EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2019 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 15 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SNAPSHOTS Mutation in smell gene found to Carbon dots help detect herbicide pollution be associated with asthma Aswathi Pacha In an extraordinary waste­to­ wealth feat, researchers from As­ Studying a multi­generational Indian family led to the discovery of associated gene variant sam have used the commonly Iron snow found invasive plant water hya­ R. Prasad The Earth’s inner core is says. “In population­based studies cinth to produce carbon nano­ capped by snow made of that have been undertaken, it be­ particles. These extremely tiny tiny particles of iron, much Based on a study of a four­genera­ comes difficult to identify such (less than 10 nanometre) parti­ heavier than the snowflakes tion family in Mysuru with high variants.” cles can be used for detecting a seen in the atmosphere, a prevalence of asthma, a multi­in­ “There are three main reasons commonly used herbicide — pre­ Waste to wealth: Water hyacinth study published in the stitutional study by Indian re­ why we could identify the gene tilachlor. The nanoparticles were was used to produce carbon journal JGR Solid Earth searchers has shown that a variant variant — asthmatics in the family found to be selective and sensi­ nanoparticles. * M. KARUNAKARAN finds. The iron­snow falls of an olfactory gene (OR2AG2) is a had difficulty in smelling, we saw tive for the detection of the from the molten outer core novel candidate for asthma. This is the same variant in the cohort and herbicide. nash Jyoti Deka. and piles up in the inner the first time in India a four­gener­ we were looking for a novel genet­ “At the biodiversity hub of our The herbicide pretilachlor is core of the Earth creating ation large family with high asth­ ic variant,” Dr. Agrawal says. institute we have been trying to mixed with water and carbon stacks that are up to 320 ma prevalence has been studied figure out how to convert this dots, and studied using special km thick. for the said purpose. Suppressing expression weed into a value­added pro­ equipment. The fluorescence in­ The gene was validated in a But during the validation studies, duct. Here in Assam, every water tensity increases in the presence north Indian cohort of 141 children asthmatic children with or without body is infested with water hya­ of the herbicide. The team also with asthma and 130 controls. the variant did not show signifi­ cinth, and it was an easy and tested using different pesticides About 80% of children with asth­ cant difference in the ability to cheap option to explore. Some and other compounds having si­ ma carried a copy of the gene smell, which was unexpected. teams are exploring if its fibre milar chemical structure and variant. “Asthmatic children without the can be used to make furniture. found that the carbon dot was ex­ Twenty individuals represent­ variant too had impaired smell We are also working on making tremely sensitive to pretilachlor ing the four generations were se­ threshold, which made us wonder activated carbon using the plant and could detect even very small lected. Of the 20 persons studied, if asthma­related pathway itself and these carbon dots were one quantity of the herbicide. After Quick to see 14 had asthma and the rest served can cause suppression of the gene of the innovations born in our successful testing in the laborato­ The peregrine falcon, one of as a control group. Whole genome independent of the genetic varia­ lab,” explains Devasish Chowd­ ry conditions, the team collected the world’s most common genotyping was undertaken on all Inherited: All 14 family members with asthma had one copy of the gene tion,” he says. hury from the Material Nanoche­ soil samples from different places predatory birds, has the the 20 participants and exome se­ variant * P.V. SIVAKUMAR To validate the hypothesis, the mistry lab at the Institute of Ad­ across the State and proved the fastest vision in the animal quencing was carried out on five researchers directly measured the vanced Study in Science and efficiency of the carbon dots in kingdom and can register people with asthma and three con­ risk because of inability to mount trations,” he says. “This suggested gene expression in lung samples of Technology, Assam. He is the cor­ detecting pretilachor in soil sam­ nearly 130 frames per second, trols. While whole genome geno­ an appropriate counter response. a defect in their ability to smell. Al­ those with asthma and normal responding author of the work ples. according to a study published typing helps in detecting varia­ The inability to mount a counter so, family members with asthma subjects. In people with asthma, published in Heliyon. in the Journal of Experimental tions across the genome, the response could lead to lung dam­ said they could not smell burning there was significant reduction in Fluorescence enhancement Biology. In comparison, exome sequencing allows varia­ age,” says Dr. Agrawal. The inabili­ odour.” the expression of the gene. Leaves to carbon The paper also describes the me­ humans see up to a maximum tions in the protein­coding region ty to smell could be a potential me­ “Whether olfactory gene was They also carried out cell cul­ The team harvested water hya­ chanism by which electron of 50 to 60 blinks per second. of any gene to be identified. chanism for lung damage. associated with asthma or not was ture studies. When the cultured cinth leaves, removed the chloro­ transfer happens between the This is the first time scientists Several variants were seen after not known till now. Ours is the first human cells were treated with IL13 have studied the speed of phyll, dried and powdered it. dot and the herbicide which ena­ genotyping and exome sequenc­ Identifying odour study to find such an association,” cytokine, which is associated with vision among birds of prey, The sieved powder underwent bles the fluorescence enhance­ ing. The team led by Anurag Agra­ To test this, the researchers eval­ says Dr. Samarpana Chakraborty allergy, there was suppression of calculating how fast they see. several treatments including ment. Dr. Chowdhury adds that wal, Director of the Institute of Ge­ uated the ability of the 20 partici­ from CSIR­IGIB and the first auth­ OR2AG2 gene expression. heating at 150 degree Celsius to this will be a commercially viable nomics and Integrative Biology pants to smell a sweet odour and or of a paper published in the jour­ “So there is either a genetic de­ convert it to carbon dots. “When option when compared with the (CSIR­IGIB), Delhi, turned to com­ the concentration at which they nal Scientific Reports. “The gene fect in the OR2AG2 gene at birth a nanoparticle is less than 10 na­ sensors currently available in the puter modelling to narrow down could identify the odour. All 14 fa­ variant may cause olfactory dys­ leading to suppressed expression nometre we call it a dot or nano­ market, as the raw material for the possible variants that might be mily members with asthma had function in the family members or there is acquired suppression of dot. Our carbon dots were able to the construction of the sensor — responsible for asthma and finally one copy of the gene variant. who have asthma.” gene expression later in life due to give a green fluorescence under the water hyacinth — is readily confirmed the genetic variant “Healthy individuals and those “By studying the four­genera­ inflammation or environmental UV light. The extremely small ox­ available and is practically a through conventional sequencing. with asthma were able to identify tion family alone or the children factors,” he says. “This supports ygen functional groups on the waste material. Based on this stu­ “Mutation in the sensory path­ and differentiate different smells, cohort individually, we couldn’t our hypothesis that the gene may surface of the dot are responsible dy, the group is now developing a way such as olfaction is a plausible but those with asthma could de­ have identified the gene. We need­ be a convergence point for asthma for the fluorescence,” explains paper strip–based sensor for on­ Early immunity mechanism for increased asthma tect smells only at higher concen­ ed both groups,” Dr. Chakraborty pathways at the lung level.” the first author of the paper Ma­ site detection of pretilachlor. Researchers have discovered how a brief disruption in the guts of pre­born mice can compromise their adult immunity to rotavirus IIT Hyderabad team uses plant extract, heat to kill cancer cells infection. The study, published in Science Immunology showed that this prevented a robust antibody response in adult The nanoparticles, which encapsulate the extract, had no adverse effect on mice, indicating their biocompatibility mice to rotavirus. This early disruption limits the ability of R. Prasad tive oxygen species, which says Prof. Rengan. “We opti­ waj Pemmaraju from IIT cell death in the presence of the immune system to later caused cell death through mised the amount of dye Hyderabad and the other the extract when autophagy trigger and generate Lipid­based nanoparticles autophagy (body’s way of re­ used and the duration of il­ first author of the paper. was inhibited. This helped production of Immunoglobulin encapsulating chlorophyll­ moving damaged cells). lumination so that the ther­ confirm the role of autopha­ A (IgA) antibodies. rich extract of a medicinal mal effect is mainly for trig­ Reactive oxygen gy in causing death of cancer plant Anthocephalus cadam­ Collaborative effort gering the release of the Since the extract increased cells,” says Pemmaraju. ba and a near­infrared dye Researchers from the Univer­ extract.” the amount of both reactive “These two experiments has been found to selectively sity of Hyderabad, IIT Bom­ oxygen species and autopha­ helped confirm that the cell kill cancer cells when ex­ bay and Bose Institute, Kol­ Potent mechanism gy, the researchers set out to deaths that occurred could posed to near­infrared light. kata, were part of the study The lethal effect of the ex­ explore the link between the be due to ROS­mediated au­ Unlike the conventional and the results were pu­ tract to kill the cancer cells two. They used a known tophagy.” photothermal therapy that blished in the journal Nanos­ when exposed to thermal chemical that inhibits the The efficacy of the nano­ relies on heat to kill cancer­ cale. energy was already demon­ generation of reactive oxy­ particles containing the ous cells, a multi­institution­ The extract showed selec­ strated by the team a couple Targeted killing: The extract showed selectivity in killing only gen species and then treated plant extract and dye was al team led by researchers tivity in killing only cancer of year ago. But the mechan­ the cancer cells with the ex­ tested in mouse model with Ancestral home cancer cells, says Aravind Kumar Rengan (left). from the Indian Institute of cells; the extract released in­ ism through which the ex­ tract. “Cells where the ROS breast cancer. The tumour The last known settlement of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad side normal cells caused in­ tract killed the cancer cells about 24 hours. But 45% can­ Autophagy­mediated cell generation is inhibited volume reduced significantly Homo erectus, direct ancestors of modern humans, who used heat generated by the significant cell death. The was not known then. “Based cer cells grew back in about a death was confirmed by us­ showed negligible cell death when treated with the ex­ disappeared around 4,00,000 dye when exposed to light to reason: the extract did not on studies using breast can­ day. “But there was no signif­ ing a particular protein that due to reduced autophagy” tract along with photother­ years ago, was situated in destroy the encapsulation increase the amount of reac­ cer cell lines we found that icant growth (about 7.5%) of serves as an autophagy says Appidi. “This helped mal therapy compared with Ngandong on the Indonesian and release the extract. tive oxygen species generat­ the extract increased the cancer cells even 48 hours marker. “When cancer cells confirm the role of reactive controls and cells treated island of Java, a new study Through in vitro studies, ed inside normal cells thus generation of reactive oxy­ when photothermal therapy were treated with the ex­ oxygen species in causing with the extract alone. “But published in Nature finds. the team led by Aravind Ku­ not causing them through gen species, which enhanced was used along with the ex­ tract, the amount of protein cell death.” the nanoparticles had no ad­ According to the researchers, mar Rengan from the De­ autophagy. autophagy­mediated death tract. The extract was able to marker generated showed an Similarly, the researchers verse effect on the body the human ancestors existed partment of Biomedical En­ “In our study, heat is used of cancer cells,” he says. restrict cancer cell growth,” increase. The protein marker used an inhibitor to prevent weight of mice, indicating on the Indonesian island gineering at IIT Hyderabad mainly to destabilise the li­ When photothermal the­ says Tejaswini Appidi from produced varied depending autophagy and treated the the biocompatibility of the between 1,08,000 and found that the extract gener­ pid nanoparticle encapsula­ rapy alone was used, nearly IIT Hyderabad and one of the on the amount of extract cells with the extract. “We nanoparticles,” says Pemma­ 1,17,000 years ago. ated excess amount of reac­ tion and release the extract,” 50% cancer cells died in first authors of the paper. used,” says Deepak Bharad­ saw significant reduction in raju. Ramanujan’s legacy used in signal processing, black hole physics Due to the remarkable originality and power of Ramanujan’s genius, the ideas he created a century ago are now finding applications in diverse contexts

Shubashree Desikan nal processing, one thing we tensions using two­ and high­ reveal the properties of black be a ‘mock circle’ that is the very quantum structure are interested in is extracting er­dimensional holes, as has been esta­ nearly circular but with a of spacetime – in particular There is no question about and identifying such period­ generalisations for images blished by physicist Atish small blip,” explains Prof. the quantum entropy of a the fact that mathematical ic information. and video, and extensions Dabholkar, who is now Di­ Dabholkar. “It is not easy to type of Black Hole in string genius Srinivasa Ramanujan The mathematical opera­ for non­integer (non­whole rector, International Centre explain precisely what a theory, according to Prof. has left behind a rich legacy tion of identifying and sepa­ Still number) periods,” are on the for Theoretical Physics in ‘blip’ is, similarly, ‘almost Dabholkar. of problems in pure mathe­ rating the periodic portion is relevant: cards according to Prof. Trieste, Italy. modular’ remained a mys­ Stephen Hawking showed matics. What is surprising is much like using a sieve to Srinivasa Vaidhayanathan. Ramanujan related this tery for close to a century,” that when quantum effects Ramanujan’s that his mathematics, done separate particles of diffe­ counting problem to some he adds. are taken into account, a mathematics over a hundred years ago, rent sizes. Some of the best Partitions of a number special functions called Following the work of Black Hole is not quite black, now finds finds applications today in known methods to extract applications Ramanujan was famously in­ “modular forms”. A modular mathematician S. P. Zwegers it is rather like a hot piece of areas other than pure mathe­ periodic components in sig­ in areas not terested in the number of form is symmetric, in the in 2002, in which he intro­ metal that is emitting Hawk­ matics, which were not even nals involve Fourier analysis. known ways one can partition an in­ sense that it does not change, duced “mock modular ing radiation slowly. Thus established during his time Using Ramanujan Sums is during his teger (a whole number). For under a set of mathematical forms,” giving a precise defi­ one can associate thermody­ (22 December 1887 – 26 April much less known. lifetime. instance 3 can be written as operations called “modular nition of what “almost modu­ namic quantities like temper­

1920). Two among these are “A Ramanujan Sum is a se­ * M. SRINATH 1+1+1 or 2+1. As the number to symmetry”. “A geometric lar” means, Prof Dabholkar’s ature and entropy to a Black signal processing and black quence like c(1), c(2), c(3) ... be partitioned gets larger analogy for such a function paper with Sameer Murthy Hole. hole physics. This sequence repeats pe­ esting process that illustrates turn forwarded the paper to and larger, the number of would be a circle which does and Don Zagier made the “Mock modular forms are riodically... It was thought by the role of friendly connec­ Prof. Vaidyanathan, a friend ways to partition it becomes not change its shape under connection between mock beginning to appear more Signal processing a number of authors before tions in the development of from his graduate days. In­ difficult to compute. The the ‘circular symmetry’ of ro­ modular forms and Black and more in many areas of Examples of signals that are me to be useful in identifying science. Several years ago, trigued by the Ramanujan seemingly simple mathemat­ tations,” explains Prof. Dab­ Hole physics. physics... Our work has also processed digitally include periodic components in sig­ mathematicians H. Gopalak­ Sum mentioned in the paper, ical calculation is related to a holkar. “Using this symme­ had unexpected applications obvious ones like speech and nals, much the same as sines rishna Gadiyar and R. Pad­ Prof. Vaidyanathan delved very sophisticated method to try, Ramanujan and G.H. Black Hole entropy in new topics in mathematics music to more research­ and cosines are used in Fou­ ma, from VIT, Vellore, were deep into it and developed Hardy found a beautiful for­ A separate concept in phys­ such as ‘Umbral Moonshine’, oriented ones such as DNA rier ananlysis,” says P.P. Vai­ studying the twin prime pro­ the concept of “Ramanujan mula to compute the number ics, entropy, explains why which are quite unrelated to and protein sequences. dyanathan who has deve­ blem when they observed subspaces”. <> Our work has had of partitions of any integer.” heat flows from a hot body to black holes,” adds Prof. These all have certain pat­ loped these ideas over the that some arithmetical func­ These ideas were further unexpected a cold body and not the other Dabholkar. terns that repeat over and ov­ last decade. He is the Kiyo tion which captures the pro­ developed by his doctoral applications such as Nearly modular way around. The results of “It is a tribute to the re­ er again and are called pe­ and Eiko Tomiyasu Professor perties of the primes should student Srikanth Tenneti ‘Umbral In his famous letter to Hardy Ramanujan and Hardy on markable originality and riodic patterns. In reality, of Electrical Engineering at have a Ramanujan­Fourier who showed that using these Moonshine’, quite in 1919, Ramanujan intro­ partitions and his subse­ power of Ramanujan’s geni­ complex repeating patterns the California Institute of Series. gave a method that worked unrelated to black duced the “mock theta func­ quent work on what are us that the ideas he created a may need to be identified as Technology, U.S. They sent their paper to better than Fourier analysis holes tions” and observed that called mock theta functions century ago are now finding they bear significance to Prof. Vaidyanathan came Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Direc­ when the region of periodici­ Atish Dabholkar they were “almost modular”. have come to play an impor­ applications in such diverse health conditions. So in sig­ across this work in an inter­ tor of IIT Madras, who in ty is short. “A number of ex­ ICTP, Italy “A geometric analogy would tant role in understanding contexts,” he says.

CM A ND-NDE YK EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU 16 DESPATCHES SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Death of a doctor who turned ‘deserts into gardens’

Japan national Tetsu Nakamura, who had worked butions to the conflict­ridden coun­ the local police, who usually tend to could arrest water flow to Pakistan, try. “Dr. Nakumra was a man who harass the artists when they are which we believe could be the mo­ in Afghanistan for decades, was killed by gunmen did a lot for the poor Afghans than painting the street, were supportive. tive to kill him and hurt the pro­ some of our own leaders and politi­ The larger than life murals carry jects,” Mr. Stanikzai said. While the have demanded justice for the man cians; that’s why the entire nation the portrait of the martyred hero Taliban denied involvement in Na­ KABUL they saw as one of their own. “It is a was pained over his murder,” said along with words of Afghan poet Ru­ kamura’s death, Afghan government very innocent story of a man who Idrees Stanikzai, a political activist of mi that roughly translate as ‘On this has arrested six suspects. Few other foreign worked for Afghanistan, his dedica­ a movement called Youth Trend in soil, we will only plant seeds of love However, as a country aggrieved nationals have per­ tion was visible in the results he Kabul. and empathy’. “Afghans feel con­ by many tragedies, the recurring haps received as achieved in changing eastern Af­ nected to his man and want to ho­ losses of compatriots and allies much love and ad­ ghanistan, literally changing deserts Public mourning nour a good soul. In some ways this weigh heavily on Afghans. “When we miration from the Afghans as Tetsu to gardens, and perhaps that is why Mr. Stanikzai’s organisation was one connection tells you so much about started ArtLords, we wanted to bring Nakamura, a Japanese doctor who so many Afghans feel affected by his among the many that organised pu­ Afghans and how we bond to those smiles and encourage empathy in Af­ dedicated his life to improving death,” said Omaid Sharifi, founder blic mourning and candle light vigil with genuine intentions,” Mr. Sharifi ghanistan. We wanted to heal the healthcare, water availability and of ArtLords, an arts collective that to honour the slain doctor. The res­ said. wounds of the war through music, agriculture in Afghanistan over the painted the murals. ponse to calls for mass mourning of Many individuals and organisa­ theatre and art. But lately, I feel we last four decades. Affectionately re­ Among Nakamura’s achievements the Japanese national in Afghanistan tions have pressured the govern­ have had to paint the faces of dead ferred to as Kaka Murad, the 73­year­ is the construction of a Japanese ca­ was overwhelming, he said . “He ment to investigate the killing and heroes,” Mr. Sharifi said. “Every sin­ old was killed, along with five others, nal over the Kunar River that irrigat­ knew and respected our culture and bring the perpetrators to justice. gle day, our people die, we are losing by armed gunmen in the eastern city ed close to 40,000 acres of desert had a very clear message — he used “We have asked for justice and also some very good souls, the best of hu­ of Jalalabad early this month. land in the eastern province. The Ra­ to say that he hasn’t come with to punish security officials responsi­ manity are lost to this cause.” In­ Ruchi Kumar Nakamura’s death evoked an out­ mon Magsaysay awardee also under­ tanks, guns and helicopters. He has in Kabul, in central parts of the ci­ ble for this lapse,” Mr. Stanikzai said, deed, the ongoing conflict has is a journalist pour of grief from Afghans across the took water projects, including the come with love to serve Afghanis­ ties. In both places, children, local adding that many officials suspect claimed thousands of lives, with UN based in Kabul country, with candlelight vigils held building of 11 dams and 1,500 wells tan,” Mr. Stanikzai said. vendors, people on the street came Pakistani military and intelligence agencies documenting over 8,200 ci­ in many cities and activists painting that impacted over 6,50,000 Af­ Mr. Sharifi of ArtLords, too, expe­ up to us and offered to help paint powers to have been behind this at­ vilian casualties this year alone. “I his murals on the walls of Kabul and ghans living in Nangarhar province. rienced a strong sense of solidarity him and everyone was grieving. tack. hope it stops. I hope I don’t have to Jalalabad city, the doctor’s adopted He was awarded the Afghan citizen­ while painting the murals. “We did They all knew his face intimately,” “The dams that Dr. Nakamura had paint another deceased hero,” Mr. hometown. Civil society activists ship in October to honour his contri­ two murals, one in Jalalabad and one Mr. Sharifi recalled, adding that even proposed to build over Kunar River Sharifi said. A film that stirred up a hornet’s nest

to explain in four weeks why the cen­ for her life itself: it is sometimes calm lentless torture but cries uncontrol­ No Dorai, which shows a woman surfer’s struggles, sor board’s approval should not be with its vast blue expanse of water lably in his bed after seeing his has triggered a legal battle in Bangladesh deemed ‘illegal’. Mr. Rahman said and sometimes deadly with its rag­ daughter being brutalised by his son, the producer and his legal team ing waves. Liyakat, for walking out on her DHAKA Within the same impoverished would fight the court battle. “I think we’ve made the core mes­ husband. community exists a group of young The filmmakers chose relatively sage clear through the film. About Ayesha’s best friend Sohel, played people with “crazy passion” for surf­ unknown actors for the project, 90% of people didn’t know surfing by Sariful Razz, is a blend of four real A film that portrays ing. “I think they’re ready to sacrifice which was both risky and rewarding existed there. But it’s not documen­ surfers in Cox’s Bazar. The two cha­ surfing as a sym­ their lives for surfing. And that was at the same time. They wanted to tation of surfing,” Mr. Rahman said. racters play out as a big contrast to bolic way of wo­ our inspiration,” Taneem Rahman, pull the characters in the story from Social restrictions and the perpetual each other. Surfing brings newfound men’s empower­ who directed the film, said in an in­ obscurity through storytelling and human struggle to overcome them fame to Sohel, who represents men’s ment in Bangladesh has stirred up terview. Their indomitable passion ignite conversations about the com­ are at the heart of the story. world, but it brings miseries to mixed reactions for its unusual inspired the film’s producer Mah­ munity they are bound to live in and In broader terms, the film re­ Ayesha. Like other youngsters, theme. No Dorai that translates as boob Rahman to go for the project to their daily struggle to go beyond, not volves around two kinds of people in Ayesha and Sohel are trained by “Not Afraid” delves into an obscure tell a story about the girl in a society about the actors. the community: one group consist­ Amir, a self­made and resolute surfer community in the small beach town where surfing is akin to a taboo. ing of both men and women silently played by Sayed Babu. Amir is the of Cox’s Bazar — a community that Taneem Rahman insists that it is Central symbol adhering to a set of social barriers key driver of surfing enthusiasm that does not let women venture out to not a commercial film; it’s a film that As the story unfolds, the audience handed down from generation to gets attention from international sea and tends to force them to comp­ has a mass appeal. The film deals sees the presence of Ayesha domi­ generation and the other group seek­ documentary filmmakers and raises ly with its strict social norms. The with women’s rights as a quiet, sub­ nating the plots as the central sym­ ing to break them. The characterisa­ the prospects of money generating setting is a microcosm of how men tle theme, but Mr. Rahman refuses to bol. A beach­town teenager is tion of Ayesha’s father, a nameless jealousy, squabbles and power tuss­ Arun Devnath subjugate women by sheer brute view it as part of a campaign or a the filmmakers and filed a petition trapped in the strict social code im­ man, is heartwarming. The man is les on the seashores. is a journalist force. Ayesha, the central character movement in Bangladesh, a country with the High Court, demanding that posed mostly by men and followed often reprimanded by his wife for Ayesha is a shadow of Nasima Ak­ based in Dhaka played by Sunerah Binte Kamal, fac­ that faces allegations of disregarding authorities revoke the censor certifi­ silently by women. Her life is briefly sleeping away most of the day. He ter, who was featured in California­ es violence in her own family — first human rights. cate of the film in Bangladesh, where upended by a failed marriage but she does not express his love for his based Heather Kessinger’s documen­ from her brother, a man with a But the film fell out with a group of it is unusual for women to swim in is determined to follow her passion. daughter, but quietly leaves open the tary as Bangladesh’s first woman sur­ bruised ego, and then from her hus­ people. Supreme Court lawyer Huz­ public. The court, in a ruling on De­ The sea, spectacularly captured by door to the room she is locked up in. fer. The film is a ray of hope for many band, who is three times her age. zatul Islam served a legal notice on cember 10, ordered the government cinematographers, appears to stand He fails to protect Ayesha from re­ in Bangladesh. Making returning citizens feel at home

