Raintree Media

Head banging, squash, slam-moshing & circle pits

2012-02-09T11:28:00.004+05:30

Sunday saw Bangaloreans through some serious head banging as Kingfisher presented the Summer Storm 2012 at Palace Grounds.

Coming in all the way from Sweden, metal giants Opeth were back in the country on their second visit and they set the city on fire.

Kingfisher Premium has been instrumental in introducing Indian audiences to some of the most prominent DJ's and artists from across the globe. With Lamb of God setting the benchmark at last year’s fest, it has only gotten bigger this time. Known for their versatility, with compositions ranging from death metal to blues and jazz-infused tunes, Opeth headlined the fest this year.

German death metal band Suidakra and Maldivian heavy metal band Nothnegal were the other international acts along with local bands Theorized and Eccentric Pendulum.

I caught up with Opeth drummer Martin Axenrot who told me all about their latest album and what he is looking forward to here.

Martin Axenrot, Opeth

Heritage (their 2011 album, which departs from their usual style of death metal) is less processed — why?
We wanted it to sound as it sounded in the room when we recorded it, and we wanted to try to get that in-the-moment sound that you get when you record live.

What do you think of the Indian metal scene?
I am actually not that familiar with it, but I have heard that there are a lot of things happening over here. It is a lot of fun to be in India again and explore a bit. We are in a different city this time than last time (they played in Chennai in 2009), and we have been told that Bangalore is the rock capital of India, so that is very cool and we are excited. We have been here a couple of days now.

Your expectations from India?
Not much actually, but we would like to meet all the fans we have here. The audience can expect us to give a 100 percent of what we do best.

Opeth at the press conference in Bangalore

Opeth performed in Bangalore on February 5 at Palace Grounds.

Opeth is a 5-member band: Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (Voice, guitar, various), Martin Mendez (Bass guitar), Fredrik Åkesson (Guitar, Vocals), Martin Axenrot, and Joakim Svalberg (Keys, vocals)

The Opeth song list at the fest in Bangalore was:

Through Pain to Heaven (Popol Vuh cover)
The Devil's Orchard
I Feel the Dark
Face of Melinda
Slither
Credence
To Rid the Disease
Folklore
Heir Apparent
The Baying of the Hounds
The Drapery Falls
Deliverance

By Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald:

Transforming lives

2012-02-06T14:23:00.001+05:30

Each morning buses pick up children in Bangalore and take them to a beautiful modern school where they have breakfast and start their lessons. They break for lunch in between and after school, they get a glass of milk before they are dropped home.

The campus is vast, with playgrounds, laboratories, art, music alongside maths, science, languages and social sciences taught in airy and bright classrooms. The difference in this school is that the children come from slums, they bathe and wear clean uniforms in school and their parents do not have to pay a rupee for anything.

Christel House was started by Christel De Haan, who after selling one of the world’s largest vacation exchange providers in 1996, has since been working with children in India, Mexico, South Africa and the US.

The Christel House Learning Centre wants to transform lives by giving children of maids, plumbers, drivers and other low-income earners the opportunity to get an education that would level the difference between them and those from privileged families.

Children at Christel House

I had visited the school some years ago and later published an article about them in the Best of Bangalore, alongside other institutions like Iskcon and ACTS. Last week, I visited the school again and was bowled over by the advancements that have happened in just a few years.

The earlier batches might have suffered from low self-esteem. I don’t think that the current students would have any such problem. From five-year-olds to teenagers, they seem happy, fluent and confident. Some of the students have gone abroad on scholarships and a few have got jobs as management trainees. What a huge difference their learning and new earning capacities would make to their lives and that of their families.

Soon after my visit to the school, I attended an industry meeting that was deliberating the lack of skill sets. We were to consider commissioning a study of skills that different industries required and hopefully, there would be training initiatives based on the report.

Christel House

A senior industry member put forth the most sensible idea – why should we worry about the lack of turners or fitters? If a factory needs a technician, it can hire trainees. With automation replacing humans, jobs in the manufacturing sector are going to decrease. What is required is training in the service sector – hotels, restaurants, shops, spas – these are the sectors that need huge numbers of people.

Just think of it – from cafes to theatres to plush stores in malls, we get service that ranges from bad to indifferent. Yes, we can blame the managements to a certain extent. But when the talent pool is so limited and the demand for bodies to man the stations, so to speak, is so high, employers have no choice but to choose the best among the worst.

Here is where I think schools like Christel House can make a huge difference. Of course, their students have the opportunity to become scientists, engineers, doctors, writers or whatever it is they want to – but for the bulk of children from underprivileged backgrounds, the service sector would be a quick step up the ladder. It is time for industry to work with schools and colleges to train students for the service sector.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the column on Goa Herald on the link below:

http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=155854531&id=3527&eddate=02/04/2012

Over a cup of chai

2012-02-01T10:47:00.003+05:30

On a lazy Sunday morning, onlookers did a double take when Soul Chai, a brand new women’s group in Bangalore kicked off their first event, a treasure hunt, to the loud whoops of a group of 50 women gathered at the Barton Centre.

Girls like to have fun, and how! The next two hours saw five teams dashing around MG Road, deciphering clues which were integrated with life philosophies. It had them solving puzzles, taking the metro and sipping chai at Adigas.

Soul Chai was born over the delicate aroma and comfort of pudina chai, as four women put their heads together to figure out how to just be.

“We are a bunch of friends from varied backgrounds - author, photographer, interior designer, IT professional - who want to meet to do something unique each month over chai. We have become so busy in the rat race of our lives, with augmenting responsibilities of home and professions that time for ourselves started becoming scarce. One snatched cup of tea, a sigh…led to an entire kettle, ideating conversations and here we are,” says Kuntal, an IT professional and the lady behind Soul Chai. Her buddies, Roopa, Arati and Gayatri joined in to get it off the ground.

Participants at the Barton Centre

She says, “Soul Chai is for women who want to live this year to the fullest, to make 2012 count. Our theme for 2012 is Be Alive.” The debut theme was ‘Begin – Live a Fuller Life’. The treasure hunt was a no brainer; Arati and Roopa pointed out that there was no better way to get bonding.

Back in Matteo Coffea café, it was no holds barred fun as repartees flew around, with the exuberant Team Orange winning the race. Stealing their thunder was dentist Priti whose rendition of Kolaveri Di had the women in splits.

Ritika and Divya, a mother-daughter duo, agreed that the event was a blast, while Roshni said this was a great way to step out of her comfort zone. Kez, who has been a part of similar communities in Germany, was excited about Soul Chai’s forthcoming events.

Former RJ and journalist Vasanthi Hariprakash

It was chai and conversation time with former RJ and journalist Vasanthi Hariprakash, Soul Chai’s first speaker. She spoke about her career and being a mom, reminiscing about her student days when she popped in for a plate of rava idly at Chalukya and her first chat with her idol, Chitra Subramaniam. She talked about how it takes courage to take a pause to say you want to do something else to the wise nods of what was just moments earlier a riotous crowd.

And the treasure, you ask? The sweet rush from sharing banter and laughter over what else but a cup of Assam tea. There were takeaways too, a packet of organic fennel green tea by Dancing Leaf and a mug branded Soul Chai. Basking in its afterglow Gayatri said, “I feel invigorated. The run up to the event was fulfilling and it was great way to make new friends.”

Next in line is ‘Be-loved’ to celebrate love that begins with you, with more events and chai planned for each month. To be a part of it, you can check their page, Soul Chai on Facebook.

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=14114406&id=3483&eddate=02/01/2012

Amidst happy company

2012-01-28T10:45:00.000+05:30

We couldn’t say that we weren’t warned; bold letters told us ‘do not come expecting a play!’ Sure enough, Chennai based entertainment company Evam’s ‘Chasing my Mamet Duck’ was nothing like a conventional theatre production.

First off, we were ushered into Zone A which had a carnival-like atmosphere – cheerful voices hailed out from different sections, urging us to step up and experience. If one corner asked you to pick something from a carpet and leave something of equal value behind, another held velvet cushions with a treasure waiting to be discovered. Yet another wanted your voice, another wanted you to dip you hand in mysterious bags while pinwheels whirled to unheard music.

Chasing my Mamet Duck

Zone B was the auditorium and we never knew what to expect next; starting off with a short film, it moved to the central theme of the duck (inspired by David Mamet’s the Duck Variations). Weaving through the dialogue of the two actors whose talk of the duck and its habits seemed to mirror human experiences, were live music, more films and audience interactions which ranged from humorous to poignant.

Evam calls this experiential production ‘transtheatre’ as it transcends different media. Sensitive, bold, cheeky and high on energy, it is symbolic of this enterprise which has struck a new path in India.

Chasing my Mamet Duck

Started by two young graduates of the Mudra Institute of Communications, Sunil Vishnu K and Karthik Kumar, Evam is going to be 10 years old next year. Along the way, it has gained plaudits for its theatrical productions and also for having become a successful business enterprise. CNBC cited it as one of its ‘Young Turks’ in 2007, it was among the top 25 Pepsi MTV ‘Youth Icons’ 2008 and made it to the Top 30 finalists of Tata-NEN Hottest Start ups, 2008. Sunil was the India finalist for the Young Performing Arts Entrepreneur Award given by the British Council in 2009.

Its success has inspired two case studies by IIM students. “We learnt as we went along, there is no formula and the learning will differ from market to market,” Sunil tells me when we catch up for a chat. I must confess a partiality to him as he did a very engaging reading at the launch of our Best of Chennai book a couple of years ago.

Chasing my Mamet Duck

Its grand plan is to get more performance opportunities for other live art and create an audience that would react enthusiastically as much to theatre as it would to music. “We need to create a robust ecosystem for live performing art.” It is a challenge to make it viable for the producers and artists while making it affordable to all; especially underprivileged kids who would not get access to such art.

This year it is starting a regular season of plays in Chennai and Bangalore, stand up comedies and theatre workshops alongside its corporate training programmes. With a play being debuted in Prithvi this week, it looks like 2012 is already packed with action. What drives them undoubtedly is the way they describe themselves, “Happiness is our core offering and theatre is our core medium.” More power to Evam!

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

You can also read the column on the Goa Herald on the link below:http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=14&boxid=41331546&id=3283&eddate=01/11/2012

Sweet babble of tongues

2012-01-21T10:14:00.001+05:30

Returning home from a dinner at a friend’s home, the last thought that struck me as I drifted off to sleep was that the evening had been unusual. All the guests spoke to each other in the local language of the state, Kannada. The very fact that this happenstance struck me as unusual is remarkable in itself.

Mandarin (Chinese) is the native tongue of the largest number of people in the world, followed by Spanish but it is English which is spoken by more non-natives than natives, making it the single largest language to be spoken in the world.

Our country has 22 languages, not counting dialects, the official language is Hindi. For non-native Hindi speakers like me, Bollywood films and songs have given us an ease with the language that school and government diktats never did. Be that as it may, it is English that has become the medium of communication.

Sourced from www.randythomas.com

Many Indians are multi-lingual. In the morning, I switch without pausing to think, between Tamil (to discourse with my domestic help), Hindi (with the security guard), and once I get to work, communication is mainly in English. If I happen to speak with my Dad or siblings, I might switch to Kannada but I find that unless I make a conscious attempt, I do not converse in Kannada with other native speakers.

At a very urbane setting last night, I met an old acquaintance and remarked upon this. The funny part was that both of us discussed this in English even though we are native Kannada speakers. I pointed this out and then switched to Kannada. My friend made a strange remark, “I normally don’t come to parties at such places but the host was very insistent. Kannadigas stay away from such settings.” He made it sound as if Kannadigas could not or would not fit into such a milieu.

I contested this remark. The dinner I mentioned earlier was at a friend’s house and the dozen guests constituted a fairly cosmopolitan gathering: artists, writers, bureaucrats and businesspeople who were well-travelled and well-heeled. All of them could switch comfortably to English when they had to.

Sourced from www.deviantart.com

With Indians moving across the country, it would be hard to expect them to learn a local language immediately. They might not even need to do so, if they are only visiting. I do not mean to be inhospitable or insular; by all means let us speak in English; but let us also not baulk at speaking our tongue in our own land amongst ourselves.

Barring the English speaking nations, I have not met any Spanish people who insist on speaking only in English with each other, nor any French people; the same with Italians, Germans and Chinese. Perhaps it is a colonial hangover that makes us speak English. Or perhaps as one gets older, we reach back to our roots as I am doing now with language. For the time being, I am rejoicing that a Bengali friend who speaks fluent Telugu and Tamil, is now learning Kannada.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

You can also read the column on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=3239109&id=3143&eddate=01/21/2012

A Man for all Seasons

2012-01-14T11:08:00.002+05:30

“A man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow… And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons.”

So said a contemporary of Sir Thomas More, about the morally upright Lord Chancellor of England who in the 16th century was sentenced to death for not signing a letter asking the Pope to annul King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This was the issue that made England break from Rome. More chose to give up his post, sink into penury, be jailed and finally, executed rather than go against his principles.

At Arjun Sajnani’s production of Robert Bolt’s A Man for all Seasons last week, I felt I had never been in an audience that was more engrossed. Take for example, this exchange between the King and More “How is it that you cannot see (that I have to put away the Queen)? Everyone else does.”
“Then, why does Your Grace need my poor support?”
“Because you're honest.”

Arjun Sajnani

Restaurateur Arjun Sajnani delights people each day at Sunny’s where with partner Vivek Ubhyankar, he dishes out delectable fare. Every once in a while though he lays out a treat for theatre-goers with impeccable productions. Just as he is with food, so too in his plays, Arjun is a perfectionist and his plays are as close as we can come to Broadway.

This play which brought together a rare grouping of luminaries of English theatre – Ashok Mandanna, Naval Narielwala, Veena Sajnani, Vivek Madan, Aporup Acharya, Ashish Sen, Anil Abraham and Puja Chodha, also gave ample food for thought.
Arjun has in the past 30 years produced and directed a variety of plays – from musicals to comedies to intense dramas like Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq and Fire and the Rain, which he made into the film Agnivarsha. He tells me, “I am drawn to plays that have intellectual content as well as visuals that I can enthrall the audience with. It must have real emotional thrust and must hang together for me as a property in order for me to direct and produce.”

A Man for all Seasons is topical with the recent interest in corruption and the roles of the government and the citizens. Arjun had liked it when he saw a college production 35 years ago. His passion for the subject spurred him to action and staged it after long thoughtful discussions with the actors about the script and approach. “I also knew that my older actors were all at the right age to act in this property and score with it...like you said, the world sometimes needs to be reminded of values and morals and conscience and courage.”

At the very end, More tells his daughter, “If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes.” If only we had a few like him around…

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

You can also read the column on the Goa Herald, Jan 14.

Silence is golden

2012-01-07T10:01:00.003+05:30

How far will you go to seek silence? People take to the hills, seclude themselves in caves or in cloisters with monks who have taken a vow of silence.

A few months ago, a friend attended a 10-day Vipassana meditation course during which he was banned from, among other things, talking. It surprised us, as he is highly articulate and sociable. Attending the Vipassana session seems to have made him come to terms with a few unfortunate years in his life. All he needed to do was find the connection within himself, which he could only do when he shut out voices, including his own.

Suddenly the buzz is about silence; Pico Iyer, the world’s favourite travel writer who lives in a Japanese village for the freedom to be himself, marvelled in a recent article that people are willing to pay top dollar to stay in hotels in remote areas without access to television or the net.

I laughed too and thought, “How absurd! Why can’t they just switch off the telephone or TV?” But apparently cutting yourself off from distractions is very hard for most people. You have got to be truly rich or very stubborn to allow yourself this luxury. It is not as laughable as it might seem.

Quietitude is the greatest gift that we can give ourselves at least once a year. The time away from the disturbing demands and dull drone of daily life heals us. We do not need to make plans or resolutions; it is a time to just be still and let our undisturbed selves find their way back from the jumble.

Photo credit: Asha Thadani/ Raintree Media Features

I do not need to go to extreme places for my quiet time; I find that in Goa. I would suppose that most sensible people would, though we seem to be outnumbered by the party animals. Luckily, these visitors are seasonal and restrict themselves to a small belt. There are others who have moved to Goa from big cities and seem to want to party through the year. Perhaps they go elsewhere for their quiet time.

I do not have a television at home here, newspapers are not allowed, though special interest magazines are permissible. Books are the treasured companions. I do have my laptop that I use for my writing and editing work. I log in to the world only to send the finished pieces. As the mobile signals seem to connect only in certain parts of the house, I leave the phone there on silent and reply only to urgent messages. Most days it is only the poi guy or the man on the ferry that I talk to briefly.

So here it is, at least for a few days in a year – I don’t want to talk about the latest cricket disaster, I don’t want to know if Anna is fasting or breakfasting. I want to water the plants, pick fruit, inhale nature’s aroma, walk alongside the sea or the lake, feast my eyes on the clearest of skies and worship the Sun for its life-giving warmth. My definition of ASAP in Goa is ‘as quietly as possible’.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on Goa Herald on the link below:
http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspxedorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=33347734&id=3250&eddate=01/07/2012

Twist to unwind

2011-12-30T10:19:00.000+05:30

a1000yoga is a yoga studio that not only teaches the ancient art of yoga but also makes it interesting and upbeat.

It is all calm at a1000yoga studio. A stroll down the 1st cross, near Jyothi Nivas College, leads you to this oasis of bliss, worlds apart from the cacophony outside. The studio exudes a stillness, a sense of calm and an awareness that engulf you even as you step across its threshold.

Pradeep Govind G, the founder of a1000yoga, was all of seven years old when he first got a taste of yoga. Under his father’s tutelage he learnt the classical asanas and later devoted himself to studying yoga full time. A graduate from Bihar Yoga Bharathi in M.Sc. Applied Yogic Science with a university gold medal, Pradeep has been teaching yoga in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Colombo. Unassuming and nonchalant about his expertise, Pradeep is completely in sync with what he teaches. It is perhaps an indication of the humility and peacefulness which comes from years of practicing this art.

a1000yoga studio

The need for yoga could not have been greater than it is now. Unlike the 60s generation that relied on good old home chores and leisurely walks, the last few generations need a much more centred and holistic approach where health is concerned.

Awareness is the key and most people today are high on fitness regimes, health food and fads. This growing want has given rise to gyms, alternate healing, spas and massage centers offering care for not just the body but the soul as well.

At a1000yoga studio, the instructors themselves are practicing ‘yogis’, adhering to certain tenets and norms. They take into consideration varying aspects like the doshas or the inherent physiological persona of an individual before recommending the best yogic course for them.

a1000yoga studio

The highlight of this studio is ‘Hot Yoga’, a sinuous sequence of asanas that is practiced in a heated studio of 40 degrees Celsius. If that is too hot to handle, you could try ‘Power Vinyasa’, a flow based session with a well-choreographed sequence of asanas. Busy executives and go-getters can get the most they can out of ‘Corporate Yoga’. Or one can get their daily dose of this centuries-old discipline through the contemporary ‘Power Yoga’ or the rigorous ‘Iyengar Yoga’.

The studio has also brought in a qualified baby sitter to mind children while their parents work out, and one can breathe easy without worrying about having to rush back home.

Its unique name is drawn from the Sahasrara chakra which is represented by a 1000 petal lotus and is also an indication of the various styles of yoga and schools of yoga that are taught at the studio. Apart from the regular classes, Pradeep also holds workshops and will be hosting an International Yoga Teachers training in January 2012. You can reach Pradeep on pradeep@a1000yoga.com.

By Dolly D N/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspxedorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=17125875&id=3206&eddate=12/29/2011

BEST OF COLOMBO

2011-12-17T13:41:00.006+05:30

Sandhya Mendonca, CEO, GVP India, presents the BEST OF BANGALORE to
Pravir Samarasinghe, CEO, WTC, Colombo, Sri Lanka

From Serendip to New Delhi

2011-12-17T11:18:00.002+05:30

Some words have a meaning that is as good as they sound and vice versa. Serendipity is one such word, and it means, ‘the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident’. English author Horace Walpole coined this word based on the old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip in his work, The Three Princes of Serendip.

After a recent visit to Sri Lanka, I had to make a quick dash to Delhi. The people I met there led me to think most bonds that we forge are all the result of serendipitous encounters.

This is the premise of the movie starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale; the romantic comedy features the pair meeting while reaching out for the same pair of gloves as Christmas gifts.

Serendipitous Sri Lanka

Out there in our national capital, having taken the precaution to arrive a day ahead of important meetings, I had time enough to catch up albeit briefly with a few friends.

One of them was dancer Prathibha Prahlad, who has just organised the Delhi International Arts Festival to much acclaim. Sipping green tea at the India International Centre, she talked about several highlights of the show. As we stepped out in to the night that was just beginning to be enveloped up with cold, a voice piped out from a dark corner.

It turned out to belong to the bewhiskered catlike artist Jatin Das. He insisted that we join him and we ended up listening to him spellbound for close to an hour.

Artist Jatin Das

Jatin Das has been painting for 50 years. Born in Orissa, India, he has achieved international acclaim for his painting, murals and sculptures. While his works feature in several public and private collections in India and abroad, Jatin has a large personal collection of traditional arts and crafts and has set up the JD Centre of Arts on the outskirts of Bhubaneshwar. Designed by the eminent architect B.V. Doshi, JDCA is a repository of tribal, folk, classical and contemporary art. It also features his unique ‘pankha’ collection – of hand fans in the Indian subcontinent.

Much before the Centre came up, Jatin had started a 'Meet the Artist' programme which has run uninterruptedly since September 2001. On the second Saturday of every month, a scholar, artist or craftsperson is invited to present their work to an audience. The programme has embraced a broad definition of the term ‘artist’, encompassing sessions on the preservation of temple murals, town planning in Orissa, the origin, evolution and use of script.

Jatin Das' collection at JDCA

Jatin’s passion for arts and crafts started when his grandmother bought him a terracotta toy at a street fair in Mayurbanj. He says, “Traditional folk and tribal objects still hold high energy for me. I want them to share the same space as a Chola bronze or a Brancusi: to dissolve the boundaries that keep the so-called fine art separate from the work of India's master artisans.”

Later this month, he is starting shooting at JDCA for a series of programmes for Doordarshan. With his deep voice and wealth of experience, the series will be eminently watchable. He has lectured at Harvard amongst several other universities and museums, and anchoring the programme will be as effortless for him and enjoyable for us as it was listening to him over hot kebabs on a cold winter night.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on Goa Herald on the link below:

http://119.82.71.95/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=14&boxid=51732921&id=2901&eddate=12/17/2011

Non-Stop Tully

2011-12-16T11:21:00.001+05:30

BBC’s Chief of Bureau New Delhi for 22 years and an author, the Indian-born Sir Mark Tully has developed the “gaze of an insider”, evident in his new book, Non-Stop India, published by Penguin India. The book, which covers a range of topics from Naxalites to tigers and the growing use of English, is a warning against complacency. Following are excerpts from an exclusive interview with Raintree Media and his remarks at the book launch.

Non-Stop India begins with the concept of ‘jugaar’ that Tully finds deeply ingrained in Indians, the attitude that everything will work itself out at the end. While he believes complacency is dangerous, Tully says, “I have come to have a strong conviction that life is 90% fate or luck or what have you and 10% freewill or our own doing. I often say to myself leave it to fate. Usually it turns out all right.”

He talks about the criticism of his book that he is not angry enough and is too soft on India. “Everything you do need not be critical, pugnacious and attacking. Journalism is not about me, it is the story of the person I am writing about. It is much better to let the people you meet speak.”

Non-Stop India book launch at Landmark, Bangalore

Looking back over the years, Tully says, “The major turning point which held India back was Indira Gandhi’s version of bureaucratic socialism which she adopted as a way of differentiating herself from the Congress politicians who split from her, and appealing to the poor. The ending of the licence-permit raj was the beginning of the era of rapid growth. But that was not just a sudden turning point in 1991. Under Rajiv Gandhi, measures to relax the grip of the licence-permit raj were taken.”

“Today India’s ambition should be to become a country where everyone has enough. There is no need to have too much. The biggest misconception the world had of India was that it is irredeemably mired in poverty. It is now that India has joined the club of wealthy nations. It is extraordinary how images always swing from one extreme to the other, which is so un-Indian. India stands for the middle road,” he says.

Sir Mark Tully

“Non-Stop India is for Indians who want to see things in a slightly unusual light, to be shaken out of some of their certainties to question their views, and foreigners who may have so far seen a stereotyped India. There is a real possibility that Indians will pick up the baton of governance. I have tried to make the point that corruption is a symptom of bad governance and hope that my book will do something to convince Indians that corruption cannot be cured without an improvement in governance. I hope it will convince foreigners that the facile picture of India’s prospects, the picture which portrays India as motoring on a straight road to becoming the world’s largest economy, does not portray the whole truth. Yes there are grounds for optimism but there is a lot that needs to be done if India is to fulfil its potential.”

He explains, “The phenomenal role of NGOs, the rise of entrepreneurs after the end of the licence-permit raj, and the change in the attitude in the Dalit community are reasons to feel optimistic.”

Sir Mark Tully at Landmark

On his books on religion, Tully says, “To me a life without belief in God seems to miss a whole element.”

As for his future he says, “At 76, I leave that in the hands of God. I am often asked whether I will continue to live in India. All I can say is I have no plans to go. If you say something will never happen in life it very soon does happen. As for professional prospects I can say that I would like to continue with my BBC Radio 4 programme, Something Understood.”

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

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Are you ready to run?

2011-12-10T11:38:00.000+05:30

Sharath Raju, founder of High Line Retail and certified Barefoot Lifestyle coach, is all geared up to get folks hooked on the barefoot way of living and running.

It is quite a feeling, isn’t it? Feet on the ground yet that feeling of flying in the air? What is on your feet is what counts and no one knows this better than 28-year-old Sharath Raju, the founder of High Line Retail, the only distributor in India for minimalist gear, barefoot being one. He is also the only Indian certified coach to train people on the Barefoot Lifestyle.

The philosophy behind Barefoot Lifestyle is that we can tap into the natural benefits in our feet, with anything that provides sensory stimulation. Raju trained under Lee Saxby, the only representative who coaches the Barefoot technique, in London. He has a three year license, signed by Lee and Harvard Biomechanics.

Sharath Raju, Founder of High Line Retail

Armed with an MBA, Raju worked with HP and IBM, and later Decathlon Sports India where he was the brand manager for Btwin cycles. A penchant for fitness kept Raju running and cycling for three years and the passion is still on. He switched tracks earlier this year in June 2011, after reading Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, which inspired him to experience the concept first hand in an effort to improve his running techniques. This is when he decided to start High Line Retail.

With this venture, Raju hopes to acquaint Indians with sports gear that is enhanced with advanced technologies that not only help improve skills and performance but also make the sports they play enjoyable activities. Their customers are those who are not averse to trying their hand at diverse sports like minimalist running, triathlon and cycling. High Line has tied up with Vivobarefoot and it also has an ecommerce website allowing people to buy directly from there.

He believes that a marathon is an endurance sport and injuries due to wrong techniques of running and wrong shoes are inevitable. He hopes to reach out to runners by helping them learn the new technique, to be part of his running clinic, and maybe even try out the new shoes and go the barefoot way!

So, if you are a runner and you are looking for new shoes apart from the regular padded shoes, look no further. Those running marathons can consider an EVO 2 high performance shoe, highly breathable, designed for people in endurance sports. One of the runners who will be at the Goa River Marathon 2011, Neel Sengupta, swears by the Vibram FiveFingers with a 4 mm sole which he uses for short runs but for the bigger main runs he is still very comfortable with the regular well padded shoes.

Raju’s advice for runners is, “Wherever, whenever possible a runner should get their shoes off and be barefoot, basically for a person’s feet to re-activate to natural surroundings.”

By Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspxedorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=27&boxid=33856906&id=2711&eddate=12/01/2011

The Eiffel on your wall

2011-12-06T13:03:00.000+05:30

The subject of what holds an artist’s interest is itself worthy of note. Shibu Arakkal, the son of renowned painter Yusuf Arakkal who has chosen photography as his métier, is fascinated with design.

“Anything related to design fascinates me – it could be any kind of design - my mind works like a graphic designer’s,” he says. From photographing the reflection of light on the headlights of his car to a water tap, Shibu interprets reality as he sees it.

Shibu Arakkal's Eiffel O'Seven

Exploring the language of design, he once worked on a series titled ‘Abstract notions’. The question that he sought the answer to was ‘why do people choose the curve as opposed to the line?’ The answer - which seems innately simple to me (why the need for research, I quip) - was that the curve is attractive as it mimics the form of the female hip. Referring to a photograph of a bulb in this series, Shibu insists that the shape of a light bulb is not a functional need; one of his photographs may well be taken for the picture of a feminine hip.

After showing a series that dealt with the curve as a form, in his next series, he presented straight lines and architectural forms with mirrored montages and graphic renditions.

Continuing with his interest in interpreting design, he has photographed great architecture from around the world like the Colosseum in Rome, the Notre Dame in Paris, the Emirates Towers in Dubai, among several other buildings. He spent over two years in creating a visual study of the famed Eiffel Tower, inspired by traditional Japanese print making and influenced by early twentieth century art deco.

Shibu Arakkal's Eiffel O'Seven

The style he employs is extremely simplistic; relying on pure black and white line drawings to create an avante garde series that has met with critical success.

Shibu is a regular in the Indian contemporary art shows circuit. He has had several solo and group shows nationally and internationally and his works are collected by seasoned art collectors.

He has now launched the calendar for 2012 - Eiffel O'Seven which is based on this series. There are only 250 copies priced at Rs.500 each, so if you would like a stunning visual of the Eiffel on your wall, write to him at: email@shibuarakkal.com

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on Goa Herald on the link below:

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A nutty thanksgiving

2011-11-28T14:58:00.003+05:30

My favourite place to visit in Singapore is the Long Bar at the Raffles; it’s a remarkable experience to sip on the famed Singapore Sling, munch on peanuts and gleefully toss the shells on the floor. Not quite proper behaviour in upmarket establishments but this is a time-honoured tradition at the gorgeous colonial-style hotel.

This is the time of the year that Bangalore goes nuts too. Literally so, with mounds of the brown pods piling up for a few days. This is the season of the annual Kadalekai parashe – the groundnut or peanut fair.

The fair is centred around the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi. Legend has it that the statue was built in homage to a bull that used to rampage through these areas when they were farmlands. When the bull defied all attempts to stop it, the farmers resorted to prayers. They promised to offer the first groundnut harvest to the bull each year if it would leave the crop unharmed. The bull acquiesced and the tradition continues with the mammoth stone bull being bedecked with a garland of groundnuts after the harvest.

Another version says that the bull turned into stone when an angry farmer flung his club at it. It kept growing in size even as the penitent farmers built a temple to enshrine it. The people prayed to Lord Shiva who stopped its growth by piercing a trident through its head.

Bull Temple

Whichever version suits your fancy, the tradition of local thanksgiving continues with grateful farmers from far and beyond making a special trip to the Dodda Basava (big bull) temple with their crop during the Kartika masa (in November – December).

The accompanying fair becomes a playground for parents and kids alike. Suffused with a carnival spirit, kids have plenty of games to play and adults browse through several stalls to purchase knick-knacks.

The Bull temple and adjacent well-maintained park has been a favourite picnic spot through the years at other times of the year as well. An adventure sequence in a Kannada film in which I acted as a kid was shot here. Armed with badminton racquets, a group of kids thrashed villains and freed our kidnapped friend. Hurray! Another bit of personal nostalgic trivia hinges around the fact that my mother visited the fair on the evening before I was born. Perhaps that explains why I am so fond of peanuts.

Kadalekai Parashe

Along with the games and shopping, it’s a treat to eat a variety of peanuts – plain, salted, boiled, roasted not just from different parts of Karnataka but also from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Over the years, the fair has been growing in scale and there are vendors of chaat and dosas; yet it’s a festival that takes this growing urban sprawl to its rural roots. The kadalekai parashe is a quaint custom relived complete with the old system of measuring the quantity by the cylindrical ‘paav’ and ‘litre’ instead of grams and kilos.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on Goa Herald on the link below:

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A Southern Storm

2011-11-24T10:09:00.001+05:30

‘Kolaveri Di’ by Dhanush is a viral hit

Wondering what people have been posting as their status updates? They are saying “Why this kolaveri di?”

This is the song that has got India rocking in a tizzy and is making not only Tamil Nadu but the world trip on it, thanks to the YouTube clip.

Sung by Dhanush, son-in-law of superstar Rajnikanth, the music is composed by newcomer Anirudh Ravichandar from the upcoming Tamil movie ‘3’ directed by Dhanush’s wife Aishwarya. It stars Dhanush and Shruti Hassan.

Dhanush recording 'Kolaveri di'

“The soup song”, as the singer calls it, was a spontaneous burst of funny lyrics. Anirudh had composed the tune which Dhanush picked up in the recording studio and simply started singing what came to his head.

The result is a happy song set and catchy lyrics in Tam-English; the team had so much fun with it that they recorded it straight away and uploaded the video on YouTube. Within a few days, it has become the new addictive taste and there are different versions coming up each day as a tribute to it including a Carnatic version where the whacky lyrics are sung in perfect tempo to a raga.

‘Why this kolaveri di?’ can be loosely translated as, ‘why are you killing me, woman?’ This is one song that isn’t killing softly; it has grossed one million hits and more on its YouTube page, a record for any Indian song and especially the Tamil music industry. Tamil songs have ruled the roost in the South with both soulful and peppy original compositions; Ilayaraja and AR Rehman are of course legends in their own time with international repute.

The team behind 'Kolaveri di'

Kolaveri’s composer Anirudh Ravichandar is 21. This Chennai lad is one of the youngest music directors to enter the film Industry. ‘3’ is his debut and a brilliant kick-start to his career.

What are you doing still reading this? Go catch the song on YouTube.

Lyrics of Kalaveri Di:

Hello Boys.. I am Singing Song…Soup Song.. Flop Song..

Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di? Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di? Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee? Why This Kolaveri? Di..

Distance’la Moon’nu Moon’nu Moon’nu Color’ru White’tu White’tu Background Night’tu Nigth’tu Night’tu Color’ru Black’ku

Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee? Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di?

White’tu Skin’nu Girl’lu Girl’lu Girl’lu Heart’tu Black’ku Eyes’su Eyes’su Meet’tu Meet’tu My Future Dark’ku..

Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di? Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di?

Mama, Notes Eduthuko..Apdiye Kaila Snacks Eduthuko..Papapa Papapapa Papapa Pa Pa..Šeriya Vaasi..Šuper Mama Ready.. Ready 1 2 3 4..What A Change Over Mama Agaim Mama.. Nøw Tune Change’ju..

Kaila Glass’su.. Only Ènglish’sa..Hand’la Glass’su Glass’la Šcøtch’chu Èyes’su Full’la Tear’ru Èmpty Life’fu, Girl Cøme’mu Life’fu Reverse’su Gear’ru Løve’vu Løve’vu Oh My Løve’vu Yøu Šhøw Tø Me Pøw’vu Cøw’vu Cøw’vu Køzhi Cøw’vu I Want Yøu Here Nøw’vu Gød I am Dying Nøw Šhe Is Happy Høw’vu? This Šøng’gu Pass Tø Bøys’su We Døn’t Have Chøice’su

Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Di Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Di Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Dee Why This Kølaveri Kølaveri Kølaveri Di

Fløp Šøng..
- Aditya Mendonca/Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com
Read the story in the Goa Herald on link below
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Reaching for the skies

2011-11-23T09:48:00.000+05:30

Sublime Galleria, a sky gallery designed to ‘inspire awe’ is the versatile Uzma Irfan’s latest offering to art lovers in Bangalore.

On a late winter afternoon, the narrow bridge connecting the towers of UB City cuts a striking picture. Newly converted to host the Sublime Galleria, the breathtaking location is the latest art space in Bangalore. Its founder, Uzma Irfan, hopes to make it a platform for young, upcoming artists.

It is light and airy with generous sunlight streaming through the glass windows, the unframed art work suspended along its length. Outside, the muted hustle and bustle of city life flows on. As dusk nears, the LED lights, that cast no shadow on the artwork, come on.

“UB City has been a destination for art lovers for many years now, with dedicated events such as Art Bengaluru, which has helped put the city on the global art scene. Hence, this was a natural choice to introduce India’s first ‘Sky Galleria’, overlooking the spectacular panorama of the Garden City. It aims to be a refreshing concept, providing visitors with a unique experience of being suspended in mid-air while browsing through Fine Art,” says Irfan, who is also the Executive Director of Corporate Communications for the Prestige Group.

Her previous associations with art have included organising the Art Bengaluru festival. She has also handled solo art shows and aspired to do something more to promote the artists and keep them motivated. Her father, Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director of Prestige Group, suggested a gallery would be just the thing.

She says, “Sublime Galleria was created with a vision to support young and upcoming artists and I believe that this has been achieved to a large extent over the last year. The new-look Sublime will cater to a wider selection of artists with their artworks being on display around the year.”

Irfan hopes that the Galleria will evolve into a space where artists and art lovers can gather to discuss art or to muse or to simply seek inspiration.

Right now, the Galleria has on board eighteen artists and photographers on a contract for three months. During this time, they will be mentored to help bring out their best.

It is an eclectic collection that greets you at the gallery, ranging over diverse art media. Farah Ahmed’s ‘Negative Aesthetics’ was a happy accident on Photoshop. Srividya GS’s choice is watercolours while Amina Shazi finds her expression in digital art. Photographer Ashish Parmar captures a pair of ants in the Chorla Ghats in ‘Macro Love’ and Manoj Masand works his magic with ‘Seed Chemistry’ and ‘Rhythmic Texture’. Another artist, Pragya Jain describes her work, “The core of my art is energy. Each of my works contains a colour story, and the story at all times is a cheerful one.”

Uzma Irfan

Experimental and individualistic, every artist stands out and holds his own at the gallery. As Irfan rightly says, “At the Sublime Galleria, the artist is the hero.”

- Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story in Goa Herald on link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=5395578&id=2637&eddate=11/23/2011

A musical conclave: India Music Week

2011-11-22T10:21:00.003+05:30

Over 40 Indian and European artists are ‘celebrating the spirit of pure music’ across three cities.

As an exciting festive winter chill blows across the country, India Music Week (IMW) has set the ball rolling for a brilliant season of live music.

Featuring over 40 acts, the line-up combines a mix of some of the biggest names in the Indian indie scene and an eclectic collection of European jazz/electronica artists.

In addition to the performances, the festival’s inaugural edition features a two-day music conference at Delhi’s Eros Hotel.

The Raghu Dixit Project, Soulmate, Thermal And A Quarter, Motherjane, Ska Vengers, Menwhopause, KK and Parikrama are among the Indian artists, while French Reunion Island chanteuse Stephanie Thazar, German electronica trio Jahcoozi, Norwegian electro-soul producer Mathias Stubø, German swing band BuJazzO and Norwegian eclectic pop duo Mari & Stein make up the European leg of the event.

The festival also features some interesting Indian-tinged electronica from acts like Sattyananda Electro-Classical, Hamza & Lateef, Hari & Sukhmani, Shantam as well as some of Indian electronica’s most famous beat junkies like Teddy Boy Kill, Ma Faiza, Arjun Vagale & Ashvin (Jalebee Cartel) and B.L.O.T.

Amit Saigal

As Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi rock to some amazing tunes, we bring you an exclusive interview with Amit Saigal of Rock Street Journal [RSJ], the owner and promoter of IMW:

Q. How does it feel organizing such an amazing festival across the country?
It is exciting! And at the same time, it is quite a task in terms of managing the logistics of several gigs happening simultaneously across Delhi , Mumbai and Bangalore each day between the 16 and 20 of November. But right now, there is this great anticipatory buzz!

My first gig was on November16 with Jaff Lang & Bobby Singh and Soulmate playing at Lodi in Delhi.

Q. Three cities – Bangalore, Mumbai & Delhi – amazing venues and amazing artists. What goes into the R&D of getting the right bands on your gig list?
I have personally curated this festival with the best artists that I thought should be on it! So I actually think they are all fantastic in their respective styles and genres.. Jeff Lang for sure...he is amazing. Mimetic, Raghu Dixit, Soulmate, Stephanie Thazar...actually, why am I even trying to pick bands...!

Q. Being the pioneers of creating and pushing Independent rock music in India, how does it feel now in 2011 at RSJ?
Things are coming of age in India. The scene is maturing, and many credible, interesting artists are emerging. The time is just right for a project like India Music Week to present this melting pot of diverse independent artists in one mega festival

Q. This year's line-up has a wide range of genres. Can we have your take?
I personally listen to and like many different styles of music, and I think that is what is also happening in the scene in India as well.

For a detailed schedule with dates, venue details and acts, go to India Music Week’s Facebook page or log onto www.indiamusicweek.com

-Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features / www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story published in the Goa Herald on link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=64858375&id=2611&eddate=11/22/2011

A sensory journey

2011-11-19T10:36:00.001+05:30

With the first thrill of winter’s chill gently upon us, there’s a tangible buzz of Christmas cheer already.

A fun activity that has caught the fancy of most top hotels is the mixing of the Christmas cakes and puddings. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the ITC Windsor as, donning caps, aprons and gloves (looking like Masterchef aspirants), we poured mountains of sultanas, walnuts and other assorted dry fruits and casks of liquor on to tables with generous chunks of butter.

I felt a tad guilty for not going to the ITC Gardenia’s cake mix and auction but one can’t be whizzing around to all the parties in town. Writing and editing is hard work, though it might not appear so!

Not wanting to play favourites between the two hotels, I decided to take my custom to the Gardenia’s spa. Six hours later, I came out feeling a new woman and two young men said to me that I must visit spas more often. Was I damned with faint praise or did the marvelous Mia and her assistants work a miracle? Read on.

Mia Munshi, the Spa Manager, is from Singapore and has worked extensively with global luxury resorts and hotels. She gave up a high profile career in advertising, when on a holiday in India she came across aromatherapy. “I found my calling,” she told me and went on to explain how she learnt all about picking jasmine buds to extract the right scent and the healing power of massage. She lectures in spa academies and is on TV and radio sharing her experience, techniques and demonstration.

The spa Ayurveda room

The expertise and attunement to the senses of touch and smell is what made my session at Kaya Kalp one of the best in my life. Like with all guests, Mia consulted me for my preferences. Then she guided me to treatments and the products that would suit my skin before leaving me in the safe hands of her staff who were trained at the spa academy in Agra.

My mind boggled at the choice of traditional Indian and international therapies, and I finally opted for a pomegranate body scrub – made all the more exotic with the rich red fruit picked from Himachal Pradesh.

The ITC Gardenia caters to high-end business travellers and offers 30 different treatments and therapies. One of the highest selling treatments is a half hour tension reliever massage that concentrates on the back, neck and shoulders, excellent for a pre or post business meeting. I wanted more, and asked for a ninety minute de-stressing aromatherapy massage and a combination skin facial using products from the luxury brand Pevonia.

Kaya Kalp

I was assured that the products were botanical extracts that do not contain perfume or artificial ingredients. The finale was a pedicure that was a complete sensory delight pedicure, again with products and nail polishes free of harmful ingredients. As if the going so far was not great already, my chair had a built-in massager to boot.

The name Kaya Kalp is coined from the Sanskrit words kaya which means ‘the physical self, body or skin’, and kalp which means ‘to rejuvenate, invent or change’. The aim is to give ‘rejuvenation of mind, body and soul’.

If you want a similar spa journey of relaxation and rejuvenation, you could check into the ITC Gardenia. One of the finest ‘green’ hotels in the world, its vertical gardens and naturally cooled spaces make it a remarkable experience in responsible luxury.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

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Celebrating Indi music

2011-11-19T10:23:00.004+05:30

The Bacardi NH7 Weekender, that celebrates the best bands from India, looks set to become India's premier music festival.

Pune’s pleasant weather and happy people once again play host to the Bacardi NH7 Weekender’s Happiest Music Festival in its second year; its organiser, OML has joined hands with UTV Interactive this year. The festival packs a whole lot of tunes into a three-day blast, promising to keep folks moving to the rhythm of music.

An impressive number of bands will take to the stage this year; over 60 bands will keep the music alive. Spread across multiple stages - the Bacardi Black Rock Arena, the Dewarists Stage and the Eristoff Wolves Den - the festival features performances by artists from India and around the world, from underground artists that usually feature on your playlist to award-winning artists you have been waiting to see on Indian soil.

Jalebee Cartel’s Ash Roy says, “I am really looking forward to playing there. I am going to enjoy the whole experience as an artist as well as an audience because there are so many other brilliant artists performing.”

Dualist Inquiry a.k.a Sahej Bakshi is equally thrilled about the range of artists that are part of the festival. He says, “This is one of the most exciting events on my calendar this year. The awesome lineup caters to every kind of music lover and provides a platform for Indian artists to play alongside their international counterparts.”

It is not all about the music. In between acts you can mosey around and maybe even get a tattoo or body art at a tattoo convention that is taking place on the sidelines.

Shaa'ir+Func

Ask him how happy is the happiest festival and Vishal Dadlani from Pentagram says, “NH7 is one of the happiest festivals I have ever been too. It is not just a PR spin. There is real love and joy in the air. The fact that it is in its second year, means that they got it right. Hopefully, it will grow even more, from here. OML is doing a killer job, their hearts are in the right place!”

Randolph Correia of Shaa’ir + Func concurs and promises that “if last year was super, this year will be supersonic.”

For more details, tickets and line-up, visit www.nh7.in/weekender

By Aditya Mendonca / Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

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Eternal spring in Goa

2011-11-18T14:34:00.002+05:30

Bangalore-based artist Shan Re debuts in Goa with her latest collection in aid of Tara Trust, this Saturday.

In a colourful mélange celebrating the different hues of life, Shan Re will unveil her most recent collection, ‘The Eternal Spring’ in a 200-year-old colonial structure whose name translates as ‘rainbow’ in Portuguese, in aid of Tara Trust, an NGO which works for underprivileged women and children (www.taraforchildren.com), this Saturday.

The Bangalore-based artist could not have chosen a better location or a better collection or a better cause to espouse for her Goan debut.

The splendid Arco Iris boutique homestay

The elegantly restored Arco Iris boutique homestay which is built on a sprawling 1.5 acre property in Curtorim in South Goa and ensconced in lush greenery overlooking a beautiful lake, will be the setting for the blissful burst of colours of Re’s ‘The Eternal Spring’. For Re, this series inspired by nature and spirituality is a metaphor for preservation of inner peace in a time of chaos and conflict.

Re is known for her soulful exploration of a variety of subjects and genres from abstract expressionism and minimalism to figuration and geometric abstraction. Her works don the private collections of His Highness Srikantadatta Wodeyar, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and actress Jackie Collins, to name a few, and she has held exhibitions in India and abroad.

A painting by Shan Re from the Eternal Spring collection

The artist whose work is ‘guided purely by flashes of intuition’, talks about her debut show in Goa:

Q. How did the idea for a charity show come about?

Over the years, I’ve participated in several charity art shows. Since art is often associated with the privileged few, it would be great if the resources of the artist, art collectors and art lovers could be channelled to contribute to the underprivileged in our society.

Q. Why did you choose Tara Trust?

I heard from my friends in Goa about the good work that Tara Trust has been doing in support of women and children. They are a non profit organisation with a mission to educate and empower the underprivileged. Since this is a cause that is close to my heart I decided to contribute in my own small way as an artist.

Shan Re

Q. Have you done similar charity shows before?

Yes, I’ve participated in art shows in support of HCG Foundation, Christel House, Concern India and Mallige Foundation, and I would always be interested in being involved in a charity art show.

Q. Any particular reason for choosing the 'Eternal Spring' for this particular show?

The venue for the show is Arco Iris, a heritage bungalow set in a beautiful landscape so this series would fit in well with the ambience. Secondly, ‘The Eternal Spring’ is a series that exudes positive energy and is rendered in vibrant colours and this seemed apt for a charity show in Goa. This is my most recent collection. It has been my endeavour to portray a kind of eternal beauty and to capture tranquillity, silence and light in a simple yet powerful poem that invokes the glory of nature.

A painting by Shan Re from the Eternal Spring collection

Q. Is this your first exhibition in Goa?

Yes, this is my first show in Goa and I’m looking forward to the experience.

Q. How was the response to your last show, the retrospective 'The Unfolding of the Self' in Bangalore? Do you plan to hold the show anywhere else in the near future?

The show was very successful. It was well received by critics, art lovers and buyers. I consider this show an important milestone in my career. I’m hoping to take this show to Delhi in the near future.

The exhibition will be on till December 3. For details, contact: Bennita +919604964482 / www.shanre.in

By Remuna Rai/Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=51533750&id=2561&eddate=11/18/2011

Good will hunting

2011-11-18T14:24:00.002+05:30

Touted by SAP Labs as the fastest product to be developed and released in India (it took all of 90 days!), the online portal, www.charitra.in, went live on 19 October in India and was launched in Madrid on 10 November. ‘ChariTra’ is abbreviated from ‘charity transformation’ and also means ‘character’. VR Ferose, Managing Director, SAP Labs India, says it was created with the intent ‘to convert needs to action and to build a bridge between systems of giving’.

Ferose goes back to a year ago when they were brainstorming about how to provide computer education to 100,000 children, free of cost and in a sustainable way, and how this became possible when they matched the excess to the needs.

SAP Labs India Managing Director VR Ferose

They did what they do best – used the technology they have for a good cause. And what’s more, they now have 1.7 lakh customers with assets, and this customer base covers a wide spectrum of businesses from airlines to pharmaceuticals. Ferose points out that with Corporate Social Responsibility becoming a legal necessity, the website would be an ideal environment for connecting business networks.

A core team of 12 were brought together, headed by Ganapathy Subramanian, Vice President of Design & New Applications, to get the project off the ground. Subramanian explains how they used ‘design thinking’ and took inputs from volunteers at every stage to make the website more user friendly. The website is supported by SAP HANA, a high speed analytical application.

As a volunteer you can register on the website and based on your skills, time and interests, make a commitment to the social causes being promoted by non-profit organisations. You can also network with like-minded volunteers.

ChariTra, the online portal

When a non-profit organisation creates a cause it is moderated and published on the website within 24 hours. Currently, they have an unofficial tie-up with Bangalore Care to moderate activities being posted. Financial transactions on the website are a big no-no.

Subramanian recalls the speedy response that they received when a visually challenged girl required a laptop for a banking exam. She got one within two days of the cause being posted on ChariTra. The website also served as the default platform for the ‘Joy of Giving’ week when it registered a high volunteer activity as well as the ‘Month of Service’ at SAP, part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility.

The online portal continues to evolve as new features are being added to make it more accessible and user friendly. They plan to customise recommendations based on each user’s profile and to stay connected through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The website has 6000 users at present and 4000 promises have been met; the company’s intent to run the world in a better way is gathering momentum with ChariTra. And what does ChariTra bring back to the company? “The biggest value we get is good will,” says Ferose.

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=51346687&id=2561&eddate=11/18/2011

Framing the tree of life

2011-11-12T10:00:00.003+05:30

A documentary on eminent artist SG Vasudev is a celebration of light and colour and explores the personal life of the artist and his artistic development.

On a perfect Bangalore day crisp with the winter sun and in the company of intelligent people, the National Gallery of Modern Art was the perfect venue to watch a film on one of my favourite artists and local heroes, SG Vasudev, especially as he was instrumental in setting up the gallery.

‘The Open Frame’ is a simple and warm film; it tells the story of a boy from Mysore who journeys to Madras (Chennai) and grows to become one of the founders of the famous Cholamandal art village.

The early stirrings of his talent, sketches hidden from his farmer father and housewife mother, the encouragement from a discerning art lover are traced through black and white stills. Young Vasu meets KCS Panicker, the doyen of the Madras School of Arts, wins a national scholarship and his art blooms, nurtured in the fertile environment of fellow artists, writers and musicians. Love flowers too, when he meets a young Parsi artist, Arnawaz.

SG Vasudev

The narrative gently blends the story of the young couple setting up home in the Cholamandal commune, the birth of their son and tragically, Arnawaz succumbing to cancer. Vasu moved to Bangalore but goes back to paint at times in Cholamandal. The Arnawaz Vasudev Charities Trust keeps her memory alive by encouraging young artists.

New beginnings bring new inspirations, new love in the form of journalist Ammu Joseph and the new homes that the couple have built; Vasu’s quiet and simple expression of love for both his wives is heartwarming.

Enlivening the narrative with his piquant humour, writer Girish Karnad ribs, “All men seek the qualities of their mothers in the women they marry, apparently, and I feel it’s been the case with Vasu as I find the same strong independent and forthright qualities in both Arnawaz and Ammu.”

Copper relief of Tree of Life by SG Vasudev

Compatriots from Chennai and Bangalore add nuances and depth to Vasu’s character, fleshing out the persona of the artist who draws his inspiration from literature and music. At times, conversations bring in sepia tones of nostalgia but the powerful vitality of his art pre-dominates. As he paints, carefully structuring layers of colour, strains of his favourite Indian classical music flow around the studio.

Dr. Lata Mani, who has handled the research and interviews, captures an easy flow of speech. The cinematography is by Navroze Contractor with original music by Prasanna. Chetan Shah, the director, is another old friend of Vasu from Chennai and says he has deliberately refrained from dealing with Vasu’s artistic oeuvre; the hour-long documentary is a companion piece to the art shows.

The film starts with Vasudev contemplating a blank canvas and the narrative weaves in and out as the canvas progresses and ends with him finishing a painting. The film segues to the processing of his famed copper reliefs and tapestries as he collaborates with master craftsmen. Working on one such piece in his farm, Vasu mulls over the trajectory of his life – of a farmer’s son coming back to the land. Characterised by such uncomplicated and honest statements, ‘The Open Frame’ is a simple story, told simply.

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the column on the Goa Herald on the link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=63026125&id=2438&eddate=11/12/2011

Colour me orange!

2011-11-11T10:46:00.001+05:30

Quite literally a house of treasures and quirky to boot, The Orange Bicycle woos the imaginative and the free-spirited.

Frangipani decked tresses, curious coquettish eyes, and orange cycles wheeling their way across - that is what stops you in your tracks as you pass by what would otherwise be an ordinary house in Indiranagar, a neighbourhood in Bangalore.

Stepping out of the bright glare of the afternoon into the cool store, you feel like Alice, transported to a whole new utterly, deliciously crazy realm, the beautifully crafted wonderland that The Orange Bicycle is. And for a moment you are that girl again, sunburnt cheeks with windblown hair careening wildly on an orange bicycle down a road flanked by golden fields, carefree and unrestrained.

The Orange Bicycle

It is a mixed bag of merchandise that has you squealing with delight as you dash from the über-cool bags and clutches to the coasters and mugs, and then again to the jewellery and paintings, and oh, the dresses and the wraps! Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn, Amitabh Bachchan and even a Mughal emperor or two peer out at you from cushion covers and bags. You can even take home a miniature bicycle.

Clutches at The Orange Bicycle

The store, which completes one year in November, was started by four women with an eye for the unusual. Gunjan Khaitan Shahbadi, one of the partners comes with a background in Marketing Communications. She talks about how they started out, by word of mouth. A few feelers were sent out to friends from NID and NIFT and before long, they had 70 suppliers!

The Orange Bicycle

For a brand to make the cut and be sold at The Orange Bicycle, it has got to be quirky, unique, with a story behind it. There are clothes by Prink Tonic and Vani, jewellery by Sanchali and Sylver String, home décor by Kaji, Vineeta Nair and Soul Kitchen, accessories by Anek Designs, and furnishings by CCube, Raj Boori and Nir Home Studio. These are just a few of the 90 suppliers who are adding their colour and story to the store.

So why The Orange Bicycle? Shahbadi says, “We wanted a colour in our name that would signify our core competency. Orange fit the bill. It is fresh, tangy and young. And as for bicycle, we wanted to tell women to come and take a ride with us and discover happiness.”

The Orange Bicycle

Shahbadi adds, “The store is for a person with an aesthetic appeal; someone who wants to look different, make a style statement, loves experimenting with colours, and likes to try out new things.”

The store’s growing fan base have a lot to look forward to as the year draws to a close – more swoon-worthy merchandise that may include products under The Orange Bicycle label, and a new display to keep the orange-ness alive and to keep the wheels turning.

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=54615828&id=1959&eddate=10/21/2011

A journey in space

2011-11-09T10:08:00.002+05:30

What happens when art meets technology and wants to make a nomadic home in a city choking for space? The answer is as simple as Jaaga, which in Kannada, means ‘space’.

Back in 2009, a structure draped in tarpaulin popped up almost overnight on Rhenius Street. Its neighbours driven by curiosity took a few tentative steps towards it. Two years later, the nomadic Jaaga has found a new home on KH Road and has grown into something more than just a passing curiosity, into a living work of art and innovation.

Jaaga’s co-founders and directors, Archana Prasad with a background in Fine Arts, and Freeman Murray, an angel investor and technologist, sought to create a space to engage the community in innovative efforts revolving around art, technology and social activism. ‘Jaaga’, a Kannada word, translates to ‘space’.

It is no ordinary space. Jaaga is designed ‘to engage and exist without weighing heavily on the earth’s limited natural resources’. It is like a DIY kit which can be assembled in less than a day and dismantled as easily. Pallet rack shelving, paper honeycomb walls, plywood flooring, tarpaulin, and recycled and reusable material are the core materials that make up this modular structure. A green wall and a sculpture greet you at first glance.

Jaaga

On what she expects out of Jaaga, Prasad says, “I am really interested to learn how a prototype like Jaaga, when made and used, will challenge the artists-designers working in it, the neighbourhood it is located in, and eventually challenge the notion that permanence is desirable.”

Murray says, “My trajectory is clearly pointing towards finding that environment in which we can be optimally productive and happy at the lowest cost. I believe it will involve pallet racks, the internet, yoga and local organic leafy green salads.”

Prasad and Murray are backed by their team, Naresh Narasimhan, the Chairperson, Sean Blagsvedt, Advisor and Kiran DSilva, Facilities Manager, and a host of volunteers, collaborators and visiting artists.

Since its inception, true to form, Jaaga has played host to numerous innovative, community-based projects and exhibitions by artists. The Neighbourhood Diaries sought to capture the history of Bangalore neighbourhoods and started with Whitefield. Prasad collaborated with Krupa Rajangam of Savthu on this project. Urban Bengaluru was a photography exhibition while Jaaga Sound & Lights was a lighting and sound installation by German sound and theater artist, Tobias Rosenberger.

Jaaga Media Centre seeks to promote digital media and Jaaga also opens its doors to media students interested in interning with experts and invites expert collaborators and fellows.

Jaaga's green wall

Some recurring events include Poetry Across Borders, Pecha Kucha (Japanese for ‘chit chat’), Media Mayhem and Hackathon. Conceived in Japan, Pecha Kucha nights are for architects. It is a presentation of 20 slides for 20 seconds each and Jaaga has partenered with Venkataramanan Associates to bring the Pecha Kucha nights. Poetry Across Borders are poetry readings, where poetry circles from Bangalore, Melbourne and Berlin come together through a live exchange.

You can also look in on organic markets, the Second to None flea market (the next one is said to be scheduled for Nov 12), and browse through the neat Jaaga Stuff. Jaaga today is registered as a Public Charitable Trust.

French artist and Expert Fellow at Jaaga, Clemence Barret blogs, “In spite of its heterogeneous components, Jaaga has a uniqueness due to its personality: non-judgmental, it is in search for an alter-modernity; happy and warm, it is longing for re-inventing a creative, common world made by local as well as global exchanges.”

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=34330796&id=2389&eddate=11/09/2011

The painter of lotuses

2011-11-05T10:51:00.003+05:30

"I have lived much of my life as a recluse, shunning the glitter associated with the art world. I have made every conscious attempt to avoid getting labeled as an artist.   I prefer the anonymity of my doodles and my silent pursuit of colour and forms. Naming them or intellectualising the process of these simple acts would certainly be an act of lying to myself," Milind Nayak.

One day, while visiting friends in good old Malleswaram, one of the pockets of old Bangalore, my late husband Allen scooped up a bowl of water cresses from their garden. We went on to a tiny house with a garden in Koramangala that was Milind Nayak’s studio for sometime.

Milind Nayak

We found that Milind had painstakingly dug out a pond and was busy filling in water. The pond became the new home for the watercress and they proliferated along with the lotuses that joined them. The rest of the garden bloomed too, and was for all of us a creative retreat, where we sipped jasmine tea and inhaled the heady smells of paints wafting from the open doors of the studio, sometimes talking, sometimes just sitting in quiet solitude.

Milind says he had always dreamt was of having a garden with lotuses from when he was a child. Growing up in Udupi, he was smitten by the sight of lush paddy fields in which lotus flowers bloomed. He studied the pond with great intent whenever he had free time.

Painting by Milind Nayak

The childhood fascination continued to enthrall him. As the plant in his pond started blooming, he discovered many facts about the life of a lotus plant. He photographed it extensively and has now completed over 20 paintings that are being shown for the next three weeks at the Gallerie D’Arts here before hopefully winging their way across other cities.

The exhibition titled ‘Lotus Pond’ comes after a three-year hiatus during which Milind has battled a fractured leg and amputated toe along with melancholy.

Painting by Milind Nayak

It was art that has brought cheer to his life again; though he harrumphs, “Well, what else could I do but paint when I was stuck in front of the easel, unable to move?”

Over the years, Milind has evolved a technique of using digital art and photographs in his creative process. He begins by sketching, photoshops the sketches and places them alongside his formidable collection of photographs he takes of places and nature that inspire him. It’s only then that he begins to paint.

Painting by Milind Nayak

The finished paintings have no semblance of the photographs or the digital outputs; he says though that they are important in helping them make the paintings 'tighter and more structured'.

The new collection is of oil paintings; four years ago, he had painted the same theme in pastels and the whole collection was bought by a collector, who requested him not to use the theme for three years. Now here they are and priced modestly between Rs.50,000 and Rs.2,50,000, look set to be gobbled up quickly.

"I am not out to make a fast buck. My paintings are ways of expressing myself," he tells me when I quiz him about the cost.

Milind, whose oeuvre includes abstracts, makes no bones about wanting to paint beautiful things, "Landscapes are a neglected medium today and critics especially look down upon good looking paintings. I’m in search of beauty…a tree is so beautiful, I try to explore its facets."

By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=41812593&id=2293&eddate=11/05/2011

A Slice of Old Bangalore

2011-11-05T10:37:00.003+05:30

Take a step back in time at Basava Ambara to rediscover the spirit of good old Bangalore amidst lush greenery, while browsing through handcrafted merchandise or relishing a bowl of fig salad, at an unhurried pace

It is a mad, mad city out there, in a hurry to get everywhere. Lost in transit are the days when Bangalore was all about being laidback and taking in life at a leisurely pace under leafy trees and jacarandas. And it is this missing piece that Basava Ambara brings back.

Located in one of Bangalore’s oldest neighbourhoods, Basavanagudi (which lent its name to RK Narayan’s ‘Malgudi Days’), Basava Ambara is housed in the outhouse of the Mahadevan’s 19th century heritage home.

Time stops for you as you stroll down the walkway engulfed by greenery, courtesy the garden store, ‘Hybiscus’, run by Anita Shah who travels across the world to bring together the very best garden products from hammocks and planters to the ceramic that is imported from Vietnam.

The path leads to Basava Ambara, set up in 2009 by Jaya Mani who has been a part of the art scene for 30 years with an interest in crafts and textiles. Back in 1984, Mani opened Gallery Dravidam in Delhi to promote south Indian artists. She moved base to Bangalore in 1997 and Dravidam promoted contemporary artists with a grounding in traditional arts. She hosts an art show in Delhi annually.

The first Ambara store took root in Indiranagar eleven years ago and later moved to Ulsoor, where it continues to draw a loyal clientele. Mani wanted to promote arts, crafts and weaving traditions through Ambara. The second store is larger and the product range includes furniture and children’s clothing.

You cannot ask for a better setting to browse through the handpicked selection of sarees, dupattas and stoles that have been sourced from over 40 suppliers but are not mass produced. Unhampered by the unsolicited attention of the staff, one can linger over the textiles, stopping to admire the paintings and art work by artists like Suresh Muthukulam, Ramesh Gorjala and JMS Mani, and battle (or not) a desire to splurge on the gorgeous jewellery, handcrafted leather bags, and the newest addition to the collection, laquerware lamps with silk shades.

It is a tantalising spread with brands like Rehwa, Terra, Bailou and Reeth Mumbai showcasing their exclusive merchandise. This November, shoppers can look forward to an exhibit and sale by Arnav known for its fabulous antique jewellery or an exhibition of traditional sarees by the Delhi-based Utsav.

The outdoor space, another rarity in Bangalore, is put to good use. Basava Ambara has hosted book readings like Shilo Shiv Suleman’s ‘Pampasutra’ and Pepita Seth’s ‘Heaven on Earth’, and looks forward to bringing in dance, music and theatre performances.

Once your shopping bag is full, you can retreat to the al fresco restaurant, ‘The Rogue Elephant’, run by Sheila Appa and Anand Chettur. Their Continental menu boasts of comfort food like Moroccan stew, classic Kolkata-style katti rolls and roast chicken. Wrap up the meal with a yummy banana walnut cake. Or quench your thirst with a glass of freshly-squeezed nimbu paani. Tucking into freshly cooked food, with Appa making the desserts herself, you feel right at home.

As Sushma Desai, a fashion designer, says, echoing Basava Ambara’s many clients, “A store in an old house is a brilliant idea. The old world charm is all encompassing. It makes you want to stay forever.” At Basava Ambara, ambience is everything.

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=41733750&id=2293&eddate=11/05/2011

For the love of chai

2011-11-04T10:20:00.003+05:30

Tucked away in the midst of loud buildings, unobtrusive yet inescapable, is Chaipatty Teafe. Contemporary, familiar and comfortable, it is a home away from home

The night is young and the air is abuzz with chatter and laughter as those in the know gather at the cozy Chaipatty Teafe on 100ft Road, Indiranagar. Curled up on diwans, mats and muddas, with Coke Studio Pakistan playing in the background, folks tuck into Maggi and omelettes, sipping on piping hot chai.

With the city seeing a spurt of coffee chains in the past few years, Chaipatty Teafe comes as a whiff of fresh, tea-flavoured air that is catching on in the city. The 10-month old teafe is multiplying almost at the speed of bunnies. With two established outlets, a third one coming up on Varthur Road and two more in the pipeline, Chirag Yadav, the brain behind Chaipatty Teafe, is on a roll. He plans to cross borders by franchising outlets across India, with an eye on also setting shop in Australia, Dubai, UK and US.

A self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades and master of a lot more, Yadav says, “Thanks to my Army officer dad and my multi-faceted lifestyle, I have always been fascinated with various creative interests. I have been an art curator, a writer, a poet, a blogger, a cook, a lawn tennis player (played against Somdev Burman in school), an ambidextrous table-tennis and badminton player, and a chess player too. I have an engineering degree in Electronics and Communication, and a diploma in Embedded Systems. I have also been dancing the salsa for seven years now. I like challenging myself and am inspired by people like Richard Branson and Steve Jobs. I like perfection and have an insatiable thirst for achieving success. For now I am intent on getting Chaipatty to the top and making it a favourite brand for Bangaloreans, similar to Koshy’s and Airlines Hotel.”

Yadav was not impressed with the route most cafes, meant to be hangouts, were going. He says, “I was bored of what coffee chains were offering and what people were making of them, so I started Chaipatty. It is a teafe (tea-cafe) and not a cafe. We have focussed on making it a homely and approachable place that appeals to you with its simplicity whether in design, service or offerings. People call it a home away from home. It is like sitting in your backyard and enjoying home-made snacks and drinks.”

The teafe’s name, Chaipatty was coined over an Old Monk session at home and while it started off as an activity centre, it took the shape of a tea-cafe as soon as they zeroed in on the location. “The name was reminiscent of a ‘chowpatty’ known for its approachability as a hangout and of course affordability, and Chaipatty being what we wanted to be known for - a tea cafe,” says Yadav.

Unlike the fancy menus in most cafes, Chaipatty plates out dishes that can be whipped up quickly and effortlessly like pastas, omelettes and Maggi noodles. You have the choice of kullad chai and cutting chai, and you can opt for masala. Yadav says, “We do keep experimenting and adding new things every two-three months but still the whole idea is to be a healthy and hygienic cross between a college canteen and roadside tea-stall.”

The décor of the teafe, with its rustic setting and catchy wall art, has folks raving. A teafe fan captures the mood, “Chaipatty is like my bedroom with an open window to hear the traffic buzz by and have the luxury of simple yet finger-licking good food.”

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=45621565&id=2269&eddate=11/04/2011

You have come a long way baby

2011-10-31T12:28:00.001+05:30

With the excitement of fast cars in the air, it’s the right time to remember a pioneering woman in the automobile industry.

Karl Benz gets all the applause for inventing the world’s first motor car, he may well have faltered without the tremendous efforts of a sterling woman called Bertha who was the first person in the world to drive a car long distance. (Men, who scoff at women drivers, eat her dust!)

Bertha was a pioneer in another way too, she realised that products need the sunshine of publicity to bloom and she devised a brilliant strategy that generated worldwide attention and helped create Brand Benz.

Bertha Benz (née Ringer) was born on May 3, 1849 in Germany. In course of time, she grew up and was engaged to Karl Benz. In 1871, she invested in his business, enabling him to work on the long and costly process of developing the world’s first patented automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen.

Bertha Benz - Pioneering woman driver and brand builder

As an unmarried woman she was able to make such an investment. When she married him in 1872, the law of the time took away her juridical power to act. Luckily for the world, Bertha did not lose her will to think and act independently.

At dawn on August 5, 1888, she loaded up two of her five children, her sons Richard and Eugen, thirteen and fifteen years old, in one of the newly constructed Patent Motorwagen automobiles. Without a word to either Karl or permission from the authorities, Bertha drove 106 km (60 miles) one-way from Mannheim to Pforzheim, telegraphing Karl of her progress. She returned along the same route the next day.

She was the first person in the world to drive an automobile over a long distance. Motorised drives had merely covered a few km until then.

While her professed purpose was to visit her mother, Bertha’s real motives were far more crucial. Both Bertha and Karl had invested heavily in the automobile, but Karl suffered from a lack of confidence in the success of the car and would not consider marketing his invention. Bertha was sure that the invention would become a financial success if only the world knew about it sufficiently. She wanted to demonstrate the car’s usefulness to the people and also give her husband’s flagging confidence a much-needed boost.

Her journey was pioneering not only because it was the first long distance drive; it ended up as a test drive that showed the prototype car’s problems. She came up with ingenious solutions to the problems that she encountered.

She got a blacksmith to mend a broken chain, she had to get a shoemaker to repair the brake shoe and in doing so, she invented brake lining. She cleaned a fuel pipe with a hairpin, insulated a wire with her garter and had to refuel at a pharmacy. The car used ligroin (refined saturated hydrocarbon petroleum fraction similar to petroleum ether used mainly as a laboratory solvent) for fuel which was only available with apothecaries. Her experience led Benz to add an additional gear for climbing hills and other improvements.

Her trip created a sensation, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen got worldwide attention and the company got its first sales order.

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspxedorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=4549359&id=2149&eddate=10/29/2011

India fades to black

2011-10-31T12:18:00.002+05:30

Metalheads across India are rejoicing as one of the world's biggest bands steps onto our shores to unleash their award winning , in your face music onto Indian audiences. Meet the four horsemen - Metallica!

As Gurgaon finds its place in Metal heaven, Bangalore is impatiently awaiting its turn be a page in heavy metal history.

Winners of nine Grammys and three Billboard Music Awards, Metallica, who performed at the F1 Rocks concert in Gurgaon, two days before the debut Formula 1 Indian GP, will find delirious fans from Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Cochin and beyond who look set to outnumber the locals at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore.

Who would have imagined that the biggest thrash metal band in the history of noise would decide on a concert in India? Those who grew up listening to the band as it took over the metal world in the 80s until crossing over to the mainstream music world a decade later, are thrilled beyond belief at the opportunity to be at the live gig.

Metallica

As part of the Sonisphere Festival, the monarchs of metal will take the stage before a crowd that's been in a feverish state of excitement ever since word filtered through the grapevine that they'll be doing their first-ever gig on Indian soil.

Their concerts are the stuff of legend - high-octane musical affairs that combine musical madness with brute force to provide an experience that lasts a lifetime.

“We have been planning this event for the last 10 months,” says Venkat Vardhan, managing director, DNA Networks, the event management agency that has brought Metallica down to play at the concert. “Logistically, organising a Metallica concert takes at least that much time because the band has extremely high standards.”

“Metallica insisted that every aspect of their uncompromisingly high standards be met to the last detail,” explains Vardhan. “They have flown in 36 tonnes of sound and light equipment for the show.”

There’s good reason for it too, because of the 19 million metal-hungry diehards who follow the band on Facebook, one million are from India.

After waiting for years, it’s time for all metal fans in India, to get together in a Mosh Pit and do some real head-banging. This will be the biggest concert in Indian Metal music history after the Iron Maiden shows.

Says the band, “At this stage in the game, there are very few places in the world that we have not dragged our gear and crew to , so that makes this show announcement extra special…..for the first time ever we will be visting India for two shows ! It’s about time, what do you say?”

Yes, Metallica, we can’t wait for the gods of metal to be here on our side of the world.

By Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below -
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspxedorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=4656312&id=2149&eddate=10/29/2011

The sunny side of life

2011-10-28T10:34:00.001+05:30

Bringing cheer to concrete-ised Bangaloreans in shades of green and vibrant hues is MySunnyBalcony

Fancy a lush green rainforest, a Spanish floral fiesta or perhaps an oriental Zen space? So what if all you have is an unexciting strip of balcony? Dial MySunnyBalcony (MSB) and sit back, for coming soon to a balcony near you is their pro-green team. Armed with ideas and gorgeous garden accessories like water features and customised pots, they will transform a dreary balcony or a spacious porch into the garden of your dreams.

MSB, started in 2009, by friends Sriram Aravamudan, Reena Chengappa, Athreya Chidambi and Shailesh Deshpande, is a one-stop shop for garden enthusiasts. Like all good things in Bangalore, MSB blossomed over caffeine and nostalgia. Despite coming from different backgrounds like IT and web designing, a common yearning to put the garden back in ‘Garden City’ spurred the four on. With backyards, a norm in old Bangalore, making way for high rises, Aravamudan (also a writer and music composer) sealed the deal with, “It is time to take the garden up the elevator.”

(L to R) Sriram Aravamudan, Shailesh Deshpande, Reena Chengappa and Athreya Chidambi

Before long, Chengappa and Deshpande dug deeper by studying a course in gardening. Aravamudan is an avid gardener and quite the pro, while Chidambi, a web designer, pitched in to set up the company website and collaterals. When they started off, Aravamudan’s balcony was a guinea pig of sorts for the project and now looks all the better for it!

“We first identified a set of reliable and relevant local vendors to stabilise our supply-chain and logistics. We also identified the do's and dont's for the company. For example, we wanted to minimise our carbon footprint as a company and as individuals as much as possible and use local vendors only. We treated the first six months as a pilot period, studying our target audience and market readiness for our concept,” said the team.

The MSB team waves their sunny wand in three steps: a site visit and consultation, garden design and execution. The team says, “Any space that receives even the tiniest bit of sunlight is a potential MySunnyBalcony space: a tiny unusable patch outside your front door, an ugly terrace on your roof, or even a back balcony in your high rise apartment. It doesn’t matter how high up or small your space is, we’ll work with it. We’ll also tell you what you can do and what you can’t. You’ll be surprised at the immense number of green possibilities that even a tiny space can hold!”

With many takers in the city, the gardens have spilled over from the balconies and branched out to cover corporate spaces and regular home gardens. They also have ‘Gift a Garden’ packages, customised potted plants and garden accessories for sale. Their mission extends beyond prettifying gardens and they can help you set up organic vegetable gardens in today’s space-challenged urban homes. Those who are up for DIY projects can learn the ropes at one of their Urban Gardening workshops. MSB currently offers online consultation for outstation clients and plan to expand their services in other cities too.

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=42322437&id=2125&eddate=10/28/2011

Where have all the letters gone?

2011-10-26T10:17:00.003+05:30

“Pyaari Asha” begins, what else, but a love letter that set me off on a rambling walk down nostalgia lane.

Picturised on the beauteous Rakhee and Dharmendra, “Pal pal dil ke paas tum rehti ho” is a sweet song with a lilting melody composed by Kalyanji Anandji and sung by Kishore Kumar. I am particular about ensuring that due credit is given to the lyricist and I call my musician friend Ram Nagaraj to confirm that it was penned by Rajendra Krishan; Ram insists that the director should also get kudos for the picturisation and I am happy to include the name of Vijay Anand.

I came upon this song on TV and while watching Rakhee blushingly pick up the letter to read it over and over again, I was struck by the notion that letters written by hand, with ink on paper, seem more romantic.

It’s not the medium but the message, you might counter. After all, won’t the same words have the same significance whether you read it on paper or on a gadget?

We preserve emails and text messages too, don’t we? Hoard the nice ones, the funny ones, the naughty ones and especially the romantic lines to re-read? But honestly, when was the last time you scrolled down your messages to retrieve a feel-good message? The only time that I search through the folders is to locate a business mail.

We have all gone the e-way with wishes and condolences. I appreciate the ability to connect with friends and acquaintances across the world who send me good wishes. Emails and text messages seem a tad cold in comparison. They are brilliant for work, I could not think of going back to the days before instant communications.

My smartphone gives me inexpensive and constant access to people. Somehow, I feel that it has deprived us of the ability to truly connect. We spend so much time chatting on social networks and phones, that when we do meet people, we are unable to talk. Instant access is fun but not deeply meaningful.

Once in a while, while rummaging for something, I come across a hand-written note and I sink into the wonder of the moment. How vividly and warmly the memories come back!

And while I’m writing about letters, I have to add that my friend Prathibha Prahlad, the bold and beautiful danseuse, was recently honoured with the release of a Rs.5 stamp with her face on it.

Prathibha Prahlad's stamp

Winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi for Bharatanatyam, she was pleasantly surprised when as a guest at a philately exhibition organised by Indian Postal Department in New Delhi, she was asked to release her own stamp. Prathibha is busy organising the Delhi International Arts Festival but more about that another day.

“The stamps are going to sell out now”, I teased my friend even as it struck me that I have not written a letter for ever so long. I must confess that I can’t recall when I last visited a post office or even the location of the nearest postbox.

I would love to know your views, so feel free to write to me; I would not mind an email either.

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
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Drum Maaro Drum

2011-10-26T10:07:00.001+05:30

Bringing a smile on everyone’s face to the rhythmic beat of drums gives Vasundhara Das and Roberto Narain, partners at Drumjam, an inexplicable high

Singer and actor Vasundhara Das and percussionist and drummer Roberto Narain who started Drumjam in 2006 find that the magic they weave with their music is drawing people from far and wide.

When Narain started Drumjam, it was often mistaken for a jam making company, a far cry from the exhilarating drum circles that Narain facilitates. He says, “With 300 drums then to 20,000 drums now, it’s been a gratifying journey. We have performed across India, from Ladakh to Kerala. We hold events for corporates helping them in icebreaking, celebrating, communicating, unifying, healing or just having fun over drumbeats.”

Narain facilitates a DrumJam session

“Vasundhara is objective about things and has an analytical mind. She works on backend monitoring, coordinating the logistics at office and revamping our website. Though there is no fixed or defined role for either of us, we both know that one will fill in for the other whenever required. It’s a relief to know if I fall sick or want to take a break, the show will go on,” avers the Italian-born, Bangalore boy about his partner.

Narain adds, “She gives a different perspective on how I look at things by bringing valuable inputs to the table. In terms of visibility, Vasundhara is more of a people’s person. I'm the frontrunner when it comes to drumming, and she helps in coordinating with the marketing and administration, but each of us is involved at every step.”

Vasundhara Das

Das shares, “I partnered with Roberto to share my love for music with more people, no matter what age, language, religion, demographics they are from. Drumming together is a way to share our gift of music.

Five years back when he started the company we took some equipment on hire. The event turned out beautiful and we decided to make it bigger. A common refrain post every Drumjam session is the jaw-breaking smile on everyone’s face.”

“This was a path that no one had trodden before, so there wasn’t something that we could learn from. People have done it overseas, but not here. Roberto was initially confident of acquiring a lot of drums and I wanted to give it more time. I wanted to maximise and build on what we already had. But he had visions of growth,” said Das.

“At any concert I spend two hours on sound check and ironing out the technical issues. I look at logistics and handle paper work, making sure the right equipment goes to the right place, handle event coordination, check if all the teams are in place and talk to them at all levels. We do everything it takes to make a Drumjam event successful,” says Das who has acted in movies like ‘Hey Ram’ and ‘Monsoon Wedding’.

Narain and Das at a DrumJam event

Back after a facilitation training in Hawaii, with the godfather of drumming, Arthur Hill, a first for Das and the second for Narain, the drumming duo are elated and energised from their stress-free sessions. “I went to Hawaii for my facilitation in August this year and it was a very deep experience. We learnt about ourselves through a lot of drumming and singing. We also took out time for snorkelling and surfing,” gushes Das in her soft and fluid voice.

It is not an easy job, so what keeps them going? Das explains, “At the end of the day when we see hundreds of smiling faces after every event, we know everything was worth it. The most common feeling is instant gratification. And that’s why we plan to take Drumjam to as many people as possible,” says Das.

Agrees Narain, “We are now expanding to form community drumming which is therapeutic. We will soon take drumming to schools and colleges.”

By Namita Gupta/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on Goa Herald on the link below:
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Clash of the Titans

2011-10-21T10:22:00.005+05:30

Rohini Nilekani’s ‘Uncommon Ground: Dialogues with Business and Social Leaders’ roots for more discourses within civil society on critical issues in the country

No, there was no explosive action with guns or swords but an intense exchange of ideas and perspectives that an audience of over 200 listened to in rapt attention in the sublime setting of the Taj West End dripping with chandeliers that hosted the launch of Rohini Nilekani’s new book, ‘Uncommon Ground: Dialogues with Business and Social Leaders.’

Nilekani wears many hats. She is a noted philanthropist, journalist, author and social activist. She founded and chairs Pratham Books which strives to cultivate the habit of reading in children. She also chairs Arghyam which has been set up to improve access to water and to ensure that the process is environmentally sustainable. Married to Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India and the former CEO of Infosys, her exposure to the corporate world and its workings combined with her own experience as a journalist and social activist, have given her valuable insights that paved the way for ‘Uncommon Ground’.

Rohini Nilekani's Uncommon Ground book launch

Her show Uncommon Ground was aired on NDTV back in 2008 in eight episodes and the groundbreaking conversations between eminent industrialists and social activists like Mukesh Ambani, Sunita Narain, Sunil Mittal, Medha Patkar, Suman Sahai from the TV show has now culminated in a book published by Penguin Books India. Each of the thought-provoking discussions is preceded by an insightful introduction penned by Nilekani.

Nilekani says about her motivation to initiate these dialogues, “Uncommon Ground has emerged from my experience as a journalist, from my knowledge of the corporate sector as Nandan’s wife and also from the direct work in the social sector that I have been involved in over the years. It seemed to me that there were too many elements in our society that simply did not interact.”

At the launch of the book on October 13 at the Taj West End, Nilekani moderated a discussion between Jayant Sinha, Managing Director of Omidyar Network and Harish Hande, the Managing Director of Selco India and winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2011 for his work in solar technology. The discussion debated a range of issues such as philanthropy and whether it is distorting the market for the poor.

Jayant Sinha (L), Rohini Nilekani (C), Harish Hande (R)

Nilekani spoke about the need for people to distinguish between being citizens and being consumers; she stressed the need for people to be more of a citizen than a consumer who merely demands and ask ourselves what we do and how does it impact others.

“The onus always comes back to us,” she added.

Platforms such as Uncommon Ground are catalysts in the process of national development, provoking questions and ideas that when transformed into action leads to a better way of life. And as to how Nilekani plans to keep the dialogues going, one has to wait and watch.

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below -

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Flavours of Fava

2011-10-20T10:17:00.001+05:30

Popular fine dining hotspot Fava invites Bangaloreans to sample its Mediterranean Diet Lunch Buffet that promises to leave them asking for more

UB City Mall, a regular haunt for Bangalore’s young and hip crowd, is choc-a-bloc with open air eateries styled after European street cafés. Among the popular ones is Fava which attracts foodies not just for its delicious spreads but also for its warm and inviting ambience. Climb up the steps leading to this Mediterranean themed restaurant and you have a feast of delectable food to dig into!

Winner of the ‘Best New Restaurant Award, Lovers Food Guide, 2011’, Fava was established in January 2010 by the Avant Garde Hospitality Pvt Ltd (AGH), which kickstarted in 2008 in Bangalore with Abhijit Saha and Shruti Shibulal at the helm. AGH’s core business interests lie in Restaurants, Catering and F&B Consulting. A handpicked team of well-trained and highly skilled food and beverage professionals at AGH are responsible for the delivery of world class products and services. The menu at the ‘The Mediterranean Diet’ Lunch Buffet, that captures the exquisite Mediterranean flavours, is an instance of their expertise and discerning taste.

The buffet is inspired by the eating habits in the Mediterranean region which is known to be one of the healthiest ways of eating in the world. Mediterranean cuisine relies heavily on natural, unprocessed food. It stresses on the consumption of olive oil (which is their primary source of dietary fat), fresh produce, seafood and nuts, and bread and pasta while limiting meat intake. And just eating the right food is not enough, you also need to know what to avoid. These include artificial products, processed food and foods containing trans-fat. But what-not-to-eat is far from your mind, as you eye the healthy yet tempting spread before you.

The mouth-watering lunch at Fava incorporates these principles and offers healthy salads, dressings, fresh fruits, vegetables and a variety of mezzes. Cold cuts, cheese platter, assorted baked breads and soups further make up the spread. The meal ends with a selection of scrumptious desserts.

Vegetarian options for the main course include tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil panini, six-inch spinach, gorgonzola, haloumi, mozzarella and parmesan pizza, and vegetable tagine with steamed rice, while non-vegetarian offerings include chermoula grilled white basa with ratatouille, and capers and pesto. Vegetarians can also help themselves to a plate of grilled cottage cheese steak with picada marinade and grilled vegetables. If meat makes you drool, try the the six-inch chicken, shallots, garlic and pistachio pizza. If this doesn’t convince you, there is also a 1+1 offer on all Four Seasons wines.

Chef Saha

Chef Saha says, “The diet in the Mediterranean regions is healthy and light. They use fresh and healthy ingredients like olive oil and herbs, making it ideal for a working lunch. Our lunch buffet leaves you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.”

By Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

You can read the story on Goa Herald on the link below:

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Pedalling Onward!

2011-10-17T10:28:00.001+05:30

Bangalore cyclists get a double shot of adrenaline – a ride with biking legend Hans Rey and India’s first bike store-cum-café

On a nippy October morning, a bunch of cyclists in Bangalore roused themselves with an itch to pedal. The occasion was a Hans Rey ride, courtesy Track & Trail.

A legend among mountain biking enthusiasts, the German-born Rey led motley groups of cyclists in three cities, including Pune and Delhi, throwing in enough tricks to wow the crowd and kept them, err, ‘hopping’ long after, as one participant Aman Puri put it, after learning the bunny hop. Another participant, Dhawal Patil says, “I rode the unridable (sic) with Hans Rey. It was truly biking and beyond.”

Han Rey in the lead

Rey closed the rides with a workshop and let the crew in on the tricks of his trade, his experiences as a professional cyclist and how he came to be one. “This was my first visit to India and I had a wonderful time in Roopkund doing downhill mountain biking. My rides with Track & Trail across Delhi, Pune and Bangalore gave me an interesting flavour of India and the evolution of cycling in the country. I was amazed to see the number of serious cyclists, and the kind of cycle stores here - some of the best in the world, including the newly opened café in Bangalore. India has huge potential for cycling, even mountain biking. In Bangalore, I found a perfect granite slab to show some of my skills,” said Rey on his India visit.

Cyclists with Hans Rey (in the centre)

In Bangalore, Rey also unveiled the first concept store of its kind in India, ‘Coffee & Cycles’ by Track & Trail. Track & Trail, owned by TI Cycles (part of the Murugappa Group), showcases performance bikes, sleek and built to thrill. Rajesh Mani, GM – Marketing, TI Cycles of India says, “We are proud to be the first Indian company to launch a brand concept store like Coffee & Cycles in India which will provide a meeting point for cycling enthusiasts and veterans to come together and share their experiences, expertise and explorations over a hot cuppa.”

Talking cycles over coffee

The store, located in Koramangala, has a range of international brands like GT, Bianchi, Cannondale, Schwinn as well their own brand, Montra, which are hybrid road focussed bikes. You can take your pick from All Terrain Bikes, Mountain Terrain Bikes, Road Bikes and Hybrids, and take them out for a test ride if you please. Hybrids are ideal for commuting on city roads. The spacious store also services bikes, sells accessories, has a bike rental option for corporates and organises cycling rallies. There is coffee and snacks and biking magazines to flip through. “It’s a wonderful environment to wait in while my bike is fixed,” Dinesh Kumar from Chennai said of the place.

Coffee & Cycles

The timing for Coffee & Cycles store could not have been better. Cyclists, once thought to be a dying breed, have made a tentative comeback and are slowly multiplying in numbers. Environmentally aware, or simply for the sheer pleasure of working up a sweat, people are opting for the eco-friendly cycles. In fact, Bangalore can soon look forward to dedicated tracks for cyclists. Elsewhere in the world, specifically in Amsterdam, where cycles outnumber the population, cycle chic is all the rage.

Rey sums it up, “Track & Trail epitomises the cycling lifestyle, unwinding and pursuing the thrills of a ride on some of the world’s best machines and there’s nothing quite like a blend of bicycles, coffee and conversation to rev up and enjoy the ride.” Amen to that!

By Anuradha Prasad/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below -
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=30&boxid=42756515&id=1875&eddate=10/11/2011

Of people and places

2011-10-15T10:16:00.004+05:30

We have been criss-crossing the country for a publishing project; from Chennai and Puducherry to Ahmedabad with quick dashes to Goa and Mumbai. With more visits on the anvil, we keep our bags ready to go at short notice.

After a day of meetings, I like to walk around whichever city we are in, taking in the pulse of the place. People-watching is fascinating, not so much at airports or coffee shops – such places have a tendency to impose a homogeneity on their users. Observing a variety of people as they bustle about their business can tell us much about the nature of a city.

Puducherry

So it is that Chennai immediately gives a visitor the impression that it means business. Never mind the merciless glare of the sun, Chennaites are up and about, clear and confident about their work. In Ahmedabad, my colleague who hails from Sikkim, made a telling observation: she turned the tap on in the bathroom and the rush of water gave her the feeling that we were in a prosperous place.

Ahmedabad

We are a hospitable country but degrees of hospitality vary; in restaurants in Gujarat, the waiters exude friendly service without servility; in the southern states, there’s a take-it-or-leave -it attitude, in Delhi it verges from unctuousness to hauteur.

The experience of setting-up meetings reveals a lot about a business and its culture. It’s not as much the size of the company but the attitude of the people that makes a difference. If people respect their own work and time, they respect that of others. We sometimes find executives of big companies in cities like Mumbai displaying arrogance and aggression. Perhaps these are valuable traits and precisely what their bosses want from them to build their business. But when it is completely at variance with the carefully cultivated brand image of the company, it is a rude jolt. Fortunately such experiences are few and we have mostly good experiences with businesses run by people who are as interesting as the businesses they own or manage.

Beach Road, Puducherry

The attitude of the governments in various states comes across not just in the grand and expensive projects but also in small measures. Simply by banning movement of traffic in the evenings along the beachfront boulevard of the Beach Road, the government of Puducherry has won the hearts of locals and tourists. Now if only the tourists can keep their voices down, it would be a wonderful gesture of respect to the locals and to the magnificent Bay of Bengal.

I am writing this column from the patio of the wonderful Windflower resort in Puducherry; the beach is about a kilometre away but I can see it from where I am. There’s a stretch of backwater and the resort plans to take visitors across to the beach in modern catamarans but for now I trek alongside a fishing village to the sea and a stretch of clean, soft sand.

Fishermen casting their net in Puducherry

This is a rarity in itself as most beaches in Pondicherry are hard and rocky. There are a few fishermen, waiting patiently to cast their nets at the outcrop where the waves break. Tirelessly, they repeat their actions and I am caught up in the unhurried pace and absolute peace of the moment.

What impresses me most is the cleanliness of the place. There are no leftovers from picnics, no residue of fuel washing up to the shore from water scooters or ATVs. I say a fervent prayer for this place to stay as it is.

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

View the story on the Goa Herald on the link below:
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Amber glows from a wanderlust duo

2011-10-12T10:11:00.003+05:30

Amber Artefacts is more than just a curio gift shop; this cosy little store, tucked just off the quiet Haudin Road in Ulsoor, is also a repository of cherished memories, experiences and anecdotes of the owners’ extensive globetrotting – from the West to the Far East – over the years.

Jeanne Saldanha and Lalita Shahani

Be it the colourful puppets from Thailand and Cambodia or the wooden figurines from Shantiniketan or the handcrafted leather-and-beadwork sandal from Africa, every corner of Amber exudes the romance of far-off shores.

Lalita Shahani and Jeanne Saldanha started Amber nine years ago at the Galleria of the Leela Palace Hotel – a location which saw it become a major hit with foreign visitors. It shifted recently to a central location “to be more accessible to everybody,” Lalita explains.

Lara Jewellery

A wide array of exquisite hand-crafted jewellery designed by Lalita, is literally the jewel in Amber’s crown. Delicately crafted from semi-precious stones, silver and gold, the necklaces, chokers, earrings, bracelets and rings are sold under the brand name ‘Lara’ and have customers swooning over their fabulous designs and careful detailing.

“I have been designing jewellery for the last thirty years. It’s my passion. I would buy the beads and put them together and every week, I’d break it and mix-and-match to come up with something different. Lara began as a hobby, then I started making it for friends and now it has grown into a business. Apart from Amber, I also supply to stores in North India,” says Lalita.

Silk Shawls and Stoles

Teaming up with Jeanne, an interior designer, made perfect sense. Friends for the last 20 years, the women went on to become business partners as well with this venture. Says Jeanne, “Amber is our fun thing. We both love travelling and we pack our bags at least twice a year – for business and pleasure.”

Lalita agrees: “Every place has something interesting to offer and we are always looking for different things. So we make sure that we visit a new place each time. If we find something we like, we bring it back. If not, then we just have a good holiday and come back!”

Puppets from the Far East

“Each time we travel, we introduce a new product to Amber. So for the regular customer, there is always something new to look forward to,” adds Jeanne.

Most of the products here are hand-made – such as the leather-and-beadwork sandals which are hand-crafted by tribes in Africa, along with incense, candles, stationary, leather goods, puppets, wind chimes and hangings and wooden figurines.

Amber also retails apparels and accessories from the house of ‘Christina’, a Mumbai-based design label. In fact, Amber is the only store in Bangalore which stocks ‘Christina’ – from cotton and silk shirts and kurtis to shawls, stoles, handbags, evening bags, travel bags and wallets.

Amber is also the exclusive retail outlet for English designer, Emily Shoehorn’s handbags in Bangalore.

By Remuna Rai/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

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Silk gazing

2011-10-10T10:17:00.003+05:30

Have you ever wondered if you are buying genuine silk? Thanks to the government’s Silk Mark initiative, you may now no longer need to raise an eyebrow when you go shopping this festive season

The six-yard saga of the multifaceted wonder fabric is deep rooted in our Indian tradition and has evolved with every generation. When the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India received numerous petitions from consumers and traders for a mechanism to control malpractices that marred the industry, the ministry thought it appropriate to introduce Silk Mark which was subsequently launched in 2004.

Like gold, the purity of silk cannot be identified by the common man and this is used by unscrupulous traders to fleece unsuspecting consumers. Artificial silk mainly comprises of man-made fibres like viscose, polyester or nylon, and is several times cheaper than natural silk. Often these cheaper materials are passed on to consumers as pure silk, depriving the consumer of the real value for money.

The quality assurance of Silk Mark promises to ensure and protect the interest of silk consumers and genuine silk traders, and also promotes silk.

However, its progress and implementation, as with many government initiatives, has been slow yet steady nonetheless. “In 2004-05, Silk Mark was able to register 131 members, whereas in 2010-11, we had 302 members. The Silk Mark label distribution went up from 5.62 lakh in 2004-05 to 27.64 lakh in 2010-11. Since its introduction till March 2011, around 1775 members have been registered and 118.73 lakh labels have been distributed all over India,” affirms Sivakumar T, Executive, Silk Mark Organisation of India.

He adds, “Silk Mark has also diversified its activities. We organise expos across the country, assist in the branding of Indian silk internationally, and help manufacturers on a technical level to improve and innovate products and designs.”

Besides the series of expos every year, it also offers The Great Indian Silk Mark Festival 2011 which is at present drawing in shoppers. Highlights of the shopping festival are gifts for consumers through a lucky draw and fashion shows for married women.

Are you sure it’s silk?
So how does Silk Mark work? “The authorised users at the time of registration enter into an agreement with Silk Mark - this ensures that they adhere to the conditions laid out and are trained to identify silk before registration. The officials make periodic visits to ensure that they use the labels in the right manner. There is a strict surveillance by reputed third parties to spot erring users and take appropriate actions. Consumers are also encouraged to bring the silk fabric for testing to verify if it is pure. During the festival season, mobile vans with testing facilities visit various shopping clusters and consumers can use these facilities easily. All Silk Mark Expos will have a testing lab set up for consumers’ convenience where they can even test their old sarees and dresses to ensure their purity. The testing is done free of cost to encourage consumers to utilise these facilities in large numbers,” explains Sivakumar.

He adds, “More than 200 authorised users are registered in Bangalore alone, of which, about 150 authorised users are retailers who own showrooms. The rest are exporters, manufacturers and wholesale traders. They procure the Silk Mark Labels from us, priced at Rs 2, but which does not reflect in the selling price of the product.”

With an array of exotic varieties to choose from, silk remains one of the most sought-after fabrics and Silk Mark comes as a bright ray of hope for consumers who can now be confident of buying the real deal.

Happy Shopping!

- Namita Gupta/Raintree Media Features/www.raintreemedia.com

Read the story on the Goa Herald on the link below -

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BEST OF INDIA: Celebrating success & sustainability

2011-10-07T16:39:00.005+05:30

Global Village Publications India announces the first edition of BEST OF INDIA, an elegant coffee table book which showcases the economic and cultural dynamism of India.

An international business atlas in a coffee table format, the BEST OF series of books are published by the GVP network in 35 countries. The books celebrate the success of renowned companies and are distributed across our global network.

The BEST OF INDIA is one of the most prestigious publishing projects ever undertaken in the country. It highlights the best in business and lifestyle and will map the remarkable success stories of brands through beautiful visuals and insightful articles.

BEST OF INDIA is a definitive guide to the region’s finest in tourism, leisure, hospitality, lifestyle, luxury and commerce. A business atlas as much as a vital coffee table presence, the book reaches top companies and opinion makers across the international network.

This elegant book is an ideal corporate gift and resourceful marketing collateral that showcases the major businesses and institutions of this region in their best light.

BEST OF INDIA is the ideal calling card for investors, tourists and the media, and is designed to create interest in any forum - trade fairs, road shows and international events.

In addition to the print edition, featured companies and institutions get enhanced Epresence via the ebook and gvpedia’s global directory of BEST companies in the world. (www.gvpedia.com).

Trade organisations like the WTC which are very active in Europe and Africa have partnered with GVP in the BEST OF books in their regions. GVP in South Africa is gearing up for the upcoming WTC sponsored Future Trade Africa Expo (please see link below).
http://issuu.com/svengvp/docs/diplomat-africa-vol-2/65

GVPI is pursuing similar partnerships in India with prominent industry bodies.

GVPI invites you to join the elite list of companies who feature in the BEST OF INDIA and be the best among the best.

About Global Village Publications India

Global Village Publications India publishes the BEST OF books in India under license from Global Village Partnerships, Dubai. The company develops international business networks by celebrating the success of companies in 30 territories across the world.

GVPI has published three books in the series in India: BEST OF BANGALORE, BEST OF GOA and BEST OF CHENNAI. These books have been duly recognised as the perfect representation of the cities’ best names.

The BEST OF series in India

Praise for the BEST OF Series:

BEST OF BANGALORE

“Bangalore is about human capital. This book focuses attention on this very special city”, Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson & MD, Biocon

“BEST OF BANGALORE is an excellent book and captures very accurately what makes Bangalore unique - young, aspirational, meritocratic and truly the Intellectual Capital of India. This is an outstanding book”, Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Chairperson, Aadhar (Unique Identification Authority of India)

“The book’s a brand ambassador for the city”, India Today

BEST OF GOA

“BEST OF GOA is enlightening and just what Goa needs”, Mr. Nick H Israel, GM, Taj Fort Aguada

“BEST OF GOA covers the nuances that give the state its exceptional quality”, Navhind Times

“Here we have a high-end book by a sensitive group of persons….it not only transmits the flavour of Goa to the reader but also eloquently expresses the richness of its culture and its society….” , The Herald

BEST OF CHENNAI

“BEST OF CHENNAI - Vol 1 captures the essence of the city through articles and photographs” , The Hindu

“This is something I would be happy to buy and distribute among my friends, especially when I travel overseas. It would be a nice way for my friends from overseas to get to know about my city Chennai.” Ramesh Krishnan, legendary tennis champion.

“The book looks very unique and shows some of the best pictures of Chennai all put together in one book”, Mr. Andrew Simkin, Consul General, US Consulate.

Nandan Nilekani, technocrat

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat

Margaret Alva (L), Governor of Uttarakhand

Dr HR Bhardwaj, Governor of Karnataka

A Foreign Affair with Sandeep Chowta

2011-10-04T09:57:00.004+05:30

I am in Ahmedabad – a tad tired after a day of meetings at IIMA and with Chief Minister Narendra Modi- when an old friend calls with interesting news from afar. Coming from Bangalore where we have had a spate of power outages, Ahmedabad with its 24-hour power supply, seems like a foreign land indeed. Its clean and good roads are enough to get me to wax lyrical after the potholed ridden nightmarish traffic we endure back home.

Right now though the foreign affair that I’m referring to is the album that my friend Sandeep Chowta has co-produced with the legendary American jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. A foreign affair has debuted at number two on the Billboard Jazz world charts, which is probably a first for any Indian musician. It is currently charting eighth on the world’s premier music publication.

Sandeep Chowta

Originally from Bangalore, Mumbai-based Sandeep is better known for the dozens of background scores he has composed for Bollywood films including Om Shanti Om, Satya and the more recent Not a love story. He’s also scored the music for umpteen Telugu films, for films featuring leading men like Nagarajuna.

A self-taught musician, this son of a rich family found it hard to get anyone to take him seriously at first. But he persevered. Having watched at close quarters his early efforts at composing, I have come to admire the single-minded dedication he displays to his career. Much like the successful Gujaratis from here.

Sandeep Chowta with Spyro Gyra leader, Jay Beckenstein

Spyro Gyra’s founding leader, alto saxophonist and songwriter Jay Beckenstein says, “Tom Schuman (keyboardist) had worked with Sandeep Chowta long distance over the net and then I did some work for Sandeep. We were very impressed with what he was doing, so when we decided to take the record in this direction, Sandeep was a perfect gateway into Indian music for us. It was natural to ask Sandeep to contribute to A Foreign Affair.”

http://www.spyrogyra.com/discography.php?num=32

Here is what the band says about Sandeep’s song Khuda which is part of the album, “Khudaannounces itself immediately as the most obvious departure on the record with its intro. It’s probably the first time a Western group has released a song with lyrics entirely in Hindi”.

http://www.billboard.com/charts/jazz-albums#/charts/jazz-albums

Sandeep spent seven months in Toronto for the recordings and the album takes us on a journey across the world; from the reggae beat of Caribe, to the sounds of Trinidad in Sweet Ole Thang which is a Calypso flavored, steel pan band party rave-up. Next is a piece of world music funk with Middle Eastern scales. Shinjuku offers a taste of modern Tokyo while Samba For Two and Canção de Ninar, take us to Brazil familiar in Spyro Gyra’s music. South Africa is present with Dancing On Table Mountain and the Last Call is sung by Grammy winning blues great Keb Mo’.

Collaborating with legendary jazz musicians is not something new for Sandeep; he’s earlier produced Matters of the Heart, featuring modern jazz icons like Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, Scott Henderson, Bunny Brunel, Virgil Donati, Dave Weckl, as well as members of Spyro Gyra, The Yellowjackets and Fourplay. He’s organised gigs in India such as the Bunny Brunel All Stars in 2006, with Virgil Donati, Frank Gambale and Mitch Forman.

As the strains of the garba music play out around me on the streets, Sandeep and I reminisce about the long way path he’s travelled from his first album Pulse. He reminds me that I was the first journalist to write about him all those years ago!

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

View the story in the Hearld on the link below:

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=17&boxid=3433250&id=1531&eddate=09/10/2011

Rev, Burn Out and Vroom ….

2011-10-03T10:33:00.000+05:30

Hamilton burns rubber in Bangalore, ahead of the Indian Grand Prix next month

Mclaren F1 British champion, Lewis Hamilton left Bangalore fans in awe, as he burnt rubber on the outskirts of Bangalore’s NICE (Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise) road.

Hamilton in his F1 Mclaren on Bangalore's NICE Road

Driving his 2008 winning Formula 1 Mclaren car on a curved, almost quarter-mile track and performing doughnuts and high speed burnouts, he got the 60,000-plus crowd up on their feet instantly. The venue proved too small for the hundreds of fans bursting onto the barricades.

The action lasted not more than an hour in the Formula 1 car - MP4-23, and then onto an AMG C-Class and an SL-63 AMG, Hamilton also treated a couple of sponsor Vodafone contest winners and select celebrities on the fast lane for a few hot laps, demonstrating his extraordinary racing skill and expertise behind the wheel with ease.

On the hot, humid Tuesday morning, within seconds of leaving the pit garage, Hamilton was cheered on by the crowd, accelerating and racing the car to the other end, leaving the crowd stunned by the F1 car’s engine and sound. Bangalore got an appetiser of what’s to come at the end of October at Noida’s F1 circuit.

As thousands of fans missed his first F1 demo due to an incredible traffic pile up, rush and chaos outside the venue, a very sporty, enthusiastic Lewis agreed to do another round of showing his skills, adrenaline and the pure brute power of his car for the ever-growing crowd that had broken barriers to cause a mini stampede outside.

The fans who turned out in hordes

On his maiden visit to Bangalore, Hamilton who is currently fifth in the F1 driver’s standings is here on a promotional event ahead of the Indian Grand Prix. He is no stranger to India though, having previously visited New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. This is his fourth visit to the country.

Hamilton greets the surging crowd

With the first ever Indian Grand Prix all set to be held next month, on October 28-30 at Greater Noida near New Delhi, F1 excitement gripped the die-hard motor sports fans of all ages, who came to the venue in droves for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a racing superstar and an F1 car.

The next team to visit India will be the Red Bull Racing on October 1 at Delhi’s Rajpath.

So India, be ready for some adrenaline-pumping, high–speed car racing entertainment.

- Aditya Mendonca/Raintree Media Features / www.raintreemedia.com

Howzzat! Cricket goes hip-hopping

2011-10-03T10:24:00.001+05:30

CL T20 Opening Ceremony kicked off with a bang last week.

A day prior to the big-ticket event, Bangalore rapped, not just with the big stars of Champions league, but to the tunes of modern hip hop giants, Jay Sean, Ludacris and Flo Rida. The men behind mega hits like “Get Back”, “Right Round” and “Down” brought an assault of brilliant rhymes and beats to the Bangalore Palace on September 22.

Flo Rida and Ludacris perform at the event

While Flo Rida and Jay Sean have toured India in the past (Jay Sean recently completed a four-city tour), it was the first gig for Ludacris and his DJs in the country - also a reassuring reminder that he’s not all about drifting these days.

As the sun went down, the evening came alive to the sounds of the three new-age artists with the crowd swinging to all the best hits that they had to offer.

Jay Sean

Jay Sean got the crowd going with his amazing voice and beat box skills; he sang all his hits, from “Down” and “Soniye” to “2012 (It Ain’t the End)”.

Grammy winning Ludacris’ performance was action-packed with hits like “Splash Waterfalls”, “How Low”, “My Chick Bad”, “Hit ’em” and “What Them Girls Like”.

Flo Rida ended the concert with all his top hits like “Right Round”, “Low”, “Elevator”, “Sugar in the Ayer”, and his latest single “Good Feeling”.

The cricketing touch to the proceedings were provided by the captains of the ten participating teams, who walked up on stage and signed the ‘Spirit of Cricket Declaration’, signaling the start to the tournament. While the RCB boys got a loud cheer from the home crowd, MS Dhoni’s presence on stage got the crowd into an electric pace.

It was a mix crowd of over 4000, including cricket fans and music lovers that attended the concert. Here’s what some of the fans had to say:

Akshita Luthria, student, “The concert was brilliant and Jay Sean and Flo Rida were just amazing”.

Sahil Wahid, travel entrepreneur, “It had a different vibe, pretty good for an opening ceremony, perfect for Bangalore”.

Shazeen Javed, “I am glad that we got to hear the tunes of some of hip-hop’s biggest names”.
- Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Be blunt about your tresses

2011-09-27T09:33:00.001+05:30

The spanking new salon in Bangalore is all set to spruce you up and let your tresses do the talking.

Picture this. You walk into India’s largest (read 6000 sq ft) ‘b:blunt’ salon, near Garuda Mall on Magrath Road and you are welcomed by a handsome guy, looking casual chic in a pair of blue jeans, a white tee, with garters hanging loose on the sides, a grey hat and piercing deep blue eyes that look right into yours waiting to pamper you.

The only thing that can steal your gaze from his is the hot pink that’s thrown around in the form of butterflies in a separate Blow-Out bar, or the fuchsia colour of the AC duct or the pink lamp shades that add the spunk to an otherwise black, white, grey and steel themed salon. There are separate rooms for Kerastase hair spas and another one for Manicure, Pedicure and Facials.

Run by Adhuna Bhabani Akhtar (she is Farhan Akhtar’s wife who has made a mark in the hairdressing industry for 20 years on her own) and Osh Bhabani, b:blunt is a brand that has made its mark in snipping, straightening and styling hordes of socialites and film stars’ manes.

Deepika Padukone who was flown down to launch the salon recently vouched for her tresses being snipped by Adhuna for a movie. After I surrendered mine to the care of Brent Barber, the salon’s chief hairdresser, I knew just what she meant.

Brent Barber

Piqued by Brent’s surname, I can’t help but inquire; “It came from my grandfather who was a barber”, he says. After asking keen questions about my lifestyle and the kind of clothes and accessories I like, Brent suggests a layered look, as I didn’t want to go short on the length. (Haircuts start at Rs 650 upwards here).

Brent who began his hairdressing career over 17 years ago in his home city of Melbourne, says, “I was all of 14 when I knew I wanted to make a career out of hairdressing. At that age, it was the creative streak that I could give vent to with people’s hair that led me in.” “It was also the fact that I could come to work dressed quirky and cool,” quips Brent with his charming smile.

It was ultimately the bright lights of London that kept him going strong till his big break in 2005 when he won the title of ‘British Men’s Hairdresser of the Year’. Styling the rich and famous and the bold and the beautiful - from the sublime Agyness Deyn and Kiran Rao to the ridiculous Rowan Atkinson to big wigs like cricket legend Shane Warne - it has been an interesting journey for Brent who is now all set to explore the Bangalore waters.

Walter who handles the Colour Bar and also trains people is full of interesting tales, post the success of the fun flick ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’; he shares, “I travelled to all shoot locations and as part of b:blunt, styled the complete look of the stars. We also did ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Dhoom 2’ and ‘Rock On’ and now we are going to be working on ‘Don 2’.”

If you are worried about being in or out with the current trend, fret not; Brent assures, “It’s never generic. Every colour and cut can’t be industrial, it has to be for the individual, it has to be tailored for you.” His words reflect his firm belief in ideas, his passion, hard work and dedication in ensuring a consistency in offering the latest trends, qualities which have put Adhuna, Osh Bhabani, Avan Contractor and Brent at the top of their profession today.

- Namita Gupta/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com
Read the story in Goa Herald on link below
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=172813359&id=1827&eddate=09/27/2011

A Sunday with a soul

2011-09-26T10:39:00.000+05:30

An eclectic mix of food, clothing, music, fashion & accessories were up for grabs at the Sunday Soul Santhe or fair at the famous Palace Grounds in Bangalore.

Perhaps people are bored with air-conditioned malls but there was genuine appreciation of the laid-back open-air bazaar, with glitterati and tweeple finding common ground in the bargain hunt. One of the most well-attended events in Bangalore, the Santhe in its fourth edition was essentially a Sunday carnival that brought Bangalore’s creative culture all at one venue.

An effort to blend or bring together creative potential of artistes and designers in the city and even some from across the country, it was created by Asha Rao and reflected her warmth and attention to detail.

Rao, who has been doing Soul Santhe since 2010, says that the event is also an avenue for people to relax and have fun as well as to encourage Indian culture, craftsmanship, artists and heritage.

The hot Sunday afternoon was ideal for chilled beer, but though Kingfisher was the main sponsor, it did not retail beer, as an alcohol ban had been imposed at the Palace Grounds. A bit strange but then, such arbitrary decisions have come to be the norm in Bangalore. The thirsty crowd found succour in eating ice creams.

Delhi-based TooSid's hand-painted t-shirts at the Santhe

Some of the quirky and creative stalls at Santhe were of Glasshopper which creates objet d‘arts out of old broken glass, and Pitaraa which retailed a nice line of accessories like wallets and funky bracelets. Pitaraa even pegged social media for people who bought their products, featuring them on their Facebook page. Pitaraa was started by Rachana Nagranee in 2010; it currently retails in Bangalore and plans to expand this year to Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. TooSid from Delhi was another worthy mention with its hand-painted, out-of-the-box t-shirts inspired by eye-catching motifs.

Amongst the hottest haunts at the venue was the Counter-Culture space. Founded by Vishwaraj Mohan, Counter-Culture is a new open space with a bar and restaurant located on the outskirts of Bangalore just outside the bustling IT area of Whitefield. At the Soul Santhe, Counter-Culture allowed fellow artists to relax and sell their wares, besides curating the music for the evening. The music featured popular names like DJ Ivan and upcoming artists like Arjun Chandran and Aman Mahajan.

It’s another matter that the skies opened up and poured down, putting the Santhe fun on momentary hold, but then such is Bangalore’s weather.

With an entry fee of Rs 49/- Sunday Soul Santhe is certainly my pick of things to do if you ever happen to be in Bangalore during its occurrence.

- Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features

Read the story in Goa Herald on link below

http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=11&boxid=45235718&id=1346&eddate=09/26/2011

Boy meets girl, err, girls

2011-09-24T10:36:00.001+05:30

With ‘Lifeu istene’, Kannada film industry has joined the new breed of Indian films that are fresh, realistic and entertaining. After the bad press evoked by l’affaire Darshan across the country for Sandalwood in general, this is indeed good news for the industry.

Lifeu istene poster

The directorial debut by Pawan Kumar is running to packed houses and it is not the urbane audience in Bangalore alone but those in smaller cities and towns that are also applauding the film. Its title translates roughly to “this is all that life is about”, approximating to the emphatic French “c’est la vie”.

The premise is simple: the hero, hottie Diganth Shetty, keeps falling in love with a succession of girls. He feels each infatuation deeply as he is a decent chap at heart and not a womaniser. The story charts his growing up years and his weaning from the obsession with romance. Life is surprising and so is this film. I will not reveal all on the off chance that some of you, dear readers, might get to see it.

Pawan has done justice to every character and has taken trouble to add nuances to each of them. The hero’s parents are lovable and ditsy, with the Mother encouraging the son to woo his love on Valentine’s Day. Pawan told me that they were the kind of parents he would have liked to have had.

A still from the movie

It is mercifully free of hard-to-believe fisticuffs; even the mandatory dream sequence songs shot in picturesque Ladakh are done tastefully.

I must confess that we only went to watch the film as we know one of the female leads, Samyukta. This young collegian essays a character that is pretty close to her real life. Her family is rooted in theatre and films; her grandmother Bhargavi Belawadi and mother Sudha act in TV serials, her uncle Prakash Belawadi is a director, actor (read my Wordpress blog for my review of his recent play) and journalist, another uncle, Pradeep is an expert in lights. Her late grandfather Nani was legendary for his skills in make-up.

Samyukta Belawadi

Her father MG Satya is the go-to man for shoots – be it films or tv commercials. He is the author of the Swades script. Samyukta carries the weight of this impressive pedigree lightly and has acquitted herself with ease in this first film.

The film though belongs to the director; he has brought in unusual elements such as a quartet of musicians and dancers who appear at crucial times. The music is remarkable too, offering an amazing contrast with modern lyrics sung in the style of folksongs.

Pawan was a theatre actor himself in Bangalore and Mumbai before switching over to filmmaking. After learning the ropes making corporate films, he started working with filmmaker Yograj Bhat. Pawan wrote the scripts for three films after which Yograj offered to produce a film that Pawan could script and direct.

Director, Pawan Kumar

“I wrote and rejected four scripts; I know from experience that only a story that appeals to the youth can be successful. I got married last year and one day, my friends and I were reminiscing over the crushes that we had when were younger. Over time, those infatuations hardly seemed as devastating as they felt when they went wrong. This script grew from that conversation”.

He admits to apprehensions before the release about the movie going over people’s heads. Weeks after, this happy man said to me, “I don’t think that film makers need to dumb it down for the Kannada film audience anymore”.

Now if he only sub-titles it and sends it across the country, he might be equally pleasantly surprised with the reaction. He feels that Kannada filmdom might oppose the move to have English sub-titles; I wonder why. In fact in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore, it would spur people to understand and learn Kannada. To argue my point, I only need to point to Hindi films and songs that do far more to teach the language than lessons in school.

- Sandhya Mendonca
Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for Herald Goa. View the story on Herald on the link below
http://74.127.61.178/herald//Details.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=9&boxid=45724687&id=1783&eddate=09/24/2011

In The Pink of health

2011-09-20T10:03:00.000+05:30

A 100% vegan kitchen, an array of fresh organic produce at its ready disposal and eco-friendly interiors – this ‘Healthy Cooking Workshop’ could not have wished for a better setting than Bangalore’s ‘In The Pink Organic Bazaar & Restaurant’.

Dr Nandita Shah shows how its done

In The Pink which offers Bangaloreans the unique experience of eating and shopping organic, played the perfect host to SHARAN’s latest of vegan food programmes last week. SHARAN (Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature) is a non-profit organisation based in Auroville, Puducherry, working to spread holistic health and ecologically sustainable lifestyle awareness through seminars, training programmes and live cooking workshops across the country since the last six years.

On Saturday, the earthy interior of the restaurant – characterised by Atthangudi floor tiles, wooden columns and bamboo chick blinds – was abuzz with housewives, fitness experts, students, professors, writers, entrepreneurs and media professionals with one common interest – healthy, vegan food. In the next three hours, SHARAN’s Dr Nandita Shah literally had them eating out of her hands as she served up a sumptuous four-course meal with twelve dishes whose preparations would have knocked the socks out of any meat-eating or fast-food fanatic. The words you are looking for here is ‘zero oil and zero animal product’ – yes, not even dairy!

The delicious spread

And the winners were: three kinds of salads, nut milk, nut cheese, nut butter, Shepherd’s Pie with mince soya nuggets and nut cheese crust, stuffed lady’s fingers, dry beans (poriyal), daal makhni with nut butter, sprouts-and-veggie patty and banana ice cream without the cream. Prepared without a single drop of oil or any animal product, the dishes were baked (not in a microwave), steamed or simply roasted. Assisting Dr Shah along her gastronomic journey was the eager restaurant staff and the participants.

Participants lend a helping hand

Interspersed with nuggets of information and tips, the interactive workshop made for the perfect induction to new age cooking. A highlight was when Dr Shah passed around her very own substitute for milk cheese – cashew nut cheese. Ground into a paste and fermented over 2-3 days, it smelled like cheese and tasted, well, almost like cheese but nuttier. The amazement was quickly followed by apprehensions on the high calorie content and cholesterol production which was as quickly assuaged: “No plant ever produces cholesterol”.

“This workshop is about how to cook food we eat daily in a healthier way, it’s all about techniques. You can eat as much as you want as long as you eat in the right way. We endorse plant-based, whole foods,” explained Dr Shah.

A 100% vegan since the last eight years, she took up the cause of healthy eating seriously after she helped a 70-year-old heart patient cut down her medication from a page-full to a quarter of a tablet in two months and later, a 21-year-old diabetic to cut down his insulin intake from thrice a day to none at all in just three days!

“It was beyond my wildest expectations! That’s how we got the guts to start our 21-day reversal programme.”

One among SHARAN’s several offerings, the 21-day residential programme for reversal of illnesses like diabetes and heart diseases is held at Swaswara Resort in Gokarna, just five hours from Goa. The patient is introduced to a healthy food guide while daily blood sugar level and blood pressure tests are conducted. “They can see their achievement with lab reports to vouch for it. A patient cut down 70% of the medication. Of course, there is no real reason that everyone needs a 21-day programme. You attend a cooking class like this, a seminar, try a few recipes from our website and you can do it right at home. The reason why 21 days is because it is the minimum it takes to change a habit.”

Host for the day, G Paneesh Rao, MD, In The Pink

For SHARAN’s amicable host for the day, G Paneesh Rao, MD In The Pink, the experience was in tune with his own mantra in life. “In The Pink was envisaged when I started consuming organic produce myself and felt the difference. I wanted to make such an experience available to other Bangaloreans.

Lots of people ask me why a restaurant and a store together: well, someone who is not familiar with organic food will have lot of questions when he or she walks in. Our solution: taste the food and then buy the produce. Simple.”

www.sharan-india.org

www.inthepink.in

- Remuna Rai/ Raintree Media Features

Love is in this Shack

2011-09-19T10:23:00.002+05:30

Love Shack has captured the fancy of Bangaloreans as much with its name as with its ambience. This bamboo and thatched roof al fresco pub clearly bends to the vein of those Goan shacks. Four floors above ground, open to starlit sky terrace, the beach-styled pub faces a tech park with night-lights on palm trees. The ambience urges one to kick off the shoes and loll on the mattresses.

Himesh Arora at the Love Shack

Love Shack the lounge bar, besides some interesting cocktails, serves innovative Maa Ki Daal Pizza and Tandoori Chicken Pizza; these seem to a big hit along with the attractive price. Its twin, the Tandoori Hippie serves authentic North-Indian cuisine.

Tarun Arora at the Tandoori Hippie

Started by brothers Tarun and Himesh Arora, who have made their mark in their fields of acting, modelling and photography, the Goan themed lounge bar and Punjabi dhaba are first of many they plan to open.

Tarun played the role of Kareena Kapoor’s dream lover Anshuman in the runaway success ‘Jab We Met’ and after spending 15 years in the modelling and acting industry, joined hands with brother Himesh Arora, a popular face in Bangalore’s party circuit to enter the hospitality industry.

Says Tarun, “My modelling and acting stints took me to various parts of the world and during my travels I liked trying out new restaurants and setting up my own restaurant was always at the back of my mind. I was sated with modelling. After acting in films like ‘Sheen’, ‘19 Revolution’, ‘Ghutan’, I had moved to Bangalore to set up my restaurant venture when I got the call for ‘Jab We Met’. They signed me up in half an hour and I realised that it’s best to do just one quality role once a year than do many small ones.” Tarun is a hotel management graduate and along with Himesh had been advising friends who had set up their own ventures.

Himesh says, “I was officially behind setting up The Beach and also was a partner in the Ivy on Outer Ring Road. We come from a business family and decided that it was time to realise our concepts”. To Himesh goes the credit of starting the ladies nights on Wednesdays many years ago, offering free or concessional prices on drinks for women, a concept that’s now firmly in place in all the bars in the city.

While Tarun handles the design, personnel and food, Himesh handles the business development, sales and promotions. “We are planning to set up at least three more restaurants and pubs in the city. We also plan to set up more diners and lounges in Goa, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad,” avers Himesh.

Tarun adds, “Our USP is a casual, fun place, nothing uptight or stiff, where anyone young or old need not feel out of place, whether you’re dressed in black tie or even your track pants or shorts”.

- Namita Gupta / Raintree Media Features

Elegant messengers of peace and harmony

2011-09-17T12:30:00.000+05:30

One of the virtues of the Raj Bhavan is that it hosts programmes that need an influential platform. And what better cause than that of music which soothes troubled souls?

Purani Dilli or old Delhi was for a few hours transplanted to Bangalore as against the backdrop image of the Red Fort, an elegant and gentle evening unfolded before an intimate and receptive audience. The setting was apt, at the impressive Banquet Hall of the Raj Bhavan, and we were treated to mellifluous music, poetry recitals and a dramatic narration that brought alive a by-gone era.

The overwhelming sentiment was of peace and harmony. “Culture is the greatest tool in building bridges and promoting understanding between communities”, says Mr. Zafar Saifullah, Trustee of the India Harmony Foundation and former Cabinet Secretary.

Today’s sad reality is that the fragile fabric of accord is increasingly being torn asunder. Voices of reason are drowned by shrill rhetoric that guarantees megabytes of news time. All the more reason then for movements like these which seek to spread their message gently, through music and dance.

“Indians, deep in their hearts, earn for the old days of social harmony” is Mr Saifullah’s belief, firmly shared by his wife, the graceful and charming Kulsoom.

The Purani Dilli show celebrates an era when culture and harmony was at its peak – the time of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, 1775 –1862.

The last Mughal’s kingdom did not extend beyond the Red Fort; most of the Mughal territory was taken over by the British. Zafar set out to conquer the minds and hearts of the people through literature, poetry, music and art. The forty years of his rule saw the meeting of diverse cultures and traditions in India.

Explaining the theme, Kulsoom says, “Bahadur Shah Zafar understood the role of culture in promoting universal harmony. He was a distinguished poet and his court comprised of a galaxy of poets such as Zauq, Mir, Dagh, Momin and the redoubtable Ghalib”.

The show is a paean of praise to the philosopher – king, whose work covers a gamut of emotions ranging from romance to philosophy to pathos. With his encouragement of all forms of art and architecture, Dilli had for a few brief moments attained the pinnacle of glory celebrating the grace of the human spirit. The courteous manner of life, music and food of that era belong to all Indians of diverse faiths and regions, the Saifullahs believe and this is what the show affirms.

With a moving introduction to Urdu by Prof Urshila Chanana, the narration by Salima Raza was captivating. The soaring voice of Reni Singh moved from pathos to hope with Bangalore’s own Roshan rendering robust Qawwalis.

The abridged recreation of the full-fledged cultural show flirted at the boundaries of the elegiac, but did not sink into a lament for times past. There was nostalgia yes, as the words and music spoke about a gentler era of yore. It certainly whetted our appetite for another show that is on the cards.

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Spinning silken dreams

2011-09-12T11:26:00.001+05:30

With an in-house designer whipping out unique creations based on their choice of fabric, Bangaloreans are flocking to the Sara Silk Store.

Have you ever found yourself clutching at a beautiful piece of fabric you paid through your nose for, fearing what lies at the other end of your tailor’s glistening scissors – sheer divinity or pure horror? Highly unlikely, if you are a regular at Bangalore’s Sara Silk Store.

Located on the up-market Museum Road, the Sara Silk Store retails in high-end fabrics ranging from the finest silk and silk-blended fabrics to crepes, nets, chiffons and georgette to the exquisite French chiffon and French Chantilly lace. And diligently churning out most fabulous designs based on these fabrics to woo customers with is a young fashion designer, tucked away in the back quarters of the store.

Oblivious to her modest surroundings - a plain wooden table inside a narrow room barely enough to fit two people at the same time - 21-year-old Aloka Gloria D’Souza eagerly flips through a thick stack of papers, proudly exhibiting her creations spun with nothing but water colours and a vivid imagination.

In a nutshell, Aloka’s job is to help customers visualise a desired fabric in a desired outfit – be it a salwar-kameez, ghagra-choli, saree, evening gown or even bridal trousseaus. This way the customer is saved any regret later (or the heart-pounding anxiety referred to earlier), while the store gains a satisfied patron.

Aloka at work

Aloka explains her unique role, “Sara has so many different fabrics in several varieties that people tend to get confused. Many times, the customers are apprehensive of how it may shape out in a particular outfit or in a mix-and-match with another fabric; sometimes, they fall in love with the fabric but don’t know what to do with it. That’s where I step in.”

“I sketch the designs for different fabrics and combinations and keep them ready for customer reference, but many times customers have asked us to create something especially for them based on the chosen fabric. We once had a Bengali woman picking a fabric for her wedding saree. All she knew was that it had to be in red-and-green with an embroidered velvet pallu. I came up with a silk brocade ensemble which she loved.”

The brainwave for such an in-house designer is that of Suraj Devatha and his cousin Vivek who started the Sara Silk Store together. It is the first retail unit of Niranjan Silk Palace, an established silk wholesaler, manufacturer and exporter in Bangalore.

“We wanted to expand the family business and start something new. Unlike Bangalore, Delhi and Punjab have many stores retailing exclusively in silk materials and whom we supply to. We’ve seen their roaring success and we wanted to recreate something like that here. There are a lot of misconceptions about silk - people think silk is only for traditional outfits but there is so much more you can use it for, such as Western wear. We also wanted to educate people about silk,” explains Suraj.

- Remuna Rai/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Desi Silicon Valley Dreams Big

2011-09-12T11:09:00.000+05:30

This city’s lack of infrastructure gets so much flak, and has been doing so for several years now that one has to admire the grit and perseverance of companies that continue to function as well as they do. It is this same ‘can-do’ spirit that perhaps prompted the Confederation of Indian Industry to have as the theme of the Seventh India Innovation Summit ‘Making Bangalore the innovation hub of Asia’.

Just before the conference, a financial daily quoted local technology companies who repeated in unison what they have been saying for most of the last decade. This city, once touted as the desi Silicon Valley, has lost ground to others outside the state.

How long can its celebrated weather and the cosmopolitan tag remain attractive? For businesses to survive and thrive, they need infrastructure – give us power, water, roads - is the common refrain that successive governments of varying political hues have become deaf to. The new BJP Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda made the same assurances but one can’t expect him, lame duck as he is portrayed to be, to really do much. But who knows, he might well surprise us, and one can live on hope.

Industry does that remarkably well; Dr. Sridhar Mitta, who left Wipro to start NextWealth, a social enterprise that takes IT to tier-2 and 3 cities, is confident that Bangalore will soon give birth to a company like Google or Microsoft. “Innovation comes out of adverse conditions and India is a good place for it because of the chaos”. Businesses do well in spite of the government, he repeated.

I really wish that this were not so. We have a few enormously successful businesses driven by NewGen technocrats. Imagine how many more would have come up if the government had the right attitude? How much faster would have been their growth?

Instead of listening to snide remarks about lack of original ideas, the homegrown companies that have now set their sights on scaling up the value chain, would have perhaps already incubated original business ideas.

The good news is that the spotlight is on R & D and on an ecosystem that supports innovations. Large multinational technology companies are already at it. Cisco’s ‘smart campus’ is its showcase to global customers and Yahoo India’s R & D centre here is its second largest globally. Dr Praveen Vishakantaiah, President, Intel Technology India proudly pointed out that India is quoted as a model within the global operations of Intel.

Talent has been scarce with a lack of domain expertise especially in the higher levels, and several companies said they were working with universities to up the knowledge quotient. Representatives from universities who need these companies to hire their students were in plenty at the session.

Researchers also need soft skills, as it is critical for them to sell their ideas internally and many engineering students used to be not very good at doing this. This seems to be changing too, going by Yahoo’s VP and CEO Yahoo India R &D Shouvick Mukherjee who said that he has seen a positive change in how young recruits articulate their goals.

More PhDs and more patents will place Bangalore and India as an innovation hub. Now all we need is the political will to ensure that labs that are currently unused for lack of power and water can work at peak capacity.

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for OHeraldo Goa)

Fresh, innovative & funky sounds

2011-09-08T10:44:00.005+05:30

Dualist Inquiry’s grinding progressive electronica, combined with some pretty good guitar solos has a growing fan following across India. Guitarist, composer and producer, Sahej Bakshi, chose the name Dualist Inquiry because it represents his personal belief in the idea of dualism, an “encapsulating philosophy” that “these extremes are always balancing and cancelling each other out”.

Dualist Inquiry kicked up a storm of a crowd at Bangalore’s best Drum & Bass venue, Bacchus. With a different vibe, the crowd was electric and totally entertained.

Sahej Bakshi in performance

Bakshi is different from other electronica musicians; he’s often called Delhi’s missing Moby, he composes and produces each and every track during his live performance.On stage, the 24 year old, in addition to busting out beats from behind his laptop (with the aid of his trusty sequencer, the Native Instruments Machine), he also plays the guitar. But the electro-rock sounds do not stick to any one genre; Bakshi has been known to jump styles “I’ve stopped caring about genres, as a rule of life”.

Bakshi who learned to play guitar at age nine, formed a school rock band with actor-musician Imaad Shah while they were at Doon School in Dehradun. Bakshi was exposed to a world of electronic music that shook him out of his rock foundations. In 2005, he began working with music production software to create a sound of distinct, rock- influenced electronica. He graduated from the Thornton Music School at USC in Los Angeles, CA.

Since returning to Delhi in March 2010, Bakshi has been touring India extensively, in addition to being selected to perform at the Berlin Music Week in Sept 2010. He was ranked No.1 nationally in the Burn Sasha Tour remix competition (2010) and was the Second Runner Up in the MTV Submerge Ultimate Pro DJ Championship 2010.

Excerpts from an interview:
What is Dualist Inquiry?
Dualist Inquiry started as my way of chronicling my life experiences when I was just writing music in my dorm room in college. But now it’s started shaping my life in return, so it’s quite interesting to think about the change of perspective. I need my songs to have a friendly, groovy, percussive beat to them, and a certain degree of the repetitive electronic element.

What are your views on the EDM scene in India - the current state and how you would like to see it evolve?
Currently, the Indian EDM scene in India is at a very special juncture, where people in large numbers are beginning to take electronic and other music very seriously, both in a musical and business sense Increasingly, Indian music fans are taking a serious look at Indian bands (which are not playing covers anymore) and finding that they quite like what they see.

Two DJs / songs that your currently Digg?
Gramatik – ‘So much to love’
Opiou - ‘Robo Boty’

Tell us about the latest EP “Dualism” - what can new listeners expect from it?
It’s got a personal meaning. To me, it’s a balance of how everything is composed. With this EP, I've tried to represent myself as truly and fairly as an artist as I possibly can. There’s some chillout, there’s some midtempo, there’s some party music, and there’s some concrete spoken thoughts to chew on. Listeners can expect to hear four tracks that are very closely related to each other, yet very distant in some very obvious ways.

Bakshi believes there’s no better place for an Indian indie musician than India right now. “Being Indian, there was less meaning in my being in LA. Here, we’re starting something. Every year, there’s a new festival. I wanted to contribute to the scene here”.

- Aditya Mendonca/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

This Little Cloud has a story to tell

2011-09-07T09:58:00.001+05:30

Bangalore’s popular theatre Ranga Shankara’s innovative storytelling session is a welcome escape for TV-addicted children and their parents

Padmavati Rao or ‘Pinty Akka’ is the quintessential storyteller with long gypsy skirts, flowing tunics, silver bangles and a brilliant smile. She has previously conducted storytelling events for parents and children. Her ideal environment is one with minimal audio-visual noise.

As Rao makes the room come alive with the sounds of the animals in her tales, “ooh”s and “aah”s escape the children’s lips. The walls seem to burst with brilliant colours painted by the imagination of the children, as the words conjure up images with the strokes of her emphatic fingertips. With the sunlight pouring in from the large windows, the children are free to curl up or sprawl out as they please.

Rao treated curious youngsters with her animated storytelling at Ranga Shankara’s ‘Little Cloud’. It is the newest offering from the AHA!, a programme of Ranga Shankara which aims to bring theatre in all of its forms to the younger generation. The storytelling session was conducted over two weekends and elicited an enthusiastic response from parents and children alike. A series of four sessions with Rao and Abhishek Majumdar for children aged 4 to 9, it was a relief to parents looking for a weekend educational activity for their kids.

“We subtly teach children what is generally not learnt in a school setting,” says Rao. She believes in giving her audience creative space and indulges the kids in a clay-molding activity. “Unlike most storytellers, I’m not hooked into having my audience’s eyes locked with mine.”

Folk tales or family lores, stories have always intrigued children of generations past, whether narrated by their grandmothers, parents or by the vagrant passing their town. History was narrated so colourfully through these tales giving them an awareness of their present. Until a few decades ago, children were accustomed to curling up in their parents’ lap and listening to stories. Stories not only had the power to broaden a child’s imagination but to inspire and heal them.

With the onset of the digital age, children are glued to the TV, and a dry narration of a story does not interest them. It is now becoming difficult to narrate stories without being sceptical of their child’s response. Rao herself was once confused when a parent asked, “How does one narrate a story?” She replied very simply that she had grown up listening to stories from her father and that he had passed it on to her.

In her sessions, Rao takes the stories she’s been brought up with and recreates them, retaining the essence. Sustaining a child’s interest is difficult, she agrees, but voice and the rhythm of the story can engage the attention of any child. Her folk tales are not merely moral stories, but tales from around India. She wants to highlight the pleasure of being, while maintaining the distinctiveness of who we are and where we come from.

“I was used to waking up in the morning and seeing rangolis being drawn on our porch - where is our culture reflected in the homes we live in now?” she questions.

For Rao, it is important to uphold the storytelling heritage. “Stories are like dreams; they help us retain the belief that even dreams are possible.”

- Huma Mariam Hussain/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

A French love affair with Indian fabrics

2011-09-06T10:03:00.001+05:30

Flowing dresses, smart jackets, elegant trousers and exquisite scarves of the finest silk in delicious colours, from fuschia to emerald to peach to sapphire, adorned with intricate hand-embroidery, sequin work and block prints– these are some trademark creations of ‘Takla Makan’, a Pondicherry-based French design label inspired by the rich heritage of Indian fabrics.

Melissa models one of her creations

Melissa de Valera started Takla Makan in 2008 with her partner, following a ten-year love affair with Indian fabrics which began while studying her Masters in Indian Studies at the Sorbonne University of Paris. Her course work subsequently brought her to India where exposure to the rich culture of fabrics and local craftsmanship spurred the decision to pursue a double Masters, this time in Textile Design. Melissa sought the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad for her the final year submissions - two projects in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

That was in 2002. Melissa then spent the next six years, travelling across India, working with traditional craftsmen - an experience which eventually gave birth to Takla Makan.

“I was compelled with a strong desire to help the local craftsmen and promote and help sustain this rich heritage. That is the idea behind Takla Makan,” says the designer. Takla Makan has tied up with NGOs to work with weavers in Himachal Pradesh and Chattisgarh, block printers in Rajasthan and Gujarat and kantha embroiderers in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. “It is more expensive to get the work done in these places but the money goes into education of their children so it is more satisfying.”

Quiz her on the choice of name for her label and she blurts out: “It means ‘bald house’ in Hindi!” Upon the puzzling look evoked by her answer, she explains, smiling, “The Takla Makan desert lies on the ancient Silk Route and that holds significance for me since I use a lot of silk in my designs. Also, this name was easier for people to pronounce, as opposed to a French name.” That certainly makes more sense.

Coming back to the clothes, while traditionally designers think up a particular design before choosing the fabric, with Melissa, it’s the fabric which inspires her designs. “It’s because I am originally a textile designer. I buy a fabric and the design follows. This is also why most of my garments are unique pieces or are very limited editions.”

She confesses that at times, it takes her as long as an entire year to conceptualise the design. “I have sat with some fabrics for a very long time – sometimes an entire year. I’ll be just sitting, waiting for the design to click and meanwhile not daring to cut the fabric because I don’t want to ruin it. Sometimes, the idea just comes instantly.”

With her fascination for fabrics, Melissa couldn’t have been wished for a better muse than India. “I am lucky to be in a place which has such a rich history and variety of textiles and traditional craftsmanship. I try to use Indian fabrics in a different way, mixing in my sense of aesthetics and colours which are more subtle than what you see in traditional Indian outfits.”

Besides silk, she also works with wool, cotton and other natural fabrics. “I purchase the silk mostly from Delhi and Chattisgarh and more recently, from the Sara Silk Store in Bangalore which has great fabrics and colours. The silk in Tamil Nadu is very heavy and they don’t fold as well for the kind of clothes I work with. Also, the colours here are brighter than what I usually prefer.”

Apart from the workshop-cum-showroom in Pondicherry, Takla Makan has a retail outlet in Coimbatore. Abroad, it has a showroom in Paris and also retails in Belgium and Germany.

“In Pondicherry, my clientele is mainly foreigners and people from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. So far, we have focused on export, but for the near future, we are looking at retailing in the Indian metros which have great market potential.”

Takla Makan, 222 Lal Bahadur Shastri Street, Pondicherry 605001, T: 0413 4308372
- Remuna Rai/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Tech that!

2011-09-05T13:30:00.002+05:30

Fusion Lounge, touted as the world’s first fully automated pub, is set to leave Bangalore techies dizzy with its sophistication

Jim Morrison had to croon,” Well, show me the way to the next whiskey bar, oh don’t ask why. For if we don't find the next whiskey bar, I tell you we must die.” But our techies couldn’t have got it better than one bang in the midst of the technology park that houses some of the city’s swankiest IT companies.

Embassy Golf Links is touted to be Bangalore’s landmark, what with Fusion Lounge, spread over multiple portable bars, with an indoor hi-tech lounge bar and an al fresco seating area overlooking the greens. A Turnstile entry from the food court to the bar is equipped with a face scan/Rfid card and a thumb card reader. First timers are issued a Swipe card that bears all your personal details, so the next time you walk in your details are already in store, including your music, tipple and food preferences.

The experience is a marked departure from how most pubs in the country operate and might leave the geek in you breathless. Pick your choice of music from an iPad, or let the automated DJ do the honours for you or better still, just get the karaoke mode on and sing along. For us, it had to be, “Tonight’s gonna be a good, good night”. Want to further indulge, get gaming with the 3D virtual gaming on the large audio visual screen.

The ambiance is very upbeat with LED and neon lights giving the bar a very mystical touch. Black and white couch and bar stools facing the bar area make for chic interiors, while rocking swing seats outside allow for an intimate and relaxed drink with friends.

You are here for the booze, of course. And you get it just right - not a drop less or more. Move to the auto bar where an automated cocktail and hard liquor dispenser will pour an exact amount of 30 ml needed for your drink, bidding goodbye to those days when you thought your drink could be less or more potent. Or even wondered if the bartender cheated on you and gave you 10 ml less. No wonder on the night we stopped by, our orders of a Sex on the Beach and a Mojito were spiked and mixed to perfection.

For those who are wondering if they would miss a bartender’s touch need not fret, as they holler all around in black tees sporting LED name display. Once the machine pours the alcohol, the bartender then shakes and stirs it up and gives it that finishing touch.

There is also an automated draught beer dispenser that chugs in just the amount needed for a bevel, mug or a pitcher if you please. Now that’s an ale adventure that might leave you feeling ale and hearty after a hard day’s night.

Lap up some more technology as you place your orders on the laptop order system that gets transferred straight to the auto kitchen through the android touch tablets. We called in for some Jalapeno Cheese Sticks which came highly recommended by the waiting staff and were crispy on the outside and the melt-in-the-mouth fries. The Prawn Kebabs that were served also surpassed our expectations. Also on offer is Sheekh Kebabs, Sausages, Rolls and Samosas besides the main course comprising Biryanis, Dal and Rotis, but that’s for our next visit.

- Namita Gupta/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

“Politics is a man’s world but I’m a survivor”

2011-09-03T10:41:00.002+05:30

Dressed in a cool cotton sari Margaret Alva is a picture of understated elegance. That is part of her charisma. For her, it’s not been important to be the most well-dressed woman in Parliament, or the most glamorous. “It’s your contribution ultimately that sets you out - your preparations, your participation in debates, your contribution to the committees”.

Her Excellency Ms Margaret Alva, Governor of Uttarakhand

She certainly has made valuable contributions, spearheading major legislative amendments for women's rights, marriage laws, equal remuneration and women’s reservation in local politics.

These days, as the benign Governor of Uttarakhand, she is non-partisan but having been the Minister for Women and Child Development in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet and a power within the AICCI, who better to answer my queries about women and politics?

“Mahatma Gandhi was the first liberator because unknown women came out during the movement who after Independence became governors, ambassadors and ministers. Somehow after that, women began to fade out, and it was in 70s, after the International Decade for Women and UN initiatives that the focus on women in governance came about.”

“It’s a man’s world in politics. Many younger people were brought into the mainstream by Indira Gandhi directly - we owe our process of identification to her keen eye. We worked with the men and gradually made our own places. I worked for the party for 45 years, since 1969, and literally grew up in the party. It’s the Congress Party that has built me up, given me a platform and an opportunity to be what I am”.

Many would feel that coming from a political family was an advantage – Alva’s parents-in-law were both MPs – but Alva says the critical issue in politics is to survive and move up. “That requires lot of courage and accommodation. You have to learn to survive in a man’s world which means you can’t always have your way. You have to learn to take defeat and continue to work with the determination to survive”.

Survival is something that she knows; she’s lost electoral battles and she was removed from her post in the AICCI after charging that there were deals for seats within the party. The party however desisted from taking disciplinary action against her, and later appointed her to the ceremonial post of Governor of Uttarakhand.

She asserts, “I have survived all these years despite many efforts to pull me down. I was also a minority besides being a woman. I have seen both victory and defeat, but I think each step has made me stronger and as you asked, it was difficult at the beginning – being young, inexperienced but I think one has to have your feet firmly on the ground. Many get carried away by the glamour of politics. But if you are sensible, you are respected and you survive. There are no shortcuts in politics. You have to fight the battle and make your contribution”.

As Governor it’s an easier, retired, glamorous life but she seems energetic as ever; Alva holds programmes for street children and seminars on improving education and especially to bring uniform development between the plains and the hills in Uttarakhand. A seminar on reviving agriculture in the hills resulted in the Nainital Declaration which is now with the Planning Commission. “We also hope to make the old Raj Bhavan in Naintal into a heritage building. It has been an exciting two years and I’ve done more than I imagined”.

Somewhat wistfully, she admits to missing active politics. “I miss Delhi, the hustle and bustle of it; as the party’s General Secretary for five years, I used to travel to the states, I miss that. Now I’m writing my memoirs. I’ll be 70 next year, I think I have worked long enough”.

Is politics different now from the early days? “It is no longer considered a service, but a career where people want to move up like they would in the corporate world. That’s the problem”.

Alva says there’s a big difference between the two; politics is not just position, power and money, but a means of changing India. “Things won’t change if everybody wants to become a Minister and that’s the frustration in society today that has led to anti-corruption movements. The general perception is that all politicians are corrupt. The honest politician is considered a good-for-nothing”.

Now, she says, is the time for youth to introspect about getting into politics. “We need dedicated people who know the value of development and how to go about it and who are prepared to give their time and their professional training to change life in rural India”.

- Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)

Ré of hope

2011-09-02T09:50:00.000+05:30

Artist Shan Ré’s latest exhibition is a retrospective of her ten-year journey of joy, wisdom, struggle, survival and hope

“I feel I have more wisdom than knowledge, more intuition than intellect and that I am more gifted than talented,” is how artist Shan Ré perceives her evolution over the last ten years. Her latest exhibition, titled ‘The Unfolding of the Self’, seeks to resurrect this period of her life.

The exhibition unveiled at Galerie De’ Arts last week features unseen works from Ré’s landmark series, tracing the reinforcing progression of the Bangalore-based artist as she explored a wide array of subjects and genres - abstract expressionism, minimalism, figuration and geometric abstraction - from 2000 to present.

One of India’s most versatile artists, she has displayed her works in Bangalore, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Though she started painting publicly only in 2000, Ré muses that in her mind, she was already ‘a great artist’ since a child: “I would daydream about which collector I would sell my works to!”

Painting was limited to being little more than a hobby until much later when Ré sought out her canvas to get her through what she calls a difficult period in her life: “Everything was going wrong then. I was looking for an emotional support and I found my painting.” For someone whose work is ‘guided purely by flashes of intuition’, any other choice would have made little sense.

Since then, she has produced an overwhelming volume of work, with each series representing a newer, exciting phase - be it the lyrical vivacity of ‘Colourscapes’ (2000 to 2001) or the soulful solemnity of ‘Figuration’ (2002 to 2006) or the boldness and harmony of lines in ‘Geometric Compositions’ (2005 to 2011) or the blissful burst of colours in ‘Eternal Spring’ (2009 to 2010).

“To me, life is an opportunity to create meaning, an empty canvas and I have an irresistible impulse to make it colourful,” says Ré whose works don the private collections of His Highness Srikantadatta Wodeyar (Mysore), filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (San Francisco) and actress Jackie Collins (Los Angeles), to name a few.

Ask her which phase has seen her ‘suffer’ the most, she quietly replies, “None. My paintings are spontaneous emotive eruptions. When my mind is perfectly in tune the power of intuition unfolds within me and creation happens by itself. It is involuntary, like breathing.”

Ré’s ‘Free Association Drawings’ (2003 to 2010) are perhaps the rawest example of this ‘involuntary’ process. These iconic drawings are derived with an individualistic approach demanding total freedom from preconceived concepts. The works remain minimalist where the colour-scale is almost monochromatic and the drawings linear.

“I clear my mind to withdraw to an altered state of consciousness and let my pen move automatically. Drawings of a particular session usually have a common thread and I know what I have drawn only after I’ve finished. You need to have inner peace to do this. I discovered this technique by chance and the experience was life-changing - drawings can reveal much more about you to yourself.”

Ré’s daughter, Romicon Revola, is a sculptor herself. Any artistic differences there? “Not at all. We get along very well because we support each other.” On the exotic choice of her name, Ré smiles: “People keep asking me how I got this ‘artistic’ name, but actually, it’s my father’s name - Reshan Ré.”

As the guests begin to steadily pour in, the artist quickly beckons towards the balcony – there, her portrait of her late husband, Italian artist Don Revola, hangs on a wall. Stuck on the side is a small piece of paper scribbled with a poem beginning with: ‘Life is a Picasso hung upside down…’

“He wrote that for me,” Ré says.

- Remuna Rai/ Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Lager than life

2011-08-31T11:10:00.000+05:30

Bangalore has long been known as the Pub City of India and generations of consumers have grown up on the locally brewed international beer Kingfisher. With the city rapidly adapting international trends, micro-breweries are making a bee-line here, with The Biere Club being first off the mark.

Bangalore’s first craft brewery opened its door to the pub city recently and in doing so has given an insight into how the city’s fast changing demographics and hunger for new places has given rise to the new trend.

A micro-brewery is basically where beer is brewed, sold and drunk, all in the same place. Siblings Meenakshi Raju & Arvind Kumar who started the place have introduced people to beer in a manner never done before. They brew fresh and original beers in small batches, using only the finest ingredients with traditional methods.

The Biere Club offers a variety of beers ranging from light froths like wheat beer and lager, ale to heavy-bodied. Complementing their brews are appropriate gastronomical experiences, excellent service and an unforgettable ambience. Spread over three floors in the upmarket locale at the intersection of Vittal Mallya Road and Lavelle Road, the USP of this place is of course the beer.

Food served at the Club are from the Mediterranean belt and consist of Middle Eastern, Turkish, Greek and Spanish Tapas; experiments to cook their food with the brew are also on.

Few Indians have any idea about what lies over the mountain of pasteurised, preservative-added bottled beer; fresh draught beer has never been a well-sustained tradition. Microbrews are served as soon as they are ready to be drunk, and the breweries stay in continual production. Free of preservatives, the beer suffers no alterations in flavour.

The concept seems to have certainly caught the fancy of customers of all ages. Says Tariq Wali, 22, “Its unique taste of Stout beer was refreshing, definitely my new hangout”.

Gita Budhrani, 38: “This is a very different concept, and for the first time, I like the taste of beer – the wheat beer is so light”.

Having quickly become the hippest location in town, the Biere Club has given beer its due and cheer to people who have tired of the usual pub scene.

- Aditya Mendonca / Raintree Media Features/ www.raintreemedia.com

Treasure trove of delights

2011-08-29T11:06:00.002+05:30

Within the hustle of a global city on the move, Russell Market, one of Bangalore’s oldest markets, maintains an old world bustle that seems never-changing. Where else would you find cheek by jowl aubergines and broccoli, cutlery, crockery and other household knick-knacks along with a dusty old shop that may just have a genie in a lamp, waiting to be released.

Homemakers on the lookout for good bargains come to Richard Square confined within the crowded by lanes of Russell Market. You have to make your way past plastic stools and buckets, ironing boards, wrought iron waste baskets, folding aluminium clothes stands and various other handy objects coupled with persuasive shopkeepers eagerly announcing the utility of their wares to finally reach a little gem of an antique shop.

In all likelihood you will find in dusty ‘New Castlewood’, the sideboard of your dreams tucked away in a corner. A marble inlaid round centre table hidden under a pile of cardboard and burlap beckons shyly even as you spot a genuine ‘His Master’s Voice’ gramophone seemingly reminiscing about the tunes it once played. Bureaus, corner pieces, sideboards and centre tables apart; you can also find porcelain figurines peeking precariously from the top of various bits of furniture.

“We have been running this shop for almost three decades now,” says Masroor Ahmed as he vigorously dusts a small table. He candidly points out the real antiques from the newer reproductions. Masroor says that he goes door-to-door to collect vintage items and shows off a recently procured porcelain vase, which according to him, is the real deal. “I have a lot of loyal clients and I personally go to their houses to collect anything they want to sell. I also inform them when I acquire something interesting,” he says.

In the olden days, British memsahibs would come to Russell Market in their horse drawn carriages to get fresh vegetables and meat for their kitchens. Built in 1927, Russell Market is a smorgasbord of treasures. It is the one place where you will find exotic fruits and vegetables like avocado, kiwi, red jalapeno, Chinese cabbage, artichokes, celery and broccoli rubbing shoulders with plastic containers and steel utensils.

Most of Bangalore’s restaurateurs source their raw materials for their mouth-watering dishes from here and if you don’t want to make a journey to a fancy restaurant, there are stalls within Russell Market that sell Iranian tea, skewered kebabs and other delicacies. Dew-laden stalks of roses, orchids and gladioli sparkle in the sunlight even as the ninety-four year old St Mary's Basilica stands stoically watching over the routine stirrings of the market.

- Raintree Media Features

It's the time to Jigg

2011-08-29T10:48:00.001+05:30

The quintessential Punjabi, Jiggs Kalra loves life and all of its good things. A stroke has placed him in a wheelchair for the last few years but he remains as peripatetic as ever and is busy opening more restaurants.

Last week, he was in Bangalore to launch his signature restaurant ‘Punjab Grill by Jiggs Kalra’. Oblivious to the glitterati milling around, Jiggs had ensconced himself in the private dining room. After a whole day of media interviews, he wanted some downtime and chomped away on lusciously tender kebabs as son and heir apparent Zorawar held forth to the public.

Jiggs is one of the pioneering food writers in India and has authored several recipe books, several of which adorn my kitchen shelf. I have found the recipes very tasty but rich and have shied away from using them on a regular basis. And now he has come to my town and opened a restaurant focusing on Punjabi food, which I am persuaded is full of calories. So I asked him what he had to say in his defence.

Being a journalist gives you licence to ask what could be construed as rude questions, but well, needs must and one has to do a job well. Jiggs, having been a journalist himself before becoming a self-taught chef, can take it on the chin.

“A Kebab is the healthiest food – all the fat goes into the tandoor when it is being cooked, preserving the taste and your health”, he said. The twinkle in his eye got brighter, because just then the waiter placed a plate loaded with Duck samosas Punjab Grill’s specialty dish in front of us. Deftly, Jiggs reached across the tray and said, “Try the salmon tikkas. We have more seafood on the menu in Mumbai and Bangalore than in Delhi. This city will take to our chicken; people here will not go in for lamb much”.

He is right as usual for he knows the city well having had a long association here with the food business. He has worked on the recipes of the north Indian dishes for the ready-to-eat business for MTR. For years, he has had breakfast delivered from MTR at whichever five star hotel he is staying in and a surefire way to curry favour from him is to arrive with idlis from his favourite eatery.

He was by then “fully fed up” as we say locally and sent me off to peek at the ‘pateelas’ – the traditional cooking pots in which copious quantities of black dal and murg makhni simmer throughout Punjab.

Jiggs Kalra with son Zorawar

Did I not begin by saying that Jiggs is a Punjabi through and through – well, he’s displayed his smarts by tying up with Amit Burman of the Dabur Group to open this chain of fine-dining Indian restaurants. Zorawar told me that this is the seventh restaurant they have opened in three years; the company owns and operates the six in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Singapore, while Bangalore is the first place where it is run by a franchisee.

I like what I see – it is modern and mercifully avoided being kitschy; the food is served with a flair of fusion, definitely Indian with a glamorous gloss. It is not far from where I live and it’s obvious that it has certainly caught the fancy of Bangaloreans.

- Sandhya Mendonca

(Sandhya Mendonca writes the weekly column 'My Bangalore' for Oheraldo)

Bangalore basks in Floral Beauty

2011-08-25T13:58:00.004+05:30

As sweet floral scents permeated the air, shutterbugs went on a clicking frenzy over the profusion of vibrant hued flora at the famous Lalbagh Botanical Gardens in the city.

In its 100^th edition, the biannual flower show at Lalbagh added special fervour to the Independence Day celebrations held in the city. An aura of cheer intermingled with the heady awe of visitors as the flower show surpassed expectations with a mind-boggling display of flowers.

Visitors to the show were treated to a replica (20 feet high and 30 feet wide) of the serene Baha’i temple of Delhi Lotus temple at the Glass House. “We chose the Baha’i temple for its beauty and simplicity. The temple is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year and we thought we could highlight it by building a replica in the flower show,” says H M Krishnappa, Deputy Director of Horticulture at Lalbagh. The massive spectacle required 175000 white carnations and 85000 white roses along with the rarely used tube roses which were progressively replaced by several thousand white orchids.

The Glass House also displayed a number of temperate flowers brought in especially from Ooty including agapanthus, lily, alstroemeria, prenula and cyclamen as well as 15 varieties of anthurium from Coorg. “The flower show was a big success with a footfall of over 8 lakh including students which is almost 2 lakh more people as compared to the show held earlier this year in January,” said Krishnappa. Stalls set up on the premises sold everything from flower seeds to jewellery, attracting a large number of people. Along with the flower show, the Horticulture Society also organizes a number of competitions where individuals and companies display their green thumb with gusto. While 72 prizes were given out in the individual category, the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) walked away with a number of prizes in the ornamental garden, kitchen garden and landscaping competitions organized for companies.

The foundations for the Gardens were laid by the ruler of Mysore, Hyder Ali and were later expanded by his son, Tipu Sultan. Saplings were imported from Cape Town, Mauritius, Turkey, Afghanistan and Persia to add to the beauty of the Gardens. Today, the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens are spread over 240 acres in the heart of Bangalore city and are home to over 1000 species of exotic trees, shrubs and plants. While the garden was in the care of the East India Company, a Glass house was constructed remodelled after the Crystal Palace in London. It is here in this glass house that a garden show is held twice a year on the occasion of Independence and Republic day.

“Our theme this year was well-liked. We are now pondering over the theme to be used in next year’s flower show,” said Krishnappa. Although appreciating the skill involved in portraying Delhi’s Lotus Temple, visitors to the show felt that the theme should highlight Bangalore’s magnificent legacy.

- Raintree Media Features

All the World's his Stage

2011-08-24T10:18:00.002+05:30

Jonathan Atherton gets Bangaloreans laughing at themselves… and the rest of the world!

“For a country this size, it is quite surprising that there are more brain surgeons than stand-up comedians here! There are other traditions of comedy, but this is probably the rawest form – it’s just spotlight-microphone-talk, no juggling, no music, no magic, no acrobatics,” rues Jonathan Atherton.

Snapping out of cynicism mode, Atherton confesses: “I’m lazy. Being a stand-up comic is the only job I know where you can work an hour a day and call it ‘busy’.” The Singapore-based Australian performed three power-packed gigs, presented by BULCHEE Commedia del’Arte.

Atherton, who has performed to sold-out crowds across the world, is known for his rapid-fire comedy characterised by multilingual skills and a knack for spinning the quirks of different cultures effortlessly into his act. He has lived and travelled extensively across Asia and Africa and speaks Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Japanese, Swahili, Luganda, German and some Hindi.

His performance was replete with choice ingredients, including the old stand-up’s ruse of picking on the front row seaters – at the Manchester United Bar & Lounge on Sunday, it was a couple of men with their arms around each other who bore the onslaught! Atherton did not disappoint on the risqué front either, throwing plenty of sexually explicit jokes at his gasping audience. The highlight was his (in)famous ‘global perspective’ – Indians to Americans to the British to Singaporean Chinese to Malaysians to the Aussies, none escaped his far-from-kind observations and merciless reenactments.

He manages to absorb different cultures with alacrity, he says, “by not staying inside those air-conditioned artificial environments. I’m a street person. I’m hanging with rickshaw-wallahs, I’m drinking chai on street corners. I don’t dismiss anyone. I learn as much from a rickshaw-wallah as I do from a university professor, often in a far more direct way.” His reply makes sense when you see the unlikely spot he’s chosen to enjoy his smoke in: the security guard’s bench at the gate, far from the glitzy crowd buzzing inside.

He is happiest discovering the ‘real’ India and makes no effort to hide his disdain for the ‘too many middle-class Westerners coming to India in search of something that Indians secretly know isn’t even here’.

“I walked into the Osho Ashram (in Pune) and they wouldn’t let me in – I guess I didn’t have enough money to buy moksha. I went to the bookshop instead. He (Rajneesh ‘Osho’) was obviously a bright guy – I mean anyone who can get the men to give all their money and the women to give their bodies, yeah, good, man!”

So what does he look forward to each time he goes under the spotlight? “When the men want to buy you a drink and the women want to sleep with you. If it’s a choice between the two, I’ll forego the drink! And it is very rare for an Australian to say that!”

Atherton wears many hats – comedian, actor, television presenter (‘Lonely Planet’ on Discovery Channel and ‘Pilot Guides’ on ABC-TV), voice artist, screen writer and photographer. Which one does he enjoy the most?

“A comedian’s, by far. The comic writes his own material, directs and performs it. There is no one else to blame when it goes wrong, and when it goes really well, there is this incredible sense of idea that, ‘It was all me!’ We comics constantly flip between depression and elation, depending on how the last gig went.”

-Remuna Rai, Raintree Media Features

Humour in 'Newstalgia'

2011-08-23T11:42:00.002+05:30

Having grown up on a steady dose of Phantom and Mandrake comics, Rasheed Kappan never thought of himself as an artist. Today, his cartoons which could be described as a healthy marriage of acerbic humour and deft artwork are on display at the Indian Cartoon Gallery in Bangalore till August 25. The exhibition titled ‘Newstalgic’ is a compilation of 60 odd graphic cartoons portraying a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the biggest headline-grabbing happenings from the last 3 years. “I’m quite a regular on Facebook and regularly update my status with witty lines about some current happening. I collected 500 such status messages and decided to turn 50 of them into visual art,” says Kappan.

It took Kappan a month to convert digital words to dazzling works of art. “I have used colour for the first time in my cartoons because I wanted to bridge the so-called gap between serious art and cartoons,” says Kappan who has been dabbling in graphic designing for the last 15 years. He believes that his work takes him out of the straightjacket and helps break stereotypes. “The humour I use is social humour. I firmly believe that cartooning has no boundaries,” he says with conviction.

He began his stint in a national daily as a reporter and was sent to cover a workshop on cartooning in 1996. He enrolled in the workshop and fell in love with cartooning. He hasn’t looked back since. “I met other like-minded people and we formed a group called Cartoonist’s Unanimous. We have had several shows in the past decade. In fact, this is my eighth exhibition,” says Kappan, passionately recollecting his foray into the world of cartooning.

Inspired by the works of legendary cartoonist Mario Miranda, Kappan dreams of writing his own book one day. “I would love to publish my own book maybe 2-3 years from today. I want to do a lot of things especially for people who do not have access to cartoons,” he says.

Kappan has attempted something unique by making cartoons for the visually challenged. Called Tactile Cartoons (Touch and Feel), Kappan has used paint that is distinct to touch and added captions with explanations in Braille script below each cartoon. “These cartoons were appreciated by the students of National Association for the Blind (NAB). At present there are only 8 such cartoons on display but I wish to make many more for future exhibitions,” he explains.

Kappan plans to create many more satirical works for audiences in the future. “One day maybe I can put up cartoons on digital format and have digital tablets displayed in the exhibition for people to operate. But then, I suppose, preventing them from getting stolen would become a problem,” he says mulling over possibilities.

While Kappan dreams of futuristic displays, one can’t help but notice a cartoon showing the ‘Android Robot’ riding a bull with the caption proclaiming: “Android is bullish, Nokia is Finnish-ed”.

-Raintree Media Features

Look before you plant

2011-08-22T11:12:00.002+05:30

The desperate plea of biodiversity experts and ecologists to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) whose ambitious plans of greening the city may very well cost the IT city its last surviving grassland.

The BDA plans to plant one crore saplings around Bangalore under its ‘Our Green Garland’ campaign which kick-started earlier this month and it has chosen areas around lakes, valleys and vacant government land for the purpose.

Amidst looming fears of global warming, the initiative is a welcome gesture which has been eagerly endorsed in other parts of Bangalore, but it has struck a wrong chord in Hesarghatta. According to biodiversity experts, introduction of tree cover will rob the savannah of its unique eco-system.

Located about 35 km from the city centre in Kodihalli village, Hesarghatta is the only grassland of its size remaining in Bangalore. The vast green cover spread over 300 acres is a thriving ecosystem and wintering ground for migratory birds from Central Asia.

Biodiversity expert Harish Bhat offers a glimpse into the rich ecological legacy of Bangalore’s grasslands. “According to the British gazette, Bangalore had undulating topography with rocky outcrops, scrub jungle, deciduous patch forests, plains, and in the outskirts, several patches of vast grasslands which was called ‘Gomala’ meaning grazing patch for cattle and sheep. Among the best grasslands mentioned were Hesarghatta, Malleswaram and Nelamangala. These used to be inhabited by wolves, Black Buck, the Indian cheetah (during the 1800s), the highly endangered Great Indian Bustard (also during the 1800s) and other rare fauna. Today, the Hesarghatta grassland is the last remaining one among them.”

Elaborating on the significance of grasslands, he informs, “The grassland ecosystem is a unique type of landscape harbouring primarily grassland specific species of butterflies, reptiles and birds and animals like jackals, hares and jungle cats. It supports an entirely different food chain that needs the grassland ecosystem. To maintain this eco system, there needs to be proper maintenance of such a habitat without tree growth as naturally it is without tree cover. Planting trees will gradually occupy the openness and convert the ecosystem to wooded areas, thus depriving the dependent species from their habitat. Grasslands are under threat due to being mistaken as non-productive and barren. This negates the ecosystem, food chain and finally erodes grassland ecosystems.”

Photographer and conservationist Mahesh Bhat agrees. “Bangalore used to be typically a grassland. The trees came in much later. The grasslands are an important eco system and certainly not ‘barren’. For one, the roots of the grass here which run into hundreds of kilometers are beneficial in tilling the land, holding water and preventing silting of the top soil, while paving way for the insect progeny. Further, since it is open, it is an ideal foraging ground for migratory birds of prey such as eagles, buzzards, hawks, harriers and vultures which come here to escape the cold climes of places like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

In addition, this grassland is also rich in resident local birds like Snake Eagles and Black-shouldered Kites, Munias, Pipits, Larks, Lapwings, Partridges and Quails. So you can imagine the repercussions on this treasure trove of animal and bird species if this grassland is disturbed. Planting trees is good and obviously preferable to constructing buildings, but you have to know where to plant them. ”

-Remuna Rai, Raintree Media Features