Innholdsfortegnelse for November 25, 2019 i India Today

The wounds of a nation, if allowed to fester for long, become a danger to the lifeblood of the country. India has had many such wounds. My constant gripe has been that they are kept open forever and are not allowed to heal. The government is saddled with commissions of inquiry which drag on endlessly while the courts are clogged with cases of national importance that need to be settled. Fortunately, we are now witnessing a phase where chapters of long-pending issues are finally finding closure. You may or may not agree with the final decision, but at least the country can then move on. Sometimes, the opportunity cost of not taking a decision is greater than that of taking one. The abrogation of Article 370, which had been hanging…

In 1913, architect Edwin Lutyens stood on the crest of Raisina Hill, and in the yellow summer light, gazed eastwards, across low scrub and kikar, down the long plain that would become the setting for his last major work. He stood there long enough to envision the grand scheme that he would undertake over the next two decades, a scheme that would become—for the future inhabitants of his great enterprise—the most sacred ground of the Indian Capital. Now that a new plan to reset the scheme to 21st-century standards has been unveiled, what is the constructed relevance of this sandstone acropolis—the axial assembly of North and South Block, the crowning Viceroy’s House, the flanking circular Parliament building, the long ceremonial lawn and roadway that ends at India Gate? Do the…

Between the political crisis in Maharashtra and the Ayodhya verdict, home minister Amit Shah, who is also the BJP party president, has had his hands full. So much so that he had no time to even meet Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar who had camped in the national capital for five days in hopes of a meeting with Shah to discuss the cabinet expansion in the state. The two finally met on November 11 and, wasting no time, the expansion might happen as soon as on November 13. —Sandeep Unnithan with Kaushik Deka, Amitabh Srivastava and Anilesh Mahajan…

A fair adjudication of a contested claim requires even standards for the quality of evidence the disputing parties show in support of their respective assertions. The judgment in the Ayodhya case (2019) points to a divergence from this general principle of common law. In deciding a title suit over the disputed property, the Supreme Court found that the idol of Ram Lalla was not only in possession of the outer courtyard (the Ram Chabutra that was demolished with the Babri Masjid) but also the inner courtyard, where the majestic, three-domed mosque stood for centuries. The dispute goes back to the days of the Raj, when Mahant Raghubar Das presided over the construction of a chabutra (a raised platform) in the outer courtyard of the mosque. In 1886-87, three different judicial…

Every generation learns differently. In the recent past, a majority of Indians had access to structured education in schools and colleges and picked up other skills from colleagues, family members and friends. But in today’s age of on-demand access to information—accessible to half a billion Indians at an affordable cost—learning is transforming rapidly, with online videos at the heart of it. With improved connectivity and low-cost data, we are seeing an incredible consumption of online video content across the country. The volume of available content across genres such as music, technology, travel and lifestyle is already massive, but in the past two years, educational video content has become one of the fastest-growing YouTube categories in India. DEMAND AND GROWTH Globally, learning and education videos on YouTube drive hundreds of millions…

It’s been about five years since Mumbai rapper Bilal Shaikh aka Emiway Bantai released his song‘Aur Bantai’onYouTube, where he currently has over 7.8 million subscribers, making it his first big hit. The song has been viewed over six million times. A radio-friendly approach to rap, devil-may-care attitude and a YouTuber work ethic of putting out material regularly have all led to Emiway becoming one of India’s most heard independent artistes today. The rapper laughs when he’s asked what he would consider as a turning point in his career so far. “I feel everyday is a turning point, when you wake up and get working,” he says. This year alone has been Emiway’s biggest. He has won multiple awards through public votes alone—like the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Indian…

Q. How did your recent collaborations with Akon and Lady Gaga materialise? My song with Akon has already been recorded. I sang the song and gave the music and lyrics. Lady Gaga and I are still in the process of finalising our tunes. There’s nothing new about my journey in Hollywood. My song ‘Jimmy, Jimmy’ was featured in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008). I’ve also worked with MC Hammer, and remember, I was the first to get Samantha Fox to India. Q. What about your music gives it this universal appeal? Michael Jackson told me he loved my song ‘Disco Dancer’. When Elton John needed someone to dub for his part in Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), he said, “I have a lookalike called Bappi Lahiri who sings…

For sharp analysis on topical issues by the editors of INDIA TODAY, log on to www.indiatoday.in/india-today-magazine-insight WHY PUNJAB HAS A BIGGER STUBBLE BURNING PROBLEM THAN HARYANA by Anilesh S. Mahajan It has more area under paddy cultivation than Haryana. Both states, however, need to diversify their crop patterns for a lasting solution http://bit.ly/2NFftp7 Why critics of majoritarianism on the Ayodhya verdict are wrong by Ajit Kumar Jha The Supreme Court relied on evidence of continuous worship on the site to give it to the temple http://bit.ly/36Sq3Rp Is the government’s bailout package enough to revive the real estate sector? by M.G. Arun The move has been welcomed by industry honchos, but some estimates say that the funds will address only six per cent of the total needs of the real estate…

Six months is all it took for the Opposition grand alliance stitched together during the Lok Sabha election to collapse in Ranchi and Patna. In poll-bound Jharkhand, the JMM the Congress and the RJD distributed the state’s 81 assembly seats among themselves on November 8, leaving their fourth partner, Babulal Marandi’s JVM, out in the cold. Now Marandi, who contested the Lok Sabha poll with the alliance, has announced his party would contest from all seats. In Ranchi, the AJSU has fielded 11 candidates, including in three constituencies for which ally BJP had already announced candidates. Plus, in Bihar the parties of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni contested in the recently held bypolls against their former partners, the RJD-Congress alliance.…

Disappointment, resignation, relief. That was the gamut of reactions the Muslim community greeted the Supreme Court’s November 9 Ayodhya verdict with. Of course, the community is not a monolithic political entity and reactions varied in degree and emphasis—tempered by class, region and even sectarian loyalties. Clerics and community leaders were unhappy with the legal outcome of the case, but seem to have made their peace with it. To the ordinary Muslim, the verdict offered closure. The community’s biggest bone of contention with the Hindus had been ‘settled’, even if not in their favour, and they could get on with the business of everyday life. Muslim politicians likewise, with the exception of a few, accepted the verdict as a fait accompli, given the hegemony of Hindutva organisations, and do not want…

For generations in the American South, men of colour were routinely sentenced for life for crimes they never committed—particularly if they were accused of the rape or murder of a white individual. White prosecutors, judges and jury members often admitted that the evidence was incomplete, even contradictory, but they invariably defended their decisions by referring to a broader sense of justice in the community they served: white majority society. The pages of the Supreme Court of India’s verdict on the disputed site of the Babri Masjid have a strong whiff of a similar interpretation of the emotions of a putative Hindu majority. The voluminous evidence of the use of the disputed area going back eight centuries does not quite add up to a clear-cut conclusion and there are many contradictions…

CORPORATES DRAW TALENT FROM SRM UNIVERSITY With more than 600 companies visiting the Kattankulathur campus of SRM University in Tamil Nadu this year, 4,749 offers have been made to the graduating class—the 2020 batch—of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology. Many more companies are expected as placements will continue till April-May next year. The highest offer so far was ₹41.6 lakh per annum by Microsoft. Other top recruiters that visited the campus include Amazon and Barclays. Organisations such as Veritas and PayPal have also made internship-linked placement offers to students. At the conclusion of day one of the placement season, companies such as TCS made 1,437 offers, Infosys 1,315, Cognizant 1,175, and Wipro, 822. This is the highest number of placements these companies have offered in any campus in…

It's hard to imagine that the author of a book as gargantuan, complex and exuberant as The Trotter-Nama ever suffered such a crisis of faith in his creation—which had been out of print for an extended period—that he took the 600-plus page manuscript and stuffed it into a pot-belly stove on a winter evening in Sydney. “It was a dark night of the soul and the smuts hung in the air of that basement, tormenting their murderer,” writes Irwin Allan Sealy in a new afterword to the recently issued 30th anniversary edition of his debut novel. “Every author has this fear,” Sealy elaborates over email from his home in Dehradun, describing his worry that “the book had failed”. He adds, “At the same time, the messianic urge (which every author…

THE HEAVENS by Sandra Newman GRANTA ₹799; 272 pages In 2000, Ben and Kate meet at a party in New York. They fall in love. When Kate goes to sleep, however, she wakes up in London. It’s 1953 and she’s the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets. FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE by Taffy Brodesser-Akner WILDFIRE ₹1,999; 384 pages Free from his nightmare of a marriage, Toby Fleishman is glad to finally have fewer responsibilities. But just as he is about to embark on a life of online dating, his ex-wife, Rachel, suddenly disappears. THE DREAMERS by Karen Thompson Walker SIMON AND SCHUSTER ₹599; 320 pages A first-year student stumbles into her room and falls asleep. No one can rouse her. As more girls similarly start falling asleep, panic soon takes hold…

Even after a career that spans three decades, ANEES BAZMEE, 56, is still on a mission to draw laughs. The writer-director of No Entry, Singh is Kinng and Welcome is coming out with yet another comedy, Pagalpanti, on November 22. He is also working on the sequel to Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Bazmee, who has collaborated with David Dhawan on over 10 films, including Bol Radha Bol and Raja Babu, shares the secrets of his longevity and the changes he has seen in Bollywood. Your first writing credit was in 1990. What does it take to be still relevant? I have no hobby and passion other than films. Kaam mujhe kaam nahin lagta (work never feels like work for me). I have people [working with me] who are young. I follow the…

WINE & DINE Take your gastronomic experience up a notch with Beyond Designs’ new dining room concepts. Featured here is one such space with velvet fabric clad ceiling and crystal chandeliers. The dining table has a stone top, cutwork mirror sides and bevelled mirror legs, while the printed and plain velvet dining chairs with antique finish rivets complete the look. PRICE on request AT www.beyonddesigns.in HUE KNEW If you are looking for tableware that makes a statement, there’s finally a solution to that problem. Humming Tree has launched limited-edition terracotta tableware made to look handmade, natural and “imperfectly-perfect”. Inspired by the Pride flag (celebrating the LGBTQ community), the collection includes cups, plates, tumblers and cake pedestal each featuring a unique dent with rainbow colours. PRICE on request AT www.hummingtree.in INTO…

ACs and air purifiers required sealed spaces. This means that the carbon dioxide levels increase inside the room. To combat this Nirvana Being has launched a great solution. Called Ventimax, it is ventilation solution that pulls in fresh, filtered air from outside your home, to replace existing air that cannot be re-circulated. It comes pre-fitted with a HEPA filter that filters all PM 2.5 particles out of the ambient air down to PM 0.3 microns. PRICE ₹24,990 (NXZ-50/QS) and ₹39,990 (NXG-50/QS)…

The brief from the client was quite straight forward ‘design it the way you want’ and so we did just that. The apartment became our drawing board and we were thrilled to make it our masterpiece. The place is a weekend home for a joint family and the first thing on their mind was leisure, the next, was partying. Therefore, the home is as relaxing as it is the perfect setting for a party. This project is also close to my heart as it debuts our furniture studio. The furniture pieces were designed, conceptualised and executed in our Hyderabad studio especially for the apartment keeping in mind its design concept. We chose a tone of Art Deco accompanied by rustic finishes and touches. We used classic materials such as brass,…

SIP IN STYLE Slow juicers are the key to a healthier lifestyle as the technology preserves more nutrients. The VitaExtract slow juicer from Bosch is no different. It also comes with a MixControl lever to adjust the amount of pulp and the thickness of your juice or smoothie. Price ₹21,199 At www.bosch.in STORE SMART Haier has introduced a single cabinet wine cellar, JC-87A with a capacity to store up to 25 bottles. The new model is equipped with two different buttons dedicated to set appropriate temperature levels for preserving the red and white wines. Price ₹28,990 At www.haier.com/in SILVER SCREEN Looking for a premium viewing experience? Get a hold of Samsung’s new QLED 8K TV that comes with real 8K resolution, 8K AI upscaling, quantum processor 8K, and quantum HDR.…

Let’s face it. The festivities continue well beyond the official festive season. That’s where Tehueti steps in with the new Mogulnama collection with 24-carat gold work. The brand is the brainchild of Delhi-based husband-wife duo, Shambhavi and Apourv Singh and is all about a pastel colour palette. Showcased here are the Zinat tapas plate, Falaq mug (whose geometric form is inspired by Mughal architecture) and the Siraz coffee mug. PRICE ₹750 (plate), ₹900 each (mugs) AT www.tehueti.in…

All too often, the memoirs of former policymakers have a familiar quality to them. They frequently sanitise any discussion of the decisions made while in office, elide questionable choices or aggrandise events that place them in the best possible light. But Samantha Power’s The Education of an Idealist marks a most pleasant change, depicting her life—from childhood to the meteoric professional rise—with brutal candour. Power, originally from Ireland and a naturalised American citizen, started her professional career as a freelance journalist in Bosnia, subsequently joining Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Following his victory, she found a position on the National Security Council, dealing with human rights issues. During President Obama’s second term in office, she was appointed the US Permanent Representative to the UN. The book is a work of unflinching…

The bonhomie among the five judges who delivered the verdict in the Ayodhya-Ram Mandir case was not restricted to the unanimous judgment. Later that evening, chief justice Ranjan Gogoi hosted an exclusive dinner at Delhi’s Taj Mahal Hotel for his four colleagues—justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer—which was attended by their families and Gogoi’s mother, Shanti Priya Gogoi, even flew in from Dibrugarh, Assam for it. While the judges seemed relieved at the general reaction to the verdict announced after 40 days of daily hearings, their families looked forward to more family time. Gogoi also received praises from his colleagues for his planning, speed and focus on writing a unanimous verdict.…

“Call it a travesty of justice or whatever, but the SC has asked those who demolished the Babri mosque in 1992 to form a trust to build the temple” Asaduddin Owaisi Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM chief “The case was about land ownership and the apex court did not make clear who is the rightful owner. We believe a mosque is the property of God; Muslims cannot be its owners” Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani Vice-chancellor, Darul Uloom Deoband “I was always in favour of a Ram temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya. The Babri Masjid was built by Mir Baqi, a Shia. So instead of giving the land to the Sunni Waqf Board, it should have been given to us” Waseem Rizvi Chairman, Shia Central Waqf Board “The…

“THIS WAS A FAIR AND PRAGMATIC VERDICT BASED ON FACTS AND LAWS. THE COURT RIGHTLY DID NOT CONSIDER RELIGIOUS FAITH WHILE GIVING THE JUDGMENT. WHILE THE DISPUTED SITE WAS GIVEN FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A TEMPLE, [THE COURT] STRONGLY CONDEMNED THE INSTALLATION OF IDOLS IN 1949 AND THE DEMOLITION OF THE BABRI MASJID IN 1992.” Subhash C. Kashyap Expert on the Constitution “ The court treated the case as a land dispute and gave a verdict. From a legal perspective, there is nothing wrong with the verdict and the people of India, by and large, have accepted it in good spirit. There could be political and religious debate over it, but everyone should move beyond this long-standing issue—that’s the mood of the country now.” Justice K.G. Balakrishnan Former Chief Justice…

“BE AUTHENTIC AND ALSO REMEMBER TO KEEP THE CONTENT REAL” ART IN PAPER Sabeena Karnik, Mumbai Instagram: @sabeenu 162,000 followers Focusing primarily on paper lettering and typography, artist Sabeena Karnik’s Instagram account gives her followers a look at the work she does, sometimes including her draft sketches and drawings, notes on her process, as well as the final, finished image. Trained as a commercial artist at Sophia Polytechnic College in Mumbai, all of Karnik’s work is hand made with paper, and is three-dimensional. DESIGN STORIES “I never expected to be a full-time paper artist. It became a career after people started showing interest in my work and giving me assignments,” says Karnik. It was in 2013 that she started posting her work on Instagram, as it had a lot to…

In Prelude to a Riot,AnnieZaidi’s new novel, communal violence is slowly coming to an unnamed Indian town. And the signs are everywhere. In the conversations of the Hindu men who disparage illegal workers, in the organisational antics of a shadowy ‘Self-Respect Forum’, in the growing tensions between plantation labourers and owners. This is a novel about build-up, as the title indicates, a novel interested in breaking down the mechanics of how communalism accretes until it explodes. A Muslim student is forced to eat pork, a boy is found dead in a ditch, a trio of men smash empty beer bottles into shards of glass to reinforce a boundary wall, someone buys a new gun. What we are shown first is how violence surfaces in small, discrete episodes. Broadly, Prelude..., focuses…

As Anthony Maras and his crew were celebrating the wrap of Hotel Mumbai’s India schedule in 2014, the director’s thumb got caught in an industrial fan, and he lost a part of it. Almost five years after that unfortunate accident in Mumbai, Maras says it was a small price to pay. Based on the 26/11 attack that devastated Mumbai in 2008, Hotel Mumbai is Maras’s debut feature film, but it is not the first time he has attempted to conjure a sense of terror. His first short was called Azadi, a film about Afghan refugees in Australia. His second short, Palace, told the story of a Turkish soldier who is trying to cope with the moral anguish that results from killing an innocent family. From the very beginning, Maras wanted…

Landscaping is an art and a science. An important aspect is carbon reduction and higher level of oxygen production. That said, colour and aroma are the basic requirements. Judicious planting of trees, shrubs, climbers, annuals, bulbous plants and flowers go a long way. Planting them on your rooftop has an added advantage of trapping heat during winter and keeping cool in summer. SHRUBS Besides releasing oxygen in the air, shrubs provide colour and aroma and can be cultivated in any garden size including the terrace or roof garden. They are easy to grow and quite a few varieties bear flowers with fragrance and are used in aroma therapy. With proper planning, you can have blooms all year round. CLIMBERS With a profusion of flowering varieties of creepers and climbers, the…

Srinagar born Verendra Wakhloo actually spent his early years along the plains of river Ganga in Bhagalpur, Bihar, running into the sugarcane fields and climbing trees, which were the initial toys of his innate world. “Those were the days of sarod, the sound of a temple bell, the mortal sky, and deep and bright colours,” says Wakhloo, 62, whose projects create a dialogue between art, architecture, design, and the public. During his time at the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe (THK), Germany, from 1977 to 1985, his new toys were testimony of the technology-driven civilisation and spilled into his architectural education. “The seed for exploration into modernism was sown by late professor Fritz Haller at THK,” he says. It was this desire for exploration and innovation that led Wakhloo to start Matra…