Views on News 07 November 2015

VIEWS ON NEWSNOVEMBER 7, 2015 `50

THE CRITICAL EYE

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

MURALI KRISHNAN: Will IPL fizzle without the Pepsi pop? 18

KRISH WARRIER: The long and short of ads 38

BIKRAM VOHRA: Playboy and the age of innocence 34

Rajshri Rai’s analysis of reality checks across the border 03

Meena Menon’s account of what it’s like being an Indian journo in Pakistan 11

TMM SURVEY: How the small screen is confusing us about Bihar elections 42

MAYA KRISHNA RAO: Why I Rage 30

Special

BEHINDLINESTHE

THE SHIV SENA and related right-wing attacks onSudheendra Kulkarni and the vicious demonstrationagainst the Mumbai launch of former Pakistan foreignminister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book, Neither a

Hawk Nor a Dove, demonstrated not just uncivilizedboorishness but also an attempt by authoritarianforces to prevent the spread of rational discourse andknowledge. Lost in the ugly imbroglio was the pow-erful fact that an uncountable number of Pakistanis forpractical reasons of self-preservation and survival aswell as a yearning for peace and brotherhood havetried ceaselessly to reach out to India over the headsand batons of their political masters and hate-mon-gering, jehad-preaching ideologues advocating the de-struction of Bharat.

Kasuri’s book, with all its faults orquestionable historical data, is one suchattempt at creating an atmosphere inwhich the masters of India and Pakistancan reason together and lessen the bilat-eral tensions which make our region oneof the most dangerous nuclear flash-points in the world.

This is what Nehru wanted all along,what Mrs Gandhi wanted after theBangladesh war, what Rajiv Gandhi, Vaj-payee, Advani, Manmohan Singh and, ap-parently, Narendra Modi want.

So what stops us from movingahead? For one, blind hatred and the de-sire to maintain political power with theaid of muscle and second, the attempt to muzzle an exchange of infor-mation through censorship and propa-ganda. Actor Naseeruddin Shah, one of

the participants in the discussion during the booklaunch, remarked: “I do not actually understand whyanything said as a compliment to Pakistan must beconstrued as anti-Indian. If I say Imran Khan is great,does that make Sunil Gavaskar any less a cricketer?”

On Shiv Sena’s argument that terror and cricket ormusic can’t co-exist, Shah said: “The people whosponsor terror aren’t the same who bring the messageof peace from across the border.”

Actually, most Indians fail to realize or are pre-vented from knowing how strong these mes-sages are from across the border. I would urge

my readers to do no more than use Google or YouTube

to look at Pakistani news and current affairs in theirnewspapers and major TV channels. You’d beshocked to see how much dissent and criticism thereis of their own government regarding hidebound po-sitions on Indo-Pakistani issues, including stancestaken by commentators, writers and ex-servicemenon sensitive subjects which, if uttered in the same veinby Indians within India, would be considered anti-na-tional and subversive.

I am not jumping to the conclusion that Pakistan,compared to its Indian neighbor, is a liberal state. Butthen, what am I to think when I hear statements madepublicly in the Pakistani media space questioning thevery validity of the ideology that holds together Pak-istan as a nation state or questions state or non-state-sponsored propaganda against India?

For example, Anand Patwardhan’s documentary,War and Peace, shows girls in Lahore GrammarSchool on Gulberg’s Alam Road advocating the needfor Pakistan to arm itself to the teeth to repel India’snuclear threat and then, after the formal

SHUTTING OUR EYES,CLOSING OUR EARS

EDIT

OR

’S N

OTE

3VIEWS ON NEWS November 7, 2015

“debate”, admitting to the Indian cameraperson thatthey want nothing but peace with India and that thepro-nuke positions taken by them was no more than“rabble rousing” instilled in them by politicians usingthe anti-India card to get votes.

From the mouths of babes, sometimes wisdomflows. How many Indians have watched this? Howmany Indians realize that it may be patently false thatall Pakistani children are routinely brainwashed andgrow up believing in jehad against India?

How many Indians have seen Pakistani intellec-tual and commentator Hassan Nisar on major Pak-istani TV channels, including Dawn, berating themullahs, Generals Ayub Khan and Zia and the failureof Pakistan as a corrupt army-dominated state incomparison to the relative success of India? Or Pak-istani ministers like Khurram Dastgir and others acknowledging Modi’s commercial success in theUS and the demonstration of the power of India’s

middle class on Pakistan anchor Kamran Shahid’sshow? How many have seen Pakistani anchorshighlighting the relatively comic failure of NawazSharif’s team in Washington in comparison to theachievements of Modi’s delegation?

How many Indians have watched anchor EjazHaider’s show on Capital TV with Brigadier Fayyaz,and intellectual Dr Moin Yusuf questioning the recentofficial Pakistani “celebration” of the 1965 warwhen, as they admit openly, Pakistan indeed wasthe aggressor and then had to retreat in the face ofIndian retaliation?

Dr Yusuf, in fact, stated that Modi’s diplomacyis successfully forcing Pakistan to remain boggeddown in the quagmire of “old politics” while India isrefashioning itself as a modern state. “If the trajec-tory of India’s progress continues to grow,” Dr Yusufcommented, “we will become another Bhutan.” Herecommends that Pakistan should engage aggres-sively with India’s economy and international eco-nomic interests so that both become stakeholdersin the quest for peace.

How many Indians have heard veteran journoNajam Sethi saying “we lost all four wars againstIndia,” and stating aggressively that Pakistan in-vaded and started the wars in Kashmir, Siachen and

4 VIEWS ON NEWS November 7, 2015

GIVE DOVES A CHANCE(L-R) Pakistani

school girls expressing their

desire for peace onthe TV show, War

and Peace

A banner on theDelhi-Lahore busroute, welcomingpassengers from

both countries

If you see Pakistani news in their papers ormajor TV channels, you’d be shocked to seehow much dissent and criticism there is of

their own government regarding hideboundpositions on Indo-Pakistani issues.

Editor’s Note


Kargil, “all of which backfired?”How many of us in India have listened to

Pakistan war heroes like Air Vice Marshal Abid Raoadmitting publicly on Pakistan TV that even if Pak-istan offered its territory to India on a silver platter,India would turn it down. “India has no intention ofoccupying Pakistan,” he said.

And listen to Air Chief Marshal Asghar Khan,another distinguished Pakistani warrior,speaking on the topic: “India an imagined

enemy”, where he says: “We are obsessed withIndia. We believe India has started all the wars. Thisis wrong.” He blames Pakistan for starting animosi-ties with India following Partition and the invasionof Kashmir. “We are in a mess,” the former Air Chiefsays. “Why would India want to inherit this mess?

(by taking us over?)” His coup de grace? “We haveno need for a nuclear weapon and if we use it, wewill destroy Pakistan.”

I doubt that many Indians could speak in a sim-ilar language on Indian TV without their faces beingblackened or a threatening notice from some gov-ernment watchdog.

These Pakistani examples are only a random selection. How many people have heard thesevoices of sanity? If we close our eyes and ears tothem and ignore civil society and cultural overtures,we do so at our own peril and at the peril of ourstated intentions of everlasting peace.

Hassan Nisar,commentator

berates hiscountry’s

leadership andbemoans the

failure of Pak asa corrupt state,

in comparison toIndia.

Khurram Dastgir, minister

acknowledgesModi’s

commercial success in the

US and thegrowing power

of India’s middleclass.

Najam Sethi,journalist

says Pakistanstarted the wars

in Kashmir,Siachen and

Kargil and that“we lost all four

wars againstIndia.”

Asghar Khan, AirChief Marshal

blames Pakistan for

starting animosities withIndia following

the Partition andfor its India obsession.

C O N LEDE

Across the Border 11With distrust at its peak, neither Pakistan nor India have a

permanent reporter based in each other’s capital any longer.

MEENA MENON, formerly with The Hindu, recalls her days in

Pakistan—a mixed bag of suspicious government officials and

the warmth of ordinary citizens

How Damaging Is the PepsiPull-out?MURALI KRISHNANexamines the long-term

impact of Pepsi’s

withdrawal from IPL

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18

T E N T S

R E G U L A R S

Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

EDITOR’S PICK

“It’s my Life” 30

New Wine inOld Bottle

41Though the sets are getting

tackier and the tasks are as

bizarre, Season Nine of Bigg

Boss manages to hold sway,

writes MEHA MATHUR

KRISH WARRIER writes on the

copywriter’s perpetual dilemma—

on how to pack all in a catch line

ADVERTISING

The Long andShort of It

Governance

Time for AnotherRevolution?

50The days of the Green Revolution,

with its over-use of chemical

fertilizers and pesticides, might be

over, writes DEVENDER SINGH

AGRICULTURE

38

TV REVIEW

Mixed Signals 42A TMM survey of five channels—Aaj

Tak, IBN 7, Zee News, ABP and India

TV—throws up a confused picture of

the issues involved and the possible

outcome of the Bihar polls

MEDIA MONITORING


Edit..................................................03Grapevine........................................08Quotes........................................10Media-Go-Round............................23As the World Turns.........................29Web-Crawler....................................33Design............................................46Breaking News...............................48Vonderful-English............................54

What could be more symptomatic

of the intolerant times we

live in than award-winning

writers returning their state

awards in protest, asks

MAYA KRISHNA RAO

TRENDS

Playboy and Me 34

BOOK REVIEW

Championsof a HinduIndia

24

BIKRAM VOHRA writes on his trysts

with Playboy as a teenager, and

examines what made it different from

in-the-face sleazy content available now

AJITH PILLAIreviews the

gripping book,

Gita Press and

the Making of

Hindu India, by

Akshaya Mukul


Grapevine

President PranabMukherjee has

confounded the Israelis.He tried practicing somefood diplomacy withthem but it left a sourtaste in the mouth of all.Addressing the Knessetwhile in Israel, he said:“Indians enjoyed the tasteof Humus.” Humus is a

chickpea chutney popularin the Mediterranean andthe Arab world. But whenthis Bengali pronouncedit, it came out as “Hamas”,the Palestinian militantgroup from Gaza Stripwith whom the Israelishave been having anongoing battle. Israelisare now pondering whyIndians have such apeculiar taste.

Food Diplomacy

The PM has gone onrecord to say that

Punjab Chief MinisterPrakash Singh Badal isthe Nelson Mandela ofIndia as he has spentnearly two decades in jailonly because of politicaldifferences. But theSouth Africans are nottoo happy over this.Their “Father of Nation”

has been compared withBadal, which, even wewould admit, bringsMandela a few notchesdown. Last heard, adefamation case wasbeing prepared in SouthAfrica against Modi andthe appeal will go rightup to the InternationalCourt of Justicein Hague.

Badal and Mandela

While the mediaand sundry politi-

cians have been goingout on a limb over theDadri incident, what hasthe PM said/tweetedduring this period? Hehas conveyed birthdaygreetings to CultureMinister MaheshSharma on September29 and Bihar GovernorRam Nath Kovind onSeptember 30 and trib-

utes on the birthanniversaries of freedomfighters ShyamjiKrishna Varma onOctober 4 and NanajiDeshmukh on October6. He also played host toGerman ChancellorAngela Merkel onOctober 4 and wished asick Navjot Singh Sidhua speedy recovery onOctober 6. However, hehas nothing to say aboutthe communal hatredthat was swirlingaround then.

Silent Modi

Illustrations: UdayShankar—Compiled by Roshni Seth

Madhya Pradesh CM ShivrajChouhan has many pressing

concerns. Ahead of the UjjainKumbh Mela next year, wherearound 30 million pilgrims are ex-pected to converge, the state gov-ernment has constituted a team ofnine astrologers to see that every-thing goes off well. Their work has

been cut out—to pacify the godsand grahas. These nine people areto ward off the evil effects of “GuruChandal Yogam”, a planetary eventinvolving Jupiter, Rahu, Gulika(Saturn’s satellite) and Ketu,which is expected to be aharbinger of a major tragedy. Rit-uals running into crores of rupeesare to be performed. Where arethe funds coming from?

Faulty Stars?


Put on Your Dancing Shoes

TDP MP Malla Reddy cannot holdhimself when the music is right.

