VOLUME 33

marginalia50 YEARS OF CHANGEMAKERS

2019 -2020

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DIRECTOR, SOPHIA POLYTECHNIC ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF DR. (SR.) ANILA VERGHESE DINKAR SUTAR GRACY VAZ SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA DEPARTMENT NILESH CORREIA NEETA SHAH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT NIRMITA GUPTA STUDENT EDITORS ANJALI AWASTHI CORE FACULTY KAREN DSOUZA NIRMITA GUPTA PRABHAT NAMBIAR SHYMA RAJAGOPAL SUKANYA DEB SUSANNA CHERIAN VISITING FACULTY TANISHA LELE

ALKA KHANDELWAL CONSULTANT PHOTO EDITOR ANUSHKA SHIVDASANI SHRADDHA BHARGAVA ARWA MAMAJI DR. SUNITHA CHITRAPU PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR GEETA RAO SIMRAN DANG JEROO MULLA JERRY PINTO PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM MAYANK SEN AKANSHA NEGI NIKHIL RAWAL ATUL KASARE P. SAINATH AYUSHA BHAGAT PARTH VYAS NAVYA BHATNAGAR RABINDRA HAZARI PRATEEK GAUTAM SHOLA RAJACHANDRAN SWEEKRITI TIWARI SMRUTI KOPPIKAR SONALINI MIRCHANDANI PRODUCTION SRUTI VISWESWARAN ANURADHA NAGAR SUNAYANA SADARANGANI NAYNA AGRAWAL SURESH VENKAT DESIGN MAGAZINE PROJECT IN-CHARGE TANVI SHAH JERRY PINTO

COVER DESIGN KUMAR GAUTAM PRATEEK BHOOMI MISTRY

1 MARGINALIA 2019-2020

EDITORIAL

KNOWING OURSELVES

e’re heading out soon. Some of us want to be news reporters, documentarians, copywriters, musicians, dancers, photographers, cinematographers, directors, meme magi, but who are we, if not storytellers? Forced out of the comfort of a classroom, as SCM students we were pitched headfirst into the real world. It wasW not only about awareness but also about taking charge! Starting off with a fun-filled treasure hunt (more about which you will read in these pages), the work quickly became taxing, exactly as we had been warned. “Go out and figure it out for yourselves,” we were told. It required a lot of learning and unlearning. Struggles, blunders, deadlines: somewhere in the middle we found our way around the media space and discovered what it takes to tell a story. The assignments took us from the glamour of Malabar Hill and Bandra to the labyrinthine streets of Kamathipura and Dharavi in the quest of a story. We spoke to people. We made films and news features. In short, we became the storytellers. However, in the world that we live in, there are stories that demand attention but never see the light of the day. These are issues that we discovered we were unaware or apathetic to -- gender identities and biases, caste-based oppression, occupations and cultures fighting a losing battle against the changing times. As the Italian poet Dante Alighieri puts it, “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” Taking this to heart, we resolved to make these voices heard. This belief led to the conception of the 33rd edition of Marginalia. This year, which also happens to be the 50th year of SCM creating media marvels, has been special. It was not only about awareness but also taking charge by the Golden Batch! With cries of national pride and freedom rending the air owing to the current political scenario, we have, in this edition, portrayed different aspects of our nation and its vibrant culture: the tantalising spices of the East Indians, the profound verses of Sant Kabir, the enthralling powadas celebrating the lives of legends and songs inspiring the masses to put forward their voices of dissent. We bring to light Bipin Awasthi’s journey after years of drug abuse, Prateek Gautam’s take on veganism and the (dis)connect with Dalit culture, the sustainable fashion movement. We have stories from Indore and Pondicherry too. Along with it, learn what goes through Anand Patwardhan’s mind as he films documentaries, cinematographer Modhura Palit’s success story and dialogue coach Vikas Kumar’s fun- filled exercises to help the students unwind after the intense workload that only comes with working in the media industry. The batch of 2019-20 aspires to be the future changemakers of society by sharing these stories. While we understand that it is impossible to cover all the stories, we hope that the ones we did help make a difference in the world, however minuscule. We present to you the 2019-20 edition of Marginalia. Have a good read and remember: It’s yours, take charge of it!

Prabhat Nambiar, Sukanya Deb, Tanisha Lele,

SUKANYA DEB SUKANYA Anjali Awasthi, Karen Dsouza, Susanna Cherian

3 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Marginalia Volume 33

42 44 An impulse to ride Mumbai before sunrise By Prabhat Nambiar By Sukanaya Deb and Simran Dang

03 Knowing Ourselves 20 !0 tips for a sustainable by Anjali Awasthi, Karen Dsouza, wardrobe Prabhat Nambiar, Sukanaya Deb, By Bhoomi Mistry Susanna Cherian, Tanisha Lele 22 All people together 06 50 years as Changemakers By Susanna Cherian By Nirmita Gupta 24 The economics of fat-shaming 07 “8 am sharp” By Karen Dsouza By Anjali Awasthi 26 The little village in the big city 08 Being a Dalit and a vegan By Sukanya Deb By Prateek Kumar Gautam 29 Messages from the past 12 On my own By Navya Sahai Bhatnagar By Nayna Agrawal 30 Decoding digital marketing 15 How to be a citizen By Nirmiti Kamat By Arshi Khan 32 Outdoors in Indore 16 The Afterlife of Bipin Awasthi By Shreya Khare By Anjali Awasthi 34 The Bechdel Test 18 Written in steel By Tanisha Lele By Nirmiti Kamat 36 Stuck in Between 19 The rise of Carrie-Brings-Her- By Sakshi Sharma Own-Bag-shaw By Bhoomi Mistry 37 From Calcutta to Cannes: Modhura Palit’s journey 19 Fashion forward By Sweekriti Tiwari By Bhoomi Mistry

4 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 contents

54 62 Bottled up! Catalysts of Change By Karen Dsouza By Anjali Awasthi

39 Feed the hungry, teach the kids 58 SCM begins with an adventure By Anuradha Nagar By Karen Dsouza

40 How to be a Struggler 58 Into the mud By Akansha Negi By Nayna Agrawal

MY SPACE 59 Finding the storyteller in each 50 Couplets of Kabir of us By Anjali Awasthi and By Sukanya Deb Sweekriti Tiwari 60 Empowerment at your 50 A sound of my city fingertips By Simran Dang By Anuradha Nagar

51 Worship Music 60 Bachi Karkaria By Susanna Cherian By By Karen Dsouza and Anjali Awasthi 52 Life through embroidery By Bhoomi Mistry 61 Strictly Speaking By Tanisha Lele 53 How far have we reached walking alone? 62 In the eye of the storm By Sukanya Deb By Prateek Kumar Gautam and Simran Dang 55 Powada: the heroic ballads! By Tanisha Lele

56 Drumming out the divide By Prabhat Nambiar

57 Who has the right to grieve? By Sweekriti Tiwari

5 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 SCMSPEAK 50 years as Changemakers

What worries us is the thought that we still need to work at empowering women, 50 years on. Technology has become a double- edged sword in most of our lives. We are more and more dependent on it. It has made life easy for us. Don’t know something? JFGI (Urban dictionary explains it as Just f*&#king Google it); Don’t have something? Order it online. The new genie in our live is AI and we promptly get bombarded with ads on something we wish for. (I couldn’t take a holiday this year and in a conversation with a friend just mentioned how I would like to go deep sea diving and voila! my phone told me to visit Maldives and holiday in Australia. Just rubbing it in!) Advertising is getting reduced to putting messages on Google, Facebook and Amazon. With a few more platforms thrown in. Netflix, Prime and some other platforms threaten to re-shape the entire media world as we know it, as they are ad free and, surprise, surprise, still making profits! So how will we remain relevant as a media institute? Do values and ethics get dated? If not, we need not his is the 50th year of worry. We are adapting ourselves to the Sophia Shree B the new world and learn while we K Somani Memorial teach, that a lot of news is now being Polytechnic and SCM. shot on phone, in the vertical format When we talk about and subtitled for the zombies who celebrating 50 years of consume it on the phone, on mute, Ta post-graduate programme, we are while they go about doing their thing, actually talking about the journey of including sitting in your class! We empowering the first generation of enroll #motherwithasign to make women born in Independent India. A them read messages that all mothers powerful reality of SCM. say anyway. We are considering The year began with the starting a feed #teacherswithasign. celebrating our Changemakers, a Here’s to the 2020 issue of time at once immensely uplifting and Marginalia. Happy reading. personally humbling, to see so many of us are changemakers, charting new territories and excelling in their chosen fields. We continue the process of empowering the next class of students, and reiterate our brand purpose - to empower women; we have done this Nirmita Gupta for 50 years and will continue to do so. Head, SCMSophia

6 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 In-house confidence to speak up. This helped me a lot during my assignments 8 am Sharp! where I had to interview people like politicians, police and celebrities”. “A unique person and an Anjali Awasthi and Prabhat Nambiar talk extraordinary teacher. His lectures were like a magnet which dragged all about a teacher at SCM Sophia who is quite of us at 8 am sharp to the class. Missing unlike anyone they have ever met. out his one lecture felt like a loss of so many life lessons. He taught me not to be successful but to be extraordinary. muster up your pent-up rage and say The level of energy and enthusiasm “F*&k you!” to his face! with which he conducts his lectures And then class commences. Is is beyond words. One of the major there a syllabus that he follows? No! things that I am going to miss after We discuss the latest happenings, he SCM is him. I dreamed that I too have shares stories from his childhood, life a teacher who is known and acclaimed as a journalist, feminism and women’s on a global level for his work and that rights--practically every topic under for me, it is him. He once told me, not the sun! How, we do not know, but he to call him ‘Sir’, to address our teacher has perfected the knack of using these as ‘sir’. He asked us to use it only when stories to incorporate media ethics, we respect that word and understand journalism and life skills. Beware what it really means. So, Sir, I am though! There is a trick involved fortunate that I got my life lessons in these classes. You HAVE to take or teachings from you. I will be kind everything he says with a pinch of salt, because you taught me to be kind. because he deliberately gives false Thank you,” says Shreya Khare. information. Thus, he gets us to start This does not mean that all his thinking critically and encourages classes were about him telling stories us to call out on it. “Keep your mind and laugh riots. True to the extreme awake at all times!” nature of this one-year course, he has As a teacher for more than 25 years been pushing us to get the best quality at SCMSophia, he knows that students journalistic work done. are easily bored, and can grow drowsy On the first day, right off the bat, he t all began on June 24, the or distracted. To remedy this, he has tasked us students with interviewing first day of the academic year the solution: entertainment. This each other and just as we were of 2019-’20 at SCM, Sophia includes singing, dancing around the reeling from the pressure of it, he Polytechnic. We had already class, practically anything you would nonchalantly asked us to interview been warned by the alums to not expect a conventional teacher a celebrity, and then a politician. never, EVER, be late for this to do. You would think that this We were apprehensive but he was Iparticular class because tardiness was teacher, the recipient of the Sahitya confident we could do it. “You’ll be unacceptable this teacher. We were Akademi Award, the Hindu Literary surprised by what you are capable of.” just trying to get used to the new place, Prize, Windham–Campbell Literature Try we did, and boy, were we amazed the new faces, but nothing could have Prize and other accolades, would be at what we managed to do! We already prepared us for the teacher who darted a lot more ‘conventional’. No. For his had the skills at our disposal, all we into the classroom--at 8am sharp. students no amount of energy is too needed was to persevere and stick our Before he had even put his bag down much so long as they learn to become necks out. This is what he made us do. on the table, he set about announcing better versions of themselves-- Looking back at all the work done the rules in a booming voice, “Time is professionally or personally. His -- the assignments on places, on social non-negotiable! If you’re not in class students are testaments to his unique issues, on our mothers, a book on before 8, don’t come in.” teaching style. women who tried to bring a change “You will be reading the newspaper Sukanya Deb says, “There have through their craft, the songs on every day for at least thirty minutes.” been many instances when he culture and national integration sung “If you’re in my class, you have mentioned about motherhood. Those -- we have definitely come a long way. to ask questions, and ask them out words have stayed with me. No matter We know that we still have a long way loud. You’re media professionals in how much he tries to rationalise to go but we are already aware of the the making! YOU MUST LEARN TO things and happenings of the world, keys to success, thanks to him. COMMUNICATE!” every time he talks about motherhood, Words on paper would simply do no “You will respect what your there is a deep attachment. He always justice to the amazing teacher that he classmates are saying. You will learn as says ‘Mothers choose to be the second- is. However, if these words do manage much from them as from any teacher.” class citizens in their own lives for to get that awesomeness across, it is He firmly believes that students their children,’ and that made me solely because of him. Thank you for must question authority and not more grateful for all the little things your faith and your perseverance to respect the teachers just because they my mother has done for me.” make us better versions of ourselves. are teachers. For this, he has a simple Prateek Gautam says “The very first (P.S. We would have written more

exercise: Look straight into his face, thing I learned from his class was the but can’t risk missing the 8 am class!) BHOOMI MISTRY BY ILLUSTATION

7 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Liberation I am a vegan. I am also a Dalit. GOT A PROBLEM? Prateek Kumar Gautam on some tough choices he has had to make.

hen someone that I have faced based just on my upper castes and I would be sidelined reads or sees identity which made me go vegan. I or shooed away, similar to the way a term like am going to talk about my transition people treat street dogs. That was veganism, they to veganism and the problems I face one of the first incidents I can recall usually make as a Dalit vegan from all three groups where I made a connection with a up an image of people i.e. non-vegans, savarnas, species who was marginalized like I inW their mind of a bourgeois, upper specially Brahmin vegans, fellow was. Slowly, this connection grew and caste, privileged guy, sitting in an Ambedkarites, Dalit activists and the I started looking at other animals the air-conditioned room completely community. same way as people deal with me or out of touch with ground realities. I don’t really love animals, but I behave with me. From being forced to So, before you start to do that, let don’t hate them either. Still, as a kid pick up and clean shit in third grade in me introduce myself, I am Prateek growing up, I could feel the similarities front of the whole class, being bullied Gautam, I am a Dalit, I come from a between their suffering as a species, in class by my classmates based on my middle-class family and I don’t have and mine as an individual. The idea of identity to coming home and listening an air conditioner at home. At first, I caste and identity was introduced to to pigs being tortured and bullied in don’t look like a Dalit because that’s me so early that I don’t remember who a similar way, somewhere I made a not the image portrayed by the media. told me about this first, my family or deeper connection and decided to do We are always shown as dirty, poor the people in my neighbourhood. Soon, something about it when I grew up. helpless victims of casteism powerless this identity followed me everywhere My community depends on animals to defend themselves. So, when I from classroom to playground. Kids and their products so much that even say I am a Dalit, people are usually from my neighbourhood who were though I had some sort of a soft spot for surprised. Still, this has not stopped otherwise good friends wouldn’t play other animals, I couldn’t do much. It the discrimination and humiliation with me because they belonged to was only after I joined my engineering

8 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 because of my decision of going vegan animals lived. Palm oil, for example, itself. My mother and father were as according to worldexports.com, India disappointed as if I had dropped out of imported around 17% of its total palm my engineering course. So I faced, and oil from Indonesia. The main threat to still face, three kinds of groups almost the survival of orangutan populations every day. in the wild is the massive expansion First: Non-vegans, who have little of palm oil plantations in Borneo and to no idea about animal people rights Sumatra. Due to these reasons, most or any other rights for that matter, and vegans avoid alternatives. Alternatives look at animal people as commodities. are not needed, we can do very well They are privileged and feel it’s their without non vegan diet and also right to exploit and consume animals without alternatives as Dr. Michael according to their wishes, which Klaper, a physician and Neal Barnard constitutionally it is. have claimed in the documentary Second: savarna vegans. These are called “What The Health” available on the bunch of people who dominate Netflix. In India, it’s even easier to be the entire vegan movement and use on a plant based diet as so many food veganism to assert their supremacy. items that are plant based are available These people have little to no at affordable prices. Here is a list of contribution to the rights of animal food products that are plant based or people and are associated with right can made plant based by removing wing philosophies and groups like the curd or by replacing it with soya curd RSS. which is similar or sometimes cheaper Third: These are fellow Dalit than regular curd. Others include: activists, Ambedkarites, Liberals, misal pao, vada pao, bhakri bhaji, dal, Marxists, leftists and all the left-leaning roti, chapati, puri bhaji, masala dosa, groups who are open to inclusitivity uttapam, all varieties of vegetables and inter-sectionality but are still not and sprouts, lemon rice, tomato rice, open to see themselves as allies of makke ki roti, pongal rice, all varieties animal people. of idli, which do not include ghee The first group is not really difficult or curd, litti chokha, pootharekulu, to deal with, although it is mentally appam, saambaar, poha etc all these draining to have a conversation with foods are plant based and I’m sure a group of people who give no space there are more options. for dissent and come up with bizarre The most political thing we often arguments like ‘plants have feelings’ as come across when we talk about their ultimate weapon, as if breeding a choice, is a cow. None of us Dalits are sentient being just to sexually exploit allowed to touch or come near her. As it and then murder it is equivalent soon as she is dead however, we are to chopping potatoes. This is also called to clean the ‘filth’. It’s funny how the group that claims that they are sentient beings are valued only when exercising their constitutional rights they can be exploited and as soon as over a sentient being that we treat only they die, their value and holiness also college and moved away from my as a commodity, not realizing that we dies. So, one group treats her as God family that I was able to take some are violating their liberty, freedom and sexually exploits her for milk, decisions without being concerned and rights to make their own choices ghee, butter, and other dairy products. about what people in my family or given by nature. When freedom of They also want her holy skin to be community would say. So, I joined one violates the liberty of another, it tanned and converted into beautiful People for the Ethical Treatment of becomes oppression. It is the same majestic musical instruments. The Animals (PETA) for a very short time as white people claiming their rights other group also wants her flesh, till I realized that they patronize over African American slaves or men apart from dairy products. But nobody animal issues for profit. Through a claiming their rights over women, or wants to know what the cow wants. source, I got to know the word ‘vegan’, Brahmins enslaving Dalits, all of these No one takes her consent in whatever which I confused with ‘vegetarian’, were constitutional or feudal laws they do to her. And if she is not in a but a Google search that took me to once. Another big argument presented position to give consent what does it Dr. Steve Best’s video cleared up the by this group is that plant-based say about us? She is an individual who confusion. (https://www.youtube. alternatives are unaffordable, and the has a right over her own body and com/watch?v=Pr7Ax_p7ocw) Dr. Steve diet is unhealthy. Although veganism children, just like any other sentient Best is a professor of Philosophy at has never been about health or diet, being on earth. No human has any the University Of Texas, who teaches people without proper research right over any other species on this animal rights and veganism along do come up with such arguments. planet. Each sentient species exists with Marxism, Anarchism, Feminism, Alternatives are expensive, and for its own purposes, just like humans Communism, and Postmodernism. So, there are a lot of factors that make it do. This is not to be confused with the the problem started once I became a expensive. Not only are they expensive supremacist and communal ideology vegan, and not because of the lifestyle but they also come from places that use the gaurakshaks carry in order to changes that I had to make but exploited laborers or land where other justify the killing and terrorism they KUMAR GAUTAM PRATEEK

9 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 LIBERATION spread in the name of a living being. anything about liberation movements When it comes to India, this They do not care about cows or other or struggles since they all come from practice of speciesism turns into a animals. Cows are not protected, nor a background that never required casteist one, which I call ‘casteist is any other domestic animal. They are liberation in the first place. They are speciesism’. Under this type of all sexually exploited, tortured, and the reason why the word veganism oppression, each animal person is then murdered by the same people connotes the image I mentioned given a specific value and hence is used who claim to be protecting them. earlier. Therefore, a lot of activists are as a tool to oppress groups of humans Yet another argument this group now focusing more on anti-speciesism and control them. For example, cows makes is that there is not enough rather than just veganism as this word are considered holy and are only plant-based food in the world to feed has now been appropriated by the allowed to be touched or owned by everyone, but this too is futile. In oppressive capitalist system. Brahmins and Vaishyas, no Shudra or the book called ‘Enough: Why the Speciesism is the prejudice Atishudra is ‘allowed’ near her unless World’s Poorest Starve in the Age of humans have towards animals which she is dead. Another example is the Plenty’, authors Roger Throw and Scott means that just because they can’t horse ‘permitted’ to be ridden only by Kilmann talk about how we already go to the moon or climb Mount certain castes. Here not only a human produce 1.5 times the food required Everest or don’t need a sophisticated group is being oppressed but also to feed the current population yet language to communicate, we have those animal people who are enslaved more than 795 million people go the moral right to exploit them and and controlled or used without their hungry. The same thing was said in a treat them as if their sole purpose consent. Brahmin vegans do not care peer-reviewed research paper called on this earth was to be a resource about animal people’s rights or about ‘We Already Grow Enough Food for for human beings. Anti-Speciesism animal people for that matter. The 10 Billion People…and Still Can’t End fights against such prejudices and idea that animal people should be free Hunger’ published in the Journal of also act as an ally for animal people. because they are associated with Gods Sustainable Agriculture, which talks Tiphaine Lagarde, a decolonial, anti– and that they need compassion over about the same problem. It is not speciesist activist says, “The obsession rights is a huge problem. They would the scarcity of food production, but with consumerism and individualism rather consider animal people closer rather consumerism that leads to the emphasizes veganism rather than to them than Dalits, Adivasis and unequal distribution of resources. anti-speciesism, and cares about the Bahujans. Another problematic thing Another factor that leads to this is content of the plate rather than the these vegans do is that they blame animal agriculture itself. According fate of the oppressed. The word vegan Dalits and Adivasis for exploiting to a research paper ‘Compassion in has become a label, a brand, a fashion, animal people without understanding World Farming, Strategic Plan 2013- a community, a trendy hashtag, a or ignoring the relationship between 2017; Fish Count, ‘Farmed Fish’, there social identity, a brand of nobility for animal people and other marginalized are approximately thirty farmed stars, a nice ideological coating to an group in the country. They ignore the animal people for every human on unchanged society.” fact that they are the reason Dalits and earth. These farmed animal people are intentionally bred to be enslaved and used for human consumption. But fish farming uses a ridiculous amount of resources and this further leads to hunger. Tremendous amount of pressure is as a result put on the planet, which we have literally turned into a factory farm. The problem is not limited to your plate, they go much beyond that. It’s funny how petroleum products which are scarce and whose reserves are rapidly depleting, can be transported to the farthest corners of the earth while food which is more essential, is wasted in huge quantities. The next group that I have dealt with are vegans themselves. The movement is in such an initial stage that people belonging to powerful groups such as Brahmins and Savarnas in India, and White people in the West, have dominated it and use it as a tool for supremacy rather than talking about animal people’s rights and total liberation. These are a bunch of people who have appropriated veganism and focus on the consumerist and capitalist thinking that supply and Eggstreme cruelty: Chickens demand can change the way we look at locked in battery cages KASARE ATUL animal people, without understanding