Tamil politicians, activists are asking govt. to what laws must be enacted in India. mit that there are inadequacies in velling here with assets and belong­ Our own position on Sri Lankan refu­ the process. Even the government ings accumulated over decades. make it easy for refugees to return to Sri Lanka gees living in India is that they must we backed didn’t fully implement all Basic needs such as food and shel­ return to their country,” TNA spokes­ the measures needed, despite our ter are very real, everyday concerns COLOMBO 16,000 are back home now. man M.A. Sumanthiran told media persistent requests. It must be done that returnees confront. Some of With the spotlight falling on the in Jaffna recently. “If they choose to now.” A decade after the civil war, their family homes may have been community, many in India have chal­ live there [in India], they could as more people — “about 60­70%” — ap­ destroyed in the war, or their ances­ In the widespread lenged the Centre on why Sri Lankan per international law, and if Indian pear inclined to return, but much of tral land may be under military occu­ resistance to the refugees don’t qualify. Sri Lanka al­ law accommodates that position. But that depends on how easy the pro­ pation. There are no jobs, or thriving recently­passed Ci­ lows its people to hold dual citizen­ if you ask what the TNA’s position is, cess can be made, according to Sin­ business waiting for young retur­ tizenship (Amend­ ship, but India doesn’t. Consequent­ it is that they should come back. nathambby Sooriyakumari, presi­ nees. “But at least it’s home,” she ment) Act, many have repeatedly ly, if a Sri Lankan seeks Indian They are our people, who were dent of Organisation for Elankai noted. “They say this in Tamil... even highlighted the omission of Sri Lan­ citizenship, she has to necessarily fo­ forced to flee the country because of Refugees’ Rehabilitation — Ceylon. if a rat is in a net, it makes a diffe­ kans among persecuted communi­ rego her Sri Lankan citizenship. the situation here.” In her view, the Sri Lankan go­ rence when it’s the rat’s own net.” ties in the neighbourhood who now There is no exhaustive data on what vernment needs to create an apex Addressing Colombo­based fo­ qualify for Indian citizenship, for the the Sri Lankans living in India want Right to return body to look into the resettlement of reign correspondents recently, Presi­ first time based on their religion. in these circumstances. When a journalist asked him if the returnees, and to streamline paper­ dent Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he did Nearly 1,00,000 Sri Lankan Ta­ Sri Lankan Tamil political leaders TNA’s position was driven by a desire work. “At the moment, we have to not wish to comment on the new Act mils live in India, mostly in refugee and others working with returnees to expand its vote bank, Mr. Suman­ coordinate with so many ministries in India. Asked if he thought the Sri camps across Tamil Nadu. They fled say it’s time that Sri Lanka removed thiran said: “This is not about our — from education, health, foreign af­ Lankans living in India must come a civil war in their homeland — Sri all the hurdles to their smooth re­ vote bank at all. This is about their fairs, public administration to get back, he said “yes.” Mr. Rajapaksa Meera Srinivasan Lanka’s north and east — that turn, should they wish to get back. fundamental right to return, they are their documents in order,” she ex­ involved, so the process is pretty te­ has repeatedly emphasised develop­ is The Hindu’s spanned over 30 years, brutally des­ The Tamil National Alliance people of this soil.” plained. For children of Sri Lankans dious,” she said. ment over power devolution for Sri Colombo troying life and property. Over the (TNA), the main political grouping The Jaffna legislator added the Sri born in India, applying for a National Converting education certificates, Lanka’s war­affected Tamil commun­ correspondent years, some Sri Lankan Tamils have representing Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Lankan government must make all Identity Card in Sri Lanka is the chief marriage registration and obtaining ity. Whether his version of develop­ returned from India. war­hit north and east, has said it arrangements for their smooth re­ task, as it is necessary for every oth­ formal citizenship documents are ment speaks to locals and allures As the pace of return accelerated would like to see Sri Lankan Tamils turn, underscoring housing and live­ er application, including citizenship. only part of the logistical hassle, those hoping to return will be clear after the war ended in 2009, nearly return. “I don’t wish to comment on lihoods for those returning. “We ad­ “There are deadlines and penalties which also includes physically tra­ in the next five years. A race to keep China’s food delivery business bustling

A big downside to the success story lies in the risk the drivers, who swarm the streets man. Rating the food quality and ser­ For now, Meituan is the undisput­ on their e­bikes — many sometimes vice, which goes into an ever ex­ ed leader, with a 52% market share in delivery executives take to meet deadlines meeting with serious accidents en panding database of the company, is the first half of this year, while route. also routine. Ele.me was behind with 43.9%, ac­ BEIJING tea fans love the “pearls”— toppings “I believe 80% of these accidents The food delivery boom has pitted cording to a market research firm. such as chewy tapioca balls, along were caused by insufficient delivery two titans in China’s digital space — But there is also a big downside to with sago seeds, or various kinds of time,” says Yu Yong, a delivery man, the Shenzhen­based Tencent Hold­ their success, evident in risks the Ahead of noon on fruit jellies, cream and an array of fla­ as quoted in the Nikkei Asian Re- ings, led by Pony Ma, and the Aliba­ drivers take to meet the exceptional­ any working day, vourings that go with it. view. “Only those who drive fast ba Group Holding, the brainchild of ly demanding delivery deadlines. most white collar But many prefer to order food and enough can make it.” Jack Ma, the former company head, Shanghai saw an average of two acci­ Chinese go drinks from their indoor comfort Some companies are known to who championed e­commerce in dents involving delivery personnel through elaborate pre­lunch rituals. zones. Lukin coffee, a Chinese fine drivers who fail to deliver on China, against each other. Tencent every day in the first half of 2019, go­ Departing from their work stations brand, now in fierce competition time, apart from paying 50 yuan backs the food delivery giant Mei­ vernment data show. and computer screens, some head to with Starbucks, is pushing back (₹500) less, in case a customer de­ tuan Dianping, while Alibaba steels The plight of the drivers grabbed swanky ground floor kiosks that against its better known rival, by fo­ cides to complain. its rival Ele.me. headlines and critical comments af­ usually are a staple of a typical office cusing on online delivery. Attuned to a pervasive digital cul­ The two big boys of the Internet ter the two market leaders dis­ complex in any metro in China, be it ture, China’s tech savvy generation­ have high stakes in the digital culin­ patched drivers in August in Shang­ Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen or Tight deadlines next is naturally drawn to ordering ary business. Last year, China’s food hai amid Typhoon Lekima, the hundreds of other cities that fall in Unsurprisingly, the infusion of online. Orders are routed through an delivery transactions totalled a hefty fifth­largest cyclone in Chinese histo­ the tier­2 domain. lunchtime hunger and online order­ app, which lists restaurants close to 500 billion yuan ($71 billion), accord­ ry to hit the country’s commercial Bubble tea, for instance, is a big ing is shifting tectonic plates elsewh­ the user’s location. ing to investment bank Bernstein. By capital. Atul Aneja hit among those who are in need of a ere as well. By afternoon, food deliv­ The online food delivery system Clicking on the restaurant’s icon 2023, the market is expected to rise “Even airlines and train operators is The Hindu’s pre­lunch stretch­out. Young women ery personnel recklessly race along has to conform to insanely tight dea­ reveals the menu. The order is com­ three times. have to suspend their services dur­ Beijing usually queue up in larger numbers the busy streets to beat the clock to dlines. It is generally a thumb rule pleted through online payments, Both rivals also generate massive ing typhoons due to safety consider­ correspondent for the brew, which took root in Tai­ reach out to their demanding con­ that deliveries within a 3­km radius through platforms such as WeChat employment. Together, they employ ations. How can food delivery driv­ wan in the 1980s. Apart from a tea sumers. In the fiercely competent must be completed in about half­an­ or Alipay. at least 5.7 million delivery person­ ers withstand the threat of extreme with a strong “body,” such as Assam buyers’ market, failure to do so can hour, including cooking time. That Customers can also use the app to nel, according to the Nikkei Asian weather?,” noted an article in the tea, and liberal doses of milk, Bubble be harsh on their wallets. usually puts enormous pressure on track the location of the delivery Review. state­owned Guangming Daily.

CM A ND-NDE YK EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2019 SPORT 17 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE With series on the line, India ready to go for the jugular West Indies has the firepower to make a match of it as seen in recent outings

WI IN INDIA It will be interesting to see how the fresh­looking pitch, Y.B. Sarangi which is expected to pro­ CUTTACK duce another run glut, be­ India’s resilience, evident haves as the ground is being from its confident fightbacks used for the first time for a in the T20I series against cricket match after being hit Bangladesh and the West In­ by Cyclone Fani in May. dies, will hold it in good stead in the third and final Eye on floodlights One­Day International The floodlights, some of against the Caribbeans at the which have been changed af­ Barabati Stadium here on ter being damaged in the cy­ Sunday. clone, will be under scrutiny With the series evenly as well. The organisers are, poised at 1­1, the decider may however, confident the near­ turn Barabati into a pressure ly 38,000 fans, for an inter­ cooker. national match here after Having ‘been there, done two years, will not be that’, the Indians know their disappointed. job well. The teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (Capt.), Rohit High­stakes players Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Rishabh “Even the last match was a Pant (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Man­ do­or­die (affair) for us with ish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, the series on the line. We will Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Ja­ deja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra play with a similar mindset. Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mo­ When the stakes are high, I hammed Shami, Shardul Thakur feel all the players pull up the Toughening up: The West Indies will have to produce a better all­round show to break India’s Form is temporary: India captain Virat Kohli will be looking to put behind him the poor run in and Navdeep Saini. socks, put up their hands,” hegemony at home. * K. R. DEEPAK this series in the decider on Sunday. * K.R. DEEPAK West Indies: Kieron Pollard said middle­order batsman (Capt.), Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope Shreyas Iyer, designated to the Indians are ready for the However bad the circum­ ‘Men in Maroon’. Pacer Mohammed Shami come up with a sound all­ myer and Kieron Pollard and (wk), Khary Pierre, Roston speak for the team here on challenge, though. stances would be, we are rea­ Captain Kohli’s form in and hat­trick man Kuldeep round performance to get a effective bowlers like Shel­ Chase, Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Saturday. “I think it's going to be dy for it,” said Shreyas. this series — he has scored 4 Yadav will be keen to conti­ first series win over the Men don Cottrell and Keemo Paul Cottrell, Brandon King, Shimron Nearly the whole squad — really fast in the second in­ and 0 — and track record on nue their good work as India in Blue since 2006. in its ranks, West Indies has Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Evin barring Rohit Sharma, Yuz­ nings and the dew plays a Belligerence this ground — a total of 34 hopes to win its 10th straight The Visakhapatnam the wherewithal to stop India Lewis, Romario Shepherd, Ja­ son Holder, Keemo Paul and vendra Chahal, Mohammed massive role. We have played Rohit and Rahul’s top­order runs in three ODIs and one bilateral series over Windies. match slipped out of the visi­ at home, a feat not achieved Hayden Walsh Jr. Shami and K.L. Rahul — turn­ here before, against Sri Lan­ belligerence and Shreyas and T20I — may not be great, but Navdeep Saini, who re­ tors’ hands in the death ov­ since 2002­03. Umpires: Shaun George and Ni­ ing up for an optional prac­ ka, and in the evening there Rishabh Pant’s follow­up act the champion batsman, who placed Deepak Chahar, will ers as the Indians’ fiery stro­ The Caribbeans must im­ tin Menon; TV Umpire: Rod tice session on Saturday was dew in the outfield. The have helped India. spent considerable time in hope to make his ODI debut. keplay made possible a stiff prove their fielding, especial­ Tucker; Fourth umpire: Anil spoke of the hosts’ intent. fielding coach literally made It will assume importance the nets on Saturday, has the So far, the West Indians target. ly catching, to complement Choudhary; Match Referee: Da­ The dew factor comes into it wet and we took catches. again as the Virat Kohli­led ability to break the shackles have given a good account of With dangerous batsmen the other two departments vid Boon. play here as early as 5 p.m., So we are actually prepared. side will look to out­bat the any time. themselves and will need to like Shai Hope, Shimron Het­ of the game. Match starts at 1.30 p.m. Shreyas — the team man Team­building is primary Super excited to join CSK: Curran Ready to bat according to the demands of the situation concern: Simmons ‘Great opportunity to pick the brains of Dhoni and Fleming’

Y.B. Sarangi Special Correspondent “It has been a great effort Press Trust of India CUTTACK CUTTACK from them because it is a Chennai With experience, Shreyas West Indies coach Phil Sim­ case of different environ­ England all­rounder Sam Iyer is maturing into a res­ mons said his team’s focus in ment, different pitches, you Curran is looking at his entry ponsible middle­order bat­ the match here on Sunday have to bowl differently,” he into the Chennai Super sman and his knocks of 70 would be on the team­build­ said. Kings setup as an “oppor­ and 53 against the West In­ ing process that has been set tunity to pick the brains” of dies in the ongoing ODI se­ in motion. Million­dollar buy seasoned captain Mahendra ries bear witness to that. “We are trying to build so­ Simmons was happy for Singh Dhoni and coach Ste­ On the eve of the third mething, and the match to­ Sheldon Cottrell, who was phen Fleming. and final ODI between the morrow does not influence bought by IPL side Kings XI The 21­year­old Curran two countries at the Barabati the direction in which we Punjab for ₹8.5 crore. was the most expensive En­ Stadium here, the 25­year­ are going. All the guys know “Definitely, it will be life­ glish player in the IPL auc­ old Mumbai batsman said he even though we play our changing for anyone, be­ tion at ₹5.5 crore, bought af­ was enjoying his new role. best, we may not win,” said cause he is getting a million ter an intense bidding war Simmons on Saturday. dollars. But, I don’t think it between Chennai Super Realisation Cool head: Shreyas Iyer says he has shed his flamboyance in Simmons praised the cur­ is career­changing, because Kings and Delhi Capitals. “I think that (restraint) the interests of the team. * BISWARANJAN ROUT rent batch of West Indian he knows where he is at with “Can’t wait to come to comes with maturity and pacers, who were trying to the West Indies in white­ball Chennai and meet all my responsibility. I was a flam­ match,” he said. positives in the former Aus­ adapt to different situations. cricket,” said Simmons. new teammates, playing un­ boyant player when I started Shreyas is ready to bat at tralia skipper’s approach. der M.S. Dhoni our captain playing First Class cricket. I any position. “I batted at No. and our coach Stephen used to just back my in­ 5 in the previous ODI. I'm Points from Ponting Fleming. It’s obviously going stincts and go with the flow. flexible that way. It's just that “Ponting is a very positive to be a great opportunity for Looking ahead: Sam Curran was bought by Super Kings after “Lately, I have realised you got to play according to guy. He backs every player me to pick their brains and, an intense bidding war with Delhi Capitals. * REUTERS that when you play at the the situation and what the and that's the best quality hopefully, we can bring the highest level, you have to team demands. I know that I about him. He treats every­ trophy home to Chennai,” to turn out for three­time home fans in Chennai. I felt play according to what the can play in both flows.” body equally, so he's got an Curran said in a video winner CSK. some amazing things, I was team demands. And that's Asked whether he had amazing nature as coach and uploaded by his new “Super excited to be join­ lucky enough to play last what I did the other day. picked up any good habits his man management skill is franchise. ing the Chennai Super Kings year against Chennai, and to “The team didn't expect from Ricky Ponting, the Del­ outstanding.” Curran had a fairly suc­ for next season of IPL. A play in front of the home me to play big shots at that hi Capitals captain said even Shreyas added India cap­ cessful stint at Kings XI Pun­ massive thank you to the fans this year is going to be time; we needed a big part­ though the Indian Premier tain Virat Kohli’s form in the Morale-booster: Sheldon Cottrell, seen with Keemo Paul, jab in the last edition, in­ coach, management staff. really special. Hopefully, we nership. I'm really happy League was a different for­ series was not a concern at left, will be on a high given the price he commanded at the cluding a hat­trick. “Just want to say I can’t can put in some great perfor­ about what I did in the first mat he had noticed a few all. IPL auction. * K.R. DEEPAK He is now looking forward wait to play in front of the mances for the fans.”

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Abid, Masood on song Everton, Arsenal play out a dull draw The legend is here! Barcelona and Leipzig top their leagues for Christmas EURO LEAGUES morning of the match, 24 brief Spanish winter break behind to claim a 3­1 home hours after Arteta left his on top of La Liga after a glit­ win against Augsburg on Sa­ Agence France-Presse role as Manchester City as­ tering show from Lionel turday. Liverpool sistant coach to take charge Messi helped the defending The results: Premier League: Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Ar­ of Arsenal. champion beat Alaves 4­1 on Everton 0 drew with Arsenal 0; teta got a glimpse of the pro­ A point leaves Arsenal 11th Saturday. Aston Villa 1 (Grealish 75) lost blems that lie ahead in their while Everton moves up to Real Madrid can draw le­ to Southampton 3 (Ings 21, 51, new jobs as they watched 15th, but only four points vel top on 39 points but be­ Stephens 31); Bournemouth 0 lost to Burnley 1 (Rodriguez Everton and Arsenal share a clear of the relegation zone. hind on goal difference if it 89); Brighton 0 lost to Shef­ dreadful 0­0 draw, while Despite having two goals wins at home to Atletico Bil­ field United 1 (McBurnie 23); Southampton beat Aston Vil­ ruled out after VAR reviews, bao on Sunday. Seville is as­ Newcastle 1 (Almiron 83) bt la 3­1 in Saturday’s Premier Sheffield United climbed to sured third place over Crystal Palace 0. League relegation within one point of the top Christmas on 34 points after La Liga: Mallorca 0 lost to Se­ Two to tango: Abid Ali, right, and Shan Masood put on 278 showdown. four as Oli McBurnie’s 23rd its 2­0 win in Mallorca. villa 2 (Silva 20, Banega 63­ for the opening wicket. * AFP Former Napoli boss Ance­ minute strike clinched a 1­0 RB Leipzig will go into the pen); Barcelona 4 (Griezmann lotti was confirmed as Ever­ win at Brighton. Bundesliga winter break in 14, Vidal 45, Messi 69, Suarez SL IN PAKISTAN score two centuries in his ton’s new manager on the Barcelona goes into the first place after coming from 75­pen) bt Alaves 1 (Pons 56). first two Tests. Serie A: Udinese 2 (De Paul 39, Agence France-Presse At stumps on the third Fofana 85) bt Cagliari 1 (Joao Karachi day, Pakistan was in a strong Pedro 84). Abid Ali and Shan Masood position at 395 for two, hav­ Bundesliga: Cologne 1 (Cordo­ ba 39) bt Werder Bremen 0; became only the third open­ ing an overall lead of 315 af­ Mainz 0 lost to Bayer Leverku­ ing pair for Pakistan to hit ter conceding an 80­run sen 1 (Alario 90+3); Schalke 2 centuries in the same in­ lead in the first innings. (Serdar 27, Kutucu 80) bt Frei­ nings as Pakistan turned the Pakistan added 338 runs burg 2 (Petersen 54­pen, Grifo tables on Sri Lanka in the se­ after resuming at 57 for no 67­pen); Bayern Munich 2 (Zirk­ cond Test on Saturday. loss on a National stadium zee 86, Gnabry 89) bt Wolfs­ Abid hit 174 for his second pitch which dried up to help burg 0; RB Leipzig 3 (Laimer hundred in as many Tests — batting. Masood blasted 135, 68, Schick 80, Poulsen 89) bt becoming the first Pakistan his second century in his Augsburg 1 (Niederlechner 8). and ninth batsmen overall to 19th Test. Friday: La Liga: Eibar 3 (Enrich 21, Kike 26, Inui 87) bt Granada SCOREBOARD 0. Serie A: Fiorentina 1 (Badelj 34) Pakistan — 1st innings: 191. w­2): 7; Total (for two wkts. in lost to Roma 4 (Dzeko 19, Kola­ Sri Lanka — 1st innings: 271. 103 overs): 395. rov 21, Pellegrini 73, Zaniolo Pakistan — 2nd innings: Shan Fall of wickets: 1­278, 2­355. 88). Masood c Oshada b Kumara 135, Sri Lanka bowling: Fernando Bundesliga: Hoffenheim 2 Grand opening: Athletics superstar Usain Bolt at the Abid Ali lbw b Kumara 174, Az­ 21­2­84­0, Kumara 22­5­88­2, (Adamyan 79, Kramaric 87) bt inauguration of the National Stadium, venue for the har Ali (batting) 57, Babar Azam Embuldeniya 36­2­136­0, Pere­ Borussia Dortmund 1 (Gotze upcoming 2020 Olympics, in Tokyo on Saturday. * AFP (batting) 22; Extras: (lb­5, ra 17­1­63­0, de Silva 7­0­19­0. Spectacular: Arturo Vidal, who scored Barcelona’s second, goes aerial. * GETTY IMAGES 17). CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CM A ND-NDE YK EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU 18 SPORT SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

