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Benefits of Industrial Storage Bins

Modern capacity receptacles are substantial holders explicitly intended for modern and business stockpiling applications. They are worked to endure requesting conditions, weighty loads, and unpleasant taking care of.

Modern plastic storage boxes Advantages

Current limit holders, otherwise called high-limit compartments, are huge steel trailers intended to oblige a higher volume of freight or products. These holders are utilized in different enterprises for moving and putting away bigger amounts of products effectively. A portion of the fundamental advantages of modern stockpiling receptacles include:

Disposing of Messiness IN THE Working environment: Having a complicated working environment can fundamentally bring down your representative efficiency levels, as they should rival mess for accessible table or work area. Using modern plastic storage boxes can assist you with taking out mess, while likewise permitting simple admittance to things when required.

KEEPING Hardware Coordinated: Modern capacity canisters won’t just assist you with coordinating your work area yet in addition make it simpler for representatives to find the things they need promptly. Prior to fixing your racks with modern capacity receptacles, try to obviously mark them with the name of the things they contain. This way a worker will actually want to rapidly find the thing they need, and they will actually want to return the thing to its appropriate spot when they are done with it.

Expanding Working environment Efficiency: Having a conveniently coordinated work area can likewise assist with expanding working environment efficiency, as representatives will at this point not sit around searching for the things they need. By putting your modern stockpiling receptacles in a helpful area, you can likewise eliminate the time spent recovering things from the plastic storage boxes .

Further developing Worker Wellbeing: Not exclusively can cleaning and putting together your work area assist with expanding efficiency and proficiency in the working environment, it can likewise assist with establishing a more secure work space for your representatives. Utilizing modern capacity receptacles can assist with keeping your hardware and supplies far removed, keeping workers from stumbling and falling on a free thing.

MAKING IT Simpler TO CLEAN THE Working environment: Having the entirety of your gear and different things put away in modern plastic storage boxes can assist with making your work area more straightforward to clean. Representatives can just move the receptacles far removed while they are cleaning and afterward get the plastic storage boxes once again to their customary put on the rack whenever they are finished.

The Double Declining Balance Depreciation Method

Companies can acquire assets in one of two ways: utilizing its own capital, or getting assets from an outsider. The level of risk and the company’s financial future are affected by the ratio of owned and borrowed assets. It merits getting comfortable with a significant bookkeeping method that works on this interaction: the ratio of debt to assets.

A leverage ratio known as the debt to asset ratio shows how much of a company’s assets are funded by debt. For evaluating financial risk, it is extremely helpful. An organization that claims a greater amount of its possessions is in a safer situation than an organization that is overleveraged. A higher debt-to-asset ratio indicates to analysts, investors, and creditors that the riskier company may become insolvent or no longer be able to meet its obligations.

The debt to asset ratio is calculated by accountants to provide information to investors, analysts, creditors, and management. It forecasts a company’s future solvency and provides a useful overview of how it has grown and acquired its holdings over time. The debt to asset ratio is used by creditors to determine a company’s liability, its ability to repay debts, and whether or not it will receive additional loans.

Investors, on the other hand, rely on the debt to asset ratio to determine whether a company is financially stable and able to return on investments. Understanding the debt to asset ratio and why it is such an important step in the accounting level 3 course accounting process would be beneficial to business owners who want to expand their financing options rather than being passed over by wary investors and creditors.

How to Calculate the Debt to Asset Ratio Calculating the debt to asset ratio is not particularly difficult. We just separation complete liabilities by the organization’s all out resources. For instance, assume we own an organization that has complete possessions of $101,000 and all out liabilities of $16,000. We simply divide $16,000 by $101,000 using the formula. The debt-to-assets ratio is 1584, or 15.84 percent.

Deciphering Results

Since we have determined a proportion in the model above, what bits of knowledge might we at any point draw from the outcome? The percentage of a company’s assets that are leveraged is shown by the debt to asset ratio. We can now comprehend the balance between holdings financed by the company’s own capital and those financed by borrowed funds.

If a company’s debt-to-asset ratio is higher, the loan holder may take back capital if the company does not pay its debts. A business that is already having trouble paying its debts may feel this as a severe blow. Investing in or lending money to a company with a higher ratio typically carries more risk.

Then again, a lower obligation to resource proportion demonstrates that an organization claims a greater amount of its property through and through. The organization will keep those possessions regardless of whether there is a decline on the lookout and the organization is falling short on cash. Investors and creditors face a relatively lower financial risk from businesses in this position.

Even though the debt to asset ratio is essential to the accounting process, understanding its meaning requires some context. A ratio must be compared to previous results and industry data to determine whether there is a significant difference after it has been calculated. This is because certain industries, like real estate, typically have debt-to-asset ratios that are higher than average.

How to properly manage the ventilation inside your conservatory

To avoid overheating the space and deteriorating the quality of the air due to stagnant air, ensure that there is adequate air circulation.

To have a solid climate concerning air and monitor the temperature, pick development arrangements that advance the entry of air between within and beyond your studio.

Make little secret air vents to permit air distribution, plan openings for ventilation, and remember Timber windows birmingham and entryways for the plan of the space that can be completely opened.

When the weather permits, even the roof itself can be designed to open.

Picking ideal development techniques

Subtleties make your center agreeable and inviting however are not adequate to make an agreeable indoor temperature in different climatic circumstances.

You will likewise have to introduce a mechanical framework that can ensure wonderful temperature conditions without thinking twice about splendor levels.

Let’s look at the best ways to heat and cool this kind of building while staying true to the good idea and design that was chosen.

Curtains: a stylish way to keep your winter garden cool

Putting up curtains can help create an insulating barrier that retains heat inside the structure in the coldest areas or periods. Using curtains is a functional and decorative technique that will allow you to manage and modulate the temperature of your conservatory and revolutionize the space’s appearance whenever you want, making use of different fabrics and materials every time.

Integrating an air conditioning and heating unit into the false ceiling of a conservatory to either heat or cool the environment is one option.

You will be able to naturally coordinate all of the structure’s details with the air conditioner’s and avoid “foreign” elements by making this elegant and refined choice.

The unit makes use of two working systems

One remotely, which produces hot or cold air depending on the situation, and at least one inside, which push the air start to finish, cooling the spaces consistently.

Even though this air conditioner is almost invisible, it works very well.

Let’s look at an illustration. A 100-square-meter winter garden in Doha, Qatar, where the outside temperature easily exceeds 40 degrees Celsius and the humidity is extremely high, was designed by a luxury outdoor furniture and design company.

The Doha conservatory in Katara Village, despite the environment, its size, and the absence of roof coverings or tents, maintains an average internal temperature of 19 degrees Celsius throughout the year.

This temperature is ensured by nine utilitarian units inside the structure.

It is extremely efficient to incorporate heating and cooling units into the false ceiling. This allows for optimal air conditioning without imposing bulky structures and machinery that could detract from the conservatory’s beauty and uniqueness.

Women’s Premier League: How Royal Challengers Bangalore flipped the script


Season 2 of the Women’s Premier League deepened the popularity of women’s cricket, even as RCB dominated



Sport loves a redemption story. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and team captain Smriti Mandhana scripted one on Sunday evening when they lifted the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 title: from the most underwhelming team in 2023 to unlikely champions a year later. They didn’t have a crack squad like Delhi Capitals (DC) or the all-round might of Mumbai Indians (MI). But they found their heroes along the way; the right women for the right job to win the first piece of silverware for the RCB franchise.

