It was 20 years since India had achieved independence. In the decade before 1967, India had witnessed the first television service (1959), Goa’s liberation from the Portuguese (1961), the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru’s death (1964) and India’s war with China (1962) and Pakistan (1965). The country was growing up amidst several iconic events.

To mark India’s 20th “birthday,” the Films division of the government had commissioned SNS Sastry, a renowned filmmaker, to shoot a documentary film featuring the youth of India. The idea was unique—one that would genuinely show India’s present and future.

Sastry was to interview the youth who were turning 20 with India. Samanth Subramanian, a writer and a journalist writes, “Sastry, it turned out, had been guilty of mild sleight of hand. Stymied by his original mission of finding Indians born on August 15th 1947—the date India became independent—he enlarged his ambit to 20-year-olds in general, then to anybody born in the vicinity of 1947.”

Sastry visited several places in India to interview youth from various backgrounds.

The resulting documentary, “I am 20,” features a young mother who was married off at the age of 8, an ambitious scientist who wished to study meteorites, a farmer in Punjab who loves films, among others.

Shuttling between optimistic youth who could not wait to work for India and those who highlighted the issues being faced by the country at the time, the documentary is a delightful insight into the psyche of the youth that was India in 1967.

At first glance, the documentary is merely a collection of footages of landscapes and portraits. But a closer look will show you that Sastry has already started telling his story of India— of farmers, railways, pilots, nature and the general vibe in 1967.

It is only after this brief welcome that we are introduced to someone who receives maximum screen time—TN Subramanian. The only person to get a full introduction, he kick-starts the film by saying, “Maybe I am talkative and very loquacious, and I make my presence felt.

Possibly, I talk like a preacher or a politician but then, I am entitled to my opinions, and as the Lord said unto Moses, I am who I am.”

Perhaps a reflection of Sastry’s idea of India in 1967, the film begins not with a preamble to India or its youth but to this confident opinion of Subramanian. Through the 18 minutes and 46 seconds, Sastry then conveys, quite effortlessly that India is a land full of ironies, diversity—not cultural, specifically, but more of situational—and certainly not an image of black or white.

More than anything else, if you watch the film today, it portrays that although India has experienced a massive change in the last 51 years, one thing remains intact— the psyche of its youth. Just like their counterparts in the 60s, Indians in their early 20s today, are characterised by a mix of strong patriotism, healthy scepticism, an acceptance of things as they are, and also seeing the value in being an honest citizen.

Sastry’s questions don’t make the cut in the film, but from the answers he receives, you can certainly make an accurate guess. To what seems like the question of what India means to the 20-year-old, a pilot says,

“Well, I don’t know how you could ask me a question like that because I am an Indian and India means everything to me. I am part and parcel of India and India is a part of my life.”

This is immediately followed by a person saying in a straightforward fashion, “I don’t have any love for the country (you can hear Sastry exclaiming, ‘really?!’ in the background) and just that I don’t want to show off like other people that I’ve got love for the country. Whom shall I tell that I’ve got love? Shall I go on the streets and (say), ‘Oh I’ve got a love for the country?'”

If this doesn’t perfectly reflect the young energy in the country today, as well as 51 years ago, what else can?

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While some, like the boy from Madhya Pradesh— who didn’t know who the Prime Minister or the President of India, but knew who the collector of Ujjain was—are happily living in their own bubble, there were others who proudly claimed that they have never so much as “bribed for a seat in a college or a school and that only below average students resort to bribing.”

This student, like another in the frame preceding his, highlights the issue of corruption in the educational system. Corruption in a country where millions “have the freedom to starve, to go naked, to die of hunger and to go uneducated” and an industrial development that feeds off of the livelihood of farmers are some of the high rising issues that these young girls and boys of 20 years highlight in ‘I am 20.’

It comes as a surprise then that the government released the film that was meant to celebrate India’s 20 years of freedom.

But that’s the beauty of Sastry’s spectacular documentary. It just reveals what the youth across India thought and felt in 1967—and the documentary neither intends to be a paean to the greatness of India nor a critique.

“Let me put it this way,” says Subramanian, “our achievement is that we have a hopeful tomorrow. Our failure is that our today is very precarious.”

The role models in 1967 ranged from an Indian cricket captain to Mihir Sen— a swimmer and Satyajit Ray, making it fairly apparent that youngsters those days were clearly into cinema, sports and athletics.

Somehow, I have never found the black and white era to be ordinary, but here they are, telling the camera that they enjoy classical dance, playing tennis and listening to Ghazal. This somehow makes them so very similar to the present-day youth, which was a sort of revelation for me.

Perhaps what captures the viewers’ attention best is that Sastry builds on one idea of India and smashes it within the next 10 seconds, building an entirely different idea.

A young man, who earlier confesses that he wished to be an IAS officer, says that he loves being rich.

“My needs, of course, they’re more,” he says adding “I have more money to buy things. I see more things in the market, so I buy them.” Just as we are convinced of this idea of an upper-middle-class India with a wealthy living, Sastry’s frame shows a farmer sitting on his tractor saying that all he needs is a couple of blankets and 2-3 dresses.

All in all, ‘I am 20’ portrays India to its best capacity—a diverse nation unsatisfied with its present, where some youth are willing to work for its betterment, while some are not. Except for the fashion, the accent (still more British than Indian) and technological development, the documentary seems to the current generation, providing a blurred answer to the question—what is the youth of India?

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To those of us who abide by the thought that no nation can be perfect in itself, Sastry gives a fitting end— again through the voice of Subramanian.

“As Kennedy put it, I think it’s a question of not to what the country can do for you as much as what you can do for the country. Of course, frustration is in fashion today, but I think deep within every Indian, despite all this frustration, we are underestimating him. He has the capacity to work… Let me put it this way that if all the people in this country who didn’t fancy their prospects in it were asked… were allowed to quit, and I think I’d stay. Because it’s something big, it’s a huge experiment, and I would like to be a part of it,” he concludes.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Like a photograph that freezes a moment for eternity, poetry has the special ability to transport one to different worlds pensively conjured by its creators.

Romance, epics, character sketches—we have something for everyone when it comes to poetry. But today, its scope has evolved to a paradigm that must have never occurred to the great poets of the earlier eras—that of putting the power of words to convey a social message.

Poetry is a powerful tool that can bring out locked down emotions, provoke people to stand up to discrimination, openly broach uncomfortable topics deemed taboos by the society as well as relate and find comfort in knowing someone else has also been through what they have silently grappled with.

So when Meena Kandasamy, a Dalit poet, author and academician from Tamil Nadu presented the world with her poetic musings that dealt with socially hushed up yet pertinent issues like caste oppression, gender-based discrimination and linguistic identity, the term ‘rebellious’ was quite an understatement to describe the angry young poetess.

Using her poetry like a scalpel to dismantle stereotypes, Meena has remained fierce and unapologetic in calling out society for how it has treated or rather, mistreated, marginalised peoples through the ages.

Source: Facebook

While her works, notably ‘Touch’ and ‘Ms Militancy’, have received both positive and negative criticisms, they have invariably placed many uncomfortable questions at the counter.

“As women, we are indoctrinated merely to accept our situation and be grateful for all the things we have. As women, we are told that it is bad behaviour to be angry, we are told that we have to change ourselves because we cannot change the system. Those of us who refuse to comply are the shrews, whom everyone loves to hate,” Meena had said, in the Sampsonia Way in 2010.

It was, however, her recent work ‘When I Hit You — A Portrait Of The Writer As A Young Wife’, that made the world regard Meena as a powerful voice that could not be ignored or muffled.

Source: Facebook

What made Meena’s book a difficult piece to assimilate despite the stark beauty of its language was that behind a searing, personal account of an abusive marriage, she revealed the truth of countless marriages in India, where violence was a routine, and male authority deemed supreme, unquestioned and unchallenged.

Also Read: Meet a Modern Day Manto: An Instagram Rebel Who’s Redefining Women’s Role in India

Sadly, it is a reality that most of us have either faced or have known at least someone dear to us facing but have found no respite. The book is quite intricate in its agency, leading you to question why the protagonist let herself be abused for this long?

“A good writer knows not to be too dramatic, especially when this was not meant to be a sensationalised story of a very real, everyday crime,” Meena had stated to the Asian Voice.

Unlike certain interpretations of ‘When I Hit You’, Meena hadn’t intended her work to be a guide to help abused women walk away sooner but to highlight a greater issue: that being hit, held down or berated was never, ever, a woman’s fault.

Through her works, Meena has emerged as a bold and unapologetic young voice in the country and has stayed true to her identity, carving out space for resistance and dissent in our tumultuous social and political climate.

Just like Saadat Hasan Manto, the legendary Urdu author from the 1940s, who was known for his vociferous and brazen portrayal of the world around him, where hypocrisy was an inherent societal facet that led people conveniently shut their eyes and ears to injustices and discriminations being inflicted upon those who couldn’t defend themselves.

A biographical film on the acclaimed writer is soon hitting the silver screen that celebrates his tumultuous life and the legacy he left behind while fighting the system and the society.

Check out the trailer of Manto here:

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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Music is often at the forefront of changing perceptions and largely defines how a society sees itself.

From the religious ‘Bhakti’ movements of medieval India to Sufi poets to modern pop culture, music has played a fundamental role in shaping ideologies. With each passing era in our history came musical influences that would go on to become that era’s temporal identity.

As Indian history has repeatedly proven, when tempered appropriately, music can instil ideas, evoke strong feelings or spur movements. At its high point, music can catalyse social change.

However, it is also true that most musicians, historical or current, are not bold enough to bring socially relevant content into their compositions and paint vivid and uninhibited pictures of the world around them through music.

But there are always those bold few, who force their listeners to open up to music that bridges the gap between activism and general awareness of the status quo.

One such example amongst various artists and musicians in India today is Surendra Singh Negi – a rising name finding a higher purpose for his words and compositions by drawing attention to issues that we, as a society, conveniently close our eyes to or seem visibly unperturbed.

A self-trained singer, poet, composer as well as a professor at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) where he teaches Spanish, Negi’s entry into the world of music happened quite serendipitously, who used to channelize his perspective on socio-political issues through poetry originally.

“But I was also into music and so there came a point when poetry and music gelled together, and it became an artistic expression of what was happening around. Whether it was violence, inequality, economic inequality or gender inequality, land acquisition and other contemporary issues. All these things had an impact on my subconscious mind,” Negi said to The Hindu.

It was only when he moved to Hyderabad in 2009 that his singing and composing talents began to unfurl. Three years later, he went on to found the contemporary folk-rock band, ‘Indian Folks’.

With themes ranging from economic and gender inequality to religious intolerance and land acquisition, Negi’s compositions steer far away from the mainstream and instead, ask questions that are reflective of various societal evils while leaving us unsettled with our apathy and indifference.

For instance, songs like Talaash and Agni shed light on communal harmony and religious intolerance worldwide respectively, while Shehar is centred on the deplorable state of immigrants. Negi has also meditated over sensitive topics like the commercialisation of religion and the existence of God through songs like Vyapaar and Prabhu ki khoj.

Interestingly, Negi composed Shehar during a train journey that he had undertaken with his bandmates after personally witnessing mistreatment of illegal migrant travellers—an incident that would scar Negi for life.

“In the compartment, there were three poor people. When the ticket collector realised they were travelling without tickets, he poured water on them. The incident impacted me so much that I couldn’t sleep later. I began to strum my guitar at 5 am,” recalled Negi to the publication.

Negi is not someone you would deem a rebel at first glance. However, his disappointment with the mechanisms of society and vociferous dissent of the same through his music is a voice that can’t be shut down or ignored.

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Negi does not intend his music to affect people by quick reactions or prove a shallow point. Instead, he hopes to evoke awareness and sensitivity that gradually paves the way for change through solidarity.

“I don’t write presenting myself as somebody serious because you lose it. I write about the scenario, realities, the humane experience and emotions. I have never written with a pamphlet language. I don’t write which may sound offensive. I want to touch people’s hearts more than wanting them to react. If you write offensively, you limit the audience, and that is not the aim. The purpose is to reach out to more youngsters,” he stated.

Negi’s musical portrayal of the world around him and its societal vices leaves behind an impression quite similar to the one left behind in the critically acclaimed works of celebrated Urdu writer, Saadat Haasan Manto.

Emerging as a strong voice of dissent during the 1940s, Manto’s criticisms of the society through his works were not only real and unsettling, it also left behind many uncomfortable questions to answer—some of which continue to prevail in our modern day settings.

The literary icon that Manto was, a biographical film celebrating the life and legacy of the legend is all set to hit the screens next month.

You can check the trailer of Manto below:

(Edited By Vinayak Hegde)

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Nestled amidst the forested hills of Panchgani in Maharashtra, there is a little-known art village where the ancient legacy of Adivasi handiwork is quietly being carried forward by a group of skilled tribal artisans for almost a decade now.

Every day, these artisans, both men and women, get together under an old Umbar (Ficus glomerata) tree located in the middle of their land to conjure up magical artefacts fashioned out of metal, with a contemporary touch.

The Devrai Art Village (DAV) was established by Suresh Pungati, a noted Adivasi artisan, and renowned documentary filmmaker, Mandakini Mathur after the monsoon of 2008, with the vision of preserving the timeless heritage of Adivasi metal artistry, lest the craft phases out.

The establishment strives to empower the craftsmen by giving them new design ideas and marketing possibilities, right in the lap of nature, where it is not looked upon as a mere resource but where plants, animals and humans cohabit the same space, and have an interdependent relationship, and where art can reflect the true sacredness of nature.

“If I think of the beginning of inspiration for DAV, the old tree of Umbar that stands in the middle of our land comes to my mind. Its extended branches that almost touch the ground create a natural cave of green-coloured light. This magical space was an invitation to sit under the tree and soon a platform was created,” says Mandakini to The Better India.

The inception of the art village took form when Mandakini met Suresh, who hails from the Naxal-hit village of Gadchiroli and at the time was employed as an art teacher in the local government school.

He shared the dire state of Adivasi artisans, who were often caught in the crossfire between the state and Naxal insurgents in the region and how their craft was suffering in the process, in addition to lessening demands for their painstakingly crafted artefacts.

“The Adivasi youth, in particular, have been at the constant risk of being forcibly picked up by the Naxals if they stayed put in the region or had to leave behind the craft practised by their family for generations in search of better employment alternatives, which more or less was limited to construction work. We started out with four Adivasi craftsmen under the guidance of Suresh, who belongs to the Madhia tribe and today, we have a community of 35 craftsmen and craftswomen, which includes individuals and families from the region as well as few artisans from Chhattisgarh,” explains Mandakini.

Suresh was brought up in Baba Amte’s ashram in Anandvan, where he had the opportunity of learning various forms of tribal art and craft. In fact, for his relentless and dedicated involvement towards tribal community progress and development in and around Gadchiroli, Suresh was awarded the ‘Adivasi Sevak Puraskar’ by the state government in 2002.

The village was set up on a plot belonging to Mandakini with no funding or monetary contribution other than what she and Suresh could put together.

Fortunately, the initial sales meant that they were able to sustain their dream and since then, they have witnessed an increase in demand for their artefacts, that, besides their in-house store and a newly-established one in Gadchiroli, are mostly sold through exhibitions and retail stores across the country, including Kala Ghoda. One can also approach DAV for customised articles based on their ideas and concepts.

Besides taking young apprentices under their wing, and giving them a two-year-long intensive training, DAV also organises workshops led by their master craftsmen and craftswomen in various cities and towns across India. The village often finds interns from prominent design schools, including NID, flocking to the premises; they get a first-hand exposure of how one can reinvent ancient metal artistry that has evolved to meet modern-day aesthetics.

Providing a safe haven for these artisans to carry forward their legacy, DAV also gives them the scope of infusing contemporary ideas into the traditional craft of Dhokra, which the artisans along with Mandakini and Suresh, together conceptualise and brainstorm together at the organisation.

In fact, ‘Rock-Dhokra’ is their pioneering craft form, which as the name suggests, fuses the age-old craft of Dhokra with rocks as the centrepiece that lends these artefacts a refreshingly new aesthetic dimension.

“The concept is unique in its cross-pollination of ideas—between the old and the new, urban and the rural, truly Indian in spirit but universal in appeal. Following much experimentation, we realised that not every rock or pebble could be used for these artefacts—only those that were really hard and could withstand high temperatures along with the metallic components. Finally, we found that only river pebbles were the best for this purpose and since then, we’ve been creating this form and even got it patented,” shares Mandakini.

Not just Rock Dhokra, the artisans have also been experimenting with bamboo craft as well as organic casting and have fashioned fusion artefacts using terracotta as well.

“Currently, we are working on ceramic works that have been laced with brass inlay. We are positive that this too shall materialise well soon. Another traditional-contemporary art form that we can proudly mention are our molten metal murals that are finding more and more takers,” she happily adds.

One needs to visit DAV to truly understand and witness what goes on behind the process of creating these artefacts magically fashioned out of metal in the midst of nature.

Providing a platform for the ancient metal artistry to survive in contemporary times as well as sustainable livelihoods for Adivasi artisans, Devrai Art Village stands out as a beacon of hope for these marginalised communities by helping them break free from the endless circle of Naxal insurgency and unemployment and we hope that more such organisations come up across the country to conserve the art and crafts legacy of our Adivasi communities.

Check out this short film shot by Devansh Mathur about the tribal artisans of Devrai Art Village:

You can follow Devrai Art Village on their website as well as their Facebook page.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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In this era of content oversaturation (thanks to social media) the word ‘radical’ is often bandied about carelessly. But a real ‘radical’ often challenges the status quo, and that’s unacceptable to power brokers in society.

Yes, it sometimes takes a violent and dangerous form, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. However, on other occasions, their actions are necessary to bring about real social change or even remind society of the ills they silently brush under the carpet.

India’s first ska band, the Delhi-based Ska Vengers, is one such group of radicals. They challenge the prevailing political and social status quo through their music.

Ska, a precursor to reggae music, is a genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1950s. It’s a genre of music whose ethos is steeped in the anti-colonial movements that were happening across the Caribbean (West Indies) at the time.

No surprise then that Ska Vengers, who have taken that genre along with influences from jazz, hip hop, dub, punk, traditional and Indian folk music, are doing the same with their music.

Also Read: Meet a Modern Day Manto: An Instagram Rebel Who’s Redefining Women’s Role in India

More than the catchy rhythms they belt out, it’s their lyrical content that has caught the attention of many listeners. Women’s rights, the Kashmir problem, human rights abuses in the Northeast, AFSPA, the Naxalite movement, and censorship by those pulling the levers of power in New Delhi are just some of the subjects they have touched upon.