TV PICKS Madras HC allows BFI picks NBA: Sony Ten 1 (SD & HD), 7 Banthia guides Crusaders home a.m. Nikhat as Pakistan vs Sri Lanka : 2nd AICF meeting Test, Sony ESPN (SD & HD), Supersmashers defeat Avengers in the other match of the day fourth boxer 10.30 a.m. India vs West Indies : 3rd Court dismisses president Raja’s plea PRO TENNIS LEAGUE wat. Earlier, Daria Mishina of for trials ODI, Star Sports 1 (SD & HD), Russia had won her singles in 1.30 p.m. ed.” the tie­break against Riya EXCLUSIVE Special Correspondent I­League: D Sport, 2 p.m. Kamesh Srinivasan Though a setback for Ra­ NEW DELHI Bhatia, after Ashish Sinha CUTTACK Serie A : Sony Ten 2 (SD & RAKESH RAO ja, the order also brought had lost the opening match HD), 5 p.m., 7.30 p.m., & 1.30 Young Siddhant Banthia was NEW DELHI some cheer to his camp. The Boxing Federation of a.m. (Monday) to Nishant Dabas. able to establish his strong The Central Council meet­ The court allowed the meet­ India (BFI) on Saturday se­ Premier League: SS Select 1 Mishina also won her game against some of the ing of the crisis­ridden All ing on certain conditions. It lected Nikhat Zareen as the (SD & HD), 7.30 p.m. & 10 mixed doubles 6­1 with Ar­ best players in the country as India Chess Federation ruled that, “Agenda item No. fourth boxer for the wo­ p.m. jun, against Riya and Niki, ISL: Star Sports 2 (SD & HD), he guided DMG Delhi Cru­ (AICF) will be held, as noti­ 4 namely, the Bengal Chess men's 51kg selection trials which paved the way for a 7.30 p.m. saders to a 29­25 victory over fied, on Sunday after the Ma­ Association Affairs in res­ for the Olympics qualifier. comprehensive 29­21 victory Bundesliga: SS Select 2 (SD Haryana Sapphires in the Pro dras High Court dismissed a pect of which discussions There was speculation for Proveri Supersmashers & HD), 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Tennis League here on plea from AICF president may take place, but no deci­ regarding the selection of against ARA Avengers. Saturday. P.R. Venketrama Raja seek­ sion should be recorded. the fourth boxer after Nik­ Banthia and Ramkumar IN BRIEF The 19­year­old Banthia, ing an ad­interim injunction “As regards all other hat expressed concerns ov­ were adjudged the ‘best who has played the junior restraining secretary Bharat items on the agenda, the de­ er the process of trials to be players’ of the two ties. Grand Slams, impressed with Singh Chauhan from con­ cision or resolutions at such held in Delhi on December The results (league): DMG Del­ his keen anticipation, quick vening the meeting. meeting shall not be imple­ 27 and 28. hi Crusaders bt Haryana Sap­ According to the BFI movement and dynamic vol­ phires 29­25 (Kabir Hans bt Ud­ As things stand, the mented until further rules, World champion­ leying as he stood out in two dayvir Singh 6­3; Mahak Jain fourth Central Council notice.” doubles matches that tilted lost to Sowjanya Bavisetti 3­6; meeting of the year, as stipu­ The court listed the mat­ ships participant, finalist in the balance in favour of the Mahak & Siddhant Banthia bt lated by the AICF constitu­ ter for further hearing on Ja­ National championships Delhi team. Sowjanya & Jeevan Nedunchez­ tion, will be held at Hotel nuary 3, 2020. In this case, and another boxer selected Banthia combined remar­ hiyan 6­4; Dalwinder Singh lost Bristol at 11 a.m. at Guru­ the AICF president has by the selectors and coach­ kably well with the gutsy Ma­ to Vijay Sundar Prashanth 2­6; gram on Sunday. named the secretary as the es will participate in the Dalwinder & Banthia bt Vijay trials for each Olympics hak Jain to win the mixed The court also dismissed first respondent and AICF as Sundar & Jeevan 6­5(4); Tushar weight. doubles match 6­4 against Raja’s plea to disallow “such the second respondent. Jagota & Ajay Malik bt Arjun The boxers for trials: Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Uppal & Garvit Gupta 6­1). an invalid meeting.” Meanwhile, the Bengal Porzingis leads Mavericks’ 51kg: M.C. Mary Kom, Jyoti Sowjanya Bavisetti. Chess Association matter, rout of 76ers Proveri Supersmashers bt ARA Gulia, Ritu Grewal and Nikhat Avengers 29­21 (Ashish Sinha Belatedly filed pertaining to alleged finan­ WASHINGTON That’s the way! Siddhant Banthia and Mahak Jain turned the Zareen. A thriller lost to Nishant Dabas 2­6; Daria cial irregularities, forms the Injury­hit Dallas, powered by tide in favour of Delhi Crusaders against It observed that the “con­ 57kg: Sonia, Sakshi, Manisha, Mishina bt Riya Bhatia 6­5(5); Kristaps Porzingis, routed Later, he combined with Dal­ Haryana Sapphires. * KAMESH SRINIVASAN tention that the applicant agenda of the General Body Sonia Lather. Mishina & Arjun Kadhe bt Riya Philadelphia 76ers 117­98 in winder Singh to survive a has filed this application be­ Meeting scheduled on De­ Bhatia & Niki Poonacha 6­1; 60kg: L. Sarita Devi, Simranjit the NBA on Friday. Latvian couple of match points jun Uppal and Garvit Gupta Ramkumar Ramanathan was latedly and, in fact, only two cember 28 in Bhopal. Kaur, Pavitra and Sashi against Jeevan and Vijay Sun­ Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sid­ forward Porzingis scored 22 6­1 to put Delhi in a strong in robust form as he blanked harth Rawat 6­0; Ramkumar & days before the meeting is It may be recalled that the Chopra. dar Prashanth to clinch a points and grabbed a career­ position. Sidharth Rawat in singles Arjun bt Niki & Sidharth 6­3; true,” and ruled, “In these Urgent General Body Meet­ 69kg: Lovlina Borgohain, Lal­ high 18 rebounds. thriller in the tie­break. and won the doubles 6­3 with Ashish Khanna & Karan Srivas­ facts and circumstances, I ing held on December 14 in ita, Meena Rani, Anjali. Important results: Indiana Thereafter, Tushar Jagota Ramkumar in good form Arjun Kadhe, against Niki tav lost to Saurabh Singh & am of the view that the said Chennai, scheduled the 75kg: Pooja Rani, Saweety Pacers 119 bt Sacramento and Ajay Malik outplayed Ar­ In the other match of the day, Poonacha and Sidharth Ra­ Suvrat Mall 3­6). meeting may be proceed­ election for February 10. Boora, Nupur, K.A. Indraja. Kings 105; Boston Celtics 114 bt Detroit Pistons 93; Toronto Raptors 122 bt Washington Wizards 118. AFP Prince Valiant has the edge Flying Gill back in charge Railways women begin in style HYDERABAD: Prince Valiant has 59, 3. Reno Star (3) Ahshay Kumar SPEAKER’S CUP (1,600m), 3­ an edge over his rivals in the 58, 4. Platinum Claasz (1) Aneel 6 y­o & over, rated 60 to 85 (Cat. Championship leader Shivram suffers a crash in opening stage LUDHIANA Speaker’s Cup (1,600m), the fea­ 55.5, 5. Flamboyant Lady (2) Na­ II), 3.45: 1. Ashwa Bahula (1) I. Railways opened its defence ture event of the races to be held khat Singh 55, 6. Explosive (5) Chisty 60, 2. Mark My Word (12) Adventure. “I drove flat out of the women’s title with a here on Sunday (Dec. 22). Jitendra Singh 54.5, 7. Flag Of Nakhat Singh 58.5, 3. Nayadeep POPULAR RALLY after that and we got back 141­51 victory over SOLITAIRE PLATE (1,200m), Honour (8) I. Chisty 54.5 and 8. (4) Irvan Singh 58.5, 4. Yanga (7) maiden 2­y­o colt & geldings Raajneeti (6) Irvan Singh 54.5. B.R. Kumar 57.5, 5. Doroteo (6) Stan Rayan our 50­sec lead in only two Maharashtra in the 70th 1 1. GALLOPING GANGSTER, 2. only (Cat. II), (Terms), 1.10 p.m.: 1. Koushik 56, 6. Durango (11) Aneel KOTTAYAM FLAMBOYANT LADY, 3. MIDNIGHT stages. I knew that either I’m National basketball Chuckit (7) Rafique Sk. 55, 2. 55, 7. Mr. Baahubali (2) Kuldeep DREAM going to be first or I’m not championship. Coastal Storm (1) Kuldeep Singh Singh 55, 8. Havelock Cruise (8) He had a massive 24­point Akshay Kumar 53.5, 9. Prince The results: Men: Services 82 55, 3. Kapell Bruke (6) Akshay Ku­ SARDAR MOHAN SINGH lead over his nearest challen­ going to finish. I had nothing mar 55, 4. Lightning Pearl (8) BAGGA MEMORIAL CUP (Div. Valiant (10) Ajeeth Kumar 53,10. (Joginder Singh 32, Nikhil 4 Shaquille (3) A.A. Vikrant 53, 11. ger and Chetan Shivram to lose, so we thought might Ajeeth Kumar 55, 5. One For All I), (1,400m), 3­y­o & over, rated as well give it a push.” Kumar 18) bt Kerala 70 (Sejin (2) Ajit Singh 55, 6. Shanu Shanu 40 to 65 (Cat. II), 2.45: 1. Marinetti Seven Eleven (9) Gopal Singh 52.5 could almost feel the nation­ Mathew 19, Basil Philip 18, (4) Aneel 55, 7. Team Player (5) (6) Akshay Kumar 60, 2. Miss and 12. Exclusive Blue (5) Ashhad al championship trophy that Gill felt the opening stage Asbar 51. Sugeethnath 11). Nakhat Singh 55 and 8. Whiskey Marvellous (8) Afroz Khan 58, 3. appeared to be his. But the at Pinnakanad, which took Women: Kerala 74 (P.S. Jeena Martini (3) Rohit Kumar 55. Blazer (7) Ashhad Asbar 57, 4. 1. PRINCE VALIANT, 2. HAVELOCK Ayur Shakti (2) Irvan Singh 53.5, CRUISE, 3. EXCLUSIVE BLUE season’s overall leader had a off three cars, was the tough­ 32, P.G. Anjana 16, Stephy 1. KAPELL BRUKE, 2. LIGHTNING PEARL, 3. TEAM PLAYER 5. Sporting Smile (3) Jitendra horrible day in the 25th Pop­ est and his car was often Nixon 13) bt Karnataka 56 OLYMPIC FLAME PLATE (Div. Singh 53.5, 6. Angel Tesoro (4) ular Rally, the Champions jumping and flying in the air. (Varsha 18, Vinaya 12). OLYMPIC FLAME PLATE (Div. B.R. Kumar 52.5, 7. Royal Dynam­ 7 I), (1,100m), 3­y­o & over, rated Pulling through: Gill bounced back strongly. II), (1,100m), 3­y­o & over Railways 141 (Sruti Aravind 21, 2 ite (5) Ajit Singh 52.5 and 8. The upto 25 (Cat. III), 4.15: 1. Agilis (1) Yacht Club FMSCI Indian Na­ Gill (29 points from the last rated upto 25 (Cat. III), 1.40: 1. Special One (1) Abhay Singh 52. Surya Prakash 62, 2. Dillon (2) Ro­ tional Rally Championship’s four rounds) has no chance Madhu Kumari 15, R. Ramya Coconut Coast (2) Surya Prakash 1. MARINETTI, 2. MISS MARVEL- hit Kumar 62, 3. Invasion (4) misses the starting line­up issue on the sixth stage. We 14, Poonam Chaturvedi 12) bt 62, 2. Negress Princess (8) Gad­ LOUS, 3. AYUR SHAKTI Koushik 62, 4. Yogya (3) Afroz final round, on Saturday. on Sunday. actually came on neutral all of going past Shivram. dam 62, 3. Vijays Maestro (1) Go­ Khan 62, 5. Vallee Ikon (9) A.A. Maharashtra 51 (Neha Sahu CYNDY PLATE (Div. I), pal Singh 62, 4. Ashwa Yudh Vikrant 61.5, 6. Sun Dancer (8) Shivram, the winner of the way down from the 14). (1,600m), 3­y­o & over, rated Hot contest Vijeta (3) N. Rawal 61.5, 5. Bom­ 5 Akshay Kumar 59.5, 7. Brave Sy­ the last two rounds in Coim­ Stunning drive mountain and literally 20 to 45 (Cat. III), 3.15: 1. Unstop­ bastic (7) Kuldeep Singh 60.5, 6. era (6) Jitendra Singh 58.5, 8. pable (1) Deepak Singh 60, 2. batore and Bengaluru, suf­ Defending national cham­ pushed the car into the ser­ There was a hot contest bet­ Shahbaaz & Zayed out Blazing Speed (6) Rohit Kumar Golden Faraska (5) N. Rawal 57 Maxwell (7) Kuldeep Singh 59, 3. ween Younus Ilyas (Harish 58, 7. Country’s Pet (5) Santosh and 9. Lion Heart (7) G. Naresh fered a massive crash in the pion Gaurav Gill, who was vice. The mechanics did an DOHA Tapatio (3) A.A. Vikrant 58, 4. Raj 58 and 8. Golden Adara (4) 56.5. opening special stage and seventh in the table before awesome job but the delay Gowda) and Dr. Bikku Babu India’s Shahbaaz Khan and Afroz Khan 50. Sterling King (10) G. Naresh 57, 5. (Milen George) behind Gill Mousa Shanan Zayed of Qatar Original Temptress (9) Koushik 1. BRAVE SYERA, 2. SUN DANCER, could not complete even one this rally — came up with a for being late out of service 1. COCONUT COAST, 2. BLAZING 3. AGILIS and the two took the second lost 7­5, 6­4 to second seeds SPEED, 3. NEGRESS PRINCESS 56, 6. Barbosella (2) Surya of the day’s eight stages. But stunning drive despite losing brought us a 50­second pe­ Prakash 55.5, 7. Red River (8) Day’s best: MARINETTI if the season’s last four much time with gearbox pro­ nalty and we were were trail­ and third spots at the end of Daniel Kossek and Maciej SARDAR MOHAN SINGH Jitendra Singh 54.5, 8. Halo’s Prin­ GALLOPING GANGSTER - BAGGA MEMORIAL CUP (Div. cess (4) Gaddam 53.5, 9. Dazzling Double: rounds are any indication, blems to race to the lead af­ ing by 43 seconds over our the opening day. Smola of Poland in the 3 PRINCE VALIANT doubles quarterfinals of the II), (1,400m), 3­y­o & over, rated King (5) Akshay Kumar 53 and 10. Shivram could still walk ter the opening day in the next driver,” said Gill (navi­ Amritrajit Ghosh (Ashwin 40 to 65 (Cat. II), 2.15: 1. Midnight Jo Malone (6) Afroz Khan 53. Jkt: 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7; Mini Jkt: 4, 5, 6 & $15,000 ITF men’s Futures Dream (4) Rohit Kumar 60, 2. Gal­ 1. BARBOSELLA, 2. UNSTOPPABLE, 7; Tr (i): 2, 3 & 4; (ii): 5, 6 & 7; Tla: away with a good finish in two­day rally. gator Musa Sherif), who was Naik) dropped out midway tennis tournament here. loping Gangster (7) Ashhad Asbar 3. JO MALONE all races. the final standings even if he “We had a major gearbox driving for Team Mahindra with power steering issues. Krishna comes to ATK’s rescue Jeremy Lalrinnunga on a Double for Bandhvi

His equaliser in the final minute breaks Hyderabad hearts sPORTS bUREAU of a bunch of good shooters record-breaking spree BHOPAL like Sunidhi Chauhan, Host Madhya Pradesh had a Gaayathri Nithyanandam, Press Trust of India snatch, clean and jerk and lot to cheer as Bandhvi Kuheli Gangulee and K.C. Doha total lift with an effort of Singh won the women’s and Hema. Youth Olympic gold medal­ 306kg (140 + 166) to win the junior gold medals for the Former World champion list weightlifter Jeremy Lal­ silver on Friday night. State in 50m rifle prone in in the event Tejaswini Sa­ rinnunga went on a record­ This year, Jeremy has bro­ the 63rd National shooting want placed 15th with 614.8. breaking spree, claiming ken 27 records, all under his championship on Saturday. The results: three world marks in a re­ name, combining National Bandhvi shot 620.0 and 50m rifle prone: Women: 1. markable performance, on and international marks. beat Nischal by 1.5 points for Bandhvi Singh 620.0; 2. Nis­ the way to a silver in the He smashed 12 interna­ both the medals in the non­ chal 618.5; 3. Anjum Moudgil men’s 67kg category at the tional records: three youth Olympic event, which does 618.2. Team: 1. Gujarat 1846.7; 2. Punjab 1841.9; 3. Tamil Nadu 6th Qatar International Cup World, three youth Asian not feature a final. 1838.8. here. and six Commonwealth re­ Anjum Moudgil, who had Juniors: 1. Bandhvi 620.0; 2. In a power­packed perfor­ cords; and 15 National re­ won all the women’s rifle in­ Nischal 618.5; 3. Shirin Godara mance, the 17­year­old cords: five youth National, dividual golds in the last edi­ 616.4. Team: 1. Haryana smashed his own Youth five junior National and five Jeremy Lalrinnunga. tion in Thiruvananthapu­ 1845.8; 2. Punjab 1829.6; 3. World and Asian record in senior National. * FILE PHOTO ram, won the bronze ahead Maharashtra 1825.2. Neroca rallies to share honours with Chennai City FC

Drilling home: Roy Krishna scores ATK’s opener. * K.V.S. GIRI Khaiminthang and Siaka cancel out Katsumi and Shereef’s strikes ISL better football as the speedy scored off a header, thanks I-LEAGUE toes. However, the CCFC instrumental in the goal, Krishna and forward Jobby to a lovely Marcelinho pass strikers failed to find the tar­ sending a precise cross from V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM Justin worked in tandem on from the left­flank to give Rayan Rozario get despite their best efforts. the left. HYDERABAD the right flank with solid Hyderabad what looked like Coimbatore When the home team fi­ Just when it looked like Roy Krishna’s strike in the support from Javier. a match­winning lead. Neroca FC held defending nally managed to find the the hosts will go into the 90th minute denied Hydera­ However, New Zealander champion Chennai City FC breakthrough, it went on to break with a 2­0 cushion bad FC full points and Bobo strikes Krishna showed fine oppor­ to a 2­2 draw in the Hero I­ score two goals in the space came Neroca’s goal through helped ATK share the ho­ However, Hyderabad FC tunism when he sprinted league clash at the Nehru of seven minutes and it was Khaiminthang Lhungdim in nours after a 2­2 draw in fought back in the 39th mi­ down the centre and, seeing Stadium here on Saturday. midfielder Katsumi Yusa the dying seconds of injury their Hero­ISL contest here nute. Nestor Gordillo, play­ Hyderabad custodian and CCFC coach Akbar Nawas who put the team ahead in time. on Saturday. ing his first match of the sea­ captain Kamaljit Singh had said the other day that the 25th minute. The second session fol­ In the first half, a domi­ son after coming back from charge towards him, the team needs to attack The Japanese star, who lowed a similar pattern with nant ATK took the lead in the suspension, was the archi­ chipped the ball over. more and defend better. The played for the visiting side CCFC calling the shots initial­ 15th minute when Krishna tect. It deflected off the hori­ absence of key players from last season, took the Neroca ly but Neroca pulling level converted a spot kick. Gordillo’s curling left­foo­ zontal and bounced into the Spain did not affect the defence by surprise with a through Boubacar Siaka’s pe­ The penalty was strongly ter was anticipated well by goal much to the delight of host’s game plan. CCFC en­ brilliant run. However, he nalty in the 64th minute. disputed by the hosts Bobo, who timed his leap to ATK fans. joyed better ball possession was brought down inside the CCFC could have sealed though the referee decided perfection and beat the two Unfortunately, all the ag­ and were on the prowl most box. The referee quickly the match in its favour had that the ball had deflected closely marking defenders gression the home team of the time. pointed to the spot and Kat­ substitute Ranjeet Singh not off defender Ashish Rai’s Salam Singh and captain Pri­ showed in the second ses­ sumi made no mistake. messed up a chance in front hands. However, TV replays tap Kotal to slot home. sion came to nought due to The provider of the goalmouth. suggested that it had gone The goal drew a cheer the enterprising Krishna. Skipper and Spaniard Rober­ Heading home The result: Chennai City FC 2 off the player’s chest when from the home fans as the The result: to Eslava came up with some Striker Mashoor Shereef’s (Katsumi Yusa 25, Mashoor he tackled the advancing teams went into the break Hyderabad FC 2 (Bobo 39 & defence­splitting passes superb header made it 2­0 Shereef 32) drew with Neroca midfielder Francisco Javier. 1­1. 85) drew with ATK 2 (Roy from the back, keeping the for CCFC in the 32nd minute. FC 2 (Khaiminthang 45+3, Bou­ The architect: Mashoor Shereef, who was in the thick of things It was ATK which played In the 85th minute, Bobo Krishna 15­pen & 90). Neroca defenders on their It was Jockson Dhas who was bacar Siaka 64). for CCFC, went on to score off a header. * S. SIVA SARAVANAN