Recently, at a college event in Hyder-abad, he was up on stage aping SouthKorean singer Psy and dancing toGangam style much to the amusementof CMR College students. The video ofthis dance is believed to be givingcompetition to the original Psy video.Reddy loves his videos, especially theones which go viral. In his earlier video,“Nenu Malla Reddy” (I am MallaReddy), he tells students how he startedas a college dropout and became an MP.

New National Animal?

Ramdev’s BusinessAcumen

Baba Ramdev’s PatanjaliAyurveda is soon to launch

instant noodles at ` 15 a pack.Its catchline is “Jhat pat pakao,aur befikr khao”. This is asmart move to fill the void leftby Maggi noodles. What is thenext thing we will get from thePatanjali stable? PatanjaliSushi, Patanjali Khimchi,Patanjali Baklava?

Sweet Notings

Remember the rasgulla rowbetween Odisha and West

Bengal? The Odisha government hasnow formed three committees to takeits battle to a successful conclusion.The first committee of seven mem-bers will submit facts on the originalsweet, while the second with fourmembers will study Bengal’s claim forthe GI tag and the third with sixmembers will do the documentationto support Odisha’s claim.

There is an online campaigngoing on to declare the cow as

the national animal. Started byHaryana minister Anil Vij, it addsfuel to the beef controversy. Thisproposal has been mooted becausethe cow is becoming endangered,says Vij. “Mafia has become activein the country to target thespecies,” he says. “The cow requiresprotection and the tiger can defendhimself to a large extent.” No won-der the tiger is angry and despiteAmitabh Bachchan’s campaign tosave it, he was chased by one on arecent visit to Mumbai’s SanjayGandhi National Park.

U O T E S

Chitra Subramaniam,founder, First PostThe ‘Idea of India’ is a nonsensicalconstruct. It was built and backedby people now hoist on their ownpétard.

Rajdeep Sardesai,consulting editor,India Today GroupWill tweet much less now. Havelearnt my lesson. I wish you allfriends, the very best. Life is tooshort, this country too great.

Sagarika Ghose, consulting editor,TOI GroupGood move @PMOIndia to declas-sify Netaji files. History must bebased on primary sources not rumour and memory....

Shekhar Gupta, editorial adviser,India Today Group#DanceBars ban was UPA’s stupid-est obsession & good SC hasstayed it. Funny, though, this isone UPA law that BJP govt alsobacks #BansUnite

Lata Mangeshkar,playback singerNamaskaar, If you have the powerto make someone happy, do it.The world needs more of that.

Shah Rukh Khan,film starThere’s nothing I like more thanworking. A dancing nite withKajol even better. V r the worstbest dancers in the world!!! Honest confession

My name is NaseeruddinShah and I believe that’swhy I was targeted. It really pains me to saythis. I have never beenaware of my identityuntil now.

—Actor Naseeruddin Shah, onhim being trolled for his positive

remarks about Pakistan, inIndia Today

If any Indian claims thathe was never made

conscious of his religious orcaste identity, he is lying or

living in La-La-land.In which world is Shah(Naseeruddin) living in

that he claims, in all innocence, that this is the

first time he was beingmade aware of his identity?

—R Jagannathan, in First Post

They are not fringe elements,they are hangers on of a certain

political system. Are we goingto allow what some people have

called the underbelly of thisgovernment to take over and

start calling the shots, literallyand metaphorically?

—Historian Romila Thapar, on NDTV

The new strategy of anti-Modi,anti-BJP sections appears to beto resort to “politics by othermeans”. The easiest way is tomanufacture a crisis and subsequently manufacture apaper rebellion against theGovernment in the wake of amanufactured crisis.

—Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, inhis blog post


OT a week passes when Pakistan is not in the news forall the wrong reasons. Last fortnight, two shameful eventsin Mumbai involving Shiv Sena activists grabbed the

headlines. One was the drama that led to the blackening of Sud-heendra Kulkarni’s face for daring to organize the launch of formerPakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri’s book Neither a Hawknor a Dove. The other was the storming of the headquarters of theBCCI where Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shahryar Khan wasto hold a meeting with his Indian counterpart, Shashank Manohar,to discuss the modalities of reviving cricketing ties.

If it is not such events, then it’s “Pak-sponsored” terrorism andtensions along the LoC that frequently dominate discussions onprime time.

Pakistan too is equally obsessed with news from India. However,given the levels of curiosity on either side, it is rather peculiar thatneither of the two sides have a permanent reporter based in eachother’s capital. In May 2014, the two India correspondents in Islam-abad were denied an extension of their visas by Pakistan. As for thelast Pakistani journalist who functioned out of New Delhi, you haveto rewind to 2011.

However, mutual distrust among the governments is not reflectedwhenever there is people-to-people contact. Pakistani visitors areoverwhelmed by the hospitality they receive in our country. Indianswho go to Pakistan talk fondly of the affection and care they wereshowered there. Meena Menon, who was stationed in Islamabad asa correspondent of The Hindu till May 2014 recounts her stint inPakistan—it was a mixed bag of suspicious government officialsand the warmth of ordinary citizens that she encountered there.

Living Life on the EdgeN

LedeWorking in Pakistan



PERILOUS BEAT(Above) Blast at a

vegetable and fruitmarket in Islamabad

on April 9, 2014

TACCATO gunfire and sounds

of explosions rattled the glass

windows of my house. I lived in

what I thought was a sedate

locality in Islamabad near Sec-

tor F8 Markaz or market, in a

house rented by my predecessor quite close to Faisal

Mosque. The district courts were a sneeze away,

apart from the excise and transport department. It

was a little after 9 am on March 3, 2014, when I

heard the sounds of explosions and gunfire and I

helplessly tweeted.

There was nothing on TV but soon, news of the

suicide attack on the district courts filtered in. All

this while the gunfire didn’t stop. I counted two deaf-

ening blasts.

I learnt that there were two suicide bombers and

when I went to the court a little later, the legs of one

of them were neatly arranged on a plastic sheet in

front of a devastated court room. The narrow lanes

of the congested court complex were full of glass

pieces, blood and flesh which gloved policemen

were picking up and throwing into a large bag.

One of them pointed to a smudge on the wall and

said that was the mark of the head of one of the

bombers. Some official-looking men directed the

police to scour the area for the attackers and I had

a sneaking feeling they were still around.

I had been in Islamabad for seven months or

so when the suicide attack took place right in the

heart of the capital city, declared to be safe by the

minister of interior just before the incident. It was

Peshawar that was always in the news for a series

of bomb blasts in September 2013 and after. I met

some of the relatives of little children from the All

Saints Church bombing admitted to the Pakistan

Institute of Medical Sciences. One of them showed

me some shrapnel carefully preserved in a glass

S

What is it like being an Indian journo in Pakistan? Despite a stint fraughtwith dangers, gunfire and blasts, MEENA MENON, former correspondent of The

Hindu, remembers the warm friendships she forged there


bottle recovered from a little boy’s neck. The boy

didn’t survive.

COMPLACENT AIR

The news that we covered in Pakistan was more

often than not depressing and deadly. It was either

drone strikes or bomb blasts or attacks on minori-

ties. A lot of time went in monitoring TV stations

and social networks. Since my visa was restricted

to Islamabad, which some joke is not even in Pak-

istan, I had to rely on phone calls or journalist col-

leagues in other hotspots like Peshawar, Quetta

and Karachi for authentic news. Officials too

would often give details willingly and in the begin-

ning, I was lulled into a sense of complacency since

people were helpful and forthcoming with infor-

mation and appointments, including some minis-

ters and officials. I didn’t feel I was in a foreign

country. But my more experienced colleagues

warned me that things could change and

soon they did.

For the first three months, I wasn’t fol-

lowed by security agencies and in fact, to

my utter surprise, no one was stationed

outside my house. However, during a visit

to the visa office in December, a bearded

man and his sidekick almost careened

into me. I realized that this was not an ac-

cident. Later in the evening, when I was

waiting to do an interview in a café, the

same gentleman came there. And since

that day, they were relentless. They even

followed me and my husband on a hike

up Trail Six, one of the many hiking trails

in the Margalla Hills that encircle the cap-

ital. Unused to hiking, they were not dressed for

it and in the hot sun, I could see their frustration

and the pointlessness of it all. When we beat their

vigil and took another route across the hills, our

joy was complete.

All the people I met in the course of my work

would be grilled soon after I had left them. Despite

this, people remained helpful and met me. I also

managed to get a pass to cover the parliament and

attended both the National Assembly and Senate

proceedings with some regularity. There was no

fuss about giving me a special pass to cover the

trial of General Musharraf for high treason and I

was a frequent visitor to the Supreme Court. The

Foreign Office too was very welcoming and we

attended the weekly briefings where all questions

were answered with great diplomacy.

While most people were helpful, including the

Inter Services Public Relations who sent me

BRAVEHEART(Left) Mama Balochled a 3,000km marchfrom Quetta to Islamabad to highlightthe killing of youngmen, including hisown son, by securityagencies in Balochistan


While the Shias, Christians and Ahmadis were constantly terrorized,one acquaintance pointed out that themost endangered minority in Pakistanwas the secular brigade.

and Rawalpindi who often supported other mi-

norities on several issues. They were demanding a

temple in Islamabad and a crematorium. That was

the time when many Hindus were moving out

from Sind province to India and there was fear of

persecution, trauma and forced marriages as well.

However, I couldn’t travel to those areas and

while I didn’t meet anyone who wanted to leave

Islamabad from the Hindu community, there were

reports of temples being attacked in other areas.

While the Shias, Christians and Ahmadis were

constantly terrorized, one acquaintance pointed

out that the most endangered minority in Pakistan

was the secular brigade.

The media too was under constant fire and the

Express group was often targeted, with some of

their staff being killed and their office in Karachi

fired at. It was the attacks on Raza Rumi, a jour-

nalist, writer and TV anchor (his driver was

killed), and Hamid Mir from Geo TV which really

regular updates and SMSes, I hit a wall with re-

quests for interviews of the president, the prime

minister, the interior minister and the national

security advisor. They seemed happy to talk to In-

dian TV anchors but were very reluctant to grant

me an interview.

ENDANGERED MINORITY

I also felt that coverage from Islamabad had to go

beyond the usual political news and interviews

and tried to do stories which reflected the situation

there. I did meet some Hindus from Islamabad

ICE-BREAKERS(Above) The author,

(third from right) withwomen activists from

self -help groups inPakistan

Following Mama Baloch’s interview, I wasaccused of trying to subvert Pakistan’s

national identity and told to cover art andculture, which I said was a little difficult

if I remained stuck in Islamabad.



highlight the killings of young men by the

security agencies in Balochistan that drew the cur-

tains on my assignment in Islamabad, or so I

think. My visa was not renewed and I was abruptly

asked to leave, along with my colleague from PTI,

by May 18, 2014. The Hindu published a detailed

op-ed interview with Baloch whose son had

sent a strong message of intolerance. Raza left the

country, while Hamid Mir took a while to recover

from his serious bullet wounds.

Suicide attacks were increasing and I was par-

ticularly struck by one such incident when the

young law minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Israllulah Khan Gandapur, was killed when he em-

braced a smiling visitor, a young man who came

to greet him on Eid. The killing was probably

linked to some political maneuvering by the min-

ister, which went against the party which sup-

ported him. Deaths of army officers and ordinary

people on the Line of Control, constant skirmishes

and terror attacks were also part of daily news.

Though I kept up my requests to visit other cities,

these were met with radio silence.

FINAL NAIL

It was my interview with Mama Baloch who led a

3,000-km march from Quetta to Islamabad to

ENDANGERED MINORITY(Top) A small church inIslamabad;(Above) A Christianfamily residing in aslum

Photo Courtesy: Meena Menon


VIGNETTES OF DAILY LIFEYoung boys selling

plastic bags outsidethe Bari Imam Dargah

in Islamabad

subversive role, with Pakistan threatening to pro-

duce evidence to the United Nations. Quetta is out

of bounds for journalists and you need special per-

mission to visit it. Even Carlotta Gall who reported

for The New York Times writes about how she was

manhandled by security forces during a visit.

LIFE OF FEAR

The slums of Islamabad reminded me of Mumbai.

That’s where many Christians lived and I did a

story on tented camps where Christians fleeing

persecution had set up home in filthy, stinking

conditions. I met Ahmadis living in fear and at-

tended protests by Shias who were constantly

bombed in Balochistan and elsewhere. A consti-

tutional amendment declares Ahmadis non-Mus-

lims and their mosques cannot be called mosques

but places of worship. It was with great difficulty

that I ventured near one, secured by barbed wire,

with no signs of it being a sacred place.

