Visitors at a function in Salt Lake commemorating the golden jubilee of the first Japanese loan to India; (below) the Devdas restaurant on EM Bypass.

The next time you take a ride on the Metro or ply over the AJC Bose Road flyover, remember to bow and say arigato. Both projects came into being thanks to loans from Japan. In case you were unaware of the acts of generosity by our neighbours from the Far East, a photo exhibition in Salt Lake held over the past week showcased it all.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation was holding the show to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans to India in collaboration with consulate-general of Japan in Calcutta and Bharat-Japan Sanskriti Kendra, Salt Lake.

The first ODA loan was disbursed after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Japan in 1957, a landmark in bilateral relations between the two countries. The first loan, as one of the panels pointed out, was used for power generation machines in the Bhakra-Nangal project, aimed to control flood in the Sutlej-Beas river valley, generate hydro-electric power and provide water for irrigation. “India is the first country to receive ODA loans from us,” says Akihiro Oikawa, senior vice-consul, consulate general of Japan.

Japanese largesse is spread across India - from the Ajanta-Ellora caves to the Mathura-Agra National Highway 2 to sericulture in Manipur to afforestation in Tamil Nadu. The latest ODA recipient is the Delhi Metro project. “Many visitors are curious to check out how the train looks,” smiles Oikawa, pointing to a miniature of a rake on display. The 24 panels now journey for the last exhibition in Chennai.

What if all the other G8 countries follow suit? Do we have enough exhibition space?

Royal storyteller

Vikram Sampath, the author of Splendours of Royal Mysore. Pictures by Sanat Kumar Sinha and Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The 29-year-old author of Splendours of Royal Mysore Vikram Sampath quotes Toni Morrison when he says: “If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” And write his book he did. All 728 pages of Splendours of Royal Mysore: The untold story of the Wodeyars. “It’s untold because no one bothered to tell it.”

The book launch at Oxford Bookstore was attended by historian Bharati Ray, filmmaker Goutam Ghose and programme director of Max Mueller Bhavan S.V. Raman. The chatty cheerful historian had encouraging words for the young author. “I like bright young men. The book is racy. It’s lucid. And you have made history what it should be. A story. We scholars gather facts, analyse them and write footnote after footnote and nobody reads them. People will read this book,” she smiled. There was perhaps a reason why it was a racy read. It was inspired by a television series. “I remember watching The Sword of Tipu Sultan, where the Rajah of Mysore was this comically portrayed character. That image somehow stuck. There was a lot of controversy then as the Wodeyar family was highly respected. But it often happens that to show a particular character in good light you show someone else in bad light,” said Sampath. The author, also a Carnatic classical vocal music exponent, performed the first composition of the Maharaja of Mysore , Jayaramajada Wodeyar. “I decided to torture you all,” he joked nervously. He didn’t. Here’s hoping his book is as pleasant.

Devdas cuisine

On EM Bypass, there stands an imaginatively titled restaurant called Devdas, The Enormous Food Spot. Question: One cannot help but wonder what fare will be on the menu in this “multi-cuisine” restaurant. Devdas Dim Sum ? Paro polao? Chandramukhi chowmein? Sanjay Leela Sizzlers? Question: Can a spot be enormous? Question: Why would a food spot, even if it was enormous, be called Devdas? We thought he only drank.

(Contributed by Sudeshna Banerjee and Malini Banerjee)