National Consultation On Environment, Human Rights & Law

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON Environment Humanrights and Law
April 28-30, 2006
Mumbai

Dear All,
Greetings from India Centre for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL). We are a human rights organization in Mumbai, part of the national network; Human Rights Law Netork (HRLN). We are glad to inform you that we are organizing a NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON ENVIRONMENT, HUMANRIGHTS AND LAW during April 28-30, 2006 at Mumbai for activists and lawyers across the country.

In the present scenario of mounting pressures on our finite environmental resources from multiple fronts such as global climatic changes, population explosion, industrialization and urbanization, it is imperative to strengthen our rules and regulations further to conserve and safeguard the environmental resources inorder to ensure the invaluable ecosystem services that foster the very existence of life on this planet. Unfortunately, in the current Indian environmental scenario is very grim as the unsustainable resource utilization and development activities are being pushed forward flouting the existing laws and regulations. The situation is further worsened by the fact that these very rules and regulations themselves are being targeted for systematic dilutions especially during the recent years fuelled by globalization and market forces.

In this context, we felt that it is critical to examine how far the ongoing 'reforms' in the environmental laws and regulations currently under way in India would affect the people and environment. An objective discussion amongst people involved in the various aspects of environmental conservation and protection of human rights to cull out practical impediments to protect environment through existing system including the legal framework and come out with plausible strategies, solutions and alternatives to overcome these. With this in mind, as an initial step, Environmental Justice Initiative of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) is organizing a three-day national consultation on environment and law on 28th to 30th of April 2006 at Mumbai with the following primary objectives;

1.Facilitating a productive discussion and experience sharing among Activists, lawyers and other concerned citizens on the issues concerning environment, human rights and law in India
2.To identify problem areas and lacunae in the legal system and formulate strategies to manage these short comings
3.Evaluate the existing and emerging laws and regulations in the light of past experience
4.Foster a national network of environmentally conscious people concerned against destructive development.

You may checkout the draft programme schedule here http://www.geocities.com/envirorights/NCEL/NCEL_PS.htm

Interested participants may please respond to eji[at]ichrl.org in the following format before 10th April 2006

With warm regards
Dr PR Arun, Senior Officer (Environmental Rights),
India Centre for Human Rights and Law, Mumbai. 400 009

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON Environment Humanrights and Law
April 28-30, 2006
Mumbai

APPLICATION FORM (Participant)

1. Name of the Applicant:
2. Educational Qualification :
3. Designation :
4. Organization & Address :
5. Address for Communication :
6. e-mail
7. Telephone:
8. Why are you interested to attend this consultation?

A Bizarre Makrand...

Whew...its been an interesting two hours! Sitting under tree-shaded granite seating at Prithvis. Its a delight listening to Makrand Deshpande talk about theatre, Bollywood, art films and life in general.

Makrand could be defined as a multi-task expert, besides his association with theatre as a playwright, director and actor, he is equally well known and well-loved for his role in films like Swades, Lal Salam, Satya, Makdee, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, etc. and his frequent appearances on the small screen.

For the past two days I have been persuading an interview with him. Today I was on the verge of giving up, and my frustrations led me to giving him a bad name on my blog. Until of course my mobile rang at 2 pm. We were all set to meet up by 3in the afternoon. Prior commitments, later made me shift our meeting to 3:30 which I did keep up to.

A very casual, serene, laid back Makrand sat there with his trademark unkept curly hair. He is known for his (half colored, half grayed) bushy locks, falling messily over his thin V-shaped face, already covered with a heavy moustache. Makrand was busy talking to his assistant and other theatre friends. Our table was filled with cigarette packets, mouth fresheners and empty tea cups. He immediatelyinvited me over. Upon seating I was asked if I would like a drink (soft of course) to which I gently refused. This was my second interview and I was uptight but Makrand unlike other Bollywood personalities came forth as a simple, unaffected, down to earth person.

I removed my brand new voice recorder, started explaining a little about blog life and the ball kept rolling from there....

Read Saakshi O. Juneja's Entire Interview with Makarand Deshpande

Workers Be Damned - The Akbarallys story

It's appalling to see the treatment bestowed upon employees of big establishments here in Mumbai. Imagine you are on your way to work one morning; just to find out that your sole means of 'bread and butter' is snatched away from you...forever.... Extinct overnight!!

No intimation given, no prior warning....NO JOB anymore...What a shock!

This is the story that Akbarallys-Santacruz (Mumbai), has to tell. On Friday the 10th of February, the store all of a sudden decided to fasten its doors to the world.

For over a month, 40-permanent workers have been squatting outside the estranged shop. Unable to get over the untimely death of their second home; where they have spent over 30 years of their lives. Struggling day in and day out, to obtain some kind of justice.

Read the Entire Article by Saakshi O. Juneja

Film Clubs in Mumbai

Miracles Film Club
Frequency : Occassional Weekdays at 6pm
Fee : Rs 2200 / year
Screenings at :
Ketnav Preview Theatre, 17 Union Park, Near Pali Hill Hotel, Khar (W)
And
NFDC, basement of Nehru Planetarium,Worli
Contact :
Pramod Prabhulkar
98200 88367
Miraclesfilm-club[at]rediffmail[dot]com

Cosmos Film Screenings
Frequency : One Film on Alternate Saturdays at 4pm
Fee : None
Screenings at :
Comet Media Foundation, 1st Floor, Topiwala Muncipal School, Topiwala Lane, Lamington Road (near Grant road Station)
Contact :
Indraneil Chakravarty
2382 1893

The India Film Club
Frequency : One film every Monday at 8pm except dry days :)
Fee : None
Screenings at :
The Ghetto, Breach Candy Road, Mahalaxmi
Contact :
Indiafilmclub[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]in

Mocha Film Club
Frequency : 4-5 short films on 1st Sunday of every month at 11:30am
Fee : Rs 100 cover charge at every event (includes a mocha shake)
Screenings at :
Bandra Mocha, Hill Road, Opp American Express Bakery
Contact :
CyrusDastur@rediffmail.com
2643 3098

Bimal Roy Memorial Film Club
Frequency : 2 films a month on weekends at 4:30pm
Fee : ???
Screenings at :
National College & Russian Cultural Centre
Contact :
2640 3041 (between 10am & 1pm)

Vikalp Screenings
Frequency : 1 or 2 films, 2nd Wednesday every month at 6:30pm
Fee : None but open to contributions
Screenings at :
Bhupen Gupta Bhawan, 85 Sayani Road, Prabhadevi
Contact :
Vikalpmumscreenings[at]yahoogroups[dot]com

Prabhat Chitra Mandal
Frequency : 2-3 Indian & Foreign Art Films a month
Fee : Rs.450 Annual
Screenings at :
YB Chavan Auditorium, Nariman Point
Contact :
2413 1918

Cine Society
Frequency : 1 English & 1 Indian Regional Language Film Every month - only classics
Fee : Rs.350 Annual
Screenings at :
NCPA, Nariman Point
Contact :
2382 4228

Mithibai Film Club
Frequency : 4 - 6 Films a month over 2 days
Fee : ?
Screenings at :
Mithibai College, Vile Parle (W)
Contact :
2818 4354 / 55

If you have info about any other film clubs in Bombay, please click on Comments & leave the info there. Thank you

Flamingoes at Sewri

The sun had just risen and land breeze had given way to a soft cool sea breeze and in this virgin sunlight was great beauty amongst great harshness. Rusting fishing boats, factories and an oil refinery was a backdrop for a gift of nature - a light pink blanket of flamingos. A more skilled photographer would have typified this image better but alas my amateurish skills can bring you only this.
View Akshay's Photo Blog

Also check Amit Kulkarni's Photo Blog on the Flamingoes.

And if those beautiful descriptions have got you charged up to visit yourself, check out
Directions to Sewri-Mumbai's Flamingo Bay

Ash Birder Also says
The most important thing to remember is the tide timing. Flamingoes will be seen 2-3 hours before/ after high tide. Check this link for tide timings before you plan a trip.
http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/658.html

Shadow City - A Photo Feature on Dharavi

Akshay has written a beautiful, sensitive article with illustrative photos taken in the area of Dharavi.

He has put a lot of effort inot the entire process & it shows.

Shadow City - A Look at Dharavi

Ramshackle corrugated tin, plywood, plastic, pukkah bricks, sheets of asbestos, sweat, toil, people and garbage make Dharavi, just like piles of earth, sand, clay and other materials make ant hills. Dharavi and many other slums like it are nothing but human ant colonies built by legions of our urban poor. They are places which are at the same time sombre, moving, joyful and interesting.

