www.openthemagazine.com 50 30 NOVEMBER /2020 OPEN VOLUME 12 ISSUE 47 30 NOVEMBER 2020 CONTENTS 30 NOVEMBER 2020 6 9 14 16 18 20 22 24 LOCOMOTIF OPEN DIARY THE INSIDER INDIAN THE RACHEL CENTRE STAGE WHISPERER OPEN ESSAY Dreams from Obama By Swapan Dasgupta By PR Ramesh ACCENTS PAPERS The evoluti0n of a By Jayanta Ghoshal Dishy Rishi By S Prasannarajan The force of destiny The sacred feminine Prime Minister makes a point By Bibek Debroy By Rachel Dwyer By Minhaz Merchant By Sunanda K Datta-Ray 28 28 WHY BJP WINS Because teamwork is central to Hindu nationalism By Vinay Sitapati 36 ADVANTAGE ADITYANATH As the chief minister’s approval ratings rise, the divided opposition in Uttar Pradesh is scrambling for the anti-BJP vote By Amita Shah 40 THE TWIN ENGINES OF REVIVAL The Government now has the resources and the manoeuvrability to spend its way out of the crisis By Siddharth Singh 52 36 44 CORAL RELIEF How researchers in India are relocating corals to facilitate urban projects and protect the reefs By Lhendup G Bhutia 56 48 SAY CHEESE, INDIA Changing urban lifestyle gives the emerging market of local artisan cheeses a boost By V Shoba 6 52 56 60 62 64 65 66 ‘WE DISCOVERED RAYS OF LIGHT IN HIGH SPIRITS PROSE & POLITICS MUM IS THE WORD ON HER NOT PEOPLE THE NUANCES OF Satyajit Ray A great mountain Myopic versions An extraordinary OWN TERMS LIKE US THEIR MARRIAGE’ and Soumitra runner relives By Siddharth Singh novel on toxic An autobiography Up and running Emma Corrin and Josh Chatterjee showed the romance relationships in of lived freedoms By Rajeev Masand O’Connor on playing what it is to be a man of ascending a family By Zakia Soman Charles and Diana in modern India By Shail Desai By Sharanya Manivannan By Rajeev Masand By Kaveree Bamzai Cover by Saurabh Singh 30 NOVEMBER 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 3 OPEN MAIL [email protected] EDITOR S Prasannarajan LETTER OF THE WEEK MANAGING EDITOR PR Ramesh C EXECUTIVE EDITOR Ullekh NP Navigating the lockdown has been no easy task for EDITOR-AT-LARGE Siddharth Singh DEPUTY EDITORS Madhavankutty Pillai most of us. But for some, it has been traumatic. The (Mumbai Bureau Chief), pandemic is likely to leave its mark on all of us in Rahul Pandita, Amita Shah, V Shoba (Bangalore), Nandini Nair just about every field—be it the way we work, trade, CREATIVE DIRECTOR Rohit Chawla shop or even entertain or marry. ‘Man was made for ART DIRECTOR Jyoti K Singh SENIOR EDITORS Sudeep Paul, conflict, not for rest’, wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. Lhendup Gyatso Bhutia (Mumbai), His words ring truer than ever today. As we come Moinak Mitra, Nikita Doval AssOCIATE EDITOR Vijay K Soni (Web) to terms with the fact that Covid-19 may not be a ASSISTANT EDITOR Vipul Vivek short-term affliction but a new state of reality, the new CHIEF OF GRAPHICS Saurabh Singh normal, mankind is slowly gearing up to deal with SENIOR DESIGNERS Anup Banerjee, Veer Pal Singh a very uncertain future. As we gasp for breath, as we PHOTO EDITOR Raul Irani tune in ourselves to the new reality, we desperately DEPUTY PHOTO EDITOR Ashish Sharma explore new possibilities, trying to go ‘beyond the NATIONAL HEAD-EVENTS AND INITIATIVES utmost bound of human thought’. It is not for nothing their weaknesses. With the Arpita Sachin Ahuja AVP (ADVERTISING) that Shakespeare’s words ‘sweet are the uses of main opposition parties Rashmi Lata Swarup adversity’, have become immortal. Surely adversity, losing their credibility, the GENERAL MANAGERS (ADVERTISING) Uma Srinivasan (South) however painful and devastating, can kick-start new BJP is surging ahead by the opportunities (‘The Uses of Adversity’, November strength of its strategies. The NATIONAL HEAD-DISTRIBUTION AND SALES Ajay Gupta 23rd, 2020), making us initiate new processes, getting more the opposition tries to REGIONAL HEADS-CIRCULATION D Charles (South), Melvin George us to somehow innovate, unveil a brand new plan. taint Modi without logic, his (West), Basab Ghosh (East) This could be because of the simple reason that when persona only gets stronger. HEAD-PRODUCTION Maneesh Tyagi the times are good, we are almost running through His nationalist credentials SENIOR MANAGER (PRE-PRESS) Sharad Tailang our lives on autopilot. Any upheaval challenges our are impeccable. MANAGER-MARKETING complacent attitudes, making us face new problems Bholey Bhardwaj Priya Singh CHIEF DESIGNER-MARKETING and find newer solutions. Why did it need a pandemic Champak Bhattacharjee for us to realise that in so many jobs, work from The NDA succeeded in CFO & HEAD-IT Anil Bisht home was a time-saving, energy-saving, pollution- winning the Bihar Assembly CHIEF EXECUTIVE & PUBLISHER preventing, economical option? Hundreds of women elections against all odds Neeraja Chawla in a small town in Bihar have formed a cooperative to and Narendra Modi deserves All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner hand-stitch masks, a product high in demand these full credit for this win. On is prohibited. days and, in the bargain, achieved financial freedom the ground, farmers and the Editor: S Prasannarajan. Printed and published by Neeraja Chawla on behalf probably for the first time in life. It is a huge poor seem to be happy with of the owner, Open Media Network Pvt Ltd. Printed at Thomson Press India Ltd, ‘Yes, we can’ moment for them in the midst of this the schemes launched by 18-35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Road, Faridabad-121007, (Haryana). adversity because, besides making money, they have Modi during the lockdown, Published at 4, DDA Commercial been able to upturn greatly exploitative paradigms. including free foodgrains and Complex, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110017. When we face adversity upfront, we do find a way cash transfer. Ph: (011) 48500500; Fax: (011) 48500599 to overcome it. As Marcus Aurelius said, Akash Srivastava To subscribe, WhatsApp ‘openmag’ to 9999800012 or log on to ‘The impediment to action advances action..... www.openthemagazine.com COMIC RELIEF or call our Toll Free Number what stands in the way, becomes the way.’ 1800 102 7510 Sangeeta Kampani When funny man Vir Das or email at: [email protected] talks of why the pandemic For alliances, email [email protected] has been the biggest turning For advertising, email point in his life (‘As an Artist [email protected] For any other queries/observations, CLEAN SWEEP surprise win in the Dubbaka I Don’t Have a Lot of Fear email [email protected] With almost all poll pundits bypoll in Telangana in Anymore’, November 23rd, predicting the NDA would K Chandrashekar Rao’s own 2020), it is time to sit up and Disclaimer ‘Open Avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing lose the Bihar elections bastion, attest to Narendra listen. It is a rare quality initiatives and Open assumes no responsibility for content and the consequences of using (‘It’s the Modi Surge, Still’, Modi’s continued ascent. to make others laugh in products or services advertised in the magazine November 23rd, 2020), they The Prime Minister’s such dreadful times but the Volume 12 Issue 47 were not only proved wrong surge has less to do with actor-comedian has gone the For the week 24-30 November 2020 but the BJP’s thumping his oratorical skills than whole hog to remove fear Total No. of pages 68 victories in Gujarat, Madhya his understanding of all from his lexicon. Pradesh, Karnataka, and a the opposition parties and Somnath Das 4 30 NOVEMBER 2020 “THE NATION IS EVOLVING AND SO ARE YOU" OPEN brings to you, your weekly thought stimulant Pick up and subscribe your copy today Read [ No one makes an argument better than us ] www.openthemagazine.com To subscribe, ‘openmag’ to 9999800012 openthemagazine openthemag Available as an e-magazine for tablets, mobiles and desktops via Magzter LOCOMOTIF By S PRASANNARAJAN DREAMS FROM OBAMA he epiphany came during that flight back was 21 and a loner by choice in New York when his home from the 2000 Democratic National aunt called from Nairobi to tell him that his father, a Convention in L.A. Barack Obama went Kenyan, was dead. He “sat down on the couch, smelling there with a friend who thought that the eggs burn in the kitchen, staring at cracks in the plaster, trip would cheer him up after his disastrous trying to measure my loss.” His father left him when he performance in the contest for Congress. was a two-year-old in Hawaii. Father grew within him as a TThe accusation by the rival campaign still resonated in story, a myth, a photograph. “That my father looked noth- his head: “Obama’s an outsider; he’s backed by white folks; he’s ing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, a Harvard elitist. And that name—is he even Black?” At the my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind.” Convention, it was further humiliation. When he landed It wouldn’t be long before inheritance became the mean- at the airport, he couldn’t rent a car because he had crossed ing of his journeys. There were painful revelations along the credit limit of his Amex card. He was denied access to the way. One such moment came in Indonesia, the country the convention floor; his friend couldn’t even get him into of his stepfather, when he was waiting for his mother in a party that night. Next day he left for home as Al Gore the library of the American embassy. In one of the most was accepting the nomination.