By any metric, if you speak out on these issues with any degree of boldness, there is bound to be backlash both from the majority of citizens and the establishment. And the band faces plenty of it. But they aren’t backing down.

Comprising of London-born Stefan Kaye on the keys, vocalists Taru Dalmia and Samara Chopra, guitarist Chaitanya Bhalla, and Nikhil Vasudevan on drums, the group came together in 2009.

“For a long time, we felt like a lone voice. The kind of indie scene we come from is very middle class. We connected to movements, universities or just places where there are social movements, but otherwise, the music industry spaces we perform in are devoid of politics.

But ska and reggae music, it comes from the downtrodden, it has always talked about colonial history and injustice, so if you don’t represent that in some way you’re doing a great disservice to the genre. And then if you sing that music in India if you don’t connect it to things that are happening in India, it’s a bit off,” Dalmia told The Guardian in an interview last year.

In some way, bands like Ska Vengers are furthering the legacy of Saadat Hasan Manto, the radical Urdu writer, author and playwright, whose graphic realism challenged the prevailing political and social status quo during Partition.

With a biopic on Manto directed by Nandita Das coming out soon, audiences across India and Pakistan now have a chance to revisit his life, writing and politics.

Check out the trailer below:

Manto was considered a radical because he challenged not only the political and social status quo of a ‘Hindu’ India and ‘Muslim Pakistan’ but also the very language used to further the injustices that remain prevalent today across the two nations.

This is exactly what Ska Vengers are doing.

Let’s take the subject of women.

One of Manto’s most exceptional qualities as a writer is that he saw women the way he saw men—as complex individuals with their compulsions and desires.

His description of the female anatomy and sexuality without all the cliched symbols and metaphors that are often used to limit their expression scandalised audiences. His short story ‘Mozelle’, which is about a beautiful Jewish woman who saves her Sardar admirer and his fiancé from a bloodthirsty mob, is a classic example of what made Manto a writer so ahead of his times.

In Ska Vengers song ‘Rough n Mean’, which describes the sexual exploits of a married Indian woman living in the city, there is a line about how she likes her sex ‘rough n mean’, but ‘she never cook, she never clean’.

It is a fearless expression of a woman’s sexuality, but at the same time describes her unwillingness to abide by society’s expectation that she cooks and cleans the house.

Growing up in Amritsar when the horrific Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place, a young Manto wrote a great deal against its horrors and spoke a great deal for freedom from British colonialism. His first original short story Tamasha was based on the massacre.

Also Read: Meet a Modern Day Manto: An Instagram Rebel Who’s Redefining Women’s Role in India

In their song Frank Brazil, the Ska Vengers tell the story of Udham Singh, an Indian revolutionary who travelled to Britain in 1940 to murder former lieutenant-governor of the Punjab Michael O’Dwyer—the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab who endorsed General Reginald Dyer’s action in the Amritsar massacre.

However, more these sample parallels, Ska Vengers’ musical spirit is seemingly in sync with Manto’s radicalism. Challenging the national consensus on Kashmir, among other hot-button issues, is what makes them radical in today’s political climate.

However, their medium of expression—English—is what sets them apart from Manto, who radicalised audiences through the language of the masses—Urdu. Nonetheless, acts like Ska Vengers ensure that Indians don’t get too comfortable in their assumptions of society and politics.

(Edited By Vinayak Hegde)

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Think Goa and the mind immediately conjures up images of sun and sand, parties, and a bohemian kind of living. Goa is perhaps one of the few tourist spots that people visit year after year, without it losing its charm.

In a place that offers accommodation for all kinds of travellers, ImagiNation, a hostel for artists, writers, thinkers, and those pursuing the fine arts is a unique concept.

In an exclusive conversation, Pareen Lathia, founder of ImagiNation, speaks to The Better India about the inception of the place, how it has grown, and why you ought to visit it.

Pareen begins, “Like most others in my profession, there came a point where I wanted to do something different and did not want to get stuck in the same routine I was part of. Starting a hostel was never on my mind and yet it just happened.”

Inception

Pareen and his co-founder, Mansi, were sure about one thing–that they did not want to live the city life, which seemed glamorous and exciting but was quite superficial. “Life had become about start-ups, meetings, valuations, and we wanted to get away from it all and move out of Mumbai,” he recalls.

A project that Mansi and Pareen were working on took them to Goa, where they met several others who had relocated from Mumbai. That was when they decided that the time was opportune for their move too. “We decided to take at least a year’s break, and we sold everything we owned in Mumbai and moved. Having stayed in Arambol for a month, we started looking for a house in Goa. We found a beautiful house but it was too big and therefore out of our budget.”

It was wanting to live in that house that prompted Mansi and Pareen to think about doing something there, which would also help them sustain themselves.

And thus, was born the idea of a hostel, which they aptly named Happy Panda Hostel.

Happy Panda Hostel

“When we started out, we knew nothing about how a hostel functions, looks or even has. It was all just a chance that we took, and after working on it for a few months, we opened it up and started receiving guests,” says Pareen.

In about nine months, the hostel became the talk of the town, and they were ranked highly on various travel portals, says Pareen.

Within ten months of running the hostel, an investor who saw potential in the venture bought it over. “With the money we received from selling the hostel, Mansi and I thought we would travel around but returned to Arambol because of the community that we had built there,” says Pareen.

Genesis of ImagiNation

A chance conversation with a poet friend from Mumbai got the duo thinking about a place exclusively for artists and people who wished to pursue fine arts. Pareen recollects the conversation and says, “My writer friend from Mumbai had said in passing that if there were a place as pretty as Arambol and our home, he would easily spend a month there just writing.”

That idea stuck in our head, and we thought of building a small place, in a quiet corner of Arambol. The current capacity of the hostel is eight residents.

“We are happy with taking in only eight at a time. The amount we charge them is just enough to cover our costs, and we are not really looking for making profits,” says Pareen. Some of the learnings from setting up the first hostel helped them build this one.

“As far as we know, there is no hostel or accommodation of this kind in India. Artists can spend as much time as they wish to with us, and we were just happy to be surrounded by happy, vibrant people,” he says.

Experiences with the artists

It has been an absolute pleasure to host these people, says Pareen. “All our efforts were channelised into making the place conducive for the artists.”

“We spent money on getting electric guitars, drum sets, making cosy corners for writers to work etc.”

With each guest that came to them, they got a sense of the different needs, and slowly they started building up the place. The response ensured that they kept going.

This season they will be structuring some residency programmes as well, shares Pareen.

More than a hostel

“We found some of the artists who stayed with us to be so good at what they did but severely under confident. Given the background both Mansi and I had, we also helped connect these artists to the right start-ups. We even had some groups and collaborations being formed right here at the hostel. A guitarist and vocalist, for example, came together to form a band of their own.”

A carving artist from Mumbai came to stay with them for a week and ended up staying for a good five months.

“We helped him sell and market his products at various cafes and hostels in and around Goa as well. He is now travelling around India and is so much better equipped to market his work,” he states.

What Pareen and Mansi have done is to create a community for artists to come and explore. If you are in Goa or plan to head there anytime soon, then do visit and check out this unique hostel.

The hostel is open for visitors from October to March. To know more about it, check out their Facebook group – ImagiNation Arambol.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Growing up in Varanasi, Kaushiki Agarwal had always been fascinated by the beautifully handcrafted wooden toys that the city was famous for. Visiting friends and relatives would pick them up to take back home, and there too, they would be cherished by the children who received them. All that changed over time, however. The art itself seemed to have plateaued, with fewer takers for the old, standard designs that the artisans churned out. Unable to make ends meet, many of them had moved away from the craft, to seek better opportunities in bigger towns.

It was at this point that Kaushiki decided to do something about it. Armed with an MBA degree, she decided to speak to some of the artisans and figure out why the craft was dying. Most of the time, she’d receive the same answers – fewer takers, lower demand, financial constraints, better opportunities in the city.

Some of the senior craftsmen were still keen on working to save the craft though, and it was in these talented woodworkers that Kaushiki saw hope.

She identified three artisan families who were open to the idea of modernising their designs, and with them was born Lattu, a Banarasi woodworkers’ collective.

‘Lattu’ is the Hindi word for a spinning top, one of Varanasi’s most popular wood-crafted toys.

Over time, Kaushiki helped create scores of contemporary designs, including tableware, cutlery, coasters, furniture and coat hangers. The products are still uniquely Banarasi in their style, but now have a contemporary, utilitarian aspect to them that was never there before.

“The tableware products use natural dye colours and are covered with a food-safe lacquer base, that’s washable, as long as you don’t leave them soaking in water for too long,” says Kaushiki.

It hasn’t been an easy journey for her though. “At first, it was difficult to get the artisans on the same page. But with time, they came up with innovative designs and colour combinations of their own, that I could never have done myself. They have been doing it for generations, after all!” she says.

Through Lattu, the artisan families slowly started coming back to life. Many were finally able to repair their crumbling homes and workshops with the money that came in through sales. An artisan’s son who had migrated to a big city nearby, returned to take his place next to his father. He now handles the business side of things, helping his family package, price and sell the products.

“I can detect a change in the energy with which the artisans look at their products now,” says Kaushiki. “They now present them with pride, secure in the knowledge that they are now relevant, contemporary and in demand!”

She’s very impressed with the honesty and integrity of the artisans as well.

“I’ve never had an incident where an artisan has copied or recirculated any of Lattu’s designs. Their old-world courtesies and graces are very endearing indeed,” she says.

