MADARCHOD - Control ALT Delete

BHENCHOD
MADARCHOD
GIRLFRIENDS
OF SINGER/
SONGWRITERS!
Who Are These
People And Why
Do They Hate
Themselves
So Much?!
“My Boyfriend
Is A Pentagram
Apologist!”
Recreational
50 Ways
To Look
Sexy In
A Moshpit
Step by Step Guide to
Having Conversations
With A Metalhead!
In Conversation With
THE
REGGAE
RAJAHS:
what are they
really yelling
at the Dub
Station?
Disembowelment
&
99 Other Ways
To Punish
Pop Rock Fans
PLUS: If a post-rock band doesn’t
have a really long name is it even a
real post-rock band?!
BHENCHOD
MADARCHOD
03 Editorial
Bhanuj Kappal
05 Bombay Through Delhi-Wallah Tinted Glasses
Akhil Sood
08 The Serious Business
13 Celine Bappa Morya
11 Untitled Rant
15 From Porn To Anarcho-Porn
Mohini Mukherjee
Ritwik Deshpande
Grishma Rao
Rahul D’Souza
19 The Art of Disappearing Design
Namaah Kumar
22 When The Scene Got Industrialised
Himanshu Vaswani
24 The Scene Is Dead
Nikhil Udupa
26 Kranti - Reclaiming Dissent
Bhanuj Kappal
28 BC/MC Recommends
3
EDITORIAL
by Bhanuj Kappal
The first issue of this zine was conceived,
created and printed in a grand total of five
days. Rahul and I were bored with what
passes for music writing these days, bored
with its anti-septic language, its risk-
Hello there!
averse back-slapping and its general lack
of passion. So when Control Alt Delete
I’ll get the apologies out of the way first.
came around with its no-sponsor DIY
For any of you who picked up this zine
agenda, we jumped on the bandwagon,
actually looking for the articles on the
begging, and in one case threatening,
cover, we’re sorry but we hope it gave you
people for articles related to DIY. That first
a chuckle. To make up for it, I’ll summa-
issue was a mess, but it was true to its
rize what some of those pieces would have
brief – talking about the ‘independent’ in
said:
independent music.
50 Ways to Look Sexy in a Moshpit –
Over the months leading up to this issue,
1. Be tall 2. Have long hair 3. Do NOT take
we came up with a wider, more compre-
off your shirt.
hensive idea of the zine as a forum for
alternative opinions where people from
Step by Step Guide to Having
not just the indie scene but also those
Conversations with a Metalhead –
from the wider alt culture can express
1. Wear black 2. Drink wine 3. Hail Satan.
themselves and start conversations that
are missing from the existent media
What are the Reggae Rajahs yelling at
coverage. Some of these conversations are
Dub Station? - They’ve invoking ‘Jah!’
political, such as the interview with the
though rumour has it that this year they’ll
people behind ‘Kranti’, a festival of
be calling out to ‘Breezah!’
dissent.Others are sociological, like the
piece on pornography and anarchism. This
If a post-rock band doesn’t have a really
second issue is only a small step in that
long name is it even a real post-rock
direction and there’s a lot of work to do
band?! – Not after 1995.
before we can say we’ve fulfilled that aim,
but we hope it introduces you to some
Glad we’ve got that out of the way.
ideas and people that you might not have
4
have come across in other, more tradi-
while pregnant.
tional indie scene media. Hopefully the
next issue will see us closer to that vision,
Others are still inside. But still they go out
bringing together writing on grassroots
and sing, standing up to the bullies in
politics, feminist thought, independent
government, big business and the Indian
art and indie music (we’ve already lined
right, fighting a war that looks lost
up pieces on cross-dressing parties and
already. Like any punk or indie rocker,
sex culture in Delhi for that one).
they are musicians who still believe in the
revolutionary power of music, in the
One last thing. You’ve probably picked up
ideals that formed the foundation of punk
a copy of Stupiditties at this gig. There’s
and indie rock. We hope that when you go
also an online version with more tracks,
home, you look them up and learn their
including a song by Kabir Kala Manch.
story, and that some of you can find ways
Some of you might have heard of them,
to support and show solidarity with our
others might be wondering what their
fellow musicians, whose songs are rooted
song is doing on a rock/electronica
in experiences and horrors that we can
compilation. They’re there because though
barely even imagine.
they may not use a superfuzz pedal or
name drop Lee Ranaldo, they exemplify
our idea of independent music. A group of
Dalit singers and activists from Pune, they
sing songs of pain, of exploitation, and of
the hope for a revolution that is unlikely
to come. They accept no money from
sponsors or political parties, they have no
money and no political connections yet
they speak up against those a million
times more powerful. They have been
arrested, tortured, branded as Naxalites
and they and their families live under
constant surveillance. Deepak Dengle still
winces every time he talks of his torture.
Sheetal Sathe spent months in prison
5
BOMBAY
THROUGH
DELHI-WALLAH
TINTED GLASSES
by Akhil Sood
to watch.
Turns out they were best friends. The guy
dishing it out jumped into a moving auto
and disappeared. The other one, the one
with all the blood, came up to us – crying
– told us they were best friends, and borrowed some 30 bucks so that he could get
home. He wanted 100 but we told him to
go fuck himself and take a bus home.
Leaving the magnificent brawl aside for
just a second, I noticed that the two guys
were speaking and cursing in English the
The first gig I attended in Bombay was
entire time. It’s a worrying trend I’ve
back in 2008. It was I-Rock, held a wee bit
noticed at all gigs in Bombay – people here
after August 15 (or was it before?), and
have this habit of speaking mostly in
there were the usual Zero type bands
English, even guys talking to other guys.
headlining.
Strange, because that almost never happens in Delhi. What’s that about, guys?
