Supercop, Super Activist, Super… Is politics the next cause that Dr Kiran Bedi will embrace? For her taking up politics would be just a continuity of causes that she espouses. The magic she had wrought with her ‘kindly baton’ as a career policewoman and continued as social activist with her NGOs stand testimony to Dr Bedi’s power to reform. India sure could do with such reformist social crusaders at the helm. As Kiran contemplates her next step, we reconstruct her journey so far…

Dr Kiran Bedi needs no introduction. Yet, all books and biographies on her apart, there is still something about her that defies easy description. She carries an aura, a charisma about her but she greets you with an ever present easy smile that bowls you over. How can a person who has reached the heights of excellence in every field choose to be so humble and humane? You wonder. Her twinkling eyes meet each one of her people, the Navjyoti India Foundation community, and soft hands touch extended hands with such gentleness. It’s a genuine humility and tenderness. It’s so endearing. Where is the tough as nails iron woman, hardened with years of service in a police force that is infamous for its insensitivity and dehumanising effect, you wonder again? “It’s my training and upbringing,” says Dr Bedi. And she does not mean the training that she received at the police academy alone. Rather, it is a conscious effort at self-discipline that has been a life-long exercise. It is an attitude that she received as a family legacy—simple living, high thing and hard work. “My parents never strove for anything less than excellence. That was always our goal. It was an attitude that permeated our home ambience.” The other thing that was inviolable for the Peshawaria family from Amritsar was their sense of justice and uprightness. It was this unshaken faith in the rights of his daughters that made Prakash Lal, Dr Bedi’s father, withstand the wrath of his own father, Lala Muni Lal. He chose to support his daughters Shashi, Kiran, Reeta and Anu, in their quest of selfhood rather than buckle down to Muni Lal’s pressures. The headstrong patriarch, Muni Lal, had stopped allowances to Prakash’s family. But Prakash remained undettered.

This unyielding spirit Prakash passed on to his daughters who walked 5 km daily to catch their bus to attend Sacred Heart Convent in Amritsar, which was 16 km from their village. All in a bid to save their family pecuniary hardship inflicted by their grandfather’s injustice. Prakash also bequeathed his sports talent to his daughter while mother Janak nee Prem Lata gifted Kiran her academic excellence. The family’s struggles also left an indelible imprint on little Kiran’s psyche, albeit a very positive one—it created a streak of determination in her. She vowed that every paisa invested in her by her parents would be optimally utilised. Dr Bedi’s search for justice spanned the whole sub strata of humanity that she perceived was being denied this human right. When she joined the India Police Service in 1972, she came with reformist zeal at heart. “I saw policing as an instrument of social justice and empowerment.” For her it stood for a powerful means to an end, a tough and uncompromising mechanism that could be used rightly to command and ensure justice and welfare for those who deserved it.

Her ways were new and detractors many. But Dr Bedi had not learnt to bend, not when she was sure of being “morally, ethically and legally right.” She found herself on a morally high ground during such situations and drew courage from it. The audacity of her actions left a nation, used to fawning at political leaders’ feet, gasping. Like at the time of 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, the then DCP (traffic) Bedi towed away Indira Gandhi’s car that was wrongly parked in Cannaught Place! Her disciplinarian actions earned her the sobriquet of “Crane Bedi” from Delhi’s undisciplined traffic.

Dr Bedi’s crusader zeal has many thinking that she sees herself on a mission to cleanse the world of corruption. But for Kiran, “it is all in a day’s work—doing my work to the best of my capabilities, which if done well, will make a difference in the world.” If in 1982 she earned the ire and a transfer for her zealous service as DCP (traffic) at the personal cost of the health of her daughter suffering from nephritic syndrome; she only went on to set her next goal, “a little higher and further so that it hurt. I had to put in extra effort to achieve it, there were personal losses, so when I achieved it I knew I had put in hard work and it was well worth it.” Frustration and disillusionment have no place in her life. In Goa in 1983, she exhibited exemplary performance during Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM). Faced with inadequate traffic police, she did the impossible with the help of NCC cadets— maintained smooth flow of traffic from airport to the meeting place. Venerated as an icon of bravery in India, Dr Bedi has many firsts to her credit. She is India’s first woman IPS officer who is also a national and Asian tennis champion, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee, the first woman head of Tihar, the first police officer to introduce revolutionary prison reform concepts as Vipassana in jail and her renowned 3C model that changed human mindset—corrective, collective and community based. Dr Bedi worked with the United Nations as the police adviser to the Secretary General, represented India at international forums on crime prevention, drug abuse, police and prison reforms and women’s issues. Accolades never moved her though.

The rehabilitation of drug addicts that she began as a police officer in 1987, has today scaled up to encompass a wide ranging community welfare programme. The NGOs, Navjyoti India Foundation (founded in 1988) and India Vision Foundation (established in 1994) she founded, are implementing revolutionary models of social service in the bylanes of Yamuna Pushta and the patriarchal villages of Sohna in Gurgaon. Dr Bedi has never shied from taking up a cause she wholeheartedly belived in—be it Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption or her defence of Prime Minister Modi. Her volte-face on joining politics surprised many and drew vociferous criticism. But Dr Bedi remains steadfast and calm: “I was an activist-cop…For me, it’s a continuity of espousing causes.”

Kiran has always challenged the status quo. She turned her ‘dump’ posting as IG of Tihar jail from 1993 to 1995 into a stint that made the world stand in attention. The series of correctional measures initiated by her turned the jail into a welfare model. Beneficiary schemes and skill development programmes for prisoners and staff, participatory management and programmes for mental development brought about a drastic change in attitude of both prisoners and personnel. Her book It’s Always Possible capturing these efforts became a model for study and implementation across the world. Dr Bedi has embraced many causes over the years and still carries on working on them effortlessly, while picking new ones that call out for attention. How do you keep yourself positively charged? What is the secret of Kiran’s unflagging spirit? She replies with her trademark nonchalant smile, “I do what I choose to do. Nothing is an imposition; worthwhile work energises me.”

Corrective politics is now a burning cause for Kiran and she is open to offers. “Life is for creative living! As long as there is life, remain worthwhile and remain creative.” For her it is time to try her creative and constructive measures on a larger platform, picking a far bigger and a more worthwhile cause whose impact will be felt far and wide. The people are waiting for her ‘kindly baton’ to weave its magic once again.

Chosen for Party’s stunning victory in UP LS polls

Appointed// Amit Shah, close confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replaced Rajanth Singh as the new Bharatiya Janata Party president. At 49, Shah is the youngest ever president the ruling party ever had. His elevation in stature from party general secretary in-charge of UP to the president post comes barely two months after he led the party to a spectacular win in the Lok Sabha election in the state. A former home minister of Gujarat and a share trader by profession, Shah led the BJP campaign in UP which helped its party bag 71 of the 80 seats in the state, decimating Congress to two seats, Samajwadi Party to five and BSP to null. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Shah had been chosen for the post because of his “organisational and management skills” which he said was seen in the Uttar Pradesh battle.

First elected to the Gujarat assembly in 1997, Shah is one of the accused in 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. The BJP president is also accused in other encounter cases of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati and was arrested in the first case in July 2010. As BJP chief, Shah has got into poll mode and holding a series of meetings with party units of the states where assembly elections are scheduled.

Pressure on Maliki to step Down

militancy// The United Nations asked Iraq leaders to overcome their differences and form a new government that can face militant threat to save the country from plunging into chaos. The Sunni militant attack over last two month have driven Iraq into its deepest crisis since the last American troops left in 2011. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has ruled the country since 2006, is under pressure to step down. His government is accused of inability to prevent the attack and has lost confidence of the tinternational community to lift the country out of crisis. Most of Maliki’s former allies accuse him of trying to monopolise power and alienating the Sunni community.

Meanwhile, the government is taking help of thousands of volunteers who joined Iraqi army to save the country from Sunni militants. Around 4,000 volunteers were airlifted to Ramadi to boost the forces trying to defend the city from militant attack. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar, a Sunni-majority province and one of the most active battle fronts in Iraq. The Islamic State extremist group and other Sunni militants seized control of the Anbar city of Fallujah and some parts of Ramadi in January. The vast majority of volunteer fighters in Iraq are Shias who have consented to a call from the Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to defend the country from the Sunni militants led by the Islamic State group. The government’s move to take support of Shia volunteers to counter militants’ threat has led to rise in sectarian tensions.

Some highlights

budget // The first general budget by NDA government sprang a surprise for many who believed a tough, non-populist budget. In one shot, finance minister Arun Jaitley raised the income tax exemption limit by `50,000 for all taxpayers below 80 years of age, allowed an extra `50,000 for tax-saving investments like provident fund and insurance and a tax write-off on an extra `50,000 for interest payments on home loans. Means, the basic tax exemption limit is to be increased from `2 lakh to `2.5 lakh and for senior citizens from `2.5 lakh to `3 lakh. However, the existing education cess of 3 per cent and the surcharge of 10 per cent for annual incomes of `1 crore or more remained unchanged. The maximum deduction for payment of interest on home loans for selfoccupied property is to go up from ` 1.5 lakh to `2 lakh.

The investments in Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Public Provident Fund (PPF) and life insurance policy will have a lock-in period of three years, while equity-oriented mutual funds, Kisan Vikas Patra, National Savings Certificate and fixed deposits will have a five-year term among others. Jaitley hoped the government will be able to find a solution on Goods and Services Tax (GST), that will rationalise tax administration, avoid harassment of the business and result in higher revenue collection both for the Centre and the states.

The foreign direct investments (FDIs) in defence and insurance sector have been proposed to be increased up to 49 per cent from the current level of 26 per cent. The facility of electronic visa authorisation is expected to be introduced in nine airports, with major source countries like the US, the UK, Russia, France and Germany likely to be first off the block. Jaitley has made a pitch for taking away Planning Commission’s key role of allocating development funds to central ministries. If it’s implemented, the plan panel’s authority will get limited to formulating five-year plans. The Budget permits manufacturing units to sell its products through retail including e-commerce platforms without any additional approval. Besides, 100 Smart Cities to be developed as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernising the existing mid-sized cities. Every household wil be covered by total sanitation by 2019, the 150th year of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi through the “Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan”. The Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) launched by the Vajpayee government is set to be revived for a limited period from August 15, 2014, to August 14, 2015, for the benefit of senior citizens. The biggest shot in arm coms for landless farmers who fall in moneylenders’ traps after being denied loans by the financial institutions. It is proposed to provide finance ofupto `5 lakh to joint farming groups of “Bhoomi Heen Kisan” through NABARD in the current financial year. An eBiz platform to facilitate a business and investor-friendly ecosystem in India is also on anvil.

Obama laments death of Ghaza civilians

Conflict// The United States will use its entire diplomatic means to secure a deal on a ceasefire to end violence between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip, President Barack Obama has said. Laying emphasis on the need to protect civilians, he said Israel has a right to defend itself against rocket attacks, but lamented the deaths of civilians in Gaza. Obama said the US supports Egypt’s continued efforts to restore the 2012 ceasefire and added that the US was working with its partners in the region to secure a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian families are fleeing their homes, as Israel intensified airstrikes on Hamas targets, including homes of the movement’s leaders, following failed Egyptian ceasefire efforts. The website of the Gaza interior ministry said Israel warplanes carried out dozens of air strikes, including those of senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahar, Jamila Shanti, Fathi Hamas and Ismail Ashkar. Zahar was a key figure in Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza in 2007, while the other three were members of the Palestinian parliament elected in 2006. Many Hamas leaders have gone into hiding since the beginning of the Israeli offensive. Before bombardment, Israel had asked its residents of border areas to evacuate their homes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had “shut the door to a diplomatic solution” and bore “sole responsibility for the continuation of the violence”.

A story is pivotal to the success of any production, whether it’s a movie, a commercial or a wedding film. My great good fortune is that I do what I love to do—tell stories. Because as a filmmaker, my purpose is just that: to collect, create and convey simple but smashing stories. I was born in Pakistan, but moved to Canada in 1990. The South Asian community was practically non-existent back then here in Canada. The wave of multiculturalism had not yet gained momentum. The film world struck home for me in the spring of 1993. Waiting for the next train on the subway platform, I saw a poster of Jurassic Park. A few months later the film’s trailers graced television cable. And then came the day of the film’s release: June 11, 1993. I remember reading a Toronto Star article, specifically seeking out the movie’s rave reviews. I also remember the precise moment the film bug bit me: when I saw a scene from the film on the TV—the scene when the dinosaurs are first revealed. It was that scene that raised the curtain on my personal filmmaking aspirations. I wasn’t able to watch the film in theaters (a fact I deeply regret to this day). Instead I awaited its release on VHS—a long and torturous wait of 16 months. Meanwhile, I raided the local library and video rental stores, finding and watching every single film ever produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. And each new film only added fuel to the fire of my own aspirations.

Upon graduating from high school, I decided to pursue a film career. Unfortunately, Ryerson Film School required a portfolio, something I didn’t have. So, instead, I enrolled in Ryerson’s Information Systems Management and spent my free time filming everything and anything with my Sony Digital Camcorder. A gift from my parents upon beginning university, the camcorder cost a whopping $1500.00 at the time. So I made the most of it, shooting whenever I had the chance. During my time in university, although Film School remained just out of reach, a host of other opportunities opened up for me. One of the courses I took at Ryerson was a web designing and HTML programming course. I actually didn’t do very well in the course itself, but I took the tools from it and applied it to my newly burgeoning film making passion. That is, I started a website on the Geocities Page. I called it the Steven Spielberg Web Page and while it started off as good fun, within a few years’ time, it came to receive extremely heavy traffic that I had to move the site from free server to dedicated paid server. Incidentally, I launched the website the same day DreamWorks Studios (co-owned by Spielberg) released its first film The PeaceMaker. As things go, the site evolved, slowly but surely, from the Steven Spielberg Web Page to the Steven Spielberg & DreamWorks SKG Fansite. Eventually, it became, very simply and most memorably, DreamWorks Fansite. Between the years 1997 and 2005, the website became so big that it received over one million views per month and I managed to established sources within DreamWorks Studios. These sources provided me with access to content not yet made public.

For example, my website was the first in the world to get exclusive access to the second trailer of Minority Report. When I posted the trailer on my website the traffic was so tremendous that my server crashed, plus I got a legal letter from 20th Century Fox (responsible for the domestic distribution of the film) to remove the trailer from my site. I, of course, obliged. The same mad dash delirium hit my site when I got exclusive access to the first look at War of the Worlds, which had been intended exclusively as a Superbowl Trailer. The site soon became popular within DreamWorks Studios as well. It was, I learnt, known to the owners, i.e. Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Soon, I became a regular DreamWorks invitee to film sets, press junkets, and actor interviews. One time, I even came close to an interview with Steven Spielberg himself. Unfortunately, that fell through at the time. I hope that opportunity is stored up somewhere in my future. But the website wasn’t my sole absorption. During this time, I kept filming on my own. I covered a few family weddings and went back to school to take a few film courses. I was also doing some small production projects for my then emerging company Sky Blue Productions. And on the side, I was working full time in Web Design and Marketing. It was an overwhelming time in my life. But also one ripe with rewards.

Fast forward to 2006. DreamWorks Studios suffered major losses and began its decline. With that, it became difficult to sustain the website, despite my love for it. And I realised, I had to make the move from film relaying to filmmaking, as that had always been my goal. After seven sweet years, after being featured in magazines all over the world from Premiere to Entertainment Weekly and Empire, along with so many others, I decided it was time to close the doors on the DreamWorks Fansite. At the same time, I closed those doors, I got laid off from my full time job. It was two shocks in one go. But, I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. So I took it all in stride. I decided to take all my new found time to launch Film Style Weddings and Sky Blue Productions. Each company had its own directive and its own intended core clientele. Whereas Film Style Weddings focussed on weddings and all things weddings related, Sky Blue Productions became about corporate films, infomercials, music videos, and films in general.

As far as Film Style Weddings was concerned, my goal had always been to produce high end quality work. I wanted it to become a boutique company, catering to an exclusive clientele. The plan was to cover only 12-14 weddings a year, by 2012, and give those fewer weddings greater energy. Indeed, in 2007, my company covered 27 weddings. And every year after that, the number was reduced, until our expected mark of 2012. In 2009, Film Style Weddings became the first South Asian Company in North America to produce a Next Day Edit (an accumulation of fun and meaningful shots taken from pre-wedding events and ceremonies, with musical accompaniment, shown as a film at the Reception the following day). It was at this point that things started moving forward very quickly. We began receiving requests for high profile weddings and still do to this day.

