Is there Ideology in Indian politics?

April 10, 2014

The great Indian election tamasha has been rolled out in all its glory. This time, voters are expected to be extremely polarised in their party preferences. Typically, we voters are supposed to select candidates based on their work in our constituency and the political party based on their ideology. This I assume is the clearest demarcation we can draw in theory. However, reality isn’t that simple, is it?! The party with the right ideology has a corrupt candidate or vice versa. Wait a moment, where does ideology come into the picture? We have always been voting based on the caste or religion of the candidate, right?

Surprisingly, Ideology in politics is as old as Indian politics itself. Nallasivan V states politicians have always used ideology to represent a collective identity of a group, utilising this identity as a sort of solidarity among party followers. When the allegiance of such ‘vote banks’ is threatened, they create a sense of social or economic insecurity among their followers. Such disruptive strategies have caused communal, lingual or ethnic riots in the past. One such example is Shiv Sena’s ideology of “Maharashtra for Maharashtrians” or Telangana Rashtra Samithi fighting for the formation of Telangana state in Andhra Pradesh.

There are many intellectuals who believe ideology has been dead long ago in Indian politics. S. Prasannarajan says that the recent fierce debate on allowing FDI in retail sector set off the most regressive ideological configurations in Indian politics. Both the left wing politicians from the CPI, CPM, etc and the right wingers from the BJP were up in arms to protest against foreign imperialism! Both type of parties campaign on various social issues affecting the common man. So are they both ideologically compatible now?

Standard classification of ideology

When we classify various prevailing ideologies, we realise that ideology is not dead, but thriving in our country. The terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ were created during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly were divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. The left wingers are typically opposed to free market capitalism, imperialism, secularism, and adopt a socially liberal stance.

The right wingers are typically opposed to communism, state intervention in markets, and adopt a conservative in social and religious issues. In the 20th century, there emerged a new political ideology known as ‘centre’ or ‘liberal’. The centrists adopt a liberal ideology where neither the market nor the government is considered as supreme.

The following table depicts the ideological difference of the left, centre and right wing politics:

Left	Centre-liberal	Right
Strict adherence to secularism; keep politics and religion apart	Adheres to secularism but allows religion to play a role	Religion takes centre-stage in society
Supports affirmative action to uplift oppressed classes; pro-reservation	Supports selective action to uplift oppressed classes	Does not support caste-based reservation
Opposes globalisation and free-market capitalism	Supports state-monitored capitalism and selectively allow foreign players	Allows free-market capitalism but selective globalisation
Supports women empowerment, freedom of speech, rights for homosexuals, minority communities	Supports women empowerment, tolerates homosexuals & minority communities	Conservative about women rights, sensitive to freedom of speech, opposes support for homosexuals, minority communities
Looks from larger society’s point of view	Looks from smaller society’s point of view	Looks from individual’s point of view
Believes government has to take care of society’s well-being	Believes both individuals and governments can work together	Believes each individual have safeguard their own interests
Believes only a blood revolution changes the society	Believes a societal changes can only happen in a gradual manner through negotiations	Believes the status-quo needs to be maintained
Gets support from public sector labour unions, feminists, minority communities	Gets support from middle class, corporate employees	Gets support from traders, upper class, majority communities
Major parties – CPI, CPM, Aam Aadmi Party, RPI, BSP, etc	Major parties – Indian National Congress	Major parties – BJP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Telugu Desam

So looking at the table, do you feel there is no Ideology in Indian politics? Which Indian political party’s ideology appeals to you? Are you voting based on ideology this time? Whichever party you choose to vote, do remember that there is always a possibility of compromise in ideology. Your favoured party may change sides based on opportunity to grab power!

Here is an interesting Political Poll that you can take to check whom do you side with in terms of policies –

Factfile –
http://www.politicalcompass.org
http://theviewspaper.net
http://indiatoday.intoday.in
http://www.business-standard.com

Will corporate sector take up onus on Indian CSR mandate?

Caleidoscope

April 7, 2014

New Author – Truptha Shankar

The 15th Lok Sabha may have had the ignominy of being the worst in terms of parliamentary productivity of passing the least number of bills. However, the enactment of a new legislation in 2013 could prove to be the turning point for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in India. The new Companies Bill 2012, which changes the rules of governing, functioning as well as social responsibilities of corporate groups, was passed in the Parliament and has become the law from 1 April 2014.

Clause No.135 in the Companies Bill 2012 states that every company with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or an annual turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or a net profit of Rs 5 crore has to create a CSR committee, of which at least one board director must be independent. The company’s board shall ensure that at least 2% of its annual average net profit made during the three preceding financial years is spent on CSR every financial year. If the company fails to spend such amount, the board shall specify the reasons for not spending the amount. However, the bill does not specify any penalty or legal implications for not adhering to the 2% CSR mandate (Businessworld, 2012).

