Where are the interesting girls ?

When I was growing up, my least favorite character among Enid Blyton’s Famous Five was Anne. She never had anything interesting to say. The only time you noticed her was when she burst into tears. As for Bets and Daisy, from the Five Find Outers, they weren’t much better. The only girl who seemed to do things was Georgina and even she had to change her name to George and have boy cut hair.

As for the princesses in all the other stories, they certainly looked lovely in their pink princess-y dresses. But imagine how uncomfortable (and boring) life must have been for them if they had to sit about in party clothes all day. Why weren’t they busy with interesting stuff? Like maybe managing their kingdoms?

I speak to the famous film director Shekhar Kapoor about this. He has just finished making his second film about a young girl who found herself the queen of England. This was 400 years ago and no one then thought women were smart enough to rule. The courtiers around her plotted and planned, and everyone tried to line up a husband for her who could be king. But Elizabeth 1, for that was her name, proved them all wrong. She didn’t sit about looking pretty. Instead she ruled wisely and well.

Why, I ask Shekhar, are there so few girls in movies and on TV who are shown like this? Why are most movies and TV serials about smart and brave boys – why do the girls have the sidey roles? Why girls are only bothered about dressing up and dating? I mean Mary Kate and Ashley or even Lizzy Mcguire are ok but how about some really clever and smart girl characters ? Like say Jo in Little Women who becomes a writer or Hermione in Harry Potter who comes with clever plans?

TV and film, Shekhar Kapoor explains, are a lot about looks and about action. But you do have powerful girl characters, he points out – look at Lara Croft Tomb Raider, look at Catwoman. They’re strong and powerful girls in animation too, right from the Power Puff to the other girl characters in Japanese cartoons. But yes they’re mostly shown as good looking, with bodies (like Barbie’s) that may look good but would be unhealthy if you had them in real life. But then again, boys are also shown as great looking –they’re tall with broad shoulders and biceps. Still that doesn’t mean that good looks are the only important thing. Sometimes an unusual character, small and puny looking with spectacles comes along – and he’s a hit! Yes, you guessed right we’re talking about Harry Potter.

But here’s another question to consider - would Harry Potter have been such a hit if he was a girl?

Certainly the boys I talk to say they don’t like watching ‘girl’ characters. ”I hate girls” says 7 year old Aditya Shah. His friend Aryaman nods in agreement. For boys like these being friendly with girls maybe ok. But it’s simply not ‘trendy’ to watch a show like Hanna Montana which stars a girl.

And so we have many more movies about brave and powerful boys than about girls. The film studios that make these movies, find that both boys and girls watch movies about boys (with girls in side roles). But movies or serials about girls like the Olsen Twins are watched only by girls.

Turn then to the world of books for interesting girl characters. There’s Roald Dahl’s Matilda, both brave and brilliant, there’s Scheherazade the wonderful story teller of the Arabian Nights and there’s Anne Frank. Write in and tell us if you think of these and of other girl characters you admire – who are they and why do you like them.
This appeared in the Chidlren newspaper YA in February 2008

Gary Kingshott

When I call Gary Kingshott, this airline CEO is, appropriately enough, boarding a Jet Lite flight. He’s enroute to his home in Bombay, where he spends weekends; working weekdays at the Jet Lite offices in Delhi. We agree to meet at the old East Indian Bandra Gymkhana. It’s close to his Bandra home; here’s where he chills out on weekends. ”It reminds me of the footballs clubs in Australia”, he says, as we sit down a week later, to tea and to coffee. “It’s cool , there’s cricket on, you can get active with a pool upstairs and tennis and it gets very lively later on at night.”

He seems at home here, this tall, slim and formally dressed Australian. Naturally we talk turnaround. How does he do it ? And is that why he’s called Garry Slingshot Kingshott ? He smiles. “It’s a good story. It’s maybe because I was associated with a couple of turnarounds in Australia “. These include Ansett Airlines , travel agency Traveland and travel logistics company Showgroup. But Kingshott hasn’t always been an airline man – he has marketed sea food, beer and even Melbourne ( during his stint as CEO of the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau.)

And now he’s been picked by Jet’s Naresh Goyal to head the Air Sahara turnaround team. ”Just fix it” was Goyal’s brief to Kingshott, on the morning of 18th April 2007, two days before the takeover papers for Air Sahara were to be signed. And fixing it is what Kingshott certainly seems to be doing. No mean task this. Air Sahara, as Kingshott says “was a mess; the airline (with 9 out of 24 planes grounded) was a mess; and the business (with huge financial losses) was a mess”.

Six months later, losses are coming down. “From 12 million US$ (Rs.47 crores) loss in April 2007 to under 5 million US$ (Rs. 19 crores) in October; we are on schedule to breakeven in December”, declares Kingshott. All this through a mix of cutting costs, adding on revenues, and synergizing with Jet Airways. Headcount has been reduced by a drastic 50% (from 4300 employees to approx. 2000) and per seat km costs slashed by 37%.

Things at the airline clearly, aren’t the same. Plus they’re no more stars! “Sahara did carry a lot of people for free”, shrugs Kingshott. “It’s amazing they’re no stars anymore” a young pilot told him. But Kingshott, who watches Bollywood on subtitled DVD and whose favorites include Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta in ‘Salaam Namaste’, was clearly unmoved “It’s how it should be”, he responded “you can’t run an airline and just keep giving tickets away”. The only starry connection Jet still has is with director of the Jet Air board Sharukh Khan. “I meet him at board meetings, and he has a view –and he knows where he can add value “, says Kingshott

So when did Kingshott first hear of Jet Airways? “When Naresh Goyal came onto my cell phone”, says Kingshott “I was sitting in my office in Melbourne , when my cell phone rang and Naresh came on and said ‘This is Naresh Goyal and I run Jet Airways’. I think I said ‘I’ve never heard of you and I’ve never heard of Jet airways’, which was true at the time. So he talked a little about Jet Airways and then he said ‘Would you be interested in coming to India? And how much do you want?’” 12 months and two meetings later, Kingshott did indeed come, to take over as Commercial Director in Jet Airways.

And was moving halfway across the hemispheres from Melbourne to Mumbai, something of a culture shock? “Not really”, says Kingshott, recalling his first impression of Mumbai off a flight in 2005 “ It felt like Bangkok circa 1985 – coming out of the aircraft into a hot and steamy night; dogs running around; lots of people ; taxi touts, all that sort of thing . It felt very familiar actually; it just felt like another large Asian city”

And now? Kingshott may work weekdays out of Delhi; but his heart is clearly (in more ways than one) in Mumbai. I grab a cue from Mario, the waiter at Bandra Gymkhana, and ask him about his girlfriend. “Jacqueline” he smiles,” loves Bombay and Bandra even more than me “The two Australians frequent Bandra’s many restaurants like hot favorite Soul Fry and China House, they shop (and even haggle) on Bandra’s Linking Road.

And then they’re the Bikes. Kingshott has an Enfield Bullet, and Jacqueline has both a bicycle and a Honda Activa. “It’s an Indian institution; the longest continuous production motorbike in the world and a wonderful piece of machinery”, Kingshott says of his bike. Besides Mumbai, he has also biked up the Ghats to Matheran with a group of 5 other bikers. For the rest he spends weekends at his Bandra apartment, a place he moved into over a year ago, after a short stint at Powai’s Hiranandani Gardens “It was a beautiful apartment”, he says of that first flat “but it didn’t feel like India, despite the lake it was very dusty, and then there were supermarkets with trolleys. It didn’t feel right you know “, he quips “where were the cows?” Bandra, with its greenery and its Melbourne like byways, obviously feels just right.

But come Monday morning and its back on the first flight to Delhi, where Kingshott scans daily revenue and load reports, and on time statistics to keep the airline up in the air. A 9 AM sms from Central Ops every morning keeps him informed of how well the network is doing that day, as Kingshott strategises on brand and business. “Someone told me that IBM had a motto in the 1980’s when it was struggling. ’Steal shamelessly’ it said, and that’s what I do. Why reinvent the wheel?” So Kingshott bases much of his modeling on the successful Quantas Jet Star partnership. The Australian full service carrier Qantas has made, in the last few years, an unusual success of low cost partner Jet Star. And now Jet Lite, along with Jet Airways is moving fast in that direction. Starting a week ago, hot meals for Jet Lite have been replaced by more economical boxed snacks. The crew for the Boeing 737’s will be reduced from 6 to 5, and will be now in a new uniform (“We won’t offend you by girls in short skirts flouncing up and down, unlike most of the other airlines, who all to me look like they came out of Europe somewhere –they’ve got girls running around in short skirts and tight blouses and things”). Jet Lite will begin operations to the Gulf, early next year, as soon as regulatory approvals come in, with fares, that Kingshott promises “will be competitive with low cost carriers”

And what of aviation itself and its issues of crowding and congestion?
“For most of last year we had an imbalance in the capacity and demand; excess capacity and less demand. That seems to be getting fixed in the latter half of this year. But now there are too many aircraft and not enough runaways. That too will get corrected but it’ll take a while longer “. 2-5 years is what Kingshott estimates. It’ll take 2 years to get the parallel runaway in Delhi operational, and to get the brands new airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad going (which will he feels be full almost as soon as they become operational) and to solve the Mumbai problem of repossessing land or alternatively setting up a Greenfield site in Navi Mumbai may take up to 5 years.

As for Kingshott, he’s already multitasking on his next project – an ocean rigged cutter yatch “ between 40 and 50 feet long that’s capable of ocean passage”. He plans to sail himself around the world in it. And yes, that is why he’s just ordered the book ‘How to sail Round the World ‘off Amazon.com. Really.

Mint Business Lounge December 2007

In search of the Perfect Christmas Pudding

Of all the December in Delhi traditions, Christmas pudding was the one I remember most. The excitement after dinner, when the lights went out. And then the pudding! Wreathed in pale bluish purplish flames, rich with the smell of cinnamon and spice, it came to the table sprinkled with castor sugar, all steaming. With dollops of brandy butter, or for us kids, with custard and clotted cream. It was a tradition, rather like the deep mahogany dining table and chairs, inherited by my very Punjabi family, from its English civil service days.

But for the kids, it was pure pleasure, and one that began weeks before D day. It started with the shopping, getting together raisins and blackcurrants, and purple and orange ‘peel’ from special shops in Khan Market. You watched these being soaked in rum or in brandy and then 2 days later, it would be stirring day. We’d cluster around, thrilled to handle the big wooden spoon and stir in the eggs, the fruit, the treacle and the spices one by one into a large white bowl. Bits of silver would go in too – coins for luck, a thimble for thrift and sometimes even a ring. And then we’d peek at the pudding while it steamed –and steamed –and steamed. Puddings are meant to steam for long, for 6 or even 9 hours. And then it was finally done, it would be wrapped up, and put away, in muslin cloths, for the flavors to get richer and richer, and to be served on Christmas day.

These were home made institutions, you made them in your own special way. Some used the traditional suet or lard, some didn’t, some used sherry and some used rum. But generally, you had to make your own Christmas pudding –it was not something you could buy from anywhere.

It’s different now. In Mumbai, where I live, Christmas puddings are seasonal business. If you aren’t lucky enough to organize yours from Marks and Spencer’s or better still Fortnum and Mason’s, head for the 5 star hotels. They’re very in with this, and even have special stir-in days. My food columnist friend told me he’d just been one such food event - complete with flashbulbs and models. But he recommends the American Express Bakery, with branches in Byculla and Bandra for traditional Christmas pudding. You can have the fruit/ plum Christmas cakes too, and Moshe Shek, who bakes variations in his bakeries recommends the pudding “It’s moister, softer and richer “, he says. Moshe’s does the traditional Christmas pudding and a cake with an almond marzipan topping. And like the 5 star bakeries, they also do pannetone, sweet Italian bread loaded with fruit.

In Delhi, where I used to live, you now get Christmas pudding at Wengers, at Modern Bazaar, at India International Centre (IIC).

So all you need now is a matchstick and a generous quantity of rum to make the magical blue flame appear. It’s easy.

Not for me though. I find myself , as my kids grow noisily participative , making my way to ‘Quality Dry Fruits’ the shop in Juhu, for my fix of peel and fruit. It’s a little like the little shops in Crawford market, with their tuttie frutties in greens, yellows and oranges, their peel and their black currants . From here to the pudding is still a long way to go though . Still, there’s much excitement already ; even though we’re nowhere near the flambé , and we haven’t even got to the stir and make a wish day!

This feature appeared in the Times of INdia December 2007

Mad about Maths

The art of motorcycle maintenance may have its followers, but if there’s one thing I’d choose to teach my kids its good old Maths. As God said, go forth and multiply.

So while the kids may or may not count on me, count they must. In steps, series, squares and cubes. Our baby conversations began with “one, two buckle my shoe “, and books like Dr. Seuss’ when he says “"Think! Think and wonder. Wonder and think. How much water can 55 elephants drink?" Primary school music revolved around School House Rock, that incredible set of songs where multiplication tables are cleverly set to jivvy little numbers.

An Indian obsession maybe, this middle class mesmerization with mathematics, but it certainly has its benefits. It’s the secret ingredient, as any astute analyst will tell you, for the Indian success, the reason why Indians are in such demand , and the reason why even Japanese schools are aiming to go the Indian maths way.

And now India is Shining and all that, with its gleaming crop of IB schools. Why then you may ask, do I as parent persist with this atavistic fixation with figures. Why bother with the binomial or struggle with statistics when you could earn credits with the intricacies of illustration or with ikebana?

Multiple are the reasons for the merits of Maths. The most important comes from something French philosopher Descartes said – “It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well." Nothing, needless to say can beat doing maths on a mind and memory sharpening exercise.

Go deep down enough and everything eventually comes down to numbers. The business of life and living is so numerical, beginning with statistics like date of birth and height and weight and culminating in the decimal points on your bank balance. So why not train kids to be the sort of people who can be interested in numbers, and their interconnectedness. This way they get more confident and have more choices than if they stayed the ‘Oh I’m so bad at Maths ‘kind of kids who glaze over as soon as they sight a sum.

Because everyone can do Maths. The ‘I just can’t do Maths’ may have something to do with bad teachers, but it’s also one of the biggest myths on the education circuit. As a high school teacher said "There are two ways to do great mathematics. The first is to be smarter than everybody else. The second way is to be stupider than everybody else -- but persistent."

The 3P’s above all else – practice, practice, and practice. OMR (Optical mark readers) make multiple choice papers easier to administer these days , but as the Maths minded spouse insists , its problem solving that must be mastered. 20 or 30 or even 50 sums a day everyday till numbers become people you know. Like 1729, the smallest number you can express as a sum of 2 cubes in 2 different ways ( 9 cube plus 10 cube as well as 12 cube plus 1 cube). We end up quizzing the kids on their favorite numbers and getting them to look for patterns in the license plate numbers they see. Any maths exam- and we’re there - The IPM (Institute for Promotion of Maths) scholarships, the Asset and the Maharashtra State government scholarship exams. It’s an effort ; all those Sundays ( not counting the days of prep) but it’s also the only way to travel out of a fixed school syllabus , to engage with off beat problems.

Besides all this they must count; whatever can be counted – right from steps and yellow cabs on the road to the number of kilometers to destination, on highway travel. Read maps and train time tables. And play guessing games galore – the 2 year old toddler must estimate how many spoonfuls of dal are left in her katori (you’ll be surprised how much faster this makes the eating ordeal !) while her 7 year old sister estimates weights of packages and lengths and breadths of rooms.

Like it or not Maths is the one key fits all, for disciplines ranging from engineering to economics. Even drawing draws from mathematics ( yes it’s the geometry that’s plane fun ; life without geometry as they say, is pointless !). It’s also as Richard J. Trudeau says in his book ‘Dots and Lines’, “ the world's best game. It is more absorbing than chess, more of a gamble than poker, and lasts longer than Monopoly. It's free. It can be played anywhere - Archimedes did it in a bathtub. “

This appeared in Mint Lounge February 2008