I have travelled to Nigeria to document a royal wedding. I have been to India, UK, France, Mexico and the Caribbean to cover weddings coloured by a wide variety of cultures. And we now cover high end weddings worldwide, with Canada being our central hub. As a boutique studio, the most important thing for us is the couple’s story. We are called upon to do all kinds of weddings. Big, small, extravagant, minimalist…you name it, and we’ve probably had the luck of capturing it. As a result, we have travelled across the world and have bore witness to many unique traditions and cultures. Days can be just as long as nights, jet lag must be quickly overcome and rest between trips is a commodity that is used sparingly. But when you love what you do, you learn more each time you do it. Sky Blue Productions, on the other hand, continues to prosper in association with world renowned organisations ranging from Ellis Don Constructions to SunnyBrook Hospital. It’s been a fun ride and I’m still going strong. My goal of becoming a full- fledged filmmaker is just within my grasp. I am currently directing a feature length documentary called ONLY 78. It’s a story of a small fishing village in Nova Scotia, Canada facing certain extinction in the face of natural disaster. I’m also producing and directing a web series called The Wedd Lounge. The Wedd Lounge is a talk show where couples are invited to look back on their wedding day and provide some input to viewers on what went wrong and what went well. We are currently wrapping up Season 1 and will soon begin production on Season 2. I am also working on two feature film scripts as well as an animated short film called The Social Wall. All of these have an expected release date of a few years. But, my hands are happily full with lots of loved work. I’ve come a long way and I intend to go much further. My career began in 1993 and since then every moment, every decision, and every turn has revealed new opportunities and new perspectives. I wouldn’t change them for the world.

Apps that make whispering a secret easy in the networked world are all the rage right now

It’s almost a given that most, if not all, of our lives are being lived out in public. All that sharing, posting, liking, selfie-ing, (re)tweeting, pinterest-ing, instagram-ing commenting, all in full view of your ‘social’ circleand via a unique authentic online identity tied to each individual—a digital footprint that Facebook and LinkedIn have worked hard to reinforce over the years. It would seem foolish to bet against these social media behemoths of today. Or would it? In what is a sign that more than a few of us are feeling a bit overexposed online, a handful of new apps are surging in popularity that are exactly the opposite of Facebook—faceless, nameless anonymous social media where you get to share the secret stuff you’d never want linked to your name: the shameful confessions, deeply rooted private fears, suppressed desires and malicious gossip. No login, no profile, no trace. Think of these as ‘temporary’ social media, a natural progression of bathroom graffiti and anonymous blog comments, the kind that lets folks express themselves honestly without fear of consequence or public judgment.

At its most basic, there are two types of anonymous apps out there. We’ve all heard of Snapchat—the ephemeral messaging app – and now, a lot more apps that toe its model. Apps like Backchat, Wut and Wickr offer features including “self-destructing” messages and enough encryption to satisfy your need for Edward Snowden levels of secrecy. The other ones, of which Whisper and Secret are the most prominent examples, function as social networks where users publicly sharing whatever they feel like secretly talking about. Oh, and it’s all the rage…people are just loving the freedom of it all. Whisper’s raised millions of dollars in funding, and Secret’s become the must-have app for techies everywhere, and both apps are seeing billions of page views. So, what makes each of these apps click? I’ve been on these apps to see for myself for the past month, and here’s what I found.

Whisper a Secret? While both Whisper and Secret are meant to share secrets, the approach both take is rather different. Whisper feels like a public graffiti board—all secrets are public, and anyone and everyone with the app can see what you publish and even message you about them. Available for both iOS and Android, the app is completely anonymous and makes no connection to your phone contacts. To further protect your privacy, Whisper requires a four-digit pin number every single time you access your history, or “Activity” like viewing or deleting your whispers, whisper engagements and direct messages—the direct messages are a key differentiator from Secret, which has no way of privately communicating with another user. The messages themselves are called “whispers,” and they look similar to an Internet meme or an Instagram overlay - images with superimposed text. Since Whisper doesn’t store its users’ personal data, you can’tsearch for users, view others’ profiles or see who like your whispers. You can choose, if you want, to share your location when you’re posting - your options range from specific store locations to your city or state – or turn off location information altogether. Secret, on the other hand, starts off with your secrets visible only to other Secret users from your phone’s addressbook (without disclosing who is who), and you can connect it with your Twitter and Facebook accounts. If your friends click the "love" button on your post, it'll be shared with their friends, and if those friends "love' the post, it'll be shared with their friends, and so on. Your name is never tagged on the post, and the app only shows the level of degree you are from the other person using it—either a friend, or a friend of a friend. So if your friends are viewing your secret, it'll tell you that the secret is from your circle of friends. After the secret travels beyond two degrees of friend groups, locations will be added.

In both cases, the whispers and secrets I saw ranged from the mundane, to secrets about professional and personal lives and confessions about past sins. What became immediately obvious was that folks were sharing stuff that wouldn’t ever make it to Facebook (not without retribution, at least) and even everyone was a faceless entity in this milieu, engagement levels were high, with commenters being surprisingly honest, sometimes brutally so. Sarcasm, humor, honesty and vitriol flowed in equal measure. Checking the app became a borderline voyeuristic addiction in the first couple of days, but after that wore off, I started noticing some red flags, cautionary signs that one must keep in mind when using these ‘anonymous’ apps.

Open Questions Right off the bat, how much of these secret networks are really secret? On Facebook and Twitter, you go in with the full knowledge that stuff you post can be reposted endlessly, so you adjust your levels of sharing…and honesty accordingly. What one must equally realise is that while Secret and Whisper are anonymous, they’re not exactly secret. Folks can reuse and share your secrets, so unless you’re extremely careful about not divulging anything that can trace its way back to you, someone may be able to figure it out. Second, despite the atmosphere of honesty, what can you trust here? What if you read lies about individuals or companies? Who faces the consequences of defamation, if the secrets are just concocted lies? What prevents these networks from degenerating into hotbeds for bullying, with malicious rumors and gossips being spread about real individuals?

Behind the veil of anonymity, users on Whisper and Secret could easily destroy lives of people with a single anonymous rumor that may or may not be true. Sure, there are controls within the apps to report content, but they’re weak and fledgling at best. And we’re not even treading on the matter of how these free apps monetize themselves… and how, if at all, your information will be used or shared in the future towards that end.Big questions with no real answer. Without a doubt, these apps are supernova-levels of hot in the social space right now, but until some sense pervades in how they can be used (and not abused), they’re not going to become a standard for social sharing anytime soon. With Cyber laws still evolving in India, for netizens it always makes sense to adopt new apps with caution.

Of unsanctioned love, a flower with heady scent myriad meanings and subtle nuances

Because I was born into Bangla, Hindi and its post offices of meaning arriving much later, the Hindi regimental quick march song, Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja, came as a call for carnival. The reason was the presence of kadam, what to me seemed like a lonely Bangla word in a fun Hindi song—keep on increasing the count of kadam flowers, and so on. The song would make its appearance at the annual sports event in school, and its drumbeat rhythm ‘moved’ me, yes, literally. But what I loved most about it was imagining—even recollecting from my then young childhood—myself collecting kadam flowers with my mother from under a huge tree.

The fragrance of the kadam flowers (the Neolamarckia cadamba), the indescribable smell of something caught in process, trapped on its journey of turning into fruit, my mother had, in her innocent simile, likened to the smell of a bride. It was a strange comparison, given that she had gone collecting the kadam flowers to make them into a pickle or chutney that she had caught in a piece of neighbourhood gossip when she and my father lived in Balurghat, a frontier town in Bengal’s Dinajpur district, before my brother and I arrived into their life. We had come to collect these delicate flowers, now fallen on the ground, always on the verge of being squashed by human feet, in Milanpally, a locality in Siliguri, full of old government offices, all painted yellow. Everyone in our town called this part of the locality ‘Housing’— there were no flats or apartment complexes in Siliguri then, only houses, and this sight of ‘houses’ piled on top of another, with the possibility of them toppling over any moment, must have given birth to this name. Not one ‘house’, not the unfamiliar ‘flat’, but many, all of them similar, like twins— ‘housing’. It wasn’t the architecture alone that was bureaucratic. A bureaucratic gardener—one wouldn’t ever know whether it was on instruction from a superior or his own eccentric ethic—had planted a kadam tree in front of each yellow building.

The air, especially in the evenings, in this provincial town then without an overdose of polluting automobiles, ought to have been bottled and sold by an enterprising entrepreneur. But it was the times, and perhaps the spirit of indolence that the fragrance of the kadam indulged that turned otherwise sane citizens into illicit lovers and happy thieves. My mother was the latter and the epithet about illicit love came from her for I was too young to even understand love. Kadam is not a flower for married love; for that there was the white and heady rajnigandha, the flower of the night. Kadam is a flower of the evening, for lovers returning home, for those who know that they shall never live in the same home. Perhaps that is why the rajnigandha has been canonised by the vase. The kadam is for fleeting love, even an infatuation for a stranger, it is the smell of roadside love, the love under an umbrella, not under a roof. My mother had constructed these neat binaries—these helped buttress her moral universe. And more than anything else, she liked to believe that it would help her child-rearing. But on that particular evening, her motive was utterly utilitarian. My brother and I were to collect as many flowers as we could. The recipe would come later. We had different descriptions for the flower: my brother, who loved the props and paraphernalia that created the feeling of seriousness in our father’s office on Hill Cart Road, the busiest street in our town, likened the kadam flower to a pincushion with soft pins. I, who had never seen a hedgehog in my life except in a school textbook of natural science, likened it to the animal with bristly thorns. Our mother, who had tired of cleaning milk bottles, thought it a better smelling bottle cleaning brush. The differences in our descriptions did not affect our collection for the day: we returned with two bagfuls of kadam flowers, the three of us, a young mother and her two children, perfuming the path our cycle rickshaw travelled through.

When I got married according to Bengali customs and my husband refused to wear the topor, the conical hat made of sholapith, having likened it to a dunce cap that would inaugurate this new career, I laughed for the wrong reason. From two sides of the topor hang two sholapith kadam flowers. I will never know what they stand for, but I, like one who had suddenly discovered a third eye, remembered that such kadam flowers were hung from walls and pandals and humans as bearers of good fortune. I called out to my mother and pointed to the poor flower balls on the prop of married love: ‘Illicit love’, I said. There must be something special about the first seasonal flowering of the kadam flower—why else would so many Bengali artistes write about it? There is the famous Tagore song, Badal din-er prothom kadam phool, the first kadam flower of the monsoon, from which the popular 1970 Bangla film, Prothom Kadam Phool, takes its name. Stories about unsanctioned love and the kadam tree come to me from our many literatures. Hindu myths and devotionals tell us about Krishna’s fondness for the kadam tree. One episode in particular reminds me of my mother’s ascription of the kadam flower to illicit love. This is in Vrindavan, where Varuna has forbidden nude bathing in public water spaces. But the gopis wouldn’t listen. So Krishna collects their garments and hangs them from the kadam tree—what follows, the pleading by the gopis and the teasing, has been documented countless times in our literature, both sacred and secular. Many of the Radha-Krishna episodes also take place under the subtly scented air of the kadam tree.

‘Parvathi’s tree’ in many parts of northern India, the tree deity standing guard at the entrance of the Meenakshi temple where ‘the festival of Kadamba’ is celebrated every year, its fruit once having given a dynasty its name, I wonder why it has completely disappeared from our urban lives, in spite of the tree being an easy child. Aryabhatta is said to have discovered why people do not fall off the earth in spite of it being round after looking at the steady spines of the kadam fruit. Now sweetmeat makers prepare a sweet called raskadamba, a round sweet coated with tiny sugar balls to resemble the kadam’s spines. It’s like an éclair – you take a bite and discover a soft stuffing. Is that love illicit too?

A chat with children’s litterateur Deepa Agarwal is like a whiff of fresh air—an imprint that she leaves behind with each of her books.

A chat with Deepa Agarwal is as invigorating and refreshing as a walk in the hills—Almora, to be precise; her book as invigorating as a deep of fresh air on the hill top. The renowned children’s writer was born and lived till in this picturesque hill town of Uttarakhand till she was seven. But though she is sentimental about everything pahaari and her connection with the hills is woven deeply into her identity, Deepa’s roots are “quite tangled”. “My paternal grandfather belonged to the Shauka or Bhotia tribe living on the Tibetan border, my grandmother was an Anglo-Indian, my maternal grandfather was from Almora and grandmother a Maharashtrian from Pune.” Despite these varied influences, the discerning can easily detect the dominating local accent in her speech!

The author’s tryst with writing began quite early. Deepa was shifted from Adams’ School in Almora to St Mary’s Convent, a boarding school in Nainital, at the age of seven and “used to make up stories in my head to put myself to sleep.” The influence of books was quite strong on the imaginative young girl for which she thanks her parents. They provided her with lots of books and encouraged her to read which Deepa feels was crucial to her development as a writer. Deepa changed school again when she was 13 and joined La Martiniere Girls’ College in Lucknow. A post-graduation in English Literature from Allahabad University “where I wrote a few short stories but made no serious effort to get them published,” followed. After her doctor father passed away, she opted for a teaching career on the advice of relatives though at that point in time she harboured a desire to become a journalist.

The writer’s bug would resurface at a later period though. In the meantime Agarwal taught at SPM College in Delhi for about three years. She took a hiatus when she got married and her eldest daughter was born. But after her youngest of three daughters started school, the author became restless and began to check out various career options. It was freelance writing that she felt was her calling as she had always loved writing. The perquisite of this profession was that it did not tie her down to regular office hours.

March 1984 marked the beginning of her serious writing career with the publication of a humorous middle about her dog in The Hindustan Times. She debuted a children’s author in August 1985 with a story written on “a random impulse”. It appeared in Target, a popular children’s magazine of the time and “from that time I began to see myself seriously as a fiction writer.”

For the generation growing up in the 80s and after, Agarwal wove an engaging web of words through her variety of books that took them into the world of mystery, fantasy, history and much more. With 54 books to her credit including three translated from Hindi, the author herself was inspired by all the writers she read when growing up. She feels particularly indebted to Shivani, the iconic Hindi litterateur from her hometown she says, “because after reading her work I became more conscious of the natural beauty of my surroundings and the particular cultural flavour of the region, which I had taken for granted till that time.”

This children’s litterateur has many favourite authors herself. “As a child I read a lot of books by Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton and Angela Brazil, but among children’s and young adult authors I encountered later in my life, I would like to mention Roald Dahl, Philip Pullman and Cornelia Funke.” Deepa is also a great fan of Dickens, Jane Austen and Tolstoy among the classic writers and John Irving, Thomas Keneally, Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen King and Amitav Ghosh among contemporary ones. But her all time favourite is “Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. It has always been the perfect novel for me.” She also puts Vanity Bagh by Anees Salim very high on her favourites list. Writing children’s story requires a lot of imagination and creative skill, a vision to see through the eyes of the young readers. So how does Agarwal managed to turn up one bestseller after another in her decades long career as a children’s author? Agarwal says, as for the thought process that goes into writing a story, many of her ideas come from childhood incidents and other memories, or from random remarks made by children, even newspaper reports. “My own daughters have unconsciously given me a lot of ideas when they were children with their accounts of chance happenings in school and issues they encountered.”

About plot development, Deepa has an unusual term to explain her approach —“because I began writing before all the workshops and discussions on approaches to fiction became widespread, I have mostly been what they call a ‘pantser’ or an author who literally writes by the seat of her/his pants. I did not plan my fiction too much in the beginning of my career.” She adds, however, that she has learnt that “when you’re working on mystery you need to plot carefully to be able to justify your clues.” Elaborating further, Deepa says that plotting for her is mostly instinctive and depends on the kind of story she is writing or the creative spark. “If you can identify your main character’s motivation clearly, the rest of the events will follow.” She has no qualms in admitting that sometime back, she was so taken up by a real life incident that she didn’t think too much about the protagonist’s motivation, and writing the book turned out to be a time consuming and frustrating affair. “Worse, it is still unpublished!”

Sharing more tips, she adds, “Sometimes the first sentence comes to me, or the main character sketches out. In books like Caravan to Tibet, it was the protagonist Debu’s motivation that dictated the progress of the narrative.” First written as a long short story, Deepa unconsciously used the folktale pattern with the three testing-event structure. When she got the idea of expanding it into a novel, she says that she decided to add a fourth test Debu must pass, though it actually occurs after he attains his visible objective—finding his lost father.

Deepa, who is in the process of completing a non-fiction book about the secret exploration of Tibet during British rule by Nain Singh Rawat, a relative of her grandfather, plans to return to a fantasy novel she began a couple of years ago but which got sidetracked because she received some commissioned work. She is also compiling an anthology of poetry for children, both classic and contemporary, and hopes to write a historical novel for adults some day. It is difficult to imagine that a prolific writer like her can encounter the writer’s block but Deepa is quite nonchalant about it when she hits it. “I just continue to write even if it doesn’t make sense—it keeps my mind from freezing further and at times I manage to extract something worthwhile from it later. Or drop writing for the moment and read several books in a row.” She says that both methods have worked for her. Deepa feels that writing works as a great therapy, particularly for women who find it difficult to speak out in real life. Speaking for herself, she says that “my fiction and more perhaps my poetry has allowed me to deal with many contentious and painful issues in my life. The mere fact that you can share your emotions or express your views helps you to find balance and acceptance.”

Be it an author or a CEO of a huge MNC like Indira Nooyi who recently admitted to the conundrum of working women playing in multiple roles, family support counts. For Deepa it is extremely important, especially for a woman and a children’s writer. “The fact that this is a profession that doesn’t bring you great financial returns or enhance your social status means that if your family doesn’t back you, you might well get demotivated. My husband has always taken pride in my achievements, so have my daughters.” As our talk veers to the trend of popular books being adapted into films in India, I ask Deepa what she feels about this. “Overall, in the hands of good directors this trend can lead to better movies because most of the time Indian filmmakers give short shrift to the storyline, not realising that it is a crucial aspect of quality film making. Film rights being sold certainly add to your earnings, which can be a real boost for an author.” However, she has reservations with the way the author is often sidelined in the promotion of the film and the fact that adaptation may take too many liberties and move away from the book’s premise.

A voracious reader, when not into books—writing one or reading another—Agarwal “enjoys watching a good movie or a play or listening to music—classical or old film songs. I can also relax with a gripping crime serial on TV or a comedy show—but cheesy humour is a complete no-no for me.” Looking back, does this children’s author feel satisfied with her writing career? “The fact that a large number of readers have read and appreciated my books is a blessing and a reward,” says she. But the author has a genuine grouse. She is yet to achieve one of her initial goals, that of earning a decent income from her writing. This, despite the fact that some of her books have gone into numerous reprints. “I would particularly like to mention a series of picture books, still in print after 20 years, for which I was given a minuscule one-time payment.”

Deepa laments that conditions in our country have never been encouraging for children’s writers. “Our books are rarely promoted or marketed effectively. Even the distribution is disorganised.” She feels that with such a large number of schools in the country it should not be difficult to sell children’s books. But there is very little awareness among parents, teachers and librarians about the tangent benefits of leisure reading habit and the existence of good quality books by Indian authors. It is a sad reflection on our indegenous literary scenario that promotes a Harry Potter to the point of frenzied madness but ignores its own backyard of blooming children’s good reads.

Her tips to budding children authors: “Read, read and read! Keep a diary. It’s not only good discipline but also an excellent way to hone your writing skills. Keep trying to challenge yourself to write a notch better. Be particular about your research when you’re writing. Join a writing group and learn to take criticism. When you finish your story, revise, revise and revise. Don’t let rejection drag you down, revise once more, and try again. Important: if accepted, work out a strategy to promote your work.”The author who has been felicitated a number of times does not attach much importance to literary awards “since they reflect the subjective opinion of the people awarding them.” However, she does concede that they provide recognition to an author and definitely look good on one’s bio! “I also understand that some may not be strictly above board because of the lobbying that goes on behind the scenes.” As I take her leave, Deepa’s words resonate: “Ultimately, any writing that has emotional depth is connected with your sense of self and if you wish to acknowledge your roots, no matter how far removed, you will be rewarded in unexpected ways. To write with conviction, you need to be sure where you come from and take pride in it.”

It’s now the turn of NGOs flush with unaccounted funds to feel the heat. Are these NGOs funded by foreign hands working to promote their benefactors’ nefarious designs and working against the interests of the nation? The truth can only be out if the social sector adopts transparent funding and best financial practices. But does this call for monitoring of NGOs’ fundings? Is this a case of silencing dissent or taming errant? As the debate rages on, we try establish the truth...

john dayal// The report of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which demonises non-government organisations (NGOs) and several activists of the country, including a late Catholic priest Fr. Tom Kotcherry, for working against Indian national interests, was a precursor to more direct action to come. The administration took immediate action, ordering Greenpeace, which the IB report had targeted as the prime culprit in delaying, if not preventing, big-money projects in tribal areas, to take prior permission from the government before it sought any funding from international agencies.

That is not to say that the earlier Congress government had not used the notorious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, to punish NGOs in Tamil Nadu, including a Catholic diocese, for supporting the movement of the local people against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, which the Union and the state governments wanted not so much for the electricity it would produce but for the political gains it could bring to the Congress and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. And, the risks from the Russia-made reactor could be overlooked in the name of development.

But the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government in New Delhi differs in a critical area from its Congress predecessor. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, led by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, was pilloried for its sloth, its corruption and its inability to control the price rise. But, it had a human face that changed the life of the rural poor through a slew of welfare programmes that did reduce a little from the pain of poverty. Above all, it did not seek to divide the people on the lines of religion or egg them on to be violent. Mr Modi’s government carries a deadly political baggage that seeks to do just that, polarise communities, pitting the majority faith against religions that it brands as alien. In the mineral-rich and heavily forested tribal belt that extends from Jharkhand to Madhya Pradesh and beyond, including much of Chhattisgarh and Orissa, this polarisation of the countryside has had the immediate impact of almost totally wrecking the unity of the people against exploitative and environmentally destructive industrial and mining projects of national and international monopolies. By demolishing ethical NGOs, which empower people on the one hand and ensure people’s unity in mass movements on the other, the government opens the hinterland for exploitation by crony capitalists.

It is in this light that one has to see the move in May 2014 by several village panchayats in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh—which was prompted by the Sangh Parivar's units, such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram—to ban the entry of Christian workers and their right to worship in these areas. The resolution came to light a few days ago. The panchayat diktat is that only Hindu religious workers will be allowed into the village areas in the tribal belt. This is, of course, entirely illegal, and violative of the provisions in the Constitution on freedom of expression and on movement. The coercive methodology of branding every tribal as a Hindu and to turn

him or her to oppose Christians injures the secular nature of society and the peace that has existed over a long time. Such bans on a particular faith and the friction they breed can so easily lead to violence against religious minorities. The memories of the massive violence in Kandhamal in 2007 and 2008, which had its roots in such indoctrination and communalisation, are still fresh, and the struggle for justice for the victims still continues in the high court and the Supreme Court. The governments of Chhattisgarh and the Union must, therefore, act urgently to stem this explosive evil while there is still time. The decision of the government to put the spotlight on NGOs receiving funding from foreign sources may have a repressive impact and derail the good work being done by thousands of them in the field of human rights and development.

Sudipta Sengupta// What would have happened had Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his INA reached Delhi? What would have happened had it been Netaji, and not Mahatma Gandhi, who succeeded in leading India’s fight for freedom? Seek a nonpolitical, unbiased view from any politician and they will frown at you. But, many will tell you that it, perhaps, would not have been very good for India. They can tell you that a Japan-funded victory probably would not have been ‘freedom’ afterall; instead, they can argue that such a victory would have led to horror stories of the Japanese replacing the British, torturing us and turning women into sex slaves. Is this opinion correct? We will never know that. Does it discredit the glorious attempt of Bose? Not actually.

Let's take the debate away from a Netaji vs Gandhiji equation and focus on the issue at hand today: should we stop foreign fundings for NGOs? The answer is not simple. One of the key parties embroiled in the middle of this entire discussion is Greenpeace. Now, blaming Greenpeace of running a westernised and funder-influenced anti- India propoganda is like blaming Arvind Kejriwal of being a CIA agent. The fact remains that both of them have had foreign funding. Is that bad? We do not actually know. In a question on its website about the source of funds, Greenpeace does well to elaborate on sources from which they do not accept cheques but stays silent on sources from where they do. And, as a nation that has been ruled by foreign powers for hundreds of years, we have developed an inherent instinct of being suspicious about anybody with a foreign connection.

For somebody who has worked in start-ups for long now, I know that funding is a magic word. So, I know how sweet it is and how helpful it is to give a boost to the vision that you have. But, things get tricky when the investor starts pulling a few strings. Initially it hurts a bit. But, the bigger you grow, more funds you need, and more accommodating you become to the control somebody has over you, your business and, at times, your mission. It may not be the case always that your investor is some Mogambo wanting to build his own empire through you—but, then, it isn’t actually your business anymore, so how would you know?

It is a fact that Greenpeace does receive foreign funding, reportedly a large part of it. Do these funding sources, which put in millions of dollars as a charity, call the shots on deciding which campaigns Greenpeace picks? This is anybody’s guess. But, how does that matter? It probably does not matter much when you want to save Olive Ridley turtles in the coastal Orissa; but, it does matter a lot when you create an organised movement to curb a country’s all energy sources, except wind and solar. I believe that Greenpeace can have a better image and probably will find more followers if they rise above these speculations. And, the government's distrust over foreign funding only creates an opportunity for such organisations to aim for that trust in society. From April 1, 2014, a new Company’s Act has been put into effect. The new law states that a company with a net worth of US$ 81.7 million or over, a turnover of US$ 163.4 million or more or a net profit of over US$ 816,500 in a financial year must spend at least two per cent of its average net profit of the last three years on corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.

This not only puts India among one of the first countries in the world to mandate spending on social welfare as part of company activity by law but also will be applicable to over 8,000 publicly listed companies and multi-national companies operating in India and is expected to generate over US$ 2 billion a year. And, to encourage Greenpeace, environment sustainability is listed as one of the eligible CSR activities. This should make up for the loss of funding that the NGOs are crying about.

I am not a diehard opponent of foreign funding to NGOs. I also do not believe that homegrown investors will not have an agenda. Do we know for sure that the news in CNN-IBN will be as unbiased as it should be with Reliance now owning it? But, then I believe that a cause like environment sustainability, if it is as noble as it should be, should rise above these debates. A curb on foreign funds should not be a hindrance for organisations like Greenpeace to take up the causes that they wish to. After all, what Greenpeace represent is a revolution, and a revolution needs to have more heart than strong funding. It is time for the fund-raising teams of Indian NGOs and the CSR heads of various companies in India to come together and create a movement for sustainable causes with indigenous funding. I believe that is possible. Small social enterprises are doing good work. It goes awry only when they start dreaming too big and scaling up too fast with foreign funding.