Category: Smart Living

The bond between fathers and their little girls

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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I know, I know, Father’s Day is exactly the kind of trap smart women should not walk into. So I am not getting a schmaltzy card, I am not buying expensive ties or wallets, I am not even having flowers delivered anywhere. I will just quietly, and economically, remember him this Sunday like I do all days.

The truth is if I still had a dad, I would have hung out with him not just on Father’s Day but every day. Who knew dads could die?

We daddy’s Girls had it all. Solid support, unconditional love, unlimited funds, compliments by the minute. We could do no wrong, no man was good enough for us, we were too gorgeous for mankind…

Only one person told us this with a straight face and we believed. Dads shook their heads sadly at sons, but bowed these same heads when daughters entered the room.

Paper Moon to Piku, celluloid routinely zooms in on men and their female offspring. From The Descendants where George Clooney’s daughter, played by Shailene Woodley at her youngest, reveals to him his dying wife’s infidelity, to the unspeakable creep in Room, whom his son, played by little Jacob Tremblay with such fragility, must not make eye contact with, 70-mm dads loom large.

In books too, fathers come in all shapes; Mr Bennet, whose many daughters dote on him for his mildness and wit, Arthur Weasley, who gives Harry Potter a quasi-paternal vibe, to King Lear, who thought his daughter Cordelia did not love him enough.

Women knock themselves out trying to find a father figure if their biological dad flakes out or isn’t there for them. Daddy-Long-Legs, an epistolary novel by American writer Jean Webster, is a case in point.

The delicious fact about daddies is that alpha male men turn into purring pussycats in a jiffy in the presence of their little girls. Which, of course, as a wife I do not appreciate enough – to see my usually macho husband turn to putty in clever, manipulative teenage hands, makes me want to throw up – but as a daughter take as my due.

Husbands may come and go, but your father’s faith in you is what makes you who you are. Of course, a supportive man in your life who is not your father is a big plus, but if you started life with a man who is delirious with joy and gratitude just because you were born, then life is magic.

And nothing makes the disappearance of a dad alright. No one says, oh, you know, he was old and ailing, had lived his life to the fullest, so it was his time to go. I think of all those well-meaning people at my father’s funeral who sought to comfort me with words thus.

All I could do was rage internally – no departure is as untimely as that of your creator. Because, let’s face it, who and where God is, I do not know. I only know my parents, stake-holders in an equity called me, with dad owning more than 50% of the shares. In the boardroom of my soul, we have to do without a CEO.

‘We thought he would last forever,’ says Stephen Hawking’s daughter. Fathers should.

Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bengaluru. Her books include The Girl Who Couldn’t Love, Barefoot and Pregnant, Planet Polygamous, and the anthologies Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, Boo. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Asia Prize for her story A Dog’s Death in 2003, she is co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and director of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Heart specialist and bollywood actress: Niharica Raizada’s real-life double role

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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It gets somewhat awkward for Niharica Kumari Raizada when she is recognised at the hospital where she works.

“Sometimes, people ask me for an autograph or selfie in front of experienced surgeons, and it’s really embarrassing,” says Niharica, who – despite her glamorous social-media image and film roles – is rather approachable and friendly.

She’s also highly intelligent – but naturally – and a conversation with her can go from the difficulties that single women face in a city, to problematic marketing strategies of modern commercial films, to the need for more female voices in the media.

In fact, it appears that the toughest role that Niharica has had to play in life is being herself – in all her multi-talented, high IQ, super-performer avatars.

Brought up in Luxembourg where her dad worked in the European Commission, Niharica was a precocious child. It was while studying in a school full of Europeans that she developed a craving to move to India. A Bollywood nut and a diploma holder in dance, Niharica was brought up on Meena Kumari and Sadhana music videos, besides songs by her granduncle OP Nayyar.

But B-town had to wait as Niharica completed her MBBS from London’s Imperial College and followed it up with a Master’s in translational medicine with a thesis on cardiology.

A Fulbright scholarship took her to Johns Hopkins University in USA, where she researched stem cells before flying to Mumbai on the sly (her parents wouldn’t have allowed if they’d known).

Even as a qualified doctor, she found it hard to rent a place as a single woman, and finally had to call her parents over to help. They were understandably upset – she’d thrown up a huge earning potential abroad – but gave in after a while.

