WEF: Red Spider, Black Spider Redux

P. Sainath

The Hindu Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, at the India Economic Summit in New Delhi on November 14, 2010. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

The audience, organisers, and fightersknow that sham wrestling is not to betaken seriously. But the World Economic Forum takes itself seriously.

The comforting thing about the sham wrestling 'championships' on television is that everybody knows they are a farce. Steroid-stuffed Cro-Magnons stomp the living daylights out of painkiller-primed Neanderthals. Good, unclean fun. The results are safely predictable. You should expect the 600-pound gorilla to overwhelm the 900-pound one in a staggering twist of fortune (after the bets have been laid). But the audience, the organisers, and the fighters all know the fighting is rigged and everyone's happy.

There were many, pre-television Indian symbols of this honourable tradition. As school kids, we cheered wildly as Black Spider brutally crushed Red Spider's brother in an open-air bout. The roaring crowd dispersed only after Red Spider jumped into the ring to promise us he would throttle Black Spider in a revenge match the next week, so buy your tickets in advance. (He then toddled off to dinner with Black Spider). At age 8, it was magical.

Decades later, television has given sham 'wrestling' giant audiences, made it more spectacular, but perhaps less convincing. (The close-ups are a dead giveaway). But almost everybody still knows what to take seriously and what not to. That, and the fact that they entertain more people, are what demarcate the world wrestling extravaganzas from the World Economic Forum. (Both, otherwise, fully corporate enterprises). The wrestling corporations take the money seriously. The World Economic Forum takes itself seriously, besides the money.

The WEF's first ever summit in Mumbai ended on the 14th. Its main organiser was the Confederation of Indian Industry. But both the Centre and the Maharashtra government came out in "support." The Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Kerala (both States reporting rising farm suicides) hosted 'cultural evenings' and/or expensive dinners for this billionaires club, besides providing other forms of 'support.' The WEF's May 31 press release announcing Mumbai as the venue had this mysterious line: "The Summit will return to New Delhi in 2012 and 2014 in time for India's next national election." Wow, is the WEF running for office? And why shift from Delhi to Mumbai? Was it embarrassing for a government drowning in corporate corruption and scams to "host" the corporate world's Croesus Club in the capital?

And so, the governments that cannot add a few hundred rupees per quintal to desperate paddy or cotton growers find the means to subsidise the global billionaire fraternity. Union Ministers and Chief Ministers came down to the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai to reaffirm support.

But why? What exactly does the WEF deliver to India? Or anybody? Has it brought you staggering investments? Unlike the sham wrestling world, the WEF can predict nothing safely. (And they're hardly entertaining). When did this crowd ever get anything right? Did it warn you of the 2008 meltdown or the Euroquake? ( It did grimly observe in Mumbai that Europe is in trouble. Gee. The rest of us would never have suspected that).

Dean Baker puts it so well: "Economic forecasters are not workers like dishwashers and cab drivers who are held accountable for the quality of their work. They can be wrong every day about everything and face little risk to their career prospects." (CounterPunch, August 25, 2011).

However, by WEF standards, the Mumbai show was a bit subdued. The U.S. and Europe are reeling in crisis driven by the very economics the WEF stands for. India was still rising but not shining. Even the Planning Commission-driven India Human Development Report admits: "the average percentage of undernourished children under five years for 26 Sub-Saharan African countries was 25 per cent, about half the Indian average of 46 per cent. Weight and height of Indians on average have not shown significant improvement over the last 25 years."

India's rank in the 2011 Global Hunger Index, at 67 out of 81, places us seven notches below Rwanda which apparently handles food security better. We're also below Sri Lanka (rank 36), Nepal (54) and Pakistan (59). The GHI 2011 states flatly that its data "does not reflect the impacts of the 2010-11 food price crisis."

And the country gracing the top five when it comes to dollar billionaires now ranks 134th in the 2011 U.N. Human Development Report. Our over 55 billionaires grew their wealth at an astonishing rate in the post-1991 era. And there's the India story: the consciously constructed, ruthlessly engineered inequality of it. Just see our HDI Value in the UNHDR. It reads 0.548. Adjusted for inequality, this value falls by close to 30 per cent. India's 'multi-dimensionally poor' now exceed 612 million, as the report shows us.

