Book Talk: Rupa Bajwa on ‘Tell Me a Story’
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Eight years after her acclaimed debut with ‘The Sari Shop’, Rupa Bajwa is back with a novel about the daily lives of India’s lower middle class.
Set partly in Amritsar and partly in New Delhi, Bajwa’s ‘Tell Me a Story’ focuses on Rani, a young woman who works in the local beauty parlour and is in love with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. Rani’s dreams are shattered when her family is torn asunder in their struggle to make ends meet.
Bajwa, born in 1976, spoke to Reuters in an email interview about writing being manual labour and how Khan’s movies reflect a changing India.
Q: Are the characters and events in ‘Tell Me a Story’ based on real life?
A: “I write about what I know, about the world and people as I see them through my eyes. So, yes, it is very much real life but the characters or events are not based on actual ones.”
Q: Which character in ‘Tell Me a Story’ is closest to your own self?
A: “That is a difficult question to answer. There is a bit of me in all of them, yet they are all independent individuals who have nothing to do with me.”
Who wants to be India’s next president?
It’s probably easier for actor Amitabh Bachchan to become India’s president than your average politician.
The ruling Congress party coalition looks like it will at best limp its way to general elections in 2014, stung by a rash of corruption scandals that have tarnished Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term in office and led to a dismal performance in state assembly elections earlier this year.
Now the political establishment is abuzz about who will be the next president, a largely ceremonial post that comes open in July.
The incumbent by all accounts bears the hallmarks of the government she represents — ineffectual and damaged by accusations of corruption. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, whose tenure ends in July, was controversially allotted defence land to build a cosy retirement nest. With 12 trips overseas since taking over, she’s also racked up foreign travel bills that cost India more than 2 billion rupees ($39 million), the most by any Indian head of state.
Such lavishness has even led some to question the whole presidential institution within a parliamentary democracy. The president is the constitutional head but has limited powers, similar to that of the monarch in the United Kingdom, despite living in a 340-room palace that was once the British viceroy’s residence.
Weak as it is and with just a 30 pct share in the electoral college that selects the next president, the Congress party will struggle to impose its choice of candidate — such as current Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who is thought to covet the post — especially since most parties say the next president should not be a politician.
The name of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Patil’s more popular predecessor, is being bandied about for a second term. Scientist Kalam, often called the father of India’s missile programme, is admired for his unassuming personality. If successful, the man dubbed the “people’s president”, now 80, would be the first former president to be re-elected.
“Vicky Donor” sheds inhibitions on sperm donation
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Talking about sex is still a cultural taboo in conservative India, but a Bollywood filmmaker is hoping to usher in change with a light-hearted take on infertility and sperm donation.
“Vicky Donor”, a romantic comedy about a sought-after sperm donor at a fertility clinic, is part of a wave of recent films tackling subjects rarely addressed in Indian cinema – gay relationships, biopics on sex symbols and now sperm donation.
Indian audiences, torn between rigid social mores and the challenges of a rapidly modernising nation, have gradually accepted Bollywood films with bolder themes. But sperm donation may be pushing the limits.
“Conservative families, how they will react, I don’t know,” said the film’s director, Shoojit Sircar. “Things may change. There are chances that youngsters may tell their parents to go and watch the film.”
In January, a couple’s advertisement offering 20,000 rupees for the sperm of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus sparked an online furore.
Sircar, whose 2005 film “Yahaan” was a love story set in Kashmir, said he steered clear of adult jokes for “Vicky Donor”. “Vicky” is the name of the main character.
“Sperm donation could become a little repulsive if not presented right because it is a taboo and sperm donation straight away relates to masturbation,” the 43-year-old film-maker told Reuters in a phone interview from Mumbai.
Bollywood film sheds inhibitions on sperm donation
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Talking about sex is still a cultural taboo in conservative India, but a Bollywood filmmaker is hoping to usher in change with a light-hearted take on infertility and sperm donation.
“Vicky Donor”, a romantic comedy about a sought-after sperm donor at a fertility clinic, is part of a wave of recent films tackling subjects rarely addressed in Indian cinema – gay relationships, biopics on sex symbols and now sperm donation.
Indian audiences, torn between rigid social mores and the challenges of a rapidly modernising nation, have gradually accepted Bollywood films with bolder themes. But sperm donation may be pushing the limits.
