Democratic World January 2013

7/30/2019 Democratic World January 2013

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D E M O C R A T I C W O R L D

PLUS WAREHOUSE HITCHHIKERS LOOKING BACK GOOD KARMA

ISSUE

LOOKING

BACK

Economist, politician andcelebrated journalist

Arun Shourie on faith and familyPage 12


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1DEMOCRATICWORLDJANUARY2013

TendernessInfnte Love,

THEREARE many words that may be used to

describe Arun Shourie; erudite, articulate, verbose,

and controversial. He is all that. However, he is

so much more. During our interview with one o

Indias most amiliar journalist, we askedwho

are you really? A doting slave to my son, came the

answer in a sot voice and with a steady smile.

Shourie has always taken his amilial role as his

cardinal one. He has been there or his ailing

and aged parents, and later or his parents-in-law.

Despite being one o the most high-prole politi-

cians, economists and journalists o India, it is

his amilial side that touches your heart the most

when you meet the man ace-to-ace. He has been

very vocal about his sons condition and his wies

ght with Parkinson in interviews and sel-written

articles. His account o gradually accepting his and

his amilys ate in Does He Know A Mothers Heart?is heart wrenchingbut Shourie neither seeks nor

desires your sympathy.

Read up all you might or see all his interviews,

when you are aced with the man and see his

innite tenderness, aection and love, while inter-

acting with his son, the truth in his admission o

being a slave hits you.

O course, he is a slaveas most parents are.

They are a slave to their chi lds smiles and tears

their actions governed by what is best or a child.

People refect the best o humanity oten when

they become parents as does Shourie when he

candidly talks about his lie with his son and wie.

Within Shourie remains an analysts heart. But the

re-brand personality is a more mellow today. He

is deeply introspective, but seems more content

sitting, reading and taking notes in his brown and

cozy study. Being physically closer to his amily

seems important. It was interesting to talk to the

man who changed journalism by being a part o the

Indian Express. Read his interview on Page XX.

And or the rest o the pages, see our wonderul

adventures in the most haunted places in India and

meet danseuse Sharmistha Mukherjee. The daugh-

ter o the President o India, Pranab Mukherjee,

charmed us with her humility, humour and hones-

ty. See how the nations most high-prole daughter

eels about her ather.

Finally, a very good year to you. Whats on yourDWwishlist? Do write to us and le t us know.

DEMOCRATIC

BYTE

EDIT ORIALSONICA MALHOTRA KANDHARI |[email protected]

This is not a democracy

at all, it is disarray. I have

often described it as

such... I have written that

viewing the Parliament is

like watching a very

elongated, slow funeral

rites of an institution

ARUN SHOURIE:


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2 DEMOCRATICWORLD JANUARY2013

COVER STORY

12 | A Series oHappy Incidents

Journalist, economist, and author ArunShourie on faith, family and politics

12

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S |J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 3

COPYRIGHTDemocratic Worldis published & printed by M Gulab Singh & Sons(a unit of MBD Group) at Gulab Bhawan 6, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi110002, India and printed at Perfect Printers Gulab Bhawan 6, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg, New Delhi 110002, India. Democratic Worldis for private circulation only.Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the writtenpermission of M Gulab Singh & Sons.

Please RecycleThis MagazineAnd Remove

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TOCRHYTHMOF LIFESHARMISTHA

MUKHERJEE

A DANSEUSE,

MUKHERJEE TALKS

OF HER FATHER,

PRESIDENT PRANAB

MUKHERJEE, KATHAK

AND ALL THINGS INBETWEEN

VIVEK BHANDARI

26 | DEMOCRACY ATTHE MARGINSAcknowledging highland

systems of governance

C

O

VER

D

ESIG

N

B

Y

HARIDAS

BALAN

|

P

H

O

TO

B

Y

M

ANSA

SIDDHARTHA VAIDYANATHAN

34 | MASTER BLASTERBIDS ADIEU:The Worldsurvived the Apocalypse, but

can India survive Sachins

retirement?


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22 | Engaging Rockstar Employees

Can you spot the celebrity worker in theofce and use her to the frms advantage?

SOCIAL AGENDA

REGULARS

01| EDITORIAL

06 | UP-TO-DATE

10| FOREIGN DESPATCHES

28| LOOKING BACK

38| READING ROOM

48| STICKY NOTES22

GOOD KARMA WAREHOUSE GARNISH HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE

36 | THE LONE GRAMWHO BUST THE OVENKaushlendra Kumar is all

set to revolutionise the

Bihar veggie market

40 | GADGETS &GIZMOS GOLDGENIEIPHONE 5 All that glittersis gold in this sectionand

frightfully expensive

42 | SERVED WITHNOSTALGIA Chef ManishMehrotra is trying to revive

the lost ingredients with his

eccentric style

45 | A TALE OF RUSTICHAUNTINGWelcome to Bhangarh, the

spookiest Indian town. Two

mad men made a visit...

ISSUE

31 | QUOTA; THE REAL PICTURE

Debating reservation inpromotion in government jobs

31


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RAHUL GANDHI

Potato chips are sold at`10 a pack. So why oppose

FDI in retail?

per centcap set on

investmentproposed

FDI in Retail GetsNod in Both HousesKerala CM to Oppose FDI in State

FDI\\ The Centre managed to pass the FDI in retailquite comortably in both houses o the Parliament in

December. As seen by the UPA government, this win

will give llip to implement economic reorm agenda

seen as crucial to revitalising growth and slashing a

swollen scal decit. The policy will open paths or

oreign supermarkets to come into the country. It will

acilitate global retailers, such as Wal-Mart, to estab-

lish shops in the countrys $450 billion retail sector,

and is targeted at attracting more overseas investment

and controlling infation.

On the other hand, the BJP continued to protest

the proposal. The BJP wants a 26 per cent cap set oninvestment, which was recommended by the stand-

ing committee on nance, against the governments

proposed 49 per cent. Alleging the Congress-led UPA

government won the FDI vote in Parliament by using

CBI pressure on some parties, Aam Aadmi Party

leader Arvind Kejriwal said the decision should have

been taken through a reerendum. The FDI in retail

should have been decided through a reerendum. The

way the parties have behaved in Parliament was very

unortunate, Kejriwal told mediapersons on the side-

lines o Pan-IIT global meet.

49

THEYSAID

IT

UPtoDATE

On the war path: India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal


6/45

up-to-dateFROM AROUND THE WORLD //


RETIREMENT\\ The 37-year-old ormer Australian

Captain, Ricky Ponting, announced his retirement

rom cricket in December 2012. Ponting announced

his decision at the conclusion o the third Test match

against South Arica. But he agreed to play or Tasma-

nia and represent Hobart Hurricanes in 2013 in the

Big Bash League, Australias T20 tournament.

Speculation had surrounded Pontings uture over

the past ew days ater he ailed in Brisbane and

Adelaide against South Arica, scoring 0, 4, and 16.

Its a decision I thought long and hard about. At the

end o the day, it was about my results and output in

this series, said the Launceston-born batsman. I

you look back over the past 18 months, I havent beenable to perorm consistently. Noting that he had rst

discussed his retirement with his

wie, the ormer

captain admitted

to the diculty

involved in

breaking the

news to his

teammates.

I tried to tell

them a lot, but I

didnt get much

out. Theyve

never seen me

emotional,

but I was

this morn-

ing.

Indias Hockey League, A New Beginning:December marked a new chapter inIndian hockey with 120 players fndingbuyers at the Hockey India Leagueplayers auction, in which star midfelderSardar Singh etching the highest priceo $78,000 (`42,90,000) rom DelhiWaveRiders.

HOCKEY

Pandit Ravi Shankar, SirPatrickMoore No More Icons leave a gap inhearts o millions

Punter Retires LeavingGap in Aussie Cricket

DEMISE\\ The world mourned the demise o sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar who

breathed his last on December 12, 2012. Shankar was 92. Ravi Shankar was born

in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group

o his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing

under court musician Allauddin Khan. Ater nishing his studies in 1944, Shankar

worked as a composer, creating the music or the Apu Trilogyby Satyajit Ray, and

was music director o All India Radio, New Delhi, rom 1949 to 1956. In 1956,

he began to tour Europe and the Americas playing Indian classical music and

increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, perormance, and his

association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and rock artist George Harrison. Shan-

kar was awarded Indias highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999.

Astronomer, television personality, British eccentric and a great populariser o sci-

ence, Sir Patrick Moore also passed away in December. In his capacity as an astron-

omer, Moore had helped map the moon and was or more than hal a century until

his death the presenter o BBC TVs The Sky at Night, missing only a single episode

through illness, in July 2004.

