IndiaPost.com - India - the present & forgotten era

India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: Time was when Indian writers armed with manuscripts rushed to the West looking for buyers. Today any number of publishers in India are hosting book auctions for local and Diasporic writers and offering mind boggling sums of money, ranging from thousands to lakhs.

And this is only an advance. Literary gents are cropping up everywhere peddling stories with a frenzy. Now this could be a full length novel or a collection of stories. Karan Bajaj, (Keep off the Grass) Omair Ahmed (Encounters) and Indian American writers like Rishi Reddi are being wooed by publishers in India.

Singapore writer Preeta Samarasan's novel Evening is the Whole day was being hustled frantically by Indian publishers until Harper Collins took it away with a three lakh figure. Indian publishers are now beginning to bid in dollars.

Meanwhile word is going round in literary global circles, that there is a keen interest in Indian authors writing about their own locales and characters and they are the ones who are going to be snapped up.

Immigrant stories are deja vu already. Writing about indigenous stuff, probably bring back an expensive pair of Kholapuri sandals/chappals after your last visit to India. Who can resist the comfortable flat, open, styling with elaborate leather work?

They were delightfully cheap when bought in Chennai or Kerala. But you soon found them instruments of torture as they became hard, lumpy and the corns and calluses began to surface. That was because you bought the fake Kohlapuris.

The authentic ones are made in Kohlapur, and today the livelihood of the craftsmen of that region is being threatened by the numerous fakes across India. To protect the Intellectual Property Rights, the Shivaji University based in Kanpur is now going to prevent the unauthorized use of the chappal brand name, Kohlapuri.

The University will apply to the registration and protection of a product produced in a specific region. Unlike individual property rights, Geographical Indication relates to the region from which the product originated. Speaking of protection rights, here is a snake who is being protected by marital rights. In Bhubaneswar, a 30 year old woman, Bimala Das married a venomous snake, claiming that the snake had appeared in a dream and proposed to her.

The snake, she said, had appeared 12 years ago in a dream and proposed marriage. She had been married to the snake in a previous birth according to her, Bimala had over the years refused all marriage proposals.

Suddenly, a month ago she spotted the snake of her dreams in a termite hive. The marriage was solemnized by a priest, in the presence of the entire village. Need I say that the hive was decorated with flowers and leaves.

The bride tied the knot "not" over the snake but a bronze replica of the snake and all marriage rituals were performed followed by a feast. The bride now lives in a hut next to the termite nest. From snakes to charmers of the Indian film Scene of yesteryear.

I came across a picture in the Times of India newspaper of famous actresses. A rare picture of Nimmi, Azra, Jabeen Jalil, Begum Para, Nishi, Shakila, Shyama and Kathak dancer Sitara Devi. The beloved stars of the fifties and sixties were celebrating Shyama's 72nd birthday.

Shyama started as an extra in Zeenat and made films like Sharda and Dil Diya Dard Liya. Nimmi, the gorgeous beauty with dewy eyes acted with Dilip Kumar in many a film, and who can forget her memorable performance in Barsaat? And there was the ebullient Shakila of CID fame, Begum Para of Lootere, and Shammi who is still in movies acting as a grandmother.

And what do these superb, actresses who brought so much happiness and joy into our lives talk about today? How lucky Aishwarya Rai is to get a sweet husband like Abhishek, whom Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are dating, the talent of Amir Khan, the legendary acting skills of Amitabh Bachchan, and of course the superstar Shahrukh Khan.

Feeling nostalgic, for an era forgotten, I promptly did a rerun of Khoya Khoya Chand, today's hot movie where the plot is set in the 50's revolving around an actress whose life could possibly echo any superstar of that time.

Watch the film again and notice the clothes. Film designer Niharika Khan before taking on the assignment discussed the saree with actresses like Sharmila Tagore and Waheeda Rehman. Express newspaper in an article mentions that Niharika used her mother's sarees on the actress Soha Ali Khan, and even mom, Sharmila Tagore's sarees were used many a time in the film.

The hair styling with front locks on the forehead was taken from old pictures of Madhubala, the mojris were laced with golden and brown threads from the film Aan. Waheeda Rehman showed all her photo albums to Niharika and pointed out women did not stitch falls for sarees in those days, and used French chiffon fabrics in pastel shades.

Many actresses in those days often used capes or coats over sarees to look chic and they never matched blouses with sarees and still looked devastating. Next time you see Khoya Khoya Chand muse on a forgotten era.