Although many Indian companies have been voluntarily taking up CSR activities, this landmark regulation could force to rethink their social activities since an analysis of CSR spend of the top 500 listed companies in India shows most do not spend even 1% of their profits on CSR (CSRidentity, 2012 | Check the table below). Increasing this spending to the government recommended level, will in most cases, mean more than doubling of CSR budgets. Some Indian companies are well positioned to move into the new paradigm due to their consistent focus on CSR activities over the years. According to Business Standard, the likely obligation arising out of the CSR Bill will be $2 billion (or Rs 12,400 crore) in FY2014. This is if the cumulative profit of India Inc reaches $100 billion (or Rs 6.2 lakh crore) by then.

While Indian private companies have been involved in different CSR activities, almost all their activities have been focused mainly on short-term philanthropy barring a few concentrated efforts. Focusing on a particular social theme for the long-term is now emerging as an important aspect of their CSR strategy. The Companies Bill stipulates that specific tasks covered under the UN Millennium Development Goals such as poverty alleviation, healthcare, education and social business ventures will be considered as CSR activities. However, detractors warn that the bill could commit a big blunder by enforcing corporate entities to take up only certain activities for their CSR spend and ignoring the sustainability of a CSR activity (Kapoor, 2013).

According to the national survey on CSR practices in India carried out by TNS India in 2008, education was the prominent social theme with 82% companies choosing it. This is in continuation with the historic preference made by Indian corporate houses right from pre-independence days. The Tatas setting up the Indian Institute of Science and Annamalai Chettiar founding the Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu in 1929 were the earliest examples of educational endowment. Health (77%), environment (66%), livelihood promotion (57%) and women empowerment (55%) were the other major thrust areas currently covered under corporate CSR initiatives (TNS India, 2008).

Table 1: Leading CSR spenders among top 100 Indian companies

Company (Figures in Rs. Cr)	Revenue	Avg. PAT	Actual Spend	2% of PAT	Difference
Tata Steel	135,976	3,895	146	78	187%
Jaiprakash Associates	15,651	1,396	47	28	168%
Hindustan Petroleum Corp	195,891	1,118	27	22	123%
Jindal Steel & Power	22,473	3,184	88	76	116%
JSW Steel	36,964	1,569	32	31	103%
MMTC	67,023	129	3	3	100%
Oil India	17,215	2,988	50	60	83%
Hero Motocorp	25,235	2,179	33	44	75%
Larsen & Toubro	64,960	4,818	70	96	73%
Gail (India)	44,861	3,891	54	78	69%
Reliance Industries	368,571	21,138	288	423	68%
Steel Authority of India Ltd	51,428	5,153	61	103	59%
Indian Oil Corporation	442,459	7,783	83	156	53%
Coal India	78,410	11,759	119	235	51%

Source: Forbes India – CSR Identity Report Card, 2012

A 2012 study conducted by CSRidentity, which studied the CSR spending, annual revenues and PAT figures of the top 100 companies during the Financial Year 2012-13, revealed some interesting facts. Despite the hype about consistent CSR spending by Indian companies, actual figures show that they fall way behind the 2% profits after tax (PAT) mandate. Based on that, the actual spend indicated by various companies stood at an average of Rs. 32.09 crore per company, while the 2% PAT mandate turns out to be Rs. 61.84 crore! So, despite the decent CSR spend indicated, companies have to double their spending in order to catch with the mandated figure.

Tata Steel stands as a stalwart among top 100 companies with a Rs. 146 crore spent on CSR in FY2012 as compared to the mandated Rs. 78 crore. Similarly, Jindal Steel & Power has spent Rs. 88 crore on CSR in FY2012 as compared to the mandated Rs. 76 crore. Apart from these two companies, there are a few other companies who spend cross 100% of the mandated figure. They are: Jaiprakash Associates, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Steel and MMTC, which have spent anywhere between Rs.3 crore to Rs. 88 crore in FY2012 (CSRidentity, 2012).

We may spend time debating whether the government has ulterior motives of creating a CSR inspector to scrutinise each company, but renowned corporate law expert Ranjeev C. Dubey says the corporate sector can utilise this opportunity to rise to the occasion and bring its managerial skill to the task of uplifting the people of India. The private sector has always been accused of being obsessively focused on profit making and serving the purpose of a few shareholders. So it’s high time the profits trickle down to the larger stakeholders, which will help companies achieve the triple bottomline: profits, people and planet!

Truptha Shankar is a guest columnist for Caleidoscope on CSR and Voluntary sector issues. He is a corporate professional who is studying CSR issues as part of his doctoral thesis.

This post was first published on India Opines

Factfile –

Wharton, 2011. India Knowledge@Wharton

TNS India, 2008. National survey on CSR practices in India. Chapter IV. Times Foundation

Gautam, Richa & Singh, Anju, 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility Practices in India: A Study of Top 500 Companies.