10 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Adivasis are forced to exploit animals lover and not giving me space or by not species to do that. How can someone in the first place. acknowledging the fact that veganism fight for their own freedom by This is how they use this issue to has nothing to do with someone’s enslaving another? These animals are further marginalize us. The vegan individual choice rather than a stand neither our property nor the property movement is so small at the moment for oppressed beings, they do the exact of the Brahmins or any other upper that it is completely filled with such same thing, they fight. I don’t need to caste; they are citizens of the earth just casteist and racist people who are love animal people to speak for them. as we are. We are so selective when it doing whatever they want. The You don’t have to love animal people to comes to tradition and culture because mainstream media has totally bought be a vegan. Do you become a feminist when this tradition and culture forced into this ‘trend’ and is now using it only because you love women? Or are us to be slave of savarnas we broke out as just another product. With all the you anti-caste only because you love of it and are fighting for it but when the things happening and this capitalism Dalits and Adivasis and Bahujans? Do same culture forced us to make certain being such a powerful oppressive you have to love a community or a decisions which treats another group system that it tries to hijack everything group to become their allies or stand in a similar manner we don’t want to for its purpose. It did something here up for them? It’s the same here. move away from it because ‘food is an as well. What rose as an animal rights, What my fellow Dalit activists fail integral part of our culture’. Achieving anti-speciesist movement was quickly to see that veganism is not limited just liberation on the back of another taken over by the big corporate, to plate and diet, it goes much beyond oppressed group is achieving no sidelining the entire movement a lifestyle or a trend. We talk about liberation at all. Dalit vegan activism and commodifying everything. For inclusivity, about intersectionality yet doesn’t play by the rules of the current instance, if you avoid everything that we fail to see the connection between system and considers animals as our comes from animal people you are hundreds of species enslaved, allies. The entire structure of Hinduism still not a vegan, you have to stand commodified, and killed. You see the stands on three main pillars: the caste up for animals and not be ignorant, other side of the people when you system, the exploitation of women you have to be anti-speciesist. We confront them for doing something and animal people, all three are there call them plant based, not vegan. that is oppressive or marginalizes a to benefit only a small set of powerful Almost all the celebrities that we hear community. community. about in the news are plant-based, I saw this happening when I In conclusion, I would like to end not vegan—Virat Kohli is plant-based confronted my casteist upper caste this piece by saying that we may be not vegan, Shahid Kapoor, Anushka friends to stop using casteist slurs looking at the animal rights movement Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi or in the debates against reservation with a wrong lens because of a few Sinha, Amitabh Bachchan, Jacqueline or SC/ST Act, I saw the same pattern elite and privileged people who have Fernandez , John Abraham, they are with my fellow Dalit activists when occupied it and are using it to further not vegan, they are all plant-based. I called myself an ally of animals oppress the same people they are These celebrities either endorse who are oppressed and marginalized claiming to speaking up for, while products that come from enslaved in the same manner we have been also oppressing other groups they are animal people or consume products for thousands of years. In fact, our already exploiting. No problem exists apart from food that comes from them problems are so interconnected in isolation and hence the solution also as well. that we are forced to exploit animal cant be in isolation as well. To my Dalit Jason Gillespie, an Australian people so that only Brahmins and friends and activists, I would like to say cricketer, is vegan and I shall explain upper caste communities can benefit that animals and we, come from the why. Virat Kohli for example, uses pads, from sharing, but my fellow activists same form of oppression, our pain and gloves, bat and ball that are leather fail to see that. We are okay with us sufferings are similar, we are exploited products. Jason Gillespie, on the other being exploited as long as we have in the same way and there is only one hand, rejected all of these and found someone to exploit and benefit from who benefits from it. We cannot fight alternatives, he even designed and at the end, that’s how the entire Brahminism if we play by their rules proposed a synthetic cricket ball that brahminical structure of caste system and accept the values of animals they functions exactly like a leather ball but has been intact for so long. What my provide to us. I would like to quote a of course we have a long way to go for fellow vegan and Dalit activists fail to few lines from the song ‘Suniye Fatime that to be used in regular cricket. understand is that we are still playing Didi’ by Vilas Ghogre, a Dalit poet and The last group that opposes are for the system, we are still playing by a activist who lost his life fighting this my fellow Dalit activists . What my their rules that is, we do what they system : ‘Suniye Fatima Didi, aisi kholi fellow Dalit activists fail to see is that don’t want us to do, ride horses because ke murgi ka dadba, uss dadbe mein veganism is not limited to just plate and that’s somehow represents caste pride, char char parivar, baans ki chatai se diet, it goes much beyond a lifestyle or eat beef because that’s our culture bata karma, suniye Fatima didi’ which or a trend. We talk about inclusivity, and tradition, drink milk or own translates to ‘listen Fatima Didi, my about intersectionality yet we fail to cattle because traditionally we were house is like a chicken cage, where see the connection between billions not allowed to do that, ride elephants lives a family of four, where rooms of species enslaved, commodified, and because we were not allowed to do are separated by a thin mat.’. If it’s not killed to be served to us. When they that. okay with us there is no reason that it try to call me a Brahmin mouthpiece I understand that all this is also an should be okay to treat them the same or an upper-caste spokesperson, they act of rebellion and a way to protest way. We have to stop treating them as erase the pain and suffering and against an oppressive system that has commodities and start looking at them oppression that made me relate to kept us at bay for so long; what I don’t as our allies because that’s what we those animal people which made me understand is that why we need to are, an ally, because we are exploited go vegan. By calling me an animal enslave, torture and marginalize other in the same way.

11 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Freedom ON MY OWN Nayna Agrawal travels alone. Yes. A woman who travels alone.

’m off to Manali for the mental health and my safety. But I was laddoos”. winter,’’ I said. determined to go and I was determined My family was so relieved they didn’t “Oh, what fun,’’ said to go on my own. I had decided on the even mention the two extra days I had my mother. “Will you place, the time, and also that I would taken. They even began bragging about book tickets for us as pay for my trip their daughter who travelled alone. well?” To give them credit, they agreed. The honeymoon ended when I “I“No, Mummy, I’m going alone”. I didn’t have to rebel or walk out or announced that I was going to travel “Wait, wait, what’s your hurry?” anything like that. I left them worried, again. On that first trip to Manali, I went said my father. “We’ll go. We’ll go to anxious for me, but still supportive in to various hostels at other locations like Amarkantak too. It’s a hill station their way. This was my way of trying Kullu, Kasol, Naggar Castle and I asked nearby.” to get over those memories and those them whether they would allow me to “Papa, I’m going alone”. incidents. This was my healing. work there. They said they were willing “When did you plan to do this?” And this is how I ended up in Manali, to give me free boarding and lodging “January”. staring endlessly at the mountains, the in exchange for work: I’d have to take “And who will be attending college?” wind kissing my cheeks, the greenery care of the hostel, two hours of work “Take your brother with you”. felt like freedom. I was living some of a day, but no pay. This seemed like a “You’re too young”. the enchanted moments of my life, reasonable deal and so I began to plan “This is not right”. trying to soak in everything while the my next trip. “Go with your friends. We’ll sponsor views whizzed past me as I rode in the I already had savings of around everyone else. Tell them. State Transport bus until the halt in fifteen thousand rupees. I saved it from “Go to someplace closer. Himachal Kullu. my pocket money every month, and Pradesh is so far. I intended to spend ten days but that would be my seed money. With They tried everything to stop me my train from Ambala back to Delhi lodging and boarding taken care of, I from travelling on my own. I had and then to Indore and then to home only had to spend on travelling. a rough patch with a few terrible in Mandla was delayed and I got home And travelling did not mean air incidents which don’t bear repeating two days later. “You’re home”. “You’re travel, by the way. It was either by a here. They were concerned for my safe”. “He Bhagwan, bring those nice State Transport bus or the general

12 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 compartment of the train. My father was used the guest-house which only cost your food. When I was in Old Manali appalled. He thought I was going back fifty rupees a day. living in a hostel, the owner’s father to Manali and he offered to come with On my third trip, I went to Rajasthan. had a bucketful of pigeons. In the me and drop me off. I could not explain From mountains to deserts. I went to night, there was a bonfire and alcohol to him that I would not be staying at any Udaipur and then Mount Abu, the only and fairy lights. The Western tourists single place, that my feet were itching to hill-station in Rajasthan. There I lived and the IIT boys who had come to get to the next destination. in the Om Shanti Ashram; the food was Manali were all helping barbecues the But finally, I did manage to convince free so was the stay. I went to Jaisalmer, pigeons over the fire. It was my first them that I was going to go and would the golden fort at the edge of the Indian trip; I was a vegetarian and so I could be doing this on my own. border. There I lived in the walled city for not participate. By the time someone “Dil Nnhin bhara?” (You still haven’t a week; there was a desert safari going noticed that I was not eating, it was two had enough?) My mother asked, Was on so I went as a helper to a man and am. And so, I was taken to café 1947 and my heart still full of yearning? his camel. I remember the name of the I ordered a pizza, the cheapest thing on “What do you have against your camel: Jasmine. I don’t remember the the menu. Only it was a four-hundred- family coming with you?” My father name of the safari company but it was rupee pizza which blew a big hole in my asked. an interesting experience. Once again, budget.) I have to say here that I love my it was free food but the real takeaway One evening on the border of family and I am happy back home. But were the nights under the stars, the folk Jaisalmer, I went for a walk and came I also wanted to be on my own, to be performances which I could enjoy for back to find my tent had been cleaned silent, to be willing to listen to other free. I went to the boundary of India and my bedding folded. Someone in the people’s stories, to meet new people, to and Pakistan and lived in the Army Tent army couldn’t bear my civilian mess I see new things and to do all this with House. I had my tent but stayed in their suppose. But it was a wonderful time, only myself as a company. area. They were extremely hospitable; with fighter planes zooming overhead. On this second trip, I went to they offered me free food but with I was also told I was the first woman to Himachal Pradesh again. This time, I the only caveat that I had to tell them stay with them for a week on my own. visited Dharamshala and McLeodGanj. whether I was eating or not so that they Then I went home. My parents were It was a trip rich in Tibetan experience. could cook accordingly. One of the great delighted to see me. This time they didn’t I stayed in a monastery, free of cost and meals I had was when the army cook ask about my plans. They assumed I attended the chanting sessions. With a would put potatoes, onions, spices, would be off again soon and when I friend I made at the monastery, I went chicken and some alcohol into a dekchi announced that I had been planning the to Nepal and did the Annapurna Trek and then slow cook it through the day Chadar Trek, along the frozen Zanskar which is a three-day trek but I spun it so that the meat would be melting off River in Leh. The hitch? The trek cost out to a month. I had my tent but it often the bone. It was a good introduction ₹20,000 and so I decided I would not got too cold—I hadn’t really prepared for to non-vegetarian food for an Agrawal join a group but would manage on my a Himalayan winter—and sometimes girl. (It does not pay to be choosy about own. There was no network, no cell

Some Journeys are best travelled solo Location- Bir, Himachal Pradesh

13 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Freedom phone, no connectivity, I told them. how you can move around cheaply. It becomes tiring and challenging at “Just come back alive,” said my You have to learn to take the rough physical and mental levels, but a little father. with the smooth. There will be people bit of planning can easily help overcome So, I rented gear for three thousand who will not help, who will turn you dangers. rupees and set out around January, for away even when you have a simple I experienced a lot of different a 76-kilometre trek. The good part was request like a glass of water. But as a cuisines across the journey. In the that I went for a dive into the river, a traveller, you set your expectations North, it’s rich and creamy and in the freezing dive, ten seconds only but low and you find that most people are South, it’s fresher and light, often with a lifetime experience. The bad part wonderful. In Ladakh, I must have had coconut oil. It’s safe to say the food in was managing food because I had not a hundred or more free meals even India is on a whole other level. We tend carried enough food. I had carried though the people there are not rich. I to taste diverse and healthy food which beans and sprouts but the water was made many friends and stayed in touch adds to the happiness and energy too cold to sprout them. The energy with them. Maanu is now housed with levels. Gradually, get to know about bars were also insufficient. But I did one of these families. new cuisines, cultures and understand make friends with groups who were Then comes the issue of money. You different ways of life. Buying plastic travelling and they fed me. Through have to be able to predict issues that bottles is not a traveller’s bit to nature all my experiences, I have always come may arise and set some money aside for but refilling and reusing is, as water across people who are willing to help. odd expenses like going to the hospital is the most crucial of all. Nature I had a thousand rupees and myself to to have your bone set, sanitary napkins needs a little bit of helping hands and rely on. Mornings were misty, dark, no in places where they aren’t even heard certainly, we are all one people. It is sun to guide you and just the river. of, or an impulse buy. A lovely dupatta our responsibility to use it sustainably, When I came home, my parents may be or even a piece of cloth that you especially while travelling. were relieved to see me. “You should go might need because a temple needs Every step leads to extraordinary too,” I said. you to cover your legs or your head or challenges and learnings about life, no I worked in a Ladakh hostel for six whatever. There’s also the impulse to matter what your age is. We dive out of months. I even had a dog who came help someone in need and you must our comfort zone to explore and yet can with me. The hostel loaned me a cycle consider what you can safely give. feel very sheltered by the universe. You with gears; the most expensive one I I’d say you could save a lot of money will never feel alone, just be the first to have ever had. I travelled all over on simply by thinking it through. For smile. All it takes is a small effort to join the bicycle with my dog, Maanu, at my instance, you don’t need to add to plastic them or simply ask questions about life. side. (Maanu is the name of my younger pollution by buying bottled water; you The people in India are crazy, funny and brother whom I am very attached to.) should just carry a bottle with you and incredibly friendly. The Ladakhis threw open their arms fill it wherever you can. Sprouts are very If you’re looking for an eye-opening to this young woman and her dog. I good as a healthy light and filling snack. cultural experience, head to the went for several meals with them and One air-tight dabba and a sprinkling of Northeast of the country, which is a enjoyed playing with their children. water and you’re good to go for lunch. bit more off the beaten track. Here Would I say you should go too? I Some chaat masala sprinkled over it you’ll be able to meet some of the local can’t assure you that you will have as can help. tribes and learn about their fascinating good an experience as I have had. I look Another tip: bring less than you think culture. This small initiative will give back now and see how often I have been for your trip because you’ll need the you unforgettable bonds and treasured helped in difficult circumstances. space in your backpack. Harem pants friendships. We may struggle with Is it safe? I don’t know. I came or just pyjamas are an Indian wardrobe the language, but that doesn’t seem to through unscathed but I would say this: essential, and you can pick up some matter when tens of other things are preparation is key. Don’t rely only on the gorgeous ones cheaply at the markets. lying around. There is always so much Internet. The writing you see there is They’re baggy and will suit most to see and explore that is certainly not again personal. The pictures are taken situations. They’re also easy to wash in any girl guidebooks. in good weather and they are chosen and will dry quickly so you’ll save loads Travel is insanely addictive, even from among hundreds of possibilities. of space in your backpack. The second careers get delayed. You’ll find yourself So, you cannot trust them. What you essential item of clothing for India is a in places so beautiful, you’ll never can trust is the local informant. If you shawl, as these are particularly useful to want to leave. Of course, there is no are going to Kerala, say, you should ask have handy in case you stumble across replacement for life experience, and your friends about the possibilities. a temple you want to go into, to protect you’ll have that in abundance, but when When I went to Kerala, I jumped on your chest from the wind. You’ll also you’re slap bang back home, confronted board a ship that was going to the want to wear a T-shirt with a high neck. with reality, with adventures behind Lakshadweep islands, a Kerala Tourism Maxi skirts are great, as are culottes and you, it can be hard to see people who initiative. The price of a ticket is ₹2500 long dresses. You should simply use have moved on ahead. Routines then but I was given a concession; I paid only common sense when deciding what to become tough to maintain and can a thousand because my pictures had wear in India. Look around you at what hurt you, but you’ll become a different found their way into Incredible India other people are doing, and if in doubt person. campaign! ask the staff and fellow travellers at To be honest, there’s no saying for The first one is generally the most your hostel. It will also help you to keep sure whether you’ll go through the same difficult because you’re learning your you safe. issues. After all, everyone’s experiences way. But you make friends and suddenly Safety measures like pepper spray of travel are different. Having an you have a network of travellers who can or a little knife can also be taken but, adventure, revel in the wonder and help you by putting you in touch with don’t break the law. This one might embrace the negatives that go with local people or giving you tips about seem obvious, but it bears repeating. them is what leaves us content.

14 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 NATIONAL INTEREST HOW TO BE A CITIZEN Arshi Khan reports from the frontlines of dissent.

“Hear our voices!” SAHAI BHATNAGAR NAVYA

Arshi makes clear what the protest

stands for. AKANSHA NEGI ARSHI KHAN

n the 19th of December 2019, similar views; which is a different experience,” twenty SCMites went to August said Navya Sahai Bhatnagar. Indeed it was the Kranti Maidan and held up electric environment of August Kranti which filled colourful placards, not for an us with hope and the power to shout slogans, not assignment, but to volunteer just from the tongue, but from our hearts. and stand in solidarity with the “Initially, I was scared that what if a stampede Ostudents of Jamia Millia Islamia. The students happens, and what if I am unable to move in that in Delhi had undergone a brutal treatment from crowd and what if I get beaten? But the air was the Delhi police while protesting against the surrounded by slogans of dissent which were ‘Citizenship Amendment Act’. chanted by people of all kinds, therefore, we were For many of us, it was our first experience of united by dissent.” said Navya. becoming a part of a protest happening at such a After studying journalism from Smruti huge level. Koppikar, Nayna Agrawal was consistently “It was my first real protest. After reading about reminded about the power of people and the police brutality in Jamia just the previous day, democracy which gives way to dissent. “ I was scared. I don’t know why but those images The protest for us became our first opportunity of Jamia violence made me think that the same to exhibit that dissent openly and challenge the may happen in this protest but the police gave us authorities. You can energise every potential in protection. I never felt more secure, it was one protests but violence is never the right way,” said of a kind of experience. Being in that crowd and Nayna, appreciating the way the protest went so shouting out slogans, I’ve never done anything like peacefully without causing any harm to anybody. that before. We were all in this together, fighting “The protest was a voice against the and shouting slogans for a reason,” said Nirmiti government. United, with peace in our mind, Kamat. we marched to dissent for this was our right in a Despite being aware that we could get beaten democracy. For me to be a part of this big protest up, arrested, or worse; people still showed up in was like my small drop of contribution towards a massive numbers holding placards and banners big wave that will hit the government,” expressed while shouting ‘Aazaadi’ in unison. Sakshi Sharma. “Some protests are peaceful too. After holding The event changed everybody in some way or that placard, I realised that it is so convenient to the other, some felt powerful within themselves, put up stories on social media and to share them while some realised the power of expressing rather than getting into that feeling and being opinions, even if they were against giants such as surrounded by a huge number of people who have the Indian Government.

15 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Music and motivation: Gateway to a new life

PERSONAL HISTORY The Afterlife of BIPIN AWASTHI Bipin Awasthi started taking drugs to help him sleep. His battle with drugs and his journey towards redemption, as described by his daughter, Anjali Awasthi

ou would not be able to tell Bipin Awasthi from any other businessman if you were to meet him on streets. Of course, he is not the classic businessman either: he loves music and plays the guitar as a hobby. He is also a homemaker who took over the reins of his household after the death of his wife. In 2011, Meenu Awasthi was detected with uterine cancer, stage 3B, she could hardly be treated. But every attempt was made. She survived for two years after her diagnosis and passed away on January 3, 2013. That was when BipinY Awasthi made the transition from being a father to being both the mother and the father. I know all this because he is my father. His story is not ordinary. He has made a remarkable turnaround and now has a completely new life. “An afterlife, you could call it,’” he says and adds, “Blast the past, baby.” Bipin was fifteen when he was introduced to narcotic substances. He tells the story himself. It begins in 1970. “I owned a paan shop near Mahalaxmi Temple in Mumbai, where, because of the surroundings, I got used to bhang. I was working all day with my father in his dairy and sometimes I felt so tired I could not sleep. My friend said bhang would give me a good night’s rest. And so, I tried it.” This seemed to work, so it became a habit. Soon, he was taking it whether he was tired or not. By the time he was in the eighth standard, he had moved on from there to charas (hashish) and ganja (cannabis). He experimented with his school friends. He loved music, and there too, he found there was a certain glamour associated with the use of drugs. “You name the drug, I have tried it,” he says now. In 1975, heroin hit the streets. This was a drug that had been developed in the laboratory by an English chemist who was trying to create a painkiller like morphine but without the addictive effects of the poppy-based painkillers. Unfortunately, heroin turned out to be much more addictive, producing intensely pleasurable sensations called a ‘high’. However, tolerance develops quickly and the user needs more and more, and is soon willing to do anything to feed his or her habit. Bipin Awasthi encountered

heroin with his musician friends and was addicted by the time he was 20 years old. Failing in SSC BHAGAT AYU

16 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 five times in succession, he gave up positive change in his life. on studies. “Life was a true pain then All the years of Bipin’s drug abuse when I had no money to buy drugs.” came to a head when he contracted His parents had given up on him. tuberculosis and was fighting for his They just prayed he would recover life. His wife stood by his side. It was soon. He was asked to work with his only after his recovery that he finally father in the family business near decided to turn over a new life. His Mahalaxmi Temple. Bipin earned childhood friend, Suresh Pawar, urged money from music events. He was an him to pull himself together before it organising member with the People’s got too late and got him admitted at a Band where all the members were his detox centre. friends. “When our parents did not “In the year 2000, a new phase give us money, we used to steal things in my life began at the Seva Dham from our home to sell and buy drugs”. Detox Centre in Andheri. Seva Dham In 1978, Bipin organized a show removes the fear that you cannot live in Patkar Hall, Churchgate, with without drugs. Each addict has to the People’s Band, Electronic Dust, attend the ninety-day meeting which Waterfront Bunny, Bobby Duggal, Rony helps them remove the toxins from Desai and Ranjit Barot performed in their body. It was a completely new the event. Looking back on this event, beginning; music and drugs were all he says with a trace of sadness, “Most left behind.” of my friends are dead; only a few are Pawar says, “I was in the same alive.” situation for forty years, I understood Whatever they made from the event his condition and took him You need to cure went into the drugs. “It wasn’t a lot of While rehabilitation did help, yourself. You have to money,” he says. ‘But it was my zone. it was still a painful journey. “The There was the thunder of the music twenty-day programme was one in decide to live a full and it was magnified by the drugs.” which we were required to meditate, life. You have to work He begins to travel back in time and exercise, work and pray. We were put starts singing a song which he wrote on special medication to ease the at it, using everything “Ka se kamaaye jaa, pains and irritability that come with Ga se…tu gaye jaa, giving up drugs,” says Bipin. What you’ve got. Yoga and Kha se tu khaaye jaa helped him was the fraternity of all prayer can help. Gha se tu ghar basaaye jaa those around him. Many were addicts Yahi hai tantra… who had fought the same battles, so Yahi hai mantra… sharing experiences and regrets was Apne liye jo jeete hain, khaak woh much easier. With three of his friends, he kya jeete hain, “They would say, ‘I can’t handle my escaped from Awas at 2 am. The four Apna pet jo bharte hain, hardam problem but together we can solve walked 15 to 20 kilometres along the bhukhe rehte hain. all problems.’ That’s how we lived roads of Alibaug, hoping for a lift. Deoge toh paoge, Nahin to bhukhe together. Eventually, I came to see my “Finally, we got a truck driver who was hi rehjaoge, condition as a disease and I could see taking bricks to Panvel. We hid among Yahi vo tantra… Yahi hai mantra...” that if I made a complete change in my the bricks. Later, he asked for money. (You earn a little, you sing a little, way of thinking, I could cure it myself. Now the three of us had run away in you eat a little. I suppose I just needed the guidance to our night shorts, carrying nothing. That’s the mantra to live. be able to see it.” The driver was very angry. We took a Those who only live for themselves, The programme stressed the HOW train from Panvel and got home.” what life is that? of recovery: HOW stands for Honesty, But since that day until today, Those who fill only their stomachs, Openness and Willingness. “No Bipin has stayed clean. His father stay hungry forever, medicine can cure you,” he says now. helped him stay on track and started When you will give, only then you “You need to cure yourself. You have working with him. Bipin also credits will get to decide to live a full life. You have to the Narcotics Anonymous meetings Otherwise, you will starve forever…) work at it, using everything you’ve got. that he attends regularly “I attend By 1985, the 28-year-old Bipin had Yoga and prayer can help.” meetings where we share our stories been on hard drugs for over eight After his detox, there was a forty-day and that’s how I improve”. years. His parents got him married, residential rehabilitation programme Bipin, now 62 years old, meditates much against his wishes. “Drugs were in Alibaug at Awas village. “We were and reads the Ramayana every still part of my routine. Everyone left alone and were given different morning. At the Seva Dham Centre, hated me in the family. My wife was departments to handle. There was ‘no he got into the habit of practising yoga also unhappy, she got to know about free lunch’. We managed everything and meditation which he continues my habits after our marriage.” ourselves, right from cooking to till today. “I read ‘Just for Today: Daily Five years after marriage in 1992, cleaning the bathrooms. Every job was Meditations for Recovering Addicts’ his first daughter, Shraddha, was born divided amongst us. The doors were every day; that’s my survival kit for but his journey as an addict continued. always open for you to leave anytime. each day.” He stands firm in his In 1998, he was blessed with two twins, Twenty-five days and I was done; I belief that the only way to recover is Ashutosh and Anjali. This led to a could not manage it there.” “Starting Today”.

