Waddell’s ‘A Yank’s Memory of Calcutta’

‘A Yank’s Memory of Calcutta’, an exhibition of 60 gelatin photographs of Calcutta by Clyde Wadell is being hosted by the Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata from 8 December’2014 -24 January’2015.

Waddell’s photographs capture the eccentricities Kolkata in the early twentieth century. Away from the general tendency of artists, authors and litterateurs to slot Kolkata as a city straddling either of the two extremes of civilization – poverty or riches, cultural richness or defunct abject human condition, Waddell’s photographs give a sneek peek into the city living between these binaries. This uniqueness of his art, makes Wendell perhaps the only artist who has captured the essence of Kolkata so well.

Waddell was a Chief Photographer for the Huston Press before entering the army. He worked in the India-Burma Theater during the World War II as a part of the south east Asian front of the allied forces. In November 1943, Waddell was attached to the Public Relations Staff of the Southeast Asia Command. He served the Supreme Commander Admiral Lord Luis Mountbatten as his personal press photographer. Beginning in Ceylon, between 1943 till February 1945, Waddell accompanied Mountbatten throughout Southeast Asia visting many battle-fronts, hospital stations, and other war-afflicted areas.

In February 1945, Phoenix Magazine was formed. This was a 24 page weekly picture magazine, sponsored by the combined U.S. – British command. Waddell took leave of Mountbatten and resumed his life as a news photographer. Waddell was granted a leave after his return from the Singapore operation. In want to any assignment during that time, Clyde began clicking pictures of the erstwhile Calcutta. He ventured into some of the remotest, out-of-bound areas of Kolkata (and even on top of Calcutta’s Howrah Bridge) to click pictures. By the end of this passionate break from work, Waddell was flooded with requests from America and Britain for copies of his photographs.

The photographs at Aakriti reveal the responses of Clyde Waddell to a city experiencing a historic clash of civilizations – the east and the west. The poignant gaze of a western male on a city ravaged and plundered by the colonial exploits of Europe does not escape the ideological moorings of the images and scenes Waddell captures.

The album carries an introduction by N. Chas Preston and was dedicated to the GI agents.

Aakriti hosts the exhibition from 11 am-7pm.

Peshawar attack darkest spot on human kind: Satyarthi

http://www.newsroompost.com/140589/peshawar-attack-darkest-spot-human-kind-satyarthi/

Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi described the child massacre by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Peshawar as “the darkest and blackest spot on human kind” and “the most heinous crime that no civilised society and no human society could ever tolerate”.

Talking to newsroompost.com, he condemned the killing of 132 school children in Pakistan. Informing that he has not been able to speak to Malala post the tragedy, he said, “I definitely believe that all children must be safe. All children must be enjoying their childhood. All children are free. All children should go to schools and there should be no compromise on this.”

He further added, “These are fundamental principles already laid down in the UN Conventions and so on.” Elaborating on his future course of action with the government especially with respect to the issue of child rights and child safety, Satyarthi said, “Of course we will be in more concrete talks in future.”

He also said, “Now we are surrounded by the media all the time. If you allow us, in a few days we will begin speaking to the government.”

Speaking about his recent interactions with political and government stakeholders, Satyarthi informed, “I never met Rahul Gandhi. I met Mr. Modi. Of course I also met Soniaji after the announcement of the prize. They are all excited about the prize.”

Talking of the award, Satyarthi said, “This is not a prize for me alone. It is for the entire nation and all the children in the world.”

http://www.newsroompost.com/140589/peshawar-attack-darkest-spot-human-kind-satyarthi/

There is no good or bad Taliban: Lt. Gen(Rtd.) S Prasad

http://www.newsroompost.com/140336/peshwar-attack-no-distinction-good-bad-taliban/

Lt. Gen.(Rtd.) Shankar Prasad, in a conversation with the newsroompost.com explores the reaction within the Indian Army on the gruesome child massacre by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Peshawar on the December 16.

Responding to a question on where he thought Pakistan failed, Prasad quipped, “Simply because they are nurturing terrorism. What they did for 20 years has hit them hard pushing them back by at least 10 years now.”

He said that for Pakistan, “those groups that they unleash on India to perpetrate terror are good and those who attack them are bad even though they are created, funded and trained by them”, adding, “There is no good or bad Taliban.”

Answering a question on how he thought the Pakistani establishment can send a strong message to the world and its own people, Prasad said, “The Government of Pakistan has to decide once and for all if it actually wants to end terrorism. It will have to demonstrate to the world that it is serious about dismantling the terror network.”

“As a first step, the Government of Pakistan should hand over Hafeez Sayeed and Dawood Ibrahim to the Indian government. Not just the TTP but LeT, Al Qaeda and all other terrorist outfits have to be dealt with iron hands by the government of Pakistan,” he said

Reflecting on Pakistan’s army, Prasad remarked, “Pakistan’s Prime Minister advised the army not to launch offensive in the North Wajiristan region. But the Army chief went ahead. Going by this state of the army, it is difficult to say that there is any hope in a region where there is mass destruction by the army.”

Commenting on lifting the ban on death penalty in Pakistan in an announcement made by Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, Prasad said, “The announcement to lift the ban on death penalty is going to do nothing as long as the government and/or the army keeps sheltering the terror outfits.”

Sympathising and empathizing with the people of Pakistan, Prasad said, “The people of Pakistan are disgusted by the kind of government they have. There is so called democracy which is not democratic.”

He further said that the people of Pakistan must revolt.

On being questioned on the role of Pakistan’s media in the wake of this attack, Prasad reflected that the media in Pakistan needs to be aggressive on incidents of terror not just within its territory but also outside it especially on cases of cross border terrorism.

http://www.newsroompost.com/140336/peshwar-attack-no-distinction-good-bad-taliban/

Where are we since December 16?

http://www.newsroompost.com/139110/since-december-16/

It has been two years since the Nirbhaya case rocked the country’s consciousness. 16th December this year again is an opportunity to have a look at what has happened ever since; and where, if at all, we have progressed so far.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) reports, there has been an overall increase of 10.5 cases per lakh women in 2013. There have been 3,09,546 total cases of crime against women of which 33,707 cases of rape and 8,083 cases of dowry deaths have been registered with the police. Experience with official records suggest that the actual number of crime is far more than what the registered data show.

A 39 years old Swiss woman cycling from Orchha to Agra in March 2013 was gang raped. A woman photo journalist was gang raped at the isolated Shakti Mills compund in Mumbai in August 2013. In the very recent case, a young woman professional in Delhi was raped by a Uber driver on her way back home. These cases are just a snapshot of much highlighted ones ever since the Nirbhaya case happened. Each day, at least once a woman feels unsafe – either at home or in office, or to and from office, in the market, in any public space and also in her private space. Something is going fundamentally wrong. And we need to address that – very soon.

After the Nirbhaya case happened, I shared my story on facebook. which went viral. In the following few months, my inbox was flooded with heart wrenching stories of rape and molestation of women and girls residing in various parts of the country that the media can never pick up. Someone from Mizoram was raped in Delhi where she came to study. She never shared it with anyone because she feared social ostracization in a largely biased city. Some woman, now a mother of two, was raped and left to die in an open field in some remote village in Bihar until her parents brought her home after a frantic search that fateful night. Her parents left the village thereafter. She is now a teacher in Ranchi. She too never quoted the incident before for the same fear of social stigma. A young girl in Mumbai was molested by her school teacher. She wished me luck and wanted more of such writings from women all across. Another woman was raped by her husband day in and day out until she took the step to file for divorce. She wished me more strength.

But the situation still stands grim. I had to explain umpteen times to my landlord and property dealer that as a single girl I will not ‘cross any boundaries of decency’ in my stay at the independent flat. That I will not have male friends coming over for night stay. I have had terrible and hard times explaining to professional acquaintances that a friendship between a woman and man does not necessarily have to have a romantic or a sexual connotation. I have had a tough time explaining to my family and relatives that it is logical and empowering to the education they bestowed on me to decide by and for myself who I wish to spend the rest of my life with.

And because all these are glaring realities in my life and in the lives of many others I know, I realise that the battle is not won. That there is lot more to be done. That there is lot more that needs to be said and each one of us will have to take the onus of saying, debating, putting our collective foot down and excelling in our respective fields to prove our points. Because the battle will be won not just by token pink chaddi and kiss of love campaigns in metropolitan cities but by taking these acts to the roots of where we belong to – 70% of Indian population which lives in the villages.

Increasingly, the incidents of rape and molestation suggest that more than a perverse mindset, it is the hunger for control and domination that translates into acts of violence against women. It is the unease with so many women out in the streets, inside office spaces, in the government, in administrative units and by and large, in positions of power that mostly propels that urge to physically dominate. But to limit the analysis of rape with just this hypothesis will be to overlook the issue in the impatience to reach conclusions.

The pathetic raillery by many ministers and police officers in the aftermath of any unfortunate incident of rape has been a continuing saga of arguments heaped on the already patriarchal construct of ‘it must be the woman’s fault’. But let us not ignore the fact that while technologically we have exposed ourselves to faster and ready to achieve means of online pleasures of the body and mind, socially we are far behind in catching up with this progression. It is this disconnect in some – if not all cases – which has led to many of these crimes.

It is alright for men and boys to salivate over a Savita Bhabhi but almost impossible to accept a practical corollary of ‘illegitimate’ sex. Sex outside the sanctimonious institution of marriage especially in a case when marital age of both women and men have increased is a natural progression which needs to be embraced than shunned and hastily brushed under the carpet. It is alright for women in the country to thrust it down the throats of boys that one day he will have to take care of that one woman in his life but impossible to fathom that these are subtle lessons in control and domination being passed on to men who shall take it on them to rule the household. It is alright for degree-ed parents to make their daughters equally degree-ed but impossible to take them as individuals with a mind and opinion of their own. It is alright for men and women alike to abuse using a woman’s name but illogical to realise that these innocent acts are seeped in a culture where women is merely a symbol and object of sexual gratification or a creature of passion. It is alright to have sex education in schools but separate girls and boys when given lessons on menstrual hygiene. Where do we expect to head to with this rootedness in hypocrisy?

Until all these gradual shifts in power equations, language politics, subtle sexualization by careful separation of genders will continue, we will continue to have sagas of Nirbhaya, Bhawana Yadav and Nirupama Pathak repeated at regular intervals. And till then we will continue to have our fashionable feminism hanging out of visible bra straps, kissing carefully chosen elite individuals in manicured lawns of urbane parks.

http://www.newsroompost.com/139110/since-december-16/

"I have a problem with people using their popularity for political gains"

http://www.newsroompost.com/153313/zee-jlf-good-forum-writers-beyond-language-barriers-ravish-kumar/

Ravish Kumar is the senior executive editor at NDTV India. As a TV anchor, journalist and writer, he has created his own niche on social media, Hindi electronic media and in the hearts of people. This year the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival(ZEE JLF) 2015 will witness the inauguration of his latest book, Ishq Me Shahar Hona. As an invitee to the world’s largest free literature festival, Ravish will participate in two discussions on the 24th of January.

In a conversation with newsroompost.com, Ravish speaks about his latest collection of short stories, or nano stories, his ideas on politics, literature festivals and the readers/audience.

Newsroompost – Your latest book Ishq Me Shahar Hona would be inaugurated at the ZEE JLF 2015. What is this book about?

Ravish – It is a collection of short stories about two lovers in a city who interact with each other and in the process recreate their own cities. When we migrate from one city to the other, we adapt to and adopt the cities. So, inevitably we form a relationship with the city. I migrated from Motihari to Patna to Delhi. Each time I used to go back, I was told ‘not to become the city’ and not to ‘become of the city’. Values, habits, ideas changed over time in Delhi. The injunctions of coming back home before 5pm, not working for night shifts etc broke in the process of adapting to the city. This book deals with these processes of adaptation, adoption and migration. It is about two lovers who explore the city and in the process, their own selves.

Newsroompost – So, how do you look at the city in your book?

Ravish – The image of a city is very private in this book. This book creates a personal space for two lovers within urban space. The lovers talk to each other using city and its various components as metaphor. So, that is city in this book. Very personal. Like, a Bihari boy goes to Lajpat Nagar and is fascinated to discover momos. He eats them. Later, he gives the vendor athekua. Like, a boy from Karawal Nagar falls in love with a girl from South Ex. They talk about their own Delhis. So, it is an interaction of all these recreated personal cities for very different characters in this book.

