The Global Storyteller- MIRA NAIR at Spring Fever'13

On her journey from ‘Salaam Bombay!’ to ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’

I attended the ongoing Spring Fever at IHC today and it was a delightful experience. Organised by Penguin Books, the Spring Fest has a great line up of eminent personalities for each day. After spectacular sessions by Shobha De and Gulzar on 15th and 16th respectively, today the genius film-maker Meera Nair graced the literary festival. 

It was a perfect setting in the open air amphitheatre with a lovely stage and the library. Mira Nair was there on time and the session started at seven as scheduled. 

She had some really interesting experiences to share. Some made us laugh while others left us awed. Here are some of the interesting things the story teller talked about- 

"I always played the girlfriend's mother or something un-sexy like that"

Before Salaam Bombay, my beginnings really come from theatre, when I was an actor. And the first inspiration for me as a kid growing up in Bhubaneswar was actually Habib Tanvir who brought logical theatre in the most radical way to the school fields of Bhubaneshwar. That made me feel that I could perhaps be a part of the “tamaasha” that he had shown me as a young girl. So that led me to join theatre. I was on stage most of the time. I always played the part of the “girlfriend's mother” or something un-sexy like that. 

" My Antony was Shashi Tharoor! "

I was a part of Shakespeare society in St. Stephens College. I was cast as a very heavy weigh Cleopatra and to carry me on stage there was a bunch of slaves led by Amitav Ghosh in a langoti. Not really a pretty picture! And my Antony was Shashi Tharoor! I better behave, he is a minister!

"I would say, come to India, I will send my elephant to pick you up from the airport"

I made about four documentaries, all in India in the early 80s. It was interesting but I found frustration in not finding an audience. Here in India, there was no room for them. In America they would ask me dumb things like-“I saw running water in your movie. How come you have water running in India?” I would say- come to India, I will send my elephant to pick you up from the airport and they would not really get the joke!

"The kid would dance and sing- I am a disco dancer!"

The idea of Salaam Bombay came from a documentary; I made, ‘India Cabaret’ about strippers. I lived with these girls, Rekha and Rosey. And every day at twelve in the morning this tea-boy used to come and this wonderful role- reversal used to take place where Rekha would say- "Nacho" to the boy and the kid would dance and sing " I am a disco dancer!" and they would drink tea like Nawabs’. That got me to look at a street kid- the tea boy. What was remarkable about kids in each street corner is that, on the surface they have absolutely nothing but inside they have such a will to live!

                          "I polluted the poor guy"
Sooni Taraporevala, writer of the film (Salaam Bombay) and I found a bunch of rag pickers. At first they ran away from us but then we gradually befriended them and for four months just picked rags with them, went to the movies, waited at the weddings. After documenting it and writing down own version, I asked Barry Jones to come and we did a six-week workshop with nineteen children. The main thing we did in the workshop was to create discipline and focus in the children through either dance (weirdly enough, they would choose Madonna songs to dance on) or yoga.
I met Raghubir Yadav, who played Chillam, yesterday after 25 years and he said- "main to saala cigarette bhi nahi peeta tha, main to bolta tha ki bas Mira Nair ne hi mujhe cigarette dia"
I polluted the poor guy. 

"The kids have no self-pity"

I did not want to make an ‘arty-farty’ film. I wanted children to go to Liberty and watch it. These kids have no self-pity. My earliest images were of when I was shooting India Cabaret, being in a taxi in a traffic jam and one hand held on to my open window. I looked down and saw this kid- just the torso on a hand-made platform with wheels. The lights changed and with the velocity of my cab, he moved on and at the end it he just let himself go, did a piravid, held his hand up like a circus player. Even though no one was clapping, but for him that was his performance! 

        "I was the aunty ji Delhi"

I am currently directing the musical of Monsoon Wedding. We have recorded seven songs and have four more to go. We hope to open in May'14. 
My son and I wanted to make a film in his school holidays, in the monsoon. I met Sabrina Dhawan and we both got along like a house on fire! She was like the hipper Delhi and I, the auntyji Delhi.  Once Naseer was cast, I started casting other people around him but many people, who said yes, did not turn up! I had to take many auntyjis’ from my area-Vasant Vihar and anyone who was for free was in monsoon wedding. The actor who was supposed to play the lover of the bride called me one day before shooting and said- Sorry for not being able to come, because he had been asked to compare Amitabh Bachchan's dinner! I called a young actor in London and asked him- Do you have a brother?  Yes, I actually did that! 

This was followed by questions from the audience. Later Mira Nair, signed copies of Salaam Bombay and The Reluctant Fundamentalist for the audience! It was a wonderful evening with the global story teller. Thank you Penguin Books!

Spring Fever is a must attend.  Click here for more information.
Did you attend Spring Fever? Share your experience with me- writerspointblog@yahoo.in

Edited by Prakriti Anand

INDIA- A CELEBRITY OBSESSED NATION

Welcome to India, where everybody is more interested in other’s lives than his or her own. We all have encountered ‘inquisitive’ aunties who have a long list of questions ready, as soon as we step out of our house.

And when it comes to celebrities, we all get into the inquisitive aunty avatar to dig out as much information about them as we can. Yes, we are a self-proclaimed celebrity obsessed nation!

I don’t know whom my Chinki didi married, but I know what Kareena Kapoor wore on her wedding, who designed the wedding invitation, the guest list and the honeymoon destination. That is how I am and that is how we all are!  

Most of us pull out HT City and Delhi Times from the main newspaper and start our day by updating ourselves with the fresh news about our favorite celebrities.  

We are so obsessed with them that we make their few extra kilos a baby bump, a movie together means an affair and giving someone’s party a miss is a dead sure rivalry.

We want to know why Anushka Sharma wore a Masaba and not a Sabyasachi. Is Twinkle Khanna pregnant again? Why Abhishek Bachchan and Karishma Kapoor never got married? We are inquisitive aunties in true sense!A swollen celebrity lip is a good enough news to become a headline here, followed by rumours of a lip job and sting operations on the surgeon who supposedly did that

Here a father might not be enlightened about how many tattoos her daughter has but we always keep ourselves updated on what Deepika Padukone is doing to her ‘RK’ tattoo. In India, we might not have a roof on our heads but hey, there is something as important as that- Sunny Leone is looking for a house in Mumbai! We are people who hesitate to donate money but when it comes to laying hands on a tissue paper an actress used to wipe off her make up, we are ready to spend more than anyone else. While many of us might not be able to handle our own relationships and marriages, we don’t mind keeping a track of celebrity love-birds and telling them to get married soon. Actually, we love it!

 Here we need an Amitabh Bachchan to attract tourists to Gujarat, a Kajol to sell a toffee and an Amir Khan to tell people about Atithi Devo Bhava. 

Writing horoscopes of celebrities and predicting how their next year will be is an all time favorite task of our tarot card readers there. And yes, my friend might not give me a treat on her birthday, but I do get to feast on cupcakes on Hritik Roshan’s birthday, he is her favorite actor after all! In India, the most popular T.V show is Big Boss- watching celebrities brush their teeth, cook food, wash utensils and doing make up- Ah bliss!  Another popular show in this celebrity obsessed nation is 'Live my life'. God bless the ones who conceptualized this show – fans get to step into shoes of their favorite superstars and get to spend ‘ intimate moments with the Stars themselves’.

  Yaha celebrity raj hai!

They have crazy fans- who marry their photographs, who are ready to pay them in crores for a two-minute performance and who buy whatever they endorse. They can sell pictures of their babies for what ever they want and yes, in India there’ll be thousands of people who desperately want to buy them.

And it doesn’t end here. We are much more generous than this when it comes to our love for celebrities. We also make their children stars. Sridevi’s daughter, Jhanvi Kapoor is a star at fifteen. Now don’t ask me why? I just told you- “Sridevi’s daughter!”

Being emotional humans, we might just sometimes out of love make a celebrity God. Rajnikanth has experienced this obsession down south. So, who is next?

We follow (read-stalk) celebrities. Their daily life is a matter of national concern. We discuss them on dinner tables  (read- all the time) and this is how obsessed we are, with our celebrities.

 This is why India is a celebrity obsessed nation! 

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                                  ( screen shots from- http://www.missmalini.com)
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You can now read my articles on WriterBabu.com also -http://www.writerbabu.com/profile.php

AND THIS WEEK MY ARTICLE WAS AMONG THE TOP 10 AT WRITERBABU.COM AT #4 !

                                           

THE PETTICOAT JOURNAL

READ MY ARTICLE ON SAFETY OF WOMEN FOR THE
             PETTICOAT JOURNAL HERE

ABOUT THE PETTICOAT JOURNAL-

We beg not to be confused for a soft, polite and submissive platform just like you want your women to be. We are not even suggesting rouges and mascaras for women. We are here with the after-story. The story after the woman is decked up and all set for life. Does the world stand by her? Does she have the courage to go it alone? Does she get derided on the way?

You say, "Huh! What world are you talking about? You may be living in a time warp. We've come far from those days when all these questions were relevant." Well, we would love to believe you. But even as we were gathering the mindset to believe you, we came across official reports about professional, educated women being subjected to atrocities, verbal and physical, by men in their families. Men would not necessarily be husbands. They happen to be fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, brothers, fathers. As we turned the pages of the reports, we realised that after all the grassroots work by various well-meaning organisations, women in villages consider rape and violence a part of life which they have to tolerate no matter how painful.

A lot has changed over the years. Thanks to activists and social workers and the handful of men and women who believed in change. But there are a majority who consider such change disastrous...to their hegemony, to their egos and to their personalities. It's here that the change is stuck. It's this filter that suspends change.

It's no wonder then that we deep in our hearts we keep the lowest of low opinions about women and nurture lowest of low feelings about their characters. It's so fragile that we start doubting a woman's character without instigation. No? Consider this.

How does the world react to a decked up woman waiting for her family in the middle of a market place on their way to a family function? We know what's the very first thing that hits people's minds!What does the world think about the woman walking late evening along a lonely footpath on her way back home from office? SUVs and sedans slow down to ask her what she'll charge for a night. A submissive woman may just be pulled into the car without even the courtesy asking her charges. Then, the next morning, we read about her raped, bleeding, abandoned body found in a jungle.

What does the world think of a woman who mixes with men in offices or gyms or other places where she is a regular like any other man out there? That she is a nymphomaniac...that she's interested in men.
What does the world think of a woman who is the female version of a Casanova? Err there's no female version of Casanova!! We only know of sluts!
The world is changing. but the thinking isn't. Women are moving out and striving to make a mark and break free. But men and some other women are going regressive. They want to pull the charging women back. The Petticoat Journal is for them as much as the women who have begun the fight to raise their status from a doormat to a human being.
We bring you the Doormat Revolution! Join us!

UNBOX FEST'13

Isuri Dayaratne, a 27 year old illustrator from Colombo, Sri Lanka who joined several other artists, designers and master craftsmen  at the UNBOX FEST'13 shares his experience and illustrations at Writerspoint.

Explore Isuri’s art and quirky characters here.

UnBox Festival is an annual celebration of interdisciplinary thought & work through a series of seminars, performances, exhibitions and talks

Held over four days from February 7-10, UnBox Festival took place at Zorba, New Delhi this year. My first time at this annual event, it was truly an experience for me, where I had the opportunity to showcase my illustration work and collaborate with some amazing artists.

UnBox Festival, being a celebration of different platforms of art, gave the artists as well as the participants a chance to fully  discover and engage in the workshops, music performances and talks that took place over the four days. There were multiple stages, work rooms and open labs that were available to all of us, as well as all day bars and cafes that brought out a community atmosphere.

Throughout the festival I was invited to work at the Print Lab where I had the chance to collaborate with BLOT and Levi’s. Although it was my first time experiencing screen-printing techniques, I got the hang of things by the second day and was even helping out participants make custom t-shirts. All the artists who were working at the Print Lab had pre-made fabric screens of their own artworks and the workshops held over the four days gave participants and artists a chance to work together and experiment with a lot of designs.

Best part of the festival was that all of the events/workshops that were happening around Zorba gave everyone the opportunity to meet a lot of people who came from various backgrounds, be it from art and design to music.

JAIPUR LIT FEST'13—more to it than glamour

By N. Madhavan

Columnist/Associate Editor

Hindustan Times

Jaipur is just the place and the last week of January is just the right time to hold a literary festival. For one, there is a colourful air about the Rajasthani capital, with its exotic past and camels that go with history and the magic of the printed word. On the other hand, not far from Delhi, it is great for both those wanting to get away from the metro rush and international travelers at the end of a cold period to catch some sun.

The festival has acquired its own unique colour. 

credits- Shweta Maheshwari 

For a festival that calls itself the “greatest literary show on earth” it is not just about staid writers and sombre sessions. The Diggi Palace lawns, where the festival is held, has the air of an Indian mela, and has also acquired what some might call “Page 3” glamour with fashionable ladies and somewhat loud partying people making up the ambience. It also helps that the festival organizes musical evenings (this year shifted to the Amer area in the suburbs).

The festival this year was less controversial than last year, when writer Salman Rushdie was prevented from coming by Muslim group protests. This year,  protests erupted towards the end of the festival when sociologist Ashis Nandy mouthed a comment about corruption and backward/scheduled caste leaders. 

The furore underscored the fact that the festival has become a political event of sorts.

Alongside politics, the festival also sees a Bollywood touch. Lyricists Prasoon Joshi and Javed Akhtar and actress Sharmila Tagore were among the attendees this year, as was cricketer Rahul Dravid.  

So, is literature about such glamorous figures? Clearly not. While these lent fodder for the news media, there is undeniably some depth in the festival from less fashionable sessions held in the large tents and halls outside of the front lawns and the “Char Bagh” front grounds where the bigger sessions occur.

I particularly enjoyed a session on books about music, featuring Vikram Sampath, author of “My Name is Gauhar Jaan” -- about a British colonial era courtesan. There was another serious session on books about India’s Maoist heartland and the Northeast. Yet another one discussed the life of the mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan.

These sessions more than made up for criticism that the festival is shallow.

My high point as a Tamil speaker was listening to a US scholar, David Shulman, who is fluent in Indian languages and about the history of India’s temple towns and holy places. Such scholars are ones who notice only when a festival showcases offbeat topics and writers. For this, one must thank the organizers of JLF!

WANTED- POLITICAL IDOLS IN INDIA

Writerspoint wishes all it's readers in India, a very happy Republic Day.
As we celebrate our 64th Republic Day we marvel at how farsighted our constitution makers were!
The brilliant political leaders made our constitution rigid enough to maintain its basic structures and philosophy of the country and at the same time flexible enough to incorporate changes that time demanded. Even after 64 years, we awe at the makers of the Indian constitution for drafting the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world so successfully!

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Like everything around us, politics has also changed and continues to change rapidly. Today, when we look at politics, we cannot help but associate it with corruption and other mal-practises and eventually end up calling it 'dirty politics'. We no longer have political idols or political leaders, all that politics offer us today is ' politicians'. The youth today idolises actors and sportsmen, singers and dancers. Don't blame them, they do not have much choice because India has lost the recipe to create idols in the field of politics. 

Should we seek inspiration from Abhijit Mukherjee? Yes, son of our Honourable President who claimed that the women participating in the protests for Nirbhaya were “pretty women who were dented and painted”.

He said students who go to protest there think it is fashionable to hold candles and protest.

“This is almost like the Pink Revolution. These women who are protesting have no contact with ground reality. These pretty women, dented and painted, who come for protests are not students. I have seen them speak on television, usually women of this age are not students,” Our politicians make such comments on critical issues like gang rape.

Can politicians like him who do nothing but make obnoxious comments and objectify women become idols for our generation ? 

If not him, how about Laxman Savadi and CC Patil? The Karnataka state ministers were caught watching porn in the State Assembly. Now, they are perfect political idols, aren't they ? 

Ironically CC Patil was the minister for women and child development! This is what he had to say- "The truth is like this... The mobile phone had a video of a rape incident. The victim is murdered by the rapists. Subsequently, the people chase the rapists and catch them. Later, the government awards death sentence to the accused. Patil and myself were sympathising with the victim."

 They are the representatives who are elected by the people with the hope that giving them position of such great powers will change the condition of our country. But unfortunately, for them State Assembly is not a place to discuss issues of social welfare, but a place to watch porn! We can certainly not expect youth to seek inspiration from ministers like them! 

We might be stupid enough to elect you, but we are not stupid enough to believe what you say, irrespective of what we see! 

How about Mayawati ? This Indian politician who claims to be working for the downtrodden and backward classes of our country chose to spend 685 crore on a mere park with statues of herself and stone carved elephants! Dear miss Mayawati, had you used all that money for setting up schools for children of backward classes, you would have done so much good. Unfortunately politicians of our country do not know how to work towards something even if they have a good cause to work for. So I don't blame my friends who idolise Salman Khan for his N.G.O Being Human.

     ___________

While the list of politicians like them is very very long, only two names pop up in my mind when I think of Political Idols of 21st Century in India.

 AUNG YANG SU KI 

"It is true that I have lived abroad. It is also true that I am married to a foreigner. These facts have never interfered and will never interfere with or lessen my love and devotion for my country by any measure or degree."

A.P.J ABDUL KALAM

"To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal"
  ________

Their words are enough to inspire us, their actions make us look up to them. What they have done for us and our country is something we cannot pay back. What we can do is respect them and their ideas! 

It must be a lonely path, with every single day a challenge. To stand up for your rights without flinching, to face humiliation and violence with courage, without retaliating violently - Oh no, not everybody can do that...

But they have done it for India and for us! We need more like them.

Tell us about the political leaders of India you idolise. We need more like them ! 

INTERVIEW FOR CONNECT ASIA NETWORKS

Connect Asia Networks (C.A.N), a unique global platform dedicated to engage, enrich and empower through eduainment featured me as a 21st Century Change Maker as a part of their initiative called 21st Century Change makers- Talk Less, Do More.
This is a milestone for Writerspoint!

follow this link to - Read the interview at CAN.

Kai: Hi! Shivesh, how do you like to introduce yourself to CAN?

SB: I am an eleventh grade student from India. I don’t like to keep my feelings buried. I prefer to share it with people around me. For this I take to words as they are powerful and can make or break our world, shape opinions and motivate minds. My tryst with writing began back in 2008, when I won a National Level Article writing competition. After that my articles began to get published in newspapers and I realized- I can write! Two years later, in 2010, I decided to create a forum where, I could share what I write. Writerspoint was born!

Kai: So Writerspoint – yeah I get it… Writer’s point without apostrophe and space  .. tell me more!
SB: Writerspoint’s objective is to create and share ideas. It is not just about my ideas, but of others also who have something inspirational to share. This December, we completed a year. Eight experts from different field took to Writerspoint to share their inspirations. I believe; share happiness and it will double, share sorrows and they will divide, share ideas and they will multiply, and that is the agenda!

Kai: What is the source of your Inspiration?
SB: Different people and different situations inspire me. There was a class-room discussion on ‘stereotyping Muslims’; which inspired me to write a story. When a friend shared her ballet class experiences; I was motivated to pen a dancer’s story. Each story evolves from a different inspiration.

Kai: What is the best part of being the conductor of Writers point?
SB: Writerspoint is my child. Writerspoint gives me the joy of being able to share what I write. It has also given me recognition. At the end of the day, when you write something you want it to be read. Writerspoint has given me those readers!

Kai: Amazing…what are the challenges that you face?
SB: Being a student, I have to manage Writerspoint with daily school, homework, projects, tests and exams. So, time is the biggest challenge. Especially during exams writing a blog post becomes impossible. After exams, I get depressed when I realize I have not written since some time!

Testing Prototype & Executing Finale

Kai: How do you convert the ideas/inspiration to features at Writerspoint?

SB: Ranjit Lal, who has penned many fiction and non-fiction writing for children and adults talked about an ‘idea box’. He said you should observe people and your surroundings and maintain a box, where you put all the ideas you get. So whenever I get an idea I make a draft in my hand phone and when I get the time to write, I use these ideas.

Paro Anand, introduced me to this very interesting technique – Bum In Chair. You just have to sit on a chair, with an idea in your mind and a pen in your hand. A good story will come by itself. If you keep thinking of an idea and keep planning things in air, it will vanish within no time. So Whenever I have time, I take my pad and start writing. Sometimes I end up tearing couple of pages. After a while, I am actually able to write something good enough to post on Writerspoint.

Inevitable Invisibles
Kai: Who are the people who help you execute Writerspoint? What is their role in your success?

SB: I am very fortunate to have talented friends, who have always helped me not only with execution but ideation also. Manya Ahuja, who provided photographs for three blog posts, is so talented that her pictures speak 1000 words! She has arranged these images in the shortest deadlines and has never compromised on quality. Another friend, Mitul Lall did pictures for a feature by a published Indian author. The pictures she clicked were simply beautiful. Shweta Maheshwari who modeled for them also deserves special mention. Together they make a terrific team! The three of them have done so much for Writerspoint for absolutely nothing.Divya Mittal helped me to spread blog’s reach by taking it to more people. She also manages Writerspoint’s Facebook page. There are other friends like Ipsita Aggarawal, Kalash and Kanagana Pandya who have been true pillars of support.

Besides them, I owe Writerspoint’s success to all those who read the blog and appreciate it. All the love not only makes us feel good but also encourages us to do better.

Kai: What is your New year vision and where do you see Writerspoint 5 years from now?
SB: Writerspoint has grown from a personal blog to a platform where number of people work hard to give readers an amazing reading experience. We have had around 6000 page views and audience from 10 countries! Within a year, renowned authors like Paro Anand and Ranjit Lal have given us interviews. Other professionals, authors, illustrators and actors have written for us. It is a matter of great pride and we wish to take it further. I also plan to start taking articles from other student writers because as I said, the ideas will multiply. 5 years from now, I hope to see Writerspoint as a developed website with a huge number of writers and a lot more readers.

Kai: Wow, you are inspiring! One big advice to CAN young-ones and grownups
SB: To the youth my advice is to develop the talent/ interest you have. All of us have hidden skills, try and discover it. Don’t hesitate to do what you want to. Remember, no one is going to make your dreams come true for you. It is your job to get up every day and work towards it. What is important is to enjoy every step of the journey.
To the grownups: When a child is young, parents make him/her join all kind of art, music and dance classes to develop ‘interest’ but when it comes to actually pursuing an interest, they are the first ones to disapprove. Most parents don’t want their children to become artists, whether dancer, actor or musician. I want them to realize that your child will be happy in true sense only when he/she gets to do what he/she likes. You should support or at least consider their decision with an open mind.

Kai: I wish I could talk to you forever but I GTG…Any parting thoughts you like to share?
SB: Recently we have collaborated with different people and organizations. We officially covered Bookaroo Festival’ 12 and interviewed many authors there. We also collaborated with a talented group of illustrators called Kuchh Macchli and they launched their short film “Odyssey” on Writerspoint. The main objective behind this is to grow. The idea is – Don’t tell us sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon. I hope we are headed in the right direction!

Kai 5- BIG 5 Take Home’s from Shivesh:
Take 1: Having a dream is not enough! I need to wake up and work towards making it a reality!
Take 2: Chair the bum and box the ideas! (Focus without forgetting!)
Take 3: Friends are blessing in disguise (i love my friends any way!!)
Take 4: Having a vision helps me see the future without a crystal ball
Kai’s Favourite Take 5: Don’t tell us sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon