Typical Indian psyche about cleanliness means a fetish for squeaky-clean floors at home and ignoring adjoining streets sighing under the weight and stench of garbage. Will the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan change the way India looks and smells, 15 years from now?

PRAHLAD KAKKAR // It is a campaign of immense proportions, not only in terms of the task at hand, but also what it stands for. If you start with the streets, you work towards homes and into the minds of the people of India. It is all about hygiene and cleaning up, as it were. Like I have mentioned, it is not just a physical campaign for cleanliness. It works on the minds of Indians who believe in personal cleanliness but don’t care how dirty our streets are.

If you clean up a space, you feel a sense of belonging for it and will not like to see it dirty again — you want to keep it clean. Look at the slums, for instance. The surroundings around these living spaces that millions call their home are filthy. People who are against the slums say that the people living there cause the filth and so they should deal with it. Look at the slums that are near Bandra in Mumbai – they are almost at your doorstep. There’s filth and open defecation on the roads. But I ask you, how can you make these slums invisible? By cleaning them, of course! If the people in the slums can manage to clean up their own areas, it will make these slums invisible. In other words, they won’t be slums anymore.

Ironically, the people living in these slums are the same who are engaged in keeping other peoples’ homes clean and tidy. Cleanliness, at the end of the day, is a matter of will. It starts with the thinking of making a change. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan might seem like a token exercise in the beginning and you will wonder how many people will keep at it. But despite being a sceptic, I am sure it will work. If there is a section of society saying, “Come join me, I’m going to clean an area and keep it what way,” it is a significant start. It is the beginning of a new thinking. This is the only way to make India clean and keep it that way.

It’s also a question of push and pull. I feel under the current prime minister, this movement will not be a token statement or merely lip service. He will make sure there is actual work happening on the ground and that the streets are indeed being cleaned. The other good thing about this campaign is the way it gives each one a chance to make a commitment to a cause. Usually, we escape from our social responsibilities by giving money to various causes. With the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan it is not about money at all – it is about devoting your time and energy to a cause.

If you clean a city even once, it will remain clean, I feel. I also think that while the current campaign has a carrot dangling, with time there the same may turn into a stick, which will remind us to stay clean. If need be, that might be implemented and that might work even better!

I feel that if once a month, every babu, every bureaucrat, every minister comes out of his office with a jhadu and cleans the street near his office, even if it is symbolic, it will work wonders. Why is it that we are no longer shocked by the piles of garbage rotting near our homes, the open defecation in India and the stench of it all? I think it’s time we smell the potty.

BHARTI CHATURVEDI // The Urban Development ministry, after many years, has become a dynamic one and I am impressed. At the same time, there’s a lot that goes into a cleaning campaign, and none of it is easy.

Honestly, I don’t know the details of the entire Swachh Bharat Campaign. So, for starters, more about the plans should be out in the open for the public to give feedback about and comment on. Two, if I had a say in the campaign, I would immediately make a one-year plan where I combine the building capacity of municipalities and urban local bodies because we need a paradigm shift. I would also plan out a whole new way for the employees there to think about waste and create incentives for people for the same. I would also put my plan out in public for comments and feedback.

The Swachh Bharat Campaign is a tough challenge to accomplish. For starters, there is stigma against occupational routine work with dirt. For instance, look how we treat the jhadu at home. The maid brings the jhadu, which is hidden in a corner, if not outside the house, vis-à-vis the vacuum cleaner, which is never treated that way. So we think the idea of people who are otherwise considered highly educated people, and who are considered the most powerful people in the country to go out and say I will deal with the dirt is a powerful message.

But there is a lot more that needs to be done. One, we have to almost instantly decide and start universal door-to-door collection coverage to every urban household and every urban shop, otherwise people are going to litter.

Make sure they are charged for the service, no matter how little the amount is. Subsidise it if you want to, but make sure there is universal coverage available for everybody. I think it should be made mandatory for people to use it and pay for it, just like it is for bijli, paani. Two, you also have to move to decentralised composting, because more than 50 per cent of our waste is wet and that is what smells horrible, on which flies lay eggs and that’s the waste that rots and releases methane, a greenhouse gas.

Centralised composting just doesn’t take care of organic waste in India; Delhi has three big plants and people still have so much organic waste. Also, we don’t have land to dump this waste. Along with that, you also have to ensure that municipalities in metros, tier-I and tier-II towns have horticulture divisions. That way, you make sure that instead of buying any form of fertiliser, they can buy it from the composting divisions. What do you do with 10 tonnes of compost otherwise?

Three, we have to include the kabadis and rag pickers. Right now they are taking care of 20-25 per cent of your waste. The process to include them in the cycle needs to be formalised. Give them identity cards, train them better — they should be the people who are given the 100 per cent doorstep collection. Not just include these people, but also chart out a roadmap to identify places where they can set up their kabari shops. After all, you need storage for hypersegregation and our cities don’t do that.

