons, told Open. He replied in Odia and and gave him ORS and some vitamins from their medical kit. asked the Maoist to come out with his hands held up. But Golari needed proper medical attention. The problem was After a while, a man appeared in front of them. The SOG men that the nearest hospital was in Malkangiri town, 160 km away. kept speaking to him in Odia. As he came nearer, they saw that The area had a considerable Maoist presence and the terrain was the man was wearing military fatigues worn by Maoist guerril- hilly with no proper road. las and that his hand was bleeding profusely. As they got hold of In the darkness of night, the SOG team began their journey him, he was searched thoroughly. towards the hospital. The man turned out to be one Laxman Golari from Jodamba “I received a call from their satellite phone and immediately village of the same area. He said he had joined the Maoists as an set to work out a way so that we could make him reach the hos- active member 10 months ago; before that, he said, he had been pital as quickly as possible,” said Malkangiri’s superintendent a part of their militia for five years. of police, Rishikesh Khilari. Golari had lost a lot of blood and he was not wearing any Meanwhile, the team kept walking with the injured Golari. warm clothing, which made him shiver. One of the SOG team By this time, he was a little assured that he was safe. He kept members then offered him his jacket. They bandaged his wound speaking to the party. “He told us many inside the party wanted

44 21 december 2020 How a team of Odisha Police’s Special Operation Group Walking with the Enemy traversed hostile terrain to rescue an injured Maoist

Biswaranjan rout of them. Eight years later, the Greyhounds had sneaked upon a state-level meeting of the CPI (Maoist), killing 24 of them, including several senior commanders. In the last two years, Maoist strength has suffered a significant setback in the area. “About 75-80 per cent of the area is now under direct police presence,” says Inspector-General of Operations, Odisha Police, Amitabh Thakur. About three months ago, mobile towers came up in the area for the first time, enabling 4G net- work. Earlier, the place had no mobile towers of its own and was in a network shadow zone.

ow it has two police stations while the NBSF has established three COBs (Company Operating Bases), including one recently made operational on November 1st at a place called A BSF patrol near Gurasethu Gurasethu, once an area completely dominated village in Malkangiri District; by Maoists. (left) Laxman Golari, the In January this year, an 11 km road was com- Injured Maoist pleted in just five days under constant police pro- tection, connecting five panchayats in the area. Later that month, two Maoists came to a village Operations like these have been made possible after the bridge over the Gurupriya river was on a motorcycle and fired in the air to terrorise built, ending the area’s isolation. It is here in 2011 that the then district collector of Malkangiri, them. They asked the villagers to oppose the road R Vineel Krishna, was abducted by Maoists. In the last two years, Maoist strength has suffered construction. The enraged villagers attacked the duo with stones, killing one of them, while the a significant setback. Three months ago, mobile towers came up for the first time. There other, badly injured, was later arrested by the are now two police stations. In January, an 11 km road was completed in just five days police. In retaliation, Maoists set several houses on fire the next morning. SP Khilari, who has in the past few months made it a point to stay in the area, says that the police presence has assured the villagers who are to surrender, but they feared reprisal. However, maybe his story now realising that it is bringing them close to a better life. “A lot could inspire others,” recalls the SOG leader. of administration work in the area is now done through police The party had to negotiate a rough stretch of 30 km on foot, stations,” he says, “We are facilitating borewells, alternate crop- which took several hours. By that time, a motorcycle had been ping, school admissions.” arranged. Golari was then carried on the bike for another 30 km. The development work is paying dividends. In villages where At this point, an ambulance was waiting for him. The rest of the residents supported Maoists, recruitment has fallen to almost nil. 100 km journey was undertaken like this. This year, nine local cadres have so far surrendered to the police. Golari was treated at the district hospital and is now fine. “The villagers are fed-up with Maoists and their extortion,” says Operations like these have been made possible after the Khilari, “This year, we have had several covert actions of Maoists bridge over the Gurupriya river, almost a kilometre long, was revealed to us by villagers who want them to go away.” built, ending the area’s isolation. It is here in 2011 that the then In several villages, the Tribals have now begun night patrol- district collector of Malkangiri, R Vineel Krishna, was abducted ling with traditional arms to prevent Maoists from entering. by Maoists (and released later). In 2008, the Maoists had attacked “From all quarters now, the Maoists are feeling the pressure. It a party of specialised anti-Maoist Greyhounds forces, killing 38 is the end of the road for them,” says IG Thakur. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 45 business

Illustration by Saurabh Singh

46 21 DECEMBER 2020 a time to deliver Cloud kitchens have emerged as the biggest trend of the dine-out culture in a pandemic year

By Nikita Doval

hough the deal founder Travis Kalanick. “There is a lot Breakfast 7-11 is a Gurugram-based took two-and-a-half of popular interest in this model (cloud cloud kitchen that has enjoyed consider- years to mature, it kitchens) now but, for us, this ‘interneti- able popularity with the corporate crowd T was always going to sation’ of restaurants is not a flash in the of the city. The orders would start in the make news. So when pan but a steady progress,” says Kallol morning itself, keeping the kitchen staff American fast food Banerjee, co-founder, Rebel Foods. Con- on their toes. Yet, overnight, it all went chain Wendy’s announced a tie-up with sidering that management consultancy away. “The bulk of our orders came from India’s Rebel Foods to scale up its pres- RedSeer has projected cloud kitchens to officegoers and with the lockdown, the ence in the country on December 1st, it become a $2 billion industry by 2024, it is drop in business was sheer and terrify- cemented what has already emerged as definitely no flash in the pan. Be it in Ben- ing,” says Abhishek Srivastava, owner the biggest trend of the eating out culture galuru or Bhopal, the possibility that the of the brand. in India during the Covid-19 pandemic— food you just ordered has been prepared “It was like the Nike swoosh in India, cloud kitchens. in a cloud kitchen is rather high. everything came crumbling down,” says Cloud kitchens, ghost kitchens, dark It was only last year that the National Banerjee. “In Dubai and Indonesia, we kitchens, the names are aplenty but they Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) saw a significant jump in orders but over all mean the same thing: commercial released a survey showing how more and here, people simply stopped ordering.” kitchens of brands that only have an on- more Indians were consuming food from His reasoning for this is very simple; it is line presence and cater only to delivery outside, be it dining out or ordering in. because even today, homes in India tend orders. Rebel Foods, which calls itself the New Delhi’s organised food market, for to have fully functional, well-stocked world’s largest internet restaurant com- instance, was pegged at Rs 31,132 crore, kitchens unlike other countries where a pany, pioneered the concept of the cloud with people eating out six times a month kitchen can simply mean a hot plate and a kitchen in India a few years ago when on average. Fast forward to August 2020 microwave. There were stories, of course, they took their flagship brand, Faasos, when food delivery company Zomato of young men and women, living far away which specialised in wraps, completely put out a mid-Covid report, which said from home, stuck without proper meals. online. The decision was prompted by that nearly 10 per cent of dine-out restau- Heavily dependent on take-outs for their the high street rentals the company was rants across the country shut down due daily meals, these urban migrants, who paying for its outlets. Today, the compa- to the pandemic, with more in tow. The had moved cities for white-collar jobs and ny has 350 multi-brand cloud kitchens only silver lining was food delivery, with were mostly unable to cook, were left to across the country with an international sales (in August at the time of the release fend for themselves even as Maggi sales presence in Indonesia and Dubai. Its in- of the report) clocking about 75-80 per went through the roof. vestors include Sequoia Capital and Uber cent of pre-Covid times. But as the lockdown started lifting