Ranjeev C. Dubey, 2012. FinePrint: Corporate Czars And CSR. Businessworld

Karmayog CSR Ratings study. 2010

Forbes India – CSR Identity Report Card, 2012

Can Cartoons be Weapons of Political Activism?

Pooja Wanpal

April 2, 2014

The months of Emergency were the darkest times in Indian history, in more ways than one. Human rights were suspended and public liberty was at the mercy of an autocratic government. Censor officers were positioned in the editorial offices of magazines and newspapers to prevent any material, which could be deemed as critical of the government from being published. On June 28 1975, the Delhi edition of the Indian Express carried a blank editorial in protest. The Financial Express printed the poem of Rabindranath Tagore, ‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high’.

The Emergency threw India into a state of chaos and paranoia. It was in this eerie hush that Abu Abraham, one of the most celebrated cartoonists of India, asked with his trademark acerbic wit, “Don’t you think we’ve got a lovely censor of humour?”

While political cartoons have always been indices of public opinion, they also have served as weapons of political activism. From 1975 to 1977, when the Emergency was in force, the political cartoons especially flourished. Indira Gandhi (her long nose being a happy perquisite) inspired a range of political cartoons, which poked fun at her policies, her behaviour, her factotum and her son, Sanjay, along with the political and moral disability of the rest of the Congress leaders.

In a press conference during the Emergency, the Information & Broadcasting Minister, V. C. Shukla stated that censorship was needed ‘to stop the spread of rumour’. Abu Abraham’s irreverent and sharp retort, which became a legend in itself, was “But why do you want to stop the spread of humour?” And in just a few days, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that cartoons need not be submitted to the censors anymore.

It was not only during the emergency period, however that the political cartoons played a vital role. During the formative years of the nation, cartoonists had played a major part, poking fun at the national leaders and their policies, stars and starlets, corporate magnates, godmen, the underworld’s seedy characters and even the common man – nobody escaped the stinging strokes of their wit.

“Don’t spare me Shankar”, Jawaharlal Nehru had once remarked when Shankar Pillai, the father of Indian cartooning, had depicted Nehru, tired and gaunt, competing in the last leg of a race while holding aloft a burning torch. Similarly, stark was an Abu Abraham cartoon, drawn during the era of caste vote-bank politics. Playing on the slogan ‘Cast your vote here’, it said ‘Vote your caste here’ – a truth so stark, that it has remained true even decades later.

Which icon has embodied the sentiments of the people as effectively as R.K. Narayan’s ‘Common man’? With his coat and dhoti, his slightly weary but hopeful expression, this emblematic character has come to represent an entire nation. The common man is a silent spectator of the antics of the rich and the famous, with a ringside view of the political tussles, but helpless to effect any change. He mirrors the feelings of most Indians, and hence strikes a chord with commoners.

It is not only the caustic tones that cartoons take. Bal Thackeray, a mild-mannered cartoonist with few claims to ambition went on to establish a political party that became one of the cornerstones in the rise of regionalism. His cartoons, which were earlier critical of the government and deeply incisive, took on the form of war propaganda, when he resigned from his job began publishing his own magazine ‘Marmik’. His magazine gained firm footing among the middle class and lower class Maharashtrians, which fuelled the rise of distrust against immigrants from other regions of the country. What started out as a magazine, morphed into a movement – Shiv Sena – an aggressive political party that doesn’t take no for an answer!

One of the recent controversies involved Aseem Trivedi, a cartoonist with average talent, but deep rooted rage against injustice. Although his cartoons don’t have the evocative grace of Laxman or the subtlety of Mario Miranda, Trivedi was arrested a year ago on the charges of sedition and disrespecting the national emblem. Trivedi’s arrest came on the heels of the Lokpal Bill movement, and inspired a rash of protests across the country.

Cartoon-AseemTrivedi — Cartoon Aseem Trivedi

Cartoons speak aloud what the editorials can’t say, despite their verbosity. Pithy, precise but laconic, they put their finger on the crux of the problem. I feel cartoons are concise political commentaries in themselves, instead of being peripheral embellishments of editorial pages. Cartoonists, I believe, can bring the most powerful men and women of the country to their heels. With just a few strokes of their favourite 2B pencils, cartoonists reduce them to their caricatures. If the pen is mightier than the sword, then the pencil is mightier still!

This post was first published on www.theindianrepublic.com on content partnership basis.

Factfile –
http://expressindia.indianexpress.com
http://indiatoday.intoday.in
http://www.mid-day.com
http://www.mumbairock.com
http://lighthouseinsights.in

Survival of the Whitest??