There are also wastes that are toxic, such as CFL bulbs that have mercury. What do you do with menstrual waste, which is mostly plastic, or with diapers, for that matter? You have to look at the solution based on the idea called extended producer responsibility, which means that if you are a brand owner or a company head that manufactures any of these wastes that can be called sanitary or hazardous wastes, please be responsible for collecting them and disposing them safely.

We also need to find ways to reduce the waste. Thus, we will just have to put a ban on plastic bags and Styrofoam. You have to curtail waste through various legislations, punitive measures and through fiscal incentives.

Bilawal Bhutto's statement about J&K has upset many. In such a scenario, is India soft stance on the episode justified?

IT WAS AT a political gathering of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers in Multan, Pakistan, in September 2014 that Bilawal Bhutto was out of line. However, his chant for: “I will take back Kashmir, all of it”, and “I will not leave behind a single inch of it because, like other provinces, it belongs to Pakistan,” drew only lukewarm comments from the spokesperson of the Indian government. In contrast, caustic and equally hilarious comments were noticed on social networking sites poking fun at what he had said.

The Indian Government’s reaction stood to reason. After all, Bilawal, until now, has been a persona non grata, a green horn in the wilds of political landscape, both in Pakistan and in the world of global diplomacy. The level of his relevance in Pakistan itself is of not much consequence. A longwinded diatribe by an Indian government official therefore, would have placed him on a pedestal much higher than his current political standing.

Above all, it was a childish remark uttered primarily to pander to an audience of his political party workers in Multan. What he said would have worked well in that group. But in his zeal he probably forgot that his own grandfather and an erstwhile President of Pakistan had signed the Shimla Agreement, which, among other issues, had stated that “In Jammu and Kashmir, the line of control resulting from the ceasefire of December 17, 1971, shall be respected by both sides without prejudice to the recognised position of either side. Neither side shall seek to alter it unilaterally, irrespective of mutual differences and legal interpretations. Both sides further undertake to refrain from the threat or the use of force in violation of this line”. Despite Bilawal’s jingoism, this is a position between India and Pakistan that cannot be altered.

Pakistan’s age-old position on Kashmir revolves around mediation by the United Nations, which it keeps harping on periodically at various diplomatic forums. That is in spite of the fact that the proposal to resolve the issue bilaterally has been accepted in principle and was the fulcrum around which the Shimla Agreement was built. But despite the restraint shown by the Indian Government, Pakistan has pursued a staple policy of promoting and facilitating cross-border terrorism across into Jammu & Kashmir. Its domesticallyespoused rationale is that these are indigenous freedom fighters and Pakistan has no control over them in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and that a solution to the Kashmir issue ought to resolve the matter. In short, the Kashmir issue is kept alive in the public memory and Bilawal had merely fed the same line to party workers. There is nothing that the Indian Government can do under these conditions, except to play it cool.

For a proper determination however, an assessment of Bilawal’s current stature in Pakistan needs to be done in a proper light, but does he need any more attention than he has been accorded? Amongst the cognoscenti of the politics in Pakistan, he is seen as a product of Pakistan’s feudal landowner’s syndrome, and one on whom the mantle of the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been foisted. As the only son of the assassinated Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, the feudal milieu of the PPP is being persuaded to crown him as its heir apparent. Bilawal was propped by his father to lead the PPP because in Zardari’s native wisdom, Bilawal was the best choice to lead the fractured political party after its ignominious defeat in the 2013 elections, especially in its own stronghold of Sindh. There is an assumption that he is being groomed for the 2018 elections.

Zardari, recognized in his own country as “Mr Ten Percent”, also believed that it was Bilawal alone who could represent Bhutto’s legacy in the party to stem the division within the party due to his own image of being a crook. For him, this is for the family. Zardari thus chaperoned Bilawal until he completed his studies overseas and had reached voting age.

But the media at large could have been more deliberate in pointing out the sheer paradox of this feudal prince assuming the leadership of a political party whose “ultimate goal, main objective and raison d'etre was the achievement of an egalitarian and classless society, which was believed to be attainable only through socialism”. The PPP, in its initial manifesto, had called for “true equality of citizen's fraternity under the rule of democracy”, within “an order of social and economic justice.” However, the PPP never seemed to put these principles to practice while in power.

Social networking sites, on the other hand, are a different ball game altogether. Bilawal is an animal of that forest and they have devoured him. The commentators were his contemporaries in years and background and wielded the hatchet on him. Most of the remarks it seems came from Indians in the UK.

Despite Bilawal’s educational pursuits through some British institutions, including a membership of the Oxford University Debating Society that was arranged by his late mother, he could not overcome a perception among his peers that he is an intellectual lightweight unlike his lineage. He is largely seen as a philanderer. The later impression had allowed the rumour to gain currency about his alleged affair with Pakistani politician Hina Rabbani Khar.

Coming back to social networking sites mauling Bilawal, these are forums for unstinted expression in public, largely made on spur of the moment, without the writer even noticing that she may have placed a person on a pedestal despite a caustic or negative take on it. The fear is that whilst exchanges are only conveying a point of view, they can also build a monster. On the brighter side though, the young Bilawal Bhutto cannot drastically alter the nature of India- Pakistan relations.

