Run by the students of Udaan

MumbaiWeekly Volume 01 Issue 05 FRIDAY, 20 JANUARY 2012

economy feature sports metro

Next month, those going for the lion safari at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) at Borivli will be able to see Little Shobha, Jespha and Gopa playing alongside their mother, Shobha. On 22nd September, the three cubs two males and a female, became the first set of lion cubs to be born in the park in the last 20 years. Now three months old, they weigh

between 10 and 12 kg each, and will soon be old enough to be part of the safari. Between them, they polish off 14 kg of beef and seven kilo-grams of chicken daily, in addition to being fed by their mother. Park officials announced this news last week, only after the cubs were healthy and old enough. Contd on page 2

Lion cubs born in city after twenty years

Mumbaikars had the

experience of a pleasant

winter this season when

the lowest temperature

recorded was 8.5 de-

gree Celsius, the lowest

in 20 years.

According to the Mete-

orological Department,

cold waves are being

brought down to the

city from Jammu and

Kashmir. As explained

by the officer-on-duty

at the regional meteoro-

logical centre in Co-

laba, there is a distur-

bance near Jammu and

Kashmir and this has

lowered temperatures

there.

It is said, the tempera-

ture may drop even

further and break the

record of 7.4 degree

celcius that was re-

corded in 1962.

The cityscape is not

the same as the last few

years. The nights are

chilly, people are

wrapped in warm cloth-

ing, street animals are

not to be seen. Morn-

ings are foggy even at 8

AM, school children

waiting at bus stops

make bonfires to stay

warm. From 9 PM to 9

AM, it is not difficult to

find people huddling

around a fire.

In contrast to the win-

ters of the northern and

eastern states,

Mumbaikars are not

very familiar with this

kind of cold weather.

Cont’d on page2

Above : A woman and her dog cover themselves from the cold in Mumbai. The city experienced the

coldest winter in forty years according to the Meteorological department Left: A man smokes on a

cold day in Mumbai. Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly

Mumbai gets the shivers

Left: Three lion cubs sit in an enclosure at Sanjay Gandhi National Park Mumbai on 12 January 2012. These cubs were born in the city after a gap of twenty years, according to park officials. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly Right: Lioness Shoba plays with of her three cubs on 12 January 2012 in Mumbai. Abhinav Reddy / Mumbai Weekly

METRO 2 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly

People warm themselves in front of a bonfire in the suburbs of Mumbai on 12 January 2012. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

A couple of boys sit next to a bonfire at a street in suburban Mumbai

on 12 January 2012. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

School children stand around a bonfire to warm themselves in Mumbai on 12 January 2012. Chirag Sutar / Mumbai

Weekly

Above: Lioness Shoba engages her cub into a playful fight in an enclosure at Sanjay Gandhi National Park Mumbai on 12 January 2012.. Abhinav Reddy / Mumbai Weekly. Top Right: A protective lioness

stands alongside her cubs. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly Right Centre: Jeespa, Gompa and Little Shoba, the three cubs sit in the winter sun. Abhinav Reddy / Mumbai Weekly. Lower Right: A lion cub

playfully gnaws into a tree. Abhinav Reddy / Mumbai Weekly

Contd from page1 A city where around 70 percent of the popula-tion resides in the slums and the streets, this cold wave can be considered to be more of a curse. Lighting a bonfire is not enough to substitute the lack of proper warm clothes. The cold weather we are experiencing here, may be the fall-out of a problem else-where. A very grave problem that is not being dealt with cau-tiously is of global warming. As

the polar ice caps melt, it could turn our nice cold mornings today, into unbearable days in few years. While immediate action is needed to provide supplies to the residents of the city who are less fortunate - like warm clothing and tents to the people on streets – a more concrete plan is needed to preparefor severe weather in fu-ture.

Mumbai gets the shivers

Lion cubs born in the city After two decades, the addition of three cubs

to the lion clan will boost eco-tourism in the

park; raising the lion count to six at SGNP.

Spread across 104 sqkm, SGNP is among the

few national parks across the world to be

located within city limits. At present, the sa-

fari witnesses between 100 and 125 visitors

everyday between 9am and 5.30pm with the

count going up to 350 over the weekends.

Two buses covered with mesh have one at-

tendant each to take the visitors on the safari.

Wildlife experts said while facilities for the

lion and tiger safari are good, the entry of

cubs will be an added attraction.

