Becoming Mrs Kumar Author : Heather Saville Gupta

Random House  launches its new fiction title, Becoming Mrs Kumar by Heather Saville Gupta. The book is the first novel to address the increasing common reality of expats looking for love in the new India.

 Synopsis:  Julia Robinson is bored. Her job at a top London ad agency is becoming a bit sameish. Her London rent is killing her and she has been rained ononce too often to find British weather amusing.Julia wants to shake things up and so jumps at a chance of a job in Mumbai. She now finds herselic cities f in the centre of one of the most chaotic and energetic  cities in the world. Will she find Mr Right in all this hullabaloo?



 Heather Saville  arrived in Mumbai in 2003, just before Diwali.  She’d been to India before, on backpacking and business trips, but this time  she decided she  was here to stay.  She had  garnered  an expat job with one of India’s largest advertising agencies, a comfortable salary, and a company owned apartment to live in. Once in India  her life took a total 360 degree turnaround.  It was a whole new experience for her and that is what she has tried to capture in her debut novel brought out by Random House titled 'Becoming Mrs Kumar.' She speaks to Johnson Thomas about her life in Mumbai and her varied experiences in the vibrant, lively and intriguing India that she has come to love and call her own.


From being single and fancy free to hitching up with an Indian , getting married and then having two babies it's obviously been a whirlwind for Heather Saville Gupta. She was single when  she arrived,  ready to explore and make the most of the  city. When she first came to Mumbai , the scene was totally different from what it is now.  Then the tony neighborhood was south of Breach Candy, Worli was too far away from the 'Life' while Bandra was a suburb. Andheri, Versova, Malad, Goregaon were all just words on the map.
Offices were in Nariman Point, Fort or Churchgate. Most Expats  hung out at the Breach Candy club which provided a lifeline of sanity for Expats in the chaotic environment of a bustling alien  city teeming with people.

The expat scene was small at first. Things started changing in early 2000. Globalisation was well entrenched by then . In 2009, The Sealink, and the Global recession changed everything. Heather moved from Breach Candy to Bandra  sometime in 2007 and  got herself acclimatised to the more cosmopolitan social scene there. The Global recession which started at the end of 2008 also re-engineered the expat presence in Mumbai .The number of Expats in Mumbai has increased tremendously. But Heather is no longer in that strictly 'Expat' zone anymore. Her marriage to Vivek has changed her total outlook on life. Today she is working as Production Head and Taking care of the HR at Bang Bang Films as well being mother to Jake and Noah. She isn't involved as much in the party whirl as once she was. There have been so many changes in her life and she has managed to embrace them all successfully. Mumbai itself has changed tremendously. The skyline today is totally different from what it was 10 years ago.  According to her , Mumbai’s famous spirit hasn’t altered one bit through all the change, though.
 


Heather's travels around India has improved her adaptability to differing  environs. She now finds it difficult to spend more time in England because in her own words 'the first week back at home is fun but thereafter it's terribly  boring!' India is her home now and her first attempt at fiction best exemplifies that!

Children's stories from north-east India to be translated to delight

Children's stories from north-east India to be translated to delight
Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:33 am (PDT)
6 times 6 translates into 180, all children's stories.....Samudra Gupta Kashyap ,br/> Six books in every one of six languages are being translated into every other of those languages, a massive project that will create 180 new editions of stories that have delighted children of the Northeast for generations, though so far only in the original languages. A group of writers and translators from four Northeastern states are working on the project, supported by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and possibly the first ever initiative of this kind. The books are in Assamese and five tribal languages - Bodo (spoken in Assam), Khasi (Meghlaya), Garo (mainly Meghalaya), Manipuri and Mizo. "This has not only brought to focus the rich treasure-house of folktales for children across the region, but also brought people from the six communities closer through their stories," said project coordinator Paresh Malakar, president of Anwesha, a Guwahati-based publishing NGO. ,br/> For the INGCA, too, it is a project to showcase. "It is a massive initiative to promote inter-cultural and literary exchanges among the six languages. An effort of such a magnitude has never taken place in the country," said Prof A C Bhagabati, a former vice-chancellor of Arunachal University who is currently regional head of the IGNCA. The stories in each language were first translated into English, following which they were translated into the other five languages by a team comprising scholars in each language. "It was an experience I will never forget. And, believe me, though we live so close to the Assamese people, we hardly had the opportunity to read the beautiful Assamese folktales until I got involved in this project," said Daphinda War, a Khasi writer who teaches English at St Edmund's College in Shillong. Meghalaya and Mizoram, incidentally, were districts of Assam till 1972, with Shillong also having been Assam's capital for 98 years. One of Assam's books is Burhi Aair Sadhu, legendary in the state. The first collection of Assamese folktales by Lakshminath Bezbaroa completed 100 years last November. "It is just a coincidence that the centenary of Burhi Aair Sadhu came by. But then this project can be also called an accidental tribute to the pioneering collection," said Bhagabati. It was also an occasion for writers from these communities to meet and work together. "I did not know that there were so many wonderful folktales in the Bodo language spoken by our Bodo brethren within Assam itself until I became part of this project," said octogenerian author Tultul Barua. "There are very few collections of stories in Manipuri especially intended for children," said Tyanjam Bijoykumar Singh of Imphal. Singh is looking forward to what children will get access to once the books are translated. "It will open up a new world for them... most of us do not understand each other's languages in the Northeast," said Singh. A specialist member in the initiative is Arup Kumar Dutta, one of India's most prolific children's writers, and who was once described as "India's own Enid Blyton" by Khuswant Singh after his series of adventure stories beginning with Kaziranga Trail had earned global acclaim in the early 1980s. "The whole process, right from selecting stories from the six languages to translating them, was like a rediscovery of the colourful multi-ethnic heritage of the Northeastern region. And once these books are brought out in English (which is not included in the current project), the rest of the world will also get an interesting insight into the world of children literature in the region," he said. ,br/> URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/6-times-6-translates-into-180-all-childrens-stories/940525/0

The writer self-image

BY SHANNON MCKELDEN We all have a self-image. This isn’t necessarily an accurate portrayal of what is true, but how we perceive ourselves, which is made up of all kinds of things from our past to our parents, our experiences and our interpretations. One of the most detrimental things to us being Happy Writers can be a negative writing self-image. Whatever your self-image is, your behavior will remain true to it almost all the time. Which means, if you think of yourself as a bad writer, that self-image dictates how you behave and your behavior reinforces your self-image. We also tend to remain in the “comfort zone” of our self-image, even if it’s negative. A writer with a poor writing self-image, who then achieves a fast rise to the top of the bestseller lists, can come crashing down even more quickly, as they are uncomfortable with the contrast of the stardom to the self-image they have. Their behavior pulls them back to “where they belong.” Their self-image comfort zone. Self-image = Who we are AFRAID we are. Think about that. Your self-image may be that you are a terrible writer. If you care about how well you write, then you put a lot of emotion behind the FEAR that that self-image may be true. (If you weren’t an aspiring writer, you wouldn’t be afraid of being a terrible writer, because it wouldn’t mean much to you.) But we do care. So, the idea that we really might be a terrible writer — our self-image — terrifies us. We don’t take into consideration that we have written some wonderful things. The good sentences tend to not affect our self-image as much as the bad sentences, right? Published authors may get dozens of great reviews, but that one bad review will have them desperately considering applying to flip burgers at Mickey D’s. Because it points to our terror that we are actually living up to our self-image. How you think of yourself is transmitted to others, too, who will reinforce your self-image. You give off visual, verbal and emotional clues to — not WHO you are — but to your self-image. Who you BELIEVE you are. How others subsequently treat you then “confirms” for you that this must be the way you are. “You are constantly letting other people know how to treat you by the way you treat yourself.”- – Paul McKenna, Ph.D., I attended a writing workshop a few years ago, and the instructor had us doing some exercises and then sharing them with the class. There was one writer there who spent much of the day making self-deprecating remarks about her writing abilities. “Oh, you won’t want to read this. Sounds like a 5-year-old wrote it.” “Better not call on me for this exercise…unless you want to show what NOT to do.” This went on much of the day, and she got quite a few laughs along the way, though I know it made some of us uncomfortable because we didn’t know what to say. Two weeks after the class, she finaled in the top three of a pretty prestigious writing contest. So why, if she was a good enough writer to final in a contest known for being a quality contest, was she constantly putting her writing down? My guess is that it was because of her self-image that she was a bad writer. She was terrified that it might be true, and she covered it up with humor. She might suck at writing, but she could get a good laugh. Unfortunately, her portrayal of herself as a bad writer, if done in the wrong company — like to an editor or agent — would likely lead to a rejection. After all, if a writer doesn’t have confidence in their own writing, why should anyone else? And each rejection earned on the basis of that lack of self-confidence just reinforces that self-image of being a lousy writer. So how do you change your writer self-image? Here’s a few steps you can take to help boost your self-image:

1) Notice where your self-image is negative. If you find yourself thinking (or saying out loud) that you suck at writing or that you’ll never be published…start by just taking notice of this. No judgment. Just notice.
2) Ask yourself where you may have developed this belief. Has someone told you in the past that you suck, at writing or anything else? Or have you placed a self-imposed time frame on yourself to become published that you haven’t met?
3) Notice how your own actions, words, etc., may encourage others to reinforce your negative self-image. Do you put yourself down to others? Even asking for critiques on something that’s not your best work can end up back-firing when iews,the critique points out where you need work.
4) Challenge your negative feelings. If, for example, you’ve pinpointed some of the cause of your negative self-image to the lack of support of family members, who point out that you’ll “never make it,” realize that they are not the utmost authority. We can do anything we put our minds to, as long as we don’t give up. Dispute — even just to yourself — any negative opinions others have about you. List the reasons THEY might be wrong about you.
5) Stop yourself. Call a halt to the behaviours you have that encourage others to agree with your poor self-image. Don’t belittle your writing efforts out loud EVER. If you can’t say anything nice about yourself, don’t say anything at all.
6) Notice the good stuff. You can turn your negative self-image into a positive one by noticing the good you do, the improvements you make, or even the areas outside of writing in which you excel. If you have learned to be a great parent, you can just as easily learn to be a great writer. (Pretty sure any parent would agree that raising kids is MUCH more difficult than writing a book!)
7) Practice being the writer you want to be. Defy your negative beliefs by being the opposite. If your self-image tells you you’re a lousy writer, then practice being a great writer. Sit down with the intention of being an awesome writer just for today. That doesn’t mean writing to perfection first try, because that’s not what being a great writer is about (it’s all in the editing…ask any writer!). It means that, just for this moment, you put your negative self-image in time-out and you play only with the positive writer inside you. It’s much more fun, believe me!
Hopefully, some of those tips will get you start improving your writing self-image.

Urban issues and Environmental Challenges

Urban Issues And Environment Challenges takes a hard look at a wide spectrum of urban and environment issues, both general and specific. Under the gamut of urban issues it examines the Fallout of Urbanization, Problems of Municipal Governance, Human Resource Development, Legislation, Resource Mobilization, Urban Services, Urban Poor and Citizen Participation. In the section on environment it analyses the issues of Global Warming, Climate Change and the Copenhagen Accord, Disaster Management and Non Conventional Energy.

Some of the contents of the book were published as articles in national journals, as papers presented at national and international seminars and conferences, or as part of project assignments undertaken in India and abroad by the authors individually. Although written over the span of last few years, they have urgent relevance even today, since they depict the growing management and environmental problems confronting the cities and the institutions governing them.

Whistling in the Dark;21 queer interviews Edited by R Raj Rao & Dibyajyoti Sarma, Review by Johnson Thomas

Book Review
Johnson Thomas
Title: Whistling in the Dark
Sub-Title: 21 Queer Interviews
Edited by R Raj Rao & Dibyajyoti Sarma
Paperback Edition, 264 pages, Price: Rs. 375/-
ISBN 978-81-7829-921-1
Sage Publications
www.sagepublications.com

In 1999 a few former residents and R.Raj Rao, got together to form the Queer Studies Circle, a support group that was concerned with the intellectual , cultural, social and political aspects of being gay in India. They believed, a stage had come, thanks to worldwide propaganda, when homosexuality came to be seen as synonymous with HIV/AIDS and they wanted to veer away from this grim penchant and focus on the celebration of gayness itself. At meetings which were held in the Department of English, University of Pune, they encouraged people to talk so that they could get acquainted with their personal histories.
It was an attempt to put these histories on record and the people who came to these meetings were given pointers about queer sex identities and an attemot was made to find out how each of these people belonging to specific identities, viewed themselves with respect to societal obligations which they may or may not have entered into. The idea for this book took shape during those meetings and interviewees include several people from countries like Canada, Spain, SriLanka, Mauritius and even Iran. They also include MSM’s from plebian society such as auto rickshaw drivers and masseurs. Interviews were facilitated in a relaxed ambience in different locations and over a period of time. The aim was to present the life stories as they actually exist, without vetting or editing them in the interest of propriety. They were also aiming for a work of non-fiction, that like fiction, would be able to sustain the interest of the general reader.
The facilitators were seen to be out gay men, icons, who could be taken to be one amongst them and therefore it was easier to get the interviewees to open up with as much honesty as possible. The writings encompass several issues that have troubled the community over the years. The attempt to start an MA level course on Alternate Sexuality, Naz foundation’s case for repeal of article 377, cultural taboos reinforced by heterosexism, issue of masculinity, patriarchy, paedophilia, the metaphor of third world colonization, AIDS, the use of condoms, religion and sexuality, the use of aliases among gay men and lesbians and homosexuality in prisons are some of the issues that find prominence in the writings that have been chosen to be among the 21 queer interviews entrenched in this book. Co-editor Dibyajyothi Sarma was also responsible for the incisive probing that lead to the thought provoking narratives that have been included in this book. These narratives go beyond the commonplace and conventional, providing a rare insight into the private lives of people, some of whom were( at some point of their lives) forced to live their true lives in hiding rather than leave themselves open to the ridicule of society and imprisonment due to the antiquated laws of our country. This book is a revelation of sorts for those who have little understanding of issues that arise due to unconventional sexual preferences. It can also be a useful resource for PG students, academics and any and everyone who has an interest in humanity and social welfare.
Johnson Thomas( johnsont307@gmail.com)

About the Editors

R Raj Rao: A professor in the Department of English, University of Pune, India, he is the author of the cult novel ‘The Boyfriend’ which has also been translated into French and Italian. He has another novel all set for release called ‘Engineering College Hostel.’
The cult film ‘BomGay’ was based on six of his poems. Rao is the public face of Indian Gay writing all over the world.

Dibyajyoti Sarma: He wrote his M.Phil thesis in Western Queer Theory and how it differs from Indian Queer experience. His book of poems ‘Glimpses of a Personal History’ and published in 2004. He is also working on his first novel.

Gender Stereotypes in Corporate India, A Glimpse, Book review by Johnson Thomas

Book Title: Gender Stereotypes in Corporate India
Sub-title: A Glimpse
Author: Sujoya Basu
Response, Business Books from Sage
ISBN 978-81-7829-851-1
Pages :219 Price: Rs.270/- Paperback Edition
www.sagepublications.com

Author Sujoya Basu’s infinite curiosity as to why a large number of Indian women did not make it to the managerial cadre led her to a research and investigation that encompasses this book titled ‘Gender stereotypes in corporate India’. Firstly, She reviewed literature on western management which seemed to suggest that most negative outcomes for women managers in organizations right from inception to progression could largely be a consequence of the inaccurate perceptions regarding women managers. This led her to a comparative study of the Indian management scenario, looking into the exixting perceptions regarding women managers in India, what led to those perceptions and whether those perceptions or stereotypes could be altered to bring about a positive change in organizations. Three studies addressing each of these issues- the first giving a set of managerial gender stereotypes held by men and women in India, the second looked at the antecedents of inaccurate managerial gender stereotypes while the third helped verify whether having women managers in organizational task situations help change inaccurate stereotypes in organizations. The effort is laudatory. This has never been attempted in India before and Sujoya Basu, a member of the faculty of Behavioural sciences at the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, India, should get due credit for her singular effort in clearing out the cobwebs regarding gender stereotypes in Indian corporations. Sujoya hopes to make this book a bridge that could fill in the gap that exists in the Indian gender management scenario. Her findings are important in that there is now a record on inaccurate perceptions and stereotypes that divided genders in Indian Industry. This book will help corporates manage their human resources in a much more dignified and humane manner, giving equal respect and providing equal opportunities to both genders. This book also has implications for educators, trainers and society in general. There is no doubt that gender stereotypes have affected the very fabric of the society we depend on for the past decades. It is time now to confront those very perceptions with facts, introducing a greater deal of understanding regarding a very intricate issue of capabilities viz-a-viz gender.

Johnson Thomas

News Values, Authors: Paul Brighton & Dennis Foy, Book Review by Johnson Thomas

Book Title: News Values
Authors: Paul Brighton & Dennis Foy
Sage Publications
Paperback, 205 pages, 18.99 Pounds
Sage Publications, ISBN 978-1-4129-4600-1
www.sagepublications.com


What are News Values? Is there any specific criteria for selecting news? Does celebrity news warrant more bytes than that of problems faced by the common man? These are questions that have troubled me for a long time. In fact ever since liberalization happened and news became a commodity to be sold and purchased just like any other. It’s a deplorable trend but with a large number of Media players in the market and a distinct dearth in creativity and social understanding it is something that was just waiting to happen…especially in India. In the purest sense everything that happens in the world is a new event and it’s eminently likely that someone , somewhere will have some level of interest in that occurrence. But what takes it from being different to being news? The approach to the delivery and packaging of news has altered with the passage of time, and the shape of the media in the 21st century is quite different from how it was 40 years ago.
The set of values applied by different media are also as varied as the media themselves. Therefore some form of a matrix system was needed to prioritise those events , to filter them into levels of applicability and relevance to the audience. Johan Galtung and Mari Homboe Ruge’s paper titled ‘Structuring and selecting news’ was the groundbreaking research paper that has become the core text for the purpose of evaluating ‘news values’. The current book under review is basically an expanded and more extensive in-depth version of that core text. Galtung and Ruge concentrated solely on Normay for their data analysis and this works against their validity today.
Monikered ‘News Values’, co-authored by Paul Brighton and Dennis Foy, this is a book that draws up a set of rules for journalists and editors to follow –by which to work, from which to plan and execute the content of a publication or a broadcast. Previous accounts of news values tended to be of two kinds-the first examined news stories from the perspective of the working journalist and tried to isolate the features of an event which make it likely to qualify as newsworthy. The second attempts a broader approach- incorporating areas such as ideology, cultural conditioning, technological determinism and others. The authors of ‘News Values’ are convinced that a third approach is needed in conjunction with these two existing schools of thought. They opine that that third approach is necessary because of changes within individual media and because of the shift in the nature of the relationships between providers and consumers of news.
In order to explore their thesis the authors have conducted detailed analysis of news output in print , broadcast and new media. Through the course of this book the authors analyse the various branches of the media and it’s key players with a view to establishing the values which apply for this great new age of media. The authors take note of the fact that in broadcast news issues of programme format contend with more traditional news values in determining which stories are selected for mainstream network television news bulletins. They examine how stories’ inclusion and prominence in television bulletins are shaped by stylistic as well as aesthetic factors. They investigate the role of story treatments in broadcast news- such factors as the overall shape of the programme package, the live two-way exchange between studio and on-location reporter, live voice-piece etc. which affect the editorial decision making process. They also examine how far the same issues govern story selection in radio, role of planning in news output, the role of the change in newspaper(evolution from fact to comment in print journalism) and what are the criteria adopted in the decision to include or exclude events which are not of immediate significance.
This book though very useful to journalists for the understanding it gives them about newsworthiness of events, is not going to be applicable in the heat of a newsroom(where the journalist is usually led by instinct). Instead it is a system which helps explain what makes news newsworthy for the benefit of students and analysts of all media forms. Journalism colleges and Media training Institutes should have it in their curriculum.

Johnson Thomas

Good Times for Everyone Author Radhika Chandiramani Book Review Johnson Thomas

Book Title: Good Times for Everyone
Sub-Title: Sexuality Questions, Feminist Answers
Author: Radhika Chandiramani
ISBN- 81-88965-48-0
Paperback edition, Pages 212, Price: Rs.200
Publisher: Women Unlimited(An associate of Kali for Women)
www.womenunlimited.net

Is sex important? And if it is do we ever get around to talking about it? Considering the size of the population in India there’s no doubt that Indians are well versed in the basic concept of reproduction- at least to the extent that they manage to reproduce quite successfully. But is sex about numbers alone or is it also about priming our bodies to the tune of pleasure and ecstasy.
Radhika Chandiramani works and writes on issues of sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and rights. She is Executive Director of Tarshi, the South and Southeast Asia Resourse center on Sexuality and also co-director of the sexuality and rights institute. She has been the recipient of the Mac Arthur Fellowship for Leadership development and the Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellowship. This collection of Questions and answers on sexuality related concerns is compiled from her highly popular column ‘Midlife Crisis’ in The Asian Age.
We Indians have been programmed since childbirth to believe that talking about sex is ‘chi-chi’ and sexual intercourse is generally proscribed as an act that was more or less meant to procreate and not to pleasure. But globalization has brought in more awareness of the world around us and sexual mores have begun to change with time. Indians living in the metros can no longer be considered conservative or prudish about sex and those living in the small-towns and villages are also becoming more aware of the outside world thanks to television and it’s daily feed of degenerative programming. Even cinema has contributed to this awareness. ‘Kamagni’ , ‘Aastha’ and ‘Rihaee’ are films about sexuality and sex made by well-known directors, that were received with great enthusiasm at the box-office. That was more than ten years ago. The nation is today seen to be talking about it’s sex life with a lot more curiosity and openness but underneath it all are many misconceptions that are never cleared for want of appropriate forums for intimate discussion. Ignorance is definitely not bliss in this case , in fact ignorance in this area can cause grievous harm to the mental and physical well-being of the individual.
Sexuality is something that we experience on a daily basis through the way we feel. It is also a subject of much political discussion, academic discourse and clinical research.The recent changes in the media industry and the astonishing reach of satellite television and FM radio has changed not only our lifestyles but also the way we look at ourselves. MTV & V channels’ music videos, American television series like Baywatch, Santa Barbara , Bold and the Beautiful, programs like ‘Meow between the sheets’ on 104.5 FM, popular columns like ‘Midlife crisis ‘ in the Asian Age and organisations like TARSHI( Talking about Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues), Sappho, Humjinsi and Humsafar and many more, have all contributed in some form or the other in clearing out the misconceptions and spreading awareness about sexual and reproductive health. Today the Supreme court is being petitioned to amend article 377 and our Union Health Minister, Shri Ambumani Ramadoss has given clear signals that he is in favor of the amendment. We can therefore say in all humility that India is certainly a far more liberal society today than it was a decade or so ago. In light of all these amazing transitions that are taking place in our India it is most fortunate that we are also being gifted this very invaluable anthology by Clinical Psychologist Radhika Chandiramani. This book approaches the topic of sexuality without the acoutrements of clinical gloves, moralistic lenses or preaching pedantic tones. It is based on real questions asked by real people about real problems they face. And the answers are humorous and accurate and given from a sexuality affirming perspective. This collection is truly invaluable for those who place their physical and mental well-being above all else.

Johnsont307@gmail.com