The fact that Narendra Modi is an astute politician is in no doubt. The Gujarat Chief Minister has not only built a public persona, but such an engrossing one that there is an ongoing online and offline war of ideas and ideals; sometimes between best friends. But how real is Brand Modi? To decipher it, look no further than his much-touted Gujarat model.

DAIPAYAN HALDER// At the neighbourhood dhaba, the one next to NDTV Convergys office where Barkha Dutt did a Chai pe Charcha some weeks back, friends are turning foes and strangers are uniting under a common chant. NaMO, short for Narendra Damodardas Modi, a word that may soon be inducted into the Oxford dictionary of new words with two very different meanings: an invocation to a higher power as well as a cuss word.

Days are not far when in sanitized urban spaces, like in college canteens, restro-bars and newsrooms, riots will break out not among Hindus and Muslims, but among Modi fanboys on one hand and the secular soldiers on the other. While the latter will rattle off the 2002 horrors when a thousand plus Muslims were raped, maimed and killed under Modi’s watch, the former will argue no court of law has held the Gujarat chief minister guilty for the riots and we should forget the past anyway to forge a stronger future. The operative word here is strength. For his faithfuls, Modi has become synonymous with strength, though it means different things to different sections that have come out in his support.

For the lowest common denominator that is his traditional support base, the Ram bhakt, Hindu majoritarian, cow-worshipping, Manu endorsing, obscurantist, North Indian voter, Modi is the pillar of strength that would teach the Muslims a lesson or two like in Gujarat 2002 or Muzzfarnagar 2013. His much-flaunted 56 inch chest (44 inches according to his tailor) is a symbol of Hindu pride for these guys, who feel slighted by the politics of minority appeasement that parties like the Congress and Samajwadi Party practice at the expense of the majority community. Though it has to be said that in his public speeches this election season, Modi has steered clear of communal agenda, for this traditional voter base, he will deliver ‘revenge’ when he comes to power and bring in an era of hyper-nationalism. And there are always the Giriraj Singhs to send off Modi critics to Pakistan when that happens so that this remains a nation of faithful. Bharat Mata ki Jai and all that.

For the burgeoning middle class, Modi means new strength in the economy. More credit cards to swipe, bigger cars to ride and swankier homes to buy. Fed on a healthy dose of market reforms since the economy was opened up in 1991, this new group of Modi fans has no time or timeline space for Hindutva but is dismayed by the state of the economy under UPA-2. It has no love lost for what it thinks are populist measures like the MNREGA and are waiting for Modi to bring in more reforms and by waving some magic wand bring the economy back on track. It cares two hoots for the ‘Pink Revolution’ and would rather have the cows back on the plate, but has bought Modi’s Gujarat Model which his media managers have fed into our collective consciousness through mass media. For this group too, Modi has deftly played up his ‘strength’ by pitting it against Manmohan Singh’s weaknesses (the outgoing prime minister’s meek nature, ineffective communication skills and failure to revive the economy).

Last and perhaps most significantly, Modi’s ‘strength’ has attracted almost all top industry houses. From Ambani to Adani, Modi is seen as the powerful CEOtype who will do away with red tapism and NGO activism to attract Big Business. There is no doubting the fact that Modi has over the years made the right noises to attract industry.

When West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee queered the pitch for Ratan Tata, he took his Nano to Modi-land. Other industry captains have also found the going easier in the state. Sometime late last year, at a FICCI event, Modi charmed the predominantly female audience by saying his focus once he comes to Delhi would be to tap into their entrepreneurial skills and talents as well as give them special status in elected bodies. And so industry captains are outdoing each other in extending support to the Gujarat strongman.

It says something about us Indians that we look for strength in a leader and not conviction. Or moral character. But we will leave that analysis for the secular types who are seriously considering shifting to Bhutan once Modi becomes PM. What is remarkable is how a former tea seller from a ‘backward’ caste has come to signify strength for a vast majority of Indian voters, irrespective of caste, creed, region and eating pattern. It is another matter that the Supreme Court has finally recognised transgenders as an OBC group and they are also feeling rather strong this poll season. Maybe, they will root for Modi too!

RAM PUNIYANI// One of the propaganda hypes of current times has been the development of Gujarat under the leadership of Modi. When one looks at the available statistics and analyses the so called growth of the state what one sees is the fact that this state has performed dismally under Modi. After the series of ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ conclaves the claim was made of huge forthcoming investments. The “Global Investors Summit”, data show that the share of “projects implemented” and “under implementation” has continuously declined: from 73 per cent in 2003 to 13 per cent in 2011. Ministry of Commerce data also suggest that the State’s share in investment intentions as reflected in industrial entrepreneur’s memorandums, letters of intent and direct industrial licenses has steadily declined from about 20 per cent in 2005 to less than 10 in 2011. As per Reserve Bank of India figures, it ranks fifth in Foreign Direct Investment.

As far as agricultural growth is concerned it ranks eighth in agricultural growth. The plight of this sector is also reflected in the worsening condition of farmers and agricultural labor as per the data of Gujarat Department of Economics and Statistics. As such growth should be an inclusive term in which all parameters of needs of the state; its people; are taken care of. In Gujarat what has happened is an industrialisation which suited the needs of some industrialists. The state’s checks and balances have been missing. They were given lands at low cost, bank loans an easy terms and enterprises were set up without regard to the need for employment growth; neither did it conform to needs of ecological protection. State’s role to ensure that the growth is inclusive and environment is protected was done away. Paradoxically while the claims of a ‘strong’ leader are being made; as such what happened is a role reversal and the keys of industrial policies have been given in the hands of few entrepreneurs. The result is that the governance in Gujarat has been fashioned to meet the needs of the private investor, and public investment has been relegated to the back seat. This is what Gujarat model of development has come to mean. So logically it has adverse implication on sustainability and distributive justice.

As such what explains the partial investment boom in Gujarat is the cumulative result of tax concessions, investment subsidies, low-interest credit, cheap cost of land and a pro-business labor policy and not the much-touted good governance, Gujarat style! Economic Survey, Government of India, 2011, tells us that Gujarat has highest number of strikes and other forms of labour unrest in recent times. Despite that investors have continued to have their faith in the Modi Government as they by now are convinced that state stands on their side. The result is that employment growth in manufacturing and services turned negative in the last five years, and even prior to that was it concentrated mostly in the informal sector. As far as social indices are concerned Gujarat as a matter of fact has slipped down during last ten years. In the matter of Infant Mortality Rate it is 14th in rural and 10th in urban areas. Gujarat has one of the highest poverty levels of all the Indian states. Gujarat ranks 13th in the hunger index amongst the 17 large states of the country. Huge tracts of land have allocated to corporate have displaced lakhs of pastoralists, farmers, agricultural workers fishermen, Dalits and Adivasis. During Modi’s tenure, 16,000 workers, farmers and farm laborers had committed suicide due to economic distress by 2011, which remained under reported in the media.

