by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Women Entrepreneur
By Sugandha Rawal,
New Delhi : For Sania Mirza, becoming a mother has been “the most eventful thing” in her life, but she is now working on getting herself back on the tennis court. The tennis star says playing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics seems like a realistic goal, but she doesn’t want to put too much pressure on herself.
“Being pregnant and having a baby was probably the most eventful thing that happened to me, but having said that, it has been over two months now, and I am coming back in shape and losing all the weight,” Sania told IANS on the phone from Hyderabad.
“My fitness trainer is coming in February. And the goal, hopefully, is to try to get back at the end of the year and start playing competitive (tennis) again,” she added.
Sania and Pakistani cricketer husband Shoaib Malik were blessed with a son last October. They have named the little one Izhaan Mirza-Malik.
Her game has always been a priority in her life and she is not losing sight of it even now.
“As a tennis player, life changes very quickly. We don’t know what we are doing from one day to another. But most definitely, it (playing at 2020 Tokyo Olympics) is at the back of my head. Honestly, in 2016, if you asked me if I will be making it to the next Olympics, I would have said ‘no’ and I think I did say ‘no’.
“But now if I do come back at the end of the year, which is the plan, it looks like a realistic possibility. But I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself because I do have an infant in my house.”
The star athlete wants to balance it out.
“We will see how it goes. The goal is to try to get fit again. I have lost a lot of weight already and (to) start training (soon) and getting back into shape… is still a long way ahead. That is why I am giving myself (time till the) end of the year,” said Sania, who got married to Shoaib in a traditional Hyderabadi Muslim wedding ceremony on April 12, 2010.
At the moment, she is enjoying being a mother to Izhaan. She says embracing motherhood has helped her stumble upon some of her own hidden personality traits.
“As women, while we are growing up, we always know that we will get married one day and have kids. And I think we underestimate what our bodies can do — that is produce another human being. And I think that is a realisation you can have when you actually are in that position,” she said.
Sania says earlier everything was about herself as her profession demanded a lot.
But, she added: “Motherhood and pregnancy have made me realise that I can be a very selfless person and I don’t need to put an effort into it.
“I want everything in the world for my child — more than I want for anyone else, including myself. And I think that selflessness you figure out that you have inside you, only after you have the baby.”
The star says motherhood was an “overwhelming (experience) in the beginning”.
“Now I am getting used to it. We both are getting used to a pattern. But this is probably the best feeling that I ever had. Every time he looks at me and smiles, it is the most amazing feeling ever,” she said.
On the drastic changes that motherhood has brought about, Sania said: “As athletes, our whole life revolves around ourselves, our training, our food, our matches and our sleep. And right now it is not. It is the most selfless thing in the world. Everything revolves around him.”
(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto
By Saket Suman,
New Delhi : Whatever the state of politics between India and Pakistan may be, the citizens of the neighbouring countries, separated at birth, are naturally drawn to each other and you cannot stop that, says Fatima Bhutto, niece of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and granddaughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
She said there has always been “a great warmth” between the people of the two countries, and that she has personally been a witness to it.
“Whether it’s Pakistani serials or Indian films, art or books, as a people we are naturally drawn to each other and open and curious to learn more… Art has always broken barriers — it’s always been a powerful way for people to connect and communicate with each other and I think the ease of the internet has helped us overcome physical obstacles,” the 36-year-old writer, who has been a critic of Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, whom she accused of being involved in her father’s murder, told IANS in an email interview from Karachi.
She recalled that, in the year gone by, she read books by several Indian authors online and even discovered authors she had not read before such as Gurmehar Kaur, Supriya Nair and Raghu Karnad.
“… no amount of downfall anywhere can stop me from seeking out new and interesting voices.”
However, the cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan have hit rock bottom in the past two years, with only books being the exception. On this being pointed out, and asked of her prescription for enriching people-to-people ties between the two countries, Bhutto urged people to engage with each other’s creative and popular cultures.
“What we must do is keep insisting that we want to read each other, want to speak to each other and reject attempts to interrupt that,” she said.
Interestingly, her novel “The Runaways” — about radicalism and the confusions of millennial culture and how difficult it is to survive in a world on fire — which released towards the end of 2018, was welcomed with rave reviews in India.
She said when she began writing it, she was thinking primarily about her two main male characters — Monty and Sunny — who come from very different worlds but are thrown together in the wilds of Iraq. The narrative of the novel also makes it apparent that youngsters are drawn to radicalism as a result of societal and political pressures.
“The narrative we are fed today is that radicalism is born out of religion, I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I think radicalism comes from a hundred different humiliations and wounds — not just one source. To boot, we live in a time where young people are subjected to an overwhelming culture of the self: Everyone wants to be famous, to go viral, to be seen, to be significant,” she said.
