Talk Magazine

The Japanese are coming to Bangalore—andsettling here—in bigger numbers than ever

before. MARGOT COHEN profiles unusualJapanese professionals in the city, and visits

cosy little corners where their culture thrives12-15

ELECTIONS5 prominent citizens root for Congress 8

Volume 1 | Issue 38 | May 2, 2013 | Rs 10

the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly talkmagazine

CUISINEHow to cook

with flowers 16

TRIBUTEManu Chakravarthy

on violin legendLalgudi Jayaraman 9

KUTTIJAPAN

2talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.in

The cover story on SMKrishna (Game Over, Issue37) was timely, well-researched and well-presented. The piece by DPSatish (Will the Congressdefeat itself?) wassharp in itsanalysis ofthe party’sfoolhardydecisions inissuingtickets.

Vijayendravia Facebook

Cancer alertIt is high time we startedcaring about our healthand reviewed our foodconsumption patterns andlifestyle. This was thethought that struck mewhen I read the cover storyon breast cancer (Issue36). One can no longerafford to be ignorant aboutthis deadly “B” cancer. Mycongratulations to MariaLaveena for sounding awarning bell to all junkfood lovers, especially girls.It would be great if Talkcarried more such healtharticles. Apart from thecover story, I found MK

Raghavendra’s piece onremakes (The Secession ofBollywood) astonishing inits insight. I also likedHanumantharaya’s columnon the ‘doctor-killer’.

SirishaAkshintala

by email

Amusing itemon pygmiesThe Chutneyitem aboutIndonesianpygmiesdubbed‘hobbits’(Indonesia’s

dreadlocked little people,Issue 36) was well written,cheeky and amusing. Ihave not read anything inthe recent past thatbrought a smile to my facethe way Talk did last week.

Mala SridharaJayanagar

A chance to exploreTalk provides delightfulvariety. Its catchline, ‘theintelligent Bangalorean’smust-read weekly’, is notonly witty but also piquesthe reader’s curiosity.The articles areenlightening and

mail

team talkPrinted and publishedby Sumith Kombra onbehalf of Shakthi MediaVentures India Pvt Ltd -FF70, Gold Towers,Residency Road,Bangalore -560025and printed at LavanyaMudranalaya,Chamarajpet,Bangalore-560018.

Editor: SRRamakrishna. EditorialOffice: FF70, GoldTowers, ResidencyRoad, Bangalore -560025 Email:[email protected]:08040926658. © Allrights reserved.Reproduction in wholeor part withoutpermission isprohibited.

EDITORIAL

SR RamakrishnaEditor

Sridhar K ChariConsulting Editor

Prashanth GNSenior Editor

Sajai Jose Chief Copy Editor

Savie Karnel PrincipalCorrespondent

Basu Megalkeri PrincipalCorrespondent

Prachi Sibal Senior Features Writer

Sandra Fernandes andMaria Laveena Reporters and CopyEditors

Anand Kumar K Chief of Design

Shridhar G KulkarniGraphic Designer

Ramesh Hunsur Senior Photographer

Vivek ArunGraphics Artist

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Sumith KombraFounder, CEO andPublisher

Abhay SebastianAsst Manager - Sales

Mithun SudhakarAsst Manager - Sales

Kishore Kumar N Head - Circulation

Vinayadathan KVArea Manager - Trade

Yadhu Kalyani Sr Executive -Corporate Sales

Lokesh KN Sr Executive -Subscriptions

Prabhavathi Executive -Circulation

Sowmya Kombra Asst Process Manager

entertaining. Sometimes, itemphasises a topic more thanrequired. Overall, it is a journeywhere one gets to explore newthings.

Supriya Pradhanby email

Value of foster homesI was intrigued by Savie Karnel’sarticle on foster homes (For a hugand a home, Issue 37) inBangalore. Foster homes first cameup in the UK and the USA. They arenot like adoption centres. The

article shows how some familiesare kind and caring towards poorlytreated children. Foster homes canmake or break a child.

Nandini Sharma,, by email

Write to [email protected]

Story on SM Krishna timely; Congress is in danger of scoring a self-goal

SAVIE [email protected]

One of the things aboutelections is that theygive hope. Despiteknowing that politi-cians of all parties

have failed us, citizens trudge tothe polling booths in the hope thatthey can elect a better govern-ment. Then there are common cit-izens who actually stand for elec-tions, not because they have any

hope of winning, but to make apoint, to protest. Here we profile asome unusual candidates.

The radio jockeyRohith Patel, a 28-year-old radiojockey, is contesting from theJayanagar constituency. He saysthis wasn’t an overnight decision,but something he has planned forsix years. In fact, the mechanicalengineer says his desire to be inpolitics made him enter the radioindustry. But why politics? Hereplies with a question, thrownwith the rhetorical flourish of theRJ, “Are you happy with the waythings are?”

He figured tobe able to win elec-tions he neededmoney, a politicallyexperienced family,or fame. Since hedidn't have the firsttwo, he thought the third woulddo the trick. To him, the easiestway to become popular was to be

in media, and that meant TV,movies or radio. “TV would havetaken my entire day. I didn't knowanyone in the movies. So, I gotinto radio,” he says. He got his firstbreak in Akashvani, after which hemoved on to Big FM.

Rohith is popular among thestation’s listeners. He had hopedthat his 1,000-odd followers onFacebook would help him cam-paign. Reality is dawning on himnow. “Those on FB only press the'like' button and do nothing more,”he says. “I wanted them to spendjust two hours in the evening, butthey couldn't even spare that.”

When heturned to some localyouth, he got a rudeshock. “Theydemanded Rs 500 aday, plus biryani andbeer. They told methat was the going

rate, which all parties paid,” hesays. About 60 of his friends havenow come forward to help him.

3talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inaround town

editor talkSome months ago, a friend who works asa civil engineer told me about the influxof Japanese citizens into Bangalore. Inthe 1980s, when hundreds of Iranianstudents arrived here, they were visibleeverywhere: hanging out at expensivebars, rampaging up and down on theirmotorbikes, and even getting into violentfights. But the Japanese are a totalcontrast. Mostly here in a professionalcapacity, they keep to themselves. Infact, not many Bangaloreans know muchabout the Japanese presence here,though it has doubled since 2008.

Margot Cohen, a writer whose work Talkreaders are familiar with, was intriguedwhen I mentioned the new Japaneseinterest in Bangalore. As one who hasreported for the Wall Street Journal andThe Far Eastern Economic Review, sheknows a thing or two about feretting outinformation from foreigners living inBangalore. She got to work and collectedfascinating details. Over three months,she met Japanese settlers and visitedcosy little enclaves where their culturethrives.

My engineer-friend had complained theJapanese behaved like slave-drivers. Forhim and some others, they came acrossas stubborn and unreasonable, with noconcern for colleagues with families andsuch other responsibilities. So do theJapanese view their Indian colleagues asslackers?

Eventually, this didn’t turn out into aworkplace story, or even a storyscrutinising stereotypes. In fact, it yieldedrich detail into a community that likesBangalore better than the other metrosin India. Catch our vignettes of Nippon inBangalore.

Assembly elections are just two weeksaway. We did a dipstick survey—which byits very definition is informal—to sensethe mood among Bangalore’s prominentcitizens. They are pushing for a change ofguard. That report, and lots more for youin this edition. Happy reading!

SR [email protected]

NO BAK-BAKPopular RJ Rohith

Patel hands out hisCV to voters

Not every contestant in thiselection is cast in the

stereotypical mould of the wilypolitician. Talkprofiles an RJ, a

transgender person and a muteactivist, who have joined the race

for reasons of their own

Oddballs on the ballot

Rohith’s Rs 4lakh savingsis fundinghis campaign

RAMESH HUNSUR

“They are doing the job of 250 people,” hesays.

Rohith has been going door to doorand handing out his CV, which he thinkswill help him garner votes. “Over 40 percent of Jayanagar's population is educated.I think they will vote for someone who iseducated,” he says.

But then, Rohith's opponents are alsowell educated. Current MLA BN VijayaKumar of the BJP holds an engineeringdegree, just like Rohith. He has been in pol-itics for nearly 25 years.

But Rohith hopes his age will favourhim. “Most contestants are over 50. Afterthat age their health deteriorates and theyshould retire from politics,” he declares.

Rohith agrees money and power helpwin elections. He is using Rs 4 lakh he hadsaved up to put into an apartment pur-chase. He hopes to raise an equivalentamount from well wishers.

“I think I am already a winner.Whoever comes out to make a difference isa winner,” declares Rohith.

The transgender Gandhinagar has high-profile politicianslike Dinesh Gundu Rao of the Congress,Subhash Bharani of the JD(S) and PCMohan of the BJP. Amidst this battle of sea-soned heavyweights, the Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) has fielded a newcomer to pol-itics, a transgender person called SowmyaSri.

Born a man, Sowmya (33) underwenta sex change surgery. She is the first trans-gender person to contest elections inKarnataka. “After I announced I was con-testing elections, people have started treat-ing me with more respect,” she says.

Having worked with several NGOs forthe rights of sexual minorities, she is confi-dent that she has the support of the trans-gender community. “Gandhinagar is thehub for people of my community. They liveand even work here. The trading commu-nities also treat hijras with respect and willvote me,” she says.

But for all her optimism, her cam-paign doesn't seem well chalked out. Evenon April 20, barely 15 days before the polls,she was still ‘planning’ the campaign. Sofar, only the campaign funding strategy,which she calls “One note, one vote,” is inplace. “We will ask people to cast their votein our favour. They could donate one note,of any denomination. It could be a Rs 10note or a Rs 1,000 note,” she says.

When Talk met her, the campaign wasyet to start. “We will garland Ambedkar'sstatue at Okalipuram bus stand and begincampaigning. We are not paying volun-teers, but will give them food,” she said.

Sowmya’s only promise is that she willkeep Gandhinagar garbage-free, and pro-vide better living conditions to people ofher community.

Though she stands little chance ofwinning, she is the first transgender per-

son in Karnataka’s history to contestassembly elections.

The silent contestant Ambrose D’Mello is contesting elections asa mark of protest. This 45-year-old is wellknown in the city's activist circles, and hiscandidature from Chikpet is his way ofcontinuing his struggle for free water.Ambrose, also known as Amrita, hasn’tspoken for the past eight years. Heembarked on this unique form of protestagainst the commercialisation of water. Headvocates free availability of water, and is

opposed to packaged water bottles.Ambrose has found an appropriate electionsymbol too—the tumbler. Not waiting forany followers, he has been going fromhouse to house with a tumbler, water and aboard which says he is contesting the polls.He hands over water to people, which is hisway of seeking votes.

Eight years ago, Ambrose came acrosssome construction workers who werethirsty but unable to find any water. Hewent to the nearby houses asking for wateron their behalf, but in vain. They told himto buy water from a shop. Then and there,he decided to start a campaign against“capitalists profiting from water.” (See theTalk profile of Ambrose The silent fighter,Issue 9).

Ambrose has walked barefoot for 320km from Bangalore to Bellary to protestagainst illegal mining. He stopped usingfootwear to protest against the killing offive Dalits in Haryana in 2002. The Dalitshad skinned a dead calf, but Hindu radicalsaccused them of killing a live animal. Sinceleather is used to make chappals, Amborsehas sworn off footwear.

Ambrose has an MA degree. He hadcleared a UGC exam and enrolled for a PhDprogramme before he became an activist.He says he has no religion, no relatives, nofamily. He eats just one meal a day, and hasno permanent residence.

He earns his living by selling books onunity and secularism, on which the pub-lishers pay him 40-50 per cent commission.What remains after meeting his expenses,he gives away to those in need.

Ambrose makes no promises forvotes. He has no personal agenda of anykind. He is neither contesting for the thrillof it nor for money. His campaign is simplya sincere protest.

A contestant-in-waitingNot all unusual candidates contest elec-tions out of selfless or idealistic motives. Inthe 2009 parliamentary elections, BSPfielded Vijay Raj Singh from BangaloreCentral. The then 37-year old businessman

had waxed elo-quent on theneed for youngpeople in poli-tics, the need foridealism, and soon. He had alsomade news byparading modelsduring electionc a m p a i g n s .

Instead of partyworkers, he had

hired professional models to follow him onhis campaign trail.

As expected, he had lost. When weasked Singh if he was contesting theassembly elections this time, he retorted, “Ihad contested parliamentary elections.This is just an assembly election. I want tobe a MP and not a MLA.”

Asked if he would campaign for theBSP this time, he bluntly says, “I am nolonger in that party. I'm in the Congress. Ihave always been with the Congress. Lasttime, I didn't get a ticket from theCongress, so I had jumped to the BSP.”

Surprisingly, BJP's PC Mohan, the MPfrom Bangalore Central who defeatedSingh, is now contesting the assembly elec-tions from Gandhinagar. Singh, who haslost none of the arrogant manner he'sknown for, says he hopes to get a Congressticket for the parliamentary elections nextyear. If the Congress high command isn'timpressed with his resume, let us watchwhich party he will jump to.


OUR TURF Transgender BSP candidate Sowmya (centre) believes that the large presence of her community in Gandhinagar will help her in the polls

Vijay Raj Singh

LONE WARRIOR Ambrose is contesting to drawattention to commercialisation of water

5talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.infun lines

This season, no party istalking about specificproblems. For example, partymanifestos make no mentionof corruption.

At the Press Club earlier thisweek, former prime ministerHD Deve Gowda parriedquestions on corruption. Theonly thing he would say wasthat it was wrong in the eyesof the law, but not so inpeople's minds.

The Cauvery dispute is not onthe agenda either, eventhough water scarcity plaguessouthern Karnataka,especially Mandya, Mysoreand half of Bangalore. The

Krishnarajasagar dam is near-dry. No leader barring DeveGowda is talking about it asan election issue. They believeCauvery resonates only in theMandya region.

WATER WARRIOR Deve Gowda isthe only leader to talk about Cauvery

Just as mines in Bellary aregraded, the BSR Congress hasgraded its constituencies intoA, B and C.

By founder B Sriramulu'sreckoning, A constituencieshave strong candidates and astrong party presence, B forgood candidates and a fairparty presence, while Cconstituencies have weakcandidates and a weak partypresence. He believes 53constituencies are A, 27 are Band the rest C.

Consequently, Sriramulu hasdecided to campaign in Aconstituencies, which covereight north Karnataka

districts. He has decided tooffer men and money to Acandidates.

He has decided not to offermoney to candidates in Bconstituencies as he iscertain they are well off. Hewill campaign there only if hefinds the time. He hasdecided not to campaign in Cconstituencies as he seeszero prospects. Butcandidates will carry outlimited campaigning to assertthe party's presence.Sriramulu is clearly the lonestar campaigner, and he iskeen not to spread himselftoo thin.

G Parameshwara, next CM? What grade is your neta?

Where are the ladies?In the 2008 election, the BJPhad provided tickets to 10women. Three won and becamelegislators. This time it has giventickets only to seven.

The Congress has issued ticketsto 10 women. Last time, all 11 itfielded lost. That, some leaderssay, was a party ploy to teachwomen never to demand ticketsagain.

The JD(S) had issued tickets to10 women last time, and all ofthem had lost. But surprisingly, inthree by-elections, three womenposted victories---KalpanaSiddaraju from Maddur, AnitaKumaraswamy from Madhugiriand Aruna Revur from GulbargaSouth. This time, the party hasissued tickets only to six women.

The KJP, by contrast, has issuedtickets to 11 women. ShobhaKarandlaje, BS Yeddyurappa'sclose confidant, is credited withensuring better representationfor women.

Despite the short shrift beinggiven to them, why aren't womenworkers protesting?

Cauvery, corruptionare no poll issues

Anita KumaraswamyShobha Karandlaje

Releasing a manifesto is a ritualbefore the elections. Never mindif neither the candidates nor thevoters read it. The Congressmanifesto event, repeatedlypostponed, eventually took placeon April 24, a week after the other

parties had released theirs. Thegrand ceremony was held at theKPCC office on Queen’s Road.While the intention was tohighlight the manifesto, it actuallyended up highlighting the party’sinternal differences.

The seating arrangement (areliable marker of changing powerequations) brought the simmeringdissatisfaction and factionalismout in the open. SeniorCongressmen Dharam Singh,Oscar Fernandes, Jaffer Sharief,Veerappa Moily, KH Muniyappaand Rahman Khan were allseated in the back row. UnionLabour Minister MallikarjunKharge, one of the leaders beingconsidered for the chief minister’spost if the party wins, was alsosomewhere at the back. Normallyaggressive leaders like DKShivakumar and RV Deshpandewere forced into corner seats andwore a disinterested look.

The prime seat in the front rowwas occupied by none other thanKPCC President G Parameshwara,with Siddaramaiah sitting next tohim. The ‘arrangement’ provokeda hushed discussion among partyworkers. “Parameshwara’s goingto be the CM,” they were heardsaying.

FOCUSED Sriramulu expects his party to perform well in North Karnataka

If the new power equation at the Congress manifesto event is anything togo by, the KPCC chief is gunning for the top job

LISTEN UP G Parameshwara at the Congress’ poll manifesto release event

BASU MEGALKERI

Raghupati Raghava

Raja Ram... P

eople

like leaders like

Gandhiji....

These idiots want to send me

to the ICU...

But thenI’m no

Gandhiji...

Siddaramaiah,don’t think I’m

sleeping. I’llwake up themoment we

win...

Next CM?Who nose?

Why worr

y?

SM Krishna

will read my

campai

gn spe

ech

in any

case!

With assembly elections justtwo weeks away, politicianshit the road to seek yourblessings. Ramesh Hunsurcaptures their many moods inpictures you’ll never see inany other paper

Script: Ayyo Rama


Oh, Rahula.Can’t you see

I’m meditating?Monkeys!

They just don’t

know how to

behave.Ticket for my

daught...Oh, sorry,

Sonia madam,I’ll shut up!

See what I’ll do if you don’t

watch my movies!

I’m Emperor Ashok. Now,where’sBataliputra?

Enough

! It’s

time

to go

to my c

lub

and pl

ay ten

nis.

Here, blow thisconch, sir!

Where is the

starter, please?

No, mask

issue. He, he...

Temple issue?

No, no, Moily avare!

Just want to

keep that fellow

Siddu out!

Wan

t to b

e

CM, e

h,

Para

meshw

ara?

VOTE A PITY

KNN

KNN

KNN

pot shots

Chee... somany lies in

our manifesto!

?

?

?

?

?

?

8talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inelection watch

UR ANANTHAMURTHYWRITERJnanpith awardee, former vice-chancellor, and cultural icon

SUHAIL YUSUFBUSINESSMANSecretary of Brigade Road Shops andEstablishments Association

SG VASUDEVARTISTCo-founder of CholamandalamArtists’ Village, national award winner

S SADAGOPPANACADEMICFounder-Director of InternationalInstitute of Information Technology

KM CHAITANYA FILMMAKERDirector and theatre person. Best-known for feature film Aa Dinagalu

PRASHANTH [email protected]

Talk asked five well-knownBangaloreans key questionsabout the assembly elections

on May 5. They favoured theCongress over the BJP, and namedSiddaramaiah and MallikarjunaKharge as their chief ministerialfavourites.

Which is the party best placed now to governKarnataka? Why?

UR Ananthamurthy: Congress.The BJP has shown instability andreeks of corruption. I have problemswith the Congress, too, but by andlarge it is secular, has a stable bearing,and its all-India character is better.

Suhail Yusuf: Congress. Wehave seen misery for eight years.Corruption has been at an all-timehigh. No citizen will come forward tooffer anything good for the state ifcurrent affairs persist.

SG Vasudev: Congress. The BJPhas been characterised by instabilityand corruption. It wasn't the partywith a difference as it had claimed.The Congress will hopefully offer sta-bility and a corruption-free govern-ment.

KM Chaitanya: Congress. Everyother party has demonstrated incom-petence in governing Karnataka.

S Sadagopan: The Congress hasnot ruled the state for a while. Theywould be keen to prove a point.

Which leader would you like to see as chief minister?What qualities should such aleader have?

Ananthamurthy: Siddaramaiahand Mallikharjun Kharge are bothgood candidates. They have concernfor the weaker sections and they haveimmense experience.

Suhail Yusuf: Any leader whoworks on the lines of SM Krishna,who put Karnataka and Bangalore onthe world map. Siddaramaiah has amass following but is not popularwithin the Congress, and Kharge hasgood support within the party. Atough choice.

Vasudev: Siddaramaiah andKharge seem good candidates but Iam not sure which of them is better.Siddaramaiah has good communica-tion skills, while Kharge has been aconsistent winner.

Chaitanya: Krishna ByreGowda. I like a chief minister who iswell educated and not too elitist. Heshould be connected with grassrootsKarnataka, give emphasis to agricul-ture, and not think Bangalore isKarnataka.

Sadagopan: Siddaramaiah andKharge seem good leaders but need aclear mandate to do well.

In the case of a hung verdict,which would be the best coalition set up? BJP-JD(S)-KJPor Congress-JD(S)-KJP?

Ananthamurthy: I am tired ofhung verdicts. I hope we don't haveanother. While the BJP has been cor-rupt, the JD(S) has nothing signifi-

cant to say on anything. What are weleft with?

Suhail Yusuf: The Congress andthe JD(S) would be good, provided theJD(S) does not repeat with theCongress what it did with the BJP.

Vasudev: Any coalition withoutthe BJP. We don't want Hindutva andcorruption.

Chaitanya: Any coalition with-out the BJP. Ideally, I don't want theCongress to align with any party, butif there's no choice, they should gowith the JD(S).

Sadagopan: Coalitions haven'tworked well in Karnataka. I pray wedon't get another. A party with a clearmandate is what I'm expecting.

Is it useful to vote for activist-candidates with no mass backing? For example, Dr Meenakshi Bharath of theLok Satta Party is contestingfrom Malleswaram, andAshwin Mahesh, a PhD inastronomy, is contesting fromBommanahalli?

Ananthamurthy: They may bewell-intentioned, but they would beineffective. Votes for individuals willgo waste. Instead, vote for stability.

Suhail Yusuf: They just won'tmake a dent. Arvind Kejriwal hascampaigned against corruption, buthas corruption ended?

Vasudev: Sometimes, it is diffi-cult to judge what they represent. Isaw one of them supportingHindutva. How can one vote forthem?

Chaitanya: It would be nice tovote for them, but I wish they hadparty backing, mass following, andcadres in every corner of the state.Only then can they effect social and

policy change. Such candidates will atbest be a fringe, pressure group.

Sadagopan: They are good peo-ple, but they would not be effectivebecause of their small numbers. Allthe same, if one of them wins, itmeans one seat less to a major party.We should encourage them. I seeMeenakshi is very committed,upright and articulate.

What is your message to young urban voters?

Ananthamurthy: Be alert toparties' ways. Vote with awareness.

Suhail Yusuf: Get up and vote.Vasudev: Think and vote. It

should be a reflective vote.Chaitanya: Vote for stability and

quick decision-making.Sadagopan: Please run to the

booth and vote. Bangalore Urban justdoesn't wake up on voting day. I wantto set a record by completing votingby 12 noon! So I want them to wakeup early and vote.

What would you want electedleaders to do for Bangalore?

Ananthamurthy: Overall devel-opment of Karnataka should be thefocus.

Suhail Yusuf: I want to makeBrigade Road the most prominentstreet in the country. Let leaders justgive me room and see the magic I willperform. And I want them to puttechnology to proper use—use tech-nology well to prevent traffic viola-tions.

Vasudev: Make Bangalore avibrant cultural city.

Chaitanya: Bangalore is notKarnataka.

Sadagopan: Make all regions inKarnataka technology friendly.

Five prominent citizens ofBangalore see hope in the

Congress, and urge young votersto go out and vote

BJP lags in dipstick survey

9talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.intribute

The violin is a Westerninstrument and figures asthe lead in great violinconcertos in the Westernclassical tradition. It also

plays a crucial role in symphonieseven when it is not the lead. It isamazing that such an instrument hasrooted itself in Indian classical music(especially Carnatic) in a vital, andalmost indispensable, manner. Onecannot imagine a Carnatic concertwithout the violin featuring in it in abig way. Even as an accompanyingartist the violinist is as significant asthe main performer, lending tremen-dous value to the concert, at timeseven overshadowing the latter.

Carnatic music has producedextraordinary violinists.Tirukodikaval Krishna Iyer,Malaikottai Govindaswami Pillai,Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai,Papa Venkatramaiah, Mysore TChowdaiah, TN Krishnan, andDwaram Venkataswamy Naidu(whose technique the legendary vio-linist Yehudi Menuhin described as“perfect and matchless”)—to nameonly a few—were highly accom-plished violinists who enhanced therange of the main performer and,more importantly, elevated the verynature of the concert. Quite oftenone saw the main performer turningto the violinist for intellectual andaesthetic sustenance whenevershe/he faltered during a concert.

Lalgudi G Jayaraman was anoutstanding violinist who added richdimensions to Carnatic music andcame to be associated with it as amajor performer and much soughtafter by great musicians (many ofwhom were senior to him).

In the 1940s, Lalgudi was in histeens and started accompanying thestalwarts of the time. Since then,there has not been a single major per-former he has not been an accompa-nist to. From Ariyakudi RamanujaIyengar, Alathoor Brothers, GNBalasubramaniam, Semmangudi

Srinivasa Iyer, Madurai Mani Iyer,and KV Narayanaswamy to the nextgeneration of performers, Lalgudiwas the star accompanist, adding tothe main performer’s structures andpatterns. Lalgudi’s contributionswere actually extrapolations of themain artiste’s delineations, originat-ing from his own intense and philo-sophical understanding of the ragaand the kriti. In other words,Lalgudi’s accompaniment was not“concert-determined”, but shaped bythe musical tradition he was a part of.His individual genius was honed bythe range and depth of this tradition.

Lalgudi’s artistrysprang from his medita-tive approach to music.His velvet-soft noteswere cerebral and emo-tional at the same time.His aesthetics cannot bemerely explained interms of melody or rig-orously worked out ideas. The violinmatured his hands. The earlier gener-ation of violinists displayed energyand vigour, remaining traditionaliststo a large extent, while the next gen-eration, like T Chowdaiah (who madea radical experiment introducingseven strings to the violin) and TNKrishnan, produced individualexplorers who let their imagination

go far beyond the strict boundaries ofgrammar and convention. But it wasLalgudi who harmonised his individ-ual genius with tradition, without let-ting either suffer. The violin, inLalgudi’s hands, matched what isaccepted as supreme—the humanvoice. As for tonal quality, purity ofnotes, imagination and structuring ofideas, Lalgudi achieved a unity fewcould even after decades of trainingand practice.

One only needs to listen toLalgudi accompanying Madurai ManiIyer in the mid-1950s, changing thecontours of Taarini telisu konti in raga

Shuddha Saveri, tounderstand this. InMeenakshi me mudamdehi, a composition inraga Poorvi Kalyani, heelevated the music ofAlathoor Brothers, as hedid in other ragas suchas Saveri (Sarasuda nee)

Todi (Dasukovalena), Mukhari (Emaninne), and Vachaspati(Kantachoodume).

Lalgudi’s exemplary style is alsoin evidence in his rendering of ragaMadhyamavathi (with his sister GSrimathi and the great mridangamgenius Palghat Mani Iyer accompany-ing him) and his subtle, sophisticatedand richly expansive handling of

ragam-tanam-pallavi when PalghatKV Narayanaswamy took up Paahiparvata Nandini in raga Arabhi at theNavaratri Mandapam in Trivandrum.These are to be contrasted and com-pared with Lalgudi’s virtuosity inaccompanying others like the daz-zling and stately GNBalasubramaniam and the sober andsedate Musiri Subramania Iyer. Theygive a glimpse of the variety andrange of his repertoire.

I cannot end this piece withouttalking about the relationship Ishared with the maestro over fourand a half decades. Lalgudi had greatrespect and love for my father andalways looked him up when he cameto Mysore during the Ramanavamimusic festival. I met him as a child inthe mid-1960s. Lalgudi’s son GJRKrishnan called me up about twoyears ago with the request that I writethe sleeve notes for two concertrecordings to be released by All IndiaRadio as CDs. I told him it would bemy honour and privilege to do so.

What was gratifying was thatLalgudi was moved by the notes andexpressed his desire to meet me. It ispainful and tragic that I cannot meethim in flesh and blood now. However,what gives me consolation is that Ican meet him every moment throughhis silken notes. My pranams.

THE MAESTRO A portrait of Lalgudi Jayaraman (September 17, 1930 - April 22, 2013) by M Sreedhara Murthy. Lalgudi visited Murthy, whowrites the Prof Good Sense counselling column in Talk, in Chamarajpet.

The violinmatured inLalgudiJayaraman’shands

Lalgudi Jayaraman was the one violinistwho harmonised his individual talent

with the genius of his musical tradition,without letting either suffer

The Lalgudi I knew

N ManuChakravarthy The author, a well-known literary andfilm critic, knewLalgudi Jayaramansince the 1960s, andrecently wrote thesleeve notes for twoof the maestro’s CDs

10talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.infruity loop

MARIA [email protected]

Many people got a rudeshock when theychecked the prices ofmangoes this year. Forthose who hope the

prices will come down, there is badnews. Mangoes are not going to get anycheaper. In fact, they may soon stopcoming into the market.

Blame it on the untimely rains anddry spells across the state. “The flower-ing of mango trees has reduced drastical-ly and the crop is a mere 35 per cent oflast year’s,” says Doddakende Gowda,Managing Director of the HorticulturalProducers Cooperative Marketing andProcessing Society (Hopcoms).Elaborating on the severity of the crisis,another official atHopcoms told Talk,“Out of 176 agriculturaltaluks, 145 are hit bydrought. The bore wellshave dried-up and dueto migration, labour isnot availabile. You can-not expect the yield to get any betterthan this.”

The yield alternates every yearbetween good and bad, but the patternhas changed, and farmers and traders arereeling. “We had poor yield last year sowe termed it an off year, and had hopedfor an on year this time. But the oppositeis the case,” Gowda said.

At present, Hopcoms outlets havestocked mango varieties like Alphonso,Raspuri, Sindhura, Badami, andThothapuri. These stocks may last onlytill the first or second week of May. Infact, the officials are urging mangolovers to buy their favorite fruit before it

goes out of season. The retail chains are also under

pressure. The More chain of supermar-kets is currently running a campaignto boost mango sales. Bannersscream ‘mango festival’, but thechain is facing difficulty insourcing mangoes. Accordingto a store manager, “In fact,the situation is so bad thatwhen we asked farmers forextra fruits, they got angry.”He says the shortage is not

limited tofruits likemango, butis also affect-ing vegetables.“If we don’t getshowers in 15days, we will be

short of vegetables and the priceswill shoot up too.”

Managers at the Auchanchain of supermarkets too seemequally worried. A managerfears the prices will soar any-time soon.

Mubarak Sasha, Secretary of theBangalore Mango WholesaleAssociation, agrees supply has comedown by as much as 70 per cent. “InRamanagara and Channapatna, wherewe usually get our stocks from, farmerssay they won’t be able to supply anymore fruit after second week of May.The only option is to bring in supplies

from other districts or from outside thestate,” he said.

At Russell Market in Shivajinagar, ahub of fruit and vegetable trade, shopshad an abundant stock of mangoes,arranged in neat, shiny rows.Mohammad Shanaraz, owner of TabruzFruit Centre says the supplies aresourced from Maharashtra and TamilNadu.

‘This year’s cropis a mere 35 per cent of lastyear’s’

Everyone’s favouritesummer fruit is not onlyexpensive this year, butcould soon disappear fromthe markets altogether

Hopcomsoffers some of the

best mangoes available inthe city, and is far cheaper than

some markets and street vendors, Talkfound. Hopcoms takes pride not only in

ripening the mangoes naturally (and not withthe help of chemicals) but also in selling them ataffordable prices. At present, they have mangovarieties like Alphonso at Rs 90, Raspuri at Rs 50,Kesar at Rs 65, Badami at Rs 80 and Sindhura Rs30. All these are likely to be available only tillsecond of week of May. However, they expect tohave stocks of other varieties like Mallika,

Thothapuri and Langra till June. RussellMarket sells varieties like Malgoba at Rs

120, Raspuri at Rs 80, Banganpalli at Rs80 and Alphonso at Rs 150. Fruitvendors sell the same varietiescheaper: Malgoba is at Rs 80,Banganpalli is at Rs 60,

Raspuri at Rs 50, andBadami at Rs 100.

Pricey treat

Case of vanishingmangoes

Reactions, statements,accusations, complaints,or just straight talk—thisis where you get them all

Questions

?3?

?

After your record knock, whatwere your thoughts? How was thesituation in the dressing room?I was calm and didn’t do anythingextraordinary. It’s funny becauseMurali (Muthaiah Muralitharan) hadgiven me some tips on battingbefore the match (laughs). Everyonewas happy in the dressing room. Wehad a celebration, just like we wouldafter any other match that we win.

Ever since your performance inIPL people are always lookingforward to seeing you on thepitch. Are you under pressurealways to hit sixes and fours tokeept the crowd engaged?No, I’m not under pressure to dothat. All I think about is the gameand to play it well. I just go outthere and enjoy myself (smiles).When I play well, I enjoy it and inturn the audience also has a goodtime. I’m glad that I can put smileson peoples’ faces.

Which bowler do you fear themost, or think is a challenge?No one, actually. Every bowler isdifferent and I think it is necessaryto play well against each bowler.There’s no bowler that I fear as such.

SANDRA M FERNANDES

‘I’m not underpressure to hitsixes and fours’

Chris GayleCricketer

Chris Gayle, is a Jamaican cricketer who plays forWest Indies. A former Kolkata Knight Ridersplayer, he now plays for the Royal ChallengersBangalore in IPL. He recently scored a record 175runs in 66 balls against Pune Warriors India, thefastest century ever scored in cricket.

RAMESH HUNSUR


SAVIE [email protected]

Once upon a time, a king went hunt-ing in a forest. There he found a girllying unconscious. She was so beau-

tiful that he fell in love with her and mar-ried her. The girl’s name was Surya Bai.

The queen, the king’sfirst wife, grew jealous ofSurya. One day, on the pre-text of showing her some-thing in the palace pool, shepushed Surya in. She diedinstantly, but was reborn as a sunflowerthat grew out of the pool.

Now the queen grew jealous of thebeauty of the flower, so she uprooted theplant and burnt it. A tree grew from theplace where the ashes were thrown. On the

topmost bough, a bright yel-low fruit grew.

One day a milkmaid was resting

under the tree. The fruit fell into the milkpot. When she came home, she removedthe fruit from the pot. Right before herbewildered eyes, the fruit transformed intoa baby girl. The woman looked after her asher own daughter.

One day, the king, who happened topass by, saw the girl, now grown up. Herecognised her as Surya. He took her backto the palace and banished the cunningqueen. When he learnt Surya’s story, hetried plucking the yellow fruits from thetree. They didn’t turn human, but they did

turn out to be delicious andsucculent. According to thefolktale, he gave the fruits aSanskrit name, aam phalam.Phalam means fruit.

It is only apt that theking of fruits is ascribed a royal origin. Thestory goes on to tell how the aam phalamtrees grew in the lower Himalayas, andhow their fame reached far and wide. Soon,people living below the Vindhyas alsoheard of it. These people who spokeDravidian languages too got these saplingsand planted them in Southern India.

The Tamils pronounced aam as maanand phalam as kay (fruit). So the word

become maankay, pronounced as maangai.It later became maampazham. Kannadigascall it maavinkaayi. The Malayalis, maanga.

The Portuguese, who colonisedcoastal Kerala, too called it manga. Theterm spread to other European languagesas well. The word’s first recorded attesta-tion in a European language was a text bytraveller Ludovico di Varthema in Italian in1510, manga.

It is unclear as to how manga becamemango in English. There is a story that a16th century traveller wrote a letter to hisfriend in England about this delicious trop-ical fruit. The writer had spelt the name ofthe fruit as manga, but since mostPortuguese words end with o, the readerassumed that the a was o. The Englishcalled the fruit mango.

There is also a desi joke around howthe fruit came to be called mango. It goesthat an Indian was eating a mango. AnEnglishman passing by saw him and wasintrigued. He asked the Indian, “What areyou eating?” The Indian thought that theBritish wanted the fruit. So he replied inHindi, “Mango,” meaning, “Ask for it.” TheEnglishman thought the name of the fruitwas mango and called it so.

The Talkcolumn onword origins

K EW O S

YR D

The sun in a fruit

Mango

THE KING The word ‘mango’ travelled from Indianlanguages to English

NIGEL DURRANT

12talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inspotlight

MARGOT COHEN

The Japanese word for ‘clean’ is thesame as ‘beautiful’. That word iskirei, and it is a rather elusivequality in Bangalore—a city los-ing the battle to manage its waste

and restrain its careless residents.But it is also true that more and more

Japanese are living and working in Bangalore,adjusting to this pungent city and its loudtraffic. It’s almost an imperceptible shift, aphenomenon occurring just under the urbanradar. Yet it is a fact that the number ofJapanese residents in this city now outstripsChennai and Mumbai, and Karnataka repre-sents a rapid growth area for Japanese busi-ness compared to other states in India. With229 Japanese companies already established,some major ventures are just around the cor-ner, including a new Toyota Kirloskar hospi-tal and a massive Honda motorcycle factory.Meanwhile, smaller companies are seeking toget a toehold, too.

This is hardly a Japanese invasion. Thelatest figures show 886 Japanese citizens

based in the city, a figure that has doubledsince 2008. Yet 18,000 Japanese visitors arecoming to Bangalore regularly on businesstrips, looking for opportuni-ties to thrive outside of astagnant home economy. Inanother sign of interest, anew Japanese-languagequarterly magazine aboutBangalore was launchedrecently, crammed withadvertisements from Japanese firms.

One ad was placed by Uno-In, whichcalls itself a "quality business hotel." But thismust be the only hotel in the city that spurnswalk-in requests for rooms. The Indian man-aging director, Nic Iqbal, says that his estab-lishment off Langford Road will only providehospitality to corporate customers who pre-book their rooms in Japan. The restaurantdoes not accept spontaneous diners, either.Private parties are held on the rooftoplounge, behind a high bamboo fence.

The tee factorWhile Tamil Nadu’s government is seen as

more investor-friendly, Karnataka and itscapital have their plus points for theJapanese. Beyond the usual boons of good

climate and educated work-force, there is anotherprime factor: golf. Yes,Japanese businessmen tendto be very fond of golf, andBangalore’s five golf cours-es—including the spread atEagleton, where even the

caddies can speak Japanese—are moreexpansive than the facilities available acrossthe border.

“Chennai is very difficult! There areonly two courses, and they are occupied bymany Koreans,” observes Kazumasa Kuboki,head of the Japan Desk at JCSS Consultancyin Bangalore. Golf-watchers say Hyundaiexecutives partly account for the rush.

This story is not purely about business,though. It’s about new opportunities forIndians to familiarise themselves with a cul-ture that has long remained hidden. Thevignettes below offer a few windows on theseworlds.

Today, Bangalore ishome to more peoplefrom Nippon than oldfavourites Chennai or

Mumbai. They aredoing everything from

supervising NammaMetro tunnels to

selling healthsupplements to

singing Kannadasongs, and when work

gets to them, retiringto golf courses andcosy corners wheretheir culture thrives

For the Japanese,a big attractionof Bangalore isits golf courses

TASTES LIKE HOMEA group of Japanese

businessmen enjoylunch at the

Chancery Hotel

The hidden worldsof the Japanese

RAMESH HUNSUR

Japanese companies in Bangalore 229 | Japanese citizens living in Bangalore 886 | Annual business travellers from Japan 18,000


RISING BUSINESSYosuke Shiina handles theJapan desk at a hotel that

is putting in place majorchanges to cater to the

special tastes of theJapanese

Imagine a group of seven Japanese busi-nessmen, each wearing nothing but atowel. After a long day of meetings, themen are relaxing in a sento, an immaculatecommunal bath where they soak theirmuscles in very hot water and murmurgentle jokes among themselves. When it isall over, the luckiest one will submit to thevigorous ministrations of Wakui, a 50-year-old Japanese masseuse dispatched toBangalore after she built loyalty inBangkok for expertly kneading the torsosof senior Toyota executives. The othermen will find their way back to theirrooms, flop down on a firm mattress andswitch on the NHK Japanese televisionchannel to follow the latest baseball gamesback home.

It’s all destined to bepart of the ongoingmakeover at the ChanceryHotel on Lavelle Road.Ever since the Indianowners signed a joint ven-ture agreement with aToyota subsidiary last August, designershave sought to refashion the 10-year-oldproperty to accommodate the specialtastes of the Japanese. The spa with tradi-

tional bath, as described above, will be acenterpiece. But private amenities will beprovided, too—since hygiene is viewed bymost Japanese as a top priority. The hotelis busy installing deeper bathtubs in eachroom, to suit the guest who wants to soakup to his neck. Luxurious Toto bidet/toi-lets will eject streams of water in variousdirections for thorough cleaning of those

nether regions. Meanwhile, the

plump European-stylesofas in each room willbe replaced with a moresleek design.Downstairs, the door-men have been trained

to offer Japanese greetings to guests.While the renovation work won’t be

completed until September, there arealready signs of the Chancery’s dramatic

transformation. In March, the hotellaunched a new Japanese restaurant, calledMatsuri, meaning “festival.” With akitchen outfitted with water filters fromJapan, the restaurant serves sushi import-ed from Thailand, pork imported fromKorea, and an utterly bland vegetarian setmeal marketed as a “Japanese Buddhistmonk meal” known as Shojin Ryori. (Thismonkish offering did not appeal to Indiantaste buds when it debuted at the Harimarestaurant on Residency Road some yearsago.)

In the lobby, a Japan desk was estab-lished in January. Yosuke Shiina, a tallyoung Japanese executive who studied inthe US, is at hand to make quick phonecalls and do some translation for guestsdeficient in English. What is the core prin-ciple of the new venture? “Zero error,” hesays.

CHINDI MAGA! Kazumasa Kuboki is part ofJapanese choral group Royal Echo, whose repertoireincludes Kannada film hits

By day, she builds the Bangalore Metro.By night, she writes novels and shortstories. But 49-year-old Reiko Abe isnot just an unusual character. She is apioneering woman in a field that large-ly lauds the achievements of men.

Born in Osaka on August 15—which she later discovered to be India’sIndependence Day—Abe soon dis-played her own independent streak.She was the first woman graduate incivil engineering from Kobe University,and went on to be Japan’s first womanspecialist in tunnel engineering.Subsequently she was promoted to bethe first woman in her constructioncompany to reach the heights of gener-al manager. “Every time, first,” shesays, in an emphatic staccato.

Much of her career has been spentabroad. Abe has worked on rail sys-tems in Taiwan, mainland China,Qatar, and the Ukraine. She came towork on the Bangalore Metro in 2010,after a three-year stint with the DelhiMetro. When her work is completedhere in 2014, her company will dis-patch her to Dhaka. “That’s my job,”she says.

She finds the work challenging.Bangalore has a mix of soft soil andhard granite, slowing down progresson the seven underground stationsthat she supervises. As chief qualityengineer, Abe is also responsible forthe safety of the entire system, whichruns to 42 km.

After work, she occasionallydrinks beer with a few Japanese busi-nessmen, or colleagues from her officeat the Bangalore Metro RailCorporation Ltd on Double Road. Sherarely mixes with the Japanese wiveswho attend daytime tea-parties spon-sored by Sakura-kai (the “cherry blos-som” society). Abe reveals that she isnot particularly fond of golf, andyearns to meet more career women. “Iwish more Japanese businesswomenwould come to India,” she says. InBangalore, she counts less than 10working women from Japan, althoughthere are nearly 900 Japanese residents.“It’s strange,” Abe adds.

Instead of socialising, Abe puts inlong hours writing fiction. She says shesticks to Japanese characters (so don’texpect a roman à clef about NammaMetro). Asked to cite her favouriteJapanese authors, she names MiyukiMiyabe, who pens best-selling thrillerssuch as All She Was Worth, and HiroArikawa, who often writes about theJapan Self Defence Forces. Unlikemany authors, Abe prefers a low pro-file. She generally shuns photographs.She simply carries on.

An engineering pioneer on Double Road

When Kazumasa Kuboki came toBangalore in 2003, he promptly joined aJapanese choral group called Royal Echo.The group’s wide-ranging repertoireincluded Kannada hits from such popularmovies as Gandhada Gudi (Temple ofSandalwood) and Aakasmika (TheAccident). Sure enough, Kuboki managedto pick up enough Kannada from a text-book to hold his own among the 20-mem-ber ensemble, which regularly performs atdinners hosted by the JapaneseAssociation.

Sixty-year-old Kuboki also has a dayjob as head of the Japan desk at JCSSConsulting Pvt Ltd, an accounting and reg-ulatory services firm on Sankey Road. Butwhat sets him apart is a longstandinginterest in Indian culture and Indian lan-guages.

In the mid-1960s, he majored inIndian sociology at the Tokyo Universityof Foreign Studies. In 1968, he landed inDelhi, thanks to a scholarship to learnHindi. Today, he can still speak and readthe language. “Hindi is easy for the

Japanese. English is a permanent chal-lenge,” he observes.

When the time came to enter thecorporate world, Kuboki chose to work atMitsubishi, a trading firm that was doingsignificant business with Indian compa-nies. He became expert at discerning dif-ferent working cultures in the twonations. Japanese are sticklers for dead-lines. Like many of his countrymen, henoted that Indian executives sometimespromised more than they could deliver.“Indians tend to say, ‘No problem!’ That isa problem,” he quips. But then he quicklyadds, “Of course, Indians are very intelli-gent and very cordial.”

Kuboki’s interest in Indian languagescontinues to take him in new directions.He says he is now picking up Tamil, hav-ing already mastered Bengali. To practisehis Kannada, he chats up drivers and wait-ers. In June, Royal Echo will stage its nextperformance. And this time, it looks likeKuboki will be busy rehearsing songs fromthe hit Kannada film Mungaaru Male(Monsoon Showers).

An unlikely singer on Sankey Road

A Japanesemasseuse kneadsthe torso ofToyota executives

A makeover onLavelle Road


There are certain people who seem to have atalent for packing multiple lifetimes intoone stretch on the planet. That’s the casewith Rie Goto, one of the few Japanese busi-nesswomen based in Bangalore. As the co-founder of Masala Tours, a company thataims to provide a little adventure for nor-mally-staid Japanese tourists, Goto over-flows with adventurous tales of her own.

Her story leaps through multiple conti-nents and cuisines. Trained as a registerednurse, Goto left Japan to volunteer forMother Teresa in Calcutta,about 28 years ago. Thatstint in India also includedsome hectic travel and healthemergencies, including about of hepatitis contractedon a houseboat in Kashmir.To improve her English, sheworked for a year in Canada. Next came sixyears of backpacking in South America,where she picked up some extra cash as atour guide in Machu Picchu.

When she returned to Japan, Gotolaunched a restaurant in Numazu City,about an hour outside of Tokyo. Her recipesspanned the globe, from West Africa, SouthAmerica and Cuba. But she kept shuttingdown the restaurant for months at a time, soshe could hit the road again.