Newsroompost – Do you think something like this has been done before? How do you see the journey from your first book Dekhte Rahiye to Ishq Me Shahar Hona?

Ravish – I am not a learned man when it comes to literature. This was not a work that I accomplished as a project. I write on blogs, twitter, facebook. In fact, this book is a collection of my writings on facebook. When facebook had a limited space to write about, there were a few lines I used to scribble. This book is a collection of 7-8 lines written on many of those posts. Dekhte Rahiye was a collection of my blog posts.

Newsroompost – Many writers participating in ZEE JLF or otherwise are not very happy with the way literature festivals are organized. As a Hindi writer, how do you find yourself in the space these festivals provide?

Ravish – I have been going to the Jaipur Literature Festival over the years. It is extremely encouraging to see that Hindi and regional literature have been given equal respect at this forum. There was a session of Maithili in the festival sometime back. The first Maithili newspaper was published from Jaipur under the patronage of the royal house. Many maithili brahmins from Bihar migrated there. And all this could be known because of the discussions that ensued there. We have acclaimed poets like Ashok Vajpayi  attending the festival. Even Vinod Kumar Shukla has been duly honoured at the festival. So, I think it’s a good place for writers beyond language barriers. But yes, I agree, that literature festivals are literary melas these days. Meet people, authors, readers, publishers alike like you meet someone at melas. But then what do you do? That’s how it has become everywhere. A writer should get an opportunity to move out of his serious cocoon. What is wrong in a little bit of pompousness?

Newsroompost – Can I navigate a little bit into politics?

Ravish – Yes yes. Ask.

Newsroompost – How do you see the upcoming Delhi elections, especially after Kiran Bedi’s entry into the BJP?

Ravish – It is a test of the public. Like many others, I am disappointed with the way political discourse has been reduced to hollow political sloganeering. There is, in fact, no debate. It seems personalities are being launched as marketing products – in all the parties; AAP or the BJP or anyone. Kiran Bedi comes with an experience. Kejriwal came with his own set of experience. But what are you trying to sell and present? All of them, each one of them, are selling administration as governance. What do they think? That people have no sense of judgment? Look at the hoardings all over Delhi today. It is shameful. Crores are being spent on buying that kind of space and for what? It is unfortunate because if we see zero political debate in Delhi, where at least we have a decent educated population, what do we hope for the country? Can we even do that – hope? So, I think, this election, more than anything else is a test of the public.

Newsroompost – I know you have said many times before that you don’t like hearing this, but the fact is that you are almost a celebrity. You connect with the masses and raise pertinent issues of concern. Do we see Ravish in politics?

Ravish – In one word, no. I will tell you why. I have a problem with people using their popularity for political gains. Though yes, some have done wonderful work as well but I cannot. I like understanding people, knowing them, meeting them. It is a challenge. I fail sometimes. I do some very bad shows at times. But whatever it is, it is this work that has given me this identity and I respect that. For me, the love and bond with people is more important than anything else. People have loved me a lot. They trust me a great deal. And I respect these emotions people have for me. Politics is a serious business. Karyakartas in a party serve and struggle for ages to get to a place where they are and aim to be. For me, it is wrong to use my currency and snatch their position just because I am popular. And am not popular because of my politics but because people think I did good work in whatever I did.

Nesroompost – Because of all that you said about politics when talking of Delhi elections, do you not think a person like you will do some good in politics?

Ravish – I don’t trust the public. If you say, I might do good work, I would also need people for whom I can do good work. I don’t see those kind of people. Do you see anyone protesting about the kind of ridiculously lousy posters everywhere? Look at the amount of money that is being used in elections by everyone who is contesting. Do I have that kind of money? Where will I get that kind of money from? Also, the person that I am, if I do not like anything in a hypothetical party I join, I will be the person to call a press conference and say that such and such is wrong. I am a creative person. I will do something else after I leave what I am doing. I don’t know yet what I will do. But I will do something. As to your question, no I will not join politics – in the ideal state that we are talking, as of now.

http://www.newsroompost.com/153313/zee-jlf-good-forum-writers-beyond-language-barriers-ravish-kumar/

‘Why should we blame only men?’

http://www.newsroompost.com/147009/blame-men-dr-alka-pande/

An art historian and writer, Dr. Alka Pande is a Consultant Arts Advisor and Curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. Dr. Alka has delved deep into various forms of art and has written with care on issues ranging from art to culinary delights to body – androgyny, sexuality, gender and much more. She is one of the invitees at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival this year. In a detailed conversation with newsroompost.com, Dr. Alka talks candidly about art, literature, politics and her intimate engagement with each of these concerns.
Newsroompost.com – Thank for this appointment, Dr. Alka. In your passion for curating exhibitions from across the country, you have touched upon so many facets of Indian artistic sensibility. Would you elaborate, what is it that drew you towards this art of curating art?

Dr. Alka Pande – We are all a product of our lived experiences. My mother was a trained singer from the Gwalior Gharana. I learnt dancing from Yamini Krishnamurthy. So, I was exposed to art at a very early age.

Newsroompost.com – You physically learnt various art forms and were exposed to mobile art – dance and music, then went on to study history, specialized in history of art, submitted your research on art; therefore, becoming more niche and more focused. And then, took up this task of curating art. What was it that drew you towards the mobile to the absorbed and felt and then a static representation of these various art forms?

Dr. Alka Pande – Art is all about the theory of colour, of joy, of beauty, isn’t it? All these drive the engine of art. And all these aesthetic experiences are shared. Also, in an inclusive country we live in, these forms are no different from each other. They inform each other and are but multiple representation of the same essence – the same rasas. It is a retelling, reinvestigating of the same themes in different formats and different ways.

Newsroompost.com – It is interesting that you talked about an inclusive country. In the current context, you would agree, won’t you, that the political atmosphere in the country is not very open to this idea of inclusiveness? There are voices that want films banned, sentiments that get hurt at the slightest pretext, and then issues that are far from being discussed in the mainstream discourse. There is same sex love, there is article 377; there is the third gender, there is political discrimination. In such a situation how inclusive do you think India is?

Dr. Alka Pande – You cannot do away with truth and what exists.Ardhanarishvara has always been my favourite concept. And it is an Indian concept. It talks about equality. Shiva which is staya and sundara. What is truth is God and is beautiful. If you look at it, it is life. Similarly, shakti is powerful and feminine and encompasses motherhood. The more I researched, the more I understood the nuances, the more I got exposed into believing that this is the idea of India and this is beauty. And both these forces coexist. However, much you would like to curb this truth, the fact is, it exists and will continue to exist. India is inclusive. Because at the core, it is non-judgemental. It does not prescribe what to do and what not to do. A concept like the Ardhanarishvara can exist only in this country. So, yes, I do believe that we are an inclusive culture.

Newsroompost.com – But do you not think that the kind of appropriation of this idea of Indian culture, which is going on in so many different ways, by so many different groups, makes survival for artists and writers like you difficult? Because, you talk of Indian culture in the most historical and ancient sort of way. You talk of issues that are better not raked up, according to some groups.

Dr. Alka Pande – You see, I am wearing black track pants because it is convenient. But that does not mean I am less Indian and that should not mean I stop living my values. I know of my textiles, my sarees, my brocade but as a woman who has to run and work and manage home and office, I cannot keep managing my pallu all the time. But at the same time, I like touching feet of elders. It is the manner in which you say things that are different.

Newsroompost.com – So, where do you think we went wrong? As a historian, how do you explain the change in this narrative about culture?

Dr. Alka Pande – I think it was the Victorian prudery that took it away – the idea of a cosmopolitan, international Indian which was informed by so many Victorian ideals which changed how things were being said.

Newsroompost.com – You are a curator and not averse to the market forces interacting with art which in some ways makes people in certain camps uncomfortable.

Dr. Alka Pande – How does an artist survive? Why should an artist always be poor? One has to erase stereotypes. Money liberates an artist. It helps him/her create more and better work.

Newsroompost.com – As a historian, when you see the decades gone by, how do you conceptualize development?

Dr. Alka Pande – Educate the women. The rest will follow. Women are born leaders. Enlightened women educate a nation. Sensitize them.

Look at the country today. Look at all the major NGOs and other slow beat sectors. Who heads them? They are all women. You may create lot of money and exclude lot many from your narrative. These are the people women work for. Women are basically nurturers. They have an inclusive world view. So, educate them. The rest will follow. And when I say this, I am being gender inclusive and not feminist.

Newsroompost.com – With the women question, I was going to ask you, are you a feminist but you answered that already. So, let me ask you this. Why is it that the feminist voice in our country today is so preoccupied with body and sexuality? It is liberating to talk about it, but in one sense, also limiting and is increasingly becoming repetitive and therefore, likely to be taken less seriously – by even women.

Dr. Alka Pande – And how is it about the body?

Newsroompost.com – For example, in the name of sexual liberation, pouting for a facebook or an instagram or a twitter picture, putting up the body for display on an exploding social media platforms where invariably, you have a male gaze judging you and appreciating you with all the nuances of patriarchal parameters.

Dr. Alka Pande – Look, there are three basic needs to life – food, sex, shit. Why should we blame only men? And am sure, you understand what i am saying, without myself being misunderstood. At 20 to 30 years of age, it is all about body. And it should be, unless you are a saint. Body is an integral part.

Newsroompost.com – Well, then to go back to my question, why can’t women writers accept it as a part and parcel and/or as you say an ‘integral’ part of life and move on to talk of things other than just that? I say this, because as a nobody, when I pick up women’s writing in India especially, I find the ‘canon’ bursting with almost everyone talking of an assertion of sexual freedom, as if all battles end there.

Dr. Alka Pande – Well, what else do you talk about when day in and day out this is what you face? Your tits and pussy are stared at the first thing, when you move out in the open space. Despite donning western outfits, why is it that you and I are covering ourselves with scarves and carefully blending the attire to suit as a dupatta. You might not be talking about it verbally, but we all are doing the same. Fighting it out. Women are wired differently. They are more vulnerable because of their bodies. They can be raped. Even men can be. But men don’t have to bear children. Therefore, for women, their bodies are associated with shame. That is how it’s revealed to them. Also, youth today, especially women, are talking not much about the body as they are talking about sexuality when they seek freedom. Look at what Meena Kandasamy is writing about.

Newsroompost.com – Glad that you brought her up. I was going to mention her works primarily among others. Also, with respect to the recent revelation of her traumatic relationship and divorce.

Dr. Alka Pande – Yes, she is a dalit woman writing of her lived experiences. I was glad I was born and brought up in times I lived in. It is very difficult for women like you these days.

Newsroompost.com – Do you really think so?

Dr. Alka Pande – Yes. We had less stress, less choices. Men, we married to, were more responsible. Today, men have far less commitment. Men are too busy screwing women and asserting the demands for working wives – all in the name of feminism. And women are busy talking about other women tagging them as sluts and whores and bitches. So, there are these dual lives and dual struggles that inform a woman’s life today. We had much simpler times.

Newsroompost.com – You are articulating it so well. But, I did not have to fight for going to school or college or working or living alone as perhaps your generation did.

Dr. Alka Pande – But we had a different life then. Today, everything is market driven. An investment banker girl with a pay check of a lakh a month will any day be more desirable for a guy than a freelance writer and artist with no fixed salary. This shift is important to be understood. Earlier, it was believed that only women made these calculative choices. But today, men do this too. Also, a rich, successful, alpha male today will always have women lined up for him according to his choices because not all women are as free and empowered as the others are and are happily ready fall in the traditional trap. So, women like you, today, have to fight these dual battles – day in and day out.

Newsroompost.com – So, what do you think of relationships today, then?

Dr. Alka Pande – It is about education and economic empowerment. Love is all crap. Ultimately, it’s about power and money. If you bring in money at home, your husband, parents – all will respect you. Also, neither the rich nor the poor women are bound by morals encoded in love. The poor have no option but to succumb to pressures and survive and the rich women can buy whatever they want. It’s the middle class, which is lost and confused and struggling in this grand narrative of love and its morality.

Newsroompost.com – Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Alka.

Dr. Alka Pande- I enjoyed the conversation too.

http://www.newsroompost.com/147009/blame-men-dr-alka-pande/