Innholdsfortegnelse for October 30, 2017 i India Today

The world’s axis is changing. A 2015 Census Bureau report shows that by 2044, whites will no longer comprise a racial majority in the United States. By then, the nation will be made up of a kaleidoscope of racial groups, including Latinos, Blacks, Asians, Native Americans and multiracial Americans. Pop culture, much of it originating from the US, is already dominated by diversity’s children, from the Kardashians, the reality stars of Armenian heritage; to the king and queen of music, Jay-Z and Beyonce, who are of African-American heritage; to the Hadids who dominate modelling and are of Palestinian extraction. Hollywood has been slow to shed its dead-white male image, but television is revelling in discovering diversity, increasingly casting Asians, among them our very own Priyanka Chopra, in significant roles. More…

Sangeet Som, a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, described his state’s most famous monument as a “blot on Indian culture” built by “traitors”. Speaking in Meerut, Som decried the Taj Mahal as the work of those who tried to remove Hindus from Hindustan. The BJP distanced itself from the comments, but Som was only echoing sentiments expressed by the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath who in June said that the Taj “and other minarets... did not reflect Indian culture”. 513,000 VISITORS to the Taj in the first 8 months of the year, says the Archaeological Survey of India. Most foreign tourists came from the USA (33,410), the UK (30,392), and China (28,712) 5.5 MILLION Domestic visitors to Taj in 2016, says UP tourism department, down from 5.8 million in 2015.…

“When I came to Kerala, I was trying to find out how different, or how similar, Goa is to Kerala. I am happy to say that I could not find any differences other than language... (but) a major difference is that in Goa there is a government ruled by the BJP, and you have a government ruled by rogues.” As the BJP’s Janraksha yatra wound to a close in Kerala on October 17, Goa chief minister MANOHAR PARRIKAR became the latest in the line of party bigwigs bludgeoning the state with bumptious rhetoric. Jihadi terror and violence against RSS workers by Communist “rogues” have been the favoured themes of the BJP’s campaigning. But if the BJP wants to play the victim of thuggishness, it should have warned its national general…

Fashion is evolving to become more conscious of its carbon footprint and the magic of genuine handmade Anirudh and Ishanee, new age designers from Delhi, collaborated with Bherulal Chhipa, a master-craftsman and his sons from Akola, a village in Rajasthan, and together they mindfully designed an exclusive collection in natural colours using the heritage handicraft of India, Dabu. Their label Poochki attracts the young, affluent fashion conscious who are looking for modern styles. Maithili Ahluwalia of Bungalow Eight who travels across the world for inspiration, immediately bought a pair of pants made by them at the recent Lakme Fashion Week. She was touched by the story of their collaboration and impressed with the high-fashion style of the eco-garment. FASHIONABLY RESPONSIBLE While sustainability can be all about being conscious and ethical,…

The once discernible difference between foreign and domestic wine is no longer so apparent In the vineyard as in the bottle, a trend is usually short lived, and wine as a fashion accessory, in my world view, should never exist. Here today, gone tomorrow; gold flakes, cobra blood, sea monkeys and all types of bling both in and on a bottle have been experimented with over the years and while some have endured, most have been mere fads, fleeting trends with a poor shelf life. The use of a particular style of oak from that particular cooper, the variations of ferment temperature, barrel ferment or tank ferment, what trellising system to use, is purely personal for the winemaker and none is dictated by trends. These are a winemaker’s tools to…

Immerse yourself in the local and surround yourself with the intimate Let’s face it, travel in 2017 may be popular, but it’s not considered a luxury anymore; it’s accessible to everyone. So when we look at curating journeys and designing itineraries, it’s all about the experiences and not just the destinations. Been there, done that, is the most popular refrain of the well-heeled and the well-travelled Indians today, so the idea is to offer something exceptional. What’s trending today with our guests are out-of-reach experiences that we research and provide, based on vast global knowledge and network of partners around the world. BESPOKE EXPERIENCES It’s not so much about accessibility, as it is about exclusivity and curating experiential extravaganzas that surprise and delight. For instance, a VIP entry to the…

Actress Zaira Wasim’s house in Haval, a congested neighbourhood in the old city of Srinagar, overlooks Hari Parbat, a hillock she hopes to climb someday. When she is not playing with her three cats—Dodo, Jerry and Snow—at home, Wasim likes to stroll with friends, who fondly call her Potato. Once in a while locals commend Potato for her work as the headstrong Haryanvi girl in Dangal, for which she won the National Award for best supporting actress. Srinagar doesn’t have cinemas—most were closed during the insurgency—but that hasn’t stopped Kashmiris from finding ingenious ways to watch her film. The lack of theatres explains why Wasim grew up with no exposure to movies. “Even now I don’t enjoy watching films,” she says. So when Aamir Khan regaled the Dangal crew with…

The project is an effort to extend the reach of Malayalam literature Don’t Want Caste is a collection translated from the Malayalam Njarukal (2014). Edited by M.R. Renukumar, it includes a few stories that are simply rambles, like “In the Fresh Rain”—a prayer for forgiveness from the earth we have assaulted, and an expression of our gratitude when the first drops kiss the parched ground. Bang in the centre is a very short story set in a government office— “In That Case, I Don’t Want Caste”. It is no more than a brief dialogue, but it shows jaati imposed and enforced by bureaucratic rote, even on an individual ready to shed that identity. In many of the stories, the protagonist must abandon home and family to escape the oppressions into…

CHIRAG MAKWANA, 27 Sous Chef, Toast and Tonic Specialising in Italian and North American cuisine, Chirag Makwana started at the early age of 18, and now uses his technique to innovate with local ingredients and regional produce. Kitchen Essentials Trained staff, good sharp knives, fresh produce and a lot of butter. Innovation It is about constantly reading, trying new stuff and coming up with new dishes. Favourites Bajra Ricotta Gnidu which is almost like gnocchi that uses local ingredients in a cream amaranth and gongura leaves with a spinach velute sauce. Also, Bulgogi Burger, thinly sliced Korean barbecue beef incorporated in a burger with kimchi, black bean aioli and tapioca chips. Favourites Wood-fired pizza at a Napoli restaurant in Canada. The wood lends it a smoky flavour. ALTAMASH IQBAL, 30…

“Unequal relationships among castes must end. But caste revenge is not the answer... we need a national social fund”KANCHA ILAIAH SHEPHERD Writer and activist Dismissing a petition to ban a short book by the scholar Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd , a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud observed that the right to free speech has been“put on the highest pedestal by this court”. The book is a Telugu translation from English of a chapter from Ilaiah Shepherd’s 2009 book Post-Hindu India that describes the Arya Vysya caste as “social smugglers”, a term he coined. Last month, a mob attacked his car. A member of Parliament from the Telugu Desam Party has said Ilaiah Shepherd should be publicly hanged for his views.…

Protecting Child Brides The Supreme Court on October 11 removed an inconsistency in the law that allowed a man to sleep with his wife if she was between 15 and 18-years-old, even though 18 is the legal age for both marriage and sexual consent. The odd discrepancy was noticed on Twitter as many wondered how marriage with someone under 18 could be considered legal in the first place. But, according to one report, some 103 million Indians were married before the age of 18. Another report, from an advocacy group, showed that the average age of marriage for both Indian Hindus and Muslims was around 16.7 years. Faced with such a social reality, argued the government, the court should not make criminals out of millions of men. But the costs…

ON OCTOBER 17, 2008, IN MOHALI AGAINST Australia, Sachin Tendulkar broke Brian Lara’s record to become the highest run scorer in Test cricket and the first to cross 12,000 runs. Tendulkar had promised me an interview to mark the momentous occasion. We had also contracted Gavaskar for expert comments on the series. Which is how one evening during the Mohali Test I came close to achieving cricket nirvana as Gavaskar and Tendulkar sat down together to talk cricket: Gavaskar dressed in a traditional collared shirt, Tendulkar in a more casual polo-neck T-shirt, their sartorial differences reflecting the generational shift. Gavaskar and Tendulkar, two short men with tall achievements: 85 Test hundreds between them, and more than 26,000 Test runs. They are the twin towers of Indian batting, one is the…

Over the past decade, India has witnessed a rise of healthy, gourmet dining experiences. Globally, it began with the French, with the introduction of the “nouvelle” or new cuisine that sparked off what most of us classify as gourmet today. In the US, Alice Waters pioneered the farm to fork movement out of California, marrying the importance of organic, locally grown food with a gourmet dining experience. Over the years, this dual focus on cooking responsibly, for both the environment and your health, has gathered momentum, and chefs build on those who came before them, adding their own inspirations and techniques to make it “fine”. In India, the onset of the trend has a lot to do with an increased accessibility with exposure to knowledge, techniques and flavours from all…