17 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 DYING TRADITIONS

Umesh Kumar Yadav drilling into a copper lota

heavy.” Yadav hails from Gonda in UP, he studied till the tenth standard Written in an English medium school. He Written shares that he can write and carve in English, Hindi and Marathi, “But when someone wants it written in Gujarati, it’s tough for me, if too hard, I just hand it over to a fellow worker.” He adds that right now the market is down, but people flock to get carvings in Steel done in the Diwali period. in Steel Deepali Kushe, 47, a homemaker Nirmiti Kamat looks at an old tradition, having your residing in Dombivli, shares name inscribed on your stainless steel vessels. “When I was studying in Balmohan Vidyamandir, Dadar, the winners of he other day, as I was pans. Shah explains, “A seller comes races got steel bowls. A week later, washing my stainless- shop to shop selling these machines, the principal distributed prizes, 1st steel plate after dinner, this tool has no specific name, we just prize- korleli vaati (carved bowl), 2nd my fingers chanced on call it ‘Naam daalneka gun’ (name prize- korlela chamcha (carved spoon) a name carved on it. carving gun)”. I probe him to know and so on, and these prizes had their In raised letters, ‘Sau. more about laser printing, and he names carved on them, so students TVimal Kamat’, my long-dead great- guides me to Khimjibhai’s shop. had a sense of pride in achieving aunt. I had not thought of her for Across three lanes in Chandan Vadi them.” She further recalls that in years but now her name on that plate lies ‘Shri Ganesh Ind[ustries]’, the only Saraswat weddings, handa (steel/ brought a flood of memories back. shop in the entire market which does brass pots) were given to the bride She didn’t do it so we might remember laser printing, now run by Khimji when she left for her in-laws’ place. her, but as a sign of affection. That Bhai’s son. Hiren Khimji Chedda tells And these had the ‘to-be-married’ carved name, I feel, will ensure she me, “My father did the traditional name of the bride carved on them. will never fade into oblivion. carving in steel, I did it with the “I’ve seen wedding homes before the Digging deeper into this name- handheld machine, we got this laser wedding day where there are handas carving tradition, I found that this machine three years ago, now my son ready with the bride’s ‘to-be-married’ runs deeper than just gifting. Names designs the name printing style and name, which is an irony because she were carved on utensils to identify operates the machine.” The 35-year- is not even married yet”, she adds. who it belonged to. This began in old business gets orders online too, Jaspreet Kaur, 18, a dress designing villages where neighbours used to one such consignment was packed student from Mumbai has a stirring exchange plates of delicacies made on and ready to be sent to Bengaluru. memory to share, “There’s a ‘gundi’ festivals. Since small villages had only Steel plates were to be distributed at (pot) in our house which has my name one utensil maker, the plates used to a birthday party, and they had the on it, so the story goes that when my be more or less identical, so carving birthday boy’s name carved on it, mother was carrying me, she used to names on them became a ritual to set alongside a Ben-10 cartoon. Hiren drink water from the same pot, and them apart. When gifting the utensil Chedda’s son downloads such cartoon when I was born and named, my to someone, the giver’s name was images and other designs from Google father got my name carved on that always inscribed. There are many converts it and prints it through the pot.” Jaspreet hails from Mahasamund more interesting reasons on why to laser machine. Company names are in Chattisgarh, and she says, “In our glide that heavy noise-making driller also printed. Speaking about the village, whenever women buy new on the shiny utensils. technology of the process, Hiren tells utensils, they get their husbands’ In search of the men who carve me that it’s a foreign technology and name carved on them.” names on plates, I venture into the works directly in unison with the Students in government schools Panjrapole Lane of the Bhuleshwar computer attached to it. carry their plates for midday meals, Market. I am led by my ears for a Exploring the market, one can with their names carved on them. constant drilling sound fills the air. see brass utensils to being carved But this tradition is dying with the Satish Shah, owner of the oldest shop on, people flocking to buy utensils introduction of china cutlery and in the steel market, Bina Stainless by dozen, men drilling on steel with glassware. People now opt for fancy Steel Corporation says, “People vigour under the surveillance of stern utensils rather than tikau (lasting) usually get their names carved on the managers behind shiny cash counters. steel. Though carving is an additional utensils, it will be carved out only if One such young man, Umesh Kumar cost, people continue to demand it the maximum utensils are a dozen. Yadav, drilling away with focus, says, during festivals and special occasions. Beyond that, we turn to laser printing.” “Yes people want their names written, But even if demand falls, and the The drilling tool looks like a heavy it’s mostly in Devanagri script, even art goes extinct, the steel plates and machine which manages to drill out in Gujarati at times. It took me a long carvings will remain, bearing signs of

NAVYA SAHAI BHATNAGAR NAVYA delicate tiny letters on steel plates and time to master this tool, as it’s a bit someone’s life and times.

18 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 ENVIRONMENT

The Rise of Carrie Brings-Her-Own-Bag-Shaw

n a market where the Indian consumer is all set start,” Rushmika adds. When you buy something, to become king, why, and how, do we become you should know if it was made ethically. Isustainable in our clothes habits? According to The rise of vintage thrift stores on Instagram The State of Fashion 2019 report (McKinsey), “The is gaining momentum in India and it is a great Indian middle class is forecast to expand at 19.4 way to invest in unique fashion pieces without percent a year over the same period (2018 to 2022), damaging the environment. “I had been buying outpacing China, Mexico and Brazil...India is set unique second-hand pieces for many years and to move from being an increasingly important when the idea of vintage clothing came to India, I sourcing hub to being one of the most attractive started an Instagram shop because it was easier to consumer markets outside the Western world.” operate that way. There was no point in launching This year, we have experienced the terrible a website because my pieces are very limited.” BHOOMI MISTRY effects of climate change in forms of floods that says Sujala Newar, founder of The Local Vintage, have wrecked havoc in 13 Indian states and we the coveted vintage store on Instagram. need to become mindful of how our habits and “As I started becoming more aware of the affect the climate. An article in the Madras Courier impact fast fashion has on the environment, I says, “It (fashion industry) produces twenty started cutting down the size of my wardrobe percent of global waste-water and accounts for and donating clothes I didn’t use. I realised ten percent of global carbon emissions.” Which the magnitude of the impact I could make if means the fashion choices we make now, will I started collecting clothes from friends and impact the climatic conditions in coming years. family. One thing led to another and now we’re “As the fashion industry takes step to regulate excited to expand now and hold thrift store pop- production, we should also take conscious steps ups in multiple cities,” says Sana, the founder to sustain consumption....it has been a year since of Bombay Closet Cleanse, a sustainable start- I have stopped buying from fast fashion brands up on Instagram. “We compromise on branding such as Zara and H&M,” says Rushmika Banerjee, to ensure we use the least amount of paper and Senior Fashion Features Writer at Verve Magazine. plastic in our operations. Customers are asked to But where do you start? “Sustainability is a get their own bags to shop,” she adds. scale and a label that should strive to be on the While sustainability may seem like a steep right side of that scale as much as possible. The slope, we can start by becoming Carrie Brings-her- UN Goals for sustainable development is a good own-bag-shaw. Bhoomi Mistry

Fashion Forward

he brainchild of Satyajit Vetoskar, an material and manufacturing. The bags were then of tarpaulin is that it is a durable and water award winning industrial designer, tested extensively with various users and the final resistant material. It can just be wiped with a T BANDIT bags is a sustainable initiative product was showcased at the Serendipity Arts cloth to clean it. that uses up-cycled tarpaulin to design artful Festival 2018 in Goa. bags that can be carried in multiple ways. With How did you arrive at the idea of making a bag frequent collaborations with well-known Goan Are the other materials like the belt, zip, etc also using recycled tarpaulin? And of making a bag graffiti artists, this bag is perfect for eco-conscious recycled to make a Bandit bag? that can be worn in multiple ways? consumers who love street art. Along with SCM No, they are not, but we are working towards The founder, Satyajit Vetoskar, is an alum Deepa George, Vetoskar showcased Bandit it. Currently, it’s just the material of the bag or architect and an industrial designer with over bags at Serendipity Art Festival Goa, 2018, and has the body fabric that is up-cycled but we are in the two decades of experience in design across won multiple design awards since then. process of experimenting with other materials. product categories from luggage, watches, Excerpts from an interview with Deepa jewellery, shoes, electronics and toothbrushes. George. How is Bandit bags working towards His knowledge of design along with sustainability. Is Bandit bags a zero-waste understanding of materials and manufacturing, How did you think of Bandit bags? What is the initiative? led him to design Bandit with a versatility in the core idea of this initiative? In its current avatar, it isn’t possible to make way one can use it. It’s really about carrying it The genesis for the up-cycling and BANDIT a complete zero waste product but going Anyway You Like It! sustainable concept came to industrial designer forward we are trying to evolve towards that goal. Satyajit Vetoskar when flying into Mumbai. He Where is the tarpaulin sourced from? Can you tell us more about Bandit x MAAKOAD? noticed the city enveloped in blue tarpaulin, The tarpaulin that we use is sourced from Shrey ‘Flyin Monkey’ Sawant is a fabulous especially in the monsoons. This was the ISO9001 factories that manufacture good quality graffiti artist/illustrator who is also based in Goa. point of inspiration for him to use an ordinary, tarpaulin in large quantities. We source the We want to collaborate with various artists and common yet robust material such as tarpaulin excess or waste material that often lies around to this is the first step towards that direction. If art to make uncommon, functional, durable, stylish be finally discarded. can be taken out of galleries and to the streets, products. For over two years, in-depth research why not take art to products with a similar vibe? was undertaken on the material, post which How do we clean the bag so that it doesn’t shed The first step towards this collaboration is to have designs were made, re-made and made again— micro plastic? a street art festival in the second week of Jan that all to get the perfect cohesion between design, You don’t need to clean the bag. The beauty combines music, art and charity. Bhoomi Mistry

19 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 ENVIRONMENT

of microplastic shed reduces. Whenever possible, hand wash your clothes and save water, detergent and electricity. 3 DO IT FOR THE CULTURE Remember how your mother scolded you for forgetting to switch off the fan after leaving the room? Or how exciting it was as a child, when your cousin finally handed tips for a sustainable down her adorable dress to you? 10 Or how it ended up becoming a rag 10 when it could no longer be worn? 10wardrobe By Bhoomi Mistry As Indians, most of us are taught sustainable values at a very young hen the famous fashion photographer Bill age. Revisiting them in times of Cunningham said, “Fashion is the armour to climate change can help you lower your carbon footprint. Next time if a survive the reality of everyday life.” Perhaps he relative or a friend is cleaning their did not predict how the gravitas of his words closet, look out for steals and return would shift in light of climate change. According the favour when you can! to an article by United Nations Environment ProgrammeW published in 2018, “The fashion industry is the second- biggest consumer of water, producing 20 per cent of waste water while also generating more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.” It is imperative now, more than ever, that this armour should be made sustainable, so as to keep our carbon footprint to a bare minimum. 4 As thrilling as the concept of fast fashion is, its impact on the INVEST IN SUSTAINABLE, environment outweighs the joy of wearing a cheaply priced t-shirt four TIMELESS SILHOUETTES times and then throwing it away. Every time a garment made out of Sometimes there is no way to avoid a polyester and other synthetic based materials is discarded, it adds to purchase and let’s face it, sometimes, the load of non-decomposable waste that will pollute the planet, even you’d rather indulge. Buying from long after we’re dead. Wondering what you can do about this situation? sustainable brands and prioritising Here are ten tips for a sustainable fashion wardrobe. quality over quantity affects the wearability of the garment. And there are plenty of options to choose from! More and more sustainable brands are popping up every day, it’s 2 about finding one that aligns with CHANGE YOUR LAUNDRY HABITS your aesthetic. In a broader sense, 1 it is wiser to invest in timeless Our washing habits influence START WHERE YOU ARE! the shelf life of the garment silhouettes and styles like the little black dress or a staple sari or tan Being sustainable means having a significantly. Washing clothes vegan leather or cork wallet as these low carbon footprint and generating inside out is more effective then are unlikely to go out of fashion in minimum waste, so if your closet is washing the outer part, as it slows future. And although sustainable full of fast fashion right now, the best down the fading of colour and it is garments decompose faster, the key way to start is to get the maximum more hygienic to get rid of all the here is to get the maximum wear out wears out of the garments stuffed at bacteria on the side of the garment of these items. Whenever possible, the back of your closet. Make slight that really hugs the body. Washing hand wash your clothes and save alterations and fix small holes where clothes less frequently and washing water, detergent and electricity. ever possible and see if the garments them in bulk, especially synthetic can be repurposed or donated at the fabrics, reduces the friction between end of their wear cycle. two garments and the amount

20 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 9 REGULATE ONLINE SHOPPING According to an article on BBC Earth, “Each year, 5 billion pounds of waste is generated through returns.” 7 Which means that when you return CHECK THE LABEL, DO SOME the t-shirt that you shopped online, RESEARCH it most likely ended up in the land fill instead of the store inventory. Often you will come across tags that Brands like Burberry and H&M have say ‘100% Organic Cotton’ written even admitted to burning their stock. next to ‘Made in Bangladesh’. While It would be a wise idea to go to the lowering the carbon footprint, one store and shop, but if you insist on should also support ethical trade shopping online then make sure to practices for a holistic approach go through their return policies to to sustainability. In such cases, do get a better idea. some research on the brand to see if the intermediaries are paid fairly. The best thing about living in the internet age is that if a brand with large stake in the market takes one wrong step, the woke police does not waste a minute before calling the brands out. Another example of 10 this would be t-shirts that say ‘100% 5 DONATE! CHOOSE THE RIGHT FABRIC Organic cotton’ but when you read the material composition, it also At its core, sustainable fashion is Buy recycled denim and t-shirts mentions spandex. This means that about mindful consumption, reduced made out natural fabrics like wool, the t-shirt is not sustainablep. Be wastage and fair payment to the bamboo, hemp, organic cotton, linen, vary of misleading tags. intermediaries involved. This also jute and lycocell, as they do not shed means that you’re responsible for microplastic and decompose faster. what happens to garments after Cloths like khadi dyed with organic you are done using them. Donating dyes are also good alternatives to them is the best way to make sure polyester. Opt for vegan leather and that they’re either recycled or re- accessories made out of recycled purposed into something useful materials like rubber tyres and cork, instead of ending up in a land-fill. etc. Invest in recycled denim and 8 SHOP VINTAGE Goonj, an NGO based in Delhi works avoid fancy washes as they use more towards repurposing used clothes bleach and water. Another thing to “It’s hard to be on social media and into sujnis (quilts). Producing these look out for is natural dyes, as they not read about how we are damaging quilts is a source of livelihood for are far better for the environment our planet. The awareness is rising several women across rural India. than their chemical counterparts. and hence the rise of vintage since The NGO has several donation it is one of the ways to consume centres across the countries, consciously when it comes to where they collect under-utilised fashion,” says Sujala Newar, the household items. founder of instafamous store ‘The Local Vintage’. Re-selling garment business is having a major moment 6 all over the world and even in India, CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORKOUT people are now starting to look CLOTHES beyond their prejudices to consider Most of our workout clothes are shopping second-hand. Not only made of synthetic fabrics like nylon are they a much more sustainable and spandex. While Nike has taken option, but also fashionable. If you an initiative to recycle plastic bottles are planning to invest in a luxury into dri-fit clothes, there is no clarity piece, going vintage can get you on how the process is carried out some unbelievable deals. and how much microplastic is shed per wash. Satva, Stretchery and Deivee are some Indian brands that offer sustainable active wear options. BHOOMI MISTRY

21 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 NGO BEAT

ALL PEOPLE TOGETHER Susanna Cherian visits ADAPT’s training centre at Chembur where the differently abled are given a chance to prove their skills.

The trainees at their weekly dance class at ADAPT

hen the movie applications. They also train candida- The textiles department at ADAPT Margarita with a tes as telephone operators, receptio- is designed to teach the trainees texti- Straw was released nists and automobile mechanics. Apart le designing, the printing process and in 2015, it helped from extra-curricular activities like allied processes. Some other skills in- make people awa- dance, music and yoga, the trainees clude block printing and dyeing cloth re of the story of also have speech therapy and physio- and paper. The department now has a differently-abled people. The film was therapy. Central Government-recognised certi- inspiredW by the story of Malini Chib, Earlier one of the trainees woul- ficate course, a one-year programme in who won the National Award for her dn’t move when he took admission at collaboration with the Weavers’ Servi- autobiography, One Little Finger (Sage ADAPT. He would freeze at one place, ce Centre. This course encourages pa- Publications, 2011). Malini Chib was afraid of moving ahead. Even a black rents to bring their children and learn diagnosed with acute cerebral palsy line on the floor would scare him. He the skills required to set up their own when she was born. Her mother, Dr had to be urged and coaxed to move. businesses and also market their own Mithu Alur, refused to accept that her Today, the trainee either takes the lift products. daughter would always live ‘as a vegeta- or walks up the ramp floor himself. When the organisation went to the ble’. Instead, she got her daughter into The trainees also have therapy ses- lawyers with this idea at first, no one a special needs school abroad. In 1972, sions with a clinical psychologist. We thought that differently-abled students she founded The Spastics Society of In- sat in on one of these. would be able to do anything. But they dia, what is now known as ADAPT or “Draw me a picture of how you feel were proved wrong when the students Able Disable All People Together (www. when you’re happy,” the psychologist at ADAPT also won the trophy at the adaptssi.org). asked. The trainee bent over her paper ‘Art meets Science’ exhibition in Mum- We visited ADAPT’s Skill Develo- and began to work. bai, defeating students from IIT and pment Centre at Chembur, Mumbai, “What makes you happy?” she prominent art colleges. The exhibits where adults within the age group of ei- asked. made by the trainees were indeed art, ghteen to thirty years are given training “When…mother takes me out, I through textile designing and proces- with the aim of getting them employed. like…yes,” answered the trainee. sing. There was also quite a lot of scien- There are various departments like the “And when do you feel unhappy?” ce involved in using clay and mineral textiles and tailoring, pottery and cera- “When sister doesn’t buy me what I powders like ball clay, quartz or silica, mics and the department of computer want…” replies the trainee. china clay and bentonite. “The clay is SWEEKRITI TIWARI

22 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 fired upon individually, at different temperatures like fourteen hundred or twelve hundred degree centigrade. There is an entire process of firing, making different compositions and to create test pieces, all having their own colours. One needs to know its correct compositions,” said the head of the textiles department at ADAPT. At ADAPT’s tailoring department, they teach the trainees garment sti- tching and embroidery work. They make aprons, table mats, corporate folders and notepads, table napkins, cloth and jute bags and cushion co- A trainee at the vers. Adapt has an ‘I Can’ bazaar and computer department, apart from it, has showcased their with the special gifted work at the Kala Ghoda Art Fest and ‘computer mouse’ the Chembur Exhibition Fest. In part- nership with corporates, their produc- ts are displayed at many such exhibi- while placing their trainees. “For disa- tions and festivals. bility, placement is a very challenging At physiotherapy, the activities are ‘What makes you job, either being infrastructure or our planned in such a manner as to reduce own trainees have lack of skills or it dependency and increase confidence happy?’ she asked. could be travelling to the workplace. with the eventual goal of making each ‘When mother takes India is not a very disabled friendly person physically independent. “If a country,” says the placement officer child is not able to move or walk pro- me out...I like...yes,’ at ADAPT. With intellectual impair- perly, we treat them accordingly. Since said the trainee. ment, learning disabilities or multiple we are job oriented, we devise plans disabilities, work becomes a lot more that will work in tandem with what challenging when one is unable to the trainees want to do. Some skills communicate. And then there’s the may need finger movements more so tiny, but there was talent being expres- other challenges of those whose mo- we plan according to the job profile sed. bility is impaired. “It’s also a challen- requirement,” says the physiotherapist After training is done, placements ge for the parents to help them with at the centre. begin. While the teacher may conduct a wheelchair for them to travel to the A trainee at his computer types let- soft skills for the trainees, it is also workplace, or for toileting and ramp ters while using ‘Typing Master’, a sof- their responsibility to see if their stu- facilities to be available at work.” tware that helps learning. His trainer dent has an issue. This may vary from The trainees also suffer from heal- asks him to have a look at his report on finding out the cause of a sudden ou- th issues like diabetes, infections or the screen. tburst to addressing a social or intel- one may get sudden epileptic attacks. “How much is your typing speed?... lectual problem. Today, with technological advance- Can you tell me?” They need to be made ready for ments, those visually impaired, or tho- He points out at the speed on the the world outside. They need to know se with hearing impairments, can get screen which reads, ‘Fifteen words per what their responsibilities are but assistance with gadgets, but if someo- minute’. equally, they must be made aware of ne has a low IQ or has multiple disabi- The teacher at the Computers De- their rights, even things like the ‘good lities, that remains a challenge. While partment says that they like expres- touch-bad touch’. they are learning here, the teachers sing themselves through sign langua- “When our trainees went out to still attend to them with patience. “If ge and with their fingers. work, we found out that the people they are not behaving well, we say, “How does ‘Typing Master’ help who they were working with, they okay today he’s not in a mood, today you?” she asks. couldn’t understand what our trai- he’s angry. Something might have trig- He looks up at her in wonder. His nees were trying to communicate,” gered it. At the workplace they requi- eyes say he knows the answer but he says the teacher with the group of re a mentor initially,” says the officer. doesn’t know how to explain it. The trainees who have been deemed rea- The trainees often have a mentor at letters on the screen turn green every dy for placement. The trainees must the workplace to guide them, but this time he types the right spelling, and be placed in organisations sensitised does not reduce the challenges. Often remain purple if not typed on the to the needs and rights of differently- one may not always retain a job, it cou- answer pad. So she asks him to enter -abled people. While placing the trai- ld be a lack of skill, a behavioural issue an incorrect spelling. nees, the placement officer also sees or an inability to adjust to the work en- He presses on the wrong key on to it that workshops are organised at vironment. purpose and nods at the purple colour the workplace to sensitise other em- But parents don’t look at job em- in affirmation. ployees. ployment as the only reason for co- Among the trainees there was per- A suitable environment at the ming as it’s also for trainees to pick up severance in every eye, and patience workplace is of utmost requirement. socialisation, to learn therapy and to within the teachers. Their steps were And the organization is very careful learn how to live more independently.

23 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 identity politics

The economics of fat-shaming Karen Dsouza looks at the economics and politics of fat-shaming

sychologically, fat-shaming affects me. Sometimes it affects as I think twice before “Peating in public, I don’t wear sleeveless because of this. So basically, I don’t have the confidence to portray myself or carry myself as I am. I have spent around ₹25,000 so far in an attempt to reduce weight,” says Madhura Khasnis, junior account executive at Avian WE, a PR agency. “I tried diets, yoga, green tea,

Ayurvedic medicines. My mom made AKANSHA NEGI me do all this to reduce weight. It worked. I spent almost ₹4000 a month on yoga and maybe ₹1000 on green tea shaming and bullying of any kind very, to start believing it. This translates and Ayurvedic medicines. But now very casually. Especially in Indian into emotional and physical I know that weight isn’t a parameter households, where our nicknames are vulnerability. This person is likely to for beauty and I have learnt to accept physical descriptors, these can become become very sensitive about the thing myself, just the way I am,” says Alyssa a person’s identity. So if you’re short, they’re being shamed for, say their Rebello, a school counsellor and a you’re ‘Chotu’ and if you’re fat, you’re weight? Imagine constantly being postgraduate in clinical psychology. ‘Moti’. This same thing extends outside told that you need to eat less? It will Culture determines the correct body and is seen amongst friends and peers. start taking over and before you even weight and then everyone has to fit in This behaviour is thus completely know it, unconsciously, you have the or face body-shaming in one way or normalised. This is taken in the guise beginning of a food disorder. You tend the other. At one point, after reaching of dark humour. In reality, it is just to start believing other people and puberty or with the slowing down of people being downright rude and what they have to say about you and the metabolism, one is faced with the disrespectful.” then somewhere down the line, these challenge to lose weight or be ‘fit’. Most But beyond issues of politeness, opinions of people start to define who of us, at some point in our lives, have there is also the psychological damage you are, more than what you think of been hit with inane comments on our that can happen because of this, says yourself. When you bully someone, weight like, “You have put on weight”, Shaikh. “This shaming harms the no matter for what reason, you’re “You must hit the gym” from an person on the receiving end of this normalising that behaviour.” annoying relative or insensitive friend. treatment. The first and foremost The idea of perfection is different Or there is that relentless model of being the person’s self-esteem. Even for every person. But societal norms perfection Sharma Ji ka beta who has if they are to take this mistreatment dictate a perfect body type for the perfect body because of ‘five glasses in stride because the other person everybody. Nobody is born alone. of water in the morning on an empty is ‘just kidding’ or if they don’t like Hence the norms of society create a stomach and one hour of pranayama’. confrontations, or whatever other sense of belonging in a person who None of this helps. All it does is to reason, it still starts taking root in the has nothing but societal expectations make you conscious of your weight and unconscious, which then manifests to fulfil in this world. In a world that suspicious of your own body. into a lot of self-hate and self-loathing. is dominated by norms, the body We’re so used to this that we don’t This can be very dangerous and becomes a ground for societal values even see it as toxic. But Aiman Shaikh, unhealthy. And you know how, if you and expectations to be fulfilled. a feminist and a postgraduate student say something enough times, it starts Dr MT Joseph, a sociology professor in clinical psychology at Gujarat sounding like the truth? So even if you at Mumbai University, explains Forensic Sciences University, has call someone a name enough times, society’s notion of the body. “People a very different take: “People take even as a ‘joke’, the person is very likely are pressured to be perfect. Every

24 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 culture has its ideas of the perfect even to make themselves feel better,” something that is not essential per body. The notion of the ideal body The media is a major contributor se, but that people may choose: type is a changing one. Yet at any given to reinforcing body stereotypes. The make-up (liner, lipstick, etc), hair point in time, the reigning body image media conditions the body to fall in styling, hair removal, etc. While the exerts immense pressure on people to a certain manner. Dr Joseph says, effort on the first often does not involve conform to it. The body is ubiquitous “The messages about the ideal body a lot of time, effort on the second does and is thought to be something very are thrown at us all the time through (although that depends on the depth personal. It’s the opposite. The body media advertisements or even of effort). I think the amount of effort is a social construct. A lot of our ideas our conversation and daily gossip. or time that a person spends on the about ourselves and even some life Medicalisation of the body is another second category is viable or optimal chances are dependent on how one manner in which this happens. Newer as long as it does not start affecting carries his own body in consonance and newer medical conditions are their productivity—personally or with the perfect body image that reigns imagined onto being to explain and professionally. I think women are supreme in a society. Society enforces cure the non-perfect body. Exercise more likely to spend on their weight. the idea of the perfect body through regimes and diet plans are today Modern beauty trends, popular the ongoing process of socialisation.” scientifically designed for those who culture, social media, social norms Some argue that facing down a bully would like to attain the perfect body. place a greater premium on thinner/ is a necessary part of socialisation. But We are witness to a heightened sense leaner bodies when it comes to first bullying makes living slow torture and of bio-politics over the perfect body. impressions (affecting a person in it is a constant reminder for the victim Universally people are not shamed for educational and professional settings), to be traumatised. being fat. There are cultures in the romantic dispositions, etc. And an Shaikh says, “The behaviour of world which have different standards even greater effect is on women, bullying someone especially when it of beauty. There are some cultures given how the burden of being isn’t punished or reprimanded. Bullying in Africa where the fat body is seen ‘attractive’ is always placed on is self-replicating. Victims turn into as more beautiful. There, the same females. Against this background, bullies themselves because they have would apply in a reverse manner. Yes, females considered not lean/thin, face been bullied, too. So compassion and body stereotypes curb the freedom pressure from personal relationships empathy take a hit. Think of it like this: of the body. They engender practices and the beauty sector. The latter, if nobody was kind to me, why would I which further commodify the body for especially, has been quick to capitalise be kind to others? All of this, when you commercial purposes with packaged on this insecurity and pressure that integrate it, leads to the person being programmes—dances, gyms, yoga, women face. Realising that the need exceptionally conscious of whatever cosmetic surgery and a host of allied to conform can lead to open purse they’re being teased for. Whether it’s practices on offer.” strings, the beauty sector has created their skin colour or bodyweight, or Arundhati Kamat, a postgraduate additional pressure. Although men, whatever. You’re reinforcing the idea from London School of Economics as well, are susceptible to this social that if you don’t look a certain type of and a research assistant, thinks we pressure, I think women are far more way, there’s something wrong with you. should make a difference between likely to spend more on their weight. If you’re being bullied for being fat, it the essential self-care we all need to Under bodily beautification, I would means your weight is the problem. If do and what may be optional. “I think consider a large part of the retail you’re being bullied for your colour, it that we can divide this effort into sector: clothing, jewellery, make-up means your complexion needs to be two categories: one, effort on bodily products, skin/hair/body/dental care fixed. Our brain starts receiving these appearance that we deem socially and products, etc. Some of it is crucially messages, even without us realising medically essential. This may involve essential - such as everyday clothing, it. It ends up making one feel like taking a bath, using a moisturiser for soap, etc. But even for products and they need to change things about dry skin, combing our hair, cutting services that can be afforded by stable

SIMRAN DANG themselves for the bullying to stop or nails, etc. The second may involve incomes, expenditure in a country like India is very high. So yes, it is important to have economic stability. Given that these are an important part of consumer expenditure, inability to spend on these would lead to a fall in production, employment rates and wages across the economy. This could set off a slump in the economic activity and growth rate. Of course, from a personal point of view, sustainable, labour-friendly and animal-cruelty- free products are also important for economic stability in the long term.” Bodies are treated as commodified objects that constantly need to be kept in check with correct proportions. Fat- shaming leads to the humiliations and economic burden of fat people; just because they cannot fit into the status of the fit body given by society. Does size really matter?

25 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 CITY SPACE The little village in the big city Khotachiwadi belongs to another age, it seems, when you walk into it. But Sukanya Deb finds that the residents face the same pressures as other residents of Mumbai. SUKANYA DEB SUKANYA

26 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 hotachiwadi has been selling off their properties to settle one of the homes abroad. Now we have only about to the Portuguese twenty five or twenty six houses left. community living in Most of the people I grew up with have Mumbai from the pre- left the neighbourhood and this place independence era. It has suddenly become unfamiliar to Kwas owned by Khot, a Pathare Prabhu- me,” Willy Black said. Khotachiwadi the original settlers in Bombay from was a piece of land reclaimed Saurashtra(Gujarat). Khot allowed from the Arabian Sea and used for the Portuguese workers of the East plantation purpose in its initial days. India Company to settle down here “Now I mostly spend my days lazing for convenient conveyance. “As our around, sometimes singing to my ancestors used to travel daily from guitar chords or just playing with my places like Bandra, Kurla and Borivali cat,” Willy continued, who misses his Mr. Khot allowed us to build our childhood friend Kenneth Gomes. own tiny community village to ease Most of the houses in Khotachiwadi our transport hazard,” said Wilfred have been bought by Gujarati Felizardo, who prefers to be called families. Fashion designer James Willy Black, his stage name. Willy Ferreira said, “This one community is one of the oldest residents of has been constantly trying to buy Khotachiwadi. properties in our locality. For them The little village, also known as the we can’t even get non-vegetarian food Goa of Bombay, bears an architectural around. We have to go down to Grant resemblance to the Hetawadi of Road Station market to get meat and Bandra; the only difference being it’s so disheartening.” it is located in the heart of South The pop art look of coloured Bombay—almost behind Saifee walls amidst the blacks and grays Hospital and near Charni Road of the busy city, the old mahogany Station. While everyone talks about staircases, the artsy-junky courtyards the serene beauty of Marine Drive and attached to every little house, the the Art Deco buildings lined up along unwinding alleys that are almost it, people seem to have forgotten the maze-like and of course the small charm of the vintage, vibrant houses chapel at the entrance of the village, of Khotachiwadi. all this makes Khotachiwadi what “Earlier Khotachiwadi had as many it is. Even half a century ago, such a as 65 bungalows. In the past four small locality would not stand out, decades we have seen the bungalows for the world had not paced up into Scenes from Khotachiwadi come down as people have been modernism like it did since the 1970s. AYU BHAGAT AYU DEB SUKANYA

27 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Pastel shades in Khotachiwadi: some exteriors

“I don’t want Khotachiwadi to be my home and just be a tourist spot for pretty- looking pictures. It should be treated as a a heritage spot.” DEB SUKANYA

But today, in the twenty-first century, missing or there was a stampede refer to my house as the mini Chor Khotachiwadi sure adds a breathing situation because things could get Bazaar as I visit the market regularly. space in the modern concrete jungle quite carnivalesque. After all, the I am hoarder of everything that is of South Bombay. lanes are really narrow”, Willy said colourful, pretty and screams vintage. James Ferreira said, “The exhaling a nostalgic breath. My courtyard has become a favourite government should take more care James Ferreira, too, took a spot for the tourists as they come of this place and try to maintain nostalgic trip and said, “We had so and take a lot of shots here”, Willy said it well to keep it true to its whole many community activities. All the with a sense of pride in his eyes. No flavour. I do that. All my furniture children and men-women living one can ignore his beautiful courtyard has been collected and kept in order here were like a family, organizing which is nothing less of a mini to maintain the vibe of Khotachiwadi. get-togethers every now and then. museum with artifacts and unique It has been my home forever and with I do not plan to leave these memories collection of century old statues and all my family and relatives settled in of me ever. I have lived here all my other décor pieces. Also, his collection Australia and New Zealand, I have life and I plan to do it for the rest of of over 20 birds that fill the courtyard the whole space to myself.” Ferreira it. I don’t want Khotachiwadi to be with their chirpy music attracts every continued, “My studio, showroom and my home and just be a tourist spot passerby’s attention. workspace is all here. The government for pretty looking pictures. It should Khotachiwadi has come down to has declared this place as a heritage be treated as a heritage spot where nothing but a fancy spot for visitors to site, so we have a lot of customers its culture and history should be take “aesthetic” photographs. No one visiting my store.” celebrated.” who enters the lanes even know the “We used to be the festive corner Life in Khotachiwadi has become real history of the place and the reason of the town. From talent contests and much more mundane than it ever behind setting up such a community orchestra to fancy dress competitions; was. Earlier, the gorgeous tiled lanes village in the middle of the “uptown we had events lined up all through the of the village witnessed young area” that Girgaon has become. year for our people. It used to attract Portuguese kids playing goli-danda “You will see these young girls and people from all corners of the city. I and lagori now sees careless young boys coming around the afternoon used to organize a Christmas party bikers triple carrying in the broad when everyone is in their houses, to for the children till 2017; it witnessed daylight trying to look for a “cool create nuisance and after sunset, this as many as 300-400 children dropping spot’ to chill and smoke. Yet there place has become a spot for them to by for games and fetes during the are a few travellers who come come and have drinks and smoke. As Christmas week. But I had to stop it looking for pre-independence flavor if it’s some pub,” said an angry Aunty as there was no one else to help me of the city and witness the beautiful Bidi, as she likes to be called, an old coordinate. As I was growing older, residential architecture that the lady from one of the blue-pink houses I got scared what if some child went locality has to offer. “Some people of Khotachiwadi.

28 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Mr. Ishwari Bhatnagar re-reading a letter and recollecting his memories MEMORIES

Looking at another person’s story from another corner of the country, Chhanda Deb is 82 years old and lives in Kolkata, West Bengal. She retired as the General Manager of Quantum Consumer Solutions, Kolkata Branch. She too collects letters. On being asked why she still keeps the letters she said, “These are for memories. The letters carry a lot of sentiments.” The letters that were sent by her granddaughter Sukanya are very precious to her. She added, “Sukanya used to make my face in the letters and referred to me as her Thamma. This was her way of telling me she loved me a lot.” When asked if she wants to hand over her letters to her granddaughter she said, “Not now. These letters are very precious to me and that is my Messages from the past property.” Chhanda Deb also said, “I Navya Sahai Bhatnagar interviews two letter received many appreciation letters for my work which makes me feel collectors and writes about their cherished very proud. I have a friend in Dubai who used to send me letters as well.” memories of letter writing. She added, “I used to write the letters with ink pen and that was the trend shwari Bhatnagar is 85 years Everyone prefers WhatsApp messages at that time.” old. He lives in Kekri, Ajmer but during Diwali and New Year I do Talking about the letters versus District, Rajasthan. He send out greeting cards to all the loved WhatsApp debate, Bhatnagar said, retired as Deputy Director ones. I send them a handwritten note “I am on WhatsApp and it is very of Education Department, inside the cards. convenient for me to connect with Ajmer Range. He comes from “Earlier, empty postcards and everyone. I have people of all ages Ia generation where there were no blue envelopes were bought from the in my contacts who are using the ticks to indicate a message had been Post Office for 5 paise. The letters application. But letters have always received. Communication required were delivered in 2-3 days. But now, carried a heavyweight of emotions effort. You had to find stationery, write everything is so instant.” Adding to and by reading them I can feel their a letter, find a stamp and an envelope the information he said, “There was fresh emotions. They make me feel and get it to the post box. And then a very special relationship between blessed.” there was the long wait till the the postman and the letter receiver as However Chhanda added, “You postman came back with a reply. Even I received something precious from can keep the letters safely and read if WhatsApp messages can be saved in him every time we met. I used to give them anytime but on WhatsApp, you hard drives for eternity, the essence him some token in the form of cash delete the messages or sometimes that the handwritten letters had or sweets on festivities which was they are lost due to backup issues. much more impact than a few words awaited by him.” But, letters have memories which popping up on the mobile or laptop “I have sent Diwali greetings to are preserved forever. They are screens. No wonder then, letters Chief Election Commissioner of important to me.” written by hand carry a resonance for India, Sunil Arora, as we have worked There are markets with antique him, a resonance that has made him a together in the past. He replied to collections like Chor Bazaar and collector of old letters. my greetings and sent a handwritten museums which have preserved Ishwari Bhatnagar said, “Currently gratitude note for me. This gesture of many old letters of political and I have around 50 to 70 old letters. his made me feel very happy.” social importance. The coming These letters are from my close generations might have friends, relatives. When I was away many more advanced ways to from home, my mother used to send communicate but for some, me letters and I used to get very re-reading old letters is a emotional while reading them. I have pleasurable activity. The only an old friend in Wisconsin, USA, and difference is that, earlier a for many years we remained in touch person used to spend money through these letters, because of that to send that paper of love and we have sustained our friendship for now they spend money to fifty-nine years.” buy the antique which might He added, “Now I don’t send or might not carry equal

NAVYA SAHAI BHATNAGAR NAVYA letters as technology has advanced. Mr. Ishwari Bhatnagar’s emotional quotient. collection of letters

29 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 INTERVIEW Decoding Digital Marketing

Earlier, you worked as a content producer; now you’re an Account manager for Aer Media. Why the change of streams? I just wanted to have a 360 degree understanding of what the digital space is like. The thing with digital, production is everything. For a year I did production. The budgets are really small. In my last company all the content was going up on YouTube and various social media platforms, but they were still using mainstream equipment to shoot their content. And I think at some level I got a little saturated as well. Eventually, Foxymoron, a digital media advertising company, just happened to come my way and I was interested in understanding what advertising on digital space is like. So the whole transition was not thought through, it just happened. one are the days of Nirmiti Kamat meets television and print What’s the difference between Jehanin Pajnigar to tell media. Social media traditional forms and digital? And and new age media what are the new things you learned? tik from tok. are extensively used by The content is brief and snappy. brands as it is the age But you pick that up on the go. I was Gof ‘Influencer Marketing’. Now there is not very good with numbers. I’m not a new platform in town: Tik Tok. a person who likes numbers but I’ve Jehanin Pajnigar, who is an SCM learnt to read data better. You need to Sophia alumnae, has headed the understand the algorithm of platforms content production team of PING and improve the metrics. That was a Network. Her team worked in building big learning at Aer media, but I think digital strategy at FoxyMoron for Foxymoron taught me to understand clientele like L’Oréal Group, Procter & what good content is. They taught me Gamble, Bisleri Group. Currently, she is to work around a brand’s ethics and an account manager at Aer Media and values to create your own content. helps in coordinating between brands Being at SCM really helped, we were and influencers. made to work in a team, that process shaped me because this is the kind of Tell us about advertising in the digital work which you cannot do alone. So, space. SCM teaches you much more than your The industry has just erupted. So, day-to-day work. And I think that’s every day you need to update yourself. what’s important. You know when Whatsapp came along, it was like America was not that far Nowadays, Google algorithms use our anymore. The same thing happened data to show us advertisements, do with marketing. Suddenly we could you think this is ethical? talk to anyone and everyone across I do know it is scary how much they the globe. Every day something new know; you have a conversation one is evolving, whether on Google or on day and Google is throwing it on your social media. So, staying updated is face the next. Advertising can get very something I feel is a big learning. I’ve frivolous; it has made us talk about never worked in the mainstream so I makeup and skin care and about things don’t know what it is like. I’ve always that are very flaky. But that’s also where worked in the digital space. the money is. And brands are willing to SIMRAN DANG

30 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 spend that kind of money. But if you of Investment) they are getting out of different buckets, like can a travel accept a service that’s free, whether working with these influencers. Like if influencer, a chef or a micro-celebrity it’s email or a messaging service, they are spending ‘x’ amount of money create content to talk about this you’re accepting their terms. on an influencer, is it leading to sales, product in an interesting fashion? The is there a transaction happening, how idea is that it should not look branded In the last couple of years, influencer is it working for them. Our clients so that it adds value to the premise. marketing has grown, what do you range from skincare products to even My job here is to coordinate between think has been the game changing life insurance plans. the client (brand) and the influencer. factor in that? Also, helping the influencer with the It’s definitely been a game changer Beyond Facebook and Instagram, content and then shooting, creating when it comes to how these people brands are now focusing on Tik Tok, the entire thing. A lot of our campaigns are suddenly just bursting out of what’s next in this field? happen on Instagram but we do a lot nowhere. It’s already a big thing. The I’ve worked very minimally on of campaigns on YouTube as well. And irony right now in offices is how do Tik Tok. I’ve just sat in a bunch of Tik Tok is what we are looking at. We we sustain this as a business, because meetings where Tik Tok was brought work with a lot of Tik Tok users who every brand wants to grow on social in the discussion. The mass brands are also on Instagram. media and are struggling to do so. focus there because it’s the girl next They have content, but to gain more door who’s there—she just picks up You created content for YouTube in market every brand is after influencer her phone, points it at herself, sings your first job. marketing. Since it’s a part of the a song and before you know she’s Yes, that was my first job in digital space, you don’t know what is got like a million followers, and Bombay. I was a producer of digital coming up next. Initially, brands were that’s literally how influencers have and video content over there. I learned just throwing money at influencers, come to be influencers. Now all the video production and shooting a now they are also demanding the brands want to be on Tik Tok. These video, the right and tight frame, ways data and knowledge, the ROI (Return influencers have a lot of followers of shooting, night-time shooting, and brands now want to reach these shooting outdoors, shooting in the followers through these people. I studio. I got an overview before I went downloaded Tik Tok to understand on to Instagram. I had a strong hold how it works, but I have no idea on YouTube, so it was easy to make the what’s happening on my dashboard. switch. If you want to be in the digital space, it’s important to understand the When you joined SCM, did you metrics. I know it’s frivolous but come with advertising in mind? it’s also something that attracts the No, I never thought of advertising masses. I remember when Instagram when I joined SCM. I also thought, was launched, we took it lightly, and “Okay, you know what? I’m going to believed we are too mature to be on go out there and be a journalist and Instagram, but look how sought after save my country.” But I did not do so. that platform is now. If you want to I am working with makeup products. I do advertising and content creation, think a lot of things here are frivolous. I would definitely recommend that But I still like writing. So, I write for you be on Tik Tok and understand the myself. I love watching films. I think content put out on it. There was this that understanding, to think more Tik Tok festival in Pune, and it’s mind and do more came from SCM. I was blowing that the following and reach bad with numbers, but now data is of these influencers is so huge. something that really interests me, so because of advertising you tend to What’s your role in influencer tap on to many things unknowingly. marketing and how do you select In my year at SCM, I specialised in your influencers? broadcast journalism, I did nothing We do 360-degree activation for further in Broadcast Journalism, but a couple of brands. As an influencer that kind of helped me do video. So agency, we get a brief and based on the you see, it’s all interconnected. I did requirement, we curate an influencers the specialization under Sunayana list as well as a content plan of what Sadarangani. We went to a village in the influencers will be talking about Thane district. My topic was about based on the objective of the brief. So, the women and the scarcity of water for example Maybelline has launched because the rains had not happened a new lipstick and the key point of that year. We did a story on the lives of “But if you accept a the lipstick is that it stays on for eight women there, and that’s what got me service that’s free, hours. Now they want a set of people interested in video. So that led me to to talk about this on Instagram. So, do video production, only when you whether it’s email or we give them the recommended set shoot, then the footage is completely of people who we think fit. So, you different than what you thought. On messaging, you’re will have your beauty and fashion the edit table, a different film is seen. accepting their terms.”. influencer, then we try to tap onto So that’s how you learn.

31 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 ‘Our’ city, Our Indore

CITY SPACE

malpua—any chaat or sweet, you name it and the lane has got it. Dishes from every corner of the country are available in the Outdoors in lane like dosas, parathas, poha, dhokla, saabudaana khichdi and others. Once done with late night strolling and eating in Sarafa, the next morning you must visit Chappan to have poha and jalebi for breakfast. There, Om k INDORE Namekeen is a shop internationally renowned for the savoury Jonhy Hot Indore is one of the cities in India which is Dogs, Mutton Benjo and Egg Benjo which popular for its lip-smacking and economic were also awarded the ‘most ordered dish’ in Uber Eats Summit held in Hong Kong street food. Chappan and Sarafa are well known in 2019. It also got the tag of the ‘most for the eateries. Shreya Khare wonders how the popular menu item’ in Asia Pacific. Indore was declared as the cleanest city manages to stay clean. city of India for the third time consecutively. The parameters used by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban arafa is a market filled Affairs to judge the city for its cleanliness with jewellery shops, but as soon as they shut down in the evening the entire stretch becomes a hub for street food stalls. Only the Spedestrians are allowed to enter the lane at that time and it stays open till late at night. Sarafa is the ultimate paradise for all food lovers because of the culinary diversity available in just one lane. You get everything from dahi-vada to pani-puri to jalebis and

32 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 included elimination of garbage wastes like polythene bags and paper dumps, implementation of 100 are dumped separately. The clean-up percent household waste segregation truck comes thrice in a day to collect and productive waste management the dry waste. Compost plants have by turning the garbage into useful been installed in different parts of products like compost or fuel. Indore to collect the wet garbage and “During the initial years, the most then dump it in that plant. Every day, important thing to run a campaign we submit our wet waste there and on cleaning any city is to have a our wet waste is weighed. If we do not strong consensus from the local separate the dump, we have to pay political party. Then, the support of a fine, the initial fine is 250 rupees, administrative and environmental next time the amount is doubled to executive officers at the local and 500, then a thousand rupees and it state level is required. The challenge increases accordingly.” is to make them understand the Public Service Announcements real issues, the probable solutions were aired on all the local radio and and ways of implementation,” said television channels. “Wealth from Asad Warsi, the Project Design and Waste” competitions were encouraged Management Consultant of Indore in all the schools. This initiative made for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Mission), students find creative ways of recycling launched on October 2, 2014. He waste materials into beautiful artistic added, “The research team first posters and things. Today, Indore has identified the problems faced in order zero dumping grounds as garbage and to achieve a cleaner city and a more waste gets re-utilised in some manner hygienic environment. This is one of or the other. Indore generates 1100 the most important difficulties which to1200 metric tons of waste out of everybody who has worked in solid which 50 percent goes into producing waste management faced.” compost. Earlier, a huge amount of garbage Pushpanshu Khale, an Indore- was dumped on the streets of Chappan based theatre artist, said, “In other and Sarafa every day. Due to lack of cities trucks for the cleaning of roads awareness amongst the people about and garbage used to come only twice waste segregation, everything would a day, but in Indore the cleaning was “Cleanliness is not get piled up in a heap. This made done three times a day. Sweeping enough. Just cleaning recycling extremely difficult. Hence, and cleaning of roads and footpaths, education was provided at different cleaning of public dustbins were not a spot will not do. levels to locals. The segregation of only done in the morning and evening waste materials into dry and wet but also during the night. It takes Simply creating photo waste played a key role in making the hard work on the part of everyone opportunities is not cleaning process easier. and a unity of will and endeavour to Sarita Dev, a nurse at Khare make sure that a city comes in the top sufficient.” Nursing Home in Indore, said, “People 10 cleanest cities of India—that too from the municipality would come ranked number 1 thrice in a row.” on a weekly basis to teach us how to Despite the success story, Warsi segregate waste. They held meetings in believes that the journey is not over. government hospitals every fortnight, He believes that Indore has started on which provided a space for feedback a road and it needs to walk-the-talk. and open discussion. They would “Indore has reached a certain level in listen to our problems and bring becoming cleaner, but to sustain it for necessary changes. They established a longer duration and to make further four dustbins in four different colours improvements it requires an upgrade and taught us what kind of waste went in the technology and infrastructure. into which dustbin.” Hospitals staff We try to utilise the best of the and managers were educated on how technologies available in the world to dispose of medicinal waste and and we have been modifying these accessories (syringes, drips, cotton technologies keeping in mind Indian swabs et al). Cafes, restaurants and conditions and context.” food stalls were educated to use Cleanliness is not an event. Just reusable plastic or paper plates and cleaning a spot once does not do it. cups. Schools and colleges also took Just creating photo applications is not the initiative to segregate their waste. enough. What is necessary is a process Vijay Singh, who works in a that we all adhere to, every day of shop at Chappan, talked about the our lives. For “cleanliness is next to consequences faced in failing to Godliness”, just like this country has segregate garbage. He said, “Wet learned about purity and sanctity waste like vegetables, fruits and dry from their age old faith and belief.

