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There is a great amount of the Indian sub-continent and an immense talent within its people to show the world. There is so much still to be discovered.
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This is a website to promote and sell DIGITAL BOOKS, ARTICLES & PHOTOS about the Indian sub-continent or by authors from the sub-continent online at prices to ensure that they are easily accessible.
The works (articles, books, journals etc) are published and available to buy online to download or simply to print off. We do not deal in paper editions (e.g. paperback or hardback).
There is a great amount of the Indian sub-continent and an immense talent within its people to show the world. There is so much still to be discovered.
It is hoped that IDEAINDIA.COM will kindle a little interest in this vast and untapped continent.
This is a website to promote and sell DIGITAL BOOKS, ARTICLES & PHOTOS about the Indian sub-continent or by authors from the sub-continent online at prices to ensure that they are easily accessible.
The works (articles, books, journals etc) are published and available to buy online to download or simply to print off. We do not deal in paper editions (e.g. paperback or hardback).
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FEEDING CROWS
Meher Pestonji
FEEDING CROWS - eBook by Meher Pestonji and published by IDEAINDIA.COMCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE DETAILS
Feeding Crows won the South Asia segment of the BBC/British Council International Radio Play Writing Competition in 2009. Feeding Crows is play about the clash when modern life meets old traditional belief and custom in modern day Mumbai, India. A yuppie Parsi Zoroastrian couple, Farhad and Zenobia, more interested in their careers and 'getting ahead' in life, have an old, superstitious housemaid, Savitri. There is a battle of cultures and of wills. Meher has beautifully crafted this play which brings to life a clash of modern city living versus traditional belief and superstition. Discover who is feeding the crows.... and why?
MEHER PESTONJI - Author - Freelance Journalist - Playwright - as a freelance journalist Meher Pestonji participated in the activist movements of her times - the campaign to change rape laws, the campaign for slum-dwellers housing rights, the struggle to create a better understanding of street-kids and their special needs.
The post-Babri Masjid communal riots of the 90s affected her deeply and fuelled her resolve to fight all shades of communalism and parochialism, including those she encountered in her tiny Parsi community.
Disillusioned with the marker-oriented journalism that became fashionable in the years after the Indian economy embraced economic liberalization, she switched to creative writing. Her first book, a collection of short stories 'Mixed Marriage and other Parsi Stories' was published in 1999, followed by Pervez, a Novel in 2003, and Sadak Chhaap in 2005.
Her first play, Piano for Sale, had a successful run in Bombay, Delhi and Jaipur in 2006- 2007. Her second play, Feeding Crows, won the South Asia segment of the BBC/British Council International Radio Play Writing Competition in 2009.
She has recently completed a novel Ulrike and Neville.
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WOMEN PLAYING HIDE-AND-SEEK: Short Stories
Shoma Chatterji
WOMEN PLAYING HIDE-AND-SEEK: Short StoriesShoma A. Chatterji
EBOOK FOR DOWNLOAD
Cover: Courtesy Durga Kainthola, 'The Kiss', 2004
© Shoma A. Chatterji 2011
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Women Playing Hide-and-Seek is a collection of 14 short stories on Women. The stories are humorous, loving and dark. Shoma A. Chatterji combines various universal aspects of women into these beautifully constructed stories that make you laugh, cry and, above all, wonder.
Shoma A. Chatterji, film critic, journalist and author, won the National Award (1991) for Best Film Critic and the Best Film Critic Award from the Bengal Film Journalists' Association (1998.) Her book Parama and Other Outsiders - The Cinema of Aparna Sen, won the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema in 2003. She won a research fellowship from the National Film Archive Pune in 2003-2004 and a Senior Research Fellowship from PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust) Delhi. She won the second prize in the Sahitya Akademi's Golden Short Story Translation Contest in 2007. She has done her Ph.D. in History. The title of the thesis is Men Directors - Women's Voice. She writes extensively on cinema and gender issues. She also covers media, human rights, development, child rights and contemporary issues in several print and electronic media publications across India. She has been on the panel of several Film Juries at International Film Festivals such as Mannheim-Heidelberg, St. Petersburg, Dona San Sebastian, etc. She has presented papers on television and cinema at Thessaloniki, Greece, Mannheim, Stuttgart and University of Heidelberg, Germany, School of Sound, London, and Asian Film Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Besides contributing to many edited compilations on Indian cinema, she has singly authored 17 published books on cinema, gender issues, short fiction and urban history. She currently contributes to The Statesman, The Tribune, Screen, Trans World Features, South Asian Cinema and Free Press Journal. She has been writing for 30 years and is based in Kolkata.
LIFE AND WORK OF BIMAL ROY
eBook by Firoze Rangoonwalla
LIFE AND WORK OF BIMAL ROY - eBook by Firoze Rangoonwalla - published by IDEAINDIA.COMCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
BIMAL ROY was of the greatest talents of India's national cinema, whose body of work deserves a much deeper probe, to unravel the charm of his cinema in all its different manifestations. Inseparably linked with it are the system of the film industry and Bimal Roy's own convictions and attitudes to life.
This eBook attempts a new genre of "Monolysis" to observe the myriad contradictory streams, the way in which the producer-director brought them together and how they affected his work. This at once goes to make very interesting and nostalgic reading while also throwing light on various little-known mysteries connected with those famous films.
The eBook is sprinkled with anecdotes about stars, writers, producers and industry leaders whom Bimal Roy encountered as well as glimpses of his personal life and how he worked.
Acknowledgements: A. C. Roy, Ali Asghar Baig, B. N. Sircar, Basu Bhattacharya, Bipin Bharucha, Cyrus Tata, Dilip Sircar, Deena Pathak, Hrishikesh Mukherji, Jamuna, Kanan Devi, Manobina Roy, Rinki Bhattacharya, Radhamohan Bhattacharya, Roopa Shah, Ravi Kumar, Udaya Tara Nayar, Vijay Gupta.
FIROZE RANGOONWALLA has authored books on Phalke, Satyajit Ray, Mehboob and Guru Dutt. This eBook on Bimal Roy involved a long period of research, interviews and chats with several people in Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta (Kolkata), and also repeated viewings of all his films. It makes one more addition to the author's large repertoire of film literature, done in a critical, analytical yet intimate style.
THE HEARTS OF THE HOOMANS
eBook novel by BS Raghavan
THE HEARTS OF THE HOOMANS - eBook novel by BS Raghavanpublished by IDEAINDIA.COM
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The novel is set in the India of the 1950's in the northernmost part of the State of West Bengal. It is a time of change and uncertainty. India has just recently become independent and a democratic republic. The Constitution of India has come into force. Nehru's "Tryst with destiny%u2026" is just beginning.
It was a time of great transition when there were still a few of the British left as managing agents and managers of tea gardens. The old generation of the members of the Indian Civil Service appointed in the colonial era was still in high positions of authority, while the new generation of young Indian Administrative Service officers was just taking charge.
You are transported into an India of 60 years ago in this realistic and absorbing depiction by B.S. Raghavan of the subtle inter-generational and inter-racial conflicts and friendships among the new rulers and business interests when the old order was yielding place to the new.
CENSORSHIP IN INDIAN CINEMA: Contradictions and Confusions
eBook by Shoma Chatterji - published by IDEAINDIA.COM
CENSORSHIP IN INDIAN CINEMA: Contradictions and ConfusionsShoma A. Chatterji
eBOOK FOR DOWNLOAD - published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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Censorship is not just a single act of suppression or deletion or erasure. It lives in many forms, direct and indirect, overt and covert, manipulating our lives in ways so subtle and so smoothly integrated into our mindsets, that we do not even realise that we are being manipulated. Censorship, broadly speaking, can be a kind or pressure built on us to make information conform to the needs of a variety of vested interests. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we live under a web of censorship - the reporter whose copy is cut, the news agency influenced by the political power or the corporate funding behind it, the sub-editor playing with headlines that can influence the reader in a way that the original writer did not intend and that might distort the essence of the message it carries, the reader who reads this and the editor who knows how to use, misuse and abuse his blue pencil. In other words, the state is not the only censor. But the state mainly frames the rules and writes down certain guidelines for official, state-generated censorship based on its own standards of values and moral sensibilities....
Shoma A. Chatterji, film critic, journalist and author, won the National Award (1991) for Best Film Critic and the Best Film Critic Award from the Bengal Film Journalists' Association (1998.) Her book Parama and Other Outsiders - The Cinema of Aparna Sen, won the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema in 2003. She won a research fellowship from the National Film Archive Pune in 2003-2004 and recently submitted her dissertation for her Senior Research Fellowship from PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust) Delhi. She won the second prize in the Sahitya Akademi's Golden Short Story Translation Contest in 2007. She is awaiting the results of her Ph.D. thesis on Cinema in the History stream. The title of the thesis is Men Directors - Women's Voice. She writes extensively on cinema and gender issues. She also covers media, human rights, development, child rights and contemporary issues in several print and electronic media publications across India. She has been on the panel of several Film Juries at International Film Festivals such as Mannheim-Heidelberg, St. Petersburg, Dona San Sebastian, etc. She has presented papers on television and cinema at Thessaloniki, Greece, Mannheim, Stuttgart and University of Heidelberg, Germany, School of Sound, London, and Asian Film Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Besides contributing to many edited compilations on Indian cinema, she has singly authored 16 published books on cinema, gender issues, short fiction and urban history. She currently contributes to The Statesman, The Tribune, Sahara Time, Screen, The Clean India Journal, Bride & Style, Tran World Features, South Asian Cinema and Film India Worldwide. She has been writing for 30 years and is based in Kolkata.
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PRIVACY, PRURIENCE AND INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES: GLOBALISATION OF VOYEURISM
eBook by Indu Rajagopal and Nis Bojin
PRIVACY, PRURIENCE AND INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES: GLOBALISATION OF VOYEURISMProfessor Indu Rajagopal and Nis Bojin
eBook published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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It is paradoxical that innovations related to the Internet seem to create dilemmas for Web-surfers. The Internet facilitates a globalized world where no hard-world legal restrictions apply. In particular, the explosion of video surveillance and micro-camera technology has had a profound impact upon the generally accepted notions of personal privacy. As video surveillance equipment has become smaller, more portable, more easily concealed, and more accessible to the general public, its pervasive application conduces to today's cultural fascination with voyeurism. Therefore, protecting the privacy rights of individuals requires a re-conceptualization of the public and the private space, as well as an abandonment of the prevailing, albeit flawed, understanding of human privacy. The need to re-conceptualize human privacy in the context of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), especially those related to the Web, is the basis for attempts in many jurisdictions to criminalize video voyeurism. Only when new laws recognize the right to protect the human body from unreasonable and obscene intrusion through the use of Web technology, regardless of location, forum and space, will individual privacy be adequately safeguarded from the wrath of such voyeurism. The key issue here is voyeurism, and the Internet has the potential for promoting it. The issues we will explore in this paper are the roots, conditions, characteristics and facilitators of voyeurism and surveillance that apply to the private space of women. While writing this paper, it became obvious that, for clarity and poignancy, it would be useful to offer the discussion in two parts.
In Part I of this eBook, The Architecture of the Internet and the Digital Interlock of Surveillance and Voyeurism, we identify the theoretical issues and construct an analytical framework which is empirically examined in Part II, using illustrative online materials.
In Part II of this eBook, Spaces and Artifacts of Voyeurism on the Internet and the Loss of Innocence, we will examine the spaces and artifacts of Voyeurism on the Internet while extending the argument that the architecture of the Internet has a significant impact on exacerbating the globalization of voyeurism and loss of innocence.
Professor Indu Rajagopal - Assistant Professor, Division of Social Science, York University, Toronto, Canada - Interests: the development of urban economies; Canada the Third World; caste and political development in India; Indian immigrants in Canada.
THE TAMIL TITAN
Unveiling the anti-heroic mask - Who is Rajnikant?
THE TAMIL TITAN: Unveiling the anti-heroic mask - Who is Rajnikant? - eBook by K. HariharaneBook published by IDEAINDIA.COM
Copyright K. Hariharan 2009
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Rajnikant is an incredible phenomenon who has stunned the Tamil screen so hard that you almost tend to believe that there has never been anybody like him in the history of Indian Cinema so far! Yet, if you pick and choose any film randomly among his 150 odd movies like 'Manithan', 'Maveeran' or 'Mannan' chances are that it will be badly shot, poorly crafted, containing kitschy sets and absurdly choreographed stunt sequences. Yet, what transformed so many of them into silver jubilee hits? What motivated the hundreds of his fans associations to be so devotedly busy? How is it that producers managed to make at least 6 films each year with him from 1980 to 1995? The answer is simple - the amazing presence of this one man army, Rajnikant. At the same time, I am more or less sure that he had very sketchy ideas about the kind of scripts that were being written for him. He was just destined to be the lucky god, happy to be amidst the right devotees in the right place at the right time!
K. Hariharan A student of Film Direction from the Film & TV Institute of India, Pune (batch of 1976) after completing a graduation in Commerce and Business Management from Bombay University in 1973. Later settled down in Chennai to make 7 feature films, which include 'Ghashiram Kotwal' (1978), a film in Marathi which was screened at the Berlin, Edinburgh and Valladolid film festivals. "Ezhavathu Manithan' (The 7th Man), the next film in Tamil got the national award for the best Tamil film in 1982 and the Afro-Asian Solidarity Award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1983. In 1992 the Hindi film entitled 'Current' starring Om Puri and Deepti Naval got the best critics award that year. Between these films, directed 3 films for the Children's Film Society of India; 'Wanted Thangaraj' in 1979, 'Crocodile Boy' in 1986, and 'Dubhashi' (The Translator) in 1999. Has also been concentrating on a lot of documentary and educational films as an independent filmmaker. This includes 'Take a Break with Hugh & Colleen Gantzer'- a 26 part Travel series; a 26 part educational series called 'Understanding Cinema', and a long dramatic series on the Bhakti poets of south India called 'Maale Manivanna'. Teaching on film production & cinema studies has been an equally important passion. Regular visiting faculty at the University of Pennsylvania since 1995 in the South Asia Regional Studies department teaching two courses titled 'Indian Cinema & Society' and the 'Cinema of Satyajit Ray'. Guest faculty at the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and at the Film & TV Institute in Pune, India, the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. The new LV Prasad Film & TV Academy is an ambitious and pioneering project of the Prasad Group, Asia's largest post production house. As the Director of the Academy, he is responsible for training students through a 2 year program to become competent Filmmakers and Television producers and technicians. In active collaboration with Arcadia University, USA, the larger objective is to create filmmakers with a holistic vision of Cinema & as an extension of the study of Liberal Arts. And of course happily married to Rama, a Homeopathic doctor and father of Anjali, also a Homeopathic doctor and Vivek an engineering post-graduate student
EVOLUTIONARY ECONOMICS
eBook by Hirak Bhattacharya
There are many reasons why an alternative book on economics might be sought. Evolutionary Economics by Hirak Bhattacharya is an alternative.
It may be that the current treasure of economics text, however contextual, is felt to be inappropriate in some way - perhaps it has worn out by its long prostituted use, or somehow does not suit the tone of civilisation. And, the tone of civilisation, being derived from so many sources, requires a consistent text of economics that is substitutable in all contexts.
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MOFUSSIL NOTEBOOK: Poems of Small-Town India
eBook by Smita Agarwal
MOFUSSIL NOTEBOOK: Poems of Small-Town IndiaeBook by Smita Agarwal published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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Like the epigraph couplet of the eighteenth century Urdu poet, Zauq, Smita Agarwal's second book of poems casts a wry and amused glance at the world around her. While poems like "Catechesis", "Undergraduate Indian English" and "Mofussil Mummies" explore the colonial hangover, others like "I Love You" reveal, with tolerant irony, the curious blend of tradition and modernity which is contemporary India.
Agarwal's landscapes shift from Allahabad to Ladakh to Times Square and her emotions from playful ("My Bindi") to stark ("Moving On"). She also experiments with form as in "Ghazal: Civil Lines", "These Days" (the Hindi kavi sammelan) and the folk in "Binsar Barahmasa".
Smita Agarwal is the author of Wish-granting Words, Poems, Ravi Dayal Publisher, New Delhi, 2002. ISBN 81-7530-046-9
Reviews of On Wish-granting Words, Poems:
Smita Agarwal's treatment of "life's disenchantment's ... with rare sensitivity and without a trace of self-pity prove that she is a first-rate poet from whom we can expect great writing." Khushwant Singh in Hindustan Times.
Smita Agarwal's poems "veer from the exotic to the defamiliarized" yet she "offers glimpses of optimism" in her "painfully grown-up pieces." Devon Campbell-Hall in Wasafiri.
Smita Agarwal's poems "have the fine tenor of a practiced musician." Outlook.
THESE DAYS
This summer, the mango tree bore aubergines;
These days, you can't trust in anything.
A young man, dying, made off with his nurse:
These days you can't trust anyone %u2026
My spouse cooed, "I love you deary %u2026"
The next minute he was smooching his secretary.
The Ganges burst its banks %u2026
The Ganges burst its banks and flooded the streets;
Lalu Yadav placated us by saying the goddess
Wished to kiss the common man's feet %u2026
Ramlila, the story of an ideal prince, has changed its format.
Bar girls gyrate to film tunes,
While Suparnakha, in her act of seduction,
Jumps into Laxman's lap.
And we, the public, hiss and clap %u2026
God's life story acquires a celluloid tinge %u2026
How shall we place our trust in anything?
In the land of Buddha, man and beast co-exist in peace.
In overcrowded railway stations, don't be taken aback
If you witness this scene. A defeated Indian in dhoti and kurta,
Casually sipping his tea. A cow walks up to him
When his back is turned; it dips its head and pushes
Its wet muzzle into the cleft of his bottom
And gives him a tender nuzzle.
Never touched like this, he shamelessly allows
Himself to like it %u2026 for, ever since the mango sprouted aubergines,
We Indians don't allow anything to surprise us,
Since we never put our trust in anything.
Santhara is the Jain ritual of embracing death by giving up food.
Vimla Devi, all of sixty, suffering from an incurable brain tumour
Decides to practise it and liberate herself.
Her community supports her, the police stand by and watch her,
And when she dies, there's a hue and cry, for in our country
Self-killing is suicide and therefore a crime %u2026
Tradition and modern laws clash and ring.
How should we die %u2026 how should we live %u2026
By not being amazed at anything %u2026
In summer, my mango tree sprouts aubergines,
These days, I fail to put my trust in anything.
SMITA AGARWAL has been publishing poetry in India and abroad for over twenty years. In 1999, she has been a writer-in-residence at the universities of Stirling (Scotland) and Kent, U.K. Her collection of poems, Wish-granting Words, Ravi Dayal Publisher, New Delhi, 2002, received favourable reviews in India as well as the UK. Her poems have been included in anthologies such as, Literature Alive, New Writing from India and Britain, Vol. 2, Summer 1996; Nine Indian Women Poets, Oxford University Press, 1997; Verse: Special Feature on Indian poetry, UK & USA, Vol. 17 & 18, 2001; Reasons for Belonging, Penguin, 2002; Midnight's Grandchildren: Post Independence Poetry from India, Struga Poetry Press, Macedonia, 2003; Confronting Love, Penguin, 2005; Fulcrum: Special Issue on Indian Poetry in English, USA: No. 4, 2005; Sparks, DAV Centre for Creative Education, New Panvel, Mumbai, 2008; Indian English Women Poets, New Delhi, Creative Books, 2009 and We Speak in Changing Languages: Indian Women Poets, 1990-2007. New Delhi, Sahitya Akademi, 2009.
Her critical articles on Indian Poetry in English have been published in magazines and journals like Poetry Review, (London) and the Journal of Commonwealth Literature (UK). Smita Agarwal worked for her Ph D on Sylvia Plath and is currently an editor and translator for Plath Profiles the Sylvia Plath online journal, Indiana University, USA.
Her day job is that of a Professor of English at the University of Allahabad, India. Her hobby is Indian music and her songs are available on www.beatofindia.com and YouTube.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
MICHAEL LAROCCA
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONRISING FROM THE ASHES is the story of how the author's mother managed to raise two sons alone. She overcame rape, spouse abuse, child abuse, the death of the man she loved, alcoholism and suicide. This is a story of courage. Not just the courage of Michael's mother but of Michael himself in writing this book. It takes courage to be so open and frank about your life. Time after time Jo, Michael's mother, suffers setback after setback but instinctively rises above what life throws at her. She rises from the ashes of the past each and every time. She provides her two sons with courage and motivation to persevere as much as possible in the face of what life threw at them. It is as if after each setback she reincarnates herself into a new and better person and ultimately to a better life.
This is the story of the unconquerable human spirit!
The reviews say it all.
Michael LaRocca was born in North Carolina in 1963, and he grew up in North Carolina and Florida. In late 1999, he moved to Hong Kong and became a full-time writer and editor. In February 2002 he moved to Hangzhou, China to teach Advanced Writing and Spoken English. In 2006 he moved with his family to Thailand.
He has been described by WRITER'S REVIEW as "a top-notch talent." His website was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. Since his return to writing in March 2000, his shorter works have appeared in over twenty different publications, and his first published novel was a finalist for the prestigious 2002 EPPIE Awards, in the Thriller category. Five of his books were published in 2002.
He has edited over 300 published novels and textbooks over the past 20 years. He provides a proofreading, fiction and technical editing and manuscript evaluation service. Michael may be contacted at michaeledits@michaeledits.com. His web site is at http://www.michaeledits.com
SLOW DOWN, INDIA
A short story by Jayshree Winters
SLOW DOWN, INDIAA Short Story
© Jayshree Winters 2010
Free e-article to read online
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The views expressed are those of the author.
March 8th, 2010 - I am travelling by Rajdham Express from Bombay to Baroda - nice train, quite comfortable - bottled water, newspaper, snacks, then lunch. Tea or coffee a couple of times - all served with an expertise, almost fascinating, precise, timely and perfected. Great to watch - somewhat impersonal perhaps but then these guys have to move fast - all in all, a good experience.
I am sitting next to a young man who had bluntly refused to sit next to my travel companion - was I surprised? Greatly so%u2026what had happened to the respect, flexibility of the yester years? Of course the only way to look at this is that the young man was being assertive, had a great self-esteem, and knew what he wanted to do, or not do, I told myself.
Separated from my companion, me being who I am, I started a conversation with the young man - he mumbled a few words and immersed himself into his cell phone. Soon he started making and receiving calls, talking loudly, oblivious to other passengers, let alone me sitting next to him. When not talking he played some games on his phone - nicely dressed, clearly a young businessman from his conversations. In between, I tried again to engage him in small talk, mentioned my trip from New York to Bombay to Baroda, my profession, etc., but he seemed totally disinterested. After a while, I gave up and immersed myself in my book.
Facing me (yes, there are seats like this on the train) was a family who had just started eating some homemade food that had heavenly aromas. Again they seemed fully immersed in what they did. What surprised me is that at no point did they offer me (which would have been politely and thankfully declined) or the young man next to me any food - was this not the usual custom in by gone India? Again I felt like I did not know my own people - was this the new India??
Glancing around the train one could see many passengers talking on their cell phones and reading. Sure there were a few who talked to each other but it felt different.
Maybe I was not looking at things right or expecting too much - after all India has changed tremendously, positively for the most part. In big cities such as Bombay, Delhi, and even Baroda (Vadodara to be more precise) everywhere one sees progress - tall buildings, big malls, many modern technological innovations, and what not. Everybody, of course, has a cell phone and families communicate more by a cell phone throughout the day, thereby sitting than by sitting together at dinner - or so it seems. Dress (more western style dress) and food preferences have changed (my own nieces and nephews prefer pizza, pasta, and McDonald's to the roti and dals). Nothing wrong with anything - it just felt like I was fast forwarded into an India that felt surreal to my foreign eyes.
Progress is good - it is needed by any individual, group or country. India has done a remarkable job at it and in the process has uplifted the masses. From villages to big cities, one sees and hears of the fruits of change - people seem happier, more financially and materially contented - they seem to travel more and more restaurants are crowded, especially on a Sunday. Such is the power of the country's financial strength. I do not mean to generalize this to smaller towns, villages or and one person - it may be very different there - I do not know because I travelled only to big cities.
So what am I unhappy about? Why did I feel so 'lost'? What is missing??
I mulled over this for a few days and then it dawned on me - it was all about small things and big things. In old days when I alighted from the train there would be a crowd of relatives at the platform (station). Smiling, chatting, we would then go to an aunt of uncles home. One of the aunts would be cooking and we all talked endlessly - now just one cousin comes to pick me up because 'everyone else was busy.' Now mind you, I have no changed, nor have my relationships, my finances, and so on - we go to my aunt's house, who of course, welcomes me with love. My cousins soon leave because they have to meet 'someone.' Over the next few days I met some cousins, but others were busy with 'work, you know the stress, meetings, and so on.' My aunt, who is widowed and quite worldly, talked about the family as if it was 'then' and 'now.' She also felt lonely, 'left out', and missed the old times when she was surrounded by a lot of family. "These are signs of times and now even here in India all are on our own." "People have become very busy, you know."
Perhaps a microcosm of lifestyle here, but what really has changed? Are people suddenly so busy? Have cell phones robbed us of our natural human tendencies to talk to one another? Is that not what India has prided itself all along - family ties, hospitality (even to strangers), that easy smile, those quite conversations, that sharing of food??
Perhaps things have not really changed. Perhaps it is just my own experience. Perhaps it is my own expectations. Perhaps the nostalgia of bygone days lingers on. I really do not know. India felt like a beautiful blooming flower but the scent from it seemed to have diminished.
Dr. Jayshree Winters is a practicing psychiatrist in New Jersey. She is a caring and compassionate physician, who is held in high esteem by her patients and the medical community. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in her field, the American Psychiatric Association honoured her by naming her a Distinguished Fellow of the Association. Dr. Winters is a tireless advocate of giving back to the society. She volunteers her time to several organizations and serves on the boards of Cancer Care and Health Power for Minorities. She is also an active member of the Rotary International. Dr. Winters is a prolific writer and an eloquent speaker, with frequent radio and TV presentations. She has published numerous articles, and is often sought by the media on coverage related to social, cultural, life adjustment issues, immigrant experiences and mental health issues. Dr. Winters is a Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association, Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is also an accomplished psychoanalyst and holds certification in Disaster Mental Health from the American Red Cross. A graduate of MS University of Baroda, India, she completed her psychiatric training at the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. Dr. Winters is also an executive producer of the TV show THEDESIDOCTORS aimed at bringing some of the current medical information to the viewers.
BHAVA BLOG
EBOOKS, INDIA, SOUTH ASIA, LAW, ZOROASTRIANISM, HUMOUR, DIGITAL BOOKS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, PHOTOS, PUBLISHING
BHAVA BLOG - EBOOKS, INDIA, SOUTH ASIA, LAW, ZOROASTRIANISM, HUMOUR, DIGITAL BOOKS, REVIEWS, ARTICLES, PHOTOS, PUBLISHING
POONA COMPANY
FARRUKH DHONDY
Click on image for more informationDhondy, who was born in Pune, India, writes in POONA COMPANY about people he knew. The stories are touching, sad and funny, but all of them are full of life which assures readers that Dhondy is talking of people he knew well. He writes about street people who make book on the NYSE cotton market, about a Hindu in love with an Arab, about a man who never works but always watches. The stories are from Dhondy's childhood to early manhood, and while a strong setting never emerges, strong emotions do.
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
CAPTAIN COOL: M. S. DHONI STORY
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It took just four years for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to transform from a boy from an obscure small town into an icon of Indian sports. The events that made up that tale turned into one of the greatest feel-good stories of recent times, and I felt it needed to be told.
Dhoni is arguably the most radical and influential Indian cricketer since the emergence of Kapil Dev in the late '70s. The positive impact he has had on Indian cricket-and on aspiring youth-is the modern-day version of a fairy-tale come true. Since he received no formal training during his formative years, Dhoni's rough-and-ready ways were never ironed out of his system. And there lies his appeal, and that is what pulls in the crowds. Here is a leader-India's captain in one-day internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 since 2007 and in a Test in 2008-who makes bold decisions and carries them forward. The fact that the results have in the main turned out to be positive is no mere stroke of luck. Like Kapil Dev a quarter of a century earlier, Dhoni is instinctive, going by his gut feeling. Over-strategising and forward planning are not for the likes of Kapil and MSD. They are cricketers who play it straight from the heart, not the head, and what counts most of all is that they always lead by example.
With the world title under his belt, Dhoni was able to make the bold decision in Australia in 2008 to shed the weight of his iconic seniors when it came to the ODI tri-series. Expectedly, he came under a barrage of criticism. But once again, he was proved right. Beating the mighty Aussies in their own backyard was something not even Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin or Sourav Ganguly had been able to achieve. No wonder he was the prize catch when it came to the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. And leading the Chennai Super Kings to the final of the inaugural event added another arrow to his quiver. Dhoni today is on top of the world.
This is his inspiring story.
GULU EZEKIEL is one of India's best-known sports journalists and authors, with three decades of experience in print, and on radio, TV and Internet. He has previously been sports editor at the Asian Age, New Delhi TV and indya.com. Ezekiel is the author of 11 sports books, including seven on cricket, and has contributed to a dozen others published in India, Australia and England. Based since 1991 in New Delhi, in August 2001 Gulu launched GE Features, a features and syndication service. He has contributed to over 100 publications around the world and regularly airs his views on sporting issues on various TV news channels. This is his 12th book and is also published in paperback by Westland Ltd.
INDIA AND BRITANNIA: AN ABIDING AFFAIR
SUBHASH CHOPRA
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThe Indo-British connection is a much misunderstood affair. There are Anglophiles and Anglophobes in India while in Britain there are patronising, if charitable, Raj lovers and plain India-bashers...
The less-educated and over-educated among the Indians and the British have their typical hang-ups while there is a minority in the middle that feels misunderstood and laughed out of court by both sides.
There is also a 'diplomatic' class in Britain and an outwardly 'ever agreeable' or chaploos class in India. Yet there is a genuine minority in the middle that is not afraid of openly defending the other side - Indians defending Britons and Britons defending Indians - be it at work, in the pub or outside in wider social life.
For all the Anglophiles, Anglophobes, Raj lovers and India-bashers, the Indo-British encounters are akin to counterpoints in music, opposite yet complementary, giving a special note to the composite symphony.
It is this perception that is happily, albeit slowly, growing and contributing to better understanding of Britain among Indians and of India among Britons. The present volume - India and Britannia: An Abiding Affair is aimed at furthering that mutual understanding between the two countries.
In the making of this book my first thoughts go to my son Toby and his mother Judith and finally to my journalist friends during my long years (almost 25) of work with British newspapers up and down the country where sometimes I was the only Asian or Indian on the staff. Unknown to many of them and for a long time unknown to my own self, the book was in silent gestation for several years. The flow of banter during work and off work at the pub became the unspoken background for this book. Of course, there was the odd Rottweiler whose scowl one wouldn't wish on one's worst enemy.
Peter Holt, David Evans, Antony de Boudin, David Searby, Steve Hartley and (the late) Len Clark on newspapers from Darlington to Reading and Austin Wormleighton, Yoosof Sawal and Peter Hegarty from The Times, London, as well as Martyn Featherby, my co-regular at 'The Moon', all in their own ways have added to an abiding camaraderie.
SUBHASH CHOPRA is a freelance journalist. He began his journalistic career at The Indian Express, New Delhi. After about four years on the reporting and editing staff of the Express, he left for Britain where he worked on newspapers up and down the country for about 25 years, including TheTimes, London, at its business news desk. He also had a short spell as Publications Editor, Commonwealth Secretariat, London. In India, besides working for The Indian Express, New Delhi and Madras, he worked as Associate Editor, The National Herald, and Asian News International, the print and television news agency, looking after its scripts for Reuters and other feeds and the print service for newspapers. He has been freelancing since leaving ANI and now divides his time between New Delhi and London. His latest book, Partition, Jihad & Peace, is published in hardback by Lancerpublishers.com
REVIEWS
A very important book... it's extremely well written... Anyone who reads it, they will find they are getting through it with a great deal of enjoyment... I disagree with parts of it because I do believe that the empire and the Indo-¬British relationship should be seen from both sides... It's very important to openly admit our differences and discuss these differences and I very much hope that this book will be the beginning of a new discussion between India and Britain. Sir Mark Tully, writer, broadcaster and former BBC bureau chief, South Asia
He (Chopra) argues in this beautifully-written book that a better understanding is developing, slowly but surely, and rather like a marriage that is getting long in the tooth and just a bit crotchety, there is a kind of tolerance, and affection too, between the two countries. Cambridge Evening News
In his indictment of Kipling, Chopra is harsh. He maintains that Kipling knew nothing of India, and his portrayal of Indian life was superficial. He also criticises Nirad C Chaudhri for lauding Kipling's achievements as a literary writer. According to Chopra, it was Kipling's jingoism that had made him the chief (British) national public relations officer. V N Datta, The Tribune on Sunday
Chopra 's mind is racing between two countries, the land of his birth and the land he loves. He is equally scathing in his criticism of India's Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as of Britain's John Enoch Powell, the late long-time MP for Wolverhampton South-West, for their rabid utterances... What comes out triumphant in the book is the Indo-British symphony of the global village where slowly but surely the throbbing heart breaks down barriers cultural, religious or political. Rita Mukherjee, Asia Reporter
A very lively, delightful, eminently readable account of one man's eye-view of a relationship which is of immense, historical, social, cultural import. Inder Maihotra, columnist and former editor of The Times of India
Plenty of food for thought in this pungent collection...Roy Martin, Evening Post, Reading
Evocative and engaging...Premen Addy, India Weekly, London
A fond and fair look at the relationship which has existed between India and Britain for hundreds of years...The Northern Echo, Darlington
Very absorbing...Dr Riyaz Punjabi, International Centre for Peace Studies
An insightful book....Devendara Mohan, Business India
This is a book you cannot gulp down in a rush. It must be sipped ever so gently, savouring the substance and letting its flavour sink in slowly. Shekhar Mehra, National Herald
ECOLOGY AND THE POLITICS OF SURVIVAL
Conflicts Over Natural Resources in India
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The United Nations University's Programme on Peace and Global Transformation was a major world-wide project whose purpose was to develop new insights about the interlinkages between questions of peace, conflict resolution, and the process of transformation. The research in this project, under six major themes, was coordinated by a 12-member core group in different regions of the world: East Asia, South-East Asia (including the Pacific), South Asia, the Arab region, Africa, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, and Latin America. The themes covered were: Conflicts over Natural Resources; Security, Vulnerability and Violence; Human Rights and Cultural Survival in a Changing Pluralistic World; The Role of Science and Technology in Peace and Transformation; The Role of the State in Peace and Global Transformation; and Global Economic Crisis. The project also included a special project on Peace and Regional Security.
Environmentalism has finally become part of the dominant discourse. 'development' has given way to 'sustainable development', and 'growth' has given way to 'green growth'. Yet the ruling paradigm about environmental issues continues to be biased in favour of the North, and the elites of the South. This bias creates a number of misconceptions about environmental issues in the Third World. The first misconception is that Third World countries need 'development' and cannot afford the luxury of protecting nature's ecological processes. The second misconception, closely related to the first, is that poor people cannot be a source of ecological solutions, they are merely a source of environmental problems.
However, as the case studies and analysis of this book show development is not universally benign. Development for some means underdevelopment and dispossession of many. Development interventions aimed at commercialization of natural resources involve a major shift in the manner in which rights to resources are perceived and exercised. It transforms commons into commodities and deprives the politically weak communities of access to resources, and robs resources from nature, to generate growth on the market for more privileged groups in society. This transformation in the Third World is often state mediated, though the final outcome is privatization. For example, dams are constructed using state funds to provide energy and water for private industry and cash crop cultivation. Most critical ecology movements are based on the need to protect nature and the need to strengthen people's collective rights to common resources. The emergence of social movements around ecological issues related to forests and water systems, indicates that it is the marginal communities in the Third World for whom the protection of nature is essential for survival. From their perspective, it is destructive development which is a luxury that the Third World cannot afford. Also, ecology and economics are not opposed, but converge in the survival economies of the Third World poor.
ZEN KATHA by PARTAP SHARMA
Revered in China, Okinawa and Japan as the founder of Zen and the martial arts, the Indian monk Bodhidharma was, till the writing, performance and publication of this play, almost totally forgotten in his homeland India.Zen Katha tells the story of how Bodhidharma, born a prince in the south Indian kingdom of Kanchipuram in the fifth century, had to discover ways to excel at unarmed combat because the royal Pallavas prided themselves on their wrestling skills. The prince became a monk and travelled to China. There, his strange and somewhat eccentric behavior led to various piquant situations. He became not only the Founding Patriarch of Zen but also the first peaceful fighting monk. As Chief Abbot of the Monastery of Shaolin, he initiated the tradition that now makes it unique.
Aldous Huxley has said of the martial arts devised by Bodhidharma: "Movements intrinsically beautiful and at the same time charged with symbolic meaning. The whole body transformed into a hieroglyphic, a succession of hieroglyphics, of attitudes modulating from significance to significance like a poem or a piece of music. Movements of the muscles representing movements of consciousness. It's meditation in action."
HINDU INFLUENCE ON GREEK PHILOSOPHY
Click on the image for more details.MANY HAVE noted some strange parallels between Hindu and Greek philosophies, Did one in influence the other ? Or were the similar ideas spontaneous original growths ? Or was a common ancestry responsible ? The author examines such questions in this engrossing book. He warns us that all Hindu philosophy was not idealistic as was not Greek. But Vedantic monism ultimately came to rule the roost in India, and Plato was a major influence in Greek ph Jo so ph y.
The author therefore, mainly compares Plato's ideas with those of Hindu idealist philo¬sophy. The resemblances, like Plato's idea of the detached Philosopher-king, like the rajarshi, his three classes, almost castes, in his Republic, his conception of the nous and the Demiurge, like jivatman and paramatman his idea of doxa (appearances), very much like the Hindu maya, his three-part formulation of the soul, corresponding to sattva, rajas and tamas, his doctrine of rebirth etc all point to borrowings from India. which developed these ideas earlier. No direct proof is possible, hut there were contacts between ancient India and Greece, and the circumstantial evidence for Greek borrowing which the author brings forward with judicious care, is overwhelming. Both Socrates and Plato may have had, the author gives reasons to think, Indian contacts. In any case, the Pvthagoreans had them, as the author proves. and these two eminent fathers of Greek philosophy had acknowledged connections with the followers of Pythagoras. whose ideas are deeply permeated with Hindu idealist philosophy.
This is a lucidly written book, which will he of interest, not only to students of philoso¬phy. hut also to laymen interested in the deeper questions of life and its meaning.
Timothy Lomperis is a professor of political science specializing in international security and Asian studies. He has written three books on the Vietnam War: "The War Everyone Lost --and Won" (1984, 87, and 93), "Reading The Wind" (1987), and From People's War To People's Rule (96). The latter work received the Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award for the best book in the social sciences published at a Jesuit institution from 1994-1998. He received posdoctoral felloswhips at Harvard University in 1985-86 and at the Wilson Center for International Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC in 1988-89.
BHAVA BLOG
Blog on India, South Asia, Law and Zoroastrianism, digital books and publishing
Click on the image for more information.I am a Zoroastrian of Indian origin (a 'Bhava' in Indian slang). I work as a lawyer in London undertaking criminal defence work. This is a new blog for writings on India, South Asia, Law and Zoroastrianism. It is also to talk about digital books (ebooks) on India and South Asia - epublishing. For authors, writers, journalists, publishers to discuss their works. The topics can cover a wide area: sport, society, history, politics, religion, art, yoga, law, philosophy, economics, fiction, environment, cinema, agriculture, mythology, anthropology, science...
SHAPOORJI SOKAJEE
INDIA'S FIRST ENGLISH CRICKET PLAY
SHAPOORJI SOKAJEEby Pradeep Vijayakar
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Two old cricket teams of Mumbai ---Prabhu Jolly Young and Parsi Cyclists are playing their last match of the Kanga cricket league. The Prabhus need to win their match to avoid being relegated to lower division. The Parsis need to draw to stay in the same division. Watching the action with anxiety are two fans of either side Shapoorji of the Cyclists and Sokajee of the Prabhus. The play brings to life the community of the maidans in Mumbai. Mention of the maidans creates evocative images of the dawns and dusks, food-sellers and water bottles, smoke and shine, dew and haze that provide a vital background for the sometimes solemn and sometimes light-hearted events taking place on the field. The maidan is the Eden Gardens of the common man, a place where men of all shapes, sizes and ages play cricket with the peculiar intelligence detected amongst those for whom the game is both a human drama and a battle of wits. As England has its village greens, Australia its backyards and Barbados its street struggles so India has had the rituals and traditions of its maidans, patches of grass that awaken as slowly as a slumbering market but then come to life as the rays of the sun start to penetrate and summon.
Foreward by Sunil Gavaskar.
Reviews by Partap Sharma, Peter Roebuck, Geet Sethi and Dilip Chitre.
Pradeep Vijayakar is the Assistant Editor of The Times of India which he has served since 1974. He is a Times of India gold medallist from the Rajendra Prasad Institute of Mass Communications. He studied in Mumbai's St Stanislaus High School, Bandra and St Xavier's College, famous for sports and studies. He represented the Bombay University at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Course at Nagpur in 1972 He is a rare journalist who has covered a wide range of sports from cricket (5 World Cups) to kabaddi, from bridge to rugby and table tennis, archery, motor sports, martial arts, besides his beloved, cue sports.
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INTERACTION DESIGN & USABILITY FROM AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
Talks with: Apala Chavan, Anirudha Joshi, Dinesh Katre, Devashish Pandya, Sammeer Chabukswar, Pradeep Yammiyavar
by TORKIL CLEMMENSENclick on image for more information.
The book is aimed at the global audience of designers and usability professionals as well as at researchers and students in the maturing fields of interaction design and human-computer interaction (HCI) and in particular for those interested in designing for the international market or for the indigenous user populations home and abroad. It will also be relevant to others with an interest in culture, computer science and technology. The book will have a lifespan of several years because the people interviewed are first-movers and prominent individuals in the rapidly growing field of usability and Human-computer interaction in Asia. For students, the book can be used as supplementary reading. For researchers, the book will be a natural choice for orienting themselves in the HCI community of India. For practitioners, the book may create debate and be used as promotion of the field.
This is a collection of talks on usability and culture with prominent researchers and practitioners on the Indian interaction design and usability scene: Apala Chavan, Anirudha Joshi, Dinesh Katre, Devashish Pandya, Sammeer Chabukswar, and Pradeep Yammiyavar. I did these talks because for several years I have been the coordinator of a cross cultural research project in India, China and Denmark that aims at investigating the impact of culture on the results of established methods of usability testing. During these years I gradually have come to realize the need for letting the prominent researchers and practitioners in the Indian software industry and university world speak about the big questions in the field. Without this grand context, it is in fact impossible to understand what research experiments will tell us about interaction design and usability in India and abroad.
TORKIL CLEMMENSEN, Associate Professor, Department of Informatics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Focus on methods and techniques for pre-investigation, analysis, design and test and evaluation of human-computer interfaces. Special interest: cultural-cognitive perspectives on user representations, computers supported cooperative work and online communities. Primary research areas: Human-Computer Interaction, Cultural Usability, User representations, Professional Expertise, Community Knowledge.
DAYS OF THE TURBAN
© Partap Sharma 1986Click on image for more information.
Balbir is the youngest member of a wealthy Punjabi family, the descendant of a great Brahmin warrior dynasty. In the Punjab the family counts for everything. Balbir's grandfather Lok Raj, still holds patriarchal sway over his extended family and their lands. Over-educated and bored with life in a Punjabi village, Balbir want only to escape, to get away from the demands of his ever-present family. Most of all he would like to follow his glamorous elder brother Raskaan, who has escaped to Europe and become westernised and rich, a businessman in Berlin.
Searching for adventure and trying to raise the money to finance his escape, Balbir becomes entangled with local gunrunners. Venturing into the Golden Temple at Amritsar with a message for the Sikh extremists who have fortified it, he is held hostage to ensure that his cousin Satyavan will provide the arms the movement needs. But the family rallies round and the patriarch plots to rescue his beloved grandson.
Days of the Turban presents a picture of Indian society from the inside. It shows a country in transition, where the old values are under attack from new ideas but where, in the end, the traditions and ways of life of the past still have their place.
"Unusual - dramatic - horrific." The Observer, London
"A substantial work of fiction (written) with vividness and vivacity." British Book News
"As authentic as daylight. The language, in keeping with the ethos of Punjab, is full blooded, earthy - Days of the Turban presents a picture of Punjab's rural society that leaves one numb with terror - Here in this book we come to grips with basic emotions. The drama builds up it holds the attention of the reader by the margin of his mind. It is Hitchcock at his best - Days of the Turban may well go down in Indian literary history as the most definitive work of fiction on Punjab - .It is this deep backgrounding' that is most impressive about this novel, so contemporary, so evocative that it gives one the goose pimples. It is packed with TNT and it explodes on every page." The Times of India
"A good novel. It tells a tale, does not shy away from the ambiguities of a contemporary situation" Deccan Herald
''Written with elan and an eye to detail and offers an insight into the goings on in the Punjab from a human point of view." Hindustan Times
"..Pratap Sharma is a fine raconteur. He is at his best on home ground picturising rural Punjab." The Week
"A tribute to Punjab - the book has an epic sweep" The Daily
PARTAP SHARMA is a playwright, novelist [Days of the Turban] and author of four books for children. His best known plays, A Touch of Brightness, Begum Sumroo, Sammy! and Zen Katha, have been staged in various countries. His books have been published in India, England, USA, France, Denmark, Holland and Canada. As an actor, he has played the lead in five Hindi feature films and won the National Award in 1971 for his performance in Phir Bhi. He has also played the role of Nehru in the film Nehru: Jewel of India. In the year 2003, he spent three months in China to take part, again as Nehru, in an international film titled Chou-en-lai in Bandung. He has directed a number of documentary films, including a historical series for Channel Four Television, London, titled The Raj Though Indian Eyes. England's Museum of the British Empire & Commonwealth, in Bristol, now has a permanent section devoted to film clips and interviews titled The Partap Sharma Archive on the British Raj. His voice is well-known to cinema, TV and radio audiences as he is one of India's foremost commentators and narrators.
TRYST WITH TERROR
TERRORISM IN INDIA 2005 - 2008
Joginder Singh 2009click on image for more information
India's "Tryst with Destiny", as envisioned by Nehru, has not always been a bed of roses. India suffers far more than many may realise from terrorism. Joginder Singh takes us on a journey through a short period in India's history in which so much has happened, in which so much has changed and yet so much remains unchanged.
This book is based on articles and papers written by Joginder Singh between 2005 and 2008 that detail terrorism in India up to the Mumbai attack that began on 26 November 2008. This former Director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) gives us a unique insight into India's continuing struggle with terrorism from Naxal, Maoist Rebels, Islamic terrorists and other groups, home-grown and foreign, each with their own agendas, hell-bent on destruction and carnage in the last 4 years.
Joginder also looks at the wider picture of South Asia, the threats India faces and the efforts India has taken, both internally and abroad, to tackle terrorism within its borders. The political, diplomatic, legal and operational hurdles that are faced by those entrusted with preventing terrorist attacks are something that Joginder understands only too well and in his own way illuminates this to his audience together with his hopes and fears for the future.
JOGINDER SINGH, now a well known author and columnist for several National and States newspapers, joined Indian Police Service in 1961, in his first attempt at the eligible age of 20. He has served in his Karnataka cadre and Government of India, in several capacities, including the last high profile job of Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India (Equivalent of FBI of USA). He has authored 29 books so far and some of them have been published in all Indian languages as well as in Bhasha Indonesia. His books include the magnus opus, "Inside CBI" and his autobiography "Without Fear And Favour", apart from books on the contemporary conditions in India, like Inside India, Inside Indian Police (Both Hindi and English), Police Ke Kahani Meri Zabani (Hindi), Good Governance, Discovery of Independent India, Indian Monocracy, Scams, Demise of Indian Dream. He is an excellent motivation and management speaker and is in great demand all over the country. His books on Inspiration and encouragement include the following; Be The Best, You Too Can, You Too, Can Succeed, Winning Ways, Flying High with Broken Wings, Positive Thinking and Success Mantras. His latest book "Directing the CBI" is available on Ideaindia.com
SOURAV
GULU EZEKIEL
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'Maharaj' to his family, `Lord Snooty' to his county mates in Lancashire and `Dada' to his team, 29-year-old Sourav Ganguly has in the past few years rewritten the rules of captaincy for the Indian team. Unlike several of his predecessors, he is seen as an impartial, non-parochial captain, forever pushing his players to perform better. Off the field, his interactions with the media and his fans (and detractors) have been uncompromisingly honest and have earned him the respect of cricket followers everywhere.
Gulu Ezekiel began his career in sports journalism with The Indian Express in Chennai in 1982 before moving to New Delhi in 1991. He has been sports editor at The Asian Age, NDTV and indya.cam and has contributed to over fifty publications around the world. In August 2001 he launched GE Features, a features and syndication company. Gulu has written and contributed to a dozen sports books since 1992 and is the author of Indian Table Tennis Yearbook, Great One-day Internationals and The Story of World Cup Cricket. His latest book, Sachin: The Story of the World's Greatest Batsman was released by Penguin India in April 2002 and has been a critical and commercial success.
INDIAN IDEA OF FREEDOM
Political Thought of Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore
Prof. Dennis Gilmore DaltonClick on image for more information
The book is concerned with the development of the idea of freedom in modern India, particularly in the political and social thought of four major Indian writers, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Gandhi, and Rabindranath Tagore. Three major areas of discussion may be distinguished here
First, there is a consideration of the common ground on which these four thinkers stand. It is argued that they comprise a "school" of modern Indian thought, both because of the purpose that they share, and the fundamental principles on which they all agree. Chief among these principles is that concerning the nature of freedom. Two broad forms of freedom are distinguished: "external" (political and social), and "internal" (moral and spiritual). These two forms are seen as complementary; as corresponding qualities which must both be achieved for freedom to be wholly realised.
Second, the background of the school's thought is briefly discussed. Certain key themes in the writings of prominent nineteenth-century Indian figures are examined, to suggest the nature of the climate of opinion out of which Vivekananda's conception of freedom emerged.
Finally, the greater part of the book is devoted to an analysis of precisely what these four men thought about freedom, and how one of them, Gandhi, carried on experiments with his ideas in Indian society and politics. It is argued that while all the members of this school agree on fundamental issues, each made a distinctive contribution to the development of the idea of freedom. Vivekananda's contribution arises in the synthesis that he created of various strands of nineteenth-century Indian thought, and which he used in his formulation of a particular conception of freedom. The major aspects of this conception were developed by the other thinkers, each adding new dimensions.
Professor Dennis Dalton - Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University; Education: Ph.D., University of London, 1965, Dissertation: "The Idea of Freedom in the Political Thought of Vivekananda, Aurobindo and Tagore."; M.A., University of Chicago, 1962; B.A., Rutgers University, 1960
GANDHI
The First Modern Master of the Mass Media
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There is an abundance of seeming contradictions within both the political actions and stated principles of Mohandas Gandhi. He was maintained in poverty by one of the richest industrialists in India. His concept of non-violence was flexible enough to advocate certain forms of armed struggle, and even to countenance the deliberate causing of railway disasters. His piety as a Hindu was strangely selective, as evinced by his long struggle to overturn Untouchability, a concept that many considered inseparable from the faith. He was fond of quoting Jesus Christ and seemed quite willing to attach himself to a Muslim cause like the Khilafat Movement, from 1920-24. Was he an opportunistic politician, or a pragmatic mystic? He certainly did not fit easily into any of the western political categories so dominant in the 1920s. Was he some new kind of conservative socialist? Or a revolutionary, to be compared to Lenin? The evidence seemed to conflict. He was a religious man with a greater respect for law than scripture. He was a politician who eschewed politics. And most bafflingly, he was able to confound the distinction between religion and politics, a feat long regarded as impossible, and indeed undesirable, in the West. Churchill simply dismissed him as a fraud, "of a kind well known in the East". This paper traces some of these superficial inconsistencies and attempts to find straightforward ways in which they can be reconciled and understood, without hero worship or character assassination.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.
KARMA SUTRA: ESSAYS FROM THE MARGIN
Encounters with sex workers, drug addicts, Hijras, Devadasis, and the homeless and the dispossessed on the Indian street.
Rajendar MenenCLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
This is a fascinating look at street life in India. This book is about a lifetime on the street. It is not backed by ideology or dogma. It is not political. It is without prejudice or bias. No insult is intended. No individual, social group, community, caste or religion is targeted. All names have been changed where necessary and all identities protected. It is not about activism or intended reform. No state secrets have been compromised. It is not a definitive document on the street. If anything, it is about empirical evidence and gut level reaction. There are several colours on the street. I have tried to absorb some of them. The book doesn't wear any moral garb. It is not judgmental. It doesn't tell you how to live, or how not to live. It just tells you how it is. If I have made opinions, it is a reaction to how the street has impacted me. It is my opinion, straight from the heart. Not sponsored or designed by an outside agency. No sides have been taken. I have deliberately avoided statistics. I have also gone out of my way not to quote anyone in the government. Figures can be doctored and interpreted either way convincingly, and we all know the answers of those in power. This book is about my experiences on the streets of Mumbai, one of the greatest cities of the world. It is about the darkness on the streets. It's about the lives of the marginalised, and their heroic battle against the enormous odds stacked against them every single day of their lives. It is how they surmount it all without complaint: The true heroes of a karma that has shackled them to the grind. It is about sex workers, drug addicts, Hijras, Devadasis, the homeless and the dying, and the hundreds of thousands of people who wander into India's most glamorous city to seek the crumbs. It is about the other side of midnight in a city that is also equally gross about its display of power and self. I have crossed the boulevard, lived with those who inhabit it and broken bread with them. I have had the option of returning to comfort when I wanted to. I could abandon the harshness when I felt like it. So it has been easy. But they were consigned to the flames. There was no escape. It took great skill, wit and cunning to get out unscathed. This book documents their sutra; the sutra that extracts every inch of guile to battle the karma that they have been condemned to. The street is a living entity, its mannerisms well outside the pale of normally accepted behaviour. When you are in the trenches every day of your life, and survival is superimposed on your mind as your primary goal, you make your own rules. It is often not in consonance with what those who design the laws have in mind. Circumstances give birth to protest, revolt and rebellion. Anarchy has its seeds in misfortune, whether real or perceived. It is difficult to understand that pain or its expression if you don't belong to it. It is also easy to exploit it and use it to advantage. The police are let out on the mean streets to look after it. They have it rough. They are poorly paid, desperately outnumbered, manipulated by their political masters, have very low morale and are in constant touch with the marginalised. They are human too and get to see all sides of the dice. It works on them. They see the corruption everywhere and the loopholes in the law, and exploit it. They can become a terrifying presence. The research for the book took several years. During the period, the city also changed its name from Bombay to Mumbai. There have been other cosmetic changes too. This book is not a chronology of events. There are no specific dates. Situations may have changed but the flavour of the street will remain for a long time. Most of the interviews were in Hindi. I have cut out the profanity from the street dialect to give it to you in as acceptable a form as possible. I have also tried to be humorous and looked at the lighter side of life to soften the blow. I have been fortunate on this ride. Join me.
RAJENDAR MENEN is an award-winning journalist who has been published in several countries. He began his career, which spans over two decades, with The Times of India in Mumbai. He has launched and edited magazines, written four books on different aspects of healing, and freelanced for the BBC, UNFPA, France 2, Ray of Hope, Teacher's Training Centre, Tralee, Ireland, Gulf News and several other international media organisations. He has co-authored books on AIDS and prostitution in South-Asia, been Executive Editor of three journals on the technical and human aspects of HIV/AIDS, and written extensively on the subject. The street is his muse. He also walks endlessly, drinks tea, reads Sri Aurobindo, does yoga, comments on sport, breeds snails and watches life with some irreverence. He lives and works in Mumbai, India.
STUDIES ON INDIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SINCE INDEPENDENCE 1950 - 2008: VOLUME I:
READINGS IN INDIAN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Amal Krishna DeyCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
This volume is an extremely thorough study of agricultural development in India since Independence. A further 3 volumes will deal with Management System and Behaviour of Indian Capital Market, Readings in Indian Corporate Sector Development and Readings in Indian Industrial Development. This volume, spread over two parts and eighteen chapters, provides empirical evidence of an understanding of the growth of Indian Agriculture in two periods, pre and post green revolution. The discussion is concluded by representing the results of econometric exercise evaluating the comparative advantages of alternative estimation procedures when applied to different specification of growth functions. Thus, in addition to its economic content, the methodological contribution of the study should provide to be useful to students economics. The overall findings regarding the agricultural growth in India are also of interest to research scholars, professional economists, economic journalists and policy makers. In the Part One, we plan to undertake the exercise of examining the growth of overall agricultural development in India and green revolution contrast. In the Part Two of this volume, we plan to undertake a comparative study of regional disparities and discussion on agricultural and food grains production growths and factors affecting their growth during 1950-51 to 2007-08 in the selected States of Eastern, Northern, Western and Southern Regions.
Amal Krishna Dey retired as Head of Research Bureau of the Business Standard, Calcutta, one of the largest economic and business dailies in India, and presently is a Senior Freelance Journalist. He taught Econometrics in the Department of Economics, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, he also worked as a Research Associate in the Agro-Economic Research Centre, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan and also as Head of Agriculture Research Division, Commerce Weekly, Bombay.
He has several publications to his credit and has served several committees including the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics and National Union of Journalists.
I DIED...LONG BEFORE
Sujoy Ghosh
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThis is a powerful short story on female infanticide. It is the story of an adopted girl who has a successful career and life. She discovers that when she was born her real father had tried to have her killed simply for being a girl. She was then adopted. She tracks down her real father and confronts him%u2026
Sujoy Ghosh - "poet by heart and engineer by default". He is based in Uttar Pradesh, India and this is his first novel.
UNFINISHED JOURNEY
Story of a Nation
Sumit Sharma SameerCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Nepal: A look at this Himalayan country's journey through the eyes of the author. The book is an attempt to make sense of author's life to himself. The book has been divided into four chapters. The first chapter, thirty two years of life has depicted the growth of an author along with the growth of his nation. The important events that have taken place since 1977 in Nepal have been reported in the first chapter. The second chapter, imprisoned consciousness captures the recent events in Nepal and the analysis has been presented on how the Nepali consciousness captured due to these events. This chapter describes the Maoists rise in power and abuse of the same. The third chapter, New Ideas: New Context has focused on the new idea that has proliferated in the field of politics, society, economy, religion, science at the international context. The fourth chapter, Moment of Choice, looks to Nepal's future.
This book is a story of human beings. How they are involved in the creation and destruction of their own society and nation. For this, Nepal has been taken as a case study. At age thirty two, the author relates his life with the life of his nation. How both of them have grown? The author has viewed the political development of Nepal through the lens of his father, who had been involved in the Nepalese political processes for the past thirty years. It explains the author's perceptions about his country, society and people. The author has presented himself as a reporter and the book looks more like a memoir. As an inquisitive member of the nation, the author has only raised certain questions and has tried to answer them.
Foreword by Gagan Thapa, Constituent Assembly Member, Nepali Congress, Kathmandu, Nepal
SUMIT SHARMA SAMEER is a development consultant in Nepal. He has worked on numerous projects on AIDS, Health and Rural Development for Government Ministries and NGOs. He has worked as a television journalist in Nepal. Sumit has written widely on issues on Nepal.
MSc. Management of NGOs at London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK.
BA Sociology, The Loyola College, Chennai, India
THE MAULANA AND THE MAHATMA
Mahmood Jamal
CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThe correspondence between Maulana Abdul Bari of Firangi Mahal and Mahatma Gandhi (mainly in English) is extensive and deserving of a much longer piece, perhaps even a book. The purpose of this essay is to put in context the Urdu Letters that Mahatma Gandhi wrote to Maulana Abdul Bari (the author's grandfather). The letters give us a glimpse of a unique moment in the history of Indian Independence when the Non cooperation movement and Khilafat Movements worked in unison. Maulana Abdul Bari was one of the foremost Islamic scholars of his time. Born in the famous seminary of Firangi Mahal, in Lucknow in 1878, he had inherited the spiritual and intellectual tradition unique in Indian Islam- an unbroken and continuous lineage of three hundred years since the settling of the family in Lucknow in 1692. His ancestors were both religious scholars and spiritual leaders and had a wide network of mureeds (followers) and shrines dotted all over UP and North India and further south in Hyderabad and Madras where some important scholars of the family had settled. Maulana Abdul Bari had inherited this network and he himself was a prolific scholar having written over a hundred books, and a teacher and spiritual leader or Pir.
These Urdu letters produced here are proof that Mahatma Gandhi not only preached the importance of learning Urdu but also practiced it. The friendship between Maulana Abdul Bari of Firangi Mahal and Mahatma Gandhi is symbolic of a period of Indian history which saw Hindu and Muslim briefly united in the struggle against British colonialism.
The author is the grandson of Maulana Abdul Bari and this work provides a unique insight into an extremely controversial period of British and Indian history.
Mahmood Jamal was born in Lucknow, India, in 1948. He is an award winning film maker and poet and is the suthor of the PENGUIN BOOK OF MODERN URDU POETRY. His poems have been published in the London Magazine and broadcast on BBC Radio and he has performed at leading poetry venues in London and around the UK. He has also featured in several anthologies including New British Poetry and Grandchildren Of Albion. In 1984 Mahmood Jamal was the recipient of the Minority Rights Group Award for his poetry, translations and critical writings. In the same year he published his first volume of poetry, Silence Inside a Gun's Mouth. Mahmood Jamal works as an independent producer and writer and has produced several documentary series, notably a series on Islam entitled Islamic Conversations. He was also a lead writer on Britain's first Asian soap, Family Pride, and wrote and produced the groundbreaking drama TURNING WORLD for Channel 4 television. Mahmood Jamal has a degree in South Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA - A Story of Gangland Democracy
eBook by Maloy Krishna Dhar
WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA - A Story of Gangland DemocracyeBook by Maloy Krishna Dhar
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A Gandhi is killed, a Bose is forgotten and a Bhagat Singh no more pricks the conscience of the people who lead the country. This is the story of a nation that boasts of being the largest democracy. The novel undertakes tortuous journeys through the political minefield and discovers that moneybags muscle power and criminal fringes have hijacked Indian democracy.
Satya Sarthi is a psephologicst and wants to bring about a change in the system. He tries to catapult his simple but sharp businessman friend Dharmi into the top corridors of politics. His aim is to dethrone the ruling family which is corrupt and manipulative.
Dharmi's hesitant metamorphosis from a businessman into a naïve politician and finally into a pucca politician is full of pathos. Does he succeed in dethroning the family? Does he end up changing the system? Maloy Krishna Dhar captures the intrigues that are played in power politics in the name of We the People.
We the people of India - The Story of Gangland Democracy is a reminder to Generations Next that they have to fulfill unfulfilled dreams of the savants of the nation.
Disclaimer: this e-book is a piece of political fiction and does not relate to any factual event and/or incidents. The author has visualized a tale that he wishes to share with the readers. Names of the characters are purely a work of fiction and do not relate to anybody living or dead.
MALOY KRISHNA DHAR is a product of Calcutta University. After joining the Indian Police Service in 1964, he was seconded to the Intelligence Bureau, a platform that offered him in depth perceptions and insight into Indian politics, insurgency counter-terrorism, counterintelligence and other ground realities of the nation.
After retirement he took to freelance journalism and authored many literary works. Some of the best sellers are Open secrets - India's intelligence Unveiled, Fulcrum of Evil - ISI, CIA. Al Qaeda Nexus, Operation Triple X and Black Thunder.
A widely acclaimed author Maloy writes about happening history in and around India, besides wider strategic issues. We the People of India is his fresh journey into the happening history of the country, which bares the uncouth truth behind India's electoral democracy and offers a glimpse into the future that could put the country back on the rails laid down by the founding fathers and martyrs.
THE MOTIONLESS TRAVELER
Aspi Doctor
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONFirst written in 1985, The Motionless Traveler is set in the future and set in a time when the supply of fuel (read oil) is almost at an end. It becomes absolutely necessary to find an alternate mode of transport as it is becoming difficult and expensive to travel. The world is again breaking up into insular countries. Krish, the protagonist of the novel, makes a chance discovery that enables him to become air borne and to move rapidly across continents. The discovery is that of an ancient Tibetan statuette which was used by Tibetan lamas to cross into India at the time of the Chinese invasion of their land.
Krish lives in Bombay, India. His life has been quite humdrum till the time that he gets possession of the statuette. He rescues a young Tibetan girl from a gang of street hoodlums and the grateful father gifts the statuette to him. Realizing that the statuette is too valuable to be kept by him he decides to hand it over to an international scientific research institute, which is located in Canada. The Chinese get to know about the statuette and try to prevent him. Finally, he travels to Canada using the secret powers of the statuette. He meets with several adventures on the way, as he has to break journey in the Middle East and Africa. On reaching his destination he is felicitated by the government and the world body. But after the dust has settled, Krish makes the surprising discovery that man has it in him to become air borne even without the aid of an agent like the statuette. The novel ends with the suggestion that in the not-too-distant future, the human race will reach its next stage of evolution.
Aspi Doctor was born in 1940 in Bombay (now Mumbai). He topped the list in his post-graduate examination in 1964 and immediately started his academic career as a lecturer in English literature in a south Bombay college. He graduated from lecturer to head of the department, vice-principal and in the last two decades of his career held the position of principal in two city colleges. He has authored a number of textbooks on Communication which have gone into multiple editions and which are still popular with college students in India. He lives in Mumbai with his wife who is also a retired academician.
DYNAMICS OF FOODGRAINS PRODUCTION IN WEST BENGAL
Dr. Kakali Majumdar
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONWITH THE PRESENT HIGH FOOD PRICES IN INDIA THIS BOOK IS A VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT STUDY ON PAST AND PRESENT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN WEST BENGAL:
Without any monsoon hazard, foodgrains production in India showed a fall in growth rates during the 1990s (Table-1.2). The annual growth rate which was 2.70% during the 1980s, decreased to 2.28% in the nineties. This fall was corroborated by the slow down in the growth of irrigated area and a sharp deceleration in the ratio of growth of fertilizer consumption. The annual growth rate of irrigation, which was 2.7% during 1980-81 to 1990-91, declined to 1.9% during the next decade [Datta & Sundaram, 2002]. A sudden jump of 30%[Majumdar, 2002] in the price of nitrogenous fertilizer and a doubling of that of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers during the early 90s led to a sharp decline in the growth rate of fertilizer consumption from around 8% per annum during 1980s to 2% per annum in the first half of 1990s[Majumdar, 2002]. This was most possibly because of the withdrawal of the fertiliser subsidy. Farming became more costly and less profitable. With the low level of capital base it was quite hard for the small and marginal farmers to afford this. May be because of this such farmers shifted to other means of livelihood. The public sector investment in agricultural sector indicated a decline from Rs. 4967 crores in 1993-94 to Rs. 4112 crores in 1998-99[Datta & Sundaram, 2002]. The main cause of this decline in public investment was the diversion of resources into current expenditure in the forms of subsidies in food, electricity, irrigation and other agricultural inputs.
The skewed distribution of fertilizer mix is also one of the causes of lower productivity of Indian agriculture in the recent period. Now the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium stands at 6.9:2.9:1.0, which is quite skewed in comparison to its optimum mix (4:2:1) [Kapila, 2002]. This type of fertiliser use creates problems to soil and thus hampers the long-run productivity of land. In some advanced states the canal irrigation without proper arrangements of drainage is resulting in soils becoming saline.
Despite the large percent of the population being engaged in agriculture and allied activities, declining growth rate of foodgrains production and access to food remain the two biggest problems confronting the country in the present decade. There is no doubt that new technology has dramatically increased the food production but it is now gradually becoming doubtful about the sustainability of this type of programming package. The absolute poor still remain outside the ambit of the 'market', lack education, awareness and food security. Increasingly, there is a demand for re-examination of the land reform issue. Ten years of economic liberalization have not made any significant dent in the agricultural growth scenario in India. The reform policies have not focused sufficiently on what needs to be done for this sector. Whether we accept or not India is gradually moving back to the pre-green revolutionary days.
In this context it would be interesting to know to what extent the sequences and timings of ups and downs in growth rates of foodgrains output and productivity are different in the eastern region where the effect of green revolution in the mid sixties ranged from low for West Bengal to almost nil in the rest of the region. Against this background an attempt has been made in this study to analyse the growth performance of foodgrains production and its different aspects in West Bengal for the last three decades (1970-71 to1999-2000). Before we review the relevant literature highlighting the methodological innovations used in the present study, it would be worthwhile to make a general survey of the state of agriculture in West Bengal.
Dr. Kakali Majumdar is currently Assistant Professor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu. Dr Majumdar has completed her graduation in Economics (honors) and post graduation also in Economics from Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. She has a doctorate degree from IIT, Kharagpur and her areas of specialization are Statistics and Econometrics. She has a number of publications related to her areas of specialization in journals of national and international repute. Dr Majumdar has presented number of papers both national and international conferences. She has also co-authored a book related to Quantitative Techniques.
MANAGING INDIA'S NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS
An Analysis of Forest Development Corporations, Their Past and Future
Prof. Dev. D. TewariCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
In this book, Professor Tewari reviews the management of non-timber forest products of India under the control of Forest Development Corporations during the last 30 years or so. Author suggests a new approach towards managing this economically important resource so as to reform the functioning of ailing corporations in the interest of tribal communities. A cooperative framework, which entrusts the management of non-timber forest products to the tribal communities, along with a support price program and effective coordination of market forces, is recommended for sustainable and socially-rewarding management of non-timber forest products. Thus, a more decentralized management of non-timber forest products and nationally coordinated marketing framework is to be developed.
Professor Dev. D. Tewari earned his PhD from University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He has published widely on non-timber forest products issues and his earlier work Economics and Management of Non-timber Forest Products: A Case Study of Gujarat is an internationally well-known work. Other publications of Professor Tewari include: Castor Economy, International Castor Oil Market, Principles of Microeconomics, An Estimation of the Value of Water in the Commercial Forestry Sector in Selected Areas in South Africa: A Case Study of KwaZulu Natal. Currently he is a Professor with School of Economics and Finance, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
THE REGIONAL IMPERATIVE
U.S. Foreign Policy Towards South Asian States Under Presidents Johnson and Nixon
Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph & OthersCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Based on research carried out under the direction of the authors, this work unfolds the events in South Asia during the Johnson-Nixon administrations and examines the capacity of the U.S. government to maintain coordination among a complexity of issues and policies. The overview by Lloyd Rudolph and Susnne Rudolph along with case studies by Walter Andersen, James W. Bjorkman, Stephen Philip Cohen, Joan L. Erdman, Susan G. Hadden, Gerald A. Heeger, Stanley A. Kochanek, Charles S. Lenth, Anthony D. Moulton, Philip Oldenburg, Barnett R. Rubin and epilogue by Christopher Van Hollen, analyse U.S. foreign policy from the angles of national security, economic policy and people-to-people diplomacy as they related to South Asian states during those years.
The relevance of the Regional Imperative's diagnosis and prescriptions for U.S. policy towards South Asia has been demonstrated by the Carter administration's response to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. Global parochialism towards South Asia under Presidents Johnson and Nixon distorted perceptions of regional forces and blocked effective understanding of America's regional interests. It also sacrificed long term programs to abortive efforts at quick solutions. The coordination of complexity more often suffered than benefitted from sporadic presidential interventions in the conduct of foreign policy toward South Asia.
Susanne Rudolph is the William Benton Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science Emerita and took her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1955. She has served as president of the Association of Asian Studies and of the American Political Science Association (2003-2004). She studies comparative politics with special interest in the political economy and political sociology of South Asia, state formation, Max Weber, and the politics of category and culture. Her books include Transnational Religion and Fading States; Education and Politics in India; In Pursuit of Lakshmi: the Political Economy of the Indian State; and Essays on Rajputana. Rudolph also edited Agrarian Power and Agricultural Productivity in South Asia. Some recent articles include "The Imperialism of Categories; Situating Knowledge in a Globalizing World," in Perspectives on Politics, March 2005, Volume 3, number 1; "Perestroika and Its Other," in Kristin Renwick Monroe (ed.), Perestroika! Revolution in the Social Sciences (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005); "Engaging Subjective Knowledge: Narratives of and by the Self in the Amar Singh Diary," in Rajul Bhargava Shubhshree (ed.), Of Narratives, Narrators (Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat Publications, 2004); "Toward Convergence," in Ian Shapiro and Donald Green (eds.) Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics: Proofs, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004); "The Iconisation of Chandrababu; Sharing Sovereignty in India's Federal Market Economy," Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XXXVI, No 18, May 5, 2001; and "Living With Difference in India; Legal Pluralism and Legal Universalism in Historical Context," Political Quarterly, July, 2000. She served as Master of the Social Science Collegiate Division, Director of the Center for International Studies, Chair of the South Asia Center, and twice as chair of the Department of Political Science.
Lloyd Rudolph: in June 2002 he retired and became an Emeritus Professor of the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science after teaching there for 34 years and, before that, for seven years at Harvard University. In preparation for the Festschrift Conference on "Area Studies Redux: Situating Knowledge in a Globalizing World" in April 2003 Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph got in touch with as many of their Harvard and Chicago Ph.D. students as we could. Many turned up for the conference. He received a BA [Magna] in 1948 from Harvard College, an MPA in 1950 from what later became Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. in 1956 in Political Science, from Harvard University. Louis Hartz and Sam Beer were his thesis advisers. He wrote on "The Meaning of Party: From the Politics of Status to the Politics of Opinion in Eighteenth Century England and America." He has benefited from grants or fellowships from the MacArthur, Ford, National Science and Guggenheim Foundations, the American Institute of Indian Studies [AIIS], the National Endowment for the Humanities [NEH] and the Fulbright program; participated in studies for the U.S. Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy, The Council on Foreign Relations, The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Asia Society and the Overseas Development Council; and served as a consultant with the Ford and MacArthur Foundations, the National Security Council and the Department of State, the Social Science Research Council, The US Institute of Peace and The American Council of Learned Societies.
Walter K. Andersen served in a number of positions at the U.S. Department of State before joining the School of Advanced International Studies/John Hopkins University in late 2003 as the associate director of its South Asia Studies program. He was selected acting director of the program for the 2006-2007 academic year. He has written extensively on Indian domestic politics, including a book on Hindu nationalism, and on the international politics of South Asia.
James Warner Björkman, educated in political science at the University of Minnesota (B.A. summa-cum-laude 1966) and Yale University (M.Phil. 1969, Ph.D. 1976), is Professor of Public Policy and Administration at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, as well as Professor of Public Administration and Development at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Previously faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (U.S.A.), Director of the American Studies Research Centre in Hyderabad (India) and Executive Director of the International Institute of Comparative Government in Lausanne (Switzerland), he has held appointments in Sweden, England, Pakistan and India.
Stephen Philip Cohen, for many years a professor at the University of Illinois, joined the Brookings Institution in 1998, where he is Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program. The author of numerous books on South Asia and American policy towards the region, Dr. Cohen served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff in the Department of State from 1985-87.
Joan L. Erdman is Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Studies at Columbia College, Chicago, and a Research Associate in the Committee on Southern Asian Studies at the University of 8 Making U.S. Foreign Policy Towards South Asia Chicago. She is also General Editor of a new five-volume Encyclopedia of World Dance, which will be published by Routledge in 2009. Her forthcoming publications include "Before Its Time: The Making of Kalpana (Imagination)," and "Coming on Sam: When the End is the Beginning".
Susan G. Hadden was Professor of Public Policy at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where she had joint appointments in the South Asia Center and the Department of Government. Professor Hadden advised government agencies on matters concerning telecommunications and environmental policy.
Gerald Heeger is President of Whitney International University System, a new for-profit initiative in international higher education. Previously, he was president of the University of Maryland University College.
Stanley A. Kochanek is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science Pennsylvania State University, who specializes in the Politics of South Asia. His books include a study of the Congress Party in India, Business and Politics in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and the forthcoming seventh editions of India: Government and Politics in a Developing Nation. He is currently working on a comparative study of the Politics of South Asia.
Charles Lenth has worked with several organizations that provide research and support for higher education policy in the U.S. Currently he is Senior Associate with the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) organization in Boulder, CO, whose members are system-level chancellors or directors of coordinating bodies at the state level.
Anthony D. Moulton is Acting Chief of Public Health Practice and Co-Director of the Public Health Law Program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he has served since 1993. During the period 1976-1993 he was a member of the technical policy, planning, and budget staff of the Office of the Governor, State of Missouri, and directed that staff, 1989-1993. He served in the administrations of Governors Joseph Teasdale, Christopher Bond, John Ashcroft, and Mel Carnahan. Moulton is the author of multiple, peer-reviewed publications in the field of public health.
Philip Oldenburg is an Independent Scholar, who has taught most recently in the Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin, and in the Political Science Department, Columbia University. He has been editor or co-editor of the last ten volumes in the Asia Society's India Briefing series.
Barnett Rubin is the Director of Studies and a Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. He is considered one of the world's foremost experts on Afghanistan and the surrounding region, as well as on conflict prevention and peace building. Dr. Rubin served as special advisor to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan during the negotiations that produced the Bonn Agreement. Previously he held appointments (positions?) at the Council on Foreign Relations, Columbia University and Yale University.
GLOBALISATION OF VOYEURISM
Professor Indu Rajagopal and Nis Bojin
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONIt is paradoxical that innovations related to the Internet seem to create dilemmas for Web-surfers. The Internet facilitates a globalized world where no hard-world legal restrictions apply. In particular, the explosion of video surveillance and micro-camera technology has had a profound impact upon the generally accepted notions of personal privacy. As video surveillance equipment has become smaller, more portable, more easily concealed, and more accessible to the general public, its pervasive application conduces to today's cultural fascination with voyeurism. Therefore, protecting the privacy rights of individuals requires a re-conceptualization of the public and the private space, as well as an abandonment of the prevailing, albeit flawed, understanding of human privacy. The need to re-conceptualize human privacy in the context of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), especially those related to the Web, is the basis for attempts in many jurisdictions to criminalize video voyeurism. Only when new laws recognize the right to protect the human body from unreasonable and obscene intrusion through the use of Web technology, regardless of location, forum and space, will individual privacy be adequately safeguarded from the wrath of such voyeurism. The key issue here is voyeurism, and the Internet has the potential for promoting it. The issues we will explore in this paper are the roots, conditions, characteristics and facilitators of voyeurism and surveillance that apply to the private space of women. While writing this paper, it became obvious that, for clarity and poignancy, it would be useful to offer the discussion in two parts. In Part I, we identify the theoretical issues and construct an analytical framework which is empirically examined in Part II, using illustrative online materials. In Part II, we will examine the spaces and artifacts of Voyeurism on the Internet while extending the argument that the architecture of the Internet has a significant impact on exacerbating the globalization of voyeurism and loss of innocence.
Professor Indu Rajagopal - Professor, Division of Social Science, York University, Toronto, Canada - Interests: the development of urban economies; Canada the Third World; caste and political development in India; Indian immigrants in Canada.
COOPERACIÓN Y COLABORACIÓN EN LA PRIMERA EDAD GLOBAL, 1400-1800: VOL. II: EL MODELO HISPÁNICO: REDES Y COOPERACIÓN EN LAS FILIPI
Dr. ANTONI PICAZO MUNTANER
INTRODUCCIÓN.-
Este estudio forma parte del proyecto "Dynamic Complexity of Cooperation-Based Self-Organizing Networks in the First Global Age" (DynCoopNet), el cual está integrando por historiadores, matemáticos, sociólogos, geógrafos, cartógrafos, economistas, técnicos en SIG... Como tal, pues, está integrado en una obra mucho mayor, marcada y definida por la cooperación y colaboración entre sus miembros. Algunos de estos últimos, como el caso de Ana Crespo y David Alonso , han aportado datos extremadamente valiosos para comprender las dinámicas colaborativas en esa primera Edad Global, abriendo nuevos interrogantes y líneas de investigación.
Pero también deberíamos añadir que, en realidad, el texto que aquí presentamos es la segunda parte del volumen publicado en formato electrónico por la editorial Cooperjal Limited con el título "Modelos comerciales mercantilistas en el Indopacífico" , que estudia la evolución de la concepción espacial de esa área a través de la cartografía de la época, así como el desarrollo de las redes cooperativas y colaborativas creadas por la EIC y de la VOC; los modelos que implementaron estas dos primeras compañías globales; las rivalidades entre ellas y las múltiples relaciones que se efectuaron entre esos dos grandes subsistemas, el Atlántico-Mediterráneo y el Indo-Pacífico -con todas sus áreas-, que daban forma a un único sistema global.
En esta parte, en cambio, nos centramos únicamente en el caso hispano, analizando el desarrollo comercial de las Filipinas, sus principales puertos abastecedores, los distintos "forelands" que estaban conectados con Manila, según aquella definición clásica de G. Weigend , pero también como se estructuró el rígido mercantilismo de las autoridades metropolitanas de la Monarquía Hispánica , la coerción que se practicó sobre los mercaderes y habitantes de Manila y el por qué del mismo; como no, presentaremos en detalle las conexiones de Manila con otras áreas, la dinámica económica que siguió el comercio, su evolución y también, ciertamente, los cambios que sufrió. Todo ello centrado en un gran siglo de cambio, de impulso, el XVII. Vías que, lógicamente, en algunos puntos ya fueron tratados años antes por W. Schurtz, P. Chaunu, F. Benítez, M. N. Pearson.......y otros. Nosotros ampliamos esas mismas percepciones, profundizamos en las redes y en la cooperación y colaboración entre agentes, en la propia dinámica evolutiva del mercado. En ese estudio con detenimiento de las redes y la cooperación presentamos una serie de modelos de las mismas. Desde los ámbitos de cooperación y colaboración en las naves comerciales (con el estudio de un caso paradigmático como fue una nave, en este caso el patache San Buenaventura comandada por un armenio y pilotada por un inglés), pasando por los intentos de la Monarquía Hispánica para buscar la ayuda mutua con los ingleses, derivada de los pactos y alianzas que se formaban en el Viejo Mundo.... La coerción hispana sobre los mercaderes facilitó el incremento de la "resistencia moral", la aparición del comercio alternativo -en forma de contrabando- para incrementar los beneficios y evadirse del férreo cordón económico que constreñía a muchos españoles afincados en las islas. De esta forma también estudiaremos cómo y de que manera se estructuraron las redes de contrabandistas, los infractores del sistema, y por ello profundizaremos en una de ella, fijada como modelo. Un eje que se iniciaba en los pueblos de la costa de Filipinas, llegaba a Manila y su puerto, se centraba en autoridades, militares, y marinos, se extendía a Acapulco y México y, cruzando el Atlántico, finalizaba en Cádiz.
Pensamos que el estudio del sistema portuario del Indopacífico , y en él la evolución de Manila como centro neurálgico, nos permitirá ir despejando lagunas historiográficas que persistían, pero también abrir nuevos campos, nuevos interrogantes que cabrá ir respondiendo en un futuro. La historiografía clásica presentó a Manila como la gran plataforma contractual del Pacífico, el puerto por antonomasia que exportó una ingente cantidad de plata a Asia, especialmente a China, con lo que supuso una "globalización" de los presuntos males que la plata americana causaba en Europa y especialmente en España. No obstante, los meticulosos trabajos realizados en las últimas décadas por F. Gaastra y R. Glahn han dilucidado por completo esos interrogantes.
Ciertamente, Manila fue un puerto importante, a tener en cuenta, en esa área contractual que fue el subsistema Indopacífico, pero desde luego ni el más activo ni el más importante, como lo evidencian las importantes contribuciones de A. Kobata y R. Shimada . Pero, a pesar de las valiosas contribuciones, las tendencias historiográficas apuntan a una percepción del fenómeno mucho más amplias, abriendo nuevos marcos interpretativos y analíticos, como el caso de la incorporación en los estudios históricos de los Sistemas de Información Geográfica, que permiten análisis tremendamente finos y complejos que facilitan nuevas y más profundas interpretaciones, pero que también abren nuevos horizontes e interrogantes que cabrá resolver.
El desarrollo y estudio de esa "primera edad global" brindará, que duda cabe, nuevas formas de entender las dinámicas de redes y la explicación a muchos de esos nuevos factores que catapultaron a Europa y que, por el contrario, desestructuraron otras, caso por ejemplo de la India.
NETWORKS AND COLABORATION IN THE TRADE OF MANILA, XVII CENTURY
The study of the commercial networks of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific not only affords us insight to the structural development of modern capitalism and the relations that were established between Europe and the East; it also enables us to delve more deeply into the consequential changes in the commercial system of the Atlantic Ocean and the economic imbalances that arose in the mother countries as a result of market globalisation. Indeed, as Cuebas and Vicente cite, "...the second law of thermodynamics predicts the breakdown of all structures over time. Ordered things will no longer be in order, sooner or later leading to disorder..." and although many things can occur, "...one of them is the spontaneous emergence of complexity..." . In the first global era, the formation of extensive trade networks emerged out of a single system that served as a base for the development of two other interconnected secondary subsystems. One such subsystem was the Atlantic-Mediterranean area; the other was the Indian-Pacific. The business activities of commercial companies such as the East India Company and the VOC , along with other far more closed models, including those of Portugal and Spain, favoured the European control of trade throughout the region , to the demise of the old native networks that were initially used by the new model and later eliminated. A market control by means of an "accumulation of knowledge" based on strategies of cooperation and collaboration, and in some cases confrontation. However, at the dawn of the global age, in contrast to monetarist methodological lines, the more optimal approach was different. Rather than a need for capital, there was a need to "accumulate information" to facilitate the boom, the expansion and the future control of the entire market. When capital financing became scarce, it was sought out among the local trade networks and the native oligarchy and elite classes. Thus, for the base of our study, we have set out to analyse and compare the different models mentioned above. On one hand, there were the two major trading companies, which were developing a new modern capitalism while upholding a certain degree of the old mercantilism , particularly in their dealings with each other; and on the other hand, the Hispanic model, which was completely mercantilist . We also examine the dealings between the representatives of each model and the kingdoms and merchants of the area . To do so, our first step entailed the development of a database covering trade in the port of Manila throughout the entire 17th century. The fields generated for such purpose include the ports of origin of the vessels; the ship type; the name of the ship owner and his/her nationality; the freight, its type and its value; among others.
THE BET
KULPREET YADAV
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONWhat happens when you don't believe in superstition?
What happens when you are agonizingly in love?
What happens when you are short of money?
What happens when you bet for money?
Faith can be a tumultuous attribute to cling on to, particularly when it is ambiguous enough under a screen of hope - hope of reliability, hope of alls-going-to-end-well, hope against hope...But what happens when the glimmer shines off and the unearthed spells a hurtful betrayal. Well, in the case of Amir, a young and smart call centre executive, it spelled a compromise between his own life and that of his beautiful, loving wife, Anjali - a choice that he couldn't attempt to choose, or ignore, for that matter. Not yet. Not until he tracked his faith back; to pursue, to fight. But would the unjust evil give in tamely, to a novice...
Reviews:
The Best Bet- Love, lust, greed, ambition, crime and repentance blend to make first time author Kulpreet Yadav's novel as spicy and racy as a Bollywood potboiler... The Telegraph
As a criminal lawyer I think 'The Bet' makes for a very interesting crime fiction indeed%u2026. Kulpreet, I say with conviction, has arrived on the literary scene, and is here to stay... Mr Satish Maneshinde, Leading Indian advocate, Mumbai High Court
An Author with a difference%u2026 The New Indian Express
This book is such a fantastic account of the police- criminal trying to outdo each other that it is hard to imagine that Kulpreet is not a police officer. The accounts mentioned are very well depicted indeed... Mr AX Alexander, IPS, Former Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu, India
We are delighted to be associated with a book which captures the spirit of the times with sensitivity and innovation. We are sure that Yadav's book will capture the imagination of today's generation... Mr Rajiv Chowdhary, CEO, Apeejay Oxford bookstores Pvt Ltd.
You bet, it is a thriller%u2026 News today
KULPREET YADAV: A graduate in science from the prestigious Nowrosjee Wadia College, Pune, Kulpreet Yadav also has a postgraduate diploma in journalism and mass communications from Amity International University, Delhi. Presently serving the armed forces of India as an officer, he is a product of the coveted Naval Officer's academy, Goa, and has done a course in International Maritime Law Enforcement from Japan.
Stationed in Haldia, West Bengal, he divides his time between patrolling the high seas, which is his duty as a Commandant in the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), and writing, his hobby. He lives there with his wife and two daughters
WEALTH CREATION THROUGH FAIR MEANS AND FOUL
JOGINDER SINGH
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONFor every law, there is a loophole. Those who have interest in exploitation exploit it to the hilt. Only very clever people, who have scant regard for the law, do it. That law is not possible to frame or conceive a law which meets all the contingencies. It is for the Government to be wary of the corrupt, be they our countrymen or our neighbours and stay two steps ahead of them. The fact is the Government is always two steps behind. Exploiters do their dirty work and disappear. We are never the wiser. Government starts acting only when the damage has been done.
Contradictions are galore in our polity. A court sentences a former Prime Minister and a Home Minister on corruption charges. They are still given an impressive cavalcade, when they arrive to go to jail term. The law provides Special Protection Group cover to the former Ministers and their families, even though they are disgraced. It is only in India where we continue to lionise the criminals and give them wide media coverage, even after they have brought shame to themselves, to the high offices they held, and to the country. Why should the common honest taxpayer be made to pay for the security to such people who have been proved guilty and convicted by the Court? If there is any danger, and if such people still apprehend threats or danger to themselves, give them security by all means, but at their own cost. When one time top leader of the country gets convicted of corruption charges, it takes a lot of time to improve and better Nation's negative image. Valiant efforts are needed for damage control.
According to one report, the Non Performing Assets (It is a technical name given to the lost money, which cannot be recovered or is not deliberately recovered) of the Public Sector Banks were Rs 39,746 crores in 1992/1993, Rs 38,385 crores in 1994/1995, Rs 43,577 crores in 1996/1997, Rs 45,853 crores in 1997/1998 and Rs 51,000 crores in 1998/1999 and now they stand at over Rs 58,751 crores. This is about 20% of the total advances extended by these banks. The Delhi Court took serious note of it on Public Interest Litigation and observed; "The law officer of the Government should know that it is a scam of Rs 51,000 crores. We want the Government to recover this Bank money from the defaulters, attach their properties and institute prosecution against them". It is surprising but true that NPAs or Non Performing Assets of foreign banks in India or of the Banks in developed countries are a minuscule, compared to what we have in Indian Public Sector Banks. India is more threatened from within and from its rulers than from outsiders.
JOGINDER SINGH, now a well known author and columnist for several National and States newspapers, joined Indian Police Service in 1961, in his first attempt at the eligible age of 20. He has served in his Karnataka cadre and Government of India, in several capacities, including the last high profile job of Director, CBI, India (Equivalent of FBI of USA). He has authored 29 books so far and some of them have been published in all Indian languages as well as in Bhasha Indonesia. His books include the magnus opus, " Inside CBI" and his autobiography " Without Fear And Favour", apart from books on the contemporary conditions in India, like Inside India, Inside Indian Police (Both Hindi and English), Police Ke Kahani Meri Zabani (Hindi), Good Governance, Discovery of Independent India, Indian Monocracy, Scams, Demise of Indian Dream. He is an excellent motivation and management speaker and is in great demand all over the country. His books on Inspiration and encouragement include the following; Be The Best, You Too, Can Succeed, Winning Ways, Flying High with Broken Wings, Positive Thinking and Success Mantras. His book 'Directing the CBI' is available on Ideaindia.com
FOOD FROM THE MOUTH OF KRISHNA
PAUL M. TOOMEY
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThis research, which is based on fieldwork at Mount Govardhan (District Mathura, U.P.), fully documents gastronomic ideas and practices of several large Hindu sects, thereby adding to previous anthropological accounts of culinary habits in diverse regional, caste and village settings. In addition, Food from the Mouth of Krishna sheds new light on several classic problems of Indian sociology most notably, on the distinction, in matters of ritual form, between sects that are monastic in orientation and those which are householder-centred, and on the dynamic interdependence in pilgrimage settings of sectarian and non-sectarian patterns of worship. The book will prove useful to readers who seek a broader understanding of practical religion in India and a better appreciation of bhakti's social and religious diversity. Autlior's innovative approach and richly detailed case studies chart the fascinating course of one of the most vibrant and active sources that feed India's religious mainstream.
PAUL M. TOOMEY (Ph.D., 1984, University of - Virginia) was a research analyst for the U.S. Government, specialising in Indian security policy and South Asian defence systems. He had taught at Cornell and Tufts universities and at the University of Virginia. He was the author of several articles on food, pilgrimage, women's rituals, and aesthetics in India.
A TOUCH OF BRIGHTNESS
Partap Sharma
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONA Touch of Brightness, written nearly half a century ago, centres on Rukhmani, a girl sold to a brothel in Mumbai and her relationship with Pidku, a street urchin, who tries desperately to rescue her from her life as a prostitute. Rukhmani mesmerizes Pidku with her visionary stories of the gods and her dreams of a different way of life. Even in a brothel, her extravagant optimism never ceases but only deepens. She ties a coloured thread round his right wrist, in the traditional way of raksha-bandhan, thus adopting him as a brother for life.
"Beautiful play from India. A play not to be missed. Bombay's loss, our gain, for this is an extraordinarily beautiful and moving piece of work and its quality springs chiefly from a contrast of light and that same dark side of human activity which caused it to be banned." The Times, London
"%u2026 a direct statement of faith in words which speak out." Stage and Television Today, London
"%u2026 a play of strange, disturbing beauty." The Listener, London
"Playwright stirs furor in Bombay. His realistic drama stirs opposition of officials. Hottest topic in Bombay's intellectual circles." New York Times
Seven years later:
"Court orders withdrawal of ban on play. Mr. Justice Mody observed that there was nothing obscene or indecent in the script of the play." Times of India
On the 10lh of September 1965, by order of the state government of the time, a production troupe sponsored by the Indian National Theatre, Bombay (now called Mumbai), was prohibited from proceeding to England where it was scheduled to present A Touch of Brightness at the first Commonwealth Arts Festival. The play had been selected, from among 150 works of Commonwealth writers, by a drama committee of eminent producers and critics that included Kenneth Tynan of Britain's National Theatre, George Devine of the English Stage Company and Jeremy Brooks of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The script had also been read by the Cultural Affairs Department of India's Education Ministry and had been certified as "non-objectionable"; this remains the one noteworthy feature in the series of official condemnations that followed. The authorities gave no explanation when they impounded the troupe's passports. A minister of the local government simply stated to the press that A Touch of Brightness would not be seen in England. However, the reason was obvious. During the previous week, an indignant campaign against the play had reached a hysterical peak. The two main contentions of the campaign were· that the social problems dealt with in the drama should not be presented before international audiences since the problems were set against an Indian background and that, to quote directly from an editorial, "Do these people honestly believe that the prestige of India will be enhanced by letting drama-lovers in London know the heartening fact of the existence of brothels in this country?" And so it was presumably on these grounds that the troupe was stopped from meeting its artistic commitments abroad. The company was to have played at the Ashecroft Theatre in Croydon, the Royal Court Theatre in London, the Crane Theatre in Liverpool, and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. The rest of the press and the public rallied to the defence of the play. But it was too late. Eventually, Indian audiences too were deprived of the right to see performances of the work. A Touch of Brightness was banned on the 17th of February 1966 with the explanation that the play "is set in one of the most infamous localities of Bombay city" and that it deals with "matters which it is highly undesirable to show on the stage."
Finally, on the 5th of March 1967, beyond the reach of the ban, the play was given its first performance by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and in November the BBC Third Programme broadcast the play, with music by Ravi Shankar.
Cover illustration: poster for the 1973 production, designed by the poet Arun Kolhatkar
PARTAP SHARMA is a playwright, novelist [Days of the Turban] and author of four books for children. His best known plays, A Touch of Brightness, Begum Sumroo, Sammy! and Zen Katha, have been staged in various countries. His books have been published in India, England, USA, France, Denmark, Holland and Canada. As an actor, he has played the lead in five Hindi feature films and won the National Award in 1971 for his performance in Phir Bhi. He has also played the role of Nehru in the film Nehru: Jewel of India. In the year 2003, he spent three months in China to take part, again as Nehru, in an international film titled Chou-en-lai in Bandung. He has directed a number of documentary films, including a historical series for Channel Four Television, London, titled The Raj Though Indian Eyes. England's Museum of the British Empire & Commonwealth, in Bristol, now has a permanent section devoted to film clips and interviews titled The Partap Sharma Archive on the British Raj. His voice is well-known to cinema, TV and radio audiences as he is one of India's foremost commentators and narrators.
SAMMY! The Word that Broke an Empire
Partap Sharma
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThis play won 4 all-India Mahindra Awards for Excellence in Theatre 2006.
"Most eagerly awaited play, a wonderful production, Sammy will be the sixth production on Gandhi in recent times, making the Father of the Nation the most watched character on stage."
DEEPA GAHLOT, THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
"Outstanding. Sammy is by far the most interesting, comprehensive, dramatic work on Gandhi. A great play!"
PETER RUHE, GANDHI SERVE, BERLIN
"Playwright Partap Sharma's painstakingly crafted Sammy%u2026 delves into the irrepressible mischievousness of the Mahatma in Mohandas%u2026takes a look at lesser known incidents of Gandhi's life. The script is a veritable guide which will make people learn - and unlearn - various aspects of Indian history and yet entertain. Before you wonder whatever or whoever is this Sammy - Sammy is the word that broke an empire."
SHAHEEN PARKAR, MID DAY, MUMBAI
"Outstanding portrait of Gandhi. Epic treatment in this tremendous touring production."
RICHARD MAYS, MANAWATU STANDARD, NEW ZEALAND
"Masterly. Full of gems of wisdom. A kaleidoscopic presentation."
ROMESH CHANDER, THE HINDU, DELHI
"Mahatma must-see! Excellent script. Insightful and enriching."
LEE TSE LING, THE STAR, KUALA LUMPUR
"Wonderful. Even more enriching to see the play a second time."
AMIT ROY, THE TELEGRAPH, LONDON
"Standing ovations in Sydney. Partap Sharma's latest play on Gandhi's life premieres to packed houses in Australia. Award-winning play%u2026"
IANS, AUSTRALIA
"Brilliantly written, with fine performances!"
HINDUSTAN TIMES, DELHI
"Wonderful rapport between the actors%u2026the play puts a human face on the man who broke an empire." - TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
"A very moving experience. Scores on every count." -
THE TELEGRAPH, KOLKATA
"A wonderful production!" - BOMBAY TIMES
"Splendid! **** !" - THE WEEK
"Brilliant%u2026%u2026deeply researched and innovatively staged!" -
INDIAN EXPRESS, PUNE
"8.5/l0 rating!" - MIDDAY. MUMBAI
"The ordinary face of greatness."
INDIAN EXPRESS, CHENNAI
"A fascinating account of how the real man Mohan Das became a Mahatma. Among the best scenes are those showing Gandhi's relationship with his beautiful young wife Kasturba. 'Don't make your public speeches to me,' she chastises when ordered to wash a bowl of Untouchable's urine, reminding us just how radical Gandhi's belief in the abolition of castes is still."
GUARDIAN, UK
"Partap Sharma's award-winning play charts the private journey of a very public hero."
NANCY GROVES, RICHMOND & TWICKENHAM TIMES, UK
"Standing ovations. Audiences touched and shaken. Stellar performances. An excellent and, more importantly, a memorable play."
THE UNDERTONES, DELHI
PARTAP SHARMA is a playwright, novelist [Days of the Turban] and author of four books for children. His best known plays, A Touch of Brightness, Begum Sumroo, Sammy! and Zen Katha, have been staged in various countries. His books have been published in India, England, USA, France, Denmark, Holland and Canada. As an actor, he has played the lead in five Hindi feature films and won the National Award in 1971 for his performance in Phir Bhi. He has also played the role of Nehru in the film Nehru: Jewel of India. In the year 2003, he spent three months in China to take part, again as Nehru, in an international film titled Chou-en-lai in Bandung. He has directed a number of documentary films, including a historical series for Channel Four Television, London, titled The Raj Though Indian Eyes. England's Museum of the British Empire & Commonwealth, in Bristol, now has a permanent section devoted to film clips and interviews titled The Partap Sharma Archive on the British Raj. His voice is well-known to cinema, TV and radio audiences as he is one of India's foremost commentators and narrators.
AGRARIAN POWER AND AGRICUTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SOUTH ASIA
Edited by Lord Meghnad Desai, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and the late Ashok Rudra
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONAGRARIAN POWER AND AGRICUTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SOUTH ASIA
Edited by Lord Meghnad Desai, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and the late Ashok Rudra
© Oxford University Press, India 1984
Do differences in power structures play an important causal role in advancing or retarding agricultural productivity? In discussing the relationship between power and productivity, the nine contributors to this volume anthropologists, economists, political scientists, historians- raise questions about the widely accepted generalization that structures of local power are a major constraint on technically progressive agriculture. By contrast, they argue that there is no necessary relationship between asymmetrical power structures and high or low productivity. Rather, the relationship between power and productivity varies with historical time and region and is determined in part by legal arrangements and their implementation, market opportunities, and how surpluses are allocated.
This volume is the first product of a unique attempt by the Social Science Research Council (New York) with the support of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (New Delhi) to ask cross-national and multidisciplinary working groups to engage in social science conceptualization and explanation by deploying several national and disciplinary lenses. In their transdisciplinary and transnational analyses and findings, the contributors display an uncommon capacity to bridge analytical differences and to integrate several theoretical perspectives.
*** THE CHAPTERS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY @ IDEAINDIA.COM ***
Contents:
Introduction
SUSANNE HOEBER RUDOLPH
Capital and the Transformation of Agrarian Class
Systems: Sugar Production in India
DONALD W. ATTWOOD
Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Montreal
Productive Power in Agriculture: A Survey of Work
on the Local History of British India
DAVID LUDDEN
Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Rural Power Structure and Agricultural Productivity
in Eastern India, 1757-1947
B. B. CHAUDHURI
Department of History, University of Calcutta
Power and Agrarian Relations:
Some Concepts and Measurements'
Lord MEGHNAD DESAI
Emeritus Professor, Department of Economics, London School of Economics
Economic Consequences of Local Power Configurations
in Rural South Asia
RONALD J. HERRING
Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, Evanston
Local Power and Farm-Level Decision-Making
The late ASHOK RUDRA
Formerly of the Department of Economics, University of Visva Bharati, Santiniketan
Determinants and Varieties of Agrarian Mobilization
LLOYD I. RUDOLPH
SUSANNE HOEBER RUDOLPH
Emeritus Professors, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago
Power Structure and Agricultural Productivity
The late SUKHAMOY CHAKRAVARTY
Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
SACHIN: The Story of the World%u2019s Greatest Batsman
Gulu Ezekiel
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONIn the years that he has been in the public eye, Sachin Tendulkar has been explosive on the cricket field and just as reticent off it. He has broken records and captivated audiences all over the world. He just keeps going from strength to strength. In this biography of the hero of Indian cricket, Gulu Ezekiel mines interviews, press reports and conversations over the last decade and more to create an accurate and sympathetic account of the man and his first passion: cricket.
Gulu Ezekiel began his career in sports journalism with The Indian Express in Chennai in 1982 before moving to New Delhi in 1991. He has been sports editor at The Asian Age, NDTV and indya.cam and has contributed to over fifty publications around the world. In August 2001 he launched GE Features, a features and syndication company. Gulu has written and contributed to a dozen sports books since 1992 and is the author of Indian Table Tennis Yearbook, Great One-day Internationals and The Story of World Cup Cricket.
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY 1600 - 1873: Trade, Profit, Dominion, Disgrace
Roderick Matthews
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThe history of the East India Company is extraordinarily long and complex, covering two continents and spanning two and a half centuries. It is the story of a multi-stranded trade, intimately connected to political developments in up to eight major countries besides India, whilst within India it is tied to a multiplicity of regional dynasties and kingdoms. The Company's dealings span the reigns of fourteen monarchs in Britain and fifteen Emperors in India, which is a great deal of politics for the Directors to have navigated and a huge pool of names and faces for any historian to narrate. The enormous Company archive probably contains a significant proportion of all the ascertainable facts on earth.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.
MYTH AND REALITY OF PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS LAW
DINESH KHOSLA
In 1955, India's Protection of Civil Rights Act went into effect. Some gains have been made under it, but, in most of rural India where the majority of Untouchables live, its promise remains largely unfulfilled. The reasons for this legislative failure are the subject of the inquiry undertaken by Professor Khosla in this brilliant, unique book.
Professor Khosla is convinced that positive changes have taken place, but he believes that the most important are operating at subterranean psychological levels. They may be attributed less to the intervention of legal processes and more to the diffusion of certain ideas associated with the legislation and the activation of latent demands for human dignity and equality. There are many lessons to be learned from this study by lawyers everywhere, for virtually every community on our planet is involved in process of social and psychopersonal change under governmental stimulus.
Despite the human misery it must explore, this is an optimistic book. For all of its meticulous method and scrupulous use of data, this is a romantic book. It is animated by a deep belief in the inherent dignity of all people and their unceasing demand for systems of public order which permit that dignity to flourish. It believes that law, taught and applied in an appropriate jurisprudential frame, can make a difference. Dr. Khosla has made a contribution to the literature of a scientific and policy-directed study of law. At the same time, he has offered us a luminous testament of the abiding quest of individual human beings for dignity and freedom.
From Foreword by Myres S. McDougal and W. Michael Reisman
DINESH KHOSLA received his LL.M. from Delhi University and M. Phil. (Sociology) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and J.S.D. in Law from Yale University. Professor Khosla taught a the Faculty of Law, Delhi University for some time and now teaches at the City University of New York Law School at Queens College.
KOLKATA: A COLONIAL BROTH %u2013 CITY, SELF AND LITERATURE
Oeendrila Lahiri
This paper attempts to look into the production of the idea of Calcutta through Bengali middle class literary writings, especially nakshas which remain quite neglected as historical material. I am interested in satire as a trope of resistance to and protest of colonial modernity, the element of risk and conformity of bhadralok authors who mostly penned these extant nakshas, and the politics of canonization. Colonial modernity enforced a project of imagining a collectivity primarily through printing and literature. As a distinctive urban narrative genre, the naksha's historical competency directly inscribes itself on the very territoriality of Calcutta. In the urban discourse on self of both progressive and conservative Hindu males, the city came to occupy an uncanny locum for this desired oppositional self vis-à-vis a colonizing other. Furthermore, the self and the city were emplaced in a desired commensurability which remained partial. This paper explores the signposts of the Bengali Renaissance man's consciousness and the structures and aspects of Calcutta that received pre-eminence in literary undertakings. The objective here is to underscore the overlaps in the responses of Bengali intellectual figures of the 19th century to the city - an enquiry into the topical in their works. It must be clarified at the very outset that this chapter and the concomitant history of Bengal embedded within it refer mainly to upper-caste Hindu male constructions of the city. In connection to this, I must also declare that at no point is the term Indian or indigenous deployed as a congealed unproblematic category but is an operative shorthand for my present purpose.
Much has been said about the relationship between the novel and city, but the texts read in this chapter are primarily naksha-s - Kalikatar Nookochuri (1869) by Tekchand Thakur Junior or Chunilal Mitra, Sachitra Gulzarnagar (1871) by Kedarnath Datta, and Kalikata Kamalalay (1823) by Bhabanicharan Bandhopadhyay. I will recapitulate the themes that are preset in these selected texts and which have incurred a large corpus of secondary literature over time. My aim is to synopsize the city that has been written through the literary form, naksha, and which the twentieth century has inherited as a metanarrative of Calcutta. In fact, by exploring the thematic relevance of the city in the nineteenth century, we'll find that the literary representations are in the vein of a conversation between an English-educated bhadralok intelligentsia and a broader readership of the depressed bourgeoisie/ kerani bhadralok/ with either overlapping or counterweighing ideological commitments. Following S.N. Mukherjee, one can say that internal conflicts within the bhadralok class play out also in these nakshas, which in turn, have been constitutive of the idea of Calcutta. Naksha in Bengali means a sketch, or a pattern, as in embroidery. The closest literary translation of naksha would be social satire, although the dictionary specifies it to be 'a sort of literary burlesque.' However, although satire and laughter is more commonly associated with naksha-s as the latter's primitive identification, it may not always be the case. Bhabanicharan Bandyopadhyay's Kalikata Kamalalay (1923) is recognized as the first naksha in Bengali literature, but in it the satirical touch is evidently absent; neither does it evoke the comic. It is rather a portrait of contemporary Calcutta painted in words. The latter two nakshas, Kedarnath Datta's Sachitra Gulzar Nagar (1871) and Cunilal Mitra's Kalikatar Nookochuri (1869) are more explicitly satirical, with the comic appearing in parts and episodes. Thus a safer and more inclusive treatment of the naksha form would be to consider it as a prose composition engaging with contemporary social life presented through a conventional narrative or/and vignettes which employ(s) irony, as we shall see, to fulfil certain social functions. A popular literary form, its appearance and utility in contemporary society were concurrent with the transitional phase of the Bengali cultural and political landscape of the nineteenth century. Gauging by the subject matter, function, language and style of the genre, the naksha also signified an intermediate phase in Bengali urban prose...
OEENDRILA LAHIRI is on the Cultural Studies Research Training Program, Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences, Calcutta.
She obtained M.Phil in Cultural Studies/English Literature, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This paper is based on her dissertation: Calcutta: Travelling through its Texts and Time
M.A. in English Literature, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
B.A. Hons in English Literature, Presidency College, Calcutta University, Calcutta
COLONIAL INDIA AND POST-COLONIAL INDIAN NATIONALISM IN THEORY AND PRAXIS: Rabindranath Tagrore%u2019s Gora And Ashis Nandy%u2019
Gargi Bhattacharya
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONNandy picture: Mohan Trivedi
This century and the last being oriented largely towards a study of the colonial situation and its pertinence to the subsequent development of the post-colonial discourse, Rabindranath Tagore's Gora becomes, in my opinion, an important discursive avenue into the nationalistic arena in the nascent stages of its formation. My choice of the novel is informed by the impression that it offers itself as a cultural index where the slow and laborious birth of nationalism can be registered. My endeavour, in this short evaluative analysis, would be dedicated towards the investigation of the ways in which this nationalism has begun to emerge, the possibilities it encounters and rejects, and the direction that it eventually seems to take. My contention is that Tagore, though wary of the fervent Hindu nationalism of %u0100nandamat%u0323h (1882), did not completely disqualify the religious paradigm as the adhesive that may serve as a matrix for national unity and anti-colonial struggle, especially when informed with a broader reformist intent and a vision disposed to acceptance and tolerance. At the same time, he also shows that there lies a creed greater than religious identity, an initiation into which is possible only through the renunciation of the constricted alleys of personal faith and an integration with the national cause.
Ashis Nandy, in The Intimate Enemy (1983), had elected for himself the almost impossible task of addressing all the non-answerable questions that have always been left dangling in mid-air in the wake of the Indian colonial experience. Questions which tend to make us feel uneasy, since we are currently floating in a discursive domain that is constituted largely by the paradigms set out by the Western intellectual circuit, and therefore liable to capsize at any moment, given the vulnerable nature of our conflicted relation with the West: Is India still free from imperial domination? Or is the colonial bug still nibbling away at our cerebral processes? Is colonialism really a psychological mechanism "that survives the demise of empires" (Nandy, xi) as Nandy, and many others before him, have claimed? Has the ultimate generalization of "the concept of modern West from a geographical and temporal entity to a psychological category" (Nandy, xi) finally been accomplished after the British departed? Is it true that "the West is now everywhere, within the West and outside; in structures and in minds" (Nandy, xi)? And if all this is veritable, then how has India, as a nation of heterogeneous millions, fashioned its responses to this phenomenon? Are these responses unilateral, or chiselled out in time to form different levels, each with its own logistics? Are they at all viable, or liable to co-optation within the legitimate space of dissent provided by the imperial order? These are only few of the enquiries that Ashis Nandy has taken upon himself to answer. My paper would be oriented towards an investigation of whether, or how far, he has succeeded to formulate the answers in consonance with the colonial experience of India.
Gargi Bhattacharya: Pursuing Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) in English, first year, in Jawaharlal Nehru University, after successfully completing M.A. in English in the same University and being ranked first. Variously employed in the capacity of ad-hoc lecturer in Shivaji College as also guest lecturer in Motilal Nehru College and P.G.D.A.V. College, all affiliated to Delhi University. Employed in the capacity of Production Editor in the prestigious SAGE Publications, New Delhi. M.A. in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University and B.A. in English from St.Xavier`s College, Kolkata. She has a particular interest in Critical Theory, Indian Writings in English, Folk Literature and Film Studies.
ARISTOCRATS, MERCENARIES AND REVOLUTIONARIES: The French in India 1674 - 1815
Roderick Matthews
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONIn the hundred years after 1660, militarily and culturally France was the pre-eminent power in Europe. The foremost soldiers of the age, Turenne, Condé, de Saxe, fought for Louis XIV and XV. The great military theorists were French; Vauban in engineering, Martinet in drill. The pre-eminent philosopher-writers were French; Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau. French manners, tastes and styles were aped across Europe from England to Russia via Prussia, where Frederick the Great, its King from 1740, spoke French and built himself a mini-Versailles. Yet this hegemony never translated to the world beyond Europe, where the French proved unable to build the type of territorial holdings that the British gained and retained through the eighteenth century. This can, to some degree, be put down to geography, to the long frontiers France shared with the Netherlands and what is now Germany. These borders always forced France to attend to a land war in Europe first before colonial affairs could be properly addressed. The British, who had no land border with France, would have to be fought at sea, or by proxy in Holland - where the Stadtholder was also King of England from 1689-1702, or in Germany - where the Kings of England were also Electors of Hanover after 1714. This meant that in the Anglo-French rivalry knockout blows were only ever going to be delivered outside Europe, where Britain generally proved quicker to the punch. From 1688 to 1815 there were no less than seven full-scale wars between Britain and France, and these wars are central to developments in India in terms of both trade and territorial possessions. The global success of the British in the Seven Years War (1756-63) meant that with the outbreak of the two subsequent wars, in 1778 and 1793, all the French settlements in India were instantly sequestered. The last phase of the conflict in the East from 1793-1815 was therefore fought at sea, with the French operating out of bases much nearer Madagascar than India. This part of the story went better for the French who successfully disrupted British shipping for a further seventeen years until the two remaining French outposts on the islands of France (Mauritius) and Bourbon (Réunion) were finally captured in 1810. This paper examines how the French conducted their colonial affairs in India during the periods when they still had chances to rival the British presence, and how the French laid a political trail for the British to follow.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College
FOLK SONGS OF BENGAL
Premendra Mazumder
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONpicture by Zakuragi
Folk Songs of Bengal is a vast treasure to explore. Folk songs display the sentiments and emotions of the common people, their hope and anguish, love and hate, dream and desire. Bengali folk songs are the phenomenal examples of excogitating these humane qualities of a vast land historically known as Bangalat or Bangal or Bangla, later on distorted by the British pronunciation as 'Bengal'. While studying the demography of Bengal we have to consider a huge land where the people speak in the main language Bangla (Bengali). This language has so many different dialects, which vary from place to place, district to district. Before the partition of India, this entire population had a free access to interact amongst themselves, which developed their cultural solidarity right from the very grass root level. It was a threat for the rulers and the barriers were created by dividing Bengal in several parts. During independence of India in 1947, Bengal was divided in two parts East and West and the western part was given to India. This part is known as West Bengal, the capital city of which was Calcutta, now Kolkata. Some of the portions of undivided Bengal were also distributed to other neighboring provinces like Bihar and Assam in India where the people still speaks in Bengali language. Besides this, Tripura is another province in India where Bengali is the main communicative language. Eastern part of Bengal, popularly known as Purba Bangla (East Bengal) was given to Pakistan and officially, it was known as East Pakistan, capital city of which was Dhaka. In 1971 through a great disastrous independence movement, this part of Bengal emerged as a free nation called Bangladesh, which means the 'land of the Bengali speaking people'. Dhaka again became the capital of this sovereign state.
Despite all these divisions and turmoil, the Bengali culture, language and literature, its folk songs in both the parts, have the same bonding, flavor and philosophic coherence. Though no Bengali can cross the border without a 'visa' still its impossible to differentiate Dhaka and Kolkata in terms of cultural connotations. It comes true for the entire Bengal - the undivided Bengal, which was in existence only a few years back. Folk song is one of the richest factors of these cultural ingredients, which is the inherent spirit of Bengal. Due to the richness of Bengali folk songs, the elite urban culture always adored and admired it. Even the Noble Laureate like Rabindra Nath Tagore was highly influenced by a couple of the schools of the folk songs of Bengal. Many of his famous songs were composed on the structure of some particular Bengali folk songs, especially the Baul. Tagore's fabulous novel 'Gora' starts with the description of a baul who is singing a baul-song 'khanchar bhitar achin paakhi kemne aashe jay / dhorte paarle manobedi ditam paakhir paay'. Singer is surprised how this spirit of life comes in and goes out of the structure of the body. He also says that if it was possible to find out that spirit, he certainly would have got hold of that. Practically this song was composed by the legendary baul Lalan Fakir, the most famous sufi singer of eighties, whose secular philosophical baul songs had a great influence on Tagore. He studied Lalan Fakir, his life and works very sincerely and written extensively on him. He was so deeply influenced by the baul songs, especially by the songs of Lalan Fakir that he widely used these particular tunes in many of his compositions. Due to his fascination to this particular sect of folk cult, he was even popularly referred as Rabi-baul. Maestro Sachin Dev Barman was passionately obsessed with the vast treasure of the folk songs of Bengal. There are so many schools of folk songs spread over different parts of the undivided Bengal. More than a hundred schools could be defined distinctly with its unadulterated originality besides which hundreds are there mixed up with one another or corrupted by the urban trash. Though mostly secular in nature, still so many are there which belong to some religious sects but adored by all the casts and creeds in general.
In Hindus, two main sects Sakta and Vaishnava have their own folk songs. Sakta means the worshipers of Shakti (the power) represented by the goddess Kaali or Chandi or Durga whereas Vaishnavas are the worshipers of Vishnu means the Lord Krishna. Both the sects are famous for their own schools of folk songs to appease their own gods and goddesses. Muslims also have different sects with different schools of folk songs. In between, there are many secular cults which mainly dominate this vast land to maintain deep rooted fraternity though politically disturbed by the outsiders and sometimes succeeded to destroy the age-old heart to heart inter religious bond. Still due to the immense impact of the folk songs of Bengal, it was not possible for them to ruin the cultural fraternity of the undivided Bengal.
Folk songs of Bengal could be classified in several categories: Emotional, Secular, Sectarian, Religious, Ceremonial, Occasional, Occupational and Festival. Some songs are solo and some are chorus. Lyrics of most of the songs are traditional and spontaneous. As by nature folk songs spread through verbal communications, in so many cases same songs have different texts which change from place to place in time to time. Musical instruments mainly used with the folk songs in Bengal are Dhak, Dhol, Kansa, Khol, Madal, Kartal, Khanjani, Ektara, Gopijantra, Flute et al. Dhak is a drum, made of big wooden shell, covered by parchment in both the sides, tightened by leather straps, hung on the shoulder when played with two wooden sticks. Its sound is very loud and rhythmic. Widely used in all Sakta (related to Sakti - the female power) and Shaiva (related to Shiva -the male power) festivals and rituals. Dhol is comparatively a smaller version of the Dhak, constructed by more or less same components and technique but with different shape and moderate sound effect. It is widely used with most of all the folk songs of Bengal. Kansa, Kangsya or Kansar is a metal plate accompanying with the rhythm of Dhak and Dhol to reinforce their beats. Khol is a cylindrical type of clay shell, the body of which is laced heavily by leather straps, the heads covered with parchment. Kartal is a pair of metal plates used as percussion instrument accompanying Khol to give rhythmic support. Khanjanee or Khanjari is a round wooden frame with numbers of jingle plates attached inside the frame. There are so many other instruments made in indigenous method used to accompany the folk songs.
Most of the folk songs of Bengal are sung with dance, solo or in groups. Many of the folk songs are sung to beg from door to door. Important to note that, begging is one of the most significant customs of the folk culture. This is not that fact that they do not have any other means to earn their livelihood. On the contrary, most of them have their sufficient source to survive but still they beg occasionally to keep themselves always down to earth and also to keep their ego always mellowed down. The famous sects like Bauls, Vaishnavas, Fakirs and so many others beg from door to door to propagate their philosophies by singing folk songs. Rural society of Bengal never look down upon to them. Rather these begging folk singers are respected for their simple way of living and high thinking. People also offer them food and temporary shelter in anticipation of their blessings. This is a typical spiritual and emotional bond shared by the mundane people and the beggars by philosophic choice. Folk songs keep this bond always vibrantly alive.
PREMENDRA NATH MAZUMDER is a playwright and has written widely on Indian and Bengali cinema and literature both in India, Bangladesh, Portugal and Egypt. Premendra has served on Juries of numerous film festivals in India, Bangladesh, Egypt and Mongolia. He is a consultant and correspondent at numerous film festivals. Some of the publications he has authored/edited:
%u2022 Shatobarsher Chaalchitre Bharatiya Chalachchitra (Hundred Years of Indian Cinema, Collection of Essays, Authored)
%u2022 Shamay Ashamayer Naatak (Collection of Plays, Authored)
%u2022 Prekshapat (Collection of Essays on Socio Economic Issues, Authored)
%u2022 Latin Americar Chhotogalpo (Collection of Short Stories of Latin America, Edited)
%u2022 Latin Americar Kobita (Collection of Poems of Latin America, Edited)
%u2022 Dusho Bachhorer Bangla Natak (Two Hundred Years of Bengali Theatre, Edited)
%u2022 Loukik Uddyan: Folk Song of Bengal: Collectors' Volume (Edited)
%u2022 Loukik Udyan: Two Hundred Years of Bengali Theatre: Collectors' Volume (Edited)
%u2022 Loukik Udyan: Womens' Right: Collectors' Volume (Edited)
Other work:
%u2022 Co-Editor, Chitralipi (continuing since 1986)
%u2022 Editor, Loukik Udyan (1986 - 2001)
%u2022 Co-Editor, Arani (1982 - 1986)
%u2022 Advisor, Board of Editors, Deep Focus (continuing since 2007)
%u2022 Editor, Chitrabhavna (2000 - 2008)
%u2022 Authored three full-length plays and one short play (all published) for the Group Theatres of Kolkata, which are still being played.
%u2022 Translated several plays (mostly published) from Hindi to Bengali and Bengali to Hindi.
%u2022 Main Speaker of the Banga Sanskriti Sammelan, Nagpur (2001).
ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN INDIA
Prof. M. Sarngadharan and Shina Radhakrishnan
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONElectricity has become the lifeblood of the modern world, without which the world will come to a virtual standstill. Any sluggishness in the growth of the electricity industry in any part of the world can throw the region far behind other regions in industrial, economic and social growth. Thus, power has been widely recognized as one of the key factors of infrastructure, for a sustained growth of the country. Electricity is a primary input factor on which the progress of the economy of a nation depends. Full utilization of other input factors, such as manpower, land including irrigation, and capital-related resources of an economy depend upon the availability of electricity. In other words, it is not only a key input factor but it also plays a strategic role in utilizing fully the other resources towards the progress of the economy. In addition, electricity has become an essential factor in improving the social conditions and welfare of people. Thus, power is an input essential to the integrated economy of the country. Electricity, therefore, acts with a multiplier effect. Any shortfall in the availability of such a significant and strategic input factor will make the betterment of economy of a nation a distant hope. Thus, electricity is the most essential and vital ingredient for the growth of the nation in the social, industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors. Hence a balanced development of electricity was identified as an important goal. Well recognized as 'the industry of industries' or the as the 'mother industry', electricity industry deserves priority in development and necessary support for sustainability during the planning process by the Government.
In the social field, too, electricity maintains its supremacy on all fronts, from daily needs, comforts and entertainment to agriculture and kitchen operations. The role of power sector in economic development is so tremendous that economists often establish a one-to-one correspondence between energy and economic development. The considered view of many of the influential groups of experts is that the poor state of affairs in infrastructure, including Electricity, is one of the basic maladies of tardy economic growth, a multitude of problems are popping up in the field of electricity industry. This has attracted keen attention from policy formers around the globe, and rigorous efforts to tackle these problems have become the order of the day. Industrial growth has been so fast and explosive in these years that the increase in energy supply could not maintain an equal pace. The major problems faced worldwide are fast depletion of non-renewable energy sources, increasing costs for energy, and inability to create sufficient returns for investment for growth. These problems have created a shortage of power in both quantity and quality. Electricity industry was mainly treated as a Government business worldwide, considering its importance as a vital infrastructure for the growth of the country. But growth in the sector, however impressive it was, looked insufficient to cope with the impulsive growth in industrial and other sectors. Consequently, the whole vision on the subject has been undergoing a swift change. A major shift in the electrical industry worldwide is the thinking that it is to be managed by the private sector rather than by the government. Thus, an era of reform for the power sector has opened up.
Ability to cater to the growing demands of the society and maintaining a sustainable pattern of functioning are the main challenges before the industry. Considering its importance as the vital infrastructure for the industrial, economic and social growth of humanity, experts, engineers, economists and policy formers of various countries are working hard for identification of the possible flaws and remedies for them. Specific objectives of the present study were to assess the growth or otherwise of the assets and return of one of the public sector undertakings in India engaged in production, transmission and distribution of electricity during the post liberalisation period; to examine the effectiveness in the performance in respect of the commercial sense in operation; to ascertain the methods of operation and the soundness of accounting practices followed; and to probe into the attitude of various categories of consumers on the financial charges levied for the services provided.
SARNGADHARAN, M., Professor and Chairman, PG Board of Studies in Commerce, University of Kerala, Trivandrum 695034 Secured M.Com Degree with first class, first rank from the University of Kerala (1975) and Ph.D. Degree from the Calicut University (1986) Teaching and Research experience of 33 years at the University level .Served as sole Government Administrator of Sivagiri Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust during 1997-99, when taken over for management by the Government of Kerala. Served as Head of University Department (1994-97 & 1999-2009), Member, Senate and Academic Council, and Chairman, P.G. Board of Studies - Commerce, University of Kerala. Served as the Dean Faculty of Commerce, University of Kerala and Member, Senate, Cochin University of Science and Technology. Served as the Expert Member of Selection Committees constituted by the Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission (Government of India) , Kerala Public Service Commission, UGC, NAAC (UGC), various Universities and other Government agencies on several occasions Provided Research guidance to 27 candidates for securing Ph.D. Degree in Commerce and this is a record in Kerala State. Authored \ Coauthored 15 Books - 7 in Malayalam and 8 in English - and this includes a collection of articles based on 25 research theses which won international recognition. Published 78 research articles on Commerce and management and about 500 popular articles on Finance, Education and Career planning in Kerala kaumudi daily and other leading publications Serving as Honorary Chief Editor of Journal of Business Studies published from the University of Kerala since 2004. Honoured by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Legal Institute for producing the highest number of Ph. Ds in Social Sciences from among the serving teachers in Kerala (2008); Won Guruprabha Award for the best Social Activist (1998); Won Kalakeralam Award for the best Educationalist (2005); won Sree Narayana Janakeeya Vedi award for the best educationalist in the State(2009) ; and chosen to the Dharmaprobhidini award for the best Commerce teacher in the State (2009). Visited England, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE - Dubai, Sharjah, Fujerah, Rasal Kaima, Al ain and Ajman; and Nepal for academic activities. Served as Chairman, Organizing Committee, International Conference of Tourism held at Trivandrum India during December 2004.
SHINA RADHAKRISHNAN teaches Commerce at the Graduate and Post Graduate levels for the last 28 years in various Aided Colleges under the S.N.Trusts, Kerala. She is now a senior faculty member of Sree Narayana College, Kollam, a premiere higher education centre under the University of Kerala. and is currently working on a project financed by the University Grants Commission of India. She took her M.Com, M Phil and Ph D from the University of Kerala. Her major area of interest is Electricity Finance and has written several articles in research journals and news papers.
CONFLICT BETWEEN LEGISLATORS AND JUDICIARY
Bharat Gupt
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONHaving entered the twenty-first century India should remain under no illusion that legislative inactivism shall be the order of the day in our populist democracy. The root cause behind this inactivism is the populism practiced mindlessly by our legislators. To appease his prospective voters an average member of the Indian parliament, a state assembly legislator, a city corporation member, or even a village council (graama panchaayat) member, does not hesitate in making mutually contradictory concessions to different sections of his voters. He will promise raised fares to taxi associations and no increase in fares to the commuters at the same time. He will assure tax-cuts by reducing government expenditure, and at the same time promise to raise salaries and make fresh appointments in bureaucracy. He will show the lure of higher quality of education but in actual practice, flood the universities with excessive entrants and politicize student cadres. He will make new roads but jam them with encroachers and illegal constructions.
The list is unending. After a few decades of placation without policy, the contradictory pulls have brought an end to both development and governance. The frustrated public has turned to the courts for mandatory orders to be given to governments to sort out the mess. This aweful decline in the efficiency of the legislators has put them under the scrutiny of the judiciary and challenged their supremacy that had stayed uncontested under the socialist system practiced from Nehru and his dynasty. Several cliques of functionaries, dependants and parasites under socialist raj have bolstered the primacy of the legislators now in question. It is also clear that the political elite have under their patronage vociferous apologists, that huge class of mediocrities who secure positions and favours which they cannot secure through fair means of promotion, and who continue to support the myth of the supremacy of the Parliamentarians.
Bharat Gupt Associate Professor, CVS, Delhi University. Founder member and Trustee International Forum for India's Heritage. Born in 1946 in Moradabad, a small town in the Uttar Pradesh province of India of mixed Hindu-Muslim population, best known for its engraved art on brassware and a little less for Hindustani music and Urdu poetry. Parents moved in early fifties to Delhi, the new capital of modernity and political intrigue, where I went to school and college and studied English, Hindi, Sanskrit and philosophy, but spent every summer in the district town. Spent a year in the US at the end of Counter-Cultural days and took a Master's degree from Toronto. I learnt to play the sitar and surbahar under the eminent musician Uma Shankar Mishra and studied musicology , yoga sutras and classics under Acarya Brihaspati and Swami Kripalvananda. Trained both in modern European and traditional Indian educational systems, I have worked in classical studies, theatre, music, culture and media studies and researched as Senior Onassis Fellow in Greece on revival of ancient Greek theatre. As a classicist I came to realise that ancient Greek drama and culture as a whole, was given an unduly empirical color by the modern West. Looking at things from my own location I saw that Greek theatre was closer to ancient Indian theatre as an ethical and religious act or hieropraxis. Instead of being seen as Western and Eastern, Greek and Indian theatres should be seen rooted in the Indo-European cultural beliefs, myths and idolatory and the aesthetics of emotional arousal. I have lectured on theatre and music at various Universities in India, North America and Greece. I am on visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Bhartendu Academy for Dramatic Arts , Lucknow.
HOMOLOGIES OF CULTURAL RESISTANCE IN TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY JAPAN AND INDIA %u2013 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF OKAKURA KAKUZO AND ABANIN
Debashish Banerji
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThis paper makes a comparative study of the Japanese ideologue Okakura Kakuro and the Indian artist Abanindranath Tagore with a view to developing homologous processive structures of colonial-national engagement. Issues of 'hybridity' and 'cultural purity' are explored along with notions of strategic essentialism and the construction of a national art history as a field of hybrid discourse.
Debashsish Banerji completed his undergraduate studies in English Literature from the University of Bombay. He served as a cultural correspondent with some of the leading English language newspapers in India. He completed a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Louisville, Kentucky and a Ph.D. in Indian Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1991 - 2005 Debashish served as president of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Angeles founded by Dr. Judith Tyberg. Debashish is part of the adjunct faculty of Pasedena City College teaching Art History. Presently, he is Educational Coordinator at the distance-learning graduate level University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles and is Director of the International Center for Integral Studies in New Delhi
SHRINGAARA: A WORTHY AIM OF HINDU LIFE
Bharat Gupt
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONThe fifth century BCE Indian text on dramaturgy, the Naatyashaastra states, "All thought and feeling is rooted in Desire (Kaama) that manifests itself in uncounted ways. There is desire for just action, for wealth, for liberation and for union between man and woman. That is the most harmonious of all unions and leads to sexual joy achieved through many activities and is known by the name shringaara. Created with diverse dispositions women alone can bring this joy and comfort that everybody longs for in this world (22:89-94)." This eulogy of woman as the source of all happiness and the celebration of shringaara or the sexual union is to be seen in the context of ancient Indian beliefs not only about sexuality but life as a whole. Much of the confusion in the minds of the average westerner or even the western oriented Indian about Indian arts and literature can be cleared if the philosophical perception of sexuality is not forgotten.
Bharat Gupt Associate Professor, CVS, Delhi University. Founder member and Trustee International Forum for India's Heritage. Born in 1946 in Moradabad, a small town in the Uttar Pradesh province of India of mixed Hindu-Muslim population, best known for its engraved art on brassware and a little less for Hindustani music and Urdu poetry. Parents moved in early fifties to Delhi, the new capital of modernity and political intrigue, where I went to school and college and studied English, Hindi, Sanskrit and philosophy, but spent every summer in the district town. Spent a year in the US at the end of Counter-Cultural days and took a Master's degree from Toronto. I learnt to play the sitar and surbahar under the eminent musician Uma Shankar Mishra and studied musicology , yoga sutras and classics under Acarya Brihaspati and Swami Kripalvananda. Trained both in modern European and traditional Indian educational systems, I have worked in classical studies, theatre, music, culture and media studies and researched as Senior Onassis Fellow in Greece on revival of ancient Greek theatre. As a classicist I came to realise that ancient Greek drama and culture as a whole, was given an unduly empirical color by the modern West. Looking at things from my own location I saw that Greek theatre was closer to ancient Indian theatre as an ethical and religious act or hieropraxis. Instead of being seen as Western and Eastern, Greek and Indian theatres should be seen rooted in the Indo-European cultural beliefs, myths and idolatory and the aesthetics of emotional arousal. I have lectured on theatre and music at various Universities in India, North America and Greece. I am on visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Bhartendu Academy for Dramatic Arts , Lucknow.
TOWARDS MULTICULTURAL GROWTH: A Look at Canada from Classical Racism to Neo-Multiculturalism
Suwanda Sugunasiri
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONPreface by Prof. Emeritus Geoarge W. Bancroft
Introduction by Prof. Uma Parameswaran
Multiculturalism is almost passé now. Public debate has moved to local issues like deficit cutting, employment security, poverty, homelessness, bank profits, the environment and, of course, our favourite pastime, government bashing. International issues that have attracted attention are landmines, child labour and the Pacific Rim.
One of the major reasons for the disappearance of the public debate on Multiculturalism is certainly the advances made in the field, both as policy and practice. There may be differences of opinion as to how much of Multiculturalism is good, and even what exactly constitutes Multiculturalism, but nobody seriously now argues against it in principle. It is an accepted article of faith among Canadians and a norm of Canadian social policy.
But if Multiculturalism has moved out of the centre, it is hardly dead. It is indeed a part of our underground culture, meaning it lies just beneath the surface of our public and personal psyche. If Ontarions have put the Honourable Mike Harris in power because of the fiscal run-away irresponsibility of succeeding governments of the right, centre and left (in that order), it was also possibly a backlash of the hinterland against the multicultural extremism of the metropolis.
In the city of Toronto itself, the beating up of an innocent Tamil in Toronto by white hooligans, or the defacing of synagogues by white supremacists in the nineties may be seen as individual acts of misdemeanor. But they also represent a symbolic backlash of a majority pushed against the wall by an increasingly vociferous and apparently insatiable minority demand for more and more.
Whether Multiculturalism is passé or right centre in our conscience, one thing remains. It has moved Canada in a particular, and irreversible, direction. In view of this, it would make sense for us to learn from past mistakes but also to see if or how we can move forward toward a better future. This with compassion.
This is what this book is all about. But I don't pretend it to be a comprehensive study, or a scholarly one. Rather it is merely one Canadian's imaginative, even idiosyncratic, attempt. You will not find in these pages citations from authorities or research evidence -- the bread and butter in my academic work. I don't believe, however, that deep critical reflection as a participant-observer helps less in understanding a social phenomenon.
%u2026informative, insightful and passionately written%u2026 I think you have written a rather controversial document. -- George Bancroft, Professor, and past Executive Director, Ontario Ministry of Culture and Citizenship
Through perceptive, balanced insights, and a style that is both informed and witty, the book provides an informed and lucid exposition of Canadian Multiculturalism, supported by wide-ranging research, authoritative personal anecdotes, and a passionate commitment to Canada. -- Frank Birbalsingh, Professor, York University, Toronto
This is an astonishing book - sometimes profound and wise, sometimes maddening, but always lively and full of élan. -- June Callwood, social activist & author
Dr. Sugunasiri %u2026courageously takes up the risk of losing the sympathy of his readers, both white and non white to say what he considers needs to be said in unequivocal terms. He throws satirical punches at both -- Uma Parameswaran, Professor, University of Winnipeg, Chair, Racial Minority Writers' Committee, Writers' Union of Canada
A pragmatic tour of Canadian Multiculturalism. This book pulls issues and ideas about our multicultural experiment out of the hidden recesses of society into the sunlight. -- Sheena Sharp, Architect
In this very personal commentary, there is enough ammunition for all sides in the debate on Multiculturalism. -- Patricia Weldon, Senior Administrator.
PROF. SUWANDA H J SUGUNASIRI PhD (Toronto), MA (U of Pennsylvania), MA, MEd (Toronto), BA (London); Founder, Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies (Canada); Adjunct Professor, Divinity Faculty, Trinity College, University of Toronto;
past Executive Member, Ontario Advisory Council on Multiculturalism & Citizenship.
A pioneer in multicultural commentary (Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC, Vision TV) and social activist in Multiculturalism, Interfaith Relations and Buddhism, Dr. Sugunasiri was a Fulbright scholar in the U.S. before arriving in Canada in 1967. Poet, fiction writer, theatre director and dancer, he is featured in Canadian Who's Who. Founder, Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies, he teaches at the University of Toronto, and is Founding Editor, Canadian J. of Buddhist Studies. Born in Sri Lanka, he has a London BA, MA in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and three degrees from the University of Toronto: MA in the Scientific Study of Buddhism, M Ed in Philosophy of Education and PhD in International Development. Past President, Buddhist Council of Canada, he lives with his wife Swarna.
INDIA %u2013 The Tide Rises Slowly Corporate Governance in Development: The Experiences of Brazil, Chile, India and South Africa
Omkar Goswami
The past few years have seen an extraordinary movement by Indian enterprises to sign up for codes of corporate governance; first voluntary, later compulsory. This is not the consequence of any scandal but the direct result of the recognition by a new breed of managers and entrepreneurs that good corporate governance is intimately linked to sound business and opens the road to sources of finance. There is still some way to go; bankruptcy and accounting procedures need improvement, the stock and bond markets need to perform better and pension funds should play a fuller role. But there are real grounds for optimism. This is chapter 4 of the work that outlines India' experience.
Omkar Goswami is the Chief Economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries. Holder of a Master's degree from the Delhi School of Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from Oxford University, he currently serves on the boards of Infosys, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (two of India's most prestigious knowledge-based companies), DSP-Merrill Lynch Fund Managers Ltd., and Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd.
RELIGIOUS PLURALITY IN EDUCATION
Bharat Gupt
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION"Pluralism" is a word that these days abounds alike in the glib talk of undergraduates, outpourings of subaltern filmmakers, papers read by academics in international seminars and the maiden speeches of newly elected legislators. But do we usually pause to think:
1. What exactly do we mean by the word 'pluralism'?
2. What obligations and social conduct does a life of pluralism demand from its professed adherents?
3. Is pluralism a contemporary concept or have the older cultures also thought of it?
4. Does the present day world has capacity to manage variety and differences and still maintain a faith in the deeper unity of humankind?
It is a pity that on this earth where plurality has been debated in metaphysical and ethical terms for thousands of years, plurality has been now debased to mean merely a tolerance of diverse faiths and cultural habits. Discussions on plurality in the context of the ultimate nature of the seen and unseen universe are no longer the order of the day. Can the diversity of dress codes, sexuality, religious convictions, and morals be practiced if the finer questions of philosophical plurality are shoved under the carpet? Reducing the larger expanse of plurality and limiting it to the sphere of "ethnic tolerance" or "community harmony" is putting the cart before the horse. If the deeper springs of religious and social beliefs are not studied, debated, and analyzed, measures to keep the adherents of these faiths and communities in harmony are not going to succeed. Religious and cultural denominations will always be taken over by chest-beating demagogues who shall proclaim the right to dictate their whims on behalf of vast populations. Their conflicting claims shall continue to create recurring flare-ups in the name of identity protection and continue to detract from the deeper sources of spiritual and intellectual probing.
Bharat Gupt Associate Professor, CVS, Delhi University. Founder member and Trustee International Forum for India's Heritage. Born in 1946 in Moradabad, a small town in the Uttar Pradesh province of India of mixed Hindu-Muslim population, best known for its engraved art on brassware and a little less for Hindustani music and Urdu poetry. Parents moved in early fifties to Delhi, the new capital of modernity and political intrigue, where I went to school and college and studied English, Hindi, Sanskrit and philosophy, but spent every summer in the district town. Spent a year in the US at the end of Counter-Cultural days and took a Master's degree from Toronto. I learnt to play the sitar and surbahar under the eminent musician Uma Shankar Mishra and studied musicology , yoga sutras and classics under Acarya Brihaspati and Swami Kripalvananda. Trained both in modern European and traditional Indian educational systems, I have worked in classical studies, theatre, music, culture and media studies and researched as Senior Onassis Fellow in Greece on revival of ancient Greek theatre. As a classicist I came to realise that ancient Greek drama and culture as a whole, was given an unduly empirical color by the modern West. Looking at things from my own location I saw that Greek theatre was closer to ancient Indian theatre as an ethical and religious act or hieropraxis. Instead of being seen as Western and Eastern, Greek and Indian theatres should be seen rooted in the Indo-European cultural beliefs, myths and idolatory and the aesthetics of emotional arousal. I have lectured on theatre and music at various Universities in India, North America and Greece. I am on visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Bhartendu Academy for Dramatic Arts , Lucknow.
INDIA'S CORRUPTION MENACE
Sheo Nandan Pandey
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONStrange and yet true that the Indian public life is severely infested with the phenomenon of corruption. In his disquiet, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi saw symptoms of "institutionalization of corruption" as an outcome of "corrupting of institutions" right in 1985. "The failure to deal with corruptions", said he, "has bred contempt for the law". This is there despite the age old wisdom of the land and present day statutory organizational framework of governance of the nation squarely provides for zero tolerance. However, the new developments in the socio-economic organization of the nation, in particular the importance of material existence and a number of glitches in the operating system and procedure, seem to have gone into creating aberrations.
The paper deliberates on the institutional response and efficacy of the system to handle the problem of corruption. First, the phenomenon of corruption in Indian public life crept in despite the Indian Statute and the age old social value system; second, the outgrowth and sustenance much less perpetuation and oblique social acceptance of the phenomenon draw on a variety factors, some of which are universal while others quite exclusive to India; third, the glitch in the organization and management of public utility services, law enforcement mechanism and check and balance system stand at the back of much delinquent behaviour of different actors in the game; and, fourth, a web of visible/invisible watchdogs, operating through and from the sanctum sanctorum of social, cultural and spiritual institutions in close coordination with the legal system to instil transparency, integrity and accountability in the attitude and practices at large hold real and ultimate answer to the menace. The paper, in its perspective, sequentially focuses on: Forms of Corruptions and the Milieu; Intensity of Corruptions and the Intervening Factors; Control Mechanism and the Slip Points; and, Challenges and the Saving Grace.
Dr. Sheo Nandan Pandey Born on 14 Jan 1947, Dr S.N Pandey has served both academic institutions of higher education and government departments for the last four decades in India. Fluent in Mandarin, he has contributed hundreds of research papers, based on Chinese language primary and secondary sources. He has equally contributed to various other fields of social sciences research, in particular education, economy, research methodology and defence and security studies.
THE BABRI MASJID-RAM JANMABHOOMI DISPUTE AND STRATEGICAL SECULARISM
Oeendrila Lahiri
Picture by Shaid Khan
This paper is an enquiry into the use and deployment of the disciplines and politico-conceptual categories in the case of the Babri Masjid-Ram Jamnabhoomi Dispute. I intend to look at the offensive launched by the VHP-BJP which heavily employs the mechanisms, strategies, rhetorics of strict academic historiography and the response of 'secular' historians or the anti-Mandir camp as they have come to be branded. Through it I look at the usefulness of secularism as a hallowed referent for combating the regressive forces of communalism and a possible relocation of the prime marker of the debate - was there or not a temple? I hope to show that a reformulation of the question, which would necessarily require a reconceptualization of the doctrine of a 'secular nation-state,' may open up newer possibilities.
The documents issued by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad entitled "Evidence for the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir" on December 23, 1990 and "Rejoinder to the AIBMAC Documents" submitted to the government on January 6, 1991, a year before the mosque's demolition, are interesting in their dense argumentation for a Ram temple having pre-dated and pre-existed the Babri Masjid. The RSS, VHP and BJP's claim of a historical event of demolition of such a mandir by Babar is well known by now.
OEENDRILA LAHIRI is on the Cultural Studies Research Training Program, Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences, Calcutta.
She obtained M.Phil in Cultural Studies/English Literature, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This paper is based on her dissertation: Calcutta: Travelling through its Texts and Time
M.A. in English Literature, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
B.A. Hons in English Literature, Presidency College, Calcutta University, Calcutta
RUN
Farrukh Dhondy
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKThe story of Rashid Rashid - on the run - searching - the Police and Immigration authorities after him - this is a compelling and credible tale of a journey by Farrukh Dhondy.
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV.
WINNING THE PRESENT BY USING THE PAST: Ritual Fight between Modern Political Parties in Bengal
Abhijit Guha
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKDuring 1998-99 an upsurge of interest and activism was observed among the leaders of political parties of West Bengal to celebrate the 200 years of an Adivasi revolt, popularly known as 'Chuar Rebellion'. The grandeur with which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress Party came out in the public domain clearly revealed that Bharatya Janata Party is not the only political party in India who tries to use history for present political benefit. The so-called 'Chuar' or 'Paik' rebellion which spread over the vast forest covered tracts of South-West Bengal and parts of present Jharkhand during the second half of eighteenth century was made an apparently non-political agenda by the political parties of West Bengal. Large public meetings and seminars were addressed by the leaders of Congress and CPI (M) who hardly had any competence to carry out substantial discussions based on authentic historical research on the rebellion which was basically an armed agrarian revolt against the exploitative revenue policy of the colonial rulers. It is interesting to note that the political leaders had picked up this particular rebellion not to conduct serious research on the different dimensions of this pioneering agrarian revolt, which took place long before the Santal Rebellion but to associate themselves symbolically with the heroic struggles of the down-trodden and the toiling masses of the countryside who were exploited, oppressed and finally brutally exterminated by the colonial rulers. The 'Paik Rebellion' took place in two distinct phases, first during 1766-83 and the second between 1798-99. Taking cues from the works of Abner Cohen and Marc Abeles this study makes attempt to construct an ethnography of political symbolism by describing in some detail the tour programmes and speeches of the political leaders and the discourse generated by the print media on the occasion of the celebration of the peasant revolt.
ABHIJIT GUHA b. 1956. Reader, in Anthropology,Vidyasagar University. Took his Masters' in Anthropology from Calcutta University in 1983 and M.Phil. in Environmental Science from CU in 1984. He was ICSSR Doctoral Fellow during 1984-85 at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Teaching at Vidyasagar University for the last 22 years and took his Ph.D in Anthropology.Dr.Guha did his Ph.D on Land Acquisition and Displacement of Peasants in West Bengal under the Left Front Government which is the first of its kind in this field. He has published about 80 articles, comments and book reviews in various International and National level peer-reviewed journals, newspapers and edited volumes which include Current Anthropology, Population and Development Review, Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society, Economic and Political Weekly, frontier and Journal of Human Ecology, and The Statesman since 1985 and presented papers in many Seminars and Conferences in India and abroad. He has also published a book Land, Law and the Left: The Saga of Disempowerment of the Peasantry in the Era of Globalisation in 2007. Dr. Guha taught at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences and was a visiting fellow at the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics. Recently, he acted as an expert on the amendment of Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation bills before the Standing Committee on Rural Development, Lok Sabha.The paper published in idealindia was originally presented in a much shorter form in an International Conference on 'Reinterpreting Adivasi Movements in South Asia at Sussex University, Brighton in 2005.
PERSPECTIVE OF GROWTH AND CONVERGENCE IN SELECTED SOUTH ASIAN AND EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES: A Data Envelopment Analysis
Somesh Mathur
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKThere has been considerable research inquiry into the causes and nature of differences in growth rates across countries and regions over time. Even small differences in these growth rates, if cumulated over a long period of time, may have substantial impact on the standards of living of people. Despite considerable research on the subject, cross-country and cross-regional income disparities are on rise over time. Understanding the causes behind such inequalities is essential to formulate appropriate policies and bring about required institutional changes in order to spread the benefits of growth processes across regions.
Dr. Somesh K. Mathur M.A., M Phil, Ph.D, has nearly eleven years of teaching and research experience at the Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), Delhi. While teaching at the Jamia he completed his M. Phil and PhD degrees in economics from the Centre for International Trade and Development, JNU. He has joined as Fellow at Research and Information System for Developing countries in April, 2006. His area of interest lies in new trade and growth theories, TRIPS and other WTO issues. He has participated in various national and international conferences and has published in referred national and international journals. Dr. Mathur has taught papers like Pure Theory of International Trade, Quantitative Methods, International Finance and Banking, Microeconomics and Corporate Finance to the post graduate students of the University.
IS INDIA A MATCH FOR CHINA? Questioning the Grounds for Optimism
GK Rajesh
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKIndia and China are two of the largest agrarian economies in the world. China still continues to be a single party ruled, authoritarian state where as India is a multi party democracy with a market economy. After reforms both the countries have attracted global attention by their spectacular achievements in economic growth and trade participation. A current debate is on the comparative performance of the two countries. Some observe that by 2025 China will be world's workshop where as India, its office. But a comparison of the current performance and advancement over the years reveal that India is crawling much behind China if the subject countries are taken as engaged in a running race competition.
GK Rajesh MPhil Scholar, Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
GUINEA PIGS
Farrukh Dhondy
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND E-ARTICLEThis article, written in 2007, concerns the use of Indian soldiers for experiments with mustard gas: 'The British National Archives, government and military papers which keep their secrets for sixty years and can then be accessed by Britain's free press, now reveal that through the thirties and the early forties, Indian soldiers were used by the Raj's military establishment as guinea pigs for experiments with mustard gas%u2026.Similar experiments were carried out with British soldiers in Porton Down. It is known that some of these 'volunteers' later developed skin diseases and cancer. The long term effects of the gassing on the Indian soldiers is nowhere recorded. They may have been demobbed and gone home to their villages to die painful deaths or may have marched about till their dying days with medals for honourable voluntary service to King and country%u2026The volunteering in their case was, I deduce, a figure of speech%u2026.'
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist, was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV.
BRITISH INDIA AND THE COMING OF THE RAILWAYS
Roderick Matthews
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKThe introduction of railways to India in the 1850s produced far-reaching change. In many ways it was meant to. New markets for goods were opened up, raw materials were made accessible, tunnels were dug and bridges built, soldiers were moved further and faster. Above all, capital was invested and returns secured. As a secondary effect internal regional trade was redirected and the labour market altered so that over the next century agricultural production was reshaped in tandem with a mass migration to the cities. For the British rulers, administrative and military efficiency were enhanced, as foreseen, but at the same time opposition to the Raj was more easily mobilised. Worse, the new expensive technical infrastructure of colonial rule proved to be alarmingly vulnerable to popular disruption in a country of such extended scale. Physical change appeared around major cities with the expansion of suburban sprawl, and in rural areas too, with deforestation and the creation of new malarial swamps by the enormous earthworks flung across the land. The line between pilgrimage and tourism became ever more blurred. Physical as well as spiritual health was compromised as epidemic diseases could now pass as rapidly among the population as political ideas%u2026.
There is also the complex irony that although many nationalist figures resented and opposed the railways from a variety of angles, it is also arguable that the making of India as a political nation was vastly abetted and accelerated by the coming of those same railways. The rapid physical transportation of people made the early conferences of Congress Party possible in a way that bullock carts could not have, while it also facilitated the dissemination of the printed material essential to the formation of a national opposition. The creation of the modern Indian nation economically, politically and figuratively is inextricably bound up with steam engines. They provided the accelerated movement of men and goods that generated both economic grievances and the means to discuss and protest against them. They demonstrated the political manipulation of the country in a physical way and at the same time provided physical freedom to assemble in opposition. As with education the British were directly responsible for fashioning the tools that guaranteed their own expulsion. And as in the field of wider politics, the two world wars of the twentieth century were crucially defining moments for India's railways.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.
DISINTEGRATING INDIA?
Farrukh Dhondy
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKThis article, written in 2008, looks at Post-Independence regionalism:
"The great paradox of Indian Independence was partition. It is often said that British colonialism united a divided India and inspired its democratic ambitions. A story: I wrote a film called The Rising. It was a historical fiction set around the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The film was showing at an Indian cultural festival in Belgium last year and I had been invited to speak about it. The chief invitee to the festival was V.S.Naipaul who had been in earlier keynote sessions at the same festival talking about his writing and his career in writing. He told me he wanted to see my film and would stay the extra day in order to do so. We are friends, but I was a bit apprehensive as to how he'd take the popular treatment of Bollywoodish song and dance which the producers had added to my script. We sat together through the screening and he was moved by the film as was his wife Lady Naipaul---- 'Nadira' to me. At dinner Vidia put just one question to me. "There was a scene in which you made Mangal Pandey say that the reign of Kings in India was over, that the people would take over when the British were finally kicked out. Is that historically accurate? Would he have said that?" I had to think about the answer. The scene which he had paraphrased hadn't come to me as a philosophical or political insert. When one is writing a screenplay, the characters of one's imagination take on their own lives and seem to say what they would in the situations they face. A sort of trance dictates their response and that creative impulse is the opposite of deliberate political planting. "I didn't read it anywhere, Vidia," I replied. "It just seemed right that a man who had initiated a Mutiny against colonial rule would have thought about the relationship between the feudal Rajas who were his allies and himself and the people of India. And I think I was historically accurate and captured a moment, because after the Mutiny was crushed all talk of restoring a Mughal pad-padashahi ended and the Indian National Congress took the field as the successor movement demanding democratic Independence from British rule." Vidia was happy, or at least satisfied, with my rejoinder and I thought to myself that it was probably the most perceptive question I had been asked about my film script.
I also mulled over my answer, which I freely admit didn't come to me until the question had been asked. In writing Mangal's anti-feudal pro-democracy speech I hadn't thought about the flow of history - only about what that character would say in those circumstances. But who was it that demanded Independence from British rule? It was at first the educated Indian classes that had developed as a consequence of Macaulay's famous minute of 1820s urging the Viceroy Lord William Bentinck to introduce education to equip Indians to be the bureaucrats of empire. Colleges and universities were built and a class of lawyers and civil servants emerged. They were arguing for a creeping advance in Indian Independence. It was not till Gandhi and his post-First-World-War agitation that the Congress fielded a real national movement of the people. His genius was to urge the entire population of India, from Khyber to Komorin to subscribe to the movement as Indians. It worked for a significant time and for the bulk of the population from Baluchistan to Bengal and Kashmir to Kanyakumari. But then the worm of religious dissent wriggled its way into the movement. A minority of Muslim leaders, some of them, long before Muhammed Ali Jinnah, began questioning the idea of a united democratic India. They anticipated that a one- person-one-vote constitution would leave the Muslims in a permanent minority and bargained for a solution that would partition this great mass of people demanding Independence from colonial rule into Hindus and Muslims. The story of partition is long and tortuous and not the purpose of this article..."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
THIRTEEN MILESTONES TO PARTITION
Roderick Matthews, author and historian
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEIndia was the first country in the modern world to decolonise itself, after a sustained campaign of self-assertion that lasted from 1905 to 1947. Over that period a combination of political reasonableness and massive popular mobilisation persuaded the British that they were no longer welcome, that the intellectual underpinning of Empire was unsafe and that the country would soon be ungovernable. A glance at the accounts ledger was enough to persuade the post-war British political leadership that the Raj was a project best abandoned. A rapid departure duly followed. In the event the final form that Indian independence took was left to the Indian politicians. The British may have had their preferences but they had lost the political initiative by 1945 and had probably lost the ability to impose anything on anybody in India several years before that. Only Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, consistently demanded Partition, and it is still a matter of some discussion as to how exactly he managed to obtain the division of the country when he stood in a minority position without formal coercive force at his disposal. The exact nature of the resulting Partition stands to this day as an egregious mixture of political pragmatism and intellectual confusion.
This paper traces the roots of that eventual settlement, highlighting thirteen events that tended to promote a permanent partition of British India, as opposed to the 'mere' granting of a form of unitary Independence.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.
PRINCELY INDIA
Roderick Matthews
Although by 1858 the British were unquestionably the supreme power in India, still about 40% of the landmass and a quarter of the population remained in the hands of traditional ruling dynasties. This 'Indian' India was never subject to direct British control. The Princes who ruled it remained in power, protected partly by British reluctance to incur the expense of conquering them, and also by the Princes' own willingness to play ball politically. This arrangement had many mutually beneficial aspects, of which the most obvious was that both sides enjoyed an enduring peace. The Princely States got by without the expense of large armies, and in return the British assumed limited rights to supervise the internal affairs of the States, expecting 'good government' in return for the 'protection' that the native regimes now enjoyed as allies of the British Empire. From the start the British took upon themselves the right to make decisions for these States directly in the areas of defence and foreign policy, and over time enlarged this remit to include 'communications', a broad heading that covered railways, canals, telegraphs and postal services. The twentieth century saw this cosy relationship break up, as political reform, then the move towards independence profoundly changed the role the Princes were expected to play in the wider political life of modern India.
This paper examines Princely India, asking what it was, how it worked and how, ultimately, it disappeared in the process of Partition and Independence.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.
CAMELOT
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND E-ARTICLEThis e-article, written in February 2008, concerns the American Presidential race:
"Edward Kennedy has endorsed the Presidential nomination bid of Senator Barack Obama. Ted's daughter Caroline appeared with him on a stage in Washington, embracing the Senator from Illinois before a crowd of 6000 (and overflowing into the street) people. He was passing the mantle of John F Kennedy on to Obama and no mistake. Teddy made a speech about 'change' and how Obama could be compared to the young JFK who swept like a wind of change through the old Washington and supposedly brought new ways of thinking and behaving to the American establishment. Certainly the style that caused his court to be dubbed Camelot, was radically different from the Eisenhower and Nixon establishments. His glamorous wife, the connections to showbiz, the roots into the intellectual life of the East coast, the friendship with poets and writers willing to endorse his Presidency and his policy, were new facets of the style. Every American President and Presidential candidate can conjure up a few figures from showbiz to sign his or her ticket, but the Kennedy entourage was radical, and A-list quality. It would be difficult for, shall we say, John McCain to win the open endorsement of America's top writers. Philip Roth, one presumes will stay far away from the hustings even though in his last novel Exit Ghost, he writes with deep disillusion about the war-mongering and profiteering government of Bush junior that his country barely elected..."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
BANK ADVERTS AND HONKING
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'BANK ADVERTS AND HONKING'
f-mail
13 April 2008
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. The week of 13.04.08 looks at 'NO HORN DAY' in Mumbai:
"...And talking about purposeless self-expression brings me to the great recent event in Mumbai. On April the 7th the Mumbai police launched an initiative called NO HORN DAY in the city. There was vast publicity on the radio and on hoardings and stripped along bus stops and proclaimed in the media for this initiative. It was of course one of the most self-evidently sensible initiatives undertaken by any authority in this corrupt and polluted city. Before I heard about the proposed ban for day on traffic horns I, like millions of others every day have suffered the constant cacophony, day and night of bleeping, honking, blaring blasts of unmelodious and futile warning. At times I have imagined that, like birdsong, it is a noise whose finer points I do not appreciate. This feeling of being left out of a universally shared secret was strengthened the day I challenged a rickshaw driver on his unnecessary honking while stuck in a very tight traffic jam. I was in his vehicle and the traffic all round us, pumping out its noxious fumes was far from silent. There was nowhere to go and absolutely no prospect of anyone having a foot or metre of space to yield to the entreaty or bullying of a horn behind or around them. And yet my man continued pressing the antique..."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
"CHRISTIANS AND SPICES": The Portuguese in India, 1497 - 1961
Roderick Matthews, author and historian
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLETo reach India by sea the first Portuguese navigators had to spend periods out of sight of land for up to ninety consecutive days. This feat is remarkable in itself. Having done this, their relative success over the next hundred years in controlling the trade of three continents and the commerce of an enormous area of the world's oceans is astonishing. No less remarkable, however, is how little was eventually built on this courage and ambition, and ultimately how little was left behind when the Portuguese were finally forced out of their last Indian possessions in 1961. There is a story that, on arrival in Calicut in 1498, one of da Gama's men was asked why the Portuguese had come so far. "We seek Christians and spices," he replied. They found both in India but it proved difficult to get a grip on either, even though in one respect the two were closely connected. A large proportion of Malabar pepper was grown by St Thomas Christians, the Nasrani people, who had been converted by the apostle Thomas in the first century CE and therefore had been Christians longer than the Portuguese themselves. Much to Portuguese frustration it also turned out that these suspiciously heretical believers were already under the authority of the Pope via the Syriac bishop of Chaldea and so were outside Portuguese religious jurisdiction, which only extended to new lands outside Papal authority. It wasn't until 1599 and the Synod of Diamper that Church politics allowed the extension of the Portuguese padroado, giving them full authority over St Thomas's flock. A great deal of dissent and repression followed over succeeding centuries as the Portuguese attempted to Latinise the Nasranis. The headings Christians and Spices serve neatly to structure an understanding of what the Portuguese thought they were doing in the East. If these twin objectives are reinterpreted as Authority and Profit then the 'Calicut Manifesto' above seems true enough. Spreading the Catholic faith and making money were no more incompatible then than self-confidence and greed are now. There things seemed quite simple to the fifteenth century Portuguese noblemen who set out to win glory, tame the infidel and come home with treasure to enjoy the gratitude of a generous King. The Europeans who followed them later were not so concerned to reconcile these wider aims and harboured much simpler ambitions.
Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.
SCIENCE'S RELIGION
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'SCIENCE'S RELIGION'
f-mail
18 May 2008
© Farrukh Dhondy 2008
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at religion and science:
"Einstein is reputed to have said "God doesn't play dice". He is also constantly quoted as having told an interviewer that religion without science is blind and science without religion is lame. These quotes have variously and extensively been used to assert that the scientific genius of the twentieth century believed in God and even that he was in some sense a religious man. Now from his correspondence with a friend a letter is discovered in which he directly and explicitly denounces the 'superstition of religion' and clearly declares that he is not a believer in, or a votary of, a personalised anthropomorphic God who sees, hears and answers prayers. The text of the letter though very clear in its meaning need not contradict the first two statements that acknowledge God and religion. They can be interpreted in perfectly acceptable way and live with the discovery that Einstein, like Darwin before him, didn't believe in a God as Christians and Jews know him. The question remains in what sense would a scientist, one who formulated the Theory of Relativity, who went on to discover the greatest philosophical advance in the history of physics, the equivalence between matter and energy and who gave us mathematical and conceptual leads into the nature of space and time, 'believe' in God?..."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
CHEERLEADERS
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEf-mail
4 May 2008
© Farrukh Dhondy 2008
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at the changing face of cricket:
"The new game of League Cricket has overcast the Indian broadcasting skies like a storm. The very simple idea of turning India's most popular sport into a league circus and money-making enterprise following the pattern of American Football, Baseball and European and British Association Football ('Soccer'), was waiting for a sponsor. It was an idea long overdue. Any entrepreneur walking the streets (surely 'being driven by his chauffeur through the streets'?) of any Indian city or even the lanes of any village could gauge the popularity and potential of such a season of games.
A simple idea whose time had come. Get eight professional teams together, specify a format which will take a few hours of play and is therefore TV friendly and go!
Now the season of games is on, the proposition of popularity and money-spinning is more than proved. The only wonder is why it took so long for anyone to have initiated the idea and brought it into being..."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production
RE-INCARNATION
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'RE-INCARNATION'
f-mail
20 April 2008
© Farrukh Dhondy 2008
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at re-incarnation:
"I contracted Delhi-belly on a recent visit to that city and asked a friend to recommend a doctor who would give me an appointment and see me without requiring me to hang about for a couple of hours or even less in a waiting room. It wasn't simply that I was in pain - I was - or that I felt I deserved the privilege of queue-jumping to use a scarce resource, but that I couldn't stay out of range of a lavatory for more than a few, a very few, minutes. I was given an appointment and saw my friend's General Practitioner at an appointed time. He examined me, gave me an explanation and commentary on my infection which was medically technical but suitably reassuring and then proceeded to prescribe four drugs and tell me when to take each. He diligently wrote his diagnosis on the prescription sheet. All this while, I held myself, so to speak. The doctor handed me the prescription and then as I rose to go, he indicated that he wanted to chat.
"I believe you are writing the Mahabharat for television?"
"Yes," I replied, "That's the reason I'm in Delhi. I don't live normally here."
"I know," he said, "Your friend mentioned. Huge task. How many episodes?"
"A hundred and fifty planned so far. That's about it."
"If you want to know anything about the Mahabharat I can help," he offered.
"That's very kind. I am working with a director and an editorial team who are reading ten different versions and I'm reading a lot myself," I said, not wanting to be dismissive of this generosity. "But then there are details and little connections I may need. Are you a scholar, doctor?"
"No, no, not me," he said, "My guru. He can help you."
"Ah, he's the scholar?"
"No, he's not," says the doctor, "He knows all about the Mahabharat because in a previous life he was there. He was in it. He can tell you everything."...."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production
SOLD SHORT
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'SOLD SHORT'
f-mail
26 September 2008
by Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week considers the financial crisis:
"To turn one's attention to anything else this week would be akin to Nero practicing his scales on the stringed instrument while Rome burned. When Presidential candidates, the mightiest economists and the editors of every newspaper in the world have commented on the credit crisis and the meltdown of Wall Street this week, what is there left for a hack with no special expertise in economics to say?... The irony is that the capitalist nations of the world which have touted free trade as the only system which can supply the world's material needs and at the same time sustain democratic and free societies, are now having to take steps towards what they would consider 'socialism' and the unacceptable ownership of the heights of the economy by the state...."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
TANTRIC TRADITIONS
THE LATE AGEHANANDA BHARATI
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND EBOOKTANTRIC TRADITIONS
BY
THE LATE AGEHANANDA BHARATI
© HPC 1993
The first edition of this book entitled, The Tantric Tradition, was published in 1965 and later reprinted several times. The last reprint edition was published in 1992. This classic work has been highly acclaimed. The present book is a revised and enlarged edition of its 1965 version. Enlargment consists mainly on account of additional new material contributed by the author for this volume. In the preface to this edition the author discusses the developments that have taken place since the sixties both in social sciences and humanities - Indology, Asian studies and Philosophy.
AGEHANANDA BHARATI (1923-91), born in Vienna, Austria, was ordained as a Hindu sannyasi in the Dasänami order of the Samkaräcäiya. He was on the faculty of the Anthropology Department, Syracuse University, New York from 1961-91. He was appointed the Ford Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies in 1991. He also taught at several other universities Banaras Hindu University (1951-54), Mahämukta Royal Buddhist Academy, Bangkok (1955), Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto (1955-56), The Far Eastern Research Institute of The University of Washington, Seattle (1957-61), and the University of Marburg, Germany (1987 Fullbright scholarship).
SOUL OF INDIA
Farrukh Dhondy, author and coulmnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEf-mail 9 September 2007
'Soul of India'
© Farrukh Dhondy 2007
f-mail is a new weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week is the search for India's soul and identity:
"Now in its sixtieth year of Independence from colonial rule, India is still a country in search of itself, a billion characters in search of an author. The writers of this nation after Nehru and Gandhi, who were both politicians and defining writers, have concentrated on winning prizes and influencing literary agents abroad. They write family sagas and exaggerate the importance of their uncles aunts and internal incests. It does very little to define India as Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky gave definition to Russia. Our cinema on the other hand has relentlessly, because of the pressure of the box office, in quest of popularity and money, veering into the abjectly vulgar at times, sought to capture the soul of India for the Indian audience%u2026..Or it may take place by setting the nation alight with a new way of interpreting the hundred and fifty year old cultural quest for a country's unifying soul%u2026. The latest blockbuster, counted a success at the box office and bringing tears to an audience's eyes (I confess, mine too!) and making conversations in the street level tea shops and in the salons of plenty, is Chak De (India)%u2026."
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV.
JUST NOT CRICKET
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'It's Just Not Cricket'
f-mail
13 January 2008
Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week concerns recent events in international relations through sport:
"The reason this column can't be about cricket is because I know nothing about it. I wouldn't know how to score a goal in the game and I couldn't even quote the off-side rule which I am told is particularly foxing and impossible for women and scientists to comprehend. Though it begins with an incident in Australia in which one Harbajan Singh, a cricketer on the Indian Test cricket side playing Australia, is alleged to have called one of the Australian players a 'monkey', this article has nothing to do with the game, only with the allegation. This column is about words and isms and the current state of play in the great Test of language that the world has been subjected to.
This test of language arises out of history and the politics that history has generated. But more of that later. First let's establish what we are discussing: It is proposed by the British government today to bring a bill to parliament to outlaw all homophobic utterance and make the use of terms like 'queer' and 'bent' criminal offences. This is, say the people who put it forward, intended to bring the law into line with the recent statutes against inciting racial and religious hatred...."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production
THE CHIEF MINISTER
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'The Chief Minister'
f-mail
30 December 2007
Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week concerns recent events regarding Modi - possible future BJP leader? - and Indian Politics:
"...Training men to form an extra-statist fighting force was sometimes enough to earn the label 'fascist'. The founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mr. Golwalkar, an Indian nationalist who boldly acknowledged that he admired Hitler, was characterised by the Indian left as a fascist. He organised men into squads which exercised in pseudo-military style wielding 'lathis' and wearing white shirts and long khaki shorts which earned them the name of 'knickerwallas'. They would and still do, congregate in the parks and maidans of Indian towns and do their early morning exercises and now and then march through towns in a show of boy-scout strength. They have, like the boy-scouts, been known to do more than a good deed a day, sometimes not all that morally good or neutral. This ludicrous, pseudo-military stance combined with their avowed profession of an anti-Gandhian, anti-secular and some would say anti-Muslim philosophy earned them the label of fascist...."
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV
WHOSE SOUL IS IT ANYWAY
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEf-mail 25 November 2007
'Whose Soul is it Anyway?'
© Farrukh Dhondy 2007
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week is about cloning:
"Professor Ian Wilmut of Edinburgh University pioneered the technique of cloning animals by transplanting the nucleus of cells from an embryo. He invented Dolly the sheep who became famous as the first laboratory-made animal. Her birth and growth opened up the possibility of human cloning and apart from immeasurably widening the prospects of science fiction writers, gave hope to the sufferers of Parkinson's disease and other ailments which can be cured or their destructiveness contained through the fruits of genetic technology. Researchers and doctors all over the world set out to use the new Dolliology as the starting point for the manufacture of stem cells which are the key to modern techniques of fighting heart disease and strokes. The invention of Dolliology gave rise to important ethical questions, even though some of the questions asked should have been aimed more at the science fiction his work inspired than at the scientists grappling with the actual possibilities it presented. Would it now be possible to manufacture a whole helot class of human beings, suitably subservient to a master race that would create them and use them as workers -menial and intellectual? What if the master races produced cloned armies to fight proxy battles? Clones nuking cities of clones? And the politics of relationships would be thrown into the so much confusion with Alpha1 being the clone of Alpha etc., that not even an expert reader of Russian novels, in which the same person is called so many different things, would be able to say who is who. The serious ethical objectors didn't want humans to produce humans and they may still be right. We all that even the normal processes of reproduction are fraught with trials and taboos. The desirability of having similar people who are not natural born twins was also questioned. The objections to Dollification seemed logical and obvious until George Bush intervened and banned stem cell research undertaken through this route. I am sure his intervention caused thousands if not millions round the world to reconsider their antagonism to Dolliology. If Bush was against , there must be something right with it%u2026"
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV.
INTERPRETING SYMBOLISM OF THE LINGA
Manola K. Gayatri
INTERPRETING SYMBOLISM OF THE LINGA:Contrasting Freudian analysis with ideas of the Indian Linga Cult
by Manola K. Gayatri
The Linga, sometimes associated with the symbol of the phallus, is often misunderstood. This essay is a comparative study in myth, imagery, and ritual of the Linga cult in India between the third century BC and third century AD with Freudian theory of the twentieth century AD. I contrast Freudian phallocentric theory with the ideas that emerged within the linga cult in India from about the third century BC up to about the tenth century AD, but focusing mainly on the visual evidence from the third century BC to the third century AD.
Manola K. Gayatri - currently at Jawaharlal Nehru University undertaking her Ph.D. She specializes in gender, women, theatre and performance studies.
WHAT A WEB WE WEAVE
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEf-mail 18 November 2007
'What a Web We Weave'
Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with cuurent issues each week. This week is about silk and its wider significance:
"I am in Australia researching the writing of possible screenplays and dwelling on disappearances. My host, a young Bengali film maker and art enthusiast came to see me in London to arrange this trip when he was curating an exhibition in Lucerne, Switzerland, on the disappearance of the silk saree from India. The silk saree and the skills that attend its manufacture are slowly disappearing from India. That's an economic fact. Legend has it that silk was discovered in China by a Chinese princess who noticed a silk worm in water generating a thread. A slender truth which then lead to one of the world's great fabric discoveries -- as significant as those of linen and cotton and wool whose stories are too laborious to reproduce here. Other legends tell us that silk became the staple industry of Benares and whose manufacture was somehow parallel to the smooth and soft flow of the holy river through that old metropolis. The silk saree industry centred in and around the city and enriched it for centuries. Now the silk saree trade has fallen off by 30%. The reason is the invasion of jeans and trousers and artificial fabrics. The classes of Indians who can afford silk sarees have turned in part to westernised dress and the pure trade in luxury sarees has consequently fallen off. The workers have turned to making mosquito nets and the like, but the future of the trade and the tradesmen seems damned. At first it was puzzling to hear that the French and the Swiss should be hosting an exhibition on the disappearance of Indian silk sarees and that the exhibition was touring the whole of Switzerland. Surely such an exhibition should be 'raising consciousness' in Mumbai and Delhi. I don't suppose that the good women of Lucerne will now dash out and buy a few hundred luxury silk sarees each and refresh and redeem the trade. No, that's not what these exhibitions are about. They are designed to revive a collective if fruitless nostalgia. Our world is increasingly obsessed with disappearances and the erosion we ourselves cause with progress and replacement. We want to count the cost of advance and when we feel that advance is fatal, as with global warming, we seek to ameliorate it because reverse it we can't%u2026."
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV
FIXATION WITH CELEBRITY
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEf-mail 2 September 2007
'Fixation With Celebrity'
Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a new weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with cuurent issues each week. This week is India's fixation with celebrity at the expense of other perhaps more important issues:
"...Nevertheless, the population of India is equally or more concerned with the details of the news of the film stars Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan and the sentences they have each been awarded, the first for harbouring weapons belonging to a terrorist gang and the second for hunting a protected species of deer. There are endless statements from lawyers and newspapers and chat shows full of vox pops, not to mention the extensive dark matter in the ether occupied by bloggers' opinions on the justice or otherwise of jailing the stars. It seems to the casual observer like a nation obsessed with celebrity..."
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV.
CAT-SKINNERS
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLE'CAT-SKINNERS'
f-mail
27 July 2008
Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at knife crime in Britain:
"The British government wonders whether knife crime in its cities is overtaking Iraq, Afghanistan, or the rise in oil and food prices, in political importance. Every day a growing number of people are stabbed on the streets of London, Manchester or even small towns. Knife crime is of course as old as knives. I offer two incidents or episodes separated by at least forty five years..."
Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.
REVISING GANDHI
Farrukh Dhondy, author and columnist
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND eARTICLEf-mail 30 September 2007
Revising Gandhi
Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a new weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week is revising the history of Gandhi:
"The descendants of M.K. Gandhi, his son and now his grandson, not to mention other researchers and writers, have taken to writing memoirs of the Mahatma. There have been three plays and one film based on Gandhi's life, concentrating on aspects of his relationships with his son, with a woman in the ashram and with his wife. In one of these, based on a family memoir, there was more than a hint that Gandhi had an amorous relationship with Tagore's daughter-in-law and was at one point willing to leave his wife for her. This is a revisionist interest in the Mahatma. There have always been critics of Gandhi, mostly people from the extreme communist left, or bluff characters with no reverence, who openly questioned the Mahatma's 'experiment' of sleeping with 18 year old girls to test the strength of his asexual resolve. A feminist impulse asked about the mental state of the 18 year old 'volunteers'. Should they be subject to this form of experiment with an old man's truth?%u2026."
Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV.
JOURNAL OF YOGA: Yoga and Meditation Now
Ashok Kumar Malhotra, Distinguished Teaching Professor, State University of New York at Oneonta,
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Yoga and Meditation Now
Prof. Ashok Kumar Malhotra
Ebook published by IDEAINDIA.COM
Yoga, which originated in India, has been with us for the past 2500 years. During its historical development, though it was influential predominately among the various brands of Hinduism, it became an essential part of the Buddhist and Jain meditation styles and later on was adopted as a contemplative practice by the Chinese Taoists and Japanese Zen Buddhists. It is only recently that the West has opened its doors to its wholehearted acceptance by making it a way of life. The idea for creating the Journal originated from the three years long work of the Yoga and Meditation Society for the Scientific Study of Spirituality that was formed because of the need to present authentic versions of yoga and meditation to the public. The Yoga Society started in 2004 through a generous grant from the Metanexus Institute of Philadelphia and a matching one from the SUNY College at Oneonta. During its three years of existence, the Yoga Society brought to the SUNY Oneonta campus more than two dozen scholars and practitioners representing diverse disciplines to discuss contemplative practice in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Yoga, Zen, Christianity, Islam and American Indian traditions. These speakers attracted more than 2000 people and their video taped lectures reached many more in the upstate New York area. Since the speakers series was enthusiastically received by the general public, we decided to continue this exciting work through the creation of the present Journal.
Professor Ashok Kumar Malhotra, Distinguished Teaching Professor, State University of New York at Oneonta. Professor of Philosophy. Teaching experience: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, Mysticism and Meditation in Indian and Chinese Tradition, Philosophy and Psychology of Yoga, Introduction to World Philosophy Existentialism, Philosophical Ideas in Imaginative Literature, Survey of World Religions, and Religions of India, China, and Japan. For his awards and publications see: http://employees.oneonta.edu/malhotak/
AFANASIY NIKITIN'S JOURNEY BEYOND THE THREE SEAS: An Orthodox Russian in Medieval India
Dmitry Shlapentokh, Associate Professor of History at Indiana University
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An Orthodox Russian in Medieval India
Dr. Dmitry Shlapentokh
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Afanasiy Nikitin (?-1472) was a Russian merchant from Tver, a city not far from Moscow. Nikitin visited India in 1446-1472 and described his travels in a short travelogue known as The Journey Beyond Three Seas. The story was first discovered in a monastery by Nikolai Karamzin, one of the leading historians of 19th century Russia; and since that time, Journey has fascinated both Russian and Western historians, as well as political-thinkers who envisage Russia's special role in Asia. In fact, a bibliography of Journey exists in the Western and Russian languages. What is the significance of The Journey Beyond Three Seas? Certainly, the importance of the travelogue lies in the fact that not only had very few Westerners visited India at that time but that Nikitin was the first Russian who had seen India and provided a description of the exotic land.
The Journey Beyond Three Seas, just as any other document, could be approached from different perspectives. For some observers, it provides interesting data about the itinerary of Nikitin's travels and about 15th-century India. For others, Journey is a good example of the feelings of a person of one faith who found himself among people of entirely different religions. Still, in our view, one should look at Nikitin's travelogue from another perspective, which is to place Nikitin's narrative in a comparative context. Nikitin, as a representative of an Orthodox Christian civilization, was, in a way, a "Westerner," at least in his relationship to the Indians. For this reason, Nikitin's vision of India could well be placed in the context of the Europeans' vision of Russia in the 15th- through-17th centuries, at the time when Russia was for Europeans as exotic as India. There are structural similarities as well as clear differences in Nikitin's views of India and Europeans' views of Russia and the Orient in general; as a matter of fact, most Europeans look at Russia as being closer to Asia than to Europe.
Image: monument to Afanasiy Nikitin at Revdanda, India
DR. DMITRY SHLAPENTOKH is currently Associate Professor of History at Indiana University in South Bend. He is the author of several books and more than a hundred articles. Dr. Shlapentokh holds Masters' degrees from Moscow State University (Russia) and Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Russian/European History from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Shlapentokh is also on the faculty at Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College.
INDIA'S UNDERWORLD
PAULOMI PATEL
INDIA'S UNDERWORLD
The Indian intimate wear market - its current scenario, growth, the market players and their latest strategies
by Paulomi Patel
Innerwear (underwear) today has achieved new dimensions. An unending list of brands present in the Indian lingerie market is the proof of the great potential of the market in India. The strong Indian middle class is still growing and attracts even the foreign lingerie manufacturers to latch on to the Indian bandwagon. With faster lifestyles, people in the developed nations have lesser time to shop, add to that the economic slowdown currently facing the western nations. This has led the innerwear industry to spend more time looking for new markets such as China and India where people, especially women not only have more time on their hands, but also have a growing disposable income. In such a scenario it is important to analyze the innerwear market in India to understand the direction in which it is headed.
Innerwear has slowly come out of the closet in India today. About a decade ago the subject of lingerie was discussed in hushed tones. Today the scenario has changed. People are more comfortable talking about lingerie now. Purchasing intimate wear is a common phenomenon and companies selling undergarment brands are gaining popularity and awareness. Also consequently, these innerwear retailers are going full throttle in making their products visible and tempting. It is safe to say that currently, intimate apparel is a strong business segment in India, vying for a good part of the customer's pocket.
The innerwear market in India is currently valued at over Rs.5500 crore in value and some 100 crore in units. Presently, there are more than 1000 innerwear brands in the country, but hardly 20% of these are popularly known even nationally. Historically, the business has been very local-area-centric where manufacturers generally supply only in their vicinity and as a result, not many brands have gained a nation-wide status. About 70% of the Indian innerwear market is unorganized. These figures are fast changing though. With the influx of new national and international brands the lingerie sector is poised for a leap. This is a result of the increasing domestic demand coupled with more opportunities in the production and manufacturing sector.
PAULOMI PATEL
%u2022Fashion Writer for the Autumn/Winter Catwalk Supplement, Vogue India.%u2022Responsible for expanding, revamping and starting the online version for the company magazine as the Communication Coordinator at Roots Canada. %u2022Specialized in covering fashion and entertainment related events as a Freelance Journalist - Indian Express, North American Edition.%u2022Invited to be a researcher and contributor for a coffee table book, Lord Rama - The Divine, to be launched in Toronto in 2008.%u2022Started a new section focusing on International Students as the Assistant Editor of The George Brown College Student Newspaper.
BUSH WHACKED
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATIONBush said to Blair
Let's go to the fair
Blair replied "George, of course"
As he did not need to be forced
George: "We'll go to Iraq
As we won't get much flak
We'll be filled with pride
As the media is on our side"
"My daddy didn't like Saddam
So to hell with him, Goddam!
We'll say he's got weapons of mass destruction
So we won't get any obstruction"
Blair: "Did you like the sweater I got for you?"
"Yo Blair," George said "I would have liked it in blue"
Blair, no poodle he
Got a rough time in his country
The dictator died
"But no WMD" people cried
We'll say "mission accomplished"
And how the western corporations flourished
But the killing carried on
Lives taken with total abandon
The full reality was not revealed
Torture, death, injuries were concealed
"The mother of all wars" did not end
Lives and families cannot comprehend
Bush: "When Iraq can defend itself
We'll leave there by stealth"
Assange blew the lid off the war
The lies, deceit and political jaw-jaw
Iraq now war-torn - just like Afghanistan
The plague now spills into Pakistan
Blair now on 'A Journey'
Bush has 'Decision Points' surely
Neither have any regrets
But then what would you expect
ACETIC LOVE - Some Unusual Love Stories
Fiction eBook by SUJOY GHOSH
ACETIC LOVE - Some Unusual Love StoriesFiction eBook by SUJOY GHOSH
published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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To Everyone...Love is a wonderful emotion. I know because I am living it. I feel it in my heart when someone tells his/her love story. Something warms my veins when I hear about Romeo and Juliet. It's something that takes a lot out of me... and gives more than anything. Love is about giving. Time, space... and life. I have seen people just having good time in name of love. I have also seen people dedicating life for love. I have seen people hurting and getting hurt... reason... Love. I have see people winning and losing... reason... Love.
I have written a few love stories with some difference. The stories are entitled CAPTIVATE, CONSIDERATE, REVOKE, DETACHMENT and DEATH. It's all about the injury love can cause... and aftermath. Five stories on five days based in five big cities and five endings. But all have one emotion in common... Love. Representation and interpretation varies with situation. I know... you too will agree.
Dedications... After publication of 'I Died... Long Before', I found numerous people congratulating me... but nothing was as soothing as the hug my mumma and baba gave, nothing was more precious than the gift my dada (elder brother) gave... I dedicate this work to my family. Nothing is more important for me. I don't know whether I am a good writer or not... I just know that I love writing.
SUJOY GHOSH - after his first eBook 'I Died%u2026 Long Before', he engaged himself in learning about movies%u2026 only thing in his life apart from writing. More he learnt, more the difference between two mediums diminished. He made some short films, is running a movie blog www.thereelmag.in, personally blogs on www.creativegreys.blogspot.com and his latest muses are a Hindi script and an English novella. Employed with an IT Major, Sujoy spends his weekends with movies and beaches of Mangalore.
URBANISATION AND LIVELIHOOD IN COASTAL INDIA
eBook by Sanjay Rode
URBANISATION AND LIVELIHOOD IN COASTAL INDIASanjay Rode
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The coastline of India is characterized by several ecosystems and resources. Such ecosystem is characterized by the several economic resources. In coastal districts, large economic activities are located. Coastal ecosystem protects the region from saline winds, cyclones, tsunami, waves etc. It promotes raw materials for the number of manufacturing activities. The population in cities is generally increasing because they provide easy access to ocean, rivers beaches and other natural areas and are a good source for raw material and food. In addition, they provide good access to jobs, employment, housing and port, access to a wider market etc. The coastal regions where land and water meet are ecologically dynamic and sensitive regions, as marine and coastal ecosystems continuously impact on each other. These regions are rich ecologically as they are home to a large variety of eco systems, such as mangroves, water bodies, seaweeds coral reefs, fisheries and other marine life, and other coastal and marine vegetation. Coastal ecosystems protect the region from saline winds, cyclones, tsunami waves etc, promote carbon sequestration and promote biodiversity as well as provide raw materials for a number of manufacturing activities. Coastal regions are also attractive for carrying out major economic activities such as construction of ports and jetties, trade, ship building and ship breaking, large export based manufacturing including oil refinery and petroleum based industries, agriculture, tourism, aquaculture and fisheries etc, all of which are likely to put tremendous pressure on the coastal ecology. It is important therefore to maintain a balance between the ecology and economy in the region to ensure sustainable development. It is a big challenge to policy makers to promote economic growth in the region along with protecting and promoting the ecology of the region.
Most coastal states in India have not been able to maintain this balance between economy and ecology, with the result that they are facing serious problems with respect to life and livelihood of coastal population on the one hand and sustainability of the development on the other hand. These areas are facing problems related to salinity ingress in land and water resources, depletion and degradation of coastal ecosystems and natural resources, pollution of resources etc, which have impacted on the life and livelihoods of people in multiple ways. A coastline is more than 7500 km, characterized by a variety of coastal ecosystems and coastal resources. These regions are located in 14 states and union territories spread over 75 districts.
In all, there are 14 states and union territories which have a sea coast. Of their total 214 districts, 75 (35 percent or a little more than one third) are coastal and 139 are non-coastal. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have the highest coast, followed by Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka etc.
Indian coastal region is highly heterogeneous and very complex. It possesses variety of resources, habitats and is also very rich in biodiversity, and can be considered as one of the most productive ecosystems on the earth. The Indian coastal region can be divided in three parts namely; the western coastal region, the eastern coastal region and group of Islands. The western coastal region is generally exposed to heavy surf and rocky shores. The normal annual rainfall in the region is around 250 cm except Gujarat and Diu- Daman. The eastern coastal region is generally shelving with beaches, lagoons, deltas and marshes. The annual average rainfall in the region varies between 75 to 150 cm. Islands like Andaman and Nicobar get normal annual rainfall in the range of 50 to 150 cm.
India has an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) area of 2.02 million sq km comprising 0.86 million sq km on the west coast, 0.56 million sq km on the east coast and 0.6 million sq km around the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Intensive agriculture and modern aquacultural activities are proliferated in the eastern coastal states. On the other hand a number of ports and industries have come up in the western coastal states. Tourism has emerged as a major economic activity in coastal states such as Goa, Kerala and Orissa.
It appears that coastal livelihoods are threatened by a number of modern developments taking place on the coast. Some of the important developments are intensive agriculture, aquaculture, mining & quarrying, infrastructure development, industrial development, tourism and increasing urbanization. Intensive agriculture, encouraged under the green revolution has promoted the economic growth in these regions. However, the green revolution, which frequently resulted in excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides, improved seeds and irrigation, has affected ecology of coastal areas adversely. Ingression of salinity and alkalinity in land and water, eutriphication, depletion and degradation of ground water etc. are some of the adverse effects of intensive agriculture that did not take adequate care of land and water resources. These problems have affected adversely the sustainability of livelihood in agriculture on the one hand and resulted in shortage of potable water supply on the other hand. Aquaculture development is another important development that has contributed to economic development of this region, particularly in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However, the unsuitable locations and unscientific practices have affected some regions fairly adversely. Some of the adverse effects are destruction of mangroves; seawater ingression through shrimp farms and overuse of ground water if shrimp plant is dependent on ground water. These have resulted in exposing the coast to strong winds, storms and tsunami waves, affecting adversely the safety and security of coastal populations. Again, several coastal states have promoted mining and mineral based industries, other industries and infrastructural projects like ports and jetties, highways etc on the coast. However, wrong locations and excessive scale of these activities as well as unsustainable methods of disposal of discharges have frequently led to excessive salinity as well as excessive pollution of land, air and water resources in this region. The states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Goa etc have particularly experienced these problems. The higher incidence of urbanization, which is a consequence of these developments, has once again raised pressure on natural resources and impacted adversely on coastal livelihoods of people when it is accompanied by unsustainable use of natural resources.
Of all the impacts on coastal resources, the increased salinity of land and water is an important impact, as (1) it is widespread covering a large number of coastal districts and states, (2) it has impacted significantly on coastal livelihoods in most states and (3) innovative approaches are needed to regulate the processes of salinization and to manage to live with it since it cannot be eliminated. There is a need therefore to have comprehensive view of coastal salinity to have a proper understanding of this important phenomenon. This understanding will provide useful insights into the problem, and help in formulating policy and programmes to deal with salinity effectively, and to protect and promote livelihood of people in salinity affected areas.
This book attempts to understand the salinity ingression in land and water resources on the Indian coast, and tries to understand the developments / changes taking place on the coast in general with a view to examining their impact on the livelihoods of coastal populations. This paper however is not limited to the issues of salinity, as it also discusses the issues related to the degradation of coastal resources and coastal ecosystems arising from human activities and natural processes on the coast.
The book is divided into four sections after this introduction: Section One provides a salinity profile of the coast; Section Two examines the changes taking on the coastal eco systems; Section Three examines the major changes taking place on the coast which have an impact on coastal environment; Sector Four examines the impact of the different changes and particularly the salinity-on the coastal life and livelihood, while section Five lists the major conclusions and assesses the recent policy changes in the content of the changes.
SANJAY RODE is Assistant professor, Department of Economics, S.K. Somaiya College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Mumbai. He teaches Development, International economics, Micro and Microeconomics, Public economics at Post-Graduate level. Research Areas of Interest: Maternal and Child Health, Applied Econometrics, Urban Poverty. Sanjay has written numerous papers and books including:
1 'The truth about hunger and diseases in Mumbai' Economic and Political Weekly Vol.XXXVIII No.43 PP 4604-4610, October 25, 2003 - - with Neeraj Hatekar
2 'Malnutrition in Mumbai' One India One People, September 2003 PP12-14.
3 'Determinants of RTIs/STIs prevalence among women in Haryana' E-social sciences working papers/ Health Studies, December 2007.
4 'Institutional deliveries: A long perspective in Uttarkhand' in IIPS edited book, population, environment and development of Uttarkhand.
5 'Double Burden of Malnutrition among Women in Maharashtra' Submitted for publication to Esocialsciences.com
6 'Does demolition of slums affects on pre-school children's health in Mumbai?' Theoretical and Empirical Research in Urban Management, Number 1(10)/2009, PP 63-74.
7 'Safe and sustainable drinking water supply: Innovative policies lagging behind in India'
TO MOUNT A SUNBEAM: A BOOK OF POEMS
eBook of poems by Shreyashi Srivastava
TO MOUNT A SUNBEAM: A BOOK OF POEMSShreyashi Srivastava
published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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I started writing odd bits of poems and songs as a seven-year old. I dreamt of being a marine biologist, archaeologist, even a detective but finally settled for being a journalist. Currently, working as a travel writer for a television channel, I am straddling two worlds - the creative and the dour real. My first book of poems is a walk in time capturing my childhood, its fleeting visions; faraway lands; mindscapes and delusions. My life revolves around, of course, work, my family and the constant need to talk surpassed only by the need to eat - junk preferably. I realized writing is a way of life for me when instead of firing up at my classmate for his idiocy, I wrote down my feelings at the moment, entitled 'Anger'. This sounds funny and bizarre, well, welcome to my world.
Mumbai
To watch a city come alive at night
By the very seams that fester in the light.
To watch a city bustle and tide
And come to ruins by its very might.
Dancing, winking tinsels pirouette,
While cranky old ladies play the roulette.
They pout, they frown,
They pounce at the pound.
They feint, they paint
Peels of old walls they ain't.
Far and wide is their taint, such saints!
To stand and stare, waiting for your turn,
To watch with helpless fury others take your share.
Fluttering eyelashes buy themselves the night,
While portly cigars bid for the Light.
Countless wheels do the Fortunes roll,
Each trying to be on her scroll.
To grope for a matchstick in the growing disdain,
To be thwarted by pledges of "world peace" once again.
Find your way,
Once in this pit,
You are one in a million,
Remember, all ready to spit!
Reel by reel
The old film flashes,
Borne by a breed
Inevitable rashes.
Like celluloid dreams crumble to ashes,
From dust to dust to insouciant bashes!
To watch a city build a cocoon,
Racing past death towards its doom.
To watch a city bedraggled and dazzled,
Besotted by its own, unaware of its cradle!
FOR MY UNKNOWN BROTHER
A wonderful short story by Jayshree Winters
FOR MY UNKNOWN BROTHERA wonderful short story
© Jayshree Winters 2009
Free to read online and published by IDEAINDIA.COM
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE SHORT STORIES BY JAYSHREE WINTERS
May 15th, 1995 Gujarat, India. The day was very hot. Perhaps the heat even more oppressive because I had been away from the country for 5 plus years. Now I was sitting in the State Transport Bus (S.T. as it is popularly called) traveling from Godhra to Baroda (town in Gujarat) I was on my way back from visiting my grandmother.
Sitting in the bus next to me was a young man. Being a psychiatrist one cannot help observing people. Clean shaven, neatly dressed with immaculately ironed clothes he seemed to want to look his best.
We struck up a conversation. Somewhere in it, emerged that he was the oldest son of a poor farmer. His 5 younger sisters and father lived in the village. His mother had died long ago during the last childbirth. Father assisted by neighbors had raised the children. The young man had finished his S. S.C (High School) with high grades and now he was going to the city of Baroda for a job interview and was excited about it. He had these visions of helping his father and getting his sisters married one after another.
The Bus passed through the maze of streets in Baroda on its way to the Bus Depot. Finally, it came to a screeching halt at its final destination. To my foreign eyes, the city seemed to have changed a lot. Overflowing with myriads of people, the streets and roads seemingly even more complex than before.
Passengers started getting down from the bus, the young man next to me and I included. We said good-bye to each other. Then I took out the address in Baroda where I was to reach. I felt somewhat flustered at the strange sounding address. Since the young man was still standing close by I walked up to him and asked, "Bhai (Brother) Do you know where this place is?" He said he did and that we could wait and catch the next local bus to the place. I told him I preferred to go in a rickshaw. He elected to go with me so that he could show me that place and so we sat in the rickshaw.
My destination was before his. The Rickshaw stopped and I got down. I started to give the rickshaw man some money which was promptly thrust back into my hands by the young man. Amidst my protests, he looked at me and said you called me a brother, so how could a brother let his sister pay any money? Before I could speak another word he and the rickshaw left.
I stood staring at the dust generated behind the departing rickshaw. I wondered what the young man would have to forego to pay for that long rickshaw trip. It could even be a few of his meals.
Suddenly I realized that in all this I had not even cared to ask the young man his name. I had been away from home too long!!!
Dr. Jayshree Winters is a practicing psychiatrist in New Jersey. She is a caring and compassionate physician, who is held in high esteem by her patients and the medical community. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in her field, the American Psychiatric Association honored her by naming her a Distinguished Fellow of the Association. Dr. Winters is a tireless advocate of giving back to the society. She volunteers her time to several organizations and serves on the boards of Cancer Care and Health Power for Minorities. She is also an active member of the Rotary International. Dr. Winters is a prolific writer and an eloquent speaker, with frequent radio and TV presentations. She has published numerous articles, and is often sought by the media on coverage related to social, cultural, life adjustment issues, immigrant experiences and mental health issues. Dr. Winters is a Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association, Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is also an accomplished psychoanalyst and holds certification in Disaster Mental Health from the American Red Cross. A graduate of MS University of Baroda, India, she completed her psychiatric training at the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. Dr. Winters is also an executive producer of the TV show THEDESIDOCTORS aimed at bringing some of the current medical information to the viewers.
AN INTRODUCTION TO 'THE HEART OF ASIA' BY NIKOLAI RERIKH
e-article by Dmitry Shlapentokh
AN INTRODUCTION TO 'THE HEART OF ASIA' BYNIKOLAI RERIKH
Dr. Dmitry Shlapentokh
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© Cooperjal Limited 2011
Nikolai Rerikh, a.k.a. Nicholas Roerich, was a Russian painter, philosopher, writer, traveller amongst many other things. This is an e-article about his book 'The Heart of Asia'.
The book, The Heart of Asia, is focused on Nikolai Rerikh's Asian trip in the 1920s and provides useful insight in the development of Rerikh thought and valuable information about the life and culture of the people in this area, especially China and India. Nikolai Rerikh travels included India, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Altai and Kalmykia.
Sikkim was apparently the place which had fascinated Rerikh more than other places which he had visited during his trip. He was clearly amazed by the natural beauty of the place and this would apparently provide him an important feedback for quite a few of his pictures. He noted "In no other places on the Earth one could see two absolutely different worlds. On one hand, it is terrestrial world with rich vegetation, shining butterflies, pheasants, raccoons, monkeys, snakes and all other multitude of living creatures which populated perennial green jungle of Sikkim. At the same time, beyond the clouds, shine the different country which has nothing to do with swarming anthills of the jungles. This is a world of always moving ocean of clouds and variety of fogs."
The book was published by American publishing house, Atlas, with which Rerikh had maintained a close relationship for a long time. Upon his return from the trip, he apparently soon sends a manuscript to the publisher which publishes it in 1929. The year was especially important for Rerikh. In 17 October 1929, the new "grandious building was created for cultural-educational institution and for N.K. Rerikh museum" in the USA which in way commemorated 40 year anniversary of his work as a scholar and painter. The work is not a well organized narrative but a sort of combination of loosely connected essays or diary entries which touch several themes. They embraced such a diverse subject from Rerikh's warm feelings toward the USA to the political/social condition in the countries through which his expedition travelled.
DR. DMITRY SHLAPENTOKH is currently Associate Professor of History at Indiana University in South Bend. He is the author of several books and more than a hundred articles. Dr. Shlapentokh holds Masters' degrees from Moscow State University (Russia) and Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Russian/European History from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Shlapentokh is also on the faculty at Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College.
THE MAKING OF A ZOROASTRIAN FIRE TEMPLE - A Brief History of Dadysett Atash Behram
eBook by Marzban J. Giara
THE MAKING OF A ZOROASTRIAN FIRE TEMPLEA Brief History of Dadysett Atash Behram
Marzban J. Giara
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To consecrate a Zoroastrian Atash Behram or Fire Temple requires the fire from 16 sources: a burning corpse, Dyer, King or ruling authority, Potter, Brick Maker, Ascetic, Goldsmith or (Alchemist), Mint, Ironsmith, Armourer, Baker, Brewer or Distiller or Idol Worshipper, Soldier or Traveller, Shepherd, Atmospheric Electricity and a Zoroastrian. There are 8 such temples in India, 4 of which are in Mumbai.
This guide presents an excellent overview of the making of a Zoroastrian Fire Temple (Atash Behram), gives a brief history of Parsi Zoroastrians in Mumbai with an history of the Dadysett family and the Atash Behram they built in Mumbai. It also maps out the locations of the 4 temples in Mumbai.
MARZBAN GIARA: On Sanjan day 21st November 1998 evening I met a devout young Parsi Zoroastrian couple at Sanjan station. They requested me if I would compile a booklet on the history of the Dadysett Atash Behram. To the best of my knowledge there has been no such booklet or souvenir brought out in the 215 years of its history. The year 1999 coincides with the 200th death anniversary of Seth Dady Nosherwanji Dadysett who established the Atash Behram - a fitting occasion to pay tribute to a noble soul. I began my research work in right earnest and am very happy and grateful to Ahura Mazda for such an opportunity. The Dadysett Atash Behram, the first Atash Behram to be consecrated in Mumbai has like all places of worship its own old world charm and aura. This sacred Atash Behram fire continues to glow undiminished for 215 years. Devotees experience the peace and calm while offering prayers away from the din and bustle of the city. Jashans, gahambars, religious discourses, navjotes, weddings and rituals are held here. For the benefit of devotees, a sketch map showing the route and location of all the four Atash Behrams in Mumbai city is enclosed. - Mumbai, 21 March 1999.
Pictures courtesy: Jamshed Z. Sethna
BLACK THUNDER - Dark Nights of Terrorism in Punjab
eBook by Maloy Krishna Dhar
eBook by Maloy Krishna Dhar
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A fiction is not always a fictitious and fantasias rendition of reality. Black Thunder wrapped in the skin of fiction tells the true story of cathartic culmination of follies that fanned competitive religious fundamentalism and pushed the people to the path of ethno-religious insurgency.
Power debauchery had dissected the governing tools into contradictory opinions that immobilized the nation. Political expediency created mass-hysteria and terrorism. Pakistan exploited the fault-lines and pushed the country to cataclysmic fratricidal crimes. Black Thunder is the story of the national crime.
The nation has paid the wages of sin of the governing classes and tools. Black Thunder is a reminder to them and all of us lest we forget our combined sins.
As a ring-side player the novelist had the opportunity to take part in games of blatant political shenanigan bureaucratic debauchery, multiple sufferings of the people, their perceived and real grievances and sacrifices offered and excesses committed by the uniformed protectors of the nation. It is hoped that the inner story told in a literary style shall imprint lessons, which we should not forget, and create self-machinated fault lines all across the country.
Disclaimer: this book is a piece of political fiction and does not relate to any factual event and/or incidents. The author has visualized a tale that he wishes to share with the readers. Names of the characters are purely a work of fiction and do not relate to anybody living or dead.
MALOY KRISHNA DHAR (68) is a product of Calcutta University. After joining the Indian Police Service in 1964, he was seconded to the Intelligence Bureau, a platform that offered him in depth perceptions and insight into Indian politics, insurgency counter-terrorism, counterintelligence and other ground realities of the nation.
After retirement he took to freelance journalism and authored many literary works. Some of the best sellers are Open Secrets - India's Intelligence Unveiled, Operation Triple X.
A widely acclaimed author Maloy writes about happening history in and around India, besides wider strategic issues. We the People of India is his fresh journey into the happening history of the country, which bares the uncouth truth behind India's electoral democracy and offers a glimpse into the future that could put the country back on the rails laid down by the founding fathers.
NATYASASTRA, RASA THEORY OF INDIAN AESTHETICS - The Concepts of Bhava and Rasa
eBook by Gargi Bhattacharya
NATYASASTRA - RASA THEORY OF INDIAN AESTHETICSThe Concepts of Bhava and Rasa
Gargi Bhattacharya
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Bharatamuni's Natyasastra is the earliest treatise on drama available in any civilization. It rivals Aristotle's theory of Catharsis as propounded in Poetics in its scope, its rigorous concepts of the theatrical art, of stagecraft and the role of the spectators. It is especially famous for laying down the cornerstone for Indian aesthetics in the form of the Rasa Theory, which is imperative in the understanding and appreciation of all Indian arts, since most follow the rules laid down by the sage even after the passage of centuries. The Rasa Theory claims itself as one of the most authentic, original, credible and enduring theories in Oriental arts, and theorists and performers attach immense importance to its merits. Bharata also refers to bhavas, the imitations of emotions that the actors perform, and the rasas (emotional responses) that they inspire in the audience. To that extent, the eminence of the Natyasastra cannot be overstated. The paper looks at the exponents of bhava and rasa, their definitions, degrees and varying forms in performance, and elucidates the role played by the concepts of bhava and rasa in both the artistic and the spectatorial arena. It also explains the importance of Natyasastra in the evolution of the theory of art and society, and the relation between the rasas and bhavas as they are made manifest in the secret art of the performer.
Gargi Bhattacharya: Pursuing Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) in English, first year, in Jawaharlal Nehru University, after successfully completing M.A. in English in the same University and being ranked first. Variously employed in the capacity of ad-hoc lecturer in Shivaji College as also guest lecturer in Motilal Nehru College and P.G.D.A.V. College, all affiliated to Delhi University. Employed in the capacity of Production Editor in the prestigious SAGE Publications, New Delhi. M.A. in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University and B.A. in English from St.Xavier`s College, Kolkata. She has a particular interest in Critical Theory, Indian Writings in English, Folk Literature and Film Studies.
HISTORIES OF CONSUMPTION - CONCOCTING COFFEE AS POPULAR CULTURE
e-article by Gargi Bhattacharya
HISTORIES OF CONSUMPTION:CONCOCTING COFFEE AS POPULAR CULTURE
Gargi Bhattacharya
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The sociological imagination necessitates, above all, being able to 'think ourselves away' from the familiar routines of our daily lives in order to look at them anew. Consider the simple act of drinking a cup of coffee. What would we find, say, from a sociological point of view, about such an uninteresting piece of behaviour? The answer is - an enormous amount. - Anthony Giddens, Sociology, p. 20
Coffee drinking is not an activity that is anointed with any tinge of forbidden pleasure, or any twinge of guilt. It does not associate itself with the so-called 'immoral' severities of alcohol, nor the precipitous 'high' that is the doper's delight. Shorn off the privileges of prohibition, coffee is pre-eminently permissible in all circles of intimacy.
But, the question remains, was it always so? There might have been a time when coffee drinking would not have been such a simple, quotidian affair, followed like a morning ritual globally. In fact, it seems that though 'coffee' itself has been known and enjoyed for more than a thousand odd years across the continents, 'coffee-drinking', as we know it now, is, like the rise of the novel and nation states, a sign of the modern. The changes in the patterns of production, distribution and consumption of coffee may well chart the social and economic progress of a civilization, since coffee has not only been historically correlated with the (mal)practices of imperialism, but also, in the modern context, been one of the most profitable cash crops bringing in export-currency for the 'third-world' nations of Asia and Latin America.
This e-article is a critical engagement with that very historicity that creams our favourite cup of coffee, and the way it has entrenched itself in the popular imagination. It is an academic endeavour to chart the incursion of coffee into the popular cultural practices of each successive generation with increasing vigour, and created a niche for itself in the social landscape, disseminating itself in a myriad of dissembling garbs, each pandering to the taste of the customer in question. To that extent, coffee becomes the most dissimulating drink to delight the senses of people all over the world. Finally, it will look at the way coffee functions as a metaphor at various social and economic levels and has therefore given rise to a completely new and ingenious range of signifying practices that has become an inextricable part of modern mythology.
Gargi Bhattacharya: Pursuing Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) in English, first year, in Jawaharlal Nehru University, after successfully completing M.A. in English in the same University and being ranked first. Variously employed in the capacity of ad-hoc lecturer in Shivaji College as also guest lecturer in Motilal Nehru College and P.G.D.A.V. College, all affiliated to Delhi University. Employed in the capacity of Production Editor in the prestigious SAGE Publications, New Delhi. M.A. in English Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University and B.A. in English from St.Xavier`s College, Kolkata. She has a particular interest in Critical Theory, Indian Writings in English, Folk Literature and Film Studies.
LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT IN MAHARASHTRA - The Ambit for Public Private Partnership
eBook by Sanjay Rode
LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT IN MAHARASHTRAThe Ambit for Public Private Partnership
Sanjay Rode
eBook published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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Livestock sector is significantly contributing to the national economy and the growth rate is increasing. Due to liberalization and globalization policies, the demand for livestock products has increased. The rising per capita income, urbanization and lifestyle, women involvement in labor market and change in taste and preference are the important causes for the growth of livestock related products. The demand for animal related products such as milk, meat, wool and chicken eggs have increased faster in India. The demand has not only increased in urban area but it has increased in rural area. The domestic demand and export has put huge pressure on the supply.
At the national level livestock sector is playing an important role in terms of employment, income, export and source of drought power. The contribution in national income is continuously increasing in India. The livestock products are providing income and employment opportunities and security to rural household. The livestock sector has forward and backward linkage. Farmers regularly sell high value animal products and purchase other food and nonfood items from market. The livestock population in India is continuously increasing since independence. Uttar Pradesh state has high livestock population in terms of number. In Maharashtra, livestock population is declining in the present census. In the state indigenous cattle population is declining and the crossbreed female cattle are increasing. Buffalo are increasing in the state but they are increasing in the urban area. The buffalo milk and other products have readymade market in urban area. The sheep and goats proportion in total livestock have not changed in Maharashtra. The donkeys, horses, pigs and camels are declined faster in Maharashtra. In the Pune region, livestock population is continuously increasing significantly as far as 17th and 18th livestock census. In the Pune region, veterinary institutions, roads, telecommunication and market are higher as compare to other region. The livestock population in Maharashtra is significantly declined in 18th livestock census as compare to 17th livestock census. Livestock provides income, employment and security to farmers. Decline in livestock population means their livelihood is under threat. Such threats are increasing even though there is demand for the livestock products. Therefore there is need of investment in infrastructure, communication and technology. Government must build road, bridges in the underdeveloped area. The veterinary services should reach up to the farmer. Therefore government must allow private sector participation in veterinary services. There is also need of credit facilities from banks for livestock sector. There is a continuous upward demand for the livestock products and government should promote preservation, refrigeration, direct purchase of livestock products from farmers etc. It will help to farmers to earn more income and other benefits from livestock sector. The role of livestock in income and employment generation should not be underestimated.
Livestock sector is very comprehensive and it is contributing in terms of employment, income, consumption and export. The growth rate of livestock sector in national income is continuously increasing. It is difficult to cover all livestock related aspects in this eBook. Livestock consist of bovine, ovine, equine and pigs with different age and types. This is a comprehensive study of two livestock census in Maharashtra.
SANJAY RODE is Assistant professor, Department of Economics, S.K. Somaiya College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Mumbai. He teaches Development, International economics, Micro and Microeconomics, Public economics at Post-Graduate level. Research Areas of Interest: Maternal and Child Health, Applied Econometrics, Urban Poverty. Sanjay has written numerous papers and books including:
1 'The truth about hunger and diseases in Mumbai' Economic and Political Weekly Vol.XXXVIII No.43 PP 4604-4610, October 25, 2003 - - with Neeraj Hatekar
2 'Malnutrition in Mumbai' One India One People, September 2003 PP12-14.
3 'Determinants of RTIs/STIs prevalence among women in Haryana' E-social sciences working papers/ Health Studies, December 2007.
4 'Institutional deliveries: A long perspective in Uttarkhand' in IIPS edited book, population, environment and development of Uttarkhand.
5 'Double Burden of Malnutrition among Women in Maharashtra' Submitted for publication to Esocialsciences.com
6 'Does demolition of slums affects on pre-school children's health in Mumbai?' Theoretical and Empirical Research in Urban Management, Number 1(10)/2009, PP 63-74.
7 'Safe and sustainable drinking water supply: Innovative policies lagging behind in India'
8 'Improving the welfare and productivity among the workers of small and household units in textile and garment sectors in India', Economia. seria management , June 2009 issue
10 'Sustainable drinking water supply in Pune Metropolitan Region: Alternative policies', Theoretical and Empirical Research in Urban Management, Special number 1 S/April 2009
11 "Drinking water supply management in Municipal corporations of Maharashtra" Global journal of Management and Business Research, Vol.10, issue 6 ver.1.0 August 2010, Page 5-19. )
12 Malnourishment among children in Mumbai City, LAP LAMBERT academic publishing, 19th July 2010
GAYS AND LESBIANS IN INDIAN CINEMA
Free eArticle by Shoma Chatterji published by IDEAINDIA.COM
GAYS AND LESBIANS IN INDIAN CINEMA - free eArticle by Shoma A. ChatterjiFree e-article - CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ FULL E-ARTICLE
Copyright 2008 - all rights reserved
What do the words 'lesbian' and 'gay' mean? Does this refer only to a sexual relationship with a partner of the same sex? Or, does it go far beyond the periphery of pure sensual interaction reaching out to deeply emotional and social responses? Does this, at times, also, actually preclude sex? The answers to these questions are raising their ambiguous heads, post-Fire, post-The Annual Queer Film Festival at Bangalore, post Dostana, Fashion and My Brother Nikhil. The Indian homosexual continues to be dogged by a crisis of sexual identity. This is serious, depending on how 'progressive' the society is, in accepting this identity. The seeds of hate, ironically, are more legally rooted, never mind our ignorance of Indian laws. Gays and lesbians themselves say this. The credit for this goes to Lord Macaulay, who drafted Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 1883. Much of the legal curbs were drawn from King James Bible where Leviticus warned, "Thou Shalt Not Sleepeth with a Man as Thou Sleepeth with a Woman.".....CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ FULL E-ARTICLE
SECOND PARTITION
eBook by Sharad Misra with Foreword by Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap published by IDEAINDIA.COM
SECOND PARTITION - eBook by Sharad Misra with Foreword by Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap published by IDEAINDIA.COMCLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
This eBook presents a critique of the highly contentious and very controversial policy of caste-based reservation in jobs which has since been extended to education sector and is one of the worst things that has happened in the post-Independence India. Motivated by vote-bank politics in the garb of promoting social justice and egalitarianism it has divided the Hindu community into two factions. The vast majority of backward castes listed in the report of the Mandal Commission (1980) and taken to be 'socially and educationally' homogenous are called 'other backward classes' by the acronym OBC while others are 'forward classes' that may be called non-OBC. This dichotomy mistakenly assumes that their were no backward classes amongst the non-OBC Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Worse, to be entitled to job quota one had to be a member of some designated caste. Mere economic backwardness or abject poverty was not enough!
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of India has, in its judgment on Writ Petition No.265 of 2006 (Ashok Kumar Thakur Vs Union of India & Others) delivered on April 10, 2008 has, for the most part, virtually upheld the majority judgment on the Writ petition No. 930 of 1990 (Indira Sawhney Vs Union of India & Others) and rejected the Writ Petition No. 265 of 2006 which challenged the policy of caste-based reservation for admission in the IITs, IIMs and other Centrally controlled educational institutions In other words, the apex court has affixed its seal of approval on recognition of OBC as a distinctly separate backward class like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and ruled for extension of the policy of caste-based reservation to the education sector, debarring, of course, the 'creamy layer' from the quota benefit. It is now for the apolitical academics, scientists, doctors, persons engaged in knowledge-based industries and NGOs committed to seeing a casteless society in India to petition the apex court for review of the judgment by a bigger Constitution Bench.
Foreword by Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, Consultant in Constitutional Law and Political Management and Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha:
"...The Second Partition is very well written. The handling of the theme is incisive and highly perceptive. The author minces no words in expressing his views. He is precise, candid and logical. He writes as a deeply concerned citizen with no personal axe to grind. One can not miss his commitment to the nation - its unity and integrity - and his patriotic fervour. Sri Misra bases his observations and conclusions on adequate research, study and painstaking analysis. In so far as the eBook makes a fervent appeal to save the nation from being irretrievably divided between numerous castes and communities for the sake of narrow vote bank politics, it is a voice of sanity. I have no hesitation in commending this book to all those who have the interest of the nation at heart."
Sharad C. Misra is a freelance journalist writing on wide-ranging subjects of national importance. A development economist, he is Fellow of the Economic Development Institute, World Bank, Washington and member of the Centre for Transport Research and Management, New Delhi. He is a former Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Railways and Advisor (Chief) to the Planning Commission, Government of India. In 1978, he joined the United Nations as Technical Assistance Advisor. After retiring from the United Nations service he settled down in Mumbai where he functioned as visiting professor in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai
SONGS FOR ZEN
eBook by Partap Sharma and illustrated by Dheera Kitchlu
eBook published by IDEAINDIA.COM
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SONGS FOR ZEN is a beautifully illustrated eBook for young children learning to count and exercise. It contains 3 chapters: The Counting Song, The Exercise Song and The Little Pony to which children, parents and teachers can sing along.
PARTAP SHARMA is a playwright, novelist [Days of the Turban] and author of four books for children: "The Surangini Tales", "Dog Detective Ranjha", "Top Dog" and "The Little Master of the Elephant". His best known plays, A Touch of Brightness, Begum Sumroo, Sammy! and Zen Katha, have been staged in various countries. His books have been published in India, England, USA, France, Denmark, Holland and Canada. As an actor, he has played the lead in five Hindi feature films and won the National Award in 197I for his performance in Phir Bhi. He has also played the role of Nehru in the film Nehru: Jewel of India. In the year 2003, he spent three months in China to take part, again as Nehru, in an international film titled Chou-en-lai in Bandung. He has directed a number of documentary films, including a historical series for Channel Four Television, London, titled The Raj Though Indian Eyes. His voice is well-known to cinema, TV and radio audiences as he is one of India's foremost commentators and narrators.
DHEERA KITCHLU is a child educator and a writer and illustrator of books. She has taught children to ride horses, to study and have fun with words. Her written work includes story development and script writing for Indian television, radio plays, skits for airline entertainment for children and stories for audio cassettes for visually impaired children. In addition she has written seven story books for children between the ages of 3-15 years. Some of these she has illustrated herself. All her books are set in contemporary India and deal with issues concerning the Universal Child. Her current focus, through her initiative, 'Anyone Can Write,' is to encourage children to explore their creative potential through writing
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ACCESSION OF CHILD MALNUTRITION IN MUMBAI
eBook by Sanjay Rode
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ACCESSION OF CHILD MALNUTRITION IN MUMBAI - eBook by Sanjay Rode
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Mumbai city is the financial capital of India and it is contributing more in terms of tax and record maximum trade with other countries. Many headquarters of banks, stock exchanges and offices of multinational companies are located in the city. Mumbai city provides higher income through various business and employment opportunities to the population. Therefore, skilled and unskilled workers from all over the country migrate to the city. Skilled workers do not find any problem of housing and employment but unskilled workers have difficulty in finding jobs, housing. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation provides water supply, sanitation, transport and health care. Such social infrastructure facilities are expected to improve the standard of living of the population in the city. Every year government of Maharashtra and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation spend money on creation and maintaining civic infrastructure. Therefore, higher incidence of malnutrition among children is not expected. But rising migration and density of the population, the standard of living of the population is declining. Lack of housing forced people to stay in slums. Nearly fifty percent of the population is living in slums without basic infrastructure facilities. The number is continuously rising due to the migration. Health care facilities are overcrowded and they are beyond the reach of poor people. The women and children suffer due to water washed and water borne diseases. Drinking water is not adequately provided in all slums. We conducted survey of 1007 households in Mumbai city in 2003 to understand the malnutrition among 0-5 age group children. For comparison again in 2011, we conducted sample of 1050 households in Eastern and Western suburbs of the city. Both samples were conducted in kutcha slums in city. We found that stunting among children has increased in Mumbai city. The incidence of severe malnutrition is continuously increasing. Therefore, we have calculated 2092 to 3138 annual deaths due to malnutrition in city in the current sample. Such deaths are calculated only in 0-5 age group children. But increasing migration and density of population has affected the quality of services provided in the city. It has resulted in inadequate housing, water supply, electricity and transportation. Women and children have to carry drinking water for long distances. The opportunity cost of carrying water is much higher for women and children in the city. Most of the women are involved in the informal sector jobs. They cannot visit public health care facilities because they are overcrowded. Prenatal and postnatal visits are very low among women in urban slums. Visiting health care facilities has a high direct and indirect cost. The cost of medicines, standing in long queues, waiting cost is much higher for the poor households. Therefore, repeated visits to health care facility are not possible. In the informal sector, workers are removed from their jobs if they remain absent for different reasons. ICDS services have lower coverage in Mumbai city. Due to less remuneration to women, equipment and lack of space, reduces the supplementary feeding to children, lactating and pregnant women. In order to reduce the malnutrition among children, the government must raise the level of income of slum households. Women must be given technical training for self-employment. The role of SEWA is effective in order to improve the status of women in society. There is need to expand the ICDS services coverage in city. There should be incentives for the anganwadi workers to cover more below five age group children, pregnant and lactating women for supplementary food. Government must appoint health workers, professionals in city hospitals. There is need to expand the health infrastructure in city to tackle child malnutrition in slums. The time has come to modify economic growth in to the economic equity and government should take initiatives to provide the benefits of economic growth to the poor people. There is need to invest more resources in civic infrastructure. Otherwise many more children will continuously die due to malnutrition in city. A financial capital of country should not report many more children's deaths due to malnutrition.
SANJAY RODE is Assistant professor, Department of Economics, S.K. Somaiya College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Mumbai. He teaches Development, International economics, Micro and Microeconomics, Public economics at Post-Graduate level. Research Areas of Interest: Maternal and Child Health, Applied Econometrics, Urban Poverty. Sanjay has written numerous papers and books including:
1 'The truth about hunger and diseases in Mumbai' Economic and Political Weekly Vol. XXXVIII No.43 PP 4604-4610, October 25, 2003 - - with Neeraj Hatekar
2 'Malnutrition in Mumbai' One India One People, September 2003 PP12-14.
3 'Determinants of RTIs/STIs prevalence among women in Haryana' E-social sciences working papers/ Health Studies, December 2007.
4 'Institutional deliveries: A long perspective in Uttarkhand' in IIPS edited book, population, environment and development of Uttarkhand.
5 'Double Burden of Malnutrition among Women in Maharashtra' Submitted for publication to Esocialsciences.com
6 'Does demolition of slums affects on pre-school children's health in Mumbai?' Theoretical and Empirical Research in Urban Management, Number 1(10)/2009, PP 63-74.
7 'Safe and sustainable drinking water supply: Innovative policies lagging behind in India'
8 'Improving the welfare and productivity among the workers of small and household units in textile and garment sectors in India', Economia. seria management , June 2009 issue
10 'Sustainable drinking water supply in Pune Metropolitan Region: Alternative policies', Theoretical and Empirical Research in Urban Management, Special number 1 S/April 2009
11 "Drinking water supply management in Municipal corporations of Maharashtra" Global journal of Management and Business Research, Vol.10, issue 6 ver.1.0 August 2010, Page 5-19. )
12 Malnourishment among children in Mumbai City, LAP LAMBERT academic publishing, 19th July 2010
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GRANDPA CHOPRA%u2019S STORIES FOR LIFE%u2019S NOURISHMENT
Short Stories and Tales by Ashok Kumar Malhotra
GRANDPA CHOPRA'S STORIES FOR LIFE'S NOURISHMENT - Short Stories and Tales by Ashok Kumar Malhotra
eBook published by IDEAINDIA.COM - Digital Content Publishing and Distribution - eBooks eArticles Photos and other Digital Content on India and South Asia for Digital Distribution by IdeaIndia.com
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The Grandpa Chopra's Stories for Life's Nourishment is Ashok's first volume of forty tales (short stories). This is a wonderful collection of short stories for both adults and children. From the Preface:
"Grandpa Chopra was a bubbling fountain of tales and fables from all over the world. Like a bee, he had collected more than two hundred fifty stories from the cultural gardens of India, China, Afghanistan and Iran as well as from the books of the Arabian Nights, Buddhist Jataka and Hindu Panchtantra Tales, Aesop's Fables, epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana as well as the Bible. Though he had been educated only up to high school, he could speak more than six languages and was fluent in English, Hindi, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi and Urdu.
I spent my childhood days and teenage years listening to his great stories and almost memorized many of them by heart.
This is the first volume of forty stories, where each one has a moral like that of the Aesop's fables. The first twenty-two are from Grandpa Chopra and the remaining eighteen are from me under the heading of Grandpa Malhotra. I am retelling the Grandpa Chopra's stories as I recall them. Since they are coming from many different sources as collected by grandpa, a number of them might seem familiar because they have been around for centuries and told by various writers in their own ways. I am not their author but only a re-teller and a compiler. However, the stories under Grandpa Malhotra are drawn from my personal experiences and are retold with changed names to protect the privacy of those they are about."
The author will donate all his royalties received from the sale of this book to the Ninash Foundation (www.ninash.org), a 501C (3) charity that builds schools for the female and minority children of India.
Professor Ashok Kumar Malhotra is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, New York. He is the winner of a dozen prestigious awards such as Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, East West Center Distinguished Alumni Award (USA), University of Hawaii Distinguished Alumni Award (USA), Gullands NRI Excellence Award (UK), Jewel of India Gold Award (India), Spiritual Leadership Award (USA), Bharat Excellence Award (India) and others. He has published 14 books on Indian, Chinese and Western Philosophy that include four books on Yoga and Meditation. He is the founder of the Yoga and Meditation Society as well as the Ninash Foundation, a charity that builds schools for the underprivileged children of India.
PIANO FOR SALE
eBook by Meher Pestonji
PIANO FOR SALE by Meher Pestonji
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Piano for Sale is a play set in contemporary Mumbai and revolves around two women. When Nina tries to sell her piano she discovers to her horror that the prospective buyer is her old friend Anita, who she hasn't met for many years. When they meet they discuss their lives. Nina is single while Anita is married with children. As the conversation goes on, you discover why there is animosity and even hatred between the two women. Both were in love with the same man, Amit - who is now Anita's husband! The truth that they thought they knew changes. Does Amit still have some connection with Nina?
The scene then changes to a time when Anita's husband has died. Their lives have changed. Anita invites Nina over to her home to show her a letter written by Amit shortly before he died%u2026his last letter%u2026Why has Anita's daughter gone abroad and has not speak to her father, Amit, for two years before he died?
What effect has this piano had on their lives? This story of two lives reunited because of the sale of a piano shows that the grass is not always greener on the other side...
Meher Pestonji's beautifully constructed tale of two women and two very dramatic meetings, shows how they are trying to find peace in their lives after each of them has suffered emotionally.
MEHER PESTONJI - Author - Freelance Journalist - Playwright - as a freelance journalist Meher Pestonji participated in the activist movements of her times - the campaign to change rape laws, the campaign for slum-dwellers housing rights, the struggle to create a better understanding of street-kids and their special needs.
The post-Babri Masjid communal riots of the 90s affected her deeply and fuelled her resolve to fight all shades of communalism and parochialism, including those she encountered in her tiny Parsi community.
Disillusioned with the marker-oriented journalism that became fashionable in the years after the Indian economy embraced economic liberalization, she switched to creative writing. Her first book, a collection of short stories 'Mixed Marriage and other Parsi Stories' was published in 1999, followed by Pervez, a Novel in 2003, and Sadak Chhaap in 2005.
Her first play, Piano for Sale, had a successful run in Bombay, Delhi and Jaipur in 2006-2007. Her second play, Feeding Crows, won the South Asia segment of the BBC/British Council International Radio Play Writing Competition in 2009.
She has recently completed a novel Ulrike and Neville.
INTERVIEW WITH PARTAP SHARMA
Award-winning author and playwright
INTERVIEW WITH PARTAP SHARMA
Playwright and Award-winning Author of ZEN KATHA: The Story of Bodhidharma: Founder of Zen and the Martial Arts
SAMMY!:The Word that Broke an Empire
BEGUM SUMROO
A TOUCH OF BRIGHTNESS
DAYS OF THE TURBAN
SONGS FOR ZEN and MY FATHER'S MAGIC BRIEFCASE
PARTAP SHARMA is a playwright, novelist [Days of the Turban] and author of four books for children. His best known plays, A Touch of Brightness, Begum Sumroo, Sammy! and Zen Katha, have been staged in various countries. His books have been published in India, England, USA, France, Denmark, Holland and Canada. As an actor, he has played the lead in five Hindi feature films and won the National Award in 1971 for his performance in Phir Bhi. He has also played the role of Nehru in the film Nehru: Jewel of India. In the year 2002, he spent three months in China to take part, again as Nehru, in an international film titled Chou-en-lai in Bandung. He has directed a number of documentary films, including a historical series for Channel Four Television, London, titled The Raj Though Indian Eyes. England's Museum of the British Empire & Commonwealth, in Bristol, now has a permanent section devoted to film clips and interviews titled The Partap Sharma Archive on the British Raj. His voice is well-known to cinema, TV and radio audiences as he is one of India's foremost commentators and narrators. He has also authored two picture eBooks beautifully illustrated by Dheera Kitchlu: Songs for Zen and My Father's Magic Briefcase....CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL INTERVIEW
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THE HEARTS OF THE HOOMANS
THE HEARTS OF THE HOOMANS - eBook novel by B.S. Raghavan
The novel is set in the India of the 1950's in the northernmost part of the State of West Bengal. It is a time of change and uncertainty. India has just recently become independent and a democratic republic. The Constitution of India has come into force and Nehru's "Tryst with destiny%u2026" is just beginning.
It was a time of great transition when there were still a few of the British left as managing agents and managers of tea gardens. The old generation of the members of the Indian Civil Service appointed in the colonial era was still in high positions of authority, while the new generation of young Indian Administrative Service officers was just taking charge.
You are transported into an India of 60 years ago in this realistic and absorbing depiction by B.S. Raghavan of the subtle inter-generational and inter-racial conflicts and friendships among the new rulers and business interests when the old order was yielding place to the new:
"The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything. A book separate, not link'd with the rest nor felt by the intellect. But you ye untold latencies will thrill to every page."
Rajan was relaxing with Arthur W. Ryder's translation of the Panchatantra when his younger brother, Saranyan, a final year law student entered. Rajan was back home at Madras from West Bengal on a leave of four months after five years. He was still finding it hard to bring things to focus. Saranyan, for instance, whom he had last seen as a tiny undergraduate now discussed bulky tomes on jurisprudence. Worse! He had grown a thick moustache-a sacrilege on South Indian vegetarian Brahmin traditions! Let me pass the evening at this expense, decided Rajan.
He asked: "Have you finished the course in Constitutional law?"
"Yes."
"Then you must have heard of the two momentous rulings In re Clifford Rerrie? The Doctrine of Person-Citizen Tangle and Newton-on-the-Bench's First law?"
Saranyan's brows collided. Emerging from painful efforts at recollection, he said shamefacedly, "It just happens I don't remember the rulings you mention. Who was Rerrie anyway? Do you know him?"
"If I don't, who would?", answered Rajan, and continued enigmatically: "In a way I am responsible for those decisions which, I presume, are world-shaking for you chaps. He was a tall, good looking Englishman, auburn hair neatly swept back, blue eyes given to fluttering, cheeky chin. We were thrown together in Jalpaiguri, you know, in what may be christened annus mirabilis."
Saranyan hated this mystifying manner of indulging in anecdotage; but if he protested, his elder brother would only be flattered and make matters worse. So, he contented himself with the question, "How come?"
"Clifford Rerrie was the manager of one of the tea gardens in Jalpaiguri district. What I am going to narrate is a tale%u2026.." Rajan with an impatient wave of his hand anticipated Saranyan's comment and went on: "%u2026%u2026 a tantrum, if you prefer it that way, of people trapped in situations for which, by temperament, they weren't made. Of course, Mallik had to be killed, for, besides being a member of what your J.B. Priestly would have called Topsidery, he was a Tarantula, you see. Lawrence, elusive as an eel, extremely clever, misguided Mallik and Griggs. Rafiq was a willing victim of a melodrama. Am I making myself clear?"
"Perfectly!", responded Saranyan. "All the same, it will be clearer if you oblige me by beginning at the beginning."
Rajan thought it was a good idea and put the Panchatantra aside.....
B.S. RAGHAVAN, IAS (Retd), formerly: Chief Secretary, Tripura; Director, Political & Security Policy Planning, Ministry of Home Affairs, India; Chairman-cum-Managing Director of four major public sector enterprises; Policy Adviser to UN(FAO), US Congressional Fellow; Chancellor of Jharkhand State ICFAI University.
At present he is a columnist, The Hindu Business Line and on the Board of Governors of various educational and social service institutions.
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