After the bombing of a church in Peshawar, I

visited some churches in Islamabad where there

was much fear and insecurity. One of the priests

told me that they could not even afford a razor

been killed. He founded the Voice for Baloch

Missing Persons after that. I was summoned to the

external publicity office and grilled for over an

hour by a senior official who repeatedly said that

I had concocted the entire interview and de-

manded to see my notes. Mama Baloch had said

that if there was a referendum in Balochistan, most

people would opt for independence from Pakistan.

Even if this was not new, obviously this was not

something the Pakistan establishment wanted to

hear, much less see in print. I was accused of trying

to subvert their national identity and told to cover

art and culture, which I said was a little difficult if

I remained stuck in Islamabad.

After the loss of East Pakistan, there was great

paranoia about independence struggles in other

regions and Balochistan remains a quagmire of

political turmoil. The Supreme Court has accepted

that security agencies are responsible for the miss-

ing youth and these agencies often defy apex court

orders to answer for their crimes in the court.

The issue is compounded by deep suspicions

of RAW involvement in the Baloch insurgency

and constant attempts to rake up India’s alleged

The media wasunder constant

fire and theExpress groupwas most often

targeted. It wasthe attacks onRaza Rumi, a

journalist, andHamid Mir

which reallysent a strong

message of intolerance.



COMMON LINKSCricket is a favorite past-time in Pakistan too

fence which was considered a se-

curity against terrorist attacks.

Bombings are characterized by

their brazenness and soon after

the court blasts, the fruit market

was the next target.

The tenuous relationship be-

tween the army and the civilian

authority was strained by Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s decision

to prosecute General Musharraf

for high treason and it was a joke

if he would ever appear in court.

The day he did was marked by

high drama and jammers in the

court. Journalists clamored to

chat with the former dictator who

seemed affable and relaxed dur-

ing his brief appearance. Sharif

was to pay for this transgression later, with the

army threatening to topple him and insidiously

backing Imran Khan’s and Tahir-ul-Qadri’s parties

to stage a massive protest against the government.

CHESSBOARD MOVES

The other farce that played out was the Sharif gov-

ernment’s move to talk to the Taliban, something

which was destined to get nowhere. But the cha-

rade was kept up for some time before the army

decided to launch an operation to bomb Waziris-

tan and “flush” out terrorists. Increasing American

pressure to act against the Haqqani network was

another reason for this operation, though it cannot

be verified if the faithful Haqqanis were ever dis-

turbed, though one of them was killed in the cap-

ital city. The nexus between the state and the

Taliban was no secret and with the withdrawal of

US troops imminent, there was greater pressure to

dismantle terror training camps and weaken the

Taliban. Drone strikes killed the Tehreek-e-Taliban

Pakistan (TTP) head Hakimullah Mehsud on No-

vember 1, 2013, creating strife and division in the

TTP which later splintered. It was difficult to verify

these deaths and events and with the government

not willing to comment till much later, one had to

rely on the TTP spokesperson.

Despite all the constraints, there was much that

I enjoyed writing about. Interviewing former bu-

reaucrat Shoaib Sultan Khan who has deep ties

with India was one of them, as also meeting the

humble but spectacular Abida Parveen and Ha-

roon who created the comic Burka Avenger. The

historic Murree brewery in Rawalpindi was a place

I could not visit, though its charming Parsi owner,

Isphanyar Bhandara, gave me an interview in

Islamabad. Many Pakistanis were caring hosts and

became my friends, making my stay memorable.

It is sad that today, the exchange of journalists

between India and Pakistan has come to an end.

Till the paranoia that journalists are secret agents

out to spy on each other’s countries prevails, noth-

ing can change.

—Meena Menon was The Hindu’s Islamabad

correspondent from August 2013 to May 2014,

after which Pakistan did not renew her visa, nor

allowed any Indian journalist to be stationed there


SportsMedia Effect

HESE are trying times

for the cash-rich Indian

Premier League (IPL)

that has been thrown

into drastic uncer-

tainty. Just when the

BCCI working committee was figuring out how

the tourney will play out next year and finding a

way forward, it suffered a major blow. Title spon-

sor PepsiCo expressed its intent of pulling out of

the tournament, which has been marred by con-

troversy. Chinese mobile manufacturer Vivo will

be the new sponsor for the next two years.

PULLOUT IMPACTPepsi’s exit will not only hit IPL but could also

have a collateral impact on the media which

TWill IPL be the same again, with Pepsi

pulling out as sponsor? What will be the impact on the tournament and the media?

BY MURALI KRISHNAN

LOSING SHEEN?King XI Punjab's GJMaxwell playsa shot against Royal ChallengersBangalore during a IPL-7match (2014)at Bangalore

IPL Scandal

Fizz Gone


feeds off the advertising from the tournament.

Around 90 percent of the advertisement money

targeted at sports in India goes to cricket.

So how damaging will the Pepsi pullout be?

Some media planners are of the opinion that the

pricing of IPL could see as much as a 30 percent

drop. Apart from the taint of the IPL, the next

brand will probably have a shorter duration of

the contract. Furthermore, the title sponsor mi-

ght find it hard to build up its association with

the League in two years, maintained Sam Balsara,

chairman at media buying group Madison. Sim-

ilarly, other media planners were reported as say-

ing that they would expect to see a 25-30 percent

decline in the title sponsorship rights.

In 2015, the T-20 tournament raked in close

to `950 crore in revenue, up from some `850

crore in the previous season, according to media

buyers. At that time, the broadcaster had in-

creased its advertising rates for the season by 10-

15 percent to `4.75-5 lakh per 10 seconds —up

from `4.25 lakh per 10 seconds in 2014. This is

expected to change after Pepsi calls it quits, thus

putting a huge question mark on the commercial

viability of IPL.

The new sponsor will have to re-build the

brand which has been associated with Pepsi. It’s

advertising will have to match that of the bever-

age giant and viewers and fans will have to iden-

tify with the new sponsor. Luckily for Vivo, BCCI

has promised to re-auction the two teams under

a ban—the Chennai Super Kings and the Ra-

jasthan Royals. The two were under a cloud after

the spot fixing scam of 2013.

NO ROOM FOR CHEERS(Above left) Cheerleaders during an IPL 7 match between RoyalChallengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings at Bangalore

(Above right) The IPL spot-fixingcontroversy in 2013 led to the arrest of cricketer S Sreesanth,among others


So how damaging will the cola pullout be?Some media planners say pricing of IPL

could see as much as a 30 percent drop. Thenext brand will probably have a shorter

duration of the contract, too.

FOUND GUILTY(Above L-R) The Supreme Court

appointed committeehas imposed a life ban

on Gurunath Meiyappan and RajKundra for betting

in matches

SportsMedia Effect

IPL Scandal

Currently, Paytm, the mobile commerce plat-

form, is the title sponsor for all domestic and in-

ternational cricket matches to be played in India

till 2019, bagging more than a ̀ 200-crore deal as

BCCI’s title sponsor for a period of four years. It

was eyeing the IPL but the deal did not work out.

Incidentally, Pepsi had paid a whopping ̀ 396

crore ($60.8 million) for the five-year IPL title

sponsorship in 2012. That was almost double of

what DLF had paid for the previous five-year pe-

riod. But Brand IPL’s reputation took a serious

walloping after the 2013 spot-fixing scandal that

led to a committee appointed by the Supreme

Court to suspend two teams.

And along with the suspensions in July this

year, the committee imposed a life ban on tainted

co-owners Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kun-

dra for betting in matches. That, by itself, would

have been a cause for action and for the tourna-

ment to be red-flagged as their conduct was

found to have affected the image of the Indian

cricket board (BCCI), the League and the game.

Pepsi wishing to pull out of the tournament

was coming. Insiders say the Cola giant had been

mulling over this for a while. The decision clearly

signaled IPL’s loss of credibility following the

string of controversies and scams. Those in the

know say Pepsi’s global chairman Indra Nooyi

had made it amply clear that the company would

only associate with ethical and clean sporting

properties. A couple of years back, the beverage

giant had terminated its contract with ace golfer

Tiger Woods following an infamous sex scandal.

TOUGH TIMESAn embarrassed BCCI tried to put up a brave

face and issued a statement that “steps will be

taken to address PepsiCo’s concerns” hoping that

it will try to salvage the deal and convince the

sponsor to stay on. A joint statement of BCCI

and Pepsi said: “BCCI and PepsiCo have had a

long-standing cordial relationship and have been

in discussions to work out a solution which ad-

dresses PepsiCo’s concerns. Both parties will

share it when ready.” But that effort came a crop-

per and Vivo had to be signed on.

Former International Cricket Council (ICC)

president Ehsan Mani is forthright when he in-


Since 2008, when IPL’s maiden tournament

kicked off and made a huge splash, the eight-

team tourney, it was alleged, was open to cor-

ruptive influences. Controversies have dogged it

ever since. There were worrying signs, in particu-

lar Pakistan bowler Mohammed Asif’s drugs con-

troversy in the inaugural IPL tournament, which

led to him being detained in Dubai for 19 days

and questioned about opium possession.

In fact, an inter-state betting racket was

busted in 2008 after a group in Bangalore with

links to London was arrested following a wager

of $2 million. It was unknown whether those

arrested had links with the IPL officials but

rumors did the rounds. Also, a suspect fixture

between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal

Challengers Bangalore was not properly

investigated.

Even after the spot-fixing controversy in

2013 which led to the arrest of cricketers S

Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila,

bookmakers continued to be active.

When batting legend Sunil Gavaskar

revealed that two cricketers were under

investigation over possible corruption in IPL’s

2014 edition, which was then already reeling

from betting and spot-fixing scandals, it took

everyone by surprise.

Other scandals to hit the League were former

IPL chairman Lalit Modi’s tweet naming

stakeholders of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala

franchise, which came back to singe both him

and Shashi Tharoor who was then a minister in

the UPA government. Lalit Modi was suspended

from his post as IPL chairman and commissioner,

and Tharoor lost his cabinet job.

Hounded by Controversy

sists that Pepsi’s severing of ties with IPL is a blow

to the Indian cricket board’s reputation. Mani

went one step further and compared the Pepsi-

IPL issue to the FIFA scandal that rocked inter-

national football which resulted in Sepp Blatter,

the supremo, being suspended.

“When sponsors are not sure about the in-

tegrity of their product, they take exception.

They always want the highest ethical standards

and even a hint of corruption makes them iffy,”

said Mani, who held the reins of the ICC between

2003 and 2006. Ali Bacher, South Africa’s former

powerful cricket administrator, termed the snap-

ping of ties “as a serious wake-up call for Indian

cricket. It is a very significant signal to the BCCI,

and they need to heed it,” was Bacher’s succinct

comment. Expectedly, IPL chairman Rajeev Shu-

kla tried to play down the crisis. “They have been

a long-time partner. We are in talks with them

and have shared a cordial relationship. Both want

to reach an amicable solution.”

EMBARRASSING CONTROVERSYBut what is certain is that the sponsorship

dilemma had roots in the betting controversy,

which former BCCI chief N Srinivasan refused

to deal with the way it should have been. Srini-

vasan failed to act when an illegal gambling

Vivo, a Chinese mobile manufacturer, isthe new sponsor. It will have to devise newadvertising for fans to identify with it.This might not be easy given the IPL’sassociation with Pepsi.

POOR LEADERSHIP(Above L-R) Former BCCI presidentN Srinivasan refused to deal with

the betting controversy in IPL;Global chairman, PepsiCo, Indra

Nooyi wants a clean image for Pepsi


and match-fixing scandal engulfed the IPL and

the team he owns—Chennai Super Kings.

Anyway, his son-in-law, Meiyappan, who was

manager of Chennai Super Kings, was one of the

prime accused in the case. Not only did Srini-

vasan decline to set up an independent probe

into the matter, but he also refused to step aside,

despite calls from all quarters.

It required the Supreme Court to step in, ap-

point a committee headed by former Supreme

Court Chief Justice RM Lodha to look into the

charges and the “conflict of interest” issue. The

rest is history.

