talk magazine

GAME OVER

MUSICOld and new at theRamanavami concertsin Chamarajpet 23

FOSTER CAREDream-come-truefor homelesschildren 10

BALLOT BOXWhy is Congresschoosing sure-to-losecandidates? 7

AYYOTOONSChain kahan re?The gold plunge 5

The Congress eased SM Krishna out of theforeign ministry,dangling a prize role forhim in Karnataka. At 81, he still wants thechief ministership, butthe party is quietlyputting an end to hispolitical career, reportsBASU MEGALKERI 12-14

Volume 1 | Issue 37 | April 25, 2013 | Rs 10

the intelligent bangalorean’s must-read weekly talkmagazine

2talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.in

I read with great interestthe articles on breastcancer featured in yourlatest issue (No 1 In BreastCancer, Issue 36). Theyare well articulated, withauthentic andauthoritativeinputs fromexperts.What is evenmoreappealing isthat thereporter hastaken a verypositiveapproach tothe issue,which helpsreaders to behopeful.

These days, when patientshear the word ‘cancer,’shock and despair seem toengulf them. What isneeded is courage and willpower to fight it. LouiseHay, author of the bookYou Can Heal Your Life anda cancer patient whofought the diseasesuccessfully, says morethan anything else, it is thestress and extremeanxieties people gothrough in life that cause

the body to react withcancerous growths. Alongwith the prescribedtreatment, patients needto relax, practise yoga andfollow a strict diet.

Talkreporterscome upwith freshideas everytime. Themagazineneeds to bemarketedandpublicisedbetter.

Melwyn Pinto SJby email

Numbers are shockingYour cover story on cancerwas brilliant. The numberswere nothing short ofshocking, and yourinformation on the varioustreatment options is worthpreserving. Let me alsocongratulate you onpresenting the story well,starting with the coverpage.

Rekha Harshaby email

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Editor: SRRamakrishna. EditorialOffice: FF70, GoldTowers, ResidencyRoad, Bangalore -560025 Email:[email protected]:08040926658. © Allrights reserved.Reproduction in wholeor part withoutpermission isprohibited.

EDITORIAL

SR RamakrishnaEditor

Sridhar K ChariConsulting Editor

Prashanth GNSenior Editor

Sajai Jose Chief Copy Editor

Savie Karnel PrincipalCorrespondent

Basu Megalkeri PrincipalCorrespondent

Prachi Sibal Senior Features Writer

Sandra Fernandes andMaria Laveena Reporters and CopyEditors

Anand Kumar K Chief of Design

Shridhar G KulkarniGraphic Designer

Ramesh Hunsur Senior Photographer

Vivek ArunGraphics Artist

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Sumith KombraFounder, CEO andPublisher

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Not a festive dishOne of the recipes in your Ugadi special,Sukkinunde, is usually made when someonedies, and never for festivals. Please takenote.

Tarini Nagarajby email

‘Looter ID’ is a fun termIn last week’s Ayyotoons (Gifted Voters, Issue36), the coinage ‘looter ID’ as a counter to‘voter ID’ is witty. Good show!

Nataraj HuliyarRajarajeshwari Nagar

Write [email protected]

Maria Laveena’s stories on breast cancer provide a wealth of info

PRASHANTH [email protected]

Last July, KarthikRangappa, an invest-ment consultant of thecity’s Quantlab consul-tancy, wrote in the very

first Talk edition, “What we havebeen witnessing since 2002 is afrenzy of gold buying reminiscentof the 1980’s gold rush. But marketstatistics show that gold priceshave started to ease. While thisdoes not mean that gold prices willcome crashing down immediately,it’s reasonable to believe that theend of this extraordinary bull runis just around the corner.”

Earlier this week, that “extra-ordinary bull run” of gold didcome to an end, as prices crashedby a startling 9-10 per cent, the

steepest one-day plunge in historysince the gold crash of 1985. Agram of gold priced at around Rs2,950 a week ago fell to around Rs2,410. But rather than serve as astark warning, the crash has beentreated like the pop of a startinggun in a race.

As we got to press, Bangaloreand the rest of India are witness-ing an unprecedented frenzy ofgold buying as customers rush totake advantage of the lower prices.Coming right in themiddle of the wed-ding season, itseems as if the pricecrash was timed forlocal gold con-sumers. Not sur-prisingly, jewellersacross the city are reporting asmuch as three times the normalsales in the first half of the week.

When nations sell The record fall in gold prices issaid to have been caused by a dis-tress sale by economically troubledCyprus, the sudden influx of themetal into the international mar-ket bringing prices down. Also, theUS Federal Bank’s decision toslowdown buying governmentbonds has impacted gold prices.Other European countries in asimilar situation, like Greece,

Portugal, Spain and Italy too havebeen advised by the EuropeanUnion to sell part of gold reservesto shore up finances, triggeringspeculation about prices droppingstill further.

Ankita Debora, research ana-lyst at Mumbai’s Emkay Globalfinancial consultancy, says, “Goldprices saw about a decade of bullrun—from 2001 to September2011—when prices rose to an all-time high of Rs one lakh-plus per

ounce. The currentfall happened afterCyprus sold its gold.They came underpressure from theEuropean Union,which asked them tosell gold reserves to

meet their financial obligations.According to World Gold Council’slatest data, Cyprus holds only 13.9tonnes of gold and is expected tosell around 10 tonnes. But otherstruggling countries such asPortugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece andSpain may also sell gold. Together,these countries hold about 3,230tonnes of gold, and if even a frac-tion of it enters the market, priceswill drop further.”

But customers in Bangaloreseem unaware of any such possi-bility, and are making a beeline forjewellery shops hoping to stock up

3talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inmarket watch

editor talkOn our cover, we feature SM Krishna, apolitician whose career spans 51 years,and who was till recently India’s foreignminister. Krishna hails from a district notvery far from Bangalore, and has risenconsistently from MLA to union ministerof state to chief minister to governor toforeign minister. Bangalore-centricpolitical analysts compare Krishna withHD Deve Gowda, a leader from the sameregion and a fellow-Vokkaliga, and endup praising his taste and sophistication.Texas-educated Krishna is urbane andstylish, if you like him, and a city slicker ifyou don’t. Similarly, for his admirers,Deve Gowda is a leader blessed withnative wisdom, but his critics woulddescribe him as cunning and anti-city.Basu Megalkeri, who has reported onpolitics over the decades, met severalCongress leaders and wrote our lead.When Krishna arrived in Bangalore,speculation was rife that he would leadthe Congress campaign, and stop themarch of Deve Gowda in southernKarnataka. But it looks like the Congressis unwilling to let him spearhead thebattle. You will find some interestinginsights into the life and times of one ofKarnataka’s most famous politicianshere.

On Wednesday, as we were preparing torelease our pages, news broke about thebomb blast in Malleswaram. VasanthiHariprakash, a long-time resident of theold Bangalore neighbourhood, filed aquick personal reaction to the terrorattack.

PB Sreenivos (that’s how he used to spellhis name) died earlier this week. If youhad to compare him to a singer in theNorth, you might think of Mukesh. Forlovers of south Indian cinema, Sreenivoswas the voice behind hundreds ofexquisite melodies. This edition featuresa tribute to him.

Also read Savie Karnel’s touching reporton how some families are throwing opentheir doors to rescued street children.

SR [email protected]

IN DEMANDJewellers in the city

claim they aregetting up to 40

per cent morecustomers

The sudden crash in prices has sentBangaloreans scampering to jewellersto stock up in anticipation of a future

rise. But some experts believe goldprices will slide further before

stabilising at a much lower rate

A golden trap?

It was thesteepest one-day plungesince 1985

RAMESH HUNSUR

on gold in the hope that price will swingback. DV Ramesh, CEO of DavanamJewellers and Secretary of the KarnatakaJewellers Association, told Talk that jew-ellers in the city have seen a 40 per cent risein customers from Monday, in tune withthe national trend.

A representative of well-known jew-eller C Krishniah Chetty & Sons onCommercial Street, confirms this: “Wehave seen an almost 30 per cent rise in cus-tomers after the price dropped. People aredrawn by the lower prices and a good num-ber are buying for marriages and festivals.”Chemmanur Jewellers at JC Road too hasseen a rise in number of customers, and astore representative said they expected thenumbers to grow in the coming days.

Srikala Bhashyam, analyst with finan-cial consultancy RS Consultants, told Talk:“People buy gold for reasons of custom andfor investment. If it’s the former, they willbuy it at any price. If it’s investment thatthey have in mind—usually for a five to 10year period—then too they will not beaffected by the price drop as they canafford to wait for it to rise again. In anycase, a family does not invest more than 10per cent of its savings on gold, so the riskattached to gold investment is low.”

Amit Shah of the Bangalore StockExchange agrees, saying that unlike long-term investors, it is short-term specula-tors—traders who buy andsell gold every day— whohave lost heavily in the lastfew days. “It is very difficultto predict whether priceswill plunge more, becausethat depends on the globalsituation. Typically whatgoes down, comes up and over a few weeks,gold prices may go up again,” he said.Jewellers Association’s Ramesh points outthat the price has already gone up margin-ally. He expects it to stabilise over a period.

But others are not so optimistic.Emkay’s Ankita Debora expects gold pricesto fall some more. When asked about theslight rise in prices after the fall, she says itis a natural market correction, after whichprices are expected to slip again, to asmuch 15 per cent of pre-crash prices. Inother words, she expects another steep fallbefore prices finally stabilise at a muchlower rate.

Earlier this week, Swaminathan SAiyar, who writes the popular‘Swaminomics’ column in The Times ofIndia, said the boom in gold prices over thelast decade was over, and that it was time

to “sell gold, not buy it.”Aiyar firmly believes goldprices are likely to fall fur-ther, and refers to trend-setting global investorslike George Soros gettingrid of their gold and gold-linked investments well

ahead of the crash. State Bank of India, India’s largest

lender, which has a gold loan portfolio ofRs 35,000 crore, is already preparing for afurther fall in prices. Chairman Pratip

Chaudhuri told the media even a fall of upto 20 per cent will not hurt lenders, butbeyond that it will. As a precautionarymeasure, the bank is planning to rein inloans given against gold, or reduce theloan-to-value (LTV) ratio, which stands at70 per cent currently.

Speaking to Talk after the crash,Karthik Rangappa reiterates his view, andsays he expects gold prices to fall somemore. “I see a further 8-10 per cent fall ingold and maybe up to 15 per cent in silver.Interestingly, this drop is not restricted toprecious metals alone but the entire com-modity markets which seem to be in abearish zone, with the price of crude oilalso dipping by around 7-8 per cent.”

In the near future, he expects gold tosee a “dead cat bounce” (what marketwatchers call a brief recovery amidst a gen-eral decline in prices) before prices begin toslide again. So are sellers and speculatorssuppressing information about a furtherfall in prices? He said, “With a natural ten-dency of Indians to buy gold at every possi-ble rate, I don’t think the public needs thesellers to cajole or prompt them when itcomes to buying gold.”


BUSTLING Malleswaram is famed for its colourful shopping areas

Time: 10.50 am. A closefriend’s number beeped onmy mobile phone. “Hey,

what’s up?” I said into the phone,preparing for a leisurely banter.“Listen, quick call. Just to say don’tgo to your favourite place today.There has been a blast inMalleswaram. I am at work, butwifey just called to say she heard it,it was so loud.”

Blast? In Malleswaram?

Should I first hold back the spousewho would step out any moment toget to his office in Malleswaram’sneighbourhood of Rajajinagar? Orshould I switch on the TV first tosee if it’s at all true?

Thankfully, one can multitask.

So, the husband and I quickly got tothe remote. Oh yes, it was thatfamiliar locality on nationaltelevision. Near the BJP office. AnOmni car was on fire. So was aHonda Activa parked next to it.Cops were helping firemen with thehose. Commotion. And formercolleague and friend MayaSharma’s voice on the phone,telling the anchor in the NDTVstudio that the police suspected a‘cylinder blast’.

“Oh, just a cylinder blast, da. ThankGod, not some terror work,” textedthe friend who had called to warnme.

As is my wont, I flipped channels.For the more local news toKannada stations, and for the bigpicture to the national ones.

Switched off. Only to get anothermessage half an hour later fromthe same friend again. “Hey V, it isa bomb blast. Check the channelsnow.”

And so it was. Headlines andsupers scrolled madly across thescreen. “IED device... IndianMujahideen could be involved… 2kg of explosives used… Bangaloreblast a terror attack, confirmsKarnataka Home Minister.”Different channels, same oldtheories.

It was time to Facebook. Theultimate place for conspiracytheories and hearsay. “Secondblast at Esteem Mall, Hebbal.True?” wondered a post. That sentme to the TV remote yet again.Nope, that was a rumour, the policechief clarified... What a day, Devre!

Only an afternoon siesta wouldbring back sanity, I realised. And inthat peaceful nap, I was back inthat favouritest area of mine.Malleswaram. Amidst the largetrees in my grandma’s 19th Crossgarden, where we used to hang outas kids whenever we came toBangalore for the summer holidays.And on that fragrant road somegenius named rightly after theSampige flower, and not after aneta. And that mother of allmarkets on 8th Cross, where youcould shop for the freshest ofveggies and soppu, pick up bindipackets and bangles at the ‘fancystore’, buy clothes for a familymember and top it up with

unparalleled vade-sambar at JanataHotel.

If it was Dhanur maasa (orMaargazhi as they call it in Tamil),you could get up nice and early togo to the 11th Cross Krishnatemple, in time for the sinful, ghee-laden sakkre pongal. Or if you arethe musical type, you could headfor the classical concerts at Ananyaor good old Rama Mandira.

Such a beautiful reverie it was, butI woke up disturbed.

Yes, for us Bangaloreans,Malleswaram is The Spot formallige hoovu, masala dose andthe colourful market on 8th Cross.Hardly the location for a terrorattack.

We have no qualms when we saythis old-world locality, like aBasavangudi or Chamarajpet, is anextra-special child of this city.

To strike at Malleswaram is tostrike at the very core of whatevertrue blue Bangalore stands for. Andtherefore, is it too much to ask thatthose who shook this core areexposed soon?

We owe it to the by-two coffee wehave grown up drinking.

(The author is an independentjournalist, radio anchor and former

special correspondent for NDTV.She has lived in and travelled

through towns in 16 Indian states,and yet loves Bangalore to a fault.

She can be reached [email protected])

This is the spot for mallige hoovu and masaladose, not for a terror attack, writesVasanthi Hariprakash

A bomb? In Malleswaram?

Gold stats Annual gold sales in Karnataka:

Rs 14,000 crore/50 tonnes

Annual gold sales in Bangalore: Rs 10,000 crore and 30 tonnes

Annual gold sales in India: Rs 1,50,000 crore/450 tonnes

Karthik expectsprices to recoverbriefly beforesliding again

RAMESH HUNSUR

5talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.infun lines

Former prime minister HD DeveGowda's family believes in God,black magic, astrology, homas, and

even street soothsaying. His son HDKumaraswamy married a second time—the bride being movie star Radhika—purportedly because an astrologer toldhim it would help him become primeminister one day.

Some people who know the family's fearof the occult spread the rumour thatDeve Gowda's elder son HD Revannawould contest from Shravanabelagola,and not Holenarsipura, his regularconstituency. The rumour attributed thisto an astrologer predicting that Revannawould be vanquished if a woman tookhim on. A woman from the politicallyactive family of Puttaswamy Gowda iscontesting from Holenarsipura.

The rumour circulated widely, and whenRevanna heard about it, he called apress meet and declared he wasn'trunning away from Holenarsipura. Andthen, to protect himself from any adverseplanetary effects, he rushed with hisfamily to temples in Kollur and Sringeri.

Who said politicians are not God-fearing?

BASU MEGALKERI

Retired director-general of policeRevanasiddaiah has just joinedthe Congress in Mysore in thepresence of Congress leaderSiddaramaiah, his one-timeenemy No 1. Revanasiddaiahhad served as Bangalore citypolice commissioner during JHPatel's chief ministership. ALingayat and a devout followerof the Suttur pontiff, he plungedinto politics and contested the2004 assembly elections fromthe Lingayat-dominatedChamundeshwari constituency.Siddaramaiah, in the JD(S) then,was his opponent.

Later, Revanasiddaiah exited theCongress and joined the BJP. In2008 he contested as a BJP

candidate from Mysore's Varunaconstituency, where the Sutturpontiff's word can sway votes.Siddaramaiah again was hisopponent, but this time he wascontesting on a Congress ticket,having quit the JD(S).

Revanasiddaiah contested twiceagainst Siddaramaiah, and lostboth times. He has now returnedto the Congress and acceptedas his leader the very man whodefeated him twice. He tookSiddaramaiah along to seek theblessings of the Suttur pontiff.That could garner Lingayat votesand stall KJP candidate KapuSiddalingaswamy's chances.What is the retired DGP gainingfrom all this?

VOODOO PEOPLE Deve Gowda and sons Kumarswamy and Revanna are famously in thrall of the occult

Revanasiddaiah(left) withSiddaramaiah

Retired top cop’s flip-flop

Thirty years ago, Ambarishplayed an angry rebel inmany of his films, andgained a big following. Now,he is a rebel of another sort.He is fighting his own partymen, and losing friends bythe day.

In 2008, Ambarish decidedto contest the assemblyelections fromSrirangapatna and scuttledthe chances of Congressworker RavindraSrikantaiah. Ambarish lostthe election. Now, he hasdecided to contest fromMandya and ruined thechances of leaderAtmananda.

Ambarish has even got aticket for his man, Lingaraju,to contest fromSrirangapatna, after gettingRavindra to return the tickethe had already secured.Ambarish told the Congresshigh command he would notcontest from Mandya if his

supporter was not given aticket. The high commandgave in to his threats.

Long-time party workers likeRavindra and Atmanandaare in no mood to work forhim. Ambarish has notcared to visit the party'slocal offices, and is justthrowing his weight aroundbecause of his connectionsin Bangalore and Delhi.

Ambarish enjoys somepopularity because of hisglory days in the movies.But he has done preciouslittle in politics.He was electedto the LokSabha fromMandya, andhad evenbecome unionminister, buthasnothing toshow forall that.

Retired glam doll Rakshita, whohad joined the BSR Congress,has just ditched the party andjoined the JD(S).

She was BSR Congress MahilaMorcha President, and was theofficial candidate fromChamarajanagar constituency.She had promised she would fileher nomination papers onMonday. That was not to be.

Last week, Talk had reported anexodus from the BSR Congress.Many had joined the partythinking it was flush with miningmoney, given that Sriramlu isjailed mining lord JanardhanaReddy's right hand man. Underthe scrutiny of several agencies,Sriramulu has not been able todish out any largesse, promptingmany to leave the party. Rakshitais the latest.

When Talk contacted Rakshita tofind out why she quit the BSRCongress, she said: "Well, youhave written about me in thepast. I'm a little busy now, whydon't you call me after twohours?" Her phone remainedswitched off when Talk called herlater.

Rakshita had received a lot ofencouragement from Sriramuluand she had also campaigned forthe party. But a party insider saidshe had quit because Sriramuludid not meet her demands formoney.

"She called on Saturday and saidshe wanted Rs 2 crore by Sundayif she had to file her nominationson Monday. Sriramulu said hewas in no position to pay her.She promptly quit the party," hetold Talk.So has she got any money from

the JD(S)? No way! DeveGowda is not the sort,

party insiders say, toshell out money forthe likes of Rakshita.

Why Rakshitaquit the BSRCongress

Rebel star Ambarish’sflagging popularity

What prompted the former prime minister's son Revannato rush to temples in Kollur and Sringeri this week?

Ritual and magic ruleDeve Gowda’s family

RakshitaAmbarish

MADHUSUDHAN SR

7talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inelection diary

UNITED WE FALL

The Congressleadership is split

over ticketdistribution, and is

choosingcandidates with nochance of winning

If you want to know how tocomplicate an easy thing, askthe Congress high commandin Delhi. Karnataka voterswere strongly in favour of the

Congress just a month ago. Theurban local body election results alsoshowed the party on the upswing.Sensing victory, all kinds of peoplestarted lobbying for Congress tickets,and that's when the high commandstarted making one mistake afteranother.

The Congress has been out ofpower for seven years. Even though itlost in 2004, it retained power inalliance with the JD(S) till January2006. HD Deve Gowda, the JD(S)

patriarch, remote-controlled the gov-ernment and wrung the life out of theCongress.

It is again a critical time for theCongress. If it loses the third straightelection in Karnataka, it will be theend of the grand old party in a statethat was once its stronghold.

No support for BJPIt is true that people across the stateare fed up with BJP rule.Yeddyurappa's angry exit from theparty to launch his own KJP, and theexodus of its MLAs, has considerablyweakened the ruling party.Yeddyurappa's exit has made thiselection much easier for theCongress.

Deve Gowda's family-centricJD(S) is also facing internal rebellionin some districts, a situation mosthelpful for the Congress. So what isthe problem?

The Congress itself! As ProfYogendra Yadav, the eminent

psephologist says, the party is verygood at turning certain victory intocertain defeat. Many Karnataka lead-ers with bloated egosand their bosses inDelhi with no clueabout ground reali-ties are workingovertime to complicate an easy elec-tion.

Thanks to illogical, arrogant dis-tribution of tickets, the state's twolargest castes, the Lingayats andVokkaligas, are angry with the party.

Tickets for the mafiaIn many constituencies, the Congresshas announced tickets for real estatedons and relatives of central leaders.One needs no political acumen topredict that the Congress is going tolose most of these seats.

Former civil aviation ministerCM Ibrahim is hated in his home-town of Bhadravati in Shimoga dis-trict. He fled from the place in 1983

when an angry public prevented himfrom filing his nomination papers.One of his brothers was murdered

and another faced arape charge whenIbrahim was a centralminister in 1997. Yet,the Congress has

given him a ticket from Bhadravati.This when the sitting Congress MLA BK Sangameshwar, a Lingayat leader,is popular. He is now contesting as arebel and the Lingayat stronghold ofcentral Karnataka may vote againstthe Congress to teach Ibrahim anoth-er lesson.

Chief ministerial aspirantSiddaramaiah has pressured theCongress into giving Ibrahim a ticket.There are others. AICC general secre-tary BK Hariprasad has fielded hisbrother BK Shivaram, a trigger-happyformer DCP, from Malleswaram. It isno secret that two others contestingfrom Bangalore, Manjula Naidu andMuniratna, are also his favourites.

The party on the upswingis taking utterly foolish,

suicidal decisions

Will the Congressdefeat itself?

Bangalore votesSeats in BBMP limits: 28

Outskirts: 8(Total seats in Karnataka 224)

DP Satish Senior Editor withCNN-IBN. He ispassionate abouteverything

RAMESH HUNSUR


They have no reputation for service either.

The Bellary rebellionThe Congress decimated the Reddys intheir stronghold of Bellary in the urbanlocal body polls. Formerminister and Congressstrongman M DiwakaraBabu worked hard toimprove the party's for-tunes here. But theCongress ticket has goneto a one-time friend ofthe Reddys, mining baron Anil Lad. Thishas led to a revolt in Bellary and neigh-bouring districts. Congress workers openly

say Lad bribed his way to the list.KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar

faces the charge of giving tickets to hischamchas with an eye on the chief ministe-rial chair. SM Krishna, a tall Vokkaliga

leader acceptable acrossKarnataka, has been side-lined. This has sent awrong message to votersin the old Mysore region,and will benefit the JD(S)in a big way.

Film star Ambarish isnot a force in Mandya but the Congress hasgiven tickets to him and his supporters,ignoring SM Krishna's recommendations.

Insiders say the JD(S) will exploit the situa-tion and the Congress under Ambarish'sleadership will bite the dust.

A 'cleansed' BJP is doing everythingpossible to win at least 60 of the 224 seats.It is hoping the JD(S) will win at least 40, sothat the two parties can come together toform a coalition government and keep theCongress out. The half-way mark, to be eli-gible to form a government, is 113, and theBJP and the JD(S) plan to rope in independ-ents to make up for the shortfall.

The Congress and the BJP are lockedin a direct fight at many places in coastaland northern Karnataka. The JD(S) doesnot even exist in some constituencies.Yeddyurappa's KJP has replaced the BJP inat least eight districts in these regions. Ifthe KJP eats into BJP's votes, the Congresscan win many seats by default. If the BJPmanages to hold its ground, it is the end ofthe road for the Congress.

Rahul’s unrealistic advisorsIt is true that there is a strong anti-BJPwave across the state. But, there's no pro-Congress wave either. The JD(S) and KJPmay benefit from this neutrality factor.There is a huge difference between beingthe single largest party and being able toget at least a simple majority.

Even if the Congress gets 90-100 seats,there's no guarantee it will be able to forma government. The JD(S), for all its 'secular'pretensions, prefers the BJP over theCongress any day, and could form a gov-ernment with that party. Yeddyurappacan't be a trusted ally and could ditch theCongress and return to the BJP any day.

AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhishould realise that he can't run theCongress like an NGO with aides likeMadhusudhan Mistry and Jitendra Singh.Old hands like AK Antony can't think real-istically and offer practical solutions either.

Given this situation, May 8 could goeither way for the Congress.

Three scenarios. The Congress gets a simplemajority of 113. The BJP wins 60-70 seats, the JD(S) wins 40 and theKJP stops at 10-15.

The Congress reaches 100 seatsand forms a government withindependents and the KJP.

The mandate is badly fracturedlike in 2004, and wild alliancesacross the spectrum are attempted.

There is only ananti-BJP wave,and no pro-Congress wave

FREE RIDE Congress has given tickets to the likes of Anil Lad and CM Ibrahim, ignoring popular sentiment. G Parameshwar has wrangled tickets for his equally unpopular supporters


Reactions, statements,accusations, complaints,or just straight talk—thisis where you get them all

Questions

?3?

?

The High Court has upheld the decisionto make digital set top boxes mandatoryfor TV viewers. Who will this benefit?This will benefit digital signal providers andthe government. Earlier cable operatorswould cheat digital signal providers. Theywould say that they have 100 customers,but would provide signals to 1000households. Service providers approachedthe government and demanded that set topboxes be made mandatory for every TV.

Cable operators went to court stating therewere 40 lakh customers in Bangalore and itwould be difficult to supply so many boxesat one go. They demanded that signalproviders supply set top boxes to them.Claiming that there weren't enough stocks,they asked the court to postpone thedeadline. The court rejected their plea.Cable operators will now face losses. Theyhave to pay 10 per cent service charge onmonthly fees collected from customers.Government will earn revenue.

How will set top boxes help viewers?Signal providers will be in direct touch withthe consumer. The picture quality will bebetter and viewers will have more choice ofchannels.

Are there enough stocks of set top boxesfor all Bangaloreans?About 30 to 40 per cent people alreadyhave set top boxes. Some have paid anadvance and are waiting. Since the boxesare made in China, we will have to wait a bitfor the imports. The manufacturers havestarted production. The price ranges fromRs 1000 to Rs 1500.

echwalk

BASU MEGALKERI

The set-top box order

NagarajFormer cable operator and manager ofAmogh Broadband Services

Nagaraj is a digital service provider in Rajajinagar. He hasalso been a cable operator for 20 years.

We flagged last week some of theissues that technology throws up---here is another one, following theBoston Marathon bombing. Ashappens after such attacks andnatural disasters, there was aproblem with cell-phone networksslowing down or even hanging.People could not connect withfriends, family, and emergencyworkers.

Bangalore was hit by a bombingtoo, and while thankfully it was notbig enough to affect networks, thisis something that we have faced inIndia too.

Bloomberg Businessweek has areport by Brad Stone analysing whythis happens to networks. Stonefirst talks about initial reports that

authorities shut it down fearingmore bombs being triggered bymobile phones. These though werelater reversed, and networks alsodenied that this happened.Congestion was the obvious andsimple answer. Networks were notdesigned to, and can't take suchspikes in loads. Which is why they

were advising people to send textand e-mail messages.

Stone concludes therefore that notmuch can be done to prevent poornetwork performance. Creatingrarely used over-capacity would bewasteful and costly. Technologyand economics always go together.

When networks fail

A GigaOm post by Kevin Tofel,also on Businessweek.com,reports on the new Galaxy Notethat hit US stores recently. 400bucks. While the Notes we arefamiliar with are phones too,Kevin's buy was wi-fi only, somore like an iPad Mini—and it isnearly the same size.

Interesting. Priced higher thanthe iPad's $329, the writer is notyet sure if it is worth it. This iswhat he found: Look and feelmore like an upsized Galaxy S 4than a Note 2; Expected batterylife, 10 hours; Samsung's 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor,with 2 GB of RAM—reasonablyfast. Pixel density slightly higherthan the Mini; Good videoplayback and great note takingexperience.

Looks like what Samsungmissed out on is providing abetter display than the Mini. Thatwould have made it quite acontender.

It won't be long before everymobile phone is a smartphone. Sothe launches continue unabated,and the technology website

Tech2.in has put together a list ofnew smartphones expected to hitthe market in India soon. Wethought we'll share some with you.

Smartphone roundup

Samsung GalaxyNote 8.0

Sony Xperia SPOnce you stop raving about the Xperia Z and its mil-specstyle ruggedness, may be you are thinking, do I really needthat? So now you’ll have the SP, minus only the dust andwater-proofing—give or take a feature or two. Android JellyBean is the OS, with a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor. Canbe pre-ordered now at about Rs 26,000.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 and 6.3. The display has got to be HD and the bigger the better, aslong as you don't feel like you are carrying around aclapboard. And going by those numbers, these displaysapproach those of the smaller tablets.

Micromax Canvas 3DAnd how can Micromax not be in the picture? Tech2.in isskeptical about its 3D capabilities (it is still in the realm ofrumour and speculation) and believes it may even settlefor HD in the end. But the very thought of a 3D phone isintriguing. Who knows, there might be takers for that sortof thing, and Micromax likes to think cutting-edge.

Optimus G Pro LG is trying hard to remain in the fray, and tech2 says thisis a fairly worthy entry, boasting, among other things, Dolbysound. Again, running Android Jelly Bean, and the displayis a full HD, IPS (In-Plane Switching) screen.

SRIDHAR K CHARISend feedback to [email protected]

RAMESH HUNSUR

SAVIE [email protected]

Raja is in the sixth stan-dard, but he looks about11. As we enter the smallhouse, in a bylane inChamarajpet, he greets

us excitedly. He then helps his fosterfather Nagesh, a tempo driver,arrange plastic chairs in the small liv-ing room, and his foster mother servepayasam.

Raja lived in an NGO institutionfor street children for six years beforehe was placed in foster care. Has heever wanted to go back? “No, I wantto stay at home,” he says, clinging to

his “appa.”When a social worker had asked

him a couple of months ago whatkind of a home he would like to gointo, he replied: “The house should begrand and should have a swimmingpool.” The very idea of a home wasfantastical to him.

“These kids have never seen ahome. It is something imaginary tothem and they have unrealistic ideas,”says Ann Mary, a counsellor withBOSCO, the NGO that rescues streetchildren and places some in fostercare.

Raja is among 19 lucky childrenfrom there who have found fosterhomes. BOSCO started the fostercare project last year, after getting thenecessary clearances.

Radha Srinivasamurthy,Chairperson, Child WelfareCommittee, Bangalore (Boys), of theGovernment of Karnataka, is all forthe foster care programme.

“It definitely helps children,” shetold Talk. “In India, we have tradition-ally had a kinship system, where rela-tives take care of a child. Foster care issimilar to that. It wasn’t successfulearlier, but now more people are

coming forward as foster parents.When adoption was introduced inIndia, people were reluctant. But nowadoption is widely accepted. We hopefoster care will also become success-ful in a similar way.”

According to Milan Mandanna,co-ordinator of BOSCO’s Foster CareProject, “These kids are older thanthey look. Some may be 14 or 15 andlook like 10 year olds.” She quotesfrom a study which says that it’s notjust malnourishmentbut also lack of loveand emotional attach-ment that has madethem physically under-developed.

Some of the chil-dren are orphans, someabandoned by their families, andsome others about whom nobodyknows anything. Many have been res-cued either begging, rag picking orworking as child labourers.

Unlike in adoption, children donot become legal heirs when placed infoster care. Foster homes could takein children for a short duration, evenjust a few months, or till the child is18 years old. Parents can choose to

foster them even after that. Therehave been cases in other parts of thecountry where foster parents haveeven arranged marriages, and stayedin touch. After short term care, fosterparents continue to be mentors andmeet them regularly. In a way, theyremain foster parents forever.

“We provide foster homes for ashort duration, so that children canknow what a family is, and thendecide if they want to move into a

family,” says Milan.Families can also pro-vide vacation fosterhomes, for a couple ofdays. “But here the con-dition is that the familyagrees to be a mentorfor the child. Even after

the vacation they should regularlyvisit the child,” she adds.

When BOSCO started with thefoster care project last year, it had toface several bureaucratic hurdles.Many mistook it for adoption.Government departments askedthem what it was all about.

“We later found that Karnatakahad made guidelines for foster care in1995, but everyone had forgotten

10talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.infoster parents

WE’RE FAMILYVan driver Nagesh

and his wifeShobha haveopened their

Chamarajpet hometo four foster

children

Unlike inadoption, thekids are notlegal heirs

A fledgling system of fostercare is offering new hope

for homeless children

For a hug and a home

RAMESH HUNSUR


about them. These guidelines helped usstart off,” says Milan.

The foster care system also helps cou-ples who seek to adopt children. Peopleprefer to adopt children who are verysmall. BOSCO Mane has children above sixyears. “Families which haven’t been luckyto find a child can foster a child. If the fam-ily and child continue to be interested, wecan later help the families become legalguardians,” she says.

BOSCO first tries to find their fami-lies, then they ask the relatives. Whennothing works out, they look for fosterhomes.

One of their first children to beplaced in a foster home was eight-year-oldVishnu (name changed.) Vishnu was a ragpicker in Tirupati when he was rescued,and was brought to Bangalore since he saidthat he had lived here. At BOSCO Mane hesaid that his family lived in Tirupati.BOSCO Foster Care’s social mobiliser RajuKN went to Tirupati with him.

After searching in several localitiesthey found his mother. She had marriedagain and had children from her new hus-band. “When we reachedthere, her husband askedwho the child was. He wasnot even aware that Vishnuexisted,” says Raju. Hismother refused to take him.After her first husband’sdeath, Vishnu’s mother hadabandoned all her six children, theirwhereabouts unknown.

BOSCO traced Vishnu’s father’s dis-tant relatives in Bangalore. One of them,Velumurugan, a security guard, is now fos-tering Vishnu. His biological son, who isstudying in PUC, and his daughter, who isin the ninth standard, have accepted himas their kid brother.

“When I told them about Vishnu, theywere glad to have him home,” saysVelumurugan. Since Vishnu had lived onthe streets, he would sometimes crave forthe “freedom” of street life and bunkschool. “We warned him that we wouldsend him back to the ashram, and hemended his ways,” says the foster father.

If the foster families are not well off,BOSCO also offers financial help for theupbringing of the child. “We ensure thelanguage and cultural backgrounds match.We also secure a no-objection letter fromthe biological children in the foster fami-lies who are older than six years,” saysShaffiq Jalalpasha, a social mobiliser withBOSCO.

In the case of eight-year old Suhail(name changed), the family wanted anoth-er son. “We have one son and two daugh-ters. We wanted another son, so we fos-tered Suhail,” says Shabana Banu, a home-maker whose husband works in an agarbat-ti factory.

Her biological children too werehappy to have a new brother. The family

initially faced adjustment problems, but allseems to be fine after three months. “Hewouldn’t listen to me and would answerback to the older kids. Now, he has settledin well,” she says. He regularly attendsschool as well as Arabic classes.

The greatest moment for Suhail waswhen the school results were out recently.It was not because he scored well, but

because, for the first time, hehad a mother who came withhim to receive his report card.

“He took me to all hisfriends and introduced me ashis Ammi,” says Shabana. Shetoo felt appreciated when theteachers told her that Suhail

had improved a lot when compared to thetime he was in the institution. “A teachersaid that he studies well and comes neatlydressed,” she says beaming.

Being accompanied by a parent on theday of the results means a lot to these chil-dren. “When we go on results day fromBOSCO Mane, there is one aunty with 10of us behind her. She goes from class toclass collecting report cards. Now Ammacomes only with me,” says 13-year-oldAustin (name changed).

“They crave personal attention, whichisn’t available in an institution with about90 children,” explains T Bhagyalakshmi, acounsellor with BOSCO. The foster homehas brought visible changes in Austin’s life.When his school teacher complained thathis notes were incomplete, Austin’s fostermother Shobha stayed up till 1 am andmade him complete his school work.

Shobha and her husband Nagesh, adriver, have volunteered to provide a groupfoster home. They have opened their hometo four children, who will live with themtill they find a long term home. Like in allfamilies, there were initial skirmishes,including arguments over which TV pro-grammes to watch. They have now settleddown.

Earlier, the children would simplypour water on their heads and say that theyhad bathed. Now, Shobha ensures that theyactually bathe daily and wear fresh clothes.Right from cooking for them to washing

their clothes, Shobha does everything witha smile. “They are my sons,” she says. Shehas a biological son and a daughter.

Ajit can’t stop raving about Shobha’scooking. “In BOSCO Mane we got thesame kind of food. Here, Amma cooks newdishes and makes whatever we like,” hesays.

Three children in Shobha’s househave already found long-term homes andwill be going away soon. One of them, whohasn’t yet found a home, asked his counsel-lor, “Aunty, how long will you take to findme a home?”

Ann says she faces these questionsregularly from children in institutionalcare. “They all want to see what a home is,”she says.

People think foster care is a Westernconcept. Milan refutes this. “Traditionallyin India, if a child lost his parent, theextended family, neighbours or friendswould look after the child. With nuclearfamilies, this concept is lost,” she says.

Most of the families coming forwardto foster children belong to lower social

backgrounds. “We have a scientist and abank manager who have now come for-ward. We hope more people open theirhomes to these children,” she says.

Dr Meena Jain, psychotherapist andchairperson, Child Welfare Committee,Bangalore (Girls), says foster care worksvery well, and helps enhance the psycho-logical well-being of a child.

“In my 27 years of working with chil-dren, I have often heard children with noparents ask me when they will go home. Ihate that,” she told Talk.

She says NGOs should do a thoroughbackground check of the families, as some-times there is a risk of the kids being usedfor work. Proper counselling and mentalpreparation of both foster parents and chil-dren is required. “For example, the childcould suddenly feel that he or she is beingcorrected for his mistakes and being disci-plined, and resist that,” she said.

Sheila Devaraj, Director, Associationfor Promoting Social Action (APSA), whohas placed nine children in group fostercare and has plans to place children in indi-vidual foster homes soon, says there are noclear rules in India yet, but the system isgaining more acceptance.

Sr Dulcine Crasta, Coordinator, ChildProtection Committee (UNICEF),Department of Women and ChildDevelopment, says some guidelines arebeing drawn up, and efforts are on to bringin a government scheme for foster care.

“With legalisation, we hope morepeople will come forward to foster chil-dren. It will need a lot of motivation forfamilies to come forward. For adoptions,we have a long waiting list of parents. Butfor foster care, we have a long list of chil-dren but not many parents. We need astrong will from the government, involve-ment of NGOs and awareness among peo-ple,” she told Talk.

We asked 12-year-old Sanjay (namechanged) another boy in foster care, whatthe main difference was between his newhome and his old institution. He said, “If Ifell there, aunty would take me to the med-ical room and apply medicines on mywound. Here, if I fall, Amma hugs me first.”

Most fosterfamilies arefrom theworking class

Age of the parents should beabove 30 years

Should have enough financialsupport to raise a child

Should have reared childrenearlier

Married with a stable relationshipfor a few years

At least one parent should beeducated

The youngest biological childshould be at least five years old andmust be elder to the foster child

No death or serious illness in thelast one year

If you want to foster a child fromBOSCO, call 080 22424138/9845462571/ 8748879723

Email: [email protected]

Who can be foster careparents?

MOVING SPIRITSBOSCO’s Foster CareProject team: (From left)T Bhagyalakshmi, KNRaju, Milan Mandanna,Ann Mary and ShaffiqJalalpasha

12talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inspotlight

BASU [email protected]

Alone security guard sits atthe gate of SM Krishna’shouse in Sadashivanagar.Not a single party workeris waiting at the door. If

you didn’t know the house belongedto the Congress stalwart, you wouldn’t

give it a second look.The guard lets me in without any

fuss. Krishna’s personal assistantDhananjay is lounging around, and heis not in election mode either.“Sahebru is busy. I will speak to himand then contact you,” he says, casual-ly.

Having covered politics for near-ly three decades, I know what a big

leader’s house looks like at electiontime. I find none of the excitementhere. Assembly elections are barely afortnight away, and Krishna’s house isuncharacteristically quiet. Is it all overfor him, then?

Six months ago, Krishna heededthe Congress high command’s direc-tive and resigned as foreign minister.Leaders in Delhi said they were send-

Krishna’sbiography

MMaayy 11 11993322:: Born inSomanahalli village inMaddur taluk of Mandyadistrict.

His father was Mallayyaand mother Thayavva.Born in a rich agriculturalfamily, Krishna studied tillgraduation in India. Helater went to TexasUniversity on a Fulbrightscholarship and studiedinternational law.

He returned to India andworked as a lecturer inBangalore’sRenukacharya College fora year. He taughtinternational law.

11996622:: He contestedassembly elections fromMaddur constituency on aPSP ticket. He waselected MLA.

AApprriill 2299 11996644:: Hemarried Prema. Thecouple have twodaughters: Shambhaviand Malavika.

11996688:: Won parliamentaryelections from MandyaLok Sabha constituency.

11997711:: Joined IndiraCongress

11998833-8844:: AppointedUnion minister of state forIndustries

11998844- 8855:: AppointedUnion minister of state forfinance

11998899-9922:: AppointedKarnataka assemblyspeaker

11999922 ttoo 11999944:: KarnatakaDeputy Chief Minister

11999966:: Nominated Rajya Sabha member. Hewas also appointedPresident of KarnatakaPradesh CongressCommittee

11999999- 22000044:: Karnataka’s16th Chief Minister

22000044-22000088:: MaharashtraGovernor

MMaayy 2233,, 22000099 ttoo OOccttoobbeerr2288,, 22001122:: External AffairsMinister

He now doesn’t hold anypost

His spirit is willing—he doesn't mind another shot at chief ministership—butboth his friends and rivals in the Congress are pushing him towards retirement

SIDELINEDKrishna completed 50

years in politics thisyear, but finds himselfincreasingly irrelevant

in the Congress’scheme of things

No, thank you,Mr SM Krishna

RAMESH HUNSUR

ing Krishna back to Karnataka to steer theparty to victory. But once he came here, hehas remained at home. No party meetings,nothing.

No party positionFrom all accounts, Krishna’s game is over. Itappears party elders in Delhi used theKarnataka elections as an excuse to ease himout of the cushy external affairs ministry.Today, he has no official or party position,and Sonia Gandhi has not assigned any elec-tion-related work to him either.

“Neither Delhi leaders nor state politi-cians need him anymore,” a source close toKrishna explained. That seems unfair to aman who has spent 51 of his 81 years in pol-itics, but the Congress sees no worth inpushing him centre-stage.

But why? One reason could be his ageand deteriorating health. When he appearsbefore the media, Krishna looks dapper andwell preserved, but in truth, he is tired,exhausted and on serious medication.

Knowing well that Krishna may nothave a big say in party affairs any longer,staunch followers are distancing themselvesfrom him. DK Shivakumar, a minister inKrishna’s cabinet, was till recently consid-ered his right hand man. Today, he is down-playing his association with his mentor.

“Even before I was dubbed a Krishnafollower, I had won elections. VeerendraPatil was the state Congress president then.I was a cabinet minister in Bangarappa’s cab-inet. When I was in Krishna’s cabinet, henoticed my work and gave me more respon-sibilities. People noticed me and associatedme with Krishna,” heexplains.

Shivakumar is nowscouting around for otherfriendships and align-ments. About Krishna’sabsence from the campaignscene, he says diplomatical-ly, “He hasn’t been sidelined. The party highcommand knows who to use and when.”

H Vishwanath, a Krishna loyalist whowas also the co-operation and educationminister in his cabinet, is optimistic,though. “Krishna is a party working commit-tee member. We cannot predict who thehigh command wants and when,” he toldTalk.

BL Shankar, another Krishna loyalist,believes the party will benefit from his wis-dom. “Krishna doesn’t need any post toprove how important he is,” he said.

Just a couple of months ago, the buzzwas that Krishna would contend with otherCongress leaders to be the next chief minis-ter. Today, such talk is rarely heard in partycircles. Krishna is no longer seen as a poten-tial chief ministerial candidate.

R Ramachandrappa, former mayor andKarnataka Pradesh Congress Committee

(KPCC) general secretary (additional), hintsKrishna’s time is up. “We do not know ifKrishna resigned as the external affairs min-ister, or was asked to resign. He hasn’t triedto clear the air either. The conditions in theparty don’t favour him. It is not in a positionto give him power,” he said.

A futile Delhi tripSonia Gandhi invited Krishna to Delhi anddiscussed the Congress candidate list withhim twice, on March 19 and on April 14. Yet,when the list was announced, many ofKrishna’s loyalists were given a go by.

Atmananda from Mandya,Kalpana Siddaraju fromMaddur and actressRamya’s mother Ranjithafailed to make it, despiteKrishna’s backing. On theother hand, movie starAmbarish, who is in a rival

camp, got a ticket. Not just that, Amabrisheven managed to get the candidacy ofKrishna loyalist Ravindra Srikantaiah fromSrirangapatna cancelled after it wasannounced, and secured it for his supporterLingaraju.

Some of Krishna’s supporters did makethe cut, but the credit isn’t going to Krishna.BL Shankar from Dasarahalli, BKChandrashekar from Basavanagudi, DKShivakumar from Kanakapura and RVDeshpande from Haliyal figure on the list,but a senior Congress leader believes theymade it on their own merit. “They havedeveloped a good network. Now, some ofthem wield more influence in Delhi thanKrishna.”Foreign fixationA Fulbright scholar who studied interna-tional law at Texas, Krishna returned toIndia and taught at Renukacharya College in


Krishna’s dayWhenever he is in Bangalore,SM Krishna stays at hishouse in Sadashivnagar.After coffee and breakfast,he spends time with hisfamily.

From 10 am to 1.30 pm, heis in his home office. Therehe meets party workers,politicians, admirers and wellwishers. He hears their pleasand tries to help them.

He has lunch at 1.30 pm andthen takes a nap.

At 4 pm, he goes to theBangalore Club on ResidencyRoad to play tennis.

From 6 pm to 7.30 pm, hemeets friends at his office.

He is said to be writing abook. He is a voraciousreader and reads Kannadaand English books. Hediscusses books with someclose friends.

He mostly watches footballon TV. He had also gone toGermany to watch thefootball World Cup live.

He listens mostly toHindustani and Carnaticmusic. He also listens to Jazz.

He hardly goes out after 7.30pm. He rarely attends partiesand prefers to spend timewith daughters Shambhaviand Malavika.

We have notsidelined Krishna. Heis a senior leader. Weneed him to guide usand bless us. Heattends all partyfunctions. He hasprovided us withdates for electioncampaigning. He toowill campaign forthe party.

Dr G ParameshwarKPCC president

‘Neither Delhileaders nor stateleaders needhim any more’

FRIENDS NO MORE? Krishna with fellow Congress leaders. His supporters like DK Shivakumar (extreme left) and G Parameshwar (third from left) are now said to be forging other alliances


Bangalore. In the 1960s, for a foreign-returned academic from a well-to-doVokkaliga family, politics was a naturalchoice. In 1962, he contested the assemblyelections from Maddur (an hour’s drivefrom Bangalore), on a ticket from the PrajaSocialist Party (PSP). He won. In 1971, hejoined Indira Gandhi’s Congress.

Over the years, Krishna was given sev-eral important positions. As chief ministerbetween 1999 and 2004, he claimed creditfor promoting the software and biotechsectors. He also initiated flyover projects,allotted some sites to citizens, and intro-duced a mid-day meal scheme for schoolchildren. His focus on Bangalore, and hisunabashed adoration of everything for-eign—he kept saying hewanted to turn the city intoSingapore—ended up giv-ing him an anti-ruralimage.

Krishna faced manychallenges during histenure. Veerappan kid-napped Rajkumar, a much loved movie starand Kannada icon. C Dinakar, a formerDGP, was among those who alleged thegovernment paid a ransom to the bandit.Drought stalked the districts.

Many decisions he took then arebeing scrutinised today. Krishna allegedlystarted the illegal mining scandal thateventually toppled Yeddyurappa andbesmirched the BJP’s reputation.

More recently, the Lokayukta SpecialCourt has named Krishna as one of theaccused in the NICE expressway scandal.The party lost miserably under his stew-ardship in 2004. He was later made gover-nor of Maharashtra, and his tenure passedoff peacefully. He was then elevated to the

position of foreign minister, but his per-formance was uninspired.

Adverse reportsThe Centre for Voting Opinion and TrendsIn Election Research (C VOTER), has beenconducting surveys for two decades. Whenit asked Karnataka voters if Krishna shouldretire because of his age, 71.28 per cent saidhe should. Only 11.8 per cent said heshould continue in politics. The Congresshigh command seems to have taken thisreport seriously.

Intelligence Bureau sleuths, whomthe Congress in Delhi uses to gather infor-mation about grassroots trends, have sub-mitted reports that indicate Krishna’s

influence is minuscule.A senior Congress leadersaid retired DGPShankar Bidari had beeninstrumental in the fil-ing of intelligencereports against Krishna.“Bidari joined the

Congress at KPCC President GParameshwar’s behest. He is working forParameshwar and against Krishna,” hesaid.

Parameshwar was a Krishna camp loy-alist for years, but is now charting out anindependent path for himself. WhenKrishna was chief minister, he sidelinedmany Lingayat leaders. “The Lingaytas fearhe will do the same again. That’s why theyare keeping him out, and Bidari, being aLingayat, is helping them. These reportsare helping Parameshwar,” he explained.

When Krishna was chief minister,people close to him dominated the party.His son-in-law Siddhartha, loyalists DKShivakumar and RV Deshpande called the

shots. He ignored senior Lingayat leadersHK Patil and Shamanur Shivashankarappa,Dalit leader Mallikarjuna Kharge, Muslimleader Jaffer Sharief, backward classesleader Janardhan Poojary, besides othersenior leaders such as Oscar Fernandes,

Margaret Alva and Veerappa Moily. Theyhave all now joined forces to push Krishnaout.

For the tennis player with a penchantfor the good life, retirement is finally herethis summer.

The brand-obsessed tennis playerThose who know Krishna say he ischoosy about his personal articles,and insists on using only high-endbrands—be it shoes, bags, or clothing.His car is an Audi. A passionate tennisplayer, he makes sure everything heuses sports an international label.

To illustrate just how far this brand-obsession goes, a close associatehas a story. Once, Krishna visitedCongress leader ShamanurShivashankarappa’s house inDavangere. After alighting from thehelicopter, he wanted to freshen up.

Shivashankarappa led Krishna to aroom set aside for him. Krishna cameout in minutes and didn’t utter a word.He simply ate and left.Shivashakarappa later found outKrishna was upset because none ofthe things set aside for him werebranded.

Krishna is equally choosy when itcomes to people. He has very fewclose friends. “When he visits friends,he behaves like a family member. Ifhe is taken to a place he doesn’t like,he doesn’t even talk,” the source said.

Wife’s viewKrishna’s wife Prema is soft spokenand doesn’t open up easily. Of latethough, she has spoken aboutKrishna’s political career to somefamily friends.

She seems satisfied with whatKrishna has achieved and wants himto retire. “Krishna has been inpolitics for 51 years and hasreceived all the status and power hedeserves. We feel he should restnow and spend time with thefamily,” she reportedly said.

A close family friend of Krishna toldTalk that there is another reasonbehind what Prema says. “Krishna is81 years old now. If he comes intoactive politics, his enemies like JD(S)leader Deve Gowda will rake upissues from the past to tarnish hisimage. She feels it is not worthrisking it to bring Congress intopower, only for someone else tobecome the chief minister,” he said.

It is said thatKrishna was thefirst to allowillegal mining

THE WAY UP (Above) A young Krishna (wearing sunglasses) with former chief ministerDevraj Urs. As chief minister with the then governor Khurshed Alam Khan. (Right) With

Michelle and Barack Obama as external affairs minister


SAVIE [email protected]

Petrol is called black gold. Butgoing by this week’s gold priceplunge, the wags are saying

the yellow metal is more volatilethan petrol.

In India, as we all know, a wed-ding is not a wedding ifthere is no gold. We donot need to be told thatcarat is a measure ofgold’s purity.

When carat wasfirst used as a scale or measure, itwas for the weight of goods—anygood.

When ancient Arabs tradedwith Europe, they did not have astandard scale to measure their

wares. When theexchange was of

precious metal orgems, they need-

ed a small scale of measurement. So,they used seeds of the carob tree,which the Arabs called qirat. Thecarob tree is an evergreen tree nativeto the Mediterranean region. Itgrows edible pods that contain seeds.These seeds are believed to be of anidentical size. Wheat grains too havethe same quality, where the grains donot show much variation in weight.Both carob seeds and wheat grainswere used to measure weight. Overtime, wheat grains were abandoned

and carob seedsgained wider accept-ance.

Scientists say thecarob seeds hardlyvary in weight. The

differences if any are miniscule.People would carry their own carobseeds so they weren’t cheated bymerchants. The weight of the carobseeds of the buyer and the sellerwould be the same.

The Greeks turned the Arabicword qirat into kerotion. Thoughkerotion literally meant ‘little horn’, itwas used to indicate carob seeds. As

trade spread, and along with it thescale, kerotian became carratus inmedieval Latin. It turned into caratoin Italian, and finally became carat inmiddle French in the 14th century

The term carat entered theEnglish language in the 15th century.It was used as a measurement for thefineness of gold. When it came tomeasuring diamonds, carat was usedas a measurement of weight. Thisusage is still in practice. TheAmericans spell carat with a k (karat)when it comes to measuring goldpurity, and with a c (carat) whenweighing diamonds.

The current scale of a carat asone of 24 parts comes from theGreek. The Greek measure was theequivalent of one twenty-fourth of agolden solidus (gold coin) minted byConstantine. So carat took on thesense of being a proportion of onetwenty-fourth. This has become ameasure of gold’s purity.

When we say 24 carat gold, itmeans ‘all 24 parts’ are gold. If it is 18carat, it means that the metal is 18parts gold and six parts alloys.

The Talkcolumn onword origins

K EW O S

YR D

The humble seed that grew to measure diamonds

Carat

SEED CAPITAL The word ‘carat’ traces its origins to the carob seeds usedby ancient Arab traders to weigh goods

17talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.infood path

Isn’t summer the best excuse ever to gorge on ice cream? Sandra M Fernandes took a trip around town on anassignment to die for: here are some old haunts and some delightful new parlours

With outlets on St Mark’s Road, ResidencyRoad and in suburbs like Marathahalli,HRBR Layout, Indiranagar, and RichardsTown, this place is a name to reckon withwhen you think of ice cream in the city.Corner House offers everything, from themost basic flavours all the way to someexotic and far out ones. Add the laid-backambience, and there isn’t much more youcan ask for from an ice cream place. Someof their famed combinations includechocolate mint fudge and fruit jackpot. Theplace also serves sugarless ice creams fordiabetics and the health conscious.

We triedDeath by Chocolate:The name as we allknow, speaks foritself. Death byChocolate comeswith a large sliceof chocolatecake, three scoopsof vanilla ice cream, a

generous drizzle of chocolate syrup, roastedpeanuts and a topping of fresh cherries.

VVeerrddiicctt:: Warning, do not attempt to try thisalone. The quantity of ice cream andchocolate cake served needs a minimum oftwo people to finish this. The warm cakewas moist, and along with the chocolatesauce, melted in the mouth. The vanilla icecream helped by providing some creamyrelief. Needless to say, we had stoppedcounting the calories by then. RRss 115500

Hot Chocolate Fudge: This is a simpleserving of three scoops of vanilla ice cream,

chocolate syrup and roasted cashews.

VVeerrddiicctt:: The combination ofvanilla ice cream, chocolate

syrup and nuts is an icecream classic. An alltime favourite, this oneyou really wouldn’t want

to share.RRss 9900

This is the kind of place where you canspend time with your family or friends overa cup of ice cream. Apart from their wellknown creations like Belgian Chocolate andLitchi Sundae, the latest on their menu isCake Sundae and Sitaphal (custard apple)Sundae. However, the staff here seemed alittle clueless when we asked them aboutthe ingredients.

We triedLitchi Sundae: The Sundae had twoscoops of litchi ice cream and one scoop of

fresh cream, dry fruits like raisins, choppeddates and cashew, litchi syrup and freshlitchis. VVeerrddiicctt:: Though the flavour of the litchi icecream was spot on, the ‘fresh litchis’ were,well, not so fresh. The biggest let down wasthe dry fruits. The chewy dates stuck to ourteeth and the raisins were a bit too hard todigest. We felt, the dry fruits, unlesscarefully picked, are best avoided. Thecream didn’t go well with the entirecombination either. RRss 113300

This ice cream parlour has a much-lovedDeath by Chocolate, and an equally famousElvis Presley, apart from a few otherchocolate sundaes. Though housed at aprime location—St Mark’s Road—the seatingarea on the first floor was quite empty whenwe went in. We did see a lot of studentsoutside grabbing a scoop of ice cream atthe ground floor counter though. That iswhat Richie Rich essentially is, a quick icecream take-away joint.

We triedElvis Presley:This one is afruit-filledsurprise with arefreshing playon colours anddollops of icecream. It containsgenerous amountsof fruit like kiwi,strawberry, chikoo,apricot, mango andfig, along with two

scoops of vanilla ice cream.

VVeerrddiicctt:: The combination of fresh fruits andice cream did work like a dream. The flavourof the ice cream didn’t overpower the tangyfruits. After the first bite, we thought it ashame that the seats around us were allempty. RRss 114400

Richie Rich Special Duck: Thisone is made up of seven flavours

of ice cream in a bowl—blackcurrant, pista, kesar,

strawberry, vanilla andchocolate garnishedwith some dry fruits.

VVeerrddiicctt:: This has tobe one of the best

combinations wesampled in our icecream journey and wecredit it to the vastrange of flavours in a

single bowl.

RRss 116600

The inside scoop

Bella Mooz, Church StreetLocated on ChurchStreet, Bella Mooz is aquaint little stand-aloneice cream parlour thatoffers off beat creamtreats. Make sure youkeep the calorie metreat bay as this is oneplace where quality andquantity go hand inhand. Bella Moozboasts of sundaes inout-of-the-ordinarycombinations likeXstrawberry Banana,Rocky Road Redux andCacao Cacao on theirlist of top sellingdesserts. Theambience is quirky andwe love the idea of acontest for ice creamlovers. It requires fourpeople to finish up a5.45 kg tub full of icecream within 30minutes. Those whomanage the feat don’tpay for the ice creamand get their picturespasted on the wall,apart from getting afree t-shirt each.Naturally, thosehapless ones who can’tfinish the tub get nogoodies nor a shot at‘wall’ fame, and alsoend up paying for theice cream.

We triedOMG: Choice ofchocolate or vanilla icecream on richchocolate brownie witha generous amount ofchocolate sauce andnuts

VVeerrddiicctt:: We found thisrather rich in chocolatebut we weren’tcomplaining! Thevanilla ice cream thatwe pickedcomplemented thebrownie, balancing outthe chocolaty creamystructure. The roastednuts add some crunchyrelief, though we admitto feeling overdosed onchocolate half waythrough. RRss 113399

Cookie UFOChocolate Chip:Cookies with chocolateice cream filling,resembling a sandwich.

VVeerrddiicctt:: Thiscombination is asurprise and a goodchoice for those wholike their food eggless.The ‘sandwich’ conceptis definitely worth a try.

RRss 8844

Polar Bear, Frazer Town

Corner House

Lakeview Milk BarMG Road & IndiranagarBangalore’s old favourite when it comes toice cream, Lakeview keeps up to itsreputation and rustles up the likes of the DryFruit Special, and seasonal offerings likefresh strawberries or fresh mango with icecream. The old world charm of the place is awelcome add-on to the overflowing creamygoodness on offer.

We triedBlack Forest Special: You really got tohave a big appetite for this one. It comeswith a black forest pastry sandwichedbetween two heavy scoops of ice cream, onechocolate and one vanilla.

VVeerrddiicctt:: The pastry was moist and fresh andworked well with the subtle ice creamflavours. One thing’s for sure, this one will fillyou up! RRss 113300

Fresh Strawberries with Ice Cream:For light and fresh indulgence, you can’t beatthis classic, with strawberries and a scoop ofvanilla ice cream.

VVeerrddiicctt:: We were all smiles when greeted bya heap of strawberries precariously perchedatop the ice cream scoop forming a ring. Thestrawberries were fresh and the ice creamsmooth. You can hardly go wrong withsomething like this!

RRss 113355 (rates vary depending on the seasonand availability of the fruit)

Away from the noisy mainstreets of Koramanagala,this place has a simpleseating arrangement andattracts a lot of collegegoers. They recommendedThe Edge Fudge, the CakeFudge and yet again,Death by Chocolate.

We triedThe Edge Fudge: Theice cream had two scoopsof vanilla and chocolatebrownie, drizzled withchocolate syrup androasted cashews.

VVeerrddiicctt:: Just one bite andwe were disappointedalready. The vanilla icecream lacked the creamytexture and wassomewhat watery. Thebrownie on the otherhand was moist and softand better without the icecream. We thought anextra helping of chocolatesyrup could save it frombeing a disaster, but it stillwouldn't make it a treat togo for.

RRss 111155

The Edge, Koramangala

Richie Rich, St Mark’s RoadRAMESH HUNSUR

18talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inbox office

LIKE THATChaitanya (seatedon the bonnet) onthe sets of Parari.The director says

comedy is thehardest of all

genres

When people heardabout Parari(Escape), they said,“So you are makinga COMEDY?” My

debut, Aa Dinagalu (Those Days), wasa realistic film, free from commercialtrappings, and the last thing people inthe industry expected from me wasslapstick.

My first film earned me a tag. Insocial circles, they described me withadmiration as a “classy film maker”.In Gandhinagar, the hub of commer-cial cinema, I was derisively called a“class film maker”. It is easy to bebranded in the high-profile world ofmovies.

Parari, produced by ShaktiMovies Worldwide, is an out and outcomedy. Fun runs through everyscene, song and action sequence.Even our villain is comical. Over theyears, I have noticed that a majorityof those who come to the movie hallsto watch Kannada films are young-

sters. I was sure a story that addressedtheir generation would kindle theirinterest.

Memories from collegeParari is based on what happened to afriend in our student days. I devel-oped the story with writer-director SMohan. We had studied in collegetogether, and share many memories.We put a lot of those times into thestory. The result was a racy, youthfulfilm. After we had completed thescript, Mohan joked, “We shouldmake this with cartoons.”

When I started scripting Parari, Iwanted to create something thatcould be executed with a modestbudget. But as we continued writing,we became more ambitious. And thebudget kept rising to keep up withour ambitions.

This is when providence steppedin. SR Ramakrishna, editor of Talk,called me to do a short video about

the magazine’s launch.

When I met Talk publisher SumithKombra, he expressed a desire to ven-ture into film production. My col-league Haridoss mentioned our scriptto him. Within days, we had an agree-ment. It allowed me to cast and planthe film more ambitiously.

Rajini’s comedy insuranceI don’t know who said, “Dying is easy,comedy is difficult”. It is the truth.Unlike in other genres, in comedy, wecan hear our audiences react. It isrumored even superstar Rajinikantused to ask producers to cast comedi-an Vadivelu in his films. Maybe hav-ing a comedian is one way of ensur-ing the viewers stay back: every timethey laugh they are in a mood to sitback and wait for the next comicsequence.

Casting is crucial. An actor’stiming decides whether the audiencewill laugh or walk out. Even estab-lished actors find this daunting.Parari features a mix of known facesand fresh talent. After extensive audi-tions, we chose Shrunga Sharavanthand Jahnavi for the lead roles. Withthem we cast Bullet Prakash andShubha Punja, already popular inKannada cinema.

The supporting cast ofRangayana Raghu, Sadhu Kokila,Umasri, Sharath Lohithaswa andArun Sagar are counted among thebest in Kannada cinema. I come from

a theatre background, and a majorityof the actors in Parari have some the-atre experience as well.

Parari has an expert technicalcrew. HC Venu has been director ofphotography from my very first film.Anoop Seelin, the music director, hascomposed songs that have alreadybecome chartbusters. Haridoss, whoworked both as executive producerand editor, had a tough time jugglinghis roles. Arun Sagar, who plays thevillain, is also the film’s art director.

Every time I take up a newgenre, I discover new aspects. I like todivide my scenes into many shots,taking the viewer’s attention to everycrucial detail. That technique workswell in a fast-paced psychologicaldrama. In comedy, I had to employlengthy single shots, working withactors to get the timing right andmovement funny.

Many comedies rely on dialogue,but Parari explores non-verbal come-dy. The stunt directors, choreogra-pher and music director had to makesure everything went off well andtriggered laughter.

When Parari finally hits thescreen this Friday, I look forward tohearing the audiences react. Laughtercan provide relief from the summerheat, the stress of exams, and the anx-iety of elections.

(Now showing at Nartaki theatreand multiplexes across Bangalore)

Well-known directorKM Chaitanya,whose film Pararihits theatres this

week, gives Talk apeek into its making

A comedy is no joke

19talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.intribute

SR [email protected]

PB Sreenivos, who died onApril 14 in Chennai, had avoice that worked likemagic for Rajkumar, the

Kannada actor for whom he sangabout 200 numbers. It might be use-ful to compare Sreenivos (that’s howhe preferred to spell his name) withsingers of this era to understandhow he was special, even if such anexercise is not usually encouraged.

For example, you could look atHariharan, whose voice is acrobaticin the extreme. He is capable of fastup-and-down runs and minuteornamentation, and perhapsbecause he is so flexible and agile, hecannot keep anything straight andsteady. By contrast, Sreenivos deliv-ered his songs with a contemplativeslowness: he could sound wistfuland happy, but he could never soundfrivolous even in the most cheerfulof his songs. Since Mungaaru Male(2006) became a hit, Sonu Nigam hassung several Kannada songs, but hisvoice is thin, and cannot match themajesty and gravitas of Sreenivos’voice.

From 1956 to 1974, Sreenivoslent his voice to Rajkumar in almostevery film. Three decades later,when Rajkumar took to singing andrendered Yaare Koogaadali inSampattige Saval (1974), he soundedfresh and energetic, contrasting withhis more sedate playback voice. Hewent on to sing almost all his songsfollowing the popularity of thatnumber, but roped in Sreenivoswhen he did a double role in themythological Babruvahana (1977).

Rajkumar was the younger voice,while the voice of Arjuna,Babruvahana’s father, went toSreenivos. It couldn’t have been oth-erwise. Sreenivos comes across asmature, even philosophical.

The reason could be the timbre,or what some call tone colour. If youhad to describe Sreenivos’ timbre,you might choose ‘warm’ as againstRajkumar’s ‘bright’. While SPBalasubramanyam and Yesudassound outgoing, Sreenivos soundsintroverted. To understand how thisworks, listen toSreenivos’ lovely lull-abies Haadonduhaaduve and ToogireRangana, and thencompare them withYesudas’s lullaby Jo jolaali naa haaduve.Sreenivos is gentle and whisperywhile Yesudas belts it out.

Sreenivos’s songs in BhaktaKanakadasa (Badukidenu badukidenu,1967) and Sandhyaraaga (Deena naabandiruve, 1966) set the tone for hisdevotional numbers, and continuedto appeal even in much later filmssuch as Bhakta Kumbara (1974). Butif you were to ask me to choose hisbest numbers, I would choose hisdark, brooding love songs, such asOlavina priyalate (Kulavadhu, 1963),and Baadi hoda balliyinda (EraduKanasu, 1974). They are truly exqui-site. Among his songs in praise of theKannada land, I like Apaarakeerti gal-isi nadeda bhavya naadidu, which ismore flamboyant than the very pop-ular Naavaaduva nudiye Kannadanudi.

Sreenivos was called upon toexpress several emotions in his

songs. In Nagu naguta nali nali(Bangarada Manushya, 1971), he hadto bring out an expansive optimism.In Nee bandu nintaaga, which I con-sider one of the most beautifullyrendered songs in Indian cinema, hehad to express the joy and anxiety oflove. Aadisi nodu beelisi nodudemanded that he be playful anddidactic at the same time. Sreenivospulled it all off with understatedstyle.

In some songs, Sreenivos out-sang his fellow-singers. Listen to

Madhura madhuraveemanjula gaana. WhileBK Sumitra singssweetly and compe-tently, Sreenivossounds leagues aheadin what he conveys.The Shivaranjani-

based duet is perhaps the one num-ber you should listen to if youhaven’t heard anything of Sreenivosyet.

While Sreenivos was widelyacknowledged as Rajkumar’s ‘soul’,he also sang for other heroes inKannada, and for other languages.Baare baare, which he sang under themusic direction of Vijayabhaskar,was a huge hit, and the hero lip-syncing to it was Vishnuvardhan.Vijayabhaskar once told me thesong, for the film Naagarahaavu(1972) was inspired by a Cliff Richardnumber.

Sreenivos knew many lan-guages, and attempted writing poet-ry in several of them. It is unlikely hewill be remembered for his versify-ing skills, but you can be sure thebeauty of his melodies won’t fadeaway so easily.

DEEPA BHASTI

Once upon a time, long, longago, I met PB Sreenivos. Iwas a child, and I like to

imagine that my parents were buy-ing me ice cream that evening inbalmy (then) Madras. We were atthe beautiful drive-in WoodlandsHotel, just off Mount Road. PBSwas a regular there.

A portly man behind the cashcounter told my dad that theowner of the place was a huge fanof PBS and he was allowed to eatanything he wanted there for free.The man who was born with agolden voice came there every dayto eat a piece of sweetmeat andhave a cup of coffee; as a diabetic,he wasn’t allowed to eat sweets athome.

My parents went up and saidhello to him. He looked small, withthat same crinkled face that Isomehow imagine he always kept,even when he was younger. Did hecrinkle his face along deep lineswhen he sang those romanticmelodies for Rajkumar?

I am a PBS fan. In a loyaltycontest, I would join his camprather than side with Rajkumar,who gained popularity in lateryears and usurped PBS’ high-backed throne in playback singingkingdom. I am fan enough to beable to sing along most of hismajor Kannada songs. Yet, I wasnever fan enough to be aware thathe sang in seven other languages; Inever followed his career, so tospeak.

For me, the memory of PBS’songs will be entrenched with mymemories of watching films in thetwo derelict cinema halls ofMadikeri. Before one of them wasdemolished and the other wentDolby sound and fancy, every showwould begin with PBS singingKodagina Kaveri, from the filmSharapanjara.

The record was scratchy fromoveruse and would get stuck inplaces. That was the cue for peopleto lower themselves down gingerlyon the broken seats and attempt torecline just so. PB Sreenivos’ voicewas the precursor for our entryinto the magic of the movies inthose smoke-filled halls. I miss thatsong before every movie elsewherenow.

A fan remembers the king ofsouth Indian playback

The icon

VERSATILESreenivos sang ineight languages.

(Top left) Rajkumar’sKasturi Nivasafeatured lovely

numbers bySreenivos

Described as the soul ofRajkumar, he pulled off a

range of songs to which heimparted a philosophical

mellowness

The gravitas of PB Sreenivos

His timbre was‘warm,’ whileRajkumar’swas ‘bright’

RAMESH HUNSUR

To be a competent food orfilm writer, it’s just notenough to have a

passion for your subject—you must also learn thecraft of using words well.This set of two workshops—on food and film writing—promise to teach you justthat.

If you love exploringdifferent types of cuisineand your entire universe

revolves around food, thenthis workshop will help youblog or write about your

gastronomicalexperiences. Gaurav Jain,critic and former literaryeditor at Tehelka, will teachyou various techniques oftransforming your foodexperiences into readablecopy.

Film lovers, who alwayswanted to pen down theirthoughts about movies, getsome handy tips from

Nisha Susan, writer andfilm critic. A formerfeatures writer for Tehelkamagazine, her articleshave been published inTime Out Delhi and hershort stories by Penguinand Zubaan. The workshopwill teach you the basics offilm analysis and how towrite about films for thepopular media.

Intro to Food Writing:Saturday, April 20, 10 amto 1.30 pm. Fee is Rs1,500

Intro to Film Writing:Sunday, April 21, 10 am to1.30 pm. Fee is Rs 1,500

Venue: Indian SocialInstitute, 24, Benson Road,Benson Town

Note: You can attend both the workshops for Rs 2,500


Iran quake: A 7.8magnitude earthquakerocked Iran and Pakistan onTuesday, collapsing buildingsand killing at least 38people. Tremors of thequake were felt in places asfar as Dubai and New Delhi.

Boston bombings: Aneight-year-old boy and twoothers were killed and 174injured in bomb blasts at theUS’ Boston Marathon. Thetwin blasts occurred 90metres apart and near thefinish line of the marathon.

Thatcher funeral:Thousands attended thefuneral service for MargaretHilda Thatcher, PrimeMinister of the UK duringthe Cold War, whose policiesremain controversial to thisday, with leftists groups evencelebrating her deathopenly.

Gay marriage legalised:New Zealand became the13th country in the worldand the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalizesame-sex marriage.

Reprieve: The SupremeCourt granted actor SanjayDutt four more weeks tosurrender and undergo hisremaining prison term of 42months in the 1993 Mumbaiserial blasts case.

Himachal tremor: A mildtremor shook Chambadistrict of Himachal Pradesh,MeT officials said. Thequake measuring 3.9magnitude on the Richterscale had its epicentre atChamba.

Bangalore blast: At least16 people were injured in abomb blast near BJP officein Malleshwaram. Theinjured include eight cops.Investigators probing theblast say that a bomb wasfitted on a motorcycleparked near the BJP office.

Congress discontent:Veteran leader SM Krishna’ssupporters are shocked atthe Congress replacing itsSrirangapatna candidateRavindra Srikantaiah withAmbarish’s supporter SLLingaraju.

RewindThe week that was

The third edition of theyearly Vintage Car Rallyorganised by the WhitefieldClub was held last Sunday.The rally, which was flaggedoff from Forum Value Mallin Whitefield, paused brieflyat the pit stop at theBengaluru Mariott Hotelbefore proceeding to theend point at The WhitefieldClub. Following the rally,there was also a display of

vintage cars whichattracted enthusiasts fromaround the city. Some ofthe star attractions of thisyear’s rally were a 1968VW Beetle, a JaguarSovereign-XJ-6, a 1935Baby Austin and a 1939Aston Martin. The dayconcluded withdistributions of mementos,followed by lunch andmusic performances.

Learn to write on food and films

Vintage car rally completes third edition

Make your own comic stripThe British Council’s LearnEnglish Kidsprogramme now has a neat application thatallows kids to make their own comic strip. Itis similar to, and as easy as makingslideshows on Microsoft’s PowerPointapplication. Available are a wide range ofbackgrounds, characters and objects tochoose from, using some easy-to-use tools.Its major limitation is its fixed template,which is useful if you are an executive tryingto make an important presentation on shortnotice, but extremely limiting when thepurpose is to explore your imagination. Tolet your kids have a go at creating their owncomic strip, log on to www.learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org

Italian photographer Gabriele Galimbertihas compiled photos of children fromaround the world with their prizedpossesions—their toys. The project, titledToy Stories, took Galimberti nearly 18months to shoot. It explores theuniversality of being a kid amidst thediversity of the world. Talking about theproject, he says, “At their age, they arepretty much all the same; they just wantto play.” But what makes the projectvaried and interesting is how kids play,which differs from country to country.

Galimberti also found that children inricher countries tend to be morepossessive with their toys and took moretime before they allowed him to play withthem (which is what he would do pre-shoot before arranging the toys).Whereas, in poorer countries, he found itmuch easier to interact with the kids,even when they possessed just two orthree toys. This picture shows Pavel fromKiev, Ukraine. You can see more picturesat www.featureshoot.com

What toys tellabout kids


Luxe policing: Cash-richDubai police would be usingFerrari luxury sports cars, toenhance its patrollingabilities, just a week afteradding Lamborghini to itsfleet of vehicles.

Musharraf trouble: Troubleis mounting for Pakistan’sformer president PervezMusharraf who is now out ofthe electoral race. An electiontribunal rejected hisnomination papers from theonly constituency where hiseligibility to contest nextmonth’s polls was acceptedearlier.

Nuke watch: A UN nuclearwatchdog team will inspectJapan’s Fukushima Daiichinuclear plant, which hasbeen plagued withradioactive water leaks andother glitches more than twoyears after it was struck by atsunami.

China patrol: Chinesemilitary for the first timedeployed its naval ships topatrol the islands disputedwith Tokyo in the East ChinaSea, escalating tensions inthe region.

Gujarat tension: Gujarat isexpected to remain tenseafter the Gujarat governmentsanctioned the SIT’s demandfor death sentence for itsformer minister MayaKodnani and nine others,including Babu Bajrangi, inthe Naroda Patiya massacrecase during the 2002 riots.

BJP-JDU rift: The BJP doesnot want any ally to leave theNDA, party president RajnathSingh said as speculationmounts over the future of itsties with the Janata Dal-United.

Bhullar verdict: Unionhome ministry is expected toconsider the Punjabgovernment’s plea forcommuting Devinder PalSingh Bhullar’s deathsentence.

Veggies dearer:Vegetables and fruits inBangalore are expected toget costlier this summer withthe hot weather affectingcrops in farming areas.

ForwardThe week ahead

Sushma Veerappa’s film When Shankar NagComes Asking is less about the popular actorwho died in an accident 20 years ago, thanabout today’s Bangalore and the lives of itsunderclass. Visitors to the city could not havefailed to notice the presence of the actor’spictures on auto rickshaws, ubiquitousenough to be mistaken for a godman or adeity. The film explores questions of identityand belonging, through the lives of autodrivers Ramana, Mahadeva and others atthe Shankar Nag auto stand inBasaveshwaranagar. With Shankar Nag’scontinuing presence in their lives as its take-off point, the film attempts to illuminate thelives of the vulnerable millions that populateIndian cities.

For more information on the movie, log on to: www.facebook.com/whenshankarnagcomesasking

Shankar Nag andthe auto drivers

Festivities for the yearlyBangalore Karaga, theoldest and mostimportant local festivalcelebrated in the city,have already begun withthe flag hoisting on April16, followed by dailyrituals. The highlight ofthe 11-day festival is aprocession led by a mandressed elaborately as awoman, expertlybalancing a sacred floralpot on his head. Theprocession, which startsfrom theDharmarayaswamytemple in Thigalarapet,will go around the old city,visiting many templesand other spots, beforereturning to the startingpoint. This year, it willstart at midnight, April24, while on April 22, amini Karaga will beperformed nearSampangi tank.

The festival is a nearly

five-centuries old traditionfollowed by southernKarnataka's Thigalacommunity, who believethat their origin goesback to the era of theMahabharatha. Accordingto legend, they aredescendants of soldierscreated by the Pandavas'wife Draupadi, who hadtaken the form of ShakthiDevi to defeat the demonTripurasura. After thebattle, the soldiers, calledVeerakumaras, requestedShakthi Devi to stay backwith them. She had to goback, she said, butpromised them that shewould visit them everyyear on the first full moonof the first month of theircalendar. It is in honourof her that the Thigalascelebrate the Karaga tothis day, and it is tosymbolise her that theman who carries the potdresses up as a woman.

This was the startling titleof a recent article by TS Sudhir on the newswebsite Firstpost.com. Thesource of the story is VBalasubramanian, formeradditional chief secretaryof Karnataka andchairman, Centre forPolicies and Practices, whohas conducted anextensive research studyon the city’s waterproblems. “TheGovernment of Karnatakawill have to evacuate halfof Bangalore in the nextten years, due to waterscarcity, contamination ofwater and diseases,” is hisominous conclusion.

Before you dismiss thestudy as alarmist, notethat it is corroborated bytests conducted by thestate’s Public HealthInstitute and theDepartment of Mines and

Geology of the Karnatakagovernment. Their datashow that 52 per cent ofthe borewell water, and 59per cent of tap water inBangalore, is not potableand contain 8.4 per centand 19 per cent E.colibacteria respectively. Thereason is that at least halfof the city’s groundwater iscontaminated with sewagewater which accumulatesin Bangalore’s nearly 200

lakes, and which thenpercolates into borewells.As Balasubramanian putsit, “Only 30 per cent of thesewage is treated by thesewage treatment plantsand the rest flows into theexisting lakes.”

With borewells in the citydigging as deep as 1,500feet for water—the biggerfear is that even thispolluted water may not beavailable after 2018.

Will Bangalore have to beevacuated in 2023?A recent contest saw

Bangalore’s cookingenthusiasts getcreative withtraditional homefood. Organised byDabur, the contestcalled for innovativerecipes using thecompany’s products.The winner, AshaHariharan, says shetweaked the classicAvial recipe. “I madea fusion, by usingcoconut milk insteadof curd. It came outsomething like theIndonesian dishgaddo gaddo,” shetold Talk.

Meera Chellappa,who came second,whipped up theBurmese dishKhowsuey. “I usedcoconut milk andchicken along withother ingredients, tomake the thick gravy.

Vegetarians can usetofu or paneerinstead,” she said.Sunanada Basalalli(in pic), the thirdplace winner, madesweet corn masalacurry and bananarice tikka. “I alsomade capsicum dipand jaljeera,” shesaid.

The three winnerswill now have tocompete at theGrand Finale in Delhinext month.

Homegrown chefs

City’s oldest festival is here


OOKtalkReview Pakistani fiction

Mohsin Hamid’s debut novel, the fantastic MothSmoke, was my first introduction to his country’sEnglish literature. From then on, I’ve almost

blindly picked up every book that comes with a Pakistanitag, and they have rarely disappointed. You wonder if it’sthe constant turmoil there that makes the country producesuch brilliant literature. (That said, most of the successfulnew crop of writers seem to be suspiciously alike: theyinvariably tend to be foreign-educated upper middle classprofessionals who have returned home, keeping them-selves busy writing columns for the Dawn or Friday Timesor comment on Pakistani society for the world media.)

Here is a list of personal favourites; by no means comprehensive:

A Case of Exploding Mangoes byMohammed Hanif: Dryhumour, satire, oodles of sar-casm and fantastic storytelling.It would be very hard not to lovethis book. The book leads up tothe plane crash that killed theformer president of Pakistan,General Zia-ul-Haq. A box ofmangoes plays a very importantrole in the story. His secondbook, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti isanother favourite. A third bookcalled The Baloch Who is NotMissing and Others Who Are is yetto be launched here.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist byMohsin Hamid: A namelessPakistani launches into a mono-logue with an American in a caféand there emerges his reactionsto 9/11, a slow building up ofrage and aggression that com-pletes a story that is sad, yetalmost frightening. Hamid’sshort story, A Beheading, pub-lished in Granta, is another mustread.

In Other Rooms, Other Wondersby Daniyal Muenuddin: Theseshort stories, seemingly differ-ent, are sometimes connected inunexpected ways. Once you fin-ish the book and sit back, youwonder if it was just one extend-ed story after all.

Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi:Though a British citizen,Kureishi has a Pakistani fatherand hence gets to be on this list.Said to be semi-autobiographi-cal, this short novel deals withone man’s dilemma as he pre-pares to leave his wife and twosons.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz: This last, justfor the sheer wonder that is hispoetry.

You are already a MohsinHamid fan, a fan of histhreadbare, no frills, non-

scented style of writing. Youhave, for the first time ever, pre-ordered a book, Hamid’s How toGet Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Youdiscover that it uses the secondperson ‘you’ throughout thestory. It strikes you that this styleisn’t new—your other favouredauthor Chimananda NgoziAdichie has used it in a shortstory, for example. You realisethat Hamid’s prose isn’t exactlythe literary invention you hadimagined it was. But you stillacknowledge that his writing haspoetic notes, and you only needto read a sentence out aloud tofind out why his minimalisticstyle never fails to hold yourattention.

Now, I shall go back tobeing me so that I can tell youwhat happens to the unnamed‘you’, the hero of Hamid’s bril-

liant How to Get Filthy Rich… Interms of genres, this one is inter-estingly placed; it is a fictionalwork narrated like a self helpbook. The book begins with aline that is by now much quoted:“You read a self help book sosomeone who isn’t yourself canhelp you, that someone being theauthor.” Hamid then goes on tometiculously detail everythingthat ‘you’ does to get rich, withinteresting asides that analysethe genre of self-help booksitself.

How to Get Filthy Rich… fol-lows the life of ‘you’, a nameless,faceless person in a nameless vil-lage in a nameless Asian country.‘You’ is sick when you first meethim in the book and is “huddled,shivering, on the packed earthunder your mother’s cot onecold, dewy morning.” A series ofchance events takes ‘you’ to thecity, into a school, into college,into love. While there are nonames for anybody, anything,you cannot help but place thestory in rural Pakistan. Perhaps itis the author’s nationality thatdoesn’t let you imagine (or ‘co-create’ as Hamid likes to call it)any other country.

I found the book’s chapterheadings especially charming. Inkeeping with the tone of a selfhelp book, Hamid calls attentionto seemingly prosaic things likemoving to the city, falling in love(rather advising you not to), howto deal with idealists, politicians,bureaucrats and such like. Some

are chillingly practical; forinstance, you are warned againstbecoming an idealist yourself,and instead, to lend support tothe ‘artists of war.’ It seems that’sthe only way you move up.

Our hero makes a living byselling expired goods with a non-expired sticker slapped on them.Or by delivering pirated CDs. Hebriefly subscribes to fundamen-talism, but only because it fundshis college education. He eventu-ally starts a packaged water busi-ness which makes him rich.Along the way he finds the loveof his life, marries someone else,has a son, loses everything andlives a full life by the time Hamidis done with him.

The protagonist’s life fol-lows the familiar path of theBollywood theatrical that Asians,sub-continental ones especially,relate to well. It is a family saga,epic love story and revengethriller all rolled into one, but inHamid’s skillfully restrainedstyle, it gives you a story thatseems completely new.

The story may not beunusual—it is no different fromthe dozens you have read, told orlived in. But, like with two previ-ous novels, here too Hamid cre-ates a conceptual piece of artrather than just tell a good story.As with a Gabriel Garcia Marquezbook, it is for his masterful rein-ing in of language, without suc-cumbing to grand flourishes,that makes you want to return tohis books again and again.

Literarily Lahore

Well, not really. ButPakistani author MohsinHamid's new novel Howto Get Filthy Rich in RisingAsia is an enriching literaryexperience, finds Deepa Bhasthi

This book will make you rich

DEEPA BHASTHI

PRASHANTH [email protected]

For generations of music-loving Bangaloreans, sum-mertime has meantRamaseva Mandali con-certs at the Fort High

School grounds in Chamarajpet.Featuring a blend of the best and

the aspiring, the Ramanavami concertseason, now in its 75th year, has alwaysoffered listeners a wealth of choice.

Both the discerning listener andthe eager new enthusiast find greatjoy in poring over the schedule andchoosing which concerts they aregoing to make time for, and the dis-cussions over coffee on how the con-certs turned out.

While the expert takes pride notonly in identifying the raga in theaalapana but also in making a com-parison between a bright new star’srendering of Saamaja varagamanawith that of a veteran a decade ago,the novice delights in a favourite’srendering of a classic already heardcountless times.

The concerts were launched bythe late SV Narayanswamy Rao backin 1939, who ran it for 61 years till hisdeath in 2000 at the age of 75. Thetradition is being carried forward byhis son SN Varadaraj and his family,and they haven’t missed a single year.

Narayanswamy Rao, as a boy of14 years, would take the lead inorganising Holi and Ganesha festivalsin his locality. In 1939, he found hehad some money left over, and hitupon the idea of celebratingRamanavami with music concerts.

He held a job at the public-sectorHindustan Aeronautics, but gave it upto devote time to his passion. Hewould camp at the Ramanavami pan-dal for the whole duration of the fes-tival, a practise he followed allthrough his life.

Over the years, it has seen someof the biggest names in Carnatic andHindustani music. By far the biggestchange is in the cost of organising thefestival. “It costs us about Rs 50 lakhnow to organise it. During my father’stime, back in the 1950s and ’60s, itwould cost about Rs 5,000. It used torun for two weeks. We now run thefestival for 36 days, a practice myfather later started on the advice of anastrologer,” says Varadaraj.

One good thing is that artistesare paid much better now. Senior

artists command Rs 50,000, whilestars may charge in lakhs, which is afar cry from the old days, evenaccounting for inflation. “WhileBalamuralikrishna may have per-formed for Rs 12 in the 1970s, now wehave to pay him Rs 3 lakh for a full-fledged concert. My father would payon average Rs 10, Rs 30, Rs 50, and Rs100 to the artistes,” he said.

In the old days, coconut frondsserved for a roof. Today, zinc, fibreand plastic sheets areused, and the groundboasts a board and car-pet covering, not leastbecause of fire preven-tion regulations.

But some thingsdon’t change. One isthe practice of presenting Rs 20 in acover, as advance, which Varadaraj’sfather would hand over irrespectiveof the final payment. The traditioncontinues. Artistes insist on it, attach-ing sentiment and good luck to thecover, with one even protesting whenthe Rs 20 was not paid, and waitingfor the cover before he would begin.

Another tradition is a sweetcalled mandige, a chapathi with sweetstuffing inside. Narayanswamy Raowould insist on mandige for all visi-tors and the Mandali’s long-timecook, Srinivasachar, was an expert at

preparing it. He was so good at it thathe came to be called MandigeSrinivasachar. Karbooz fruit juice andkosambri (grated and seasonedcucumber) are served today to everyvisitor, just like in the old days.

And the platform and furniturefor the concert is supplied by SalehAhmed brothers—who have beendoing so for more than 30 years.

Then there are the legends andstories, most to do with the eccentric-

ities of the artistes.One of the biggest

draws at the festival wasflautist T Mahalingam.He was to perform at6.30 pm on a particularday. But NarayanswamyRao received a message

that Mahalingam would not be com-ing as he was too sleepy. Rao wastaken aback.

He arranged a car and set off forMadras. On reaching Madras, hefound Mahalingam drunk anddrowsy. Undeterred, he ferried asleeping Mahalingam to Bangalore toreach here by 10 pm. Then he gaveMahalingam a hot bath and got himready. Mahalingam then delivered amuch appreciated concert from 11pm to 5 am.

Two other interesting experi-ences involved the flautist, recalls

23talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inmusic festival

The Sree Ramaseva Mandali classical musicconcerts at Fort High School grounds inChamarajpet, now in their 75th year, take

you back in time, tradition and music. MSSubbulakshmi sang here a record 36 times

A little kosambri, and a wealth of ragas

STORIED VENUE U Srinivas and U Rajesh perform a mandolin duet at the ongoing Sree Ramanavami National Music Festival. (Below) MysoreMaharaja and music-enthusiast Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar was among the festival’s earliest patrons

Artistes arestill handed acover with Rs20 as advance

Varadaraj. Mahalingam was deep into hisconcert once when the governor at thetime, who was in the audience, asked himto perform a particular raga. Mahalingamretorted, “I am not in the mood to play thatraga.” And that was that.

Once a man in the audience askedMahalingam to play raga Ahiri.Mahalingam said, “If I play that, you won’t

be able to have good food at home.” But theman insisted and Mahalingam played theraga. When the music-lover went backhome, it is believed, he found the foodovercooked. He could not have a tasty din-ner! The Ahiri raga is said to have theattribute of ensuring the listener does notget food on the day.

An interesting inci-dent involved the greatsinger SemmangudiSrinivasa Iyer. In the frontrow sat another veteran,M a h a r a j a p u r a mSanthanam. Iyer startedsinging, but Santhanamfound his singing amiss, and told him, “Youare a disciple of MaharajapuramVishwanath Iyer (Santhanam’s father!) andyou should sing to his standards.”

Iyer responded, “I was feeling some-what disturbed when I saw you in the frontrow. I feel your father’s pressure on me.Why don’t you sit towards the side, I’ll singbetter.”

Santhanam obliged and Iyer per-formed well after that.

And then there is the fact that thepeerless MS Subbalakshmi sang a record 36times at this venue in 40 years, somethingwhich Varadaraj claims has not happenedeven in Chennai.

He recalls difficulties in handling MSSubbulakshmi’s husband, T Sadasivam.“My father had to keep Sadasivam in goodhumour as he was the man organisingeverything for Subbulakshmi. If he wasupset for some reason, he would cancel the

concert. So managing him was a core con-cern. I should say my father did a great jobof it. She has not performed so many timeson one stage in any other city or music fes-tival,” he says.

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s con-cert too was eventful. He had come all the

way from the North andpeople were keen to listento the Hindustani maestro.But it rained heavily on theday of the concert. Then itrained again for two tothree days more.Narayanswamy Rao con-vinced Khan to stay back as

people would not get a chance to listen tohim otherwise. Bade Ghulam Ali Khanobliged and when it stopped raining afterfour to five days, he gave a rousing concert.

Mandali members are happy aboutthe interest shown by youngsters in recentyears. “In the last five to six years, we seemany from professional streams like IT notonly come to the concerts, but also learnmusic as well. They value our heritage,” amember told Talk.

While there was no entry fee in theold days, a modest fee of Rs 200 is chargedas a season ticket now. That is cheap, con-sidering it costs between Rs 8,000 and Rs15,000 to attend the famous MadrasDecember music festival, lasting two tothree weeks.

“Here we charge just Rs 200 for theentire festival spread over 36 days. Eventhen people ask for concessions. A tributeto the Madras audience is that they go

despite costs being so high, which meansmusic is precious to them. I am not sug-gesting it is not the case here, but peopleseem used to coming here without paying.”

Of course, in Madras, nearly 50 organ-isations are involved in organising the fes-tival over a shorter period. The Mandali isproud it is a single venue event, and theartistes are on a par with any festival else-where.


HALL OF FAME(Clockwise from top left) 1. MS Subbulakshmi

2. A 14-year-old Balamuralikrishna performing at theMandali 3. AKC Natarajan. 4. Lalgudi Jayaraman

5. T Mahalingam 6. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer7. Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan

8. ML Vasanthakumari

Don’t miss:On from April 11 to May 16, everyday 5.15 pm to 6.15 pm and 6.30pm to 9.30 pm.

JJaayyaanntthhii KKuummaarreesshh (Veena)—April 18,6.30 pmKKaaddrrii GGooppaallnnaatthh (Saxophone)—April19, 6.30 pmSSaannjjaayy SSuubbrraammaannyyaann—April 27,6.30 pmNNiitthhyyaassrreeee MMaahhaaddeevvaann—April 28,7.30 pmRRaannjjaannii && GGaayyaatthhrrii—May 5, 6.30 pmGGaayyaatthhrrii VVeennkkaattaarraagghhaavvaann—May 07,6.30 pmKKuummaarreesshh && GGaanneesshh (Violin)—May09, 6.30 pmKK..JJ..YYeessuuddaass—May 13, 6.30 pm

Check the full schedule atwwwwww..ccoonncceerrttaattmmaannddaallii..ccoomm

For tickets contact Sree RamasevaMandali at 2660 4031, 9448079079, 99649 50778

From a few years after its inceptionin 1939, the Ramanavami concertswere conducted on 3rd Main,Chamarajpet, and were subsequentlyshifted to the spacious grounds ofthe Rameshwara temple nearby.

From 1949, the venue moved to thespacious Banglaore District CentralCooperative Bank Hall in the samearea. In the 1940s and ‘50s, theRamaseva Mandali established itsreputation as an important culturalcentre in Bangalore, and musiclovers from Mysore, Kolar andTumkur would come visiting.

In 1952, the Mandali moved to avacant land adjacent to BangaloreCity Institute where it continued for16 years. MS Subbulakshmi's firstconcert took place the same year.

Finally, in 1968, the concerts movedto Fort High School Grounds,opposite City Institute, where theyare held to this day.

Chamarajpet, hub ofclassical music

‘We charge onlyRs 200, butpeople still askfor concessions’

COURTESY SREE RAMASEVA MANDALI


Choose your entertainment wisely,for it can create anxiety and

hamper freedom, says SenseiAvinash Subramanyam

When you watch aserial, cricket match,movie or surf theNet, understand thetrue meaning of

what you are doing. Are these aids toliving your life well? Or are theydeterrents?

Living life well is to live free inevery sense—body, mind, spirit andsoul. We talk about freedom ofexpression and freedom to live howwe want. We protest against individ-ual freedom being curbed under adictatorship. While these are impor-tant, do we care enough about thereal freedom of the self?

Freedom is to live without anxi-ety, sadness and distraction. Thesecan be caused by the different formsof entertainment we consume.Anxiety destroys. When someonedear is unwell we don’t feel good. Ifthere’s anxiety about an impendingexam, food tastes like saw dust. If alover breaks up with you, you hit rockbottom. Both body and mind getaffected.

Getting anxious over an India-Pakistan match has the same effect.People bet on matches, they stakehuge amounts of money on them. Afriend does not watch Sachin batbecause he fears Sachin will get out!Anxiety!

The body and mind do not dis-tinguish between causes for anxiety.The impact is the same. We have for-gotten the meaning of sport, which isessentially about sportsmanship—alove of the game for its own sake andto be played with fairness and hon-our. How many people jump and clapat a good ball or shot irrespective ofthe team that the player belongs to?It’s fine to want India to win butappreciate whoever plays well.

Serials are another big cause foranxiety. Kyunki Saans Bhi Kabhi BahuThi was very popular and ran for eightyears. The Bold and the Beautiful ranfor 25 in the West. Today Punar Vivahand Balika Vadhu have caught thepublic imagination. At what costthough? People neglect family, friends

and work. This breaks relationshipsand trust. If there’s a power cut, theyget anxious. Even if they go to partiesor if guests come home, they cannotmiss an episode. The serial becomesan obsession and causes irritabilityand anger.

What are serials about? Tears,scheming and betrayal! Continuouslywatching them will reflect in life.What you see and hear will make youwho you are. You identify withcharacters and behave likethem in real life. You becomeparanoid and believe peopleare scheming againstyou.

Dance showshave children behav-ing like adults. Theywear ‘sexy’ clothes.Parents encouragethem since it is achance at ‘fame’.Reality shows likeRoadies insult theirparticipants inabusive language and we watch andenjoy another’s indignity. If money,winning at any cost, and scheming iswhat you watch, only these elementswill get mirrored in your life.

Serials are worse than moviesbecause the latter run for about twoto three hours and there is no contin-

ued anxiety that they build. Also, inmost films, the hero wins and the vil-lain loses. In serials the anti-hero oranti-heroine rules the day.

Of course not everyone suc-cumbs to the ill-effects of serials. Thestrong and discriminating will not getobsessed in the first place. The weakminded will suffer its consequences.Studies and career can get affected.Relationships can suffer. It can lead to

disappointments in life.Mobile addiction can cause

anxiety. I know of boys who cannotdo without theirmobiles. Theyconstantly stay uplate surfing the

net for nothingsignificant, are on

social networks ortexting friends. Thesepeople develop anxiety,

fear and lose the abili-ty to concentrate.When I was young I

used to play Wolfenstein 3D, a gamerevolving around a first person shoot-er called BJ, an American spy trying toescape from and fight the Nazis. Thegame involved opening walls to findguns and treasure to help you furtherthe journey. I was at one stage playingthe game from 7 pm to 2 am everyday. There were days when I neglect-

ed studying and training. Luckily Irealized what it was doing to me andstopped. I know of people who weresimilarly addicted to Mario andwould play the game from 8 am to 5 pm not getting out of their beds.They became lethargic, irritable andstopped living.

Anxiety and stress affects theheart. They burn your life-force. It’slike killing the engine by constantlyrevving it. No wonder the youth oftoday are burnt out between 25 and30 years.

Anxiety doesn’t allow the soul tobreathe. When the body is wastedhow will the soul housed within thebody flourish? Spirituality is nothingother than to be one with nature, tolive free. To embark on this journeyrequires you to refine not only yourbody and five senses but much more.It requires you to be complete. LikeJames Bond, who knew not only towield the gun but also wear his whiteshirt well and be witty!

You need to be in harmony. Likethe tree that is strong and rooted butsways to the breeze. Where there isanxiety, there is neither completenessnor harmony. How then can there befreedom?

Next issue: Which films to watchand which to avoid

Way ofBudo 29

SCAR TV Ill-conceived televisionshows not only create life-sappinganxiety, but also take a toll on rela-tionshsips

The soul-destroyers

Dazzle thissummer: Add a dash of blingto your wardrobethis summer.Choose from neckpieces, earrings,bracelets andmore. These canbe worn both atwork and on an eveningout with friends. Pricesstart at Rs 599 onwards. Available at www.americanswan.com

Skin care for ladies: Catering to your cosmeticsneeds this season is theinternational brandChambor. The brand hasopened up its first store intown. Phoenix Market City,Mahadevpura, Whitefield

Get that envious figure:Want to hide your flabbehind the clothes so thatyou get that desirable bodyshape? Then try on theShape sensation, firmingbody ware. These can beworn under western orIndian outfits and areavailable in two colours,black and beige. Available at all Triumph outlets

Add a dash of colours:

This summer, revamp yourwardrobe. Throwout the dullcolours and

splurge on Max’s lat-est Summer 2013collection. The col-lection has apparel

for women, men andchildren. Womencan choose frombrightly coloured

dresses, tops andjeans whereas men canchoose from classic t-shirtsand shorts. Available at all Max outlets

Happy feet:Summer brings a lot ofsweat with it. Give yourshoes and sneakers a restas you slip your feet inthese leather slippers, lat-est from Florsheim. Theslippers are priced at Rs3,975 onwards.Available at outlets likeMetro, Mochi, Regal

Stylish jeans: Men have reason to smilethis summer as JohnPlayers introduces its lat-est, the Spring Summercollection. The collectionoffers many styles of jeanslike colored jeans, chicover-dyed jeans, distressedheavy washed jeans andvintage jeans that areavailable in slim, skinny,twisted and regular fits.Available at all John Playersshowrooms

Sunglasses thissummer: Vision Express introducesits latest, the AeroCollection. Available indifferent styles likechroma, sport and captainthese sunglasses arepriced at Rs 799 onwards. Available at all VisionExpress stores.

It’s raining prawns: At the ongoing prawn festi-val you can try out disheslike coconut stickeredjumbo prawns with balsam-ic cured pineapple grills,masala flavoured hearts oflettuce and prawn tempurain morimotto sauce, scampithermidor, belado prawns,bagara prawns and more. The Grill and Curry Bowl,5th Floor, 1 MG Mall, TrinityCircle, till April end9743488880

Get a taste of Thai:Get authentic Thai cuisineat the Thai food festival.You can try out dishes like

pae-re-nuea phad kanaa(sauteed lamb or beef withbroccoli and mushroom),kaeng paa (a jungle currywith egg plant, noodles andrice), guay teow raad naa(wild rice noodles stir friedin Oriental sesame oil withThai herbs, sweet soysauce, broccoli snow peasand mushrooms), and gluayguan (a caramelised mix-ture of ripe bananas,coconut milk and sugar cutinto cubes and topped withdate sauce). 24 Carats, The Capitol HotelGround Floor, Raj BhavanRoad, till April 2122281234

Berries all the way: Make the best of theberries' season as youlearn to make blueberrymuffin, strawberry smooth-ie, smoked chicken sand-wich, potato and corn miniburgers, vegetableempanadas, assorted cook-ies, berry and yoghurtcrunch and more at thisdemonstration. The Oberoi, 37- 39, MGRoad, Yellappa ChettyLayout, April 2025585858

Seafood mania: Craving for some seafood?Head to this seafood festi-

val where you can choosefrom some of their specialslike cold poached salmon,seafood thermidor, prawnmolee and shrimp and avo-cado salad. The food festi-val will also have an oysterbar. The Raj Pavilion, ITCWindsor, Golf Course Road,April 20 22264941

A taste of Thai: Celebrate the water festi-val of Thailand, Song Kranas you savour some disheslike raw mango salad withgrilled chicken, stir friedtofu with mushroom sauceand Thai herbs or a zestyprawn curry with pineapple.Rim Naam, The Oberoi, 37-39, MG Road, YellappaChetty Layout, till April 2125585858

Healthy breakfast:

Nothing can cheer you uplike a good breakfast.Choose from eggs bene-dict, eggs florentine, potatotoasties, vanilla Frenchtoast with maple syrup orhoney and fruit juices orsmoothies. Le Cristaal, # 36, VittalMallya Road, availableeveryday 41462747

Sweet Summer: It’s that time of the yearwhen you can enjoy icecreams and offering a newsweet surprise is Cream nFudge. Their latest, themango praline sensationhas mango ice cream andFrench vanilla ice cream,topped with mango cubesand sugary sweet praline.Available at Cream nFudge, Koramangala andNew BEL Road

26talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inL I S T I N G S

retail therapy

food

Comic evening: Tickle your funny bone this weekend as fourstand up comedians; Rohan Joshi, TanmayBhat, Ashish Shakya and GursimranKhamba will unleash the fury of Bollywood'sworst films ever. For those who hateBollywood movies, this show is sure to fireup your evening. And for those who love it,well, that’s even better! The show with aBollywood theme will make you laugh till ithurts. Tickets are priced at Rs 1,200.The Park Hotel, 14/7, MG Road, April 19,7.30 pm 25594666 Alila Hotel, 100/6, HAL- Varthur Road,Whitefield, April 20, 8 pm

music

comedy show

Rhythmic weekend: Watch Rhythm Method performlive this weekend. The band'smusic is a mix of drumstep,breakbeat, world sounds and abit of rural folk and classical.Watch Siddharth Basurur onvocals, Ustad Dilshan Khan onsarangi and Laiq Qureshi on per-cussion. bFlat , 100 Feet Road, Above INGBank, HAL 2nd Stage,Indiranagar, April 19, 8.30 pm41739250

Delusional night: Watch the city drench into someFrench magic as Issac Delusionwill perform. Issac Delusion is aband from Paris. Their music is amix of pop, electronic, hip hoploops, folk and funk bass. Watchthis two member band spin their

magic. Opus, 4, 1st Main, ChakravarthyLayout Palace Cross Road,Sankey Road , April 19 9 pm9008303330

Get set for a wipeout: Some of the biggest names inthe trance music industry, W & Wwill see artists like Willem vanHanegem and Wardt van derHarst, Nikhil Chinapa, LostStories and Pearl perform thisweekend. The Chancery Pavillion, 135,Residency Road, April 20, 2 pmonwards 41414141

Jazzy weekend: Termed as one of the best jazzcombinations, Adil andVasundhara will be performingthis weekend. They have per-

formed with musicians fromTurkey, France, Spain, Bulgaria,Italy, Argentina and other coun-tries and have found an ardentfan base in the city's expats.Sharing the stage with them willbe Louis Banks and Bruce LeeMani. Windmills Craftworks, No. 331,Road No. 5B EPIP Zone ,Whitefield, April 19 and 20, 8.30pm onwards 25602012

Back with a bang: After being inactive for a fewyears Caesar's Palace is backand will be performing live. Theband has performed at festivalslike Delhi Eastwind Festival in2008, Independence Rock inMumbai and the BangaloreHabba in 2006. CounterCulture, 2D2 , 4th cross,Dyavasandra Industrial Area,Whitefield, April 20, 9pm41400793

Rhythm Method

Tanmay Bhat

Nikhil Chinapa

Holistic holidays: This summer, let your kids learn andlive the holistic way with this culturecamp at Nrityagram. Children will beexposed to dance, yoga, theatre,Kalaripayattu, nature walks and moreunder the guidance resident teacherBijayini Satpathy and accomplishedactor Atul Kumar. The residentialcamp is modelled on the ancient guru-shishya tradition.Nrityagram, Hesarghatta, April 22 to28 28466313

27talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inL I S T I N G S

Inherit The Wind: The play is about thefamous 1925 ScopesMonkey Trials of Tennessee.A school teacher is accusedof teaching Darwin's Theoryin his classroom. WilliamJennings Bryan, three timesUS Presidential candidateand ardent Christian, comein for the prosecution. Heaccepts to be a witness forthe defense. Famousdefense attorney andagnostic Clarence Darrowfights a lonely battle, wherehis only weapon is the Holy

Bible. Directed by JagdishRaja, it has Koshy Varghese,Janardhan Roy, Sanjay Iyer,Noel Mannasseh and PoojaShankar in the cast. Jagriti Theatre,Ramagondanahalli, VarthurRoad, Whitefield, April 19 to25, 8 pm 41242879

An Evening With AntonChekhov: The play has four shortplays namely TheHarmfulness of Tobacco, AMan With a Violent Temper,A Reluctant Tragic Hero and

Swan Song. All of theseplays concentrate on thefailings of men, and theirinability to takeresponsibilityfor their livesand failures.Directed byAnmol Vellani,it has AnishVictor, SachinGurjale, AshishD`abreo, Nakul Bhalla,Sharanya Ramprakash,Prashanth Nair andRavindra Vijay.Ranga Shankara , 36/2, 8th

Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar,April 19 and 20, 7.30 pm andApril 21, 3.30 pm and 7.30pm 26493982

Sex, Likes and Pokes: From the team of What’swith Indian Men and Love ,Sex and Mocha comesanother comedy. The play isthe story of three friendsand their quest for sex. Theplay mocks Facebook andthe whole online dating phe-nomenon. Two friends makea bet as to which is the bet-ter method to find an idealmate; the Facebook way orthe old school natural way.Both friends find flaws intheir methods. Directed byChaitanya, it has Chaitanya,Anjali, Marylin, Vamsi, KaranB,Abhishek, Pari, Rachael,Shubra and Arun in the cast. Alliance Française de

Bangalore, ThimmaiahRoad, Opp.UNIBuilding,

Vasanthnagar,April 21, 5.30pm and 7.30pm41231345

Gulle Nari: The play has five charactersand is about a rich guyNariyanna who craves for

more and more riches. He isa cunning man who puts upan act to gain riches fromhis well-wishers. He is ablysupported by his man fridayPathangi, who is as cunningas his master and helpsNariyanna to fool people.The three well-wishersKaakaraaya, Gidugayya andHaddappa are well to dopeople with a good name inthe society but they areeager to send Nariyanna tothe next world to get theirhands on Nariyanna’swealth. All of them pose asmost concerned aboutNariyanna in order to gainhis trust.KH Kalasoudha,Ramanjaneya TempleCompound, HanumanthaNagar, April 21, 7.30 pm7259998222

Avanu Ghazal AvaluShayari : The play is a romanticcomedy, set in the early80's. It is all about Kannadashayaris, where theprotagonist falls in love witha person of similar interest.The play is lyrical in natureand uses poetry. Ranga Shankara , 36/2, 8thCross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar,April 23, 7.30 pm26493982

theatre culture camp

To get your event listed, write to us at

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Inherit The Wind

Ek Thi Daayan HindiThe movie is about amagician, who is well knownin the country. Though he issuccessful, his girlfriendTamara is unaware that hislife is falling apart. Heconstantly keeps havinghallucinations and seekspsychiatric help. During histreatment it is learnt that hehad an encounter with adaayan (witch) in hischildhood. She hadthreatened to return to hislife and destroy him.Directed by Kannan Iyer andwritten by Vishal Bhardwaj,it has Emraan Hashmi,Konkona Sen Sharma, HumaQureshi and Kalki Koechlinin the lead. Fun Cinemas, CunninghamRoad - 10.30 am, 1.15 pm, 4,6.45, 9.45 Rex Theatre - 11am, 3.15 pm, 6.30, 10Gopalan Cinemas,Bannerghatta Road - 10 am,12.25 pm, 5.10, 7.35, 10Gopalan Cinemas, Arch Mall,Mysore Road - 10 am, 2.45pm, 7.35, 10 Gopalan Mall,Sirsi Circle- 10 am, 2.45 pm,7.35, 10 Rockline Cinemas,Jalahalli - 11.30 am, 9.30 pmUrvashi Digital 4K cinemas-9.45 pm Innovative Multiplex- 11.45 am, 2.30 pm, 5, 10

The Croods 3D EnglishFrom the makers ofMadagascar, comes anotheranimated movie. The film isabout a family as they seton a journey when the cave

that has always been theirhome is destroyed.Travelling acrossspectacular landscapes, theCroods face generationalclashes as they discover anincredible new world filledwith fantastic creatures andtheir outlook is changedforever. Directed by Kirk DeMicco, it has Nicolas Cage,Ryan Reynolds, EmmaStone, Catherine Keener,Cloris Leachman and ClarkDuke in the lead. Fun cinemas, CunninghamRoad- 7 pm GopalanCinemas, BannerghattaRoad- 7.30 pm Cinepolis,Bannerghatta Road- 7.05pm, 9.45 Fame Lido, off MGRoad- 6.30 pm, 8.30 INOX,Mantri Mall, Malleswaram-7.45 pm, 9.40 INOX, GarudaMall- 7.35 pm, 9.15 INOX, JPNagar- 6.30 pm, 8.30 FameForum Value Mall, Whitefield-7.15 pm, 9.30

Scary Movie 5The latest in the ScaryMovie franchisee, this one isthe first one to not featureCindy Campbell (Anna Faris)in its cast. The story is ofCharlie Sheen and LindsayLohan who are under attackby paranormal forces whichin turn posses Lindsay whoends up killing Charlie. Theirthree children go missingand are later rescued byCharlie’s brother and hisgirlfriend. The film likeprevious ones in the series

is a parody on severalmovies. The series’ newentrant takes on recentfilms like Mama, Inception,Black Swan and others likeEvil Dead, The Cabin in theWoods and Fifty Shades ofGrey. The cast includesCharlie Sheen, LindsayLohan, Snoop Dogg andMike Tyson among others. Fun Cinemas, CunninghamRoad - 10 am, 9.30 pm

Parari Kannada Directed by KM Chaitanya,the film is a romantic come-dy and stars Shubha Punja,Jahnavi Kamat, ShravanthRao, Shrungha and BulletPrakash. The film also hasUmashree in an importantrole. Music has been com-posed by Anoop Seelin. Nartaki - 10.30 am, 1.30 pm,

4.30, 7.30 Prasanna - 10.30am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30Nandini - 10.30 am, 1.30 pm,4.30, 7.30 Nalanda - 10.30am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30 SriSiddeshwara - 10.30 am, 1.30pm, 4.30, 7.30 Vaishnavi -10.30 am, 1.30 pm, 4.30,7.30 Rajarajeshwari- 10.30am, 1.30 pm, 4.30, 7.30

Udhayam NH4 TamilDirected by Manimaran thisis a romantic thriller starringSiddharth in the lead withnewcomer Ahrita Shetty.The film’s music iscomposed by GV Prakash. Fun Cinemas, CunninghamRoad- 7.30 pm, GopalanCinemas, Bannerghatta Road- 10 am, 5 pm, InnovativeMultiplex - 4.45 pm, 7.30

film

Ek thi Daayan

Parari

28talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inmemoir

Patel VenkataswamyReddy’s case was a turn-ing point in my legalcareer. He was the head-man of Sora Hunase, a

village in Varthur, now an IT hub andextension of Bangalore.

Venkataswamy Reddy was anaccused in a murder case. Fourteenothers were arraigned. The casecame to my senior lawyer Devadasunexpectedly. Devadas andVenkataswamy Reddy had beenfriends, and my senior sincerelywanted to help him win the case. Buthis enthusiasm as a lawyer haddiminished. Already senile, Devadashad been depressed because he was

charged in a murder case.A labourer at a Chikmagalur

coffee plantation had been killed.Devadas had been dragged into thecase. Old age and upheavals in hispersonal life had taken a toll, and hecould not focus on the case.

I felt sorry for him. He was sucha reputed lawyer, but was not in hiselement. I always regarded him as alegal encyclopedia. He didn’t have toteach me: his every word and argu-ment was a lesson. I could not digestthe idea that he hadbecome helpless.

VenkataswamyReddy was piousand religious, andDevadas held him inhigh regard. Aspresident of theSatya Sai Baba Bhajan Mandali at theWhitefiled ashram, VenkataswamyReddy had been closely associated

with the godman. He used to accom-pany Baba for lunch and dinner. Adevotee of Sai Baba, Devadas respect-ed Venkataswamy Reddy for the priv-ilege he enjoyed of sitting at the sametable as the spiritual leader.

When he took upVenkataswamy Reddy’s case,Devadas asked me to file a vakalat. Itwas a clear hint that I had to take onthe burden of the case. I started pur-suing the case with right earnestness.

Looking at VenkataswamyReddy, no onewould believe hewas a murderer. Hehad a spiritual glowon his face, andc o m m a n d e drespect. I was aston-ished to see his

composure even when he stood inthe dock. He looked relaxed, andtrusted Baba to save him. However,

the co-accused were nowhere as con-fident.

Venkataswamy Reddy had askedhis son-in-law Krishna Reddy toassist me. Providing the details Isought, Krishna Reddy became aclose friend. As I went deep into thecase, Devadas retired from it.

The clients were not happy with

A spiritual-mindedvillage headman ischarged with murder

Looking atReddy, no onewould believe hewas a murderer

VIVEK ARUN

Fabled ranconteur andBangalore’s top-notchcriminal lawyer bringsyou moving, sensationaland bizarre stories from40 years of his practice

CH HANUMANTHARAYAcrim

e fo

lioA feud in Varthur

29talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inmemoir

the development. They started grumblingthat Devadas had passed on his responsi-bility to a junior like me. At the behest ofhis co-accused, Venkataswamy Reddy tookup the issue with Devadas.

“Can we win the case?” he askedDevadas.

“Believe in God. Our duty is to put inour best efforts,” replied Devadas.

The co-accused were disheartened byhis reply, but Venkataswamy Reddy justsmiled.

I was taken aback as I had never seenDevadas talking to his clients with suchpessimism. I asked him in private, “Sir, Ithink you have lost hope in the case?”

He said with a smile, “Criminal advo-cacy is not just about doing homework, butabout conducting a parallel investigation.”

I got the hint and started investigat-ing the case. I called Krishna Reddy andsaid, “Please tell me in detail what hap-pened so that I can pick up some pointsand piece them together.”

He narrated the story.Patel Venkataswamy Reddy was a

peace-loving man. Another villager,Chinnaiah Reddy, had become jealous ofhis popularity, and instigated some row-dies and formed an anti-Patel group. Thisgroup opposed every decision

Venkataswamy Reddy took, and createdhurdles for every little thing in the village.

Chinnaiah Reddy had two sons:Gopala Reddy and Chandra Reddy.Chandra Reddy was a doctor. His wife, alsoa doctor, worked at Victoria Hospital.Venkataswamy Reddy and ChinnaiahReddy clashed frequently. In one incident,assailants had chopped off the right arm ofVenkataswamy Reddy’s son AswathaReddy.

Gopala Reddy had led the assailants.While Venkataswamy Reddy was not infavour of retaliation, hissupporters wanted toteach Chinnaiah Reddy’sgang a lesson. “We mustgive them a fitting reply.If we don’t do that, theywill eliminate us. Pleasedon’t come in our way,”was the chorus.

A few weeks later, Gopala Reddy wasattacked by Venkataswamy Reddy’s sup-porters near his farm. A severely injuredGopala Reddy was taken to VictoriaHospital. He died before the doctors couldattend to him.

“How many attackers went afterGopala Reddy?” I asked Krishna Reddy.

“Seven,” he said.

“I want to talk to them now,” I insist-ed.

Krishna Reddy had given me all thedetails but could not say when exactlyGopala Reddy had died. The time of hisdeath was based on the complainants’ ver-sion, which the police had recorded in thefirst information report (FIR), and therewas a chance that it was false. When I toldhim this, Krishna Reddy’s face lit up.

I asked the attackers, “What was yourreal objective when you attacked GopalaReddy? Did you want to kill him or just

wound him?”“We wanted to kill

him. We fled from thespot only after we weresure he was dead,” theysaid.

It was as thoughlightning had struck. I

had a new point. The FIR version of GopalReddy’s time of death was wrong. Thepolice had built up records with GopalaReddy’s statement in which he had said hewas attacked by 15 men. That was false,too.

I asked the attackers again, “Did any-one come to Gopala Reddy’s rescue?”

“There was no scope for that. We firstslit his throat and then hacked him all over

the body. No one was around, and heslumped in a heap,” one of them said.

It was clear Gopala Reddy had died onthe spot.

I went to the police outpost atVictoria Hospital. That is where theyrecord casualties brought into the hospital.I gave a police constable some money, andhe showed me the station diary, accordingto which Gopala Reddy had been taken indead. The time recorded was half an hourafter his death. I copied the diary, and builtup strong evidence to prove GopalaReddy’s dying declaration had been fabri-cated.

Using all these details, I prepared anote and presented it to Devadas. He wasecstatic. He was clad in a lungi that day. Heembraced me and said, “I did less withmore, but you did more with less. Now youhave become a complete criminal lawyer.”

My eyes were moist with a sense ofaccomplishment.

After we won the case, VenkataswamyReddy came over to our office with twogarlands. One was for Devadas and theother for me. When he stepped forward, Itook the garland from his hand and placedit at the feet of Devadas.

Translated by BV Shivashankar

‘We first slit histhroat and thenhacked him allover the body’

30talk|25 apr 2013|talkmag.inT I M E P A S S

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ACROSS4 Kannada action movie starring

Sudeep, Bhavana and Tulip Joshi(8)

6 Restaurant on MG Road renownedfor its deep fried Bhindi (6)

7 Dr _ _ _ ___ : Bangalore based sci-entist who recently became thefirst Indian to reach an H-index of100 (1,1,1,3)

8 Fourth largest city in Karnataka(7)

11 Reliance recently launched its sec-ond branch of Reliance ____ , acash and carry store, in the coun-try, in Bangalore (6)

14 ___ Cinemas: Multiplex onCunningham Road (3)

15 Easternmost district of Karnataka(5)

16 Area home to the Sree RamasevaMandali (11)

17 ___ - ____ thousand: The number ofBangalore citizens who enrolled as vot-ers on deadline day (5-4)

DOWN1 Lokayukta activist in the news these

days (1,1,7)2 Karnataka tourist destination known for

its sculptures and red sandstone cliffs(6)

3 Yeddyurappa's son who was recentlysuspended from the BJP (1,1,11)

5 Bangalore-based NGO Centre forWildlife Studies recently signed a mem-orandum of understanding with this USUniversity (4)

7 The RCB batting line-up depends onhim for a good start (5,5)

8 Party which won the recent ward by-election in Narayanapura (3)

9 They have been the bane of the city thissummer (5,4)

10 Area in the news recently when thepolice caned Congress workers forstone throwing (7)

12 Chapatti made out of rice (4,4)13 The High Court turned down this gov-

ernment body's proposal for a uniformimprovement fee (4)

14 According to a recent survey at least____ wards in the city get 100 per centcontaminated water (7)

Across: 2 BESCOM, 4 Four,6 L Srinivas, 8 Hoodi, 11Platinum City, 12 Rationcard, 15 Pecos, 16Auradkar, 18 Factory, 19Kingfisher.

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Last week’s solution

T I M E P A S SProf

Good Sense

My daughter is four monthsshort of 14. She is a bright girlbut just manages to scrapethrough every year. She oughtto be in Class IX in a couple ofmonths, but the principal hastold us that she will be detainedin the same class. Hermotivation is low and she’salways distracted thanks to themobile, TV and friends. Is italright to repeat a year? Couldthis be due to her age?

Komal, BangaloreNot many schools wouldconsider physical age a reasonfor asking a child to repeat ayear. If you impress upon herthat she would have to repeat ayear and sit with her juniors,she is likely to pull up her socks.Talk to her, but don’t put her toshame. Find out if she iscomfortable with scoringaverage marks. Don’t compareher with others. Appeal to herdignity and honour. Also,monitor her distractions in ahealthy manner.

Prof M SreedharaMurthy teachespsychology atNMKRV First GradeCollege. He is also awell-knownphotographer.

Mail queries to [email protected]


We had always thought ofarchaeologists as a bunch ofover-educated folks who don’tlike to work, and instead pokearound in remote placesclaiming to be looking for thislost civilisation or that. Now itseems some of them have goneand discovered something moreinteresting than potshards andstinky fossil remains—a giantstone structure beneath thewaters of the Sea of Galilee inIsrael. At nearly 32 feet inheight, this impressive cone-shaped structure (not actual

pic) weighs an estimated60,000 tons, making it heavierthan most modern-daywarships. The team says it

looks like a giant cairn, boulderspiled on top of each other, usedto mark burial sites across theworld in ancient times. They sayit is definitely human-madeand speculate that it was builton land, only later to be coveredby the sea. Researcher YitzhakPaz of the Israel AntiquitiesAuthority believes it could bemore than 4,000 years old, andlocated near an ancient city thatresearchers call “Bet Yerah.”Expect more such educatedguesswork about the pyramid’spurpose.

It is well known that theJapanese are good withmachines, so much so that itis increasingly difficult to tellthe two apart. It is equallywell known that engineeringstudents—a group where boyshopelessly outnumber girls—are a lonely bunch. (That’sputting it mildly; engineeringcollege boy’s hostels arevirtual ammunition depots ofraging, yearningtestosterone, as anyone livingin the vicinity would testify).But now, it seems the geekshave finally solved thisexistential problem the onlyway they know—usingtechnology. Engineeringstudents at the University ofTsukuba have taken theircountry’s embrace oftechnology to a literal level byinventing a ‘fulfilment coat,’which hugs you just like agirlfriend does. They call itthe Riajyuu coat. Riajyuu isthe the local term forsomeone “who is pleasedwith their life outside theInternet” (Don’t ask). It isessentially two roboticpincers controlled by a motorthat simulates a girl’s cuddle

from behind when you put thecoat on. As you feel thesqueeze, the headphone thatcomes with the coat whisperspre-recorded words such as“I am sorry, were youwaiting?” and “ Watch yourback!” into your ears. We toldyou they are good withmachines.


A 60,000 ton pyramid under the sea

The Bollywoody Army Love in Tokyo, the sequel What you see here is a banner put upby the Indian Army’s recruitmentoffice in Shillong (pic uploaded by@pragsrats on Twitter). PriyankaChopra, Preity Zinta, Gul Panag... thecelebs featured are all children ofarmy officers, and the text reads: ‘Ifyou want to have beautiful andsuccessful daughters, join IndianArmy.’ Now, that’s a nice line to takefor a cosmopolitan Indian Army toappeal to matrilineal Meghalaya, butwe’re not so sure it has worked outvery well.

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