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A basket and a girl’s first great moments

‘Girl Gift Basket’ celebrates the birth of the girl child; you too can replicate the idea and take it forward.
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

Let’s face it, we really didn’t need Aamir Khan and his TV show Satyameva Jayate to tell us that the sex ratio in our country is  skewed in favour of boys. But it also took Aamir Khan and his TV show to focus the spotlight on an issue that has taken centrestage in our collective consciousness, especially in the light of recent events.

Girls are raped. Girls are killed at birth. Girls are given a secondary upbringing as compared to their brothers. And till society considers girls a burden on the family’s resources, girls will continue to be short-changed, sometimes by their own parents.

This is where the Girl Gift Basket comes in.

The Girl Gift Basket is a project kickstarted this month in Mumbai, in which a team from Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), an advertising firm, goes to partner hospitals in the city to distribute free gift baskets to mothers of girl children. Speaking to The Metrognome, Russell Barrett, Managing Partner BBH, says, “This project was part of a BBH Worldwide brief, where the idea was to do something good, famously.” He adds, “We are an ad agency, not an NGO, so we are able to put out the word on something pretty quickly. But for this project, simply putting the idea out there is not enough – we want it to be replicated all over the country.”

At the core of the idea is the thought of celebrating the girl child, and to help minimise the gender bais. “So many mothers are extremely disappointed to give birth to girls. A new mother is at her most vulnerable, and at that point, to have somebody come in and gift her a basket – it changes the vibe in the ward. People have been so moved to receive the baskets,” Russell says.

As part of the project, a team from the agency goes to hospitals’ maternity wards and gifts a previously put together pink basket of goodies for both the girl child and her mother. “The team hands out the baskets and sometimes explain to the mother how to use the products inside. Doctors and nurses also pitch in during the interaction,” Russell says. The agency has partnered with its current and ex-clients for the products, which includes body lotions, diapers, soft toys and hair oil, among other things.

The idea took over two months to execute. “We brainstormed on what the baskets should contain. We obviously couldn’t charge for the baskets, and there could be no perishable products inside. Plus, we needed to set a timeframe on getting the project started. But those we approached for help helped us a lot. We contacted hospitals, got the required permissions, and our dedicated team of six got the baskets organised, besides working out delivery schedules.”

Russell comments on the dedication of the team that is currently working on the project. “We have to get this work done without sacrificing our work at the agency,” he says. “But the team is extremely committed – they plan the distribution work in the early mornings, before office starts, or during their lunch breaks, or after work. I’ve even seen them work Saturdays and Sundays on this.” He says the biggest high for the firm has been in watching the team return after a round of distribution. “They’re so charged up, so filled with a sense of achievement. That’s driving them to continue.”

Thus far, the agency has generated funds for 500 baskets. “Our target is 500 baskets, and we’re hoping the idea really takes off by then. For those who want to replicate the idea, we’ve put up a downloadable kit on our website. The kit contains the letter for the hospital and ideas for the basket, among other things,” Russell says.

“It’s not about what we’re doing, it’s about taking it forward. The great thing is that help is pouring in. We realise it’s a very miniscule step, but if we can even plant a small thought in a young mother’s head, tell her, ‘See, it’s great to have a daughter, you even got gifted for it!’, it is a chance for us to do good at a very early stage in that child’s life. We’re hoping this project will start a fresh, positive conversation on girl children altogether,” he explains.

For details on how to get involved with the Girl Gift Basket and for a list of partner hospitals, look up www.girlgiftbasket.com.

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Bisons on bikes

This gang of bikers does charity on the go – if you’re a serious biker, you’re free to join in.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Admit it, the moment one says the word ‘biker’, the immediate image in your mind is of a tough, tattooed dude, weaving in and out of traffic with practiced ease in the day, and burning up the roads in a death-defying race on the night’s empty roads. Bikers race each other, they drive when they’re drunk, they drive rashly…in short, they don’t follow a single road rule.

But a bunch of bikers that do charity? Drive within rules? Never drink and drive?

Meet the ‘Bisons Ride Hard’.

This is a city-based group of serious Royal Enfield bikers that was started last year by three bikers – Gurinder Singh, Sameer Balakrishnan, Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan, with the twin idea of combining responsible, safe biking with helping society. Speaking to The Metrognome, Deepak (35) said, “The three of us have been riding for about 15 years now, so we decided to form a club for like-minded bikers who ride in our style. We do charity rides, because our core philosophy is that we should give back to society in some way. And when we started the group, we wanted to break the stereotypical image of bikers that people have, and replace it with that of a serious, responsible person who rides hard and follows the rules.”

So much so, Deepak says, that when the group is on a ride, the ‘captain’ of the team ensures that nobody goes near their vehicle after drinking. “If we stop at a resort for the night and want to drink and party, the bike keys are handed over to the captain or a teetotaller in the group, who does not let a single drunk person near his bike,” he explains.

No need for speed

“Our rides are unique, with a concept that is well thought of,” Deepak says. Each ride is planned at least three weeks in advance, including the routes, timings and stopovers. Rides are done over weekends, and are characterised by long, typically hard riding at a maximum speed of 70 kmph.

The Bisons celebrated their first anniversary in September this year with ‘Red Bums’, a 24-hour, night-only ride. “This was an endurance ride for 1,000 kilometres,” Deepak says, adding that none of the bikers ride without helmets and jackets, and each bike has a crash guard. “We ensure that at least 40 per cent of the ride goes towards charity. We ride within speed limits, the captain for the group ensures that nobody is left behind, and driving rashly or after drinking is a strict no-no.”

Becoming a Bison

The initiation into the group is no cakewalk – you have to echo the group’s core values and undergo some tests. “Once a person applies to us for membership, we call him/her and have an informal meeting. We ascertain some basic things: does the person do drugs, does he drink and drive, what speeds he/she normally rides at. Then the person has to do five overnight rides with us over a period of one year,” Deepak says.

Two overnight rides later, the potential Bison is given access to articles on biking and the group, related information and he/she is involved in decision-making for future rides. “After five rides are complete, the person is given a Bison T-shirt, and a dog tag that lists the person’s basic details and blood group,” Deepak explains.

A rising number of women are enrolling in the group, he says, and several women also go riding with their spouses. “We have a mix of people joining us. There are entrepreneurs, doctors, dieticians, graphic artists. Even Aditya Raj Kapoor (the late Shammi Kapoor’s son) rides with us. Our youngest Bison is 21, our oldest is 59 years old,” Deepak says. In a year, the group has 70 members and 25 more are in the process of being initiated into the club.

The next charity ride

On Sunday, December 23, 50 Bisons will ride from Bandra Kurla Comples to Assisi Bhavan, Goregaon, to spend time with the senior citizens living there. The initiative is called ‘Bisons Serve’.

“We had been there last year, but we didn’t have enough funds to carry out our plans  then. This year, we have appealed to each member to contribute Rs 500, and we are planning a Christmas surprise,” he explains. Of the money thus pooled in, the group will purchase toiletries that will last the female inmates a year. “A Santa Claus is going to ride with us, and we’re also working on getting a carol group. There’s a Christmas tree as well. Besides this, we’ll be spending the day there, and we’re carrying lunch for them which we’ll eat with them. After all, the one thing they want the most is somebody to talk to,” he says.

All bullet biking enthusiasts can join the ride on December 23. Register for ‘Bisons Serve’ on the group’s website www.BisonsRideHard.com.

(Pictures courtesy Bisons Ride Hard) 

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Turn up the (copied) music

Pritam Chakraborty
Music directors are coming full circle – after copying global tunes for years, they’re now copying from old Hindi films!
by M | M@themetrognome.in

‘Copy cat, copy cat, tell your mother to make you fat.’ This line didn’t make any sense to me till I began to listen to songs from Hindi films. This line is just like the songs in our films these days – they don’t make any sense, but we’ve heard them before.

A song from Dabangg 2, ‘Pandeyjee Seeti Bajaye’ has the refrain from ‘Chalat Musafir’ from the Raj Kapoor starrer Teesri Kasam used all through the song. The original track was composed by Shankar-Jaikishen, but Sajid-Wajid, who say they created the music for Dabangg 2 in just two hours (a claim that’s easy to believe once you’ve heard the songs), argue that the tune in their song is a folk tune, and hence their song is not a copy.

Another recent release, Khiladi 786 has gone global in its copying – ‘Hookah Bar’ is copied from Chris Brown’s ‘Turn up the music’, whereas ‘Balma’s beats are lifted from ‘I’m sexy and I know It’. Himeshbhai, I sincerely hope you get pulled up by your nose for this.

We were finally out of the remixes era, when a dearth of original music forced composers to pick a popular track from yesteryear films and add some upbeat, dhinchak notes to create a song. We now have a new issue at hand – forget remixes, we are now facing a weird homecoming of sorts, with music directors simply copying tunes from earlier Bollywood films.

It is highly unfair that only Pritamda gets singled out as the biggest copycat of the industry. Sure, most of his tracks are good copy-and-paste jobs; his last, most evident copied track was ‘Subha hone na de’ from DesiBoyz, where the opening strains were lifted straight from Pitbull and Ne-Yo’s ‘Give me everything tonight’. But Pritam is not the only one.

The art of copying has been refined to suit individual needs. For example, some don’t believe in copying subtly. A renowned music director works like this: he likes an international track, he chops and dices the tunes, adds a few jhankar beats for Indian sensibilities and serves it straight up. But the way he sells his tunes is interesting: he sets up a bazaar kind of atmosphere in his office, where the buyers (who are two teams comprising producers and directors) sit in different rooms and the music director lets them sample his offerings one at a time – the idea is, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. So if team A doesn’t like the tune, he takes it to the next room to team B. And this goes on till both the teams have something in their shopping cart.

Copying music is not limited only to music directors. A singer, famous for his folksy voice, is known to invite gypsies from North India, who are masters of folk music, to stay with him (sometimes for weeks). He practices singing with them, and has been known to confess that he hates living with them, because they are not used to closed spaces and make a mess out of his home. However, he picks up the nuances of folk singing from them, and doesn’t give them any credit.

This same singer occasionally composes music as well, and the folk tunes imparted to him come in handy there. The singer sits on a big, fat bank balance. The gypsies, naturally, get nothing.

Some musicians go even further and buy tunes from struggling composers at dirt cheap rates. They re-package these tunes under their brand and sell them to film producers at phenomenal costs. The slightly smarter ones have created academies, and are currently playing Dronacharya to several willing Eklavyas – they claim that they nurture budding artists, but they freely use their work in their films. No wonder then, that nobody actually knows who the real composer is.

There are very few musicians, and I can only think of one at the moment, who compose original music today – Mithoon, who composed the soulful ‘Maula mere’ from Anwar. The industry recognises him as a very spiritual and gifted person, but unfortunately for him, he is often slotted as “Arre, who ek hi type ka music banata hai, masala nahin hai usmein”.

Thus, after importing masala from the West, and sometimes South-east Asia, we are now borrowing it from the North of our own country.

Sharp as a tack and sitting on more hot scoops than she knows what to do with, M is a media professional with an eye on entertainment.  

(Picture courtesy india-forums.com)

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Students create wall-size mural at Goregaon school

Renowned mosaic artist Kirstin Green guided students over 90 days to help create 26 x 12 feet wall mosaic mural.

The Oberoi International School (OIS), Goregaon, saw a fun and creatively rewarding project end recently, with the unveiling of a wall-size, 26 x 12 feet mosaic mural which was a ‘community effort’ in which students worked and some parents also got involved in. The mural was created over a period of 90 days starting from September this year. Students were guided on the project by renowned American mosaic artist Kirstin Green, who was the resident artist for the project.

Kirstin is also working with seven other school-based community projects in the US and South Africa. The mural work at OIS started under her guidance, where she taught students on working with ceramic material, stained glass, glue, blueprints, construction and working on overall artistic collaboration upon completion. The materials were hammered, structured, and placed randomly or were cut and smoothed for a structured layout.

“Each step of designing a mural requires forethought, dedication and an overall vision of the larger picture, while focus has to be on each and every piece of the puzzle. It was truly a pleasure to interact with the ever-enthusiastic students, and create something so beautiful,” she said. The completed mural portrays children of different nationalities holding hands, flags of countries, a tree, the Taj Mahal, an elephant, a peacock, a staircase and a lotus which is the central focus of the piece.

“The entire exercise is a unique experience for our students,” said Dr Vladimir Kuskovski, Head of OIS. “They not only learned new skills of the medium, but also teamwork. Some students have used their free time after school hours, as well as weekends, to work on the mosaic. Many other students may have not worked directly on the project, but they have come down to see the work and often brought their parents along, so this is indeed a community project,” he added.

The mural was unveiled yesterday by acclaimed sculptor Arzan Khambatta, who said that the mural was “one of the finest pieces of art I have come across at a school level; it is amazing to see students delivering a fine art piece with this professionalism and finishing.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Ghashiram Kotwal is 41 years old

A response to the rise of the Shiv Sena in the ’60s, controversial play celebrates 41 years of stage time.

The Marathi theatre scene of the 1960s and ’70s was known for its bold, contemporary and often brutal analyses of dominant social themes of the time. And one of the foremost writers and playwrights of the time was the late Vijay Tendulkar, who penned some of his masterpieces during this time, such as Shantata! Court Chalu Ahe, Gidhade and Ghashiram Kotwal.

This last celebrated 41 years of being on the Marathi stage on Sunday, December 16. Originally directed by Jabbar Patel, the play boasted some truly excellent music by the late Pandit Bhaskar Chandavarkar and choreography by Krishnadev Mulgund. The play is based on the life of Nana Phadnavis, who was a prominent minister in the court of Peshwas of Pune, and it talks about  men in power who give rise to certain ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy those ideologies when they become useless.

Reproduced below are late music director Bhaskar Chandavarkar’s thoughts on the play:

‘Ghashiram Kotwal was first staged in December 1972. Within a span of ten shows (a short period of some weeks) it became a controversial play. Vijay Tendulkar, the playwright, has already faced severe, some times violent opposition to his earlier plays. He was subjected to a humiliating  ‘manhunt’ because of Ghashiram. The controversy revolved around two points. The first was that he has misrepresented history and the other was that he had trivialised and defamed Nana Phadnavis.

Actually, the points were political. The play has, to this day, remained extremely relevant because of the measured political statement it makes about fascism. The a-historic legend or myth, around which the playwright weaves his plot, seems to surface in many parts of the world. Violence, political manipulations, and the nexus between crime, sex and power is what Vijay Tendulkar explores. The historians may not agree with the interpretation of history that the playwright visualises. But the
playwright asks if there is any objectively ‘true’ history? And do we learn from history at all?

Ghashiram Kotwal became a path breaker because of the form of presentation. ‘Dashavtari Khele’ a folk theatre form like the Tamasha, Lavani, Gavlan etc. that have found their way into the presentation. The play therefore becomes a musical. It is not a musical comedy that has been modeled on the American Broadway type. In an innovative way, the folk sensibilities and basic
political awareness have been woven together in a typically Indian setting.

Songs, dance and music have to shoulder responsibilities other than that of being merely entertaining numbers. They are here to bring out the strong feelings, the undercurrent of the social protest. If the establishment uses the established music as its political tool to perpetuate power, artists must use non-established forms of art to rebel and revolt. Ghashiram Kotwal thus becomes a political statement.

The presentation and staging will hopefully transcend the language barrier because, tragically, we still have Ghashiram-like situations happening all over the world.’

(Pictures courtesy Yaashee Entertainment)

 

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Tickets still available for Ind-Eng T20 match

The India-England T20 match is scheduled for December 22. The State Government has allowed the MCA to sell tickets online.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Maharashtra State Government decided on December 13, after a request from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), that tickets for the T20 match between India and England on Saturday, December 22, would be allowed online, provided certain conditions were followed. Tickets for the match are currently being sold through bookmyshow.com. The match is to be held at 7 pm.

While tickets in Block T L1, U L1 and V L1 in the Sachin Tendulkar stand have been sold out, as have tickets in the I L3, M L2, L L2, W L1, X L1, Y L1 (tickets priced at Rs 1,500 each) and L L1, K L1 and J L1 (tickets priced at Rs 300 each) from the North and Sunil Gavaskar stands have also been sold out. As per the booking site, tickets are still up for grabs in the Grand Stand, Block L4 (Rs 7,500) and in the Gavaskar Stand A L2, B L2, C L2, D L2, E L2 and F L2. Each person will get a maximum of two tickets only.

Online booking okay, but with riders

If you’re buying tickets online, remember these Government stipulations on online sale of tickets and check the ticket you purchase for these:

– The tickets must be printed in rolls serialised from A to Z, and starting from the number 1.

– All those booking tickets online must be notified of the ticket sale confirmation before the match.

– Each ticket must bear a unique bar code that will serve as a security check while entering Wankhede Stadium and passing through a metal detector.

– You are not allowed to make multiple purchases of tickets at different times. Even if you do, you will be given a maximum of two tickets at the venue on showing valid proofs.

(Picture courtesy cricket.yahoo.com. File picture, used for representational purpose only)

 

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