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Arpita Singh, Arts and Minds

INDIAVOL 25 NO. 1 MARCH 2011

PERSPECTIVES

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iNDiAperspectives

INDIAVOL 25 NO. 2 APRIL 2011

PERSPECTIVES

SARANGISoulful Strings

BOOKSMajestic Architecture

SARIMagical Drape

TRAVELLuxury on Track

INDIA-LIBYA Safe Homecoming

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INDIA THIS MONTH APRIL-MAY

2011

March 25-April 22Rhododendron FestivalGet an opportunity to seerhododendrons at theirbest and enjoy wildlifesafari, trekking and get anexcellent view of MountKanchenjunga.Where: Barsey, Sikkim

April 5-15 Tulip FestivalTourists throng KashmirValley to see millions oftulips blooming. The eventalso features severalcultural programmes.Where: Indira Gandhi TulipGarden, Srinagar, Kashmir

May 4-5Moatsu Mong A festival to propitiate theGods for a good harvest. It provides an opportunity for the Ao tribe to relax after the stress ofreaping fields.Where: Nagaland

May 15-17Summer FestivalEnjoy a feast of folk andclassical music. Sportingevents add variety with adazzling firework displayon the concluding day.Where: Mount Abu,Rajasthan

April 22-26 Sankat Mochan FestivalThe festival marks the birthof Lord Hanuman. PanditJasraj and Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra haveenthralled audiences in the past.Where: Varanasi

May 17Buddha JayantiCelebrates the birth ofLord Buddha. Activitiesinclude meditation,prayers and processions.Where: Sarnath, (Uttar Pradesh) Bodhgaya (Bihar)

April 8-May 28IPL Season 4India’s mega-cricketing eventwill see the addition of thePune Warriors and KochiTuskers and will be playedby a total of ten teams.Where: 13 major cities across India

April 28 -May 1Times Kidz WorldThe trade event basicallyexhibits kids products.Singing, quiz contestsand game shows arehighlights of the event. Where: World TradeCentre, Mumbai

May 8-9Banganga FairThe Banganga Fair attractsthousands of worshippersto its temple with devoteesengaging in rituals andblessings.Where: Radha KrishnajiTemple, Jaipur

April 14BaisakhiThe day marks the Punjabinew year, and a commemoration of thefoundation of the Khalsa religion. Festivities includeBhangra, local folk music and fairs.Where: All over Punjab

May 12Thrissur-PooramBe part of a procession featuring elephants, drum concerts and ornamental parasol displays. Where: VadakkumnathanTemple, Thrissur, Kerala

n March, New Delhi becomes spectacularly colourful. The month leaves

behind the coolness of winter and ushers in a balmy spring. The Rose

Garden in Chanakyapuri is in full bloom; the air is filled with the heady

perfumes of phlox, periwinkles, hollyhocks and nasturtiums while the

incandescent red, purple and magentas of bougainvilleas draping the

walls of neighbouring diplomatic missions light up the streets even well

after dusk. The expansive traffic islands that link the capital’s wide boulevards

are bursting with blossoms making the morning drive to work a real

pleasure. The festival of Holi, celebrated this year on March 20th, brings

out the same joyous spirit of spring as friends smear each other with vibrant

colours, reflecting the hues of the flowers around them.

India, of course, manifests itself in myriad shades. And this issue takes a

look at a few of these manifestations of the Idea of India. We celebrate the

finest of Hindi writers, tune in to the notes of the sarangi and reflect on the

timeless magic of the sari.

We take you on a rail journey on the luxurious Royal Rajasthan on Wheels

as it traverses through popular destinations like Jaipur, Agra and Benares

and also show you some of the famous Sikh forts and palaces of Punjab.

In our regular section on Development Partnerships, we review the

transformational impact of a major irrigation project carried out in Senegal

by an Indian company with the help of a line of credit from India. We also

report on the success of a major gathering of the world’s Least Developed

Countries in New Delhi as they pursue their quest for a more equitable

global order.

And we give you a glimpse into Operation Safe Homecoming, the inside

story of the successful evacuation of around 18,000 Indian citizens from Libya.

We hope you enjoy the magazine in its new format and we look forward

to your feedback.

Navdeep Suri

I

03APRIL 2011 u INDIA PERSPECTIVES

EDITORIAL NOTE

Editor: Navdeep Suri

Assistant Editor: Neelu Rohra

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India Perspectives is published every month in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali,English, French, German, Hindi, Italian,Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu andVietnamese. Views expressed in the articlesare those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the magazine.

This edition is published for the Ministry ofExternal Affairs by Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary, Public Diplomacy Division,New Delhi, 140 ‘A’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001.Telephones: 91-11-23389471, 91-11-23388873,

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For a copy of India Perspectivescontact the nearest Indian diplomatic mission.

APRIL 2011 n VOL 25 No. 2/2011

APRIL 2011

COVER PHOTO: SARANGI, A BOWED, SHORT-NECKEDSTRING INSTRUMENT / PHOTOLIBRARY

COVER DESIGN: BIPIN KUMAR14 36

SENTINELS TOHISTORYGoing back to the 16thcentury, a successionof fortifications andpalaces dot the northIndian state of Punjabbringing back to lifestirring tales of valourand sacrifice

PHOTOFEATURE

46


iNDiAperspectives

16

Lead Story: Literary Force 6

Essay: Magical Unstitched Garment 10

Culture: Melodious Strings 12

Profile: Vandana Shiva 14

INDIA AND THE WORLD

Operation Safe Homecoming 22

DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS

India-Least Developed CountriesMinisterial Conference 26

Senegal, Towards Food Security 28

Business: Coffee, Tribals and Livelihood 32

Travel: Royal Rajasthan on Wheels 36

IN REVIEW

Books: R. K. Narayan 42

Film: Sudhir Aggarwal: It’s Cricket, No? 43

Exhibition: Abhushan, Ode To Jewellery 44

Verbatim: Pandit Jasraj 46

06 INDIA PERSPECTIVES u APRIL 2011 07APRIL 2011 u INDIA PERSPECTIVES

LITERATURE

Centenary celebrations are occasions for affectionate remembrance andacknowledgment of debts to ancestorswho continue to inspire us. India has not

one but many such opportunities to do so this year.Some of our most eminent men of letters share theyear of their birth –1911. 2011 also marks the 75thanniversary of the establishment of the ProgressiveWriters’ Association and the 150th year of the birth ofthe Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Hindi poets and writers of the Subcontinent, bornbefore the outbreak of the First World War, often threwin their lot with the wretched and oppressed of the

earth. Many belonged to the Progressive Writers’Association – a guild of writers and poets inspired bythe success of the Russian Revolution. This was the‘trade union’ with which legendary Hindi novelistMunshi Premchand was associated, along with otherslike Ali Sardar Zafri and Sajjad Zaheer. The paths ofthese writers seldom crossed, they lived their ownlonely lives, linked by the common cause of restoringdignity to fellow humans.

Many believe that Sachhidanand HiranandVatsyayan better known by his nom de plume Ajneyawas the Indian writer who came closest to winning aNobel prize for literature in the 20th century. He was

LITERARY FORCEWith many literary luminaries marking their centenary, 2011 can becalled the centenary year of Indian literature

TEXT: PUSHPESH PANT


truly a renaissance man, a trendsetting poet, a novelistpioneering modernism in Hindi, an elegant essayist anddistinguished editor. Behind a carefully cultivatedenigmatic persona lay a sensitive soul with acosmopolitan mind.

Ajneya’s debut novel Shekhar Ek Jiwani created asensation and soon acquired the status of acontemporary classic. He is best known for editing theTar Saptak anthologies that premiered seven promisingpoets in a volume. Apane Apane Ajnabi, a later novel,dealt with existentialist angst.

No two men could have been more unlike thanNagarjuna and Ajneya. Nagarjuna revelled in flaunting his rustic, rural ways with all his rough edges intact.Dressing, talking like an illiterate. Nagarjuna eschewedsophistication and formality in his lifestyle and literaryoutpourings. He addressed his readers as if he werecasually talking to them, endearing him to the masseswho simply called him Baba.

Behind this bohemian mask lay a razor sharp mindand a heart overflowing with the milk of human

kindness. Born Vaidya Nath Mishra in Madhubani, innorthern Bihar, famous for its bewitching colourful folkpaintings with bold lines, as a youngster he converted toBuddhism and adopted the name of a legendaryBuddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna. He gained exceptionalfame under this pen name.

Nagarjuna has several collections of poems to hiscredit — but what has immortalised him were his versesfull of pathos and poignancy written in the context ofthe Bihar famine or his expressions of ecstasy over theHimalayan landscape.

Kedarnath Agrawal shared with Nagarjuna an affinityfor socialist ideology and hailed from the ravine, aridwasteland of Bundelkhand, home to patriotic brigandsand dreaded dacoits. He practiced law in the districtcourts in Banda for a living but his true calling waspoetry. Kedarnath Agrawal has poems that in anunderstated manner assert the epic heroism of a fighteragainst greatest odds — the common man. Diffident andsoft-spoken he chose a simple popular idiom that thecommon reader could effortlessly relate to.

Gopal Singh Nepali was a lyricist of remarkable powerwho could hold large audiences enthralled in night-longrecitals of poetry with his patriotic and romantic ‘songs ofthe people’. Shriram Sharma is a name profoundlyrespected in the annals of Hindi journalism. He not onlyedited the daily Vishal Bharat with great élan but alsoenriched the literary repertoire of his mother tongue withsome delectable shikar (hunting) stories — a genre fewothers have dared to touch.

In contrast, Shamsher registers his powerful presencealmost silently. His poems keep resonating like ahaunting bar of music long after the book has been setaside. Born in Dehradun in the Himalayan foothills, hislife followed a literary trajectory very different from hispeers born in the same year. He, too, was a Marxist andhad given up studies to pursue poetry whole time. Hewas a reticent, introvert who kept refining his workadding up to a rich complex opus. Referred to, at times,as a poet’s poet, Shamsher wrote poems and ghazalsin Hindi — a genre till then considered to be an exclusivedomain of Urdu. An exacting translator and author of

memorable short stories and incisive essays, his love forUrdu compared with his love for Hindi.

This brings us to another poet whose centenary fallsthis year. Though Faiz Ahmed Faiz settled in Pakistan afterPartition his affinity for India has been well recorded. Heshared much with his contemporaries across the border.Influenced by Marxism he had a cosmopolitan non-sectarian outlook, cherishing values of humanismand blended revolutionary fervor with seductiveromanticism. As Ahmed Faraz another powerful poetfrom Pakistan once observed, ‘When Faiz did a poster itlooked like a painting — a masterpiece!’

As we honour them all with commemorativecelebrations, official and personal, let’s not forget theinvisible thread that unites all these writers — theirIndian-ness. A memorable Sanskrit verse reminds usthat great writers needn’t dread death; theiryashahkaaya — their body of fame shall endure allravages of time.

—Pushpesh Pant is an academic whose interests rangefrom film-making to literature

SOME OF OUR MOST EMINENT MEN OF LETTERSSHARE THE YEAR OF THEIRBIRTH –1911. 2011 ALSOMARKS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THEPROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION AND THE 150th YEAR OF THE BIRTH OF THE INDIAN NOBEL LAUREATE RABINDRANATH TAGORE

WRITE WORDS:(clockwise from top)

Nagarjuna; GopalSingh Nepali;

Kedarnath Agarwal;Shriram Acharya;

Ajneya and Faiz Ahmed Faiz

MAGICAL UNSTITCHED GARMENT

ESSAY

RTA KAPURCHISHTI

11APRIL 2011 u INDIA PERSPECTIVES10 INDIA PERSPECTIVES u APRIL 2011

It has been the unstitched garment that hassartorially dominated the Subcontinent – allthrough the plains to the south. It hasassumed many forms and is draped in

innumerable ways by men and women – as asingle-piece garment or a two or three-piecegarment with an unstitched length used as ahead cover by men or sometimes combinedwith a shoulder cloth or angvastram to be usedin various ways to ward off the heat. Thoughthe unstitched garment is created on a loomwith a measure of length and breadth, whatdistinguishes it from a simple, flat piece offabric is that it is conceived as a three-dimensional garment with a different density inits various parts.

The sari is but one type of unstitchedgarment. It allows us to go back at least athousand years in design terms with variationsin pattern, weave and structure between itsinner and outer-end pieces and its two borderswhich provide drape, strength and weight whilethe body enhances the form of the sari or dhotiwhen it is worn.

The deep involvement and the completesense of identity that the Indian woman haswith the sari has made her resist pressures tochange her style of dress providing continuity tothe weaving tradition that exists in every part ofthe country. The sari represents a culture in

which the woven, textured and patternedgarment, not pierced or intruded upon by astitching needle, was considered not only moreappropriate in terms of aesthetics and theclimate but wearing it was also seen as an act

The sari forms the base of our textile heritage. The challenge is to reinforce andcontinue this tradition to become part of a global, competitive market

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DIVERSE FORMS: (above) A Maharashtrian woman in a traditional sari draped inthe style of the region; (facing page from top to bottom) a sidha pallav sari fromnorth India; a traditional pinkosuvam sari from Tamil Nadu; a tribal Oraon womanfrom Sarguja, Chhattisgarh and nivi, a modern, urban style widely worn in India

of great purity and simplicity. Draping it suitedIndian weather conditions as it allowed for aconstant airflow, providing a gentle yet shiftingbody cover from the harsh sun and alsoinstilling a sense of propriety in harmony withlocal character and culture. The sari, in a way,forms our outermost skin and thereby signalsnot only who we are and where we come from,but is also an expression of where we are going.

However, over the last two decadesfunctional mobility and global influences haveimpacted the dressing styles of Indian women.Increasingly, women today prefer stitchedgarments and western wear, made of easy-to-maintain wash-and-wear fabrics. Yet, they oncerode horses in saris in Jhansi in Uttar Pradeshand even swam in rivers and ponds with theirsaris tucked between their legs, much like anunstitched pair of shorts.

The sari is not only known by differentnames (lugda, dhoti, pata, seere, sadlo, kapad)in various parts of the country, it is alsoconceived differently in form and structure, inusage and custom. It is a stretch of fabric, longor short, wide or narrow, according to the way inwhich it is worn.

There is, in fact, no one type of sari. From thecoarse heavy duty cottons worn by working ruralwomen and farm hands to the finest muslinswhich were traditionally soaked in starch andcrinkled — before the advent of the hot ironbrought in by the French in Bengal — the fine-count sari was ingeniously, and necessarily,made opaque for the wearer as it was wornwithout a petticoat.

The sheer range of saris, from heavy to light,coarse to fine, in an unlimited range of texturesand patterns, in cottons, silks and cotton-silkmixes, is astounding. Each state or shall we sayeach regional identity, as states do notnecessarily represent older cultural groupings,

interprets the sari in its unique way. The abilityto combine materials, reinterpret and evenrecreate motifs from the single cotton flower tofloral vines to all over trellis patterns andgeometric ranges is unlimited and specific fromregion to region. From the most transparent andsheer cottons and silk organzas found in WestBengal to the Venkatgiri in Andhra Pradesh andChanderi in Madhya Pradesh to the translucentfabrics of Maheshwari in Madhya Pradesh, thevisual canvas is large.

It was the sari, dhoti, pagdi/safa that hasprovided the base of India’s textile tradition.This unstitched garment supported andpromoted exceptional skills of weaving. Thegreat textile trading centres of Varanasi in UttarPradesh, Murshidabad in West Bengal, Mysorein Karnataka and Kanchipuram in Tamil Naduand other well known trading centres grewbecause they supported the production oftextiles, particularly saris. They also became theroutes through which influences, both fromwithin the country and outside, reached thespinner, the weaver, the dyer and the localdesigner helping them enlarge their local designvocabulary constantly.

The challenge today is to reinforce andcontinue this textile tradition as a worthyinstrument of harmonious development andsimultaneously be part of a global, competitivemarket. As a democracy, this global competitionis to India’s advantage with her strength ofnumbers; her various levels of economicdevelopment and, most importantly, theavailability of manual skills which give her addedleverage. The unstitched garment, which may notnecessarily be used in its traditional form, canprovide today the basis for future developmentsthrough more contemporary use.

—Rta Kapur Chishti is a textile historian and alsoco-author and editor of the Saris of India volumes

THE ARTS AND CULTURE


sarangi outgrew its vagrant character, it settled into thekothas of professional women singers. The players wereushered into royal courts for accompanying recitals of thecourtesans. But this association, too, was short lived whenthe nautch tradition was banned in the 19th century.

Left with no other choice but to seek employment asradio artistes, sadly the sarangi was given prominenceonly when music was required to mourn the death of anational leader. But this change of fortune proved to bea blessing: the era produced some of the finest sarangiplayers of the last century. As soon as the radio stationat Delhi was set up in 1942, Ustad Sabri Khan came onboard as an orchestra artiste but went on to make hisinstrument a true emissary of Indian music abroad. Soonartistes began to even make inroads into the fledglingcinema industry in Bombay, the precursor of today’sBollywood. Renowned sarangi artiste Sultan Khanaccompanied playback singers such as Lata Mangeshkarand others so often that music director would call forhim by name when recording. Although in a rolesecondary to the main singer, the sarangi started makingwaves as an indispensable accompanying instrument.

A natural follow up was the establishment of thesarangi as a solo instrument and it was Pandit RamNarayan who took this pioneering step in 1956. Strangely,initially the music world did not take kindly to this ventureand he was reportedly booed off the stage one fatefulnight. But that setback motivated him further resulting inPanditji recording 78 rpm albums in the solo formatfollowed in the 60s by concert tours in Europe. To makehis solo form more appealing he also experimented withtechniques and perfected the art of bowing at right anglesto the strings. He also trained family members anddisciples and today, sarangi players have gone on to maketheir mark as soloists as well as accompanists.

Inevitably, then the official mindset towards thesarangi underwent a change: musicians were sent oncultural exchanges and sarangi players became musicalambassadors. One such cultural diplomat was UstadSabri Khan, perhaps among the first to be chosen forthis role, who established strong linkages with musiciansin Afghanistan, North America and Europe.

As the sarangi became global it climbed yet anotherrung in the ladder of success. It assumed the role of aworld music maker in the hands of sarangi players suchas Kamal Sabri. Together with musicians from theMiddle East and America, Kamal Sabri producedalbums that had wide popularity in the world musiccategory. So when the Nobel Laureate Committeewere in search of artistes who performed world music,it was Kamal Sabri from India whom they honed in onfor the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony evening in 2009.Thereafter, he preformed for the King of Spain’sbirthday celebrations ensuring the sarangi become arecognisable global solo instrument.

Today, the sarangi enjoys a unique continuity. It hasnot lost any of its former character even as itexperiments and innovates fresh possibilities along theway. No wonder its practitioners like to dub theirinstrument as a saurangi saaz, where its multi-huedmusicality has something to offer every listener.

—Shubra Mazumdar writes on Indian culture and classical music

MELODIOUSSTRINGSFrom being a humble accompanist,the sarangi has become a globallyrecognised instrument

TEXT: SHUBRA MAZUMDAR

The routine proceedings at the Pandit KrishnaraoShankar Award for 2011 in Gwalior’s ShankarGandharva Mahavidyalaya took a nostalgic turnwhen its awardee, sarangi maestro Pandit Ram

Narayan, recalled his decades-old association with the great musical doyen Pandit Krishnarao Shankar Pandit.

Narayan was newly recruited as a staff artiste to the AllIndia Radio station at Lahore, in 1944, when he wasdeputed to accompany Panditji. Accompanying thevocalist was exhausting and many times tabla players hadto be changed mid-performance in case they collapsed.But Ram Narayan came out of that experiencesuccessfully; destined to become Panditji’s chosen sarangiaccompanist for innumerable concerts. The associationhad far reaching connotations for the instrument.

In the Indian musical tradition the sarangi movedaway from being a humble accompanying instrumentused by mendicants and wandering minstrels renderingfolk tunes and ditties at fairs, wayside temples andgurudwaras or joining camel caravans across the desertrecounting ballads of brave warriors. By the 1850s, as the

MUSICALLY YOURS: Pandit Ram Narayan

PROFILE

14 INDIA PERSPECTIVES u APRIL 2011

If you put your heart and soul into a job you can make adifference,” says Vandana Shiva, one of the country’s finestintellectuals on subjects ranging from bio-piracy to soilconservation. A philosopher, environmentalist and an eco-

feminist, in 2003, Time magazine recognised her as anenvironment hero while Asia Magazine has called her one ofthe five most powerful communicators of Asia. In 1993, shewon the Rights Livelihood Award, also known as the alternateNobel Prize.Shiva’s fight for ecology began with the Chipko movement

with women hugging trees in Uttaranchal to stop deforestation.Then she began questioning mono eucalyptus plantations thatwere draining sub-soil water and went on to fight limestonequarrying in Doon Valley. In 1982, she established the ResearchFoundation for Science, Technology and Ecology which led tothe creation of Navdanya, a national movement to protect thediversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seeds,the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. For twodecades, Navdanya has worked with local communities andorganisations to increase crop yields without draining the soilof its nutrients. Some 500,000 farmers are practicing organicfarming in the country under the Navdanya umbrella.

Navdanya’s efforts have resulted in the setting up of 55 seeds banks and conservation of some 3,000 traditionalvarieties of rice – aromatic, salt tolerant and even droughttolerant rice. “By saving seeds we save lives,” says Shiva andrecalls the excitement of finding a ragi seed lying in a food binfor 40 years. Ragi is a nutritious food grain typically found insouth India which has traditionally saved babies especially fromnutritional deficiencies but with the advent of modern food, itlost its importance in the diet of the common man.

With floods becoming an annual feature decimating rice fields,Navdanya went on to discover a rice variety that grows upto 18 feet and withstands flooding. After the cyclone hit Orissaleaving a bed of saline soil, Navdanya pulled out from its magicseed banks three varieties of salt tolerant rice — Kalambank,Lunabakada and Sankarchin. When the tsunami hit the TamilNadu coast in December 2004, the agriculture department fearedthat farmers may have to wait five years for the salt to disappearfrom the soil, but Shiva was there again with her offering of saltresistant seeds. Two truckloads of the salt tolerant rice seeds weresent from the Orissa seed bank to Tamil Nadu leading to a goodharvest the next season. Simultaneously, the Research Foundationbegan fighting bio-piracy. The patenting of neem, basmati rice andwheat by strong external commercial interests has been stoppedbut you have to be constantly vigilant, she says. To generate and sustain the interest in local seeds, in 2004

the Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainableliving, was started in the Doon Valley in collaboration with theSchumacher College of UK. Alongside, she has set up a 25-acreresearch, training and conservation farm. Providing sustainable food and livelihood to farmers is

Shiva’s mission. To that end, she has set up two seed banks inVidharbha and has been promoting organic farming. Currently,she is helping the government of Bhutan to go organic andfarmers from Bhutan’s are in Dehra Dun for training. Shiva’s myriad experiences have been recorded. A prolific

writer, she has authored a dozen books. And last year shereceived the Sydney Peace Award for her book, Soil not Oil,adding yet another accolade to her inspirational CV.

—Usha Rai is a senior journalist who specialises on developmentand environmental issues

SAVING SEEDS, SAVING LIVESEnvironmentalist, eco-feminist, philosopher, author,Vandan Shiva is a woman of many parts

TEXT: USHA RAI

SHIVA’S FIGHT FOR ECOLOGY BEGANWITH THE CHIPKO MOVEMENT WITH WOMEN HUGGING TREES IN UTTARANCHAL TO STOP DEFORESTATION.THEN SHE BEGAN QUESTIONING MONO EUCALYPTUS PLANTATIONS THAT WEREDRAINING SUB-SOIL WATER

PHOTOS: AFP


SENTINELS TO

HISTORYGoing back to the 16th century, a succession of

fortifications and palaces dot the north Indian state of Punjab bringing to life stirring tales of valour and sacrifice.

A selection of photographs taken from Amita Baig’s Forts and Palaces of India

S i k h F o rt S a n d pa l a c e S

PHOTOFEATURE

BAHADURGARH FORTOn the outskirts of Patialalies the great Sikh fort ofBahadurgarh. It is anexemplary nara durg, or onethat is protected by a strongforce of fighting men. The fort is circular, with asuccession of entrances anda double layer offortifications. Most of thebuildings within were formilitary use, but there aregurudwaras, a mosque andsome royal apartments. It isconsidered one of the bestfortified forts built in Punjab.The original fort is said tohave been built by NawabSaif Khan in 1658, in theancient village of Saifabad.

Location: Six km fromPatiala in Punjab

(Far left) Fortifications andthe historic gurudwara inside the BahadurgarhFort; balcony that runs onthe upper level in DurbarHall in Jagatjit SinghPalace, Kapurthala


KAPURTHALAJAGATJIT SINGH PALACEThe Durbar Hall was built byMaharaja Jagjit Singh. Aninscription on its externalfaçade states thatconstruction was started in1882 and completed in1889. It consists of threestructures joined togetherwith rooms and doorways.The main structure, whichwas used as the Durbar Hall,has a rectangular plan,consisting of a centraldouble-height hall withaisles on both sides and adouble-height entrance hall.Today, it is used as a librarybut there remain theelements of a grand palace.

Location: Jalandhar-Ferozpur road in Punjab

Façade of Jagatjit Palacein Kapurthala


Extracted from:FORTS AND PALACES OF INDIA by Amita BaigPhotographs: Joginder Singh

Publisher: Om Books International

Price: ` 2,995 Pages: 256


QILA MUBARAKOriginally a mud fort orkachi garhi, Qila Mubarakwas consolidated by BabaAla Singh after the conquestof Sirhind, as a victory fort.Qila Mubarak is constructedon a particularly large brickused in this region. The fortis an immense structurewith 32 bastions, the largestwith a circumferencemeasuring 290 feet at the top. The Qila Mubarakgate is in red sandstonedecorated with lattice,covered by multiple archedopenings. The mostimportant courtyard in theQila houses the Rang Mahal.

Location: Patiala, 29kmwest of Ambala in Punjab

(Far left) an interior of a Sikh Fort; an alcoveshowing a rich walladornment in the honeymoon chamber of Qila Mubarak

INDIA AND THE WORLD

As the first wave of protests struck through Libya in mid-February following the uprising in Tunisia and Egypt,Indian-origin Ariful Islam was worried. He had beenliving in Libya for the past 32 years and hadn’t seen

anything like this before. He hoped it would die down in a fewdays. But it didn’t. The protests got louder as the demand for theend of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year-old rule gathered steam.Soon, Islam, a former president of the Indian community inBenghazi, was roped in by the Indian government to help fellowIndians in the eastern region where he lived.“There are nearly 2,700-800 people there and they all had

to be evacuated. I wasn’t bothered about my life. I wanted theothers to leave Libya first. I returned only after most of thepeople had left the country,” says the consultant engineer witha multinational who returned to New Delhi on March 10 alongwith 15 others. He is all praise for the Indian government whicharranged a smooth evacuation of Indians. “They have done acommendable job,” he says, now back in the comfort of hishometown Aligarh.That’s the sentiment that most of the 16,200 Indians, who

have returned, share with Islam. And it’s justified. A mammothundertaking, which involved the challenge of evacuatingapproximately 18,000 Indians, went off without any hitch. Thelast time the government evacuated such a large number ofpeople – around 110,000 — was during the Iraqi invasion ofKuwait in 1990 when thousands of Indians were forced to fleeto Amman, Jordan’s capital.This time, the government swung into immediate action by

setting up an exclusive centre in South Block to deal with thecrisis. Called the ‘Situation Room’, it was manned round the

SWINGING INTO ACTIONA mammoth undertaking, Operation Safe Homecoming results in the successful evacuation of around 18,000 Indians from strife-torn Libya

TEXT: MEENAKSHI KUMAR

WELCOME HOME: Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed (left) and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao (far left) greet Indian nationals evacuated from Libya at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi


clock by young foreign service officers. Operation SafeHomecoming was launched on February 24, with the firstspecial Air India flights leaving for Libya and returning with nearly530 people on February 26 and 27. A core group of half adozen officers, led by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, mannedthe Operation from South Block. Eighty more were on theground, in Libya, Cairo, Tunisia and Malta. They worked untiringly, monitoring developments; guiding stranded Indiansout of Libya; arranging for the requisite permissions andensuring that people were safely brought back to theirhomeland. Jayant Prasad, Special Secretary, Public Diplomacy,who was part of this core team, calls it a “major logistics exercisecarried out innovatively.” The government used both sea and air routes to bring back

its nationals. Of the 53 special flights, 36 were Air Indiacharters, lifting Indians out of Libya. The remaining 17 flightsbrought people back from Alexandria in Egypt; Djerba in Tunisiaand Valetta in Malta. These included private carriers and an

Indian Air Force plane, ‘Gajraj’. The government had to set upair bridges between Libya and New Delhi and Sebha andMumbai as there were no direct flights from India to Libya.Between February 26 and March 10, three to four Air Indiaflights operated each day to speed up the evacuation. “Air Indiarose to the challenge magnificently and performed a stellar roleassisted by Prashant Sukul and Naseem Zaidi from the Ministryof Civil Aviation,” says Prasad.The decision to send Indian Navy ships – it takes 12 days to

sail from the Libyan coast to India – was taken as a back-upmeasure. The government wanted to be prepared in case ofany unforeseen emergency. Three ships, the Scotia Prince, RedStar One and INS Jalashwa, were deployed to evacuate peoplefrom port areas with INS Mysore on escort duty and standby. Meanwhile, back in the capital, the Ministry of External Affairs,

the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the DelhiInternational Airport Limited (DIAL) opened up the now-shutTerminal 2 to welcome incoming passengers. The terminal was

manned by representatives of the state governments and airand rail reservation counters were put in place within two daysof launching the Operation. The entire undertaking cost thegovernment approximately Rs 115 crore. Prasad has fulsomepraise for the exemplary work of India’s Ambassador to Libya, M.Manimekalai. “She is an intrepid officer who braved many risks toensure a hitch-free evacuation,” he says. The others who playedan equally praiseworthy role, he adds, include India’s Ambassadorto Cairo, R. Swaminathan; India’s Ambassador to Slovakia whowas relocated to Malta, Rajiva Misra and India’s Ambassador toTunis, P. S. Randhawa.Libya has been home to Indians seeking a better future in

the oil rich nation. Nearly 3,000 lived in Benghazi alone, workingin construction companies, educational institutions andhospitals. The rest were spread across Libya. For most theexperience has been traumatic. Praseedha Ravindran, a 25-year-old nurse from Kottayam, had gone to Tripoli only twoweeks before the crisis started. She doesn’t think she will go

back now. “Even though, I didn’t face many problems, myparents will not allow me to return,” she says. Prasanth T. Jacob,who worked 200km away from Tripoli as a mechanicalsupervisor, may return if the situation improves, although hisreturn journey was quite horrifying. “On the way to the office,which was 200km away, we encountered 150 check posts. Ourmobiles, laptops, money were all forcibly taken away.” Islam, onthe other hand, travelled by road to Cairo. The journey was fullof risks but he was lucky nothing happened to his group. With Operation Safe Homecoming over now, officers

manning the ‘Situation Room’ can put up their feet and take abreak. They have done their job and without much ado. n

SWEET HOMECOMING: (from top left) Officials processing the documents of Indian passengers on the Scotia Prince; passengers on board the ferry

OPERATION SAFE HOMECOMINGWAS LAUNCHED ON FEBRUARY24, WITH THE FIRST SPECIAL AIRINDIA FLIGHTS LEAVING FORLIBYA AND RETURNING WITHNEARLY 530 PEOPLE ON FEBRUARY 26 AND 27. A COREGROUP OF HALF A DOZEN OFFICERS MANNED THE OPERATION FROM SOUTH BLOCK




Tiny Tuvalu, the low-lying group ofcoral atolls in the South Pacificthat is losing land to the seas,landlocked Lesotho, an enclave

surrounded on all sides by South Africa,and Haiti that was racked by a catastrophicearthquake have one thing in common.They are all nations with high levels ofpoverty, short on resources andinfrastructure, and are economies that aremost vulnerable to external shocks.

Together with 45 other nations, they forma group that is classified by the UnitedNations as having the most vulnerablepopulations in the world and were termedas Least Developed Countries (LDC).Foreign ministers of 35 LDCs and theirambassadors to the UN travelled to NewDelhi in February this year to attend thefirst India-LDC ministerial conference.India has been actively involved with

most of the Least Developed Countries,

but the ministerial meet was the first timethat India was hosting them as a group.The two-day conference in Delhi was a

build up to the Fourth UN Conference onLDC (UN LDC IV) that is due to be held inIstanbul from May 9-13. It was aimed atproviding an opportunity to LDCs toformulate their policy recommendationsfor the Fourth UN Conference. It alsoprovided an opportunity for the LDCs andthe Indian government to exchange views

on their development needs and howIndia could help meet them.In her opening remarks at the

conference, Foreign Secretary, NirupamaRao affirmed India’s steadfast support tothe LDCs and said that “India believesthat stimulating economic growth in LDCswill be an important driver of globalgrowth in the years to come.” ExternalAffairs Minister S.M. Krishna warmlywelcomed the LDC delegations, sayingSouth-South cooperation was one of thecorner-stones of India’s foreign policy.“We stand ready to share our experiencewith our friends and brethren in the LeastDeveloped Countries,” he added. TheMinister emphasised that in India’sinitiatives with the LDC, “We are principallyguided by the priorities set out by LeastDeveloped Countries themselves. Wewould like to hear your ideas and listen toyour suggestions. We would like you toguide us towards the solutions to theproblems which you face. As they say, thewearer knows where the shoe pinches.”At its conclusion, the ministerial

conference issued a Delhi Declarationthat called for the Istanbul summit to setan ambitious Programme of Action withthe aim to get at least fifty percent of itsmembers out of the LDC category by2020. It noted with concern thatinternational efforts, so far, had lacked acomprehensive approach to effectivelyaddress the challenges faced by the LDC.In the past three decades only threecountries – Botswana, Cape Verde andMaldives – have graduated out of theLDC category.India has traditionally been a strong

supporter of the LDCs. India has longstanding development partnerships withmost of the LDC through its ITECprogramme (Indian Technical andEconomic Cooperation). The programmehas helped train several thousand youngmen and women from the developingcountries through scholarships andtraining schemes.External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna

announced a number of additionalIndian contributions for LDCs at theconference. He offered another fivescholarships every year under the ITECfor each LDC and a $500 million creditline over the next five years for projectsand programmes of LDCs as well as aspecial fund of $5 million for the followup to the Fourth UN LDC Summit.Human resource development is a criticalfactor in the development programmesof the LDC and the additional fivescholarships for each country was greatlyappreciated by most of the delegations.The Foreign Minister of Solomon

Islands, Ped Shanel Agovaka thanked

India for the generous offer and said: “Inthe changing political landscape,emerging powers like India will play amore defining role in their co-operationwith LDCs.” Foreign Minister of Comoros, Fahim

Said Ibrahim expressed his gratitude atIndia’s offer to set up a vocational traininginstitute in Comoros, while Lesotho’sForeign Minister, Mohlabi Tsekoa saidIndia and Lesotho had a “very profitablepartnership” as India had impartedtraining to all levels of the LesothoDefence Forces.For the delegates from the

Pacific islands it was India’s PanAfrican e-Network Project that connects43 African countries that was mostinteresting. Many were visibly impressedat a presentation on the e-network. Thedelegate from Cook Islands exclaimed thata similar programme for the Pacificcountries “would be a boon” for the small,far flung island nations.

—Shubha Singh is a columnist whospecialises in foreign affairs

REDISTRIBUTING HOPEDelhi hosts the first India-Least Developed Countries Ministerial Conference

TEXT: SHUBHA SINGH

DEVELOPMENT CONCLAVE: (facing page) External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna addressing the LDC-Ministerial Conference in New Delhi; (from left to right) ExternalAffairs Minister S.M. Krishna, Ministers of State for External Affairs, E. Ahamed and Preneet Kaur and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao



Committed to addressing global developmentchallenges India has been consistentlypromoting South-South cooperation especiallywith countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America

and the Caribbean. At the heart of this developmentstrategy is an assistance model that combines financialsupport with expertise to stimulate local resources forgrowth. With $ 5.4 billion in highly concessional lines ofcredit earmarked for Africa alone, India has become akey partner in the continent’s development story. Thefunding is supporting a diverse range of projects inagriculture, urban transport, railways, power transmissionand electrification, development of small scale industries,IT education and much else adding a new dimension toIndia’s traditionally close and friendly ties with Africa. With the Atlantic Ocean lapping its shores, the West

African nation of Senegal has benefitted enormously fromthis key thinking. One of Africa’s top importers of rice, itsstaple food, Senegal today has attained a goal whichwould have perhaps been impossible a few years ago –self-sufficiency in food.Blessed with a fertile river valley system, Senegal

enjoys a predominantly agro-based economy, employingthree-fourths of its 12.5 million population in agriculture.Despite nature’s bounty, till the first half of this decade,over 80 percent of the country’s domestic consumptionof rice was dependent on massive imports making it theworld’s tenth-largest rice importer.It was in 2005 that the Senegalese government

started to think of an ambitious plan to overcome thisshortcoming. Officials wanted their nation to usher itsvery own Green Revolution by making it completely self-

MOVING TOWARDS

FOODAn irrigation project funded by a concessional Lineof Credit from the Indian government helps raiserice production ten-fold in Senegal

TEXT: DEVIRUPA MITRA

SECURITY

sufficient in food. They wanted Senegal to produce onemillion tones of rice – a six-fold increase – by the end ofthe current decade.It was at the same time that India organised for the

first time a conclave, an India-Africa Project Partnership incollaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) and the Export-Import Bank (EXIM). At this flagshipevent, the Senegalese delegation had fixed its priorities:it approached the Indian government to finance anextensive irrigation project in Senegal by extending a softloan through the EXIM bank.After the Indian government had given its approval,

the Senegalese side approached a Pune-based firm,Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL), to draw up a comprehensiveblueprint for a feasible irrigation system for their country.A $ 650 million dollar company, KBL is India’s largest

manufacturer and exporter of pumps and is also behindthe large pumping scheme that is irrigating two millionhectares in Gujarat.Work began soon enough with some KBL experts

reaching the Senegalese capital, Dakar to meet officialsfrom the Ministry of Agriculture. Then, followed a seriesof field visits, from the rainfall-heavy Casamance in thesouth to the Senegal River valley in the north. All the datacollected was fine-tuned and after a few rounds ofdiscussions with ministry officials, the company drew upa comprehensive proposal that was presented toPresident Maitre Abdoulaye Wade. The proposal detailed the country’s annual rice

imports, comparing the cost of rice grown locally to thatof the imported grain. It also outlined a phase-wiseprogramme; its implementation, the quantity and size of

SUCCESS STORY: (clockwise from left) A woman working in a field in Dakar, Senegal; farmersplanting rice; a woman displays nature’s bounty and Kirloskar pump sets being installed

AND FINALLY THE RESULTS...Before2006-2007 Rice Production:Less than 100,000 tonnesDemands Met:19 percentLand Irrigated:24,500 ha

After2008-2009Rice Production:More than 460,000 tonnesDemands Met:More than 50 percentLand Irrigated:85,000 ha

PART OF A SERIES MARKING THESECOND INDIA-AFRICA FORUM SUMMIT 2011


pump sets needed and the required financial back up.Most importantly, the proposal examined KBL’s capabilityto undertake such a project.President Wade convened a special meeting of

ministers and provincial officials to inform them of thisnew proposal. More than 400 delegates attended theconference chaired by President Wade at his presidentialpalace in May 2005. After a three-hour long meeting, theproject got the green signal, unanimously.For a total cost of $ 27 million, provided by an Indian

government line of credit at a highly concessional 1.75percent rate of interest re-payable over a 15-year period,

Senegal placed orders for 2,394 pump sets and alliedinstruments, along with installation and commissioningcharges. These sets were to irrigate 65,000 hectares offarm in the country’s four northern provinces of Dagana,Podor, Matam and Bakel. The company committed thatafter the commissioning of Phase-I of the project, riceproduction would definitely double within 12-14 months.After Phase-II, Senegal was hoping to reach a productiontarget of one million tonnes of rice before the end of thisdecade. Things began moving fast. By May 2006, the then

Senegalese ambassador to India, Amadou Bocoum sawoff the first batch of 1,600 pump sets and accessoriesfrom Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. Within sixmonths, all the contracted pump sets had reachedSenegal. Next, it was time to distribute and implementthe pumping systems. It took another three months to

Chairperson and managing director ofKirloskar Brothers Limited, SanjayKirloskar, is the point person for theirrigation project being implemented inSenegal. He spoke to IndiaPerspectives about this key initiative.

What were the challenges you faced when you begun this project in Senegal?Senegal is a developing nation and for usavailability of skills was a concern. But as acompany we always look at challenges asopportunities. Our engineers provided training tolocal technicians and farmers during the execution of the project which came in handy later during its commissioning. Cooperation of the local community and government authorities was crucial and that’s what helped us in the successful implementation of the first phase of the irrigation project in a record two years.

What have been the main takeaways from this partnership?We were humbled with what we could achieve.We were able to create jobs for the ruralpopulation, especially women, in Senegal and thissuccess can be replicated in other African nationstoo enriching lives of millions. With huge naturalresources – fertile land, abundant water resourcesand human population, Africa has enormouspotential for agricultural development and can act as a breadbasket for the entire world.

How self-sufficient is Senegal in rice production?Thanks to the project, in less than three years, riceproduction has gone up by seven times to over700,000 tonnes. Local rice production now meetsover 60 percent of consumption as against only 12 percent earlier. Farmland under irrigation too is now over 85,000 hectares against less than24,000 hectares. Senegal will achieve foodsufficiency by 2012.

TOWARDS SELF-SUFFICIENCY: (above) Men threshing riceat a field in Ross Bethio, Senegal; (facing page) GrandeDigue pumping station

distribute, install and complete the formalities for handingout pump sets, as well as to provide training in theoperation and maintenance of these pumps to farmers.The need to effectively irrigate Senegal to increase its

rice production was more evident than ever. In 2007-2008,large parts of the world were hit by a spiraling food crisis,leading to food riots in Dakar starkly underlining the needfor food security. “We have no other choice. If we fail toachieve food self-sufficiency, there will be a time when itwill be impossible to find rice in the market,” said theSenegalese Agriculture Minister Hamath Sall in April 2008.The same year, the results of the reinvigorated irrigation

project started to show. Senegal had its first-ever dryseason harvest garnering 60,000 tonnes of paddy. By2006, the figure jumped to 100,000 tonnes, quadruplingin about two years. And by the 2009-10 season till June,the country had produced 546,000 tonnes of rice, a figureset to increase to 750,000 tonnes by 2015.The country was delighted. Le-Soliel, a leading local daily

front-paged a story stating that Senegal had, for the firsttime ever harvested over 60,000 tonnes of paddy thanksto appropriate irrigation systems provided by India. Indeed,even today the story continues to make headlines in Africa. India’s development partnership with Senegal is but one

example of how synergies have been created betweenIndian resources and expertise and a nation’s needsultimately empowering the peoples of an African nation.

—The author is a correspondent of IANS

‘TURNING CHALLENGES INTO OPPORTUNITIES’


Perhaps T.S. Eliot was on the right track whenhe spoke of life being measured out in coffeespoons. For the tribals in a remote corner ofAndhra Pradesh near the Orissa border,

coffee holds the difference between a life of grindingpoverty and a chance at upward mobility. The neatlyarranged rows of coffee bushes on the rich, blackslopes of the Araku Valley seem to have been plantedby a God with an obsession for symmetry. Under theshade of sal and teak trees which tower over thecrouching bushes, the tribal villagers, the custodians ofall they survey, cannot quite comprehend the fact thattheir coffee is sought after by the Dior-wearing classesin the rarified world of Viennese sophistication andParisian chic. This is not just any old coffee but onewhich excites the discerning.

Coffee-tasting juries from all over the world cometo this breathtakingly beautiful part of the EasternGhats to certify coffee for foreign markets. Thisbranding exercise ensures that the coffee fetches farhigher prices than the market rate both in India andabroad. In the degraded lands where coffee cannotbe grown, a vast array of saplings await plantingranging from cherries to sweet limes to tamarind aswell as others like drumsticks to papaya. The drivingforce behind this reafforestation-cum-incomegeneration scheme involving three million trees is theFrench dairy products company Danone which haspartnered with Naandi Foundation in Hyderabad tocreate sustainable livelihoods.

To make afforestation a livelihood-basedcommunity-owned sustainable programme, Naandiroped in the ITDA (Integrated Tribal DevelopmentAgency) to give wages mandated by a Centralgovernment employment scheme to adivasis. “Wewant to eliminate the middleman and add value tothe product and ensure that the profits go back to thetribals,” says Manoj Kumar, CEO of Naandi.

The thickly-forested area holds many surprises.

COFFEE, TRIBALSAND LIVELIHOOD

BUSINESS

TEXT: LALITA PANICKER

Araku Valley, perhaps the world’s largest organic coffee cooperative,produces coffee for the discerning


STIMULATING EFFECT: (left) Coffee plantationson the hilly slopes of Araku Valley; (above) coffee ‘cherries’ ready and ripe for harvesting


SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD: Tribals carrying loads of ripenedfruit of the coffee shrub

In the middle of nowhere, you come across agigantic coffee processing unit. Row upon row ofpeanut-coloured coffee beans nestle undertarpaulin coverings to keep out the heavy dew.Nearby, around a towering inferno of a bonfire, tribalwomen dance to primeval beats under the starlitsky. This happy campy ritual is their way of life andone into which they don’t particularly welcomevoyeuristic intrusions.

So why on earth would Danone want to planttrees in an area where Naxalism still thrives? Simple,it makes good business sense. For every tree planted,

the company can rake in carbon credits. That thetribals gain in the bargain is a bonus. David Hogg,livelihood director of Naandi, is literally elbow-deepin manure. I have never met anyone moreenthusiastic about waste products from cow dung tovermin-compost. He is marinating marigolds to beused as a pest repellant. He has spent decadesstudying the variety of crops and trees best suited tothe area and has a deep and intense knowledge ofthe tribal way of life. Hogg and his team haveorganised 20,000 adivasis to plough 12,500 hecatreswith coffee and livelihood-giving trees ranging from

teak to bamboo to pomegranate making this area theworld’s largest organic coffee cooperative.

As night falls, the stars seem to zoom closer toearth in a sort of fantasy that de Beers dream off.Emerging like spectres from the forests at this timeare the tribals from the various agriculturalcooperatives. They are proud of the manner in howthey have been able to take ownership of their landsand make them more productive. The myth thatmoney in the hands of tribals goes on drink anddestroys families is belied by the fact that almost allthe children in the area are in schools. Progressive

NGOs and corporates have value added to the localschools. The girl students I met have begun lookingbeyond the lives of their parents. They are literallyaiming for the stars under that indigo sky. Soundarya,a 12-year-old tribal girl says, “I want to be a pilot.”Several others have the same dream.

Its heartening to see that the tribals are notexpecting expect any hand-outs. They have takencontrol of their lives, taken help wherever they canget it. They all see the cup, the coffee cup, that is,half full.

—The writer is senior associate editor, Hindustan Times

COFFEE-TASTING JURIES FROMALL OVER THE WORLD COME TO THIS BREATHTAKINGLYBEAUTIFUL PART OF THE EASTERN GHATS TO CERTIFYCOFFEE FOR FOREIGN MARKETS

CLAUDE AVEZAR

D

TRAVEL

Lying back on plump pillows on a brocade bedspread. The blind, whichmatches the cover, rolled up to allow me to admire the countryside roll by.Mustard fields. A small village. Children playing cricket. Women in colourfulclothes working in the fields. Buffalo wallowing in a pond. A bridge. A factory.

A dam. A meandering stream. Red earth and a lone eagle flying high in the sky.Ensconced in my air-conditioned suite in the super luxury train. I catch glimpses ofIndia that are here one moment and then gone forever. I don’t know when my eyesclose and I fall into a doze. The swaying motion of the train acting like a soporific.

I awaken and it takes me a moment to get my bearings. I realise I have woken upbecause the train has come to a halt at a station. My vision clears and I look out ofthe window through which I had been admiring the countryside. What do I see?Dozens of chattering faces peering in. Before I can pull down the blind and shutthem out, I hear the amazement in their voices as they stare spellbound at thesplendour of my cabin. “It has a bed”, “Did you notice the table and chair in thecorner?”, “Wow”, “Aisi train bhi hoti hai (they have trains like this too)!” I decide not

ROYAL REPASTS:(clockwise from topleft) Guests beingwelcomed on theRROW; staff on high alert; gettingengrossed in a rangeof board games anda variety of booksavailable on the train


A WINDOW TO INDIAThe train takes you to places of tourist interest in royal fashion

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS: MANEESHA DUBE


to pull down the blind, instead I walk away into the vestibule and let them absorb thestory they will retell their families and friends for a long time to come.

I have boarded the train at Safdarjung Railway Station. Tucked away in a quiet partof the capital, it bears little resemblance to other railway stations. No red-shirted cooliesjostling for attention, no hawkers shouting chai garam (hot tea), no trunks and hold-alls littered on the platform with impatient children sitting on them, not even a ticketbooth. Before I can say Royal Rajasthan on Wheels (RROW), I see the train, run by theRajasthan Tourism Development Corporation parked alongside the platform. It is paintedin vermilion and a golden yellow. Within minutes I am checked in, my luggage has beenwhisked away and the turbaned attendants in kurtas printed with Rajasthani motifs andchuridars, escort me to the Ruby Suite in Lalgarh Palace coach. The fully air-conditionedRROW’s 13 saloons are named after famous palaces of Rajasthan. Each has threesuites – Ruby, done up in red, Pearl in white and Sapphire in blue.

The decor is opulent and reminiscent of a set in a film about maharajas. The twinbeds, placed lengthwise in the coupe, are longer than any berth in any train in India, asare the windows. Paintings, aesthetic lighting, a writing table, a comfortable chair, awardrobe and an ensuite bathroom are part of the elegant facilities.

CHARMS OF LUX-URY: (clockwise fromleft) Decorated ele-phants – always ahit with foreigntourists; Sahelion kibadi in Udaipur; exquisite saloonsand folk musicianplaying Ravanhatta,a Rajasthani stringedinstrument


I settle down and ask for a cuppa. It is served in bone china with a batch of home-baked cookies. A good start, I think. And I am not wrong. Over the course of thejourney, the food lives up to its initial promise. Each day brings different fare. Themenu is eclectic, with Indian, continental and sometimes other international cuisinesto choose from. Despite the limitations of space, after all the width of a train is thewidth of the train, the staff does a good job of bringing us hot and tasty meals in boththe Sheesh Mahal and Swarn Mahal, the two restro-lounges.

The itinerary is packed. From Delhi the train enters Rajasthan with the first stop atJodhpur, then it is on to Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Sawai Madhopur to visit the RanthamboreNational Park, Jaipur, Khajuraho to admire the world-famous temples and the eroticsculptures, Varanasi to catch the spiritual experience of the maha aarti and finally Agrato gaze at the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. At each of the placessight-seeing tours and cultural entertainment is arranged for the guests.

[email protected] and [email protected] http://www.royalrajasthanonwheels.com

INTRIGUING SAGAS: (left) A palace interior, Udaipur; (above) spectacular window views


IN REVIEW


BOOKSA quartet of R.K. Narayan’s novels illuminate the times in which they were written

These four novels brought out innew elegant editions, with anintroduction by famed American

columnist and author Pico Iyer, mark themiddle years of R. K. Narayan, thenovelist. Waiting for the Mahatma waswritten in 1955, The Guide in 1958, TheManeater of Malgudi in 1961 and TheVendor of Sweets in 1967. In thesebooks Narayan reflects the times inwhich they were written.

Waiting for the Mahatma goes a littleway back into the 1930s during thefreedom struggle in which MahatmaGandhi was its leading light. Through thenovelist’s device, Narayan has Gandhivisiting Malgudi, and what is refracted inthe narrative is not so much high politicsbut the charming low politics played outamong the organisers of the Mahatma’svisit. There is also romance betweenSriram and Bharati as they live through thetumult of the Quit India Movement of1942, the war time constraints, thePartition and the violence that followed.

The novel ends on a poignant note –Sriram and Bharati get Gandhi’s blessingfor their marriage just before he goes tothe prayer meeting where he is shot dead.Narayan intertwines the momentous andthe tender with great poise.

In The Guide, Narayan portrays thecomplex relationship of Raju, the smart-

alecky man-about-Malgudi and Rosie, themodern girl who is deeply attached tothe temple-dancer roots of her motherand grandmother. Narayan handles therelationship with candour and evenaplomb, revealing the unsuspected butmature and adult relationship of a manand woman. The tragic undertone of thetale is told with an ironic detachment.The novel was made into a memorableand successful film of the same name.

In many ways, The Maneater ofMalgudi seems an uncharacteristicNarayan novel. The humour is a little toorambunctious and the characteristicNarayan irony takes a backseat. But thereis a lot of hustle and bustle, even a more-than-usual noise in the Malgudi of thedays when Jawaharlal Nehru waslaunching the Third Five Year Plan, andthere are loud debates about it. Vasu thetaxidermist is the maneater of the titlebecause of his brusque manners andmaverick ways.

