Kingfisher Calendar 2015 Download Free

Does Vijay Mallya ever miss his Kingfisher calendars? He must miss the experience of creating them, which encapsulated the glamourous lifestyle that he revelled in, and helped build his brand.

There were the beautiful women, minimally (but stylishly) clad, the celebrity photographer and the exotic locations and luxury resorts where the images were shot. The process of the shoot was part of it, made into short films to build the hype. And then the final product, large and lusciously printed, where the standard liquor industry give-away of a pin-up calendar, became an object to be desired in itself.

The impact of the Kingfisher calendar was such, reported the Times of India (ToI) in February 2004, that "three traditional Indian firms, Maruti,

and Tata group (with Taj hotels) were fast to tread the same path with their own versions... If Maruti had international models posing next to its latest offering Zen in revealing dress, the Taj hotel calendar shows the silhouette of a topless model."

Corporates would be unlikely to make such calendars today and, even if they did where would we hang them? Among the various factors working against such wall calendars – changed attitudes towards women, constrained marketing budgets, digital calendars on our phones – one of the most basic is simply that we have nowhere to pin them up in our open-plan and glass partitioned offices.

It was quite different back in December 1885 when ToI noted "how the practice of sending out trade calendars of various attractive designs has increased in recent years." Marketing had combined with availability of good quality colour printing to make them popular gifts. The big European retailers like Treacher & Co were sending out calendars with standard images of flowers and cute children.

ToI noted that Indian firms had also started sending out calendars: "Mr. Framjee C. Mehta… is the first in the field with a brilliantly illuminated sheet, in which appears a very good likeness of the Right Hon. WE Gladstone." It isn't clear if this was an attempt to be patriotic, by featuring the British prime minister, or send a subtle message, since Gladstone was a sceptic of British imperial ambitions.

But the most important calendars from Indian merchants would be those featuring Hindu gods. In recent years several studies have analysed how these images helped fashion modern Indian visual culture. Their depictions of the gods, reverentially displayed across the country, helped form our mental images of the deities, especially since the style has been replicated in films, TV serials and the Amar Chitra Katha comics.

Devdutt Pattanaik, the mythology expert, who has written 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art, explains that calendar art was the first time many people actually saw images of the deities: "If you lived in a remote village you knew your local deity, and perhaps had access to folk art, but you wouldn't have seen the images in big temples." Some castes would also not have been able to enter the temples, and even those who could often would not have been able to see the flower bedecked idols.

Devdutt Pattanaik, the mythology expert, who has written 7 Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art, explains that calendar art was the first time many people actually saw images of the deities.

It wasn't just in Hinduism that calendars helped shape religious imagery. Patricia Uberoi, the scholar who pioneered research into calendar art, wrote in ToI in 1991 about how the miniature paintings used to illustrate janam-sakhi collections of stories about the Sikh guru, which mostly seen by elite patrons, changed into mass market imagery: "Contemporary Sikh calendar art represents a small segment of a large, well-organised, centralised, modern consumer industry."

The depictions have changed with time – both a result of, and further catalyst to changes in popular culture. Writing at a time when memories of the Punjab separatist movement were still very recent, Uberoi noted that "the motif of martyrdom has become more pervasive in recent years… the appeal to self-sacrifice in defence of the Panth is insistent." Today Pattanaik notes that "the bodies now have six-packs." Hindu imagery used to be about calmness and wisdom, but now it's about power and strength.

Calendars also got involved in religion in more direct ways. In 1928 ToI reported on a "A War of Calendars" between Maharashtrian Hindus. This had arisen because the traditional calendar used locally no longer corresponded well to the seasons or predicted events like eclipses easily. As with most traditional calendars it failed to take into account the fact the earth's year wasn't exactly 365 days but had an extra quarter day that over time accumulated and threw calculations out of gear.

The calendars' depictions of the gods, reverentially displayed across the country, helped form our mental images of the deities, especially since the style has been replicated in films, TV serials and the Amar Chitra Katha comics.

In response to this a reformed calendar had been created, popularly called the Tilak calendar after the great Maharashtrian statesman (though he actually had nothing to do with it). But traditionalists refused to accept it and the result, reported ToI, was "two Ganpatis, two Daseras, two Divalis, two New Years Days! Hence the furious fusillade of manifestoes in the press by learned and unlearned pandits and shastris and astronomers and astrologers…" Too many people had a vested interest in the old calendar, even when it was manifestly flawed. Actual battles would break out between the two sides.

A similar situation was reported in the Parsi community. In 1915 a writer wrote in perplexment about how Paris were "perhaps the most progressive and enlightened race in India, yet the bulk of them are very tenacious of old customs and traditions." The traditional calendar was frozen to the one formulated in Persia centuries back, but the result was that a festival "meant for the rainy season may be held in consequence in summer and the festival which should celebrate winter may come around in spring." Over the years ToI reported on court cases between rival printers and proponents of these community calendars. In 1946 an exchange of letters between readers suggested even bigger commercial concerns. A Mr Veerbhai H. Mehta wrote that the Bombay Moneylenders Bill that was before the government should consider making the mainstream Gregorian calendar compulsory and prohibit the Hindu year being used to calculate rent and interest because of its general inaccuracy.

In response a Mr. Govind B. Shah noted that the problem stemmed from the traditional calendar having 300 days, with an extra 13th month added every three years to make up the difference. This might seem confusing but "in practice interest and rent are never charged in the 13th month, except for a full three years, which comes to the same as charging according to the Christian calendar." Shah suggested that since most of those affected by the Bill would follow the Hindu calendar it was best left alone.