21 DECEMBER 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 47 business

and food delivery was recognised as an its umbrella. The presence of multiple like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, et- essential service, there was some move- brands allows companies to target dif- cetera.” In a pandemic world, these plat- ment. Work-from-home combined ferent demographics and pay points. forms also become a way of showcasing with cooking duties had created fatigue But the business has its own share a brand’s hygiene practices through live and people were keen to order, but of challenges, chief among them being feeds and videos in an attempt to reassure were they willing to risk it? This was brand recall. The absence of a brick-and- the customer. still the first half of the year when there mortar store is a double-edged sword wasn’t much clarity on transmission because while the company saves on of the virus through surfaces. “We rentals, it also struggles to make an as- ggregators like Swig- realised that we had to win the trust of the sociation in the customer’s mind. Rohit gy and Zomato pioneered customer all over again but, this time, Kataria has over 15 years of experience A the concept of home delivery by sharing our sanitation practices. in the food and beverage industry and and set the standard for cus- So we spoke about the thermal screen- he saw the shift in the tide two years ago tomer experience. New entrants to the ing of employees and deep cleaning pro- when he realised that delivery would cloud kitchen business find themselves cesses of the kitchen. We started printing soon outpace eating out. He started Ben- signing up with them because their pop- the temperature of the staff on the in- to Kitchen in his hometown of Bhopal ularity guarantees immediate exposure voice. Slowly, orders have picked up. in December 2018. “However, opening and the algorithm ensures repeated visi- We are still not back to 2019 levels but it after the lockdown was akin to starting bility to the target consumer. But aggrega- is a lot better than what things were like from scratch.” The focus had shifted from tors also charge a hefty fee in commissions in April,” says Srivastava. discounts and food quality to hygiene which, coupled with the huge discounts From the outside, the concept of a and sanitisation. His company went that are offered by brands in order to bag

Food has to work for the consumer across three points—price, value and consistency. These have to be managed every time a consumer orders food for them to return to your brand at a certain frequency”

kallol banerjee co-founder, Rebel Foods

cloud kitchen business sounds like the back to the drawing board to chalk up a a consumer, can deal a massive blow to a easiest entry point in the food and bev- marketing strategy that highlighted new brand’s survival chances. Thus, your erages industry. There is no pressure to their precautionary measures, but that own website and a well-oiled delivery be on the high street and, as such, they alone wasn’t going to be enough. “The system are key to ensuring the success of save on rentals and require fewer staff biggest drawback of a cloud kitchen your cloud kitchen. on the payroll. And now with the pan- is that there is no association in the The Indian consumer is very price- demic raging, they also take care of the customer’s mind. If you are on an aggre- sensitive and the right pricing strategy customers’ desire for social distancing. gator platform, the only factor the con- is crucial to a brand’s success. It becomes It is not unusual for several brands to be sumer looks for is discount, which means even more challenging as the customer functioning out of one cloud kitchen as they can order from anyone, so you have is lured by additional discounts. Cloud market research has proven that cus- to work very hard on building a brand,” kitchen owners talk about the struggle tomers prefer to order from a specialised he says. When he had a restaurant, he for repeat orders unless fabulous dis- brand as opposed to a multi-cuisine one. had hoardings to market it. “But now an counts are offered, but Banerjee is not sure Rebel Foods, for instance, has pizza, Chi- online brand, the rules of engagement are the argument holds. “Food has to work nese and biryani-focused brands under also negotiated online through platforms for the consumer across three points—

48 21 DECEMBER 2020 ashish sharma popular cuisines across north India—Mu- ghlai and Chinese. “In smaller cities, it is families who do the ordering so even if there are members who want to order in more frequently, it is not always pos- sible.” Bowls & Boxes did not even have a customer base of 200 when the lockdown was announced, but Anil now says that they are averaging 400 orders a week. A price list that keeps in mind the sensibili- ties of the average Indian consumer and their own delivery system are factors that help the brand, Anil feels. “We have a website where we offer loyalty pro- grammes and our own discounts. Aggre- gators do bring in great exposure and a big amount of orders, but their discount the breakfast 7-11 campaigns are funded by restaurants and cloud kitchen in are not sustainable.” Gurugram The pandemic has, if anything, actu- ally intensified our love affair with good

“ The biggest drawback of a cloud kitchen is that there is no association in the customer’s mind. If you are on an aggregator platform, the only factor the consumer looks for is discount

rohit kataria founder, Bento Kitchen

price, value and consistency. These have ens. “I started mapping the frequency food. The only difference is that people to be managed every time a consumer with which we (his colleagues) would now want this played out on their din- orders food for them to return to your order food. What were the criteria on ing tables instead of stepping out. Cloud brand at a certain frequency. You cannot which we based our decisions, apart from, kitchens may focus on different cuisines lure customers with discounts, it will of course, cravings, and what was the qual- but the menu choices are more rooted never work whether it is a cloud kitchen ity like?” In 2019, he decided the time was in everyday eating rather than special or a restaurant.” right to take the plunge. His only concern occasions. And this is where restaurants The starting of cloud kitchens in Tier was whether to start the kitchen in Benga- will still manage to hold a special place II cities after their success in metros was luru or Lucknow, his hometown where in the customer’s heart. Eating out is not a foregone conclusion, though it is not a his father already had a catering business. going to return to its 2019 levels anytime simple matter of just replicating whatever “I finally preferred Lucknow because we soon, but the desire to go out and socialise works in Delhi or Bengaluru. Satyam Anil had the knowhow here already, plus the over a big happy meal is not going away was an Amazon employee in Bengaluru market wasn’t so crowded.” Anil’s compa- either. But till we feel comfortable doing when he first started taking a keen inter- ny, Bowls & Boxes, has two brands, Nosh that, home in on cloud kitchens for a est in the business models of cloud kitch- and Noodle Pot, that cater to the two most moveable feast. n

21 DECEMBER 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 49

salon Abhishek Podd art a r Photograph by Rohit Chawla Mapping the visual India The Museum of Art & Photography in Bengaluru promises to be a celebration of India in images. Abhishek Poddar, the mind behind the project, guides V Shoba through a preview

eeting Abhishek Poddar Souza, for sale in a Christie’s auction to graphs, an MF Husain, portraits of a day ahead of the vir- raise capital for MAP. At the heart of the Poddar’s two children by contemporary tual launch of his long- museum, which already has a collection artist Riyas Komu, all floating in a sea of anticipated project, the of about 20,000 works, is the generous natural light even on a rainy winter day. MuseumM of Art & Photography (MAP) bequest of over 7,000 works of art by the When I ask to see Henry Moore’s in Bengaluru, I cannot resist posing that Poddar family. With additional support 1976 photograph of the late classical embarrassingly ingenuous question: from the likes of the Tata Trusts, Citi- musician MS Subbulakshmi with Why a museum? Was there a formative bank, Infosys, Wipro, Kiran Mazumdar her husband Thiagaraja Sadasivam, experience early on in his life? “I could Shaw, artists and private donors, the it takes Poddar under a minute to not say it was the 1979 visit to the Louvre museum, slated to open next year, prom- just fish out a photobook from one of and to other great European museums ises Bengaluruites first-hand encounters the sleek shelves lining the wall but on my first overseas trip, but I would be with great art and meaningful storytell- also to flip to the exact page. “I used to lying,” says Poddar, 52. In truth, MAP is ing. A five-storey building—designed know where everything was. Now we the high point of a life marked out in art. by Soumitro Ghosh with close guidance have a librarian,” he says, with the air of Having collected since the 1980s, curated from the MAP Architectural Committee someone who, having sown the seeds, exhibitions, commissioned work, and led by architect Rahul Mehrotra, with is ready to let others run the show. “She made lasting friendships with artists, museum professional MahrukhTarapor is the boss,” says the founder-trustee, Poddar is now building an art space and the late textile conservator introducing museum director Kamini with the widest range in India. The first Martand Singh—will house the col- Sawhney, who moved to Bengaluru privately promoted institution to house lection, but for now, it is the brightly in August 2019 to take the reins after an archive of Indian fine art photogra- painted mural skirting the upcoming phy alongside modern, contemporary, concrete structure that is drawing medieval and folk art, MAP is coming up attention. The painting by the Aravani opposite the government-run Venkatap- Art Project, a city-based transgender I had the best pa Art Gallery on Kasturba Road, a space artists and activists’ collective, depicting Poddar had proposed to overhaul into a corporation and construction workers, teachers. And one modern museum in 2016 before shrill students, trees and Bengaluru’s living thing I learnt is that opposition from a group of local artists heritage, is a statement of intent by democratising art, both led to his withdrawing from the project. MAP, which bills itself as an inclusive “There is a popular perception that institution. for artists and for public-private partnerships are always A short walk down the lane that audiences, is an a recipe for disaster,” says Poddar, who hugs the museum leads to Sua House, important goal to then decided to go independent, putting the office Poddar shares with MAP’s

up 41 works from his personal collec- core team. At every turn, the eye falls have in sight” tion, including national treasures by on something thought-provoking and Abhishek Poddar Tyeb Mehta, Vasudeo Gaitonde and FN beautiful: Dayanita Singh’s photo- founder, MAP

www.openthemagazine.com 51 art

a long stint as head of the Jehangir says Stanley Pinto, an art aficionado from were portraits of him and his parents at Nicholson Art Foundation in Mumbai. Bengaluru who has been among the voic- their home in Kolkata by Henri Cartier- Sawhney looks up from signing papers es of support for Poddar’s museum pro- Bresson, who was a family friend. In and tells me they have put together a ject. One of those Jamini Roys acquired by 2006, Poddar founded a network of pho- team of about 50, including restorers, Poddar from Roy’s son in the late 1980s, a tography galleries under the banner of a tech team, educators and research- large tempera-on-cloth featuring a stand- the Tasveer Art Gallery to showcase and ers, to get started. “Very few museums ing Vishnu, is stretched out on a table at support contemporary Indian photogra- have this range, and we want to put it MAP’s restoration wing—housed for phy. “We were clear that the name of the to good use with engaging program- the time being in an adjacent building museum should include photography ming. It is very important that the along with the immersive-tech lab and in it,” he says. The largest collection at museum becomes an inviting space for educational centre—where over the next MAP is that of photography, and this in- the community—a space for engaging few days it will be purged of stains and cludes the archives of the late TS Satyan, with ideas and not just a collection of watermarks before it is deemed fit for a pioneering photojournalist who art hanging on the walls,” she says. “We display at the museum. captured India in the 1960s and ’70s, don’t want to be that ‘museum voice’ Poddar’s commitment to blurring bequeathed to MAP by his family, and telling people what to look at. We have the lines between high and low art runs a massive collection of documentarian commissioned a survey on what people deep. “I had the best teachers. And one photographer Jyoti Bhatt’s work, both in the city want from a museum.” The thing I learnt is that democratising art, acquired by the museum and donated digital launch on December 5th kicked both for artists and for audiences, is by Bhatt. off a week-long programme of talks and “MAP represents a trend among performances in music, dance, poetry Indian industrialists to build legacies and technology by the likes of art histo- in art,” says artist Riyas Komu. “At a rian BN Goswamy, filmmaker Nandita time when public museums in India Das, actor Lilette Dubey, visual artist While Abhishek have no money for programming and LN Tallur and folk dancers responding Poddar is well conservation, Kiran Nadar’s museum to iconic pieces of contemporary art. The known as a in Delhi, the Munjals’ Serendipity Arts museum website showcased, on the day collector, he has Foundation and Abhishek are invest- of the launch, an interview with Bhil art- ing in archiving time and dealing with ist Bhuri Bai and an exhibit on studio por- also played a role the present. It is a cultural risk they are traiture in India based on photographer in encouraging taking and if it pays off, it will change Suresh Punjabi’s work, offering glimpses artists to look perceptions about art in India.” into two very different worlds. “Already, people who are engaged In the photograph circulated by MAP beyond the medium with art are beginning to see Poddar as a as part of the presskit for the launch, of the canvas to custodian to whom they can leave their Poddar wears a printed white-and-blue make etchings, collections to look after and share with button-down and an inscrutable smile. society. Poddar’s reputation and personal Posing against a blank white back- tapestries and connections aside, MAP is the only pri- ground, a gold watch the only hint of jewellery boxes vately promoted museum in the country luxury, he defies the conventional por- where the family did not want its name to traiture of an art collector as a prodigal feature promptly and may even exit from grand seigneur wallowing in sybaritic the project at some point,” notes Geetha splendour. That is not his style. Much an important goal to have in sight,” he Mehra of Mumbai’s Sakshi Gallery. like a translator on a mission to remain says. “Jyotindra Jain [the art and cultural “Abhishek is a collector with a genu- invisible even while making visible historian and the former director of the ine fondness for whatever he is picking what may perhaps never have been seen, National Crafts Museum] introduced up. And nothing escapes his eye. He will Poddar wants to let his work speak for me to the world of crafts. Mapu [Mar- collect anything—old engraved mirrors, itself. He maintains a low profile and does tand Singh]’s exhibition on textiles from Navaratri dolls, silver and porcelain. The not easily give in to nostalgia. “I don’t the Vishwakarmas opened my eyes to fact that MAP can dip into this trove and know anyone who has so many Jamini a whole new world. And while I wasn’t curate exhibitions cutting across a wide Roys. For his parents’ 25th anniversary, new to photography, Dayanita Singh range of art is exciting to me, person- he commissioned a ‘bouquet’ of flowers and Prabuddha Dasgupta have been ally.” Mehra says she is in the process of painted by prominent artists—that’s the major influences in my understanding introducing to MAP a couple “who have sort of man Abhishek is. And yet, what he of Indian fine art photography.” Among some very interesting objects that they is building is an institution for everyone,” the first pictures that left a mark on him may want to bequeath”. While Poddar

52 21 december 2020 Singh and Ram Kumar. Chakravarty remembers being awestruck by the beau- ty and opulence of the Poddar residence in Kolkata. “It was my first direct encoun- ter with a collector and it was exciting to see how he would respond to a particular work. It was a confidence-booster for me, as it must have been for many emerging artists whose work he collected.”

AP’s collection owes a lot to Abhishek’s people skills, says M photojournalist and cura- tor Prashant Panjiar. Some of his work is part of an impressive collection of photographs bequeathed to MAP by the former photo editor of Time-Life News Service’s South Asia bureau, Deepak Krishna Eating the Fire by Manjit Bawa, c 1980 (ABOVE); Untitled (Flight into Egypt) By Jamini Roy Puri. A museum, says Panjiar, should have deep pockets to acquire works and also have in place proper protocols for donations. “While Abhishek has built strong relationships with artists and photographers and actively sought out collections, I hope the museum evolves strategies to keep adding to its collection in the coming years.” For now, the MAP team is busy cataloguing the growing collection, digitising it and spotting interesting themes that run across its length and breadth. For Sawhney, conceptualising an exhibition is like tossing together a wholesome salad with ingredients sourced from every corner of the coun- try. “For instance, since our collection includes everything from Tyeb Mehta to Nainsukh to trade labels with pictures Courtesy Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru of gods on them, I am looking at how miniatures influenced pop culture, and is well known as a collector, he has also age, the culture will build itself.” His how to tell the Krishna story by marry- played a role in encouraging artists to own exposure to art began early and he ing different styles. Abhishek also has a look beyond the medium of the canvas started collecting while still a teenager, lot of Durgas. It is exciting to plunge into to make etchings, tapestries and jewel- guided by eminent artists such as Manjit this chaotic cabinet of curiosities, and lery boxes, Mehra says. “Back in the ’90s, Bawa. “I remember Manjit bhai bring- to forge collaborations with museums he was among the first curators to marry ing Abhishek home one day in the late and curators across the world to weave art and craft. This sensibility has stayed 1980s. I was preparing for a solo show beautiful narratives,” she says. with him.” but Abhishek had set his sights on one The human mind cannot thrive “Children are a major target group of the paintings—Hovering Angels. He when subjected to the organising for MAP,” says Poddar, who used the wanted to acquire it directly, not from the impulses of society. Poddar is idealistic lockdown to build up online resources gallery,” says Jayashree Chakravarty, an enough to envision a project where the and design art workshops for children. artist Poddar cites among his early influ- function of the curator is to make art “If you introduce them to art at a young ences, in the same breath as Bawa, Arpita meet the viewer where he stands. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 53 books A writer and the art of memory Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi writes a succinct meditation on old age and death and the doors it opens for those left behind By Urvashi Bahuguna

Photograph by Rohit Chawla

iddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s Loss (HarperCollins; 112pages; Rs 499) opens with a phone call. He’s been expecting it, but the news floors him—his father, his surviving parent, has passed away. It is one of three significant losses for Shanghvi Swhose mother has died and whose beloved dog will soon fol- low. Loss is a succinct meditation, less than a hundred pages of text, on old age and death, and the doors it opens for those left behind. The questions it turns over are weighty—what is the correct protocol when a friend loses their parent, why do some suffer more than others in their final years, who are our parents to us when they have been freed from the tasks of the living? Shanghvi answers through the specific and luminous prism of his experience, and the perspective and insight he arrives at is saddening and comforting in turns. Perhaps, we end up in certain cases with more love than before. Perhaps, death is a reminder of what we have already been taught. Shanghvi explains that he was able to vividly recall details of the hours right after learning of his father’s death because, A“ t the time of a great event, we are dissolved into the roiling. Later, we account for what happened, details to locate the event as a real, tremendous thing. We hunt for those who bore witness to our life—if only to make it real to us again.” For him, the wit- nesses included the hotel manager in Jaisalmer who led him to his car that morning and the dignified and patient driver who ferried him four hours through the barren landscape to Jodh- pur airport and who suggested the two of them feed cattle on the side of the highway. He says, “The witness affirms: yes, this happened, it was great and difficult, you lived it. The landscape, the birds, the cows, the driver who drove me to the airport, they were witnesses.” Eventually, Loss ceased to be an exercise in catharsis and became that witness instead. As a writer, his preference is to unburden memory’s heavy load—“forget the terrible events, the difficult people.” He clarifies that he doesn’t seek this from “either avoidance or fear” but from a conviction “that something that has been fully lived must now pass out of me.” There are moments in Loss where

54 A writer and the art of memory

Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi books

the author recounts instances of cruelty and neglect by people father wholly. He says, “if as a child I had seen him as a strong and around him. He doesn’t find the writing of this uncomfortable. sometimes angry man, the pictures now allowed me to view him “Once you see the anger you also let go of it, that was certainly as he was: suffering for his existence.” the case for me,” he says. “There are many people who just leave Curious about the inclusion of these photographs, I recall your life when someone dies—it’s like death has this ripple from nearly a decade ago when they were being showcased effect on the living and key among these hazards is that we in galleries, I ask Shanghvi whether the composition of these have to see a lot of friends in unflattering light. I guess the only photographs influenced the writing of Loss and what revisit- consolation is better now than later,” he reasons. ing the same subject time and again may mean to him. “When Writing Loss taught him to examine the nature of memory I see the pictures now,” he says, “they read like the first and and the act of recollection. He questioned himself. What did he original draft of this book, Loss. The photographs were a kind of truly remember from these years? Did he embellish details to riyaaz, an induction. Earlier when you asked me about details make them more worthy of a book? Or was he simply misre- and how I managed to recall them I believe that’s owed to the membering? He concluded, “There is rarely a factual, singular photographs, and to the act of photograph making.” account of a past event; there is only something that feels like “I think Joyce Carol Oates had once gone back and re-written a personal truth. Wasn’t it Marquez who said, ‘Wisdom was a an earlier book of hers—as an older writer, she had technique and collection of hindsight’?” He illustrates the difference between insight, and I admire her decision,” he says. He wishes he could aiming for factual truth and reaching for an atmospheric rewrite and more thoroughly edit parts of his award-winning and best-selling debut, The Last Song of Dusk (2004). But he doesn’t lament what could have been. He believes, “There is no harm in accepting that you did the best job that you Editing a book is peeling it back could at the time, and now that you know to its original shape—there’s the more, you will do more.” In his experience, technical edit, the aesthetic one. it’s been wonderful to revisit work, to over- But the deeper edit is effacing the lap it, to notice the things one might have missed the first time round. author out of the text so that the The final (and most significant in book stands alone, entirely itself” the author’s eyes) edit of Loss took place almost by accident. When the pandemic author siddharth dhanvant shanghvi necessitated deferring the publication date, Shanghvi revisited the manuscript in the hot summer isolation of a village and cut out all the fat. He provides the approximation by referring to the parts of the text that deal example of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient whose first with the suffering and death of his mother. draft was written in under two years and whose edits took That section may appear “whiney or asking for sympathy” another three. He says, “Editing a book is peeling it back to its but that was never his intention. “In my modest recreation of original shape—there’s the technical edit, the aesthetic one. events, I wanted to create the climate for the reader to process But the deeper edit is effacing the author out of the text so that her own losses—my words only a prompt, a commencement the book stands alone, entirely itself.” point, the pier on the lake. Reading is an act of consolidation— Loss holds many parallels to a book Shanghvi recently we take so many pieces of ourselves and tie it into something of wrote about, Nitesh Noor Mohanty’s Nowhere, which is a self- a whole in the act of reading,” he says. published collection of photographs of Mohanty’s spouse in A third of Loss is a series of riveting photographs of the her final years. Do unusual, beautifully produced and propor- author’s father with some appearances by Bruschetta, his dog tionately (but steeply) priced books such as this have a place who was brought home to be a companion in a period of suffer- in book culture? “They are central to it,” responds Shanghvi, “I ing for the family. The black-and-white photographs are mostly have seen so many subversive and brilliant handmade artist palm sized and they shouldn’t be quite so arresting in this format, books over the years (and especially encountering them at and yet they manage to convey the rich textures that surround a art fairs such as Arles) that I believe they are central to book man’s later years but do not pierce it. Shot between 2008 and 2011, culture—and to the arts. Nitesh’s book is a jewel, a story of such these photographs titled The House Next Door, are taken after the moving grace that I was left feeling less orphaned.” He hopes onset of his father’s cancer and the death of Shanghvi’s mother. that young photographers reading this will know that they can The camera allowed him an intimacy with his father without and should make their own books. He says to them, “Make 10 having to communicate with words—“we had not been very books, handwrite them, make a jacket with waxing paper, or good with words.” The camera was an aperture for him to see his cloth, find new and brave ways to tell your stories.”n

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Writ with Guilt Katharina Volckmer’s debut novel explores Germany’s historical baggage in a personal and political way By Ullekh NP

t is a monologue in just over bit of legitimacy, and at a time when former 100 pages and it is only towards the end colonial powers are being called to apologise that the reader recognises the root of the for their past excesses. The book also brings problem the narrator is trying to address: to the fore a certain German fatigue in the Ihistorical guilt. Specifically, the German histori- way the country approaches its bloody and cal guilt of its Nazi past, which, according to the genocidal past. The author, however, offers no author, needs more resolute acts of reconcilia- confirmation that the country can eventually tion proportionate to its barbarism. Or perhaps, come to terms with it. the book suggests, one can only make an effort The narrator whose name is not clear—is but cannot guarantee the outcome. The Appointment it Sarah or is it a name she just offers to her This debut novel by Katharina Volckmer, Katharina Volckmer doctor, one Dr Seligman, as she is wont who was born in Germany in 1987 according to?—starts off with an apology, and that runs Fitzcarraldo Editions to the book’s brief bio, now lives in London 112 Pages | Rs 399 through the monologue, which is an excellent where she works for a literary agency. Writing in use of stream of consciousness: ‘I know that English and living away from home must have this might not be the best moment to bring given her a sense of autonomy that you often this up, Dr Seligman, but it just came to my discover in the works of writers in exile, especially those from mind that I once dreamt that I was Hitler.’ the former Soviet bloc. Her protagonist believes she has a lot to And one wonders who this Dr Seligman is because hide but is able to express herself better in a second language— Volckmer doesn’t reveal it immediately, holding on to the one detaches her from the intimacy of her mother tongue and suspense. One assumes he is a psychiatrist who is there to treat national sentiments that have refused to fully confront the narrator—the demons in her head she describes in their Germany’s past, except by adopting symbols of Judaism to conversations do border on the lunatic. But of course he turns promote inclusivity, sometimes in a contrived fashion. For out to be something else entirely. At one point, one gets the instance, the main character in the book wonders if singing in impression she has sexual fantasies about Hitler. She also talks Hebrew in a music class at school—where there was inciden- about the need to satisfy one’s sexual needs and to try various tally not a single Jew—was a suitable measure. ways of doing it, including buying a mannequin from Japan In short, the novel, set far from home, in London, is about for a sex toy. She talks about the changes in one’s body as one the trial and tribulations in the legatee’s mind of that Nazi sys- emerges out of young adulthood, of seeing her mother naked, tem, three generations later, suggesting that there needs to be a warts and all, and feeling ashamed of it—because people who better closure to the past—of Holocaust and other unforgivable see her mother, she avers, would decide that she too would one crimes—rather than being repentant and silent like people day look like her mother. There is so much scrutiny, brutal at who don’t want to speak inconvenient truths. While this is times, of one’s body that it appears the narrator relishes the human nature and can be seen while negotiating social taboos prospect of a new, different and renewed one, perhaps. Or and shame—such as a victim clamming up about sexual maybe she wants to bury the ghosts of her forefathers. Such harassment as a child or even about mothers being tightlipped self-doubt and preoccupations with the flesh fill the pages, as about their children being abused by close relatives but pam- does her confusion about love and commitment. pering the child in a desperate act to help heal—the new crop of She also talks about love and how she met K, which, yes, boys and girls are bold enough to raise it, face it and erase it. brings us to Kafka for obvious reasons. It is here the narrator This work brings to mind elements from Albert Camus’ deals with her sexual orientation. She never liked ladies’ toilets The Fall—in which Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a successful Pari- and preferred to piddle in male toilets for some strange reason, sian barrister, opens himself up to reveal earnest thoughts as and on one such occasion ran into K. She says he knew what a narrator. It makes enormous sense to approach this subject she wanted. During their intimacy, she thinks of her father and at a time when neo-Nazis are back in action, even earning a also pokes fun at how men are about the sexual organs—often

58 21 december 2020 The book’s shorter narrative balances out its extreme intensity and puts it in a more palatable package despite its dark imagery. the writer’s exploration of uncomfortable silences makes it a gripping read

because they have much to be modest about. The book looks The narrator, quite enthusiastically, goes on to make fun of closely at relationships, love, insecurities, aversion to com- Hollywood movies about the Holocaust, which she compares to parison and angst about identities and historical and cultural those people who travel the world ‘going to local bars and eating baggage that the author weaves in with enviable skill. street food’ and then come back to explain these other cultures Some thoughts are profound enough to leave you scram- to you. She finds both boring just as she doesn’t like too much bling for a notebook. Sample this: ‘Unlike with the more noise and wants to be left alone from such exercises that she traditional forms of slavery, where people are reduced to their thinks are either cliché or intrusive. Here, you get an idea about bodies with the overall aim of making them extinct in the the narrator’s nature, as she hops from one subject to another at process or torturing them to death and destroying all proof breakneck speed, including her quick exit from K’s life because that they ever existed, the kind of slavery that made us all so she becomes wary of his level of commitment to their ties. rich, these new electronic slaves are burying us alive. Have you The book’s shorter narrative balances out its extreme in- noticed, Dr Seligman—or maybe you are lucky enough to be tensity and puts it in a more palatable package despite its dark too old for this kind of modernity—how all these new slaves imagery. A longer novel would have been taxing. Finally, the are designed to keep us in the house? How they deprive us of writer’s exploration of uncomfortable silences about a range of all human contact by bringing us food and our shopping and issues makes it a gripping read, which is never monotonous. our orgasms whilst drowning what’s left of our brains in end- A short poem-like ending takes the whole narrative to a less TV programmes?’ This was written before the lockdown lofty conclusion, a finale to the clutter and chaos pounding in although it was published during the pandemic and its associ- her mind, a struggle to break free. The nuances and layers in the ated lockdowns worldwide. book promise surprises every time you read it. n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 59 books

A Malabar Saga Turning an epic conceit into a historical drama By Suneetha Balakrishnan

P Rajeevan’s novel The Man Who Learnt to Fly but Could Not Land, Twhich won the Kerala Sahitya Aka- demi Award, rolls out an epic canvas with an assemblage of characters. In the garb of a biographical fiction of a non-existent writer, the novel essentially unravels a so- TP Rajeevan ciopolitical history of pre-Independence Illustration by Saurabh Singh Malabar of the 1930s-1940s. To those familiar with that period, the socialists in the ‘Congress’ movement. bulent time where society and politics not all the protagonists come across as However, he goes on to write and speak stand at a turning point of history. fictitious. Some real figures in history his mind and is pushed into a corner as his Rajeevan’s first novel, Palerimaniky- loom large across the text. And some philosophy is not in sync with the evolv- am, Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha familiar figures parade under a fictional ing politics. As a result, KTN goes to jail, (Paleri Manikyam, the Story of a Mid- name, the fictional characters being just and when he returns, he is rejected by the night Murder), which he first wrote in links connecting the gaps that happen very people he thought were his breed. English and then in Malayalam to great in period research. Those narratives He continues to write for social acclaim, is also a historical narrative. of unsung heroes reach out with the change, but his personal life spins into In his opening note, TP undocumented lives of their loved ones turmoil as he rebounds into a socially Rajeevan mentions how he learnt of the and we get a glimpse of folks who do not unacceptable pattern of life. His aunt freedom struggle not from textbooks even lay a claim to a footnote in history. who brought him up dies of a broken but his surroundings. He emphasises The protagonist, KTN Kottoor, is heart watching his ruin. The many the need for an agrarian and subaltern someone who has inherited the idea women in his life, including his blind understanding of history. The novel of freedom from his father and holds on wife, are left behind as he finally goes has beautifully captured what could be to it dearly, all his life—only to vanish into away on a quest of himself. KTN’s story some of these lost moments. thin air as the country raises the Tricolour also reveals the lives of people in a tur- Rajeevan’s prose abounds in symbol- in full pride of freedom. The novel is a per- ism and adapts to the mood of the drama sonal and political narrative built around played out in the text, in both the novels. his life but visualises much more. Yet, at times, it’s deceptively simple, or We are shown how KTN’s father, layered or crisp, as the story demands. Kunjappa Nair, himself a member of But, like his poetry, his prose is always the landowning gentry, was the first one intense. The tapestry he weaves the to introduce the Tricolour to a people story into is an almost magical one and untouched even by the idea of politics requires a wordplay and extraordinary and literally ‘lead’ them into the concept imagery. It abounds in cultural idioms. of freedom. And how the idea of real A translation of such a text is therefore freedom is taken up by the son, who, even The Man Who Learnt to a daunting task. But the translation Fly but Could Not Land as a youngster, was involved in printing Thachom Poyil Rajeevan of the novel, by PJ Mathew, meets the ‘pamphlets’ and political magazines. Translated from the Malayalam challenge competently. The translation But he soon becomes exposed to the true by PJ Mathew closely follows the original in both text colours of politics. His idealism does not and understanding, making the reading find favour with either the landlords or Hachette of it a pleasurable experience. n 336 Pages | Rs 450

60 21 december 2020 Terms of Enchantment Adda! The College Street A character sketch of Kolkata’s iconic Coffee House Coffee House Photographs by Mala Mukerjee By Geeta Doctor Text by Jael Silliman

Notion Press 129 Pages | Rs 595 f there is one person missing in red and gold around her neck, with the Mala Mukerjee’s gallery of portraits merest flick of a curtain in one corner. Ithat celebrates the iconic Kolkata If I were to single out just one person College Street Coffee House it has to be from the picture gallery, since he has so gali invention, as Nirad C Chaudhuri Apu, the hero of Satyajit Ray’s epony- recently been mourned, it has to be the might exclaim? Or one invented by mous trilogy. Just like the spirals of writer and thespian Soumitra an upper-class Bengali dilettante who smoke that circle into the high ceiling Chatterjee. Even in old age there’s the might be said to have single-handedly of the Coffee House and in the distant joy of knowing who he is that lingers introduced the khadi-handloom-tribal echoes of voices evoked in the text by at the corners of his smile. He has jhola-juta-Kaliesque-forehead tikka, as Jael Silliman, it’s the singular texture become the Maurice Chevalier of his a distinct uniform? They have become and tone of Ray’s world that is resur- time singing, “Thank Heavens, for all as emblematic as the crisp turbans and rected in this slim volume. the cups of coffee I have had at the white uniforms of the earlier waiters at Let me make a confession. I am not a College Coffee house, without their the Coffee House. Bengali, nor have I ever been a habitué chicken sandwiches what would some Why have the other famous water- of the College Street Coffee House. of us do!” Certainly, he was the prince ing holes of the intelligentsia, such as When I did visit the place, I could only who charmed at the centre of his adda Chetana gallery and cafe at Kala Ghoda conclude that grunge and graffiti must while other distant galaxies circled in Mumbai, not survived in the same be the ‘Lal Salaam’ of the retro-rebels. around him. way? Ramachandra Guha recently At the same time, having been a The term ‘adda’ has entered the extolled the joys of Koshy’s Parade Cafe long-term admirer of Mala Mukerjee’s lexicon almost unnoticed. Was it a Ben- as being a well-known Bengaluru-style work, first on the abstract place for the chatterati, but seeming Jantar Mantar series Coffee House in College Street, Kolkata he seemed to be the only one that took on the patterned left—no pun intended. effect of a Riten Mazumdar The answers might lie in textile print and then her the superbly edited reminis- forays into different worlds of cences-cum-brief biographies south India and south China, provided by Jael Silliman I could only marvel at the who is both a novelist and a restraint she has shown with historian. There is a narrative her portraits in the book. thread running through these There are 26 iconic individu- stories that bring the tumultu- als from the political, cultural ous era of the 1960s in all its and professional milieu who burning Kolkata intensity to make up the interior landscape the forefront. The Naxalite of the Coffee House. Each one movement singeing the edges reflects a certain effortless of the idealism of those who grace that does not depend might have called them- on either careful framing or selves Mao-putra may have lighting, let alone dramatic ended that particular brand of accessories. There is a splendid hedonism. Renaissance-style portrait of For the rest, it is the essence Usha Ganguly, the actress who of lives deeply lived and shared passed away recently. She is in that shines through the lens of black against black. Only her Mala Mukerjee and the annals expressive face and hands are of the College Coffee House in focus, with touches of deep in Kolkata. n

Mala Mukerjee 21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 61 music

The Pulse of the Periphery Indian singer Priya Darshini, based in New York, is a Grammy nominee for her live album, with each song recorded in a single take By Divya Unny

hen she was informed produced the album, have been pio- inundated with congratulatory calls and that her debut album Periph- neers in recording technology, and the messages over the last few days. ery had been nominated for whole intention for them is to capture As a young Tamilian girl growing up the Best New Age Album the sound in a three-dimensional space with songs of MS Subbulakshmi and the Grammy Award 2020, singer- where you’re not just recording, but smell of camphor in her home in Mum- W songwriter Priya Darshini you’re also interacting with the architec- bai, Priya Darshini’s musical roots were was a little surprised. Here is an album by ture of the space as well. So it’s actually defined from the beginning. She comes an Indian artist living in New York, that a collaboration between the musicians, from a family of classical singers and negates the norm of tech-driven music the architecture of the church we did dancers and her sister and she were im- that many popular artists are known for. this in, as well as the recording tech. Each mersed in that environment from their Every song on it has been recorded live, song is in one take, top to bottom, there’s formative years. Her grandmother—who on just one microphone, and it involves zero post production, keeping the feel of she is named after—was known in her no compression or EQ (equaliser). It was the music completely natural. What’s time for being a rare Bharatanatyam recorded with four musicians and one even more beautiful for me is that in this dancer who would sing her own songs vocalist, in one go, inside an abandoned process you also keep the human errors. too. However, restless to find her own church in Brooklyn, with minimal The human element, which is very voice, Priya Darshini was attracted to all instrumentation. It stands out for its beautiful and again daunting, because kinds of music—from Ella Fitzgerald and bold and authentic approach towards you have to be there in that moment Miles Davis to Björk to Jimi Hendrix to creating songs. with full authenticity and vulnerability Ustad Amir Khan. “My grandmother quit “This is quite a shock that a live and each musician has to be in sync,” music and dance at 18 when she got mar- album was nominated, and that itself is says Priya Darshini speaking from her ried, but even what she achieved in that fascinating. Chesky Records, which have apartment in New York where she’s been little time was so inspiring. I had no such

62 21 december 2020 priya darshini would happen,” she adds. through the art. You see the paintings, performing in new For a girl who was once told that she the music, the cinema, the intuitive york city may never be able to sing again, Priya parts of what people were feeling then Darshini has clearly come a long way. “I through all of these. Like how people moved to New York for film studies and are processing this pandemic the world vocal therapy because I had vocal nodules is facing, we will learn that through that disrupted my voice completely,” the art that is being created right now. she says. In a bid to recover her voice, she That’s why artists are important because moved out of home at 20, and almost we document time in a way history or became a globe-trotting artist. She studied books can’t,” she says. film in New York, even worked as an assis- tant in Mira Nair’s The Namesake and also lived in London for a while. While these s an Indian girl who is trying experiences widened her experiences, to make her space within a world she also missed home. Her song Home, A full of people with multiple and in fact the entire album, is dedicated cultural identities, her journey wasn’t to this feeling. “The whole album was devoid of discrimination. However, for an exploration of what home means to her, the music blurs those boundaries people. To feel like you’re in the periphery too. “For me it was important to put out of everything. I know so many people out there that so many different cultural The Pulse of the Periphery identities can actually co-exist in a beauti- here who feel that way. And, of course, ful way, in a space that’s authentic, natu- living in this country in the last four years, ral, and that can have a unique voice. And Indian singer Priya Darshini, based in New York, this whole anti-immigrant rhetoric, it that’s the voice and that’s the intent of my was very in your face. Also in India, and is a Grammy nominee for her live album, with each song music. I’ve collaborated with multiple across the world, the polarisation that’s musicians from all across the world all recorded in a single take so rampant, where people were torn my life, and even with this album. This away from their own homes. Is home a one required me to be completely vulner- construct, communities and people, is it a able in front of these artists who were feeling, what is it? And it all boiled down nothing like me. But that’s the beauty of to me finding stillness within myself, it. During the recording I felt completely and embracing myself with all of my bare, emptied out with no walls. I was Photograph by Bernie De Chant weirdness. For me that’s where the sense functioning from that place and my of home comes from.” she says. intention was for people to hear that part boundaries growing up as long as I was For her, her music is a direct reflec- of me,” she says. dedicated to my craft. As I started discov- tion of the times she lives in. “As an artist Priya Darshini isn’t only a musi- ering my own voice, I knew my path was I feel the only thing we are here to do is cian. She is also an actor, a composer, a different. In Mumbai, at one point, I was to reflect the social aspect of that space state-level swimming champion and recording voice overs, doing jingles, doing and time we live in. When you travel, was the first Indian woman to com- Bollywood songs and all of that, but there over the years, or decades, the only thing plete the rigorous 100 mile Himalayan was something about the whole process that connects you back to a time is the Ultra Marathon. The Grammy Awards I wasn’t enjoying. I didn’t feel safe or com- art that was made during the time. The may be held as an online ceremony, but fortable in that environment. I felt like I emotional aspect of the time is seen as an independent musician she hopes wasn’t being heard, and intuitively I knew this paves the path for many more like that this isn’t where I belong. I remember her. “The awards are there to give you I was supposed to sign on a big music recognition for the work, but it isn’t a deal in Mumbai and I got a call from Roy During the recording commentary on your artistry, or if your Wooten (best known by his stage name work is better than everything else that Future Man) saying they wanted to tour I felt bare, emptied exists. Because I promise you, there are with me. He started talking about Vedic out with no walls. I so many other artists that exist who we math and how to bring it into improvisa- haven’t heard who probably deserve a tion, and this instrument he’s invented was functioning from Grammy or an Oscar. It’s just that we called the Royale and I was like ‘Yes’. There don’t know about them. For me, this was no money in it, but I said I will do it. that place” recognition is for my parents, and all Something told me intuitively that this Priya Darshini, musician those artists finding their voice in will lead me to a place where my learning the world.” n

21 december 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 63 a moveable feast

Defining Indian Cuisine Do caste and social hierarchies create barriers to our culinary exchanges?

ast week on an centrepiece of English cuisine, say cookbooks such as Hannah InstaLive interview Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple (1747) and Eliza- L conducted by food beth Raffald’s The Experienced English Housekeeper (1769) . writer Antoine Lewis, the The French followed a different route. For the French state topic of our conversation in the early 20th century, the need was to create Frenchmen out was whether we could truly of peasants. The state connected high cuisine with the regional speak of an Indian cuisine. provincial and peasant cuisine in the 1920s, in a process similar Abroad, the notion of Indian to the one highlighted by sociologist Eugen Weber for French food is Mughlai food, Lewis language (which transformed regional patois into French). The pointed out, adding that it regional cuisines were refined and homogenised to suit the was a construct rather than Parisian palate. By Shylashri Shankar emulating reality which In Japan, imperial design to knit together soldiers from includes a large number of diverse regions with different culinary traditions was carried regional dishes. Some food out by the military cooks in the canteens in the 1920s and 1930s writing such as Colleen Taylor Sen’s Feasts and Fasts: A History of (the inter-war period). The cooks prepared curries, Food in India suggests that a regional survey is the most practical croquets and Chinese stir-fries and Western dishes, with rice as way of describing the diversity and richness of the subcon- the central element and soy sauce, the crucial flavouring agent. tinent’s cuisine. But if we were to focus on regional dishes to The soldiers who hailed from the peasantry grew to relish the illustrate Indian cuisine, we would have to go even further down taste. This practice was later adopted in hospitals and schools to the local distinctions. South Indian food includes Malabar, and a Japanese cuisine was born. Chettinad, Tamil Brahmin and non-Brahmin, Reddy, Kamma, In all these countries, a national cuisine emerged through Dalit, Andhra, Telangana, Kannadiga, Coorgi, Mangalorean and a process engaged in by different elements of society and the so on. Just as central Indian food is from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, state and went beyond the regions to create a larger sense of the Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, and east Indian cui- collective self. sines include West Bengal, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and so Do we Indians have a sense of collective self when it comes on. One ends up at the most granular, local level to create a defini- to cuisine? Or did the hierarchy of the caste structure and the tion of Indian cuisine that would include many dozens of dishes. social control exercised by the higher over the lower castes cre- Some would say a daal is ubiquitous to an Indian household ate barriers to culinary exchanges? and so is khichdi. And they would be right. Writing in 1762, While India has experienced wars, imperial rule, colonial Azad Bilgrami said that the reason for the dry temperament of rule and the nation-making moves of the independent Indian the Indian people could be traced to their diet. Whether rich state, there was no concerted attempt either by the state or by or poor, the base of the Indian diet was daal-i-tur (split pigeon society to create an Indian cuisine that focused on one or two pulse, Cajanus cajan) to which they added little to no oil. Instead ingredients or dishes. During the nationalist movement, there they added red chillies (mirchi-i-sukh), asafoetida and turmeric was an attempt to fashion a civilised Indian through extolling to all their dishes. But daal and khichdi do not by themselves por- some food habits. As the cultural theorist Bhaskar Mukhopad- tray the richness and diversity of our regional and local dishes. hyay points out, nationalist heroes such as Bankimchandra Other countries too have such diversity and yet, we can point to Chattopadhyay and Vivekananda repeatedly condemned a few dishes and say that they belong to a national cuisine. tamarind and chilli consumption, associating them with Why so? Let’s look at England, France and Japan and how uneducated rural women and the uncivilised bazaar. However, they constructed a national cuisine. War, state-making and im- what is also interesting is that Vivekananda seemed to have perial design were the three main routes to creating a national relished chillies. So if he himself couldn’t resist chillies, then cuisine. War with Napoleon created the urge among English these attempts were doomed to fail. No wonder it is so difficult rural gentry to champion dishes that were local and not the to find a dish or a set of dishes that defines Indian cuisine. French-influenced menus favoured by the Whig party lead- What if, instead of focusing on dishes, we look for what we ers. Roast beef, not the game or the richly sauced dishes of the share in our engagement and understanding of food? A key at- aristocrats, nor the rabbit and pig of the cottager, became the tribute of a cuisine is the shared understanding of taste. Do we, as