The Fallen Stars: (From left)Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sir Patrick Moore

TEARFULFAREWELL


7/45

up-to-date\\ FROM AROUND THE WORLD


Shooter in US SchoolKills 20Children Young Gunmans Motiveunknown

CARNAGE\\ A gunman named by Connecti-

cut Police as Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed

his mother Nancy Lanza at their home in

Newtown, an afuent town o 27,000 people

about 60 miles north-east o New York City

and then went to his ormer school, Sandy

Hook Elementary School to go on a kill-

ing rampage where he

shot 20 children and six

adults at close range in

December.

It is still not clear why

Lanza killed his mother

who was a school

teacher, but Connecti-cut education ocials

say that have ound no

links between her and

Sandy Hook Elemen-

tary School, which has

about 700 pupils aged between ve and 10.

Lanza was dressed in black atigues and

was carrying an assault rife, which police

say was the main weapon used during the

shooting, as well as two handguns loaded

with high-capacity magazines. Police say a

ourth weapon, a shotgun, was later ound

in his car parked outside the school. About

9:30am, Lanza shot his way into the school,

as children hid in classrooms during the

shooting. Newtown police were notied o

shooting at the school over their radios at

09:36am. Most students were saved by the

sta and teachers. One

school employee ran

through halls warning o

a gunman on the loose,

and someone switched

on the intercom, alerting

people in the building to

the attack by letting themhear the mayhem in the

school oce. A survivor

said the gunshots sound-

ed like pots and pans

alling to the foor. Teach-

ers locked their doors and ordered children

to huddle in a corner or hide in cupboards

as shots echoed through the building. Con-

necticut medical examiner Dr H Wayne

Carver said on Saturday that the seven dead

children he personally examined had been

shot between three and 11 times each, and

two o those were shot at close range. The

bullets are designed in such a ashion that

the energy is deposited in the tissue and so

the bullet stays in, he added.

Authorities allege that the shooting

lasted a ew minutes and took place in two

rooms. At 9.38am a police dispatcher radi-

oed that there was There is silence at this

time. The school is in lock down. Fearul

that the gunman could still be at large,

police swarmed into the building, breaking

windows to enter at several points. As o-

cers searched and secured the woods sur-

rounding the school, inside the building,ocers ound 18 children and six adults

shot dead, including principal Dawn Hoch-

sprung, 47. Two more children later died

rom their wounds.

The latest shooting to happen in Ameri-

can schools shook the entire nation. As

parents and amilies resorted to prayers,

reports o bravery also poured in. The

police, who did not re their weapons dur-

ing the search, ound the body o Lanza,

who appeared to have killed himsel.

We cannottolerate these(incidents) anymore. These

tragedies mustend

Barack Obama

Map (left)An arieal view of the Sandy Hook Elementary School

Mourning (below)Communities mourn the victims of the

carnage


8/45

up-to-dateFROM AROUND THE WORLD //


Indias Humiliating Ousterfrom OlympicsOUSTER\\ India was de-

recognised by the Inter-

national Olympic Com-

mittee on December 4,

ironically in the year it

basked in the glory o

its best Olympic medal

haul. IOC cited contra-

vention o its charter and

statutes or the extreme

step. The Olympic

OLYMPICS

TWITTER LOSES ITS COOL

OVER SHEILA DIKSHIT `600

REMARKcharter, last amended in

2011, says there should

be no government inter-

erence in the election

process o sports bodies.

The Indian Olympic

Association ollows the

government sports code

o 2010. It is alleged that

central to the suspension

story is veteran sports

administrator Randhir

Singhs battle or the

IOA presidents post

against Haryana politi-

cian Abhay Chautala. It

was alleged that Chau-

tala lobbied to reduce

Randhirs vote to a

minority in the run-up to

the IOA election and got

elected unopposed.

SALT&PEPPER

CHESS\\ Chess legend Viswanathan Anand was chosen as the CNN IBN Indian o

the Year 2012 in sports category or deending his title or the third year in a row.

Other nominees were billiards ace Pankaj Advani or claiming eight world titles

at an age o just 26 years, shuttler Saina Nehwal or winning Indias rst Olympic

medal in badminton and our titles on the circuit that saw her regain her no-3

world ranking, wrestler Sushil Kumar or becoming the rst Indian individual

athlete to win back-to-back medals at the Olympic, shooter Vijay Kumar or deci-

mating some big names on his way to winning a Silver at the London Olympics

and Virat Kohli or cementing his status as the next big name in Indian cricket. In

December, Anand nished his campaign with a draw against Magnus Carlsen o

Norway in the ninth and nal round o London Chess Classic.

Anand Chosen as CNNIBNs Indiano the Year or Second Time

You never know, you may

see a launch of`

600 notewith a portrait of SheilaDixit instead of Mahatma GandhiKeh Ke Peheno @coolfunnytshirt | Twitterati

New name for Sheila Dixitshud be CheSou Sheila,after that 600-wala remark,

sounds quite nice, very European too#watsay.Ratnakar Sadasyula @ScorpiusMaximus | Twitterati

The master at playGrandmaster Viswanathan Anand

Haha classic! @ashwin-mushran: Its Mondaymorning...Has SheilaDixit spent her familys`600 already? THE

NATION NEEDS TO KNOWAtul kasbekar @atulkasbekar | Photographer

`600/month to feed fam-ily of 5-Dixit.Well, she isright. A Parle-G comes at`5

& it contains all ingredients for bodyChaoster @Inglorious_Engg | Twitterati

Dixit says`600/monthenough.Wish she was coachof England; shed have

thought a lead of 60 enough for decla-ration.Faking News | Satire Website


9/45

foreign despatches


\\ NOTES FROM THE DIASPORA

I have maps withevery chapter so

people know suchplaces exist

I GREW UP in a joint amily surrounded by siblings and cousins.

It was a very liberal household with no discipline o any kind.

Such was the case that when we needed money, we just took it,

we never had to ask. Unlike other amilies, academics werent

all that important in mine, but debates and elocutions were.

Those who have grown up in joint amilies will know that it is a

completely dierent experience; a joint amily makes you tough,

it makes you a survivor. It teaches you how to beat competition,

especially i it is about grabbing hold o that last piece o momo.

So my childhood was beautiul, spent is small and happy place

Gangtok, Sikkim. Ater nishing school, I let or the US, to do

my graduation in Communications, and later joined The Village

Voice as their marketing executive.

The Village Voice at that time had become one o those papers

which had a great past, but today, was clinging to its ormer

glories. I was into advertising and as a part o the job I would

be invited to a lot o parties, which was a antastic thing or a 21year old. Advertising, as we know it, is a numbers game; as long

as you are getting them clients, they will be happy with you. Now

it so happened that the person whos cubical I took, was there

in the company or a very long time. I had her phone and the

calls kept coming. I didnt really have to go out to get contracts.

So lie was wonderul. I would claim I had appointments and

go see movies all day, or read at Barnes and Nobles. This went

on or quite some time, but in the end such a lie seems good

or a while, but then you start questioning yoursel. And that is

why I quit, I ound mysel questioning every day, i this is what I

would be doing when I was 35. I was looking into the mirror with

sel loathing. My decision to quit was very impulsive, but I had

to take it. Ater quitting, I decided to travel a bit, see the world.

I travelled across India with my college roommate. We started

rom Delhi, took the train to Bombay then to Goa, then we went

to Calcutta, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Kathmandu and ater that we

went to Agra and then nally to Delhi, and then he let and I had

nothing to do. One o the good things about the trip was that we

were constantly writing, he was maintaining his blogs to stay in

touch with his amily and I was writing Facebook Notes. These

were very irreverent tongue-and-cheek Facebook notes about my

experiences in the dierent cities. Youd think that nobody would

pay attention to such trivia, but surprisingly people liked my writ-

ing. The kind o support that came my way was really overwhelm-

ing. And I understand that it is Facebook, but the kind o peoplewho praised my writing were the ones whose writings I had

respected all my lie. All these people said that I could chronicle

my experiences and make them into a book. Well, while I did

not pay much attention to these comments, the idea somehow

had stuck by me. Soon ater my roommate let I went to Manali,

I didnt want to go to Gangtok, because everyone there would be

ready with a number o questions.

In Manali I stayed at a very small place called the Raj Guest-

house, which cost `200 a day and did not provide hot water. I

wrote my rst short story there, called Let The Sleeping Dogs Lie.

