WHILE PENURY AND HARDSHIPS MIGHT BREAK THE SPIRITS OF MANY, FOR MARY KOM, THEY ONLY FUELLED THE FIRE FOR HER AMBITION AS THE WORLD'S BEST BOXER

See Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom at work in the ring and at play with her children and you might think she is a split personality. Soft and ever smiling as a mother, she has a steely glint in her eye and is merciless when it comes to her opponents. Known simply as Mary Kom, she has an even better name — Magnificent Mary. The adjective best describes the way her iron fist brings the opponents down in a boxing ring.

An inspiration to millions of underdogs and aspiring sportspersons, Kom’s determination, dedication and success in international boxing have silenced her critics who, on many occasions, have raised questions over her boxing ability after her marriage and motherhood. In fact, it will be no exaggeration to say that Mary Kom has become the face of Indian boxing over the years. The Asian gold medalist boxer has emerged as motivation for women who want to continue their career after marriage and motherhood. She is also a sports icon and the face of women empowerment today.

Now a poster girl of the gritty sport, success didn’t come easy to Kom. She had to wait for a long to get her due acknowledgement for her wonderful achievements. But the woman of few words seldom complained. Today, all of it seemed worth it as she is a five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, Olympics bronze medalist, Asian games gold medalist and has won many more titles for the nation. For now, however, she is looking at the next big prize. The 31-year-old mother-ofthree from India’s north-eastern state of Manipur wants to come into the form that won her an incredible five world titles in the 46-48kg category between 2002 and 2010. and aims to fulfill the desire of the nation to win the gold medal in coming Rio Olympics games in 2016.

An ambassador for women’s boxing with the International Boxing Association, Kom was also the face of its campaign for the inclusion of women’s boxing in the 2012 London Olympics.

“The London Olympics still haunt me since the country was expecting a gold from me and I settled for a bronze. I worked hard to win the Olympics gold for years. And although it was one of the most glorious moments my career, it turned into a personal disappointment that still nags me,” she says. Fighting in a new 51-kg flyweight category, Kom lost narrowly to Britain’s Nicola Adams in the semifinals and was left with a bronze medal, which shattered her dream of gold. “I felt I had let the country down. Being part of the Olympics was a dream and there I was standing on the podium. But the Indian anthem was not playing. That hurt me badly,” she says, barely managing to hide her sigh.

A true fighter, she has only emerged stronger. For Kom has always maintained there is no short cut to success. “People will criticise you, humiliate you and will raise questions over your capability, but it is only your performance that can silence them,” she says, adding how her critics has said she was past her prime when she failed to qualify for the 2014 Commonwealth Games after losing in the trials to a younger opponent. “But I proved them wrong by beating the same opponent to book my place at the Asian Games and later won the gold medal for the country, too. I never gave up; I love to fight against the odds,” she says. But fighting against the odds is nothing new — she has done it all her life.

During the interaction, Kom recounts many sweet memories from her career, but also talks about the dark details from experiences she faced due to racial discrimination, which she faced because of being from the north-east. With several attacks on the north-eastern community in mainland India, Kom worries about people’s attitude for those from north-eastern India.

“When I started my career and visited some parts of Delhi and Haryana, I was discriminated against by the common people and even some officials”, she reveals, “Though these people were not in majority, it hurt me badly. People in India are not well-informed about the different cultures and races of our own country and often consider those from the north-east as outsiders, and not Indian, which is painful.”

Things may be getting better as the media and police have become more sensitive and people are becoming better informed about the diversity of the nation. The optimistic Kom feels a majority of the people are against racial discrimination. Says she, “They respect me and ask me to motivate others. Now whenever I visit Delhi or Haryana I get a lot of respect, love, affection and blessings. They say I bring the glory to the nation, adding how it feels good when people say she has made the country proud and given them a reason to celebrate. “I hope we don’t have to prove our nationality again. We are proud to be Indian and are an integral part of the nation” she hopes.

Kom’s success in boxing history has made people take interest in her and they want to know more about her. In 2013, she released her autobiography Unbreakable. Last year, Bollywood made a biopic on her life and actor Priyanka Chopra played her role on the silver screen and the movie grossed more than Rs 100 crore worldwide.

But Kom’s own life started with little. She was born to parents who were landless agricultural labourers in Manipur. “Coming from a poor family was not easy and we went through some hard times. I had to work hard in Jhum [slash and burn cultivation popular in the north-east] fields, but which was a blessing in disguise as it prepared my body for the sport,” she reminisces, adding how every moment of her life has played a part in making her who she is today. “Because of my hardships I could inspire and motivate others to never lose hope and fight for one's dreams,” she Kom. Her own inspiring moment came when she saw Manipuri boxer Dinko Singh win the gold medal in Bangkok Asian games in 1998.

A school dropout, Kom says she could not clear her ninth grade exams at Adimjati High School, Imphal, and quit her schooling. She later completed her graduation by an alternative method. Academics may not have been easy for her to duck, but then it was sports that she was really attracted to. Even then, she says humbly, “I never thought I would become a world champion; I just knew how to fight and never give up when I go up there for a bout. I follow this rule and work hard to achieve my target.”

Kom’s hard work and achievements finally started to get noticed by the sports administration and she got the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2009. “I can’t describe my happiness. I was so happy to win this prestigious award; it boosted my morale and confidence. The best part: people were acknowledging what I was doing,” she gushes.

Sitting back, taking stock of her life so far, the woman boxer says she owes everything to boxing. “Boxing has given me everything. Whatever I am today is because of boxing. It has given me an identity, a job, home, money and, above all the opportunity to represent my county in international arena. Now I am in the police force with a higher designation,” she says.

Speaking on the future of Indian Kom felt, “The Beijing Olympics and Delhi Commonwealth Games had changed the face of Indian sports worldwide and our performance was better in the London Olympics. I hope we will do even better in the coming Olympics.” She is happy that many sponsors and people have come forward to nurture the sports talent at the grassroots level. Kom, too, has got a sponsorship from the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ). “I can now focus on my practice and don’t need to worry about money, medical support, nutrition and proper facilities,” she says with relief and gratitude.

In the near future, she too wants to nurture future talent that can win medals for the country in international competitions. She has set up a boxing academy MC Mary Kom Boxing Academy for the same. Retirement? Kom says she is yet to take a final decision on it but she could make the final call after the Rio Olympics. One more gold, please, we say.

Assembly Elections//What do you expect when it comes to fighting it out for the chief ministerial seat of Delhi? Lots of power play, of course. Both Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, who are chief ministerial candidates from the BJP and AAP, respectively, have filed their nomination for the February 7, Delhi Assembly Elections. Before filing her nomination papers, Kiran Bedi took out a roadshow from the Krishna Nagar constituency of East Delhi, which is BJP’s traditional stronghold and paid tribute to freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai and also cleaned his statue.

Amid reports of rift within the party, senior BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh denied any crisis and said the party stands united to face the Delhi Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Ajay Maken today dubbed AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal and BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi as “opportunists” who “used” Anna Hazare to meet their own political ambitions.

Maken also said that the merger of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is surely going to happen in the coming days as most of the AAP members have already joined the BJP.

What needs to be seen is who finally takes it all.

attack// Nigeria’s Islamic militant group Boko Haram attacked the Nigerian town of Baga and at least 16 other towns, between January 3- 7. Over 35,000 people are reported to have been displaced, with many feared to have drowned while trying to cross Lake Chad and others trapped on islands in the lake. The attacks are said to have resulted in Boko Haram extending its control to over 70 per cent of Borno State. The attack began on 3 January when Boko Haram overran a military base that was the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force containing troops from Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. The militants then forced thousands of locals from the region and committed mass killings Cameroon’s government said that more than 10,000 panicstricken Cameroonians had fled areas that border Nigeria for safer locations in the wake of the attacks.

wildliFe// Here is good news for wildlife conservationists and tiger lovers. The population of tigers in India has increased from 1,706 in 2011, to 2,226 in 2014. The new tiger census, released by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, shows that India – which has 70 per cent of the world’s tiger population – has registered an increase of 30 per cent in country’s tiger population in the past three years. “While the tiger population is falling in the world, it is rising in India. It is great news”, said Javadekar. Referring to the census exercise, he added how an exercise on such a massive scale has taken place for the first time, where unique photographs of 80 per cent of the India’s tigers have been taken.

If one looks at the 2008 tiger census figures, the current increase is phenomenal. India’s tiger population was 1,411 in 2008. Tiger census is carried out after a gap of every three years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in the country. According to the 2011 tiger census report, the tiger population estimated was 1,706 (that is, ranging between a minimum of 1,571 to a maximum of 1,875). The results included figures from 17 states having tiger population.

The latest tiger census figures show that Karnataka has the highest number of tigers in the age group of 1.5 years and more. The state has 408 tigers in that age group, followed by 340 in Uttarakhand, 308 in Madhya Pradesh, 229 in Tamil Nadu, 190 in Maharashtra, 167 in Assam, 136 in Kerala and 117 in Uttar Pradesh.

Verdict// In what surely was a googly to N Srinivasan, he was asked to choose between his IPL team Chennai Super Kings and BCCI president’s post.

Supreme Court recently struck down the controversial 6.2.4 clause that allows BCCI officials to own IPL teams. “BCCI must ensure institutional integrity in the conduct of game considering the expectations of millions of viewers. Rule 6.2.4 violates principle of natural justice,” the court said.

After almost 18 months of deliberations on the 2013 Indian Premier League betting and match-fixing scandal, the Supreme Court has barred N. Srinivasan from contesting Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) elections till such time he had “commercial interest in cricket.”

The court earlier said Srinivasan’s sonin- law Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals were involved in betting. In its 130-page order, the court said Srinivasan was not guilty of cover-up and “charges against him, at best, be regarded as suspicion.” The two-judge special bench however said “BCCI functions are public functions, amenable to judicial law.”

A three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and other former judges of the top court - Ashok Bhan and RV Ravindran, was also formed to decide the fate of Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and recommend changes in the BCCI constitution. The panel will give its report in six months. Former BCCI president IS Bindra said, “It’s a shame that a court has appointed to find out how the Board has been running for some time now.”

ineuqality// Wealth inequality is “rising fast”, the head of International Development Charity Oxfam warned recently.

Oxfam claimed, in a recently published report, that the combined wealth of the world’s richest 1 percent could overtake that of the remaining 99 percent by 2016.

“Inequality is rising, and rising fast… this is dangerous. It is bad for democracy and for stable societies and it is bad for (economic) growth. The poor hurt,” Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The recent attacks in Paris once again brings to light the fact that freedom should always be used with care and respect

IT WILL BE ten years, this year since I moved to the UK. I left a very secure job at the South Asia bureau of The Times to pick up a scholarship at the University of Leeds and study International Communications.

It was 2005.

I had recently been married. From our flat in Vasant Kunj, I could see the Qutab Minar while sipping my morning tea. I had a car and driver provided for by the company that would ferry me to work every morning and back. We had a Labrador. Life was gentle, easy and smooth.

Then I decided to leave.

People looked at me like I was out of my mind - who leaves a job like that to be a student in a place hitherto read about in Jane Austen classics? Was I out of my mind? What would Jeeshu (almost brandnew husband) say? Were tremors in the marriage the real reason for my decision?

I didn’t feel any of the questions warranted a reply — relatives usually have a unique knack of tuning out logical explanations and nothing would make them believe otherwise.

I decided to not spend any energy on correcting misinformation and instead feverishly started planning my new life.

Ten years later, I am still here.

My aunt visited me from Kolkata this year- for her it is unimaginable why anyone would choose to live in a cold (comparatively) country, eat sandwiches for lunch and not want to have a home full of maids and servants.

‘I feel safe here,’ I said to her. ‘I feel safe walking home at 1:30am after attending a Christmas Party. I feel safe taking a taxi at 3am after having necked champagne at the annual Mobile Choice Consumer Awards and I feel safer still going into a bar alone, ordering a drink and sit drinking it by myself working on my laptop.’

‘I also feel secure in the knowledge that when I squeeze onto a ‘Tube’ (London Underground trains are referred to by the name), men wouldn’t be staring down my top and there wont be roving hands feeling up my skirt. I won’t have to suffer in silence while a man heavy-breathes on my neck and not feel my temper boil over when yet-another wannabe rubs himself up against me.’

She agreed with me on all those points and how India is becoming more and more unsafe at least for women as we hurtle head-first into the next decade of development. Crime against women has become a front-page staple in the past 10 years since I left.

And I am intensely happy about the timing of my leaving New Delhi.

I am very proud of the diversity, multiculturalism and freedom that is practised in this country and so it made me intensely sad to hear of the attack on the offices of a magazine of a French satire magazine earlier this month. Paris is just a 2-hour train ride away from London and I know of people who like spending their weekends in Paris, like we would go to Neemrana for a break or Rohtak to spend time with an aunt.

Two things made me sit up: The attack came a week after we returned from spending New Year’s Eve in the French capital and secondly, I too work as the editor of a magazine.

The attack brought about a very odd debate on the freedom of press. To me it wasn’t a question of the freedom of press at all. It was about how not to poke into matters that we might only have a very superficial understanding of and how it has all snowballed.

Majority of us live in democratic countries and exercise our right to freedom of speech everyday. How often do we meet someone for work who we might not like very much? And more importantly, how often do we tell them exactly what we think of them? We don’t. Because that would be tactless, foolish and downright insane.

Similarly, when we come across a good joke, do we go and re-tell it to our friends or the grouchiest person we know? We tell our friends, at a party in a private space. We leave Mr Groucho alone.

The one thing that I absolutely fail to understand is why Charlie Hebdo repeatedly and tactlessly made jokes about the Prophet knowing fully well that the jokes evoked nothing but intense discomfort?

I do not condone the killing of journalists. In fact, I do not condone the killing of anything on this planet except paedophiles and rapists but why would you want to joke about the belief system of someone who doesn’t want to be involved at all?

Chucking stones at a hornet’s nest is how I see it. You just let certain things be.

The real breach of the freedom of press, to me is what happened to Edward Snowdon. I recently attended the premiere of the documentary CitizenFour directed by the Academy Award nominee Laura Poitras and they showed how MI5 (UK’s secret service organisation) forced The Guardian newspaper to destroy all the hard drives with information collected by Edward Snowdon in the name of national security. You can find more information on the film here: www.citizenfourfilm.com

If there was ever a bigger breach of press freedom, I would be surprised. But what is incredible is that the film’s premiere happened in London without any interference by the Government and was followed by a Q&A session about cyber security and the government. While at the session, I had a little think about whether this would have ever happened in India..

We live in a very connected world and as we are realising now, it brings both good things and bad with it.

The killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Fusilier’s regiment touched me more than the massacre in the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Lee Rigby was an army drummer who was walking along a London street, unarmed, when he was set upon and killed.

He was the true collateral casualty of this whole sorry business of trying to arm wrestle into countries and debates we should have no part to play in.

Coming back to me — does this change how I feel about living here?

For all the connectedness social media has delivered, for many there’s an all-too-familiar dark side: social media addiction. Here’s your very own guide to enjoy offline pleasures instead

You walk down streets, eyes glued to the phone screen instead of the path ahead. Your conversations are peppered with pings and notifications from your smartphone, and your voice trails off mid-conversation when you feel the phone vibrate in your pocket. Visiting a place is more about instantly checking-in, eating a meal is more about Instagramming it to your friends, and conversations are passé, replaced instead by updates, likes and retweets. There’s never a dull moment, when Facebook and Twitter are at hand for you to keep an eye on friends, acquaintances, strangers and enemies, in your order of preference. Sounds familiar?

For all the connectedness social media has delivered, for many there’s an all-too-familiar dark side: social media addiction. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you get stressed or anxious if you stay offline/ disconnected from social media for extended periods in the day?

2. Do you feel irritable when you can’t connect to Facebook or Twitter, and accessing these networks relieves the tension?

3. Do you stress about how to phrase that next tweet or FB update to get the most retweets, likes or shares, and upset when it doesn’t happen?

4. Is social media an escape you turn to when you don’t want to tackle something hard or challenging, and find yourself still stuck at the same place, hours later?

5. Have you tried to reduce your time on social media, and failed?

6. Do you prefer socialising online to family or social commitments?

7. Do you spend inordinate amounts of time online, either by staying up late or waking up early? Or worse still, check your social feeds while lying in bed?

If you’ve answered in the positive for one or more of these questions, then you, my friend, are prime candidate for a social media detox. Even if you didn’t, a social media detox is a great way to regulate your productive usage of social media, plus you give your brain some much-needed downtime to recoup and rejuvenate.

In either case, help is at hand — we’ve dug deep to bring you some easy ways to give yourself a social media cleanse without having to run away into the wilderness!

1. LET GO: The first step is to let go of the need to know everything and stay on top of everything. Don’t be miserable for what you could possibly miss out on — also known as the “Fear of Missing Out” or FOMO, a social anxiety where one is compulsively concerned that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, profitable investment or other satisfying event. The sooner you realise that everyone and everything in your social media life will continue to exist whether you see their updates or not, the faster your detox plan can begin.