After brief stints as assistant director for filmmakers Shekhar Kapur, Vipul Shah and Jug Mundhra while they were on shoots in London, Niharica had a burning desire to join the film industry. Having participated in a couple of beauty pageants, she was selected to model in a fashion show that toured all over India, and introduced her to the fashion fraternity.

She then landed a few roles in Bengali, Gujarati and Hindi films including the critically acclaimed Masaan. At the same time, she joined BKC hospital in Mumbai where she works as head of department of the heart institute, and currently leads a team of researchers studying 400 heart patients.

“I love my job,” she says, adding that, with her background experience in surgery, physiotherapy and radiology, she is able to cater her research to these fields in a practical way.

Time and again, she comes back to acting. Her next film, an all-out commercial comedy Total Dhamaal starring several veterans including Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, will be out this December. “I’d love to be a top-rated actress like Meryl Streep or Shabana Azmi,” she says ambitiously.

In either case, whether she studies them or wins them, Niharica sure rules hearts!

Aekta Kapoor is the Editor and Publisher of eShe magazine.

First published in eShe magazine

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Flights of fantasy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Birds and me go a long way back. We started off on an emotional note that needed no common language to communicate – the emotion of compassion. There is nothing more heart – wrenching than seeing an avian glory lying on the ground with outstretched, injured wings.

I could see the silent plea for help in its soulful eyes. And in that moment, we formed a bond, a bond that would lead me to my fascinated explorations and experimentations of these beautiful winged creatures. An affair started between my lens and birds – in the wild, on the streets, amidst Nature, amidst concrete.

My vision for this series as a photographer was to blur the growing line of dissent between these winged beauties and the metropolis. Likewise, I decided to mix street and bird photography, pre visualizing a frame space shared by both. And the rest was a matter of imagination and long spells of patience.

Perception Vs Reality

Catapults and birds have a hostile history. One ‘s presence disturbs the other. As a child, I would feel sick seeing people use catapult to hurt and hunt birds. However, a few months ago, while noticing the graffiti of a child playing with a catapult in one of the artsy corners of Shahpur Jat, a question struck my mind. What if a bird is able to soar freely, without fear in front of a catapult? What if the sling device can no longer restrict its flight to freedom? And this feisty crow decided to give me the answer from this artistically liberated corner of Delhi. And what an answer it was!

Escape

Birds are exotic because they are beautiful creatures of the wild. Flocked together, they preen, fly play and spend their lives together away from the prying eyes of human civilization. On a cold January morning of the year 2016, I ventured to the vicinity of Wadhwana Lake for birding where I noticed a bird perched atop one of the bare branches of a naked tree. Naked trees have always fascinated and perturbed me at the same time. There is something unsettling about the perceived strength of the vice – like grip of their branches. In my imagination, the bird seemed trapped in the thorny limbs of the derelict tree. I hoped it would release itself and fly away to its awaiting  flock. And then came my moment. As it slowly soared and whirred its wings in its flight to freedom, so did whir the shutter of my camera.

Wings of Imagination

The bird lover’s eye in me identifies shapes of birds in any contour it lays its vision upon. Once, while visiting a friend’s exhibition at the India Habitat Centre, I chanced upon looking up at an intricate pattern shading the open area from the vast sky. I was amazed to notice how much the pattern resembled the flight of a flock of birds. My next big task was actually to find the ring leader. But after some sharp observation and acute concentration, I was rewarded with this amazing picture.

Inside-Out

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, sitting in the balcony of my Mehrauli flat, I was ruminating on the drab nothingness of city life when my reverie was broken by a cooing sound coming from behind the vent of the window air conditioner. I noticed my shy companion, a pigeon, checking out the sky for its impending flight. I was just hoping it would spread its wings against the pale afternoon sky and fly.

Luckily, it seemed to agree with my thought and after some stealth maneuvering and furtive clicks, I got my afternoon dream etched on the frame.

Soul Healing

A wintry morning at the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary held more promises to me than Noah’s Ark. The mystical unveiling of the sun rays through the fog illuminated the serene ponds and green tunnels with a divine radiance. Animals and birds relaxed and trotted in peace, unperturbed by the worries of the human world. And in one such ethereal moment, I noticed this little Cormorant reveling and basking in nature’s bounty. Its gentle movements broke the silence of the woods and the the monotony of my soul.

Freedom

An artist always loves a creative challenge. This breathtaking statue of the floating lady in the Garden of Five Senses around Mehrauli heritage area stimulated my grey matter to add essence to her persona. And I knew the perfect contender for her attention. I could actually visualize another delicate creature being released to freedom through the dainty fingers of this cherubic creation. However, my greatest hurdle was in luring a bird to the otherwise avian desolation. I struggled for two days, until this bird graced me with its presence. The rest, the picture would speak.

Literary Content Developer: Tanmoyee Rajkhowa

Photography by: Sanjay Pandita

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Vienna has the most unusual museums in the world

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Vienna. The world’s most liveable city. The home of Sigmund Freud, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Mozart, Johann Strauss, Gustav Klimt. The country where croissant, snow globe and PEZ candy were born. The city that has a legit coffee culture and is famed for the sinfully sweet Sacher torte and scrumptious schnitzel. And its unusual museums.

The Globe Museum: The world’s only museum dedicated to globes, the Globe Museum housed in renovated Palais Mollard has 240 different original globes of the earth and the sky, the moon and the planet Mars, majority of them dating before 1850. Not ordinary globes, but unusual globes – folding fabric globes (which were inflated with a bellows), giant man-sized globes, and tiny plum-sized globes. The oldest item in the collection is the terrestrial globe of Dutch cartographer/physician Gemma Frisius  (circa 1536). One of the most prized artefacts on display is Vincenzo Coronelli’s two globes specially crafted for Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor (1658-1705), with each globe having an engraved portrait of the Emperor.

Museum of Contraception & Abortion: Thank the i-Pill and every other morning after pills, women no longer have to use crocodile dung as barrier (the science being that acid in the croc-poop was not sperm-friendly) and  men no longer learn to make sheep gut barriers or order a customised sturgeon (yes, the fish) condom or buy a specific stand to dry the condom before next use. In the two-roomed museum founded by Dr Christian Fiala, the museum narrates the history of birth control and bizarre methods of terminating unwanted pregnancy. In a glass cabinet are knitting needles, thorns, bicycle spokes as abortion tools before abortion was legalised. The Abortion Room also has a Victorian kitchen set-up for a DIY abortion.

Undertakers Museum: Talk six feet under. And all its paraphernalia. Housed under the Central Cemetery, the Undertakers’ Museum is a repository of all things Death-related. Details and artefacts about funeral rituals, ornate coffins, death masks and sombre hearses. There’s a sitting coffin and one shaped like football. There’s the story of the reusable coffin which was never reused. In 1784, Emperor Josef II mooted the idea of a coffin equipped with a trap underneath to drop the body into the grave and reused. This could have saved precious wood but the Viennese protested against it vehemently and the king had to kill the idea. There’s even a DIY about what if, God forbid, you are buried alive accidentally/unexpectedly. There’s a cord attached to the wrist of the deceased which would ring the bell above the ground just in case  – just in case – he came back to life.

Museum of Illusions: Through nearly 70 installations of holograms, stereograms, optical illusions, reality gets distorted in Museum of Illusions. Here, balls roll upwards, water flows uphill and your brain and eyes make unconscious inferences about whether you are standing on a flat or slanted surface. There’s the Anti-Gravity room, where gravity – and physics – go for a toss. In the Head on a Platter exhibit, you can serve a friend’s head on a platter. The head is on a dinner plate, the body invisible. Knees go wobbly and the ground beneath the feet sways in the Vortex Tunnel while the Holograms section tells the story of evolution through some of the best holograms in the world.

Museum of Art Fakes: It is a Picasso. Complete with a signature and date. But it is not a Picasso. There’s a page from Hitler Diaries, a series of 60 volumes of journals that was sold for $3.7 million in 1983. But Hitler never wrote this. There’s Marc Chagall painting but the the real Chagall never added a stroke to this canvas. Everything is fake/forged. That is what the Museum of Art Fakes is all about. A home to faked paintings from world’s famous forgers such as Han van Meegeren, Eric Hebborn, Tom Keating, Elmyr de Hory, David Stein, Konrad Kujau. And  ‘identical-fakes’ of Egon Schiele, Rembrandt, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall. The fakes include the works of Meegeren, the man who faked Johannes Vermeer; British art restorer Tom Keating who  claimed to have faked over 2,000 works by more than 100 different artists and deliberately inserted ‘time bombs’ in the forged art work.

Preeti Verma Lal is a Goa-based freelance writer/photographer. 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Peru’s sex pots

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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At the iron gate of Lima’s Rafael Larco Herrera Museum, leave behind all puritanical notions. Stop being  schoolmarmish about sex. Shed any Victorian notions of morality. There’s no room for coyness in the Museum’s Erotic Pottery Gallery. Housed in an 18th century viceroyalty-era mansion, the Gallery has several sex-themed pottery that were found during excavations of burial and religious sites of the Moche, a highly organized, class-based society that dominated Peru’s northern coast for 800 years until about 800 AD. Dating to pre-Columbian times, it is the world’s largest collection of erotic pottery.

Preeti Verma Lal is a Goa-based freelance writer/photographer. 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Is it too late now to say sorry?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Am I the only one reading too much into Billy boy’s refusal to say sorry to Monica Lewinsky? He says he has apologized to everybody in the world, but never personally to her.

So, Mon, if you are waiting for Clinton to come knocking at your door, look deep into your eyes and manfully take the blame for the mess that hit the fan big-time, don’t hold your breath, it ain’t gonna happen.

We’ve all met men in the first flush of romance who meet our eyes at every excuse, anticipate our reaching for a pen or a spoon, laugh at all our jokes and look more hurt than us when we look hurt.

Cut to ‘The End’ – nothing we say is cute, why are we so hysterical and, please, nothing was their fault, not now, not ever. Justin Bieber may be a guy who said sorry, but then he was paid buckets to sing it.

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte kissed a married Filipino worker on stage. And Trump is, well, very Trump about his past dalliances. Nothing ever happened, as he tells us and Melania/Melanie (third wives’ names, he will tell you, are difficult to remember), even as many women are reminiscing aloud about his seduction techniques.

Is this a president thing? A man thing? An ego thing? Whatever it is, it is catching.

Apologies are not an average act on anyone’s to-do list. My parents never apologised for passing on their average looks to me. My kids show no remorse, verbal or nonverbal, for scaring me to death at least twice a day; after texting me that there’s a large dacoit type man blocking their way, they will switch their phones off.

All the guys I crushed on, including the Canadian prime minister, are doing pretty well, looking quite un-sorry about not being with me.

The ‘sorry’ that comes my way when someone steps on my toes, shoves me to the ground or drops their heavy bag on my head while opening the overhead cabinet in flights sounds more like ‘ha ha, got you’.

Fake, insincere, vacuous sorries are dime a dozen, or rupee a kilo. But the genuine article – someone making their way to us and only us with honest beg-your-pardon in their eyes and on their lips – uh, not happening.

While Monica Lewinsky talks about gross abuse of power because ‘16 years ago I fell in love with my boss’, Bill Clinton only remembers that the whole thing put him in $16 million debt. He has carefully steered clear of describing his feelings for Monica, never having aired what drew him to her. If only what happens in the White House stays in the White House! Then he’d be on book tours after writing novels with James Patterson talking about his writing techniques, with nary a query about Monica.

As anyone who is owed an apology will tell you – it is not the words one wants to hear but the acknowledgement that they were wronged in the first place. If even former presidents cannot go down on their knees in admissions of guilt, then who will?

Call me a romantic but Monica is all of us as giddy teens excited by a popstar or a filmstar. She was just this giggly intern who thought she was in love. What’s Clinton’s excuse?

Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bengaluru. Her books include The Girl Who Couldn’t Love, Barefoot and Pregnant, Planet Polygamous, and the anthologies Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, Boo. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Asia Prize for her story A Dog’s Death in 2003, she is co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and director of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Grandma Approves: New film rating at the censor board?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A fresh rush of outrage at the silk bedsheet burning scene in Veere Di Wedding has prompted the Censor Board to re-examine how its rates movies.

Outrage Girl: Was so embarrassed to see ‘that scene’ with my grandmother!

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

Had Grandma been on Social Media: My children were fighting all the time, and grandpa was in jail for the freedom movement, how do you think I smiled through it all?

Filmi Mother: Where did we go wrong with this child!

CBFC: But … But … It’s an adult film

Social Media: HAI HAI CBFC HAI HAI

CBFC New Ratings: Grandma Approved Adult Film

Outrage Girl: That Swara Bhaskar! Should play only gareeb roles! How dare she be rich!

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

Grandmother from previous outrage: Why can’t you be as naturally beautiful as her? Look at you girls… so much makeup in Indian weather!

Outrage Girl: I hate her for being beautiful.

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

CBFC New Rule: Any movie with Swara Bhasker will begin with apology for her beauty.

Outrage Girl: Having a ‘fat’ girl in the film body shamed! Hai! Hai!

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

‘Feminists’ on Social Media: Undue societal pressure for women to conform to patriarchal image of feminine beauty’

Had character from film been on Social Media: *Gagging sounds* followed by tears, ‘Nobody cared about me that much! Even the story had one dialogue-less bade papaji!’

CBFC: But…But…

CBFC New Rule: Body Shaming Is Hazardous to Psychological Health. No actor in the film supports body shaming of any person living or dead or promotes body shaming in real life.

Outrage: The girls went to Thailand when soldiers are dying in Siachen!

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

Army Chief: It’s movie we screened for soldiers. They fell asleep.

Social Media: As apology, filmmakers must give ride to soldiers in the Bentley on Dhola Sadiya bridge!

Army Chief: But… But… That’s a geographically impossible ask!

CBFC New Rule: Every film must have one dialog praising soldiers dying in Siachin.

Outrage: She called her mother ‘buddhi’. This is ageist!

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

Had ‘mother’ been on Social Media: I grew up calling my mother Khasma Nu Khani because all elderly women in the family called her that. Buddhi is tame in comparison.

Social Media: Tu chup kar! Hai, Hai!

CBFC New Rule: Any film featuring an elderly person will carry a warning on the scene: No Disrespecting the Elderly

Outrage: No persons of religious minority were shown in the film.

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

Minority characters through film history: Thank Goodness!

Social Media: Sab chup raho! We are fighting for equal representation! Hai! Hai!

CBFC New Rule: One Minority character is a must and every Indian state (and Union Territory) must be represented in every film.

Next week Outrage: Why are you calling the movie ‘Kala’? It’s a ‘savarna’ conspiracy

Social Media: Hai! Hai!

Filmmakers: It has Rajinikant…

Social Media: *Gets squashed by one look from Rajinikant*

CBFC New Rating: Okayed by Rajinikant

(with apologies to Bill Maher)

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How Nikhat Zareen went from small-town tomboy to global boxing sensation

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Nikhat Zareen had been out of form for a year due to shoulder injury and surgery, so not many people had expectations of any big win when she represented India in the 51 kg boxing category at the 56th Belgrade International Tournament in April this year.

But – ever the obstinate rebel – she was determined to prove them wrong, so she went ahead and won gold.

There was always something different about Nikhat. Even while she was a young girl in the small town of Nizamabad in Telangana, she was a bit of a tomboy, comfortable in the company of her male peers.

Since the movement of girls was restricted, Nikhat adopted boys’ clothing and kept her hair short. Curious and fearless, she wanted to explore the world.

Nikhat’s father – an avid sports-person himself – had never encouraged his four daughters to take up sports. He himself had had to give up his passion in order to raise a family and he felt it was not a viable career, so he pushed them toward academics instead.

But when Nikhat was 11, she participated in her school’s sports day event at a time where her dad was posted in Saudi Arabia, and managed to beat much older girls. It was her first taste of sporting victory.

She got involved in her school athletics, and though her father was reluctant at first, he couldn’t help feeling proud when she won laurels. Then one day, when she was 13, she happened to notice that the district’s boxing centre had no girls.

“I found it odd,” recalls Nikhat, now 21. “Why are girls considered weak?” The adolescent took it up as a challenge, and began training. Eventually, it was time to spar with her male peers.

“I lost my first game and came home with a black eye and a bleeding nose,” she laughs in retrospect.

“But I was stubborn. I didn’t cry. I was furious.” Upon seeing her daughter’s face, Nikhat’s mother began crying: “We didn’t put you in boxing so that you spoil your face! Who will marry you?” the older woman wailed. The teenager stuck her chin out, defiantly: “Once I am a success, there will be a line of grooms waiting for me.”

Nikhat’s first big win happened in 2010 at the sub-junior national championships. “I prepared a lot for it,” she narrates, adding that, as the only girl participating from her district stadium, her coaches were more invested in her as her victory would encourage more girls to come forward.

“Those were long, tiring days. I had school, plus training, plus homework. My body was always tired,” she recalls.

Despite facing a more experienced player from Manipur in the finals, Nikhat struck gold and was award the best boxer of the match.

The tournament spurred her international dreams. In 2011, she travelled to Turkey to participate in the Junior World Championships. In her first round, she defeated a much stronger, more experienced Russian opponent with a knockout.

Then she won the semi-finals against Ukraine, and finally the finals against the home country Turkey. “It was such a proud moment for me when the referee raised my hand and our national anthem played. I wanted to cry,” she recalls. She was 15 years old.

Nikhat was a national celebrity after her return – her school friends’ attitude towards her changed considerably, and her photos frequently appeared in newspapers.

She completed her Bachelor’s in public administration, political science and psychology, while continuing to win matches everywhere she went – from Assam to Bulgaria and Serbia.

She was one of three boxers picked for JSW’s Sports Excellence Program, and – when she dislocated her shoulder in 2017 – the company went all out to get her the best treatment, physiotherapy and even brought down global players to train with her and keep up her competitive spirit and fighting skills.

But even so, many months after her surgery and recuperation, there were many in the field who doubted if Nikhat would ever get her mojo back.

Her Belgrade win this year shut all her critics up, of course.

She’s also won over more intimate naysayers. These days, when Nikhat comes home with a black eye, her mom says, nonchalantly, “Go put some ice.”

Aekta Kapoor is the Editor and Publisher of eShe magazine.

This article was first published in eShe magazine.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Zenia Tata on Innovation, Kriya Yoga, and the $1 million XPRIZE for Women’s Safety

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The past few months have been busy for Zenia Tata. The chief impact officer at XPRIZE Foundation has been testing the prototypes of the five finalists in the race for the Women’s Safety XPRIZE, the winner for which will be announced this month. “We’re talking about a whole new cadre of devices,” says the US-based Zenia with characteristic enthusiasm.

Launched two years ago, the innovation award carries prize money of $1 million sponsored by entrepreneurs Anu and Naveen Jain. It requires competing global teams to come up with a GPS-monitored device under $40 that a person can wear on their body and trigger without using hands in case of a personal emergency.

It should be able to transmit information to a network of community responders, while discreetly alerting the person that help is on the way, all within 90 seconds.

“Even in the US, the average time taken for emergency services to respond is nine to 18 minutes. A lot can happen in that time. Besides, three billion people in the world do not have access to an emergency number at all,” says Zenia, who looked for a community-based helpline system before launching the project, and tied up with the maker of the free app, Guardian Circle, which enables neighbours, family and friends to protect one another.

Zenia’s concept of the women’s safety prize benefits men, children and the elderly as well. “When women are safe, societies thrive. The real-estate value of those neighbourhoods is higher, they are more desirable to live in, and businesses are open till late – it works for everyone,” she says, adding that if an equal number of women as men were to feel safe and empowered enough to join the workforce, they could potentially add $ 19 trillion to the world economy by 2020.

It is apparent when you talk to Zenia that she really immerses herself in any project she takes on. Having spent over two decades working for non-profit organizations across 20 countries, she is well-versed in diverse issues from water and food scarcity, to land rights, healthcare, education and child welfare.

Her clients include MIT’s D-Lab and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. With her commanding presence and amiable personality, she is also frequently invited as a speaker on various forums, and to give lectures on social entrepreneurship at institutions like Harvard Business School and Stanford, among others.

The Mumbai-born Zenia has also been uniquely positioned on the cusp of social entrepreneurship and technology. During her work as executive director of International Development Enterprises (iDE), USA, she was able to help pioneer market-based approaches to double the income for over 22 million impoverished farmers in Asia and Africa.

Which is why, five years ago, the donor-funded XPRIZE Foundation approached her to take forward their global strategy, and to incentivize innovation for low-cost solutions to social and lifestyle problems plaguing the developing world. One of the many prizes that the foundation is famous for – besides challenges like space exploration, creating water from air, and turning carbon emissions to valuable products – the Women’s Safety Prize was the first global competition launched by the philanthropic foundation outside the US, and took Zenia back home to her birthplace, India.

The only child of a “brilliant mother” and a “serial entrepreneur” engineer father, Zenia did her graduation from Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College, and then headed to the US to attend flight school. But she faced an immediate setback as an acquaintance took a loan in her name and absconded with the money. She had to work two or three jobs at a time to fund her stay.

But the experience opened up something inside the then 21-year-old. She picked up several languages – including French, German and Italian – and became a follower of Paramhansa Yogananda, devoting herself to kriya yoga and serving in the ashram in Denver.

“I became more attracted to Eastern spirituality after leaving India. When you’re out there, all alone, and have to make harsh choices, seeds of old values planted inside you in childhood either blossom or submerge,” she explains, adding that she feels blessed to be born to a family with strict codes of conduct – “You can’t use or abuse a name like Tata.”

If her dream of flying couldn’t work out, Zenia decided to follow in her grandmother and mother’s footsteps and become a social activist. Over the next eight years or so, she worked across the US – including in Alaska, where she met her life partner – before her work at iDE took her to India, besides other countries in Latin America and Africa.

After her wedding, she moved to Crested Butte, Colorado, with her American husband, a financial advisor, former pilot and “armchair astronomer”, and the two live a “cerebral and adventurous life” after work hours, reading science fiction or going hiking, biking, horse riding, and scuba diving.

Meanwhile her work at XPRIZE continues. Industrialist Ratan Tata, her cousin a few times removed, was keen for her to bring it to India to solve some of India’s biggest challenges including women’s safety, and lent his name to it.

As always, Zenia is excited about the possibilities: “We’re trying to capture the world’s imagination in order to accelerate the rate of positive change. It’s all about innovative thinking.”

Aekta Kapoor is the Editor and Publisher of eShe magazine.

This article was first published in eShe magazine.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

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Our love for everything delicious, and the art it inspires

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Walking the streets with “eat cake for breakfast” emblazoned on the side of your tote bag, can be a simple declaration of your love for cake.

Back in the 90s, it would also be the best way to keep yourself a rung higher on the fashion ladder, for you would not be carrying a grocery bag, but a Kate Spade bag.

Spade, the feisty designer who passed away last week, was celebrated for moulding the quirky design scene of the 90s and showcasing food in her designs, metaphorically and literally, like the famous pineapple bag.

Food has been central to art, design and even to serve up religious sentiment. In the Last Supper, one of the most iconic Christian images, we see Jesus breaking bread with his apostles.

In Hinduism, Lord Krishna’s baby avatar with his mouth and hands smeared in freshly churned butter is a favourite among Krishna devotees.

Food draws its strength from design and art. Any TV food show worth its salt will make sure that the food looks appetising and is plated like a miniature painting.

Food art is fascinating. I remember being mesmerised at the salad counters watching roses being carved out of a blood red watermelons, or an apples being sliced like birds mid flight or tomatoes being trussed up like roses.

According to the Smithsonian Journeys Quaterly, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was the first artist in the modern era to think of the preparation and consumption of food as art.

In 1932, Marinetti published The Futurist Cookbook. It was not merely a set of recipes; it was a kind of manifesto. There is so much to do with food: the smell, the texture, the visual appeal, it makes for the perfect medium for artists to experiment.

The Japanese do hit the high notes when it having a beautiful interplays of food and art – the Bento box. The single portion meals mostly made of rice, vegetables and meat are arranged to create a landscape or a funny face or an animal face. A good Bento is a thing of beauty.

Art has always used food to tell a story. Any art history book will tell you how food has been as a potent descriptor for political, social or class commentary. Art has always fed on food, from ancient Greece and Rome where feasts were celebrated in literature and painting.

Drawings of food could also be found inside Egyptian pyramids. A slice of life is portrayed with food.

From the luxuriant 17th century still life paintings of fruit platters depicting a life of decadence and decay, to the pop artists usage of everyday food items to make a statement, like Andy Warhol’s 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans, a comment on mass produced food, there is a lot going on with food.

It has been a tool for feminists to make a statement via art installations, and as the Smithsonian reports, used as a “social sculpture”—where human interaction, including eating together, is conceived as an art form in itself.

One of the most prominent practitioners was Rirkrit Tiravanija, who began cooking and serving food to viewers at galleries.

Food is so simple in its pleasures, maybe you have wondered why the first thing you drew with a crayon was a bright red apple, or three cherries hung together.

It was easier for us as toddlers to draw what we liked. To draw what we ate. Food is always a hit. Fashion, art or just on your dishes, there is no iconography that packs as much punch.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow