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LETTERS MATTER

DATE COUNTRY DAY

August 1 Switzerland Foundation of SwissConfederation

August 2 Macedonia National Day

August 5 Burkina Faso Independence Day

August 6 Bolivia National Day

August 6 Jamaica Independence Day

August 9 Singapore National Day

August 10 Ecuador Independence Day

August 17 Indonesia Proclamation of Independence

August 19 Afghanistan Independence Day

August 20 Hungary National Day

August 24 Ukraine Independence day

August 31 Kyrgyzstan Independence Day

WHERE HAS VAASTU DISAPPEARED ?I am regular reader of your magazine. As always content is verygood. This time you introduced an article on Incredible India.This is really very good. But I miss Vaastu in your magazine. Ihave always read the Vaastu part regularly, but this time round Icould not find it in your magazine. It’s disappointing. Please docontinue with Vaastu and start publishing the column once again.

Shiv kapoor, USA, Neetu Goel, Mumbai, Vinod Bansal, New Delhi & Ram Kishan Khatri, Haryana

GIVE MORE MATTER IN HINDIAs a regular reader of your magazine, I would like to requestyou to please increase the number of pages in Hindi. Even Di-aspora from India yearn for good quality reading material inHindi. If you will take my suggestions, you could simply add

more pages—it will also give your magazine the he it definitelyneeds—and present Hindi culture through the use of short sto-ries, poetry, festivals and melas etc. Hoping to see more contentin Hindi in your magazine in the future.

Rahul Paul, Delhi

WORK ON WEBSITE I was going through your website and find that it looks quiteordinary. My thought is that your team does not pay much at-tention to the look and feel, but only uploads the latest issueat the regular time. Also your presence on social media is notas aggressive as it ought to be, given today's frenzy on socialmedia and social networking sites.

Jatin Sharma, Mauritius (Almost same sentiments also came from Ruby Mehtani, Sydney,

Dr. S. Khan, Saudi Arabia & Rama Krishnan, Dubai

¥´»ýðÁè âè¹Ùð ·¤æ ÕçÉU¸Øæ ÁçÚUØæ ãñ ¥æÂ·¤è Âç˜æ·¤æ¥æÂ·¤è Âç˜æ·¤æ ×ð´ ·¤æÈ¤è ·¤éÀ ¥‘Àæ ãôÌæ ãñ ÂÉÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ°, Áñâð ç·¤, NRIs·¤è âÈ¤ÜÌæ ·¤è ·¤ãæçÙØæ¡, ÖæÚUÌèØ ¥¿èßâü ·Ô¤ ÕæÚUð ×ð´ ×ãˆßÂê‡æü ÁæÙ·¤æÚUè¥õÚU ãðçÚUÅUðÁ, Øð âÕ ¥‹Ø Âç˜æ·¤æ¥æð´ ×ð´ð ×éçà·¤Ü âð ãè Éê´ÉUæ Áæ â·¤Ìæ ãñ§âçÜ° ¥æÂ·¤è Âç˜æ·¤æ ·¤æ ãÚU ×ãèÙð §´ÌÁ¸æÚU ÚUãÌæ ãñÐ ÎêâÚUæ, àææØÎ ¥æÂ·¤è×ò»Á¸èÙ ·¤è ¥´»ýðÁè ÊØæÎæÌÚU ×õ·¤ô´ ÂÚU Õæ·¤è ÎêâÚUè Âç˜æ·¤æ¥æð´ âð ÕðãÌÚUãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ·¤× âð ·¤× ×éÛæð ãÚU ÕæÚU ÕãéÌ âæÚUð ¥´»ðýÁè ·Ô¤ ¥æ° ÙØð ßÇü÷ââè¹Ùð ·¤æ ×õ·¤æ ç×ÜÌæ ãñÐ ¥Õ Ìô ×ñ´Ùð ¥´»ýðÁè çã‹Îè çÇ€àæÙÚUè Öè ¹ÚUèÎÜè ãñ €UØô´ç·¤ ÕãéÌ âð °ðâð ßÇü÷â ãôÌð ãñ´ Áô ¥Ü» ãÅU·¤ÚU ãôÌð ãñ´ §UâçÜ°U©Ù·¤æ ×èçÙ´» çÇ€àæÙÚUè ×ð´ Éê´ÉUÙæ ÂÇÌæ ãñÐ

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PHOTOESSAY INDIAN ACHIEVERS“LETS’ TURN PROBLEMS INTO OPPORTUNITIES”

REALPOLITIKTHE LONG WAIT ONE-RANK-ONE-PENSION

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TRAVELOGUEMY EARLY DAYS OF PHOTOGRAPHYBHIMBETKA

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HERITAGE34

“YOUNG ACTORS TODAY EVENDON’T KNOW HINDI”

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12AN EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEINGPROF. A P J ABDUL KALAM

Cover Sketch : Kumar Brijesh

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CHATURANGA, CHAUPERAUR PACHEESI

Editorial

7NRI AchIeveRs august 2015ÁèÌð ãñ´ àææÙ âð

July came and went, and along with it India lost one of its extraordinary human beings, 83-year old scientist-academician-missile man and former-president Prof. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen “A P J” Abdul Kalam on the 27th of July

this year. Punjab lived through a veritable deja vu last month on 27 July, as a clutchof terror elements, ostensibly infiltrating from across the border, sought to wreakhavoc at Gurdaspur. On the parliamentary front, the monsoon session which startedon July 21 has so far proven to be a washout, with absolutely no legislative work get-ting done till date.

Modi’s July 6-13 eight-day visit to Central Asia was India’s first since those countriesattained independence. At Ufa, some 1,300 km from Moscow in the Republic ofBashkortostan, the PM reconnected with his BRICS peers—Chinese President Xi Jin-ping, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Vladimir Putin and SouthAfrica’s Jacob Zuma.

Coming to this current issue of NRI Achievers, our Cover Feature is, simply put,an obituary to an extraordinary human being of India, Prof. Kalam. Nothing more,nothing less.Our staple diaspora outreach continues in Dossier, Indian Achieversprofiles for a change a government official and administrator who has been making aremarkable difference to the people of his borough. Realpolitik takes an in-depthlook at OROP, or ‘one rank one pension.’ Heritage explores the origins of ancientgames that are being continuously being played in India since times ancient. Trave-logue is back, Silver Screen brings you an interview with Ajay Devgan, while NewsScan, Business Buzz, PSU Buzz, Metaphysical Musings & Cineppets news are all verymuch there along with a photoessay on ‘Varanasi’ for your interesting reading.

We do strive to reach out to you more and more by progressively and continuouslyevolving our columns, features and content to be in synch with reader preferences.While some feedback has been constructive, we do get some rants now and then.Pray bear with us, any transition needs to be more in the nature of a slow dissolverather than be a brusque cut-to-cut. Meanwhile, we want to continue hearing morefrom you—do keep writing to us your views, posting on social media, and reachingout to us with your own content. Have very warm greetings on Independence day ofIndia this month on August 15.

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LET US FOLLOW AN ‘EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEING’

News Scan



News Scan

Hypermarkets operator Lulu Group International has paid £110 millionfor Great Scotland Yard in London, as the company expands into hoteldevelopment. It plans to turn the former headquarters of the Metro-politan Police (between 1829 and 1890) into a luxury hotel. e prop-erty is close to 10 Downing Street and Trafalgar Square. e dealincludes an adjoining listed Victorian townhouse that would be de-signed as an entertainment suite for the hotel. “Future growth marketsfor us in the hospitality sector include Britain, Middle East, India andSouth East Asia,” said a Lulu spokesman. “Since we are now firmly es-

tablished in the re-tail sector, we wantto diversify intohospitality as thesetwo are comple-mentary.” e233-room hotel atGreat ScotlandYard is expected toopen in the firstquarter of 2017.

LULU GROUP ACQUIRES GREATSCOTLAND YARD

On Friday, 10 July 2015, over 300 family business guests descended uponShakespeare’s Globe in London for the 6th annual Red Ribbon Awards– celebrating the achievements of Britain’s finest family-run businesses.Aer months of searching, interviewing and filming, 11 family firmswere crowned the winners of UK’s most prestigious family business ac-colade out of over 3 million firms. Rami Ranger MBE, Chairman of SunMark was crowned winner of the Corbett Keeling ‘Lifetime Achieve-ment’ Award. Mr. Ranger was abroad and his award was collected onhis behalf by his daughter, Reena.

FAMILY FIRMS CROWNED WINNERS

Non-resident Indians can now invest in India's NationalPension System to get a social security cover, pensionregulator PFRDA's chairman Hemant Contractor hasannounced. e government is also likely to come outwith a clarification on FEMA (Foreign Exchange Man-agement Act) guidelines soon to facilitate NRIs to investin the NPS. “ere was some ambiguity about whetherto add NPS as an eligible investment by NRIs. So, wetook up the matter with RBI and recently they havegiven this clarification that NPS like insurance and mu-tual funds could also be eligible investments for them,"Contractor clarified.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, US, boasts that his state isthe top recipient of Indian investment: “As you might haveheard, we like being number one,” he preens. “We are com-ing aer you, Texas!” calls out California Congressman AmiBera, surprised that his state did not make the top five FDIdestinations for Indian firms, though it does rank second injob creation by India Inc. A score of US lawmakers thankedIndian companies and invited India Inc. to do more at anevent where the Confederation of Indian Industry and auditfirm Grant ornton released a report showing India-basedcompanies having invested US$ 15 billion and having cre-ated 91,000 jobs across the US.

INDIA INC INVESTS US$ 15 BN,CREATES 91,000 JOBS

NRIs CAN NOW INVEST IN NATIONAL PENSION SYSTEM

A



Business Buzz

Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of TataSons, has invested an undisclosedamount into taxi aggregator Ola, in hispersonal capacity. Tata has made a stringof personal investments in various start-ups over the past year, which include on-line marketplace Snapdeal, mobilepayments firm Paytm, online furnitureretailer Urban Ladder, auto portalCarDekho.com and online jewellery re-tailer Bluestone. Earlier this year, he hadalso acquired a stake in Chinese smart-phone-maker Xiaomi. “is is a hugeendorsement from one of the most re-spected business leaders of our times,”said Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and co-founder of Ola. Ola recently raised US$400 million in a series E round of fund-ing led by Russian investment firm DSTGlobal. Singapore’s GIC, Japan’s So-bank Group, Tiger Global, Stead viewCapital and US’ Accel Partners areamong Ola’s other investors.

Bharti Airtel has become the third-largest mobile operator in the world with 303million subscribers, according to the World Cellular Information Service. With

telecom operations in 20 countries across South Asia andAfrica, Airtel still has China Mobile and Vodafone aheadof it, while it pips China Unicom with 299.09 million sub-scribers and America Movil with 274.14 subscribers. “Iwant to thank our employees and our business partnersfor supporting us … things will only get brighter fromhere on,” said Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, in astatement to media.

AIRTEL BECOMES WORLD’S 3RD-LARGEST MOBILE OPERATOR

Global sportswear and equipmentmajor Adidas is all set to roll out afully-owned chain in the country,nearly three years aer India allowed100% FDI in single-brandretail, with Germanyhead-quartered Adidasfiling an application withthe Department of Indus-trial Policy and Promo-tion (DIPP) on July 13. Adidas, whichcompetes with the likes of Nike andPuma, already has stores in Indiathrough franchisees, and if the com-pany’s application is approved, it is

free to open fully-owned flagshipstores, giving it more control over its business. e company, whichclocked a global sales of 14 billion

Euros in 2014, has con-firmed its intent to enterIndia via a 100% wholly-owned unit. “It is our de-sire and strategic intent tobring to India world-class

large retail formats.” e Company,which purchased Reebok for US$ 3.8billion in 2005, however, plans tosetup its wholly-owned stores in Indiaonly for the Adidas brand.

ADIDAS TO OPEN OWN STORES IN INDIA

Aer a very forgettable first stint herewhen it managed to sell barely 10 cars inlittle over a year, Italian luxury car makerMaserati has now announced its reentryinto the Indian market, with plans tolaunch models priced up to INR 2.2 croreand a target to sell in double digits eachyear. e company, part of the Fiat

Chrysler group, had first entered Indiathrough an intermediary in 2011. isstint was short lived and ended in 2012.is time round the company is going italone, with plans to import and sell carsthrough appointed dealers. “We made afew mistakes the last time and wanted tobe sure about our partners this time.”

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MASERATI RE-ENTERS INDIA

RATAN TATA INVESTS IN OLA

NRI Achievers Desk


http://www.nriachievers.in 11

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL),declared recently that it has raised US$ 500 million throughfixed-rate unsecured notes to fund its capital expenditure.“BPCL has launched an issue of US$ 500 million fixed-rate un-secured notes due 2025, which were priced on April 29,” thecompany said in a BSE filing. The 10-year notes will bear a fixed

interest of 4 percent with interest payablesemi-annually, the company added. BPCLsaid that the notes will be listed on the Sin-gapore Stock Exchange and the proceedswill be used for capital expenditures pur-poses. Shares of BPCL were trading at INR776.90 apiece, up 2.81 percent on the Bom-bay Stock Exchange.

PSU

Bharat heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), has beenstretching its wings globally, making its mark in a new eraof inclusive growth and co-operation in the region. Tostart with, the Indian megacorp just recentlycommissioned successfully the 500 MWKosti Thermal Power Station in Sudan,which today is the country’s largest powerplant. BHEL executed the project on Engi-

neering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis,having designed, manufactured, supplied and installedthe complete power project (4 units of 125 MW each) in-

cluding all associated civil works. The com-pany has also constructed a canal from theWhite Nile River to supply water for theproject, which was funded by GoI’s US$ 350million Line of Credit.

BHEL EXCELS IN GLOBAL FORAYS

BPCL RAISES US$ 500 MILLION TO FUND CAPEX

ONGC TO INVEST INR 41,678 CRORE TO BOOST OUTPUT

State-owned ONGC (The Oil and Natural GasCorporation) will invest INR 41,678 crore forbringing to production newer oil and gas fieldsand redeveloping aging fields as it looks to boostoutput. The company, which produced 25.94 mil-lion tonnes of crude oil and 23.52 billion cubicmeters of gas in 2014-15, is boosting investmentto reverse the declining trend in output at the bulk of its old and agingfields. “ONGC will invest INR 24,188 crore in development of six proj-ects both on the east and west coast. Another INR 17,490 crore willbe spent on redeveloping its prime Mumbai High fields, as well asHeera—South Heera fields in the western offshore”, a top company of-ficial shared with the media.

NTPC PLANNING 3,000 MWCAPACITY ADDITIONS AT TALCHER

State-owned NTPC hassaid Talcher in Odisha willbecome a power hub withthe PSU planning around3,000 MW of capacity addi-

tion there. “Recently I was in Odisha and the ChiefMinister wanted that we should do expansion inTalcher. We have two stations there. One is a Superermal Power station and one is Talcher ermalPower Station,” NTPC Chairman and ManagingDirector Arup Roy Choudhury told reporters inthe national capital.

e Metals &Minerals Trad-ing Corpora-tion of India(MMTC) nowplans to im-port Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the spot market tomeet fuel demand of a fertilizer plant, according to the state-run megalith’s CMD Ved Prakash. MMTC wants to capitalizeon international gas prices halving to about US$ 7-8 per mil-lion BTU (British ermal Unit) and import LNG in ships atspot or current rates. “LNG prices were ruling at US$ 18-20… now it is quite economical for the fertilizer industry,” saysVed Prakash. “A fertilizer company, to whom we were supply-ing potash, had approached us for arranging LNG.

MMTC PLANS TO IMPORT LNG

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Cover Story

AN EXTRAORDINARYHUMAN BEING

“Bharat has lost a Ratna, but the light from thisjewel will guide us towards A P J Abdul Kalam’sdream destination—India as a knowledge super-power, in the first rank of nations. For him, thecounterpoint to poverty was the wealth of knowl-edge, in both its scientific and spiritual manifes-tations. As a hero of our defence programme, heshied horizons; and as a seer of the spirit, hesought to liberate doctrine from the narrow con-fines of partisan tension to the transcendentalspace of harmony. His profound idealism was se-cure because it rested on a foundation of realism… He took little from the world, and gave all hecould to society. A man of deep faith, he epito-mised the three great virtues of our civilisation:dama—self-restraint; dana—sacrifice; anddaya—compassion … He wanted India to leapout of the underdeveloped trough and eliminatethe curse of poverty through inclusive economicgrowth. Wisely, he suggested politicians spendonly 30% of their time on politics, and 70% ondevelopment … Kalamji saw poetry in a tree,and energy that could be harnessed in water,wind and sun. We should learn to look at ourworld through his eyes, and with the same mis-sionary zeal … He saw the future, and showedthe way. As I entered the room where his body layin state yesterday, I noticed the painting at theentrance that depicted a few lines from an inspi-rational book he wrote for children, ‘IgnitedMinds’. e good that he did will not be interredwith his bones, because his children will preservehis memory through their lives and work, andgi it to their children.”

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

PROF. A P J ABDUL KALAM

rof. Avul Pakir Jainulab-deen “A P J” Abdul Kalam,engineer-scientist-technol-ogy administrator-formerpresident is no more.

India’s ‘missile-man’, we see in socialmedia today, has his detractors as is evi-dent from social media postings today,who aer his passing hasten to tell us thathe wasn’t really a scientist, but a mere en-gineer and that too probably not a verygood one. It may be true that he was just asimple engineer and not one of those whoboast a whole string of academic degreeslonger than their own shadows at sun-down. But let’s today take all that with awhole fistful of salt. In contrast to all thathis detractors might aver, he was indeed—without question—an extraordinaryhuman being. Humble and down-to-earthin his erudition, and an unassuming per-sonality—aptly has he earned the sobri-quet ‘people’s president.’

ough Prof. Kalam ultimately excusedhimself from the presidential contest for asecond term in year 2012, his brief pres-ence in the race brought up a quintessen-tial coffee table question: “Would Kalamhave won in a direct presidential elec-tion?” In our view moot on two counts—he was apolitical to the last, never havingaddressed any political gathering, so thereis no telling what impact he might makein an election. Secondly, the most gather-ings he did address during his lifetime astechnologist-statesman were institutionalones—urban-centric events confinedwithin the cocoons of what were ‘devel-oped’ islands in Indian science, technol-ogy, industry and the economy in general.

But then in retrospect, if we also observehow the selfsame Prof. Kalam reignedsupreme when addressing large publicfunctions aer his presidency with his affa-ble command and charm, especially audi-

ences full of young Indians, he does im-press. O has he been successful in tamingscreaming audiences within the blink of aneye and get them to take a collectivepledges to serve the nation, repeating sen-tence by sentence aer him and cheeringevery pause in his speech with gusto. attoo was quintessential Prof. Kalam. So dif-ficult to answer that question, no?

ere is no gainsaying that Prof.Kalam’s life too is as true a rags-to-richesstory as can be, that of a poor tamil mus-lim son of a boatman, who strove to be anaerospace engineer and went on to be-come the chief scientific advisor to theprime minister of India and, eventually,made it to the presidential office. A tamilmaraikayar muslim from a pious back-ground, he was more likely to quote fromthe ancient Tamil classic irukkural thanfrom Rumi or Iqbal. He was a pretty goodamateur musician on the rudra veenatoo—an instrument in the Carnatic clas-sical tradition, and was as equally versedwith the Bhagvad Gita as with the QuranSharif. A development fanatic, futurist and a strong believer in nuclear power—both for energy and for strategic deter-rence, he justified India building weaponsof mass destruction—his take was: “…strength respects strength”.

Prof. Kalam apropos does have a vastconstituency all across India, for whom hefinds greater acceptance as a technocrat,philosopher and statesman than as anyleader of a minority community. His back-ground and political affiliation, broad andcounter-intuitive, counts more for them.As an aside, it is indeed worth mentioninghere that Prof. Kalam was twice nomi-nated in the past for the ‘MTV Youth Iconof the Year’ Award!

All those ruminations apart, Prof. Kalamwas indeed an extraordinary man and anexemplary soul, who lived by a strict set of

rules he had setup for himself … . Wellversed in Sanskrit, he prefered to call him-self a ‘brahmachari’ rather than a bache-lor—as ‘bachelor’ meant just an unmarriedman, while the Sanskrit word imputed nu-ances and meanings much much more intune with his world-view and work-ethos.us, true to ‘brahmacharita’, Prof. Kalamremained wedded to the goals and aspira-tions he strived for with a passion akin tozealotry, remained a staunch vegetarian allhis life, and lived a life that had all the hall-marks of a evolved ascetic whose needswere spartan and minimal, while his goalsand targets received all his concentration,focus and indomitable effort.

In order to know Prof. Kalam the manbetter, we felt it is well worth our while totake a peek into a fragment of his journeyfrom Rameshwaram to new Delhi … andso invite you, the reader, to walk with Prof.Kalam as he himself walked down memorylane. Here be excerpts from his autobiog-raphy, where he narrates in his own wordsa seminal event of his life as a young lad:

THE BOAT“… the sea was an important part of our

lives—its tides, the lapping of the waves,the sound of trains passing on the Pambanbridge, the birds that always circled thetown and the salt in the air are sights andsounds that will always remain etched inmy memories … .

“Almost every household had connec-tions with the sea, as fishermen or as boatowners. My father, too operated a ferrythat took people back and forth betweenRameswaram and Dhanushkodi, 22 kilo-metres away. I still remember the time



P

when he got the idea for this, and how webuilt that boat. Rameswaram has, sinceantiquity, been an important pilgrimagedestination … people visiting our town goto Dhanushkodi as part of their pilgrim-age. A bath at Sagara-Sangam there … theconfluence of the Bay of Bengal and theIndian Ocean … is considered sacred. Myfather, looking to supplement his not verysubstantial income, decided to start a ferrybusiness. He started building the boat weneeded for this, all by himself initially,right there on the seashore.

“Watching the boat come to life frompieces of wood and metal was perhaps myfirst introduction to the world of engineer-ing … long pieces of wood were cut into therequired shape, dried, smoothened and

then joined together. Many years later, inmy work, I would learn how to make rock-ets and missiles. Complex mathematics andscientific research would be the bedrock ofthose engineering marvels. But that boatcoming up on the seashore, which wouldtake pilgrims and fishermen back and forth… who is to say it was not as important ormomentous in our lives then?

“e building of the boat … brought mycousin Ahmed Jalalluddin into my life, whojoined my father to help build the boat. Herecognised the inherent desire in me tolearn and question, and was always there tolend a patient ear and give words of advice.He could read and write English, and spoketo me about scientists and inventions, liter-ature and medicine. Walking with him in

the streets of Rameswaram, or by the sea-side, or by our boat as it took shape, mymind began to form ideas and ambitions.e boat business was a great success.

“And so the years went by. My school,teachers, Jalalluddin and others taught meso many things. But the boat and the peoplewho sailed in it were no less important … .en one day, disaster struck... . I still re-member the night of that terrible cyclonevividly. e wind had picked up speed fordays, till it became a howling gale. Itscreamed and whistled in our ears andpulled and hacked at the trees or anythingthat stood in its way. Soon, a torrential rainstarted. We retreated into our houses …there was no electricity in those days, andthe lamps barely managed to stay alive. In



Cover Story

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that flickering darkness, with the windworking itself into a frenzy, the sound of therain lashing down outside, we huddled to-gether and waited for the night to pass ...the next morning … we saw the unbeliev-able destruction … trees, houses, planta-tions uprooted and devastated. Roads haddisappeared under the water and debrisblown in by winds that had come in atspeeds of over 100 miles an hour. But theworst news of all was the one that hit us likea punch to the stomach. Our boat had beenwashed away ... Now, when I think of thatday, I realise that perhaps my father hadknown this would happen the night before… in the light of the morning, seeing hisdrawn face and the worries lining his eyes,I tried to gather my thoughts. In my mindI mourned our lost ferry boat fiercely.

“Yet, my father’s stoicism saw usthrough this crisis too. In time anotherboat came, and business resumed. Pil-grims and tourists returned. e templeand the mosque filled with worshippersand the markets bustled with men andwomen, buying and selling once more.Cyclones and storms struck us again andagain. I even learnt to sleep through them.Many years later, in 1964, when I was nolonger living in Rameswaram, a massivecyclone struck. is time, it carried awaya part of the landmass of Dhanushkodi. Atrain that was on Pamban Bridge waswashed away, with many pilgrims inside.It altered the geography of the area, andDhanushkodi became a ghost town, neverto recover its former character. Even today,skeletal remnants of buildings jut out ofthe sands there as monuments to the 1964cyclone. My father lost his ferry once morein that storm … .

“When I struggled to give shape to thesatellite launch vehicle (SLV) rocket, or thePrithvi and Agni missiles, when count-downs and takeoffs were disrupted, and

rain came down on our launch sites situ-ated by the sea in umba and Chandipur,I always remembered the look on my fa-ther’s face the day aer the storm. It wasan acknowledgement of the power of na-ture, of knowing what it means to live bythe sea and wrest your living from it. Ofknowing that there is a larger force outthere that can crush our ambitions andplans in the blink of an eye, and that theonly way to survive is to face our troublesand rebuild our life … .

FIRST JOB AT THE AGE OF EIGHT

“I was born in the year 1931. When Iwas about eight, World War II broke out.Britain declared war on Nazi Germany,and despite the INC’s opposition, Indiatoo as a British colony was involved in thewar. Daily life, however, remained fairlyunaffected initially, particularly for us inthe southern tip of the country.Rameswaram in the 1940s was a sleepy lit-tle town that came alive with the arrival ofpilgrims. e town was dominated by thetemple, though there was a mosque and achurch too. Everyone went about their

way fairly peacefully, and other than thenormal altercations that break out in anytown or village … e only source of in-formation about the outside world was thenewspaper. e agency that distributednewspapers was run by my cousin Sam-suddin. Along with Jalalluddin, he was abig influence in my early life. ough hecould read and write, Samsuddin was notwell travelled, nor highly educated. Yet hehad such affection for me and encouragedme in so many ways that he became aguiding light for me … To me they wereadults who could reach out beyond thenarrow confines of their daily lives andbusinesses and see the larger world.

“Samsuddin’s newspaper distributionagency was the only one in Rameswaram.ere were about a thousand literate peo-ple in the town, and he delivered newspa-pers to all of them. e papers carriednews about the Independence movementthat was heading towards a crescendo atthe time. ese news items would be readand discussed with great gusto with every-one else. ere would also be news fromthe war front, about Hitler and the Naziarmy. Of course, there were many mun-



Obit

dane matters too, like astrological refer-ences or bullion rates, which were con-sulted with utmost interest. e Tamilpaper, Dinamani, was the most popular ofall these papers.

“e papers reached Rameswaram bymorning train and were kept at the station.From there, they were to be collected andsent to the subscribers. However, as WorldWar II raged, we no longer remained iso-lated … . It affected my life and the news-paper delivery in a strange new way. eBritish government had placed a numberof sanctions and rations on goods …something like a state of emergency nowprevailed ... our large family felt the diffi-culties acutely. Food, clothes, the needs ofthe babies of the household, all becamedifficult to procure and provide for. In ourfamily, there were five sons and daughters,as well as my father’s brothers’ families. Mygrandmother and mother had to stretchevery resource to the utmost to keepeveryone fed, clothed and in good health.

“As the difficulties of the war started af-fecting us, Samsuddin came up with a pro-posal that excited and delighted metremendously. A fallout of wartime wasthat the rail stop at Rameswaram stationhad been done away with. What wouldhappen to our papers then? How werethey to be collected and distributed to thepeople of the town who were looking for-ward to their daily dose of news? Samsud-din found a way—the papers would bekept ready in large bundles. As the trainchugged down the Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi track, they would be flungout onto the platform. And that is where Icame in—Samsuddin ordered me the en-joyable job of catching these bundles ofpapers being thrown from the movingtrain and then taking them around townfor distribution! My enthusiasm knew nobounds. I was only eight, but I was going

to contribute in a meaningful way to thehousehold income!

“... my new job had to be fitted into myregular routine … my studies and schoolhad to continue as before, and the deliv-ery business had to be accommodatedamidst all these activities. Among my sib-lings and cousins, I had shown an earlyaptitude for mathematics. So my fatherhad arranged for me to take tuitions fromour mathematics teacher. However, myteacher had a condition that I, along withthe four other students whom he had ac-cepted, need to reach his home at dawnaer having taken a bath. So for a year,which was the duration of the tuition, Istarted my day while it was still dark out-side, with my mother shaking me awake.She herself would have risen before meand got my bath ready. She would thenhelp me bathe and send me on my way tomy teacher’s home. ere I would studyfor an hour and return by 5 am. By thenmy father would be ready to take me tothe Arabic School nearby, where I learntthe Quran Sharif.

“Aer my lesson on the Quran Sharifwas over, I would sprint away to the rail-way station. ere I would wait, hoppingfrom one leg to the other, eyes and earskeenly open for signs of the oncomingtrain. Surprisingly, unlike most trainsthese days, the Madras-Dhanushkodi Mail

was rarely delayed! Soon, the enginesmoke would be visible in the distance.e horn would be tooted loudly and,with a thunderous roar, the train wouldpass through the station. I had worked outthe best spot from which to keep an eyeout for the flying newspaper bundles. Likeclockwork, they would be tossed out on tothe platform. e train would then huffand puff away, Samsuddin’s person in thetrain would wave out to me and as thetrain receded, its whistle growing faint, myjob would begin.

“I would pick the bundles, divide themup into batches according to the neigh-bourhoods where the papers had to be dis-tributed and off I went. For about an hourI tore around Rameswaram, delivering pa-pers to everyone. Many would be waitingfor me, and there would always be afriendly word or two. Some would tell mefondly to hurry back home so I would notbe late for school! I think most enjoyedbeing handed their papers by a cheerfuleight-year-old. Our town being on the eastcoast, by the time my work was over at 8am, the sun would be high up in the sky.Now I would head back home, where mymother would wait with breakfast. A sim-ple meal would be served, but how hungryI was usually! My mother made sure I ateevery morsel before sending me out toschool. But my work did not end there. In



Cover Story

the evening, aer school was over, I woulddo the rounds of Samsuddin’s newspapercustomers again, collecting their duesfrom them. en I would meet him, so hecould work out the accounts of the day.

“At that time, sitting somewhere nearthe sea, with the breeze blowing in, Jalal-luddin or Samsuddin would finally openup the day’s paper. All of us would poreover the black type of the Dinamani. Oneof them would read aloud the news items,and slowly the larger outside world wouldenter our consciousness. Gandhi, Con-gress, Hitler, Periyar EV Ramasamy, theirwords and exhortations would hang in theevening air … . Maybe, I thought to my-self, one day I would go to the big citieslike Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. Whatwould I say if I ever got to meet people likeGandhi and Nehru? But such thoughts

were soon interrupted by the calls of myplaymates, and then for dinner. ere washomework to be done, and even an eight-year-old has only that much energy tospend. By 9 pm I would be fast asleep, asthe next day more studies and the life of aworking man lay in store all over again.

“is routine continued for about a year.In that one year of running around with thepapers, I learnt that to be a working manmeant you had to be up and ready to facethe day, whatever else may happen. Home-work, tuition, prayers, all carried on, but theMadras-Dhanushkodi Mail would not waitfor me—I had to be present at the station atthe correct time and at the correct point tocatch the bundles as they came flying in. Itwas also a most enjoyable time and I lovedevery moment of it, notwithstanding theintense tiredness every night. My mother

oen fretted at my taking up this additionalwork and the toll it was taking on me, but Ishook my head and smiled at her. Knowingthat my earnings were somehow helping usall, and that she was secretly proud of mefor having taken on the role of a workingman at the age of eight kept me going witha smile … .”

In June 2012, when Prof. Kalam postedan official statement that cleared the airand ended all speculation that he will nottake part in the presidential election, hewrote a line to thank his followers: “Itonly reflects their love and affection forme and the aspiration of the people. I amreally overwhelmed by this support”.Overwhelming indeed it is … mayhapsthe life-journey of Avul Pakir Jainulab-deen “A P J” Abdul Kalam is in large parta reflection of a metamorphosing sub-continent in which our self-views andworldviews alike are today getting re-forged in the crucible of an emerging newhistory and an even newer economic ofinterdependences.

Chakravarthi Suchindran

e writer is an technocrat who dabblesin journalism print & broadcast photogra-

phy & creative visual arts.

A

Obit

May Prof. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen “A P J” Abdul Kalam’s soul rest in peace.



Gujarati businessman Naren-dra Raval was recentlyawarded recognition asKenya’s foremost entrepre-neur, with the conferringupon him of Kenya’s highesthonour. His story is eminentlyworth recording in the annalsof our ‘Dossier’ section, as itis bound to inspire countlessindians who today aspire tomove out into the wide worldand stake their claim to estab-lish successful businesses on aglobal scale. NRI Achieversbrings you this vignette of aprofile for our readers ...

Indiaspora

Narendra Raval, a steel tycoon, isone of Kenya’s most successful en-trepreneurs. He is the founder of

the Devki Group, a US$ 650 million Kenyanconglomerate that manufactures steel prod-ucts, roofing sheets and cement. His peersin Kenya know him as “Guru.” With a per-sonal net worth of some US$ 400 million,the 53-year old Gujarati steel tycoon is oneof the wealthiest businessmen in Kenyatoday. e Kenyan government had recentlyawarded recognition to his contributions tothe Kenyan economy and conferred uponhim one of its highest titles, the ‘Elder of theBurning Spear.’ Raval, though, is knownmore for his benevolence than his riches.Just a couple of years ago in 2012, thispropensity for benevolence won him UK’sphilanthropy award, conferred upon him bythe then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Cleggat 10 Downing Street. “Indians are honest,

hardworking and loyal—qualities that havepotential to make success of a person any-where in the world,” avers Raval.

Hailing from a small town calledMaathak in Surendranagar, Gujarat, Ravaltold Indian media when he was in Ahmed-abad recently to attend a social engagementand recruitment drive, that he has, in his re-cently executed will, pledged half of hisyearly profits—amounting to about INR 250crore per annum—for undertaking inter-ventions in the domains of education, nutri-tion and health in Kenya and the rest ofAfrica aer his death. “I am deeply influ-enced by Mahatma Gandhi and MotherTeresa, and I believe that wealth ought to beconsidered a trust for the whole society—and as trustees, we should use it for the ben-efit of society ...”

Like many other Gujarati immigrants ofthat time, Raval—a Hindu Brahmin, vended

THE JOURNEY OF NARENDRA RAVALFROM PRIESTHOOD TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP


19

Dossier

his way to Kenya almost 37 years ago as ateenager to begin his first overseas assign-ment as an assistant priest in the Swami-narayan temple at Kisumu, a commercialcity in western Kenya. Over time, he gotmarried and gave up his priestly calling.Post marriage in 1982, he took up a job ata hardware shop in Nairobi, and by 1990he had his own shop in the Gikomba mar-ket. “My wife Neeta and I toiled 18 hoursa day. Life was tough,” says Raval. In 1992,the Ravals forayed into the roofing andfencing solutions business with the help ofa US$ 70,000 loan. at same year they setup a small steel rolling mill near the AthiRiver, a time when there were very fewsuch mills in Kenya. is entrepreneurialinitiative has today snowballed into theDevki Group, a conglomerate that em-ploys more than 4,000 people, with morethan 98% of the staff harking from localKenyan and African origin. It is today thelargest building materials company in Eastand Central Africa, with four steel plantsand two cement companies in Kenya, notto mention a strong presence in Ethiopia,Uganda and Congo that produce 7.5 lakhtonnes of steel per annum.

Raval, now a Kenyan citizen and one ofit’s wealthiest with a personal fortune esti-mated at US$ 400 Million by Forbes, is

also one of the country’s most devoted phi-lanthropists, spending millions annuallyon scholarships for destitute children, re-habilitating schools and installing bore-wells in the water-starved villages ofKenya. Narendra Raval, through his prag-matic business ideologies and philan-thropy, aims to transform the once-hostileperception of Africans about Indian busi-nessmen. Here are some excerpts that setour Raval’s world view, garnered from theinternational media:

A while ago, Raval had turned down anoffer from Africa’s richest man, who hadapproached him to completely buy out oneof his Devki Group companies—the Na-tional Cement Company. Raval refused,saying no: “I said no because it is my fam-ily business. He first offered to buy me outcompletely and then when I said no, heasked if I would be interested in selling asignificant stake in the business, but I alsohad to turn him down. I want to keep thebusiness within the family.” But just a fewmore months ago, Raval had acquesied topart with some equity in the NCC to theIFC (international Finance Corporation):“Yes. e IFC likes our corporate gover-nance and they had been monitoring usfor a while. We were at a stage where wewere raising additional funding to take the

company to the next level and so we dis-cussed with them. We only wanted a long-term loan, but they were very impressedwith our company, and so they said theywere not only interested in giving us a loanlike a commercial bank, but they wantedto be a part of the company. So they re-quested for a minority stake … we got US$70 million from them—US$ 55 million indebt and US$ 15 million in equity.

Asked to narrate the story of the jour-ney that took him from priesthood to be-coming a steel tycoon, he reminisces: “Iwas born in 1962. A Hindu brahmin, I be-long to the priestly caste, and at a veryyoung age, I was working as a temple as-sistant in the Swaminarayan temple in Gu-jarat. In 1978, I was offered an opportunityto travel to Kenya and serve in a temple atKisumu, and being a young man eager totravel, I took the opportunity. As ateenager, my temple allowance of Ksh2,500 a month (about US$ 50 at the time)proved to be a sumptuous amount, andmore than enough to meet my basicneeds—food and shelter.”

“As time went on, there was family pres-sure on me to get married and start a fam-ily. So I got married in 1982, to a medicaldoctor from ika. Of course, once you getmarried you are not allowed to serve in thetemple, and so I had to leave my priestlycalling. When I le the temple, I had to finda means of earning to keep body and soultogether, and in 1982 I took up a job at ahardware shop and steel mill in Nairobi.While I was at the job, I was saving my in-come and learning all I could. In 1990,when the owners closed the company, I gota small place in Gikomba market inNairobi, where I started a small hardwareshop that I had christened Steel Center. Iran the business with my wife. As the busi-ness started picking up, I saw an opportu-nity for manufacturing moderately-priced

Indiaspora



roofing and fencing solutions. I went to thebank and discussed my plans with them,they gave me a loan and supported me. In1992 I put up a small steel rolling mill onAthi River. Back then, there were only oneor two steel rolling mills in Kenya, so it waslike a monopoly. e prices for steel bars,roofing sheets and other products were justridiculous and beyond the reach of mostKenyans, so many people couldn’t afford tobuild homes. I wanted to change this.”

“It was not easy. At the time it was diffi-cult because as a startup, we had little cashflow. Also, the big steel companies were al-ways intimidating us, trying to kill our busi-ness. We had come into the business with aplan to provide high quality products at af-fordable prices and make small margins.But the competition strove to frustrate us—whenever we sold a product for US$ 10,they would sell the same for US$ 9. Be-cause they were bigger and always pur-chased large volumes, they could negotiatewith suppliers to get raw materials cheaperand still make a profit, selling at a pricelower than ours. We couldn’t competewith them. Within 6 months, I was al-most on my knees. No one was buyingour products because they could get it ata cheaper price from our competitors.We had tons and tons of raw materialsand finished products just taking up spacein our warehouse. It was a nightmare.”

“It was difficult; I could not pay myworkers. I had about 60 of them at thetime. But they were very understanding.ey said to me: “Guru, don’t worry. Weknow the problem. We will work for you;don’t give us a full salary- just give usenough to run our house. Give us the restwhen you’ve made money. You may askhow come my workers were so nice to me… I used to directly work with my workersin the factory. We were a small companyso I didn’t have time to be the boss and

spend the whole day in a fancy office. I wasworking with them operating machinery,getting my hands dirty every day. My wifeused to drive the truck and deliver ourproducts to clients. So we interacted a lotwith our workers on an informal level,talking about family, sports and otherthings. We never for once saw them asworkers, we were family. And in that spirit,they were very accommodating and un-derstanding. ey all stayed with us evenin those dark times.”

“As fate would have it, soon aer thosesixth months, steel prices started to sky-rocket. It went double within a few weeks.Now, prices from US$ 300 per ton went toUS$ 600 a ton within a month. And we hadtons of raw materials and finished productswhich we had been unable to sell. We hadacquired at cheaper prices. So I sold mystock, made a very good profit and paid allour employees. We paid our loans to thebanks and we still had lots of money in ourreserves—enough to compete favorablywith the bigger guys. ose early employeeswere the best. Many of them are still work-

ing at Devki Group to this day, and we’vesent many of their children to school and insome cases even their kids are working withus today. So we are one big family.”

“e key to our success has been un-stinting hard work. Hard work plays a cru-cial role. But I’m also a spiritual man. Ibelieve God helps people. But if you workhard and you persevere and remain goodto people, the Universe will definitely re-ward you. Do not cheat your customers—always give them good quality products at

good prices. at has seen methrough thick and thin.”

Now that he has got a lot of money,one wonders how his spending willshape. Asked about this, he had this tosay: “I bought a helicopter—for mypersonal use and business. So I tooksome of the orphan kids I’ve adoptedin Athi River—about 56 of them. ebest part of having wealth is giving itaway. at’s how I spend money—spreading it as widely as possible andsupporting people. We support thou-sands of people. When our employeesare retiring, we finance them to starttheir own businesses. One of our formeremployees who retired from here nowruns a trading business that buys morethan US$ 1 million worth of goods from

us every year. We run many orphanagesand many schools in the most remote andvulnerable places of Kenya. We provide thechildren with food every day, and we payschool fees for many more students. We’veseen so many poor students who are intel-ligent but can’t afford to pay school fees,and when you look at the sums of moneyinvolved, there are very small mounts—like US$ 50 for a term. So we step in, andwe do this for so many schools—mostly inpoor rural communities. ere’s no betterway to spend money than to use it to en-rich the lives of those around you.” A


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“Iwas born to a simple farmingfamily in village Tajpur, DistMathura, UP. Aer completing

school, I chose to go for higher educationat the Veterinary College, Mathura—I ob-tained my B.VSc & AH, M.VSc, and myPh.D—all from Agra University. I was for-tunate enough to have been awarded aGold Medal and the University Medal formy academic diligence.

“In 1967 I joined the Department ofPhysiology at the University of New Eng-land, Armidale, New South Wales as a Re-search Fellow and retired from there in2000 as a Professor and the Head of theDepartment. During my working span ofover three decades at the University of NewEngland, I got the opportunity to makesome significant contributions through myteaching and my research—I have to mycredit some 144 research papers publishedin refereed scientific journals, and a bookon the “Red Blood Cells of DomesticMammals” that continues to be a valuablereference book in the field even today.

“I also managed to remain active inmany other aspects of the University com-munity life, being a member of severalcommittees including the Equal Opportu-nites Committee, the Academic Promo-tions Committee, the Post GraduateCommittee, the University Standing Com-mittee and the Academic Board. Aer re-tirement in 2000, I moved to Sydney where

our children were now based, and was ap-pointed a Honorary Associate in theSchool of Molecular Bioscience, Universityof Sydney in 2001, where I continue tohold that position and provide guidance toPost Graduate students there.

“My wife is a retired teacher, son is anOphthalmic Surgeon and Senior Lecturerat the University of New South Wales, andour daughter is a Dermatologist and Sen-

ior Lecturer at the Univer-sity of Sydney.”

Dr. Nihal Singh Agarfound inactivity aer retire-ment abhorrent, and founda solution for it by literally

plunging himself into community life andservice to the Diaspora. His passion forsocial and community service struck achord with the Indian community downunder, propelling him into numerousleadership roles even as his involvementgot deeper and deeper. To start with, hebecame one of the founder members ofthe Sri Venkateswara Temple Association.is Association has the credit of buildingthe first ever Hindu temple in Australia1985, characterised by its traditional In-dian architecture in Helensburgh nearSydney. e temple remains the nation’slargest, visited annually by thousands ofHindus and non-Hindus alike, and is an


22

Indiaspora

AN INSPIRING JOURNEYPROF. NIHAL SINGH AGARSeptagenerian Professor Nihal Singh Agar, originally an UP-ite frommathura who settled down under in Australia, is a multifaceted per-sonality who takes joy in rendering community service post his retire-ment from Academia. NRI Achievers reached out to him to piecetogether this brief profile of the mild professor for our readers. We aresure many would take inspiration from his journey and doings ...



integral part of the local as well as the re-gional community.

He also took up a founder membership ofthe Ganesh Visarjan Committee, which co-ordinates the major annual festival at theHindu temple in Helensburgh. is holy oc-casion brings together over two dozen differ-ent religious, cultural and linguistic groupsthat reflect the diversity of the Australian In-dian community, and again draws thou-sands to celebrations at the temple precinct.

Soon enough, his acumen in managingtemple and community affairs saw himtaking up the mantle of the founder pres-identship of the Vishwa Hindu Parisad ofAustralia (VHPA), and he served in thisposition from 1989-2005. VHPA was orig-inally formed with a view to teach Hinduscriptures in public schools, celebrateHindu religious festivals and hold annualfamily camps. Today, the organisation hasbranches in almost each state in Australia.

Dr. Agar, who though an Australian forall practical purposes, always had his heartand soul in India, and that love for thehomeland saw him setting up the EkalVidyalaya Foundation of Australia (EVFA) in 2004 as it’s Founder President. Inter-ventions that started with the sponsorshipof 35 Ekal schools then in 2004, have todayexpanded to extending EVFA sponsorshipto about 800 schools in Tribal and remoterural areas of India. Dr. Agar relinquishedhis presedentship in 2009 to take up the re-sponsibility for Chairing the Hindu Coun-cil of Australia (HCA), of which he remainsthe Chairman to date. HCA lends a unitedvoice for the followers of Hindu traditionsliving in Australia. It organizes, supportsand promotes peaceful and non-partisanactivities for a better understanding ofHindu traditions, philosophy and culture.

It is the recognized representative of theHindu community as a whole, dealing withall levels of Australian government—Local,State and Federal. e Council also engagesin religious and community-oriented activ-ities. It celebrates Deepavali in Sydney andat State and Federal Parliaments.

Dr. Nihal Agar is also a member of theAustralian Partnership of Religious Organ-isations since 2012, a committee that com-prises representatives of major faith bodiesas well as national-level multicultural andinterfaith community organisations. eNSW government, recognising his dy-namism and dedication to Indian commu-nity affairs, has nominated him to be on theIndian Ministerial Consultative Commit-tee. Set up in 2011 by NSW Government,this committee has 12 members from theIndian community. As the Chairman of itsEducation Sub-committee in 2012, Dr.Agar was responsible for the submissionsto provide facilities for Hindi language

teaching in NSW Primary schools. Anotherkey committee, the Sub-Continent Minis-terial Consultative Committee, also has Dr.Agar as the Federal Government nominee.is committee was set up in 2012 to pro-vide a valuable means of communicationbetween senior Government ministers andIndian Sub-Continent community leaders.

Dr. Agar is one of the 10 membersdrawn from South Asian communityleaders across Australia. Prof. NihalAgar is a founder President of the HinduEducation and Culture Centre as well.The Centre, officially launched in 2012, holds the mandate to uphold, preserve and promote core-values of humanity and address growing reli-gious, social and cultural needs of thepresent as well as the future generationsof Hindus in Australia. Established inSydney, it works for inter-faith andinter-cultural harmony and peacewithin the wider community.

Dr. Nihal Singh Agar’s multidimen-sional approach to community work, andhis active involvement in the various in-terfacing organisations that seek to pro-mote harmonious multiculturalism led tothe Australian Government awarding himthe ‘Order of Australia’ (AM) for “signifi-cant service to the Hindu Community inAustralia, to the fostering of cross-culturalcooperation and networking, and to med-ical education.”

NRI Achievers Bureau(With input from Dr. APS Narvar, socio-legal activist)

A

Ex. Deputy PM Devilal & Ex. Railway Minister at Prof ’s. home

Realpolitik



T hree weeks into their relay fast, theex-servicemen have now receivedmorale-boosting support from

India’s most known anti-corruption cru-sader Anna Hazare, who had shaken upthe country three years ago with his fast-unto-death. Within hours of Anna’s an-nouncement that he will consider joiningthe relay hunger strike, the Governmentswung into action, with Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar losing no time to assureex-servicemen that their long-standingdemand for One-Rank-One-Pension(OROP) would soon be met. “ere willbe good news soon” were his exact words.

ere were no premature celebrations.e relay hunger strike was not called off.e battle-scarred men in uniform knowbetter than taking verbal assurances at facevalue as successive governments in the pasthad made similar promises. And sureenough, even weeks aer Parrikar’s pledge,the veterans were still waiting for the goodnews. “Why is the government taking somuch time ?” they ask. “If the matter hasbeen cleared by all the departments, thenwhat is coming in the way of OROP beingimplemented ?” Observers say there is goodreason for the vets to be skeptical. Duringthe 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign BJP

Realpolitik

ONE-RANK-ONE-PENSIONTHE LONG WAIT

ey also serve those who only stand and wait. Whatever the original significance of this line from John Milton’s poem “On His Blindness”, it has taken on an entirely newmeaning for retired soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Indian Armed Forces. Aer having served the country gallantly and loyally, our men in uniform have been waitingpatiently for the past 25 years for a rational pension regime. But aer years of standingand waiting in vain, in mid-June this year they decided to sit-in on an indefinite relayhunger strike at Jantar Mantar, the national capital Delhi’s designated venue for publicprotest. Raman Swamy pens his thoughts for the readers of NRI Achievers ...

Realpolitik

had promised that implementation ofOROP was top priority. Since then, its Min-isters have periodically reiterated their gov-ernment’s commitment but it is only aerAnna Hazare’s letter to the PM demandingimmediate implementation and his hintthat he intends to join the street level agita-tion that fresh promises are being made thatthe matter would be resolved soon.

e crux of the problem is that pensionsof retired armed forces personnel is basedon Pay Commission recommendations inforce at the time of their retirement. If im-plemented, the OROP formula would en-sure that all retirees with the same rankand length of service would get the samepension irrespective of when they retire.At present, those who retired before 2006,the year of the last Pay Commission, actu-ally receive much less than even their jun-iors who retired aer that year. us, aHavildar (NCO) who retired earlier withover 20 years of service may receive lesspension than a soldier who retired laterwith only 15 years of service. As an exam-ple for the officer cadre, the pension of apost-2012 retiree Colonel was INR 35,841,whereas a pre-2006 retiree Major Gen-eral’s pension was INR 26,700. ese dis-parities are grossly unfair because thesoldier is retired compulsorily at an agedepending upon his rank, and his pensionis fixed upon the pay according to the PayCommission in force at retirement.

ere is more than meets the eye to thefoot dragging over OROP. Unlike civilians,veterans of the Army, Navy and Air Forcenormally refrain from going public on is-sues regarding their own rights and enti-tlements, given their years of service in astrict disciplinarian environment underthe Armed Forces Acts of Parliament,which expressly deny them the fundamen-tal rights of freedom of speech and expres-sion. However, they seem to have now

reached the end of their tether. Delay tac-tics of politicians and bureaucrats over theyears have pushed them to the limits oftheir endurance, patience and tolerance.

e demand for One-Rank-One-Pen-sion was first raised a quarter century agoin the 1980s. Nothing moved until theCongress party promised OROP in its2004 poll manifesto, but the UPA govern-ment rejected the demand in December2008. In protest, Veterans returned over22,000 gallantry, war and service medalsto the President of India, along with sym-bolically signing a letter in 2009 with theirown blood. Since then, under the bannerof the Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Movement(IESM), veterans have been periodicallytaking delegations to the Ministry of Defence, writing letters to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and hold-ing peaceful and dignified rallies and public demonstrations.

In 2013, the Standing Committee of Par-liament on Defence studied and acceptedthe concept and definition of OROP. It waspart of the UPA budget in February 2014and was reflected in an executive order tothat effect the same month, but saw no fur-

ther action with imminent general elec-tions looming ahead. During the poll cam-paign, Narendra Modi, then the BJP’sprime ministerial candidate, made a firmpromise at a Veterans’ Rally at Rewari inHaryana, that if elected to office he wouldensure implementation of OROP. Aer theBJP-NDA government came to power,OROP was mentioned in the budgetspeech in July 2014, and the Minister ofState for Defence confirmed it in the RajyaSabha last December. Again, in March thisyear, during Modi’s visit to frontline troops on the Siachen glacier, he reiteratedhis solemn assurance that the OROP demand would be fulfilled. More than four months have passed since, but stillnothing concrete has surfaced. Nobodyseems to know why the government is hesitant to take the final leap and fix atime-frame for implementation.

e core issue is that Armed Forces vet-erans who have retired earlier receivemuch less pension than those who retiredmore recently. Many outside the militaryargue that there is nothing special aboutthis aberration—similar situations happenin other government jobs too. So why are



the Veterans making such a fuss, they ask.To answer this perfectly valid question oneneeds to take note of some little-knownfacts concerning the military, at least in sofar as service, retirement and pension areconcerned. Only a detailed examination ofthe problem can lend clarity.

Firstly, Armed Forces personnel arecompulsorily retired at early ages, and re-tirement age depends upon rank. Early re-tirement is unavoidable if we are to “keepour armies young.” Jawans not promoted toNCO or JCO ranks retire aer just 15 to 17years of service when aged 35 to 37 years.ose promoted as NCOs or JCOs retire atage 45 to 47 years. Retirement age for Offi-cers is connected with rank as well—50 forMajor, 52 for Lt Colonel, 54 for Colonel, 56for Brigadier, 58 for Maj General, 60 for LtGeneral, and 62 for a full General, notingthat promotions are pincered between per-formance and severely limited vacanciesgiven the rigid pyramidal rank structure.at is why, of all Armed Forces retirees,soldiers constitute about 90%.

Secondly, a soldier who was retired, say,in 1986 would receive pension on the basisof his salary according to the Fourth PayCommission, while the pension of a sol-dier who was retired aer the Sixth PayCommission (20 years later) would beconsiderably higher because successivePay Commissions fix salaries according tothe rising cost indices.

irdly, compulsory retirement aerjust 15-17 years of service at age 35 yearsmeans a soldier is effectively denied salaryearnings of 25 years which other govern-ment employees (including police forces)receive as they retire at age 60. With neg-ligible scope for lateral entry into govern-ment service even for soldiers who retirewithout disability attributable to militaryservice, he is forced to seek employmentto supplement his meagre pension at a

time when his family and other commit-ments are just beginning to spiral. is,along with lower pension of earlier re-tirees, is a combination that makes fornear-destitution of a soldier who hasserved in hard conditions defending thenation. For comparison, a CRPF police-man retires at 57 years age, and CRPF au-thorities are pressing for retirement age tobe increased to 60 years.

Fourthly, there are huge differences inmilitary officer cadre vis-a-vis IAS andIPS. Consider the rank of Maj Gen, towhich only 0.8% officers get elevated toaer about 30 years of service, due to thecommand-control-discipline rank struc-ture of the army. e equivalent rank inthe IAS is a Joint Secretary (JS), which100% of IAS cadres attain aer merely 18years of service, and about 80% of IPScadre aer 20 years. It is this glaring un-fairness in parity in addition to early re-tirement age which is at the root of theOROP demand. Further, and even moreunfairly, the Jawan is equated with a ClassD government employee.

ere has been much discussion regard-ing what OROP would cost the exchequer.Many have argued it would be unafford-able, and further that other governmentservants would also start demandingOROP if a precedent is set. However Armyveterans maintain that OROP cannot bewithheld from them just because someothers whose conditions of service andpromotions are entirely different, also de-mand OROP. According to available infor-mation, on 17th February this year, theMoD sent the OROP final proposal forINR 8,300 crores to the Finance Ministry.Adding this INR 8,300 crores to the exist-ing INR 43,000 crores of Defence pensionswill take the total up to INR 51,300 croresper annum, which is clearly not as unaf-fordable as is being claimed. Veterans

argue that when the BJP-NDA budgetcould allow INR 5.72 lakh crores as “rev-enue foregone” to provide concessions oncorporate tax, commercial tax and customsduties to business houses for one year, hes-itating at spending less than one-tenth of iton soldiers who have given the best yearsof their lives for the nation’s defence was adeliberate slight indeed.

e PM recently made a remark thatOROP was not clearly defined. is hasaroused doubts among veterans whetherthe IAS Lobby had sown this doubt inModi’s mind, and this suspicion gains cre-dence indeed given the composition ofsuccessive Central Pay Commissions andalso the manner of functioning of theMoD’s Department of Ex-Servicemen’sWelfare. Truth is that a large section of thecivilian public, including legislators, areignorant of soldiers’ tough working con-ditions—early retirement, non-family sta-tions and long separations, continuallife-threatening stressful scenarios, riskson-the-ground and in-the-field, high ca-sualty rates, strict disciplinary regimeunder military law, denial of fundamentalrights, yada yada. e bigger tragedy isthat most civilians are not even interestedin knowing, let alone understanding.

All this could change if Anna Hazare, anex-serviceman himself who spent 15 yearsas an Army driver and miraculously sur-vived two close shaves with death duringthe 1965 Indo-Pak war, actually joins thehunger strike at Jantar Mantar. e Vets arekeeping their fingers crossed, with manylooking forward to the long wait being fi-nally over, and some even hoping againsthope that the PM will announce OROPimplementation on Independence Dayfrom the ramparts of the Red Fort.

e author is a veteran journalist,political commentator & satirist.



Realpolitik

A



Indian Achievers

“LETS’ TURN PROBLEMSINTO OPPORTUNITIES”DR. RAVINDRA PASTOR, IAS

So far in our segment ‘IndianAchievers,’we had focused onlyupon compatriots from the busi-ness community, like entrepre-neurs, academicians turnedbusinessmen, corporate headhonchos and the like. ismonth though, we take a breakfrom this tradition of sorts thatwe seem to have set, to look atpersona who has made lifemeaningful for millions throughgovernment service. In thispiece, we turn the focus to gov-ernance and rural development,and feature an Indian Adminis-trative Service officer who hasdedicated his life to improvingthe lives of people he is to gov-ern. Presenting to you Dr.Ravindra Pastor of the MadhyaPradesh cadre, whose forte is,simply put, the upliment of theless privileged through extend-ing to them social entrepreneur-ship development, mentoring,motivational speaking, regionaland micro level planning, rural business development,rural marketing, skill develop-ment, organising job fairs & placements, nurturing pro-ducer companies/cooperatives,creating activity based SHGs, micro-finance and agri-business development …

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When our editorial team methim at Ujjain, where he is theDivisional Commissioner,

and asked him to put into a nutshell whathe has come to be, he was pithy withwords in describing himself: “I am just an-other simple civil servant who has beenworking for the last 34 years with the Gov-ernment of Madhya Pradesh. I have maderural development and micro-level plan-ning, entrepreneurship development,rural marketing, sustainable developmentand integrated natural resource manage-ment my primary areas of interest, as thisis where a civil administration can renderits best service to its populace.”

True to his description, he has indeedbeen an administrator par excellence, andhas been the recipient of many an accoladefor his path-breaking work. For instance,Dr. Pastor, while working as the RewaCommissioner, was conferred the WorldBank’s prestigious South Asia Vice-Presi-

dent Team Award for District Poverty Ini-tiatives Programme (DPIP), for outstand-ing work in anti-poverty programmeswhile he was the Project Coordinator ofthe DPIP. ere are many such citationsthat are possible, which we skip mention-ing here, as almost all of them are alreadyin the public domain—and the internet isyour friend. So seek them out !

Dr. Pastor is a bit of an unusual civil ser-vant, whose demeanour, body languageand actions go starkly against the stereo-typical image of a sarkari babu that pre-vails in the minds and visualisations of anamorphous public. Unusual in the sensethat he takes his tasks very seriously in-deed, and goes about his work with fulldedication, firmly rooted in his belief thatthere exists no better platform in India fordoing positive work for society than fromwithin the government.

We asked Dr. Pastor to tell us how comehe got into the fields he is today passionate

about. His reply was as succinct and terseas his earlier responses: “It was in fact acarry-over from my childhood—the wishto work for rural development, skill en-hancement and rural micro management.Seen in retrospect, it gives me immensesatisfaction. I will explain it to you withthe example of Tulsi Das ji. When he waswriting out the Ramayana, someone askedhim for whom he was writing it. Tulsi Dasji said—I write it for myself … but if any-one benefits out of reading, it isn’t reallyany of my concern … . So in exactly thesame way, I am doing what I passionatelyfeel about in the rural sector, as it gives megreat satisfaction doing these tasks I haveset for myself well. And yes, if people arebenefiting, it is ‘sone pe suhaga’.”

“I have also worked stead fastedly for thedevelopment of opportunities for poor, un-educated village ladies. To turn them intoearning hands, I had kick started a schemecalled—‘Akshar Agarbatti’ in the Panna



Indian Achievers

district of MP. Under this scheme, we ulti-mately managed generate sustainable em-ployment for more than 42000 women.Even today, if you go there you will findthousands of women earning their liveli-hoods from this activity.”

ere is another side to Ravindra Pastorthat his hobbies, other creative activitiesand his non-domain work tell us about.He has over time, evolved as a writer andpoet, a script-writer, film director, editorand actor. He is also keen to connect withthe youth, and takes time out to go to in-stitutions of higher learning, where his in-spiring lectures motivate tomorrow’sleaders of India.

His prolific writing habit has seen manyof his articles being published in almost allmajor newspapers and magazines of Mad-hya Pradesh. His writings, reached tonews agencies by his friends also have seenpublication worldwide. On the film-mak-ing front, his much acclaimed documen-tary on the elections, called ‘SAHUJICHALE CHUNAV KARANE’ was one inwhich he has written the script and acted.

Dr. Pastor, as the Divisional Commis-sioner for Ujjain, helms the administrativeteam set up by the state government to

ready the city and execute all preparationsfor the 2016 Kumbh, called Simhasth. Uj-jain is one of the four hosts for the KumbhMela, due to its location, its ‘kark rekha’ …prior to Greenwich becoming the primemeridian, 0° passed through Ujjain. Eventoday all Indian ‘panchang’ (almanacs)continue to consider Ujjain as 0° deshan-tar. e Great Simhasth Kumbh Melaevent is based on the celestial line-up ofplanets and the signs of the zodiac, whichoccurs every 12 years. Simhastha is thegreat bathing festival of Ujjain. It is cele-brated in a cycle of twelve years whenJupiter enters the Leo sign of the zodiac,known as Simha Rashi. Ceremonialbathing in the holy waters of Kshipra be-gins with the full moon day of the Chaitramonth and continues throughout the suc-ceeding month of Vaishakh, culminatingon tenth full moon day.

At Ujjain, this will begin from 22nd Apriland end on the 21st of May, 2016. With es-timations suggesting that around 5 crorepeople will converge on Ujjain during thismonth long Mela next year, the govern-ment of Madhya Pradesh has chosen tostart gearing up for the event starting rightaway, and Dr. Pastor, as the Divisional

Commissioner, is squarely in charge. “We are aware of the magnitude of the

event, and accordingly we have alreadystarted preparing everything. We have de-marcated approx. 3500 hectares of land,with a budget of INR 2500 cr. At any giventime, we will ensure that around 20 lakhpeople can stay, in reasonable comfort.CCTV cameras, proper transport, eateries,toilets, bathrooms, hospitals, water plants,temporary police stations, electrification,45,000 dug-pit toilets and 1000 bio toilets,etc., are in the reckoning. We would likepeople to know that we are taking care ofeach and everything. Almost 8 km longGhats are being developed. Work onwidening of roads, building of flyovers,enhancing security, availability of volun-teers, etc. is all in full swing. We are alsotaking every possible care that no unto-ward incidence happens and everythinggoes peacefully.”

Rajeev Gupta

e author is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience.

Had been associated with many Electronic Channels before starting

NRI Achievers magazine.



Indian Achievers

DR. PASTOR, WHILE WORK-ING AS THE REWA COMMIS-

SIONER, WAS CONFERRED THEWORLD BANK’S PRESTIGIOUSSOUTH ASIA VICE-PRESIDENTTEAM AWARD FOR DISTRICT

POVERTY INITIATIVES PROGRAMME (DPIP), FOR OUTSTANDING WORK IN

ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMMES WHILE HE

WAS THE PROJECT COORDINATOR OF THE DPIP

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Rajeev Tyagi

e author is an experienced photojournalist who oncein writes with some flair in accompaniment to his visuals.



Metaphysical Musings

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Did You Know?



CHATURANGA AKA CHESSChess is considered to be the most sold

board game in the world. It is said to haveoriginated as Chaturanga in the Gupta Em-pire before 6th century. “Chatur” mean fourand “Anga” means part. Chaturanga thusmeans the 4 divisions, namely infantry, cav-alry, elephantry and chariotry. ese formsare represented by modern day Pawn,

Knight, Bishop (earlier elephant) and rook(earlier Chariot) respectively. e Chatu-ranga is also said to have come from an ear-lier game of the Kushan Empire (50 BCE –200 CE), from the region we now know asAfghanistan. Chaturanga was commonlypronounced as ‘Chatarang’ by the Persianswho took it to their native land. When theArabs overran Persia, they started pro-

nouncing it ‘Shataranj’ due to the lack of‘Ch’ and ‘ang’ sounds/syllables in Arabic.e word ‘Shah’ (Persian for King) wasbeing used for ‘Check’ and ‘Shah-Maat’(King is Helpless) was used to denote‘Checkmate’. e Words Shatranj, Shah,Sheh, Sheh-Maat are still used in areas thePersians once ruled, or wherever languagesderived from Arabic or Persian are spoken,

CHATURANGA, CHAUPER AUR PACHEESIWe have grown up playing Chess, Snakes & Ladders (Chutes & Ladders) and Ludo. Have you ever wonderedhow these games came to existence? We tend to take common items for granted, even when we are aware thatevery item in our day-to-day life has some reason for its existence. I have been working on these subjects forover a decade now, and I realise that if we dig deeper into our lifestyle, we will learn some eye-popping facts.And if these facts are arranged and arrayed properly for study, they can surely help us live healthy and wonderful lives. Our subject this month is about three of the most common board games of the world.



Heritage

including India. Chaturanga travelled toEurope and name transformations kepthappening. North African moors pro-nounced Shataranj as Shaterej, which inSpanish became Acedrex, Axedrez and Aje-drez. Let’s have a look at this game’s journeyin meme-space …

Chatur + Anga = Chaturanga (India),Shataranj (Persian), Shaterej (African),Acederex/Axedrex/Ajedrez (Spanish),Xadrez (Portuguese), and Zatrikion(Greek). In Europe: Shaah/Shahi (Persianfor King), Scacc(h)i (Latin), Scacchi (Ital-ian), Escacs (Catalan), Echecs (French),Schaken (Dutch), Schach (German),Szachy (Polish), Šahs (Latvian), Skak(Danish), Sjakk (Norwegian), Schack(Swedish), Šakki (Finnish), Šah (SouthSalvic languages), Sakk (Hungarian), andShah-Mati (Russian). From the namescommonly used in Europe, the modernday derivative ‘Chess’ was established.While the board games that have been re-covered from excavations in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were having 100 ormore squares, the later-period boardswere Ashtapada (Eight sections as in mod-ern day Chess – 8 x 8 squares).

I propose to soon come up with a de-tailed article on Chess, explaining thejourney and how the ancient pieces andrules were transformed to the new ones.But for now, let’s talk about other commongames that all of us as kids loved.

GYAN CHAUPER AKA SNAKES & LADDERS

India's ancient education system wasevolved and developed enough to teachpupils using scientific devices. One of theimportant philosophies in Hindu and Jainatraditions is ‘Moksha’ (Salvation). It re-volves around the contrast of Karma (Des-tiny) and Kaama (Desire). Laddersrepresent virtues like generosity, faith and

humility, with which you get chances to el-evate yourself. e snakes on other handare vices or ‘Kaama’ or desires like lust,anger or crimes. e top of the board in an-cient India was covered with images of Godand angels, while the rest of the bordersconsisted mainly of worldly elements likepeople, animals and flora. e Moral of thegame was that by doing good deeds, one at-tains Moksha and reaches heaven faster,whereas with vices, one tends to fall backand is mired in the cycle of rebirth. isgave this game its name ‘Moksha Pattam’.e jain version became popular withname ‘Gyaan Chauper’. In Telugu this gameis known as Vaikunthapalli (Vaikunth =heaven, pali = dice board) or ParamapadaSopana Patam (Ladder to Salvation).

Chauper literally means a board or set-ting. Another game that became morepopular by the name Chauper was alsoknown as Chauser. is game had aprominent role in the epic of Mahabharta,where the Pandavas lost everything toKauravas, including their wife, in the gameof Chausar. Typically, this form of Chauper

is a betting game, where you put moneyand material on stake. Some claim thatChauser is the predecessor of Chess, whichis wrong. Actually, Chauser was adopted bycommoners, who turned it into Pacheesi.

PACHEESI AKA LUDOPacheesi is the cheaper version of Chau-

per/Chauser. While the Chauser wasplayed with real money, this was playedwith sea shells (Kaudis), the unofficial cur-rency of ancient times. is game becamepopular amongst poor people since thebeginning of Common Era. is game isalso depicted in the caves of Ajanta.Games played with dice were popularsince the Harappan times. Vedic textsmention of the design and usage of vari-ous dice. Pacheesi literally translates to‘game of twenty-five’. In Pacheesi, thehighest bid was of getting a 5 on dice,which was valued at 25 (Pachees).

Mughal Emperor Akbar was so fond ofChausar, that he had a huge setup built inthe courtyard of his palace at FatehpurSikri. He deployed peasants to act aspawns. His game has been depicted beau-tifully in his autobiography ‘Ain-i-Akbari’by Abu Fazl, his minister and friend.

e Cross and Circle is a board gamedesign used for Race Games across theglobe. Another version of the Cross andCircle is Cruciform, which is the based onthe pattern of Pacheesi. Cross-Circle andCruciform date back to 3500 BC. It is alsoassociated with the times of King Bharataof ancient India.

Each game derived from this designhad a message associated with it. Nexttime, when you play one, do rememberthe underlying message.

Vikramjit Singh Rooprai

e writer is a self-made IT entrepreneur,who is also a passionate heritage & history buff.

A

Cineppets

Red Chillies Entertainments Private Ltd & Rohit ShettyProductions’ film DILWALE is set to release on 18th De-cember 2015. The film is currently being shot in Bulgariaand has locked into the Christmas weekend for its grand re-lease. With Shahrukh Khan and Rohit Shetty coming backfor the second time after Chennai Express, DILWALE hasalready created the much needed buzz and is one of themost anticipated films of the year. Directed by Rohit Shetty,DILWALE is a family entertainer starring Kajol, ShahrukhKhan, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon. So get ready foryear-end celebrations with Dilwale.

Mumbai Bureau

A



The actress recorded the song in 20 minutes flat surprisingher peers. Kareena Kapoor is all set to come out in hersexy avatar as Mary, shot by Karan Malhotra for BROTH-ERS. The song “Mary Sau Taka Teri Hai” is all set to be thenext Chikni Chameli. Karan Malhotra says that he andKaran both felt that Kareena would be great for the num-ber. In AGNEEPATH the song came at a very crucial stageand this time as well in BROTHERS it will come at a cru-cial moment in the film. We will get to see only SiddharthMalhotra in the song while Akshay won’t be seen in theframe. The director further says that he can’t reveal moreabout the song as it comes at a crucial moment of the film.

Remo D’Souza, one of today'smost sought after choreogra-phers and now a director, ismuch in demand now after hisrecent release ABCD 2. BhushanKumar has signed a two-filmdeal with him. Remo andBhushan have earlier worked to-gether during the pop-albumdays and are keen to be workingon a full-fledged film for the firsttime. Bhushan, who loves exper-imenting with different genres ofcinema, is keen to explore morewith Remo. Both of them are yetto finalize on the script for thetwo films though.

BHUSHAN KUMAR SIGNSTWO-FILM DEAL WITHREMO D’SOUZA

KAREENA KAPOOR ALL SET TO COME OUT IN HER MARY AVATAR

Manoj Bajpayee has taken a step to-wards promoting cinema, by getting as-sociated with a unique online portalwhich is solely dedicated to the classiccult movies, documentaries andshort films of Indian cinema in alllanguages. Manoj is knownfor his unconventionalchoices of films and has al-ways given a chance toemerging talents by work-ing in their movies nowgives them a chance togrow further.

MANOJ BAJPAYEE IS VERY PASSIONATEABOUT GREAT CINEMA

DILWALE SET TO RELEASE ON 18TH DECEMBER

Silver Screen

How would you describe your role in DRISHYAM ?

In DRISHYAM, I play a simple run-of-the-mill common man. e film is allabout what extent a normal human beingwill go to defend his beloved family, whenhe is pushed into a corner by circum-stances that are just beyond his control.Is it true that in this movie yours is not anaction-packed role as is the norm ?

The guy I play in DRISHYAM is men-tally strong and beats the system with hisbrand of intelligence. A lot of people whohave seen the rushes of the film tell methat earlier as well I have acted in manyfilms where I have not had an actionpacked role, like in Prakash Jha’s GANGA

JAL 2, Ramgopal Varma’s COMPANY.How confident are you about theprospects of the film at the box office ?

e film boasts of a fabulous and amaz-ing script by Joseph, who had directed theoriginal Malayalam version starring Mo-hanlal in the lead role played by me. Suchfilms may not open with great collections,but thanks to word of mouth they oen dowell at the box office.Did you make it a point to see the original version to see how Mohanlal orKamal Haasan had acted in them ?

I didn’t see either the Malayalam originalDRISHYAM or the Tamil version PA-PANASAM because one feels pressurizedonly if one feels that one is competing with ei-

ther Mohanlal or Kamal Haasan. Maybe if alesser and weaker actor had acted in the orig-inal version, I may have liked to see the filmjust to know what not to do. Mohanlal andKamal Haasan are seasoned thespians whohave been around for four decades or more.You mean to say that you were notscared of being compared with them.

ere is absolutely no question of beingcompared with either Mohanlal or for thatmatter Kamal Haasan because they arevery versatile actors.Why did you not ask Jeetu Joseph, whohad directed the original Malayalam aswell as the Tamil versions to direct thisHindi version ?

It was entirely a call taken by Viacom to



Jyoti Venkatesh, our bollywood maven, buttonholed Ajay Devgn, the intense actor of Hindi cinema to elicit pithy responses from him about how he makes it a point not to become the character he plays in a film, before or after the take. NRI Achievers brings you excerpts of thatconversation Jyoti Venkatesh had with the actor recently …

“YOUNG ACTORS TODAY

EVEN DON’TKNOW HINDI”

— AJAY DEVGN

Silver Screen



ask Nishikant Kamat to direct the Hindi ver-sion. ough it was for the first time that Iwas acting with Nishikant, I was happy thatI was in safe hands as Nishi has the kind ofsensibility one needs to helm a project likeDRISHYAM. In fact, the Hindi remake is atribute to the original director Jeetu Joseph.Did you cancel dates you had committedfor your own directorial venture SHIVAAY in order to act in DRISHYAM?

I didn’t cancel the shooting of my ownfilm SHIVAAY in order to act in DR-ISHYAM. It so happened that there weresome technical glitches that compelled usto postpone the launch of SHIVAAY andwhen Viacom approached me to be partof DRISHYAM, I immediately agreed todo the film.What is the status of SHIVAAY?

SHIVAAY is slated for a 2016 release.We unveiled the SHIVAAY poster to ouraudiences just to create an awareness ofthe project. And as far as SHIVAAY isconcerned, we are working like in Hollywood, where people are not at all ina hurry to release their films.In what way is the Hindi remake different from the south versions ?

e Hindi remake is more urban unlikethe original southern versions. We have infact trimmed the Hindi version by editingout all the superficial scenes from the orig-inals to make it slicker and offer an en-hanced drama to audiences. eMalayalam and Tamil versions were threehours long, the Hindi remake is just twoand a half hours long.For the first time Tabu and you are in the other side of the fence. How wasthe experience ?

Tabu is a childhood friend of mine andthere is a certain comfort zone between us.e role of the cop I played in SINGHAMor SINGHAM RETURNS is completely dif-ferent from the role of the cop Tabu playing

in DRISHYAM. Tabu today is also a moremature and intense actor than she used tobe. In DRISHYAM, Tabu is excellent as sheplays a role which has many gray shades.How was your experience of workingwith a direction like Nishikant for the first time?

Nishikant is a director who is so sortedout and clear and not at all over the top.Nishi knew exactly what he wanted fromhis actors. I do what I want to do on thesets aer I discuss the scene with my di-rector and put forth my own point of view,because film-making is team work. I donot like to do rehearsals. I read my linestwice, try to understand the meaning and

only then make it a point to face the cam-era. If you are okay with the knowledgeand know the meaning, it isn’t all thattough to do a film, though unfortunatelythe younger generation of actors todaydoes not even know Hindi—they aremostly conversant in English.How did the character that you played inDRISHYAM drain you off as a person?

I do not at all become the character that I play in a film before the take or for that matter aer I give the take in frontof the camera.

e writer is a well-known & established film critic.

A

Travelogue



MY EARLY DAYS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

BHIMBETKAYou could be here too!

Surely from two different eras Earlier artists had preferred using white as their colour of choice

The rock formation looks like a dinosaur

Travelogue

It was 793 years ago. I wanted to get away from themundane fighting and hunting that my species wasperpetually engaged in. I took off in search of a quiet

place that could provide an outlet to vent the artist in me. I walked up the hill and stood in front of the gravelly

pathway that led to a cluster of rocks. ose rockslooked inviting. I slowly and purposefully strode downto the massive formation.

I trudged up and found myself at a vantage. As Igazed down, I found the vast greens and browns of theplains below underlining the blue skies. Here’s when Ispotted a giant tortoise. Careful observation revealed itto be yet another nature-craed rock-wonder that re-sembled a tortoise.

e view did it for the ‘creative me’—I decided that itwas going to be my home for some time. As I venturedaround the narrow burrows carved by times in thosesandstone rocks, I realised that those had turned intoortho-quartzite. I did not know then that this placewould later be called Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.

I placed my leather satchel on a ledge in a cave andpulled out my cleaver and axe. Suddenly, I heard thesibilant sound normally produced by a slithering snake.I threw my cleaver hard in the direction of the soundand heard the reptile slinking away.

It will be dark soon. I stepped out to scrounge aroundfor some food. e trees were bent double with fruit. Itook what I needed and prepared to retire. e connect-ing cavity between two caves seemed the best option asit gave me an alternate exit in case of danger. I decidedthat will be my bedroom for some time.

At the crack of dawn, the sunrays penetrated the caveopening and bathed me in a luminous glow. Aer lazingaround for a while, I finally galvanised myself into action.

Morning routine, followed by a quick hunt and break-fast, and I was all set for my photography (or drawing bylight). Caves would not get any light aer sunset; so myphotography will have to happen when there was light !

I surveyed the area and realised that many before me



Photography = Drawing by light. I Embarkupon this journey as I time travel throughBhimbetka Rock Shelters and take a slight lib-erty of using the above-cited definition of ‘Pho-tography’ to suit this time travel ...

As I arrived, I noticed these

ASI's own way of disfiguring the heritage



had found similar inspiration here andhad stopped by to create works of art overthe centuries. e caves around had aplethora of paintings (or photographs, asI am wont to call them).

e colours used in these photographswere mostly white and red, though insome rare cases, yellow and green had alsobeen used. I favoured the red colour. Andthat’s what I would be using.

e earth around provided enough in-gredients for my paint requirements andthe tree extracts made sure the paintwould last. Collecting all I needed, I mademy way to my chosen studio.

For the next few years, my routine wasto get up, gather food, find a place in thecave cluster where I would do my photog-raphy or drawing, take breaks whenever Iwas thirsty and go across to the wateringhole, work some more, and retire whenlight would fade or when I would feeltired, whichever was earlier.

Soon enough, I found my work embrac-ing that of my unknown ancestors from

fourteen millennia before me. I was mak-ing sure that it must harmonise with thethemes created by those before me. I stayedwith depiction of lifestyle—hunting, fight-ing, gathering, taming, riding, etc.

Now I was old and could not paint anymore. I knew soon enough, a day wouldcome when I may not get up any more.ese last few days, I went around admiringwhat I had created and embellishing thosepaintings that needed some more work.

And one fine day, I slept. I slept for along time—in fact, for 781 years. When Iwoke up, I realised I was still there—ex-cept instead of walking, I had arrived in acar and instead of a cleaver and an axe, Iwas carrying a 5D Mark III. e rock for-mation seemed shaped like a dinosaur.

Now, instead of using cave rock as the surface, I was using a silicon sensor, but the photographer in me stilllived. I did what a photographer must. Ishot the works of art I had created almost8 centuries back.

I did that with a determination of shar-

ing my work with the world all over again.I knew that by this time, this place was al-ready a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ialso knew that this status had been be-stowed upon it, as it was a site of continu-ous man-landscape interaction over manymillennia—almost 15 of them, actually.

Having reached here from Satpura, enroute Sanchi, I realised this time around,I will be photographing not one, but twoUNESCO heritage sites in a single day - a

marked departure from those times 8 cen-turies ago when I hung around this placefor what seemed like a lifetime.

You could also be photographing here.You just need to carry your camera, getto Bhopal by rail or by air, take a trans-port down to Bhimbetka, which is a mere45 kilometers away and shoot to yourheart’s content.

Do that sometime soon as some ofthese paintings are fading faster than thehaze on the horizon. And do so before ASIdecides to further sully them with theirown brand of painting in black colour—ostensibly to mark the cave shelter num-bers. Despite all their good intentions, it islikely that you would find it as unwelcomeas I did, since it interferes with the sanctityof our age-old heritage.

Ajay Sood

e author is an accomplished travelphotographer and travelogue writer who

has been to more than 20 countries insearch of the unusual.

A

Pho

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: Aja

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They had depicted the lifestyle of their times

A giant tortoise carefully crafted by nature Discovered a lot of intricate art

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