Every single experience has to be visual, personal and exclusive With the growth of the luxury market in India, the customer profile has evolved and there is a new set of consumers—the Millennials and Gen-X. With novel expectations, this consumer has changed the landscape of luxury, evolving from old world and traditional to new-age and experiential. Luxury in hospitality was pretty much about thread-counts and shining mosaic reflecting sunlight off an island in Greece. Today, it is all about paying excruciating attention to the smallest of details. For instance, The St Regis Mumbai has a butler for every room and The Ritz-Carlton in Bangalore has Guardian Angels, taking care of every guest’s needs. Real-time content creation and sharing, personalisation, and expecting the un-expected are not just buzzwords, but carefully crafted…

A new wave of horologically inclined, self-taught individuals have taken to educate themselves about timepieces While Rolex stands as the most sought after luxury Swiss watch brand in the world, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, the Swiss luxury watchmakers, contour the ‘holy-trinity’ in the world of Haute Horlogerie, not necessarily in that order. While many of the older brands rely on their heritage to attract customers, both old and new, there are others who are bending the rules. For example, a brand like Audemars Piguet produces only 40,000 watches annually and while that seems exclusive at first glance, niche brands like Roger W. Smith, a watchmaker based out of Isle of Man, handcrafts only 10 watches a year, challenging the notion of exclusivity. This is not the only…

THE RANGE OF THEMES IS WIDE: WAR, FEAR, DESIRE, SEXUALITY... IN 2003, Sahitya Akademi published an anthology, Short Stories from Pakistan, translated from the Urdu (1998) into English by M. Asaduddin and edited by Intizar Hussain and Asif Farrukhi. In its preface, Hussain says, ‘…just after the Partition, the writers and thinkers had to negotiate questions that were specific to Pakistan. The writers in India were not faced with such questions as they were inheritors of a historical and literary continuity. We had to discover the connections anew. If we were a different nation then, what was our national and cultural identity?’ Given that stories of Partition form a significant part of Urdu literature, this is an important point. The Greatest Urdu Stories Ever Told, Aleph’s new anthology of 25…

CHANCE Hugh Laurie stars as Dr Chance—a psychiatrist with issues of his own—in this gripping streaming TV series based on the Kem Nunn noir of the same name. On Hotstar CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM In the wake of Jerry Before Seinfeld, Larry David, the guy who wrote Jerry’s lines, is back to playing himself after an oh-so-long hiatus. He’s as vituperative as ever. On Hotstar DADDY The Arun Gawli biopic doesn’t entirely hold up, but Arjun Rampal’s performance is worth a look. On Prime…

As early as September last year, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi spoke exclusively to this correspondent on his tour bus. He was talking about how the much-vaunted strategist Prashant Kishor’s job was to execute plans made by the party. Asked if Kishor was then just an event manager, Rahul shot back, “No, no, that’s the prime minister.” It was a dig at PM Narendra Modi’s reputation for showbiz razzmatazz over substance, but the sort of wit Rahul mostly kept under wraps. Even back in 2014, when asked by journalists in Guwahati about his marriage plans, he had joked, “Don’t worry, you won’t find out about my wife when I turn 65,” a reference to Modi’s secretiveness about his marriage. But in the last couple of months,…

Be silent. Even before Salman Rushdie declared India to be in the grip of a “cultural emergency”; before the culture of bhakt vitriol became a social phenomenon; before the Supreme Court asked the Law Commission of India to propose a penalty for hate speech; before 2016 turned out to be the year of sedition and 2017 that of defamation—free speech was under threat in India. That fascinating, tangled backstory of our right to speak freely is what scholar, author and advocate of the Bombay High Court, Abhinav Chandrachud, unravels in Republic of Rhetoric: Free Speech and the Constitution of India. He digs deep into legal, political and historical records, uses anecdotes to show how the law played out in practice and in policy—from the British period to the present—and hammers…

In April last year, the Reserve Bank of India set up a committee to look into household finance, the spending patterns of Indian families. A few weeks ago, the report was released. The committee noted, in the executive summary, that over “the coming decade-and-a-half, the elderly cohort is expected to grow” faster than any other. Few are prepared, or preparing, financially for the future. Indian families tend to take on debt later in life, as income dries up and the debt is often unsecured with debtors relying on non-institutional sources such as moneylenders. A majority of elderly Indians rely on children/ family support rather than their savings, leaving them vulnerable compared to their foreign counterparts. 76.9% Of Indian household wealth is held in real estate. Of the poorest 20%, nearly…

Does Unesco need US funds? Given its recent bids for World Heritage status, it may be more of a loss to the US than to Unesco The recent US withdrawal from Unesco, stemming from the allegedly contentious inscription of the Palestinian World Heritage Site of Hebron, comes as no surprise. As Prof. Lynn Meskell, a prominent researcher at Stanford University, points out, “Unesco and the US have had a contentious history, often mired in conspiracy, politics and isolation.” In the latest controversy, the US has echoed Israel’s stand that the inscription of Hebron as a Palestinian site effaces its Jewish character. Unesco’s ‘extreme politicisation has become a chronic embarrassment’, said Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN. Yet, the decision to inscribe Hebron was taken by the 21-elected-member World…

Jewellery today has to be wearable yet classic; individualistic yet iconic I’ve always been inspired by how a beautiful jewel can transform a woman emotionally. It is that joy, that moment of elation when a woman wears a jewel for the first time that is captivating. This connection with jewellery shouldn’t just be left to special occasions and vaults; it should be an everyday joy. It is this context that explains the growing interest in wearable and transformable jewellery. Both are very different experiences: while wearable jewellery transforms from a chic day look into a glamorous evening look, transformable jewellery becomes more wearable by morphing into different forms, with an added element of surprise. MULTI-FUNCTIONAL JEWELLERY Perhaps the best way to explain this kind of multi-functionality would be through jewels…

In September, we invited Mumbai art collectors, buyers and experts to preview the 23 highlights from Sotheby’s sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art that was held in London on October 25. Art is witnessing a steady growth with a current market of $250 million which is an increase of around 15 per cent over the past five years. Of this, $98 million is dedicated to contemporary art which constitutes an important part of all art collected. A lot of young people start collecting with contemporary artworks. And it’s heartening to see buyers in their twenties and mid-thirties. Taking art sales online has fuelled this interest among young buyers since they are more comfortable with the digital platform that offers ease, convenience and familiarity. CLASSICAL INDIAN ART FINDS BUYERS…

Owning a car may soon be as obsolete as running non-electric vehicles In the interest of environment, country after country has set targets for phasing out internal combustion engines. While the UK and France want to see an end to petrol and diesel cars by 2040, Norway and the Netherlands want them stopped by 2025. India plans to walk the middle path with 2030 as the cut-off date, while China hasn’t even set out a date, even though nearly 50 per cent of all electric vehicles sold in the world are sold in China. ELECTRIC DREAMS Even though electric vehicle sales make up less than half of half a percentage point of global passenger car sales, car manufacturers are not waiting. Volvo was the first to declare that each of…

Manu Joseph writes to provoke, so it’s no surprise Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous is filled with provocateurs. But Joseph’s often clever, sometimes wise and always entertaining new novel is surprising in other ways. Told in a series of vignettes from the point of view of different characters and closely based on the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, it combines elements of satire and the political thriller. Hinging on the revelations of a delirious man trapped beneath the rubble of a building in Mumbai, it intersperses the race to stop a possible terrorist attack with its characters’ reflections on contemporary affairs. Both aspects make it a compulsive read. You race through the book not only to find out whether Miss Laila—possibly a terrorist, possibly an innocent pawn—will be killed, but also…

THE EXHIBITION CHRONICLES 70 YEARS OF SAKTI BURMAN’S TEMPESTUOUS LIFE AND HAS 250 WORKS ON DISPLAY Sakti Burman, one of the most prominent contemporary Indian artists, is known for paintings inspired by Indian and European mythology. He uses the techniques of pointillism and marbling, and it’s difficult to distinguish the real from the surreal in his works. Poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote aspires to show all this through In the Presence of Another Sky: Sakti Burman, a Retrospective, which chronicles 70 years of Burman’s tempestuous life and displays 250 of his works. Presented by the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, in association with Art Musings (a city art gallery), the exhibition runs through November 26 at NGMA. Born in 1935 in Vidyakut (now in Bangladesh), Burman spent his…