Contd from page1

3 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly metro

Mumbai celebrates harvest festival Pongal is the harvest

festival in India. Pongal

is traditionally

dedicated to the Sun

God It is the first day of

the Tamil year. The fes-

tival starts at sun-

rise. The festival Thai

Pongal coincides with

the festival Makar Sank-

ranti celebrated through-

out India as the winter

harvest and is usually

held from January 13–

15 . It is celebrated by

boiling rice with fresh

milk and jaggery in new

pots. The rice isl ater

topped with brown

sugar, ghee, cashew nuts

and raisins. The moment

the milk boils over and

bubbles out of the vessel,

the tradition is to shout

of "Pongal o Pongal!"

Mumbai Weekly Pho-

tographer Pratham Gok-

hale captured the festival

in Dharavi, Mumbai.

Dharavi is the only place

in Mumbai where large

number of Tamil people

gather and celebrate this

festival by preparing

Pongal on streets. About

1,850 Tamil families

gathered and celebrated

Pongal on streets of

Dharavi on 15 Jan 2012.

Women prepare „pongal‟, a south Indian preparation consisting of rice, to celebrate the harvest festival of Pongal in Mumbai on 14 January 2012.

Women devotees stand in a queue outside a temple in Mumbai during the Indian festival of Pongal on 15

January 2012 Devotees prepare Pongal in Mumbai on 15 January 2012

A man walks on the railway track towards the station in Mumbai 12th January 2012. An ambitious city railway project to take the suburban local trains to the next level has formally

begun with the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC), the city‟s railway think-tank, drawing up detailed guidelines for the two new proposed corridors Virar-Panvel and CST-

Panvel fast line. Air-conditioned (AC) locals, branded trains, a separate fare structure with stand-alone operations will soon be a reality in the city. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly

EDITORIAL

OPINION Malnutrition: A National Shame

POINT OF VIEW

Poverty gap widens

4 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly

A boy looks at food displayed at a roadside stall in Mumbai. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly

Despite economic growth, the

poverty gap has widened in In-

dia, and according to latest fig-

ures, nearly half its population

subsists on less than Rupees 200

( about US$4) a day and is liv-

ing in extreme poverty.

India's economy grew by more

than eight per cent last year, and

is expected to grow another

seven per cent this year.

While this has brought smiles on

the faces of the rich and power-

ful, the poor seem to have been

forgotten.

Uneven wealth distribution in

the country has increased the

gap between the rich and poor.

Economic inequality is giving

rise to social and political unrest

in the country. Equal income

distribution is essential for India

to achieve its economic poten-

tial. Education and training peo-

ple to keep up with the modern

time is essential especially in the

agricultural sector. Currently,

agriculture contributes 15 per

cent to the gross domestic prod-

uct (GDP), but accounts for half

the country's working popula-

tion.

A big challenge remains training

people who leave the farming

sector.

As they lack skills, millions of

Indians who enter the workforce

every year find employment in

the unregulated informal sector -

with low pay and poor working

conditions - again getting

trapped in the cycle of poverty.

A mother bathes her son with waste water in Mumbai. Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly

Right: People stand next to each other in a crowded local train in

Mumbai. Girtartha Goswami / Mumbai Weekly

On my way to work every-

day I see children begging

on the streets of the city

under flyovers and signal

junctions. Barely dressed

these children walk from

car to car hoping for some

charity to buy maybe a

single meal for a day.

What is a government

doing so wrong that puts

these innocents on the

street to beg for food

which is rightfully theirs?

Releasing a report on Hun-

ger and Malnutrition

(HUNGaMA) in New

Delhi recently, the Prime

Minister Dr Manmohan

Singh said: "the problem

of malnutrition is a matter

of national shame. Despite

impressive growth in our

GDP, the level of under-

nutrition in the country is

unacceptably high." Yes I

totally agree! This is a

National Shame but who is

responsible? Is it the gov-

ernment? Is it the people

like you and me who live

here? What can be done to

solve the „national

shame‟?

In my opinion it is impor-

tant to first understand the

crucial link between grow-

ing hunger and malnutri-

tion and the economic

policies being perpetuated.

Hunger is the result of

faulty economic policies

which widens the gulf

between the haves and

have-nots; is the outcome

of policies that take away

community control over

natural resources like wa-

ter, forests and farmlands;

and is also the fallout

of neoliberal policies that

removes social security

nets and allows corporate

takeover of agriculture.

The more the government

destroys the very founda-

tions of agriculture forcing

farmers to abandon farm-

ing and migrate into the

urban cities in search of

menial jobs, the more is

likely to the growth in

hunger and malnutrition.