Push and pull factors bring people from our villages here everyday in search for something better. They settle here right under our apathetic eyes. But under the squalor is great spirit and ingenuity. I went looking for this spirit in this place most people refer to as 'Asia's largest slum' but I would prefer to call it the 'Heart of Mumbai'.

View the Entire article

Crossword Hutch Book Award 2005

The Crossword Book Award was instituted in 1998 to identify & encourage Indian writers in English. In its first year, there was just one award for "English Fiction by an author of Indian Origin". It was won by I Allan Sealy for "The Everest Hotel"

Since last year, Hutch became a co-sponsor & this year 4 prizes were announced.
1. Popular choice - English Non Fiction (Hutch users to SMS votes)
2. English Fiction
3. English Non-Fiction
4. Indian Language Fiction Translation (into English)

The last 3 were each judged by a panel of 3 authors whose books weren't in the long list. The long lists were really long & the judges had a lot of reading to do.
Check out the long lists for English Fiction, Indian Language Fiction Translation, and a new category, English Non-Fiction which was exceptionally long with 59 books.

To be eligible the book had to be published between 1 sep 2004 & 31 Aug 2005.

The books were then narrowed to a shortlist :
English Fiction :
The Tiger Claw by Shauna Singh Baldwin
Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta
Surface by Siddharth Deb
The Radiance of Ashes by Cyrus Mistry
Magic Seeds by V S Naipaul
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie.

The Award was won by Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie. Since he couldn't make it to the function, Mr Sriram called him on his cell in Italy and he thanked the crowd over the phone. It was an interesting experience. Rehaan Engineer then did an absolutely brilliant reading from a chapter of the book.

Indian Language Fiction Translation :
A Dying Banyan by Manzoor Ahtesham (translator Kuldip Singh)
Sangati by Bama (translator Lakshmi Holmstrom)
After Kurukshetra by Mahasweta Devi (translator Anjum Katyal)
The Unspoken Curse by V K Madhavan Kutty (translator Prema Jaya Kumar)
The Survivors by Gurudial Singh (translator Rana Nayar)
The Heart Has Its Reasons by Krishna Sobti (translator Reema Anand and Meenakshi Swami).

The award was won by The Heart Has Its Reasons and it was a pleasure to hear from Krishna Sobti herself on the book. She did make a point that most Indian Regional Language writers write brilliant stories but they do not have enough readership. Translation seems to be in order but a lot of the flavor does get missed out. Kitu Gidwani read out a passage from this book.

English Non-Fiction :
One Hundred Years, One Hunderd Voices' by Meena Menon and Neera Adarkar
Pundits from Pakistan: On Tour with India 2003-04 by Rahul Bhattacharya
Finding Forgotton Cities: How the Indus Civilisation was Discovered by Nayanjot Lahiri
Maximum City by Suketu Mehta
Didi: My Mother's Voice by Ira Pande
Chasing the Monk's Shadow: A journey in the footsteps of Xuanzang by Mishi Saran.

While Rahul Bhattacharya won the Popular choice for Pundits from Pakistan he attributed it to his friends who must have been busy sedning sms as long as the contest was open and thanked them for it. The jury awarded Maximum City by Suketu Mehta the top honors and Anahita Oberoi did a reading from this book.

Gossip Factor:
Held at the wonderful environs of the Discovery of India building at the Nehru Centre.
Chips, Veg rolls, cold drinks & coffee/tea were being served.
All the nominated authors of the non-fiction category were present. Other authors included Rana Dasgupta, Cyrus Mistry, Prema Jaya Kumar, Krishna Sobti & Reema Anand.
All the nominees received a certificate and a commemmorative award.
Winners received an award, cheque for 3 lakhs (to be spilt equally among translators or co-authors) and a citation.
All the nominated books were placed on sale at the location.
Book signings were close to impossible because of the media cameras around.
Seema Sehgal sang beautifully incorporating some profound poetry in her renditions.
Anahita Oberoi's blouse had a non existent back. It was held together by a slim thread.
Dandeep Das Deputy MD of Hutch said some beautiful words. I can't call it a speech because it was so touching, heartfelt & natural. It was a one sided conversation with the audience where he took us through how, which books influenced him at each stage of his life and in what way. They were books most in the audience had read and could identify with. Beautiful rendition.
There were 3 women in self colored crepe sarees who kept flitting around preceding and following every person who was called on stage up & down the stairs. It was very distracting and unnecessary. As someone remarked, this was not a "Miss India competition" The one area they could have helped out in, they ignored - lending a helping hand to the authors who found the steps difficult to navigate.
Crossword distributed a compilation of excerpts from all the shortlisted books. a wonderful collector's item, amazing business strategy (after reading excerpts, I'm already planning to buy a couple of the books) and a great memento of the event.

Had the most boorish woman in the world seated in front of me. She could not keep her trap shut for more than a minute. She was constantly cribbing about non issues. She rested her feet on the seat in front of her which fortunately was empty or kept them up on her own. Before the program started, she yelled at her poor husband who was seated 4 seats away about how he never takes things down and his memory is so bad and he should write things down like she had told him a million times before. Since there were 4 people between the 2, she was speaking loud enough for min 5 rows on all sides to hear her tirade. Was sorely tempted to whack her on the head. She spoilt the entire experience for all around her. If you come for a book award, of course there is going to be some book reading involved. If you don't have basic decency and courtesy maybe you should stay at home is what I wanted to tell her but followed Gandhi's principles of ahimsa & non violence so kept it to myself. :)

Cuppa Cafe

Cuppa Cafe
Crystal Plaza
New Link Road
Opp Fame Adlabs
Bombay 400 058
Free Delivery 2674 2371 / 72

Read the Review here

Anurag Kashyap's workshop & "GULAL"

Late Saturday evening, saw an event listing on Ryze

Satya, Shool , Nayak, Yuva.... and Black Friday
You have loved the movies, Now meet the man...
BAISCOPE ENTERTAINMENT
presents
a workshop * by writer - director ANURAG KASHYAP
on
Sunday, March 19, 2006, at 3pm
at 5th floor, Fun Republic, Andheri (W)
Entry fee: Rs 100/- per person (for non members)
Rs 20/- per person (for members)

Well, because of problems with the Censor board & then the Supreme court, I haven't had the chance to watch Black Friday, but I do own a copy of its audio casette, since music was done by "Indian Ocean" another favorite of mine. But, I digress.

As I was saying before, I am a huge fan of Anurag Kashyap's acting. Yes, he acts in theatre. Mainly with Makarand Deshpande's troupe "Ankh"

With the cast of Sir Sir Sarla III

So although I had never heard about BAIScope before, my interest was piqued and off I trooped to Fun Republic on Sunday evening.

After a harrowing expedition all over the complex, up & down escalators, elevators and stairs, gathering more lost souls along the way, we all finally found our way to the special screening theatre on the 7th floor with a rear gate entry.

The session started a little late, but most didnt mind since the setting was informal & kinda cosy. The special screening theatre has its own mini concession stand which will serve you at your seat inside, once you place an order. The theatre seats about 100 or so, I think.

baiscope then proceded to introduce themselves as an NGO for the film fraternity. Their initial endeavour is to provide a platform for interaction and information for budding actors, directors, script writers, anyone who is trying to get a foot in the door in films and media. the core group consists of some energetic young members from every range in the media spectrum. From CNBC to ad agencies and onwards. This was their first public event, so maybe I will have more info on them in future.

Anurag was then given centre stage. He introduced himself saying that he had made 2.8 films. "Paanch" which was scuttled by the Censors. "Black Friday" which was halted by the Supreme Court and "Gulal" which is currently under production.

He started out by showing us the raw version of "Gulal" his new film. I have never watched a Raw Version before and it gave me huge appreciation of the reason that there are seperate Oscars for Sound editing, Film editing & Sound Mixing.
In a raw version the colors are bad, the sound track goes all over the place. When characters talk loudly or shout, it results in screeching effects and so on.

Inspite of all this, the story line was interesting and quite gripping as it progressed. Having learnt from previous experience, he has now set his film in the future. With the breakdown of the government & democracy, the maharaja's in Rajasthan are trying to wrest control back to form the princely state of Rajputana. The movie is a simple love story set against this backdrop.

We just watched a section of the film, but it was enough to whet our appetites for its release. There is some brilliant music with excellent lyrics including some incredible poetry woven into the story line.

The floor was now open to questions which flew thick, fast & furiously. What emerged was that the man himself was a sensitive soul with strong views and the courage & conviction in his beliefs which helped keep him going through all adversities. Some of the most interesting things he said over the evening were :
"The struggle is not to make it to a producer or to find a star or to tell a story, the struggle is in your head."
"You have to be willing to risk everything"
"Only when you have lost everything, then can something good come out"
"MF Hussain can express his art anyway he likes because he uses his time, his supplies, his creativity, his money. A director is responsible to the people who lend him the money to make his film and he needs to keep their sensibilities and viewpoints in mind too"

One of the few interesting individuals I have had the pleasure of interacting with recently. He clearly knows what he wants & is not afraid to do what is necessary to get there. I do hope that "Gulal" is released properly in India so that the country gets a chance to see what a great Director he is and listen to the wonderful stories that he has to tell.

Now, I've to go find me a copy of "Black Friday" or maybe attend an International Film Festival where it is being screened.

Support for Anurag on the blogosphere:
http://easyreview.blogspot.com/2005/10/black-friday-haunting.html
http://crossstyx.blogspot.com/2005/06/black-friday-director-anurag-kashyap.html
http://middlestage.blogspot.com/2005/04/waiting-for-black-friday.html

Opening of Fluid Spice

Attended the opening of Fluid Spice.
2nd Floor
Mohid Heights
Next to Andheri RTO
Opp Mandke Hospital
Lokhandwala Complex Road
Andheri (W)

It was combined with some kind of party for Sony's Friday night BIG 4 line up. I think they r Kandly Floss, Fear Factor & something else. Waiters were all wearing Fear Factor T-shirts & the entire Sony set of actors were there. Including the cast of Jassi & meri life hain The cast of CID looked as sullen and expressionless as they do in their promos that I've seen on AXN. Don't know how they actually "act" but guessing, its fairly similar. Gimme CSI anyday regular, Miami or New York. Even the History Channel has a good line up of detection based real cases which are excellent. I'm an NYPD blue, Special Victims Unit fan, so its better I don't watch the watered down hindi versions.

Gossip quotient : well I couldn't recognise too many of the actors or actresses (from anything other than the attitude they give off to lesser mortals.) except Archana Puran Singh & Parmeeth Sethi and Apoorva Agnihotri & Shilpa Saklani (the previous jodi was a favourite on "Nach Baliye" Jassi was there and spent the night dancing with Nandu. Has she broken up with that Band of Boys guy ?

The most spicy bit of speculation came from......
Jassi (Mona whatever) was standing hardly 15 metres from the entry door (the inital room with the bar is a long corridor with the bar running down its length. The disc & DJ area is a larger room that comnnects to the bar) Armaan Sir entered with wife (who has finally got rid of those armpit-to-fingertips red bangles she used to wear earlier, which looked obnoxious with most western outfits that she prefers) and there was a huge, really huge, hi hello commotion for them when they entered. Jassi who was backing the door, did not even bother to turn around. Although most people in the little group she was talking to started frantically waving their hi's & signalling them to come over to be mwah mwahed. She walked away for a bit. Then once the inital commotion was over she came back gave a perfunctory hug to armaan for the ever waiting cameras , snubbed the wife & walked off.

Inferences:

• Either Jassi is threatened by Armaan. Larger fan base/better acting/successful marriage/better looking/better career.... (fill in your own reason here, I'm sure u read enough gossip columns)
• Theres something brewing between the 2 & they don't want it known in public.
• The 2 are mortal enemies in the fight for eyeballs.

Food was good. Good variety of snacks for non vegetarians. I think there were only 2 varieties of veg stuff. Open bar as mandatory. (Someone told me at a recent VH1 party, they had to pay for drinks) Good open, well lit layout for dinner in an adjoining room. Reasonably tasty food. Although the tiramisu was more like one from a punjabi kitchen than an Italian one.

Can't comment on pricing. But guess Fluid Spice will do quite well. Given its proximity to the Balaji, SAB & other TV Factories and tons of bored actors/actresses looking for a place to unwind after work. PArty went on till the wee hours inspite of a friendly visit from the neighbourhood mamus at midnight.