In Manali, the environment wasnt exactly conducive or writ-

PRAJWAL

PARAJULY

Gangtok,Sikkim

PRAJWAL PARAJULY is theauthor o the short storycollection The Gorkha'sDaughter. He graduatedrom Truman StateUniversity in Kirksville,Missouri and later joinedThe Village Voice astheir marketing executive.Parajuly is the youngestwriter signed by Quercus,and also the youngestIndian to achieve amulti-national book deal.

Newspapers across SouthAsia, notablyThe Timesof India, have laudedParajuly's early work, whileother media outlets arereerring to him as the nextbig thing in South Asianfction.


10/45

foreign despatches


NOTES FROM THE DIASPORA //

ing. There were quite a

ew Israeli people partying

everywhere. When I went

there I thought that I can

never get any work done.

But then, I think, I went

into a zone and just wrote a

very rough drat o the story.

This was surprising becauseI am one o those writers

who do not know how to

zone out. I think I do know

that when an inspiration

strikes, I should not let it

go. And that is what hap-

pened in Manali, I wrote or

17 hours a day. Ater strug-

gling in Manali, I decided to

head back to Gangtok where

there was hot water, good

ood and the comort o my

room. While in Gangtok, I

managed to write around

our to ve stories.

My rst story was based in Kalimpong, then there were a ew

based in Darjeeling. Ater writing the rst ew stories, I had

made the decision o writing about Nepalese people everywhere

and make the world aware about the Nepalese culture, which is

beautiul. We all know how ignorant people are o the Northeast.

When you open my book, you will notice that I have maps o

places beore every story. This is to make people aware that these

places exist. I had gone to Nepal a ew years back with my mother

or Dasain (Dussera) estival. I had heard about the International

Organisation or Migration building rom people. There arecamps in Nepal or the Bhutanese reugees, Bhutan has kicked

out 10,6000 Nepalese people rom the country. Because I was in

Nepal, I decided to visit the place and carried a notebook with

me. I spoke to the reugees and recorded their stories. Almost

all o them had the same story. They spoke about the acres they

had let behind to live in a dilapidated place. I knew I had a story

in hand, and this one was more o a journalistic piece than any

other I have ever written. When I wrote the rst drat o this story

it read like a research paper. I had to work really hard to make i t

look like a story.

When I started writing this book, I knew nothing about the

world o literature. I did not know that there was no market or short

stories; I did not know who agents were or how things worked. In

act, in the beginning I was just penning down stories, the decision

to compile them into a book came much later. And since then the

journey has been serendipitous. I am a very lucky person. Know,

however, that writing short stories was dicult and challenging. At

a psychological level, the book had moments when I was just star-

ing at the computer screen unable to write anything. Even i the

strong urge to write was there, I knew I wasnt writing what I wantedto. Initially, when such a thing happened, I would be troubled and

would keep thinking about it. But then ater a while, I started giving

mysel a break. I would read a book, watch mindless lms, and then

somehow ater two or three weeks, I would get back. This is how I

have nished the book.

But like I said, I have been very lucky. To be honest, in India we

have a habit o over embracing people. Look at Sunita Williams,

she is not even Indian or Gods sake, but the amount o embrac-

ing she receives in India is overwhelming. Same has happened

to me. But to think o it, while we are so appreciative o certain

things, we have been extremely dismissive o so many other

things. Take or instances, our own vernacular literature. I used

to be fuent in Nepalese at one time, but now I cant even write

properly. Unortunately, we belong to a generation that would be

embarrassed to make a grammatical error in English but would

brag about making one in Hindi. The colonial hangover is so

ingrained in us that we have stopped paying heed to regional lit-

erature. But the ault also lies in the way the regional languages are

being taught to us. In order to save these languages rom dying,

we need to remove the chota Es and bada Es rom the language,

and make it a little simpler. Which would be the equivalent o not

using a possessive beore a gerund. We dont say my being there

we say me being there. May be this way, the language will be able

to connect with the younger generation.

By now, I think I have made it pretty clear that I am a very indis-ciplined writer. And I do not deserve the praise that I have been

getting; in act I nd it very intimidating. I have spent days think-

ing that ater all this hype, i people dont like what I have written,

will they be like, all this hype or nothing? Thank heavens that

the books got a good review and critics, have been generous. And

I am grateul not just or the reviews, but also or the labels that

have been given to me, such as the next big thing in South Asian

Fiction. In all honesty, these are things that you eel smug about

in private and eign embarrassment in public, but ater a while you

need to break away rom such labels, beore they start getting to

you. As told to Manjiri Indurkar

We belong toa generation

that would beembarrassed tomake an errorin English, but

would brag

about makingone in Hindi.The colonialhangover is

so ingrainedthat we dont

pay heedto regional

literature


11/45

cover story\\ THE MELLOW MAN



12/45

A Seriesof Happy

Accidents

BY ROHINI BANERJEE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MANSA | DESIGN BY HARIDAS BALAN

Arun Shourie occupies a complicatedspace in the minds of millions. He isundoubtedly an editor par excellence,who stood up to the Emergency, exposedBoors and had Chie Minister Antulaysacked. He is a deender o human rightswho campaigned or 40,000 undertrials.He is a man o unquestionable fnancialhonesty. It is precisely why when Shourieopens his mouth, people hear him out.

cover storyTHE MELLOW MAN//



13/45

There is however, a logic as to why, loved or

loathed, it is dicult to ignore Shourie. Beore

sting operations became a bad word, in the 1970s

and 1980s, Shourie was the man behind some o the

journalism-dening exposes o India. When he was

the executive editor in the Indian Express, Ashwini

Sarin, an Express journalist, bought a Tribal woman

or a ew pieces o silver. Her name was Kamala and

the story shook India to its core. Another scribe

Arun Sinhainvestigated a series o incidents

in Bihar jails where yet-to-be-convicted inmates

had acid poured into their eyes or had their eyes

poked by needles by lawmen. That was the serieso Bhagalpur Blindings and Express carried a series

o close-ups o the victims eyes to drive home the

point. The two incidents were not exactly Shouries

exposes, but were brought under the spotlight under

his editorial stint. The man in question was directly

involved in the uncovering o the Antolay Scam,

he was a part o the Gundu Rao interview, he was

actively involved in the deeat o the Deamation Bill

(which came into the ocus thanks to him).

Shourie is known or his scathing criticism o

Christianity and Islam, which has given him the

here is a third wheel in the romance between the ourth estateand the journalistskepticism. It enters our lives uninvited.

Journalists overhear much, believe in too little and see even

less o value. In an ideal scenario, a journalist learns how peers

perceive an interviewee, whether ofce peons hate him and

whether his driver is paid on time, even beore he learns the

address o the man he is about to meet. A clean slate is difcult

in a world o small details and the internet. Especially i oneis about to talk to a man called Arun Shourie, who occupies

an ambiguous space in the minds o millions in modern India,

anyway. He has been described as a right ideologue and a liberal

crusader; in the same breath by people who like and loathe

him at the same time. He is a man who evokes the strongest o

emotions in hearts o the gentlest o creatures on this planet;

journalists. (Yes, sarcasm.)


label o being a right ideologue. It would have been

easy to dismiss Shourie i he was just that. Shourie

has also penned a series o texts examining his own

religion and aith. Today, he occupies a complicated

space. He is undoubtedly an editor par excellence,

who stood up to the Emergency, exposed Boors and

had Chie Minister Antulay sacked. He is a man o

unquestionable nancial honesty. It is why when he

opens his mouth and spews venom (he does it ever

so oten in guileless rage), people hear him out.

Tabula Rasa

Back to the rst ideajournalists and theiroverwhelming inormation baggage; despite labels

(some spot-on, and others, exaggerated), Shourie

willingly embraces one. Asked to choose between

his avatars (a routine question that journalists are

ond o, like the weight-and-blood pressure checks

beore medical examinations), he emphasises

that he is rst a doting slave to his son. And

he is a dutiul husband, son and a son-in-law.

Then, depending upon his stint as Indias activist-

journalist, columnist, economist or politician, he

accepts all labels and enjoys them. He calls his lie


14/45

Shourie calls RamnathGoenka his pillar

HISPILLAR

a series o happy accidents

and one trauma. The rst o the

happy accidents was being born,

the second was meeting his wie through

mutual aunts. The third was meeting Ramnath

Goenka, who took him under his wings and into

Indian Express.

