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connectIng IndIa wIth Its dIasporavol 4 Issue 7 July 2011PRAVASI BHARATIYAbasIcallybooksIs the new dIgItal wordwrItIng off the word?Is paper becomIngold-fashIoned?has the publIshIngIndustry turned anImportant page InIts hIstory?mInIstry of overseas IndIan affaIrs

izoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z ea=ky;Ministry of Overseas Indian AffairsGlOBAl-INDIANNETwORk OF kNOwlEDGEAN INITIATIVE OF THE MINISTRY OF OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRSThe Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) has partneredwith Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop the Global-INK framework.An online web portal, it is powered by SupportCentral, a next generation knowledgemanagement, collaboration and business solutions platform.The communities will also provide an array of collaboration tools:● Blogs ● Forums ● Ask an Expert ● Document management and sharing ● Online resource databases

CONNECTING INDIA wITH ITS DIASpORAVol 4 Issue 7 July 2011PRAVASI BHARATIYAlR;eso t;rsizoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z ea=ky;Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairswww.overseasindian.in

Printed and Published byM. Sathya Babu on behalf of theMinistry of Overseas Indian AffairsAkbar Bhavan, Chanakyapuri,New Delhi — 110021Website: http://moia.gov.inwww.overseasindian.inConsulting EditorK.G. SreenivasPravasi Bharatiya is a monthlypublication. The views expressed in thisjournal are those of the contributorsand do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs(MOIA). All rights reserved. No part ofthis journal may be produced, stored, ortransmitted in any form or by anymeans — electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the permission of MOIA.Editorial correspondence andmanuscripts can be addressed topravasi.bharatiya@gmail.comDesigned and produced by IANS(www.ianspublishing.com) on behalf ofthe Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.Printed atAnit Printers1811, Gyani Bazar,Opp. D-56 N.D.S.E Part -1,Kotla Mubarkpur,New Delhi -110003izoklh Hkkjrh; dk;Z ea=ky;Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairswww.overseasindian.inWhere is the Written Word? On paper or on screen? Inked ordigitised? Tactile or transient? Fragrant or de-odorised? Ontextured pulp or on liquid crystal? On wooden shelves or in virtualspace? The story of papyrus, when man first inscribed what he feltand experienced on hard bark, is perhaps the most compelling of man’sphysical, intellectual and moral accomplishments. Paper as the physical,manifest vehicle of the Written Word — inarguably the most powerful of man’stools of all time – has been central to man’s experiential universe. Books, as wehave known, have commanded extraordinary power — both temporal andspiritual. Rulers have cited the ‘Written Book’ to assert and legitimise theexercise of power, teachers, through the course of civilisation, have wielded thebook to teach and train, governments have sworn by the ‘Written Contract’ inthe conduct of nationhood, while the wielders of the Written Word have soughtfulfillment in being ‘read’, ‘felt’ and ‘experienced’ by the discerning reader.But, is The Book today at a crossroads? Has technology transformed thenature of the book? Perhaps.Books, as we have known, arebeing increasingly visualised,imagined, written, produced andfromtheeditor’sdeskstored in virtual space. Bookshave become e-books — they areportable, scrollable, even‘touchable’ as much as imaginedtactile experience permits.Millions of printed books are noweasily available on a variety ofplatforms on the internet. So, youcan read them and experiencethem on what we had set out tosay — on liquid crystal. Are‘written’ books vanishing?Amazon.com, the world’slargest online retailer, was recently shocked. It announced that its digital e-books had outstripped the sales of its “real” books. Four years after launching“electronic” novels, Amazon said it had sold 105 e-books for every 100 printedbooks during April-May of 2011. Consider this: The Association of AmericanPublishers says e-book sales in America during the first quarter of 2011 rose byas much as 159.8 percent, that is 160 percent save for the psychological barrierof the fraction, over the previous year. Compare this with the sale of printedbooks during the same period — it fell 23.4 percent from the previous year!So, is the Written Book losing being pushed out of paper, literally? InduSundaresan, who won critical fame with her very first book, The Twentieth Wife,published in 2002, “I don’t have an e-reader of any kind... I’m more of atraditionalist... I enjoy browsing in bookstores and libraries; I like the sensationof holding a physical book in my hands” (emphasis added). “I cannot forgo mylibrary of traditional paper books at any cost,” she adds.Siddhartha Deb, author of the critically received The Point of Return andSurface, takes a radical view. He says the e-reader is a “cheap plastic toy”. “Thereare pleasures associated with printed books that I’m partial to — the texture, thefeel, the physical intimacy... There is pleasure in making back and forth journeysbetween different physical parts of the book,” says Deb.Divya Dubey, an emerging young independent publisher, believes “traditionalpaper books will be around for a long time. Many people are simply notcomfortable reading on screen for pleasure; I happen to be one of them.” Divyahas this to say about what fascinates her most in ‘holding’ on to the palpablebook: “The sweet smell of paper; the texture reflected in sunlight; turning thecrisp pages; placing pretty bookmarks and dried flowers inside a book...”Pravasi Bharatiya, itself nurtured in print with much care, presents youworld of the Written Book in its Cover Story in this issue. There arecontrarian views too on the power, longevity and relevance of the PrintedBook. Of one thing we can, however, be sure — the Written Word will outlivetechnology or the lack of it.—K.G. Sreenivas

contents14cover storyBasically BooksAre traditional books printed on paper losingground to the new-in-market digital ‘bookreaders’, Gokul Bhagabati inquires...6Back to WorkUnruffled by the tragic events of July 13, life moveson in the gold trade hub of Zaveri Bazar and thediamond centre of Opera House in Mumbai44hastinapur in argentinaA curious little place in the Argentine pampas callsitself Hastinapur. The Indian link is evident in itstemples, statues...2224BooksAt the heart of the The Book of Answers byC.Y. Gopinath is the common man’s reluctance to riseto the call of change, writes Madhusree ChatterjeesanskritThe world’s only Sanskrit daily has entered its42 nd year of publication, Brij Khandelwal visitsits office to check on the news26turn the taBlesMusic aficionados, seriousaudiophiles and collectors haveled music companies to releasevinyls with encouraging results,writes Ruchika Kher34immortal memoriesThe beginnings of the Indiandiaspora spread across the worldis set to be recorded for posterity.Shubha Singh reports42oBituaryUstad Fahimuddin Khan Dagar’s passingaway marks the end of one of the finesteras of Hindustani classical music.A formidable scholar in Sanskrit, thegreat maestro’s repertoire was legendary

newsBack to workUnruffled by the tragic events of July 13, life moves on in the hub of gold tradein Zaveri Bazar and the diamond centre of Opera House in MumbaiA jeweller waits for customers outside his showroom near the blast site at Zaveri Bazar in Mumbai a couple of days after the bomb blasts hit the city on July 13.If the intention of the perpetrators of July 13 blasts was tocow Mumbai into a state of fear and paralyse its businesslife, then they had certainly misread the city’s spirit. Mumbaihas once again weathered the shock of bomb blasts and isquickly back again on its feet. Going by the expression used bythe businessmen in the three blast-hit market places, the mood is“overall positive”. The diamond centre of Opera House, gold hubof Zaveri Bazar, and the commercial part of Dadar West in Mumbaiwere the targets of bomb blasts that took place on the fatefulday. These markets are once again bustling with business.“Now, there are restrictions on traffic and security checks area lot stricter, but nobody objects to them. Business is near normalbut it will be a while before life gets back to normal,” saysAsim Shah of HB Shah Pvt Ltd, a leading diamond exporter ofthe area.Krishna Verlekar, who has a workshop in the heart of ZaveriBazar, observes that regular customers have become morecautious since July 13. “Before visiting the market, they now callus asking about the police presence in the area and to know if it’scrowded... They will do so for a few more weeks before followingthe routine of pre-blast day.”The other result of the blasts is that the diamond market has6 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

People at a roadsideeatery near the blastsite at Zaveri Bazaarin Mumbai.the other result of the blasts is that the diamond market has finallybeen convinced to move to the new Bharat Diamond Boursein suburban Bandra-kurla complexfinally been convinced to move to the new Bharat DiamondBourse (BDB) in suburban Bandra-Kurla Complex.The swanky new business district is ideally located midwaybetween the western suburb of Bandra and the eastern suburb ofKurla, where the U.S. Consulate and British Deputy HighCommission buildings have also come up.“Despite the constraints of operating from there, we havedecided to move out of the Panchratna Building after Diwali,” addsAsim.Another prominent diamond and gold jewellery businessman,Girish Shah, who has a shop at Opera House, expresses similarsentiments, “The workers will be hit the worst, travelling from faroff suburbs. But we have to move out.”The residential population of Opera House, Zaveri Bazar andDadar West have taken the bomb attacks in their stride, or almost.“A majority of us have been living and working here forgenerations and have seen many ups and downs during thisperiod,” says commercial artist Guruprasad Kashikar, who livesand works five blocks away from Opera House.“Business will not wait, everything will become normal once weget back to work as usual,” Kashikar adds.Meanwhile, the probe into the blasts has been expanded tocover various parts of the country. Multiple raids have beenconducted and a number of locations of suspected terror outfitssearched. According to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS)Chief Rakesh Maria, police teams have been to Gujarat, Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengaland New Delhi.Maria points out the police have secured “solid leads” in the13/7 blasts and that the investigations were moving in “a certaindirection” and was confident of a breakthrough soon.He reveals that using CCTV footage from one of the blast sites,police had prepared a sketch of a possible suspect. The sketchwas being circulated among the dozen probe teams and theexisting police records of suspected terrorists would be checkedto see if there was a match.Maria adds that the role or involvement of the underworld inthe explosions was also being examined. So far, no one hasclaimed responsibility for the blasts. Police officials, who say theyare “keeping all options open”, have refrained from naming anyparticular suspect.A walk in the streets of Mumbai, however, is enough to convincea visitor that no matter how long it takes to pinpoint those behindthe blasts, their attempts to terrorise the residents of Mumbai havefailed miserably. The indomitable spirit of Mumbai has once againcome out unscathed.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 7

newskey lift-offWith the launch of the GSAT-12 satellite, India’s space programme andcommunication services mark another milestonewomen power in satellite projectThe PSLV-C17 rocket taking off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre,Sriharikota, on July 15.with this satellite successfullylaunched, india has added 12more communication transpondersto its space-based networku T.K. Anuradha, the first woman ever to be the satellite project director at the country'sspace agency, specialises in satellite checkout systems — electronic checking of asatellite’s performance in space.u The other two women are Promodha Hegde, mission director GSAT-12, andAnuradha, operations director for GSAT-12.india reached another milestonein its space programmeon the evening ofJuly 15, successfully launchinga heavy-duty rocket thatplaced a major communicationssatellite in space.The launch took place under acloudy sky, with the `950 millionrocket PSLV-C17 (Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle) — measuring44 metres in height, and weighing320 tonnes — soaring intospace with a roar. The PSLVwhich blasted off successfullyfrom the spaceport at Sriharikota(India’s space launch site) carrieda 410 kg GSAT-12 satellite witha life span of about seven years.With this satellite, India added12 more communicationtransponders to its space-basednetwork.A beaming Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) chiefK. Radhakrishnan informed reportersof the mission’ssuccess after the 4.48 p.m.launch. Around 20 minutesafter the blast-off, therocket achieved its missionby placing this latest Indiancommunication satellite inthe intended sub geo-synchronoustransfer orbit fromwhere the satellite would bemoved to its final geo-synchronousorbit by firing the on-board motors.Immediately after satelliteejection, ISRO with its network ofground stations monitored itshealth.The GSAT-12 satellite would beuseful for various communicationservices like tele-education, telemedicineand for village resourcecentres, Radhakrishnan said. TheGSAT-12 satellite is also expectedto serve the Very Small ApertureTerminal (V-SAT) sector. VSATsare used to transmit data likepoint of sale transactions or toprovide satellite internet access.The satellite will also augmenttransponder capacity of theIndian National Satellite (Insat)system which at presentcomprises eight satellitesGsat-12 satelliteu The `80 crore satellite has 12extended C-band transponders —automatic receivers and transmittersfor communication and broadcast ofsignalsu Would serve the Very Small ApertureTerminal (V-SAT) sector used totransmit data like point of saletransactions or to provide satelliteinternet accessu Useful for various communicationservices like tele-education, tele-medicineand for village resource centresu Will augment transponder capacity ofthe Indian National Satellite system8 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