Clearly, new BCCI president Shashank

Manohar, who took over recently, has his hands

full, attempting to bring probity and trans-

parency to Indian cricket following the damning

Lodha committee report recommendations.

So how will IPL 2016 pan out? And will there

be a dip in television viewership should adver-

tising brand owners decide not to throw their

weight behind it? Industry experts still believe

that brand IPL is a hot and lucrative property.

“We don’t know why Pepsi decided to pull out

before the end of the contract, but we do know

that this will not affect IPL’s business as it has in-

creased its viewership by 30 percent in the last

one year despite teams quitting and Lalit Modi

getting it a bad reputation five years ago,” says

Rohit Gupta, president, Multi Screen Media

(MSM), the official broadcaster of IPL. But this

is a rather optimistic picture.

What is certain is that the upcoming edition

of the IPL is bound to lose its zing. At the core of

the problem is the credibility crisis that plagues

the league. The IPL has had no dearth of critics

ever since its inception. The purists saw the new

format of the game as not real cricket and have

been warning the BCCI that it would eventually

bring unhealthy commercialization to the game.

The slew of scams associated with the league has

only confirmed the worst fears.

One extreme option, says Amol Karhandkar

correspondent of ESPNcricinfo, was for the BCCI

to have suspended the IPL for two years to give

it time to clean up its act. But that was not going

to be an easy call. Suspending the tournament

would not only have affected the brand, it would

have had huge consequences on BCCI’s revenue,

and as a result, the revenue of state associations

and players.

What the future holds for the IPL is tough to

guess at the moment. But it will require deft han-

dling by the BCCI to keep the tournament alive

and kicking. But more than anything else it has to

put an end to match fixing, spot fixing and related

scams which have given IPL a bad name.

Ali Bacher, SouthAfrica’s former cricketadministrator, termedthe snapping of ties

“as a serious wake-upcall for Indian cricket”.He said that it is a very

significant signal tothe BCCI, and they

need to heed it.

Former InternationalCricket Council president Ehsan Mani insists that

Pepsi’s severing of tieswith IPL is a blow to BCCI’s reputation.He compares the

issue to the recentFIFA scandal.

SportsMedia Effect

IPL Scandal


HISTORY can be interpreted inmany ways but cannot be

changed. But search engine Google

changed history when a search for“India’s first prime minister” showedthe name of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,accompanied by a snippet fromWikipedia about Nehru, but with aphoto of Narendra Modi, The Times

of India reported. This is not the first instance when

the search engine has shown PM

Modi’s photo under the wrong searchquery. Earlier this year, PM Modi wascategorised in the “Top 10 criminalsin the world” along with criminals likeDawood Ibrahim and Al Capone.Later, Google apologized to the primeminister. Social media was quick toreact. A user tweeted: “Google JustLoves Narendra Modi. Har Jagah

Modi ki pic laga deta hai Google. Ab

toh India ka first prime minister”.

Following a First InformationReport filed by two women

journalists against the Goabureau chief of PTI, RupeshSamant, for alleged sexual ha-rassment, the Panaji womenpolice station has issued alookout notice against him.

According to a NavHind

Times report, the lookoutnotice against Samant wasissued after he reportedlyevaded the summons onseveral occasions. The noticehas been pasted in all the po-lice stations. Samant is ac-cused of allegedly stalking thetwo victims, sending them vul-

gar messages via the mobilephone and making sexualadvances at Herald Cable

Network (HCN) where the twovictims worked. Samant wasan anchor at HCN.

Lookout noticeissued for Goa journo

EDIA-GO-ROUND

Anew one-minute Pepsi commercialis facing flak for allegedly mocking

the protesting students of Film and Tele-vision Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

In the ad, the students are shownprotesting against the collegeadministration. The leader of the protestannounces that till the demands are met,they will not even drink water. Just then,a student among the protestors is

shown gulping down the beverage.“Pepsi thi, pi gya,” says the student.

A Twitter handle belonging to the FTIIstudent protestors, Wisdom Tree @FTII-WisdomTree, expressed theirdisappointment over the ad.

However, PepsiCo issued a state-ment saying: “...the latest Pepsi TVC hasno correlation whatsoever with the on-going protest by the students of FTII andin fact, viewers are sure to have noticed,that in the TVC’s fictitious situation, theplacards are clearly opposing a fee hikein a college.”

Priyanka Chopra has beennominated for Favourite

Actress in a New TV seriescategory at the People’s ChoiceAwards for her debut Americanthriller series, Quantico, ac-cording to a DNA report.

Priyanka plays the lead role ofAlex Parrish, a FBI recruit in theshow. Upon getting nominated,Priyanka tweeted: “Wow this issuch an honour! First year anda nomination! Thank you@peopleschoice what’s saypeople? #quantico.”

The People’s Choice Awardsis an American awards showrecognizing the work of peoplein which the general publicvotes. Voting is open on thewebsite peopleschoice.com,

along with Facebook and Twit-

ter until October 22. The winnerwill be announced in LosAngeles on January 6, 2016.

PeeCee nominated for People’s Choice Award

Does Pepsi admock FTII protest?

Google’s goof-up


—Compiled by Vijay Patil

This gripping book on GitaPress, established in 1923, and

its periodical, Kalyan, showshow they shaped and

moulded Hindutva as weknow it today BY AJITH PILLAI

EFORE delving into Ak-

shaya Mukul’s Gita Pressand the Making of HinduIndia, it would be appro-

priate to underscore two

points. This remarkable

book must be considered essential reading for

anyone who wishes to understand the evolution

of Hindutva as we know it today and the various

cross-currents that shaped Hindu nationalism

from the 1920s onwards. It is also the result of five

years of painstaking research which took the au-

thor to Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Banaras and

Allahabad. It involved spending considerable

stretches of time digging up archival material in

various libraries to join the dots and plot the

strands that redirected contemporary Hindu

thought and political philosophy.

The result of the effort was a manuscript that

ran into 2,20,000 words—too wordy and un-

wieldy in this day and age of snappy reading. It

had, therefore, to be trimmed to 1,65,000 words

INDIAN IDOLSKalyan depicts Hindu gods on its covers

Charioteers of the

RashtraB

Book ReviewGita Press and the Making of Hindu India


riots, right from Malabar in the South to Lahore

in the North and Bombay and Calcutta in the

West and East respectively. Poddar’s essay in the

inaugural issue blamed Muslims for the violence

and “bemoaned Hindu inaction”. It called for

“sanghbal (unity of strength)” and invoked “co-

religionists not to turn the principle of non-vio-

lence into cowardice”.

In the pages of the journal, Hindu involve-

ment in the riots was portrayed as defending the

religion—the very thought that justifies commu-

nal violence in the present day context. Mukul

quotes Jaydayal Goyandka’s response to a query

from a concerned Kalyan reader who had an ar-

rest warrant issued against him for rioting.

Goyandka’s response is telling: “Why worry

and even then, publishers refused to bite it. It goes

to the credit of HarperCollins that it thought it fit

to commit Mukul’s work to print, thereby provid-

ing us access to his enlightening work which puts

modern-day Hindu nationalism and its growth

in a context that many of us may not even be

aware of.

SPIRITUAL VENTUREThe central framework on which the narrative

rests is the history of the Gita Press which was

established in Gorakhpur in 1923 by two Mar-

wari businessmen—Jaydayal Goyandka and

Hanuman Prasad Poddar. It was started more as

a spiritual venture than a political or business

enterprise. But things changed in 1926 with the

launch of Kalyan, a journal which was used from

time to time as a vehicle for propagating social as

well as political ideas to the Hindu community.

In fact, post-Kalyan, the Gita Press allied itself

with Hindu right-wing parties, including the

Hindu Mahasabha, RSS, Jan Sangh and the BJP.

Though the political role it played has not

been highlighted, Gita Press is a well-known

name. In most middle class Hindu homes, copies

of the Ramayana and Gita have rolled out from

the press at Gorakhpur. Its staggering output is a

manifestation of its reach and popularity. Till

2014, Gita Press sold 72 million copies of the Gita,

70 million copies of Tulsidas’s works and 19 mil-

lion copies of the Puranas and Upanishads. And

the Hindi edition of Kalyan enjoys a circulation

2,00,000, while its English version, Kalyana-Kalpataru, sells 1,00,000 copies. This is huge

when you consider that most religious journals

can boast no more than a circulation of a few

thousand copies.

COMMUNAL TONEThe book’s main focus is on Kalyan. According to

Mukul, the journal’s political positioning was ev-

ident from its inaugural issue in the turbulent

1920s when there were a series of Hindu-Muslim

RURAL LEAP(Above) In 2013, there were 89.6 million households with TV in rural India, much more than the 77.7 million urban households

RIGHT ASSOCIATIONS(Clockwise, from top left) Eminent liberal minds wrotefor Kalyan, including MKGandhi, RabindranathTagore, Munshi Premchandand Dr BR Ambedkar, seeing it as a right vehicle for communicatingwith people



big political figure at that time who never wrote

for Kalyan despite requests from Poddar.

But the journal was far more than a vehicle for

intellectual discourse. Not because RSS leaders

were closely associated with it but because of the

positions it persistently propagated. Through his

research, Mukul discovered the 1947 plan that

Poddar drew up for a Hindu rashtra that he be-

lieved should be the outcome of Partition. Some

of Poddar’s postulates have a familiar ring: “India

should be called Hindusthan or Aryavarta; it

should purely be a Hindu nation entirely organ-

ized on the basis of Hindu culture and the

national flag should be saffron...; as a matter of

basic principle cow slaughter should be banned;

the official language should be pure Hindi (not

the corrupt Hindustani) and the script Devana-

gari.... The Indian army should consist of Hin-

dus.... Muslims should not be appointed to any

high post...”

Kalyan also reposed faith in the caste system

and saw the Hindu Code Bill, which was taken up

in 1948 when BR Ambedkar was the law minister,

as one that was detrimental to the majority com-

munity since it introduced two types of mar-

riages: the sacramental and the civil.

At the height of the controversy in 1949,

Kalyan carried an allegoric account of a swami

who saw a dream set in a courtroom. The case

being heard was that of a Brahmin woman who

was lured into marriage by a doctor from Madras.

He claimed he was from her same upper caste but

turned out to be “a chamar (untouchable caste of

leather workers)”. The man usurped and sold all

the money given to the woman by her father and

sold her property. Ambedkar was the lawyer for

the husband and argued that his client had done

nothing wrong under the Hindu Code Bill. How-

ever, the judge ruled in favour of the woman.

When Ambedkar protested, the judge told him

he would “request mother nature to throw out

black English rulers just the way real English

rulers had been made to leave”.

about arrest? It should be a matter of joy if you

are hanged for a public service like this.”

JOURNAL OF STANDINGMany saw the journal as a vehicle to communi-

cate to people and the best intellectual and polit-

ical minds in India wrote for Kalyan. These

included Mahatma Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad,

Madan Mohan Malaviya, S Radhakrishnan,

Gopinath Kaviraj, Radhakamal Mukherjee, Ra-

bindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand and

Harivanshrai Bachchan. This mix of writers and

thinkers—what they wrote was a lot different

from the editorial line taken by Poddar—at-

tracted many readers. It became a thinking per-

son’s magazine. Jawaharalal Nehru was the only

Marwari businessmen Jaydayal Goyandka(left) and Hanuman Prasad Poddar (right)

were the brains behind the Gita press. Theystarted it more as a spiritual venture than a

political or business venture.


columns of the journal several decades ago. Inci-

dentally, cow slaughter and untouchability were

among the several issues on which Gandhi had

differences with Poddar.

According to Mukul, the Gita Press was ini-

tially started as a counter to what was happening

within the Marwari community. Westernization,

both Poddar and his fellow founder Goyandka

believed, was taking younger members of

the community down the wrong path and away

from the core values of Hinduism. They were

marrying outside their castes and indulging in

Untouchability was an issue that Kalyan was

very touchy about. In the “temple entry for all”

issue, one of its essays said that untouchables had

the right to “worship nature gods, the sun the

moon, the fire, the earth, the Ganga, the banyan

tree, etc. The other forms of gods, ie., the cultural

statues brought to life through chanting of Vedic

hymns, could only be worshipped by a dwija(twice born), and this was the basis on which the

dharamshastras bar the entry of untouchables

into temples”.

COW SLAUGHTERWhen it came to cow slaughter, Kalyan brought

out a special edition in July 1947 in which it

reminded readers that “cow protection alone

could save life and religion since the cow is the

life of the nation”. The journal literally launched

a campaign which it sustained for years. Much of

the arguments against cow slaughter that we still

hear are exactly the same ones propounded in the

EMOTIVE ISSUE(Above) Cow protection andworship, espoused in Kalyan,remains an important plank ofright-wing parties in India

Kalyan reposed faith in the caste systemand saw the Hindu Code Bill as detrimental to the majority community. Itwas also touchy about untouchability andopposed the temple entry for all.


a decadent life. The publishing project started out

by providing reading material to the young and

to awaken the Hindu consciousness and set right

wrongs in society. But it turned political in no

time with Kalyan.But Kalyan was also a publication that pro-

moted bhakti and gyaan. The typical reader,

therefore, was not necessarily a believer of hard-

core Hindu right-wing ideology. He or she had to

be spiritually inclined to be interested. Poddar

and Goyandka had a winning mix.

Mukul has said in an interview that the two

“were unique in the sense that they created a very

Bania model of Bhakti”. He further elaborates this

point by citing from what he has written: “They

were saying, ‘Do certain things, take the name of

Lord Ram 50,000 times and you will get what you

want in life.’ It’s a quick return, like a business.

They were the first ones to also start Gita and Ra-

GITA PRESS AND THEMAKING OF HINDU INDIABy Akshaya MukulPublisher: HarperCollinsPrice: `799, 539 pages


RIGHT PATHThe founders of Gita Press

were keen that Marwari youth retain Indian values

mayana tests with centers going almost up to

Madras. At these centres, they’d test people’s

knowledge in the Gita and the Ramayana. Then,

they started the bank—in Bihar and UP—old

people were invited to write the name of Ram and

send the notebooks to Gita Press and feel, ‘Oh,

I’ve taken the name of Ram 5 crore times’.” The

promise of shakti in exchange for bhakti was pop-

ularized by Gita Press. Also, the concept that

reciting God’s name helps accumulate punya(moral or spiritual merit) was also made into a

trend that still holds true today.

Every page of Mukul’s book is packed with in-

formation that involves serious study. It is without

doubt a gripping look at a recent slice of our po-

litical and social history. But don’t expect the book

to be a page-turner falling into the genre of pop

history. In fact, it is volume that you would like to

refer to even after you have read it once.


S THE WORLD TURNS

Iranian filmmaker KeywanKarimi has been sentenced

to six years in prison and223 lashes for what wasconsidered a provocativevideo clip and a documen-tary, Writing on the City. Itdescribes political graffiti inIran. A court said his work

had insulted sanctitiesin Iran.

Karimi is best known forhis 2013 short film The

Adventure of the Married

Couple, which portrays thelife of a couple who barelymeet each other because oftheir different work shifts.

Jail term, whiplashes for Iranian director

Huffington Post’s US traffic declinedconsiderably over the past year,

reports the International Business

Times, based on data provided bycomScore. From 113 million uniquevisitors in September and 126 millionvisitors in November last year, it sawthe number of visitors shrink to 86million in September this year.

On the other hand, HuffPost’s rivalshave seen a steady rise: Business In-

sider (from around 30 million to 41

million), Vice Media (from around 36million to 61 million), and BuzzFeed

(68 million in August 2014 to 85 mil-lion a year later).

HuffPost explained this slide byclarifying that its focus over the pastone year had been on global traffic. Washington Post correspondent

Jason Rezaian has beenconvicted in Iran on espionagecharges. He had been detained inTehran for more than a year, accord-ing to reports in the Iranian media.Though the journalist has beenconvicted, the specifics of thecharges are not known.

Rezaian, a dual citizen of the USand Iran, was arrested in July 2014on charges of spying on Iran’snuclear programs and providing theUS government with information onindividuals and companies evadingeconomic sanctions, the Iranian

News State Agency reported. The verdict has created outrage in

the media, among lawmakers and thegeneral public in the US.

US scribe convicted in Iran

Amateur wildlife photographer DonGutoski of Canada has won the

2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Yearfor his image of a red fox carrying the

body of its Arctic cousin after a fatal at-tack in Canada’s Wapusk National Park.

The competition was organized byLondon’s Natural History Museum.

The photograph, though depictingthe brute force of nature, mesmerizeswith its symmetry of heads, bodiesand tails and even the expressions onthe faces.

The Junior Wildlife Photographer ofthe Year went to 14-year-old OndrejPelánek from the Czech Republic for hisimage, “Fighting Ruffs”. The birds arewaders and are known for their “rough”behavior during courting. This yearthere were 42,000 entries from100 countries.

HuffPosttakes a hit

Foxy imagewins prize


INDIA UNDONEMohammad

Akhlaq’s killingputs a big

question markon the country’s

liberal ethos

What could be abetter way to

protest againstthe growing

imbalance thanaward-winning

writers of thecountry

returning theirState Awards?

VON brings in each issue, the best written commentaryon any subject. The followingwrite-up, from The Wire, hasbeen picked by our team ofeditors and reproduced for our readers as the best in the fortnight.

my friends should be, what theme I choose to work with

and the perspective from which I interpret it? And if I

don’t comply, must I fear for my safety?

Life and cultural expression are not separate, they lie

on a continuum when tolerance is under attack. Return-

ing an award is an expression of that, fundamentally. It’s

not about polarising, it’s about gathering around and

fighting for a single theme—tolerance.

CONVERSATION HAS CHANGEDIt is not just writers and the creative community who

sense that the key of conversations in the country has

changed in the last year or so. It is not even about indi-

vidual crimes like rape and murder, which do happen

VERY freedom is under every kind of

attack today—the right to life, to

speech, to express, to choose which

god to pray to, what food to eat and

clothes to wear, what partner to

choose…the list goes on. The attacks can be verbal, phys-

ical, rape and murder. The brutal killings of Dhabolkar,

Pansare, the later lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in

Dadri, followed by the motivated indifference of both the

cultural bodies and the government was when it became

difficult to stay silent anymore.

As I see it, some fundamental issues to do with free-

dom are on the front burner today, and they are all con-

nected—will someone tell me what I should speak, who

E

Editors’ PickMaya Krishna Rao

The Government is GettingNervous About Writers

Speaking Out in One Voice


seats in Parliament carries weight, carries an even bigger

responsibility, carries the power to ensure an environment

of tolerance and a sense of security for every Indian. It was

he who needed to take the lead.

How can one not be outraged? How can one not

express outrage? How can one not choose to do it through

an action that will get the government to sit up and take

note?

What is truly amazing is the ‘award returnees’ did not

sit together to decide on this course of action. It’s more like

an electric current that’s zigzagging its way, even as this is

being written, and ‘charging up’, as it travels through the

length and breadth of India, our India.

In both pre- and post-independent India, artists and

writers have expressed their thoughts, have protested

whenever there has been a threat to what constitutes

humanity and humaneness. Many among the writers

who have stood up to be counted today have done so in

the past too. I have personally made dance, theatre, com-

edy shows taking up a range of issues from AFSPA to the

Babri Masjid to the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat, the policies

of the Congress government, its complete inertia in

everywhere in the world. The point is the general envi-

ronment—it is about a whole atmosphere that seems to

be manipulated by some machinery. Terrible statements

and vicious attacks, typically aimed at inflaming passions

between Hindus on the one side and Muslim and Chris-

tians on the other, are everyday occurrences. Dalits, adi-

vasis and women are often particularly singled out. Those

involved are from the broad Hindutva stream. Anyone

can make that out. But more worryingly, there are ruling

party MPs, and ministers.

Both from goon squads—who enjoy protection from

the government—and from within the government of

today, there has been a steady, continuous, threatening

move to redefine who makes a ‘good Indian’. It’s not

enough to be simply Indian anymore. On the one hand,

women are reminded that they are not ‘Indian’ enough

unless they follow a dress and behaviour code, Hindu

women are extolled to produce 4 -10 children to solve the

‘menace’ of rising numbers in the minority communities

and, on the other hand, the Culture Minister, Mahesh

Sharma promises to “cleanse every area of public dis-

course that has been Westernised and where Indian cul-

ture and civilisation need to be restored—be it the history

we read, our cultural heritage or our institutes that have

been polluted over years.”

So much so that even the first citizen like the late Pres-

ident of India, APJ Abdul Kalam needed a good chit from

Sharma. Referring to the late President he described him

as someone who was a humanitarian and a nationalist,

“despite being a Muslim.” It was a BJP minister who ap-

pealed to Parliament to throw out the word ‘secular’ from

the preamble of the Indian Constitution. These are only

some examples from the last few months.

A BLIND EYEPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s response has usually

been to turn a blind eye, to remain silent for long periods

or to choose to attack ‘pseudo-secularists’ for ‘polarising

politics’ when he should actively reining in, with a firm

hand, all those within and without the government who

whip up an ethos of intolerance, who humiliate, rape and

kill in the name of Hindutva. A government with 282


Even late President of India, APJ AbdulKalam needed a good chit from CultureMinister Mahesh Sharma. The ministerdescribed him as a nationalist, “despitebeing a Muslim.”

through creative writing, statements or marching on the

street. Many of us will continue to do in so many different

ways. And no one can dictate what the issue may be or

the form it will take. But, yes, it will always be around

restoring humaneness, around the politics of humanity.

OVERWHELMING PUBLIC RESPONSEThe award is one instrument I had and I hope that by giv-

ing it up, along with many of my colleagues, it will help

to jolt the government on the one hand, and on the other,

reassure all those who believe that intolerance should not

be tolerated, that it affects every one of us. I hope many

in the juries who chose us support us today for that rea-

son. From the overflowing public responses, particularly

through social network sites, it is clear that in returning

the award we have only lived up to the expectations of our

readers and audiences.

The question is, why, on all those occasions, was there

no excitement of the magnitude we see these days—from

ministers, the press, saffron-robed ‘cultural leaders’ and

an anti-liberal section of the population? Why so much

agitation now—just because every day more and more

writers and artists are doing the simple act of returning

their awards or resigning from state-supported cultural

bodies?

The answer, so plain to see, is because they are nerv-

ous. Writers of the highest calibre, with a large public fol-

lowing, from a wide range of languages, from different

corners of this country, who were chosen to be recognised

with top honours by the top cultural bodies of India, are

speaking out in one voice. In a way that is unprecedented

in this country—by returning their awards. Everyday,

their numbers grow, even as this is being written. Their

readers and admirers cheer them for their bold step. They

take up front page news, everyday. Unprecedented.

Enough to get news channels to invite them on a daily

basis on prime time. Enough to get the government nerv-

ous. Enough to give an alternative, humane voice and pol-

itics, a shot in the arm.

Maya Krishna Rao is a playwright and theatre actress.

She has returned her Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

in protest

answering questions posed by youth who walked daily in

the wake of the horrific gang rape of December 2012.

Yes, we have voiced outrage when the previous gov-

ernment did not ensure protection to MF Husain in his

own country but, equally, we expressed outrage at the

circumstances that led to his self-imposed exile, that is

when the same right wing goons destroyed his works of

art and attacked him. All this, after the 90 odd years that

he lived, practiced and rose to the top as an artist in this

same India.

Yes, many of these writers have expressed outrage at

communal riots that took place during the regime of pre-

vious governments; yes, they have spoken up, whether

Author Nayantara Sahgal returned her

Sahitya AkademiAward in protest

against the “unmakingof India”. She pointedto the killings of MM

Kalburgi, GovindPansare, Narendra

Dabholkar and Mohammad Akhlaq.

A well-known man ofletters, Ashok Vajpeyi,former chairperson ofLalit Kala Akademi,

joined the protests byfellow-writers and

returned his SahityaAkademi award,

saying, “It’s high timethat writers take a

stand.”

Editors’ PickMaya Krishna Rao


Video footage of a laborer beingbeaten to death in Amritsar re-

mained unnoticed by the state laboroffice, inspite of the fact that it wentviral on social media.

The video, recorded by a person presentat the scene, allegedly shows Ram Singhhanging upside down and being beaten withan iron rod by Jaspreet Singh, his employer,at the factory where he used to work. Singhlater succumbed to his injuries.

Assistant labor commissioner of Amrit-sar Vipan Pariar told The Indian Express:

“I have checked with my sources. I have noknowledge of such an incident.”

Jaspreet allegedly kidnapped Singh fromhis home on October 15, suspecting him oftheft. Singh’s body was later recovered froma road. Although a police case was regis-tered against Jaspreet Singh and two others,no arrests have been made so far.

“Todies”give it back

Writer Salman Rushdie caused quite a furor byterming Indian Prime Minister Narendra

Modi’s internet supporters as “Modi Toadies”.Rushdie has joined many other liberal-minded

writers in India, protesting against recent actionsby right-wing Hindu groups.

In response to negative messages he receivedfor his stance, Rushdie tweeted: “Here come theModi Toadies. FYI, Toadies: I support no Indian po-litical party and oppose all attacks on free speech.Liberty is my only party.”

The term drew criticism from supporters of theIndian premier. Viv J tweeted: “Sad that so manyof us ‘Modi Toadies’ who’ve defended u over yearsare now dismissed as sycophants.”

Twitter users felt Vermont Sena-tor Bernie Sanders (extreme

left) was the clear winner of thefirst Democratic presidential debate, judging by the fact that he rapidly outpaced the other four candidates in getting new

Twitter followers.Sanders gained 35,163 new

followers during the 150-minutedebate. Meanwhile, the other fourDemocrats gained a combinedtotal of just 23,219 new followersled by Hillary Clinton (left), whoadded 13,252 new followers.

In the second Republican debate, Carly Fiorina gained22,000 Twitter followers and herpoll numbers reflected a similarjump, as she rocketed from fringecandidate to second place.

Twitter’sverdict onPrez debate

Web Crawler What Went Viral

Tragic tales from Syria have become alltoo common over the course of the

country’s civil war. The scale of the devas-tation is so massive that it might seem sur-prising that there are places inside thecountry that look mostly untouched by war.

However, Ashraf Zeinah, one of Syria’smost prolific photographers, is chroniclingwedding frolics, music concerts and bas-ketball in Syria’s Latakia province—he hasgained nearly 2,000 Instagram followersand 18,000 more on Facebook. Before thewar, he travelled around Syria capturing ar-chitectural sites, work that has ended be-cause of the fighting. He now takes picturesof weddings and other public events.

Silver liningin Syria

Murdercaught onvideo


—Compiled by Anuj Raina

REMEMBER I was 12 when I

chanced upon my first Playboy copy in

our home in Ambala Cantt. We were

living on Race Course Road and my

dad was commanding an armored

regiment. In his bedroom in the side drawer near

his bed under the files and some serious books, one

of them a super edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar

With Playboy deciding to stop publishing nude photos, what does it meanfor its reader? Here’s an account of an impressionable 12-year-old boy whochances upon this mag and the impact it left on himBY BIKRAM VOHRA

How I Learnt to LoveRock the Rabbit

IKhayyam, was this slightly crumpled but plump

issue of shiny paper. This is 1960, remember, and a

12-year-old was mighty innocent as compared to

his counterpart today. It looked wickedly inviting.

One of those days, luck was on my side. I was

alone at home and was able to sneak the mag into

the bathroom where I sat riveted for over an hour

visiting the pages with the sort of slack-jawed dis-

PlayboyTrends


Nude Photos

belief only the truly naive can conjure.

Is this what women looked like? After that first

sortie, I revisited the magazine whenever opportu-

nity arose. I was by now able to get to the favorite

pages easily since I had memorized them.

Naturally, the law of diminishing returns

kicked in and the excitement of engaging in the

forbidden paled.

REBEL WITH A CAUSE

It struck me one day as I was listlessly turning the

pages that if dad had one, he may have more. It was

a kind of epiphany and I felt I was a rebel with a

cause. They had to be tracked. Since this issue had

a month written on its cover, there were, hopefully,

at least 11 other issues from the past year

somewhere in the house. All I needed to do was

look for them.

I discovered two more. One, under my father’s

neatly pressed shirts and one under the shoe rack.

Re-igniting my slipping passion, I had another

enjoyable and deliciously guilty time as I leafed

through new playmates.

Then, one day, all three mags disappeared. Gone.

My private world destroyed. My flock of skin-show-

ing friends had done the dirty. Like they did with

the Scarlet Pimpernel. I searched high and low but

the magazines remained elusive.

Had dad found out that his adolescent son was

on the prowl...what evidence had I inadvertently

left behind?

But there was no admonishment, no change in

the mood and the normality puzzled me. In fact, my

uncle was over, also an army officer and everyone

seemed to be in a good frame of mind.

SUPERB ARTICLES

Then I overheard my dad talking to his brother

about how the articles in the magazines were first-

rate. Not the pictures, the articles. At that moment

in time, I was unaware this would be the global de-

fense for investing in Playboy and truth be told, the

articles were damn good stuff. In fact, the interviews

were of such a high standard that they began to

GRAND LIFEPlayboy founder HughHefner’s manion in LosAngeles where he heldhis lavish parties


There is a deluge of smutand sleaze thatmakes its wayinto the mindsof a 12-year-old today. Ithas no class,it’s just undressedbodies andmakes you feelunclean.

be seen as the finest in the world and it became a

point of honor to be selected as a subject in Playboy.

Presidents, actors, singers, writers, celebs jockeyed

to be presented in between gatefolds and the three

or four Playmate series per issue. These included

American writer and dramatist Joseph Heller, chil-

dren’s writer Roald Dahl, James Bond author Ian

Fleming, writer and journalist Gabriel-Garcia-Mar-

quez, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, Japanese

author Haruki Murakami and American writer and

director Norman Mailer.

What started as a fragile camouflage for viewing

intimate nude pix became a hallmark of quality

journalism...who’d have thought. Many a magazine

attempted to clone itself on the original but never

reached the incandescent writing and

in-depth reportage and research that marked a Play-

boy interview.

Many years later, as a journalist myself, I shared

with my father my teenage tryst with his magazines.

Over a drink, we had a good laugh and he said, “I

knew whenever you took them.”

“You did?”

“Of course, I did, I am your father.” Which was

explicit enough. Mum joined in and said: “Those

awful magazines, one day I’ll throw all six of them

away, such trash.”

Six. I thought there were three.

I was mortified. I had missed three hiding

places. She never did. Throw them, that is. And I

inherited them.

Loaned them to a friend about 15 years ago.

Then the other day, when I read that the jaunty,

impertinent Rock the Rabbit was in hospital, dying

of neglect and buckshot that has hit his vital organs,

it all came back.

My daughters said, dad those mags are dada’s

“heirlooms” (we are that kind of family), we must

get them back.

So I called the friend as I write this, certain that

after such passage of time he’d be clueless. But I re-

ceived a message on Facebook saying the mags were

safe and I could send someone over to collect them.

That’s the thing with Playboy, no one ever throws

them away.

What will we do with them? Guess we’ll read

the articles.

PLAYBOY MAKEOVER

Paradoxically, new age Indians have no real contact

with the history of this magazine or the brilliance of

its writers. Playboy soon became synonymous with

lifestyle and pizzazz.

The iconic Playboy bunny, born in the nude (like


The interviewsin Playboy

were of such ahigh standard

that theybegan to beseen as the

finest in theworld.

Presidents, actors,

singers, writers, celebsjockeyed to be

presented inbetween

gatefolds.

THE SHIFTThe first issue of

Playboy, after thechange in its policy

Terry Berelowitz @terrycraigmini Oct 13@PlayBoy"I only buy Playboy for the articles"- NOW this well used excuse WILL ring true#onlyforthearticlesmike claiborne @claibss Oct 13@PlayBoy Soooo the highly respected writ-ing in Playboy will now be the sole reasonfor news stands to load up on extra copiesnowScott @b4mv01 Oct 13@PlayBoy in other news, Playboy goesbankrupt...Longie @DaLeftHook Oct 13@PlayBoy Thank god my grandpas aren'talive to see this. They're rolling over in theirgraves.

PlayboyTrendsNude Photos

all of us) in 1953 earned his reputation

for wearing a tuxedo while disrobing

the most beautiful women in the world.

With the advent of the net, it all

went away.

Thanks to internet and porn on the

cob (or the click of a button), Rock lost

his support base, with fans dropping

from six million to 8,00,000 and rev-

enues declining so rapidly that Rock

may have to hock the Playboy mansion,

the Playboy jet with his mug on the tail and Playboy

souvenirs that once stood for style, pizzazz and sex-

ual discernment. Perhaps all that will be salvaged is

the string of upmarket Playboy clubs.

The deluge of smut and sleaze that makes its way

into the minds of an Indian 12-year-old today while

his fond parents think he or she is studying, bruises

the innocence.

It has no class, it’s just undressed bodies and

makes you feel unclean. There is something whorish

about the easy access to gross viewing and ironically,

you do not even have to pay for it.

So much more degrading than the innocent first

stirrings of an earlier generation whose ignorance

of things sexual collided with the suspicion that

there was something wonderful out there, not yucky

or cheap or tacky, but beautiful, caring and full

of grace.

Playboy put women on a pedestal.

Porn makes sex seem unwashed.

In comparison, Playboy is almost evangelist.

That Playboy lost to the latter in the long run and

has had to end its 58-year-reign at the top, is in

many ways sad.

PRIZED POSSESSION

Thousands of adolescents from my generation owe

their introduction to the opposite sex and the au

naturel pose to this happily smuggled magazine that

was once banned in India and contributed

extensively to the private collections of collectors at

airport customs whose onerous duty covered con-

fiscating the copies from passenger luggage and out-

witting ingenious hiding places.

In fact, the primary function of false bottom

suitcases was for one to buy the latest copy of Play-

boy and conceal it under the official workload in

that niche. Many a copy bought at Heathrow has

been left behind in the seat pocket as the plane

glided into an Indian airport.

It is no wonder Rock is on life support. What

chance has the bunny got against such shotgun

blasts of porn given for free?

For sure, the purists will never opt for mass and

explicit net fare and shall continue to seek the rela-

tively slick and highbrow visuals in Playboy but their

numbers are few and dwindling.

And they are not going to be Playboy’s target au-

dience any more. Starting its next issue, Playboy will

meekly surrender to the mass taste for sexual mate-

rial by calling off its celebrated Centrefold, its stable

of Playboy bunnies and its famous monthly Miss se-

ries that created the most coveted annual calendar.

It is sad but we wouldn’t hold out for Rock’s re-

covery. The cheeky rabbit with the James Bond

savoir-faire has lost his raison d’etre and it’s a pity be-

cause, dammit, we loved the quality of the articles,

didn’t we?

So, thanks dad, for the gift of honesty, for not let-

ting on that your son had discovered half your cache

and thanks Playboy, for some great reading...oh,

okay and super pictures.

And Mum for knowing that boys will be boys.

And not throwing them away.


WHAT PIZZAZZThe Playboy jet, withRock the Rabbit onits tail

In an ad, what works best? A short or a long heading? A crisp or a weightybody copy? It would be best to have more information in your headline sothat the rest of the page is readBY KRISH WARRIER

AdvertisingCopywriting


LONG, YET NOT BORINGThe headline of a

famous magazine adon Rolls-Royce is a

staggering 18 words

Does Length Matter?

So, one can safely say that it may be prudent to

include more information in your headline than

eight words can get across, in an effort to get the rest

of the page read.

The headline of one of the most famous maga-

zine ads, written by none other than David Ogilvy

himself, reads: “At 60 miles an hour the loudest

noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the elec-

tric clock.”

A staggering 18 words!

So, when it comes to headlines, what’s the bot-

tom line? Write the shortest headline possible

that also convincingly conveys a unique ben-

efit to the reader—which, in turn, will spur them to

read the body copy.

The headline for a famous Volkswagen ad was

one word: Lemon.

Another headline, for Zippo lighters, again

was a single word: Matchless. So don’t say it


N advertising innovator, who is

often called “The Socrates of

San Francisco”, Howard Luck

Gossage, (1917-1969) nailed it

when he said: “Nobody reads

ads. People read what interests

them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”

Which, in turn, begs the question: what works

best—long or short copy? And what about head-

lines? The correct answer to both is like the an-

swer to a Zen koan (takes time for this realization):

The one that works.

