Shot in short

While we weren't looking, a parallel film movement has been brewing. And it's coming soon to a screen near you. We're not just talking multiplexes, but also your laptop and mobile device. Signs of the revolution are already here - whether it's catching the ups and downs of yuppie couple Ram and Ria online, a poignant short film of a little Iraqi girl who waits for her soldier dad to return on YouTube, or the quickie adventures of a lovable animated felon at a multiplex.

Imagine this... you're waiting for a doctor's appointment and decide to flip out your phone and download a mobisode - a short comedy, slice-of-life story or an animation. These short, under 20-minute films, shot sometimes with a digicam or using a cellphone, are already here. While the most well-known example of the episodic format is Sanjay Gupta's Das Kahaniyaan, there are several experienced as well as novice filmmakers experimenting with it.

Take Shyamal Karmakar, an experienced Kolkata-based filmmaker and editor, who keeps returning to the medium for the love of it. "Cinema is a language. I make short films the way a novelist writes a short story," he says. His nine-minute film Setu, about a little girl who is happily oblivious to her space being overtaken by the cacophony of sounds around her, finds an empty bridge where she decides to take out her toys and play, took an award at the Oberhausen Festival in Germany.

The medium is also a starting point for feature filmmakers, like Manisha Baldawa, a graduate of Pune's Film and Television Institute of India, whose Lemon Yellow Afternoons, a 12-minute film about the relationship between a little girl and a Tamilian grandmother, was made under a budget of less than Rs 5,000.

Indian American filmmaker Parthiban Shanmugam's A Pizza Story on the life of a war-torn Iraqi soldier's daughter, adjudged for the jury award at the three-day International Festival of Short Films on Culture in Jaipur, has inspired him to turn it into a full-length feature film to be filmed in Rajasthan. He says, "Short films are a big trailer for feature films. However, in the West, there are several short film TV channels which need content."

While the festival circuits in India and abroad are a good venue for spotting talent, some are exploring innovative spaces. Like Kunal Vohra, who tied up with companies hosting LCD screens across cities to show his film Snow Globe, on global warming, on railway platforms and retail spaces. The 40-second film, which cost him about Rs 6 lakh and was funded by the CII, featured Gul Panag and was also telecast on some television channels.

While Vohra managed to recover costs, funding from corporate sponsors remains an uphill task. Getting funding and avenues of distribution are tough, says Delhi-based filmmaker Gargi Sen, whose Magic Lantern Foundation makes independent short films and holds screenings "at colleges, schools and cultural centres".

But the scene is opening up. For instance, Buzz 18's Short Cut Festival got the winner a one-film contract with Pritish Nandy Communications. The winners of Campus 18's 'Digistars: War of the Videos' get a chance to be part of an online serial. The DocEdge workshop at Kolkata's Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute invites short filmmakers to pitch for funding.

Multiplexes too are slowly opening up to the phenomena, beyond being a venue for short film festivals. Karmakar is awaiting a multiplex release of three of his short films. Adlabs has already shown a few episodes of animated shorts Crime Time, the felonious adventures of Shifty, which range from the silly to the sublime, which had an Internet premiere too. Future Thought Productions has followed it up with animated segment That Darn Jesus, a humorous look into the possible teenage years of Jesus Christ, which was part of Hollywood film Universal Remote and also featured at the Short Film Corner at Cannes.

Says Sandeep Marwah, director, Asian Academy of Film and Television, "Give it six months and short films will be big". And, why not? We live in exciting times. "You never know when today's curiosity becomes mainstream," says Siddharth Kumar, Creative Director, PixelKraft, whose experimental venture Ram and Ria has finished a season's run of 30 episodes, of three minutes each, online. Kumar promoted the show through iShare and blogs.

The mobile revolution too is not far away. Films shot on the mobile phone and edited on the table are going to catch on sooner than we think, says Marwah. While Marwah's Festival of Cellphone Cinema which targeted aspiring filmmakers attracted about 90 entries, Culture Unplugged is also launching its mobile fest.

Emerging mobile technology will also make broadcast easier. Says Hemant Jain, Senior VP-Domestic Business of Hungama Mobile, "Currently, we have 2-2.5G mobile networks which don't support large file formats. But with 3G networks, things will change." The way forward is to have movies embedded on mobile handsets. Wait and watch! 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Shot-in-short/articleshow/3289230.cms

 

We're hybrid, we 're Indian!

All of India means home for cosmopolitan Indians, discovers Anuradha Varma


Labels of statehood don't stick easily on author Mukul Deva. When the ex-Indian Army officer wants to go pubbing, he hops across to Bangalore and if he feels a need to get far from the madding crowd, he unwinds in his Kasauli home. For work, Gurgaon is his base.

"I'm simply Indian," he states. This is exactly what Gul Panag, who has changed about 14 schools while growing up, also proclaims, "That's my standard answer when someone asks me where I'm from. I have special memories of every place I've lived in - studying in the world's highest school in Ladakh to visiting Lucknow where my father is now posted."

From becoming prefect in a new school like Panag, to learning the local language from the kaamwali bai like M u k u n d Menon, vicepresident, HR, Satyam, the rites of passage become lasting memories of a city that eventually catches you in its embrace. Menon grew up in Chennai, moved to the US and worked in several cities there, before shifting to Hyderabad for his current assignment. His wife is from Kerala, his children grew up in Chennai, while his mother is Sri Lankan. "Our hybrid culture helps us adapt to new cultures and move out of our comfort zones."

Like Menon, most working adults would choose a city in terms of the growth prospects available for one's career. And, for the cosmopolitan yuppie, every city comes with its own unique charms.

In fact, more than the state that it's geographically linked to, a city comes with its own separate identity. If Mumbai is considered safer for women, Delhi surprises someone with the warm welcome it holds out, while the Bangalore weather beckons another. Come December, and one yearns to relive memories of Christmas in one city, while another remembers the community gathering - across religious lines - to bring down Ravana during Dussehra.

Take Akriti Bhargava, who grew up in Allahabad, studied management in Ahmedabad, moved to Bangalore for work and is now based in Delhi, working with the job portal Naukri. Her grandfather was from Lahore. She declares, "I love the weather in Bangalore and miss Ahmedabad during the Navratras! I have friends from all across the country that I keep in touch with." Her fiance, too, has lived in various cities, a fact that she finds appealing.

Deva's wife, too, is from "God-knowswhere", but spent her early years in several cities, including Darjeeling, Shimla and Mumbai.

And, moving around, due to forced postings or simply a case of wanderlust, makes one more open to people and experiences. Moving to a new city becomes an adventure to look forward to.

Says Ayesha Banerjee, "I strongly feel that once you belong, you can never disassociate from whatever it is that claims you. Mumbai gave everything to me -friends who took me to doctors, threw parties on birthdays and adopted me on weekends, a landlady who waited up every time I was late from office."

Religious lines also get blurred somewhere along the way. Says Deva, "For me, a religious occasion is simply a day off work! I don't visit any place of worship, unless my family wants me to accompany them." For Banerjee, religion is just a sense of peace and calm. She says, "A memory from childhood that endures is the visit to Harmandir Sahib. I was overawed by the glittering gold of that beautiful shrine, the bustle of people, the gurbani... I felt I was as much a part of it as the old sardarni standing next to me."

That's why, when cosmopolitan Indians are hit by the inevitable question "Where are you from?" the answer is complex as the mind gets flooded with a rush of memories from places lived in. However, there is a simple answer - We're Indian! 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Were-hybrid-we-re-Indian/articleshow/3561539.cms
 

A walk through Chandni Chowk

Bollywood has brought Chandni Chowk back into the news. Designer Madhu Jain shows Anuradha Varma the sights

CHANDU ke chacha ne Chandu ki chachi ko Chandni Chowk mein chandni raat mein chaandi ke chamach se chatni chatayi... that's the popular tonguetwister from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.

Lately, Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone-starrer Chandni Chowk to China and now Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Abhishek Bachchan-Sonam Kapoor starrer Delhi 6 have brought the focus back on Old Delhi's iconic bazaar.

With so much old-world charm in the air, we decided to take a tour down Chandni Chowk's memorable lanes, and who better to accompany us than someone who grew up there? Fashion designer Madhu Jain, who spent summer holidays as a child in her maternal grandmother's haveli here and was then married into a family from the same area, was our obvious choice.

We enter the market in Old Delhi, which has its pin code as 110006 (or Delhi 6), driving along the Jama Masjid. Madhu springs out of the car as she spies the matra-wala (selling a variant of chole kulche) at the opening of Bazaar Guliyan. Bobby, the matra-wala, has been sitting at this spot on the pavement for decades now, taking over from his father before him.

Not even a makeshift structure marks the spot that had passed down generations. Just like Suresh Chand, some distance away, who also dishes out pani puri and papri chaat from the pavement.

