page1:Layout 1.qxd - Asian College of Journalism

Saturday
February 27, 2010
8 pages
LAB JOURNAL OF THE ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM
Art and ink by the roadside
PHOTO: SOPHIA STEPHEN
A ‘HOLI’DAY WELL
SPENT: Students of ACJ get
together to celebrate the festival of colours on campus.
Page 02
MAHABALIPURAM INK: For them it's a dusty white bottle of disinfectant, a needle that may have seen many a dermis and an open air
tattoo studio. Artists who offer such services, quintessentially covered in samples of their own art, come to Mahabalipuram once a year during
the festival of Masimagam and offer the lesser known five rupee tattoos.
More pictures, full story, Page 07
BUENA COMIDA: Veeksha
Vagmita enjoys an afternoon of
Mexican food as she checks out
the restaurant, Don Pepe.
Page 06
Moonlight Prowl: Keeping peace
VENKAT DESIRAZU
Chennai: For sub inspector
P.Hariharan, head constable
P.Sampath Kumar and constable A
Manikam, duty begins when the
sun goes down. They are members
of the night patrol squad from the
J2 Adyar police station. Their job
is to the comb the streets through
the night and ensure that there is
peace and order.
On a Saturday night when we
joined the team informally, most of
the city was unwinding after a long
week of work. For the patrol
squad, the longest work day of the
week had just begun.
During the course of the night,
we were acquainted with drunks
and junkies all sauntering home
after bouts of heavy drinking and
merry-making.
Midnight - the time for shops and
restaurants to down their shutters is when the work is at its peak. In
the next one hour we travelled to
all the major commercial establishments, with the police party
ensuring that the crowds were
cleared and the shops closed.
When the squad car visits an
area, it signs in a register stating
that it has visited the area. This
includes ATM's, banks, religious
institutions as well as any residences with private security.
During the entire eight hours
that we spent in the squad car,
there was a constant chatter on the
police radio and motivation and
advice from range officers. Almost
all parts of the city were in touch
with one another through the
radios.
"One part of this job is to be
aware and alert. Within just a
month of patrolling areas we are
able to identify which vehicle
belongs to which house and who
goes where and comes back at
what time" says Sampath.
After stopping for an attempted
motorcycle theft in progress, we
returned to the station to recharge
the walkie talkies when a call came
over the radio of a disturbance out-
side a popular commercial establishment in Indira Nagar. It turned
out to be a drunk and deranged
man throwing stones on the road.
The police "dealt" with man and
drove him away even, and joked
about pushing him just a bit more
to the next road and get rid of their
problem: the next roads falls outside their limit and in Kotturpuram
police station!
As the first rays of dawn were
breaking out and we were planning
to call it a day, we saw a transformation in the scene. On the same
stretch where there were random
drunk men passed out a few hours
ago we saw joggers in full sports
attire heralding a new dawn.
AND THE OSCAR GOES
TO: Review of Up in the Air
and An Education with the
run up to the Academy
Awards.
Page 08
2
THE WORD
CITY SPEAKS
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
Crazy, colourful way to unite
Bura na maano, Holi hai!
A riot of Gulal, water balloons,
sweets and 100-odd youngsters
soaked in colours in a college campus in Chennai! The city may have
had little to do with Holi but that did
not deter the students of Asian
College of Journalism (ACJ) from
drenching themselves in colours and
fanfare on Sunday morning, a day
ahead of the festival of colours.
Holi, primarily a North Indian festival, hardly evokes the same fervour
in South India, but at the ACJ the fun
and frolic that marked the occasion
was a spectacle to behold. The students chose a Sunday to celebrate the
festival because Holi is not a red lettered day in Tamil Nadu.
A group of students who took the
initiative to organise the Holi in
advance, collected a small amount of
money from each of the hostel-mates
to buy gulal (powdered colours), balloons, pichkaari (water jets) and
sweets.
PHOTO: MOHAMMED NAIM POIA
SHILPI SAMPAD
The excitement ran high as the
packets of colours and sweets
reached the campus. No one was
willing to wait for the day-break. On
Saturday night itself the entire hostel
was throbbing with revelry and boisterousness. The organisers called the
unsuspecting boarders out of their
rooms late in the night only to dump
bucketsful of water on them. There
was no stopping the fun-crazy bandwagon.
As the D-day dawned, the students
thronged to the lawn, hollering ‘Holi
hai!’ The campus reverberated with
songs like ‘Rang Barse’, ‘Khaike
paan banaras wala’, ‘Hawa hawa’,
‘Ramta Jogi’ and other popular dance
numbers as the crowd swayed to the
music.
Faces were smeared with gulal of all
possible shades, water balloons flung
at each other, coloured water sprayed
in the air, hugs and sweets offered to
each other.All this while the intoxicating bhaang worked its own magic on
the drenched minds and bodies. By
noon, it was a hell of a difficult job to
recognise who was who.
Holi, as a festival symbolises the
victory of good over evil and what's
more important, social harmony. And
in a college where you have students
from every part of India and five
SAARC countries it was perhaps the
only occasion, by far, which successfully united all of them, transcending
all differences - age, religion, language, ethnicity and nationality.