33 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 FEMINISM

THE BECHDEL TEST The Bechdel Test (1985) is a measure used to whether a text is feminist or not. Tanisha Lele questions whether the test is an adequate measure of feminism today.

he media has always been notorious for also helps me while I write my scripts. The results are most its misrepresentation of women. It is often often surprising and disappointing. I don’t know how one found that where a film had more than can determine if the test ‘works’ or not. Either way it gives one female character, the two women one perspective and that itself is insightful enough for me.” would usually talk about petty, irrelevant Today, with the increasing popularity of over-the-top things, cry over things, fight over a man or content making platforms, the regressive content made for Ttalk about a man. With the rise of new wave cinema and Indian television seems archaic. But the reality is such that feminism however, initiatives to bring about a change majority of the Indian population watches television, and started being taken. The Bechdel Test was coined by the audience is mostly women. It is no surprise however American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in her comic strip, that, were the Bechdel Test to be applied to Indian TV Dykes to Watch Out For, back in the year 1985. You can soaps, it would fail miserably. Mukta Dhond, a creative use this to check if a film treats its women characters with producer who is currently working on multiple projects at some measure of respect. There are three conditions: channels like Zee, Alt Balaji, Star Plus etc. feels otherwise. * The film should have at least two female characters. She believes that Indian television has come a long way * They should talk to each other in its representation of women. “Given that almost all * They should talk about something other than men. of Indian television is watched by women are there The Bechdel Test lost its main purpose as over the years, enough female characters? Yes. Are there enough female more films with female characters began being made. The characters not talking about men? Yes. Are there enough argument most commonly used was that it made men female characters discussing their own issues? Yes.” central. If two women sit down and discuss the relative But before you raise a shout for Indian television, she merits of a holiday in the Bahamas versus a skiing holiday agrees that the content is regressive and explains the in Aspen, are they being feminists? More often than not, reasons. “Most of urban India has switched to the web, so female characters are shown obsessing over insignificant today we are making television for people in the interior things like jewels, cosmetics, clothes etc. The test also does parts of India. By interior parts I mean really small towns, not look at other factors such as whether the cast and crew because rural India watches the free channels, meaning of the film are all women, if the women characters have they don’t have dish antennas. Over here, they don’t have any productive role in the unfolding of the film. So even if the exposure that we do, they haven’t seen the outside certain films pass the test, they still don’t showcase women world. The ones who are giving me TRPs have very basic in empowering ways, which in turn, nullifies the entire issues: Does your husband show you a little love? Okay, purpose of the test in the first place. he behaves badly but does he love you a little? That’s Over the years, strong visual content mediums have important. So we have to keep that audience in mind.” multiplied and are not just limited to films. In such Speaking of the change in the content, she says, technology dependaent and competitive times, it becomes “There is a distinct difference between television now essential to check women’s portrayal in different mediums and ten years ago, but women are still bound by rules like advertisements, short films, web series, TV shows etc. and politeness. So a woman in one of the serials will still Speaking about the Bechdel Test in the context of touch her mother-in-law’s feet, but when the mother-in- Indian advertisements, Schbang Digital Solutions’s Senior law is being a jackass, she will talk back. Moreover, there Creative Lead, Mayanka Goel, says, “The test may not be are women who have children out of wedlock and they very scientific but it does help one understand the gender are heroines. They are not shunned and sent to the corner aspect of the content around us. So many films and shows with characters saying, ‘Arre tu badchalan, tu chudail!’ I watch hardly make the cut. If they do, it may be because (You jerk, you witch!) That doesn’t happen anymore.” the women are talking about household chores, beauty, She establishes her point by giving an example from or their children among other stereotypically female a show, “Women have started seeing themselves in those subjects. It’s also disturbing that I personally need the test heroines. Therefore, the heroine is not a doormat from for my own work because, at the very least, it helps me ten years ago, she doesn’t take shit. There are layers in stay aware.” everything. So today’s woman fights back, she just fights Goel adds, “The Bechdel Test is almost always at the back politely. Because in India impoliteness is not accepted. back of my mind every time I watch a film or a TV show. It It is seen as a trait in a vamp. There is a hugely thrashed

34 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 After the test: • Sakshi Kaulgud: “My best friend called me up to complain about her boyfriend. Twice. And my mom spoke to me about my dad’s health issues. There was a leakage in the water pipeline, so we spoke about men who we’d have to call to repair it. I tried to change the topic while my friend was complaining about her boyfriend, but she just wouldn’t listen. That conversation went on and on. The TANISHA LELE TANISHA rest of the men-related conversations were unavoidable. I’ve miserably show called Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. In that daily failed the test, I know. Not very proud soap, when the woman’s son was accused of molestation, of myself. I realised how much time of she looked into it and when she got to know that he had the day goes by talking about men in molested the woman, she took him to court and got him some way or the other. And also, that I punished, I mean he went to jail. If this is not a positive am pretty dependent on them in case change in the representation of women, and if in spite of of physical work.” these well written women characters Indian television fails • Swapna Hankare: “I applied the test the Bechdel Test, then I have my doubts about the Test.” for a day. When my fellow colleague Sruti Visweswaran, an editor and filmmaker, shares spoke to me about the nuisance one her thoughts on the test by saying, “One of the biggest of the male students has come up problems that people have with this test is that it divided with in her class, I simply couldn’t people into those who have a penis and those who don’t. ask her to not talk about it. Another Just because they are not talking about men, does not mean instance was when my house help they would be talking about something important.” She asked me about my husband’s food also says that she believes that the test is superficial. “This preferences for the day. Rest of the test reduces feminism to something one-dimensional. conversations that came up, I could But feminism is much more than that. Lipstick under my tackle or change. But these two Burkha (2016, Alankrita Shrivastava) is a good example. The were absolutely unavoidable. Does director thought: ‘Let’s make an all-women film about their that make me less progressive as a sexuality.’ Not talking about men would be problematic woman though? I don’t think so.” here.Feminism is much more than what two women are talking about.” • Carol Coutinho: “It did not go as I planned. I had presentations to make and discussions that followed. So it was kind of unavoidable. Now that TESTING THE TEST women and men are co-dependent I’ve consciously thought about my In order to understand the test in on one another and at some point conversations throughout the day, I’ve more detail, some women were asked or the other you have to talk about realized that they at some point or the to apply the Bechdel test onto their each other. How does that define if a other ultimately focus on men, even if daily lives. And the results were woman is progressive or empowered? those men are fictional. It doesn’t help surprising. Some accounts of their But fine, I will try to do this.” She also that the subject I’ve chosen to study is experiences are narrated below in two used words like ‘pointless’, ‘extreme’ also quite male-dominated. Then too parts, before and after the test. and ‘unnecessary’ to express her I took some effort to stay away from thoughts about the test. the topic, but I ultimately failed when Before the test: I had presentations to do.” • “I shall pass the test with flying • Twenty-two-year-old Saakshi colours, I am least interested in • Rashika Joglekar: “I am a civil Kaulgud, a student of psychology at talking about men,” says Carol engineer and almost all of my Mumbai University, did not know Coutinho, 21 years old, currently colleagues are males. I interact with what the test was. After being studying at Mithibai College. clients who are also usually male. informed about how it works, she The only females that I come across said, “Most of my friends are in a • Rashika Joglekar, 35, a civil on a daily basis are those who work relationship, so am I. It’ll be quite engineer, said, “I think I fail to for my clients or me. But since the difficult to pass the test for these understand the purpose of this test in only link between those women and reasons but let’s see. I’m excited.” today’s day and age. I can understand me is the men, we have to talk about where it came from, though. them. Even if it is in a context like, • When Swapna Hankare, 43, an Nevertheless, I will take the test. ‘Are so and so’s floor graphs pending?’ architect teaching at Raheja College But given the work I do, it is almost or ‘Did XYZ transfer the payment?’. in Mumbai, was told about the test, impossible for me to pass the test. And this continued to happen she said: “I think the whole concept It’ll be a self-awareness experience, if throughout the day and I couldn’t of this test is very silly. I mean nothing else.” really escape it.”

35 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 MEMORIES Stuck in Between And though you can locate the word in the dictionary, locating your home can be difficult for some,Sakshi Sharma discovers.

or ,most of its brief span Navya Sahai Bhatnagar, from As students, perhaps the idea of on earth, humankind Rajasthan, defines going back home home is also attached to the people defined home as the for breaks as “a total rollercoaster of you share your space with. Those four place where the fire was emotions. There is the excitement of walls start to feel like home because of kindled, the darkness reaching home but there is also the the roommates you find. I can say this dispelled and the thought of when will I be coming back because when I go back to Delhi, to my Fflickering light revealed faces you knew to this place again.” old flat, it does not look like my home and whom you could trust. This is what might be described anymore; it feels like a stranger standing What does home mean to a twenty as an approach-avoidance conflict. there, the absence of belongingness. something year old who has left the One side of you is jumping with joy Sure all those memories come rushing place where she lived with her parents at the thought of going back into the back to you but it feels like someone and had moved to another space? space of familiarity, of comfort where else’s place now. As Simran says, “This I, for one, have not lived at home your position is assured and you don’t place would not be bearable if the for the past four-and-a-half years have to explain yourself. But another people around were not nice. I am very now. Sure, the first few months it felt part of you knows that you miss that close to my previous roommates. This strange living with four other people sense of independence and the kind of year new people shifted in my room. in a single room where the only space responsibility it brought in you. This room will never be the same for you could call your own is the bed to Simran Dang from Jaipur says, “It’s me because I’m used to being in this which you have been assigned. But kind of a mixed feeling. When I am in room with the people who I first shared then, after a point of time, it gets to Bombay I miss home especially ghar it with.” That is why home is the place the stage where the single spartan bed ka khana (home-cooked food) and the where you can only feel like a stranger had the feel of home. After a hard day luxury of sleeping on a double bed all for a while. at college, coming back to that bed was by myself and the space to roam around Living away from home is an comfortable and reassuring. Oddly but at the same time when I am home experience that one must have as it enough you begin to refer it to home for a longer period of time I kind of brings another level of independence in as well. While I was in Delhi, whenever miss Bombay. The rush, the speed and you. It brings out the side of you which people asked me where I was, I would everything about it. I feel restless at you were unaware of. As Navya aptly say home, and they would be confused, home.” says, “In my first year away from home, as they thought I had gone back to Perhaps one gets to the point when it felt very different to step out and stay Chandigarh while I was referring to my one always lives in two places at once. at a new place, but now I am habituated flat as my home without even realising There is a constant tussle between your to it and the idea of newness excites me. the mismatch I made. home and the ‘other place’ There is so much to explore.” Snigdha Jain, from Bikaner, There is also a feeling of detachment But always keep in mind that staying Rajasthan, says, “It’s been only five that comes with it. When you are living away from home will come with a months in Bangalore, since I shifted in a new place, everything is already feeling of being stuck. As life goes on, here, I still refer to it as my PG but as new but when you go back home to you move on and change places, but time will pass I’ll start calling it home the place where you have spent most this pinching emotion of strangeness that’s what I called my PG when I lived of your early years, the place you know stays with you. There is a small part of in Delhi but it took me some time.” She becomes strangely unknown to you that you that doesn’t want to go back home to also adds, “I like the vibe of the place it takes a day to settle down in your own your parents, and desires to come back and most importantly I found good room. The strangest feeling is when you to your room to the same roommates. people where I am currently living. It is have to ask your mother where what is It’s just that I have accepted my reality always easier to adjust when you have a kept in the house as if that same house and this is a choice I made to come out good company.” has become a stranger to you. and explore the world. So all you need, So can we say that the idea of home As Shivani Singh, from Bareilly says, as Jyothsna Mani, from Chennai has is just the mind’s way of making a sense “It’s happy at first when you are back said is to find the right balance between of space because that same home that at home but then I can’t sleep because the two. But somewhere down the line, I had been living in for the past twelve the bed doesn’t feel like mine anymore. I feel, you will always have one foot in years didn’t feel like home when I went There are memories in that room but one boat and the other in another, so back after a year there? nothing new or exciting.” you are always kind of stuck in between. NAVYA SAHAI BHATNAGAR NAVYA

36 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 An ecstatic Modhura in her element

INTERVIEW Sweekriti Tiwari traces Modhura FROM CALCUTTA Palit’s journey as a cinematographer TO CANNES: who has won the prestigious Pierre Angenieux ExcelLens MODHURA at Cannes. PALIT’S JOURNEY

ne day, Indian is the first-ever Indian to receive the An alumna of WWA Cossipore cinematographer honour. English School, Kolkata, and having Modhura Palit opened Modhura is the daughter of award- done her eleventh and twelfth from her email and found winning art photographers, Partha Ashok Hall, she said that the camera a mail whose header Kumar Palit and Shaswati Palit. wasn’t her only interest. “I am a trained read: Excellence in Reflecting back on her childhood, classical dancer (Bharatanatyam) and OCinematography award at the Cannes she said, visuals and cameras were I used to paint. I did anything that Film Festival. She sent it to her Spam ubiquitous throughout. I could do basically when I was in folder. But it was true. She had won an “I grew up in a household where school.” award at the Cannes Film Festival in photography was very normal; it was a She went on to pursue mass 2019, the prestigious event in the world way of living. I was initiated into that communication at St. Xavier’s College, of cinema where pioneer filmmakers process of filmmaking from early on in Kolkata. However, she claims that the like Jane Campion and François my life,” she said. real transformation began only after Truffaut have won awards. Thankfully, With a tinge of nostalgia in her eyes, college when she joined the Satyajit Ray The Indian Women Cinematographers she shared how fascinated she was Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Committee called her up later, asking with the entire process of developing Kolkata, to study cinematography. her to reply to the jury’s mail. photographs with her father, whom She feels that the institution has India’s relationship with the Cannes she calls Baba. “Baba used to develop transformed her. Film Festival has always been that of and print photographs at home. My “I think I have learnt so much in glittery makeup and floor-mopping first memory is of Baba letting me hold SRFTI, it is very difficult for anybody dresses. Modhura Palit added a new his film camera when I was in Class to understand. It has helped me not variable to this equation by winning IV or V. Baba is very protective of his only learn the craft that I know today, The Pierre Angenieux ExcelLens in camera so I knew this was an honour. but it has also helped me understand Cinematography Award at Cannes in The world looked very different myself,” Modhura said. 2019. She won it for the body of films through the lens, more magical, more For her, SRFTI was not an institution she has worked on in the past and beautiful.” but an experience. She adds that the

37 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 INTERVIEW institution opened up international of German Expressionism, the well- connotation of a leader, she isn’t forums for her. She went on to work known art and cultural movement of someone from whom they can take in Looking China Youth Film Program the 1920s. Both Watchmaker and Ami orders. “I always knew I had to kind (Project) where ten students along with O Manohar (Manohar and I) are black- of fight it out, I was prepared for all Modhura were chosen for the same. Not and-white Bengali feature films. “Black of this, more or less,’’ said Modhura. only this, she represented India in the and white is personally my favourite, I One poignant remark she made is that Asian Film Academy, which is part of really love shooting in black and white! the main struggle for female figures the Busan International Film Festival. But in both the films it was decided in authority begins even before the After graduating from SRFTI, she that the story can be told better if process starts. “They are continuously worked in an Indo-Brit virtual reality there were no colours. Every film doubting ‘you’, that is even before they film and the independent feature film has its own decisions and every film have seen me on the floor, so that is Ami O Manohar, directed by Amitabha there has its own language, image and where the main challenge is, it is after Chattopadhyay and released in 2018. consciousness behind it.” ‘you’ hit the floor I know I can do my The film later won the best debut Ami O Manohar went on to win job but how will I prove it before I hit feature film at the Kerala International best Debut Feature Film at Kerala the floor?” Film Festival, 2018. Having worked in International Film Festival 2018. As for the future, “I wish to work in international and intercultural spaces, Modhura claimed that the film was more meaningful films. independent Modhura believes Indian films can shot entirely in an iPhone. Though films and films that are trying to do really well on those levels. Her the film isn’t available in the public make a difference. It’s very difficult to experiences tell her that both Indian domain, the trailer itself is quite pinpoint. Projects that will challenge independent and mainstream cinema intriguing. me and help me grow as a DOP.” have amazing resources in terms of She has had her share of challenges She would also like to travel manpower and creativity. According to too: “One of my favourite memories the world, a book in her backpack. her, one of the reasons India is not able is tying myself to a jeep and shooting Lately, she has been impressed by to perform to its potential is because the in the mountains. It was a low budget Servants of The Goddess: The Modern- conventional outlook towards Indian film, and the producer did not have day Devadasis (Penguin India, audiences hasn’t changed. “We have money to purchase a rig for the 2014) written by Catherine Rubin underestimated Indian audiences. We camera. But the director wanted that Kermogrant, which traces the sex work are still thinking ki yeh audience nahi particular shot, so I became the rig.” culture of ancient India. lega. Arre ek baar audience ko deke The journey she chose has its own The kind of work people like to dekho, woh kyon nahin lega? (We hurdles; some exist simply because she Modhura produce helps the Indian still think that Indian audiences won’t is a woman. “For decades, a woman’s film industry enter a whole new accept new or different content, but role in the film-making process has dimension. It opens out opportunities why don’t you first create such content remained confined to a heroine who for upcoming artists, giving them and try it, then come to conclusions). adds glamour to the 70 mm screen,” unique spaces to explore. In such a Modhura says that Indian said Palit. She shared how sexist and scenario, an international award isn’t creators and consumers have always stereotypical attitudes in the industry just recognition but a path towards undermined their own culture and have landed her in awkward situations, change. worshipped the international. “We are “There have been times when I have just not trying hard enough. We seem reached the director’s office for the to get hung up on technology, as if that role, and instead, I was mistaken for is the answer. If there is something being the costume designer.” new out there, we want it here. If we Cinematography is one of the many can send a satellite to the moon in professions that is regarded as an half the budget of what international only men’s zone. Modhura bursts this projects are doing then making films is myth, she said, “It is believed that only nothing.” In fact, a diverse mix of Indian brawny, hulky men can bear a camera’s and international cinematographers weight. That’s not my only job. have influenced Modhura over the Cinematography isn’t running around course of her journey. with a camera on your shoulders, it’s Subrata Mitra, Wong Kar-Wai, Roger about technicality. No bulky male DOP Deakins are a few cinematographers wields a camera for fourteen hours to A still from Ami O Manohar (2018). Source: https:// who Modhura feels, have shaped her take one shot.” asianmoviepulse.com to a great extent. One of the short films Commenting on the extent to on which she has worked, Paper Boy which the workspace is gendered she by Aniket Mitra released in the year said, “The problem is the fact that I 2015, is a black-and-white film about have been celebrated so much as a a little boy who sells newspapers for a female DOP, this tells you that it is so living. The close-ups of the protagonist gendered. The day we stop talking of in Paper Boy remind one of the sheer jobs as male and female jobs will be innocence Apu portrayed in Pather the day when we have ungendered the Panchali. profession.” Her passionate emphasis Another of the films on which she on the mental preparedness that the worked is Watchmaker by Anindya field demands from a woman is hard- Banerjee. The film, which bends time hitting. She admits that her petite and logic, is inspired by the styles stature doesn’t always fit people’s

38 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 NGO BEAT FEED THE HUNGRY, TEACH THE KIDS

That’s what the Robin Hood Army does, says Anuradha Nagar

Well fed, well read

he Robin Hood Army child has the potential and has interest Mumbai, was previously working with (RHA) was founded in the in studying we help him in getting the RHA Ahmedabad and now works with year 2014 by Neel Ghose, admission in a government school and RHA Mumbai since July 2019. “Many with a team of four the ones who do better are also sent to people do not get a meal even for one friends in Delhi. It was English medium schools,” said Momina time and we help them in whatever way based on Portugal’s Re- Sirguroh, who has been a Robin since we can.” Tfood Programme that works to get food the time Robin Hood Army has started Shweta Gawde, a thirty-two-year- from restaurants and the community to in Mira Road. Momina Sirguroh is a old Robin has been associated with feed the less fortunate. The RHA began teacher at a college in Mira Road. There RHA from the last nine months said, “I by using social media to contact the are more than six thousand academy always wanted to give back to the society donors and to identify the needy. students in more than sixty-nine cities in some way. Then I came across RHA They started out from Delhi and and about 1600 have been enrolled in and decided to join it.” One gets to see reached other cities like Mumbai and schools. all kinds of people working in the RHA Ahmedabad. They are currently in two “We celebrate all the festivals family. From college students to working hundred cities and more than fifteen together, we also have regular eye professionals, everyone manages to countries. The volunteers are called check-up, medical drive and awareness spend few hours every week with these Robins; all are either professionals or program” said Anju Agrawal, a Robin children, trying to make their life a bit students. The Robins collect food from who has been associated with RHA better with whatever help they can. hotels, restaurants or from people who since a year now. This is the story of just one area in are willing to sponsor the food. There Namrata is a part of the Robin Hood Mumbai. Apart from Mira Road the are thirty chapters (identified slum Academy and got admission in Holy Robins conduct drives in other areas of areas) within Mumbai itself. Cross School, Mira Road. She aspires Mumbai as well which include Vasai, In Mira Road, for instance, there to become a doctor and is extremely Malad, Borivali and Andheri to name a are weekly food drives conducted and interested in dance and music. Her few. fifty to seventy people are fed. Every mother works as a caretaker and father Faiza Dhanani, Mumbai city Wednesday, the food comes from the is a machine operator. Nine other coordinator shared her experience of Second Wife Hotel. On Sundays, donors children like Namrata have been given working with Robin Hood Army and or volunteers from the organisation the opportunity to study. said,“It has been the most fulfilling sponsor freshly-prepared food. Children come running the moment and satisfying experience. The minute They also have another initiative, they come to know that their Didi and you realise that each weekend the kids the Robin Hood Academy, where they Bhaiya are here. Kashish Khanderia, 23, wait for us, it gives us the feeling of teach forty to fifty children every Sunday currently pursuing his post-graduate responsibility and keeps me motivated in Mira Road. The academy aims at diploma in finance from a college in to give back more and more.” providing children with basic primary SIMRAN DANG education and to give the children an opportunity to have access to education. While conducting the sessions the Let’s say hurray volunteers take care of every little thing, for a brighter, for example they make sure that the better day! children have proper bath, wear fresh clothes, brush their teeth and make it to class on time. It was amazing to see how dedicated every volunteer is. The class begins with the national anthem, followed by a few exercises. And then begins the fun part of studying. The children are between the ages of five to fourteen years. Out of the forty children in each class, ten go to government schools. “If we see that the

39 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 MAYA NAGARI How to be a Struggler Akansha Negi looks at the lives of young people who come to the city with Bollywood dreams in their eyes.

he narrow lanes of Versova and Andheri in Mumbai are filled with aspiring actors, belonging to various socio-economic classes Tand age groups and coming from all over the country. They are all here with a dream. They want to be actors. They want to see their names in lights. They want to be the next big thing. They are all trying hard to get somewhere from the lowest and most slippery slopes of the entertainment industry. But the struggles are real, no matter where you come from. “I always wanted to be an entertainer and a famous person,’’ says Saahhil Sethi, 32 years old. He has appeared in Mrs. Scooter which is on Amazon Prime, Unfreedom, streaming on In one of the lanes of Netflix, played an antagonist in the Aram Nagar, the hub of Zee TV serial, Zindagi Ki Mehak struggling actors Season 2 and a few digital ads. He says that his struggle started after he did not get selected for a role in a Yash Raj Films (YRF) project, which from one friend’s home to another auditioning on a regular basis. But he was almost certain of getting. And with his luggage, so that he would have actors can also stop auditioning due now after 12 years of keeping that somewhere to sleep. He now trains to constant rejection they face. Ayush dream alive, he says, “I know that it actors to earn a living but he does not Nathani, who has appeared in a few is important to audition to get the want to be recognised as a teacher content videos for FilterCopy, a digital role, but now I don’t feel comfortable or a trainer because he believes, content platform, and is also a theatre in going from one casting house in Bollywood, if you attach a tag to artist, stopped auditioning for about to another just to ask whether I yourself, you may carry it forever. And six months after having auditioned fit in with the criteria or the look the chances to move beyond that label for 95 continuous days without getting demanded by the role. I think there are really low. Saahhil calls himself offered a single role. Nathani says, is some measure of mediocrity in the a dreamer. “Sometimes not being “If you keep auditioning and you get casting agencies. Not all of them look practical is what keeps me going. nothing out of it, it’s demotivating. for acting skills. Most of the times, it’s Being philosophical helps me sustain I was forced to doubt my choice of just about looks. They might cast an myself and my dream and that’s what being an actor. I constantly questioned actor whose looks fit the requirement I do,” he says. “For the rest, it’s craft, myself if I have chosen the right path.” even if she/he is average at acting and craft, craft.” But he believes, one should audition it’s never the other way round.” So not Saahhil is not the only one who every day, because you get some acting getting attention, despite having the emphasises the importance of practice every day, you get to confront necessary skills, is also a struggle an a camera every day and that’s the way actor undergoes, psychologically. you get comfortable in front of it. “I am not here just to be an actor, He reads scripts because “it helps but a great actor,” he says. Saahhil me visualise the scene, I compare wants to be recognised both on “Why do we call how actors performed the same role. national and international platforms, I do voice exercises and breathing for his skills and the self-training the someone a struggling exercises when I don’t go for auditions.” he has undergone over the years. But According to him, the biggest struggle meanwhile, life is tough when you are actor or an aspiring of an actor is to wake up early as it working on your dream. For instance, actor, why not just decides the entire routine for the day. Saahhil does not have a house of his “It’s the smallest thing yet the biggest,” own right now. He moves around an actor? since aspiring actors are generally AKANSHA NEGI

40 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 perceived as lazy, their day begins at If they don’t get work, that’s what which is now available on Netflix. noon. Another part of the struggle is they are bound to choose, to sustain To him, experience does matter, that “there’s no genuine feedback,” a life in Bombay.” that’s how he bagged his first role, he adds. She adds, “Yes! Casting couches but he says, being visible matters Prerna Dua, 28, moved to Bombay are for real but no one would really more. You have to be seen, you have in 2013 without any experience in do anything without consent in the to keep performing and working on acting and within a few months industry. It’s a different matter that if your skills, no matter what. He says, started getting casted in ads. She you turn them down, you won’t get the “Even if you’re in the remotest of has done around 38 ads so far and role.” Prerna says she has managed villages doing a nukkad natak (street was known as ‘Sun-Silk Model’ back to escape whenever she came across theatre), someone will find you”. He then. But now, it’s been quite a while such a situation. Her purpose now is continues, “There’s nothing like since she has received any projects. to prove herself as an actor and that’s ‘struggling’, it’s just a hyped term. There was a time when she had to what keeps her going. She believes, Why do we call someone a struggling sell her car because she had run out “the struggle never ends for an actor, actor or an aspiring actor, why not of money. For about three days, she it’s lifelong, it may end financially just an actor? Everyone who acts is had no place to stay in Mumbai. The but mental struggle always remains.” an actor. It could be theatre, street free meals at the Sikh gurudwaras, Rohan Joshi, 24 moved to Mumbai plays, ads or films—there should be the langar, was the only source of almost three years ago. According no hierarchies.” her meals for more than a month. to him, the struggles an actor faces Much of being an actor is looking “People had forgotten me and that in Mumbai ranges from not finding the part. You need to wear the right hit me hard, I’d almost given up.” a place to stay, to dealing with clothes, you need to have a trendy She took up a job at a call centre, fake casting houses. His personal haircut, you need to look the part. later switched to being an education struggles include sometimes failing Only looking the part costs money counsellor and a trainer at Aviation to perform the way the director wants and that’s precisely what strugglers Academy but realised that these were him to and there’s the perennial don’t have. The cost of maintaining not things she wanted to do. problem of negotiating for payments a lifestyle is certainly more than what She earned a bit just to sustain for a newcomer. “But hey, who they earn from their first project. in the city and switched back to doesn’t struggle? There are people But still actors by far need to make auditioning for roles. “ A lot of people who are looking for office jobs, who sure that they are visible and they give up, I didn’t. Girls often tend want to become pilots, they’re all look good. Rohan Joshi says, “Gym is to choose the wrong path, because struggling. And even when you have important because you need to make there is no shortage of sugar daddies! your first job, it may not be the kind sure you’re fit. It’s about fitness, not you dreamed about and now you’re lifestyle but if that’s all you’re doing struggling, even in a nine to five work and not working on your skills, situation. Look around, this city is then it doesn’t work. You need to full of strugglers.” understand whether you are here to “Casting couches are Rohan Joshi started his career be a traditional hero or an actor.” with Tata Sky TVC, and has appeared “I don’t think what you wear for real but no one in Student of the Year 2, Mission matters, you must just look Mangal and many more films. It presentable and you don’t really need would do anything was slightly easier for him to make a brands for that. Looks are important without consent in place in this industry because he had but it’s the character’s look, not already done a feature film called yours,” adds Ayush Naithani. the industry Mantra before moving to Mumbai, “I make sure I look fit. When I can’t afford gym, I go for a run, I exercise on my own. I cut down on other After a long day of auditions, the expenses so that I can get a proper Bollywood aspirants get ready diet. Even though there are times for yet another day of auditions. when I sleep on an empty stomach. But I know I’m constantly working on my skills, that’s what counts,” says Saahhil Sethi. Prerna Dua shares similar views, “I think looks, these days is not at all a criteria, there are a lot of actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte and Konkona Sen who are trying hard to break the myth around beauty and looks by just their skills. Though sometimes, when you go for auditions, they will still consider how you look but undeniably, it’s not just looks: that will work but your performance as an actor, that will help you sustain yourself in the industry.”

41 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 FREEDOM

AN IMPULSE TO RIDE

The rhythmic thump of the iconic Royal Enfield Bullet immediately brings to mind images of machismo and badassery of hardy men. But, Anamika Joseph is one of the few stereotype-defying women who celebrate the freedom that only riding on two wheels can offer! Prabhat Nambiar catches up with her.

reason. Just the tiniest says Anamika, “he had to sell it off we stay connected. So that is how the reason. That’s all because I was coming into this world so family bond inculcates once you start Anamika Joseph, “a that he could buy a scooter for a family riding and you start getting involved marketing manager by of four. At that point of time, he sold his with the community. The brotherhood profession, and a rider Bullet and I now know what he must or sisterhood or whatever you may call by passion”, gears up have felt and what he must have gone it.” and sets her out on a ride on her Royal through when he lost his Bullet. I was Speaking of brotherhood, the world EnfieldA Classic Stealth Black 500, which in the sixth standard when I decided conspires to keep women down with she christened Iza. Even today, she is on that no matter what happens, the Royal with gender roles, “log kya kahenge”, her way from Mumbai to Pune but has Enfield that my family lost, we will get it you’re just a girl, how can you…” yadda agreed to meet for a quick bite and more back one day.” yadda yadda. So what is Anamika’s importantly, a peek into her motorcycle Eventually, in January 2019, Anamika opinion pertaining to female riders in a diary. fulfilled her dream of buying herself Iza. male-dominated space? Anamika says that her passion This, she says, has transformed her life “I actually don’t feel there is any for motorcycles began about 15 years in many ways. She has also made it clear need for gender bias. It’s a motorcycle, ago when she was in her ninth grade, that NOTHING and NO ONE can come and it’s a soul. Motorcycle is connected thanks to her cousin. This was the time in the way of her passion. As she puts to the soul. The gender is just a tag that when the Bajaj Pulsar 180 had just been it, “...certain life decisions that I have we’re giving. Women can do a lot more launched. Interested, she learnt about taken in the past one year have been things that men can’t do. Men can do a the most basic components of the bike my bike-focused, my motorcycle focus lot more things that women can’t do. I’ve from him. She then asked him for the and my passion focus. Lot of people never understood the fact that ‘Oohhh, bike’s keys so she could just go for a that I have left along the way who have lady rider!’” She now asks indignantly, short spin. The passion for bikes now not been supportive of me riding, I’ve “What do you mean by ‘lady rider’? manifested in her, she knew exactly changed myself. I’ve changed things in There are so many men riding on the what must be done! my life to address my passion.” road, why do we not say that ‘Ohh, there “I ran away with the bike for two Her obsession with riding meant is a man riding!’ Why do you have to hours. I had no phone, I’d informed that she had to let go of some people. gender-specify this? nobody. My mom was shit scared. There However, as a rider, she found her tribe: “I ride because I love riding. I’ve seen was complete chaos around the house - the biker brotherhood. She developed a lot of female riders. They’re riding just ‘Where has Anamika gone?’. I come back a deep bond with like-minded riders for the name, fame. Don’t do it. If you’re after two hours, I get the beating of my in Goa during Rider Mania, an annual passionate about bikes and passionate life. I give back the keys to Bhaiya. The gathering of Royal Enfield riders. about riding and you love riding, do only thing that Bhaiya says - ‘Maza aaya This was grounds to an inevitable it. Always remember that this is a ki nahi?’ (You enjoyed it, right?) That camaraderie. territory which is very male-dominated. is what motivated me to start riding “Last week I came back from Goa. Men will tell you ‘aise nahi karna hai’, because that gave me the freedom to do I had a ball. I made some amazing ‘waise nahi karna hai’ (don’t do this or whatever shit I want to. Baad me maar friends... I’ve been following them on that). Be accepting, listen to whatever kha lenge (I might get beaten up later) Instagram for a while now. But we met they’re saying, take whatever you need but, like, whatever shit you want to do.” for the first time and it just did not feel to keep and just forget about whatever This spontaneity, she says, is the that we met for the first time because else they’re saying. There should not be reason behind her Instagram handle ultimately what happens is we share the any discrimination between male and impulsive.joe! same mentality. We all are passionate female and gender bias. That is utter Getting a motorcycle, particularly about riding. So we became a family. We bullshit! I’ve met enough and more a Royal Enfield, was highly personal went through ups and downs, we cried men in my life who don’t deem me as a for Anamika. It was a tribute to her together, we laughed together, we had female rider. They deem me as a rider. It father, the late Dhiraj Joseph, an auto fun together. We’re still in touch. Every is because of the way I conduct myself . enthusiast himself. day we make it a point that whoever Your conduct and how you pose yourself

ATUL KASARE ATUL “My father had a 1976 Royal Enfield,” is nearby can catch up and meet and and how you treat your motorcycle is

42 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 The next ride plan is also on her mind

the way how people will treat you back. breaking down. mentality. If you don’t share the same So if you’re seriously into riding, be “Guys were having breakdowns.” mentality, they will just leave you serious and don’t do it just to show off.” she says in mock smugness, “None of stranded in the middle of the road For all her impulsiveness, Anamika the girls had any breakdowns in their and eff off. That is not how riders are. sure means business while she’s riding. vehicles and the girls were fixing their When you’re riding together and you’re She ensures that she takes safety bikes BY THE WAY...the guy whose bike moving together and you’re staying measures whenever she’s out on the had broken down said, ‘Agar tum log ko together, you move forward and take road - whether on a cross-state ride or late ho raha hai, you guys leave’. (if you care of each other.” a trip to the nearest chicken shop. Her guys are getting late, leave). But that is With all this conversation done, mantra: ATGATT - All The Gear All The not how riders are. We were six people Anamika gears up yet again to set out Time. She says that when she bought and we made sure that all of us are on the 170-kilometre ride to Pune. I her bike in January, she had already together. All of us reach home together. ask her with curiosity, why is she going purchased her riding gear so she won’t Even if we need to stay there the whole there. be riding like a jhalla (idiot) or a chapri night, I have a tent, we’ll camp and “I’m going to Pune to buy some (loafer). Also she takes the whole stay there. But we will all be together. lemon barfi,” she says dismissively, “my riding culture very seriously, as while So it’s very important that if you’re friend really likes it.” returning from Rider Mania in Goa, riding with a crew, you’re comfortable That said, she kicks Iza into life and her riding companions’ bikes started with the crew. And you share the same thunders out into the highway.

43 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 PHOTO ESSAY Mumbai before sunrise SUKANYA DEB SUKANYA

44 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 ou see the vada pav seller rises from sleep as these men blur outside the station or you see out with the first rays of the day. They Y a cobbler on the roadside, you sink into their dens of narrowed down see many faces working in the city. But alleys and their identities get lost in the there a few places and faces that you dust of the buzzing streets. see before the actual hustle begins. Waking up at 3 am to capture these These are the faces because of faces took us through a road less taken. which Bombay is called the city that Initially, it was undeniably straining never sleeps. to follow these faces but gradually it They work during those wee hours introduced us to a new world and the when everybody is sleeping and hush and rush of those hours. Here is disappear as the sun rises. The city one perspective of the city at 4 am.

45 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 PHOTO ESSAY

Where is all the news coming from?

What’s cooking?

SIMRAN DANG DEB SUKANYA Something fishy!

The first few sips SUKANYA DEB SUKANYA

46 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Pav kilo Mumbai. SIMRAN DANG

Distributing Dissent. SIMRAN DANG

47 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Let’s get the buns home. SUKANYA DEB SUKANYA

48 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 PHOTO ESSAY

Same rush, Different faces. SIMRAN DANG

Fresh smiles. SUKANYA DEB SUKANYA

49 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Couplets of Kabir: Finding relevance even today Based on Anjali Awasthi’s childhood. Anjali Awasthi and Sweekriti Tiwari reflect on Kabir’s relevance and need in today’s times.

Aisee vaani boliye, mann ka aapa the caste of the saint, seek knowledge khoye/ apna tan sheetal kare, auran ko from him/ The sword has more value sukh hoye. than the sheath). These words of Kabir (Your words should dismantle your are a crystal clear representation of his ego. They should soothe yourself; they ideology. He had criticised organised should soothe others around you.) religion when he was alive and spoke I was in class six when I was fearlessly about the banality of religious introduced to the poet Sant Kabir or myths and customs. His harsh criticism Saint Kabir, one of the best-known of of the caste system invited a backlash the Bhakti saints. The movement was but he kept going on. He chose to known for the devotional poems and break myths even at the time of death stories created by people like Kabir who as he chose a place like Magahar to die A sound of devoted themselves to this cause. The in, which was cursed by upper-caste best part was that I got to read them Hindus. (It was believed that anyone my city daily in my Hindi textbook. However, I who died Magahar would not reach went a step ahead and read one every the heavens in the afterlife.) Kabir After moving to Mumbai night before going to bed. My teacher, abandoned the ‘holiness’ of Kashi and Asha Singh, used to add rhythm to chose Magahar. Ironically, his death from Jaipur, Simran the quotes, embedding the memory caused a quarrel between Hindus and Dang reconnects with of his poems deeper. Kabir always Muslims on whether to perform Hindu believed that odd is one and Guru, that or Islamic funeral rites. her hometown through is teacher, can lead us to god. Guru is Kabir’s couplets and poems are like the folk music of the link between God and oneself. In a mirror to the present society. His Rajasthan my case, my teacher introduced me to a principles stand true today as well. divine world of Kabir’s poems. The volatile political times and anxiety Whenever he saw me procrastinating rode society needs the words of Kabir Every time we have a guest my father would say, “Kal kare so aaj kar, more than ever. The country has seen a visiting Jaipur, my mother is aaj kare so ab/ Pal mein pralaya hoegi, wave of protests in the past month. It is the perfect tour guide, showing bahuri karoge kab?” (What you have to becoming harder than ever to maintain them around the city and takes do tomorrow, do it today; what you had peaceful mental health at such times. them to all the places that they to do today, do it now. The apocalypse Almost one out of five adolescents in should be visiting in the fabled can come in a moment and we lose India suffers from some level of mental Pink City. So when my relatives everything.) I guess the fondness for morbidity, says a 2019 study conducted from Delhi were visiting us, Kabir’s poetry runs in my blood. by the Bengaluru-based National we all went to Chokhi Dhani, Another of his quotes, “Bura jo Institute of Mental Health and Neuro which is a theme restaurant dekhan main chala, bura naa milya Sciences. The youth fails to find peace which is supposed to be a koye/ Jo mann khoja apnea, toh mujhse in the country, where injustice prevails, representation of Rajasthan bura na koye.” (I went looking for the killing of democracy, communal in miniature. After having the devil, I couldn’t find him. When violence in all aspects has surrounded a hearty thali of dal-baati- I searched inside myself, I realized I our country. churma, everybody just wanted am he.) has stayed with me because it Taking a break from the noise of pop to go home. We were all strolling urges me to look inside myself. Getting culture and going back to the couplets towards the exit when we saw a to read his work at a young age helped of Kabir might be one way to reclaim group of musicians playing folk me shape my opinions and ideas about our sanity. I have already gotten back music. It was cold so no one the world. the meaning of life?’, though to my old habit of reading one couplet wanted to stop but there was I haven’t found the answer yet. every night before sleeping. this one man whose instrument Kabir was born in Kashi, now fascinated me. He was moving Varanasi, in the year 1440 he was the his hands in a manner which son of a Brahmin widow and was was difficult to comprehend, it adopted by a childless Muslim couple. was like somebody was clapping He passed away in 1518 in a place called at an extremely fast pace but Magahar, about 240 kms from the city it produced a mesmerising Lucknow. “Jaati na poocho sadhu ki, rhythm. pooch lijiey gyaan/ Mol karo talwar I wondered how somebody ka pada rehne do myaan.” (Don’t ask could clap at such a fast pace

50 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 and I tried to replicate the sound with my hands, standing right there. Of course, it didn’t Worship Music: work. Overcome by curiosity, I went up to the man playing the instrument to know what My Surrender it was. He told me that it was known as a ‘khartaal’. He Susanna Cherian shares her connection towards showed it to me; it was a pair of Christian worship music. wooden clappers held together by a metal ring. The sound is produced by bringing these two ‘What can I give, What can I played. Other songs released by clappers together at a fast pace. bring?/ That would be pleasing Trinity sounds included ‘Ibadat The musician was kind enough to my King/I’ll give my heart, karo’ (Psalms 100), ‘Meri Rooh to allow me to ‘play’ but of Not just a part/ I’m lifting up my Khuda Ki Pyaasi Hain’ (Psalm 42) course, nothing I did sound as everything/ Well, it’s all I have to and ‘Kab Tak Khuda’ (Psalm 6). interesting as the music he was offer, And it’s all I have to give/ Two One of my most memorable producing. I wanted to learn hands, One heart, One life to offer albums was Don Moen’s old album’ some more but my family was you’ ‘Thank You Lord’ which released in getting impatient now and I was These lyrics from Don Moen’s 2004 and included worship songs dragged away. song, ‘Two Hands, One Heart’ is like ‘My Creator King’, ‘Arise, Be Many years later, an episode exactly what worship means to me. Enthroned’, ‘When It’s All Been Said of Coke Studio on MTV was In India, one of the most popular and Done’, and ‘Throne of Praise’. playing as I was engrossed in contemporary Christian bands is In 2013, he released another some other work. Suddenly I the Sheldon Bangera Band. From album, ‘Unchartered Territory’ heard the same clapping sound an engineer, Bangera turned full- which has been very close to my and I was immediately struck. time musician and then wrote over heart. There was something about I knew I had heard it but I two hundred worship songs. He how every word touched one’s couldn’t figure out where. This became one of the most influential heart and could be sung with led to a flashback of memories worship leaders with the making of such a flow of melody. It included and I recalled the first time I the Nachoonga album in June 2013, songs like, ‘Divine Exchange’, ‘Your had heard it, on a cold winter which was an initiative to translate Love Never Fails’, and ‘You Will Be night in Chokhi Dhani. common English songs into Hindi My Song’, among others. Some I searched the Internet and for the Hindi church congregation. of my favourite worship leaders reconnected with the sound of As part of his ‘India on Wheels’ are Matt Redman, Matthew West, the khartaal. I discovered the tour the SB band travelled to more Tim Hughes, Zach Williams, Chris root of the name: ‘Khar’ means than a hundred cities by road to Tomlin, Tommee Profitt, Brooke hand and ‘tala’ means clapping. spread the message of the Gospels. Griffith, Darlene Zschech among It is a percussion instrument In 2019, the band also travelled to others. Some of the worship music which is often used to carry twenty cities in the USA as part that I have grown up listening to is, the rhythm of a folk song. You of the ‘America On Wheels Tour’. Hillsong and Bethel Music. can see why it would be an Sheldon Bangera also founded Worship to me is surrender. It instrument of choice. You don’t ‘Jaago Music’ which is a worship is a surrender of myself, and my need a huge investment, just arts community in Mumbai to raise circumstances to God. two pieces of wood, and a ring future Christian worship leaders. Worship music was what gave and your hands. Set up a rhythm Similar to organisations like Live me expression. I found words and you’re done. Jam, they use music and media to couldn’t suffice my feelings, and Sadly, I wasn’t exposed to reach out with the Gospels to the felt empty. It was then when I Rajasthani folk music during younger generation. learnt that worship filled that void my childhood so I did not Pastor Anil Kant sang along in my heart. And my cup ran over develop a lot of interest in this with Johnny Lever for the album with unexplainable joy and peace art form. But after leaving my Pray For India. He was a music as my voice cried out, and what city and coming to Mumbai, composer who was converted to came out was melody. Nothing I listened to the music of Christianity in 1991 and dedicated else, but melody came forth. khartaal everytime I missed his life to produce Christian Colton Dixon’s song, ‘You’ would home. Like many other sensory music. In 2002, Anil recorded his explain my music. cues that made my city what first gospel album and went on to ‘When I can’t find the words, to it was, I did not appreciate release eighteen more. Together say how much it hurts khartaal enough, but after with his wife Reena and children, You are the healing in my heart coming to Mumbai, their Shreya and Rishabh, he composes When All that I can see, are absence can be felt dearly. The songs including those from the broken memories fast-paced movement and music Book of Psalms. You are the light that’s in the of the khartaal are similar to the In his album Meri Rooh Se, they dark buzzing city of Mumbai. It fills sang the Lord’s Prayer in Hindi You Are the song, You are the me with the kind of energy I and Urdu, which is a meditation song, need in a city like Mumbai. song that most Christian schools You Are the song, I’m singing’

51 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 As a generation that is happy to Kutch, it is usually embroidered on Life through flaunt the latest #OOTD’s on the clothes (or cloth). ‘gram, shouldn’t we stop and think “The Rann of Kutch is harsh and what our clothes say about us arid, so women use their imagination embroidery other than the usual aimed for and bright colours to beautify their ‘Hot AF ’? As a Gujarati living in houses and clothes. Also, because Bhoomi Mistry explores the Mumbai, I had never paused to think materialistic possessions were few, vibrant heritage of Kutchi why my jeans spelt ‘all-American’, women embroidered more intricately embroidery and hinted at a culture I only know to thicken the base cloth and increase about through Crossword best-sellers the longevity of the piece,” says and Netflix rom-coms, when I have Urmila Mistry. colourful and lively textile of my “In Saurashtra, usually, conches origin, Saurashtra (South Gujarat), are used extensively in embroidery to fall back on. It would be unfair to and is done in silk and wool threads. disregard the convenience of jeans This style of embroidery is called and T-shirts in our globalised, urban katha work, of the Kathiawadi lives. Perhaps they even tell our people. Religious motifs are usually stories. But if we just have one life, embroidered on door hangings, as don’t we want to confidently assert it is considered auspicious. There and examine our identities instead is also extensive use of mirror of getting swept up by waves of fast- called abhla throughout Gujarat. fashion trends? Abhla work is one of the most Gujarat is a state well known prominent embroidery works of for its embroidery, but to say that Gujarat and is usually done by most would just be to scratch the surface communities across the state,” says of its rich textile and handloom Urmila Mistry. But the works of the heritage. According to the Living Rabaari community of Kutch stands and Learning Design Centre, there out. The embroidery of the Rabaari are 42 types of embroidery in Kutch community features mythological alone, which are practised by 12 and geometric motifs in vibrant different communities. Each smaller colours. There is extensive use of the community has a type of embroidery, famous chain stitch, to go along with and specific colours and textiles the Abhla work. that set them apart from other sub- “Interestingly, embroidery and communities of the same area. textile were also indicators of “The embroidery of Kutch called socio-economic status of the Suf is usually more intricate and community. fine. It is embroidered using satin Women usually wore dark colours stitch in contrasting colours on a because they were not allowed to dark cloth. These geometric motifs work for money so they stayed at require tremendous effort,” says home. Men however, only wore Urmila Mistry, my mother who first white, as the colour reflects light and introduced me to embroidery as an is ideal for the harsh sun. Turbans of art form. “Women in Kutch usually men across communities vary slightly sat at home, while the men went to in terms of textile, weaving, colours work. This left them with a lot of time and the embroidery,” says Dipti Gada, in their hands. Women embroidered a native of the Kutchi community. to pass time and it wasn’t as much “While the Rabaaris went all out with about the finished product as it was the embroidery, Ayer community about the act of embroidering,” she kept it simple. The people of the adds. community are nomadic, which In certain Kutchi communities means that they require their clothes in fact, being good at embroidery to be highly functional.” increased your chance of getting Currently, as more people better marriage offers. The pieces gravitate towards the glocalised ‘good made before marriage would then life’, the art of traditional embroidery be given as a part of aanu (dowry). usually gets its appreciation and While this pattern was evident appropriation from upper class ‘art across Gujarat largely, the pieces connoisseurs’ and runway designers they embroidered on, differed or a few people of the community, from community to community. In while what was once a sweet Saurashtra, embroidery is largely expression of aesthetics, is only associated with home and decorative practised by the artisans in heart of items like torans (wall hangings Gujrat who continue to embroider for the doorway), chakla (a piece of away, in hopes of sending their kids cloth to carry the dowry on) while in to school.

