Sustainable Technologies and Environmental Projects or STEPS is taking measured but certain steps towards ensuring our planet stays green

Between stunning Hawaii and beautiful Japan, there is an area of the Pacific Ocean where ocean currents meet. Called the North Pacific Gyre, it is twice the size of Texas, and should have been pristine and pure. But it is suffocating in 3.5mn tonnes of trash, says the renowned Algalita Marine Research Foundation of Long Beach, California. Its studies have shown that plastic fragments outnumber zooplankton 40:1 in the area. The Gyre resembles a plastic soup. It isn’t just the sea, the land is no less polluted. According to America’s authoritative Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US produces more than 230 million tonnes of waste each year—enough to fill more than 82,000 football fields edge-toedge with six-foot high compacted garbage. If just four per cent of the world’s population generates more than one-fourth of the planet’s waste, one can only imagine what the rest of the planet is suffering. The biggest threat to our planet is from plastic waste.

Scientists have theorised that since plastic is made from petroleum, it can be turned back into fuel. The idea is that it will not only remove harmful plastic from the environment, but also turn it into usable fuel. Entrepreneurs have tried, but haven’t found just the right technology. Most plastic-to-fuel processes are either not commercially viable, produce inferior quality fuel, harm the environment or handle only a few types of plastic.

However, an Indian engineer has developed a process that can revolutionise plastic waste conversion worldwide. T. Raghavendra Rao of Mumbai produces high-quality fuel from waste plastic, without producing harmful byproducts. His process is cost-effective and can handle plastic waste of any kind. Most plasticto- fuel technologies fail in the quality of fuel they produce. The catalysts they use, remain in the fuel they produce. “That leaves you with 500kg of catalyst in a 25 tonne-a-day plant,” says Rao. Such a high volume of toxic residue is environmentally unacceptable.

That’s why Rao set up STEPS, for Sustainable Technologies and Environmental Projects, in Mumbai. STEPS uses a proprietary catalyst that helps convert plastic into a mix of liquid fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, and coke that can turn into fuel pellets. The fuel can run furnaces and generator sets, and can even be refined to make petrol, kerosene, diesel and light diesel oil. And the LPG generated from the process is sufficient to power the conversion plant itself. “Our process leaves no catalyst in the residue, which is anyway free carbon that can be compressed into pellets and used as fuel in furnaces,” adds Rao.

Rao says that just 15 large cities of India produce nearly 4mn tonnes of waste every day, of which almost 200,000 tonne is plastic. “We are focused on turning waste into wealth.” It sounds like magic and is, indeed, magical. Rao is one of India’s, and perhaps, one of the world’s finest eco-entrepreneurs. He has received encouraging results from tests in the Netherlands, West Asia, and Malaysia. STEPS is expanding globally and setting up plants which can process 25 tonnes of plastic a day, in Austria, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Set up at a cost of $2 to $3mn each, these plants are not considered expensive. The good news does not end here. Rao’s technology can produce up to 25,000 litres of petroleum a day, at an operating cost of Rs 12 a litre—just a little more than a quarter—excluding the cost of raw material. STEPS says the fuel they produce meets the standards prescribed by ASTM International, a US-based body that sets product quality and safety standards for the industry worldwide. “The wonderful thing about the STEPS technology is that its outcome is so positive; its application can be world changing,” says Jerry Llewellyn, president of Amera Consulting Group in Texas, USA. James Vance, project manager at IC2 Institute at the University of Texas which evaluated the “marketability” of STEPS says “Competing systems from Alphakat (Buttenheim, Germany), Ozmotech (Victoria, Australia) and Plas2Fuel (Washington, USA) exist, but they have limitations of emissions, selective plastic input as well as high capital cost due to low processing efficiency.” Vances’s report on STEPS clearly put Rao’s innovative technology way ahead of any competition worldwide. In 2007, STEPS won an award from the India Innovation Growth Programme. The programme is a joint initiative of aviation giant Lockheed Martin, the federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and IC2. It helps innovative Indian technologies find markets worldwide. T.R. Rao is not resting on his laurels. Apart from plastic, the STEPS technology can also work on organic waste. The company has a joint venture in Malaysia with Greenbase Sepadu Sdn Bhd, and has tested Rao’s technology on branches from which the palm fruit (used to make palm oil) has been harvested. Closer home, the STEPS technology may be one way to efficiently handle the mounting e-waste in the country. STEPS has developed seven waste conversion technologies. Of these, five technologies have been commercialised. There are others in various stages of development; Rao is a man hard at work.

There are some other technologies that STEPS has developed. Most of them are selfexplanatory: they include Refinery Waste to Fuel conversion , Agriculture waste to Fertiliser, Biomass to Energy, Grey Water Treatment and Chemical Free Algae Control.

As the world grapples with waste disposal, Rao is confident there will be no dearth of raw materials for his plants. He says that nothing is waste till it is wasted and he has shown the world that these are not mere big words.

An arresting debut by an young author; a one-time treat

THIS YEAR, I attended an event where Rwanda’s ambassador to India said, “How can there be an African-Western dialogue when all people come to Africa to look at the elephant.” The garnered a few chuckles, but it had a biting veracity to it, too. Africa is a misunderstood continent. Much of its identity is formed from the outside. We have bought our BBC / CNN-esque versions of its suffering, the predatory West’s exploitation, owned by al-Bashirs and Mugabes. Straddled with so much weight, writing about Africa is difficult.

NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel— We Need New Names—attempts a narrative of dispossession, hunger and nostalgia. The book begins with its narrator, Darling, a ten-year-old imp in a shanty-town of Paradise in Zimbabwe. Darling is an original character carrying the honest immediacy which only a child can posses. With her friends, Bastard, Chipo, GodKnows, Shbo and Stina, they are a riot playing their improvised games. Through their conversations the author offers us a striking commentary on the life of rundown Zimbabweans living on the society’s margins.

The beginning is spectacular. Darling with her disjointed sentences offers distressing circumstances with extraordinary energy. After the initial fright at seeing the body of a woman hanging from a tree, the friends take her shoes to exchange them for bread. They run toward the village “laughing and laughing and laughing”. It is evident that when Bulawayo is not-so-controlling of her material and goes unscripted, she achieves brilliant results. When the NGO van with its aid disappears into the distance, the children pull out their new toy guns, and the lines read: “Let’s go and play war, and then we take off to run and kill each other with our brandnew guns from America”. Bulawayo’s chutzpah is commendable.

But then she does it a tad too much (the obese Chinese contractor “chingchongs ching-chongs”). The initial feeling of inexactitude and innocent observations turn into an ill-handled vendetta to put all of the Global North’s carnage into subsequent chapters. New Names becomes an exercise in expansion of her Caine prize-winning short-story Hitting Budapest. It appears that to write No Names, Bulawayo sat uncomfortably in her Cornell dormitory and opened the Africa section of the NYTimes. Then she cut all its headlines and pasted them all in a singular book. In its second-half, the pace slackens and Darling seems distant.

This has been one of my biggest concerns about writing coming out of the post-colonial Asian and African discourse. The news-bulletin-like use of the misfortunes becomes am alarmingly sore way of presenting any continent. It was my complaint with Adiga’s The White Tiger. Bulawayo’s selection in the Booker short-list has guaranteed her a lot of readers. But does the writing offer a fair representation of the realities of Zimbabwe and its people? Or is it a Caine-Booker “aesthetic of suffering”, as Helon Habila calls it, where the pathos is washed way in a sort of weary duplicity of the reality being represented? The latter half of New Names takes places in “Destroyed- Michygen” or Detroit, Michigan when the adamant motif of flight finally allows Darling to move to America, the land of “real” people. I had half-expected the teenage years of Darling to be redemptive, to have Darling beware of her irreconcilable alliance with urban America. However, the country that the ten-year-old Darling affectionately called “my America”, with its promises and freedom, is a long snow-covered winter. The immigrant experience described poignantly in many a diaspora novels has an outright flippancy in Bulawayo’s book. In a Los Angeles Review interview she says of Darling, “Her being a child with no strong ties to Zimbabwean culture meant she simply sneezed Zimbabwe out and inhaled America and kept it moving.” I believe Darling’s years in America are both illuminating and fatiguing. Her new life is an immersion into and disaffection with American culture. She works odd jobs, scores A’s at school, watches muted pornography with her friends “because when the real action starts we always like to be the soundtrack”. Bulawayo’s Darling feels congealed among self-deceptions and a disengaged nostalgia. In due course, the book is cut short and the denouement, the book’s saving grace, is a grim image of an unrecognisable homeland. Watching Darling grow up with resentment and awe, she is distanced even more from the Zimbabwe she left behind.

By the time I finished, it didn’t matter if it was any other African country. As if to prove my point, towards the end, a character wants to go hunt for the elephant that the Rwandan ambassador spoke of. Except he doesn’t know what country he’d find it in.

Crisp text let down by weak characterisation

IF ONE had to mention a singular feature which distinguishes Jhumpa Lahiri's style, it had to be her precise, concise prose, an ability she seems to have triumphed in with The Lowlands. The book’s prose is often self-consciously clipped. However, it manages to skirt being clinical and stays—in best parts—exceedingly intimate.

A simple summary of The Lowlands; it’s a story of brothers Subhash and Udayan Mitra growing up in Calcutta, with an age gap which makes them as good as twins, and just as inseparable.

“He was blind to self-constraints,” Lahiri writes about Udayan, “like an animal incapable of perceiving certain colors. But Subhash strove to minimise his existence, as other animals merged with bark or blades of grass.” Though the brothers excel in school, it is Subhash, the chemical engineer, who immerses himself in his studies, while Udayan becomes involved in the radical communist movement that springs up in India in the late 1960s. For the first time in is life, Subhash does not follow his brother’s lead and pursues his graduate studies in Rhode Island. As Udayan engages in revolutionary activities, Subhash completes his doctorate and reads occasional letters from Udayan in which the only significant development he reports is his secret marriage to Gauri. Circumstances force Subhash to return to India and he weds Udayan’s pregnant wife, Gauri, substituting himself for his dead brother and bringing up Bela as his own. The rest of the novel works as an examination of this one act and its consequences. The major limitation of The Lowland? Personally, it was Lahiri’s weak characterisations—especially of the character Gauri (though Lahiri devotes her maximum effort to bring her to life). Even at the end of the book, a reader might fall short of fully understanding why a woman so loved, and longed for, is rendered so incapable of feelings—not just maternal. She just is.

As usual, the themes of belonging and alienation, place and displacement, remains the leitmotif of Lahiri’s writing. In The Lowland, they seem more alive than before—especially thanks to the preciseness of the prose. However, one is constantly reminded and forced to compare Lahiri to her younger self, the one that penned The Interpreter of Maladies, a book that managed all this, and more, in terser language. Perhaps Jhumpa Lahiri works best in the tighter format of a short story?