Asked if there there was a political ideology that goes into her writings, Bhutto said she doesn’t set out to write about politics, it’s not her intention when she sits down at her desk, but it’s what she is drawn to.
“My way of seeing the world is shaped by a fundamental belief that politics is ingrained in everything. It codes the films we watch, the places we travel to, how we live, how we treat others, how we dress — everything. With ‘The Runaways’ I wanted to write about what has to happen to a person in order to radicalise him — what does it mean to be at war with your society, your family, your friends, your world? But it’s also a novel about loneliness, about social media, about not feeling and wanting to be powerful. I’m not an ideologue, I’m interested in people — I don’t want to judge anyone but to observe them and hopefully understand them.”
The title of her novel may leave some readers wondering if the author is herself a Runaway too, particularly in view of the upheavals that her family has been witness to in the political trajectory of Pakistan.
Bhutto recalled she was born in exile and spent a good part of her life searching for the idea of home.
“I used to say that I always felt like a rootless person but that’s not quite correct, I think it’s the opposite — I have roots everywhere. Not nowhere. I have roots in Afghanistan because of blood and birth, in Syria because it was my first home, the first place I truly loved, in Iran because my Dadi was from Isfahan and so much of the language, the food, the humour of the country remind me of her… and it goes on. I’m at home everywhere in the world and rather than feeling displaced, I feel connected. Home is the people you love, it’s not a geography,” she said.
“The Runaways” is published by Penguin Random House and is available in both bookstores and online.
(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics
Prem Das Rai
By Brajendra Nath Singh,
New Delhi : The charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dimmed and it would be highly problematic for the BJP to return to power in 2019 if the grand alliance of the opposition parties takes shape, says Sikkim’s sole MP P.D. Rai, whose Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) is a constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
“We, as a regional party, will surely win the next election. But on the national scene, I think the charisma of Modiji has come down. The divisiveness with which the BJP has acted is something whose backlash is already coming,” Rai told IANS in an interview in Parliament House.
Rai, a two-term MP seeking a third, also says that the non-functioning of Parliament was affecting smaller parties like his and their right to be heard was getting “trampled” by the larger parties.
Referring to Congress’ performance in the recent elections, Rai said that, except in Chhattisgarh, the Congress won in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with a very small majority but the opposition party will be able to energise its own cadres in a much better way and it may translate into more seats.
“I think there would be a tough fight between the two sides and I think if the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance of opposition parties) takes shape, it could be highly problematic for the BJP,” he said, claiming that “there is going to be a lot of churning within all the parties, including the BJP and the Congress, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls”.
The SDF MP, who is an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur and IIM-Ahmedabad, asserted that the public and the intelligentsia were not very happy with the way many of the institutions like the CBI, the RBI were allegedly being attacked by the Modi government.
“This perhaps may go against the BJP,” he said. He made it clear as a party with only one MP in the Lok Sabha, it would, however, always go with the ruling party to safeguard the border state’s interests.
Asked about Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Rai said after having taken over as the president of the party, he has in many ways had a tough time getting the younger people to have some space within the party.
“But he has managed to do that. He has also understood that he has not only to back young people but also to look at the senior people as they are very valuable within the party. This (appointment of Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot as chief ministers) has sent out a good message to the senior cadre of the Congress. This is something which, I believe, is a very positive development for the Congress,” he said.
Rai, a member of the Parliament Standing Committee on Finance, said that farmers’ plight in the country has emerged as a huge problem but asserted that waiving of loans was not an answer.
“If you waive farms loans there is a big problem on the fiscal side. It is populist to say that I would waive the loans. On the other hand, people say if the corporate loans can be waived, then why not the farmers’ loans. But looking at holistic and structured reforms in the agriculture sector is long overdue.
“This is something we will have to look at. There are many, many pillars around which the farmers’ eco-system thrives and we will have to look into the whole crisis holistically,” he added.
(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Interviews, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
By Vivek Singh Chauhan,
New Delhi : With PC and laptop gaming gaining momentum in India, Taiwanese electronics major ASUS aims to garner 10 per cent market share next year with launching innovative products in the thin and light segment, a top company executive said on Saturday.
“In 2019, we are targeting that we should reach around 4 lakh units (laptops) with 10 per cent market share. You will see gaming and consumer laptops in the thin and light segment from us at an affordable price range next year,” Arnold Su, PC and Gaming Head ASUS India, told IANS in an interview.
According to the company, ASUS would end up at around 2.6 lakh units, with around 7-8 per cent market share, in the Indian market.
“We are sure that with the new strategy, our business will capture even greater market share next year,” Su added.
With gaming picking up as a profession in India, the executive said the country has great potential ahead.
“Republic of Gamers (ROG) is the most searched gaming brand in India and in terms of our gaming market share, we are currently at 20-22 per cent and aim to reach 30 per cent next year,” Su said.
The PC market has become stagnant but the gaming market is growing aggressively and ASUS is among the fastest growing brand in the laptop segment.
“We started the year with 4.9 per cent market share but in the third quarter (Q3), we reached 9.4 per cent. So our growth has been close to almost 90 per cent,” Su told IANS.
The company has recently launched two gaming laptops in India that feature AMD Ryzen 5 processor with up to 8GB DDR4 memory and AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics.
“The reason for entering into such a partnership with AMD is because of the growing demand among gamers for better and advanced solutions. The RYZEN series provides just that for our end users,” Su said while elaborating about the company’s collaboration with the US-based chip maker.
“We are confident of the positive contribution AMD would make to our growth story,” the executive added.
The company currently is not into making software as it is working closely with game developers to focus more on the hardware front.
“We are not ready to jump to the software, whatever the design we have in our laptops, we ensure that our laptops are compatible with different games. This is our goal,” said the executive.
“For us, we will not be able to design the games right now. We need to ensure that our hardware is compatible and perfect to meet the requirements of different games. So, we are working with them (game developers) very closely,” Su informed.
(Vivek Singh Chauhan can be contacted at vivek.c@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Interviews, Social Entrepreneur, Success Stories
Sahitya Akademi winner Anees Salim
By Saket Suman,
New Delhi : Still recovering from the surprise of being named as the winner of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award (English) for his novel “The Blind Lady’s Descendants” — a long suicide note of a 26-year-old — author Anees Salim has said that the initial rejections he faced from mainstream publishers were shattering; but they also went a long way in strengthening and streamlining his writing.
The Kerala-born author, whose latest novel “The Small-Town Sea” garnered critical acclaim after its release in 2017, said he wished he was born a couple of decades later and started writing when it became considerably easier for an aspiring writer to be in touch with the publishing world. He contended that his literary journey has been a tough one.
“For instance, when I started writing, there was no such thing as a literary agent. There was no Internet and there were no avenues of opportunities for a writer to try his luck out, except for a few magazines. You had to wait for months on end to get even a rejection letter, with limited facilities to reach out to publishers and remind them of your submission,” Salim recalled in an interview with IANS.
He maintained that the scene has changed drastically now and pointed to the “sheer number of books getting published”.
“In fact, every time I visit a bookstore I am surprised and disappointed at once. Surprised by the number of books on the racks, and disappointed by the visibility enjoyed by pulp fiction. When I started writing, I used to frequent bookstores and spend long hours reading the opening passages of as many books as possible. I believed every bookstore had room for inspiration. And I used to consider people employed in bookstores as the luckiest ones, for they could feel, smell and read books all day,” he said.
But somewhere down the line, bookstores started to choke him.
“Too many books, too many frills. I wish the bookstores could give you a little more space,” opined Salim, whose “Vanity Bagh” had won The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction in 2013.
On December 5, India’s national academy of letters announced its annual Sahitya Akademi Awards in 24 languages, which were recommended by distinguished jury members representing each languages and were then approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi under the Chairmanship of Akademi President Chandrashekhar Kambar. Salim’s name in the list was hailed as a recognition long overdue by literati on social media.
“Rejections did shatter me. But they also strengthened me and streamlined my writing process. The more I was rejected, the harder I worked. I decided to keep writing irrespective of what publishers thought of my work. And by the time I got my first book deal (‘The Vicks Mango Tree’, 2012) I had finished a handful of manuscripts, out of which I showed three to my agent, the rest I found too simplistic to be shown around,” the Kochi-based author said.
Despite his tedious journey to getting published, Salim maintained that India has some wonderful publishing houses who stay focused on quality.
“Publishers indeed have to cater to every kind of reader and every genre of writing has to prosper. But one thing I am totally against is the idea of self-publishing. I am afraid vanity publishing is the biggest enemy of reading and writing. Getting published should have nothing to do with your bank balance,” he contended, in view of the rising number of self-publishing houses that have mushroomed across the country in recent years.
Salim said that every recognition changes the pace of his writing and every award makes him extremely cautious and somewhat slow. He recalled that he won his first award in 2014 and since then he must have discarded more than a dozen novels after the initial chapters, fearing that they will be frowned upon by his publishers who seem to have immense faith in him.
“I have already started writing my new book. It is too early say what it will develop into. But I have a historical backdrop in mind and I hope to finish it by the end of next year.”
The Sahitya Akademi award, in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh, will be presented to Salim at a special function in January next year at Kamani Auditorium here.
(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)
—IANS
