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METROSCAPE
Army Takes Over
Water hyacinths might seem a pretty sight draped
across water but the greedy plants consume most of the oxygen, leaving
behind a dwindling (and deseased) fish population. And this isn't the
only problem with Bangalore famous 40-acre Ulsoor Lake which once (very
long ago) provided drinking water to the city but now is a murky residue
of toxins and sewer waste.
 That
could change. Almost 4,000 army men from the Madras Engineering Group
and Centre have descended on the lake to clear up the parasitic plants.
"We can revive it the lake to its former glory," claims a determined
Col. P.K. Uberoi, Deputy Commandant, MEG. Sadly, no residents from near
the lake assisted the jawans although they were quick to complain about
the stench emerging from the clean-up. Later the Bangalore mayor, Prema
Cariappa, paid a token visit to the three-day operation and found an ulterior
motive in the spirited expurgation drive: "The army uses the lake
for training its men in watermanship so it's good they are involved in
cleaning it. But we don't have the funds to maintain the cleanliness."
Same old story. Pity.
-Stephen David
Netting Four Tales
It's 9.30 a.m., and at Delhi's Park Hotel, four
strangers are sitting at a table eating toast and drinking coffee. Rohit
Gupta, a 25-year-old chemical engineer from Mumbai; Roopa Swaminathan,
a Chennai-based filmmaker; Bengali software developer Debapriya Paul,
and obstetrician Amrinder Bajaj from Delhi. This unusual convergence is
most descriptive of the impact oxfordbookstore.com's E-Author Version
1.0 online literary talent hunt has had on 1,700 Indian writers of English
with access to the Net but not to agents, and of owners of manuscripts
that take only a quarter of the time spent writing them to crumble in
a backroom. "In India, talent is wasted," says Sanjeev Mehra,
COO, oxfordbookstore.com "This search allowed us to discover the
ideas churning in creative minds and to give writers a unique platform."
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| WORDY WINNERS: Gupta, Bajaj, Paul and Swaminathan |
Eventually, it was Gupta's Laughable Sins, an
adroitly handled witty tale of contemporary culture that judges Vikram
A. Chandra, Shobha De, Krishna Sen, Amitav Ghosh and Samik Bandopadhyay
deemed the best: "I woke myself up. I may be one of the few men on
earth who are capable of this, but certainly, ... we are the saddest of
men." At the second spot, Swaminathan's At the Stroke of Midnight
is about a young woman who returns to her home in South India to try and
salvage the family's tottering relationship. "It's creative writing,"
says Swaminathan. "I have a great relationship with my folks!"
Paul and Bajaj tied for third place with Untitled and The Ancestors-Paternal,
respectively. The former, influenced by Paul's affinity for Alistair McLeans',
is a thriller set in 1940s Berlin, while Bajaj's tale is of a family home
in Jammu, where, "the rich aroma of rice and meat cooked in clarified
butter wafted from the kitchen". "Writing became my mistress
after I married medicine," laughs Bajaj.
A publishing contract isn't in the offing, which
doesn't particularly bother the four. Gupta's literary journal Hook hits
the stands in October; Swaminathan commences directing a film sponsored
by the NFDC, Paul's interviewing for jobs in Bangalore, and Bajaj wraps
up Adolescent Girl, a booklet on reproductive health. With only one chapter
online, the winners have still to create 30,000 words. Wonder when they'll
get the time.
-Sonia Faleiro
 MISSING
THE (STORY) LINE: "Timing", an evening
of three one-act plays at the NGMA by the eight-member group Aasth, dispensed
with the mandatory story line and cumbersome sets. It began with David
Ives' Philadelphia, a play about a land where you get everything that
you didn't ask for (like when you've asked for beer and got juice or when
you've reached work to discover that you've been fired), moving on to
Sure Thing (also by Ives) which used snappy acting and humour to explore
the possibilities "where meeting a stranger can be a snub, flirtation
or a life-long commitment". And in Countdown, by Brit Allan Ayckborun,
a "perfect" couple sit every morning sharing nothing but monosyllables.
Enough inspiration for 24-year-old director Vikranth to attempt this maiden
production.
-Himanshi Dhawan
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