52 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 How far have we reached walking alone? Sukanya Deb follows the lyrics of Tagore to voice her dissent.

always asked myself. As a kid, I always during the Anti-Partition Movement liked the music more than the words, in the Bengal Presidency in 1905.) because the lyrics never struck me Ekla cholo re has always been about as much as they do in the current choosing your battles and fighting scenario. them even when no one supports When I watch a film like Kahaani you. It provides a strong sense of self- (directed by Sujoy Ghosh in 2012) or empowerment, that is what has made watch the music video of Ekla cholo the song stay alive in the Indian hearts. re by Adiacot on YouTube the Bengali India became independent in 1947 but in now gets emotionally provoked by the price of freedom has always been the lyrics. eternal vigilance; the Indian citizen, In Kahaani, the unfolding and like citizens all over the world, has climax of Vidya Bagchi’s (played by had to wage a constant battle against Vidya Balan) journey touched the the forces that would like to take their audience as the song Ekla cholo re- hard-won freedoms. The struggle of amplified her inner strength and her the citizens to claim equal rights and triumph as she single-handedly not their fight against unconstitutional Jodi tor daak shune keu na ase/ only took revenge for her husband’s discrimination gets channelized in a tobe ekla cholo re these words have death but brought justice to all those revolutionary poetic manner through resonated in the minds of every Indian lost their loved ones in the metro the lines of Ekla cholo re. And, this song ever since they were given to us by massacre in the film. The movie will keep on resonating with the masses Rabindranath Tagore in 1905. hit the theatres during a phase in until the end of time for it speaks of It is beyond my capacity to translate Bollywood when filmmakers were the motivation required for human the song but its essence is: Even if no working hard to break the gender survival. one responds to your call, walk alone stereotype of the idea of “hero”. The along the path you have chosen. If emotional relevance of the song is there is silence about an issue that not really talked about, but Ekla needs to be addressed, you should cholo re in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice open your heart and speak up even if is the song which sums up the entire yours is the only voice breaking the journey of Vidya is accomplishing silence. her motive, fighting against the odds The song was initially titled Eka and in an unknown city, coming from the recorded by Tagore himself in-cylinder “secondary gender” of the community. record format (under the label H. Bose The lyrics of the song are powerful Swadeshi Records), which is now and thought-provoking. The music lost. Since then artists as diverse as video of Ekla cholo re by Adiacot, Suchitra Mitra (who recorded it for the launched in December 2019, is voiced first time for the 1948 film Ardhendu by Epr Iyer. This rendition has a Mukherjee’s Sandipan Paathshala) totally different sound mix and tunes to A.R. Rahman (who composed a compared to the original version. But version for the movie Shyam Benegal’s it talks about the farmer suicides in 2004 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: India. It shows the discriminatory The Forgotten Hero) many artists brutality in the Indian system and have recorded the song. Even though provokes the citizens to think about written and sung in Bengali, the lyrics the crisis faced by the society, which is have travelled across the nation with intentionally overlooked. every patriot, irrespective of their The song continues to inspire native tongue. minds. Its current relevance was Tagore’s literary contribution to the signified when Mamata Banerjee, Chief freedom struggle of India has been Minister of West Bengal addressed the revolutionary as they gave shape to state assembly about the Citizenship the anti-British emotions. Ekla cholo Amendment Act using the lyrics of re was one of the 22 protest songs that the song. Using the words of the song, were written during the Swadeshi Mamata Banerjee directly pointed out period of the Indian freedom the intention of the nation’s “second movement. partition” that she said would arise Is it just the tune of the song or from the Citizenship Amendment Act. the words? That is a question I have (Originally, the song became popular

53 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 treatment, making the whole thing a tedious and continuous process that has to be followed. And then the family chorus begins. “Make me a pack of that bottle masala,” everyone says. My mother makes the masala that we will need and then calculates the additional amount of masala that she will have to make for others who want it. Whether it is a close relative or a random acquaintance she has made in the church, she believes that she has only to be asked for others to receive. She makes an effort to make the masala for as many people as she can. The traditional way to grind the spices is by hand. But it is difficult to find people who still follow and do it through that method these days. By the end of April, she goes early in the morning and takes an appointment in the spice grinding mill for all the spices. She goes as per the appointment and goes to pick up the spices back in the evening. After getting the masala home, she brings to make packets of masala for everyone who requested it. In the market, Bottle Masala is sold for more than ₹1000 per kg. Despite the price, it sells well in East Indian stores and even on Amazon. That’s because The month of March brings forth the the masala is used extensively in East cherished memories of the aroma Indian cuisine. However, a teaspoonful of red chillies and teel, khus-khus, of the bottle masala can find its way Bottled Up! naikesar, wheat, nutmeg, kababchuni, into almost every dish, whether it’s a Karen D’souza relooks at cloves, cardamoms, turmeric, spicy omelette or a bhaji cooked in a tirphal, raw gram, maipatri, anise- hurry. her mother’s tradition of star, shahjeera, zaipatri, bay leaves, The rate of the Bottle Masala making ‘Bottle Masala’ cinnamon, pepper, coriander and depends on the effort and the quality at home. other spices. My house transforms of the masala being produced. You from a home with human beings and judge a good Bottle Masala first by its other associated creatures into a spice colour. It should be a brick red. Then store. By the first week of February, my you open a bottle and take a deep sniff. mother runs around the area to find a You should feel a tickle in your nose store that sells the perfect chillies at the and a burn in your mouth, and the first best price. After years of searching, she springs of saliva at the thought of all had found a shop that gives her chillies the goodies to follow. Finally, there is that met with her requirements. Even the taste. then, she inspects the chillies carefully Each family has their own recipe before placing an order. In order to which makes their masala special keep the accumulated spices safe from and different, although the basics are the nocturnal creatures who think of the same. Differences will lie in the our home as their own, she always relative amounts that are used and the stores them in the bedroom, filling our quality of the ingredients. noses with the smell of pungent spices. As my mother grew up without her Every day, throughout the month mother, her relationship to the culture of April, she takes all the chillies out grew only when she got married. And and puts them on a tarpaulin sheet in so my mother’s Bottle Masala is the the backyard to dry under the blazing result of years of trial and error. She hot sun. She does this in the morning has borrowed recipes and consulted and at noon she rearranges them The East Indian Association Cookbook, so that the sun’s rays will not miss a and so has perfected her own recipe. single chilli and then takes them back You won’t find it here. If you want a into the bedroom before sunset. The recipe, you haven’t understood the other spices also receive the same sun mystique of the Bottle Masala.

54 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Powada : The heroic ballads! Tanisha Lele recollects her attachment with the powadas of the reigns of Shivaji Maharaj.

The powada is a form of poetry The Saransh: that dates back to the time of The title ‘Shivrajyabhishek’ refers Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the to the coronation of Shivaji. The Gondhal community of Maharashtra powada begins by paying homage is said to have created it. The to God Ganpati, Goddess Saraswati battles were many and the exploits and Goddess Bhavani, and says that were heroic. These poems are we have arrived at the Raigad fort. narrative descriptions that create We have all come here to sing the heroes and villains. They were praises of Shivaji Maharaj, on the day meant to be bardic songs but they of his coronation. Raigad has been often also commented on social decorated with different varieties of situations. rangolis, and several shamianas have I was first introduced to this art been set up using beautiful paithani form in school when I was studying sarees and dazzling lines of pearls. the history of Maharashtra. The The fort has been brightened with term ‘powada’, I remember, felt torches everywhere. splendid on my tongue, almost Gaga Bhatt, a famous learned like magic. Our music teacher, individual, has been called all the Purva Pethe, particularly wrote way from Kashi for the coronation and composed us a powada that ceremony. Shivaji is the most suitable glorified Shivaji Maharaj’s grand candidate to become the leader of stature called ‘Shivrajyabhishek Dharma. Jijabai is showering her Powada’. As an eight-year-old, blessings and affection on her dearest it was the most thrilling Shivba. experience to have had actually Finally, when Shivaji comes recited the powada along with forward to greet everyone, lakhs of having it acted out for everyone to people pay their respects to him. watch. But amidst all this fanfare, Shivaji remembers all his companions who The Powada: lost their lives and shed their blood in order to attain Swarajya. He thinks शिवराज्यअभिषेक पोवाडा of his brave comrades who risked their lives. Their kingdom came करू वंदन गणरायाला into existence only because of these तसे करू शारदा देवीला sacrifices. आठवुणि तुळजा भवानीला This powada definitely shaped the यऊनि किल्ले रायगडाला way I looked at Shivaji as a kid. It also गाऊ आज शिवबाच्या made me remember all the details राज्यरोहणाला हो जी जी जी । with clarity. Although there is no mention of the enemy clans of Shivaji रायगड छान सजविला here, the mention of bloodshed points सडा रांगोळ्यांचा घातला out to the subtle undertone of wars शामियाना पैठण्यांचा केला with the Mughals, Nizams and the त्यावरी मोतियांच्या माळा British. मशालींच्या ज्योतींनी This piece stayed with me all these गड आज ऊजळला हो जी जी जी । years. A few years back, I watched a Marathi film named Mi Shivaji Raje सर्व लोक सज्ज जाहले Bhosle Boltoy, that also made use of a गागा भट्ट तयारिनं आले powada; composed by Ajay-Atul, it is धर्मराज शिवबा शोभले called ‘Maharajanchi Kirti Befam’ and आशीष जिजाऊंनी दिले describes the episode between Shivaji लाख मुजरे घेत and Afzal Khan. What an impactful शिवराय पुढे आले हो जी जी जी । way of passing down one’s history! Mahatma Phule also wrote शिवबांना आठवण झाली powadas, but for a different purpose: किती जणं सोडून गेली to educate people. घातले जीव धोक्यात Such is the power of the powadas, सांडले रक्त राज्यात they can make you relive history. They तेव्हाच लाभले can also make you live something that आम्हा है स्वराज्य जी जी जी जी । never happened to you.

55 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 fees from his students. This means that some of the students take the class Drumming out the divide for granted. So, the temple committee Prabhat Nambiar looks at the art of Chendamelam in gives him a fixed amount as fee. “...till today, I have never counted Mumbai and how the artist Ajayan Nair has transformed it what amount they give me. The from a traditional notion of ‘only men playing the chenda’. envelope I put in my pocket and at home, my wife will take away that money saying ‘Why you are carrying it? The vigourous beat of the greatest art forms in the world. This I’ll spend it.’” Chendamelam, a percussion ensemble, is because for poorams, there are over Women playing chenda has is something that Malayalis keep close 200 artistes performing but unlike a always been frowned upon and can to their heart. It is a quintessential part conventional orchestra, there is no be considered a topic of potential of Hinduism in Kerala. A Chendamelam conductor, the lead artist assumes the controversy. Ajayan, with his firm lineup comprises five instruments, role of a conductor. However, Nair did belief that the passion for the art namely the edanthala (treble drum), not perform much in Kerala as the art trumps everything else, rubbishes the valanthala (bass drum), ilathalam form is not a particularly great source of possibility of controversies emerging (cymbals), kombu (trumpet) and kuzhal income. So, after graduation, he moved for teaching women and also Christians. (a reed instrument). The men are lined to Mumbai to make a living. It was here “In the second batch, 60 applied. up... Yes. It’s only men who play in the he decided to impart the knowledge he Out of these, 14-15 were from other ensemble. had gained in his childhood to others. religions and more than half of them As tradition has it, Chendamelam is “The inspiration is actually the were girls...as a teacher, my greatest traditionally performed only by Hindu students’, not mine. I have performed and brightest students are all females. men. Even in this, for major poorams in this temple for the last 30-35 years. So I appreciate them...here there is no (festivals), the primary positions in the Their parents would come and say bifurcation of Hindu or Muslim. This lineup is reserved for the Ambalavasi ‘Please start a class’, ‘My daughter, she is an art—anybody can learn it...I don’t community. In all these, the women is very eager to learn this.’ They only foresee any problems pertaining to do not factor in at all. However, in forced me to start this class.” caste.” Mumbai, one man has taken a step The class started about 10-12 Women are traditionally prohibited away from tradition. years ago, but Ajayan was unable to from entering the temples during In the hall right opposite to the continue it. In a traditional setting in menstruation. Not intending to let that Sabari Giri Temple in Vasai Road, Kerala, the aspiring artistes live with particular barrier stop women from chenda artist Ajayan Nair sits at a table their gurus and may even go through indulging in their passion for chenda, on which sits a block of wood while in nilaavu sadhakam (practice in the Ajayan has arranged for the classes his right hand, is a thick wooden stick. moonlight). This strenuous exercise to be held in a hall just outside the Seated around him on the floor are his lasts over a month until the next full temple complex. So he has managed students— each with a thick stick and a moon, which may mean practising for to strike a balance between traditions block of granite right in front of them. over 12 hours straight. However, in a and modernity! With the students now Following Ajayan’s lead, the students city like Mumbai, where everyone is practising for an hour thrice a week, play on the block with one hand and rushing about their jobs and studies, he is making preparations for their one stick—learning the rhythm and Nair says it is simply impossible to train arangettam (the debut performance) on the subtle movements of the wrists students in the same way. So, he settles the 29th of December, 2019. The female along with There is no discrimination for teaching his students the essence of students are particularly excited. here—age, gender or religion—nothing Chendamelam. Also, most students are “Chenda is my life,’’ says Soorya matters. All that is important is their not from the Ambalavasi caste, so the Pillai, 17, “I met Sir in Bandra and passion for learning. city born-and-bred have never seen the then I started learning. Then I became Ajayan Nair was born in Thrissur, instrument before. crazy about chenda. My cousins started he is the son of Pulakode Manikantan Staying true to one aspect of playing as well. The committee has Nair, a chenda artist himself. Ajayan tradition and the fact that he never paid been very supportive. The best thing considers Chendamelam as the to learn chenda, Nair refuses to accept is that you don’t have to worry about noise (while practising) here. I hope to make this a part of my life and learn Thayambaka (an advanced aspect of Chendamelam) if I get the opportunity.” Sreelata Nair, 24, an MBA student, has always been passionate about dance and music. This led to her developing an interest in Chendamelam. “There are people who have a set of beliefs that they had for years. It cannot be changed. We people, as young generation, do not believe in such things. So nothing can be said as right or wrong. As you can see in our batch, females are equal in number as males. After my arangettam, I would definitely want to perform in temples and functions.”

56 losing him means losing the means to Ka Adhikaar is an ugly but an authentic buy basic necessities for his mother, his reflection of the society. A socialist and wife and two children. a believer of Arya Samaj just like Bhagat With two kids and an ailing Singh, his work was representative of daughter-in-law, Bhagwaana’s mother his ideology. The award-winning novel decides to sell melons even though Meri Teri Uski Baat (Mine, yours and she has lost her son the previous day. their sayings) is based on the Indian Deprived of choice, she sits down to sell Independence movement, highlighting her basket of melons in the market but the ideologies and events that led the only thing her circumstances allow to Indian independence. Similarly, her to do is to cry profusely. another of his critically acclaimed Yashpal narrates the tale of the novels is Jhootha Sach (The Lying Truth) tormenting comments Bhagwaana’s is a novel written in two volumes about mother has to endure from people the partition of India and what it meant nearby. “क्या 焼माना है! जवान ल蔼के को मरे पूरा for people of different caste, class and दिन नहीं बीता और यह बेहया दुकान लगा कर बैठी religion. है।”(What times are we living in! Not even I encountered this heart-wrenching a day has passed since she lost her son story when I was fourteen. Like anyone Who has and this shameless woman is selling else, I was aware of the fact that the melons today.) The writer witnessed rights of the poor only exist on paper- the right to abuses and slurs being hurled at the -whether it’s justice, education or even woman while she sobbed constantly, basic necessities like access to clean forgetting that she had a family to drinking water. The echoes of his story grieve? feed. Unlike other people around him, can be heard even today. Be it a poor Sweekriti Tiwari he had sympathy for the woman. But family being excluded from NRC list of his appearance, his status and other Assam or the lynching to death of two remembers the lessons constructs of his mind did not let him Dalit kids for defecating in the open in from Dukh Ka Adhikaar. talk to the woman. He could not gather Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh. However, the courage to cross the barriers of the most startling revelation for me “मनुष्यों कि पोशाकें उन्हें विभिन्न श्रेणियों में society. was how we as a society tend to control बाँट देती हैं। प्रायः पोशाक ही समाज में मनुष्य का He has been labelled superior on his what its members are allowed to feel. अधिकार और उसका दर्ज़ा निशचित करती हैं। वह appearances. “उस स्त्री का रोना देख मन में एक This truth was there all the time, but I हमारे लिए अनेक बंद दरवाज़े खोल देती है, परन्तु व्यथा सी उठी, पर उसके रोने का कारण जानने का was either naive or narrow minded to कभी ऐसी भी परिस्थिति आ जाती है कि हम 焼रा नीचे उपाय क्या था? फुटपाथ पर उसके समीप बैठ सकने acknowledge it. The kind of thoughts or झुक कर समाज की निचली श्रेणियों की अनुभूति को में मेरी पोशाक ही व्यवधान बन खड़ी हो गई।” (Her feelings, we as a society permit one to समझना चाहते हैं। उस समय यह पोशाक ही बंधन और cries caused me utter pain. I wanted have depends on the factors often, he or अ蔼चन बन जाती है। जैसे वायु की लहरें कटी हुई पतंग to know the cause of her pain, but the she has no control over. को सहसा भूमि पर नहीं गिर जाने देतीं, उसी तरह खास question was how? My appearances The class, caste, sex, background, परिस्थितियों में हमारी पोशाक हमे झुक सकने से रोके stopped me from sitting close to her family members, circumstances are रहती है।” on the footpath, they stopped me from somethings we are just thrown into Translation - Our appearances divide understanding her pain.) He finally gets at our birth, as perfectly described by us into class and caste. Very often, our to know about the state of her being existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. appearances also decide our rights, through the tainted opinions of others The quality of those feelings or thoughts privileges and status in society. They around him. Her story throws Yashpal further depends on how privileged you open many doors and opportunities in a state of anxiety. He remembered are. An Indian upper caste and upper- for us. But at times, empathy urges the time when his neighbour lost a son. class man is allowed to feel entitled us to bow down and understand the The only difference between her and to the care and service of any woman feelings of those beneath us. It is then, the poor old lady is that the expression present in his life. Whereas a woman our appearances hinder and hold us of her grief and agony was validated. like Bhagwaana’s mother is afflicted back. Just like the winds do not let a The validation of her miserable state with disgust and guilt. The expression broken kite fall swiftly to the ground, was by virtue of her appearance, her of sadness in the given circumstances our appearances do not allow us to status in society. Nonetheless, the poor will never be approved. Even if she had keep status aside and feel what the lady doesn’t have the privilege of getting decided to not sell melons just after the downtrodden feels. her grief validated, as she has a family death of her son, she would have been It is with these pure and honest lines to feed. deplored for some other action of hers. that the short story ‘दु:ख का अधिकार’ or The Padma Bhushan winner in 1970 Yashpal makes a poignant statement, ‘The right to grieve’ by renowned Hindi and Sahitya Akademi Award winner for he doesn’t question her actions. Instead novelist Yashpal begins. The story is the novel Meri Teri Uski Baat in 1976, he questions the core of his society and about an old lady who had no choice Yashpal, always had a leaning towards rightly points out that to be validated but to sell melons from the very next the socialist issues’ short stories like one must have the right to grieve. day she lost her twenty-three-year-old Dukh Ka Adhikaar (The Right To I realised that the world outside son and the sole earner, Bhagwaana. Grieve) deal with. He was a political can make or break the world within. Bhagwaana dies after a venomous commentator and had participated in I became aware of the privilege I snake bites him. He was a farmer who the Indian Independence movement have. Most importantly, it taught me used to farm melons and sell them. alongside independent thinkers like how good art has the power to shape Being the sole earner of the family, Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Yashpal’s Dukh mindsets and broaden horizons. ILLUSTRATIONS BY BHOOMI MISTRY BY ILLUSTRATIONS

57 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 SCM HAPPENINGS SCM begins with an adventure! Karen Dsouza tells us how the year began with the SCM-ers getting lucky.

ithin the first five days of getting bikes. We had three bikes and we went two on into the course, on 29 June 2019, the each bike and we roamed around,” said Prateek W students at SCM were challenged Gautam. with a treasure hunt to break the ice and know It was a day full of chaos. Since it was the the city better. The day began unlike any other first week of SCM, the students barely knew day in the city during monsoon -- raining cats each other. “We were asked to make teams, and dogs. The students were divided into teams choosing people at random. Just go out explore, of four and were given hints to follow and find talk to people and make videos. Even then we the locations across Mumbai. did not get to the end of the treasure hunt. I “The treasure hunt that SCM organized remember how frustrated we were after we were was like the first Mumbai Darshan for me informed that we had reached the wrong place. we did not even know what Queen’s Necklace and it was my first-time real journalism. We had ended up reaching Bhendi Bazaar,” said was.” They were standing right in front of We took umbrellas in our hands, talked to Prabhat Nambiar. Marine Drive when they asked for the location people, and shot them with good audio quality Akansha Negi said that the toughest of the Queen’s Necklace. And then it was told as well. We went to Marine Drive, Crawford part of the treasure hunt was that they were that Marine Drive is actually called Queen’s Market and then we had to find Mukesh supposed to identify a café based on the clue Necklace.” Ambani’s house,” said Sakshi Sharma. For given: “So we went to Banganga, then from For Nambiar, the most memorable part was Sakshi, the treasure hunt was a reality check of there, we had to go to Cafe Naaz. But we couldn’t that they went to Haji Ali Juice Centre and tasted what journalism was going to be and what SCM spot it anywhere. It wasn’t anywhere and on the amazing shakes after which we went to Worli was going to be. the destination that the map gave; we reached Koliwada which was absolutely beautiful. “In “We were given clues and with those clues, there but there was no café. No one knew about a way what the treasure hunt made us realize we had to find out the places. For us the first it so we went to and fro from there. Then we was how inexperienced we are in the field of location was Haji Ali, the second location was finally met a person who was a mango seller media and you realise it is difficult just to talk Dhobi Ghat and the third one was Palladium who informed us that the café had shut down. to people. It’s a challenge in itself. But, now you Mall. Actually not a mall but the mill. There So we searched a lot for a café that didn’t even can do it without any hesitation. It was a very was a mill before the mall was constructed in exist anymore. We went to Banganga, Hanging good learning experience; we did not realise it its place. It was a rainy day. But all of us had Gardens and Queen’s Necklace. For a fact, at that time,” said Nambiar.

