South Asia Daily

Pants that don’t squeeze your lemons

Lululemon’s “anti-ball crusher” pants

Yoga wear/gear maker Lululemon has come up with what they call “anti-ball crusher” or ABC pants for men. They are supposed to be pants that do not bust your balls when you wear them. These pants sound like a solution in search of a problem. I am aware of ball-crushing underwear but I have never come across pants that do that unless one consciously goes for two sizes too small. That would be a lifestyle choice and not a problem.

Growing up my brother Manoj and I were notorious for demanding to wear tight shorts. We hated those floppy ones through which a category 5 hurricane can sweep through without experiencing any resistance. So I understand that there are men who like all-purpose pants that they can wear throughout the day. What I find curious is that they are calling it “anti-ball crusher” pants and they are selling very well. Obviously there are men who have a problem with the way the current lot of pants grabs their crotch.

It is not for me to suggest Lululemon the catch phrase for their new line but they could try something like “Pants that don’t squeeze you lemons.”

The company says this about their new line for men: “We designed these pants with all-day comfort and performance in mind - seriously, you're going to want to live in them. A wide paneled gusset and four-way stretch Warpstreme™ fabric make these pants commute, travel and sweat ready. We get it, you're going places.”

The reviews on the company’s website are fairly strong….

Just about now I lost interest in pursuing this post any further. So just deal with the fact that I started something and gave up half way.

India by the Nile and Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan in Cairo (Photo: Jay Mandal/On Assignment)

Fans mob Bachchan’s car (Photo: Jay Mandal/On Assignment)

Bachchan, left, with India’s Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri (Photo: Jay Mandal/On Assignment)

At the height of the revolutionary ferment in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in February, 2011 I had written this:

“If there is one outsider who can appeal for calm and clarity in Egypt and hope to be paid any attention at all, it is Amitabh Bachchan. The Indian cinema icon has long enjoyed a pharaoh-like respect in Egypt.

Of all places, I once bumped into an Egyptian businessman in Las Vegas some ten years ago. Or more accurately, he bumped into me on the casino floor of MGM Grand. While apologizing he asked me, “Are you from India?” As I answered yes, he jumped to the next question, “Do you know Amitabh Bachchan?”

I told him I could not claim to know the actor but yes, I had met the man a couple of times. The Egyptian man shook my hand and said, “You are lucky. In ancient Egypt he would have been like a pharaoh with his own pyramid.”

I am not suggesting for a moment that Bachchan’s appeal can lead to any genuine resolution but it would likely find more attentive ears than President Barack Obama would as an individual.”

That was over four years ago. The 72-year-old Hindi cinema superstar is in Cairo these days as part of the three-week long ‘India by the Nile’ festival. Also back in Cairo is my friend and itinerant photojournalist Jay Mandal. In fact, he is back after 35 years when he was passing through the country on his bicycle as part of his world cycle tour. Jay is currently photographing the festival.

The ‘India by the Nile’ festival is as much cultural as it is diplomatic. As Egypt struggles with violent extremism and tourists shun it as a destination, this is New Delhi’s way of telling the world that things are not as bad as they seem. The festival that runs through April 17 is taking place in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Ismailia, or in short all the sorts of places where you hope to run into Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif.

Ambassador Suri has been quoted as saying, "The proposition we gave last year was Egypt is going through a rough patch (and) tourism is badly hurt. Many countries have issued advisories against visiting the country.”

"We said we are committed to do the festival and we won't go back even if you have the occasional bomb blasts or elections," he said.

I am not sure about the eventual impact of the festival on stabilizing Egypt’s tourism industry or, on a larger scale, its reputation worldwide. What it might do is draw Indians to the country which is a good thing. I think.

Another friend who also happens to be in Cairo is fellow journalist and writer Sidharth Bhatia who, I am told, will do an onstage conversation with Bachchan about his iconic film ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ later today. It is a measure of Bachchan’s standing that three out of the 11 engagements which constitute the festival feature him or his films.

Neglected glories of history—Mohabbat Khan Maqbara

Mohabbat or Mahabat Khan Maqbara, Junagadh. All photos by Mayank Chhaya

The almost incidental presence of the spectacularly intricate Mohabbat or Mahabat Khan Maqbara in Junagadh is very much in line with the fact that every piece of great history here is incidental and in neglect. That goes for the great stone edict of Ashoka (304–232 BCE). So I presume that the authorities of Junagadh city practice equal opportunity indifference.

At a certain time in the morning as the sun breaks out over the Girnar and bathes the city in golden tobacco hues, the Maqbara or the mausoleum can look gold-plated (See the picture above). Those moments are brief and you have to be consciously looking for them.

I shot these pictures around 7.15 a.m. when boys were already out playing cricket in the forecourt of the mausoleum where several 19th century grandees of Junagadh’s royal past have been buried. It did not matter at all to the boys that more often than not their plastic ball would bounce off one of the tombs.

It is in the nature of rulers to want to be feted and deferred to when alive and commemorated after they are dead. Making grand buildings such as the Maqbara are the easiest way to achieve that purpose. Their palaces do the job when they are alive and mausoleums when they are dead.

The Maqbara is a remarkable building not only because it draws its design influences from Euro-Indo-Islamic architecture but also because it is just so self-assured. Even in neglect its glories are hard to hide. I wouldn’t be surprised if the design team of the mausoleum chose the location keeping in mind the way sunlight bathes it when the sun rises over the not too distant Girnar.

It’s the sort of building that would never lose its grandeur no matter what actual physical shape it might be in. It is the sort of building that generously rewards any ordinary photographer. It is also the sort of building that elevates anyone or anything in its vicinity, including eagles getting ready to catch early morning currents. Looking at its extraordinary workmanship and architecture one wonders whether it even mattered that some people were to be buried there.

The Maqbara in all its intricate glory

The majestic facade

The Maqbara’s trademark spiral staircases. They are clockwise and anti-clockwise.

An inevitable cricket game in the forecourt

Sunrise over the Girnar bathes the mausoleum in a glorious golden, tobacco hued light

Bird atop a dome

Not that there is anything even remotely unique about a bird perched atop a dome but ever since I did the artwork above a couple of years ago I had been looking for a comparable real life image. I found it in Junagadh, Gujarat, where I was shooting my documentary ‘Gandhi’s Song’ the other day.

While shooting some pictures and videos of the spectacular Mahabat Maqbara (More about it tomorrow) I saw several eagles hovering over it. One of them landed on the top of the mausoleum’s dome and remained there just long enough for me to compose a shot. It gave me a strange sense of elation at having completed the second half my mind’s circle. It is as if I have tied up a lose end.

Sunrise

Heat stroke atop a rocky mountain

The mountain in Talaja, Gujarat, India.

Commenting on India’s defeat in yesterday’s cricket World Cup semifinal match against Australia is not mandatory for every Indian. It is entirely voluntary. And I don’t feel enthused enough to volunteer. Instead, I am going to tell you about my life’s first heat stroke, a very brief one but a heat stroke nevertheless.

Defying the advice of a local acquaintance, I decided to shoot atop a solid lava rock mountain in temperatures touching 40 degrees Celsius in Talaja minutes after eating a rich Kathiawadi lunch. The crisply baked hot air emanating from the rocks made the actual heat feel close to 50 degrees Celsius. It is elementary that you do not climb a mountain in such heat immediately after lunch. That is like rolling out the red carpet for a heat stroke.

Under the circumstances, I did very well right until the time to begin the descent. Before the descent I had to climb about 15 very steep rocky steps that plateaued out near a spectacular cave. That is when my body began to feel weird. Every step felt like walking in solid lead boots. The breathing was strained and short. I could tell that there was a heat stroke approaching because of one tell-tale sign—on the sides of my eyes there began to appear concentric circles. I immediately removed the camera gear off of my shoulders and sat down on a burning hot rock. I was too far from any shadow.

Seconds later, I knew I had to lay down flat on the rocky floor. My body was already mildly baked by then. The decision to stay flat on the floor helped despite the heat from the ground. I wetted my handkerchief and put it on my head. Three or four minutes later, I had begun to regain normalcy. I went up a few more steps to the shadowed plateau and rested some more. Soon enough, I was back on my feet taking confident steps down the mountain.

Heat strokes can be deadly if you do not know the signs. Having grown up in Ahmedabad, where temperatures routinely touch 45 degrees Celsius, I have some intuitive sense about them. However, suffering one atop a rocky mountain is a different matter altogether. Mountains do not rush to help.

Come to think of it, I am sure the Indian cricket team is feeling a version of a heat stroke just about now. 

Building up ‘Gandhi’s Song’

Here is the latest series from the upcoming ‘Gandhi’s Song’.

Niranjan Bhagat: Always high on intellectual vigor

Niranjan Bhagat is permanently high on intellectual vigor. The tirelessly articulate poet, essayist, commentator and raconteur is like a fighter jet on a vertical takeoff. I have just discovered him when he is pushing 90. Of course, the loss has been entirely mine.

My meeting with him yesterday was brief but remarkable for the depth of its substance, most of which came from Niranjanbhai. I was there to talk about Narsinh Mehta as part of my documentary ‘Gandhi’s Song’. He told me with a firm politeness or a polite firmness that he would not like to be interviewed on camera because “I am too old for things like that and I am no longer accepting such things. My tide is receding although I would like to live to be 100.” Fair enough.

My purpose was to pick his brain about Mehta whom he has followed closely for decades and with great attention to detail. His insights were precisely what I was looking for and am happy to report that I had reached many of the same conclusions quite on my own. Apart from everything else, Niranjanbhai offered two very valuable tips—one was a trilogy of Mehta’s ‘Padas’ which he thinks sums up the great poet-philosopher and the other a brilliantly written extended essay on him by the great Gujarati poet Umashankar Joshi. With that Niranjanbhai pretty much completed for me a construct that I already had in my mind.

As I read Joshi’s elaborate analysis of Mehta’s life and works I am struck by the depth of the man. Thank you, Niranjanbhai.

I will write more about him later as I begin my second shooting schedule.

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Scenes from Safed Rann

As promised here are some scenes/pictures from the Safed Rann or the White Desert of Kutch. By the time I visited it this weekend, the surface of the salt had already acquired a light cinnamon hue. It was as if Nature had turned a barista and made the giant salt march into light cinnamon flavored coffee.

The 25-second video is a fusion of two shots. There is something to the desert light which, when shot well, lights up life like nowhere else.