But debates over India's dismal performance in giving its people the basic minimums always evade the policy framework of the past 20 years that has driven such levels of inequality. You can blame 'tardy implementation,' 'poor delivery,' anything — except the policies that have devastated hundreds of millions of poor Indians. And, of course, there is not even censure for the top guns and whizz kids.

As Baker points out, for this kind of group, there are no bad consequences. If you think that disastrous failures would hurt their record "then you don't understand economic forecasting. There is no reason to believe that forecasters are any more knowledgeable about the economy today than they were four or five years ago."

Need a good Indian illustration of this? Take Planning Commission deputy chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Finance Ministry Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu and their multiple predictions on the economy, particularly on inflation. (Which, says CRISIL, forced Indians to spend close to Rs. 6 lakh crores extra in 36 months). With inflation close to double digits and food inflation at 10.63 per cent, they now admit, sort of, that we were, ahem, not quite as right as we are normally known to be. But we will, umm ... probably will return to being right in the near future.

Dr. Ahluwalia even admits to credibility issues popping up. "It is true that we were hoping that this [moderation in inflation] will happen earlier, to that extent our credibility becomes a question." (The Times of India, Nov. 21, 2011). And straightaway makes another prediction — "inflationary pressure would ease from the beginning of next year."

Dr. Basu believes it will start declining in December itself. If in February, says Dr. Ahluwalia, the data show that "inflation is not coming down by then, then we really don't know what we are doing." India's human development indicators suggest they haven't a clue about what they were doing for 20 years. That, however, is not so. They knew what they were doing. Constructing a world based on a trickle-down, greed-is-good, inequality-helps philosophy. It made things much worse, though not for the authors of the mess.

The WEF has gone. This time, it did not get the kind of publicity to which it is accustomed. Which brings us to the media. Who has been paying for, or heavily subsidising, the large contingents of Indian media that do the Davos Drool each year? Answer: Indian industry, which likes to have its cheerleading team along. Some of the rent-a-report crowd is from media outlets which will not spend a few thousand rupees to send a journalist to cover huge issues of hunger within the country. Switzerland is an expensive place. And Davos is at its costliest in the WEF season. Yet several Indian journalists seem to afford it.

Quite a few have had their costs, including air travel and more, covered by industry lobbies, many of whose members are major advertisers and a big source of media revenue. There are newspapers that have given Davos summits far more coverage than they have the most vital bills before Parliament. There are channels that have had "partnerships" with the CII and the WEF to cover Davos (always euphorically). Strong and rigid rules are issued to journalists on how to report. One such instruction: "Please note we cannot say "WEF"… it is the World Economic Forum and one is not allowed to call it otherwise." Wonder why? Does the acronym WEF sound too much like one of the sham wrestling outfits? Another fatwa from a television group: "the following programming from CII has to be incorporated in the programming of all channels."

Surely, the audiences watching the completely uncritical coverage of the WEF have a right to be told that the content was sponsored? When the funding is not clearly stated, when the content heavily favours the sponsor, when criticism is unknown, when correspondents are told how to fulfil their duties to their "partners' — this is what is called Paid News. But there is a pact of silence about this. A fine example of the kind of 'self-regulation' that media bosses have in mind?

The organisers, lobbies, funders, the media — all know what's happening. But not, in this case, the audiences, readers or viewers. Where are you, Black Spider and Red Spider? All is forgiven, come home.

--



Amar P. Puranik,
Sub-Editor,
Tarun Bharat,
Solapur - 413005
Hindusthan Samachar,
New Delhi - 110055

Resi. Address
960, North Sadar Bazar,
Solapur - 413003
Cell Ph. No : 09370405062
E-Mail : aamarpuranik@rediffmail.com
             aamarpuranik@gmail.com
Blog    : www.amar-puranik.blogspot.com

अमर पुराणिक
उपसंपादक,
दैनिक तरुण भारत, सोलापूर.
हिंदुस्थान समाचार, नवी दिल्ली.
फोन नं : ०९३७०४०५०६२

Media Matters : Learning to converse

Sevanti Ninan

When information and events get reported by ordinary people, traditional news organisations have to redefine their roles.

As 2011 comes to a close, the year's biggest events have mainstream media newsrooms pondering what these mean for their future. When revolutions and nuclear disasters are reported by ordinary people on mobile phones, what price conventional newsroom technology or the editorial skills honed over several years?

 At an editors' summit in Hong Kong which drew media biggies from across continents,   a few discoveries were being made. One, that leading media companies are now employing digital strategists to help them figure out how to go forward. Two, the hierarchy in the business is changing — the audience is no longer composed of passive recipients of what you choose to put out. Be nice to them — they threaten your future.

 The head of digital strategy at ZDF, Germany, was there to point gently to a need for a change in the journalists' attitude: "We have to go from being oracle to guide. The lecture is becoming a conversation.  As the audience gets more active, they receive and alter our content. Sources go direct, we lose control. Reverse your angle — the 20{+t}{+h} century info flow is changing. Don't look down at audience. Look across the table.  Make the prime time newscast a conversation with the newscaster."

 There is even a new word in the vocabulary of the media business — pro-sumption, where the producer and consumer are becoming the same.

Changing roles

Three, the description of what newsroom editors do is changing. They need to think of themselves as curators.  Someone who will decide what to take from a variety of sources for the news package he is putting out. The director for new media at Al Jazeera put it succinctly: "Monitoring, curating and then pushing it out again." In Egypt, he reminded people, the first images were both produced and distributed outside the mainstream media — the video of a youth before a water canon.

 The editor's job then becomes one of verifying local news sources. How do you do that? You look for landmarks in the video which will verify the authenticity of the location, you gauge the weather, you try to call the guy you see in the video. Get the real name and ID of every citizen journalist. Speed versus accuracy is the challenge.

 Open source was a term to describe software; now it is being used to describe sources in journalism. The managing editor of CNN Digital said that when Egypt, Japan and Libya happened in turn, they had to figure out a format to integrate citizen journalism into their reporting. Now they have a section called Open Story where they marry their own reports with those of citizen journalists.  

 Joi Ito, who is now the director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was asked whether the tsunami in Japan had changed the perception of the media. He replied that it had changed the perception of the establishment in Japan, including the media. There was a loss of confidence in the media. Post Fukushima a new online project called safecast.org was launched, showcasing data which could help you measure nuclear radiation.  

 The role of the journalist is changing when there are many sites and sources for data, and you no longer need a journalist to find information. Instead, it becomes their job to take  different sources of information and compare. So, number four, the skill sets needed in the newsroom are changing. The future lies increasingly in what is being called data journalism. You now need people in the newsroom who understand computer programming, who understand data analysis, who understand statistics.

Curating data

In 2012, the push will be for data journalism, as field reports come in partly from citizens on the ground. As governments increasingly put data online, journalists will have to learn ways to plumb it. The editor of La Nacion in Costa Rica described how for a huge project which examined the criminal records of 1,500 electoral candidates, her paper  procured a software which the FBI uses to throw up names of people under various categories. But then because this is journalism and you have to give the right to reply no matter how many hundreds are being investigated together in a computerised operation, they had to set up a call centre to call every one of the candidates and ask them what they had to say!

 There was also a note of caution about where not to follow social media blindly. Ignore the trending on Twitter, said Ito.  To follow that could lead you down a hysterical path.

 Much of the meeting of this new formation of editors — the Global Editors Network — was about the rise of the mobile.  Have you redesigned your website for viewing on the mobile? And in a country like India, were newsrooms using them enough to get news from places where you did not have correspondents? 

 2012 can be much the same or more frenetic than 2011  depending on how much you are inclined to keep up with the Joneses in the new four-screen news ecology — TV, computer, tablet, mobile.  The anxious question being asked at the end was, what will the fifth screen be and how soon will it emerge?

--



Amar P. Puranik,
Sub-Editor,
Tarun Bharat,
Solapur - 413005
Hindusthan Samachar,
New Delhi - 110055

Resi. Address
960, North Sadar Bazar,
Solapur - 413003
Cell Ph. No : 09370405062
E-Mail : aamarpuranik@rediffmail.com
             aamarpuranik@gmail.com
Blog    : www.amar-puranik.blogspot.com

अमर पुराणिक
उपसंपादक,
दैनिक तरुण भारत, सोलापूर.
हिंदुस्थान समाचार, नवी दिल्ली.
फोन नं : ०९३७०४०५०६२

Cartoonist Thackeray calls on Common Man

 Cartoonist Thackeray calls on Common Man

Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray meets veteran cartoonist R.K. Laxman at his residence in Pune on Thursday evening. Two friends, who have known each other for more than 50 years, met, reliving old times and shedding a tear or two on the memories. Nothing unusual except that the two are legendary cartoonists R.K. Laxman and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Mr. Thackeray (85) visited Mr. Laxman (90) in his Pune residence on Thursday evening to enquire about his health.
“When he saw me, the poor chap started crying,” Mr. Thackeray, who is a cartoonist himself, told journalists. First meeting The two first met in 1945 when Mr. Laxman joined The Free Press Journal, where Mr. Thackeray was already working as cartoonist. “We worked together till 1950 after which he joined The Times of India,” he said. He was accompanied by his son Uddhav Thackeray and grandson Aditya.
“Today, only I was speaking, as Laxman cannot talk. The very hand that sketched politicians is shaking today,” Mr Thackeray said. Mr. Laxman, who suffered a stroke in 2010, cannot talk, and uses his hands much.
In spite of that, he drew his favourite character, the Common Man, for his old friend, which Mr. Thackeray proudly displayed to reporters. “The standard of caricaturists has gone down today. In our times, one cartoon was equal to a hundred editorials. Today's cartoons lack that fun element,” Mr Thackeray said. Speaking to The Hindu earlier in the day, Mr. Laxman's wife Kamala said, “We have known him for very long. Laxman is very fond of him. He is visiting us in Pune for the first time.”

When Carnatic met Hindustani

When Carnatic met Hindustani
 

Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin) and Debashish Bhattacharya (slide guitar) mesmerised the audience during The Hindu Friday Review November Fest 2011 at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad. Photo: Nagara Gopal
The Hindu Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin) and Debashish Bhattacharya (slide guitar) mesmerised the audience during The Hindu Friday Review November Fest 2011 at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad. Photo: Nagara Gopal

Ganesh Rajagopalan and Debashish Bhattacharya's ‘Adrishta' concert held at Ravindra Bharathi was a stupendous success right from the start

Wedded by music, the violin and slide guitar seemed the most compatible couple on earth. Ganesh Rajagopalan on the violin seemed the masculine strain of Carnatic music: strong and steady with the velocity of the wind; Debashish Bhattacharya on the slide guitar was the feminine form: rich in melody, paced with poise like the earth.
On a roller coaster

The fortunate (Adrishta) duo took us on a roller-coaster at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium on the second day of The Hindu Friday Review November Fest 2011. The concert was ordained for nothing short of stupendous success right from the start. The ragas presented were chosen that they had a thread of commonality running between them or an equivalent in both the Carnatic and Hindustani musical parlance.

We were initiated into the Madhyamavathi (Megh) with the composition of Sadaarang (18th century Niyamat Khan) set to Jhampa tala (Jhup taal). The opening notes of this stirring raga were an elaborate exposition of its finer aspects as Ganesh deftly wielded his bow-string on the violin.

The high concordance as the raga takes the first three notes of the cycle of fifth and fourth was so evident in his handling.

The concurrent Megh on the guitar, invoked the clouds to pour in its sweet, stringing melodic tones.

The rather rigid instrument seemed to melt in the hands of Debashish and it almost spoke in human voice like the veena.

In fact, the cadence was similar to that of veena. As Ganesh led in improvising this popular raga, Debashish's guitar followed suit. No, it was not repetitive. Far from it, each artiste gave his version of the raga in almost similar lines that it appeared to a follow-up but it had its innate identity.

The improvisations were markedly intricate as Ganesh and Debashish scaled the altitude in stunning speed as they whirled past the higher octave. The formal spin down was not just a fall, it was methodically calculated set of declining syllables totally rhythmic that came to a natural end. The tabla by Subhashish Bhattacharya and mridangam by Ananthakrishna literally were on a sport drive – trying to outdo each other while Trichi Krishna on the ghatam maintained a low tempo except towards the end of a true, blue taniavartham (solo percussion). The passionate Charukeshi (recently adapted to Hindustani) opened to a brilliant alapana by the violinist.

The nuances spoke eloquently on the instrument which were further enhanced by the guitar.

We never knew we would be shortly taken on a breath-taking trip of the heavens as both the artistes alternately set the pace which peaked and landed us on what seemed the heights of a beautiful snow-clad mount.

The stylish spill out of syllabic utterances in quick succession, without a breather was Ganesh's forte while Debashish took the cue and took wings flying into a boundless space on a rapid action mode. It was like a clap of thunder and lightning with the percussionists on an Abacus.

The triangular contest of tabla, mridangam and ghatam was worth a watch though Ananthakrishna emerged a clean victor. The sweet Sindhubhairavi gave a fitting finale to the marvellous ensemble.

Uddhav hits out at FDI in retail

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday hit out at the Centre's decision to allow 51 per cent Foreign Direct Investment in multibrand retail, stating the government's leadership itself was “imported.”

“What can you expect when the government itself is dancing to a foreigner's tune? Such policies have their roots in the leadership,” he said. The Shiv Sena has also protested against the policy in Parliament, along with its saffron ally Bharatiya Janata Party.

He was addressing a party workers' workshop of Western Maharashtra region ahead of the local bodies elections in the State.

‘Attack through votes'

Referring to the recent attack on Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar, Mr. Thackeray said people's anger against rising prices was justified, but it should be expressed not through attacks on individual politicians. “The rage has to come out, but by an attack through votes. People should vote out the oppressive government. It should be a slap on the government.”

Condemning the attack on the senior politician, Mr. Thackeray said that such acts were not a part of the tradition of Maharashtra.

Mr. Thackeray said the people had suffered all over Maharashtra because of government policies.

“All the parties came together to condemn the attack on Mr. Pawar, but why can't they do this to support farmers? The cotton agitation in the State is going on for the last two weeks, and still there is no decision.”

Ooh la la 'n'loving it

Ooh la la 'n'loving it

Every heroine plays sexy in Hindi cinema today — if it is equated with being skimpily clad, being rebel teen or happy infidel, doing your standard issue jhatka-matkas or item number (not much difference there!). But doing an in-the-face act in a film that rides on the subject of a film actor's sexuality — now that is really plucky. Vidya Balan deserves a place in the history of our cinema for making that audacious attempt.

If you haven't heard of “The Dirty Picture” yet, you're obviously living on some other planet. The Ekta Kapoor-produced Milan Luthria-directed film set for release on December 2 is scorching people's minds with heavy-duty promos of heavy-duty bosom heaving and slithering with hero amidst oranges on hill slopes — reprising the gaudy 80s Hindi cinema. The film's song “Ooh la la…tu hai meri fantasy” scoops out the spirit of the film in generous dollops. There's been enough controversy kicked up about the film being based on iconic cabaret queen Silk Smitha's life, about Vidya Balan never being able to match up to Smitha's sensuality, about Smitha's brother challenging the film in court etc etc. As is the case with any speculation, it's only added to the publicity blitzkrieg.

Vidya knows she's stepped out of her comfort zone; she herself says “I've unleashed myself,” with a bold and becoming pink-lipsticked grin. She was in Bangalore in association with Radio One to promote the film. Vidya's been living her filmi look during the promos, underlining retro chic with wedge heels, huge plastic frame glasses, hoop earrings, pink floral print shirt dress, purple nail enamel et al.

“I don't adhere to any image trap…I don't want to be repeating a Vidya Balan,” emphasises Vidya, who, after her critically acclaimed 2005 Hindi debut “Parineeta” has actually managed not to fall into the un-rescuable typecasting well by doing films as diverse as “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”, “Heyy Baby”, “Paa”, “Ishqiya”, “No One Killed Jessica”. Vidya agrees: “I've had ample opportunities to play completely different characters on screen. That's why I came into films. Directors too are investing full faith in me and many have been telling me I'm brave to do this role.”

Vidya is quick to stress that her role of Silk in “The Dirty Picture” is of a “dancing star in the 80s who wears her heart and sexuality on her sleeve. She is brazen about it and it is that attitude that has made her a star. This is not based on the life of Silk Smitha… but she is synonymous with dancing stars of that era.” But anyone who's seen the promos can't miss the umpteen references.

Vidya admits it's her toughest role till date. “On the one hand she's volatile and brazen, and on the other, she's childlike; to translate that on screen was tough. My roles so far hadn't given me an opportunity to explore that side of me.” She watched some films of the time, especially songs that had suggestive gestures and over-the-top movements. “Added to that we all have an imagination of them in their personal lives, and of course, there were inputs from the director,” she says of her preparation.

When she had switched from her sari-clad “Parineeta” image to a more hipper younger role in “Kismat Konnection”, critics went all out to pan her. “I completely understand them. My heart wasn't in it; I had no conviction and it showed. But with my role in ‘The Dirty Picture' people have been embracing me with open arms!” she says exhilarated. But there's nothing voyeuristic about the film, insists Vidya, despite the titillating title of the flick. “It's just that when you're talking of a woman so unapologetic about her sexuality, it's easy to label her dirty.”

To accentuate the “wholesome woman” she had to play on screen, Vidya was asked to put on weight, which she easily did. “I have a weakness for cream biscuits and I indulged in a lot of them. In the last 15 years I haven't eaten the kind of desserts I did in the run up to this film!” she laughs heartily. Another weakness of hers is the sari, which she indulged in again for the film. “I love saris and it's the sexiest garment that looks great on any body type. I celebrate my curves and the sari does complete justice to that. I always wear cottons or Kanjivarams, but for the film we went in for somejhataksaris,” she laughs.

The harmony bond

The harmony bond

       They have been trained by the same guru – Pandit Kumar Gandharva — and have shared stage with him. The duo has strived through the years to keep the legendary guru's memory and hoary musical past alive.

Vasundhara Komkali and daughter Kalapini Komkali's ‘Saha Gaan' (singing together) signifies stree shakti, the mother-daughter dynamic, the Indian classical music's enduring appeal, the reach of a resonant voice and the exploration of tradition in a contemporary setting.

Vasundhara was in her early teens, when she met Kumar Gandharva in Calcutta, who asked the talented youngster to come to Bombay for further training. World War II broke out and Vasundhara couldn't set-out on her dream journey. Meanwhile, she established herself as a fine musician and performed regularly on All India Radio. But going to Bombay was uppermost in her mind and she finally ... GO TO THIS SITE managed to reach her destination. But to her dismay, Kumar Gandharva had no time for imparting lessons and advised her to go to Professor Deodhar, a doyen of the Gwalior gharana. So Vasundhara trained under Prof. Deodhar for some time but later convinced Kumar Gandharva to take her on as his sishya. She also later became his life-long companion by marrying him. As a supporting vocalist to her guru and husband, she imbibed the intricate nuances and aesthetics of the genre. Together they came up with several thematic concerts such as Geet-Varsha, Geet-Hemant, Geet-Vasant, Rituraj Mehfil, Triveni and Tulsidas Darshan.

Kalapini, who trained under her illustrious parents, has established herself in the classical music firmament with her command over the genre. An active trustee of the Kumar Gandharva Sangeet Academy, Kalapini has quite a few recordings to her credit.

Q & A

Kalapini Komkali on training under her parents, taking her father's legacy forward and coming up with her own vision of the art.

What does it mean to be the legendary Pandit Kumar Gandharva's daughter? Are you weighed down by the responsibility to keep up the family name?

It's great to have a music legend for a father but there's hardly much time to cherish it as you are constantly trying to do justice to the inheritance. Since childhood I have only seen musicians as visitors at home and discussions centered around ragas, swaras and talas. As I gain a foothold in the music world, I realise that my identity as Kumar Gandharva's daughter will be integral to my artistic personality.

Your mother, Vasundhara Komkali, is also a well-known name in the field of Hindustani classical music and both of you often perform together. Does art define your relationship?

Art is a great comforting factor in our relationship. Our discussion rarely drifts to mundane things. It's lovely to have someone as close as a mother to share your creative understanding, vision and aspirations. It's equally wonderful to have a mother as a guru. But it was not always this way. During my growing-up years I felt that unlike other children I didn't get enough of my parents' attention and affection. It would irk me that they spent all their time pursuing their passion.

From Dewas, a small town in Madhya Pradesh to international recognition; from being true to tradition to experimenting with various styles within the classical format, from sharp criticism to reverence for his refreshing approach — your father's musical journey strikes a high note.

Yes, indeed. Though he is the pride of Dewas, the town never really understood his commitment and his approach to the art. He never really got the recognition he deserved during his lifetime. I am happy that at least now there is more awareness, which gives me the strength to take the legacy forward.

Why is your concert at the Friday Review November Fest titled ‘Saha Gaan'?

It cannot be a jugalbandhi with your mother and guru. ‘Saha Gaan' when translated loosely means ‘conversation with the master'.

Sameera loses seven kgs for Tezz item song

Sameera loses seven kgs for Tezz item song

Thanks to Munni and Sheila, item songs have become a big deal in Bollywood. So it’s not surprising that Sameera Reddy is putting her best foot forward for an item number in Priyadarshan’s upcoming film, Tezz. The actor, who plays a club dancer in the film, lost about seven kilos for the part.

The actor followed the strict GM (General Motors) diet to achieve the desired result. “Her close friend Neeta Lulla told her to go on the GM diet, which was extremely difficult, but it worked wonders. She followed it for a week. Besides, she also swam and worked out religiously everyday,” informs a member of her management team.

Besides shaking a leg, Sameera will be seen as a speed-junkie in Tezz, who loves the thrills of riding a bike. She also learnt whitewater rafting and did a few bike stunts for the action film. In fact, Sameera had to start training for her action scenes three months prior to the shoot.

Priyadarshan’s Tezz stars Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Kangna Ranaut, Zayed Khan and Mohanlal.

The GM Diet

The seven-day long diet should ideally be followed only once in a month or once in two months. It involves eating only one kind of food (fruits, chicken etc) for one entire day. It is known to be highly effective. However, it has received a lot of criticism among fitness experts for its extreme treatment, which also does not keep the weight off permanently.

When asked about the song, Sameera refused to reveal any details, but she says with a smile, “I am excited to dance on the peppy track. And I’ve lost oodles of weight for it, so I’m confident that it will be another hit like Sheila and Munni!” The song has been composed by Sajid-Wajid.

Beauty of the bloom

Beauty of the bloom

The Hindu Friday Review November Fest opens with Lotus, a concert in which Mandolin U. Shrinivas will perform with yangqin player Liu Yuening from China. The artistes will be accompanied by Vijay Ghate on the tabla and V. Selvaganesh on the kanjira. Shrinivas and Liu performed together for the first time in Singapore, where they alternated between leading and improvisational following. This concert, only their second time together, will feature solos as well as compositions created by them exclusively for the fest.

Shrinivas is a musical genius who has, over the past three decades performed across the world in prestigious festivals in Mexico, Barcelona, Asia, the United States and Canada. He has collaborated with artistes such as John McLaughlin and Michael Brook in the West and legends such as Hariprasad Chaurasia and Zakir Hussain in the East. He has been awarded the Padma Shri, Sangeeta Ratna, Mysore T. Chowdiah Memorial National Award, National Citizen's Award and Best Artist Award by the Music Academy.

Liu Yuening is professor of the Central Conservatory of Music. She serves as director of the International Research Center of Yangqin Art of CCOM, vice-president of the Chinese Yangqin Association, member of the executive committee of the Chinese Folk Instrument Association and member of the International Society for Music Education. In 2008, she founded the first Yangqin ensemble in China called JASMINE and has released more than 10 albums in China and overseas.

Pandit Vijay Ghate, who has been playing the table from the age of three, is among the rare percussionists renowned for the ability to embellish vocal, instrumental as well as dance performances. He has accompanied luminaries such as Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. He has also ventured into fusion music, playing with artistes from around the world. He trained under Pandit Suresh Talwalkar.

V. Selvaganesh is a leading kanjira player whose skill in percussion was practically preordained. His father is the Grammy-winning ghatam player, Vikku Vinayakaram. Selvaganesh has toured with Remember Shakti, where he played along with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, U. Shrinivas and Shankar Mahadevan. He has composed albums such as Soukha, and music for the Tamil films “Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu” and “Kola Kolaya Mundhirika”.

Q & A

Mandolin U. Shrinivas the Padma Shri-winning musical genius, talks about his plans for the concert with Liu Yuening, which will bridge the ancient musical cultures of two of the fastest growing and quickest modernising countries, India and China.

How did you meet Liu Yuening? How did the decision to collaborate come about?

Akila Iyengar from Singapore Arte Compass approached me for a performance with Prof. Liu. I agreed immediately because it sounded interesting. Besides, I had not worked with a Chinese instrumentalist. So the concert was held this year in Singapore in Esplanade, which is one of the prestigious halls in the world, and was well received. We had rehearsals and we played mostly my compositions.

What is the most significant difference and similarity in the music that you both play?

The Chinese and Indian music styles are entirely different.  Chinese music, I feel has more folk elements that sound quite similar to our ragas such as ragaMohanam, Suddhadhanyasi, Hindolam and Madhyamavathi.  Prof. Liu is a brilliant artiste and it was easy to establish a musical rapport with her.

How would you describe the evening you have in store for this edition of November Fest?

I'm very excited about this show and I have composed new pieces that would suit Chinese music too.

The crisis in the developed world

The U.S. economy has plenty of resilience and ability to bounce back
    C. R. L. NARASIMHAN  

    What ails the economy of the U.S. and those of some European nations? Is there a possibility of the developed countries slipping into a recession for the second time in less than half a decade? What will be its consequences for the rest of the world? Will the U.S. be able to maintain its economic leadership?

The consensus opinion is that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, is having anaemic growth, even if it has not slipped into a recession yet. It is also clear that high indebtedness both on the part of the government and individuals has landed the U.S. and many European nations too in this predicament. However, there is far less agreement on what needs to be done to revive these economies.

The current crisis that the U.S. and Europe is facing, unlike the 2008 global crisis, is not rooted in the financial sector. The disastrous lending practices of leading banks then in the ‘sub-prime' housing loan segment landed not only the financial sector and the U.S. economy in a mess but also dragged most developed countries into a mess because of the strong global linkages. Much has been written on the culpability of the banking system in the great financial and economic crisis. But apart from being wrapped on the knuckles as it were, banks in the U.S. have not only survived but prospered.

It is a matter of great irony that while the ‘real' economies of the developed world have been tottering, their financial sector, which inflicted so much pain, has prospered. For some banks, at least, a regulatory cap on managerial remuneration, executive bonuses and so on is anathema. The days they received large infusion of public money just to stay afloat have obviously been forgotten.

Eurozone debt crisis

On the other side of the Atlantic, leading European banks, which have bought sovereign debt of Greece, Portugal, Ireland and a few other countries are under stress as the eurozone's debt crisis intensifies.

The crisis in the U.S. is a crisis of confidence, writes C. Rangarajan in a financial daily on August 22. The downgrading of its sovereign debt by Standard & Poor's (S&P) has been a unique event, bringing down the quality of American government paper by one notch.

Even though other rating agencies have retained the highest grade, the comments of S&P are noteworthy in that it attributes its action as much to the fiscal process as to the political imbroglio which almost caused the federal government to default.

Not only the rating agency, but banks and financial agencies, investors and governments around the world have questioned the credibility of a political process that apparently enabled sections of the political elite place their individual dogmas and partisan interests above national interests.

The debt reduction programme approved by the Congress and the Senate also lacks credibility. What the U.S. economy needed at this juncture was a deal that kept up spending in the short-term, with a stress on the much needed infrastructure investment and a big medium-term reduction in the federal deficit centred on a major tax reform. Instead, the deal works in the opposite direction, failing to shore up the economy in the short-term without identifying worthwhile means to reduce the deficit in the medium-term.

Besides, certain recent developments may be coincidental but do cast doubts on the state of the recovery in the U.S. Official revisions to the GDP statistics of past few years, released at the end of July, showed that the 2008 recession was deeper than what was assumed and the subsequent recovery flatter. Over the past year, output has grown by just 1.6 per cent and even that is showing signs of petering out. According to economists, if past experience is any guide, the rate of growth is such that the economy is poised to trip into a recession.

If that happens, the rest of the world, including India, will suffer. It is often argued that India's foreign trade, as a proportion of GDP, is relatively small. Hence, outside influences on the economy will be minimal. This view is too narrow as there are many other channels, besides foreign trade, that connect the Indian economy to the rest of the world.

Notably India's balance of payments has been dependent on capital flows. Uncertainty over the U.S. economy may cause capital flows to behave irrationally, often going back to the sanctuary of safe haven instruments in the U.S. On the other hand, if the U.S. Federal Reserve, as part of its efforts to provide succour to the U.S. economy, does another round of quantitative easing, that is, buying government bonds with freshly minted money, cross-border flows towards India and other emerging markets may increase exponentially, posing major policy challenges for these economies.

For all its recent troubles, the U.S. will retain its leadership position. The American dollar will remain the world's number one currency, in trade, dealing rooms and a currency of choice for governments to park their export surpluses.

Though weakened by the crisis, the U.S. economy has plenty of resilience and the ability to bounce back.

However, weak economic growth and the political squabbling do portend a diminished role for the U.S. in the days ahead.(the hindu, 28 aug 11)