Young & blogging it!

Raghav Sarma

They're opinionated and know what they're talking about. From writing on golf tournaments to make-up and cars, tweens and teens are out there, registering their presence on the worldwide web.

Teeing off online!
Sanjith Rao (9) tees off with high-profile Internet entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia and blogs about his day on Little Mairpady. In a post on the South Zone Junior Golf Tournament at Thiruvananthapuram last year, he writes, "For breakfast I had idli and sambhar. At 7.30 am we teed-off. My game was good. I took 52 shots (They are known as strokes)." His posts span the gamut from magic tricks, board games, and climbing trees. He loves computers and figures, "in 2 or 3 years I will know everything about programming and I will be able to write my own programs."

Sanjith, a grade 4 student at Bangalore's Shishu Griha Montessori, started the blog, when he was seven. He says, "Nobody in my school knows yet." Does he know what he wants to be once he's older? "Yes, a software engineer."

On a virtual highway
Raghav Sarma (13), a student of New Delhi's Modern School and perhaps the world's youngest automobile blogger, wanted his father to teach him how to drive a car. He obviously refused, but when Raghav wailed, "I know more about cars than you do," he asked him to chronicle it online and prove it. That's how the blog LTD - Licence To Drive began. One month on, Raghav blogs about the F1, hybrid cars and his favourite SUVs. His blog also attracted advertising banners from international automobile biggies.
He says, "I'm too young to know what I want to be in the future, but I like the idea of automobile journalism or even becoming a footballer." His father's friends also take his a dv i c e on what car to buy!

All made up!
"Make-up, make-up and some more make-up... Just a blog with random thoughts, reviews on products and much more from a young make-up addict," states Fathima Abdul Kader's blog Brittu00Present.

The 16-year-old from Paravur, near Ernakulam in Kerala, dreams of getting a degree in literature or journalism, learning the art of make-up or turning fulltime blogger. The writing bug first bit the 11th grader when she started contributing articles for a lifestyle blog to make some extra bucks and finally, set up her own. Her parents are supportive and her brother offers technical support, but she didn't tell her friends for a long time, worried they would "think I was vain". But now, they come to her for tips.

She says, "I mainly get products from online shops and small mineral make-up companies who want their brand to be known t h r o u g h word of mouth. I have never ever been paid to write on my blog and would never do that as it goes against review-blogger ethics." Her dream for her blog? "I want people to see it as a make-up blog for teenage girls by a teenage girl, where I review cheap and good products for girls like me who can't afford high-end products."

Miss, Mr or Mixter?
It's tough being a gay teen in India, and that's probably what drew "Firebolt" to the virtual space. The teen started a self-exploratory blog The Freezing Flames three years ago, aged 16. Says the student of BTech (computer science), "I 'came out' to my parents and they understand. I identify as nothing, neither male nor female. Only my sister and very close friends are aware of the blog. It was my private space."

There's a second blog now - Space of Nothing. Having given up the idea of gender, the pronoun "he" is fine if pushed. The identity remains secret. A quote from the blog, "I hate being called 'Miss' and am not quite used to 'Mister'. The other day, I came across a gender neutral honorific 'Mx' (pronounced Mix or Mixter)... and I'm considering using that if need be." From tweeting about the Delhi earthquake to Durga Puja with cousins and spending vacations in Bangalore, he also reads a lot of queer blogs and is a fan of the "queer" Khaos Komix. His Twitter profile states: "I refuse to conform. I defy your notions of gender and sexuality. You cannot tell me who or what I am. I am me. I dare you to face me."

They can't be ignored and looks like we'll be reading a lot more from them!

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-06/man-woman/30366354_1_blog-hybrid-cars-automobile

Eager to give, but don't know where to begin?

These social entrepreneurs just put their skills where their heart is, from teaching slum children English, to packaging social awareness in mobile games and spreading smiles through theatre, discovers Anuradha Varma

YOU won't find them in kurta-pyjamas but in jeans and t-shirts, doing what they do best - getting things done. These innovative visionaries are high on social consciousness. For Siva Cotipalli, whose website Dhanax connects the 'haves' with 'havenots', Poonam Bir Kasturi, whose dream is to make India green with her do-it-yourself biodegradable Daily Dump pots, Brij Kothari, who gives literacy a leg up with his concept of 'same language subtitling', Karthik Kumar of Evam, a theatre group that gives you happiness for the price of a ticket, Hilmi Quraishi who sells social awareness through a mobile phone and many others like them, the return on investment more often than not comes from their impact on society. A social entrepreneur works for more than just profit...


Jithin C Nedumala, Make a Difference (MAD)

MAD provides a common and convenient platform for youth to make a difference in children's lives, by teaching a batch twice a week. The cost of teaching a child for a month comes to something like Rs 10.41. Says Nedumala, "We take a child when she is in the 5th standard, teach her English in a fun way four hours every week, ensure she has her computer class half an hour daily and meets professionals from various fields." He adds, "Once she finishes 10th she would be well equipped with the language and we would find a sponsor for her higher education. Hence, MAD is probably the most efficient way of spending your 10 rupees." MAD teaches 1,200 children with the help of 350 volunteers in four cities, which will soon expand to five more. They plan to take the concept to Nigeria and Pakistan as well.


Siva Cotipalli, Dhanax

Want to put aside some money to help the needy? Contact Dhanax. It partners with NGOs and self-help groups to identify credible borrowers. They also determine the ability of the borrowing party to honour the repayment of loan. A lender registered on the Dhanax website goes through the borrower information and chooses one or more borrowers to lend to. People lend only once to the borrower. The borrower repays the lender monthly. The beneficiaries are mainly low-income women earning Rs 5,000-Rs 8,000 per month who take loans for starting small businesses, pay kids' school fees, etc. Says Cotipalli, "So far, over 350 loans have been funded through the website. We have transacted over Rs 20 lakh of loan amount and the largest lending has been Rs 60,000."



Brij Kothari, Planet Read

When Kothari was a student of Spanish during his time at Stanford University, he once commented to friends that if Spanish films came subtitled in the same language, it would help their linguistic skills a lot more. Recalls Kothari, "In jest, I added that if they put Hindi subtitles on Hindi film songs, India would become literate." The idea stuck and he spent the next 12 years on research. He explains, "It's karaoke on popular culture. Viewers begin to read along and thus, reading improvement becomes a by-product of entertainment." Over the last 10 years, SLS (Same Language Subtitling) has been implemented on Bollywood film songs on TV in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, and Punjabi. It has woven regular reading practice into the lives of 150 million early-literate people. The goal is to persuade all channels in India to show song content on TV with SLS.


Poonam Bir Kasturi, Daily Dump

Can an ordinary person do anything to make the five-km radius around them better? That's the question Bangalore-based NID designer Poonam Bir Kasturi asked herself. The answer was Daily Dump, which enables the ordinary home owner to not throw out her organic waste, but compost it at home in a pot. Kasturi explains, "All organic waste can be composted - vegetable, fruits, cooked food, even bones and fish waste, teabags, newspapers, flowers, sawdust, etc. Plastic, metal, medicines and diseased plants can't be composted." The compost can be sold to a nursery or put in potted plants or used to nourish a tree. Her dream is to make "composters fit every home in India". While Kasturi funds her business from what she earns as a design consultant, she maintains, "Wall Street would discount it, but I think it's worth it."


Hilmi Quraishi, ZMQ

An educational technologist, Quraishi believes profits make for more commitment. From mobile games creating awareness on HIV/AIDs and climate consciousness, the company plans an SMS-based system offering prenatal and post-natal advice for women in rural areas, which will give her tips on what to eat, vaccines, etc. Also planned are a series on lifestyle diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes. While the games are usually free, a nominal amount is charged. The games are made popular through NGOs, schools and other local organisations. Often, profits are put back into making games. He says, "If an aerated water bottle can be sold in villages for Rs 10, why can't we sell training packages for the same price?"


Karthik Kumar, Evam Entertainment Pvt Ltd

The "happiness factory" was a vision of two people - Sunil Vishnu K and Karthik Kumar, both MICA graduates. Says Kumar, "We ran a successful youth-theatre movement in Ahmedabad and this sparked our own storytelling enterprise." He adds, "Our audiences have been easily enthused by energetic performances, and this has led to workshops, fun merchandise, and stories in other formats." They have been self-funded in their five years of operation, and this shows the soundness of the model itself.


Vishal Talreja, Dream A Dream

The project had modest beginnings, with a group of young people, taking children from local orphanages on special outings on weekends. Soon, the dream got bigger. Founded in 1999, it now teaches life skills to children referred by their partner NGOs in Bangalore. Says Talreja, "They are children whose basic needs such as food, shelter and education are being met but who, without support and opportunities run a risk of falling back into the vicious cycle of life on the street." The skills taught include teamwork, communication, decision making, besides building confidence and self-awareness.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/Eager-to-give-but-dont-know-where-to-begin/articleshow/3996205.cms

Mobile hell…

After weeks of research, I decide to abandon my CDMA connection and buy an android GSM handset. Right after buying it, I walk two shops away to the Reliance store and ask for a GSM connection… should take a couple of hours, I think.

Ha! Guy at counter: Why do you want to shift to GSM? Me: Not enough good CDMA handsets. He: That’s true… but GSM gives problems.  Me: I don’t care.. I just want it fast. He: It’ll take seven days and you have to provide fresh identification.

My pancard and press i-card (with my billing address) won’t do … I need to get a bank passbook, an updated one. I say forget it, I’ll just go elsewhere. I go to Airtel nearby… how long does it take to get my number ported? Seven days, he says, without looking up. Not happy, I walk to Idea next door. Seven days, the guy says, and says the ID I’m carrying will do. He looks helpful. Great… so let’s do it. I go back to Reliance, pay my bill and inform guy at Reliance that Idea is doing it now… Good for me, he says.

In this case, the network really follows me… I call both mobile providers daily for updates (sometimes more than once a day), desperate to use my new android phone. Reliance calls me almost daily too… asking me why I want to shift (old customer)… at first, I enthusiastically complain about the guy at the store and over the next few days, am reduced to asking them to just get it done… finally, I get a confessional call, where I’m informed that nothing has moved and will take another week.. so why not just stick with us? By now, I’m yelling and am used to putting on my rude voice effortlessly.. JUST DO IT, I tell them. Okay? No… the next call tells me that my number portability request is cancelled… Why? “Why don’t you put in a request to find out?” I won’t! Stern voice: “Well, then, if you don’t cooperate, we can’t help you.” I want to talk to a senior… “I’m the senior.”

Idea too has little idea what’s happening. “Today’s the seventh day, your old connection will switch off at midnight and after two hours, the new one will start working. Don’t worry… pucca.” At midnight, my old connection’s still working. Mad and feeling slightly foolish for believing them, I call customer care: “It’s 7 days minus Sunday and Diwali.” And Saturday? “No, only Sunday.”

I count 7 days, minus Diwali, Sundays and also throw in Bhai Dooj, etc. 3 more days to go then… I call after 3 days. Guy at Idea: Didn’t you just call? You didn’t get status then? Me: That was in the morning; now, it’s evening. What’s the status? “You can’t count Saturdays and Sundays.” Saturdays too? “Obviously, Saturday and Sunday.” Obviously.

Maybe I should just chuck the number and get a new one. I go to the Vodafone showroom. They seem happy to see me. I have a landline bill for my residence, but am not home during the day. No problem, they’ll verify at my office. Just give a colleague’s reference. No.. I’m not sharing any colleague’s contact. Just give the name, I'm told, it’s a formality. Okay, I guess. Three days later, I want to know why my connection hasn’t been activated. Customer care is full of assurances as usual and it should take anywhere from 24 hours to 72 hours. After being put on hold for 5 minutes, I head to the showroom. My connection hasn’t been activated since my colleague hasn’t presented his ID. Okay, and what if he shows his I-card, will it do? Hmmm, will it contain the address he stays at? I yell at the guy, “Would you know that about any of your colleagues?” Silence. Fine, meet my landlady… provided she’s not out for kirtan when you come. My landlady sounds wary when I call, “Aunty, they want to see your ID.” Getting a home loan was easier… I give up. Give me a prepaid card instead.. how long will that take? 24 hours! That was three days ago. I can’t recharge it online.. customer care says to visit the showroom.. I don’t have the time. “Then we can’t help you.” Do they have the number? “We can only give you the address.”

I try to prove to a friend that I’m not exaggerating… in front of her, I call up Reliance thrice.. a different status each time. The first one tells me everything is in order, the last tells me he’ll lose his job if he gives me a false commitment… I assure him he won’t; I have been getting such commitments all fortnight. When I call Idea, the male voice asks, “Madam bol rahin hain ya sir? (Is that a Madam or Sir).”

So, now I have to prioritise.. Chase Vodafone, try Airtel now or just chase Reliance? By now, I have written to the nodal officer, TRAI and the Corp Comm of Reliance… I guess I’ll just chase Reliance. I’d still rather retain my number. Meanwhile, use the new handset to play Angry Birds. When I first started playing it, I was so involved I thought a call would almost be intrusive… no such fear now!