The famous Maiti Movement has survived on the unconditional love a girl has for her paternal home and the latter’s unwavering affection for the daughter who is now married and has moved away

Down the narrow by-lanes of Nathuwala in Dehradun lives 65-year-old retired biology lecturer Kalyan Singh Rawat. He invites me to his home and over a cup of piping hot tea with some biscuits, we get talking. Kalyan ji, as he is fondly called by everyone around him, is a simple man with humble beginnings. He begins with his childhood, which was spent in the hills of Garhwal and then, like most of the youth in the interiors do to-date, migrated to the plains of India in search of a better and brighter future.

He joined a school as a biology lecturer in Nathuwala, got married, had children and decided to make Dehradun his home. Today his sons, the older one a medical student in Chandigarh and the younger one working with the Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, join their father from time to time in his ventures.

Reminiscing about the days of the past, Kalyan ji adds how, over the years, his annual pilgrimage to his home in the hills left him troubled. The sight of the depleting green cover of the mountains he once grew up in pained him. The rampage of land mafias cutting down innumerable trees in the name of development left irreparable scars on the once lush green landscape. The man set about thinking of how he, as an individual, could involve the village community at large in preserving and protecting their environment, for he was well aware that alone he stood little chance of making any positive impact.

In 1995, on a visit to Gwaldam, a small town in Kumaon, for his niece’s wedding, Kalyan ji came up with a unique idea of making the bride’s parting from her paternal home more special. After the wedding celebrations were over and the time for his niece to leave her parental home came, he made his niece plant a tender sapling in her mait (paternal home), as a symbol of her love for her parents and theirs for her.

His logic was simple, “When a bride leaves her parent’s home for her in-laws’ home and plants a sapling, the bride’s mother is sure to look after this parting gift from her daughter and the family will nurture and protect the tree from any harm and by doing, so they will bring back greenery.”

This symbolic ritual spread like forest fire. More so amongst the women folk, who found an immediate emotional connect to the idea, and thus, the seed of the Maiti Movement was sown. The word maiti is derived from a Garhwali/ Kumaoni word, which means a bride’s paternal home. On the day of her vidai (when the married girl leaves her paternal home for her in-laws’ home), the bride plants a sapling in her mait or her mother’s yard, as a symbol of her love for her parents. The bride’s parents, in turn, nurture and look after the sapling as if it were their own daughter and keep it from harm’s way.

This innovative afforestation drive is a women-centric concept. Today, it has touched a chord not only in its birth state of Uttarakhand, but crossed over state borders onto Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and taken wings in foreign shores of Nepal, Dubai, Indonesia and Canada as well. As Kalyan ji tell me, “Many foreigners read about this movement and they feel privileged when I ask them to be a part of this noble deed.”

The Maiti ceremony also finds a prominent place on wedding invites as well. Many wedding invites print the date and time of the Maiti ritual, making this unique green revolution an inherent part of the wedding festivities, especially in the interiors. Sarita Rawat, a newly-wed bride told me about her Maiti moment and her thoughts match those of all the women who have been a part of it: ‘In the years to come, if 10 trees are planted in 10 weddings, the village will slowly become green, there will be water sources, pure air and fruit-bearing trees, which in turn will make our village prosperous. I too will ensure that I do my bit to keep this tradition alive in my in-laws household.”

The emotional connect of a mother to a tender sapling and nurturing it as one of her own daughters has made a major impact in returning the green cover to the once-barren hillsides of Uttarakhand. Based purely on emotions, the Maiti tradition today has grown by leaps and bounds without any monetary aid or help from any individual or the state government at large. Sustained by pure love and passion, the movement has planted and nurtured close to two lakh trees all over the hill state alone.

In Uttarakhand, a daughter’s love for her mother’s home has become synonymous with preserving and protecting the ever dwindling green cover. What started as a one-man mission to save the depleting green cover of his beloved hills, has, in turn, become a mass movement with positive results for all to see.

As I take leave from Kalyan ji’s home I am smitten by his passion and determination for the cause. While for many of us, retirement is a sure-shot sign of hanging up our boots and taking it easy, for this biology lecturer it only means, “To have all the time in the world to pursue Maiti and its mission. I don’t have to apply for leaves from the education department or wait for summer or winter vacations to set about my task of planting trees. Nothing can keep me away from my vision of a greener Uttarakhand.”

As I leave, I remember Robert Frost’s famous lines, “But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

India was once a land where queerness was not judged, and having different sexual attitudes wasn’t censured

there iS so much to Indian Mythology that remains hidden. There is so much that no one speaks of – of probable hidden desires, of stories that somehow don’t find an audience because we are probably too “civilized” for our own good. Take queerness, for instance. It isn’t only modern, Western or sexual, says mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik in his book, and compiles many overlooked tales from the vast written and oral traditions of Hinduism to help us analyse that Indian mythology was never ashamed of its sexual orientation and expression. Devdutt tries to uncover stories in mythology about men and women, about gender bender, about situations where roles were reversed for good reason and, sometimes, for no reason at all. The story about Shikhandi, which opens the collection, is well known. Born as a girl but raised as a son, Shikhandi was Amba in previous life. Amba sought revenge against Bhishma, who abducted her and her sisters from their swayamvara for his brother Vichitravirya. She was then reborn as Dhrupada’s daughter Shikhandi, who was used to defeat Bhishma in the battle of Mahabharata.