CM A ND-NDE YK DELHI

Sunday, December 22, 2019

SPOTLIGHT WIDE ANGLE 60 MINUTES LITERARY REVIEW Exactly 100 years The Paithani sari, Meet author Sanam Going by book ago, Tagore planted originally woven Maher who pieces releases, Christmas is new seeds of life in from pure silk from together the life and all about love and Santiniketan with a China and spun gold death of Pakistan’s eggnog. Say ‘cheers’ but school of arts, the from India, has seen social media star, don’t forget the shadows Kala Bhavana p5 a revival p6 Qandeel Baloch p12 under the light p7

COVER When they

FRrom AASU in Assam,ISE to IIT-Madras and FTII in Pune, thousands of students across the country march in solidarity with JMI and AMU students and to condemn the Citizenship (Amendment) Act p3

CM ND-X YK 02 DELHI THE HINDU * Magazine OPEN PAGE Sunday, December 22, 2019

FEEDBACK Letters to the Magazine can be e-mailed separately to Rape within marriage [email protected] Cover story India lost its spots (‘How India lost its is nothing but rape spots’, Dec. 15) because of the A recent film treats it as a silly carelessness of humans. mistake by a man, ignoring the Not only cheetahs but trauma that the wife undergoes many other species have Indu Balachandran disappeared. Even today, hunting and reminded of Ernest omething is horribly wrong smuggling of animals has Hemingway’s single­ with a Malayalam film I not ended. sentence ode to watched recently in a S.S.S. Anil humanity, that a man crowded cinema. Though can be destroyed, but my friends and I got only ■ Desertification might can never be defeated. Sfront seats as the show was heavily have also caused the P.Perraju Sarma booked, we consoled ourselves that extinction of cheetahs, it was going to be a good entertainer. since forests and Layered crisis Why else would it be a full house? grasslands were The otherwise brilliant But midway through the film, I felt converted to agricultural piece on the current shaken to the core. Some in the au­ and industrial land, and onion crisis sacrificed its dience, however, were heard prais­ there was indiscriminate charm by the overdose of ing the “romance” between the lead development. saffron allusions. characters and the acting chops of Desertification not only P.R.R. Nayar those essaying the roles. impacts animals but the The story is of a man who rapes entire biodiversity, from Medicinal poetry his wife to prove his manhood and to microscopic animals to The article (‘Verse over get over his diffidence with women. human beings. India the counter’; Dec. 15) The film’s take on such a serious is­ faces a growing crisis of touches on an important sue is disappointing. The issue of land degradation. More aspect of poetry: its marital rape is trivialised when the than 30% of land area ability to heal. Poetry limelight falls on the perpetrator and has been degraded Pharmacy is a novel and his “dilemma”. through deforestation, much­needed concept, over­cultivation, soil particularly with the Flatly ignored erosion and depletion of spike in mental illnesses The victim does not even get much wetlands. today. Regional language screen space or narrative promi­ K.M.K. Murthy publications too should nence. Everyone treats the rape as a take note and reach out silly mistake by a man, arising out of ILLUSTRATION: J.A. PREMKUMAR ■ The cover story was to those who cannot read his unfamiliarity with women. The no guarantee against sexual band. The shots depicting their inti­ togetherness and accepting each well researched. The English. light­hearted way the issue is han­ violence. macy show that they are having a other. Rape within marriage counts citations from various Anusha Pillay dled is highly disturbing. It ignores The film vainly tries to put in an happy, healthy relationship, irres­ as rape, even if not legally. books made it all the the emotional roller­coaster that a element of romance into the rape pective of the traumatic past. And The film which touts itself as a fa­ more credible. It gave ■ I never realised the rape victim undergoes and how narrative by harping on the fact that the film’s title ingeniously refers to mily entertainer should have been new insights into how soothing remedial effect traumatic it must be for her to live in his wife is the first woman he has the wife as the husband’s angel. more careful while treading on such different factors that poems have on us. unfamiliar surroundings with her at­ known and loved, apart from his What better way to placate ag­ sensitive topics. Because cinema is combined can have The poem by W.S. tacker and his close relatives and mother and sisters. It tries to sugar­ grieved wives! not just about stories. It is a powerful devastating Merwin made my day. Marriage is friends. coat the bitter pill for the victim and The film seems to suggest that all medium which could subtly in­ consequences. Fathima A man’s ignorance does not justi­ the audience alike. But it totally ig­ wives need to be the Woolfian “angel fluence and culturally condition pe­ Extinction might not be Anjo C.J. about fy the intense trauma that a wife is nores the emotional scars and mis­ in the house”, forgiving and forget­ ople across generations. limited to just cheetahs if togetherness subjected to. The film suggests that trust that will be present in a real life ting their husbands’ follies, even so­ The film, however, mirrors the at­ we continue to consider An equal music and men need to have sex education to situation. mething as grave as rape. All for the titude of society in general. The ex­ the wild the sole The December Music accepting be gentle with their wives. What it Many people struggle to be in sake of marriage! tent of social and cultural condition­ property of us humans. Festival has been part of each other. fails to remind people is that in pre­ touch with their bodies after a sexual ing was evident in the response of an Jasvi Srivastava Chennai’s culture for venting sexual violence, sensitivity, assault. They find it difficult to con­ acquaintance of mine: “But ma’am, years. But one cannot Rape within It’s still rape love and respect towards one’s nect with the body of another per­ Some may argue that the film simply couldn’t she accept that it was her ■ Now that current deny that caste elitism marriage partner do more good than sex edu­ son. In the film, the victim in ques­ portrays a reality. What they do not husband [who committed the act]?” governments are aware has a strong presence in counts as cation. It should be kept in mind that tion did not even resist on being realise is that the film trivialises and ...... of the importance of Carnatic music. (‘Where rape awareness without mutual respect is touched again by her rapist­hus­ ratifies that reality. Marriage is about [email protected] protecting biodiversity, are Margazhi’s efforts to conserve at millennials?’; Dec. 8) If least the existing big cat music has no language species should be and no caste, should not stepped up. Instead of Carnatic music reach out bringing back the to the masses? It requires Round and roly-poly? cheetah from Iran or a strong effort from Poignant poinsettias, Africa, it would be better musicians, organisers to collate efforts to and sponsors to ensure protect and conserve the that Carnatic music is Make spirits bright existing species. pushed towards an Xmas memory Kosaraju Chandramouli inclusivity. Ranganathan Sivakumar Santa assignments come calling for men with the right ■ The article was very I have never been able to look at these flowers informative but Veg bites physique during the Christmas season regarding the Buddhism lost ground in again without deep sadness and bitter regret reintroduction of the India (‘Why did the Arun Bhatia the child to wait till they were cheetah, the writer Brahmins become Usha Jesudasan I had been busy all morning ome 30 years ago, our club in the car before opening the should have mentioned vegetarian?’; Dec. 8) and I thought I would take them S in Mumbai organised a gift. Now, the girl undid the that India wanted to because of the ability of clutch of red poinsettia pots over to him in the evening or Christmas party for children ribbon, took off the wrapping import cheetahs from Hinduism to assimilate A caught my eye with a splash the next day. I ignored that by the poolside lawn. With paper, opened the box, and Namibia, but the other religious of brilliant colour as I turned nagging feeling which said, my rotund torso and pot bel­ said: “That old man can’t Supreme Court turned it ideologies. Ambedkar’s the corner of my road. I “Why not take them right away. ly, I was the automatic choice read, or he must be knowing down, observing that no embrace of Buddhism stopped for a moment. The All the other things can wait.” to play Santa Claus. our dentist. I had asked for a scientific study had been invigorated the cult plant seller moved towards me That afternoon he had a heart “We won’t need to stuff the box of chocolates… he got me done for that. further. But the with a pot in his hands. As I attack and was gone by the next red flannel costume with pil­ this paint kit instead. Uncle, G. Shaheed Mathrubhumi contention that took it from him, a memory of morning. lows,” an organiser said, pat­ did you see the old man in the Brahmins turned my father carefully placing I have never been able to ting my stomach. “Cute roly­ red suit? Didn’t he look Inspiring dance vegetarian to strengthen dozens of bright red potted look at a poinsettia again poly Santa, be on time at 1 stupid? ‘Dancing in the dark’ Hinduism is poinsettia on the window sills without deep sadness and bitter p.m. We’ll dress you up and Today, in Bengaluru, I still (Photo essay; Dec. 15) unacceptable. The of our English house filled my regret. I wish I had taken them you start your ‘ho ho ho’ and boast the round belly and so, was an awe­inspiring change could be mind. right away and seen the look of jingle bells by the pool...,” he still get the occasional Santa feature. Learning dance attributed to a gradual joy on his face. I learned a very trailed off. handed over the box. assignment. will have an immense evolution in their Red in the greys painful lesson that day. Don’t Each club member was to A cheeky fellow asked: These days I actually feel impact on the lives of the outlook. I was always the first one up, take people you love for bring a gift with his or her “Remember what I wrote stupid having no idea what visually impaired. One is K.R. Unnithan and would come down and granted. There is no guarantee child’s name written on a tag, you? I wanted a choo choo the children are asking for draw the curtains. December they will be here tomorrow. and so 120 gift boxes were train. But you can’t put a when they say a tablet or oth­ skies in Britain where we lived Show your love today. Don’t live stacked up on the table with a whole toy train in this little er such new­fangled things. I were always grey and gloomy. with regret and a heavy heart. rigged­up mike. parcel. Nah! I don’t want it. give my standard answer, “ho But these vividly beautiful Every December, the same In Mumbai, the winter is al­ You keep it.” The mother has­ ho ho”, and feel relieved that flowers would brighten our plant seller brings me a dozen most as hot and humid as at tily took the item and dragged the parents are the ones buy­ home. of these beautiful red other times. So the minute I the brat away. ing the gift. More on the Web I stopped to buy a dozen poinsettias. He remembers the slipped into the flannel cos­ My nephew (then four Once, I played Santa at a thehindu.com/opinion/open-page plants. My brother Ramesh ran day I bought them. tume, I started sweating. The years old) didn’t recognise me prominent five­star hotel and a little garden restaurant close He remembers that my white whiskers of Santa hid in the get­up and I could hear was thus permitted to eat to the Vellore Institute of brother never got to see those the beads of perspiration, but him telling my sister­in­law in anything from the lavish When films objectify women the welts of moisture on the Technology. He would love beautiful plants. I grieve our mother tongue Kutchi Christmas buffet spread. Ex­ If rapes are so rampant in India, part of the blame these, I thought, and they silently, sometimes tearfully red flannels were visible along that Santa had invited him to cept that they made this offer would remind him of home and with him. This old man with the my shoulders and forearms. I goes to Bollywood and other film industries his house. after my make­up was done. Parnab Dhar dad. Besides they would look gnarled gardener’s hands is the was sweating rivers. Playing along, she said: Ever tried eating anything very pretty among the tables in only one who knows how I feel Ho ho ho “Yes we will go to Santa’s through white hair stuck with his restaurant. during Christmas. A stuffy Santa emerged from house.” The boy asked, “Are smelly glue across your lips A ‘mannbaudhu’ girl I lined up the pots and a ...... the dressing room ringing the we going to the North Pole?” and chin? Take it from me, it It’s not an encouraging label for a girl who dares to small Christmas tree and some [email protected] bell and going “ho ho ho” as I had to handle 120 diffe­ can’t be done. I had to forgo put forth her opinions and argues for her rights beautiful paper stars. I knew the children yelled and rent situations, and back in the feast. Rewati Karan that this gesture from his cheered him by the pool. the dressing room, getting out There were no children sister would please him I would call “Chunnu Chat­ of the stuffy costume, with a partaking of the goodies at Break the gilded cage enormously. terjee” or “Munnu Mer­ tall, iced lemonade in hand, I that expensive venue. So I had We forget that the prime motive of being born is to chant”, and the parents was glad that it was over. to hand out the toys and lolli­ enjoy life, and not sit idle wondering about ‘what ifs’ would direct Chunnu and I was wrong. It wasn’t over pops from my sack to rich, old Harsha Mishra Munnu to receive the gifts yet. My young neighbour with ladies visiting from the U.S. from me. her seven­year­old daughter and Australia. “Have you Through eyes misty with was riding home with me. been a good girl and well be­ This page consists of reader submissions. Contributions of up to a perspiration, I watched the The mother had convinced haved all year,” I asked. Their length of 700 words may be e-mailed to [email protected]. children’s expressions: Chun­ giggles were my reward. Please provide a postal address and a brief background of the writer. nu was familiar with the con­ Since Bengaluru is much The mail must certify that it is original writing, exclusive to this page. The Hindu views plagiarism as a serious offence. Given the large cept of Father Christmas, These days, I actually feel cooler than Mumbai, I didn’t volume of submissions, we regret that we are unable to acknowledge while Munnu, scared stiff at sweat in the red suit either. receipt or entertain queries about submissions. If a piece is not the sight of a huge white­ stupid having absolutely Merry Christmas! published for eight weeks please consider that it is not being used. bearded red giant, burst into no idea what the children ...... The publication of a piece on this page is not to be considered an endorsement by The Hindu of the views contained therein. tears as I went “ho ho ho” and are asking for [email protected]

CM ND-X YK THE HINDU * Magazine DELHI 03 Sunday, December 22, 2019 COVER STORY

YEAR OF THE STUDENT Beaten, never BROKEN Overturned chairs, abandoned rucksacks, abandoned textbooks. This is the reading room at JMI. But students have risen across the country to denounce police violence and demand a rollback of the CAA

G. Sampath protesters, is a JMI alumnus, class are deserted. At the doorway, the of 2018. He works at Barclays. flower pots, smashed to pieces, n the afternoon of “What are you doing here?” I ask have spilled their muddy entrails Tuesday, December him. “Don’t you have to go to on the floor. Amid the jagged piec­ 17, two days after the work?” He shakes his head. “I was es of terracotta, shards of metal, a police invasion that born and brought up in India. I ha­ broken lathi, and someone’s ID galavanised students ven’t come here from Pakistan or card, and beside a glass panel com­ Oacross India to hit the streets, prot­ Afghanistan. Why should I prove pletely missing the glass, lies a torn ests are in full swing outside the that I am an Indian? If I am not able placard that pleads in capital let­ gates of Jamia Millia Islamia ( JMI) to prove it, I will lose my citizen­ ters, ‘SAY NO TO VIOLENCE’. in New Delhi. It is a disciplined ship. But members of every other Another one, a few feet away, says, protest. Student volunteers sta­ community except Muslims will ‘No Stone­Pelting’. Clearly, some­ tioned every dozen metres or so get citizenship through the Citizen­ body, or something, has had a vio­ keep the protesters on one side of ship (Amendment) Act. They are lent disagreement right here with the road so that traffic is minimally doing this to communalise things.” some advocates of non­violence. In affected. Others distribute bottled But how long can they keep up the main foyer inside, beneath the water. Some help pedestrians navi­ the protest? What if the govern­ gaping holes in the book display, gate the crowd to get to where they ment doesn’t withdraw the CAA? the Prime Minister’s visage, on the want. “I haven’t been to work for a cover of Narendra Modi — A Charis- The Indian flag is everywhere, week,” says Akhtar . “I’ve taken matic & Visionary Statesman, peers waved by students chanting, “We leave to protest. I have informed unsmilingly into the distance. Un­ want justice” and Inquilab Zinda- my manager that I have to fight this der the label ‘New Arrivals’ are bad. The placards express the law, fight for my life.” large, weapon­like pieces of bro­ whole gamut of emotion, from a ken glass. sober ‘No CAA, No NRIC’, to At the crime scene “This library’s main entrance ‘Shame on Delhi Police’, to a pos­ The gates of JMI are all shut and the was closed on Sunday evening,” ter, in the hands of a bespectacled guards won’t let anyone in. It takes says Iqbal Mehndi, 25, the security girl student that simply said, ‘Blind a visit to the Chief Proctor’s office guard on duty. That might explain leaders and blood­feeders’ . The to obtain entry into the campus. Ja­ why the cops had to break in. He demonstrators have two simple mia’s central library, named after gestures toward the reading room. demands: justice for the students the former President of India and “The police threw bricks to break of Jamia and Aligarh Muslim Un­ founder of JMI, Zakir Hussain, will those windows. Then they flung iversity (AMU) who were beaten by turn 100 next year. Forty­eight tear gas shells into the reading the police on Sunday, December hours after it was stormed by poli­ room, entered from different 15; and a rollback of the Citizenship cemen, it resembles a crime scene. For democracy Youth at a protest march in Kochi last week; (top right) a demonstration in Kolkata. * THULASI KAKKAT, REUTERS (Amendment) Act (CAA). It’s only five in the evening, but

Cover photo A student protester shouts slogans against the CAA in Guwahati. * AP Tahir Akhtar, 24, one of the the steps leading to the entrance Continued on Page 4

ND-X 04 DELHI THE HINDU * Magazine CULTURE Sunday, December 22, 2019

Outrage (Clockwise from left) BUFFER ZONE Snapshots from anti-CAA protests at Osmania University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad and in Satire in the age Chennai. * NAGARA GOPAL, AP & AFP of post-truth ice to enter a university campus, the standard operating procedure is to take permission first. “The police In true Orwellian fashion, entered the Jamia campus without permission,” confirms Khan. The nothing and everything is true Delhi Police have maintained that at the same time they entered the campus only to flush out anti­social elements. “If their intent was to catch anti­ he world has gone to sh*t, there’s no way social elements, why did they beat around it. Donald Trump is busy trying to bul­ up the guards?” asks Mehndi. “Most ly a 16­year­old climate change activist with As­ Jamia guards are ex­servicemen. perger’s on Twitter. The U.K. is run by a man They had served the country at the who hides inside refrigerators (literally) to border, in extreme conditions. Did eTvade tough questions from reporters. One Amazon is they deserve to be beaten like this on fire, the other one is laughing all the way to the bank, for doing their assigned duty?” covered in layers of cardboard and bubble wrap, not let­ ting its employees take pee breaks. This is barely eve n Is it vengefulness? the tip. There is a widespread sense that the Closer home, the lovely people in power are locked in police crackdown was dispropor­ a bitter feud with past leaders who died a minimum of 35 tionately violent. “You know, even years ago. During breaks, they put in place aggressiv e for using lathis, there are norms,” policies widely criticised for being unconstitutional, says Shikha Kapoor, Associate Pro­ leading to democratic dissent, which is subsequently fessor in the Department of Adult crushed, followed by predictable dog whistles attacking and Continuing Education and Ex­ “anti­national elements” or, more recently, people’s at­ tension, JMI. “Typically you target tire. As I’m writing this, students at public univers ities the lower half of the body, the legs, across the country are bravely protesting the Citizenship to intimidate crowds into dispersing. (Amendment) Act in the face of aggression and force by Beaten, never... It’s understandable if people get hit the police and little to no support by the political elite. In on the legs. But here, they have blud­ such bleak times, humour can, for many, be a means of geoned students on the head with both relief and resistance. Continued from Page 3 lathis. How do you explain this — is it The time is ripe, one feels, for creating bitter satire . vengefulness or law enforcement? And to spread it far and wide through the Internet (till it sides, and thrashed the students Forget the physical injuries. Can you gets shut down). Except that there’s a slight hitch. with batons,” says Mehndi. imagine the mental trauma these Internet satire is at a bit of a crossroads. The genre it­ The reading room is a vast tangle youngsters must deal with for the self demands a kind of physical immediacy in the viewer of overturned chairs, abandoned rest of their lives?” or reader’s reaction. There’s a constant race to go broad­ rucksacks, abandoned textbooks, Mohammed Mustafa, 26, an M.A. er in tone and comedy, to bring in elements of surre al­ and abandoned stationery. Tables student, has both his hands in plas­ ism, to create punchlines and then reverse­engineer the are stacked haphazardly in one cor­ ter. A native of West Champaran in set­ups for the quickest impact. The shorter the pun­ ner — a failed attempt to erect a bar­ Bihar, he came to Delhi and enrolled chline, the harder the punch lands. ricade against the invaders. A couple in Jamia because he wanted to be­ An issue facing the unique demographic of Internet of broken things look like cameras, come a civil servant. On that fateful satirists is the so­called post­truth nature of public dis­ but have wires sticking out. “CCTV Sunday evening, as he sat in the first course today. In true Orwellian fashion, nothing and eve­ cameras,” explains Mehndi, pointing floor reading room of the old library rything is true at the same time; a thing is both true and to the walls. “They broke as many of building, preparing for the UPSC ex­ untrue together. ‘Fake news’ means news that’s untrue, those as they could.” ams, little did he know that his life but it has also come to mean news that you claim is un­ On a darkened patch of floor near was about to change, thanks to the true but isn’t. one of the windows is a tell­tale rem­ actions of some civil servants. Before this current nant of Sunday’s violence — the melt­ “Around 5.30 p.m., the police wave of absurdity in­ ed shell of a tear smoke grenade. stormed the library. They started tensified over the last The label says it was manufactured beating us mercilessly. I told them I two or three years, at the Tear Smoke Unit (TSU) in Te­ have nothing to do with the protests. American satirical kanpur, Gwalior. These grenades are They wouldn’t listen. I tried to pro­ website The Onion did to be used, the TSU website says, ‘to tect my head with my hands. They an admirable job high­ neutralise agitated crowd in near vi­ hit me so hard that both my hands lighting the path of cinity of police party’. Their advan­ are broken,” he says. A friend lifts descent that modern tages are that they are easy to throw, Mustafa’s shirt to reveal the deep society was on. At its they generate a large volume of welt marks left by the blows on his best, The Onion’s smoke, and ‘the plastic body starts back. work would present melting on throwing and makes it satirical news stories difficult to throw it back’. TSU’s mis­ Not in Jamia alone Fake news that were both believable enough to be real and unbe­ sion, in its own words, is to ‘help Though aggrieved, almost every Ja­ An 1894 lievable enough to be out of this world, spawning a series customers harness the power of Less mia student I speak to makes it a illustration by of pastiches and rip­offs (in India too). than Lethal Munitions to achieve ex­ point to stress that what AMU stu­ Frederick Burr cellency (sic), customer satisfaction dents are going through is far worse. Opper. * WIKI Particularly outlandish and sustainability’. “They were stripped and beaten. COMMONS Except that news stories today, the true ones, are just as Customer satisfaction may have quietly in the library, has lost one Students and faculty of the Indian They were tortured. I can send you silly and unbelievable as those on The Onion. “Not The reached a peak inside the Jamia cam­ eye.” Institute of Management­Bangalore videos and testimonies,” says Ak­ Onion” has become a common refrain, a shorthand com­ pus on December 15. No matter that Meanwhile, students from across wrote an open letter to the Prime Mi­ htar. There is a general sense that ment on a particularly outlandish story. And it’s ge tting Though the inner confines of a library read­ the country have risen overwhelm­ nister, signed by 172 people, about AMU and Jamia were systematically steadily more farcical. Does chow mein cause rape? Does aggrieved, ing room, marked every few metres ingly in solidarity with JMI and AMU the repression of students protesting targeted because they are minority Sanskrit cure diabetes? Did Trump personally tackle IS almost every with signs such as ‘Please don’t dis­ students, to condemn the police vio­ against the Act. institutions. “There were men with leader al­Baghdadi and overpower him? Jamia student turb the sitting arrangement’ is not a lence and to oppose the CAA — from Students of the University of Hyd­ the police who were not in uniform. Does satire really land then? It’s a creative challenge, place one might expect a tear smoke AASU in Assam, to IIT­Madras and erabad were detained on Thursday They were also beating up our stu­ one that is proving hard to navigate. And then there’s makes it a grenade to be used. FTII, Pune. morning as they tried to reach the dents. Who were they?” asks Khan. Poe’s Law, an old Internet law which states that satire or point to The National Law School of India venue of a protest meeting. “The police even barged into a parody can get lost in translation without knowing the stress that Serious injuries University, Bengaluru, condemned reading room meant exclusively for author’s intent; that a winking emoji is a must. That i t what AMU The police’s singular commitment to the CAA and police brutality against In solidarity women students. Some women have can, without a clear indicator like said emoji, be miscon­ students are ‘neutralise’ was such that, according the protests organised by JMI and In Mumbai, over 600 students from complained of molestation,” says strued as being the very thing it’s attempting to attack , to Jamia’s Chief Proctor Waseem Ah­ AMU students. This move, said the Tata Institute of Social Sciences took Raihan Shahid, 25, a student of In­ sometimes wilfully so. What is said in irony or sarc asm going mad Khan, more than 20 students Student Bar Association in a state­ out a rally on Monday. They were ternational Relations at JMI, who can just as easily be misinterpreted as sincerity, which is through is far sustained serious injuries. “By se­ ment issued on Tuesday, “is intend­ joined by faculty. Outside Mumbai was in the library at the time of the why a lot of publications now add tedious disclaimers or worse. ‘They rious injuries, I mean students ed to bring about a chilling effect on University’s Kalina campus, around attack. He shows me around the tags that say “satire” or “fake news” to clear any doubts. were whose hands were shattered, legs freedom of speech and to curb dis­ 200 people, from a coalition of or­ reading room in Ibn Sina Block, All of this, however, pales in comparison to the wea­ stripped and were broken, heads were battered,” sent”. ganisations such as the Social Demo­ which saw the worst of the police ex­ ponising of satire, as is happening today, to put forth tox­ beaten. They he explains. “Some have been admit­ At the Indian Institute of Science, cratic Party of India and the Stu­ cesses. In addition to broken win­ ic and dangerous ideas. Misinformation on the Internet — ted to Alshifa Hospital, some are in Bengaluru, students staged a silent dents Islamic Organisation, gathered dows, broken chairs, and broken deliberate or accidental — is a very real problem, with pe­ were Holy Family Hospital, some in All In­ protest holding placards that said to express solidarity with JMI and cameras, there are bloodstains on ople seeking out news (regardless of validity) to confirm tortured,’ dia Institute of Medical Sciences. An ‘We want democracy, not police Raj,’ AMU students. the staircase, and on the walls. The their own biases, to fortify their own belief system . Bad Akhtar says M.Tech student, who was reading and ‘Defend the right to protest’. Over 100 students of the Indian washbasins in the toilet are filled faith actors make it worse; publications and creators Institute of Technology­Madras, with shards of what used to be mir­ who insidiously advocate regressive, hateful views under gathered and shouted slogans con­ rors. On the floor are balls of crum­ the garb of “satire” — a convenient smokescreen, a fa­ demning police brutality. Students pled tissue soaked in red. çade to promote their propaganda. Twitter accounts of Chennai’s Loyola College too held In the far corner of the reading claiming to be parodies often stoke communal fires, sub­ demonstrations. In Puducherry, room just outside the toilet, under a sequently hiding under principles of free speech, satire, members of the Students’ Council of desk are a pair of fashionable­look­ and humour. Pondicherry University gathered to ing heels. On another desk, an aban­ For little fault of the earnest satirist, then, there is demand the immediate release of doned leather handbag. There are now an even greater responsibility on her to tackle these the detained students. pens, pencils, erasers, and sample dilemmas. To make sure her words are not deliberatel y At Cochin University of Science question papers on several of the misused, especially given how the Internet theoretically and Technology and the Central Un­ desks. Torn pages of a notebook are allows us to reach an infinite audience. Added to that the iversity of Kerala in Kasaragod, stu­ strewn across the floor. I pick one up fabled Indian inability to take a joke as well as th e very dents joined their peers on campus­ at random. The words, in blue cur­ understandable argument that humour can potentially es across the State to support the sive handwriting, are uneven but dilute, trivialise, or normalise grave issues, and there’s a agitating students of JMI. Members clear. “Tell me something about certain fragility to the art form. Satire is meant to be sub­ of the Students’ Federation of India yourself,” reads a question at the top versive, but when that purpose isn’t achieved — when it’s and the Kerala Students Union prot­ of the page. The answer begins right arguably doing more harm than good — it all ested at the Calicut University cam­ below. “My name is Farha Parveen. I rings a bit hollow. pus and protests were held on cam­ am from Sherkot. My mother’s name puses under Mahatma Gandhi is Halima Khatoon. She is a home­ Akhil Sood is an author and freelance University in Kottayam and Patha­ maker. My hobbies are preparing culture writer from New Delhi who wishes namthitta too. food and listening to music. My goal, he’d studied engineering instead. Though it is not illegal for the pol­ I want to be a teacher…”

SCANNER

Patwardhan show Food seminar Water documentary A retrospective on artist Sudhir A seminar titled ‘The Past and Aquarela, a documentary by Victor Patwardhan’s five-decade career, Future of Food on the Indian Kossakovsky, showcases the power titled ‘Walking through Soul City’, is Subcontinent: Identity and Cultural and majesty of water and ice in on view at National Gallery of Heritage’ will be held at K.R. Cama various manifestations around the Modern Art, Mumbai until February Oriental Institute, Mumbai, on world, from glaciers and the frozen 12. Featuring more than 200 January 11 and 12. A number of Lake Baikal in Russia to Venezuela’s paintings and drawings, the focus academic sessions will address Angel Falls and even a hurricane of the works is the city of Mumbai areas including the political attacking America’s east coast — itself in all its aspects, and the artist economy of food, culinary cultures and how people handle and survive as an inhabitant. and historical perspectives. such phenomena.

CM ND-X YK THE HINDU * Magazine DELHI 05 Sunday, December 22, 2019 CULTURE

UNPLUGGED The unsung heroes 100 years of the arts school that Tagore set up to break away from the colonial hold Hearing less-performed ragas is a rare treat

ne of the great draws of a daytime Hindus­ tani classical concert, and that too on a Sunday morning, is that one can reach the In the great venue relatively unscathed by traffic. But more importantly, it is the promise of Omorning or late morning or afternoon ragas. And if the recital is inside the thick­walled, cool dark interiors of a temple, minus the paraphernalia of electronics, then all the better. Sometimes, one of the biggest takeaways of a recital poet’s courtyard of this kind is that you get to hear ragas that you knew, but had kind of forgotten. They are the ragas that do not have the exalted status accorded to the Big Ones. They are unassuming, almost modest ragas, rendered even more modest by the fact that they are not popular anymore on the performance circuit. As the tanpura or swaramandal tunes up, it is as if a searchlight has been trained on the inner recesses of your memory , and with that, various forgotten gems are awoken. It is something like playing the word game Taboo, which I do in a creative writing class that I teach — i t leads people to not so much learn new and bombastic or ‘big’ words as to remember and revisit existing ones in their vocabulary, which have fallen into disuse. It turns the Taboo player back to the riches that reside in­ side us, which have gone into some kind of blind spot, while we overuse just a handful of words. When words fall into disuse, our vocabularies shrink, and with that, our repertoire. Whether you are a writer, speaker, reader, perform­ er or listener, everyone loses, when words, phrases, swara combinations and ragas are simply left by the wayside. Sometimes, we under­employ our vocabulary or our engagement with ragas out of sheer laziness, tak­ ing the path of least resistance, presenting as well as lis­ Bishwanath Ghosh says Khajuria, who hails from Jammu. “Students can walk into the studios of * GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK he cow poking its head into the their teachers even at 1 in the morning to canteen window is real, but the watch them work. There may be colleges raging bull nearby isn’t — it’s with better infrastructure but Kala Bhava­ made of bamboo strips. The na has the best atmosphere.” two puppies fast asleep near a cTamel are real, but the camel isn’t — it’s Feet at home made of junked two­wheelers. The birds Her colleague, Lawanshaiba Kharmaw­ on the numerous trees are real, but those long, also a former student of Kala Bhava­ countless birds on the lawn are synthetic, na, quit his arts teacher job in Doon part of an installation. There’s an angry School some years ago and returned to anaconda too, fortunately made of twigs. Santiniketan as a member of the faculty. One word binds it all together, the real “I come from a village in Meghalaya and and the unreal: creation. my family had not even heard of Tagore, It’s a word that drove as well as defined leave alone Santiniketan. Then one day Rabindranath Tagore. In 1919, when the my father, while leafing through a book­ country was still bleeding from the mas­ let, came to know about Tagore and sacre at Jallianwala Bagh, he planted fresh brought me to Santiniketan. Now I feel at seeds of life in the soil of Santiniketan by home here — the only thing I don’t like setting up Kala Bhavana — a school of arts. about this place is the heat,” says The word bhavana may bring up the Kharmawlong. image of a large building in mind, but Ka­ The campus is strewn with creations, tening to the familiar, the popular, the easily accessible. la Bhavana is anything but grand. Its size most of them products of young minds. In There are about 150 ragas that are more commonly lies in its expanse: low­rises dotting a vast the workshop that once served as Ram­ sung now, from the 500 or so existing ones in Hindusta­ open space landscaped with ancient trees kinkar Baij’s studio, young Lakshmi from ni classical music. But most performers will present and art installations — the bull and camel Thiruvananthapuram is busy giving fin­ from an even smaller bandwidth of 30 or so ragas, let­ and anaconda are only some of them. ishing touches to a fish that has a human ting dust gather on hundreds of other gems. leg sprouting from it. She is so engrossed Anti-colonial head of the department as well as princi­ that one hesitates to initiate a conversa­ Guaranteed nods The institution is celebrating its centen­ pal of the institution (in Santiniketan in­ tion. On the first floor of another work­ Back then, people came to Now whether this is because it is safer to pander to the ary this year. No one is quite sure about stitutions, the posts of principal and HoD shop next door, young Suchetana Das popular and easily accessible, or because even the a r­ the exact date Kala Bhavana was started, are assigned on rotational basis). Santiniketan because they from Howrah is not so busy because she tists have begun to forget or have not been trained in but art historian and Santiniketan veteran “But Tagore was not a narrow nation­ subscribed to Tagore’s ideology, has just finished her work — Arjuna aim­ the lesser­performed ragas that lie outside this tight cir­ Prof. K. Siva Kumar says it was most likely alist; he wanted to connect with the larg­ but now they come for the salary ing at the fish’s eye — and has placed it by cle of 30, is a bit of a chicken­and­egg question. Pandit in June that year, going by letters written er heritage of world art, including non­ and job security because this is a the window to dry in the sunlight. Bhimsen Joshi, in his later years, would say in a tired at the time. In other words, barely weeks Western traditions such as Chinese and Central government institution “I first visited Santiniketan as a child and ironic tone, upon hearing the standard request for after Tagore had returned his knighthood Japanese. At the same time, he also want­ on a family holiday. I became so ena­ Puriya Kalyan from the audience, “Yes of course, I will in protest against the massacre. ed to redefine Indian art. His stay in the moured with the place that I decided to sing it, and exactly as I sung it in the long­playing r e­ “At the time, art in India was governed villages of East Bengal was an eye­opener la, is one of the very few serving teachers study here — it has exceeded my expecta­ cord that you have at home.” The irony was lost on by colonial tastes and needs. This was the for him. He realised there was so much of who has clear memories of watching le­ tions,” says Das, a second­year fine arts most of the audience. Not just performers, even music first institution to break away from the co­ nature to engage with, and so much of ur­ gendary sculptor­painter Ramkinkar Baij student. programme organisers sometimes insist on the per­ lonial method. It was a part of the nation­ ban­rural divide that needed to be res­ at work. Today, he sees “a lot of dilution” To cap the centenary celebrations, Ka­ former singing the familiar. They want guaranteed alist movement, a model of anti­colonial ponded to,” says Siva Kumar. in Tagore’s ideals. “Back then, people la Bhavana is planning a series of camps nods and waah waahs, and will not risk a ticket­paying education,” says Siva Kumar, a professor Having joined Kala Bhavana as a stu­ came to Santiniketan because they sub­ on the campus in association with Lalit audience being challenged to listen to something new. in the art history department, formerly dent in 1974, Siva Kumar, a native of Kera­ scribed to Tagore’s ideology, but now Kala Akademi, as well as two large exhibi­ There are a slew of ragas that are considered apra- they come for the salary and job security tions, one in Kolkata and another at the chalit or anwat — less heard, uncommon, difficult, so­ because this is a Central government in­ National Gallery of Modern Art in New metimes combining two ragas and creating an unusual stitution.” (Visva­Bharati came under Delhi. “The schedules are still being synthesis. However, there is a whole lot that is not ex­ Central control in 1951.) worked out. As of now we are preparing a actly uncommon, but has been relegated to waiting pa­ But Kala Bhavana, the professor in­ list of former students whose works will tiently in the wings, over just the last few decades. sists, still remains different from other art be exhibited,” says Sanjoy Mallik, princi­ At a recent recital by Agra gharana singer Pt. Ram schools because the teaching here conti­ pal of Kala Bhavana. Deshpande in one of the small halls of the 18th century nues, by and large, to be individual­ One hundred years, times have Omkareshwar Mandir in Pune (organised by The Baith­ oriented — a tradition started by Nandalal changed, but the campus, nestled in na­ ak Foundation and the Sakal Group of Publications), Bose — and also because of the strong in­ ture, still belongs to the time of Tagore. If some of us were delighted to catch up with just such a ter­personal relationship between teach­ Tagore were to be spotted today, walking raga. Even the name of the raga — Devgiri Bilawal — er and student. across the courtyard with his hands when announced, seemed to come from far away. It Bhavna Khajuria, a former student clasped behind him, he wouldn’t look out was like meeting someone from very long ago — you who now teaches ceramic art, agrees. of place. “Tagore is always watching over need a few seconds to place the person, but once their “The interaction between teachers and us,” says Khajuria. “Even unconsciously features, their voice, their mannerisms become appa­ students extends beyond class hours,” we are conscious of his presence.” rent, you are infused with a rush of affection and warmth. When a performer presents a less performed raga, you are grateful that a light shower has fallen beyond the usual circle, and places farther afield have been re­ greened in the performance space as well as in the listener’s mind.

Gouri Dange is a novelist, counsellor and music lover who takes readers through the Aladdin’s cave of Indian music. Inspired minds The Kala Bhavana campus is strewn with creations, from murals to sculptures, of young students. * SAYANI CHAKRABORTY

Ceramics exhibition Plastic problem Gallery Ark in Vadodara is hosting Malaysia is turning into a major an exhibition with a focus on dumping ground for the world’s ceramics and the use of clay as a plastic waste. ‘Recycling Sham’, the narrative tool, titled ‘Elements in fourth episode of the investigative Mythology’, until January 18. Works documentary series Broken on by artists including Ira Chaudhuri, Netflix, looks into the country’s legal Jyotsna Bhatt, Madhavi and illegal recycling of plastic, and Subramanian, Savia Mahajan, how a lot of supposedly recycled Reyaz Badaruddin, Vineet Kacker scrap - that is in fact not recyclable - and Vineet Daroz are on view. is ending up in landfills.

CM YK 06 DELHI THE HINDU * Magazine WIDE ANGLE Sunday, December 22, 2019

FIELD NOTES With patrons like Lata Mangeshkar and Pratibha Patil, the Marhati Emporium has played a key role in the revival of Paithani weaving Silk and spun gold

a dozen saris in Mumbai. It end­ When I visited the centre, I knew ed with an order for around 300 I wanted to become a weaver,” saris, and helped to build a fund. she said. Another weaver, Renu­ Since then, over 2,000 weavers ka, who says she is around 40, have been trained. The success was also trained at the centre encouraged the government to and has been weaving saris for allocate funds annually to revive the past 15 years. Both women the art. And Marhati, a centre to are the only ones in their fami­ revive Paithani, was set up. Its lies to learn the art. Women have emblem is the nath (nose ring) been employed on all 100 worn by Marathi women. looms. “They are from modest “The pre­weaving process families and the wages help has not changed till date. The sa­ them,” said A.K. Rakshe, who is ris are woven by hand and not in charge of the showroom. Ancient art (Clockwise from jacquard machines, making it a above) A sample sari at the painstaking process,” said Manj­ Luxurious product Marhati Emporium; a Paithani rekar. The weavers fashion pap­ A sari uses 800 gm of silk and weaver colouring the silk; er rolls for thread reams for the 160 gm–400 gm of gold­coated weavers at work at Marhati; motifs, all of them replicas of silver zari, and may take anyth­ and one of the looms. Ajanta paintings, including mu­ ing from a month to two years to * R. SUJATHA & AJAJ SHAIKH nias, parrots, simple flowers, lo­ weave, depending on the de­ tuses and, most intricate of all, sign. Weavers are paid a third of peacocks. Those who know the the sari’s cost. “99% of the weav­ value of the fabric hand the saris ers we have trained are women,” down as heirlooms, she said. he added. The price ranges from At the emporium in Paithan, ₹25,000 to ₹3 lakh. behind the showroom in a caver­ Among Marhati’s patrons are nous hall, 100 looms stand testi­ playback singer Lata Mangesh­ mony to the effort. Around 10 kar and former President Pratib­ women, young and old, were ha Patil, as well asa range of film busy at work. An elderly woman celebrities. Their silk saris have explained the nuances to a adorned the deities of Tirupati, youngster, helping her roll the Vittala Panduranga, Kolhapur yarn. Women wove the coloured Mahalakshmi and Shirdi Sai Ba­ threads for motifs following the ba. They have centres only in R. Sujatha bone­jolting ride, we reached ni faded away. During Mughal outline of the designs on trace Paithan, Aurangabad, Bombay Paithan bus station, from where and British rule many weavers sheets. The trainees are paid a and Delhi, but have customers hree days after Deepa­ we hired an autorickshaw to the migrated and either set up units monthly stipend of ₹1,700 and the world over. vali when I visited Marhati Emporium, a one­hall or left the business. taught to work with cotton first. Marhati continues to make Paithan, I wasn’t sure showroom with a collection of Of the 1,200 persons trained, 65 only a few hundred saris a year, I would see weavers at cloth bags, scarves and bed­ Rebuilding a craft work at the centre and 300 are which are in great demand. work, considering spreads on display. “In 1976, the State government working in the town, where each Weavers from Kancheepuram GREEN HUMOUR BY ROHAN CHAKRAVARTY tThat it is a five­day holiday across Paithani traces its history to transferred the design­cum­de­ house has a loom. and Varanasi visited the centre north India. But it was worth the the reign of the emperor Shaliva­ mo centre to the MSSIDC. At that Thirty­five­year­old Alka is a to learn the art and introduce effort. hana. Paithan, then known as time there were only four weav­ trainer with 17 years of expe­ technology, but were left in awe Sitting on the banks of the Go­ Pratishthana, was an interna­ ers. We got a grant of ₹1 lakh rience. She lives in the town with of the intricacies in weaving, davari, about 60 km from Auran­ tional trade centre for silk and from the Norwegian govern­ two school­going children. “I said Manjrekar. With the price of gabad, Paithan can be reached art, says the booklet published ment. We bought a few looms have made 12 to 15 saris so far. gold and silver rising there is either by a shared taxi or a state by Marhati, a unit of the Maha­ and announced a training pro­ concern that it may become dif­ transport bus. Either way, it’s a rashtra Small Scale Industries gramme. One of the experts ficult to continue to offer origi­ rickety ride down dusty Pan­ Development Corporation came forward and we trained A sari uses 800 gm of silk nal Paithani saris. chayat roads. The view made up (MSSIDC). Originally, a Paithani five, six people,” said Alka S. and 160 gm-400 gm of By the time I boarded anoth­ for the ride — vast swathes of sari was nine yards of pure silk Manjrekar, divisional manager gold-coated silver zari, and er rickety bus back to Auranga­ green fields of two­feet­high su­ and spun gold, and called Navva­ of the Aurangabad, Nanded, La­ may take anything from a bad, it was sunset. A co­passen­ garcane and cotton plants that ri Pathani. The silk came from tur MSSIDC. ger took a look at the booklet I had just started flowering were China and the gold from India. Silk yarn was procured from month to two years to held and said “Paithani?” I nod­ rewarding sights. The Peshwas patronised the Silk Board Karnataka and in 1987 weave, depending on the ded. “Very expensive. But you At the end of the 90­minute fabric, but with their fall, Paitha­ an exhibition was held with just design get what you pay for,” she said.