PS: At midnight (November 10), the switch finally happened. Couldn't believe it was actually happening! It took almost 21 days. All is well with the world again... for now!

Vintage Bollywood!

Bollywood showcards are making waves at Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum. Deepali Dewan, curator of South Asian Arts and Culture talks about the importance of film art

What’s the significance of the exhibition Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s?

The Bollywood showcards are part of a long tradition of painted photographs. There are no names of recorded artists, but Nathdwara in Rajasthan was popular for the art, which was initially patronised by royalty over a hundred years ago. Later, it became accessible to everyone and the photographs were used during memorials, and even sent to suitors as part of a marriage proposal. As for Bollywood, these showcards are rare, since unlike film posters, there were only sets of four or six available for each film. It’s a miracle any have survived. Showcards were a unique form of film advertising and only found in India. They are different from the typical stills displayed in lobbies of cinema halls; film stills were pasted on to a board and painted over to create an emotional and dramatic impact.

What are your memories of Bollywood?

Surprisingly, I have few memories of Hindi films. I have a Hindu-Punjabi father and American mother and we lived in Delhi in the early 70s, where we usually watched films on television and rarely ventured into a cinema hall. When we moved to Canada, my dad brought loads of music tapes along. I grew up knowing all the songs, but minus the images to go with them and not knowing which films they were from. I was exposed to the films only in the 90s and my favourite remains Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I never thought I would be doing research based on Bollywood! It’s been great to get the reactions from people who have viewed the show; some are impressed to find these in a museum!

How did you source the showcards?

There are several collectors, but we eventually used the personal collection of Canadian Angela Hartwick, whose photographer husband is based in Mumbai. They found these showcards during a visit to Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar, and over five years, collected 200 such examples.

Tell us about your project Bollywood Hero…

It’s a commissioned billboard, 15 feet tall and 36 feet wide, and will be part of the museum’s permanent collection. The lead artist is Mumbai-based Suresh Sandal. It’s a historical exploration of the role of the hero, from the early days to the present — from Dev Anand to Shah Rukh Khan and beyond. It has a huge picture of Amitabh Bachchan from the film Deewar. It’s a handpainted history of Bollywood.

Do you believe that Bollywood is not a local but global phenomenon, and a serious one at that?

It has its fun side as being entertaining and a secret pleasure that no one admits to, although that seems to be changing. It has its roots in art and stage performances and is part of a larger cultural whole. As a researcher, I take that seriously. I also teach at the University of Toronto and ask my students to watch Bollywood films; they write about the links they find to the stories told through miniature Rajput paintings. Hindi cinema, which was renamed Bollywood only much later, was part of the international film industry from the initial years. The characters, costumes were all part of an international dialogue. Hollywood films played in Bombay, and Hindi films were submitted to film festivals abroad. We must appreciate the complexity of the Hindi film phenomenon.

Vegetarian — Or Not?

Raising a child to be vegetarian or dealing with one while one parent enjoys meat can be confusing. You enjoy your fish, while your spouse digs his veggies…or you both enjoy meat, while it makes your child queasy. How do you guide your child’s eating choices, without passing value judgements?

When Vijayluxmi Bose’s son was young, he refused to touch his meat and found fish smelly — a very difficult situation indeed for a Bengali family. He equated meat with animals and the sight of meat on his plate brought images of animals being slaughtered.

Despite pressure from well-meaning relatives and friends, Bose decided to let her son be. However, she says, “He now has eggs and occasionally kebabs. But if there’s a choice between rajma and korma, he’ll choose the former.” He’s also been explained that it may be discourteous to refuse meat as a guest at someone’s house, when veggies may be a more expensive option or when they rarely figure as part of the menu.

Parents’ Dilemma

It’s tough for parents to walk the talk when it comes to raising kids as ‘veggies’, even when the choice is made for them. A young mother, a vegetarian, shares her dilemma, “My husband is a hardcore non-vegetarian and I don’t even eat eggs, so I had my task cut out when my daughter was old enough to understand. However, we are of one opinion that she doesn’t really need to eat meat now and it will be entirely her choice once she is old enough.”

Leaving it to the child to decide may work in some cases, but is easier said than done for others. Sumita Thapar’s parents decided to allow their three children to choose to eat meat if they wished despite being vegetarians themselves. She states, “Today, two of us remain hardcore vegetarian. One of my brothers enjoys his mutton, and my little nephew counts bacon as his favourite food. Fine by all of us.”