Goenka is someone who Shourie does not hesitate

to call his pillar. His second pillar is the ormer

BJP supremo, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. I was with

the Tata Administrative Services, the management

cadre o Tata Group. That stint lasted or three

months ater which I received an oer rom theWorld Bank (WB). I resigned rom WB as I wished

to be closer home and work on Indian problems,

which the bank disallowed. I came back to India

anyway. It was during the Emergency. Here, I met

Congress President and Minister or Petroleum, Mr

Dev Kant Barua who oered a post as an economic

adviser. But a amous economist o those times, Mr

Sukumar Chakraborty, thought my stint with WB

had watered my socialist sentiments. The only job

opportunity I had, was lost due to what Chakraborty

thought, Shourie reminisces with a gentle chuckle.

Thus a jobless, soon-to-be-poor Shourie packed his

bags (yet again) and let with great reluctance with

wie Anita or the USthe country they had quit

months ago to be home.

It was a stroke o luck that I came to know JP

Nayak, the member-secretary o ICSSR, who sent

a message and asked me to write a proposal

any proposal. I wrote one and qualied or the

Homi Bhaba Fellowship. Finally, I could come

home. Both he and I knew why I was really

back; to write pamphlets and articles against the

Emergency. When the Emergency got over, I was

again jobless. The days o Homi Bhaba Fellowship

were also coming to an end. As luck would haveit, I met Mr Goenka who told me ater a meeting,

main Mulgaonkar-ko (S. Mulgaonkar, editor,

Indian Express) bolunga tumhe koi achhasa naam

(designation) dey de. Tumoce aajao.

The Emergency turned out to be quite the

tumultuous time or Shourie. I had heard o him

(Goenka). His paper had been taken over and he

was still putting up a ght. Mr Radhakrishnan, who

was at that time the secretary o the Gandhi Peace

Foundation, had just come out o Tihar jail. I wanted

to know about the condition o the inmates and

The Magicof 26 Tomes

Arun Shourie; A

timeline of his books1978 Symptoms o Fascism

1980 Institutions in the JanataPhase

1987 Religion in Politics

1990 Individuals, Institutions,Processes

Are We Deceiving OurselvesAgain?

Eminent Historians

1991 Only Fatherland

1993 Indian Controversies

1996 Missionaries in India

1997 The State As Charade

1998 Freedom o expression; SecularTheocracy Versus Liberal Democracy

1998 Hindu Temples; What Happenedto Them

2001 Harvesting our Souls

2001 Secular Agenda; For Saving OurCountry or Welding It

Governance and the Sclerosis That HasSet In 2005

2001 Courts and Their Judgments

2007 Parliamentary System

2011 Does He Know A Mothers Heart?

2012 Falling Over BackwardsThese Lethal, Inexorable LawsWill the Iron Fence Save a Tree Hollowed

by Termites?World o atwas / The Shariah in ActionWorshipping FalseWhere Will All These Take Us?

November 2, 1941 born to parents ather Hari Dev Shourieand mother Dayawanti Devasher


15/45

went to meet him. He was a large man. While I was

talking to him an elderly person entered the room.

Arre Fatty! How are you Fatty? They both seemed

to be on great terms. Ater a while, Radhakrishnan

asked me i we knew each other. When we both

shook our heads, Radhakrishnan seemed bemused.

Arrey bhaiyya!you were asking me about the man

who is putting up a ght through his newspaper.

This is that man. And Goenka this is your young

man, Arun Shourie, who you were asking about.

Mr Goenka allegedly said, Kya Fatty ke pass baithe

ho, tumoce aajao.

During the same period Shourie was to meet his

second pillar: Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mrs Gandhi

declared her plans or an election on the evening o

December 18, 1977. Immediately I was sent o to

Patna to write JPs (Jayaprakash Narayan) statements

on the impending elections. There I met severalleaders and sat down to write the maniesto o the

Janta Party. And I met Atalji. during a brie meeting

in which George Verghese and I were given the task

o collating data.

Shouries later stint as the Member o the Rajya

Sabha was equally serendipitous; it happened thanks

to the then BJP President, Kushabhau Thackeray.

I received a call rom Kushabhau one day. He

introduced himsel as Kushabhau, and I replied

as yes sir, how could I be o service? He repeated,

this is Kushabhau Thackeray. I repeated mysel.

Thats when he nally introduced himsel; this is

Kushabhau Thackeray, the President o the BJP. I

was such a small ry and had never spoken to him.

I could not place him at rst. Kushabhauji called

me to the party oce. I had to ask or direction and

address (10, Ashoka Road). At the oce, he said that

my name was chosen by party people or a Rajya

Sabha nomination. Would you like to join the party,

he asked? I said yes, promptly. As a young man,

Shourie did not have a voters registration card also

when he was made the oer.

The Fourth Estate

While the politician Shourie is a veritablebook o inormation, dates and names, it is the

editor Shourie who is a delight or o his candid

conessions. I tted in with Mr Goenka and

reporters and sta. I am araid I cant say the same

about the editors, he admits about his stint with a

chuckle. The reason I may not have gotten along

with the editors was because o the way I wrote.

(A act acknowledged by Vinod Mehta in his book

Lucknow Boyin which he admits to not seeing eye-

to-eye with Shourie on several occasions but admits

that when the latter wrote, people read). In those

days certainly, there used to be a British inspired

habit o making elliptical understatements (laughs).

Surprisingly, at the end o the day, Mulgaokarwho

was not so ond o mewas more supportive than

many others, says Shourie.

Today, the ormer editor remains troubled by

the relationship between the ourth estate and

its subjects. The sector is based on a completely

incestuous relationship. Stories are not pursued,

not enough. Look at the case o the 2G Scam. Not

many newspapers took it up wholeheartedly. It was

only Gopikrishnan (J. Gopikrishnan, editor, Pioneer)

who, or two years, pursued the case with dedication.

Dailies dismissed all o it as a corporate ght.

Another spot o bother: the increasing

corporatisation o the media space which Shourie

got to witness rst-hand years ago. Editors have

been sidelined. A pioneering part was played by

Sameer Jain, who was a reason why I quit TOI. It

was no newspaper but became a sarkari system.

His ather was still around when a younger Sameer

would come into the oce. His attitude was that

an editor and a bureau were incidental. He didntwish to see political news on the ront page. He

questioned why an Oped page was being placed

right in the middle o the newspaper. He created

a situation. Unortunately, other papers began to

ollow suit. There were editors who succumbed

to him; he would call them to his oce to ll up

birthday cards. Many answered to his ancies.

Indian Parliamentary SystemThough on most part Shourie is like the avourite

uncle who indulges the blunderings o a newbie



I ftted inwith MrGoenka andreporters. I

cant say thesame aboutthe editors.Surprisingly,Mulgaokarwas moresupportivethan others


16/45

scribe, it is when he talks o politics that

he becomes bit o the proessor-meets-the-

historian. Dates and years are important, as

are names. And he has a habit o dropping

them, taking knowledge o it or granted.

Flattering? Yes. Frightening? Yes.

It (Indian Parliamentary system) has

become like a single-party rule. It is just a

little drama staged or tomorrows headlines.

Everyone knows that their time will come as

well when they will get to wield the sword

and get avours. The ruckus raised is or

non-issues and silence is maintained or

real ones, he says ater a while. Media and

politics are circular themes or Shourie

and he hops between the two during the

conversation.

When you get the Assembly adjourned,

who does it help? It helps a guilty person.

Story comes out o a certain ministers

son landing in a spot o trouble over the

question o unair land acquisition. For two

days, instead o discussing that issue, theParliament remains adjourned over cartoons

published 20 years ago. The argument is the

inconvenience o the moment that you give

as your great rationalisation or destroying

and undermining a great institution that all

sides give, says Shourie with the glimpse

o the re-brand thinker who has not shied

away rom slamming the party that he

belonged to.

This is not a democracy at all, it is

disarray. I have oten described it as such.

An Editors ChoiceRapid Fire | Arun Shourie

cover storyTHE MELLOW MAN//


Your favourite job?

Whatever was at hand was the best.

Who are your mentors?

Lie is the mentor. And certainly my wie

and my child.

One time when you really learnt?

A great expansion o onces awareness

was in the US where I went or my doctoralstudies. I still remember when I went there,

I visited the library or the rst time, here

I was in this enormous building with ve

to six foors and I remember asking the

librarianwhere are the books?

And she laughed and said that they are

all over, everywhere. There were two base-

ments. I remember talking a ew hours to

look around.

Finally, I took out two three books and

then cautiously asked whether I could take

one or two home? How many could I take

back with me? She laughed again and

said as many as I could carry. It was a new

thing. Here those books would have been inthe rare book section and I could not touch

them, leave alone borrow them.

At the examinations we could bring all

the books that we wanted. They were eight-

hour-long examinations, rom morning till

late evening. The questions were such that

no book could help you.

Tell us about St Stephens.

The riendships ormed at Modern School,

Barakhamba, got cemented in college.