Stars galore
T SARIKA MURTY
Myths behind Holi
SHILPI SAMPAD
There are various myths about the
origin of the festival of colours ‘Holi’,
out of which the following three are
most popular.
Hiranyakashyapu, a mighty demon
king, who had conquered heaven,
earth and hell, was infuriated by his
son Prahlad's devotion to Lord
Vishnu. He tried to kill him on several occasions but Prahlad escaped
unharmed every time. So he asked his
sister Holika, who had a boon of overcoming any fire but she was unaware
of the fact that it worked if she entered
the fire alone. She tricked the young
Prahlad to sit on her lap in a blazing
fire while he kept chanting Lord
Vishnu's
name
incessantly.
Ultimately,
Prahlad
emerged
unscathed as a reward for his true
devotion while Holika was charred to
death. Thus, ‘Holi’ comes from
Holika and is symbolic of the victory
of good over evil. Till date, people
burn effigies of Holika in huge bonfires while some fling cow dung into
the fire, hurling abuses.
Another myth concerning Holi is
about Lord Krishna and his beloved
Radha.The dark-complexioned Lord
Krishna once sprayed colour with
pichkaaris Radha and the cowherd
girls (gopis) as he was jealous of their
fair skin colour. This prank became
popular and later assumed the form of
a full-fledged festival. This legend
forms part and parcel of the Holi celebrations in the places associated with
Radha-Krishna
like
Mathura,
Vrindavan, Barsana and Nandgaon.
The third myth goes like this.
Goddess Sati, the granddaughter of
Lord Brahma, married Lord Shiva
despite her father's wishes. In a grand
yajna organised by her father, she went
uninvited, ignoring Shiva's warnings.
When her father began insulting
Shiva, she entered the fire as atonement for disobeying her husband. As
Shiva learnt of this incident, he went
into a rigorous meditation. Goddess
Sati took rebirth as Parvati, trying her
best to arouse Shiva from his penance
but in vain. She sought help from Lord
Kamadeva - the god of desire - who
shot an arrow into Shiva's chest. Shiva
was incensed and opening his third
eye, reduced Kamadeva to ashes. This
happened on the day of Holi. But with
arrow's effect, Shiva married Parvati.
Later, he revived Kamadeva and
granted him the boon of immortality.
(Information from SCFI website)
“Why are things as they are and not
otherwise?” - Johannes Kepler
The Birla Planetarium in Chennai is
a great learning experience for children and young adults alike. Apart
from cosmic and 3D shows, science
fairs and festivals are held periodically, bringing science alive to people.
Unlike classroom drudgery, the centre succeeds in igniting curiosity of
young, impressionable minds besides
spreading awareness and generating
interest among the general public
about the wonders of science.
R. Srinivasan, Scientific officer at
the Planetarium believes that the education system in the country needs to
be revamped and be more creative
and activity based rather than learning by rote. “It is some sort of
research work here. We disseminate
information apart from bringing forth
high end technology accessible to the
public,”said Mr. Srinivasan. The
Planetarium also organises special
tours. “We toured all over Tamil
Nadu to celebrate the international
year of physics,” Mr Srinivasan
added.
Admittedly, the cosmic show is the
biggest draw. With the aid of a GM II
projector and a perforated aluminium
inner dome, the show transports one
to various intriguing mysteries of the
universe. The galaxies, stars, meteoroids, planets and solar system are
explained in understandable and jargon free language. However, the
visuals and graphics tend to get repetitive after a while. The 3D show is
another crowd puller. Again, the film
leaves a lot to be desired as it lacks
the nerve-wrenching excitement that
one expects.
Nevertheless, the Planetarium is
doing a yeoman’s service in bringing
science to the masses. “It is a forum
for interacting with public and we
find that very enriching,” said Mr.
Srinivasan.
SATURDAY, FEBRURARY 27, 2010
ART AND CULTURE
Riveting numbers
Applying data to explain
social problems
SARIKA MURTY
Superfreakonomics goes against
the grain of conventional wisdom.
In an interview, Levitt said, "It's
about applying data in an unemotional way to emotional issues."
Like
its
predecessor,
Superfreakonomics is loaded with
statistics, breezy narrative and
provocative subjects to come up
with insights that seem intriguing
and shocking at best and improbable and oversimplified at worst.
Levitt and Dubner stated in
Freakonomics that economics is a
set of tools that can be applied to
different scenarios to make sense
out of events.
Only this time, the authors take
up seemingly intractable social
problems such as prostitution and
terrorism and explain the 'how' and
'why' in terms of supply, demand
and 'incentives.' Levitt in an interview said that he wanted to "strip
away the moralism" and instead
look at the economics of the situation.
For instance, there is an interesting premise of cable TV empowering rural women of India.
However, just when you tend to
agree with the authors, they turn
flippant and state that"maybe their
husbands were too busy watching
cricket."
The authors were prescient
enough to affirm in the introduction that, "many of their findings
may not be useful or even conclusive" to avoid criticism. That doesn't stop the authors from flirting
with topical issues, crunch numbers and come up with clever
insights - precisely why the book
sells.
Although the book drew flak for its
global warming scenarios with
Krugman accusing Levitt and
Dubner to have fallen "into the trap
of counterintuitiveness", the book
does make some valid points about
the incentives of doctors and legislators for doing what they do along the lines of what
Freakonomics already achieved.
Some critics have slammed the
work as 'pop psychology', while
others have praised the book for its
"innovative research and quality
investigative journalism." The reality falls somewhere in between.
It's definitely an unputdownable
read and has till date sold millions
of copies and continues to attract
readers. If that's the measure of
success, surely the book does not
disappoint. But then again, do
numbers explain everything?
THE WORD
3
Tradition's modern spin
VASUDHA VENUGOPAL
The Chennai silk industry has
taken its traditional image to a different level. When Pothys, a silk
house in Chennai, introduced its
new range of silk sarees,
'Vastrakala', last year, the innovative attire garnered much appreciation with models sashaying down
the ramp donning the creations of
top fashion designers like Rohit
Bal and Tarun Tahiliani.
Among off-shoulder gowns and
patchwork lehengas, the very traditional, South Indian silk or pattu
saree with an innovative touch
stood out and grabbed eyeballs.
Not just Pothys, a visit to T.Nagar
promises a choice of a minimum of
20 reputed silk sari stores. Many of
Chennai's silk saree brands that
have existed for nearly a century
have been inspired to take to the
ramp to promote their creations.
From embracing 'designer' patterns
to employing modern technology
in marketing and weaving, they
have metamorphosed into popular
brands while retaining their traditional charm. Vying with one
another to give customers something new, they have borrowed
freely from art, astrology, mythology, history, the world of fairy tales
and fused the traditional with the
modern, leaving the buyer with a
mind-boggling variety.
Many of these shops have their
own design and weaving centres.
Innovation, experimentation with
new designs and colour combinations, gracious customer service
and maintaining of excellent client
rapport seem to be the key factors
for their sustained growth. The
shops stock a wide variety of
glamorous sarees, from embroidered georgette and embellished
chiffon to gaily printed and designer sarees one of a kind.
K. Viswanathan of RmKV says,
"All our sarees are based on different
themes.
Meticulously
researched by our team, they take
shape in our design studio. In addi-
A visit to T. Nagar
promises a choice
of a minimum of 20
reputed silk sari
stores. Vying with
one another to give
customers something new, they
have borrowed
freely from art,
astrology, mythology, history and the
world of fairy tales.
tion, they are carefully woven on
our own looms by handpicked
master craftsmen, who use special
zari and high quality Chitlaghatta
silk."
For the Zodiac sari, he says, the
research team travelled to the
Avudaiyar Koil, where you can
find the sculptures depicting the 12
Zodiac signs and the 27
Nakshatras.
'Designer' sarees being the latest
trend among fashion houses in
India, the Nallis and the RmKVs
have also introduced an interesting
range of crepes, chiffons and georgettes with sequins, kundan and
embroidery to cater to the modern
Indian women who want to be suitably dressed for a board meeting
as well as a cocktail party.
Sri Kumarans, another saree
house in Chennai, claims to have
introduced the world's first colourchanging saree that brings out two
different hues - one indoors and
one outdoors. The 'Zip and Match'
sarees allow you to zip up various
pallus to your saree to give it a
completely different look. What's
more, there is a pocket saree, 3-D
saree and denim saree. RmKV's
other offering is the Jugalbandhi
sari which fuses South Indian
Kanchi silk sari with North Indian
handwork that includes kundan
work, bead work and Parsi embroidery.
Ms.Radha Kannan, 35, a management consultant and a shopper at
Pothys picked up a peach sari with
elaborate works of Swarovski crystals and remarked that the 'Vastra
Kala Pattu' sari would revive and
popularise the artistic tradition of
India. Talking of prices, your budget is the limit. Simple, elegant
lightweight silk sarees can be purchased for as less as Rs.750/- and
an authentic silk sari can cost up to
one lakh. The price depends on the
silk purity, intricate designs and
embellishments. Hit or miss, the
six-yard wonder has sure come a
long way!
VEEKSHA VAGMITA
Santosh Andadre, a young artist
from central India, has established
his individuality of expression in
his first solo exhibition in Chennai.
He is able to seamlessly blend
‘madhubani’ folk art form from
Bihar with scenes from rustic life.
With his inimitable style, he is able
to juxtapose mundane reality with
this art form.
He uses vibrant colours that
enhance the impact of his paintings. He deftly combines scenes
from everyday life with this intri-
cate art form by showing doors or
windows adorned with “madhubani” paintings.
About his work the artist says,
“Right from my childhood, my
attention has been drawn more
towards different facets of poverty
and penury, the darkened faces of
those labourers and workers in the
rural areas who toil day in and day
out, the rural women folk and their
strain and so on.”
The exhibition will be held from
February 18 to February 27 at
Apparao
Galleries
in
Nungambakkam.