Kaushiki presents herself as a one-woman army, managing most of the affairs of Lattu on her own. She does, however, get help from her family. For large orders, her entire family sits with her, helping her catalogue, pack and ship products across the country. Without their support, she could never have sustained what could easily have become a very stressful business.

“My first investment in Lattu was a loan from my father, which I managed to pay back in a year,” she says. “While the business is now sustainable, I still plough back most of the profits, to support more artisans. I also try to make sure the artisans receive their just share for the hours of painstaking work that they do.”

What plans for the future, we ask Kaushiki. “Well, my journey with the craft has been based mostly on instinct, with very little planning,” she says. “As of now, I’m planning to focus on getting more designs out, and also to experiment with new crafts, like moonj-grass baskets and mats.”

Well, here’s wishing Lattu all the very best in its journey to revive and contemporise the ancient craft forms of Banaras.

Check out some of their selections of cutlery, tableware and coat hangers on The Better India Shop!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Every once in a while there comes a movie with a storyline so simple and yet stunning, that it will leave you yearning for more.

‘Village Rockstars’, an Assamese film does just that. This coming-of-age movie has been written, produced, edited, designed and put together beautifully by Rima Das.

Rima moved to Mumbai with aspirations of becoming an actor.

But as luck would have it, she ended up directing ‘Man with the binoculars: Antardrishti’, her first feature film, which was released in 2016.

‘Village Rockstars’ tells the tale of a ten-year-old girl with dreams to form her own rock band, who goes in search of an electric guitar in her village.

This comes as a huge honour for Rima as this is the second film from Assam to be selected as India’s submission to the Oscars.

In a report published by The Indian Express, Rima says, “It is a big deal because when you don’t receive recognition, you feel things are not possible. It stops people from trying. Such news makes me feel that things are possible.”

Here are seven things you ought to know about Village Rockstars:

1. Rima Das, the director of this movie, is a one-woman army. Besides being its director she is also the screenwriter, executive producer, editor, production designer and cinematographer.

2. Rima took over three-and-a-half years to script ‘Village Rockstars’, which was then shot over a period of 130 days. This feature film was shot on a handheld camera and has used a cast of non-actors, sourced almost wholly from the village of Kalardiya in Assam’s Chayagaon.

3. The film touches upon many scenarios that one continues to encounter in India’s villages. For example, it unflinchingly tackles the disturbing manner in which village elders force girls who reach puberty to suddenly sit at home and have little contact with the outside world. How the protagonist’s mother reacts to this is one of the highlights of the film.

4. The protagonist, played by child actor Bhanita Das, has also been awarded a National Award.

This makes her the first-ever Assamese child actor to receive this honour. Bhanita happens to be Rima’s cousin sister.

5. In 2017, ‘Village Rockstars’ was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The natural elements in the movie – like the unseen locations, an authentic cast, and organic story-telling helped the movie win critical appreciation nationally and internationally.

6. ‘Village Rockstars’ is the second Assamese feature film to win the National Award.

The first one was ‘Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai’ by Jahnu Barua, which bagged the award 29 years ago.

7. ‘Village Rockstars’ is India’s official nomination for the 2018 Academy Awards. 29 films – including blockbusters like Raazi, Padmaavat, Hichki, October, Love Sonia, Gulabjaam, Mahanati, Pihu, Kadvi Hawa, Bhogda, Revaa, Bioscopewala, Manto, 102 Not out, Padman, Bhayanakam, Ajji, Nude, Gali Guliiyan – were considered.

Here’s hoping that this movie from Assam makes us all proud. The Academy Awards are scheduled on February 24, 2019.

(Edited By Vinayak Hegde)

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The story of a ‘Better India’ is written in so many places and has so many moments that no one can capture them all. But we can try!

That’s how we came up with the call to ‘PicTheBetterIndia’ in May this year, launching our community photo project. We called all storytellers to share pictures from across the country and the response has been fantastic!

We have seen some beautiful facets of life in India through the many lenses of our readers. We received terrific pictures of animals living in the country; enjoyed looking at some of India’s architectural marvels; and got a peek into some inspiring moments from the lives of many different people.

Announcing the Winner of The Contest:

Our team had a tough time picking one winner. After several meetings and debates on aesthetics and theme, we settled on one.

The winning entry is this shot taken by @nihalparashar, showing two soldiers crossing a bridge on the Dawki River, in Meghalaya, which connects India and Bangladesh.

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A post shared by The Better India (@thebetterindia) on May 30, 2018 at 8:54am PDT

Apart from its aesthetics (which professional photographers will be able to tell you more about!), we loved the humanity visible in the picture.

In spite of the different clothes we wear, the different jobs we do, and the vastly contrasting ideas we have, at the end of the day, we are all human beings. And this feeling is exemplified by these two army men in a remote area of the country — they may as well be you and a friend walking home with groceries after a day at work.

Congrats to the photographer, Nihal Parashar! Enjoy your GoPro, and we hope you take more and more amazing photographs!

The Project Continues

Firstly, a big ‘Thank You’ from us at The Better India to everyone who contributed to this project.

Now the contest may be over, but this community-driven project will continue!

This is everyone’s personal photo album of India, shared by all of us. So, keep clicking and tagging your awesome pics with #picthebetterindia, and the best ones will be featured on The Better India Instagram page!

We can’t wait to see what else is in store!

Honourable Mentions

Because of the arguments (we mean debates) in the editorial room, we felt compelled to list the following submissions as honourable mentions. Fantastic photos, and beautiful stories.

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A post shared by The Better India (@thebetterindia) on Jun 15, 2018 at 1:17am PDT

Photographer: @tibadixit

Category: Social Impact

A little girl peeks through the window of a classroom in a village in the Hoskote region on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Christ University has adopted a group of villages in this region and students from the university visit them every year to implement various initiatives.

Thanks to the students, this village has witnessed a transformation. As an example, women here were encouraged to participate in self-help groups. While the men did not appreciate this initially, over time the prevalent mindset has changed and now they encourage women to take part in these groups.

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A post shared by The Better India (@thebetterindia) on Jun 4, 2018 at 5:48am PDT

Photographer: @soniyakanchan

Category: Wildlife and Travel

This still of a gentle Changthangi in the lap of its fantastic surroundings takes a moment to sink in. The background seems to go on receding endlessly and the picture depicts the fierce beauty of Ladakh.

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A post shared by The Better India (@thebetterindia) on May 17, 2018 at 5:05am PDT

Photographer: @__s_h_u_t_t_e_r_b_u_g__

Category: Wildlife

This perfectly timed capture shows how this brilliant, tiny Kingfisher got its name. The sharp colour contrast in the surrounding is the icing on the cake.

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A post shared by The Better India (@thebetterindia) on Jul 9, 2018 at 6:11am PDT

Photographer: @harshalnikale

Category: Culture

The struggle we all face and ultimately the compassion that comes with it is captured in this one image. Without saying a word, this picture conveys so much. Sometimes we feel like everyone gets in our way, but ultimately, we know we cannot do without each other. Let it serve as a reminder that we have the ingenuity, the know-how, and most importantly the love to work together to make a better India for everyone.

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The Nightingale of Bollywood turned 89 today. She has recorded over 27,000 songs in 36 regional and foreign languages.

This is none other than legendary playback singer, Lata Mangeshkar. With melodious and soulful hits like Dafli Wale, Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, Dil To Pagal Hai, Luka Chupi, the woman who has earned herself the fond moniker of Lata Didi, enraptured the country with her ability to sing in the rare third octave.

But did you know Lata Didi’s original name is Hema? She was renamed Lata based on a character ‘Latika’ from her father’s play, BhaawBandhan.

And so, on her 89th birthday, we document some of the lesser-known stories about the legend’s life:

1. How her father discovered her singing talent at a tender age

Lata didi was born into a family of artists where her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, a classical singer and theatre actor discovered her singing talent.

Deenanath ran a theatre company that produced musical plays where Lata started acting by the age of five.

Lata’s ability to sing Raag Puriya Dhanashree helped him discover her singing talent. Speaking to Stardust, she recalls, “It so happened that once my father asked his shagird (disciple) to practise a raag while he finished some work. I was playing nearby and suddenly a note of the raag that shagird was rendering, jarred. And the next minute, I was correcting him. When my father returned, he discovered a shagird in his own daughter.”

Lata’s father said to her mother, “We have a singer at home. We never knew it.”

2. A legend around why she left school

At five, Lata started working as an actress in her father’s Marathi musical plays, also known as ‘Sangeet Natak’.

On her first day at school, when she started teaching songs to other children, the teacher stopped her. While some believed that she stopped going to school because she was so angry, others said she left because they would not allow her to bring Asha.

3. Did you know that she made her singing debut in a studio at the age of 13?

Lataji learned music from stalwarts like Aman Ali Khan Sahib and Amanat Khan, apart from her father. She recorded her first song in 1942 for the Marathi film, Kiti Hasaal; but it never saw the light of day, as it was edited from the film. The song was called Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani. Although Natali Chaitraachi Navalaai is known as her Marathi song debut.

3. Did you know that she tried her hand at professional acting too?

After he father’s death in 1942, she tried her hand at acting until 1948 and acted in eight films. The oldest of five siblings–Meena, Asha, Usha and Hridaynath, Lata then shouldered the financial responsibility of the family.

Even though her acting career did not take off, she debuted with playback singing for Kiti Hasaal (1942).

4. She was told her voice was ‘too thin’ when she first started out in the industry

When she first entered the film industry as a playback singer, she was rejected. At the time, singers like Noor Jehan and Shamshad Begum ruled the roost. She was told her voice was ‘too thin’ for the time, in comparison to the heavy-nasal voices that belted hits.

Her major break came in 1949, with the song Aayega Aanewala from the film Mahal. She turned a sensation overnight with the song that not many can muster the courage to croon.

5. The time she moved Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears

The year was 1962. India had lost the war against China. When Lata Didi sang Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon to salute the martyrs of war, PM Nehru told her she had moved him to tears.

6. She was poisoned in 1962.

In 1962, when Didi fell extremely ill, her medical investigation revealed that she was given slow poison. She battled death for three days. Even though her life was saved, recovery was a long journey where she remained bedridden for three months.

It was later found that her cook had vanished from her home without taking his wages. For precautionary measures, late Bollywood lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri would regularly visit her, taste her food first and only then allow her to eat.

7. Didi’s love for Cricket, Madan Mohan and Saira Banu

Her favourite game is cricket. Didi is reported to have a permanent gallery reserved for her at the Lord’s Stadium from where she enjoys watching her favourite game.

Of all the spectacular music directors she has worked with, Madan Mohan was closest to her heart.

“I shared a special relationship with Madan Mohan, which was much more than what a singer and a music composer share. This was a relationship of a brother and a sister. He trusted me to sing his best compositions,” she said in a 2011 collector’s item calendar.

Didi reportedly thinks her voice suits actress Saira Banu’s the best!

8. A global star!

The legendary singer’s fame goes far beyond the shores. In 1974, Didi became the first Indian to perform in the Royal Albert Hall, London. She has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by six universities, including the New York University.

France conferred its highest civilian award (Officer of the Legion of Honour) on Didi in 2007.

Read More: Asha Bhosle at 84: Little Known Facts About the Life of a Legend

9. She served as an MP without charging a penny!

Didi was also nominated as a Member of Parliament. But her health restricted her from attending the sessions in the Rajya Sabha, which drew the ire of a few.

But according to a TOI report, it is said that she did not take a single penny or a salary or a house in Delhi for her services as an MP.

10. Her designs for a diamond company raked £105,000!

In 1999, the perfume Lata Eau de Parfum was launched in her honour. Didi also designed a collection called Swaranjali for an Indian diamond export company, Adora. Five pieces from this collection, when auctioned at Christie’s, earned £105,000 which Didi generously donated to the relief fund for the Kashmir earthquake in 2005.

11. Her last recorded song was in 2015

It was for an Indo-Pak gay love story. This means that from 1942 to 2015, she worked as a playback singer for 73 years!

In a career spanning seven decades, Didi has been bestowed several prestigious awards including the Bharat Ratna, India’s Highest Civilian Award. Didi became the second vocalist to ever receive it after M S Subbulakshmi!

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Kumudlal Ganguly was born in 1911 to a simple Bengali family in Bhagalpur in the Bengal Presidency of British India (now in Bihar). Kunjlal, his father, was a lawyer and wanted his eldest son to follow in his footsteps. However, destiny had far more glitzier plans for the young man!

Kumudlal’s younger sister, Sati Devi was the wife of Sashadar Mukherjee, who held a senior position in the technical department of Bombay Talkies. Thanks to him, Kumudlal was had become interested in the technical aspects of film-making.

However, owing to parental pressure, decided to appear for his law exams. After failing them, Kumudlal decided to live with his sister for a few months, to avoid conflict with his father.

This seemingly innocuous decision would prove to be a turning point in his life.

Kumudlal reached Mumbai, and once he was ensconced at his sister’s home, he requested his brother-in-law to find him a job in Bombay Talkies. Soon, Kumudlal, who was working as a laboratory assistant and enjoying his work. He even managed to convince his father to allow him to abandon his law studies.

In 1936, the shooting of the film, Jeevan Naiyya was under production when the lead lady, Devika Rani eloped with the male lead, Najmul Hassan. Devika Rani was already married to the studio head, Himanshu Rai. When she returned to her husband, Rai fired Hassan and decided to cast the lab assistant, Kumudlal in the lead role instead.

It was common for actors at that time to work under pseudonyms in the film industry, and this is how Kumudlal Ganguly became Ashok Kumar.

Although he was a reluctant actor, Kumar worked hard on his craft (even though this didn’t necessarily reflect on screen) and came to be widely regarded as the pioneer of ‘method’ or natural acting in the film industry. Jeevan Naiyya was followed by Acchut Kanya, in which he paired up with Devika Rani once again. The film went on to become one of the early blockbusters of Hindi cinema, and the duo became everyone’s new favourite on-screen couple.

Over the course of his career, Ashok Kumar worked in several hit films and even won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award—the highest honour presented to film personalities by the Government of India. In 1998, the veteran actor received the Padma Bhushan, given his contribution to the Indian film industry.

What was his contribution?

Besides being a legend himself, Ashok Kumar was responsible for introducing phenomenal talents like Madhubala, Kishore Kumar and Dev Anand, among others.

In 1948, writer Ismat Chughtai and her husband, Shaheed Latif were planning their movie, Ziddi, with Kumar in the lead role. But Kumar, who was also a producer with Bombay Talkies, insisted they replace him with Dev Anand—a one-film-old struggler at the time, who had trained at the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). Kumar had spotted Anand hanging around the Bombay Talkies studio and believed he would be better suited for the lead role than him. Chughtai and Latif agreed, and as they say, a star was born.

You may also like: How Pune’s Parubai Went from Picking Waste To Starring in Award-Winning Films!

The same film had the legendary actor, Pran in the antagonist’s role. Pran, too, was suggested to the producers by Kumar.

Kishore Kumar, who is regarded as one of the most versatile and brilliant playback singers in the Indian film industry, also started his career with Ziddi. ‘Marne Ki Duayen Kyon Mangu’ became Kishore’s debut song, that later took him places.

It is interesting to note here that Kishore Kumar was Ashok’s younger brother (Abhas Ganguly).

In 1949, India’s first reincarnation thriller—Mahal—directed by Kamal Amrohi, which also starred Ashok Kumar and was made under his watch at Bombay Talkies, launched the careers of two legendary artistes—actor Madhubala, and singer, Lata Mangeshkar.

Apart from this, Ashok Kumar is also instrumental in welcoming SD Burman to the industry. He was also the first actor to become a part of the “1-crore club,” when his film Kismet grossed Rs 1 crore at the box office.

You may also like: “Fashion Now to Denigrate the Country”: What 20-YOs Thought of India in 1967

In the 1980s, he anchored India’s first soap opera called Hum Log.

Be it stepping into the shoes of the male lead, reluctantly, or giving up a huge role when he became a seasoned actor, Ashok Kumar is a legend in his own right. An actor and mentor par excellence, a registered homoeopathy practitioner, and a talented painter, “Dadamoni” (jewel of an elder brother) spearheaded an incomparable legacy, and will forever be an inspiration to generations of actors.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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It’s that time of the year when almost every street and nukkad in Mumbai is decorated with flowers, and illuminated with colourful lights and lanterns — with attractive idols of different deities at the centre.

Last month, it was Lord Ganapati, and this month it’s Durga Devi.

The deities are aesthetically made with intricate details. The expressions of the eyes—gentle, soothing, smiling—in all deities is mesmerising. In fact, a month before the festivities of Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehra begin, the bylanes of Parel, Lalbaug, Girgaon and Prabhadevi, all suburbs of Mumbai, are worth a visit.

Of course, a layperson isn’t allowed to enter these premises where gigantic idols of the deities are arranged. From five feet to 30 feet, the idols are in various stages of completion.

These places are known as karkhanas (small factories) of the murtis (idols), owned by families like Khatu, Patkar, Kothekar, among others. When asked permission to meet them, you are informed that “Seth office gaye hain!” (The master has gone to the office).

The question that promptly comes to one’s mind is, “An idol maker and office?”

The answer to that lies in the fact that most of the present-day owners are second and third generation idol-makers and the karkhanas were started by their grandfathers or fathers, with them continuing the legacy.

The present murtikars started playing with clay and colours and made small idols during their childhood in their family karkhanas. The first generation may not have held jobs, but the present is employed in banks, ad agencies, government offices, schools, entertainment industries and others.

“I wake up at 6 am, and by 7 am, I reach my karkhana. I work till 9 am and leave for the office. Then, I return from the office by 7-8 pm, and I am back with my idols till midnight. I love making idols. It’s my passion,” says 59-years-old Avinash Patkar. He works as a designer in the central government’s Regional Design and Technical Development Centre in Mumbai.

After completing a diploma in sculpture from the J J School of Arts, Patkar even taught at the college for a year until he joined the development centre.

Patkar’s daughter, Gautami, a commerce graduate who also works as a research assistant with the Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, helps him at the peak of the season. She and her mother help paint the idols.

More than working with clay and PoP (Plaster of Paris) idols, Gautami prefers to work with paper-mache.

“Paper-mache-work is very cumbersome and a long process. And that’s why we don’t take many orders,” says the 27-year-old girl, who is also pursuing an advanced course in personality development, and categorically states that even after marriage (“when it happens,” she adds, cheekily), she will continue making idols.

Also Read: Dedicated to Sex Workers, Kolkata Durga Puja Club’s Stunning Street Graffiti Will Wow You!

The Patkars made around 120 Ganapati idols and 13 Durga Devi idols this year, with only family members being involved in the process. Besides Gautami and her mother, her uncle Aashish and his wife also participate.

Avinash says, “The eyes of our murtis are painted by my sister-in-law, and they are so beautiful.”

A scriptwriter for ad agencies, event manager Reshma Khatu of the famous Khatu Ganesh idols, says, “Continuing my father’s legacy after his death last year was more important to me. From June to October, I am with my workers at our karkhana 24×7, except for the five days during my menstrual cycle. I mostly paint the idols and advise my workers in making the customised orders or the special idols.”

The Khatu factory is 71 years old, where the first Ganapati idol was made on August 15th, 1947, explains a proud, 35-year-old Reshma. She has a diploma in film direction and plans to work as an assistant director before making films independently.

Interestingly, it was the media coverage of the legacy of the Ganesh idols made by the Khatus, following the death of her father, Vijay Khatu, which inspired Reshma. And barely three days after his passing, she took up the reins.

“This is our family legacy. I didn’t want to let it go. I stepped in to manage the workers, learn the intricacies of making idols and my brother, Rohit, an interior decorator, started taking care of the accounts. My father made 200 Ganapati idols and 88 Devi idols. Even two years after his death, we haven’t lost a single customer, nor has any worker left us,” says Reshma.

66-year-old Mohan Kothekar, formerly working with Shri Ram Mills till it closed, was in and out of his father’s karkhana since his childhood.

After his mother passed and his father couldn’t continue the business, Mohan took some time to learn the finer aspects of the art and took over.

Today, he makes 200 Ganapati idols and six Durga Devi idols. Helping him are his brothers and nephews who are otherwise employed as accountants and account managers in banks, or engineers and lab helpers in colleges.

Mohan Kothekar’s daughter, Pooja graduated from J J School of Arts too. She heads a project as a Senior Associate in a PR company. After her young daughter grows up, Pooja too will resume helping Mohan in making idols.

“Our family has been making idols for over 50 years, and after me, my nephews will continue it,” says Kothekar.

He also explains the difference between the idols made in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

The idols in Maharashtra have softer features, which require special care to make the delicate face and fingers.

The Bengali idols, on the other hand, are made from a particular clay and dry grass. They have the Goddess Maa Durga on a lion killing the demon Mahishasur, Lord Ganesh with Mushak sitting at his feet, Lord Karthikeyan with his peacock, Goddess Lakshmi with a lotus flower and Goddess Saraswati with a swan. The puja pandals are decorated in interesting ways, sometimes depicting current political or sports scenes, or featuring old temples.

Although everyone uses moulds to make the idols, sometimes customers make special requests for specific features. “Some ask for Devi to be placed on a lotus flower, while others may want her to be seated on a tiger, a lion or a peacock. For Ganapati, some ask for an IPL trophy or the cricket world cup. The demands are endless. These things need to be made by hand, and the idols are priced high,” admits Kothekar.

Interestingly, none of the idol-makers wanted to comment on their earnings during the festive season. They laugh the question, saying, “The profit varies every year, as so many factors are involved–the cost of clay and colours, the rent of the premises we hire, the labour charges, etc.”

More than the profit, it is their passion and their spiritual feelings that keep them involved in the art, they say, adding, “We feel proud that our family is involved in something as pious as this!”

Doubling up as murtikars, these Mumbaikars who are otherwise employed have retained the tradition, the passion and the sense of community, but they have also brought a professional touch to present-day idol making. For instance, the specifications of each idol and other order details and specifications are saved on the computer, so that there are no errors.

You May Also Like: Five fantastic places you must visit during Durga Puja in Mumbai!

Moreover, a positive aspect of this work is that there are no delays in payment or cut-throat competition as may be common in other fields as it is “the work of God”.

Although some of the families have been following this profession for generations, they don’t necessarily take on more orders as continuing the quality of their idols is of foremost importance to them.

With the rising demands of a growing population, there are new entrants in the business, who can learn the art from the veterans and flourish alongside them.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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“Mummy pregnant hai meri,” an embarrassed Nakul tells his girlfriend.

A 25-year-old man, well settled at his job, with a teenaged brother ten years younger, Nakul can be any one of us. His family, the Kaushiks, are as typical as can be.

The mother-in-law finds fault in everything that her bahu does but her precious son could not be better. The brothers barely talk to each other–they only taunt, provoke and show off.

But Badhaai Ho features another beautiful relationship–the love between parents that hides behind societal approval and the “norms” for a middle-aged couple IRL. This couple, cute as a button, would have been “goals” if they were any younger.

But how can they be, if all their love is displayed only in secret?

The focus of the film is that a 50-something mother of two gets pregnant. Badhaai Ho takes this highly “uncomfortable” subject of middle-aged people having sex and makes it light, fun even.

It opens us to the fact that sex is not a thing for the youth alone. The story has two couples, and both pairs are equally in love and sexually active.

The older couple, played by Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao decide that they don’t want to abort the child, even when they have a slight window of opportunity. A short 5-7 minute conversation between them seals their decision. The husband says, “It’s your body and your pain. If you wish to keep the baby, it’s your choice.”

It’s as simple as that.

But it’s everyone else who makes the pregnancy their own business–even when they speak about it in hushed tones, behind the couple’s backs or as an instruction to how they “should have thought about the relatives” before engaging in such a blasphemous act.

I booked the tickets for the movie because the trailer was promising. But what I saw left me wondering if we ever look at our parents as anything more than our birth-givers and guardians?

They are, after all, someone’s partners but the very thought can be discomforting for us. Add to that the idea that they have sex?

via GIPHY

Unbelievable, unthinkable and a taboo!

Even as we speak about the liberation of sex from its stigmatised misconception, aren’t we largely making it out to be an activity for the youth?

I remember when I was in class 4 and saw my mother crying in her room, all alone. When I asked her what happened, she could not stop herself and said that she needed to get operated “on her stomach”. I was a child, oblivious of sex and how babies are conceived. All I knew was that they “come from a mother’s belly”. So I casually asked her if that’s what it was.

She answered in the affirmative and told me “don’t speak about it to anyone.”

Only years later, when I finally understood sex that I connected the dots. That my father had returned home for a short vacation and that weeks later, my mother needed to get an abortion. I shut my ears and eyes and forced myself to think about something, anything, other than the knowledge that my parents had had sex.

Was it so horrible though?

If you watch Badhaai Ho, you’ll understand that it wasn’t. Not really.

My colleague Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk recalls the call he received at the boarding school from his parents. He was 13 and was told that parents were expecting a child. Albeit a teenager, this news did not sound embarrassing or awkward to him. He was just happy that he’ll finally get a sibling to play with!

The film is basically a lesson to go from how I reacted to how Norbu did.

Why must sex–in one’s youth, among middle-aged people, among unmarried couples be a taboo at all?

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Everyone does it, whether in hotel rooms, tiny bedrooms or mansions. Then why must we live in the bubble that it is only us who are entitled to be free to have intercourse, to express our love?

This acceptance will have a ripple effect on conversations on sex.

If we, as a family, accept this as a natural expression between two loved ones, maybe parents will be able to communicate with their kids about sex much more easily.

Maybe then, subjects like contraceptives, safe sex, the consequences, wouldn’t be giggling topics that a straight-faced teacher recites to her students in a sex education class. Maybe then it will also be a normal discussion within a family.

And think about how empowering it will be for society as a whole. Teenagers wouldn’t have to hide their romantic interests from their parents, couples will be able to rent flats with ease, and kids will be able to help out their parents just as parents help their children.

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A great example of this is Sanhita Agarwal, who at the age of 25, found love for her widowed mother and got them married. A heartwarming story that goes beyond finding love for a lonely lady; the more you read through it, the more inspiring it becomes.

Maybe Badhaai Ho will be that conversation starter (or at least eye-opener) that we as a societal unit need right now. I saw a mixed crowd of teenagers, young pregnant couples and old couples watch the movie with me. This is already a good sign.

Now all I hope is that they thought about this topic just like I did and allow it to come out of the closed, locked and sealed doors.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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93-year-old Ram Vanji Sutar is the celebrated sculptor, who in his illustrious career spanning over seven decades, has given India a little over 8,000 sculptures.

He is also the man behind the Statue of Unity in the Narmada district of Gujarat, which is an ode to the legendary freedom fighter Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, also honouring India’s struggle for independence.

Upon completion, this colossal statue will become the world’s tallest statue at 182 metres, making it about twice the size of the Statue of Liberty in the United States of America.

Another one of Sutar’s phenomenal works include the design of 54 bronze statues that adorn the Sant Dnyaneshwar World Peace Dome at MIT-World Peace University (WPU) in Pune.

A recipient of both the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri awards, Sutar has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2016 Tagore Award by the Union Ministry of Culture.

First instituted by the centre during the commemoration of Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary in 2011, the prestigious award carries an award prize of Rs 1 crore and a citation in a scroll and a plaque.

Born in 1925, Sutar hails from a Gondur village in Maharashtra’s Dhule district. His father was a carpenter, and the artist in him began blooming at a very young age, starting with daily pencil sketches on mediums ranging from paper to even walls!

His tryst with sculpting also took flight around this time when he started carving out figures from stones and pebbles from the road.

Life changed its entire course in Sutar’s otherwise uneventful life when his teacher got transferred to another village and took him along. Sutar had just finished class five, which was the last class in his school, so going with his teacher made sense.

Except Sutar wasn’t sent to school but made to do all kinds of domestic chores and odd jobs.

A dream provoked little Sutar to run away for good, where a ‘golden’ sparrow told him to chase his passion of art. He followed the dream by walking barefoot, all the way to Mumbai!

From then, it was the city that became his guardian, where he did all kinds of menial jobs to fill his stomach. But his vision ahead was clear and set, for which he saved enough to fund his education, and got admitted to the J J School of Arts.

After finishing his studies, Sutar moved to Delhi in 1959 and worked at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a while, before quitting the job to start a career as a freelance sculptor.

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Besides India, Sutar’s many works of art have also been installed in Russia, England, Malaysia, France and Italy. Other than Sardar Patel, famous personalities whose statues have been designed by the master sculptor include Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jaiprakash Narayan, Maulana Azad, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, etc.

Despite his age, Sutar is full of energy and doesn’t seem to be one who’ll be calling it quits anytime soon. Together with son, Anil Ram, he continues to design monumental statues across the country from their studio in Noida.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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Before the crack of dawn every day, Yash Vir Rao takes his guitar case, flutes and notebooks, and walks towards Andhra Bhavan in Delhi.

His students will be waiting for him, their instruments and their daily fee of Re 1 in their hands. In his unassuming clothes which anyone will mistake for hand-me-downs, Rao will walk the distance even when he can simply wait for a bus to drop him.

To a stranger, Rao is just a common man on his way to make his day’s earnings. To thousands of students though, he is “Guitar Rao”, the man who teaches them to play the guitar, flute or keyboard, for just one rupee.

A long white beard, simple clothing and glasses that hang by a string, Rao wasn’t always this carefree, happy figure. He is a civil engineer who worked in an MNC till 2009.

When he quit, he was already in debt. The loss of the demanding job and the following financial crisis led him to detach from his family and sink into depression.

A year later, when he was visiting the Tirupati temple, he started taking music lessons. A professor in college had once told him that even a terrorist in jail could transform with the power of music. This belief stuck with Rao, and thus, his music lessons started helping him with his depression.

In 2018, Guitar Rao came to Delhi with the hope of meeting PM Modi and urging him to start a campaign to promote music lessons in school. Instead, he met hundreds of students who were more than happy to sit on footpaths or in parks to learn musical instruments from him, in exchange of Re 1, every day.

Speaking to The Times of India, eight-year-old Ishanvi, Guitar Rao’s student, said, “Guruji taught me to play a few songs in just seven days. One of my favourites is Jai Jagdish Hare.”

Several police officers and civil servants too have been alumni of this “academy”.

Rao simply hopes that his students follow the path of sharing the gift of music. Apart from the minimal fee that he charges for the lessons, Guitar Rao has one condition for the students: If they are happy with what they learn, they must donate a flute to a blind person, an orphaned child or someone in need.

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“Despite their love for music, many people cannot afford to learn music,” he tells TOI, adding, “My endeavour is to teach them music at the minimal cost.”

He is at Andhra Bhavan in Delhi from 6am-9am, at Vijay Chowk from 2pm-6pm and the India Gate lawns from 6pm-9pm. So if you are in Delhi and hoping for a musical break from your routine, why not pay Guitar Rao a visit?

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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The Nehru jacket, with its stand-up mandarin collar, a long row of buttons and hip-long length has been synonymous with the first Prime Minister of India. Although it gained this name only in the 1960s, the iconic jacket has been known by Jawaharlal Nehru’s name ever since. But this stylish jacket is not just a fashion statement in India. In fact, it has gained international fame, thanks to The Beatles and Time Magazine!

In January 2012, the Nehru jacket was listed at number 7 of the top 10 political statements by the Time magazine.

“Hardly reminiscent of Gandhi’s famous homespun clothing, the Nehru jacket is a descendant of the northern Indian achkan, a closed-neck, coat-like garment usually considered court dress for Indian nobility.

Indeed, it was when the jacket was marketed to Western audiences that it took the ‘Nehru’ title, the charismatic Prime Minister having popularised its style in public appearances during his tenure in government,” noted the publication.

But nearly 50 years before this recognition, the ‘fab four’ who made up The Beatles had worn this “Band Gale Ka Coat” (close-collared coat) at their concert. At their performance at the Shea Stadium in New York, the quartet chose to wear pale-blue jackets with prominent breast pockets. The concert was on August 15, 1965, and India was celebrating its 18th Independence Day. Nehru had passed away the previous year due to a heart attack.

According to Decades.com, an entertainment website,

“You can thank the Beatles for helping to bring Nehru jackets to the scene in the 1960s.

The band started sporting the jackets when they became students of Eastern spirituality. [Nehru] was a fashion icon and the thigh length closed collar jacket was his signature look. Although the Nehru jacket eventually went out of style, it never really went away and continues to show up on runways and celebrities from time to time.”

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Even before the rockstars brought this jacket into pop culture, it was sported by Dr No, the antagonist of a James Bond film by the same name, and has also been making several comebacks in movies and on stage ever since. Whether it was Dr Evil from the Austin Powers series or Johnny Carson, an American television host, the stylish thigh-length jacket has been showing up on various platforms through the years.

So, aside from his political legacy, Chacha Nehru has also left behind a significant legacy when it comes to fashion. As far as The Beatles go, sometimes all you need is a Nehru jacket and it all comes together, finally.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Stan Lee, the legendary creator of iconic characters like Deadpool, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther and the Incredible Hulk, passed away on 12 November 2018.

Thousands of people across the globe have taken to social media to mourn the death of the fabulous comic book writer, editor, producer, and publisher.

Interestingly, even though his comics predominantly feature American heroes, Lee had also worked on Indian superheroes not once, but twice!

First released as a comic by Graphic India, Chakra—The Invincible is the story of Raju Rai, a young orphan living in Mumbai. Along with his mentor, Dr Singh, Raju wishes to explore the potential of humans using science. Together, the duo develops a technology suit that “activates the mystical chakras of the body.”

Chakra, Raju’s superhero alter ego, is fighting against the evil Agni, Kildune and their boss, Yama.

Lee had borrowed heavily from Indian mythology, perhaps to ensure that the audience would connect well with Chakra’s fight. As is the case with many of his creations, Lee utilised the factors of an orphan as the superhero and a mentor to guide him in his aim to save the world from evil.

“Against the spectacular backdrop of the great Indian metropolis of Mumbai, we tell the incredible saga of Chakra, one of my latest and most exciting superhero creations, whose adventures will captivate audiences around the world,” Lee had said about his Indian creation.

Chakra also featured on Cartoon Network India as an animated series in 2013, and it was scheduled to make its Bollywood debut with Vikramaditya Motwani as director.

“I’m a fan of Bollywood films and am really excited about launching Chakra the Invincible as my first Bollywood superhero movie.

Vikramaditya is an amazingly talented filmmaker who I have no doubt can make the Chakra film a massive hit in India and around the world. I only hope he remembers to include my cameo!” Lee had said.

As heartbreaking as it is to know that this cameo will perhaps never happen, we cannot but hope that Lee might have some secrets in store to amaze his audience even after his death.

Chakra is not the only connection that Lee had with India. In fact, it was the legendary Satyajit Ray who had conceptualised an Indian avatar of Spider-Man.

Ray had travelled all the way to New York to meet with Lee to discuss an “Indian Spiderman” and Lee, quite unsurprisingly, was onboard with the idea.

Unfortunately, Ray passed away before “Pavitr Prabhakar” (the Indian version of Peter Parker) and his quest against the antagonistic “Nalin Oberoi” (Norman Osborn) could “marvel” the audiences.

Creators Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman, and Jeevan J Kang came together to take this vision forward. Pavitr is a boy from a remote village who moves to Mumbai, and it is here that a Yogi grants him the powers of a spider to fight evil. The four-book series also featured characters like Aunt Maya, Uncle Bhim and Meera Jain. You can guess the names with the original American characters.

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Today as we pay our respects to the man who has created a “marvellous” cinematic universe, it is fascinating to know that he was also quite enthusiastic about the Indian world of superheroes.

RIP, Mr Stan Lee!

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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Comic books! Who hasn’t read them while growing up! From Amar Chitra Katha to Asterix, Archies and our favourite Tinkle, these hand illustrated works made our growing years quite enjoyable as we spent many stolen hours reading and getting lost in the worlds masterfully conjured by these comic book creators!

As much as our parents relented to all our whims and fancies for buying comic books over the years, when it came to pursuing comic book creation as a professional career, the idea was met with downright dismissal.

There were, however, some unique individuals chose to defy this opposition and persist till their dreams became a reality. One such person is Rahil Mohsin, a comic book creator from Bengaluru, who has come a long way since the day he decided to create the very thing he loved reading as a book.

We met a very vivacious Rahil during the Bengaluru ComicCon, held in the Garden city recently. He was quite happy to share his personal journey as a self-publishing artist and the current scene in India.

So, what led the young man to chose comics creation over every other conventional career choice that parents like their children to follow?

“Being brought up in the nineties, I had access to comics like Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond Comics and Indrajal Comics along with many western comics that were easily available in Bengaluru. An introvert, I began developing an interest in art and would practice by copying drawings from these comics,” he says.

However, there were no dedicated institutions that professionally taught comic book making in India. Undeterred, Rahil decided to take up animation, as this was the closest he could get to his goal.

But college did him no good, as he ended up bunking most of his classes and instead spent time in empty classrooms practising the craft.

“By then, I had already made up my mind to become a professional comic book creator,” he remembers.

In 2010, he started out professionally and began illustrating comics for Sufi Studios, with whom he has published three graphic novels. Things have definitely looked up for Rahil since then, for he has begun self-publishing his projects, in collaboration with international writers about a year back.

But nothing was without a struggle.

“One of the most prominent struggles that an artist faces is that drawing for a living isn’t considered a serious profession. I’ve had my share of being judged for the career choices I’ve made. But this is something that used to bother me earlier on in my career. It’s been eight years now and it’s a pretty long time to develop a thick skin,” he says.

A very important person that Rahil attributes to all his successes in professional life is his wife, Alankrita, who is an artist herself and has worked for several well-known children’s book publishers in India.

“I have known Alankrita for more than a decade now. We were classmates when we first met and went on to become the best of friends and now life partners. We knew exactly how eccentric we were and would help each other out in whatever we had set our minds to. She is an amazing artist and belonging to the same field, we are well averse with the challenges that an artist faces and help each other stay motivated,” Rahil says.

He also adds that had it not been for her unwavering confidence and relentless push, he would have still been an artist-for-hire and would have never thought of venturing into self-publishing or even collaborating with international writers.

“She’s my muse, critic, manager, confidante, psychiatrist and most of all, my best friend,” a doting Rahil shares.

Upon being asked about the role of comic book fests such as ComicCon and Indie Comix Fest in helping young and aspiring comic book creators consider the field as a career option, Rahil affirms that these have indeed helped in creating a platform for local creators and bringing comics to the mainstream audience.

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“I’d have to say that the current comics scene is gradually gaining momentum. Starting out as a comic book reader, I never imagined that I would one day become a comic creator. I have been making comics for quite some time now and see a steady growth in the audience that helps support the medium. With each passing year we are introduced to a larger audience, who wants to look beyond superhero comics and is interested in original content across various genres,” he shares.

Currently, Rahil is working on a new initiative, ‘Comics over Coffee’, through which he is helping budding artists or creators who are genuinely interested in creating their own content.

It was the need to break the misconception that professional artists are inaccessible, which made him start this pro bono initiative.

“The artistic community in Bengaluru is ever expanding and through my initiative, I hold one-on-one sessions with creators and give them professional feedback and share all the knowledge that I have acquired over the years. It’s a small attempt from my end to try and give back to the community that has given me so much love and support,” he adds.

On a parting note, we ask Rahil about the advice that he would like to give aspiring comic book makers in India.

“My only advice would be to go for it! Never ever let what people say affect you and always follow your heart. Work hard and aim to perfect your skill, always help and support other creators, never chase fame but let your work speak for you,” he concludes.

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So if you have an unconventional career in mind, recall people like Rahil when the going goes stuff. You never know, your dreams may be just around the corner.

You can reach out to Rahil at rahilmohsin1@gmail.com. To look up his work, click here.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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Movies are arguably one of the best options for entertainment that we have. They transcend the boundaries of age, cultural background and choices, and it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that watching a movie in a dimly-lit theatre is the favourite pastime for millions of people.

The tragedy is that while urban areas are teeming with multiplexes that run several shows in a single day, thousands of villages still wait for that one opportunity in several months to watch a movie.

Food, clothing and shelter might be the basic necessities of man, but entertainment should not be ignored. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, after all.

So, Sushil Chaudhary, an engineer by profession decided to fill this void through his initiative, PictureTime!

Started in October 2015, PictureTime takes movies to the remote parts of India, through mobile movie theatres.

Speaking to The Better India, he says, “Cable television and the digital revolution definitely played a role in the decline of movie theatres in India. However, in my view, the main reason for the decline is that the single-screen cinema theatre business could not adapt itself to the changing times— particularly so in rural India. While multiplexes have taken over the market in the metros and mini metros, they have not penetrated rural India, as a result of which the people are deprived of a grand cinematic experience. I wanted a platform that was portable, independent of real-estate, low on regulatory compliances as well as ready to showcase the latest films. PictureTime, was thus, the perfect solution.”

For many people, an experience at a multiplex is a luxury in itself, thanks to the high prices and in many cases, the distance they have to travel to reach the theatre.

However, Chaudhary’s PictureTime entertains the masses at a fraction of the cost. The Mobile Digital Movie Theatre, called Digiplex, is completed with a Dolby surround sound system and an air-conditioned, inflated theatre room.

Under the project, Chaudhary and his team travel from Himachal Pradesh in the north to Andhra Pradesh in the south.

“PictureTime provides unique dual benefits to the rural population of India—a state-of-the-art cinema experience as well as a medium of outreach for both social messaging and private advertising—all under a single umbrella. By offering low-cost mobile cinema halls, the venture will help address the severe cinema theatre crunch by increasing the screen count in remote parts of the country,” he told YourStory.

Tying up with film-industry experts like Satish Kaushik and Kulmeet Makkar, PictureTime is all set to go in the right direction.

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“We have covered 14 states as of now like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and others. We do a maximum of 4 shows every day in the tier 3 cities of these states and use 2K and E-cinema projectors and Qube/UFO servers for cinema projection,” says Chaudhary.

Explaining how the mobile theatre works, he told the Daily News and Analysis, “Within two-and-a-half hours, the mobile Digiplex cinema theatre can be made fully functional, complete with seating arrangements and world-class high-definition digital projectors and 5.1 Dolby surround sound for a high-quality cinema experience.”

And the entire theatre (once deflated) can fit into one truck!

What started as a source of entertainment, eventually became a tool to educate the masses. A mobile theatre with air-conditioning and high-quality visuals is bound to attract people, and Chaudhary used this curiosity to impart social awareness within the rural population.

“Our aim is to use technology to not only provide high-quality entertainment to rural India but to also use our mobile Digiplex cinema theatres as an outreach vehicle to generate awareness on educational and government schemes on initiatives around Digital India, Skill India and Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan,” he states.

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With about four shows in 14 states in India currently, the founder and CEO hopes to increase the numbers by leaps and bounds, in the near future.

Speaking to the New Indian Express, he says, ” Most of the families are excited to see PT bringing new releases to their vicinity and offering multiplex par experience. Our milestone for this financial year is 120 units and the target for the next three years is 3,000 units up and running.”

With PictureTime, movies are no longer restricted to only the urban elites. With all the amenities of a multiplex but rates that are incredibly affordable, PictureTime is what you can call the perfect entertainment package!

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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For centuries, women have played a very significant role in shaping Kashmir and its cultural fabric, and yet, seldom have their contributions received the recognition that they deserved.

This thought had persisted in the back of Onaiza Drabu’s mind for a long time, but what propelled this young Kashmiri artist to change that narrative was a calendar featuring iconic personalities from Jammu and Kashmir.

“A few years ago, a calendar that one finds in most homes in Jammu and Kashmir featured inspirational icons from the state, one for each month—ten of these were men and only two women. I was astonished and frankly, very disappointed seeing it and at that time, made a mental note to fix this at some point,” she says to The Better India.

A year later, Onaiza fulfilled her dream, by teaming up with Nusaiba Khan, another Kashmiri artist.

Together, the duo launched a stationery brand, Sonth, but they wanted to take their initiative to a larger and wider scale—one that would involve the women of Kashmir to create art inspired Kashmiri women.

As the word spread through their friend circles and art groups, seven women artists—Kayehaan Anjum Khan, Ghazal Qadri, Mahvash Masood, Sama Beg, Sumairha Mumtaz, Tuba Nasiem and Zoya Khan—joined hands with Onaiza and Nusaiba to give wings to the Kashmiri Women’s Design Collective.

These artists were from diverse backgrounds and art styles, but their passion and enthusiasm for the project equalled that of Onaiza and Nusaiba’s.

“As the Kashmiri Women’s Design Collective, we started with a small project—a calendar for the coming year that we could relate to and find inspiration in, as a small tribute to a few of the women of Kashmir who have, in some way or the other, had an impact on all our lives,” she explains.

Despite being located in different parts of the world, these women put their creative heads together to not just conduct research about iconic women from the past and present but also bring them back to life through remarkable illustrations in two months.

“It was a special process because everyone came forth with great speed and finished their artworks in a few weeks. I was in touch with my printing partners, so I did the rest of the design and printed samples, sent them to Sama who lives in Kashmir and all this while I was coordinating from Nairobi. All artists are spread across the world, so the project has taken shape across time zones and lives,” shares Onaiza.

So what does this collective hope to achieve through this first-of-its-kind calendar?

For these artists, it had been a serendipitous process of discovery and research, where each of them selected women from across the ages and used different mediums of art to interpret their work and personalities.

“It also showed us how history has treated women unfairly and how important it is for us to retell those stories and correct those histories in any way we can. Women are active participants in the workforce in Kashmir and its public space. However, as it is with women everywhere, they are faced with sexism and in fields like art, journalism and business, especially. There is huge scope for talent, but the tendency is to be less risk-prone. Coming together as a collective force is a way to mobilise ourselves, and also those who may be interested,” Onaiza adds.

On a parting note, Onaiza shares that more than the art, their initiative aims to shed light on the extraordinary history of women in Kashmir.

“We have had female queens and poets, saints and doctors. But also, the breadth of styles reflected in this calendar is an interesting mix, showing you the eclectic style and taste of the people. So, you can look at a work of art on your calendar every day!” she concludes.

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With the New Year approaching, do give those regular calendars a miss and join these women on their remarkable endeavour to bring back the forgotten legacy of women artists of Kashmir.

You can purchase the calendar here.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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