IN OUR trade happenstance is the hero. A news here, a glance at the past and suddenly there is a thread of an idea which grows as a story. Two fortuitous event set the path for the present edition; one a mention of an interesting art gallery tucked away in Neb Sarai. The other, a visit to a house where a Jatin Das painting was on display. I confess I knew of Jatin Das, rather than know him. I had always heard that Das treads a tricky path—he condemns what we see as contemporary modern art. Yet for most people he is one of the stronger members of the Indian contemporary art movement. He has been even more vocal in his criticism of the world of computer-generated, tampered, over-painted and photo-transferred art. The volatile verbaliser and artist who likes to work on large-scale murals and welded steel sculptures, what a wonderful figure he would make on the cover. And then there was K.G. Babu, an upcoming artist whose vivid, vibrant and arresting canvases stole our hearts at NIV Art Gallery. Babu and Das are poles apart. The former is slowly getting his due, while the latter has been a shinning star for 55 years. The former barely speaks. The latter is not shy at all. Yet there is that thread of commonality—their joy in creating. They paint because that is what they know best. They create because without it life is meaningless, because pursuit of passion is often that defines us. Like pugilist Mary Kom, who boxes, for her life is meaningless without it. She is our special feature this month. Read about her as Kom bares her soul and talks of her family and passion. In the more prosaic matters, the FDI debate, one that DW visited in February 2012, has resurfaced with anti and pro-FDI schools screaming themselves hoarse over the issue. First the LPG and diesel hike, and now the retail debate, tell us, who stands a chance—the economy or the people? The time is right for such a debate as we celebrate the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation on October 2, 2012.