The high level of malnutrition in Gujarat is a consequence of extremely low wage rates, malfunctioning of nutrition schemes, lack of clean water supplies, and lack of sanitation: the state ranks 10th in the use of toilets, with more than 65% of households defecating in the open, resulting in high levels of water borne and other diseases. Uncontrolled pollution has destroyed the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen, and subjected the local populations to skin diseases, asthma, TB and cancer etc. Modi governments’ ‘lack of financial discipline has resulted in huge indebtedness. The state's debt increased from `45,301 crore in 2002 to `1, 38,978 crore in 2013. Immediately after polarising the Gujarat through the carnage Modi shifted his rhetoric to the one of development and gave the keys of Gujarat’s resources’ in the hands of some corporate. His authoritarian style has been projected as being efficient and ‘strong’, this is at the cost of democratic norms in the society. Assisted by the section of corporate controlled media and the communal forces he has propagated about the development, which as we see is hardly there and whatever little is there is non-inclusive and divisive.

Politics in India

POLITICS IN INDIA is a never-ending cycle of elections. The year 2014 will be no different, and indeed could see more polls than planned for. After all, if the May 16, 2014, Lok Sabha verdict is along predicted lines, India could be headed for an extremely busy state election calendar, including at least three mid-term polls.

In October a slew of major states— Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Haryana—are due to go to the people. With the weakening of the JD(U) in Bihar and the defections from the Congress to the BJP in Uttarakhand, both those state governments are vulnerable and could fall, leading to mid-term elections. Finally, Delhi will need to vote again sooner or later, having chosen an impossibly hung Assembly in December 2013.

It would be interesting to speculate on this set of state elections. Obviously the BJP will be at an advantage, especially if it wins the Lok Sabha election and installs Narendra Modi as prime minister.

The Congress will be on the backfoot. If it loses Haryana and Uttarakhand, if its alliance partner loses Jammu and Kashmir—and if the party does not win back Delhi—then in the north, the Congress will be running only Himachal Pradesh.

If it loses Maharashtra, it would be turfed out of a bastion it has governed for 15 years. With the expected reversals in Andhra Pradesh (or its two-daughter states), this would deprive the Congress of a government in any state larger than Karnataka. These would be significant setbacks.

Having said that, it is not as if the BJP is sitting pretty and can expect an automatic bonanza. These state elections will offer local, provincial challenges. The fact that Mr Modi is a popular all-India figure will help the BJP but cannot independently guarantee victory in state after state. Regional political forces will play a bigger role than in the Lok Sabha campaign. Of course, if the BJP plays its cards right—and presuming it does as well in the Lok Sabha election as opinion pollsters suggest— then it could emerge with a much wider all-India footprint.

The one state where the BJP can be confident is Uttarakhand. The previous state election was lost very narrowly. The infighting in the Congress and the mess following the massive floods of 2013 have made the government unpopular. In a direct BJP-Congress fight, the BJP should be well placed, provided it can control its multiple chief ministerial aspirants and factions.

In Jharkhand and Bihar, the BJP will probably go with the knowledge that it has done well in the Lok Sabha election even without major alliance partners. However, it is a fair estimate that Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) will be a far more formidable contender in an assembly election. A possible mid-term election in Bihar could see the BJP fancying chances of winning a majority or at least a significant plurality, with Ram Vilas Paswan as an ally, and of installing Sushil Modi as chief minister.

While this is a reasonable hope, the likelihood of Nitish Kumar being back in contention in a local election cannot be ruled out. If the Bihar unit of the BJP returns to caste-based civil war, then sections of voters who are looking to support Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election may switch to Kumar, if only to keep the RJD and Laloo Yadav out of power. There are other issues too. In Lok Sabha seats where the fight is between the BJP and the JD(U), Yadav community voters are turning to the BJP. In an assembly election, these Yadav voters could well return to Laloo Yadav.

In Maharashtra, there is no obvious and overwhelming chief ministerial face in the manner of Mr Modi’s candidature for the prime ministry. The state will have to be won seat by seat, booth by booth. Can the BJPShiv Sena combine can do this without adding Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to the alliance? If the BJP does come to power in New Delhi in May, it will have to use its incremental clout to push the Shiv Sena into accepting this inevitability. Otherwise, the MNS will remain a lethal spoiler.

In Haryana, the Congress has its back to the wall. A Haryana Janhit Congress-BJP alliance could capitalise on non-Jat votes and win office. However, some of the errors injected into Lok Sabha candidate selection in the state will have to be guarded against. Here, like in Maharashtra, Modi will need to use his new influence— should he become prime minister— to push and tweak the party organisation and decision making.

In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party fervour is milder than it was in December 2013, but the Lok Sabha election will tell us exactly how much AAP still matters. That apart, if Ajay Maken retains his New Delhi seat despite an overall urban backlash against the Congress, he gives his party a natural leader in the capital.

As for the BJP, should Harsh Vardhan pull off a victory in a highprofile contest in Chandni Chowk, it will be the biggest moment of his political career and help in a possible chief ministerial projection. As such, the trajectory of the Delhi assembly election could become clearer as early as May 16, 2014.

Finally, there is Jammu and Kashmir. In the Valley, the National Conference will battle a resurgent People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. The BJP will attempt to make gains at the Congress’ expense in Jammu. If a PDP government comes to office, with a BJP prime minister in New Delhi, the configuration that held out so much promise after the milestone state election of 2002 will be back. It could mark a new beginning for Jammu and Kashmir, provided the cross-border situation remains placid.

One way or the other, in state after state, this leaves us with a winter pregnant with possibilities.

Threat of global warming and carbon footprints may all be just environmental hogwash for most of us. SankalpTaru thinks otherwise and is laying the ground for a greener planet in most difficult terrains yoking technology and people together.

A visit to Talupula, a village in perennially drought-hit Anantapur will you take you by surprise. The village lies like a green oasis in the middle of a vast desert, with cool breeze blowing throught the hot days and murmurings of thick foliages all around. Fruit bearing trees including mango, sapota, guava and jamun, medicinal plants like amla and neem and fodder producing plants including subabool, glesiridia and sesbania grow all around the village. The credit for this green island goes to Apurva Bhandari, founder, SankalpTaru, an NGO that yokes a patented online platform powered by GPS and social technologies to nature enabling people to plant trees from anywhere in the world at any location of their desire.

It was at the time of ‘planetary emergency’, when global warming was being recognised as the defining issue of our era that SankalpTaru Foundation came into being. Its mission was to empower the global public to protect our planet. Over time, SankalpTaru Foundation has evolved into an organisation of strength that nurses the environment.

Rainfall, like any other village in Anantapur and surrounding districts, is scanty in Talupula too. The people, mostly poor landowners, face drought or near draught-like situation often, leading to heavy losses for them. Consequently, the nature’s unrelenting onslaught has led to frustration and suicides among the farming communities here. It was such a scenario that SankalpTaru and Green Tree Foundation jointly worked out an action plan to bring collective benefits to Talupula.

The work was not easy though. The villagers were faced with many challenges, the major one being wind erosion. Since the westerly winds that blow across the district are strong, it contributes to a very high rate of soil erosion. Estimated soil loss due to erosion in the entire Anantapur district is around 91.7 lakh tonne per annum.

But the team behind SankalpTaru was not easily daunted. Bhabdari for one, born and brought up in Uttarakhand Himalayas, is not new to natural adversities. With a motto “Together we are all part of the same forest,” the team got cracking and with their innovative technology and farming techniques helped the villagers of barren lands plant greenery all around.

SankalpTaru started the villagers working towards adding trees and green vegetation to prevent soil erosion. New wind arrester plantation technique was used to prevent crop and soil from being depleted away. Since the area did not have sufficient water and nutrient retention, trees were planted around the fields to help improving moisture content and reducing water loss from evaporation.

Agro-forestry technique was used wherein Sesbania saplings were planted amidst crops. Leaves shed by these plants act as compost and also stabilise NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) composition of the soil; hence resulting in improved land productivity. By developing water harvesting system and judiciously using borewell water ensured continuous irrigation source to planted trees.

Bhandari, the brain behind the project, was always inclined towards giving back to society and Mother Nature. After working for around 10 years in the corporate sector, he decided to go back to roots and took up this noble initiative for a cleaner, greener and a better planet by founding SankalpTaru, an entrepreneurial venture that building loyal followers.

The concept on which Bhandari founded is Green Planet dream was novel–virtual planting of trees—and clicked. “In a world when everyone is busy in their lives and miss out significant things in life, the concept came as blessing. SankalpTaru realised the helplessness of the people who want to do good things and created an online outlet, a platform, for such philanthropists and nature lovers to have their green run.

Through SankalpTaru, one can plant, gift or tag a sapling virtually, and the outfit will plant it on-ground for them. Every planter gets a picture of the tree he planted, and even gets to see where the tree is planted through a GPS satellite. “This helps us in maintaining transparency with the users,” says Bhandari.

Talupula, Anantpur, project is a drought affected region after Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). Here many tribal villagers were jobless. “Initially when SankalpTaru introduced project—Green Deccan here, people had apprehensions about our reasons for taking up such an initiative in their village. It was only when we sensitised the farmers about how and why this project would benefit them, that they accepted it,” says Bhandari.

SankalpTaru is an initiative to boost the morale of the farmers. It has donated mango and orange orchards for farmers in Talupula. Not only this, the organisation has also provided agricultural tools and irrigation facilities to farmers. “The farmers now have a source of income that comes from maintaining their green belt in Deccan,” says Bhandari. Rightly so, you agree after a visit to the green island of Talupula.

About other projects, Bhandari says, “Till now we have five project sites running in India including Talupula (Anantpur) Nijmula Village (Chamoli, Uttrakhand), Bagepalli (Chikaballapur, Karnataka), Sambhaji lake (Solapur, Maharashtra) and Barmer (Rajasthan). The unique model of SankalpTaru defines the need of each region through varied projects. Every region where SankalpTaru has its project has a different needs to cater to, thus, each site has its own theme.” Sankalp- Taru has planted 101,080 trees across India and empowered thousands of villagers, in a span of two years.

“SankalpTaru is amongst the first NGOs working and planting trees across the length and breadth of India, that is from the deserts of Leh, Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir to the deserts of Thar in Rajasthan, landslide prone areas of Uttarakhand Himalayas to drought affected regions in Andhra Pradesh, along the seashore of Arabian Sea, regions in Maharashtra and now to, Chennai in Tamil Nadu,” says Bhandari. It symbolises the readiness of people everywhere to work to protect our collective home,” he adds.

The organisaton believes in taking the initiative to the youth who undoubtedly are the best brand ambassadors of any social initiative. It has adopted various schools across India including many government schools under its ‘Clean and Green Schools’ project where the SankalpTaru foundation plants trees inside the school compound.

The foundation creates environmental awareness among students and teachers by forming eco-clubs, conducting events and quiz shows. It has developed around 500 green schools till date in states of Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Leh Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir) and Andhra Pradesh.

It’s time we ‘clicked’ with such initiatives and took a sankalp (pledge) to extend this green cover across the globe.

A Screaming Comes Across the Sky

NOT SO LONG AGO, my friends and I decided to spend a semester reading the thickest books we could find in the university library. I started with Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. At 750 pages, sporting a bright a spiral sun on the cover, it was everything—comic, dull, sad, paranoid, obscene, apocalyptic, tragic, incomplete. I had never heard of Pynchon then, but over the past five years, along with the indelible dark circles I have under my eyes from that semester, Pynchon stayed. When Bleeding Edge, his latest, came out last year, this time with kitschy diagonal writing on its cover, it seemed like he gave a knowing nod to those had been initiated. Bleeding Edge, set in pre-9/11 New York, in the early days of the Internet allows Pynchon to adroitly pursue that time-bending, labyrinthine, in-andout rigmarole that he is so good at. By the time one reaches the last page, the reward for surrendering expectations— gaping holes, unsolved mysteries, leads not followed and plotlines cut short (almost nothing ever gains clarity)—is more delight than annoyance. What we get instead are Fitzgeraldian vignettes of New York City, both affectionate and estranged; the naggings of Pynchon’s inner Jewish mother; a cast of half-alive, half-real characters, most important among them a wonderful and picaresque Maxine Tarnow, mother of two, who runs a private fraud investigation agency called Tail ‘Em and Nail ‘Em.

Maxine begins sniffing around a dot-com startup called hashslingerz.com, whose CEO, the archvillaineous Gabriel Ice, is or isn’t—who knows?—involved with murders, laundering millions through hawalas, funding time-travel experiments on children, and perhaps inveigled in the planes crashing into the twin towers. And in the 500 pages, club-hopping, house-breaking, ganjasmoking, Berretta-donning, neither Maxine nor the reader get close to putting the pieces together. The age-old detective story with dispersed clues, cross-city detail and a Scooby-Doo denouement is turned on its head.

Published in 2013, it may seem an anomaly that it had 9/11 at its center. Most of the works that later came to be known as post-9/11 literature reached its fag end by 2008. Gravity’s Rainbow’s first lines “A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.”—are oddly prescient of the twin tower attacks. Pynchon reduces that event to a few paragraphs and it turns up late in the narrative. Its aftermath, however—the War on Terror, paranoia pervading nations and individuals, the increasing government surveillance uncovered by Snowden, the schizoid, selfie culture of Facebook and Instagram, and “let’s not forget late f***** capitalism”—gain momentous weight.

Bleeding Edge, in the latter half excavates the insidious motif of Gravity’s Rainbow—an exploration, celebration, condemnation, proliferation and dramatization of paranoia. Pynchon effortlessly claims cyberspace and the 21st century as the continuation of his works—all of them concerned with the tensions between freedom and captivity, coherence and incompleteness, the remembered and the unrecognizable. I see Bleeding Edge as a historical novel. Although dealing with a subject not too distant in calendar time the world now seems light-years away from where we’ve journeyed since the first days of the Internet. Pynchon's topical references to technology and mass media and the Internet's potential for alternative social organisation and anarchic communities have for long now become an indispensable part of our cultural history. In one instance, a Reg Despard, with a camcorder, records a film in a theatre, zooming in and out for its own sake. When a NYU professor buys one of tapes he comes running back to ask “if Reg knew how far ahead of the leading edge of this post-postmodern art form he was working, ‘with your neo-Brechtian subversion of the diegesis’.” His research into the cyber world, Deep Web, hackers’ ethics, and high- and low-brow pop culture is incredible. Although retrospective, the novel has all the stand-ins for what were to become Second Life, YouTube, Twitter, the hacker collective Anonymous, swipe-gaming, military drones and PRISM. After a sprawling career of comic-digressive and barefacedly complicated narrative, Pynchon’s new book has the overall effect of bemused frustration, of struggling to get hold of that extra clue that will help make sense of this dangerous and overwhelming world. Bleeding Edge is a lot like real life.

A template of fine writing & good timing

I HAVE A GRIPE with Uday Mahurkar, nay Indians in general, especially educated, intelligent ones at that. Why do we still glorify our elected representatives of states as “rulers” on the one hand and decry dynasty politics on the other?

That said and if you can shrug off the attendant urbane intellectual meanderings that lead you to a snide “welltimed” among other nasty things like “a Modi acolyte?”, the book is an interesting read for its spotlight on what we have been hearing about the “dynamic” Chief Minister of Gujarat whose model of “good governance” can be the pilot for India once he assumes office as Prime Minister.

With political slugfest in the background, where everything is being blown out of proportion—the good, the bad and the ugly—the book acts as a touchstone to judge Modi. Mahurkar is no rookie to writing on Gujarat or Gujarat politics. A journalist who has reported consistently on the state for the last 26 years or so, Mahurkar brings an economy of words and a precision to detail with his clean and structured writing. As you read on, you also realise that Centrestage is not just an expose of all the good work done by Modi but a fine critique of Gujarat’s development model (in parts). That Mahurkar has steered clear of controversial topics as Godhra is more perhaps due to the design of the book which focusses on development as the central theme and how this can be replicated on the larger national platform than anthing else. While Modi’s “Nation First’ will find echoes in many hearts heavy with ennui of sectarian politics, I for one have reservations regarding concepts like ‘Bhagwan No Bhog’ and ‘Tithi Bhojan’ that promote giving among the rich. The compassion smacks of rulers’ largess and will perpetuate the mentality of mai-baap and ji huzoor in Indians who have been exposed to centuries of dynastic rule. Under Modi we are certainly hoping for a better model of inclusive and equal participatory governance for India. The media has taken rare pleasure to either paint Modi as a Hindutva bigot or a demigod. From labeling him ‘ab tak chappan for his chappan inch chhati’ remark to decimating him to pieces over his “felt-sad-no-guilt” response to the riots of 2002, the relish that Indian media feels in trying to make Modi squirm is remarkable. But all through this, as far as Gujarat is concerned, Muslims have remained immune to Modi’s national media image. Mahurkar provides plenty of evidences to substantiate these claims. Whether Gujarat template will kickstart India’s stalled growth only time will tell. For now, with several journalists turning authors in this one of a kind election, there is much being written on our leaders. Modi, of course, takes Centrestage.

Marryam H. Reshii takes the gastronomy route

It was our final evening in Tunisia. All 12 of us had met for the third time; we were fated to meet a few times more—food writers from all over the world, who would collect in a different country once a year at olive harvest time. All of us—from the US, Canada, China, India, Russia and Croatia—were taken by coach through the narrow streets of the traditional part of Tunis. All the houses were traditional, which was to say, the exteriors looked impersonal and slightly forbidding. It was only when we trooped in through the golden yellow felt door that we saw the explosion of colour inside. There was a courtyard, a musician playing a string instrument, a profusion of halls and small rooms around the courtyard and tables and chairs everywhere. In true Tunisian fashion, the interior walls of the 18th century building were covered in colourful tiles with geometrical patterns. Our party of 12-plus our hosts from the Ministry of Agriculture and the International Olive Council squeezed into one of the smaller rooms. The exotic quotient of the antique carpets, the carved furniture and the aromas of jasmine mingling with the tantalising smells of the food was one of the most memorable meals of my life. There was fish with a stew of tomatoes, capers and lemon, shoulder of lamb cooked with rosemary, couscous with beef and a profusion of tiny pastries which is Tunisia’s contribution to the art of baklava.

Some people travel to see the world. Others to shop till they drop or till their credit card runs out of balance. Still others navigate the globe to visit friends or family. I go where my palate takes me. It’s as simple as that. Dar el Jeld, which means door of gold, was a family run restaurant with a difference. The owners actually owned the charming house and were looking for a way to pay for its upkeep. Even if you go there and not eat, you will still have a marvellous time among the superb surroundings. Dar el Jeld, which actually has a yellow door in a country where blue is the standard colour for doors, has a team of ladies in the kitchen: all over North Africa, it is considered prestigious to have women in restaurant kitchens rather than men. I’d say they know a thing or two!

You don’t need grand surroundings or a heritage house to have a great restaurant. The one we visited in Seattle was of the most basic kind. The Crab Pot specialised in what they called seafood buffets. A group of us colleagues were taken to a quayside structure on wooden stilts and were showed to our table. It was a trestle table with wooden benches. Certainly the accent was not on the décor. The menu was shown to us, but only to display the prices and the quantities. There was only one ‘dish’ on offer: mixed seafood in their shells, lightly steamed.

We chose our portions conservatively—two buckets among the six of us. No-nonsense aprons were handed out, as were wooden mallets. The crabs, mussels, clams and shrimps were all in their shells. The contents of the bucket were spilled by the ‘waiter’ on the table, on a sheet. We kept helping ourselves from the messy pile, hammering the shells of three kinds of crabs—king, Alaskan and Dungeness and noisily slurping the meat inside. I have to say that the experience was cathartic, more so because there was not a single false note. The décor was kept basic. All the frills were in the quality and variety of the seafood. The novelty of service, the aprons and mallets, all were calculated to make you feel that you could put aside your table manners for an hour and dig in to an orgy of seafood proportions. There’s one more thing. Dungeness crab makes its way into all Seattle’s restaurants but they are never seen in India. Salmon, however, is. What importers order is the produce of Norwegian salmon farming. What we were treated to was sockeye salmon from the cold waters of the North West Province of USA. There is simply no comparison between the two. Believe me.

One iconic landmark of Jaipur is the Amer Fort. The view from the main road—the route that most tourists take—makes the fort look honey-coloured and inviting. From the rear, however, Amer shows a very different side of itself. It looks bleached in the sun, and the sheer sandy slopes underline the fact that Jaipur is very much in the desert. The car takes you up a steep ramp and all around you are dwarfed by the sheer scale of the fort even as the monochromatic landscape never varies. Then, suddenly you are inside the fort, near a temple. A short climb and you are in one of the finest restaurants in India. Put together with a consummate eye for detail, all the mirror work, gilt carvings and bric a brac call to mind a royal palace. It is hard to believe that it is all brand new – only about five years old. I was tagging along with a group of international travel writers and photographers and we were taken from one setting to another. A series of courtyards and chhatris, the smallest one of which seated two persons! No expense had been spared to restore this corner of Amer to its former glory. Even the name of the restaurant: AD 1135 paid homage to the date that the fort was built. A fiddler played a ballad for us, hovering just out of sight, but the plaintive notes of his music managed to capture the essence of the desert night. Just as I was beginning to think that the crystal chandeliers that gleamed softly in the semi-darkness would be the finest aspect of the restaurant, dinner was served.

It has been three years since that day, yet the delicate flavour of a dal made with dried peas lingers on my palate. It is said to have been the favourite dish of Late Rajmata Gayatri Devi. Indeed, every katori on our thali had some significance in some palace or the other of Rajasthan’s royalty and had been curated by the management to embody not only the grandeur of palace life, but also its intimacy. Just to make sure that I wasn’t seeing a mirage in the desert, I went back to the fort a year later. This time, I went alone and ordered a completely different set of dishes. And guess what.

The magic lingered on. I suppose it’s what a truly great restaurant is supposed to be.

Clay pots have the pride of place in his home and his heart

His fingers lovingly play on the smooth curves. From time to time he lowers his ear to her mouth as if to hear some softly murmured whispers. All the while a gentle smile plays on his lips. The humble pot responds with magical sounds and rhythmic beats that create a trance-like environment among the audience. It’s not just the mellifluous music that Ghatam Giridhar Udupa works up with his fingers, nor the fact that he has a veritable collection of pots, numbering perhaps a 100, that earned him the sobriquet of the King of Pot Music. It is more to do with his belief to transcend the limitations of an Indian pot player or even a classical Carnatic musician, and make Ghatam accepted as a percussion instrument for global music that makes him so. There are pop musicians, there are the pure classical exponents, and then there are musicians like Udupa who break the mould and defy straitjacketing. They live in the in-between borderless world of pure sensation where there are no classifications. There are no forms and if there are, they are meant to be reshaped to allow forging of a new creative reality. “It’s the simplest instrument in the world,” Udupa says about this relatively little known Ghatam. “It is a simple clay pot. What amazes people is how such a pot can produce such good sound.” Ghatam though is one of the oldest percussion instruments of south India. It is unique among all musical instruments as it combines all the five elements of nature—earth (clay pot), water (is used to knead the clay), fire (used to bake the pot), air (in the belly of the pot) that occupies space and reverberates creating the percussion beats. Ghatam is a little different from ordinary pots as it is made with a mixture of clay baked with brass or copper fillings and a small amount of iron fillings. Its mouth is also narrower than ordinary pots. A musician like Udupa knows its value. “You take care of the instrument like you would a baby,” he explains the intricacies involved.

As old as Mridangam, Veena and other instruments of India, Ghatam finds mention in Valmiki Ramayana and another ancient work titled Krishna Ganam. The instrument was traditionally a folk one known as Nook in Kashmir and Mudki in Rajasthan. But in south India it gained concert status and with efforts of musicians like Udupa it is today an integral part of international music scenarion like rock, jazz, fusion ensembles jugal bandis, etc. The instrument may be the simplest, but mastering it requires amazing levels of skill, years of practice and oodles of patience. By his own confession Udupa lacked in the latter department. “I did not have patience, but did enough for my age.” The four-year-old prankster that he was, it must have been some task making him to even sit still. “I would be up to many pranks. I still am. I am naughty by nature.” At 33, the boy in him is very much alive, in the twinkle in his eyes and the easy unabashed laughter.

So how did he manage to learn, master and excel in his chosen field? To top that he also majored in Commerce. Udupa credits some of his skills to the genetic makeup—both his father and grandfather were musicians. “Music was in my house. From the time I opened my eyes, I would hear my father, Mridangam maestro Vidwan U Nagendra Udupa, practising and teaching.”

