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The AIDEM’s Cover Story on the ‘Big Crash’ of the Adani group of companies and its larger economic and political fallout highlights an important statement from the People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services, a public interest group consisting of eminent academics, jurists, erstwhile administrators, trade unionists and social activists.



The Adani affair: Collapse of Regulatory Structures

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So what are the implications of the January 2, 2023 Supreme Court verdict on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November 8, 2016 enforcement of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes ? Indeed, the five-judge constitutional bench of the Apex Court upheld the controversial decision with a 4:1 verdict.

Demonetisation, Supreme Court order and unanswered Questions

The AIDEM’s Cover Story on the ‘Big Crash’ of the Adani group of companies and its larger economic and political fallout highlights an important statement from the People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services, a public interest group consisting of eminent academics, jurists, erstwhile administrators, trade unionists and social activists.

The Adani affair: Collapse of Regulatory Structures 

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_06_18_T132022_407_65c76ce90c.jpeg" alt="images-2024-06-18T132022.407.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_06_18_T132022_407_65c76ce90c.jpeg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_06_18_T132022_407_65c76ce90c.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">This is a thought that has been in my mind for quite some time. In fact, right from the moment I came to know that Mattel, Inc. has honoured Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair by including her in the “Inspiring Women” series of Barbie dolls.In this context,the recent action of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena, has given a fresh impetus to my conviction that Arundhati Roy, the world renowned inspirational writer and social activist from India should join the growing list of these inspiring women.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:739px;" id="attachment_28494" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28494"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_06_18_T125521_803_fd489ddc47.jpeg" alt="images-2024-06-18T125521.803.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_06_18_T125521_803_fd489ddc47.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_06_18_T125521_803_fd489ddc47.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28494">Christine Sinclair and her Barbie Doll (left)</figcaption></figure>After all, the series has celebrated women like Rosa Parks, the towering American civil rights activist of the 20th century. The inclusion of Roy in the list would make perfect sense considering her outstanding record as a writer and an activist and this inclusion would also send a very strong message to those sitting in the powerful Indian Establishment, who are using every tool to suppress any voice of reason, and that too in the garb of democracy.Indeed, over the last few decades, Roy has faced innumerable instances wherein she has been targeted by governments and other forces flaunting diverse ideological hues and colours, but the Right wing Hindutva brigade has been the main ideological apparatus that has consistently sought to persecute her. Saxena’s recent action on behalf of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which has come back to power with depleted numbers in parliament, marks the latest in the series of such attempts.He has not only sanctioned the prosecution of Roy, but also that of the former Central University of Kashmir law professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain on the charge that their speech in 2010, in support of the right to self-determination by the people of Kashmir, is an act of sedition. The order by Saxena is on the basis of a complaint filed by Sushil Pandit in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in New Delhi. Interestingly, Pandit had submitted his petition in November 2010. Interestingly, Saxena has woken up to the complaint 14 years later.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:739px;" id="attachment_28497" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28497"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_06_18_T131632_889_83076aae2f.jpeg" alt="images-2024-06-18T131632.889.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_06_18_T131632_889_83076aae2f.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_06_18_T131632_889_83076aae2f.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28497">Arundati Roy</figcaption></figure>This new act of persecution certainly merits a fitting reply from the promoters of the “Inspiring Women” series. Since its beginning, Mattel Inc. has recognized not only non-white female figures, but also those with motivating stories. And why not, as we need our daughters to grow up not only as career women, but also as social justice activists?When Barbie was initially introduced years ago, it was more like a fashion doll catering to Eurocentric tastes and environment, something people of colour like me, coming from a country with a history of colonial repression could not relate with. It represented predominantly white blonde beauty that ruled the Hollywood and modelling industry.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:1920px;" id="attachment_28495" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28495"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Barbie_Inspiring_Women_1920x1080_1_1536x864_5c39049ddb.jpg" alt="Barbie_InspiringWomen-1920x1080-1-1536x864.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Barbie_Inspiring_Women_1920x1080_1_1536x864_5c39049ddb.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Barbie_Inspiring_Women_1920x1080_1_1536x864_5c39049ddb.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Barbie_Inspiring_Women_1920x1080_1_1536x864_5c39049ddb.jpg 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_Barbie_Inspiring_Women_1920x1080_1_1536x864_5c39049ddb.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28495">Characters from Barbie’s ‘Inspiring Women’ Collection</figcaption></figure>In the last few years, the company has really evolved by creating dolls with features of other races, such as Black, Asian, Latino and the indigenous groups of Australia and North America. This had become even more necessary in an era of decolonization.Then there is a growing list of inspiring women, who cannot be all white. The Barbie club has rightfully included Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter apart from Parks, the Black American activist who refused to give up her seat for a white passenger for the sake of segregation laws on a bus in the US.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:676px;" id="attachment_28496" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28496"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_06_18_T131428_860_7ab26fc895.jpeg" alt="images-2024-06-18T131428.860.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_06_18_T131428_860_7ab26fc895.jpeg 232w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_06_18_T131428_860_7ab26fc895.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28496">Rosa Parks (right)</figcaption></figure>Other prominent figures in the list are Eleanor Roosevelt, the US first lady with a legacy of activism, Jane Goodall, a famous anthropologist and an expert on Chimpanzees, Maya Angelou, a prominent poet and civil rights activist, Madam CJ Walker, a self made entrepreneur, who broke many barriers Bessie Coleman, the first African American pilot, Ida Wells, an African American journalist, Anna Maya Wong, an Asian American actress, besides Sally Ride, a famous astronaut and several more.Parks who was introduced in 2019 by Barbie, was our Christmas gift for our daughter, who was an 11-year-old back then. Not only did it bring a smile on her face, she was carried away by the brief story written about Parks on the box. She later wrote an essay about her, which also explained why Parks remains the favourite among her private doll collection.Thanks to the legacy of Parks, her interest in the civil rights movement has increased as she turned 16 this year. She now reads books about Black history with a lot of curiosity. The positive impact of such initiatives on young minds was noticed by our family first hand.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:700px;" id="attachment_28506" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28506"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/IMG_20240618_WA_0039_db8b56e0e9.jpg" alt="IMG-20240618-WA0039.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_IMG_20240618_WA_0039_db8b56e0e9.jpg 86w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_IMG_20240618_WA_0039_db8b56e0e9.jpg 275w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_IMG_20240618_WA_0039_db8b56e0e9.jpg 412w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_IMG_20240618_WA_0039_db8b56e0e9.jpg 549w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28506">Gurpreet Singh’s daughter with Barbies’ Rosa Park doll</figcaption></figure>Mattel would only be strengthening this inspiring track record by including Roy in their list. She has published two novels, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, besides several political essays and has always stood for the underdog and challenged the Establishment.The God of Small Things fetched her the 1997 Booker Prize that gave her international recognition.Roy has been under constant attack for questioning the status quo. Her difficulties have grown little more under the current right wing government, which is highly intolerant to the religious minorities and any voice of dissent.Some of the scholars close to Roy had to endure imprisonments on trumped up charges, and yet she remained steadfast in her resolve. One of them, a physically challenged Delhi University Professor, G. N. Saibaba was thrown behind bars in 2014 by the previous government, but the present BJP government not only refused to let him go, but did not allow him to see his mother on death bed for the last time.Saibaba was wrongfully convicted for merely advocating for the rights of the Adivasis or the indigenous peoples of India who were facing eviction from their traditional lands by the extraction industry looking for rich minerals underneath. After having suffered in jail for a decade, he was acquitted by the court early this year and is now a free bird.Roy had written a very powerful article about his incarceration in the face of possible criminal action by the vindictive Indian establishment. She was slapped with a criminal complaint in the past for speaking her mind, but perhaps her international fame saved her from any action on part of the government.She has been in the forefront of a campaign against Narmada dam in Gujarat that threatened the livelihood of many and had returned her national award in 2015 following the murders of scholars and the lynching of a Muslim man on suspicion of consuming beef by the supporters of Hindu Right. She was given this award in 1989 for writing a film screenplay.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_06_18_T132022_407_1_79fe5a9fc7.jpeg" alt="images-2024-06-18T132022.407 (1).jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_06_18_T132022_407_1_79fe5a9fc7.jpeg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_06_18_T132022_407_1_79fe5a9fc7.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">She has been vocal against an ongoing repression of Kashmiri Muslims asking for freedom. Not only that, she had travelled widely in the heartland of Maoist insurgents in central India to understand their side of the story and wrote a very long essay for the Outlook magazine. During COVID-19, she reported about the plight of the poor from the ground.She has been consistent in her criticism of power and privilege without taking sides, whether it was the previous, more liberal, Congress government or the present one with an ultra nationalist agenda. So much so, she has been critical of Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated by Hindu fanatics. She pulled no punches while criticising Gandhi, who is considered as father of the nation for his belief in caste system even though he challenged untouchability.Her first novel was also critical of the Communist government in Kerala for its double speak on caste-based oppression and discrimination against Dalits. Her second novel is a moving story of the marginalised sections of India.She definitely deserves to join Maya Angelou and Ida Bells considering her work in the area of social justice. Barbie has already created a space for female writers and journalists; they only need to make little room for Roy, so that the girls of my daughter’s generation can get inspired by Indian icons like her and make the tyrants across the globe accountable for their misdeeds.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_06_18_T132421_755_89da23a4ba.jpeg" alt="images-2024-06-18T132421.755.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_06_18_T132421_755_89da23a4ba.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_06_18_T132421_755_89da23a4ba.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">It is high time that the world shed light on people like her who continue to sit in harms’ way and raise voice against State violence in a country like India whose image as the world’ s largest democracy is often taken for granted. In spite of so much intimidation, Roy has not remained silent and continues to tell the world what India really is.Undoubtedly her image should get crystallised in the “Inspiring Women” series as a symbol of courageous social and political resistance against oppression.</div></div>

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Changing Iconography of the Barbie Doll And the Case for an Arundhati Roy Edition

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‘Orbital’: A Space Saga of Anthropocene; A New Narrative Form Reflecting Future Technology

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Tamil (ta)

English (en)

Hindi (hi)

Telugu (te)

Kannada (kn)

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Dancing To Her Tune

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An Unwritten National Autobiography

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_1_6258d15665.jpeg" alt="images-1.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">People who read literature in India knew him, MT Vasudevan Nair. Language was no hurdle for his works to reach out beyond the state borders of Kerala. While Malayali diaspora took a handful of nostalgia along to the places they went, a little bit of MT was also in that.Today, the big business of literature finds translators to translate anything that moves. All tetrapods of literature are given awards that stink of corporate imperialistic nexus. But MT belonged to a different era when blood recognised blood, genius recognised genius. He got translated not once but several times.Basheer, Takazhi and MT were the triumvirate that could transcend the borders and stand tall among the Indian modernist literature. Yes, MT’s literature also had a fair amount of auto-fiction but he hoodwinked it with the magic of text. He was a persuasive minimalist both in writing and in person.An unsmiling MT could generate generations of readers who could smile through tears. MT wrote about a collapsing social structure that divested the old feudal class with their ill-gotten properties. But their social capital remained intact and could exert a lot of influence among the readers by becoming the surrogate emotional ethos of a transition time of Kerala’s socio-political history.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:1196px;" id="attachment_31084" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31084"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg" alt="mt-1024x575.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31084">MT during his Interview with Sabha TV (Watch <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NttnjeaVqn0">Here</a>)</figcaption></figure>When society evolved into a different being altogether, MT turned to the treasure trove of myths and itihasas to eke out allegories that explained the pain of loss, of class, roots and love. His literature spat on the face of bigotry, whether it was religious or familial. He was so stoically poised in his literature that none could have challenged him and expelled him from the world of literature.MT’s literature spoke of love and separation as vehemently as he wrote about the changing social complexions. But he was not sentimental. There was something in his writing that touched some chord in every reader. Before initiating themselves into Ambedkarite politics, the Dalit ideologues also, in their torturous nights of youth, pined for MT’s characters.Those who call the modernists, Dad Vibes, have really lost the sight of the forest while focusing on shrubs and thicket. MT was a forest that moved, as in the great tragedies. He remained a serious writer while the post modernists fell in the trap of publishers and wrote lightning stories and became laughing stokes.MT remains, so is the MT critique. That’s the beauty of a great writer’s life and of course, death.</div></div>

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MT: A Forest that Moved

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An ‘Overture’ Stringing The Pope, Yesudas and the ‘Songster Chaplain’

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/1_cc9df0fe47.png" alt="വലതുപക്ഷവുമായുള്ള-സംവാദത്തിൻ്റെ-വ്യർത്ഥത-1.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_1_cc9df0fe47.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_1_cc9df0fe47.png 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">When old age shall this generation waste,Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woeThan ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know.” (John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn)<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/6_904b2e9f2a.jpg" alt="6.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 147w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 470w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Siddharth Tagore, Founder Director of Delhi’s <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/artkonsultindia/photos">Art Konsult</a> Gallery is no more. He cannot be contained in such a cold statement, so matter of fact like death itself. Besides the gallery, he founded magazines such as Art and Deal, Travel and Deal and many other publications. Even when he knew that he wouldn’t make any profit out of the publications, he invested money in them because he knew art wouldn’t survive without the literature surrounding it.&nbsp;Yet another venture of Tagore’s was an auction house, namely Art Bull. The name was perfect for a bullish art market of the 2000s. But the glitch was this: Siddharth Tagore was not bullish. Nor was he bearish. He was cherubic, complete with a benign smile on his face and a burning cigarette between his fingers. Whenever I came out after having a meeting with him, I would ask myself, was he cut for this business?&nbsp;Tagore could have been a poet and dreamer like his internationally renowned namesake of yesteryears.. After the pandemic period I met Tagore after a gap of four years at the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre where Art Konsult had organized a group exhibition. After the inaugural function, I shook hands with him and I realized that his hands had lost the firm grip though the warmth remained. “I have not been keeping well,” he told me.&nbsp;<div class="gallery galleryid-31051 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px -8.96875px 0px;padding:0px;" id="gallery-1"><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg" alt="c-768x993.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 387w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 580w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg" alt="b-768x985.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 122w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 390w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 585w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/a_7888f94e4b.jpg" alt="a.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 385w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 577w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure></div>Then on another occasion, at the same gallery, I met him again, this time without the crowd. He preferred to wear a pair of fading blue jeans and white shirt, a reminder of those romantic 1970s when every youth in West Bengal dreamt of poetry, love and revolution. Jeans and Shirt were the uniform of love and revolution. I think, when Tagore came to Delhi as a young man, he carried those qualities along, plus his sense of dressing. Lovers in those days smoked rather constantly and drank Old Monk Rum.&nbsp;On that day when I met him, Tagore told me that he had quit smoking, which was news to me. I couldn’t have imagined the man without a cigarette between his fingers or at least a packet of cigarettes to fuss with. I understood the gravity of the situation.&nbsp;Then again, we met when Praveen Upadhyay of the Progressive Gallery at Laddo Sarai organized a talk session with art professionals that included Tagore, Prayag Shukla, Vinod Bharadwaj and myself. Tagore was supposed to talk about the art market. When the mike was handed over to him, he fussed with it for a while and said that he always wanted to make it big by promoting young artists, but somehow, he never made huge business.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:689px;" id="attachment_31054" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31054"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg" alt="7-768x511.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 235w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31054">Siddharth speaking to the media at Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>Then I remembered Tagore telling the same during the market boom years that lasted in India for around ten years starting from 2005 to 2015. In 2008, the world market had collapsed, but the Indian art market using its cunning and reserve withstood the pressures and dragged the impending failure for a few more years only to revive itself by the beginning of the third decade of the new millennium.&nbsp;Had Tagore acquired a penchant for failure despite his resilience in running a gallery, publications and an auction house for over three and a half decades ? Did he enjoy calling himself a failure in the art market? Was he romantically involved with the idea of failure even when he kept others who were with him in the business, floating? I don’t know for sure. But Tagore remained grounded and rooted; he tried his best to keep himself away from the nefarious market practices.&nbsp;There were a few people who stood with Tagore in his highs and lows (lows that lasted for not some months but for years together), never deserting him, following his orders. Prashant Seal and Rajula Bisht are two people I remember. These two people have been so close to his heart and even after his twin daughters joining him in the business, both Seal and Bisht never lost their position as the confidantes of Tagore. He loved them like family.&nbsp;I met Siddharth Tagore in 1995. He had started Art Konsult in Hauz Khas Village. Meena Tagore (now Meena Varma) was with him then. Late Vijayan Kannanpally was the editor of Art and Deal. With the growth of art scene, Tagore’s gallery also grew in stature. Art Konsult was one of the few A listed galleries in the city. Tagore took it to South Delhi’s art district, Laddo Sarai during the boom years and later relocated it to Hauz Khas again.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:562px;" id="attachment_31055" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31055"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg" alt="0-768x512.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31055">Siddharth Tagore with art critic and curator Jyoti A Kathpalia at the Art Konsult, New Delhi</figcaption></figure>It was in his Laddo Sarai phase that I joined him as the Editor of Art and Deal. It was the same when he decided to start Art Bull and Travel and Deal. I brought out around ten issues of Art and Deal between 2010 and 2013, with a gap in 2012 when I joined the United Art Logistics to establish the United Art Fair. Tagore literally lent me to the other organization with a promise that I could walk into the editor’s office at any time that I wanted. And I did go back.&nbsp;As a part of Tagore’s team, he gave me full freedom to edit the magazine and curate exhibitions. I curated a few shows and introduced a few new artists of which some are very reckonable names in today’s art scene. The exhibition ‘Merging/Submerging’ was a showcasing of contemporary photography art and ‘R.A.P.E’ (Rare Acts of Political Engagement), an all-woman show responding to the brutal murder of Nirbhaya in Delhi. This exhibition was a super hit and was discussed in all the print and television media. Art Bull did do a couple of exhibitions and auctions. I did not take much interest in it though Tagore hoped that his auction house could change the scenario and also break certain monopolies. Tagore also initiated an Art History Lecture series which I conducted on his behalf.&nbsp;Siddharth Tagore remained true to his calling. With a kind of detachment, he sponsored exhibitions that he knew well, would not bring any business. He was an avid collector of folk and tribal art and together with Meena Varma, he initiated an organization called ‘Art of the Earth’ for promoting the folk and tribal art of India, much before the ‘folkploitation’ of today’s art market became rampant. Tagore helped whoever came to him with a request for an exhibition or an immediate financial relief. &nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_31053" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31053"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg" alt="3-e1734762508660-669x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 102w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 327w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 490w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 653w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31053">Siddharth Tagore signing the <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amzn.in/d/4TijcgO">book</a> “Ganika- In the visual culture of the 19th-20th Century India” at the Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg" alt="4-560x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 85w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 273w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 410w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 547w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">When artists in Calcutta packed their wares and set out for Delhi, they knew Siddharth Tagore was there if nothing else worked (perhaps he was their primary destination), along with cigarettes and Old Monk Rum. He never discouraged the people who came to him with a clear intention to exploit. He was not cautious about relationships that brought him a fair amount of heartburn. As I said elsewhere, Tagore was a poet in his heart, with a heart ready to bleed for love and art.</div></div>

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