64 21 december 2020 Indians, share a way of thinking about what creates tasty dishes? ings of flavour. Indian cuisine, regardless of region, caste or reli- While researching Turmeric Nation: A Passage through India’s gion, has the following flavour principle: negative food pairing. Tastes, I read scholars who in various ways highlighted elements For most dishes, each spice in the dish performs a unique func- that were pan-Indian. Of those, there were three elements that tion. You won’t find two spices performing the same function. If stood out for me, and these, I think, transcend religion, caste and you put amchur powder, you are less likely to also use lemon juice region and define this shared thinking. These elements—a sense or tamarind. This was the finding of three researchers who used of equilibrium, a flavour principle and how in our culinary prac- 2,543 recipes from Tarla Dalal’s website. Anupam Jain, Rakhi NK tices we at the local levels engage with layers of history—define and Ganesh Bagler analysed food pairings in recipes from eight an Indian cuisine. regional cuisines of India: Bengali, Gujarati, Jain, Maharashtrian, Our regional and local cuisines share the concept of balance Mughlai, Punjabi, Rajasthani and south Indian. Some 194 ingre- and equilibrium. The flavour principle (coined by Elizabeth dients were tabulated into spice, herb and vegetable. They found Rozin) states that every cuisine has certain spice and technique that negative pairing was the norm for spices but not for dairy combinations that produce tastes based on distinct understand- (you will find paneer and yoghurt in a recipe). This may be why north Indians have taken to idli, dosa and sambhar and south Indians like chhole. We could say that the impetus in India to cre- ate a vibrant plurality of dishes that are part of an Indian cuisine While India has experienced came more from society rather than being led by the state. This wars, imperial rule, colonial is so particularly after Independence when restaurants such as rule and the nation-making Moti Mahal, Gaylord, Kwality, Woodlands and Udupi popula- rised their respective cuisines and adapted the other’s cuisines moves of the independent Indian into their menus. The changes in Woodland’s menu over the state, there was no concerted decades—north Indian, Chinese and continental dishes were attempt either by the state or introduced in the 1970s and north Indian tandoori items entered by society to create an Indian the menu in the 1980s—reflect the growing propensity of city dwellers to experiment with dishes from other regions. cuisine that focused on one It brings us to the third element that we share: the way local or two ingredients or dishes cuisines engage with layers of history. Cuisines rest, heavily or lightly, on layers of history. Each conqueror brought his own dishes to the country, but the successors soon adopted local cuisines. One finds a fusion of the local with a transnational ele- ment harking back to the ruler’s lineage in Ottoman Turkey or Central Asia or Persia. In Hyderabad, for instance, the Asafia cuisines cookbook contains recipes of dishes—gazak, kabab Ak- bari, qubani meetha (bread and butter pudding)—that highlight the interweaving of Turkish, Nizami, Mughal, north Indian, British and local Deccani cuisine. The same blending of religion and region is evident in the table of the Mughal Emperor Akbar where Turkish, Indian, and Persian food hobnobbed with each other. Biryani, khichdi, daal, shorba, haleem, pulao, kebabs and yakhni were staples in his meals, according to the Ain-i-Akbari. Culinary exchanges between Indian kingdoms and West Asia and Europe through trade were enriched and hybridised by Chola, Maurya, Persian, Mughal and colonial lega- cies. These spread similar types of cooking techniques to Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the Deccan. But other groups, such as Tamil Brahmins, remain rooted in cooking techniques that cannot be easily attributed to a particular historical lineage. These different types of local engagements with history add to the pluralism and the hybridity that characterise Indian cuisine. Indian cuisine, in a nutshell, is a hybrid and multiple sets of local dishes linked by an emphasis on equilibrium and the unique function of a spice. Illustration by Saurabh Singh Let’s celebrate this diversity. n

www.openthemagazine.com 65 NOT PEOPLE LIKE US

RAJEEV MASAND

The Bubble Unit Rajkummar and his co-star Bhumi Pednekar will play a Before he returns to helm the second season of Aarya next gay man and a lesbian woman, respectively, in Badhaai Do, year, Neerja director Ram Madhvani will make a ‘quickie’ the second film in the Badhaai Ho franchise. While never starring Kartik Aaryan called Dhamaka. Announced a few confirming the premise of the new film, Bhumi told me weeks ago, the film is reportedly a race-against-time thriller that “like Badhaai Ho, it is also a film about a scenario that is and the official remake of a Korean hit in which a television regarded as taboo in society, but the tone is bittersweet and news anchor broadcasts a terror attack live. the story involves extended families and comic situations”. The unit is currently quarantining at a five-star hotel in Meanwhile, Dostana 2 is well into production and the film suburban Mumbai before they get on the set to begin filming. reportedly stars Kartik Aaryan and Janhvi Kapoor as a pair of Insiders say Ram has created a “bubble”, which means all cast siblings who fall for the same man. As it turns out, the exact same and crew and unit hands will undergo quarantine together premise is also at the crux of Aiyyaa director Sachin Kundalkar’s and will then proceed for the first schedule of the shoot on a currently-under-production Netflix film, based on his own closed indoor set. It is not yet known how and when the team novella Cobalt Blue. Prateik Babbar plays the man at the centre of will shoot outdoor action scenes, especially a big set piece in the love triangle in Kundalkar’s film, which is about a young man which the filmmakers are expected to simulate a bomb blast and his sister who both become romantically involved at Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea Link. with a male tenant who comes to stay in their Pune home. Sources in the film trade are saying the film, which is produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP outfit, has Hot Right Now been budgeted ‘modestly’ and that Kartik In Unpaused, an anthology of five short films set around agreed to slash his upfront fee so as not to the pandemic, a clutch of Bollywood filmmakers tell burden the cost of the project. He is believed hopeful, uplifting stories about unlikely friendships, to have negotiated a sizeable backend deal on unusual romances, inter-generational bonding and the film, meaning he will claim a share of the learning to trust strangers. Nikhil Advani, Nitya film’s profits when it is sold or released. Mehra, Avinash Arun, Tannishtha Chatterjee and the duo Raj & DK have each helmed a 20-minute Insecure Role? short that they filmed in three days flat with an on-set When Rajkummar Rao turned down a role in crew of no more than 10 persons. the sequel to Dostana, some trolls on social media Best of the five shorts is Killa director Avinash sniggered that perhaps the actor was not secure Arun’s deeply moving story of a migrant enough with his masculinity to play a gay couple (played by Paatal Lok’s man on screen. Rajkummar himself never Abhishek Banerjee and Soni’s clarified his position on the matter. When Geetika Vidya Ohlyan) who secretly Ayushmann Khurrana played a gay man stake out inside a sample flat in an in this year’s Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, under construction high-rise after he was hailed as one of the first ‘mainstream they’re kicked out of their rental. leading men’ to appear in a same-sex It’s funny, and charming, and love story. ultimately heartbreaking. Also in Any doubts about Rajkummar’s especially good form are Richa insecurity or his reluctance to play gay on Chadha and Ishwak Singh who screen should be immediately disregarded, show up in Advani’s short, which however, given that industry sources are is a story about a neighbour who saying that’s exactly what he’s all set to ends up helping a conflicted do in his next film. According to reports, woman find her strength. n

66 21 december 2020