Many o us went together to college. And

remained a group.

What do you think of constructed religion?

Some work, some dont. Buddhism is a

constructed religion and it makes sense

to me.

What is your legacy?

Legacy is a very big word. Once, an editor o

Surya said you dont know what you taught

us; you taught to look or acts and read

documents. I I have to believe that I havelet a ootprint then let that be it.

How were you as a child?

I learnt to raise my voice at school and I

remember being severely punished or

being very, very argumentative. A riend

o mine, Suresh Malhotra, and I would be

punished the most. Stand in the corner.

Kneel downall those sort o things. I

remember our Hindi teacher, Mr Ved Vyas,

would say that I have never met a person

who asks as many questions as you do.

Who were some of the people who you

met during your school days who left an

impact?

My ather was a well-known and innovative

civil servant. Thanks to his PILs now you

have new laws. Our parents were our con-

stant presence. It wasnt just them, but also

the wonderul school that we went to that

deeply impacted us. The principal used to

call peopleGandhijis secretary Pyarelalji,

Punditji and Dr Radhakrishnan, when we

were children. The interest in public aairs

was because o my ather. For all o us in

middle school the Emergency was a great

catalyst. Then there was Jayaprakashji.

His Firsts: (Below) The Modern

School Barakhamba where

he frst raised a voice. (Let)

Ramnath Goenkaa mentor.


17/45

For the past 20 years, I have written that viewing

the Parliament is like watching a very elongated,

slow uneral rites o an institution. Perhaps it is an

Indian way o discarding a Parliamentary system in

avour o a Presidential system. Look at the States.

Is there a Parliamentary system in it? We have now

come at a place where perhaps the Assembly system

will be discarded in avour o a Presidential one.

This adversarial politicsjust a singular aspect

o democratic politicshas been carried out to a

arcical level. Whatever you say I would shout at

it. I will block anything you say or do; that is not

how Assemblies work. Can a country be run like

this where two parties block each other citing each

others example o who did what and when?

Ask Shourie and he will tell you that the State

o India is the dead hand. The society is moreinnovative and resilient, and the government should

stop interering so much in the day-to-day aairs. By

society I do not mean the civil society in the sense

that Kejriwal and gang are suggestingthey are just

appropriating a name. I am talking o the society o

India. People say that I am an elitist. To a certain

extent they are right; I am a strong believer in

elitism. When I say elitism I mean meritocracy. You

cant have high sciences being done by everyone.

Governance can not be perormed by the aam admi

on the street. It is a atal allacy in this country to

think that people (MPs) should be representative

o the people. So when we say 30 per cent o the

people are illiterate, should 30 per cent o the

MPs be illiterate as well? People dont read books,

so MPs should not either? Governance requires

specialisation and expertise. There is a wonderul

phrase by (Thomas) Jeerson that governance is the

job o the aristocracy o talent and virtue. Perhaps,

this is the reason why I am against reservation.

Yes, the marginalised should get all the help they

deserve, but when the race starts everyone should be

equal. My statements are no refection on the innatecapacity o the people. Hal the jobs, promotions

should be reserved? Not really.

Yet another space where Shourie believes in

meritocracy is the Indian higher education. The

talk soon reverts towards it. I know that Kapil

Sibal makes a great many announcementsboth




18/45

in higher education and telecommunications. He

has quite a ew good ideas. We should use ICT

(inormation and communication technologies)

to overcome the short come in higher education.

There was a lecture that I had given in the IIT which

was later compiled into a book (We Must Have No

Price, Indian Express). In which I had argued the

same. We are ar rom promoting meritocracy in

the sector. It is one sector where Licence Quota Raj

is being continued. The bogey o privatisation is

being raised, actually the people who are shouting

against privitisatisation are those who have set up

institutes and colleges and are collecting capitation

We talk the talk o demographic dividend. The

words are phrases. All o it depends on what we do;

ater all they can become a millstone. Parents spend

money on higher education. And then when the

youth is all educated, he or she does not have a job,

because at the end o the day we need millions o

jobs to make a success o the demographic dividend.

I you create good opportunities in India, I know

that people will come back to their country not or

the salaries, but because he wishes to be home.

Shourie: The AuthorShourie has penned 26 books. He is in process o

writing his latest one. As we spoke we sat in his

expansive study. It was one o the prettiest room

with innumerable shelves adorning most o the

walls. An open terrace right at the ront lent a perect

light. The total eect was serene and calm which

tted the languorous aternoon quite well. However,

the talk mismatched the languid eect o the entire

scene. Beore the interview, I was politely inormed

that he was not going to talk about the BJP, because

it atigues him. And at the end o the interview, as

he leant back on his armchair, he opened up about

it as well. Truly we were not there to talk about party

politicswe were there to talk to one o the most

prolic authors and a Magasaysay-award winning

editor. When I happened to share the prospect o apossible interview with the man who had redened

Indian journalism, I was asked to quiz him on how

he chooses his books titles. Some o them happen

to have really weak ones. However, most o them are

staggeringly meticulous. They are like knives that

prise open dicult areas o thought. His critics call

his work structurally weak and that he ts evidence

to a preconceived thesis. However, it is dicult to

wave aside words that pour out o him. Especially

when they come rom deep within his heart. One

such book; Does He Know A Mothers Heart?comes

ees. They dont want competition,

higher standards. We must have

the best companies set up private

institutions. There should be a

movement towards de-aliation,

especially as ar as the IITs, IIMs

and better colleges are concerned.

Best institutions are not aliated.

They are known by their alumni.

Best companies, committed to

excellence should set it up

liberate themselves rom the salary

scale and bring in experts.

His other ideas involve a

higher scale o remunerationor proessors and teachers.

The question is not whether a

proessor needs it, but the act

that he deserves it. Universities

should be encouraged to raise their

own unds rom the alumni. Not

many people would be ocused on

a university as an alumni would,

they are the secrets behind the

success o the Ivy League Varsities

in the States.

The difcult bit was when I sat down to write about Gandhiji, I am worshipper

o Gandhiji, but I elt his aith in God was misdirected. Thathe tied himself in knots when he spoke aboutkarma. His explanations do not stand up to scrutiny.

Arun Shourie


His second support comes romAtal Bihari Vajpayeea mentor

SECONDSUPPORT

I know thatKapil Sibalmakes many

announce-ments. Hehas quitea ew goodideas,especiallywhen itcomes toeducation


19/45

rom the deepest core o his heart.

I may have received the most heartelt reactions

to that book. People said they were moved to tears.

That it must have been painul and cathartic or me

at the same time. Honestly the two chapters which

were about amilial lie were the quickest ones. I

nished them in two days. They are details o our

daily lie. The dicult bit was when I sat down to

write about Gandhiji, I am worshipper o Gandhiji,

but I elt his aith in God was misdirected. That he

tied himsel in knots when he spoke about karma. I

am also a worshipper o Ramkrishna Paramhansa.

Their explanations, as ar as I see, do not stand up to

scrutiny. That or me was the painul part. As ar as

amily is concerned, there was no catharsis, because

or Shourie that is his lie. There could have been

to be a atherto be loved and love in return. Once

Shouries wie (Anita) met with an accident as their

Fiat rammed into a jeep that lost control. Soon ater

the accident, Anita started to eel sensations on the

let hal o her body. She was later diagnosed with

Parkinson. Shourie was not always calm about that

incident as is evident in Does He Know A Mothers

Heart?Today, he is resolute.You want the Mehdi Hassan cassette beta?

Shourie, like only a parent sometimes can, reads

Adityas gestures and nods. Aditya, or Adit as he is

aectionately called, was once the darling o an

extended amily. Now the amily has shrunk, but

Adit remains at its core. Shouries interactions with

his son reveals a side to this re-brand man oten

accused o being too controversial in his political

writings: it also makes one rethink the necessity o

acknowledging any other aspect than the tender and

innitely gentle love that you get to see.

diculties i there was less love. Zareer Masanis

And All is Saidabout his divided home must have

been dicult to write. In my case, mine was a tale

o love. For Nigel Nikelson, writing about his ather,

may have been problematic. I aced no such confict.

What I wrote about were acts. None o us believe

that what we were going through was in anyway a

refection or judgement on how we were.

The Mellow ManRead all you will o Shouries love or his son,

nothing prepares you or a ace-to-ace interaction.

The meeting between the ather and his son is an

overwhelming sight. It is overwhelming because

there is no melodrama in it. Shourie is not

embittered. He has not used organised religion

or mellifuous words to make sense o what was

oered to him. He does not want, need or accept

your endorsement o him as a parent. He is happy

It (Indian Parliamentary system) has become likea single-party rule. It is just a little drama staged ortomorrows headlines. Everyone knows that

their time will come as well when theywill get to wield the sword and get avours.

The ruckus raised is or non-issues and silence is

maintained or real onesArun Shourie




20/45


social agenda\\ ENGAGING EMPLOYEES

Can you spot the celebrity worker in the ofce anduse her to the frms advantage? BY TUSHAR KANWAR

Engaging

RockstarEmployees


21/45


social agendaENGAGING EMPLOYEES //

vertical has its benets too. One, custom-

ers get to connect with a real human ace

o your organisation, which can positively

impact perceptions o your brand and your

customer orientation. By virtue o them

being well regarded experts in your domain,

your organisation is seen as an employer o

choice, lending many organisations some

much needed credibility which they may

have lacked previously. And who can denythat the media coverage rom being quoted

in industry pieces also brings positive expo-

sure to the company.

Right then, so how do you constructively

channelise such employees? Clearly, there

need to be social media guidelines in place,

not only or these employees but the organ-

Look around your workplace. Can you

spot a celebrity in your midst? You

know, that one employee who has

tens o thousands o ollowers on twitter

and as many ans on Facebook, many o

who care a lot more about what the celeb-

rity has to say on a daily basis than his own

boss in oce does? The kind who possibly

even has a larger online ollowing than your

own brand? Thanks to easy access to socialmedia, the celebrity employeeone with

a great reputation apart rom or in addi-

tion to your corporate brandis a very real

possibility in many workplaces, and how

you engage with such social media rock-

stars inside the organisation may seriously

impact how your business is viewed by the

outside world.

Its really sometimes comes down to a

generational mindset. A number o employ-

ees join the workorce with an existing

social-media presence cultivated while in

college, and thats not something they are

likely to abandon. So realise this rsttheir

presence on social networks isnt something

you can quash or contain. Now more than

ever, employees are increasingly work-

ing very hard at developing their personal

brand, and its perectly reasonable or them

to deend this eort, especially since its

quite probable that their ollowing will last

or longer than their job with you.

Yet, peers can oten view their social

media presence as dereliction o their

required work duties. Moreover, i theemployee is seen as representing the com-

pany on twitter, the question ariseswho

owns the content posted or the ollowers

acquiredthe company or the employee?

Theres also the concern that the employee

could possibly inadvertently share conden-

tial inormation, or equally dangerous, a

controversial viewpoint which may be traced

back to the employer in question, leading to

a PR crisis. Thats not even to tread on the

possibility o severely infated egos, team

TIPS AND TOOLS

Let opinions count; It is important oryour best employee to eel valuedand know that his opinion matters. Ask

or it regularly, and involve the employee

in key decision-making processes.

Recognise strengths; Get the most

out o what your employee has to oer in

skill, talent and expertise, and contribute

to their job satisaction, by placing him

in a position where they can use and

develop those particular traits.

Give freedom; frstly, do not put

restraints on your employee and limit theway he is to think and solve problems in

the workplace. Allow and encourage him

to be himsel, creative and ree-thinking.

Encourage and enable development;

Goal-driven employees are very keen on

learning, developing skills, and grow-

ing. Give them the opportunity to do so,

by personally mentoring them, booking

them or training courses, sending them

to seminars.

Show interest and listen; Though

ofce lie can be ast-paced and chaotic,

be attentive when your employee speaks

to you and raises issues in the workplace

that aect him. Be understanding when

they are experiencing personal difcul-

ties, giving them room to deal with it.

Do not threaten position; Even your

star employee can make a mistake

somtime. I him or some reason deliver

unsatisactory work, be honest, yet

proessional about it. Never threaten him

with dismissal or cutting their benefts,unless it is really necessary.

Reward and appreciate; Your best

employee needs to eel valued. Recog-

nise hard work and initiative and reward

it with a thank you, public acknowledge-

ment, vacation time or corporate gits.

Employees that eel appreciated are

generally more loyal, and become even

more o an asset.

riction (and infated compensation expecta-

tions) as a by-product o the stardom, or

the worst casethey may become a ree

agent and decide to leave the company or

another job, hence taking his or her ollow-

ing along. But dont get me wrongtheres

a world o good that can come out engaging

such employees in a meaningul manner.

Think about it, these olks are the eyes

and ears out on the ground, and could begreat or identiying leads that could be

potential customers or your product or

service. Being infuencers themselves, they

can help identiy who the other infuencers

are in your space, and keep you clued into

industry sentiment and insights. Encourag-

ing them to align and associate with your


22/45


social agenda\\ ENGAGING EMPLOYEES

One of the privileges o my birth is being

a token Sikh in social groups that Im

part o. It means that every time some-

one makes a Sikh reerence, everyone

looks at me or approval. Just like every

black person knows every other black

person, every Sikh is obviously related!

Its a trait that minorities shareat

some point, we have been excited to

meet another (I met a beggar in Poland

who spoke to me about his immigration

attempt rom Russia to England in Hindiand I wanted to kiss him). This amiliarity

also has its side eects; having to watch

flms like Son of Sardar is one of them.

Every time a flm with a remotely

religious slant, minority or otherwise,

releases, I secretly bet about the time

it will take or some group to pan it.

Singh is King and Oh My God! didnt

sit well with Hindu groups. Personally,

when religious institutions talk about

flms (depicting them in a negative light)

I laugh. Nothing depicts a religion in a

more negative light than religion itsel.

Last month alone, we have had a woman

die in Ireland because o laws that pre-

vent abortion, swords being drawn inside

a gurdwara by rival actions in Delhi, and

a girl being shot by extremists in Paki-

stanall in the name o religion.

However, the brouhaha goes on

to show that the medium o flm has

become an even more crucial space or

negotiation and contestation between

economics and religious depiction. To

show that, I will work with an exampleoSon of Sardar. Why call it the Son or

Sardar in the frst place? (Because the

Son o Sharma or a Son o Saddam does

not have that ring.) Nothing draws a

bigger crowd up here in north than a lead

who is a Punjabi or Sikh. While purchas-

ing power is a defnite actor, flms like

Son of Sardar fll that political gap o

virtually no Sikh representation on the

silver screen. As much as Bollywood can

Son of

Sardar use the characteristics that the Punjabior Sikh community eeds on, in terms

o their own representation (i.e. being

strong, jovial, taking things into their own

hands), it also provides a sense o legiti-

macy and mainstream acceptance when

an Akshay Kumar dons the turban. And

representation? I wonder why groups

never objected to Jonny Levers repre-

sentations o being a Sikh in the early

1990s. I will go out on a limb here and

guess that during 1990s, the commu-nitys collective consciousness saw itsel

as a mere sidekick to India. With time,

the communitys conception o itsel and

its own importance has grown. Now we

expect and demand a lead representa-

tion. But with that come complications.

An objection raised against the Son of

Sardarsopening monologue was that

the burden o inventing the maa and

bhen ki gaali being placed squarely on

the Sikhs. It became an area o contesta-

tionnot just on screen but within the

community itsel (which sometimes

takes pride in the same act). What other

representations all under this venn dia-

gram o mass-commercial entertainer

and adequate representation? Language.

But how? Especially when Ajay Devgn

(playing a Sikh man) uses a ew Punjabi

words to switch to Hindi or most o the

flm? How about places o worship?

Devgn enquires about a gurdwara but

Sanjay Dutt, another Sikh character,

goes straight to a temple? As much

as I ound Son of Sardar intolerable(bad music and tired jokes), as a flm it

remains important. We see that through

its box ofce success powered by a

community still hungry to see itsel in the

lead, despite slippages in representation.

Bollywood has caught on to the ormula

o the Sikh lead; . I believe this ormula

will continue to remain successul till the

community manages to negotiate its own

areas o contestation.

BLOG WATCH

G Khamba

Tushar Kanwar,

a self-confessed

gizmo-holic, is a

Bengaluru-based

technology freelancer,

who's contributed to

leading Indian tech

publications for years.

isation at large. These could include when

your employees should be posting, and how

much o their day can be spent on social

media with respect to their existing duties.

Remember, building an engaged ollowing

online can be heady and addictive, so its

important you make sure employee output

can be measured and these employees are

pulling their weight just like everyone else

on the team.

O course, i there is an expectation

or your celebrity employee to align their

presence with yours, there are a couple o

additional considerations you must keep in

mind. First and oremost, be explicit about

who owns what. For instance, lets say you

actively encourage an employees social

media presence, then there may be issueslater over who actually owns the commu-

nity and the ollowing that was cultivated.

Ideally, this is the sort o thing youd want

to make clear early in the engagement,

preerably beore any work has begun, so

you end up avoiding any conficts later in

the day. Also, be up ront about what the

expectations o the involvement arewhere

the two brands overlap and what can be

done towards mutual benet, i at all. More

importantly, the messaging needs to be

clear, to ensure youre not saying dierent

things, or even hindering your marketing

eorts. And should a pay-related discussion

occuremployees may expect a pay rise in

return or access to their ollowersocus

the discussion on measurable results and

outputs, and not just on access.

Above all, engage more people in the social

media conversations or your company. This

way, i one person leaves you wont lose an

entire segment o your conversations. And

as always, keep the lines o communication

open and encourage employees to talk openly

about their online proles and their blogs orpostings. At some level, both the manage-

ment and the employee need each other,

more than they oten think they do!


23/45


ON RECENT VISIT to Nagaland, a place

that conjures up all sorts o disturb-

ing stereotypes among many o us

plains people o northern India, I

had a number o humbling and clari-

ying moments. The beauty o this

region was breathtaking. I was also

moved by the nuanced ways in which

the people had evolved their insight-

ul institutions to preserve and har-

ness their land, natural resources,

and cultural heritage. It is clear that

the Naga people, made-up o over

a dozen ethnic groups described as

tribes, have historically managed

their aairs through processes suited

to their environment and cultural

roots. And they have done this while

negotiating the machinations o apost-colonial government that has

ailed to evolve a ramework or

accommodating the cultural com-

plexity o the Northeastern states.

O all I experienced during my

stay in Nagaland, perhaps the most

striking was the disconnect between

the ormal institutions o governance

created by the Indian government

rom the 1950s onwards on the one

hand, and those that continue to

As with the larger history o

capitalism, democracy is perhaps

characterised by a core-periphery

dynamic. In the Indian context, this

dynamic plays out in terms o the

undamental hegemony o those

ideas that emerge out o the plains,

or the populous cities o the low-

lands. The highlands, ar away rom

the rough and tumble o mainstream

politics, have usually been at the

receiving end o the modern states

developmental onslaught. It would

not be a stretch to argue that Indian

policy-makers have generally dis-

played a plain-centric bias, i.e., in

which an understanding o the socio-

economic attributes o plains people

has served as the basis or policiesoten applied universally, and damag-

ingly, in the highlands. The standard

justication or this has been ramed

demographically, i.e., that the larg-

est populations are concentrated in

the plains. This is a simplistic view,

because it is apathetic to the cul-

tural, ecological, and topographical

realities shaping the lives o people

living in the highlands. Worse, this

bias is undamentally tilted in avor

animate the lives o Naga communi-

ties in their day-to-day aairs. The

ormer, which include governmental

ministries, civil servants in their

ever-prolierating departments, and

now the burgeoning maniestations

o public-private partnerships,

seem to have no meaningul relation-

ship with the Naga village councils,

the deliberations that animate the

hohos (village assembly halls), and

networks o largely Baptist churches

that hold sway over communities.

There may be alliances between

these institutions here and there, but

there is little sustained overlap.

This disconnect, between the or-

mal legislative and developmental

apparatus, and the popular institu-tions o politics, begs a undamental

question: In whom do the people o

Nagaland (and dare I ask, all those

who have historically been placed

at the topographical and ethnic

margins o mainstream democracy)

place political legitimacy? My recent

travels to Indias Northeast, and soon

thereater, Uttarakhand and Him-

achal Pradesh have amplied this

troubling question.

ABOUT THEWRITER

PLATFORM

Democracy atthe margins

Acknowledging highlandsystems of governance

VIVEK BHANDARI |Social Scientist

Dr Vivek

Bhandari

is a noted

historian and

former director

of the Institute

of Rural

Management

Anand (IRMA), a

post he took up

after spending

15 years in the

US. Today he is

a keen observer

of a dramatically

transitioning India


24/45

platform


VIVEK BHANDARI//

o an urban, capital-intensive, and

environmentally disruptive notion oprogress.

Nowhere is this asymmetry

between the political imagination o

the plains and the highlands more

apparent than in the Northeast. For

starters, the Northeastern States are

very dierent rom each other, lead-

ing one to question the oundational

rational or the creation o a single

Ministry o Development o North-

eastern Region in 2001. The needs

o a state like Nagaland, which has

its own history o ethnic and politi-

cal marginalisation rom the time o

Nehrus visit to the region in 1953,

are dierent rom those o many

other northeastern regions. But

the gaze rom New Delhi blurs this

distinction. Within Nagaland, lie in

Kohima is radically dierent rom

that o the rest o the state; and this

would be the case elsewhere in the

States o northeastern India.

In a similar vein, it is not a stretch

to argue that Uttarakhand, withits 12-year long history o political

autonomy rom Uttar Pradesh, is

learning how dicult it is to evolve

meaningul developmental models

when the prevailing discourses

(shaped by the inertia in this regions

erstwhile capital Lucknow, and now

New Delhi) are based on their limited

grasp o the complex relationship

between the orests, hills, and people

o this new state. Developmental

initiatives like the MGNREGA, the

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or most

recently, the UIDAIs Adhaar card

system (which is supposed to acili-

tate direct benets transers) pose

unique challenges in the highlands

not always appreciated by policy

makers in the plains. Uttarkhand is

learning this the hard way.

In an important book published

recently called The Art of Not Being

Governed, Yale Universitys James

C. Scott argues that throughout the

world, people living in the uplands

have adopted liestyles, livelihood

strategies, and agricultural prac-

tices starkly dierent rom those

o the plains. More undamentally,

these communities have resistedthe ormal institutional apparatus

o the modern state in remarkable

and creative ways because they nd

it oppressive and impracticable

or their needs. Though the book

ocuses on the countries o Southeast

Asia, Scotts chie concern is with the

universal upland phenomenon o the

cultural reusal o lowland patterns,

those dictated by homogenising gov-

ernmental structures. Intertwined

with his description o state avoid-

ance by hill people, Scott also out-

lines a undamental critique o con-

ventional notions o agriculture, state

ormation, and civilisation that, he

argues, are largely irrelevant to those

who inhabit the upper margins o the

modern developmental state.

A extrapolation o Scotts analysis

would be that village councils o

Nagaland (or the zumsas o Sik-

kim, and other democratic orma-

tions in Indias northeastern hig-

lands), which draw sustenance rom

the immediacy o grassroots engage-

ment and communitarian values,

remain vital and legitimate political

arrangements or the tribal commu-

nities they serve. And with a grandtotal o one Member o Parliament

rom the entire state o Nagaland, the

cognitive gap between this highland

State and New Delhi is unlikely to

change any time soon! This notwith-

standing, it is gratiying to know that

deliberative democracy continues to

fourish at Indias margins, whether

it does so at its centre or not.

(The views expressed in this column

are of the author alone)

A book called The Art of Not Be-ing Governed, Yale UniversitysJames C. Scott argues that peo-

ple living in the uplands have adoptedlifestyles, strategies, and agricultural

practices starkly different from those ofthe plains

HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT THIS COLUMN? WISH TO SHARE YOUR

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ON THIS MONTHS ISSUE? Write to us [email protected]


25/45

looking back\\ SHARMISTHA MUKHERJEE


She may be the daughter o one o the mostamous athers in India, but danseuse SharmisthaMukherjee is happier when people know her or hermoves and mudrasBY ROHINI BANERJEE

PH

OTOS

BY:SUBHOJT

PAUL

RHYTHM OFLIFE


26/45

looking backSHARMISTHA MUKHERJEE R//


D

espite how cliched it

might sound, I have

noticed that in most

middle-class, Ben-

gali amilies there is

an anity towards artmost orms

o it. Bengali children are encour-

aged by members o their amilies

(whether a grandparent or an odd

uncle or the parents themselves) to

be part omuhollah programmes or

generic art schools imparting their

dose o song-dance-recitation class-

es. Whether children take up any

o the orms later, proessionally, is

not important to the amilies. What

is essential is a holistic education

that balances between scholastic,ormal school lessons and a larger,

more benecial, scheme o activi-

ties vaguely termed as extra-cur-

ricular. I believe it helps children

derive a world view not driven by a

singular priority.

Gladly, I was encouraged to go

down the same route by both parents,

especially my mother who remains

exceedingly ond oRanbindrasangeet.

Though she was never proessionally

trained, apart rom a small stint under

an exponent called Sudhir Chandran

who is quite a well-known name in

Bengali circle within the NCR, she has

continued to be a part o programmes

out o her own initiative. She ormed a

group o her ownGeetanjalieven-

tually. Interestingly, she always wanted

to be a proessional dancer more

than a singer. A ew generations ago,

women rom respectable amilies

did not become perorming artists,

especially a dancer, thus her aspiration

was nipped at the bud. Fortunately, bythe time I grew up, the taboo was well

broken, least to a large extent.

Some aairs are love at rst sight,

some are not. When I was around ve

my ormal training in Kathak began.

Ater a ew days I put my oot down

and reused to learn. As my teacher

would arrive during what I considered

to be my play time! Those precious

hours ater school and beore I had

to sit down or home work. So the

aair ended then. But the love or

perormance was instilled so deep that

it never truly went away. In between

I started to perorm in presence o

my amilymy siblings, cousins and

riends would put up shows or am-

ily during (Durga) pooja holidays. We

were encouraged to plan, direct and

perorm skits, plays or pantomimes.

And in between there was also a small

stint in which I learnt Kuchipudi

which I also enjoyed immensely.

My turning point came when I was

12. I saw a magical perormance by

a maestro, the Late Durgalalji. He

was such a master that he managed

to capture the heart and imagination

o a 12-year-old. Soon, he became myGuruji. That was perhaps the most

ateul things to happen to methe

act that I met the man who was so

strict and yet ull o love or his stu-

dents, so dedicated to his art. On a day,

when he could not conduct the classes

personally, he would call me over the

phone and ask me to perorm. He

could judge whether I had practised

by hearing the sounds o my eet and

ghungroo. I was humbled and terri-

There are somewords that cometo my mind whenI think of thelove of my lifespeed, rigour,grace, elegance,abstractionand a climaticlanguage through

movement. Theabstractness inthe form lends it afluidity...

ed by his presence. And he instilled

a deep love or Kathak which helped

me to manage ormal education and

rigorous practise (oten perorming on

stage) till I was a postgraduate.

All along, my ather remained my

strongest and most silent supporter.

He held some o the most important

and busy portolios or the Central

Government and now he is the

President o the nation. To me, he

is a liberal ather, one who has been

encouraging all o us in whichever

way he could. He was a terribly busy

man and barely got to see me perorm,

but recently, he sat through an entire

show. Post perormance, he caught me

by surprise with his intuitive analysiso each aspect o the show, Rainstorm

and Autumn Leaves. It was inspired

by a poem by Ranbindranath Tagore

which in turn was inspired by Shel-

leys Ode to the West Wind. For music

I had used Vivaldis Four Seasons. In

one part o the perormance, I had

draped a dancer in black cloth to con-

vey a certain tension and confict. My

ather elt that was too vague. Even i

we are not on the same page as ar as

our interpretations o dance are con-

cerned, I am innitely glad that when

he is there, he pays me his whole

attention. But I digress.

I started to perorm in my Gurujis

troupe, one-and-a-hal years ater I

started under his tutelage. But they

were group perormances where I

would have a small space within the

background dancers. My rst solo

happened when I was in Class XII.

In a single word my practise was

intensive. As I said beore, the days

he was not there, he would call meup over the telephone to hear the

sounds o theghungroo. When he

taught me, he was so immersed in

it, that my mother had to intervene

at times and beg him to let me go so

that I could nish my homework. I

am endlessly thankul that I got him

as my Guru. His untimely death in

the early 1990s was a blow to me.

It was always a task to balance study-

ing and practising dance. I remem-

NAME:

SharmisthaMukherjee

PROFESSION:

Kathak danseuse,

choreographer

PRODUCTIONS:

She Tales of Ancient

Goddesses

Badal Baul

The Stream of Joy

Monsoon Symphony

Kathak Prabha

WEBSITE:

http://

wwwsharmisthamukherjee.

com/production.html

DOSSIER


27/45

looking back\\ SHARMISTHA MUKHERJEE


ber the only time when my ather

intervened was when I was about to

sit or my nal board examinations.

Around that time I was also perorm-ing with Gurujis troupe. My ather

called me to his room one day and

quietly told me that he would pull

no avours to get me anywhere i

I did badly in the nal tests. At the

same time he praised me or my

dedication to dance. That pinched

my egothat he could even think

that I would seek his help. I pulled

up my socks and dived into studies

or those nal months. I continued

with my ormal education till my

postgraduation. I completed my

Masters in sociology rom Jawahar-

lal Nehru University (JNU). It makes

me strangely content to state that

my admission into St Stephens and

to JNU was based entirely on merit.

And I know that my ather derives

a lot o pleasure rom that as well.

Whatever little time that he would

spend with us, it would be quality

time. That is how he is.

My mother, on the other hand, has

been a pillar o support. We haveperormed together. By that I mean

that we have been part o the same

programme. It is dicult to dance

to Ranbindrasangeet and it is to

sing or a orm like Kathak. There

are some words that come to my

mind when I think o the love o my

lie; speed, rigour, grace, elegance,

abstraction and a climatic language

through movement. The abstract-

ness in the orm lends it a fuidity

which makes it open to all sorts o

experimentation and interpreta-

tion. Recently, a riend, who is also

a well-known musician, and I, were

talking about our lie and art, and he

remarked about how the eet and the

ghungroo cannot be heard individu-

ally all the time. That lent the idea o

the experimentation I did using di-

erent orms oghungroo. As is withall artists, dancers too are struck by

ideas at all times. Because all artistes,

live and breathe their art i they are

truly dedicated. It is that dedication

that sometimes helps us to continue

despite the long hours, the strenu-

ous practise, the lack o respect and

adulation.

People ask me whether I grudge

the obsession o the Indian popu-

lace with popular culture. Well no.

It would be childish to even expect

that the two can be comparable.

Pavarotti was a genius, but he could

never become a Michael Jackson. Inact the two were content being in

their individual sets and having their

share o ans. Both popular culture

(by which I believe people are usu-

ally reerring to Bollywood and the

increasing Bollywoodisation o art)

and Indian Classical Art have their

audience, the latter a smaller subset,

a niche. Indian Classical Art will

never become a popular set, perhaps.

But artists would rather settle or a

small but attentive audience, rather

than a large group o distracted indi-

viduals. Having said that, it does hurt

a bit when organisers call us and do

not have the decency to clean up the

stage or leave it in a state that is sae

or dancers. But the show goes on.

As we owe it to the audience and to

our art. Especially, to our art.

I wish I would have been....

Would you believe it i I tell you

that I always wanted to be an astro-

physicist? Those marvellous mindsget to travel across the Universe,

galaxies, time zones, and through

worm holes, thanks to the powerul

aculty o their minds. What a cheap

way to travel and what lucky people!

Unortunately, I have blundered

through mathematics all throughout

my lie and probably would never

had become an astrophysicistbut

there are no limits to dreaming, is

there?

FAVOURITE

SONGSTERS:

Bach and Mozart

CASTINGA SPELL

School: LadyIrwin College

College: St Ste-phen's, Delhi


28/45

issueRESERVATION //


issue | A closer look at reservation in promotion

Quota Fury;The Real PictureIn December 2012, the Lok Sabha witnessed a repeated uproar beforethe quota in promotion bill was to be taken up for consideration, withthe Samajwadi Party members storming the Well in protest against themeasure. As Lok Sabha reassembled at noon after an adjournment soonafter question hour began, SP members again trooped into the Wellraising slogans against the Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill, whichprovides for quota in promotions for SCs and STs in government jobs.

BY ROHINI BANERJEE

At that time, the Centre had planned to introduce in

the Rajya Sabha, a bill to allow reservation in promo-

tions o Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in

government jobs. The Union Cabinet cleared a pro-

posal that seeks to amend our key articles o the Con-

stitution to make that possible. Amending the Con-

stitution became necessary ater the Supreme Court,

in April 2012, struck down a decision made by ormer

Uttar Pradesh chie minister Mayawati to provide res-

ervation or SC and STs in promotion to higher posts

in government departments. At an all-party meeting

in August, most political ormations supported quota

in reservations. But Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvatihas warned the government that any law on the res-

ervations issue should be ramed with extreme cau-

tion because it is likely to be legally challenged. The

UPA then requested the Opposition party, the BJP, to

help pass the Bill; the BJP disallowed either House to

unction or 10 days demanding the Prime Ministers

resignation in connection with a coal scandal. But the

party admitted that it supports the reservation-in-pro-

motions Bill. When it quashed the Mayawati decision,

the Supreme Court had questioned this criterion or

promotion, saying the government needed to quantiy

that Dalits and backwards were insuciently repre-

sented in the public services and thereore needed

this quota. The court had said that three aspects need-

ed to be looked into or reservations in promotions

Democratic World January 2013

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