Once the mountains are in your blood, there is no escape.” Words ring true, even today, for the gentle muse from the mountains, author Ruskin Bond. Ruskin Bond is one of those Indians of British descent who, given a choice, chose to live in India. “But for the colour of his skin, he is hardly an ex-colonial pining away for the days of the Raj,” speaks author Ganesh Saili about his friend of over five decades.
Talking about the past comes easy. For here’s an author who has penned his life in most of his work, steeped in nostalgia.
“I was the eldest child of Edith and Aubrey Bond, born on May 19, 1934 in the Military Hospital, Kasauli, in the neighbouring hillstate of Himachal Pradesh.” He adds how he was baptised in the Anglican Church and christened Owen Ruskin Bond by his father, after the celebrated English author John Ruskin who happened to be his father’s favourite author.
The first page
The author spent his formative years in Jamnagar, where his father tutored the children of the royal family. Ellen, his younger sister, was born in 1936, but after an unfortunate bout of polio, was handicapped for life. Soon after the birth of Ellen, his parents divorced and went their separate ways. Ruskin was to live with his father, while the mother and daughter moved to Dehradun.
Soon thereafter, Aubrey Bond left Jamnagar to work for the Intelligence Branch of the Royal Air Force, in Delhi. Even today, Bond remembers the days he was home-schooled by his father in Delhi calling it, “a glorious year”.
In 1943, Bond’s father decided the boy would do best with a formal education, and admitted him to the Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, then known as Eton of the East. The author remembers wandering through The Mall road in Shimla, on a hand-drawn rickshaw through the monsoon mist while his father entertained him with, “stories of phantom-rickshaws and enchanted forests”.
The storyline
But all this was short lived. A year later, in 1944, Bond lost his father to a terrible bout of malaria. When the news of his death arrived, Ruskin was in school, aged 10. As if it happened yesterday, he reminiscences in his writing, “as there was no evidence of my father’s death, it was, for me, not a death but a vanishing. Even today, I subconsciously expect him to turn up and deliver me from bad situations.”
Perhaps the loneliest period of Bond’s life began when he finished school. Young Bond, a rebel somewhat, didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of staying with his mother and stepfather in Dehradun after his doting grandmother passed away. In the autumn of 1951, he decided to move to the foreign shores of Jersey where his aunt Emily lived with her family. She had agreed to give Bond a roof “until he found his own bearings”.
Two years later, he moved to London from Jersey, taking up odd jobs to eke out a living, while his heart pined for India and its familiar taste and smells. In the year 1954-1955 he met Diana Athill, the publisher from Andre Deutsch, who took keen interest in Bond’s attempt at his maiden novel, The Room on the Roof. The book was published in 1955 and won him the coveted the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize the following year. With the advance that was paid to him by Andre Deutsch and some money he had saved, Bond bought his ticket back to India aboard the Polish ship, S S Batory and set sail for home — India.
The plot thickens
Back home, in familiar territory, Bond set up base in Dehradun. He wrote with a passion, but when survival purely on writing became a challenge, young Bond decided to move to the city.
He left for Delhi in 1959, “To find a regular office job that could provide me with financial stability,” he adds. Bond then started working for CARE (the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere), an international relief agency.
But his heart was set on the written word. “I left Delhi in 1963. I was tired of the regular desk job as it was leaving me with little or no time to pursue my literary career,” he says. Little deliberation and he finally made up his mind to set up home in the Queen of Hills, Mussoorie. “A relatively inexpensive hill station in those days,” he tells us. Bond rented Oakland Cottage and lived there with a young boy Prem and his newly wedded wife Chandra who took care of the author’s needs.
A few years down the line, he moved base to Maplewood Lodge, where he lived until 1976. “Before taking up permanent boarding at Ivy Cottage, Landour, where I live with my grandson Rakesh, his wife Beena, and their doting children and my cat,” he adds with a smile as the black and white feline purrs, as if on cue, from her cozy cushion next to his chair.
The writing order
Even today, the grand old man of the hills, can be caught writing profusely; he has more than a hundred stories, essays, and novels, and over 50 children’s books to his credit, along with screenplays for Bollywood movies as well.
Apart from Ruskin Bond’s work being part of the Indian curriculum, his books have been translated into French, Spanish, German and Danish along with over a dozen Indian regional languages. The popularity of his books may be judged by the rapidity with which his books go into reprint.
Our “Wordsworth in prose”, as he is affectionately called, has received highly prestigious awards. In 1987, he was awarded the Indian Council for Child Education Award for his “pivotal role in the development of children’s literature in India”. The Sahitya Academy Award for English Writing in India in the year 1992; Padma Shri in 1999 for his novella Our trees still grow in Dehra; and the fourthhighest civilian award in the country, the Padma Bhushan in the 2014, by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Now in his eighty-second year, Bond looks back with nostalgia over half a century of dedication to the gentle art of writing. As we take leave of this literary giant who has generously contributed towards making three generations of children into book readers and book lovers in embryo, he sets about, yet again, to the task of penning stories to amuse and entertain young minds.
We wish more power to his unstoppable pen.
AN INDIAN Air Force (IAF) contingent, along with several combat aircraft, departed for Eielson Air Force Base Alaska in USA on April 3, 2016. The professed aim was to demonstrate an ability to project air power in transcontinental deployment of a taskforce. The contingent comprised combat planes Su-30 MKI and Jaguars, supported by IL- 78 tankers and the latest C-17 strategic airlift aircraft. They have gone to participate in the 2016 edition of the most sought-after global exercise — The Red Flag — for which all combat-worthy aviators yearn for.
The IAF was visiting the US soil for this exercise after eight years; the last trans-continental sojourn had taken place in the summer of 2008. Air Force Vicechief Air Marshal VP Naik had clarified the national objective when he had arrived to witness the maneuvers in 2008, in the American aerospace.
He had said: “By participating in this exercise, we want to check whether we are capable of projecting power over that kind of distance, if not more. Secondly, we want to test our logistic and administrative abilities to support such a large number of people so far away from home, without much difficulty. In addition, the IAF also wanted to check whether its personnel are capable of operating in varied environments without much loss of effectiveness.”
Air Marshal Naik had indicated that as far as operations and capability of IAF aircraft were concerned, there were no problems. But with India becoming a global player, it was important to test, “How good are we in large force engagements against different types of aircraft other than those we own in India.”
According to Naik, it is every fighter pilot's dream to participate in the Red Flag, “It helps you fly in a different environment, fly large force engagements which can be debriefed, picturised in a much better manner here than anywhere else and helps you fly in an environment of different kind of aircraft than what you are used to. I was talking to our transport pilots and very rarely do they get a chance to fly in such a dense environment, so these have been some of the major gains of this Red Flag exercise,” he had said.
However, he did point out that it was a costly exercise and he did not think the IAF will take part in another Red Flag for another four to five years. That futuristic assessment had held true and Naik did not witness a repeat of this feat in his service lifetime again, although he went on to Command the IAF as its Chief and superannuated.
Many observers have termed the Indian participation in a US-conceived platform as a attitudinal shift in Indian foreign policy stance. Some paradoxes could not be explained, however. In all the years when India remained the largest recipient of military wherewithal and materials from the erstwhile USSR, and then its new avatar Russia, it never participated in any combat aviation exercise with the suppliers. The SU-30 MKI and previous combat platforms, namely many variants of MIGs and Sukhois, used to form the most predominant arsenal of our military machine and continue to remain so. In a strange treatment of these platforms, the IAF chose to evolve its own tactics and its own set of maneuvers without any reference to the originators and conceivers of the potent platforms.
An erstwhile Chief of the IAF, a personal friend of many years and who I do not propose to name, had provided answers that helped in unraveling the mystery. Astoundingly, he was deeply convinced with IAF’s notion that irrespective of the designers’ and the manufacturers’ visions and schemes, the operators must work towards operational profiles and tactics, compatible with Indian needs. According to him, the maxim applied across the board, including for British platforms such as Canberras, Hunters and Jaguars, French platforms such as Mirage 2000, and, for that matter, even in the handling of our transport and helicopter fleets. Having acquired the machines with an intense determination of their potential and abilities we knew our methodologies. We would nevertheless listen but do precisely what we thought was the best. In any case, the phenomenon of multinational exercises is a post-cold war practice and the IAF ought to make the best of it. We must learn.
An inkling of the Indian planning successes had come to our notice back in 2004, a good 12 years ago. Major Mark A Snowden, the 3rd Wing’s Chief of air-to-air tactics and a participant in Cope India 2004, admitted that the US Air Force underestimated the Indians. “The outcome of the (2004) exercise boils down to (the fact that) they ran tactics that were more advanced than we expected,” he told an aviation weekly. “They had done some training with the French that we knew about, but we did not expect them to be a very well-trained air force. That was silly.”
One USAF controller working aboard an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) plane told reporters at Kalaikunda Air Base that he was impressed by the speed at which Indian pilots responded to target assignments given to them by AWACS. The AWACS, while operated by Americans, was acting as a neutral party, feeding target assignments to both Indian and American pilots during the exercise. In most cases, the Indians responded to target assignments faster than the American pilots did -- “a surprising fact, given that this was the first time Indian pilots had used the American AWACS capability”.
Of all the air forces that participated in the exercise Red Flag in 2008, the IAF had the distinction of being the only air force to have about 95 per cent serviceability of all its platforms, be it the eight Su-30 multi role, air superiority, strike fighters, two IL- 78 air-to-air refuellers or the lone IL-76 heavy lift transport aircraft.
In our country, human spit is tolerated anywhere — virtually every road and public wall is “purified” with spit. But a woman’s menstrual blood is taboo. Never mind the fact that menstruating women take enough care of their own and public hygiene. There are various taboos attached to menstruation and women have accepted them over centuries. Be it the kitchen or the temple, they are not supposed to enter the premises during menstruation lest they mar the purity of the place. And when it comes to a celibate god, Ayyappa in Sabarimala, the entry is a nono for women.
As for the right to pray in a public temple, Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees it to women as much as it does to men. The Constitution, as also God(s) in any religion, looks at men and women as part of the same species with different chromosomal combinations ordained by nature to perform different but complementary roles in life. In Hinduism, there are as many female gods as there are male ones. Crucial portfolios such as wealth (Lakshmi), education (Saraswati), Earth (personified by a goddess in various cultures worldwide), rivers (Ganga, Yamuna), and so on are under goddesses. Division of labour among gods knows no gender bias.
Menstruation is a normal and natural phenomenon that indicates, among other things, that the woman concerned has the potential to give birth to younger ones of the species — males and females. Everything that goes with the marvelous fact of procreation should ideally evoke joy and not disgust! We Indians must seriously consider stopping spitting in public places rather than stopping menstruating women from entering public places. Human saliva is much more unhygienic than women’s blood, for God’s sake.
Shani Shingnapur, a village in Maharashtra, is famous for the fact that no house in the village has doors. But the popular temple of Shani has doors, which were closed for women for 400 years, until April 8, 2016, when the temple trust allowed women devotees to enter the sanctum. There are other places of worship where women face restrictions on their entry. Haji Ali Dargah in Maharashtra keeps women off the shrine because of sharia law. Padmanabhaswamy Temple does not allow women devotees to enter the vault of riches. Kartikeya Temple in Pehowa, Haryana, prohibits women’s entry as Lord Kartikeya was a celibate (brahmachari). Patbausi Satras (institutional centres) in Assam forbid women from temples. There are some other places of worship that consider women’s presence denigrating their sanctity, too.
Although there are no restrictions around menstruation in modern Christianity, menstruating women are still not allowed to take communion in conservative Orthodox Catholic churches (sometimes they are not even allowed to enter the church). The idea still exists that menstruation makes women “unclean” and this has been used as a reason why women shouldn’t be ordained as priests.
It would make sense to organise three-way meetings among religious, social and political leaders and peacefully remove this anomaly from our system. Like every mature society, we should have the grace to admit there could be something in our traditions that are not compatible with common sense and need to be brought in line with contemporary rationale.
HARI WARRIER// So Trupti Desai and her Bhumata Brigade activists have offered prayers at Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik. Good for them. One must admire Desai’s tenacity in challenging the male hegemony over divinity, but one should also pause a moment and ask, why are some temples off limits for women anyway? Most temples welcome women devotees, so why these exceptions?
One would like to think that god does not differentiate among his children regardless of gender, age, wealth or any other factor. So why can’t we, his children, do likewise?
It may have something to do with energy. Everything is made of vibrating particles, science tells us, and that particles are made up of atoms, which consist of an electron (negative), proton (positive) and nucleus (neutral), around which the first two orbit. The positive and negative are also called Yang and Yin.
Now, that atom exists because there is an “integrating” factor, otherwise the electron and proton would go their different ways. We can call that integrating factor god, generator, or creator. God, the operator, keeps it alive, and when it is time to die, god the destroyer takes it away.
In a family, the father is the equivalent of the proton, and the electron is the mother. Children, of course, are the nucleus around which the two orbit.
A temple is a congregation of devotees. The idol in itself is nothing without the devotees. It is just a conduit for the energies of God to reach devotees. The devotees call these energies “blessing”. Different temples have different kinds of “blessings”. Tirupati, for instance, is known for increasing one’s prosperity. There are temples that remove devotees’ obstacles or heal sickness or help childless couples conceive. When a devotee prays at a temple, he absorbs some of the energies that flow through the deity.
The question is, why would women be kept out of some of these temples? Could it have something to do with the energies at these temples?
Probably yes.
In Shani Shingnapur and Trimbakeshwar, the energies that emanate through the deities are clearly male. So what would happen to a woman praying here? She would be “blessed” with a booster dose of Yang or male energies. She would likely return home in a combative frame of being. Instead of a proton and an electron, we would probably end up with two protons in a home!
In the interest of harmony in the homestead, the power structure that laid down rules for temples hundreds of years ago, decided that women, who represent the yin aspect in a home, should not enter the presence of these deities. There are likely to be dozens of similar temples in other parts of the country that have not yet gained limelight.
Have you not noticed that Shiva temples invariably have a Devi temple in the vicinity? That the devotee is supposed to visit both temples, else the pilgrimage is considered incomplete? Even Tirupati has a Lakshmi temple. The purpose is to balance the energies.
Sabarimala is different, but it too is fairly straightforward — men who go to Sabarimala are supposed to abstain from “family life”, including sex, for weeks before they set out on the pilgrimage. Introducing a “fertile” woman in the middle of thousands of such pilgrims would be asking for trouble. Sure, people should behave themselves, but why take the risk? The official excuse is that Lord Ayyappa was a brahmachari, but if you consider that he was born of Lord Shiva and Vishnu in Mohini form, we get into grey areas where there is no wiggleroom. Without getting into an argument of whether this approach is right or not, one feels that we should not get into a fight for just the sake of fighting. Sure, everyone does not know energy. But it can be taught to anyone, and experienced by anyone. It is better to cultivate the God within us, than fight over temple etiquettes.
For a woman who is a great influencer for her family, adoption of healthy lifestyle both in terms of food and fitness needs to come from within. What is needed is enthusiasm, determination, a conducive environment, the willpower to succeed and an inner need to be fit and healthy again.
Helping women in this endeavor is Pinkathon, India’s biggest Women’s run, for women’s health and breast cancer awareness. Founded by Milind Soman and Reema Sanghavi, Pinkathon was created with the specific purpose of getting more and more women to adopt a fitter lifestyle for themselves and their families, and to highlight the need for increased awareness of other issues that put women’s lives at risk. As Soman, super model, actor, fitness enthusiast and the founder of Pinkathon says, “The Pinkathon is more than a Marathon. It is the seed of change. It is the beginning of a movement carried forward by a growing community of empowered women across India, who share a belief that a healthy family, a healthy nation and a healthy world begins with empowered women. The first step in empowerment is taking control of your own health, respecting yourself and understanding and celebrating the value you bring to your family and society. Empowerment is not a gift of society; it is a gift you give yourself.”
How did it start?
Soman, the Ironman Triathlon Finisher (in 2015) at Zurich, Switzerland points out that the need for a “women-only” run rose from his experience of participation in different marathons where the women were always very less. According to him, “fitness” is liberating and if a culture of regular exercise and fitness must take root in India, the Indian women need to become aware about the benefits of fitness. They need to be able to get out and run, which doesn't happen enough due to various cultural reasons.
“Pinkathon provides a platform to women where they can feel comfortable running leaving behind all worries and constraints. Women are often conscious of running around men, they are conscious of what they have to wear while running. In Pinkathon we provide a space where women can run feeling comfortable and wearing whatever they want. They run in running gear such as shorts and tracks but also in sarees, salwar kameez, hijabs or whatever attire they deem fit and which keeps them comfortable.”
Pinkathon was started in 2012 in Mumbai in which 3,000 women participated and four years down the line it plans to have close to 75,000 participants. Starting with a single city, the momentum has spread to eight cities (namely Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai) and there are plans to target smaller cities too. Over this short period, Pinkathon has raised more than Rs 60 lakh towards treatment of underprivileged women with cancer and has facilitated free breast screenings for thousands of women through their partners. This run is organised by the United Sisters Foundation (USF) and the event is promoted by Maximus Mice and Media Solutions.
Being an all-inclusive women race, men are not allowed to participate in Pinkathon. However, they can support the cause by volunteering for the event either for the Visually Impaired Squad or as pacers. In the 21km distance category, Pinkathon has a concept of ‘A Pacer with every Racer’. Each pacer makes sure that the girl they are matched with is safe during the run and is able to perform her best in the event that she has trained so hard for.
An equal footing to all
Another very interesting thing about Pinkathon is it all inclusive nature towards women - be it the baby wearing mothers, first time runner, young school girls participating with their moms, encouraging elderly or cancer survivors or providing special training for the People with Disabilities (visually or hearing impaired women). The idea is to encourage health and fitness at every age and not restrict someone due to their disabilities.
“While our main focus is on the sport, the truth is, sports are simply the tool for accomplishing a bigger goal, to bring hope, inspiration and the joys of achievement to Persons with Disabilities. Persons with Disabilities run for many reasons and with many goals — to improve physical strength; to build confidence. Running together encourages empathy, discovering more about yourself and your partner. It creates awareness at many levels that help break perceptions of stereotypes and bring about social transformation,” says the bare-foot runner.
Preparing for Pinkathon
Pinkathon participants can choose to run or walk whatever they would prefer. It is planning to hold their third edition Chennai run on June 5, 2016 at Island Ground for which the last date of registration is May 31. The organisation is expecting more than 8,000 participants this year. It also includes a special 3-km category that will have visually and hearing-impaired people as mascots.
For this, the organisation provides free training sessions on every weekend and “Know the route” run for the consecutive last three days to the participants. There will also be an extensive online campaign to reach out to the masses and help the movement grow.” As a precursor to the main day, the team is organizing unique events such as the “Cancer Shero Trek”. Pinkathon is also conducting special training sessions for the visually impaired women, as 50 visually impaired girls would be participating in the different category run.
With such a huge crowd, Pinkathon is also conscious about the safety and security of their women participants and have the top most security agency on board, deploying 200 security personnel on the main day. They also have specific accreditations to monitor entry / exit in special zones, besides having DFMDs, Baggage Scanners etc.
Pinkathon ambassadors: Changing mindsets
The Pinkathon has been created to drive awareness on social causes. Even though it is not a fund raiser, all participants are encouraged to raise money through the Pinkathon, which will be donated directly to the Women’s Cancer Initiative (WCI) in Mumbai, as well as other NGO’s across the country. The Bajaj Electricals, which are the partners with Pinkathon, is celebrating Year 2016 in the company as the Year of the Girl Child. The company is encouraging their male employees to get their spouses, mothers, sisters or any female relative to participate in this run and support the cause whole heartedly.
Driving all this is a core team of Pinkathon and its concept of Pinkathon Ambassadors. The Ambassadors of Pinkathon are highly motivated individuals who believe strongly in the cause of the Pinkathon and are very passionate about encouraging women to run and be fit. They could be running enthusiasts or even nonrunners, who understand the importance of women’s health and do everything they can to promote it. They connect with all levels of society and drive participation from every part of the city.
When Deepak Dobriyal went on stage to collect his trophy for best performance in a comic role at a prestigious film awards ceremony, which was held recently in Dubai, he said: “Thank you. Thank you very much.” A man of few words, Dobriyal, clearly, lets his work do the talking. His work in the latest franchise of Tanu Weds Manu, directed by Anand L Rai that came out in 2011, has been praised endlessly. Although he charmed both audiences and film critics in the film, it was in Tanu Weds Manu Returns that people truly found him endearing. The dialogues got wittier in the sequel, more screen time was allotted to him and the director clearly engaged with Pappi (Dobriyal’s screen name in the two films). On social media sites we had Pappi memes, compilation of Pappi dialogues, and some even had parallel storyline plots where Pappi was doling serious relationship advice.
To be fair, Dobriyal had seen success earlier, too, with some seriously impressive performances in mainstream Hindi films such as Omkara, Delhi 6, and Gulaal, among others. But the taste of stardom, perhaps, came with Tanu Weds Manu. Given the success of the franchise, it’s no surprise then that the makers are already considering the film’s third installment. Dobriyal’s role, if there is any indication, may find more vigor and force.
The actor, who belongs to Kabra, a small village in Uttarakhand, grew up without thinking much about his future. He enjoyed being creative, he remembers, happy to watch films, read and step into theatre. Shifting from his village to Delhi where his father was posted, Dobriyal studied in various schools, including a government one in the Hauz Khas Village area. An average student, Dobriyal’s interest veered towards theatre at a fairly young age. He joined noted theatre artiste Arvind Gaur’s company, Asmita, and N K Sharma’s Act- One. For seven years, Dobriyal remained committed to theatre, working hard and understanding the nuances of the craft. It was during this time that he decided to become an actor. Theatre polished the actor in him even more — but couldn’t stop his struggle
To the city of dreams
It wasn’t easy convincing his family, but Dobriyal had made up his mind — he just wanted to be an actor. And although he wasn’t prepared for the struggle, he endured it, allowed it to shape and hone his skills. Changing more than 20 houses in nearly five years, Dobriyal struggled to make ends meet (“There was no support system, I was on my own,” he once said). In a city where people dream aplenty but reality can bite hard, Dobriyal found himself wondering how to move forward. The question of giving up, however, didn’t arise -- Dobriyal continued striving towards getting roles that would not just give him recognition but also fulfill his dream of doing meaningful roles as an actor. Nothing came easy, but Dobriyal continued to persevere.
The Hindi film industry is not an easy one to navigate; doors of dejection are aplenty and the only time people wake up to appreciate you is when you ring in the box office collections. Cynicism reigns in this part of the world and that’s why you are considered “good” when you’ve got an impressive list of signed films in your kitty.
For Dobriyal, too, the journey wasn’t different having faced rejection in the initial phase of his struggle. But once he arrived, well, he did. Watch him in Omkara, the Indian adaptation of Othello by Vishal Bharadwaj where he essays the role of the evil incarnate Raju effortlessly. Then there’s Kundan Shah’s Mumbai Cutting, an ensemble of short films released in 2010, where he does a mime, Chaplinesque act that I’d personally rate as one of my absolute favourites. It’s in those few minutes of the short film (the story is of Shah’s everyday “hero” who is trying to do the challenging job of getting into a local train of Mumbai even as he gets crushed and thrown around by the wave of humanity) that Dobriyal sincerely pulls out a performance that’s worthy of applause and standing ovation.
Interestingly, no two performances of Dobriyal (barring his role as Pappi in Tanu Weds Manu and its sequel) are alike, and those who have tracked his career graph know that he’s definitely going to do something totally different from one film to the other. “Not wanting to be typecast,” is the actor’s refrain as he prepares himself for some of his other forthcoming projects.
Recently, there was another short film, 11 minutes, which had Dobriyal with Sunny Leone and Alok Nath talking about the ills of smoking. Dobriyal is shown as a lanky cigarette-smoking addict in his village who tells his father (Alok Nath) that his dying wish is to marry the woman of his dreams (Sunny Leone). The anti-smoking film got quite a lot of traction on social media websites and the message (though delivered rather crudely, as some would suggest, was clear — each cigarette reduces your life by 11 minutes).
There are other scripts that he’s reading, but essentially, Dobriyal is taking his time and understanding what he needs to work on next. One genuinely hopes that directors and filmmakers continue to script some of the most challenging and noteworthy roles for him.
For someone who came with just one dream — a dream role — Dobriyal breathes easy, understands the way forward, and signs on the dotted line only when he is confident about the script. No wonder this actor is writing a solid script for himself in the industry.
NALANDA, IN ITS prime, was one of the most revered seats of learning for Buddhist scholars. Even now, the university has a sense of enigma and reverence around it. It is this mysterious pull that author Manna Bahadur had based the idea of her second novel on. Its protagonist happens to be a journalist in search of “Breaking News”. So, this fast-paced thriller has been woven around an inferno that blazed in the Nalanda University and its annihilation by a Turkish invader.
The storyline revolves around the historic and traditional Nalanda University and its subsequent ransacking and destruction. Running in intersection with this narrative is the story of two girls — Devahuti and Chandni — belonging to two completely different eras and yet connected through time because of their experiences, betrayals, loyalties, confidence, as well as similarities in nature.
Chandni is a modern-day Journalist who is confident and a doer. Being a reporter, she has to cover the story about Nalanda University and when she reaches there for her professional assignment, the ruins of the Nalanda University start appearing to her and she loses to her subconscious mind and that's when she makes an attempt to comprehend it. Devahuti is a young child widow, deprived of love and belonging as well as her own desires — but the fearless girl is intellectually much ahead of her time. The similarity in the series of events in different eras connects Chandni and Devahuti and thus the curse that started with Devahuti comes to an end with Chandni, making the story more compelling.
Manna Bahadur digs into the backyard of her childhood, reaching into the past, veering back and forth, to spin a yarn shuttling between two timelines. In one, the bold and spritely child-widow Devahuti contends with the acts of a rampaging Bakhtiyar Khilji. In the other, TV journalist Chandni finds herself embroiled in mysteries beyond breaking news. Maintaining the pace of narration, The Curse of Nalanda, leads the reader to find answers as to how Devahuti and Chandni are intertwined and the book -- that is at once imagined history and contemporary reportage — turns out to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
Raising some parallels strikingly close to the present day scenario, the book also highlights how in the current times, one can, because of the charm of fast paced growth, ignore advice and counsel. The story does seem a bit predictable in places, but perhaps that has to do with the fact that the characters set in modern times are from amongst us. We will all have a friend in television — or at least read about media so much. The best bit about the book is the writing. It is very easy to fall into the trap of being verbose even when it is just not necessary. Bahadur writes in a language that we all speak, and therefore the book is an easy read. Despite that, relevant details that explain characters and their situations and circumstances are conveyed easily. For lovers of historic fiction, the book is an engaging and riveting read.
THE BOOK STARTS off with what appears to be a Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap fusion. The protagonist is trying to woo his long-lost childhood sweetheart with antics such as several missed calls from an unknown number and sending large and innumerable bouquets to the workplace.
A childhood/ adolescent romance set in a coastal Orissa is interrupted by the Paradip cyclone. The author is able to bring forth not only the material destruction but the emotional scarring left on people who had to deal with the natural calamity. The 1999 Paradip cyclone caught the east coast with gaps in our nation's disaster preparation or relief plans and their implementation.
The story manages to bring forth various characters and builds on various relationships of rivalry, jealousy, some political plotting and like most Karan Johar movies, an ever reliable friend. The author does make an attempt to build the characters in book but either leaves them midway, or deems it unnecessary. The story would have been a lot more enjoyable if the peripheral characters added more bite to things until the plot thickens. These bits are scattered through the first few chapters of the book but kept me wanting more.
The last part of the book takes the reader to where the hero acts on his resolve to finally bring all his teenage yearnings to fruition. He picks up another creepy modus operandi to propose marriage to the girl. Following this the plots unravels the heroine's past where she has had to live the life of Mother India in the 21st century.
The story comes full circle where both our protagonists coming together with a catchy line of “Never away, Never apart”. The book is certainly recommended for the hopeless romantics and the ones whose faith in love has not been stolen by the overload of bubblegum romance so rampant in the 1990s.
When the sun glimmers on the shimmering water of the placid Dal Lake on a mild summer afternoon, you would hardly wonder why this mesmerising "Paradise on Earth" has been a region so desperately desired by our neighbours over the past few decades. The city of Srinagar in summer gloriously welcomes you in the many colours of its gardens, the lakes and rivers brimming with water, and everything glitters; in winters, the snow melts your heart.
Srinagar's biggest drawcard, the gondolas, locally called “shikara” allure you to be a part of the legacy that they have been witness to for years. In fact the name of the shikaras also seem very suited to the surroundings. Khoobsurat, Nazaara -- the names say it all. Made of deodar tree wood and approximately 15ft in length, these sikharas have a vibrant colour that makes them stand out amongst other boats. These shikaras can be hired from boat stations all along the lakeshore and official rates are displayed on noticeboards.
When in Srinagar, a visit is not complete if you do not stay in the houseboats – elegantly designed structures that are a piece of art. A night-over in the iconic houseboats gives a complete floating residential experience. These indulgent houseboats offer the most tranquil and soothing experience in the splendid silence of the night. These floating mini-hotels are fitted with every comfort and it is the most idyllic way to relax. The furnishings, mostly made of cedar, are often lavish and the service, firstclass. Almost all houseboats have a comfortable bedroom and a viewing balcony. As you wake up to the misty peaks of the Pir Panjal mountains, let the flower sellers bring perfumed blossoms to your doorstep.
The shore line of the lake (about 15.5 kilometres) is encompassed by a boulevard lined with Mughal era gardens, parks, houseboats and hotels. Scenic views of the lake can be witnessed from the shore line Mughal gardens, such as Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Though almost all have a fundamentally similar design with terraced lawns, fountain pools and carefully manicured flowerbeds interspersed with mighty chinar trees, pavilions and mock fortress facades, the most famous garden is Shalimar Bagh.
This beautiful garden was originally named the Farah Bakhsh or “Delightful garden”, but today it is known as the “Garden of love”. Shalimar Bagh has an air of solitude with the amazing fountains and shaded lined trees that seem to retire towards the snow clad mountains. A sound and light show is held here every evening between May to October when tourist pour in.
Though Nishat Bagh is smaller than Shalimar Garden, it is more impressive, what with steeper terracing and a lake-facing panorama. Built by Asaf Khan, Empress Nur Jahan’s brother, Nishat is celebrated for its stately chinar trees, imported to Kashmir from Persia by the Mughals. Among these, many of the giant chinar trees have been planted by the Mughal Emperors. Nishat has 12 terraces representing the 12 signs of the zodiac, which seems to gradually descend and merge in the Dal Lake’s periphery.
Although Srinagar has borne the brunt of intercommunal tensions, cross-border terrorism, and fell off the tourist map after the onset of militancy, the city retaliated to normalcy of late and has been seeing tourist footfalls once again with foreign tourists gradually trying to rediscover the region.
As you discover the area around the lake, the Dalgate is where the city coalesces. Take time to absorb the medieval-looking backstreets of Srinagar where wooden houses with delicately carved balconies beg for your attention. As music drifts out from the cafes, the smell of fresh bread wafts out from bakeries. The Khanqah of Shah Hamdan is said to be Srinagar’s most beautiful buildings. The Sri Patap Singh Museum houses the regional history and culture and the Arts Emporium caters for local crafts. The Lal Chowk is Srinagar’s city square with shops and restaurants on all sides, including the streets which border the square.
The pagoda-style Shah Hamadan Masjid on the banks of the Jhelum River was originally constructed in the 14th century for Sultan Sikander. It combines Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic influences and has two stories of intricate carvings and the interior has ornate chandeliers. A must-visit if you are in that area.
The silvery white Hazratbal Mosque is revered for housing a relic, the Prophet’s hair. Situated near the Dal Lake, the only domed mosque in Srinagar is a place of serenity, a must visit. The Hazratbal Mosque lends a historic and divine appeal to Srinagar. As you walk down the corridors of this famous religious sanctum, you marvel at the intricate Persian and Iranian architectural influences.
Set atop the Gopadari Hill is the Shankaracharya Temple, sacred to the Buddhists for centuries. A great place to admire the stunning panorama 1000 feet above the Kashmir plain with impressive views of the Srinagar, Dal Lake, Kashmir Valley and surrounding mountains. Be there for the best view of the place.
Atrendy bar serving an extensive list of wines, liquors, snacks and some of the world's finest cigars, @Links is the place to unwind at the end of the day. Located in the noisy epicentre of Noida’s MBD Radisson Blue, this modern bar also boasts an electronic wine-dispensing machine, offering 20 different wines by the glass, first of its kind in Noida. The bar also features 18 single malt whiskeys, some iconic cocktails designed by our award winning mixologist and an array of non-alcoholic beverages. @links also serves mouthwatering delicacies of North India, Mediterranean and from the Orient to compliment the drinks. The entertainment is soft and new age, ranging from oldies and retro to soft rock. A perfect place to enjoy and entertain in a relaxing setting.
Truly @Links is where people link up, drink up and get down to some serious chilling. This trendy, ultra-relaxed rendezvous bar serves the city’s slickest selection of spirits from creative spicy cocktails and new world wines to Tequilas and Martinis.
It is a pleasure to discover that, inside, the playful colours add to the different moods of the human mind, the carved frames brings the overtone of luxury. The splashing of colours has also been achieved on the ceiling through cluster of chandeliers in different colours. The story of walls and ceiling has been further defined with the Persian carpets. Romance is brought through deep rust and red, splashed in upholstery & collage of paintings. The elegance in romance is added through fully dressed leather seaters cladded with earthy colours to bring warmth to the experience.
The furniture is all fire-sale chic, and what it does have is space. So between the on-trend consumables, the spirit though classical, but not yet over the top. The semi-private bar culls a fine balance between sophisticatedness and friendliness. All in all is lavish, artsy, playful romantic interiors and is generously luxurious.
The house specialties are the ones to go for their Martinis, made authentically with gin and categorized as Dirty, Gibson or Gimlet. Feeling peckish? Go in for finger foods like the Barbequed Chicken Wings and Beer Batter Fried Golden Prawns or there are more substantial eats like Sandwiches and Quesadillas as well. The wine list is that is decent for beginners or casual drinkers is topped with Sparkling Wine Cocktails which can be enjoyed with the finest of cigars. If you are off alcohol, go in for the spirited coffees like Cafe Caribbean and Irish Cream, while teetotalers can sip on some refreshing Minty Melon or Italian Fantasy.
In wine there is truth.
Spring sure is in the air. You can not only see it in the smooth bark of the vibrant gulmohar tree, and the dreamy amaltas waiting to bloom, but also in the many clothes line that designers are showcasing, the look of your bed linen or simply the clothes that you tend to pick up. Well, it’s not just nature; you too prefer the brighter oranges and yellows rather than the grays and blacks.
And surely, it can’t be a coincidence that one refers to green shoots and turning into a new leaf as a comparison to things changing for the better. Spring is not just a season, but also a symbolism that we all have a lot to learn from. Agreed we will have the sweltering summer heat to counter with soon thereafter, but let’s just concentrate on the here and now. Isn’t spring not reason enough to celebrate?
For after all spring also shows how it is time to believe, to hope that no matter how dull and sometimes depressing winter got, spring is always around.
A reason why we have Amit Burman on the cover. For not only did the vice president of Dabur India take the company ahead on a new growth path (think Real juices and ready-to-use cooking pastes and purees) but also went ahead and took his foodie passion to another high with Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd, one of the leaders in quick and casual dining restaurant categories today. Just goes on to prove that that passion to go and explore beyond what appears and what really is.
And once you’ve moved beyond the inspirational story of the young man, don’t miss reading our detailed analysis of the Budget in Denomination. After all, it’s being hailed by many as a brave budget.
A new must is our new column on smart living. It is a brilliant take on the need for going green and why it makes sense to look at becoming energy efficient and sustainable growth.
Go on, get inspired and feel the spring around you!