PHOTO:VEEKSHA VAGMITA
Resurrecting rural life through art
Fusing Madhubani folk art form with mundane reality
4
NEWS
THE WORD
J’accuse: Ajith
VARDHINI N C
He came. He saw. He stole
the show. Call it an emotional outburst or a candid
opinion, Ajith's fiery
speech at the felicitation
ceremony
of
M
Karunanidhi has stirred
the hornet's nest and
how! The actor's short
and
stoic
tirade
beseeching politicians
not to force unwilling
actors into taking a stand
on socio-political issues
came as a bolt from the blue
on the eve of the glitzy
event. If only the actor's new
movie 'Asal' has half the masala
of the show, it is sure to set the
box office on fire!While Ajith was
gracious enough to heap encomiums on Karunanidhi for allocating
land for the Tamil film industry, he
lost no time in pointing out that
celebrities were unfairly labelled as
traitors if they didn't show their
allegiance to state government. In a
not-so-veiled fashion, he also made
a mention of Cauvery problem and
the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
The supposed 'support' of influential Kollywood celebrities for these
sensitive issues and the hullaballo
that ensued now seem
stage managed
and orchestrated by
the state
government. It is
a shame that
Ajith is the
lone voice in a crowd of sycophants. Clearly, Rajnikanth's standing ovation for him is well justified!Ajith's iron will, steely conviction and determination shone
through eclipsing all the other
stage buffonery. Ajith has played
the 'wronged hero who spoke for
his ilk' in movies like 'Citizen' and
'Red'. He has also been lauded by
critics and his fans for the same.
But clearly this is one heartfelt
performance that we won't forget too soon. And for valid reasons too.The event may have
had all the ingredients of a regular Kollywood pot-boiler but not
all relished it-as was evident from
its aftermath. Major film bodies,
including artistes' associations
have demanded that Ajith
apologise to the Tamil
film fraternity for hurting their feelings. This
has caused the actor to
slip into a diplomatic
mode which has
won the favour of
the now-placated
Chief Ministerdampening what
might have been a
heated
verbal
duel.As for the
coverage of the event by Kalaignar
TV, what's the song and dance
about anyway? The truly 'sensational' portions have conveniently
been done away with. And we are
subjected to a false show of a picture perfect ceremony. Typical!
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
Navalloor Farm
One of the temporary tanks where Spirulina is bred.
Vijaykant, the supervisor, cleaning one of the tanks.
PHOTOS: PRAMOD MATHEW
Story below...
Cultivating new life in an alien land
PRAMOD MATHEW
Navalloor,
Kancheepuram:
"When the elephants fight, it's the
grass that's trampled," says Retna
Raja Singham; Program Co-ordinator , Nallayan Research center for
sustainable
development.
The center, known to the locals of
Navalloor
village
in
Kancheepuram as Ceylon farm, is
home to 20 Tamil refugees from
Srilanka. Miles away from home
and longing to return to their motherland, these men and women, victims of the civil war, toil on the 10
acres of farmland from sunrise to
sunset.
Apart from the cultivation of rice
and mushroom; cattle and fowl are
also bred. This reporter recalls with
gratitude how the inhabitants treat-
ed him to a lunch time feast of rice,
eggs
and
chicken.
The trade mark culture, however,
is Spirulina (scientific name:
Arthro spira platensis) a blue-green
algae that thrives at temperatures
between 25 and 35 degrees centigrade.
Rich in protein and requiring bare
little beyond the initial investment,
the food supplement is packaged
here and distributed across the 115
Srilankan refugee camps in Tamil
Nadu.
Mr. Retna Raja Singham, said the
idea of cultivating Spirulina arose
when officials from the UN's Food
and Agricultural organization
(FAO) identified nutrient deficiency to be rampant among the
refugees.
The first batch received their
training in Spirulina cultivation
from Madurai and the project was
implemented in the Ceylon farm,
run by Organisation for Eelam
Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR),
in
2002.
Recently OfERR has also begun
to distribute spirulina to the
Tsunami refugee camps in
Kadaloor,
Nagapatnam
and
Kanyakumari.
"This is our way of showing gratitude, to our brothers and sisters of
Tamil Nadu who have offered us
shelter in times of war."
The alga is cultivated in 15 large
tanks of which three are permanent
concrete
ones.
While the temporary ones, made
of tarpaulin and wooden frames,
hold 3600 litres of water.
The permanent ones, which
breeds the mother culture, hold an
additional 400 litres. The water has
to be maintained at a height of 23
cm in the summer and 20 cm in the
winter. Each tank gives a yield of 3
kg
of
algae
a
day.
The spirulina, which is harvested
at around 5am in the morning, is
then wrapped in muslin and
pressed to drain the excess water
and then sun dried before it is sent
for testing in Pondicherry. The
powder is then packaged and distributed. Spirulina can be consumed by mixing with water. The
breeding of the same requires constant attention as the culture needs
to be agitated once every hour, and
the temperature and height of the
water are to be maintained .
Vijaykant, who arrived in India in
1990 as a child and a graduate in
micro-biology from Bharatidasan
University, supervises the spirulina
cultivation
at
the
farm.
"It is hard work and requires constant attention, yet we are glad that
we have a means of livelihood far
away from our motherland."
One kilogram of dry spirulina
costs Rs.1250 in the market and the
farm has a turn over of Rs.60,000 a
month from the cultivation, of
which nearly half is profit.
Chatting with the inhabitants of
the farm, one confronts the distress
that -someone else's- war has on
the lives of ordinary civilians.
