Indholdsfortegnelse for October 31, 2016 i India Today

Runway-ready cuts. Organic colours. Exquisite handcrafting. Reinvented fabric. Indian fashion is acquiring a new identity which mirrors the story of a new India. Rooted in its heritage yet open to the world, often coming from a small town but at ease in international capitals, technically accomplished with training at fashion institutes, fashion’s new stars are striding the world, confident of their swadeshi chic. Homegrown but not down at heel, embellished but not blingy, easy but not unstructured—the new aesthetic is a leap forward from the generation that preceded it. Much before Made in India became fashionable with the government, these young men and women acknowledged their own heritage. They are changing the language of fashion. So, Samant Chauhan has updated the Bhagalpuri weave with a variety of other yarns, Gaurav…

Ever since a 13-year-old Jain girl died of cardiac arrest in the early hours of October 4, there has been an outcry by the media as well as child rights activists. It was assumed that Aradhana Samdariya, a deeply religious teenager who went on a ritual fast for 68 days, was forced or manipulated into fasting. It was even alleged that she fasted to help her father’s business grow. The lack of grace by social activists and other liberal voices towards a family grieving the death of their child and the attitude of Jain religious leaders to perceive any interference with the spiritual practices of their community as a violation of the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, exposes the urgent need for dialogue. Enforcing laws to protect the well-being of…

The unusually hot October morning fails to dampen the spirit of the 20,000-odd strong crowd gathered at Rajpipla, a small princely town in south Gujarat. They have come to hear Vijay Rupani, 60, Gujarat’s newly anointed chief minister, inducted by the BJP in the hope of turning things around for the party ahead of the 2017 Gujarat polls. Given the circumstances of his arrival on the scene—and given the profile of Gujarat as prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state—it was never going to be easy for any incumbent. When Rupani was sworn in as chief minister on August 7, the BJP was on the back foot in the state, following the Patel agitation for reservations and then chief minister Anandiben Patel’s inability to control the situation. There was also a…

India’s performance at the Goa BRICS summit, which it chaired, has to be evaluated in the light of the realities of the grouping. BRICS, which began as a geopolitical project, has failed to become more coherent internally. To achieve its objectives, especially the promotion of multipolarity, BRICS should have actively cultivated more internal solidarity at a time when the US had not recovered from its financial woes and domestic sentiment against further military entanglements abroad was growing, the Eurozone was in trouble and the EU itself was in some disarray after Brexit and the refugee crisis. On the contrary, divergences within BRICS have grown in critical areas, loosening further the mortar binding it together. China has begun to openly oppose India in several sensitive areas, such as India’s NSG membership…

The realm of Indian fashion and its designers is a constantly transforming social, cultural and economic phenomenon. Every few years a new dimension of complexity is added by upcoming generations of designers who, fresh from studies, internships and early career placements, seek to add their unique perspective to what Indian fashion is, could or should be. The recent Amazon India Fashion Week demonstrated the sheer diversity of Indian fashion, from sharply tailored suits to fluid saris, loose minimal garments to ornamented occasion wear. Yet, since I began researching on Indian fashion in 2009, a set of troubling themes persists in how the industry looks inwards upon itself and its multi-layered generations of designers. A pervasive criticism is the question of pattern-cutting and whether Indian designers are able to hone the…

ANDAMEN JUST LIKE the Andaman islands, Andamen, a homegrown, heritage men’s apparel brand is about venturing beyond the motherland, exploring the world, yet remaining resolutely Indian,” say Satvika and Siddharth Suri, founders of the India-inspired luxury brand. The two studied together in St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and dreamt of launching a menswear fashion brand that leverages India’s rich heritage and craftsmanship. “Every shirt in our heritage collection has a meaningful story behind it with direct inspiration from the season’s theme. One of our best selling shirts this season, ‘The Playful Thangka’, features centuries old Buddhist thangka painting motifs in a very young and fashionable form,” says Satvika. “Another popular shirt features embroidered Banarasi motifs in a contemporary, rustic and masculine form that makes the shirt very unique yet wearable,” adds…

 When Gregory David Roberts first attempts to paint a picture of Mumbai in Shantaram, he evokes the readers' olfactory senses to describe the city. “I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of India. It’s the smell of gods, demons, empires, and civilizations in resurrection and decay. It’s the blue skin-smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the Island City, and the blood-metal smell of machines. It smells of the stir and sleep and waste of sixty million animals more than half of them humans and rats,” says Roberts’ protagonist Lin. In those few lines, Roberts describes so much that makes up Mumbai. And it’s not pretty. But beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and Mumbai can be gorgeous to those who look…

OCTOBER 17, 2016 What India must do to stave off terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan “India has to engage Pakistan in a strategy of ‘compellence’ where reconciliation is the only outcome. The leaders of the two nations cannot afford to sacrifice the agenda of development and prosperity in South Asia.” RAJESH JUNEJA, via e-mail Tough Love? Game Changer is a conclusive analysis of the paradigm shift in our government’s approach to engagement with Pakistan. India seems to have finally come of age and moved beyond condemnation, condolences and assurances in response to periodic terror attacks by Pakistan. The adage ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ is eminently applicable to our erring neighbour. Our Pradhan Sevak is a hard taskmaster as far as spoilt brat Pakistan is concerned. HENA PRASUN,…

ONCE BITTEN... Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari is still bitter about being denied a second term as BJP president in 2012. “I will give up politics but never accept the position again. I was extremely pained with the politics that denied me a second stint,” Gadkari said at a public interview conducted by cultural organisation Saptak in Nagpur on October 16. Gadkari’s grouse: it was the ED searches at the offices of his company, Purti, in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, etc. that sealed his chances of a second term. The raids took place a day before his reelection. Gadkari believes he was done in by a senior BJP leader and colleague in the present government. WHITE DEMONS Chitta (Punjabi for fair or white) nowadays almost always refers to heroin, the drug…

“PATELS WERE UNHAPPY FOR SOME TIME, BUT THEY HAVE VEERED BACK TOWARDS US. WE TACKLED THEIR PROBLEMS WITH MATURITY AND SINCERITY” Vijay Rupani’s confidence is high, and it shows in his body language. No wonder, then, that the confidence of the Gujarat BJP is also growing. The Gujarat chief minister, who has acquired the reputation of being a transparent and quick decision-maker in his two-month-long stint, spoke to deputy editor Uday Mahurkar. Excerpts: You claim your government is transparent, decisive, progressive and sensitive. Isn’t that too tall a claim to make after just two months? No, what I am saying is that my government’s intentions are clear. It is the head of a government who sets its direction. Narendrabhai has brought about a transformation in Delhi in just two years.…

FOREST ESSENTIALS WHAT BEGAN as a hobby and passion—using coconut and almond oil to make soaps and candles to gift well-wishers and friends— has morphed into a highly successful brand since Mira Kulkarni founded Forest Essentials in 2000. So much so that when Kulkarni and her son Samrath Bedi met Mr Lauder, the then chairman of Leonard A. Lauder, in 2007, while he was in India for Elizabeth Hurley’s wedding, he was sufficiently impressed by the American company to buy a 20 per cent stake in it the next year, which was upped further in 2014. Relying on the strong Indian legacy of ayurveda, Forest Essentials uses ingredients ranging from cocum butter, nagkeshar, daru haldi, anantmool to apricot oil, mogra and avocado oil. The brand retails from 44 company-owned stores…

Read this: “Forty-year-old Madvi Bajare was ill so he and his wife Subbi could not run away when the forces came. Bajare’s two younger daughters, ten-year-old Bheeme and eight-year-old Mutti, were also at home, as was his elder daughter Kattam Kanni; she was visiting with her twoyear-old son, Suresh. “Everyone was dragged out of the house. The parents and their youngest daughter Mutti were stabbed and left by a mahua tree. The eldest, Kanni, was stripped, raped and then killed. In the process they also cut off three of her baby’s fingers and put the crying baby on his dead mother’s chest.” This description is one among several from The Burning Forest: India’s War in Bastar by the sociologist and human rights activist Nandini Sundar, an acknowledged expert in the…

BALD TRUTH A dome of bare scalp made room for a new word, ‘highbrow,’ or intellectual, in 18th century England. It was believed to be a reflection of inner wisdom. Just as grass does not grow on a busy street, a busy brain does not allow hair growth (Source: New England Journal, 1971) Hair is not an electoral imperative in India. The country has had a whole lot of prime ministers with bald pates Is it a bird, is it a plane? It’s Donald Trump’s hair What is that baby chick yellow thing sitting on the top of his head? America (and the world) wants to know Whether Donald Trump becomes the president of the United States or not, one thing is likely to remain a mystery forever: his ridiculous…

India in Fashion A school of thought believes that Indian designers have missed the boat—with India opening up and FDI in retail waiting to happen.... In the neurotic world of designers, there is a conspiracy theory that the trend of Asian elements has to do with fashion eyeing developing markets. Despite the debate on the future of Indian designers, especially in the environment ahead, there is a consensus that Indian design can no longer be dismissed. The kurti and the churi pant silhouettes have gone global and India is being addressed by everything from Zara’s high street to Armani’s couture. Indian designers are offering their own perspective to the trend, with Rohit Bal presenting exquisite skills from Kashmir and Raghavendra Rathore dipping into history to show a Samarkand line. And…

Three politically motivated murders in three days turned October into the bloodiest of recent months in Kerala. On the 10th, K. Mohanan, 52, a local CPI(M) leader, was hacked to death by suspected RSS activists in Pathiriyad village, part of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Dharmadom assembly constituency. A gang of six swordwielding assailants hacked him 14 times in a toddy shop. On October 12, Remith Uthaman, a 30yearold RSS worker, was hacked to death in front of his mother and pregnant sister in Pinarayi, the CM’s native village. On October 13, Farook Neerchal, 45, a Social Dem ocr atic Party of India (SDPI) worker, was hacked to death in Kannur town. SDPI, the political wing of the radical Muslim outfit, Popular Front of India, has pointed a finger at the…

ARJUN SALUJA, 42 From Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh Trained at the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science USP Sharp pattern cuts, androgynous drapes, bold structures THE BUZZ “If someone understands androgyny, it is him. His inspiration is out there on the street and it is an ever-evolving silhouette” Mohnish Kabir Malhotra, fashion publicist If you could use the word teleportation to describe design, Gaurav Jai Gupta’s show at the recently concluded Amazon India Fashion Week in Delhi would be just that. As wave upon wave of models descended on the ramp wearing his creations, Gupta made use of an Icelandic colour palette— cold smears of icy greens, sharp blues and shimmering greys. The counterpoints of liquid gold and steely silver embodied the audacity of his creativity. The pale green shades suggested vulnerability,…

I kept going back to pages I had already read as the book progressed; there were bits and pieces that didn’t seem to fit—a turn of events, a small but sudden revealing of character, a flashback that didn’t quite connect with the present in the narrative even with a willing suspension of disbelief—making me wonder if I had missed them along the way. Set in Northeast India, and drawing once again on the familiar and well-worn theme of insurgency cloaked in romantic ideals but offering no new insights or perspective, this novel is a quick and uncomplicated read. A small group of nine young insurgents are on the run, having fled their camp in Bhutan in the wake of an army attack, on their way to Assam through the Himalayan…

RUNWAY CZAR NIFT graduate and New York-based designer Prabal Gurung will showcase his latest collection at Le Mill in Mumbai this month. Also watch him in conversation with Christian Louboutin and Karan Johar at the Mumbai film fest. SUNDAY BEST Barun Sobti’s star is on the rise. The actor of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? fame was trending in Morocco and the Middle East after Tu Hai Mera Sunday premiered at the BFI London Film Festival. WINDOW TO FAME Having revived the onewoman play Sakubai, veteran actress Sarita Joshi returns after a hiatus in the lead cast of new TV show Khidki. COMEBACK LADY Marriage and motherhood took Amala Akkineni away from films. Now, the actress returns from her long hiatus to star in the Malayalam film Saira Banu,…

Fashion shows are notorious for their extravagance. From iconic Parisian designer Pierre Cardin’s show in a remote desert in China’s northwest Gansu province to Karl Lagerfeld’s catwalk show against the backdrop of the Great Wall of China, fashion designers are no strangers to using offbeat and iconic locations to enhance their shows. Although not a fashion designer, Mumbai-based Satish Reddy, President of Parisbased French European Indian Organization (FEIO), knew very well that shows at iconic buildings help designers ensure a memory that lives on long after the seasons have changed and the fashion has moved on. What better venue then than the iconic Eiffel Tower to host a fashion show? The architectural marvel will host the first edition of French European Indian Fashion Week (FEIFW), an initiative of World News…

#1 EXHIBITION Colours of nature Till Oct 22 City artists Pushpita Taode and Kavita Upadhyay come together to present an exhibition of paintings that depict birds, flowers and nature in a collection of vibrant and cheerful artworks. At Bliss Art Gallery, Lane E, North Main Road, Koregaon Park. #2 ARTCOURSE Brush Strokes Nov 8 Play with paints at Colour Splash, a basic course in water colour. Artist Milind Mulick teaches you the various techniques of water colours. You needn’t be an art student for this; the course is aimed at amateurs and is a great way of de-stressing as well. At Art2Day Gallery, The Reverie, Bhandarkar Road, above Skoda showroom. Tel 07276000027 #3 FOODFESTIVAL Temple palate Till Oct 31 Love the dal and payasam served at temples as bhog? Here’s…