“The only thing I want to say is how proud I am of the bunch,” said Mandhana, who was the glue that held together a talented and excitable bunch of players this season. “We’ve been through ups and downs, the way they stuck together and got us through the line was amazing to watch.”

Though Mandhana only smiled beatifically; the rest of the squad exploded in emotion after Richa Ghosh hit the winning runs in the final against the Delhi Capitals, at the latter’s home ground—the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi—in front of a nearly 30,000-strong crowd. Australian star Ellyse Perry pulled the Orange Cap over her RCB cap. They hopped, skipped and jumped for joy, impromptu victory dances were started and abandoned, some, like Asha Sobhana, shed tears.

Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry strategise during their Eliminator match against Mumbai Indians.

(Women’s Premier League (WPL) – X)

This was not the team that had started as favourites, nor the strongest, but they had ridden the rollercoaster, stared at a possibility of being sent out, again, before the playoffs, and fought their way through. But they had finished on an incredible high—beating 2023 champions Mumbai Indians in their final league game and then the eliminator, and then defeating 2023 finalists (and this year’s league toppers) Delhi Capitals by eight wickets in the final.

Two years old and the WPL is already tugging at heartstrings.

This is mainly because the players are easy to root for. While they all have their stories of struggle, be it DC’s Shafali Verma starting out in cricket impersonating a boy, because there were no girls’ cricket academies in her hometown in Rohtak, Haryana; or the 33-year-old Asha toiling in first-class cricket for over a decade to finally step in the spotlight, they have a shared history of overcoming prejudices and doubts. Together, they have forged a product that is compelling in quality, competitiveness and drama.

The second season proved that the WPL has an identity, and life of its own, despite the overarching comparisons with the Indian Premier League (IPL). During the first WPL season, the BCCI had gone for the safe option and restricted the matches to Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, the unofficial home base of the Indian women’s cricket team. This season, as the caravan moved first to Bengaluru and then to New Delhi, the fans followed.

One of the biggest strengths of the women’s game is that it is a more even contest between the bat and ball. Since 2023 was the inaugural edition of the WPL, the BCCI had focused on the entertainment factor, and had opted for much shorter boundaries last year, as much as 42 meters in the beginning. But they were pulled back this year: according to ESPNcricinfo, the BCCI had set a range of 50-60m for the boundaries in New Delhi.

Additionally, unlike the batter-friendly tracks in Mumbai, especially in the first half of last season, the pitches in Bengaluru and New Delhi had greater variety and rewarded good bowling, especially spin. While teams posted totals of 200 or above four times last season, the highest total in this year was 199-5 by the Gujarat Giants (GG).

Delhi Capitals was the most consistent team in WPL under the captaincy of Meg Lanning.

Delhi Capitals was the most consistent team in WPL under the captaincy of Meg Lanning.
(PTI)

WPL 2024 had begun with Sajeevan Sajana hitting a last-ball six to guide Mumbai Indians to a four-wicket win over Delhi Capitals. The tournament ended with RCB’s spin trio of Shreyanka Patil, Asha and Sophie Molineux flooring the famed DC batting line-up. During the course of the tournament, we saw Asha become the first Indian to claim a five-wicket-haul in the WPL (5-22 vs UP Warriorz), Deepti Sharma the first Indian to capture a hat-trick in the tournament (4-19 vs Delhi Capitals) and South African pacer Shabnim Ismail breach the 130kmph barrier in women’s cricket with a delivery recorded at 132.1kmph against DC.

Even though Delhi was at the receiving end of some of the standout performances, they were the most consistent team in the league stage for the second year running. With Meg Lanning—a seven-time world champion with Australia (ODIs and T20 combined)— leading a team of proven match-winners, Delhi topped the five-team table with 12 points from eight matches.

MI looked less menacing than last season, but still recorded the highest successful chase in the WPL. Chasing a target of 191 against GG, the Mumbai innings was powered by a tour de force performance by Harmanpreet Kaur. The India captain scored an unbeaten 95, at nearly two runs per ball, as MI scored over 90 runs in the last six over and closed out the match at 19.5 overs. In a repeat of last season, Mumbai finished second in the league stage.

But it was RCB that emerged as a challenger to the Delhi-Mumbai dominance. In 2023, RCB had gone into the tournament as one of the biggest brands in franchise cricket and Mandhana as the most expensive buy at 3.4 crore only to finish an underwhelming fourth. This season, they parked the excess baggage of expectations aside and set to work, with new coach Luke Williams at the helm. This time, Mandhana finished the tournament with 300 runs and among the top-5 highest scorers of the season.

“Last year taught us a lot of things,” Mandhana said after the final. “We spoke of what went wrong, what went right, both as player and captain. The management backed my ideas when I went to them after the tournament. They said this is your team, build it the way you want to.” International stars like Perry and Sophie Devine lent experience and quality to the team.

Nor was the team management wasn’t afraid of testing out lesser-known players in tricky situations. One of their finds of the season was uncapped Indian leg-spinner Asha, who RCB had picked for 10 lakh at last year’s auction. Asha may have been new to the WPL stage, but she was no stranger to pressure situations on a cricket field. She had played for Railways for more than a decade and had later led Puducherry in domestic cricket. And in RCB’s first match of the season, with the team playing in front of a raucous home crowd, she claimed her fifer to hamstrung the UP Warriorz.

Royal Challengers Bangalore's Asha Sobhana.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Asha Sobhana.
(AFP)

In the eliminator against Mumbai, it was Patil, whose impressive show last season had earned her an India debut, who delivered the decisive blow. With only 135 to defend, she gave RCB the first breakthrough ( the wicket of Hayley Matthews) and then sent back Harmanpreet, looking dangerous on 33, in the 18th over. Even though they just needed 16 runs in the last two overs, Mumbai, with captain Harmanpreet gone, hit the panic button. After Molineux conceded only four runs in the 19th over, Mandhana decided to hand the final over to Asha and the leg-spinner from Kerala coolly went about her business, and restricted Mumbai to 130 for six. It was the lowest total a team had defended in the WPL.

Going into the final, RCB were the in-form team. But Indian batting prodigy Shafali Verma, with her idol Lanning at the other end, gave DC just the start they were looking for. Verma struck three sixes and two boundaries for a good-looking 44 that saw the home team accumulate 61 runs in the six overs of powerplay. Then came Molineux, who had been sidelined for more than a year due to an ACL injury before coming into this year’s WPL. In the space of four deliveries, she claimed the wickets of Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey to send DC’s batting into disarray. With Patil (4-12) and Asha (2-14) picking up the rest of the wickets, Delhi’s innings folded at 113.

To make sure there were no more twists in the tale on a slow-turner, RCB batted cautiously and sensibly. While Mandhana and Devine provided a steady start, Perry took them over the line, like she had a number of times this season, with an unbeaten 35. Not only did RCB take the title, but Perry also finished as the season’s highest scorer with 347 runs and Patil (14 wickets), Molineux and Asha (13 wickets each) were the highest wicket-takers of WPL 2024. The comeback was complete.

Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.



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Record Forex Spending Despite TCS Introduction in FY24, ET TravelWorld


Foreign exchange remittances for the first 10 months of FY24 stood at USD 27.4 billion, crossing the FY23 level of USD 27.1 billion. This is despite the introduction of tax collection at source (TCS) in the Budget.