These are the grass that are tarmpled. But they refuse to die despite
being caught in the fight of the
mammoth elephants. Atleast for the
moment they have passed the crucial test called-‘Survival’.
PAISA VASOOL
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27,2010
THE WORD
5
PHOTO: WWW.CARTOONSTOCK.COM
Budget 2010: the bull charges again
TOMOJIT BASU
As a key member of Indian society,
the reaction of the housewife will
be a mixed one to Pranab
Mukherjee's Union Budget for
2010-11. How has this edition
affected the typical Indian household?
To begin with, the Budget this
And he spake
Here are snatches from
Pranab Da’s speech that
highlighted the Budget
2010:
"The first challenge is to return
the GDP growth rate of 9 percent
per annum at the earliest."
"The second challenge is to
deepen and broaden the agenda for
inclusive development."
"There are signs of revival in
domestic industry and foreign
investors have also returned to
Indian markets in the last couple of
months."
"While retaining at least 51 percent government equity in our
enterprises, I propose to encourage
a people's participation in our disinvestment programme."
"It is possible that the two worst
quarters since the global financial
meltdown in September 2008 are
behind us."
"While the global financial condition has shown improvement
over the recent month, uncertainty
relating to the revival of the global
economy remains. We cannot,
therefore, afford to drop our guard.
"We have to continue our efforts
to provide further stimulus to the
economy."
"It is important to recognise that
almost three quarters of our oil
consumption makes through
imports. Domestic prices of petrol
and diesel have to be brought in
sync with the global prices of these
items."
"Governnment will set up an
expert group to advise for a viable
and sustainable system of pricing
petroleum products.
"The public sector undertakings
are the wealth of the nation and
part of this wealth should rest in
the hands of the people."
year finally complied with the
request from electric vehicle manufacturers and duty on components
required to manufacture such vehicles has been reduced to four per
cent. The finished vehicles will
also suffer only four per cent duty.
For the kitchen, the duty on the
key component of the microwave
known as Magnetron has been
reduced from ten per cent to five
per cent thus reducing the overall
cost of microwaves. The duties on
pepper and asafetida have also
been reduced drastically (70 per
cent to 30 per cent and 30 per cent
to 20 per cent respectively).
Reverse-Osmosis based water-filter kits will also cost with the duty
having been reduced to four per
cent, ensuring more availability of
clean drinking water. Household
maintenance too is set to become
cheaper as goods under the
Medicinal and Toilet Preparation
heading will suffer less tax at ten
per cent from the present 16 per
cent.
With more money available in
the husband's wallet due to the personal income tax slabs being
increased as well as the investment
limit for tax exemption seeing a
raise from Rs. 1.2 lakh with 20,000
in infrastructure bonds which
means greater disposable income,
shopping is set to rise.
The duties for mobile phone
accessories made in India have
been reduced to zero and goods
imported for retail sale in pre-packaged condition are exempt from
special additional duty. Hence
watches, mobile phones and readymade garments will get this exemption even if they are not prepacked. Gold will cost lesser in the
long run as the duty on gold-ore
and refines has been moved from
ad valorem rates (in per cent) to
specific duties (Rs. per gram).
Thus, the tax will not go up even if
the base price of gold increases in
the long run.
However, there are reasons why
the Budget 2010 will leave lesser
balance in the monthly budget for
the housewife too. The cost of
petrol and diesel will jump due to
the imposition of customs and
excise duties on crude and petrol
and diesel which mean a cut-down
on unnecessary vehicular travel.
The cost of most goods is set to go
up with the basic excise duty having been increased from eight per
cent to ten per cent. This will have
a compounding effect on almost all
goods.
Further, automobile makers have
said that they will be increasing the
prices after the higher tax rate will
be implemented. The cost of
cement is set to rise. Electricity
may cost more as there is an additional duty on coal. All commodities like steel, copper, plastics, etc
are going to cost more. This in turn
will make all white goods including TVs, washing machines,
fridges, food processors and
grinders cost more. Holiday travel
will cost more. Although air travel
in India competed with railways for
a few years in the past, their advantage is withdrawn by making all
classes of air travel pay service tax.
Thus, though the list is longer for
the reasons to cheer, the housewife
will be left with lesser cash in hand
at the end of the month because of
the higher cost for most day-to-day
commodities that she will have to
buy. The end of the month is set to
be a trying time for the average
household.
Expert speak on the budget
What does the budget actually tell us? Experts on the
subject explain the ups and downs of Budget 2010.
“By now, taking the Finance Minister’s words as gospel truth, the opinion
of ‘elite India’ has been sealed in favour of the Budget. Of course, the
‘other India’ has no instant opinion to express; already reeling under high
inflation, to counter which there is no measure in the Finance Minister’s
speech, it has only to experience in the days to come what the Budget will
actually do to them.” - S Gurumurthy, The Indian Express
“To start with, how far has the Finance Minister gone in sustaining expenditures and pushing his objective of being more inclusive? And, to the extent
he has, how has he mobilised the requisite resources and what are the resulting implications? We need not wait till the revised estimates come next year
to conclude that this is by no means the true picture.” - CP Chandrasekhar,
The Hindu
The failure of the pipeline to funnel tax-payer money to where it should go
is the reason that most tax-payers remain hugely cynical about the budget.
The average comment I heard before this Budget still hovered around the
expectation. This is misplaced as income tax rates have been going down for
the last few years and India has a fairly low average income tax rate at many
tax slabs. - Monika Halan, Mint
6
THE WORD
FOOD & DRINK
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
Some beer for your bones
SREECHETA DAS
Here's some good news for beerlovers -- a recent research has
revealed that beer is rich in nutrients that boost bones, which
means that beer drinkers are least
likely to suffer from osteoporosis.
Also, the research suggested that
the drink is capable of fending off
brittle bones especially in women.
"Beer contains high quantity of
barley, which is rich in silicon,
which in turn reduces bone thinning, fracture formation, and
induces formation of new bones,"
said Charles Bamford, lead author
of the study. A member of the
National Osteoporosis Society, Dr.
Claire something said that the
society welcomes measures to
enhance bone health. But, it does
not recommend anyone to increase
alcohol consumption on the basis
of this study. Higher quantity of
alcohol reduces bone strength.
Warning that the converse could
happen due to over-consumption,
Dr. Jayalaxmi Shreedhar said,"I
am not familiar with the research,
but had I been a beer drinker, I
would've wanted to know what
kind of beer is ideal to take, over
what duration and in what way
that would benefit.
I believe that beer alone wouldn't
do the trick-one has to have adequate quantities of calcium and
phosphorous-rich healthy diet, and
practice some exercise to ensure
blood flow to the bones.”
Emphasizing that she does have a
lot of respect for the research-procedures of the National Osteoporosis
Society.
She added that we need to know
whether this is a one-off study within
a small group of people and whether
the sample-size was large enough to
come to a generalized conclusion.
However, the youngsters are divided in their opinion on the new finding.
Yoshita, a student of the Asian
College of Journalism believes that
beer companies are going to make
a lot of money with the potential
good-effects of beer being scientif-
Mexico
on a plate
VEEKSHA VAGMITA
GOOGLE IMAGES
Beer-drinkers face less chances of contracting osteoporosis
ically proven. She said, "People
will have an excuse to go out and
buy booze more often. But, a lot of
bad quality alcohol can harm your
system a lot more than it can cure."
Another student, Karthik, said,
"We know the side-effects like
liver inflammation and higher bil-
lirubin count. So, let's drink moderately."
However, some people are oblivious to any debate on health-issues
and want to enjoy themselves on
this pretext. A member of this category, Arpita said "In that case I'm
going to load my fridge with beer."
To relish Mexican cuisine, Don
Pepe on Cathedral Road is the
right place.
The place is elegantly
designed with simple and unobtrusive wooden furniture. The
"veg nachos" with crunchy tortilla chips stuffed with melted
cottage cheese is a great starter.
Their exclusive selection of
European favourites with a
Mexican influence is a must try.
The "veg priyazo" which consists of grilled baby corn, cottage cheese, capsicum, tomatoes and onions cooked in
creamy black pepper sauce and
served with garlic bread and
rice is exquisite.
The strawberry cheese cake
topped with ice-cream dripping
with strawberry syrup makes
for a good dessert. With its
scrumptious and adventurous
dishes, Don Pepe is an ideal
place for those who want to try
something new.
Oh, the things we eat for love!
TOMOJIT BASU
While many use a potent cologne
and queue up some smooth tunes,
others find it increasingly suited to
feast on a healthy mix of vegetables
to inspire magic in the bedroom.
The concept of the aphrodisiac-a
substance that, when consumed,
enhances sexual performanceexists in almost every culture, and
dates back as far as the ancient civilizations of Greece and Egypt.
Historically, foods that mimicked
certain body parts were believed to
aid those same body parts, including, you guessed it, sexual organs.
Herbalists refer to this as the 'doc-
many in the ancient world believed
that walnuts and liverworts aided
the brain and liver while the kela
GOOGLE IMAGES
Brinjals are being increasingly used to inspire magic in bed
trine of signatures' which is why
and the baingan was good for the
male libido.
Several others make the rank of
being able to enhance wizardry in
the sack - black beans, figs, strawberries and almonds among others some with scientific reasoning. For
example, the enzyme Bromelain
present in bananas and an amino
acid called Tryptophan which
occur in black beans both have
been shown to have the characteristics of increasing sexual health and
acting as a relaxant. The brinjal has
been used for centuries by adventurous Russians in the form of a
slimy mix with garlic and olive-oil.
Slimy, in this case connotes intercourse. Surprise.
Despite minimal medical evidence to back the claim that numerous vegetables can actually serve
the function of spicing up the
evenings,
many
choose to
embrace the belief that they help
burgeon one's amorous passion.
Ultimately, the power of suggestion (and some wishful thinking)
drives the effectiveness of aphrodisiacs. What really counts is the
imagination.
POT POURRI
THE WORD
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
7
SOPHIA STEPHEN
PHOTO- SOPHIA STEPHEN
Things to ensure at a tattoo parlour before getting that long awaited permanent ink; An ultrasonic
cleaner which uses ultrasound to
clean delicate instruments, an
autoclave which further sterilizes
the equipment, disposable needles
and surgical gloves.
For those who can't afford the
exorbitant Rs. 3000 for a square
centimeter of ink though, 'luxuries'
like ultra sonic cleaners, autoclaves and surgical gloves are as
foreign a concept as five rupee tattoos are to us. For them it's a dusty
white bottle of disinfectant, a needle that may have seen many a dermis and an open air tattoo studio.
Artists who offer such services,
quintessentially covered in samples of their own art, come to
Mahabalipuram once a year during
the festival of Masimagam. At this
time of the year, devotees flock
towards the Shore Temple and the
beaches near there as they believe
that the sea waters are graced by
Swami Perumal.
The roads towards the temple are
chock-a-block with followers and
tourists alike; the everyday
seafood stalls become mere
onlookers while the pavements fill
with newer stalls selling everything from dry fruits to catapults.
The crowds further thicken closer
to the temple gates as this is where
the much sought after tattoo artists
pitch their tents.
There are at least 10 'parlours'
Woman looking away as she gets tatooed
here and the men and women waiting in line far outnumber those
waiting to enter the famed temple.
The customers squat on the
ground in front of the stall, looking
away from the painful process as
artists sketch their choice of design
onto their skin with tattoo pens
attached to car batteries."I charge
Rs.5 per letter depending on the
size. Sometimes I even charge
Rs.10 for very big letters," says
Shankar, who, judging by the large
crowd around his stall, is evidently
the most popular artist this year.
He wipes his face with the back of
a dust-covered hand that holds the
tattoo pen and gestures around the
sandy surroundings while trying to
assure everyone that the process is
safe and hygienic.
The most common designs, he
says, displaying a piece of paper
that acts as his catalogue, are ones
with god names. A tattoo artist
earns as much as Rs.700 a day.
Assuming each person gets a tattoo consisting of six letters, the
average number of customers
amount to around 23 persons.
Twenty three customers a day,
who flaunt their newly acquired
and supposedly religious body art,
seemingly unfettered or maybe
even unaware of any risk of infections or hazards; a far cry from the
air conditioned safety of Rs. 3000
and upwards.
IPL 2010 to be played in 90 mm
SREECHETA DAS
With IPL 2010 just a few days
away, cricket fans have more reasons to rejoice. UFO Moviez, a digital satellite cinema network is
bringing IPL 2010 matches live in
cinema halls for the first time in the
country. The company has decided
to show the matches in thousand
cinemas. Till date it has signed over
550 screens, out of which about 200
are multiplexes including Cinemax,
INOX, Fame and PVR among others. DLF IPL matches are beginning
from
12
March,
2010.
Joint Managing Director of the
company said, “We are proud to
introduce this pioneering concept,
with which we have got into strate-
gic alliances with several theatres
across the country. It includes tier II
and III cities. As no major
Bollywood films will be released
during this IPL, this will serve as
profitable revenue-earning alternative”
However, this move has kept up
with IPL’s tradition of generating
controversy. Mentioning that the
city already has several sports bars
like Blitz, etc, Shruthi, a young
sports enthusiast, said,”Why would I
pay to watch something which I can
anyway watch at home for free?”
Alok feels that this is just a marketing strategy.
Pooja thinks very differently:”It is
definitely a good thing for IPLlovers, as friends can enjoy matches
together. Screening it in multiplexes
is a marketing masterstroke.”
Still some others like Rhea crib
about the number of shows of the
movies being reduced because of the
cricket-fever. In fact, hampered
business for the movie industry is
one big concern. According to news
reports, IPL did affect them during
the last two seasons. When contacted, officials at INOX and Sathyam
cinemas refused to comment on the
issue.
As of now, we can only speculate
whether this move has been a good
thing or a bad one. The results would
be apparent only after the series is
over. Till then, all you cricket-lovers
out there, go to the theatres and
enjoy IPL 2010 in a different way.
PHOTO-VENKAT DESIRAZU
Darker shade of body art I dream of Auto
Revamped Mitsubishi Pajero at the Times Auto Expo,Chennai
VENKAT DESIRAZU
It was upon a chance encounter
that I happened to see a full page
advert for a car expo taking place
near my house. As a life long vehicle enthusiast this was an opportunity that was too good to miss.
I was having an odd thought
process as I entered the expo
grounds on one hand it would be
the first time I would be going to a
vehicle exhibition in my twenty
two years of existence. On the
other hand this was Chennai
city….as much as I loved the place
it never ceased to raise my expectations and then make me throw
them out of the window.
The first thing that struck me was
the fact that the exhibition was
really small and had more people
than cars. Just
outside
the
arena was a
giant Cadillac
Escalade SUV
in true Indian
fashion people
we
making
funny poses
standing next
to the car.
Imported from Dubai it was a really massive vehicle with tires the
size of a small dish antenna.
Our first stop inside the arena
was at the Harley Davidson stand.
It had a single Motorcycle on display but that was more than
enough to pull in the crowds. The
Motorcycle was long and had an
imposing presence, what struck me
the most was that the motorcycle
had a CD player and two large
speakers built in, it struck me that
Motorcycles In America were
miles ahead of anything that we
had.
The exhibition was dominated by
small manufacturers showing off
some heavy car accessories which
in some cases were almost the cost
of the car they had been put on.
Right beside them were students
from various regional engineering
colleges displaying hand built sand
buggies. Built on a small budget
and with Maximum technical acumen these vehicles contrasted the
accessories stand in almost perfect
harmony giving us a perfect lesson
“it’s not the size that matters but
how you use it”.
In the center of the Arena was a
spanking new Mercedes Benz
complete with an
“auto box” and
tanned leather
seats (no they
were not taken
from cows that
spent a day in the
sun!!) it was like
looking at busty
Brazilian woman
on roller skates
(beauty on wheels) a feast for the
mind and body.
Ten minutes and a few maruti’s,
Hero
Honda’s,
fiats
and
Mahindra’s later were at the end of
the exhibition. I was euphorically
disappointed because I had not got
to see any super cars that I had
always dreamt of looking at but
was finally happy because I had
finally got to visit a car exhibition.
8
LAST PAGE
THE WORD
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
My uncle Oscar
Growing up pains Up In the air
Carey Mulligan as Jenny in An Education
YASODHARA RAKSHIT
If "An Education" were a book,
then the epigraph to this short, elegantly realized film would surely
be the celebrated opening couple
of stanzas from Philip Larkin's
'Annus Mirabilis':
Schoolgirl Jenny is 16 and a virgin. Sophisticated David is twice
her age and ready to pounce. The
time is 1961. The place is England
just before it learned to swing.
An Education is remarkable for
the traps it doesn't fall into. Jenny,
for all her naive impulses, isn't a
victim. She thrills to the concerts,
jazz clubs and chic restaurants on
David's merry-go-round. She
doesn't see anything devious in
David or his pals, dashing Danny
(Dominic Cooper) and his icy mistress, blond goddess Helen
(Rosamund Pike). It's testament to
screenwriter Nick Hornby (my
eyes lit up as I saw his name in the
opening credits) that Jenny isn't
completely overwhelmed by the
sparkling, alien world she encounters. She holds her own in conversations of art and film, she speaks
fluent French, she puts her foot
down and refuses to be deflowered
until her seventeenth birthday.
Peter Sarsgaard is wonderfully
charming, and seems to be utterly
at home in the role of an intellectual party-goer and lover of the arts.
So too, is the darker side of David
completely believable…not as a
plot point, but as a real human flaw
in someone who seemed so unflappable and too good to be true.
David could have trod the line of
being a villain at times, yet
Sarsgaard's portrayal is sadder and
truer than to let that eventuate. The
rest of the cast too, were similarly
well-cast. Alfred Molina visibly
revels in the fun of playing a character like Jack. So too, is the ever
poised and gorgeous Olivia
Williams as Miss Stubbs, Jenny's
English teacher.
The best/worst lines ever!
Louise Fletcher thanked Jack
Nicholson for making: "being in
a mental institution like being in
a mental institution."
Steven
Spielberg,
for
"Schindler's List," after years of
being passed over by the academy:"This is the best drink of
water after the longest drought of
my life."
Dianne West, on winning Best
Supporting Actress for Hannah
and Her Sisters : "Gee, this isn't
like I imagined it would be in the
bathtub."
Jessica Yu, accepting for Best
Short Subject Documentary:
"What a thrill. You know you've
entered new territory when you
realize that your outfit cost more
than your film."
Robin Williams (of course),
upon winning Best Supporting
Actor for Good Will Hunting: "I
want to thank my father, the man
who when I said I wanted to be
an actor, he said, 'Wonderful, just
have a back-up profession like
welding."
Denise Robert, who won Best
Foreign Language Film: “We're
thankful that Lord of The Rings
did not qualify in this category.”
George Clooney as Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air
SRIVIDYA IYER
Most of us do not look forward to
air travel. The cold food, the lessthan-an-arm-distance seats and
recycled oxygen is not very enjoyable. That's what makes Ryan
Bingham (George Clooney) different than most of us. For the middle
aged, good looking, corporate man
who fires people for a living,
American Airlines is home; in and
out of which he spends 322 days of
the year and the rest 43 'miserable
days' at home. He is ambitious,
articulate and loyal. He aims to hit
one million flying miles with
American Airlines.
George Clooney's persona seeps
well into Ryan's character as does
Vera Farmiga's into Alex Goran's.
She is every man's dream- good
looking, sassy, smart and casual.
Ryan and she hit it off due to their
similar careers and personalities.
She says 'Think of me as you with
a vagina.' They have a nice relationship until Ryan takes a trip
with a new Ivy league recruit in his
office Natalie Keener played by
Anna Kendrick. She makes him go
get her and confess his love.
The film is very well written and
is fresh in terms of characters, plot
and idea. The movie's unique
appeal is because it is made in the
times of recession and the slump
in the economy. Jason Reitman
portrays the irony of the situation
very well. Here is a man who travels business class, lives in swanky
five star hotels, travels to about
three cities in the duration of 24
hours to fire people from their
jobs.
Up in the Air is yet another very
entertaining, well-made tight film
from the slack resistant Jason
Reitman.