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Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
In birth centenary year, a new Satish Gujral work
In his birth centenary year, a significant and previously undocumented, unexhibited conte drawing titled The Condemned (1957) from the Cyrus and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala family collection, now adds to Satish Gujral's oeuvre. Compositionally similar to the oil painting of the same name, which was also made in 1957, this work ranks among Gujral's finest condemnations of the effects of war and forced migration, with the kind of seething, tragic intensity that set Gujral apart from his peers. With a major exhibition of his works poised for later in the year, this work may be the newest inclusion in a positive reassessment of Gujral's position among independent India's modernists. Among all of his peers who witnessed Partition in Punjab and Bengal, Gujral's works are the most visceral. Satish Gujral returned to India in 1955 in a blaze of glory after an apprenticeship for two years in Mexico under David Siqueiros. Training under the great Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros against the backdrop of Mexico's response to the years of revolution, Gujral developed a temper for the nation as subject, as well as broad, free, open-handed strokes that he adapted to both his drawings as well as his paintings. As an apprentice to Siqueiros, the most politically radical of Los Tres Grandes (the three greats, Siqueiros, Rivera and José Clemente Orozco), and greatly influenced by the murals of Orozco, Gujral's own inclination was to adopt themes of social realism. The decade of 1947-57 became for Gujral a foundational expression of his response to the violence that he witnessed during the chaos of Partition. In the midst of Partition violence, he had driven a truck bearing refugees from Jhelum to Indian Punjab, and witnessed the barbarity of a brutal conflict as it played out. Gujral's work has often been likened to his own condition, but to attribute the power of his early works to his hearing disability would be doing the artist a disservice. He painted the charming reflective portrait titled My Sister (1951) but also the agonised Partition paintings, of roiling rage, and the enactment of violence, all executed with a powerful monumentality. Writer and art critic John Berger reviewed his exhibition in London in The New Statesman. Berger wrote: 'He is as single minded as Picasso… I am certain that his exhibition should provoke both humanly and artistically as many people as possible.' The drawing mentioned at the beginning of this article, however, was made after his return to India and has its own interesting history. Cyrus Jhabvala, an eminent architect who also headed the School of Architecture in Delhi, was very active when the capital city was in the throes of intense building activity immediately after Independence. With his firm AAJ, Jhabvala not only designed public buildings like Kirori Mal College, Max Mueller Bhavan and Telecom Building, but also the sprawling Kurukshetra University, which was realised over 10 years. Jhabvala was also enthusiastic about commissioning art works for the buildings. One of the artists he chose to work with was the young Satish Gujral, who was growing a reputation for rugged originality. Gujral did not disappoint. He designed murals in relief in ceramic, painted wood, and with tiles. The actual forms drew from primitive shapes and toys, even as he imbued them with a particular grandeur. While Gujral would continue to enjoy the patronage of Jawaharlal Nehru, and made murals for important State buildings like Punjab Agricultural University, Gandhi Bhavan and the Secretariat, in Chandigarh, Jhabvala openly disagreed with Nehru on the design of Ashoka Hotel, and did not take on any government commissions during Nehru's lifetime. Jhabvala, who also acquired two small works from MF Husain, probably bought The Condemned in this phase of Gujral's career. An artist himself, Jhabvala was fascinated with the simultaneous histories that Delhi inhabits. Many of his drawings are exquisitely rendered panoramic views of the grandeur of historic monuments and the chaos of ordinary street life, as in his work, Fakhr-ul Masjid, Old Delhi. James Ivory, collaborator with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala on his films, commented that 'Jhabvala's record is highly personal and subjective and at times, very precise — as precise as the 19th century photographs taken of the same are before and after the Indian Mutiny of 1857'. Among all of his peers who witnessed Partition in Punjab and Bengal, Gujral's works are the most visceral. While he is often placed alongside the Bombay Progressives who also graduated from the JJ School in Mumbai, or the Delhi Shilpi Chakra artists who had migrated from West Punjab, Gujral probably is more akin in spirit to Somnath Hore and Chittaprosad in his reading of the catastrophic event. More muted than his oil paintings, his drawings on the subject, such as Days of Glory (1954) powerfully depict women in mourning. In The Condemned, the solitary figure, probably the victim of rape, her body taut with pain and mortification, fills the frame. In contrast to the flowing lines of the figure, Gujral added hard-edged abstract elements to the fringes of this work, thereby enhancing the sense of pervasive violence. In his centenary year, Gujral will be celebrated as much for the depth of his broad-based practice — as architect, sculptor, painter and muralist — as for his passionate depiction of the human condition. Gayatri Sinha is a curator and art historian. The views expressed are personal.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Ahead of 50th anniversary, Sion's iconic Guru Kripa, whose samosas were loved by Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar, debuts in South Mumbai
In the late 1960s, Vishindas Wadhwa — whose family came to India during Partition and settled in Mumbai — found success selling samosas from a thela (hand cart). In 1975, he went on to establish what would become Sion's beloved Guru Kripa. Over the next five decades, it earned a loyal following for its samosas, tikki chole, and a range of savouries, as well as mithais like the Sindhi specialty Sev Barfi, made with khoya and sev. Its reputation spread far beyond the neighbourhood. But for South Mumbai residents, there was always one complaint: 'It's too far!' Ahead of its 50th anniversary this August, third-generation custodians Bharat and Sunaina have addressed this long-standing gripe by opening Guru Kripa's first branch — just a stone's throw from the Royal Opera House on Charni Road. 'What better gift to my grandfather than taking his culinary repository to a bigger audience,' said Bharat on a weekday afternoon, just two days after the shutters were lifted. Spread across 800 sq ft, the Charni Road outpost functions as a mithai retail outlet and delivery kitchen and offers an elevated experience. While the original 1,500 sqft store evokes nostalgia with its classic mithai-and-snack shop vibe, the new branch is more contemporary in design. There's a truck-style mithai station, a hamper counter, and a 'wall of fame' showcasing celebrity visitors and key milestones in the brand's journey. 'We wanted it to be an experience centre where every corner tells a story,' Bharat shared. 'So we gave it a retro South Bombay touch.' Pointing to a wall behind the savoury counter, he drew our attention to a series of black-and-white photos featuring the Asiatic Library, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, and the BMC building. 'This is our ode to South Bombay.' Unlike the original outlet, where customers can grab a quick samosa while standing outside or enjoy a full meal in the air-conditioned seating area, this new branch is strictly takeaway and delivery. 'We did want a small dine-in section,' Bharat admitted. 'But it didn't fit the space and what we set out to do with this experiment.' In the hour we spent at the shop, the counter stayed busy with walk-ins sampling mithai or picking up snacks for home. 'The response has been great, people are happy that it's now accessible,' he said, adding that early favourites include samosas, gulab jamun, sugar-free dates mithai and their recently launched Biscoff barfi, and Jain-friendly snacks like chole tikki, sandwiches, and Sindhi-speciality dal pakwan. Guru Kripa's samosas, of course, have a cult following of their own. Legend has it that Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were regulars, and that when Amitabh Bachchan suffered a near-fatal injury on the sets of Coolie, Vishindas Wadhwa distributed samosas while praying for his recovery. 'When Mr Bachchan learned of this, he visited us, enjoyed the samosas, and declared them his favourite,' Bharat recounted proudly. We asked him for the real marker of success: the number of samosas sold. He smiled shyly before revealing, 'We sold 1,000 samosas each on day 1 and day 2.' Fifty years on, it seems life has come full circle for Vishindas Wadhwa's Guru Kripa.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Secrets from 1947: How Edwina Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel shaped Partition plan
Secrets from 1947: How Edwina Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel shaped Partition plan Team TOI Plus Jun 27, 2025, 13:05 IST IST In this gripping extract from historian Sam Dalrymple's 'Shattered Lands', the last days of the Raj come alive — through secret liaisons, high-stakes diplomacy, and bitter rivalries that shaped the final act of India's Partition Back in New Delhi, Mountbatten was aware of Nehru's influence over Britain's Labour government and he placed extra importance on this relationship, seeking out the Congressman the very same day as his audience with Bikaner and Bhopal. 'In Mountbatten's view Nehru was extremely frank and fair,' recorded [Allen] Campbell-Johnson [served as press attaché to Lord Mountbatten during his time as Viceroy of India]. At the end of the interview, as Nehru was about to take his leave, Mountbatten said to him, 'Mr Nehru, I want you to regard me not as the last Viceroy winding up the British Raj, but as the first to lead the way to the new India.' Nehru turned, looked intensely moved, smiled and then said, 'Now I know what they mean when they speak of your charm being so dangerous.'
The Print
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
Emergency showed extent of executive power. 50 years on, it's still embedded in Constitution
The Constitution itself was designed at a time of immense political, social, and economic upheaval. There were a multitude of challenges around secession, religious integration and communalism because of Partition, the integration of 550 princely states, which made up two-fifths of India, and widespread poverty. The resulting constitutional setup gave the Union government sweeping powers to convert the country into a unitary state. The State, consequently, while giving fundamental rights and freedoms to citizens, could also revoke these through emergency provisions, the office of the governor, money bills, ordinances and in some cases, just ordinary legislation. However, it may not be an aberration, but a logical conclusion of executive power, given the structure and setup of the Indian state itself. The declaration, which was accorded through vague wording within the Constitution in Article 352, was compounded by a flurry of legislation to support the implementation of a dictatorial state. It underscores the ease with which the Union could legally override the separation of powers and curb fundamental rights with limited judicial, legal or citizen oversight. Fifty years on, the broader legacy of the Emergency is the fragility of rights, and checks and balances. If anything, India's democratic successes may be viewed as a miracle, stemming from well-meaning actors, rather than legislation and policy action itself. About 50 years ago, on 28 June 1975, a small, 22-word obituary in The Times of India read, 'O'Casey, D.E.M., beloved husband of T. Ruth, loving father of L.I. Bertie, brother of Faith, Hope and Justicia, expired on June 26,' highlighting a fundamental shift in India's fledgling experiment with democracy. The Emergency was indeed a watershed moment in India's history, and viewed by many as a blot on India's largely democratic traditions. When the Constitution was controversially amended for the first time in 1951, impositions were placed on fundamental rights and free speech. It also enshrined a mechanism, the 9th Schedule. Laws placed in this schedule are not subject to judicial review, a feature used to override unfavourable judicial decisions and to shield the executive from scrutiny. Indira Gandhi used this schedule to overturn her suspension as a member of parliament. Also read: West read Emergency wrong. India's democracy mattered little to US, UK, Russia Existing provisions Throughout India's early years, wars with Pakistan and China allowed the government to declare states of 'external emergency,' which worked to suspend fundamental rights. They were backed by laws that expanded state power, from the Defence of India Act to the Preventive Detention Act. Christoffe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil in India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977, and Srinath Raghavan in Indira Gandhi and the Years that Transformed India, highlight the emphasis Indira Gandhi put on making sure all emergency provisions and actions had a veneer of legality attached to them to reiterate the legitimacy of her actions. She did not need to introduce new laws to give the Emergency teeth; such provisions already existed. The Sedition provision (Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code), the Defence of India Act 1962 (DIA), and the Maintenance of Internal Security Act 1971 (MISA) all expanded the government's ability to suspend fundamental rights or harass dissidents. The DIA and MISA conferred on the government a wide range of powers to detain and arrest individuals, and limit their ability to challenge their detention in the courts. These also allowed warrantless searches and wiretapping to occur. The government could determine 'protected areas' and 'prohibited places,' limiting the movement of people, and violating the right to free movement and protest. These laws notwithstanding, the executive made the process the punishment, a feature that has dominated the Indian state since. Coomi Kapoor, in The Emergency: A Personal History, noted, 'an ugly feature of arrests and detentions under DIA [and MISA] was the immediate rearrest of persons released on bail.' Once the Emergency was lifted in 1977, Indira Gandhi lost power, and a motley coalition under the Janata Party introduced the 43rd and 44th amendments to raise the threshold to declare an emergency, and repealed some of the other controversial legislation enabling Indira Gandhi's hold on power. However, other features still remained in force, allowing the executive to expand its power. In times of crisis, emergency powers may be helpful to respond quickly, but the Constitution does not always provide clear opportunities for oversight from other branches of government that are critical to ensure accountability. During Covid-19, the Union was able to bypass the federal structure by unilaterally imposing a lockdown through ordinary legislation, rather than declaring an emergency (which would have required parliamentary oversight). This was partly because India lacks a dedicated framework to regulate public health emergencies. Containment measures became convenient tools of control and an excuse to suspend civil liberties, as seen with dwindling protests and arrests. The right to privacy was surrendered in the name of containment and contact tracing. This is not to say that such measures were unnecessary, but their legal basis matters. By using laws like the Disaster Management Act 2005, which was not designed for pandemics and is not subject to prior parliamentary review, the Union was able to suspend the freedom of movement and derive secondary powers to amend other laws like the Essential Commodities Act without any legislative or judicial oversight. Also read: Modi govt's assault on democracy is more sinister than the Emergency. Look at the differences Legacy of Emergency Another key feature of the Indian Constitution is its quasi-federal nature, according power to states over certain issues, while allowing the Union to take control if needed. Under Article 356, the Union government can override state rights by dismissing a state government and imposing President's Rule. Since 1947, it has been invoked more than 130 times, with the greatest number of instances being when Indira Gandhi was in power (50 times between 1966-1977 and 1980-1984), followed by the Janata Party (20 times between 1977-1980). It finally took a 1994 Supreme Court judgment to curtail the scope of President's rule. Nonetheless, the Union has been able to exert power over states through fiscal centralisation and the governor's office. Over the past decade, fiscal centralisation via delays in GST compensation, non-shared cesses, and discretionary transfers has undermined state capacity and made states more dependent on the Union, as seen in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab. Though fully legal, such measures do undermine state rights. Fiscal centralisation has been accompanied by political standoffs. Governors have, of late, withheld assent on key bills passed by state legislatures, or blocked state appointments using powers accorded in the Constitution itself. Ongoing issues between non-NDA ruled states and the Union stem from the fact that governors, who are appointed by the Union, could employ a pocket veto on legislation by not assenting to it or forwarding it to the President for a decision. It took a Supreme Court judgment earlier this year to build timelines and processes into how long a governor or the President can block legislation passed by a state government. There are other areas where state control undermines the democratic ethos of the Constitution, especially when weaponised. Anti-terror and preventive detention laws—a hallmark of India's history since Independence—have had their powers expanded with the UAPA, PMLA, and earlier with TADA. This is not to say every government has unjustly used these laws, but to highlight the ease with which civil rights can be taken away if desired. Executive power has ebbed and flowed since the Emergency. During the coalition era from 1989–2014, a weaker Union allowed for cooperative federalism to emerge. States had a stronger say, and key initiatives to decentralise power away from the Union were introduced, from the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, to the Right to Information Act. Even as the Union yielded some of its power, anti-terror laws and financial regulation shifted power away from the citizen back to the state, and fiscal centralisation has become a weapon to use against non-NDA-ruled states. If the Emergency showed the extent of executive power, it is clear that the source of such power is embedded in India's constitutional setup; this is the legacy that India must contend with, 50 years on. Vibhav Mariwala writes about political economy, history, and the institutions that shape our world. He works on public policy and global macro between London and Mumbai and tweets @ are personal. (Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Courier-Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
Jay-Z shades Kanye West during Beyoncé concert after brutal attack on kids
Don't miss out on the headlines from Movies. Followed categories will be added to My News. Jay-Z threw subtle shade at Kanye West during a surprise cameo at Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour on Sunday. Not only did the couple perform Crazy in Love and Drunk in Love, remixed with Partition, at Paris' Stade de France, but Jay-Z, 55, also performed N****s in Paris. The 2011 song, notably, is the hit single from his and West's Watch the Throne album. While the lyrics read, 'Just might let you meet Ye,' the Roc Nation founder omitted West's name from the song, according to fan footage. 'Just might let you meet Bey,' Jay-Z rapped instead, referencing his wife of 17 years. Reps for Jay-Z and West have yet to respond toPage Six's requests for comment. Kanye and Jay-Z on stage in NYC in 2010. The diss came three months after West made headlines for attacking Jay-Z and Beyoncé's kids in an unprovoked rant via X. In the appalling tweets, the Yeezy creator questioned the little ones' mental capacity. While he expressed remorse for the viral tweets, West took his apology back during an interview with DJ Akademiks later that same month. He called the tweets some of his 'worst' — or maybe his 'best' and 'strongest'. West issued a subsequent apology in April, only to immediately ask a vulgar question about Beyoncé, 43. The pair was once close – but not anymore. Picture:For BET The Single Ladies singer and Jay-Z, who are also the parents of 13-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, were 'discussing how they want to handle this situation, whether that be privately and/or in a legal matter,' a source told Page Six. We heard the couple would 'absolutely not stand' for the 'vulgar and offensive' statements. While Jay-Z and West's working relationship began in 2000, the Grammy winners have been at odds for years. Jay-Z told the New York Times about their 'complicated' bond in 2017, saying, 'There's certain things that happened that's not really acceptable to me. … But there's genuine love there'. This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission. Originally published as Jay-Z shades Kanye West during Beyoncé concert after brutal attack on kids