Traditionally, the practitioners of copywriting

have advocated short headlines—eight words or

less. This is amply demonstrated even when you

take a cursory look at the ads in The 100 Greatest

Advertisements... by Julian Lewis Watkins—95

percent of the most effective headlines from the

early years of magazine copywriting were less than

eight words.

But magazine copywriters were more con-

cerned about space constraints—hence the bre-

vity. On the other hand, the direct mail industry

shows different results: Only 50 to 60 percent of

the most effective headlines are eight words or

less. Which effectively means that longer head-

lines work, too.

In today’s context, when anything beyond 140

characters is considered labyrinthine, what about

online? We are all familiar with “web sales letters

or landing pages that have a headline that looks

like a short paragraph”.

Do these freighter-length trains of thought ac-

tually work? These long headlines can’t possibly

be working, right? According to an “eye-tracking

study” (understanding the way the eye moves when

scanning any document) released by user-interface

expert Jakob Nielsen, webpage visitors read in a “F”

pattern, “scrolling intently across the top of the page

where the headline should be, then making their

way back again across the first subhead, then down

the left hand side of the page to see if anything else

is of interest”.

Does anyone read a long body copy? Theanswer is: Yes, they do, if it’s relevant andinterestingly written. And for many products and services, long copy outsellsshort copy by a large margin.

AIT IS THE MESSAGEThe headline for the famous Volkswagen ad was just a word: Lemon

readable long copy ads. The ones that immediately

spring to mind are the ones for Mauritius Tourism

by Alok Nanda. Then, of course, anything written

by Agnelo Dias.

The common refrain of most clients has been

“nobody reads body copy”. The only thing worse a

client could ever say to a copywriter is the obno-

xious—“maza nahin aaya” or “headline mei punch

nahin hai”.

Returning to the question about the length

of body copy, I always go back to an Abra-

ham Lincoln story. When asked: “Mr Lin-

coln, how long do you think a man’s legs should

be?” Lincoln replied: “Long enough to reach the

ground.” Yes, the basic rule of copy length is the

same as headlines—as long as necessary, but

no longer.

Here’s what Bob Bly says about the length of

copy. It will depend on three things:

�The Product: If the product or service has more

features and benefits, there is a need for long copy.

�The Audience: Today, especially, prospects are

seeking more information. Consider high value

items like a car. People will go through reams of

information on the internet before making a pur-

chase decision.

�The Purpose: What’s the objective? If you are

generating a lead for a service business, then you

need fewer details. But an ad that aims to make a

sale, must overcome every objection the potential

buyer may have.

In the final analysis, at the cost of being repeti-

tive, while writing copy, remember to keep it only

as long as it needs to be in order to make a persua-

sive argument, but not so long that your readers are

bored stiff and feel sleepy, or worse, go off to attend

to something else.

One way to avoid this would be to pre-test your

copy. In the absence of formal research, you could

run it by a friend, your wife or a colleague to gauge

their reactions. You’ll be surprised by how people

consume ads.


AdvertisingCopywriting

SUBSTANTIAL READING(Above) The Mauritius

Tourism ad by Alok Nandahas a long body copy

Write theshortestheadline

possible thatalso conveys

a unique benefit to the

reader,which, inturn, will

spur them toread the body

copy.

cannot be done because people have been there and

done that.

Which brings us to the second question: Does

anyone read the body copy? Especially long body

copy? The answer is: Yes, they do read long body

copy if it’s relevant and written interestingly. And for

many products and services, long copy outsells short

copy by a large margin.

“When you get someone captive and reading

your piece and you’re one on one, you have a chance

to tell your story and connect with the prospect,” says

Craig Simpson, co-author of The Direct Mail Solu-

tion. “It’s just you and them; I’ve found when we in-

crease copy length, we increase response.”

You may say: Well, that’s ok for direct response;

what about newspaper and magazine ads? The an-

swer, again, is the same: Write relevantly and inter-

estingly, and people will read you. Don’t believe me?

Take a look at the classic Neil French ad (a bit of a

stretch for a beer, but oh-so-readable).

Here’s a piece of sage advice from celebrated au-

thor Elmore Leonard and it applies equally to copy-

writing: “My most important piece of advice to all

you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave

out all the parts readers skip.” Tongue firmly in

cheek, but so true.

Indian advertising too has produced eminently

T has all the boredom that character-

ized the last few seasons—host

Salman Khan sleepwalking through

the show, inmates routinely bitching,

bizarre tasks being performed to

earn the weekly grocery and the tedium of cooking

and cleaning in the same living area. Yet, Season

Nine clicks. Perhaps the new element—Double

Trouble—infuses life after a few seasons of misses.

Remember the aviation theme that “crash-landed”

after a few days last year or the hellish experience

of the Jannat and Jahannum theme in Season Six?

The inaugural episode of Season Nine required

contestants to choose their partners for the season.

It brought out their whims and fears—made clear

by the rejection of Prince, the rustic Roadies win-

ner, by four contestants. It was a regular mix of

small-screen actors, models and foreign beauties

trying to get a foothold into India. Rimi Sen of

Hungama, Baghban and Kyonki fame and Aman

Yatan Verma of Khul Ja Sim Sim and casting couch

fame, upped the participants’ profile.

The contestants are supposed to do every chore

as a pair. They eat together, with even their plates,

spoons and bottles being joined and even sleep on

joined beds. So what if their real-life partners in the

same show are going through hell. At least model

Keith Sequeira—Raymond’s Complete Man—is

fine with his girlfriend, Rochelle Rao, being com-

fortable with Prince. He himself can’t get over the

beauty of Iranian model Mandana Karimi, who is

quite a force to reckon with in the house, compared

with the guest appearances of previous

foreign faces.

The sets are getting tackier by the season. All

kinds of colors and themes are there, without much

coherence. The tasks are just as bizarre. The first

task had actor and author Digangana Suryavanshi

and actor Roopal Tyagi burying their faces into the

potbellies of two men, with the rest of their bodies

hidden behind black curtains. When it came to get-

ting her head tonsured or getting a Big Boss tattoo

etched, Rimi Sen refused. There were angels too.

The captains for Week One, actors Vikas Bhalla and

Yuvika Chaudhary (of Om Shanti Om fame) were

asked to change any two partnerships after consult-

ing all inmates. The two took great pains to ensure

that most pairs who were comfortable with each

other were not disturbed. What understanding!

Despite all the negatives, it was heartening to

note that people could actually win hearts. Prince,

who was rejected by one and all on Day One is

every inmate’s favorite now.

Bigg Boss remains a favorite among young view-

ers. If the rationale behind shifting the show from

9 pm to 10.30 pm was to make sure that kids didn’t

watch it, it failed. Many from this segment are

cutting their sleeping time to catch the buzz.

Season Nine of Bigg Boss isa hit with viewers, thanks to

a new element that hasbeen injected into it

BY MEHA MATHUR

DoubleTrouble

TV ReviewBigg Boss


IThe sets aregetting tackier by theseason. Allkinds ofcolors andthemes arethere, withoutmuchcoherence.The tasks arejust asbizarre. Butdespite thenegatives,there arepeople therewho couldactually winhearts.

Media Monitoring Bihar ElectionsTMM Survey

POLLS AND THE SMALL SCREEN

A TMM survey of five channels—Aaj Tak, IBN 7, Zee News, ABPand India TV—throws up a confused picture of the issues

involved and the possible outcome of the pollsBy VON Team

SEPTEMBER 16 TO 25, 2015TOTAL TIME: 120 HOURS


IBN7


65.84%

41.56%

16.87%

41.56%

27.16%

34.97%

37.86%

8.23%

16.46%

9.46%

17.08%15.85%

14.58%15.41%

21.25%15.83%

16.11%

54.95%

28.92%

Percentage of seats distributed among NDApartners out of the total of 243 seats in Bihar

Percentage of seats distributed among Mahagathbandhan partners

Percentage of seats distributed according to caste (NDA)

BJP RLSP HAMLJP

Percentage of special programmes of 30 minutes’duration on Hindi channels

Percentage of special programmes on Hindi newschannels of one-hour duration

Percentage of overall coverage on Bihar elections

AAJ TAK ABP ZEE NEWS NDTVINDIA TV

RJD JDU CONGRESS

GEN OBC OTHERS

Percentage of seats distributed according to caste (Mahagathbandhan)

GENOBCOTHERS

Includes the Bhartiya Janata party (BJP), Rashtriya Lok

Samata party (RLSP ), Lok Janshakti party (LJP) and

Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM )

Includes Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) Janta Dal United

(JDU ) and Indian national Congress (INC )

01 2 3 4

2

4

6

8

12

10

7%8.00%

10.40%

6.25%

ZEE NEWSAAJ TAK

ABPIBN7

01 2 3 4

0.501.001.502.002.503.003.50

1.60%

3.30%

1.60% 1.60%

AAJ TAKZEE NEWS

IBN7ABP

Graphics: Lalit Khitoliya


Media Monitoring Bihar ElectionsTMM Survey

ISSUES IN BIHAR

The main issues of

Bihar which were not

given importance by

political parties

OLD POLITICAL FACES

Old heroes are still in media, but media gave space to new political heroes as well. Coverage given to new political heroes by prime channels (in percentage)

NEW POLITICAL FACES V/S

The issues that were

hyped by political

parties

Murder overbeef—political face-offs

AAJ TAK

ZEE NEWS

ABP

IBN7

INDIA TV10.40% 15.60%

14%

12%8%

11%3%

13%

15%

15%

Amitava Sen

VIEWS ON NEWSOCTOBER 22, 2015 `50

THE CRITICAL EYE

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

ABHAY VAIDYA: Social media vs advertisers 30

BIKRAM VOHRA: Encryption policy fiasco 26

Governance Section

The Modi act has slipped several notches on the media charts 12

Plus: C Raja Mohan on Namo’s new world 22

Ashok Desai: PM in UN 20

FADINGGLITTER

MARUTI’S STRIKING WORKERS ENDANGER “MAKE IN INDIA” DRIVE 48

Reviews Talvar 38

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Views On News (VON) is India’s premier fortnightly magazine that covers the wide spectrum of modern communication loosely known as “the media”. Its racy, news and analysis oriented story-telling encompasses current global and Indian developments, trends, future projections encompassing policy and business drifts, the latest from inside the print and electronic newsrooms, the exciting developments in ever-expanding digital space, trending matters in the social media, advertising, entertainment and books.

EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTI-GATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE MINDS IN THE NATION

An ENC PublicationIf the media is leaving you behind, stay ahead of it by picking up yester-day’s Views On News!

VIEWS ON NEWSDon’t miss a single issue of this stimulating, unbiased, entertaining new fortnightly magazine and get special discounts for yourself and your friends

DESIGNS THAT MADE IMAGINATIVEUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHS, FONTS,COLOR AND WHITE SPACES TOLEAVE AN IMPRESSION By ANTHONY LAWRENCE

Design


The tiny creature, with its deadly tentacles,has got a chance to feature on the Economist

cover, everyone’s dream.

There’s a glow of hope in this hand illustration,with a sea of humanity marching for every causeconceivable, notwithstanding the pessimistictag-line

It’s a naked quest for supremacy between the Western Block and Russia in theMiddle East once again, and the artist has depicted it literally. If you go by theillustration, the poker-faced Putin has already done the “Check-Mate” act vis-a-vis Obama.

Three cheers to liberty. Yes, a Japanesewhiskey maker has made ice cubes in theshape of the famous statue. Among the othersculptural marvels you can raise a toast to area Zen temple, Batman and the Sphinx.

A New York School of Visual Arts student, 24-year-old Leah Foster, has actualized our childhood dream of mountains of cakes. These 10-feet pillarshave thousands of cup-cakes stacked one above another in no particular color order. But can you eat the cakes and have the pile-up intact too?


Don’t fret. This is only Portuguese street artist Sergio Odeith’s 3-D art, giving the impression that the creepy crawly is bursting forth from a wall. The aggressiveness of the creature is contrasted with the warm flow that emanatesfrom the choice of colors.

The plethora of issues bogging India is conveyed in the clutter that we see on thecover. When will sanity prevail in India?

NEWSDATE NEWS CHANNEL TIME

6/10/15

6/10/15

8/10/15

8/10/15

8/10/15

9/10/15

Modi and German Chancellor AngelaMerkel present at the NASSCOM programme. Modi says India unaffected by the global recession.