2. DELETE SOCIAL APPS FROM YOUR PHONE: Next, attack the root of the problem, where you check your social feeds the most -- your phone. Remove apps for Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Sure, you can always use the browser to check, but the additional step of logging in will hopefully be the deterrent you need to mindlessly scroll through your social feed at any given opportunity. Oh, and turn off email notifications unless your work requires it.

3. CURB YOUR SOCIAL TIME ON THE PC: If your job has you spending the entire work day in front of your PC, there are tools that can come to your rescue. Apps such as LeechBlock, Anti-Social and SelfControl will let you blacklist all of the known social sites for a set period of time. Alternatively, rather than defining a period of time for which these sites are off-limits, you could pick a tool such as StayFocusd, which allows you to set a period of time to indulge yourself. Think 30 minutes a day is sufficient for Twitter and Facebook? These apps can help in the same vein as the limited TV time we had when we were kids. Want some fresh air? Apps such as Freedom will block Wi-Fi on your computer completely, forcing you to step out.

4. UNFOLLOW YOUR “TIME PASS” FEEDS: At least twice a year, comb through your following list and friends list to see which of your online mates are particularly noisy — the kind who constantly update about their lives, or those who share news and links as if it’s going out of fashion. Unfollow these noisy channels — trust me, you will you be a lot less distracted when you quickly log in to check your notifications and not end up spending hours poring over these huge time sinks.

5. USE LISTS: Facebook and Twitter let you segment groups of people into streams called lists. Using lists, you can segregate friends and family and use lists to quickly see the latest from the folks who you actually care about without all the other clutter that comes with logging onto these networks.

6. STAY FOCUSSED WITH RSS: If there is a list of blogs or sites you need to stay up-to-date with, use an RSS reader such as Feedly, Feedspot or NewsBlur to pull down site updates and new posts and read them offline, without the distraction of going online.

7. PHONE A FRIEND: If you find the going tough and your willpower just isn’t cutting it, find a friend who you can trust to change your Facebook or Twitter password for a set period of time. No password, no access. Simple. Of course, you also have the ultimate option — Facebook lets you delete your account for a set period of time, or permanently, if you’re up to the challenge!

No matter how big, metroes never have the charm of small towns

TYPICAL OF THE male species, the husband moved me to Swansea in Wales and left on a six-week jaunt of the world. His excuse? ‘It’s work, darling!’

Typical of me, I did not throw myself on the carpet, drum my heels and shriek, ‘No, it’s a violation of the Domestic Violence Act of 2005!’ I should have. Instead, I thought, ‘I’ve been brought up in Saharanpur. What dangers can a “mofussil” city hold that I have not encountered before?’

Well, for one, language. This deep in Wales, they speak English, but that’s mostly when they’re not talking Welsh, and it’s English as few Englishmen would have claimed for their own. After dashing for the nearest mirror the first hundred times I had a phlegmatic ‘Awwwrrrright?’ flung at me (no, I had not grown a second nose overnight, not even a spot!), I realised this was the Welsh equivalent of ‘Hello’!

Day five of solitude, I thought of taking the local bus to the city centre. I needed to see some proof of humanity, to exercise my vocal chords before I forgot how to speak.

Needless to say, we had chosen to live in the most picturesque part of the city, read the farthest from any semblance of metropolitan amenity. Shades of Saharanpur again, where we’d actually lived in a part of the city where dacoits still made overnight trips to the chaiwala down the road after a night of, well, I presume, dacoity and watching lissom lasses dance on shards of glass. Sadly, I got to see no Sunil Dutt or Vinod Khanna those days.

The bus down the hill from us in Swansea runs once an hour. Fresh from London, where one stamps one’s foot impatiently if the bus arrives two minutes late, I was in a state of panic. What if I missed the bus? There wouldn’t be another one for a whole hour! The anxiety keeda in me got me to the bus stop half an hour before time. Look on the brighter side: at least, it wasn’t raining. Swansea was not quite living up to its reputation of being the rainiest city in the UK.

Five minutes before the bus was due, the stop started filling up. By the time the bus arrived, I was replete with the temerity of the Swansea municipal council, which had slashed buses from once every half-hour to every hour the May before, just before the ‘season’ started in the Mumbles (‘would you believe it?’).The Mumbles, or Y Mwmbwlsas the Welsh write it, is the aforementioned picturesque part of Swansea, which hosts an orgy of water sports in the bay during the summer ‘season’.

I listened to the woman tell me exactly why the council had not lived up to her expectations, content to listen and nod in assent. I am quite happy myself to take a few pot-shots at authority, any authority, especially if the aforesaid authority was laying itself out like a sitting duck waiting for pot-shots.

Then she came up with the show stopper. ‘It’ll take you at least fifty years to be accepted in Mumbles. I moved here in 1965 and it’s only now I feel like a local.’ I did not scramble to do the math; I was born in 1965.

Before I reached home in the late afternoon, I’d learnt more about Swansea and its residents than I would have if I’d watched the news.

The lady at the pharmacy told me one of my new neighbours had lost her husband two days ago and I should probably go and say hello. I cannot think of a more traumatic way of ‘getting to know your neighbours’ than paying a condolence visit. But I guess it was my fault for lingering at the pharmacy. I can’t help it. I’ve had a fetish for lingering in pharmacies since I was a child in Saharanpur, when our friendly pharmacist would ply me with cold coffee and let me open up a dozen packs of Binaca toothpaste and pick my choice of the little rubber animal inside.

I helped another lady at the M&S get her husband a new outfit for a funeral at a nearby Welsh mining village: ‘You know how they are at those villages?’ she whispered confidingly while her husband thrashed around in the changing room. No, I didn’t, but I was willing to learn.

It was all part of the game, a game I was quick to re-learn. Memories flooded in. I could remember my favourite haunt in Saharanpur – the bookshop where I was left for hours by my parents while they went shopping or for an ‘unsuitable’ movie. The bookshop owner became a kind of surrogate parent to me, letting me devour whatever books he had in his shop, feeding me and clucking over me like Amma never did. There were no fears of potential child abuse in those days. When I took my newborn son to see my ‘surrogate’ parent many years later, his eyes were damp with tears.

I remembered other days when my parents would leave me in our trusty black Fiat, reading newly acquired books while they went to the grocery. I would hardly have read a page before someone would pop up at the window, enquiring after my parents (you can see why I preferred being left at the bookshop!). I soon got into the habit of sitting in the footwell of the car, windows rolled up even in the summer, so that no one could see I was there.

It was the same everywhere in Saharanpur. Everyone knew my parents (and they hadn’t even been there fifty years!), and everyone knew me. Everyone called me ‘Baby’ till I almost forgot my own name. The rickshaw-wala who took me to school would stop halfway in the summer and make me take a huge gulp of water from my bottle. The mali would protect me from Amma when I’d got her dander up. The elderly darzi who made my clothes was stricter about my necklines as I grew up than Amma.

It was a cocoon of warmth and protectiveness that I missed sorely when I moved first to Delhi and then to London, where blank anonymity replaced it all. But the cocoon also provided me with the confidence that only uncomplicated affection can bring. It brought me to the Rajdhanis with a strong feeling of who I was, of the roots that held me strong and unwavering.

Many years later, I was interviewing a potential copy editor. ‘You have to cut me some slack,’ he told me cheekily. ‘I’m a small town boy!’

‘Oh yeah?’ I fixed him with my eye and smiled quietly to myself. Sometimes, it just doesn’t do to believe everything you read, especially about life in small cities. Metros may give you swagger, but it’s what’s in your heart that counts.

Theatre personality, artiste and sculptor Lushin Dubey tells us what it is to live life on one’s own terms yet redefine it constantly

“The Mind is Everything, What You Think You Become!!”

This quote from the Buddha seems to be apt for Lushin who herself is a firm believer in the philosphy of Buddha. An Actor, director, script writer, teacher, trainer, choreographer, sculptor, enterpreneur and more.

With a career spanning more than two decades, Lushin is well known for her work in theatre and films nationally and internationally.

The first high in this series of her illustrious work was the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe First for ‘Othello in Black and White’, which she co - produced and played the lead role of Desdemona and second being the Gemini Award for Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series in 2006 for her movie Murder unveiled in Toronto, Canada.

LOOKING BACK

While the hardwork has been hers, according to Lushin, it is her upbringing which has helped in shaping her personality and enabling her to become the person she is today.

Be it the freedom of expression, being independent, creative, mutitalented, the values were instilled while growing up. “My father was a self made man. Having lost his father at a very young age, he was brought up in a very disciplined and tough environment and exceled in everything,” she says. Her father was in the Indian Railways and mother was a doctor. “Besides, being a civil servant he was also a self taught phycist, musician and a singer,” she adds.

According to her, inspite of having a very comfortable upbringing, they were kept very grounded and always encouraged to excel academically and in extra curricular activities. They were also encouraged to earn their own pocket money and biked to school. While her father instilled in her the passion to learn, excel and create, her mother contributed in her compassion and spiritual side.

THE GENESIS

The seed of theatre was sown in Lushin when she was in class 4 and participated in an international theatre festival in her school (St. Mary’s, Pune) and won the first prize. After shifting to Delhi from Pune, she started actively taking part in school plays and accompanying her elder sister (Lilette Dubey) to the Barry John’s group (TAG). “Even though I was the youngest, I was welcomed with open arms and given side roles, which gave me the confidence,” she says. Later in college she got to do more serious roles.

Having completed her Masters in History from (Lady Shri Ram College) Delhi University, Lushin got married and moved to US with her husband. Getting married early and becoming a mother by 24, Lushin wanted to do something more with her life. She decided to pursue her Masters of Science in Education (with emphasis on special education), from the University of Southern Connecticut, USA.

It was a tough phase of studying, travelling and taking care of the family. But, the drive to get ahead and concentrating on her goals, helped tide the rough edges. “Today, I cherish those moments, as they helped me define who I am,” she says. Later, she also taught in the US and then at the American Embassy School, New Delhi, for several years in the Special Education department.

After completing her studies, Lushin travelled with her husband to Europe for five years and later decided to shift the base to India. ‘Family came first’ and this what has led Lushin make a base in Delhi, while her husband travelled. Her husband, Dr. Pradeep Dubey is a leading Professor in Applied Mathematics at Yale and Stonybrook, New York and Lushin still divides her time between US and India.

Being in a long distance realtionship is not easy and continuing the same for more than two decades is quite tough.

Acoording to her, she feels blesssed to have such a undestanding husband who has always encouraged her to spread her wings. “He is truly the wind beneath my wings,” she says lovingly.

In 1989, Lushin along with her cousin Bubbles Sabharwal set up Kidsworld and has directed more than 100 of productions under this umbrella. Later, she set up Theatreworld working on more of original productions on contemporary issues (with three powerful solos – Untitled, Bitter Chocolate and I Will Not Cry fetching her great accolades. Going solo was a big decision, but she wanted to expand her horizon and push her boundaries. In ‘Untitled’ her first solo show, (centers around women empowerment and abuse) Lushin played 12 characters with puppets while Bitter Chocolate depicts child abuse. I Will Not Cry highlights the issue of child survival through satire, reality and music excerpts. It brings alive the sad truth of millions of unnecessary deaths of children in India. In 1995 she set up, ‘United Players Guild’, a group dedicated to staging Shakespearean productions… with a difference. Another passion, often given expression to in her productions, is painting and sculpting.

Unlike her elder sister, Lilette, Lushin hasn’t been very visible in the mainstream cinema. “Considering my base in Delhi and second home being US, I have to travel a lot for personal and professional reasons,” she says.

That said, the recent years have seen her doing more films in Bollywood like Delhi Belly, Rangrez, Hawaizyada (yet to be released).

LUSHIN AS AN ACTOR

Out of the acting, writing and directing, it’s the acting which is closest to her heart. According to her, Acting is all about selfmagnifying your internal feelings on the stage or screen.

Being a sensitive person, Lushin has always been a keen observer and a great listener which has helped her in her personal and professional like.

On the spiritual side, 10 years back, Lushin embraced Buddhism and believes in Buddha’s philosophy of compassion. A very defining force in her career, she believes that it really helps in reducing the intensity of disappointment, negativity and highlights positivity and gives you a high of euphoria, which itself is an amazing experience.

When asked about her elder more famour sister Lilette Dubey, Lushin gushes that they are very close and share a beautiful bond With so much going on Lushin’s life, be it theatre, films, scripting, direction, travelling abroad for her shows, Lushin does not want to change a single thing. “I feel blessed to be given this opportunity to learn and express my emotions both to the national and international audience.