With average monthly remittances in FY24 touching USD 2.7 billion, the total foreign exchange sent abroad under the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) is set to cross USD 30 billion during the current financial year, setting a new record.

Outward remittances rose during Jan 2024 to USD 2.6 billion from USD 2.4 billion in Dec, owing to a surge in spending on foreign education. Despite govt introducing TCS from Oct 2023, forex spending is increasing to earlier levels. For instance, the Jan forex spending by Indians was 3.5 per cent lower than the USD 2.7 billion in Jan 2023, before the TCS imposition.

Within total forex remittances, spending on travel in Jan at USD 1.54 billion was unchanged compared to Dec 2023. The figure was, however, higher than USD 1.49 billion in the year-ago period. Dealers said the Jan travel was also linked to students travelling overseas for education.

Investment in travel technology expected to boom by 14% in 2024: Amadeus

Looking ahead, the Amadeus research outlines the top priority technologies for both 2024 and 2029, with machine learning, data analytics, and cloud computing emerging as perennial favourites across all sectors. The findings emphasize a collective industry vision towards harnessing the power of technology to drive innovation and efficiency in the years to come.

  • Published On Mar 20, 2024 at 07:42 PM IST

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Rescuing a 165-year-old church in Mumbai


Afghan church stands tall with sparkling stained glass, polished wood and clean walls after a mammoth renovation project that spanned more than two decades



“Have you seen the fossils?” asked conservation specialist Anupam Sah. It was a surprising question; we were inside a church where one wouldn’t expect to discover prehistoric remains. He pointed to a stone slab below a large altar. About 160 years ago, it was shipped to India from Derbyshire in England. It has thousands of sea creatures fossilised for eternity.

The Derbyshire fossil is one of the several magnificent details in Mumbai’s newly renovated church of St John the Evangelist. Popularly known as Afghan church, the 165-year-old structure was constructed as a war memorial by the British government to the soldiers who died in the Afghan War between 1847-58.

The building with Gothic architecture, marked by sparkling renovated stained glass, is a Grade 1-heritage structure, and an important landmark in the history of the city. The renovation began in 1996, with lead architect Kirtida Unwalla preparing a report. She says “friends of the church” approached her for advice and help. “Before that Amita Baig of World Monuments Fund India had set up a small corpus of funding.”

Unwalla teamed up with Swati Chandgadkar, a specialist in stained glass conservation, and the work started. There were several halts due to funding issues. About two years ago, World Monuments Fund India in collaboration with the Afghan Church’s Pastorate Committee & Custodian with funding support from Citibank collected 14 crore to complete the renovation.

There is a reredos or ornamental screen behind the altar complete with intricate mosaic work in memory of 13 soldiers who were friends. There are thousands of war martyrs whose names are inscribed in marble slabs laid in the walls. The lettering had faded over time, and now wears a fresh look.

Sah invited architecture students from the city’s JJ School of Arts to work on the lettering. The cathedral’s association with the art college goes back to its inception. In the mid-19th century, a metal screen with floral motifs was designed by the Victorian architect William Butterfield and made by students of the college under the supervision of British artist M. J. Higgins. Today it stands near the main entrance of the building.

There is another contribution by the art students. In the 1930s, a stained glass window was was renovated by them. Chandgadkar, who replaced about 700 glass pieces, points to a pictorial depiction of the Magi: “If you notice carefully, there are references to India. The turbans of Magi indicate they are Parsi, Hindu and Sikh.”

The church was built and has been restored by many hands, representing the syncretic nature of historic architecture of the city.



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Emirates expands global collaborations to enhance travel experiences, ET TravelWorld


Represetative photo

Global carrier Emirates has announced series of networkpartnerships to elevate travel experiences worldwide. Through a series of strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signings, Emirates aims to foster collaboration with key tourism entities and airlines, ultimately enhancing inbound tourism and connectivity.

Emirates has inked MoUs with the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) and Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) to bolster inbound tourism and collaboration. The airline has pledged to support Greece’s travel industry by enhancing traffic from top inbound markets, including the US, UAE, Australia, India, and China. Similarly, the partnership with ANTO aims to drive inbound visitors to Austria, leveraging Emirates’ extensive global network.

Last year, Emirates activated a codeshare agreement with the Greek air carrier, AEGEAN, allowing Emirates’ customers to seamlessly connect to eight popular domestic destinations operated by AEGEAN: Kerkyra, Chania, Iraklion, Mikonos, Thira, Rhodes, Thessaloniki and Alexandropoulos via Athens, using a single ticket and convenient baggage policy.

Emirates has recently resumed its A380 operations to Austria and is the only airline to serve Vienna International Airport with a scheduled double-decker service, offering 20% more seat capacity on flights between Vienna and Dubai. The airline will mark 20 years of operations to Austria this year, and currently serves Vienna with a Boeing 777-300ER daily service in addition to the daily A380 flight.

Expansion with ITA Airways and Icelandair
Emirates has expanded its existing interline with ITA Airways into a full codeshare partnership, amplifying travel options between Dubai, Italy, and beyond. Additionally, collaborations with Icelandair and travel technology specialists W2 and AirBlackBox (ABB) aim to deepen commercial cooperation and optimise air and rail ticket connections for travellers.

Furthermore, a partnership with Tourism Ireland seeks to amplify inbound tourism to Ireland through Emirates’ global network. Joint advertising campaigns will target strategic markets, including Australia, the UAE, and New Zealand, leveraging Emirates’ extensive reach.

Experience luxury in the sky with EVA Air

With over 30 years of international passenger and airfreight operations, EVA Air has earned a reputation for excellence in services and safety practices. Ranked 9th among the Top 20 Safest Airlines for 2023 by AirlineRatings.com, the airline consistently strives to ensure that passenger safety is never compromised. And in 2024, EVA Air remains unwavering and steadfast in its commitment to offer a truly sublime and luxurious experience in the sky. Fly EVA Air, as ‘We are the wings to your travel’.

Since the inaugural Dublin-Dubai flight in January 2012, Emirates has carried more than 3 million passengers on what has grown to become one of the airline’s most successful routes. The airline currently serves the Irish capital with a double daily flight, utilising its wide-body Boeing 777-300ER aircraft – carrying up to 1,440 customers each day on the Dublin-Dubai route.

Renewed partnership with TUI Cruises
Emirates reaffirms its commitment to seamless travel experiences with the renewal of its partnership with TUI Cruises. The collaboration ensures enhanced transportation solutions between Dubai International and Port Rashid, offering dedicated flight options aligned with cruise schedules and optimised ground services.

The airline will explore enhanced transportation solutions between Dubai International (DXB) and Port Rashid, leverage insights to improve services on the ground, and provide dedicated support teams for cruise passengers. Currently, the port’s Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal, the world’s largest single covered cruise terminal facility, is capable of handling 14,000 passengers a day.

Emirates transported nearly 400,000 cruise passengers to Dubai. The city welcomed over 166 ships during the last cruise season. The city is expecting an increase of 23 per cent more cruise passengers for the upcoming season.

  • Published On Mar 10, 2024 at 01:22 PM IST

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Travel: Walking around Kamakura, the ancient seat of the Shogunate


Kamakura, the former political capital of Japan, is an enchanting melange of history, spirituality and culture



Dense concrete clusters fall away, giving way to wide open spaces with scattered habitations as the train leaves Tokyo. Quite unexpectedly, the snow-capped tip of Mount Fuji comes into view for a few seconds as the train rushes along, heading south to Kamakura, the former seat of the shogunate, Japan’s former system of hereditary military dictatorship and rule.

