Table of contents for 21 May 2018 in Open Magazine

It is unfortunate that Western tourists tend to shy away from visiting the plains of India during the summer season (‘Heat’, May 14th, 2018). This is due to miscommunication through social media and other channels. While the summer months can get hot in the Subcontinent, temperatures are not dangerously high or unbearable for tourists who have access to air conditioned cars, hotels and restaurants. To beat the sun at open-air sites, they can easily go sightseeing early in the morning or towards evening. Summer in India also has its own charm that is worth an experience. From cool drinks to ice cream to summer fruit, and from light airy attire to evening walks, there is much fun to be had in this season. Mangoes, in particular, are a huge draw…

THEY USED TO squirm at the mention of Maneka Gandhi’s name. For, the Minister for Women and Child Development in the Modi Government was prone to outbursts of anger, particularly if it concerned her pet peeves about the neglect of animals or a deeply-rooted gender bias, especially against women with minds of their own. But Maneka Gandhi no longer evokes sharp reactions, her place having been taken by Smriti Irani. The Minister for Textiles, who concurrently holds the Information and Broadcasting portfolio as well, has a knack for ruffling feathers, it would seem. The Textiles Ministry might have had unusually quick changes at the top bureaucratic level, but it is in I&B that she seems to have behaved like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Her abrupt shuffling of…

SUMMERS HAVE BEEN a fraught time in Jammu & Kashmir for almost a decade now. This year is no different. Since January, Indian armed forces have notched up a number of successes in neutralising terrorists in the Valley, especially in the restive districts of south Kashmir. On May 9th, at an all-party meeting in Srinagar, the Army was requested to observe a ‘ceasefire’ for the month of Ramzan and the Amarnath pilgrimage season. In his response a day later, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that this request can be considered, provided there be an assurance that troops in the Valley are not attacked. He cited the events of 2016’s summer, when the Army disengaged for a while but came under severe attack from terrorists and disaffected civilians (the so-called…

Sonam Kapoor has stirred a hornet’s nest by taking on her husband’s last name. Several people, including Taslima Nasrin, have expressed their distaste for it. Their gripe being that a self-avowed feminist should set an example and stick to her own last name. In India, as in other countries, a woman is often identified in relation to her husband. This tradition of women changing their last names probably has its roots in the notion that women, once they marry, do not have a claim on the property of their parents. But a lot of traditions, even if their origins are terrible, evolve over time to become something convenient and harmless. The use of a family name common to all its members need not imply a regressive attitude. Women change their…

LAST WEEK, THE dusty northern district of Bijapur witnessed a crucial confrontation when two national leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, descended here in a final attempt to write over the palimpsest of the voter’s mind. Their rallies, conducted days before Karnataka goes to the polls, tapped into Bijapur’s two worlds—one whose allegiance is shifting from an intransigent High Command to an empowered Siddaramaiah-led Congress, and another that is looking to hitch its wagon to the BJP’s Hindutva-plus-development juggernaut. Addressing the crowd in Sarawad near Bijapur, now Vijayapura, a part of the Bombay-Karnataka region, Modi seemed anxious to end speculation of a possible hung House with the JD(S) playing kingmaker. The BJP will come to power and the Congress is already dreaming up excuses, thundered Modi,…

Baselworld, the world’s premier watch and jewellery show, held in Basel, Switzerland has now established itself as the annual pilgrim point for watch enthusiasts; not to forget, a meeting place for Brands, Retailers and Media to pick up on the latest trends in the Swiss watch industry. This year Baselworld celebrated its 101st edition, albeit with a difference. This edition was on for six days instead of eight, due to declining sales in the Swiss watch industry which is currently going through a challenging phase. Shorter and more concentrated, this year’s edition featured some of the powerful cornerstones of the watch industry. Some 2018 novelties took one’s breath away, whether it was Harry Winston’s ocean-inspired collection, or Bvlgari’s gemset pieces, to Rolex Daytona model or Omega’s Speedmaster, ‘Dark Side of…

CHOPARD MILLE MIGLIA RACING COLOURS To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Chopard and Mille Miglia — a new collection comprising of five Mille Miglia Racing Colours watches were introduced. Each watch is allocated a colour to the nation competing in motor racing. The Green Dial is attributed to British Racing. The slim cursive font on the dial is inspired by the dashboards of the 1920s. The 42 mm chronograph is limited to 300-pieces. The Calfskin leather strap with rubber lining is inspired by 1960s Dunlop tyre tread. RADO THE RADO TRUE THINLINE NATURE. The Rado True Thinline is a beautiful fusion of nature and innovation. Inspired by verdant green of leaves it is set in high-tech ceramic in which Rado has expertise. The watch involves a unique dial treatment with…

ONE OF THE highlights of the World Congress of Osteoporosis this year, held last month in Krakow, Poland, was the release of the Calcium Map by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) to map the calcium intake of countries across the globe. Not surprisingly,Northern Europe, North America and Australia-New Zealand figure right on top. Most of Asia, including China and India, hover at much lower levels.Data from India, which I presented, is largely based on NSSO survey figures analysed by Dr Kurpad’s group from St John’s hospital, Bengaluru, and suggests a mean intake of around 400 mg per day. Calcium is like the bricks and mortar for our bones. Severe deficiency of calcium (and/or vitamin D which is essential for calcium absorption from the gut) in children results in rickets, a…

CELEBRATING THE RAIN If there are no monsoon rains in India, life would literally come to a stop (‘Romancing the Rain’, by Ritesh Uttamchandani, May 14th, 2018). Not only in terms of the agrarian economy, but also in terms of the entertainment and joy that the rains provide us Indians with. Their delights include the sight of waterlogged streets and of people parking their two-wheelers by the roadside, waiting for a downpour to end. One feels closer to nature when it rains even in a big city. Rainfall makes for some of our fondest memories, and pictures that capture the magic of the monsoon keep them fresh. Mahesh Kumar The monsoon in the Indian Subcontinent is more than just rain water, it is life and love and joy and memory…

FROM TOP BANKER to shit. Sounds like a good tabloid headline, doesn’t it? But Naina Lal Kidwai, former chairperson, HSBC India, won’t mind, because she has taken up the cause of sanitation in right earnest. And on the hallowed stage of NCPA, she used this four-letter world liberally, not as an exclamation, but matter-of-factly while talking about the challenge of ODF, which is short for Open Defecation Free. The occasion was the Literature Live! release of her book Survive or Sink: An Action Agenda for Sanitation, Water, Pollution and Green Finance. As you can see from the title, hers is a holistic approach, and a moment’s reflection tells you that all these elements are closely interlinked. At the end of an hour’s discussion with her co-panellists, Nadir Godrej of Godrej…

LITERARY EVENTS SELDOM make it to the headlines or primetime news slots. They remain confined to the last pages of magazines, and ‘special mentions’ on TV. But the recent ‘breaking news’ headline, ‘Nobel Prize in Literature 2018 cancelled after sexual assault scandal’, sent the literary world into a tizzy. But to step back a bit, who is it that actually awards these prizes? The Nobel Prize website helpfully tells us: ‘On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes, the Nobel Prizes. As described in Nobel’s will one part was dedicated to ‘the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction’.’ It is useful to…

IN AN EARLIER column, I mentioned an aggregate backlog of 32 million cases stuck in India’s court system. The figures fluctuate a bit from year to year. But here’s the rough break-up: 60,000 cases in the Supreme Court, 4 million in high courts and 27.4 million in district and subordinate courts. As you might well know, or guess, the civil-to-criminal ratio varies, depending on which court we’re talking about. In the Supreme Court, 80 per cent of pending cases are civil. In high courts, 78 per cent of these are civil. In lower courts, 30 per cent are civil. The number of cases pending for more than ten years is 1,200 for the Supreme Court, around 780,000 for high courts and just over 2 million for lower courts. ‘There was,…

AT ONE TIME in Islamabad, the joke amongst diplomats used to be that you could judge the political persuasion of a civil servant by the Quaid-e-Azam’s portrait hung in his office. An austere Muhammad Ali Jinnah, immaculate in a white or black sherwani, could suggest that the incumbent was of an Islamic bent. If the Quaid was in a Western suit, then a liberal approach was underlined. Between these two polarities, there were other possibilities. If the portrait in sherwani also included his sister Fatima Jinnah, then the hint was of disapproval of the role that the military had played in Pakistan politics. A Quaid smoking, laughing, playing with dogs or as a dashing moustached young man all pushed the present occupant of the office further down the liberal spectrum.…

ROLEX OYSTER PERPETUAL COSMOGRAPH DAYTONA Rolex has introduced a scintillating gem-set version of the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona. Created in first 1963, the watch has an extraordinary track record in the world of motor sport, rising to the rank of an icon. This 18 ct Everose gold version, in lieu of the emblematic tachymetric scale has the bezel set with a gradation of sapphires in rainbow hues. The case is adorned with 56 brilliant-cut diamonds set into the lugs and crown guard, and the dial features 11 baguette-cut sapphire hour markers, each of which matches the colour of the corresponding point on the bezel. The chronograph counters are in pink Gold Crystals, created during the crystallization of a pink gold alloy by means of a special process developed by Rolex.…

BREGUET MARINE ALARME MUSICALE 5547 This Marine Alarme Musicale watch has a titanium case with fluted case band. The dial is a Sunburst blue dial white gold. The watch is water-resistant to 50 m,and numbered and signed by Breguet. The hours chapter are in Roman numerals and luminescent dots. An alarm is positioned at the sub-dial at 3 o’clock and time-zone display at 9 o’clock. The self-winding movement has a 45-hour power reserve. The watch has an Alligator leather strap with folding clasp and is also available with a rubber strap. FAVRE-LEUBA RAIDER SEA KING The Raider Sea King watch by Favre Leuba showcases versatility in form and functionality making it an indispensable tools for today’s explorers with new age performance innovation and bold retro-futuristic design. The design DNA is…

THE THING ABOUT fashion is that it allows its documenters to get away with multi-hued, embellished expressions. Minimalism may be contemporary fashion’s ecologically pertinent need of the hour, but it is not sustainable in writing. When earthly adjectives start wheezing, words like ‘divine’, ‘heavenly’, ‘cherubic’, ‘angelic’, ‘godlike’ often help define glamour. Which is why Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, the 2018 theme of the world’s most audacious annual fashion party at New York’s Met Gala that opened earlier this week, didn’t just create a thesaurus jam for fashion pundits and devotees. The fundraiser that red carpets the most hair-raising couture gave way to an idea storm. Thank heavens for such moments when fashion’s faith in itself as the most devout pilgrim of untried territories becomes so evident. That’s…

WHEN NARENDRA MODI is on the stump, no election is local. He is the kind of campaigner who makes every campaign a national referendum on the idea of Modi, which still remains an unresolved argument in spite of being the most popular one in the democratic world. The Deccan setting may have its provincial significance, but what matters for the permanent campaigner is the opportunity it offers as a site of renewal and reaffirmation, for what began four years ago needs to be tested and put on trial—and on his terms, his alone. After all, power is a constant conversation, and he is never at a loss of words. Karnataka, too, is all about himself—and his viability beyond the familiar patches of the North. Four years ago, he came to…

OVER THE LAST couple of weeks in Gurgaon, there have been multiple provocations from Hindu fundamentalists to namaaz being offered in public places. First, residents of a couple of villages harassed Muslims who had gathered to pray and had it cancelled. And then, seeing the publicity that it got, a number of outfits like the Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal began to make further disruptions. To make a sensitive issue worse, Haryana’s Chief Minister ML Khattar said that in his opinion, public places should not be used for namaaz. A PTI report quoted him saying at a press conference, “Our point of view is that namaz should be offered in the precincts of religious places like mosques and Eidgahs, and if there is shortage of place for offering namaz, it…

POOR OLD BRITAIN, with its democratic entrails in seething crisis. A hung parliament, a minority government, Brexit recriminations, Lords against Commons—even party activists versus MPs. And where do Brits turn for salvation when democracy fails? Instinctively we latch onto a royal wedding. Good news! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to tie the knot. It will boost the economy! It will bring the nation together! Well…will it? Can it? And where will all the ballyhoo leave the institution of royalty? Let’s start with the financial analysis, which turns out to be as confused as just about everything else right now. A top firm of ‘brand consultants’ estimates that the upcoming royal nuptials will inject £500 million into the beleaguered UK economy, but the Financial Times disagrees, saying that this May’s…

LONG YEARS AGO, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.” Imagine those famous words spoken “at the stroke of the midnight hour”, not by Jawaharlal Nehru as leader of a partitioned Indian republic, but by Muhammad Ali Jinnah as premier of a confederation of the whole subcontinent. Not such an unlikely prospect if the Congress had put true national unity before its desire for a centralised state in which minorities would be at the mercy of a Hindu majority. To persuade Jinnah to abandon his largely tactical demand for Pakistan as an independent state carved out of India’s Muslim-majority provinces, Mahatma Gandhi would have been prepared to offer him the premiership…

THE CULTURAL APPROPRIATION debate seems to have reared its ugly head again, with a White American girl receiving a barrage of criticism for choosing to wear a traditional Chinese dress to her prom. The dress looked stylish and made no attempt to mock or degrade Chinese culture. Had this girl not been Caucasian, I am sure there would have been much less of a fuss. I have never considered myself someone who could receive accusations of cultural appropriation. I have always dressed as anyone from back home in England would. I would wear a suit for work, jacket and tie for fancy social gatherings and jeans and a t-shirt for casual events. In India, though, what I have worn has changed dramatically. People at my office have encouraged me to…

HARRY WINSTON AVENUE CLASSIC AURORA The Avenue Classic Aurora watch pays a tribute to the Art Deco style. The watch is adorned with 12 baguette-cut blue sapphires and has an 18-karat white gold case. The case has 50 brilliant-cut diamonds. The dial is in white mother-of-pearl dial and is printed with black Arabic numerals. The watch comes on an alligator leather strap that echoes the colour of the diamonds and sapphires. CORUM THE GOLDEN BRIDGE RECTANGLE DIAMONDS The Golden Bridge Rectangle watch enriches Corum’s unique and emblematic This avatar is enhanced with a engraved movement. The finely crafted geometry is visible in the 18-karat gold structures representing six Roman numerals surround the visible hand-wound calibre. The 18kt white gold, sapphire case middle, double antireflective sapphire, sapphire case back has 69…

OMEGA SEAMASTER AQUA TERRA WATCH The Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra watch features a symmetrical 38 mm case crafted from 18K Sedna™ gold and includes a diamond-paved bezel. The dial has 12 marquise-cut red rubies as hour markers and has three different styles of horizontal waves symbolising the undulating rhythm of the ocean. The silvery guilloché waves are interspersed with waves in 18K Sedna™ gold as well as 18K Sedna™ gold waves which are paved with a total of 191 diamonds. The Seaaster is comes with a glossy red leather strap. ROLEX OYSTER PERPETUAL DATEJUST 31MM IN YELLOW GOLD This classic iconic watch has redesigned case sides and lugs. This piece for ladies in 18 ct yellow gold is equipped with calibre 2236 which give a power reserve of 55 hours.…

RADO CENTRIX AUTOMATIC DIAMONDS OPEN HEART For the bold woman, the Centrix Automatic Diamonds Open Heart, is an ideal option for any festive occasion. The case and bezel of the timepiece are embodied in stainless steel and the dial is studded with sapphire crystals, making for a brilliant accessory that you can show off at any function whatsoever. With a series of colours to choose from, the light-weight bracelet is flexible and gives you optimum comfort as it wraps itself around your wrist. RADO TRUE THINLINE DIAMONDS Elegant to touch and just a pleasure to wear, the Rado True Thinline Diamonds are the thinnest ceramic line of watches by Rado. The cases of the quartz models measure less than 4.9millimeters and boast of the same durability and scratch resistance as…

FOR THOSE OF us who came of age in the early 90s, the portly figure of Maxwell Pereira, cop and columnist, was a role model who invited awe and reassurance in equal measure. A prolific writer, and a regular on TV to speak about police matters, he represented in many ways the sense and sensibility of the growing urban English-speaking middle-class that acquired a presence and a voice in post liberalisation India. Today, with dozens of news channels in existence along with the omnipresent social media, truth and post-truth come entwined in cacophony and confusion. Pereira represents a seemingly simpler era. But, as one goes through his latest book, The Tandoor Murder, one realises that it was an era that was simple only on the surface. Then, as now, politics,…

IN A CHAPTER titled ‘Love’, Miniya Chatterji writes: ‘In this regard, we have a peculiar sense of modernity, where many families consider themselves modern in giving their sons and daughters the worst lessons of hypocrisy.’ This sentence in a sense captures the thematic thread that ties each of the 15 essays of this book. Addressing Survival, Evolution, Exploration, Procreation, Love, Parenting, Values, Nationalism, Democracy, Religion, Corporations, Money, Decibels, Aesthetics and Freedom, these essays try to understand how in each of these spaces we have diminished our ‘instincts’ for freedom and equanimity. They explore a palpable tension, or even a conflict, between tradition and modernity in our everyday lives. In trying to straddle both, we have, instead of evolving a synthesis, become saddled with a dysfunctional form of both. Chatterji has…

From One Banner to Another Earlier this week, Yash Raj Films released a teaser for its next film, a period dacoit movie titled Shamshera, starring Ranbir Kapoor. The film will be directed by Karan Malhotra who previously helmed an Agneepath remake starring Hrithik Roshan and the Akshay Kumar-Sidharth Malhotra starrer, Brothers, both for Karan Johar’s company. According to sources, Malhotra—who was Johar’s chief assistant on My Name is Khan before he was launched as a director—had a falling out with his mentor after the failure of Brothers. Ironically, he appears to have found a home at YRF, which is run by Aditya Chopra, who—as we know—is Johar’s childhood buddy. He also landed Ranbir as his leading man, despite RK’s closeness to Johar and his banner. Depending on which side you’re…