It was held at the not-so-hallowed Chitra-
You can’t have iconic ‘Bhenchod, Madar-
koot Grounds in Andheri, and once the gig
chod’ chants and then roll your R’s and
got over, I noticed these two guys beating
speak with Bombay Scottish and Cathe-
the shit out of each other on the street.
dral twangs. It was a culture shock for me,
Well, it was just one guy doing wrestling
the first of many.
moves on the other, who was a bloody,
crying mess, repeatedly apologizing to the
As I continued on in my journey of self-
guy hitting him because he’d apparently
discovery in Bombay, I stumbled upon
done something terrible to deserve the
many, many more quirks that I found
pasting. They were visibly drunk. I wanted
absent in Delhi folk. Apparently, and I
to stop the one-sided brawl, but the
have this on good authority, Bombay had
violence was far too brutal in a completely
its “glory days” a few years ago – an era of
non-metal way. Plus fights are always fun
independent rock/metal music which
6
spawned some of today’s most popular
along, and that all the money lies in South
bands in the country. These were the days
Bombay (or SoBo as you cool kids call it,
of Rang Bhavan and Razz. In spirit, that’s
and SoMu as I call it). What this means is
roughly the equivalent of Hamsadhwani
that the nature and profile of the gigs keep
and Turquoise Cottage and Mezz in Delhi.
changing depending on (the very limited
There’s a definite legacy that this city
number of) venues. A gig in town (ish),
possesses. And not a single person will
like at Hard Rock Café or Blue Frog, often
ever let you forget it. Not a gig goes by
features the cool kat bands of the city –
these days without a casual mention of
the accessible kinds that’ll rake in a heavy
Razz. Not a day goes by where hipsters
crowd with fat wallets; the kind of people
don’t accuse other hipsters of being hip-
who’ll gladly pay Rs. 340 for a drink at
sters. In fact, I’ve overheard so much
Blue Frog. Gigs in Thane are usually
about Razz gigs that I feel like I never
intimate metal things while Andheri has a
need to attend a gig there – I already know
whole bunch of indie and alternative acts
all about what can go down over there
playing, and there’s Bandra, which has
(which is also a good thing since that’s
been taken over by the bass-heavy elec-
never going to happen, is it?)
tronica guys – not that these are rules as
such; more like general trends, and there’s
Of course, there are ventures that are
a lot of crossing over too.
building upon the base provided by those
days of yore – such as Ctrl Alt Del, for
Now, this isn’t essentially an exact science,
starters. And there’s a very strong metal-
since my analysis is purely based on anec-
head brotherhood which shares a sense of
dotal evidence spread out over the past
pride and community thanks to common
three or so years, but one thing that I can
interests and a common attitude to life,
stick my neck out and claim is that the
but those things are there in Delhi too, as
audiences at the gigs in Parel (HRC and
much as people here may try to disregard
Blue Frog) often tend to smell a lot better.
it.
This could be because the food at these
places is usually of a very high quality, or
Then there’s the small matter of geogra-
they have air-conditioners which circulate
phy. It’s not Bombay’s fault that it’s been
and dispose stale air, or maybe people own
built in one straight line with three differ-
better perfumes – I don’t know – but it’s
ent railway lines that keep the city ticking
true. I swear.
7
This is a little different when you look at
at the forefront. The next step could be
Delhi – in Delhi, if you happen to be
infiltrating the mainstream and getting
standing so close to someone that you can
through to numbers and talking about
actually smell them, then you’re probably
stuff that, you know, actually matters.
going to get punched or stabbed or shot.
Now, it would be quite convenient for me
to tie all this together by saying that
people in Bombay like good music and
they like good bands and that it’s the same
everywhere across the country and we
should just hold hands and love each other
and collectively grow because there’s no I
in Scene. But it’s not that simple; yes,
there are plenty of differences, irreconcilable ones even, and listed here are just a
handful of them.
What this kind of in a whole roundabout
way shows is that there are separate movements brewing in different parts of the
country – people wear different clothes,
they make different music, they react to
music differently, and – maybe – they even
think differently. It means we’re growing
up and truly responding to what’s around
us in real physical form and behave
accordingly. We’re no longer aping the
west as much (we still are, just not indiscriminately). We’re finding a view and a
voice, and independent music in India is at
the onset of becoming an actual compendium of different movements with music
8
THE SERIOUS
BUSINESS
by Mohini Mukherjee
At the time of writing this piece, there is
the most frighteningly awful keyboard riff
ringing through my head. It sits and
scrapes away at the insides of my skull in a
way that I didn't think was possible after
Mumford and Sons' harmonies crawled its
way through it.
The melody is courtesy keyboardist Kaizad
Gherda, of Alien Chutney, Vir Das' comedy
rock band/self-aggrandizing piece of crap.
Apart from Gherda, the band has Warren
Mendonsa on guitars, Sidd Coutto on
drums, and Gaurav Gupta on bass - a
veritable who's who of a tiny little scene.
The frontman, Vir Das himself, is the
poster child for Indian English language
comedy. When Mr. Das does a stand up
show, tickets sell for a grand on average,
often more, and the seats fill up with
thirty something yuppies just dying to
someday be as sharp as the guy in the
impeccable suit on stage making jokes
about sex and politics.
9
Similarly, when Vir Das releases a song
this album are better written than any
about boobs, Twitter - the breeding
Alien Chutney fare, though certainly not
ground for the same thirty something
as funny as their first album. But inspite
yuppies - writhes and collapses into itself
of the mediocre songwriting, Workshop
in sheer retweetable ecstasy.
never gets my hackles up the way Vir Das
does. Primarily because Workshop
A song about tits is pretty edgy in this
redeems itself somewhat with the earnest-
country where laughing is something you
ness of the band - these guys really want
only do with permission. Rape jokes are
to do good comedy.
not funny, dude, have you already forgotten Nirbhaya (#daughterofthenation).
They understand the fundamental func-
Knock, knock. Who's there? Shiv Sena, we
tion of comedy, to turn a mirror to the
already pre-empted your Bal Thackeray
society it was born from; to shame, roast,
joke, Minority Report-style, and now it’s
and ridicule the bigoted, the entitled, and
time for jail! Who could blame you then,
the great uninformed into better versions
you liberal young person brought up on
of themselves. Comedy is the guy in
Friends reruns, if you celebrate the fact
college that made fun of you when you
that someone's talking about singing
called Flo-Rida a rapper, and then shamed
about something as universally delightful
you into going home and googling the Wu
as breasts.
Tang Clan. Comedy is what makes white
supremacists look as stupid as anti-gay
What's easy to forget though is that Alien
protestors will look a decade from now.
Chutney is not funny. Nobody expects a
band doing comedy to be musical geni-
More importantly, comedy rides in front
uses. Fail so spectacularly at the comedy,
of academia in the battle against narrow
though, and you are essentially as point-
mindedness, because comedy has some-
less as a string theory joke in a Big Bang
thing that all your science journals don't -
Theory episode.
comedy is very cool. Workshop's writing
might be beyond help, and the statements
The only other comedy band in the coun-
they make might be too over-arching, but
try, Workshop, released their second
at least they're trying. At the center of all
album Made Love To The Dragon around
great comedy, lying underneath timing,
the same time as Manboobs. The songs on
and set ups, and flawless writing, is
10
sincerity. And Workshop, while depressing
Fig 1.1
with the execution, has its heart in the
Garden Variety K.C. College BMM Student.
right place.
Ironically enough, the funniest bands are
the ones that don't claim comedy as their
forte. This year, The Lightyears Explode
released a lovely album replete with dirty
jokes, shout-out loud punchlines, and
self-deprecating humour. Nobody in this
band sets out trying to market themselves
as funny, but funny is what they are. And
even The Lightyears don’t do funny the
way Scribe do funny. Dr. Salafya and The
Tea Parody, off 2008's Confect, hardly
qualifies as a song, but as comedy goes, it
is some of the finest produced.
Alien Chutney, though? If you've never
felt the immediate urge to gouge out your
eyes at one of their gigs, we can't be
friends. Ever. I don't even want to talk to
you. I had the misfortune to be passing by
the stage they were playing at Weekender,
Pune, and here was a polished, educated,
young man, fully equipped with all five
senses and self-awareness, making hammy
jokes about hot Delhi girls like your
garden variety KC college, BMM student.
Also shut the fuck up, Mr. Das, your tight
t-shirts prove pretty conclusively that you
don’t have any manboobs.
Here he is seen
possibly making a tired, old joke
about how his teacher totally said,
‘Open the window,
let the atmosphere come in.’
11
UNTITLED
RANT
by Ritwik Deshpande
form if not order. There’s Constable Navathe, who just last week pulled the plug on
Spud in the Box at Arc Asia. There’s Constable Hiray, who prowls around the gate
of High Spirits every Fridayroundabout
eleven. There’s Constable Jagdale, whose
monthly income is dwarfed by the money
he makes busting house parties. Tonight,
They’re escorting the god of beginnings to
though it’s way past eleven thirty, these
his end. Saffron bands strapped around
men aren’t complaining. They have no
their foreheads, they pull his throne with
reason to. This gig is backed by god.
a tractor and dance ahead of it. The
elephant god, wearing a garland of plastic
They have now reached the lake and are
flowers, is headed for the bottom of the
saying their final prayers. They’ll lower
ocean. Soon, he’ll sink to the seabed.
him into the water till all you can see is
Ganpati won’t dissolve easy. He’ll stay
the steeple of his crown. They’ll chant his
there for years, and the fish’ll slowly
name and yearn for him to return earlier
breathe him in.
next year. As you can tell, Ganpati is going
nowhere. He’ll spend the rest of the year
The dancers, colliding, collapsing, thrust-
and the year after that and the year after
ing their hips, wagging their chests, orbit-
that slowly poisoning the inhabitants and
ing one another, are giving expression to a
dependents of the lake.
lifetime of repression. At the end of their
procession, dehydrated, they’ll drink from
A familiar image can be found on the
the same lake which has become one with
cover of an EP that was released last May.
with last year’s Ganpati. It’ll flood their
Heathen Beast’s sophomore effort The
veins with chemicals, yet they’ll feel safe.
Drowning of the Elephant God had a
Now they’ve given him a farewell for
crowd ready to sink a fifteen foot idol on
kings, they’re under the impression
its cover. Last year, when I reviewed the
Ganpati’s got their back.
EP, I wrote the band deserves credit for
having the balls to attack the religious
Ganpati is riding with the DJ. The music
hurts. The cops are keeping the crowd in
establishment of a country neck deep in
denial. But for all their justified angst,
12
Heathen Beast release music anony-
laid down by obsolete works of fiction. We
mously. That’s because they’re scared.
can’t stand a word against our imaginary
Who wouldn’t be, given our longstanding
friends, because who else can we rely on to
history of garroting anyone bold enough
bail us out of icky situations? You’ve got a
to speak against the poisoner of fish.
bone to pick with them? We’ll beat you up.
We think trouble won’t touch us as
Sure, the scriptures say our imaginary
long as we don’t talk about it, so we
friends are quite tight about violence, but
silence those who talk. We sanctify rules
as long as we punish those who dishonour
his name, it’s all good.
13
CELINE BAPPA
MORYA
Juhu beach swarmed with policemen and
crowds lining up to drown their Ganesh
idols, while nearby Santacruz’s DJ Bablu
was winding down the night with the
immortal Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go
On.”
by Grishma Rao
It was almost the aftermath of a war zone:
It was a dark and stormy night in
air thick with the smell of burnt-out fire-
Santacruz West. Green laser beams
works, glowing embers of anars and rock-
danced across the face of an abandoned
ets next to pools of muddy water, stran-
concrete building, a lone man in a banyan
gers shoving you out of the way shouting
and lungi sitting quiet in the shadows on a
“Bomb hai!”, as you push your way
balcony watching the spectacle from two
through the crowd trailed by an endless
floors above.
series of gunshot sounds. Inching closer to
the nucleus of the sound, the intoxicated
With sub-bass so strong it was danger-
disarray vanishes to be replaced with quiet
ously shaking hundreds of window panes,
women in sarees surrounding a large
purpling bolts of lightning timing them-
Ganesh idol placed in the back of a truck.
selves to bass drops, the Ganpati DJ’s had
Small children run up to you and place
inescapably arrived. With midnight noise
prasad in your hands, a mix of boondi and
levels of 110.3 dB, this was the second
sev. The surrounding men are dripping
noisiest party in the city that night. High-
with sweat and rainwater, moving in sync
up apartments were filling with interfer-
to Munni Badnaam and similar standard-
ence from a psy-trance stage clashing with
ized lecherousness.
neighboring Bollywood item numbers,
and autotuned pop addressing the “kam-
Hailing from government chawl no. 160,
bakth Facebook se chipke hue” digital age.
Santacruz, 26 year old DJ Naushad plays
The streets were lined with fairy lights,
the bigger suburban Ganpati gigs at Khar
portable disco balls and tubelights, and
Danda, as part of a event organizing/DJ
drunken throngs, and men driving past on
collective called Fun Section. He’s been
motorcycles screaming, “China ho ya
deejaying since 2003, a skill he picked up
Korea, Ganpati Bappa Moria!”
from observing and assisting his DJ
14
friends over the years. He uses a Mark 3
he gave up on it and never looked back.
CDJ-1000, and mixes mostly Bollywood
There are no agencies, or managers, for
songs downloaded off the internet. He
artistes in Santacruz - they get steady gigs
doesn’t do pre-recorded sets, he likes to
sheerly through word of mouth publicity.
gauge the audience reaction and give them
If someone digs their music at a party,
what they want as it goes. “Real mein galat
they ask for their number, and it’s some-
hai, par public ko yehi mangta hai. Kaam
how led to a continuous stream of work.
ko mana nahi kar sakte hai na?” Naushad
Outside of the Ganpati season, engage-
disapproves of the quality of music
ment parties and ring ceremonies are
increasingly being requested at religious
what keeps them busy through the rest of
festivals, but it comes with the job - so he
the year.
takes it and does it well. He’s now at a
point where he’d rather oversee most gigs
Ganpati DJ’s and bands operate as entirely
and send out juniors to play the actual
separate units, neither has anything to do
parties.
with the other. The DJ wraps up to make
way for the aarti, and then the band steps
They aren’t restricted to a particular genre
in and escorts the Ganesh idol to the sea.
- if the clientsrequest hip hop or house or
At the Daulat Nagar Ganpati mandal, the
trance, they’ll whip something up. Their
band members and their entourage dress
music discovery comes mostly from televi-
uniformly in light-blue vests emblazoned
sion, and meeting up with DJ friends who
with Marathi text saying “Sai Ganesh
share new mixes they found off the inter-
Music Circle”. Rakesh Mhatre is 25, and
net. There was a time that Naushad em-
has been a drummer for the past ten years
phasizes that he personally loves house
now. He is soft-spoken, and explains
and electro music, and there was once a
quietly that their band is composed of
time that he considered making his own
“piano, drums, bass, half-dhol, and tasha
compositions. The inability to play piano
(chhota dhol)”. All of them are self-
or synth, or any analog instruments
taught, and have been friends for years,
himself is what he finds debilitating, if he
who would play music together for fun.
were to compose his own music from
Two men hold lights next to the keyboard-
scratch. He worked on a couple of sets,
ist, casting a blue neon glow over the cart
and tried introducing them at the parties
being used as a stand. A circle forms
he played, but the response was dismal so
around the dholwala, moving slowly
15
a blue neon glow over the cart being used
as a stand. A circle forms around the dholwala, moving slowly forward as the Ganpati truck advances further down the
road. They aren’t a full time band, he says.
They do this for the Ganpati season or for
friends’ weddings, and the rest of the year
FROM PORN TO
ANARCHO-PORN
by Rahul D’Souza
they each have their own primary jobs.
The human being is a voyeur and pornog“Bas, ghar pe baitha hun.” Mhatre has
raphy is the most visual example. We love
been unemployed for the past month,
to see other people fucking, to visualise or
before which he worked as a cashier for
simply take pleasure from the experience
Amul Butter. Everyone else has temp jobs,
in front of us. From the earlier literature
or office jobs, but they come together once
that people like to classify (in hopes of
a year to dedicatedly do this. They aren’t
making it sound classy) as erotica to down
particularly interested in original music,
right violent sex, pornography is every-
or in playing commercial gigs beyond the
where. Some of us have our favourite
Ganpati scene, they pick up the latest
genre, or orientation or body type or even
Bollywood songs and learn how to play
individual performers that keeps us going
them. Sai Ganesh Music Circle aren’t
back for more. But what of the performers
big-league, nor will they ever seek to be. I
and what societal roles does pornography
asked Rakesh, “Where do you go from
teach the viewer. Can anarchism and
here?” He replied, “Chowpatty.”
pornography live with each other? Can
human beings make and consume
pornography that does not in some
manner or another exploit the performers
and groups represented by the performers? (mainly gender/sexual orientation)
Since the era of second-wave feminism,
pornography has become a polarising
force among left aligned groups. The
conservative vs liberal battles over the
16
ethical nature of pornography in the
disassociated from their minds. Porno-
1950s and 60s decades was appropriated
graphic actors like Stoya and James Deen,
by second-wave feminists in the 70s and
as well as an unknown set of actors that
80s. The anti-pornography feminists vs
consider themselves sex positive feminists
the pro-pornography feminists engaged in
have become the greatest opponents of
what came to be known as the Sex Wars or
this argument against pornography. They
the Porno Wars, which ultimately led to
have stressed that not only do they feel
the end of what was second-wave femi-
that they aren’t exploited, but they feel
nism. In our own era, while the debates
that their sexually expressive perfor-
surrounding the Sex Wars has dissipated,
mances are their way of challenging the
the battle lines remain, with a variety of
patriarchal idea of how women must
positions taken up by various ideological
confine to strict moral guidelines to be
groups.
considered respectable women within
society.
The most difficult part of campaigning for
or against pornography is the fact that
This stance is the basis for sex positive
porn is a force that occupies an awkward
feminism that embraces pornography as
place in ethical battles. Both sides of the
not just a means to subvert patriarchies
debate seem to have points whose validity
control over women and their bodies but
isn’t really challenged by equally strong
also to create an environment in which a
points of contention from the opposing
woman does not feel compelled to be
side. Amplifying the matter further is the
offended by pornography and could even
fact that most points for debate run
come to be able to enjoy it.This creates an
deeper than the battle over pornography.
environment of freedom of expression
This makes ending the battles almost
and freedom from patriarchal control for
impossible.
them as well. Viewed very simply, this
gives the woman freedom to be or not to
One of the main arguments against por-
be offended, to enjoy or be repulsed with-
nography is that it is a way for men to
out the influence of the male-centric
continue the subjugation of women by
concepts of morality.
exploiting them sexually for commercial
gains and male pleasure, which includes
All of this, however, restricts the
objectifying women’s bodies, which are
argument over porn to the exclusive
17
heterosexual discourse. The LGBT commu-
Beyond just opposition to conservatives
nity, particularly the Gay community have
who seek to deny their rights as citizens, it
embraced pornography as a means of
also challenges the liberal resolve to wel-
expression as well as resistance against
come LGBT unions into the mainstream,
society’s hetero-biased moral standards.
constantly tearing away at any hidden
This defeats the argument of pornography
tolerance of including non-male-
being used as a tool to subjugate women.
andfemale family structures. Reminding
If we expand this to include real lesbian
the liberals that it is not just marriage
pornography (as opposed to the lesbian
ceremonies and children that they must
pornography targeted at the straight
accept, but also that sex, that fucking in a
male), transexual pornography of various
non male--female union must also be
types (trans on male, male on trans, trans
accepted and spoken about normally.
on female, female on trans and so on)
then we have an entire battery of exam-
It must be acknowledged that sex positive
ples where pornography is used to fight
feminists, particularly those with an anar-
the subjugation against them and the
chist bent to their ideology, do not wish to
concept of male domination over sexual
silence the anti-pornography feminists.
minorities everywhere.
They may even acknowledge that exploitation happens, not just to women in
straight pornography but also to gay,
lesbian and trans performers. What they
wish for is debate rather than censorship.
It is censorship, which the antipornographic community calls for, that is
the biggest sore point in the debate.
Censorship is the exclusive domain of the
patriarchy and the appropriation of this
tool from the conservatives by feminists
opposing pornography is actually a great
victory for conservatives.
Even those opposed to pornography must
acknowledge that prevention of exploita-
18
tion is a worthier cause than censoring a
repulsed by or are philosophically opposed
tool which to many is actually a tool of
to in some manner or another.
liberation.
Pornography is here to stay and no
Pro-pornography anarchists have the best
matter which way you look at it, there will
solution against exploitation in porn. They
always be an audience that wishes to view
view porn, firstly as exploitation by capi-
it and take part in the actual performance.
talists for commercial purposes and in
It is pertinent to ensure that the type of
some cases as exploitation of performers
pornography that gets created in the
bodies to further the cause of the hetero-
future is affected by the decades of debate
normative brainwashing.
and acrimony that has surrounded the
industry. Giving the power over their
They believe that performers should
bodies back to the performers can trans-
produce their own work as a
form pornography from something con-
collective,using pornography as an expres-
sidered dirty and rife with subjugation to
sion of their own sexual beings, thus
something that is powerful and liberating
ensuring that they only work on what they
to women and sexual minorities.
are comfortable with and that they control
their own bodies in whatever way that
they desire.
In an effort to help channelise and distribute these images, anarcho-porn website
freedomporn.org has for the last five
years given a free platform for liberated
humans to express themselves in pornography in a variety of gender roles, genres
and media. The success of anarchopornography depends not simply on
whether performers are willing to come on
to the medium but also on people beginning to engage with debates over the type
of pornography they consume, get
19
THE ART OF
DISAPPEARING
DESIGN
by Namaah Kumar
not likely to produce objects of aesthetic
value.
Then ask the same question to the kids
weilding spray cans, coloring the city in
non-conformist ideas of art, taking it from
the galleries and onto the streets; those
who value the bourgeois ideas of sophisticated aesthetics would argue that the kids'
graffiti, like an ox's hump, is ugly.
The difference is that unlike the ox, the
Don’t talk about art.
kids' humps are deliberate.
What do you know about art? About suf-
Talk about subjectivity, and the contrived
fering, or commitment, or talent, or
dichotomy in critical theory of what is and
rhetoric, or misery, or any of the factors
isn't art. About whether art is created
that affect it or are affected by it?
when the artist so says, or whether it is
Some will say, everything is art, to which
merely a matter of perception. About the
I'll say, "fuck 'em."
role socio-cultural conditioning plays in
the public perception of the simplistic
All I know is, everything is not art; art is
functionality of a good-looking product.
art. And everything else is everything else.
About how art that succeeds in transcend-
But that we must keep at it anyway, with
ing the space it adorns, often goes
the madness of a rabid dog.
unnoticed for years until a hipster decides
it'd be a cool backdrop to shoot the music
Talk about beauty.
video for the first and only single off his
side project's post-hair-doom-rock-tronic-
Ask a cow what beauty is and she will
core record.
answer that it is a an ox with an obnoxiously big hump.
Talk about bullshit. The walnut to the
Ask Paul Rand what is beauty and he will
scratches in the wood of our understand-
answer that it is the separation of form
ing of things. The everything in between
and function, of concept and execution, is
in any discussion about art and/or design.
20
I must take the time to state that there isa
(You see, calling bullshit on a designer,
huge difference between lying and
rather than an artist, stings so much more
bullshitting. Lying would be a false
because it contains an element of accu-
description of the product, while the
racy. The artist can flaunt intuition and
latter, superficial enhancement of the
impulse as his first and only argument,
thought process that goes into selling the
requiring no compensating bullshit:
product.
they're the artist, and that's the way the
artist likes it.)
In the context of design, I think I developed this "skill" for the simple reason that
Talk about design, about form, function,
before I can commit to a design decision, I
and feasibility. The need to generate good
need to have an intellectual rationale
design just to get by. An itch in our bones
worked out in my mind. I discovered soon
and we as designers, and as people, do so
that most clients seemed grateful for said
little to earn. Talk to me about the disap-
rationale as well, because it puts aside the
pearing act of good design.
subjective matter of taste; it helped them
make the leap of faith that any design
Lao Tzu explained this well in the Tao Te
decision requires; it made the design
Ching. Tao is defined as an eternal cosmic
sellable to wider audiences by eliminating
unity, the source from which all creation
the intuitive superiority assumed by the
emanates. The Te is the personal qualities
creator of the product.
of the individual and all entities in the
universe. Put together, Tao Te Ching
If pressed, however, I'd still have to admit
means integrity, or the wholeness of a
that even my most beautifully crafted
given object or experience.
rationales were half truths carefully
curated in a corner of my head dedicated
That's an ancient and great definition of
to sounding much smarter than I was.
design; objectivity not added to, but multiplied by subjectivity. Creating an
approachable, accessible expression for
the purpose of a product or an idea is the
art of design.
He says it this way: "Clay is molded to
21
make a pot, but it is in the space where
of art on the wall, which you then gasp at,
there is nothing that the usefulness of the
discuss, critique.
clay pot lies. Cut out doors and windows
to make a room, but it is in the spaces
Design exists all around us, not for us or
where there is nothing that the usefulness
because of us, but despite us; designers
of the room lies. Therefore, benefit may be
merely curate it. And then, we call our-
derived from something, but it is in noth-
selves fancy things like artists and innova-
ing that we find usefulness."
tors while taking for granted that everyone else is just… people.
Good design isn't allowed the excuses of
personality and point of view of the
But talk about how sometimes just being a
designer, it encourages using one's person-
person is nothing short of aspirational.
ality and point of view to create an envi-
Existing as an element in the environment
ronment that optimises the individual
that serves as the context of one's design
aesthetic and functionality of all that
is a constant battle for a designer of any
exists in and around it.
kind, on any platform. We find it easier, by
training, to work as outsiders to the
Design is that which creates the founda-
system, using any tool available to us to
tion, and the facade of any good piece of
bridge the gaps between what we envision,
art, or of existence itself. It is the friend
what we end up creating, and what we
who stays up to clean and even gets to
consider sellable.
work on time the next day, after art and
all his friends have partied through the
night, sat around flattering each other till
they fall asleep on the couch having nostalgic wet dreams about their own early
period.
Simply put, good design disappears. It
doesn't sit on a gallery wall, begging to be
gasped at, discussed, critiqued; it is the
chair on which you sit, comfortable
enough to concentrate wholly on the piece
22
WHEN THE
SCENE GOT
INDUSTRIALISED
by Himanshu Vaswani
that made the real difference.
We continued relentlessly supporting the
scene to an extent where we made careers
out if it. Every one counts – musicians,
managers, event organizers, sponsors,
photographers, bloggers, and media etc.
Each and every person contributed. Then
came the time when shit went Supersonic.
Boom.
We have known of many “Scenes” across
Remember Hype?
the world. Be it the Seattle grunge scene
It did not occur overnight, but in retro-
or the California Punk scene, most of the
spect, it does seem like it did. What many
so called scenes were genre dominated.
did not realize was that we were now
They represented a sound. If that defini-
dealing with a full-fledged industry; many
tion is anything to go by, I would say we
still don’t. Leaving its pros and cons aside,
never had a scene. But I would be wrong.
this transition causes fundamental
changes in our attitudes, our lifestyles and
What was so special about the scene we
most importantly, our expectations.
had was that it was the least genre based
Pardon me when I say – Your scene is
scene ever! Like our Delhi fellows would
dead. You will never get that back. And
put it, “is scene mein feel thi”. Support the
you shouldn’t.
scene (before it became a cliché) was the
thought, we as a collective, woke up to
While nostalgia counts, life wasn’t as easy
every morning. Taking nothing away from
back then. You have it better. Its fucking
the senior musicians, it was my generation
great that we have our day jobs associated
23
vaguely with the music we love. Its amaz-
After all, we owe it to the scene. Had we
ing that independent musicians are now
never followed it so passionately through
making a living and not completely selling
the years, I would be marketing some lame
out while they are at it. We desperately
brand looking for my next exit.
needed this.
Control ALT Delete was my effort to break
I have now come to a point where I am
away from the industry and the obliga-
discussing deliverables with my friends
tions that it had presented me. It was an
from the scene. I am a client to some and a
idea that would turn a band into the
vendor to some. We sign agreements and
organizer (which was a common phenom-
send email confirmations. Musicians from
enon back then as opposed to a one off
the scene are getting handsomely
these days) and the crowd into the spon-
rewarded for their performances. The
sor. It’s as wonderful in real life as it
ecosystem is now far too big to be referred
sounds on paper.
to as a ‘Scene’.
It will never bring the scene back, but it
While we agree that it’s awesome, working
will constantly remind us of the DIY ethos
in this industry does create fatigue. When
that got us here in the first place. It’s
you have the money to program a band
paying homage to this our success story.
and you would much rather give that
It’s our Mecca. We visit it once a year
opportunity to a band you think deserves
without fail and wash away our sins.
that chance. Enter Sponsor.
It’s ironic that we are ignoring the sponWe no longer have to put in as much of an
sorships that we were so desperate for
effort to make a gig happen. Money does
back in the day. Control ALT Delete is
most of the talking. At the same time you
being ironically and voluntarily poor. Its
are happy that you are making a living out
one gig that will never sell out. It will
of it. Sounds boring right?
never have to do anything that it doesn’t
want to do. It will always remain a collec-
Control ALT Delete
tive and a non-profit entity because you
Reset. Even if it is just for one gig every
know, fuck profits. Let’s just have a show
year. Let’s do things the way we do it best.
for once that we would like to organize the
We earn enough to give something back.
way we want to. Paise to aate jaate rahenge!
24
THE SCENE
IS DEAD
Injuries from clumsy pits were proudly
worn as battle scars and passing out at
Kanjur Marg station was an exalted experience shared by a few Black T shirts.
Change is a bitch.
by Nikhil Udupa
We've moved on and how. From being
Nostalgia is an unpredictable drug. There
proud outcasts we somehow find ourselves
are times when it's acts as an upper, when
in a position of being perceived custodians
you sit down and think about how far we
of cool . Same shit, different packaging.
have come. It becomes a lonesome downer
when you think about whether this is
The faithful few who came to see, find
where we wanted to be.
themselves doing gigs where others come
to be seen. All of us have been guilty of
As one of the anonymous front row of
peddling nostalgia, making passion a
kids at Rang Bhawan, I scarcely have
commodity, making edgy acceptable and
thought that a day would come when it
bundling everything off to the highest
would be possible to hold down a day job,
bidder. It's all being lapped up by a genera-
exclusively working towards expanding
tion of Vans wearing, Bukowski quoting
the independent music scene in India.
kids. Nobody seems to mind. Neither do I.
Drunk on cheap alcohol and high on
It still happens to be cool.
cheaper weed, we lived for a moment of
release provided by our everyday heroes
In pursuit of a bigger movement, there
strutting on stage, screaming out their
now exists a fractured collective of niches
songs on bad sound rigs. The beauty of
all feeding off each other and trying to
that moment was in its imperfections, its
out-cool each other at the same time.
lack of a vision and that moment of
Nowhere is it more evident than in the
instant gratification that made you beg,
evolution of the independent alt audience.
borrow or steal money from folks so that
Everyone wants to consume everything at
you could haul your ass halfway across
the same time. I cannot pinpoint a sound
town to listen to your favorite band
that works because the same kid I saw
butcher a Pantera song.
rocking out to Nucleya's bass mix of
25
Choli Ke Peeche was having a conversation
of loyalty to any scene related alliances.
with me, at a Reverse Polarity gig, about
This was a new experience that was fasci-
Protest the Hero's recent crowdfunding
nating and strangely unsettling to old
campaign. Our conversation was inter-
timers who stayed around to watch Split
rupted by a lady asking us for the correct
and Blakc.
hashtag to be used at the gig. We never
got to finish our conversation. I accepted
It helped me shed the unjustified sense of
the end of this interesting conversation,
entitlement I had towards this scene. Shed
considering the glaringly obvious victory
the cockiness that came along with being a
that metal gigs had become accessible to
part of this environment when it did not
women and was being embraced beyond
change anything and seemed like it never
its niche audience, thus breaking away
would.
from the “engineering guys only” club
that it had been for all these years.
I am surrounded by less whiners and more
doers. It might not fit into my script but it
Nowhere was this transformation more
definitely is making the bigger picture
obvious than the last Control Alt Delete
happen. This sense of unpredictability and
edition (CAD 3). An over ambitious line
absolute disregard for norm and precon-
up, a lengthy gig schedule and lots of hope
ceptions is what made CAD 3 such a suc-
and blind faith. We pulled it off and learnt
cess. It heralded a new generation that
something along the way. Never had I seen
was evolving so rapidly that it could
a Bombay gig where the first five bands
almost be called fickle. It's a generation I
got more of an audience than the final,
welcome because it took change and
headlining act. This was no quirk, no twist
smacked me in the face with it and I am
of fate nor was it a case of putting up
ever grateful for that wake up call.
wrong timings. Here were 400 people
waiting to listen to a band who had one
home produced single out and were still
minors. The young bands got a reaction
that I have rarely seen Scene veterans
elicit from their well conditioned audiences. Here were people curious to listen
to new music, without the baggage of
The Scene as we knew it is dead.
26
KRANTI RECLAIMING
DISSENT
by Bhanuj Kappal
had decided to set up what we called the
Dissent Conference – a conference to
discuss ‘subaltern’ peoples’ struggles but
ones which we felt were powerful factors
in moulding our politics. Even as we
started, we knew that our goal was to
bring activists forward, to speak about
politics, not academics.
After two months of working on it (we
started sometime in February 2013), we
There’s been a lot of talk about festivals in
realized that alternate politics of the
the past couple of years. You’ve all heard
people was a rich culture, expressed in
of the NH7s and Sunburns, the Ragas-
myriad forms including songs, painting
thans and the (absolutely wonderful) Ziro
and theatre. The idea of Kranti, then, was
festival of music. Here, we talk to the
to rope together students from across the
people behind a slightly different kind of
country to screen political films, set up
festival – Kranti: the festival of dissent.
performances (where possible) and discuss
Kranti is a student initiative that aims to
the questions thrown up.
discover, celebrate and reclaim the culture
of dissent. They do this through street
Many of our personal experiences com-
plays, resistance music, political documen-
pelled us to put it together. Both Sahana
taries, photo exhibitions and conversa-
and I had internships a couple of years ago
tions with activists. We talk to Prem Prem
where coincidentally we worked on the
Ayyathurai and Sahana Mahesh, the
case of the Kabir Kala Manch. We under-
brains behind Kranti.
stood the significance of the case only
after watching Jai Bhim Comrade and
Q: What is the idea behind 'Kranti' and
realized also that the KKM case was repre-
what prompted you to put it into
sentative of a wider tendency of the
action?
Indian state, one that is called the ‘undeclared emergency’. We felt it was
Prem: Kranti was originally what we
imperative to bring this before urban
named our initiative in law school which
student audiences.
27
Q: What are some of the events that
almost in the nature of a service which is
Kranti has been a part of?
divorced from its political context.
Prem: The first Bangalore screening of
Q: Do you feel that the national envi-
Sanjay Kak’s Red Ant Dream was con-
ronment has gotten less tolerant of
ducted in NLSIU by Kranti, as was a pres-
dissent in recent years?
entation by journalist Priyanka Borpujari
on displacement in Central India. Multiple
Prem: It very obviously has. What is
documentary screenings have been con-
deeply disheartening is that we refuse to
ducted in Bombay, Pune, Mysore, Cuttack
join the dots, the increasingly frequent
as well as Bangalore itself. The Pune
instances of organised violence in differ-
screening of Jai Bhim Comrade on 22nd
ent parts of India, against women, Dalits
August 2013 by the FTII Students Asso-
or adivasis. To us at Kranti, our fear is that
ciation along with Yugpath was also coor-
the equation of nationalism with national
dinated by us. By then we had already
security in an increasingly militarized
confirmed a KKM performance in Banga-
state means governance which is far too
lore and the Pune team was excited to
comfortable with fascist tendencies. It is
extend a platform to them, too. That was
something we must recognize and declare
the event which was attacked by the ABVP,
our resistance against.
something that added a sense of defiance
to our activities.
Q: Are there any particular incidents
that have either challenged or inspired
Q: Is there a strong culture of dissent or
you on the way?
political engagement at NLS?
Sahana: Over the five years that I spent in
Prem: In fact, there is nearly no culture of
college, I was fortunate enough to be
dissent or political engagement at NLSIU.
involved in some incredible projects that
If at all, student cells are set up to give
took me to spaces that opened me up to
recommendations on bills to the legisla-
very different and difficult and brave lives.
tive bodies, or there is a legal services
The Legal Services Clinic in college always
clinic which spreads legal awareness and
helped me connect with new people, in
enables legal aid. But the problem is that
other 'classes' of society as they put it.
this engagement is extremely sanitized
Some of my friends are involved in queer
28
politics, some in gender politics, others in
understanding caste - and so identity
politics has been playing on my mind for
long. My internships however helped me
the most. I worked with MKSS in Rajasthan in my first year but understood very
little of the power of peoples' politics at
the time, although it was a start. Over the
next few years, I worked with lawyers in
Delhi and Bombay who do some incredible
work defending people whose politics
aren't always favourable with the State,
but are powerful and relevant nonetheless. My time in Chhattisgarh with Janhit
and the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha really
helped me make the shift mentally, to not
just sit on the sidelines and watch as
dissent brews in some spaces...but to find
solidarity, raise awareness and mobilise
students to be sensitive to political issues.
Having found a team with similar passion
commitments and plan for the future. We
made it possible to work on an idea like
have also come under a disconcerting (for
Kranti.
first-timers) amount of surveillance and
so will have to understand what is the
Q: What lies in the future for 'Kranti'?
most intelligent way to ask uncomfortable
political questions in a time like ours.
Prem: The future for Kranti is slightly
unclear at the moment – we have been
overwhelmed by the response and support
we got from many activist and student
circles. It tells us that a lot is possible, but
we realize also that we need to be
extremely responsible in the way we make
11
BC/MC
RECOMMENDS
country, making Bomb Thursdays one of
your best options to discover the next big
thing. They’re also indie as hell, with a
venue that has the perfect (read bizarre)
ambiencef or an underground indie gig.
Documentary
Jai Bhim Comrade – Anand Patwardhan
Album
Anand Patwardhan has been making some
Hoirong – The Resurrection of the Princess of
of the country’s best political documenta-
Woe and Her Vampire Hound Posse
ries for decades. His latest ‘Jai Bhim Com-
If there’s one indie album you hear this
rade’ is a film about Dalit protest music
year, make sure it’s this one. The dearly
that took 14 years to complete. The basic
departed Lounge Piranha’s Kamal Singh
premise of the film is the police firing at
recorded this gorgeous noise-pop (or
Ramabai Colony, Ghatkopar, in 1997
disco-punk) record on an old Dell laptop
which led Patwardhan’s friend and Dalit
and pirated software and it sounds better
poet-activist Vilas Ghogre to commit
than any Yash Raj Studios album I’ve ever
suicide in despair. From there, Patward-
heard. Singh creates the most beautiful
han explores not only the long tradition of
little pop melodies and then offers them
Dalit protest music, but the big and small
up as a sacrifice to the rapacious gods of
injustices that Dalits face to this day and
noise and dissonance. And he can write a
the tension between Dalits and the class
mean hook too. 10 bonus points if you can
warriors of the Left. Insightful, engaging,
figure out which song is about Swarathma.
and full to the brim with wonderful and
heartbreaking music.
Gig
Bomb Thursdays at Kino 108
Artist
This is the gig you go to if you want to see
Sahej Rahal
the bands that will play the next Control
He’s been called the art world’s next big
Alt Delete, or even the next Weekender.
star by Mumbaiboss. He’s done residen-
Rishu and Aditi Singh’s ennuidotbomb
cies at Gasworks (London) and Khoj and is
specializes in finding and promoting
currently in Rome for another residency
young alternative talent from across the
with ZegnaArt Public. His first solo show
29
at Chatterjee & Lal, which just ended, got
great reviews from all corners. Rahal
mixes performance art and story-telling
with a penchant for found objects that he
transforms into unsettling alien sculptures. He’s an artist committed to the idea
that art should be accessible to the general
public and part of his practice involves
dressing up in strange, Wild Things-esque
ensembles and turning up at skywalks or
subways to engage with daily commuters.
Keep an eye out for his next show.