Four-fold hike in salaries of Delhi MLAsproposed, from `12,000 to `,50,000

At his second rally in Bihar at BegusaraiModi calls Mahagathbandhan an opportunistic alliance. Says Congress didnothing in its 35 year tenure for Bihar.

Mulayam alleges Dadri issue a conspiracy bysome elements. Blames Muzzafarnagar culprits for this.

9/10/15

4.23 PM

12:18 PM12.15 PM

2.12 PM 2.16 PM

4.24 PM4.20 PM 4.21 PM


12.22 PM 12.20 PM

2.14 PM2.13 PM

12.11 PM12.10 PM 12.12 PM 12.12 PM

6/10/15

Uttar Pradesh government submits report on Akhlaq’s killing in Dadri to center. Report does not mention any motive for the murder. 10.43 AM10.42 AM 10.45 AM 10.47 AM

Another program of Ghulam Ali cancelledin Pune after the Mumbai program. The program scheduled for October 10cancelled after Shiv Sena threat. 2.06 PM2.04 PM 2.05 PM 2.07 PM

Lalu mounts attack on Modi saying he hasinsulted the backwards, not fit to be PM.Says he would complain to Election Commission. 10.18 AM10.17 AM 10.19 AM 10.20 AM

Kejriwal drops Food and Supplies MinisterAsim Ahmed from his cabinet on graftcharges. Demand s CBI inquiry. Asim replaced by Abrar Hussain. 4.19 PM 4.19 PM4.18 PM 4.19 PM

Here are some of the major news items aired on television channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.

DATE NEWS CHANNEL TIMENEWS


10/10/15

10/10/15

12/10/15

13/10/15

14/10/15

15/10/15

16/10/15

16/10/15

Only NDA can provide development toBihar, says Amit Shah at an election rally inNavada. People won’t forget 15 years ofmisrule by Lalu, he says. 1.00 PM 1.02 PM 1.03 PM 1.04 PM

1.30 PM 1.31PM

Two blasts rock a peace rally in Turkish capital Ankara; many dead.

1.32 PM 1.33 PM

Noted writer and activist SudheendraKulkarni’s face blackened by Shiv Sena activists at the launch of former Pak minister, Mehmud Kasuri’s book. 10.02 AM 10.03 AM 10.04 AM10.01 AM

Raid on Amitabh Thakur’s house inLucknow by the Vigilance Department.Charged with owning disproportionateincome.� 11.47 AM10.40 AM 11.41 AM11.38 AM

Giving his first reaction to the Dadri lynching, PM Modi says he is pained bythe incident but the center had no role inthis, his govt doesn’t support this. 9.03 AM9.02 AM 9.03 AM 9.04 AM

Supreme Court stays order on dance bars issued under Section 33 of Maharashtra Police Act. Asks Maharashtra government to file appeal. 12.21 PM12.19 PM 12.20 PM 12.22 PM

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar says: “Muslims can stay, but inthis country they will have to give up eating beef.” 10.07 AM10.05 AM 10.06 AM 10.08 AM

Supreme Court declares NJAC unconstitutional.

10.38 AM10.35 AM 10.38 AM 10.39 AM


AgricultureovernanceG

How Green Wasmy Revolution?A parliamentary committee has recommended giving top priority to organic farming. Is it time to dump the Green Revolution with its over-dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides? BY DEVENDER SINGH

HEN the government

takes a broadbased

and telescopic look at

agriculture, it must re-

look at our farming

history. That would

give planning a truly holistic perspective. Accord-

ing to a UN report of 2014, if we have to address

food security, the only way is through organic

farming. Closer home, the Estimates Committee

of the Lok Sabha, tasked with the responsibility to

examine fiscal estimates and efficiency of expen-

diture, in its report of August 13 has made a wide

range of recommendations for promotion of or-

ganic farming.

According to the committee’s report , the allo-

cation of ₹300 crore for 2015-16 for the existing

components of organic farming put together

under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

is ridiculously paltry when compared to the sub-

sidy on chemical fertilizers which stands in the

range of ₹70,000 to ₹1,00,000 crore each year. Also,

the financial assistance of ₹20,000 per acre up to

three years for the promotion of organic farming

needs to be extended for 4-5 years as soil rejuve-

nation takes longer to reverse the adverse impact

of chemical fertilizers. The report quotes agricul-

ture scientists who say that fertilizer subsidy has

done the maximum damage to Indian agriculture

as the imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers has

degraded about 121 million hectares of land.

GO ORGANICIn fact, the report also says that the representative

of the ministry of agriculture admitted candidly

before the committee that despite the benefits of

organic farming, the programs for promoting it

have been disjointed, lacking in inter-departmen-

tal integration and not able to achieve the envi-

sioned outcomes.

The committee has, therefore, recommended

that the allocations for the promotion of organic

farming be scaled up substantially to meet the in-

tended objective of sustainable agriculture which

has the potential to increase 30 percent more em-

ployment by way of resource recycling, certifica-

tion process, product marketing and packaging.

Notably, organic produce is increasingly being pre-

ferred by developed countries and major urban

centers within India. The current global trade in

organic food of $60 billion is likely to touch $100

billion. India, despite its varied agro-economic

zones and huge potential, contributes only one

percent to the global trade in organic produce.

Taking note of the severely adverse conse-

quences of chemical-based farming and its cascad-

ing impact on our ecology, the food chain and

water bodies, the committee has recommended

bringing out a comprehensive policy on organic

farming. This envisages setting up of standards,

financial support, research, education, insurance,

minimum support price and extension of subsidy

on equal terms vis-a-vis subsidy given to

BUSTING A MYTH(Below) Chemicalfarming in India hasonly enhanced theproduction of rice and wheat


Despite the benefits of organic farming,the programs for promoting it have beendisjointed, lacking in inter-departmentalintegration and have not been able toachieve the envisioned outcomes.

W

fertilizers.

It has also recommended certification, market

promotion, production and patenting of bio-mol-

ecules and setting up a regulatory regime for their

production, storage, transportation and applica-

tion and ensuring adequacy of green manure.

Further and more importantly, considering the

tremendous benefits of organic farming, including

its great employment potential, the committee has

pushed for the implementation of the National

Mission on Sustainable Agriculture through a sin-

gle nodal ministry—agriculture ministry—by

procuring suitable integration of different imple-

menting departments or organizations and all al-

lied schemes pertaining to organic farming.


History tellsus that before

the Green Revolution

changedthings

dramaticallyin the 1960s,our framers

confirmed tothe principles

of organicfarming.

SLOW POISON(Top) The use of

chemical fertilizers onfruits and vegetables

has affected ourhealth adversely

(Above) Organic farming nourishes humans, animals,

birds and millions ofmicro-organisms

PERILS OF GREEN REVOLUTIONHistory tells us that before the Green Revolution

changed things dramatically in the 1960s, our

farmers confirmed to the natural principles of or-

ganic farming. In fact, according to Sir Albert

Howard, a scientist drafted to India by the British

government in 1905, the Indian soil was fertile and

without any pests. However, the burgeoning pop-

ulation and severe food shortages impelled the

country to go for minerals-based farming in the

late sixties.

This initially paid rich dividends in terms of

higher productivity and pulled the country out of

the morass of food insecurity. But the Green Rev-

olution, due to unscientific and imbalanced use of

chemical-based fertilizers, brought a very negative

impact on India’s ecology. It came with degrada-

tion of soil health, gradual low yields, emergence

of new pests and diseases, extinction of eco-

friendly micro-organisms and percolation of toxic

chemicals into our food chain, thus threatening

the biosphere.

Empirical studies show that at the time of the

Green Revolution, the country used to get 50 kg

foodgrains by use of a kg of nitrogen, phosphorus

and potassium (NPK). Today, the yield is only 10

kg from the same nutrients. According to scien-

tists, the ideal NKP ratio should be 4:2:1 but it has

AgricultureovernanceG

ganic produce by getting

food subsidy through di-

rect benefit transfer.

This apart, hospitals,

army cantonments, sch-

ools under Mid-Day Meal

Scheme and the Railways

can be persuaded to pro-

cure organic products to

create market demand for

the same. Further, markets

in towns and cities need to

be explored where fresh

agro-organic products can

be sold by farmers without

any levy being imposed.

The committee has also

urged the government to

organize large-scale organic farming fairs annually

to popularize and encourage these products.

While a complete shift to organic farming can-

not happen overnight, a pro-active beginning has

to be made. A major shift in our agricultural policy

is what several experts have suggested. This shift

would mean returning to our roots but it promises

to pay dividends in the long run.

— The author is an additional secretary

in the Lok Sabha

decreased to 7:3:1, and worse, in Punjab, the ratio

is 39:9:1.

There is near unanimity among agro-scientists

that chemical fertilizers have destroyed the origi-

nal sources of soil fertility which are the micro-

organisms in the soil. The soil nourishes humans,

animals, birds and millions of micro organisms.

The argument that India needs chemical farming

to conquer hunger stands annihilated as it only

enhanced production of rice and wheat.

The production of nutritious cereals like mil-

lets, ragi, mandwa, jhangora, amaranth, etc, which

grow in rainfed areas and are at the same time

drought-resistant, were neglected and labeled as

coarse crops.

MARKETING PUSHThe Estimates Committee in its report, while

pressing for greater focus on organic farming, has

cautioned against marketing of spurious products

and its adverse bearing on India’s international

trade. It recommended that apart from maintain-

ing credibility of organic farm produce, creating

demand for organic products needs to be ad-

dressed. Government, being the biggest spender

of public money, can liberate organic farmers from

the present predicament by enabling eligible con-

sumers under the food security scheme to buy or-


HIGH DEMAND(Left) The current globaltrade in organic food islikely to touch $100 billion

(Below) India needs totake proactive measuresfor shifting to organicfarming

INSEPARABLE PAIRSREFLECTING MOODS�All torn up�Crying the blues�Singing the blues�Down in the dumps�Down in the mouth�Got the blue devils�Have the blues�Have the blahs�In the doldrums�In the dumper

When offering advice or making a suggestion,familiarity with the different nuances and varieties ofexpressions helps:

WAYS OF GIVING ADVICE

�Have you thought of...�It might be a good idea...�If I were you...�I wonder if...�You could always try...�You would do well to...�You might consider...

BAKER’S DOZEN

SCARE AND SCARIFY

AMERICANSPEAK

Biscuit………………………gunBitch………………………unpleasant girlBodacious…………………..impressiveBling-bling………………….showy jewelleryBugged out…………………upsetHappenin’…………………excitingPig………………………..police officerStraight…………………….fine, okayWazzup?………………….what’s up?Yo………………………Hi

English is one of modern India’s 22 official languages, and is widely learned as the second language in most countries. Enjoy it and avoid falling into some common error traps. BY MAHESH TRIVEDI

�”Scarify” can also be used for “wounding withharsh criticism”. For example, a scarifying review. �”Scarify” can also mean to loosen and removethe top soil.�But “Scare” means to frighten someone.�”Scarify” is also pronounced differently—torhyme with bar, car or tar with the stress on thefirst syllable.

�God’s child ……………an idiot�Nature’s garb ……………nudity�Nelson’s blood ……………rum�Sheriff ’s hotel …………...prison�Baker’s dozen……………Thirteen�Gunner’s daughter ………a flogging�Introducer’s fees……………a bribe�Monkey’s business ……………mad business�Montezuma’s revenge ……………diarrhoea�King’s Charles’s head ……………an obsession� Lady’s man ……………a man who delights women�Little boy’s room …………… a lavatory of exclusivemale use

�How about...�Make sure...�Shouldn’t we...�Suppose we...�You might as well...�The best course seems to be...�It would be best for you...

�Ways and means�Meat and drink�Wax and wane�Wheel and axle�Fife and drum�Safe and sound�Port and starboard�Sackcloth and ashes

�Bubble and squeak�Knights and garters�Might and main�Boot and saddle�Root and branch�Fire and brimstone�Bolt and chain�Stars and stripes

54 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

The two have different meanings. “Scarify” is closer in meaningto “scar” than “scare”. “Scarify” is to scratch or break up thesurface of, say, the skin of the individual or things. The women incertain tribes in Africa scarify their faces.

.

RNI No. UPENG/2007/22571 Postal Regd. No. UP/GBD-204/2015-17

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Views on News 07 November 2015