Having a set of parents, one vegetarian, and the other ‘non-veg’, can make for a confused child. Priya Cassens rewinds to her childhood, “The child wants to emulate the parents’ eating habits and doesn’t know what to do. While Mom was vegetarian and we are vegetarians by caste, Dad had opportunities to sample meat dishes at the neighbours’, growing up in north India.

My parents never discouraged me from eating meat, but it was never really ever prepared at home and if Dad ever wanted to cook chicken occasionally, Mom asked him to use separate utensils and dishes.”

She adds, “So while I had been introduced to meat at a very early age and even liked the taste of it, I think watching my Mom not eat it, and not even like the smell of it, made me feel uncomfortable about eating meat.” While her brother grew up unreservedly relishing meat-based dishes, she chooses chicken and fish only if there isn’t “a good vegetarian alternative”.

Confusing Rules And Standards

For parents who want to ensure their children stay vegetarian, how do they explain to a child that it’s wrong to kill animals when one parent eats meat? Psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria believes there’s no perfect way to do this. She says, “The child wonders why there are different rules or standards set for him and his parent. In order to deal with this situation, you can start by telling your child that different individuals tend to follow different eating habits for different reasons.

One has learnt from childhood that eating meat is okay, however, the other has learnt that eating meat involves killing animals which is morally incorrect. You can emphasise on the positive aspects of eating vegetarian food. For instance, it’s healthier and easier to digest. Also, it is important that you focus on the eating behaviour and don’t give any labels to the parent, such as: ‘he’s doing wrong, it doesn’t mean you do it, too’.”

And, how do you deal with emotional children, once they make the connection that meat comes from animals they love reading about or see around them? Chhabria adds, “If the child is very attached emotionally to, say, a toy duck that she plays with while having a bath, you need not explain how the animal is killed and made into meat.

Also, you can give the child a scientific and nature-based explanation as to how the ecosystem maintains its balance when people eat farm food as well as animals. It’s important that the parent helps the child understand that there is no sin in eating meat.” It’s wise to allow the child to explore and take her own decision.

Is Vegetarianism Good?

Meanwhile, is a purely veggie diet good for kids? Explains Delhi-based dietician Beena Arora, “The nutritional needs of children change, as they grow. A vegetarian diet can meet a child’s nutritional needs, but only if it is well-planned. A diet rich in fruits and veggies will be high in fibre and low in fat, factors known to improve cardiovascular health by reducing blood cholesterol and maintaining a healthy weight.

If your child insists on pizzas or burgers, make it at home and include as many veggies as you can.”

She cautions, “Some of the nutrients that vegetarians should include in their diet are: vitamin B12 — present in dairy products and vitamin-fortified products like cereals and bread; vitamin D — present in citrus juices;

Calcium — dairy products, green leafy vegetables, tofu and other soy products being the rich source; Iron — whole grains, leafy green vegetables, and iron-fortified cereals, bread and Zinc — wheat germ, nuts, fortified cereal, dried beans, and pumpkin seeds.”

It’s a balancing act, in more ways than one! Ultimately, it’s a matter of choice.

http://www.speakingtree.in/view-article/Vegetarian-Or-Not

'Rama’s Mistakes Bring Him Closer To Us'

Did King Dasaratha’s weakness for his young wife Kaikeyi affect his son Rama’s choices towards his wife Sita, leading to her banishment? Did the revered prince of Ayodhya abandon the kshatriya code when he killed monkey king Vali?

In her book, Lost Loves: Exploring Rama’s Anguish, ARSHIA SATTAR talks of Rama’s conflict between multiple dharmas and the relevance of the epic today. She talks to ANURADHA VARMA about Rama and Sita’s love story gone wrong and more.

What are your earliest memories of the Ramayana? And what later attracted you to its retelling and Rama, in particular?

I first heard the story of Rama when I was a child, from my ayah who came from the hills. It’s also my first memory of fear — I was afraid that Ravana would come and take me away. My parents were always reading me stories and buying me books, especially books of myths and folk tales. So I think I entered a story-telling universe of flying monkeys and dragons and fairy queens rather early. And I stayed with it.

The Ramayana is everywhere in India — it’s like the air we breathe. So it’s not that I was attracted to it again, it was always there, somewhere. As for Rama, that’s been more recent. And I can’t say that I’m ‘attracted’ to him; it’s more like I am confused about him and so have to think about him more than I do about other characters in the story.

How much was Rama human and how much god-like? Which aspect appeals to you more and why?

I think everyone decides for themselves how human Rama was or how god-like. The human Rama is interesting because he seems closer to us. We can think about his actions in terms of our human failings and temptations and fears. We can see that he made mistakes which he deeply regretted. And that brings him close to us.

You’ve written that Dasaratha’s attitude towards Kaikeyi embarrassed Rama and affected his own relationship with Sita. Was this the root cause in his eventual detachment from Sita?

There’s a whole chapter in the book that talks about this. Yes, I think Rama was deeply affected by his father’s actions — actions which changed Rama’s life forever. Had they not been exiled into the forest, perhaps Sita would not have been taken away from him. But then, we would not have had this beautiful story, which is one of how we can lose love and what happens when we have to live without it.

What is the eternal dharma that Rama strives towards? How does this conflict with his kshatriya dharma and personal desires? Where, in all this, does Rama’s real greatness lie?

Rama renounces kshatriya dharma on three separate occasions, so it’s clear that it troubles him on many levels. It’s not simply about warriors and violence, it’s also the demands that kingship makes on a person. Rama is impressed by and attracted to the quietude of the lives of the ascetics in the forest. You could call that eternal dharma if you like.

For me, the more challenging idea is that there are multiple dharmas according to who you are and what stage of life you are in. We could also argue that Dasaratha chose to honour his dharma as a husband because he was at the end of his life as a king. Rama had to reject Sita because he was starting his life as a king. I’m not sure where Rama’s greatness lies.

For some people, he was never great. It’s for the reader or the believer to decide whether Rama is great and if so, what it is that makes him that.

What makes Sita finally leave Rama? Is it because she realises that Rama has forgotten how to love her? Is there a final irrevocable emotional distance between the two?

This is also in the book — it’s this terrible moment that gives the book its name, ‘Lost Loves’. I don’t think he’s forgotten how to love her, he has learnt to love her differently. He loves her now as a king would love his queen. Sita takes the enormous step of leaving him by entering the earth. In that sense, she gives up on the idea of their love — so yes, given that she leaves him forever, to say that there is an ‘irrevocable distance between the two’ would be an understatement!

Is the Ramayana eventually a love story? What lessons do Rama-Sita’s relationship have for us?

The Ramayana is ALSO a love story, even as it is many other things. It’s an epic; it’s a story about how to be a king. For some people, it’s a story about god acting on earth, among humans, showing what to do and what not to do. I find the Ramayana most compelling as a love story, but there’s a Ramayana for each of us. What do we learn from Rama and Sita’s relationship? We learn how hard it is for love to be constant, how hard it is to have expectations from your beloved that are not fulfilled. We also learn how vulnerable we are and how difficult it is to adjust to changes in our lives.

Do we need to challenge the notion of Rama-Sita as the eternal ideal couple?

I can’t see how a relationship that’s largely spent in separation can be ideal. Rama and Sita and their relationship are always going to be on our cultural horizon but how we regard it, whether as ideal and eternal or problematic depends on who we are. If one believes that Rama is god, then of course his relationship with his wife and others are going to be considered ideal. But if not, then we have other ways to think about the relationship, and consider what it says about our ideas of men and women in society.

http://www.speakingtree.in/view-article/Ramas-Mistakes-Bring-Him-Closer-To-Us

'We’ve forgotten Sita'

SAMHITA ARNI has authored the graphic novel, ‘Sita’s Ramayana’. In retelling the epic, she is pleasantly surprised to discover a strong, assertive and powerful Sita. She talks to ANURADHA VARMA 

What prompted your retelling the Ramayana from Sita’s point of view?

As a child abroad, the Ramayana didn’t interest me much because I didn’t find Sita interesting. When I came back to India, I found that every day, the newspaper had some reference or other to the Ramayana. The epic is still very much alive and permeates all aspects of our lives — from politics to reality television. So, of course, I got interested in the epic.

In my grandmother’s generation there were lots and lots of women called Sita; in my generation, I don’t know a single Sita. Women, obviously, don’t want to call their daughters Sita; why name their daughters after a long-suffering, abandoned, self-sacrificing wife? Women don’t want that fate for their daughters.

Yet when I started reading and discovering the other versions of the Ramayana, some had assertive, powerful, strong Sitas. For example, one version has a very interesting explanation for why Janaka required Sita’s suitors to string Shiva’s bow. When Sita was a young child, Janaka found that she had lifted the bow. So Janaka, determined, that if his daughter was so strong, he must find a man who could match her in strength, and thus he devised the swayamvara.

How do you view Sita and her journey?

I think we’ve forgotten who Sita is. Sita’s Ramayana came partly out of feeling the need to have a retelling of the Ramayana that gave Sita a voice. I think a lot of women who are single mothers, in tough situations, who are struggling to make a life for themselves in what is still very much a man’s world, can find inspiration in Sita’s courage.

We shouldn’t forget the ending of the Ramayana as it is narrated in the Valmiki and many other versions — that Sita chooses, instead of returning to Ayodhya and being Rama’s queen, to go back to where she came from — the earth. She makes a choice; she strikes out on her own. It’s a very powerful, proto-feminist choice.

How do you perceive Rama as a god and also as man, husband and father?

In the dilemmas that Rama and Sita face, we can find an echo of our own problems. There are episodes that aren’t always neat, aren’t black and white — I think they should provoke us to think, engage with the text, and ask questions. If we cease to engage with the epic, I think we start to forget what a powerful and influential story it is.

Can this be called a feminist Ramayana? The women’s anguish is portrayed well: from Mandodari’s pain to Tara’s anguish on being asked to return to former husband Sugriva and also Rama’s lashing out at Sita after his victory, when he says, “Sita, you are free. I have freed you. You can do whatever you want. Go wherever you want.”

Unfortunately, we live in a time that when you call something feminist, it immediately makes people think that it’s only for women. So I’m hesitant to call it a feminist Ramayana for that reason — I’d really like little boys to go out and read this. I hope, I’ve written it in a way that appeals to them, too. Moyna (illustrator) and I are both women, and so our own engagement with Sita and the Ramayana will be coloured by that. I think that’s what made me identify with Mandodari, Tara and Sita.

And the bit about Rama’s conversation with Sita after his victory — I’d like to clarify since many have thought that this is a feminist insertion — that’s actually taken from the Valmiki Ramayana. I met Moyna, a Patua artist; she had a really interesting take on the Ramayana that was based on the Patua folk version. The retellings from the oral tradition, which evolve and change over time and with each storyteller, interested me. Moyna’s version — from Sita’s point of view like the 16th century Bengali poetess Chandrabati's version— was interesting.

You wrote a children’s version of the Mahabharata when you were barely 12. And now, at 27, you are writing on the Ramayana. Which epic engages you more today and why?

Both epics engage me in different ways, and for different reasons. I think the Mahabharata is an epic that is always relevant — someone once said that the Mahabharata is about war, and so it is relevant to every experience of conflict. Maggi Lidchi-Grassi, whose three-volume, The Great Golden Sacrifice of the Mahabharata came out recently, draws parallels between the Mahabharata and World War II.

Dharamvir Bharati’s play on the Mahabharata, Andha Yug, is influenced by Partition. When Peter Brook dramatised and filmed the Mahabharata in the ’80s, his choice of an international cast showed that the epic is relevant to all cultures; it speaks to every experience of conflict, including Vietnam and the Cold War.

My favourite character is Karna. He’s a tragic hero, and his story and fate reveal that conflicts are always more complex and tragic, that the ideas of good and evil aren’t absolute and are very complex.The Ramayana
interests me differently. I find the innumerable versions fascinating, from shadow puppet performances to the epic versions in various languages.

The way the epic has travelled outside India and evolved in Indonesia, a Muslim country, and in Buddhist Thailand is something we often neglect. It’s a pan-Asian tradition, and the proliferation of the epic is fascinating. Every re-teller of the story has added a new nuance, and has a different perspective on the story. As for characters, I find Sita fascinating. I’m also very partial to Trijatha. All the female characters, from Kaikeyi to Urmila and Surpanakha, intrigue me.

What is your forthcoming book, ‘Searching for Sita’, about?

It’s a ‘speculative fiction feminist thriller’ which situates the Ramayana in today’s world — there are phones, Internet, 24-hour news channels, etc. The main character is a journalist, who wants to interview Sita but can’t find her, and in the process, meets all kinds of characters like Kaikeyi and travels to Lanka, Mithila, and gets into trouble. Hopefully, it should be out in 2012.

http://www.speakingtree.in/view-article/Weve-forgotten-Sita