The last in the set is The Vendor of Sweets; a typical Narayan story,understated but richly humorous. Narayantakes delight in taking a dig at the creativecourses in American universities while hetells the tale of Mali, the aspiring writer. Hisfather Jagan copes with the social changesat home when Mali comes back with anAmerican wife. He shows the clash ofgenerations and clash of cultures in thegentlest way. The story remains as freshas it was 40 years ago when it was written.Here is a master novelist who awaits to bediscovered and relished.

—Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr.

What spirit! You have to see it tobelieve it. It is another matterthat the remarkable sportsmen

you encounter in this documentary areguys who cannot see. But such is theirvision that they surmount the mostdaunting physical and material odds tokeep the tricolour flying. Playing with a ballfilled with iron pellets, they can bowl, batand field with fierce determination andastounding skill. It’s Cricket, No? a 30-minute documentary film by SudhirAggarwal, pays a tribute to and celebratesthe achievements of the Indian blindcricket team.

The filmmakers follow the squad as itprepares for a series in the UK,highlighting fascinating and singular storiesof grit and glory along the way. Thecamera tracks the lives of the individualswho constitute the team, going into theirhomes and workplaces to understandwhat drives them as human beings andas sportsmen. But, above all, the filmhighlights the rousing exploits of these

cricketers who will stop at nothing in theirquest to become the most courageousteam ever to represent India in any sport.

Aggarwal and French, both based inBerlin, shot It’s Cricket, No? on location at aconditioning camp, during a national-leveltournament held in Bengaluru and in thecourse of India’s triumphant series ofmatches against England in Worcestershire.Away from the blinding floodlights andflashbulbs and without any monetary helpfrom the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia, this team of totally sightless andpartially blind cricketers play for the onlything they hold dear – pride and honour.

The message is loud and clear: thesemen need neither sympathy nor charity.As one of the featured players reveals, hewould once arouse pity because he wasvisually challenged. But after hisacquaintances saw him play the gamethe way he does, he instantly went upmany notches in their eyes. He is now ahero. Every member of this team is.

—Saibal Chatterjee

FILMVisually challenged players underline what true sportsmanship is all about

IT’S CRICKET, NO?Genre: DocumentaryRunning time: 30 minutesDirector: Sudhir Aggarwal Producer: Public DiplomacyDivision, Ministry of External Affairs

WAITING FOR THE MAHATAMATHE GUIDE THE MANEATERS OF MALGUDI THE VENDOR OF SWEETSBy R.K. NarayanIntroduction by Pico IyerPenguin Modern Classics Price: `225 each


Abhushan, Dialogues in Design, an international three-dayjewellery summit was the highlight of Delhi’s spring artand craft calendar. Unveiled by the Chief Minister of Delhi

Sheila Dixit, the summit organised by the World Crafts Councilwas facilitated by the Crafts Council of India and the Delhi CraftsCouncil at the Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi.

The summit saw four different exhibitions: Perhaps the mostoutstanding was the Seeds to Silver exhibit showcasing thejewellery of over a hundred craftspeople from six regions – NorthAmerica, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and India. Itwas not only precious stones and metals, these magnificentpieces of art brought alive local designs by using wood, plastic,recycled material, shell, paper and metal. The section from Indiafocussed on folk and tribal jewellery, some old, somecontemporary, but all of it eye-catching.

Jewelled Treasures, a retail avenue, featured leading jewellerydesigners in diamonds while the Jadau segment included nameslike Tarang Arora from Amrapali, Umesh Ganjam from Ganjam andUmesh Vaidya from Rose Jewellery. The retail segment also hadleading Indian fashion jewellery designers such as Tarun Tahiliani,Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Queenie Singh displaying their uniquecustom-made masterpieces. Craft Jewellery Bazaar, another exhibit,witnessed participants like Paola Manfredi from Zambia and AkweleSuma Glory from Ghana representing eco-friendly designs.

Whatever their origin, all the pieces of jewellery were bound bya common link: beauty and craftsmanship.

—Anupama Singh

FEAST FOR THE EYES:(clockwise from right) Exquisite tribal necklace fromcentral India; ivory jewelleryconstructed on plastic fromRajasthan; Bands of NineRings made from paintedwood and plastic laminate;hair accessories, part of bridal ornaments seen in TamilNadu‘s Kundala Velai technique; Rajasthani baju bandh or arm band; and Christine Keyeux’s spunpaper jewellery

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IN REVIEW

EXHIBITIONAbhushan, an international jewellery exhibition,paid homage to craftspeople all over the world by showcasing the contemporary with the traditional

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Pandit Jasraj is synonymous with Hindustaniclassical music. The foremost exponent of theMewati Gharana, the world renowned vocalisthas created numerous compositions and

conducted extensive research. Constantly motivatingand inspiring the young, Panditji founded the IndianMusic Academy along with other luminaries in the field.He spoke to Smita Singh on ragas, riyaaz and everythingin between.

Gives us a short background on theMewati Gharana?A gharana is a school. Some giveemphasis on sur (melody), some on taal(beat) and some on swar (note). TheMewati Gharana gives importance to thebalance between sur and taal but we alsoemphasise on swar and correctpronunciation. Any careful listener canunderstand what is being sung. The MewatiGharana also believes, as do all gharanas,that singing is both scientific and spiritual.

Much has been said about the healingpowers of classical music. Yes, it has been proven that classical music has healingpowers. Raga Darbari helps in insomnia; Raga Jaunpurihelps ease headaches and Raga Natnarayani helpsregain mental equilibrium. My disciples, Dr Vijay Sathe, Mr Yevlekar who is a yoga teacher and his wife who is adoctor, are all researching on the healing power of yoga,music and medicine. In fact, Dr Vijaya Sathe played myRaga Kalyan successfully bringing down her patient’sblood pressure.

How did you evolve the concept of jugalbandi?Jugalbandi was conceptualised almost 20 years ago. I

noticed that male and female singers sang on differentscales so it was difficult for them to sing together. If theearth and sky, water and air can co-exist, why shouldn’tmale and female voices also co-exist? So jugalbandi wasconceived, styled on the ancient system of moorchanas,when a male and a female vocalist each sing in theirrespective scales and different ragas at the same time.

How did the Indian Music Academy (IMA) comeabout and what are its initiatives?

The IMA was launched in early 2006. It’sa first-of-its kind national movement ofmusicians, by musicians, for musiciansand music lovers, promoting all genres ofIndian music and nurturing young talent. Ithas many luminaries behind it, allencouraging emerging stars, worthyyoung maestros and legends of folk,qawaali, sufi, ghazals, bhajans, natyasangeet, Hindustani and Carnatic music.

The IMA has successfully held a 39-series concert to promote all formsof Indian music. Then in September2009, there was the Indian MusicNational Talent Hunt-Idea Jalsa to tap

talent from those ranging from 5-45 years of age. Thiscontest attracted around 2,000 participants from Indiaand abroad who were judged by eminent musicians anda one-year scholarship was awarded to the finalists. TheIMA also gives free medical aid to needy musicians andtheir dependants.

What is the future of Hindustani classical music?The future is bright. During the talent search we cameacross many aspiring singers from small towns and villages.You should see how they do their riyaaz (practice)everyday. Indian classical music is safe in their hands. n

CLASSICAL NOTESPandit Jasraj has been constantly motivating and inspiring the young with his music

It’s a wonderfulidea to showcaseIndia to the world through thepages of India Perspectives andthat too in 18 languages. It is especiallyheartening to note that this magazine will be read by intellectuals,diplomats andleading personalitiesacross the world. I wish India Perspectives andits global readersall the very best.

—Pandit Jasraj

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