Even her engagements with spiritualitywere tinged with abundance. She gotinvolved in no less than three ashrams inIndia. But meditation and yoga did not cureher wanderlust. Eventually, she started run-ning overseas tours for friends and cus-tomers at the restaurant. In 2003, she guid-ed tourists to Kerala, Kanyakumari andMadurai. That led to a decision inNovember 2005 to start a tour agency andbusiness consultancy based in Bangalore,together with a Malayali business partner,Geetha CT.

Geetha speaks fluent Japanese, aftercrisscrossing Japan to sell Indian products

like incense and vegetable dyes. “She knowsIndia like the back of her hand, and I knowJapan like the back of my hand, so we makea good team,” says Geetha.

The company is wedged into a thirdfloor office around the corner from PubWorld on Residency Road. A row of sevenyoung Japanese employees peck madly atcomputers. Goto sees her main challenge asweaning Japanese tourists away from theirsingle-minded obsession with the TajMahal. “They don’t know anything about

the South,” she says. Herfirm had tried to fill the gapby offering free translation ofKarnataka department oftourism brochures, but thegovernment ignored theoffer.

In Bangalore, she runstours that expose Japanese to the pleasuresof Indian classical music, astrology, crafts,and cooking.

But in her role as a business consultantfor expats, Goto has first-hand knowledge ofJapanese devotion to their own cuisine.Most Japanese develop a distinct taste forsticky rice, and buy 5 to 10 kilos of the staplewhen they make trips back to Japan. Somepeople also manage to bring back lots ofpork and beef, which they believe is moretasty and hygienic than the local variety.

Sometimes the zeal for imported gro-ceries borders on the bizarre. As Goto tellsit, one Japanese client was particularly fondof a breakfast dish that called for sticky ricewith raw eggs and seaweed. But he was waryof eating raw eggs from India for fear ofchemicals hidden inside them. So he decid-ed to buy some eggs in Singapore and con-ceal them in his checked-in luggage.

The man was outraged when he discov-ered the eggs had broken inside his suitcase.No one could persuade him that this wasentirely predictable. There would be noauthentic breakfast for this samurai.

Finding adventure off Residency Road

The Japanese are justifiably proud oftheir longevity. Some of them are par-ticularly fond of health supplements,such as turmeric mixed with milk. Buttrying to parlay Japanese health sup-plements into a healthy businessmodel in India isn’t easy. Such is thestory unfolding on Brigade Road,where a prime storefront propertywedged between Scullers and theCitibank ATM has remained emptysince last September.

The property is rented byKenko’s, a small Tokyo-based whole-saler. The name means “I am healthy.”In a recent advertisement in aJapanese magazine, Kenko’s ownerNobufumi Hosokawaexplained that theshop’s launch wasdelayed due to diffi-culties clearing cus-toms on its Japaneseproducts, among otherobstacles. But Kenko’sis now planning to open its doors inJuly or August. “We believe it wouldhelp Indian longevity,” claims the ad.

The store plans to sell a variety ofproducts, including groceries, drug-store items and cosmetics. In compli-ance with regulations, the Japanesewill work as wholesalers, in tandemwith an Indian retailer.

At first, it looked like Bangalorewould be a good bet. Unlike Delhi orChennai, the city did not yet have anyJapanese grocery stores. And unlikeChina, which is saturated with bigplayers, India is still perceived as a rel-

atively open market with solid growthprospects for consumer products.

But the price points turned out tobe dicey, given an average 35 to 40 percent import duty on merchandisefrom Japan. “The ordinary Indianwould not be able to afford it,” notesAkira Kato, the US-educated directorof Indo FMB Pvt Ltd, the companybacking Kenko’s. And even if half ofBangalore’s wealthier Japanese popu-lation drops by, “they won’t comeevery day,” he reasons. Besides, manybusinesspeople manage to shop forJapanese groceries in Singapore orThailand, where prices are cheaper.

That has left Kenko’s with atough choice: selljust 5 per cent ofJapanese products,such as Japanese-style pasta sauce,dried Udon noo-dles, various bever-ages and those

vaunted health supplements. Most ofthe other products would be sourcedfrom India—pretty much the samebrands sold everywhere.

So what’s the USP? “We will pro-vide better service than others,” insistsKato. Cashiers will be trained to placechange gently into the customer’shand, rather than slamming it downon the counter. Queue-jumpers willnot be tolerated. And salespeople shalldiscreetly assist the customer in locat-ing items, rather than treat everyonelike a furtive potential shoplifter. “It’s amatter of attitude,” he concludes.

A search for health on Brigade Road

‘Average Indianscan’t afford thesegroceries,’ saysKenko’s Kato

One customerbrought backraw eggs fromSingapore

HOME TREATS Akiro Kato, who runs Japanese grocery store Kenko’s in the city

FRIENDLY PLANET Rie Goto runs a travel company that exclusively serves Japanese tourists


Cartoons are not just for kids. That’s therule of thumb in Japan, where the fine art ofanime has inspired generations of fans andtranscended national borders. Togetherwith comic books known as manga, and fig-urines based on anime characters, the genrespans action fantasy, romantic comedy,sports and animal tableaux.

While anime has long exerted a strongcultural influence over Southeast Asia, itonly began stirring curiosity in India aboutfive years ago, through television. Today,the Internet is proving a more powerfulmedium in adding fans, thanks to its freebieallure. While BlossomBook House on ChurchStreet does stock a fewpiles of manga near thewindows, they are sellingat a slow clip.

One Indian fan whogot hooked in college isAnand Pillai, now a 24-year old IT profes-sional in Bangalore. “The medium is ani-mation, but the storyline is quite mature,”he explains. In March, he put together awebsite for the Bangalore Anime Club (see:www.bangaloreanimeclub.com) and helpsorganise meetings on weekends. The club’spre-existing Facebook page has attractedabout 700 members online. Members tendto be in their late teens or early 20s, andtheir fantasy lives are fairly intense. “Thereis nothing we love more than donning theclothes and personalities of our favouritecharacters,” proclaims the website, makinga pitch for ‘cosplay’ (short for ‘costumeplay’).

The site also aims to showcase artworkand spur participation in manga contests.

BAC has a “veritable army of artists, car-toonists and aspiring mangakas,” the siteclaims.

At least one Bangalore entrepreneurhopes that this growing subculture will begood for business. Last November, RishiWalia set up Gundam Galaxy, an outlet onCambridge Road for pricey anime figurinesand other Japanese toys and accessories. Itwasn’t just a whim. With an MBA fromAustralia under his belt and a corporatecareer that included stints in Citibank and asupplier for Toyota and Mitsubishi, Waliastudied the market and decided the

prospects were good. Thefigurines come as do-it-yourself kits, which he sayspromote concentrationand persistence in chil-dren. (One of the cheer-leaders for Walia’s newbusiness is his 13-year-old

son, Siddharth.)“From personal experience, I under-

stood that in India, there has been a hugevoid in quality toys over the last ten years.There is nothing but toys manufactured inChina being dumped here,” Walia observes.As for the Japanese figurines, “I was reallyimpressed with the engineering that goesbehind making the kits.”

So far, most of his wares have appealedto boys and men. To attract more femaleinterest, Walia recently obtained the distri-bution rights for the Japanese brandSekiguchi, which emphasises cute over cool.Japanese purses, wallets and teddy bears areon their way. But some girls might still pre-fer the dark charisma of anime idol Alucard.(Hint: that’s “Dracula” spelled backwards.)

Anime on Cambridge Road, and beyond

It’s not every day that you runinto a Japanese woman whospeaks Kannada. When MegumiSakakida says in fluent Kannada,“I am going to spend the rest ofmy life in Karnataka,” it givesyou pause. Ask her which placeshe belongs to, and she replies,“Nammooru Kundapura,” (Myplace is Kundapura.)In Japan, she met Maral, a manfrom Kundapura, who worked ata hotel there. Megumi and hewere colleagues and laterbecame friends. Megumi camewith him to India. His parents inKundapura consider her theirdaughter. Megumi came to Bangalore tostudy art at the ChitrakalaParishath. This final year MAstudent says she fell in love withKarnataka and its people. Shealso prefers spicy Indian food.

Her teachers say she is activeand mixes easily with her class-mates. Says her professor HNAnil Kumar, “She is never still.She is always ready to draw theclassroom on her canvas. Theenvirons of our institute havebeen a constant theme in herart.”Megumi’s father TakayukiSakakida is a businessman inKyoto. Her mother Chikoko is aschool teacher. She is their onlydaughter. She says her parentshave always allowed her thefreedom to pursue what shelikes. When she expressed herdesire to study art, they didn’tstop her. Megumi has developeda keen interest in Kannada liter-ature, and plans to live inBangalore for good.

BASU MEGALKERI

From Kyoto to Bangalore, via Kundapur

ALL ANIMATED Former Citibank employee Rishi Walia runs Bangalore’s only anime toy store

Japanese graphicforms like animehas trancendednational borders

LAST STOP Megumi Sakakida, a fine arts student at Chitrakala Parishath, speaks Kannada and plans to settle in Bangalore

Alily in blossom peering out ofyour cocktail, a plateful of dessertwith a whiff of cheery lavender ora salad sprinkled with the sea-son’s fresh flowers, all this and

more—including whole dishes made fromflowers—are now part of the dining out expe-rience in the city.

While garnish is the preferred way forsome, others are infusing flowers and theirflavours into dishes while cooking them. TheGrand Mercure Hotel in Koramangala recent-ly held a demonstration titled ‘A Tribute toEdible Flowers’ that taught participants howto create a four-course meal using flowers asingredients. The results were as exotic as theycame: Hibiscus Velouté, CarnationTarts, Rose Panacotta and so on.The demonstration also sawthe widely available butnot-so-popular on theplate flowers likemarigold and jas-mine being used incuisine.

Chef VimalVikraman, respon-sible for puttingtogether the flowerpower demo, says hepicked up some of the tech-niques during his travels throughthe Caribbean as a chef on a cruiseship. He says flowers are used extensively forcooking in the Caribbean islands, unlike inIndia, where they are associated mainly with

rituals. “People here are not aware of theflavours flowers can yield and don’t knowhow they actually taste. For instance, hibiscuswhen cooked would be slimy like okra,” hesays. Vikraman always keeps flowers in stockfor experimentation and for guests whomight want a special menu crafted.

While chefs like Vikraman use edibleflowers in the actual process of cooking, pop-ular chef Manu Chandra (Olive Beach,likethatonly and Monkey Bar) prefers to usethem only for garnishing. “I use flowers pri-marily for aesthetics. For instance, I use nas-turtiums for salads as they are bright andcolourful. It is also because we grow them andthere is no problem with supply,” he says,

adding, “In north India, you getother interesting edible flow-

ers like rhododendron, thesupply of which is not

reliable here.” Thiskeeps Chandrafrom adding dish-es containingflowers to his reg-ular menu.

Flowers maybe a more common

sight in restaurantsoffering world cuisine,

but they are increasinglybeing used in Indian cuisine

too. Chef Sanjay Tyagi, who is alsodirector of Tattv and Umerkot restaurants,uses a rare flower, coxcomb for flavouringsome Kashmiri delicacies on the menu. “The

coxcomb, like saffron (which is the stamens ofa flower) comes from Kashmir. The flower isnot used directly, but is dropped in hot oil orwater and the infusion is then used to flavourthe dish. It’s similar with jasmine, which I usein pulao; the flowers and roots are soaked inwater and the infusionused,” he says. Sanjay thinksthat the use of flowers incusine is not as popular as itshould be because manygourmets are moving awayfrom pungent flavours ofany kind. “People now keepaway even from cardamomand vetiver (khus),” he explains.

But despite that, the trend of using flow-ers in cooking, whether as ingredient or gar-nish, is slowly catching on. While addingblooms to your plate might brighten up yourmeal, the basics mustn’t be forgotten, warnthe chefs. Manu Chandra insists that theflower’s edibility must be carefully tested. Heand other chefs insist that edible flowers beprocured from reliable suppliers who don’tuse sprays or fragrance agents (for more do’sand don’ts, see box).

Flowers are also slowly making their wayinto drinks too, and it isn’t just through sug-ary preserved syrups. The newly launched cityoutlet of the well-known Smokehouse Deliserves cocktails that come infused withflavours of lily and lavender. “While the pur-pose may be primarily garnish, we also useflower petals to muddle the drink, makingsure the flavour reaches you in every sip.

Unfortunately, flowers like lavender are notavailable in India and we have to make dowith a lavender flavouring and place anorchid or a violet for garnish in the glass,” saysSherine John, beverage manager and mixolo-gist. Other flowers on the menu here include

carnations and cantaloupe(karbooz) flowers.

While flowers mayhave found their way intothe city’s gourmet sceneonly recently, they havealways been present in tradi-tional cooking—banana,pumpkin and drumstick

flowers being the most common. Says RatnaRajaiah, culinary expert and author of Howthe Banana Goes to Heaven, “Both Tamil Naduand Karnataka use banana flowers extensive-ly. They are most typically used to makeporiyal (vegetable accompaniment). Pumpkinflowers are also used by some sections of peo-ple in the state. These are batter-dipped anddeep fried or found in curries. They taste sim-ilar to the zucchini flowers used inMediterranean cuisine.”

Ratna explains that in Karnataka andelsewhere in the South, flowers are tradition-ally used as an integral part of a dish and notgarnish.

“Garnish is a Western concept. Kothmir(fresh coriander) is the only garnish we usetraditionally; the rest is all cooked with thefood. Flowers are cooked and eaten too andnot used for the purpose of decoration,” sheexplains.

17talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.infood path

Edible flowers: Dos and don’ts Don’t eat store-bought

flowers unless you canconfirm they are organic.You’re better off growingyour own, or buying from acertified organic grower orsomeone you trust.

If you’ve never eaten rawflowers before and don’tknow if you might beallergic or not, take a tastebefore you eat a wholebouquet.

Remember, even though aflower is technically edible,it may not be palatable toyou. So experiment, andfind out what you like, thenplan your menu.

Also, just because theflower is edible, it doesn’tnecessarily mean the wholeplant is. Do some researchor ask an expert to identifythe edible and inedibleparts of a plant.

Always wash as well aspossible, and do expect todrive out the odd multi-legged visitor. After all,growing organic meansliving with insects.

Never gather flowers fromthe roadside. These plantshave been absorbing toxinsfrom vehicles and petro-chemicals.

If you purchase flowers forconsumption, buy themfrom the produce section ofa grocery store or specialtygourmet shop. The ones forsale at florists andgreenhouses havedefinitely been treated withchemical fertilisers,pesticides, and fungicides.

Gourmet grocers who selledible flowers often selljust the detached petals. Inmost cases, that’s all youwant to eat. Depending onthe blossom, you may wantto remove pistils andstamens from the centre ofthe bloom.

And never, ever, eat aflower that you do not knowfor certain is edible. Onceagain, ask an expert.

(Excerpted from an article by Signe Langford

in Canadian Living) FLORID DELIGHTS Rose Pannacotta and (top) RoastCarnation Vegetable Tart. (Left) Hibiscus Veloute

Ingredients: 180 gms whitepomfret, 2 hearts of lotus, 50 mlof olive oil, 4 slices of lotus rootpeeled and sliced, 1 tsp sesameoil, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 2tbsp sugar, 20 ml rice wine, 3dried chilies - each broken intotwo or three pieces, 200 gms ofspinach, 1 marigold flower, fewjasmine petals, 5 gms choppedgarlic, 2 gms mustard paste,juice of half a lemon, salt andpepper to taste, pinch of blackand white sesame seeds, 5 mlvinegar, 15 ml fish velouté

Method:Pan-fried Pomfret: Marinate thepomfret with lemon juice, salt,pepper, mustard and garlic.Heat oil in a pan and pan fry thepomfret till done.

Braised Lotus Hearts: In asmall bowl, mix together the soysauce, sugar, and rice wine. Setaside this sauce. Heat a wok orpan over medium high heat andadd the sesame oil. Saute thelotus root slices along with theheart for a couple ofminutes, or until theedges of the lotus rootstart to becometranslucent. Addthe sauce andchilies andsimmer the lotusuntil the liquidevaporates(about 3minutes).Garnish with asprinkling oftoasted black or

white sesame seeds.

Wilted Spinach and Marigold:Heat oil in the pan and sautéthe spinach with garlic. Seasonwith salt, pepper, nutmeg andbutter. Just before removingfrom heat, add the marigoldpetals.

Warm Jasmine Vinaigrette:Warm the fish velouté and tothis add a few petals of jasmineand a little vinegar and blend itinto a smooth pouring sauce byadding olive oil.

Arrangement: Place thesautéed wilted spinach andmarigold in the centre of theplate, place the braised lotusheart and stem and top withpan fried fish, drizzle theJasmine vinaigrette on andaround the fish. Garnish with afew petals of jasmine andmarigold

Pan-fried Silver Pomfret, Braised LotusHearts, Wilted Spinach and Marigold,Warm Jasmine Vinaigrette

Ingredients: Banana flowermedium size, 2 green chillies,ginger 1 inch, 3-4 cloves ofgarlic, ½ an onion, handful ofcoriander, curry leaves (verylittle), salt, channa dal (soakedin water for about an hour)

Method: Clean the flower byremoving the stamens fromevery stalk to avoid bitterness.Add the stalks to boiling waterand cover it with a lid. Let it getblanched for over 10-15minutes. Drain the water andremove the banana flower stalksand keep them aside. In thegrinder, add the aboveingredients with the drained

banana stalks and grind tillslightly coarse without addingwater till you get a thick dough-like consistency. Now take smalllumps of the mixture and rollinto small patties or round ballsand deep fry in oil. Serve withgreen chutney or tomato sauce.

Banana flower vada

‘In India, flowersare used whole.Garnish is aWestern concept’

RReecciippee bbyy RReeeennaa RReebbeeccccaa

Chefs in town are doing all they can to bring those pretty thingsfrom the vase onto your dinner plate, finds Prachi Sibal. Also,

here’s a look at flowers in traditional Indian cuisine

The lotuseaters

RReecciippee bbyy VViimmaall VViikkrraammaann

Pomfret with spinach and marigold

18talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inmedia trend

MADE ON TVThe channel will have

marriage-related fictionalsegments and lifestyle tips

PRACHI [email protected]

Starting from the late1990s, a slew of websitesstarted encroaching on themarriage broker businessand matrimonial advertis-

ing space, until then monopolised bydaily newspapers. Today, online sitessuch as Shaadi and Bharat Matrimonyhave almost replaced them to becomethe go-to place for men and womenlooking for partners. Shagun TV, a tel-evision channel dedicated entirely tomatrimonial ads, hopes to change allthat, and become the preferred medi-um for matrimonial alliances.

Shagun TV, billed as India’s firstmatrimonial channel, is a venture byNoida-based Vertent Media Soft PvtLtd, and hits digital television net-works on April 26. It’s good news forweb-challenged parents out to find amatch for their children. For would-be brides and grooms who wouldrather look for partners on matrimo-nial websites, the channel is no set-back: it comes with its own websitewhich will host detailed profiles.

The concept of a matrimonialTV channel may have seen the lightof day only now, but former journal-

ist-turned-CEO of Vertent MediaAnuranjan Jha thought of it morethan a decade ago. “The idea came tomy mind 12 years ago when I gotmarried. I was a little apprehensiveback then, but began working on ittwo-three years ago,” Jha told Talk.

Shagun TV, he explains, aims tobe a one-stop shop for all those whotake the arranged marriage route. Inother words, it’s not just about find-ing the right partner, but also a placeto pick up tips about fashion, honey-moon destinations and suchlike.

While the channel will havebride and groom ads on air with ananchor assisting you, its will try todraw audiences tothe company’s web-site. Only there willyou be able to viewcomplete profiles,including the nameof the prospectivematch. Each ad airedon the channel will have a uniquecode that allows access.

Initially at least, ads on thechannel will only feature photo-graphs. Jha explains, “We have made afew shows with video ads too, but area little apprehensive about airingthem immediately as we need a big-ger database.”

For those whowant to keep thingsmore confidential, thechannel runs adswithout pictures ondemand.

If you think thatmakes the channel not

very different from a matrimonialwebsite, brace yourselves, for ShagunTV will also have fictional segmentsbased on matrimonial themes. Notready to reveal the nature of theseprogrammes yet, Jha simply says thatthey will be soap operas.

Apart from connecting prospec-tive brides and grooms on its website,

the channel alsoplans to arrange reallife meetings, andoffer the option ofbroadcasting themeetings. The meet-ing can be held atthe channel’s studio

or at a neutral location like a hotel.There’s a clause though: any meetingwill require the parents to beinvolved, which Jha says is a precau-tion against “foul play.”

“We have shot 50 videos of suchmeetings and as many as 80 per centof the people came to us on theirown,” he says.

The channel’s long-term plansinclude organising mass meetings ofbrides, grooms and their families. Thechannel will have entertainmentvalue, says Jha.

If the high-voltage drama of anon-air meeting between a bride and agroom and their families doesn’tinterest you, a particular show titledMujhse Shaadi Karoge? will take youright down to the basics. “The show isfor men planning to propose to awoman. It will tell you what to do andwhat not to do,” says Jha.

Women needn’t feel disheart-ened, etiher. Shagun TV, promises Jha,will also have a show dedicated to theubiquitous mother-in-law and daugh-ter-in-law tussle titled Saas Ko SaasRehne Do, which will offer both par-ties tips on how to deal with the other.

Though it will be made availablein major cities across the country, thechannel will primarily use Hindi as amedium of communication. “Thelarger audience is the Northernheartland for now. We will wait forthe response from the South beforewe start programmes in regional lan-guages,” says Jha.

Shagun TV launches on April 26on Videocon DTH and other digitalservice providers.

Shagun TV, a first-of-its-kind matrimonial channel,

is all set to make that areality. Complete withmarriage-related soap

operas and chat shows, itgoes on air on April 26

The channel willhave prospectivebrides meetinggrooms on air

Find your spouse on TV

Anuranjan Jha


Music stores are nolonger what theyused to be, turningas they are intosomewhat obscure

hang-outs for a few aficionados. Norare record labels at the heart of thebusiness; they are no longer themake-or-break factor for up-and-coming musicians. In the music cir-cuit nowadays, you tend to hearmore about “Flyte” and “iTunes” thaniconic names like Universal andSony.

Flyte, for the uninitiated, is thenew online music store by e-tailerFlipkart, while Apple extended itsiTunes store to India, allowing cus-tomers to stream or download HDcontent from its website. The oncecommon ritual of walking into amusic store to pick up a CD is fastdisappearing, as pay-per-song down-load options offer a far easier way toaccess and store your music.

Many of the city’s best-knownmusicians and groups have tried andtested the independent online salesmethod and are pleased with theresults. Bangalore’s rock bandThermal And A Quarter releasedtheir third album last year and madeit available fordownload ontheir website andFlipkart immedi-ately. Bruce LeeMani, lead guitaristand vocalist, believes it isimperative to take to the modelif you are an ‘independent artiste.’“If a record label binds you, the pointof being an independent artist is lost.We released our third album onlineand it was the top selling album onFlipkart for seven weeks! It sold morecopies than film albums like Barfi!

and English Vinglish in those weeks.But, I have to admit, the numbers aresmall,” he says.

H a r i s hSivaramakrishnan,vocalist ofCarnatic rock bandAgam whichreleased its firstalbum The Inner

Self Awakens lastyear and made it available throughdigital downloads, says, “When yousign up with a label, they exercisecontrol on more than just sales.Whereas when you are selling inde-pendently, everything is in yourhands and you stand to make moremoney as you don’t have to share rev-enue.” While Harish is clear inde-pendent selling is the band’s prefer-ence, it is still early to say which of

the two is ideal.“A seller caters

to the buyer at theend of the day”, saysVasu Dixit, vocalist ofpopular city bandSwarathma whose

albums can be ordereddirectly from their website. “The waypeople listen to music has changed agreat deal. When was the last timeyou bought a CD? Nobody does thesedays. When I was coming back in ataxi the other day, the driver playedme the latest music off hisphone.” He says that their pref-erence for selling musiconline has more to do withfactors like reach and evenintricacies like jacket art-work. “Labels put too manyconditions. For instance, if wewere working with a label, weperhaps wouldn’t have been able touse the handmade paper we did forour CD covers now,” he says. But

as with most

bands, they don’t expect album salesto generate much revenue—it is thelive shows that bring in the money.

But associating with a labelcomes with its advantages, like pro-duction mettle and marketingstrength, particularly useful for new-comers. “For instance, if a TimesMusic believes you are worth a listenand releases your album, nobody isgoing to doubt your calibre,” saysHarish. However, he thinks themode of selling is also dependent onthe band’s target audience and theirrelationship with it. “Selling inde-pendently worked for us because wehad a fan base by the time our firstalbum was out. It also happenedbecause we believed we knew ourmarket better. On the other hand, ifyou are selling something like a devo-tional album, a label used to sellingmusic in that genremay know your mar-ket better,” he says.

Musician AmritRao agrees the meansof distribution has gotto do a lot with thestyle of music. Rao,who is associated with the city-basedexperimental band Live Banned,decided to take the record label routewhen releasing his solo album,

Nirangal. “The soundwas very commercial;

I thought it need-ed the push of

a label for

the marketing. The way one releasesmusic must depend on the kind ofmusic.”

He feels if the music is experi-mental and appealsto only a select audi-ence, it’s better torelease it independ-ently. “The factremains that you getless revenue per copyas the labels take

away a big cut even if they are dis-tributing for you,” he says. It’s thenleft to the band to judge whetherthey would still benefit from the pos-sibly higher sales a label could offer.

When you discuss online musicsales, the question of piracy invari-ably pops up. Musicians like BruceLee Mani believe greater availabilityof music online might actually help

counter piracy.“iTunes and Flyte area boon to independ-ent musicians. Theyhave opened up themusic market foreverybody and mademusic more afford-

able. You can buy albums for as lowas Rs 50 at their best quality. Theargument for pirated music doesn’teven exist any more,” he says.

Whatever their reason—free-dom, money or anti-piracy—citybands are increasingly taking theonline route to make their musicavailable to fans. The trend usheredin the by the revolution in personallistening devices, is changing theway music reaches the listener,and the rules of an indus-try once dominated by afew powerful labels.

19talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inmusic distribution

Labels laydown toomany rules,says Vasu Dixit

Independent musicians are nolonger at the mercy of the all-powerful record label. Manycity bands now prefer to selltheir music online

The Net is their song store

Swarathma’sTopiwalleh

Albumsreleasedonline

Agam’s The InnerSelf Awakens

Thermal And AQuarter’s 3 Wheels 9 Lives

HarishSivaramakrishnan

Bruce Lee Mani

Vasu Dixit

Indie artistefavourites Flyte on Flipkart iTunes store OKListen

Situation 1: You findyourself alone in thecompany of a strange maleas you prepare to enter alift in a high-rise apartmentlate at night.

Enter the lift. If you need toreach the 13th floor, pressall the buttons up to yourdestination. No one willdare attack you in a liftthat stops on every floor.

Situation 2: A strangertries to attack you whenyou are alone in yourhouse.

Run into the kitchen. Youalone know where the chilipowder and turmeric arekept. And where the knivesand plates are. All thesecan be turned into deadlyweapons. If nothing else,start throwing platesand utensils allover. Let thembreak.Scream.Remember thatnoise is thegreatest enemy of amolester. He does notwant to be caught.

Situation 3: You need totake an auto or taxi atnight.

Before getting in, notedown its registration

number. Then use themobile to call your familyor friend and pass on thedetails to them in thelanguage the driverunderstands. Even if noone answers your call,pretend you are in aconversation. The drivernow knows someone hashis details and he will be inserious trouble if anythinggoes wrong. He is nowbound to take you homesafe and sound. A potentialattacker is now your defacto protector!

Situation 4: The driverturns into a street he is not

supposed to, and you feelyou are entering a dangerzone.

Use the handle of yourpurse or your stole(dupatta) to wrap aroundhis neck and pull himback. Within seconds, hewill feel choked andhelpless. In case you don’thave a purse or stole justpull him back by his collar.The top button of his shirtwould then do the sametrick.

Situation 5: You arestalked at night.

Enter a shop or a houseand explain yourpredicament. If it is nightand shops are not open, goinside an ATM booth. Theyalways have securityguards. They are also

monitored by closecircuit television.

Fearingidentification,

no one willdare attackyou.

Remember,being alert is the

greatest weapon youcan ever have.

(From a Facebook post byDr Ihab Maher)


Boston bombings: USsecurity officials arequestioned by Congress overwhether they mishandledinformation about theBoston bomb suspectTamerlan Tsarnaev, whosename was listed on the USgovernment’s classifiedcentral database of people itviews as potential terrorists.

No bail: A Pakistani courton Wednesday refused toextend bail for formermilitary ruler PervezMusharraf in connectionwith the murder of formerprime minister BenazirBhutto.

China deaths: A clashbetween authorities andassailants in China’s restivenorthwestern region ofXinjiang leaves 21 peopledead, including 15 officersand local governmentofficials.

Rape victim: Thecondition of the five-year- oldgirl, raped allegedly by twoyouth in Delhi, is stable andher perineal wounds arehealing well, doctors say.Both the accused, natives ofBihar, are in Delhi policecustody.

Rahul tour: CongressVice-President Rahul Gandhiwhistle-stops through threeplaces in North Karnataka,ahead of the state assemblypolls on May 5.

Gayle’s record: ChrisGayle smashes a record 175in just 66 balls for RoyalChallengers Bangaloreagainst Pune Warriors. Hegot the first 100 runs in just30 balls, a record.

Manifesto: The Congresshas promised interest-freeloans to farmers, freelaptops to pre-universitystudents and rice at Re 1 akg to BPL card holders if itcomes to power inKarnataka.

Suspects held: Threesuspects arrested in TamilNadu in connection with thebomb blast near the stateBJP headquarters inMalleswaram are brought toBangalore.

RewindThe week that was

Safety tips for women

BMTC will run extra bus servicesfor IPL matches. They start at 2pm, so that fans can arrive nearthe stadium by 3 pm. Here arethe routes:

G-1: Kadugodi Bus Stand toManekshaw Parade Grounds

G-2: Sarjapura to Mayo Hall

G-3: Electronics City to BrigadeRoad

G-4: Bannerghatta NationalPark to Brigade Road

G-5: Kaggalipura toChinnaswamy Stadium

G-6: Kengeri, KHB Quarters toChinnaswamy Stadium

G-7: Janapriya Township to BRVParade Grounds

G-8: Nelamangala to MG RoadMetro Station

G-9: Yelahanka Upanagara toMG Road Metro Station

G-10: RK Hegde Nagar to BRVParade Grounds

G-11: Bagalur to MG RoadMetro Station

G-12: Hoskote to Mayo Hall

Bus hogaya! BMTC special services for IPL matches

Bookalore, a group of independentchildren’s authors, artists, filmmakersand teachers based in the city, isorganising It’s My Book, a unique book-making workshop for children.Participating children will get to maketheir own illustrated book from scratchwith help from popular children’s artistsand illustrators Angie and Upesh. Thebook they create will be theirs to takehome. The workshop is open to childrenbetween the ages of 9 and 12. Since it isa hands-on, intensive event, only 20 seatsare available. The workshop will be heldon May 4. Venue: Sutradhar EducationalResource Centre, 59/1, 10th A Main, 3rd

Cross, Indiranagar Stage 2

To register, send your child’s name, age,and your contact number to:[email protected]

Bookalore holds similar events forchildren and young adults every month.For more information, log on towww.facebook.com/bookaloreclub

A make-a-bookworkshop forchildren


Apple dividends: Appleinvestors can expect to get ashare of the company’smassive $145 billion cashpile after it agreed to theirdemands. Meanwhile, thecompany has posted its firstquarterly profit decline inmore than a decade.

China incursions: Indiasaid negotiations are inprogress at “various levels” toresolve the incursion issuewith China peacefully.“Negotiations are going on atvarious levels to resolve theissue peacefully,” defenceminister AK Antony toldreporters.

China-US tension: US-China ties were heading fortense moments with reportsdisclosing that China mighthave provided its close allyPakistan a fairlycomprehensive package ofproven nuclear weapondesigns in the late 1970s.

Watching Syria: TheUnited States is expected toverify reports of use ofchemical weapons in Syria.The US has warned that incase of their use, the Syrianregime would face seriousconsequences.

Aarushi case: New twistsmay be expected in theAarushi murder case. The CBIhas claimed that there’sevidence against Aarushi’sparents in the murder.

Troubled Parliament: TheParliament is likely to remainin turmoil with the BJPopposing the UPA’s everymove following the JPC reporton 2G-spectrum scam whichaccused the Vajpayee govt oflapses.

Passport ease: To do awaywith the tout menace, theregional passport office willcollaborate with e-governancecentres like Bangalore ‘One’across the state.

Train to Chennai: The air-conditioned double deckertrain between Chennai andBangalore is set to startoperatins this week. It willdepart from Bangalore Citystation at 2.40 pm and reachChennai at 8.25 pm.

ForwardThe week ahead

Jaaga in collaboration with Maraa, isscreening Ashvin Kumar’s InshallahKashmir: Living Terror. Released online onthe Indian Republic Day, 2012, the film haswon the National Award for the BestInvestigative Film “for unflinchingly andboldly stepping into unearthing the truthabout Kashmir. A passionate inquiryconnecting with the people, discoveringwhat is called ‘Kashmiriyat’ and at thesame time exposing the role of the state,police and army in alienating them fromIndia.” The screening will be held at 7.30pm on April 27at Jaaga on Double Road.For more information, log on to jaaga.in

Radio City has just introduced itsFreedom Awards for independentmusicians across the country.Independent artistes and bands cannominate themselves by filling out asimple form on the FM station’s website.Awards will be adjudged in six genre-based categories, namely hip-hop/rap,pop, rock, folk fusion, metal andelectronica. They have also invited entriesin non-music categories like best videoand best album art. The jury comprisesindustry stalwart Atul Churamani,electronic band MIDIval Punditz, actorand musician Luke Kenny and Israelimusician Yotam Agam.For details, log ontowww.planetradiocity.com/rcfa/

This one is sure to send achill down your spine.Minimelts, which calls itself“the world’s coldest icecream” was launched inBangalore this week. Thecompany is set to open 20outlets in the city and willhave 12 varieties on offer,including banana split,birthday cake, cotton candyand mint chocolate.

According to the company,the ice cream is producedat a temperature of -190°Cand served at -45°C. This

causes it to take the form ofsmall pellets resemblinggranules or miniaturepopcorn. We tried andfound it so cold that withevery bite you could feel thepellets sticking to yourtongue instantly. A fewspoons of that isguaranteed to leave yourmouth numb. Try it, if onlyfor the novelty factor.

Let’s Live Together, the NGOknown to promote adoptionof street dogs, haslaunched a first-of-its-kindstreet clinic for pet dogs inBangalore’s slums. Itsvolunteers have alreadytreated and vaccinated 450dogs at clinics held in theslums of Srirampuram andGoripalya. The NGO wantsto reach out to thethousands of pet dogsowned by people who live inslums. The clinic is stepping

in to help animal lovers whocannot afford to have theirpets treated andvaccinated. Let’s LiveTogether is planning moreclinics in the second weekof May and is looking forsponsors and volunteers.You could donate vaccinesor medicines as well assponsor food and transport.Call Let’s Live Together on9986413916 or write [email protected]

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR),founded by a group of professors from IIM,Ahmedabad, is the premier non-partisanorganisation in India working towards electionreforms. Ahead of every election, they put outdetailed reports analysing candidates. For thestate assembly polls in Karnataka, they havereleased a set of reports analysing currentcabinet ministers, a first list of candidates and aseparate list of MLAs who are re-contesting. Thereports are available in both English andKannada on adrindia.org

‘The world’s coldest ice cream’

Awards forindependentmusicians

Veganism expert Dr Nandita Shah isconducting vegan cooking classes atKoramangala. The dishes she will teachinclude peanut curd, cashew butter,‘eggless egg salad’ and zero oil sambar.The classes will be held on May 12, atCarrots Healthy Restaurant and Store,Koramangala 6th Block. The fee is Rs2,000, including lunch. Spot registrationwill cost an additional Rs 500.

To register call 8879385913 /9820221998 or email [email protected]

Learn to makevegan dishes

A week-long pet clinic in the slums

Know your candidate

A film on Kashmir


OOKtalkTribute Awards

The first time I read RoaldDahl’s Matilda, I shut the bookand said, “Why didn’t I read it

all these years?” I felt I had missedsomething in my childhood. Havingsaid this, I must now sheepishlyadmit that I didn’t read the book as achild. I read it in my twenties. Ihaven’t even watched the movie onit.

Though I read it as an adult, Ilaughed out loud at every trick byMatilda. Every page had me giggling.Dahl’s wit had me smiling long after Iwas done with the book.

At first, I wondered if there wassomething wrong with me that I wasso thoroughly enjoying a book meantfor children. It turns out that the firstperson who read it was Dahl’s daugh-ter Lucy. She too was in her twentieswhen she read the manuscript. Shesimply said, “I loved it.” I guess I toowould have said the same thing.

Isn’t it the mark of a good bookthat it can be enjoyed by people of allages? With Matilda, Dahl manages todo just that. This year, it is 25 yearssince the publication of the book.Even after a quarter century, readerscontinue to relate to it.

Childhood is not alwayssmooth. All those who say that they

want to become children again, havepossibly forgotten the troubles ofbeing a kid—the constant supervi-sion by parents, the stick wieldingteachers, the examinations, the tale-carrying classmates, the bullies at theplayground and the desire to grow upfast. Little people have problemsmuch bigger for their size. InMatilda, Dahl does take these bigproblems of little people seriously,but the story also offers escape.

Matilda Wormwood is a kid likemost others in many ways, but onewho manages tobreak free fromher dimwittedparents. She isnot the nice, obe-dient child, but the intel-ligent, mischievous one,who we all secretly want tobe. She’s also precocious:before reaching the age offive, she has readDickens andHemingway. Instead ofencouraging her, her par-ents order her to watchTV and shun books.They think of her as anuisance.

But Matilda givesas good as she gets, andsometimes better. Shegets back at her folkswith ingenious tricks, like applyingsuperglue on her father’s hat or hid-ing a parrot in a chimney to create aghost scare.

At school she has to deal withthe head mistress Mrs Trunchbull,who Dahl describes as a “giganticholy terror, a fierce tyrannical mon-ster who frightened the life out of thepupils and teachers alike”

Matilda finds solace in her lov-ing teacher Miss Jennifer Honey.With her telekinetic powers, Matildanot only saves the school fromTrunchbull, but also gets Honey herrightful inheritance. Matilda thenleaves her insolent parents to livewith her teacher.

As adults, our problems are nottoo different from Matilda’s. Onlythe situations are different. Insteadof school, we find ourselves in anoffice. In place of a head mistress, wehave to put up with a boss, some-

times one whois a “holy ter-ror.” We all

believe we aresurrounded by

dimwits.We should be

grateful to Roald Dahl’slongtime editor at Farrar,Straus & Giroux, StephenRoxburgh, who describedan early draft of the book

as “hopeless.” Dahl, whowas in his 70s at the timeand already a best-sellingauthor, felt slighted by thisremark, but that did not

stop him from rewriting thebook completely. He didn’tgo back to Roxburg, and

instead, went to Penguin,which published it in 1988.

Looking back, it’s hard to imag-ine Matilda without Quentin Blake’sillustrations. If not for Blake, wewould not have had the thin legged,long haired and sharp nosed heroine,perhaps the most popular of all thosethat a wildly inventive Dahl everthought up.

SAVIE KARNEL

It’s been 25 years since RoaldDahl’s Matilda was firstpublished. A tribute from a fanwho came to the book late,but did not miss any of the fun

Happy birthday, Matilda!

WICKED WITDahl, an ace Britishfighter pilot during

World War II, acquiredworldwide fame as a

writer of darkly funnychildren’s stories

Telugu writerR a v u r iBharadwaja

was selected as the48th JnanpithAwardee (for theyear 2012). The for-mer journalist andradio scriptwriterhas received formaleducation onlyuntil class eight. Hebegan writing atthe age of 17 and

went on to produce as many as 17 novels and 37short story collections, in addition to children’sbooks and plays. Past honours for the authorinclude the State Sahitya Akademi Award twiceand the Central Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983.One of Bharadwaja’s popular novelsPaakuduraallu is a behind-the-scenes take on thefilm industry. His works have been translated toEnglish and other Indian languages.

Pulitzer for AdamJohnson

The Pulitzer Prizefor fiction, thep r e s t i g i o u s

American literaryaward announced ear-lier this month, wasawarded to 45-year-

old Adam Johnson for his title The OrphanMaster’s Son. His book, set in North Korea duringthe dictatorship of Kim Jong-il, was chosenamongst the 1327 entries submitted. John, whoteaches creative writing at Stanford University,had visited North Korea to research his novel, buthad to get to know its people through his imagi-nation because it’s illegal there for citizens tointeract with foreigners.

Six Indian nominees at C’wealth awards

Six books by Indian authors have made it to theCommonwealth Foundation shortlists for novelsand short stories. The awards are due to beannounced on May 14. Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy The Other Side of Light by Mishi Saran God On Every Wind by Farhad Sorabjee Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil Notes From The Ruins by Anushka Jasraj (short

story collection)

Jnanpith for RavuriBharadwaja


Watch films that aremeaningful to yourlife and make you abetter person. In afilm like Life is

Beautiful, the hero braves all odds tosave his son’s life. Even when he facesthe prospect of death every moment,he finds joy. In Von Ryan’s Express, theprotagonist shows unbelievablecourage and sacrifices his life for hisfellowmen. Ip Man shows a Chinesemartial artist confronting Japaneseoccupation with courage and equa-nimity.

See films for pure entertain-ment, too, especially those that makeyou laugh. Avoid films that depressyou and make you cry. Whatever youwatch creates an impression that isreflected in your life. The universe islike a mirror and does not reason. Itreflects what you say and do.

When students approach mewith their problems, I ask them tostop crying and say whatever theyhave to say. By speaking positively,they overcome their sorrows andbecome fun people. It is possible tochange your outlook and personalityover time.

I can switch my state of mind bywatching a film or reading a book. Ina happiness scale of 1-10, if I am at 5,I can become 15 simply by watchingLaurel and Hardy or a Peter Sellersfilm. Practise turning an externalconnection into an internal one.Practise till the object becomes a partof you. Of course it will take time tobe able to switch your mood. But try.

Another genre of films I love isromance. People say Indian films aresilly because the hero and heroine runaround trees. But isn’t love about joy?Love is like tai chi, it is romancingyour body and soul. It is seamless andflowing and not bound by dos anddon’ts. I can happily run around a treeif the woman is willing! Fairy-taleromances are seen as idealistic andunreal. But isn’t that what makesthem beautiful? Isn’t that also truelove?

I watch thrillers and action films

too. Unlike TV serials, the anxietycaused by films is short lived and notcarried forward from day to day.

That said, new media—gadgetsand gizmos—are something we needto be wary of! Too much time spenton the mobile or the Net can causedis-focus (to coin a new word). Yourmind will then be like a monkey,always jumping from one thoughtto another. The body fidgets.Some people always shaketheir leg. They don’t evenrealise what they are doing.They lack focus andawareness. I’m notsaying don’t use gadg-ets or the Net. Butdon’t use them at thecost of your life.

Today I see 25-year-olds who areburnt out. I see theireyes flitting everysecond. A sniperwon’t even blinkbecause, ‘God forbid,’ he might fall toa bullet that fraction of a second. Butyoung people today cannot keep their

eyes focused. They are distracted andhave no clarity in their lives.

Be comfortable with yourself.Not introverted, mind you, becausethat comes from insecurity. Truepower lies in stillness. The lion ispowerful. But when not hunting orsensing danger, it just lies still. If youare not still, how will you find whoyou are, the God and soul within you?

Awareness is the key to martialart or life. If you’re distracted, you

can never be aware. Ican safely drive at160 kmph onlybecause I amaware. If at a

restaurant or pub,I am aware which

table is safe, which is bestto avoid trouble, who isstaring, and so on. If I

notice I’m slouching, Isit up immediately. I

know how much to eat andhow much my body can take.

Distraction and dis-focus canhave detrimental effects. It can lead tounhappy marriages and friendships.

Such people cannot truly love and beloyal. Whether at a party or a restau-rant, why are people constantly look-ing at other women and men? Whyare men bored with their girlfriendsor wives?

Today, while watching TV orusing the Internet, you are constantlyswitching channels and sites to findmore ‘excitement’.

Nothing holds your attention formore than a minute. You are floodedwith images of ‘beautiful’ and ‘sexy’women. Little do you realise that theterms are relative and dependent onyour perception. You want new beau-ty, new experiences every day. Youdon’t have the time or patience to lookwithin yourself, or to discover new,beautiful experiences with the oneyou love.

Even in martial arts training, astudent today has no patience to mas-ter a technique to its fullest level. Hedoesn’t realise that therein lies truebeauty and meaning. Instead, helooks to learn new techniques everyday. He wants to become a black beltin two months. My sensei asked me topractise a particular punch, block andkick for a year. He said to know onewell is to know all.

Why am I bad at handlingphones? I stopped being interestedbecause I knew when bored I wouldpick up the phone, browse or textunnecessarily. Nowadays, if I have anhour to spare, I train internally. I tryand find God within. I practise beingempty of thought. People can’t sitquietly for five minutes without beingbored. They need distraction.

This distraction extends to otherspheres of life. An acquaintance whois stinking rich goes to a differentwoman each night. He says, “Don’tbore me with talk about love when Ican have a different woman every day.One day I like tandoori chicken, thenext day kebab.”

If you have no integrity in yourrelationships, why expect it from oth-ers? What if the person treated like anobject was your own daughter? In thelong run this is not good for you; itwill only destroy you and your soul.

Watch yourself for a day andcheck how distracted you are. Doyour eyes flit? Does your mind dartfrom one thought to another? Youmight be good at swimming, learninglanguages and programming. Butwhen you are alone, do you feel lostand lonely? What you are can beknown by how you handle yourmobile, net or TV remote.

Way ofBudo 30

New technology fuels distraction. It can be more harmful than most

people realise, saysSensei Avinash Subramanyam

The gadget whirlpool

24talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inbook review

Sahir and Jaadu; Gagi andSuperman; Kuldip Nayyar &Pir Sahib… real people, real

anecdotes and real emotions makeHalf a Rupee a little gem of a book.Gulzar, the inimitable story-teller,layers and textures some of his fablesdelicately (The Rams; Half a Rupee)while he shocks and stuns you withbursts of raw feeling and festeringpain in the others (From theFootpath; The Search).

When stories of Partition arerecounted, betrayal and loss are theusual leitmotifs, but the poet-lyricistalso picks anecdotes that celebratelove, courage and conviction. HisPartition stories gently mock bor-ders and boundary walls and chas-tise those that believe good wallsmake good neighbours.

Two such Partition stories—LoC and Over—bring home the truththat dreams need no borders, theeyes need no visas because the pro-tagonists “with eyes shut walk acrossthe line in time, all the time”.

Kashmir—with its chinars andshikaras—occupies the author’smind and heart. The military andthe ‘fidayeen’ cruelly stab his con-

science. In the poignant LoC, the fra-grant aroma of Fattu Masi’s muttonroast in Saharanpur melds with theappetising aroma of Beji’s ghuggnimade of black chickpeas in Punjabuntil both dishes are charred by gun-fire, leaving an acrid aftertaste thatsinges lives on either sideof the LoC.

In Kuldip Nayyar andthe Pir Sahib, it’s hard tomiss the humour whenNayyar sahib talks of hismother constantly sum-moning the long-dead Pirbaba from his grave tosolve her many domesticcrises, but it’s also hard tomiss the references to thePartition which loom likedark, menacing shadows,turning a frothy tale into a poignantone.

The story that will tug at yourheart, tear your gut and tempt you torethink your prejudices is TheSearch. A young woman venturesinto Army-occupied Kashmir,dreaming of walnut wood bedsteads.She grows up in a week and under-stands what it takes to become a

stranger in one’s own land. My vote goes to the title story,

where a cop drags a dead cow fromVinayak Rao Patwardhan Road tothe adjoining Bapu Road since thelatter is so much easier to spell! Forsheer chutzpah, this one is right up

there with sparkling dia-logues and blackhumour.

Idealistic naxals,suicide bombers, pro-gressive thinkers, liberalwriters, whimsicalmovie-makers, lyricistsdrowning in drink,lovers, loners and losers,Gulzar ropes them all into assemble a magicalmontage. Deeply empa-thetic, he gives voice to

those living on the fringes ofcivilised society. Appetite whetted,you will wish for more stories fromthis gifted raconteur, whose writingis rooted in the history, politics andgeography of his land.

Credit must go to SunjoyShekhar who pulls no punches, con-fident that no nuance and no emo-tion is lost in translation.

This transaltion of Gulzar’s short stories is wovenaround the painful theme of division—but is lacedwith as much black humour as raw feeling, findsKavitha K

A funny kindof hurt

Half a Rupee (Shortstories)GulzarTranslated by SunjoyShekharPenguinRs 299

25talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inbox office


It's not often that a documen-tary film gets a theatricalrelease across Indian metros.But Shivendra SinghDungarpur's feature-length

Celluloid Man is not just another doc-umentary. It has bagged two nationalawards, and is the only film sinceSatyajit Ray's classic, Pather Panchali,to have been shown at 24 interna-tional film festivals in less than a year.It chronicles the life of PK Nair,founder of National Film Archive ofIndia and his efforts in the field offilm preservation and restoration. Ina happy coincidence, Celluloid Manwill be in theatres on May 3, whichmarks the 100th anniversary ofHarishchandra, India's first talkie.

Excerpts from Talk’s email interviewwith director Dungarpur:

What is your most vivid memory of PKNair?I remember him watching every filmwith a diary in hand. Back in the1960s, as students at FTII, Pune, wewould watch films from all over theworld, including ones by greats likeKurasawa, from Nair's archive. Afterretirement, he has chosen to liveclose to the Archive, and not in hisbeautiful home in Trivandrum.

When did you first decide to make afilm about him? After studying at FTII, I went on tomake ad films, as many as 400 ofthem. Making a film about Nair wasalways at the back of my mind. I onceread an interview of Martin Scorsese,where he spoke about a film restora-tion effort in Bologna, Italy. I wastravelling around the world at thattime and decided to make a trip tothat place. When I returned in July2010, I went to Pune and met Nair,who was living in a small apartmentclose to the Archives. We visited theArchives together, only to see allthose painstakingly collected canslying forgotten. Nair was hysterical.That's when it struck me that I had tomake a film on this man.

What was Nair's reaction to a filmbeing made about him?Nair was never keen on a film beingmade about him. He said it should beabout film preservation. But he isvery happy about the film and how ithas got so many people talking about

film preservation, and is looking for-ward to the release.

How long did it take you to completethe film, and what was the process like? The film was three years in the mak-ing. I used interviews throughout, butthat was not all; the documentary hasclips spanning the film history of thecountry. It has many clips from pre-served silent films and Kannadafilms. It has Rajkumar songs and clipsfrom Ghatashraddha, one of thegreatest films of all time, which is alsopreserved thanks to Nair. The filmimbibes the culture of film.

Documentaries are rarely screened formainstream audiences? What prompt-ed you to to do so?I don't know what can really be calledmainstream and what not, but somethings are like family traditions. It isimportant to know about them. Theidea was to make people understandthe need for preserving films. It is alesson in preservation for a peoplewho are not in the habit of preservinganything. I also wanted Nair and hisefforts to be recognised. I wantedeveryone to know the man who hasworked tirelessly to preserve Indiancinema for three long decades. As forthe response, I did not know it will bereceived so well.

Why did you choose celluloid over thedigital option?I always knew a tribute to Nair hadto be shot on film! It is a film about

'film,' about celluloid, after all. All hiswork in preservation was throughcelluloid. Also, most people willagree it is a superior means to createcinema.

What role does Bangalore andKarnataka play in the film?There are certain important peoplefrom Bangalore who are a part of thisfilm. For instance, Girish Kasaravalli,who owes his success to Nair and thefilms he restored. Girish Karnad tooworked with him extensively. But, itwas writer UR Ananthamurthy whoonce told me about this place nearShimoga called Heggodu. PK Nairused to visit this village and show thevillagers and farmers several interna-tional films. I visited the place andwas amazed by what I saw! Therewere villagers who spoke of Kurasawaand talked about how Pather Panchalimoved them. Heggodu made merealise how isolated we are some-times.

What can we expect from you next? I am currently writing a feature filmabout Jiri Menzel, a Czech filmmakerwhose film Closely Watched Trainswon an Oscar in the year 1967. I amalso starting a foundation for thepreservation and restoration offilms. The agenda is to find India'sfirst sound film Alam Ara, we seemto have lost it.

Celluloid Man: A Film on PK Nairreleases on May 3 at PVR Cinemas

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur'sdocumentary on film archivist

PK Nair is sweeping theawards at international

festivals. He says that the film—set for release in theatres

soon—is a tribute to themedium and the man

CINEMA PARADISO(Right) PK Nair at the

Archive: a still fromCelluloid Man. (Above)

Shivendra SinghDungarpur

A lesson in film preservation

Slip these on: This summer, give yourshoes and sneakers a passand opt for the leather slip-pers from Florsheim. Theyare available in variousstyles like Glenn, Romano,Maestro, Bergamo andZeus and available incolours like black, darkbrown and tan.They are pricedbetween Rs.3,795 to Rs.3,995. Available atoutlets likeMetro,Mochi,Regal, Inc.5

Stylishloafers: Men can look stylishand be comfortable in

loafers from Vans.Made out of canvas andlinen materials withleather or suede detail-ing, the shoes are avail-

able in styles like BikingRed, Espresso andDachschund. Priced at Rs

3499. Vans store, Forum Mall,Kormangala and PhoenixMarket City, Whitefield

Go ethnic: Make your little one wearethnic clothes this season,

like churidhars andGhaghra cholis for girls andkurta pyjamas and dhotisfor boys. You can also finda range of apparel for wed-dings, casual outings andformal meetings.KASH, Forum Mall,Kormangala

Be bold this season: This summer,

make way for boldprints andcolours in your

wardrobe.Choose

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lection from109°F, in arange of colours

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Timeless beauty: Diesel Timeframes offersbig, bold and edgy watches.These are available in twocolours; royal blue andwhite and are priced at Rs11,495. Available at Lifestyle,Shoppers Stop, Helios,Ethos, Just in Vogue andother leading retail stores

Cheesy surprise: Bored of eating the samesweet doughnuts everytime? Try out the latestsavoury offering fromDonut baker, the CheesyDonut. With a cheesy andspicy filling, the doughnutsare priced at Rs 50. Available at all Donut Bakeroutlets

Flavours of Mysore: Get a taste of Mysore asyou try out authenticMysore fare like maddurvade, kosambri, playa,ennegai, towe, maamsadasaaru, bisi bele huliuyanna,

obattu and more. Priced atRs 750 only. GAD, #66, Gateway Hotel,Residency Road, till April 2666604545

Create your own vegtidbits: Prepare your favouritevegetarian dishes likeeggless cake, egglessappetisers, lasagna,crostini, hummus, orientalsalad, lasagna and egglessvanilla cupcakes. Cilantro, HalcyonCondiminiums, 4th MainRoad, Kormangala 4th Block,April 27 9844707517

A taste of thebackwaters: Try out some authenticKerala dishes likekallappam, kachiya moru,poricha meen, kozhivaruthathu, irachivaruthathu and more. Grand Mercure Hotel, 12th

Main, Koramangala, till April28 9663308304

Turkish Delight: Non-vegetarians canchoose from differentTurkish doners, also knownas shawarma, for a greatoffer. Buy two chickendoners at Rs 150, two lambdoners at Rs 220 and oneof each at Rs 190. Istanbul Doner and TurkishGrill, 27, 7th Cross, Off 2nd

Main HAL 1st Stage,

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Dimsums delight: Choose from a wide rangeof dimsums that arehealthy and tasty. Thereare plenty of options forboth vegetarians and non-vegetarians.The Schezwan Court, TheOberoi, MG Road, till April30 9019197764

Pasta mania: Choose from an array ofdishes available like linguinitutto mare (linguini withtuna), parpardelle con-i-efa-tini (parpardella with chick-en liver), tagliatelle conprosciutto-e-panna (tagli-atelle with prosciutto andcream), ravioli con-la-zucca

(ravioli with pumpkin), ravi-oli con-i-filetti di sogliola(ravioli with sole) and gnoc-chi-a-quattro formaggi(four cheese gnocchi). Raj Pavillion, ITC Windsor,#25, Sankey Road, till April28 22264941

Flavours from theMiddle East: A lavish spread of spiceawaits your arrival. Inspiredby the Cairo’s Khan-el -Khalili, Istanbul’s Spicemarket, Dubai’s Deira SpiceSouk and our very ownKochi spice market, thisspice market can be justthe right ambience fordinner.Mynt, Taj West End, RaceCourse Road, April 2766605660

26talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inL I S T I N G S

food

Market for all: This weekend enjoy some music, eat somedelicious food and shop for garments, jew-ellery, show pieces and more. The bi-weeklyflea market promises to be an exciting andfun-filled experience for all. The market willsee performances from bands like Stop!Breathe and Nate and The Ways. So grabyour shopping bags and spend the day inleisure in the company of your friends andfamily.Green Theory, #15, Convent Road, offResidency Road, April 27, 1 pm For moredetails look up Green Haat on Facebook

Flea market is back: Head to the ‘Second to None’ flea marketthis weekend and get some good deals. Ifyou have a limited budget and want to con-tribute to upcycling, this is the place to be.Most products here are made of recycledmaterial. Rococo Gallery, Rest House Road, BrigadeRoad, April 28, 11 am to 6 pm

music

flea market

Underground beats: This weekend witness fourunderground bands perform inthe city, Grossty, Ontologus,Pisakas and Nauseate perform.Grossty plays hardcore punk,Ontologus’ music ranges fromalternative rock to death,Pisakas plays death metalwhereas Nauseate plays rock. Sonido Musicals, Opp CatholicClub, Brigade Road, April 27, 6 pm41251429

Strawberry nights: Watch Strawberry Soul Trioperform this weekend. the bandhas Venkat Subramaniyam onbass and vocals, Hemanth

Diwakaran on guitar and vocalsand Elwis Lewis on drums. Theband plays heavy funk, blueclassics and rock and roll. bFlat, 100 Feet Road, Above INGBank, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, April 28, 8.30 pm41739250

Drift with their music:Performing this weekend is Drift,who will showcase their skills injazz. Watch Reuben Narain ondrums, Sahil Warsi on bass,Pranai Gurung on vocalsaccompanied by Aman Mahajanon piano and Aarti Rao onvocals. bFlat, 100 Feet Road, Above ING

Bank, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar,April 26, 8.30 pm 41739250

A fusion of two worlds: Watch Dr Jyotsana Srikanth,renowned classical and worldfusion violinist perform thisweekend. Her music is a mix ofclassical, jazz and world fusion.She will take the stage alongwith her band Fusion Dreams.CounterCulture, 2D2, 4th cross,Dyavasandra Industrial Area,Whitefield, April 26, 9 pm41400793

Trio at their best: Get your dose of blues and rockthis weekend. Overdrive Trio is athree member band and hasSunny D’souza on vocals andlead guitar, Vaibhav Wavikar ondrums and Vibhas Patil on bassguitar. CounterCulture, 2D2, 4th cross,Dyavasandra Industrial Area,Whitefield, April 27, 9 pm41400793

Garage music: Watch Skrat from Chennaiperform this weekend. Theirmusic is mainly a mix ofalternative, hard rock, jam bandand garage rock. The band hasTT Sriram on guitars and vocals,Tapass Naresh on vocals andSatish Narayan on bass. Hard Rock Café, # 40, St Mark’sRoad, May 2, 7.30 pm41242222

Strawberry Trioretail therapy

Great ideas this summer: This summer, be a part of a camp thatteaches you the art of quilling, claymoulding, scrap booking and more. AtHobby Ideas, children can indulge ininteresting activities along with theirfamilies. There will be separate work-shops for children and adults as well.Fee for the workshop starts at Rs 50depending on the activity chosen.

Hobby Ideas, Priyanka House, 5, 100Feet Rd, HAL 2nd Stage, Indira Nagar25200304

27talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inL I S T I N G S

Inherit The Wind: The play, written by JeromeLawrence and Robert E Leeis based on the the famous1925 Scopes Monkey Trialsof Tennessee where a schoolteacher is indicted forteaching Darwin's theory ofevolution in his classroom.William Jennings Bryan,three times US Presidentialcandidate and a Christiancomes in for the prosecutionand accepts to be a witnessfor the defense. Directed byJagdish Raja, it has KoshyVarghese, Janardhan Roy,

Sanjay Iyer, NoelMannasseh, Pooja Shankarand Jagdish Raja in the cast. Jagriti theatre , VarthurRoad, Ramagondanahalli,Whitefield, April 26 and 27, 8pm and April 28, 3 pm and6.30 pm 41248298

Gasha: The play is about thefriendship between twoboys, a Kashmiri Pandit anda Kashmiri Muslim. Whileeverything around seemedto collapse around them, in ashed on an island, two boys

slowly built their world.Twenty years later, it is quiteanother past that stands intheir way. Directed byAbhishek Majumdar, it hasAdhir Bhat and SandeepShikhar in the cast. Ranga Shankara, #36/2, 8thCross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar,April 26 and 27, 7.30 pm andApril 28, 3.30 pm and 7.30pm 26592777

iMirror Version 2.0: WeMove Theatre is backafter PS I Don't Love Youand Namma Metro. The play

iMirror Version 2.0 is about the distorted bodyimage issues and how people and society in general is propagating thisunhealthy view. The playis a journey with five stopsin it, all in front of the mirror.The five characters in theplay look at themselves inthe mirror and all hell breaksloose. Directed by AbhishekIyengar, it has RangarajBhatracharya, Srikanth B,Ranjan S, Radhika Chetan,Sushanth Shandilya, Anirudh Mahesh, NehaAgrawal, Prachi Jain andothers. Alliance Francaise deBangalore, # 16 GMT Road,Vasanthnagar, April 27, 7.30pm 41231340

Rabdi: The play revolves aroundSaavantri and her mentallychallenged child. Though herdreams of her child having abright future remainunfulfilled she does not losehope. In order to enroll himinto a special school sheoffers to be a surrogatemother for an IT couple.Directed by Nithish S, theplay delves into thecharacteristics ofmotherhood, love, societalissues and human emotions.

Tickets priced at Rs 50. KH Kala Soudha,Ramanjaneya TempleCompound, Banashankari,Hanumanthanagar, May 1 ,7.30 pm 26539239

God of Carnage: Directed by PreetamKoilpillai, the Yasmin Razaplay is about a patch upmission between two set ofparents whose sons had atiff in the playground. Butthings do not go as planned.The play has SharanyaRamprakash, DeepikaArwind, KanchanBhattacharyya and RajeevRavindranathan in the cast.Ranga Shankara, #36/2, 8th

Cross, 2nd Phase, J P Nagar,May 1 and 2, 7.30 pm26592777

Malegalalli Madhumagalu: Based on the novelRastrakavi Kuvempu, theplay depicts the conflictbetween tradition andmodernity, Christianity andHinduism, love and marriageand the individual andsociety in the Malnad regionof Karnataka. Jnanabharathi, behindBangalore University,Mallathalli, April 27 to 30,8.30 pm

theatreworkshop

To get your event listed, write to us at

[email protected]

Learn traditional dance: Improve your acting skills using thetraditional Devarattam, a dance formfrom Tamil Nadu. At this workshopyou can learn from Nellai Manikandan,a stage performer and dance instruc-tor, who has been specially brought into teach this art. This dance also turnsout to be a good exercise workout. Itcombines martial arts and dancemoves, that helps the participantslearn how to attain perfect body bal-ance. Shishu Mandir, Kithiganoor Main Road,Virgo Nagar Post, KR Puram, April 26to 28 99863715543

dance

Aashiqui 2 Hindi This musical is about thejourney of two lovers whogo through turbulent times.The story is about a singerand his love interest. Themusic is composed byMithoon, and the film isdirected by Mohit Suri. It hasShraddha Kapoor, ShaadRandhawa and Aditya RoyKapoor. Innovative Multiplex,Marathahalli- 1.45 pm, 10Rockline Cinemas, JalahalliCross- 10.40 am, 3.55

Iron Man 3 3D English

The movie is about anindustrialist, Tony Stark.When Tony finds hispersonal life going throughturbulent times, he tries tofind out who is responsiblefor it. This journey tests hispatience at every turn andhe tries to figure out theanswer to the question; doesthe suit make the man ordoes the man make thesuit? Directed by ShaneBlack, it has Robert DowneyJr, Gwyneth Paltrow andDon Cheadle in the lead. Gopalan Cinemas,Bannerghatta Road- 10 am,

12.30 pm, 5, 7.30, 10Lakshmi Theatre, Tavarkere-10 am, 1 pm, 5, 8 ManasaDigital 2K Cinemas- 1.30 pm,4.15 Urvashi Digital 4K cine-mas- 11 am, 3 pm, 6.30, 9.45Rex theatre- 11.30 am, 2 pm,4.35, 7.15, 9.50 GopalanCinemas, Arch Mall- 10 am,12.30 pm, 5, 7.30, 10Mukunda theatre- 4 pm,8.45 Gopalan Grand Mall, OldMadras Road- 10 am, 12.45pm, 3.30, 6.15, 9.15Innovative, Marathahalli- 2.10pm, 7.10, 9.45 Gopalan MallSirsi Circle- 10 am, 2.45 pm,5.05, 7.35, 10

Gunde JaariGallanthayyinde Telugu This romantic film starsNitin, Nithya Menon andJwala Gutta in the lead andhas been directed by VijayKumar Konda. The musichas been composed byAnoop Reubens. Innovative Multiplex,Marathalli- 7.15 pm

Jatayu KannadaThe film is about a lovestory that is set in a forest.It has Raaj, Surabhi andRupashree in the lead. Raajmakes his directorial debutwith this film and VinayChandra has composed themusic. Tribhuvan Digital 2K cine-mas- 10.30 am, 1.30 pm,4.30, 7.30

Software HardwareKya Yaaron EnglishThe film is about fourfriends, who are alsoroommates; SrinivasNaidu fromHyderabad, GirishReddy fromTelangana, Narainfrom Chennai andNongem fromMizoram. The four ofthem are a part of theprogramming team inthe same company.After being on thebench for a long timeduring recession, theyalong with other fiveteam members get a

chance to go on an on- siteduty to Japan, for whichthey have to undergo a longweek training on a new soft-ware application and eti-quette orientation. Due toenvy, competition and mis-understandings, conflictsarise between them.Directed by Rabi Kisku, ithas Saleem Ahmed, SwetaDesai, Ranbir Chakma in thelead. PVR, Koramangala- 9.20 pmPVR, Orion Mall- 10 pmCineMAX- 7.30 pm

film

God of Carnage

Iron Man 3

28talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inmemoir

Cases poured in forDevadas, my guru, fromthe affluent districts ofHassan andChikmagalur. Many rich

coffee planters were his clients. Hehad to appear frequently at the ses-sion courts in those districts, andsome cases pending in Bangalorecame to me.

A police sub-inspector calledChannaiah wanted Devadas to take

up a case.“I have to attend to some urgent

cases in Hassan and Chikmagalur.Don’t worry. I will putHanumantharaya in charge of yourcase,” Devadas said.

A disappointed Channaiah said,“Sir, it is a personal case. Please don’tpass it on to ajunior.”

“My junior isefficient. We willdefinitely win thecase,” said Devadas.

He introducedme to Channaiah,who reluctantly gave me the chargesheet and briefed me. It was a murdercase.

Glancing through the chargesheet, I said I wanted to talk to theaccused. Still unconvinced about my

credentials, Channaiah said hewould arrange a meeting.

As Channaiah left the office, asmiling Devadas told me, “They don’tknow your acumen. They underesti-mate you. Don’t pay heed to them.Focus on the case. If you have anydoubts, consult me.”

I visited themurder spot. Theaccused, Nanjunda,was in BangaloreCentral Jail. I wentover to meet him.

Nanjunda wasa young boy. I shiv-

ered as he narrated his story.Marappa was a villager from

Seegepura on the outskirts ofBangalore. He was married toNarasamma, Channaiah’s elder sis-ter. Channaiah was a head constable

then. He was fond of his sister.Though they were not rich, his par-ents had some land and preferredMarappa because he hailed from thesame village. That way, they thought,their daughter would stay close tothem even after marriage.

But Marappa was a kleptomani-ac. He would cast his eye around andsteal whatever caught his attention,and this had earned him notoriety.Some villagers told Narasamma’sfather about this problem, but heignored them.

Channaiah argued with thisfather. “We could have found a bettergroom. Marappa is not evenemployed,” he said.

“What if he is unemployed? He

Provoked by his foul-tongued,kleptomaniac father, Nanjunda

batters him to death with aplank

Nanjunda bluntlyasked Marappa,‘When will youstop stealing?’

VIVEK ARUN

Fabled ranconteur andBangalore’s top-notchcriminal lawyer bringsyou moving, sensationaland bizarre stories from40 years of his practice

CH HANUMANTHARAYAcrim

e fo

lioThe first murdercase I won

29talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inmemoir

owns land, and is capable of taking care ofhis wife. I am not a government employeelike you, but didn’t I take care of my fami-ly?” the father said, silencing Channaiah.

Trouble began soon after the wed-ding. Narasamma would spend most of hertime in her parents’ house and Marappawas a frequent visitor. Following his visits,valuables in the house would vanish.Narasamma would find them back at herhusband’s house.

Whenever she questioned him, hewould shout at her, “After I married you,your father had to transfer his lands to myname. But I am not asking for it. You aremaking a big issue of petty things likeplates and spoons.”

Narasamma took the stolen objectsback, but her mother would ask her to keepthem, fearing Marappa would harass her.“He may beat you. He is such a stupidman,” the mother would lament.

There was no end to Marappa’s klep-tomania. If he could find nothing precious,he would pick up a pair of slippers. AndNarasamma was so embarrassed she start-ed spending most of her time at her par-ents’ place. She bore four sons and theygrew up in their grandparents’ house.

By the time Channaiah was promotedas sub-inspector, his father had passed

away and he had to take up the responsibil-ity of caring for Narasamma and her chil-dren. For their livelihood, he bought someland and goats. But Marappa’s disorder hadbecome worse, and people in the villagehad nicknamed him Kalla Mara (ThiefMara). People made fun of him behind hisback, and Marappa would squabble withwhoever taunted him openly.

Whenever Narasamma draped herselfin a new sari, women would snigger.Playmates would ask thechildren, when they worenew clothes, where theirfather had stolen them.

Things had becomeunbearable for Nanjunda,her eldest son. He hadgrown up. He would flyinto a rage at the taunts of his friends.“What has your father brought home late-ly?” they would tease him.

One day, an exasperated Nanjundaasked his father, “When will you stop steal-ing?”

Caught off-guard, Marappa was furi-ous. “Did your mother make you ask thisquestion? I work hard to feed you and youcall me a thief? I will skin all of you alive,”he screamed.

“I am ashamed of calling you my

father. I will not live with you, even if itmeans working as a bonded labourersomewhere,” Nanjunda shot back.

Marappa slapped him. Angered by allthis, Narasamma took the children to herbrother’s house. Channaiah instructedthem not to go back to Marappa any more.

Marappa assumed his wife and chil-dren would return after their anger dieddown. But that didn’t happen. When therewas no sign of their return even after some

months, he started livingwith a woman.

Channaiah boughtmore goats and Nanjundastarted earning enoughfor his mother and broth-ers.

One day, when hewas grazing his goats, he saw his fatherpassing by. Spitting at him, he said, “Youshould be ashamed of yourself. You haveno right to live. You must kill yourself.”

“Why should I be ashamed?” Marappahit back. “You must be ashamed. You areborn to me, but you live with your unclelike a slave. Did he father you?”

Provoked by this vulgar comment,Nanjunda hit Marappa’s head with a wood-en plank. Marappa fell, and Nanjunda bat-tered him to death. People came running

and the police arrested Nanjunda.The villagers were not sympathetic to

Marappa. Headman Rame Gowda toldthem strictly not to testify againstNanjunda. When the police asked them,they said Marappa had slipped from thetop of a tree which he had climbed to stealfruits. The police closed the case.

Soon after, an anonymous letter land-ed on the table of the sub-inspector, sayingMarappa had been murdered.

The police reopened the case pro-duced Nanjunda before the BangaloreRural district sessions court. RG Desai,subsequently elevated to the high court,was the judge.

My heart went out to Nanjunda. Idecided to help him out. Roping in the vil-lagers as my witnesses, I managed to getNanjunda acquitted.

After the acquittal, Channaiah toldme, “I thought you were inexperienced andhurt you. You are a talented lawyer. Pleaseforgive me.”

Narasamma said, “You gave a newlease of life to my son. May your wife andchildren do well.”

I could not speak. It was the first mur-der case I had won independently.

(Translated by BV Shivashankar)

Provoked by thevulgar comment,he hit his fatherwith all his force

30talk|2 may 2013|talkmag.inT I M E P A S S

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1st Cross Talk’s weekly crossword for Bangaloreans who know their way about town

ACROSS1 _____ Wah; Chinese corner on

Cunningham Road (5)5 KM Chaitanya's latest directorial

effort (6)9 A six-week-old infant died after

receiving a vaccine at a govern-ment run health centre near this

area (9)11 KLE Fashion Technology and

Apparel Institute's festival (11)12 Three cops from this police station

have been charged with abetmentto suicide (14)

16 Current KPCC President (1,12)18 Falls near Madikeri (5)

19 Mr Tiwary in our IPL squad (7)

DOWN2 Congress nominee from Rajarajeshwari

Nagar who was arrested for threateninga poll officer (1,10)

3 Bangalore cinema home to India's first4k screen (7)

4 British expert on Karnataka politics whowas recently critical of the BJP run stategovernment (5,5)

6 Chicken in Kannada (4)7 Bear sanctuary near Bellary (6)8 City club recently rocked by member-

ship fraud (7)

10 Karnataka tourist destination home to a42-foot statue of Gomateshwara (7)

13 Excise department officials seized hero-in worth Rs 1 crore recently in this city(5)

14 Rector KJ Thomas of _ ____ PontificalSeminary was murdered on 1st April(2,6)

15 Farmers from this village near Belgaumtorched a NWKRTC bus as part of theirprotest against acute drinking watershortage (7)

17 A steamed dosa (5)

Across: 4 Bachchan, 6Canopy, 7 C N R Rao, 8Belgaum, 11 Market, 14Fun, 15 Kolar, 16Chamarajpet, 17 Fifty-nine.

Down: 1 T J Abraham, 2Badami, 3 B YRaghavendra, 5 Duke, 7Chris Gayle, 8 BJP, 9Power cuts, 10 Hoskote,12 Kori roti, 13 BBMP, 14Fifteen.

Last week’s solution

T I M E P A S SProf

Good Sense

I was in a relationship forthree years before I gotmarried. My wife knows aboutit. I am now in touch with my ex,but we are just good friends. Iam not cheating on my wife. Atthe same time, I am intenselyattached to my ex. I suspect mywife has found out that we aremeeting and talking to eachother. Do you think I shouldexplain things to her?

Jagan, Bangalore‘Just good friends’ is now alaughable term. Nobody willbelieve you. If you think you canjourney through life riding ontwo horses, you are deludingyourself. Your affair with yourgirlfriend is over and you haveto think of your wife’s wellbeing. Don’t wreck yourmarriage for the sake of yourex. Your wife deserves better.She has remained patient, andput up with you all this while.Take stock of yourself in ahealthy manner, and don’t allowyourself to commit costlyblunders.

Prof M SreedharaMurthy teachespsychology atNMKRV First GradeCollege. He is also awell-knownphotographer.

Mail queries to [email protected]


If you are one of those wonderfullyself-aware people who know theyare a burden on this world (or theother way round), we have asuggestion: get a one-way ticketto Mars. Because now you actuallycan, all thanks to Mars One, aprivate company that plans to setup base on the red planet by 2023.They are looking for 24 astronautswho are “intelligent, creative,psychologically stable andphysically healthy” and whose“combined skill sets must cover avery wide range of disciplines.”

They also need to have mid-rangeheight, blood pressure below140/90, and a “curious, resilientpersonality.” Considering that therecruits will spend the rest oftheir lives inside a bubble stuck ona dead planet, we had hoped for farmore relaxed criteria. Forexample, “Applicants must bethoroughly disgusted with life onearth.” But Mars One knowsbetter, it seems, because no lessthan 45,000 curious, resilientpersonalities have alreadyregistered on their website.

It’s not as easy as summoningyour dead uncle on an Ouijaboard, but it is actuallypossible to “summon” a UFO,an ex-KGB officer hasclaimed. In the 1970s, Majorgeneral Vasily Yeremenko wasin charge of the KGB divisionthat oversaw air force-relatedmatters, which alsomonitored UFO sightings.After tracking many suchsightings, the divisionconcluded that UFOs tendedto show up in “areas ofheightened tension” wheredeadly weapons were tested,military hardware piled up, orcombat aircraft flown inunusually big numbers. In theearly 1980s, the division

staged an experiment tosummon UFOs at a militaryrange in Russia’s remoteAstrakhan Region. Yeremenkosays the UFOs did come, andmost of them looked likeluminous spheres (see,Hollywood was right!). Thescientists who led theexperiment came up withthree possibilities to explainwhat the UFOs might be: 1)Natural phenomena thatscience is yet to explain; 2)American reconnaissanceequipment; 3) Extraterrestrialobjects. We suspect that theRussians had vastlyoverestimated both Americaand science, and are, naturally,rooting for the third option.


A new life awaits you on the red planet

@twit: Honey, I shrunk my brain! How to hail a UFOThe technological pool we swimin—video games, cell phones,televisions, and yes, Facebook,Twitter and their like—is literallyshrinking our brains. Researchrecently published in China hasrevealed that prolonged use ofsuch technologies can cause up to“fifteen per cent shrinkage in thearea of the brain that controlsspeech, memory, motor control,emotion, sensory, and otherinformation.” Another study bythe University of Californiashowed that for a ‘web-virgin’

even just five hours of Internetuse “substantially rewired theprefrontal cortex of the brain.”Wondering how we got to knowabout all this? From a post on afriend’s FB wall, of course. Havingdeeply pondered over it for all offour seconds, we hit upon a ratherbright idea—if the problem is thatFacebook (and the rest of it) ismaking us dumber, why not geteverybody on to Facebook so thatat least we can all be at the samelevel. The problem’s, like, totallysolved, right?

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