GUEST COLUMN Carving out a South Asian identity The Citizenship (Amendment) Act’s protectionist approach is insensitive to the This compels us to look at the dif­ ferent categories of people crossing realities of identity and migration in the subcontinent the Indian borders — refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, illegal migrants, Rimple Mehta ulation does not take into account, for refugees from time to time. trafficked persons, people visiting es­ instance, aspirational or economic The 1951 Refugee Convention de­ tranged family members, tourists, he raging debate and prot­ migrations or conversions through fines a refugee as “someone who is medical tourists, etc. We need ground ests around the Citizenship marriage. unable or unwilling to return to their research to understand these diffe­ (Amendment) Act (CAA), There is widespread fear that the country of origin owing to a well­ rent groups crossing over. And it 2019 raise important ques­ CAA, in conjunction with the pro­ founded fear of being persecuted for pushes us to argue for a policy that tions around identity. With posed countrywide National Register reasons of race, religion, nationality, will take into account the realities of Ta protectionist approach, CAA claims of Citizens (NRC), will facilitate citi­ membership of a particular social different kinds of mobile populations, to correct a historical wrong and res­ zenship only for certain religious mi­ group, or political opinion”. As a de­ especially refugees. cue specific religious minorities from norities, leaving Muslims excluded as veloping country, India’s reservations Is it possible for us to base this exer­ Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangla­ stateless. Amongst those declared ‘fo­ about signing the Convention are un­ cise, therefore, on a shared understand­ desh by offering them a possibility of reigners’ or ‘illegal migrants’ through derstandable. But what has stopped it ing of a South Asian identity? Or are we Indian citizenship. The CAA has in­ the NRC, only certain religious com­ from devising its own refugee policy? only going to base our actions on knee­ curred five main criticisms: it is un­ munities can be naturalised through jerk reactions? A bottom­up approach constitutional; it furthers the Hindut­ the CAA as it now stands. There is no Shared histories that takes into account people’s lived ex­ India shares va ideology; it is violative of the Assam discussion of what will happen to the India shares international borders periences is required rather than poli­ international accord; threatens tribal identities; rest — who will basically be Muslims with seven countries, and the people cies that are framed as responses to cor­ borders with and it is arbitrary in its selection of not verified through the NRC. in many of these borderlands live in recting ‘historical blunders’. seven countries and religious minorities close proximity and have deeply Let us keep in mind that as a socie­ that will be eligible. shared histories and everyday prac­ ty we have not been able to protect or countries, Who is a refugee? The debate in Parliament invoked It must be noted also that the NRC is tices. Invoking history partially by just provide a minimum sense of security and the data on the decreasing number of an exercise in verifying documents, referring to the Nehru­Liaquat pact to those at the margins of class, caste, people Hindus in Pakistan and the increasing which large populations in South Asia obliterates these shared histories. It religious, gender and sexual identi­ in many of number of Muslims in India, to indi­ still don’t possess. also obliterates their everyday lives in ties. In such a reality, the CAA with its these cate that the Nehru­Liaquat Pact Moreover, through CAA we have li­ the borderlands. If history were to be selectively protectionist approach is borderlands hasn’t been honoured by neighbour­ mited the understanding of cross­bor­ invoked impartially, it would involve both an overstated measure and a ing countries whereas India has ful­ der mobility only as a result of reli­ their shared histories and identities, deeply discriminatory one. live in close filled its commitment. gious persecutions. What about which were divided because of the ...... proximity In 2006, the Sachar Committee Re­ linguistic, political, environmental or political borders created over diffe­ The writer’s latest book is Women, and have port gave a clear picture of the socio­ cultural persecution? India has evad­ rent time periods. Mobility and Incarceration: Love and deeply economic condition of Muslims in In­ ed the question of refugees for a long These shared histories and identi­ Recasting of Self across the shared dia. This compels us to ask if a mere time, primarily due to its own large ties remain etched in the everyday Bangladesh-India Border . increase in population is indicative of population, economic burden, and lives of a number of communities liv­ histories and protection of a community or if we lack of welfare services to offer to ing on either side of national borders. The ‘Allegedly’ column by everyday must also seek a qualitative assess­ those seeking refuge. It has, however, It promotes cross­border mobility of G. Sampath will return in the practices ment of their lives. Moreover, citing taken ad hoc decisions to give refuge various kinds — some legal, some ex­ Jan. 5, 2020 issue. data on increases or decreases in pop­ to Afghans, Tibetans and other such tra­legal.

CM ND-X YK Ibis on screen Classics festival McCartney for Netflix Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy is soon to be Penguin Random House India has extended Paul McCartney’s book for children, High in adapted for screen. It will be directed by its second edition of ‘The Penguin Classics The Clouds, published in 2005, is to be made Shekhar Kapur while the screenplay will be Festival: There Is One For Everyone’. It is into a Netflix series. It’s the story of a squir- by Michael Hirst. The series is about the now on all through December. Covering rel called Wirral who fights Gretsch the owl, opium trade between India and China eight cities across India, it has seen massive a tyrant and fabulous singer who steals the and the consequent Opium Wars. footfalls since it started on November 1. voice of anyone who upstages her.

Cunning plan Jim Carrey in cluding in more Die Hards, Lethal THE LEAD How the Grinch stole Christmas Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, (2000) * GETTY IMAGES and even snuck into the Marvel un­ iverse with Iron Man 3, although it was released well after the Yuletide bandwagon — with carefully calibrat­ season. Ghosts of Christmases past ed sexual tension in the ‘Historical’, ‘Modern’, ‘Desire’ or ‘Dare’ imprints True horror featuring Jeeves or written by an ani­ If that adrenaline dose isn’t enough, A potted history of the Christmas industry from Dickens to Die Hard, and a reminder that grimmer mal activist who signs his name you can veer downwards into Christ­ ‘Wolf’. mas horror. Cue scratchy violin. socio-economic conversations must not be silenced amid all the festive cheer Snuggle deep in your sheets and Moving pictures scream silently to Gremlins, Christ- But enough of these clumsy book mas Evil, Dead End, Black Christmas things. Poring over tiny print is a or the more contemporary chiller slow way to ruin the eyesight. Let’s from Down Under, Better Watch Out. hasten the process with our addic­ You’re looking now for something tive, beautifully bevelled screens, even more horrifying. Something those portals to an unending stream more bleak, more cynical than Billy of moving images. Bob Thornton in Bad Santa , or, to You could go back all the way to come full circle, the business of 1901 for the earliest surviving adap­ Christmas. If there’s one thing worse tation of A Christmas Carol, or zip than wanton spending during the forward to a Muppet version in 1992. festive season, it is not spending in You could breathe in the crisp, sac­ the festive season. Besides, we can’t charine winter air in Miracle on 34th seem to agree on recommendations Street, A Christmas Story or The Bish- from popular culture, so cue the In­ op’s Wife. Pick up a mug of hot cho­ dian economy. colate, and throw in marshmallows Diwali is in India, in economic and some laughs with Home Alone or terms, what Christmas is in the Elf. When it’s just you and a special West. When the festive season buoys someone, make an immediate left buying, we welcome it even when turn into romance. This genre is, un­ we know it is a temporary spike, surprisingly, the motherlode. If hoping the market might correct it­ you’re a sucker for Love Actually, The self in the cold light of a post­holiday Holiday, the charming While You Monday. This year, however, the Were Sleeping, you might even have economy flagged even in the festival considered dipping your toes in an season. Brick and mortar stores took arena dedicated to romance, like the heaviest hit, with a 40% slump in Hallmark Channel, a niche place for sales and a 60% dip in footfalls. Aver­ chaste love. age consumption, a number that has Turns out Hallmark is no niche only ever risen, actually dipped. A player. It’s a beast. According to a horror story. But wait a second. profile in The New Yorker, in 1910, What are we doing discussing eco­ about 70 years after Henry Cole nomics in a conversation about who­ choice of gift is made by “someone their fifth child and he needed the Raymond Briggs, Little Women by printed the first 1,000 Christmas lesome Christmas reading? Anand Venkateswaran other than the final consumer”, the money. Over a fevered six weeks, Louisa May Alcott, ‘The Night Before cards, a teenager named Joyce Hall With apologies to the reader for gift­giving leaves them “worse off” Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, a Christmas’ by Clement Clarke Moore began peddling printed postcards. the sucker punch, it is unfair to not here is a certain topical and that this whole exercise is a story that crafted Christmas as we (a poem, but one that practically in­ He saw potential in the business and break the genre wall, to make merry phenomenon that grips source of potential deadweight loss. know it — a time for family, love and vented Santa), How the Grinch Stole took it up a notch or two or 100. In in a bubble. Every festival must be a writers in the Yuletide According to the paper, the macro­ redemption. The first imprint of Christmas by Dr. Seuss. These are, 1914, he set up a company with his hearty celebration, but also make season. Besides listicles, economic equivalent of virgin soan 6,000 copies, published on Decem­ however, originals. Not representa­ older brothers. In 1917, they invented room for conversation about the that is, and bursts of auto­ papdi boxes, perplexing and imprac­ ber 19, was sold out by Christmas tive of the indefatigable Christmas modern wrapping paper. After pio­ shadow under which these celebra­ bTiographic reminiscences. The latter tical crockery, and drawing room fix­ Eve. The book has never been out of literature industry that is kept neering a new card display tech­ tions take place. While we stock up are most likely the result of being tures ripped off from Bond villains print since. At around the same churning by publishers like Mills & nique and partnering with Disney on fruitcake and bone up on festive The only lulled by eggnog or stronger alterna­ was between $4bn and $13bn in 1992 time, Henry Cole imagined and pro­ Boon. and Norman Rockwell, Hallmark literature, we must also talk about antidote tives into believing that we are more in the US. There have been equiva­ duced the first Christmas card — a Founded in 1908, this British pu­ turned to television in 1951, and the economy, the National Register interesting than we really are. No, lent estimates in India as well, more hand­coloured artwork showing a blishing house conjures 120 new tit­ turned it upside down, bagging 81 of Citizens, and the Citizenship to rabid the now hoary festive tradition is an incredulous ones in recent times. family gathering with the greeting “A les every month. Manuscripts from Emmys. Today, Hallmark Channel Amendment Act. Not doing so is to modernity economic rant, particularly the invo­ More on that later. Readers scrunch­ Merry Christmas And A Happy New 1,500 authors worldwide feed an ap­ owns a cable network. This year tacitly condone a ‘Let them eat cake’ lay in cation of Joel Waldfogel’s ‘The Dead­ ing their eyebrows in disbelief or dis­ Year To You”. petite for all shades of romance. alone, it produced 103 original mo­ approach to citizenship. resurrecting weight Loss of Christmas,’ which ar­ approval are not alone. In fact, they Even 10 years ago, over 200 million vies, 40 of them Christmas­themed. Truth is, there are no conversa­ the appeal gues that the most efficient are in esteemed company. Practical­ Global industry M&B novels were sold worldwide ev­ If you now need an antacid from tions exclusive to or barred from the Christmas gift is cash. ly Dickensian, one might say. As Cole’s one­shilling card birthed a ery year. And come December every shovelling in all those super­sweet festive season. In the spirit of this Yu­ of an English The deadweight theory is rub­ In 1843, the times they were a­ global industry that continues to year, Christmas titles roll out on an romances, pick up a gun and rock letide, we must invoke the ghosts of Christmas. bish, as the discerning reader would changin’. Industry steamrolled com­ layer cheese in every relationship, editorial conveyor belt. This ro­ out to Die Hard. One of the best ac­ our own inescapable past, our Also, Charles agree. It goes against the spirit of forting traditions and social harmo­ Dickens discovered, through the mance juggernaut thrives on predic­ tion movies ever, it plucked Bruce myopic present and inevitable fu­ Dickens’ wife compulsive giving, and the century ny even as children worked in ap­ Dickensienest of his works, a cyclical tability and the comfort of familiari­ Willis from a Moonlighting gig and ture. If we don’t, we remain blind to was big with and a half of product promotion that palling conditions. When market for books as gifts. ty. Before they fixed on the stuck him front and centre in the the afflictions of others, and blind to their fifth the festive season has inspired. But sloganeering and flyer thrusting fell One needs only to squint one’s formulaic romance, among M&B’s identity of America. It also taught us our own shot at redemption. that’s not to say it is inaccurate. Pu­ flat, the only antidote to rabid mo­ eyes and think ‘Christmas’ and contributing authors were Jack Lon­ the invaluable lesson that the threat ...... child and he blished in 1993 and dredged up ev­ dernity lay in resurrecting the ap­ ‘books’ and up pop half a dozen tit­ don, P.G. Wodehouse and Hugh Wal­ of violence can save everything, The former journalist works as a needed the ery year since, like a Grinch movie, peal of an English Christmas. Also, les, including but not limited to Fath- pole. Fascinating to imagine these even a failing marriage. It was picked consultant in fintech and crypto- money Waldfogel’s paper says that since the Charles Dickens’ wife was big with er Christmas and The Snowman by authors getting on board the new up and replicated with gusto — in­ economics.

IN CONVERSATION Half the Night features the happens with all writers. fictional Hindi novelist, Vishwanath, who is grieving the You were also reading Proust? death of his son and also writing í Yes, I spent one year reading a novel. Do you think writing Proust — a great year. Proust sees the ‘Hatred is created by sucking can be an antidote to grief? Or multitude of connections and points does writing accentuate it? of view that cohere around every í Good question. I have always felt single idea, action. When I read that writing is an antidote but I can Proust, I was in that frame of mind poetry out of our lives’ see how for some people it can also where I could not focus on one thing accentuate certain feelings. This without seeing it in relation to eve­ kind of question has no definite rything around it. Proust showed me It was curiosity about the lives of religious people that answer; it depends on who the wri­ it was possible to write like that with­ out sounding incoherent. drew Amitabha Bagchi to Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas ter is. Vishwanath might be writing because he wants to salve his loss, to One of the shortlisted novels for and led to Half the Night is Gone, the winner of this repent. When we undertake an act the DSC is a translated work — of writing, we hope something will Manoranjan Byapari’s There’s year’s DSC Prize for South Asian Literature happen. Whether it happens or not Gunpowder in the Air — and needs to be seen. translation is getting attention like never before in India now. Anusua Mukherjee back the love and togetherness that The pivot of the novel is Do you think it’s a kind of poets have given us over centuries.” Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas . revolution that will change the mitabha Bagchi’s Half the Excerpts from an interview: How did that come about? way we think of Indian fiction? Night is Gone has been í I have wanted for a long time to í I think so, hope so. Not just older getting rave reviews ever Did you expect to win the DSC? enter into the world of religious peo­ authors but contemporary writers since its publication in í This is my fourth novel and I think ple. I think that curiosity finally bub­ too are being translated. This will June last year, and now it I have been shortlisted four or five bled to the surface and pulled me to­ make Indian writing a more cohe­ hAas won the DSC Prize for South times but never won a prize. So this wards Ramcharitmanas. rent system. Till now Indian writing Asian Literature, sealing its reputa­ was not expected because, you Fiction writers typically tend to Till now in English and writing in the regional tion as the “great Indian novel”. The know, jury decisions are subjective. be curious about the inner lives of languages have existed in silos. Indian novel spans generations living in All the shortlisted books are strong other people, people who are diffe­ Hopefully, those silos will now start writing in pre­ and post­Independence India, in their own ways and so you can’t rent from us. bleeding into each other. And who English and but the shifts in time are conveyed tell. You try not to expect. You can will benefit the most from this? En­ writing in the less through the description of exter­ only hope. This is an English novel where glish writers from India, because we nal events than through characters the characters belong to a time regional will get to savour the experiences who live the change. The title alludes From Above Average (2007), and segment where it is natural contained in languages that we can­ languages to a line from Ramcharitmanas, and your first novel about an IIT to think and talk in Hindi. How not read. have existed Tulsidas’s version of the Ramayana aspirant, to Half the Night, did you achieve this feat of in silos. lies at the novel’s core. about the philosophical and Acceptance speech Amitabha Bagchi at the DSC award ceremony Hindi-ising English, as it were? What after winning the DSC? Do

* you think anything has Hopefully, In his acceptance speech, Bagchi social conflicts of an entire in Pokhara, Nepal. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT í While writing literary fiction, you nation, you seem to have changed? those silos said, speaking with reference to channel a lot of what you have been what is happening in India at pre­ travelled a long distance. Do you have remained the same. But the over the past 20 years. The first reading. I had been reading a lot of í No. I am happy for this but the will now start sent: “Hatred is created by sucking think you have grown as a sources I have worked with have three books were more about the life Hindi prose and Urdu poetry — those writing process has its own logic that bleeding into poetry out of our lives. By bringing writer in these 11 years? changed. Half the Night has a lot to I had seen around me in different channelled themselves into my is not really decided by which prize each other poetry back to life, we can bring í Yes, I think I have. My concerns do with the reading I’ve been doing places. prose. It was not a deliberate act, it you win.

CM ND-X YK 08 DELHI THE HINDU * Magazine Literary Review Sunday, December 22, 2019

THOUGHT FOR FOOD More than vada pao Flavoured with ancestral lore, a new book with some 200 recipes brings Maharashtrian cuisine into the limelight

SHORT STORIES * GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK Dictionary of memories ** GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK Rahul Verma the author says, is really varied, and every region in Argentinian writer Silvina Ocampo’s short stories, translated into English for the first the State — Konkan, Desh, Khandesh, Marathwada t all started with a meal at Delhi’s Maharashtra and Vidarbha — has its own cuisine. time, are like modernist paintings in their blend of the surreal and the mundane Bhavan. I wanted some good Maharashtrian Konkan food, for instance, is rich with fish and fare, and instead found myself staring at a dish coconut milk, while Vidarbha is known for dishes Shelley Walia For instance, in the short story, passport, afraid she may become in­ of butter chicken. Where is the local food, I prepared with whole grains and sun­dried vegeta­ ‘The Enmity of Things,’ an appari­ cognito without it. Then all is lost at asked. The staff looked at me pityingly. People bles. The food of Khandesh, bordering Madhya Pra­ orge Luis Borges once re­ tion of windows in a long­forgotten sea. Her last thought is, “The ship Ionly want to eat butter chicken, a waiter replied. desh, is mostly spicy. I once cooked a Khandesh marked about the Argentinian house filled with secret rooms would sink forever, carrying her This happened a long time ago, and I am told the mutton curry that had a spice list almost as thick as a poet and novelist Silvina weighs on the mind “like an unpred­ name and irreplaceable face to the menu at the State bhavan has changed since. But it telephone directory. Ocampo that she has “a virtue ictable destiny”. The narrator begins bottom of the sea.” triggered a war between me and some of my good That there is a lot more to the food than misal usually attributed to the An­ to feel “accountably apprehensive Maharashtrian friends. I would tease pao becomes obvious when you read cJients or the people of the Orient and about the things around him”. Even Excruciating reminders them about their fondness for butter Pangat, or another book called Tiffin: not to our contemporaries: that is his cardigan, his tie, his suit “seem to A child’s realisation of death, remem­ chicken, and they, in turn, would loftily 500 Authentic Recipes Celebrating India’s clairvoyance.” Her “condition as a provoke his misery”. His return to bering clothes that make you misera­ tell me their State has food the rest of The food of Regional Cuisine by Sonal Ved. Ved’s poet” and artist fashioned her un­ his country estate awakens in him a ble, or the freezing ocean are the the country can only dream of. Khandesh, book also mentions several delicious dis­ Forgotten ique prose style, which was to make consciousness of the countryside: kind of things that make up Ocam­ I believe them. Ever since I ate some hes, including one called nariyal mach­ Journey bordering Madhya her one of the great modernist wri­ “...until then he had been deaf to the po’s landscape. A bathing suit be­ Kolhapuri mutton a friend served some chi, fish cooked with coconut milk and Silvina Ocampo, Pradesh, is mostly ters of the 20th century. silence of the trees, deaf to the bril­ comes a reminder of the sea as “a years ago, I have turned into an avowed tamarind; and pandhra rassa, a white, trs Suzanne Jill spicy. I once cooked Translated from Spanish into En­ liance of the sky, deaf to everything device of endless torture”. In ‘For­ Maharashtrian food lover. And I now un­ flavourful lamb stock prepared with Levine glish for the first time, Ocampo’s col­ except the anxiety that had taken gotten Journey,’ the little girl ima­ derstand the frustrations of the Marathi a Khandesh mutton white sesame seeds, shredded coconut, City Lights lection of short stories brings out hold of him”. gines babies born in parcels and community when it tries to explain to curry that had a poppy seeds and ground cashew nuts. ₹720 life’s harsh imbalance through the vi­ when unpacked, emerging red in the others the various facets of its cuisine. spice list almost as sual representation of emotional life Terrible beauty face owing to the heat inside the “Even today, it pains me to hear thick as a telephone 200 and counting reaching back to early childhood. The terrible beauty of Ocampo’s sen­ packet. To create hope, Ocampo things like Marathi food is ‘only spice’, directory I followed a nice dessert recipe from Here emotions supersede the physi­ tences is apparent in ‘The Olive compiles a “dictionary of memories” ‘only coconut’ or ‘only vada pao and Khichdi — The Taste of Mother India . cal world. One recalls in this context Green Dress,’ which follows the life of — like the protagonist of her novel, misal pao’,” writes Saee Koranne­Khan­ Called vhanedali khichri, it’s a Konkan her novel, The Promise, where a wo­ Miss Hilton, a teacher, who has tra­ The Promise , picking excruciating dekar in her book, Pangat, a Feast: Food and Lore dish of wheat, channa, jaggery, grated coconut, man falls overboard and is adrift at velled across the world with “sailors memories to distract herself from from Marathi Kitchens. milk, raisins, cashew nuts, desi ghee and carda­ sea, fighting for life. What seems and black smoke”, meeting on one of the “immensity” of death and bodily The author of this recently launched volume mom, and is especially popular at weddings. “Usual­ more important to her is not her im­ her voyages an Indian in Ceylon liv­ suffering. Though idiosyncratic, the points out that she studied and interpreted the food ly prepared with broken wheat, some household tra­ pending death but her escape from ing in the company of snakes. She response to life is inherently of her community and her ancestors for three years ditions prescribe wheat and suji or rawa for ease of the real world into the fabulist land bathes in a warm sea “where one subversive. before writing the book. preparation. It is also used as a prasad called panch­ of her imagination, made up of sen­ could look for the water and never Ocampo concerns herself not kajjaya prasad,” it says. sations, visions and horrors of every­ find it, because it was always the with the tangible but with the evoca­ Vast and varied Koranne­Khandekar’s book includes some 200 day life. In Ocampo’s fiction, the real same temperature as the air”. Her tive, combining it with the magic “With this book, I hope to rekindle the flavours and recipes. You will find recipes for whole pomfret drama usually takes place in the past last pupil is scandalised when Miss realist style of her contemporaries food memories of Marathi people who have forgot­ stuffed with coconut chutney, semolina­crusted In Ocampo’s or overlaps with memories of other Hilton takes her to a painter’s studio like Adolfo Bioy Casares or Borges. ten what they cooked and ate before potatoes and prawns, stewed colocasia leaves with peanuts and fiction, the characters. The ability to remember to pose for a portrait in her velvet Memory mixes with desire, the hyp­ tomatoes and generic mix masalas took over; to lentils, onion and fenugreek salad in spiced yoghurt, matters more than the inevitability dress and she discovers there a nude er real with the mundane, always to bring them back to childhood kitchens, where every goat meat in a spicy rich curry, crisp bread stuffed real drama of death. study of Miss Hilton among the paint­ slide into the bizarre and the cruel. meal looked and tasted entirely different from the with jaggery and sesame, hot and sour minced usually takes For Ocampo, the act of writing be­ ings. The next day Miss Hilton re­ The delicacy of Ocampo’s craft previous one,” she writes. “I also hope to open the chicken, crisp puris in syrup and lentil soup with place in the comes an exercise in fighting the de­ ceives a note saying “We don’t want springs from the pain of her personal minds of non­Marathi food enthusiasts who have not ginger and lime. past or mentia that she battled for so long. A teachers with so little modesty”. journey, and she brings her terror of had a chance to sample the State’s vast and varied of­ She has another 500 recipes that she couldn’t in­ overlaps with moment, signifying a single recollec­ In another story, ‘The Lost Pass­ living to the reader with an unset­ ferings, to appreciate the nuances of each region’s clude in this volume, she writes. I can tell you one tion of a place or an incident, forms port,’ a 14­year­old girl and a street­ tling immediacy. produce and cooking style.” thing. Butter chicken is not among them. memories of the crux. The brevity of the snap­ walker board a ship for Liverpool, ...... While eateries serving regional cuisine have been ...... other shots gives her stories the flavour of but die when the ship wrecks. The lit­ The writer is Professor Emeritus and mushrooming across India, Maharashtrian food The writer likes reading and writing about food as characters modernist paintings. tle girl had been safeguarding her Fellow, Panjab University. strangely still remains under wraps. Yet the food, as much as he does cooking and eating it. Well, almost.