He majorly credits his teacher, his father, for the patience to teach him at that age. “My father had a lot of patience.” Udupa’s logic is also clear in this regard, “If I have to teach a child, I should have more patience than the child. You can’t expect patience from a kid.” For this pupil, his first teacher remains the most inspiring figure. “Till today the most influential person in my life is my father.” It is not just his musical upbringing for which he holds him such high esteem. “His simplicity, dedication, everything about him is just great,” says the son and student. Udupa feels exposing a child early to a skill also makes him imbibe it easily. “If a child is given training from early years, it starts coming naturally.”

He majorly credits his teacher, his father, for the patience to teach him at that age. “My father had a lot of patience.” Udupa’s logic is also clear in this regard, “If I have to teach a child, I should have more patience than the child. You can’t expect patience from a kid.” For this pupil, his first teacher remains the most inspiring figure. “Till today the most influential person in my life is my father.” It is not just his musical upbringing for which he holds him such high esteem. “His simplicity, dedication, everything about him is just great,” says the son and student. Udupa feels exposing a child early to a skill also makes him imbibe it easily. “If a child is given training from early years, it starts coming naturally.”

Though Udupa makes it all sound more a matter of practice and exposure, there is something that we also call Saraswati’s gift that a few like Udupa are blessed with. It was perhaps this that helped him manage his studies and music together without much of a hassle all through his growing up years. “It was not so difficult. My first priority was always music. I would play at concerts before my exams,” he dismisses his unique abilities with a laugh.

Udupa’s love affair with Ghatam has an interesting beginning. He had initially begun his training on Mridangam, an instrument similar to Ghatam. At his first concert at the age of 9, his father asked him to play Ghatam on the stage as a senior artiste was playing Mridangam. Udupa was so fascinated by the sound of this percussion instrument that after the show he decided to continue his training in the instrument. Ghatam had found a true patron.

Later, he came under the tutelage of Guru Vidushi Sukanya Ramgopal and Ghattam maestro Vikku Vinakram, who not only taught him the finer points of playing Ghatam but have continued to be major influences on his life. Ghatam comes under the second line of concert instrument and is a preferred accompaniment at Carnatic music concerts. But Udupa has consistently raised the bar for the humble pot taking it out of Carnatic music concerts to world music stage. His efforts in this direction started rather young. In 1998, he formed Layatharanga, a percussion band in Bangalore, with some Indian classical musicians, his friends, with the mission to create new wave music and take it to a wider global audience through collaborations.

While his experiments with a wider platform continued, he was also making his mark as a rising star of Carnatic music. He has played with almost all the music maestros and not just on the Carnatic classical platform. His vast repertoire comprises Hindustani classical, Jazz, Fusion, Blues, Rock, Flamenco, Symphony, Orchestra, Celtic Music Latin Music, DJ Music, World Music, Arabic Music, Japanese Music, Talavadya (Ensemble percussion) Bollywood music, European Folk music and Jugalbandi concerts.

“My most memorable concert was on November 24, 2001 when I accompanied the famous Mysore brothers,” reminisces Udupa. The Mysore brothers are the famous violinists Mysore Nagaraj and Dr. Mysore Manjunath. He also remembers the exact date he accompanied the legendary L Subramaniam. “April 2002 I played with the maestro and later started playing with all Carnatic musicians.”

Udupa considers it his “unique privilege” to have had the opportunity to play with almost every great living maestro. Another memorable professional milestone he recounts with pride is when he played with Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. The Ustad’s remark that he had had the best Ghatam accompanist with him on stage, is a treasured ‘award’ for Udupa. Being selected as the court player and felicitated as Asthana Vidwan of Sri Matam of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham added another feather to his cap, but the Pot King’s journey continues across continents.

When I contacted him for the interview, he was in Poland on a maiden project he has named evocatively— Sagaara. Not surprising for the man who has been travelling in his mission to propagate Ghatam for the last 15 years and has covered 40 countries. “I want to travel the world and popularise my instrument everywhere.” His efforts are paying off. “Ghatam is becoming more and more universal, especially in Europe. The sound is appealing to the European audience,” he says. Udupa has collected a loyal band of disciples, many European students among them, several of who travel down to India and become his houseguests. Taking of learning and teaching, the percussionist says, “I have just started teaching as I travel a lot and perform too. I am planning to start a Ghatam institution this summer in June-July.” Perhaps to give a more rooted mooring I smile at him tongue-in-cheek. He is planning to get married this year. Udupa laughs and says, “My family misses me and to answer your question, my travels are short and I somehow balance life and work.”

He loves cricket, eating and sleeping. A prankster, a foodie, a cricket fan and a devoted musician with a travelling itch among other things—Ghatam Giridhar Udupa is as interesting as the instrument he plays. Udupa’s laughter reverberates like the music of his instrument—the Ghatam—and lingers on.

WITH THE GENERAL ELECTIONS 2014 around the corner, Indian politics is set to change. After all, in the past few decades, urban and semi-urban attitudes and aspirations have changed. The new generation of Indians is more self-assured than their parents ever were. Their needs are different. They possess a higher degree of education and skills. The result; leaders who are being, or will be, asked to represent the Generation Y will also have to be different from party patriarchs you and I grew up with. The generational shift has already shown up in the way these party patriarchs have been sidelined in the current elections. Also new party alliances are being shaped everyday. Regardless of what the outcome may be—the way I perceive it—Indian politics is set to change. Whether it would be for the better, remains to be seen; but I remain hopeful.

The biggest change of them all will be the possibility to vote for none of the candidates—the NOTA option. Whether you choose a candidate—or choose none—my request, especially to those voting for the first time, is to spend some thought on your decision. This is not the future of the country alone, it is your future at stake as well. Your decision will speak volumes of you as a person.

The magazine, too, will undergo minor changes in the meanwhile. With the code of conduct in place, it is safe to assume that we will let politicians do what 2014they do the best—manage the political affairs of this country. Expect more people from business, science, sports and performance arts backgrounds to grace our covers in the coming months.

We start with the brightest, shinning star of poetry—Gulzar. Most of us owe our love for Bollywood or Hindi film or Urdu poetry to this living legend—even if our mother tongues were not Hindi or Urdu. His rags to riches story is inspirational, and his characteristic dismissal of fame is deeply humbling. Here is our ode to the wordsmith’s greatest gift to us—his poetry.

We hope you love it as much as we loved writing it. Also, we take a closer look at the olive oil belt thanks to Marryam H. Reshii. Brush up your social media marketing skills with Tushar Kanwar. And we introduce you to this lovely little cafe tucked inside Pragati Maidan.

As always share your feedback with us and exercise your right wisely!

To write about a poet with the sensitivity and lyricism of Gulzar, one needs at least some level of penmanship. Lacking that, it is best left to the poet to describe himself. In this profile of the poet, we have done just that—liberally used Gulzar’s immortal lines to decipher the man behind the poet.

I have a copyright on moon, says Gulzar saab...

...in mock seriousness when you prod him over the recurrent image of the moon in his poetry. “I have used the moon so much that I have a copyright over it.” The leitmotif is so predominant in his work that you can half believe him. Yet for him the moon has many faces. “Maybe, a couple of times, the image could be the same but otherwise, every time, it comes out differently. I meet the moon in different images. There is no repetition of the images of the moon because it comes to me differently every time.”

This is what makes Gulzar, one of the few Indian poets whose appeal is two-fold, unique.

Taking the simile of the moon further, for him: “It is a 50 paisa coin and a bundle of clothes as well. It is a maathe ka teeka, it is the handle of a sword—it is many things, many times.”

I interject at the point a little dryly: your moon has gone playing into the galaxy as well. He retorts with a laugh: Yes. It chews paan too. And in the ghazal:

Moonh par ghaaza mal gaya hai

Dhund hai chaaron taraf

Powder laga kar aaya hai

Jaise photo khichane aaya hai

And in another place:

Jhenpa jhenpa aa raha hai chaand

Jaane kisse mil kar aa raha hai chaand

I play with the image of the moon. I play with it,” he declares.

Apart from the imagery of the moon, of course, there is that of the eyes, which is again, very distinct. Then there is the play on water. So, what is that these images hold for you when you come back to them again and again, I ask him? Is there any aesthetic dimension to them?

“It is my spontaneity and my ease which enable me to try and catch and say the things that I feel strongly. If I say something different, I say it not because it is right or wrong but just that it is different and it is more to do with my habit,” says the wordsmith.

It is this spontaneity of the poet-writer that makes him popular in the Hindi and Urdu literary world. He is an out and out a people’s poet too. Gulzar successfully travels between the literary and the popular with his poetic craft. Who else can see the moon doing something as mundane as chewing paan? It is his ability to transcend the intellectual biases of the medium and reach out to the masses through his film writings that make him one of the most memorable lyrical writers of this century in both the popular and the literary anthologies.

Writing for more than five decades by now, Gulzar is known as a lyricist, a filmmaker, scriptscreenplay and dialogue writer, short story writer and translator. Through all the creative endeavours that he picks to showcase his creativity, it is poetry that shines through. Possessing a keen eye for detail, his sensitivity permeates through the use of his distinctive imagery and metaphors.

Born in August 1934 in Dina, which is now in Pakistan as Sampooran Singh Kalra, Gulzar was the fourth child of nine children of Sardar Makhan Singh. His mother died when he was only an infant. It was after the Partition, that he came to India. One group of the family settled in Roorkee, one moved to Udaipur, one had settled in Kanpur and one in Mumbai. Although Gulzar was barely 10-11 years old at the time of the Partition, the memory of the trauma left an indelible impression on his young mind which found a voice in the collection of short stories Raavi Paar and Other Stories, as he mentions it in the foreword. Gulzar mentions how the Partition left him bruised and scarred and goes on to add that he cannot help but write about that excruciating period. The pangs of Partition are also reflected in many of his poems including Bhameree, which delineates the family’s flight to save their lives at the turbulent time:

Hum sab bhaag rahe the

Refugee the

Maan ne jitney zevar the, sab pahan liye the

Baandh liye the...

Chhoti mujhse...chhay salon ki

Doodh pila ke, khoob khila ke, saath liya tha

Maine apnee ek “bhameere” aur ek “lattu”

Pajame mein uddas liya tha

Raat ki raat hum gaon chodkar bhaag rahe the

Refugee the...

Communal tension in general occupied Gulzar to a great extent and a large body of his poems gave voice to his angst, so much so that he goes on to question the existence of God. There are six poems, titled Fasaadat 1 – 6 in the book Raat Pashmine Ki where the existence of God has been questioned. The poem, Fasaadat 3, ends with the couplet Aazmaish ki thi kal raat khudaon ke liye/Kal mere shaher mein ghar unke jalaye sab ne!!

The sensitivity displayed by Gulzar in his writings and the treatment of his films is the hallmark of his character. He tried to give me a date for the interview on a weekend, so that my daughter doesn’t miss school. His staff is with him for decades now. I spoke to some people who are associated with him, and everyone talks of his down-to-earth attitude. It is this remarkably sensitive and psychological understanding of people and their motivations and needs that are reflected throughout his life and work.

From Pakistan the family initially came to Delhi and lived in Basti Punjabia in Sabzi Mandi, where the young boy tried to complete his studies. After his matriculation from Delhi’s United Christian School, Gulzar joined St. Stephens College but was pulled out in the middle of the first term and sent to Mumbai, to his brother. The poet claims with his characteristic wry humour that he was already “establishing the reputation of being the black sheep of the family because of his love for poetry” and remembers how his father would worry about him that he was becoming a “miraasi”.

His love for lyrics, poetry and literature goes back to his young days when he would participate in antakshari, learn shairi, listen to Hindustani music and attend concerts.

Gulzar’s perfection in Urdu comes from the love for the Urdu poetry which began in the madarassa that he attended while he was in Pakistan. It kept growing even after he came to Delhi. The poet fondly remembers Maulvi Mujib-ur Rehman who taught him Urdu in Delhi, but after Maulvi Rehman left for Pakistan, Gulzar only learnt Hindi in school. This however did not stop his love affair with the poetic language that he kept nurturing.

The makings of the Urdu poet in Gulzar began in Delhi when he would indulge in bait baazi and recite Urdu couplets that he learnt by heart. His opponent in bait baazi, Akbar Rashid, was better at memorising poetry. Gulzar, not wanting to lose, would add a line or a word to the original, marking the beginnings of the legend that he would become.

This extempore trait he carried to his writings for films. It helped him successfully bring in the classical into the popular world, keeping earlier poetry alive in today’s language. He would pick up famous couplets of the masters of classical Urdu poetry, add his own words to them, thus turning them into beautiful songs; providing them with a contemporary feeling and connecting with the masses instantly. Be it Mausam’s Dil dhoodta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din/Baithen rahein tassawur-e-jana kiye hue, which is actually a Ghalib couplet, built into a song—Jadon ki naram dhoop aur aangan mein let kar/Aankhon pe kheech kar tere aanchal ke sai ko/Aondhe pade rahein/Kabhi karvat liye hue…/—or be it a Jigar Moradabdi couplet—Yeh Ishq nahin aasaan bas itna samajh leejiye/Ek aag ka dariya hai aur doob ke jana hai—that he further moulds for the requirement and the song for the film Kaminey (2009)—Ye ishq nahin aasaan/Ajee AIDS ka khatra hai/Patwaar pahen jaana/Yeh aag ka dariya hai/Ke nayya dobe na/Yeh bhawra kaate na.

In Mumbai, Gulzar initially joined Khalsa College which he left after a year to study in National College, as the former did not have a faculty in Urdu and Persian literature. However, he abandoned his education in the second year, which he not only regrets till date, but also mentions in conversations regularly when discussing his past.

Throughout his years of struggle as a garage mechanic in Worli, Mumbai, he kept his passion for poetry alive, regularly penning lines. His film career began with assisting the legendary Bimal Roy on the iconic film Kabuliwala, (1961) for which he also wrote the song Ganga aaye kahan se.

“But it was my song Mora gora ang lae le/ mohe shyam rang dae de in Bandini (1962), based on Vaishnawite poetry which was my entry-pass to Hindustani cinema,” says Gulzar of his tryst with Hindi cinema. With these two films, Gulzar made a distinct mark for himself in Indian cinema, the rest as they say is history.

His association with the Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA) and Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) helped widen his perspective as it provided him a platform for discussion and exchange of ideas with leading intellectuals, authors and poets of the time. The varied influences he was thus exposed to, Gulzar internalised, and they stayed with him all his life.

The poet believes in keeping abreast with the literature being produced round the world, even reading contemporary translations. “One needs to analyse the poetry of India to actually decipher all that is happening,” is Gulzar’s profound observation. Truly, poetry has always been the medium of expression for all eras, from the earliest oral history to the political poetic expressions of today.

The vast repertoire of literature that absorbs the author-poet-filmmaker is astounding. Apart from the literature of Bengal, Gulzar is often left wondering at the experiments in Malayalam poetry. “In Tamil, to which the Indian Government has recently given the status of classical language, there was poetry in the pre-Christian era, often referred to as the Sangam era,” he says. Then he goes on to discuss the literature of Punjab, the place of his birth, where Sufism came for the first time. “It came from West Asia and spread to other parts of the country.” He talks at length of the movement of Sufism and the poetry of Farid, Sultan Bahoo and Bulle Shah.

Gulzar believes in changing with the changing times, largely in terms of languages. “I am glad to be working for the directors and composers of today and am still learning to write according to today’s world and era,” says the writer. The humility of the man who the literary world looks up to as an inspiration is touching.

The writer-poet emphasises on the fact that his choice of words is “largely related to the sound of the words…words that the generation of today can relate better to”. He may be an intellectual but he is clearly writing for the people. For instance, “Jupiter and Mars have Hindi-Urdu equivalents, but the generation of today does not connect with it,” says Gulzar. Thus, he uses a mélange of different languages as per the mood of the poem as a characteristic. What is striking is that very often, the titles of his poems are in English. For example, some poems from his collection Pukhraaj are titled as Landscape, Painting, Model and even Good Morning, that would easily establish a connect with the readers.

Gulzar’s use of language leads to yet another aspect of his writing, his use of imagery, which is actually his signature style. His unique images with their extreme sensibility and sensitivity enhance the daily mundane existence to a level of the fine aesthetics which in their own turn challenge the everyday realities. How does he conceive these myriad images and their varied realities?

“You see a sun, a sunset, and immediately, a thought comes to you that it is a ball of fire that has exploded,” he begins his explanation, an attempt to introduce me to his poetic worldview. “Obviously, all that you have read comes to you in four–five similes but how it comes to your mind, and how you respond to it could be something different. Are they coming only from books, feeding your memory or are you feeling something beyond that? If you are feeling something beyond, there would be a new added image as well.” I nod my head and he continues.

“It often happens, while writing, your memories come flooding, like a computer, it feeds into it. You just have to keep it aside and wait to see how you feel about it. If you can pinpoint, then you are keeping to the spontaneity. So, what have you felt? I try to express what I have actually felt, whether it is a part of the custom or not....ummm, for example when you travel in a plane, you must have seen it... a milky white lamb running after me in great speed and it hits against the rear wing. It gets hurt, turns red. I get up to see. Blood spreads over the entire horizon. What you have seen, turning red and spreading the crimson colour on the horizon is actually a cloud when you see it from a plane. This is the image that comes to you. If you can’t catch it, you have lost it.”

I am entirely lost…but am mesmerized by the man and the power of the images that his words evoke.

Gulzar continues uninterrupted by my thoughts. “So, it is up to your own sensitivities and sensibilities, how to catch it and from where you catch it. I have just felt the day going by, there is a little sunshine coming from under the door. You can feel that the sunshine is turning red. It seems as if, while passing by, it has left a chit behind, saying:

Kal aayon ki nahin, pata nahin, lekin ek khat chode jaa raha hoon, tumne aaj ka din bhi kaat liya.

It depends on how you react to it. If you don’t react to it, it is gone.”

He obviously has captured it well for me and the readers. I bid adaab to him and take my leave with the sun and the clouds casting strange images around me and I under the spell of the moon:

Saba is the author of the book, I Swallowed the Moon: The Poetry of Gulzar. The profile uses excerpts of interview from the book.)

Poll to Take Place in Nine Phases

ELECTIONS\\ India’s General Elections-2014 will be held from April 7 to May 12, 2014, in nine phases, the Election Commission announced in March.

The votes will be counted on May 16. The election schedule will ensure that security forces can be moved across the country for adequate deployment in sensitive areas.

The North Eastern states could go to the polls in the first phase. Allegedly some 814 million people are eligible to vote in this election, over 100 million more than 2009.

There are 9,30,000 polling stations in the country. The model code of conduct comes into force immediately, which means the government cannot make any policy announcements. Election Commission sources however said this would exclude the process to appoint the Lokpal or national anti-graft ombudsman, which has already begun.

This is the first Lok Sabha election in which voters will have the None of The Above option if they do not like any of the candidates in their constituency.

The term of the current Lok Sabha ends on June 1 and a new house has to be constituted by 31 May, 2014.