But what was Shikhandi’s life like, really? A man trapped in a woman’s body, Shikhandi was married off to a princess who ran away when she discovered that her husband was a woman. To bring her back and save his father’s kingdom from being attacked by his father-in-law’s army, he took the help of a yaksha named Sthuna who lent Shikhandi his manhood. Shikhandi, the author says, would be called a female to male transsexual whose body is genitally changed. However, tellers of this tale have preferred to portray him as a eunuch or a man who feels like a woman indicating a “patriarchal bias even in the queer space”.

Discussing one’s sexuality was never taboo in ancient Indian times; in fact, in several myths these tales are part of the great epics. Men turn into women and women seek sexual encounters with men who are not their husbands without heartburn or fear of being ostracised, thus proving that ancient civilizations did not consider sex taboo.

Over time, as communities found it necessary to protect their identity by setting down rules and marking out acts of taboo, patriarchal systems gained prominence and religious codes came into practice. As a result, gender and caste biases and puritanism crept into the stories. They acquired a didactic tone to gain religious sanction and approval from those in power. Storytellers took on, or were forced to do so, the burden of preaching and teaching values, behavioural attitudes and morality.

Thus, we have a story in which a queen prefers the company of women, but Arjuna is so enamoured by her that he forces himself into her bed in the form of a serpent. While it may have been entirely acceptable for women to be sexual partners, as patriarchal systems came into place, there was growing discomfort with the attitude which, perhaps, prompted some enterprising storyteller to embed a man into an all-women’s world. Several tales in the book illustrate this — from Mahadeva, who became a woman to deliver his devotee’s child; Chudala, who became a man to enlighten her husband; Samavan, who became the wife of his male friend; Narada who forgot he was a man; Indra who took the form of a Brahmin to make love to his wife when he was away; Krishna who crossdresses in times of war and peace for various reasons, to more gods and demons and kings and queens who are not rigid about sexuality and gender.

This book is a work that transcends orientation and gender and has many playful, touching, and stirring stories that reveal the unique Indian way of making sense of queerness. A personal favourite is the tale of hermitwarriors Nara and Narayana, who had grown all powerful. Stories about their valour had spread far and wide. Riding on a single chariot, the duo made for a fearsome couple; they vanquished asuras with ease and conducted such severe penance that had even the gods shaking with fear. The two were close friends — in some texts they are guru and shishya and in others, they share a more equal relationship — and had sworn to a lifetime of celibacy.

But as usually happens, the king of gods, Indra, was worried and feared the duo’s growing strength and their asceticism as much as he abhorred their celibate status. So he sent an army of apsaras to break their penance and seduce them. Nara saw the apsaras approaching and turned to Narayana who drew a beautiful woman on his thigh using the stalk of a mango leaf. An apsara emerged from the thigh (uru in Sanskrit) and thus Urvashi was born; without a mother and with two fathers. Urvashi went on to become one of Indra’s favourite apsaras,while Arjuna and Krishna were believed to be avataras of Nara and Narayana. This story is part of the Bhagvata Purana, but if we were to place Nara and Narayana within a contemporary narrative, how would we categorise them? As parents of Urvashi, who would be the mother and who the father? Would they be members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community? Or would they be part of an ascetic cult where men can make babies? Depending on how you answer these questions, you define your approach to an issue that has vexed many: how accepting or tolerant was ancient Indian society of the LGBT community?

Throughout the book, none of the stories judge, classify or label the protagonists. These classifications or labelling probably happened in the minds of the interpreters. It was the reader, the preacher or the commentator who ascribed a moral to the tale. It is the same today — in the debate against and for recognition to the LGBT community, stories from the past are being used to present a position that suits the popular sentiment and helps avoid conflict. This is the core theme and the premise on which Pattanaik bases his book — that queer behaviour did not invite censure from society. According to him, Indian society was comfortable with the idea of queerness. It was experimental and non-judgmental about sexual attitudes and society didn’t shy away from engaging with the conflicts arising out of queer behaviour.

This book does a great job putting across a collection of stories that capture the essence of ancient Indian society’s approach to sexual behaviour. In today’s times of intolerance, this one’s a must-read.

When in the UK next, do plan a visit to Greenwich, not just to stand stride the two hemispheres, but also to visit sites steeped in history and hop across to the charming Greenwich village

What can I say about London that you don’t already know? Besides being the most visited tourist city in the world with its monarchy, London indeed has a lot to offer. First of all, its cultural diversity needs to be applauded. Asian restaurants, African shops, Belgian chocolatiers, Parisian fashion are all testimony of its cultural richness that is so starkly visible at every turn.