Instead of extending what

is visibly a mere lip-

sympathy to the poor and

malnourished, we need to

recast our economic poli-

cies making it pro-people

and pro-environment.

5 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly Photo essay

Mumbai‟s hard education system sometimes

demands students attend private tuitions.

Members belonging to the unprivileged

strata of society cannot afford these tuitions

causing the students to fail or worse drop

put of school. Helping these less fortunate

students are a group of people who convert

the city‟s footpath into a make shift

coaching class. The teachers are voluntary

members of society who sacrifice their time

to help there children. Classes are held twice

a day and it is for students studying in the

first to eighth standards.

Mumbai Weekly photographer Pratham

Gokhale spent a day in one such

coaching class.

STREET SCHOOL

6 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly economy

A man collects onions fallen on the floor from a torn sack at Vashi APMC market in Mumbai

16 January 2011. Gitartha Goswami/Mumbai Weekly

A shopkeeper fills a measure of grain in Mumbai on 17 January 2012. Food prices decreased this week

as food inflation turned negative. Twisha Deb / Mumbai Weekly

Food inflation turns negative

INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT BOUNCES BACK India‟a industrial pro-duction rebounded from the worst month since March 2009, a sign consumer demand is withstanding record interest-rate increases. Output (INPIINDY) at factories, utilities and mines increased 5.9 percent in November from a year earlier af-ter a revised 4.7 per-cent decline in the pre-vious month, the Cen-tral Statistical Office said in a statement in New Delhi today.

The median of 27 esti-mates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 2.1 percent gain.

Manufacturing in India and China improved in December, according to the Purchasing Managers‟ Index, showing the world‟s fastest-growing major economies have so far been resilient to Europe‟s debt crisis. Today‟s data gives scope for the Reserve Bank of India to keep

borrowing costs un-changed on Jan. 24 for a second straight month to help fight inflation.

“There has been an upturn in consumer spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief econo-mist at Mumbai-based ratings company Credit Analysis & Re-search Ltd. “The RBI will keep rates on hold until inflation is firmly down.”

Above: A man works in a ship breaking yard in Mumbai on 17 January 2012. Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly Top Left: A man works on the Metro Rail Project in one of the suburbs in Mumbai. Abhinav

reddy / Mumbai Weekly. Top Right: A worker ties a load with oil covered hands. Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly. Lower Right: Two men secure a load of pipes ready for dispatch. Krishanu Nagar /

Mumbai Weekly

Food inflation remained in nega-

tive zone for the third successive

week on account of a sharp fall

in prices of vegetables, including

onions and potatoes, which had

seen a surge in prices last winter

and had upset household dietary

habits.

With more than abundant supply,

it's a different story this year with

food inflation estimated at 0.42%

during the week-ended January

7, compared to over 16% a year

ago. As a group, vegetables were

45.81% cheaper during the week.

There is, however, little respite

when it comes to protein-rich

items with double-digit inflation

seen in case of fruits (10%), milk

(11.5%) and eggs and meat

(around 20%). In case of pulses

too, inflation was estimated at

over 14% during the week-ended

January 7.

But worries of an economic

slowdown have been increas-

ing, which may lead the Re-

serve Bank Of India to evaluate

a reversal in its tight policy

stance to support the economy.

According to media reports the

Reserve Bank Of India will

meet next week to review

monetary policy and is widely

expected to keep its key lending

rate steady as headline inflation

remains high.

Economists say it may lower

the rate around March by when

headline inflation is expected to

ease to more comfortable lev-

els.

"Data on Monday showed

headline inflation eased to

7.47% from a year earlier in

December--the lowest in two

years--from 9.11% in Novem-

ber. But prices of manufactured

products--a key gauge of core

inflationary pressures--

remained elevated, suggesting a

cut in interest rates at this time

may be premature.

7 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

A montage of the many face expressions of table maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, at a performance in Mumbai 10th January 2012. Legendary Maestros of Santoor and Tabla, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and

Ustad Zakir Hussain performed live in concert in a musical homage to Shree Anandmayee Ma. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly

Moods of the Maestro

A group of drummers perform at an amphitheatre in Mumbai on 12th January 2012. Thayambaka drumming is a rhythmic percussionist style performed in

the south Indian state of Kerala. Abhinav Reddy / Mumbai Weekly

KERALA DRUMMERS MESMERISE MUMBAI

The Horniman Circle gardens hosted „Keli

Music Festival‟ based on the drumming

and percussion traditions of Kerala, from

12th-14th January.

These are styles of, a rhythmic musical

style performed by sole percussionists in

Kerala.

The festival featured three rare forms of

Thayambaka treasured by music connois-

seurs for their structure and aesthetics.

The festival featured the „Chempada

Kooru‟, an eight-beat Thayambaka style

that developed in Madayikkavu village in

North Kerala.The form has its origins in

the oracle (Velichapad) dance performed

at festivals in the Bhagavati temples of the

area.

Artists who took part in the festival are

Panamanna Sasi, described as a rising star

of Thayambaka and a disciple of stalwart-

slike his father, Panamanna Appu Poduval,

Pookkattari Rama Poduval, Kalamandalam

Chandra Mannadiar, Kottakkal Kuttan

Marar and Kottakkal

Krishnan Kutti Asan; and Sukapuram

Dileep, a student of distinguished Thayam-

baka exponent, the late Pookkattiri Di-

vakara Poduval

NOSTALGIA: FOR THE RECORD

A shopkeeper arranges music records in a street side stall in Mumbai on 18 January 2012. Gitartha Goswami / Mumbai Weekly Music records are displayed at a street side stall in Mumbai. Gitartha

Goswami / Mumbai Weekly

Walking down the road out-

side Mumbai‟s Chattrapati

Shivaji Terminus can be a

walk down memory lane.

Tucked among the swank

modern stores selling high end

digital products and sleek

music accessories, are street

side vendors selling the long

forgotten vinyl records, better

known as LPs. Nostalgia pre-

vails as one looks through the

faded record covers adorning

the pavement and adjoining

walls. The collection on dis-

play is extensive and a delight

for music lovers. Records of

Elvis, The Carpenters, Jim

Reeves and a host of similar

legends share space with In-

dian counterpart from Bolly-

wood such as Qurbani, Kaalia,

Awara and other classical hits

from yesteryears. Images of

the stars of the past make you

travel back into time and re-

live your past. One is trans-

ported back to the melodious

evenings spent in front of the

record player or gramophones

with their trademark and nos-

talgic scratch of vinyl comple-

menting a legends voice.

However, for an entire genera-

tion who missed the landing

on the moon, think of Ab-

hishek when they hear the

word Bacchan and live on a

staple diet of Google, Face-

book and Café Mocha these

LPs would seem as strange as

a typewriter or poloroid cam-

era. According to Mr. Abdul

Razzak, a LP vendor, his col-

lection of over 2000 records is

a result of extensive search

and buy operations from re-

cord collectors of various

places of the country. The LPs

range from a price of Ru-

pees150 (around 3 USD) to

Rupees 650 (around 12 USD)

depending on the size of the

record. And on ones ability to

bargain for a better price.

These record shops connects

us to our past. However, it‟s a

matter of time before they

entirely fade away and music

will go off the record.

A man walks past old records displayed at a street side music stall in Mum-

bai. Gitartha Goswami / Mumbai Weekly

8 FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012 Mumbai Weekly SPORTS

Published by: Udaan School of Photography. Editor: Shailesh Andrade Photo editor: Saarthak Aurora Chief Photographer: Shankar Narayan Email: editor.mumbaiweekly@gmail.com

Athletes run in the Mumbai Marathon. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

A physically challenged person participates in the Mumbai Marathon on 15 January 2012. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly A participant dressed in a superman costume races to the end point of the Marathon. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

A camera crew films the elite group of runners participating in the Mumbai Marathon on 15 January 2012. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

Kenya‟s Laban Moiben, the winner in the mens cato-gery, sprints to the finish of the Mumbai Marathon. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

An athlete with a prosthetic limb runs in the Mumbai

Marathon on 15 January 2012. Shailesh Andrade /

Mumbai Weekly

On Sunday 15th January 2012 Mumbai awoke

to participate in the ninth Standard Chartered

Marathon. A number of international athletes

ran along side local athletes, celebrities and

people participating in support of various

causes. A record 38,700 people participated in

the annual Mumbai Marathon on Sunday and

as always the Kenyans and Ethiopians ran

away with the medals. Laban Moiben of

Kenya won the men's title while Netsa-net

Abeyo of Ethiopia won in the women's cate-

goray. India's Ram Singh Yadav's performance

has helped him qualify for the London Olym-

pics.

Apart from the runners the marathon had cor-

porates and other organizations raising funds

by running for charity. People came dressed in

unique and innovative costumes adding a car-

nival atmosphere to the event.

MARATHON MEN

Kenya‟s Laban Moiben celebrates after winning the Mumbai Marathon on 15th January 2012.

Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly