Before Goa became a commercialised tourist destination, it was known for its "hippie culture".

Explaining how and why the cultural movement started in Goa, Prateek Dham in a piece for Tripoto, writes "1970s was the time when the hippies had taken fully-grown wings and started migrating to freer pastures in order to attain what they were eternally looking for – salvation."

And Goa proved to be just the right place for them. 

Not only were Goans accommodating of all cultures, the Indian government also did not oppose the influx because it was contributing to the local economy in an otherwise turbulent economic time in the country, he adds. 

The Facebook page "I love GOA" recently posted pictures of Goa taken in the 1970s.

The photographs, with an old world charm to them, gives a peek into an extremely colourful and interesting era gone by. 

You can view the full album here.

It's been 125 years since Argentinian researcher Juan Vucetich developed a classification system to record the identity of prisoners using their fingerprints, as DW reported. The first murder case was solved using the technique a year later.

Here are some of our favorite crime novels that would have turned out quite a bit differently if it weren't for the invention of fingerprinting.

1. Mark Twain: "Life on the Mississippi" (1883)

The first literary mention of fingerprints is found in Mark Twain's memoir, "Life on the Mississippi." Published in Boston in 1883, the book's narrative looks back at the author's early life working as a steamboat pilot along the Mississippi River before and after the Civil War. In it, he details how a bloodied fingerprint helped solve a murder trial - well before forensic science adopted the technique and made it a commonplace tool in investigations.

2. Arthur Conan Doyle: "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1903)

The world's most recognized master detective in fiction, Sherlock Holmes, is renowned for his keen observations as much as he is for his love of breakthrough Victorian technology. Doyle's character keeps inventing new gadgetry to put together the pieces of the crime puzzles he is faced with. Going beyond fingerprints, the tales of Sherlock Holmes also feature cigarette ashes and footprints as evidence. The adventures of the detective have been retold in numerous films over the years, culminating most recently in the British TV series "Sherlock" featuring Benedict Cumberbatch.

By Kaushik LM

“Kuttrame Thandanai” is a sea change from “Kaaka Muttai”, director Manikandan’s debut film. This time around, he dishes out an engaging crime drama.

Starring Vidharth, Aishwarya Rajesh, Pooja Devariya, Rahman, Nasser, Guru Somasundram, and Marimuthu among others, the film is very different from his first outing which revolved around a couple of underprivileged children. Manikandan has proved his versatility in picking themes without a doubt. “Kuttrame Thandanai” has already done its rounds in the film festival circuit and opens today in theatres.

The film has a murder as its central plot point and explores how a bunch of characters react to it and how their circumstances are affected by it. Vidharth plays Ravichandran, a working class man with a 'tunnel vision' problem. He gets increasingly desperate to sort this out and looks at the murder as a means to arrange the money needed for the operation. 

The film ends on a poignant note, making the audience sympathize with Ravichandran and his plight. Vidharth is generally known for his loud roles in films with rural settings like “Mynaa” and “Veeram” but here, he shows restraint and underplays the character for the most part. It is a solid opportunity for Vidharth, who is also the producer. His trim, smart makeover impresses.

Pooja Devariya makes a mark with her beautiful expressions. Aishwarya Rajesh takes on a bold part with grey shades and though she doesn't get much screen time, the actions of her character dictate the movie's course. Rahman, Nasser, Marimuthu and Guru play their roles with ease and Manikandan extracts good performances from his seasoned cast.

Manikandan has also handled the cinematography while the editing has been carried out by Anucharan. With a short run time of 99 minutes, the director does not waste any time on gimmicks, songs or commercial compromises. The tight screenplay displays a Western sensibility. The film may move slowly at times but it carries a progressive screenplay which will engage the audience. The plot dictates everything here and it would be a step forward for the industry if such films are accepted by the audience.

Ilayaraja’s score for the title credits is an inspired piece of work and the Maestro reminds us once again that he is indeed the master of re-recording.

As Manikandan had pointed out in pre-release interviews, “Kuttrame Thandanai” is for a serious audience which can invest its time and attention on an absorbing crime drama. The film fulfils the promise with its technical finesse and strong performances. Do watch.

Anika Naeem had just had a baby and was grappling with the overwhelming changes that motherhood brings. Currently a sushi chef in Mauritius, Anika, a Pakistani woman, recalls that Indu Harikumar’s adult colouring book, “Beauty Needs Space” was what kept her going. “It was cathartic filling in those designs,” Anika confesses. “It was a life saver!”

Images from Indu Harikumar's "Beauty Needs Space"

Colouring is a popular and pleasurable activity that most children love. However, it’s one of the many wonderful things about childhood that we relinquish as we grow up.  Increasingly, though, many adults are taking the journey back and rediscovering the joy and peace that splashing with colours can bring.

Art is therapeutic

Indu Harikumar

The intriguing title for her book, “Beauty Needs Space” comes from a comment made by a young man she was seeing when she was in Vienna. “I shied away from eating my cake,” Indu smiles. She was worried about putting on weight. However, her date exclaimed, “But beauty needs space!” and the comment stuck in her mind.

Indu felt that it was the perfect title for her book – which has the theme of “positivity and mindfulness." She says it came from her personal journey of rewiring her negative thinking through art, which helped her move away from fear and feel safer.

Subadra Kalyanaraman, a Chennai-based artist, speaks of an 85-year-old grandmother who picked up her adult colouring book “Shakuntala and her Magic Box”. Subadra says, “She told me that it helped her distract her mind from issues that were bothering her and fight loneliness. She even tore off a page and got it laminated!”

Subadra, too, believes in the potential of art to heal and bring about positive change. “A mother told me that she sits with her daughter and the two of them colour the book together, spending close to five hours on it! I feel good being part of their bond. Another person told me that they gifted the book to a terminally ill parent to help the person retain motor skills. Art can be healing in many ways.”

How the books grew on social media

Subadra Kalyanaraman

Subadra is a self-taught artist who also works as a management consultant. What started off as a hobby, making paintings and gift items for friends and family, became a more serious occupation when she realized that people liked her work and appreciated it.

“Shakuntala” came after Subadra’s visit to Singapore where she saw many adult colouring books. Her husband, Balaji, the popular blogger ‘Local Tea Party’, encouraged her to do one herself.

Subadra had earlier worked on a set of four posters depicting women doing different things, blending the modern with the traditional Madhubani style. “One of the posters was that of a female rock band,” Subadra says. When she put up her work on Facebook, a lot of people responded to the visuals. So when the idea for “Shakuntala” took root in their mind, the couple decided to take off from the posters.

A coloured image from "Shakuntala and her Magic Box"

“Shakuntala” has a short storyline penned by Balaji. The visuals by Subadra show a woman celebrating music, allowing it to wash over herself to such an extent that her environment responds to the stimulus.

Like Subadra, Indu too got support and encouragement from social media when she started work on “Beauty Needs Space”. She declares that she loves the internet and all the opportunities that it brings. “It’s a very democratic medium that lets me experiment,” Indu says.

 When she first started putting up visuals on social media, she wasn’t thinking of doing a book. Many of the colouring panels were drawn with the positive messages that she often told herself to rewire her negative thinking.

Indu says, “The book grew on social media. Even when the first media report appeared about the book I wasn't sure if it would go to print. Since there was a lot of interest and the theme resonated with a lot of the readers, I decided to go ahead.”

Creation and co-creation

Indu left enough space in her drawings because she wanted the buyers to add their own elements to the designs. "I only wanted people to colour and enjoy themselves while they were doing it but some really took the book to a completely new level,” she comments.

Anika Naeem was one such person. She laughs with delight when told that Indu cited her example for someone who took “Beauty Needs Space” higher. Anika and Indu have never met.

Coloured pages with verses inscribed by Anika Naeem.

“Beauty Needs Space” meant so much to Anika that she added Urdu verses from a poem called “Sitaron say agay jahan aur bhee hair” (Other worlds lie beyond the stars) by Allama Iqbal to the designs and sent it to Indu. The poem is popular among Pakistani artists, classical and contemporary. Anika says, “Indu is Indian and I’m Pakistani. Cheesy, but I wanted a mix of our countries in that piece!”

Another of Indu’s internet projects, “Tinder Tales” is quite popular too. The series is about people’s experiences with the dating app. Indu had been toying with the idea of talking freely about sex and relationships through art and her curiosity about Tinder inspired her to combine the two. Did she fear any backlash when she started such an ‘explicit’ project?

Indu ruminates, “I think I have grown with the project. I had no idea what I was getting into, so I had no fear of backlash. I must add that I did choose a very safe style initially because I wanted more people to engage but over time, given the trust people have shown in me, I also shifted from safe illustration style to a more explicit one. “

She says that she initially felt shame and fear but that the response has been “frightfully positive” - it has given her the courage and confidence to keep going.

The market

Though the Indian market for adult colouring books is small – both Indu and Subadra self-published, printed and sold a few hundred copies of each of their titles – publishers like Penguin Random House (PRH) and HarperCollins, among others, are exploring opportunities.

Penguin has brought out Devdutt Pattanaik’s “Jaya” and “Sita” as adult colouring books, with the popular author’s illustrations. Another book, with the theme of a Mughal garden, “Bagh-e-Bahar” is also out.

Adult colouring books of “A Game of Thrones” series and Mills & Boon books published by HarperCollins are available in the Indian market and there are more international titles in the pipeline.

When director Venkat Bharadwaj’s first film “A Day in the City” hit the screens, it garnered quite a bit of attention for its novel treatment of a subject that doesn’t often find its way into Kannada cinema –urban governance and the water crisis of our cities.

So when Venkat’s next film “Bablusha” – touted as a historical drama that would look at the life of commonfolk in the Vijayanagara kingdom instead of taking the route of royal pomp – released, it naturally caught one’s attention.

Ahead of the film’s release, interviews focused on the special place of kusti (wrestling) in the film, and the visual depiction of rural life in the historical kingdom, all of which added to this interest. To see relatively unchronicled lives and an ignored sporting history on screen seemed like a lovely possibility.

Sadly, however, the film squanders these wonderful possibilities for a story and returns to quasi-religious elements that have played themselves out in South Indian cinema ad nauseum.

“Bablusha” begins on a fairly promising note, focusing on a family who take in a stranger (Mani Shetty) claiming to be a victim of courtly machinations and eager to remake his life. It also turns out that this stranger is a master of the martial arts, and has trained soldiers in kusti and other arts in his earlier life. The generous landholder (Harsh Arjun) who has taken him in, has always had a secret yearning to learn wrestling and earn acclaim and royal blessing through this martial art.

So the training in wrestling begins, and the stranger soon becomes a part of the family and a companion and tutor to the landholder’s young daughter as well.

This first segment of the film runs fairly well, with some excellent locations, visually well-captured, and suffused with interesting colour palettes. There are also a few well-written songs that give the film a rich, warm hue.

And when the local master wrestler hears that a foreigner is teaching the landholder wrestling, and comes to contest his turf, one begins to feel that the film is establishing its main plot

.However, a fairly well-choreographed wrestling bout later, kusti disappears entirely from the film, and the tables turn abruptly, when the child and stranger disappear together one morning.

Suddenly, the film is the story of the pursuit of a kidnapper. Along the way, the landholder seeks aid from a famous painter, the 16^th century version of a police sketch artist, a sage of unknown provenance and a random companion picked up along the way.

If at this point, you find this synoptic retelling of the story, rather abrupt and confused, that’s because the film progresses in much the same way. There is no explanation for why different elements appear and disappear from the story. It simply lurches on to whatever twist and turn comes along, until finally it reaches a dismally predictable end involving dark rituals and attempted child sacrifice.

As for its depiction of common life in a historical period, outside of the absence of modern amenities, and the use of a slightly old-fashioned Kannada, there is nothing to give us a sense of a concrete historical period.

In the end, one comes out of the film feeling cheated - that what was promised, was not delivered. And wondering what might have been, if only the director had stuck to his original premise. 

Research suggests different elements of society – parents, peers and media – are together making children – even as young as three – conscious of their bodies in very unhealthy ways.

A study conducted by Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years (Pacey) in the UK found that a worrying number of children had body confidence issues and were unhappy with their bodies. While 32% of childcare professionals said that these anxieties came from parents, 37% said it came from peer groups and 25% held media images responsible.

Although this study is about children in the UK, psychologists say Indian children too are beginning to show signs of insecurity about their appearance, body and skin colour depending on their age and sex.

Chennai-based psychiatrist Dr Jayanthini says that although children aged five and above are becoming more conscious about their appearance, younger children generally tend to gravitate towards fair-skinned people – often equated with ‘good looking’ – unconsciously.

Body image issues materialize around eight years of age. Some children aged between three and four say they want to be fair, but it hasn’t yet translated into an issue yet, says Dr Jayanthini.

Chennai-based psychologist Dr S Vandana says that over the years, children have started hitting puberty earlier and that too contributes to an earlier awareness of the body.

Dr Jayanthini says girls are more conscious about height, weight, complexion and even breast development around seven or eight years. It’s is a no win situation. “They get teased if they develop breasts too quickly and even when they don’t,” she says.

For boys, being overweight and ‘puberphonia’, a high-pitched voice often considered feminine, top the concerns.

These things may start out small and if left unchecked can cause serious problems like eating disorders by the time kids reach adolescence, says Dr Vandana. “Everyone wants the thin, lean, fair stereotype. It’s all around us, so of course kids will get affected too,” she says.

The undue emphasis on appearance, and one kind of appearance in particular, comes from a vicious cycle that begins when a child is just a baby.

“People gravitate towards chubbier and 'cuter' babies. When kids grow up, this avoidance behaviour (avoiding children who don’t look ‘good’) is imbibed by them and their peers and then perpetuated when they grow up. So much so, that even children start talking to more adults who fit the “good-looking” bill,” explains Dr Vandana.

Clothing is also crucial to how kids see themselves. “Clothes worn by teenagers are now available in kids’ sizes. In wanting the ‘best’ for their kids, parents –especially younger ones – end up making them wear the same things. So when a child does not fit into those, he or she will feel bad about it and their bodies,” Dr Vandana says.

Both Dr Jayanthini and Dr Vandana agree that exposure to media at an early age does cause children to become aware of their bodies and develop body image issues much faster than they used to. Using children who look a certain way to advertise products is adding to the problem. But the media affects children around 7-8 years of age more than younger ones, says Dr Jayanthini.

So in a world where media images and narrow perceptions of beauty and value are widespread, is there a way out?

The solution is not to control what children see. “The more you tell them no, the more curious they will become and eventually, they’ll end up getting access to the forbidden media content,” warns Dr Vandana, who advises parents to watch content with their kids and talk about the right and wrong in in it instead.

Dr Jayanthini says that children often internalize perceptions of body and beauty from peers and offhand comments about appearance made by family, and end up comparing themselves to these standards.

For this reason, Dr Vandana advises that parents must steer clear of making comparisons between children. “It is essential that parents talk to children about their bodies and tell them about growing pains. Some of them will grow faster, some will not. Children need to understand that this is okay,” she asserts.

Fat-shaming should also be a complete no-no in the house. Adults must focus on what the body can do rather than how it looks, says Robyn Silverman, author of ‘Good Girls Don't Get Fat: How Weight Obsession Is Messing Up Our Girls and How We Can Help Them Thrive Despite It’.

Most importantly, children must be allowed to grow and become their own person. “When a child is trying his or her shoelace and the parent scolds them saying this is not the way to do it, there is little room for the child to learn. Give them room to figure things out. Validate their experiences and accept them for who they are. Let the child be a child,” Dr Vandana insists.

Ganesh Chaturthi is around the corner and there is much merriment all over. It marks the official beginning of the festival season in several parts of the country. Across several cities, the main markets have been flooded with the seasonal Ganesha idol sellers.

Ganeshas of all shapes, sizes, forms and types are available in the market. From sizes smaller than your palm to larger than your home, Ganeshas are being sold.

The biggest events take place in Maharashtra. Thanks to the efforts of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak, this festival gained national importance over time in the 20th century. But long before it became a festival of this magnitude, Ganesha was always worshipped and celebrated across South India.

Being a prominent seat of Shaivites and Shaktas, several geographic belts in the South worshipped Ganesha in different forms.

In the ancient Ramappa temple in current Warangal in Telangana, one can find one of the earliest sculptures of a dancing Ganesha. This temple was built by the Kakatiya rulers in the 13th century. The famous treatise on dance, ‘Nritta Ratnavali’ by Jayappa Senapati was written here when he saw the dancing sculptures on this temple walls. Did this intricately carved little Ganesha inspire him? We will never know!

Photo: Dancing Ganesha in Ramappa Temple in Warangal

It is obvious that the music of the region, Carnatic as we know it now, was one way of celebrating Ganesha. Several poets, saints and composers down the centuries wrote elaborately, in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Sanskrit, expressing their devotion to the elephant headed god.

Carnatic music began blossoming into fullness during the Vijayanagara Empire times. One of the first composers to pay his obeisance to Ganesha was Purandara Dasa (1484 – 1564). Known as the ‘Sangita Pitamaha’ or the father of Carnatic music, Purandhara composed thousands of poems in praise of various gods.

He systematized the method of teaching Carnatic. He became a student of Vyasathirtha, the royal Guru of Emperor Krishadevaraya and composed a number of songs as he traveled around the towns to various temples across the Vijayanagara Kingdom. Karnataka has some of the most ancient temples dedicated to Ganesha.

Be it Idagunji or Anegudde, Ganesha worship has been a long-standing tradition. In the Vijayanagara’s capital city of Hampi, amidst all the ruins on the Hemakuta hill is a massive temple dedicated to a monolithic Ganesha. He is known as the ‘Sasve Kallu Ganapati’ or Ganapati made of mustard seeds. This name comes from the fact that the statue’s large belly has been sculpted so meticulously, if you took a closer look at it, the surface feels like a sheet of mustard seeds, laid out thin.

Photo: Monolithic Ganesha in Hampi

There are many more shrines dedicated to Ganesha. It is difficult to point out to the exact temple or holy site that Purandhara Dasa might have visited while he composed because not all songs give away the names of places in them. Among several Kritis he composed, dedicated to Ganesha, the most popular one is ‘Gajavadana Beduve’ set to Ragam Hamsadhwani.

The best version of this song is by M L Vasantakumari (1928 -1990) who played a significant role in popularizing the songs of the Dasas in her illustrious musical career. Since that track is not available, let us listen to the same rendered by Bombay Jayashree:

In fact in Yakshagana, the ancient dance theatre tradition of Karnataka, no act on stage begins without paying obeisance to Ganesha. The same procedure can be seen in the Kuchipudi dance drama tradition of Andhra Pradesh. In Karnataka, the Pooja is often for Ganesha worshipped in the temple of Idagunji.

The Poorva-Ranga or the prelude to any play is a short invocation to Ganesha to bless the stage, the actors and the audiences. The most famous group Keramane that saw some of the greatest legends of Yakshagana in the 20th century has kept this tradition alive for several generations. Watch one such Ganesha Pooja before the main performance here:

All of you have heard of the famous Carnatic composition ‘Vatapi Ganapatim Bhaje’ written and set to tune in Ragam Hamsadhwani by one of the famous Carnatic trio Muththuswamy Deekshitaar (1775-1835). In fact, every other Carnatic music recital begins with this popular Kriti. But many wonder where this temple of Ganesha is situated.

Vatapi was the ancient name of the city of Badami in current day northern Karnataka. The famous clash of Chalukyas and Pallavas took place here in the year 617. The Chalukya ruler Pulakeshi –II was defeated by Narasimhavarma –I.

As was the custom of war, the winning Pallava ruler looted the city of Badami and fled with several precious artifacts. Among those was an idol of Ganesha. His commander-in-chief Paranjyothi brought it to his hometown of Thiruchengattankudi in the Thiruvarur district in Tamil Nadu and enshrined it in a temple dedicated.

Photo: The famous Ganesha of Vatapi

The Uthrapathiswaraswamy Temple here is dedicated to lord Shiva. In the same temple complex, the commander built another temple for this new Ganesha and installed it. Many centuries later when the Carnatic composer Deekshitaar went traveling around the region, he wrote a set of sixteen songs dedicated to Ganesha installed in sixteen different temples.

The famous ‘Vatapi Ganapatim’ was dedicated to this Ganesha. Listen to it sung by the Carnatic superstar Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna:

From there we come to Kerala where the great philosopher saint Shankara Bhagavadpada in the 8th century composed a number of songs as he traveled the length and breadth of the country. Whichever holy place or temple he visited, he left his footprint in the form of an exquisite Sanskrit composition. There are several in praise of Ganesha.

The most popular of them is the ‘Ganesha Pancharatnam’ or five stanzas in praise of Ganesha. Though we don’t have the details of the exact place or temple he might have written this at, we know how Kerala is dotted with several prominent Ganesha temples.

This particular composition gained great popularity when it was set to tune and sung by none other than Bharat Ratna awardee M S Subbulakshmi. She, with her impeccable pronunciation in Sanskrit, made it a regular item in many of her concerts in later years. Listen to one such vintage concert:

With so much music, can rhythm be far behind? The art of Carnatic percussion is easily one of the most complex and difficult art forms to master, anywhere in the world.

In ancient Shaiva temple rituals in South India, whenever the Kumbhabhishekam was performed to the main god, priests chanted the ritual of Ganapati Taalanam. The authorship of this particular text remains a mystery. It was chanted along with the temples’ Nadaswaram and Thavil artistes putting a soft beat to it.

In the modern times, the legendary Ghatam Vidwan Vikku Vinayakaram has revived the same. He not only revived it but gave it a new flavor. Including slokas like ‘Sripathikaam’ written by his grandfather Kavi Chakravarthy Vaidyanatha Sharma, he set to tune the Ganapati Talam. He begins with a simple ‘thakita dhikita’ beat where he describes the form of Ganesha using the percussion vocabulary. Set to Adi talam , with each beat of five Maatras and late set to two and half beats, the Ganapati Talam is a lively composition that can energize any performance.

Listen to it here:

Ganesha, the remover of obstacles is the first Hindu god worshipped. This weekend as India gears up for yet another Ganesh Chaturthi, what better way to celebrate him than music? Here’s wishing you all a happy, holy and divine Ganesh Chaturthi!

Photos courtesy : Krishnamurthy, Selva Kumar, Rangarajan P

(Veejay Sai is an award-winning writer, editor and a culture critic. He writes extensively on Indian performing arts, cultural history, food and philosophy. He lives in New Delhi and can be reached at vs.veejaysai@gmail.com)

Let's face it, adulthood is no child's play. Especially in this day and age with dating problems, work woes and social media images to maintain. 

Mari Andrew, a 29-year-old Washington-based writer and illustrator began posting drawings and illustrations of her everyday struggles as an adult on Instagram.

She started the project when she was depressed and thought of scribbling as "an easy, enjoyable way to document little moments" of her daily life, she told Business Insider. "Who knew so many people could relate to my dating woes and existential angst?" she mused.

As Mari's Instagram following grew after the project, she said her goal became not just to document her own predicaments but to make these posts relatable to viewers as well. She wanted to make her audience feel "understood".

The idea is to get people to laugh while making them feel like they are not the only ones feeling this way, Mari said.

Check out her illustrations here:

 

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You can see all of Mari's illustration's here.

Barely five per cent of working women inIndiaprefer egg freezing to delay pregnancy as compared to 30-40 per cent in the West. City doctors say avail the technique to say good bye to the biological clock.

Apart from the lack of proper awareness, social stigma plays a huge role in the adoption of new reproduction medical technology.

But social stigma and a lack of confidence in new advanced technologies have prevented it from becoming popular here although a large number of working women use it abroad.

Agarwal explained the procedure for egg freezing which is similar to IVF.

She said: "Patient is injected with hormonal drugs for 10 to 12 days to stimulate her ovaries to produce more eggs than normal. During which she could experience menopause-like symptoms. So doctors monitor to ensure that her ovaries are not dangerously overstimulated."

The eggs are then retrieved under sedation or general anaesthesia using an ultrasound-guided needle that sucks the eggs from each follicle and are stored.

When the woman is ready to use her frozen eggs, they are warmed up, injected with sperm and left to fertilise on a petri dish.

If successful zygotes are formed, then two to three of these are transferred to her uterus with the hope that would impregnate," said Agarwal.

Naina Raichand, a gynaecologist at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, advised egg freezing as the best alternative for working women to ensure pregnancy even above the 35 years age group.

Raichand said: "If a couple is not financially stable and prefer to attain some monitory comfort before welcoming a new member then this technique is best."

She also said that early egg preservation is beneficial. Age is important because eggs start growing old in the 30s. Also, fertility declines with age.

Cautioning women that eggs cannot be frozen just before menopause, Raichand said if women delay the process then good quality eggs could not be guaranteed, since women cross their prime by then.

Shunning myths, Raichand observed that the success rate of pregnancy achieved through 'frozen' eggs was at par with those achieved using fresh eggs.

She said: "Many MNCs are now encouraging their female employees to freeze their eggs so that they would not have to compromise for either their career or in attaining motherhood."

"Over the years, storage techniques have also been refined. Therefore, success rate, too, has improved. In future, motherhood will soon be truly independent of the biological clock," Raichand added.

Stewart Maganga, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

In our new weekly series, “Under the influence”, we ask experts to share what they believe are the most influential works of art or artists in their field. Here, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Stewart Maganga explains why reggae megastar Bob Marley remains relevant, 35 years after his death in 1981.

It would be easy to dismiss Bob Marley (1945-1981) as someone who is and should remain a figure of the 20th century. However, this does not help to explain why even after his death from cancer three and a half decades ago, he continues to be revered by millions of people around the world. Marley’s images can be found almost everywhere, ranging from T-shirts and hats, to bags and even coffee mugs. His greatest hits compilation, “Legend”, has sold an estimated 27.9 million copies since it was released in 1984. It still sells 250,000 copies a year.

If there is anything that is to be associated with reggae music, the Afrocentric religion of Rastafari, or the Caribbean island of Jamaica, the first name that comes to mind is Bob Marley. Despite this, the reality that the world often tends to associate Marley with is far different from the one he grew up in more than 70 years ago.

Marley lived in a Jamaica that had experienced more than 200 years of slavery and colonialism. This would have a great impact on him, considering that he was born from a white father and a black mother. The key to understanding Marley was not merely the music but the life experiences that played a part in shaping the individual and, ultimately, the music that the world would come to know.

If there are three areas that played a part in shaping Marley the musician, it would have to be his experience of racism as a mixed-race person, his life in the slums of Kingston’s Trenchtown and his Rastafari beliefs. All three factors have combined to make Marley the so-called superstar that he is still known as today.

Why Bob Marley remains an influential figure

Marley’s influence was not limited to simply making music for the sake of entertainment. He was most noted for using his music to spread the message of Rastafari. Rastafari is a phenomenon that began in the 1930s in response to a message given by Jamaican nationalist Marcus Garvey, who proclaimed that African people in the diaspora should look to Africa, where a black king would be crowned. It was here that they would find their redemption.

An Ethiopian stamp of Haile Selassie.Shutterstock

It so happened that on November 2 1930, Tafari Makonnen was crowned emperor of Ethiopia under his baptismal name, Haile Selassie. Rastafari was derived from Haile Selassie’s name – it is a conflation of Ras, the title given to Amharic royalty in Ethiopia, and Tafari, his pre-coronation name.

What Marley brought to the world stage was something that was perhaps unique for its time. His tireless dedication and hard work to ensuring that the world came to learn and hear of Rastafari is in itself a major contributor to what made it into a global phenomenon.

Through Marley’s music, people in all corners of the world came to embrace Rastafari. This has helped shape the Rasta philosophy to the extent that it can no longer be attuned solely to the needs of believers in Jamaica.

It is found that everywhere it has been adapted to suit the needs and concerns of the society in which it has been embraced. This has further led Rasta scholars such as Richard Salter to argue that there is no one thing as Rastafari but rather only “Rastafaris”. What Salter means by this is that as a phenomenon Rastafari is understood in the societies where it is found. This further demonstrates how far and wide the phenomenon has spread globally. There are currently an estimated one million followers around the world.

Marley’s message of Rastafari would further be extended to scholars who would play their part in educating the public about the nature of Rastafari. They would include, among others, George Eaton Simpson, Rex Nettleford, Leonard E Barrett, Barry Chevannes, Jahlani Niaah, Charles R Price, Michael Barnett and many others. Without Marley, scholarship on this phenomenon would not exist in such magnitude as is the case today.

Why Bob Marley’s music is still relevant

Although Marley may have lived in a world that is different to the one we find ourselves in today, the reality is that the human problems he encountered were no different from the ones we experience in the 21st century.

What is perhaps most significant about Marley’s music is that his message has transcended both time and space. We now find ourselves living in a post-9/11 world where mistrust and intolerance continue to remain dominant, as much as they were back then. It comes as no surprise because Marley spoke of the human condition.

Bob Marley’s ‘So Much Trouble in the World’.

There are very few musicians in this present day that may claim to use their music to fight for causes that Marley may have fought for. Marley did not only speak about love and unity among all mankind as seen in his 1977 song One Love. He also spoke about the sufferings of the world in his songs. These include So Much Trouble in the World, Burnin’ and Lootin’, Johnny Was and War. This is what has made Marley not just relevant to his time but to ours as well.

My relationship with the music of Bob Marley

My relationship with Bob Marley’s music began when I was living in England in the 1980s. There was a BBC television programme that my parents used to watch every Thursday night called “Top of the Pops”. One of the songs that introduced me to Marley’s music One Love. Little would I know that, over the years, I would become a fan of Bob Marley’s music and eventually become a scholar of the Rastafari phenomenon.

Birds of a feather

To understand Bob Marley the man, it is imperative not to solely listen to his music but also read biographies and watch documentaries that offer different perspectives of the man. Although there are a number of them, I would strongly recommend the following:

Biographies:

• “Bob Marley: The Untold Story” – Chris Salewicz (2009); and

• “Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley” – Timothy White (1983).

Documentaries:

• “Marley” – directed by Kevin McDonald (2012); and

• “Bob Marley: Freedom Road” – directed by Sonia Anderson (2007).

Stewart Maganga, Doctoral Candidate, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

By TCA Srinivasa Raghavan

All governors, since the first one, have confused the independence of monetary policy with the independence of their post. They assume that only they can conduct monetary policy and that the government has no say in it. It might be a good idea, therefore —when they sign the register taking over as governor— to remind them of Montagu Norman’s view. The governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944, Norman was powerful enough to bring down governments. According to him, the RBI had to be like a wife in a Hindu joint family who advises but does exactly as she is told. He also believed that the relationship between the RBI and the Bank of England should be that of a ‘Hindoo marriage’, wherein the former was the dominant spouse and the latter, the subservient wife.

His advice went unheeded. No sooner had the RBI come into being than the conflict between the governor and the government began. Sir Osborne Smith had been used to having his way as the managing director of the Imperial Bank of India, which in 1956 became the State Bank of India. He refused to do as bidden by Delhi. Sir John Grigg, who was the equivalent of the present-day finance minister, had a simpler formula for judging a governor’s attitude: where he stood on the exchange rate and the tariff rate. Sir Osborne was implacably opposed to the exchange rate of one shilling four pence as he was convinced it would be deflationary. He also wanted a lower bank rate. The government would not budge on the former and was scornful of the latter.

Sir Osborne could be outspoken when not required. From the very start of his chairmanship of the Imperial Bank in 1928, he had been at sixes and sevens with government policy. In fact, once after receiving some instructions from the secretary of state in 1930, he had complained that ‘anyone would assume that the Imperial (Bank) was a department and a very inconspicuous department of the government’.

In a fit of anger, Sir Osborne had also once told the government that ‘as long as I run the Imperial Bank, I will not be run by London or anywhere else, … I would not tolerate interference with my business’. In 1936, he had written in a letter that he was ‘sick to death’ of the government’s attempt to ‘dominate the RBI’.

But it was not only over the interest and exchange rates that Grigg and Osborne fought. There were two other issues. When Osborne opposed the gold drain from India and wanted to impose an export tax on gold, the government opposed him tooth and nail. Then, when Osborne wanted to appoint A.D. Shroff, an ICS officer, as deputy governor, Grigg dismissed the suggestion calling Shroff ‘a perfectly frightful man and intimate crony’ of Sir Osborne.

Overall, the British officers in India regarded him as a colonial who sympathized with the natives. All that could have still been ironed over, but when he called Viceroy Lord Linlithgow ‘a weak ass’, it was the last straw. He had to go.

So in July 1937, just two years after taking over as the first governor, he was forced to resign. Ironically, he had been appointed instead of some ICS officer or British banker, precisely to give the impression that the RBI was independent.

The British civil servants’ view of Osborne was coloured also by the fact that he was praised by Indian businessmen. The Indian Merchants’ Chamber wrote a very critical letter to Grigg after he resigned. And just as is happening now, the Congress demanded full disclosure.

The government simply remained silent hoping that the controversy would die down, which of course it did. But the episode left a very bad aftertaste, which has persisted till today, because nobody really knows what happened. As the late S. S. Tarapore, one of the greatest central bankers India has produced, had demanded, ‘The RBI owes it to posterity to release a dedicated volume on the Osborne Smith episode — warts and all.’ It may show that nothing has changed. As now, then too the government wanted a subservient governor.

Excerpted with permission from “A Crown of Thorns”, by TCA Srinivasa Raghavan published by Juggernaut Books and available on the Juggernaut app.

Has death been reduced to a mere "technical problem" by Silicon Valley? Can we overcome death? In his new book, "Homo Deus," Professor Yuval Noah Harari says we will achieve immortality in increments.

DW: I'm really taken by the idea of overcoming death in your new book, "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow." I'm not especially keen on it myself. But how do you feel about immortality? Can you see yourself living to an age of 150+ years, or even 500, as you describe may be possible in the near future?

Yuval Noah Harari: Personally - and I guess anybody - if you ask them whether they would like to live to be a million, it's a nonsensical question, because we can't imagine what it means. But almost anybody would say "yes" if you ask them if they want to live another 10 years in good health. And what we're talking about is not a situation where you take a pill and live to be a million, but incremental, gradual advances in medicine, which, hopefully, every 10 years allow you to gain another 10 years of good health. And this is something I guess most people would welcome.

Regarding the feasibility: within a century or two, it's feasible this will be science and not science fiction. But my impression is that for my generation, it won't happen in the next 30, 40, 50 years. But in the long run it is certainly feasible.

As you say, we can't really imagine what the future will be. And if we look at some of the developments you touch on in the book: eugenics, for instance, and you can see how the CRISPR-cas9 technique is making human gene editing seem more socially acceptable, or bioelectronics, and we have our brains stored in databases, immortality may seem feasible. But even as we get more obsessed by the idea, immortality will not mean what it means to us today, so we're going to be disappointed, aren't we? And we'll realize we're not as important as we thought.

Yes, and this is one of the main dangers. The very same technology which will enable us to overcome old age and death will also make most humans irrelevant and redundant. To overcome old age and death you need to decipher the secrets of human biochemistry: how the body functions, how the brain functions, so that you can repair damage and fight deterioration of the system. But once you have the knowledge, you basically hack humanity and understand how the mechanism operates, at that point you also reach a situation in which external systems, external algorithms, artificial intelligence maybe, will understand us better than we understand ourselves, and out-perform us in almost any task and skill. At that point, yes, we could overcome old-age and death, but we'll also become redundant and irrelevant.

The Age of Dataism

You also talk a lot about Dataism in the book, and how Dataism sees humans as "merely tools." And it strikes me that while we seem to want a kind of immortality - virtual or real - because we're scared, we want to control life, or, as you put it, show we're superior to other animals, isn't it all pointless? Wouldn't we live happier lives if we got over ourselves and accepted that we're all going to die?

Well, this was the common wisdom throughout history. And most people accepted it because they had no other choice. But people still had fantasies about immortality - they simply postponed it to the afterlife. Most people throughout history thought they would live forever, but not in this body or on this plane of existence. Rather, after they die, [they believed] they would reincarnate or go to heaven, or some such story which still promised them immortality.

What's happening now is that scientific wisdom tells people all this was pure fantasy, mythology, and that there's no evidence that there is any existence beyond death. But at the same time, suddenly, the idea of extending our lives indefinitely is becoming more achievable, more practical. Not within the next 20, 30, 40 years, but definitely within a century or two.

The infinite market

What about the commercial drivers for our desire for immortality? Because to keep the data economy going we need people constantly feeding data into it.

On the commercial level, health is the ultimate market. Other markets are finite, they are exhaustible. There are just so many cars, shoes or food you can have. But health is an infinite market - you can never have enough of it. When you look at the growth of the human economy, and its expected growth in the twenty-first century, I expect health will be the most important market of all. Especially as we move from a concept of health which focuses on healing the sick to a concept of upgrading the healthy. There is no limit to how much health you can provide people. You don't just try to reach a [universal] standard, you always try to go beyond it. So it's not just the fear of individual people - that they don't want to age, get ill, or die - but there are also very powerful, institutional forces driving the industry and science in the same direction.

This idea of going beyond - is that why you refer to the "Dataist prophets," the evangelizing of people like Ray Kurzweil, and how his "Internet-of-All-Things," as you put it, will see humans merge with the network to the point that we achieve a spiritual level, a deity?

Yes. You take fantasies, which for thousands of years belonged to the religious realm - overcoming death or our merging with the universe - and you suddenly start talking about them in a more technical perspective as something that can be achieved, not after you die with the help of supernatural beings, but in this very life with the help of technology. So all the old promises of traditional religion, whether it's happiness, justice or everlasting life, it's the same promises that are now being made by the new Silicon Valley religion and Silicon Valley gurus. But they promise to make this possible with the help of technology and not with the help of supernatural beings.

Professor Yuval Noah Harari is the author "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow" (published by Harvill Secker, September 2016). He is a lecturer in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His 2014 book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" became an international bestseller and is available in 40 languages.

(This article was first published on DW. You can read the original article here.)

It’s Teachers’ Day again and we’re all talking about those favourite educators who opened our eyes to the world of knowledge. But, while our teachers are still just as important within classrooms, millennials have options that previous generations never did thanks to the Internet and Google.

This Teacher’s Day, we’re paying tribute to the universal teacher, the go-to source for answers to just about any question you can conceive about any subject under the sun. Relationship troubles? Google has advice, tips and counseling options. Don’t know how to talk to your kid about sex-ed? Google will tell you what to say and how. Want to learn a new language? Google translate to the rescue! From students to tourists to high-level employees to even your grandparents, Google has something for everyone.

From recipes to sex advice to do-it-yourself projects, Google is a teacher that provides it all. Here are five cool ways in which Google has revolutionized learning:

1. Micro-learning: With ever-shortening attention spans and a stagnant education system that still conforms to the rote-learning norm, learning modules in short information bursts fills the gap.

Not only does micro-learning fit the bill of a productive pastime while you’re waiting for something else, but the data provided in small sizeable chunks ensures that you retain it.

While there are many micro-learning apps on the market, Google came up with its own micro-learning app – Primer – which provides micro-learning for digital marketing. And what’s better than bite-sized marketing lessons from the company whose marketing skills are on point?

2. Maps: People say traveling is the best form of education. But while backpacking is romantic, most of us don’t have the time or money to ditch our lives at the drop of a hat and embark on adventures. With Google Maps, however, seeing faraway places has never been simpler.

With features like Street View, Google took armchair travel to another level. You can basically sit in front of a screen and take a tour of Barcelona’s streets and Rome’s Colosseum. And according to Hannah Francis’ article in The Sydney Morning Herald, armchair tourism can apparently help conserve environments and culture and even create awareness about “geographical heritage”.     

In 2014 for instance, Australia’s National Marks were mapped on Google’s street view system to allow people to explore these reserves with just the click of a button.

3. Google Expeditions: What’s better than learning a lesson about the Great Wall of China? Actually experiencing it in the comfort of your classroom. Google Expeditions, as a video about it says, brings the lesson to you through a 3D immersive experience. Watch this video to understand how it works.

Using the up and coming technology of virtual reality, Google’s Education division developed Google Cardboard, a device which transforms any smartphone into a virtual field trip. Currently, there are 200 trips to choose from.

4. Virtual classrooms: E-learning is picking up fast across the world and in bits and pieces in India. With Google classroom, educators and students can pursue paperless education on a centralized cloud-based platform.

Experts from anywhere in the world can connect with students over hangouts, hold lectures and even share online resources and give personal feedback. And it is completely free to use, making it ideal for cost effective learning with only initial costs for hardware and internet.

5. Open-source learning: For those looking at more in-depth self-study, no longer do you need to buy exorbitantly priced journal to access peer-reviewed and authentic research. Google provides platforms like Google Scholar and Google Books, with a vast amount of data available on a plethora of topics, for free.

So, there you have it. As long as you have an internet connection, you could be the next dancer, photographer or pastry chef in the making. Google India is already making strides in Indian education with initiatives like ‘Internet Saathi’, which is helping women in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh get online. And in a country like India where smartphone and internet usage is expanding rapidly, Google could be the next big teacher, age and distance no bar. 

Compared to the festivities of a Punjabi wedding or the elaborate rituals of a Marwari one, Kerala Hindu weddings tend to be all about brevity. But what’s shorter than short is the famed Guruvayur Temple wedding.

The famous Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple in Guruvayur in Thrissur district broke its own record of hosting the highest number of weddings in a single day on Sunday.

A whopping 264 weddings were conducted in a matter of few hours, with as many as 200 taking place between the auspicious time of 8 to 11 am. Since we’re in the month of Chingam (August-September) which is supposed to be the most auspicious month of the year according to the Malayalam calendar, the rush is understandable.

Weddings of certain castes in Kerala are exceptionally short. While the ‘thaalikettu’ or tying of the mangalsutra takes like seconds, the entire wedding gets over in a matter of minutes.

Actor Sandhya and Venkat Chandrasekhar's wedding in 2015

What’s so special about getting married in Guruvayur?

1. Hindu weddings are usually avoided in the months of Midhunam, Karkatakam and Kanni. But if you can’t afford to wait for the auspicious months to roll by, you can get married at Guruvayur which keeps its doors open for weddings all through the year.

2. The weddings take place all through the day, even during rahu kaalam, though most people prefer the morning session.

3. Most weddings take place in Guruvayur because of religious vows taken by the families.

4. Guruvayur is also a popular destination for couples who wish to unite despite family opposition. The wedding can be conducted in a simple, inexpensive way. Besides, the belief is that they have the Lord on their side even if their families are not!

5.  Facing a time crunch and want an express wedding? Guruvayur is the answer for many Gulf Malayalis who can spare very little time to get married and have to rush back to their jobs.

Cricketer Sreesanth's wedding in 2013

The wedding ceremony, “thaalikettu” (tying the thaali), lasts for just two minutes and it can be a blink and miss affair, especially when weddings happen simultaneously. Traditional Kerala meals are served on plantain leaves - plenty of options to pick from as the state government as well as private players provide catering services at the temple. 

Many choose to tie the thaali at the temple and have a lavish wedding party at another venue later.

The 1992 Malayalam movie “Grihapravesham”, starring Jagadeesh and Rekha, is about the confusion that ensues after a groom ties the thaali around the wrong bride’s neck, thanks to the crowd at Guruvayur!

While we often get to hear about how and what students feel about their teachers, it is rare that we come to know the opinions of teachers about their students.

This Teachers’ Day we asked a few teachers what is it that they do not like their students doing or things that their pupils do that bugs them the most.

There are a few things about his students that irk Arun Kalyan, a professor at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, the most.

Firstly, is when they come to college without taking a bath in the morning. "The hostel is attached to the college. Students stay awake till 2 or 3 in the morning, which is why they can't wake up early. And so they come to class without having a bath,” he says.

Secondly, he can't tolerate students who walk into class late. “Being five minutes late to class is okay, but some even enter 15 minutes after the class has begun. Usually I ask them to get lost, but sometimes I allow them to attend but don’t give attendance.”

The one thing, however, that he hates most is plagiarism. “If students plagiarise in my module in the second term, they get zero for the entire term,” he states.

Anjali R (name changed) spent a year as a lecturer at a media college in Bengaluru where she taught PG students. She too is strictly against the “copy+paste” formula that many students use to finish assignments. “It’s both infuriating and amusing that students copy paste entire Wikipedia entries in assignments they hand over and think lecturers won’t notice."

During her tenure as a teacher, there was one comment that annoyed her to the core. "I was 26 then and got the 'Ma’am, you look like a student only’ comment too many times," she laughs recollecting. 

Atin Mitra (name changed), taught at an alternative residential school in Odisha for a year. "Some of the teachers would hit students as a last resort, but I decided I wouldn’t. But then I realized that the children don’t take you seriously, so I had to work out ways to get them to listen to me, and it was very frustrating," he says. 

Shivani Kapoor is a guest faculty member at a college in Delhi and while she is quite liberal in her approach to teaching, there are certain things that she finds irritating. 

Like when students do not read up before coming to class. In one instance, a student even complained to the principal of the college stating she had given them too many readings. "But if students don’t come prepared to class, lectures fall apart and this happens more often than students realise."

A word of note from her: contrary to what many students may feel, teachers do know what's going on in the class. "We know who is on the phone, is texting or passing chits. But we let it pass many times," she says. 

Then there’s also the issue of texting professors at odd hours with trivial issues.

"Nowadays, students mostly have their teachers' personal numbers. But what is slightly irritating is when I get calls or messages from them at odd hours,” she says.

She’s received messages from students at 10:30 and 11 pm saying their attendance was not correct or that they weren't graded properly. “Some text me a night before an exam asking me what is the syllabus and if there are a few sections they can exclude since they hadn't finish their preparations.”

Shivani says that as teachers they are always available to help students and while she gets their problems, "sometimes it gets a little intrusive". 

Nithya (name changed), a professor at a Bengaluru college, too echoes a similar opinion. “I’ve got calls at the middle of the night. And they mostly enquire about assignments that I had given in class. What’s the point of attending a class and then later texting your teacher about what happened in that very class?” she asks.

Students “walking in and out of the classroom like the teacher does not exist” and some displaying a know-it-all attitude also gets to her, she states.

Reshmi Iyer has been a trainee teacher at a prominent school in Bengaluru for a few months now. Here’s her list of things that students do, which annoy her:

The Bathroom break: As soon as I enter the class after a break, they wish me and ask me if they can go to the loo. What were they doing during the break?

The know-it-alls: There is a set of students who go to tuitions and already know what’s being taught in class. They are also not interested in the class at school and ruin the learning experience for everyone.

Requests for free period: Right before the exams, when teachers are racing to finish the syllabus, students ask us to give them free periods. Like taking GK quizzes. Anything other than letting us finish the syllabus.

Facebook friends: This one is my pet peeve. My students add me on Facebook and for them I’ve had to create a new and complex set of privacy settings in my account.

Selfies: After every class they want to take selfies with me. 

(Inputs from Anisha Sheth)

By Mrinalika Roy

Love is difficult to find, especially if you are a transgender person in India. A country where inter-caste or inter-religion relationships often lead to death and same-sex relationships to incarceration, it’s little surprise that people have a hard time understanding that transgender individuals are also in need of and entitled to relationship and marriage rights.

“There is no difference between transgender woman and biological women. We have the same feelings. We want the same things – love and support,” explains Panna, a transwoman in a documentary made by Chennai-based NGO Sahodari. For transgender people however, finding love, let alone marriage is unimaginably difficult.

In 2014, the Supreme Court recognized transgenders as ‘third gender’ and promised constitutional rights and freedom. But legal status does not translate to social acceptance.

A 2011 video survey in Chennai undertaken by NGO Sahodari showed that most men were uncomfortable marrying transgender women. Four years on, little has changed.

“Men are attracted to transgender women as much as to biological women. Why do you think the number one livelihood choice for most transgender women is prostitution? (Because) there is such a big demand. Men have sexual relations with us but don’t want to acknowledge us or their relationship with us in public,” says Kalki Subramaniam, transgender activist and founder of NGO Sahodari.

Kalki has received dozens of proposals and has thousands of admirers. But most suitors are looking for short-term affairs/relationships, not marriage. “The fate of most transgender women is same. Men have sexual relationships with them but never own up in public. Most transgender women in relationships are usually mistresses to men who often have wives and lead a double life. Often, the partners act as pimps. They make the transgender woman work and take most of her income. They are exploited physically, emotionally and financially,” says Kalki.

Kalki’s initiative is directed towards poor and illiterate transgender individuals.

“Most transgender people in Bengaluru are runaways from rural areas. They are poor, uneducated and mostly beg on streets or earn a living as sex workers. It is easier to find partners if you are educated and know how to strike up a conversation or present yourself better,” says Uma, transgender activist and founder of NGO Jeeva. Uma, who identifies as a woman but was assigned male gender at birth, concurs with Kalki that most transwomen end up in parasitic relationships where their partners exploit them.

A 2011 survey of transgender people jointly undertaken by Sangama, Swabhava and KHPT in Bengaluru revealed that 61% of respondents worried that they will be hurt if they allow themselves to become close to others. 42% worried about being alone. About 58% feared that their partner does not really love them. Many of the respondents also admitted to facing regular physical abuse from their partners.

This begs the question - are educated and economically stable transgender individuals faring better in the love market? “They are doing marginally better,” says Uma. Many transgender individuals in Bengaluru live with their partners and openly acknowledge their relationship.

But even these never culminate into marriage. Arnav, who identifies as a man but was assigned female sex at birth, was in a relationship for eight years before the woman married someone else. “It was difficult. She said she would never be able to own up to the relationship in front of her family,” Arnav says.

Family pressure is the number one trigger for break-ups. “Most transwomen are rejected by their partners’ families who say she won’t provide them with heirs. Since she cannot reproduce, they claim she is not a real woman,” Uma says.

How do transgender individuals meet prospective lovers/partners?

“Most transgender women work as sex workers and often their customers become their lovers/partners. Those begging on the streets often begin relationships with people they meet on the road, like shopkeepers, motorists etc. What other avenue do they have? These poor people cannot go to pubs or restaurants or join clubs. More importantly most establishments don’t even allow entry to transgender people,” shares Uma.

Many transgender individuals in Bengaluru admitted that their social lives usually revolve around the NGOs they work with. “Most friends I have were found working with an NGO. We all are in the same boat and hence it is easier to open up about yourself without fear of judgment. The gatherings, press conferences and protest meets are the platforms we meet and socialize,” says Sonu, a female-to-male transgender.

Transgender individuals who are better-off also avoid restaurants or pubs. “We have a handful of restaurants and pubs that are trans-friendly and we only frequent these out of fear of being stared at or bothered elsewhere,” shares Arnav.

Only one pub in Bengaluru organizes ‘trans-nights’. Are these events helpful in meeting prospective friends or lovers? “Not really. Yes, some clubs are trans-friendly and have exclusive nights for us. But, we end up meeting the same set of people. They are friends or colleagues, so, the chances of meeting prospective friends or lovers are slim,” rues Arnav.

With dearth of physical spaces for socializing, have transgenders turned to the web? India was emerging as the biggest market for Tinder and understandably so. “ I joined Tinder. It was a mistake. I matched with a couple of people but as soon as I told them that I am transgender, they disappeared,” says Arnav. This year, Tinder CEO Sean Rad said they may introduce a transgender option soon.

It was the absence of dedicated dating sites for transgender people that drove transgender activist Kalki Subramaniam to start a matrimonial site for transgenders in India back in 2009. Thirungai.net received more than 2,000 applications wihin a short span of time. Candidates were screened and eligible ones were posted online. Many people connected through the site, but not a single match ended up in marriage.

“You must understand, this was before the 2014 judgment that accorded third gender legal status. Not many people wanted to take a chance lest they be booked,” she clarifies. Unfortunately, the website was shut down due to lack of funds but Kalki is hoping to revive it. “Such platforms are needed, so that transgender people can interact with others without fearing a backlash. I want to start a national transgender Swamvara, a physical gathering where they can register, meet others and get engaged perhaps, Kalki adds.

In reality, finding desirable partners are the least of their worries. Most transgender people are wary of running afoul of Section 377, which criminalizes all penile-non-vaginal sexual acts.

“I don’t know of a single marriage officiated in Bengaluru courts where one of the partners was transgender. Trangenders mostly engage in thigh sex, anal or oral sex. All these forms are illegal in India,” says Uma.

The case of Shivkumar and Radhika is a good example. Shivkumar married Radhika, a transgender woman, on June 21 in Bengaluru. Two days later, the couple was separated and threatened with section 377, after the groom’s family lodged a complaint.

Many transgender people are also wary of making their identity public. Legal marriages also require documentation which many of them lack.

After the 2014 judgment, government introduced third gender category in Aadhar cards and passport documents. However, no such provision is available in marriage forms or certificates. Even today, one must fill out ones identity as either husband (male) or wife (female) in marriage registry forms thus perpetuating the binary gender construct which the 2014 judgment meant to break. “This is a big oversight. Third gender option should also be available in marriage forms. If we are talking about legal recognition and equality, then this is an important step,” said Danish Sheikh, a lawyer and activist.

Lisa Barritt-Eyles, University of Newcastle

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seems willing to reach beyond what has been previously acceptable in his quest to be America’s next president.

But this, combined with his refusal to back down or acknowledge error – even after attacking the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq– signals that a campaign or arguments built around “facts”, or within the usually accepted boundaries, may not be sufficient to counter him or convince his supporters of his unsuitability for office.

Trump can claim Barack Obama is the founder of Islamic State and that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is co-founder, then argue the media are biased, doesn’t get him or sarcasm, and still maintain popular support.

Donald Trump claims Barack Obama founded Islamic State.

If the polls indicate his support is falling, Trump argues they’re rigged. But that doesn’t account for him actually having supporters. And it seems unlikely they can all be written off as being stupid or impressionable.

Some have argued Trump is the last political hope for angry white men, an opportunistic populist demagogue who appeals to the disaffected in America’s polarised politics, and a narcissist.

Perhaps this is why, when Clinton claims Trump is not fit to be president, it’s not surprising he comes back harder, manipulates the truth, makes unfounded claims and appeals to extreme emotions.

The grandiose sense of self, the slippery relationship with facts, haste to blame and humiliate others, to win at any costs, and the incandescent rage at being confronted or corrected are narcissistic characteristics Trump has exhibited in this campaign.

But how does Trump get away with the type of campaign he’s running? Why, if he’s a narcissistic demagogue, has he found an audience who respond to his politics?

What is the paranoid style?

Part of the explanation can be understood through what historian Richard Hofstadter identified decades ago as the paranoid style in American politics.

Hofstadter saw “the paranoid style” as one that secularises a religious good-versus-evil view of the world, drawing on anti-intellectual legacies in American political discourse.

He borrowed a clinical term to describe the paranoid style’s aggressive, exaggerated, suspicious, “conspiratorial fantasy” qualities and crusading mentality. The paranoid style describes the use of paranoid modes of expression: it is not describing particular individuals as being clinically paranoid.

Exponents of the paranoid style don’t see themselves as victims of personal conspiracy. They perceive the conspiracy as directed against a nation, culture or group and their own role as unselfish and patriotic.

It’s here that the paranoid style resonates with what might otherwise be labelled narcissism.

How does Trump use it?

Trump articulates the paranoid style to his constituency. He does not do this as an individual narcissistic victim, but as representative of “Us”– the true Americans who feel dispossessed from their ideal America, but are locked in battle with those destroying its greatness: Clinton, Obama, Democrats, immigrants (especially Mexicans and Muslims), the media and the establishment, including other Republicans.

Trump taps into already existent fear, anger and experiences of loss, disruption and change.

The reasons Trump supporters give for the perceived lack of American greatness may lack evidence, be wildly exaggerated, or factually wrong. But they do have grievances that haven’t been adequately tackled politically for decades. This has provided a breeding ground for expressions of racism, misogyny, hyper-Americanism and conspiratorial fantasies.

Conspiracy is central to the paranoid style. Hofstadter describes it “as the motive force in historical events”. The outcome is seen in apocalyptic terms, requiring complete victory or the elimination of the evil other.

Trump demonising Clinton, saying she’s as guilty as hell and should go to jail, and refusing to reject a statement by one of his advisers that Clinton should be put before a firing squad for treason, is consistent with the paranoid-style practitioner’s belief that political compromise will not work in what is perceived as a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil.

The paranoid style of politics accords enormous power to the enemy; it represents them as being able to change the normal course of history in an evil way.

Hofstadter argues much of the enemy’s function lies in what can be condemned. The enemy’s supposed lack of morality gives paranoid stylists an opportunity to project and express similar aspects of their own minds.

By focusing on Clinton’s alleged evil, corruption and lies, Trump’s and his supporters attempt to deny their own, simultaneously giving them voice and legitimising calling Clinton “crooked”, “weak”, “unstable” and “the Devil”.

Violence is implicit in the paranoid style, both in its language and political solutions. Trump’s suggestion that “Second Amendment people” could stop Clinton winning the November election and exclamations of “Trump That Bitch” are facilitated by Clinton’s perceived evilness and the desire to eliminate it.

Donald Trump’s ‘Second Amendment people’ comment.

The solution?

In line with Hofstadter’s description of the paranoid stylist being able to perceive the conspiracy and understand the meaning of certain signs before they’re obvious to others, Trump presents himself as the only real solution to America’s problems.

His defence of statements about Obama and Clinton as most valuable players for Islamic State was:

All I do is tell the truth. I’m a truth-teller.

This amplifies his earlier claim at the Republican National Convention that he alone can fix all of America’s problems, that he is the voice of the people, that he will restore law and order if people put their faith in him.

In the 1960s Hofstadter originally located the paranoid style at the fringes of American politics. Trump’s audience may be disenfranchised from politics as usual, but they are also indicative that the paranoid style has become mainstream. Brought in from the fringes during George W. Bush’s presidency and blossoming in Tea Party politics, paranoid style has moved to the centre.

Trump attracted supporters by enacting the paranoid style. He has given its ideas a platform and legitimacy via his campaign to become president.

But will he continue to get away with it? Or will narcissistic tendencies to campaign his way, to win at any cost, continue to erode his support, even among those engaged with the paranoid style?

Lisa Barritt-Eyles, Sessional Academic, University of Newcastle

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Adrian York, University of Westminster

Israeli fans of Australian popstar Sia have reportedly filed a £1.6m lawsuit against her promoter because they felt short-changed by her recent live show. Unhappy punters paid £70 for a 65-minute performance in Tel Aviv that some felt was “too short” and “lacklustre”, while poorly-synched video and a “lack of banter” left some in her audience calling for their money back.

Sia had allegedly been pressurised to cancel her performance by the pro-Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement– so did this affect her performance or the way it was received? A review of her recent Coachella Festival appearance in music industry magazine Billboard makes it clear that the Californian concert was similar to the Jerusalem gig with the atmosphere being more of an arty contemporary dance event than a rock gig.

The promoter, Tandi Productions, commented that there had been “hundreds of comments from satisfied fans”, but the episode highlights the problems that can happen when an audience’s expectations aren’t matched by an act’s creative vision. However, the history of music is littered with examples of truly disastrous performances – here is my “Hall of Shame”.

Battling the bottle

Abuse of alcohol and drugs have been to blame for many shows going wrong. Fans of Amy Winehouse will have seen in director Asif Kapadia’s film Amy, the tragic decline in her performances. But booze-fuelled gig fails aren’t a new phenomenon. In the late 1950s, iconic country music performer Hank Williams was renowned for his alcohol-related performance issues.

One of the greats (when sober): Hank Williams.

The composer of such standards as Your Cheatin' Heart, Hey Good Lookin' and Jambalaya was well-known for not showing up at gigs – but his lowest point was in Dallas where the promoter took money from audience members who paid to go backstage to see the artist lying unconscious on the floor.

Williams, who suffered from Spina Bifida, is alleged to have used alcohol to ease the pain from the disease – but Keith Moon, the drummer from British rock band The Who, had no such excuse. On November 20, 1973, at San Francisco’s Cow Palace, “Moon the Loon” passed out on stage. He was high on animal tranquilisers and had to be carried off stage to be replaced by an audience member who played the rest of the set.

Keith Moon: an artist when upright.Jean Luc via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Scott Stapp, meanwhile, the singer of rock band Creed, was so intoxicated for their performance at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on December 29, 2002, that he spent much of the show rolling around on the floor unable to remember any lyrics. He then passed out.

The band sent an apology email to their fans praising them for being part of the “unusual world of rock and roll history”. The subsequent legal case brought by several audience members was thrown out by the judge who agreed with the band that they had fulfilled their contractual duty to appear.

Anger management

On September 9, 1985, the Jesus And Mary Chain were booked to play at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. The riot that ensued after their drunken 15-minute set of “indeterminate white noise hampered by a faulty PA” led to a stage invasion. Their gear was trashed and the police were called.

Sometimes, tensions within bands lead to violence on stage with The Who, The Kinks and Oasis all being renowned for their on-stage scuffles.

Of course, violent behaviour doesn’t just happen at rock gigs. The premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet music The Rite of Spring on May 29, 1913, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris is a case in point. Fights broke out between fans of the modernist composer and those who objected to his “puerile barbarity”. Vegetables were thrown at the orchestra who soldiered on to the bitter end.

Another classic case of an audience being hostile to an artist’s intentions happened on May 17, 1966, at the now-infamous Bob Dylan concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. To be fair, this has since become one of pop’s seminal moments – the troubadour of folk appeared backed by The Band playing – shock, horror! – electric guitars.

Many members of the audience walked out in protest but disgruntled Dylan fan Keith Butler called Dylan “Judas” with Dylan replying “You’re a liar” – and a new rock legend was born.

Talent deficit

Nothing beats sheer incompetence for creating a shoddy live show but – with so many artists miming or using autotune to correct their pitch – a lot has to go wrong for a modern pop artist to really demonstrate their shortcomings.

Will the real artists please stand up?acme401, CC BY

Milli Vanilli, an R&B vocal duo who won the best new artist Grammy in 1990, went one better by not singing on their records and miming during their live shows link. At an infamous performance for MTV in 1989 their backing track kept skipping, leading to the group running off stage in shame. When the real singers behind the duo’s successes became known they were stripped of their Grammy and disappeared into the footnotes of pop history.

So what is it reasonable to expect from a gig in terms of band for your buck? From a purely legal perspective, it seems that if the artist turns up and makes it onto the stage upright, then you have had your money’s worth. And you’d be surprised how often this still happens. However, it’s probably a good idea to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the performers you invest your money and time in rather than being surprised when they let you down.

Adrian York, Senior lecturer in Commercial Music Performance, University of Westminster

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

When twenty-two-year-old Priyanka Yoshikawa, of half-Indian and half-Japanese heritage, was crowned Miss Japan on Monday, she also triggered a debate about racial prejudice in Japan. 

She will be representing Japan at the Miss World contest in Washington in December.

Thank you AFP for making this. https://t.co/1DX52sn6B4 via @youtube

— PriyankaYoshikawa (@Miss_priyanka20) September 6, 2016

After her win numerous complaints have arisen that a "haafu" (meaning "half" in Japanese and used to describe persons of mixed race), was given the crown instead of a "pure Japanese". 

Yoshikawa's win comes a year after another bi-racial contestant was crowned Miss Universe Japan, creating a similar sort of stir. 

Ariana Miyamoto, who won the Miss Universe Japan 2015 pageant, became the first half-black woman ever to do so.

“Before Ariana, haafu girls couldn’t represent Japan. That’s what I thought too. I didn’t doubt it or challenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way," Priyanka told AFP in an interview after winning the contest. 

While Yoshikawa's father is Indian, her mother is Japanese. Born in Tokyo, she spent a few years of her childhood in the US and India, before returning to Japan at age 10. 

“We are Japanese. Yes, I’m half Indian and people are asking me about my ‘purity’ — yes, my dad is Indian and I’m proud of it, I’m proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I’m not Japanese," she told the agency. 

Yoshikawa is a qualified elephant trainer and counts kickboxing among her hobbies. She speak both Japanese and English fluently. 

Growing up, she told AFP, she was bullied for her skin colour. “We have problems, we’ve been struggling and it hurts. When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ. Like if they touched me they would be touching something bad. But I’m thankful because that made me really strong."

Ariana Miyamoto, who was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and African-American father, has also spoken up about having similar experiences. 

During her teens, she lived in the US with her father for two years before moving back to Japan. 

"I was born and I was raised in Japan, so I think I'm Japanese; however people call me a foreigner," Miyamoto told Bustle last year.  

She also said that the reason she took part in the Miss Japan contest was because a biracial friend committed suicide due to constant bullying. 

In racially homogeneous Japan, 98.5 percent of Japan's 126 million strong population is ethnically Japanese. 

A very small part consists of the "haafu" population. Approximately 36,000 children born each year – or three percent of total births in the country – have one non-Japanese parent, according to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, says an Aljazeera report.

What makes the spewing cascades of Hogenakkal so special? While politicians of the two neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu squabble over the Cauvery issue, the rugged beauty of the rough hewn rocks and the endless stretches of both turbulent and quiet waters of the Cauvery is being promoted by the Tourism Departments of the two states.

It shot into prominence when the craggy, forbidding rock face and thundering waterfalls formed the setting of many fighting sequences, rape scenes and romantic interludes of various commercial movies right from the days when the legendary MGR also bashed up many villains here. The stunning  song sequence “choti si asha” in Roja, climax scene of Bobby in which Dimple Kapadia and Rishi Kapoor took a plunge from the cliff top and the opening scene of Ravana where the villain takes a nosedive were filmed here.

The falls and the meandering Cauvery River is the major attraction of Hogenakkal. With her origin in Karnataka, the Cauvery is said to have come down running in hiding to Tamil Nadu to be married at Hogenakkal. Hiding because she was thickly shrouded in the green splendour of the dense forests of yesteryears. 

Unlike other falls, at Hogenakkal the falls are not located just in one spot but a labyrinth of high, narrow canyons through which the river snakes. At this scenic spot, one can savour the varied moods of the River Cauvery and a bizarre change comes over the usually sedate river.

It is tranquil at one moment flowing placidly over its boulder-strewn bed. The next moment, as if possessed by demonic force, she explodes into a turbulent downpour and hurtles down a 22-m precipice, seething with passionate ferocity and boundless energy in the chasm below.

The result is Hogenakkal Falls which literally translates as “smocking rocks” in local parlance, a name it derives from the pall of mist and spray of water that shrouds and envelops the chasm as the Cauvery waters hurtle over the rock-face. At first glance, the rocks appear to be spewing fumes into the air.

The route to the Bathing Falls are flanked by stalls selling soaps, shampoo sachets, soft drinks, swimming shorts, special fried fish, tea, snacks and handicrafts. Don’t miss the freshly-caught river fish fried on huge tawas. The maliskarans or traditional masseurs will accost you with offers of gingelly oil massages before your showers.  A massage is a prelude to a dip in the holy river.

Bathing ghat for men

The falls are also known for its curative powers. The river passes through thick, medicinal forests and descends the less imposing frontages downstream, washing along several mineral salts that give a miraculous healing touch to the thousands of bathers who throng here. It is worth clambering up the Hanging Bridge to have a stunning view of the falls.

Hogenakkal comes alive on the 18th day of Adi when thousands of pilgrims gather to perform ablutions in the sacred stream. The “aadiperukku” day is marked by colour and gaiety. Bathing in the Yagakundam is a penitential cleansing particularly on the auspicious new moon days of the Tamil months of Tai and Adi during the Tula festival and on the solar and lunar eclipses.

Bathing ghat for women 

One of the highlights of Hogenakkal is the coracle ride. The coracles resemble black mushrooms, propped against trees on the banks of the river. In local parlance, they are known as “parisals”. The boatman ferries tourists across the river and gives them a lifetime’s experience in those rough waters.

The coracle ride to the lower reaches of the river is a fascinating experience with the boatman maneuvering through the weathered rocks lining the sides. With just a single oar in hand, the ingenuity with which the boatman handles these coracles is an incredible sight to behold. The trip culminates when the boatman twirls and spins the coracle with the tourists screaming their lungs out.

All photographs by Susheela Nair

(Susheela Nair is a Bengaluru-based freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer and photographer contributing articles, content and images to several reputed national publications, travel guides, portals, brochures, and coffee table books.)