NEW DELHI // Rajnish Kumar came to New Delhi for justice. His wife and three sons were missing. His land had been seized. And police in his home state of Uttar Pradesh seemed unwilling to investigate.
So, on July 29 2006, the life insurance salesman stood in the middle of Jantar Mantar, the city's sanctioned space for protest, quietly poured five litres of kerosene on his body - and set himself on fire.
Afterwards, the man who took pictures of Mr Kumar as the flames engulfed him was feted with an international photography award. The police officer who arrested him was given a promotion (attempted suicide is punishable with a one-year prison term).
As for Mr Kumar, he remains perched beneath a lopsided tent at a bustling end of Jantar Mantar, burns covering nearly half of his body. Homeless. Unemployed. Forgotten.
"Nothing has changed," said the 33-year-old, shrugging his shoulders.
Except for the hospital bills. Mr Kumar requires around Dh350 per month for painkillers and other medications and doctors are pressing him to undergo surgery for deep, painful wounds around his chest. But for someone who has to beg for a living, that seems unlikely.
Before he became one of Jantar Mantar's longest-sitting tenants, Mr Kumar made a serviceable income and supported his wife and three children while living with his father, a high-ranking bureaucrat in the local government.
After Mr Kumar's mother died, his father remarried and had six sons with his new wife. Before long there were squabbles about the family property and who had rights to what. One day, Mr Kumar's wife and three sons disappeared.
Suspecting his new family was behind the abduction, Mr Kumar complained to his father. But the patriarch sided with his stepmother. Mr Kumar's claim to a property was forfeit and he was effectively exiled from the family home.
On a fateful summer day in 2006, after days of sitting in Jantar Mantar in the hope that the central government would look into his grievance, Mr Kumar made his body the ultimate beacon of protest.
Today, the government has yet to acknowledge Mr Kumar. Only his charred flesh testifies to his cause, while other, noisier causes are trumpeted up and down the avenue.
Jantar Mantar is becoming a bustling gallery for all manner of protest.
An activist named Sanjoy Sachdev, as the eye-catching signs surrounding him proclaimed, was on the eighth day of his hunger strike, forgoing food and water in protest of the government's system of land allotment in the troubled northern region of Kashmir and Jammu. Like a product on a showroom floor, he lay on his side, nearly unconscious, encircled by a handful of eager supporters, and a photographer snapping pictures.
"You know, when I look at these people," said Naresh Dongrai, an activist who was also sitting in protest at Jantar Mantar, "my problems seems like nothing."
You would not know the well-educated man with impeccable English, idling beneath a tent, had a care in the world - until he rolled up his sleeve revealing a deep, purplish gash on his left wrist. Mr Dongrai had been tortured in jail, he said - bitten by snakes, electrocuted and beaten. His smile showcased rows of broken teeth.
All for a war of words he once had with a court in his hometown of Indore in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Mr Dongrai had been cited by a district court for contempt, having criticised a government commission in a letter.
Mr Dongrai said that after a legal tussle, he was eventually arrested and jailed in New Delhi for six days. But in the end, the contempt case was discharged, no charges filed. He, too, makes his home in Jantar Mantar seeking redress - and enough money to buy food and passage back to Indore.
But Mr Dongrai admits his case pales compared to the injustices of his neighbour - the man who had to set himself on fire to get a moment's attention.
Today, it is easy to overlook Mr Kumar for all the exiled Tibetans, disgruntled farmers and striking civil servants who regularly ply Jantar Mantar. He lacks the loudspeakers used by farmers to blare their demands across the thoroughfare.
While Mr Kumar frequently falls into despondence over his plight, this day he was abuzz with enthusiasm. He had written a letter of support for the neighbouring delegation of protesting Tibetan refugees, and planned to present it to them later that day.
He also had a chance to tell his story to a passing visitor.
Although Mr Kumar has precious few gifts to give, he dug into his pocket and presented his listener with a keychain carved from wood, bearing the word, "Friend".
And these days, for Mr Kumar, those are scarcer still.
@Email:ccotroneo@thenational.ae
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Company%20profile
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PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