What’s amazing is the seamless merge of history and modernism on every street. It’s beautiful. When in London one definitely pays homage to the cliché tourist sites such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Madam Tussaud's, the London Bridge, the Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, to name a few. Windowshopping on Oxford and Reagent Street is mandatory. But, a cruise down the Thames puts London’s beauty in perspective. Riding all day on its world famous underground subway system is a way to observe interesting characters and places. London is a home away from home for a lot of people.

But, what I realize is that while everybody goes to London, Greenwich is clearly a place that lives off the tourist trade since it is not on a traveler's priority list. And since I generally like to do the unusual and go on trips that others might not consider the in thing to do, there I was, one a Sunday morning in April at 8 am, opposite Hyde Park to catch the London Tourist Bus. My aim was to get to the Westminster Pier from where we could take the Thames riverboat to Greenwich. I could have taken the tube as well from Bayswater Tube Station but I decided against and instead took the bus, which goes through all the important sites in London. After three hours of touring London, I landed in Westminster Pier at around 11 am and the riverboat to Greenwich was at 11.20 am.

Once on to the boat, down the river, all on board were treated to typical self-deprecatory British sense of humour by a man who cleverly mixed it with tit-bits of interesting information.

As I listen, I find out that he is not a professional guide but one of the boat crew, who write their own patter, complete with jokes about ex-wives and the Traitor's Gate. (Many prisoners of the Tudors entered the tower of London through the Traitors’ gate. It was a gate built by Edward I to provide Watergate entrance to the tower, part of St Thomas’ gate, which was designed to provide additional accommodation for the royal family).

For 45 minutes, we motored between the banks of the Thames, passing interesting sights such as the new Globe Theatre, the London Eye and the Canary Wharf.

Finally, we arrived at what appeared to be a quaint village. Nautical at every turn, I felt Greenwich is one of the many places overlooked by the steady onslaught of tourists that flock England every second.

I think a trip to Greenwich should be mandatory if you are really interested in history, art and geography. The Greenwich Meridian (or to the layman “Prime” Meridian) runs through here. The world-known university that cranks out the best of geographers lives here. The Maritime Museum, The Trinity College of Music, the Queen’s house and the Royal Naval College are just a few of its assets.

Along the bank of Thames, as you enter the Greenwich Pier, you see a magnificent and gigantic Cutty Sark, the beautiful tea clipper ship built for the tea trade from London to China. bearing testimony to its past. There are compasses and anchors at every turn. A tourist may not find this intriguing and one wonders if only geographers are interested in coming to this place, but believe me, it is fascinating and you do not have to be a geographer and know about longitudes and latitudes to visit Greenwich.

Cutty Sark was open to the public after it was restored. This magnificent ship has been in the dry dock since 1954. A complete renovation was estimated to cost £25 million. The Cutty Sark Trust had secured a grant of £12.95 million (consisting of a £1.2 million development grant and £11.75 million Stage 1 pass) from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The fully refurbished ship is open to the public and comes with a ticket price of £13.50 per adult and £7 for minors.

The Cutty Sark was launched in 1869 for the tea trade, and these ships had to be fast, because in those days before refrigeration and cheap hermetic sealing, tea did not travel well. The precious leaves became weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable after too long in hold. The fastest and most beautiful sailing ships ever made were built so Londoners could have a fresh cuppa in the morning.

My next halt was at the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval College. But just sitting around the in the garden outside the Naval college and immersing yourself in the surrounding beauty is also fun.

Across Romney Road with its public entrance on King William Walk, the Royal Naval College permits the public access to only two areas, namely the Painted Hall, a 400-seat dining room and site of Britain's formal state dinners; and the Chapel, which is considered one of England's best acoustic halls where many a chamber music works are recorded.

The Baroque-styled Painted Hall, which is part of King William Court, was designed by Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, and painted by James Thornhill. This magnificent building is now in use as a dining hall and is one of the most spectacular function venues in the country. A look at the paintings and it appears to open the ceilings to heaven.

In the central oval, the painting shows peace and liberty, and triumph over tyranny. The painting on the west wall shows Britain’s new royal family from Hanover in Germany, with George I surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

Then there is the famous Trinity College of Music, the world-renowned music college that is now a part of the Old Royal Naval College. It is housed in the elegant riverside buildings of the former. llaya Raja, one of the leading music directors from India's South Indian film industry and A R Rahman have studied here. I walked along the Queen’s Field and Queen’s palace in Greenwich Park to get to the Royal Observatory, which is quite a long walk from the Old Royal Naval College. Queen’s field is where the Queen’s Palace is situated.

While I did not go inside the house, it sure is famous. For instance, Inigo Jones designed it in 1616, introducing Palladian architecture to England. It is admired for its Great Hall and Tulip Staircase. Presented by Charles I to his French wife Henrietta Maria in 1635, the house is now a part of the National Maritime Museum. The Queen's House also features a conservation studio and an artist-in-residence.

And how could an avid trekker like me not hike up to the Royal Observatory? Once can also take a shuttle bus (£1.50 each) up to the top of the hill. The seven pounds that is charged to get into the Observatory seemed a bit steep, and I decided against going inside and instead took pictures from outside. But, if one did go inside, one could get to see the Royal Observatory and its zero-degree longitude marker. The Observatory stands as a monument to navigational research. It is the original home of Greenwich Mean Time and is famous being the source of the Prime Meridian line that divides the East from the West (longitude 0° 0’0”).

In the courtyard of the Observatory, and right outside, are brass strips set in the ground and walls marking the exact site of the line of the Meridian. It is, therefore, possible to stand astride the line, with a foot in each hemisphere; a favourite tourist occupation.

I finally listened to a grumbling stomach and found a way straight to the Greenwich market. I'm glad I did. With its colourful multi-cultural atmosphere, the market is known for its variety of good food and beer. After a sumptuous lunch, I decided to get the cruise at 4.30 pm from the market. Thankfully, having walked so much at Greenwich I was tired and slept through the crew member’s monologue. But it was a day wonderfully spent.

Gigi Scaria’s upcoming installation at the upcoming Kochi Muziris Biennale will only add another edge to the artist’s impressive line of work

Meeting Gigi Scaria is an interesting experience. That is because much like his work, his personality has layers. He might be witty and jovial on the outside but a conversation with him reveals the deeper layers that make him think the way he does. Be it his take on how homeopathic doctors make money, or his reflection on a satirical forward from a friend, Scaria is a man who is always aware of the many layers that exist in the lives around us.

Little surprise then, that his work can be viewed as plain stunning on the outside, but delve into it and Scaria lets you see the dark undertones beneath. What makes this visual artist a favourite with the international crowd is the fact that he not just understands subtleties but also knows how to cleverly underplay them. It’s completely up to the person seeing it to decipher it. “You should let people think for themselves. Shouldn’t you?” he quips.

What is occupying a big chunk of the artist’s time right now is “Chronicle of the shores foretold”. His installation proposal for the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2014, this one proposes to be another of Scaria’s awe inspiring, 18 feet tall, installation art.

Ask him what he is doing and he explains. “It’s a large-size bell made of steel, suspended on bamboos. The bell will be pierced all over and will have water jetting out from every hole. The water pumped up from the backwaters against which the performance will take place, will be channelled back to the backwaters when it flows down to the ground,” says Scaria, putting it simply.

But like most of his works, this one too has undercurrents, ones that are as deep, if not more, as what appears on the outside. Scaria smiles as he explains , “If we imagine the bell symbolically representing time, the flow of water from it could be caused by the intention of puncturing time. When we puncture time, we lose history. When we lose history, the act of suspension becomes meaningless.” Suspending a bell from the ground is an activity exercised by civilisations throughout the world.

The act of suspension, in this case, also draws attention to mappila khalasis, a group of people traditionally employed at ports and dockyards. Khalasis drew ships and boats on shore for maintenance and also pushed them back into the sea. With no machines, they relied solely on their raw physical strength.

During the act, they will keep the humungous bell suspended on bamboos with their local technique and support systems. And although Scaria is deep into the project, it’s not unusual for him to be able to come out of it and get into something else. “I can work on a number of things together. I guess that is what keeps it all interesting.”

Of course, Scaria’s definition of “interesting” can also reflect the greys of the world rather starkly at times, beautifully under layered, at others. So be it his “City unclaimed” at Smart Museum in the US, or “elevator from the subcontinent” at the Venice Biennale 2011 (the first time that India participated) his traveller’s enthusiasm, his eye for detail always bring an edge to his work.

Over the years, Scaria has showed his work in countries such as the US, the UK, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Trinidad and Dubai.

But ask him what the turning point really was and he feels it is his residency programme at Cittadellarte, Foundation Pistoletto, Biella, Italy, in 2002. “It broadened my horizons. It changed how I looked at things, made me think of how there is so much more to anything than what appears.”

A philosophy that clearly reflects in his work.

THE MORE THINGS change, the more they remain constant. There are chances that in the rush to fast, feast, shop and celebrate in the coming festive season, we may forget what these celebrations are all about. But look closely, and there it is – you can see Durga’s determination to vanquish all that is evil by the way she holds her head high and poses to strike the demon Mahishasur.

Take a closer look at the way Ravana and his arrogance is burnt to the ground when Lord Rama decides the world is better off without him. And the spirit of goodness, charity and sacrifice is so palpable during the Eid al-Adha, also called Bakri Id, that you can almost touch it.

So take a few moments off – keep that second helping of dessert for later, postpone the tequila shot for just a few seconds and stop taking pictures on your smartphone for just one minute. For those few moments, savour life for what it really is – love, laughter, family and happiness. It is also about remembering, and reminding yourself at times, how the good guys always win, how every evil has his Mahishasurmardini. And how, a number of times, this battle between right and wrong are one that we fight with ourselves. Which side will win depends on us.

Just like Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, who DW has covered in the Looking Back section. Born in an upper-caste landlord family, Pathak chose to stand up for the downtrodden and those who had no voice of their own. His aim of building a toilet for every family and eradicating human scavenging has not only won him international and national acclaim, it has made a difference to millions of lives.

Keeping the coming festivals in mind, we at DW have certainly had to work hard to catch your attention. And catch your attention we will, what with the King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan smiling at you from our cover. And when the King of Romance talks about his eight-pack abs for his latest movie Happy New Year, he isn’t just flaunting his physique. It is also an example of the actor’s willpower and sheer determination to achieve what he seeks out to do, thus inspiring each one of us. God knows I will need that inspiration once the festive season feasting is over.

Happy festivities!

Successful businesses, blockbuster movies, a dimpled smile, witty one-liners and now, an eight-pack ab, too. SRK is on a roll and how

If Shah Rukh Khan caught me looking deep into his eyes or staring at his dimples too much, I’d simply say I was amazed at how he looks far better than men half his age. I was sure, however, that he won’t notice, given how his hyperactive and hyper-energetic nature might not even give him a chance to hold my gaze. But notice he did and I gave him my rehearsed reply.

“But I have nothing to do with the way I look,” he asserts, “I look the way I do because my parents were beautiful. You should see pictures of my father — I have not come across anybody as good looking as he was.” So then let’s talk about something that is his doing — something that has got the women squealing - yet again. After all, it’s nothing short of a pleasant surprise that he built an eight-pack just a month shy of turning 49. It’s an incredible feat for the superstar who has a five million fan following on Twitter, has completed 80 films, and was recently crowned “The World’s Most Popular Movie Star” by The Los Angeles Times, beating the likes of Hollywood hunks such as Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig.

“Well, I had made a promise to Farah (Khan, director of his upcoming movie Happy New Year) that I would strip only for her,” he says with a smile, adding, “I did that in Main Hoon Na. And then she told me my character Charlie had to do it because he is a kickboxer. I took inspiration from my trainer Prashant (Sawant) and my son Aryan. In a way, this isn’t purely my effort.” Surely it wasn’t as easy as he makes it sound? “Of course it wasn’t. After Chennai Express my shoulder was operated upon and I was on rehab training,” he says. To add to it, he hurt his knee on the sets of Happy New Year, and took nearly two months to recover, during which he couldn’t even lift a pound. “It is only because of Prashant that I was able to do this,” says the modest star. According to him, Sawant, who has been with him since Asoka, had a picture of the six-pack from Om Shanti Om in his gym and told Khan they needed to replace it with something better. “The fact that I was able to do it despite my body falling apart, was because of his encouragement,” he adds.

The eight-pack abs come as yet another example of SRK’s diligence, and are also an inspiration for those who say they cannot exercise for “medical reasons”. Thanks to his motivation, Abhishek Bachchan, infamous for not being inclined towards fitness, was inspired to go shirtless. “It was a kind of dare between Abhishek and me. He has lost nearly 10 kg, thanks to the strict diet and exercise regime. I am really happy he is now fitter and looks great,” says SRK. The movie’s best bodies will kick up a storm at the world tour to promote the movie. In fact, this would, perhaps, be the first time Shah Rukh is not going the media interview route to promote his film. “We are all taking to the streets with a begging bowl to ask people to watch our film,” SRK quips in his trademark style. The Slam tour will feature SRK’s co-stars from Happy New Year - christened The Happy Troupe - and the shows will be conducted in the US, the UK and Canada. A report by The Mirror has estimated these shows to make nearly Rs 200 crore, and that’s before the film even releases in the theatres. The same daily says that SRK - who is also infamous for making money by dancing at weddings - was invited to perform at 250 weddings in 2012, but accepted only 10 offers. According to reliable sources, King Khan charges close to Rs 8 crore for a performance. “This year I won’t be able to do more than a handful,” he says cheekily, adding that he does sieve the offers before he accepts where to shake a leg, “I will only perform for people I personally know. So, unless you approach me through somebody I personally interact with, I am not going to take up your assignment,” he clarifies.

While his wedding performances probably stem from the fact that he realises how films can be a volatile proposition, Khan’s business acumen cannot be underestimated. Over 2007-08 and 2008-09, his Kolkata Knight Riders clocked net profits of Rs 37 crore and revenues of Rs 197 crore, thanks to a steady stream of sponsorships, earnings from gate receipts and merchandise, amongst others. But SRK is clear: KKR has to win to justify its existence. “I didn’t buy an IPL team to Thanks to his motivation, Abhishek Bachchan, infamous for not being inclined towards fitness, was inspired to go shirtless. “It was a kind of dare between Abhishek and me. He has lost nearly 10 kg, thanks to the strict diet and exercise regime. I am really happy he is now fitter and looks great,” says SRK.

The movie’s best bodies will kick up a storm at the world tour to promote the movie. In fact, this would, perhaps, be the first time Shah Rukh is not going the media interview route to promote his film. “We are all taking to the streets with a begging bowl to ask people to watch our film,” SRK quips in his trademark style. The Slam tour will feature SRK’s co-stars from Happy New Year - christened The Happy Troupe - and the shows will be conducted in the US, the UK and Canada. A report by The Mirror has estimated these shows to make nearly Rs 200 crore, and that’s before the film even releases in the theatres.

The same daily says that SRK - who is also infamous for making money by dancing at weddings - was invited to perform at 250 weddings in 2012, but accepted only 10 offers. According to reliable sources, King Khan charges close to Rs 8 crore for a performance. “This year I won’t be able to do more than a handful,” he says cheekily, adding that he does sieve the offers before he accepts where to shake a leg, “I will only perform for people I personally know. So, unless you approach me through somebody I personally interact with, I am not going to take up your assignment,” he clarifies. While his wedding performances probably stem from the fact that he realises how films can be a volatile proposition, Khan’s business acumen cannot be underestimated. Over 2007-08 and 2008-09, his Kolkata Knight Riders clocked net profits of Rs 37 crore and revenues of Rs 197 crore, thanks to a steady stream of sponsorships, earnings from gate receipts and merchandise, amongst others. But SRK is clear: KKR has to win to justify its existence. “I didn’t buy an IPL team to make crores of rupees. I can make money by dancing at weddings,” he quips. His team didn’t disappoint and KKR were the champions in the recent IPL season. After owning successful business ventures such as a production house and a cricket team, SRK will now be seen promoting a new enterprise — a theme park for children. “Unfortunately I can’t go out with my children too often in Mumbai or, for that matter, in India,” he laments. But when SRK was in Dubai a few years ago, his wife Gouri had plans to go out with her friends and she asked him to drop their daughter (Suhana) off at just such a theme park. “It was inside a mall, which belongs to my friend Mohammed. My daughter spent some eight hours there and for the next three days, all she could talk about was how wonderful it was,” he says. SRK then decided to go KidZania in Dubai and saw how his children loved it. “I thought why not to have something like this in India? That was my motivation,” reveals SRK.

Despite his foresight and business acumen, however, Shah Rukh claims he earns to spend. “My parents used to encourage us to experience the world and see, hear and feel the differences,” he reminisces. He talks about how his first job was as an usher at Pankaj Udhas’s concert in Delhi as a school kid. “I earned Rs 50 from it and asked my mom what to do with it. She told me I should go see the Taj Mahal.” SRK did just that and never regretted it. “I live hand-tomouth and love it that way. I guess that is why I am the King and don’t get into the nonsense of savings, money, etc.”

SRK’s take on money and finances, perhaps, stems from the unstable times the King of Bollywood faced as a youngster. “Where I came from, I had no money to eat. I was a kudki - we had to sell our home because of debt. I come from a realistic place. My parents died in debt,” he says, adding, “I remember, during the promotions of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na in Gurgaon, someone from the audience yelled at me saying that my mother owes him Rs five lakh. My mother was no more then. And here I was, being a star, and I was being told she owed somebody money. I don’t want that to happen to my children.”

Clearly money is not an issue for SRK today. The second-richest actor in the world is fond of traveling and hopes to own a luxury aircraft someday. “That’s probably where the money will go if Happy New Year makes any at all. So that we can all go to meet Aryan in London whenever we wish to,” he smiles, with the dream twinkling in his eyes. SRK the heartthrob is, after all, a family man.

Xi Jinping visits India

FOREIGN VISIT// On a three-day visit to India, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the country to discuss trade, investment and look at resolving border disputes that have marred the relationship between the two countries for decades. Addressing a media briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “We can say President Xi’s visit to India has removed some of the suspicions of two countries and pushed bilateral relations to a new age.” The Chinese President arrived in Gujarat on the first leg of his trip. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks and discussions with Xi and discussions on setting up Chinese industrial parks were finalized, and a sister city pact between Guangzhou in China and Ahmedabad was also signed, along with a deal of setting up an industrial part in the state. In total, they signed 12 MoUs, including cooperation in the railway sector.

Xi also paid a visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram and tried his hand at the charkha. However, foreign policy took centrestage in Delhi and the two heads of state discussed boundary dispute and transgressions by Chinese troops.

SPACE// India has made history yet again. By successfully placing its spacecraft in orbit around Mars, We, became the first country in the world to succeed in such an inter-planetary mission in the maiden attempt itself. At 7.17 AM, on September 24, the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) sizzled with life as it burnt along with the thrusters to slow down the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft to be captured by the Red Planet. The 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engine, idling for the last 300 days on the Mars Orbiter Mission, was fired for four seconds, raising the confidence level of ISRO about the success of insertion of the spacecraft into the Martian orbit.

“Main Liquid Engine test firing on Mars orbiter spacecraft successful: We had perfect burn for 4 seconds as programmed. The trajectory has been corrected. Mars Orbiter Mission will now go ahead with the normal plan for Mars Orbit Insertion,” said ISRO.

Space travel and Space technology have usually been associated with the developed world. With this success India has yet again proven that it is a force to reckon with Park. His magnum opus, however, was Gandhi, which took over 18 years to be made. He not only directed the movie but also produced it despite financial strain and won an Oscar Award for best director for the movie. Born in Cambridge in 1923, Attenborough had also served in the Second World War in the Royal Air Force. His autobiography Entirely Up To You, Darling, was published in 2008.