SOUTH ASIA PROGRAM 2019 BULLETIN TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES 2 ANNOUNCEMENTS 27 A Visit to the Varanasi Archives Recent Retirees Governing Water in Tiruppur National Resource Center Grant India’s Malnutrition Puzzle Introducing New Staff IARD 2019 Tamil Nadu Collaboration Jim Gair Collection Connecting Modern Art Histories 170 Uris Hall Cornell India Law Center Established Cornell University NEWS 10 Student Awards Ithaca, New York 14853-7601 Community Presentations at NFLC Phone: 607-255-8923 Tea High and Low Conference ACHIEVEMENTS 33 Fax: 607-254-5000 2018 South Asian Studies Fellows Selected Faculty Publications [email protected] Borders: Real and Imagined TCI Scholars Recently Graduated Students Iftikhar Dadi, Director EVENTS 16 FLAS Fellows Phone: 607-255-8909 Manto screening Visiting Scholars [email protected] Arts events and concerts Traded Treasures SAP Events Recap Daniel Bass, Manager Tagore Lecture Phone: 607-255-8923 2019-2020 South Asian Studies Fellows [email protected] OUTREACH 23 sap.einaudi.cornell.edu ISSI 2019: Cultural Sustainability New Internationalization Fellowships Cover: India, Gujarat, made for the Music in South India eastern Indonesian market (Toraja) Maa’ ceremonial cloth with Monsoon Radio design of trees (detail), possibly 17th century Afterschool Language and Culture Program Cotton (plain weave), hand-painted mordant-dyed and resist-dyed Speaking of Language Collection of Banoo and Jeevak Parpia. Photo credit: David O. Brown, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Inside Front Cover: Father Door and Children Doors, photo by Nipun Prabhakar 18 Traded Treasures From the Director Iftikhar Dadi he South Asia Program had focus on Nepal and Himalayan Studies facing today remains one whose scale is a busy year in 2018-2019. remains in a transitional state, due to far larger than the framework in which We offered a rich ensemble recent faculty retirements. nation-states currently operate. Similarly, of lectures and panel Notable speakers included the the magnificent Traded Treasure: Indian discussions (p. 20), sponsored critically acclaimed actor and director Textile for Global Markets exhibition at Tconferences (p. 11-13, 15), and hosted a Nandita Das, who presented Manto, her the Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art diverse group of scholars and artists most recently directed film. In a long and showcased how South Asia has been (p. 36). We continued our support engaging discussion after the screening deeply embedded in global circuits of for faculty teaching and research, with a large audience of students, faculty trade across centuries (p. 18-19, front and the promotion of language study and members of the Ithaca community, and back cover). The technological and (p. 35). And we maintained our co- Das explained the motivations that led aesthetic sophistication of these fabrics sponsorship of cultural and educational her to conceive and direct this labor in addressing the nuances of each market programming by the many South Asia of love (p. 17). The short story writer they engaged with is indeed remarkable. focused student groups on campus. Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was a Acclaimed novelist Neel Mukherjee’s Our outreach efforts to K-12 (p. 26), as prolific author, who wrote about socially brilliant presentation in September 2018 well as community college, and teacher marginal characters from all religious marked a milestone, being the 10th speaker education communities have recently groups with humor and sympathy, and in our annual Tagore Lecture Series (p. 16). been enhanced by the addition of Kathi also worked in Bombay cinema during We look forward to the presentation by Colen Peck at the Einaudi Center (p. 22, the 1940s. It is, however, his unsparing the equally accomplished Anuradha Roy 29). The South Asian Studies Fellowship, accounts laced with black humor of the on September 20, 2019 (p. 21). now in its third year, continues to attract Partition of India and its aftermath, The South Asia Program is ably emerging artists, writers, and scholars which forced him to leave Bombay for served by Manager Daniel Bass, who from across South Asia, who spend 8 Lahore, that constitute some of the most also moonlights on WRFI every other to 12 weeks in Ithaca to engage more profound artistic responses to the trauma Tuesday evening to present South Asian deeply with their work in the university of the Partition on everyday lives. For music to Ithaca listeners (p. 25), and environment (p. 14, 22). Das, Manto’s unsparing truth-telling our new Administrative Assistant Gloria Cornell’s engagement with South makes him a persona who is needed Lemus-Chavez (p. 29). I thank the SAP Asia continues to deepen across colleges more than ever, in our era increasingly Steering Committee and the external and departments. CALS has a new saturated with insular media narratives. Advisory Council for their guidance. agreement to collaborate on climate- The Harvard historian Sunil Amrith Finally, we look forward to working smart agriculture in Tamil Nadu (p. 29), is among the foremost scholars in the closely with Rachel Beatty Riedl, the new and the Cornell India Law Center was emerging field of environmental history Director of the Mario Einaudi Center recently established (p. 31). This is in (p. 16). His talk on the Indian Ocean in for International Studies, to continue to addition to the expanded work by the a longer historical register, “Monsoon develop the South Asia Program in the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture Asia,” not only revealed new relationships coming years. and Nutrition (TCI) (p. 6-7, 34), and the between people and climate in the Nilgiris Field Learning Center (NFLC) past, but served as a reminder that the (p. 10). However, our longstanding challenge of climate change that we are 1 FEATURES NOTES FROM THE FIELD: A Visit to the Varanasi Archives by Kelsey Utne Entrance to the Varanasi archives did not expect a response when I emailed Firdous Azmat India on research fellowships from the American Institute Siddique, but I had to try. Previous experience living of Indian Studies. Rice was unfailingly generous with her and researching in India had taught me that “cold call” enthusiasm for a dissertation project that I felt kept shifting emails rarely garnered a response. But Siddique’s surveys beneath my feet. We swapped stories about past trips to India Iof Muslim women migrants from Uttar Pradesh highlighted and wrestled with our current research conundrums. Having access to burial grounds as the chief concern among the now traveled in India significantly more than I had, Rice’s advice Delhi-based community. Working on my dissertation on the was sound. I should have listened. commemoration of the dead in twentieth century India, I Frugal with my time and funding, I booked an overnight needed to at least try to meet with the Jamia Millia Islamia bus from Delhi to Varanasi. It had been six years since my University professor while I was in India. Within a day of my last overnight bus in India, but I distinctly remembered the initial email, Siddique invited me for chai the following week bunk being comfortable when I had traveled in Maharashtra at her office in JMIU’s Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s from Mumbai to Aurangabad. A German friend of mine Studies. After over an hour of recommendations, advice, and had not complained when she travelled by bus to Varanasi copious chai, she offered to introduce me to the archivist only one week before. For less than $20 I could fall asleep in at Uttar Pradesh’s Regional Archive in Varanasi. They had Delhi and wake up in Varanasi the next morning. It was the completed their doctorates together at the University of best of all worlds: I did not lose a valuable workday traveling Allahabad and remained close friends. and conserved my precious fellowship stipend. That was the But I have a confession to make: until chai with Siddique, theory at least. Despite better than average online reviews, I was not keen on the over twelve-hour bus ride from Delhi the bunks of the overnight bus were not what I remembered. to Varanasi in search of this archive. I was not even certain of I also did not know at the time that there is a substantial gap where it was in the city. The UP archives website has not been between highway quality in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. updated since 2013, and its contact information was accordingly Extraordinarily sleep-deprived and hungry, I reached out of date. The given address for the Varanasi Archive —like Varanasi in one piece. many addresses in India— held no meaning for Google Maps. After checking into a backpacker hostel near Chet Singh Many researchers visit the main archives in Lucknow, but the Fort, I devoured three bananas and sent a WhatsApp message three regional archives in Allahabad, Agra, and Varanasi are far to Harendra Singh, the archivist for the UP Regional Archive less well tread territory. As a result, their archival collections in Varanasi. Since I had not been able to locate the official present both opportunity and challenge for researchers. A address on a map, Singh provided directions: “Come to Sigra. WhatsApp introduction with the archivist? That was worth its Opposite to Bata shoes.” Sigra is a bustling commercial area virtual weight in gold. and I was uncertain if that was enough information to negotiate “Spend the extra money to book a flight. It’s worth it.” Yael an auto-rickshaw in this new (to me) city. A few second later, my Rice told me over dosas. A professor of art history at Amherst phone beeped again. Singh had sent his precise location using College, Rice and I had been Twitter friends for a while. Now the WhatsApp live location sharing feature, which could launch we were finally able to meet in person since we were both in Google Maps with a pinpoint showing me exactly where he 2 Working at Harendra Singh’s desk Entrance to the Varanasi Archives (and his phone) was at the time.