We decide to focus on some unsung icons of the area and steer clear of the well-known landmarks, like the Parathewali Gali, the Ghantewala sweet shop and Gurudwara Sisganj, where Guru Teg Bahadur was beheaded. There's also the Digambar Jain Temple and its bird hospital, if you are in the mood to visit it.

The next halt is the hakimji nearby, whose sharbats (costing between Rs 90 and Rs 175 per bottle) and thandai Madhu swears by, and so does India's elite, apparently, including the Modis and Singhanias. The quaint little shop, set up in 1861, has dusty shelves lined with labeled bottles. Surendra Prasad Jain claims the medicines can cure anything from minor colds, stomach ailments to paralysis. "A lot of the old families have moved out," he rues.

Chandni Chowk is home to highpitched business activity. Bullion trading thrives here, it has the largest cloth market in Asia and also the continent's largest spice market at Khadi Baoli. It's also home to an electronics market, the paper market Chawri Bazaar, and Dariba Kalan - the best place to buy your gold and silver.

Jeweller Satish Jain of Multan Singh & Sons, who shells out a mere Rs 100 as monthly rent, informs, "At the market here, one can buy stuff from Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lakh." We now head towards Kinari Bazaar, the trousseau market, with colourful bursts of red, gold and silver from the turbans, zardozi dupattas, jewellery and garlands. The lanes are bursting at the seams with shops, people and cycle rickshaws. In the old days, the zari is said to consist of real gold, silver and copper. The old part of the city offers a far gentler world, with friendly shopkeepers and where women can feel safe despite the apparent chaos.

A deft detour into a bylane sees us standing before some picturesque old havelis. By now, we've been fed at practically every few steps, starting from bedvi puri aloo, along with imartis, opposite the police thana next to Jama Masjid. We progressed to parmal barfis at Hazaarilal Jain Khurchan Wale, a kind of 'gajak paan' at a street corner and finally, heavenly pyaaz kachoris and mung daal halwa at Bhikaram's.

We end with a stopover at the Hanuman temple close to the market, but not before visiting Khadi Baoli, where one can pick up anything from spices to fresh fruits, even "sweet corn" offered by a woman, who blushes as she's teased for using the modern lingo. We also visit astrologer Anil Kumar Pandey, who claims to cure depression through the teachings of the Bhagvad Gita. He holds up a copy of a local tabloid called 'Visphotak Times' featuring him!

Want a taste of Old Delhi? Take a walk through the streets of Chandni Chowk for a lesson in living history! 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/A-walk-through-Chandni-Chowk/articleshow/4207114.cms
 

Classic takes

Actors and script writers share with Anuradha Varma the names of those behind some of Bollywood's most memorable scenes and dialogues!

Junglee
Yahoo, chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe!
Remember a young, handsome Shammi Kapoor rolling down the snow, boisterously singing 'Yahoo, chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe'? The playful number from Junglee (1961), directed by Subodh Mukherjee, wouldn't have had the same impact if Shammi hadn't put his foot down in Kashmir and moved the shooting to Kufri, near Shimla. Shammi recalls, "When we reached Pahalgam, there was hardly any snow. So, I put my foot down and we came to Kufri in February, where the snow was perfect." Sung by Mohammad Rafi, 'Yahoo' was vocalised by Prayagraaj, one of the film's writers. The word 'Yahoo' was Shammi's idea. He says, "I had used it in my other movies too, like Tumsa Nahin Dekha and Dil Deke Dekho, though not to this effect!"

Maine Pyar Kiya
Friendship mein, no thank you, no sorry!
Whether it was the "Kabootar ja, ja.." song or the famous dialogue "Friendship mein, no thank you, no sorry", Sooraj Barjatya's Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) was a winner all the way, launching two stars - Bhagyashree and Salman Khan. While Bhagyashree left films and opted for marriage, the public never really forgot her or the movie. Bhagyashree recalls, "Soorajji and I were discussing how friendship meant unspoken understanding, and there was no place for 'thank you' and 'sorry'. That's how it came to be included in the dialogues. I also used to say 'Hota hai, hota hai", through the movie. Salman was teasing me and while doing that, he climbed up the stairs of the sets and suddenly fell. I laughed, saying, 'Hota hai, hota hai'. Soorajji asked me to repeat it for the movie. Shooting for the movie was fun and Salman and I became great friends. He was the first guest at my wedding and the last to leave."

Deewar
Mere paas ma hai! 
It was Amitabh's coming of age film, soon after his hit Zanjeer, when he could finally stand tall alongside his friend and star Shashi Kapoor. The dialogue "Mere Paas Ma Hai" from Yash Chopra's Deewar (1975), spoken by police officer brother Shashi to Amitabh, who was on the wrong side of the law, are etched in filmgoers' memories. Javed Akhtar, who teamed up with Salim Khan to create Brand Bachchan, with hit movies like Sholay and Deewar, says, "We didn't write the script keeping Amitabh in mind, but when we looked around, he was right for the part. A good writer has to be capable of shifting his loyalty according to the character he is writing for." Later, Amitabh blogged about the premiere, "When the scene under the bridge started, the 'mere pass maa hai' moment, I felt a gentle hand on mine. It was Shashi ji's. He never spoke, but the way he held my hand said everything. It was everything that a struggling actor who once played an 'extra' in a film that starred this gentleman sitting next to me, had never ever dreamt would happen."

Mr India
Mogambo khush hua!
For years after the film, it was common to quip, "Mogambo khush hua!" Shekhar Kapur's sci-fi superhero classic Mr India (1987), immortalised the late Amrish Puri in his larger-than-life role, with this oft-repeated dialogue in the film, co-starring Sridevi and Anil Kapoor. Mogambo sat on his throne on a high-tech island, monitoring the activities of his henchmen. Says producer Boney Kapoor, "Shekhar was clear that he wanted a comic book feel to the film and the character. 'Mogambo' was characterised after about 65 per cent of the film had been shot. We considered Anupam Kher, but decided on Amrish Puri, who was already a known villain. About 10 of us, including Shekhar, Sridevi, Shabana, Javed (Akhtar, the scriptwriter) flew to meet him in Ooty, where he was shooting. Mogambo's throne, the outlandish costumes with embroidered skulls, all added to his persona. And the consummate actor that he was, Amrish Puri never said the line the same way once."

Kalicharan
Log mujhe lion ke naam se jaante hain!
Remember Mona, darling? This is where the Ajit jokes began! The villain's punchline "Log mujhe lion ke naam se jaante hain," came from director-writer-producer Subhash Ghai in the Shatrughan Sinha and Reena Roy-starrer Kalicharan (1976). He explains, "The letters of 'lion' read backwards spelt No 17, an important clue in the film. Punchlines have always been important, like the one in Karma, where Anupam Kher as Dr Dang tells Dilip Kumar, "Yeh thappad ki goonj sun rahe ho .... Dang ko yeh thappad ka goonj hamesha yaad rahega."

Bobby
Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra...!
The name was Prem Chopra and Bollywood fans can never forget it! While Raj Kapoor's Bobby (1973) became a famous launch vehicle for his son Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia, another dialogue that went into Bollywood's hall of fame was "Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra!" Recalls 'villain' Prem Chopra, "When Raj Kapoor first handed me the one-liner, I wondered, 'Kya kah raha hai? Mazaak toh nahin kar raha?" (What is he saying? Is he joking?) I had just asked him about my character and my dialogues and he handed me that single line!" Of course, nobody's complaining now!

Upkar
Why is Manoj Kumar called Mr India?
Actor-writer-producer Manoj Kumar found his calling as Mr India in this 1967 hit Upkar, where he played a hero named Bharat. Songs from the movie, such as "Kasme Yaade Pyar Wafa" and "Mere Desh ki Dharti" are still played. Says Manoj Kumar, "I had thought of calling myself Ram, but then felt that the character signified a lot of good that was in India, and decided to call myself Bharat. The songs in my films too have a lot of contribution from me."

Sholay
Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti? 
When Amitabh Bachchan (Jai) asked a talkative Hema Malini deadpan, "Tumhara naam kya hai, Basanti?" or Hema raced on her horse-drawn tonga, yelling "Chal, Dhanno", they probably had no idea that viewers would be pressing the replay button many times over the next few decades. Dialogues from Ramesh Sippy's Sholay (1975) like "Kitne aadmi the?" (the late Amjad Khan as villain Gabbar Singh), "Basanti, in kutton ke samne mat naachna" (Dharmendra as Veeru), are still alive in public memory. Recalls Hema Malini, "I had no idea then that the film would be such a huge hit. People still call me Basanti. I liked my character as she was bubbly, like my part in Seeta Aur Geeta. The dialogues were by Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, only the acting was mine. It was on the first day of shooting, when we did the temple scene, that I prepared for my part. Once one gets into character, it's easy. I was a spontaneous actress."

