RIO OLYMPICS// With less than 10 days to go before the start of the Rio Olympics, two Indian sportsmen have failed dope tests. They are in danger of facing a ban and missing the Olympics altogether.
The first to fail the test was wrestler Narsingh Yadav. Yadav was locked in a bitter fight with another wrestling star Sushil Kumar (who won a silver medal for India at the 2012 London Olympics) for the right to represent India at Rio and Yadav was eventually chosen. Now facing disqualification, Yadav has said that his food was poisoned with the banned drugs. Yadav now has to prove that his food was tampered with, else he will not be allowed to go to Rio.
The second athlete to fail the dope test was shot putter Inderjeet Singh. Singh, who is also the Asian shot put champion and Asian Games silver medalist, was expected to do well for India at Rio. One of his samples has tested positive for drugs and if the second one does too, then he will miss Rio and will also be banned from the sport for four years.
TENNIS// The biggest moment of Serena Willliams’ career came last month as she lifted the Wimbledon trophy for the seventh time. It was also her 22nd Grand Slam win and with this, she has equaled Steffi Graf’s all-time record of 22 Grand Slams in the open era. This makes the 34-year old American one of the very greatest tennis players of all time. Williams defeated German Angelique Kerber in straight sets. It was sweet revenge as Kerber had bested her in the Australian Open final in January this year. As Kerber said after the match, “At the end, I was trying everything, but she deserved it today.” Steffi Graf won her 22nd title 16 years ago in 1999. Williams reached trophy number 21 in Wimbledon last year but failed to win any Grand Slams for a full year after. She reached the finals of the Australian Open and French Open this year but lost both. With the 22 Slam record in her pocket, Serena Williams is now eying the 24 overall Grand Slam titles record held by Margaret Court.
IAF// A transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with 29 people on board went missing over the Bay of Bengal on July 24. A big search operation to find the aircraft has been launched but the plane is yet to be found. The aircraft which had IAF staff as well as people from the Indian Navy, Indian Army and Coast Guard on board was headed from Chennai to Port Blair. Weather on the route was stormy due to the monsoon season and it is possible that the weather may have caused an accident.
IAF planes, Navy and Coast Guard ships have been searching the Bay of Bengal in the area where the aircraft was last seen on radar systems. Bad weather and rough seas in the Bay have made search operations difficult. Chances of locating the plane, which probably crashed into the sea, are only around 50%, say experts. Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar today told parliament that India has sought help from US to check if their satellites captured any signals from the missing AN-32 aircraft, while noting there was very little possibility that sabotage played any role.
CALAMITY// Severe floods in India have affected more than 1.6 million people, buried hundreds of villages and almost submerged a national park, forcing wildlife to seek refuge on roads. With the weather office forecasting more rains, the situation is worst for the northeastern teagrowing state of Assam, which suffered its worst floods four years ago that killed 124 people and displaced six million.
The flood situation gripping Assam has worsened as nearly 16 lakh people in 19 districts have been affected.
In neighbouring Nepal, flash floods and landslides swept through villages, killing at least 58 people over two days.
Floods and landslides are common in India and Nepal during the June-September monsoon season and the death toll runs into the hundreds every year.Police and rescue workers said at least 12 people had drowned across the state of Assam in recent days. Animals from the state’s national parks came out onto roads built up on banks and other high ground as the flood inundated forests. Assam's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal urged authorities to provide safe drinking water to prevent the outbreak of disease.
TERRORISM// Islamist terrorists launched a sudden attack on a posh restaurant in Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1 killing 22 people, including 19-yearold Indian girl Tarishi Jain among 20 foreigners and two police officers while six suspected terrorists were gunned down in the commando operation next morning. The attackers took hostages and exchanged gunfire with police until soldiers moved in and killed the militants. The slain victims included nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, three Bangladeshis and one U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin. The ISIS had earlier claimed responsibility for the cafe attack but the government said homegrown Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) carried out both the assaults.
POLITICS// Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejigged his council of ministers on July 5, inducting 19 new ministers in an exercise aimed both at pleasing voters in states headed for elections next year as well as speeding up efforts to boost economic growth. He also dropped five ministers. Smriti Irani was removed as the HRD minister, with Prakash Javadekar being given the post. Irani has been given the textiles ministry.
There is consensus that with the expansion-turned-reshuffle of his Council of Ministers, Modi has emphatically demonstrated his message, loud and clear: A result-oriented government. Prakash Javadekar was given a promotion from minister of state to Cabinet minister. He was promoted but his portfolio was changed. He has been made minister for education. The new minister for environment, forests and climate change is Anil Madhav Dave. He is not of Cabinet rank but a minister of state. Deciding not to leave the functions of junior ministers to their Cabinet seniors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that he will take the call on allocation of business among Ministers of State. Modi's cabinet has now swelled to 78 ministers – one of the biggest in years and a far cry from Modi's 2014 election promise of “minimum government and maximum governance.”
REFERENDUM DAY dawned and as far as London days go, it was a pleasant mid-20s. We Londoners love to complain about the weather irrespective of whether it is hot or cold, but June 23 didn't throw up any clues on how the day one of the biggest decision the country had ever made in decades if not century, would ultimately pan out.
Over coffee, I decided to quiz my five-year-old on whether he understood what was about to go down.
He obviously had more than a little clue.
In the run up, debates had raged, friendships were broken and newsprint and airwaves were full of opinion pieces.
On the day, people were urged to do the right thing and vote.
And most did! As many as 72.2 per cent went into polling booths, I being one of them. A total of 48.1 per cent voted for the UK to remain in the European Union, I was one of them.
News channels, political pundits and even those who had campaigned for the UK to leave the EU, including the ex-Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, felt that “Remain” would weigh in and we would all go back to our day jobs. Instead, we woke up to a political and socio-economic seismic change that would mean our intimate bonhomie with the Hollands and Merkels was at a bitter end.
Some results apart from the naughts next to the “Leave” box were immediately obvious.
The swansong of the “out” campaign had been that the £350 million that the UK sends to the EU every month could somehow be diverted to bolster the National Health Service that provides free medical care to ALL UK residents. This turned out to be a blatant lie. Just one amongst dozens of others.
It all turned out to be what in India we call “fear psychosis”. An almost Victorian term, it colludes to a poisoned atmosphere of smoke and mirrors, where there are more untruths than the truth. A big fat lie — as the Brits would call it.
And then a political blood bath ensued for the top spot — keys to 10 Downing Street, eventually culminating with Theresa May becoming PM — even though she was in favour of the UK remaining in the EU.
And what of the Great Indian Diaspora? What was the consensus there? Well, like all things Indian and South Asian, our tempers ran high — if you were “in”, you were blind to how the Polish were taking over “our” jobs, and if you were “out”, you were basically just racist.
The mud-slinging was legendary and so vehement were the discussions, you would think we weren't the diaspora or naturalised citizens, but ones born on these isles.
Some even went as far as proclaiming it to be the UK’s “Independence Day”! Forgetting the fact that the UK had volunteered to be a part of the EU, unlike the situation in India, where the Dutch and the Brits had just rocked up one fine morning and decided to make us their slaves for the next 200 years.
They were overwhelmed, not unlike David Cameron, whose utter and abject lack of strategy and foresight cost not the country but also his hard-fought prime ministership, won just over a year back.
His voice broke with emotion when he announced to the World that he was stepping down because he and the people of the country didn't think alike, but this disaster could have very easily been avoided with sound PR spin and solid strategy.
Since summer last year, all the way to spring now, we were served up images of Syrian refugees in their thousands streaming into Greece and Germany and proclaiming that their final destination was going to be the UK. We saw UK being completely sidelined when it came to getting Fraulien Merkel to stem the flow of migration in any way. We read about the uphill battles the legal system in the country faced while trying to deport those wanted for terrorism by other countries.
Residents in states and districts of the UK that are completely funded by EU money like Cornwall had no idea that swanky sports centres and roads were being built using cash sent through from the EU development fund -- would it not have made sense for the government to push communication about these out more?
Shouldn’t Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour party (main opposition party) have postponed his holiday to concentrate on campaigning for the country to remain?
Why wasn’t more done by the “Remain” camp to make sure the vote went in their favour? Was it arrogance? Or just being coconut in a sense of safety by choosing to only listen to the voices on social media?
Hindsight is always 20:20… But has Brexit changed anything?
Casual workers from the EU like my son’s Spanish ex-nanny are worried they will lose their jobs at restaurants and shops and will have to go back to Spain with its already beleaguered economy, racist attacks have increased and a lot of those 51.9 per cent who voted “Leave” have realised they were conned.
How has it gone down in my household?
The day after the referendum, my son woke up and asked: “So, Mumma, are we in the EU or out of the EU?
Me: We are out.
Ro: Is my Baba dead?
His wisecracks and his run-ins with the universally accepted norms of social demeanour notwithstanding, it is hard to ignore the kind of hold Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan has over the masses and how they react to him. Salman Khan's films (every Eid) generate the same hysteria and frenzy as do constant rumours of his marital status. The 51-year-old is Bollywood's eternal enfant terrible. He seems to have a love-hate relationship with the media -- whom he completely avoided in the aftermath of a controversial comment at a recently-held award function. Khan did open up eventually and said, “It is sad. And it confuses me. If I don’t say anything I am boring. If I say something then it becomes an issue and my people won’t like it. Yes, maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but I have a very bad knack for being misunderstood.”
Controversy’s favourite child
That Salman Khan and controversy go hand-in-hand is not news. The reactions to his being in the news range from strong to the banal not -again.
That being said, and not to take away anything from his knack for stirring up the hornet’s nest, Khan is also known for, in filmi language, his bada dil (big heart). I have been eyewitness to him exchanging his Seven For All Mankind jeans with a light-boy's faded pair because he needed it for a film role. In another instance, he gave his cycle (on which he had travelled from home to a studio) to a spotboy. The actor has also helped several newbies establish their careers in Bollywood; Himesh Reshammiya, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Sajid-Wajid being some of them.
It is, perhaps, for this reason that Khan’s controversies don't dent the deity-like adulation he gets from his fans. It is this fan following that has made him the unbeatable king of the box-office today, with back-to-back blockbusters such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan and now, Sultan.
Sultan of the box-office
His latest film, Sultan, earned Rs 80 crore within two days of its release. The film has already gone down in history as the highest opener of 2016, and is also Salman Khan's 10th consecutive film to have crossed the Rs 100-crore business mark (an unrivalled feat in Bollywood), thereby cementing the unrivalled status as the most bankable star of Bollywood.
"It is nice that despite everything, despite your flaws, people who love you love your work. And it is even better when people who don't like you also appreciate the hard work you put in," says Khan.
Elaborating on his role in Sultan, he says, “The film is in chapters. It is a fragmented journey of the character — he is a legend; then he goes through a low period but rises.” One of the reasons Khan agreed to do the movie was to challenge himself as an actor — to see whether he could pull it off. “It’s the toughest role I have played — both emotionally and physically. It is a very demanding character,” he says, explaining how the role was not only gruelling physically, but the emotional inputs it required were intense.
“I had to look like a wrestler, and move like one. My fans would probably like me anyway, but I wanted to impress wrestling fans as well," says Khan. The superstar also got a taste of the hysteria firsthand when he shot on-location in the villages of Punjab and Haryana. “I am the last person to feel shy about taking my shirt off. But this was something else. I had to wear a langot (loincloth), which made me feel so looked at, and I don’t say this in a particularly happy way. I felt so uncomfortable when bystanders, on-lookers and sometimes even extras would whistle at me or make cat calls in that state of undress, if you can call it that,” says the actor, with characteristic candour.
Khan also had to delve deep into his histrionic prowess to portray the emotions that his troubled character goes through. Elaborating, he says, “The range of emotions to be displayed can make you go over the top. But thanks to the persistence of my director Ali Abbas Zafar who, very sweetly, would keep egging me to do better by saying, ‘Just one more take, sir’, and I would have to comply.”
Always up to a challenge — that is how this Khan has always been. At an earlier interview, he recalled how he learnt to swim: “My first swimming pool was a well in Indore — a watery cave I shared one afternoon, with a fish, two turtles and a water snake — when a relative pushed me off the edge. A rope was tied to my leg to make sure I didn’t drown. Someone shouted instructions down at me, and left. This is what my life has been like. I do things before I learn them.”
Considering how hard Khan says he worked on the movie, you would think he would take a break. But you’d be wrong. Work on his next film — Kabir Khan’s Tubelight, to be shot in Ladakh - is already afoot. Khan is also gearing up for his third association with the prestigious banner of Yash Raj Films, and he will start shooting for Dhoom 4 from mid-2017. Reportedly, the film will go on floors by mid-2017 and will be shot entirely in North America.
So that holiday in London, a place Salman is fond of, will have to wait. “I really want to cycle around Hyde Park,” says the superstar, who is de-stressing with a baby for now. His sister Arpita Khan Sharma's son Ahil is the apple of his eye. As if on cue, he is called away from the interview as Ahil has woken up and is clamouring for his famous uncle's attention.
Would you like to own a digital camera that can not only capture astounding pictures at your home and surroundings, but also capture the sunset in the darkest of settings and even take pictures of the earth from outer space? Meet Nikon D500, probably among the best DSLRs currently available in the country and the one British astronaut Tim Peake used to capture pictures of our planet while sipping tea aboard the International Space Station.
Nikon D500 is the company's flagship camera and it’s clear why. The camera comes with a Multi- CAM 20K autofocus sensor module, with 153 focus points that not only covers a wide-angle for every shot, but also processes information quickly to let you click instant pictures. The camera's Auto Focus system and 180K-pixel RGB sensor work together to focus quickly on an image area and to perform detailed scene analysis — the result of a technology that has been refined over the years.
Once you start using the camera, you will realise that taking pictures of faraway objects and places will be easier and quicker than on any other camera. This is because all of the 153 focal points in the camera are compatible with lenses with f/5.6 or f/8 apertures. The camera is also smart enough not to shift focus if any unknown obstacle such as flying birds or passing dogs appears in the image area, which is great if you do not wish to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime shot. What's more, the camera can capture videos in 4K Ultra HD resolution and will come with a 64GB High Speed SD card in which you will be able to save your day’s spoils. You can even share your captured photos and videos via the built-in SnapBridge capabilities that allow Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Like most premium DSLR cameras made by Nikon, D500 comes with durable, rugged build and ergonomics, and offers protection from dust and water, thanks to its magnesium alloy and carbon fiber materials. The camera is currently available for Rs 1,32,950, along with the SD card and DSLR bag. However, if you want the camera paired with advanced lenses, you can go for a D500 paired with AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR lens, which will cost you Rs 1,83,950. You can also look for cheaper options at retail or online stores.
WHILE THE POPULARITY of futuristic functional clothing is likely to be driven by its self-cleaning and self-warming/ cooling properties, or making electronics wearable, its eco-friendly potential in reducing consumption of resources in production and maintenance or charging gadgets would be a cross-cutting collateral advantage in most cases.
These are not isolated experiments by random researchers. The textile ecosystem itself is slowly imbibing such changes in its approach gradually. Biodegradable, eco-friendly, and skinfriendly fabrics will be the focus of global textile market in the future, according to a recently released report by Transparency Market Research, a global research consultancy. “High demand for biodegradable, environment-friendly, versatile, and cost-effective materials from end-use industries is a key factor that stimulates demand from the global cellulose fibres market.” It’s noteworthy that clothing accounts for more than 50 per cent of the global cellulose fibres end-use market.
As the eco-fashion industry grows, so does its segmentation into various generic labels. An overarching term, ethical fashion, is about pursuing a socially and environmentallyresponsible approach in sourcing, designing, manufacturing and marketing clothing. Understandably, the sourcing is done from poorer developing countries and the consumption is in affluent developed countries.
While eco-fashion focuses on the use of environment-friendly materials and production, its most popular segment of organic clothes are made from materials such as cotton or jute, which are grown without the inputs of chemical fertilisers, insecticides or geneticallymodified seeds. In all cases, a complete organic lifecycle approach may not be always followed. Some manufacturers are still using chemicals -- from dyeing to bleaching process. Although it could be due to constraints such as availability, costs, or simply expediency, yet it’s only a matter of time before the entire lifecycle becomes organic.
In contrast, Fair Trade involves payment of fair prices through the supply chain as well as compliance with social standards. One of the popular interventions, the Ethical Fashion Initiative, which is a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organisation, seeks to connect poor artisans with international fashion chains. Fair Trade is driven by conscious consumers in affluent societies willing to pay fair compensation to players in the value chain, including primarily poor farmers.
India is an important stakeholder in this emerging eco-friendly and fair trade world apparel order. The recently-held Lakmé Fashion Week renamed its usual “The Indian Handloom & Textile Day” as the “Sustainable and Indian Textile Day” to be a flag bearer of eco-fashion in the country, covering key values of sustainability holistically, according to the organisers. Throughout the Lakmé Fashion Week, designers were invited to showcase sustainable and eco-friendly designs. Some designers chose themes linked to climate change and sustainable development. Such fashion events may be one-off events for the select few, but their visibility fuels mass awareness on the back of celebrity endorsement.
Glitter to the eco-fashion industry is being added by senior as well as young fashion designers. Many designers such as Anupama Dayal and Anaka Narayananan are known for using natural fabrics as well as dyes.
Waste reduction is the focus of most designers. While Siddhartha Upadhyaya uses technology to reduce waste generation, Karishma Shahani recycles and reuses fabric scraps and discarded clothing. Similarly, Shalabh and Anita Ahuja refashion waste into lifestyle products, and Ruchika Sachdeva and Swati Argade focus on recycling, repurposing and upcycling.
In an innovative initiative, Sheena Matheiken’s Uniform Project focused on a minimalistic approach, experimenting with a Little Black Dress, styling it differently each day through the whole year. The experiment succeeded in emphasising how to do more with less — and still be fashionable. Designers have been both setting trends as well as taking cues.
In fact, a few years ago, leading brands such as Wills Lifestyle, Van Heusen and Arrow launched their organic lines made of cotton and linen in natural dyes, using natural fibres and avoiding the use of chemicals. They may have met with modest success, but they opened up new opportunities in the country.
Today, one of the popular extreme weather outdoor gear and outerwear brands, Woodland, is well-known for using eco-friendly and recyclable materials in some of its lines. Its biodegradable footwear range has already caused a stir in the eco-fashion industry. It is little wonder then that Woodland’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) initiative Proplanet is dedicated to the cause of the environment.
Unlike others, organic clothing brand Bhu:sattva started green instead of going green, integrating ethics and sustainability in the DNA of its supply chain from day one. Avoiding fast fashion, Bhu:sattva’s mainstay are organic cotton and natural dyes. Besides organic cotton, Bhu:sattva also uses organic silk, including tussar and ahimsa, or cruelty-free silk. Natural silks such as ghichha, nassi, eri-muga than, mulberry, kora, desi tussar, baftak kosa and tussar-muga are also used in its products. In addition, Bhu:sattva makes a conscious attempt to root contemporary trends in traditional crafts, thereby contributing to sustainability of our rich heritage and society as well.
Ethicus is a social enterprises focusing on inclusive growth and ethical business practices through its entire value chain. Its Appachi Eco-logic Project seeks to promote cultivation of organic cotton supported by education of farmers in traditional as well as modern techniques.
Though the list of such progressive enterprises is long, yet it falls short in a country of the size and challenges of India. It’s finally up to the consumers to catalyse the movement of ethical fashion in the country and make it mainstream.