Shailaza's Blog

Tag: Arbit

  • Of Ragging and Other Mischiefs

    Once upon a time, in the land of Army existed a place called AFMC. It was a place full of cadavers, doctors, classes , jokes and a lot of FUN. The Armed Forces Medical College was not just a college, it was a way of life for thousands who have passed through its doors.

    I will make no bones about it- I am what they call an ‘army brat’. For as long as I remember I have been a part of this army life, thanks to my father who retired about a decade ago. I have listened to his adventures, escapades and pranks ever since I could understand them. He is a graduate from AFMC (Armed Forces Medical College), Pune and belongs to the ‘I’ batch (Right from the inception of the college, each batch of students has been given a letter of the alphabet to identify their year and seniority. So ‘A’ was the very first batch in 1966. After the 26 letters were over (that means 26 years), they started off with A1. So, far, 57 batches of doctors have graduated from this college).


    So, when Major Dr. Meeta Singh and her husband Ashok Singh organized the yearly event Jalsa 2024, I was only too happy to attend it because it meant listening and in a way reliving the naughty, spicy and interesting anecdotes of these army doctors.
    When I walked into the Stardom Resort, where Jalsa 2024 was being held, it was like walking back into time and meeting my own childhood. I could see my father’s friends, his classmates, his seniors and juniors, most of whom I knew from years of postings. Some of them had taken to singing on the stage while the others were busy sharing jokes and laughing. Then as was the custom in their college, there were some backbenchers too who were commenting quietly on everything that was going on and having their own party.


    My purpose was simple. All I wanted to do was know about the fun they had in their time in AFMC. Acing MBBS is not easy and then these were officers of the Indian army; which is known for its discipline and tough postings. But these people were experts in taking it all in their stride and making as the popular slogan goes in the army, ‘jungle mein mangal’.
    I walked to a group of men who were sitting in a corner and drinking beer. I asked them about their fondest memories of AFMC.

    Basi Menon, an anesthetist from G batch said, ‘I remember in 1969 I got chicken pox in the third year of AFMC, so I was under a lot of scrutiny and observation in the isolation ward. Some of the students even envied me and tried to hug me and get it too so that they wouldn’t have to give any exams but most of them were unsuccessful in getting the disease. One day, this friend of mine came in four days later with mumps. Another fellow classmate and his friend turned up in the ward after crashing his motor cycle while travelling from Mahabaleshwar to Pune. I was the unofficial mechanic for all the motor bikes in the college. All the damaged, broken bikes would come to me. So, even though I had chicken pox, I still had to go and pick up the bike because I was the only one who could repair it. Moreover, it is not like chicken pox is a very serious disease. It is just that people don’t like you because you are all full of pus and pustules. And they are terrified of you when you walk in somewhere. After a lot of whispered discussions in the medical ward, my friend who managed to get the chicken pox at the same time as me (by being very (physically) attached to me) decided I could go. Everyone in the ward knew what was going on but they didn’t say anything. So, I slipped out quietly. That evening, during the rollcall, the officer in charge came to see the four of us in the ward. My bed was occupied by the pillows which were completely covered by the quilt. When he tried to talk to me, the man next to me was the son of the Air Chief and he told the officer, ‘Sir, please don’t disturb him. He is so very exhausted and needs rest.’ The officer was convinced and told him to let him know if there was any problem and walked away. I stole back into the ward the next morning and quietly slipped into my bed.’


    It seems that even in the army, examination scared every one. Basi Menon says, ‘Ashish Mitra of G batch could do anything to avoid sitting for examinations. Poor thing, it was not his fault. He had accidently cleared the entrance examination since he had such a photographic memory. But he wasn’t a doctor material. He would have done really well in journalism or some similar field. He was petrified when the first semester exams were announced. He decided to get a fever by putting onions in his armpit for a day or two. He developed the fever and tried to get admitted into the ward. But most of the officers knew what the game was and saw through him. Later on he dropped out of AFMC and now he is an orthopaedic surgeon in the US.
    Ragging was a well known fact in AFMC. The ‘freshers’ as the first years were called were made to do all sorts of tasks by their seniors; most of them were fun and helped them to bond well with their peers. Admiral Sudeep Naidu recounts, ‘I managed to do everything wrong on my first day in AFMC! Chucked out of the house by a mother, paranoid about late running trains, I arrived 2 days before the last check in date, enjoying the undivided attention of the whole college, bar one portly character who had beaten me to it. I also managed to draw considerable attention to myself by driving up to the hostel office in an army jeep arranged through a friend of a friend by the same paranoid mother. Two suitcases, one trunk, one holdall and my pride and joy – A burgundy red BSA SLR with white sidewall tyres and handles bent down into Lance Armstrong territories.


    I got down from the jeep, surveyed the motley crowd standing at the warden’s office and asked where I should report. A guy with cut-off jeans and a banian with more ventilation than originally intended, sauntered up to me and speaking clipped English asked me who I was. I introduced myself with pride and by the time I was finished, he was well versed with my ancestry. By this time, I noticed that he also had a hairstyle reminiscent of the then ‘angry young man’ and had the mannerisms, down to the sulky look and baritone drawl. I enquired as to who, he was, and was informed that he was a waiter in something called B Mess. My impression of the college straight away zoomed! Waiters speaking English and looking like Amitabh Bachhan! I had also arrived from Hyderabad wearing what I thought was the epitome of fashion – brown trousers with flares at the bottom – bell-bottoms! (Apparently, the new fashion of narrow trousers had not yet reached Hyderabad) Not only was I was soon rushing to the tailor near the cycle shop for alterations, but also, sitting with a blade ripping of back pocket labels like Playboy, Newman, and Dragon etc, from my trousers.
    I met another fresher who had already been initiated into all the nuances of behaving as a penguin and was soon educating me. In fact he was teaching me what “third button” was, when some seniors saw us and presuming that a fresher was ragging another fresher, subjected him to a lot of sit-ups and push-ups ! We were then duly marched off to 4Top, where we had been granted an audience with a character who was casually doing pull –ups while hanging from the top floor balcony – on the outside! I politely declined when he offered to teach me how to overcome the fear of heights and instead took the option of going in for the zero cut. This character also insisted that I retain one side of what he called “fungus” on the upper lip and this strange look acted as an incentive for other seniors to have me front roll and visit exotic hill stations in each room. Thankfully, after a round of Shimla, Mt Abu and Darjeeling we reached the at the warden’s office and I was allotted 5 Top 4. The dean had briefed the various sports options available to the new candidates and I was soon on the track, racing against a P batcher for a place in the relay team. The sports guys looked out for us freshers and there was a dictum that the sports field was exempt from any type of ragging.’

                                                          ..To be continued

    This article by Shailaza Singh appeared in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on May 7, 2024

  • “Meena-Maut Mubarak Ho!”

    They were successful, beautiful and had the world at their feet. Yet they lived lonely, sad lives and died even lonelier deaths. Is it that when a woman gets fame, wealth and power, she also gets the curse of loneliness and bad relationships? Why can’t a woman have it all? Why did Nargis Dutt congratulate Meena Kumari on her death in a letter that was published in an Urdu magazine called Shama and collated in a book titled “Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai” by Yasir Abbasi?

    Nargis wrote”
    “-Happy Birthday
    -Wishes for your wedding
    -Happy Diwali
    -Eid Mubarak

    I have often offered as well as received these wishes on numerous occasions.
    But…
    “Congratulations on your death”
    I have neither heard or said this earlier.
    Meena, today your baaji (elder sister) congratulates you on your death and asks you to never step into this world again. This place is not meant for people like you.

    Meena Kumari


    I gave Madhubala her last bath; the hands that placed the shroud on her were mine. I was holding his hand when filmmaker S.U. Sunny breathed his last. I have seen many people- from the film world and otherwise-pass away before my eyes, but no instance can match the profound effect that Meena Kumari’s death had on me. I was intensely moved despite the fact that I wasn’t present with her during her last moments-neither did I give her the customary final bath, nor did I put the shroud on her body-and I couldn’t see her depart on her final journey. I was in Jammu on the day that Meen Kumari died. Somehow, I was restless since I woke up that day and bad thoughts kept crossing my mind. It seemed as if something terrible was about to happen, and indeed it did-a tragedy so huge that I will never be able to forget.


    After arriving in Bombay, I went to the graveyard where she was buried. I cried more at her grave than I did at the death of my mother. I could gain composure only when my ears could almost hear Meena ask me to stop crying.
    One day I received a call from my husband who was away in Madras shooting for Main Chup Rahungi . Since it was going to be a long schedule, he asked me to come over with the kids. I reached Madras with Sanjay, who was two and a half years old then, and Namrata who was barely two months old. We stayed at Hotel Oceanic and Meena’s room was close to ours. Accompanying Meena was her sister Madhu and Baqar Ali. We met for the second time here. She greeted me as soon as she saw me and said, “I have great regard for you and I hope you won’t mind if I call you ‘baaji’. An instant friendship developed between us.
    Once, Dutt sahib wanted to go out for Chinese food and an invitation was extended to Meena too but she said that she was tired after the day’s work and had already eaten early. She also offered to take care of the kids while we were away.
    When we returned at 11 o’ clock, the kids’ nanny informed us that both the children were still with her. Entering her room quietly, I saw both of them asleep on either side of Meena, who has gently placed a hand each on Sanjay and Namrata. The nanny told us that Meena had duly tended to all the duties-from taking Sanjay to the toilet to changing Namrata’s nappies and from preparing their feeding bottles to singing them loris, she did it all on her own.
    I could see the glow and contentment on her face. I felt that it was indeed a misfortune that though she was a woman and also a wife, she wasn’t a mother yet, and how complete her life would be once she’d become a mother.
    I couldn’t meet her the next day. We didn’t meet for several days after that but one night I saw her walking in the garden of the hotel. She was panting and when I asked her the reason, she said, “Baaji, I eat tobacco and sometimes that results in palpitations.”
    “Meena, this is not due to tobacco,” I told her. “You look very tired. Why don’t you rest for a while?”
    “Baaji, resting is not in my destiny. I will rest just one time.” Her eyes turned to the ground as she said that.
    I asked her, “Meena, don’t you want to be a mother? Don’t you feel like having kids?”
    She replied, “There is no woman who doesn’t want to be a mother.” Her eyes welled up- the tears perhaps conveyed the story of her life.
    That night there was some noise in Meena’s room- sounds suggestive of violence. Next day we came to know that she wasn’t feeling well and would not report for work.
    I caught hold of Kamal saheb’s secretary Baqar and spoke to him in direct terms, “Why do you want to kill Meena? She has worked enough for your sake. I know how an actress feels and how mentally exhausting things can get. For how long is she going to feed you?”
    Baqar saheb replied, “Baby, why don’t you understand? When the right time comes, we will rest her.”

    Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari


    After that I saw Meena hiding herself to cry. Just a look at her eyes and one could sense that the tears would roll out any moment, but she never let that happen. I said to her, “I can understand your pain. You have to be brave and crying like this is of no use. You’re like a younger sister to me and henceforth I’ll call you ‘Manju’.”
    We couldn’t meet for a long time once were back in Bombay, though one kept hearing stories about her. One day, I heard that she had walked out of Kamal saheb’s home and had started living in Mehmood’s house. Meena had a showdown with Baqar on the sets of Pinjre ke Panchhi and matters got so turbulent that she did not step into Kamal Saheb’s house again. I never broached this subject with her.

    Kamal Amrohi with Meena Kumari


    Soon enough, the excessive consumption of alcohol had weakened her liver and she was down with jaundice. When I visited her at Saint Elizabeth Nursing Home, I was careful that I didn’t mention anything that could embarrass her or hurt her. Referring to the yellow tinge on her skin, I said, “This shade of yellow is so pretty. Manju, you are free but of what use is such freedom when you are bent upon killing yourself?”
    She replied, “Baaji, my patience has a limit. How dare Kamal saheb’s secretary raise his hand on me? When I got the incident communicated to Kamal saheb, I thought he’d come running and immediately fire Baqar, but he said, ‘Come home and I will decide things here.’ What was there for him to decide? Now it’s me who has decided to not go back to him.”

    Dharmendra and Meena Kumari


    Then, a new person entered Meena’s life- Dharmendra. She was so happy- it was almost as if she had got hold of the entire wealth of the world. This was the most beautiful phase of her life and made her feel thoroughly blessed. However, the good times are short-lived as a misunderstanding resulted in the two of them drifting apart. Dharmendra walked out of her life and left her heart-broken. Shen couldn’t cope up with the loss and hit the bottle.
    She would say, “Baaji, solitude is my destiny. I do not pity myself and neither should you.”
    Slowly, Meena started to inch towards death. I couldn’t bear to see her like this and advised her to forget the past and begin her life afresh.
    I got a call from Meena on 3rd February -the day of the premiere of Pakeezah.
    “Baaji, the film that you got me to work on is being premiered today. You have to come.”
    When I reached there, she stood up and embraced me. I had to leave after the interval because my husband was down with fever that day. I promised Meena that I would tell her my opinion on the film once I saw it in its entirety. I don’t know if that will ever happen- I haven’t been able to gather courage to watch that film since. I can’t even bear to listen to the songs of Pakeezah on the radio now, how can I pull my self together to view the film?
    How Meena resumed work on Pakeezah is a story in itself. Kamal saheb wished to have Dutt saheb in the film and wanted to sign some other actress for Meena’s role. Dutt saheb mentioned to me if Pakeezah was made without her, the film would lose its allure. I met Meena and told her, “Manju, if this film remains incomplete then it will be a great calamity. Tired of waiting for you to come back, Kamal saheb has now started looking for another actress. If you agree, I can talk to him and facilitate your return.” She just said, “I’ll do as you say.”
    I couldn’t go to her during the next few days. Then, I left for Delhi and to Pathankot and Jammu from there. Before leaving, I passed on a message informing her about my travel and that I’d meet her after I come back on 1st April. She asked her sister Madhu to tell me that she wouldn’t be around when I return. Madhu did not convey that to me. Had she done so, I would’ve never left Meena.
    Not too long before we last met, there was a preview of her film Gomti ke Kinare at the mini-theatre in our house. The story of the film was the story of Meena’s life as well. Though she bore pain and hurt herself for others, no one could realize her worth. Left with no one who could lover her back or who she could call her own, she lost the will to live. A woman doesn’t need a friend-she yearns for a family. There was a void in her life that never got filled. No one really cared for her-all were like indifferent strangers. She wandered around looking for a drop of love but her thirst for it remained unquenched. She writhed in torment, lived a lonely life and eventually died a lonely death.”

    Nargis and Meena Kumari


    -(Meena -Maut Mubarak Ho!,published in Shama- June 1972)
    (Excerpts from “Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai” by Yasir Abbasi)

    To be continued…

    This article by Shailaza Singh was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on 19 April 2022

  • How I got rid of Oggy and his cockroaches

    A few years ago, like all children, my daughter had fallen in love with cartoons on Cartoon Network. She used to watch all kinds of programs including Tom and Jerry, Shiva, Chota Bheem and the cringe worthy Oggy and the cockroaches. As it is, for me the very word ‘cockroach’ is enough to induce a sleepless night, the three cockroaches made it worse! My daughter sat spell bound as the cockroaches and Oggy kept battling it out in Oggy’s refrigerator and at times literally tore the kitchen apart in pursuit of vengeance! The icing on the cake was that the voice-over artist sometimes mimicked voice of Shahrukh Khan, sometimes Nana Patekar, Sunil Shetty and other such then popular actors. After some months, I was so fed up that I asked my friends to help me. One of my friends downloaded and shared a Japanese Anime ‘Spirited Away’. At that time, there was no Netflix or other OTT, so we had to make ado with the subtitles. I showed the movie to my daughter and she loved it! And that was the reason enough to discontinue the cable service.

    It has been a decade since I and my daughter introduced ourselves to subtitles and movies from different countries and languages. Earlier, we downloaded these from different sites like YouTube and torrents which offer ‘free’ movies. Initially, I was quite scared that some kind of Internet police might come and catch me for going on torrents and other such sites. I had prepared a list of counter arguments and kept it in my bedside cabinet for such emergencies and foreseen circumstances. Some reasons given in the list were:

    1. Downloading movies with subtitles is better than letting the children watch serials produced by Ekta Kapoor or other such people. Though the children are intrigued by the idea of saas-bahu politics (children are born politicians) and repeated plastic surgery (they love the idea that they can hide behind a new face if they do something wrong) and multiple divorces and remarriages (my daughter was simply hooked on to the idea that for each marriage she will get at least three to four new dresses with matching dress and jewellery!)
    2. Watching other movies with subtitles is actually education! One of my friends told me that her son who goes off to sleep in the English class at school actually learnt reading by watching movies with subtitles. He loved Hollywood action movies like Rambo and would actually read the subtitles to understand what actors like Sylvester Stallone were saying (most of them actually mutter under their breath). With time, his English literature teacher was actually impressed with his ability to read in the language!

    However, my list of reasons kept lying in the cabinet because no one ever came! So, we read the subtitles and we watched movies. An old friend was curious about why did I go through so much trouble for movies with subtitles when most English movies either had Hindi subtitles or were dubbed in Hindi. It was then I told her about my experience with the well-known movie Jurassic Park’s dubbed Hindi version. In that movie, there is a scene where the female protagonist says ‘I want to see the dinosaur’s shit.’ This dialogue was translated into ‘mujhe dinosaur ka gobar dekhne hai.’ I am not arguing whether it was the correct translation or not but from that point onwards, I steered clear of dubbed movies!

     I also bought a lot of CDs and DVDs of good movies that I believed would help her to inculcate some good values. Some came with subtitles while others did not. We kept our CDs very carefully lest they get scratch marks because then the CD would not either play certain segments or would simply get jammed . We also did not jump tracks because that again could lead to scratches and bad unplayable sectors. The CDs could only either be played on our computers or television sets which meant sitting in the living room, switching on the television or the laptop, inserting the CD and then waiting for it to play. When my daughter complained that it was a cumbersome process, I told her stories of the VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) in which we had to insert this huge video cassette, rewind it and then play. She rolled her eyes. She said that idea was unimaginably old fashioned and preposterous!

    New entries

    Then Netflix breezed into our lives. I deleted all my downloads and tore the long list of reasons. The CDs were forgotten in an old cupboard.  Even today, I don’t know what to do with my huge collection. I thought of turning them into plates and decorations but then a friend advised me to wait because according to him one day, these CDs and DVDs would be treasured as antiques and I would be able to make a lot of money by selling them! I am still waiting!

    With Netflix and later Amazon Prime and other such OTT platforms, my phone became my new cinema hall. I could walk into it anytime and watch the movie and the scene of my choice again and again- A far cry from the first time that I was introduced to cinema in Jaipur in my summer holidays!

    Back then, my maternal grandfather hated movies with a vengeance! He believed that movies did nothing except corrupt minds of young people. So, on the pretext of going to the vegetable market, my aunt masterminded the great escape and smuggled my grandmother, mother, my brother and me in a matador car and took us to the Rajmandir Theatre to watch the matinee show Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Sharabi’. She even paid a friend to shop for vegetables and fruits. When the movie finished, we went to Niros Restaurant, ate food, picked up the vegetables and fruits and went back home! Till date my grandfather is unaware of these little escapades!

    Today, with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hot Star, and other such platforms, my daughter and me huddle up in any corner of the house and watch these movies and series regardless of their language. Sometimes, we hook it up to the television and even binge watch with a bowl of fresh popcorn. We hardly realize that we are reading the subtitles. The interesting bit is that we keep discovering new things about distant lands. One day, my daughter told me that in Japan, people are not scared of haunted houses because they believe that each house has its own spirit. So, whenever they move in to a new house, they thank the spirit and ask him to take care of them and their family. This fact she got to know from a movie called “My neighbour Totoro”.

    Covid time pass

    The good part about these movies with subtitles is that one has to pay attention to understand what is going on. Hence most of times, in this era of COVID, online movie watching is quite engrossing! Not that we have achieved nirvana but cartoons have been replaced by a lot of meaningful content and thank fully Oggy and the cockroaches have been completely forgotten!

    However, the danger still looms large as I just discovered that Salman Khan has launched another no brainer ‘Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’ on OTT. While Oggy and the Cockroaches rile me with goofy no brainer conversations, a Salman Khan movie brings up questions like ‘why cannot Salman Khan protect India from COVID?’ or ‘If he is so strong, why cannot Salman Khan help in dealing with the pandemic?’ Wouldn’t it be great if these OTT platforms had questions to these answers in subtitles too?

    This article by Shailaza Singh was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper on 12 May 2021

  • The Unseen Jaipur through the Lens

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    The Unseen Jaipur through the Lens

    One lazy Sunday morning, about ten people found themselves walking through the streets of the walled city of Jaipur. It was an eclectic mix of some teenagers, professionals in age groups ranging from 30s to 50s. Some held very serious looking cameras while the others were clicking pictures with their mobile phones. It was the second and the final day of the visual story telling workshop which was being conducted by Tabeenah Anjum Qureshi, a seasoned journalist and photographer with Outlook India. Though the older people tried to play it cool, they couldn’t help getting infected by the raw enthusiasm of the teenagers who kept clicking with their phones and cameras. The resulting photographs revealed unseen but beautiful facets of Jaipur, those which could only be discovered by an untrained eye.

  • No Pandemic Only Play

    The doors have opened. People refuse to be confined to their homes despite the much feared return of the pandemic and its horrors. Amidst the social distancing and face masks, audience at Ravindra Manch were more than ready to watch the new play ‘Rashmirathi’ and get spellbound by theatre once again!

    When I received the invite to Ram Dhari Singh Dinkar’s classic Hindi epic poem Rashmirathi which was being directed by Abhishek Mudgal, I was apprehensive yet excited. Like everyone else, I have been reading about the return of COVID and increasing in the number of cases. However, the chance was too good to miss. After a year of overdose of stay-at-home shows and movies on Netflix and other OTT platforms, I was craving for something different.
    When I reached Ravindra Manch, where the play was being held, I saw no crowds outside. This made me think that perhaps, the people weren’t ready to come out yet. The play had already started when I went in. I looked around expecting to see a nearly empty hall. However, almost all the seats were occupied! Everyone was staring raptly at the stage where the actors were performing. I sat down and looked at the gentleman sitting in the adjacent seat. He was so busy watching the performance that he did not even look up to acknowledge that a new person had sat next to him.
    I turned my attention to the stage where the actors where performing.
    In the current scene, Vasudev Krishna had come to Hastinapur as the ambassador of peace. After a while, the scene shifted to Karna’s conversation with Krishna who tells him that he is actually Kunti’s son and Pandavas’ eldest brother. Karna breaks down and tells Krishna that he cannot deceive his friend Duryodhana. Interestingly, there were no props on the stage. The male actors were bare chested and wore a simple dhoti while the female actors wore short white kurtas and dhotis.
    As Karna broke down and lamented his misfortune, the crowd was so moved that the hall resounded with the applause. Some even wiped the lone tear too! As I watched the play, I couldn’t help but sympathize with Karna, the man who was blessed by Gods but cursed by destiny. Whether it was sitting patiently despite the large insect gorging on his flesh so that his guru Parshuram could get the much-deserved rest or assuring Kunti, the mother who had abandoned him that he will not harm any of her sons except Arjun, Karna was a man who tried to do the right thing. However, the universe always conspired against him.
    The background music and acting ensured that the two hundred and fifty plus audience did not get up from their seats.
    Simple Impact
    Intrigued by the simple yet appealing presentation of the play, I quizzed Abhishek Mudgal. He said ‘This is a very long play which is divided into seven chapters. When I read it, I realized that if we clubbed it with costumes and sets, it would take the attention away from the very essence of the play which are dialogues and verse. So, we decided to keep the props symbolic and suggestive and I told the actors to concentrate on their dialogue delivery.
    Reception
    Abhishek was quite upbeat about the reception in Jaipur. ‘This was the fifth performance and we’ve had 100 plus people in all our other performances. The play will now be performed in places like Bikaner, Jodhpur and Allahabad.’
    Tryst with Rashmirathi
    Rashmirathi was not as popular and hence became the obvious choice. ‘I have done different kinds of plays, including absurd plays, folk plays etc. During the pandemic we experimented on various genres like folk theatre, absurd theatre and realism. I had not attempted classical theatre. Between Dharmavir Bharti’s Andhayug and Rashmirathi, the latter was a better choice because Andhayug has been performed a number of times.’
    Mahabharat’s Nepotism
    ‘The world today is no less different than what it was in the age of Mahabharat. Even today, if a person is talented and good at what he does but does not have the right level or contacts or caste or values, he does not find acceptance and struggles to make a place for himself. It takes time for any new actor despite his talent to actually find acceptance amongst the colleagues or audience. So, these things have been here since the era of Mahabharat. Karna was talented and according to some even better than Arjun. However, had it not been for Duryodhana, nobody would have recognized Karna for his talent. It was Duryodhana who elevated his status, made him a king and gave him a platform to showcase his talent to the world. Arjun could not kill Karna in an equal duel, so he killed him when he was trying to fix his chariot’s wheel. Karna was the reason why Duryodhana was prepared to fight the war because he depended on Karna’s prowess as a great warrior. We have always been told that the great war in Mahabharat was fought on Arjun’s merit. However, Dinkar’s book suggests that Karna was the reason why Duryodhana chose to fight in the first place.’
    Preparation
    ‘The first rehearsals began on 5 September 2020 and the first show was performed on 8 November. So, it took us two months to prepare for the first show. During the initial twenty days, we spent in learning the Hindi words and their meanings because the play is written in pure Hindi. We spent a lot of time learning the meaning of every word. After that we learnt the dialogues and started rehearsing. The first show lasted three hours. We edited it further and in the fifth show we could limit it to two hours. We still have to edit it further to make it crisper.’
    Discovering Hindi
    For Abhishek, reading Rashmirathi was like discovering a new universe of Hindi language. ‘This book made me realize the true depth of our literature and the kind of words that exist in our language. I wished I had read Rashmirathi earlier. While reading this play, I discovered so many new things about Hindi. I believe the younger generations should be exposed to these kinds of books and plays to truly understand the language. These days, we don’t even read many such masterpieces of Hindi literature that have been written by authors of the yore.’
    Language no bar
    Abhishek believes that the language does not matter when it comes to plays. ‘In my years as a play director, I have realized that language does not hinder anyone from watching theatre. When we were performing some of our Rajasthani, Hindi or Urdu plays in the southern states of India, I was surprised to see a large number of audiences turn up for even ticketed plays that were in Hindi or Urdu. It was that which made me realize that that as long as the audience understands the body language, moves, theme of the play, they enjoy the play even if they don’t understand the language. They don’t need any translation. I remember there was a Manipuri play which was performed in Jaipur. I along with more than 800 people had attended the show. We had not understood the language but could understand everything else that was going on in the play.’
    Pandemic plays
    The reception of Rashmirathi has buoyed his spirits. ‘Before the pandemic, most of my plays were being sold out. Now we have a lesser audience but I am glad that despite the pandemic scare people are still turning up to watch these plays. The truth is that we love live art because interacting with others, sharing thoughts and ideas is our very life blood. We as people cannot stay without it! So, yes we are slowly getting back and theater is coming back in a big way.’
    The play was potent and moving. Yet, more moving was the realization that people will now no longer let COVID govern their lives. Yes, there were masks, there was social distancing and amidst all this, the play happened! After a year of drought and remaining indoors, the hungry spectators feasted on it with their eyes with no holds barred.

    This article was published in Rashtradoot’s Arbit on 28 March 2021.

  • What’s Cooking? Science in the great Indian kitchen!

    What’s Cooking? Science in the great Indian kitchen!

    What happens when a software engineer enters the Great Indian Kitchen which has been the undisputed domain of women for centuries? Nothing much except that the engineer in him starts tinkering with all the ingredients, process and unravels the mystery of the Indian cooking!

    A free wheeling conversation with Krish Ashok, the author of ‘Masala Lab’ a book that says that cooking is really an every day science in action!
    Even today, guys are seldom into cooking. Some of them consider boiling Maggi noodles as their lifetime achievement. Now, it seems many men are getting more interested in cooking. Do you think this is a revolution of sorts? How do people react to the idea of a man cooking at home!
    Things are really changing at least in urban India more than rural India. Infact they are changing more than in South than in other parts of India. It is not as odd in South India to find a couple sharing cooking duties and chores at home. However, in a larger sense this is clearly changing in other parts of India. The pandemic has also forced some of this change, especially for young men living by themselves. Beyond a point, just ordering from Swiggy is not a solution. I think the lockdown and the fact that there were really times where you could not order food home forced people to say ‘I have to learn to cook’. Regardless of whether it was a two-month period or not, it did force people to really think of cooking as a basic skill. However, when it comes to men, there is no dearth of male professional chefs.

    In fact, a vast majority of men are professional chefs. Again, this has to do with gender bias in the sense that women were not allowed to go down the professional route. They were supposed to cook at home, within the four walls of the kitchen.
    So, it is not surprising that I get a lot of attention simply because I am a guy who is writing about home cooking and not restaurant cooking. But I do think things are changing for the better. In fact, as much as men are changing, young women of this generation are also clearly not accepting this kind of a behaviour. Today, they are openly saying that certain rules cannot be gendered and cooking is one of them. Just like taking care of a child beyond a point cannot be gendered. Otherwise, it places an unreasonable number of restrictions and challenges for women aspiring in a professional career since they have to balance everything including their career. Things are changing but these are still very early days since we are a big country. Even in my family, even today, a vast majority of men do not cook. The older ladies in my family really get awed if a guy can boil noodles or make tea but won’t bother to appreciate a woman cooking a fantastic dish because as per them, women are meant to do that. However, I think that after a couple of generations, things will really change.


    Do you think cooking is a life skill?
    Absolutely! In our world, there is climate change happening, there is an increasing awareness about sustainability practices regarding food. So, hence understanding what you eat and where it comes from has become essential. If you go by what’s currently happening with the farmer protests and the other problems of the world, I think the public knowledge of not what just you are eating but also of how it comes is also all the more important. I am not saying everyone needs to learn how to grow their own crops but at least they need to understand where something like bread comes from. They need to understand what is local. The fact of the matter is that there are reasons why certain ingredients are used in certain parts of India. They could be used because they are local, they grow in those climatic conditions and they will not deplete the resources of that area. But these days things are changing just for making money. For example, we have sabudana being grown in Salem in Tamil Nadu, where no body eats sabudana. All of it is exported to places like Gujrat and Maharashtra. You have basmati rice being grown in Punjab, which is not a rice eating part of the world at all. This is tremendous drain on the resources. I think we need to encourage a greater awareness about being more mindful and having an understanding about what you are putting in your body. At the end of the day food is the only foreign object you put in your body; that too willingly and twice or thrice a day! So, it is important that you pay attention to it. Cooking is an essential life skill because at the end of the day, the business of restaurants or the commercial supply chain or processed food industry is not sustainable because it has high carbon footprint and does not use local ingredients. It is salty, sugary and uses tons of preservatives to make food tasty and addictive. Let’s face it that at the end of the day, they have a business to run!


    How would you convince the parents who believe that it is not a man’s job to cook to allow their boys to learn cooking?
    Cooking is the basic of science. In schools, I think we should have a cooking lab next to all those sciences laboratories. In fact, my editor (who was from humanities background) said that if the science is anything harder than class VIII or IX, this book won’t sell. So, she told me to explain all the science behind processes like heating the oil, browning the onions or making curd in simple words. The book is doing so well that I am actually now getting requests from schools. In fact, I am going to be soon doing a demonstration in my son’s school (who is in class 3), along with the physics, chemistry and biology teachers. It is one thing to read about things like structure of a grain or its epidermis and another thing to see it in action in a wheat or a rice grain in a cooking laboratory. You could explain albumin or yolk in an egg, structure of a muscle or anything using the kitchen as a laboratory. So, all I have to say is that beakers and test tubes are all okay but seventy percent of the science practicals in a high school syllabus can happen in a kitchen because that is the place where biology, chemistry and physics intersect. You can explain thermodynamics of heat, you can explain basic chemical reactions, salt, acid, bases. You can explain the defence mechanisms of plants through spices! So, if we help parents of all those boys to understand that kitchen is the basis for their child’s education, then no one will have a problem in letting their boys learn cooking.
    These days many children don’t like to participate in household chores! What can be done?
    One thing that I have learnt from the west is that their relationships are about love but they are also transaction and negotiation based. The parents tell their children that they will give them the money but they need to do the chores first. They can play the videogames but they need to also do the laundry or clean up the kitchen. I think it is important that children should take part and participate in the household chores. Like my son has to put the clothes in washing machine and wash them. It is easy. He simply puts them and presses the right buttons. You need to ensure that your children do their bit in the household chores but these chores should not decide on the basis of gender. These days people send their daughter for helping with the car repair and son to help with the kitchen work.
    But if every one will learn all the secrets of cooking, how will a woman reach a man’s heart? After all, the way is only through the stomach!

    With all the apologies, if the only way to man’s heart is through the stomach then the man might as well learn cooking!

    This article appeared in Rashtradoot’s Arbit section on March 1, 2021.

  • Gulabo Sapera: The Girl Who Survived and Danced

    The mesmerizing dance of the Kalbeliya community has become famous all over the world. But, about 50 years ago, this community of snake charmers could never have thought in their wildest dreams that their daughters would dance and popularize this folk art. This phenomenon can only be attributed to Padamshree Gulabo Sapera- a woman who refused to stop dancing and living!

    The sand dunes of Rajasthan have been a silent witness to the changing times. They have been mute spectators of a time when thousands of new born girls were buried alive in their sands and died without a whimper. But then they have also witnessed the miracle of Gulabo Sapera, a girl who was buried in their folds minutes after she was born and lived to tell the tale.
    Today, the world knows her as Gulabo Sapera, but she was christened Dhanvantari after the Hindu god of medicine and nectar, after she was found alive despite being buried in the sand dunes. She belongs to the tribe of Kalbeliyas who are known for their ability to catch and tame snakes.
    Gulabo reveals, ‘We are gypsy people who live in the jungle, catch snakes and make them dance to earn money. Our people used to go from door to door asking people to feed the snakes milk and collect dakshina. In the old days, most girls were killed as soon as they were born because most of our tribe lived in the forests. There was an unwritten rule that no family could have a lot of girls in their house. If they wanted they could keep a single girl child but not more because abduction of girls was quite common in those days. Then, we were quite poor and most families don’t have enough money to ensure that their daughters along with the sons can be fed, clothed and protected or pay dowry in their marriage. When they had to marry their boys, they used to get girls from the chhabri community (basket weavers) by paying the bride price and marry them. These girls were brought from their families at a very young age. A lot of women in my family have been married like this.’
    The famous model and actor Milind Soman may have married Ankita Konwar, a girl who is 25 years younger to him but this trend is not new to Rajasthan. Gulabo says, ‘My father is 25 years older to my mother. Infact, my father was taking care of my grandmother when she gave birth to my mother. He travelled 10 kilometers, went to the village and got the things required for the delivery for her. So, my grandfather proclaimed that this newborn girl would not be killed and will marry his son once she grows up.’
    Having witnessed female infanticide in such close quarters within his family, Gulabo’s father was quite against it. ‘He wanted that men from our community should marry the girls from their own community instead of getting girls from other communities by paying the bride price. He believed that girls of his own community were far more beautiful and talented. He worshipped Goddess Chamunda and was dead against female infanticide.’
    Gulabo’s three elder sisters were protected by her father when they were born. ‘The people of our community were quite upset about the fact that my father did not allow any one to kill his daughters. I was the seventh, child, born after three sisters and three brothers. I was born on Dhanteras. My father had gone to buy some goods for the festival of Diwali. My mother slept out of exhaustion after the delivery. So, seizing the opportunity, the midwife who had come for my delivery, along with my five year old brother took me and buried me in the sands. When my mother woke up and demanded to see her new born, she was told that the baby had been buried. She insisted on visiting the place where I was buried and dug me up. Some how, I was alive despite being buried in the sands for more than five hours! As a result, I was named Dhanvantari after the gods of medicine and nectar.’
    However, her struggles were far from over. The next morning the village panchayat admonished her parents for saving their daughter after she was buried in the sands. Gulabo reveals, ‘My father received a lot of flak from the village panchayat. In their eyes, it was a sort of rebellion. But my father said that since I was found alive even after five hours of being buried in the sand, I was no longer his daughter but the daughter of the Earth Goddess! He told them to spare me and punish him in case they deemed fit. At that time, my father saved me from being killed. However, people were not happy seeing me alive. My father ensured that I did not stay in the village but travelled with him for his performances.’
    It was this travelling that helped Gulabo learn dance from the snakes. ‘I used to watch those snakes dance and I imitated them. Slowly and steadily, as I grew up, I learnt to dance like the snakes on the music of the been. After a while, I started dancing with the snakes wrapped around me. People started liking my dance and gave money to watch me dance. However, people of my community again objected that how could my parents allow me to dance and earn money? This continued but I did not stop dancing and people continued appreciate it. They started calling me Gulabo. When I was eight years old, I was dancing at the Pushkar Fair on a sand dune when I was discovered by the people from the tourism department of Rajasthan.’
    But her struggles weren’t over yet. ‘There was again a huge hue and cry in my community after I started performing in dance shows. But I paid no heed to them because now I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I was scheduled to travel to America for my first dance show when my father passed away on the eve of my departure. The people of the community said all sorts of things to me, they blamed me for my father’s death. They wouldn’t let me go. However, I begged them to let me go because I knew my father was my biggest supporter and he wouldn’t have stopped me from taking on such a big opportunity.’
    It was only when her name started figuring in newspapers and other journals that people of her own community started realizing her true worth. ‘When I came back from America, people of my village were awed at my popularity. Many of them told me that the people from other communities invited them to their homes and honoured them because they were related to me. They, who were treated with nothing but contempt had never witnessed such a change of heart or received such respect from the villagers.’
    As Gulabo’s fame grew and her art was revered in 153 countries across the world, the people of her community started viewing their own daughters in a different light and realized their potential. The infanticide which was so rampant earlier started declining as the daughters were finally allowed to live and dance. ‘They said that they wanted their daughters to emulate my success and help them to live better in the world. Today, girls are no longer killed in my community. In fact, they learn dance and earn for their families. Some girls manage to educate themselves. My husband supports me. We have five children, two boys and three girls. My girls love to dance. All my children are educated and have studied in English medium school. We will soon open a school for these girls where they will be educated and will also learn dance.’
    However, despite her success Gulabo feels that girls are still not viewed as equals in many segments of the society. ‘Girls still need to be careful lest they give the wrong signals. My parents always advised me to be conscious of my step in the public. They told me to always be alert and understand the body language of the people I talk to. The girls have to remain strong.’
    Gulabo’s journey is as legendary as this dancer herself. She has not only been an inspiration to the people of her community but has also helped people to realize the true value of girls!

    This article was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on February 25, 2021.

  • Virtually Yours- Jaipur Literature Festival 2021

    Will the virtual version of Jaipur Literature Festival be able to enchant its audiences like its real counterpart? In this post pandemic era, will the readers be able to digest this literary reality?

    On my way to the Diggi Palace Hotel, scenes from the last year’s Jaipur Literature Festival flashed across my mind’s eye. People carrying books in their hands, their bags bulging with books. Hundreds of people queueing in front of the kiosks, eager to get their books signed by their favourite author. There were some who had positioned themselves next to their favourite spot for the next session and were patiently waiting for the next session to begin. Elsewhere, many die-hard foodies were sampling the exotic dishes that had been painstakingly prepared by the chefs of Diggi Palace Hotel. Some die-hard fans were deep in conversation with their favourite author over a cup of tea or coffee! The green of the lawns of the sprawling palace were hardly visible amidst the colourful tents that were erected and the audience that occupied those lawns for the author sessions and discussions.

    As I entered the gates of Diggi Palace, my reverie was broken by the cry of a peacock. I looked at the empty lawns and the peacocks who were walking across them as if they owned the place. And then the reality that I had refused to accept struck me! Jaipur Literature Festival would be an online affair in 2021. I walked to a corridor where Sanjoy K Roy, the managing director of Team Work Arts, the company which produces the festival was talking to a handful of people. They were waiting for B.D. Kalla, the art and culture minister, who was to officially inaugurate the Jaipur Literature Festival 2021 which is being held from 19 February 2021 to 28 February 2021. When I asked him for his views on the online change forced by COVID, he was quite upbeat about it, ‘Yes, this time people all over the world have registered for the festival. When the festival was held here, hardly any people from Germany could come. But now, we have so many people registering from different countries like Germany, Saudi Arabia and all across the world. The reach of the festival has become global in the true sense of the word.’

    I remembered the bygone times, where the tourists and the people living in Jaipur would plan to spend their entire day at the Diggi Palace Hotel. Once they entered the venue, the visitors did nothing else except listen to author sessions or explore the various delights the festival had to offer. Some of them would even get their durries to have impromptu picnics in a corner of one of these lawns. Would the online version be able to captivate the audience in the same way? Would this online audience have as much dedication and staying power as the audience in the physical version of the festival?

    ‘We do hope it would,’ said Sanjoy K Roy. ‘To engage our virtual audience, we have curated a great line up of authors and speakers who would talk about a variety of topics ranging from books, nationalism, pandemic and more. This time, instead of having multiple sessions at the same time (in the physical versions, there were different sessions conducted by different authors in four different venues at any one given time), we will only have two sessions at the same time, so that the people don’t have to worry about missing out these sessions.’ Going forward, once the physical version of the festival is restored, will they still continue with the online version too or is it just for this time? ‘Definitely,’ said Sanjoy K Roy, ‘the online version will now be an integral part of JLF since it has definitely helped us to expand our reach and increase our audience across the globe.’

    But would the viewers spend their entire time listening to the sessions as raptly as they did in the physical version? Sanjoy K Roy shrugged his shoulders, ‘May be not the entire time but from our experience during the pandemic time, I can say that the average viewing time was about 18 minutes per viewer which is more than the average of 7 to 8 minutes on OTT platforms. Moreover, while we could only accommodate a maximum of 15,000 people in the front lawn in the physical version of the festival, in the digital version we have received an average of 32,000 views per session, which is way higher.’

    Our conversation was interrupted by the entry B.D. Kalla, minster for Art and Culture, Rajasthan who had come to virtually inaugurate the festival. I watched as Sanjoy K Roy greeted the minister and then took him to light the lamp to signal the commencement of the festival. One could actually see the effect that the pandemic has had on the world as people wondered whether to light the lamp with or without wearing the masks. Ultimately, they decided to film both the versions and take the decision later. Last year, there was a crowd present to witness this inauguration, this year there were only peacocks and a handful of people.

    When he was done with the ceremony, I asked Sanjoy K Roy about the controversy surrounding the venue of the festival- Diggi Palace Hotel. Weren’t there articles and rumours about Diggi Palace Hotel no longer being the venue of JLF? And if that was the case, what was the future of JLF in 2022? ‘As of now, I am glad that thanks to the pandemic, the venue has not changed and I hope that will remain the case in the next year.’ What if the venue is changed? Where would the festival be held? ‘It is too early to comment on this but yes one thing is for sure that JLF will not go out of Jaipur.’

    During the 13 years of its physical presence in Jaipur, JLF was not just an event that people looked forward to. It had become an important source of tourism and income for hotels, tourist guides, autos, busses and many street vendors who waited for the festival to earn their yearly income. The festival may have survived by donning an online avatar, but what would those people do this year? Sanjoy K Roy smiled sadly, ‘What can I say? It has been the case everywhere. The pandemic has impacted every one including us. Just this morning as I was coming here, I met the guy who used to sell his wares outside the palace during the festival. He told me how difficult it was for him and his family to survive this year since there would be no tourists or festival to sell his wares. We are hoping that we are back to business as usual in 2022 so that people are able to compensate for their losses.’

    Ever since the onset of the pandemic, the world has been reeling with the deluge of online conferences, webinars, meetings and all sorts of virtual events. Many employees swear by their power naps and zoning off techniques to cope with the online information overload. It is indeed a challenge to sit glued to one’s chair and listen to the ever-droning colleagues and bosses without switching off.  Students all over the world have been earnestly hoping that they are able to physically attend their schools since online classes no longer hold their interest.  Some studies have suggested that it is difficult for human beings to concentrate on online events for an extended span of time. Moreover, most celebrities, authors and other speakers have their own channels in Instagram, Facebook and YouTube where they keep talking to their followers about their books, achievements and activities frequently.

    In such a scenario, will an event like the Jaipur Literature Festival be able to hold the attention of the netizens? In the real world, the authors sessions were punctuated by coffee breaks, question- answer sessions, a visit to the book store, author signings and interactions and many more such activities which cannot be replicated even in the most technologically advanced version of the online festival. The question is even if the festival has been created using the most curated list of authors and advanced technology, will it be able to satisfy the audience’s need for a face-to-face conversation with their favourite author or smelling the pages of a brand-new book in the book shop or getting it autographed by its author? Will this virtual version be able to replicate those moments and experiences? Will the audience learn to love this version as it loved the physical festival? Maybe or maybe not! Only the people and time will tell.

    This article by Shailaza Singh was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on 17 February 2021.

  • No Free Lunch!

    No Free Lunch!

    Book review by Shailaza Singh (published in Rashtradoot Newspaper on 22 January 2021)

    In their book, The World of Energy, Engine of Life, Raj Sharma and Vishnu Pareek analyse the entire spectrum of energy, from conventional sources to various alternative sources. The book also provides a perspective on energy policy over the years and explains the fundamentals of energy and all related aspects using clear and straightforward language.

    Book Title : The World of Energy, Engine of Life

    Authors : Prof. Raj Sharma is currently an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University’s WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering. Prof. Vishnu Pareek is currently serving as Head of the WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, and as Dean of Engineering at Curtin University.

    Publisher : Springer

    I loved studying science during my school days. During those times, there was a lot of talk about how fossil fuels like coal and petroleum are polluting the world. Chapters about these topics in our school books talked about how these fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable sources of energy like the wind or the sun or electricity. A lot of time has passed since then. However, despite the Gulf war and the excessive hue and cry about issues like pollution or global warming or ozone depletion, alternative sources of energy have really not been able to dominate the world at large. Yes, there are increased instances of people using solar panels or windmills or water or nuclear for generating electricity but they are few and far between as compared to the excessive dependence that the world has on fossil fuels. Despite the various advances in science and technology in the last two decades (internet, smart phones, other gadgets etc.), nothing much has been seen on the horizon for harnessing energy from the much-touted cleaner sources.

    This question has always been there on my mind but I could never get an answer to it. The topic of renewable energy sources, pollution and fossil fuels is a good option if you want to sound very smart and intelligent in social conversations but ultimately all those people just end up shaking their heads and shrugging with resignation when one asks them about the solution to this predicament. However, the question about renewable sources of energy has still remained unanswered despite the media’s hullabaloo about all these issues.

    So, when I picked up the book titled ‘The World of Energy- Engine of Life’ by Professor Raj Sharma and Professor Vishnu Pareek, I did not have any expectations. After all, after decades of discussion on this topic, the endless debate by the media, the protests by people who believe the world is going to end any day, what could this book which has been published by Springer say which had not been said before?

    Energetic Revelations about (US)

    As I was reading the book, a paragraph really caught my attention.

    “President Carter in his address from the Oval Office on July 15, 1979, said among other things:

    …. calling for the creation of this nation’s first solar bank which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20% of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000. Solar energy contribution to the energy pie in the US today (2018) is less than 1.0%- as against the target stated by President Carter of 20% by 2000!”

    The authors go on to say “US with 5% of the world’s population, uses about 20-25% of the world’s energy to lead the lifestyle that it does! One can only try and imagine what would happen if India and China with a third of the world’s population were to provide a similar lifestyle to their people.”

    So much for solar power! This is a fact from a country which is touted as a world leader in technology and lifestyle. Moreover, the book also talks about how most countries in the world believe that replicating the Western (US) model of development would be the ultimate sign of having arrived in the developed world but in reality, the model is quite unsustainable since the wastage of energy by the country is quite high.  The authors also bring out the stark contrasts between the energy consumptions of various nations versus their population. What captivated my attention was that today US and China (which is following the US pattern of development) collectively consume about 40% of the world’s energy despite having only 24% of the world’s population! The authors say that the development of China happened on the back of cheap, abundant and reliable energy which was readily available in the form of fossil fuels which fulfil about 87% of China’s energy need. Though India’s energy consumption is less than 6% of the world, 92 % of its energy needs are being met by fossil fuels!

    Another myth that this book dispels is “‘green energy’ is not really ‘green’ since it requires ‘black (fossil fuel) energy’ to harness, transform into a usable form and control its use to deliver the benefits of modern life.”

    Much ado about Carbon Emissions

    By this time, I was hooked because everything this book said was different to what has been largely propagated in the world. The media has been talking about how the carbon dioxide emissions have exponentially increased due to the rapid industrialisation etc. However, the authors say that carbon, which we all know is the fourth most abundant element in the universe is the essence of life on the earth and in the form of carbon dioxide the only source of oxygen that we breathe. According to them the human population in on earth a hundred years ago was about 1.7 billion with a reported CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of about 100 ppm; today (2020), the human population of earth is about 7 billion with a reported CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of about 400 ppm!

    Out (Laws) of Energy Efficiency

    The three laws of thermodynamics which are considered the gospel truth as far energy is concerned are as popular as the laws of gravitation. However, I have never seen anyone interpret them so interestingly till now.

    “-You cannot win

    – You cannot break-even either, and

    – Everything eventually goes to ‘naught’”

    Whether in science forums or important sounding books and journals, people keep talking about how to maximize energy efficiency. However, the authors of this book are very clear that “one cannot do without energy-but there is no free lunch!”

    Sunning Away!

    Everywhere in this book, the authors have clearly stated some interesting facts!  Every form of energy whether fossil fuels or the much-hyped alternate sources are a result of the sun shining on the earth. Without the sun, nothing is possible!

    “The only ‘green’ energy on Earth in the present day meaning of the term, is that received directly from the Sun in its raw, nascent and pristine form. Period. Full Stop. Everything else is ‘Black’. Nature has provided an automatic clean-up mechanism for the carbon waste in the form of the carbon dioxide cycle. It is the ‘clean, green energy- solar and wind in their raw and natural state-that gave Man his start and it is this energy that Man left behind in his quest for ever more.”

    (Has the) Climate Chang(ed)?

    “It is interesting to note that CO2   in the Earth’s atmosphere has been much higher in the past than it is today; and, there does not seem much correlation between CO2 concentration and Earth’s temperature.”

    The authors believe that labelling climate change as a man-made phenomenon and to pin it on fossil fuel driven carbon dioxide emissions is too simplistic. They believe that earth has been through cycles of warming periods and ice ages over hundreds of millions of years where sea levels have risen and deserts have been formed time and again. The activists have been harping away and campaigning on the ‘burning’ issue of the climate change but the book begs us to think about it from a different perspective!

    (No) Conclusions

    This book offers no conclusions or solutions- the authors have been very clear about this aspect from the beginning to the end. They have simply presented facts based on a lot of different studies that have been done over the years which in a way dispel many myths surrounding the world of energy. Yes, there are some suggestions like revisiting the old cultures like those of India and other countries of the world to understand deeper aspects of energy and its conservation but even those are marked with a ‘perhaps’. The authors make no bones about the fact that fossil fuels do have a competitive edge over the other alternate sources of energy due to a variety of reasons like their ease of use, availability and harnessing power.

    The Last Word

    The debate on energy has been a long standing one. Over time, the lack or abundance of energy has caused wars, created controversies and catapulted many activists to limelight. This book brings a lot of perspective to these burning topics and is interesting even for those who are not from a science back ground and offers an insight into the much debated and very controversial topic of energy. Read it and form your own conclusions! After all, there is no free lunch!