The Blue Mountains are a fascinating place to discover intriguing India

The ‘Fragrant One’ from the land of the Blue Mountains lingers on the tastebuds. The colour is a brisk orange and the taste a distinct honey-sweet, not sharp and tangy but sweet and mellow. Just the right kind of tea, yes, it is the Fragrant One, a tea to sip through the day to beat the slight chill of the mountain air! But there’s certainly more to the Nilgiris than its tea. It’s a destination that is simply exquisite in its beauty. The Nilgiri Hills are a part of the rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats, located bordering the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Nilgiri District, part of Tamil Nadu, is situated within these hills. The English name of the Nilgiri Hills is Blue Mountains—their literal translation. No one knows exactly why the mountains earned the nomenclature. This historically rich land, bestowed with abundant flora and fauna, is covered by a blue sheath every 12 years, when the mauve-blue Neelakurunji flowers bloom and impart a bluish tinge to the mountain slopes—the reason, perhaps, behind the name. The indigenous people of the Nilgiris used the blossoming cycle of the shrubs to calculate their age.

The region has reasons galore to celebrate the Nilgiris. The world-renowned travel destination is blessed with not one but several hill stations, each at a different altitude. It is a retreat that packs the thrill of high mountains, deep valleys, sparkling water bodies, dense forests and steep slopes, rich biodiversity, the peace of tea gardens, and the adventure of trekking and mountain cycling, et al. It is home to Ketti, the world’s widest valley, as well as the famous Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. If this has whetted your appetite, block your dates for an early winter vacation in the Blue Mountains— winter is the best season to enjoy the manysplendoured beauty of the area, and to beat the tourist crowd. November marks the beginning of the winter season in the Nilgiris with moderate temperatures making for a comfortable stay. By January the holiday season is over. Summers are also a good time to plan a vacation. But this will push your visit to March–June 2014! Coimbatore, 100km away, is the nearest point to the Nilgiris, and the nearest airport. From here you can either take a train or journey by road to Mettupalayam. The journey will take you directly to Ooty (anglicised name of Uddhagamandalam), or the Queen of Hills, if you take the train, you are in for a joy ride from Mettupalayam to Ooty—hold your breath—on a toy train! When you sit hanging out of the window (yes you can, it averages 10.5 km per hour) as the train chugs up 2,600m to Ooty, do remember this bit of history, but not before you get your first real glimpse of the picturesque Nilgiris. The quaint toy train made its first journey up from Mettupalayam at the foothills of the Nilgiris to Ooty 114 years ago, in 1899. It took Swiss Locomotive Works 45 years to lay the tracks through the rough terrain, the work for which began in 1854. The fact that the toy train still runs up and down the track hauled by its steam engine is a testimony to the locomotive and engineering prowess of the times. The train winds its way through four halts. The first of these is Kellar. Enjoy the easy ride and the sight of the paddy fields till you reach this point. The next leg is not for the chicken-hearted as the train chugs up the rocky terrain and 13 blinding tunnels and viaducts all the while clinging to the mountain-side to reach Coonoor. Come back to Coonoor to visit the tea gardens later. But for now, move on to fern hills and enjoy the train journey of a lifetime going uphill to reach the highest altitude of this railroad journey at 2,218m. Most importantly, you have had the privilege of being a passenger on a World Heritage Site. Do preserve the ticket for posterity, for Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Just before Ooty, the ride suddenly dips downhill, twisting and turning all the way to Adderly, giving you a gut-wrenching feeling much like when on a thrilling high-speed ride in an amusement park. All the while the old train chugs on rhythmically, billowing smoke at intervals. After the hair-raising ride on the ratchet and pinion track in the vintage cog train (30 such trains are left in the world), you disembark at Ooty. You won’t have a quibble with anyone in the world for bowing to the beauty of this queen. Situated at a height of 2,240m, Ooty is a piece of paradise. You will feel refreshed in its summer climate which never crosses 25°C. In the winters, the mercury rarely dips below 5°C and the maximum is a pleasant 21°C. The beauty of the Nilgiri Hills lay undiscovered till the 1800s, when the British found its “European” climate more suitable for Englishmen. The credit for discovering it actually goes to John Sullivan, then Collector of Coimbatore, who built a house here up in the mountains. Soon, other Europeans followed suit, attracted by the salubrious ambience of the Blue Mountains, and it became the summer resort of the gentry. Later, the practice of moving the government to the Niligiris evolved and it became the summer capital of the Madras Government. Though the original inhabitants of the Nilgiris are the indigenous Todas, not even the dynastic rulers— the Cheras, the Cholas, the Pandiyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Ganges, the Pallavas, the Kadambas and the Hoysalas—can be credited with discovering this jewel in their crown which remained uncelebrated till the British developed and modernised it, connecting the hill stations with a railroad. Make yourself at home in Ooty and then plan short sojourns to explore the coffee and tea plantations here and in Coonoor, famous for its tea plantations, just 19km away, and Kothagiri, which is at a distance of 31km. Arm yourselves with a good camera and set out to explore the exotic flora and fauna in the mountains and forests around you. You are in one of the world’s 14 ‘hotspots’. The Nilgiris have achieved this distinction because of their rich biodiversity. This is India’s first biosphere offering a range of stirring experiences and visual delights. Blessed with a maritime climate, Coonoor, a smaller cousin of Ooty, is basically a tea-garden town. A pair of binoculars will come in handy here as it is home to a variety of birds, making it the ardent bird-watchers’ destination. Visit Sim’s Park, the botanical garden, to get a manicured feel of the vast natural treasure trove that the Nilgiris hide in their vast terrain. But the best part of visiting Coonoor is a visit to the Dolphin’s Nose Point. This spectacular rock formation, 10 km from Coonoor, is situated 1,000m above sea level. Shaped naturally like a dolphin’s nose, it offers the most panoramic view of Coonoor. The route to the point has hairpin bends that are great vantage points for a view of enthralling nature and the tea gardens. But Dolphin’s Nose itself is unbeatable with deep ravines on both sides and a view of continuous sheets of water cascading down the Catherine Falls.

If you are a history buff or nurse an anthropological interest, head out to Kothagiri. Here again, the carefully cultivated tea gardens are a beautiful sight but if you venture beyond them towards the interiors, you will chance upon the original owners of this piece of paradise— the Kota tribes. Kotagiri, in fact, means ‘mountain of the Kotas’. The Kotas, a very private people, are on the verge of extinction. They generally do not mix with outsiders. Learn more about them and do visit their place of worship, the temple of Kamataraya.

The Nilgiris can best be described as a mountain destination with a mine of infotainment waiting to be discovered. From a resort life in touristy Ooty to the more close-to-the-elements experience in the secluded Pandalur, treks for the adventurous, to just breathing in the beauty of the place for the more sedentary, history and anthropology, wildlife and biodiversity, the Blue Mountains have it all. The sheer beauty of the Nilgiris acts like a balm on the soul of the world weary traveller.

Atelier has created a space for art to engage masses

I don’t sleep,” smiles Kuljeet Singh, Assistant Professor in the Department of English, University of Delhi. Though humorously said, managing as vast a repertoire of activities as he does certainly requires some superhuman qualities. Singh is the Founder and Creative Director of the Delhi-based theatre group Atelier Theatre Company, which completes 10 years in January 2014.

Apart from the intriguing French name, what sets apart Atelier is its passion to connect with the masses. One of the most active theatre companies of Delhi, Atelier is, as its founder says, “A theatre company specifically creating and performing for public.” The Professor describes it as “an umbrella organisation”, the result of “mutual passion of a few like-minded artists” who were looking for a platform where “they could learn, unlearn, create, curate, collaborate and perform.” Atelier literally means “an artists’ studio” in French, Singh enlightens. The ‘moving arms’ logo on Atelier’s website suggests movement and space. Atelier creates a neutral space for all people and all artistic expressions.

The veteran thespian’s interest in theatre goes back to his college days. So much so, that he even chose history of theatre on the campus of University of Delhi as his dissertation thesis for MPhil. “I tried to construct the history of campus theatre from 1924 and for my doctorate thesis I am focussing on the shift from colonial to indigenous theatre,” he says.

The theatre aficionado with a strong interest in visual arts, performance and film studies, dabbles in various other mediums, too. He played a significant cameo in the National Award winning film Amu directed by acclaimed director Shonali Bose who also won the Global Film-making Award at the Sundance Festival 2012 for the film. Singh also played a key role in Interval directed by Vikrant Sharad Nigam. The film was based on a compilation of short stories by Saddat Hassan Manto.

“I finished shooting for Margarita with a Straw, directed by Shonali Bose recently.” Singh again has a cameo in this film which stars Kalki Kochelin in a defining role. The film is already stirring up quite a storm with its unique subject of a super intelligent woman trapped in a disabled body.

After honing his skills under the tutelage of the most respected names in theatre circles including M.K. Raina, Surendra Sharma, Roysten Abel, Avatar Sahni, Anna-Helena McLean and V.K. Sharma, Singh launched his own company on January 14, 2004.

“The first five years were real-time struggle for commitment, space, funding and programming,” recalls Singh. But he remained undaunted, as even today the struggle continues. “People came, joined, left and the process continued for long and still goes on.”

For the Professor these years of struggle have been a period of learning. “Slowly things settled down and today almost after 10 years when I look back, I feel as if an age was spent building and nourishing the company,” he reminisces.

Atelier has three major units working towards promoting the mandate of the organisation, “connecting theatre with masses”, says Singh. The first is the Campus Theatre which brings the youth connect. Perhaps, Singh’s profession as a teacher and his own theatrical roots make this unit of primary importance. “Atelier Theatre is enriched with the energy and ideas of the youth, especially from the University circuit,” he says acknowledging their contribution.

Annually, Atelier organises a theatre festival, Atelier’s Campus Theatre Festival (ACT), which is Asia’s largest theatre fiesta, focussing on theatre on the university campus, says Singh expanding on their efforts to tap young talent. “This festival showcases more than 35 performances and runs for 16 days across eight venues in Delhi and NCR region.” In 2011, Atelier held the sixth episode of the festival and its team is working towards the seventh episode scheduled for February, 2014.

Atelier extends its professional expertise to college theatre groups. “We also direct plays for college theatres and in the last three years, I have directed a few major production for several colleges,” informs Singh. These included Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Janki Devi Memorial College; Sakina: Rehearsing Manto in the Times of Gang Rape for IP College; MantoRang, Mahabhoj and Antigone for SGTB Khalsa College. Singh is the Cultural Convenor of The Theatre Society at SGTB Khalsa College.

Children’s varied expressions find a platform at Atelier under its Theatre in Education (TIE) unit. “My dream project is to create a full-fledged Children’s Repertory Company comprising children and adults as a part of our TIE unit”, says the Professor. Explaining his vision he adds, “Theatre is education. The process of making a play is extremely educative.”

TIE works with school children on creative learning. “This was our primary work when we started and it has become the backbone of Atelier as a group,” observes Singh. Atelier has a panel of experts and qualified practitioners with almost a decade of experience working with children, and engages school children from class IV upwards through workshops, talks, theatre performances and festivals, throughout the year.

Bachpan, a children’s theatre festival, is an offshoot of the TIE programme.Under this, Atelier invites teams from different schools to practice and perform for a zonal round and the selected teams then present their productions at the grand finale at a professional space. “We are presently working with 48 schools in the NCR region,” Singh gives a glimpse of its popularity.

Atelier Repertory Company (ARC), the third significant unit of Atelier, formally commenced operations in 2010. “Begun with three permanent artists, the number is eight currently,” Singh elaborates on the professional theatre branch. “We create four professional productions annually and stage around 50 public performances of them in Delhi and upcountry,” he adds.

As for the audience, “Atelier is a consortium of people from all walks of life, for its mission is to connect with the masses. Theatre has that connecting energy,” smiles the Professor. Talking about the performers he explains, “As far as performers are concerned, mostly practitioners and seldom college students become a part of the repertory’s work. But when it’s a commissioned project by a college or an institute, generally, their own students act.”

Theatre workshops form a part of Atelier’s repertory. Prof Singh has designed a unique nine-day programme called Tale of an Idiot to unleash the potential of the participants. “The participants devise their own tales and create brief pieces for performance on the last day for parents, friends and relatives,” Singh explains the format.

For Singh there is a sense of personal enjoyment and achievement in conducting these programmes, as he says, “every time I manage to extract the best from the participants”.

Discussing his future vision for the theatre company Singh notes, “I see Atelier as primarily a theatre company touring India and subsequently going international with its productions. What defines Atelier from other theatre groups in India is its structured and all-round work.” The anniversary year will be a platform to showcase this.

A fledgling effort to get rural art its due space in urban intellectual imagination

A 10-day exhibition of select paintings by village artists of Madhubani concluded recently in New Delhi. The unexpected showcasing of grassroots art of artistes residing in India’s rural interiors of Bihar in the Capital was intriguing. But it was all for a purpose. Gauri Varma, Founder, Lokatma, and the brains behind the exhibition says, “One of the reasons for doing our first exhibition of village-based artists in a five-star hotel where, typically, avantgarde artists hold solo shows, or event management companies organise exhibitions for Indian and international labels is to emphasise the point that urban art-lovers can afford to pay a good price for worthy collectible rural art.” This would still be “a fraction of what they may spend on other forms of entertainment and consumption,” she adds emphatically. Varma has a point and a clear agenda—to promote rural art and artisans. She conceived Lokatma on the spur of the moment one day when she came across a Maithil (Madhubani) painting of north Bihar that drew her attention in a local crafts bazaar in February this year. “It showed two elephants (a male and a female) with a single head. The female elephant was carrying a baby.” There was something about the painting that brought out the loving expression of the elephants poignantly and “mesmerised” Varma. “I began talking to the sellers and over the next few weeks, researched the art form and contacted more than 30 village artists living in various rural settlements in Madhubani district,” Varma says talking about her initiation into the Maithil art form. “They told me that if I wanted to understand their art, I must visit their villages.” Varma, a Delhi denizen, had never visited a village in her life. The thought of visiting one and that too in a remote corner of Bihar had never crossed her mind, but something compelled her to pick up the gauntlet. “In April 2013, I spent six days visiting, interviewing and filming artists and craftspeople in Madhubani district and in Patna.”

In May Varma went on another round of visits, this time to Gaya district in south Bihar where village communities are engaged in stone-craft. She also visited the weaver community in Nalanda district. Madhubani paintings on canvas and fabrics like the sari and the stole have done their bit to popularise this art form. Varma found a stark difference in the Gaya artisans and their Madhubani counterparts. “Whereas, the artists of Madhubani are relatively commercialised, the weavers and stone/wood workers of Nalanda and Gaya are in dire straits, with limited access to good markets. These crafts and their practitioners are struggling to survive,” she revealed. Her visits only served to firm up her resolution to work for these impoverished artists and get them due recognition and commercial support. Thus, the fledging outfit Lokatma, which was born in March 2013 with a staff of two besides the founder, had a huge mandate. But Varma is practical and knows that the task she has undertaken entails hard work. “I decided that since we were a tiny initiative, initially we would focus on five ancient art and craft forms of Bihar in the next few years,” says Varma and adds with a smile, “If we survive.” Maithil paintings, custom designed hand-painted Maithil clothing items, handmade papier-mâché folk sculptures, handwoven Siki grass home decor and tableware items, stone sculptures from Gaya villages, and hand-woven linen sarees from Nalanda weaver cooperatives are the items that Lokatma will be propagating in the initial phase of its journey. She further expands on Mithilanchal paintings which is the traditional name of a distinct geographic-cultural area covering parts of north Bihar and the Nepalese Terai. “And, ultimately, all this depends on marketing the items made successfully by these artists,” she says. The reason for her floating Lokatma. Lokatma has much to be proud of. In its first marketing attempt, the 10-day exhibition-cumsale at The Taj, with limited publicity, sold more than 70 big and small paintings. But for the founder, “What was most rewarding was the feedback we got from visitors who appreciated the diversity of the art forms, and the reasonable pricing.” Enthused by the response, Lokatma is now planning to hold another exhibition of crafts as well as paintings in October-November, 2013. The next step for the resolute art aficionado is opening a website over the next year or two.

Is he an author, a critic, or a ‘corporate’ guy searching for meaning? He is all that, and three things more. Whether you laud or lambast him, Chetan Bhagat has won some Indian hearts with his naukri-chokri stories and algorithms

Introduction To the Secret Life of Chetan Bhagat

Allegedly his novels appeal only to the first-time reader.Allegedly, his columns—criticised almost ritualistically by the English press for being too simplistic—are typically for readers who are firsttime entrants into the arena of socio-political and public discourses, newbies still searching for ‘direction’ and attempting to ‘negotiate’ a country that is hard to thrive in. Allegedly, he does not have a clue about real India. All this ‘alleged’ talk, Chetan Bhagat both accepts and dismisses with a nod. Then breaks into a grin and says, “I really do not care what others think. I am my own critic.” There is a niggling thought, he might actually not...care, i.e.

This life and identity of his—a writer—came at a price (instability). It was a gamble he took in 2000 and worked hard to not lose. For whatever reasons, the gamble paid out. So, no one, not even the fiercest critic, can take all that hard work, and the sheer magic of formulaic writing, away from Chetan Bhagat. In 2000, Bhagat was living what he labels the “perfect NRI life”. He had just landed a great job at an overseas bank, had married his long-time sweetheart (fellow Indian Institute of Management classmate) after a familial battle of sorts, and he was living in one of the most exciting cities in the world (Hong Kong) that, too, in a “sea-facing apartment”. Things were picture perfect. Only it didn’t feel thus. “I remember taking a post-dinner walk in the park one night and thinking to myself, is this it? Is this all my life is ever going to be? I had seen a documentary on ‘human life’ which said to be happy, we needed goals. I had met my goals. In fact, for 10 years before that night, that was all I had worked for. I needed a new set (of goals). I gave this one (writing) to me. I decided to write.” Bhagat was to write about these goals much, much later in Times Of India columns. They were to be clubbed as the naukri-chokri equation; which he pegged as the universal aspiration of the youth.

However, a question remains; why of all professions in this big, bad world, did Bhagat choose one that took that much effort and yielded so little reward?

Bhagat confesses that the writing bug had bitten long ago—in junior school. The first piece he had penned was a modest joke. It was printed in the first edition of the Army Public School Magazine. The two to three lines were signed off by his name—Chetan Bhagat, Class IV(A).

“Those were the days when print outs were expensive, there was little internet interference. And so, seeing your name in print was rare. I saw my name in print for the first time. I must have been 10 or 11 years old. Can you imagine seeing your name in print? Your own name on paper,” he says with a childlike smile which reaches his eyes.

Fortunately, I can agree it is one high (and high it is, as there are no other words to describe the joy of see-ing one’s byline for the first time) which is unparalleled. From then on he became a regular contributor.

While the middle-class family’s stereotypical product (his words, not mine) pursued a meaningful (read; financially viable) career path, there was a secret life of Chetan Bhagat which was running parallel. Throughout school and college, he continued to write. In college, he introduced a newsletter, wrote for the college magazine, and most importantly, wrote skits and plays on behalf of his House. People who knew him should have sniffed out a bit of that genius genie right then.

It seems that as the IIM youth, Chetan Bhagat, had a pretty strong reading of what his audience wanted. “I needed to entertain, that was the end game. If your play wasn’t entertaining then there was a strong possibility that the audience from other Houses (IIT residences) would pelt you with rotten fruits. They would always try to heckle you. As a writer my job was to put bits and pieces of our shared lives in skits and plays, keep my peers connected to the play so much so that it became more fun to watch the show than disrupting it. My style and intent remains the same; I wish to keep my readers’ attention hooked.”

And boy, is he good at that task! Bhagat’s books are everywhere, in every region of this diverse country of ours. Bhagat has changed how the Indian youth perceive Indian English writing since Five Point Someone first came out in 2004. His fans are part of a demographic which includes (a mind bogglingly diverse group of) people across regions, age groups, and different educational qualifications. His novels have sold six million copies overall. And a larger portion of pirated copies have proliferated. He has done to India’s reading habit what a J.K. Rowling managed to do with the children (and some adults) across the world. He is universal. He is ubiquitous.

Seems that Bhagat has managed to do something that writers who followed in his wake, failed to do; he managed to uncover the one big secret of writing, an universal formula for page-turners.

The Revenge of the Popular Indian Writer

“In May 2014, it would be 10 years since Five Point Someone came out. A lot of publishers rejected the book outright. Even when it was published, it wasn’t an overnight sensation. It took a year or year-and-a-half for it to get traction. It was a different era of Indian English writing. There were literary writers, who are still out there, but at that time they were dominating the scene. A lot of people who knew that I was getting into popular English fiction writing warned me. They said that my ‘fancy’ would be the death of me. But I grew from book to book. Then I branched into films. Finally, a strange thing happened. Today, I have a whole set of readers who have never touched a book written by me but have read my columns. They possibly subscribe to the newspaper, they react and comment when I write. My political views, whether they are right or wrong, is leading to more visibility.”

Ten years is a long time; does he still possess the magic wand that allows him to connect to the Indian youth?

“It is getting harder. When I was younger it was so much simpler because I belonged. I don’t anymore—I am going to be 40 soon. It is not easy to enter the mind of an 18 or 20 year old, especially since generations are changing faster nowadays. At the same time there is that confidence. I have done it five times before this, you know,” he says with a smile.

Bhagat might fancy himself to be “older” now, but he keeps the certain nervous energy of the youth, especially when it comes to his process of writing. He admits that at a singular point in time there are hundreds of ideas buzzing around his head, those which can potentially lead to hundreds of page turners. However, not all of them manage to excite him. The one that does, is the keeper. Once the idea is there, it is followed by back-breaking, exhaustive research. For Revolution 2020, Bhagat met private education leaders, college owners, and vice chancellors, to have endless discourses on the private, higher education space in India. Honest writing requires elbow grease. “The internet is a big help,” he admits.

But how does the average day in this prolific writer’s life go? Well, there are no average days anymore.

“I am afraid that I might have diluted myself by taking on too many things. But I confess, when I write, like I am doing right now, I focus completely on the process of writing. I don’t do any interviews, media appearances or talks. In fact, we debated the possibility of this interview for a long time. I become a recluse and start by retreating into a shell. One of my favourite places to write is the library at India International Centre, New Delhi. At a library you can find people reading. When you start wondering what the hell are you doing when no one else cares about books as much as you do, you need a library.”

His other favourite writing retreat is Goa. surprise me. He promptly picks and confesses that The Three Mistakes of My Life is the he is proud of. It wasn’t a “conventional Chetan Bhagat book”.

It was a departure from the usual Bhagat formula; there was friendship and romance, but it dealt with bigger issues. Recently, he collaborated with film director Abhishek Kapoor to make Kai Po Che; a silver screen version. The film put the spotlight on three Indian obsessions; cricket, business and politics. The film was an instant hit.

“I am very happy that I did it. It involved a lot of research. I am not an avid cricket fan, so I had to read up about the cricket bit and the politics...”

Not only the research bit, writing it required subtlety and a bit of courage. The book dwelt quite a bit on the Godhra train incident and its aftermath, quite the task for any writer let alone one who is accused of playing it “rather too simple” for everyone’s taste.

If he took a look around, he would find less people reading. But a whole lot of remaining readers are picking his books up. At the risk of sounding like a parrot—the ubiquitous and universal Chetan Bhagat.

My statement elicits an embarrassed thank you and quick change of topic. “When I am in the middle of writing, I try to set targets, finish a certain number of pages. I write in the morning or noon, till the time my kids are at school.”

“I can tell you that the process of writing is getting harder because of the mounting pressure. I know the stumbling blocks, however, I let the anxiety get to me. It’s like millions of people are going to read my book and there will be millions of different opinions. When the pressure mounts within I have to wait for it to subside. It leads to performance anxiety. (laughs) I still don’t feel like I’ve written five books which have been well received. In a way it’s great! I write as if it is my first time, every time.”

I put before him the hardest task of them all. Choose between your five babies and he manages to “I didn’t know that anyone would actually make a movie of it. But I believe the best is yet to come. Now, when I look back, I see that I could have done so much better.”

The Best Is Yet to Come

Pray but what is ‘better’ for him? A moment’s pause and he acknowledges that it is indeed a difficult answer.

“Just the writer being in control of the story, of his craft, that finesse cultivated over time; if I had all that, I would call it better. Right now, for me, better would be a story that is poignant, moving. I feel that I still hold back, I don’t let my characters feel enough or honestly enough. There is a time when I need to let my heart decide what to do rather than the head. It shouldn’t matter if the books sell 20 per cent less than usual. I seem to have this technique, this critic within me that holds me back. I need to throw all caution to the wind when I write. May be that would be better?”

“I don’t need more money. It is not practically possible for a writer to be more famous. So what is that I want? Or what do I have to lose? Why am I holding myself back? In a way I am greatly excited about my next book. It will be a different Chetan writing it. Either it will be beautiful or it would be horrible; at this point I do not know. I don’t want to be slotted in.”

Slotted and Fitted

The talk about Kai Po Che leads on to the two recent controversial Bhagat columns; one on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and another written on behalf of the Muslim youths. For the former he has been slammed as being a ‘right winger’ and a ‘Modi sycophant’. For the latter, a ‘majoritarian’. There are whispers that he might have joined the Modi coterie.

“People feel comfortable when they can put people into little pigeon-holes. It is easier for them to understand. I am pro-capitalism, proentrepreneurship, and pro-business. That way yes, I am right of centre. If I am being called a ‘right wing person’ because some people perceive me as ‘extra Hindu’ then that label frankly makes me uncomfortable. Here are some things that I will confirm. We need a to have a fair poll, a solid contest. We need to cast our vote. We need to come to a decision. We need to choose. And remember, because I cast vote for a person or party, it does not show complete abidance to either a party or a person. All I am trying to do, is connect the youth to politics. I am not endorsing anyone. I am using my ability to connect to India’s youth to talk of politics. Isn’t it time it got more attention than Bollywood? I did write The Three Mistakes of My Life, I did collaborate on Kai Po Che, and I did speak positively of a politician’s administrative rule.

“All three are me but I am on nobody’s side. My neutrality is my biggest strength. I am not going to be bullied by the so-called liberals who espouse that I have to hate Modi to be a liberal. Forgive me, I don’t love or hate political figures. I don’t think they are worth so much of my emotion,” he says quietly.

As we talk of the most conscientious issue of the afternoon, Bhagat remains strangely non-agitated.

He asks me to drink up my tea and pushes the cup-and-saucer towards me, along with the biscuits. He takes a break in between to change into a brighter blazer and shirt; yes, we have a demanding photographer. He informs me that his in-laws are from Calcutta, and that he has visited the city on a number of occasions.

Yes, Aamir Khan lives in the building behind his. Yes, he has to finish his TOI column by today and then attend a book launch; would I like to come if I am free? All the time, albeit impeccably dressed, he remains completely, utterly barefooted. When I comment that he is the first barefooted celebrity I have interviewed, he wiggles his toes and laughs as his child.

There are bits in Bhagat that are disarmingly simple. His answers swing from insecured to arrogant. He plays down his celebrity status by being there—totally and hundred per cent—while the interview is on. He makes insightful statements and then dismisses them. Bhagat may have found the secret formula to page-turners, but I am beginning to wonder whether anyone would be able to solve the puzzle that is Bhagat.

Train Derails, Kills 37 Pilgrims

ACCIDENT\\ At least 37 people died after being hit by an express train while crossing the tracks at a remote train station in Bihar. The passengers, mostly Hindu pilgrims, had just alighted from a local train at Dhamara Ghat Station and were on their way to a temple in Saharsa, when the accident occurred. As a result, an angry mob beat the driver and set two coaches on fire. Rescue operations started straight and police reinforcements have been sent. Senior state police officer S.K. Bhardwaj said it was difficult to say how many people had died as many bodies had been dismembered. The incident took place at 8:40am. The pilgrims were hit by the Rajya Rani Express travelling on the opposite track. Railway officials said the express train was travelling at high speed as it was not expected to stop at Dhamara Ghat Station.

Railway officials said the express train was travelling at high speed as it was not expected to stop at Dhamara Ghat Station. But after the accident, it stopped a few hundred metres away. An angry mob then pulled out the driver and severely assaulted him. More police have been sent to the area but the region is extremely remote and inaccessible by road. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the incident and ordered district officials to the scene.

India’s state-owned railway network is vast–it operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day. In December 2011, railway officials said train accidents in India had killed 1,220 people over the previous five years. But a government-appointed safety panel in its report last year said about 150,000 people were killed each year crossing train tracks in what officials describe as “unlawful trespassing”.

Antony Blames Pak for Shooting

FIRING\\ Defence Minister A.K. Antony blamed the Pakistan Army for the killings of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) and the ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir. Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the situation along the LoC and International Border, Antony said, “Firing will have an impact on our stand on LoC and as well as relations with Pakistan.” The minister accused the Pakistani Army for ambushing five Indian soldiers along the LoC recently, and said, “Nothing can happen on Pakistan’s side of the border without the know of their Army.” He said specialised team of the Pakistani Army are involved in LoC killings. The government was forced to make a statement on the ceasefire violations following pressure from the Opposition. As per the Army, Pakistan has violated ceasefire more than 70 times so far this year itself—a jump of nearly 85 per cent over the same period last year. Also, casualty figures of soldiers as well as injuries to civilians have been more than compared to last year. Three ceasefire violations were reported along the LoC in Mendhar sector overnight also. The Indian Army has responded fittingly to the provocations from the other side, which has been using heavy weapons including mortars.

Pakistani troops had targeted Indian posts in Mendhar, and Poonch's Balakot sector, Deri Dabsi and Pattri Gala areas, using automatic weapons and mortars. A top Army commander had yesterday warned that Pakistan was making a “serious mistake” and said a befitting reply would be given with “full force” at the time and place of its choice.

TRADE// The Rupee fell to a record low on August 19, 2013, and looked poised for further losses, with a series of measures unveiled last week failing to stall its decline. The currency fell as far as 63.22 to the dollar, breaching the previous low of 62.03 hit on August 16, 2013. Some dealers are expecting further dollar selling by the central bank as well as other measures to prop up a currency that is down 10.8% in 2013, making it the worst performer in emerging Asia.

Traders seemed unconvinced about the efficacy of steps unveiled last week to contain the current account deficit at 3.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) during the current fiscal year, sharply lower than the record high 4.8% in the previous year. “Forex intervention will continue by the central bank. Further measures are expected from the RBI but are unlikely to be effective. The Rupee is expected to touch 63 in no time,” said Param Sarma, chief executive at Brokerage NSP Forex. The partially convertible Rupee closed trading at 61.65/66 last week.

The Rupee’s tumble has fuelled expectations of more action from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which last week curbed outflows from companies and individuals, roiling stock and bond markets on Friday. Policymakers later stepped in to assuage nerves that the government was not looking at curbing foreign money outflows. “Our primary concern is that the policy authorities still don’t get it—thinking this is a fairly minor squall which will simmer down relatively quickly with fairly minor actions,” Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist at Credit Suisse, wrote in a note on Monday. “If this remains the case, then a swift move to 65 against the US$ is probable, which in turn should help focus minds.” The Rupee has been the worst performer in Asia since late May, when the US Federal Reserve first signaled that it may begin tapering its monetary stimulus this year, sparking an exodus of cheap money from emerging markets worldwide.

“The panic is overdone. Foreign exchange reserves are more than adequate. We also think inflows would gradually start to come in while the RBI will also continue to intervene in the market,” said Samir Lodha, managing director at QuantArt Market Solutions, a consultancy and brokerage in Mumbai. Net outflows from the bond and equity markets have totalled $11.4 billion since late May. The bond market has borne the brunt of the outflows, with foreigners taking out around $10 billion since May 22. Equity markets have remained relatively insulated with outflows from the cash market at less than $100 million on Friday, when the main stock benchmarks fell about 4%, the most in nearly two years. Heightened selling in equities could exacerbate the Rupee’s falls, dealers feared. (HT EDIT: There’s only one way out) Mumbai's main stock index fell 1.2% on August 19, 2013. Traders in Hong Kong reported continued selling in Indian bank cash bonds as fast money increased short positions and increased protection buying widened credit default swap spreads. Analysts also are concerned about growing bad loans in the June-quarter earnings of lenders like State Bank of India as slowing economic growth spurs defaults by companies and individuals. State Bank of India at mid-315 basis points (bpd) has soared from end-May lows of 180 bps. Government bond yields remained at 21-month highs with the 10-year bond at 8.95%, up 7 bps. India sold Rs 110 billion of cash management bills on August 19 as part of the central bank's ongoing efforts to tighten cash.