Into the mud while we huffed and puffed besides them. And then they sang and worked which was even more Nayna Agrawal on SCM amazing. getting down and dirty with “We met villagers who made us realise how being hardworking and close to our roots can rice transplanting keep us fit and healthy forever,” Anjali Awasthi recalls. Many of us were facing language issues other nature needs a little bit but the heartfelt welcome and love made us of helping hands,’’ says Dinesh understand a bit and parts of the farming and life “MBalsavar, the 88-year-old organic lessons they tried conveying to us. It was indeed farmer we met on the day that we went out to a beautiful moment. “An escape from city life is transplant rice saplings in a beautiful valley in all you need to calm your senses,’’ says Anuradha Kamshet, a village in Pune district of Maharashtra. Nagar, which is what we did. This is part of the Social Communications Media “We understood the lives of farmers who department’s attempt to make us understand the are the most underrated labourers of the hard labour that goes into our food and perhaps society,’’ says Sukanya Deb. No amount of also a way to encourage us to stop wasting it. rain can hinder their spirits. The field they Balsavar has had many years of experience create with its patterned crops is a work of as an organic farmer and explained to us why art. Karen Dsouza wondered whether the organic farming needs to be adopted by one and workers were being adequately compensated all. It is beneficial to eat organic which reduces for their labour. Or whether they can ever be the toxic materials from our body. It is also kinder soon realised how back-breaking the labour is. adequately compensated for the kind of to the soil and kinder to the Earth. And when we You stand ankle-deep in water because the young labour that they put in when it feeds the are poised on the brink of an ecological disaster, rice sapling is a thirsty plant and needs that much hungry. “The message really sank in. When every little bit helps. rain. We worked side-by-side with women who someone has put that much effort into the But that wasn’t the only learning we took have been doing this forever. Their rhythms were growing of a crop, we should never waste food,” away. Although we started in high spirits, we natural and unstrained. They moved effortlessly Nirmiti Kamat said.

58 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Finding the story- teller within Sukanya Deb provides an insight into the batch’s first foray into filmmaking

wo months into the course, we, the students of Social Communications Media, Twere divided into six teams and competed in a ‘100 hours of film making’ challenge named #ibelieve. It was spread over the Independence Day week, from 12th to 17th August 2019. We were to make a film, a three-minute long film, and we had just three days in which we had to do everything from gestating the idea to shooting it and post-production. Shreya Khare, who is looking at a career in luxury public relations, found the whole thing exciting: “Most of us had just been introduced to the whole world of filmmaking and editing. We didn’t even know how to use an editing software and we were completely flustered about the whole process. They said we had to shoot and edit within the span of just three days. So, the department had conducted a two-day workshop to enlighten us about the processes involved in making a film of her films. It taught me the literal meaning of put in their efforts for. “I am not really interested in prior to the shoots.” ‘solidarity’ and I couldn’t have been more grateful filmmaking but the whole process of ideating and The whole idea of ‘a hundred hours of to SCM for the experience,” said Anuradha Nagar, executing with my friends was absolutely thrilling. filmmaking’ was introduced by Parth J Vyas, who who wants to start off her career as a production We were so invested in making our small film that teaches Radio and Television, in the curriculum head. at the end, I too wanted to win applause for our of the Social Communications Media department The sessions not only included documentary work. Our film was named Faith and our theme as a rolling trophy competition. It aims at giving films and fiction, but also had people like Arko was ‘secularism’. While we were scared if the students first-hand exposure to filmmaking even Provo Bose from Lowe Lintas, a leading advertising message would be correctly portrayed or not, the before getting into the fiction film project. company, coming and discussing the whole feedback from the rest of our batchmates and the The first two days of film-making workshops process of ad filmmaking. Post the interactive judges made our day,” said Prabhat Nambiar, who involved watching numerous short films and sessions began the real work. On the morning of is planning to join the advertising industry. interactive sessions with the makers of those films. 14th August, all the teams were given four separate The team that won the #ibelieve challenge was Sweekriti Tiwari, an aspiring filmmaker says, topics to choose from as the theme of their film. the one who made a film on plastic and pollution, “The opportunity to be able to ask them questions They had to prepare the script and shoot within titled Thaili (a term commonly used for plastic about their craft in person and seeing such diverse three days, i.e. from 14th to 16th August. “It was bags in Hindi). The relevance of the film with work in the category of short films was absolutely a challenging yet exciting job. As most of us had the change in global climatic situation and the amazing. Watching a film like Tungrus (by Rishi almost zero knowledge of dealing with videography use of filming techniques like montages made it Chandna) made me feel like there’s so much to talk and shooting proper film sequences, we all were the winner in the first view. The judges handed about the short film industry and how we tend to panicking a bit. But we sailed through it till the last over the trophy to the winning team, Char Log overlook it. If given a chance I would love to work stage came, editing,” said Anjali Awasthi, who is Production, consisting of Navya Sahai Bhatnagar, with Rishi Chandna. It was such a surreal feeling focused on becoming a journalist. Nirmiti Kamat, Arshi Khan and Sakshi Sharma. and I am extremely grateful to my mentor, Parth, Anjali continued, “On 17th, we had a whole “Who won and who didn’t was really immaterial, to for this opportunity.” day session with Parth, where he taught us how us and the rest of the batch, we made our very first Natasha Badhwar, an independent filmmaker to access editing software like Vegas Pro and films and that was it,” said Navya Sahai Bhatnagar, and writer, who is also one of the founding Adobe Premiere Pro. We learned the basics but who wants to be a director after graduating from members of Karwan-e-Mohabbat (a journey that still had absolutely no idea about how to make the SCM. speaks about atonement, solidarity, conscience already shot footage work together to tell a story We worked on our films the entire week, and justice), which makes films on hate crime in a comprehensible manner. Yet we managed to including on Independence Day. Even though against the vulnerable, also came for one of the produce decent films, at least that’s what I would we were all upset about one less holiday, at workshop sessions. Her experiences ignited the like to believe.” the end of the week, we were elated to see our spark of human consciousness and duty that one The moment of truth was when the panel growth and learning as filmmakers. The sense of must deliver to his or her surroundings. “She of judges, namely Nirmita Gupta (Head of the accomplishment in every student after producing showed us how we can still find a way out to voice department, Social Communications Media), their first independent film was priceless. The dissent and question everything that is wrong Shyma Rajagopal (lecturer), Jeroo Mulla (lecturer whole contentment and joy of getting our films in our system through documenting the actual of films and photography) and Parth J Vyas sat played on the screen in front of all the students and stories of the sufferers. It touched me to a point down to watch the films on 19th August. Their teachers was worth the struggle of giving it our all where there were tears in my eyes watching some verdict was all the validation that the students had for seven days.

59 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 SCM HAPPENINGS

Empowerment at or over fifty years, SCM Sophia has been relatable for young women, it helps the girls form the champion for the rights and education a link between their needs and resources. Thus, Your Fingertips! Fof women. As a platform for women’s Chhaa Jaa tied up with the Children’s Investment development, the department hosted the Fund Foundation and the Vodafone Foundation Anuradha Nagar covers launch of Chhaa Jaa in India. Chhaa Jaa is the to ensure that the girls benefit from the power digital brand initiative of Girl Effect, a creative of the Internet to foster their own development the launch of Chhaa Jaa in international non-profit organisation that works and raise self-awareness.“It is aimed at making SCM Sophia. from nine global locations and is active in over girls independent and help them understand fifty countries. This organisation employs the that they can not only recognise a choice but power of communications also act upon them, the girls can aspire to be technology to reach out to the something,’’ says Jessica. She also mentioned marginalised and vulnerable that Chhaa Jaa will provide the girls a platform to girls. Launching the event ask personal questions and have a safe place for were Jessica Posner Odede, the conversations. The main focus of the discussion CEO of Girl Effect, and Kanishk was on consent and how important it is for Kabiraj, Girl Effect India Lead women to understand that they have all the right who were interviewed by noted to refuse and it’s okay to say no. Also, Chhaa Jaa journalist Faye D’Souza. ensures that the girls are connected to at least Girls often feeltwo government helplines.The videos were full of uncomfortable talking about human moments such s choosing between sports issues of sexuality, menstruation and a boy; or going to the gynaecologist for the or the effects of patriarchy. This first time. it has been structured keeping in mind is where Chhaa Jaa steps in. By the Indian audience and issues that adolescent creating digital content that is girls face in their surroundings.

8. Never ask them how they started Bachi Karkaria: How to ace an interview 9. Respect content, vocabulary and tone 10. This pen is much better. “The pen is much better,” said the veteran journalist. On asking questions which are beyond Karen Dsouza and Anjali Awasthi listened in. the obvious ones. Sakshi Sharma says, “The session that she took was enlightening towards achi Karkaria, a senior journalist and a emphasises on being alert throughout the the process of taking interviews in journalism. columnist for the Times of India, writes interview and to be ready with the next question. We were always confused where to stop asking Btwo widely followed columns: the satirical We would have never learned the art of questions and where to draw the line. But her `Erratica’ in the Times of India, and ‘Giving Gyan’, interviewing in such a way. It was an interactive session gave us inputs to be used in journalism.” playing ‘Agony Aunt’ in the Mumbai Mirror. session filled with imperative learning. She The session went more interesting after an Bachi gave the students at SCM tips about the shared her valuable experiences which she assignment given to us in class, where we framed process of interviewing someone. Her session gathered through her journalistic journey. questions for the people we wanted to interview. was called ‘Bowl- A- Google-y’. She explained Nayna Agarwal says, “Having sessions with Keeping all her tips in mind we discussed each the must dos and don’ts for the interview. She professionals like Bachi Karkaria helps us question in the class. It was insightful to see how understand the real functioning of the media her art of interviewing gave us a new direction of industry. It increases our work proficiency when interviewing people. we head out in search of jobs. Also, it equips Arshi Khan says, “She taught us about the us with skills to cope up with the changing risk of taking a risky or controversial question, guidelines and curriculum standards of the if you know that the question can get yourself an workplace, it is important to have the knowledge interesting answer and then you should not hold of some relevant and tailored instructions from yourself back.” such a legend of the industry.” Today’s recording equipment can turn faulty Ten tips we learned from Bachi Karkaria: at any moment. Nirmiti Kamat says, “Even 1. Ask questions openly (Make sure questions though you take your recorders along with you are crisp and clear) for an interview, it is crucial that you take notes 2. Do your homework well (Read up the and always have a pen and paper with you.” interviews of the person and research about Anjali Awasthi emphasises on the the person well. importance of research. Awasthi says, “It is 3. Ask impromptu questions based on important to access backgrounds, explore new responses. (Read between lines) lines of enquiry or angles, avoid what is already 4. Always bowl a ‘google-y’ known and always press the right button on the 5. Always be updated about recent happenings interviewee.” to ask relevant questions The session with her gave us a new 6. Use the wildcard: press the right button to get perspective, though many of us don’t want to be better response journalists but this session helped us to learn to 7. Ask ‘why’, and not ‘how’ questions get information from the people.

60 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 Strictly Speaking me. When they asked us to shout out the worst and worries that had been accumulating inside insults out loud, it was such a different moment. us all along. Sukanya Deb, 22, says, “What I loved The batch’s afternoons of All these years we girls have been told to be quiet about the session was people coming out of their and not be vocal about our frustrations, but at shells and sharing their stories, stories of brave unwinding, laughter and that moment shouting out those frustrations hearts chasing their dreams. We all sat down deep conversations with made me feel light and free.” together, learning from each other’s lives and Vikas Kumar and Prabhat Then we proceeded to play a few games. We getting inspired. It brought us all much closer.” had to scatter around in the studio, with music In January 2020, we had another session Raghunandan, as narrated playing continuously, and when the music was with Vikas Kumar which was just as energetic by Tanisha Lele paused, we had to freeze in a way that expressed and surprising as the previous one. Each of us some emotion. This game was selected to make was asked to take lead and dance, and the rest us aware of the kind of emotions we chose to of the class would follow. Such exercises help to express and then help us understand as to why we build one’s confidence. They help us lighten up chose those in particular. It also helped us relax and express ourselves. Another exercise was to our restless body and increase our concentration get down on all fours and scream out a variety of power. Next, we were divided into three groups sounds, from different parts of our body like the and each group was to act out a given scene, but stomach, throat and the chest. through frozen poses. If anybody moved at all, Next, we were asked to select a dialogue they would be disqualified. The time duration from any film of our choice, and each one of trictly Speaking, an organisation founded by given to us to put this together was as short as us had to act out or even choreograph that Vikas Kumar, works towards strengthening thirty seconds. But it was the pressure that made dialogue. This was again to be done individually Sone’s oratory and communication skills it fun. Each group managed to act out their first, then the class would follow twice. After and helps one develop one’s personality. They situation well. this, we played a game called ‘Ankhiyon se goli conducted a workshop at SCM, in August 2019. “I The next activity changed everyone’s equation maare’ in which each time one of us was to play aim to let the students break out of the academic with each other. We were asked to sit in a huge the role of a murderer and blink or wink at a grind. That’s why most of these exercises are circle and speak about one experience, good or random classmate to kill them. Others had to done in a group. What may seem like just having bad, that changed us. Through the course of this guess who the murderer was and catch them in fun is helping you open up; people will talk about sharing of experiences, all of us said things out action, if possible. As the rounds of the game really personal things that they may have not told loud that we had kept buried deep inside us. increased, the number of murderers per round others before and these get as diverse as they can Bhoomi Mistry, 22, says, “I will always remember also increased. It so happened at times that be,” says Vikas Kumar. that session as the first time we opened up to two murderers would unknowingly wink at one The session was interactive and surprising. each other as a class. Till then, everybody knew another! Nayna Agrawal, 23, says, “This was the first of each other but didn’t know the other person. The session then came to an end with an chance given to us to open up so personally with Those exercises helped us get close.” Inevitably energetic dance performance by the class. each other that even the darkest of our secrets the whole exercise made most of us emotional as Sessions like these are truly treasured, as they were revealed.” we were letting go of unsaid, bottled up thoughts make us feel alive. Initially, we were asked to do some warm- up exercises. Prabhat Nambiar,24, says, “I’d expected a very serious session on how gruelling the media world will be once we get out of SCM. But, Vikas Kumar and Prabhat Raghunandan of Strictly Speaking were an absolute joy! We played games that were aimed at improving our communication skills. I thought it pretty silly at the start, but by the end of it, the whole class was sitting in a circle with them. We shared funny and tragic life stories which, I believe, brought us batchmates together. So yeah, communication is key!” After this, we were instructed to do a few other exercises which would help us channel our energy into our voice and then modulate it. The first of those exercises being when we were told to scream out swear words, the dirtiest that we know of, irrespective of language, as loudly as we could. A wave of shock rolled over all of us and we thought maybe they were pulling our legs. When no one took this seriously, they told us that they weren’t joking. As a result, each one of us then shouted out the most offensive swear word that we knew of. It was later that it was explained to us that this helped us get rid of bottled up emotions and unexpressed feelings. Nirmiti Kamat, 21, shares her experience by saying, “It was liberating and open. I loved how I felt so free after that session. Like some pile was taken off

61 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 SCM HAPPENINGS

Catalysts of Change: Fifty Years and Counting! Anjali Awasthi was backstage at an event that showcased the Social Communications Media department’s role in being champions of change.

he Social Communications Media (SCM) progressive ideas,” said Reema Kagti, director and department of Sophia Polytechnic screenwriter, SCM Sophia batch 1994-95. T celebrated the golden jubilee on 24 The actor and now producer Richa Chadha September 2019. On this day, we celebrated the who has carved a swathe for herself with her lives and works of fifty years of alums and learned on-screen performances and her feisty activism the stories of our Changemakers. off-screen talked about her journey. Journalist The speakers of the event were the prominent Maya Mirchandani put her life on the line for faces of SCM Sophia, including faculty members news stories. Dilshad Master was into television Jeroo Mulla, Jerry Pinto, P Sainath, and alumnae but then changed course after a bout with cancer Richa Chadha, Minnie Vaid, Maya Mirchandani, and followed her heart to become an adventurer Durga Raghunath, Shalini Singh, Aparna Shukla, while journalist Aparna Shukla overcame cultural Kajri Babbar, Paromita Vohra, Poulomi Basu, shock when she was posted in Tamil Nadu where Dilshad Master and Aniketh Mendonca. she helped develop a community radio station. years! The entire hall went crazy when she was “The most difficult task was choosing those Minnie Vaid chronicled the lives of successful ushered onstage. The batch of 2019-2020, getting who would talk about their work since we have women and worked on a book about the women its first taste of event management and busily so many talented and successful alums,” said rocket scientists at ISRO while Poulomi Basu running around all evening also managed to put Nirmita Gupta, Head of Department, SCM. “So we talked about her journey in photography. aside their duties for a while to get a glimpse of decided to leave the process to our event partner, The event also included the launch of Lives her. She made it a point to thank everyone who has AVID Learning.” of the Women, Volume III, a book written by been a part of her long journey at SCM, including The day of the event saw a crowd of over 600 ex-students and edited by Jerry Pinto. It talks her students who have made it big in their lives. people gather at the Sophia Bhabha Auditorium. about the lives and achievements of Honey Irani, Another highlight of the event was Smruti The event was hosted by Suresh Venkat, a Shama Habibullah, Madhusree Dutta, and the late Koppikar, our Journalism teacher, receiving the leading anchor and also a faculty at SCM. Going Rekha Sabnis. The lead writers on this book were Changemaker Award from P Sainath for her 25 onstage, the guest speakers shared insights of Mayanka Goel, Suryasarathi Bhattacharya, Jovita years of honing aspiring journalists. “Usually when their lives -- their struggles, their time at SCM, Aranha and Dalreen Ramos. We were delighted women get acknowledged for their achievements, the lessons learnt here and how incorporating that Ms Irani and Ms Habibullah made it to the it’s because they are women who did something. them helped them reach where they are now. show and received their copies of the book. But during the Changemakers event, it was so More importantly, how their time at SCM changed No event at SCM Sophia would be complete empowering to see a woman-dominated panel them not just as media professionals, but also as without Jeroo Mulla, who has been teaching films get felicitated for their accomplishments and its humans. “Regressive notions can be shattered by and photography at the institution for over 40 significance beyond patronising women’s category awards,” said Bhoomi Mistry, a student. The event was followed by a dinner where we got to interact with them and shared their SCM stories. They were warm and friendly to our curious minds. Everyone complained about the stress of assignments SCM gives, to which Sameera Khan laughed and said: “Been there. Done that. I can only say this: you will not die of it!’ “It gave me a perspective of being more than a student and being an integral part of a full-fledged event,” said Arshi Khan, from the golden batch of SCM. For us students, Changemakers came as a great learning experience at multiple levels. Despite all the chaos during the initial planning, Changemakers was a success and the sense of satisfaction was unparalleled. Who knows, maybe in a few years, we may be on the stage sharing our own stories onstage; for author and SCM faculty Jerry Pinto defined a Changemaker and said: ‘You are a change maker if you are simply kind in the next human interaction you have.’ This struck a chord in every heart.

62 MARGINALIA 2019-2020 stage. But slowly people will start speaking; they In the Eye of the Storm have already started to speak.” The session then moved to discuss Anand Patwardhan shares what it takes to make potentially censorship and the difficulty he faced with each controversial films. By Prateek Kumar Gautam and Simran of his films and how he had to go to court for Dang almost every movie he has made so far. For the movie Reason, for example, the Censor Board did not allow it to be released in the country e spent a full week watching about it because whatever it is, there’s no way to and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and documentaries made by the be safe in a society like this. I can ask for police the Sanatan Sanstha tried their best to get it W legendary documentary filmmaker, protection but it isn’t going to help because who removed from the Kerala Film Festival. But Anand Patwardhan. Each time a documentary does the police belong to? So how can you trust Anand persevered and won the court cases and was screened, the entire class was left in a the police in this particular circumstance?” it was finally shown at the festival. state of shock and surprise with the kind of He further talked about things that inspire Reason, an award-winning documentary, information that was revealed through the him to keep making such movies despite the is divided into eight chapters; each chapter documentaries and the fearlessness of the increased difficulty and hostility he faces while talks about a different issue like the murder director with which it was shot. shooting such movies in the current political of left-wing politician Govind Pansare, the Sakshi Sharma, a student, says, “Watching scenario in the country. “The reason I make establishment of Sanatan Sanstha, PhD scholar his films, I had always wondered how he shot films is because they can change people’s Rohith Vemula’s suicide and the 2008 Mumbai and how much time did it take for him to minds. And I don’t only mean the fence-sitters. attacks. These, he alleges, were connected to make this and many more questions.” Prabhat I mean people who have been going to shakhas each other through a common thread: extremist Nambiar was left shocked and amazed after from the age of four and five and who have been Hindu terrorism. watching the documentaries. “I kept wondering getting brainwashed every day. This means that A film like this can only be built as history what would happen if a budding filmmaker they have not been exposed to anything. So, unfolds; they must take a long time to shoot and today took his camera and started shooting on when they come across such work, sometimes, then to construct. Anand said, “I don’t have a the streets like that,” says Nambiar. it wakes them up.” concrete script because I don’t have questions Anand’s films focus specifically on social, We asked him about the difficulty while in advance. You know, basically everything political and human rights related issues, and shooting chaotic scenes such as riots or fights. is an exploration. Each day, I review my own so we were very excited when we were told that “There is no proper way to get out of such footage. If I have shot in the morning, I edit he would come to interact with us after the situations where riots are happening. You in the evening. So when the film gets on the screening of his latest film: Reason (Vivek). A just keep filming and if situations get bad, we editing table, you watch your own footage for nervous excitement ran through the class as take evasive action. Right now, we have one a long time again and again. Soon, the patterns Anand arrived. But contrary to the fierce nature advantage. No one in the situation is sure whose start emerging and you understand what is of his works, he turned out to be quite light- camera it is. It might well be a camera from connected to what.” hearted and insisted that we have a casual Q&A ‘their side’ which is intent on capturing footage This is quite evident in the movie ‘Jai Bhim session. so that they can gloat later. So, those who get Comrade’, which took eleven years to finish and Encouraged, we barged him with an confused don’t easily react that quickly. You another 4 years to release because the people onslaught of questions! could be NDTV or could be Arnab Goswami’s from Kabir Kala Manch were in jail and Anand The session began with the most obvious channel.” was working to get them out of there. question that popped in almost everybody’s He adds: “The approach is to be forthright “Are you planning to make a documentary head: What was his approach towards to say about what you want to say and see what on the CAA-NRC anytime soon?” asked one of documenting political issues pertaining to happens because if you’re afraid of them it will the students. He said that he had not planned right-wing ideologies? Was he worried about his get worse. And once you start worrying about anything as such and might explore the issue safety? Did he fear retribution from those who that kind of safety then you’ll end up doing sometime. did not agree with his views? nothing. And then our country will go in the The session was one that was filled with Anand was casual: “I’ve been doing it for direction that it is going because people are enlightenment and discovery. “His craft to me forty years, no, forty-five years so, so far so too afraid to speak up. Because right now not is not even ‘representation’ of reality. To me, it is good. We’ll see what happens. I don’t worry enough people are speaking that we reach that the reality. Documentaries he made two decades ago are relevant till date. It is as though he had documented everything to let us know about the true history of our country’s sociopolitical and geopolitical scenario. Listening to him speak about the way he never really scripts any of his films has actually helped me discover my love for documentaries which are real, raw and hard hitting,” says Sukanya Deb, who aspires to become a hardcore journalist. Arshi Khan says, “It was surreal to see such a renowned documentarian talk about his work regime as if anyone can do it. He shared insights on what to keep in mind while approaching a topic for a documentary and the kind of time, energy and intellectual presence it demands from us.” By the end of the session, the students were surely pumped and looking forward to shoot their own documentaries for the semester.

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