Caleidoscope

March 28, 2014

New Author – Niranjana R

During my childhood, I and my sister look quite different. So whenever people met us for the first time, they always had the same thing to say – “Yeh dono behne lagti hi nahin hain!!” My sister had a beautiful shade of brown complexion, while I was just very fair. White as cotton – “Panj” as I was called in my mother tongue. We sisters, deeply bonded by love, were completely unperturbed by this mindless differentiation. However, I have never been able to understand this epidemic of dichromatism.

This great Indian obsession of Fairness-Zindabad dates back to the days of our beloved East India Company when there used to be Gora Tanashahi. Or so they say. Leaders around the world like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi have strived for the elimination of colour apartheid. Due to their efforts, today the world has been able to see Obama where he is. However, when the planet seems to have accepted this Gadbad of Melanin, how forward or backward is our nation? The answer to this, stares at us every day; rather, we stare at it incessantly. The Idiot Box – the ultimate goal of existence for all common men and women! But who does finally make it into the Box?

If we consider the television industry, the initial impression is that there is absolutely no dearth of work for anyone. The TV serial market celebrates huge families. Saans, sasur, bahu, beta, chacha, mama, devar, come one come all. With a new serial coming up as frequently as the birth of a baby in our populous country, the audience and the channel, both require “fresh faces”. Unfortunately, both parties seem to associate “fairness” with freshness! For the aunties glued to the other side of TV, a fair face reflects a pure character. Result? Bandwagon of Gopis, Khushis and Archanas.

If you do happen to come across a protagonist who isn’t too fair, probe a little deeper. Take the pain to ask someone who’s been following the show religiously. A skin-colour issue would have surely been the storyline at some point of time. My question is, “why do these people have to wait until a show requires them or their skin tone, really?” Even if the motive of the TV serial is to make people aware of how silly a prejudice this is, does it not actually worsen matters by making it conspicuous? Why can’t we have a normal balanced distribution of faces on screen just as we have it on the streets? Create normal a scenario that people gradually just accept it without realising that they have…

The advertising industry has left no stones unturned in extolling the concept of White-Zindabad. For every moisturizer, talc, face cream, face wash, deodorant and endless number of beauty and personal care products in the market, there is an equally unending list of brand ambassadors: foreign models and Indian actors who help to spread this idea.

“Twacha ke andar samaye aur badhaye nikhar” seems to be the underlying and in a few cases, even the blunt slogan. Apart from the Fair & Lovelys and Fairevers, there are fairness creams for men as well. As the day ends, the “White in Black out” ideology is grilled into the minds of viewers. Want to get married? Need to attend an interview? Want to make a good first-impression? Fair and not Black is your solution.

While my skin has journeyed from flour to dough, I keep asking myself this. Where are we heading with this mindset? How shamelessly do we gather courage to talk about racism? Yes, while we admit it is very much wrong and should be condemned, we continue to glorify this dichotomy in the first place. And as I ended this article I stole a glance at the TV screen. And you can guess what advertisement was on! *facepalm*

Touching Lives – Sonia Mackwani

Neha Somani

March 25, 2014

Can one person change this dreary world…
Can we touch the lives of a few people around us…

Sonia Mackwani is one such person who believes she can change the world by touching lives. In 2003, Sonia established an NGO called ‘Touching Lives’ while she was graduating in Psychology, with a conviction that – “It is completely our need to serve than say, we are serving the needy”. Touching Lives was built with a purpose to be deeply involved in holistic community development of people… spreading love and happiness! That was the fiery determination of a 20-something girl!

Sonia lives in Dahisar, Mumbai where there are slums adjacent to the railway tracks between Dahisar and Borivili. One day, while travelling back home, Sonia’s train came to a halt and she witnessed a disaster. There she saw huge bulldozers breaking apart houses in a nearby slum. New railway lines were being built in the area, which meant that slum people would have to be relocated. Sonia just couldn’t stand the misery. She went beyond being a mute spectator to what was happening and vowed to do something for those helpless people. Next day, when she went to the slums, and she was disheartened to find that there were no toilets, people were roofless and worse, kids had stopped going to school.

She only had a vision but no team, but the universe helped her materialize her dream. She consoled herself when she found that there were eight fellow students of psychology who want to volunteer with her. It is with them that she initiated an education project called ‘Sanskriti’ for the slum children. Play-way method, activity sessions were conducted with children, which slowly involved the community as well. “Working with people was another set of learning and experiences,” Sonia states. So, what started as a one-woman show gradually grew into a sizable team of volunteers.

The Touching Lives team spent more than a year teaching children near the railway tracks, amidst numerous challenges such as working in a tent-like setup and tolerating noise of the train and under the wide open sky. Finally in 2008, the team rented a small room as its office cum children centre. Since then, Touching Lives runs a preschool program in the tent for smaller kids, afterschool program for elder kids and a self-help group program for the women of the slum community. Now, the NGO also runs a Teachers Training and NGO Support Program, where they support rural schools and social enterprises by mentoring them on program called “Meta-Quantum Learning Model”.

Meanwhile, Sonia completed her Masters in Clinical Psychology and got a Doctorate in Clinical Hypnotherapy. For those curious about how hypnotherapy can support mental wellness, this article provides helpful context: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/therapy/hypnotherapy-hoax-or-help/. She also authored two children’s books: “Tales from Indian Mythology – Ramayana and Mahabharata”. Her unyielding efforts towards her work and making a difference in people’s lives gave her a platform to be a TED Speaker.

Sonia describes herself as a simple human being who believes that she has come to this planet to experience the different facets of life and use gifts that the universe has bestowed upon her. A ‘9 to 5 job’ would not have given her the freedom to help people. Her challenge was to put together the resources to help people. She shares that the challenges she has faced in swimming against the tide is not about ‘what would people say?’ but fighting the innate demons.

Sonia had a lot of metaphysical experiences in childhood… that she was here for a wider mission, to fulfil a purpose. She calls it the ‘keeda’ of doing something. Her inner voice eventually became her ‘energy of love’. She serves the needy because of her need to serve and not because they need to be served. Fascinated by the works of Mother Teresa and Aga Khan, she realized that she is here to be another mother, to serveg the people who are her fellow neighbours. She served as a board member in various Aga Khan Institutions working on youth, education, and social welfare. That’s where she got her understanding of the spark of volunteerism, which solidified her dream of doing something.

When Touching Lives began, Sonia needed money and resources to commute, to meet people, and to get things done. Neither did she have a phone nor the money. However, nothing seemed a struggle for her, because the fire within her demolished all obstacles. She began with taking tuitions and workshops on psychology to arrange for funds. The best part of her work she says is the unconditional support that she receives from those around her. She believes in miracles and the grand power that they have. “I know whatever I wish, I need to intend and leave it to universe for it to conspire. All that I need to do is be patient and have faith that, it is happening,” she affirms.

Today, Touching Lives is helping people in community development by looking after the education and empowerment of slum kids in Mumbai. Talking about the vision of Touching Lives for 2020, Sonia modestly replies that she has no idea. “I know of only tomorrow. It’s an organic organisation that gets formulated over a period of time. It’s an experience with life and freedom. It is about different souls who come together,” says Sonia.

A wise man once quipped, “Good things come in small packages.” The young and petite Sonia Mackwani is an eloquent testimony of this lovely adage!

Clean India: Really?

Anubhav Sharma

March 20, 2014

We all claim that we love our nation and respect it, but do we really? Well, I guess most of us, just fake and our patriotism can be only seen during cricket match or on January 26 and August 15. Rest of the days we don’t care about the results of our actions.

I am proud to be an Indian, but not so proud to live in this nation wherein people just say big but don’t do anything. I have a peculiar habit of keeping my surroundings clean, and I actually mean it. I remember, when I was only 14 years old, I had gone to Chennai. I had finished my chocolate and was having wrapper in my hand. My dad asked me why I am not throwing it on road, and I replied, ‘The city is very clean and I don’t want to make it dirty.’ He was shocked.

We don’t want garbage and want to make our cities clean and good. But in reality, we don’t do anything towards it, do we? I have seen many people throwing plastic bags, wrappers and other such small things on road, so easily. They want a clean India but don’t want to take an initiative.

I was even surprised to see the recent episode of Satyamev Jayate, wherein they spoke about garbage in India and how it’s affecting our nation. The problem actually starts from home. Despite being aware, we never take an initiative to do waste segregation. In my hometown, my mom used to throw all the vegetable waste at the backyard. Later, I realized that, that turns into fertilizer, which she used for plants. Sadly, we don’t care about these things today. All we care is our house should be clean and neat, what goes on with the neighborhood is not ours but government’s matter.

We are so self-centered that we don’t care of our acts. I have a habit of not throwing anything on road, and keeping my area clean. But, what I personally believe is that people won’t change as they’re stubborn and are not ready to change themselves. They still think it’s their house what matters, neighborhood and nation is not their concern.

Famous Lathmaar Holi in Barsana

Caleidoscope

March 13, 2014

Image Source – commons.wikimedia.org

Holi is the most exuberant and colourful festival of India that symbolises the arrival of spring. It is truly a festival of joy, fun and frolic where people of all ages lose their inhibitions to play with colour. Naturally, showering colour was the best way to express the arrival of spring! However, the modern day Holi festival has become a hazardous play of chemicals with the increasing use of synthetic dyes.

While the entire country celebrates this joyous festival with colour and water, there is a place in Uttar Pradesh that celebrates with batons or lathis! Barsana, situated at a distance of 50 km North West of Mathura, is a small town in the district of Mathura in. “Lathmaar Holi” is something that makes Barsana a must-visit destination. During this festival, the men from Nandgaon reach Barsana to tease and play holy with the women of Barsana. As a part of the celebration, the women beat them with wooden sticks to protect themselves.