But the confusions over calendars were evidently enough for the new Indian government to set up a Calendar Reform Committee in 1953. Headed by the eminent physician and Member of Parliament Meghnad Saha the committee's task was to examine all calendars followed across India and then suggest "an accurate and uniform calendar for the whole of India." Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru admitted it was hard to change calendars "because it affects social practices. But the attempt has to be made even though it may not be as complete as desired…"

That rather pessimistic note would prove to be prophetic. The Committee did its work diligently, noting around 30 different calendar systems followed across India, and studying attempts at calendar reform across the world. It noted the imperfections of the Gregorian system, like the irregular lengths of months, but admitted it had the benefit of being backed the Pope (Gregory XIII, after who it is named) whose authority persuaded most of Europe to follow it, to the point where its influence forced the rest of the world to follow.

The Committee didn't propose to abolish the Gregorian calendar for India, but suggested a single replacement for all Hindu ones – a modified version of the Saka calendar. "The pre-eminence of the Saka era derives from the fact that the Saka era was the earliest to be introduced by the Saka ruling powers and was used exclusively by the Sakadvipi Brahmins (the astrologer caste) for calendar making," reported ToI in 1956, adding that it had a 78 year difference with the Gregorian calendar.

These Saka calendar dates can occasionally be seen in government publications, but apart from this officially mandated use, it seems to be rare. The economist and policy maker Bibek Debroy, writing in 2015 was blunt: "It seems to have sunk without a trace. While cutting through a maze of solar and lunar calendars was desirable, this calendar found no traction, both for New Year celebrations and for government accounts."

As is often the fate of reform efforts this official calendar managed to please neither traditionalists nor reformers. The latter could afford to ignore it knowing that greater exposure to the world would simply make India align with the global Gregorian calendar, while traditional calendars would continue to be used to fix local holidays. If this doesn't lead to conflict now it is probably because it suits most people to have multiple holidays with which to confuse their bosses.

In any case, we have the alternatives. Many households now buy a hybrid calendar which shows the year's festivals and other traditional information laid out in the structure of the Gregorian calendar. This calendar is hung up in the kitchen, and for the rest of the house, or in offices, there will be a few desk or card calendars, but that is it. If we want pictures of the gods we buy special versions now meant for worship, even if their design derives from calendar art.

We also tend to avoid themes that can provoke problems; calendars are purely functional now, no longer needed to decorate or signal our allegiances. Animals are common on desk calendars, or landscapes, many bought from charities that no one can object to. And oddly enough, if female pin-ups aren't acceptable anymore, there has been a small boom in their male version – the "beefcake calendars" featuring lightly clad hunks. From French rugby players to English rowers to American firemen it seems acceptable now to showcase men to mark the passage of the year. And perhaps this, more than anything else, shows how the world has changed from when Mr, Mallya strutted with the lost ladies of the Kingfisher calendar.

Scribbles, Scratches And Other Abstract Pieces Of Art That Made Millions

World Of Abstracts

Who says a scribble or a scratch is worthless? Check out these abstracts which sold for a fortune thanks to their minimalistic allure.

Untitled (1970) by Cy Twombly

Cost: $70.5 million

What seems like chalk scribbles on a slate is actually an oil-based house paint and crayon artwork on canvas by Edwin Parker 'Cy' Twombly Jr, which fetched a record price for the artist in Christie's 2014 sale. Part of Twombly's 'blackboard' paintings, the 1970 artwork is inspired by his stint in Pentagon as a cryptologist. What's interesting is the way he produced this artwork. He sat on the shoulders of a friend, who kept on walking along the length of the canvas, enabling Twombly to create fluid lines. The painting's then owner, Audrey Irmas, a philanthropist, parted with the painting to raise funds for her foundation for social justice. Interestingly, Irmas bought the painting for $3.85 million in 1990.

(Image: www.christies.com)

Green White by Ellsworth Kelly

Cost: $1.65 million

Once part of the Robert and Jean Shoenberg collection, this 1961 artwork came into the market at Christie's 2008 sale. Kelly was a camouflage artist during his stint in the army in the 1940s. He was a part of the unit known as 'the Ghost army' comprising artists and designers who painted objects that would misdirect enemy soldiers.

(Image: www.christies.com)

'Orange, Red, Yellow' by Mark Rothko

Cost: $86.88 million (including buyer's premium)

The vibrant orange, red and yellow coloured rectangles was part of art collector David Pincus's estate and was brought to the market by Christie's in 2012 where its sale set the record for post war/ contemporary art at the time. Rothko's 1961 work was in Pincus's possession for four-and-a-half decades. The final bid was double the highest estimate of the artwork.

(Image: www.markrothko.org)

'Concetto Spaziale, Attese' by Lucio Fontana

Cost: $16.2 million

The 24 sharp vertical tears on a crimson, water-painted seven- foot wide canvas was contested for about a minute and 30 seconds during Sotheby's 2015 auction. Yet, the painting was sold below the low presale estimate of $15 million. Turns out, Fontana was inspired to paint this artwork watching Red Desert, a 1964 movie created by Michelangelo Antonioni, which won the Golden Lion in that year's Venice Film Festival. In fact, the inscription on the back of the painting, in Italian, reads, "I returned yesterday from Venice, I saw Antonioni's film!!!"

(Image: www.sothebys.com)

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/how-calendars-helped-fashion-modern-indian-visual-culture/articleshow/67293266.cms

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