Era of superstars is over!

There are stars and there are superstars. Salman Khan may have a fan refusing to leave the sets till she gets a hug, Shah Rukh Khan's fan clubs extend from India to US and Germany and Aamir Khan commands a faithful fan following on his blog, but there's something missing.

They don't make them like they used to anymore. Don't agree? Try a snap poll: What would you rather know? Whether Amitabh and Rekha actually had an affair or the reason why Kareena Kapoor split with ex-boyfriend Shahid Kapur? Not much choice, is there?

Stars earlier thrived on a sense of mystique, while today's stars wilt if they're not in the spotlight. From television commercials to reality television and Twitter, they're everywhere. Recalls actress Saira Bano, "We worked on building a sense of mystery, now there's too much accessibility. I personally tire of seeing the stars on commercials. So much so that when a new film releases, one feels like watching it on TV instead - it's like another commercial."
She adds, "Dilip saab and I never did a commercial. The only appearances we made were for charities. We were shocked when they offered us money. Today, stars dance at weddings and love to flaunt themselves."

Author and economist Lord Meghnad Desai agrees that "the temptation of making a fast buck is too great for this generation. It will have to trade money for lasting fame." Desai, who wrote the book Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India, believes the legendary actor "managed to reach beyond cinema as a role model."
Today's stars also exist in fiercely competitive times. Desai points out, "They have rivals in the cricketers who are also iconic and compete in TV commercials with them." Filmmaker Subhash Ghai adds, "Most of us admire a star more for his material success than his growth as an actor. My loyalty, too, is not as strong as my father's loyalty for Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar or Raj Kapoor used to be."

Film critic Monojit Lahiri remembers a young Amitabh Bachchan, freshly signed on for Anand, talking about how people wanted to shake hands with him since he had shook hands with then reigning superstar Rajesh Khanna, his co-star in the film. He says, "Post-Aradhana, girls married themselves to photographs of Rajesh Khanna, cutting their fingers and applying the blood as sindoor. Rajesh was God, there has never been such hysteria."

He adds, "Earlier, films ran for months, there were fewer films being made and stardom had sanctity. Today, it's assembly line. Heroes are eminently dispensable and interchangeable." While earlier stars were demi-gods, ruling over the box-office for 20-30 years, now they are part of popular culture. And as actor Anupam Kher says, "Earlier, we patronised one brand of soap, one toothpaste... now, we can choose from 50." Lahiri adds, "Nobody is obliged to love you for life. Jo dikhta hai, woh bikta hai."

Stars, earlier, also had a distinctive style, with Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, and Raj Kapoor rarely stepping into each other's territory. Recalls Shammi Kapoor, "Raj Kapoor would never take a role meant for Dilip Kumar and vice versa. Today, a role can be played by any saleable actor."

He adds, "There was a mystery. Now, everything's out in the open." Stars also do well when they stick to films. Says filmmaker Pritish Nandy, "Any movie star who joined politics always lost his stardom promptly. Luckily, Amitabh retreated from politics. But Rajesh Khanna still lusts after politics and politics simply will not have him. So he ends up as a sad, lonely caricature of the huge star he once was."

Dev Anand describes the phenomenon in his autobiography Romancing With Life, "It all happens in the dark. In cinema halls, there is a strange, inexplicable chemistry... That sudden, spontaneous, magical reaction to a face or a personality... People fall for it. They love it, they would pay any price to be close to it, to touch it, to feel it, to scream, yell and whistle at it, as if they have all of a sudden found their long-lost beloved. An actor who can have this maddening effect on the audience is a true star."

And, while overexposure may have diluted star value, stars still enjoy a sway over public imagination, to make one weak in the knees as one pounces for juicy tidbits about their private lives! 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-&-interviews/Era-of-superstars-is-over/articleshow/5054843.cms
 

Vegan for life!

Two leading ladies of the vegan movement exhort us to value life, not destroy it!

Actress and animal rights activist Amala makes her own vegan desserts and believes in beauty without cruelty

I turned vegan one-and-a-half years ago. It was during an inspection of slaughterhouses that I realised how animals were treated. Cows that should ideally live to 18 years are killed as they turn six, due to constant breeding and milking. Male cows are killed for veal.

The first week that I gave up milk, I realised I had been lactose intolerant without really knowing it. Like a lot of people, I had always felt uncomfortable without really knowing why. Initially, switching to soya milk had its own problems as very soon, I developed an allergy to it. Soya is fine as a bean. Now, I don't really use food substitutes so much as i think differently.

If I need milk with my breakfast porridge, I soak five to six almonds overnight and blend it for instant milk. This is also great for adrak ki chai. I avoid tea, though, for the tannin content. For desserts, I make my own. I chop bananas and freeze them for 48 hours, which changes the texture completely, and then I blend it with coconut milk and sprinkle nuts. I use figs and raisins for natural sugar. I learnt some of this at a homeopathy workshop that I attended.

My husband Nagarjuna and sons are non-vegetarian, and I don't impose my food choices on them. My husband tells me, however, that he feels inspired and will turn vegan one day, though he's not ready yet. I lead by example!

From telling me not to turn vegan - because I was being 'over-sensitive' or would suffer from lack of calcium -people have turned to appreciating what I eat. I often carry my own food wherever I go, but sometimes, friends make something specially vegan if they know I'm coming over. When I eat out, I like to take the chef into confidence and explain what I would eat, so that the next vegan who comes along will have an easier time. Eating out can be tough, especially Indian cuisine, which is rich in ghee, like dal makhni or naan.

As for calcium, I get more from sesame seeds than I would from milk. I also take a course in B12 vitamins for a month every year.

Veganism is a lifestyle choice, and I am vegetarian in my choice of clothes (I wear artificial 'sai' silk), shoes and make-up too. It's beauty without cruelty, all the way!

Make a difference, be vegan, says politician and activist Maneka Gandhi

Being vegan is not as much a food choice as a belief system. When you value life, you do not destroy it. I choose not to be part of any system that's based on violence, greed and exploitation. Just as I would not wear a bag made of a baby's skin or a coat of its hair, I would not use one made of a lamb or a calf or any other creature. Wouldn't that seem the natural choice of any reasonable person?

There is nothing difficult or different about being vegan. Indian food is essentially vegan. Our sabzis, rotis, dals, pickles, papads, salads are all free of animal ingredients. Drinking milk is not only unnecessary, it's unnatural. As with all animals, mother's milk is intended as a complete food for babies only until they sprout teeth. After that, milk cannot be digested as your body stops producing lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose.

Also, 17 per cent of the world's methane is produced by cows, who are forcibly bred to keep them lactating. This besides, milk production is immensely cruel with calves being killed so we can have their mothers' milk.

As for food substitutes, you don't substitute poison with anything. I eat and enjoy all kinds of food. All I'm giving up is cholesterol (no plant foods have any cholesterol), and the risk of bird flu, mad cow disease and all the many afflictions linked to meat and dairy.

All green leafy vegetables contain calcium. So do sesame seeds. Hummous is wonderful. In fact, the calcium in milk cannot be absorbed as it doesn't have phosphorus in the right ratio.

On an average, vegans live six to 10 years longer than meat-eaters. Studies show that vegetarian kids grow taller and have higher IQs than their classmates. At 6 feet, my son is possibly the tallest member of the family and he has a Mensa IQ.

Being vegan is such a natural part of who I am! Veganism is common parlance abroad. Things are changing. I expect that in the not too distant future eating animals will be considered as barbaric as we now consider cannibalism. Being vegan is the single most powerful way an individual can make a difference.

(As told to Anuradha Varma) 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/health-&-fitness/diet/Vegan-for-life/articleshow/5513024.cms 

Bonded beyond divorce

Friendships now include former in-laws, stepchildren and even ex-wives. Welcome to the world of new-fangled relationships...
When singer Sharon Prabhakar travelled abroad, she picked up hand cream for a dear friend, who happened to be husband Alyque Padamsee's former wife Pearl. She recalls with fondness, "Pearl was a mentor and mother figure. We've shared many dinners and quiet evenings together."

In fact, Sharon and Alyque's daughter Shazahn, has said, "I miss Pearl more now. I have never known my grandparents. She'd have filled that space."

Sounds strange, but these are new-fangled relationships, which come naturally to the people involved. During the IPL fracas not so long ago too, industrialist and team owner Vijay Mallya stood up for step-daughter Laila and IPL chairman Lalit Modi did the same for his step-son-in-law. Actor Aamir Khan's ex-wife Rina too is seen expressing support at various functions and their kids made it to Khan's second wedding.

As Sharon, who also bonds with adman husband Alyque Padamsee's former wife Dolly Thakore and step-children Raell and Quasar puts it, "There's so much love to go around in the family that I don't need to look beyond."

Did she ever feel pangs of insecurity at the bond Alyque and Pearl may have shared? "Regrets kill the future. I don't believe in looking over the shoulder," she says.

The daughter of unconventional parents Kabir and Protima Bedi, Pooja Bedi recently made a pretty picture along with her kids at ex-husband Farhan Furniturewalla's wedding to her schoolmate Laila Khan. She says, "Twelve years is a long time to have spent with somebody. Pain is transient. It's important to look at the years ahead."

Does she see herself going out to dinner with Farhan and Laila? "I have been to their home," says Pooja, and adds, "I'm happy that someone as warm as Laila has entered our space." She is also in touch with her father's ex-wives, "I chat online with Michelle, since she is my half-brother Adam's mom, and less with Nikki, since she's based in London."

It's not easy to move on, but many have walked the path, even in Hollywood. Bruce Willis often holidays with ex-wife Demi Moore and her current husband Ashton Kutcher. Meanwhile, 10 years after they split, Elizabeth Hurley calls ex-boyfriend Hugh Grant her best friend and has a bedroom for him in the home that she shares with husband Arun Nayar.

According to psychiatrist Rajiv Mehta, it's easier for ex-es to get along once there are no expectations from each other. He advises, "Allow six months for grieving and then start meeting at social gatherings. Never bring up the past. If you have a new partner in your life, introduce him or her to your former relatives."

Insecurities are natural, but mature individuals learn to take it in their stride. Rupa (name changed) admits to feelings of jealousy when she first started interacting with her husband's former wife. "But she's now a friend. In fact, when she remarried, she took our advice. She stayed with us when my step-daughter was ill." Says her husband Kapil (name changed), "I'm in touch with all my former relatives. In fact, after my divorce, my former mother-in-law termed me her honorary son-in-law. We were friends till she died." Ask Rupa if she was forced to grin and bear it, and she confesses, "I'm glad that we get along. I give my husband credit since he never said a negative word against his ex-wife."

With divorces becoming increasingly common, some people don't want to let go of friendships formed during the alliance. Remarks mediaperson Monojit Lahiri, "Bonds are not about bloodlines. I meet my former brother-in-law for drinks and consider him family."

Yes, for a lot of people, marriages may come and go, but the bonds are forever.

Is your doc patient?

As queues lengthen, patients are forced to battle a doctor's lowered attention span, says
Anuradha Varma

When one patient called an orthopedic surgeon at a multi-speciality hospital to complain of muscle spasms, he asked her to stop painkillers and meet him five days later! Another patient, admitted to hospital, remembers a doctor entering her room to exchange a greeting just as she was getting into the washroom and being billed Rs 800 for that visit!

There are serious communication issues between doctors and patients. A recent survey of 89 hospitalised patients and their 43 doctors at Yale University School of Medicine and Waterbury Hospital, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that 79 per cent physicians agreed that they didn't always discuss things comprehensibly. As for patients, 57 per cent were unaware of their diagnosis when discharged, about 90 per cent weren't told of side-effects of new medication and 54 per cent believed their doctors don't discuss their fears with them.

Is there a way out? Yes, change your doctor, according to Dr Ranjit Roy Choudhury, a member of the Medical Council of India. He says, "A patient can take recourse in case of negligence or if the doctor doesn't admit a patient during an emergency, but not if he doesn't give time or is rude." He adds, "Doctors are busy. In government hospitals, a doctor is able to spend just four minutes with each patient."

Homeopath Mitee Sharma recalls a physician brushing off requests for an oxygen cylinder in her grandmother's last days. "He said she was going to die anyway. It's a rat race and the priority is money, not treatment."

It's no longer the good old days when you could call your GP at the slightest sign of unease. Laparoscopic surgeon V K Nigam, Apollo Clinic, Gurgaon states, "A good physician must have the ability to listen. Some hospitals have now begun to give appointments 30 minutes apart so that there is enough time for each session."

One can also encounter rude and brusque behaviour at a hospital. Recalls Tina Lewis, who went to collect her father's cancer test reports, "The doctor waved it at me, saying the 'love letter' had arrived. Another doctor told me to take my father home, as nothing could be done. Another advised surgery and said he would be walking in 10 days - when that was unsuccessful, he said the other doctors must have been right."

Harmala Gupta, who set up Can Support for cancer patients, has found that doctors are not trained in communication. She says, "When our doctors and counselors first visit a patient's home, they spend at least two hours - the families have so many questions. Talking is therapeutic."

The cardiology department at Ganga Ram Hospital holds cardiac rehabilitation sessions. Consultant Kushal Madan, who runs counseling sessions for patients and their kin, is asked questions ranging from, "Can my husband watch television?" to "Can I join the gym after my surgery?" He points out, "Patients think the job is done after the surgery. There is a lack of awareness."

So, how does one choose the right doctor? For most, it's still through trial-and-error by visiting doctors recommended by friends or going to a reputed hospital.

However, make sure your doctor addresses your queries and, experts suggest, also has a team that can be contacted in case he is not available. Be informed about your disease and treatment and don't be afraid to ask questions! 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/health-&-fitness/health/Is-your-doc-patient/articleshow/6391780.cms
 

'Akbar had no real love of his life'

Dirk Collier

Belgian writer Dirk Collier has written a fictional autobiography of emperor Akbar, laced with facts, titled The Emperor's Writings. Written in the form of a letter to his Jahangir, it chronicles the life and times of the Mughal emperor. The author talks about being inspired by Akbar, the emperor's 5,000 wives and more!

How much of the book is fiction and how much non-fiction?
Other than the storyline of the first and last chapters (as far as we know, Akbar was dyslexic and never wrote any letter, to Jahangir or to anyone else), the events described in the book are historical. And in order to avoid any misunderstandings about what is fact and what is fiction, I have added rather extensive historical notes and references at the end of my book, so that the reader can find out for him- or herself, what "real" history has to say about Akbar.

What did you learn about Akbar and his wives?
Unlike other Great Mughal emperors (including Jahangir and Shah Jahan), it seems Akbar was not a very romantic man. While he did sleep with countless many women, particularly when he was still young, it seems he had no real "love of his life". It is however well documented that his cousin Salima Sultana, whom he married after Bairam Khan's death, was clearly his favorite, in spite of the fact that she did not bear him any children. She was highly influential, probably much more than Akbar's mother was, and Akbar greatly valued her opinion. She appears to have been intelligent, exceptionally well-read, and an accomplished poetess, but to my knowledge, she has not left any published memoirs to posterity.

It is reported that no less than 5,000 women lived in Akbar's palace, of whom, chroniclers hasten to reassure us, "only" about 300 (still a highly impressive number) were his wives or concubines. It should be remembered, though, that these unions were, above all, politically inspired: many a local ruler was more than eager to send one of his daughters to the imperial palace and thus establish a family link between himself and the emperor.

It is also well documented, that the ladies in the imperial palace were quite influential and active in society. Many mosques, madrasas and other monuments of the Mughal era have in fact been commissioned by women! It is also reported that the princess of Amber (Akbar's first Hindu wife and Jahangir's mother) was a highly astute business woman, who ran an active international trade in spices, silk, etc., and thus amassed a private fortune which dwarfed the treasury of many a European king...

What is your favourite part of the book? What did you learn about Akbar during research?
From the reactions of my readers, I know that many of them prefer different parts. My wife Anne, for instance, very much enjoys the psychological, personal side of the story: the drama of the rivalry and conflict between father and son, the relationship between Akbar and his favourite wife, etc. Other readers are interested in the story of the making of a great empire: the military campaigns, the court intrigues, etc. I personally enjoy the philosophical and religious discussions very much - in particular the views expressed by Akbar's teacher Mir Abdul Latif and his advisor Abu'l Fazl. But again, this is all very personal: most readers will find something different they like.

My main ambition was to write a book that Akbar himself would have liked. Thinking about his life, I found it fascinating to get to know him, not only as the invincible emperor, but also as the vulnerable human being, struggling to preserve everything he held dear.

What prompted The Emperor's Writings?
My original plan was to write about the Catholic Inquisition, and to place the action in Goa, so that I could add an interesting non-Western perspective to my story. Reading about Goan history, I was surprised to find that the so-called Great Mogol of Hindustan had invited several missions of Jesuit priests to his court, to instruct him in the Christian faith and to debate with representatives of Islam and other faiths.

At a time when Europe found itself plagued by fanaticism, persecution and bloody religious wars, this seemed to be a remarkably tolerant and open-minded attitude for an absolute monarch, and a Muslim king at that.

I soon found myself fascinated with Akbar's story: his swift and spectacular rise to absolute power, amidst strife and intrigues, often against overwhelming odds; his exotic, yet remarkably modern vision of a prosperous, diverse and tolerant India; and his eventful, not to say tragic personal life, with the bitter and never fully resolved conflict with Salim (Jahangir), his only surviving son and successor. And while I will readily admit (as I'm sure, he would do as well) that he was by no means a saint, I found true greatness in him.

What is the message of his life and the book?
While he lived and died as a Muslim, Akbar fundamentally was an eclectic, a rationalist as well as a mystic, who came to regard all religions as merely human attempts to honor and serve an ineffable, unattainable Reality. In his own words: Each person, according to his personal condition, gives the Supreme Being a Name, but in reality, to name the Unknowable is vain. That is why he behaved himself with equal respect and humility in a Parsi or Hindu temple as in a mosque or a catholic church: he was profoundly convinced that all humankind constitutes a single brotherhood, created by the same God, and fundamentally equal before Him. God, he firmly believed, is much, much greater than all the differences that divide us.

What makes Akbar relevant today?
Akbar faced the same difficulty as the one we are facing in today's world: he ruled over a vast, extremely diverse empire, inhabited by people of countless many creeds, castes and ethnic origins. As a matter of principle, but also for pragmatic, "imperialist" reasons, he wanted them to be united - if not in brotherhood, then at least in mutual respect and harmony. Quite early in his reign, he became convinced that the essence of a king's duty is to guarantee universal tolerance and equality for all his subjects, regardless of their creed and ethnic origin (Sulh-i-Kul, or Peace for All, as his teacher Mir Abdul Latif called it). That is why he attempted to rule in strict neutrality; that is why he did not require his wives or courtiers or anyone else to abandon their religion; that is why he spent countless hours convincing himself and others that even rigorously orthodox Islam is perfectly compatible with universal tolerance and pluralism. These are insights that remain as relevant in our own 21st century as they were in his own time...

Do you think non-fiction is finally gaining popularity in India? How has the response to the book been?
Judging by the reaction of literally every reader I have met so far, I am convinced that the Indian audience will thoroughly enjoy this book! If I say so myself, it not only offers them a wealth of information about one of the most important kings in their national history, but it brings that history back to life in a tangible way. Based on what history knows about Akbar, I have attempted to reconstruct the thoughts that must have entered his mind, the things that preoccupied him, the way he looked at himself and the world around him, in short: the kind of man he must have been. In this respect, books like my Emperor's Writings have a valuable contribution to make to historical understanding, in putting, so to speak, new flesh on the dry bones of historical fact. It bridges the divide between "fiction" and "non-fiction", and offers literary entertainment as well as historical information.

Let me give you an example from The Emperor's Writings: we know from historical records that Akbar's favourite wife Salima personally travelled to Allahabad and brought about the official reconciliation between Salim (Jahangir) and his father. This is where "real" history ends. Historical fiction, however, wants to bring that argument back to life. How angry / frustrated / frightened were the protagonists? Which arguments did they use to convince each other?

How long did the book take to write and what was the kind of research involved?
All in all, it has taken me over 7 years to write The Emperor's Writings. Quite a lot of research and study was involved, as I'm sure you can imagine. The book therefore ends with an extensive bibliography, indicating which sources I am most indebted to. I should point out that I have not only read most history books of our age (the work of professors Eraly, Habib, Majumdar, Smith, Schimmel, Gascoigne and others), but also translations of contemporary Mughal sources, including the highly critical Tarikh-i Badauni, and the 5,000 pages of Abu'l Fazl's monumental Akbar Nama and A'In-i-Akbari...

Your next book focuses on Ahmed Lahori, the chief architect of the Taj Mahal and its creator Shah Jahan... what kind of research does it involve?
I'm afraid that is still very much in the conceptual / planning / dreaming phase at this stage... But yes, it's a book I would very much like to write. Like so many millions all over the world, I find myself mesmerized by the absolute perfection of the Taj. I thought it would be interesting to take this building and its construction, and make that story the focal point of a narrative about Shah Jahan's life and reign. We'll see how it goes ...

A train ride to remember

Remember the good old chug-chug? You ate, played cards and ludo, shared samosas - and arrived! People share train memories with TOI...

Jab we met!
Biddu, composer
It's been at least 40 years since I last went on a train. But I remember it almost as if it was yesterday. I was 17 at the time and my two friends and I, who were part of my pop group called The Trojans, were running away from our homes in Bangalore to big, bad Calcutta. At Hyderabad, two young ladies joined our compartment. The girls were fair and lovely like the advertisement, and soon the five of us were yapping away like old friends. They told us they were sisters and princesses at that, and we believed them, because they were dressed in finery that only royalty could afford. We failed to ask why the princesses were travelling second class. But did it matter? Not a jot, because by now the journey suddenly took on the excitement of a first date. The five of us played cards and told each other ribald stories as we laughed into the night. The girls shared their biryani with us while we offered them cold samosas and warm tea. When we finally arrived at Calcutta, we made promises to stay in touch. Now where did I write down their names and telephone number?

Memories of Partition
Gurcharan Das, author
I was four years old when Partition came and we had to flee for our lives. We took refuge initially at our guru's ashram in Beas, near Jullunder. From there we took a train to Simla, where my father had been posted. From the window of our compartment, I saw a tall Muslim police officer standing erect on the platform. Suddenly, there was movement. A train was coming from Delhi, going to Lahore. Two young Sikh boys emerged from nowhere - they could not have been more than 15. They thrust a dagger from behind into the policeman. He did not cry. He just fell and died. My mother pulled me back and tried to shut the window, but it would not close. Eventually we reached Ambala, where we changed for Kalka, and from there got on the hill train for Simla. The view from the tiny window of the miniature hill train was enough to refresh the most exhausted emotions. Northwards rose the confused Himalayan chains, range after range of the world's highest mountains. At Shogi, we glimpsed the first wondrous vision of Simla. From afar, it looked like a mythical green garden dotted with red-roofed houses.

Gold Spot, chips & a view!
Sarnath Banerjee, graphic novelist
Istill take trains whenever I can, but the occasions are getting fewer and further. As a child, I remember getting into the Delhi-bound Rajdhani from Howrah in the middle of the monsoons, under darkening skies and with the threat of thunder. Entire family settling down - cousins, uncles and aunts, hold-alls being unrolled on the floor, Gold Spots, Gems and chips being handed out to calm down the children, ghost stories to put them to sleep. Later at university, going back to Calcutta, how suddenly the terrain would change from the arid cow belt to the eye-piercing green of Bihar and Bengal. The excitement of going back to Calcutta, familiarity, the old Ambassador parked right outside platform 1. Then a detour through the maidan, everything unchanged except parents getting a few extra wrinkles. Recently, my parents along with my wife and a close friend travelled together. We saw a film on the laptop, while late evening UP rushed by. Mother played 'Civilisation' till midnight. Flasks of tea. When living in Paris, the train station wasn't very far. Once, I took a train to St Malo, one that was filled with Indian writers going to attend a literary festival and we broke all rules!

Simple meals & conversation!
Umesh Ramakrishnan, author & vice-chairman, CT Partners
In those days, the journey was almost better than the destination itself. My sister and I would leave Bangalore during the summer to spend our holidays in Kerala. Since we had to go all the way to Kannur, the only way to get there by train was to take the Island Express. Our compartment would be decoupled at Ottapalam and then attached to the Madras Mail the next morning. Our highlight was the meals served at night and the incredible appam and stew served as breakfast in Shornur. As we alighted in Kannur, all dark from the soot from the steam engine, we would be grinning with delight. The flat bed comfort of a first-class intercontinental flight pales in comparison to a long lazy summer day spent on a hard wooden seat watching the green paddy fields shimmering along the Malabar coast. On a train, you shared intimate thoughts with people who were strangers on a platform just before they sat next to you. You shared simple meals and delightful conversation. And we were richer for our experience.

'We chased them with hockey sticks'
Vinay Pathak, actor
My most memorable journey is the one I took as an NCC cadet to a military camp in Himachal Pradesh. From Ranchi, we first took the train to Delhi, from there to Amritsar, then on to Pathankot, where Army trucks took us ahead. There were 90 of us, with about four teachers as chaperones. We planned to play Ludo and the 'goonda' gang decided to sneak along cigarettes and beer. One of the guys wrote down the names of the 100-odd stations that we crossed in his diary. We used to tease him, saying, "The TT is at it again". At Saharanpur, around 10 pm, a woman with two men and holding a baby tried to come into our bogey and even as we stopped them, the train began to gather momentum. The men took out knives to threaten us but our hockey sticks were a match for them. At our first stop in Amritsar, we showered in our swimming trunks with a pipe on the tracks. We had the day off and watched two movies that day - Suhaag in a multiplex-in-the-making, where three cinema halls Suraj, Chanda and Tara graced a single compound and The Burning Train on a 70-mm screen in Gagan Talkies. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/people/A-ride-to-remember/articleshow/5852283.cms
 

The story gets real!

From Siddhartha Mukherjee’s biography of cancer to profiling female underworld dons and the world of RD Burman, non-fiction is here to stay. Anuradha Varma reports

If it's wrong to discuss sex and Gandhi, I'm guilty," said Joseph Lelyveld of his well-researched Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India that re-examined the Mahatma.

Not long ago, there was another storm in the literary world with Hamish Macdonald's Ambani & Sons, the inside story of Reliance. But, all is well for non-fiction with Siddhartha Mukherjee being awarded the prestigious Pulitzer for The Emperor of All Maladies, a biography of cancer.

Three women - Shilpa Phadke, an assistant professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Shilpa Ranade, architect and researcher and Sameera Khan, journalist and writer - decided to write about women's access to public spaces in Mumbai with their book Why Loiter?: Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets. They say, "We realised that in Mumbai it was acceptable to work or shop in public but not to have fun, especially not at night."

Bollywood has always been a popular theme in memoirs and non-fiction. Anupama Chopra's First Day First Show takes us into the lives of the stars and into the struggles of those who never make it to centre stage. Fans of RD Burman's music, Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal have come out with R D Burman -The Man, The Music. Says Anirudha, "Balaji and I have been buddies from our college days. Our impressionable years coi n c i d e d with Pancham's best years, hence Pa n c h a m was the composer we discussed most over cups of tea and 40-paise cigarettes sitting on the parapet walls." However, he says, "Music books are hardly read, apart from by people who are into appreciating music history."

Sonia Faleiro's Beautiful Thing, profiling the dance bars of Mumbai, is on several must-read lists. She says, "Narrative non-fiction is a way for a writer like me to understand and express the disparity in Indian society, and to do it up close, bringing a sense of intimacy to a story that would otherwise have been alien to a regular middle-class Indian reader."

Crime journalist S Hussain Zaidi, who has written the book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai - Stories of Women From The Ganglands, with colleague Jane Borges, believes non-fiction has a growing audience. He says, "I was sur prised by the overwhelming response that Mafia Queens got from the younger generation who are in their early twenties."

Has non-fiction finally come of age for Indian readers? VK Karthika, chief editor, Harper Collins India, reveals that non-fiction accounts for almost 55 per cent of their publishing programme. International awards can also help sales. Says Karthika, "We had sold 5,000 copies of The Emperor of All Maladies in the first two months of publication and since the announcement of the prize, 18,500 more have sold. So that's quite a substantial jump and the book looks set to have a very long shelf-life." While most unsolicited manuscript s coming into publishing houses are fiction, much of the non-fiction is commissioned. Says Priya Kapoor, Roli Books, "Nonfiction definitely sells better in general. We publish more non-fiction than fiction." For Gyan Prakash, author of Mumbai Fables, Mumbai was a lifetime obsession and after completing his book on the cultural authority of science in India 10 years ago, it was time to focus on the maximum city. He says, "I hit the streets, walked the lanes and bylanes, talked to anyone who would talk to me, scoured archives and libraries, and read everything I could find written on Mumbai."

From historical fiction to Bollywood biographies, and critiques on society, non-fiction writers are bending the plot. Raaja Bhasin decided to put his research where his heart is - his hometown Simla, with his book Simla: The Summer Capital of British India. He says, "There is just so much to talk about - event, heritage and good old gossip." Shaminder Boparai decided to write about his mentor through Billy Arjan Singh-Tiger of Dudhwa. He says, "The inspiration was truly Billy and his selfless life."

Meanwhile, Belgian historian Dirk Collier is confident the Indian reader will enjoy his historical fiction on Mughal emperor Akbar titled Emperor's Writings. He says, "It offers literary entertainment as well as historical information." No less than 5,000 women lived in Akbar's palace, of whom, 'only' about 300 were his wives or concubines. Dirk says, 'It seems Akbar was not a very romantic man. While he did sleep with countless women, particularly when he was still young, it seems he had no real 'love of his life'."

As the literary windfall continues, it's the reader who is richer! 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/people/The-story-gets-real/articleshow/8340089.cms
 

Interview: Ahmad Safi, Ibne Safi's son

Ahmad Safi

Ahmad Safi at Ghalib's tomb

Ibne Safi

Ibne Safi, the pen name of Asrar Ahmad, was once described as "the only original writer in the subcontinent" by Agatha Christie and wrote 125 novels in his lifetime.

Born in Allahabad, he moved to Pakistan after Partition. He created the protagonist as the spy and crime-fighter hero Imran or X-2 in the Imran series and the duo of an aristocratic and Oxford-educated Col Faridi and his happy-go-lucky sidekick Capt Hameed in the Jasusi Duniya series. Ibne Safi was also a poet, writing under the pseudonym Asrar Narvi. Recently, Westland, along with Blaft, has published four translations of Ibne Safi's Jasusi Duniya series. His son Ahmad Safi, talks about his father's literary inspirations.

Are Col Faridi, Capt Hameed and Imran modelled on any real or fictional characters? Any secondary characters inspired from real life?
Col Faridi, Hameed and Imran are totally his creation... 'Abbou' used to term Faridi his dream hero. He wanted a law enforcement person like Faridi to exist in our system (of India and Pakistan), someone who would live and die to uphold the law. Faridi was a complete personality and over the years this character developed in such a way that Ibne Safi saheb was very careful in writing about him. One small mistake and the fans would go berserk... they wouldn't tolerate anything unlike Faridi from Faridi. That is probably the reason why though many people tried to write on Ibne Safi's character but no one adventured with Faridi!

The only secondary character that existed in real life was a comical figure "Ustaad Mehboob Niralay Alam." He lived in Karachi and claimed to be the last descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar. He was known to have written letters to the Indian government to release all Mughal buildings, including Taj Mahal to him. Imran uses him in many novels to create various distractions for the enemies.

Where are the novels set?
A very strange thing about Ibne Safi's novels is that he never mentions the name of Faridi or Imran's countries. Although there are many fictitious places in his books described in complete geography, culture and social setups that people think those are probably real places. The reason for not mentioning the names of countries was probably that when he started writing, it was not much after Independence. India and Pakistan had come into being... but he raised the level of his locales above these boundaries yet maintaining individual identities. If you read Jasoosi Duniya with Col Faridi and Capt Hameed, from the names of the characters and places, you can guess that the series is set in India. Similarly, in the Imran series, the tell-tale names of places and characters imply that the locale is Pakistan. But why should we tag locales as such.... let's leave those to be Faridi and Imran's countries and enjoy the thrillers without any biases... that's why we have millions of fans on both sides of the border tied together with this relation.

Ibne Safi moved to Pakistan, but did he keep alive his connection to Allahabad?
The Allahabad connection never broke. He moved to Pakistan but the books kept being published simultaneously from Karachi and Allahabad till the end. Abbas Husainy Saheb of Nakhat Publications, Allahabad was more than just a friend; they had started Jasoosi Duniya in Nakhat together in early 50's and the relationship transcended the borders. Even when the mail could not be transacted between the two countries the manuscript from Pakistan used to get to Allahabad via England and other countries and the books appeared on shelves on both sides of the border about the same time. The connection still exists.

Nakhat Publications was closed down after the demise of Abbas Husainy and Shakeel Jamali as the offsprings took to other professions. In Pakistan, Asrar Publications continued publishing the novels. And during my recent trip to India, the Husaini and Safi families came together once more.

What were Ibne Safi's inspirations - books, films, personalities?
Ibne Safi saheb was a very well-read person. He enjoyed reading western detective literature a lot. He loved to watch English and American movies too. He liked to watch movies of various genres: from westerns to drama and action (e.g., James Bond). His favorite though was the TV presentation of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, the weekly show on Pakistan TV. He loved watching Hitchcock movies and loved how he created and depicted suspense scenes without any music. In authors, he liked Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Earl Stanley Gardner (with all the pseudonyms he used!), Harold Robbins, Alistair MacLean, Louise L'amour (westerns). When he passed away the last novel on his bedside was L'amour's Rivers West. He also used to read Urdu literature from India and Pakistan and loved Miraji as a poet.

What kind of a person was he? How did overcome the depression he succumbed to during his career? And how did he manage to write one book a month?
He was a very down-to-earth and thorough gentleman. To many, he appeared rather reserved, but to close friends, he was a very frank and jolly person. His friends still remember his acute witticisms. His satirical and humorous remarks used to make people laugh their hearts out as they do in his books. He was both Father Hardstone as Faridi and a very light hearted and jolly man as Imran... both characters strangely stem out of this single person.

In the late 50's he became too prolific a writer with the output reaching four novels a month. This was the point at which his brain stopped normal functioning in 1961, as a psychiatrist put it when I discussed this episode with him in New York in the late 90's. It turns out that in some personalities in the literary and arts field, when the creativity peaks to these levels, they become vulnerable to many mental disorders. In Ibne Safi the disorder manifested itself as schizophrenia, disabling him to function normally for three years.

According to the psychiatrist I talked to, this disorder could clear all by itself if the patient survived through a certain period. Many medicinal and clinical methods were tired. Eventually, he came out of it in October 1963 when he wrote and published his great masterpiece Darh Matwaalay which was inaugurated in India by Lal Bahdur Shastri. It was very well received on both sides of the border and people queued up in long lines to get this masterpiece.

How did he react to Agatha Christie's remark that he was the only original fiction-writer in the subcontinent?
This quotation appeared in one of the local magazines "Alf Laila Digest" (1972) narrated by a famous poet and radio personality Mr. Razi Akhtar Shauq who had a meeting with Agatha Christie.

Ibne Safi was cool about it. He never commented on this and did not use in any of his novels as a promotional line. He was indifferent about what people say about him and was more focussed on his art. Once someone advised him to write like another famous English writer and he replied, "Why don't you tell that writer to write like me instead?"

As a father, what kind of books did he encourage you to read?
As a father, Ibne Safi never put any restrictions on his kids as to what they should read. We were pretty much free to read anything. All sorts of books were available at home as he himself was fond of reading. We loved to read his thrillers as it was the reigning craze at that time. He, however, used to discuss and describe the merits of one author or type of work on the other. Fiction of all kinds was recommended by him.

How many of his novels have you translated and what was the experience?
So far eight of his novels have already been translated. Bilal Tanweer translated two Imran Series novels from Random House under the title House of Fear. Four novels of Jasoosi Duniya (Faridi-Hameed) of the Dr Dread series were translated by Shamsur Rehman Faruqi published by Blaft/Westland. Two more novels of Imran Series translated by Taimoor Shahid are in press as we write these lines. Indeed, translating Ibne Safi is not a trivial task. He mixes local Urdu/Hindi local humor with the suspense stories in such a way that the reader laughs his heart out... however, if translated plainly, these puns would have no meaning in English. Couplets of Mir and Ghalib are used along with other poets, in creating hilarious situations. A true nightmare for the translators. I would congratulate Bilal, Faruqui Saheb and Taimoor for taking the challenge and completing the task at their best. The reviews of the last four Jasoosi Duniya novels can be seen on the Amazon.com as these novels were simultaneously published in eBook formats as well. People want more... and we'd have to think about it.

How is the response to his books? Do they have more takers in the regional language or in English?
The response has been great. From the customer reviews we find out that the translations are well received and easy for people to go through as thrillers by any other world class author. The young generation that grew up on English is again discovering an author that had been limited to Urdu/Hindi speaking populations of the world. In Pakistan Urdu versions are still popular and now even primary and secondary school libraries are found ordering the complete sets. English would take some time but I am sure that as more books are translated, these will also become very popular.

What do you think of detective fiction today? Who are your favourite authors in English and regional languages?
First of all, the reading habits are declining all over the world in general. We are not seeing A-class writers as we used to in the past. Detective fiction is no exception. In India and Pakistan, not many people are writing detective fiction and for those who are, the quality of their works in not worth reading. In Urdu, there are almost none and in Hindi, I have heard of Surinder Mohan Patak saheb. But since I do not know Hindi, I cannot give any opinion on his writing. However, I have heard only good things about him. For us, he is more important and respectable because he openly declares Ibne Safi as his predecessor from whom he learned.

In the West, however, the detective fiction is written by big names like Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Robert Ludlum and others. But I would have to admit that these novels are at times google-infested works of research, packing more information and with less of a story. Still, I love to read them.

Why the name Ibne Safi? And, what made you take on the surname Safi?
Ibne Safi had started writing in an era where only sexually explicit translations of the English novels were selling. If someone had to make money this was the shortest route. Ibne Safi took the challenge and created Jasoosi Duniya in 1952 which though devoid of sexually infested material, became popular in no time. When he wrote the first novel, he told Abbas Husainy Saheb that he, Asrar Narvi, the up and coming poet would not want his name to be associated with this genre of literature. The reason was the infamy of the genre of Jasoosi Duniya. Abbas Husainy saheb suggested many proper names but the final one that was very well liked was "Ibne Safi" (the Son of Safi).

When I was young, my grandfather Safiullah saheb took me to enroll in a school in the neighborhood. When the teacher asked my name, instead of saying "Izhar Ahmad" I said "Ahmad Safi" and the name stuck. All my brothers later changed their surnames to Safi. This is the name which gives us our identity and is a source of pride for all the family. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/people/The-son-of-Ibne-Safi/articleshow/8270314.cms

Halal meat more tender, less cruel, say experts

Even as the UK Parliament refuses to serve halal meat at restaurants on its premises, fresh scientific opinion suggests halal is the better option. TOI investigates. 
Kounteya Sinha, Amit Bhattacharya & Anuradha VarmaKounteya Sinha, Amit Bhattacharya & Anuradha Varma, TNN
 

For Mohammad Salim, owner of a tiny meat shop in the Gurdwara Road Market of New Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur area, business is just as it's been for the last 15 years since he moved to the capital from Agra. There seem to be more takers for mutton that Sunday morning than for the fresh batch of Rohu that's just arrived. The practising Muslim packs half kilo curry pieces of a leg of mutton in polythene. For this seller of halal meat, the recent debate over the UK parliament rejecting demands to serve halal meat in its restaurants, on grounds of cruelty, is pointless.

"We read a kalma (Quranic verse) before the meat is cut. Lekin, marta toh murga hi hai (Finally, it's the animal that pays the price). It's just a question of using different methods of slaughter," he shrugs.
Early this month, British newspapers had reported that Muslim MPs and peers were told they wouldn't be served meat slaughtered in line with Islamic tradition - slitting the animal's throat without first stunning it - since it was offensive to their non-Muslim colleagues.


Even as voices of dissent grow louder among furious UK parliamentarians, experts are speaking in favour of halal meat. According to fresh scientific opinion, halal - the method of slaughter that kills the animal with a deep cut across the neck - produces meat that's more tender, stays fresh longer, and is less painful to the animal than say, the jhatka method that involves severing its head in one powerful blow.


Dr V K Modi, head of department of meat technology at the Central Food Technology Research Institute in Mysore, says the halal method is effective in draining out most of the blood from a slaughtered animal, which is vital if its meat is to be soft. "In jhatka, chances of blood clotting are higher. This could spoil the meat if it's kept uncooked for a few days. It could also make the meat tougher to chew."


Halal has been the traditional method of killing animals for meat. It's only in the early 20th century that Sikhs of Punjab propagated jhatka as a 'less painful way' of killing the animal, although it would appear that the alternative way of slaughter was propagated more to differentiate it from the 'Muslim way' of killing the animal.
Halal involves a swipe with a sharp blade across the animal's neck, severing the windpipe, jugular vein and carotid artery. Contrary to popular belief, Dr Modi, who trains butchers in the art of slaughtering at the institute's abattoir, says evidence suggests that animals slaughtered through jhatka suffer more trauma than those killed by halal. "The less an animal struggles, the better the meat. When animals face trauma, the glycogen content in their muscles is activated, leaving the meat tough. Stored glycogen is the agent that leads to rigor mortis (or, stiffening of muscles on death)," Dr Modi says.


For the meat to be tender and juicy, the pH count in the animal should ideally be around 5.4 after slaughter. "Struggle leads to the utilisation of stored energy, making the pH count rise to as high as 7," In halal the struggle is lesser by at least 20 per cent, claims a Delhibased nutrition expert.


Dr Modi has support from Dr Karuna Chaturvedi, consultant nutritionist at Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi. "Halal is considered healthier because after slaughter, blood is drained from the animal's arteries, ejecting most toxins because the heart continues to pump for a few seconds after slaughter. In jhatka, not all the blood is drained, leaving the meat tougher and drier."


Tracing the origin of jhatka, Jodh Singh, editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Sikhism, says it was at the beginning of the last century that Sikh scholars compiled the faith's Rehat Maryada, or code of conduct. "It clearly prohibits slaughtering animals through halal," he notes. Chapter 13 of Section 6 of the Maryada mentions four taboos, including "eating the meat of an animal slaughtered the Muslim way".


Food is a vital marker of identity, believes Sikh scholar, chair and Crawford Family professor, department of religious studies at Colby College in Maine, Prof Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh. "Halal is prohibited in Sikhism to avoid both, the pain caused to the animal and the ritualistic dimension practised by neighbouring 'others'.
Ironically, in most Indian abattoirs, animals are first stunned with 70 volts of electricity in the brain, leaving them unconscious. "The animal's state of unconsciousness reduces its struggle," says Dr Modi. However, Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiuddin Khan argues that the Islamic code of slaughter doesn't approve of stunning. "According to Islam, the purpose of slaughtering is to release all blood from the animal's body, leaving no room for growth of micro-organisms. When stunned, only a part of its blood is released."


Flesh is lawful, blood, unlawful, states Islam, according to the Maulana. Stunning, in fact, puts the breaks on the blood drain due to a halt in the brain's activity, freezing it mid-stream.


But Mohammed Noman Lateef, GM, Halal India Pvt. Ltd., an established halal certification body in India, highlights a subtle difference in detail. "We are not against stunning as long as it doesn't kill the animal before it's presented for slaughter."


"By cutting the windpipe and the carotid artery, the flow of blood to the nerve in the brain that causes the sensation of pain, is stopped," says Mufti Obaidullah Qasmi, former teacher at Darul Uloom, Deoband. "This leads to reduced pain." The animal may appear to struggle and kick but that's due to the contraction and relaxation of muscles deficient in blood rather than pain.


Lateef says halal is finding favour even among non-Muslims for the hygiene factor. Halal, a $2.1 trillion industry is growing at the rate of $500 million annually. "By 2015, Muslims will account for 25 per cent of the global population. Even in a country like France, there are over eight million Muslims, who love meat. Their needs cannot be ignored."


Given India's sizeable Muslim population, it's not surprising that most supermarket chains prefer to offer halal meat. Sreejith Mohan, headcategory, Godrej Nature's Basket, says halal is practically standard operating procedure. "Most slaughter houses in India have moved to the halal system, and the meat comes halal-certified." For fast food multinational McDonalds, using halal meat in its products makes practical sense. "We respect cultural and local sensibilities," says Amrita Pai, McDonalds spokesperson for south and west India region.


The HyperCITY chain of supermarkets that offers fresh produce, foods and grocery among other items, stock both, jhatka and halal meat. Ashutosh Chakradeo, head - buying, merchandising & supply chain, says jhatka works in the northern Indian market while it's halal across most of the country.


In a move that's perhaps befitting the theory of leaving food, if nothing else, out of controversy, butcher Mohammad Salim finds company in leading Sikh scholar JS Neki: "Meat in both cases is just that - meat !"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/food/food-reviews/Science-of-meat/articleshow/11672654.cms
 

The Widowhood Effect

Losing your partner in your twilight years is tough, says Anuradha Varma, but you need to move on.

Losing a spouse can be tough, that too when you are no longer young. Known as the Widowhood Effect, it leaves surviving spouses feeling lonely, lost and depressed.

Experts say that dependence on a spouse begins to increase once the children grow up and leave home. Losing a spouse means losing a confidante and companion. Clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrany explains, "I hear many people say that they don't know who to share their problems with anymore. They feel the children are busy with their own families and work. They feel that no one can take the place of a spouse."
Those who lose a partner in their twilight years, she adds, "go through extreme loneliness and depression, which could lead to physiological problems. There is also insecurity that accompanies advanced age."

A time of great stress
Research shows that immense grief may cause many to die within three years of their spouse's passing away. Elderly care-giving spouses are at a 63 per cent greater risk of death than older people not caring for their mates, according to the American Medical Association.

In a study involving 58,000 married couples, researchers at St Andrews University found that 40 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men died within three years of their partner. A study published in the Internal Medicine Journal in 2009 also reported that such bereavement can cause elevated heart rates, particularly during the early weeks.

Lack of will to live
Shweta (name changed) remembers her father, in his late 70s, losing the will to live after her mother died. Any effort to elevate his mood remained unsuccessful. He passed away a year later. Another elderly gentleman in his 90s was leading an active lifestyle, but the death of his wife saw his health deteriorating. At times, even having a large family around doesn't help the grieving spouse.

Remarks psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria: "For some time, the partner may need some time and space to deal with the grief. Old memories hound you for a while, since you have spent almost your entire life with that person and shared everything, emotionally and physically, which makes the absence unbearable. You meet people or go to places which remind you of your spouse. Elderly couples report they don't feel like living themselves after their partner's loss. However, avoiding and isolating yourself is not an appropriate solution."

Get independent
Support structures play a crucial role here. Points out Chhabria, "Handling your spouse's responsibilities and liabilities once the person is no more causes more stress. Picking up the pieces without your partner may not be easy. However, dealing with loneliness, emptiness and the depression is most important."

People who are still active and independent tend to move on faster than the ones who have been financially and emotionally dependent on their spouses. How can one survive such loss? One way is to stay occupied and gain independence. Chhabria adds, "Spiritual discourses can help some become emotionally stronger. Actively participating in senior citizens' groups may help in forming new friendships. Health is of prime importance, so morning walks, temple visits, catching up with old friends should be encouraged."

Seema recommends, "One should try to cultivate hobbies like playing cards or doing social work. Building bonds with grandchildren also helps; help them with their homework or attend PTA meets."

Meet your peer group
Old age can be especially tough for those who lack meaningful attachments and feel isolated by society, trapped in a cycle of loneliness and lack of dignity. Faced with hopelessness, death seems welcome. Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla, who is now pushing 80, says, "Many times, senior citizens feel completely betrayed. They feel they have been let down, done in, by those they had nurtured when they were younger and had the strength to do so."

An encounter with Dignity Foundation showed Bejan that there was hope for the elderly. The Foundation, which works for empowerment of senior citizens, also runs a companionship programme for them in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune. Its founder Sheelu Srinivasan says, "We have volunteers, also seniors, who visit individuals in their homes. We get requests from many young people to help seniors living at home. Interaction with a peer group is very important. A person who loses a spouse at this stage in life can be very lonely. Sharing stories with similar people, giving vent to their emotions, rescues them from the brink of hopelessness." They also organise regular daily sessions of activities such as yoga, meditation and Tai Chi termed 'Kalyan Mitrata' on the Buddhist principle of "welfare for all," encouraging bonds with deep empathy.
Ultimately, it's all about relearning how to enjoy the little joys of life!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-&-style/spirituality/holistic-living/Learning-to-live/articleshow/11168361.cms

Gift a memory

Anwita Sarin's work

A niece blogs about her former Miss India aunt, another little girl creates a scrapbook for her older sis... it's time to archive memories. Anuradha Varma reports

There's nothing like turning back the pages in time to revisit precious memories. A gift of the past creates firm bonds in the present.


A book of memories: When Vijay Mehta turned 70 in August last year, his family gifted him a coffee table book of memories. Recalls his wife Radha, "He was reduced to tears. He said we had made him immortal. My daughter Anjali Soota and her husband, based in Singapore, contacted friends and family, who shared their memories about him." The book was unveiled along with a video during the celebrations in Lucknow.





A scrapbook is also a great way to keep memories alive. Mumbai-based Kaya Shewakramani started Kreating Keepsakes after making scrapbooks of photographs for family and friends. She says, "It's simple and yet special and unique to each individual. No two personalised scrapbook albums can be the same. One woman created her daughter's growing years, from her hospital birth to her 21st birthday. A 10-year-old girl made an album for her 15-year-old sister on her birthday."

A life archived: Anwita Sarin combined her talents as an artist, textile designer, illustrator and stylist to put together an exhibition which turned her focus on her husband's grandmother. While studying in London, she participated in a reminiscence therapy group organised for the elderly. This triggered her work Looking In Your Wardrobe, which led to her archiving the life of "a member of my family, Audrey Sarin".

Based in Delhi, Anwita explains, "My work is an investigation into how old objects can perpetuate memories. I write biographies by imprinting memories in the form of photographs, letters and writings onto personalised objects, using hand screen printing and embroidery. These objects then become part of an installation."

She believes, "Storytelling is an inseparable bond that brings together generations - a bond that creates a feeling of oneness and belonging." Besides receiving enquiries for creating similar installations, she was touched when a 10-year-old girl told her mother that they should go home and take out her grandmother's photographs to make a scrapbook.

The memory project: Anusha S Yadav began researching for old and new wedding pictures for a book on Indian weddings, but the search led her to something beyond - an oral history of Indians. From Facebook, the project went online as The Indian Memory Project, where people were free to post their collective memories. She recollects, "If I were to put 20 pictures and their stories side by side with Mumbai city and people through time, it would give me a fair idea about Mumbai's history!"

Veena Sajnani, Miss India 1970

The images and stories include model Veena Sajnani's story, contributed by her niece Smita Sajnani, on how she won the Miss India contest in 1970, beating Zeenat Aman. Another tells the story of a teenaged couple Chameli and Phool Chand, who fought for India's independence, contributed by their grandson Sreenivasan Jain. The sepia photograph shows them holding hands, unconventional for those times. Anusha states, "We are also in midst of a curious generation, exceptionally curious about the future and somewhat respectful of history."

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-13/trends/30338517_1_oral-history-coffee-table-book-scrapbook