The town’s culture is replete with numerous legends of Krishna and the Gopikas and poetic depiction of the legends are very popular. Apart from Holi in Barsana, Radha Ashtami is also celebrated with grace and devotion, which is the day marking the birth of Radharani. However, despite being a great place to visit, mainstream tour operators have sidelined this tourist spot, considering it as offbeat destination.

Man Mandir, the main temple of Barsana is located on top of a hill, which part of the four hills that surround the town. These hills are regarded as the four heads of Lord Brahma, who according to Hindu Mythology, reincarnated himself in a hill to make space for Lord Krishna to live on earth. According to the Hindu Legends, Barsana was the capital of King Vrishabhanu during the Dwapara Yuga. He was the father of Radharani, who was the consort of Lord Krishna.

Being closely located with Mathura (50 km), Barsana shares the same past background and culture of Brajbhoomi. As Barsana is a tiny town, it was under the rule of Mathura. Barsana has been under the rule of various emperors such as Vrishabhanu, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, etc. Raslila is the popular dance form of Barsana associated with the romance between Lord Sri Krishna and Radha Rani. The town is also popular for Charkula dance form and forms associated with Mathura city.

Local Flavour

SourceThis small town is very much involved in creative activities. During festivals like Holi and Radhashtami, the flea markets are full of colourful handicrafts and artefacts. One could buy them as souvenirs. The brassware of Barsana such as hanging lamps, Shiv Trishul, and Sindhoor Pots are among the most-sought after items. Apart from this, the fine finish and unique designs of Barsana’s embroidered clothes are also high on the tourist must-buy list. Semi-precious and precious stones are also used to adorn the embroidery on fabrics.

While you visit Barsana, do not miss to savour some of the sumptuous delicacies. Chole Bhature and Gujiyaas are simply not to be missed. Drinks such as Thandai and Bhang could also be tried. Thus, to enjoy the best of the deals, one must visit Barsana during the festival of Holi held in mid March every year. However, you should be cautious while drinking Bhang as one could feel dizzy.
Despite being a small town, there are many hotels, guesthouses, dharmashalas in Barsana that meet the accommodation requirements of travellers. The hotels in Barsana have all the modern facilities, exceptional service and excellent Indian hospitality.

Location

Barsana is accessible to travellers visiting via air or land. The town is in proximity to various big cities such as Delhi (132 km), Mathura (39 km), Agra (94 km), and Vrindavan (37 km). Mathura (50 km) is the nearest railway station where all the super-fast trains halt. Visitors could also reach Barsana via buses as well. There are well-connected roads from Delhi, Mathura and Agra. For commuting, UPSRTC buses, metered taxis, auto rickshaws, jeeps and cabs are available. In case, you are driving your personal car, you could reach Barsana through MDR143W and MDR 94W from Mathura.

Author: Written By Neelam Talreja
Neelam Talreja is a Travel Writer with a keen interest in writing about incredible destinations. Her write-ups are detailed and comprising of all relevant details that could accommodate. All write-ups are written after thorough research with a blend of creative writing that will make you travel along.

Factfile –
Wiki Braj

Bitter truth of my life – Homosexuality

Anubhav Sharma

March 11, 2014

Source

People say, ‘Time heals everything.’ Except in my case where time seems to have just stopped. Every morning when I wake up, I pray with a hope that it’s a bad dream. But, nothing seems to change. When I go out or interact with someone, I have a feeling of fear deep inside me ‘What if they find out? What will they do?’ My so called ‘normal’ life has got worse since the Supreme Court of India gave its judgment on IPC-377 Act.

It’s now a few months since the judgment came out and everyone seems to have moved on since then, whereas I am still stuck there. Neither I have a rebelling nature, nor do I have courage to live behind closet for the rest of my life. For people like me, it is hard to accept the fact that without committing any crime, they are criminals in the eyes of law. I still remember every second of that fateful day when this judgment came.

Protest against Art.377 | Samapathik Trust

It started off as a normal day for me. I was ready with my assignments and had even started working on them. Just a few days back, I had happily participated my first ever Gay Pride March in Pune. The organizers of the Gay Pride March felt that the judgment will be in our favour. My dream of having a family and being accepted by society started to bloom again. I was knitting my long-lost dreams again with hope and happiness. Then suddenly, it all collapsed without warning!

The verdict came, but it was against us. When I saw the first web post stating ‘Homosexuality is illegal in India, says Supreme Court’, I was dumbstruck! I suddenly felt that I have been betrayed. After I got back to my senses after a while, I went through other news portals to read the entire report. I decided to ask my friends about their next step of action. Some said that they will revolt against the judgment, whereas some decided to move out of the nation. There were a few who didn’t do anything but were just speaking against the judgment. Soon, my social network site was full of updates against the judgment. People were talking about it in the open. Many said that they don’t need the authority’s permission to love someone. Many were gathering support for a march against the judgment.

Gay Pride in Pune | Golnaz Malek
As for me, I had no option left. I could only see a dark passage, with no light at the end. I was just sitting at my home thinking about the possibilities as a result of this judgment. Ever since I became conscious about myself, I had decided that I will never marry a girl. There is no point in taking such step and ruining some else’s life. As I grew up, I realized about the problems we homosexuals face when it comes to acceptance in the society. I have met many people who openly support us but from inside, they still consider this as a sin. These people create hurdles in your life and you have no place to seek help. In many cases, either you commit suicide or you leave a life of misery. The only hope that comes along during such a situation is the law.

Gay Pride in Pune | Golnaz Malek

I understand that the law is not fully supportive when it comes to changing people’s mentality. However, if this law was repealed, to some extent, it would have been helpful in preventing unlawful activities against a particular community or an individual. That’s why laws such as anti-dowry, anti-child marriage and others exist. People fear that if someone complains, they may go behind bars for years, which brings down the number of hate crimes.
Similarly, declaring that homosexuality is a crime is like branding the entire homosexual community as criminal. It implies that if I am open to someone and that an individual can now complain against me that I am involved in homosexual acts. Even when I am not involved, I could be behind bars for nearly 10 years. Thus, having a law to safeguard our interest was important. However, instead of making the Delhi High Court judgment concrete to support the homosexual community, the Supreme Court decided to pull it back, making the entire community vulnerable. We had hoped to take a step further but then we were pushed 10 years back.

As a homosexual, it is not easy to go through this phase. Every day when I wake up and see myself in the mirror, I see a criminal. A criminal who has not looted anyone, nor committed any heinous criminal activity. I am a criminal for just loving a person who belongs to the same sex. I am criminal for simply expressing my love. I am criminal of dreaming of my life with a person I am in love with. It’s been more than a month and there is no change. All I can see is a dark passage that holds no future for me in this nation.

Factfile –

http://en.wikipedia.org

Career Women – Carry a Quiver Full of Arrows

Eshaa Patnaik

March 6, 2014

Author – Eshaa Patnaik

Source

Sometimes a very negative experience turns out to be the most rewarding in the long run. It opens up amazing inroads and shows us the great possibilities in life that we never knew how to recognize. The challenges that women continue to face in the workplace similarly make them all the more adept at handling their multiple challenges. The day is not far off when career women will be appreciated solely for their work without attention being stolen by their appearance.

My friend recently faced a very tough and cruel experience at her workplace. Being pregnant she was not keen on travelling as much she had been for the organization. This made her appear to be unproductive to her boss who kept finding fault with her performance throughout her term and finally submitted a formal memo to her. She had become a liability as she was in the process of taking up the most important assignment of her life as a woman. This memo came just before her four-month paid maternity leave. Meant as a blow to make her resign, it instead made her take her organization to court. From being someone who had unquestioningly put in more hours than all her colleagues, she had taken on the entire senior management.

work life balance — Working woman’s delicate balance | indianblogworld

When we observe the career path taken by women, it does show hiccups and meanderings much more than that of their male counterparts. Although many of us who work in software MNCs would vouch for the complete equality that we have in our professional space, there does remain the fact that women do face more challenges and are not considered competent enough for leadership roles. Being the deal maker, smarter, faster and better than their competitors is still not appreciated in women. They get labelled as “aggressive” go getters.

My work on researching reasons for women’s attrition in my previous organization made me explore the discourse about the perils of women being careerists over homemakers. I found that professionally qualified women gave it all up to relocate with their spouses. I also learnt that there are few women in leadership positions. Women specifically faced challenges related to the stage of their personal lifecycle, assertiveness and incredulous as it may sound to you, age. Often enough, work domains are dominated by men and hence women are given the short shrift even if they have proved themselves to be careerists. However, most of the times, these particular experiences turn out to be preparation for the women for their more senior and plum posts. A probation of sorts!

It’s akin to a quiver full of arrows in terms of the skills and attitude that each of these experiences develops in women, and the various ways they can arm themselves to face the roles they need to play successfully. It did develop a new skill and strength in my friend. In some cases, women face identity crises sets when they tend to prove to be “not just men in skirts”. Communication channels generally get blocked and their contributions are less fully valued.

But nonetheless, all these challenges shape you. Someone as high profile as Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) was not spared and called “robotic and stuck up”, and “gender blind”, which clearly show the gender bias at work. However, that didn’t stop her from taking many tough decisions as a CEO. In fact, it helps to have these “professional jolts” early on in our career as it makes us strong enough to handle people and top management issues later on.

Are there any specific mantras or experiences that bring out the best among women? We need to develop our own set of skills and build strengths, and not shy away from challenges or our specific weaknesses. We also need to maintain our originality as best we can and not forget that there is no fixed pathway to the top. As more and more women join the professional ranks, there will clearly be an evolution in the way they are perceived. We need to decide what arrows we need in our case and how we can replenish the quiver as per the changing times!

Documentary Films in India that Broadens Our Horizon of Thought

Hrishikesh Somani

March 4, 2014

As the world watches the latest set of Oscar awards, we look at some documentary films in India that have been created by experts and novices alike. Watching these films actually changes the perspective of viewers and broadens our horizon of thought. With their thought-provoking punches and content, these low-budget films ensure that viewers are left wondering by the end of each film, after being exposed to such harsh reality about the society that we are a part of.

The main objective of a documentary film is to show the real life, deglamorized and denuded to just the truth. However, not all documentaries are made to make you cringe. Some are made on a lighter note, like Supermen of Malegaon. Following is a compilation of the top few documentary films made in India by Indian filmmakers, which has a combination of genres of documentaries from very serious to light hearted.

Supermen of Malegaon

Set in the small town of Malegaon in Maharashtra, ‘Supermen of Malegaon’ is the story of a novice filmmaker who aspires to create spoofs of Bollywood films. This documentary ventures into his team’s attempts at making a local-level spoof of Hollywood’s Superman. Instead of a well-built Christopher Reeves or Henry Cavill, we have here ultra-lean and lanky Shafique Shaikh with a bony appearance in a superman costume that makes you laugh the moment he makes an appearance.
The documentary for most part is funny yet contemplative. It shows the dreams of a small town guy becoming a star through the eyes of Shafique Shaikh, as well as the will of the film’s team to break away from the monotony and do something creative, even when they have no experience. Many aspects of the society are brought out into the open, while making this quirky and low-budget action hero film. These issues are so subtly addressed without implying any seriousness, which shows the optimistic nature of the film. Faiza Ahmad Khan, the director of the film, has done a great job with it and did justice to Malegaon ka Superman.

Father, Son and Holy War

While making a documentary, a director always tries to ensure complete objectivity, i.e. the absence of any personal point of view. Sometimes a bias is not created by distorting the content shot or faking the clips; it is involuntarily done. What a filmmaker chooses to show and hide in order to suit his script decides the objectivity of a documentary film.
Anand Patwardhan’s ‘Father, Son and Holy War’ is said to have achieved that objectivity to a very high extent. With the two thought provoking parts of the film (‘Trial by Fire’ and ‘Hero Pharmacy’), Patwardhan has raised the issues of Hindu-Muslim riots, the fundamentalist thinking in both the sects and the dominance of men in the society.
Patwardhan goes to the extent of bringing in talks about men’s virility to create an analogy between the machismo of the violent extremists and their potency. Nowhere does he mock their opinions about non violence being equivalent to impotency, but this preposterous notion when seen in his film makes one wonder at their warped minds. “Rampant machismo is never a pretty sight, and this two-part video contains a lot of excruciating imagery and some brutal truths: these are not pretty pictures…” says Gail Minault, Journal of Asian Studies.

Faith Connections

“Kumbh ke mele mein bichhad gaye” was a hackneyed dialogue among many Bollywood films of the previous era. Although the dialogue looked unrealistic, the phenomenon is very much real in Kumbh Melas, which are the largest gatherings of humans on Earth. This high-budget documentary explores the city of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh where the event takes place every 12 years. Director Pan Nalin has tried to show the lesser known aspects of the Kumbh Mela.
This film isn’t an information video log about how millions of people come to take a dip in the holy waters. It rather shows a Hatha Yogi Baba who adopts and nurtures an abandoned child; and how the hermit finds himself becoming a part of the world around him again and a runaway kid, whose parents’ status is unknown to all. Where thousands of people get lost, director Nalin finds a weary couple in search of their lost child. With some extremely beautiful camerawork and editing, Faith Connections makes a compelling case. The film binds its viewers and appeals to their emotional side, showing grey shades of the Kumbh.

Smile Pinki

A five-year old girl, Pinki Sonkar, from a village in one of the poorest parts of India, is ostracized and is not allowed to attend the local school because of the deformity that she bears; a cleft lip. “Smile Pinki” is an Oscar award-winning documentary, showing the challenges faced by innocent children born with cleft lips in India and the role played by G.S. Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital in Banaras in providing free plastic surgeries to all such children. Thousands of Pinkies in India face similar or worse reactions from family and society. A common notion among believers is that children with a cleft lip were born under a curse.
Director Megan Mylan follows social worker Pankaj who tries to convince people in villages of Uttar Pradesh to get their children operated for free from the G S Memorial Hospital, Varanasi. The film follows Pinki and a 11-year old boy, Ghuntaru, to their surgical points after which they look completely normal and healed. It is a welcome reminder that making the world a better place doesn’t require miracles but a merely a series of small, simple steps.

Factfile –
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com
http://en.wikipedia.org

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