india not to stop hiVdruG productionMany medical programmes are dependent on these drugs to provide free treatmentto HIV-positive patients, both in India and Africaindia will not compromise on druglicensing norms and will continue toproduce generic drugs used inprogrammes providing free treatmentto HIV-positive patients, Commerce and IndustryMinister Anand Sharma has said recently.“The government reaffirms its fullcommitment to ensure that quality genericmedicines, including antiretroviral drugs,are seamlessly available,” Sharmaannounced at a meeting with UNAIDSexecutive director Michel Sidibe. Thecommitment was welcomed by UNAIDS,which said this would benefit HIV-positivepeople in African countries as well.“Millions of people will die if Indiacannot produce generic antiretroviraldrugs, and Africa will be the mostaffected. For me, it is an issue of life ordeath,” Sidibe cautioned. With over2.5 million HIV-positive people in thecountry, the pharmaceutical industryproduces more than 85 percent of thefirst-line antiretroviral (ART) drugs usedto treat people living with HIV.“India, together with Brazil, SouthAfrica, China and Russia, must forge analliance with other high-income countriesto ensure that no one in the world diesbecause he cannot afford to buy life-savingmedicines or healthcare,” Sidibe added.The Indian government’s ART centrescurrently provide free antiretroviraltreatment to over 400,000 people livingwith HIV in India.with over 2.5 million hiV-positive people in thecountry, the pharmaceutical industry produces morethan 85 percent of the first-line antiretroviral (art)drugs used to treat people living with hiVwelfare scheme forjobless non-residentkeralitesNon-Resident Keralites (NRKs) returninghome jobless would now be getassistance for education, marriage,maternity, besides money for performingfuneral rites, Kerala GovernorR.S. Gavai announced recently.There are over two million Keraliteswho work abroad and another one millionwho have returned home.“The NORKA (Non-Resident KeralitesAffairs Department) Centre will bringall agencies of the department underone roof and will begin functioning thisyear itself. An NRI Business Centre anda helpline for assisting NRKs will alsobe started,” said Gavai.Speaking in the state assembly, hesaid that Norka-Roots would help promotesafe migration practices and ensuregood jobs overseas. Norka-Roots isthe interface between the NRKs and theGovernment of Kerala. It addresses theproblems faced by emigrant Keralites.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 9

newsdiaspora studiesat Goa uniVersitythe union Human Resource Development(HRD) Ministry hasdecided to set up a chair onIndian diaspora studies at GoaUniversity, Goa’s commissioner forNon-Resident Indian (NRI) affairsEduardo Faleiro said on July 5.Speaking in Panaji, Faleiro announcedthat HRD Minister Kapil Sibal hadagreed to establish a chair on thediaspora community at the state universityin Goa, a state with a long history ofemigration.“I have requested Goa GovernorDr S.S. Sidhu, who is the Chancellor ofGoa University, to advise the universityin this regard so that we have a qualityinstitution for study and research onthe Indian diaspora in general and onthe Goan diaspora, in particular,” saidFaleiro.The chair on diaspora studies willdeal with the questions and issues regardingthe Indian diaspora (Goan diasporaincluded) in academic depth and ina comparative context.It will also study migration in othercountries, he added.Faleiro said the University GrantsCommission (UGC) had already made apart payment to the Goa University towardsthe creation of the chair.“The study on migration in all its diverseaspects is one of the mostfascinating areas of research. A verylarge number of universities abroadhave this facility,” Faleiro observed,adding that the university was the firstin India to establish a chair on diasporastudies.Incidentally, Goa is the second statein India after Kerala to conduct a surveyon migration of its working populationto other countries for employment, primarilyin the Gulf region.india opens culturalcentre in seoulDr. Karan Singh, President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, inaugurating theIndian Culture Centre in Seoul, South Korea.India has taken yet another step in furthering its culturaldiplomacy in South-East Asia with the setting up of a newIndian cultural centre in Seoul.President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations(ICCR) Dr. Karan Singh, recently on a week-long visit toSeoul, inaugurated the centre located at the prestigiousSejong Centre on July 1. Dr. Singh also delivered a lecture atthe Korea Foundation and opened a cultural programmewith eminent artistes from India performing on the occasion.Dr Singh’s visit was part of the general Look-East Policyof the ICCR that has resulted in the opening of as many asnine Indian cultural centres in South and South-East Asia.This was part of the recommendations made by the PrimeMinister’s Global Advisory Council.“I bring with me warm greetings from the people of Indiato the people of the shining ‘Lamp of the East’, as Korea wasfamously and fondly described by Rabindranath Tagore,”Dr Singh said. “In Korea, our heritage dates back to thePrincess of Ayodhya who came here in 48 AD, married KingKin Suro of Gimhae and acquired fame as Queen Heo,” Dr.Singh said before leaving the country.10 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

indian top farmerin GhanaForced by circumstances to change his line of work, Harchavari Singh Cheema took towhat he knew the best — farming. Today, his farm exports 120 tonnes of vegetables a yearformer Mumbai textileworker HarchavariSinghCheema, who cameto Ghana 40 years ago, istoday a celebrated farmerand one of the most successfulIndians in the WestAfrican country.From exporting about 70tonnes in the intial years,Cheema’s Param Farms nowexports 120 tonnes of vegetablesa year. “I arrived inGhana in 1972 to work as amanager for the then GlamourStores, a supermarket chain, butsome years later when the country’seconomy started going down, the textileindustry was affected adversely. So, I decidedto do something on my own,” saysCheema, 64. “I initially started a poultryfarm at Gomoa Pamfokrom in the centralregion of the country,” Cheema adds.Unfortunately, the poultry sector alsostarted having problems, so he started asmall textile-manufacturing unit in Accra,Ghana’s capital. “But this also sufferedbecause of the trade liberalisation initiatedby the government in the 1980s.”“Coming from a farming background, Ihad no choice but to get back to farming,again. I decided to produce 25 differentvarieties of Asian vegetables for export toEurope,” he adds.Cheema was declared the Best NationalFarmer in the vegetable sector and in2004, won the Best National Farmeraward in the food crop sector.From a small farm in Weija in Accra, hemoved to Bawjiase in the central region,Akatsi in the Volta region, and Old AkradeFormer Ghana President Jerry John Rawlings (left) presenting theBest National Farmer Award to Harchavari Singh Cheema (centre)and Nsawam in the eastern region.“The need to have farms in differentareas was necessary because we did notwant to fall victim to the vagaries ofweather. Thus, the spread of farmsenabled us to succeed even when theweather failed in some areas,” saysCheema.Asked why he chose to remain in thecountry, he says, “Ghana is a nice placeto live in and my children were attendingschool, something I did not want todisturb by returning to India.”Cheema describes working in Ghana asa very good experience. “The people arenice and if you do a good job, pay yourworkers proper wages and meet your taxobligations, you would never encounterany problem.”Impressed by his success, other Indianinvestors, looking for opportunities inGhana, have sought his assistance toestablish businesses here, he says.Cheema and a group of investors are inthe process of establishing a packagingcompany at Tema, near Accra.rbi to reGulate mfisThe government has proposed to bringall micro finance institutions (MFIs)under the ambit of the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI). The central bank will havethe powers to formulate policies for thesector and regulate it, the FinanceMinistry has said in the draft of TheMicro Finance Institutions (Developmentand Regulation) Bill, released on July 7for public comment.The earlier Bill of 2007, which haslapsed, had sought to regulate onlythose MFIs not under the ambit of anylaw. So, banks and a few categories ofnon-banking finance companies (NBFCs)were kept outside the purview ofthe Bill.The revised Bill proposes to empowerRBI to issue directions to MFIs on margincaps, tenure of loans, periodicity ofrepayment schedules, levy of processingfees, interest and life insurancepremium, amongst others. It will also beallowed to specify the maximum annualpercentage rate that can be charged byan MFI on the financial assistancegranted to any client.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 11

newsA terracotta figurine made by traditional craftsmen.brandinG traditionPromoting the survival oftraditional crafts is onlyone half of the story.The crafts and designrevolution in India ishelping this uniqueheritage to also growand change, writesMadhusree Chatterjeeacrafts and design revolution is onin India. Indigenous craftspeoplein India are beginning to explorethe mainstream fashion industry.The result: an opportunity for India’sindigenous heritage to grow and showcaseitself globally.Experts reach out to the indigenouscraftspeople of the country with designand lifestyle solutions to integrate theirtraditional crafts in modern fashioneducation. The considered view is that thiswill help in the development of newerdesign strategies, securing internationalbranding for their products, and inimproving lifestyles with social interventionprojects. Besides, this outreach willhelp students of contemporary fashionappreciate the importance of traditionalhandicrafts.The traditional crafts solutions in Indialie in the uplift of craft folk’s socialconditions, greater education and ensuringlife for their crafts, says Jackie Guille, aUK-based professor and crafts activist.Guille has spent 40 years developingdesigns in education and crafts enterprisein Sub-Saharan Africa for the EuropeanCommission and the United Nations.“Craftspeople with children should beallowed to grow and change theirheritage,” she says.12 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

Cushions with traditional motifsOrganisations like Dastkar are working to keep the traditional crafts alive“Educational institutions, the GenNextand children of the artisans should cometogether as equals to share the problems inthe sector and create solutions together.I had worked on a project in Uganda — theNalumenye Women’s Group, a communityof basket weavers — where I combinedhealth and design as a solution module forthe participants. The weavers told us theirstories about HIV/AIDS, gender abuse andneglect, through the patterns on theirbaskets. Similar models should bereplicated in India,” she says.Guille is helping St. Mary’s Convent inAhmedabad, Gujarat. A UK-based fair priceretail chain, Trade Craft, is working therewith 300 women and a local masterdesigner to help the local embroideredtextiles get recognition as a brand.The chain aims to “develop a sense ofownership, confidence and social equity(access to better cultural and social life)among the weavers”. The crafts activist anddesigner has also been working for theDeveloping Partnerships for HigherEducation project (Delphi), a collaborationamong the Pearl Academy of Fashion,Northumbria University in UK and Dastkar.Dastkar, a 30-year-old organisation inIndia for crafts and craftspeople, aims atimproving their economic status, therebypromoting the survival of traditional crafts.The first crafts cluster brought under theproject is a community of craftspeople inRanthambore in Rajasthan, who operateunder the banner of Dastkar. ProfessorUsha Nehru Patel, head of the departmentof Foundation Design Studies at PearlAcademy of Fashion and coordinator of theDelphi project, says: “We send our studentsto document their craft and give thembranding solutions. We have adopted twomore villages in Ranthambore in additionto the existing ones as a capacity buildinginitiative to train more artisans.”Patel elaborates: “My team realised thatcraftspeople needed design enhancement,grading or sizing skills for theirready-made apparel and more stitching onthe surface of the clothes they designed, toget brand identity.” In the adopted villages,the fashion school also takes care of thepeople’s livelihoods.Patel adds that she was also “trying tothink of ways to bring the niche Kashmiriweavers, needle artisans and expensivecrafts to the mainstream with design-basedsolutions — like lightening the yarn andchanging the size of the woven garmentslike stoles”.Dastkar founder and noted crafts activistLaila Tyabji says: “As everybody isobsessed with brands, it is not enough todefine a genre of craft as kalamkari orpichwai painting any more.”“The product has to be given a name,identity and value — and has to be madedifferent from the rest of the consumeridentity,” Tyabji explains.Dastkar works with more than 30,000craftspeople in the country across 230crafts communities.“However, Indian craftspeople needsecurity, recognition in society, widernetworks, healthcare, legal aid, gendersupport, education and housing,” sheargues.“We work with several non-profit groupsand institutions like NID (National Instituteof Design), NIFT (National Institute ofFashion Technology) and Pearl Academy,to better their lot,” Tyabji adds.A craftswoman at workJuly 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 13

cover story14 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

BasIcallyBooksIs the new digital word writing off the Word? Is paperbecoming old-fashioned? Has the publishing industryturned an important page in its history?Gokul Bhagabati enquires...In the not so distant past, I used to write letters to the girl I loved. I still loveher. But letters, I write no more. The other day she asked me why I hadstopped writing to her, depriving her of the pleasure she would find first inthe anxious wait for them, then in the hurried moments of opening them, inembracing them with deep affection, in sniffing the blue words, reading them,feeling them for ever, and sometimes even taking them to bed with her. I found noimmediate answer to the question.Times have indeed changed. The written word that manifested itself in ink onpaper has gone digital. E-mails and SMSes have replaced the traditional letter.Books, on the other hand, have also found a new avatar with more and more peopleopting for a Kindle or an iPad, and similar devices to read e-books, instead ofbuying, reading, possessing, and showcasing books in the traditional hard coverand paperback formats. Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, recentlyannounced that the sales of its digital e-books had outstripped the sales of its “real”books. Just four years after the launch of electronic novels, the firm said it had sold105 e-books for every 100 printed books over a period of one and a half monthsduring April-May, 2011. While e-book sales had previously outsold hardbackbooks, never before had they exceeded the sales of all books, in both hardback andpaperback formats. Jeff Bezos, Founder and Chief Executive of Amazon.com, wassurprised when he saw the spiralling sales figures of e-books.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 15

cover story“I enjoy browsing in bookstores andlibraries; I like the sensation ofholding a physical book in myhands and usually read at nightbefore I sleep— Indu sundaresan,author of the twentieth Wife““We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, butwe never imagined it would happen this quickly — we’ve beenselling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less thanfour years.”According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP),e-book sales in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2011increased by 159.8 percent over the previous year. As againstthis, the sale of printed books during the same period saw adecline of 23.4 percent from the previous year.So, is it inevitable that a time would come when we wouldn’tregret not having flipped through the pages of a “real” book fora long time? Many people react agitatedly to such prospects.Some are indifferent and others reluctant to give up easily thehabit of reading books printed on paper.“I don’t have an e-reader of any kind. So, I’m more of atraditionalist in that sense. I enjoy browsing in bookstores andlibraries; I like the sensation of holding a physical book in myhands and usually read at night before I sleep,” saysIndu Sundaresan, who won critical fame with her very first book,The Twentieth Wife, published in 2002, and has four moreinternationally acclaimed historical fictions to her credit.Sundaresan finds assurance in the tactile and tangible feel ofa book, in turning the pages, in picking up a book in a secondhandstore and looking at the names of people who had ownedthe book before, and wondering about who they were and whatwere the stories of their lives. She adds that she wouldn’t forgoher library of traditional paper books at any cost!To Siddhartha Deb, author of critically received The Point ofReturn and Surface, the e-reader is a cheap plastic toy whencompared to the printed books. “There are pleasures associatedwith printed books that I’m partial to — the texture, the feel, thephysical intimacy, and sometimes even the unwieldy heft. Thereis pleasure in contemplating the cover, the spine, and in makingback and forth journeys between different physical parts of the16 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

Papyrus street: A view of theDaryaganj book bazar in old Delhi“book,” says Deb, adding, “But I’m old-fashioned that way, and I don’tMajorthink the younger generation will or should feel the same way.”Durjoy Datta, a young Indian fiction writer, concedes thate-books are the future but he hastens to add that there is still along way to go before that happens. “Book lovers love the feel ofthe book in their hands, and stocking up a library. It’s just not aboutreading the book, it’s about keeping it on a shelf and rememberingthe experience of reading it too,” says Datta whose Of Course I loveyou! (2008), Now that you’re rich! (2009) She broke up, I didn’t!(2010), and Ohh Yes, I Am Single (2011) have found wideacceptance among the young Indian readers.Writing for The New York Review of Books, Sue Halpern, in anarticle published on June 10, 2010, remarks, “You don’t have tobe a technophobe or a Luddite to dismiss out of hand the idea ofreading on a machine. Maybe it is muscle memory, but there issomething deeply satisfying about a ‘real’ book, a book made ofpages bound between hard or soft covers, into which you can slipa bookmark, whose pages you can fan, whose binding you cancrack and fold as you move from beginning to end. E-books, bycontrast, whatever platform delivers them, are ephemeral.”However, when it comes to convenience and accessibility,electronic-reader devices definitely have the edge over theirtraditional counterparts. Many people these days read only whenthey are travelling; when they are waiting at the airport or on a train.I generally read books at night using a kindle as I don’t need to switch onthe light and disturb others in the room. Besides, buying books with kindleis so much easier, I just love it. — Nikita singh, a medical student and author of love@facebook“international bookpublishing companies in IndiaMacmillan India LimitedHarperCollins Publishers India Ltd.Oxford University Press IndiaCambridge University Press IndiaRandom House IndiaHachette IndiaScholastic IndiaPearson Education, IndiaDorling Kindersley IndiaWiley IndiaSpringer IndiaOrient BlackSwanSage IndiaTata McGraw-Hill Publishing CompanyMajor Indian bookpublishing companiesRupa & CoKathaZubaanWomen UnlimitedRoli BooksMapin PublishingS. Chand & CompanyTulika BooksNational Book Trust, IndiaEC MediaJuly 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 17

cover story“I love the experience of a palm reader, and I love the experience of owning a book for life, thoughI still have to say that I am a little biased towards the latter. times change. people used to lovestacking up cds in their cabinets, but all of it has changed now. maybe, I too will change with time— durjoy datta, author of of course I love you!tv, INterNet & moBIle phoNes, Note-Books, are takINg the reader aWay“With the advances in technology, various new formats haveemerged in book publishing.The market for e-books is, in fact,growing quite fast in India. In thiscontext, do you see a gradualevaporation of the habit of readingbooks in the traditional hardcoverand paperback formats?How does it compare with thebook-reading culture in America?SD: I think it will be a while beforee-books by themselves becomeSiddhartha Deb, Writerresponsible for the extinction of themore traditional ways of reading. However, mobile phones,internet, cable television and other media that provide moreimmediately rewarding forms of entertainment are alreadytaking attention away from good writing and good reading.At the same time, India is a complicated place; my own travelsshow that people in more provincial parts who don’t haveimmediate access to bookshops take advantage of the internet toread widely and intelligently, often ordering books from Flipkart.For them, e-books will only make good writing more easilyaccessible. In that sense, it’s different from the reading habit inAmerica, which is a vast market and yet a place where reading andwriting find it difficult to make a purchase on the wider culture.What are the titles you are reading these days? Your next book...Some of the books I’m reading now will probably not beavailable in the traditional form in India, which seems to indicatethat it would be wonderful if they were available at least in theelectronic format. I’m reading, in no particular order:The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writingby Mark McGurlRiver of Fire by Qurratulain HyderThe Last Samurai by Helen DeWittSorrows of the Moon: A Journey through Londonby Iqbal AhmedThe Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of UplandSouth Asia by James C. ScottMy own book of narrative nonfiction, The Beautiful and theDamned: Life in the New India, should be out fromPenguin soon.Abundance and wonderment: Book lovers at the19th New Delhi World Book Fair held in 201118 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

hIstorIcal fIctIoN aBout INdIa, ININdIa aNd from INdIa Is flourIshINg...E-readers in such circumstances can easily relieve you of theheavy burden of carrying a lot of books, for in such devices,which neither take a lot of space nor weigh much, you can carrythousands of books. Sundaresan feels that in spite of herlove for reading books in the traditional formats, she mayhave to give in to the convenience of carrying ane-reader when travelling.Many people argue that e-books are the answer to thechallenges that the publishing industry faces from the issueof climate change. The electronic books do not require cuttingdown trees to make paper. There are also people who see theadvent of e-books helping to combat book piracy.The advantages of e-readers are many, but convincing anavid reader and a book lover to tread the digital path toreading is not always easy, for one does not grow up readingon an iPad or a Kindle. We grow up in the company of booksthat we can touch. We exchange books, and we exchange loveand friendship. Interestingly, it was a book (a real one!) thatBritish Prime Minister David Cameron chose as the official giftto Prince William when he was about to open a new chapterin his life with his marriage to Kate Middleton!According to a recent research by the National Book Trust,UK, owning books is immensely important for children.It concludes that children without books “are less likely to havepositive experiences of reading, less likely to do well at schooland less likely to be engaged in reading in any form”.According to the study, children with no books of their ownare also likely to communicate less even through socialnetworking sites or e-mails, which also require the use of thewritten word.THE INDIA CHAPTERE-books, or no e-books, the Indian publishing industryseems to be flourishing. This is especially true for the Englishbook publishing business. According to recent reports, themarket for books in India is growing at a rate of 15-20percent a year. As Sundaresan points out, during the last 10years or so, there has been an explosion of publishing housesYou are contributing immenselyto historical fiction. What arethose intersections or intersticesbetween history and literaturethat fire your imagination?IS: The early inspirations for mycurrent career came from twosources. One, my father (whowas a fighter pilot with theIndian Air Force) was animmensely creative man and aIndu Sundaresan, Writersplendid storyteller. His is thevoice I remember the most from my childhood — he told mebedtime stories every night; an ongoing saga of Silver the Horseand Jumbo the Elephant which he made up as he went alongwith the tales from Hindu mythology.The almost-nomadic nature of my father’s job had us visitingplaces all over India — those were wonderful and enrichingearly years for my sisters and me. And in each IAF base my fatherwas posted to, he would take us to see the local attractions —the forts, palaces, monuments and tombs of the kings andqueens of India... and of course, he told us stories about them.Being a novelist is perhaps an automatic extension of thissort of upbringing! I did satisfy the conventions andexpectations of society by getting an MS in operationsresearch and an MA in economics. After that, I decided I wouldwrite fiction.What are the perceptible changes you have observed in theworld of literature during the last couple of decades?IS: From a purely personal point of view, there’s now a wealth ofIndian writing in English in all genres. And if I were to get morepersonal than that, historical fiction from India, about India andin India, is also flourishing.How do you think can the culture of reading books in thetraditional formats be shielded from the onslaught of theelectronic and digital media?IS: Physical books are assets to someone who is an avid reader— part of wealth that can be passed on from generation togeneration. Times are changing, but I think that this particularaspect may well take a while to change.What are the titles you are reading these days? And your nextbook...IS: I will read anything that captures my interest, whether fictionor non-fiction, and it’s usually based on personalrecommendations and not so much on whether the books getgood reviews or not. My current interest is mystery fictionpublished from the 1940s to the 1960s — perhaps this foretellsa mystery book sometime in my future as a writer! But, givenmy particular slant, it will be a historical mystery, set in India.I’m working on a historical fiction book set in India right now,set in the 1850s or so, just before the Sepoy Rebellion andbefore Queen Victoria takes over as Queen Empress of India. Atsome point, I’m going to write a sequel to my third book,The Splendor of Silence, set in a fictional desert kingdom calledRudrakot in Northwestern India.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 19

cover storyemergINg treNdE-books are in, if we go by the startling figures posted by Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer.During April-May 2011, for every 100 hardcover and paperback books, the company sold 105books for its Kindle e-reader. According to L McQuivey, a digital media analyst at Forrester Research,a leading technology and market research company, by 2015, the e-book market in the U.S. “will nearlytriple to almost $3 billion, a point at which the industry will be forever altered”.Although outside Amazon, sales figures for e-books are quite minuscule in most markets as comparedto those for printed books, the growing affinity of the youth with the e-readers speaks volumes aboutan emerging trend. However, unlike the U.S., the Indian publishing industry is yet to catch up with thedigital trend, notwithstanding the increasing interest being shown by young Indian readers in thee-books. Limited circulation of economically priced e-book readers is often cited as the primary hindrancefor the e-book publishing industry in India. Moreover, popularising e-books in India would alsorequire making e-books available in various vernacular languages.INDIAN PUBLISHINg INDUSTRY AT A gLANCE*nnnnnnnnnSixth-largest publishing industry in the world with annual growth rate of 15-20 percentThird-largest publisher of books in EnglishAround 90,000 books are published annuallyThere are around 19,000 publishers in the countryOne-fourth of the youth population, a staggering figure of more than 83 million, identifythemselves as book readersThe government of India allows 100 percent equity in the publishing industryNearly 70 percent of textbook publishing in the country is carried out by the governmentSixty percent of global publishing outsourcing is based in IndiaThe business process outsourcing publishing services sector is estimated to reach a value of$1.2 billion by 2012*Source: The Indian Invitation: Why India Makes a Perfect Publishing Partner, an article by Vinutha Mallya, Senior Editor ofMapin Publishing, published in Publishing Perspectives, an international online publishing newsletter.20 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

INdIaN puBlIshINg INdustry Is INthe mIdst of a traNsItIoN phasein India, providing more choices to the authors and more choices,by that very token, to the readers. “There’s also a great deal oforiginal fiction and non-fiction being published, first in India andlater in the rest of the world. Earlier, it was usually the other wayround. The competition among publishing houses in India hascreated a more democratic way of choosing fiction and nonfiction— this is necessary, and critical to the growth of goodliterature,” she says.However, Divya Dubey, who is the owner and publisher ofgyaana Books, a Delhi-based publishing house, laments that thedemand for serious fiction in India is limited mainly to theliterary circles. “There’s certainly a demand for pulp fiction,chick-lit (mainly by young writers), and cheaper books.Everyone seems to be liking them — the retailers, thedistributors and the buyers. And, of course, everybody wantsthe bestsellers,” Dubey points out. In contrast, the celebratedTamil writer Sivasankari, who has over 35 novels, innumerablenovellas, travelogues and essays to her credit, says that literarytrends swing like a pendulum. “For instance, poetry has startedto sell well and, in recent times, lots of new poets have comeup. This was not the case 20 years ago when short story writersruled. Many also say that poetry doesn’t sell any more. Ingeneral, however, the reading habit sustains,” she says in aninterview (in 2009) in a leading English daily published in India.Sivasankari points out that the market of books in Indianlanguages, especially in Tamil, Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam is alsoflourishing. “No language is in the danger of vanishing exceptperhaps Manipuri, Indian Nepali and Sindhi — cases where thenumber of people who speak the language is very small. Sales ofbooks and the number of magazines in these languages arediminishing.”The allure of reading books, especially those printed on paper,lies in the tactile feeling it lends to the act of reflection on issuesyou are a young entrepreneurin the publishing industry.how has been the experienceso far?DD: It’s been extremely toughand challenging at everystage, to say the least, thoughwe’ve had our little momentsof triumph as well.What are your views on thecurrent state of the publishingindustry in India?Divya Dubey,Publisher, Gyaana BooksDD: The Indian publishing industry is going through atransition phase right now. There have been major shiftsrecently — in terms of reading habits, publishing trendsand the number of publishing houses here. There aremany more players now, and even more are coming up,a lot of them being independents. We can also see thatmany young people in the publishing industry are doingreally well.With the advances in technology, various new formats inpublishing have emerged. the market for e-books is, infact, growing quite fast in India. In this context, do yousee a gradual evaporation of the habit of reading booksin the traditional hardcover and paperback formats?Well, when the TV came, everybody thought the radiowould disappear, but it didn’t happen. They co-exist.I think traditional paper books will be around for a longtime to come, especially in India. Apart from the issuesof access, many people are simply not comfortablereading on screen for pleasure; I happen to beone of them.What is the most fascinating aspect of reading books inthe ‘traditional’ format?The sweet smell of paper; the texture reflected in thesunlight; turning the crisp pages; placing pretty bookmarks,ribbons, and dried flowers inside a book...how can the culture of reading books in the traditionalformat be shielded from the onslaught of the electronicand digital media?Realistically, there is little one can do; people havetheir preferences. But there are as many people whofavour traditional books as those who like the newformats.that matter to the reader. And with more and more writings aboutIndia and Indian writers gaining global recognition, the Indianpublishing industry can only hope that the best is yet to come.Increasing literacy and affluence can only deepen the book story.The future of books is far from bleak, at least in India.Meanwhile, I have made a promise to the girl whom Imentioned earlier in the article. As you might have alreadyguessed, I have promised to pick up the pen once more andwrite letters to her. I am getting into the groove, and will besoon posting a couple of them.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 21

ookscasting away book and diademAt the heart of the The Book of Answers by C.Y. Gopinath is the common man’sreluctance to rise to the call of change, writes Madhusree ChatterjeeAlaid-back Patros Patranobis wants to live an ordinarylife with Rose, the woman he has not married, andTippy, the son he has not fathered. But life changes oneday when Patros is given a mysterious metal-boundbook — a legacy from a long dead ancestor.It is The Book of Answers, a sacred scripture, which has theanswers to the impasses of the world. It has to be opened with akey, which is hidden somewhere in god’s own country, Kerala.Author C.Y. Gopinath, a former journalist-turned-senior UNofficial posted in Bangkok, has scripted a dark socio-politicalsatire that bears an uncanny similarity to the politics India isgrappling with at the moment.At the heart of the book is a dilemma — the common man’sreluctance to rise to the call of change.Patros refuses to yield to the pull to make the world a betterplace by unravelling the answers in the book. He sells the bookto a junk shop, from where it finds its way to taxi-driverTarachand Sagar, a small-time maverick stunt man who liftsweight by the locks of his hair.“I met the taxi driver, Tarachand Sagar, who could lug 145 kgby his locks, as a young man,” the writer said.The book confers upon the character Tarachand the power toconsult God from time to time. Tarachand soon begins to advisethe country’s most powerful man, Ishwar Prasad, the convener,who rises above political colours to wield supreme Orwelliancontrol over the nation, claiming divine sanction from “The Bookof Answers”.From this point onwards, the book turns slightly manic andcrowded, with characters flitting in and out.Book: The Book of Answers; Author: C.Y. Gopinath;Publisher: Harper Collins; Price: `499Goaded by friends and Rose, Patros tries to retrieve the book.The quest lands him in a web of intrigues and Patros becomesan unwilling hero.He journeys to Kerala to find the key to the locked answersand retrieves it with the help of a Gemini circus woman, KuttyLakshmi, who had taught Tarachand to lift weights by hair atThalasserry. He then topples Ishwar Prasad from his hot seat.But The Book of Answers meets with an ironic end. Little Tippyhurls it out of the window with the key. “Making lives better doesnot need a manual,” the child says with the angry wisdom of theyoung.“A man who interprets the book exploits others with theknowledge,” says Gopinath, whose forthcoming novel is setin Africa.The Book of Answers is published by Harper Collins.12345FictionRiver of SmokeAuthor: Amitav GhoshPublisher: PenguinPrice: `699The Immortalsof MeluhaAuthor: AmishPublisher: WestlandPrice: `199Empire of the Mughals:Ruler of the WorldAuthor: Alex RutherfordPublisher: HeadlinePrice: `495Last Man in TowerAuthor: Arvind AdigaPublisher:Harper CollinsPrice: `699A Free ManAuthor: Aman SethiPublisher:Random HousePrice: `399top 10 bes22 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

ollywoodcAllingBollywood is coming alive infine print. A spate of innovativebooks is not only documentingIndian moviedom for posteritybut also throwing meaningfullight on the evolution ofmainstream cinema.“I think for the first time there is a whole range of books nowthat reflects the incredible range of Bollywood itself,” UdayanMitra, Publishing Director at Penguin India says.“Readership of film books has grown. The top three trendsseem to be visual books, star biographies and memoirs.”Bollywood became a literary inspiration in the early 1990swith books like Starry Nights by Shobaa De and Show Businessby Shashi Tharoor. On offer now are popular movie screenplays,pictorials and racy novels.Lipika Bhushan, Chief Marketing Manager at Harper Collins,says: “Our books under ‘Film Series’ sell more than generalbooks. Our title R.D. Burman: The Man And Music is in its thirdreprint, having sold more then 5,000 copies. We have publishedthree non-fiction volumes on individual blockbusters.”The series so far has covered three landmark movies —Deewar, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Disco Dancer. WhileAmar Akbar Anthony releases in December, a coffee tablebook on silent cinema and a volume on Navketan Films are inthe pipeline. Penguin has published three major film titles thisyear — a biography of K.L. Saigal by Pran Nevile, Flashback, theautobiography of Bob Christo, and First Day, First Show byAnupama Chopra. Two more books, The Greatest Show onEarth edited by Jerry Pinto, and Sounding Off, an autobiographyof Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, areslated for release this year.“I think a separate Bollywood literary genre is starting tohappen,” writer of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron Jai Arjun Singh said.love unboundlove Across the SaltDesert: Selected ShortStories written byKeki N. Daruwalla is agripping collection ofshort stories — some oldand some new — from aprize-winning writer, knownfor his thematic variety andpower of narrative. The gemof the collection is the shortstory, Love Across the SaltDesert which was made intothe movie, Refugee. Theiconic title story is that ofNajab who defies his fatherKeki N. Daruwallaand the international borderbetween India and Pakistanat the hostile Rann of Kutch to bring home his love, Fatimah.In “When Gandhi Came to Gorakhpur”, small-time lawyerShadilal dithers over giving up his profession and joining thefreedom struggle. But fate takes control of the reins of his life...The stories are laced with wit and canny insights into life andthe passage of history.12345tsellersOn ChinaAuthor: HenryKissingerPublisher: Allen LanePrice: `899Poor EconomicsAuthor: Abhijit Banerjee& Esther DufloPublisher: Random HousePrice: `499Hello BastarAuthor: Rahul PanditaPublisher: TranquebarPrice: `25024 Akbar RoadAuthor: Rasheed KidwaiPublisher: HachettePrice: `495The Service of the StateAuthor: Bhaskar GhosePublisher: PenguinPrice: `499non-FictionJuly 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 23

sanskritThe world’s onlySanskrit daily entersits 42nd year ofpublication.Brij Khandelwal visitsits office to checkon the newsFor the last 42 years, a family hasbeen working away quietly andassiduously in Mysore, in thesouth of India, to publish a dailynewspaper in Sanskrit — a languagewhich doesn’t find many takers in Indiatoday. The four-page Sudharma hasclaims to being the only daily newspaperpublished in Sanskrit. Priced at `1, itcarries articles on the Vedas, yoga,religion, and also politics and cultureamong others.In the face of the burgeoningreadership of newspapers in English andother modern Indian languages, it hasmanaged to create a niche of its own loyalreaders. They number no more than2,000 or thereabouts, not enough tokeep the paper running, yet Sudharmacontinues to tread the ‘right path’ as itsetymology would suggest.With no advertisements coming in anda very small subscribers’ list to bring inany revenue worth reckoning, the daily isstruggling to carry on in the face of theall powerful logic of profit-oriented business.“That’s because no State or Centralbody comes forward to assist us in anyway and the response from variousorganisations in the private sector isindifferent,” says K.V. Sampath Kumar,Editor of Sudharma.Sampath’s wife, Jayalakhsmi, is alsoactively involved in the daily exercise ofgetting the newspaper out every morning.She reacts sharply to the query as to whyshould anyone publish a paper in a “deadlanguage”? “Who says Sanskrit is dead?Every morning, people recite shlokas,conduct pujas... all our ceremonies, includingthose at the time of marriage,childbirth and death, are in Sanskrit.” Thetwo are the paper’s contributors andpublishers, rolled into one.It was in 1970, on the 14th of July, thatKalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar, a24 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

“ “Every morning, the four-pagesudharma is posted to morethan 2,000 subscribers.it also has a digital versionavailable online, making itsreach international...Sanskrit scholar and a publisher of Sanskritbooks, launched Sudharma. It was,however, not an easy venture. When hecame up with idea of starting such a newspaper,sceptics had laughed off the idea, butit is to the credit of his indefatigable spiritthat the daily could see the light of day.Varadraja Iyengar’s son Sampath says:“When he was dying in 1990, my fathermade me promise that I would not close itdown. So, this daily is now a dreammission which I will carry on with the samepassion and commitment till my death.”Initially printed manually, Sudharmanow has a modern computerised printingfacility. An e-paper too is available online,making its reach international.“Every morning, the four-page daily isposted to more than 2,000 subscribers.We also print a special number duringDussehra celebrations to mobilise fundsfor Sudharma,” Sampath says.Sampath, however, points out thatdespite the contributions Sanskrit hadmade to Indian philosophical and literarytraditions, vested interests had spread theimpression that the language was dead,inaccessible and of negligible relevance todaily life.“Sudharma never had sufficient revenuefrom advertisements. Other than words ofencouragement no concrete help comesour way. The constraints, however, havenever deterred us and we will continue tokeep alive this glorious tradition,” he says.K. V. Sampath Kumar and Jayalakshmi, the husband-wife duo, are Sudharma’s contributors, editors,publishers — all rolled into one.Founder Editor of Sudharma Pandit K. N. Varadaraja Iyengar with the Late Prime MinisterSmt. Indira GandhiHopeful about the future, Sampath saysthe demand for Sanskrit learning centresis on the rise, in part, due to a large numberpeople taking to yoga, ayurveda andalternative medicine.Sampath adds that with a large numberof scholars having come to reside inMysore, the place had almost become theSanskrit capital of India.Ignoring the sceptics, Sudharma continuesto tread its path and now, in its 42ndyear of publication, it plans to organise exhibitionsaround Sanskrit — books andphotographs — among others.Sampath is hopeful that like Sanskrit, Sudharmawill also stand the test of time.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 25

economy/businessturn the tableslPs are bacKThe gramophone era could be over, but a sizeable fan following amongst musicaficionados, serious audiophiles and collectors has led music companies to releasevinyls in several cities across India, yielding encouraging results, writes Ruchika Kher16 Pravasi Bharatiya June 2011

While international music on vinyl has itssmall but captive market, the indian film musicmarket is also doing well, take for example thesoundtracks of lagaan and Jodhaa akbarthis is how your grandparents listened to their music.Yet, in this age of itunes, iPods, DVDs and downloadablemusic, granny’s LP is making a surprisingcomeback to music stores. They may not be a rage,but LPs — or simply long-playing records on vinyl — aregathering a sizeable fan following amongst musicaficionados, collectors and serious audiophiles.To feed this eager market, many music companies havestarted manufacturing LPs. Prominent among them are:Saregama India Ltd., T-Series, EMI and Sony. This hasallowed the LP fans to bring the gramophone eraback to life once again.“There were two reasons for bringing the vinyls back —to make music available on Saregama across all availableplatforms and to revive this analog format of music, whichstill appeals to serious audiophiles and connoisseurs,” saysAdarsh Gupta, business head of music companySaregama India Ltd.“Saregama’s LPs are manufactured in Germany, on12-inch discs of 180 grams of lacquer. The audio from theold masters is digitally cleaned and bettered before cuttingthe LP mother shells. It is a perfect recipe for a wonderfulmusical session to re-live the glorious past. We are alsoselling LP players manufactured by the Netherlands-basedLenco,” says Gupta.In the LP format, Saregama has primarily come out withsoundtracks from old Hindi films. Enlarging the canvas ofgenres, they have also released LPs ofTamil and Bengali music in addition tothose of classical music. Priced between`800 and `5,000 a pack, vinyls areavailable not only in big cities like Mumbai,Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, but alsoin small cities around the country.Music labels say that despite the price,consumer response was encouraging.“The response to LPs has been fantastic.Our target customers are audiophiles, music aficionados andcollectors. The sale figures vary from month on month, butthey are on the rise,” says Arjun Sankalia, director forinternational music and special products, Sony Music India.“While international music on vinyl has its small butcaptive market, Indian film music’s market is also doing well.Take for example the soundtracks from Lagaan and JodhaaAkbar. We are now evaluating the market for LPs of Indianclassical music,” he adds.Saregama’s Gupta echoes a similar view: “The aggressivenessof both the dealers and retailers is quite encouraging,as their increasing orders are corresponding to committedsales without any returns.” Saregama sold more than5,000 LPs between March 2011-June 2011.At the moment, Sony Music India’s domestic repertoire inLPs include Lagaan, Vande Mataram, Jodha Akbar andRang De Basanti. The international repertoire is more elaboratewith Michael Jackson’s Thriller — 25th anniversary edition,The Or and David Gilmour’s Metallic Spheres, BobDylan’s The Witmark Demos (4 LP Box Set), Bruce Springsteen’sThe Promise, Kings of Leon — Come Around Sundown,Oasis’ Time Flies, AC/DC’s Back in Black, Highway toHell, AC/DC- Live, Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman, Blizzardof Ozz — the 30th anniversary edition — and classicalbums from the likes of Miles Davis, Johnny Cash,Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley.Music aficionados and collectors are very happy withthe development and are looking forward to grab theircopies. “It is good to know that LPs are back. I was happilysurprised when I saw one of those Lenco LP players ata mall in Mangalore (in the southern Indian state ofKarnataka) a week back. I plan to buy an LP player verysoon. But I hope the prices come down to make themmore affordable,” says Deepankar Shah, a 59-year-oldbusinessman in Mumbai.Even the new generation wants to explore this old way oflistening to music. “I have known about LPs but never got achance to have one, or listen to one. But now that they areeasily available in a music store, I will definitely go and picka few up. It is so cool,” says Pranit Pal, 19.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 27

economy/businesscomic booKsit’s seriousbusinessWith close to 25 publishers and a market sizebetween `500 million to `1 billion, the comic bookindustry is all set to bring the graphic art mediumto a whole new generation of fans,says Arpanariding on the popularity of superhero-like characters —Shaktiman, Nagraj and Chacha Chaudhary, Indiancomic books have come a long way since its humblebeginnings about half a century ago. And now, they areexpected to grow by leaps and bounds into becoming a `3-4billion industry in the next decade.“The comic book industry is growing at a stable rate. Rightnow it is a `500 million to `1 billion market and I feel that in thenext 10 years, it will become a `3-4 billion industry,” says KaranVir Arora of Vimanika, which has a turnover of `40 million.In India, about 200 comics are published in a year.It is an exciting time for the industry, says Jatin Varma,founder of Twenty Onwards Media, and feels the annual ComicCon India event will help the industry grow and bring comicsand the graphic art medium to a whole new generation of fans.About the industry’s performance, he says: “Though the industryis older than 60 years, comic books didn’t come out untilabout 40 years ago. The industry has registered a steady growthduring most of its existence with the exception of the periodfrom the late 1990s to the early years of the next decade. Thiswas the slowest growth phase for the industry. However, the pastfive years have seen a resurgence, with new labels being formedand new titles being published. A whole new genre of graphicnovels is also being created.”The comic books took off in India when cartoonist Pran triedto break the domination of foreign titles by giving the countryChacha Chaudhary, oneof Pran’s unforgettablecharacters28 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

Nagraj, the superherocharacter created byRaj Comics, a divisionof Raja Pocket Books,Delhiits first comic characters Dabbu and Professor Adhikari in the1960s and later introduced Shrimatiji. He continued with his experimentsand in 1973 came out with one of the most popularcomic pairs of all time — Chacha Chaudhary-Sabu.Around the same time, the Late Anant Pai, of India Book House,launched Amar Chitra Katha in 1967. His aim was to tell childrenstories of historical and mythological characters.Generations of Indians also grew up on international comicbook heroes like Phantom and Mandrake the Magician.Writer Adhiraj Singh points out that there has been considerablegrowth in the industry in recent times and that graphic novelshave finally arrived on the Indian scene.“Comics have always been a ‘niche’ or at least anon-mainstream industry. In India the main factors hamperinggrowth were stagnation in terms of content and quality. But therecent rise in comics has led to a wide range of styles as well asthe past five years have seen a resurgence in the comic book industry,with new labels being formed and new titles published. a wholenew genre of graphic novels is being createda huge rise in quality,” he adds. Adhiraj, whose recent offering isUud Bilaw Manus, says about 10 publishers are involved in thecomic business right now.“Speaking purely about comics, there are about 10 publishers,but if one takes into account comics in all its forms, like graphicnovels, illustrated books, licensed reprints, and collected comicstrips, then publishers like Penguin, Random House, and theTimes Group would also be counted, making the total to be closerto 25,” he says.“There is no unified organisation, so there is no one to take noteof the ‘challenges’ of the industry. Most of the problems that theindustry faces arise from that fact that the medium requires longpreparation period with delayed returns on the work,” he adds.Karan Vir feels competition is not tough enough, adding thereis a dearth of trained writers, as well. “There are a lot of aspiringwriters, but they have to be trained to write for comic books. It isnot easy to write comics. To address this problem, Vimanika isplanning to start training institutes in the next three years,” saysVir.People in the business are thinking of new ways to promote theindustry. “We are expanding the Comic Con brand and taking itto different cities. Though the main event, the Annual IndianComics Convention, will be annually held in Delhi, Comic Con Express,starting this year, will bring the same atmosphere of themain convention to new fans in different cities,” says Varma.“In addition to that, we are planning a slew of activities to promotelocal artists and writers and generate more interest amongfans,” he adds.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 29

economy/businesssound modulationThe FM Phase-III policy allows more categories to be treated as non-news; permitsradio broadcast of All India Radio news bulletins; and relaxes private ownershipnorms for 839 new FM channels to be launched in the countrythe Union Cabinet on July 7approved the FM Phase-IIIpolicy, which expands FMradio broadcasting servicesthrough private operators to 227 newcities. According to Information andBroadcasting Minister Ambika Soni,“A total of 839 new FM radio channelswill be launched in 294 cities, in additionto the already present 86 cities.”As a result, all cities with a populationof 100,000 and above will nowget FM radio channels.Unlike the previous policy, thephase-III policy allows radio operatorsto broadcast All India Radio news bulletinson their channels.Categories like information andcoverage of sporting events, trafficand weather conditions, culturalevents, festivals, examination results,admissions, career counselling andemployment opportunities will now betreated as non-news and non-currentaffairs and their broadcast permittedfreely.Broadcast about public announcementspertaining to civic amenitiesthe policy will not only result in coverage of all cities with population of 100,000 andabove, but will also permit radio operators to carry all india radio news bulletins30 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

like electricity, water supply, naturalcalamities and health alerts, as providedby the local administration, will also betreated as non-news.The limit on the ownership of channels,at the national level, has been retainedat 15 percent. However, channelsallotted in Jammu and Kashmir, theNorth-Eastern states and island territorieswill be allowed ownership over andabove the 15 percent national limit.Private operators have been allowed toown more than one channel but notmore than 40 percent of the total channelsin a city, subject to a minimum ofthree different operators in the city.The Foreign Direct Investment andForeign Institutional Investment limit ina private FM radio broadcasting companyhas been increased from21percent to 26 percent.milestones in Fm radio broadcasting1935: Edwin Howard Armstrong, an American electrical engineer, presented his paper:“A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signalling by a System ofFrequency Modulation”, which first described FM radio, before theNew York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers1977: In India, first FM Service begins in Madras, now called Chennai1993: AIR sells timeslots for Private FM Radio broadcasting in 5 cities1999: Privatisation of FMOn July 6, 1999, the Government opens up airwaves for private radio broadcasters.Under the Phase I Policy, companies allowed to bid for 108 radio channels in 40 cities.Under the Phase II Policy, the Government announces bidding for an additional 338radio channels in 91 cities.2001: FM radio businesses granted their first licences2011: FM Phase-III policy expands FM radio broadcasting services through privateoperators to 227 new cities. A total of 839 new FM radio channels launchedcountrywidehighlights oF the FmPhase-iii Policy:The Cabinet has cleared the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s proposal forconducting ascending e-auction of FM radio licences, which could net the exchequerover `17.33 billion ($391 million). The auction would be conducted on similarlines as was done for the allocation of 3G and BWA spectrum in 2010.Salient points:nnRadio operators will now be permitted to carry news bulletins of All India RadioThey will be allowed to broadcast information regarding sporting events, employmentopportunities, public announcements pertaining to civic amenitieslike electricity, water supply, natural calamities, health alerts, among other thingsn Private operators can now own more than one channel but not more than 40percent of the total channels in a city and subject to a minimum of three differentoperators in the cityn The limit on the ownership of channels, at the national level, allocated to anentity has been retained at 15 percentn Channels allotted in Jammu & Kashmir, North-Eastern states and island territorieswill be, however, allowed ownership above the 15 percent national limit toincentivise the bidding for channels in such areasn Only three channels will be permitted in D category cities as against the currentfour channels, to improve advertisement revenues of each playern Lock-in period of promoter shareholding reduced to three years from the currentfive yearsJuly 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 31

economy/businesshiring uP in 2011Riding on the back of the generaloptimism in the economy, companiesare all set to go in for aggressive hiring in2011. Employees can expect a significantincrease in their salaries across allindustries, according to aMercer India Monitor survey reportas business is expected to grow significantly in 2011,companies in India will look at paying more and hikingtheir employee headcount, says a survey released by aglobal human resource consulting firm.The survey conducted by Mercer India Monitor, representing91 firms across various industry sectors, observed that nearly84 percent of the respondents displayed optimism as theyexpected business performance to increase significantly in2011. Organisations surveyed expected a 12.7 percent averagesalary increase for all employees across industries in 2011.“Survey findings also reveal that 94 percent respondentsindicate aggressive recruiting for new positions and attritionbackfill,” added the report, which is prepared quarterly andfocuses on HR budgets and inflation.Among different industries surveyed, projected salaryincrease for the automobile industry was the highest at 14 percent,followed by consumer industry at 13.8 percent and chemi-inFosys to hire 45,000 techiesInfosys Ltd, India’s second largest IT company, is back onhiring spree and plans to increase its headcount by awhopping 45,000 during this fiscal (2011-12), revealedInfosys chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan on July 12.“We will be hiring about 45,000 engineers worldwide in thisfiscal (FY 2012), which will be 13,000 more than we projected(32,000) in April, to meet the growing demand and increasethe bench strength,” Gopalakrishnan said.Stepping up hiring was evident in the first quarter(April-June) when the global software major recruited 9,900people as against the projected target of 6,500.“We will be hiring about 12,000 people, including freshersand laterals in the second quarter (July-September), to trainand mentor them to leverage the emerging outsourcingopportunities,” the company’s Co-Chairman designateadded.With over 7,160 engineers leaving the company and itssubsidiaries during the quarter under review (Q1), the netaddition was 2,740, taking the total number of employees to133,560 as against 130,820 a quarter ago and 114,822 ayear ago. Return to double-digit growth after recovering fromthe global tech meltdown, the company hired about 43,120people last fiscal (FY 2011), including 20,000 freshers againstthe estimated 25,000.32 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

cal and manufacturing, both at 13.4 percent. The survey concludedthat the employees in information technology and telecomsectors were likely to receive a relatively lower salary increase at11.8 percent compared to other industries.“In the backdrop of a growing economy, overall expectationabout business performance is still quite positive with variousindustry sectors experiencing good growth. This trend explainsthe return of the war for talent with an increase in salary increments,hiring and an increased proportion of employee salaries inthe HR Budgets in 2011,” observed Shamita Chatterjee, Mercer’sIndia business leader for information product solutions.“Recruitment and training budgets are also expected to increasein proportion this year. As thought leaders in human capitalstrategies, Mercer conducts market research on people practicesand Mercer India Monitor is a key pulse survey-based endeavour,”added Chatterjee.The survey also found that 94 percent of the respondents werelooking to ramp up recruitment activities, while only six percentwere looking at maintaining the same level of headcount in 2011.About 67 percent of the survey respondents indicated that theythe war for talent is likely toreturn with an increase in salaryincrements, hiring and an increasedproportion of employee salaries inthe hr budgets in 2011were hiring people for new positions, as well as filling vacantpositions.The impact of rising inflation on employee allowances couldalso be seen with 43 percent of the respondents saying that theywere planning to help employees deal with rising costs.“An encouraging number of respondents have increased traveland fuel reimbursements for their employees to assist them inmanaging rising costs, 38 percent of the survey respondents havegiven an additional salary increase of over 5 percent on accountof inflation,” said Shamita Chatterjee.india largest source oF sKilledmigrants to neW ZealandIndia has emerged as the largest source country for New Zealandin the skilled migrant category with a 12 percentincrease in approval of applications for the financial year 2010-11.According to the Migration Trends Statistics (MTS) report for July2010 to May 2011, among the top source countries of skilled migrantsto New Zealand, Britain decreased by 17 percent, China by11 percent, South Africa by 37 percent and the Philippines by 25percent.India’s increase is due, in part, to former Indian students whofirst transited to temporary work and then on to permanentresidence, the report adds.“The drop in skilled migration has seen a decrease in residenceapprovals from all of the main source countries, with the exceptionof India which increased by 12 percent,” reveals the MTS report.The report focuses on three key areas — the New Zealandresidence programme, permanent skilled migration andtemporary entry.With regard to student visas to New Zealand, as many as 69,448applicants were approved in July 2010-May 2011 — a threepercent increase from the 67,453 in the previous financial year.From July 2010-May 2011, the largest source countries of studentswere China (23 percent), India (14 percent) and South Korea(12 percent).Indian-origin MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi says, as New Zealand is apeaceful country, it has emerged as an ideal destination for study.Its spectacular scenery and rich and diverse culture are the otherfactors that make it a favourite among Indians.Richard Howard, honorary member and past chairman of theNew Zealand Association for Migration and Investment, says,“These statistics confirm the clear trend that New Zealand is seenas an increasingly attractive study and migrant destination forIndian students.”July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 33

diasporaThe beginnings of the Indian Diaspora spread across the worldis set to be recorded for posterity. Shubha Singh reportsMemory of the World Register(a UNESCO programme)has agreed to record themigration of thousands ofIndians as indentured labour during thecolonial times. Their journey across theseas to work on agricultural plantationswas the starting point of the vast IndianDiaspora spread across the world.The governments of Fiji, Guyana, Surinameand Trinidad and Tobago had madea joint submission to UNESCO in 2010 forthe records of Indian indentured labourersto be inscribed in the International Registerof Memory of the World Programme.Indentured Indians were intended tomeet the shortage of labour after theabolition of slavery. It is a forgotten periodof colonial history, though it formedthe beginnings of the large Indian Diaspora.While the descendents of girmitiyas,as the Indian indentured workerswere called, now form a significant minorityin most of the former colonieswhere they were transported, in Mauritius,they are in the majority.The Memory of the World programmeis meant to safeguard documentary heritageagainst loss, decay or destruction.It was launched in 1992 and has about238 items from around the world, listedin its register. Inscription in the Memoryof the World Register is a recognition ofthe historical importance of the items,the initial steps to preserve them and finallymake them accessible to scholarsand researchers for their study.Documents related to the Indianindentured workers are among the 45new documentary collections that wererecommended earlier this year by theInternational Advisory Committee of theMemory of the World Programme andendorsed by the Director-General ofUNESCO, Irina Bokova.According to the UNESCO website,“Listing of items such as these on theMemory of the World Register is intendedto generate interest and help with theconservation of a documentary heritagewhich helps us to understand our societyin all its complexities.”The submission by the four governmentsstated that the “Indian indenturedimmigration was first accounted for in the1830s and over a period of roughly hundredyears, 1,194,957 Indians were relocatedto 19 colonies. These records arethe only documents for ancestral and lineageresearch for the numerous descendantsof those Indian labourers”. Theirdeterioration or loss would leave a void inthe memory of many former colonies anderode the sense of belonging of many ofthe descendants of the original labourers.The arrival of large groups of Indianlabourers changed many things in thecolonies they were taken to. Its repercussionsare still being felt today. Thismass movement of labour was meticulouslyrecorded by former colonial powersand stored in the archives of manyreceiving colonies around the world.The records of this migration holdconsiderable social and historical valueand are among the most sought afterand used documents in the NationalArchives of the former colonies whichreceived indentured labour. They capturethe unique migration story ofIndian communities around the world.34 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

An ancient dhow, displayed at the Dubai Museum.These wooden trading boats were once used for carryingmerchandise to and from India. They used to set sail fromthe creek — now famously known as the Dubai Creek.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 35

diasporatornado ‘fauja’Biography marks legendary marathoner Fauja Singh’s 100th birthday. The icon regretshe can’t read the book... A report by Jaideep Sarinat the ripe age of 100, iconic Sikhmarathoner Fauja Singh has oneregret. He yearns to read his biographybut cannot. The biography,titled Turbaned Tornado, penned byChandigarh-based author KhushwantSingh, was launched at the Attlee Room ofthe House of Lords in London on July 6, byLord Anthony Young of Norwood Greenand retired judge Sir Mota Singh.“I want to read my biography but unfortunately,I am illiterate. But on secondthoughts, my life is in front of my eyeslike a reel, so I don’t need to read it,”Fauja said with regret.At the book launch, organised by theBritain-based Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail, heappeared bright and inspired as he fondlyhugged his biographer. “When I shifted tothe U.K. I did not know that my life wouldtake such a turn,” exclaimed Fauja, wholives in London’s Ilford.Writer Khushwant Singh who had profiledhim in 2005 while working on hisbook, Sikhs Unlimited, said, “It is a matterof great privilege to have got the opportunityto write Fauja Singh’s authorisedbiography.”Born on April 1, 1911, at Beas Pind inPunjab’s Jalandhar district, age has notFrom left: Retired judge Sir Mota Singh, Lord Anthony Young of Norwood Green, Fauja Singh andKhushwant Singh at the launch of the Turbaned Tornado, at the Attlee Room of House of Lords in London.been a barrier for Fauja Singh. The deathof his son Kuldip and then of his wifeforced him to search for a worthwhile alternativein life. At the age of 89, he tookseriously to running and ended up in internationalmarathon events in London,Glasgow and Toronto, among others.Having become the world’s oldest halfmarathonrunner at 99 in May lastyear, when he ran the Inter-Faith Marathonin Luxembourg, Fauja, whose name meansa soldier, is a one-man army who wants tokeep running till his last breath.He has rubbed shoulders with the likesof football star David Beckham as brandambassador and poster-boy of leadingfootwear company Adidas for their internationalcampaign.Fauja Singh ran his first race, the LondonMarathon, in 2000. He was well-known inhis village for running “from one place toanother”, old-timers in his village recount.indian-aMerican to lead Mit’s largest acadeMic departMentindian-American Anantha P. Chandrakasanhas been named the newleader of the prestigious MassachusettsInstitute of Technology’s (MIT) largestacademic departmentChandrakasan, the Joseph F. and NancyP. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering,has been named the next head of theDepartment of Electrical Engineering andComputer Science (EECS).He assumed his new role on July 1.Chandrakasan has taken over the rolepreviously held by Eric Grimson, who wasnamed MIT’s chancellor in February. EECS isthe largest academic department at MIT,with nearly 30 percent of undergraduatesmajoring in the department’s programmes.“As the largest academic department inthe School of Engineering, and at MIT, EECSand its faculty are involved in an exceptionalrange of intellectual, educational, andresearch activities,” School of EngineeringDean Ian Waitz said. “I welcome the newideas that Anantha will bring to leadingEECS and his dedication as he assumesthis role,” Waitz added.Chandrakasan earned his B.S. (1989),M.S (1990) and PhD (1994) in electricalengineering and computer sciences fromthe University of California at Berkeley.He joined the MIT faculty in 1994.His research interests include micropowerdigital and mixed-signal integrated36 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

philanthropyin actionindian-Canadian techie Sreedhar Natarajanrecently announced a donation, worth $1.5million to the Canada-India Center for Excellencein Science, Technology, Trade and Policyat Carleton University based in Ottawa.Another Indian techie, Vasudev Chanchalani,had also donated $1 million to Canada’s Universityof Waterloo to launch the ChanchlaniIndia Policy Center which is exclusively devotedto ‘the Canada-India corridor’, only a fewdays before Natarajan made the generous donation.Carleton is the only university in the world Sreedhar Natarajanto have a full-fledged India-centric Centre ofExcellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy. Set up last year withIndian assistance,the Centre of Excellence aims to raise awareness about bilateral studies andpublic diplomacy, and develop initiatives to build a better understanding ofboth countries. The money donated by Natarajan will permanently endowthe research and policy activities of the centre. “I do a lot of work in Asiaand can see a great need for a Canada-India Center that holistically looks attechnology and policy issues”, said the 41-year-old, Hyderabad-born techie,who came to Ottawa in 2002. To thank Natarajan, Carleton University hasannounced to name the three-storey glass atrium of the Canada-IndiaCentre after him.University President Roseann O’Reilly Runte said, “The generous supportof alumni like Mr. Natarajan will assist Carleton in serving the national andshared visions of Canada and India in multiplying opportunities for jointresearch, exchanges, and work with the business community to promoteeconomic development through joint projects, particularly in the areas oftechnology and the environment.’’ Natarajan came to the U.S. as a student topursue his master’s degree in computer engineering from the University ofLouisiana. He worked with Texas Instruments in the U.S. before he movedto Canada in 2002 to join Ottawa-based Atmos Semiconductor.Anantha P. Chandrakasancircuit design, wireless microsensorsystem design, portable multimediadevices, and energy efficient radios.As Director of the MicrosystemsTechnology Laboratories (MTL),Chandrakasan and his colleagueshave conducted microsystems researchin circuits and systems, microelectromechanicalsystems, electronicand photonic devices, and molecularand nanotechnology, and have alsowon a number of prizes and awards.— Arun Kumarindian-american techguru leaves obamaThe U.S. President Barack Obama’s tech guruVivek Kundra, who spearheaded his administration’seffort to streamline the federalgovernment’s massive IT infrastructure isleaving in August for a fellowship at Harvard.New Delhi-born Kundra, 36, who hasworked for two and a half years as the firstfederal Chief Information Officer, oversees$80 billion in federalinformation technologyprojects and led a pushfor more cloudcomputing.In his new endeavour,Kundra will split his timein a joint fellowshipbetween the ShorensteinCentre on the Press,Vivek KundraPolitics and Public Policy and theBerkman Centre for Internet and Society,Centre Executive Director Urs Gasser said .Kundra occupied one of three tech-focusedposts that the Obama White House hadcreated to overhaul the government’suse of information technology.Another Indian-American Aneesh Chopra isthe Chief Technology Officer, while JeffreyZients serves as Chief Performance Officer.nikki’s memoir coming soonSouth Carolina’s Indian-American GovernorNikki Haley is all set to publish her memoir,just shy of her 40th birthday.Her book, Can’t is Not an Option,is expected to hit shelves in January 2012and will be published by Sentinel, a conservativeimprint within the Penguin Group.Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to Sikhimmigrant parents on January 20, 1972,Haley is America’syoungest governor.In March, Haley, 39,said in a published interviewthat in hermemoir “she wouldcover everythingfrom growing up in Nikki Haleyrural South Carolina, to her contentious 2010campaign”.Though the Republican governor saysshe’s not seeking higher office, her literaryagent Robert Barnett’s past clients includePresidents Barack Obama, George W. Bushand Bill Clinton.Haley’s new book will give the first-termRepublican a chance to reveal behind-thescenesdetails of her once unlikely election asSouth Carolina’s Chief Executive.— Arun KumarJuly 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 37

IIFA SpecIAlBolly-wooed,Bowled overStars, dance, music, fun, glamour, colour and more...The IIFA was the perfect window on the wonders ofIndian cinematic culture, says Radhika BhiraniWith its heady cocktail of dance, music and glitterati, the12th InternationalIndian Film Academy (IIFA) celebrations will be etched in the memoriesof people in Canada’s largest city, Toronto, for a long time to come. ManyNRIs played their part by showing up in the best of Indian finery; and forthose of other nationalities, it was the perfect window on the wonders of Indian cinematicculture. Day after day, the Fairmont Royal Park Hotel in downtown Toronto sawitself snowed under with fans. And it wasn’t just Indians who queued up, eager Canadianswere equally animated about getting a taste of Indian cinema.The three-day IIFA Weekend concluded on June 25 with a host of Bollywood celebritieslike Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmukh, Mallika Sherawat, Bipasha Basu and American musicianJermaine Jackson at the inaugural press conference. The evening saw a star-studded greencarpet event for the world premiere of Double Dhamaal at the SilverCity Theatre in Bramptoncity. On the second day, Ontario had a taste of the phenomenon called Shah Rukh Khan.Hundreds gathered in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel to welcome ‘King’Khan. While the SRK magic continued to charm everyone in the hotel, Salman Khan’sdebut co-production Chillar Party kicked off the IIFA Film Festival. The ceremony to namea street after legendary Indian actor Raj Kapoor also took place on day two of the IIFA.On the same day, IIFA Rocks — a music and fashion event hosted by Karan Johar andAnushka Sharma witnessed a performance by Jermaine, who teamed up with Indian singerSonu Nigam to pay a tribute to his younger brother, the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.The last day saw the coming together of two worlds as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, lyricistJaved Akhtar and composers Vishal Bharadwaj and Salim Merchant conducted a musicworkshop to share and promote the music being created in both the countries.38 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

A ‘dABAngg’In ToronToCatch a glimpse of the winners at the three-day IIFA extravaganza...A report by Gurmukh Singh & Radhika BhiraniSalman Khan starrer Dabangg, last year’sbiggest Bollywood hit, was adjudged the BestFilm at the glittering IIFA Awards in Toronto.The action-comedy bagged seven awards.Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was named theBest Male Actor for his performance as an aspergerpatient in Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan (MNIK),while Anushka Sharma received the Best FemaleActor for her lively role of a wedding planner in BandBaaja Baraat. The city’s Roger’s Centre erupted incheers when SRK received the award from AnilKapoor and Hollywood actress Hillary Swank whogreeted the audience with a “Namaste”. Karan Joharreceived the Best Director Award for the same film.The best debutant awards were won by SonakshiSinha and Ranvir Singh for their roles in Dabanggand Band Baaja Baraat, respectively. The award forMale Supporting Role went to Arjun Rampal for thepolitical thriller Raajneeti.Prachi Desai won the trophy for Best SupportingRole (Female) for her role in Once Upon a Time inMumbaai. Mamta Sharma and Rahat Fateh Ali Khanwon the awards for the best playback singers forsongs Munni Badnaam and Tere mast mast do nain,respectively, for Dabanng.The award for the Best Song Lyrics went to NiranjanIyengar for penning Sajda and Noor-e-Khuda inMNIK. Sajid-Wajid and Lalit Pandit won the BestMusic Direction Award for their work in Dabangg.The Best Story award went to Shibani Bathija forMNIK. Continuing its dominance, Dabangg also wonthe awards for Best Screenplay and Performance in aNegative Role, the former going to Abhinav Kashyapand Dileep Shukla, and the latter to Sonu Sood.The award for Best Dialogue went to VishalBharadwaj for Ishqiya. The industry recognisedDharmendra’s 50 years in Indian cinema with anaward, and honoured Sharmila Tagore’s contributionto the industry with the Outstanding AchievementAward. Singer Asha Bhosle received the LifetimeAchievement Award. Riteish Deshmukh bagged theBest Performance award in a Comic Role for the filmHousefull. Irrfan Khan received the IIFA award for hisinternational performances.From left: Best Performance in a Negative Role Award went to Sonu Sood; Best Supporting Role Award winner Prachi Desai; Best Male Actor Shah Rukh Khan;Best Female Actor Anushka Sharma; Producer of superhit film Dabangg Arbaaz Khan; and, Best Performance in a Comic Role Award winner Riteish Deshmukh.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 39

ciNemaSocial NetworkiNgredefiNedAs social networking becomes a viable platform for Bollywood celebrities toconnect with their audience, Radhika Bhirani tries to find out how directors andactors are redefining its role in promoting deeper audience engagementthey chat, tweet and share pictures to connect withtheir fans, but there is more to the social networkingof Bollywood celebrities — promoting businessthrough much deeper collaboration.Today, filmmakers and actors are takingto websites like Facebook and Twitter,not just to take the pulse ofviewers, but also actively involvethem in their projects.From directors PrakashJha, Mahesh Bhatt andShirish Kunder tomegastar AmitabhBachchan — allhave been usingthe social networkingmedium to take suggestions for titles, postersand marketing plans from viewers.Onir, the director of Hindi feature films like Sorry Bhai(2008) and Bas Ek Pal (2006), has gone a step ahead byinviting netizens to fund his project I Am. The result:Beyond marketing and publicity, Facebook and Twitterhelped him raise a third of the funds for his Rs.3 crore movie.“The interaction with the audience through social networkingmediums has helped, but to get them involvedeven deeper, I think it is a wonderful vehicle to tell people...‘I made this film for you. Now can you guide me whereI am going wrong before I actually put it out in theatres’.I think it is quite masterly to involve the people... it’s democraticallycorrect!” says Amitabh.Much before the release of his recent filmBbuddah...Hoga Tera Baap, the 68-year-old took to his blogbigb.bigadda.com seeking help from his “extended family”to market the movie and put his fans in touch with co-producers,Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, to facilitate their ideas.When Prakash Jha and Mahesh Bhatt were in a dilemmawhile choosing the posters for their respective filmsAarakshan and Murder 2, they turned to networking sitesto take the final word from viewers.“There was a disagreement between me and Mohit Surion the main poster of the film. We thought the best wayout is to show all the posters to the people and let themselect one. Mohit and I’ll blindly go ahead with the people’sopinion,” says Bhatt, adding: “At the end of the day, postersare for the people; so let them tell us which one is the bestposter of the lot.”Bhatt had also turned to the social networking siteTwitter to hunt for a title for his new film, which was tentativelycalled Jannat 2. “I am looking for an attractive titlefor my new film staring Kunal Khemu and Amrita Puri.HELP!” Mahesh wrote on Twitter.As suggestions poured in from his followers on Twitter,he zeroed in on Blood Money as the title of his next film.“BLOOD MONEY is the title for our Kunal Khemu and AmritaPuri film which is directed by a brilliant new director40 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

it’s a basic rule of marketing — to co-create with consumers. if they don’t knowenough about a film or a show, there’s a possibility they won’t watch it...Nikhil madhok, Senior director, imagine tVVishal Mahadkar,” Bhatt tweeted on July 18.Jha feels connecting with the audience throughnetworking websites is “revolutionary”.“Social networking is becoming very attractive forfilmmakers like me. We released a two-and-a-half-minutetrailer of Aarakshan online and thousands of people saw itand gave their feedback. These activities create a following,which translates into audience for the film. It isrevolutionary — overnight you are everywhere,” says Jha.Actor Parvin Dabbas settled for the title of his movie SahiDhande Galat Bande after he sought the help of Twitteratiat the behest of Anupam Kher. Editor-turned-directorShirish Kunder would return to his followers again andagain on Twitter to decide on the cast and crew of hisupcoming film Joker.“Who should be the heroine opposite Shreyas Talpade inJoker? Who should be the lyricist for Joker? Who shouldbe the music director for Joker?” were some of the questionsKunder posted while finalising the team for the movie.“It’s a basic rule of marketing — to co-create with consumers.If they don’t know enough about a film or a show,there’s a possibility they won’t watch it,” saysNikhil Madhok, Senior Director (Marketing and Communications)of Imagine TV. “Also, with a certain amount of feedback,one can customise according to the majority of theviewers’ tastes and rope in their interest. There’s no bettersense of gratification for viewers than to be proactively involvedin something,” he adds.It also helps celebrities to connect directly with their fans,says Amitabh, who never misses posting messages on hisblog.“Everyone thinks in the world outside that public figuresare cocooned idiots who live in these ivory towersand don’t care about anything or anyone else. I think thatconcept is wrong — we are not like that. But we havenever had an opportunity or a means to connect with thepeople. And now that we have, I find that a great advantage,”says Amitabh.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 41

ObITuarYDhrupaD bereaveDThe passing away of Fahimuddin Dagar marks the end of one of the finest erasof Hindustani classical music. A formidable scholar in Sanskrit, the great maestro’srepertoire was legendary, with compositions dating back to the 12th and13th centuries42 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

Ustad Fahimuddin Khan Dagar at a concert.Photo: Karan ZadooOn July 27, a sonorous voice thathad enthralled audiences in Indiaand abroad for over six decadesfell silent. Ustad Rahim FahimuddinKhan Dagar, one of the finest exponentsof dhrupad style of Hindustaniclassical music, breathed his last in a NewDelhi hospital. He was 84.Son of Ustad Allabande RahimuddinDagar, Fahimudddin was born in Alwar,Rajasthan in 1927. At the age of 5, hisuncle Ustad Nasiruddin Khan Dagarinitiated him into the dhrupad tradition.Under his tutelage began a journey that ledthe young Fahim into the secrets of anageless tradition; on the way, his picked upall the nuances that were typical of hisfamily — the great emphasis that they layon alap is unique in the annals of Indianmusic history. Fahimuddin also trainedfor 12 years on the rudra veenaunder his uncle UstadZiauddin Khan Dagar.With a household fullof eminent musicians,he was never short ofteachers; his fathernot only taught himthe finer details ofthe Dhrupad’s Dagartradition, but alsotaught him Sanskrit.Fahimuddin tooklessons in music fromhis uncles — UstadHussainuddin Khan Dagar(aka Tansen Pandey) andUstad Imamuddin Khan Dagar.The musical idiom known as ‘Dagarvani’was developed by the Dagar family— it innovates on the alap part of the ragaand brings into play every note in all threeregisters. Though modal andmonophonic, the notes have a certainexpansiveness about them and areembellished with micro-tonalornamentations (gamaka). It’s a style thathas held its ground and survived despitethe onslaught by other schools of singing,such as khayal gayaki, that becamepopular in the last 6-7 centuries.The Dagars are redoubtable custodiansof a cultural tradition that traces itsorigins to the Vedas. This long traditionand his training gave Ustad FahimuddinKhan Dagar a vast knowledge of Indianmusic and culture. True to his name,Fahim was a scholar of music andSanskrit. He would quote extensivelyfrom Sanskrit texts when elaborating hispoint. His musical repertoire waslegendary and was a treasure house ofcompositions dating back to the 12thand 13th centuries. Lovers of his musicalways looked forward to his concerts.The Sixties saw a revival of fortunes forthe dhrupad style of singing. The West waswaking up to the Indian music and amongthe few Indian classical musicians whoperformed in Europe in those times werethe Dagar brothers. Their concerts werewell attended and their success among thecognoscenti not only brought them fame,but also made them great ambassadors ofIndian culture.Conscious of his responsibilityto preserve and passon India’s culturalheritage to thenext generation,F a h i m u d d i nengaged withSPIC-MACAY tobring the youthof the countrycloser to itsclassical roots.Among theUstad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar(1927-2011)many awards thatwere conferred onhim were: SangeetRatan (1956), SangeetNatak Akademi Award (1993–94), Dhrupad Ratan (1993–94), SahityaKala Parishad (1996), Indira GandhiFellowship (1997), Ustad Hafiz Ali KhanAward (1997), Mewar Foundation Award(2002), Maharaja Sawai Ishwari SinghAward (2002), Kalidas Award (2002), BiharDhrupad Ratan (2002), Rajasthan SangeetNatak Akademi Award (2003), SangeetBhusan (2003), Shama Indian CulturalSociety Award (2004), LifetimeAchievement Award (2005) by NorthAmerican Dhrupad Association, LifetimeAchievement Award by the Government ofDelhi (2007), Padma Bhusan (2008),Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Purashkar(Fellowship) (2010), Ustad Mushtaq AliKhan Lifetime Achievement Award (2011).July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 43

travelHastinapurin argentinaA curious little place in the Argentine pampas calls itself Hastinapur.The Indian link is evident in its architecture, temples, statues...tucked away somewhere in Argentina is a smallcampus that evokes memories of the Pandavas, theheroes of the epic Mahabharata — it goes by thename of Hastinapur. Thousands of miles away fromthe battle-scarred capital city of Bharata’s descendents,this small ‘city’ is all serenity and peace itself.Situated about 50 km from the Argentine capital of BuenosAires, Hastinapur is a 12-acre residential complex; it is alsohome to about a dozen temples dedicated to Hindu gods andgoddesses. The peace that prevails here and the fragrantincense in the temples immediately transport visitors to adifferent spiritual world. True to the atmosphere prevailingon the campus, the website maintained by the HastinapurFoundation describes it as the Ciudad de la Sabiduría(city of wisdom).The website says: “Hastinapura means City of Wisdom,and although it lies within human beings, they must learn toconquer it. This can be achieved through the right knowledge,right action and devotion.”“The dozen Argentines who live there look after the godsand the place. During weekends, with visitors coming in, thepopulace swells to over a hundred,” says R. Viswanathan,India’s ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.A large number of the visitors on the campus are therein search of peace and ‘wisdom’. “Many Argentines visitHastinapur as a retreat from the hectic life of Buenos Aires,”says Viswanathan. They meditate and read books onphilosophy in the quiet natural environment of Hastinapur.Keeping them company are the statues of gods and goddesses,some in their temples, others spread over the garden.The majestic statues include those of Ganesha, Krishna,Surya, Narayana and Shiva. The place is quite eclectic inits religious persuasion and has temples dedicated to theBuddha, Virgin Mary and Greek goddess Demeter, in additionto those of Hindu gods and goddesses. Not only that, thereA statue of Ganesha chiselled by the residents at Hastinapur44 Pravasi Bharatiya July 2011

Hindu gods and goddesses can be seen sculpted on the pillars and walls of a temple in Hastinapur.is also one called the temple of all faiths, and it beingHastinapur, there is one for the Pandavas as well!“Hastinapura teaches that God is one, in all his names: God,Allah, Adonai, Tao, Brahman... and that there are many pathsthat lead to Him; we call this ‘Spiritual Universalism’,” so goesthe Hastinapur website.“Hastinapur does not seek fame and fortune... It is an institutionto pursue pure wisdom, peace and divinity,”says Viswanathan. On its objectives, the website says: “HastinapuraFoundation is an educational institution whose mainobjective is to spread faith and the love of God, affirming thebasic unity of all religions and the presence of God within thehearts of all beings.”In 1981, Argentinian author Ada Albrecht, who has writtenmany books on Indian philosophy, such as, The Saints andTeachings of India and The Teachings of the Monks fromHimalayas, created the Hastinapur Foundation, which managesthe place. The Foundation has 16 centres in Buenos Airesand three more in the rest of Argentina. It has also establishedcentres in Uruguay, Bolivia and Colombia. Attending coursesat these centres are over 2,500 students. There is a largefaculty of a hundred teachers of philosophy and about 120 ofyoga that oversees the courses at the centres.While the inmates on the campus reflect onphilosophy, meditate and sing bhajans, the birds that nest inthe woods on the campus keep time with them in the sublimequiet of the surroundings.A meditation hall on the Hastinapur campus.July 2011 Pravasi Bharatiya 45

DIASpoRAquIzHow well do we know eachother? What do we knowabout each otherʼs music,culture, books, country,history and leaders... What arethose memories andconnections we share... Webring you the Indian Diasporaquiz. The answers are given atthe bottom of the page. Youcan also write in withlittle-known facts about theDiaspora community...q1. Best known for her Elements Trilogy, her feature-film directorialdebut received a Mention Honorable in the Caméra d'Or categoryof the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Who is this Indian-bornCanadian film director and screenwriter?q2. His books portray diverse facets of Indian socioeconomic life,customs and religion. His novel has been made into the 1998film Such a Long Journey. Who is this Indian-born Canadian author?q3. He was the first West Indian cricketer of Indian origin, whoplayed an important role in helping West Indies win their firstTest series in England. Name this cricketer?q4. GQ India included him as one of “The 50 Most Influential GlobalIndians!” in 2010. This famous Indian-American holds 31 U.S.patents to his credit. Name the person.q5. In June 1999 he was mentioned in the Guinness Book ofRecords as the longest-serving parliamentarian in the world.One of the founders of the largest Hindu political party in Suriname,who is this leader?q6. Created in 1968 to promote scholarly activities between Canadaand India, this Institute supports the creation of binational linksbetween academia, government, the business community andcivil society organisations by funding research and hosting seminars.What is the name of this institution?q7. On November 16, 1860, a group of Indians, comprising 342 men,women and children arrived at the port city of Durban to workin South Africa. What was the name of the ship that broughtthem from India?q8. He was a linguist, social reformer and one of the pioneers of Indianjournalism. The Chhattri in Arnos Vale cemetery marks thespot of his burial. Name this Indian.q9. The National Council of Indian Culture promotes Indian culturein Trinidad and Tobago. Its activities are centred in a communitycentre near the Port of Spain. Name the centre.q10. At 16, she became a journalist with Trinidadʼs nationalnewspaper and rose to the position of editor of the Sundayedition. The Game of the Rose: The Third World in the GlobalFlower Trade was her first published book. Name this person.ANSweRS1. Deepa Mehta; 2. Rohinton Mistry; 3.Sonny Ramadhin; 4. Ajay Bhatt; 5. Jagernath Lachmon; 6. Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute;7. S.S. Truro; 8. Rammohun Roy; 9. Divali Nagar; 10. Niala Maharaj

Making investment in India easier for overseas Indians.For details contact:Sujata SudarshanChief Executive Officer, OIFC& Director, CII249-F, Sector 18, Udyog Vihar, Phase IVGurgaon — 122 015, Haryana, INDIATel: +91-124-4014060-67 / 4014071Fax: +91-124-4014070Website: www.oifc.inlR;eso t;rsMinistry of OverseasIndian AffairsConfederation ofIndian Industry

lR;eso t;rsMinistry of Overseas Indian Affairswww.moia.gov.inwww.overseasindian.in