“Conservative families, how they will react, I don’t know,” said the film’s director, Shoojit Sircar. “Things may change. There are chances that youngsters may tell their parents to go and watch the film.”
In January, a couple’s advertisement offering 20,000 rupees for the sperm of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus sparked an online furore.
Sircar, whose 2005 film “Yahaan” was a love story set in Kashmir, said he steered clear of adult jokes for “Vicky Donor”. “Vicky” is the name of the main character.
“Sperm donation could become a little repulsive if not presented right because it is a taboo and sperm donation straight away relates to masturbation,” the 43-year-old film-maker told Reuters in a phone interview from Mumbai.
Parents to get top marks for voting in UP
Students at a Lucknow college will earn extra credit if they can get their mom and dad to vote in the Uttar Pradesh state elections this month.
Getting those 10 extra marks is no easy task. A girl student at Christ Church college said she would have to work hard to push her “lazy” mother to go out on polling day but it would be worth it.
School officials insist this is no bribe, only an incentive to ensure students learn the value of their vote. At a parent-teacher conference immediately after the election, the ink-stained fingers of voting parents will show which students have succeeded in the task.
Elections in India typically see just half of the eligible voters on government lists turn up on polling day. But Uttar Pradesh has sprung a surprise this year, with around 60 percent voter turnout in the initial phases of the election, which is staggered over four weeks.
Analysts are saying young voters in the politically crucial state, which is bigger than Brazil by population, are hankering for change and coming to vote in larger numbers.
Though a higher voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh is good news for Indian democracy, it’s still not a nationwide phenomenon. Civic polls in Mumbai last week saw a voter turnout of just 46 percent, which officials said was in line with previous years, and recent local elections in other cities such as New Delhi and Chennai have shown a similar trend.
‘Come and vote’ appeals from Bollywood celebrities and media campaigns haven’t helped. To counter voter apathy, some suggest that voting should be made compulsory, as it is in Australia. Is that a practical option for India? Share your views.
Falak saga latest in India’s battle for its missing girls
A two-year-old girl battling for life in a New Delhi hospital has put the media spotlight on a sordid tale of child abuse and prostitution in the world’s biggest democracy.
Three weeks ago, a toddler with severe injuries was brought to the hospital by a teenager claiming to be her mother. The child, later named Falak (sky) by nurses, was in critical condition, with human bite marks on her body.
Her story is being played out on television screens across India, shocking viewers with images of a hapless baby hooked up to a ventilator. There are daily updates on her health, while television campaigns exhort the government to do more for abandoned children.
The case has also drawn attention to one of India’s most shameful truths — shocking levels of mistreatment and neglect of the girl child.
Media reports say the battered and bruised toddler had been abandoned by her biological mother and passed on several times before landing up in the arms of a teenager, herself a victim of abuse.
A TrustLaw survey in 2011 ranked India fourth among the world’s most dangerous countries for women — with respondents citing female foeticide, child marriage and high levels of trafficking and domestic servitude.
Falak’s mother, tracked down by police this week, was apparently unaware of the child’s condition. The young woman has a sob story of her own — lured to New Delhi with the promise of a job, nearly forced into prostitution, coerced into a second marriage and separated from her three children.
Tribal areas come alive in 80-year-old’s debut book
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – It took more than three decades for Pakistan’s Jamil Ahmad to get published. The first draft of his musings on life in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan was written in the 1970s — and then forgotten.
In “The Wandering Falcon”, published earlier this year in India and due out in the United States next month, Ahmad gives readers a rare insight into a highly traditional, honour-bound culture in the region long before the Taliban arrived, relying on what he observed as a member of Pakistan’s civil service serving in Balochistan and other provinces.
Tor Baz is the central character of Ahmad’s book and he forms a tenuous link between the nomadic tribes, their code of honour and the harsh, desolate landscape that surrounds them.
Ahmad, 80, who is now retired and lives in Islamabad, told Reuters in an email interview that the two decades he spent among the tribes were perhaps the most fulfilling of his career.
Q: It is rare to see an author make his debut in his 80s. Tell us more about how this book came about?
A: “How the book came to be written is in some ways a story by itself. In 1970, I was posted to Swat, which turned out to be a light charge. I decided to while away my spare time by writing. My wife suggested that instead of diverting myself by writing bad poetry, I should focus on writing about the tribal areas, where we had spent more than a decade of our lives. I agreed.
“She faithfully typed the pieces that I wrote on an old manual typewriter. I would occasionally tinker with the rough draft as some thoughts struck me. However, by and large, the document hibernated for about thirty years.”
Book Talk: Tribal areas come alive in 80-year-old’s debut
NEW DELHI, Sept 29 (Reuters) – It took more than three decades for Pakistan’s Jamil Ahmad to get published. The first draft of his musings on life in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan was written in the 1970s — and then forgotten.
In “The Wandering Falcon”, published earlier this year in India and due out in the United States next month, Ahmad gives readers a rare insight into a highly traditional, honour-bound culture in the region long before the Taliban arrived, relying on what he observed as a member of Pakistan’s civil service serving in Balochistan and other provinces.
Tor Baz is the central character of Ahmad’s book and he forms a tenuous link between the nomadic tribes, their code of honour and the harsh, desolate landscape that surrounds them.
Ahmad, 80, who is now retired and lives in Islamabad, told Reuters in an email interview that the two decades he spent among the tribes were perhaps the most fulfilling of his career.
Q: It is rare to see an author make his debut in his 80s. Tell us more about how this book came about?
A: “How the book came to be written is in some ways a story by itself. In 1970, I was posted to Swat, which turned out to be a light charge. I decided to while away my spare time by writing. My wife suggested that instead of diverting myself by writing bad poetry, I should focus on writing about the tribal areas, where we had spent more than a decade of our lives. I agreed.
“She faithfully typed the pieces that I wrote on an old manual typewriter. I would occasionally tinker with the rough draft as some thoughts struck me. However, by and large, the document hibernated for about thirty years.”
Chicken pox and wax dilemma inspires novel on Indian TV
NEW DELHI, June xx (Reuters Life!) – Expletive-mouthing executives obsessed with PowerPoint presentations, an incoherent female talk show host with “thunder thighs” and a prime-time news anchor desperate for a knockout story that will hold India’s attention.
All are part of Naomi Datta’s debut novel “The 6 pm slot,” which takes an irreverent look at India’s ratings-hungry television industry and gives insight into its inner workings, with character traits drawn from the author’s real-life observations. The book, which launched in India this month, started out as a short story based on an absurd work dilemma faced by the former broadcast journalist while working for a music channel. “One of our anchors contracted chicken pox and we had an emergency meeting on what we could do if the girl was not able to wax in time for the shoot,” Datta told Reuters in an email interview. “It was a very genuine problem at that time and had all of us very worried. But even at that point, I found it very amusing.” Datta added more characters and situations and the short story turned into a novel about an entertainment channel launching a ‘Love Calls’ talk show with a scantily clad host in a bid to boost ratings.
When a dying girl calls up the helpline and is rebuffed by the inexperienced host, a TV news channel desperate for a big story blows the incident out of proportion, spearheading a prime-time campaign to locate the caller. The novel doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the TV industry in India, blurring the line between news and entertainment journalism, but Datta says she didn’t really intend to scare away wannabe television reporters. “The intent was to be irreverent about television but some readers have told me that they found it rather scathing and a bit dark,” she says. “It is a satire — so I have highlighted the absurdity, and maybe that’s why it seems like a negative portrayal.” Datta, who now freelances as a consultant in Mumbai, wrote the book while on an eight-month sabbatical from work and is still excited about working on a powerful medium like TV. “If you can develop a healthy sense of detachment and a sense of humor, you should be fine,” she said.
(Editing by Henry Foy and Elaine Lies)
Book Talk: Jimmy the Terrorist in small-town India
NEW DELHI (Reuters Life!) – It took nearly a decade for Omair Ahmad’s depiction of life in small-town India to take shape as a novel after starting life as a short story.
“Jimmy the Terrorist” was first written as a short story in 2002 in an attempt to understand how riots could affect a young man growing up in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The demolition of a 16th-century mosque in the state’s Ayodhya town in 1992 triggered some of India’s worst riots that killed about 2,000 people.
Ahmad’s novel, recently launched in India, is set in the fictional town of Moazzamabad, where protagonist Jamaal grows up in a Muslim neighborhood.
Ahmad, 36, told Reuters in an e-mail interview that the new “Jimmy the Terrorist” is very different.
Q: What was the inspiration behind “Jimmy the Terrorist?” What attracted you to the story?
-
About Tony
-
Follow Tony