IMMIGRANT NARRATIVE FAMILY DRAMA Sadness and schadenfreude Museum of confusion An insightful exploration of expatriate life, but the narrative lacks coherence An impressive first novel about an unconventional mother­daughter relationship Anjali Thomas ting in “mismatched syncopated cho­ clothes in for when we finally went Rohan Manoj ry first sentence of Avni Doshi’s debut Tara’s long line of self­inflicted tra­ rus... like multicoloured species of ex­ home,” she recalls. Kojo, driven by the novel, Girl in White Cotton: “I would be gedies and Antara’s own issues come s a Ghanaian child in Ger­ otic animals”. need to reclaim the family’s glory and ntara was never able to re­ lying if I said my mother’s misery has to a conclusion that’s hardly explosive, many, Maya has learned Maya’s understanding of Ghana in re­draw Ghana’s history, draws Maya concile with her mother never given me pleasure.” but rather true to life — and all the the painful truth that to be her formative years is coloured by her into his quest. Tara’s self­centredness and The opening sets the tone for the more disturbing for it — even as the better than the people mother’s stories of their The bond between the wild, bohemian ways — rest: stark reality embodied in crisp rest of the cast, such as Antara’s hus­ around her, she has to be motherland. Her beautiful two remains strong, even how she could abandon prose. Doshi’s powers of ob­ band, her father and his new Alike them so completely that they no and perfect but attention­ when they are separated in Aher marriage to follow a guru, live on servation — of human rela­ wife, stay firmly in the back­ longer notice the differences. This seeking mother, who re­ England and sent to different the streets as a beggar, chase after a va­ tionships as well as the ground in this anti­romance sense of otherness, which every mi­ mains a prominent figure in schools where they face the grant artist, all the while dragging her physical reality of Pune and between two well­etched grant or expatriate is forced to come the narrative, is a descen­ reality of colonial imperial­ child alongside her . And all Antara’s Mumbai — and empathy are characters. Their commo­ to terms with, is an underlying note in dant of a royal family. Her ism and racism every day. advances, her attempts at closeness, evident as she unravels a fa­ nalities heighten each one’s The God Child , Ghanaian writer, his­ father, a doctor, is a distant As a young adult, Maya re­ were rebuffed by an oblivious Tara. mily and digs up a decidedly status as the other’s bête torian and filmmaker Nana Oforiatta figure who packs his bags turns to Ghana where she is Now, as the mother begins to lose unwholesome history, in­ noire — compare Tara’s bull­ Ayim’s debut novel. and leaves his family after a reunited with Kobo, who is her memory with the onset of age, the cluding but not limited to headedness and refusal to Having spent her childhood in Ger­ fight with her mother. trying to build a museum daughter must confront both the situa­ betrayal, deception and in­ accept her condition to An­ many and England, with only brief vi­ The arrival of Kojo, her that will showcase the fami­ tion — she does not know how to care cest, while ensuring that the tara’s own firm indepen­ sits to Ghana during the holidays, mother’s godson from Gha­ ly’s history. for this unreachable person who was emotional fallout strikes dence, born of necessity Maya remains an outsider in every na, adds an urgency to the The God Child Through Maya and Kobo, never able to care for her — and her close to home. Discomfort is Girl in White from a childhood of neglect. country, including the land of her pa­ narrative. He is a whirlwind Nana Oforiatta Ayim untangles themes of fa­ own utterly understandable feelings — a feeling that never leaves Cotton This is an impressive first no­ rents. She remains separate from oth­ ready to upend the ordered Ayim mily and cultural ties, expa­ a tug­of­war between sadness and you when you’re reading Avni Doshi vel and well worth the read if er migrants as she does not carry the though confused life that Bloomsbury triate life and colonial appro­ schadenfreude. It’s a conflict ex­ this novel, or even after Fourth Estate you’re prepared to take the “reek of illegality” like the men who Maya has constructed for Publishing priation, but the novel loses pressed with biting precision in the ve­ you’ve closed the book. ₹419 emotional plunge. stand huddled outside McDonald’s or herself. “He smelt like the ₹550 some of its power in its dis­ the women who sit in Afroshops chat­ insides of the trunks we kept jointed narrative.

BROWSER

These, Our Bodies, Possessed Boys from Good Families Dead Astronauts Limelight: A Novel by Light Usha K.R. Jeff VanderMeer Amy Poeppel Dharini Bhaskar Speaking Tiger MCD Simon & Schuster Hachette ₹599 $27 ₹399 ₹599 Stifled by traditions, Ashwath leaves A city without a name. An all- Allison Brinkley is wife, mother, and Deeya is married, but finds Bengaluru for America, where he powerful Company. A messianic blue optimist — till she moves with her contentment in the memories of her goes from success to penury. He is fox. A homeless, haunted woman. A family from Dallas to Manhattan. affair with an older man. Then compelled to return after 25 years to raving madman who wanders the She finds New York bewildering. comes Neil, offering a new romance lay claim to his inheritance — the desert lost in the past. Human and Then she encounters a spoilt and another identity. Will Deeya family mansion. In doing so, he other forms come together to save teenager who turns out to be a pop compromise, as her mother and encounters tangled family the world from the Company in star and her life changes. grandmother did before her? relationships and his first love. VanderMeer’s latest.

CM ND-X YK THE HINDU * Magazine DELHI 09 Sunday, December 22, 2019 Literary Review

POLITICS HERITAGE Murals, a legend, Of, by, and for the people and Christian As right­wing populists hold sway across the world, two writers argue that only public action architecture and collective mobilisation can neutralise democratic collapse Neera Chandhoke what the core components taged because she is not influential might have contributed to the of constitutional democra­ at all. In political philosophy, howev­ wealth of society through labour. An account of the churches he rise of right­ cy are. The argument is er, the right to free speech is tracked At the end of the argument, the of India doesn’t mention some wing populists crisp and clear. The two by anxious debates on, for example, authors recognise that only public across the world authors prefer to concen­ what counts as limits on this right: action and collective mobilisation key places of worship has destabilised trate on a minimalistic and sedition, defamation, pornography, can neutralise democratic decline constitutional legalistic approach to de­ incitement to hate and violence, and and erosion. The specific recom­ R. Krithika dTemocracy, a form of go­ mocracy, and eschew the blasphemy. Finally, the rule of law mendations they make are meant for vernment that protects ci­ complications that pre­ raises vexed questions about the na­ the United States but hold relevance y abiding memory of a church comes tizens against the brute sumably stalk political phi­ ture of law, whether law can be its for us in the postcolonial world. For from Chennai’s Annai Velankanni at Be­ power of majorities on the How to Save a losophy. Conventional wis­ own source and justification, and instance, political parties must not sant Nagar. As a young child, I played one hand, and limits the Constitutional dom, they argue, about the right to civil disobedience. compromise on democratic princi­ among its pews and aisles as my grand­ proclivity of elected go­ Democracy what properly counts as ples, so that civil and political socie­ father and the priest had long conversa­ vernments to hold and ex­ Tom Ginsburg, democracy is hazy. It tends Curbs on media ty can work together. “Put other­ Mtions and usually finished with a storytelling session ercise immense power on to concentrate heavily on The problem with a minimalistic in­ wise, laws and institutions are tools. Aziz Z. Huq and a ‘biscuit’ as a treat. Much later, I learnt that I’d the other. Citizens are Oxford University the subjective preferences stitutional approach to democracy is And the effects of tools depend upon been happily munching on a communion wafer. When shielded, and govern­ Press of voters for ‘this’ party ov­ that the power of each one of these the motives and good faith of those I told my Christian friends this story, it raised qui te a ments controlled by con­ ₹1,595 er ‘that’. The core institu­ institutions can be insistently sub­ who wield them.” few eyebrows. Luckily those were more tolerant times. stitutions, institutions, the tions of liberal constitu­ verted by, as the authors themselves In the final instance, the effec­ Which is why I was very excited by Joanne Taylor’s rule of law, an independent judici­ tional democracy, that mutually register, threats that curb the auto­ tiveness of institutional design is de­ The Churches of India. Beginning with a lovely aquatint ary, fundamental rights, and demo­ reinforce each other, are electoral nomy of the media. Corporate ow­ pendent upon deep political com­ on the cover, the book is filled with photographs of al­ cratic civil societies. competition, the right to free speech nership of media houses assures that mitment to the value that tars, external façades, plaques, pulpits. Populists relentlessly undermine and association, and the rule of law. a compliant media truncates free democracy places upon each citi­ constitutional safeguards by appeals speech. Rabid nationalism and an ir­ zen. This commitment might be inci­ Temple motif to an undifferentiated and amor­ Autonomous bureaucracy responsible social media places li­ pient, it might well be sparked off by Initially I pored over the photographs, exclaiming at phous category called ‘the people’, The first two are self­explanatory, mits on the right. Above all, draco­ a social movement or campaign. lace pankhas, hand­painted tiles, murals and more. It and focus on elections that have but the rule of law demands various nian laws inhibit opposition. Finally, What is important is that such move­ took a while to move to the text, which is eminently brought them to power. Though po­ preconditions: a bureaucracy that is the authors ask us to imagine a situa­ ments stretch across the political di­ readable. pulists claim that they have re­ autonomous of the executive, rule­ tion where the awesome communi­ vide and reach out to those who sup­ Taylor first establishes the arrival of Christianity in claimed power from the iron grip of following, and an independent cative skills of a leader are combined port populist leaders. India and how elements of temples were incorporated corrupt elites and institutions, citi­ judiciary. with (a) an ability to exploit govern­ Civil society must be inclusive in the early churches. She One voice zens have been rendered more not The argument is interesting and ment and (b) tactical skills. Each not exclusionary. Right­wing popu­ then moves on to the entry of Students less vulnerable. Unsurprisingly, a weighty tomes can be, and have right­wing populist studied by the lism can only be fought by a demo­ the Portuguese in Kerala and protest against veritable publishing industry has been written on each of these core authors fits the bill. Populists appeal cratically aware civil society. Ulti­ the changes that wrought. the new grown around the deleterious effect components. For example, the pre­ to, and are elected by social groups mately, the two authors recognise There are interesting nug­ citizenship law, of right­wing populism on constitu­ conditions of competitive electoral who detest inherited privilege, dis­ the power of politics. Politics can be gets of information like “each outside tional democracy, democratic ero­ politics are a level playing field for all trust institutions, and above all re­ messy but it can be occasionally year an eagle is seen flying Sabarmati sion and decline. parties. Each vote counts for just sent ‘immigrants’ and ‘strangers’ creative. high in the sky, seeming to Ashram in The book under review comes as one, no one should be privileged be­ who have appropriated land, re­ ...... follow the procession” on the Ahmedabad. a proverbial breath of fresh air be­ cause he is far, far more influential sources, and employment. No mat­ The writer is a former professor of feast day of St. Sebastian at * AFP cause it spells out in some detail than others, and no one disadvan­ ter that these so­called immigrants Political Science of Delhi University. Arthunkal, Kerala. This re­ minded me of the legend of The Churches of India the eagles that are said to vi­ Joanne Taylor sit Tirukazhukundram daily. Niyogi Books Then she starts exploring ₹1,495 her selection of churches, which are mostly restricted to the coastal belt: Kerala, Mumbai and Goa on the west and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Chandannagar and Kolkata on the east. Only Delhi, Bengaluru and Kot­ tayam are from the interior. Every single church is ea­ sily accessible and one wonders if this was done with an eye on tourists. The Northeast and central India don’t even get a look in.

Some quibbles Shouldn’t Christ Church in Shimla, All Saints Cathe­ dral in Allahabad, the Moravian Church of Leh, the Ba­ silica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, St. John’s Church in Meerut to name just a few have been featured in a book titled The Churches of India (em­ phasis mine)? In fact, after reading this book, I looked up the churches of Coimbatore and found at least four that were more than 100 years old. Given that this is likely to be true across the country, perhaps the author and the publishers should have taken more care with the name. This is definitely not “the most comprehensive work on India’s churches to date,” as the front flap cov­ er text claims. One more grouse: The Cathedral Church of Re­ demption, New Delhi, is referred to as Roman Catholic in the entry. The history that follows makes it amply clear that the church is Anglican. Designed by Briti sh architects Henry Medd and completed by Edwin Lu­ tyens, the then Viceroy Lord Irwin took a great deal of interest in the plans and, in fact, the church is known as Viceroy’s Church. Shouldn’t this have been caught?

BIODIVERSITY Listening to the call of the wild From jhum cultivation in the Northeast to rain­forests in Anamalai hills, a nature scientist highlights various factors that affect India’s synergy with its environment

K.C. Vijaya Kumar sprawling acres found in various holds our hands and gently guides does strike roots in Valparai, a tea Chennai or the verdant sights in the to care about and when he dwells sanctuaries and it is presumed that us towards the world around us. town in the Anamalai range, study­ Northeast, Raman oscillates from upon road­kills, he even writes he uproar against the fell­ as citizens, our duty is done. But First up, he writes: “Nature, some ing rain­forests, building bridges bet­ the wide gaze to a microscopic scru­ about dragon flies that die on your ing of trees in Mumbai’s there is more to the nation’s throb­ people believe, is something out ween the local population and the tiny. He also gives alternative view­ windscreens while you drive Aarey Colony or the sense bing ecological core and it starts there, in forests or far wildernesses, flora and fauna around including points like open pastures being es­ through forests. While roads widen, of doom over raging fires with awareness, empathy and a separate from the dwelling or pre­ lumbering elephants. sential for deer within forests or for Raman writes an elegy: “Before the in Brazil’s Amazon forest fierce will to protect what remains of sence of humans.” And he then pro­ He and to some extent Divya that matter how a slash­and­burn men and the machines came, the ta­ aTre all pointers to a general aware­ our fragile green cover. ceeds to show how nature is all per­ highlight various factors that affect shifting agriculture practice in the marind trees seemed to have an ness about nature’s intrinsic merits All these aspects are evident in vading and very much around us like India’s synergy with its environ­ Northeast known as jhum or lo, is abiding presence, like torchbearers and the way it shapes our lives. Yet, T.R. Shankar Raman’s The Wild an owl flying across Chennai’s bus­ ment. Raman offers a fresh perspec­ much better than mono­culture marking a productive countryside, The Wild Heart Heart of India jungles vanish, roads broaden, facto­ , a lovely book with its tling Anna Salai at night. tive and surely his heart is in the traits that eventually strip the soil of like the enduring blue mountains in of India ries sneak in, most species lapse into gentle nod to the myriad hues of na­ right place. In the pantheon of na­ all its nutrients. the distance.” T.R. Shankar a death­rattle and rivers get stained ture. If there is a grouse against the Roots at Valparai ture writers embellished with the This is a book that will help you Raman while the human race marches tome, it is that Raman’s wife and fel­ It is also about living a dream he likes of M. Krishnan, Bittu Sahgal, S. Dragon flies and trees appreciate nature and he winds up Oxford University ahead in its quest for a tenuous pros­ low­scientist Divya Mudappa, who nursed as a school kid. Back then, in Theodore Baskaran, Salim Ali, Jim There is a simmering anger too as he with this hope: “A land ethic and Press perity while ravaging an environ­ has contributed eight essays among one of his essays, he wrote: “But Corbett, Stephen Alter, Kenneth An­ watches governments whittling place in a community, open to all ₹795 ment meant to sustain future the 65 in this bulky volume, doesn’t now I was in the Western Ghats — at derson, E.R.C. Davidar, Janaki Lenin down forest protection Acts to facili­ who care to participate, who will feel generations. get due credit on the cover. the Anamalai jungles at the foot of and Bahar Dutt to name a few, Ra­ tate highways and mining. Conserva­ moved to act and make space for In India, we tend to split nature in­ Raman, who works with the Na­ the awesome Nilgiris. I was where I man has carved his own space. tion is often pigeon­holed to the tiger other species in their lives and in to the boxed ones seen in zoos or the ture Conservation Foundation, had always wanted to be.” And he Be it the Guindy National Park in but Raman shows that there is more their hearts.”

1971: A People’s History from All the Wrong Turns Words Sounds Images: A History of The Killing in the Consulate: Bangladesh, Pakistan and India T.C.A. Ranganathan, T.C.A. Srinivasa Media and Entertainment in India Investigating the Life and Death Anam Zakaria Raghavan Amit Khanna of Jamal Khashoggi Penguin/Vintage Westland Publications HarperCollins Jonathan Rugman ₹699 ₹799 ₹1,499 Simon & Schuster Navigating the widely varied terrain Two observers analyse the Indian From Kalidasa’s plays, the ₹699 that is 1971 across Pakistan, economy over the past seven development of ragas, classical An award-winning journalist pieces Bangladesh and India, Zakaria sifts decades to examine how dance forms to a post-Independence together what happened after through three distinct state governments have managed it. look at every decade of cinema, Washington Post narratives, and studies the Among other things, they ask why music and television, the former journalist Jamal Khashoggi went institutionalisation of the memory of India lurches from one crisis to chairman of Reliance Entertainment inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey the year and its events. another. writes an exhaustive history. on October 2, 2018.

CM ND-X YK 10 DELHI THE HINDU * Magazine BOOKEND Sunday, December 22, 2019

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE LETTER FROM A CONCERNED READER A hundred Tibetan gazelles Marriage memories The dark-eyed beauties ensured the survival of soldiers during a period of war Respected Madam/Sir, “Kamalam,” I said, “have you put our marriage certificate anywhere?” and want. It’s time the government returned the favour hat and all She said, “Old man, yes every two adventure weeks I am taking it out of the box Janaki Lenin happened and crying and crying like anything. yesterday. Eleven What nonsense you are talking. I They lived in a few valleys he beautiful big black eyes o’clock in the don’t know where it is.” “Oh my avoiding most others. Why mWorning suddenly Mrs. of the Tibetan gazelles cap­ god,” I said, “I think it is lost.” tivated Yash Veer Bhatna­ were they so fussy? Mathrubootham came and said, Next 45 minutes panic and panic gar. He had seen photos “Old man, do we have all the in the house. Both of us looked here before catching his first it had shrunk by 95% to 1,000 sq.km. documents?” and there. Then suddenly Mrs. Tglimpse of them, but he had been un­ The devastating winter of 1998­1999 I said, “Kamalam, how many Mathrubootham said, “Old man we prepared for their doe­eyed beauty. killed most of the surviving gazelles. times I have said, hundreds and took it for U.S. visa no last year? You In the next instant, he was left staring In 2006, Bhatnagar and his col­ thousands of times, please don’t do are remembering? Man in at their large heart­shaped white leagues estimated approximately 50 half the thinking in the kitchen and photocopy shop said madam you are rumps as the group of five receded in animals survived in about 100 sq.km. then do half the talking with myself. wife of uncle? I thought daughter or the distance. That moment in Sep­ across Ladakh. Total confusion only will happen. grand­daughter. You remember?” tember 2000 at Lal Pahadi, 20 km The group Bhatnagar saw in Lal Please start the story from I said, “I remember, daughter is north of Hanle Gompa, Ladakh, last­ Pahadi had disappeared by then. beginning.” ok, grand­daughter was ed only 10 seconds. Their skittish­ When he’s pessimistic, he thinks the She said, “Old man, any idea bayankaramaana over maybe ness, an unusual trait for mountain animals have been killed. When he’s whether all the documents in safe eyesight problem.” She said, “100% ungulates in Indian Trans­Himalaya, not, he feels they may have walked to place? Birth certificate and wedding it is inside suitcase we are taking to surprised and saddened the re­ Fresh start A female Tibetan gazelle. * UDAYAN RAO PAWAR Kalak Tartar, about 30 km away, to certificate and degree certificate embassy. Where is the briefcase? Oh searcher. Other wild herbivores were join a group of about 30, the largest and all? Exact location is no, we gave it to Mr. Pratapan bolder, watching him approach on Could the answer to the gazelle’s “The main target of two desperate population in India. known? Better to not take for his Singapore trip.” foot. Why were the antelopes so nervous behaviour lie in the geopolit­ parties through the 1960s was the Ti­ Kalak Tartar resembles an African any risk these days.” I said, Immediately I ran to afraid? ical turmoil that affected this region betan gazelle,” says the researcher. savanna but without the trees. Her­ “Kamalam, can I finish one Pratapan’s flat. I said, Tibetan gazelles were unlike them in the early 1960s? Impoverished re­ Did this wave of killing make them ders largely left the waterless valley more chapter of Jack “Pratapan, where is the in another respect: they lived in a few fugees from Tibet arrived after the nervous of people? “It happened a to the wild ungulates. The researcher Higgins superhit novel briefcase, whether any valleys avoiding most others. Why 1959 Tibetan Uprising. While the long time ago,” replied Bhatnagar. saw red foxes and pikas, while argali, Angel of Death and then look marriage certificate is there were they so fussy? This enigma Changpa pastoralists sheltered the re­ “While hunting isn’t prevalent any­ Tibetan gazelles and kiangs grazed for documents?” She said, inside?” He said, “I don’t know, lodged like a thorn in his mind. cent arrivals, they couldn’t provide more, perhaps it continues at a lower the rich 40 sq.km. expanse. Since “Old man, you do what you I gave it to Mrs. Nalini son.” I for them indefinitely. Many immi­ level.” 2006, gazelles have rebounded to want, I said what I have to said, “Manda shiromani, why Sparse forage grants turned to wildlife for suste­ roughly 60, but other populations in say.” you will give 50­year­old Bhatnagar thinks the answer may lie nance, and the gazelles frequenting Blocked routes Ladakh number only two or three Madam/ Sir, have you seen briefcase to five­year­old boy.” in the antelope’s 20­kg weight class. the rolling terrain were easy to fell. Livestock numbers doubled but land each. Another group of about 50 sur­ superhit World War Two film He said, “Boy is going for fancy Too small to put away enough body During the 1962 Indo­China War, for grazing wasn’t adequate. The war vives in Sikkim, edging the total In­ Tora, Tora, Tora in which dress competition as Mr. P stores to last through the subzero ill­prepared Indian troops sent up to closed the international border with dian population past a hundred. The Japanese leader is saying ‘Tora Chidamabaram during budget.” winters, it would have to dig through the 4,000­metre­high cold desert China, blocking the routes to many dark­eyed beauties ensured the sur­ Tora Tora’ and this is codeword I ran and ran to Nalini’s house. snow to find nutrient­rich herbs, an had to fend for themselves. With traditional pastures. Pastoralists vival of soldiers during a period of for start fighting. When Mrs. “Mrs. Nalini,” I said by uncommon diet in the Ladakh des­ poor supply lines to feed them, the brought their animals to available war and want. Isn’t it time the Indian Mathrubootham is saying do mistake, “where is Mr. ert. With the wide array of other her­ personnel also hunted the antelopes meadows, turfing out the Tibetan government returned the favour? what you want, it is same as Tora bivores living off the more common for meat, elderly herders told Bhatna­ gazelles. Chidamabaram? Bring him here Tora Tora. immediately, no hiding in the house but less nutritious grasses, the gazelle gar. Instead of hightailing it to the sur­ No one realised these events had Janaki Lenin is not a So I went to bedroom and no time for games.” For five minutes settled for this sparse forage. The spe­ rounding hills, the naïve animals had brought the ungulates’ to their knees. conservationista but opened wardrobe and removed one 100% pure Tamil abuse came from cies would stick around areas with its stood watching curiously before be­ Researchers estimated their range in many creatures share box. Inside box is files and brown Mrs. Nalini. Then I did clarification. favourite food, explaining its uneven ing gunned down. Entire herds were Ladakh had been 20,000 sq.km. in her home for reasons she papers covers we are collecting for presence across the landscape. wiped out. the early 20th century. By the 1980s, is yet to discover. She said, “What nonsense you are decades. Madam/ Sir, what and all talking my son is returning it to your memories are coming nonstop. son last month itself.” School report cards of the children. Madam/ Sir, my son is gone to One old newspaper cutting of one Bombay for office work. GOREN BRIDGE function in Anna Nagar, you can see Cohen led a Immediately I called I said, “Kanna Mrs. Mathrubootham in the open the briefcase immediately.” He diamond to dum­ background. Appointment order for my’s ace, extract­ said, “What suitcase?” I said, Touch and go Mrs. Mathrubootham first job in “Suitcase with marriage certificate.” ing East’s last dia­ Income Tax department. Bank of mond, the king, He said, “Are you talking about red India certificate for long service of 10 suitcase from Jambuvan period? It is Both vulnerable, South deals and exited with a years and 20 years and all. spade to East, in the dickie of the car, I think two­ Then in one other file birth while discarding a three documents are there inside.” I Bob Jones certificates for full family and then club from his said, “Thank you Guruvayoorappa, photocopy of wedding certificates outh in today’s deal was Phi­ hand. East was finally problem is solved I can keep for all the children. Suddenly all the ladelphia expert Ken Cohen. forced to lead a all the documents safely.” warm feelings are gone when I The contract looks impossi­ club away from I told Kamalam, “Briefcase is in noticed one tragedy. ble, but Cohen found a way East played low! Cohen cashed the his queen in this three­card ending the car dickie.” She said, “Who has Where is wedding certificate of home. He assumed that the ace of spades and then the queen of and Cohen took the marked finesse the car keys?” I said, “I don’t know, Mr. and Mrs. Mathrubootham? In the oSpening lead was a singleton. Why hearts, drawing the last outstanding to make his slam. are you having?” No. Now we are files? No. In the box? No. In the else would anyone lead a club after trump. East had trouble finding a dis­ Had East put up his jack of spades looking for car keys since morning. this auction? card on the third trump and did the on the first round of the suit, Cohen cupboard? No. In the box under bed Cohen won the opening club lead best he could by shedding a low dia­ would have won with his ace, drawn with marksheet and house loan Yours in total exasperation, in hand with the 10, cashed the king mond. Cohen led a club to the ace the last trump, and led the 10 of documents? No. J. Mathrubootham of hearts, and led a heart to dummy’s and ruffed a spade. When West spades. East couldn’t defeat the con­ ace. He led a low spade from the showed out, Cohen knew that East tract whether he won this with his dummy and inserted his 10 when had started with 4­2­2­5 distribution. king or ducked. Well played! THE SUNDAY CROSSWORD NO. 3079

QUIZ Easy like Sunday morning Mathematics is written for mathematicians: Nicolaus Copernicus

Berty Ashley lon, and introduced to the Greeks. This theorem is one of the most pop­ Born on December 22, 1887, this ular ones and is often referenced in 1 gentleman was able to make some pop­culture. Who was this legendary contributions to the world mathematician? of Mathematics in the very short life he lived. He was so averse to school­ ‘X’ is the only number that is spelt ing that his family had a local police 9 with letters arranged in alphabet­ constable to make sure he attended ical order. Conversely, ‘Y’ is the only school regularly. By the age of 13 he number that is spelt with letters ar­ had mastered trigonometry and soon ranged in descending order. When began showing phenomenal prowess put together they spell out the sum of in the subject. Eventually his contri­ the first six prime numbers. What are bution led to his birthday being cele­ X and Y? brated at National Mathematics Day in India. Who was this prodigy? An obelus is a symbol resem­ Across bling a small dagger. It comes of time? (4,4) 10 1 Elected absurdity that only amuses some 3 Philosopher’s hypocrisy is called out(4) This is an International standard from the ancient Greek word for a (2-4) 5 Send a rude chef out with malicious glee (13) that uses a 1: √2 ratio (approxi­ sharpened stick. It is commonly used 4 As to this charge: are you sure? (2,4,2) 2 Preserved on papyrus One of the oldest fragments of Euclid’s Elements, 6 ‘Perhaps you smell sort of benign,’ Aus- mately 1:1.4142). If you cut theses en­ to denote a simple mathematical 9 Ditching North, retire to Piedmont location found at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, and dated to circa AD 100. * WIKI COMMONS tralian admitted (5,5) tities in half crosswise, the same ratio function and you might have seen it (5) 7 River Tees engulfing northern home (6) will be maintained. The clever advan­ on some old calculators. The first use 10 Unconventional bunch of cheques for the 8 To dominate, bosses about (6) tage of this system is that it is great 49.29. Hence the probability of two character says, “4 x 5 = 12.” It’s multi­ of an obelus for this purpose was by auditor? (9) 10 Story with endless bile, filth’s from Italian for scaling up or down. It allows scal­ people sharing this is (100–49.29) plication in base 18. Who is this auth­ Johann Rahn in 1659 in his algebra 11 First two notes in wrong order? Try again capital (13) ing without compromising the aspect 50.71%. What would they share? or and where does this complex eq­ book Teutsche Algebra. Nowadays the (4) 14 Substantial raving cleared club (4,6) ratio from one size to another. What uation appear? obelus has started giving way to ‘Soli­ 12 Invested in ‘About a Boy’ (4) 17 Learner quits close-knit organisation with object that you use on a daily basis is Ancient Babylonians did mathe­ dus’ which is what you would proba­ 13 Scottish speciality — flipping internal or- excuse for opting out (4,4) gan! — not liked at first (5) governed by this ratio? 5 matics using cuneiform numerals ‘XY’ is a double digit number bly find on your computer keyboard. 18 Wise to suppress mood when primitive 15 Determined chaps united to get food at men seen (5,3) of which we have evidence since 7 where (X × Y) + (X + Y) = XY. Since What function do these symbols ref­ agreed price (3,4) The Fibonacci series is made up of 2000BC. They use a sexagesimal sys­ it has an odd number of 1s in its bin­ er to and what is Solidus better 21 Broadcaster with power: leading journalist 16 We’re told massage is a necessity (4) made a high-tech connection (6) 3 numbers that are the sum of two tem which means they calculate in ary representation, XY is sometimes known as? 19 Ladies given latitude to opine online (4) previous numbers — base 60 and not base 10 as we do. called an ‘odious number.’ This num­ ...... 22 Joke’s non-starter (cry of dismay heard) 20 Little baby going around city causing needing to be cut (6) 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34... This coinci­ Due to this unique nature and the ber is far more popular in the pop­ A molecular biologist from Madurai, rampage (3,4) 26 He wrote Lutheran Masses in Welsh, my dentally lends itself to being an excel­ fact that the Babylonians have contri­ culture world than in mathematics. our quizmaster enjoys trivia and 23 Country dancing yankee shaking behind friend (4) lent way to convert one unit to anoth­ buted significantly to history, the le­ What number is this that you would music, and is working on a rock (5) er in a particular factor. What are gacy is still seen in our daily lives. find in the name of an American rap­ ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi 24 Rascal, no-good rascal (4) Solution No. 3078

these two units, which you need to Where would you see a remnant of per, a novel by Murakami and songs is an Emotion’. @bertyashley 25 Removing silver plating, asking to reveal

do the calculations for, if you were to this system today? by Deep Purple and Bryan Adams? slash Division, 10. surface (4) go on a road trip in the United States? 41 ‘One’, & ‘Forty’ 9. 27 Expert put on weight for TV show (9)

This person was a brilliant mathe­ This mathematician is credited Pythagoras 8. 28 A Spanish greeting: in return, a Hawaiian

7. 69 7. greeting (5)

6. Lewis Carroll, Carroll, Lewis 6.

This is known as the ‘X’ Problem. 6 matician and known for his word 8 with the discovery of the theorem Wonderland in Alice

4 If there are 23 random people in a play, logic and fantasy. He worked of musical harmony and its basic in­ circle a in 29 A fight? What might end a fight? (4-4)

room, there is a 50.71% chance that primarily in the fields of geometry tervals. He also believed that num­ degrees 360 minute/ a in seconds 60 5. 30 Perhaps quark’s revolutionary energy

4. Birthday 4. covering casing of electrons (6) two of them will share something. and linear/matrix algebra producing bers possess genders — odd numbers km...) 21 is m 13 km, 8

Down

This is due to the probability of 365/ nearly a dozen books under his real were male and even numbers were is m 5 km, 3 is m (2 kilometres. to Miles 3.

365 = 1, and for the 23rd person’s name. He is better known for his chil­ female. He is better known for a par­ etc. A3, A5, A4, — sizes Paper 2. 1 Bury the hatchet finally, suppressing probability = 343/365 = 0.9369. For dren’s book which he wrote under a ticular theorem that he learnt from Ramanujan Srinivasa 1. second concern (8)

all 23 persons the probability will be pseudonym. In that book the central mathematicians in India and Baby­ Answers 2 Civic responsibility that might involve a lot

CM ND-X YK THE HINDU * Magazine DELHI 11 Sunday, December 22, 2019 FRAMED

Body of work At Kolkata’s Babu Ghat, men come to unwind with a traditional one-hour massage; the masseurs are a dwindling group of men from Girima village in Odisha’s Puri district who have been in the profession for generations.

BALMS The mystic MASSEURS

At Kolkata’s Babu Ghat, 13 traditional masseurs knead and pound weary bodies as generations have done before them Massage in a bottle With his bottles of mustard and olive oil ready, traditional Twist and turn Clients are diminishing, and there are now only 13 practitioner Vinod Barik begins a head-to-toe massage. masseurs who work at the ghat K.R. Deepak

inod Barik’s day begins at 5.30 a.m. He steps into Babu Ghat by the Hooghly in Kolkata, car­ V rying with him bottles of mus­ tard and olive oil. Now in his late 60s, Barik is a member of a vanishing tribe of traditional masseurs from Girima vil­ lage in Odisha’s Puri district. For 35 years, Barik has earned a liv­ ing massaging babus at the ghat. There was a time when masseurs from Girima and their traditional massages were highly patronised. But today, there are just 13 masseurs left at the ghat. “Our profession is nearly 200 years old. My great­grandfather told me that they had seen the Howrah bridge coming up,” says Barik. Earning ₹300 for an hour’s massage and with three or four clients a day, the masseurs struggle to make ends meet. None of them can afford to bring their families to the city. As clients dwindle, the next generation has begun looking out for better paying jobs. The handful of masseurs still have a small but steady clientele. Satyabrat Ba­ su is a regular client at Babu Ghat. He says that the men in his family go there for a massage once or twice a month. “We believe that this malish helps with Reflexes A traditional touch to relax muscles. blood circulation,” he says. “I have a couple of NRI clients who vi­ sit Kolkata once a year, and during their month­long stay, they get massages here every other day,” says Pradip Ba­ rik, a third­generation masseur. He, like the others, does not particularly ap­ prove of photographers clicking shots of the ghat. The masseurs, who spend the entire day at the ghat, get their boost of energy from regular sips of tea. Some watch Hindi films on their smartphones as they wait for customers. And they all know that one day, this familiar scene at the ghat will become just a memory. Push and pull A masseur helps stretch a Free time Masseurs sip tea while they wait for Me time Masseurs watch Hindi films on their client’s back. customers. * smartphones as they wait for clients.

CM ND-X YK 12 DELHI THE HINDU * Magazine BACK PAGE Sunday, December 22, 2019

* ILLUSTRATION: R. RAJESH woman. Women are somehow given this responsibility of projecting an image of how we want the world to see us as a society. And therefore there is anxiety when a woman transgresses societal notions of 60 MINUTES WITH SANAM MAHER how she should dress, behave or think. A lot of it has to do with an entire culture built around policing and controlling women’s bodies and actions.

The lead police investigator on ‘Qandeel was Qandeel’s case, Attiya Jaffrey, comments at one point ‘But is becoming Qandeel Baloch freedom?’ I am interested in this idea of ‘freedom’ for a woman. Can we talk about murdered what it means to be a free woman? í In Attiya’s case, freedom to her meant making a space for herself in a male dominated profession, fighting societal and cultural because of biases and finding the support of her husband and in­laws along the way. In Qandeel’s case she wanted to be a singer and an actor. At the time of her death she was still people’s trying to figure out a way to leverage the attention that she was getting — even if it came at a risk to her life — to financially support her parents and herself. Even today, whenever I say judgement’ something about Qandeel, someone will inevitably comment: she was asking for it, why did she not We need to ‘rewire our rotten social structure,’ says study and work, why did she not do ‘good’ things the author of a book on social media celebrity and find other respectable paths, she Qandeel Baloch, who was murdered three years ago deserved what she eventually got. We tend to discount the fact that it is not easy for a woman in our part of the world to come from nothing and make a name by being hated. ■ The At the end of the day their Karachi-based Archana Pidathala for a young Pakistani woman who paths were different but they both journalist has tried to escape poverty and an I really don’t know what the best identify with her and admire her.” wanted the same thing: a written on art, anam Maher’s debut book abusive marriage to make outcome is or should be. What we We put her on a pedestal and meaningful life that they got to culture, The Sensational Life and ‘something’ of her life. tend to forget is that Qandeel was ascribed all these values to her choose on their own terms, a life business, Death of Qandeel Baloch Excerpts from an interview: also murdered because of people’s There is anxiety when a after she was killed. But when she ‘free’ of consequences for not politics, pieces together the story judgement. There is a lot of work was alive and getting this tide of behaving the way society religious woman transgresses societal of Pakistan’s first social to be done to rewire our rotten hatred online, I wish we had expected them to. Isn’t it the same minorities and In September, three years after notions of how she should mSedia star, Qandeel Baloch, who Qandeel’s murder, her brother social structure. stepped up and offered support. freedom you and I aspire for too? women dress, behave or think was murdered by her brother in Waseem was sentenced for The least we could do if we ■ The the name of ‘honour’ in July 2016 life. The other five accused of In the days before the murder, encounter another Qandeel is Your book was shortlisted for Sensational in central Pakistan. The only abetting the murder — a newspaper published images glamorous girl posting amazing speak up so that the online the Shakti Bhatt First Book Life And Death crime she committed was to live including the cleric Mufti Qavi of Qandeel’s passport, photos online is cool, brave and trolling doesn’t spiral into Prize in 2018 here in India. How Of Qandeel life on her own terms. She offered — were acquitted. What is revealing that her real name sexy. An influencer. Whereas a something that will eventually has the book been received Baloch was her was Fouzia Azeem. Soon the to striptease for the national your response to the verdict? woman ‘open’ about wanting threaten the person’s life. everywhere else? debut book world learned that she came cricket team. She mocked a í There has been a great deal of attention and fame, translating í I had no idea that it would from a poor home with mud ■ The book just presidential warning not to focus on the verdict and it does that into some sort of financial become this big. I didn’t foresee walls in rural Pakistan and was What is society’s problem with made it to The celebrate Valentine’s Day. She make a powerful statement. resource is looked down as cheap. overtly sexual women? readers taking to the book the way New Yorker’s not the daughter of a rich declared her love for Virat Kohli. However, it didn’t bring a measure í In our part of the world, when a they did. The most heartening list of favourite landlord as she claimed online non-fiction She posted provocative selfies of relief or closure, for me at least. in her American accent. Why Did death make Qandeel a woman is murdered, it is common thing to me is when people send books of 2019 with a well­known religious cleric Although I am relieved that did Qandeel hide her true hero? to publish gory pictures of the pictures of their grandparents Mufti Qavi. And had an entire Waseem wasn’t let go, I feel identity? í When Qandeel was killed, a lot victim in newspapers. If there is a reading the book, or when women ■ It is published nation transfixed with her risqué terrible for Qandeel’s parents, í Qandeel tried curating a ‘classy’ of men and women, who had picture of a woman in a swimsuit reach out to me and say, “I really under a How I’m looking? YouTube videos. who were judged when they asked image of herself because she criticised and judged her in the or a very revealing dress, there judged Qandeel and I did think different title Qandeel had over 8,00,000 for their son to be pardoned. understood this inherent bias that past, did come forward and say, would be a fair amount of outrage. that she was really slutty and just — A Woman Like Her — in followers on Facebook and over When you meet them you see people from a certain strata of “We now see meaning in what she We are more likely to be an attention grabber. But well, I the U.S. and 40,000 followers on Twitter at the where they are coming from and society are allowed to behave in was doing. She was brave and just comfortable looking at a dead actually didn’t know very much the U.K. time of her death: unprecedented how this has destroyed their lives. certain ways. A wealthy wanted freedom. We really woman than an overtly sexual about her life.”

Uprising People come together in Chief Ministers, with whom the BJP was in Guwahati and Delhi to protest the alliance at one time or another, continue to Citizenship Amendment Act. * PTI & be under preventive detention. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA Instead of dealing with people and is­ sues on the ground, the government simply responds to all criticism by pointing out that The Assam agitation had led to the crea­ ending Kashmir’s special status and bring­ tion of the United Liberation Front of Assam ing in the CAA have been BJP’s political (ULFA) that had once wanted the secession agenda for decades. of Assam from India, but eventually crum­ In Jammu and Kashmir, BJP’s alliance bled from within when the political accord with Mehbooba Mufti’s party must have was reached. convinced it that it could never come to power in the State without a base in the Val­ An accord killed ley. Clearly, this led to the precipitous move By enacting the CAA, the government has to abrogate Article 370 and to bifurcate the rendered the 1971 ‘cut­off’ date in the Assam State. Accord redundant. The new cut­off date al­ lows migrants to gain citizenship if they A mockery have come into the country until December And in Assam, the BJP mistook its growing 31, 2014. In fact, the CAA has effectively electoral clout as popular support, and killed the Accord. made a mockery of the sentiments of the If Assam was on the boil in the 1980s, it Assamese people, who now feel betrayed was Kashmir in the 1990s. In both places a by the party. measure of peace was achieved after a great The Indian mosaic, how ever fissured, deal of unrest and blood­letting. The pre­ has been held together by a series of com­ sent government, in dealing with Kashmir promises and concessions made by both and Assam, both sensitive and volatile parts authorities and agitators in different parts of the country, has shown a singular lack of of the country. Today, the path to dialogue, interest in either consulting political lead­ especially in Kashmir, is closed. We don’t ers, civil society groups, or reaching out to know what will happen in Assam, as its fu­ people. ture is now tied up by the national CAA. As­ As this piece is written, three elected sam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC), a messy and painful exercise, led and super­ vised by an Assamese Chief Justice, has been thrown to the winds by the Modi­Shah OFF-CENTRE government, which now promises a new NRC with a fresh cut­off date. Can there be a more arbitrary exercise of power? Mean­ while, the man who led the NRC, civil ser­ vant Prateek Hajela, has been banished to Madhya Pradesh. Idea of a monochromatic India A new Delhi is creating a monochromat­ ic nation under a leadership whose overrid­ Kashmir and Assam are just the first two test cases in the vision to exclude Muslims ing vision appears to be one that excludes Muslims altogether. Kashmir and Assam are just the first two test cases for this vision. Amit Baruah ed’, people get the sense that the Central go­ Rajiv Gandhi government and the All­Assam The entire idea of the nation, as envisaged vernment is actually furious that they en­ Students’ Union (AASU), and which had by our Constitution, is being upended un­ ntegration’. That is what ending joyed a version of (progressively diluted) been preceded by enormous turmoil. der the guise of protecting persecuted mi­ Jammu and Kashmir’s special status autonomy over the years; that they now After the horrific massacres of Nellie and norities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and If Assam was was about. ‘Protection’ and ‘safe­ have to pay for what was once constitution­ Gohpur in 1983, the anger on the streets of Afghanistan. on the boil in guarding’ the rights of people in the ally and legally extended to them. Assam, and the general disruption of life for Across India, students and ordinary citi­ the 1980s, it Northeast. That is what the Citizen­ And in the Northeast, and specifically in years, the Assam Accord came as a much­ zens have taken to the streets to protest the ‘ship Amendment Act (CAA) is about. I Or so Assam, the Centre has torpedoed the 1985 needed, if partial, balm that ended the agi­ CAA. Going by their courage and resolution, was Kashmir says the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Assam Accord, which came about as the re­ tation and handed political power to AASU this new idea of India might not be so easy in the 1990s But in Kashmir, far from feeling ‘integrat­ sult of prolonged negotiations between the leaders. to implement.

CM ND-X YK