An hour later, the train pulls into Kamakura, a maze of narrow lanes with pretty houses sitting cheek by jowl with some 80 temples and shrines, in the Kanagawa prefecture. For over a century in the medieval period, Kamakura was the reigning city of Japan.

A short walk from the station takes me to the Hase-dera temple, one of Kamakura’s three most important temples. Along the way, my guide points out several old temples that date to the seventh and eighth centuries and reeling off their history as proof of the city’s ancestry. It is only in the late 12th century that Kamakura became the seat of the shogun ruler. The Kamakura shogunate thrived till the 14th century, when the power centre moved to Kyoto. During the Kamakura period, the city was a bustling centre for not just politics but also culture, arts and religion.

Once dislodged from its position of pre-eminence, Kamakura never regained its former glory, yet the plethora of temples and shrines retain an inexorable attraction. My own visit bears this out as I climb the steps of the Hase-dera temple. The sprawling temple premises are spread over various levels filled with lush green gardens, water bodies with koi fish, little shrines and various devout offerings. It is not crowded but there is a substantial number of tourists and devotees, yet it is peaceful, the quiet broken only by strains of lilting sacred music, chants and bells. What overwhelms me a bit is the profusion of stone and cement statues of various sizes—ranging from a few centimetres to a few feet—dedicated to Jizo, the delightful, baby-faced deity who is the protector of women, children and travellers.

A winding path through all these elements leads upwards and opens into a large space with a beautiful brown and white structure that houses the main deity, Hase-kannon or the Bodhisattva of Compassion. According to legend, the temple dates back to early eighth century, built when the locals found a massive Kannon statue made from wood that had washed up at Nagai beach nearby. The story goes that a monk called Tokudo found a camphor trunk so large that he carved two giant Kannon statues in early eighth century. One was installed in a shrine in Yamato province. The other was set afloat and turned up near Kamakura.

The story seems perfectly plausible as I gaze at the deity rising over 30ft. Gilded in gold, there are many details etched into the façade, including multiple heads representing the various stages of enlightenment. Under the temple is a cave with a low, narrow winding path. It is musty and cold and a bit claustrophobic, but large Buddhist carvings on the wall and hundreds of Jizo replicas scattered throughout work very well as distraction. Once I am out, I wander to the terrace adjoining the main temple to get a fill of stunning sea views of the Sagami Bay in the Pacific Ocean, the wide panorama serving as an antidote to the enclosed space of the cave.

A short walk north of the temple takes me to the nondescript entrance of the Kotoku-in temple. A path leads to a bare sprawling ground, in the middle of which rises a giant Buddha. The sheer size, spectacle and the unexpectedness takes my breath away.The Kotoku-in temple, also known as the Great Buddha statue and Daibutsu, is one of the most recognisable Buddhist temples in Kamakura, and in Japan.

As the initial astonishment abates, I walk up for a closer glimpse of the bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha, the one of infinite light. Rising more than 13m and weighing almost 100 tonnes, it is hollow and people are allowed to wander inside. Created in the mid-13th century, it was originally gold-plated. Now largely greenish owing to the oxidisation of the bronze. My guide tells me the statue is highly regarded since it originally stood inside a temple but the structure was washed away in a tsunami in the late 15th century but the statue has steadfastly stood since in the open air.

After a morning of treading hallowed ground, I needed a bit of lightness. A short bus ride to the north-east of the town brings me to Komachi Street. A bright red tori or ceremonial gate stands at the entrance to the 350m street. On either side are restaurants, boutique stores, cafés, traditional Japanese sweet shops, kimono and umbrella shops, and an array of establishments. It is completely pedestrianised and buzzing with people. Most seductive are the delicious smells wafting from roadside stalls and I frequently stop to sample sweets, bean paste cakes, fried mushroom croquettes, and savoury snacks on sticks.

At the other end of the street, the noise drops dramatically as it leads towards the entrance of the picturesque Hachiman-gu Shinto shrine, belonging to the Minamoto shogun. Going back to the mid-11th century, it is dedicated to the deity of martial arts. I wander around looking at the little plaques with wishes or prayers hung by the devout on large wooden frames. The plaques swing and sway in the gentle breeze; the faithful believe the wind carries their pleas to the kami, Japanese spirits or deities. It is as endearing as the Jizo.

As I head out of the temple in the fading light, I hear the clacking sounds of the ema (wooden plaques) as they bob in the breeze. It feels like the kami have descended and are browsing through the wishes and making note of the requests. I regret not having left my own, but I come away hoping the powers that be will grant my wish of returning some day.

Anita Rao Kashi is an independent journalist based in Bengaluru.



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Philadelphia Airport accelerates efforts to establish direct flights with India, explores new routes, ET TravelWorld


Edgar Antistenes Vesga-Arias Director, Air Service Development and Cargo Services, Philadelphia International Airport, Northeast Philadelphia Airport.

In an exclusive interview with ET TravelWorld, Edgar Vesga, MPR, CMI, Director of Air Service Development and Cargo Services at Philadelphia International Airport delved into the airport’s recent growth trends, connectivity with India, and sustainability measures, shedding light on the strategies driving Philadelphia‘s aviation landscape.

Vesga highlighted Philadelphia International Airport’s (PHL) robust performance in 2023, recording a total passenger volume of 28.1 million, marking a significant 12.6 per cent increase from the previous year. Looking ahead to 2024, Vesga expressed optimism about the addition of four new international destinations served by American Airlines and numerous domestic routes by various carriers, reflecting the airport’s ongoing growth trajectory.

Connectivity with India
Addressing the growing ties between India and Philadelphia, Vesga emphasised the airport’s connectivity with India, underscoring the significant influx of passengers between Philadelphia’s catchment area and India. He noted that while over 190,000 passengers travelled between the two regions in 2023, only 34 per cent utilised PHL’s services. Vesga attributed Philadelphia’s appeal to the Indian market to its prominence in education and medicine, attracting a substantial number of international students and visitors.

“Philadelphia is considered the city of education and medicine, attracting a large number of international students from India and other countries,” he said.

Strategies for enhanced connectivity
Despite the absence of direct flights between Philadelphia and key Indian cities, Vesga outlined the airport’s strategic approach to enhance connectivity. Leveraging major connecting points like Doha, London, and Frankfurt, PHL aims to facilitate seamless travel for passengers bound to Indian destinations. Additionally, Vesga highlighted the airport’s incentives program designed to encourage airlines to establish routes to unserved and underserved destinations, including India.

“India is Philadelphia’s 3rd largest market for direct visitor spending and has consistently ranked in the top five markets for spend since data tracking began in 2000. Visitation from India was expected to increase by 26.4 per cent over the next five years (pre-Covid estimate).

There were 66,422 Total Annual O&D passengers (or 91 passengers daily each way – PDEW) flying out of PHL to/from India for the year ending October 2023. Close to 70 per cent of these passengers originated in Philadelphia while the remaining 30 per cent originated their trip in India,” Vesga said while sharing the information.

Dubai launches five-year multiple-entry visa for Indian tourists amid surging visitor numbers

​Under this program, tourists can obtain a visa within two to five working days, allowing them to stay in Dubai for up to 90 days, extendable once for a similar period, with a maximum stay of 180 days within a year. This flexible visa option caters to both leisure and business travelers, offering unparalleled convenience and connectivity.

Future initiatives and sustainability measures
Looking ahead, Vesga discussed the projected timeline for initiatives aimed at developing the Indian market, emphasising proactive collaborations with Indian partners and local communities to gather insights and support additional routes.

On the sustainability front, he outlined Philadelphia Airport‘s commitment to achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050 and Zero Waste by 2035, detailing various initiatives such as emissions tracking, electrification of ground support equipment, and sustainable design requirements for capital projects.

Marketing campaigns and trade incentives
Regarding marketing campaigns tailored to Indian travellers, Vesga highlighted the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau‘s efforts to welcome media outlets and influencers to Philadelphia, aiming to position the city as a top destination. Furthermore, he discussed PHL’s Air Service Incentive Program, which offers waivers on landing fees and inclusion in destination marketing efforts to encourage new market development and expansion.

“We are also leveraging our incentives to encourage airlines to help us connect Philadelphians to the world. This program does support efforts to develop routes to unserved and underserved destinations at the domestic and international level like India,” he stated.

Philadelphia International Airport’s commitment to fostering growth, enhancing connectivity, and prioritising sustainability, underscoring the airport’s pivotal role in facilitating seamless travel experiences and promoting economic development in the region.

  • Published On Feb 29, 2024 at 04:40 PM IST

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Guidelines and Pitfalls to Steer Clear of in the Mastering Process for Spotify Tracks

Mastering your tracks for Spotify is a crucial step in ensuring your music reaches its full potential on this popular streaming platform. However, this process comes with its own set of guidelines and potential pitfalls that can significantly impact the final outcome.

Mastering a track for Spotify involves a nuanced process, and a solid understanding of the fundamentals, especially Spotify’s Loudness Units Full Scale (LUFS), can make a significant difference in the final result on the platform.

Commence by gauging the loudness of your track with a LUFS meter, aiming for a targeted LUFS level of -14. This step ensures that your track maintains a consistent loudness level, aligning harmoniously with other tracks within the Spotify ecosystem.

Moving forward, utilize EQ, compression, and limiting techniques to harmonize and refine your track. It’s crucial to exercise restraint in boosting bass and treble frequencies excessively, as well as employing excessive compression or limiting. Overdoing these elements may adversely impact the overall listening experience.

As a final touch, meticulously assess your track on diverse devices such as speakers, headphones, and various streaming services to guarantee its optimal performance across different platforms. Once satisfied, submit your masterpiece to Spotify for review. Employing a digital distributor like DistroKid, TuneCore, or CD Baby streamlines the process, ensuring your track reaches Spotify’s vast audience seamlessly. Mastering for Spotify is a blend of technical precision and artistic finesse, and with these steps, you can elevate your music to its highest potential on this influential streaming platform.

In this insightful guide, we’ll explore the essential guidelines to follow and the common pitfalls to avoid during the mastering process for Spotify tracks.  By understanding these intricacies, you can enhance the quality of your music and optimize it for the best possible streaming experience on Spotify. Let’s delve into the world of mastering with a focus on achieving excellence in the context of this influential platform.

Mindful Bass Frequency Boosting:

When embarking on the mastering process for Spotify, exercising caution in boosting bass frequencies is paramount. Over-amplifying the bass can lead to a boomy sound, particularly on certain devices, adversely affecting the overall listening experience. To circumvent this, leverage tools like a spectrogram or frequency analyzer to visually assess the frequency spectrum.

A popular third-party option for real-time frequency content visualization is “SPAN” by Voxengo. Tailor your bass adjustments based on the observed energy in the bass frequencies. Context matters as well; for instance, if your track is destined for mobile device consumption, especially those with small speakers, adopt a more conservative approach to bass boosting. Conversely, for tracks targeted at larger speakers, you might have more leeway in boosting bass frequencies.

Exercise caution with bass boost effects, as these can introduce muddiness and compromise dialogue intelligibility. Instead, consider accentuating sub-bass frequencies using precise EQ adjustments or employing harmonic exciters like “Exciter” by iZotope or “Spectre” by Wavesfactory. This approach ensures a balanced bass integration that seamlessly fits the mix, steering clear of distortion and boomy tendencies while imparting a warm tone to the overall sound.

Balanced Treble Frequency Handling:

Equally significant is the mindful management of treble frequencies during the mastering process. Excessive treble boosting can result in a harsh sound, particularly on certain devices, thereby detrimentally impacting the overall listening experience. Employing a reference track for comparative analysis of frequency spectrums can provide valuable insights into the energy distribution in the treble frequencies. A noteworthy third-party tool for real-time frequency content comparison is “REFERENCE 2” by Mastering The Mix.

Be attuned to the listening context, considering the predominant devices for playback. For instance, on mobile devices with smaller speakers, exercise caution in treble boosting, as it can potentially sound piercing. Conversely, for tracks intended for larger speaker systems, a more pronounced treble boost may be feasible.

Exercise prudence with treble boost effects, as they may introduce sharpness and impact vocal intelligibility negatively. Instead, opt for precise frequency boosts using an EQ. This strategy ensures a balanced treble integration within the mix, avoiding harshness while enhancing overall clarity in the sound presentation.

Prudent Use of Compression:

Exercise caution when incorporating compression into your mastering process, as excessive usage can detrimentally impact the overall listening experience, rendering the track lifeless and flat. Employing a dynamic range meter, such as the “DR Meter MkII” by MAAT, enables a visual assessment of the dynamic range in your track, aiding in the adjustment of compression levels.

Consider the context of playback, particularly on mobile devices and small speakers, where a more conservative approach to compression is advisable due to the inherent compression and coloration introduced by such devices. For tracks intended for playback on larger speakers, a more liberal application of compression may be suitable, as exemplified in real-time in genres like EDM that often utilize substantial compression for compatibility with large club and festival sound systems.

For mastering compression, consider tools like iZotope’s “Dynamic EQ” for nuanced and frequency-focused compression or Fab Filter Pro – MB for separate control of frequency ranges with a less clinical approach.

Pragmatic Limiting Usage:

Cautious consideration of limiting is crucial during the mastering phase, as excessive use can lead to distortion and compromise the track’s integrity. Monitoring the amount of limiting, with a general guideline of not exceeding 2 to 5 dB, helps prevent overuse. Visual aids, such as the red areas in Fab Filter Pro – L 2, facilitate monitoring limiting levels.

Utilize features like the delta function to isolate and identify areas being limited, allowing for a targeted approach in addressing specific peaks. If dissatisfied with the overall loudness after limiting, consider revisiting compression to address peaks more effectively before attempting further limiting adjustments. This iterative approach ensures that limiting is applied judiciously to enhance loudness without introducing distortion, contributing to a polished and well-balanced final master.

Time to open up about menopause in the office


The workplace can be a difficult place to navigate for menopausal women. More employers need to start conversations around their health



Asking people about menopausal support in their workplace elicits varied responses, most of them bordering on mild confusion or a complete blank. “I’ve never thought about it”; “I didn’t realise this was possible or available”; or “not relevant for me”—these are unsurprising responses, given that women’s health, especially menopause, is usually not openly discussed at the workplace. Many individuals who reach the stage of menopause—the time when menstruation stops (occurs at a mean age of around 52 years), resulting in symptoms like hot flashes, vaginal dryness, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression—prefer not to talk about it either.

Delhi-based education consultant Shivani Dayal Kapoor, for instance, says, “I wouldn’t want any attention drawn to myself or my competency to be questioned.” The 52-year-old would rather manage her symptoms privately, setting reminders to help her if she is forgetting something, or putting in more time to complete a task.

The reluctance to discuss menopause openly is understandable, considering its symptoms are often not acknowledged and are usually considered something to be hidden at work.

Last year, US non-profit Mayo Clinic concluded in a study that menopause symptoms have an impact on worker absenteeism, productivity, increased direct and indirect medical costs, and result in lost opportunities for career advancement. Plus, as Kapoor says, there is fear that conversations about menopause leave might make the employer feel it is more expensive or challenging to hire an older woman.

A year before Mayo, pharmaceutical company Abbott did a survey along with market research agency Ipsos, which spoke to 1,200 Indian women. Over 80% of those surveyed said menopause affected their work life, 18% worked through pain and other symptoms, and 26% took time off to manage the symptoms without divulging the cause.

However, a small percentage of employers are attempting to change the way menopause and its symptoms are dealt with in the workplace, for they believe it helps retain talent and promotes employee wellbeing and builds an inclusive culture.

EzeRx is one of them. The Bhubaneswar-based medical technology company regularly organises discussions for employees, including ones on menopause and menstruation. “We provide this platform to share insights on navigating the challenges of this time, best practices, and addressing the do’s and don’ts when supporting a colleague experiencing menopausal symptoms,” says founder and CEO Partha Pratim Das Mahapatra.

It has also equipped its facilities with adaptable air-conditioning and ventilation to enhance overall comfort, introduced flexible working hours, and offers work-from-home should the need arise.

Even such small steps can help women feel at ease during a transitional period in their lives. Menopause is a year after a woman’s last period. Perimenopause, or the menopausal transition, the period of hormonal changes preceding menopause, usually occurs between one’s early 40s to mid-50s and can last roughly between 7 to 14 years.

Dr. Nozer Sheriar, co-author of Finding Your Balance: Your 360-degree Guide To Perimenopause And Beyond, describes menopause as an event in the middle of a process, between peri- and post-menopause. “It is a disruption, disturbing the balance and bringing hormonal challenges. Among the most important issues that trouble women at this time include hot flashes, which can be extremely disruptive,” says the consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at Breach Candy and Hinduja Hospitals in Mumbai, and past secretary general of the Federation of OBGYN Societies of India. “Mentally and emotionally, one could feel low, angry, or anxious. These physical, emotional, or mental symptoms could impact work life.”

Studies indicate women are willing to retire early because of menopause. “This is not good for any organization if your assets are so disturbed that they are thinking of quitting. Companies need to take care of women as an essential part of your workforce,” says Dr. Sheriar.

Often women themselves don’t understand that the stress, unexplained weight gain and fatigue they are experiencing is due to menopause, making it all the more essential for organisations to address menopause, says Shaili Chopra, founder of SheThePeople, a digital media website that focuses on women-related news, and Gytree, a women’s health platform.

“There is a high amount of stigma in admitting menopause,” says Chopra. “It’s a life stage that women are conditioned to manage or drive through.”

Gytree has worked with some organisations on building awareness around women’s health, through memberships to their programmes which provide information, products, services, access to medical and health specialists, and more. They have also worked with some companies on educational sessions that included various life stages women go through. “But there are only a few progressive companies looking at this,” says Chopra. “This is an early stage for menopause in corporate India.”

Health comes first

When Standard Chartered Bank announced a global rollout of medical coverage for treatment of menopause-related symptoms to all employees and their partners in October last year, the first thing on their priority list was to simply make people talk. “We want to break the taboo,” says Shivshanker S.V., Standard Chartered’s India and South Asia head (human resources).

The bank has been organising sensitisation sessions, email campaigns, e-learnings, and toolkits to create awareness about menopause since 2021. With the medical coverage announcement, it wanted to “further encourage colleagues to open up about their experience and ask for support for themselves or a partner or family member”, he says. The coverage includes access to specialized medical practitioners and prescription medication. This is the most recent measure in their attempts to create a menopause-friendly environment. 

But, is it enough?

At this point, more conversations and sensitisation are needed to destigmatise this universal life phase, says Dr. Sheriar. “You don’t have to wait for women to ask for it,” the expert adds. During his educational sessions with companies, he often notices how illuminating it was for everyone to hear women in the audience talk about menopausal challenges and how menopause remains unacknowledged by their employers, close friends or family, and even their doctors, who tell them they just have to live with it.

There is an obvious need for a nuanced approach as well. Besides building awareness, offering medical coverage and flexible working options, other menopause-friendly practices can include giving wellness programmes that educate and inform them about the coping strategies for physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. Access to counselling and employee resource groups can be helpful, as is providing discreet guidance and communication channels. Sensitising coworkers and managers is crucial to respectfully address menopause’s challenges. “When we have these conversations, we change the way we approach women’s health. Ignorance is not an option,” Chopra says. “Menopause happens when women are in senior roles. They don’t want to release the ambition pedal, and don’t want to put their health first. Companies can help change that.”

Reem Khokhar is a Delhi-based writer.

 

 



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Govt to bring out initiatives to promote Kerala as venue for global meets: Riyas, ET TravelWorld


Representative Image

Seeking to make Kerala a Soft Power hub, the state government will soon come out with upfront initiatives to promote it as a preferred venue for global conferences, Tourism and Public Works Minister, PA Mohamed Riyas announced recently.

“The beautiful locales including hill stations, beach and backwater destinations in various parts of the state make it the most ideal location for international meets. The soft power at our disposal, which is tourism, is the most potent component and it has to be harnessed in a sustainable manner,” he said.

Riyas was speaking after inaugurating the two-day annual conference of the Soft PowerClub, a global organisation headed by Francesco Rutelli, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, at Technopark. In the context of hosting the event by Kerala Tourism, Riyas said Kerala has immense opportunities in this segment considering the picturesque landscape, eclectic history and rich cultural heritage of the state.

According to him, over the centuries Kerala has leveraged soft power in its evolutions inclusive society and social and communal harmony of state reinforces its position as soft power hub. Commenting that sustainability and inclusiveness are the fundamentals of Kerala Tourism, he said the Responsible Tourism initiatives of the state have earned several global accolades.

G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, who made a presentation on India, said the country blends both its soft and hard powers to project itself and to ensure that the nation retains its very unique civilisational approach.

In his keynote address, Suman Billa, Principal Secretary, Industries &NORKA, said the softpower, which is universally endearing, has cultural and relationship aspects. Tourism Secretary Biju K, in his address, said tourism plays a vital part in state’s soft power elements and public diplomacy alongside destination branding.

Kerala’s increased budget allocations to enhance tourism infra; generate more jobs: Riyas

The proposal to consider a low-interest loan scheme in collaboration with Kerala Financial Corporation to scale up tourism infrastructure, anticipating an investment of INR 5000 crores will expedite growth. The budget has also made allocations for improving standard of tourism facilities, marketing, culture and environment tourism, Responsible Tourism, subsidies and incentives, among others.

“Kerala’s promotion of eco-friendly tourism and its initiatives committed to environmental sustainability enhance its soft power. State’s progressive social development and humanitarian initiatives have garnered global acclaim and contributed to its soft power of social development,” Biju added.Introducing the Soft Power Club, Rutelli stressed the need for promoting the value of international cooperation on strategic issues in difficult times. He said building resilient stories of soft power involves inculcating resilient values, driving it through policy, recognising the role of social media as a soft power tool andbringingthesubject into public discourse.

Highlighting that soft power is a tool for reputation, international competitiveness and economic growth formations, Rutelli further informed that the Soft Power Club meet will discuss the persisting and potential role of trade in the changing international landscape. “India’s soft power is on a global level and fascinating as well. Kerala as a venue for this event would be a splendid opportunity to understand, promote and showcase the country’s positive assets,” he observed.

Additionally, around thirty members of the Soft Power Club, including high-level officials, heads of international organisations, analysts, and experts in the fields of business, science, art, digital technologies and climate, attended the two day conference.

  • Published On Feb 19, 2024 at 02:16 PM IST

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The secondary market | Mint Lounge


The sex lives of India’s Power Uncles reveals a crisis of small heartedness. But problems of inequality, destitution, conflict and cultures of lovelessness—which they have the power to fix—need bold, large hearts



In the winter of 2023, I relentlessly stared at my phone, waiting for a 58-year-old posh man to read my WhatsApp messages. These missives were amateurish works of infatuation, oscillating between clever and caustic via cute. I alliterated a lot. The blue ticks that affirmed his glance at my crush-addled words would not confer any significant satisfaction, they would merely legitimate a climate of longing. One afternoon, as I jumped up in jubilation after receiving an upside-down smiley from him—the emoji accompanied a joke about his own “degrees of uncle-ness”—I realised that the phrase WhatsApp Uncle no longer meant to me what it implied in our wider culture.

Through most of 2022 and 2023, I had raged against the mansplaining monopolies and casual tyrannies enjoyed by Indian Uncles of privilege, prestige and power. Now, I had fallen for one. My personal life had become a casualty of my research; I had encountered this man as I tried to study elite middle-aged masculinity in our cities. Having worked hard to exile myself from the heteronormative hell of my 20s and 30s, abandoning all need to prove my sexual eligibility in the primary mating market full of unmarried mards with far too many dards, I had unknowingly tumbled into a secretive secondary market of married men and divorcees approaching their 60s.

My interest in the mental models of upper-caste-upper-class middle-aged men arose from the control they seemed to exercise on the lives and livelihoods of everyone around me. In 2022, I had asked 75 women and 45 men—from home-based artisans in Udaipur to office clerks in Mumbai—to enlist the gender, age, education and caste of people who made critical decisions that shaped their lives in the Indian economy: where they worked, how much they earned, where they lived, the rents they paid. When it came to pay and job prospects, through the labyrinth of managers and sub-managers, we traced the decision trail on recruitment, compensation or promotions all the way to the key nodes of power. The median response was overwhelmingly male with a few female foot soldiers, middle-aged (42-63 years), upper-caste and belonging to an elite institution (IIM, IIT, St Stephens, posh schools or Ivy League business degrees). These answers seem unsurprising in a country where women and vulnerable groups struggle to find a meaningful seat at the economic decision-making table. Female representation on corporate boards remains at 18% in India.

Closer home, I heard stories of how a famous Uncle surmised that a Nobel laureate endorsed my book (Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh, Harper Collins, 2021) because he liked the way I looked. The idea that a serious man could take a book anchored on female fun and pleasure seriously is unimaginable in high-brow Uncledom.

These lofty queries and petty grouses of my life collided in 2022 and spurred my investigation into the “Indian Uncle”—a term establishing the authority of older males in Indian socioeconomic life, one that also doubles up as nomenclature used to assign the conservative purgatory occupied by a subset of middling middle-aged men in the country.

I started by writing to alumni associations of elite schools and old boys’ associations, hoping to interview cohorts of men born between 1958-78. I requested a few captains of industry I met through my book events to introduce me to their friends as well.

The results of the first round of interviews were disastrous. Of the 48 men who agreed to meet me, 15 thought we were on dates, five thought I was keen to work for them. Unlike my previous research experience with interviewing women, everyone was very eager to meet repeatedly and chat. But none seemed to believe that I genuinely wanted to recruit them as respondents for my research. They were too elite to be studied or surveyed. And ironically, while 20 eventually agreed to follow-up interviews, the majority refused to accord any seriousness to my project about why privileged men can’t take those unlike themselves seriously. Three mentioned how they were used to being solicited for sex or CVs when women sought meetings. “The book or article is just an excuse,” one revealed after apologising for the confusion.

The men I interviewed were supposed to explain how they understood the labour market, how they established ideas of “high value” and “excellence” in pricing and rewarding the labours of others in the economy and their own workplaces. Instead, through multiple meetings, those who chose to talk to me always ended up offering lectures on the market for votes or mates. My questions and data on wage gaps seemed to bore or offend them.

Everyone acknowledged the problem of social identities in the labour market but hated solutions in equal measure. Irrespective of their political leanings, most despised welfare programmes as wasteful, affirmative action as misguided and yet they were muted on government support for big business. Cartoonish cliches circled us—the poor were lazy because of transfers, educated women were parasites feasting off the carcasses of men thanks to “female-friendly laws” against dowry and sexual harassment, the feminism of attractive women was different from that espoused by unattractive ones, more working women would lead to higher divorce rates and a flailing Hindu society. Half of those I interviewed seriously followed spiritual leaders to tackle the routinised rationality demanded by their professional ambitions. The combination of old gurus and older grudges meant that all worrying events in our news cycle were wished away by emotional pleas for the higher “spiritual good of the nation”.

They knew that conflict and hate were on the rise but felt they had limited room to impact norms. The fear of surveillance and political retribution was described the same way women I had interviewed in my previous book would talk about abusive husbands—it always happened to someone else. At the same time, there was genuine excitement at being on the right angle of India’s K-shaped recovery.

These men were not blind; they understood the pulse of our economy better than any economist I knew. Rural consumption and savings were low; companies selling luxury cars were enjoying stronger demand than those retailing snacks, soaps or bulbs in villages. However, they placed their faith in our “fundamentals”. A few muttered anti-Muslim sentiments, yet loved Saudi and Gulf money. None of my respondents seemed like rabid bigots. They were simply opportunistic cliches of accumulation, protecting their turf, entranced by the great time they were having at the stock market.

Soon, a few of these men invited me to meet their larger social circle. It was common for them to host dinner gatherings featuring some prized professor or achiever who was invariably provoked to criticise or applaud the state of Indian democracy. Much of this happened between Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Men in Mumbai were the most handsome and affable, “market libertarians, social liberals” dressed in smartly cut linens, their weekend lifestyles radiated tropical modernism. They could hold conversations and their drinks. Bengaluru was Brahmin-Bania brutalism to the core, fitness “zones” were a popular topic of conversation, alcohol consumption was as spare as women’s participation. The Delhi crowd operated from their boozy Punjabi baroque prisons. Self-congratulation and self-surveillance framed the scene, majority were obsessively following their sleep cycles, heart rates and politicians.

 

India’s elite uncles are opportunistic cliches of accumulation, protecting their turf, entranced by the great time they were having at the stock market. (Illustration by Sarnath Banerjee)

At their most drunk, some of the attendees would become belligerent with dogma, triggered by every utterance as an attack on their ego. They spoke in spurious certainties, reducing all human beings and phenomena around them into some silly model they invented. Each wanted to be a professor, turned on by nothing more than a rapturous audience of fellow men. New money critiqued old money in aggressively air-conditioned rooms. Sweaty aspirant money showed up to kowtow to new money. They thought they were fashioning an irreverent capacious intellectual space. But any outsider travelling through their world could see the corporate and political bootlicking for what it was. Most of these men were too servile and conservative to have any animal spirits in them. Very few would upset convention or status quo through the influence they asserted in their respective sectors, I knew the real economy was doomed to stasis. Their sex lives seemed to offer an invitation for defiance.

My favourite follow-up encounter from such a gathering involved interviewing a retired government officer in his late 60s. When he had his hair and vitality, the gentleman lived in a glamourous bubble full of cigarette smoke and witty careerist women. Saddled with an arranged marriage and fatherhood in his 20s, and the professional rat race in his 30s, his 40s were littered with till-the-next posting-do-us-part love affairs conducted in the accommodation his government post offered to him. His love affairs were usually shorter than his tenure in any sarkari position. “I had a wife and she lived in our hometown; I wanted a girlfriend.”

The quest for girlfriends was hardly new or disguised, although not as ubiquitous as the gossip made it seem. A few of my respondents openly confessed to their infidelity, an air of sexual licentiousness lurking beneath the façade of sanskari values. Extramarital affairs helped make the catastrophe of their ordinary domestic lives seem bearable. Many of these men experienced ageing as nothing but the steady erosion of sexual possibilities. CCTV cameras and audio-recorders used to track nannies and children featured heavily in affairs being caught out. Mumbai marriages were more likely to see formal separations, Delhi men never leave their wives. I was told that the pooled assets and increasing social capital conferred by monogamous marriage ensured that divorce was rare. Often, the performance of monogamy seemed more vital than its practice—replete with the public displays of couple goals, couple hashtags, couple friends; all those coupled holidays hiding deeply decoupled lives. One woman confessed that she spoke to her husband more at parties and public events than at home.

The pressure to enact and sustain this performative monogamy was less acute in those who had absorbed less of the US or had started experimenting with infidelity before American TV shows globalised and standardised pair-bonding rituals in English-speaking India. The arrangements seemed to work for some and cause lovesick jealousy in others. Scanning the room and spotting mothers who looked exactly like their teenage daughters, the taut shiny faces, all that visible effort to remain alluring, watching plates of marvelous food being ignored, the obsessive surveillance of waistlines and glow-ups, it was clear that bad cosmetic jobs were the real jobs crisis amongst the elite. In vanity, there was equality—many of the men were as permanently preoccupied with the project of being as permanently desirable as the women in the crowd.

Second marriages are described as hope triumphing over experience. The secondary market thrives on ennui chasing butterflies. Some men had grown out of their marriages, others perpetually sought younger lovers to divert themselves from the dreary stability offered by their successful careers and loving wives. A final set had married women much younger than themselves, but marriage “aged my wife” said one man to me. Marriage seemed to render his wife matronly, as sexless as cucumber without gin.

I was introduced to my revisionist WhatsApp Uncle—a 58-year-old divorced playboy living in Colaba, Mumbai—for an interview. A leader in his field professionally, he retained an umeedvaar cadre of hopeful 30 and 40-somethings as part of a rotating set of sexual companions desperately desirous to be labelled his girlfriend. I could see the lure of such a man; a lonely marriage had taught him to be gentle to the world; his ex-wife and teenage daughter had trained him to speak womanhood; his fear of cardiac disease led to yoga and gym routines; his professional success meant that he was not anxiously seeking validation, status, caregivers or housekeepers; he was salt and pepper heaven; that rare creature in contemporary anglicised India who thinks of his intimate life as a space of engagement, not entertainment. In encountering him, I felt like I had encountered the last generation of grown-up Indian men. While he was clearly unable to fully detach from the power games of sexual accumulation in the straight mating scene, his erotic or emotional interests were loving and less power hungry thanks to years of sexual validation. “My cadre is stable and happy, not too many changes on the bench. That’s why it is tough to commit to one person.” He was vulnerable and attendant too, as age implied his partners may never be as satisfied by him relative to younger men. The man had exercised courage to walk away from a safe suffocating marriage: “Years of a farcical marriage followed by the separation sucked so much energy from me that I have very little left to rage against the world”. His honesty and self-possession were diametrically opposite to the mating market I confronted, full of boys cosplaying at maturity and adulthood in their 40s, their sexual mores doused in aggressive porn, fearful of taking romantic risks or living life anyway different from an American teenager or Wall Street cliché. My generation of 40-something successful bachelors felt like an army of Raja betas, outraging or trailblazing their way past the trauma of never feeling alpha enough.

Every straight single woman in her 40s has figured herself out; she is no longer willing to dilute herself for love. (Illustration: Sarnath Banerjee)

Every straight single woman in her 40s has figured herself out; she is no longer willing to dilute herself for love. (Illustration: Sarnath Banerjee)

By now, every straight single woman in her 40s I knew had figured herself out. She had been through therapy, she had scoured the farthest regions of op-eds, podcasts and YouTube for laughter and self-understanding, she had found guidance in bell hooks, Esther Perel, Amia Srinivasan, Manju Kapur, K. R. Meera and the good old classics. She had scrutinised her sexual preferences—who, how, what she desired—with rhapsodic frenzy. She was no longer willing to dilute herself for love. Straight single men contending with their 40s, on the other hand, were far too comfortable, out on too many dates, spinning too many discs, playing too many games, to ask themselves any rigorous questions about their romantic lives.

When said playboy made his pass at me—one I had been warned to expect—I was intrigued. Tired of having to find dull men interesting in my everyday life, yet yearning for easy conversation and intimacy, a part of me wanted to be taken care of, to be dominated by the right man in the right way. My empowerment had started to exhaust me. Sadly, between a few short periods of intimacy and longer periods of waiting by WhatsApp, I realised I was too proud to be part of a sexual carousel, not interested in being the One but not interested in being an Option either. Certainly, there are relational spaces in between. But I was too lazy and self-aware to expend labour and energy in forging those. The pragmatism required for polyamory felt as tedious and boring as a prototypical Indian marriage, all those emotional permutations and combinations invariably asking us to treat each other as fast-moving consumer goods. I am too lumpy and bumpy to be a contortionist in my love life. And so, I returned to myself, a romantic in recovery, I had other projects to tackle. He was comfortable with my decision to walk away, we moved on to discussing his life history soon enough. Once, in a fit of passive-aggression, he joked and said, “you are as scared as those chota dil Uncles you hate”; he may have had half a point. Both parties aspired to be understood, both had sadly felt somewhat used in the other’s self-preserving social experiments. We were all playing it safe.

Large problems—inequality, destitution, conflict, cultures of lovelessness—need bold and large hearts. My first year of conversations with several power-Uncles left me frightened at the crisis of small heartedness to which our elite has succumbed. A crisis where sexual assault victims being beaten or stripped naked on the streets has no impact, but a cynical scripted speech by a preferred politician can elicit strong emotions. Unable to make unsafe choices; unwilling to empathise with those unlike us; keeping up appearances through social arrangements that drain us, we numb ourselves to global or domestic conflicts by the various goodies of sex, spectacle and commerce. A famine of feeling, courage and connection is upon many of us Uncles and Aunties of privilege. We pile up against each other, tied together by the escalating loneliness of being a person in an increasingly impersonable world we have helped design by our everyday little acts of inaction. The secondary market—flooded with the derivatives of our old desires—doesn’t operate through pleasure or oversexed libidos, it thrives on our cumulative alienation and tactical silences.

Shrayana Bhattacharya is an economist and author of Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women And The Search For Intimacy And Independence, which was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Award 2023 (English).



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